The farmhouse door was opened from inside for Victor as he reached it, and shut and barred the second he was inside. It was quiet in the farm yard. None of the soldiers said a thing. Bob’s covered corpse lay by the fence where he had died, with Peep, Choke, Pinch, and Shane standing around it with their horses, all with their bows in hand.
“I don’t like this farmhouse,” Shane said. “I’m gonna head out more by the road so’s I can keep an eye on the front. Make sure nobody’s coming or going out that way.”
“Good idea. Thank you, Shane,” Choke said.
Shane got on his horse and took his dogs out to the edge of the stone wall at the front of the farmyard by the road. He gave a short all-clear whistle as he reached his position.
“What are we doing now?” Pinch asked, doing his best to keep his voice steady.
“We can’t be here,” Choke said. “We have to get out of here. With Bob. Let’s… uhh… Let’s put him on Knuckle’s horse. Okay?”
Deeply rattled, Choke looked to Peep to confirm with her. She was still staring up at the lookout point on the hill. Her Scythan bow was in her left hand and she was compulsively rubbing the fingers of her right over the brand in its palm.
“Peep? Are you okay?” Choke asked, his voice taking on an edge of panic.
“He’s up there. Right now. Watching. I can feel him,” Peep said, still staring up at the hill, her voice distant.
“Okay… Okay… So, let’s go. Okay?” Choke asked plaintively.
Out at the road, Shane gave a shrill whistle of alert. Choke, Pinch, and almost all the men startled. When they looked over at him, Shane waved his arm up the road towards town.
On the road, coming out from the tree line by the remains of Tully’s, was a group of four men leading an ox cart.
“That’s Balan,” Peep said, having finally pulled her gaze away from her phantom Sneed.
“Is it? You can make him out this far away?” Pinch said, squinting at the men.
“It’s his gait. The way he moves.”
“Okay, then. They must be coming for Bob,” Pinch said.
“Oh, no shit?” Peep quipped, her humor restored.
“It’s just Balan coming for Bob. It’s going to be fine,” Choke said to himself. Then he stiffened himself up to shout at the men: “It’s going to be fine!”
“Yeah, it is. Settle down, man,” Peep said, quietly.
“So, we should hold our position here. Then, we’ll escort them back to town with Bob. Right?” Choke asked Pinch and Peep.
“Yeah. That’s what we’ll do. It’s fine,” Peep said.
They stayed where they were, watching the men with the cart approach up the road. After a couple of minutes, Pinch signaled for Choke and Peep to come in close. In a low voice, he asked:
“So why did Sneed stay up on the hill watching? Why not hit us when we’re all fucked up with finding Bob?”
“He’s cooking, that’s why,” Peep said. “He’s cooking a stew here. This was the salt in the water to get things going.”
“Uhhhh… what?” Pinch asked.
“Look, this aint even about us, yet. Not really. He’s putting the whole town, and the teamsters especially, on notice. Sneed is back. Daddy’s home. He rooted out Bob as a rat, and he did the warning here at the farm because this bunch helped us before. As far as Sneed’s concerned, anyways. And as for us, by laying in the cut on this, he’s telling us that our time is gonna come. He aint making his move yet. He’s salting the water. He’s getting all us potatoes softened up before he sets the table.”
“Great,” Pinch moaned.
“It is great. Just not for us,” Peep said with a grin.
“How can you be so— what? This is not… Ahhhh,” Pinch moaned, looking as though he might throw up now as well.
For the entire conversation, Choke had been staring off into space with a look of profound horror. He finally blinked and began marshaling himself to speak. Peep interrupted him just before he did:
“And you: stop with that soft shit. Apologizing to that cow humper like that? What the fuck? And don’t ye even start on how we’re responsible for any of this, or some shit. Bob was a rat. And these dipshits here put themselves in it when they helped the bandits in the first place and then didn’t have the stones to shut the fuck up about it when we pressed them. They earned everything they got. From us and Sneed.”
Choke looked to Peep with disbelief.
“Peep. You were a bandit,” he said.
“Yeah. I was. And when I was, I weren’t expecting no quarter from the likes of you.”
“But you got it from me. How about that weakness?” Choke asked.
Peep grinned and shrugged. “Well, Stron does work in mysterious ways, don’t he? Buck up lads!” she gave Choke and Pinch each a punch on the shoulder in turn. “This is the real shit now. This is the game we been waiting for. Against a cat that’s worth a shit, finally. Buck up. Because this is only just getting started, and it’s gonna be a gooder. Who’s gonna make the first mistake?”
“I’m afraid we already have and don’t know it yet,” Choke said.
It took a few more minutes for the men with the cart to reach the farm. Shane waved them in towards the paddock as they came. It was indeed Balan leading three other, elder teamsters. They all were grim.
“Miss Otilla. Lieutenant Pekot,” Balan said, tipping his hat to them, in turn.
“Hello, Balan. Men,” Choke tipped his helmet in return. “Thank you for coming. I suppose that Klim sent you.”
“Fuckin pussy,” Peep scoffed.
Balan flinched and gave Peep a sideways look as the men with him shifted in restrained anger.
“Yeah, Klim sent us. He’s with Bob’s wife and kids,” Balan said, giving Peep another pointed look.
She met his eye and shrugged. Balan sighed and turned back to Choke:
“We brought some white linen, to wrap Bob up in for the funeral before we take him home. Klim thought that would be best. He said his folk shouldn’t see what was done to him.”
Choke nodded slowly as he fought to contain his emotion.
“Yes. I think that would be best,” Choke finally said.
“Okay, so we’ll load him in the cart and take him over to the crick there to wash him up before wrapping him up right,” Balan said, finishing with a shuddering exhale as he finally looked over at Bob’s corpse under Choke’s cloak.
“That sounds good, Balan. I’ll— We’ll help you with that. We’ll escort you and help you with him,” Choke said.
Balan sighed again before facing Choke.
“With all respect, Lieutenant Pekot, sir, I think we’d rather that ye didn’t. I think it’s best ye be on yar way and leave us to it. We’ll be fine.”
Choke began to protest, but Balan interrupted him with a raised hand. His voice was measured, but firm:
“We’ll be fine, I said. He’s a teamster. We’re teamsters. So, whatever peril we might in from them that did this to Bob, there’s no protecting us from it. It’ll come. And you being around us aint gonna do nothing but make it more likely. So, again, Miss Otilla, Lieutenant Pekot, I understand where ye are in all this, and I don’t blame ye for what’s happened. I don’t. But ye gotta let us be with it. End of the day, Bob was a teamster. And this whole mess is teamster business. Full stop. We’ll see him off ourselves. And we’ll deal with the rest in our own way. Alright?”
Choke nodded sadly. “Yes. Alright. I understand, Balan.”
Choke stepped forward to shake Balan’s hand. Balan did not hesitate to take it.
Peep turned to hawk and spit in the dirt before stepping off. Pinch gave her a dirty look as he stepped in to offer Balan his hand next.
“We’re going, yeah?” Peep asked Choke.
“Yes,” Choke snapped.
Peep mounted her horse and wheeled around to the south of the paddock. She whistled and waved towards Knuckle’s position. When he and another man looked out from the bushes, she waved them back.
“Let’s go!” she shouted. Her Scythan bow in hand, she rode out towards them in the field to help cover them as they came out towards the paddock.
While this was happening, Choke and Pinch shuffled about awkwardly as Balan and the three elder teamsters turned the ox cart around and backed it up to Bob. In the cart there was the folded up white linen and a roll of coarser burlap.
“Okay,” Balan said as he closed his eyes and murmured a quiet prayer. “Ye can take yar cloak, sir.”
Choke hesitated, thinking he should say something to prepare the men for what they were about to see. He realized that they had likely already heard from Klim and the others. He nodded and took his cloak away.
The men remained silent as they beheld Bob. They stared at him for a while. Finally, Balan traced the Wheel over his heart.
“Altas have mercy upon him. And may Stron punish them that did this,” Balan said, meeting Choke’s eye with the end of his prayer as he traced the Wheel again.
“Amen,” Choke said holding Balan’s gaze, tracing the Wheel himself.
The teamsters carefully lifted Bob’s corpse into the cart and covered it up with the burlap.
“You take care now, Lieutenant,” Balan said as he moved to the front of the cart.
“You too, Balan. I am sorry.”
“I know. We’re all sorry.”
With Balan leading the ox, the other men fell in around the cart: one to each side, and the last behind. They left for the Cowslip Creek, where they would perform the washing and wrapping of Bob in preparation for his burial.
Peep had joined with Knuckle and the men returning from the windbreak. She and Knuckle were laughing quietly together as they rejoined Choke and the others. Choke ignored them and addressed everyone:
“Alright! We’re going to go back to town the same way we came. Sergeant Nikolas and Otilla: rotate your spearmen again and form up your squads as before. Everyone stay alert! Let’s move out!”
The men performed well on the march back to town. There were no incidents. At the Crotch, many teamsters and lumberjacks were gathered, along with their families. Many of them were calling for the town gates to be opened.
Peep and Pinch’s squads fell in with the main column as they approached the Crotch, keeping a little out in front and to the sides as skirmishers. The crowd grew quiet and parted for soldiers, staring as they backed away. The mood was tense, with many of the folk visibly upset.
Riding at the head of the column, Choke nodded to everyone before reining up at the Crotch. He raised his lance up towards the men on the gate:
“Ring the all-clear and open the gates!” he called up.
When the gates opened, there was much traffic through it of folk both coming out of town and others going in. Folks mingled and a newly-formed crowd of people moved to the south of the Crotch to gossip. Choke thought about dispersing them, but quickly decided against it. The townsfolk were going to come together to share and react to what had happened. It was inevitable, and any attempt to suppress them would likely inflame matters all the more. So long as they remained peaceful, it would be best to leave them alone.
Choke put Pinch in command of the south gate with Corporal Hardmod and ten men, with orders to keep a close watch on the crowd outside.
In the town square, Babs was standing with four other women on the church steps. Besides the two spearmen guarding Thad on the Wheel, the square was otherwise empty. When Choke and Peep rode into the square ahead of the men, the two spearmen shuffled about nervously. One of them gestured towards Babs and the woman with an apologetic shrug. The women were all now standing tall and staring expectantly towards Choke.
Choke nodded to the women and wheeled Nike around to come alongside Knuckle.
“Sergeant:” Choke said, “take the men on to the barracks. They are to clean their gear and weapons. Then, they may relax. No gambling. No drinking. Rest. Otilla and I will see what these women want.”
“Yes, sir,” Knuckle saluted before spurring his mount to trot out in front of the men.
Choke and Peep reined up and the men continued on. When Shane at the rear of the column reached them, he stopped his horse and looked to Choke:
“Where d’ye want me, LT?” he asked.
Choke thought for a moment before answering: “Wherever you would rather, Shane. Thank you. Do you have any thoughts? Anything?”
Shane blew out a long breath with his eyes wide.
“I dunno, man,” he finally said. “I just don’t know. Nothing comes to mind right now. I mean, I’m still pretty buggered up from seeing Bob like that. I mean, he was a prick, for sure. But that’s… Yeah. I just don’t know. And I’ve seen a lot of sorrowful, evil shit in my day. But I reckon that’s the very worst I ever seen done by the hand of one human to another. So… yeah. Sorry. I think I need to take a minute before I can say anything on it. If it’s alright with ye, maybe I’ll take the dogs out for a bit of a hunt. Just nearby. Clear my head a bit.”
“That’s fine, Shane. I understand. Just be careful.”
“Oh, you know it. I’ll be back for chow.”
Shane tipped his hat to Choke and Peep, and then again to the women on the church steps as he and his dogs left.
Choke looked over at Babs and the other teamster wives before sighing deeply and meeting Peep’s eye.
“I suppose we should go and see what they want,” he said.
“Yeah. I suppose so,” Peep said.
“Please, just try to be a little sensitive, Peep. They are probably upset. And they have every right to be.”
“Yeah. Okay. And you try to settle the fuck down. Their feelings shouldn’t be shit to us. But, yeah, we need to hear whatever they have to say. I just aint gonna take any shit from them or anybody else.”
Choke sighed again. He and Peep tethered their horses to the hitching posts by the church and came up the church steps to the women. Choke removed his helmet and nodded deeply to them.
“Hello, Babs. Ladies,” he said.
“Hey,” Peep waved from back of Choke’s elbow.
The women nodded in return, allowing Babs to take the lead in replying:
“Hello, Lieutenant. Miss Otilla. First off, please don’t blame yar men there that we’re here in the square against yar orders. They told us to leave. But I told them off, since we’re here to pray, and yar wife inside told us that the church is closed right now, or some such nonsense. Now that yar here, we’re hoping that ye could open it up so’s we could go in and have a word with Stron. And whoever else,” Babs looked at Choke significantly.
“Yes. Understood. Of course. Please, ladies, after you,” Choke said.
He stepped to the church doors and opened the right one for the women. They went through, with Peep and Choke followed, closing the door behind him. Inside, the three young women were still together in the pews sitting in prayer. Mariola was sitting with them, looking very bored. She looked over at Choke in profound relief. He smiled and gave her a wave to come over.
Once Mariola joined them, Choke and Babs went through the protocol of introducing everyone to each other. Then, with her usual directness, Babs got to it:
“So, Lieutenant, as far as anybody outside is concerned we’re in here having a pray. And I suppose we’ll do a bit of that once we’re done. But we need a word with ye, Lieutenant. And you, Miss Otilla. Private, like. Can we go back to the kitchen?”
Choke looked questioningly at Mariola. She shook her head.
“That’s not good, I think. Brother Barrelmender is in there. Drunk,” Mariola said.
“That figures,” Babs snorted. “So here it is. Them three gonna be a problem?” Babs pointed at the girls, who were now looking over at them curiously.
“They shouldn’t be. They aint long in the thinking realm,” Peep said. “Mariola: move them sluts to the front and we’ll set up here in the back.”
Mariola nodded and began moving off, before Babs said, “Hey. Get them settled and come back here with us. Ye should be a party to this, too.”
Mariola looked to Choke and Peep hesitantly to check with them, but Babs again disrupted that:
“Hey, woman, the two of ye are a unit now. Yar a part of all this. And I wanna get a read on ye. So ye come back here and join in. Right?” Babs asked Choke pointedly.
“Yes. Please do, Mariola.”
Once the three young women were settled at the front of the church, everyone else sat down in two pews they turned to face each other by the doors in the narthex.
“Okay, so first off, ye were out to the Rodolf farm. What’s happened to Bob? Is it like everyone’s been saying?” Babs asked.
“I dunno what people been saying,” Peep responded. “He’s been tortured and killed. Sneed’s man peeled his face and scalp off, too. Then he was killed by an arrow to the heart. Balan’s out there at the creek getting Bob set for the funeral, along with some other men. Some of yar husbands, I’m guessing.” Peep gestured to the other women who nodded grimly.
“And what about Rodolf’s folk? What about Victor?” Babs asked.
“They tied Victor up next to Bob on the fence. Said he was gonna get the same as Bob, on account of him and his talking to us before against the Outfit. Then they left Victor alone so’s he could give everyone the message. Anybody that stands with us now will get the same,” Peep said levelly.
The women nodded grimly.
“Well, that’s pretty much just as everybody was reckoning,” Babs finally said. “And I hope ye don’t take this bad. And we all want ye to know that our hearts are with ye in this fight against evil men. But we aint the sort of people that can reckon with this sort. We all have kids. We aint warriors. We can’t risk it. So all of us gotta take a step back from this now. Gabe included. He can’t help ye no more. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is,” Babs finished, looking both Peep and Choke directly in the eye in turn.
Peep leaned in to cut off Choke’s response.
“I understand. Thank ye for coming to tell us in person,” Peep said.
“Yes. We understand.” Choke said. “And we thank you for all your help this whole time, Babs. You, and your family. We appreciate all of it. And we’re sorry—”
Peep hissed sharply to interrupt Choke with a scowl.
“No we aint. We aint sorry. We don’t need to be,” she snapped, glaring sideways at Choke before turning back to the women. “Yar lot gotta contend with the likes of Sneed leaning on ye. I get it. Do what ye gotta do. But we gotta do what we gotta do. And ye’d best understand that, because things are fitting to get even uglier moving forward.”
“Whad’ye mean by that, Miss Otilla?” Babs asked.
“Whad’ye think I mean, Babs? Bob was an Outfit bitch. But he aint the only one over there. We know that for a fact. So, seeing as yar here, praying and all, why don’t ye tell me something about that before ye go? There’s gotta be a bloodsucker or two in yar crowd that ye wouldn’t mind scraping off, I reckon,” Peep said with a cold smile.
The women all shifted and exchanged looks. Contrary to what Choke expected, they look pleased.
“Stron, praise Him, didn’t give ye the ability to read minds along with that fire, did He?” Babs asked.
“Nope. I just got a real good nose for which way the wind’s blowing. And there’s a fart in the breeze here.”
“Ha!” Babs barked, slapping her knee. When she and the other women had settled down, Babs rubbed her hands together. “Alright, yeah. I’ll tattle. But ye gotta understand that this aint nothing more than hearsay. And I aint giving evidence here. Nor will I ever. Nor can any teamster, now.”
“Understood.”
“Good. Now, I don’t think I’ll be telling ye much ye don’t know already, or woulda been able to figure out pretty easy. But, Klim’s yar guy. He’s the one that handed Bob over to Sneed this morning. That’s what we all reckon, anyways,” Babs said.
“Is that so. No big surprise there. But what are people saying?” Peep asked.
“Well, Bob was in the office bright and early this morning, as usual. But Klim was late getting in. After he showed, him and Bob had a private word for a couple of minutes. Bob come out and told the guys he had something he had to do and that Klim was in charge until he got back. He took a horse and went up the South Hill.”
“Huh. No shit,” Peep said.
“Yeah, no shit,” Babs agreed.
“No one went with him?”
“No.”
“Is that normal? Nobody thought anything was off there? Peep asked.
Babs shrugged. “How should I know? Bob’s the boss. It’s gonna be however he says.”
“And now Klim’s the boss. According to what Bob said.”
“Yeah. So it seems,” Babs said grimly.
“And how does that sit with the likes of you?” Peep asked.
“With us? It aint good. Look, Bob was an asshole. He could be violent. He carried water for the Outfit. That’s all true. But a man in his position has to be all that. And Bob came up a proper teamster. And he looked out for his men. But Klim?” Babs scowled along with the women with her. “Klim never did shit on his own. He come up by kissing Bob’s ass. That’s all he’s ever been good for. He’s a lazy fink. And now it looks like he sent Bob to slaughter. So that’s Klim.”
“Okay. Understood. That’s it? He’s the only one ye wanna talk about?” Peep asked.
“Look, Miss Otilla, I aint saying there aint others that’ll line up to take Outfit money. Who’ll step up to do violence for them, even against their own. There always are. But that aint who they’ve been up until now, if ye understand me. The Outfit had Bob, and he was all they needed out here. And Bob had Klim. Until this morning, that is.”
“Yeah. Seems so. So I’m guessing Sneed, or one of his guys, pulled Klim aside last night and grilled him on everything. Obviously, they didn’t like what he had to say about Bob. And Klim wasn’t even messed up, from the looks of him,” said Peep.
“Whad’ye mean? Messed up how?” Babs asked, looking confused.
“Bob was tortured. I mean before they peeled his face off. Thumbs cut off. Fingers broken. They had a long word with him someplace else before dragging him to the farm for the show. Klim weren’t looking roughed up at all this morning. So that means he rolled over on Bob real easy. Then went and pulled him for Sneed. So, Sneed’s got himself a new waterboy.”
“Right. That’s what I been telling ye.”
“Yeah. Thank ye, Babs. I appreciate it. Like ye said, it aint like we wouldn’t a put it together by ourselves anyways. But not so direct. And ye understand what this probably means, right?” Peep looked significantly over all the women.
“Yeah. We do. But I told ye: we can’t be giving Church evidence on this. Ye gotta sort this out yarselves.”
“Oh, don’t ye worry. We will. But yar lot can’t be circling the wagons around Klim when we do,” said Peep.
“We get it. Don’t worry. Look, a man like Bob being boss is normal life for us. He did what he had to do and didn’t take liberties. Not too many, anyways. A good for nothing creep like Klim, though? He don’t have a notion in his head of the right way to do anything. And thinking he’s the big Outfit man now, he’s only gonna get worse. That’s not to say that there won’t be some shitty fellers lining up to support him in that, though. So that whole scene’s gotta be nipped in the bud. We don’t want that kinda rot festering,” Babs said, with the other women nodding emphatically alongside her.
“I hear ye, Babs. I got it. Now, I reckon that Bob’s family is gonna wanna have a Church funeral for him. I think that’s important. For him, and the community. Don’t ye agree?”
“I do. We do.”
“Good. Well, tomorrow morning at dawn, the church bell will be a ringing for their boss lady,” Peep pointed at the three young women at the front of the church. “She’s gonna be moving along to the next life with her man on the Wheel outside there. One way, or the other. If ye understand me.”
Babs nodded grimly.
“After that, there probably will be some fussing about them sluts there. So, Brother Barrelmender will probably be busy with that nonsense,” Peep rolled her eyes. “But, I expect that in the afternoon, the church and Brother Barrelmender will be available for a proper Stronian funeral for poor Bob. So, do you feel like ye could get that squared away with his people, Babs?”
“What, ye mean, having them have Bob’s funeral here tomorrow afternoon? Yeah, think that’ll work good. If the morning’s gonna be a burning, then the work day’s pretty well shot anyways. May as well get’er all done.”
“Good. Thank ye. And, just to be sure, do ye reckon there’s any chance that Klim wouldn’t come to church for Bob’s send off?” Peep asked.
“No way. Not if he wants to take over. He’ll be here,” Babs said with a happy gleam in her eye.
“Good. That’s that, then,” Peep said, standing up.
Babs and the other women stood up as well, along with Choke at Peep’s side.
“Thank ye, Babs,” Peep said offering her hand.
The two women shook hands.
“Yar welcome, Miss Otilla. Just wish we could carry on doing more for ye. But, ye understand how it is now.”
Peep nodded.
“We understand. Thank you, Babs,” Choke said, nodding deeply to her and the other women.
“Sure thing, Lieutenant. Good luck,” Babs said.
It looked as though the meeting were over, but one of the women with Babs cleared her throat and caught Babs’ eye. Babs sighed and nodded, before turning back to Peep:
“I’m sorry to bother ye, Miss Otilla, but just one more thing. It’s about Thad’s women. Ye see, it weren’t just them four hoity-toity southerners he had with him out there. He collected up a good number of local girls, as well. Most recently, two of Tully’s girls. But also some others. They’re still out there, and their families are concerned about them,” Babs let her voice drift off significantly.
“Yeah? Well, I’ll tell ye what I told some of them already: we aint slut drovers here. So, if people have kinfolk out there that they’re worried about, they should head on out and round them up themselves. Bristlenook aint exactly far.”
“Right. I believe that some of have done so already,” Babs said. “It’s just that their further concern would be how Barrelmender is inclined to regard them girls once they’re back. Ye know, in light of tomorrow’s morning event, and all. They’re scared for them. They don’t wanna see them burned for moon worship, is what I’m saying.”
“Oh. Right, yeah. Makes sense, I guess. Well, I think Brother Barrelmender’s made himself pretty clear on that. He punished Thad, as ye saw, and is set to punish Thad’s wife, on account of her giving them three to him before. And that’s that. He aint interested in anything more than that. If them girls wanna get right with Stron, they need to come in to church and confess their sins. And something else, too, right? Repeat them? That don’t make sense,” Peep looked to Choke.
“Repent. They need to confess and repent,” Choke said. “And then they shall be forgiven. Otilla is quite right on that. Brother Barrelmender has made himself clear: the young women who fell into sin under Thad’s sway were his victims. They shall not be punished if they confess and repent.”
The women all nodded happily.
“I’ll make sure everyone hears that, Lieutenant. Thank ye. I’m sure they’ll be very relieved. And thank ye, too, Miss Otilla. Okay, now, I think we’ll go and pray for a spell. Ye know, just to make sure we’re right with Stron and Altas ourselves,” Babs said.
“That’s a good idea, Babs. Alright? Yeah! Alright!” Peep said, giving the women a big Thad grin and double-thumbs-up.
Muse Vassal 