The two men seem to sense your hesitation so think for a while before one answers.


"I would say... that I'm not sure he believed it any more than you or I did."


It's exactly the feeling that you had gotten but you also wonder why they are bringing this up now.

You say "We'll were just soldiers, and new ones at that, guess its not really our place to question things we don't understand."

The two men seem to think about what you said for an age before finally replying.


"Well you might be right, have a good night since I'm not entirely convinced Arbor there is going to easy on the marching tomorrow!" He gives you a smile and a bit of a funny wave as he stands up from the fire and you return the gesture before taking your soup from the fire and having your supper.


Luckily the next day the Capt. does go a lot easier on you all, making the First Point in 1 day seemed to pacify him somewhat. He now is mostly quite congenial between short bursts of calling your all little girls but you think its just his way of encouraging you.


The next two of weeks passes very uneventfully as you march towards the border with days pretty much consisting of March, Eat, Sleep then march some more, when the capt. points out that you are all crossing the old border and into new territory. You think that it seems pretty close considering how far North you used to go mining and hear Capt. Argor saying that he can explain the local borders to anyone who wants.


You make the mistake of asking and after a very long a boring talk (maps appear to be Argor's passion but he is only sad he dosn't have an advanced editor to insert one here.) it is explained to you. To the North of your home city your borders are greatly extended due to the western mountain range as it slowly curves North and East and meets the sea. So since the mountains are hard to cross most of the year, your city controls all the encircled land, and since its safer there, that is where it has most of its farms and townships. Whereas to the south and east other nations have encroached significantly closer over the more open and less defensible terrain. Sadly he doesn't stop there and starts going into the different types of rocks in each area and you gather that this is some sort of hobby of his.


Worn out by the talk of maps you bed down for your first night in the newly claimed territory. Since Argor kept you up talking about the types of rock in different areas of the kingdom most of the sleeping spots are full.

You grab the spot beside the Capt. As its nearest.

Just as you lie down to sleep you see the two men who had approached you a couple of weeks before walking nearby, you give them a nod and they give you a wave and wish you a good nights sleep.


Nothing had come of the talk they had tried to start so you think to yourself that you had been very paranoid in suspecting perfectly normal guys in your own unit and drift off to sleep telling yourself that you should chat with them over supper sometime since they seemed nice enough.


The morning feels much like any other as you all pack up and start marching but you cant help but think about the fact that this used to all be ruled by a different kingdom, there is even the occasional sign of battle along the road. Whether from small skirmishes or a full battle you cant tell but the Capt. seems perfectly content to ignore it all and carry on down the road so you all just follow. He occasionally calls back a running commentary on the rocks and geology of the area but you all mostly ignore him when he does this.


The Capt. calls back "Two weeks more and we hit the forward base sites and begin our work. Just remember that this used to be enemy territory so keep your eyes open as we go just incase."

You nearing the New Border

The marching is taken slowly but efficiently and you approach the lines in just under two weeks. The Capt calls a halt for the evening about half a day out from the front lines and says that  he plans to arrive by lunchtime tomorrow so you better all clean up your gear and look presentable for the last march.


Having not gotten round to it before now you decide to spend supper chatting to the men who had approached you before. As you approach the fire one gives you a slightly cagey look but the other welcomes you and you all soon chatting happily away about life back in the city and plans for after the war. One or two others join you round the fire and by the time you head to sleep your feeling pretty silly for mistrusting their intentions at first.


Having had a tankard or two at the fire you readily fall asleep.

You morning awaits

The morning horn is pretty normal, as is the packing up of the camp and forming up although you are all the shiniest you have looked since first got your armor since you were all told to look good for your final arrival.


The only trouble starts right before you are all due to set off and stems from the fact that 4 men are missing along with all their gear. The Capt. orders an immediate search of the camp and area around it but nothing is turned up. He seems genuinely angry for the first time and mutters about men being dragged naked behind horses before ordering the march to begin at double time since its an hour late.


After an hour of double time he calls normal march and shouts back to the squad.


"Well boys it appears you have now seen the ugliest part of army life, deserters. I'm going to tell you now that running off after  you enlist and gain your armor is a very, very bad idea. The day you left training you swore to serve your country for at least 3 years so breaking that oath is treason and trust me on this, we deal with treason VERY harshly."


The proclamation is met with silence as you all try and think of who is missing, you think that you might have an idea when the Capt. begins to speak again.


"Now once we reach the temporary camps we are not going to enjoy a nice lunch like I planned, instead I will have to report this and each and every one of you will be questioned by some of our... lets call them information retrievers for now. So I'm going to give you all some honest advice. Do not lie to them, do not hold back and do not try and make things up. If you are honest, you'll have a two minute chat and be in the lunch tent right after. If they catch you lying you'll be in a whole lot more trouble. You all understand?"


The squad replies with a resounding "Yes Sir!" then marches in silence until shortly before noon when a runner approaches from up ahead. Its a scout from the camp up ahead and he chats to the Capt. before running back the way he came. The Capt. thinks for a bit before addressing you all.


"Well it seems that our deserters tried to cross the lines some time this morning and get over to the enemy side, it also appears that they were carrying some important documents with them. They didn't make it. This wont change our plans at all but just a reminder for you all, be completely honest when questioned and you'll be fine."


Once you reach the camp you are all surrounded then guided to a large tent by soldiers from another squad whose emblem you don't recognize. You are informed that you are all here for a quick chat at the request of the intelligence section and that you should wait patiently to be called through as it shouldn't take long.


The man seemed nice and reassuring but being 'invited for a chat by the intelligence section' doesn't calm you down much.


Your turn finally comes and you are lead through a tent opening into smaller adjoining tent with an old small man waiting behind a desk. You notice another man standing to the side poking at a lamp seemingly trying to get a steady glow from it as it flickered and spluttered.


The small man looks up and smiles "Come in and have a seat, don't mind my colleague there, he just refuses to requisition a new lamp if he feels he can fix that one." The other man just grunts and nods in your direction before turning back to the lamp and swearing at it under his breath as he started fiddling with it again.


"So I'll be honest with you" he begins "The men that deserted your company may have been trying to take documents containing very classified information regarding our city over to the enemy. We simply need to know everything we can to ensure nothing got through that could put our city in danger, do you understand?" he waits for you to nod before continuing. "So if you could please tell us anything you think is important I'll note it down then you can be on your way to the lunch tent which I believe will be something nice today."


"Rabbit stew and potatoes." interjects the man at the lamp.


The small man laughs before continuing "My colleague keeps a close eye on the menus, but we must be getting on, so do you have anything you feel might be important to share with us?"


The men seem congenial and relaxed and this isn't exactly an interrogation so you quickly decide what to say

No need to mention a few small chats and get yourself in trouble. You say that you dont really know anything, you may have said a few words to them but dont really know them or what they planned.

You didn't exactly lie to them at all but you left out quite a few details here and there. No point in mentioning things that might make you look bad since you didn't really have anything to do with it now is there?


Well, The small man behind the desk doesn't seem quite as sure so asks one last question.


"There aren't any small details you may have left out are there, anything connected to the men or what they may have been thinking?"


Having come this far you arn't about to make yourself look worse by changing story so you deny knowing more.


The little man thinks for a second then gives his colleague a small nod then turns back to you "Thank you for your time Glor, my colleague here will point out the lunch tent to you, I believe that captain Argor is waiting anxiously there for you all, he acts like a bullying older brother, but like older brothers he does care about you all. goodbye."


You thank him and follow then grunting lamp obsessed man out of the rear tent flaps.


You got away with it!


The man holds aside the flaps for you and points towards a large tent with a blue pendant flying above it. "That one." he mumbles at you then starts you turn back into the tent.


You take a step forward before everything goes instantly black.

You waking up?

You wake up in a small room with earth walls, you look round and realize you must be underground. You feel restraints on your arms and legs but can see the small man sitting near you. He is arranging small metal and bone implements on a table beside him. He begins to speak without taking his eyes off his task.


"good evening Glor, you have been asleep for several hours now while we finished the rest of our chats. Unfortunately you were clearly holding back when we talked so now I must find out exactly what you weren't telling us."


You immediately try to explain but realize your mouth isn't obeying you and you can at best make a slobbery grunting noise.


"Ah yes that is a drug I have given you. most people start talking far to fast and saying anything they think I want to hear at this point. To stop that behavior I have taken your power of speech for about half an hour. After half an hour the drug will wear off and you can start talking but until then I am going to make sure you understand that I want the EXACT TRUTH and nothing else. Not the smallest detail missing and not the smallest one invented. Now lets begin."


The pain is more than you imagined possible and you are informed that you have also been given drugs that appear to prevent people from going unconscious due to pain so that you have no escape. The man is as good as his word and by the time half an hour is up you are screaming wordlessly.


he stops and gives you time to recover and let the pain ebb away.


"Now you see how serious I am about the truth do you not?"


You croak a yes in reply before telling him everything, every detail about the men you remember, every word you remember being said and everyone you saw them even talking to over a fire. After you are finished he asks a few questions he seems satisfied.


"Thank you Glor, now I see no hesitation at all in your eyes and your story perfectly matches what we already knew to be fact so I know you are telling the truth."


You sag back against the hard table relieved. he gives you something to drink before continuing.


"Now sadly I have made a small mess of a few parts of your body and some of the acids I used on you leave horrific scars and other damage. Also you now know about our section and its methods so you cannot be released incase you spread this information further. Ironically information about us and our commander was part of what those traitors were trying to smuggle out!"


You try to object but realize the drink he gave you was the drug that paralysis your mouth.


"Now Glor since you were honest with me your death with be very swift, and do not worry, you body will be returned to the city as evidence of the horrible torture our enemies do to captured soldiers."


You barely even see his hand slip forward to slide his small blade into your neck and sever your spinal cord.


You die instantly.