The city was filled with flames. Some of them were flames from people who had build fires in their homes for cooking and heating purposes. However, far too many of them were the fires of things burning that should not have been, up to and including far too many people. There seemed to be little, if any order anywhere.
Matathias watched a gang of men, dressed in a wild variety of animal skins, armor and clothing attack a woman in the middle of the street. They stripped her, beat her and raped her and no one stopped to do anything. Dozens of men walked right past without batting an eye or lifting a finger. When they were done one of them slit her throat and she lay there gasping and choking for several minutes before finally dying in the middle of the road. Once she was dead a few men stopped to rummage through her torn clothing for anything of value.
Matathias had seen places like this, but never anything this massive. It was as if the entire area was a place without law. Even the most horrific town or city he had seen there had been some attempt to create law. The laws may have been from someone insane, but they were at least created to have some kind of order.
However, he continued to watch. As he did he began to notice that there were certain gangs that were given wider berth than others. One gang wore red sashes across their waists and wore mostly black leather. They seemed to confine themselves to the area toward the western edge of the city. As Matathias watched he noticed they seemed to regularly come in and out of a burned out building at the western edge of the city. It seemed like the building had once been a hotel that was attached to a riverboat casino. Crude fences of burned out and useless cars surrounded the property now. High towards guarded the four corners of this place.
Matathias focused on the riverboat. It was just barely floating and it tilted sharply on the side nearest the shore. However, near the top of the upper deck, what would have been a pilothouse had this boat a pilot, stood a man dressed in more leather than any of the others. He wore a strange white mask that made him appear featureless. He seemed to be barking out orders to the men below.
Now, this was curious, Matathias thought. Here was a man who appeared to be in charge and, yet, the city he ruled was in chaos. This was worth further investigating. He moved the binoculars back to his eyes and started to scan his way east. He saw more atrocities as he scanned back the other way. Then he began noticing another pattern.
As he moved further east he saw more and more men dressed in shabby suits. They were suits of various styles, but they were definitely suits. The suits were filthy and torn and ill-fitting but they were still recognizable. Many also wore ancient, battered fedoras on their heads cocked at strange angles. They seemed to confine themselves to the western edge of the city.
Matathias noticed these men seemed to come in and out of an old burned out apartment building. Like the casino across the way it was also fenced off with debris and cars. More rickety towers had been erected with guards bearing crossbows patrolling in there. He scanned the building until he found another man sitting on a balcony near the top of the structure. He had a full beard and a suit made of some white material that barely covered his massive frame. Women hovered around him and into the apartment beyond. Most of them were wearing barely anything.
"Hmmm," Matathias said to himself as he lowered the binoculars again.
Now he understood why the city was in such chaos. It was a town divided. There were two rulers in this small city and the people in the middle were just fodder for men on either side. There was no law because there were two men with laws trying to rule a place only a few miles square. In short, it was a constant war zone.
Matathias smiled behind his face mask. He watched for a little bit more and then decided it was close enough to evening for him to make his entrance. Yes, the town was as dangerous as he had always heard, but he was not afraid. No, this was a town where a smart man might make a profit in a situation like this.
He decided that there was what appeared to be a bar somewhere toward the middle of town that looked intriguing. A bar was a good place to learn information and this looked like a place where information could be found. With that decision Matathias decided it was time to stand up. He removed a small piece of jerky in his coat and ate it and then replaced his mask.
He began walking down the road again, once again staying off to the side, and listened as the sounds of fighting, pain and chaos grew louder in his ears. He reached back and removed one of his cloaks so that the hilt of his sword was now within reach of his hands.
As he drew closer to the edge of the city he noticed some of the ramshackle homes on either side of the road. Beggars stood on either side of the road, their clothes falling off and, with some, their skin falling right with it. Those without limbs lay on the ground. Each of them held out their hands toward Matathias. He ignored them and pushed past them.
He began walking through the streets. The shelters on either side of him were opened, few had doors, and people huddled in all of the doorways. Most of them looked starved and half dead. Some of them hovered over small fires in various metal containers. They watched Matathias as he walked down the center of the street with dead eyes.
As he approached an intersection he noticed that a group of men with red sashes huddled near one corner. At that corner was a more substantial building but its purpose was lost on Matathias at the moment. It wasn't long before they noticed the man in full armor walking down the street.
"Well, well, well," said on of them as he prodded his friend. "Look what we have here."
"Yeah," said another. "Nice body armor you have there, pal. I think I'd like to have armor like that."
Matathias stopped near the intersection as they stepped down off of the low curb and moved into the street. In seconds they were nearly all around him, leaving him only a small route of escape back the way he had come. Their faces were dirty, scarred, but sneering and without mercy. One of them was enormous and he soon cut off even the route behind Matathias.
"I'm just looking to pass through," Matathias said quietly.
"That's fine," said the one who had called to him first. He appeared to be some kind of leader to this group. "You need to pay a toll, though."
The others laughed. "That's fine. How much is it?"
"I said," said the second one who had spoken to him, "I want your body armor."
The first laughed, exposing rotten teeth, "That's the toll."
"Then I refuse to pay it," Matathias replied.
It was a simple sentence but it caused them to falter for just a minute. Matathias knew immediately what kind of men they were. These were men used to picking on those weaker than themselves. They were used to people cowering in fear and giving them whatever they wanted without question. In short, they were weak as well, and now they faced someone who had talked back to them. Still, now that they were into it they had to save face and there was no backing out.
"You what?" He said.
"I refuse to pay it," Matathias repeated.
"I see," said the man in front of him. "Then you won't be allowed to pass."
There was a soft noise as all of the men around him drew blades. The one behind him drew some kind of hammer and hefted it in both hands. The blades glittered in the light of the flames that surrounded him.
"We're just going to have to cut you out of it," the man said and licked his lips.
"You can try," Matathias said.
The tension mounted and no one seemed to move. The man in front of him twitched his eyes from left to right. His smile didn't seem to want to stay on his face. Matathias could sense those around him moving and he noted them. Then, suddenly, he felt the massive man behind him swinging his hammer.
Matathias moved.
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