Chapter 59: War and Pieces

Chapter 59: War and Pieces

Ozzy might have woken up in worse places, but right now he couldn't quite remember one.

Everything hurt. His right eye was swollen shut, and the other just barely opened. Without night vision, he doubted if he could even see. He was lying on his back, which gave him a view of the rocky ceiling above him. It looked to be rough-hewn rock, like a mine tunnel. Water dripped down from its uneven surface. Turning his head hurt, but he managed it. The left side of the room had a crude wooden stool, some broken wood and ropes, several buckets, and an odd assortment of saws, shears, and bloody strips of cloth. The room reeked of blood and vomit.

He wondered if he was in a hospital or a torture chamber? Trying to roll he found that he couldn't. His wrists and upper arms were restrained. Rope and leather bands held his chest in place. There was a foul taste in his mouth, but when he went to spit, he found a thick wooden rod in his mouth. He couldn't even feel his legs. Yep, torture chamber, and they knew their stuff. Time to see how tough these restraints were.

FAILURE! You cannot use the skill: Push Onward. Insufficient Stamina.

"shhhii...atus".

Current Status: Grievously wounded, restrained, gagged, minor bleeding, crippled, acid burned, weak, and confused. You are under the effects of a death curse.

Health: 105/1460 Regen: 365 per hour

Stamina: 0/4070 Regen: 1020 per hour A magical effect is draining your stamina.

Mana: 0/1260 Regen: 160 per hour A magical effect is draining your mana.

Heavy footsteps could be heard coming from his right side. Whoever it was, they weren't in a hurry. Turning his head, he saw the dwarf come into his limited view, packing a heavy leather bag in one hand. There was a splint on his left forearm and both eyes were blackened from his broken nose. "Awake, are you? Guess the screaming might increase just a wee bit then. Don't worry about it, won't bother me. I've heard a lot of screams before. If you get annoying, I’ll just stuff something in my ears.

Ozzy strained against the ropes and tried to talk. The dwarf walked over to the bloody cloth on the floor, found a relatively clean bit, and tore off two chunks before stuffing them in his ears. "No use talking, I'm not listening. Waste of time. Oh, and same for trying to get loose. Learned my lesson some time ago. Got you weak as a kitten now and tied down like rib roast about to go in the oven.

The dwarf bent down to his bag and pulled out tools one by one, setting them on the stool. The first was a long butcher knife. He took time to sharpen it with a whetstone. "My mama always told me to work with a sharp knife. Less likely to cut yourself." The next was a short bone-saw. "This you are probably familiar with, being a butcher. Good for making chops and steaks. These are the most useful thing though; you would not believe how much I use them." The third tool was a pair of blacksmith tongs. "Easier to get a good grip on bits you need to remove and tug out."The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

Ozzy wasn't in a position to see what the crazed dwarf was doing, but it became obvious as he picked up the knife and jabbed it into Ozzy's side. "Don't mind me, just going in and grabbing a memento of the occasion. Ah, there it is." Setting down the knife, he took the tongs and jammed them into the wound, fishing around a bit until he clamped down on something and pulled it out. Holding up the tongs, Ozzy saw a chunk of his own ribs had been pulled out.

Makken pulled out a large jug from his bag and poured some of contents on the wound, making it ache and burn like fire. "Yeah, no one likes that. Try not to cry like a toddler, it embarrasses me. Just need to clean the wound so you don't get infected. Need to keep you around awhile for some more fun and games."

With a hiss of escaping air, Billy's pod opened and he carefully stepped out. He grabbed a robe, a bottle of beer, and dialed Vernon’s number. Not getting through he used the code for emergencies. Vernon's face at appeared within 30 seconds. "What's going on Billy that needs me personally, offline, and on emergency code?"

"Sedgewick is under attack. Momco declared a limited war on ACME. The stakes are Sedgewick, the dungeon, and the city. They put up some copper mines nearby that somehow have a similar value to all of that."

Vernon was interested. "Not too hard to see the value. You've got a dungeon and something that might never get unsealed. A mine with metals could be very profitable this early on. That will be nice to have. We can send Sammy down and convert his crew to miners and metal smiths; this will be a nice addition to what you have going."

"Except we have a war to win first, Vernon."

Vernon seemed way too at ease. "Tut tut, my boy. I've told you old uncle Vernon has these things handled. You think I would forget how several of those thieves operate? They'd rather steal the markets we create than do their own work. Nothing unexpected and nothing I haven't planned for. Momco is right on my schedule. I've got the best two hundred mercenaries that money can rent nearby your area. They are undercover, well supplied, and ready to go. I've had them moving up unseen through the dense forested areas for a few weeks."

"Great to hear that, Vern. Send them on in and I'll deploy them around town." Billy would feel better when they were under his command and not Vern’s.

Vernon shook his head. "No, not so fast. I don't want to let Momco know that we are ready. I'm sending you some more mercenaries I'm going to hire today, and put out calls for more. I want Momco to see me scrambling to fill out a force of 250. Then, right before the start of the war, we pay off most of them, send them packing, and activate our real troops. If Momco sees us with a bunch of ill-equipped idiots, they won’t try so hard. I'm going to enjoy the look of surprise on their faces.

Billy didn't like it, but Vernon was writing his paycheck. "Fine, I'll start getting things done on my end. Please, please make sure those guys are ready to go, Vern. You know I trust you, but my ass is really hanging out here."

"Understood, Billy. I'll check in tonight and give them the time to move in on the day the war starts. They'll be there two hours ahead of time. Momco will shit themselves and probably just call it all off."

Vernon signed off and started making plans for opening up the new copper mine. He almost forgot to send out the message.

"This is UncleV confirming location."

"Confirming location: Two clicks from some ruins, about three clicks from the village. Orders?"

"Hold tight and undercover. Consider today Day 1. On Day 8, move into the village by 10:00 AM. coordinate with friendly locals and be prepared to engage hostiles."

"Confirming that Uncle V. Hold until Day 8, support locals, nuke the hostiles."

The confused Captain looked down at the village full of lizard-like creatures and wondered how to tell the friendlies from the hostiles. Guess they'll find out.