Page 44 of Bloody Business

Julep finished herpoison presentation and sat down at the back of the class.She'd stuck to common poisons, including spoiled food and foraged herbs and mushrooms, including instructions on how to forage safely.She brought books with illustrations.The kids had lots of questions and she felt it went well.Zac looked satisfied and Gal was smug.Clearly she had scored social bonus points.

Julep got a figurative gold star for the day.Honorary aunt, objective achieved.She gave herself mental points for family morale and sat back to listen to the next speaker.

General Yal surveyed the class.“Raise your hand if you plan to be a warrior.”

Hands shot up.All the boys save Tashi, who was in a wheelchair, shot up.Technically, there was nothing stopping Tashi from being a battle mage, but that was another subject.

“I can't wait to go to war!It'll be glorious,” a boy of about fourteen burst out.No doubt he was trying to impress the general.That was to be expected of a boy his age.

“Hm.Glorious, is it?And you will be the most famous general of all, I suppose.”He sounded amused.

“Yes, sir!”The student said defiantly.

“Very well!I have some math for you, then.Pencils ready.”He started writing on the chalkboard.

“Congratulations, warriors!You just conquered a city of 10,000.”He waited for the excited murmurs to die down.“What will you do with the children?”

It was suddenly quiet.No one said anything.

“Let's say a quarter of the population are children.It's been a good year, and they're breeding like rabbits.”The sound of his chalk on the board was loud in the quiet room.

“5% of that is children 5 years old and younger.What is 5% of 10,000?”

A child raised his hand and said timidly, “500.”

“Excellent!You have 500 children under the age of five.They can't take care of themselves.The parents are dead.What will you do with them?”

He wrote down choices on the board in bold script.“One: have your highly trained soldiers babysit.Will that work?”He pointed to a student.

The teenager cleared his throat.“Rations are calculated very carefully.If the city has been under siege, they won't have much food.That's a problem.You might not be able to resupply if you have traveled far from your base.There might not be enough food for everyone.

“Also, if you don't want the soldiers to babysit, then you would have to keep some of the women for slaves.”

“Do goblins keep slaves?”the general asked mildly.

He pointed to another student who answered grimly, “No, sir.”The class was beginning to see where this was going.No one was smiling.

“Can you abandon the city and leave them to survive on their own?”Yal pointed to another student who had wanted to be a warrior.

“No, sir,” the boy said unhappily.

“Why not?”Yal was relentless.

“It would be tactically irresponsible and unnecessarily cruel,” the boy said slowly.

Yal nodded.“So the children can't take care of themselves if their parents are dead.They will not be sold into slavery.There's no food for them.What is the merciful thing to do with them?”

The room was dead silent.The general looked at the pretend general, who had gone pale.“You will kill those children.Kill the babies.In fact, some of them will have died in the battle already, and some of the pregnant women will have already been killed by you.”

The boy stared at his desk.He looked haunted.

“War isn’t glorious.It’s bloody and dark.Sometimes it’s necessary, but it's never undertaken lightly.”

He tapped the board.“Always know the cost.”He nodded to the teacher, and walked away.

??

Ashi peeked into the room.She had preferred to stay outside and observe.She was worried about Julep's pallor.The woman looked like she wanted to throw up.

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