Juliana’s Workshop - Volume 1 Chapter 6

Book 1 – Chapter 6: The murder under sunshine and leaves.

Soon after a cool morning with moisture, the noon came with the hanging sun at the highest point in the sky, penetrating the layers of the forest, bringing its glorious sunshine to the gloomy forest interior. The Forest of the dead was very quiet and dense enough, but there were always gaps that allow sunlight to enter this tomb of the dead. Under the mottled glares of sunshine, plus the songs of birds and insects, the forest which sometimes makes people feel uneasy of its silence, had become lively and chirpy.

But in this calm forest, there were more than twenty dead people now.

They were the newcomers who became the new guests of the Forest of the Dead, and new friends with the soldiers of the Twin Eagle Empire from more than a hundred years ago.

This happened after noon, when the sun finally lowered its proud head for a bit and moved away part of the scattered light in the forest, no longer dazzling. And its location was on a very remote road to the west of the forest’s middle area.

If you keep traveling on this road further to the west for another half of a day, you can leave the Forest of the dead. Walk a bit faster, you can see the linked mountain peaks in front of the mountain ranges. At the foot of these motionless and lined up “giants”, there are some small towns and noble territories that can be used for people who come out from the Forest of the dead. They aren’t any good though, but it is better than camping in the forest. For the humble servants, it is much better to smell horse’s feces and piss under the roof of a stable, than to be worry and watchful under a vault formed by branches and leaves in the forest.

But now, even that little wish can’t come true.

Falling to the ground, their bodies were full of many nonfatal or fatal wounds. Some had their necks cut off by just a slash and their head flew out, but the pain was only for a moment, then it was a long sleep for eternity; others was pieced with many holes, dying in fear and pain as their blood continued to spurted out. If their voices were too loud, it would lead to another then another slashes from the impatient mercenaries. More people were killed in surprise; even the idea of running away had not yet emerged before the murderers’ weapons were already on their faces, as they still thought about one thing in their hearts: What happened?

The convoy that escorted Roseanna to the Vises Republic of Ayer Sea was followed by twenty servants. And today, at this time, twenty poor people have died in the forest.

The mercenaries’ attacks were so sudden that many people didn’t realize what was happening until they were already hacked down to the ground. The small number of warriors among the servants also didn’t respond in time, they hadn’t pulled out of the swords at their waist and were already slain. The horse’s reaction was faster than that of the human, but they also met their misfortunes faster: their neighs were loud, but in the end they were also hacked to death by the blood drunk mercenaries. The horse fell to the ground, and then the carriages behind them also fell, forming roadblocks.

The blood stained and reddened the dirt road, making it all muddyas if it had just rained. These cruel mercenaries turned this into a slaughterhouse. The deaths of all the servants were very tragic, their blood gathered under them to form a pool with the color of watery blood. The wind from the south blew the smell of blood to the north, so that the northern part of the forest seemed to have also become lively.

After all the servants were slain, the mercenaries began to search their bodies to see if there was anything worthwhile. Some more clever ones ran straight into the carriages, grabbed whatever valuable and light enough into their arms, and then took out the fine wines that those abominable servants didn’t allowed them to touch. They gather together, sip some good drinks with their big mouths and laugh out loud. Now, those arrogant servants, who always look down upon them with their disgusting eyes were all dead, no one dares to step on their heads anymore.

Most of the attendants died tragically regardless of their age; some of the servants, who slowly moved toward their death when the blood in their eyes became thicker and thicker, remembered the church knights.

The knights who were not friendly to the mercenaries, who protected them from being harassed by these robbers, did not come forward this time.

Some of them were riding their horses and stayed on the rear of the destroyed convoy, or they dismounted, holding their horses in the front of the convoy without saying a word, silently watching everything happened. Their hands were on the swords, bowstrings, and maces, but they didn’t pulled out or lifted up any of those, just kept themselves in this position and did nothing

When the mercenaries was slaughtering and having their feast, they still didn’t say anything, as if they were watching out for these robbers, blocking the way of all the servants who wanted to escape, and watching as they die under the horseshoe. The miserable cries of the begging servants can pass through the trees and dip into the depths of this forest, but cannot enter their ears.

The bloody massacre began quickly and ended quickly. Seemingly premeditated, the carriage’s horse was systematically killed, and the valuables on the dead bodies and the convoy were looted. The church knights didn’t tangle with these mercenaries. They stayed outside the convoy and formed a stark contrast compared to the other party. The knights seemed to have truly become blinded and deafen, as if all that happened before the eyes didn’t exist.

After this tragedy, only two people remain alive.