Day 297
Mid morning
In my late teens, I spent about six months' worth of Saturdays working on a local farm. I wasn't much good at it and I didn't like it at all. Now, looking around the farm lands which will keep the people of Thundera from starving this winter, I'm…
Okay.
Pride is in the mix, but I can't honestly say I did a whole lot of physical farm work myself. Fortunately neither the
rats nor the low-caste
cats who make up most of the local population have any aversion to manual labour. Between the
lizard clans and
Mumm-Ra's followers all of the food reserves which the fallen nation had put aside were taken or destroyed. But I organised
this, kept disparate and mutually antagonistic people focused and
working. And now most of them will survive.
Those whom I didn't have to kill in order to make this happen, at least.
Even as I think it, my eyes drift towards
the gibbet in the centre of town, and its desiccated inhabitant with the 'I STOLE FOOD' sign around his neck. Most people don't even look at it now, which is
the way I prefer it. A few
do glance my way… Hm. They don't back away or.. attempt to shield their children. I look for a moment at
the ring on my right middle finger as I contemplate the matter. They
know what I've done for them, the farmlands I've organised, the order I've brought…
The very basics of civilisation.
But they don't love me, nor shall they.
Nor should they.
'I TRADED SLAVES'
"Ah,
my lord?"
Most of them don't love me. I suppose if you save a
mother's children from starvation and make her your de facto number two, you shouldn't be surprised if she becomes somewhat attached to you.
I smile at her as she approaches, note pad in hand.
"Khoah, what news?
"
'I WAS A MURDERER'
"The fourth tilling machine is back in operation."
I nod again.
Third Earth has all manner of technology, but for whatever reason the various species often aren't anything like as sophisticated as
it is. Presumably, that's because it was never in Mumm-Ra's interest to tell his slaves how any of it worked. As a result, when they finally broke free there.. just weren't enough people who knew enough for them to sustain the level of civilisation they were used to. Just.. digging around their ruins enabled me to get enough data to construct simple tractors. An offer of sanctuary to
one of the few races who know anything useful about engineering got me power generation. Of course, I still had to teach a bunch of superstitious peasants how to
use any of it…
"That's good to hear. I was concerned that we might not be able to manufacture the parts we need. What does that do for our production in the next growing season?
"
"Assuming a reasonable growing year, we should have a moderate surplus. And it will allow us to extend the roads to the last of the farms." I nod again. It still strikes me as strange, how little infrastructure even a relatively advanced place like Thundera had. The city
itself was solid stone, mined from local quarries. But the surrounding area… "We
might be able to make it as far as the City, depending on when the rains come."
"Not
Mount Plun-darr?
"
"Not without a lot more resources, and…" Her eyes drift unavoidably to the
sword at my side, and
stone in its guard. With them, a hour's meditation on fear causes the ring to recover about two percent of its maximum charge. In practice, that means that I can't risk a long range scavenger hunt more than once a month or so. "The cats don't want to go back there."
Because that's where most of the slaves taken by the lizards were sold, and where many of their fellows were worked to death. Foolish superstition again.
"Oh, I think seeing the rats and lizards benefit from central heating next winter will change their minds quickly enough.
" But it's going to be a problem.
Thundrillium isn't anything like as high a priority as stone or wood or iron, to say nothing of
food, but we're going to need it before Mumm-Ra sends any serious force in our direction. There just isn't enough wood around here-.
I hear the dull
hum of one of the anti-gravity vehicles we took from Mumm-Ra's forces. Ring? Ah, it seems that my
third in command is heading back from patrol, with a few guests. Given that the guests have manacles around their wrists and ankles and bags over their heads, I'm going to assume that the encounter was
hostile.
Khoah's ears twitch. "She's back early."
What happens
next depends on exactly what they did. If they're just desperate refugees who turned to banditry to avoid starvation, they get a tattoo and a period of punishment duty. If they're career bandits or slavers, I will
publically execute them. Pumyra will be taking them to the plaza in front of my manor. Pumyra understands the utility of fear rather well, and is
quite supportive of my judicial theatre.
"Yes.
" I offer her my right hand.
"Shall we?
"
"Um." While she's not afraid of violence, Khoah has never gotten used to the sort of extreme I'm prepared to go to when doling out punishment. In a survival situation like this,
the purpose of the punishment for the first offence isn't just to prevent a second offence in the one being punished, but in all of those watching as well. "Of.. course, my lord."
I nod, and extend the ring's flight aura around us to lift us both into the sky.
"How are your children getting on with their new teacher?
"
She shakes off whatever disquiet she's feeling,
smiling at the thought of them.
"They're very fond of
him. Every day when they come home they can't stop talking about all of the fascinating things they've learned."
Her older two.. left home shortly after the death of their father. Some of the refugees from the city mentioned seeing kittens matching their description, but… Realistically, those could have been
anyone. The remaining two were left fairly withdrawn, but one of the few advantages of the current crisis is that they're regularly in contact with other children their age. And they're young enough that they'll grow up surrounded by technology and consider it
normal.
A small crowd has gathered as we come in to land on the small stage on the manor side of the plaza. My official residence, and the seat of my 'government'. I'll probably end up abandoning it in a few years so that I can set up a capital somewhere more central, more defensible. But for now the wood and stone building is perfectly serviceable. We land, and I sit in a heavy wooden chair in the centre while Khoah stands next to me just as the grav-floater swings into the plaza. Pumyra and two other soldiers with four prisoners; one adult male, one adult female and two children. A family, perhaps? Probably best to leave the children's bags
on if she intends for me to-.
"Ho, Lord Protector! I think today's my lucky day!"
"Pumyra!
" The grav-floater drifts to a halt in front of the stage, the rat at the controls clearly enjoying her role.
"What do you have for me today?
"
She's
grinning as she steps back from the crew station towards the adult male, shoving him forward. Odd. Pumyra isn't really the grinning sort. Ever since I dug her out from under the rubble during the flight from the capital, she's been a veritable font of bile and barely controlled rage. "
The person I hate most on all of Third Earth." She rips off the bag, and… Ah.
Lion-O blinks in the light for a moment, before focusing his attention fully on me. He's.. younger than the version
I grew up watching… Physically, anyway. His hair… Should that be 'mane'? Is a good deal shorter and is at least paying lip service to the laws of physics.
"Lion-O."
"
King Lion-O."
"King?
" I look around the crowd. The lizards look decidedly unsettled, but it's the cats I'm most concerned about. The
last thing I need is any doubt about who is in charge.
"You abandoned your people in favour of chasing after Mumm-Ra. You left them as slaves, or starving in the wilderness. You are the
last person with any right to claim authority
here.
" He grits his teeth and tests the chains as I visually dismiss him.
"Pumyra, who are the others?
"
She nods, and her dog soldier pulls the bag off the adult woman. I assume that's the continuity's
Cheetara. She's some sort of warrior-priestess here, though I don't know the
details. And quite possibly the last living member of her sect. If there's any way to get her to stay on as a teacher it would be worth pursuing… But I doubt it would work. Unlike Lion-O she isn't looking at my face, but she
is trying hard not to stare at the energy stone in my sword.
Khoah
gasps is shock as the bags are pulled from the heads of the children, and she's
dashing forwards even as the surprised whisper of 'Mama?' reaches my ears.
WilyKit and
WilyKat. Normally I'd be delighted, but right now the issue requires seriousness.
"Pumyra, release the kittens into the care of their mother, and bring the other two inside.
" I stand and turn away, letting my yellow-sigiled cape swirl about me.
"We can decide what to do with them at our leisure.
"
