The Lost Twins

The Deal

Weeks of interrogation followed. The mix between trying to talk to, and trying to force the answers out of me were literately killing me. When I try to remember it now, all the days seem to melt together. The pain of starvation and whipping, the confusion of not knowing what was going on and the sadness of being all alone. I felt as if even Sebastian had abandoned me. On one particular evening, Sebastian walked in with Enzo. They were arguing about something, but I couldn't hear what they were saying, nor did I care. All I wanted was some food. However I knew that they wouldn't give any to me. They had been starving me for this long, why would they stop now? I heard the rattling of keys, as if Enzo and Sebastian had decided something. Then I fell to the floor, the drop wasn't big but it still hurt. What's happening? Sebastian started guiding me out of my cell. I looked up at the face and was surprised that his mouth was moving. Was he talking to me? I tried to focus on his words and heard only scattered bits of his sentence.

"....next time....caught....won't....lucky....not much....can do....you....agreed....kill you....serve service....army....five...."

He pulled me up the stairs that led out the dungeon. As we walked, the brightness of the sun burned my eyes. I hadn't seen sunlight for weeks, and had forgotten how bright it was. The cold breeze felt good on my face as Sebastian continued to drag me, somewhere.

After walking for several minutes, I was shoved though the door to the army commander, Akira's workplace. So it's come to this hasn't it, I thought as I was forced into a chair facing Akira. We waited in silence for several minutes, then Akira spoke.

"This is the little shrimp that tried to fool us, is it?" Not waiting for an answer, he continued."You will be in the front line invading the Kingdom of Celes, as King Asura is out visiting another country." Wait, front line? Those guys never come back. As I opened my mouth to protest, Akira cut me off. "You have no say in the matter. If you even think about escaping, then the other soldiers will have your head. I told them that if they caught you as you tried to escape, they can go home." So, I was forced to get into a wagon with all the other new recruits, and was shipped off to the border between the Kingdom of Valeria, and the Kingdom of Celes, to fight in a war I had so recently been planning with my father and brother, not even a day before I was caught.