#Excerpt 3 - From Across the Sea

More rumors followed us in the cooling season.

We did not know what was true until several sources said the same thing.

One of the stories that was confirmed was the attacks on Klenard and Tommel, from two fronts. King Edward aimed to regain his inheritance for his second son and was willing to battle for the eastern kingdom. But the Demons got there first, attacking Letha one morning. The Tommel Army pushed them back to their ships, but they encountered another problem: fire, created by burnt pieces of bark.

Another story that was checked out was the announcement of a birth, which was nothing unusual. However, the age of the mother was. She was eight years old, and the Holy One praised her for her efforts. He proposed that the marriage age be lowered from ten to eight years old.

Everyone was outraged, even Poppa.

The thought of a little girl being a mother made my stomach churn.

During our meal, we discussed it around the fire. Poppa did not censure me either, allowing me to say that the little girl was much too young to have a baby. He patted my back, like he was proud of me. I gave him a little smile, hoping that it might soften him a little, but I was more interested in a letter from one of Veroncia’s Tommel friends.

The number of children we have missed is astonishing. Sometimes, we would rescue them, and they would be picked up again and again. And since little ones eight years old and older are collected, we’ve lost track of many of them. Families in Klenard are often very large, and remembering one child out of fifteen to twenty is ridiculous. We do not have the resources for this venture fully. It is worse that they are fighting for the side that is supposed to rescue them.

The Jastese and the Parchen are fighting the battles now and they are not merciful to the people we seek to rescue. Leader Annette and her crew are holding the Unholy Piece of Shit by the balls at the rear. The high seas may be ruled by Demons, but the pirates are going to rescue their mother. We do not forget a slight.

The thought of those lost children was heartbreaking. My chest tightened, and my hands clenched my sides. I squeezed my eyes shut to hide my tears.

Oh, those poor babies!

“That is horrible,” I said weakly, trying not to show my emotions.

“I cannot imagine their pain,” Daniel added.

Micah was blunt. “At least they bury the dead.”

“But they’re not coming home,” Daniel argued. “Their parents cannot properly mourn.”

“That is not the point,” Veronica snapped. “They are humanely treated. They chose not to leave and find us. And remember what the reports said! Most of the children had been picked up multiple times. They would have had our information, or at least some code.”

“They’re children, though!” I protested. “Why should they be given the choices their parent should be making for them?”

Nobody had the answer.

The questions and opinions over children continued to run in circles, though.

It was worse because, for the next few weeks, it was too cold to be outside, and all of us were stuck in the same small indoor space. No news filtered our way except for the obvious: that everyone in Klenard was suffering because the Holy One ordered it. In the end, his orders to the monarch came down to rationing and more work. The reason why took time to get to us. Once we heard it, we were incredulous.

The Wrong King complained in a long list, and he was not reassuring in addressing the nation on the matter of this high punishment. He guilted every citizen by claiming that they did not do enough to defeat the pagan forces. In addition to the Holy One’s counsel, Prince Edward again punished the Klenard people with more taxes, justifying it by claiming that the Crown had put in more for the war effort, and everyone had to repay it.

All Klenard people were then subject to investigation by the Crows.

The first ones to be looked at were those who did not initially pay their share of the taxes.

Another example given to us was the biggest innovation of the past decade: the indoor glass gardening house. It was made from wood and glass panes, and it was supposed to trap light and heat so that more plants could grow in colder times. But they never worked very well because of the way they were built.

Even Poppa agreed. He read through the dispatches’ drawings and pointed out the flaws. The foundations were not sturdy. Some of them were built underground with a glass ceiling that shattered on a whim. He angrily declared that King Edward’s advisors and builders were irresponsible and disastrous.

It would be common sense to blame the people who commissioned it. But of course, it was never the King’s fault. It was our fault, and it was because we were lazy and ignorant, softened by the years the Jastese stayed on Klenard soil. He listed this as one of the worst traits of this land, and that only more sacrifice would help us.

The memory of the massacred farmers almost caused me to be sick.