John Ringo - There Will Be Dragons

“Historically once bandits find that the pickings are slim on roads, they begin attacking towns. We will be prepared to defend this town. To emphasize this, Sheida Ghorbani is calling a constitutional convention with the intent to reconstitute the North American Union. It is my strongly held opinion, supported by Sheida and other council members, that this requirement, to be capable of defending one’s self and the community, be a universal requirement within the North American Union.”

“The fact is that we are in the midst of a civil war. It seems right now that we are not, but just as we are recovering and preparing, Paul and his faction are recovering and preparing. At the moment, the Council is fighting the Council, but that battle is effectively stalemated. So, in time, they will come for us. And we will be prepared. You have all gone through much hardship and these may seem somber thoughts for a day devoted to celebration. But they are important thoughts, things that we should all be thinking and talking about. And making our personal decisions. So that when the time comes for you to vote on these questions, you can vote with understanding and knowledge.

“And to tell you the truth I think that’s enough to put on your plate for now. You should have plenty to talk about,” he ended with a smile. “So as soon as these… uh… players get their breath back, you all go back to having a good time. Take care.” He waved again and started to step down from the stage but turned back and raised his arms. “Oh, by the way, this requirement extends to minstrels!” At that there was a general laugh.

“Yeah? Well I swing a mean fiddle case,” the redhead replied, swinging the case of her violin around her head.

“Well, we’ll just see how you do with an axe,” Edmund replied and stepped down from the stage.

A crowd had already gathered around Edmund so Herzer didn’t feel it was the time to ask his questions. Instead he and Morgen wandered back to the patch by the stream that had been claimed by their group.

“He’s right, that is a lot to talk about,” Courtney said, flopping to the ground and leaning back against the balks of timber.

“Oof! North American Union!” was all Cruz said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, that’s some deep stuff,” Mike agreed.

“Well I don’t think that it’s right that everyone should have to use weapons,” Morgen said angrily. “I don’t have any interest in killing people. Or even hurting them.”

“What if they are interested in hurting you?” Shilan asked quietly.

“Why would they hurt me?” Morgen challenged. “What have I done to them? If everyone starts getting ready for a fight, sooner or later you’re going to have one!”

“People don’t have to have a reason to hurt other people,” Herzer said. “They just have to be the kind of people that enjoy it.”

Shilan looked at him oddly for a moment then nodded.

“Listen to Herzer,” she said.

“I take it you had trouble on the trip?” Courtney asked.

“Yeah,” Shilan replied, sharply.

“What happened?” Morgen asked.

“I do not choose to discuss it,” Shilan said. She wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them tight to her and looking into the distance.

Cruz’s face tightened as a muscle worked in his jaw. Then he looked off to the side.

“I’m sorry, Shilan,” Morgen said. “I’m sorry for whatever happened to you. But I still don’t agree. Violence never settles anything.”

Herzer snorted and tried unsuccessfully to turn it into a laugh.

“What?” Morgen snapped.

“Sorry… sorry…” he said, still trying not to laugh. “I was just… thinking. Maybe you ought to ask the Melcon AI if violence ever settles anything. Or the Carthaginian Senate or the Islamic Jihad.”

“What are you talking about?” Morgen asked.

“Have you ever heard of the Melcon AI?”

“Yes, I’ve heard of the Melcon AI.”

“Does it still exist?” Herzer asked with a smile.

“No. It was destroyed in the AI wars,” Morgen said, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. “But this is the forty-first century not the thirty-first! Surely we’ve risen above that, wrestling in wars like boys on a playground!”

“This we defend,” Herzer said, shaking his head. “Or not, as the case may be,” he continued, looking at Shilan.

“What he is trying to say is, people have always been violent,” Courtney interjected. “There have always been wars and as long as we stay human beings there will always be wars. The period of the last thousand years was a golden age. And it would be nice to go back to that. But if the cost of going back to that is letting Paul decide what is right and wrong… You can try to limit it by diplomacy but the diplomacy has already broken down. It broke down in the Council hall. When Paul attacked Sheida.”

“Well, we only have her word for that,” Morgen pointed out.

“Oh, good God,” Courtney replied, throwing her hands up in the air. “Herzer, you try.”

“Nope ain’t gonna do it,” Herzer replied. “Morgen, you can say that you just want to sit this out. That’s fine. But people aren’t going to let you sit it out. You can choose to leave Raven’s Mill. I’m sure that there are going to be communities that are not going to enforce the requirements. You can even say that you have strongly held philosophical objections and train to handle casualties. But if you go elsewhere, to a community that says they just want to be neutral or ‘violence never settles anything’ sooner or later Paul’s forces will take you over and not ask your opinion. Or you’ll be in the way of Sheida’s forces and they’ll take you over and not ask your opinion. I for one am not going to let Paul Bowman tell me how to run my life. I know enough history to understand what that road leads to. And I would rather sit here on the ground in the rain and eat maggoty bread than allow him to gain absolute power over Mother.”

“But there’s no way to fight him!” Morgen said. “He’s a council member! They’re all council members. Let them fight!”

“It’s stalemated,” Herzer said with a shrug. “And Bowman wants the entire world under his sway. He is going to come for you, Morgen. And for me and Shilan. Because he thinks it’s the right thing to do. It’s his mission in life. You can sit on one side or you can sit on the other. But if you sit in the middle, you’re just going to get trampled.”

“That’s just… paranoia,” Morgen said, stamping her foot. “You’re all… warmongers! And you can just go to hell, Herzer Herrick!” With that she stomped away.

“Not bad, Romeo,” Cruz said, leaning back. “Pick her up in the morning, have your way with her all afternoon and she’s gone by evening. Not bad!”

Shilan took this opportunity to hit him in the shoulder as hard as she could with a week’s worth of built up muscle.

“Ooow! Jeeze!”

“Less than you deserve,” Courtney said.

“I was just joking, ” Cruz replied, rubbing his arm.

After the argument Herzer hung out with the rest of the group as the afternoon descended into twilight. Two oxen had been roasting all afternoon and the evening meal was a communal barbecue. Reenactors who had either gotten quickly reestablished or who were permanent residents of Raven’s Mill had contributed various side dishes. Herzer got his first taste of cream corn and collard greens and decided that he could live with them. But what mostly surprised him was the incredible diversity. Before the Fall, finding or inventing different food had been an almost universal pastime. For all that there was a sameness. Before the Fall, all dishes were blazingly hot, some to the point of insanity. The only difference seemed to be what type of acid was included, whether you got the delightful piquancy of sulfuric or the there and gone nuclear attack of fluoric.