It was quite a relief to see daylight again.. but we were not completely clear yet, this is where most of the traffic takes place.. regular traffic, through the canyon.. or through the gateway, so we had to find cover fast..
“Now.. start talking..” I demanded.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.. how did you get out of the R1A? And oh, first.. how did you get in? you decided to surrender.. to me.. that was an unbelievable trick.. and ___”
“Wait.. do you know what they are doing inside this huge place underground?” He asked me with a comical smile.
“Yeah.. to some extent..” I realized that my information was limited, “They are torturing people there for some .. reprogramming system or something.”
“This is so superficial.. you probably heard the screaming and learned that they do reprogramming.. right?”
“Yeah.. more or less.. so tell me.. I saw you in the battle field.. but I never imagined you would be involved in some spy operation.”
“This facility has two purposes.. first converting Vinovian prisoners into Abysnos agents, then reprogram some of these agents to carry new information into the outside world.. information of highly destructive nature, with the ultimate purpose of destroying Vinovia completely.. basically by the hands of her own citizens.”
“What information are you talking about? Those weapons I saw Bryane invent.. these are developed in DC, not here.” I exclaimed, “and they are programmed into the riffraff, not the citizens of Vinovia.”
“No.. you are referring to the crude war machines which their scientists are creating in the Desperation Castle, which you refer to as DC.. no.. what they____?”
“Crude?” I interrupted, “these are horrible weapons.. designed to annihilate large numbers of people.. they can kill people from a far distance.”
“Yes.. yes.. but what they are developing here is far more sophisticated..imagine if you are here.. and yet you can kill people in a different village without ever having to go there.. these are unheard of systems .. more .. more complex.. like.. did you see their chief doctor here?” He asked
“Yes, you mean Fatal?”
“Yes.. this is actually a human brain housed inside a machine.. he looks like a human.. but he is not.. he has great intelligence and can function better than a hundred scientists.” He explained.
“I was wondering about that and .. actually I was asking Instine about it, but he shut me up.. so .. you mean they are making.. wait.. what does that have to do with the Vinovians caught inside?”
“The information.. The knowledge..used to create this machine .. or brain, machine combination.. is so complicated.. and they are inserting this information into the minds of some of these prisoners so that once they release them back in the outside world, they would be able to wreak havoc on the whole world.. just imagine what it would be like if Vinoville, or Vino city will be able to produce such a man-machine combo on a large scale.. what would the world be like after that?”
I felt like being hit by a ton of rocks.. I was just stunned. After a short silence, he continued,
“You are shocked? Eh.. that is not all.. they are also developing new ways of remote destruction.. ways the world had never seen or heard of before and there are no words to describe it yet..”
“But.. why?” I was actually asking myself rather than asking him.. it was still too overwhelming for me to comprehend the scale of what he was describing.
“That is why we call this ‘evil’ and we are trying to stop it.”
“Wait.. why.. why not.. I mean.. why not we .. I mean we can.. we can take this information and reverse its effect.. use it for good.. or even for defense..”
He looked at me with a big smile and his face lighted up.. like he was happy.. I was surprised.. so I smiled in turn and wondered,
“Why are you smiling so happily? This is very.. very overwhelming?”
“Yeah.. but you said.. we.. we can take this and make good use of it.. you said we.”
For a moment I didn’t quite pick up what he meant.. then.. I just shook my head. I really couldn’t reach the same occlusion, or maybe I was unable to accept the inference until that moment.. in reality I was more confused.. I was talking to the best warrior in the enemy ranks, I even helped him escape, while I was supposed to capture him or even kill him.. yet, there I was arguing with him about matters beyond my sphere of influence or authority.. something was nagging me at the back of my head.. I tried to push myself out of the swirling streams of thoughts inside my brain.. then I mumbled,
“Look.. you didn’t tell me how..oh.. well.. anyway.. what .. what was it you were doing there.. I mean you did this elaborate scheme to get in, and all that.. why?”
“We were trying to destroy the whole facility.. but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time.. so we just wired a large section in the equipment area..the plan___”
“Wired?” I interrupted.
“Yes, Mark is an expert in explosives.. so he prepared the area to explode when we leave, that is why we had to leave in a hurry.”
“But I didn’t see Mark.. how did he leave?”
He laughed merrily and took his time to answer,
“You have been around here all this time and you never knew.. well.. you saw those many cottages all around the green land on top of the underground castle?”
“Yeah.. yes.. what about them?” I asked gingerly
“What do you think is the reason for building them like that.. so elaborate with furnishings and music free for everyone to enjoy?”
“They are for entertainment.. I used several ones myself.. I particularly liked the music in the large one at the far end of the lawn.”
“Well.. these are actually the ventilation hubs for the underground structure.. the music only serves to mask the noise that may come through.. and when you are enjoying yourself there, you never guess what is going on under your feet.”
He watched my facial expression change slowly and my eyes go wild, so he laughed again and when he settled down, he said,
“Mark could manage to escape through one of those vents.. he had to stay close.. I was supposed to go the same way if I didn’t get hold of you.. it would be a long trek back home but we got wind that you were inside, so we had a change of plan.”
“Why did he have to stay close?”
“To trigger the explosion.”
“So .. that means.. Oh wow..”
He shook his head approving the thought I couldn’t finish.. I leaned back against the rocky wall we were hiding behind.. and my mind went crazy thinking.. how the place would look like after the explosion.. and how Instine.. then Deemeon .. and everyone else will react..
Dusky watched me grimace for a while, then he shook me up,
“We have to leave this place.. both of us have a lot to do.”
I didn’t respond right away.. instead I just stared at him.. so he added,
“I appreciate your help. Alore was right about you.. and__” he stopped, which provoked me into shaking myself out of my stupor.. so he grabbed my shoulder and said,
“Why don’t you come with me.. back to Vinovia.. back where you belong.. there is no reason for you to stay here?”
I was amused.. so I smiled insipidly saying,
“I just read a part of the book “the art of lying”.. right now I don’t know who is lying and who is telling the truth.. do I really belong here .. or there.. or where do I really belong?”
He tried to interrupt me, then he changed his mind.. he said instead,
“At least you were kind enough to bring me to the mountain.. I shall need to hurry because I have to climb all the way to the top.”
I got alarmed.. I had to warn him,
“No.. No you cannot.. you shall be certainly killed.. this is where the TC troops are stationed and they not ____”
He fell back laughing uncontrollably.. and I was very astonished..I tried again,
“Why are you laughing? I know you are a valiant warrior and all, but these___”
“There is no such thing as the TC troops.. or warriors.. or anything of the kind.” He spoke while he still laughed, “this is all a fabrication.. a fantasy.”
“How do you know that? How do you know anything?” I shouted, “I nearly killed Deemeon’s son and he sent him to become the commander of the TC troops”
“Luce is lying.” Dusky now had recovered and was able to speak almost normally, “He invented this lie to keep his people from going to the mountain.. you see, the top of this mountain is a great plateau.. and we .. we have a camp on top of the mountain.. we control it entirely.. he probably goes up himself to kill or catch one of our soldiers who might be unaware and traveling carelessly alone.. but we are alert.. we may catch him one of these times and he shall regret it.”
My mind went back to my trip to the enchanting forest.. I never encountered any troops or soldiers.. I was getting sick.. I wondered out loud,
“Well.. I never encountered any soldiers on my way to the enchanting forest__”
“Oh yeah.. yes, yes.. I remember .. Alore left you his horse.. he was hoping you decide to stay there and never go back,” He spoke joyfully, “Don’t you wish to go back there again?”
“Alore? He left his horse for me?.. we looked for the rider everywhere and couldn’t find him.”
“This guy is great.. he spent two years undercover here.. and he knows every corner, every niche and hiding place in that place.. if you had decided to stay in the forest, he would still be able to return using one of the sickly horses you have here.”
“Deemeon is looking for him everywhere.__”
“Luce will never find him.. I am sure..”
“Luce?.. is this what you call him?” I asked.
“He has many names.. I am sure he told you that.. Lucifirous is what we call him.. in other countries they call him different names.. Shooshum.. Barcomme.. and other names.. he is very old.. you know that.. right?”
“He mentioned it.. but I couldn’t believe him.. he looks .. no older than.. me or you.”
“Well, this will have to wait for another time.. but for now.. the day is almost gone.. we are already late in the afternoon.. I am tired and I don’t want to spend the night out of the camp__”
“Would you like to join me in OC front.. I have a separate bunker.. you already appear as a blue coat doctor___” I hesitantly suggested..
“No.. this may complicate matters.. and will be hard to explain.” He dismissed the idea, “On second thought.. how about this.. doorway.. or travel thing you use to move from one place to the other.. can it be used to go up the mountain?”
“I don’t know.. this whole system is still new to me.. but, if you say there is no TC mountain castle, I don’t see why there would be a spot up there.”
“You are right.. I shall have to climb.. even if there is a spot up there.. you would have to go up with me and then down again.. or.. maybe___”
“No.. on second thought, this is the way to prove if you are right.. albeit, it is going to be very risky.. if there are no TC troops, there would be no spot.. and if there is a spot we may end up in the middle of a camp of TC soldiers___”
“Very clever Harts.. all right.. let us have it.” He challenged me..
“If we find any troops we shall___” I started to warn him
“Never mind.. you have a sword.. and a knife.. and they shall identify you.. right?”
We walked back cautiously to the gateway. I grabbed his arm and said the words, ‘up the mountain” and instantly we found ourselves standing in front of a cave on top of the mountain. But as I was just about to celebrate the fact that he was wrong, we heard the roaring of some monster which we couldn’t see immediately.. so we went into the cave to hide..
A few minutes later a large giant appeared in front of the cave .. it had a reprehensible appearance.. curved back, horrible large head which looked like the head of a horned goat and what seemed like a human body devoid of skin.. and to my chagrin, it followed us inside the cave.
The light was dim inside.. we thought it might be possible to steal out without being noticed.. but that creature was blocking our way.. and before I realize what happened, I heard my name being shouted out loud,
“Flousty Hort.. you bastard animal.. what brings you here? Do you have to follow me wherever I go?”
I felt my blood curdle inside my body.. that was Pryade.. the last ugly person I ever hoped to see,
“Is that you Pryade?” I stood up pretending to be unfazed.
“Deemeon stopped me from killing you before.. did he send you now to vex me again?”
I had to think fast.. so I spoke as boldly as I could pretend,
“No Pryade.. there was an explosion in the CCP.. I had to rush out to save one of the doctors, and we seemed to end up here by mistake.”
“Well.. now is my chance.. I should kill you and cut you to pieces for the vultures out there.. oh, I wish to eat your filthy heart myself__”
“Then when your father asks you about me, what are you going to tell him?”
“The vultures got you.” He laughed uproariously. My knees buckled..
“He was there when I went through the gateway.. so he shall be here soon.. I think it is better to let us leave fast to save the doctor.. before any one of your troopers come along.”
“There are no other troopers fool.. I am all there is up here.. I hunt the Vinos whenever I can.. and Deemeon rarely cares to come check on me.”
He changed his appearance back to the original ugly form I used to see at Primore.. so I put my hand on the hilt of my sword saying,
“OK, we can fight it out .. you and me.. but if you kill me, you shall have to take the doctor back.. he is needed safely back at the CCP.”
“Shucks.. no way.. I am not allowed to leave this stinking place.. I cannot take him back.” He roared angrily again, “I hate to see you escape a second time.. you were not supposed to see me.. and this .. this human doctor .. they do not allow humans to work in the CCP___”
“Well, Pryade, that is Instine domain.. it is his responsibility, not yours .. and emergencies required fast decisions.. there will be a third time for sure.. and you know, the third time is the charm.”
He roared.. in anger or in agony, I don’t know.. and kept changing into the monster form back and forth.. so, I pulled Dusky by the hand and rushed out of the cave. We both ran like the wind.. expecting the monster to follow us.. but thankfully, for some reason, he didn’t..
We ran until we both were out of breath.. and stopped at a safe distance from the cave..
“We were looking for this monster all over the mountain, but he was well hidden.. this is actually a good discovery.” Dusky noted, still gasping
“I almost killed him in battle.. and paid the price for it.. he is Deemeon’s son.”
“We know all about it.. Alore never stopped talking about you since he returned.” The Vino replied, “but this monster had actually trapped several soldiers from our camp and we were trying to catch him.. now I think we can locate his hideaway.”
I smiled shaking my head,
“You were right after all.. there are no TC troops.” I had to admit, “but now I am way far from the spot to use the gateway.. I don’t know if I should risk going near that cave again.. I shall probably have to climb down.”
“We can go to the camp.. you may change your mind and stay.. there is no need for you to go back there.”
I looked at him with a sad smile for a while, then I answered,
“I told you.. I do not know what is the truth yet.. besides, even if you are right.. if Alore had told you about me.. he must have also told you that my hands and my sword are drenched in the blood of Vino soldiers.. I cannot imagine the kind of reception your fellow soldiers would prepare for me.”