Chapter 15 Chapter fifteen

At night, Ron and the three Ferencians returned to the campsite. He had recovered from his grief and resolved to continue deeper into Ferenc's territory until he saw Yeni.As long as Vatels and Ferens can be united, it won't be too late to come back to Zenas to see Brokan. He was insulted by Jura because of Keon's death, so he still doesn't want to talk to her. Jura was already lying down, but her thoughts were troubled and she could not sleep.It was already late at night, and she seemed to have a dream, some little people like shadows came to the camp without a sound, swimming around like fish in the water.

She felt strange, opened her eyes vigorously, and seemed to see a short and thin little man in black night clothes, bent down, and dabbed something on Dale's mouth.When she tried to stand up to protest, an iron object hit her on the head and she couldn't move. When she regained consciousness, she only felt a pain in her head, as if she had been injured.I tried to move my limbs, but I couldn't. "Jura! Jura!" It seemed that someone was calling from far away.She opened her eyes with difficulty, and a figure appeared in her sight, which gradually became clear from blur. It turned out to be Xilian.She looked around again, and she was no longer in a campsite, but behind a four-wheeled carriage; there were tall wooden shelves next to them, and bags of grain were piled up.what the hell is it?

"Jura, are you awake, are you feeling well?" Silian asked in a low voice.Jura tried to sit up, but her hands and feet were bound.She didn't even understand what happened. "Cirian," she said hoarsely from her thirsty throat, "who has got us? Where are the others?" "Like you, I don't know anything." Sirian said, "I was tied up while I was asleep, and I woke up to find that I was tied up here." "Ah, could it be that the Ferensians did it?" Jura said while moving, trying to free the ropes on his hands and feet. "I have to save Ron, or Yeni will kill him."

Cillian flashed a bitter smile. "Now our first consideration is what to do with ourselves. Yeni, or anyone else, since we are taken as prisoners, they will not be polite to others. I think we should rest now. , maintaining physical strength is the most important thing.” It was difficult for Jura to rest quietly.She thought about Ron and the others.She silently prayed to God to protect Ron, that it would be too soon to let him die, and that he planned to do many good things.Therefore, he cannot die anyway. The wagon sank into a deep hole in the road, Jura got a headache from the bumps, and she hid herself in a small hole under the grain sack.Soon, the car came to a complete stop, and two rough hands grabbed her by the ankles and pulled her off the car. Her head hit the hard grain bag, and there was another burst of pain, but the rope was released, so she stood to the ground.

They were escorted by a short, old man.She understood that it was not the Ferens who did it, but the Ertans who attacked them.There were vehicles in the front and back, and she and Sirian must have been the only ones brought here. Jura had heard rumors of the Ertans in his childhood, mostly frightening stories told by parents to frighten children on stormy nights.It is said that in the early years, there was an old man with one eye and one arm who came to Ariel. He claimed to be from Ertans, lost his way, and said that there was a city where jewels were hidden... People laughed at him.It was later discovered that he was stealing everywhere, until one day he collapsed drunk at a corner, foaming at the mouth and staring blankly.A few days later, he disappeared, whether he died or left.

Indeed, no one knows the Ertans for sure.They live in the mountains, in the northeastern part of Lanconia, and have long been isolated from the rest of the world.They were always said to be obscene, cunning, or thieves, unreliable fellows, who had no sense of honour, no morals.For centuries, other tribes kept as little as possible from them. Now, looking at the ugly face with its head hidden in the dirty cloak before him, Jura felt horrible and disgusted.The man dragged Celian out of the carriage again, untied her, and handed them each a rusk and a glass of wine.They found that the convoy consisted of four four-wheeled carriages, and a few dwarves in cloaks stood quietly beside the carriages, but no other bound captives were dragged out of the carriages.

Jura's throat was swollen and painful.But she reluctantly asked the old man in front of her. "Where are our people?" The man refused to speak, his face expressionless.A person came from the side, and Zhu La asked again, but the other party still did not answer.She slapped him but didn't pry his mouth open, so she had to give up.However, both she and Celian were released and allowed to move about in a little better spirits. After eating the rusk and drinking the foul-smelling wine, they were pushed into the carriage again, and the wheels began to roll. The convoy walked for three days without knowing where it was going.Take two breaks in the middle of the day.Jura and Sirian each received a ration of food, and were half-starved, half-baked, barely able to satisfy their hunger.

On the first day, Jura and Célian did not speak much, for they were not only tired and hungry, but also very worried and heavy-hearted about their situation.Especially Jura's mental burden was heavier, how she longed to be able to explain to Ron what she had clearly said, she had to tell him that she couldn't bear the thought of him dying.But now that Ron is dead or alive, she is tortured by her conscience. "What happened to King Ron and the others? If they fell into the hands of these people, do you think they would be killed?" Silian whispered to Jura, her heart was also very heavy.

Jura's throat was so swollen that he could barely speak. "There is no doubt that the Ertans need female slaves," said Cirian again. "Bretta is old for them, so they want to catch us, and even marry us." Jura felt that it would be a great insult to them if they forced them to marry these Ertans, but she could not think of a way of escape. "I think," continued Cirian, as if in answer to her own question, "that they must have killed our men and kidnapped our women." Sirian waited for Jura's answer, but Jura did not speak, so she went on: "We heard nothing that night, but the Ertans broke into our camp, and even the Ferens Didn't find them." She closed her eyes for a moment, as if thinking. "When Brockane heard that his son was dead, he must declare war on Ariel, but who will lead the people of Ariar to fight? Ron and Gerald may... both die!"

If ever there was one horror in the world, it was Ron's death.When Sirian mentioned the word, Jura felt a wave of terror that shook her whole body.She closed her eyes, thinking about the image of Ron, and how he tickled her when they were in the tent... This queen, full of youthful vitality, suddenly seemed old, and the radiance of youth came from her face. disappeared completely. "Ron's plan to unite the tribes failed," said Cillian, "Watters lost Britta, Yenny lost his brother, and Brocaine lost his only son..." In the end, she was deeply sad again. Added in his mood, "And our King Ron died too!  …"

"Shut up!" Jura yelled through her sore throat, "I won't listen anymore!" Cillian looked at Jura in bewilderment. "Please don't say any more," Jura begged again in a low voice. Cillian was silent for a moment.She concentrated her thoughts and considered carefully in order to find a proper way out of the present predicament. "Jura, we must maintain our strength," she said after thinking, trying to bring Jura's attention back to reality, "we must try to escape from these annoying Ertans. We will tell People of Lanconia, what happened, we will unite with other tribes to attack Ertans, avenge Ron, and..." She stopped talking because she heard Jura's cry. Jura wanted to sleep, but couldn't anyway.Hour by hour, always reminiscing, reminiscing.From time to time, she called out in her heart: "Ah, Ron!" Tears rolled down her cheeks, "It would be great if I could give you my heart!..." On the morning of the fourth day, the convoy reached its destination.There was the noise of many people nearby.Celian opened her eyes and looked at Jura, who seemed numb and unresponsive to her surroundings.Sirian didn't know how the Ertans arranged for them, whether to die or to be slaves.But Jura didn't seem to care about it, she only thought about Ron. "We must escape as soon as possible!" Cillian reminded her friend again. Jura didn't answer. Cillian never had a chance to speak to Jura again, for they had been pulled from the car and stood in bright sunlight. Celian was very surprised by the sight in front of her. This was a city, and some Ertans were lying on the street corners. They looked lazy, dirty, and drunk. They were escorted to a house against the city wall.The buildings here are neat and tidy, the roads are also cleaned very cleanly, there are no running pigs or dogs, and there are shops on the ground floor of the houses, and people come and go, clean and well-dressed.But when you look carefully, there are only women, few children, and all of them are girls. "Where are all the men?" Silian asked Jura in a low voice.She was amazed.But she got no answer from Jura. As soon as they got out of the carriage, a guard with a gun ordered them to unload grain from the carriage.Cirian saw that this guard was also a small woman, a foot shorter than Jura, thin and weak. "Where have all your men been taken?" Jura asked the guardwoman, for whom Celian was heartily pleased at the first sign of her life. "They're dead," said the Ertans woman in curt Ariar, "we don't need men here." She forced Celian and Jura to carry grain sacks, stacked in a long stone room. in the house. Both Sirian and Jura were weak from the long journey and lack of nutrition, and found it difficult to carry the food sacks.While they were working, the short female guard watched them and chatted with a slightly taller female guard in a guttural voice. "I think she looks like a bull, in terms of strength," Cilien said to Jura, keeping her eyes on the tall woman. Although they were tired, they didn't dare to rest, because the female guards were holding whips in their hands, and they would fall down hard at any time.They carried for almost a whole day and were exhausted when they were finally placed in a stone house. The room is not big, only two wooden beds, nothing else.Around the house at least a dozen Ertans women took turns watching them. "Jura," Celian called to her friend, as soon as she was in bed. "We must escape! We must go to Ference to find Yeni, and then... Jura, will you follow my advice? Do you have a way to escape? I am too tired to think of a plan." "Why do you want to go to Yeni?" "Continuing what Ron started," said Sirian, "we must find a way to unite the tribes before we can deal with these Ertans. You think, they sneak up on us and kill our king and Other men, how can we let it go like this? We must retaliate with an eye for an eye!" When Jura heard that Ron had been killed, she burst into tears immediately, which made Celian bewildered.Tears won't solve anything, what is needed now is action and courage.She thought, let's go to bed first, and wait for Zhu La's mood to improve tomorrow, and then discuss with her about escaping. Jura couldn't hold back her tears no matter what.What Lanconia, Geralt, Jenny's brother or Brockane's son, it didn't matter; all she cared about and grieved about was the loss of the one she loved the most! "I didn't even have time to tell him what was on my mind," Jura wailed in the dark.Oh God, just give me one more chance to show him to his face that I am his real, loving wife.She cried and gradually fell asleep. In another luxurious living room.Geralt's wild laughter shook the air so that the white marble walls of Ertans' palace echoed.The three beautiful young women also smiled happily in front of him.He and they were playing a game of Go-board witchcraft and ivory pieces. "Master, you have won again," one of the women muttered, "Which one of us are you going to pick tonight?" "I want all three of you," Geralt laughed. "We were chosen by you," said another woman. This magnificent palace is a building from the last century.Its hall is very narrow and long, but it is all made of white marble, and the walls and top are decorated with exquisite stone carvings.These marbles were originally transported by merchants for the churches in England, and the Ertans raided at night, killed all the merchants and their hired guards, and transported the stones in four-wheeled carts through the mountains to the city.They also "borrowed" some stonemasons, forced them to work until they died, and then threw the bodies into the mountain stream. The shrines, oil paintings, stained glass and statues in the palace were all plundered by them, and everywhere proved that the Ertans were good at "borrowing".For a long time, the Ersteins roamed around, raiding towns, stealing and looting.Much like ants, they can drag objects several times their own weight.So the palace was built and filled with wealth. There were rich carpets in the hall, finely cast swords and shields, silk or embroidered cushions and chair cushions; gold cups, silver plates, shining candlesticks, and eating knives and forks.Some short and long small tables were decorated with beautiful Irish tablecloths. The captive "guests" were scattered everywhere, watching many women in soft slippers walking around in the hall, calmly addressing everyone. The man says "welcome".The three Ferencians sat huddled in a corner, frowning, ignoring these flattering women and just eating the food on the plate. Geralt was tired from playing, his head was thrown back from the board, and he leaned lazily on the back of the chair.A woman fanned him, another lifted his feet with her knees, two massaged his calves, and a third peeled almonds and fed him almonds.Four women circled him, and he had an extremely smug expression on his face. Dale sat at a table a little farther from Geralt, having a lively conversation with a gorgeously dressed young girl with delicate features. Only Ron was completely different from everyone else.He stood in front of the window at the east end of the hall, gazing at the people passing by on the street and the buildings in the city.He pays no attention to anyone, and no one touches him.Only when Dale came before his eyes did he turn his head with a questioning look. "Are you still anxious about Jura?" Dale asked. Ron just snorted and didn't want to answer. "Listen to them that Jura and Cirian are still alive," Daller said. "The Ertans are not murderers. They need men, not women. They drugged us and brought us here, but didn't intend to Harm us, why do you still doubt them?" Ron put a grim face on Daller. "You were seduced by them." Dale blinked, unable to control his smile. Ron turned his head to look out of the window again, and said at the same time, "I don't trust this Marek who is called King Ertans. I don't like being his prisoner." "Don't you want to unite the various tribes? There is no better opportunity than now, that is..." "Making them pregnant?" Ron asked, frowning disdainfully. "I don't want to be a stallion!" he said and walked away from the window, and Dale shrugged and returned to his original seat. Ron kept cursing himself for being incompetent, and he was plotted against by some short women!He was caught after being anesthetized, and when he woke up, he found himself wrapped in a silk bag.Lying in the carriage, I had a terrible headache.He slammed his shoulder on the locked door, the carriage stopped, and at once six dwarf, pretty women greeted him and begged him not to lose his temper.Seeing that these were women, and they were courteous, Ron calmed down.But he didn't find Jura, Silian, and Bretta, and immediately went back to the camp to look for them. The women granted his wish and spent a day taking him back to his bivouac in Ireland, but he was very disappointed in finding no one for me. The Ertans women demanded that they do whatever Ron ordered, as long as Ron would let them go.They said they had heard of his plans to unite the tribes, but not Ertans, who needed him more than any tribe. Ron was torn in half, half king, half man.As king, he needed to go to Ertans in order to learn about this mysterious tribe and try to make some kind of agreement with it.But as a man, he wanted to find Jura, and he couldn't live without her at any time.Later, these Ertans women agreed to send someone to look for the three missing women on his behalf, so Ron came here. During the drive, Dale told him that since Keown's death, Jura has been very concerned about him and cried for him many times.Ron understood that Jura didn't really want him to die, nor did he really want to marry someone else. Ron knew that Lanconian men don't cry.But Jura saw him cry with his own eyes, so the purpose of mocking him and reprimanding him was to make him muster up his courage, believe in himself, regain his glory, and make great plans again. But he didn't understand her intentions and misunderstood her.Thinking about it now, he was doubly grateful and missed her. In the past few days when he came to Ertans, he talked with women in Ertansi language, and found that this nation is not mysterious, and it is completely possible to communicate and negotiate with it. Ron talked with the two women, and he learned about Ertans' history, ethnic habits, and a tragic story from them. Fifteen years ago, a strange epidemic came from the East and invaded the cities and villages of Ertans, and almost no one was spared.But the women recovered quickly, while the men died one after another.After the epidemic, three-quarters of Ertans' men died.From the end of that year, a strange thing happened, women gave birth to only baby girls instead of boys.So, more than ten years later, Ertans became a country of women, and the city became a city of women. After hearing this, Ron asked them: "Since you have suffered such misfortune, why don't women propose to men in other tribes? Men who have fallen in other tribes will definitely welcome you and live with you." "King Marek forbids it," they said mournfully. Why did Marek not allow women to marry other tribes?Ron learns that because Marek and the rest of the men can be favored by women all over the city.Later, when he met Marek, a fat, ugly, wrinkled old man with missing teeth, surrounded by young, beautiful girls, it became clear that despite the desperate wishes of the Ertans women Marek was unwilling to marry other tribes.Because of this, Ron's situation is very dangerous. Marek only cared about gathering wealth for himself, squandered his pleasures, and made the country so impoverished that the women had to leave the borders and steal from other tribes.In order not to be caught and killed, they were all dressed in rags, and deliberately made themselves smelly.In this way, people will stay away from them, and they steal easily, but they get a dirty and dirty reputation. ... Marek wanted to maintain the status quo of Ertans, and had no intention of marrying with other tribes, so it formed a trend of women robbing men.Marek would never allow them to leave alive, thought Ron. Ron thinks of countermeasures, how to escape from the tiger's mouth, and save Ertans. What happens to the women of Ertans after men, to Jura, Sirian, and Bretta?He doesn't know. When he awoke in his carriage, he would have cut off their legs and hands with his wounds, had it not been for the fact that they were kidnapped by a group of women; Deeply regret.He thought that the women of Ertans should be married to the men of Zenas, thus uniting the two tribes by intermarriage.It is the best of both worlds to let those beautiful and gentle Ertans women get happy marriages, and let those ferocious Ertans women be at the mercy of even more vicious men like Brocaine! Thinking this way, Ron walked out of the window again. Suddenly, he noticed that the crowd on the street was a little commotion.It turned out that on the roof of a building opposite, there were some puppet-like figures moving.When I looked closely, there was an Ertans woman holding a whip and beating someone. While Ron was wondering, he saw a tall and tall woman appearing on the top of the building. She moved quickly, with black braids fluttering behind her back!She jumped in front of the beating woman and took the whip from her hand! "Ah, Jura!" exclaimed Ron, almost jumping out of the window to help and rescue his wife.But soon he realized where he was now, and he shouldn't and couldn't act abruptly.After a while, several Ertans women gathered together, rushed forward, and knocked Jura to the ground.At this time he found that it was Sirian who had been beaten, and she went to help Jura.Ron's heart was pounding, and his anger was rising higher and higher. He wished he could step onto the roof of the opposite building and fight, but he finally controlled it.Moments later, the women of Ertans pushed Jura and Cirian away.But it was a great consolation to him that Jura and the others had been found, and that they were still alive. He leaned against the window, touched his sword, and made up his mind at the same time.Tonight, no matter what, I will go to Jura and Sirian, and tell them to persevere tenaciously, wait for the opportunity, and escape from this prison-like city! But this requires a careful plan, not hasty, not impatient.