My Fair Lady: Chapter 3

Kezia pounded the hammer against the sparking, red hot horse shoe.  She took the pliers and put the shoe into a bucket of water causing it to steam and hiss.  She then placed it on the table, and took her apron off.  She went inside of the stable, and opened a bale of hay for the horses.  She placed the required flakes into each stall, then filled up the water buckets.  Kezia stopped in the doorway of the stable, and watched the street.  

She had talked to Gus about the men in the castle that she had met, and about their plan.    He only shrugged.  “It won’t come to anything.”  He reassured her. She couldn’t just put it aside like that, yet she dind’t know what to do about it either. 

She hadn’t seen Gus for about a week.  In fact, there were many men starting to disappear.   Many women had stopped by, and asked if she had seen them.  Kezia merely shook her head though she had an idea where they were.  

Kezia exhaled, and grabbed a bridal off the hook.  She walked to one of the horse stall, and slipped it onto the horse.  She led it out, and mounted.  “Just a quick ride to get my thoughts together.”  She thought. 

 Kezia halted the horse.  Through the trees, she could see a faint, yet bright light.  Also there was a voice; sometimes a whole chorus of voices.   Curious, Kezia dismounted, tied the horse up to a tree, and sneaked towards the light.  She peaked around a tree.  Her eyes widened.  There was a whole crowd of men.  Up on a stump, was the man she had seen at the castle.  

" I urge you to join with me to fight against our enemy.  We’ve been under their dictatorship for too long!”  He shouted over the enthusiastic agreeing voices.  “So who will join me to break down this tyranny, and regain our freedom?”   The men shouted their response.

Kezia started to panic.  Another war?  

 An older man stepped forward.    “What if we lose again?  What about our families?  Shouldn’t we should take them into consideration?  And what about the other groups of people?  There were seven kings and seven kingdoms that battled against each other.”  The old man reminded them. 

Kezia let out a sigh of relief.  At least there was someone who had some common sense.

 The crowd fell silent and looked at the man on the stump to see what he had to say to that. 

“There are tales of possible progress coming to towns, all the people had to do was grasp it.  But sometimes there were doubters that planted their doubt amongst the rest of the people till finally no one accepted the progress.”  The man said walking towards the old man.  The mood of the crowd had changed.  There was fear, and then there was a new born hatred that had been planted.  Kezia ran to the old man’s side.

 “What he’s trying to say is, we should take consideration of all the possibilities and consequences that could come about, and that we should be prepared and have a plan.”  Kezia quickly said. 

The man stared at her shocked. 

Kezia stepped onto the stump.  “All of us have gone through the same war.  Some of us have adjusted to the new livings while others have never gotten passed what they have lost and have been harboring grudges and hatred.”  Kezia eyed the man.  “Perhaps war is the answer.  Then again maybe it isn’t.  But we can’t start turning against ourselves.  And what about the allies that we had in the 7 Kings War?  Don’t they deserve to have freedom just like us?   Our enemy is a strong and powerful one that has established a strong government and won’t be moved easily.  Do you really think that they’ll be worried if we up rise out of order, in small numbers, and running around like chickens with their heads cut off that might do some damage?  Of course not.   They’ll destroy us in days. If we attack, we need to do it in a swift, damaging blow that tells them that we aren’t messing around.  That we aren’t a people without minds that are under their thumbs that will never look them in the face.”  Kezia said.  The men murmured amongst themselves. 

“Who are you to tell us what we should do?”  A young teenager asked defiantly stepping through the crowd to the front. 

Kezia stared at him for a minute then smiled.  “You’ve never been in a war, have you?  You only received its consequences; you watched from a distance.  War isn’t some glorious, honorable thing.  It is a cold, brutal thing that changes constantly, so suddenly it leaves you startled.”  Kezia said staring at the boy.  She stepped down from the stump.  “It affects each and every one of us, no matter what class or position, male or female, young or old; it affects us.  The only difference is our thinking and our standards.   What we want from the war to happen.  Some want power, to get back to the class that they were once in or want to be.  Some go for the honor and glory, which I tell you may get it, but for what cost? Perhaps revenge for things that had been taken away from them.   And revenge?  Nothing will ever satisfy it.  You must let it go.”  Kezia said walking through the crowd.  The crowd parted as  she passed though.  She returned back to the front.  “So you can still go with him, and be trained, but take my advice into consideration.”  Kezia said.   She turned and started to leave the clearing.

 “What is she doing?”   Jack thought angrily.  Jack quickly jumped back onto the stump.  “Who will go with me then?”  He asked.  The response wasn’t as extreme as before.  “Come on.  You aren’t going to listen to her are you?”  He asked. 

The old man stepped forward once again.  “She was in the first war, and experienced most of it.  She seems to have a plan unlike you.  You just seem to want to surprise the enemy with the band of men that you come up with.  What about allies?  And what if we win?  A civil war could break out if we don’t know what our government would be.  We would become subtle to being overcome again.”  The man said. 

“We would be a monarchy as we were before.”  Jack said folding his arms. 
“Who is to be the king?”  The man asked. 

Jack shifted his weight to his other foot.  “We’ll come to that bridge when we come to it.” 

“Our enemy would know we meant business if we had a king.” The man persisted.  Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd.   “There is Prince Lionel.”  A man suggested. 

“Rumor is that he left his army to die, and hid in the mountains.”  Jack said. 

“Well that is a rumor.  I was in that army.  Yes , he is in the mountains, but the army forced him to leave so that he could preserve the royal lineage since his father King Edgar was killed.”  The man said. 

Jack was speechless. 

"I can locate him.”  The man said. 

“I have cousins that are near a couple of the old allies.  He can spread word.”  Another man chimed in. 

“We could relocate the families into the mountains.  I know of a patch of caves.”  Another called. 

“The rest of us can go through training, spread word, and help families move.”  The old man said. 

“If we do that do you not think that the enemy won’t suspect anything?”  Jack yelled over the crowd. 

"It is a chance to take, yes.  But we must do this right or chance losing everything.”  The old man said.

***************

 Jack banged his fist against his desk.  He ran his fingers through his hair.  Turner stood in the doorway watching him.  “That girl was there.” Jack said bitterly. 

“Oh?  Is she thinking about joining up too?”   Turner asked. 

Jack leaned his hands against the desk and laughed sarcastically.  “Oh no.   She started by defending this old geezer, and she didn’t stop there.”  

“I imagine she didn’t.  She seems to know where she stands on matters.”  Turner said. 

“Yeah, well, she practically turned the crowd around on matters.  Soon they’re giving out their opinions and ideas and whatever else they think is right.”  Jack said pacing. 

“But that’s good isn’t?  Our goal is to win the war.”

“We are doomed if we go by their plan.  We’ll be discovered before we even strike.”  Jack said folding and unfolding his hands.  “They are from the lower and middle class.  They don’t know how the system works.”  He said. 

“I think they know more than you give them credit.”  Turner said.  “And frankly, I never asked you past the part of building the army and attacking.  What are you going to do if we win?  What if we lose?”  Turner asked.
 “We won’t lose.”  Jack said. “Now get out, and leave me to finish up things.”  Jack sat down in his chair once Turner left.

******************

 Kezia scanned over the bridal she was fixing.  She stared out the window,her mind wandering.  It looked like there would be another war.  It had been a month since she had seen the crowd in the woods, and work was picking up for her.  Since she was a blacksmith, she was making swords and all kinds of weaponry.  She hid them in the loft until they were picked up by their owners so not to be discovered.  She fiddled with a leather strap.  She had mixed emotions about war.  Her nightmares were becoming more extreme by the night to where it was almost night terrors.  Memories were so strong, she could barely ignore them. 

A strong hand whirled her around.  “What do you think you were doing there that night?”  The man asked. 

Kezia stared up at him wide eyed, startled.  It was the man from the castle.  She jerked her arm out of his grip, mainly because he was holding onto her wound.  “I had just as much right as anyone else.  Besides, someone has to speak sense.  You’re a radical which isn’t bad, but you stir up trouble sometimes.”  Kezia said.  She picked up the bridal, and walked over to a hook in the wall to hang it up. 

The man followed her.  “Me cause trouble?  Everything was going fine till you came along.”  He said pointing. 

“What you are doing I have no opinion on.  Perhaps it is good, perhaps not, but what I am worried about is the results of the war.  I don’t want this country to go through another war to be defeated yet again.”  Kezia said turning, facing him. 

“Why don’t you believe that we can win this?”  The man asked. 

“Hey, Kezia!”  

 It was Carter; he was one of the guards from the palace that usually hung around town when he had nothing to do.  He threw a bridal onto the table.  “While we were trying to break in a filly, it yanked her head right out.  Have it ready by tomorrow.”  He said. 

Kezia stepped away from the man.  “I’ll see what I can do about it.  I don’t know if I’ll have it ready by tomorrow though.”  She said. 

“Have it ready by tomorrow.”  Carter said.  He looked down at her.  “You know, you haven’t taken me up on my offer yet.  So how bout tonight?”  He said. 

“I can’t.  I have work plus that bridal that you need for tomorrow so I won’t be able to go.”  Kezia said. 

Carter’s face fell then lifted.  “I could help you out here then.”  He said taking a step closer. 

“Don’t you have night shift?”  Kezia asked taking a step back. 

Carter snapped his finger.  “That’s right.  Some other night then.”  He nodded his head and left. 

Kezia sighed then turned back towards the man.  “Was there something you want?  I have things I need to do.”  She said picking up Carter’s bridal. 

“He’s one of the enemy.”  The man said.   “And you’re helping him?” 

“It’s my job.   Besides, they would suspect something, or throw me in prison if I refused to work for them.  And then I wouldn’t be any help, now would I?”  Kezia said. 

“I wouldn’t say you’re helpful.”  The man said.  

Kezia lifted her head and looked him straight in the eye.  “What do you mean by that?”  She demanded. 

“I don’t have as many soldiers since you’re little “speech”.” 

“I have been making weaponry for your soldiers, and from what I’ve heard they’re recruiting men right now.”  Kezia said with her hands on her hips. 

The man stormed up to her.  “Because of you the whole plan will be foiled!”  He whispered harshly. 

“Wel,l I hope so.  The one you had was greatly disorganized with little thought to the future.”  Kezia whispered back. 

The man slapped her against the cheek. 

Kezia glared up at him. 

“Women should never be let into the army.  They think that they can rebel against the men.”  Jack said. 

“What is your name?”  She asked her jaw set. 

“Why does it matter?”  He asked.

 “Just answer the question.” 

“Jack Hall.” 

Kezia’s brow rose.  “From what regiment?”  She asked. 

“The 49^th.” 

Kezia nodded her head.  “That would explain your mind set.”  She said turning. 

Jack grabbed her by the arm. "What do you mean by that?” 

“Your regiment was locked in a building that was set on fire by the enemy.  All because the messenger boy failed to pass on the changes in the plan.  He was of lower class.”

  “So what are you getting at?” 

  “It explains why you think so little of the lower classes.” 

  Jack scoffed.  He headed for the door. 

“The soldiers loved ones were about to be killed before you were shoved into the building.  Was there someone of yours?”  Kezia asked.

 Jack stared at her.  His facial expression changed from anger to sorrow to anger.  “Just stay out of the military business.”  He said storming out of the stable.

********************

  “Jack!”  Abigail raced towards him. 

Jack tried to shove out of the crowd to her. 

She ran past a guard. 

“Abigail!”  He shouted. 

The guard turned ever so slightly, smashing  a club across her back.  Abigail fell limp to the ground. 

Jack panicked.  He pushed even harder trying to get out of the building.  The others were trying just as hard to get out.  Jack jumped up and down to get a glimpse of her, but his sight was blocked off. 

The enemy had closed the doors. 

Screams came outside of the building, confirming that the enemy had stayed true to their threats.  Smoke began to fill the building from the fire.  The roof was now fully ablaze.   Soldiers rammed into the door to try and break free. 

Jack ran frantically about the building searching for an escape.  He found one.  He rammed against the cracked board, falling through the side.  He was quickly on his feet.  The enemy has scattered trails of tar and pitch and had set the ground ablaze.  Jack dodged the flames as he ran to the front of the building to open the door.  The soldiers stampeded out of the smoke only to be met by the fire outside.  Jack ran to where he had seen Abigail had fallen.  He stopped and felt around because he couldn’t see. 

Explosions erupted. 

“Head for safety!”  Someone ordered.  Jack continued to search.

 “Hall!”  Someone shouted.  He turned just as something exploded, throwing him through the air.

Jack sat up breathing hard; he was drenched in sweat. 

It had been a dream.  He layed back down on his pillow, wiping the sweat from his face.  He rolled over on his side, and reached into the bedside table drawer.  He pulled out a picture, and placed it on the table.  He stared at the picture of the woman. 

Abigail.