Chapter 25 Chapter Thirteen A Night of Bloody Fighting

Shocked by the terrible scene they had just experienced, Jeanne and Luis stood together for a long time, hugging each other.Afterwards, the tears gradually dried up, and their consciousness returned to reality. What struck them first was the disturbing silence, the deathly stillness of the palace.Instead, there were shouts, shots, and cries of increasing panic outside the palace, and Jeanna understood the cause of the uproar at once. can you move aroundshe asked. let me try it. let's go! They came out of the cell and walked into the antechamber where the jailer had been on guard.At this time, the jailer disappeared, and the vestibule was empty.

They climbed up the stone steps with difficulty.Jeanna unlocked the door with the key she had stolen from William, and they entered the room from which she had left the lord not so long before, before she knew her brother was in the dungeon.This room, like the vestibule of the underground cell, was empty.Zhana helped her brother to sit down, because his legs were weak and he could not stand upright.Only then did she realize the strange position she was in.What does the dead silence mean when this person goes to the room?Where did the executioner go?Driven by strong curiosity, Jeanna resolutely told Louis to stay in the room, and she was going to inspect the whole palace.

She starts on the first floor.When she passed by the door leading to the outside of the house, she saw that the door was tightly closed, but the doors of all rooms in the palace were open.Obviously, all the residents of the palace ran away in a panic.With growing curiosity, Jeanna walked through the remaining three floors, which were also empty.The real situation is unclear, but there is no doubt that the palace has been abandoned. Now only the tower above the palace and its balcony remain.Jeanna hesitated for a moment on the stairs leading to the balcony, then climbed resolutely. No, the palace wasn't abandoned.As she climbed the stairs, she heard loud voices coming from above.She climbed the last few steps very carefully, hiding in the shadows and observing the balcony, brightly lit by the factory's searchlights.

All the residents of the palace are gathered here.Jeanna found William.Fairy, shuddered in horror.She also saw the advisors, a few black guards and black servants in the palace. The group leaned over the wall, some pointing at something in the distance, gesticulating excitedly.What is it that makes them so excited? Suddenly, William.Fairy stretched himself up, and shouted an order.So, the group surrounded him, brandishing rifles and revolvers, and ran furiously towards the stairs.By this time Jeanne had climbed the last steps. Another second and Jeanna would be found.How would the gang treat her?She is sure to die.

Looking around in horror, she suddenly saw a door at the junction of the stairs and the verandah.She subconsciously pushed the door, and it slammed shut. Frantic shouts reached Jeanna from the door, and she had hardly fastened the last bolt when the people on the verandah charged angrily with the butts of their rifles at the obstacle that suddenly appeared in front of them. Jana stood trembling at the growls and crashes.Even though her life was at the last moment, she couldn't do anything to save herself.She stared at the door, watching it crumble under the onslaught of maddened foes.

However, after a while, the door was not only not broken, it was even motionless.Jana gradually felt relieved.She found that this door, like the others in the factory and the palace, was made of thick iron plates to withstand any impact. Completely relieved, she went down the stairs to Louis.She discovered that there were five doors on the stairs leading from the lower level of the palace to the balcony.William.Fairy was very thoughtful when he designed his retreat.His palace was divided into countless units.If you want to occupy his palace, you can only attack one by one.Today, however, these defenses have become his own obstacle.

Jeanne closed the others as she had closed the first door, and went to the lowest floor of the palace. The windows of the palace are all equipped with solid iron bars and iron shutters.Jeanne closed the shutters on all floors without delay.I don't know how she has such great strength to push those heavy metal plates.Her movements were quick and deft, as involuntary as in a dream.At last the work was over, and she was in a truly impenetrable fortress of stone and steel. Only then did she feel particularly tired.Her legs were limp and her hands were bloodstained.She moved with difficulty and went downstairs to Louis.

What happened to you?Seeing her like this, Louis asked uneasily. Panting heavily, Jana told him what she had just done. Now we are masters in this palace.she said finally. Is there any other exit besides this staircase?her brother asked.No matter what, he couldn't believe that such a difficult situation would suddenly have such a good turn. No, I'm sure of that, William is chained to the balcony, never to come down again. So why did they all gather there just now?Louis asked, what happened there? Jeanne herself did not know about this, she had not seen all the defenses of the palace.So I felt that it was time to observe the situation outside.They went up to the top floor and half opened a shutter.Then they understood at once the reason for William's and his company's dismay.It turned out that at their feet was a small square, lying there quietly and completely dark.But on the right bank of the Red River, it was ablaze, and there was a furious cry, and all the houses of the Negroes were ablaze.The city center, the second district where the slaves lived, was already engulfed in flames.

The fire spread to the third block where the civil corps lived and the first block where the happy boys lived, and the flames rose into the air, overwhelming.Shouts, groans and uninterrupted gunfire came from both blocks. This is what Tongale did!Says Jeanna, the slaves are in revolt! slave?East Galle?Lewis asked.The meaning of these two terms was not at all clear to him. So his sister briefly introduced him to the city of Blekrant, and told him how she came to this city, why she traveled abroad, and how she confirmed their brother George.Buxton is not guilty.She showed him the floodlit factory and told him the names of her companions who were still there.

What should we do now?Lewis asked. Just wait.Janna said that the slaves didn't know us, and in their panic they might not be able to tell if we were good or bad.Besides, we can't help them much, because there are no weapons. Luis thought it better to find a weapon, so Jeanna went looking for it.She found two rifles and a small amount of ammunition. Then the situation changed.The black people opened a passage and immediately poured into the square in front of the palace.There were about 3,000 people, and they stormed the happy boys' barracks, killed some of the happy boys, and then attacked the aircraft warehouse, and some places were on fire.

The slaves had long suffered, and now it was time for vengeance.It can be seen that their anger will not be quenched until they destroy the whole city and kill those white people. William.Looking at this scene, Fairy was furious, but he was helpless.All he heard was his bestial growling and cursing.Gunshots rang out from the balconies, and bullets rained down on the dense crowd, knocking down many Negroes.However, the living do not seem to care.They have taken barracks and hangars and set them ablaze.The flames soared into the sky, illuminating the square in front of the palace as if it were daytime.Immediately afterwards, the rebels directly attacked the palace.They tried to break in, but the door was too strong to do anything. At this time, intensive gunfire sounded from the banks of the Red River.It turned out that the merry lads had organized their party, and had come over the bridge to reinforce it.They rushed into the square in front of the palace, dispersed immediately, and opened fire on the black insurgents.After a while, hundreds of corpses piled up in the square. The rebels rushed at the enemy angrily, and a brutal hand-to-hand combat began.The blacks used their knives, axes, spears, and even their teeth to fight desperately with their enemies.Jolly lads dealt with them with bayonets and fired bullets.The outcome of the battle is self-evident, the quality of weapons trumps the number of men.The ranks of blacks were getting smaller and smaller, they gradually retreated and fled to the right bank of the river.The victors pursued them, refusing to let go, trying to salvage everything that could be saved, for the first block in which they lived had not yet been engulfed by the fire. When they were almost on the heels of the fugitives to catch up to the bridge, there was a strange explosion.Jeanna and Luis stood on the heights of the palace and could see that the explosion had occurred on the edge of the third block where the Civic Legion lived.Some houses and parts of the city walls collapsed. This explosion opened a wide gap into the field.The black people being chased quickly passed through this gap and fled to the bushes outside the city. The momentum of the pursuers was gradually weakening.After about a quarter of an hour, they all retreated from the right bank of the Red River to the square in front of the palace.Because at this time several new explosions sounded in succession, which frightened them back. What caused these explosions?No one knows.But one thing is clear: they did not happen by chance, but must have been directed by someone's will.As we know, the first explosion occurred on the edge of the Civic Corps settlement, near the city walls.Five minutes later, there were simultaneous explosions to the left and right of the place.Another five minutes later, two more explosions were heard, closer than the previous ones.These explosions gradually approached the palace along the curved walls of the civil regiment's residential quarters, which is why the merry boys who pursued the blacks retreated to the square in front of the palace to seek shelter. Unexplained explosions continued to sound, and the time intervals were also very regular. Every half an hour, a deafening bang was heard, and the city walls of the Civil Affairs Legion's residential area continued to collapse. The survivors of the white inhabitants of Blacklant gathered in the square in front of the palace, watching in horror and stupor this unexplainable phenomenon, which seemed to be systematically destroyed by a terrible superhuman force.Those robbers who were brave when they bullied the weak are now trembling with terror.They all rushed towards the palace gate, trying to break it open, but in vain.Then they saw William on the balcony.Fairey, not understanding why he abandoned them, cried out to him.William.Fairy gestured to them, explaining something aloud.But his gestures were incomprehensible to others, and his words were drowned out by the huge sound waves. This night passed like this.The next morning, the dawn illuminated the cruel scene. The square in front of the palace was full of black and white corpses. The white race clearly won the victory, but it also paid a heavy price.The number of people who formed the Civil Affairs Legion and the Happy Boys Legion was as many as 800 last night, but now it is less than 400.For the rest, some were killed at the beginning of the slave uprising, some died under the attack of the rebels, and some died in the square in front of the palace. The failed rebels were scattered in the fields in the outskirts, and many of them fled to other places. However, most of them do not want to leave Blackland.They wandered in small groups, staring blankly at the city that had been reduced to a pile of smoking rubble. Explosions still roared every half hour.By the time the sun came out, half of the entire Civic Corps housing complex and the slave housing complex had been turned into ruins. At this moment, from the balcony of the palace came the roar of cannon, and another.Louis.Buxton grabbed his sister's hand in horror. Here is William bombarding the iron gate on the balcony with cannon.Jeanna said. What if they come down?Louis gripped the gun tightly in his hand.I would rather die than fall into his clutches again! Jana stopped him. They are not here yet.She said calmly that there were five gates in total, and the distance between the last three gates was too short for cannons. Sure enough, the shelling stopped.The muffled growls and curses from the verandah said: William.Fairray and his men were trying to aim the cannon at the second door. However, this attempt was soon abandoned.Because new events have occurred, diverting their attention.It turned out that another huge explosion suddenly sounded at this time, and the sound was closer than ever before.The almighty blaster began to blow up the buildings on the left bank of the Red River. Just now, the explosion happened in the garden next to the factory, and the earth and stones could be seen rushing into the sky. Dust and smoke filled the air, and Luis and Jana spotted her fellow victims.With them were the workers of Camare.Those workers also brought their wives and children, and let them walk in the center of the team.Why did they leave their shelters and come here to be bayoneted by some crazy happy boy? The merry lads hadn't noticed them yet, for the wall blocked their view.Can William.Fairey, seeing them from the balcony, made signs to them, but no one understood him.As a result, the workers fleeing from the factory walked to the gate facing the river bank in the square in front of the palace without any hindrance, and immediately poured in. The merry lads immediately took up their arms, and, shouting, sprang upon them.However, this time the opponent is different from the slaves last time.Some workers raised hammers, some raised big tongs, and some carried big iron bars to face the happy young man. Jeanne covered her eyes with her hands in order to avoid as much as possible the horror of the scene.How many friends she has among those who fight!Those who worried her were Balsac, Ameje.Floras, good doctor Sartore, and, most of all, Sunberling, with what affection she had for this nephew! The sound of violent fighting gradually died down, and the large number of people and the excellent weapons made the happy young man win the victory.The team coming out of the factory was divided into two groups at this time: one group fought and retreated to the river bank;It was in this stream that Floras was driven before the palace. These people have no hope of being saved.They were pressed to the base of the wall, facing the approaching happy young man, and above William.Fairy and his accomplices, condescending, unscrupulously poured criminal bullets on these unfortunate people. Suddenly, the gates of the palace where they were next to each other opened, and Jeanna.Buxton miraculously appeared at the door.As a result, the fugitives who were pressed by the enemy immediately crowded into the palace.Meanwhile, Jana and Luis opened fire, temporarily stopping the attackers. Dazed and bewildered by this sudden resistance, the cheerful boy stood still for a moment.But they quickly understood what was going on, and rushed over immediately.But it was too late: the heavy door was closed again.