Before starting the chapter, I wanted to ask that if I make any mistakes with the grammar, please point them out so I can correct them.
I'm not a native English speaker, and I really want to improve my writing so you can enjoy reading it more.
Thank you so much for reading my story. Enjoy it!
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We had waited until the evening to get more information, while we trusted what Lucius and the girls reported, there could still be extenuating circumstances for the behavior they had displayed, but it was worse than we imagined.
"What?…" I asked in bewilderment to Claudius, who I had sent to do reconnaissance during the night, and who was now reporting to me at dawn what he had witnessed.
"It's just as I said, Your Grace. They don't speak a language I know. They treat people like objects. They repeatedly abuse women. They beat men with whips at the slightest perceived offense. They even kill each other over whether to sleep with a woman. They're savages, Your Grace." He repeated what he had witnessed.
Avidius, who was next to me, looked horrified, and I was no better.
"That's it…, that's not how you treat another human being, this is from monsters" said Avidius with venom, he looked indignant, angry, with a frown and his fists clenched, "we have to do something Your Excellency, we can't let monsters like that walk the earth, if you order it, I'll be the first to charge against them" he told me, now standing firm with his fist over his heart.
"I understand your feelings Avidius, but for now calm your anger, we still have to make sure if there is anything dangerous to take into account about them" I answered him, but now I turned to Claudius "Tell me, have they shown any superhuman ability?"
"Nothing at the moment, your grace. I estimate that the tallest ones would have the strength of a normal, trained person" Claudius responded thoughtfully. "Although if I have something to say that would be strange about them, apart from their brutality, it is how well they take care of their mounts. Those animals were better fed than people".
Well, that was more of a curious fact than something to take into account.
"Savages without empathy, rapists, murderers, they take care of their animals and are normal people…" I summarized the information in a few words, "haaa…, before deciding, tell me, how many warriors do they have? And, do they have leaders?"
"Yes, Your Excellency, I saw a group that was in charge of the others, and I would say, that eighty percent of the riders seemed capable of fighting, so perhaps five or six thousand, if I'm correct" he replied.
"Six thousand warriors…" I said the number with some bitterness, they were many, more than could be found in some cities of Solaris.
"… There are fifteen of us…" I said into the air, Avidius, who until then seemed full of righteous anger, quickly calmed down, realizing what it meant, there were very few of us.
"Your Excellency, I…" he began to speak, but another person interrupted him.
"Why are you hesitating, Your Excellency?"
"It is not like you to hesitate to do what is right, Your Grace" Cornelia said again, with a fearless smile, "You only have to name the direction, and we will follow it" she said, while her brother Titus nodded firmly, with Gaius and Julius clanging their spears against the ground.
"I've heard the wailing in the breeze, your grace, I think it would be only right if we could help them" Julia said with a determined look, Marcus at her side holding her shoulder.
"If there are children with those monsters…, I can't even imagine what they would have done to them, Your Excellency, we also want to help them" Aurora said with sadness in her eyes.
"We are parents, Your Grace. We would never wish for children to suffer like this" Felix said, taking his wife's hand.
"Wherever you go, we will follow you, Your Grace, even to death" Lucius said, as the triplets nodded in agreement.
"… You…" I just closed my eyes in response, in my mind there had been an unintentional balance, the lives of my people against the lives of strangers.
"… It seems the decision has already been made…" I said as I looked at each of them.
They hadn't hesitated, like me, to go against such numerous enemies. Even if they died, they would do it for the right thing. And I had hesitated to protect them. They were the only ones I had left from Septimont in this new land, and I hadn't wanted to lose them.
But they didn't need protection, for the Septimontians fighting and dying for what one wanted was the everyday, and they would be remembered as heroes, that's how we were and that's how we should continue to be.
"… It seems I've been out in the sun too long that I've forgotten what we were…" I said, to which everyone started laughing, 'yes, that's who we are, Septimontians, burning brightly while we had breath, with no regrets, no retreating, and facing death with a smile'.
"Hahaha! I don't think you did it, Your Grace. You're our sunshine! Ouch! It was just a compliment!" said Lucius, while receiving a punch from Valentina.
"Don't try to flirt with Her Grace, brat!" she told him, after hitting him, this only made the others laugh louder.
"There is no need to doubt, Your Excellency, just light the way, and we will all follow it without hesitation" Claudius told me in a low voice, after approaching my side.
"…it seems you liked the sun thing, huh?, old man…" I said a little mockingly, now my mood had improved, seeing them all determined to do the right thing, without a doubt, a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
"Well… if you're wearing a sun-shaped crown and your hair shines like one… hahaha!" he said before starting to laugh.
"You idiot old man, haa…" I just sighed. Sometimes even he laughed at the silliest things, but there wasn't much time to waste, so I called them over.
"Okay! Pay attention! This is what we're going to do…"
Dawn, Inside the Dothraki Camp
The sounds of the Dothraki horses and screams waking up were something I had grown accustomed to over the past few moons, along with the whipping, the hunger, and the thirst.
'Urrgg' I moaned in my head. The bruised wounds on my back seemed to sting more this morning.
'I hope I can get some food today…' I thought longingly. I'd gone almost two days without food, and my stomach was already starting to hurt.
That's how it had been since we'd been captured. I'd been just a small-time trader who'd come from Shadow City and had the misfortune of being turned into a slave in Qohor after a dispute over money with some local nobles.
'I still don't even know if they were real nobles…' I thought idly, as it was the only thing distracting me from my precarious situation.
'Food! Yes…thanks to the seven!' I happily ate the leftovers I'd received, ignoring the mocking expressions of the Dothraki on horseback who passed by.
He was one of those who had stayed behind, while Khal Karó, with the rest of Khalasar, rode ahead to Vaes Dothrak, so his wife could eat a horse's heart.
'Barbarians…' I thought as a slave poured me water into a bowl.
'But it would still be better than this filth…' I honestly didn't want to even think about what it was. Although I'd gotten somewhat used to eating it, the first few days I thought I'd die of traveler's death.
"Move! Get up! Quickly!" I heard the shouts of the Dothraki barbarians, which, although I did not understand, the orders were clear. They made me get up to take the luggage they had given me to carry, and I followed the other slaves on the way to Vaes Dothrak.
"Arrrggh!" "Aaahh!" "urrgg!".
'…and they started again…' I thought fearfully, as I lowered my head and quickened my pace a little.
Hours later.
The sound of a loud bang followed by the screams of the Dothraki made me look up in fear.
"What's going on?" I muttered, as I saw a small column of dust in the distance, in front of the 'Khas'.
Then the shout of the nearby Dothraki made me look at them. They were aiming at the sky and quickly preparing their bows.
So I turned my gaze to the sky, and I froze in surprise.
"Seven from above, what are those?" I said slowly as I saw some kind of eagle the size of large horses, being ridden by people in black armor.
And they were heading right in front of us, where most of the slaves were.
The next thing I witnessed could have been taken from the stories of the Age of Heroes.
I, who had walked faster than the rest, was almost at the front of the group of slaves, to watch them plummet with their mounts into a group of Dothraki. Who had shot their arrows at them, which had bounced harmlessly off their armor.
"…magic…" I muttered in amazement.
Those who had fallen in a nosedive, a man, and a woman, got off their mounts to fight with their weapons against the Dothraki who had fallen from their mounts and the others who were approaching them on horseback.
As they moved faster than he had ever seen a man move, finishing off those on foot in a matter of seconds.
Then as the mounted Dothraki came charging, the man placed his shield in front of him, and it lit up in yellow light.
"Ha!" I heard the man shout, as a yellow gale erupted from his shield in the direction of the Dothraki.
The crunching of bones, the whinnying of wounded horses, and the cries of the fallen were all I heard clearly.
"Maegi!" they repeated here and there, slaves and Dothraki alike, but it didn't seem to bother these people.
The woman was also magical, unlike the man; her sword lit up green, with the wind swirling around it.
She waited patiently, as the other Dothraki approached nearby, their Arakhs raised and shouting.
It seemed they were right where she wanted them, because she jumped briefly, higher than someone in armor should be able to, and did a complete spin. I didn't understand what she was doing until she finished her spin and released a small green tornado.
The tornado swept away the Dothraki, they were thrown from their horses, falling on their necks and so on, making their screams miserable, the horses did not fare any better, they were left almost the same as those their companion had attacked.
I was so focused on them that I didn't notice the others had almost finished off the Dothraki who were with us slaves.
The avian cry of one of those four-legged eagles made me turn to look around.
The slaves were beginning to gather, looking at those people, some with fear, others with distrust, but I think most, including me, had a spark of hope.
Then I began to hear their voices. They were faint, divided in the distance, but they were words I understood, well, some of them.
"Valyrian?" Some of the words they said resembled the Low Valyrian spoken in the free cities.
I saw recognition, then surprise, and finally joy in the eyes of some slaves.
Then my mind made me understand the meaning of those words I understood.
'Save, cover, if attacked, take care of, children and women'.
But it was one of them that made me sob with relief.
'Free them'.