Beginning ... Chapter: One ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Five
The Baron looked in Emile's eyes once again, "How do I stop them? How do I stop you?"
"I have told you, we've all tried to tell you. You can stop us by letting us go about our lives without your interference. We want you to let us live as we did in olden days."
"What do you mean? How am I holding your people? I'm up here on the hill. They're down in the village and on farms in the valley. If they want to leave, they can."
"We don't want to leave. We want the land. You hold the land, and rape it."
"I hold the land? I hold the ancestral Rostov holdings, land outside the village. I own no land in the village. The young farmers rent my land while they clear their own from the surrounding forest, then they leave and other ambitious young men from growing families take their place. This is shaman-talk! Who have you heard it from?"
Emile looked away. The Baron snorted. "This is serious. If this shaman goes unchecked, the young farmers will be burning their fields saying that it hurts me. Come the winter, they'll starve.
"Look at me!" The Baron spun Emile about, "These are your people we're talking about.
"Emile, there are plans afoot to build a steam-powered loom here. This will make the valley a center of industry. It will bring more jobs, more food, more prosperity. But it won't happen if there's rumor of a shaman loose. For you, for your people, you must help me find the shaman."
"Baron that loom will blacken the valley. How can that help? You must find it in your heart to stop these changes. You must free my people."
"How do you propose 'I let your people go?'" the Baron stood hands on hips waiting.
Emile walked away. She wandered through the chairs, couches, tables and bric-a-brac that cluttered the library. The Baron was thrilled to watch, there was not a misstep in that wandering, tieing her arms behind her seemed to increase her grace.
Her face changed slightly, there was resolve. An action as coming. Emile looked at him and asked, "Why don't you find this shaman yourself. Why not use your crystal ball?"
"We are different, we each have our strengths, our sanctuaries. If I were to go chasing a shaman through the deep forest... it would be difficult -- my strength is here. Conversely, I'd never see the shaman here. None of his totems are nearby. We must contest through the hearts and minds of the people.
"Have you looked? Have you tried?"
Come here. I'll show you. The Baron peered into the reticule. "See, it merely shows this room. As I told you, the Shaman is protected..." The Baron's face dropped in amazement. He looked up at Emile and backed away in fear.
Beginning ... Chapter: One ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Five