The Imperial Sorceress

Chapter 5

The Duke had let me take the boy to the imperial citadel reluctantly. However, I had to take a squad with me. He intelligently tried to get me to take one of his spies as if I didn't know how to distinguish a soldier from a spy.

I took the captain who had been watching the boy. He had a healthy fear of me which assured me of control over him and his three subordinates. We had been traveling for three days, the road was difficult because we only had two horses. Although the Captain, James, tried to calm his men, they had fear and this only got us to let's go slower.

"Then, how old are you, Basto?" Ludovica asked the boy who was sitting in his little prisoner wagon.

Basto, his name, was one of the few things we discovered about him. It was a name in the language of the forest, it meant some kind of sudden heavy rain or maybe it was an adjective to describe someone rude or impolite. In any case, both meanings described him perfectly.

"I have," he paused as he was thinking about his next words. "I am fourteen years old. And you?"

"Fifteen. The common language of the empire isn't spoken in your area, is it?"

Ludovica was being very clever. Basto closed himself to dialogue when we tried to ask something. Due to this, we only got his name and some comments about our horrible food. But after three days of long travel, a small talk may help us discover more about him. Although, maybe I was overestimating Ludovica and she was just bored.

"Not, but my mom taught me some of the barbaric languages."

"Barbaric languages, the monster calls us barbarian," the captain said kicking the wagon near where Basto was sitting but he wasn't trying to hit the boy, only wanted to keep his role of rude jailer.

"Basto, do you think we are brutish barbarians?" Ludovica asked but Basto stayed quiet. She approached him. "I know that the soldiers have gone too far with you. But my lady wants to help you. I'm sure she can find your mother."

Oh, goddess. Ludovica was promising much more than I could accomplish. I had felt sorry for the boy and didn't wanna kill him but releasing him and reuniting him with his family wasn't a possibility. He would become imperial property, and a soldier at best.

"She dies saving two children of the town," Basto said.

"I'm so sorry. And you father?" She said, trying to change the topic. Basto looked at her disconcerted like he didn't understand the question.

"I don't have one."

"Do you mean you don't know him?"

"A bastard, of course!" the captain yelled.

Basto looked at them even more confused. "Not. I only have my mother. I don't have a pai," he said the last word in the Forest language.

"Boy, stop talking nonsense. Someone had to put the seed in your mother," the captain said.

"Ahh, you are talking of Gustabo," the boy said. "But Gustaba is not my father, he's a citizen of the town. His daughters are very nice," he said.

"If he impregnates your mother, he is your father. It's not complicated," the captain shouted furiously because Basto denied the obvious.

"Basto, do you have a grandmother?" I asked.

The boy denied with his head. "I have a grandparent."

"Are your mother and grandparent mestras?" Basto nodded. "I think they have a filiation system different from ours. They only consider other mestras families, don't they?"

Basto was thoughtful for a few seconds. Likely, he had never asked about it and finally, he nodded.

"You live in a very different place," Ludovica laughed. "By the way, what is the name of your town?"

Ludovica had left the niceties and the result was as expected. Basto stayed quiet and curled up in the corner of his cell. Ludovica tried to start a new conversation repeatedly but Basto avoided looking at her and didn't answer.