The War God’s Favorite
Chapter 23
The Red Room
Cassandra stared at the man, a bit lost as to how to react. She was no stranger to men’s unwanted and dirty sollicitations. As a slave, she had gotten her fair share. She even got touched a couple of times, though she would rather forget those. She even found herself lucky to have preserved her virginity until she met the Prince.
“Isn’t she just a slave? We know our Commander-in-Chief doesn’t care about his concubines anyway! I bet he doesn’t care if we get a taste of this one either.”
“You idiot, didn’t you attend last night’s dinner? His Highness acted differently with this one,” said another of the blacksmiths. “Go ahead, Moar, but don’t blame us if you lose your head for that!”
Hearing this, the man seemed to hesitate. Actually, Cassandra also noticed the other men seemed torn as well. Those who had been leering at her were now reconsidering the question, looking at her in a new light. Some apparently felt the question wasn’t worth losing their life over, and got back to work, ignoring her. The man named Moar, however, clicked his tongue, annoyed from not getting any more support from his fellow peers.
“That little pussy. You better not wander off alone, Missy, or you’ll get a taste of me.”
Cassandra didn’t like the threat, but she did not respond. She felt that man wasn’t worth it, and anyway, she didn’t want to stay here any longer. He probably wouldn’t dare to do anything in plain sight, and with so many witnesses. Ignoring him, she turned around and left, her heart beating a bit faster than usual. She knew the kind of man that Moar was, and she really hoped she wouldn’t see him again.
“Should we go back to His Highness’ tent, perhaps?” suggested Evin.
Cassandra didn’t really feel like it yet. She had visited only a small portion of the camp, and she felt like she would be losing to that horrid man if she went back to hide in the Prince’s tent. She hesitated for a second wondering what would be the right thing to do.
“Madam!”
They turned around. Orwan had left the Forge to come to them, running, and out of breath. He shook his head, a bit fidgety.
“I’m very sorry about that, Moar is…a jerk, Madam. I’m very sorry, I wish I could have shown you around some more.”
Cassandra didn’t hold Orwan responsible at all. She didn’t really care about the incident because it was only words and she was fine. Instead, she just gave him a gentle smile.
“It’s alright, Orwan. Actually…”
“Yes?”
“Could you show me to the Red Room?”
He shook his head even faster, very embarrassed.
“I can’t, Madam. It really isn’t a place you should go.”
“I’m curious about it, please?”
Orwan exchanged a look with the servant, but as usual, Evin didn’t betray a single emotion, staying quiet and still the whole time. It was hard to say what he thought about Cassandra’s request, even if he had voiced his opinion against it earlier. However, he didn’t say anything now. He probably had to respect Cassandra’s choices anyway. Eventually, Orwan sighed.
“1 promise.”
She followed the young man across the camp, ignoring more stares on the way. She wondered where the Prince was. Probably busy with some high ranked general. Krai was nowhere to be seen, too, so she assumed the dragon might have been napping or hunting somewhere. Finally, they reached a building that had actually been carved into the mountain, with a narrow entrance guarded by two soldiers. They only gave a glance at Cassandra’s red dress, but let them through without questions. Inside, Cassandra was surprised to find several rooms that had been dug deep into the rocks, most of them were for storage of food or weapons. A lot of people were also working there, and seemed busy enough not to pay attention to the trio.
But Orwan took her to a further, isolated room, where he stood at the entrance. Unlike what they had seen so far, there was no one around that place. The apprentice frowned and stood at the entrance, turning to her.
“The injured are brought…here, Madam.”
“Here…?”
Cassandra took a step inside the room, and was immediately horrified. This was no place for people to rest and recover! The whole floor had been tainted with blood, a sad explanation for this place’s name. She walked in, still a bit disgusted, but she couldn’t ignore the dozens of men laying there, right on the ground. A lot of them were in a really, really bad state. Cassandra had seen a lot in her life, but the fresh wounds, cut limbs, and disfigured faces still gave her nausea, especially since nothing was being done for them. She even suspected there were some dead bodies lying among them.
“What about doctors?” she asked Evin, who was following her with his mouth covered.
“We don’t have enough at the camp. They usually take care of the most important soldiers first, which means the higher-ranked ones.”
Cassandra frowned. This was horrible. So many of those men didn’t even get the most basic treatment and were just left here to suffer! She looked around, but this place definitely wasn’t a place to heal. Orwan was right. This was a place to die. It was obvious that no one cared. There were a few men working around, but they only seemed to check on the injured, take out the corpses, and excrements. It was a horrid place, and that only made Cassandra madder. She kept walking inside, surprising Evin.
“Madam, don’t you want to leave? This place is…”
“These people need help,” Cassandra interrupted him. “This place doesn’t even have windows, or water.”
“Wh…why would they need windows?”
“The air needs to circulate! A stagnant place like this will only help the sickness spread around.”
“They will spread it if we take them out!”
“I doubt it. It’s way too cold outside, and the tents are spread far from one another. The cold would kill the viruses and they aren’t spread easily anyway. Not when it’s from these types of infections”
The servant was speechless. How could a mere slave know so much! Even for a concubine, this was truly hard to hear. Moreover, Cassandra didn’t seem to mind the horrid smell, or sight of the injured men, at all. Instead, she kept going from one bed to another, observing the injuries, and checking around as if she was looking for something, or counting.
“Who is working here?”
“Only volunteers…or people who got punished, Madam.”
Cassandra turned to one of the men present, who had been observing her in awe. She addressed him, to his surprise.
“Excuse me, are you working here?”
“I came to check on my friend, Madam. He was injured last week.”
“Do you come every day?”
“Yes, Madam. I come in my free time, but…”
He didn’t end his sentence, but shrugged and sighed helplessly. Cassandra nodded, and started to interrogate the other healthy men that were present. Three of them came of their own will to check on their peers, the six others were sent here as a punishment from their superiors. They didn’t seem to have any precise orders though. The Prince’s concubine listened to every one of them, making them all the more curious to know what made a woman of her status so interested in this cursed place. When they were done, Cassandra turned to Evin.
“Is anyone in charge here?”
“Not that I know of, Madam, this is for the full army.”
“So, it’s fine if I work here, right?
The servant almost choked.
“If you what? You can’t be serious! You can’t stay here!”
“It’s fine, I have to keep myself busy, and these men need help.”
“Madam, I strongly oppose this. Those men are not for you to take care of! I doubt Our Lord will agree to this either!”
But Cassandra decided to ignore him. She looked down, and tore a bit of her dress, using the fabric to cover her nose and mouth. Then, she turned to the men present.
“Can you help me create a list of how many men are in here and their condition? There should be about…one or two hundred, right?”
The men exchanged looks. Were they supposed to listen to the Commander-in-Chief’s concubine? Her request was so odd and sudden. However, one of the men, who was there voluntarily, took a breath in and stepped forward.