Finding Contentus

Chapter 130: Heyday

A month's time. That is the answer Renero gave Ramsis. As the weeks stretched into the month of departure, so did the rows of corpses that had to be burnt on a weekly basis.

It was an unequivocal, non-verbal agreement of surrender. It didn't really feel like it. Ramsis offered the remaining numbers of his conditioned army to the Petorians like meat on silver platters. That included all of his hooded followers.

They had served him well over the years. At the same time, Ramsis despised how well they served him, so he offered their services to Renero.

There were no battles. No skirmishes. No gruesome close calls, clattering of weapons, crunches of bone, shouts of despair. None of that really. The conditioned army and hooded followers would simply appear sporadically in different parts of Petora, awaiting their deaths like cattle for slaughter. Cattle that did not struggle.

Because in truth, they weren't killing humans. All those people were no longer people. Their humanity had been ripped away from them. They were slaves to Anubis, and Renero called for them to be freed, as properly as possible anyway.

The Petorians dealt with them smoothly each week. Chelsee and Tsonga headed the generous executions, signalling the swift ends. There was a featureless air to the mundane affairs in which no manner of satisfaction was gained in the slightest.

Even the wind sighed tiredly as though breathing through the earth was a chore that had to be done. Bonfires would blaze on with the stench of their scattered bodies across the ill grass.

"Gettin' real tired of having all this smoke stingin' me eyes," Chlo complained after she had dumped another useless body, stacking it onto the pile of fodder.

"Is it stupid of me to say that I prefered when they actually fought back?" Roisin asked, wrinkling her nose at the smell.

Holly shrugged. "Not really," she said, tallying the numbers.

Lea stopped her counting for a moment, suspicious. "Is this really it?" She sounded both underwhelmed and overwhelmed. "Is it... over?"

Ellen came by, squinting up at the hammering flames that matched all their hair. "Looks like it." She glanced to the side, keeping an eye on their army.

Boba Khona were on the far side, their army jumping about as usual. Except, they weren't chanting or singing. They jumped to keep their bodies active out of habit rather than adrenaline. The riots took a break to look at their respective husbands.

Tabz rubbed his goatee beard like he didn't know what else to do. "Gents, this is trash." He felt the need to say.

Fufu's shoulders were slouched as he loaded body after body on a wheelbarrow. "Not the type of cooking I'd have expected," he said, watching the bodies being reduced to stew.

Sevy's muscles didn't look like they were on the verge of popping as he carried a mound of corpses. "How the fuck am I getting weak from this?" His body looked deflated.

Yaya played with his razor sharp yo-yo weapon in pure boredom, squatting and chewing on biltong. "Cause there's no strength to be gained," he said blandly.

S'bu didn't even have any lipstick as he waved his hands back and forth, sprinkling flickers of fire here and there. "And no fashion whatsoever," he muttered, tight-lipped.

Boba Khona, feeling the stares of their wives, looked back at them. Their entangled gazes twisted, coming to a stark realization. The entire war had been utterly pointless, a futile means to an end that Ramsis failed to get at their expense. All the lives they lost, all in the hopes of him losing his life to Renero, or to Ishthrylla, were a waste.