WARBRINGERS: Revenge and Revolution

THE PUNISHMENT

        Cantatans believe that punishment is the only way to straighten someone who has gone astray. That’s why when King Doroteo was elected king, they were happy that he made all sorts of new punishments.

        Male adulterers are punished by tying a metallic string on their d***s. The wife of an adulterer is tasked to pull the string until the manhood of her husband gets skinned. She can rub salt and glass on the wound if she wanted to, and most of them want to.

        Female adulterers are publicly decapitated because it is a disgrace for wives to have affairs.

        Punishments really vary--some criminals are thrown in a cage of a lion. Some were put in an empty cage and then sink in the boiling lake for hours. Some are killed with an old-fashioned stoning.

         King Doroteo was now sitting in his designated place, the seats nearest to the arena. He is sitting on a big chair covered with red rubies. One of the hamer--a w***e--was sitting on his lap.

        Becca, one of the King’s journalists will host the event. She was in the arena with two soldiers. She was holding a shingku as she began to speak.

        “Today is a very important day. This is something that all of us shouldn’t miss. This is a blessing from the best king we ever had, King Doroteo. Parents, let your children watch. They have to see this. They have to know that in Cantata, no bad deeds will be unpunished.”

        Some of the akirs raised their babies and cheered. The babies cried but the men didn’t care.

        “We had a lot of soft leaders. Now, we have a real man for a leader. Finally, we are not being led by a fairy!”

        The men laughed.

        “Let us now uncover this son of a b***h, shall we?” said Becca with a smile on her lips.

        The soldiers walked near the white cloth. They bent down and uncovered the head of the criminal, his body completely buried in the ground. Suliana raised the magnifying mask to her face. There’s a pile of huge rocks beside the head.

        The guy was young. Probably seventeen. His head was so small. His eyes were closed, his brows furrowed. His face was covered in dust and there’s a clear trail from his eyes to his chin made by his tears. Suliana can feel the boy’s fear. She wondered about his amir. Is she watching?

         “That’s a kid,” Camia said with gritted teeth. “That’s a f*****g kid.”

        “As you know, this guy is still young, he is still a boy,” said Becca. “But despite his young age, he is already a naseri. So the king decided to make him a lesson to all of the young boys out there. Don’t be like this stupid boy if you want your head whole on the top of your shoulders.”

        Becca kicked the head of the boy. The bladed heel of her shoe dug beneath the flesh of his cheeks. He grimaced which made Becca grin. She twisted the heel of her shoe, making sure she'd tear some of his flesh. Blood flowed like tears from the wound. Becca spat.

        “All King Doroteo wanted is to protect us from naseris. When people are in the influence of lamend, they turn into criminals. People who fight for the rights of the naseris don’t get that. They think stoning naseris is cruel. They think this is a violation of Cantatan rights. It is not. This is about fighting for something that is right. This is about protecting the sanctity of Cantata. This is about protecting our children. This malady ends now. This malady ends here.”

         ”Stone him! Stone him!” most of the male Cantatans chanted their faces red with anger. King Doroteo was watching with a smile on his lips, amused.

        “Let us now begin,” said Becca. She bent down to pick the first rock. It was a smooth, circular rock. It was heavy, judging from Becca’s struggle to lift it. She was carrying it with both of her hands. She has this wide grin on her face, showing her paper-white teeth. Her eyes were wide with bloodlust.

        “This is the end of you!” she yelled. And then she threw the heavy rock, aiming at his face. Suliana thought she heard how the naseri’s nose cracked with the impact. They heard the naseri scream but the sound was drowned by the jeers of the men.

        “Stone him! Stone him!”

        Becca laughed maniacally. She kicked the circular rock away from the face of the naseri. The young naseri’s eyes were still shut, and he was grimacing in pain, some of his yellowish teeth falling out. Trails of blood are flowing from the corners of his mouth.

        “Our dear soldiers, finish him! End the malady!” Becca said.

        The soldiers didn’t say anything. They just picked up rocks, chose the ones that can inflict more pain. They positioned near the head of the young naseri, the crowd crazy and breathless with anticipation.

        “Now before we kill a lowlife like you… we have to give you a chance to say your last words,” Becca said. “What do you want to say to the people of Cantata? And the best leader King Doroteo?” She leaned and positioned the shingku near his lips.

        That was when the naseri opened his eyes. They were bloodshot, they were full of nothing but hate. He looked at the crowd and he began to scream.

        Suliana’s skin crawled.

        Suliana also felt Camia tense beside her. She saw Camia clenched her fists placed on her lap. She was also biting her lip. Tears were in her eyes. Suliana placed her hand on top of Camia’s and squeezed.

        The young naseri was still screaming, until Becca, that awful b***h, kick him again in the mouth. The naseri looked at her and said, “One day, one day you’re gonna pay for this. You sold your soul to that awful king and you can never have it back. One day, you’re going to get what’s coming to you and it’s going to be so painful you’d kill your kids just to make it stop.”

        Becca was stunned. The naseri then looked at the crowd that now went silent. “Cantata is going to fall because you don’t recognize who the real malady is. The king you worship will be the reason why the elemental gods will punish all of you. The elementals gods are going to punish all of you!”

        The king rose from his chair. With his own shingku, he said, “Kill him!”

        And one of the soldiers obeyed, he threw one sharp rock on top of the naseris head. It landed in a juicy thunk, like a heavy marble landing on a thick carpet. The naseri’s eyes grew wide, his mouth agape. Blood and brain matter soon seeped down his nose.

        Suliana had to put the magnifying mask down as soon as the crowd around her screamed for more.

         ***

        THE STONING was over and most of the spectators had gone home, leaving empty packets of food and drinks on the ground. Suliana and her friends decided to stay and watch a couple of krills wash away the blood from the ground.

        “I’m sorry that I had to brought you here,” Suliana said. “But I missed the two of you and you know it’s hard to make an opportunity to meet you.”

        “I wish the king would choke on his own tongue,” was the reply of Camia, her eyes never parted from the arena. “He has to be thrown out of the castle, that demonic excuse of a man.”

        “Of a human being,” said Gon.

        Camia nodded then looked at them. “You know that we can do something, right? We all hate the king. We all want him to be replaced.”

        “I do, but I think that’s impossible. Most Cantatans love him,” said Suliana.

        “Because only a few people are speaking against him. And he has journalists, like that Becca, spreading good news about him. And they bury the bad, as often as they bury corpses. They refused to acknowledge his misogyny, his cruelty.” Camia’s red-rimmed eyes were shining with tears. “It’s impossible because people who hate him are afraid to make their voices heard. But we can join a group--”

        “No, no, Camia. You can’t join a group. It’s dangerous. You know King Doroteo’s stand against rebels. He wants them--”

        “Killed,” said Camia. “He wants them killed, I know. But I can’t stand it anymore. I need to do something.”

        “Camia, please,” said Gon.

        Camia looked at the blue sky above, with an expression of a man with an entire sky on his shoulders. “A rebellious group spoke to me. The Millos. They want me to join the group and also to encourage people to join. We are planning a peaceful protest near the castle--”

        “There is no such thing as a peaceful protest,” said Gon. His face was red with concern. “If the King’s supporters see you making a protest, they will hurt you. It happened to the Millos once.”

        The Millos are rebels from the age of twenty to sixty. Most of them were comprised of intellectuals who couldn’t accept the ways of King Doroteo. According to rumors, the Millos will secretly meet at a secluded part of Mount Arnillo to plan protests--mostly peaceful ones. Once, they went on Cantata’s largest market. They wore tattered shirts stained with goat blood. They screamed, “Justice for the Cantatans King Doroteo murdered!”

        People got mad, cause the last thing they wanted is for the King to be disrespected by a fellow Cantatan. The King once jokingly said that if rebels were endangering peace, Cantatan simpletons can kill them and they wouldn’t have to face consequences.

        And so a lynching began. They chased the Millos until one frail rebel woman who was probably pushing sixty years old tripped and went down to the ground. A King Doroteo supporter pulled her hair and she begged for mercy, with tears streaming on her wrinkly cheeks. “I won’t do it again, I promise. I won’t do it again, I won’t do it again, just spare me, please…”

        And indeed, she had never done it again. The Doreoteo supporter who caught her bashed her head repeatedly against a huge rock nearby, making sure her face was crushed enough for one of her eyeballs to slip out of the socket.

        The King kept his promise. The man who murdered the woman never faced any charges.

        “Camia, please.” Suliana’s voice was broken by impending tears. “Please don’t join the Millos. It’s dangerous. And you know it. You can die.”

        “At least I’ll die with a free conscience,” said Camia. She looked at Suliana as if she’d roll her eyes if Suliana cried. “At least I will die knowing that I didn’t become like our crazy fellowmen, worshiping this cruel leader. I refused to be brainwashed.”

        “But…” Suliana said, she wanted to say that life is more precious than principles, but she didn’t find the courage to do so.

        “If you’re really going to do this, you have to be careful,” Gon said, which made Suliana gasp and looked at the young man.

        “Gon, you shouldn’t encourage--”

        Gon’s face was grim as he ignored her. “You have to be careful,because these people are crazy. They seem to think that King Doroteo is a god. And as much as they’re willing to die for him, they’re also willing to kill for him.”

        Camia smiled. “I know that,” she said. “And it’s time for some people to do something to change their minds.”

        They decided to go home when the sun was sinking on the horizon. The sky was no longer blue, the sun already stained it orange. The glow of it painted their face with colors that made their expressions gloomy yet hopeful.

        The dirt road they’re walking on got separated into two paths and Suliana and Gon had to take one path and Camia had to take the other.

        Suliana and Gon looked at Camia who was squinting because of the ray of the setting sun. They can hear the cluck of chickens from a house nearby.

        “Next time you want to see us Suliana, pick a happier event in the coliseum. Like sports or something,” Camia said with a smile on her lips.

        “I will,” Suliana nodded. “You be careful.”

        Camia nodded and didn’t say anything. The wind blew and she closed her eyes as if listening to what the wind wanted to whisper, some of the strands of her hair got stuck against her cheek.

        “Please pray for me. Please pray for my soul,” Camia said.

        Those were the last words they ever heard from Camia. It was also the last twilight they saw their friend alive.