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I woke up to a darkened light and muffled voices. I blinked and tried to gasp for air. I realized I had a bag over my head. I thrashed my head around and tried to reach for a weapon but my arms had been tied down to a chair and my legs were the same way. "Oh for God's sake, take the bag off her head." A voice said. As soon as he finished speaking, the bag was lifted and I was met with a very bright light. Despite the light, I could tell there was a figure in front of me and at least 4 others around the room. After my eyes adjusted to the light of the outdoors, I focused them on the man in front of me. I recognized him immediately. I would recognize his style, his posture, his /sneer\ anywhere. My eyes squinted in anger.
"Pagan Min," was all I said.
He threw his hands up and smiled.
"Oh my! I have a fan!" he retorted. "What might your name be, darling?" He asked.
"DON'T call me that, you heartless monster."
"My my, you're quite touchy. All I did was ask for your name."
My face contorted into an angry frown. "I am Keira Polsky. Daughter of Tirad and Miram Polsky."
"Well why did you attack my outpost? I've never heard of you or your family, what have I ever done to you?"
My eyes widened in anger I tried to leap forward but my restraints held me back well. "You MONSTER! You had my mother killed! She died right In front of me when I was a child! What have you done to my father!?" My voice cracked at the sign of sadness at my last word.
Pagan leaned against a table behind him and crossed his arms. "Look, if you're going to be testy, I am not going to deal with you. I'm not a fan of unnecessary stress. As for your father, I have no idea who he is, where he is, or what he is doing but I do know this," Pagan quickly leaped forward and put his hands on the arms rests my wrists were restrained to. "If your father is here and is helping those criminals of the 'Golden Path', his fate as a dead man is already sealed."
I looked at his face and threw my head back when he jumped toward me. He stared at my face and examined it for a few seconds after finishing his monologue. He then released his grip and slowly stood up. He turned around. "For now, stow everything you found on her in one of the storage crates and keep her locked up. I'll decide how to treat her after she disrespected her king later." With that, he walked out the doors of the balcony and into his house. I sat there for a few seconds thinking of ways to get out of that chair fast. But then I heard footsteps behind me and I felt a rag go over my mouth. I cried out loudly and hoped that whatever came next was better than what I had been thinking.
I awoke to a cool feeling against the left side of my face. My eyes fluttered open and I saw I was laying on the ground of a cell. I sat up and felt my hands and feet had been freed from their bindings. I stood up and let the blood rush back to my head. Quickly, I ran to the jail cell door and yelled.
"Pagan! Guards! Anyone! Listen to me! I will kill you! All of you! For my family!" I shook the bars of the cell with the faint hope that they were weak but I found no such luck. Slowly, I fell to my knees and hung my head. "I'm sorry, mom. I made a childish mistake. You need to be avenged. Something's happened to dad, I know it." I'll put a stop to Pagan's rule. I swear."
I went to the sheet on the cold, rocky floor that was supposed to serve as a bed. I put my hands on my head and tried to think of a plan.
After what must have been hours, I heard footsteps and the sound of keys jingling in the lock. I heard the door swing open. I felt a person's presence behind me as I laid on the floor. The person leaned down and grabbed my arm, trying to pull me up. Quickly I swung at them with a makeshift shiv I created with a sharp stone, a stick, and tattered bits of rope. The guard cried out as I sliced his face.
"You bitch!" He slapped me and caused my head to slam against the floor. I let out a sound of pain as he and another guard grabbed my arms and dragged me out of my cell.
My vision faded in and out as I was being dragged. I tried saying something, anything to get them to put me down. But my head was in such a rush, I wouldn't have been able to run if they had put me down. They burst open through a pair of double doors and sat me down in a chair. As if they had done it a million times, they started to tie me to the chair as they muttered about money and sleep and lack thereof. I lifted my head as they both walked out. Only then did I notice Pagan sitting on the edge of his bed. His legs crossed, his arms supporting his back, he said to me, "I just saw that lovely new facial scar you gave my guard back there. That wasn't very nice of you." I looked at him in pure hatred.
"Pagan Min," I started, "I- I loathe you. I have hated you ever since you first came to power. You have been nothing but a bloodthirsty menace ever since then. You ordered an attack on my childhood village and your men killed my mother. And I... will never forgive you for that."
His eyes widened. "Ahhh, so you were a local here in Kyrat's younger days," he stood up and started walking around his room. "That makes sense. As I did a little research in the time you were resting. Your father, Tirad Polsky, came to my beautiful Kyrat 5 months ago with hopes of helping out the Golden Path. Am I correct? I searched your dad's name in recent flights into this land and saw footage from our security cameras. He is quite the avid fighter. Always wanting to take down another outpost or try his hand at taking out one of my fortresses, but he never learns his lessons does he?"
What they hell is he talking about? I thought to myself.
"You see, my dear, your precious father was killed in an explosion that happened while trying to infiltrate my dear friend and co-worker Yuma's fortress." I let out a gasp and my eyes watered.
"That's not true," is all I said. "That's not true!" I repeated more anxiously.
"Oh but darling, I'm afraid it is." I shook my head as tears streamed down my face.
"No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no." I said. I briefly thrashed in the chair. Tears streamed down my face and onto my neck. Pagan walked over to me.
"Sh, sh, sh, darling, I know it's never fun to lose a loved one," he wiped away the tears on my face and neck. I closed my eyes and turned away from his hand. "But I do have a solution that will kill two birds with one stone... Oh, sorry for the crudity of that saying. But, my idea is; to both reprimand you for your behavior toward me and my guards and to have a little fun on this horrid day, I have decided I am not going to kill you." I looked up at him in shock. "Instead," he bent down to eye level, "I am going to keep you alive for as long as possible as my personal slave."
I threw my head back in shock and fear. "Now you may be asking, 'King Min, how does that incorporate any fun?' And that is a very good question, Kiera. And instead of telling you, I might as well show you."
He abruptly grabbed a small blade from his belt and tore through the bindings on my wrists and ankles. I stared at him in fear as to what was to come. Before even fully getting the last ankle binding off, his arm went around the small of my back and he pulled me up to a standing position. His left arm was on my back, his right arm was clutching my right wrist. "Do us all a favor and don't scream. Nobody wants to hear that." He turned and pounced on the bed. Despite what he had said, I screamed as loud as I could. "What in the world did I just say?" He said.
"Pagan, Pagan, please. Please, anything but this. Kill me, beat me, anything! Just not this!" He let out a chuckle and he began taping my wrists together with duct tape he pulled out of his pocket. "PAGAN! Please! Stop this!" Pagan obeyed. I looked at him. I breathed quickly. He just stared at me and was still. Then a smile spread across his face. A mad, low chuckle made his shoulders bounce. He broke his eye contact with me and hung his head as he started laughing. I looked to my left and saw a vase on a small table. If I reached quickly, I could grab it and smash his face with it. I stared at the vase. But then Pagan said, "Oooooh, Kiera. You have no idea how helpful you've been." He climbed off me.
I laid there in shock and amazement. I sat up and hopped off the bed. "Don't try to reach for a weapon, we've already taken them from you." Pagan said with an eye roll.
Shit! I thought.
"I was testing you, just now. I needed to know your deepest fear. The fear that makes you wish for death. Through this little experiment, I now know how to get you to do what I need." He lowered his head but his eye contact remained. He smiled an evil smile and he turned around. He inhaled to speak again. "As I've said, I'm not going to kill you, but make you do my bidding. I need you to infiltrate the Golden Path."
I gasped. He turned around, walked to me, and handed me a vial full of clear liquid. "Now before you refuse and say that finding your father and supporting the Golden Path is your fate blah blah blah, just know that your deepest darkest fear is now known. And I won't hesitate to use it against you." His speech decrescendoed into a whisper by the end of his sentence. He put his hand to my face and rubbed my chin. I flinched away. He let out a small chuckle. "Oooh how I love my job. Now, for the vial. I need you to go to Kheta Mansion and poison their farming grounds. Pouring this vile in even a square foot of their mulch will spread and ruin their crops. No food means no more people for the Golden Path, which makes me happy and you are protected from...me." He ended with a sweet smile and brief raise of his stature on his toes. I shook my head and looked away. What am I doing to do?
"Now run along, my dear. We both have work to be done." He put a hand lightly on my shoulder and walked out the doors with me. We walked out into a hallway and he gave my shoulder a squeeze. "Poison their crops before sundown then return here with a picture of their withered crops and the empty bottle. If you fail to do this, you know what to expect." He winked then squeezed my shoulder again and walked away. I turned around and a few guards told me to follow them. They led me to the main gates of Pagan's courtyard, they pushed me outside, and closed the huge doors.
I turned around and looked at the bottle in my hands. I can't do this. I can't sabotage the Golden Path. They are nothing but good people. My father is or was a part of them. I exhaled air I didn't know I was holding. Normally, I wouldn't have hesitated to bring this to the Golden Path and have them throw it at Pagan's door but... he had something to hold against me.
I walked until I found an ATV I then start heading to Kheta Mansion and when I'm about 100 meters away I get off my ride and took out the bottle. Pagan still had my weapons and I only had 1,100 left with me after buying the weapons. I snuck up to the farming grounds. I saw three Golden Path members talking and holding their weapons by a generator. The fields were full of low plants that had just started budding. I leaned against a fence on the outskirts of the field and examined the bottle. What if I drank this? Pagan couldn't hurt me. I wouldn't be sabotaging the golden path. I sat there for a few minutes. Eventually, I closed my eyes as I sat.
After a few minutes of thinking, I opened my eyes and looked at the vial. I took out the cork and threw it aside. I tilted my head back and put the vial to my lips. *BAM* I felt a sudden and powerful slam against my right side and I was flung across the ground. I looked up after I landed and saw a man of the Golden Path on the ground where I was. We made eye contact. "क्या आपको लगता है कि तुम क्या कर रहे हो?!" I look at him with confusion. He shook his head and said, "What do you think you were doing? Are you trying to kill yourself?" He asked angrily. I stuttered as I tried to think of an excuse for my actions. He let out an annoyed moan as he lifted himself off the ground. "C'mon, get up." He offered a hand to me. I took it. "You really shouldn't take food or water from people around here. You never know if they're just Pagan's men trying to kill you." He spoke more friendlier. I gasped at a sudden realization. "Where's the vial?" I looked around frantically.
"Why do you still need it?" He asked.
"Where is it!?" I found it a few feet from us; empty. "Oh God, no..." I picked it up and clutched it hard in my hand. I closed my eyes and wondered what was going to happen to me now that I lost the only amount of poison given to me.
"Oh my god. Oh fuck I'm screwed." I said as I put my face into my hands. "What's the matter? Had you already drunk some?" The man asked. What was i supposed to say to him? 'Oh no. I was supposed to use this to poison your fields, thus killing you all. And if I didn't then Pagan Min is going to rape me. But instead I decided to kill myself with it before you so rudely stopped me.' I scoffed in anger. "You shouldn't have done that!" I faced him and pushed him away. "Okay! Jeez, I'm sorry for saving your life..."
"Saving my life? You think you just saved my life? You have just KILLED me! I am going to be killed because of you!" He looked at me wide eyed. The other golden path members looked over at us. They all seemed dumbfounded, but some gripped their weapons tighter. I looked at them all with with manic, wide eyes. "JUST GET AWAY FROM ME!" I ran in the opposite direction, towards danger, towards the unknown. I ran until my legs gave out. I fell to my hands and knees and began to sob. Sobbing isn't the word to define it. I was utterly blubbering. I fucked up. I think to myself. I fucked up. What am I supposed to do? I can't go to Pagan empty handed. I can't get more poison. Even if I could I don't know if could bring myself to poison their farmland. "...Fuck..." I breathed out heavily. I stayed there until I saw the sun set.
My feeling of being consumed by despair were disrupted when I heard a twig snap. I gasped and whipped my head in the direction of the sound. I didn't see anything, I only heard a faint growl. I squinted, trying to see what was stalking me. I reached for a weapon. Oh fuck. Pagan still had them. I made out two bright orange eyes. They stood out so clearly in the darkness. We made eye contact. It's as if the earth stopped spinning for one moment. Silence. And then the beast leaped with a thunderous roar. A scream escaped my lips and I turned to bolt. I could hear rapid and heavy footsteps immediately behind me as I ran. With a loud growl, the tiger scratched a deep wound into the right side of my back. I cried out in immense pain but I didn't stop running. I turned to try and get some distance between us. To break its line of sight. I saw a small house with tables in front of it. I darted towards it and quickly jumped onto its roof. I stared down at the tiger and it stared right back. Its hungry eyes burned holes into me as it stared. I just have to wait it out. If I wait it out then it'll get distracted by something else and leave me alone. I sat there on the roof for hours. Eventually sleep took over me and I curled up with the tiger looming underneath me.
When I woke up, the tiger was nowhere to be seen. I let out a brief and quiet sigh of relief. I got down from the roof and remembered the predicament I was in. "I have to make a plan." I said out loud to no one. "The vial is empty, I'm late on delivering him the picture, and the Golden Path most likely sees me as a crazy mountain lady." I immediately ruled out going to see Pagan. That left me with turning to the Golden Path. I started pacing. "If I find Amita or Sabal, I can tell them my situation and they can help me. We'll take down Pagan together." I stopped pacing and got my bearings. I'm in tiger territory which means I'm west of Banapur. If I'm careful I can make it there before sundown. I made my way towards Banapur, avoiding the Rhinos and Tigers that I saw from a distance. Once I finally got there, I began my search for the Golden Path leaders. I asked around the village and find out that Amita was in one of the outlying shacks. I tracked her down and entered the shack.
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