The Brave New World - 158 A Change of Hear

At first his new colonists limited themselves to whispers between each other. The whispers gradually grew louder and more frequent. Soon, his new recruits were speaking quite openly. They went so far as to glance at Samir, as if to make sure he’d heard what they’d said! It was impertinence of the highest order.

They said they were thirsty. They said they were hungry. They were exhausted! There were unpleasant comments about Samir’s leadership, totally unfair because after all it was Neil who was leading the group – Samir had stayed at its rear. He wanted to keep an eye on his new recruits, and Neil knew the way well enough.

It was a bright, starry night and when the moon rose, the extra light seemed to embolden the new colonists further. The teenage boy expressed doubt if Samir’s settlement existed. The caretaker’s wife, the teacher, declared that they might all be walking to their perdition. She seemed to have a penchant for drama. Samir was sorely tempted to whack her ass with his spear.

He could tell they were no more than thousand paces from the river: he’d been in that area often enough to recognize its features even at night. He had to impose discipline before they reached water. The presence of water would dilute his power instantly. His new colonists would gain confidence, who knew, they might even rebel against him! It was five to two, after all.

“Halt!” he shouted.

Everyone stopped. All eyes were speculatively fixed on Samir as he walked to the head of the group, and joined Neil.

“Get your bow ready,” he whispered.

He turned round to face them, shifting his grip on the spear so that he could use it instantly if needed. The preparations didn’t go unnoticed by the new colonists. They drew closer to each other, watching Samir closely. He had their undivided, respectful attention.

Samir said:

“I heard what you were saying earlier. You wanted me to hear it. Now it’s my turn to tell you something.”

He paused to glare at them. He said:

“I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want you in my colony. You can go back where you came from. You can go anywhere you like, including hell. I want you off my land. If you stay, be prepared to face unpleasant consequences. Very unpleasant consequences.”

That was another line he’d borrowed from his former supervisor at work. It never failed to scare him then, and it didn’t fail now. The teacher wailed:

“Have mercy on us! Please!”

It was was the signal for other wails and supplications. The teacher fell to her knees. They all fell to their knees! They were all kneeling and reaching out to him and begging him for mercy.

“All right. But things are going to be different from now on. You have abused my trust in you, and you will have to work to regain it.”

Neil was carrying a long, plaited leather cord around his middle: it was a very useful item on an expedition. Its uses ranged from shaking fruit off tree branches to trapping animals. It would now be used in a new way. Samir said to Neal:

“Tie them together by their necks. Leave enough space so that they can walk in a line. Tie one knot at the beginning and one at the end, and just loop the rope round the necks in the middle. Start at the back, and leave enough rope free in front for a lead.”

He turned to the kneeling colonists, and said:

“Form a line. Stay on your knees! Form a line. I want you at the front.” He pointed at the teenage boy. He was the fastest walker of the lot. He would keep everyone too busy to complain.

“I protest,” said the former leader of the new colonists. “You’re treating us like slaves. Like animals!”

“I don’t trust you any more,” Samir said. “You don’t like it? You can leave. Would anyone like to leave?”

No one did. They obediently shuffled into a line on their knees. Samir ordered the caretaker and his wife to the back of the line. He put the former leader last. When everyone was where he wanted them, Samir said:

“Get going, Neil.”

Neil did so a little reluctantly, so Samir added:

“The sooner we get this done, the sooner we’ll all eat, drink, and rest.”

Thus motivated, Neil was done in a couple of minutes. Samir ordered the group to rise, and nodded to Neil.

“Lead the way,” he said.

“Let’s go,” Neil said harshly. He picked up the lead and gave it a tug, just as if he was leading a train of donkeys.

They moved off, with Samir bringing up the rear. He couldn’t resist the pleasure of prodding the former leader’s ass with the blunt end of the spear a few times, speeding him up.

Progress was swift, and shortly they came to the river. The captive colonists were ready to dive into it right away, but Samir ordered them to stop. Neil tugged on the rope and indeed they stopped, with the three in the middle making choking noises.

“Don’t drink straight from the river,” Samir told them, approaching the former leader. He handed him the waterskin.

“Use that,” he said. “Fill it up and drink from the spout. You can keep it until we arrive in my settlement.”

Stunned by this act of generosity, the colonists meekly followed the caretaker to the bank of the river. While they were busy drinking and washing, Samir held a quick conference with Neil.

“Neil,” he began, “I know you don’t like this situation. I don’t like this situation. I regret asking them to come along.”

“Why did you? We could have stayed hidden, and let them go by.”

“Because they were close to dying,” Samir said. “Because I have a kind heart and I didn’t want them to die. But I don’t want us to come into any harm too, and that’s why it was necessary to tie them together.”

Neil was shocked.

“You really think they could hurt us? That they could kill us?” he said.

Samir shrugged.

“Why not?” he asked. “They’d get water, food, clothes, weapons – a clean sweep.”

He put a comforting hand on Neil’s shoulder, and added:

“It’s the New World, Neil. No rules apply here except the ones we make up.”

“I understand,” said Neil in a tone that indicated he didn’t, not quite. Samir chose to ignore it.

“Good,” he said. He squeezed Neil’s shoulder reassuringly, and got down to lighting a campfire.

He could feel the curious eyes of the colonists as they emerged from the water. He glanced at them over his shoulder and saw that the women weren’t bothering to cover their breasts and crotches any more. The teenage girl really was something to look at, but the caretaker’s wife – ouch! She truly needed to cover herself up. The old cow had no shame!

He got the fire going, and invited the colonists to sit down. Then he distributed the food for the evening meal, keeping half for breakfast the next day. Neil and Samir only had a day’s worth of rations when they ran into the unlucky colonists, so there wasn’t much food to go around. Samir gave himself and Neil double what others got, and he still felt hungry after eating it.

But even such a tiny amount of food was enough to knock out the colonists. They were all asleep quickly, lying on the soft ground by the whispering, gurgling river. Samir decided that he wouldn’t sleep. Too much was at stake. He told Neil to get some rest and walked down to the river and splashed water on his face.

He repeated that many times through the night. He didn’t do it to stay awake. He had no difficulty at all in staying awake. He was so tense there was no question of his falling asleep. He splashed the water on his face to calm himself down.

What had he done? It was a big mistake, a mistake that was bound to lead to many subsequent mistakes! The brutal bottom line was that he’d acquired five more mouths to feed and five more bodies to clothe, and that those bodies belonged to potential rebels capable of derailing his colonial project.

For a while he considered waking Neil up so that the two of them could sneak away while the colonists were fast asleep. But he would be leaving them by a river whose waters were full of fish, and whose banks were abundant in edible plants and roots. It flew into the ocean steps away from Madan’s old settlement, abandoned when he and Kali moved to Kulaba. And he’d left it standing as it was, a ready-made home waiting for new colonists!

Then he was struck by an idea so brilliant it was almost blinding. It was one of those ideas only real leaders have: a single, simple move that turned the whole situation on its head, and in Samir’s favor.

He wouldn’t be taking the new colonists to Kulaba. Kulaba was about to burst at the seams with new arrivals: the soldiers and their female partners, Sunil and his family – that was twenty one people off the bat. Five extra could make everything boil over.

He would take them to Madan’s old settlement instead. It wasn’t hard to survive there – after all, hadn’t Madan and Kali done exactly that? And the new colonists would have it easy. They would move into existing huts, they even had a storage shed and wood-chopping block ready! And there was also a clay oven, bits of old netting, a couple of old, cracked pots – riches galore!

Being a benevolent ruler, he would leave them his flint and the spear, and he’d tell Neil to donate his stone ax. Given such a good start, the new colonists should have no trouble at all settling in. And it would be the perfect test of their abilities and usefulness.

Of course, he would pay them a visit a week or two later. He would come leading a troop of soldiers, and bring them gifts: clothes, tools, a few goats maybe.

Yes! It was the perfect plan. Trembling with excitement, Samir looked up at the sky and saw that the night was about to end.

He waded into the river and splashed water on his face once more. Then he went to wake up Neil.

NOTICE

This work is available to read online exclusively at Webnovel.com.

https:///book/15767933905886705

If you are reading it at a different site, it has been copied and reproduced without the author’s consent. The owner of that site is a thief.