Elyos's settlement had been a place of prayer,and calming peace — but now, the smoke rising was the dust of shattered doors and the cries of the conquered.
The settlement boiled with chaos as soldiers in worn white and black surcoats stormed through the winding alleys, kicking down doors with iron-shod boots. Some men, wide-eyed with terror, tried to bar their homes from the inside, but the flimsy wood was no match for seasoned soldiers who laughed and battered it down with hilts and shield edges.
Inside, they tore apart cupboards and chests, looting anything of value — silver goblets, old coins hoarded under mattresses. Out in the streets, others dragged women by their hair, their screams slicing the thick air like blades. Mothers clutched their children and were beaten aside; old men were kicked into the dirt when they tried to protest.
