Lone Ranger Chapter 52

52.

For the landing of the so-named ship, the surviving group took to the bridge and then down to the earlier deck. It was eerie to proceed that way but it was the declared route. Falstaff had said if they did follow the route, they will end up walking aimlessly.

“Sort of like the Dutchman?” Tonto cut in. Lance stared at his partner whom he knew the sails off the docks at Dover. Falstaff nodded and then smiled.

“That was a prank by the sailors not to meet with any ships not known. It might be that or the insufferable pirate ship. It was good advice for the nearest port could be days away.” Falstaff had then stopped his tale when they seemingly arrived back at the deck with Charon at the rear. All the passengers had disembarked leaving Lance and Silver with their group. Silver was down to three crews then and had asked for permission to beef up the crew.

“I can’t be seen walking with the four of us. The others will laugh at us or slit our throat to reduce more of us.” Silver did not wait for a reply and proceeded off. He did however make a dependent statement to Lance.

“We won’t be far from you. We much prefer to be at you when needed.” And Silver was gone at the docks.

The docks were more like a slave pen with the extended jetty point there and besides the boat that carried Lance over was only one of the dozen. Each boat had a Charon for its rower and on each boat, hundreds of souls disembarked although some stayed on. They will pay another gold coin and continued on the voyage.

“You had seen the fun they had. They will prefer that to the unknown at Hades.” Falstaff told Lance. “It is their choice.”

None carried luggage although none was needed for in their grim expression, they needed none more of the carried ones. There were others on the docks who appeared to be workers therefor they were handling the docking and assisting the ones which needed assistance. The disembarked walked down the jetty point and then stepped on the main dock.

On the main dock which was normally besieged with warehouses and loading equipment but there it was taken over by the lines of rail tracks. Each track had a tram car on it and they appeared to be electric for above the tram cars were seen the line of cables. The disembarked taken off on were led to the tram cars. They were picked by the figures standing at the tram cars. The figures were dressed in three-piece suits of differing shades and a different headwear from fedora to homburg. Lance saw Silver and his crews were stuffed into one car with the designation VII. There seems to be a different mode of selection for others and it baffled Lance then on how it works. He turned to Falstaff for an answer.

“There are no selections, Sir.” The first time Falstaff addressed the Lance with that. “It just pure simple discretion ploy by the wardens there. Either way, it does not matter for they are all doomed.”

Lance then saw the wardens boarding the boat and approached them. It was then Falstaff spoke up again.

“Bellum ingens geret Italia populosque feroces contundet Moresque viris et moenia ponet.” Falstaff whispered towards Lance. It was a verse from Aeinid by Virgil.

“Virgil wants you to know. That is your task that Virgil sought their doing if you care for it. Virgil holds no firm promises on you. He had seen the worst and recorded them to cleanse his soul I guess. I dunk mine in the mead that soothed the mind and hasten the sleep. Another day means a new day to me.”

Lance was taken aback by the task given by Virgil. He recalled those words spoken by Falstaff then and though he had his lessons in Latin, he preferred to think in the plain words of English.

“He will wage a huge war in Italy, subdue fierce peoples, and establish customs and a city for men,” Lance muttered it out but he wasted his effort for Tonto was not appreciative of it.

“Kemo-Sabe, we are here to hunt the one named Lucifer and sought your brother. I doubt a war will be needed.” Tonto replied but the counter reply was delayed when the wardens addressed Falstaff. They were two of them. Their dressing of the three-piece suit was not suited to the docks but they compromised with the Wellington boots.

“Falstaff I presume.” One of the wardens addressed the former. “We have been asking when you will ever return.”

“I am here now. Your hounds have lost three litters in their hunts. I do wish your Master have not pressed on for their breeding.”

Falstaff had his pike snatched off and landed a kick in the groin. It was crude but it made the larger man keeled over in pain with his hand clutching his pain. The other warden then looked at Lance and smiled.

“The Lone Ranger, I presume. We had been scouting the rivers and the docks for you. The Master will be pleased.” The mention of the name Lone Ranger created a wave of hush among those still on the docks. Then the name was whispered and soon they chant the name. The wardens tried to stop the chanting but the whole docks were onto it.

“Lone Ranger! Lone Ranger!”

It was weird then. Suddenly the fight started. It could be the wardens or the workers but it spread, it soon became a dock brawl with the wardens clobbered by the others. Lance laid a punch on the warden that was standing before him while Tonto took to the same mode of immobilizing the opponent. The kick was just as hard as the one laid on Falstaff. Lance and Tonto took to the docks and climbed over the fallen bodies to run then. He turned to look for Falstaff but the other one had remained stationary.

“Why didn’t he come?” Lance threw a punch at the warden in his way. Tonto had moved on using his rifle as a battering ram. They ran past the tram cars and onto the tracks. What lies ahead was more tracks and then Lance saw the high wall there. It was three times the height of Man and there were sentries post there spaced out at every fifty feet. The tracks joined there in series of intersection into the final twelve tracks that pushed on past the wall. At the wall, at every exit of the tram cars stood the tall grated gates that may have been operated from behind the wall.

“We can’t get through,” Lance told Tonto. He looked to the rear and saw the crowd of the souls had won their battle. They were approaching the wall, but it was not to be their retreat. Lance was to join the crowd when he heard the sound on the wall. He had heard of similar sound before on the ironclads that ply the coasts of Norfolk then. The Union Army had seen to produce more of them after the war that ravaged the states. He recalled those sounds for it was his sad memory to remember the ironclad then. He was five then and was taken there by his father.

“Lance, the ironclad was the Confederate weapon for the early part of the war, and then the Union took over the superiority. The war was eventually won by the Union as you probably know but the ironclad continued. It will rival those warships that used was used to traverse the sea lanes and made the locals pissed standing there.”

“Father, you made it all.” Lance had replied but his father had stepped on to meet a friend. The five-year-old had then wandered off with his feet and ended up below deck. He soon found himself among the cannons and as a mere lad then anything that looked phallic was intriguing. His focus on the cannons missed his attention to hear the footsteps approaching him. Lance looked up at the huge man.

“Sergeant at Arms Webster at your service.” The non-commissioned officer stood at attention. He was soon to be Lance’s friend and showed him the working of the cannons including the gun port sliding doorway for it to roll out. He spent over a few hours with the man while his father had called for a search on the ship for the missing boy. The officer was soon reprimanded and then discharged with dishonor. It was his father’s doing.

“It’s over, son,” Lance recalled the words of the non-comm when the sliding doorway closed. It was also how he recalled the sound then into his memory of the non-comm.

Lance looked up at the wall and saw the guns that were lined there at the open gun ports. There were multi barrels and soon began firing. The crowds on the docks were mopped down like the grass when it got mowed. The ones at the front were the lucky ones for their bodies were riddled with bullets but the subsequent rows suffered the same fate or being unlucky went down with bleeding wounds. They will die soon enough and then it’s back to the start of the procession to get to Hades but Lance could not bear the thought of them re-starting the gold coin request/  It was not easy to acquire one. Lance ran out with his hands raised.

“Stop! I surrender.”