Several hundred meters away from the prisoners, several huge bonfires blazed fiercely in the open space. Leaping tongues of flame licked at the night sky, painting the surroundings a fiery red.
The flames crackled, sparks flew in all directions, and several hundred Barbarian soldiers sat in scattered circles. The air was thick with the scorched aroma of roasted meat, the bite of cheap liquor, and an inescapable stink of sweat.
Most of them had their dark chests bare, greasy meat bones clutched in their hands as they gulped down bowl after bowl of cloudy liquor. Crude laughter and shouted calls rose and fell without end.
Some boasted with spittle flying everywhere about the spoils they had taken while raiding the border, bragging about how many Han women they had seized, how much grain and cloth they had stolen.
Others gathered in twos and threes, squatting on the ground to throw bone dice. The winners slapped their thighs and laughed wildly, while the losers cursed and swore, some even coming to blows on the spot. The scene was as chaotic and noisy as a marketplace.
After several rounds of drinking, more than a dozen Barbarian soldiers had grown bleary-eyed and red-faced. In their once-clouded eyes, flames of undisguised lust gradually ignited.
They exchanged looks, lewd smiles curling across their lips, then staggered to their feet. Their eyes fixed hungrily on the bound women and children nearby as they lurched toward them.
The alcohol had gone to their heads, their bodies were burning, and they needed somewhere to vent their fire.
"Sister! Father! Oh no! They... they're coming toward us!"
The younger daughter, curled up beside the middle-aged man, trembled so violently that her voice barely sounded human. She clutched her sister's sleeve with all her strength, her fingertips turning white.
She