"How long ago was this?" What happened to her?" She asks.

Her words seem to hit me harder then I’d expected, I knew that eventually I would have to tell Louisa about my past, about a dreadful event that took place years ago and still haunts me at night.

I will tell you about my long lost wife and the events that lead to her disappearance.

I get up from bed and move closer to the window, it’s chilly as the sun begins to rise.
I look outside from the window, a familiar picture grows inside my mind and I start to speak.

“It was a beautiful autumns morning, I had recently returned from an expedition to the northern borders of Argolis. It felt good to be back home after all those months.
The night before, my wife Daphne announced to me that she was carrying my child…”

I swallow the nod that has stuck in my throat and move back to the edge of the bed.

“I was happy and deeply concerned at the same time…”

Louisa moves closer to me and caresses my face “It was normal for you to have felt this way, every new parent gets that feeling…”

“No it wasn’t that, my concern was of another nature…you see, my estate was not close to the city of Argos and unfortunately a lot closer to the borders with Achaia…”

“And that was problem?”

“Achaean warlords were a big problem for Argolis, they often raided secluded estates and farms of Argolis and the worst part is that their authorities could not do anything about it since they needed their occasional help to hold out other raids from the barbarians of the north…”

“So your concern was about them raiding your estate then…” Louisa adds with concern.

“Yes, although I had my personal guard that kept the place considerably safe, I was worried…unfortunately not enough. That morning I had to go to my vineyards and oversee the gathering of the grapes. I woke up early and without waking Daphne up I left the house, moments later as I was walking down the path that lead to my stable I heard my wife’s voice, I turned and she was there, waving at me…caressing her belly that had started to show.
I had spend the entire day at the fields, I was tired but glad that the day was finally over and I could return home to enjoy one of Daphne’s delicious meals. I reached the house and called out her name but there was no reply, I went to the kitchen where my loyal maid usually was together with my wife preparing our meal. I opened the door and saw the maid lying dead on the floor with her throat slit open and blood sprayed everywhere, there had been a struggle, I started to panic, rushed through every single room until I realized that my wife was nowhere to be found. I grabbed my sword and spear and rushed out, I followed the tracks of what I thought to be men’s footprints that lead towards the entrance of the estate and there I saw more tracks, this time they were that of horses, many of them. I gathered my guard and stormed out towards the eastern side of my estate, we searched and searched and at some point the tracks that the raiders had left behind started to fade. I was broken and I couldn’t think straight, for years I pledged my self in finding her, I even enrolled my self to an Achaean warlords group hoping that I would find some leads as to the whereabouts of Daphne or the ones who took her from me. Four years had passed when I decided to stop searching for her, my quest had lead me to believe that she was other slain or sold to slavers from the east. Since that day I blame my self for what happened, for not being better prepared …”

A tear comes down from my eye “My child would have been sixteen by now…if I had been there…”

Louisa is looking at me with her eyes wide open.