The life and hardships of Hisau Maiya.
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Author Notes:
Thanks to Reader for reviewing my story! Its great to know you find it enjoyable. I'm trying to be as detailed as possible about Maiya's life before all the chaos that was the Grail War; and yeah she is said to have forgotten her name in Fate Zero so giving her a name now would be to me like giving her an identity, but Maiya to me is more abstract here, she can be anyone, any children suffering from the horrors of war.
Any suggestion, complaint or idea is welcome to help round her character and themes. I'm trying to improve this story and make several more arcs; this is but the Introduction.
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Dogs of War Arc
Chapter 3 – Conscription
The sun coming strongly between her half closed eyelids, the warm of it burning her skin, a soaring hot sun with no breeze to take away the heat. Surrounding her were five warm and sweaty bodies, all curled in a ball around her.
According to the amount of times the sun had come from the horizon, they must have spent two days in the back of the caravan, two hellish days trapped in a wooden prison without food nor water, to the girl it felt like it had been an eternity.
In order to stay alive, she chose to spend most of the day and night sleeping away her troubles, which helped her forget the hunger and dehydration; not that there was much more that she could do besides staring at the endless sand of the desert which sometimes blew in the occasional breeze and left her dry and cracked lips with the aftertaste of the desert's sand. She felt so weak, even waking up was a struggle on itself and her joints ached due to the lack of space and weakness, her body protesting due to the lack of food.
If she could, she would have loved to push her brothers to give her some space, but she couldn't will herself to do so; they were all so scared but for now they were, hopefully, sleeping around her.
The girl wondered where they would take them, she had heard rumors about a military camp on the outside of the city, in the only oasis to be found in the whole desert; but all foolish enough to venture there had never returned, either dead by the heat of the desert or killed by the marauders themselves. The Red Hand was known for giving torture and death to whoever ventured in their territories so the girl found it pointless to leave her village, willingly that is.
After several hours of traveling, the girl started to hear shouting and exclamations of joy, to which she tiredly and slowly raised her head. The men were raising their arms and shooting to the air in happiness; next to her in the horizon she could see several brown huts made of cloth and sticks; people coming out of them to greet the vandals return and reap the tributes that had been ransacked from the villages.
Among them, children, just like them, naked and running around or pushed, some chained to their masters and trailing along with their heads bowed.
"Slaves" whispered the girl softly, shivering at the idea of being bound like that. She clutched at her brother's bodies, they will never separate us, she thought bitterly.
The caravans and trucks stopped close to one of the biggest brown villages, lots of men and woman coming out and watching the caravan's contents curiously. The girl curled along her brothers trying to avoid the curious stares.
The leader of the pack, Ekaraj went over and embraced some other man, talking jovially about the travel and pointing at the girl; she felt scared about what they would do to her. Then, several men in tunics and robes approached the caravan where they resided, Ekaraj in tow, black cold eyes like labyrinths staring at her.
"So this is the merchandise" gestured one old man in a gray robe with red trimmings along it, tall and regal poise, engravings in his tunic denoting a great position among the group. Approaching them closer, he noticed the girl and smiling mischievously, not hiding his desires, he told Ejarak: "I'll give you 300 for the girl, she ain't worth more" spoke the old man still eying the girl from time to time.
"No deal old man, I have reserved them already for our cause" said Ekaraj while looking at the old man.
"What? I didn't know you had those tastes Ekaraj" spoke the old man, almost laughing at the leader, to which Ekaraj made a frown, not amused in the least.
"Unlike you, I find no joy ravaging young girls old man, not enough meat in them to enjoy it" spoke the leader simply, "no, this is something far more importante, if that was possible.
"Oh right" said the old man suddenly getting serious. "But to use children...are we that desperate?" he questioned, grabbing and pulling at his beard on impulse.
"If using children is what we must use to win, then so be it" answered Ekaraj plainly; then, staring at the children he shouted in his military voice, "Now worms, wake up already and move it!".
It was enough to startle the children who started waking up and moving with effort to stand up, wobbling at the sides from time to time. The girl herself had troubles stopping her legs from shaking with the effort of standing up; she stared at her body, ribs showing in her frail and thin frame, her arms falling limply at her sides, no meat left in her arms and legs.
Not feeling moved in the least by such display, Ekaraj opened the door and forcefully dragged the children outside, to which they fell to the floor with the sudden display of strength, and remained there, staring with fear at Ekaraj while struggling to stand up. Last he grabbed the girl and pulled her towards his face so that she was looking directly to those soulless eyes of his, and he spoke with an evil grin "now I hope you keep your worms in place or I'll squish them, understood?" He spoke the last part while spit came out of his mouth and landed in the girl's face, disgusting, was all she could think as she too was dragged and thrown to the floor with her brothers.
"Now, Pradosh! Come here and show our guests their rooms!" said Ekaraj with finality, and after one last evil smile at them, he went away, leaving them in the care of another smaller but also bulkier man, shaved head and small rounded eyes, he seemed like a brute and made the girl wonder about his role in the group. He opened his mouth and spoke in a grievous and deep voice towards them "now follow me and I'll show you your quarters" he said with the same plain face, as if he was used to do it a lot.
Trying to not make the men angry and get themselves killed by some stupidity, the girl quickly stood up and goaded her brothers to follow her. Slowly and almost without energy, they stood up and looked at her, not knowing what to do. "Lets go" the girl said, guiding them and following the men behind carefully as to not make any wrong move. In her mind, the girl was planning their next move, first we need to ensure our survival and after that we need to regain our strength, then we can seek a way to escape...sounds like a plan, she thought. No matter what she had to do, they had to escape and hopefully return to their village, or somewhere else, a better place...
They stopped in front of several ravaged huts, more dirty and smaller than the ones they had seen. This must be where they keep the slaves, thought the girl, recognizing several children that left everything they were doing and rushed quickly to where the man, Pradosh, stood. Standing before him, they all bowed their head and stared nervously at the newcomers.
"This is where you'll live" said Pradosh gesturing to the huts, "tomorrow morning you will begin your training, but for now, we'll give you something to eat" he said, as several more skinny and dirty men and women approached the group carrying sacks and plates of a strange brown substance. Opening the sacks they emptied them along with the plates over several kennels, of the kind used to feed animals, seeds and what looked like leftovers from the other camps made the food.
Suddenly all the children went towards the kennels and started tearing away at the food and eating what they could. The girl and her brothers could only stare in horror at the spectacle, there were too little kennels from which to eat and the children started fighting and hitting each other for the chance to get their part. Most probably, that's the plan, thought the girl suddenly feeling her stomach grumbling.
"You better hurry or you won't get to eat" said Pradosh while laughing at the spectacle, oh how he enjoyed looking at those battles. He laughed higher when he saw one children strangling another smaller one for a piece of rotten meat from the camp, the two rolling on the floor while screaming.
The girl and her brothers had no option, and with the hunger winning over, they went over and fought for their chance at food. The battle was hard as they tried to make space and get their ration; the girl found herself trampled by two other children that tried to take her away from their precious food but she had the advantage of her brothers, who along with her, slowly but steadily made their way to the food. Taking a rock, the girl smashed it in a boy's head, knocking him with the force of the impact and quickly took her rations of food, passing some to her brothers as quickly as she could, struggling to stay in place and enduring the elbows and strikes to her persona.
When she was sure all of her brothers had a ration, she quickly made her way out with her own and started eating desperate. Despite being a mix of seeds and rotten food, it was the best she had taken in weeks and couldn't stop eating until her ration was finished. Licking her fingers, the girl stared as the kennel was left empty, longing for another taste.
She felt sleepy after feeling the food in her stomach, her body responding to the rare presence by expending her energy in digestion. Wondering where they would sleep, she approached a small dark skinned boy that seemed to be placidly eating his own ration. He looked no more than six years old, dressed in gray trousers and little more.
"Hey, um...where do we sleep?" asked the girl, afraid of what she knew would be the answer.
The boy lifted his head scared and taking his ration as far away from the girl as he could, he said scared "Certainly not in my hut, you'll have to take over one if you want to sleep, but I warn you, I'm armed" he said taking what looked like a nail from his trousers.
The girl backed up quickly, raising her hands to show no hostile intentions. "That...won't be necessary" she said. It was obvious this strategy was to keep them one against the other and prevent an uprising. Still, they had to survive at any cost so she decided they would sleep in the outside for now...
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The next morning, with the sun barely on the horizon, they woke up abruptly and cold from sleeping all night next to the fire trying to prevent themselves from freezing over by Pradosh's whistling at everybody to come to where he stood. The children quickly made their way towards the fat man and the girl with her brothers followed suit.
Standing in front, he gave the orders "Now lowly worms, lets start with something light, 20 rounds across the encampment, NOW!" he shouted and suddenly all children started running as fast as they could. The girl and her brothers followed suit, trying to adapt to this change in their usual routine.
Two hours later, sweaty and with their muscles hurting beyond belief, they started doing their last command, push-pulls. Sweaty and tired, the girl tried to comply to the best of her ability with the order, but her body failed to obey and she trembled as she did her best to raise from the ground, the sand burning against her face while the sun blinded her, searing her skin.
"Another one, soldier!" yelled Pradosh while standing above her, shouting at her to finish her exercise. The girl struggled, but her muscles yielded and she fell to the floor. Pradosh went over to her and shouted once again "I said, another!" and kicked her in the stomach. The girl rolled and groaned in pain as she felt the injuries she had received hurting again.
"Again, soldier!" Pradosh yelled again and before he could kick her, she had once again stood and repeated her exercise, straining her muscles which bent under the effort as she completed the pull he had commanded. Pradosh smiled in glee and continued the exercise.
That night her muscles felt like they were on fire...
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Two weeks had passed, and they were beginning to feel themselves stronger due to the food and all the physical conditioning they had gone through, still, the girl tried to not move too much, lest the wounds in her chest open again, something was sure to had broken to which she only could swallow the pain and perform to the best of her ability.
That day they had finished their physical conditioning earlier than expected, which had surprised the girl given the routine she was now beginning to get used to, when Pradosh came carrying a large and dirty brown bag that made a metallic sound as it moved. Curious, the girl got closer to watch.
Pradosh came with an eerie grin in his face and emptied the bag.
Clanck
Was the sound as the knives fell to the floor, rusty and old army knives that glowed lethally against the searing hot sun.
"Now we're going for a real military practice" said Pradosh with malice, "every one of you take one" he said while gesturing to the knives in the floor. The children nervous approached carefully and took the knives from the floor.
"Now, I'll group you in pairs" he said unable to contain his happiness. Something was off and scared the girl a lot, but couldn't point what was it, so she just stared. When he came to where she stood, he took her with force and put her next to a black haired and thin boy she had met just a week ago, his name is...Kaalap? Or was it Kaalash? She thought trying to remember. He just stood there, staring at here with determination in his eyes, as if he knew what was about to happen.
"And now, your opponent is in front of you, only one survives, begin!" Pradosh said ecstatically as he stood apart, rifle in hard to watch the massacre; his stupid smile never leaving his face.
"Wh...what?" said the girl but couldn't get the chance to process it as she suddenly found a knife closing against her neck which she barely avoided by moving backwards, the cold steel scraping against her soft skin and leaving a small trail of blood. The boy had launched himself against her, oblivious of anything else, the rest of the children having done likewise and screamed as they attacked, stabbed, and rolled on the floor. The girl pushed him away trying to get a hold of the situation, to kill, I don't want to kill! She thought, but to no avail as the boy used the distance to swing his knife against her unprotected chest, to which the girl could only block with her left arm.
She screamed as the knife made a deep cut against her arm, the steel drawing forth more of her blood in the process, but if I die here...my brothers...she felt the adrenaline rushing within her brain and made her first offensive move by swinging her own knife against the boy's stomach. He tried to avoid by stepping sideways but he wasn't fast enough as the girl's knife made a deep cut against his stomach.
The boy groaned in pain but not stopped by the attack, grabbed the girl by the neck and tried to choke her, using his other arm to plunge his knife against the girl's chest.
She countered by stopping his right hand, the one with the knife with her own left hand, but she felt herself going to the floor, feeling the air leaving her as he increased his choke hold on her. She couldn't breath, and he was stronger than her...the knife getting closer to her chest, where it would take away her life...
As he got closer to her, with the same look of determination in his eyes, void of any warmth, the girl took the chance by bending her head and biting the boy's ear with her own teeth. She felt the warmth of blood and a metallic flavor in her mouth as the boy screamed, trying to take her away, which prompted him to reflexively leave her chest. He punched her in the face, hard, drawing blood, but the girl didn't relent and bit harder, taking off his ear.
He screamed in pain and the girl spat what was left of his ear in his face, to which he lowered his guard. Taking up her chance, all or nothing, the girl plunged her knife deep into the boy's stomach, feeling the warm blood flowing through her hand.
She felt horrorized as the boy fell to the floor, screaming, but still alive, was the thought that registered in her mind...she knew what she had to do...and so, she moved her hand upwards, as quickly as she could, running the knife across his stomach and up to his chest, trying to make deaf ears to the screams and pleading; her other hand keeping his knife away from her.
Still alive, she thought, and taking the boy's knife, she plunged it in his eye while stabbing her other knife in his chest, one, two, three times; he twitched in the floor, convulsing, and after several seconds of struggle, fell limp. Blood flowing from his eye and the huge wound in his chest, drenching the girl's clothing. She stared in horror at what she had done, but not for much as she started frantically looking for her brothers.
I killed a person, I killed a boy, repeated her mind over and over, but her brothers were priority, she had to find them. The struggle had lifted a cloud of dust that enveloped the whole place and so, she as quickly as she could, crawled on the floor trying to locate her brothers among the screams and fighting. To her left, two boys rolled on the floor, numerous wounds on their bodies as they tried to slit each other's throats; to her right, she saw several ganging up on a much bigger boy; but she had to keep going, and so, she kept crawling until she found one of her brothers, Udit, in the floor, staring with numerous wounds across his chest as his assailant, a brown haired and tall boy prepared to deliver the killing blow. Standing up, the girl prepared her two knives and as quickly and silently as she could, launched herself towards him, stabbing his back several times, to which the boy fell after giving out a small gasp. She kept stabbing until she was sure he was dead and approached her brother; too late...as he just stared without seeing...dead...tears fell from her eyes as she hardened herself and closed her brother's eyes, he was so young, she thought, but she couldn't break down, she had to save the rest. As soon as she was about to continue her quest, several gunshots were heard and the battle stopped.
Pradosh came, smoking rifle in hand, to watch the results of the massacre, laughing with gusto at the sight of the corpses and blood around them.
"Good job, those that have survived are ready for our battle, sleep well, for tomorrow we all go to hell!" he said laughing out loud.
The girl finally saw them standing...only two...that was the result of this battle. The boys came to her, eyes hollow and scared, not believing what they had just done, trembling, they all embraced and sobbed over their lost brethren.
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Be ready, and do it was we planned said the girl to the two boys that advanced quickly towards the tents. It had taken them several hours to tend to their wounds and prepare for what they were about to do.
No more hesitation, no more doubts, we have to survive, the girl told herself as she readied the rusty army knife she had carefully hidden after their last brutal "training". She still couldn't believe what had happened, three of her brothers, killed, just to satisfy a brute's desire for bloodshed. Everything felt so far away to her, as if it was all a nightmare she was having and nothing of it happened for real. She would wake up, at home, and all her brothers would be alive and well, eating what they could salvage.
Brushing off the thoughts, she focused on what was about to happen as they got close to a run down hut where two figures were sleeping placidly, one a boy of 7 or 8 years old that snored without a care in the world, his chubby frame and several wounds in his arms and legs, black short hair along with a distinctive scar in his forehead. The other, a 13 or 14 years old boy, thin but strong frame, also black haired, that slept shirtless and rolled from time to time.
The girl quickly opened the hut and made her way inside, clasping the knife and motioning for her brothers to enter as quietly as they could. She ordered them to guard and spring to action as soon as the younger boy moved while she approached the older one with her knife, raising it, and taking a deep breath to give her the strength to do it, she quickly lowered her knife to the boy's neck, catching him by surprise. He struggled to stand up as he felt the knife cutting at his flesh but the girl used her hand to clasp his mouth and her own weight to keep him in the floor. He kicked at her and gasped but it was to no avail, the girl cut his trachea and stabbed his chest like she had done so much that day to ensure his death when she felt a sharp object in her back.
"Do not move" said the younger boy threatening, her brother's watching scared at what had just happened. The boy pressed the knife against the girl's back until blood started flowing and she suppressed a scream, they were caught, and she had to do something.
"Now you two, come here" the young boy gestured for the girl's brothers that scared at the threat of their sister dying, complied. "You, give me your knife" the boy gestured for the girl to do it, if I give the knife we'll be defenseless, if I don't, he'll kill me. The girl was evaluating her alternatives but no idea came to her mind. Slowly, as to not startle the boy with a sudden movement, the girl started handing the knife which the boy grasped in his hand, and then, she violently moved it, cutting at the boy's hand in the process and startling him long enough for her to turn around, avoiding his knife and plunging hers in his neck.
Apparently she had cut a vein as the boy widened his eyes and a torrent of blood came non-stop from his wound. Not losing her chance, the girl pushed the boy to the ground and took a hold of his knife with one hand while she clasped his mouth with the other, muffling his screams of pain.
Her brothers only watched in pain and horror as that boy's life extinguished forever.
"Now, lets go to sleep, I'll take guard for today" said the girl to her brothers,coldly, as she sat in a corner of the hut while looking at the entrance. Her brothers too scared to argue complied and rolled in the covers.
I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, thought the girl grimly as she stared at her stained knife and even more bloodstained hands, trying her best to forget that day's happenings...
/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\
*********************END OF CHAPTER*******************
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End Notes / Rant:
Phew not easy to write in Linux and then back to Windows. Anyway, I hope I've avoided most clichés and made Maiya more realistic, or as realistic as you can get in one of these situations, any mistake could cost their life.
What do you think? Too crude? Good enough?
