So.. it happened, I spent the night camping with two commanders, and the talk was naturally intended – and directed – to me.. each of them flaunting his superior knowledge and valor at which I found myself struggling to abstain from laughing or mocking.. and when I had enough and could no longer let it go on.. I had to stop it,

               “You both attend the council meeting every Wednesday.. right?”

               “Of course. It is the highlight of the week.” Blake answered proudly.

               “Who else attends? Does Wyee attend?” I asked

               “Sometimes.. when there is an issue she wants to report.” Trapp replied

               “I understand it is held in the CCP?”

They both looked at each other before Trapp said,

               “Who told you that?”

               “I don’t remember.. why? Is it a secret?”

               “Whatever happens in that castle is a secret.. what else do you know about it?” He persisted arrogantly.

               “Nothing.. I think it was Deemeon who told me.”

I had to hold back a giggle as I watched the reaction on their faces.

The night went on in this kind of verbal dancing around, and somehow I ended up enjoying jiggling the chains of both disdainful characters.

I woke up at dawn at the thunderous sound of cavalry, so I poked the other two to jump to their feet, and we expected to see the troops of UC Front to be on their way to save the day for MEMOC.. however.. The scene which materialized before our eyes was a shocking spectacle for the ages..

The group of spotted horses with fresh and strong soldiers headed by a leader who looked like a master warrior.. an incredible picture to behold.. as they galloped past our hideaway, Blake screamed.. I didn’t know if it was horror or shock, or just adulation..

               “Dusky.. Dusky.” He repeated, “Dusky Powel.”

He reflexively rushed to his horse, so I grabbed his arm to stop him,

               “We are not supposed to interfere.” I yelled.

He snatched his arm away from me screaming,

               “I was supposed to bring him in.. now is my chance.”

He galloped after the Vino troops to catch up to his target. Trapp followed to watch at a distance and I took my time to follow them expecting the worst. When I arrived close enough to watch the unfolding conflict.. the Vino soldiers had divided themselves into two sections while the MEMOC troops lined up in front of the doors of their castle.. Trapp was watching around the corner hidden from sight.. and Blake just arrived at the scene, looked around to find his target.. as soon as he spotted Dusky,  he rode right to him.. his move effectively aroused the MEMOC soldiers to jump into the fray.. and because the Vino soldiers were divided, the Vycee troops had to divide themselves to face each part of the enemy to avoid being squashed from both sides .. the side which included Dusky drew their opponents gradually towards the castle.. while the other half pulled their adversaries away towards the far end of the field.. it was obvious to me that their side had a carefully designed plan while our side was just reacting to their maneuvers.. Blake attacked Dusky and kept shouting and cursing at him.. but the conflict didn’t last long.. in a few strokes, the commander of OC Front, was cut down and his horse reared violently throwing him to the ground and ran away and out of the battle.. I was surprised at my own reaction.. because I didn’t feel any sympathy for the fallen Blake.. I might have even experienced a tinge of disdain to the foolishness he displayed, while I was in complete awe of this amazing fighter who was so skilful and went about the battle field methodically like someone doing his routine chores, with ease and agility keeping a smile on his face.. soon, the MEMOC soldiers who followed the group away from the castle, disappeared together with the troops they were pursuing into the direction of the mountains, while the group led by Dusky turned the tables on their opponents and went inside the castle closing its doors to separate themselves from our soldiers who were left on the outside wondering what had really happened..

The battle was over.. with half the MEMOC troops lost to the mountains for we had no idea how they fared against their opponents, while the other half was left outside their own castle literally in limbo with a huge litter of corpses and blood all over the field.. the stench was unbearable and the scene grotesque.. it was impossible to guess how those soldiers might have felt.. probably the dead were better off than the living, who were wandering around dazed, shocked and weary.. some riding and some walking among the bloody piles of bodies.. a short while later.. the banners of MEMOC flying atop the walls of the castle were toppled and a new banner with Vino colors was raised in its place.. Deemeon was nowhere to be found.

The MEMOC soldiers gathered at a distance from the castle and hunkered together.. the hours of the day passed slowly and painfully.. the resounding defeat was unthinkable, and none would dare make a move or offer a suggestion.. there was no telling why the Vino soldiers with their leader chose to lock themselves inside the castle.. normally it would be more like a trap.. they could be starved or face even bigger odds if we decide to get reinforcements.. yet, their refusal to escape the night before, and now this totally irrational step of occupying the castle, certainly meant they were executing a previously designed plan.. then I saw Deemeon go through the field to inspect it.. I never saw him look as terrifying as he looked that day.. when he saw Blake with his head split open on the ground.. he kicked his body savagely yelling,

               “Scum.. stupid rogue.. nobody asked him to interfere.. I shall deal with him bitterly in the lower halls of TC.”

I understood the extreme wrath, but I didn’t understand the exact meaning of what he said until it was explained to me a long time later.

The slow and agonizing hours of the evening were about to turn into night.. I saw a hastily erected platform in front of our troops, with a few chairs on top and a podium.. the place was lit by a single torch light which kept undulating in the gentle wind and casting grim shadows on everything and everyone. I approached the scene carefully and stationed myself standing next to my horse at the back of our troops..

Now several people went up to the platform, Wyee, Loot, Trapp, Pruste .. and Instine.. apparently members of the council.. then Deemeon and the rest sat down while Instine approached the podium and made the announcements,

               “I Deemeon, have decided to transfer Commander Trapp from the current position in the Malaab castle, to become the commander of MEMOC, and send Captain Devo to oversee the affairs of the UC Front.. Also Half the forces of the UC Front are being transferred to MEMOC and mobilized tonight to help with the efforts of the current games. These games must end in victory and we must celebrate its conclusion tomorrow as usual at the BKC.” And that was it.. The platform was quickly vacated and Trapp approached the podium and assumed his role with newly acquired inflated ego..

I immediately noticed the absence of any mention of Blake or the commander position at OC Front. The presence of all these council members might indicate the strong objections many of them had to having me replace Blake.. or be given command of the MEMOC, which Deemeon expressly wanted and mentioned the night before.. and I wondered, who would they have in mind for that position at OC.. while at the same time the words Wyee uttered many days ago flashed in my mind, “You have a strong ally at the BKC” .. Well, Do I? really? Maybe not.. after I snubbed her that day back in the OC Front.

The new commander now stood in the center and started to speak,

               “We have a new beginning.. we must transform this disgraceful situation into a resounding victory.. we have lost several commanders today.. but we are much stronger now since the chief has given me a free hand in dealing with this battle to end it fast and successfully.. so we shall do whatever it takes to achieve this result.”  

He kept talking on and on.. There was a stir among the soldiers .. later , while he was still speaking, a group of wagons and horsemen arrived, presumably from the UC Front.. It seemed to include a large number of cavalry.. and Trapp soon acknowledged their arrival in his speech,

               “.. the dynamics of this battle have now changed, as we welcome Captain Devo at the head of some troops come to help defeat this hateful enemy.. he is a better warrior than anyone I had seen before, and a better leader than any one of those failed leaders we had seen here so far..”

Shouts of objections began to get louder and more numerous.. but as it was typical of Trapp, he raised his hurtful voice even higher and  kept going further,

               “..What are you shouting about.. you and your leaders have caused this catastrophe.. and both of them had fallen under the hoofs of Dusky’s horse.. isn’t that what happened? Now we have to change that and turn it around.. the chief insists to capture this Dusky alive.. He has plans for him.. so we must do that to prove what we can do.. you can change your failure into success.. they are caught in their own snare inside the castle.. we have to ferret them out and hand them over like rats ready to be transformed into play things for the powers of Vycee..”

I was beginning to hate that Devo already, probably just because Trapp praised him so much.. and then I thought to myself, “nobody is even aware of my existence here anymore.. so it is evident I am not needed and I am not supposed to contribute to this battle.. so the best approach for me is to leave and go check on OC Front where I am now the highest officer.. at least for the time being.”

I went fetching my horse, and just as I found it with the other horses, I heard my name being shouted aloud,

               “Anybody seen Flousty Hort?” The speaker in the crowd kept repeating, “If anyone see this soldier, Flousty Hort must tell him.. he is wanted in the BKC as soon as possible.”

I was intrigued.. what is it now? Deemeon has realized I am away from my post.. or he has something else for me to do.. the worst thing would be .. if he asks me to join the effort with Trapp and this Devo character.. Well, maybe I can pretend I didn’t hear the call .. then another thought hit me.. damn, there might be some bad development at OC Front.. now that UC Front is at its lowest point, anything can happen.. so, I should better heed the call..

I kept debating these thoughts in my head.. and just as I was going about to ride, I noticed some unusual activity suddenly engulfing the whole place.. I turned to explore the matter, only to discover the soldiers were all busy piling up brush and wood at the walls and torching it to burn the walls down.. and shooting a barrage of flame arrows into the castle.. Trapp was destroying the MEMOC to “ferret” Dusky and his soldiers out.. I got a sinking feeling in my guts without understanding the reason why.. something was wrong.. drastic.. or inexplicably fearful to me..

I stood there watching the flames rise up as the last shadows of the night were departing and being replaced by the piercing rays of the upcoming sun slicing through the dark low clouds and displaying a horrible ghastly appearance to the whole smelly and gruesome place .. pretty soon.. smoke and heat were rising.. and parts of the wall began to crumble .. falling down in thundering sounds and clouds of hot rocks and dust..

I noticed a very strange phenomenon though.. there were a few soldiers stationed on top of the pylons  and walls as sentries.. yet there was no resistance.. no fighting back.. that was completely out of character of this Dusky.. I would imagine, he must have had a plan.. he must have anticipated this as one of the possible scenarios..

I became curious .. set aside the call to the BKC and walked into the crowd.. many were now watching with awe and admiration.. while some others seemed to be dismayed.. I kept listening to them talking,

               “This is stupid.. if Kelly were here__” one soldier said

               “They put this Devo in charge instead of him.. and he was the one who saved the day.”

They must have been from UC Front. Obviously refusing to accept Devo..

               “Yes.. if Kelly obeyed Deborge, these games would have turned into a real disaster.” A third soldier added

               “Deborge wanted to send Kelly and his group for further skirmishes to bring more of the Vino soldiers.. he refused to believe that there was going to be a rescue attempt.” The first soldier continued.

               “I saw it.. I saw it by my own eyes.” The second person said, “I was with Kelly .. half the way out, Kelly decided we had to return in case the rescue rumors were true, when we arrived back .. Dusky had already killed Deborge and was advancing towards MEMOC.. we could not follow him because we had so much destruction and so many victims on the ground.. the only thing we could do is stop them from doing more damage to our castle .. we had to wait and see if more Vinos were coming in, besides, no one was in charge because deputy Stoke was killed as well, so Kelly had us hunker down to hold our castle.”

I was stunned.. and wondered if any of those who were on the platform knew any of this information.. then I turned to look at the burning walls.. now the sentries had disappeared.. oh, but wait.. the wall where they were stationed had fallen.. so they died without so much as screaming? It was actually straight ahead of my position.. something deep inside me drove me to push my way among the crowd to check those Vino corpses.. these must be either extremely stupid or extremely brave.. as I left the crowd behind and ventured to go further into the area of the hot rubble.. screams followed me “idiot.. what are you doing? Get back..who is this fool?”

I kept going until I reached the bright helmet of one Vino soldier.. I got my sword out and poked around the debris .. the blade caught part of the burnt cloak.. but.. no..body.. there was no corpse.. that was .. a sham.. well.. where are the Vino soldiers? Does this explain why there was no resistance? But.. where did they go?

I moved back quickly and pushed my way towards the jubilant Trapp, celebrating with his new found hero,

               “Did you___” I started to shout over the noise..

               “It’s you..  idiot.. where were you?” He interrupted, “How dare you go into the hot ruins like this.. get out of here .. didn’t you hear the caller say the chief wants you in the BKC?”

               “Did you bother to wonder why___” I tried again without success as he kept interrupting me and insulting me.. he even threatened to capture me and send me to the BKC as a prisoner.. so I decided to keep the information for myself.. and pulled away from the scene.. got my horse and rode away..

I went as far as I could, as fast as I could .. the smell of burning wood,  mixed with stench of burning corpses and hot rocks made the air hard to breathe..  smoke was being carried away by the wind.. I reached the up and down fork in the road.. stopped for a short while to look back at the blazing horizon.. the scene was heart wrenching as the rising fire filled the far end of the world  with dancing colors of red and black.. then I moved on the road to BKC..  when I reached one of the castles without walls..  I stopped again to turn around and look.. I could only see clouds of smoke filling the air and swirling from  the earth and up to the sky …. it filled me with a mixed feeling of extreme anger and extreme pain.. I turned around and began to trot towards the BKC.. I was getting close to the red spot, when I noticed a group of  riffraff loitering in a thicket outside the area.. I was about to pass them, when one of them called on me..

               “Sir.. sir.. did you see the spy?” I stopped

               “Spy? What spy?”

               “We were told to be on the lookout for a spy who escaped from the battle?”

               “There is no spy.. nobody could escape from that inferno back there.”

               “Oh, but we have found some clothes which may belong to him.. come and see.”

He was joined by two others.. they had dirty faces and hands and were wearing ragged clothes..

               “I am busy and I told you it cannot be a spy.. it must be__”

               “Sir, please.. we need the reward.. you seem to be a high ranking officer and you can put in a good word for us.. please leave your horse here and come to see.. my friend will tell your companions when they arrive.” He was now holding the reins of my horse and trying to get me to dismount..

               “I am the commander of the OC Front and there are no companions.. now you scum get off and forget about it.”

               “But sir.. the commander of that castle was killed in battle yesterday?”

               “You mean Blake.. I am his deputy and that makes me the commander now.” I kicked him away violently as I was getting annoyed..but he held fast to my leg and his companion yelled from the back,

               “No companions” Suddenly everything changed fast.. the man talking to me tried to pull me down from my horse.. his nearest companion got out a knife and tried to stab me.. I evaded him and swiftly knocked his knife away using my saddle knife.. then I spurred my horse hard and it jumped knocking both of them down and galloped away.. but before I went far enough, I felt the sharp pain of a long blade piercing my right shoulder and lost control of my arm.. I fell forward on the neck of my horse holding desperately to the mane with my left hand as the horse went crazy and ran like a maniac without control.. I was getting weak and delirious.. finally the horse reached the next castle without walls and ran into some tables set up by people selling food to the travelers by the side of the road.. they stopped it.. got me off the horse and I kept repeating “dusky” .. and when they removed the knife I screamed and lost consciousness..