Rebel's Revenge Chapter 12

Chapter 12



Monday squinted his eyes as he walked from the dim light of the prison cell into the bright light of outdoors. They were quickly and efficiently herded into what looked to be a gigantic bird cage made of close woven bars of hard wood that resembled bamboo. They were then ordered into a single file by the prodding spears of the guards and faced in an outward direction. Beyond the cage a small group of females had assembled who were speaking rapidly among themselves often pointing in the direction of the men.

"Checking on the condition of their captives," Monday thought, looking steadily into the eyes of a beautiful young female who looked to be the one that he had first seen upon being captured. She was indeed very beautiful. Probably in her early twenties, very well built with long slender legs and a pretty heart shaped face framed by luxurious shining black hair. Her green color, a very light pale green, seemed to make her more beautiful than if she'd had brown or white skin. If he had not known better, he would have guessed that she blushed at his appraising stare. Some of the other women he noticed had darker green skins, while a few were almost emerald green in their skin coloring.

The guards then ordered them to sit at a large semicircle of stone benches while other females dressed in red tunics brought forth heaping platters of meat, cheese, bread and jugs of water.

"Shall we eat," Henri whispered to him, nodding at the food provided.

He nodded his head in return and the captives hurried to grab a place on the benches. The females in red then walked along holding the trays out to the men who grabbed chunks of meat, bread and cheese, and were given small wooden bowls to drink their water from. He ripped his bread apart and stuffed it with the meat and cheese making it into an easier to handle sandwich. He was quickly copied by the starving Germans and his Americans, however, the Vikings continued to eat like the savages they were.

He continued to observe both the women in the cage and those watching from beyond the bars. He noticed that the color of their short tunics seemed to imply their position or duties. The guards had green tunics while those who helped on the landing field and served the meal wore red tunics. Most of the women standing beyond the bars wore yellow tunics and they had been the warriors who had captured them. Scattered among them were blue, orange, and black tunics. Most of the guards and females with red tunics had no decorations on their tunics; however, most of the females in the yellow tunics had an emblem which resembled silver or an occasional gold falcon or hawk claw sewn above their left breast. "Obviously symbols of rank, probably officers," he thought, "and the colors denote branches of the service such as supply, military police, cavalry, or whatever." He noticed that Henri had been making a similar observation and nodded in his direction in a knowing way.

After their meal, a female in one of the green tunics with a gold falcon claw above her breast ordered both the guards and those who had served the meal from the cage, secured the gate, and posted two guards at its entrance. They were left alone with the exception of their staring audience outside the bars, which slowly begin to dissipate.

Most of his team begin to spread around the cage checking for any potential weak spots or simply observing the large compound they were in. The compound was completely enclosed by a high fifteen foot wall made of brick and mortar. It was a large compound, about two hundred meters square, and most of the buildings had been built to connect with the outer walls except one large square building about mid center. All along the far wall, one building was even taller than the walls with a row of massive double arched doors running the entire length of the building. The only entrance was a wide set of double doors on the wall directly opposite the big buildings which was now open and guarded by two bored sentries with a steady stream of carts, wagons, and women walking in and out of the compound.

Monday continued to sit on the hard stone bench quietly observing the females beyond the cage. A female in a black tunic with a golden falcon claw with a golden star in its clutches above her breast had joined the pretty one and from the expression on the pretty ones face, she didn't particularly like her. He noticed that the older one also had a very sinister look about her, something in the set of her eyes and the domineering way she talked to the young one. He automatically didn't like her and his sixth sense gave him a low warning to watch out for this one, she could be dangerous.

"Unusual," Henri remarked, sitting down next to Monday. "You'd think they would separate us so we couldn't talk among ourselves and plan a possible escape. At least, separate the officers from the men."

"I don't think they know the difference," Monday replied, "I mean they can't identify who our leaders may be or they don't care. It's entirely possible that it's been so long since any captive has escaped them, they've grown very lax in their security."

"That gives us a small advantage."

"Only problem is we don't know a damn thing about this civilization. I deduced from their uniforms that the colors must signify different branches of their military, and I think those bird claws, or whatever they are, signify officer rank."

"I agree," Henri replied. "I think the ones we saw in yellow are the warriors and based on their youth they're probably young officers. And, there's no doubt about it, this is a Matriarchal society. No males anywhere that I've spotted."

"What next?" asked Gary, standing in front of the two?

"I think," Monday replied, "we're being held here for a purpose. Look at it logically. If you were a member of a primitive society, for example these females, and you captured men for whatever reasons; procreation, fun, slavery, you wouldn't want to take them to the center of your civilization until they'd learned a few rules about how they were to act. So, the best thing to do is to have a staging area or many of them, put the captives through rigorous training, and cull out the ones who couldn't or wouldn't learn, then transport them to the city."

"So, we're here to be taught how to be good little slaves?" Gary stated. "Cold day in hell before I bow down to a woman, especially an alien."

"I'm sure they have the means to change your attitude," Henri replied. "Don't forget, they've been capturing the Norse Men for centuries and they're not exactly poor examples of manhood."

Gary looked at Monday with a sudden hint of fear in his eyes although he tried to hide it behind youthful bravado.

"I ain't no Norseman or Viking," he blurted.

"None the less," Monday stated, "you don't have to prove anything to me and your companions about how much of a man you are. Even a man like Tom Thumb will succumb to torture, especially when it has no bearing on the safety of his friends."

"Then what do we do when they take us?"

"Go along with them. Be cooperative, try to observe and learn as much as you can about them. If they ask you to do something which is degrading, refuse to do it unless you're threatened with maiming or death. In other words, keep your eyes and ears open. Everything you see and hear may be valuable to us in one way or another."

"They appear to be pretty regimented," Henri cut in. "Their military system may forbid certain acts, such as death, castration, or mutilation. They probably prize us as much as we would prize an extremely valuable race horse, or automobile, or even a single woman among many men."

"Stage one will probably be communication," Monday stated. "We can't follow their orders if we don't know what they're saying."

"Yes," Henri replied. "They’ll start by teaching us to learn enough of their language so we can understand what is expected of us. I also think they'll use the language of the Norse Men as a starting point since they probably never heard of English."

"Good point," Monday stated. He had learned quite a bit of the Viking language during the weeks they had been traveling but was still far from fluent in it. He knew the basic verbs and adjectives and a few hundred or more nouns, but basic conversation was still a ways off.

Their small talk went on for the remainder of the afternoon. Most of their observations and ideas they shared with the rest of the captives, although, no one had any constructive plans for an escape. Just before the sun went down a platoon of guards returned to escort them back to the prison cell inside the building. They first tied their hands and feet so they had to shuffle in small steps. As they were going down the corridor, Monday noticed the female he'd spotted earlier, the one with the black tunic and sinister look, was standing off to one side. He gave her an icy glance as he passed and she looked away quickly. As he entered the cell he spotted one of the younger Vikings standing to one side with a puzzled look on his face. There were about ten of the captives behind him and as he turned to watch the guards close the prison door, he spotted his nephew Chris being pulled aside with the Viking.

As soon as the door was secured the sinister officer walked up and gave a command to the guards to take Chris and the Viking away.

"What's going on?" Chris asked, swinging his head back towards the cell. "Where're we going?"

"Where are you taking my men?" Monday yelled at the back of the officer. She continued to ignore him as she followed the guards back down the corridor.

"Where are they taking Chris and B'Jeol?" Gary asked, turning to Monday and Henri with an expression of fear and anxiety on his face.

"Remember what we talked about today, Chris!" Monday yelled to the receding backs of the guards. "Do what you have to do to stay alive, we know you're a brave man, you don't have to prove anything to us. Just come back in one piece."

"They do anything to them boys and I'll kill every damn one of them!" General Zanik spat, meaning every word he said.