The children watching were wide-eyed. They had heard about barbarians from the stories they heard from their parents, the elders, or from other older children.
In those stories, barbarians were barely human. They devoured naughty children, burned villages for fun, and lived only for slaughter. To many of them, barbarians were monsters wearing human skin.
They would paint their faces with the blood of their fallen enemies. They only knew battle and found joy in massacre. But the Barbarians they saw in the play were completely different from what was told to them.
They did not cackle. They did not rush forward in mindless bloodlust. They spoke with conviction. They argued about honor. They extended a hand instead of raising a blade.
These barbarians were warriors who understood courage. Warriors who knew loss. Warriors who recognized another warrior's worth even when his own people had discarded him.
