5. The Prisoners and survivors

Dorian still had the scratch marks on his face from the tussle between him and the wild Wuwa lady. Of  course, he had subsumed her and taken away her dignity. He was a soldier after all. He made up his  mind to keep her alive for the time being and found a way to keep her in check. He would continually tie  her to the pillar until she was tame enough to do his bidding whenever he got bored with  playing the chase game with her. He of course did have time to feed her and his brother would laugh at  him for keeping a pet. Troy had killed his own captive that night. According to him, his line of defense  was that she had attempted to kill him at night, so he slit her throat. Talk about the savage nature of his  brother. 

This morning however, they needed to get back to the Wuwa clearing, now turned into an arsenal. Word had  come that they had found some survivors from the war night. Although they were pretty much as good  as dead, he needed to rush. Troy had gotten the slaves to prepare their chariots. They would be taking  this journey alone with some of the soldiers. Their children had to remain in the capital city while they  headed for the village. Taking one slave from Wuwa with them to assist in identifying the king's son, just  in case the survivors died before they could make it, they would be on a safer side. It was a journey that  took them nearly the whole day, but eventually, they got there just as the sun was setting. Dorian and  his brother went straight to business.

Surprisingly, the old man Raga was among the said survivors. After Kuka had left with his company, a  good number of them had died and there were just four left. When those barbarians had even found  them, they were actually patiently waiting for their death and could not even move anymore. Hunger  pangs had found them and crippled their feet. They were just living by a little thread right now. Raga  constantly wished for death, but somehow, his fate had been decided upon by their ancestors. He  actually did hope sincerely that somehow, Kuka had made it to his promised land. He became sure  of it when he saw a star light stream across the sky. Possibly, the gods had guided them to their path.  He felt peaceful within his spirit. 

It was pretty much later that some of those meddling barbarians had found them. They had actually  been coming in from time to time to get wood and would fall trees. Raga had expected that it was only a  couple of times before they found them. Why had death suddenly turned its back on them? It was just as  their ancestors said, Anula the god of death loved to play games with their lives by gambling over  whom he wanted. He never came for those who wanted him dearly but would dance around, randomly  taking people that never called him for a visit. It was a cruel fate. But it was real. Raga and his co survivors  did not even struggle against their captors as they dragged them back to their village. He almost did not  recognize his birth land as they had successfully made it into something else. His land had been  successfully desecrated by strangers but he was glad about something. He was going to die on his own  soil, not like a stranger. They kept them in an opening they created, like a shed as they waited for their  fate. 

Dorian walked in showing off his power over the lives of these wretched ones before him. Seats were  brought for both he and his brother as they sat. He had the captive brought in and saw the eyes of the  people before him widen with recognition. He asked that the captive show him the king's son but  instead, he went down on his knees and began crying before the older man. This disgusted him rather  and he dealt the young man a blow on the cheeks, blood gushed from his mouth. 

“Tell him Nel, tell him exactly what you see.” Raga said weakly. 

He was not ready to risk the life of the youth if there was a possibility that this brute would keep him  alive. He was done for anyway and definitely, the son of the king was not with them. He knew that the  tough guy that seemed like the leader would have to turn on them to get information. He was not ready  to say a word, and he sincerely hoped that none of his fellow survivors would give him any answers. 

“The kin.. kings.. so….” Nel began stammering. 

“Speak now savage or you lose your tongue this instant “, Troy barked as he brought out his dagger.

“He’s not here,” Nel said quickly as he did understand the language of threats. 

Dorian could now understand what was going on at the moment. He was left with the option of finding  out from the four before him. He rose up and walked over to the older man that had spoken earlier. He  squatted at eye level with him and observed him for sometime. 

“I presume, you have an answer for me then, where is the son of your king? Speak now, and I would  spare all your lives.” he said. 

There was no way he could trust these barbarians, he looked at the man directly at the face. His son  who had died during the raid could have been his age mate. Raga sat up, raising his neck, he spat on  Dorian’s face. He then closed his eyes and waited for what was to come. Dorian had never been so  insulted in his entire life as this. He smiled a corner smile and cleaned the saliva off his face. He rose up  and turned his back on the old man, looking at his brother who had risen up in anger. Dorian began  laughing, next thing, with a quick speed of lightning, he drew out his sword, turned around and slit the  neck of the smiling old man. Raga fell to the floor as he breathed his last. This seemed to tell the others  what fate lies for them. 

“He left for the river with the others some days ago.”  Lika the rather youngest of the survivors, blurted  out in fear. 

“The river?” Dorian asked and he nodded. He enjoyed what he did to people when they were in fear of  his wrath. 

He had heard of the river. It was rather far from the forest side and somehow, there was no way  possible that they would survive the journey without food. He was quite sure they would die on the  way. This river was going to be impossible for them to reach. He asked that Troy finish the business  with the rest of the survivors, including Lika, the snitch. He only took Nel with him whom he had taken a  liking to. Troy smiled as his brother left the area. He already had a game in his head to play with these  ones. It was going to be so fun, he thought. He requested that his arrow and bow be brought to him. He  was going to play the game of mercy, but of course, he knew that they all would die. He was not keeping  anyone alive.