LAY OF THE LAND II

"As for the gods, let them pour their wrath on me" ODYSSEUS 

 As the work of digging the mass grave slowly died down that afternoon, I mentally ran through everything Taurus had told me. From what he said I could tell that I was sent back to a grecian colony village, in ancient Egypt, before the common era. 

I knew this because the city of Alexandria which Taurus refered to was established in 1703 BCE by Alexander the great, who intended for it to be a centre of Greek learning. It later became the capital of Egypt when ptolemy the first made it the seat of his government. Shortly afterwards colonies such as this one began to take shape as more and more people began to migrate to the new capital in search of greener pastures, and even though we had a few Egyptians names, the majority of the names in this village were of Greek origin. 

As for the time period, the swords the bandits carried were my first giveaway. Then there was also the fact that Taurus swore by the name of a god that I could only recognize from the history books as though it was the common custom around here.

Don't mean to brag but I am amazing when it comes to history 

My only problem was that I had not identified which particular date I got dumped into but I was beginning to have a vague idea. 

"Olivia, Taurus " one of the villager children called "the elder wishes to see you at the square. He wants to perform the ceremony "

The girl then ran off. 

Now even though I wanted to ask Taurus about the ceremony,(I did not want to get involved in human sacrifice),  I did not want to rouse his suspicion any further than I already had so I simply shut my mouth and followed him 

 The ceremony which lasted for several hours, could be described as a last rites in which the Greeks handed their dead over to hades and the rest of their gods. It was quite a boring ceremony and I doggedly fought the urge to sleep. 

I mean how could this people endure this after being tired from all the work they did?

Am I underestimating the power of their belief or am I just too lazy to sit to sit through a lecture without sleeping?

The ceremony finally ended and a young man of about 35 years climbed a prepared podium and began to speak.From the attention and respect he was getting, I quickly concluded that he was the son of the village elder and that since his father was dead he was the new village elder.

"My free people of Aldor" he began "we live another day "

He then spoke at length about the order of the gods, how the strong must rule and the weak must survive and how the sacrifices of their brethren would not be in vain as long as they are alive to carry out their wishes. 

If I did not know that such a belief was common in this time period I swear I would have shot him to death as an enemy spy who was sent to damage morale. 

He then began talking about the next planting season as well as assigning building and production quotas for every family. The quotas themselves were quite fair but I quickly noticed just how little food was coming to the village despite their efforts. When I pointed this out, the village elder revealed that 98% of the village food was either going to appease bandits or satisfy tax collectors. 

It was then my brain finally snapped. 

"And he called us free?" I asked myself 

"how is this any different from slavery?" I cried loudly before I could stop myself.

The truth was, I never intended to blow up at the elder like that but after years of fighting under the flag of freedom, I had an almost allergic reaction to the word 'slave '

Back to the story, while the villagers were visibly surprised by my outburst, the elder quickly walked towards me and put his hand on my shoulder 

"I understand why you feel that way my child, but the people of Eldor are not slaves." He said gently

"We are a people blessed with peace by the great mother and it is our duty to share this peace to the next generation."

"Is this what you want to give to the next generation?" I asked with barley restrained anger 

"A life where they will be forced to either feed criminals or flee their homes? Don't you think we deserve better than that? Don't you think our children deserve better than that?"

"It is not in our place to question the wisdom of the mother little girl" one of the adults said with a frown 

"Besides what would you have us do young one?" The elder asked again after issuing a command of silence to the other adults 

"Should we crawl to the Alexandria like dogs and beg for mercy?"

At this point the entire village was watching us 

"No" I replied "but rather we should get some iron, make some weapons and when the bandits come, we shove it up their hynies."

The look on the elder's face(And most of the villagers), quickly changed to one of horror.

"You would have us disregard the mother's law on respect for all life?" He asked in a tone of absolute horror 

Oh for fuck sake 

"Well yes" I replied

"She does not seem to have a problem with the bandits killing us, why would she have a problem with us defending ourselves?"

"How dare you utter such blatant blasphemy little one?" The elder cried with naked anger 

"How dare you desicrate your soul? Do you want the wrath of the mother to fall on you?"

"I would rather face the mother, than face another night on an empty stomach."

Not giving him a chance to have the last word, I turned and walked away with my head as high it could be. 

.....................

 After Olivia left, the ceremony continued without any hitch. The elder finished his speech, the production quotas were assigned and finally the sacrifice to hades was buried along with the dead. Through it all, Taurus realised that all he could think about was why Olivia would cause a scene like that. 

What in the land of Egypt have come over her? 

He asked himself 

Is she cursed or something?

"You know I thought you would follow her" a voice whispered to him 

He turned to see Ageon standing behind him 

"I don't want trouble Ageon " he said tersely and turned forward 

"I don't want trouble too" Ageon replied cracking his knuckles "but you have not answered my question"

"What question?" Taurus dared to ask because he knew Aegon could not attack him in front of the whole village 

"Why did you not follow her?" Aegon repeated 

"It is against the law of the village to leave until the ceremony is over " he answered "I thought you knew this"

"I did know this" Aegon replied "that is why I came to see if you had broken the law "

Taurus turned to face him 

"Are you not one of those in charge of disciplining kids who break the law?" He asked him "why have you not gone after her?"

"Because I dont want to end up like Rameses" Aegon shamelessly admitted while rubbing his wrist 

"I don't know what in all Greece is in that body but we both know that is not the orphan girl that grew up in this village."

"So what, you are afraid of her?"

"Whatever is in that body is bound to bring trouble kid so let me give you a little advice. Stay away from it." Aegon added and then left 

Even though he was a bit confused about it, there was no way Taurus would abandon the only friend he had ever had since he was little, so as soon as the ceremony ended he went in search of his 'sister ' Olivia. 

He later found her at the base of a tree where she was delivering punches that could break a small antelope skull. 

"If you are here to ask me what I was thinking when I said what I said forget it " she said without looking at him 

"I am here to see if you are okay Olivia " Taurus responded "you have been acting very strange lately "

This comment made her turned round to face him.

"I have been acting strange?" She echoed

"I just saw my only home burnt down and my only parents killed. And you say I am acting strange?"

"You have seen this ten times now Olivia " Taurus countered "yet it never made you interrupte the elder or punch the barks off trees"

Olivia turned to observe the tree and sure enough the barks were peeling off. 

"Did something bad happen to you in that raid?" Taurus asked gently

"Did they take your innocence?"

Instead of sadness, when he looked into her eyes all he saw was glee. 

"They tried, they did not succeed " she replied and then resumed punching the tree. 

What in all of Greece is in that body?

Taurus asked himself 

"Taurus " she called after some time 

"How many hunters do we have in the village?"

"Almost every man here can use a bow." He replied "why do you ask?"

"Can you get me a bow and some arrows?" She asked again 

"Do you want to become a hunter?" 

From his tone of voice it was clear he was confused 

"Certainly" she said with a sinister smile

"but it won't be animals that I will be hunting "