Riverworld, Day 71, Afternoon

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What was done was done; as soon as Matoaka heard the twang of Shaw's
bow and saw Ford stagger, she released her arrow and shot at Ford,
too.  She grinned at the thought that he would not get up again, at
least not right there, and maybe, with luck, he would wind up in Nova
Roma where she escaped from in her second 'life'.  Her arrow went
wide, striking one of Ford's lieutenants. But there was no time to
linger, she prepared another arrow to shoot at anyone who would attack
the party on the beach and especially a valuable warrior like Charles.

The second arrow pierced one of Ford's lieutenants through the heart,
and he fell without a sound.

Cixi was suddenly frozen in place, a glazed look on her face.  She
couldn't stop staring out towards where the fighting was beginning.

Jeanne had found herself a decent vantage point, behind a hut.  She
planted three arrows tip-down in the ground, and strung her
bow. Carefully she nocked an arrow in place, and took aim. A brief
prayer murmured, and her arrow sped through the air.

A third arrow, from the huts nearby, took one of the New Detroiters in
the hand.

Robbie glanced back and forth at the other Celts nervously, waiting
for the signal to attack.  "I wish Jean were here," he muttered to
himself. "Where th' bloody hell did he go off to?"

He began singing to himself to build his courage.  "Scots wha hae wi'
Wallace bled, Scots wham Bruce ha' aften led, welcome tae your gory
bed, or tae victory!"

The Celts around him grinned fiercely and appreciatively at his
battlesong.

It had been harder and harder for Benjamin to remain quiet as events
escalated.  The shouted orders and scurrying people, all of them
thinking of weapons and death were enough to make him glad he was sent
out of the way, but he found no sanctuary from hatred there when Shaw
and Matoaka joined him to discuss which should get more of Ford's
hide.  The arming, the dreamgum, the sight of Ford's party of almost
two score, and the tension in Shaw all spoke of an impending disaster.
Tension and the urge to act fought, fought viciously in him, with the
overwhelming sense that there was nothing he could do about it.  This
was the way it would go; there was nothing one man could change.  He
had hoped that Ferrum would be the place where was born a new world,
like the one he'd always been promised would come after the end.  But
continuing to hope was like clawing his own eye out, to avoid seeing a
ghastly vacant eye-socket in the mirror.

The release of the tension of Shaw's bowstring was the release of
tension in Benjamin, too.  From now on, he thought, all moments will
be counted as being either before or after this.

Without hesitation, without haste, without doubt, and without allowing
himself to be stopped, Benjamin turned and swiftly walked directly
away from Ferrum, deeper into the woods, not looking back.

Absorbed by the events on the beach, Matoaka did not see Benjamin's
face as he left. She called out after him.  "Have you forgotten your
speech to me when we were resurrected?"  Quickly she added, "Your so
called civilization got us in this mess and now you give up because
you are disgusted.  Stay and fight!"

Benjamin couldn't resist answering over his shoulder without breaking
his stride.  "So you resist the Atrocity of Murder by committing it
yourself?  It matters not at all who kills whom."

Matoaka swung her fully stretched bow at him, calling out, "Benjamin!
(pause) Coward!  (pause) I am warning you, stay and fight for your
cause or suffer the consequences." When he did not stop, she fired an
arrow between his legs. At that he stopped in place, and sighed.

"Yes," Benjamin said, "it was my so-called Civilization that got us
into this, again and again.  It was my so-called Civilization that now
has you threatening to wound or kill me.  If you would kill me, you
only save me a long Journey.  Stay and fight?  Whatever for?  For the
chance to stay and fight again tomorrow, and tomorrow's tomorrow?  I
hoped for better than to have to stay and fight.  And if you do not,
then by all means, you stay and fight.  But I am going."

Louis shook his head and came forward to stand next to Benjamin.
"After Benjamin, you may kill me next.  Or first, as you prefer.
Perhaps everyone will volunteer their deaths to you, and you can have
the iron to yourself.  From one who has waged war--even slaughtered my
fellow human beings--I have learned the value of life.  Have you
learned nothing from your experiences with death?"

Matoaka said nothing, but turned her attention to the beach, aiming
her bow again.

Charles screamed, trying first one language than another.  "NO! STOP!
STOP THIS MADNESS! NO MORE KILLING!"  At the sound of his yells, the
New Detroiters fell back and paused a moment, from understanding or
fear or loss of morale, or perhaps all three. No further arrows flew
and there was a pregnant pause on the shore.

Charles takes advantage of the silence Charles stepped forward and
calls out loudly, "Lay down your Weapons. We Will Spill No More Blood
Here."

"People from Ford's Village," he cried. "There is no Need for this
Violence.  We tried to negotiate in Peace, to share in the
resources. Ford chose to murder our emissaries instead, and as you can
see, Has paid for his crime. You All Need NOT suffer this fate!"

He points to the bodies on the sand.  "Put down your weapons, come and
sit with us and talk of civilization, and of sharing.  This is a free
town, you are welcome to join us and live by our rules, To go back
home and trade peacefully with us, or to leave now, and go away."

"If you attempt to steal or take from us by force, you will be met with
deadly force - Most of you will die.  We are prepared to defend this
resource so that ALL -- A L L  may share in it."

"The choice is yours."

Charles stood firm, and waited.

The men murmured among themselves for a while, as Ford's remaining
lieutenants attempted to exhort them to fight. Finally, the larger
group rushed the lieutenants, impaling them with their spears. As the
lieutenants dropped to the ground, their killers threw down the their
weapons and nodded to Charles.

Matoaka assessed the situation, everyone seemed fairly comfortable with the
situation:  no apparent threats.  Expressionless, she slowly put her bow
across her back and looked in Charles' direction, then Benjamin and Louis,
then one by one to anyone of the group.  Lastly, her eyes stopped on Shaw's
figure.  A hint of sadness crossed her face.  She looked away from the
village and the river, out into the unknown, and paused at length, drowned
in thoughts, oblivious of her surroundings.  Her head moved once more, as
if awakening from a bad dream, she looked at the village and started toward
her hut. 

Matoaka came down from her forest emplacement and entered her hut,
seemingly unconcerned for the activity on the beach.

She on her litter looking at her few possessions, touching them with
great care, closing her eyes occasionally.  She took her wooden paint
bowl, glad she had left it in the hut before her being murdered, and
rested staring at the ceiling, a tear hanging at the corner of her
eye.

The sun began to set, staining the River red.

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