Chapter 1
Natontio and Oen Bravia were speaking with one of their militia leaders, Ve Lue, in the forests outside of Bravia, where they would conduct their raids on the Imperial Troops. To their surprise, Ve Lue had brought his young son, Ze Lue with him to help as a sniper.
�This is your son?� Natonito said, incredulously. �He looks about ten years old.�
�He is ten years old,� Ve Lue said.
�What is he doing here then? This is a man�s war, not a boy�s fight,� Natonito said.
�I am training him to be an assassin. He has already shown the �joy of the knife,�� Ve said.
�I�m a better sniper than anyone else you have here,� Ze said. �I am a killing machine.�
�And this is a good thing?� Natonito asked. �We fight for our freedom, not for the love of killing.�
�I am not your soldier,� Ve said. �I do not fight by your rules.�
�We are fighting for the liberty of Bravia,� Natonito said. �Are you not fighting under me?�
�No, I am fighting under Oen. He lets me choose the rules of war myself,� Ve says.
�I just want to kill people,� Ze said eagerly.
�You are a strange kid,� Natonito said. �Do you care who you kill?�
�Yeah, those Imperial punks are my favorite targets, and their stooges here,� Ze said. �My father has taught me well.�
�We shall see about that,� Natonito said with narrow eyes.
�We need to talk alone,� Oen said to Natonito.
�I agree,� Natonito said.
Privately, a short distance away, the two of them began to discuss matters about the Lue family. Natonito was not pleased at the methods that Oen�s hired hands were using.
�Why are you questioning my people?� Oen said.
�Your people?� Natonito said. �Are these the people you send to do all your dirty work?�
�Yeah, basically,� Oen said. �Ve is the person who kidnapped Duke Longbert�s daughter for me. I give him basically a free hand as long as he is discreet and does what I ask him to.�
�Was kidnapping Lady Longbert the best idea, though. Surely there was some less gruesome way of expressing your displeasure with him. How did that silly dispute start between the two of you anyway,� Natonito said.
�I�ve always had problems with him. He has always opposed me in provincial matters and he has always tried to fritter away at my territory,� Oen said. �After my side won for provincial governor a few years ago, during my first year in the assembly, which I got in right out of college, he came and torched half of my fields. In revenge I hired Ve Lue, who is a noted mercenary in Secfenia, to kidnap his oldest daughter, who was ten at the time. She must be sixteen now.�
�Listen, this shouldn�t be about your petty squabbles,� Natonito said. �That man and his son are completely disturbed. To kill in defense of yourself and your country is one thing, morally debatable to those who hate war but defensible to most, but to kill for the joy of the knife itself is inexcusable. Such people should be locked away, not hired as valued employees of high nobles like yourself.�
�You don�t understand what it is like to be involved in ducal squabbles, do you?� Oen said. �You spend your time in the Empire, dealing with a pompous Emperor, but you get blinded by the big picture. You don�t have to deal with the matters here in Bravia. You can act as if Bravia is one united whole, while I have to deal with the various duchies.�
�Now you listen to me,� Natonito said. �I know Bravia very well. I love my homeland as much as anyone, and I deeply care about its unique character as a province. What I know that you do not, though, is that our actions have an importance beyond our borders. Our issues are not ours alone, but are shared by a wider public. My fight for Bravia is a fight for liberty of all, for no one will be oppressed by the Empire if I win, for all regions will have the courage to fight the weakened Imperial troops. I do not have a problem if you dislike Duke Longbert, or conduct strikes of like kind to counteract his strikes. You have the right to defend yourself and your property, after all. What I condemn is your use of madmen to kidnap and kill.�
�They are quite effective,� Oen said.
�I do not care. It is the principle of the matter that bothers me. Why should one deal with people that one has to constantly look behind your back about, for fear that they will kill you if someone gives them more money to work for them,� Natonito said.
�I do not fear them. They are perfectly loyal to me,� Oen said. Just then a shot from a rifle hit the tree that Natonito was standing behind. �The Imperial troops must be here.�
�No, that was probably that punk little kid trying to draw a bead on me or end my life prematurely,� Natonito said.
�Damn, I missed,� they could hear the little kid say.
�You see what I mean,� Natonito said. There is a reason a large oak is between me and that creepy family. If you want to use them, you bear responsibility for them. If they do something that causes me danger or embarrassment, I will hunt them down and take them out myself. Do you understand me?�
�Yes, brother,� Oen said, chastised.
Natonito and Oen walked back to the militia group and Natonito was, predictably, in a bad mood.
�Now you listen to me you little punk,� Natonito said. �The next time you try to draw a bead on me, I will open a new hole in your skull. Do you hear me?�
�My name is Ze,� the kid said.
�If you are going to act like a monster, you do not need to be called by a name,� Natonito said. �You and your father are the responsibility of my brother-in-law alone. If you cause one hint of dishonor onto my name, I will destroy your family from the face of the earth.�
�Understood,� Ze said, with slanted eyes.
�You know what,� Ve said, unbidden. �You need a girl.�
�I have plenty of girls,� Natonito said.
�I�m not talking about people just to sleep with,� Ve said. �I�m talking about someone you could really get along with as well. I have some really great girls at my establishment in Bravia. You could be interested in some of our girls as a mistress.�
�We�ll have to see,� Natonito said.
�A good girl would help you to relax and calm down more,� Ve said.
�I want to find a good girl that loves me for who I am, not for my net worth,� Natonito said.
�Well, you can see for yourself what kind of girls I have. It is a busy job, doing his projects and keeping my own business afloat, but it is well worth it. I am thinking of buying a spot in the nobility,� Ve said.
�One can buy titles,� Natonito said. �But one cannot buy honor. One can even buy respectability, provided one is discreet and pays off the right people to keep silent about your indescretions, but one can never by honor, for that is something within you based on how you obey the strictest of moral codes yourself.�
�Why would I desire honor?� Ve said. �I simply want to make money and enjoy life.�
�I do not live only for this world,� Natonito said. �As flawed as I am, I desire a better life than this world can offer, and a better hope than any amount of money will ever be able to buy.�
�Suit yourself,� Ve said sarcastically.
�You�re not my problem. When you become my problem, I will make sure that you do not have long to live,� Natonito said as he left the group to themselves.
�What a strange brother you have,� Ve said.
�Yes, he doesn�t like me,� Ze said.
�I know, he�s not used to our methods,� Oen said. �Perhaps he will understand them in time.�
�Perhaps not. Some people are caught in their own beliefs so that they do not change them, but instead order their lives on those beliefs,� Ve said. �Such people I cannot stand.�
�Not everyone is like you, Ve,� Oen said. �You just have to accept that. He is a wise leader of Bravia, though."�
�I know,� Ve said. �But I still don�t like him. He speaks too much of honor and morals for my taste. Why can�t everyone just be greedy and money hungry like me. A society without compassion, without expectation of kindness of others, where everyone seeks only their own way is the kind of society I want.�
�Sounds good to me too,� Ze said.
�Some people do not like that,� Oen said.
�Look, here come the Imperial troops now,� Ve said, taking aim.
�Let�s go,� Oen said.
Crouching low, Ze shot the leader of the detachment in the head and then gave a silent cheer. Other bullets followed, buzzing like hornets, some of them hitting Imperial troops in the arms, the neck, the back, the legs, or the body, and some lucky shots the head. Then the militia vanished into the woods before the stunned survivors were able to do anything but thank God that their lives were spared. And so the rebellion began.
All over Bravia, similar incidents occurred. There were city battles, nighttime ambushes, and forest battles. The Imperial troops were scared, knowing that everywhere they went lurked rifles pointed at them. It was hard to sleep, knowing that one�s death could come at any time, especially from an enemy who refused to be seen. Natonito was pleased with the rebellion�s progress. The Imperial troops had lost thousands of casualties a week thanks to the many rebel bands, who were so well hidden that they had never been caught. The Imperial troops were chasing an enemy that blended with civilians and that held the night and the dark in its absolute control. The Empire soon had enough.
[ Chapter 2 ]
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