189

"Not?"

Gregor shook his head again reflexively. "No. I'm not. I work for them." The man looked puzzled. "I..." Gregor gestured towards himself and away from himself with his left hand, addressing himself and the invisible Electorate that they were addressing. "We work together."

188

The man shook his head at Gregor in annoyance.

"You elec?"

It was a statement and a question. Gregor looked at the man's eyes could see anger rising within them. He shook his head to indicate no, but then stopped unsure if the movement would mean the same to the hooded man.

"No." Gregor said. "No I'm not."

187

Gregor shook his head and moved his lips feebly as no sound came out. He let his breath out through his lip and inclined his head slightly. The man's face, which up until this moment had been smiling, converted into a look of confusion.

187

"I arrived." The man said stuimbling over his words as he removed the hood from his head. As his hood fell to his shoulders it revealed the face of a man who looked to be in his thirtieth year.

Gregor just stared at the man, his mouth hanging open. This was the first time he had heard someone speaking his language since arriving at the castle. Gregor visible shook his head, as if trying to clear something away, unsure that he had heard correctly.

"Me. I arrived." The man said again, as if surprised at Gregor's surprise, and attempting to clarify himself.

186

After a moment or two another robed figured interest the room from the other end. He passed through double doors and sent rectangles of white light spilling into the dark room. The figure in the robes walked quickly across the room and towards Gregor and the tattooed man. The tattooed man inclined his head and then stepped to the side allowing the figured who had just entered the room a clear path towards Gregor.

186

After a moment or two another robed figured interest the room from the other end. He passed through double doors and sent rectangles of white light spilling into the dark room. The figure in the robes walked quickly across the room and towards Gregor and the tattooed man. The tattooed man inclined his head and then stepped to the side allowing the figured who had just entered the room a clear path towards Gregor.

185

The figures wore robes that covered much of their bodies including their faces. The man with the tattoos stood watching them, seemingly waiting to be noticed. After a few moments, during which Gregor attempted to take in the scene unfolding in front of him, a robed figure game up and tapped the tattooed man on the shoulder. The man with the tattoos inclined his head and the robbed figure brought both hands up to over his mouth and then whispered into his ear.

Gregor watched the people working at unloading objects from the chests and placing them around the room. Braziers were being lit by one robed figure using a torch from the fire. Almost immediately after the first one was lit Gregor could smell the intense smell of the incense that was now burning.

184

The interior of the room was darked then the rest of the castle, as the windows had all been covered, and it took Gregor's eyes a few moments to adjust. They were movement in the room, he began to see, but no talking. Men, and he thought some women, were unloading several large chests, at what seemed to be a furtive pace.

183

Gods these men are giants. Gregor thought as the tattooed man approached the two guards. Initially all three men had appeared to be the same height but as the man with the tattoos walked closer to the two guards, the optical illusion was broken and Gregor saw that the man with the tattoos barely came up to the guards shoulders.

The two guards held giant axes with large silver curved blades and topped with a long silver spear point. Gregor eyed the axes and assumed that their function was mostly ceremonial as they would be almost impossible to wield in any confrontation. The two guards turned on their heels and faced each other for a moment before slowly taking three steps backwards and then pausing with their right heel lifted off of the floor.

With a look over his shoulder the man with the tattoos walked up toward the double doors and pushed his way inside. Gregor walked behind him, glancing at the guards on his left who towered over him and did not meet his eyes.

182

Finally they came to a doorway guarded by two tall guards. The guards ignored both Gregor and the man with the tattoos, until the man with the tattoos stepped forward and saluted the guards.

181

"Baran!" The tattooed man called from around the next corner breaking Gregor's reverie. The idea of escape dissolved from his mind, as broke into a run to catch up.

The man with the tattoos led Gregor through the castle and to an area of the castle that seemed to be in better repair. He saw many different groups of invaders as he walked through the castle. None seemed to care much for Gregor, but a few let out shouts of greetings for the man with the tattoos.

180

Gregor looked out into the hallway and saw the guards talking happily with some newcomers. The were obviously the people that Gregor had seen ride in given their diry close and sweaty faces. The slow happy tones of the guards floated around in the background as Gregor rushed forward noticing that the tattooed man had quickened his pace. Again Gregor was surprised by how little attention he was given by any of the guards. The tattooed man hadn't turned his head since leaving Gregor's cell, and Gregor wasn't sure that any of the guards outside had even noticed his departure.

For a moment Gregor thought about escape. About turning from where he was and rushing out of the castle.

179

The man continued to walk towards Gregor with that odd smile on his face. Gregor, still unsure of what to do and not that used to human contact, stood awkwardly adjusting his position and trying to appear calm. Calm, and yet deferential. The man was two paces from Gregor when he raise his hand and clapped Gregor on the shoulder. As he did this Gregor flinched, thinking that the man might strike him, which caused the smile to broaden on the man's face.

Baran what is this man thinking?

The man with the tattoos gestured towards the door with his head and turned to walk towards the door. Gregor stood there, still in shock.

I'm a fucking prisoner, what the fuck does he expect?

After a few steps the man turned to see if Gregor was following him. When he noticed that Gregor had not moved he gestured with his head a few more times in rapid succession and then continued to walk. Slowly feeling returned to Gregor's legs and he began to walk towards the door, following the man a few paces behind.

178

Halfway to the doorway Gregor paused as he heard the key turning in the rusty lock. He watched as the door swung open and the warrior with the tattoos walked calmly in. Gregor stood his ground, a bit unsure how to react, as he had not seen the man with the tattoos since they had arrived at the castle.

"Baran!" The tattoo man said with a smile pounding his fist into his now covered chest.

"Baran." Gregor replied awkwardly, unsure if using the name of a god for a greeting was a good idea.

177

Besides which his days were long, and doing anything was often better then doing nothing. It was on his 76th lap when there was a loud knock at the door of his room. He paused for a moment, jerked out of his daydream reverie, and looked at the door. As this had never happened before he was unsure what he was expected to do. Do you answer the door to your own cell? He breakfast knocks usually signaled that his food had already been placed within his cell, but this was different. Gregor walked across the floor of his room made cell slowly, hoping that whomever was banging on the other side of the door would solve his conundrum for him.

176

With a sigh Gregor tried to suppress his feelings and finished breaking his fast. After eating his drank the glass of water that had been provided and placed his dirty dishes near the door. He glanced out the window for a moment, from the doorway and began the second part of his morning routine: exercise.

One hundred laps around the room was how Gregor rounded out his mornings. He had come upon this routine for lack of anything better to do, and he reasoned that a certain amount of physical exercise would be good for him. He also found there to be something relaxing in the exercise, it allowed him to take pause and slow his mind.

175

*11*

A series of loud knocks woke Gregor. He stretched for the briefest of moments before rising from his straw bed and making his way the the door to the room that was his cell. Just inside of the door his breakfast greeted him. Gregor eyed his breakfast and then picked it up and walked over to the crumbling hole that was once a window in this castle. So it was this morning, and so it had been for the past two moons. A repetition that made his situation almost bearable. As though the worst in life could be rendered normal by sheer repetition.

He rested his plate on a flat section of bricks and looked out onto the valley below. More troops were arriving. For the fourth time groups similar to the one that had captured him came tumbling into the valley. He waited, eating, for the sound to reach him. He knew that their entrance would be the same as the others, and the same as the one he had made with his entourage. There.

The soldiers racing on their overly large horses, heads covered in a variety of strange animal skulls, erupted in a series of loud guttural cries. In moments the soldiers within the castle answered the call. Gregor could hear the soldiers guarding his locked door answering the call a moment later then hose with a window view. Prisoner though he was there was something in the warrior cries that made the hair on Gregor's arms stand up.