Loving Pride

Reds & Blacks

It was quite astounding to Lydia how a single shaving knife could scare away even the mightiest of soldiers. But she realized that it wasn't about the piece of metal, but the inscription on it.

Only if she knew how to read!

Both mother and son smelled nice the next morning, as Lydia had spent nearly an hour scrubbing all the dirt off their bodies the previous night. She had even washed her clothes which had turned into clean rags.

The bogey was quite cramped, but Lydia noticed that the soldiers kept an admirable distance from her, and neither did they speak with her. Thomas was having the time of his life compared to all the others. The boy was enchanted by the brilliant landscape that sprinted by him as he stared out of the window. He could tell that he was going to love Rovania.

Twelve hours passed, and the sky had gone black again. It was a full moon night though, and Lydia enjoyed the view from her window. She leaned back on the cold metal with Thomas sleeping against her bosom, drooling as usual. Even the rest of the soldiers had fallen asleep in their strange fashion.

Most of them lay in heaps on the floor, sleeping like the dead. All men were tired, worn out, or injured. Lydia felt sorry for them and cursed the wretched war that was hurting all of humanity.

When the train came to a sudden stop, followed by a loud horn, none of the soldiers woke up, but Thomas did. It seemed like these soldiers were sleeping for the first time in their lives. The metal door flung open, and a commander fired his gun at the sky, startling most men awake. "Hurry up soldiers! By the time you sleep and wake up, we will have lost the war! Look alive, men! Follow the protocol!" He yelled

The soldiers filed out of the train as quietly as humanely possible, and that was when Lydia realized that they had stopped in the middle of nowhere. It was pitch-black outside, and she could only squeeze Thomas against her for courage.

When the last soldier left, the commander looked her way. Without much of a word, he walked away from the train.

"Excuse me, commander! Have we reached Rovania?"

She was met with silent replies, and she couldn't even find the man in the dark. Everyone had left, and Lydia didn't know where she was.

"Are we going to find the soldiers, Mommy?" Thomas asked.

"Yes, love, we are." She jumped out of the train, realizing that there was no point in standing around. She didn't feel safe letting Thomas walk by himself, so she carried the little boy in her arms. "You'll watch my back, okay, Thomas? If you hear or see anything, you'll tell me." Thomas nodded at his mother's words.

Lydia walked for about an hour until she was positive that there were houses around her. She could make out their tall figures in the dark. But not a soul seemed to be around. Something was not right.

"Mommy," Thomas whispered in her ear, "There's a cigarette in the mud."

Lydia looked at where Thomas was pointing. The cigarette was fresh. Her heart raced at the possibility that it could be Colonel Marquez Agaria who had left it there, but she was instantly discouraged from thinking of other probabilities.

Out of nowhere, a flare gun was fired, and it lit the sky up.

Thomas and Lydia watched the spectacle in awe, but their amusement didn't last long as the buildings suddenly came alive. The lamps were lit, and gunshots were fired.

"Drag all those bloody Reds out and rip off their heads!" Someone shouted.

Lydia heard horses approach her at a fast pace, followed by more gunshots. She could sense a stampede, so she ran towards a cracked wall in the distance, right before a few gunshots came her way. Her heart was beating erratically.

Thomas was terrified and thrilled at the same time to witness a real war. They watched as the Reds were ambushed by the Blacks. Multiple men were shot down, and Lydia pressed her son's ears shut as she watched gunshot after gunshot ignite the quiet town.

A soldier threw a grenade, and that increased her panic. She grabbed Thomas and ran down the backyards of houses. The explosion scared her terribly and made her flinch. Thomas was beginning to realize the seriousness of the situation when his mother hid behind a chicken coop.

"Why is everyone shooting?"

"Don't talk, shh, it's all going to be over. Please don't speak." Lydia slapped his mouth shut.

Right then, soldiers ran into the backyard, chasing a family who had tried to escape. "Shoot all men and boys. Take the women!" A soldier ordered, and those around him took aim before mercilessly shooting the head of the family, including his sons. The mother and daughter lamented helplessly as they were dragged away by the soldiers.

"Thomas, be quiet now and stay in here." She pushed the boy into the empty coop and draped a cloth around him to prevent anyone from spotting the child. "No matter what happens, even if I get killed, don't come out of there." She squeezed his shoulders and whispered a second time, "Stay as quiet as possible."

Thomas Marquez Agaria had never been this terrified before. The words that his mother uttered made his hands tremble. He didn't know what to do. He had many questions to ask, but he was scared that his mother would die if he asked them. So he quietly sat trembling in the coop with a cloth draped around him.

The gunshots and screams only seemed to get worse now, and Lydia watched as many families were dragged out of their homes until they were brutally killed on the streets. In the distance, she almost caught a glimpse of Colonel Marquez Agaria on a horse as he shot a man looking as bored as always, but she pushed that thought away as it was her mind playing tricks on her. But it was not.

Lydia Thorne realized the reason for the current war.

In the six months that she had spent as a vagabond with her son, she had heard rumors of Rovania being renovated by the Red Army. They had earned control of the town three years ago.

But now the Black Unity wanted Rovania back.

Hence, they were murdering Red soldiers mercilessly. Many of the greatest powers of the Red Army had even settled in Rovania with their families. All of them were being hunted, one by one.

And Colonel Marquez Agaria was heading the Black Unity on this mission.