Battavian tribal territories east of the Rhine River in the Germanian wilds at the northern borders of the Roman Empire, Europe
Two hundred feet away from Mari and Danea were, a soldier looked up to avoid the splatter of hot blood that inevitably always followed a slash across the throat and caught two figures running through the trees. Withdrawing his blade and wiping it clean on the pelt cloak of his victim, the soldier signaled to his Commander, who was overseeing on horseback a short distance away, before returning to the systematic advance on the enemy. The Commander looked over in disinterest and was about to signal his bowmen to kill the girls when his second in command interrupted. The Commander looked over for an explanation and his subordinate lowered his eyeglass from where he was watching Mari and Danea stumble across the rapidly deteriorating forest.
"Sir, they are both girls. We might want to keep them."
The Commander raised his own brass eyeglass and seeing Danea's fluttering light hair in the distance, nodded slightly before returning his attentions to the more interesting fighting going on in the town square.
"Thank you, sir."
With a curt nod, the young officer galloped off and only minutes later, three of his men were dispatched to capture them. Watching from a distance as the three approached, Lieutenant Aerius mentally calculated the amount of money the girls could bring. Of course, he didn't know if they were suitable, but having lost three of seven already captured to disease in the campaign, he needed to make up for his losses. Throwing a resentful look towards the Commander and the unfortunate fact that he got to keep most of the profits for his work, Aerius looked after his men from a distance.
They approached quickly and still occasionally looking back to see if she saw Geterian, Danea caught sight of them first.
"Mari! Mari! They've seen us!"
Mari looked back and felt her heart fall through her stomach, tightened her grip on her sister and ran even faster. Danea stopped struggling and moved faster too, but to Mari's horror, they still weren't fast enough. The three men were catching up to them and feeling the desperation of someone being hunted and knowing that the forest no longer offered them protection, Mari decided to break from the trees and make a run for it in the clear. Danea ran by her without hesitation, but the decision was too little, too late and they could not outrun the trained warriors for long.
"Mari!!"
"Just run!! Don't stop!!"
Hearing the strange words of the men just a few paces behind them, no doubt ordering them to stop, Mari looked back just as a strong pair of arms circled her frame and threw her down to the ground. She screamed as the soldier's metal fittings cut into her. Danea was tackled down also and her hand was wrenched from hers.
"Danea!!! Danea!!!"
["Shut up, barbarian!]
Mari screamed and tried to see her sister as she struggled with another armor-plated soldier, but the weight holding her down was too much and her struggle was pointless. With little effort, the soldier brought her hands together on her back and a second tied a gag around her mouth before tying up her hands. Mari could hardly see because her face was being pressed down into the drying grass of the fields, but she could hear Danea still crying uncontrollably. She was calling for Mari to help her and for the first time in sixteen years, Mari felt useless and weak at not being able to.
Crying bitter tears, she heard a loud slap and grimaced at the thud that followed. The soldier tying her up gave her wrists one last yank and got up to help the one holding down her sister but the one sitting on her legs didn't budge and kept her pressed firmly into the ground. Despite her gag, Mari screamed herself hoarse. She could not make out what the guards were saying, but she was sure Danea was unconscious because for once, she was silent. Screaming all the more, Mari gasped when she was suddenly turned over and a knife was pressed into her throat.
["If you don't shut up, I'm going to gut you, you filthy savage, do you understand me?"]
Mari held her breath at the words spit into her face, but still panicked that Danea was silent, tried to move her head slightly to see her. She could make out the two men tying her up like she had been, but she couldn't see Danea's face. Through the bitter taste of the cloth gag cutting through her mouth, Mari pleaded.
"Please, let me see her, please, please."
Fat, heavy tears rolling down her face, Mari choked on her sob when the soldier pulled at her hair, to make her look at him again.
["Are you barbarians that stupid? I said to shut up!"]
Mari closed her eyes and feeling the edge of the knife press harder against her neck, nodded very slightly at what she assumed was a command to be silent. Satisfied she understood, the Roman stood and resheathed his knife, keeping Mari firmly on the ground with a heavy foot on her stomach. Finally free, Mari turned her head to see Danea's still face, but it was only for a second because once the men decided who was going to carry her, Danea was heaved up over a shoulder and carried off. Mari made an attempt to get up, but she was kicked down again before she had a chance. Biting down into the dirty rag cutting into the sides of her mouth, she curled up into her side, almost certain she had a cracked rib. Still talking in a language she couldn't make heads or tails of, the soldier that kicked her picked her up by the hair and brought her to his face.
["Unless you start behaving, I'm going to make sure no one will ever want to pay one coin for your dirty hide!"]
Hit with an indescribable hatred for the man, Mari wrenched out of his grasp defiantly and was about to kick him back, when another pair of hands, yanked her back.
["You better watch how you treat the merchandise or Aerius will have your hide!"]
Looking back in the direction his companion was pointing too on the other side of the field to see his lieutenant on his horse looking in their direction, the soldier gave Mari a threatening look before pulling her by her pelt coat forward. Seeing Danea already being carried in the same direction, slightly ahead of them, Mari ignored the throbbing pain in her left side and stumbled alongside her captors quickly to keep up with the men's pace. They were marching to where there was a man on horseback waiting for them, but unable to take her eyes off her sister's limp form, Mari saw little of the exchange among them until she was pulled forward.
["Lieutenant Aerius, we brought the girls for inspection."]
["Yes, bring them here."]
Mari was yanked forward before the man and the gag was removed. She tested the soreness in her jaw and eyed the quiet man fearfully. Still crying at the thought of her sister on a heap on the ground, Mari tried to plead with him, since he was obviously a chief of some sort.
"Please, my sister is hurt, we're not a threat, let…"
["Silence!"]
Mari startled at the word and searched the man's eyes frantically for an understanding, but the lieutenant was busy assessing too. With gloved hands he lifted her chin and brought Mari to his face. There was little light left of the day, but it was enough to see something he liked. With her hands tight behind her back, Mari wavered under the probing. When the lieutenant was done, he signaled to one of his men, who Mari recognized as the one who tied her. She took a step back wanting to run, but unwilling to leave her sister behind, struggled with him instead. The lieutenant withdrew his blade silently.
Mari stilled instantly, eyes huge at the weapon pointed at her sister. She understood the threat clearly and surrendered. She stood limply as the soldier tore open her pelt skin coat and yanked it down her arms. Still wearing his leather gloves, the lieutenant stepped forward again and felt along her shape. His hands were rough, but very methodical as they swept past her breasts and hips. Mari stood rigid and cried bitterly. When he was done, he looked at the soldier who yanked the coat back up again.
["She'll get a fair price. And she's intact. Put her in holding until tonight, then add her to the others." Looking pointedly at the soldier who had kicked her, he added, "And make sure she stays intact or it'll be you for sale."]
The man in question mumbled an agreement and the lieutenant moved on to Danea. Seeing his intent, Marie went to protest, but was quickly gagged again and taken away. Struggling all the way, she was thrown into a small wooden cage that was hitched on four wheels. There were similar cages to either side of her, but Mari could only think of her sister. Her wait wasn't long, however, as the girl was brought in a few minutes later, considerably more lucid and seemingly okay despite the giant swell on her forehead. Tossing her inside, the soldier regarded the sisters disdainfully before slamming the bared door shut, turning a key in its lock and making a show of wiping his hands on his scarlet robe.
Finally alone with her awakening sister, Mari moved to Danea's side and bathed the sooty, swollen face with frantic half-kisses. Her hands were still tied behind her back and she was gagged, but she tried to nudge Danea awake with her shoulder. The younger girl eventually opened her eyes from the prodding and moaned at the painful throbbing off her head that she couldn't reach.
"Ma-ri…"
Mari motioned at her gag and then looked down at Danea's hands. The girl understood and carefully Mari shifted to untie it with her hands. It took a few tries, but she managed and Danea did the same for her. Hearing Danea crying softly, Mari shifted back to face her and made an active effort to stop crying herself to make her sister feel better.
"I'm here, just stay calm, Danea., you're going to be fine."
After a few minutes of cooing and whispering into her hair, Danea did calm down enough to talk.
"Mari, they're all dead…Uncle and Geterian…and they're going to kill us too."
Mari sat up in the tiny cage and regarded her sister carefully.
"No, I won't let them hurt you, even……even if they try and……"
Danea broke down again and cuddled in close to her sister's side. It was the side that hurt, but knowing that her sister needed her, Mari grimaced slightly and didn't mention it as the pain flooded her senses.
"They would have done it by now if they really wanted to."
The thought sent an involuntary shudder down Mari's spine and remembering the inspection they had just undergone, Mari wept silently again. Nestling in close to her sister, like she had done that very same morning, Mari chanced a glance at their surroundings.
Even in a relatively safe distance from the frontlines, there was a good view of the fighting that was going on in the center of Battavia, where the village men were held up in the meeting hall. The Romans that surveyed the battle from a distance were ahead of the row of a half dozen cages. The nearby forest was being consumed by flames and cast an eerie glow over the entire plain. With a choked sigh, Mari brought herself to look at what remained of a once thriving village. The trading posts and granary were all burned to the ground and amid the smoldering ruins, Mari could make out soldiers combing through the debris to finish off survivors.
She was thankfully too far to see faces, but dragging her eyes to the place where her beloved uncle stood as a monument to the brutal slaughter, Mari questioned why this had happened. The Battavians lived in constant conflict with the Romans, but they had never been attacked so ruthlessly. But in retrospect, Mari knew something like this was inevitable. The war campaigns had gotten fiercer, her father was gone longer, and the men had rapidly set to building a protective fence, something that had never been necessary before. Remembering the last time she saw her father off, Mari wondered if he was still alive, except the thought was too overwhelming.
Muttering quick prayers to the gods to protect him, Mari shifted so that the pain in her side didn't ache as much and looked at Danea sniffling against her. The younger girl opened her eyes sadly and looked at her sister for any hope. She found no comfort in the green depths and sobbing at the loss of everything she knew, Danea tucked back into Mari's neck to cry some more. Mari in turn, offered cooing nonsensical words to her and kissed random spots in the blondish hair, remembering the ribbons she braided in it, in what seemed an eternity ago. Cuddled together in their warmth, the girls lay heartsick in despair and mourning until a massive, churning sound from the eastern woods broke through the cold night air.
Sitting up suddenly, Mari, Danea and every last soul that was in and around the ruins of Battavia squinted past the torches and still burning structures to see what was happening. The most experienced of the men, gripped their swords tightly and braced for the inevitable, for they had heard similar cries in the past. Those that didn't recognize the event, stood in awe at the terrifying sight of over one hundred Germanian men that poured from the forest with axes raised high. Those that reacted, did so quickly. Those that still marveled at the sight of the bushy, pelt wearing warriors, died brutal deaths as the men exacted revenge for the desecration of their homes. The generals on horseback scrambled to handle offensives at the unexpected coup and Mari and Danea just gaped as the dwindling battle took on a new life.
In an instant, the swarm of screaming men swooped over the ruins and engaged in hand to hand against the soldiers. The last remaining Battavians which were only moments away from being defeated, emerged from the meeting hall with renewed vigor and together, they felled anyone wearing the hated eagle breastplate symbolic of the Empire. Under the glow of the burning trees, men cleaved and gorged each other until Mari was sure no amount of rain would ever clean the soil of blood again. But Mari's eyes darted through the struggling masses, trying desperately to cling to hope. And when she spotted two furred shapes running towards them from amid the chaos, her heart heaved in joy. She turned to Danea, who was staring at the approaching pair in horror.
"It's Father!!"
Danea blinked at her older sister blankly, but looking at the two shapes cutting through the field, she took only a few seconds for recognition to set in. They could see that the two had lingering soldiers to contend with before reaching them, but they cut past them easily enough with their short knives and axes. Yelling and calling at the top of their lungs, Mari and Danea urged on their rescuers until they were close enough to make out their faces in the flickering firelight. Mari's jaw dropped as she recognized her father's craggy face and Geterian's handsome one.
Equally shocked, Danea shrieked in relief as they reached the wooden cage. Geterian pulled her to the bars and kissed her through the openings. Mari gasped at their irreverence, but was too focused on her father to really care.
"Father! You're back!"
"Of course I am, now move away."
Mari complied and pulled Danea back just as her father brought down his mullet on the lock. It shattered into pieces and a second later, both girls jumped to him in utter delight. Geterian grinned and cut their bindings. With hands free, Mari held his face in hers and for the first time that day, shed tears of relief. It was the same face that she knew and loved, but she could tell the year and a half he had been gone had taken their toll on the proud man. He had more wrinkles, a scar down his left cheek and his beard and braids were whiter.
"I missed you so much, Father."
"I did too, Mari, I did too."
Glancing at her sister to make sure she wasn't hearing, Mari searched for words.
"Uncle……"
The old warrior's eye's glistened in the illuminated night and he dropped his mullet and reached for Mari's face.
"I know, child. I saw him."
Suppressing her sob, Mari met her father's rough hand with her own and nodded sadly. He patted it briefly before scanning the fields in a quick assessment.
"We need to keep going."
Looking to the joyful reunion between Geterian and his youngest daughter with a wry smile and a fake warning grumble, the old warrior choose a path to the forest his men emerged from.
"Follow me closely."
Not waiting for a response, he started moving. Trotting through the fields at a half crouch, the four made their way uneventfully as the fighting continued further up ahead. Once at the edge of the forest, he turned to the younger man.
"Take them around the valley and up into the mountains. You know where."
Mari and Danea exchanged astonished looks. The joy Mari had felt at seeing her father again vanished.
"Wh-what? Father, aren't you coming with us?"
The older man closed his hand around Mari's arm and bore into her with old, tired eyes.
"I belong here. You and Danea have to……"
Mari watched the little hope she had shatter with his words when she saw his intent. Wrenching her arm away from him, she yelled back at him for the first time in her entire life.
"No! You belong with us! If you stay you'll end up dead!!"
Danea glanced back between her sister and her father in growing trepidation. Geterian saw this and lay an arm around her. Luckily, she still had her pack on and it would sustain them until they reached the safety of the mountains. Danea watched as her father looked hesitantly at his daughters. The man she remembered was never this tired. And this time he might not come back.
"Mari's right, please come with us."
Mari looked at her father plaintively and was about to ask again when a spray of hot blood dotted across her face. To her horror, her father's grey eyes widened slightly and he reached out to her. The arrow that traversed his neck was dripping blood of its end and staring at it dumbly, Mari screamed. At that same moment, her father fell to his knees and backwards. Ignorant of the arrows that were barely missing her, Mari reached out to catch him, but Geterian was there to prevent her.
Mari felt herself yanked to the ground and unable to process the screaming directed at her, wrenched from the hand that held her and crawled on all fours to the body of her father. The arrow had broken off when he fell and he was spurting blood from both his mouth and throat. Mari wiped his cheeks and mumbled how she loved him. Unable to form words himself, the old warrior sputtered as blood flooded his lungs and stole his breath. Still unaware of the danger she was in, Mari smoothed anxious hands over him and kissed his forehead until she was pulled away again forcefully. Screaming and yelling, Geterian dragged her away from her dying father. By the time soldiers reached him and plunged a sword into his heart, he was already dead.
Sobbing uncontrollably, Mari stumbled alongside Geterian and Danea blindly in the cold night, until the pain in her bruised rib could not let her continue. Leaning against a trunk to catch her breath, Mari wiped at the tears that blinded her and feeling faint, slid down to the ground. Unable to keep her tired eyes open, she surrendered to the mind-numbing cold easily enough.
"Mari, please wake up. They're still close!"
Under the faint light of the half moon, Mari recognized the bright ribbons in Danea's hair before the frantic urgency of her sister's voice penetrated the haziness she was in. She felt big hands putting pressure on her shoulder and grimacing at the pain, realized she was bleeding. Unable to speak, Mari reached a hand out to touch Danea's hair. She had always thought it was beautiful and suddenly aware that she had never told her enough, made an effort to move her lips.
"You're beautiful…Danea."
The younger girl held her sister and sobbed, much like she had been held earlier.
"Mari, you have to get up, we have to hurry."
Mari blinked slowly at Danea. The girl deserved to be happy and she had already lost so much. Danea was a delicate soul and she needed to be protected and taken care of. She was glad to have done it for so long, but that time was past now. Her vision slid to Geterian's anxious features. Maybe it was his turn now. Mari knew with certainty he loved Danea and would make sure she was happy. Forgetting her own pain, Mari reached out to trace the tears that streaked down Danea's face with a cold, trembling finger. She could see Geterian hovering behind her, trying to hear as much as he could of their pursuers, but she had something to say. Suddenly very calm and no longer crying, Mari focused the remaining energy left in her.
"Danea, you have to leave me here…"
Geterian snapped his head to look at her and Danea's eyes grew large.
"I-I-I can't, I can't lose you like father, I can't. I won't!"
"Shhh, you have to…you have a chance…you and Geterian."
Geterian kneeled closely to Mari and checked her wound over.
"I can carry you. I can and I know these woods and they don't, we can make it."
Mari shook her head slightly. Her pain was now easing away, bringing a deliciously ambivalent haze with it, but she fought it, still needing time with her sister.
"No…I'll slow you down…Please take her. Please go…you'll make it."
Mari watched warring emotions cross the young man's face as he thought it over. He was hesitant, but she saw that he agreed. Struggling to keep her suddenly heavy eyelids open, she turned to see Danea's panic stricken face.
"Don't feel bad……you'll be safe now……just remember how much……I love you. Always, Danea…I love you……love you……"
Mari repeated the words as many times as she could before fading away. Danea threw herself over Mari's body and rocked her just like Mari had rocked her countless times in the past, but there was no time left for them. Hearing the soldiers advancing through the darkness, Geterian urged Danea to say goodbye. Giving her oldest sister, best friend and protector a final solemn kiss, Danea and her future husband and father of all her children ran into the night.
Minutes later, Aerius' men reached Mari were she lay against a tree. Tired and out of breath, they had no intentions of going any further into the forest since they had a prize to take back figured they could claim to have killed the other two easily enough. Knowing the girl would most likely die, but reasoning that it was best to return to the lieutenant with something rather than empty handed, the biggest of the four bowmen carried her back to the fields, where the last of the captured barbarians were being systematically beheaded. Having no gold or anything remotely valuable, the barbarian battles yielded little aside from slaves and they knew the Lieutenant would be more than pleased at having recovered at least one girl.
For her part, Mari would always have dreams of that night. They were terrible nightmares in which the home she grew up in crumbled and forests she played in burned to the ground, where her uncle was crucified up high in his post for all to see and her father died in her arms. But horrible as they were, those nightmares always ended on a strangely surreal note. For years, she would wake from that memory with tears in her eyes. Tears for the family she lost and the woman she never saw Danea turn out to be.
Surrounded by fragrant green, Mari would see her beautiful face, eternally young and in love with colorful ribbons in her hair. She never remembered Danea crying inconsolably or running for her life, but rather smiling and giving her a soft kiss and repeating the words, `I'll love you always' softly into her hair before fading away into the dark.
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