Sequel to Teaching Jeff
Chapter 2 Brutal Times
Jeffrey and Phineas landed on a flat patch of dirt, near a line of trees.
"So where are we?" Jeff asked as he stood up quickly.
Bogg scanned the area, ensuring that Jeff was okay and that they were safe before unclipping the omni from his belt. "England 1282 AD, green light," he said.
"Look at that!" Jeff said and Bogg saw that he was pointing to a castle, not far in the distance.
"Uh," Bogg groaned.
"What's wrong?"
"This is my least favorite time and place in history," Bogg answered.
"Why is that?" Jeff asked, "castles with moats and Lords of the Manor? Sounds like fun."
"Fun? What about all the peasants, who worked the land for the Lord of the Manor?" and Jeff followed his gaze as Bogg stretched his hand out indicating the large expanse of farmland in front of them. They were standing in a tree line that separated a huge field from several structures that Jeff didn't think were solid enough to call huts. They could see many people working in the fields.
Jeff stared at them a long time before turning to Bogg, "do they look normal?" he asked hesitantly.
"Huh?" Bogg answered, he'd been staring at the castle's flag, "I know that symbol," he said.
"Look at them Bogg, they're all women and most of them look, " Jeff paused, "... pregnant," he said hesitantly.
This comment drew Bogg's gaze down into the field and he realized what Jeff said was true. "This is why I hate this time," he whispered.
"Isn't it kind of odd to have almost every woman in a village expecting a baby at the same time?" Jeff asked, staring at him.
"Not if an advance group from an invading army attacked about 6 months ago. They would have killed most of the men, defiled the women for fun and then gone back to report to their Lord about the castle fortifications, and lay of the land."
"What?" Jeff said in a tone of shock and surprise.
"It was a typical tactic of this time. If that's what's going on, almost every one of these women will be killed in the follow-up attack, probably in about three months, judging by how big they are now. They'll be easy to kill then, they'll either be having babies, or acting as midwives. Childbirth by itself will kill half without even attacking. Victory will be fast and easy, ... for the invaders." He paused and glanced over to see how Jeffrey was taking this information, then continued with a sigh, "the invading army will take over their lands and castle. They may keep some women alive to," he paused again, unsure about how to tell Jeffrey about this, "use as slaves."
They stood in silence as Jeff absorbed this information.
"Did you say that just having a baby will kill half of them?" Jeff asked.
Bogg nodded, "childbirth is a very dangerous time in a woman's life, and a baby's too."
"Why would the omni put us here?" Jeff asked, not wanting to dwell on this new information.
As if in answer, they suddenly heard voices. "Leave me alone!" a young girl's voice was shouting from not too far away.