HARSHNESS

The savage people are COMING

The Wolf people are COMING

The Barbarians are COMING

At that moment, I felt scared & shocked. I raise my head while sitting beside the fancy bed in the big house and look at the window, which is shaped like an oval. No, I believe it to be true. This cannot be happening.

The barbarians who were not part of our civilization hardly ever attacked the villages in the northwest, but when they did, they made the streets bloody and took everything from the houses. And if they were very bad, they would even take a girl back to their leader as a present.

I am wearing a pretty red silk dress and getting ready to go to the town square. I am going to meet the man that I have been dating for around a month. People were saying that Sir Ulrich was going to propose to me. And of course, I agreed to his offer. Ulrich is the richest person in the village and has a lot of things to give me.

He told me about how he and his soldiers would go out to defeat the barbarians, kill their leader, and capture the Silvertongue. This would prevent any future attacks from the barbarians. During our journey to the meadows, I asked him about the Silvertongue. It was a special place he had taken me to when we were alone for the first time.

"A Silvertongue is something that can understand all the languages in the world, whether they are secret or well-known," Ulrich explained to me. "The Silvertongue will assist us in understanding the book of Azazel. " If someone can understand the book of

Azazel, they will become very wealthy and gain complete control over the world with their followers. I'm going to marry you,

Selenebella, and then we'll become the best King and Queen the world has ever seen, and we'll have power over everything.

"My lady" the maid shouts. "We have to go out the back door right now. Your dad is no longer alive and your mom has been taken away. "

My face becomes white, and I can feel my stomach knot tighten. "Did someone die? Or captured" Before I can reply properly, I hear battle cries and the sound of wood breaking downstairs. This snaps me out of my shocked state.

Michelle, who works for me as a maid, takes my hand and pulls me through the hallway. I have a hard time keeping up because my dress is heavy and made of silk. I often trip over my skirts while I am being pulled quickly down the stairs.

Cries are heard far & wide, and then there's a horrifying sound of a spear piercing through the body of a person who did nothing wrong. At the bottom of the steps, my other handmaiden is lying down. There is a lot of blood around her and she has a knife in her stomach.

Michelle is crying loudly, but I quickly quiet her down and guide her outside through the back door. I can hear loud crashing noises as barbarians enter my kitchens and break my mother's valuable china.

It's extremely hot this summer and there is a strong smell of death and blood in the humid air. The roads are very chaotic right now.

The square is filled with dead people, women and children who are shouting in fear or pain, and things that have been destroyed and left behind from the ruined marketplaces and shops.

I casually think about where Ulrich is and if he is okay. I want to know if my dad died without suffering and if my mom is still alive and doing okay. Michelle is begging me to come with her as she tugs on my hand. We are running away from a group of fierce warriors who have attacked our peaceful village called Brookshire.

Barbarians often wore animal skins as clothing and used bones from humans as accessories like bracelets or necklaces. They let their hair grow long and joined the wolves in running. They fought on foot instead of riding horses and used khopesh swords and daggers instead of iron swords.

As Michelle takes me further into the thick, green forest, I can see the life I once knew slowly disappearing right before my eyes, even though I don't want it to. Tears come unexpectedly and I start crying like a child. Everything is happening very quickly; my mother has been caught, my father is no longer alive, my house is destroyed, and all my wealth is lost. It's a harsh reality check that feels like a slap, and I'm just a small person on this earth, running off into the forbidden wilderness with only my humble maid as my one remaining friend.

I have difficulty breathing because of my tears. Michelle looked back to check that I didn't injure myself. I didn't get physically injured, but I'm feeling a lot of emotional pain.

I hear wolves howling, which briefly takes my mind off my sadness. As a result, I trip over a big root sticking out of the ground. I tripped and I accidentally made my maidservant fall too.

"Are you okay, ma'am? " Michelle asks quietly and hurriedly. My heart is pounding faster than ever before, and I can hear the sound of branches breaking under someone's rough, bare feet getting closer to us.

"Quiet," I say softly, using a trembling hand to wipe away my tears. I can hear them. "They are nearby. You know what they do when they find women hiding. "

The maid's eyes get bigger. "I am really scared to ask," Michelle said quietly.

Hiding in the plants, I look through the leaves to see what's around me. You can still hear wolves barking, but they have gone further into the forest than us. They force people to become slaves for sex. I thought you were aware.

Michelle is scared and shaking because she hears a twig snap and leaves rustling quickly. They can't catch us, my lady. We need to go quickly.

"No," I say angrily as I grab her and pull her back down onto the ground. She was about to crouch down and run into the forest. We can't afford to take that chance. We can't run away from the barbarians. So, I think our best option is to stay and wait for them to

leave. Just wait until they move away from here.

Michelle makes a low sound of displeasure. "I am scared," she softly spoke. I don't want to do everything they tell me to do.

I didn't tell her about other stories I heard about the barbarians. These stories were about how they would sell their slaves to other men for sex when they got tired of them, how they would rape a slave if she didn't agree, and how they would sometimes publicly humiliate their women.

I want to make sure we all stay safe and find a way to be free. I also really want to find Ulrich again. I want to look at his hair which is a mix of red and brown, his eyes which are a vibrant green, and his cheery smile. I want to hear him giggle and feel the soft touch of his lips when he politely kisses my hand.

"Three horses" someone shouts far away. They use words that I don't know the meaning of. Michelle and I quietly hide ourselves in the leaves, making sure nobody can see us.

"Someone insults a silver necklace by calling it a 'paleface trinket'. " I stop myself from being shocked and quickly touch my neck where my mom's necklace should be. I must have lost it when I fell, and now those bad people are going to take it away.

One person says "Drinks of Waterfall. " "White face nearby"

They have chains made of bones around their necks, arms, and feet. The chains make a jingling sound as they come closer to where we are hiding. I nervously bite my lip and notice that Michelle is very worried. She is quietly saying prayers with her eyes tightly closed.

I chose to pray too, by lowering my head and letting my chestnut hair fall over my face. I thought they had left, but I was very mistaken. Someone's hand is exploring the area where we are hiding.

I try my best to stay very still and not touch the rough hand. I also try not to make any noise and hope that if they can't hear or feel anything, they might go away. However, I am once again mistaken.