Chapter 2 Two

TINA

Darkness greeted my eyes as soon as I regained myself in this room. Everything was pitch black and smelled stale and murky. No windows and only a single door that led in and out. The very door that blocked me from whoever must have entered the manor and engaged in heaven knows what with mother as we speak.

I rushed to the door and plastered my ears to it, trying to hear any noise that would be a sign of life and that my mother was still alive.

I might not have witnessed first hand the ugliness of war but I read a lot of books and had a bit of a wild imagination. From the stories Ben had told me of the General, it was better one killed himself than to cross paths with him. At least, an easy death was ensured, Ben had said. But if one met the General, he would make sure his prey suffered a slow painful death. He had creative ideas to kill a man depending on what his whim called for at that moment. A complete psychopath, Ben had said.

Ben had not met General Kai one on one before, I was sure of that, but he swore he had friends and even friends of Papa from neighboring villages who had crossed swords with the General and his men. Nobody had good stories to tell about the experience.

His men were just as evil as him. Mere extension of him.

After so many unbearable minutes that could have been hours, the door to the room moved and pulled forward. I ran back and folded myself in a corner, trying to make myself as small as possible. If one of the General's men thought they would carry me out of here easily, they better have another thought coming.

The door finally cracked open and bathed the room with lights from the rest of the house.

"Argentina, come outside baby. It's okay. Amro is here to take you out of here" the voice of my mother made me release a breath that I didn't know I was holding.

I flew out of hiding and my mother grabbed me into her hands. She smoothed the hair plastered on my forehead.

"We have to go now...one of the general's men may soon come here to search" Amro, Papa and Ben's most trusted friend and warrior said, the look of fear and resignation in his face. Amro has practically been an elder brother to me and a part of the family. I was not surprised to see that they sent him to come get us.

As my mother and I hurried through the dark passageway, Amro in front of us, leading us out, my mother stumbled on a fallen roof and cried out in pain.

"Who's there?" We heard a voice call out from the corner just behind us. "Halt in the name of the General!" he yelled again.

Before he could round the corner completely, Amro lunged forward and grabbed my mouth, drawing me into the next dark corner and out of sight as we spied the bulky warrior completely covered in iron plated armor, walked into view.

My heart skipped seeing my mother knelt in utter defeat and pain as the man drew closer. I struggled in Amro's hood, trying to break free so I could go to her.

"Shhhh. Calm down lady Argentina" he gently whispered in my ears.

The bulky warrior stopped in front of my mother and stared down at her with dead eyes.

"You're one flighty one, aren't you, woman? Thought you could run away? Do you have any accomplice?" He asked her and started walking towards our direction. Amro and I stopped breathing. He took two more steps closer before my mother spoke out, loudly.

"I'm all alone, I assure you. My husband and son have joined the fight outside and I thought I could take myself to safety" she spat out.

The man halted in his advancement, turned and glared at mother for a while before bending down to grab her by the arm, dragging her along with him as he walked back in the direction from which he came.

"The General will decide your fate"

I heard Amro release his breath as I watched mother being dragged along, without her giving any fight whatsoever. Something tells me she let him drag her so easily so as to save my life. Hot tears burned their tracks down my cheeks.

"It's too late now" Amro whispered again, this time taking his hands away from my mouth. "We need to get you to safety, miss. Come" he ushered.

From a small window cut into the wall of one of the dark passageways in which we traipsed in, I glanced the front yard of the main manor and the scene in the distance stopped me in my tracks and knocked the little strength I had left out of me.

Papa, Ben and mother, along with other familiar faces of mostly men and boys knelt in front of a large and powerful figure, clad in similar iron plated armor. This particular man was already so huge it was almost impossible. With the added weight and bulk of his armor, he cast the image of a giant out of this world.

Sword in hand, I saw him raise that mighty arm of his and I saw him swing it in Papa's direction, plucking his head off his shoulders. Papa's headless body gurgled for some seconds before finally slumping to the group. Life drained out of me and out of the eyes of my mother whose face and body was covered with splashes of father's blood.

I saw Ben stand up in rage and charged towards the beast who just killed my father, and just before Amro came to drag me away, the same hand that took off father's head, raised in Ben's direction.