Chapter 8.3 Gestapo

Amon was riding a horse while his face expressed no emotion whatsoever, while Reek, who stood beside him, wore a sadistic smile, remembering what he had done to one of the Spider's little birds. Simyo had stayed in Barrowton.

"Are we going on a birdie hunt?" asked Reek.

"Yes, the Boltons shouldn't have spies in this place yet, and by the time we set up our network, they shouldn't get them back in, just as happened at Barrowton."

"But that man's little birds keep sneaking in."

"Well, they're elusive, but fewer and fewer. These aren't poor cities, it's not common to see orphaned children walking down the street. In fact, that doesn't happen, so even if they are able to get in, they last pretty short in the city."

Behind the duo, were 30 riders, all dressed entirely in black and although their faces were not covered, they all appeared to have a face mask; devoid of emotion.

Barrowton and Barrowdock were only three hours away on horseback, so the journey was not too heavy, and in not too long the group arrived at their destination.

The black leather outfits looked almost like a uniform; all dressed very similarly, and the faces of all the members of the group exuded no positive emotion. The population in the streets instantly turned away from the road, locking themselves in their homes as they watched the group pass by. The frightening appearance of the Gestapo, as well as their well-deserved infamy, made everyone act cautiously around them.

"My Lord! Welcome to Barrowdock," said a brown-bearded man as he hurriedly ran to greet Amon. He belonged to the newly formed Barrowdock guard of 500 men, where, because of their remoteness from the rest of the army, they lacked training and discipline.

"I am not a Lord" Amon replied, causing the guard's already nervous eyes to grow more serious.

"Then..." muttered the guard, but he didn't know what to answer under the watchful eye of the Gestapo leader, who, amidst all the tension and awkward silence, sketched a smile.

"Take it easy, young guard. You are a faithful servant of Lord Dustin, are you not?".

"I am sir!"

"Then you have nothing to worry about. He who does nothing fears nothing."

As they continued on their way through the streets, the group grew apart, until only Amon himself arrived in front of what was a large stone building; the place where Barbrey Dustin herself resided.

Unfortunately the woman was not in the place, to which Amon had to improvise the plan of action.

His men, already dispersed, simply mingled among the crowds, many no longer wearing their uniforms; they wore common garments to camouflage themselves in the city. With their attentive eyes they watched the faces of everyone they came across; mainly the children. Their task was to look for spies.

Amon, along with Reek, had another objective in mind. A certain problem lurked in the port city, one that Wolfgang wanted to nip in the bud.

The Gestapo leader, not finding Barbrey, simply left the place and, according to his plans, went back to meet Reek.

"Do you have someone?" the man asked, to which Reek nodded.

"He should be at home right now, since he's in charge of the night shift. He should know where those bastards' hideout is."

"Then let's go and not waste any more time, just lead the way" was Amon's curt reply, and the duo walked to a shack, with a number at the entrance.

"House 975..." whispered Reek, but frowned when he saw the number that served as a way to identify the dwelling; since they were all built uniformly and without major differences.

"Still not learning to read?" asked Amon.

"I'm afraid not, I haven't had enough time to worry about that. There's been a lot of work" smiled Reek. "Although considering that there are of these signs in every house, it would seem that a large portion of the population can read?"

"They've been taught, but only the basics. Numbers so they can identify the dwellings, and key words so they can read the propaganda and advertisements that are pasted on the walls, but nothing compared to a master of course."

"Fair and necessary then."

Amon simply nodded and approached the door, giving it 3 firm and quiet knocks. After a few seconds footsteps were heard from the other side, and the door slowly opened, revealing the face of a young woman, no more than 20 years old.

"Is this Mora's home?"

"My father? Uh... yes, it's his home. Are you from the city guard?" the young woman asked quizzically.

"Sort of, but we need to talk to him" Amon smiled, and the young commoner gawked at his smile for a few seconds; he was indeed handsome.

Mora's daughter simply smiled foolishly and finished opening the door for them. Her eyes were fixed on Amon to the point that she hadn't even seen Reek yet. The subordinate was also too far away from the girl to be smelled, or her enamored expression would turn into pure disgust and distaste for the foul-smelling man.

"Father! Some men are looking for you!" the girl said, walking deeper into the two-story house. Almost all of the structures were focused on vertical growth, so as not to waste space in the city. Wolfgang was projecting himself for a world where everything revolved around the city, not the countryside.

"Coming!" came a voice, and its tone was nervous. Mora was hurrying down the stairs, and urgency was evident in his walk. 'Will it be them? 'No, I don't think they'd dare come to a guard's house in the middle of town. It must be some fellow or something' thought the man, but as he reached the door and saw the men, his steps froze.

Mora had never seen them personally; their presence was nil in the city after all, but he had heard quite a bit about them, especially the group of soldiers who had come to guard Barrowdock. They, as inhabitants of Barrowton, naturally knew them: the Gestapo.

Mora lived in a now abandoned village near Barrowdock when Barrowdock had not yet been built. He had never had the opportunity to visit Barrowton, but just by looking at the men's black suits he could perfectly identify where they came from. After all, those who had camouflaged themselves with the populace were Amon's subordinates; not Amon himself or Reek.

"Are you Mora? City guard."

"I... I am" the man replied fearfully.

"We can pass, I suppose" Amon commented, but more of a statement than a question, and he entered the house without delay. Reek followed him from behind, but with his approach the smell became noticeable to both Mora and his daughter. The twenty-year-old changed her laughing face to one filled with disgust as she looked at the disheveled man.

"You have a beautiful daughter."

"Thank you Lord."

"I'm no Lord, but let's not waste time on meaningless formalities" Amon added as he sat casually in a wooden chair inside the house. "Do you have something to drink?"

"This..."

"A glass of water will do" said the Gestapo leader, and Mora gestured to his daughter to pour the man some water.

"I want one too" remarked Reek, who began to walk around the house, looking at the various pieces of furniture, then staring at the head of a deer hanging on the wall. 'It will soon rot, I doubt if a mere guard could afford such substances to keep it in good condition.'

"Now then, the truth is we just came to ask you a question" Amon commented with a smile, and proceeded to receive the glass of water. "Thank you" he thanked with a wink in the eye to Mora's daughter, but the atmosphere was tense, and such a show of affection had no effect on the young woman, too disgusted by Reek's scent, already spread throughout the house.

Thereupon Amon took the glass of water and put it to his mouth, drinking it patiently, enjoying every drop that entered his throat.

"Refreshing" he murmured, his eyes still staring at the glass steadily. "So, the question I must ask you, Mr. Guard, are you a loyal servant to Lord Dustin?".

At the question, Mora was a bit confused. What kind of question was that? Could it be that they only came to ask such a question? Many questions ran through his head.

"I am" replied the guard firmly, despite the waves of nerves he felt throughout his body. But to his surprise, Amon's smile disappeared completely, transforming into a face of utter disgust.

"Bullshit!" he shouted, and picked up the earthenware cup with which he had drunk the water and threw it hard at Mora's daughter's face.

The young woman screamed in pain, and brought her hands to her face as she moaned in discomfort. A little blood began to trickle from her eyebrow; that's where the object had fallen.

"Daughter!" exclaimed Mora worriedly, but as he was about to approach his daughter and see her condition, he felt a cold metal in his throat. He glared hatefully to the left, with deep anger for the bastards who dared to harm his daughter, but the look of pure malice he saw in the man's eyes made his heart freeze. She was no longer even able to sense the foul smell in the atmosphere; all his senses were totally immobilized.

"Why do you lie?" came an ice-cold voice from behind Mora's back.

"It is bad to lie" whispered Reek in a low, sinister tone, and the pressure of his sword with the guard's throat increased.

"Since you are a liar, I think I will have to give you an incentive to tell the truth" Amon commented, and got up from the wooden chair. His slow but sure steps went in the direction of Mora's daughter.

"What is your name girl?" asked Amon, but the girl was still moaning from the blow of the glass, and both blood and tears escaped from the hands that hid her face. "Ask your name you filthy bitch!" shouted the man, and a faint whisper escaped the girl's lips.

"Lya."

"So Lya. Should we give your father some incentive to talk?"

"You bastard!" shouted Mora, but Reek punched him in the face that sent him to the ground.

"By the way, where's your mother?" asked Amon to Lya.

"She... she's not."

"So she passed away a while ago, that's a shame. If your father doesn't speak it's possible you'll meet his same fate. In the lands of Wolfgang Dustin there is no place for traitors or criminals. So, Mora Guard, I think I must ask a new question."

"New question..." whispered Reek. "Please lie again... I want to devour your daughter's body."

At Reek's words, all of Mora's fears increased, to the point that tears began to fall down his eyes, regretting all the actions that brought him to this point. Couldn't he start over without starting that dirty level of smuggling?

"I'm sorry... I'll tell them everything" the man whispered, and began to speak.

There was a gang that was in charge of, little by little, stealing some gold, and then transporting it to Barrowdock. That stolen gold was brought into the city, which was not difficult. The problem would then be to take the gold out on ships, and that was Mora's task, along with a couple of other guards. The gold would only go out on their shifts, and they would be in charge of covering up the smuggled gold while the smugglers loaded it onto the ships.

In order to have a more comfortable environment and do things more discreetly, the smuggling group had increased the disorder in the city, to hide their tracks and go unnoticed, but such acts did not escape Amon's eyes.

"Do you know where they are right now?"

"Yes, I do," Mora said shyly. "Every time I go to get my payment they leave a sack of coins in a specific place. One day I went a little early and saw them placing them, I wanted to follow them and know their hiding place to have something against them."

"Well, that might save your life" laughed Reek.

"Then I guess you can lead the way."

"I... I will" replied the guard, but then his eyes showed doubt regarding a point of information, wondering if he should reveal it.

"Speak" Amon ordered upon seeing such hints of doubt,

"It is likely that your hideout is empty right now. Because of the order in the city there are no abandoned houses where they can settle; everything is regulated, and they all have an owner."

"Does that mean that someone else in the city is hiding them in their house?".

"That's right, so they don't tend to spend the day in the place, or so I assume."

"That's a reasonable assumption. They must spend the day in some bar or something. Now that in the jobs point system they've dropped the registration of everyone more, except for larger purchases, it's easier for a third party, who doesn't work in the territory to infiltrate..."

"But they should require your ID just the same, Captain, to buy anything at the bar."

"That's what I was thinking, so either the people at the bar are compromised too, or they just don't go to the bar or anywhere."

"Do you know how many shelters they have?" asked Amon to Mora, to which he put on a thoughtful expression.

"The one I told you must be the biggest, that's where they have the money after all. But considering they all sleep in the same house, and I've seen quite a few expensive ones... they must have 2 or 3 similar bases in the city."

"If that's the estimate... we'll have to act more cautiously so as not to upset them" Amon commented, and his eyes shifted to Reek. "You stay and watch the girl, I'll take him off to do some things."

"Yes Captain" replied Reek, as Mora gave Amon a pleading look, he didn't want to leave his daughter with that pestilent monster.

"Take it easy. He has orders to keep your daughter alive, and as long as she's alive he won't do anything to her. He has other kinds of tastes" smiled Amon, but his words were no more reassuring to Mora.

As they left the house, a man, out of Gestapo uniform, was waiting for the duo.

"You have new orders. Visit all the bars in town and look at their sales record. Also do the same with the warehouses and all properties of the Dustin House that may sell food. Give me the addresses of everyone who buys large quantities of food without having a justifiable reason to do so."

"Yes Captain."

Amon then turned his gaze to Mora. "Lead the way, by night this group will cease to exist. It's up to you whether you and your daughter join that pile of corpses."

"Yes..." stammered the man, and took a handkerchief from Amon to wipe away the blood dripping from the small cut on his neck.

While all this was going on, the rest of the Gestapo had already located a couple of tongue-less children; Varys' little birds, but they found no one else. Roose Bolton did not have as many resources as those given by the kingdom to The Spider, so he could not continue wasting spies in a place where they were soon killed; he had to cease his efforts.

Night fell, and Amon was able to identify two more bases of the smuggler group. Today it was not the turn of Mora or the other 2 involved, so they would all be at their bases; not smuggling any contraband.

Amon gathered all his men at the main base, Reek was in charge of the assault on another of the bases, and more Gestapo members would be in charge of the third one.

Cries of pain and confrontation were heard in different parts of the city, but the surprise attack on sleeping people has only one result, and that is absolute massacre at the hands of the attackers.

The next morning, dozens of men, still alive, were crucified in the streets of the city, with their fingers and toes cut off, without teeth, without eyes and without their private parts. It was a horrifying spectacle that reminded them all never to go against the Gestapo or against the Dustin, their overlords.

Mora was among them too, as well as the rest of the guards involved. As for Lya, his daughter, Reek had left her in too horrible a state to display in public. Looking at it that way, the smugglers were fortunate not to fall into the clutches of such a monster.