Chapter 179: Desperate Times
The Regiment was only two hours down the rutted dirt road when they came across the first village in desperate need of assistance.
And these ones were truly desperate, Dominic decided, as they had tried to stop and rob the armed convoy with pitchforks. Even if they didn’t all look half starved, that would have been enough to let him know that they were hungry beyond the boundaries of common sense.
So, he rode forward and raised his hand for the Regiment to lower their rifles.
"Sirs, madams. I can see that you’re in dire need of assistance, and unable to help yourselves if you’re starved enough to try your hand at robbing a group of bandits.
How about this? I will give you a passing grade for effort, a fail for execution, and we will donate two cured hams and a sack of rolled oats to your village as a consolation prize?" Dominic suggested.
"Where did you even get those? Nobody has good meat these days, unless they’ve got a hog sow left that the King’s men haven’t taken for themselves." An old man demanded.
"From the Army, of course. They were kind enough to donate a whole convoy of goods to our cause, along with their lives." Dominic explained.
The old man gave him a toothless smile. "I don’t suppose you can make it two sacks of rolled oats? We’ve still got two months before the potatoes start to come in."
Behind Dominic’s shoulder, Dax laughed at the man’s brazen request. His twenty senior citizens were facing five hundred rifles. But they still wanted to negotiate.
"Someone bring up two sacks of rolled oats and two hams from the supplies. Our tribute to these brave villagers. Who definitely never saw us pass, and had those supplies saved, didn’t they?" Dominic replied.