Divided Nation

Winter

The winter was here. Snow had started to drift from the sky as our horses rode back towards the sands. Winter would put a stalemate on the war. No armies, even as numerous as the Regime's, would try an invasion during the freezing weather.

     "What happened here?" I said, startled as the silhouette of a small castle came up on the horizon.

     "Was a castle," Harman explained, "Was part of the States, of course, until Ikhad came with his army. They plundered and burnt everything on their march from GoldRidge to the Sands. Not a single village was spared."

     I examined the ruins as we rode past. The snow had made a white blanket on the ruined stone, creating a sort of beauty. The castle was small, even smaller than the village Isiah had shown me. There was a courtyard, gates and guard towers that still stood, but were twisted and black from the fire. Anything that had been remotely wooden was inevitably gone.

     I tried to imagine what the castle would have been like, had the army never marched through. The ring of laughter across the courtyard, or the guards patrolling the towers, walls and gates. At the center of the courtyard, stood the Regime banner, as white as snow, blowing in the breeze. I looked up and reached for my sword before realizing that the bodies that swayed before us were dead ones. They were hanged, blowing in sync with the banner from the castle gates.

     "They left us something to remember us by," Harman said, quickly taking down the banner, "This is a war crime. No civilian deserved this."

     "We need to bury them," I said, thinking of a way to get those bodies down, "They deserve that at least."

     "Of course," Harman proclaimed, "Ben, see if you can get on top of those gates? Cut the bodies down will you?"

     A young soldier spurred his horse and rode towards the gates. A trio of soldiers followed behind him. A couple minutes later, the bodies fell one by one onto the snowy ground.

     "Might as well settle in here for the night," Harman announced, after burying the bodies in a groove of trees not too far from the castle "It's getting dark and the towers could at least give us some protection from the winter wind."

     "Winter came especially early this year," I noticed, "The leaves didn't even have time to fall before the snow did. It'll be months before this snow melts."

     "All the better for us," Harman grumbled, "With the ice and snow, the Regime wouldn't dare attack. And up north in Crown's End, it'll be even colder. I'm sure Louis will recall his armies back within the Garrisons to spend the winter."

     Within the hour, our company of maybe 20 men were huddled around the base of a tower around a fire, trying to warm ourselves. 

     "Were it if there were houses still around, we'd be sleeping in beds tonight," One of the soldiers, Ben I remembered, complained, "I'm looking forwards to getting back to the States. We'll get proper food and shelter there."

     Nobody disagreed, and cold nuts and frozen beef was passed around for dinner. The beef was as hard as rock, but I found out that if you held it close to the fire for a while, it'll taste like wood instead of stone.

     The whiskey was good though. I had never been a drinker myself, but the liquid warmed me in the cold snow and I had gulped down 3 bottles before I even realized.

     "Eyes up lads," Harman said, grabbing his sword, "Looks like we've got company."

     Startled, I looked up and saw a dot of fire in the distance. I thought it might be a forest fire, but it was impossible in the snow. Then I realized it was a torch, held by a group of riders that were galloping towards the ruins.