Chapter 10

No Hard Feelings

How could a day go from lovely to utterly disastrous within a few short hours? The Golden Path, that's how. Pagan was furious when he received the news about the rebel's latest activity. It was bad enough they were fiddling around with the radio towers and terrorizing the country. Now they went and burned down the opium fields! Will they ever learn to leave well enough alone?

"We caught a few of them when they tried to flee," Yuma said as the captured rebels were brought into one of the compounds of The Royal Fortress. "I think this one is confused about what side he's on."

The bagged rebels stood beside one another. Yuma removed the bag off the rebel she was referring to. He was a brash all-American wearing a bandana and a baffled face. His hands were tied along with the rest of the captives.

"Hey, Asian lady, you speak English? Can ya let me go?" The southern American asked, holding up his tied hands.

Yuma smirked and spoke to Pagan in her native tongue. "I'm thinking we should throw him in the Arena."

"Now Yuma, this man is clearly not from around here and I doubt he knows what the hell he's doing," Pagan said calmly before his voice turned grave. "Or who's he's screwing with."

"Hey listen, Miley Cyrus, I ain't afraid of you or any of your Golden Path buddies," the American said.

Pagan nodded and brought the man over to the table to sit with him. "Unlike the racy popstar, we can stop and put an end to this confusion. Tell me your name, sir."

"The name's Hurk."

"And I'm Pagan Min, king of Kyrat."

Hurk was surprised. "What? You're telling me you're the guy with his face on the money?"

Pagan grinned and replied, "There's a lot you don't know. Many things you fail to understand, Hurk. Yuma or Asian lady wants to throw you in an arena full of wild animals and watch as you're torn to pieces. I am willing to clear things up for you and give you a choice."

Yuma folded her arms. Why can't we just get rid of the bastard and move on!

"You can start by telling me who they are," Hurk said, pointing at the rebels behind him. "I'll tell ya, they've been giving me the stank eye and I can't understand a damn thing they say."

Pagan chuckled. "They are the Golden Path, hence the golden sashes."

Hurk took a moment to process what Pagan told him. "Hold up, so I ain't fighting'em? That means..." He said. He drew his finger in Pagan's direction. Pagan tapered his eyes, bothered by how rude Hurk was for pointing. His patients were running thin as he waited for the foolish hillbilly to connect the dots. "Oh shit! This ain't lookin' too good for me."

"It wouldn't be for anyone in your position, but unlike those terrorists, you're fighting for the hell of it. No real cause or reason. Just for fun."

"Uh, yeah man. No hard feelings?"

Pagan reclined in his chair, reaching for a pistol inside his jacket. "I'm offering you two choices, Hurk," Pagan said, "You can stay and die with them or leave with a bounty on your head. Understand it's nothing personal. I too was in it for the fun."

"How bout a third option, then?"

Pagan fired his gun at one of the rebels. "One down, don't let yourself be the next."

"Alright, alright," Hurk said before racing out the room. He was immediately grabbed by the Royal soldiers on his way out. Yuma ordered the soldiers to take him to the arena. "Goddammit! Come on, man!"

Yuma turned her attention over to the other captives. She stuck a needle in both of them and they collapsed onto the ground. She called in her soldiers and had them take the knocked out rebels to the prison. "This wouldn't have happened if you weren't so focused on that boy. Now what do we do?"

Pagan sighed, putting his gun away. "I don't know about you, but I could go for a cup of tea. We can talk later. I have a few phone calls to make," Pagan said, leaving the room as Yuma followed.

Yuma grunted. "No, we need to talk now."

Pagan faced Yuma, already annoyed. "If it's about the situation at hand, then I'm all ears. If you're going to bring up the topic of who's taking the throne, we might as well part ways."

Yuma furrowed her brow but lightened her expression when she accepted the fact Pagan wasn't going to come around. She wasn't about to whine and cry about some kid taking her place. There was no need for it. She refused about to beg like a dog or kiss up to Pagan. Just as he did, she was going to take out whatever stood in her way of getting the throne and becoming Kyrat's new leader.

Yuma calmly looked at her once great idol. Pagan took her silence as his cue to walk away.

Yuma halted him. "Karma's a bitch and that's no fairy tale."

Pagan cracked a grin and said before vanishing out the door, "Good day, Yuma and tell Karma I look forward to seeing her."

Yuma rolled her eyes and took out her phone. She dialed up Emiliana, with her mind on jump starting her take over and finding the "soon-to-be" King. She invited Emiliana to come to the arena. "Ever seen a gladiator's game?"

. . .

After hiking up the mountain side, Ajay was greeted by the sight of his old family's house. The structure looked abandoned and unkempt. He walked to the front of it and glanced at the portrait of a man painted on the wooden exterior. He opened the door and stepped into a pot fest. Smoke clouded the air as two stoned guys lounged on the floor, blowing rings of smoke.

"Hey, check this out," the thin guy said, taking a drag and blowing out a thin circular cloud from between his lips. "I'd like to see you top that."

The other man took one drag, but Ajay distracted him. He motioned over to the stranger standing in front of the door. The thin guy looked dumb-founded when he acknowledged Ajay. He rose from the floor with his arms out to keep his balance. He wandered over to Ajay and studied him intently.

"Look what the wind blew in. You must the man everyone's talking about."

"Wait, he's real? He's really here?"

"Realer than that goddess you swore you saw the other night."

"You're just jealous that she came to me and not you."

Ajay butted in and said, "I must have missed something. Who are you guys and why are you crashed in my parent's house?"

"I'm Yogi and that's Reggie. We're here because... we have nowhere else to go."

"We hope the son of the great Mohan can let us stay," Reggie said mockingly, standing beside Yogi.

Ajay looked around the place and sighed. "You guys really don't have nowhere else to go?"

Yogi sat down on a bench and said, "We've been banned from India, so we came here."

"That's right and those pricks nicked our passports and now we're stuck in this country."

"Yeah, but it's not all bad. We have a nice, homey place to stay and a crap ton of herbs to indulge in."

Yogi took a drag from his joint and threw his arm around Ajay's shoulders. He offered him a smoke, but Ajay declined. "No thanks, I won't be staying much longer."

"No, you just got here," Yogi said, leaving Ajay's side. "It was really going to be a party with you here."

Ajay grinned at the stoned Englishman. He said goodbye to the two and headed for the door. Yogi, under a strange mix of panic and ease, he grabbed a needle out of Reggie's pocket and plunged the syringe into Ajay's leg. He stepped back as Ajay slowly collapsed onto the floor. He and Reggie loomed over the unconscious young man.

"So are you gonna carrying him?" Reggie asked.

Yogi shook his head and took out his phone. "No, we're too fucked up to go anywhere. I'll just call Noore and she'll send someone to come get us."

"Right, but he's going to be pissed when he wakes up."

"It's not like we drugged him and handing him over to a pack of wolves. He'll get over it."

A/N: Nothing too exciting, but no hard feelings? I've been wanting to put this chapter out for the longest, but I never got around to finishing it. I decided to cut it short for the sake of time (and possibly a longer, more exciting new chapter). I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Thanks for reading.