“Raia!” said Roderick in panic, seeing his little daughter in such a pce. He immediately leaves the boy’s arm and runs to carry his daughter. However, Raia staggered back when he approached her too close too quickly and fell back, which stopped him in his steps. The expression on his face was terrified.

  “Daniel, cover up for me” said Roderick to his comrade in the patrol Daniel, while slowly approaching his daughter. His expression looked both hurt and broken.

  “Raia, we will go home. Please come for dad” said Roderick crouching and extending his open arms for his daughter. Soon enough Raia came into his arms, digging her face in his shoulder. She was crying.

  “it’s alright, dad is here now” said Roderick hugging her close. Slowly the silent crowd started to talk again.

  “So, he does love his children”

  “I hate nothing more than a hypocrite”

  “YES! If you were going to take our children. It is only natural we take yours!” However, all the shouts and boos of the crowd were all empty insults and threats. None of these vilgers can measure up to a trained spearman like Roderick even if they are combined. Hence, he just ignored the shouts, covering his daughter’s ears and forcing a smile on his face, while carrying her up and out of the crowd.

  “Papa… why was that boy crying…” Said Raia finally after being dead silent the whole time. She was still under shock from what she saw, the father in her memories and that one just now was strikingly different. She couldn’t stop herself from asking who was that she saw just now.

  “it’s been hard tely… Papa had to do that for the greater good of the town” said Roderick, with a faint voice, he was never a good liar. However, he couldn’t bring himself to tell his daughter the whole truth. He was afraid if he did, it would never be the same again. That he won’t be able to see her smile again the same as before. That he will shatter his most valuable treasure.

  “The boy will be in a better pce” Continued Roderick, his voice shaking. He was not lying, he just never knew himself what happened to those boys. All the news circuting around were but mere rumors, no one knows for certain what the king intends to do with them. But that was enough to dishearten Roderick’s heart whatever he had to take another one, he would never like to send his child into the unknown.

  “Papa… would Fredrik, David, or Shawn… be taken away from Raia someday?” said Raia, her voice was still shaking. She kept imaging losing her own brothers to the same fate and being at the pce where that man was a moment ago.

  “I would never let that happen” said Roderick, there was a great amount of certainty in his voice. He would never let anything like this happen, no matter what he had to pay. He was more than ready for anything and everything for his family. A mad man for his family. At st, they finally reached home. Silvia was already sitting at the door; she was gloomy and out of breath. It seemed like she was running around the city all day looking for Raia. However, seeing her husband holding Raia back home, made her face beam with happiness. Tears of reassurance, and shouts of joy.

  ‘Anything… I said I will do anything’ Thought Roderick to himself, with a heavy heart.

  It was already night by the time Raia was back to her senses. She was already in the bedroom; her brothers returned a while ago and were all ying down on their beds. Tired from the long day work.

  “Raia come here” said Fredrick, the oldest of the brothers, with a serious expression, waiting for his little sister to come to him.

  “So, you really saw dad at work today?” asked Fredrick, when Raia had finally made her way to him. The brothers were already aware of what their father was doing. So, the mother decided to tell them what happened today, so they could take care of their sister well. At st, Raia nodded confirming her brother’s question.

  “So, she really saw it” replied Shawn, the youngest of the brothers, with a bit of concern in his voice. He was still 10 years old, and didn’t know how to feel about the whole suitation himself.

  “What does it matter anyway. he is a hypocrite anyway; he got what he deserved” said David the second eldest of the siblings. Back when they were kids, he had a cherry personality and was absolutely mesmerized by stories of knights and valiant warriors. He always wanted to be one when he grew up, and still didn’t give up on that dream.

  “David, I hope you keep your openion to yourself. You are helping no one here” said Fredrick, aside from the fact that he was already 16, being the oldest of the siblings, made him mature faster than the rest of his peers. He did understand his brother’s disdain for their father. However, he could not let it spread to Raia.

  “You are just a punch of idiots! Forget it, I am sleeping” said David, in an angry tone. He had never been the same in the st two years. He could never look at his father the same again, calling himself a town guard, while being every citizen’s worest nightmare. For him, who highly admired knights, he was nothing but a hypocrite.

  “Sigh… Listen Raia” said Fredrick, guiding Raia to set on his b.

  “let’s say there is a big herd of goat, which was protected by other big and horned goats. Do we call these goats, good or bad?” asked Fredrick, patting his sister head.

  “They are good, they protect their friends” Answered Raia with no issue or hesitation.

  “Good, let’s now say. Someday a group of big bad wolves came down to the goat valley. There were too many, not even the big goats could stop them. But they gave the goats a choice, to either give them one goat every full moon. Or they all die” said Fredrick stopping for a while to make sure his sister has fully pictured the scene. He was trying to inform her of the town’s current suitation, without getting her shocked about it. She could not stay in the dark about all this any longer. At st, Raia nodded.

  “So, the big goats decided to give the wolves one goat every month. So, the goats could live longer till the wolves leave. But the normal goats still refused, not wanting to see the bigger picture. Would the big goats then be bad?” asked Fredrick, her knew himself the suitation of the city was vastly different. Human emotion cannot be simplified in goats, even if they knew it was for the greater good, it would still be terrifying to lose one of your kids. However, he was trying to convey the message to his sister in the most light-hearted way possible.

  “No, they are still good…. They saved many other goats…” Said Raia after great hesitation coming to a conclusion.

  “Is Papa a big goat?” asked Raia, tilting her head in concern. She was thinking now. ‘Is this what Papa felt, every time he did that?’ she could finally understand her father only a little bit. However, she could not shake the scene from this morning of her head, and it worsened even more when her brother finally nodded confirming her thoughts.

  “Papa is having a hard time, currently. We should always support him, Raia. For he will never leave any of us in danger. He loves you the most of us Raia” said Fredrick, caressing his sister cheek. It is already te, Raia. You should sleep now” continued Fredrick, carrying his sister and putting her to her bad.

  That day, Raia could hear the voices of her parents and brothers talking the whole night. However, she could no make out any of what they were saying. In a way it was suffocating for her. She wanted to help, yet she was too afraid to know the whole truth. So many questions lingered in her mind, who are the wolves? when will the wolves leave? will she be like David if she ever knew the whole truth? will she really hate her father? The same gentle and caring man? Soon enough her mind drifted to dreamnd.

  It has been 3 years since then.

  abu_nur