Zif's old, withered vine-like wrists were strangled by ropes. As the captives marched, the rope eventually broke both of his wrists and bleed. But at the moment, Zif didn't seem to be too aware of this small injury on his wrist, because hunger, thirst, and extreme fatigue were the biggest torture for his body at the moment.

It is his son who still supports him spiritually. Not far away, a teenager in another group of captives strung together by ropes. He was just as ragged and tortured as Zif. One of his shoes, blistered with blood and scars from the long journey, made him stagger a little when he had lost his shoe.

The team continued to walk for a long time, and Zif had no idea where he was. After climbing over a mountain, the team came to a temporary halt in the col. Zif looked up and searched for his son Sami among the many captives, and Sammy was also looking at him at this time. Father and son looked at each other, and then they both sat down on the ground with peace of mind but tiredness.

A huge team of captives, people die all the time, at Zif's age, death may not be terrible to him, but he knows that he can't die, not only because he still has a son and makes himself reluctant, but also because he knows that he is also the spiritual pillar of his son's life, he feels that he is still young, and there is still a chance to get rid of the shackles and pursue a new life.

Seeing that the soldiers who had been escorting them relaxed their vigilance at this moment and went to drink water. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zifu whispered to his neighbors: "Dear compatriot, help me spread a word and tell him to persevere. ”

"Who to tell?"

"Him. Everyone around you, let them pass it on like that. When every compatriot hears it, he hears it. ”

The dying Huron captives passed Zif's words to each other, and there was a glimmer of sunshine in their gloomy eyes.

After a rare rest and fed, the soldiers of Azor continued to drive their captives forward. After several days of continuous travel through the rugged mountain roads and the lack of necessary food, more captives died along the way.

After Ziff desperately followed the team over another mountain pass, he suddenly felt a light in front of him, and he looked up to see a vast plain as far as the eye could see. The Great Plains are full of green farmland, and a large river flows through them to the sky.

Zif thought that this river should be the river that nourished the Azar people, and this vast plain crossed by the river should be what the Athors called "the place of listening".

When the spire of a huge temple in the city of Hesaar, the capital of Asor, could be faintly seen, the captives stopped.

Zif saw a troop of Athors coming towards them from the direction of Hesaac, and quickly completed the handover with the soldiers who had escorted them all the way.

The newly arrived soldiers of Azor untied the ropes from the hands of all the captives, and then, before the captives could react, they drove them together with their scimitars and surrounded them in the middle.

"Those who know how to work as carpenters will raise their hands." A Huron phrase suddenly came from the ranks of Athor soldiers who had arrived.

Ziff and the other captives followed the sound in amazement. He saw that the man, who had just spoken Huron, was coming out of the ranks of the soldiers of Athore. As for himself, not only does he look like a typical Huron, but he even wears Huron costumes and a small purple hat unique to the Huron people on his head.

Upon hearing the man's words, and seeing him himself, there was a commotion in the ranks of the captives.

Some cursed the traitor in a low voice, some spat on the ground, and some looked at him in amazement. Zif was also surprised that a Huron man could give orders in the ranks of the Athore soldiers in Huron's national costume, and that the soldiers seemed to be at his disposal.

Several of the Yasol soldiers waved their leather whips and struck several of the more violently reacted captives, and the commotion of the crowd quickly fell silent under the shock of the Yasol soldiers.

"Whoever knows how to work as a carpenter will get a job. I can guarantee that you will be able to eat and sleep well. "The traitor spoke again.

A moment later, someone raised his hand with his head down, trembling.

After seeing the men who raised their hands being led away from the crowd by the Athore soldiers, he spoke again, "Now, raise your hands that know how to work as stonemasons." ”

When he heard this, Zif's heart chuckled, and he hurriedly began to look for his son.

Zif's father was a stonemason, and so was his son, Sammy, of course. But now Ziff looked anxiously, but he couldn't see his son Sammy in the crowd.

Several hands began to rise from the crowd, and he could only see the hands raised, but he could not see who it was.

As the soldiers of Azor began to pull the raised hands out of the crowd, Zif raised his hands in a panic and confusion, but he was afraid that Sammy would not see his hands raised either, so he called out his name.

A leather whip immediately slammed into Zif's cheek, causing him to crouch down in a sharp pain. Two Athore soldiers pulled him out of the crowd.

When Zifu endured the sharp pain on his face and looked at the person around him who had been taken out by raising his hand, his heart suddenly cooled. There was no Sami in the ranks of the stonemasons. Yes, Sammy did not raise his hand. Even when Ziff ventured to call out his name, he didn't raise his hand.

"Oh my God, I'm so confused. Sammy is a right, brave man. He must have been ashamed to sacrifice his skills for the enemy. It's all my fault, I was so dazed that I actually raised my hand. Ziff looked at the crowd with remorse, and said to himself in his heart.

Zif tried to find Sami again from the crowd, but the soldiers of Azor had already tied the hands of the stonemasons with ropes and escorted them in the other direction.

Ziff walked all day in remorse and sadness. It wasn't until the third day, when a mountain appeared in front of his eyes, that he really realized that he seemed to be far away from Sammy, and that they might have been separated.

As the team walked in the direction of the valley, Ziff saw a ditch leading out of the valley, and the valley was steep and rocky, and he easily judged that this would be a place to mine stone.

At the gate of a camp in the valley, the soldiers of Azor completed the handover of the captives. The Huron stonemasons were assigned to different quarries. Along with Ziff was a very frail man with an emaciated face who looked like he had been tortured by the long journey. Although Ziff was also old and tired, he still supported him hard. The two men were reprimanded by a Yasol soldier and went to the cell in the quarry.

After registering them, a cell guard put them in a cell built from a steep hewn hill wall, and it was pitch black and cold. After Ziff helped his companion to his seat, he himself sat down breathlessly in a corner of the rock prison.

"My people, it looks like we're going to survive here." Ziff opened his mouth to him.

The man sighed, and then asked Zif, "Brother, my name is Vimos, how do I call you?" ”

"Vimos. My name is Zif, just call me Zif. Ziff said.

"Thank you for supporting me all the way, Brother Zif." Vemos leaned against the cold stone wall of the prison and gasped on his back.

"Vimos, you need to get something to eat. You look weak. ”

"Will they give us food?" Vermos said with a gasp.

"Be optimistic, brother, since they asked us to help them with the quarrying, they should have enough to eat." Ziff said.

Vimos smiled wryly, then said, "I think they'd better give me a Huron bubble cake." ”

"When they make bubble cakes, they don't sprinkle raisins on them."

The two looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

In the evening, a large number of quarrying slaves were escorted back to their cells by the soldiers. Ziff and Wiemos saw that the man in the cell with them had also returned from the day's work.

They were two young men, one tall and one short, both with a dark complexion, curly black hair, and a wide flat nose. Apparently, they came from the far south.

Ziff wanted to say hello to them, but he didn't know how to speak, he just smiled at them.

The four men sat in their cells, looking at each other, not knowing how to speak. Until the soldiers, who distributed dinner, threw four naan cakes and a couple of shriveled fruits from outside the fence.

The shorter Nanlu man suddenly stepped forward, took all four naan cakes in his hand, and then quickly picked up all five fruits.

Ziff and Wiemos watched helplessly. One of them was old, the other was too weak to know he could not rob them. But even so, Zif felt that he had to fight for something for the weakened Wiemos.

He was about to speak, when he saw another tall Nanlu young man take two naan cakes from his companion's hand and hand them over.

Seeing this, Zif was a little surprised, he couldn't react and didn't know how to express his gratitude to him, so he only smiled and thanked him several times in Huron.

He took the naan and handed it to Vimos.

After the four of them ate the naan almost at the same time. The tall southern lad took out one of the five fruits for his companion, one for himself, one for Zif, and finally he gave the two largest ones to Vimos.

Vimos was also surprised, and he excitedly thanked him.

"Thank you." The tall man from the south, the scholar of the Muron language, spoke in an awkward accent in the Huronic language of Vimos.

The four of them looked at each other and smiled.