Ryan shook the man hard. “Start walking.”
Suddenly there was a commotion on the wall, and a metal gong began to sound. The sec man on the beach started running back at top speed.
“More coming,” Jak announced, clicking back the hammer on his damp pistol.
Instantly J.B. worked the bolt on his Uzi and swung the weapon back and forth. “Where?” he demanded anxiously. “Which direction, dammit!”
Shocked at the outburst, Krysty stared at the man until she noticed how hard J.B. was squinting. Soaking wet, the Armorer was dressed as always, combat boots, Army fatigues, fingerless gloves, leather bomber jacket and tilted fedora. But his wire-rimmed glasses were gone. Without those, the gunner was nearly blind.
“To the right,” Mildred said softly, moving behind the man.
Turning fast, J.B. triggered a burst into the air in that general direction, and the sec men stopped in their tracks. The stutter of the rapidfire echoed across the harbor like a million ghostly blasters.
“Cease firing!” a new voice commanded as the gates of the ville swung open wide.
The companions formed a firing line as a group of armed men walked from the gateway. Most held flintlock muskets, a few hastily loading crossbows, but one man was a bald giant, taller than even Ryan. All muscle, the goliath was wider than two men, and stood bare chested, bandoliers of brass ammo crisscrossing his Herculean torso. Cryptic tattoos in swirling patterns covered both arms, and matching knives with carved bone handles were sheathed at the belt buckle. The baron carried a huge revolver in each hand, a steel Magnum and an Old West revolver, the black-powder blaster very similar to the monstrous LeMat carried by Doc.
“So they’re not hot,” the baron stated as a greeting. “Corporal Williams, you’re a fool.”
“The outlanders lie, my liege,” the prisoner countered.
The aim of his hand cannons never wavering for a moment, Baron Langford glanced at a shiny device strapped on his wrist.
“No, it’s the truth,” he announced. “I can tell these things. Corporal, you wasted pounds of black powder for no reason, and chilled a dozen of my men. Guards, put him in the cage. The little one.”
“No!” the corporal screamed, and struggled to break away from Ryan.
Curious to see what would happen, the Deathlands warrior released the man. The corporal staggered away and then pulled a small concealed knife from his boot, plunging it into his belly. Before he could do so again, the guards had him in their grip.
“Leave the knife there, it’ll make his time more…memorable,” Langford directed as the guards carefully carried the bleeding prisoner into the ville. The bleeding man continued to beg for death until he was out of sight. Now the baron turned his attention to the companions.
“Unusual blasters,” he said.
Ryan didn’t reply.
“No smoke when the rapidfire fired.”
“Wanna see it again?” J.B. offered.
“Not right now.” Langford weighed the answers. “I’m Langford, baron of this ville. Who are you?”
“Nobody important,” Ryan replied.
A crowd of people had gathered at the gate in the brick wall, slaves holding brooms, pregnant women, children, a blacksmith in a leather apron, his face burned from the forge, probably most of the ville. None were venturing out of the short tunnel, but watched from within the barrier.
“I saw the skiffs. Is the Constellation damaged somewhere on a beach?” Langford asked pointedly.
“Sunk by pirates,” Ryan answered, seeing no reason to lie. “Jones and the others chilled in the harbor were all that remained of the crew.”
Blast. Years of salvage and repairs gone. Men could be easily replaced, but not the ship. He had dozens of dugout canoes, a couple of trawlers and the racing yacht, but nothing like the oceangoing Constellation.
A scream wassailed from within the ville, the onlookers cringing at the sound. The sec men chuckled and nudged each other with their elbows.
“Williams has been introduced to the cage,” Langford said, smirking.
“Don’t care,” Ryan said bluntly. “We’re here to trade with you, not him.”
The baron pretended to think for a minute. “I’ll swap you a dozen slaves for that rapidfire.”
Ryan shook his head. “No deal.”