Book 3.5: Chapter 13
The intense black smoke ascended into the air and whirled around in the air like a back dragon circling the skies while howling. The timber buildings were alight. The once thriving small village was now a sea of fire. Shrieks of pain and cries were chased away by gunshots and the sounds of horse hooves. The corpses of the elves were dragged along the ground and thrown into the square at the centre of the village. On the other side, a small mountain of gold consisting of gold blocks and jewellery was piled up. The soldiers didn’t care about the cries of pain and cries for mercy from the female elves, because they were so attracted by the gold. And so they cut off the ears and fingers of the elves without a thought. The male elves who tried to fight back were shot to death. When they were done plundering a house, they burnt it. They then cuffed the residents’ hands and feet up with iron cuffs before picking them up and tossing them into the centre of the village.
The red-uniform army plundered the gold but they didn’t pocket a single piece, instead, they loyally gathered the spoils of war in one place and placed it before the empress. The empress had one leg over the other as she sat in her chair while she watched the small mountain of gold pile up higher and higher. On the other side, the number of captives continued to increase. She drew the sword on Alice’s waist and then gave Castell a particular look. Castell understood what the empress meant. He brought a gold bowl over, walked up to the captives to examine them and finally pulled a young girl over.
The young girl cried out as she put up a resistance with all her might. She endlessly begged for mercy in the elven language, however, Castell paid her no heed. He grabbed the young girl’s blonde hair with a polite smile on his face and then cut her throat open with the dagger in his hand. The female elf’s red blood which carried the warmth of life spurt forth and her eyes rolled back into her head. Her blood which continued to flow out from her wound made gurgling sounds. She was gasping for air but it was futile. All the oxygen she breathed in escaped through her open wound.
*Thud!”
Castell tossed the young girl’s corpse aside, and then picked up the gold bowl filled with blood. He then respectfully handed it to the empress, followed by a white silk handkerchief. The empress threw the handkerchief into the blood and then picked it up to use it as a cloth with which she used to slowly wipe her sword. The strong smell of blood didn’t disturb the soldiers behind her, but the empress wore a gleeful look on her face.
The soldiers gathered in the centre. They raised their guns up and aimed them at all the prisoners. One of the elves raised his head to look at the empress. He kept silent for a moment, but then suddenly shouted out in the elven language: “I recognise you! I recognise you! You gave birth to a child here ten years ago! You were with the previous king! I remember you!!”
“Shut up!”
A troop stabbed him in his lower abdomen and shoved it in until he was on the ground. The empress heard his cry. She then stood up, whipped the drips of blood on her sword away and slowly walked over. She then squatted down and looked at his painful experssion. She then remembered who he was and said: “Ah, I remember now. You’re the village chief of this village. I remember, I remember. I gave birth to my son here ten years ago, and you even looked after my son and I…”
“Then… then… I beg you… I beg you… please spare us… out of consideration for how we helped you……”