by Jim Rudnick
Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Dear Reader…
Bones Series
A Message to you from the Author
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
BONES BOOK TWO
Forest Empire
by Jim Rudnick
This is purely a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This book may not be re-sold or given away without permission in writing from the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, copied, or distributed in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means past, present or future.
ISBN-13: 978-1-988144-18-4
Copyright © 2016
Jim Rudnick
All rights reserved.
For my Susan…
Dear Reader…
Thank you for reading this ebook.
If you have borrowed this book through the Kindle Unlimited subscription program, I kindly ask that —
— you click through to the last page of this book when you are finished reading and exit the book!
This will ensure that the author is properly credited for the book borrow…
Thank you…
Jim Rudnick
Bones Book Two: Forest Empire…
"Trapped by a tribe of slavers, Javor and his group fight their way free, only to find that one is never truly free. Engaged by the Regime to act as Ambassadors to the Forest Empire, they travel through more than a hundred miles of dense boreal forests only to be warmly received…and then betrayed.
Now slaves, the group is made to work on the building of the new Pyramid, by pulling huge stones to the building site and then up a ramp for construction—and the fact that the project is way behind makes the whips of the guards sting even more.
When faced with watching a youngster die or doing something, Javor chooses to save her life and in doing so a guard dies. That sentences Javor to the cult’s Mid-Summer games where he will try to outrun the spears of the Shieldsmen—and live…or not…”
A Message to you from the Author…
I just wanted to say thanks so so much for reading Book two of the Bones Series…
As my Amazon bio says, being a youngster in the 1950's meant that I was a voracious reader in what has been called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. That meant that for me, my heroes were not on the hockey rink or gridiron - but instead in my local Library where at 12 I had a full Adult card (thanks Dad!) and took out more than 5 books a week.
Everyone from Heinlein, Norton, Leiber, Pohl, Anderson, Simak, Asimov, Brackett, Gunn, Van Vogt and more....I fell in love with and eventually owned Ace Doubles of my own. And while I never knew who wrote the Tom Corbett - Space Cadet series, I fell in love with them and they had a place of honor on my own bookcase too!
With that kind of an introduction to Science Fiction, it's no wonder that when I got my writing work done, I turned my own fictional side of my brain to writing same. It's one thing I know how to write - and a totally different matter to release same to the world - something that I've just started to work on....
Suffice it to say my own works are rooted in that Golden Age and it's that era that I'd like to one day be known as a teensy contributor to in some small way...
So once again, thanks for beginning my Bones series and wait'll you learn about the world that our hero lands on…
Enjoy and remember, in a series, characters develop and mature not the way we sometimes want…instead, it's like they have a life of their own!
CHAPTER ONE
Thinking that a wakeup call that included banging a garbage can lid with a huge steel bar was about the worst he’d ever heard, Javor slowly rolled to his right and was stopped by the hip of the captive beside him. Slowly sitting up, he rubbed his face with both hands and thought too that lying and sleeping on a plank floor was far from comfortable. His right knee with its alien inserts was fine however, and he suffered none of the cramps that sometimes followed an uncomfortable night’s sleep.
“Rise and shine, slaves. Brekkie in ten minutes, outside bathroom break for one and all—now,” the tribe woman shouted, but she continued to bang against that lid at the same time.
He helped Sue up by an arm, and once everyone was up and on their feet, the woman turned and led the way out of their room back into the barn. Joined by a couple of men with shotguns, she carried the big ring of steel that held all the smaller shackle rings and led the way out of the barn down a slope toward the fields. Only twenty feet or so later, she stopped and said, “Relief time—and I’ve heard it all before. Either pee here or don’t—we don’t care,” and she slid down her leggings and squatted and peed for all to see.
Javor didn’t like it, but then beggars—or rather, captives—can’t be choosers. He slid open the fly on his jumpsuit and aiming straight down, he relieved himself too. He noted that both Wayne and Bruce had formed a bit of a shield for Sue, who squatted, and soon all were once again standing and waiting for breakfast.
When they came back into the barn, the woman with the big ring of steel led them to a short set of tables strung together. She took a foil plate and a plastic fork from the end of the table and then scooped up some eggs and what looked like fried baloney. She made her way slowly toward the hay bales stretched out on that side of the barn. She dropped the big ring with a clatter and took a seat on a bale, and as the captives slowly went through the line, she watched them only haphazardly.
Seems that they trust the shackles mostly, Javor thought. Good to know, and he checked off that shortfall in the tribe’s security.
After the poor tasting eggs and what he now hoped had actually been baloney, he too tossed his plate and utensil over his shoulder back into the bales and looked around.
Most of the men must have already eaten as they were now packing up their supplies, and a couple of them were putting them into overstuffed backpacks. Every once in a while, one would whistle, and a woman would come to pick up a newly packed backpack and then drop it at one of the captive’s sides.
Looks like we do the carrying, Javor thought, and he hoped for a light bag too.
In no more than twenty minutes, the packing was done, and each of the captives had been loaded up with a heavy backpack. Once again, the same woman led them out of the barn with the big steel ring threaded over her shoulder. She looked like she was about thirty with what looked like a big fresh tattoo that was scabbed over all across one of her breasts. While he couldn’t tell exactly what it was, it was an animal of some kind. Her fingernails, he noted, were short and dirty, her leggings had stains on them, and her boots—if one could call them that—were in need of re-soling. That topknot of hair, in her case, was in need of a wash and a brushing at the least.
For a tribe, the women—at least these women, he thought—were very much an unkempt lot.
The men, however, were more the masters here. Each was dressed much better than the women were. Each topknot was shiny and some were braided very intricately too, he noted. Boots were leather and some looked newer than others. On the whole, men were in charge in this tribe—that was obvious.
As they all left the barn, Javor noted their detail. No one took point truly but three men, two with rifles, walked up front. Behind them came the women and then the captives, followed by the remaining few men. Counting, he saw there were two rifles and four shotguns that he could see. He could also see there were no other long arms at all, as they couldn’t be hidden under a sash or a belt. One of the men at the front carried his own Colt—he could see that plainly, so it was a prize for sure. Sue’s pistol he couldn’t account for as yet, but it was still on someone in the group of fifteen tribe members. Only fifteen of them with six long guns and at least two handguns.
And we’ve got a single revolver—with only six rounds. Sounds like a fair fight, he lied to himself, and that got a shrug and a part smile. But what we do have is surprise. Add in the fact that this tribe appears to not be tactically adept—would mean that if we can divide, we can conquer. Over the next mile or so, he had the foresight to let his team know the word NOW meant they were going for it as surprise might work well with their captors. Anything they could lay their hands on to fight back with should be used.
The way ahead was pretty easy, as the captives were led down to Regional Road 17, and then they turned to the left, toward Arlington, Javor knew. He caught Sue’s eye and they both pursed their lips, as they knew they were going to get closer to the Regime somehow. At least they were going in the right direction.
After more than three hours of steady walking on the regional road, the three men up at the front broke their pace and stopped at the side of the road. One of them—the leader as far as Javor knew—gave some orders to the rest of the tribe.
“Amal—you’re in charge. Continue to Bossence, then take the left to go to Omni—just like always. We’ll hunt and meet you at Omni—no mistakes. Do not lose any of our slaves either—each means money to the tribe. But do kill anyone who tries to escape,” he finished off, and around Javor, some of the captives gasped.
He and two riflemen left the roadway then and went off at a trot toward the wood lots a half a mile away.
Amal, the one who was now in charge, went from the back of the grouping and led the way himself along with one of the shotgun men too. That meant one long gun up front and three behind. No visible handguns either.
Javor wondered how far it was to this next town called Bossence, so he asked, “How much further ‘til I can pop a couple of blisters, please?” in a calm polite voice.
That got him a dirty look from the woman with the big steel ring around her shoulder and “Four miles which should pop ‘em for you,” and he knew it was an hour to Bossence, and they turned off the road toward Omni.
“Bossence is where we’ll make our play,” he whispered to Sue, and she passed on the whisper to Bruce and then to Wayne. He got a look from Wayne that seemed to say “here,” and over the next few yards they walked, he and Wayne got closer with Sue moving up ahead and Bruce dropping back a little in the middle.
Wayne suddenly lifted up his left leg, while grabbing onto Javor’s shoulder as he hopped a couple of steps, and Javor drew the pistol and stuffed it in his belt but around the back and under his shirt. Bruce had moved up to cover that, and Sue too had also begun hopping and said, ”Cramps … Goddamn cramps,” and she hopped a few more times until she hobbled. By what they all saw, their subterfuge had worked.
Javor had the gun, no one had noticed the hand off, and they were less than an hour away from the town of Bossence.
How was the next issue. Four long guns and maybe a handgun to overcome …
The walk was still fine along the farm country road; sunny and bright, and if one discounted the hulks of the burned cars and pickups now and then, almost pretty. Farmhouse after farmhouse went by, mostly white clapboard but a couple were the really older type made from red brick and two stories tall. Shutters were on every window, and front porches with settings of chairs were still in place. Driveways that held trucks and a few cars were seen every so often, and barns still looked picture perfect but had not been used in years. Out behind the occasional barn, one could see farming equipment, like combines and tractors, still parked waiting to be used again one day.
Going to be a long time coming, Javor thought as he continued to try to soak up as much of Bones as he could.
Ahead on the right, used for target practice, of course, a sign read Bossence: one mile away.
He knew they were veering off to the left once they reached Bossence, so the play needed to come then.
As they went past the Welcome to Bossence sign, the woman ahead took the big steel ring off her shoulders and rubbed the flesh there that was red. Each of the sub-chains and their connectors had worn a dent into her flesh, and each of them too looked like they hurt.
She carried the ring in her hand, and as they crested a small rise in the road, the downtown of Bossence beckoned.
There was angle parking with several abandoned cars. Garbage was all over the streets. Most of the glass in the various town shops had been long ago broken, and those shards lay everywhere. Cracks in the pavement and asphalt had led to growth of weeds, and in spots, it was pretty thick too, he noted. All in all, Bossence looked like any other small town on Bones … dilapidated, disheveled, and in disrepair.
As they got to the main intersection, the signs on the pole on the right corner read Regional Road 17 straight and County Road 5 to Omni, turn left. They turned left.
About a half block down, Sue called out. “Hey … I gotta go number two real bad—could we have a five-minute break?”
Her voice sounded pretty uptight, Javor thought. The woman at the head of the shackled captives stopped, sighed, and then nodded.
Bruce and Wayne looked around, and seeing some newspapers on the ground, they gathered some up for Sue to use and handed them to her.
“Gonna be loud and messy, it is,” Sue said, and that got the woman upset.
“Hold it … hold it, everybody else sit,” she said as she called out to the men behind them at the rear.
“Billy, come up here and cover these ones, will you? You other two look after the rest of the slaves,” she said as she undid the connector between the sub-chain that held the four of them and the big steel main ring. She dropped the ring on the ground and then motioned for the four of them to follow her.
Sue led the way on their short shackles, followed by Javor and then Wayne and Bruce and well back, Billy and his shotgun.
They went down the street a few stores and past an empty lot, and at the edge of the line of storefronts, the woman poked her head into what had once been a women’s clothing store, and after a quick look, she shoved Sue only inside the door.
“Here … get it over with,” she said, and she motioned for them all to sit.
With only ten feet of chain, Sue did her best to get some privacy.
Javor watched Billy carefully.
Sue yelled from inside, ”There’s rats in here!” and the sounds of her scrambling on the tile floor carried outside.
The woman rose up as Billy got closer too, and Javor thought, NOW, and then he yelled, “Now!”
He half-turned against the wall of the store, drew the pistol, thumbed off the safety, and shot Billy once in the body. Billy went down, shotgun at his feet.
Bruce was closest and he used his ten feet of chain to frog leg over to the fallen tribe member, and he scooped up the shotgun right away.
Sue came out of the women’s clothing store swinging, and down the tribal woman went after taking a solid right cross to the chin.
Out on the street, Amal and his man up front turned at the noise, and before the man with the shotgun could even raise it up, Bruce sprayed him twice and down he went.
Javor’s attention was on the two shotguns behind them, and after leaning on the edge of the women’s clothing store doorway and supporting the pistol properly, he put two shots into the one on the right who went down, shotgun flying away.
The sound of the other tribe member’s shotgun returning fire was loud, an
d the blast got them all in some way.
Sue and Bruce got a couple of pellets in the arm. Wayne was crouching down below the blast, and he suddenly rose up and threw a perfectly pitched rock right at the man with the shotgun.
Bixby suddenly charged right at the man, which was a big surprise. Where he’d come from and how he’d known to attack at that instant was hard to understand, but as he grabbed the man by the calf, he ripped and tore at his flesh.
The tribe member screamed, kicked Bixby off, grunted, and then knelt to re-load as Javor once again braced his arm with support and slowly squeezed off a shot and missed. Went high, he thought as he used his last shell to knock the man over, his shotgun not even loaded yet.
Score was us one, them zero … he thought, and then he took stock.
Among the captives were the four men, young men looking pretty fit, dressed in camouflage, who’d known what was going on. One of them had even been able to grab the shotgun, and he stood looking at them. He pumped the gun once, and out flew an unused shell, which he quickly reloaded.
Javor said quietly to his group, “Let’s stand down. Chains first.” He nodded at Sue who slowly went through the pockets on the leggings of the knocked-out woman who had led them so far.
“Got it,” she said as she pulled out a single key and then undid first herself, then Javor, then Wayne, and finally Bruce.
Javor nodded. “Bruce, collect the rest of the tribe, put ‘em all in a single line across the street, and have them sit on the curb. And bring Amal to me when you’re done, and search every one of them better than they did,” he said, keeping the revolver covering as much of the tribe as he could.