Short Stories 86 — Ethos of Man (Part 26)

The battle had ended. We had gotten our revenge. There were like 80 to 90 bodies lying around. Luckily we did not lose our men. Yes, there were injuries, but no life-threatening ones. The area was drenched in blood. Bodies had piled up. And the blood from them was starting to seep into the river. The battle was a success. We decapitated our enemy with a decent enough stratergy to win without any losses.

Now there was just one thing to do. Before we head home and celebrate, we had to give a proper burial to these soldiers. In this nation, whoever dies will be provided with a cremation. So we rounded all the bodies up at one location. It was a total of 93 soldiers who lost their lives because of Conor. We had brought the kerosine with us. Once all the bodies were gathered. We spread a little kerosine over them. And lit the fire. Soon the fire will burn their flesh and only that that will be left are the bones. Their ashes will be spread through the wind and they will become part of this forest.

Everyone left the burial and head home. And some men were left behind to take care of the bones. Their job was to bury the bones once the fire stopped burning. The spirit of all the men was high. They had just won the battle without losing anyone. The revenge was taken for all the men lost due to ambush from these men. All were ready to party and booze for the rest of the night.

“Corvin! Will they be fine? Why is it taking so long?” Arthen kept walking in the shop nervously waiting for their return.

“They will be fine. After all, we had a plan. And ambush set up with numbers advantage and surprise factor. I am sure they will be fine.” I said.

“You seem very confident.”

“Yes, I am. After all, they are being led by Beth. I am sure they will be fine.”

“What if the plan was leaked. What if they had a counter-attack ready. What if the shopkeeper sensed that we were lying? What if we did not do the job correctly? What if they died because of us?”

“You are overthinking. They will be fine. I believe we did a very good job. Looking at his eyes. There was just one thing in his eyes, greed. The moment we said 25 gold coins, he was thinking about his share and his share only. So I would like to believe, we did a good job. Now it is up to Beth and his company to finish the war.”

“I hope you are right, Corvin. I really do.” We waited for an entire day. It was noon. I am sure the journey will take around 2 to 3 hours. And I wasn’t sure how long the battle would last between a few hundred men. They must be on their way if everything went according to the plan. Arthen’s doubt slowly crept in my head too. I was starting to get worried too. And suddenly I could hear the commotion. It kept getting louder and within no time the soldiers showed up. Beth entered the room.

“Did everything work out?” I said out of curiosity.

And she replied, “Yes kids. Everything worked out fine. We struck down the enemy and most important thing, without any casualty. Both of you did a very good job. I am proud of both of you. Now get ready for a celebration and I think both of you can stay here tonight. After all, both of you are part of us now.”