The Tribunal & Banishments
24
"Okey so what do we do now? Janet Singer asked. She was one of the 6 men and women who had been appointed to stand in judgement of the prisoners and make a decision on the fate of the woman we had found. "There can be no doubt about the men; they were caught with blood on their hands the only question is what do we do with them." "I know none of us want to condemn them to execution but we put 21 bodies in that grave - men women and children - half of them with evidence of having been raped, tortured and abused. The children that were found alive had been beaten and starved and it wasn't from lack of food. The way I see it we have 3 choices detain them for who knows how long which means feeding them and guarding them 24 hours a day, take them somewhere and leave them so they can kill and torture more people or execute them. So what's it going to be?" Danny said. Andy looked over at Elijah and Walt Steinberger who had once been a judge, "You 2 are the legal authority here what say you?" "We are not part of this Tribunal but given the situation we are within our legal rights to execute;" Elijah answered "and if you're asking our personal opinion we feel that execution would be the best and most logical solution but do it away from the complex. Now what about the woman?" ***** "She's been monitered constantly since she was brought here and has given us no reason to doubt what she says but something about her doesn't ring true. For one thing she looked too well fed and clean, the other woman was malnurished and filthy and like the children had been abused and showed evidence of continued sexual trauma while this woman showed none, granted she is almost 9 months pregnant but I can't see any of her captors being concerned with that. My gut tells me if she was really a prisonor she would be in a lot worse shape even if she was their play toy. I think one of those guys was her old man and she's trying to cover up." Andy said speaking up. "I got the same vibe and Kevin tells me she's in good health and so is the baby, also she's got a gang tatt on her back. It's not one that belongs to the brotherhood but it is gang related." Danny added "I questioned her too and she tends to talk around certain subjects in what my superiors would say seems almost scripted. I think we should keep her under close watch until the baby is born and we're sure she won't freeze to death then drive her out to the interstate and send her on her way." Brian finished. "What say you?" asked Walt. Yeh or Ney. "Yeh." the 6 answered. ***** I woke up in a cold sweat from the nightmare I'd had and went into the kitchen to make some coffee then stoked up the fire and walked to the window. It was snowing again but the wind was calm so I grabbed my coat and went out on the porch to sit where I could watch the sky. "Goddess what am I to do, I actually agree with them we can't just keep them locked up we don't have the man power or the extra rations and we definitely can't just send them on their way to keep killing, at least this will be quick and humane." I said with tears streaming down my face. "They or their brothers and sisters put at least 10 people in the grave without even giving them a chance and put another one of ours in the ground. We are at war and the rules of war are different." I'm not sure how long I sat there until the cold finally seeped into my bones enough to bring me back from where ever I'd been but when it finally did I got up and went inside. The sun was just rising. ***** "Have you been up all night?" Lizzie asked coming into the alter room where I was sitting. "No, why?" "Because it was my turn to unlock the doors and get everything started for the kitchen crew this morning so when Danny and his people knocked on my door and one of them said you were sitting on the porch as soon as I could I came over; you seem deeply troubled my sister." "I guess I am. I've been told killing in battle is sometimes necessary; we have to defend ourselves, but it is not for us to kill in cold blood no matter what the reason or our feelings on the matter." ***** "Too bad we can't take them down to the river and set them adrift without a paddle. That's what our ancesters would have done." Ashara said coming in the room. "What did you just say, Ashara?" "I said, too bad we can't take them down to the river and set them adrift without a paddle. That's what our ancesters would have done but that's not feasible, is it?" "It might be. It just might be. When are the executions set for?" I said jumping up. ***** "Didn't I see some Whitewater rafts in with the survival equipment you guys brought with you Danny? "Yes I told Tina and the kids how Dad used to take us over to Eagle Landing to go rafting and they wanted to try it, but the road's still under water most of the way there and besides how would we get them there?" "If we follow North Blackwell west like Bobby and the others did and then turn south instead of north and drive as far as we can we may get close enough to reach some place to launch a couple of rafts without killing ourselves and put them into the river that way it would be up to them and the Goddess what happens next." Andy said almost to himself. "It probably wouldn't take more then 4 or 5 hours to drive." "And if they run we can always shoot them trying to escape." Brian said "You need to talk to the others and see what they say on the subject, in the meanwhile we'll postpone the executions for 48 hours." ***** We loaded 3 rafts and some paddles into the trunk of the first car with 3 armed men and put the 4 prisonors tied securely into the back of the truck with Brian and Andy standing guard while Carrie drove and Matt rode shotgun then loaded the third car with ropes and climbing gear and 3 more gaurds just in case. I rode in the first car while Starr rode in the last with Mike as witnesses. After about 3 hours of driving the road started to rise a little and soon we saw a sign that read Eagle Landing 45 miles. A few minutes later we found a suitable place to launch the rafts. We parked and unloaded 2 of them and 4 paddles then we cut the ropes on the men's legs and got them out of the truck. "Hope you boys are good paddlers or strong swimmers" Andy said pulling the pins on the rafts and tieing them off while the others stood guard. "Get in the boats or if you prefer we can shoot you."he said cutting their other bonds and handing each of them a paddle. "At least this way you have a chance, that's more then the people you killed did." The men cut the ropes and threw a bag into each raft. The current caught them and the rafts took off. We watched until they disappeared then started back. No one said much on the way home. The weeks following the banishment of the 4 men of The Brotherhood was quiet but we stayed viligent while we waited for our people to return and kept a close watch on everything. ***** The woman gave birth to a baby girl and both seemed to be doing fine though she didn't seemed to care about what happened to it, other then nursing it when she had to she ignored her and hadn't even given her a name. The men finished the other side of the children's quarters and everyone seemed to have settled in. They were regaining their strength and making friends with the others. When the baby was born they all declined to see her or the woman.
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