The General and I

TINA

They're coming...

For more than twenty five years of peaceful reign without any external disturbance or any raid, my father has prided himself of being the only village chief to have this record under his belt. He boasted he would take it to forty years or till his last breath. Unknown to him and to us, on the very twenty fifth anniversary of his ascension as chief, they would come.

And they came with everything hell hath to offer. And then more. They came with him. Their leader, the devil himself.

The day had started like every other day, filled with laughter in our kitchen with mother baking pancakes and father and Ben engaged in deep conversations that they laughed about. I usually sat with my nose buried in the novel for the day after so many attempt by my mother to make me ditch the paperback. But I wouldn't have it. Books were the only world I understood and I dove into those worlds at any chance I get.

Mother was making her special turkey sauce she always made on special occasions like today. The twenty fifth anniversary of my father being the village chief of Sultra.

The sound of pans hitting surfaces while mother walked around in her meal preparation and the deep baritones of Father and Ben was all familiar and comfortable. Until hell broke loose...

We first heard the loud bang of a bomb exploding in a not so far location from the main manor. With the explosion came a deafening silence as father exchanged looks with Ben, me and mother before chaos erupted and the painful scream of men sounded in the distance.

Pots forgotten, mother dove for me and we both collided to the floor, taking coverage under our dining table. Ben jumped from his chair, knocking the thing back while heading to the wall on the far corner to retrieve a hunting gun that has always hung up there for as long as I could remember. It seemed dad kept it there for easy reach should there be an urgency for a quick arm. Like he expected something to happen. Something like this?

"Stay here. I'll check what it's about" Dad commanded, while he took the gun from Ben's hand before running outside.

As the door shut, Ben ran upstairs and came back a split second later, cocking a rifle in his hands. The look of fight in his eyes. In all my years of being his little sister, I had never seen Ben look so fierce before.

Although I knew he trained with father the moment he turned sixteen ten years ago, I was never allowed on the training ground. My father believed in keeping the women of the house away from battle and anything that looked like blood.

"Ben, Ben, listen to me. Let's wait for your father. He says to stay here till he comes back, okay? Don't do anything stupid now"

"Mother, it's fine. I'll just go check and give assistance if there's any needed. I can't hide in here like a scared little girl, that's not what my trainings are for"

"I know but..."

Another loud explosion sounded and this time, it sounded so close like it was outside our door. I heard the barn shattering and the hooves of horses scampering and whining in pain. Wails of pain from both men and women filtered into my ears as a full blown battle ensued outside.

"I'll be back in a few minutes to take you to safety. I have to join the men outside"

With that, Ben dashed outside.

"Benjamin!" Mother called after him in one last attempt. As we watched his back disappear behind the door, my mother jumped from her crouching position to run towards the door and bolted it.

"Come on, Tina. Come"

She raised me up by my arms and started walking me towards the stairs. This was War Safety 101. Whenever there was any war, each household had a hiding spot for their women and children that they were supposed to hide till everything settled down, and on autopilot my mother was currently leading me to that direction.

As we hurried towards the stairs with my mother dragging me along, I tripped on the hem of my flowing gown and my knee smashed the wooden floor of the stairs. Red blood instantly began to trickle down my leg.

I doubled down as I cried out in pain, the nerves from my leg giving out from under me.

"Come on Argentina, you gotta be a brave girl. We don't have time to clean the blood, let's get to safety, come on"

Tears dropped from my eyes from the pain on my leg, mother's finger biting into soft flesh and from the screams outside getting worse and more intense.

"It's the General!"

We hear from a voice screaming outside as clangs of knives and swords hit each other in a fight.

That stopped my mother in her frantic rush upstairs as her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

The General!

The General was not someone you would wish on even your enemy. He was the father of the devil himself and like the devil he came looking for who to destroy and devour, leaving chaos in his wake.

So Sultra had finally got a taste of destruction after so many years. Father had made so many efforts to stay under the radar. Never doing anything that would draw any attention of any sort to the village.

Where there was attention, the General came sniffing. Conquering villages and taking over. Turning their men to slaves and the women to nothing more than harlots to service his warriors.

Words have it that he even ate new borns for some supernatural power that made him unbeatable and undefeated.

The struggle on the knob of our door outside finally broke my mother out of her freeze. Someone outside struggled and rattled the door, banging vigorously trying to gain entrance.

We rushed upstairs and were about to enter the study that hid the secret door to a hidden room for hiding, when all of a sudden the person kicked down the doors and we could hear how the hinges gave way under the force of the kick.

Loud footsteps pounded up the stairs and my mother shoved me into the secret room with so much force that I landed face first to the ground, while she jammed the door close. Ready to face our assailant all by herself...