Lesser Evil

Chapter Seven

As Pinion and his right hand escorted Siroc to the area where the slaves were melting down the iron to make the weapons, several of his other men, as well as D'artagnan, Jacques, and Ramon, were busy working loading the finished weapons into crates and getting them ready for shipment.

The musketeers tried again to find out from Pinion's men where these crates were going and finally were rewarded with an answer, but they were not given much detail. All they knew was that there was a wealthy benefactor coming later this afternoon with a small army to collect these weapons. The musketeers sensed that Pinion and whoever this benefactor was were up to no good, but they were unsure of what they could do about it or if they should even try to do something to stop it. They wished that their captain was there with them to give them orders for this situation.

Once they all arrived back at the main camp, D'artagnan, Ramon, and Jacques looked around at the slaves working for the iron and found that Siroc was not anywhere among them. D'artagnan told his friends he would go and speak with Pinion about where they had moved him to.

As their leader walked inside the large tent, he found Pinion once again stuffing food in his mouth, but D'artagnan spoke up anyway asking, "Where is my man? I didn't see him out among the others."

Between mouthfuls, Pinion replied, "I decided to move your slave to where the rest of my slaves are molding my weapons. His talents were being wasted out in the open digging for the iron. From what I hear from my men, he knows more about making weaponry then the rest of my slaves combined. What exactly did you and your men have him doing before you brought him here to me?"

"He worked hard for us," D'artagnan answered. "We had him do all the cleaning, he washed our laundry, and tended to our horses. He repaired the horses' shoes once they become worn down. He's quite the blacksmith, even an inventor of sorts."

"So I am told," Pinion responded.

D'artagnan firmly stated, "I wished we had been informed ahead of time of your decision. He may be a slave, but we still want to make sure he is treated fairly and well."

Pinion slowly stood from his chair and smugly replied, "You sold him to me because you can no longer afford to keep him on. You will not refuse to sell him to me. You need my money, or you wouldn't have brought him here to begin with. He is no longer your concern; he's mine. Come by my tent later tonight and I will have the rest of your money. Then, you and your men will leave my camp. Am I understood?"

"I understand," D'artagnan answered as he turned and walked out of the tent to find his friends.

Once D'artagnan found Jacques and Ramon, Jacques asked, "So, where is Siroc?"

D'artagnan responded, "Pinion had him moved to work with the other slaves, who are making the weapons. Apparently, he saw Siroc's talents. We've got a big problem."

"What could be worse than some wealthy stranger coming to pick up dozens of crates full of weapons to build up an army?" Ramon asked.

"Pinion has decided to pay us the rest of the money for Siroc tonight and then wants us to leave," D'artagnan replied. "The smug ogre made a point to tell me that he had no intention of treating Siroc like a human. I hope he's found Jeremiah by now. We have to make our move to get him out tonight, then gather the rest of the musketeers together to come back for Siroc and the rest of these slaves."

Jacques stated, "We are going to have to fight an entire army and we don't even know the size of it yet. Innocent men and women are going to get killed; children too.

D'artagnan responded, "We are just going to have to do whatever we can to make sure that doesn't happen. Ramon, go and find Siroc and find out if he has found Peter's father yet. Warn him about what has happened and assure him we will be back."

Ramon nodded and ran off to search for where Siroc and the slaves were working to make the weapons for Pinion. D'artagnan and Jacques stayed behind to keep an eye on the rest of the camp as they worked to come up with a plan to leave later that night with Jeremiah, without Pinion or his men knowing about the escape.

About twenty minutes later, Ramon finally found where Siroc was currently molding hot ore into a sword. As he walked toward the slaves there, he quickly pulled out a few loaves of bread he had grabbed before leaving the camp and began to hand it out to the men in order to keep from arousing the guards' suspicions as to why he was there.

Ramon slowly made his way over to Siroc and as he did so, he handed him a loaf and softly whispered, "We must leave with Jeremiah tonight. Pinion has agreed to take you in and is planning to pay D'artagnan the rest of the money later. Once it is done, he is going to insist we leave the camp for good. Have you found him yet?"

Siroc whispered back, "The boy's father is currently standing over the fire pit ten feet from us. I've told him of our plan to take him back to his son. Have you come up with an escape?"

"D'artagnan and Jacques are working it out right now," Ramon answered. "I better leave before the guards come over here wondering what we are whispering about. Are you sure you want to stay behind? A war is going to break out when we arrive with a large group of musketeers to help free the rest of the slaves. Especially since the beneficiary of these weapons will be here with his own army."

"I have to stay," Siroc responded. "I will be all right."

Ramon stated, "Very well. We will be back. Just make sure Jeremiah is ready."

Siroc nodded as Ramon walked away and left to head back to the main camp. Siroc quickly finished the sword he was working on and then walked over to speak with Jeremiah as they split the loaf of bread that Ramon had given him.

Jeremiah asked, "Are you sure you and your friends can pull this off? How are we going to get past all of Pinion's men?"

"I assure you that my friends will get you out of here safely," Siroc answered. "You will be back with your son by morning; I promise."