It was almost dawn when Sarah went out of the room and saw Wolf silhouette in front of the kitchen table. In front of him was a mug of water. Knowing their financial situation Wolf didn't have the heart to use the money to buy ale. Walking slowly in her undergarments she hugged him from behind. She could feel her husbands depression.
Wolf:“ Sorry did I wake you up? ”
Sarah:” No I couldn't sleep. I have a bad feeling that doesn't want to go away, so i woke up early."
Wolf:“ Yeah me too. Sarah how much money do we have left? ”
Looking sad and thinking about it for a second she responded.
Sarah:” If we use them just for basics then we can last for 3 to 4 days but not more. When will you sell the tools to the merchants? "
Wolf:“ They were suppose to come yesterday...”
Sarah:” Don't worry, I will find a job and we manage somehow.”
Hearing this Wolf had a sad expression, he knew very well how much she was going thru every day in her workplaces. He blamed himself. “ If only I could turn back the time” he thought. But there was not much he could do now. They were still lucky, even in this kind of financial state.
Sarah being thought financial management and all aspects of economy by the clan was managing all the money in their household. If you say that men in Warg clan were standing on the peak of military world, the women where train in managing the house and with this managing the financial assets as well as trade. For them their battlefield was wit merchants and and taxes. To tell the truth it was her who prepared the contracts and contacted merchants that wanted to buy good products for smallest price. Knowing all this one would think how did the clan with such a military and economic background fall? Well that's pretty simple. The clan even if elite was not big. They put all on quality not quantity so there numbers were small. Second the simply didn't have the political power as they never did have interest in the dirty games of nobles.
Reassuring her husband a little more she finally went to change into her normal clothes and came back with a smile.
Sarah:” I need to start preparing breakfast for children. Rakmir should be back soon from his watch. I know he doesn't show it for our sake but hes hurting. 15 yo boy should not be burdened by his parents problems "
Looking at her sad face Wolf responded
Wolf:“ You're right but don't belittle him. He's stronger than you think. Physically I can't even go easy on him now during our sparing matches. This little rascal is smarter than you think! "
Sarah:” Oh shut it, don't call my son a rascal, he just doesn't want to disappoint you! "
Smiling Wolf stood up and hugged his wife
Wolf:“ I know, we really have a good son don't we...”
In that small brief moment of bliss they just continued to hug and kiss each other.
Wolf:“ That sound?! "
Hearing the alarm bells Wolf and Sarah separated and walked to the windows which where directed at the street. They could see city guards and regular soldiers running in the direction of the east wall.
Sarah:” Oh no, they're going in the direction of the east wall! "
Wolf calming her down said
Wolf:“ Wait here ill go and find out whats going on "
Walking out of the house he saw one of officers directing the troops movement, waling over he asked
Wolf:“ Whats going on?
Officer:" Go back home everything is under control "
Wolf:“ Yeah I can see that but, sir please tell me what's going on! My son is east wall guard! "
Looking at Wolf serious and nervous face the officer didn't have the heart to keep his high attitude, he had a father too. If it where him he would like for his father to know if something happened. Making a little gentler face he responded.
Officer:" Sir I don't want to lie to you, as I from your conduct I can see you used to be a soldier. The east wall was ambushed. They were fighting the attackers and thankfully sounded the alarm before the attackers managed to do more harm. When we arrive we pushed them back, but we lost a lot of good men. From what I heard about 250 guardsmen were dead, and another 200 wounded. They had hell of a fight. We still need to strengthen the wall and after we will start notifying the families.”
Seeing Wolf depressed face he said
Officer:" If you want to check on your son, go there, from what I know the casualties and the wounded were take down and placed next to the wall, and the wounded are in first and second guard station's.”
Hearing this Wolfs legs felt soft. “His son! His only son! There's no time to waist” he thought. Running back home he thought what to tell Sarah. “There's no use in lying. Shes too smart and knows me too good”.
Seeing his white face she already knew something was wrong. Shes not naive so seeing fully armed soldiers directed by officers to the east wall she new that something bad happened.
Sarah:” Whats going on?”
Wolf:“ First calm dawn, lets go inside”
Now when she heard Wolf she was hundred percent shore the situation was not good. Walking inside the house she was waiting for her husband to explain.
Wolf:“ The east wall got attacked … There are casualties ...”
Hearing this Sarah's legs went limb. Now she was kneeling with her face looking at her husband with tears in her eyes.
Sarah:” Rakmir! Rakmir, do you know if hes alright?"
Wolf:“ I don't, there are about 1000 guards at night duty on the east wall... from what the officer said there are about 200 wounded... and 250 casualties.”
Sarah face sank more, it was like all her beauty evaporated. Standing on her legs she went to take her body cover before walking outside. She went to Kiras room and woken the small girl up.
Sarah:” Kira darling, mommy and daddy have to go out for a bit. We will come back as soon as we can. Sleep for now and if were not here before you wake up just wait for our return.”
Kissing small Kira on the forehead she went outside.
Wolf knew there's now way to stop his wife, he saw her stubborn look, well that was one of the reasons he loved her so much. For her family she would do anything.
Walking for 40 minutes they came in front of firs guard post.
What the saw shocked them. Sarah not seeing “war” before closed her eyes, but Wolf was shocked for a different reason. Seeing blood and gore was not new to him, but what shocked him was how a group of attackers managed to come on the walls without being seen.
Sarah on the other hand saw human limbs lie around, soldiers holding their bloodied wound's, some men were holding their guts with their hand's preventing them from falling out screaming in pain.
There mast be about hundred soldiers screaming from pain, some were missing limbs all were covered in blood. Some of the lucky ones had just light wounds like cuts. Those unlucky one were now laying on the ground covered with blankets and sheets.
Walking past them they came to a person who was giving orders to the medics. What came as a surprise was that the commanding officer upon seeing Wolf saluted him. He felt warmth in his heart, after being ridiculed for 25 years he didn't expect something like that.
Captain:” General Warg what are you doing here?”
Wolf:“ Ohh? You recognize me? Its been 25 years I'm no general anymore”
Captain:” Sir I was one of Rosen defenders back then. You maybe don't remember but when we were almost overrun you and your troops came to save us. I was but a boy than but I remember it as if it was yesterday. And answering your question I don't really care about all that was said about you. My father always told me stories about his old days, he said that its impossible for your clan to betray the king, so let's leave it to the past. Even now the instructors in academy speak of your battles to young adepts!”
What needs to be said is that in Eri the warrior clans taught their children about honor and duty. The clans like Wargs never gave much thought's about politics, they spend all their times concentrating on mastering their art of war. That's why even after all this time they recognized the Wargs as the best clan in history because of their power. Of course the nobles didn't like it but what could they do? It was impossible to fight with all the warrior clans and soldier cast families.
Wolf:“ Captain thank you for your kind words. This is my wife Sarah Warg we came here to check on our son. He's a guard here on east wall."
The East wall was huge 50 meters high, divided on sections. Every section guarded by approximately 1000 soldiers during the night and twice as much during the day. Standing on end of it, even without all the guard tower and archer or alarm towers one could not see the other end.
Sarah:” His name is Rakmir Warg he had night watch on the wall near the gate"
Hearing Sarah captain eyebrows twitched. Looking at Sarah and Wolf worried expression the captain said.
Captain:” General I think we should speak in private, maybe your wife can wait for us in my office."
Hearing his words Sarah had bat premonition, even if Wolf would tell her to go she would not bulge. Her hart was more and more disturbed. Looking at her husband with pleading eyes she grabbed his arm showing that there's no way she would leave. She was determined to know what happened to her son and even if the captain would tell his soldiers to escort her, she would not hesitate to put hell of a fight.
Seeing his wife like this Wolfs expression got gentler. “Hell how I love this girl!” he thought to himself.
Wolf:“ Captain there's no need to send her, she will know one way or another. And I'm afraid that if we make her go by force, you will need a lot more medics than you have now.” he chuckled
Captain with resignation on his face nodded. He just wanted to spear her the pain by sending her away but seeing the Wargs as they were now it was impossible.
Captain:” General what I'm about to tell you only the higher ups know, if you repeat this, my head will be the least I would be worried about. From what I know the wall was attacked decisive and hard. The enemy wanted to take control of it in one clean and fast sweep. From our calculation there was a force of about four hundred attackers. We cant be sure because a lot of them escaped when we got the upper hand. The attack started … from the gate area and then spread in both direction of the section”
Hearing this Sarah and Wolf got even more worried about their boy then before. Wolf tried to stay calm but looking closely you could see his arms tremble, on his right side Sarah had tears falling on her cheeks, she gasped for breath but her husband managed to calm her dawn. Seeing them coming back to their senses captain continued looking in Wolf's eyes.
Captain:” This must have been an elite force because even after hearing the alarm bells when we run up on the wall we had hard time subduing them and the effect you can see here. When we arrived we saw the stationed guards... all had been killed”
It must be said that the real force paroling the sections of the wall was about 300 guards at the same time under the supervision of commanding officer and his subordinates. The rest of the section guards was at the guard post.
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Wolf:“ Captain is there a way to find what happened to our son? "
Looking at the man in front of him Wolf said with worried pleading eyes.
Captain:” Wait a minute I will get you a list of the wounded. We had it prepared by medics for later doctors to know the condition of the casualties. But if hes not on the list...”
The captain hesitated for a moment but than continued.
Captain:” … but if he's not on the list, we still don't have the dead guards names report because for now we need to concentrate on the wounded and straightening all the walls in case of next attack. If that's the case you will have to look for him within the unfortunate ones by yourselves.”
After saying this the officer shouted at one of his subordinates to bring him the casualties list.
When the soldier with the list arrived the family got nervous, looking at the captain turning pages, with every turn of the page Sarah face got more white as if her heart would beat slower and slower, like her life would be in the officer hands and the pages that left would be her life force.
For Sarah Rakmir was her little boy, her life joy. For 15 years she watched the young growth day by day. Seeing his warm smiling face gave her priceless happiness. When Ramir was taking care and teaching Kira how to read and write or just spending time playing with his sister, she felt a bliss and all worries vanished. And now she didn't know what was going on with her boy, her heart was loosing all the power to continue living.
With the last page turned she started crying, she waited for the captain to say that her son was alright, that he was well or with light wounds somewhere to be found. She looked at the captain face as she heard him saying.
Captain:” I'm sorry general”
In that moment she broke dawn, weeping on her knees while trying to catch a breath. She remembered Rakmir's smiling face when he was walking out of the house just the evening the day before. Thru her tears she could see Wolf grabbing the name list and looking thru it by himself as fast as possible looking for his son name on in.
The captain wanted to give them some privacy so he started walking away, for a moment he turned around and said.
Captain:” I will send my aid to take you to the place the dead guards are. Sir I suggest you start with the guards here, but the ones from gate area are a little bit further. I'm sorry general, there's not more I can do, my condolences.”
Hearing him Wolf thanked him with a nod. That was about all that he could do at the moment. Shocked by the news and his wife breakdown. He finished checking the list in his hands, before he finished he still had hope, he still thought his only son's name will be on the next page, next one , next one. But turning the last one all the hope was gone.
After he finished he knelled before his wife and hugged her, now he as well was crying. Trying to calm her dawn he pet her hair and gently whispered to her ears.
Wolf:“ Calm dawn my love, we need to be strong. We need to find our boy and take him home. I don't want him to lay on the ground in this dirt.”
Wolf heart was bleeding, the events broke their will to live. The only thing keeping them from going crazy was Kira. The small girl was now the center of their attention and even while cursing at the gods for giving them so much pain they still needed to carry on.
After they calmed dawn a bit Wolf could see a soldier standing near them not wanting to disturb them, he was calmly waiting.
Wolf:“ Lets go Sarah, lets go. I don't wont our boy to wait for us. Lets take him home”
As they stood up Wolf nodded at the young soldier and they started to follow him without a word.
After confirming the bodies at the first sight to their relief Rakmirs body was not there. Even if he was dead which parents would like to see their child dead body? The whole way to the second place which was designated by the commander they walked in silence. Sarah with red eyes was walking like a living corpses. She was like an empty shell. Wolf moved slowly with his wife in his arms.
Arriving the couple could see bodies laying under covers, the ground was red from the blood oozing slowly from their bodies. Next to the bodies were their swords with dog tags hanging from the swords handles. When they arrived the young soldier that was showing them the way said that all the bodies from the second guard post where brought here as well so Worg and Sarah didn't have to go and check like in the first one. The reason for this was simple. The second aid station was closer to this place so the bodies where brought just after being diagnosed unlike the first place where they've been kept to be transported all at once.
Looking at the view Wolf and Sarah hearts sank even more. They were walking slowly checking the dog tags one by one. They took their time, they still hold on to the small rays of hope that it all was a bad dream.
After 30 minutes of checking Wolf saw Sarah suddenly stooping. Being behind he didn't knew what happened, he could just see her body tremble all over while tears started flowing from her eyes again. Walking past her he saw what she was looking at, his throat tightened and all air from his lungs flew out as if he was struck by a war hammer in the chest.
They felt like time stopped. What they both saw was a covered body with a pool of blood under it. But what made them feel this way was the sword with dog tags on it next to the body. Black handle, steel, curled sword with small engraving on it.
They knew this sword. It was one of the two given to their son by them. With slow pace as if not wanting to wake up the body next to it Wolf walked in the direction of the sword. Being one meter away he looked at Sarah, she was looking at the body then at him and again at the body. She was hundred percent positive it was one of Rakmir's swords, she didn't need any verification she just knew. It was her boy in front of her.
Standing stiff she watched her husband slowly walking to the sword. She felt on he knees not caring that the blood from the body dirtied her clothes. That moment she started repeating.
Sarah:” No no no please God no no not my little boy, please God... ”
That moment she saw Wolf garbing the sword and reading the engraving on the sword's body.
Wolf:“ ... Luck ... Favors ... Brave ...”
Hearing this words she couldn't control herself anymore. She jumped and pushed Wolf to the side grabbing the sword from his arms. When she confirmed the engraving she keeled next to the guard's body and grabbed on the blanked in the place where the body face was. She wanted to pull the blanked but if this was really her boy she would not have anymore hope. She wonted to cling to the feeling more. Maybe it's not him, maybe its just a mistake. All would be known when she will take the blanked from the body, that's what scared her the most.
Slowly she took the cover of, in font of her was the face of her son...
Started to weep uncontrollably she took the cover from her son body, and saw the wounds on his shoulder and leg. His violet now broken arm and right wrist. His cut clothes. While crying she started pressing her hands to his wounds. Sarah didn't care about the blood staining her hands she was pressing as hard as she could to stop any more of the boys precious blood leaving his body.
Seeing the worst scenario playing in front of him Wolf hart stopped, his wife was now crying in front of him while hugging the body of his dead son. He still could not believe it. His boy, his 15 years old boy dead. How could any parent deserve such a sight.
Wolf:“ You were suppose to live your life! You were suppose to go after us not before!”
He shouted looking at his boy. Walking slowly he came next to his wife, she was caressing Rakmir's cheek while saying.
Sarah:” My little boy why are you sleeping here. Its cold so wake up. Why are you like this, wake up for mommy.”
Still not knowing what to say to Sarah, to make her stop he looked at his boy and with falling tears why stroking Rakmir's hair he said.
Wolf:“ My boy let your dad take you home”
Taking Rakmir's body into his arms he saw, Sarah picking up the sword that was laying next to him and the one with dog tags and hugged them to her chest. Slowly walking next to her husband they could see the familiar face of the captain walking in their direction.
Captain looking at them felt remorse, who would like to see such a scene playing in front of him?
Recognizing the body he walked to them.
Captain:” I'm sorry about your loss... When we found this boy he was sitting at the floor leaning with his back at the wall of the alarm tower”
Wolf and Sarah didn't stop, walking next to them captain continued speaking.
Captain:” The boy was the first one to sound the alarm, thanks to him we managed to protect the wall. From what I saw he had to fight four men to get to the tower. He gave his life protecting our city. Again my condolences general.”
Saying this the captain walked away. He didn't want to disturb graving of his raw model and his wife.
Captain:” The world is too cruel for general and his family”- He whispered to himself before continuing to do his duty.
Walking slowly in the direction of their house Wolf didn't say anything, he was calm outside, maybe he just gave up. This was the feeling when you have all the knowledge but are still unable to change the events that unfold. He lost his two sons his heart sink in mourning. He could hear his wife speaking to his son on the way.
Sarah:” Rakmir silly boy you're 15 and your father has to carry you? Are you cold? Are you hungry? When we get home mommy will prepare good breakfast to you. Rest a little, you will have to play with Kira later. You know she thinks world of you. She always tell me that her big brother is the best but she's too shy to say it in front of you!”
Looking at the boy she continued
Sarah:” Why are you not responding? Are mad about something? Did mommy do something that made you mad? Oh you're just tired, then sleep my little boy, your mom and dad are next to you”
It was already dawn. The news about attack already spread and families of guardsmen were walking fast in the direction of the east wall. People seeing Wolf whose body was now covered in his son leaking blood and pain on his and Sarah faces, had different emotions in their heart's. Some had regret that they treated the boy and his family badly. He still lost his life while protecting them and the city, some didn't care, some were happy.
Just as they were about to get inside their home Wolf stopped. Seeing this Sarah thought that its because he didn't want Kira to see her brother like this. She walked slowly to her husband and what she saw was shock on his face not knowing why, he was looking at his son's body. She looked at the boy and rapidly stopped as well.
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Rakmir:”......... mhh .......... d..ad ..... w..warr..ior..s …..... d..o.n't …...... cry”