Chapter eleven: Know your enemy

It was nighttime when Harry and Scott arrived at Koïtia with a welcoming party waiting for them. The reason for the special welcome was the fact that they had succeeded in their jobs: they had captured two mobs. Both were unconscious. Apparently, the two soldiers had been visible from far away, and Jasmine, the librarian, had gathered the other villagers to receive the men once she noticed them.

When the soldiers saw the three mobs near the end of their hunt, they weren't sure whether or not they actually were mobs at first. Sure, their clothing looked more like it came from their world, but that wasn't any evidence. Only when the one with purple hair shot spider webs out of her hands, they had enough reason to attack. The smallest one had escaped, but two was a good enough number.

The only one that wasn't cheering was Freya, the priestess. If anything, her face showed… disappointment. And sadness. She never agreed with the idea that mobs were evil: they had never seen it for themselves, after all. Stephen didn't seem happy, either. He never liked it to see others hurt, even if they were his worst enemies.

Once they were in the middle of the town, Scott dropped the girl with purple hair on the ground. Harry was more gentle, carefully laying the girl with grey hair about a meter away from the other one. He was kind of like Stephen: he wanted things to go peacefully. The difference was that Harry, being a soldier, was used to using violence and therefore felt less regret when he did so.

After a short while, one of the mobs slowly woke up. The purple-haired one opened her eyes and tried to look around when Scott suddenly kicked her in the face, causing her to fall down again.

"Agh…" she muttered.

Scott cracked his knuckles. "Now," he said. "You're going to tell me where your little friends are, or you and this girl…" he kicked the gray girl's unconscious body, "…are going to get bloody."

She grunted and tried to get up. Her progress was cut short, however, when the general kicked her in the stomach.

"General…" Harry blurted out. "I do not agree-"

"I know you don't, corporal, but that's just 'cause you're such a nice guy," Scott interrupted as he kicked the mob again. "Just leave the fighting to the big guys."

"Sir-"

"Corporal, I order you to be silent or begone!"

"Even the Enlightened-"

"Don't you use that against me! From what we've heard, these monsters are worse than the Enlightened."

"You're violating-"

"Human rights? True, but these things aren't even human at all so it doesn't matter anyway!"

Harry was silent as he gave the man he once respected a glare, which the general returned.

"You finally goin' to shut up? Good," the older man said. He turned back to the two girls on the ground and noticed that they were both awake now.

He walked over to the grey one and stomped his boot on her back. She groaned in pain. The general-turned-torturer turned to the purple one.

"Don't suppose you've told your friend about what's goin' to happen, right?" he asked. When he didn't get a response, he turned back to the one who was currently squirming underneath his foot.

"To summarize it, I'm goin' to cause you some pain and problems if you don't tell me where your group is." He put more pressure on his foot, causing the girl to groan again.

"Now, I'll start off kindly," he said as he bent down to her, removing his foot from her back. "Where are your allies? What kind of defenses can we expect?"

His victim simply looked at her torturer, causing him to kick her in the face.

"I'll ask again," he growled. "Where is your base?"

When she still didn't answer, he raised his foot. She flinched as it came down on her back.

"Stop!" the purple girl suddenly blurted out. Scott looked at her.

"She doesn't know anything!" the girl went on. "She's one of our guests! We didn't tell her anything!"

The general snorted. "Guest? Or prisoner? Either way, I'm not falling for it. Or…" he smirked darkly. "Maybe I'll interrogate you instead." He suddenly looked at Harry, his smirk gone. "Corporal, will you give me a hand? Why don't you go ahead and 'interview'-"

"No," the corporal cut him off. "This way, we're worse than the Enlightened." He glared at Scott, feeling an anger he never felt before. "As if you already hadn't crossed the line by cursing Cody's memory, you old drunk."

A silence fell. The expression on the general's face was a mix of shock and rage. He slowly removed his foot from the mob's back and walked towards his subordinate. Harry didn't move a muscle when the old man stood right in front of him, glaring him down.

"If all you can do is insult me," he said dead quiet. "You. Should. Leave."

Then, something happened that nobody had anticipated: the corporal turned around and walked towards the edge of the town. Scott's eyes grew wide.

"Corporal!" he yelled. "Come back!"

"Harry!" Rachel shouted to no avail. The corporal was nearly past the very last house of the village.

However, when he was practically out of the village, a figure jumped from behind that same house, grabbed him and holding what seemed to be a pistol against his head.

"Nobody move or I'll splatter his brains all over the place."

The voice echoed in Scott's head. He knew to whom it belonged. He'd recognize it at any time. But it couldn't be…

The figure threw Harry in their direction, causing the corporal to fall to the ground. When his attacker stepped into the light, he revealed himself as…

"…Cody?" Scott whispered in a raspy voice.