1865-09-11: A Soldato's Honor
A Soldato's Honor
Summary: A Soldato of the Escarra Syndicate Family makes his father proud.
Date: Septebre 11, 1865
Related: All Logs associated with the Great Raid of 1865.
NPCs: {$npc}
Players:

Fernando Escarra, Soldato of the Escarra Syndicate Family (NPC)

His father had always thought him weak.

Fernando Escarra was the youngest of his brothers, and where they had all been big and strong, Fernando was skinny and not so strong. Not sickly, but he didn't have that barrel-chested, strapping masculinity that his brothers did, and so he was always "the weak one."

His brothers were clever and cunning, and Fernando was not completely lacking in these qualities, but he was less so than his brothers, and so he was always "the stupid one."

He had earned his mark, and survived his time as a Piccioto to become a Soldato, but many still whispered that it was simply because his father, Rafael Escarra, was the Capobastone of the Escarra family, and the brother of the Capofamiglia. When he had been sent here, to Four Corners, to "manage" the families' warehouses here, everyone had known it was in effect a banishment…to remove the embarassment to his family name from his father's presence.

His father was well away from Four Corners now. His brothers too. The families were in disarray as much as anyone else with the raid. Fernando knew that some were running, and some were hiding, and some were fighting, in their own way. He had no orders from the Caporegime he reported to…he didn't know if the man was still alive. He had a handful of Picciotos and the workers in the warehouses, and most of those had fled or been killed already.

But he had enough. Enough cunning to come up with a plan. Enough resources to make that plan a reality. He could have fled. He knew the secret ways that most smugglers did, and was confident he could have slipped by the Raiders using them.

But that meant abandoning the city, and the people here.

It wasn't that Fernando cared about them. Not in the way you care about family. But many of the people whose shops and ships were burning were people that had paid his family for protection. Many had made their payments on time, without complaint, for years, if not decades. It was a contract…money for protection. For many of the Soldatos that meant little.

Not for Fernando. Contracts had meaning. There was honor in holding to them…in some ways the only honor people of the Families had. He wouldn't abandon it. He wouldn't be weak this time. He couldn't fight the Raiders straight on…but there was a way that came to him. Deception and trickery…the tools of the Families…and a little bit of luck.

The warehouse he sat in was so far on the edges of the city that it barely qualified as part of it. That had kept it safe in the initial raid. It had bought him time over that first day to transport what he needed here from the nearest warehouses. It hadn't been easy, but his Picciotos had done their jobs, as had the workers. He hoped the note he had given his second when they parted ways would carry enough weight to see them advanced in the eyes of the Family.

Much of value in the warehouse had already been removed, but several items remained, and were prominently displayed. There to catch the eye and speak the promise of greater lucre within. A distraction, Fernando hoped, that would keep his prey from recognizing the trap before it was too late.

The had arrived about an hour ago. The crew of a Longship, having been drawn by rumors of the isolated warehouses holding the vast wealth of a great merchant family. The doors had been heavily barred and reinforced…it had to be convincing after all. Another Longship crew had arrived twenty minutes later. Fernando was pretty sure there had been some fighting between them…good…every Raider's blood spilled was a blessing from the One. Now though, it seemed they were working together, and the doorway was finally beginning to buckle under the relentless hammering of their great rams.

Then the doors opened, and the flood of raiders filled the warehouse, rushing to the items of gold and silver that were so easy to see. Starting to tear into the crates holding low-value goods behind them, not quite able to reach the barrels that were resting behind.

Lots, and lots of barrels. Enough to give the room a certain pungent aroma that was precisely what the precious metals and jewels were there to distract from.

From his hiding spot, Fernando watched the filthy barbarians pour in. He couldn't count them easily from his vantage point. A hundred? Maybe more?

A hundred or more enemies for the price of one soldier. It was a bargain not even his father could deny was a favorable trade.

Fernando rose from his hiding spot on the scaffolding above. A few of the Raiders immediately noticed him, and their shouts attracted the attention of others. Confusion fell upon several of their faces, annoyance on others. Still, the din had barely quieted down at all when Fernando lowered the Hand-Cannon he bore and pointed it to the barrel beside him.

He didn't say anything. These animals wouldn't know his language anyway. Instead Fernando Escarra, Soldato of the Escarra family simply smiled a reaper's grin, and pulled the trigger.

For one last half-instant, the world become fire and thunder and smoke…and the contract was fulfilled.

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