Chapter 21. Beasts of No Nation

JULIAN

Several days had passed in this hellhole. The smell of urine hung in the air, the cage a messy miasma of human bodies and excreta. I lay in the middle of it all, looking up to the cloudless skies. The moon stared back at me, the stars winking at its sides.

The cart had stopped hours ago, and several tents had been set up nearby. I heard whispers earlier that a village was nearby. If only I had some water and food, my senses might be more accurate. Maybe I heard wrongly. I could not even tell anymore.

The hunger pangs in my cells had rendered my body oblivious to what was real and what was not. My vision almost swirled.

My thoughts wandered back to the battle of Ice Fort, its horrors, and then Xerxes. That bastard! If not for him, I might have been capped as a major general in the army by Roman law. I would be enjoying life in a lavish villa now, eating and drinking, wining and dining. What a life!

“Julian…” A raspy voice drew