A Hols man crept toward the house. He looked so frightened and cringing, like a wild deer scared out of its wits, forever afraid that something dangerous might spring out beside him.
From time to time, his wide eyes darted nervously from side to side, taking in his surroundings. The slightest movement of a blade of grass could frighten him into dropping flat on the ground.
Frightened as he was, he had no intention of stopping and finding somewhere to hide. He still forced himself to feel his way slowly through the waist-high grass, occasionally raising his head with great care to look around.
Dirt had stained his coarse hemp clothes black. The fabric over his knees had worn through, exposing bloodstained skin. From constantly pushing the grass aside, the parts of his fingers not protected by thick calluses had been cut and streaked with blood.
He struggled onward like this, stopping cautiously after every short stretch because of the terrible sound of armor scraping around him...
Those soldiers covered from head to foot in iron scales had surrounded the village in the blink of an eye. Beneath the iron-shod hooves of their terrifying warhorses, not a single person had managed to escape. They had easily herded everyone into the grain-drying yard at the center of the village.
Although the cavalrymen had not begun slaughtering people, the bloodstained iron maces and sabers in their hands still frightened everyone half to death. Even their warhorses seemed to have become bloodthirsty monsters, occasionally trying to charge the villagers in a fit of temper.
Once everyone had been gathered together, a tall man told the village head that as long as they stayed there, no one would be harmed. Not a drop of unnecessary blood would be shed.
They would also pay fully for all the grain they took. Although the village was some distance from town, the money would allow the villagers to buy even more food.
Seeing that he was reasonable, the villagers became less afraid. These people of the Empire looked like fiends, but for the moment, they did not seem intent on killing them. Otherwise, would it not be easier to slaughter everyone first and then search each house for grain?
So they stayed obediently in the grain-drying yard at the center of the village. Whenever a soldier carried over a sack of grain, the tall man would take out a silver coin and toss it into the village head's hand. One such coin could buy at least a sack and a half of grain at the market. No matter how they looked at it, they were coming out ahead.
The man, however, could not stay there obediently like the others. The soldiers had seized him at the very beginning and thrown him into the grain-drying yard, but his wife had been giving birth to their child. Even afterward, he had not seen her among the crowd.
Desperately worried, he waited for the soldiers guarding them to be distracted for a moment, then slipped into the waist-high grass. Using his hunting skills, he slithered away quietly like a cunning venomous snake.
He knew he was doing something foolish. According to the soldiers, if they discovered that even one person was missing from the yard, someone would bleed...
But he simply could not leave his wife to her fate. He would only check whether she was safe. If she was all right, if their child, whom he did not even know to be a boy or a girl, was all right, he would go straight back.
Three or four hundred people were gathered in the center of the village. The absence of one or two would be hard to notice. As long as he returned before anyone discovered it, there would be no problem.
Whatever he told himself, however, he was putting the other villagers' lives in danger. He also knew that doing this would surely make them all despise him. But he had to do it...
After all, to him, his wife's and child's lives mattered more than anything, even more than his own.
In this way, he made it all the way back to his house. With the soldiers gathered at the center of the village, no one had discovered him.
He pressed himself against the crude wall of his home, daubed together from mud and branches, and quietly peered inside...
Then a pair of eyes as keen as an eagle's appeared before him...
The terrifying killing intent and will in those eyes instantly made his legs give way. He could not stop himself from crying out in alarm. A fully armed cavalryman appeared around the corner in the blink of an eye.
Before the man could get up, a powerful hand seized his shoulder. As though carrying a quail, the cavalryman dragged him into the house.
* * *
"Physician, do you know this man?"
Tesolys regarded the peeping man with interest. He had originally intended to snap the little branches covering the window with his hand and drag the man straight inside. But remembering the sorry condition of this tottering house, he had abandoned the idea and had Alka bring him in instead...
Someone bold enough to come spying on the commander of this cavalry force at a time like this could hardly avoid being suspected of working as a spy for the Hols.
Tesolys's moral standards were far higher than those of this age, but he also had principles of his own. If the man before him really was a spy, he would execute him without the slightest hesitation...
He could not risk exposing his troops' whereabouts. At the very least, he could not let them be exposed so soon.
Alka had already taken his flail from his belt. A chain one palm in length was attached to a long, slender metal shaft. At the chain's end hung an angular metal head, studded with short, blunt spikes. It could smash a person's skull to pieces like a brittle melon.
As long as their general gave the order, Alka would not even blink when he killed.
Just as the man was shaking like a leaf, Talina spoke in time.
"Please spare him, my lord! He's only an ordinary hunter from our village. The woman who just gave birth on that bed is his wife. He probably only wanted to come back and see his child. He means absolutely no harm!! Besides, he isn't holding any weapon. That already proves he's harmless."
Tesolys suddenly turned his head.
"Madam, is this man really your husband?"
The mother, who had regained consciousness, clutched her child tightly. The infant's vigorous cries rang out in the room again, making the kneeling man's back give a slight shudder.
Involuntarily, he wanted to turn his head toward the bed. But the terrifying rattle of the chain beside him kept him from daring to make any large movement.
Tesolys had been watching the man the whole time. The moment he saw his back shudder, he had reached his conclusion. He waved for Alka to put away his weapon.
"Your courage and your recklessness both surprise me. You must have heard what I said in the grain-drying yard just now... Then you must also have thought about what would happen if we caught you, correct?"
The man's entire face crumpled. His fingers dug into the earth beneath him, and extreme terror and regret made his voice stiff.
"My lord, I did this entirely on my own. It has nothing to do with anyone else... I'm willing to accept any punishment... As long as you mercifully spare my wife and child, even after death, I'll pray to Aifas for your good health..."
Silence suddenly descended on the room. Tesolys looked at the man before him with an indifferent expression, and the atmosphere grew more and more dangerous.
The other three people in the room were all trembling from head to foot. No matter how approachable this officer had been before, he would hardly show mercy to someone who had openly disobeyed his orders.
The scrape of a saber against its scabbard made their hair stand on end. The keen blade had been finely polished until it reflected images and curved ever so slightly. With a horse's momentum behind it, it could easily cut a man in two. Naturally, taking off his head would be just as easy.
Beautiful, intricate patterns inlaid in gold covered the blade, giving this terrible killing weapon the beauty of a work of art.
The stifled sobs of the woman and infant rose and fell in the room. His mother pressed her hand firmly over the child's mouth, keeping him from crying loudly. She could only look at her kneeling husband with despair in her eyes.
There was nothing else she could do...
Cold light flashed, and a few beads of blood ran from the blade's tip. The flicker of light and shadow made the mother scream, but her cry cut off abruptly...
Astonished, the man touched a cut on his left cheek. It was not very deep. Only a little blood had flowed, barely enough to wet the blade.
The sharp tip pointed at the man's forehead.
"My orders must not be disobeyed! That is why I've made you bleed, to punish you for what you did wrong... And for a husband concerned about his child, this punishment should be enough."
A gentle smile rested on Tesolys's face as he looked at the blood dripping from his blade's tip.
The man bowed his head deeply, so low that he nearly buried his forehead in the earth.
"Thank you for your mercy!..."
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