Baron Helm’s face paled at Atlas’ instructions.

“My liege! That’s madness! We cannot impose restrictions on the supply of food. The people will complain!” He hurriedly advised the young prince.

“I know.” Atlas raised his hand and continued, “But I don’t care. You know as well as me how precarious the stock of our rations is, Baron Helm. If we are to solve this situation we, and I mean us all, have to tighten our belts.”

Atlas pointed towards the large man’s bulging belly. A faint red rose to the Baron’s face as he tried to hide his fat body.

“Also, I don’t think our people will have the time to complain,” the young prince said with a smile. “It’s about time that they did some real work.”

Getting up from his seat, Atlas put down the stack of parchments detailing the two hundred and thirty-four (234) common, uneducated workers. He only carried the stack detailing the information of the educated workforce and spoke.

“After you’re done passing down that order, tell these men to arrive here. Let’s have a test to see how ‘educated’ they really are.”

Atlas walked towards the entrance of the room.

“Oh and also, bring me this man…”

He shared a name and left the room.

Baron Helm continued to stand inside the empty office for some time. He then released a sigh and walked out of the room.

‘The young prince is more cut-throat than I expected. But, he’s not wrong. We need to take drastic measures if we are to survive these problems.’

---

Unnamed Town.

Feeding Shack.

The Feeding shack, or as Atlas had named it, was an establishment that handed out rations to the people of this fledgling swamp town. It was run by two of the Baron’s closest servants; Axel Lynch and Marvin Serra. Two young chaps in their mid-twenties.

The two chaps always ran the shack in alternating shifts. Today, however, Axel had to work three shifts worth of time all by himself as Marvin had been missing since the morning.

Seated behind the shoddy wooden counter, Axel slumped on the countertop and day-dreamed as usual. Looking at the gloomy sky with the scattered formation of clouds, the young chap supposed that it was mid-day.

Mid-day was a period when time seemed to creep by the slowest.

No one arrived at the shack during this time as the queue of housewives usually came by the morning to collect their rations. They wouldn’t return until the evening, leaving Axel bored and without any work.

“Oi, Axel! Stop ye’r daydreamin!” A hand slapped against the wooden countertop.

Startled by the sudden yelling, Axel woke up from his daydreams and looked at the newcomer. It was Mrs. Linda, little Gail’s mother.

“‘Ello, Mrs. Linda. What‘re ye doing here at this time? I thought you came by the morn’in?”

Axel asked the dirty-looking middle-aged lady.

“What’s it to you, brat!” the lady promptly bit back. She then let out a sigh, leaned against the wooden countertop, and answered. “Li’ Gail is down with a ragin fever. He’s been sweat’in crazy since the morn’in.”

“I came by to collect a few ‘xtra portions. Something to help with the fever, ya’ know.”

“I see.” Axel nodded his head and turned around to fetch the packaged rations. “I went and h’erd that poor Bess’ been down with a fever too.” The chap spoke while scrounging through the shelves.

“It do’nt bode well, ye’ hear me. These forests’ be cursed,” Mrs. Linda softly whispered. “We do’n messed up movin into these woods.”

“Well, it was e’ther this or the war, ol’ woman. And if ye ask me, I’ll take the accursed woods over the war any day,” Axel replied back.

The sound of something heavy falling to the ground resounded as Axel accidently knocked something from the shelf. Grumbling out loud to himself, he spent a few more seconds searching before yelling out.

“Got it!” Arriving out of the darkness, he walked up to the counter and said, ”I swear t’at I’ma kick that Marvin’s arse. How dare he leave me to run the shack all by me’self today?”

“Be careful not to get y’er arse kicked ins’ead.” Mrs. Linda replied before reaching out to collect the ration.

Just as the package was about to change hands, a voice yelled.

“HOLD IT THERE!!”

Marvin ran up to the shack covered in sweat and dirt. He stopped before the befuddled duo and heavily panted. Looking at him, Axel laughed and teased.

“What’s the matter, o’ guy? You look like y’ur runnin from the town g’ards or some’thin.”

Raising his heavily sweating head, Marvin shot an annoyed look at Axel before speaking.

“By the Order of the Baron, all ration exchange activities are to be suspended for today. Additionally, starting tomorrow, rations will only be given out once in the morning and only one time per family.”

“Madness!”

“Ye’r crazy, ol’ guy!?”

Mrs. Linda and Axel cried out in unison. Marvin simply shrugged his shoulders in response. “I’m just sayin what the good Baron told me.”

He then ignored the dirty-looking lady and turned to face Axel. LEaning closer, he whispered.

“We need to transport the rations within the shop to the Baron’s manor.”

“Now?” Axel asked back, no longer speaking lightly.

Marvin solemnly nodded his head.

“Well, ye heard him, Mrs. Linda. I can’t give it to ye now. Come back tom’rrow mornin,” Axel politely told the lady so and turned back to start packing.

Entering the shack, Marvin began to help his friend with the duty.

Mrs. Linda continued to remain outside for a few minutes. After watching the two young lads busily move about their duty, she then shook her head and walked away.

‘Well, there’r yet some rations stocked in the tent. I wasn’t lookin to use it this soon but, oh well.’

She began to return to her tent. The new order did not bode well and she was looking forward to discussing this with her husband.

---

Unnamed Town.

Baron’s Manor

“As you’ve ordered, the rations are being transported and stocked inside this house, my liege. I also informed the townsmen of the new rule,” Baron helm reported to the young prince.

“Their reaction?” Atlas asked, attacking a bowl of hot gruel with his wooden spoon.

“They weren’t happy, my liege.”

“Did they raise their voices or try to attack you?”

“No, my liege! I don’t believe my townsmen would do something like that! They are patient and understanding people.”

Atlas mentally scoffed at the Baron’s naive answer. Putting down the wooden spoon inside the half-empty bowl, the young prince replied.

“Patience and understanding won’t fill your belly, Baron Helm. They might be patient now, but the moment you fail to fill their bellies, they WILL blame you.”

Raising his gaze to look at the piggish Baron, he continued.

“Keep pushing them and they might even take up arms against you.”

“But, my liege–”

“We must ensure that it doesn’t come down to that,” Atlas interrupted the Baron. He then wore a saddened look on his face and said. “Believe me. It saddens me too to resort to such measures. Unfortunately, we have no choice.”

The young prince shook his head in pity.

Seeing his expression and hearing his words, the Baron felt the guilt within his heart flare up once again. ‘Right. It’s because of me that we are in this situation in the first place. It’s because of my incompetence and complacency.’

“Did you call those thirteen men as I asked you to?” Atlas asked, finishing his bowl of gruel.

“Yes, my liege. They have arrived and are waiting inside my office.”

Wiping his hands and mouth against a piece of cloth, Atlas said, “Good. Here’s what you should do…”

The young prince then began to relay a series of instructions to the Baron.