49- AN IMPORTANT PRISONER

Everything felt cold, there were unpleasant smells, and a lot of darkness. The sunlight starts to come in through a small grate, and that's when Ferzan realizes he was in some kind of prison. There was another person in that cell with his eyes blindfolded and tied up. Ferzan approaches and touches him, and instantly the prisoner wakes up very scared.

- What?! What?! Please don't hit me anymore! I've been quiet as they asked me, please! Please!

- Calm down, I'm another prisoner, I won't hit you.

- Oh! Well, would you do me a huge favor? Take this blindfold off so I can see the sun for at least a few minutes, that woman won't even let me do that.

- Alright, friend, but calm down.

When Ferzan begins to remove the blindfold from the prisoner, two rebellious guards enter along with a woman with black hair and slightly dark skin, with a chest tattoo that says "Samirse".

- Well, well! It seems you've made a friend already.

The prisoner yells at Ferzan, "Put it back on! Put it back on!"

Ferzan quickly puts the blindfold back on him and at that moment receives a lash from one of the guards. Samirse approaches Ferzan.

- Now, let's see who's going to suffer. You will pay for everything you've done! - says Samirse while laughing.

- I haven't done anything, you kidnapped me, I'm just a recruit.

- A recruit wouldn't be such a close friend of the prince.

- Friend of the prince?

- Guards! Take the "recruit" away so he can remember his sins, I'll stay here to have fun with the blind one.

- I haven't done anything! I have the blindfold on! I'm sorry, sorry! - the prisoner cries out in fear.

Ferzan is forcefully grabbed and dragged to a courtyard to be tied up again and tortured. He is gagged and made to sit on a stool. They start slowly stabbing knives into his legs and feet.

After a couple of hours, they leave him alone and Samirse arrives, removing the gag and saying,

- Have you remembered now, recruit?

- I'm not a friend of the prince, I was just following orders from my superiors. I tried to help you, but when my companion saw me, everything got complicated. - Ferzan says, pleading and complaining about the intense pain he feels - Please untie me, it wasn't my fault. It was my first few days, so I didn't want to raise suspicion, and rescuing you from the palace after another one of the prince's lackeys saw us would have been impossible.

- Lackey, you say? - Samirse responds as she giggles - And what are you then?

- Yes, I was also one. At that moment, I realized what kind of people were in charge...

- Good thing you realized! And now I wonder, what can we do with you?

- I understand that you don't trust me, and if you want to kill me, go ahead, but you would be losing someone with important information...

- I like hearing that. However, you'll stay here for a few days while my guards have some fun with you, then we'll talk properly.

Before Ferzan can reply, Samirse puts the gag back on him and signals the guards to come and torture Ferzan again.

Samirse heads to her quarters and watches the sunset through a window while sipping a cup of coffee and thinking about what to do with her new prisoner. On one hand, she wanted revenge, but on the other, she knew that the information he spoke of could be very useful to the rebel side. So, she makes a decision and goes to the cell with a couple of guards later that night.

- Wake up, idiot!

A guard throws a bucket of water at Ferzan.

- Shit! What's wrong with you!?

- Silence! - Samirse exclaims as she hits him in one of his wounds.

Ferzan groans in pain.

- Walk.

They leave the cell and sit Ferzan near a bonfire in the middle of the camp.

- Well, "recruit," what do you have to tell me?

- First, remove this damn rope from my hands. My wrists are very injured thanks to your damn guards.

- I don't think you're in a position to demand anything. You're alive because I haven't given the order to kill you yet, which is what you deserve.

- Well, do it already.

Samirse grabs a torch and threatens Ferzan. "Look, idiot, if you don't want your wounds to worsen, speak up."

- Fine, fine, calm down. The kingdom is currently in a lot of internal turmoil, many vagabonds and people from the lower districts want to desert but they don't have anyone to guide them. They live in suffering because of the king's whims, and in the last mission I was assigned to, I managed to desert from that madness.

- Very nice and inspiring story, but I doubt it's of much use when it's already known throughout the entire continent. So, I may not have any other choice but to... - Samirse says as she brings the torch closer to one of Ferzan's wounds -

- Wait, wait! There's something else. That last mission I told you about happened because some vagabonds deserted. I helped them escape since our orders were to "cleanse the area of undesirables so that the plague would cease and the artisans could make the king's birthday outfits."

- Keep talking, "recruit."

- We weren't given further details, but they were very concerned about the sanitation of the area. We had to eradicate all the "miserable" people who were wandering or starving to death. I managed to convince a few to be taken to the military hospital and treated by the priests, and after that, they deserted and we were ordered to find them again. That's when my group split up, and you captured me after I escaped.

- And what were you planning to do afterwards? You couldn't go back to Teresville ever again.

- I don't know, contact my father somehow and wait for his advice. I would probably have to live in the forests. But I prefer that over committing injustices daily in the name of the King.

- Well! Not even one day here, and you already sound like a rebel.

- I won't be a rebel, I just won't fulfill the King's whims anymore.

- That's not your decision. I'll see if I can find your father. What's his name?

- Hazgor, Hazgor Marrins.

- Oh...Marrins.

- Do you know him?

- I heard something not very encouraging a couple of weeks ago, but we'll talk more tomorrow. Guards!

- Wait, tell me what you know! Hey!

The guards take Ferzan back to the cell as he screams desperate to know about his father.