Tyranny of Steel

Black smoke exuded from the bore of a 1422 service revolver as the thunder of its gunfire faded into the distance. A single dainty hand raised the barrel of the weapon to a set of luscious pink lips, which blew away the vapor of the shot.

Lying on the ground in front of the killer was a corpse which belonged to a young native girl. This adolescent youth had her hands tied behind her back, with a look of shock on her face as her brains decorated the dirt beneath her carcass.

The victim's family knelt by the girl's dead body while bound in chains and filled with unimaginable despair. A pair of brown eyes gazed up with hatred at the foreign woman who had snuffed the life of his innocent young daughter so mercilessly.

When Honoria saw this man's detestable state, a fiendish smirk appeared on her immaculate face as she pulled back the hammer on her revolver and pressed its barrel against the man's forehead. While staring into the depths of the father's resentment, the Byzantine Princess pulled out a chunk of golden jewelry from her coat pocket and shoved it in the man's face. Though neither of the two individuals shared a common language, the intent was as clear as day.

"Lead me to the gold, or die like your daughter..."

When presented with such an overbearing threat, the man did not falter, instead he spat upon the indigo haired woman's face, causing her brows to twitch in fury. The moment Honoria's crew saw this expression, they knew their captain would shed blood.

Thus it came as no surprise when the privateer queen pointed the barrel of her revolver towards the man's young son, and fired a shot into his small chest, in doing so ruthlessly claiming the child's life. The father of the two slain children stared in disbelief at the woman, only to see the gold jewelry pressed in his face once more, and the barrel of the strange weapon she wielded pointed towards yet another of his children. There was utter contempt in Honoria's mint-green eyes as she mouthed the words which the natives could not possibly understand.

"You have two more children, and I have four more bullets. Tell me where the gold is, and I will spare their miserable lives."

Though the native tribesman did not speak German, he could understand the vicious woman's intent, and thus with tears streaming down his eyes, gritted his teeth and bit the proverbial bullet. With a slight nod of his head, the man struggled to rise to his feet, where he marched off into the distance, leading Honoria and her crew towards that which they sought to claim. Upon seeing that the man was now being cooperative, a sinister smile curved itself upon Honoria's lips as she gave the orders to her crew.

"Secure the family. If he tries to screw us over, we can use them as a bargaining chip!"

Having received her orders, Elfrun pointed the barrel of her g-22 rifle towards the mother and her remaining two children as she and her sisters stood watch over the burning village. Having spent the last few weeks building their outpost in this foreign land, the privateers were now on a quest for gold, and they were more than willing to kill anyone who got in their way.

Elfrun gazed into the distance as she watched her captain so bravely marched into the wilderness with only a tortured soul to guide her to the location of the gold mines. As for Honoria, she and her squad stalked their prisoner into the mountains of the Venezuelan Andes, constantly alert to the dangers that surrounded them.

Eventually, they found themselves at the entrance to a cave, which acted as the primitive mine for the local tribe that they had obliterated hours ago. Honoria had an ecstatic grin on her pretty face as she broke out into maniacal laughter.

"Haha hahaha! Daddy will definitely reward me for this!"

Her crew mates grimaced when they heard the nickname that Honoria shamelessly used to refer to her husband, before inspecting the cave of their own volition. It was immediately apparent that a vast vein of gold existed on the outer portions of the cave's walls, and the villagers had mined only a small amount.

With the resources available to Honoria, and the future settlement that was currently being established, the actual worth of this mine was completely unknown. But to come across such a valuable deposit so early in her quest was a blessing from the heavens.

The native man glared at the foreign females as they scoured the cave, inspecting it for its worth. Unbeknownst to him, Honoria had raised her weapon to towards the back of his head and set the hammer back. A single phrase escaped her lips before she pulled the trigger.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

After Honoria had uttered the words, gunfire resounded in the air, instantly scaring off the nearby wildlife. The native man's body collapsed lifelessly to the floor with an audible thud as the other members of Honoria's crew came rushing over to witness the scene of the execution.

Malissa had a concerned expression on her face, which Honoria immediately noted, causing the Byzantine princess to shrug her shoulders and make a snide comment about her brutal actions.

"What? He served his usefulness. There was no reason to keep him around any longer..."

The first mate of Honoria's crew could hardly believe how callous the Byzantine Princess had become over the years. When she first met Honoria, she was an innocent and naive girl trying to escape a terrible marriage.

Now the Byzantine Princess was the dread of the Mediterranean, and a ruthless killer. Obviously, the change in her personality was because of Berengar's influence. Sometimes Malissa thought it was better if she hadn't helped the girl escape her family. She internally despised the King of Austria for how he had warped such a nice girl into such a monstrous pirate.

However, there was nothing she could do about that. Honoria had become set in her ways, and Malissa knew the Princess would never leave Berengar. To speak of such an option was a good way to get herself keelhauled. In the end, all the first-mate could manage was to sigh in defeat before pulling out a map and marking the gold mine's location.

Now that she had mapped the area, the privateers would have to make a long trek back to the settlement. Thus, she quickly offered her advice to her captain, who was enjoying the sight of her gruesome work.

"Captain, I advise we regroup with the others and eliminate the natives we hold captive. As you have said, they no longer have a use now that we have got what we need. After doing so, we should march back to the settlement and dispatch a unit of marines to secure the resource deposit."

Honoria quickly nodded her head before turning her back on her crew and towards the direction where the other members lie in wait.

"Very well. Let us make haste. The sooner we secure the gold mine, the sooner we can bring back some spoils from our settlement. I can't wait to see how happy my man is when he finds out how much gold I have found!"

Upon hearing this, Malissa sighed heavily once more before stashing away the map in her satchel and following her captain in to the mountains. After a quick climb, they returned to the ruins of the village they had assaulted, to find that Elfrun had gotten bored, and forced the captives to play hot potato with a live grenade.

When Honoria saw the corpses of the villagers which were now mincemeat, she grabbed ahold of her explosives expert and rustled her hair while scolding her in a friendly manner.

"Elfrun, you little bitch, what did I say? I thought I had explicitly ordered you to keep these savages as bargaining chips. You're just lucky that dumbass didn't try anything, or else I would be shoving a candlestick up your arse right now!"

The girl known as Elfrun's eyes widened in shock as she heard this vulgar threat. Shortly thereafter, her cheeks blushed, and she pouted as Honoria stuffed her head in her mighty bosom. As the princess did so, she whispered something in the girl's ears that frightened her.

"Do something like this again, and I promise that won't be a veiled threat..."

Elfrun immediately nodded her head thrice in silence. After seeing that the girl had become obedient once more, Honoria called out to her girls with a voice filled with excitement.

"We found the gold mine. All we need to do is go back to the settlement and get wasted! As for the management of the resources, I'll leave that up to the commander in charge of the marines. Let's go have some fun!"

With that said, Honoria and her crew descended from the mountain, down into the fledgling settlement below. News of the discovery of gold within the region would only reach Berengar's ears after he had finished his campaign to unify Germany.

When the King of Austria finally realized this discovery, he would begin focusing his efforts on colonizing the lands that were once known as South America in his past life with great interest in obtaining the silver, gold, and oil in the region.