"Oh, I did not get that far: the children of all the castle families including ours will be boarding a warship sailing towards my cousin's kingdom to the SouthWest of here. He was the first to volunteer military assistance, and he offered to shelter them. They leave tonight: maybe you could help them pack, and reassure them that they will be safe." My mind was racing with preparations, and this had slipped. I apologized to Cleo for not telling her of this precaution. She kissed me, and rushed out to help them.

The next few weeks rushed past; preparations were complete, our traps were set and baited, and the castle was set for defending. Signals were announced so the people of the town could rush to the safety of the enclosure before they became endangered. The barbarians from the northeast were famous for their 'burned earth' policy, and all natives were horribly tortured and killed.

Our army fought the first battle beyond the fringe of the kingdom and lost, deliberately; we wanted the enemy overconfident and thinking our army would be easy to defeat. Meanwhile they were celebrating late into the night with the wine we had left behind. Sadly, they captured a village intact; all the men were impressed into service, and the homes burned. The women and older girls were used by the troops repeatedly, then bound to simple x-frames in the field before their army. The children were all forced into the largest building, and died when the village was burned.

The x-bound women were carried before the barbarians the next morning, as shields. Many died, some at the hands of their own husbands and fathers who slipped away and mercifully killed them and themselves. The few who survived this died in the battle, as our soldiers overran the barbarians from three sides and inflicted heavy losses while capturing four of their leaders and many barbarian troops. All the leaders were rushed to the castle for interrogation. As I was busy training the troops and directing the relief and support armies' motions, I asked Cleo to handle the questioning.