Chapter two

As soon as I crossed  into Esville, I expected to see the same giant again, yet Blake appeared out of the shadows followed by offle.

            “You bastards, why? This cursed weather in the cursed night and this unforgivable delay, I should kill you for this stupid ___” I started ranting, but was interrupted by uproarious laughter,

            “Easy high and mighty master .. crossing the border in style ..” Blake answered  still laughing.

            “where are we going?”

            “patience my friend, you are going to enjoy an amazing party .. a party of a lifetime” promised Offle.

I continued to complain and yell as the stormy weather was getting worse, until we reached a large cottage and rushed in .. wooly was standing next to a table laden with all kinds of food, while two beautiful women were sitting at another table with several bottles of liquor and decks of cards. It was warm, almost hot after the icy cold outside.. we took off our coats and started to party ..

We completely lost track of time.. then the women insisted on leaving to catch up with some previous arrangement they had, and when the liquor ran out, I looked across the table to see only Blake was still gazing at his full goblet without drinking .. I glanced at the window and was immediately stunned, the sun was already coming up at the far end of the world and the heavy snow was now glistening in the golden rays of sunlight..

            “guys.. it’s already daybreak.. I am dead .. I am .. I shall be late for my shift.. I was never late.. never..” I lamented loudly and tried to get up .. in vain.. I felt like I was glued to the chair.. I looked around in despair..

            “Blake.. say something.. do something .. you bastard.. where ..you must help me to get to the border.. I don’t know my way in this damned city..” I continued to rant..

He sat there looking at me as if I were a ghost.

            ‘You are still talking..” He chuckled in a weird manner. “You should be asleep by now..”

I looked around to see offle sprawled on the floor and wooly half way on the couch with his head on the ground. I kept trying to move, until I forced the chair away from under me, and leaned on the table.. I staggered weakly towards the door, stumbling several times, and finally I reached it to hear Blake bellowing behind me,

            “you dog do not dare open that door .. we shall all freeze to death.”

            “I don’t ..care..”

I tried very hard to open the damn thing, and suddenly as soon as the dead bolt was retracted, the whole door was thrown back violently hitting me in the face and flinging me back where I landed on the body of Offle on the ground.. Blake kept screaming and cursing until he finally reached the door and pushed his whole body against it to close it again resisting the wind, the snow and the dirty projectiles coming through.. when he succeeded to close the door, he was unable to reach the dead bolt.. so I had to struggle back up on my rickety legs and push  it back in the locked position.. soon after I slid down next to the wall and everything went dark.  

*********

            “Is he awake?” a distant voice asked.

            “Not yet.. he seems to have overdosed..” the faint answer came from a far.

            “don’t tell me he is going to die.. we spent a lot of time and planning to get this idiot.”

            “No, I don’t think he’ll die.. if he would die, then he would have already died. It shall take a little longer.. that’s all.. he may be damaged however.”

            “nothing that the hybrid cannot fix.. it may even make it easier for him.”

            “The Hybrid? Who is that?”

            “Never mind.”

The distant voices went away.. then after a long silence, another voice, this time nearby, in what seemed like a whisper..

            “you there.. get up.. I see you stirring.. do you hear me?” He waited for an answer.. then continued, “hey you lying there like a log, move.. all you have to do is open this door.. you stupid traitor.. move your ..” the voice continued.

I finally opened my eyes to see if I were dreaming all this.. the sudden light hurt my eyes.. I was all wet as if I was drenched.. I tried to move and immediately felt severe pain .. I couldn’t even moan.. I was laid on my back in an open yard, and all I could see was the moving clouds in a blue sky.. I moved my head around to see .. what seemed like a well, next to me with a pail and a rope.. and at the far end there were high extended walls.. while on the other side, there was a building with many doors and .. the whispering voice came back louder..

            “yes, yes.. here.. in the building.. you fool look again, this is a great opportunity .. you are not tied.. you can crawl to the door and open it.. we can all be set free.. move.. you.. damn, they are coming back.. you traitor.”

It sounded like a whole lot of people thundering towards me.. the stumping of their feet was hitting my head like many hammers..

            “He is awake.. hey, he is awake..” one voice cheered.

            “very well.. at last.. prepare the carriage.. he must be taken to the palace immediately, “Deemeon has been waiting for him impatiently.. I cannot understand what is so special about this piece of garbage.” One booming voice said scornfully.

            “Who cares, as long as we get our prize?” his fellow answered.

I was carried unceremoniously and laid down on a bench in an open carriage.. and soon I was watching the clouds in the sky fly backwards towards the unknown. I may have fallen asleep, for I was awakened rudely by the people who transferred me from the carriage to a stretcher.. I was shocked at the grandeur of what they called the palace.. a wide and long flight of stairs made it painful for me and the carriers to reach the huge gate.. .. then at the top of the stairs they moved me again to a wheelchair ..once inside, it immediately struck me as an enchanting place.. luxury and extravagant fittings all around.. it looked like all the gold of the world was used to decorate this “palace” which had more hallways and rooms than a whole city. We reached a large closed door where we had to stop and wait for permission to enter. I was so weary by now, I could hardly keep my head up.. my eyes were seeing double and my ears were ringing painfully.. the door was opened and I was pushed very slowly into the grand hall.

Through the noises in my head and my blurry vision, I heard the voice .. calm and strong,

            “Finally.. well done Blake.. you earned your promotion.” There was a long silence, followed by some slow footsteps, “you shall attend your first council meeting this Wednesday, now my guards will take up the responsibility from here..”

A lot of movement followed .. too many people .. in so many directions.. and a new team of caretakers were now pushing my chair after injecting me with some drug .. and in no time I was out cold.

Let me say again, I don’t know how I came to remember all these things, because later on when I woke up all these events had been wiped clean out of my memory for a long time.. It trickled back to me very slowly and painfully over many months, triggered by the events to follow..

I looked around to find myself in a luxurious bed, in the middle of a marvelous room. I spent a long time staring at the beautiful ceiling and lovely furnishings of the room.. at last I saw the large glass door leading up to a wide terrace.. It kind of invited me to run to it.. but I felt my body to be .. heavy !! yeah.. I felt like I must make a big effort to get out of bed.. I put my feet down, and slowly started to walk towards the terrace.. there were some pieces of outdoor furniture but I walked straight to the railing.. I was fascinated by the sprawling garden beyond and I don’t know how long I stood mesmerized there before I heard his voice next to my ear,

            “It is beautiful.. right? This is our paradise.”

            “Eh..it looks.. different.. I cannot take my eyes off of it, yet.. it’s kind of .. enchanting.. and.. um .. there seems to be someone lurking there.. ” I turned around to see the speaker. He was tall and dark, very well groomed, and dressed up very elegantly.

            “My name is Geetieh.. Mizo Geetieh” he said with a big smile.

            “I am..” I started to speak but stopped short.. I forgot my own name..

            “I know who you are.. you are Flousty Hort .. will you have a seat.” He said congenially.

            “Flou.. Flou..” I tried to repeat. While he gently prodded me to a seat across from himself.

            “It is not unusual for a person who suffered your kind of injuries to have some trouble with their memory.. it is all temporary and you shall regain it all gradually.. in due time.” He said reassuringly.

A steward came in with a tray full of goodies.. so my host poured the drinks and offered me some treats.

            “I cannot remember any injuries.. how did I come to this place? And how ..” I started to ask in a slow confused state of mind.

            “We are at war as you know.. that is if you remember.. and you were one of the people in the front lines.. your bravery is renowned everywhere.. but you got injured and suffered a serious concussion.. you almost died, but our clever doctors saved your life.. and you are here now as a guest of the supreme chief himself.. for the duration of your recovery period.”

            “So.. how long is this recovery period? And what.. what is going to happen when it ends?” I asked.

            “I don’t know.. I guess the chief is going to give you a new assignment.” He shrugged it off, “no need to worry now.. you should focus on regaining your strength.”

            “Well.. does that mean I shall be .. I mean, like a prisoner.. a patient .. or, what shall I be able to do? To be very blunt, I feel .. heavy.. I don’t know how to describe it.. but.. yes, heavy.. like I can hardly move around.. Um..”

            “this is normal Mr. Hort.. it shall gradually go away.. as for your status, of course you are free.. absolutely free to go wherever you want .. you are an honored guest here.. “ He said.

            “by the way.. where are we.. what is “here” ?” I asked.

            “Oh..silly me.” He giggled, “we are in the BSC .. the recreation castle of the Vycee.”

            “Castle?” I wondered, “I don’t see any fortress like arrangements.”

            “You make me laugh ..” he giggled again, “I wonder what those doctors had done to you.. you forgot all basic information about our country.. anyway, what other countries call cities, or .. towns or .. anything like that.. we call them castles.. because all citizens must have the feeling of being ready to be called for war.. besides the enemies are always very tricky.. they attack the inside areas of our country unprovoked and without warning..”

I was listening dubiously, because his voice lacked sincerity.. he was not convincing somehow.. which made me discouraged to continue my inquiry.. so I switched to a different topic..

            “Do you have any plans for me this evening?” I asked without looking at him.

            “Yes.. yeah of course.. glad you asked.. we can go to Ozot palace.. or take a ride in the Shutte meadows.. whichever you prefer.” He suggested cheerfully 

            “Well, since I am not familiar with either of them, maybe we go to one today and see the other tomorrow.” I replied without much enthusiasm. “Do I still have to see a doctor?”

A charming woman answered as she walked in from the room,

            “No, not any more, the doctors have already given you a clean report.. of course, let me see.. well, let us start with Ozot.. it is fascinating.” 

            “Oh Wyee, welcome to the BSC” Geetieh stood up to greet the visitor, “we didn’t hear you coming in.”

            “You know me well Mizo, I come when I am least expected.. hello our famous hero..” she came to shake my hand as I stood up and we kissed.

            “This is Wyee Poppo.. the assistant councilor to the supreme chief.” Mizo introduced her gleefully, “would you join us if we go to Ozot?”

            “I may stop by later.. I have a few errands to run before I think about crazy entertainment.” She said grabbing some food while still standing, “I just wanted to see how Mr. Hort is doing.. I am glad to see him recovering rather well. Is Mizo treating you well Mr. Hort?”

            “He is very kind.. I have a lot of annoying questions and he didn’t get irritated.. yet” I chuckled.

I spent many weeks in the BSC until I became so addicted to its luxury and crazy entertainments. Sometimes I was accompanied by Geetieh, but most of the time I was on my own. I struck a close friendship with Ozot, the fat funny guy who runs the palace in the district named after it.. I thought he owned it, but it turned out, everything in the Vycee is owned by the supreme chief and he delegates running different areas to his agents.. I heard a lot of gossip about the war, about spies, and about activities in other Castles.. but I didn’t really care to retain any of this as serious information.. Until, almost three months later, I decided to go one evening to Ozot’s and I could never imagine the overwhelming events about to unfold that night..

it was about time to meet face to face with Deemeon..