The feelings that went through Nero were confusing, countless, and more extreme than anything he had ever felt before. But three stood out in particular.
First, he felt pain, hellish, terrible pain. Pain because of the loss of his home, his security, and, of course, worst of all, pain because of what had been done to his mother.
Second, he felt fear. He was panicking. Panic, ice-cold panic. Panic about what she would do to him and his sister. Panic that somehow things could get even worse.
Third, he felt anger. Hatred. Hatred and anger toward the people who had done this to him. Hatred toward the priest who had sentenced his mother to death in the supposed name of God. Hatred toward the guards who had hurt him and his sister. Hatred toward the people, the villagers, who allowed this to happen. Who cheered it on. Who set his house on fire, who blindly and idiotically followed the words of this priest.
He hated them all, he despised them. He wanted them dead. He wanted to kill them. He wanted to give them back all this pain, to carve it into their cheering and rejoicing faces.
Eliza, his sister, had closed her eyes and lowered her head, tears running down her cheeks. Nero, on the other hand, did not. He memorized the faces of every single person who was here. Then he looked up at the priest beside him. The priest seemed to sense the boy's gaze and looked him straight in the eyes. A cold shiver ran through him, and he couldn't help taking a small step back from the boy's burning eyes. At that moment, they didn't seem to be the eyes of an eight-year-old boy, but something else. Something more dangerous. However, the feeling quickly dissipated when the priest regained his composure.
'He's just a child, what could he possibly do?'
The priest turned back to the villagers with a friendly smile,
"Quiet!"
Immediately, the cheers and shouts of joy died down.
"Now that we have punished the culprit for this eternal and miserable winter, things will finally start to look up for this beautiful village. Soon it will be warmer again, and the animals will return to the forest, the meadows will become green again, and the fields will grow and prosper. But we must show God our repentance for tolerating such a witch for so long and not risk his wrath again. Tomorrow at the noon service, an offering will be made to the great Lord in Heaven. You should all bring an offering and donation!"
The priest remained quiet for a moment and let the information sink in,
"What about the witch's spawn?" someone asked and pointing to Nero and his sister,
"We'll take them to our church and raise them properly there," responded the priest with a friendly smile.
"NO, BURN THEM!"
"YES, EXECUTE THEM, OR WE WILL ANGER THE LORD AGAIN!"
Immediately, pandemonium broke out; however, the priest just raised his hand,
"The children are not guilty of anything, so we will not punish them." Said the priest firmly, nodding to one of the guards.
He was a handsome and tall man, with big, steely muscles. The man understood immediately and went over to the two children. Nero stared at him in anger, but the man didn't seem to care at all. He grabbed Eliza by the arm, who didn't even move, but Nero hissed angrily and squirmed in his bonds. The man lifted Eliza, who finally reacted, as she started to kick and punch wildly at the man. He threw Nero over his shoulder like a sack and then walked away.
The children were dragged in the direction of the church. Slowly and surely, the loud shouts of the crowd behind them disappeared until they finally fell silent. They were carried along the great main street where the church resided. Soon, they could see it towering in the distance.
But when they arrived at the church, the guard simply walked past it and further down the big street.
Only after half an hour did they finally reach their destination. Nero immediately recognized where they were. This was the chamber of the Inquisition, where the dungeon was.
Eliza, who had also realized the same thing, started to squirm in the restraints again, but the man didn't react. He went to the door and knocked 9 times in three successive tones on the metal door. A small sliding window opened as a pair of eyes peered out,
"Who is it!" the latter asked curtly.
"Sir Leonard," answered the guard, his voice was raspy but warm, "I bring the children of the witch."
The pair of eyes looked at the two children, "Take them to the third chamber in the basement," he ordered Leonard.
The latter nodded silently and walked past him into a corridor dimly lit by torches.
Again and again, steel doors appeared on the sides, but Leonard simply walked past them. Only at the eighth door did Leonard finally stop and open it. A spiral staircase now stretched out in front of the children, leading down into the deep darkness. Shockingly, the man did not even seem to be out of breath, even though he had dragged the two children over two kilometers.
Leonard simply went down the spiral staircase. Finally arriving at the bottom, he opened a thick metal door with a small barred window inside. Behind the door was a large but dirty room. In the corners of the room were two straw beds resting on an iron frame. The man sat the two children down, surprisingly gently, and cut their bonds. Before he left the cell, he looked at both of them with pity in his eyes, then locked the door behind him. Eliza threw her arms around Nero's neck and hugged him tightly, but Nero did not return the embrace; he just lay limp in her arms. Eliza detached herself and looked gently and lovingly into his eyes,
"Everything will be okay again, Nero. We just have to believe it!" It sounded more like she was trying to encourage herself rather than him.
Nero shook his head, "Eliza, our mother..."
"I know, Nero, but we can't give up. If we give up, we'll never get out of here. Then we'll never be able to kill the assholes who did this to us!"
Nero was shocked by his sister's hateful words, but when he looked into her face, he could see the same hatred in her eyes that was boiling inside him.
Nero was shocked by the hateful words of his normally so gentle sister. Startled, he stared at her, and when she noticed his gaze, this enormous anger disappeared from her eyes, and she smiled softly,
"But first we have to make it out of here."
When Nero thought back on it now, he could only marvel at his sister's emotional control. Even years later, Nero had not managed to control his emotions as well as she could in that moment.
---
The two spent the next two weeks in these cells without anyone talking to them or anything happening. The only contact the two had was with the same guard who had brought them to the cell. Twice a day, he brought them a very meager meal and some water to drink.
After a while, both they and the small cell began to smell quite strongly. The little bit of fresh air that came in from somewhere outside was just enough to breathe.
But the two talented children had already overcome the initial shock of what had happened. Although they still cried at night over the loss of their mother, they were already working on their escape plan during the day.
The guard, Leonard, had not searched them when he brought them to the cell. Nero no longer had the backpack containing tools and all sorts of other stuff, but they still had a chain on Eliza, and Nero had the old rusty knife. It wasn't much, but a well-aimed stab with this knife could cause some damage.
The two were still waiting for the right opportunity, but weren't doing anything either. At night, Eliza tried to pick the lock on the door with the chain and the knives, but unfortunately, without success.
And even if they should succeed, they did not know how to get past the many guards unnoticed.
Although they didn't know how they would get past the guards unnoticed, Eliza still tried the door lock every night after the second meal. This was the first and most important step to escape. Once they had managed that, they could carefully look around outside.
Unfortunately, they would never get around to picking the lock, because less than three days later, the guards arrived for the first time. They came late at night, long after the two children had eaten their second meal, while they were asleep. Nero woke up to the loud clicking of the metal lock as the men entered the cell.
"What are you doing..." Nero began, but the guards had already grabbed his sister, who began screaming wildly. They stuffed her mouth. Nero jumped up immediately and roared angrily, but one of the guards hit him so hard on the head that he immediately lost consciousness. When he woke up again, both the guards and Eliza were gone.