Three hours have passed since they left the village. I was currently sitting on the leader's horse with him right behind me. His men were right behind us. They were keeping an eye on the three carriages filled with women and children. I could feel a stick poking against my cute, little butt and it felt really uncomfortable. It poked me every time there was a bump on the road (and that was quite a lot). I was still mourning over the death of my father.

Father had died, I was sure of it, but mother? I didn't know, I really wanted an answer to that question. It took me a while before I got enough courage to ask the leader, but I overcame my fear and nervously asked in a high pitched voice, "Is my mom still alive?"

The man looked at me with a strange expression, he stroke my smooth hair and said, "So she can speak." and smiled. "But to answer your question, yes, she's still alive, but in what condition? I don't know..." He said with an ashamed look.

I just stared into the light blue sky when I heard his answer. Processing what he just said. I was glad she was still alive, I may have a dislike for women in general, but she was an exception. In fact, I even liked her.

"What do you mean you don't know in what condition?" I asked.

The leader hesitated for a moment, but explained, "You know, my men can get quite 'fanatic' when it comes to women, especially beautiful ones, like your mother." Thinking that a little girl wouldn't understand what he meant.

I became angry, why would he allow such a thing? Where were his morals?

"Why didn't you stop them, they hurt her and you did nothing!" I screamed, after that, I started crying. I just couldn't hold back my emotions anymore, in my previous life I've never experienced anything remotely close to this.

He became irritated and screamed, "Ungrateful brat! Be happy I saved you!" He wanted to slap me, but he took a deep breath and restored his composture. He then continued, "Those are the rules of our group, they can do as they please as long as they don't touch little girls. It helps them to release stress. They would protest if I took that away from them. And I can't afford such conflicts." he sighed.

I was disgusted, I wanted to slap his face, but I knew that was a bad idea. I felt powerless.

"Who are you people anyway?" I asked.

"We're deserters from the army," he said. "The country is in ruin because of the war and I'm not going to risk my life for those rich bastards in the capital, and besides plundering and doing as we please is much more fun," he said laughingly.

I wanted to reply, but he suddenly interrupted me and put a hand on my mouth.

"Fuck, imperial scum! They're probably patrolling the roads..." He said. He then came closer to my ear and whispered, "You're going to pretend that I'm your father and there's nothing wrong, understand? Or else..." He threatened.

I saw that look in his eyes and became scared, I didn't want to cause any trouble so I nodded.

The guards approached us and a young man dressed in a nice military uniform started speaking, "Hello sir, we imperial guards and are patrolling the roads that lead to the capital, please state your business." He took a quick glance and me and smiled, he looked like a friendly person. Around him were about 15 other men, all dressed in the same type of uniform. You could see he was the leader because his armour was better-looking and he had a symbol on his chest.

"We're merchants, we were planning to sell our products in the capital."

The guard and his men looked at each other, they weren't quite convinced. The guard then looked at me and he stared for a few seconds. He blushed a little bit. Huh? am I that pretty, hehe. 

"And that little girl, is she alright?" the guard asked.

"I think you can better ask her yourself," the man replied.

The young man then turned his face to me and asked, "And you little miss, are you alright?"

I became nervous, I wanted to tell the truth, but I knew that would cause trouble, so I took a breath and smilingly said, "I'm doing fine, thank you."

The young guard smiled and nodded, he then looked at the man again and asked, "Mind if we check what you're carrying in those carriages over there?"

The older looking man froze, but he quickly restored his posture and said, "Sure."

He looked at his men who were also listening to their conversation and made a gesture, his men nodded and waited.

The guard and his men walked over the carriages and checked inside, they all immediately grabbed their weapons when they realised what they saw: a group of women of which some had fresh scars and bruises all over their body. They clearly understood what was going on here.

"Human trafficking is illegal, you are all under arrest in the name of the empire." the guard said, but he was stabbed in his eye before he could do anything. Blood spilt from the hole in his face and he fell to the ground.

"You should've minded your own business," the man said. Shocking the guards with his lighting fast attack.

The guards became furious and started slashing at the deserters. It became a blood bath... I closed my eyes and cried. I heard metal clashing and a lot of screaming. The women and children in the carriages also started screaming. Some children even cried, but their mothers tried to calm them without effect.

The old man, who was carrying me on his horse was lightning fast. He cut through the guards as if they were butter. He made quick slashes giving them no time to react. The other deserters were also fighting, but they were not as skilled as him.

The battle was over fairly quickly, but it felt like hours to me. The deserters had won and they lost only one person. The guards, on the other hand, were completely massacred...

The deserters went into the carriages and told everyone to shut up. They looted the guards and their possessions leaving them naked.

The older looking man jumped back on his horse when everyone was done. He brushed through my hair again and said, "I'm sorry you had to see that."

After that, he told his men to move on.

I didn't react and just stayed quiet. Looking at the bloody, mutilated bodies of the guards who were slowly fading out of sight.