The Tales Of Esmeralda

Chapter 14: Warlords Are Douchebags. Always.

"Never let me talk again," Esmeralda said in the cart, speaking to no one in particular but she was facing Triana while sitting in the back with her.

"Oh come on!" Yolanda said. "It wasn't that bad!"

"I'm probably banned from there."

"Yeah yeah," Sebastian said. "At least you didn't drink when you were supposed to be the driver."

"Hey, I forgot, okay?!" Yolanda yelled.

"You're lucky I didn't drink too, or we might've fallen into that ditch back there."

That was true. As it was with Sebastian sober they almost went into the ditch.

Esmeralda sighed. "I'm probably gonna be known as Esmerlada the Coward."

"At least you weren't called a Shitty Suckass."

Esmeralda winced. "Oof yeah. Sorry 'bout that..."

"Don't be. You're not the bitch who called me that."

For some reason Yolanda and Esmeralda found that funny.

"Yep," Sebastian said with a smile. "You're still drunk."

~~~~

"Village?" Esmeralda asked. "Maybe stop?"

Sebastian squinted as he looked at the village were the sun was setting. "Why stop there?"

"Supplies? Sword and armor could use some cleaning up. Maybe sleep?"

Yolanda snorted in her sleep then woke up. "Sleep sounds good."

"You could've..." Sebastian began. "You could've stayed asleep then."

Yolanda sat up with a stretch and a yawn. "Well I'm already up..."

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure. Let's go to that tiny village. I'm sure they won't mind."

~~~~

They went into the small village and noticed that everyone was a mess. They all wore rags, and they all had dirt on their skin. They all looked injured, too. A lot of people were limping.

Esmeralda jumped down from the cart before it stopped moving. "You guys go park the cart. I'll figure out what's wrong here."

Sebastian agreed, and they were off.

Esmeralda walked over to an old lady close to her that fell over and dropped all the bread she had.

"Oh, let me help with that!" Esmeralda said as she knelt next to the old lady.

The old lady looked up at her like she was a miracle. "Th-thank you, young lady..."

"Please, call me Esmeralda."

Esmeralda helped the old lady gather the bread, then afterwards she helped her stand up.

"Thank you again, Esmeralda."

"You're welcome. So, I was just curious, but what's wrong here? Why are you guys all so..." Esmeralda didn't want to sound rude. The only word she could think of was "poor".

"Oh. Well, this is a slave village."

Esmeralda raised an eyebrow. "Slave village."

"Yes. We're all slaves of a warlord... He forced us to live here to do his bidding..."

"Bidding? What kind of bidding?"

"All kinds... We're to get food and drink for his army...provide shelter for his army...bathe his army...makes clothes and armor and weapons for his army...most of the men here are also asked to become a part of his army... And the women are also asked to...provide children for his soldiers...even if they do not wish to..."

Esmeralda's eyes teared up. "Wow. I'm so -"

Esmeralda then heard a loud BANG! BANG!

The old lady looked terrified now, her eyes wide as her mouth dropped. She took a couple steps back. "And there he is... There's the warlord..."