Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 65 - The Lootings.

"Hey guys, why do you think he needs all these winter clothes for? Do you think he wanted to have an auction or maybe has a large family?"

"THUD"

"What the hell did you put inside these trunks? Rocks and stones? How come it's so heavy?" Nolan placed the trunk in the middle of the plaza as it needed two people to carry. "Don't ask me, its from Michelle's. She said she knew about picking the intricate winter wear for ladies...!"

"Hey, Michelle are you done with the children's clothes? That guy mentioned about the clothes but he didn't mention whether its for boys or girls. Looks to me he's a kind of clonker, don't you think so?" Oscar shared his view because he simply can't put a single finger on what that man was actually planning.

"Hey guys, I need a hand with this trunk... I think I've stuffed with more than 200 children's winter clothes. It's right at the front door of that red-bricked house. I had to make a few trips carrying the clothes there." Michelle hollered from one of the bedroom windows and it seemed she had changed her cloth armoured uniform into a lady's one-piece dress.

Any hot-blooded male would droll upon seeing her. But between food and the female comrade in front of those 2 men, they would go for the food instead...!

After placing the trunk in the plaza beside the fountain that had dried up and cracked, they went to the red-bricked house and carried another trunk that was equally heavy than the first one. However, how heavy it was, having another person on each end make light work.

Last but not least, once they had settled both the ladies' and children's clothes, they went in search for yet another trunk to load some men's winter wear next. They were still in the uniform and soon discarded them and don some tunic, with breeches and boots.

At least, in the fresh clothes didn't they feel much cleaner and renewed. After gathering the necessaries, they emerged with bundles of clothes in their arms before placing it yet another humongous leather trunk and they saw that there was a lady-like figure sitting on the trunk.

When they got near, they saw it is their female comrade and a change of clothes brought a kind of subtlety in her. "My God, Miss Ramsgate. You look smashing and fantabulous..." remarked Nolan at the transformation.

"Shut up you clod. I'm a lady, is it wrong to wear such fine clothes. A Ramsgate will always be a Ramsgate, even though I defy my father's warning and join the conscript, hmph...!"

"Well, as a noble, you sure a tough nut to crack. Why not you return to your family?" Oscar inquired as he folded all the winter wear for the men's and placed it inside the trunk.

"Look around you. If the nobles ended this way, what would you think would have ended? They are just around 120 miles from here and these rebels all knew how to kill these people off with no reasons."

"The English and French are at war with one another but I wonder why do these revolutionaries suddenly get themselves involved."

"We don't know, Michelle. It's a mystery to us. I wonder why they would do it too. I wonder what's the fate of our family right now. I guess what we have right now are our family names and that man. You don't think he's one of the highway robbers, don't you? "

"Highway robbers would be robbing on highways, not looting winter clothes at the near ending of spring, dummies," Michelle spoke as she suggested for them to look for a hand cart or something to ferry the trunks back to the Macleods' Manor.

=*=

After they had lain the remains of the Royal family in the courtyard, all 6 of them knelt on one knee and said a little prayer and vouched to serve the only living heir.

Then 6 Shadows proceeded to the main hall and discussed the next course of actions. As it was still dark, and only being illuminated by the stars, they worked.

"Seems Jack is in luck. He got the cast-iron smelter that he dearly misses. Plus all the tools that came from his store. We have already collected the cast iron baking pans and trays from the Royal kitchen and bakery."

"Also there's sacks of grains and flour. Should we load them up as well?" reported one of the Shadow's scouts as he placed the intended items in the ground before him and aways further orders.

"Eagle, I've located the loom as well as the tailor shop next to it. There are bundles of cloth in there, cotton, silk and other materials. Should we load those up as well?" another Shadow's scout reported on his findings.

"How many sacks and grains you managed to count from the Royal kitchen and bakery? Then as for the bundles of clothes, how many bundles are there altogether?" Eagle asked with a spark of interest.

"There are more than 20 and under 30 five-pounder sacks of flour and grains. If the grains were spoilt, it could be turned into fodder for the livestock, rather than let it waste. Our horse could feed on it too."

"Eagle, there's more than 50 bundles of cotton, silk and a few more materials. The bundles are not that thick, it's about 6 inches in diameter. Shall we bring it along? At least our Prince could save some silvers and gold for these materials."

"OK wait for the loom to be loaded first and followed by Jack's and the baking equipment. Then the 3 trunks that those guardsmen were assigned to carry would be loaded next. These 4 sacks, let me handle them and conceal the crest and coat-of-arms carefully. We still need to find some metals for Jack to smelt and make other weapons or to repair ours as well."

"Leader, there's twelve 50 pints barrels of wine, I supposed under the cellar of the brewery, would it be a good idea to load those yo as well? At least our Prince would be able to widely decide on how to distribute later. But our wagon is going to be a bit right with the barrels.

"Did we leave anything behind? We would be moving at first light and take a break at the nearest stream. We make camp and disguised as merchants. They rest after you had your break would go into hiding and concealment. We then move again after dark."

"Understood Leader." the 5 men choruses in unison and went about to gather the said food supplies, some bowls, spoons and also the loom and bundles of cloth. In case they meet other rebels, one might think they themselves are also one of a kind, looters.

=*=

"I've found a hand cart at the marketplace. By the way, I saw the similarly dressed men lurking around in the shops and I heard some tinkering inside one of the stores near the tailor. I wonder what they are up to."

"Don't mind them, we have a task to do and you had found a hand cart so we load this up and return to the Macleod's Manor. Come on, let's go. You can't expect a lady to do a menial job, innit?"

"Sigh... Just a few moments ago we were scavenging for food and now you are putting up a demeanour of a noble. Hah... A noble with a hole in their pockets... Haha...!" Nolan chided his female comrade as they lifted the trunks onto the handcart and slowly pushed it to the designated meeting point.

=*=

"Umm... Excuse me, you lady. You are going to attract a lot of attention by wearing that kind of dress. If we happen to chance upon the rebels, they might think you are a walking gold mine and would blow our cover. Please change, you may keep that dress if you like."

Eagle had to point out and stressed on Michelle's garb that looked more towards nobility and royalty. He noticed she pouted her lips and stormed off to find more appropriate clothes.

"Is there something wrong with your comrade? She seems a bit petty... You better warn her in advance. If she remains with that kind of attitude, all three of you will stay behind. I have a decree to perform, but that decree would be overruled if I personally find it inappropriate. You understand me, guardsmen?"

After some time, Michelle came back wearing a men's tunic, breeches and leather boots but she still held the dress in her arms and stored it inside one of the trunks. "It's mine..." she simply mouthed, like as if worldly possessions were her utmost priority than surviving.

"Whoa...! Golly... You really looted all these? What are you? Looters or merchants or simply opportunists? Did you get a handloom, some blacksmith tools, and even baking equipment? Are you going to sell all this or what? Whoa... Look at all those sacks of grains, cooking equipment, bundles of cloths some more. You are going to... "Michelle's words were abruptly cut off...!

Suddenly a glint of flash appeared and landed just at Michelle's jugular and a gloved hand was clasped at the back of her neck.

"Woman... You are getting on my nerves right now. Either I cut you up right now and leave you behind with your comrades, or I will gag and bound you till we hit the next destination. I would not hesitate to slice your throat if I were to hear a squeak from you. Nod your head if you understand." Eagle hissed and spat his words out as she discovered that this Ramsgate lady might compromise their covert operations.

Even if I had given the order for him to bring back survivors, but if these survivors were to give the slightest problem, it would be eliminated from its infancy stage.

"Let me tell the three of you right now, who I am and what I am, is not going to be any of your friggin' problems. I am from Gillman and Sandhurst so I have my fair share of looking directly into the eyes of my enemies as their lives were being exhausted."

"If you want to get out from here alive, all of you better listen and follow my orders, if not take a few steps back and get out of my friggin' sight. One more thing, where we are going to for our next destination, is also not my concern towards the three of you. Besides this wagon is fully laden and you three are EXTRA BAGGAGE."

Michelle Ramsgate was flabbergasted because she had never expected that this cool man in front of her could be such...a...D-E-V-I-L...! All she could was stared wildly as cold sweat began to drop behind her back, soaking the tunic. She thought that by wearing that dress would spark an interest in him but she didn't expect him to be so C-O-L-D...!!

Of course, she wanted to get out from this hell hole...! There's no food and no means of survival here so it's better to zip up or being booted off. She nodded and when the gloved hand at her back of her head was released, she simply slumped to the ground like a sack of grains.

"You two... Unload these sacks of grains and load up these trunks up to the wagon. Cover as much as possible. Then load those sacks into the handcart. The three of you would push this handcart towards our next destination."

"As a guardsman, this would be part of your final training. If you fail this, you would be left behind. Go and look for another two more handcarts in the marketplace. I am sure you can find more than one. Go... "

The trio simply nodded and rushed off towards the marketplace to fund two more handcarts. The dragan has no problems to pull even a 50 thousand pound load, the only worry is the maximum load that the wagon. If it broke down halfway, these operations can be considered as a failure...!