Some things cannot be erased from memory, no matter how hard we try. The events of the last few days will live on in my mind forever for they have left the kind of wound that though it may heal on the outside, it will echo in my dreams until the day I cease to exist.
As I sit here, writing, every moment comes back to life.
We set up camp after two and a half days of searching for Elleanora, my mind was restless, I worried about the little lass, but we couldn’t go on, my body was exhausted. We were hungry, we had left so quickly we didn’t have time to pack enough supplies.
Father was tired too, he fell asleep before his head fully touched the ground. I, on the other hand, tossed and turned for a while. This now seemed to be my norm.
Images of the horrors Elleanora could be enduring while we rested tormented me. What if she was being beaten, tortured or, God, much worse... She could have been left alone to die, exposed to the freezing winds. It’s too cold for anybody to stay warm, she won’t last.
“Father,” he grunted as I nudged him. “We must continue to search…We shouldn’t have left her alone in the first place,” I muttered. The quietness of the night felt dreadful until my father began snoring again. “Father?” My thoughts became slow. “I I…I shouldn’t…I” my eyes ached to shut for an instant but I feared if I allowed myself to succumb into tiredness I would not wake up ever again. Without noticing the change, my breathing became deep and calm, my chest rose and fell to the rhythm of a silent song playing somewhere in my mind. A wave of sleepiness slithered towards me ever so slowly, wrapping itself around every inch of my being, preventing me from turning any longer, as if my limbs had gone limp, heavy, impossible to move on their own already. “Perhaps…rest…just a moment…come first…dawn…I shall…”
Not long after my eyes fell shut, a sharp pain on the right side of my head awakened me. A trickle of blood ran over my eyes, nose and down to my lips. The throbbing ache nearly caused me to pass out, everything was blotted dark and spinning. Another blow on my stomach left me gasping for air, I curled up on the ground, it felt as if I had been stabbed in my gut. Someone stomped over my hand as I searched for my sword, I feared my fingers were pulverized. They stung as though they were ablaze.
I had no time to wallow in further discomfort before someone grabbed me by the hair and dragged me out of the tent, forcing me to kneel beside my father.
With horror I took in the sight before me, all but three soldiers lay in a pool of their own blood. Their throats cut without mercy.
“We are ambassadors of Peac -” Father’s words were cut short as the nearest foe to him ran his blade across my father's stomach!
“Noooooooo!” I cried before I was silenced with the hilt of the same blade knocking me to the cold ground. Watching in disbelief as my father’s blood tainted the snow covered soil beneath him.
I watched him lay still, hoping it was all an awful dream brought to my weary mind by tiredness. “Father, wake up…” I thought as if I could make his lifeless body regain consciousness. But he was gone and my heart sank deep into the lowest pits of despair. I was an orphan now, Father was now with Mother, and I was alone…
Somehow in my despair, the little lass came to mind. The guilt I felt for failing her hurt more than any cuts and bruises in my body. “Sorry, little lady, it seems as though you were right and I was not the best choice to look after you. It seems my journey has come to an end without knowing what has become of you.” I shrugged in resignation. “Better finish me now, if you let me live, I shall avenge my Father’s life!” I spat.
“Silence!” Yelled the one that seemed to be in charge.
Another blow struck me on the face, strong enough to make me taste my own blood. But I wasn’t done. What else could they take from me, I had nothing left but my life and I was no longer afraid to lose it.
I watched carefully where each man stood and wasted no time taking on my attack. I kicked the man to my right, and fueled with anger and pain, I rammed myself into the stomach of the man to my left causing him to fall. I grabbed his sword and cut his stomach open from side to side, just like he did my father’s.
His hands flew to the opening as his guts began to spill. I saw a veil of fear cover his gaze as he fell to his knees before kissing the ground with his last breath. I didn’t have time to do anything else before I was subdued once more and forced to kneel on a puddle of my father’s blood.
“You think you are so tough, uh?” The leader approached me. I spat on his boots which cost me another blow to the head. “Let’s see if you feel the same way in the Shadows of Cataan.”
*****
At first there were four of us, two of General Luna’s men whose names I didn’t know. Finn, who was only a couple of years older than I, and had traveled with us since we left the Everlands, and of course, me. I was prisoner number four, but our numbers dwindled quite soon.
The older Leroninan soldier attempted to escape the first night when our oppressors were meant to be asleep, he ran as far as the tree line before he was cut down like wheat at harvest time. The next day, his companion’s fate was decided for him when he slid on the frozen ground and he broke his right ankle.
He was shown no mercy, killing him would have been a less harsh end. But instead, he was forced to strip naked, entirely. And once his garments and armor were dispersed amongst the mercenaries, he was left behind to die with nothing to keep him warm, nor food to satiate his hunger, nor weapons to defend himself from the wild beasts that will find him an easy prey.
He groaned helplessly as we advanced without him, his muffled pleading echoed in my head like thunder louder with every step I took. The Heavens are my witness, we were powerless, there was nothing we could do to help him.
Finn and I were the last two prisoners. Our hands were bound, our mouths gagged, and a rope was tied from our waist to one of the saddles the entire time.
The journey was hard, what food and water we were offered we had to eat from the ground like animals. My fingers were numbed, so were my toes, I feared soon frostbite would settle in.
We slept very little, mostly on our feet tied against a tree next to each other. The humiliation didn’t end there, there was no chance for us to release ourselves other than in our own clothing, in no time, every part of me was covered in filth. The only thing that kept me from losing my mind was the thirst for revenge.
Up to the moment of our arrival I believed Cataan to be a fake place someone created to scare young folk and prevent them from running away. I couldn’t fathom the stories to be true. Cataan was said to be a breeding ground for assassins, drunken men, thieves, deserters, Sheeresses and all the scum of the earth. But as we stood at the top of that hill, not far from the entrance looking at the stone wall surrounding the city, I could see I had been mistaken. It was real!
The wooden gates stood tall and wide open, inviting; music echoed in the air along with loud-laughter and the sounds of brawling. The stench of ale and wine were hard to escape as well.
To my surprise, instead of advancing towards the entrance, we were shoved towards a group of monstrous looking tall trees, surrounded by vines of thorns and shrubbery. On the other side, there was a hole, and without warning we were pushed over the bushes into it.
I landed on my knees and bit hard on the gag as a wave of pain traveled through me. Finn landed on his feet but not with precision, he twisted his left ankle in the process, even in the darkness I could see the agony on his face with every step he took. We were on what seemed to be an entrance to a sort of underground, dark, never ending tunnel.
We continued to walk in the dark, guided by a single torch. Hard to see farther than a few feet ahead at the time. At one point we were walking in water as we approached another tunnel that seemed to descend into either a creek or lake. I could only deduct that because of the sunlight reflecting in the water at the end of the tunnel.
Finn and I exchanged looks. He saw it too. A possible escape route.
Unable to communicate with each other, all we could do was to hope that at least one of us made it out alive.
Without hesitation, Finn spun around and rammed his head against the man closest to him. I elbowed the nose the one closest to me with such force I feared my entire arm had shattered, still, I turned and kicked on the groin the next man, only to be met by the edge of a sword as I turned to face Finn who had already been subdued by two of the mercenaries.
I sank to my knees on the water covered ground, defeated; took a deep breath and closed my eyes, ready to meet my maker. I felt the sting of the next blow on my head, and then, as daylight succumbs into darkness, I blacked out.
As I sit here, writing, every moment comes back to life.
We set up camp after two and a half days of searching for Elleanora, my mind was restless, I worried about the little lass, but we couldn’t go on, my body was exhausted. We were hungry, we had left so quickly we didn’t have time to pack enough supplies.
Father was tired too, he fell asleep before his head fully touched the ground. I, on the other hand, tossed and turned for a while. This now seemed to be my norm.
Images of the horrors Elleanora could be enduring while we rested tormented me. What if she was being beaten, tortured or, God, much worse... She could have been left alone to die, exposed to the freezing winds. It’s too cold for anybody to stay warm, she won’t last.
“Father,” he grunted as I nudged him. “We must continue to search…We shouldn’t have left her alone in the first place,” I muttered. The quietness of the night felt dreadful until my father began snoring again. “Father?” My thoughts became slow. “I I…I shouldn’t…I” my eyes ached to shut for an instant but I feared if I allowed myself to succumb into tiredness I would not wake up ever again. Without noticing the change, my breathing became deep and calm, my chest rose and fell to the rhythm of a silent song playing somewhere in my mind. A wave of sleepiness slithered towards me ever so slowly, wrapping itself around every inch of my being, preventing me from turning any longer, as if my limbs had gone limp, heavy, impossible to move on their own already. “Perhaps…rest…just a moment…come first…dawn…I shall…”
Not long after my eyes fell shut, a sharp pain on the right side of my head awakened me. A trickle of blood ran over my eyes, nose and down to my lips. The throbbing ache nearly caused me to pass out, everything was blotted dark and spinning. Another blow on my stomach left me gasping for air, I curled up on the ground, it felt as if I had been stabbed in my gut. Someone stomped over my hand as I searched for my sword, I feared my fingers were pulverized. They stung as though they were ablaze.
I had no time to wallow in further discomfort before someone grabbed me by the hair and dragged me out of the tent, forcing me to kneel beside my father.
With horror I took in the sight before me, all but three soldiers lay in a pool of their own blood. Their throats cut without mercy.
“We are ambassadors of Peac -” Father’s words were cut short as the nearest foe to him ran his blade across my father's stomach!
“Noooooooo!” I cried before I was silenced with the hilt of the same blade knocking me to the cold ground. Watching in disbelief as my father’s blood tainted the snow covered soil beneath him.
I watched him lay still, hoping it was all an awful dream brought to my weary mind by tiredness. “Father, wake up…” I thought as if I could make his lifeless body regain consciousness. But he was gone and my heart sank deep into the lowest pits of despair. I was an orphan now, Father was now with Mother, and I was alone…
Somehow in my despair, the little lass came to mind. The guilt I felt for failing her hurt more than any cuts and bruises in my body. “Sorry, little lady, it seems as though you were right and I was not the best choice to look after you. It seems my journey has come to an end without knowing what has become of you.” I shrugged in resignation. “Better finish me now, if you let me live, I shall avenge my Father’s life!” I spat.
“Silence!” Yelled the one that seemed to be in charge.
Another blow struck me on the face, strong enough to make me taste my own blood. But I wasn’t done. What else could they take from me, I had nothing left but my life and I was no longer afraid to lose it.
I watched carefully where each man stood and wasted no time taking on my attack. I kicked the man to my right, and fueled with anger and pain, I rammed myself into the stomach of the man to my left causing him to fall. I grabbed his sword and cut his stomach open from side to side, just like he did my father’s.
His hands flew to the opening as his guts began to spill. I saw a veil of fear cover his gaze as he fell to his knees before kissing the ground with his last breath. I didn’t have time to do anything else before I was subdued once more and forced to kneel on a puddle of my father’s blood.
“You think you are so tough, uh?” The leader approached me. I spat on his boots which cost me another blow to the head. “Let’s see if you feel the same way in the Shadows of Cataan.”
*****
At first there were four of us, two of General Luna’s men whose names I didn’t know. Finn, who was only a couple of years older than I, and had traveled with us since we left the Everlands, and of course, me. I was prisoner number four, but our numbers dwindled quite soon.
The older Leroninan soldier attempted to escape the first night when our oppressors were meant to be asleep, he ran as far as the tree line before he was cut down like wheat at harvest time. The next day, his companion’s fate was decided for him when he slid on the frozen ground and he broke his right ankle.
He was shown no mercy, killing him would have been a less harsh end. But instead, he was forced to strip naked, entirely. And once his garments and armor were dispersed amongst the mercenaries, he was left behind to die with nothing to keep him warm, nor food to satiate his hunger, nor weapons to defend himself from the wild beasts that will find him an easy prey.
He groaned helplessly as we advanced without him, his muffled pleading echoed in my head like thunder louder with every step I took. The Heavens are my witness, we were powerless, there was nothing we could do to help him.
Finn and I were the last two prisoners. Our hands were bound, our mouths gagged, and a rope was tied from our waist to one of the saddles the entire time.
The journey was hard, what food and water we were offered we had to eat from the ground like animals. My fingers were numbed, so were my toes, I feared soon frostbite would settle in.
We slept very little, mostly on our feet tied against a tree next to each other. The humiliation didn’t end there, there was no chance for us to release ourselves other than in our own clothing, in no time, every part of me was covered in filth. The only thing that kept me from losing my mind was the thirst for revenge.
Up to the moment of our arrival I believed Cataan to be a fake place someone created to scare young folk and prevent them from running away. I couldn’t fathom the stories to be true. Cataan was said to be a breeding ground for assassins, drunken men, thieves, deserters, Sheeresses and all the scum of the earth. But as we stood at the top of that hill, not far from the entrance looking at the stone wall surrounding the city, I could see I had been mistaken. It was real!
The wooden gates stood tall and wide open, inviting; music echoed in the air along with loud-laughter and the sounds of brawling. The stench of ale and wine were hard to escape as well.
To my surprise, instead of advancing towards the entrance, we were shoved towards a group of monstrous looking tall trees, surrounded by vines of thorns and shrubbery. On the other side, there was a hole, and without warning we were pushed over the bushes into it.
I landed on my knees and bit hard on the gag as a wave of pain traveled through me. Finn landed on his feet but not with precision, he twisted his left ankle in the process, even in the darkness I could see the agony on his face with every step he took. We were on what seemed to be an entrance to a sort of underground, dark, never ending tunnel.
We continued to walk in the dark, guided by a single torch. Hard to see farther than a few feet ahead at the time. At one point we were walking in water as we approached another tunnel that seemed to descend into either a creek or lake. I could only deduct that because of the sunlight reflecting in the water at the end of the tunnel.
Finn and I exchanged looks. He saw it too. A possible escape route.
Unable to communicate with each other, all we could do was to hope that at least one of us made it out alive.
Without hesitation, Finn spun around and rammed his head against the man closest to him. I elbowed the nose the one closest to me with such force I feared my entire arm had shattered, still, I turned and kicked on the groin the next man, only to be met by the edge of a sword as I turned to face Finn who had already been subdued by two of the mercenaries.
I sank to my knees on the water covered ground, defeated; took a deep breath and closed my eyes, ready to meet my maker. I felt the sting of the next blow on my head, and then, as daylight succumbs into darkness, I blacked out.