Chapter 4 Orphans and Swords

"Stay here where you are! Do not leave this place, no matter what you see or hear!" Anibal warned both his terrified mother and sister that cried sitting on the bench they had been sleeping a few minutes ago.

"No, please, hijo mío, don't go! I beg you Anibal, stay here with us!" Doña Anastacia implored in sobs.

"There is no use for me if I stay in here. Surely I'll be handier outside with the rest of the men and soldiers."Anibal fastened his belt and slid the two gilded daggers inside their cases. They were preciously carved and a valuable item he bought in Constantinople, but they were the only weapon he had, and they proved to be lethal when he killed that bastard Moor outside his dwelling.

"I'll go with you, son. There will be more wounded arriving pretty soon." Don Gerardo grabbed the leather bag containing his medical instruments and bandages. Anibal and his father kissed both Amelia and Doña Anastacia and scampered through the church passing amongst the cluttered refugees, most of them children and women that refused to leave the sacred place.

Anibal didn't believe what his eyes witnessed once he first stepped out of the holy precinct. There was great chaos in the outsides of the Cathedral. A stampede of villagers came all bawling and irrupted in the front patio of the Cathedral. The anguish and despair reflected on their visages was indescribable. It was the ghastly face of death... Death that took the form of the Moor soldiers. Those who were lucky were the ones that made it through the steep narrow street to get to the top of the mound where La Seu Vella rested. It was not Sunday service; they were escaping from the pandemonium unleashed in the city of Lerida.

Most of the villagers were injured people that once arrived to the outer atrium, they fell on the cobblestoned floor gasping for air and throbbing. They waited hopeless for a Samaritan to give them some attention. Entire families and loners appeared frightened in the middle of the night, the best time to attack a city for the enemy and the worst for those under siege.

"I'll go to revise those injured in that corner. You can go and help the children and widows to find a place." Don Gerardo told his son and walked away towards a group of wounded men placed in a cart.

Anibal took a deep breath and stared to the horizon. His gaze went above the heads of the pitiful multitude and got lost where grayish smoke columns elevated into the starry night. The sounds of the ity were terrifying. Anibal walked spell bounded by the mortuary chants of the doomed, those who where perishing under the blade strike. The scholar stood by the walls where he had a perfect view of Lerida. He could see the whole city from above... Anibal was the only one standing there, like a morbid sentinel witnessing Lerida's fall. The rest of the people around him just wanted to avoid what he craved to see.

Dark figures were moving between the city's streets, thumping with every step that echoed on the city walls. Hundreds of torches flickered here and there illuminating the path of a Spaniard soldier of the damned way of a Benimerime warrior. At some point they will collide and they will fight. Only one will result victorious.

Dozens of Spanish legionnaires posted in front of the duke's manor and some others around the plaza to protect the heart of the city. Those who dwelled around the town square were luckier than those who lived in the city outskirts. Unfortunately, the latter had already lost their homes and most of them had died.

Horses galloped throughout the city making a thundering sound as they march throughout La Ciudadela. It was a synchronized stumping of men and beasts and it was painful to hear... terrifying to imagine what was going down the heart of Lerida.

Anibal felt something hit him on his leg and he got disconnected from his thoughts. He looked down and he saw a dog. It was a small hairy animal that probably was seeking for a warm place to cuddle.

"Lalo! Lalo! Ven acá! Come here Lalo!"A kid came running after the dog.

Anibal stared fixatedly to the boy that looked somehow relieved to have found his dog. The boy looked up to smile to Anibal who couldn't take his eyes off the lad.

"Augusto! My son!"Anibal kneeled to hug tightly the poor boy who managed to escape from the stranger's embrace. Anibal kept whispering the name of his dead son to the boy's ear. "Augusto... oh my dear son Augusto."

The boy was confused and scared. "Let me go señor! I am not Augusto!"

Anibal's eyes were filled with tears. He shook his head trying to order his thoughts. He let go the kid, but instead of the boy running away he stared back pitifully to a crying Anibal.

"You don't know where your son Augusto is, señor? I can help you find him." The boy placed his puppy on the floor and extended his hand to take Anibal's.

"Thank you lad. But I'm afraid I will never be able to find my son again." Anibal stuttered and sobbed.

"Why is that señor?"

"Because my son Augusto... he is an angel now?"

"Those bastards killed him like they did with my mamá and papá." The boy raged in his statement and his eyes moistened immediately.

Anibal opened his eyes widely. Those words, not proper for the mouth of a child, spoke only the truth. It was no point of reprimanding the kid. It was better for the lad to take out that sorrow and anger. He was an orphan because of the Moor's raids and he was alone in this world because of the cruelty of war. "What is your name boy?"

"Me llamo Felipe" The boy replied, still gasping.

"Are you hungry Felipe?"

"Yes, señor, a lot."

"Well, I know a pair of ladies inside the cathedral that can give you something to eat. Do you want to meet them?"

"Sí, señor." The boy's face glowed with hope and the sudden sadness vanished away in the instant he was told he would eat something.

Felipe grabbed Lalo in his arms and walked with Anibal inside the church.

After leaving Felipe with his mother and sister, Anibal was determined to do something. That lad that reminded him so much to his lost son, Augusto made him reflect on the situation. Anibal couldn't stay there without doing anything. There in the streets of Lerida were more Felipes and more Augustos perishing as war casualties. Only the thought infuriated him and he hurried his walk out of the cathedral.

Once outside, Anibal searched for his father. He needed to help those in needs, maybe he could find more orphans to help and give some food. Anibal spotted Don Gerardo, still attending the injured piled in the cart placed in the corner of the cathedral building.

He avoided looking down. The anguish and despair reflected on the faces of the refugees was a mirror. He knew his face, after losing his wife and son, would appear in the same way: ghastly and appalled. He was feeling how his façade was dripping down, the same way his whole life did that night his beloved family was viciously murdered by the moor soldiers.

Anibal stumbled with something. He tripped with something left on the floor. No, it was not a thing. It was a man hunched in the middle of the patio.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't notice you were there." Anibal offered his apologies and bended down to help the man to stand up.

The guy's face was covered with blood and he held tight a small bundle in his arms. The cloth wrapping the package was stained in red too. The man was sobbing uncontrollably rocking the bundle and kissing it. That's when Anibal saw the small face of a baby with eyes closed and purple lips.

Anibal's world seemed to tumble down. That poor man was embracing tightly a dead baby, his own newborn. De Albis gave a few steps back, shocked for the horrid scene. He tried to breath but it was almost impossible. Anibal grabbed his painful chest, gasping for air. The scholar looked everywhere as if he needed to find something else amongst the crowd of strangers around him. Anibal kept walking backwards confused, astounded... disturbed.

Anibal looked to the floor and next to him there was sitting a man with a bandage around his head. He studied quickly the man, feeling only pity for him. But when he was about to turn away, the reflection of the light on the iron blade of a sword right beside the guy made him react.

"Hey, you! Señor! How much do you want for that sword?"