two mencould recover, he dashed to the side of his mount, swung into thesaddle, and urged the beast into motion.
The wall was low on this side, but Flor remembered it towered high abovethe dry moat. And across that moat were the woods, where his men waited.He urged the beast to full speed, forcing the animal to the top of thewall and over.
For an almost endless instant, time seemed to stop. The barren moat andgreen weeds floated beneath him, and the only reminder of his rapid dropwas the air, which whistled past his ears. Suddenly, motion was restoredagain, and they lit with a jarring crash, just at the lip of the moat.
With a cry of agony, the charger pitched forward, pawing at the stonesthat had smashed his chest, and throwing his rider over his head. Flormanaged to land uninjured. He picked himself up and ran to the edge ofthe forest before he stopped to look back.
Heads were appearing atop the wall. At the edge of the moat, the chargerstruggled vainly, then dropped from sight. Flor waved defiantly at thegrowing crowd which stared from the high wall.
"The Duke hangs nobody," he shouted, "unless he can catch and hold him."He turned, to make his way through the trees.
"In fact," he added to himself, "I may yet return to hang the Duke."
He went to the meadow where his escort was encamped.
"We have been betrayed," he shouted. "The Duke plots with the merchantsto destroy Bel Menstal and hang his men. Break camp! We must gather theforces of the barony."
* * * * *
Baron Bel Orieano looked worried.
"The Duke has sent couriers," he said, "to gather the fighting men ofthe duchy. But it will be a long, hard struggle. The serf has gained thehills of Menstal. He has raised his men, and has dared to attack. Somesay he has enlisted those very hill tribes, from whose depredations heswore to defend the duchy, and even has them serving under his banner."He looked at Meinora and Konar.
"The roads of the duchy are no longer safe. Raiding parties appear atevery wooded stretch. Nor can we even be certain that the couriers havegotten through to Dweros." He shook his head.
"I, of course, am loyal to the Duke. But my forces are few. My baronyhas been a peaceful community, having little need for arms."
Meinora smiled encouragingly. "Yet there are fighters here," he said,"and in plenty."
The Baron looked at him curiously. "Where? I have no knowledge of such."
Konar leaned forward. "If you can help us get the Duke's approval, wecan raise an army which ten Bel Menstals would fail to withstand."
"The Duke's approval?"
"Certainly." Konar waved his hand. "Look over your walls, Excellency.You have burghers. There are armorers, merchants, with their caravanguards, artisans, even peasants. Here, today, are gathered moreable-bodied men than Bel Menstal could raise, were he to search out andimpress all the hill tribes."
"But, to arm these Commoners? And would they fight?"
"To be sure. Given reason, they will fight like madmen."
Meinora leaned forward, speaking rapidly. "For long years, they havesuffered from the road and river taxes of Bel Menstal, as well as fromthe insults and blows of his officers. Many of them have beenimprisoned, and held for ruinous ransom. Others have been tortured andkilled. Under the serf, they would suffer additional taxes, until theywere driven from the land, or themselves reduced to serfdom and evenslavery." He waved at the town.
"Caravans would be halted and stripped of both goods and coin. All this,he has done before, but on no such scale as he would were restraininghands removed." Meinora spread his hands.
"The Duke has only to promise, under his solemn oath, to rid the land ofrobbers, to allow the merchants and artisans to police the land, and toform those guilds and associations which they have long petitioned fortheir own protection. For these things, they will fight."
The Baron leaned back in his chair. He had heard some of these argumentsbefore, but had ignored them, thinking that they were mere specialpleading from interested merchants. Now, they were being presented bymen of his own station.
And the situation was urgent. Drastic measures were necessary. Under thegaze of the two, he felt a change of thought. The whole thing waspossible, of course, and it might be that trade, uninterrupted by robberdepredation, would provide greater taxes than before.
Finally, he rose to his feet. "Come," he said, "we will seek audiencewith the Duke and put this matter before him."
* * * * *
"Well, that's part of the job." Klion Meinora twisted in his seat andcraned his neck to look at the green fields spread out beneath theflier.
"It worked out almost exactly as you explained it, Chief." Konar lookedcuriously at his instructor. "But I missed a couple of steps somewhere."
"It followed from the culture pattern." Meinora raised an eyebrow. "Yousaw the reaction of the Duke when he realized that Flor was actually aserf?"
"Sure. He was so horrified, he was sick."
"But did you think of the reaction of the townsmen and peasants?"
"You mean they'd feel the same way?"
"Sure. Most of them did. These people have been ingrained with a firmbelief in their mode of living. They regard it as right and proper. Andthe murder and robbery of a noble by a serf is just as serious in theeyes of serfs and freemen as it is to the nobles. No serf in his rightmind would even think of raising a hand against a noble, not even inself-defense. Catch?"
Konar leaned back. "Oh, brother," he murmured. "I can just see whathappened when Flor's real status finally penetrated the minds of his ownmen."
"You're probably right, too. And with no body shield to supplement hisrather awkward swordsmanship, Flor was fresh meat for the first realfighting man that stood up to him." Meinora shook his head.
"His was a hopelessly twisted mentality, and there was no possibility ofsalvage."
"I know. They have a few of his type in the wards at Aldebaran." Konarshrugged hopelessly. "Therapists just fold their hands when they see'em."
"They do that. People like Flor are just pure ferocity. Oh, sometimes,they're cunning, even talented. But there's no higher mentality todevelop--not a trace of empathy. And you can't work with somethingthat's completely missing. Good thing they are quite rare."
"I should say so," agreed Konar. "A very good thing." He looked out overthe fields. "His influence lasted for a while, too."
"It did. He'd conditioned his people to a certain extent. Just as Iexpected, it took some time to persuade that gang to stop theirdepredations, and it had to be done the hard way. But the merchants werewilling, and that's what it took." Meinora brushed a hand over his hair.He knew how the rest of this story went----
"It'll take 'em some time to get used to their new charters, but theroots of the guilds are formed. And they did some fighting and learnedtheir powers. It'll take a lot to make 'em go back to the old routine.The Duke'll never try it, and his successors won't be able to. Anyonewho tries to conquer that bunch of wild-cats'll have a tough job, andhe'll get really hurt. It'll spread, too. Merchants and artisans in thenext duchy'll get the idea. And then the next, and the next. Freedom's acontagious thing."
Klion Meinora studied the terrain, then turned back.
"It's going to be a tough planet for a long time," he said thoughtfully."A tough, brawling planet. They'll fight for everything they get, andsometimes for just the love of fighting. The people who come from herewill be something to deal with. But they'll knock their own rough edgesoff. No, they won't be savages."
THE END.
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