Chapter XVIII - Why?!

"Mom! Let her go! Let her go, please! Don't do that to her anymor…!"

They covered his mouth, opened his eyes and stretched his neck forward. Forcing him to watch his mother being raped.

Aramo settlement, near Seguno Araquia

End of the first month of 576

"Alavak?" The woman, carrying a basket of fruit, opened the door of the humble mud and straw house.

"Yes, tell me, what is it, mother?" A boy with beautiful brown eyes got up from the floor, where he was sitting, to answer his mother's call.

When he saw what she was carrying, he understood, and grabbed the basket, which he placed on the table.

"Thank you son, I see you are getting stronger every day."

The boy nodded and returned to his mother, she knelt down, and with delicacy, he placed a kiss on her forehead.

As was the custom, the woman, before going fully into the home, had to be kissed on the forehead by the man in charge of the house at the time, otherwise she could not enter.

She straightened up and gave him a warm smile, looking at him with gentleness as she realized that he was slowly ceasing to be the restless child he had been before.

"Alavak, where is your father?" She kissed him on the head, and slowly walked into the house, looking around the interior.

"He went to meet the judge, Frituk." He closed the door, and followed his mother across the room.

"And do you know why?" She turned to him suddenly, causing the boy to startle.

He ducked his head and narrowed his eyes, trying to think of the cause of the meeting at the judge's home, which, it must be said, was not only attended by his father, however, he could not find it.

"The weather," his mother interjected, seeing him uneasy at not being able to discover the reason. "The weather has taken a turn for the worse. So the men are looking at the possibility of, not too long from now, migrating to another place."

Alavak raised his head and opened his eyes wide: a genuine curiosity was reflected in them.

"Where to?" 

"The options you're looking at are southeast and west."

Alavak frowned and twisted his head as he heard the last point.

"What not to the west is the...?"

"The Empire? Yes," she interrupted, and glanced at the door. "That's exactly why they see the southeast as the best option."

The boy nodded, understanding the risk they would be taking by going into Arkonian territory.

However, he recalled a detail mentioned by his mother that caused him some discomfort: he let out a grumble between his teeth and clenched his fists.

"If you said, the men are... Why am I not there?"

His mother let out a laugh at the coarseness with which she had pronounced the question.

"You're ten, you're still two years away from being a full-fledged man." She raised her hand, stroking his head.

The boy let out a sigh, lowering his lips and looking down.

"Quiet, time flies by...."

[¡Care!] Outside, the warning cries of his countrymen resounded.

Alavak and his mother came out of the house, led by the uproar.

The villagers stood in the middle of the road, with their eyes straight ahead, watching a whole company of one hundred and fifty soldiers, armed with spears and shields, some mounted on horseback.

One man stood out from the group, carrying a crimson cloak on his shoulders. He had deep dark eyes with which he looked over his shoulder at those in front of him with disdain.

"Crásico, dominus nostrae sanctae nationis Asians, me, Joachimus Detanio, praetor horum territoriorum nuper captorum ex paeninsula Araquia, nominavit." (Crásico, the dominus of our holy nation of Asians, has appointed me, Joaquinos Detanio, pretor of these territories newly taken from the peninsula Araquia).

The villagers looked at each other from the corner of their eyes, hoping that someone understood the language.

"Mom, what is he saying?" Alavak clung to his mother, hiding behind her, fearful of the armored ones.

She tried to interpret what he had said: guided by his attitude and the way he spoke. However, she could not decipher it, and not wanting to lie to her son: she shook her head.

"Vah, videtur verba mea intellegere non posse." (Wow, apparently they can't understand my words).

The soldiers guffawed at his remark.

"Ab hodie et singulis," he continued, "duabus septimanis tributum quadraginta ovium et centum quintalium frumenti nobis dabitis." (From today and every two weeks they will give us a tribute of forty sheep and one hundred quintals of grain).

Alavak senior, who was next to the judge, addressed the latter saying:

"That one looks annoyed, do you know what he is saying?"

"I don't know, from his expression, it must be nothing good." He placed his hands behind his back, waiting for the man's next words.

Both groups looked at each other for a few seconds, anxious for the other's next move.

"Eamus, expectamus oves et frumental!" (Come on, we are waiting for the sheep and the grain!) His raised tone and flushed face exalted the villagers, who backed up a step.

And seeing that they did not bring him what he asked for.

"Adducite eam nunc!" (Bring her now!)

At his command, a soldier who came out from among the group, positioned himself in front of the group, bringing with him a girl with beautiful blue eyes, whose eyes were moist and trembling; struggling unsuccessfully with the man.

"Ju-Judge, isn't that your daughter?" Alavak Sr. looked at the man, whose jaw was trembling and his breathing was quickening.

He didn't know how to answer him, he felt helpless, at what point had she been captured?

"Mom, it's Lisak, my friend!" Alavak junior separated from his mother.

And when his mother saw that the boy intended to go against the soldier, she held him tightly by the arm.

"Let me go, I have to help her!," he shouted as he saw how Lisak continued to struggle.

"Dabuntne nobis id quod petivimus, ita an non?!" (Will you give us what we ask for, yes or no?!)

Most of the villagers began to cry, some knelt down: they wished with all their being that they could understand the man's words.

"Id petivistis." (You asked for it), he whispered to himself, sighed, and with a loud voice, shouted: "Fac id!" (Do it!)

The soldier moved the girl a little away from him, and began to stab her repeatedly in the abdomen.

"Lisak!" Frituk wanted to go to save her, however, he was stopped by Alavak Father's grip.

"No, it will make things worse, they will kill him!"

"Mom! Mom! Let me go! He's killing her!"

The father stopped and the son was stopped.

The little girl was screaming and spitting blood, making the last efforts to free herself from the attack, hitting the man's face with her small hands, little by little she was running out of strength.

And she gave herself the last slash, leaving the weapon stuck in her body.

Her eyes struggled not to close, her mouth spurted blood by the bucketful.

The soldier grabbed her by the hair, and turned her towards the villagers.

The women cried and screamed, the men bowed their heads. Frituk fell to his knees, Alavak junior's face was dominated by a grim and tearful expression.

After withdrawing the dagger, he threw the body as if it were a rag.

"Frituk!" Joaquinos, knowing that the man could not understand him, called his attention. "¡Debuisti dicere filiae tuae ne in silvam intraret!" (You should have told your daughter that she should not go into the forest!)

The company burst into laughter at how little responsibility Frituk had had for his daughter.

"Est sicut dicunt," Joaquinos drew his sword, "nescis quid habeas usque dum amittas." (It is as they say, you don't know what you have until you lose it).

The girl's body lay in the middle of both groups, the villagers trembling in fear of Joaquinos' next move.

"Quid nunc facimus, domine?" (What do we do now, my lord?) asked one of his soldiers.

Joaquinos looked around the villagers, analyzing the situation in detail.

 "Video hos barbaros nolentes cooperari. Interficite viros et ludent cum mulieribus eorum. Solum senes et infirmos relinquant vivos, ut testes permaneant." (I see that these savages do not want to cooperate. Kill the men and have fun with their women. Only leave the old and disabled alive, so that they remain as witnesses.)

Some of his soldiers applauded at his order, and before he began, one of them asked:

"Et parvuli?" (What about the little ones?)"

Detanio smiled at the question, and using the language of the savages, shouted:

"The boys can become your servants, and if not, cut off their limbs and sell them as slaves! The girls, use them as you wish, and when you get bored with them, cut off their breasts!"