Avarice Desperation Valley Ch. 26

Food had never been an issue here, there were warehouses full of dehydrated stores gathered before the conflict still to be consumed. Even they had not been needed, the last six years of the treaty in place with the farm community to the northeast had ensured there was plenty of fresh produce for all.

The agreement had always been honored in a timely fashion, Krosse sensed a rat. Renard must have warned his father instead of locating the girl. They had been a fool to let him go. Krosse had advised as much. Stephan's son would have been far more use to them as a hostage. If the treaty had been violated punitive action must be undertaken and soon.

Then there was the delicate matter of Lothar's loss. So to kill two birds with the one stone Krosse with Lothar's 'blessing' formulated heavily armored death squads. For this dubious duty Krosse hand picked the hardest and cruelest of his men, even in this civilization there were many suitable for the task. The hand picked squads were instructed to raid the small settlements that still existed further south. In the majority they were easy pickings and offered little real resistance. They took anything of value, rounded up the attractive young females and promptly slaughtered the rest of the unfortunates.

The confiscated goods boosted the fortresses' already well stocked inventory. The frightened women were herded before Lothar like cattle at market, there were many comely ones, but still under the spell of Frances' ethereal beauty Lothar rejected them all, sentencing them to live their lives as slaves, or become property of the single men. Though a few were fortunate and made happy marriages.

In this current climate Victor Krosse was becoming an increasingly overworked and desperate man, navigating all the recent demands on him had become most taxing. The commander had no option but to keep up appearances, embracing his military hero's strength with every fiber of his being in this difficult time.