The cunning beast III

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POV of Captain of lys first-second moon 285 AC

The sounds of the fire burning the red priests and the sounds of the shackles being placed on the rest of my men were the sounds I could hear.

The torturer stood still as a statue with his eyes wide open, almost unblinking, barely breathing, for ten long minutes he just stared at me.

I was completely nervous, trying to avoid the torturer's gaze, distracting myself by playing with my fingers.

Finally the torturer got up and started to walk slowly into the tent, but all the time he had his eyes fixed on me.

In one of his many laps around me he stayed on my back.

My breathing began to become more and more irregular, similar to the violent beating of my heart.

I had never thought that I would have to go through the terrible experience of torture, it was something that one could never prepare for, as much as I would like to say everything to save myself from the pain if I spoke thousands of people would be killed with the knowledge I had of the garrisons and the patrols.

While I was still thinking about what would happen to me, the tortured man's hands were placed on my shoulders, squeezing me tightly for a few seconds, his hands remained on my shoulders.

One of his hands reached out towards the huge row of tools that was in front of me.

''Considering that you have an important position in the city of lys, I will give you the honor of choosing with which tool we will start our...long relationship...so tell me which of all these beautiful tools you prefer'' said the torturer in a soft but extremely disturbing voice using the accent of lys, which made me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

I began to tremble as I looked at the multiple tools of torture.

''What's wrong?...choose...you still have your tongue...for now'' said the torturer keeping his tone of voice

At my silence the torturer continued talking

''Oh...I see...you don't know the name of the tools...how foolish of me...let me tell you their names and what they do'' said the torturer taking one of his tools

''One of the oldest and simplest, but not least, the thumb crusher, which is extremely obvious what it does, it crushes the thumbs, if you are interested in this one first we must start with the nails...so a pliers to pull them out first'' said the torturer taking one tool and then pointing to another one.

''Oh?you are not interested .... let me think...oh I know...considering you are from lys this torture maybe you will even like it...the pear of anguish...its action is very simple...we only have to insert it from behind and move this piece and slowly it opens...considering the lust of the city of lys it could be interesting with you''the torturer continued talking while massaging my shoulder

''Oh another one you might be interested in, the breast ripper, hot or cold, the name explains it all, simple...'' the torturer continued talking.

For several minutes the torturer explained to me almost all the tools in his bag, explaining what they did and their names, all the time he had one of his hands on my shoulder and from time to time playing with my hair.

''So my dear victim, which one do you prefer'' said the torturer.

''Please...I have a family'' I said as I trembled.

''I know...3 boys and a girl'' said the torturer,as I turned around I noticed how his green eyes were shining.

''Ho...ho...ho...ho...how do you know'' I said terrified.

''In my hands have fallen many important people of lys,what kind of torturer would I be if I didn't know everything,I have broken the hardest ones and made them cry like little girls called their mother,they told me everything...we could send one of your fingers to your family...so they have a memory of you...which of all you prefer...I am not so evil to deprive the family to have the memory of a loved one'' said the tortured with his eyes wide open

I just stammered, between my uncontrolled breathing and my heart beating like crazy I couldn't say anything coherent.

''But if you speak... and tell me everything... I will spare you the torture... but if you say something that is not coherent to me you will suffer an unthinkable torment and I will give your pieces to your children'' said the torturer.

I took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

''What...what do you want to know?'' I said with my eyes closed trying to hold back my tears.

The torturer took out a map and placed it in front of me, to my surprise it was a very detailed map of the towns and cities that were controlled by lys. 

''Size of garrisons, number of patrols, where and when the replenishment of supplies takes place, itinerary of the marine supply convoys, characteristics of the rest of the commander, industrial capacity of the cities'' said the torturer changing to a serious tone of voice and sitting down in front of me again.

Most of the forces are in Lys for the recruitment campaign and to mobilize the forces at once'' I said pointing to the city of Lys on the map but there was no reaction from the torturer he just kept looking at me without saying anything.

Our base of operation is in this city, as we wanted to continue the attack, and there are... about eight thousand men'' I said to the torturer.

''Be specific, about eight thousand or there are eight thousand men'' replied the torturer.

''There is a lot of rotation of men I can't always have control of everything'' I replied to the torturer who started to write down everything I said in a hand book.

''Industrial capacity, how many swords, axes, maces and armor can the city's artisans produce per month?'' asked the man in wolf skins.

''I don't know...'' I tried to justify myself, but the torturer reacted violently, thrusting a dagger between my fingers that I had on the table.

''Don't try to fool me, I'm giving you a chance to avoid torture if you try to omit information we'll go back to the old method and I'll skin you and make the cover of one of my books with your skin'' said the torturer with a very aggressive tone of voice.

''Really...I don't know...I manage the garrisons but the equipment supply didn't go through me...I swear...only the general and his trusted team know that'' I said pleading to try to calm down the torturer's anger.

''Well let's start about the logistics...'' said the torturer and began a long interrogation.

For several hours the torturer interrogated me about our garrisons and to my bad luck I could not tell half-truths since the torturer had a lot of information about the internal affairs of the city and the army due to previous interrogations so if I wanted to get out alive I had to tell only the truth since in several occasions I almost broke the torturer's patience.

This process was repeated for several days where the torturer came back to visit me and asked me again questions, which were the same or asked questions with wrong information that I had to clarify because if I failed again he would show me the tools of torture.

Until finally the torturer decided that he had gotten everything of importance out of me and took me to a large tent where several of my cousin's political enemies whom he had thought had been eliminated were being held.

The tent was clean and the prisoners were very well treated, clean clothes and there were no signs of hunger on them.

This raised my doubts...they all spoke to avoid torture since no one had any signs of wounds on their face or hands.

When they saw me, many came to see me

''Well...it seems that the situation is more precarious than we thought, if even you were captured it means that the situation has gotten out of control'' said one of the prisoners who had the same rank as I had.

''We fell into a very planned trap by our enemies, even all my preparation and concern to avoid this did not help'' I answered while heading to a chair where most of them were having lunch.

''I'm not going to ask too many questions...but I just want to let you know that we are wanted for a ransom from the city of lys and therefore we have been treated according to our social position, among some of those special treatments is that we will not be subjected to torture.... but well the torturer was very skillful in making us believe that he would do it, so...if you spoke...don't feel ashamed we all did it...almost all of us were fooled...only one of us didn't speak, he didn't fall for his mind game he kept his lips tight and nothing happened to him'' said another captain who belonged to a rival family.

I put my hands on my face and tried to keep my composure in the face of the information...only it was impossible for me to say everything I knew, much of the information I gave was somewhat out of date but it could still be useful to ambush more of our officers.

I nodded at the words and joined my companions in the meal which to my surprise was of good quality, beef and various vegetables and even wine which was not what I was used to but considering that we were prisoners the treatment was exemplary.

For several days my new home became this tent where all the officers of the city of Lys were held, we had access to books that the enemy mercenaries had obtained as well as walking with some freedom in the camp, from time to time new comrades arrived to our cells.

We just had to get used to the hectic days as every day these men trained to perfect their skills... something uncommon among mercenaries.

The days went by until one day while everyone was eating in our tent when a very tall person entered the tent and made many people panic, they were shaking with fear, they even peed themselves with fear when they saw who had entered the tent.

The monster entered our tent and watched us carefully, when he saw that he had attracted the attention of all those present he took off his helmet showing his face...

'Impossible'.

''I NAILED A DAGGER IN THAT EYE...it's not possible'' I shouted very surprised pointing to the knight. 

''And it grew back'' replied the knight without much interest.

''Eyes don't grow back when they are plucked out'' I said to the knight.

The knight approached me and leaned down to be face to face with me.

''Mine do, because my god loves me, because I am one of his earthly champions to carry on the holy war against the heathen and the heretic, I am blessed and no wound can kill me, not while there is still a filthy heathen alive'' said the knight staring at me.

''But well I did not come here to argue because my religion and my god are true and your religions are pagan and false that worship demons as gods, we have arranged a meeting with the general of lys for the rescue of officers, so tomorrow you will have your freedom if you can pay for it'' said the knight and left.

There was some celebration but many were still upset with his presence...especially me, I'm pretty sure I gouged his eyes out with my dagger but there he was as if nothing had happened without any scars.

The next day they took us chained to wagons and we moved for hours to a point where the negotiations would take place, but something caught my attention, the group that transported us were not the knights, nor the men with wolf skin, much less those children who were training, it was a group that had all the characteristics of being mercenaries.

There was no discipline, there was no standardization in their equipment and they were not even led by one of the knights, it looked like a totally different group.

When we arrived, some tents were erected and we waited for two days until the delegation from Lys arrived.

There was an attempt to negotiate but out of nowhere the Lys forces attacked and it was very clear that they were coming with everything.

There was not even a battle since the mercenaries surrendered immediately when they saw the enormous numerical superiority surrounding us on all sides.

A few minutes later the figure of my cousin on horseback appeared before us.

''What are you doing imbecile, we had a negotiation and you broke the truce we had'' I said to my cousin.

''Watch your tongue captain, I just saved Lys thousands of gold coins with this and I also just captured the leader of the knights that has tormented us for so long'' said the general with his usual arrogant tone.

''He is not here...how many men did you bring'' I replied to the general and observed that more and more men were arriving.

''We had the opportunity to give a lethal blow to those knights so we took them to their camp,'' said the general.

''You did what?...IDIOT YOU WERE FOOLED'' I shouted angrily.

''Watch your tongue...''' tried to say the general.

''SHIT, WE MUST RETURN, IT'S A TRAP AND YOU HAVE FALLEN COMPLETELY'' I kept shouting and approached a horseman to take his horse.

''Explain yourself'' said the general with a frown.

''They know how many men there are in the garrisons if you left a city unprotected that was their goal, they put a honey trap and you did not resist'' I said while pointing to a group of riders to follow me.

''I'm going to see if the mercenaries' camp is still where it should be, while you go back to the city and pray that they haven't acted'' I said turning to ride.

''Who do you think you are to give me orders'' said the general.

''Obey you fool if one of our important cities falls if you keep your head it will be the least of your worries'' I said as I rode out in the direction of the mercenary camp.

We rode quickly to the direction of the camp only to find that it was completely abandoned, there were only a few prisoners in cages left behind, many of them my men who luckily did not have their eyes ripped out, but we had to ride as fast as we could to the south.

The journey took us several days where I had to borrow horses from some villages to continue the trip as fast as possible.

But when I finally arrived and saw that the gates were open and a large amount of smoke was coming out of the city I realized that it was too late.

Our enemies found some of the tunnels used by the smugglers and used them to enter the city since there were orders not to open the gates until the general's return.

The destruction of the city was nothing serious, but its inhabitants paid the price, there was no massacre but they took thousands of the inhabitants as slaves, the guards managed to defend the fortified sector of the governor's house, but they stole several ships from the port and at the same time they set fire to it with a substance that no matter how much water you tried to put it out, the citizens did not manage to put out the fire until the entire port was destroyed.

Their presence only lasted two days and they escaped with the ships carrying many artisans and many of their crafts and riches.

With the port burned this will seriously affect the logistic capacity we had available.

The following days were not better, there was a great political chaos in Lys, my cousin was exiled for his incompetence, he was lucky that his head was not cut off, and an internal fight began in the city to see how the war would continue and an all out war against the smugglers so that this would never happen again.

Luckily the presence of the mercenaries disappeared as soon as they arrived, although the new leaders of the city were so angry that they began to negotiate the purchase of immaculates for the next time we have to face them.

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