- The Revenge for Justice -

Advisory :
This chapter consists of some scenes pertaining to sexual assault and gory violence which might be disturbing for some readers. Reader discretion is advised. This chapter also stands to be longer than the other parts.

Lothar, Traetos Province, Southern Avestria

The life of women and children in Lothar was forfeit. Now, they were merely the slaves of the oppressive Parso. It was afternoon and the scorching heat of Lord Seros was warming the environment like a furnace. With no shade of the trees, the women and the children were forced to work in the fields --- sowing the seeds in the arid lands, irrigating the sowed farms, weeding the fields, harvesting and then threshing the produce and carrying them to the storehouses. The boys were made to carry heavy produce in gunny bags, from the farms to the storehouses in the citadel. Some of the old women were forced to cook the food for everyone.

Ramusa Vorcerus had been imprisoned in a different cell from the other soldiers. He was never allowed to leave the cell and he was fettered with shackles. He was given food, once in a day. He was emaciated. The soldiers of Lothar were sent to the mining camps for mining stone and Shokal* ores. Some of them were forced to cut the wood, alongside the lumberjacks. Even the Kyshatar, the people from the warrior clans, had relegated to the work of a Belendor*.

Everyone had assembled in the middle bailey for their regular meal times and they were standing in a long queue, near the serving platform, holding their plates in their hands. Suddenly, Krora, the commander of the Parso, appeared on the terrace of his chamber. Since the capture of Lothar, Krora had ensconced in the Autarch's chamber, as he was the conqueror of the kingdom. He cleared his throat before he could speak loudly.

"Hear all!!" he shouted, making an announcement. His voice was loud and hoarse.

"It has come to my notice that the royal family of Lothar is not completely dead....I was made to believe that the Queen and her daughter were killed in the invasion, just like the Autarch...but now it has been revealed to me, that she is indeed alive. She has blended within you people, the Queen of Lothar and the princess....If you people tell me where she is and hand her over to me, I shall be a merciful lord" he ordered.

"However, if you don't...then the consequences would be severe" he threatened. His voice was daunting and nonchalant.

"Until you hand her over, I am reducing your meals. Now you shall receive food, only once in a day" he said. The civilians erupted in chaos on hearing this. They were infuriated and agitated by this tyranny. Krora was nettled on seeing the people's audacity to be infuriated at their conqueror. Rebellion is something that he wasn't prepared to tolerate.

"You will have to kill us all!!...We don't care anymore! Dying is better than living like this!" exclaimed one of the people. "Yes! Kill us! We will no longer submit to your command!" yelled another one. The civilians had collectively revolted against Krora. The Parso soldiers were furious on seeing this rebellion and they immediately pulled out their swords.

"Silence!!!" yelled Krora in a thunderous voice. His shriek intimidated all the protesters, leaving an absolute silence all over the milieu.

"So you want to die? You think I am bluffing, when I say that I would kill you?" asked Krora, rhetorically. "Fine then...Let's see..."

"Bring her forth!!" he shouted again.

The civilians were staring at Krora as he signalled his troops to bring something forward. Suddenly, they started hearing loud screams from the dark corridor as two of the Parso soldiers dragged a woman by clutching her hair. The woman was stark naked and the soldiers dragged her strenuously in front of everyone.

She was screaming in agony and anger and resisting their hold but they dragged her, beating her all over the way till the platform. Some of the women cringed in fear and averted the eyes of their children. Herios, by this time, was enraged on seeing this barbarism. He had never seen such a heinous act committed by men. His legs were shivering and he started sweating all over his body. He couldn't restrain himself on seeing this savagery. The sadist soldiers were chortling as they dragged her over to the platform.

The civilians were petrified on seeing this cruelty being inflicted on a woman. It was the same woman who was ordered by Krora to serve as his whore, about two Deven ago. Now she was dragged towards the centre of the bailey in front of everyone. She had many marks and wounds all over her body. She had incurred those wounds by the atrocities that might have been committed by Krora and his nefarious men. They had raped her consecutively, for two days and nights. Krora felt that it was about time to inculcate fear in the hearts of their slaves.

"All of you know her, don't you?" he asked everyone. The two soldiers tied her to a long, cylindrical support. Her hands were stretched outside and tied to the lateral column, exposing her breasts. Her body was tied to the vertical support. The woman was weeping in embarrassment as she was tied in front of the villagers, naked and exposed. Her eyes were lowered and her hair was flowing all over her face, as she tried to hide herself from this stigmatic situation.

Two of the men from the crowd ran towards her in order to save her, but they were struck by the arrows launched from the bowmen, stationed over the ramparts. The impaled men collapsed in front of all the other civilians. Many of the women started crying and begging for help from their gods, but none came.

"Observe...If you rebel against me and disobey my orders....this would be your end" Krora said, insouciantly. The two Parso soldiers who had dragged the naked woman and tied her to the column, started punching her with all their might. The woman was already emaciated as she was starved for two Deven and raped by Krora and his men, multiple times over the course of the day.

She had incurred bruises all over her body and her eyes were already swollen. The barbaric assaults by the two soldiers had dislocated her jaw, broken her ribs and damaged her shoulder bone. She was spitting blood with every blow from the soldiers. She was already morbid on receiving the first two punches, but the nefarious Parso soldiers kept on landing blow after blow on her body, deriving a sadistic pleasure out of it.

The civilians screamed, the children cried, the men felt vulnerable, as their eyes became watery. It was inhumane to watch this cruelty. There was neither a saviour that helped her, nor any deity who saved her. With every blow, the woman yelped and the soldiers chortled for inflicting the pain. One of them brutally punched her at the abdomen until his fist sank deep into her stomach.

The woman puked a lot of blood after this punch, but the Parso soldiers were relentless. The other one, slapped her hard on her face. She had started bleeding internally and her blood was dripping out of her ears and her broken nose. There was no one to relieve her of this pain. She had to suffer it all. Finally, one of them kicked her at the abdomen, where he had punched her earlier and this was a concluding hit. The woman coughed some blood and her neck hanged sideways. She was dead, murdered by those soldiers with their fists.

Herios couldn't take this brutality anymore. He jolted from his place and launched himself towards the soldiers. While he was running, two of the bowmen stationed over the ramparts watched this child, running towards the bailey where the woman was tied. They launched two arrows towards Herios in order to kill the boy. Somehow, the first arrow missed Herios as he was running quite swiftly. Unfortunately, he was not fast enough to dodge the second one. The second arrow penetrated inside his right shoulder and he fell down backwards. He screamed in pain for being struck by this arrow, which was now protruding out from his deltoid.

Herios mustered enough strength to stand up in his place. He yelped in excruciating agony as he pulled out the arrow from his shoulder. He dragged himself towards the bailey, persistent and determined. When the bowmen prepared to launch another volley of arrows at Herios, Krora signalled them to halt.

He wanted some entertainment for himself. Seeing a boy of eight Mesha, getting butchered by his men, was the perfect scene for a sadist tyrant like Krora. The Parso soldiers were hitting the dead body of the woman tied to the support and they were so engrossed in it, that they didn't realize that Herios was walking towards them. Krora leaned forward and rested his elbows over the railing of the terrace, to observe Herios.

The civilians behind Herios were yelling at him to come back, but Herios wouldn't listen. The injustice that he had witnessed, for a boy of his age, was unprecedented in his lifetime. Herios kept on walking towards the bailey, but he was flagged by the laceration that he had incurred from the arrow. He was bleeding profusely and this must have enervated him, but he kept walking.

Finally, on climbing the stairs of that platform, he threw himself at the feet of those two Parso troops and grabbed the leg of one of them. He was lying on the ground, injured and weakened, clutching the leg of the soldier with his hand. The soldiers turned behind to see this boy, lying at their feet.

Was he begging for mercy? Was he surrendering to them? The soldiers ridiculed Herios as he looked up at their faces. They guffawed at him and so did the other troops who witnessed this. The civilians were disheartened by their own cowardice, but they were vulnerable. How could they possibly fight against men with weapons? How would they protect their own sons and daughters from these devils, if they died? They had accepted that this boy, no matter how intrepid, had already invited his death and there was nothing that they could do to help him.

The Parso tried to lift his leg in order to free it from Herios's grip but he realized that it was indeed a strong hold.

"Oh you are a strong one huh?" he exclaimed at Herios. The soldier attempted to drag Herios along with his feet in order to free himself, but Herios wouldn't leave his hold over the soldier's leg. The Parso was agitated by this obstinate boy who had clutched his foot, quite strongly. The second Parso started to kick Herios, brutally, over his back and on his head.

Herios's head was banging on the ground with every blow, but his hold didn't weaken. Now it had started to bother the Parso who was trapped in Herios's grip. He kept on punching and kicking Herios and so did his comrade, but Herios was obdurate. This strong willed boy had somehow aroused Krora's interest.

When the soldier was finally agitated, he reached for the sword in his scabbard, to cut the boy into two. However, just before he could pull out his sword from the scabbard, he felt an agonizing pain across his limb, which was clutched by Herios. He retracted his hand from the hilt of his sword and immediately wrapped his palms around his limb. He started shrieking in pain. The Parso soldiers were dumbfounded. They couldn't tell if their comrade was really in pain or he was just pretending to be in pain, for ridiculing the boy.

However, the second Parso comrade, who was standing close to the man and punching Herios, was bewildered. He moved back, witnessing an unnatural phenomenon. Herios's palm was letting out fumes, as it was wrapped around the man's limb. The man's shrieks soon changed to excruciating screams, when his limb started smouldering from Herios's grip. Krora himself was baffled on seeing this.

Herios was relentless. This was no time for mercy. He extended his other palm and wrapped it around the man's other limb. The man was completely afflicted by Herios's grip on both of his legs. The other soldier, who was standing closer to his comrade, moved farther away from Herios. Now it was time for Herios to let out his anger over this nefarious Parso. Herios started screaming with all his might as he clutched the man's leg even tighter than before. He wanted to crush this man's leg to dust. He wanted to break every bone in his body, just as he did to the woman. The man collapsed on the ground but his limbs were still trapped in Herios's grip. He was yelping in pain and yearning for help, but all the other soldiers were nonplussed. The civilians standing behind, were thunderstruck on seeing this miracle.

"How does that feel?!" disgruntled Herios. His eyes were red and his head was bleeding from the wounds that he had received earlier, but his hands were still persistent in holding the Parso's legs. Even larger fumes erupted from his palms. The soldier who had earlier stepped down from the platform, could smell the burned skin of his fellow comrade. Herios was burning the man's leg through his flesh and bone. There was nothing that the trapped Parso could do, apart from suffering the torment and scream.

The Parso's pupils retracted inside his skull and his white eyes revealed the excruciating torment that he was undergoing because of Herios's unnatural ability. Finally, Krora instructed his men to free the man from Herios's hold. The men warily moved towards Herios and started kicking him, vigorously, over his back and his legs.

But Herios was determined to burn the man's leg before dying at the hands of those soldiers. Some of them tried to pull him back but their hands got burned, even at the touch of Herios. What was this miracle which was protecting Herios, like a barrier? Whoever tried to touch him with his bare arms, was burned by some kind of a jinx. It was like an invisible shield of fire had surrounded Herios. His body was hot like the burning flame.

Finally, the Parso underwent a seizure as his entire body started shuddering in pain and he became unconscious. Herios, maimed and bleeding, dragged himself over the man's chest. He was still getting kicked by the Parso troops, but his body had perhaps vanquished the feeling of pain. Herios sat over the man's chest and placed his feet on the man's palms. He pulled his right hand behind which was twitching due to the impalement from the arrow. He clutched his fingers to form a tight fist.

Herios screamed loudly and started landing blow after blow over the man's face in a frenzy. The Parso was unconscious, but if he was conscious, he would have been dead by Herios's ferocity. Herios was like a bellicose, unleashed wild animal; landing a plethora of punches over the Parso's face. His back was maimed by the kicking of the other Parso troops, who could not touch him but they could still harm him. Herios glanced at the corpse of the naked women tied in front of him, he could feel her agony when she was being raped and tortured by these sadistic troops for their manly pleasure.

He wanted to be sympathetic for the horrible torment that she had to go through, but his rage overtook his sympathy. He frantically started landing blows, even faster and stronger than before, until his knuckles bled. The Parso troops were flustered on seeing such immense strength and belligerence, in a boy merely of eight Mesha.

Herios's knuckles had started bleeding long back, but now they were getting skinned like a field of corn getting harvested by the tools. If he had kept on punching, he would soon see his bones protruding out of his skin. Herios punched the Parso soldier, until there was nothing left of his face. The Parso's eyes were crushed, his jaw was dislocated and his nose was broken, bleeding profusely. He had incurred multiple contusions over his head from Herios's blows. The Parso was dead. Herios, a boy of merely eight Mesha, had killed a Parso soldier by not a weapon, but with his bare hands.

The civilians standing behind Herios who had witnessed this entire scene, were stupefied. So were the other troops, who had witnessed a boy, kill one of their trained, armour clad comrades.

One of the troops immediately pulled out his sword to kill this rebellious child but Krora shouted from the terrace of the chamber. "Sheathe your sword!!"

His voice was hoarse and commanding. The Parso soldier sheathed his sword, angrily and unwillingly. As soon as Herios realized that the Parso beneath his feet was dead, he stopped punching. His head had incurred many bruises and his hands were shivering. His back was aching from all the kicks that he had received from the other Parso troops.

Herios yelped in pain as his eyes glanced at the figure of the dead woman, who was beaten to her death. Herios's eyes were filled in tears, not from the pain that his body had incurred, but by imagining the torment that the woman must have gone through, in her last moments. He stared down at the dead Parso which he had slaughtered with his bare hands.

His palms were covered with a layer of blood, the Parso's blood. As he glanced at the disoriented face of that Parso, Herios yelled in compunction. The feeling of wrath had forced him to commit this vengeful act which now made him remorseful of his actions. What had he done? Is this what his grandmother taught him about peace and humanity? Had he always been this evil since birth? These thoughts wandered in his mind. He let out a loud cry of compunction for committing this horrible sin.

The depravity of the Parso had brought out the evil in him. He toppled beside the dead body of that soldier. His vision blurred because he had strained his own body to its limits. His hands were still shivering from the anger but there was no strength left in him to even maintain an erect posture. His vision slowly left him and he fell into a deep sleep, bleeding and maimed. Once Herios was comatose, the other troops warily touched his body. This time there was no burning from his touch.

"Take him away! Throw him in the giant's cell" commanded Krora, nonchalantly and resorted to his chamber. The troops carried Herios away from the bailey, leaving behind the disoriented and bloody corpse of the Parso, lying at the feet of the naked corpse of the woman on the platform. Was it justice? Or was it vengeance?

It was ironic that the murderer died at the feet of the victim, suffering an equal degree of pain in his last moments. The Parso was bleeding from his broken nose. His eyes were crushed to a pulp, his ears were ringing, his jaw was fractured, his face was completely disfigured. His legs --- burnt till his bone. Maybe it was justice. Maybe, that was the punishment which the Parso deserved for being so cruel to the woman. The question was left to the petrified civilians who were laconic on witnessing this horrible turn of events.

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Footnotes:

• Shokal is a precious element, similar to silver on Earth

• Belendor was the lowest class in the social hierarchy