[Prologue]    [Chapter 1]   [Chapter 2]    [Chapter 3]    [Chapter 4]    [Chapter 5]    [Chapter 6]    [Chapter 7]    [Chapter 8]    [Chapter 9]    [Chapter 10]    [Chapter 11]    [Chapter 12]    [Chapter 13]    [Chapter 14]    [Chapter 15]    [Chapter 16]    [Chapter 18]    [Chapter 19]    [Chapter 20]    [Chapter 21]    [Chapter 22]    [Chapter 23]    [Chapter 24]    [Chapter 25]    [Chapter 26]    [Chapter 27]    [Chapter 28]    [Chapter 29]    [Chapter 30]    [Epilogue]
   

Chapter 17

Rida walked along the prison corridor. It was all plastic and a faint yellow. A warden walked beside him. Rida looked through some of the doors he passed. All the prisoners had a black, rubber suit on and were lying on hard beds, while slightly  stretched. They were tied on to the hard beds-with their arms stretched above their heads.
    Most of the prisoners were on their beds in a lying down position and had a breathing machine on them. They were the ones asleep. Some had their beds in a standing position. They were the ones awake. One prisoner was drinking something from a cup, held by a warden. Rida saw one room where there were 3 wardens with pain sticks and the prisoner was walking around.
    “Obviously to keep the muscles from over stretching,” thought Rida.
    They stopped walking outside a door.
    “She’s ready for interrogating, just like you asked,” said the warden. “D’you know how to work this machine?” he asked Rida. The Tyron Prince nodded. “When the machine is switched off, she goes back to sleep. I’ll wait outside.”
    Rida entered the small room and looked at Dira-his former slave master. Just like the other prisoners she had a white number on her suit. But what the other prisoners didn’t have was what Dira was wearing, which looked like head-phones. Rida walked to a control panel on the wall.
    “Why was it your Dad closed boundaries around Catlan?” Rida asked.
    “You think I’ll answer your questions?” asked Dira.
    Rida pressed a button and Dira screamed. (That’s what the headphones are for.)
    “AAAaah-okay-okay-okay!!” Rida stopped pressing the button. “He closed them because he said, that Catlans should stick together. No one should get in to weaken us, or take our slaves.”
    “What’s a Doglan?” Rida asked.
    Dira smirked. “A Doglan is our inferior counterpart. They don’t have our agility and sharp senses-except for smell, they’re very good at that. Besides, they vary too much. There’re big ones, small ones, thin ones, muscled ones, all different types just like real dogs-who always obey their master.”
    Rida thought about this. “The skinny ones must be fast and the muscled Doglans must be really strong.” He asked another question. “What are the Catlan Armed and Security Forces like? How are they set out?” Dira kept her mouth shut.
    Rida pressed the button again. She screamed again. This time it was ages before she finally shouted “STOP!”. He let go of the button, waiting for her to stop panting.
    “Man that hurts,” she complained. “There’s mainly the usual stuff, guard towers, huge wall around the city, ciphers. There’s also security cameras everywhere including inside of the city. Security teams make runs to the Marshes to check on the farmers. Some soldiers are dressed up as nomads.”
    “How can you tell which are the real nomads?” asked Rida. Dira looked away.
    He pressed the button again. Quite soon Dira shouted “NO! PLEASE STOP!”. He let go. She looked like she could almost cry. “Real nomads are peaceful and never carry guns, soldiers do, but they’re hidden.” Rida didn’t say anything and flicked a switch. “I bet you’re enjoying this! You’re getting the revenge you’ve always wanted, aren’t you?”
    A mechanical arm took the headphones off Dira, then the bed started to move. It went from standing to the lying down position. Rida walked out of the room and the warden went past him, carrying a pump.
    “I only enjoyed it a little bit, I don’t look for revenge like you do Dira,” he thought. Rida heard the warden pumping the sleep gas into Dira as he walked along the corridor.

Yanthro liked playing with the buttons. He could draw out anything he wanted just by pressing a few buttons and pictures appeared on the board, known as the 'attack-diagram'. They were in the Planning Office, which was in the General’s Wing of the palace. Also where Zana and the lower ranking generals stayed.
    Rida looked at the diagram, it had everything Dira said but missed one thing. “Some of the nomads carry guns, meaning that they’re not real nomads,” he told them.
    “So that’s how we can tell who’s real,” said Yanthro (to himself). He turned to Rida. “Don’t worry, we can smell guns from a mile away.”
    “The defences are pretty tight,” said Loria. “There’s no way of defeating them unless we have an overpowering army.” She looked at Yanthro. “What is the actual plan?”
    Thick, red lines appeared on the map. “Those are forgotten, underground tunnels,” Yanthro told everyone. “Some of them are caves, but we’re not sure how many there are.”
    “One of the tunnels leads to the edge of the city,” Zana pointed out. “Is that our plan? We creep along the tunnels and do a surprise attack?”
    “No,” Yanthro answered, “the guards are really  quick. If we did that, then not all the soldiers you send through the tunnels will get out in time and be blown by baspels Catlans throw down.” No one knew what a baspel was.
    “Grenades,” Loria told them. Everyone looked at her, wondering how she knew. “I can read his mind, so I know what he’s trying to say,” she told everyone.
    Yanthro then told them: “The plan is, that a small group of people will go in front while leaving the large force behind, who will follow them. The small group will infiltrate the outer city, to weaken the guard force.”
    “And we get there by creeping along the tunnels and caves right?” asked Zana.
    “No,” the Doglan answered. Everyone was shocked by that. “We go along the top of the tunnels, sending messages to big fleet how to creep along them. Not all tunnels join together. If small group were seen by Catlan security, but they didn’t know that they’re not nomads and watch them to capture them on sight, it would look weird if they went into a tunnel that no one in Catlan Region knows about. That would be the end of sneaking big force.”
    “Man, he’s figured everything out,” said Jaron to Rida.
    “It took Balka-Rae over 8 years to plan this,” said Yanthro.

Jaron looked at the screen, which was right now calling Kane. He needed to make sure as many rulers as possible would send troops to defeat Ingree. Kane appeared on the screen. He looked a lot better now.
    “What’s up?” asked Kane. He looked happy.
    “Why d’you look like you’re celebrating?” asked Jaron.
    “It’s been lovingly peaceful and relaxing since Corina went off,” the older man answered.
    “Are you sure you love your daughter?” asked Jaron.
    “Oh don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about her. Trust us, as soon as she becomes a pain we’ll take her back,” said Kane.
    “She hasn’t become a pain...yet.”
    Kane grinned. “Holiday’s just about ended. Are you going to give Corina some studies?”
    “Rida’s already preparing that, she doesn’t know it yet though. Kane, the reason why I called is that there’s a plan to overthrow Ingree,” told Jaron.
    “’Bout time. What’s the order?” asked Kane.
    “To send a steady flow of soldiers to the Catlan Marshes, North side. Make sure they’re fully armed and have enough food. Orders will be more clear once they get there.”
    “I’ll do it, but when?” Kane asked again.
    “We dunno what date yet, we still have to get more troops. But as soon as we know, you’ll be contacted,” told Jaron.
    “Okay, but you can drop the formality,” said Kane.
    “Sorry, but these last few days have been a little…weird. We found out  who Zana’s Dad is,” told the Tyron.
    “Who?” asked Kane, looking surprised.
    “Balka-Rae.”
    “I see.”
    “D’you know who he is?” asked Jaron.
    “He used to be High Marshal of the Catlan Supreme Force, the same job as what Zana has right now except it’s Catlan. But years ago, he got fired for...some reason. I don’t know much more except his exaggerated reputation. Nobody knows what he’s like. See ya in the marshes.” The screen switched off.
    “I wonder if I should tell Zana that,” thought the blonde.

In the garden/front lawn of the Sherran palace, people (royals, guests and servants) were gathered to watch a fight. By 'Mando and Lico’s orders’, Yanthro and Kuni were to fight each other. It wasn’t to the death, it was just a display.
    “As soon as I blow the whistle, you throw everything you’ve got at each other!” cried out Lico. She was sitting on a servant’s lap.
    “You have 5 minutes!” shouted Mando. The whistle blew.
    They both moved very fast. Kuni jumped up as Yanthro kicked. Punches were dodged. Neither of them could grab each other. Yanthro punched in front, Kuni flipped over him, he kicked behind. She rolled out of the way when he tried to stamp her. Loria and Kiar were holding Digi-Cams (Cam-corders) and were recording the fight.
    Yanthro ducked a lot to dodge Kuni’s attacks. He tried to get out of her way to attack but she clotheslined him. He quickly got back up. Everyone was really starting to enjoy the fight...but then the whistle blew.
    “5 minutes are up!” shouted Mando. Loray gave the fighters water as everyone moved away and went back to what they were doing.
    “Wow,” Rida went to Corina as they walked. “If every Catlan could fight like that, they’d be the ultimate superior race. No one would beat them.”
    “I don’t like anyone to fight,” said Corina.
    “Sometimes they have to,” said Rida. “Ready for your first lesson?”
    “I’ve got a tutor? Who’s teaching me?” she asked.
    “I am,” Rida told her. “I thought I’d help you with the stuff you find hard.”
    “You’re not gonna teach me everything are you?” she asked.
    “Just the stuff you need to know,” he answered.
    “No Math?” asked Corina.
    “No Math.”
    “No Science?”
    “No Science.”
    “No Literature?”
    “Mm, I have to teach you a little bit,” told Rida.
    “Oh.”
    Loria, Kuni and Yanthro weren’t going back in just yet. They decided to enjoy the garden. Yanthro’s never been in one.
    “Garden! Pretty!” he thought. “Nev bin un before.”
    “I’ll have to make 2 copies of this,” said Loria looking at the recording. She looked up. “How can you two fight like that anyway?”
    “We eat quite little and the desert heat makes training harder for us,” Yanthro told her. “I find it really eessy to fight here.”
    “Easy,” corrected Kuni.
    Mando was flying towards them. He was flying quite slowly and not that high off the ground.
    “Mum, isn’t there anybody who can get me to fly high and fast?” asked Mando. He tried to hover, but fell down.
    His Mum laughed. “I think you should start learning how to hover first.”

Jaron and Zana watched the fight between Kuni and Yanthro on the screen. They were in the lounge, also known as 'the Red Temple’. The colour of the walls and furniture were red.
    A light on the console against a wall started flashing. Zana walked to it and pressed a button. Lots of words appeared on the screen.
    “Alright!” yelled Zana. Jaron looked at him. “Every country’s agreed to this Your Majesty.”
    “Good,” said Jaron, who was a little surprised. “The Bannon officials didn’t send their troops so easily when Tyrony was about to be free,” he thought. “Tell 'em we go in 4 days.”
    Zana wrote something on the console and sent it off. The screen switched off, the video had ended.
    Zana, with his hands behind his head, looked at Jaron. “What now?” asked Zana.
    “We find Yanthro,” answered the King.
    “Why?”
    Jaron told him. “He knows what to bring into the desert, so we need to get the right gear and he’ll tell us what that is.”

©Ruth Amy Louise Hüneke 2008