*This is simply a more raw interpretation of how far some people can go and what limits they can cross while justifying their actions. You should continue reading this only if you are above the legal age considering the psychological implications related*
Wobbling and tumbling while standing up, Cedric started walking towards the doors of the hall where Aliyah was standing looking at the food and drinks to serve.
His face looked possessed, whether it was because of over drinking or simply who he was inside that mask was a question that was about to be answered.
Aliyah who looked at him coming towards her, greeted him with a nervous smile. "Do you need any-"
Without a word, Cedric pulled her close, his arm coiling around her waist, giving no heed to anyone around him in the hall. Her body went rigid, but he dragged her with him anyway, passing through the corridor towards a side chamber.
Her father, Kalikant lurched up from his seat. His chair screeched as it roughed with the stone beneath.
But another villager caught his arm. "Chief…" His fingers dug in, holding the man down with surprising strength.
Kalikant's eyes went over the bard who was strumming the strings, his hands were bleeding and his face looked weak due to fear.
The chief's jaw clenched until it bled. His lips trembled but he could not speak a single word. Rage boiled in his hollow eyes, but he stayed seated. Stayed silent.
Cedric didn't look back. He didn't care at all.
Aliyah's smile had shattered long ago. Her eyes aimed at her father one last time in a desperate attempt to plead.
The hall cheered louder, the army men, the unaware villagers were too loud, too eager, completely swallowing her broken expression into noises.
Cedric's smile stretched wide as he looked straight at the door in front of him.
"This is their way," he muttered under his breath, half to himself, half to the walls that listened. "Their gift to their savior."
He slammed the door shut as he entered the chamber with Aliyah.
*
Back in the bar, Cedric's hand trembled around his glass. He drank what was left and wiped his mouth hard, as though he is trying to scrub the memories from his lips.
"They adored me," he continued. "They begged me to stay. I was their shield. Their hope."
I poured another glass slowly and deliberately.
While, pouring, I exerted some strength, accidentally shattering the bottle , spilling the liquid and the glass pieces all over the counter.
It isn't like me to lose control so easily. I thought as I looked at the veins popping off my arms.
"Uh oh, apologies. I lost my patience for a moment there." I said, as I passed the glass to him and started wiping the counter clean.
His eyes snapped up. For a moment that happy smiling face shattered, and a dull, ugly son of a bitch showed his scummy face to me.
"Careful, bartender," he shouted. "You don't know the burden of war. You sit behind your counter, safe and smug. You think you have the right to judge me?"
I leaned closer with closed eyes. The faint lantern light caught the white strands of my hair and glinted along the chain around my wrist.
"I don't judge," I smiled softly. "I listen. I ask. You answer."
He was already drunk enough. His knuckles tapped against the counter. Then, with a burp, he snatched the glass and gulped the drink down.
*
The room was small, lit by a single torch on the wall. The air smelled of smoke and old hay. The darkness engulfed most of the light but still couldn't hide Cedric's wide grin plastered over his face.
He shoved the door shut with his boot and pulled Aliyah inside. His grip on her wrist was firm. She stumbled, nearly losing her balance, but he didn't care.
"Please…" she whispered with a breaking voice. The tremble in her body was enough for anyone to shiver and understand the intensity of the situation.
He turned towards her, grinning as if she'd just praised him.
His hand masked her face, rough fingers trembling from being drunk. "Do not fear, little dove. This is honor. This is how you thank your savior."
"Mmphh…nnngh"
Her back hit the wall. She shook her head as she wrapped her arms tightly around her.
Streams of tears began to flow out of her eyes as her eyes turned hazy.
Cedric unfastened his armor, piece by piece. The sound made from the clattering of the armor was enough to muffle the weak moans of protest Aliyah was trying to make.
He leaned close to her, his breath hot due to the effects of wine. He locked her hands to the wall with his left arm. "You tremble… but not from fear. From awe. You know who stands before you. You know what it means to be chosen."
Aliyah turned her face toward the torchlight, eyes locked on the flame as if it could take her somewhere else. Her voice cracked. "Sire…no, please no…"
He laughed while rubbing his body against her. His lips pressed to her lips as his hands pulled at her dress, tearing them apart. "You give thanks, little dove. You offer yourself to me. That is how it has always been."
Her cries were muffled against his wide figure. Her fingers clawed at her palms, tearing the skin as if she could dig herself out through them.
Cedric grabbed her hair and threw her over the bed. Removing his chest plate he moved towards her with a strange glint in his eyes.
As he was about to touch her bare back, someone knocked on the door.
"Huhh? Who the fuck is trying to interrupt me right now?"
The knock echoed once again around the chamber.
"How dare-"
He yanked it open.
Something sharp flashed.
The dagger shoved itself in his stomach. The breath left his throat for a moment and his eyes looked at the blood dripping over the dagger stabbed.
Kalikant stood there with bloodthirsty eyes and bared teeth, his hand trembling with the weapon. "You monster," he said, hissing the words. "You'll not touch her. Not my blood. Not while I breathe."
For a second, hope appeared in Aliyah's eyes. "Father!"
Cedric looked up slowly. His eyes sharp and his face in disdain, completely drunk and feral.
With one steady hand, he wrapped his fingers around the dagger and pulled it free in an instant. He licked the blade covered with blood as he looked down at Kalikant with his glowing golden eyes.
"Is that all?"
Before Kalikant could move, Cedric grabbed him by the hair and dragged him inside, slamming the door shut with his boot.
"Father….Noooo, please, let him go." Aliyah screamed trying to reaching out, but Cedric hurled her father against the wall.
Kalikant staggered with blood at his lips, but his eyes still found his daughter. "Run," he gasped. "Run, Aliyah!"
Cedric's hand clamped the old man's skull. The first impact against the wall sent the sound of the crack through the room. The second impact broke some teeth. By the third, blood was splattered across the torchlight.
Cedric didn't stop. He kept pounding, again and again, until the face was nothing but a mashed up flesh, a mess of shattered bone and blood smeared into the wall.
Aliyah's breath slowed down as she lost all hope. Looking at the dead body of her father in that situation entirely broke her apart as she let go of everything and just stayed there with hollow eyes and dry tears.
Cedric let the corpse drop like trash, wiping his bloody hand across his chest. He turned toward her with gleaming eyes and a feverish delight over his face.
"Do you see, little dove?" he said, stepping over her father's ruined body as if it were nothing.
"Even he brought you to me. Even he placed you in my hands. It is your honor. It is my right. To be chosen."
Cedric leaned close to her, "Give thanks," he whispered.
"This is how you serve your savior."
D-Devil! This was the only thing in her mind at that moment.
As the night passed by, the hall screamed in celebration while the chamber was filled with sounds of muffled cries, creaking bed and the flickering torchlight complete contrast to Cedric's laughter echoing all over it.
The next morning, Cedric and his men left the village. The sound of hooves and armor reverberated around as they marched out, laughing, drinking, and boasting of their lord's glory.
Cedric rode at the front , his head high, proud, as if the night before had only been another victory.
Lamine who was alongside him had a completely different expression over his face, something of regret, disdain, and pain.
Behind them, silence.
Aliyah came out after they were gone. Her steps were slow.
Her dress was torn and her body was bruised. Her hair clung to her face and her eyes were empty. She walked through the street, and the villagers only watched. No one spoke. No one reached out. All they did was just stare at their feet.
She didn't stop until she reached the old well at the center of the square. She placed her hands on the stone and leaned forward, staring into the black water below.
For a while, she didn't move. Her lips parted once, but she didn't say anything.
Then she climbed the rim.
Her body slipped over the edge and the splash rang out across the square.
Everyone shouted and gathered around the well with a regretful face and tears in their eyes.
"Ah, this is…heaven"
These were her last words before the water swallowed her.
*
Back in the bar, Cedric's hand shook around his glass.
I went to fetch another bottle of wine since the last one had "accidentally" shattered.
"She gave herself," Cedric muttered. "She wanted me. They all did. I was their shield. Their h-"
Before he could finish his sentence, I smashed the bottle, in my hand, against his skull, making the shards of glass stab his face and the wine spill all over his body. The sound of the glass shattering tore through his eardrums.
His eyes widened as he put his hand over his face to feel the shards.
"Or maybe," I spat on his face, "they were too fucking scared to say no."