Gaspar bumbled down the hill and came to an abrupt stop against the stump of a dead tree. His leg ached miserably, his eye itched and burned and the patch kept slipping in spite of the tam he had wedged over his head. The missing ear buzzed and burned and now his wooden hand had a chip out of the thumb. He fumed inside at his sorry lot, swearing death and destruction on any and all that had a part in his misery.

The hike to the Jappo village had taken its toll and he and his men were hot, tired, thirsty and completely fed up; they wanted to be back at sea.

"Wot we gonna do now, Gaspar?"

"Rest, while I think of how I want to destroy that village. Find me something to eat and drink." He turned and slid down the harsh trunk of the stump.

"Where? We've got nought."

"I said," Gaspar dragged the sentence out slowly, "find me something to eat and drink."

The man jerked away with a sullen hunch to his shoulders and clomped back up the grade to his companions. Gaspar watched him go with a disdainful loathing. Saddled with the dolts of the world, he complained silently.

A short distance below, the village seemed calm and peaceful. Gaspar could make out the movement of women and a few children tending a variety of farm animals. A string of pale grey smoke from one of the huts curled skyward in an intricate dance; the entire scene was one of bucolic serenity. He grunted angrily, clenching his good fist, and muttering how shortly, it would all change.

*****

Sergeant Miner lay on the ground quivering with fear. On the periphery of his vision he could see the corpses of his three soldiers and behind him, out of sight, he heard the screams of Scott, the messenger from Terrault. Miner now realized, with deep regret, the folly of his plan to capture Dar Mingus and his band.

While he had strutted and dismissed the concerns of his men, Mingus had done precisely what he should have been doing-watching and reporting. When Miner had led his men to the spot above the camp he found Dar's men waiting and in the blink of an eye, three men were dead, he was a prisoner and Scott was suffering, god knew what, somewhere behind him. He tensed as he heard the thud of boots heading his way.

"Your friend decided that what he knew was more important than his life, Sergeant." Mingus came around and straddled the prone soldier, holding the dripping head of Scott over his face.

Miner screamed in terror at the sight and thrashed mightily against his bonds. With a sneer, Mingus dropped the head next to him and backed away.

"Talk it over, Sergeant, see if he can't convince you to tell me what I want to know."

Miner strained to keep his face away from the lifeless eyes of Scott's head. If only he had listened, not been so cocky about his new rank. He knew what his fate would be; he didn't know how yet, but he knew his life was over. Mingus wants the boy and if he gets him, in all likelihood, his head will roll as well.

All he'd wanted his entire career was a command in the army of Terrault. His short-lived wish had come true and he'd made a botch of his first mission. Miner groaned and pulled against the bonds restraining him. He closed his eyes and spoke a silent prayer to his god then called to Mingus.

"He give you good advice then, Sergeant?" Mingus stood over his prisoner like some gothic tower.

"Come closer so I can tell you. My throat is weak."

Mingus snorted and bent down, his ominous face close to Miner's. "Speak Sergeant."

Miner took a deep breath and with all the force he could muster, spat squarely into the eyes staring at him. Mingus wrenched back with a surprised roar, his fingers wiping at the spittle on his face.

"You scurvy little son of a pup!" He yanked out his sword and with one swift thrust, plunged it straight into Miner's chest.

"Thankyou, Mingus," Miner gasped, a grim look of satisfaction freezing with his final breath.

"Damn your eyes!" Mingus roared, stabbing at Miner's corpse over and over until his men pulled him away.

When his men were able to approach again, Mingus laid out his strategy with surprising calm. His incident with the dead Sergeant seemed to have been completely forgotten and all his focus was on tracking the other soldiers that were part of Miner's group. Mingus had been able to figure out how many there were from the signs about the campsite, information that none of the prisoners had divulged. He ordered the men to mount up and they spread out to look for a track to follow.

*****

Jak and Captain Gainer rode together at the head of their party, discussing the journey back to Caval. Jak suggested that they send a rider on to round up the others and meet them at the pass above the valley; it would save them having to travel almost twice the distance. The sound of shots rang through the trees bringing them up short.

"That was back at Haito's village," Jak said. Gainer looked to him for instruction, knowing that Jack Staff would never leave a friend in trouble. "Send one man to meet with Miller and Scott and the rest of us will ride to the village."

Wyeth was already galloping madly across the field next to the forest and Jak spurred his horse faster to at least catch up with the impetuous lad.

In the village, Haito and his men had been surprised by Gaspar's pirate band and had suffered severe casualties. Although there was only about ten of the pirates, they had prepared a successful ambush at the entrance to the village and now had Haito and his men pinned inside two flimsy huts. Gaspar was shouting dire threats with glee, punctuating them with volleys of gunfire, a major advantage over the crossbows of the Japan men.

He and Haito knew one another well from previous battles, battles in which Gaspar and his cronies had been roundly beaten and sent running. Now things were different and Gaspar was going to relish every minute. He called out to Haito that he would begin setting fire to every hut in the village if he didn't surrender and to prove it, he sent a man to torch the nearest one. One of Haito's men slipped from the hut and crawled to the edge of a small gully where he made his way down to the bottom of the village.

There he found the rest of the inhabitants all clustered in a large corral with two pirates standing watch. The people were all quiet and calm, watching their captors with alert eyes. The man crawled closer with the idea of attacking the two men when he saw a long trail of dark powder leading from the captors over to the fence where the men sat. The taller of the two was smoking a pipe and threatening to tap the ashes into the powder, trying to frighten the captives. The man decided he could not risk an attack and departed the way he came.

Haito listened to the man's report and cursed aloud. If they surrendered they would surely be killed, if they didn't, Gaspar would blow up the other villagers. He studied his small group, weighing the risks of an assault then his attention fell upon his daughter. He would not sacrifice another child to the butchery of the pirates; he would attack and die if necessary defending his daughter and his people.

Kysoo listened as her father prepared his men, knowing each would do exactly as they were told. While Gaspar hurled his threats in the background, the men bowed their heads and swore their separate oaths to their leader and their own honour.

"You will remain here, daughter and if we do not succeed, you will use all that you have learned to survive."

Kysoo threw her arms around her father in an extremely undisciplined gesture and sobbed uncontrollably; Haito sat stiffly, his heart splitting within his chest.

"Enough. This is not proper behaviour in front of my men." He ran his eyes over her face and smiled briefly before quickly turning and issuing gruff orders to the soldiers.

Wyeth pulled up sharply on a small ridge above the village. Smoke from the burning hut became darker and swirled across the trees, obstructing part of his view. He could see some of the pirates sheltered behind rocks and corral fencing and he could also see a small band of men burst from one hut further down the village street.

A loud volley of gunfire erupted and Wyeth saw two of the men stumble and fall in the road; the others dove into the cover of a ditch in front of the forest. He unsheathed the sword Haito had provided earlier and started down the hill just as Jak and his men arrived.

"Wyeth! Wait!" Jak scrambled down the hill after him and wrestled him to the ground. "Wait, lad. Tell me what you've learned and we'll go in with a plan, not willy nilly."

Reluctantly, Wyeth took the time to tell all he'd witnessed and where he thought the opposing parties were, finally calming down and listening to Jak's plan of attack.

Gainer and two of his men would circle around the opposite side to where Wyeth saw the Japan people hide and Jak, Wyeth and the other soldier would head straight down to the back of the pirate's location. Jak reasoned that coming from three sides, the pirates would have to retreat further into the village and Haito's men would then have an advantage. First, he cautioned, they had to let whoever the pirates were shooting at know that they were on their side.

"When they see an attack taking place from behind, they'll figure it out," Gainer said.

"Good. Right then, let's go."

Sorry for the long chapter. Couldn't find a good spot to break in.