Lords of Freedom 2 - Chapter 15

Introduction

Lords of Freedom is an exciting trilogy that includes adventure, realistic action, surprising insights, and a touch of romance. (Movie rights open)

The serialization of Lords of Freedom book one is complete, with all 33 chapters published in the Gene Van Shaar Substack. Here is the link to all the chapters: Lords 1

The serialization of Lords of Freedom 2 (book 2 of the trilogy) is in progress. Lords of Freedom 2 includes many intriguing parallels with Joan of Arc, George Washington, Francis Marion (The Swamp Fox), Henry Knox, and the American Revolutionary War. Chapters of book 2 are being published weekly. Please follow and subscribe on X or Substack.

Lords of Freedom 2 - Chapter 15 - Building Trust

The two armies converged in a large windswept field, filling the air with gun and cannon fire. Birds squawked in alarm, launching airborne from tree branches as peacefully grazing deer bolted for cover. Shouts from the fighting men rang out as smoke from the fired weapons darkened the day.

First Lieutenant Marius Knox knew at once that the Freemen were not only outnumbered but outmatched. The Kingmen soldiers were well-trained and fought with practiced menace. They had better weapons and more of them, making the battle a hopeless one.

The Freemen soldiers were comprised of farmers, merchants, and fishermen, untrained, by and large, but united in determined zeal. Their forefathers had discovered and settled this land, and they refused to bow any longer to the distant king.

Watching comrade after comrade fall, Knox realized the Freemen troops would be wiped out if they didn’t retreat. Spotting General Stumps a little way off, he looked to his next in command, Lindsey, with the words: “Cover me.”

Lindsey, astride his speckled gelding, Redd, nodded, and Knox galloped off. Bullets whizzed all around, and he leaned in low, feeling the palomino’s mane on his cheek. Lindsey was the Freemen’s best rifleman and picked off one Kingmen soldier after the next, allowing Knox to reach Stumps.

“General,” Knox panted. “We need to fall back and regroup. Out in the open, fighting like this? We’re doomed.”

Just then, arrows flew from the trees all around, hitting Kingmen and Freemen alike. War whoops rang out all around from warriors indigenous to the land. The Kingmen general, Banastre, ordered cannons to be fired into the forest from all sides.

He was a large man with dark hair and a bushy beard. His horse was a buckskin bay stallion, distinctive with the swatch of buckskin in his dark mane. Banastre wheeled the stallion toward Stumps and Knox, bellowing a war cry of his own.

“Good soldiers fight face to face, not from the brush like the savage natives. Continue the advance,” General Stumps ordered; then he spurred his horse toward Banastre and raised his rifle.

Banastre fired first, and Stumps tumbled to the ground, shot through the heart. Banastre, in turn, reeled back in his saddle, hit in the shoulder by the bullet Stumps had fired. He kept his seat, though, and prompted his stallion to rear with a fearsome whinny.

Knox gaped—both awed and demoralized at the sight. Then he blew out a breath and headed back toward Lindsey. As the Freemen general now, with Stumps dead, he raised a bugle to his lips.

At the retreat call, the Freemen pulled back, following Knox and Lindsey, now First Lieutenant, onto the road they’d marched in on. Thankfully, the Kingmen did not pursue, forced to defend against the natives still firing arrows from the forest fringe.

Since settling in this new land, great and prosperous cities had been built with smooth dirt roads connecting them. King Horace had laid out decree after decree, infringing on every aspect of the people’s lives. As well, taxes increased every year, until this one, when King Horace added an exorbitant tribute to be paid each quarter.

Tension and resentment had been building all along, but this was a step too far, and the majority of citizens rejected the tribute outright. Not only that, they stopped paying the imposed taxes. Official word was sent to the kingdom, declaring independence and claiming the new land a country unto itself.

King Horace dispatched soldiers post haste to quash the uprising before it took hold. The settlers, however, refused to bend the knee and drove the squad off. That was a declaration of war, and King Horace dispatched his mighty army, comprised of land and sea forces, to bring the rebels to heel. They’d been battling ever since.

When the remaining Freemen reached the shore of Lake Saginaw, Knox stopped them to assess their numbers and patch up ranks. All their cannons were behind in the field, lost to them, which was a heavy blow, in addition to so many men lost.

“Knox?”

Marius turned in Bridger’s saddle. Lindsey was pointing out over the lake where a large ship was sailing in. He squinted; it wasn’t a Freemen navy vessel, nor was it one from the kingdom, and he wondered from whence it hailed.

He forgot all about the strange ship, though, when a hail of bullets and arrows streamed in from all sides. General Banastre, likely leading his men in pursuit of the natives, had stumbled upon them and was intent on finishing the Freemen troop off. The natives were unconcerned about which army’s soldiers fell to their arrows. Both armies were invaders to them.

“Retreat!” Knox shouted. “Back onto the road; then line up back to back.”

It was all he could think of to do in such a dire situation, cornered and now seriously outnumbered. He then commissioned a few men to form a rearguard as the battle intensified.

At last, the Freemen made their way off the road into a clearing. There’d been a massive rockslide there, evidenced by the number of large boulders piled and strewn about. This provided much-needed cover, and they continued the heroic fight, the goal now being to survive the day.

Another of the men, Reece, found a peephole between two of the rocks and shouted for Knox to join him. When he did, Knox saw that the strange ship had beached and dropped anchor. Stranger still was the huge black tiger that sprang onto the shore. On board the ship was a blond woman armed with a bow and a sandy-haired man with a rifle in hand.

With a fearsome roar, the tiger charged the Kingmen, swiping soldier after soldier to the ground. Those who did not flee she ravaged. From the bow of the ship, the man raised his rifle and the woman her bow, helping clear the lakeshore of Kingmen.

Knox watched with wonder as Kingmen bullets and arrows fired by the natives did not harm the tiger, as though unseen armor protected her. Buoyed with new hope, Knox ordered his men back into the fray. As they charged in, Lindsey and Reece flanked their general, backing the tiger’s ferocious attack.

“She never misses,” Lindsey said, gazing at the woman on the bow of the ship. “Her bow is different than any I’ve seen—look at its shape.”

Lindsey was of average height and well-muscled with sandy blond hair and brown eyes. In battle, he was fearsome, but otherwise, he was amiable and known for telling jokes and pulling harmless pranks.

“Her arrows fly farther than any I’ve ever seen—even those fired by a man,” Reece observed as the last of the Kingmen fled onto the road.

He was a burly man with shaggy black hair and a full beard. His eyes were blue, and his skin weathered, from long days surveying and exploring under the blazing sun.

“The man could give you a run for your money, Lindsey,” Knox added.

Knox was a man large in stature with dark wavy hair and a trace of stubble across his cheeks and chin. His eyes were hazel-colored and sharp, missing nothing and seeming ever to ponder.

Meanwhile, the tiger had moved out of sight into the trees. In moments, more ferocious roars filled the air along with panicked cries from the natives. The foliage rustled noisily—evidence of their desperate retreat; then the day fell quiet and still.

Moments later, the black tiger loped back into view. The men tensed, but Knox raised a hand, signaling them to hold at the ready. The tiger seemed to be on their side, but he couldn’t be certain.

“Which of you is Marius Knox?” the man aboard the ship called.

Knox urged Bridger forward and raised a hand.

“I am Xan and this is my wife Honbria,” the man called back, joining hands with the woman. “The black tiger is Sheba; do not fear, she will not harm you.”

Sheba slowed to a walk and then stopped before Knox, gazing into his eyes intently. Bridger tossed his head but did not flinch—in fact, none of the horses did, as though facing a huge tiger was all in a day’s work. Perhaps it was, after the dire battle they’d survived.

Mesmerized, Knox realized the tiger was intelligent in a manner uncommon to her kind. Further, this close-up, he could see faint grey stripes in her fur. When he glanced over at Lindsey and Reece, each of them shrugged.

“We owe you many thanks; I fear the Kingmen and natives would have wiped us out if not for your arrival,” Knox called then, after a pause, added, “Where, exactly, are you from?”

“We are Guardians of Freedom sent from a distant place to aid in your fight to liberate this land,” Xan replied. “Come aboard, all of you. We have much to discuss. There are stalls for the horses, and one of the salons is prepared to treat those injured.”

*****

Once the injured men were tended to and the horses settled, everyone gathered in the galley. There was a spread of bread, cheese, mutton, and fruit laid out on a large oblong table, and the men tucked in without delay. Sheba was in the far corner gnawing on a meaty bone, unnoticed until the bone snapped in her mighty jaws.

Everyone stopped eating, glasses and utensils suspended in mid-air to watch her. She took no apparent heed, snapping down to crack the bone again. Looks of unease washed over every face, in particular Lindsey’s.

His chair was nearest the corner, and he turned it halfway around to keep tabs on the feasting tiger. Pausing at last in her meal, Sheba looked up at him with a soft growl. He tensed, his hand moving reflexively to the pistol on his belt.

“Do not fear, Lindsey,” Xan said. “As we said earlier, Sheba means you no harm.”

“She’s purring, actually,” Hon said, with a smile. “She must like you.”

Lindsey furrowed his brow, but scooted his chair back around and picked up his fork. He muttered something under his breath, but when Knox leaned in, he just shook his head.

As the meal continued, they chatted and got better acquainted. Reece asked Hon about her bow, remarking on her skill and strength. Learning that the bow was specially crafted to enhance its range and aim intrigued everyone, though Xan assured them all that Hon was a skilled and practiced archer with any bow.

Lindsey, relaxed at last, asked Xan about the rifle he’d used in the battle. Xan described the grooved barrels the rifle had and explained how significant that feature was.

Then he continued: “Hon and I, along with Sheba, are here to help you and your countrymen gain independence in this land. We will provide you with groove-barreled weapons once we’re ready to begin training. All of you will notice a great improvement in your range and aim, which will be crucial in defeating the Kingmen.”

“Who stands as general?” Hon asked. “You, Marius?”

Knox nodded. “I was First Lieutenant to General Stumps until the Kingmen general, Banastre, shot him down in the course of the battle.”

Nodding over, he added, “Lindsey serves as First Lieutenant now.”

Lindsey inclined his head, but then straightened in his chair. Sheba had passed by; close enough to brush his arm as she moved to stand next to Xan.

“Was losing your general what cost the battle?” Hon asked, watching the two.

Lindsey shook his head, looking away from Sheba. “It wasn’t that. Knox took over with confidence. By the time Stumps fell, the writing was on the wall, so to speak.”

“If Stumps hadn’t fallen, I fear all of us would have died today,” Reece said darkly. “Despite being sorely outnumbered, he just wouldn’t stop, even with so many brave soldiers dying.”

“That is unfortunate,” Hon said. “I’m glad Knox saved as many of you as he did.”

Knox cleared his throat, moved that his two top men were so quick to speak for him. “I served under General Stumps with honor and followed his every command, although many times I disagreed with his strategy. Maybe I should have resisted and heeded my own common sense, but it’s too late for that now.”

“You are correct, but defying him would have caused chaos within your ranks and cost even more lives. The military must be unified in their chain of command; only in the direst situation should there be mutiny—the general being mentally unstable or purposefully betraying his country,” Xan said.

“General Stumps was perfectly sane and bent on winning the skirmish; he was a lot of things, but he was no traitor,” Reece said.

“Stopping on the lakeshore in our retreat got us ambushed, but I wanted to assess the men’s injuries, something I should have waited on. I thought the hostile natives would keep the Kingmen occupied in the field, but Banastre took the offensive. Our cause is just, but we are losing.” Marius said.

“Victory and defeat start in the mind and heart. If you give up, you will lose. If you have faith in freedom, yourself, and your men, you will prevail.” Xan said. “Will you accept our help in your cause and allow us to train and prepare you?”

Marius conferred with his men and then replied, “We accept your offer. You have improved weapons for us, but we need reinforcements...and better strategy. We are willing to fight—even die for freedom. Where do we start?”

“First off, we need a base of operation in an area little known by the Kingmen and easy to defend. Do any of you know of such a place?”

Reece straightened in his seat. “I know an ideal spot. It’s an inlet bay surrounded by a very high cliff. I ran onto it just before the war started—exploring and mapping out sites for new cities and towns.”

“Is this place far from here?” Hon asked. “I imagine the cliff would provide cover for the ship and high ground for patrolling guards.”

“It would indeed,” Reece confirmed. “It’s a good day’s ride from here, but sailing? We could reach it in a few hours.”

“Lindsey, spread the map out,” Knox said.

His First Lieutenant nodded, reaching for the satchel draped over his chair. Quickly, the dishes were cleared to make room, and Lindsey laid the map out, swiveling it to face Xan and Hon. He, Knox, and Reece leaned in while the others craned their necks to see as best they could.

Reece pointed to a spot next to a blue area marked Lake Saginaw. “Here’s where we are now.”

As he slid his finger across the map, Reece continued: “Lake Saginaw drains into the Pee Dee River, which opens into the sea at various points. The Pee Dee River is massive and will accommodate your ship for a short sail to this point.”

Through the area on the map representing the sea, Reece ran his finger along, stopping at yet another point where land was represented again. “This is where the inlet is, more or less.”

“Not even marked on the map,” Xan mused.

“Nope.” Reece leaned back in his chair.

“Perfect,” Xan and Hon said in unison.

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