2

Goats' stomach and mead

He ran as fast as he could, carrying Darar, and knocked on the door of the farm where she lived with her brother and mother. The door opened and Darar’s mother first looked like she was about to shout at Darar, then noticed that she was still crying in Cassius’s arms.

“What have you done to my daughter, you horrible native?” Cassius looked sorrowful.

“I have news for your family, Mrs. Opal.” Then Ms. Opal had a sudden change of heart as she noticed that the young man was close to tears as well.

“Well then. You look starving, and we have goats’ stomachs, so you might as well come in.” Her voice seemed kind but he could see on her red face that she was trying to contain her anger.

“I’m sorry but I can’t, my owners will be...”

“Oh, forget about them, you have to eat!” So, reluctantly, Cassius walked in and took a seat. Darius, who had just finished collecting the eggs as a punishment, stayed silent, still shocked by his mother’s words. Cassius sat at the end of the table where Papa used to sit, looked at the steaming stomach before him, and told the rest of the family the bad news. Mrs. Opal did not take this well and started crying as well. Now Cassius and Darius were the only people not having a meltdown, and as Cassius polished off his stomach, he asked for seconds, and when he was finished, he chugged down his mead as if he had not drunk at all today (which he had not). Darar and Mrs. Opal stopped crying and started eating.

“Tilda tastes good for being so old,” said Darar.

Darius had a look of pure horror on his face. Tilda? Really? Tilda? Darius was chewing, and while he was wondering whether the ring had been digested, he bit into something hard.

He took it out and looked at it discreetly under the table. It was Papa’s ring, gold and great, with a black opal the size of an olive in the middle. It had been left for Darius in Papa’s will alongside his sword, armor, and training armor, so Darius slipped it on and carried on eating in silence, now wondering if he would become a Captain, regarding that his father was one and he had the ring of command.

Soon Cassius was beginning to get worried, his owners would order him to be executed, or even worse they would torture him in a favorite way, with multiple cuts on the arms and legs and hot coals on his skin.

“What’s wrong Cassius?” Asked Darius, noticing the look of pain in his eyes.

“My owners will not tolerate this and will most likely kill or torture me if I come home, so I’ll either be publicly hung or be driven round the bend by pain.” Darar, Darius, and Mrs. Opal were all thinking the same thing.

Stolen novel; please report.

“You could always stay with us!” Mrs. Opal managed to say first, and her children mumbled in agreement. After a short pause, where he seemed to contemplate, he smiled and said

“Yes, that would be very kind of you.”

So, Cassius slept in the guest bed in Darius’ room, but he was not there. He was in his sister's room holding her tight and stroking her hair, whispering “Oh snowflake don’t cry, cmon, it’s going to be fine, war is the last thing it’ll come to” but she sobbed into his tunic, and he got almost no sleep, as he was telling her it would be alright, and when she fell asleep he slept in bed with her.

And when he woke up, he had a nice breakfast of boiled eggs and a jug of Papa’s old wine. Then, a messenger came to the door bearing a pouch of letters with the king’s seal on them, and handed one of them to Darius, to whom he saluted, and walked off. Darius, who had put on Papa’s armor, looked confused and opened the letter. It was bad news.

To Whom it may concern,

His Majesty King Orion Olivius is sorrowful to tell you that war has been declared between Poco, Olivia, and the Kingdom of Jarrt. The king commands that every family is to bring forward all children, male or female, over 20 to the nearest barracks to be trained. All families without children are recommended to put forward their slaves, if they have none then it is recommended to put forward elders. The following people should come to the gates of Varrakium on Custerday 14 of Watershed:

Gare of Donnaworth

Lice of Oran

Darius of Opal

Aranius of Caledon

Cassius of Moneer

Revvane of Nogusu

Veena of Pokier

Ronald of Hece

All cities outside the Olivian walls are to be, for safety reasons, evacuated and salvaged. Please stay calm through these hard times, we will make it through.

P.S. All army recruits are being picked up on Casday 12 Watershed.

Darius read out the letter to the family and seemed to have a happy glint in his eyes and his eyebrows perked a bit, as he had been waiting for an opportunity like this. He laughed inside, but outside he looked solemn, he looked at Cassius, and the young man was thinking the same thing, Cassius looked at Darius, and said

“Well Darius, I’m not so good at handling blades, so... can you teach Darar and me?” Darius looked at his mother, she was close to tears but looked proudly at the two young men in front of the door, who were already talking about why they'd been recruited to see the commander. She did not speak but gave them a nod instead.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Darius and Cassius started howling and whooping and cheering Darius stopped for one second, looked thoughtful, and then laughed and said “I know it! I know why we’re seeing the commander!”

“Why then?” Said Cassius curiously, pulling dry grass out of his hair.

“My father was called to see the commander on the day he became a captain!” Darius took off his necklace, and pulled out a folded piece of paper, he read it carefully, and said, “My father wrote in his will that Darius and the neighbour’s slave must have a never-ending bond, as Lieutenant and Captain, and my daughter will stand by my son until the end.”

“So we’re captains now?” Asked Cassius, tilting his head to the side to shake the pollen out of his ear. Darius did not answer, he just nodded, stood up calmly, and shrieked with joy. They spent the rest of the morning sword fighting, teaching each other how to make sure that the feathered plume on the helmets did not fall out (if the plumes start to wither and flop over, the warrior is considered a weakling, as, just like the plume, their warrior spirit is fading).

They stopped only to eat lunch and talked passionately about the years to come, over sandwiches with cream cheese and a roast chicken, and after pulling the dry strands of grass and pieces of food from their mouths, they trained into the late hours.