Joyra

2

Joyra's heart starts to beat twice as fast. They have heard about this from other villages, but they never thought this would happen to them. Milo is still asking her what's going on. He pulls her coat and asks again: 'Joyra, what's going on?'. Joyra is startled out of her mind and grabs Milo by his arm. She starts walking towards the door. Milo protests but she silences him. Joyra does not look back and walks straight back to the village. 'Joyra, you're hurting me' cries Milo. But she doesn't listen. There is only one thing on her mind., get Milo home. She is practically running towards his house where his mother is already waiting for him. When she sees them approaching she runs towards Milo and hugs him tight. Milo does not understand what's happening and tries to wrestle his way out of his mother's arms. It doesn't work and she pulls him inside. Just as the door closes big trumpets start screaming for everyone's attention. Joyra looks up, it comes from the center of the village. A loud voice starts calling people to come. Hesitantly people come out of their houses and start walking towards the soldiers. Joyra follows them. It's a ridiculous sight. By the looks of the uniforms, there are six soldiers, two of them are carrying the flag of Adarlan. The other four are heavenly armed. In the middle of the soldiers are two horses with by the looks of it carry two royal men. One looks very bored and the other looks arrogant. Well, no they both look arrogant, but one of them just looks more like the leader of the two. When enough people gathered around he sits up straight and starts talking.

'Dear people of Kazán. Thank you all for coming here. My name is prince Dorian of Adarlan and this is my younger brother Alexander.' Alexander looks around the people and stops when he sees Alexy, the daughter of one of the farmers. Without any shame, he winks at her and stares at her breasts. She starts blushing and looks down. Prince Dorian continues: 'As you have undoubtedly heard our country is at war. Rebels, evil rebels are trying to destroy our way of life. And we must stop them. An older lady, Mrs. Slovia, steps forwards and says: 'We have heard this speech before and then you took all our strong men with you. We have no one left to give to you, you must know that. Who do you want to take now? Our elderly? I'm sorry to say but my old man cannot even carry a bag of flour around the house let alone hold a gun!' People murmur in agreement. Last year the soldiers (without the royals) also came and took all the fathers with them. Every man who could carry and fire a gun had to come. Most of the men never came back, Joyra's father included. Prince Dorian answers: 'That's right, we are not here to take our elderly. They have served our country before and deserve the freedom.' Suddenly a woman works her way into the crowd until she stands before the two princes. Her eyes are narrowed and she says: 'You're here to take the children aren't you?' A shock flows through the crowd and everyone starts talking. Prince Dorian tries to calm the crowd but it has no use. Everyone is talking loudly and people try to walk to the princes. The soldiers poke with their speers to keep them away. Suddenly they hear a gunshot. A few birds fly away scared and one falls down dead and the crowd of people is immediately quiet. Alexander is still holding his gun in the air en screams: 'Everyone quiet now or the next one I shoot will not be a bird.' Everyone is quiet and you can hear a needle drop. 'Thank you brother' responds Dorian as he turns to the crowd again. 'Listen to all. I know this is a shock to most of you, but if we ever want to stop the rebels we have to work together. So that means every boy from the age of 12 till 16 must report tomorrow at 12 o'clock. We will search houses and trees if someone hides. If you all just cooperate it will be way easier for all of us. Right before anyone can say anything they turn around and ride away. When they are out of side the bomb explodes. Everyone is talking, screaming, and crying. The boys are looking pale and some of them are shaking. Joyra is furious. 12-year-old boys? It was a big shock when they took all the boys above 16, let alone take 12-year-olds. She knows a lot of boys from this age, she has been their teacher since they were 8. 

While the crowd is still busy talking and discussing what they should do, Joyra walks home. She cannot lose the bad feeling in her stomach. She knows what happens in wars like this, they never return. A year ago about 30 men total left town to fight in the war. Fathers and sons above sixteen went together. Now, a year later only four men returned. A 17-year-old boy returned with only one leg which was destroyed in a gunfight. Two fathers returned and one young man, who was just married a couple of months before he left. All of them with battle scars no one ever asked about. Four out of thirty people survived whatever was going on out there, the others were never heard of or are still out there fighting. Joyra's father is still fighting somewhere, they did not receive a dead note from him, not yet at least. The thought of such young boys following this path was terrible. Joyra's mother was already home. She did not come to the gathering as she already suspected what they were going to say. She stood before the window when Joyra came in. Without turning around she said: 'They want more of us, don't they.' Joyra could not hold her tears anymore. She walked up to her mother and hugged her tight, all tears of horror came out. They stood there for quite some time. The night fell and no one was outside anymore. Everyone returned to their houses, searching for escape plans, saying goodbyes, giving advice. Tomorrow nothing would never be the same. Kazán would be a town with barely any men, the woman left behind. They would be okay, but without their children, their sons, their husbands, nothing would ever be the same. 

A loud clatter of horses' hooves woke Joyra up. She got up and got dressed. Today was the day, and they were very early. Her mother was already up, so was her sister. Her sister came home very late yesterday, probably because she needed time to say goodbye to her boyfriend Mike. He just turned sixteen which means he has to go today. Joyra has an older brother and a younger sister. Her brother was also at the front, but since he was a doctors trainee he was a bit safer. He left two years ago with an army surgeon. They did not speak during the meal, there were no words to be spoken. After the meal, they went outside. It was barely morning but everyone was already coming out of her house. Joyra even saw miss Serpantia. She came all the way up the hill to say goodbye. The mood was very grim. The princes looked rich and proud upon their gorgeous horses. They brought way more soldiers than yesterday, probably afraid that people will fight and run. Especially, prince Alexander looks so proud and arrogant. Prince Dorian has more compassion in his eyes, luckily since he is the crown prince and next in line to be king. Prince Dorian begins to speak: 'Dear people of Kazán, thank you all for being here on this special day. Today you serve our country and my father, the king. Today new soldiers rise to protect our people and serve their king. All boys from the age of 12 till 16 please come forward and register yourself.' Behind Prince Dorian, prince Alexander gives some of the soldiers a command to go to the houses in case of some stragglers. The registration takes about an hour. Three boys are being dragged out of their houses, they tried to hide and escape, all of them just turned 12. Joyra knows these boys very well, she has been teaching them since they were very young. Their mothers cry and scream as the soldiers take their boys, some hold the mothers. It's chaos, people want to do something but they know that there will be no mercy for those who stand up against the king and his rules. This whole war is because of people who rise up against the king. The boys tremble and cry as they stand next to the other boys. Nineteen boys in total. Joyra's heart is burning from anger. These boys are not ready to fight, to see death, to kill other people. They are still kids that need protection and help. Then, without her noticing, she walks forward and says: 'Who will take care of these boys? Who is helping them learn how to fight and cope with the war? They are still kids, someone has to take care of them!' A lot of mothers vote with her. They start yelling that it's not fair. Prince Dorian looks back at prince Alexander, who looks around. Then, without any consultation, he points at Joyra. 'You, you have such a big mouth, you come.' 'No, not my girl!' screams Joyra's mother. But Joyra says: 'It's okay mother, he thinks I won't do it. But I will, I'll come.' Prince Alexander grins as he turns back to stand next to his brother. All Joyras nerves are working like mad, she does not think about what just happened, she just packs her stuff. Her mother is still crying while saying: 'why, why!' and her sister is mad at her. 'Why did you say yes? What about us, what about mom? Does she need to lose another child?' Joyra looks at her and says: 'Listen May, I was there teacher, I know these kids. Their mothers would only care for their own children. They need someone to look out for them. And while I'm there I can maybe find some more information about dad and Lucas. And I can keep an eye on Mike for you.' May nods and hugs Joyra tight. Their hug is interrupted by loud knocks on the door. Joyra breaks free from the hug and says: ' Goodbye May, goodbye mom.' Without waiting for their reaction she walks out the door with the soldiers. Nothing about her life, about her future, was sure anymore. It was all blanc.