"Princess, no matter what you want or do, I will follow you."

"Thank you, Assad. I only want one thing now, which is the life of the Norman Earl named Roger. I want to kill him to avenge my father. I will not be happy until this is done.

"

"Princess, this matter cannot be rushed. That guy is hiding in the palace, like a snail shrinking into its shell. There is nothing we can do now."

"Yeah, I don't want to think about it anymore, let's go back to the camp first and then talk about it."

It was late at night, and when Roger raised his head, he couldn't see where the road was.

The mountains before him were pitch black,

The trees are dark,

His tomorrow will also be dark.

As soon as day broke, the group set out on the road and spent most of the day on the mountain road.

Roger had given up on keeping track of the route. He knew he couldn't get out of this mountainous area by himself.

Gradually, there were more and more laughter and laughter in the team. They chatted about family issues and their plans after returning home.

Roger listened to them saying that they would be there just after crossing another hill. He saw a few impatient men driving their horses and ran away first. The princess didn't care.

The group turned around the top of the mountain and saw several plumes of thick black smoke billowing out of the valley, and faintly heard crying and wailing.

The soldiers all suppressed their smiles and looked solemn.

A horse sprang out from the billowing smoke, carrying a soldier who had just run back first. He was covered in blood. He screamed at the top of his lungs:

"Enemy attack! It's a free man!"

Then he fell off his horse with an arrow stuck in his back.

"It's those bandits!"

"The slave catcher who kills a thousand cuts!"

With angry shouts, Amira and all the Arab warriors dismounted.

They dispersed into small teams, bent down, holding shields and knives, and cautiously moved into the thick smoke.

Roger also dismounted. He took "Gift" and found a cliff to lean on, and drew his sword to warn.

From the thick smoke came the sounds of soldiers clashing with iron, the roars of soldiers, and the screams of the casualties.

Roger had no interest in watching the excitement, and he didn't even think about going to help.

On one side are his enemies, even though they are on the same road now.

On the other hand, looking at the scene in front of me, I guess it was indeed, as the Arabs said, a group of bandits robbing homes. If they really caught slaves, it would be outrageous to both humans and gods.

Although Roger knows that there is a saying that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", he also has a bottom line and will not fight for scum.

"Gift" nuzzled Roger's neck, and Roger glared at it.

He said: "People say that an old horse knows the way. Do you remember how to go?"

"Gifts" are just cute.

Roger laughed and scolded: "Useless thing."

He stroked the horse's neck and watched as the smoke gradually thinned out, the sounds of fighting became less and less, but the cries became louder. He knew that the battle was almost over.

So he took the "gift" and walked back to the horses.

Not long after, an Arab came out to lead the horse, and Roger followed him in.

He saw that the wooden door of the village had been completely burned, and the charred wood was still emitting green smoke.

Most of the houses in the stockade were burned down, and the rest were mostly damaged.

People were busy, some were bandaging the injured, while others were rummaging through the rubble for surviving supplies.

Roger noticed that many people, including Amyra, gathered behind a completely destroyed building.

He came closer and saw that there was a cemetery.

He speculated that this building might be a mosque. Judging from the size of the base, it should be just a simple chapel.

He walked around and looked at those people from the side of the cemetery.

He saw the bodies of three warriors lying side by side on the ground, and their relatives were washing their faces and exposed skin with water.

They did not wrap the body with white cloth from top to toe, but still left the deceased wearing the bloody clothes in front of him.

Roger guessed it was because of the lack of supplies.

The grave was quickly dug and the relatives placed the deceased in the grave.

They chanted at the same time: "In the name of Allah and the Sunnah of His Majesty."

Then they took off the deceased's belt and placed nothing in the grave.

They covered the tomb with soil and built it into a rectangular horseback shape. Finally, they recited chapters of the Quran, and the participants said "Read A".

Roger knew it was a prayer.

After asking for forgiveness for the deceased, the funeral ended.

The whole ceremony was simple and solemn, lasting only tens of minutes.

Then people dispersed.

The soldiers gathered around Amyra and came to a former large house, and Roger followed.

He saw someone dragging over four corpses. Their clothes were obviously different from the people around them. They were probably bandits who robbed the village.

Two more soldiers brought over a bandit who was tied like a rice dumpling and whose face was swollen like a pig's head.

They threw him to the ground, and the bandit groaned and uttered indistinct curse words.

Roger could barely tell that the bandit spoke Latin mixed with a certain patois and accent.

Amira asked anxiously in Arabic: "Where did you take my brother?"

Her voice lost its crispness and became a bit sharp, and her frown was pitiful.

The bandit just cursed.

Assad stepped forward, pulled his hair and beat him, and he punched him until his teeth came out.

Assad wanted to fight again, but someone advised him: "If you fight again, you will die."

So Assad could only slam the bandit to the ground.

Another soldier came forward, stepped on the bandit's face and asked him in Arabic: "Where did you take all the people in our village?"

Roger saw that the bandit had actually given in. He spoke in vague Latin: "Spare me, I don't know, I don't understand what you are talking about."

Roger secretly sighed. Sure enough, learning another language would add another life. If he hadn't been able to speak Arabic, his fate would have been similar to that of this bandit.

Some people nearby also realized this, and they said: "This guy doesn't understand what we are saying, so asking is in vain."

So one soldier couldn't hold back his tears and cried: "My child, where are you?"

Roger felt compassion, and he also wanted to use it to get out of trouble.

He stepped forward and said: "I understand what he said, and I can ask him for you, but Princess Amyra, you have to promise to send someone to take me back to Palermo."

"Great, I knew it would be useful to take you with me. Ask him quickly, where is my brother?"

Amyra's clear eyes lit up.

She urged Roger: "I promise you, I promise you anything, ask him quickly, ask him quickly!"

So Roger knelt down in front of the bandit. He just asked, and the guy poured beans out of a bamboo tube and told him everything.

Roger learned that these bandits called themselves "free men" and were originally founded by a group of people from the "Free Village".

Later, more and more people defected, and gradually it became a climate in this mountainous area.

They are engaged in robbery and human trafficking.
Chapter completed!