Ever since childhood, Rodrigo had been plagued by recurring nightmares in which he saw a majestic, gigantic feathered serpent. Its body was emerald green, and a great crimson crest ran along the back of its neck; from its head rose two mighty horns like those of a ram. The enormous dragon descended upon a desolate world, where a feline awaited it—a creature like a lynx, though much larger, with dark spots upon its body.
The lynx and the serpent would begin to fight, and though the feline was tiny compared to the immense serpent, it would leap straight for the giant creature’s neck and wound it badly. At that point, Rodrigo would always awaken in terror in his bed.
Yet those dreams had ceased when he reached adolescence and had become nothing more than fragments of childhood memory. But now he had dreamed it again, and once more had awakened at the exact same moment as when he was a child.
When he opened his eyes, Rodrigo realized he was still bound by a chain and lying on the ground before a campfire. On the other side of it, he saw the goddess Bellona roasting meat skewered on a long branch.
The goddess was not wearing her totema, but she was dressed in the typical clothing of the peoples of those regions: a long dress that seemed to be made of animal hides and fell to her ankles. It had no sleeves, only straps that covered her breasts. She also wore a necklace made of precious stones and an anklet that seemed to be gold.
Her hair was tied into two small ponytails, and her face was painted red, most likely to camouflage herself among the native peoples of the region. Yet her eyes looked tired, as though filled with melancholy.
Rodrigo realized the goddess was lost in her own thoughts and had not noticed that he was awake.
How long had he slept? He did not know.
He could also see that it was night, and the place where they were now was very different from what he had seen before. The mountains were dry, and only sparse shrubs grew from the ground. Vegetation was almost nonexistent, and not a single tree could be seen anywhere around them. They were almost certainly in a desert, like the ones the young man had heard existed south of Spain.
What now puzzled Rodrigo was this: why had they not killed him? Was that not the reason that so-called “King of Tula” had come to see him? And if so, should not this woman and that man have had the same intention? And were his friends safe? The doubt gnawed at him.
Just then, Bellona stamped her foot in frustration and shouted, “Ah, damn that King of Tula! How dare he leave me stranded in this horrible place!”
The goddess turned to look at Rodrigo, checking whether he had awakened, but the young man had already shut his eyes. Bellona went back to cooking her food.
I need to free myself from this chain and... fight her... he thought. But then he remembered how deeply he hated fighting women.
When I tried to attack her before, I was desperate, watching her try to kill Menrva and strike my friends, and I could not contain my anger... but this is not the same. Fighting a woman is not something a knight would do, the young man thought.
“Do stop pretending. I already know you are awake,” Bellona said, glancing at Rodrigo while she kept cooking. “Those chains are like part of my own body, and I can feel what you are thinking at this very moment.”
Rodrigo fell silent, but he realized he would gain nothing by it.
“Yes, I am awake,” he admitted at last.
“Well, at least that means I won’t have to carry you if we need to move from here,” the Roman goddess replied.
Rodrigo then sat up on the ground while Bellona tossed him a branch with roasted meat on it. It looked like rabbit meat. Though he was chained, his arms were free, since they were not bound. The young man picked up the skewer and began to eat.
After finishing a few bites, he finally asked, “Why have you not tried to kill me?”
“Tezcatlipoca ordered me not to take your life because he wants to speak with you,” the Roman goddess replied while roasting another rabbit. “Though of course, I cannot promise the same for your friends, who were sent to Cahokia.”
Rodrigo began to laugh quietly.
“You actually think they won’t escape that ordeal? Don’t underestimate them!” he shouted.
“As if I cared,” Bellona replied, completely ignoring him.
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The young tannin then began looking for some way to escape and somehow go find his friends in Cahokia.
“I would advise against trying to run,” the goddess said. “Not only would it get me into trouble, but we are in the middle of the desert. There are no towns or civilizations anywhere around. No water, and very few animals roam these lands.”
“Even so, I swore I would reach Tula, and I will not let a traitor like you stop me,” Rodrigo replied defiantly.
Bellona sighed and fell silent for a while.
“Why do you fight against Lel, boy?” Bellona asked, puzzled.
Rodrigo remained quiet as he considered his answer. The truth was that he himself had no real reason to fight Lel. Deep down, he still clung to the idea that there was a God, and that it was the one called El. Even if it seemed strange to him that Tania was His daughter—or that Anat, a woman who seemed so wicked, was His daughter as well.
Then why did he fight? Why did he risk his life? Did he even have a reason?
“I do it for my family, for my friends who are always by my side!” Rodrigo shouted, once again trying without success to pull free from the chains.
“So you have no reason to fight beyond following your friends like a sheep,” Bellona said.
“But I understand. I saw you fawning all over that blonde girl, so it makes sense that you would just follow her will without thinking,” she added.
Rodrigo burned with anger. He wanted to shout at the arrogant goddess, who kept calmly roasting rabbit meat over the fire. At that moment, she pulled the meat from the flames and took a bite.
“What nonsense. But I suppose I do not have any grand reasons to swear loyalty to Lel either,” the goddess said after chewing her mouthful.
She sat down more comfortably on the ground, stretched out her legs, and took another bite.
“I was furious with Lel when those idiots took Rome out of our hands,” Bellona began. “They imposed that Christian rubbish and told us we were no longer needed, that they would control the human world from Rome and Constantinople.”
Rodrigo saw that the goddess was genuinely angry. But if she hated Lel that much, why did she still serve them? he wondered.
“But they could not keep Rome from Odin and his degenerates, so they turned once again to the Roman gods to create a new empire: the Römisches Reich in the lands of Germania, while Eastern Rome in Byzantium would be given to Zeus and his gods,” the goddess continued.
Bellona then pulled a canteen from behind her back and drank some water. After that, she tossed it to Rodrigo so that he could drink as well.
“Don’t even think about finishing it,” she said.
Rodrigo raised the canteen and drank. The water was cool, and it felt wonderful in his body, for he had been somewhat dehydrated.
“Even if I am no longer part of Saturnia, I am still loyal to my people and desire only for them to become the mightiest in the world. And if Lel allows us that, then all the more reason for me to serve them, even if it means humiliating myself before them,” the goddess concluded.
Rodrigo stopped drinking and realized that Bellona did not seem quite as evil as he had thought. It was like when he had massacred soldiers in Coimbra for what they had done to his family. Each of them was willing to fight for their own ideals and goals.
Did we come into this world only to fight one another? he wondered again.
“Ah, I do not know why I am telling all this to my enemy,” Bellona said in utter frustration. “But for some reason, I felt that you would understand my reasons,” she added, ruffling her hair wildly.
The young tannin tossed the canteen back to her, and she caught it.
“I am sorry, but your story changes nothing for me,” Rodrigo said. “I do not even know where Germania is, or that Romi whatever. I only know that some Germans are my ancestors, and that they were called Goths.”
“Your ancestors?” Bellona asked in surprise.
“I am not a god,” Rodrigo said bluntly. “I am a young Spaniard whose family was massacred by Muslims. I was born and raised there, and only five or six months ago did I learn that I had divine blood. God knows why.”
At that, Bellona tried to hold back her laughter, but suddenly burst out cackling.
“Are you mocking me for not being born a god?” the young man asked, somewhat offended.
“No, that is not it,” Bellona said between laughs. She took a breath to calm herself and then continued.
“You are fighting against a system that has stood for millennia, when you have barely known this world for a few months? Can you not see that you are being manipulated? You could be living a splendid life on Earth—or finding some untouched planet to conquer.”
“They are not manipulating me!” Rodrigo said angrily.
“I suppose they have simply filled your head with their nonsense,” the Roman goddess continued.
“Do you know that your little friend Tannit could live like a princess in Lel, while also negotiating a pardon for you and your friends? And yet she would rather have you all risking your lives because of her tantrums against her father,” Bellona said, almost laughing.
Rodrigo was furious. Bellona only thought about herself, yet had never once tried to understand the emotional burdens Tania carried: the weight of the children sacrificed in her name, the sincere desire she had to help the people among whom she lived.
“You do not know Tania, nor everything she has suffered!” Rodrigo shouted back.
“Oh yes, of course. Poor thing is traumatized because humans were sacrificed to her. So what?” Bellona replied in a thoroughly sarcastic tone.
“They are only humans. Human sacrifices were made to me as well... Or why not ask your friend Morrigan how it feels to have people sacrificed to her too?” she asked cynically.
Human sacrifices were made to Ana too? Rodrigo wondered, feeling disappointed for a moment.
Not knowing what to say to Bellona, the young man fell silent.
“In the end, it is none of my concern. Everyone does what they like with their life,” Bellona said as she finished her meal and lay down on the ground.
“If you need to relieve yourself, bury your excrement,” the goddess said just before beginning to snore.
Rodrigo, after having slept for so long, was not sleepy at all. He thought about escaping, but could see no way to rid himself of those chains. So he remained sitting in silence all night, lost in thought beneath the moonlight and the howling of wolves.