Moral Stand (Aether’s Revival Book 7)

Gregory rode at the head of his unit; they’d left Coldwood behind four hours prior. His men were prepared for what was going to happen. Gregory had done all he could to make sure that no innocents or his men would be the ones to be harmed, as long as the units did exactly as they’d been instructed.

The caged wagon came into view ahead of them. Gregory kept the same steady pace as he looked at the group coming down the small hill. Twenty-four men in patchwork armor surrounded the slaves held inside a wagon. At the front of the group, riding atop a horse, was their leader. Dressed in the best imperial armor he could buy, the man was an impressive figure. As the two groups got closer to each other, Gregory could see the smug smile on his face.

“Magi,” the leader of the slavers called out as they approached, “I’m glad to see you.”

Gregory slowed his approach, holding up his hand so his men did the same. “Why is that?”

“I have a few too many beasts. Artok would make me pay more than an honest man should to make sure they’re branded. Why don’t we come to an arrangement? I’m sure an adept like you would appreciate some extra vela, hmm?”

Gregory pulled Legacy to a halt. “What’s your name, sir?” Keeping his voice neutral took work, but he managed it.

“Pelton, Magi. Flint Pelton. This is my band, Pelton’s Plunderers. Maybe you’ve heard of us? We’ve brought the best slaves into Coldwood for over a decade now.”

Gregory dismounted; as he did, Dot darted forward to take the reins. Gregory gave her a nod and walked closer to Pelton, who was dismounting, as well. Pelton tied his reins off to one of the oxen’s horns.

“Artok always tacks on a little extra when I bring more than ten in,” Pelton said. “If you’d be willing to drop the extra charge, I’d be more than happy to let you brand them. If you have the stones on you, that is.”

Gregory looked past Pelton to the wagon. “Do you mind if I look in?”

“I’m sure we can come to a non-monetary arrangement if you want one of them,” Pelton chuckled. “I’d suggest you get one that’s been trained, though. The new ones are… an acquired taste.”

The eurtik in the wagon looked defeated. None of them had the fire that the moose eurtik woman had in the last group. All of them had wounds, but the majority seemed to have had at least some kind of medical attention— bandages were visible among the huddled people.

“They look pretty roughed up,” Gregory said.

“Always are. This group learned pretty quickly to settle down. Only took two examples to make the point. The bane beasts would’ve feasted on them by now.”

Gregory’s hand shook for a second as he resisted the urge to punch Pelton. He walked around the wagon, making sure to look at each of the slavers as he went. The men around the wagon were lax, and they had reason to be— they were only hours away from Coldwood.

Making it back to the front, Gregory motioned to his men before turning back to Pelton. A smile came to Gregory as he spoke, “I counted fifteen slaves. Is that correct?”

“Yeah?” Pelton said, confused on why Gregory called his men forward.

“Very well. I just need to see your paperwork.”

Pelton’s brow furrowed. “What?”

“Your paperwork to capture eurtik, including your license to do so.”

Pelton’s lips thinned. “Magi, you’re choosing the wrong man to extort.”

“It’s not extortion. It’s the law,” Gregory said firmly, his naginata appearing in his hand.

As if that was a signal, his men rushed forward to insert themselves between the slave wagon and the slavers, facing outward. One squad stayed back with the wagon, as one future had Pelton rush at Barny, Polka, Dot, Rafiq, and the boys.

“What in Krogg’s name are you doing, Magi?!” Pelton hissed. He backed away from Gregory, his hand dropping to his sword.

“Enforcing the laws. All you have to do is show me the legal paperwork for your activities. Failure to have the forms means you will be taken into custody. You’ll also be banned for a year from capturing eurtik if you do not have your license. That goes for you and all of your men. Now, present the forms or surrender.”

Pelton’s eyes darted from Gregory to his men, then to the magi guards, who looked grim and ready to kill. He was weighing the odds of his men being able to kill Gregory’s unit while he killed the magi.

“Artok will have your hide!” Pelton hissed as he took his hand off his sword. “This one windfall will not save you from his displeasure.”

“Keys to the cage,” Gregory said, letting his naginata go back into his ring, ignoring Pelton’s comment as he held out his empty hand. “Gentlemen, lay down your weapons. You’re all under arrest for breaking the slave laws. Once you’re bound and your weapons are secure, we’ll be heading to Coldwood.”

The slavers glared at Gregory’s men, most of them looking at Pelton for orders. Two of Pelton’s men weren’t about to let their payday go that easily— both men drew their swords, but they didn’t make it three feet before they were skewered by two naginata each.

The sudden attack and deaths got a couple more to try to avenge their brethren, leading to another three deaths. That set off a chain reaction as the rest of the slavers attacked en masse.

Pelton’s sword was out of his scabbard at the same moment. He knew it would take a second for Gregory to summon his weapon, and he was at arm’s length, a terrible place for a polearm. With his men committed, he joined them. It’d be easy enough to make the dead guard unit look to have been killed by a band of eurtik, even if it meant using a slave or two to frame the scene. As he thrust his sword at Gregory, his eyes went wide in shock and desperation.

Gregory had known that today would be a massacre; it had weighed on him the entire day. The only other options were letting Pelton take the slaves into Coldwood or letting them kill the eurtik. With the first attack, Gregory had put his hand behind his back, summoning the wakizashi he kept in his ring. When Pelton lunged, Gregory was already stepping in to bat his sword arm up while the small blade came up under his chin.

Leaving the sword in Pelton’s body, Gregory summoned his naginata and joined his men in dispatching the rest of the slavers. When the last of them lay dead, Gregory cleaned his weapon before storing it.

“Two elbows gashed, sir,” Davis said, having already handed out the medicine for the injured men.

Gregory took a slow breath, which didn’t help with the air thick with blood and guts. “Thank you, Lieutenant. Get my sword from Pelton, and retrieve the keys, too, please.”

“Yes, sir,” Davis said.

Gregory turned to the eurtik, who were all wide-eyed. None of them could believe the magi and his guard had just slaughtered their captors in less than a minute. Seeing the fear on all their faces, Gregory exhaled. “Is there a leader among you?”

It took a few seconds before one of the women said, “I was the elder’s daughter, Magi.”

“Your village is new, or has it been raided before?” Gregory asked.

“We were new, but it was all ash when…” She cut off, swallowing back the anger and sorrow.

“I’m sorry,” Gregory said softly. “In a minute, I’m going to unlock the door. I’m asking you to go north, farther than your old village. Get to safety, please. The slavers will be angry over the next year or two, and I’d like you to not be captured again.”

“What?”

“These men broke laws, as they’ve done for a very long time,” Gregory said. “They didn’t have the legal right to capture slaves. I’m enforcing those laws this year. I’ll be freeing you, so please don’t be in a place for others to catch you again.”

Every eurtik in the cage stared at him.

“The key and your sword, sir,” Davis said, holding them out to him. The blade had been wiped clean.

Gregory took them, absorbing his sword back into his ring. “Thank you, Davis.”

“You’re going to free us?” the woman asked, as if not believing herself.

“Yes, but I’m going to ask you to flee. Stay together, get to safety, and tell others they should be worried for after summer passes. I’ll be rotated out this summer… if not before.” He walked where the door to the cage was. Unlocking it, he opened it and stepped aside. “I’m sorry.”

The eurtik hesitantly got out of the wagon, expecting to be stabbed by Gregory or his men. When no one moved toward them, they quickly fled into the trees. The exodus was swift, but the one woman paused as she climbed out.

“Who are you?”

“That isn’t important,” Gregory said softly.

“We should thank the man who freed us.”

“Gregory Pettit. My clan is Aether’s Guard.”

Clapping her closed fists to her chest, she bowed to him. “Our deepest thanks. I’ll make sure they reach safety.”

“Thank you,” Gregory said. “I hope one day for things to change, but today, all I can do is enforce the laws.”

“That’s more than we’d hoped for.” With another bow, she rushed off after the others.

“Sir, what do we do with the dead?” Davis asked.

“Put them into the wagon. We’re going back to Coldwood. Waiting to do this won’t make it any better.”

“Yes, sir.”

~*~*~

The men were just about done gathering the dead when Davis and the sergeants approached him. “Sir, we had a suggestion,” Davis said.

Gregory pulled himself from his thoughts to focus on them. “Go ahead.”

“We could just stage the wagon and bodies off the road to make it look like the eurtik attacked and freed the prisoners. That’d push the trouble with Magus Artok to later, as we could say we never knew they’d been killed. They might’ve been killed after we passed through.”

Gregory considered the suggestion— it would definitely make some things much easier. No one would know for a day or more about the dead, giving them deniability. But in the end, it would drive the fervor to enslave eurtiks to new heights. The records had shown him that, anytime a slaver group was killed off, the opportunists would go out to bring even more eurtik in. It would be pushing his problems off onto the victims.

“No. I appreciate the thought, but it would do more harm than good. These men attacked a magi guard unit. They condemned themselves. That’s better for us, and them,” he lifted his chin toward the woods. “It’s better that we take this on our shoulders.”

“Very well, sir,” Davis saluted.

“We’ll be trying to leave the city tomorrow after my talk with the magus. It’ll put us a little later to start than normal, but we’ll make do. As soon as we get to Coldwood, I’ll be going to speak with Roberts. Keep the men in the barracks tonight— word will spread too fast for me to make sure they’re safe.”

“Yes, sir,” Townson saluted.

“We did the right thing, sir,” Glasson said.

Gregory blinked, pushing down the last lingering emotions he’d had since killing Pelton. “We did. They attacked us, and we defended, all because they broke the laws and couldn’t accept their just due.”

“We’re ready to go when you are, sir,” Bunson said.

“Form the men up. Who’s leading the oxen?”

“Dot said she would, sir,” Donald said.

“A eurtik bringing slavers into town? Ironic, but fitting,” Gregory snorted. “Let’s get moving.”

~*~*~

The gate guards were out in force as Gregory led his unit toward them. Most of them were on the wall over the gate, watching from above. The rumors of a wagon full of dead men were already starting to spread.

The same sergeant who’d seen them leave that morning was there as they came back. “Magi, what happened? Was it the eurtik?”

“No,” Gregory said flatly. “These men attacked myself and my unit. Make sure their bodies are taken care of. Their gear and goods are to be sold, and the money raised is to be used for their families. I’ll be making a full report to Commander Roberts.”

The sergeant was trying to regain his mental footing. “They attacked you, sir?”

“Yes.”

“Did they not bring any slaves with them?” a guard off to the side asked another guard, but in the silence of the moment, it reached Gregory.

“The eurtik these men had captured were sent home,” Gregory said, looking directly at the guard. “These men didn’t have the paperwork to be slavers. That’s why they attacked us. They didn’t want to be arrested for breaking the laws.”

Silence fell again.

Gregory looked at the assembled guards. “The laws will be followed; you can make sure others know that. Now, handle the wagon and dead.”

“Yes, sir,” the sergeant said quickly before barking orders at his men.

Gregory gave Davis a nod, then rode away from his unit.

~*~*~

Gregory tied his horse up outside the command post. Giving the man on duty outside a nod, he went inside, not stopping to talk. The guard quietly hoped that he wasn’t the reason for the normally-affable magi being taciturn.

“Commander, we need to talk,” Gregory said as he went in after being told to.

Roberts stood up. “What happened?”

Gregory took a seat across from him. “Slavers.”

Roberts sat back down. “Didn’t you just leave this morning?” Even as he asked that question, he saw the spots of blood marring Gregory’s clothing.

“We found a group coming back to the city a few hours out. They were being led by Pelton.”

“Flint Pelton has been capturing eurtik for a decade… wait. You said ‘were.’ Past tense.”

“When I asked them to produce their paperwork, things went badly. Two of his men attacked mine. The moment they were cut down, the rest of the slavers attacked, including Pelton, who was refusing to hand over his paperwork or the key to the cage.”

“Mortum’s mercy…” Roberts sighed.

“Their bodies were left with your gate guards. I gave them orders as to how to handle them and their possessions.”

“Which I’m sure are in line with the laws,” Roberts nodded. “I’ll follow up on it. Artok will be upset. Pelton was one of his best sources for extra income.”

“I’m sure. Artok owes me, though, so I should weather this displeasure. What comes next will be bad, both from the magi in the towns, and the powerful with a vested interest in slavery.”

“You’ll likely be seeing another assassin or two.”

“I’m aware. I won’t be easy for them to deal with. Are you still behind me now that the ball is rolling?”

Roberts nodded. “I am. I’ll need the report first thing in the morning.”

“Davis will be bringing it by.”

“They might not go directly after you, you know,” Roberts said slowly.

“My men are prepared for backlash.”

“Good. I’d hate to see them be the ones caught in this.” Silence fell between them for a couple of seconds before Roberts sighed. “Where did it all go wrong, Pettit?”

“The First War,” Gregory said softly. “There were many points where things might’ve gone differently. Peace was sought by the eurtik, but the emperor refused. Lighthand’s journals talk about it; it was where he started to have misgivings about the war. Even then, in the Second War, things could’ve changed some, but the empire just redoubled their stance on slavery.”

“Pity…” Roberts murmured.

“I’ve been to Buldoun. While full eurtiks aren’t seen as equals there, those of mixed blood were. Even full eurtik aren’t as hated as they are here.”

“That would be something to see. I doubt it’ll be in my lifetime, but maybe in a few generations, you’ll make a big enough name for yourself that you can help change things.”

Gregory chuckled. “Maybe. I wanted you to be warned as soon as I could about the slavers. Your men were already starting up the rumor mill. I’ll be leaving right after my meeting with Artok in the morning.”

“Just going to head back out like normal?”

“Yes. We’ll be a little late getting to Icelake, but that’ll be fine. From today onward, my schedule will not be ‘normal.’ I’m sure that’ll make some people’s plans difficult.”

“Just be safe, Pettit. You’re painting a large target on your back.”

“By following the laws.” Gregory snorted as he stood. “Just do me a favor and keep reiterating that bit? In time, things will calm down enough that the full truth will win out. The short term will see my name trashed, but that’s fine. I can live with that easier than I could doing nothing.”

Roberts stood, extending his hand. “Good luck tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Commander.”