"Shoot him! Shoot him! Shoot him!"

"Let me kill this executioner! My brother and his family died at his hands!"

"F*ck, let me get him, I want to shred him into pieces!"

The soldiers cried out one after another. Good had committed many evil deeds and

harmed the families of many of his soldiers.

Li Du held Remonin and the soldiers back and shouted, "All of you, f*cking calm down!

Calm down! Calm down! Good must die, but not like this!"

Grabbing Remonin's collar, he said, "Get the soldiers in the east wing to stop. We can

resolve this without bloodshed!"

Remonin held up his hand. "Okay! All of you, shut up! Soldiers, listen to the words of my

brother Li Du!"

Li Du dragged Good up to a jeep and Remonin finally understood, "You want to let the

miners deal with Good?"

"That's right."

Remonin shook his head, "No, not now. I know what I said just now, but we can't kill

Good. I need to interrogate him!"

Li Du said, "Do you think you will get anything out of it? Believe me, I know what you

want. Those things are in the army camp and the commander's quarters. You can get

them without interrogating him."

Remonin shook his head again, "No, Li, I have to interrogate him personally."

Li Du would not allow it. He said, "First, General, we have no time to waste, we have to

quickly resolve the miners' uprising! Second, Good is extremely cunning. He will never

tell you anything useful, but would only try to sabotage our relations.h.i.+p. If you want to

take him away, I must return to South Africa at once. I do not want to fall out with you."

Remonin hesitated while another soldier rushed over, yelling, "General, the fight at the

east wing is extremely fierce. Please order the helicopter and artillery tanks to support

them!"

Remonin stamped his feet on the ground and yelled, "Stop firing at the east wing, I will

go and resolve it myself!"

The troops drove towards the east wing. The soldiers and the fearless miners were split

into two sides that were shooting at each other. Among the flurry of shots, the gun

muzzles could be seen protruding from pockets of darkness.

Li Du picked up the loudhailer and yelled, "Miners! Miners! My good brothers! I am

General Remonin of Gold Gra.s.s Tribe. I have arrived at the camp to rescue you all. We

are brothers, we are kindred, and I am not your enemy."

Despite his words, the hidden miners did not walk out and stayed obscured in the

darkness, their guns raised.

Remonin stuck out his head and said, "Most of them cannot understand English. Better

switch to Portuguese, Shona or Ndbele."

Swaziland had three official languages: English, Shona, and Ndbele. Few lower cla.s.s

people could understand English. More of them spoke Shona and Ndbele.

Li Du was getting impatient. He pushed the loudhailer at Remonin, "Find someone to tell

them that we've brought Good. We can let them deal with Good, but they have to halt

the fighting!"

Remonin nodded. He gestured for a scrawny black man to walk over, and started

talking in another language.

As his voice rang out, the miners finally reacted. A few of the black miners stood up and

answered in the same language.

The black soldier turned and said, "They want to see Good and punish him with their

own hands."

Remonin nodded unenthusiastically, as he too wanted to do that too.

Two big-sized black soldiers shoved Good forward with a strong kick, pus.h.i.+ng him far

up front.

A few miners rushed forward and pulled Good up. They inspected his face by the

firelight. Someone laughed, "Goodswin! Old executioner!"

Other miners rushed out and surrounded Good before elbowing each other to get a

closer look.

More than a few of them were crying as they squeezed their way through. Someone

raised a gun but was stopped by another miner, who shouted, "Put down the gun! We

won't kill him just like that!"

Surrounded by the miners, Good tried his best to stay collected and calm. He glared at

the people, attempting to intimidate them. However, the miners were all riled up and

unafraid of him.

An old miner stood up and bellowed, "Find the torch! Find a pot!"

Soon, someone brought the torch and pot out of the storeroom.

Seeing the torture equipment, Good's face changed. He shook his head with all his

might, trying to get the tape off his mouth. The fear in his face was getting more

intense.

"No diamond!" A miner called out.

"Those were not diamonds he used, but a sort of gla.s.s crystal," the old miner said. "Go,

fetch some broken gla.s.s!"

Shards of broken gla.s.s were dropped into the pot. The old miner lit up the torch, heating

the pot.

The surrounding miners looked excited as they cheered. They looked quite demented.

"What are they trying to do?" Remonin was getting restless. "I think they are crazy!"

Li Du sighed, "Revenge. They are going to feed Good some of his own medicine

now."

Gla.s.s was not a pure element and did not have a consistent melting point, but it would

begin to soften at about six to seven hundred degrees Celsius. As the pot grew

hotter, the gla.s.s shards inside softened to become a sticky mess.

The old miner ripped the tape off Good's mouth. Good first took a huge breath before

shouting at Remonin, "Get me away! I will give you…"

A miner raised a gun and smashed it against Good's mouth.

Good let out a shrilling scream, blood oozing out of his mouth. Nearly choking on his

own blood, he coughed and blood spewed out of his mouth, together with a few teeth

that had been knocked out.

He looked feebly at Remonin and tried to open his mouth to speak. Remonin wanted

to stop the miner, as he badly coveted Good's treasures.

Li Du stopped him from trying to do that. "Are you mad? Do you want to start a battle?

These miners are mad, and if you tried to kill them, you would lose as much of your own

men! Do you really want to do that?"

Remonin removed his army helmet helplessly, throwing it onto the floor with an upset

face.

Good was unable to speak. Each time he opened his mouth, the miner smashed in the

gun. His mouth was almost completely gone by now.

The gla.s.s shards had mostly softened. Someone forced Good's mouth open using the

gun muzzle. The old miner raised the pot, shouting, "Who first?"

"Me!" A youth who had lost his ears shouted back crazily.

"Me! Let me do it!"

"I want to do this! He killed my two brothers!"

In the end, the pot landed in the hands of a young black man. His face was full of

antic.i.p.ation and eagerness as he poured the softened gla.s.s into Good's mouth.

The burning green gla.s.s flowing into his mouth, Good's body shook violently as he

screamed. The miners held him tightly, grabbed his head and stopped him from

squirming away even as he struggled.

Not far away, Remonin and his soldiers were watching them. They were unconsciously

retreating backward. Remonin said, "These people are too scary!"

Li Du said, "One day, if you become as violent and merciless as Good, people will treat

you this way too."

Wearing a look a dignity, Remonin said, "I will never be like him!"