A/N: This chapter is dark. Things might get darker as I show what kind of Munchkin Ozkan is. Just wanted to give you a heads up. Thanks for reading. :)
Chapter 25
The troops hurried along toward the sounds of the scream which had gone eerily silent since the first one had sounded. The troops themselves remained quiet, unsure of who or what lurked around the next corner. Nervous energy was building and Fiyero knew that to be a bad thing. If they did not focus, an attack could be disastrous.
"Keep it together men," he ordered. It was a silly thing to say as if he had any control over their emotions but it helped some of the troops stand a little taller.
An opening in the long roadway suddenly appeared and the troops found themselves in the middle of the city. There they found it deserted with the exception of three Munchkins swaying in the breeze as they hung by their necks from the gallows.
"We should cut them down," a soldier said.
"Leave them. For all we know they are booby trapped. They've been dead for days," Fiyero immediately squashed the idea.
"What do you suppose happened here?" General Tulak asked.
"All manner of evil things no doubt," Besim swallowed hard as they continued toward the smokestack. Silence once again fell among the soldiers and Fiyero turned in his saddle toward the General.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked in a low tone.
"If you are thinking mass murder, then yes," the General replied. Fiyero only nodded as they made their way toward another opening in the buildings. He swallowed and thought back to his father and what he had once told him. Genocide is the easiest way to blame someone for the position a down people are in. The tribes of the Vinkus were not opposed to this horrible crime before we joined as one and became a united country, the former King of the Vinkus had told him. History was repeating itself only this time Ozkan has used it on the Munchkins. The Munchkins had been oppressed under Nessarose, there was no question, but it was becoming clearer that Ozkan was much worse than the misguided Governor of Munchkinland.
"Halt!" Came a shout and Fiyero was shaken from his thoughts to see a large area of the city enclosed by a large wooden wall. He looked down from his horse to find guns trained on him and the troops.
"I am King Fiyero Tiggular from the Emerald City. I am here to speak with Ozkan," he said.
"The great Ozkan will not see you!" One of the guards on the wall shouted.
"Then he will meet with his maker!" Fiyero challenged and immediately the archers fired upon the Munchkins and downed them easily.
"Open the gates quickly!" General Tulak ordered and the men went to the gates and pushed. They did not budge.
"Burn them down!" Fiyero commanded. The archers quickly dipped their bows in pitch and lit them. Arrows flew at the doors and the fire quickly spread. It seemed in an effort to keep the wood from drying out; it had been covered in some sort of flammable liquid. The wall began to buckle as the flames lapped up the wood. The troops surged forward and burst through the weakened gate. On the other side, horrified Munchkins stood unsure of what to do. It wasn't until some of them fell from the gunfire that the troops had fired that they turned and fled.
"Capture who you can!" Fiyero ordered but he knew that the order fell on deaf ears as he watched the troops search for those in military dress.
"I want Ozkan alive!" The King ordered as he rode through what looked like a camp of some kind. He saw the evidence of people but the civilians did not seem to be anywhere. It wasn't until he approached the building which had been pouring off the smoke that he realized why it was smoking. The scream they heard had come from a woman who was undoubtedly the last body in the large pile of bodies just near the entrance to what amounted to a large furnace. The order had been given to liquidate everyone in the camp and burn the evidence. Fiyero choked back vomit as he saw the number of bodies piled near the building.
"Sweet Oz!" Besim exclaimed when he found the King and what he'd been staring at.
"How many of them do you think there are?" Fiyero asked.
"A hundred at least. No telling how many of them they'd already burned. Ozkan is not here. Whatever troops remained are dead. The men got a little carried away when they saw what I just saw," Besim said, turning his horse and pointing to a building on the other end of the camp.
"Lead the way," Fiyero nodded. The two struck out and made it there quickly. Outside the building there was evidence of vomit and Fiyero struggled to keep his down as they dismounted from their horses. Inside the building, there were the bodies of children; most of them not older than ten. They'd been executed probably after the rest of the adults had been killed.
"They caught a soldier trying to burn the building. They were cleaning house, trying to cover up their atrocity. My guess is that this is not the only place like this in Munchkinland. If you noticed, most of the victims were women, children, and the elderly. He sent the men to die by your hand," Besim shook his head.
"What does Ozkan gain from this?" Tulak asked.
"I'll make sure to ask him before I kill him," Fiyero said angrily. He mounted his horse and ordered the troops to head toward the Munchkin's Governor's residence.
To Be Continued…