The next morning, I met Blake and we rode out of OC grounds.. I was curious to find out what he planned to show me, and at the same time I had to hide the fact that I knew the spot of at least one gateway and used it. We were riding in the wilderness between the OC and the mountain going north and west till we reached the mountain slopes and went riding alongside it towards the canyon.. we stopped at a green hill almost at the mouth of the canyon.. Blake, who kept silent all along the road started to speak,

               “From here you can either ride through the canyon uneven and winding grounds, or use the gateway.. all soldiers are only allowed to use the canyon road, but leaders have the choice.”

               “Will the gateway allow us to go with the horses?”

               “Yes.. if you are mounting.. or if you grab another person, that person will travel with you, it is a very convenient way to move around.”

               “Is this how we go to Vino or__”

               “No.. not at all.. gateways are inventions of Vycee.. Vinos do not have gateways.”

               “Well, how then did their troops make that surprise attack on the prison and take back all those Vino captives?”

               “Ah.. those were not ordinary Vinos.” He answered angrily, “Those were from the light Brigade”

               “Wait a minute.. everybody talks about the light brigade.. and nobody tells me who are these .. the light brigade?” I caught his arm angrily.

He freed his arm calmly and said,

               “I don’t know.. at least I don’t know exactly who these soldiers are.” Then he looked at me with a slight smirk, “ but you can ask the chief.. he seems to like telling you about everything.. all I understand is that these are.. maybe.. I mean.. supernatural brigade.. or soldiers with some super powers.”

With wide open eyes I stared at him saying,

               “But shouldn’t the TC troops have stopped that attack? Isn’t this their function?”

He looked befuddled and fed up with my questions,

               “I don’t know.. I only know about OC Front.. our castle.. and we do our job better than anyone else.. what those others do.. we shouldn’t concern ourselves with it.”

               “So the light Brigade__”

               “Stop.. please stop with the endless questions.” He got really frustrated. “Here .. look at this area.. immediately inside the canyon and around this rock.. this is the gateway.. we stop there and say the destination.. make sure if you are riding, to mention “outside” so you do not end up with your horse inside any building.. if you don’t say outside, you shall usually end up inside the front door of the palace ..  in the place where you are going..”

               “So now we shall go to BKC__”

               “Yea.. BKC outside.. simple”

               “One more thing.. you didn’t tell me why we are going to meet the chief?”

               “I don’t know.. you ask him.. you are one irritating creature.. I cannot understand how anyone can endure a few hours in your presence.” He chuckled, kicked his horse and , said the words.. he disappeared in a jiffy.

I waited a while looking around.. so this is the canyon which the spotted horse jumped over .. but it is wide in this area.. the amazing horse must have instinctively knew the narrowest place to make the jump.. or maybe the horse had been through this route before several times, and is used to the road leading to the point where he should make the jump.. and again, I felt that deep squeeze of my heart for losing the horse.. then I slowly made my move into the gateway..

I arrived at the bottom of the stairs of the palace.. to find Blake in a panic condition.

               “What is the matter? You fell off the horse?” I scoffed.

               “No you idiot.. it is  really bad.”

               “Deemeon wouldn’t meet us?”

               “The chief is not here.”

I was surprised while he was going round and round.

               “Talk to me Blake.. we can think together. What happened?” I tried to calm him down.

He stopped, looked at me for a short while and then said,

               “walk with me..”

We dismounted and walked in the Greenland in front of the palace of the BKC.. he started to speak fast and in a frantic state,

               “It seems that attacks made by the UC Front last week, have produced a massive reaction. A large assembly of Vino troops are on the way to respond.. maybe they have arrived already.. both the UC Front and the MEMOC should have been prepared for the expected battle in a timely manner and coordinate together.. it all happened too fast.. no one knows if they are ready..” He looked like a frightened man.

               “The MEMOC? I thought it would be the Malaab.. Trapp?” I was surprised

               “No.. it’s the MEMOC.. it’s a bigger castle.. they should be better quipped.”

               “So what does that have to do with us?”

He seemed shocked at my question.. then he laughed in a hysterical manner,

               “You are impossible.. you are really unbelievable .. can’t you see? If the battle starts while these two castles are not ready, it may end up in an all out war.. can you imagine? An all out war.. it would be devastating,”

I had to stop and think for a while.. slowly I began to imagine all castles involved in a super battle .. winner takes all.. then I thought about the Primore citizens who spend their time lolling in the pubs and wallowing in their petty squabbles .. if all the other inner castles are doing the same.. while the Front castles are just trained for those short skirmishes.. the war would be lost before it starts.. I had a strange feeling creep gradually into my stomach.. I didn’t know if it were a feeling of fear.. comfort.. or indifference.. but it certainly grew inside me to the extent that Blake noticed my silence and bland attitude.. he blurted,

               “What do you think we should do? Wake up man.”

I was already at a loss, so I murmured incoherently,

               “I don’t know.” I shrugged it off, shaking my head, “ I don’t think I know all the variables.. anyway.. where did.. I mean where did the chief go?”

               “They say he went to MEMOC to make sure if they are prepared.”

               “So.. we have to go back to OC and prepare for worst case scenario.” I suggested.

He thought for a while, then he said,

               “No, I think we should follow him and go to MEMOC.. get some solid information and instructions.”

It sounded reasonable, but I didn’t like it .. it just didn’t feel right.. so I spoke rather to myself,

               “May be you can go to MEMOC while I go back to OC.. this way we cover both ends.”

               “You coward.. no, you come with me so we show him we are together all the way, besides he wanted to meet us here for some reason.. maybe it has to do with these events.” Blake insisted.

               “who are you calling coward? I am not afraid of anything.. I am just thinking logically.. No.. stop.. I am not going to argue with you.. all right, you want me to go with you, fine.. let’s go..let us go.. move.. move..” I got upset.

He got on his horse, so I asked,

               “Are we going through a gateway?”

               “No.. we don’t know where he is  and we don’t want to end up in the middle of enemy troops. We better go riding and watch the road on our way.”

We started trotting out of BKC and for a while we remained silent.. each of us immersed in his own thoughts.. I couldn’t imagine what to expect.. the UC Front was headed by Deborge, and he was known to be a ferocious commander. If you want the true example of hatred, that would be it.. I never met anybody who didn’t hate him.. and apparently he hated everyone .. he never listens to anyone and he has the same stupid attitude like Deemeon, he was never wrong.. no telling what mistakes he had done to bring about these convoluted results.. as for the MEMOC,  Dinar, its commander was an inexperienced commander who is fighting his first games after being promoted.. whoever made the arrangements for these games seems to have done a big error.. but, try to tell this to Deemeon..

We reached a point in the road where it forks, so Blake stopped to explain,

               “this is called the up and down fork.. you see.. here we are standing at a point where there are there roads.. the one we came through leading to BKC where we passed the red spot and the lower sphere.. and___”

               “Wait.. those smaller castles without walls we went through are the areas for soldiers entertainment?” I interrupted.

               “Yes, yes.. and a lot of riffraff gather around here to trade with the vacationing soldiers.. and this road is the up road.. it would take you to the mountain side.. a very dangerous road.. the home of the TC.. and this is the down road, which we should use to go to MEMOC..”

               “But there are no identifiers for any of these road.. the brush and wilderness looks the same for all.. you can be easily lost at this point.” I noted.

He chuckled,

               “Only a novice like you would get lost.. here.. look at the ground on this mountain road.. it is flatter, gray and more dusty.. while the road to the inner castles is brownish and more rocky.. once you realize that, you can identify the third which is much wider..”

I followed his explanation and found it reasonable, though I thought a person who is in a hurry, can easily miss these landmarks.. yet, I had to follow him as he started to gallop away.. we rode a while then we saw an intersection at right angle with a road lined by trees , so without stopping, Blake pointed to it and yelled the name “Malaab castle” and continued on his way.. the road started winding into some thick high brush areas like the areas surrounding the small castle of red spot which we saw earlier on the BKC road.. and gradually it began to clear up into a vast space of green grass with the MEMOC appearing at the horizon..

Blake slowed down and started talking,

               “The UC Front must have dragged their victims along this road,” He pointed to another road on the left, “That is the road to UC Front”

We didn’t see any troops or activity, so he continued,

               “They must have gone around the castle walls,”

We approached the castle slowly and went around.. then we started hearing the ruckus.. it was evident that the fighting was already underway.. and slowly the battle field emerged before us.. savage and utterly huge.. we stopped at a far distance since we were not supposed to interfere.. my eyes went around searching for Deemeon since we knew he must be watching closely.. the spotted horses were numerous, and appeared to have the upper hand.. the ground was littered with bodies and it was real mayhem.. before long, a horseman approached us.. he was easily identifiable by his ugly face and loud horrible voice,

               “What brings you here.. you two?”

               “Trapp.. don’t start.. what brings you here either?” Blake answered.

               “This can be very serious .. I cannot understand what Deborge is doing.. why his troops are not here..” He didn’t care to answer

               “Indeed.. Dinar’s troops seem to be overpowered.. they definitely need all the help they can get.” Blake said.. and he was right, “are these Vino troops include the expected rescue?”

Trapp was shocked, he shouted,

               “Rescue .. what rescue? Where did you hear that?”

               “I cannot remember who mentioned it.. but there was a rumor when we were at the BKC that Vino would send rescue to help the trapped soldiers”

               “Does Deemeon know about this?” Trapp was shaken and I was surprised at his reaction.

               “If it was known in BKC then he must have known.” Blake answered, “how long has this fight lasted so far, do you know?”

               “This is the second day.. yesterday, when darkness fell, our troops pulled back inside the Castle and hunkered there till the morning. It gave the fighters some temporary respite till they continued in the morning.”

               “I don’t remember any other fight lasted for a second day.. ever.. the MEMOC guys must be dead exhausted.. none of our troops ever train for such punishment.” Blake noted.

Suddenly before our eyes, the MEMOC troops pulled back again and ran inside the castle walls while the Vino troops started chasing them.. the big doors were closed and the Vino soldiers surrounded the area in a big formation.. I saw Deemeon from the corner of my eye going around the far end stealthily and then disappeared.. I figured he must have used a gateway to get inside.

The situation remained suspended like that and I wondered why the Vino troops didn’t take the opportunity to withdraw back home.. a lot of torches were lit and they turned the whole place into a brightly lit arena..

               “Do you know the gateway spot here?” Blake asked.

               “No.. but there is always a gateway at the outside of the front door.. I am dying to go inside and find out what is going on?” Trapp replied.

Then suddenly Deemeon came galloping behind us.. he dismounted and poked Blake in his chest..

               “Coming to watch the shame we have to endure here?” He was obviously very angry.

               “No .. we were supposed to see you this morning and figured you may have some instructions ..” Blake stammered.

               “I wanted to see if I can be of any help.” Trapp murmured under his breath.

               “How is Dinar holding up?”  I ventured to speak.

He looked at me for a while before answering,

               “You know.. I wish you were the one leading this fight.. it would certainly have a different outcome.” He sounded very strange.. I never heard him speak in such low key tone.

               “Yes, Dinar had no previous experience and__” Trapp tried to comment.

               “Dinar is dead.. he has been killed.” Deemeon interrupted sharply, “You want to say that you would do things differently.. right.. you are the experienced one.. I doubt that very much.”

We all remained silent for a while then Deemeon spoke as if he was talking to himself,

               “I wonder what happened to that idiot Deborge.. where is he?”

               “If I know the gateway here I would go to check on him?” Blake suggested.

               “You are the smart one.. eh.. you are forgetting.. this is their fight.. they must have coordinated it together.. or else.. TC will have a lot of new residents tomorrow.” Deemeon was now shouting angrily.

               “I hope you excuse my observation.” I started to speak trying to diffuse the tension, “But who is leading the soldiers of MEMOC now.. is one of the contenders taking up the responsibility?”

               “Yes.. she is an old upstart.. and she is now in charge.” He answered in a regretful tone, “I never had to change the rules in the middle of a fight.. this is outrageous.. outrageous.”

He got on his horse and galloped away.. without telling us where he was going or whether he expected us to leave or stay.. we debated the issue, and decided to stay since there were no more urgent matters in our own territories while it seemed more probable that our input might be needed. So, Trapp suggested a spot off the road to UC Front which was obscured from view by the shrubbery and we camped there.. it never occurred to me in my wildest nightmares, that I would ever camp in the company of this savage.. but stranger things were about to happen..