At that they could load only a relatively small portion of the grain stored there. Then a long line of grinning townsmen was let inside, and the rest of the grain began disappearing out the gates on their shoulders.
The reeve and his chief deputy were turned over to a local “committee of justice.” The A-frame was already being converted to a gallows, and briefly the committee discussed whether to “merely” hang them there, or to flog them and then hang them. Meanwhile Jeremid had a newly named “rebel X” slashed in the forehead of each captured soldier, with the warning that any of them recaptured in Gurtho’s service would definitely be executed. His advice was to leave the country till the rebellion was over, to avoid being forced back into service.
Jeremid had arrived none too soon, a captive told them. A count’s platoon was expected the next day, with a wagon train to haul the tax grain to Teklapori.
After the raid on the bailiffs’ strongholds, Kithro had begun operating a rational supply system for the rebel force, assessing the hillsmen a lighter equivalent of the royal tax, which he pointed out was no longer being collected, a tax which would be used to secure and support their own freedom.
Meanwhile, problems of logistics and space had worsened. The camp was well-located for security, but with the growth of Macurdy’s Company, it had too little pasture for its horses and cattle. And with more and more recruits, supplying them over rough trails by packhorse was becoming impossible. So they moved to a much more accessible area, taking over public pasture accessible by wagons from the North Fork Road.
There crews were detailed daily to build longhouses: cutting, dragging, and fitting logs, splitting out roof planks and shakes, and building mud and stick fireplaces. The hillsmen were handy and cheerful at almost every sort of work, and morale remained strong. Partly because they were busy, partly because they could see so much progress, and partly because they had no doubt that with Macurdy’s leadership, this rebellion was going to succeed.
Gurtho, and not “the flatlanders,” had become the focus. Macurdy continually made a point of their common cause, Gurtho being hated by both. As for what they might do when Gurtho had been thrown down, time would tell.
Meanwhile, Gurtho had embarked on a campaign to gain the affection of the Teklan commons, throwing a large and costly party in every town and major village to celebrate the eleventh anniversary of his coronation. It might have worked to a degree, if people hadn’t had to sit through a speech, ill written and mostly ill read, on the virtues of King Gurtho and the dangers of the Kullvordi. If the virtues of Gurtho had been left out, it might have worked to a degree. As it was, both peasants and townsfolk failed to cheer it. What they cheered were the whole roast oxen, the bushels of roasted early corn, and the barrels of beer. Local musicians were paid to play, and people danced till they dropped from beer or exhaustion, or found a partner to have sex with in the shadows.
And of course, none of the counts, reeves, or bailiffs told Gurtho that the speech had failed, for Gurtho himself had written it, and he was highly sensitive to criticism. He’d had Idri read it in advance, for her opinion, and had she been honest with him, it might have been repaired. But she’d praised it. For Sarkia’s ambassadrix sent two couriers a week to the Cloister, and received two. And the Dynast had quietly changed her position regarding the existing king of Tekalos.
* * *
Eight-Month was well underway, and the rebel ranks grew daily. One day after lunch, Macurdy, Kithro, Melody and Jesker began to go over the table of organization together. Wollerda had a raid in mind, a lot bigger than anything they’d done before, that required cooperation from Macurdy’s Force. As yet, though, Macurdy had no units larger than companies—108 officers and men each, following the Ozian system. All in all he had 736 officers and men, as of the day before, but in his opinion, fewer than half had had enough training to be sent into battle, with many of those being only marginally ready.