The next morning, Ana woke to the Alpha lifting her out of bed. She immediately tried to snuggle into his chest, keen for the comfort she had missed all night, but Maddoc bathed her, applied the salve to her back, and dressed her without saying a word.
Strangely, he dressed her in a long olive dress that was typical commoner wear. The coarse material scratched her skin but she found she liked the style and fit. He pushed hard sandals on her feet and brushed her hair so that it fell loosely over her shoulders.
Picking her up again, he carried her out of the pavilion toward the clearing she was in yesterday. A number of highcloaks waited for them by the campfire, and as soon as Maddoc joined them, they all started heading in a specific direction.
Ana took the opportunity to enjoy being in Maddoc's arms. She hated that she did, but it wasn't as though she had a choice. When she pressed her cheek against his chest and sighed, he looked down on her, his beard twitching. She scowled and turned her face in toward his chest so he couldn't see her face.
When she turned her face back out again, they had left the camp and were trudging through bushes and bramble and leaves. Ana cursed inwardly. She had missed how they exited the base, and didn't even know which direction they had headed in to access it.
She remained alert, trying to make note of what she saw, but all around them was greenery and bushes. It was impossible to pinpoint anything in particular.
Finally, they came to a more spacious area where horses awaited them. Maddoc climbed the same huge, black horse he had ridden to the base and placed Ana on the saddle in front of him, a thick arm around her securing her against his body.
They rode for a long time, possibly even longer than when they had arrived here, but Ana had been so disorientated she couldn't tell. Being on the horse for so long, she began to ache, and right when as she thought she couldn’t take any more, the horses angled to the left and the forest began to thin out. They rode into a medium-sized town and stopped outside of a tavern.
Maddoc dismounted and lifted Ana off the horse, but this time allowed her to stand, even though his arm remained around her.
They all headed to the outskirts of the town, toward the fields and took position in a small cluster of abandoned buildings near one of the fields.
The highcloaks clearly had a routine. Some of them positioned themselves farther down, crouched behind a broken wall. The ones with Maddoc rolled a blanket underneath the windows to kneel on, propped up a bow next to the window, lay their swords on the floor in front of their knees, and took out magnifying lenses to look through.
Maddoc rolled a blanket on the floor and knelt down, pulling Ana to stand next to him, his arm around her hips. She didn't need to kneel.
"I have been watching these fields for a while," he began in a low voice. "There are eight farmers across the entirety of the land, but in this quarter, only two manage it. Their families help them maintain their crops." He gave her a magnifying lens, and she took it, confused about why he was telling her this. Through the lens she saw men, women, and children working on the land.
"These farmers don't own this land," Maddoc said, taking back the lens. "They used to, but they were forced to sell when the owner of the neighboring lands threatened their family if they didn't."
Ana made a face. That shouldn't have happened. Anyone forcing someone to sell through threats should be dealt with by the crown. The farmers could have petitioned for a hearing with the king.
"Since they have been bought, they have not been able to meet the quota of crops demanded by the new landowners," Maddoc continued. "They have struggled mainly for two reasons; the land is too big for the two farmers and their families to successfully manage, and the crops that the landowners want do not grow well on this kind of land."
Ana nodded. These landowners seemed like they were being unnecessarily unreasonable.
“At the beginning of this quarter, the landowners told the farmers that if they did not meet their requirements, they would be made nameless."
Ana shot Maddoc a sharp look. That was not the way things were supposed to go. She had read the boring rules around landownership, farming, and crops when she had been researching him. It was completely unlawful to threaten namelessness for those reasons. Besides, only the crown could make someone nameless, not some noble with an ego.
Maddoc met her gaze, but she was unable to read the look in his eyes. He gestured back toward the fields. "Watch."
Ana turned to see horses approaching the field where the families were frantically working. There were at least fifteen horses!
A dark tremble drifted at the pit of her stomach. Something was wrong. It was impossible for fifteen people to own one piece of land, so what were so many doing here?
The horses stopped by the field, and the riders called out to the farmers and their families. They reluctantly all stood together while they conversed.
Ana watched closely, wishing she could hear what was being said between them. She hoped the farmers were threatening them with the crown and Allandis Law that had been so painstakingly put together to avoid abuses of this kind.
Suddenly, one of the people on the horses drew a sword and pointed it at the farmers. Ana tensed, unable to believe the sight in front of her. Surely, this person would not attack anyone in broad daylight simply for not providing crops on time.
The families in the field shuffled on their feet, and then one of them began running across the field as fast as they possibly could. Ana watched in shock, hoping that he would be able to find some help before the rest of them were hurt, but suddenly, he fell to the ground, sprawled out. She gasped and clung to the edge of the window.
Looking back at the men on horses, she saw that one of them held a bow and arrow.
The remainder of the families, huddled closer together, but the rider moved the bow and arrow and aimed it at them.
Some of the riders dismounted and headed toward the families,
“This is the way they make them nameless," Maddoc murmured, as the riders approached the farmers’ families. “After this, they will have no status in society and no one will believe them.” It wasn't clear what they were doing, but it was clear that it was violent. Some of the farmers fell to the ground, some of them were pushed until they became a big jumble of people and she couldn't determine what was happening.
Ana shook her head in horror, but just as she was about to say something, Maddoc handed her the magnifying lens again and gestured that she looked through it.
Nerves rolled in her stomach, but she lifted the lens to her eyes. The sight sickened her.
The riders were much better dressed than the farmers; it was easy to tell who was who, and they were carrying out the most horrific acts.
One man was driving his sword into the twitching torso of a man lying on the ground, another had a woman on her knees and held her head as he pushed his cock into her face, a third man had a young girl on her knees, gripping her ass as he pounded into her, her panties tangled at her knees, and yet another man was doing the same to a young boy. Another older boy was topless and being whipped on his bare skin as he knelt. An older man, possibly one of the farmers, was watching in horror while another one of the riders stood by talking to him.
"You can increase the distance by turning the dial here," Maddoc said, pushing her finger onto a dial on the magnifying lens.
Ana wrenched the magnifying lens away from her face, glaring at him. Why did he bring her to witness this? If he knew it was going to happen, he could have called the crown and asked for support for the farmers from the king, even in the current state of the kingdom, somebody in the court would be able to help.