Lothar, Traetos Province, Southern Avestria

There was no dialogue between Mythra and Ramusa on their way to the infirmary. Ramusa was a reticent and a terse man. As he stood at the doorway of the infirmary, a woman hurried towards him. Mythra recognized her to be the Roshai's disciple who visited their homestead every night for dinner. The disciples never detested Mythra as they believed that he was in the care of the Roshai for purification from his ill-fated birth.

"What happened?" she said as she attempted to take Mythra from Ramusa's arms but Ramusa resisted. "He is heavy for you," he said. The woman nodded and showed him the way to enter the infirmary. As he entered, Mythra saw a herd of soldiers in the room. Some of them were comatose, some were maimed, others were moaning in agony due to their decapitated limbs and some of them were lying morbid. He was petrified on seeing so much blood. The medics who were under Roshai's mentorship were treating the soldiers with potions and ointments. Ramusa carried Mythra where the Roshai was standing. As the Roshai turned behind she was startled on seeing Mythra being carried by Ramusa. Ramusa stood in front of her, all tall and massive. She appeared mingy in front of him.

"What's the matter? What happened now?" she asked as she was worried about Mythra.

Ramusa gently placed Mythra on the cot adjacent to her.

"My men attacked him. My apologies on behalf of them. I feel ashamed" replied Ramusa humbly.

Even though he was an Ashra Primus and the only warrior at that rank in the entire kingdom, he was humble towards the Roshai. Everyone in the kingdom venerated the Roshai and that was the sole reason why the villagers allowed Mythra to stay in the village, alive.

They believed that Roshai had adopted him for purifying Mythra from the evil that he carried along with his birth.

"What? Did they attack him? Why?!" she spoke indignantly.

"You know the reason, honorable Roshai" replied Ramusa contritely. He felt compunctious for Mythra's injury that was inflicted by his men.

"When is the thought going to penetrate your thick skulls that he is not the reason for losing battles!" she exclaimed and immediately set her palms over Mythra's ankle.

She gently stroked it analyzing the nature of the sprain. Ramusa felt abashed for the behavior of his men. The Roshai instructed him to wait outside the infirmary until she was finished treating Mythra's injury. Ramusa agreed with a nod.

"I have told you so many times not to wander off too far away from home, haven't I?" she scolded Mythra as she applied an ointment over his ankle. It might have been some kind of lotion to reduce the pain. It was greenish in color. "I am sorry, granny. I won't do it again," replied Mythra apologetically.

His tone was rueful when he realized the greatness of his grandmother when a highly ranked warrior like Ramusa venerated her. It was the first time he had visited the infirmary and he was astonished on seeing the efficiency of her disciples.

The Roshai was indeed worthy of every ounce of respect that she received from the people. The Roshai tucked Mythra into the cot and instructed him to rest till sundown.

"I am going outside to have a little chat with Ramusa. You stay here," she said pointing her finger at the cot. Her voice was daunting and it was quite flagrant that she was agitated by so much commotion in the infirmary. It was indeed a crowded and chaotic place and she had been engaged in treating the injured folks since dawn so she was probably fatigued from all the hunger.

"So tell me everything," she said as she stepped outside. Ramusa took a deep breath and as soon he began to narrate the incident about Mythra, the Roshai snapped.

"I am talking about the battle that your forces lost today. Why are so many soldiers wounded? What's going on?" she said. Ramusa was flustered as he thought that the Roshai wanted to know about Mythra but perhaps she had already reckoned about what might have happened between Mythra and Ramusa's men.

"I had dispatched twenty of my finest men on a rescue mission. They were assigned the task of―"

"Your men just harmed my grandson, a child merely eight Mesha old. I don't think they deserve to be called the finest" Roshai interrupted. Ramusa agreed ruefully. The Roshai nodded to him to continue.

"So they were assigned the task of rescuing some of the villagers who had traveled towards the east to gather some resources. But they were trapped in the forests surrounding the Lake Minosa" he explained.

"Trapped? How?" she asked.

"The Parso soldiers had surrounded the area as soon as they came to know that some of the villagers from Traetos province had intruded into their borders" he replied.

"That's not good at all. But how did you come to know about this?" she asked, bewildered on hearing the instance.

"One of the lumberjacks somehow managed to escape. He informed us that there are about fifteen men who have set up a perimeter around the area where the villagers had stationed" replied Ramusa narrating the event.

"To save them, I dispatched twenty men. Unfortunately, by the time our men reached the destination, an entire Parso fleet of about one Golmer had assembled near the forest. They had held the villagers captive," he said. The Roshai was stupefied on hearing this.

"They slaughtered some of our soldiers. Some of them were successful in fleeing away. The ones you are treating inside the room are the ones who escaped." he said. Although he seemed stoic, his fists were tightly closed till his fingernails sank deep into his palms.

"So what happens next? Who is going to save those villagers?" asked the Roshai. Ramusa didn't respond to the question. Perhaps, he didn't wish to respond.

"The decision has not been made about it yet. The villagers were held captive about two Deven ago. By now, the Parso soldiers might have killed the villagers and taken the women as slaves or whores," replied Ramusa in an insouciant tone. The Roshai was flabbergasted on hearing this pessimistic remark.

"How can you be so heedless? You are just going to abandon them?" she replied resentfully.

"They were all innocent! They were gathering the resources for our king, weren't they?" she exclaimed. Ramusa tried to explain but the Roshai wouldn't let him interrupt. Her eyes were waspish.

"This is not acceptable for a warrior! This is just cowardice" she exclaimed. The Roshai's derogatory comment somehow offended Ramusa.

"With due respect, revered Roshai, I am not a coward. I am willing to go there myself and save them all. Or die trying. But there are certain things which we should consider before making any decisions. It's not wise to take any military decisions based on a whim." he asserted.

His pitch was slightly higher than before which startled the Roshai. Ramusa was anything but a coward and hence he felt prejudiced on her condescending remark. "I apologize, Lady Roshai," he said apologetically for raising his voice over her.

"We are doing everything we can. We only ask of you to trust our Autarch's prudence," he said calmly, lowering his tone again. The Roshai snorted.

"I take your leave, Lady Roshai. Once again I apologize on behalf of my men for hurting your grandson" he said, took a bow, and left the quarters. The Roshai also resumed her work of treating the men.

Herios was pulling the water bucket out of the lake reserve. The lake reserve was a small pond that was formed naturally near the lake. It had pure and potable water and hence it was utilized by the villagers to fill their pots. It was dusk and Seros was partially below the horizon.

The lake water was resplendent by the light that shone upon its surface making it appear orange and yellow in color. Other people were also filling their buckets of water to store them for the night. It was a daily activity of the villagers to fill their pots and buckets with the pure water from the reserve before going home from their fields and farms.

However, people eschewed contact with Herios. Since Herios used to live with a Caligor, he suffered the same fate as Mythra's. Herios never bothered about getting recognized. Even at his age, he was dexterous in everything he did.

He was wearing gossamer textured, round-neck fabric on his upper torso with its sleeves reaching just below his elbow. His lower torso was covered with pants covering his limbs from his waist to his knee. A thin brown colored string was visible around his neck which had the talisman attached to it as a pendant.

His brown flowing locks were soaked in sweat. He was flagged by the day's exhaustion and he just wished to rest for a while. Although he was lean, his legs were barely able to support his weight today. He appeared gaunter than usual.

He filled two pots of water and held them near the rim. He rested the base of the pots at his waist on both sides and pressed his hands on the rims so that the pots won't fall apart. As he turned behind, he saw Aerytha standing in front of him with extended hands.

"No, Aerytha. It's too heavy for you" he said humbly.

"I can do it," she urged. She was still so young that her tongue still slurred on uttering the cerebral letters but she was confident about holding those pots which were as heavy as she was.

"Aerytha, No!" he said, as he started walking towards their homestead. Aerytha scurried behind him with her tiny feet. 'Please. I want to do it!" she said and persuaded Herios to let her carry one of the pots. Herios hesitated initially but he was already enervated. Hence, he decided to give Aerytha one of the pots. Aerytha extended her arms to take the pot from his waist and secured them in her firm grip.

"You sure that you got it?" he asked as he gently released the pot from his hold. The heavy pot landed in Aerytha's hands and they were suddenly lowered by its weight. Somehow, she managed to lift it to her waist imitating Herios's action.

Although she appeared delicate, Herios was surprised that she was able to carry the heavy pot all by herself. Swaying and stumbling, she managed to carry the pot successfully till the homestead.

Herios hurried to keep his pot on the platform in the larder so that he could help Aerytha with the other one. By then, granny Roshai and Mythra arrived at the doorstep.

Aerytha ran towards the Roshai and hugged her. She wrapped her hands tightly around the Roshai in an embrace and she could barely reach her waist height. The Roshai gently stroked her hair and moved in.

Mythra lunged through the door taking the support of the door columns. Herios immediately realized that Mythra had injured his foot but he said nothing as by now he was accustomed to Mythra getting injured all the time.

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Footnotes:

• Parso was the empire of the conquerors who had subjugated the south eastern Avestrian subcontinent and they had established their dominion for more than a Hundred Mesha

• Ashra Primus is a rank in the military

• Deven means a day, measured from sunrise to sunrise