It felt like a lifetime before the first rays of sun light broke through the clouds.. I saw the ghosts of many persons by the water edge conferring with each other.. as their figures became clearer I could recognize, Deemeon, Trapp and several others moving back and forth.. I dove under water to avoid them seeing me.. and only stuck up my head for a quick breath.. but how long could I do that, before someone catches a glimpse of me.. then.. of course,

                    “You idiot, how long do you think you can stay there?” one of the strangers said pointing at me to bring it to the attention of the rest.. now all eyes were gazing at me.. some in disbelief, and others in scorn .. but Trapp, he was smiling like a jackal who just found an injured prey.. yet Deemeon had a very strange look on his pale face, he simply said in a matter of fact tone,

               “Come out.. come out.. you are not stupid.. you know you cannot avoid the inevitable.. you will..  come out.”

I dove down again.. the pain of my wound was unbearable.. I had to open my mouth.. and the muddy, filthy water gushed into my throat.. horrible overwhelming feeling of nausea added to my  crushing realization of my vulnerability got over me.. I stuck my head out again for air.. my vision was getting more blurry.. yet I could see that Trapp was not among them.. and before I know what happened, I looked back and saw the oar landing hard on my head .. and all went dark..

I opened my eyes to see that I was tied into a chair in the first floor of the dilapidated building with one sleepy guard sitting next to the door.. he became alert as soon as I coughed and tried to move in my chair, so he got up and ran outside the room closing the door behind him. I was stripped almost naked with my uniform lying on the floor, my wounds were not dressed .. I began to feel an excruciating  pain all over my body and a incessant throbbing in my head.. soon, the door was opened, and the chief himself walked in and closed it quietly.. he took his time pacing the room and glaring at me,

               “You fool, you could have taken advantage of my leniency.. no one had ever enjoyed such treatment before.. I gave you every opportunity to become the best of my vassals, but look at you now.” His voice betrayed a sense of frustration and I was too weak to even look up or react, “look at me when I talk to you.. don’t you realize how dire your situation is? Why did you do this? All this?”

I had no answer myself, and I was slowly consumed by my extreme pain, so I just groaned. He waited for an answer, and when he got none, he raised his voice .. now his frustration was clear,

               “your ignorance cannot be an excuse.. you cannot blame Geetieh for any of this.. and ignorance cannot be used to justify insolence .. you are not stupid, and you are not crazy.. so try to explain yourself if you can.”

He pulled the chair where the guard was sitting and sat in front of me,

               “Now everyone agrees, instead of going to the Front, you shall be sent to DC. You have succeeded in creating an army of haters in the highest level of Vycee .. this is an achievement and a distinction, if only you could use it to serve me the way I expected.. so..” he stopped talking, grabbed my hair to pull my head up to face him for a few moments, then let go and stood up saying,

               “Do not defy me again..this is a final warning.” He stopped at the door, turned to take a last look at me, “Trapp will take you to DC and time will tell what happens after that.”

You will never know how it feels to be a captive, unless you have experienced it yourself. It is a special kind of torture.. an affliction of the soul where words and looks can cut you more savagely than any sharp knives.. and I felt like I was run down by a thousand horses even though I was tied up on the back of a horse. My half naked body was aching and throbbing so horribly, yet I wouldn’t dare groan or scream.. they were laughing at me.. exchanging  jokes about the “idiot who went hiding in the lake” .. the road seemed to be endless in a scorching desert. I fainted several times and it intensified their scorn and humiliation.. until at last the high walls of the DC prison appeared at the distance..

               “Coming close to your home.. mister commander.” One soldier shouted

               “your agony has not started yet, foolish dog.” Trapp gloated.

We stopped in front of the enormous gate, and Trapp went to talk to the guards through the little window.. as he returned back, the large metal panels squeaked ominously and slowly opened..

A giant of a man came out and without a word, he yanked me off the horse to the ground, I couldn’t even scream, as he grabbed my foot and dragged me on the uneven ground scraping my skin against the sand and dirt and opening up all my wounds.. I actually felt like dying.. or rather wished to die .. my escort were all laughing merrily and having fun, while my Captor, kept pulling me..  into the building .. and then in  a long wide corridor .. he put a neck brace around my neck and chained me like a dog to the wall. I was too weak to even try to get out of my chains.. so I slumped against the wall and my mind went reeling over the events of the past few days. My excruciating pain was driving me insane.. I thought of banging my head against the wall to lose consciousness but I was too weak to even do that.. another guard appeared in the hallway pulling the chain of another captive.. the poor thing looked like a human being but was so emaciated and starved, that he was moving on his hands and feet like an animal and uttering nerve wrecking shrieking sounds ..

               “His tongue was cut off .. no one is allowed to speak here.” Trapp said laughingly as he emerged out of nowhere and struck my thigh with his spear for fun.. I groaned wearily, and he continued to strike his spear around my body playfully pretending to miss.. to torment me.. then just as suddenly a door at the end of the corridor was opened and a figure came out, approached Trapp and started to talk to him.. then I heard her speak,

               “No way.. is that you Hort?” I couldn’t believe my ears.. It was Pruste.

I couldn’t answer.. so she yelled loudly,

               “Stop all this nonsense right now… right now I say” She commanded. Then she pointed to the guard to remove the neck collar.

               “Come on we are just having fun.” Trapp tried to object saying, “Deemeon orders.”

               “I am the commander here, so stop it and go your way.. you already delivered him to me, so go look after your work and let me do mine.” She seemed to have control.

The guard removed the brace and carried me into a room as she ordered, and put me into a bed.

Compared to my previous accommodations, my room in the DC prison was very modest, but it was far more comfortable than anything the other inmates had. My wounds were dressed and I got most of my needs. As soon as I was able to move around, Pruste took me over to her office and we spent a lot of time talking about various issues. It seemed to me that Deemeon plan was to use Pruste to provide for me what Geetieh was supposed to do. She was explaining the system of Vycee and who is who among the leaders of the front castles. Even though she never forgot our rivalry at Primore, the woman could not stop talking.. she liked to hear her own voice .. For the first time I was told that many people came to Vycee out of their own free will from other parts of the world.. they migrated here because they thought it was a better alternative to their original homes in Yara or Foamville .. or any other country.. and such newcomers had to be sorted out.. so, they were sent to certain areas to live under secret surveillance .. those who proved to have usable talents, were recruited and trained, while the riffraff are filtered out and sent to DC for experiments conducted by Bryane and his team,

               “Oh, about Bryane, I thought he was sent here as punishment.” I asked

               “No.. it was meant to give this impression to the public.. but actually the Primore battle proved that Bryane did not have what it takes for military strategy, although he has a brilliant capacity for innovation and invention.. that is why it was decided that he would come here and take charge of this huge department.” She explained.

I felt a little shudder come over me.. experimenting on people .. it sounded unsettling, and I didn’t feel like asking more questions about it.. so I changed the subject,

               “But you said these people come to Vycee willingly?” I asked

               “Yeah.. countless numbers come this way every day” She repeated.

               “But.. don’t they realize that they are being used as experimental animals? Does anyone show a desire to return back where they came from” I asked.

               “Yeah.. a few are clever enough to feel it.. and some are allowed to return .. but these are programmed first so they act as recruits in their original homes for more people to come.. this is how clever the system works.” She said gleefully

               “Programmed? What do you mean programmed?”

               “There is a special castle for this. It is highly classified.. we cannot talk about it here now.” She said apologetically. “I can take you to see Bryane in action though, if you like.”

               “If his department is full of test subjects like the ones I see sometimes in the corridors, then I think I shall pass.. sorry.” I answered as I visualized the horrible mutilated human beings I saw several times since my arrival.

               “No silly, it is not like that,” she chuckled, “these are riffraff and we need these experiments for the benefit of everyone__”

               “Those are human beings.. missing parts of their bodies.. arms or eyes..they are turned into animals.. they better die..” I interrupted as I was feeling sick.

               “Anyway, Bryane’s lab has other things to work on.. you don’t have to see those subjects.. come I’ll show you.”

She escorted me through the big complex of the prison and into the special department of “Innovation” which occupied almost two thirds of the gigantic building of DC Prison.. it was run previously by two doctors who became Bryan’s assistants when he arrived to take charge with his team. Every section was well lit and had some strange equipment and long tables. The large  team of assistants were dressed up in blue coats and some of them were wearing strange head gear. They looked at me suspiciously, and I had a eerie feeling that most of them already knew me somehow.. and might even resent me.. or resent my presence. Finally we reached Bryane’s room..

               “Oh.. Hello.. so you are the trouble maker.. at last you are here.” He greeted me shaking my hand. I was shocked at his appearance .. he was a relatively short man, with a very large head and bulging eyeballs.. very little hair and a funny way of walking and talking.

               “Trouble maker?” I objected, “I never meant to make trouble for anyone.”

               “Yeah.. yeah.. you didn’t mean to do it.. but you did.. you proved to Deemeon the error of his strategy.. this in itself is a huge achievement..  I tried to explain it to him before Primore.. but he insisted, it was perfect.” He then started laughing, while I was dumbfounded.

               “I cannot understand.. what are you talking about.?”

               “That stupid idea, of drawing the Vino troops inside our territory and surrounding them.. it is a stupid maneuver.. you proved it in the Primore battle.” He repeated.

Pruste then intervened,

               “I don’t think there is any need to revisit the past.. we are all here now.. Mister Hort would like to see some of your innovations..Bryane.” She tried to stop him from spilling the beans, but he insisted,

               “I was right..they tried to tell me___” he tried to continue.

               “Enough Bryane.. should we leave?” She warned.

               “Ok, what would you like to see Hort?” He asked me while looking at her.

               “I was told you are working on new inventions and new ideas..and even new weapons.”

               “Yeah.. I am doing some experiments on human thought process.. for example, how you can read another person’s thoughts.. also I have a very exciting project about human tears.. did you know that human tears have a unique power which can be harnessed and used as a weapon? And also ___”

               “Whoa, wait  .. wait a minute.. you mean you can read other people’s thinking ?”

               “Of course.. and control it too” He replied with a strange smirk on his deformed face.

               “Well.. so tell me.. what am I thinking now?” I challenged him with serious trepidations about the concept itself.

               “Noh.. it does not work this way.. and it does not work with everyone.. people like you are very hard to get through.. you have a special talent.. that is why I always admired you.. I even recommended you to Deemeon and ____” He was speaking casually without realizing what bombshell he had just thrown at me.

               “You? .. you recommended me to Deemeon?” I asked almost deliriously.

He seemed to realize his unintended error, and Pruste immediately came to the rescue,

               “He means after Primore..” she giggled, “Bryane is not used to explaining himself”

I walked about the room looking at the various equipment and charts he had.. and then I said without looking at either of them,

               “So who would it be easy for you to read their thoughts? And..can you.. I mean.. is it possible for you to teach such ability to another person.. say .. like myself?” I stopped and looked at him with a big smile.

               “Of course, I can teach you,” He was proud, “It is easy.. especially for someone like you.. you can see through the mind of anyone__”

               “Like Trapp?” I interrupted. And before Pruste could save him, he burst out laughing again,

               “That is an easy one.. he is an open book,” He answered, and she shut her mouth as it was too late to interfere, while he continued, “Brutes and arrogant people are the easiest ones to get through their minds.”

I had several visits to Bryane during my stay in DC prison, and I succeeded to extract the information  which was blocked by Pruste interference whenever she was around.. he showed me some of the new inventions his team was working on, like the one which would replace the swords with a small tool that spits fire and kills the enemy from a far distance so, you need not have dangerous close contact.. another team was working on a different invention to replace the horse.. and that one, I was anxious to see.. so during one of my visits to the Bryane team, I asked him to show me.. he was hesitant at first since I was effectively stripped of all my ranks, but I succeeded in convincing him that all that must be a temporary process for Deemeon to release his anger against me after Primore.. Finally, he took me to the section where they were developing these weapons..

Just the same, after a short while of watching the experiments conducted on the human being there, I got so sick and regretted my request to see it.. they had some of the “riffraff” tied outside the prison walls in a large area .. then one of the team members, hiding behind some barrier started targeting them with his remote weapon.. suddenly parts of their bodies were torn savagely and their screams were gut wrenching.. then another team member showed up sitting inside what looked like an iron shield on wheels with a little window in front, and he started targeting the rest of the riffraff .. until all the miserable lot were down on the ground in a large pool of blood.. I was sick to my stomach, but, remembering Alore’s  warning, I tried to avoid betraying my feelings.. I spoke slowly and clearly,

               “But Bryane, why don’t you try these experiments on animals instead?”

               “No.. we are not fighting against animals.. beside you notice.. part of the experiment is intended to find out what happens when we target certain parts of the body.. how long the target will survive for further interrogation, for example..” He answered proudly.

               “So are we supposed to start using these weapons__” worriedly I started to ask when he interrupted.

               “No.. these weapons and several others .. are not intended for us to use.. the idea is to use some of the riffraff who are programmed to return to their home land, and implant this knowledge into their brains.. this way, they can use it against others.. and no doubt the Vino guys will see this and copy the information.. they shall destroy each other and we can watch and enjoy the final victory..” He took me by the hand back to his office.

               “This is your plan or Deemeon plan?” I asked wearily. He chuckled,

               “Of course it is my plan .. but if you listen to Deemeon he will tell you it was all his idea and take credit for himself as usual.” He was clearly fretting over this.

I tried to shake off the whole horrible spectacle, so I turned back to the Primore battle,       

               “If that is the case, I wonder why Deemeon refused to accept your assumption that his strategy should not work at Primore? Actually I expressed some objections to his strategy before the Primore battle, and he insisted that it always worked?”

               “This is the problem.. Deemeon cannot admit his error.. he must always prove himself to be right.. although a simple adjustment to this same strategy, would make it work perfectly.” The clever man was glad to oblige.

               “How is that possible?” I pulled him further.

               “Look.. you know we cannot force anyone to come to Vycee___” He started.

               “OH, wait.. say that again..” I interrupted.

               “You didn’t know that?” He was startled

               “No.. I didn’t hear you correctly.. you said we .. cannot.. force anyone from any other country to come to Vycee..right?”

               “Yeah.. everyone must come of his own free will.. that is the idea of pulling these troops into Vycee territory.. people from other countries come willingly anyway.. but Vino people, usually need some trickery to pull them in.” He explained.

               “So the skirmishes are intended to trigger some of their troops to follow the attackers into our land.” I was leading..

               “Exactly.. our attackers cannot even kill anyone in their own land.. so they just produce a lot of damage and create havoc in their homes, which makes them angry and organize those counter attacks” He replied.

               “But then the fight strategy may or may not produce the required results.. like what happened in Primore?” I prodded him.

               “Right again.. this is where a minor adjustment should be made.. instead of the fight.. we should draw them in.. and our troops disappear.. the Vino soldiers will be lost in our territory.. some will try to go back and others will try to fight any soldiers they encounter.. we can develop a policy to accommodate them and convince them to “negotiate” or talk with some clever leaders on our side.. this would gradually dissipate their desire to return and would make it much easier for the CCP to reprogram them.”

               “Reprogram wait__”      

That discussion was interrupted by some of Bryane team members that day, and I couldn’t get to the bottom of it.