“Are you hungry?” the Tryker asked more kindly that one would have expected from him. It was impossible to tell if he was truly being friendly or if he simply was a very talented actor.

After a good meal – roasted Igara and boiled psycola sprouts – Galhara was returned to the tent in which she had awoken earlier. She had not been shown the way between the two tents. Her eyes had been covered with something gross and slimy for the trip.

Back in the tent, the Tryker with the light-colored hair was already waiting for her. He  dismissed the guards after they had removed the strange mass from her eyes.

“Excuse this procedure. This is the way we deal with all homins when we don’t know if they’re going to stay or leave us again.” The voice no longer sounded evil, indeed, with every word it became more appealing and persuasive.

“My name is Ba’Wity Codgan, I am the leader of the Black Circle.” The Tryker bowed courtly and bid her to seat herself.

“How did you get the idea, that I could possibly stay, honoured leader?” she asked with skepticism. She did so with a smile on her well-formed face. Her tone of voice however left no doubt that her words were more than sarcastic. There was a pause, while he watched her with sharp eyes. One could literally smell the tension between them. Not until he took his eyes off her and started fumbling with a few bottles, did the tension ease.

“Well, many do stay, after they learn about our way of life and ideals.” With these words, he handed her a glass and motioned for her to take a sip. The color of the drink seemed very unusual to her. She took a smell of the blue liquid that also had a light red shimmer to it – almost violet. The liquid had a soft and sweet smell and so she carefully took a sip. Surprised by the pleasant taste, she immediately raised the glass to her lips again, and took an even greater swallow.

With a smile and another expression that Galhara could not interpret, Ba’Wity Codgan watched her. “So let me tell you about our goals”. He started a long monologue about the importance of research, but avoided all questions regarding the subject of this research. Also, he ignored all her questions about the financing of this research. Cogan was a very skilled speaker and Galhara was beginning to feel heavy headed with all this information after only a few minutes. As time passed, it became increasingly hard for her to think logically with her swimming head. That this could have been due to the drink she had earlier, failed completely to occur to her at the time. Indeed in only a few more minutes her senses left her and she collapsed onto her seat.

The Tryker rushed to the entrance of the tent, ordered the guards to remove the Fyros and sent for his deputy.

“I did warn you.” were the first words of the deputy, as he rushed into the tent with long strides. “To make things worse, she is of no use for our research.” “Let this be of my concern” Ba’Wity Codgan answered. “We move to the next phase. Our last job brought us a nice sum of money.” The laughter that followed had less to do with humour than with evil. “I would have really liked to see the eyes of our fellow countrymen, widened in shock “ – here he spat with derision – “when he slumped to the ground despite all their fancy security measures.” Again, one could hear the ice-cold laughter. “But this here”, with this he pointed to a large, only half closed chest, in which one could see plenty of dappers, “this is also a nice payment. And SHE will have the honour to participate in the next phase of our research first.” The horrific laughter went on for a long time, ringing in the still night airs of Atys.


To be continued…..


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