CHAPTER SEVENTY SIX

　　Satake woke in a standing position. Except his feet were barely touching the floor. Head bowed forward, the muscles in his body twanged. Something was banded across his chest. A crest of some sort and it stung. His body felt numb. Especially his back region. He tried to move only to realize that his arms were wrenched above him, his wrists hemmed together. He wriggled but couldn’t move much. The air around him was musty with a lingering scent of blood.