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The woman bowed her head to collect her
thoughts. “Uhhh, well, he evoked the Three Laws, so Ismeris felt
he had no choice but to let them inside.”
“With or without their wagons?” Atty
questioned.
“Without.”
“And?”
She sighed. “At first, we didn’t see or
hear anything suspicious, but Ismeris had sent out an advisory for
everyone to keep their eyes and ears open with regards to the
strangers. They tried to barter for goods to replenish their
supplies, but our merchants weren’t…cooperating.”
“Why not?”
“They were trying to barter their weapons
for the goods. Guns. Those ancient guns and ammunition for them.
Our merchants tried to tell them weapons were not considered
barterable, and they got mad.”
“Did they threaten anyone with the
weapons?” Yulen broke in.
“No.” Lala added a shake of the head.
“They were just mad. They yelled at us. And called us names and
shit.”
“What happened?” the battle lord asked.
“Enraged customers shouldn’t have alarmed the Mutah council.” He
chuckled. “That’s almost a weekly event here in my compound.”
“We didn’t think much of it either,” the
young woman admitted. “It wasn’t until they were going to leave
that they threatened us.” A trace of fear crossed her unique
features. Everyone remained quiet yet attentive as they waited for
the woman to continue.
“They returned to their wagons and hitched up their horses. They
started to move out. Nobody thought anything of it until one of
the wagons began backing up. It stopped less than ten yards away
from the main gate, and that’s when Gunther called up to the
guards. He said he was going to give us one more chance to be
hospitable, and he gave us a list of items he demanded we bring
outside.”
“Food items?” Atty clarified.
“Yes. Mostly food. Some clothing. And milk. They had a baby with
them.”
“Did you relent?” Yulen queried.
“No. Not…at first.”
Reaching over, Atty placed a comforting hand on the young woman’s
arm. “What did they do?” she slowly asked. When Lala continued to
hesitate, she nodded. “They fired their cannon at you, didn’t
they?”
Lala nodded jerkily. Her eyes went blank
and her entire body trembled at the memory.
Atty squeezed her arm. “Okay. They fired
the cannon. It went boom. It terrified everyone. Did the shot kill
anyone?”
“Y-yes. It killed Petter and Morten.
Aggela. Candela. Mihari and her son, Nishet.”
“Did it destroy the compound?” Yulen
softly asked.
“It destroyed the front wall and gate, and
several homes and stores.”
“What happened then?” the battle lord
continued. “Did Ismeris consent to Gunther’s demands?”
Another ragged nod. “He g-gave them
every…everything they asked for.”
“And then what happened?” Atty pushed.
The woman turned haunted eyes at her.
“Nothing. They left, like they said they would. We watched them go
and noted in what direction they were heading.”
“East.”
“Yes.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you came
to warn us,” Yulen noted.
“After they left, the council called for a
meeting of everyone in the compound,” Lala went on. “Ismeris
called for volunteers to go to all the Mutah and Mutah friendly
compounds in that direction to let them know what had occurred.”
She looked directly at Atty. “That’s why I’m here. I volunteered
to come tell you.” |