chapter 11:captives

Orvae walked through the cobbled streets of Deiamy, whistling and admiring the scenery of the old town. He had lived in it since he was a little kid. His parents lived in the port city of Ortovy. His father was a sailor, whereas his mother was a trader. Due to a fracture in their marriage and a bad economic situation, his father sent Orvae to live with his grandparents when he was just two years old.

Since then, he had come up under the guidance of his grandfather Amintoro.

Amintoro was a man of repute in Deiamy. He had been an able-bodied farmer in his youth and had been of great support to the region during the great famine some twenty years ago.

Now, in his old age, he was still a very successful man, boasting over 100 hectares of farmland with 15 large barns, 400 cows, 900 goats, 700 sheep, and thousands of hens and roosters. One could call him the most successful farmer in all of Deiamy.

Amintoro was a calm man, and he raised his grandson Orvae to be a calm and resourceful individual as well, and Orvae had grown in that light. It would be a shame and a big dent on his reputation if it was known that Amintoro's grandson had participated in the theft of property belonging to the empire.

Since Amintoro was one of those who was loyal and on good terms with the empire, some people would even argue that the young Orvae had been corrupted by Amintoro's adopted grandson Bravae, who he had taken under his roof after seeing how hard of a worker he was on the farms and what a good relationship he had with his grandson.

All these were thoughts that stormed the young Orvae's mind as he made his way to Amintoro's compound to explain his absence.

As he turned a corner into the narrower road that gave way to a street flanked by mahogany trees on each side, he began to see the smoke. It was coming from a large compound at the very end of the street, and Orvae knew exactly where that was.

"Granddad!" he gasped.

Running full pelt in the general direction of the smoke. As he drew nearer, he could see Braunian vehicles—strange fissures of metal and rubber that moved without animal support, amazing technology still alien to the people of Norea.

He quickly ducked behind one of the mahogany trees.

All around him, he could hear crying and screams from little children and women.

The house in the compound was on fire, and the Braunian soldiers were leading someone out of the compound. It was the tall, stooping figure of the old man Amintoro. Slowly, they led him into the vehicle—but the vehicle was not empty. Someone was inside—a young man.

Orvae looked closer. To his immense surprise, it was none other than Bravae.

He couldn't believe it.

The Braunians had caught Bravae, and they thought his grandfather to be part of a broader conspiracy to topple the empire. It was evident from what they were doing.

The doors shut, and the vehicles moved away—except one, which stood conspicuously by the side of the road.

In front of it stood a Braunian.

Even from where he was hiding, Orvae felt intimidated by the man's stature.

His hair was long, reaching past his shoulders. He was very tall—the tallest man Orvae had ever seen apart from Indumae.

His armour looked different from the typical Braunian soldier, and his weapon, which lay bolstered by his side, was menacing as well. It was like a rifle but smaller, thicker, and more ominous. Orvae wondered what the Braunians called it. On his other hip was a contraption that Orvae had never seen before. It looked like a bow, but more fancy.

Even his gait expressed power.

He turned his head sharply in the direction of Orvae, who ducked quickly to avoid being seen.

The man sniffed the air and walked a few paces forward. Orvae's heart beat rapidly, but the man stopped and returned to the vehicle where two other soldiers were waiting for him, before they drove off.

Orvae moved from his hiding place and ran into the compound. It was a mess. Almost everything had been destroyed—pots, vases, flowers, and huts all destroyed, with animals running all over the place. On the ground were many wounded workers of Amintoro, with many children crying. He ran to the main house where he saw his grandmother Serwa crying. She was being comforted by his aunt.

"What happened?" Orvae asked, running to meet them.

"Orvae, where have you been?" Serwa said, giving Orvae a hug.

"I—I, we went hunting," Orvae managed to stammer some lies.

"Oh Orvae, I thought something had happened to you," she said, tears still in her eyes.

"They've taken your grandfather. They are accusing him of conspiracy. They destroyed everything," she continued.

"It's okay. Everything will be fine," Orvae said reassuringly.

"Where is Bamar?" Orvae asked, referring to the lead servant.

"They shot him in the leg. He's being taken to the apothecary to remove the ball," his aunt replied.

"Okay, I want you to take Mama to the old house in Caropy. I'll organize the carriages and transport the rest of the stuff, okay?" Orvae asked her.

"But I can't leave, Orvae. You can't handle all of that," she said.

"Trust me! The house is on fire. We need to get everybody out of here," he insisted.

His aunt slowly shook her head, so they supported Serwa and took her outside the compound, where Orvae was able to stop a carriage and put his grandma in.

The carriage pulled away slowly. Orvae turned back to face the ruins.

A tear almost left his eyes.

He felt a smack on his shoulder. He turned around to find Merab behind him.

She looked very cross. She had a large object wrapped in a sheath in her hand.

Orvae recognized this to be the sword.

"You bastards, you tricked me and ran off. What is going on here?" she said.

"This is my grandfather's house. The Braunians just took him and set his house ablaze. Oh, and they've also got Bravae."

"They've got who?" she shouted.

Orvae remained silent and stared at the floor.

"This is why I told you guys to stay at the cabin. But you decided to run off. Now look at the situation."

"I'm sorry," Orvae said.

She sighed and put her hands on her hips.

"We've got to put this fire out before it spreads," she said to Orvae.

"Yeah, exactly. Do you have any ideas?" Orvae asked.

"Gather everyone to the front. I'll be behind the house," she said.

So for the next three minutes, Orvae, with the help of some servants, moved and gathered everyone outside the compound, including the animals.

When he was done, he moved to the back of the house, which was now almost half burnt.

Merab was there. She was sitting on the floor in front of a large hand-drawn circle with strange symbols written on it.

"Everyone is out. What do we do now?" Orvae asked.

"Shhh. Be quiet," Merab said.

She began to recite some incantations.

A powerful wind began to blow. The wind concentrated itself around the house. As she continued to chant, the wind grew stronger and cooler until the fire was completely quenched.

Orvae simply stood in awe and watched.

She got up and picked up the sword, which was still sheathed.

"I've been trying to locate Bravae's energy. I can feel him now. He's at the castle. We have to go and rescue him," she said.

"What about Indumae?" Orvae asked.

"He's too far away now. He can't help us. We can't risk them torturing him."

"What about my grandad?"

"We will rescue him too."

Merab put her hand on Orvae's shoulder before saying, "Let's go. We don't have time."

And they both made their way out of the compound towards the Braunian castle.

Meanwhile, Bravae had finally arrived at the castle—the place where he and Orvae had robbed five days earlier. He did not believe that he would come back here so soon after the initial act.

Amintoro had been quiet during the entire ride and had advised Bravae to be quiet also.

The vehicle stopped in the courtyard, and the soldiers ushered both of them out.

"Take the old man to the dungeons. Bring the boy upstairs. Sir Brian wants to see him," said a blonde-haired soldier in Braunian language.

"Bravae, remember, be quiet. Don't tell them anything. You don't know. Everything will be fine," Amintoro managed to whisper to Bravae before he was whisked away.

A cloth was put on Bravae's head, and he was led away by six Braunian soldiers.

The walk up the stairs was long and strenuous. Bravae felt like they were climbing forever.

Finally, they got to their destination, where Bravae was sat on a chair, and both his hands were cuffed to the chair. Both his feet were also bound to the chair legs. On top of that, his neck was also bound to the chair, so he could not move any part of his body even if he struggled.

After that, the cloth was removed from his head to reveal to him a semi-dark room made completely of stone bricks. From his point of view, the room was empty but for a chair which stood in front of him. There wasn't even a door. On a far end of the room, there was a rack, and hung on it were strange-looking metal instruments.

Bravae sat there for what felt like an hour. He couldn't know for sure—it could have been just ten minutes. But it felt like a long time before he heard the sound of a door being opened from behind him.

Of course, he couldn't know where the sound was coming from. He couldn't move his neck.

He heard the sound of heavy boots around him. Until finally, the figure came into his view. It was a soldier. He was very tall, had long hair, and was extremely well-built. Bravae had never seen anyone like him in his life.

He walked around Bravae and sat on the chair right opposite him.

He looked at Bravae stone-faced for some seconds before he said, "How are you doing, Bravae?" in heavily accented Norean.

Bravae said nothing. He remained quiet.

The man let out a quiet, mirthless laugh.

"You want to play games? That's okay. But let me tell you this—I'm a nice guy, and this could be a whole lot easier if you just tell me everything you know. But if you want to go down the high road, I have a friend who is very much prepared for you. So do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

Bravae still remained silent. This seemed to infuriate the man a little bit, but he said nothing. He simply motioned his hand.

And a door could be heard opening.

Another man walked in. This man was short, fat, and old. He was not as handsome and as magnificent as the soldier, but he emanated a very mean aura, and Bravae could feel it.

"Bravae, meet Sir Rami. He's not as nice as me. To be honest, he's here to make you suffer. But I can prevent that—only if you comply. So do you still want to be hard as a rock?"

Bravae still remained quiet, even though he was scared to death at this point.

The tall soldier shook his head before saying, "You may begin."

Sir Rami walked to the rack and took one of the strange instruments, which looked like a combination of a rake and a spear.

He brought the instrument forward.

Bravae gulped and took a deep breath before feeling a pain that he had never felt before in his life.

Screaming engulfed the whole room—screaming that could be heard even from the dungeons of the castle.