Adventure of Rekka Ch. 06

"Cool, don't get trigger happy. Don't need that thing exploding on us. You're not going to use it until I see you test it. From a fair distance," Bill said, looking around the room. "Where's the powder?"

"Over there, they don't have much, just a small keg," Larry said, pointing.

Bill picked the little barrel up, shaking it, finding it mostly full. He looked at the crate next to it, flipping it open with his boot. He turned back to Larry, his expression dark.

"Forgot to mention the grenades, asshole," Bill snapped. Larry blushed, shrugging.

"Can't take credit for those, whoever's processing the powder isn't as stupid as this lot, they figured those out and sent them with the last shipment," Larry replied.

"Great, I was hoping we were done chasing down game changing weaponry," Bill sighed, picking up one of the grenades. It was squarish and made from clay, shaking it he heard nothing. Whatever was inside of it was packed tightly, a fuse poking out of the cap of packed clay.

"Shrapnel?" he asked Larry, tucking it back into the straw.

"Nails, bits of scrap metal, whatever they got, it's not fired clay. They pack 'em full of powder and it makes a hell of a bang. Not hugely effective, but if one goes off right on top of you it could ruin your day," Larry explained.

"Shit, and they thought of this themselves. Who taught them how to make black powder?" Bill asked.

"Heh, that was all me, I'm afraid. They already had some ideas about brimstone and charcoal, I just sorted them out on the potassium nitrate. Saltpeter. They've got some processing facility up at the quarry that supplies the rocks for this stupid fort," Larry admitted.

"Any idea where it is?" Bill asked.

"Nah, I know it's about two weeks between shipments of stone, but I'm not sure if they could make the trip faster if they wanted," he replied.

Bill pulled Rekka off the trembling guard before the man had an accident, pushing him down next to the warden, who sat on the ground glaring at everyone and everything.

"Alright, where are you keeping the schematics?" he asked the warden.

"I'll never tell you! Just wait until Lord Flavius returns, he'll send you packing!" the little man spat. The guard edged away, trying to distance himself from such suicidal bravery.

"Recognize this sword, dick? Flavius isn't returning, count on that," Bill responded, glaring down at him.

The warden's eyes widened as he took in the stolen kit Bill was wearing. Eventually his stubborn look returned.

"Be that as it may, I am duty bound to resist you, scoundrel," the warden said defiantly.

"Look, I get it. But this place just isn't that big, you can either save me a few minutes of tearing this keep apart, or I toss you to those inmates downstairs. They're not as nice as us," Bill said as Rekka and Tabitha came up alongside him. The plucky little man seemed ready to defy them all, until he heard Larry chamber a round. He looked over at the angry gunsmith, and realized he'd be lucky to make it out of the room to reach the warm embrace of the disgruntled prisoners.

"Indeed. Very well, the schematics are in the box under my desk," he said, crossing his arms as he glared at Larry.

Bill investigated the desk, finding a polished wooden box with brass hinges. Long and flattened, it looked like some kind of expensive cigar box, only larger. He popped the latches and looked inside, finding a thick stack of folded schematics. Tossing them onto the desk, he found what appeared to be a complicated assortment of tools and devices, cleverly packed into soft crevices. Larry perked up at the sight of the open box.

"Hey! There it is, my reloading gear. I had to make that from scratch, with only a blacksmith for help. He thought horseshoes were complicated," Larry grumped, sliding in next to Bill to claim the box. Bill shrugged and slid it over to him. He'd been exposed to reloading ammunition by his survivalist father, but the box looked more like a mad scientists' kit to him.

That out of the way, Bill decided to loot the room for anything useful. Pulling open drawers he pawed through the papers and useless odds and ends. He did find a beautiful map, which he spread out over the desk. The only other thing of remark was a purse of mostly gold coins which he pocketed immediately. Looking over the map he realized he still couldn't read the written language.

"Hey, Larry. You've been here a while, can you read this chicken scratch?" Bill asked. Larry regretfully tore himself away from cataloguing his tools to look over at the map.

"Not really, I only have their numbers and measurements down. I can tell you that's roughly one hundred square miles, probably just the surrounding area. Huh, I wonder what the continent looks like," Larry replied thoughtfully. Bill shrugged, maybe they could find a globe around here, if these luddites even believed the world was round. Hell, maybe this world is flat Bill thought. For all he knew they could be floating through space on the back of a giant turtle.

On the map, he could make out the forest and what he guessed was the fort. Following the road north, it split towards the west and terminated in what looked like hills or small mountains. There was a label where the road ended and it was circled. There were few other labeled areas. They followed the road mostly and were spread far apart with a lot of "Here Be Dragons" looking gaps filling the map. Small towns surrounded by miles of nothing, he surmised. He'd have to pump the warden for more information.

"The quarry where you get the powder, how far from here?" Bill asked the warden, while Rekka hopped up on the desk to look at the map with interest.

"I'll concede you have me at your mercy here, but I'll be damned if I betray those men, fiend!" the warden sneered, his chin raised. Bill sighed, rolled his eyes and looked at the guard.

"Hey, you look like a man who wants to live to see tomorrow," Bill said, waving his hand at him to speak up.

"About three days travel, maybe faster if you push the horses," the man said, now as far from the warden as possible in the cramped quarters and pointedly ignoring his superior's glare. "Just follow the road north, take the western branch, goes all the way to the quarry."

Bill nodded, much as he suspected. Gazing around and not finding anything worth stealing, he found himself looking at Larry's disheveled prison uniform.

"Hey, warden. Where do you keep your clothes?" Bill asked, grinning at the small man.

-

"Man, I really have lost weight. Surprised this all fits," Larry said, tugging at his new coat.

They'd raided the warden's wardrobe, finding a wide assortment of mostly useless frippery. The sturdy coat, silk shirt, leggings, and high riding boots were the only appropriate clothes for travel. Now they waited outside the stables as Bill directed one of the more obedient guards to load up the warden's carriage with supplies and horses.

"Looks pretty good on you, should have kept the hat," Bill said, grinning.

"It had more feathers than a peacock," Larry said, scowling.

"Well, Tabitha sure likes your new look," Bill said, nodding up at her.

Tabitha was currently standing just behind Larry, where she'd been acting as his shadow since she'd met him. It had been fairly difficult to persuade her to remain outside the room as Larry changed.

"I liked the hat, but it still looks nice," she said, raising her paw to brush at Larry's sleeve.

Larry craned his neck up at her, clearly ill at ease to have the large woman looming over him constantly, but also preening slightly under her compliment.

"Ah, thank you, Tabitha. Your, uh, outfit... Jesus. Yeah, it's nice, too," he responded, blushing furiously as he tore his eyes away from her body. Bill couldn't blame him, though heavily muscled women weren't his thing. Tabitha was built like a brickhouse, and stunningly beautiful to boot. He wondered what she looked like when she smiled, and suspected Larry would find out long before he ever did.

Bill watched with curious interest as Tabitha's expression changed to that of a lovestruck teenager, blushing herself as she twisted her feet bashfully. She eventually regained her composure, resuming her expressionless mask. She wasn't fooling Bill, though. Not while she purred like a diesel engine.

Rekka approached at that moment, sparing a beaming smile for the purring Tabitha before falling into Bill's arms.

"Finished, husband! We pushed all the bits into the center, ready to burn it up!" she said, happily receiving her ear scratches of praise.

"Thanks, beautiful. Let's go make sure it's done properly. I'd hate for all this to have been wasted effort," he said, walking towards the gathered ex-inmates.

They'd gathered a huge pile of wood from the collapsed guard towers and placed all the schematics and broken muskets in the center. Bill nodded at Cato, then hefted the small barrel of powder. He began to spread as much as he could throughout the pile, then walked backwards a few feet leaving a trail. He tossed the empty barrel into the pile and looked around, wondering how he was going to light the damn thing.

"Here, Bill," Cato said, tossing him a torch.

"Thanks, Cato. Everyone move back, for all I know this is going to explode instead of just burn quickly," Bill said, waving them back. Larry shrugged, unconcerned.

"It's just loose powder, should just make a nice fireball. We could really just have saved it and made a regular fire," he said, plainly wishing to keep the barrel filled with explosives. Probably wanted to sleep with it like a teddy bear. The crate of grenades they'd stashed in the carriage would have to assuage his need for carnage.

Bill waited until Rekka moved far enough behind him, then touched the torch to the powder. With a flash of smoke and fire it streaked towards the pile. Once it met the powder spread throughout the wood the entire pile whooshed into flame and smoke, sending a large burst of fire heavenward. Now it burned merrily, just a normal large bonfire.

"Right, once that burns itself out, there shouldn't be anything recognizable left," Bill said, turning to Cato. "I really don't want to stick around but if you guys are, burying what's left would make the world a safer place."

"I plan on leaving in the morning myself, I'll see it done," Cato replied, looking at Bill appraisingly. "What exactly is your purpose here, Bill? Why have you done this?"

"Honestly? We're going to save the world. For humanity and mamono both," Bill replied, shrugging at the absurdity of his own statement.

"I see... Well, I wish you luck in that, though I'm not sure how you'll manage it. Take care, Bill," Cato said, shaking Bill's hand.

Bill returned the handshake, then noticed movement from the stone tower. He'd forgotten about the archer.

"Hey! You might as well come on down, fights over," Bill yelled, tossing a small rock in the air and catching it. Surprisingly, the man responded.

"I'll just stay up here, thank you all the same," he called back.

"I'm not leaving you with that bow, otherwise you can starve up there for all I care," Bill yelled at him.

The bow sailed off the turret to clatter onto the roof of the keep. Shrugging, Bill ignored the man. He was harmless now, and they were leaving in any case.

"What are you going to do about the guards? I'm not one for cold blooded murder, myself, but I don't plan on sticking around to watch, either," Bill queried Cato.

"They're disarmed and were never unreasonably cruel to us. Most of them were just doing their jobs, I can respect that. The warden though, he was not well loved. I'll not touch him but the rest are probably getting the rope ready," Cato said.

"Well, I suppose that's understandable. I recommend just tying them up outside the fort, I'm sure there's a few lonely singles out there that'd just love to meet them," Bill said, pulling Rekka to his side.

"Yeah! There's a manticore flyin' around up there right now, she's already got her eye on that guy in the tower," Rekka said. Bill scanned the night sky, seeing nothing, but taking her word for it.

Cato just nodded, lost in his own somber thoughts.

-

Bill, Rekka, Tabitha and Larry gathered back at the stables, looking over their stolen carriage. They'd had all the supplies they thought he'd need stored into the box hanging from its rear. Two horses had been hitched to it professionally by the disarmed guard, now standing awkwardly next to them.

"Oh, uh, you can follow us out of the gates if you want, I guess I owe you for sorting out the horses," Bill said.

"No thanks, I'll take my chances with the prisoners," he replied, backing away with his eyes on the mamono. Turning, he jogged off to gather with the other defeated guards.

"Right, guess I'll try driving this thing. Doesn't look too hard," Bill said. Turning to Larry and Tabitha he waved at the open doors of the carriage.

"You two take it easy in the coach. Get to know each other a little better," Bill said as he leered.

Larry darted away from Tabitha to lean in next to Bill for a hurried conversation.

"Just to be clear, she's not going to eat me, is she?" he whispered.

"Rekka hasn't tried that with me yet, but I wouldn't rule it out," Bill said, grinning.

"Well, fuck it... If I don't make it out, tell my story," Larry said, tugging his new jacket straight and grimly walking up to the carriage.

"After you, miss," he said to Tabitha, who prowled into the dark interior, her purr picking up again.

The carriage was jostled a bit by her weight but seemed constructed well. There were handrails for a squad of guards to hang to it, so it couldn't be much strained by a single jinko. Larry joined her, the doors closing with some finality. Bill climbed into the driver's bench, pulling Rekka up to sit beside him.

"See, I told you this plan would work," Bill said, kissing her on the forehead before gathering up the reigns.

"I 'spose so. Guess havin' a lucky husband is almost as good as a smart one," Rekka replied, leaning into him.

"It's better, luck has worked out great for me. I met you, for one," Bill said, scratching her ear. "Larry is smart, and he just spent a few months getting beat up and enslaved."

A sharp thump sounded from the carriage behind them. Bill wasn't sure if Larry had heard him and objected, or if Tabitha had made her move. Flicking the reigns, Bill was pleased to see the horses understood him and the carriage began to roll towards the now open gates.

"Yeah, I'll take luck any day," Bill said, grinning happily as they rolled out of the prison, turning north to follow the road.