44 Jonathans Gambi (1/2)
”Does anyone have any questions?” Jonathan asked with a half smile on his face.
When he heard no voice, it was decided that it was time to move. He had long since stowed his basin back within his travelling pack. The last thing necessary was to set off to the gate.
The plan was fairly easy to grasp. When the group of four hundred moved into the city, the villagers would be placed in the center of the one hundred knights.
As the large force dispatched to the gates, he saw his ten men split into five man squads and part within the woods.
Jonathan could only assume that with Aremesis out of the city, he would only have his supporters stand guard on the city. Even if that were so, no one would suspect a large contingent of their own guard to be cause for worry.
The large cluster of men would serve as a distraction while a group of ten would be in the background knocking out the observing guards.
As they neared the gate, Jonathan counted out the two guards on each side of the large double doors. His contingent was just spotted as the ten knights stealthily knocked them out and dragged their unconscious bodies into the woods on either side of the entrance.
Four of the ten knights took the places of the guards and called up to the tower watch. ”Open the gates, we have a prison transport!” He called out to the oblivious tower guard.
The man looked down from the tower which rose from the gate wall and motioned for the men on the inside to unlock the doors.
As the doors slowly opened to accommodate the large contingent of soldiers, the guard supervisor emerged from the other side with a four man force. Jonathan knew that the four men were meant to be a formality, just as he taught them all those years back. He had counted on the supervisor to be one of the men he trained, so he ensured his position was in the center of the civilians to mask his presence.
Christopher was the one who met the supervisor in front of the massive formation. With a fist over his heart, he gave a formal bow. ”Greetings to the watch of the guard.” he said as he straightened back up. ”We have a large number to be transported to the prison cells.”
The supervisor returned the salute and looked over Christopher's shoulder. ”This many for tax evasion?” he said with a whistle. ”The king is going to have a field day with this one.”
Christopher let out a hearty chuckle. ”Well maybe a month in the cells will empty their pockets.” he said as he looked over his shoulder.
”Oh no, I suppose you haven't heard the latest decree made by High Advisor Aremesis.” The supervisor said with an exasperated look. ”We now only take ten percent of the prisoners to the cells now.”
Christopher's face went slightly pale. ”What happens to the other ninety percent?” he tried to make his voice sound normal.
”We execute them of course.” he said as if it were a normal day conversation. ”There's an execution block within the prison cell. We allow the bodies to fester near the cells to ensure the cell mates learn to follow rules.” he said with a wink.
Christopher returned a heartfelt smile. He would enjoy killing this one himself. ”Then we Will take our leave and escort the prisoners ourself and don't worry,” he added with a playful tone, ”we'll make sure there will be plenty of blood.
As Christopher saluted the supervisor, he tried to walk through the small formation when a hand stopped him. ”I wasn't done yet.” the supervisor said. Christopher instantly stiffened as he felt the atmosphere change within the man before him. ”You would know that if you weren't so out of practice in courtesy.” he said as he placed himself in front of Christopher.
”I don't understand your meaning, I have only been gone a week and I do believe I rendered proper courtesy by saluting you.” Christopher said as he stared the man in the eye.
”Though I'm sure you noticed I didn't return the salute, nor did I end the conversation.” The supervisor said as the group of four surrounded Christopher.
”Maybe we should have you join the prisoners for a little bonding time while we line them up at the chopping block.” The supervisor said as the guards seized Christopher by the arms.
”The rest of you follow me to the prison!” He barked at the rest of the knights who had the prisoners in tow.
Jonathan tensed only for a moment until the man said follow him. If it was a secluded area, he could easily take him and the guards out before they could do any harm to the villagers or Christopher. Acting before they were there wouldn't do anything more than alert More guards.
The gate supervisor took the lead while the hundred strong formation herded the villagers behind.
Through the gate, Jonathan took in the familiar surroundings. Stone buildings three stories tall surrounded them as they were led down the winding carriage wide path.
Looking around, there were some differences that seemed out of place since the last time he travelled to Ebonhart. The path was nit dirt as he remembered, instead it was a fine smoothed stone path. There were lanterns on street posts as well. Jonathan raised an eyebrow as he started seeing wooden benches lining the wide trail.
It wasn't just the surroundings within the walking area that surprised him, but also the lack of people to fill the streets. Every once in a while they came up to a group of three or four villagers which of course flattened themselves against the edge of the road and saluted the officer which passed them.
Taking a closer look at the people they were passing, Jonathan noticed something quite off. The men and women saluted out of what should have been respect, but he only saw fear in their eyes.
The city itself seemed to transform in front of Jonathan. Instead of the many market stalls he had once seen in his last visit, there were now business buildings within the path that led to the castle. With all of the upgrades here it's surprising there isn't anyone around to cater to. He thought as he moved along with the crowd of men and women.
After close to a half an hour the group found themselves at yet another gate which led to the castle. If nothing else, it seemed as if Aremesis had become paranoid in his bout of power. Jonathan remembered the castle being free to the public while the king had still been in charge of his own kingdom. Now it seemed as though the place had been placed on high alert indefinitely.
One, two, Jonathan's eyes darted to the top of the wall, three, four, there were groups of knights patrolling the upper portions of the wall as they walked through the gate. When they were through the archway, Jonathan sighed. This may be more difficult than I previously expected. He thought as formation after formation passed him. By the look of it, there were at least four hundred strong just walking the castle grounds.
Looking around, it seemed like the prison was still within the castle, which seemed to be a blessing. The barracks had been moved to a much larger building off to the side of the castle though. It made sense, whatever Aremesis did within the castle would want to be kept from even the guards.
The towering castle stood in front of them, shadowing the large group in front of it. Jonathan looked to the villagers who surrounded them. Their faces had all gone pale as they looked up at the looming building with complete hopelessness within their eyes. He remembered a time when they would have smiled as they saw the king come out to the court balcony to greet his people with his family.
So much had changed, it was hard to believe that Ebonhart was the same place he knew from all those years back. He listened to what was going on around him carefully. The sound of swords meeting struck his attention. He looked to the side of the castle and noticed a circle of knights with two in the middle sparring. Of to the right of them was a line of knights notching arrows in their boss as they took sight of their practice targets. It seemed as soon as the arrows were notched, they left the goes without more then a seconds hesitation. He looked at the targets and noticed that most of them had hit the red within the straw targets.
Jonathan remembered back in the day when children laughed and played in the same courtyard. Their parents would sit by the trees and watch while their sons and daughters played within the sage and watchful sights of the Crimson Knights.