I wake up, feeling a little groggy. It takes me time for my eyes to adjust and I stretch out, feeling surprisingly refreshed. I seem to be laying in some kind of bed, staring up at a stone celling with wooden pillars as structural support. I push myself into a sitting position, and look around. The room is empty with many bed, either a barrack or a infirmary. Now that I think about it I was wounded, and as I lift up the covers I notice that my legs is wounded. It takes me a minute to realize that my gear was not on me and I look to the right and see it all sat on a table. There is a hum that echoes, probably from a blizzard outside but is is surprisingly warm inside. As I was about to get up I hear a door open behind me. I turn around and see a person come in, dressed in heavy winter clothing.

???: Ah you are awake!

The figure speaks, a female voice, a little muffled from the scarf over the mouth.

Me: Who are you? What is this place

???: First I shall answer the second question. You are in a infirmary, more precisely a infirmary inside the fort Frost, I know, a boring and unimaginative name. Now, for who I am, my name is Euriele Darkwind, the nurse and healer of this fort.

She slowly takes off the coat, the scarf and a hat. I notice two pointy ears. An elf? I can't believe it, an elf, a real one. And a pretty one at that. So she is a healer, that explains the fixed wound. Hmmm, a fort, up in these places, probably a border. And where there is a fort, not too far away is a civilian settlement.

Me: Ummm.... Thanks for healing me.

Euriele: No need for the thank you, that is my job after all. How are you feeling?

Me: Alright I guess. Maybe tired a little and hungry but otherwise not in pain. 

Euriele: I shall bring you some food, and then a man will come talk to you. He is in charge of this fort. He is rather a grumpy old man and can be aggressive. 

Me: Well... thanks for the heads up I guess.

All she does is nod and then goes behind some doors. She is gone for some time, enough for me  to ponder my current situation. I start thinking of a plan if the situation becomes problematic and even dangerous. I wouldn't want to kill but if needs be I wouldn't have a choice. It is either me or them, and I will always choose myself but I do hope that it won't come to this. Euriele finally comes back with a tray, on it is some bread, a bowl with some kind of stew and a cup of water. It isn't all too bad, the bread is rather bland, but the stew has at least some kind of taste. After you are done eating she leaves again and later comes back with a man. You can only presume that he is the one in charge. A large bulky middle aged man, probably in his forty's, has a small beard, green eyes, he wears basically the same thing everyone wears. A thick fur coat, doesn't exactly look anything special but you aren't surprised. Function over form is what is needed in places like these, the closer you are to the capital the flashier you get. He sits by a bed next to me and looks at me with a serious expression.

???: My name is Commander Theodor Reinhard, the one in charge of this fort. 

Me: Nice to meet you Sir, my name is Mason, I don't plan on giving you my last name, I hope you don't mind it.

Theodor: It isn't a problem. Now, I came here out of many reasons, and I will ask you questions and I expect you to answer. Have I made myself clear young man?

Me: Understood Sir.

Theodor: First, who are you, are you a spy?

Me: As I have already told you I am Mason, and no Sir, I am not a spy I can assure you with that. You can decide if you want to believe me or not, it is up to you.

He doesn't immediately ask the next question but instead stares at me with his stern look. You can see that he is thinking but doesn't help you take away your nervousness. You know that this man if he wishes can bring this whole fort upon you if he does think you are a spy.

Theodor: What were you doing all the way up here in these mountains? Only a fool would travel through here alone.

I think about what kind of answer I can give. I can tell the full truth, a half truth or a simple lie. The truth would be problematic and pain to deal with, a lie might have consequences later on. So I decide that a half truth it is.

Me: I was traveling through these mountains, while also being pursued by a group of goblins. I might be a fool, but didn't have much of a choice.

Theodor: Alright. Where are you parents? You look young, even too young to travel alone.

There it is, one of the question I was expecting all along. Time to make up a sad story, so that I garner some sympathy and maybe loose a bit of suspicion and get easy point. I immediately make myself look sad and don't look at him directly, to cause even more of a saddened effect, to look like it pains me to say it.

Me: "I... They got killed by beasts. You see, we were living in the forest not far from here, and one night, while I had about 12 years a large beast attacked our home. Mom and dad hid me and all I could hear is the beasts roar and their screaming.", I pretend to cry a little, " From that day onwards I had to fend for myself. Try and survive, I miss them sir. "

Theodor puts a hand on my shoulder and says, "I am sorry to hear that, my condolences. Those are all the questions I have for now. I shall see you again." And with that he leaves to building. I look at Euriele, a sad expression on her face, her eyes show sympathy. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. Good thing, your acting worked, I knew that taking some acting lessons is school would pay of. But bad, because she is genuinely sad and worried, I may have gone too far but desperate times call for desperate measures. She comes over to me and hugs me. Can't complain, it feels nice, it is warm, motherly to some extent which saddens me even more that I made her sad by making up a fake story. 

Euriele: I am sorry for what has happened to you. Must have been hard living alone, a young kid should have never experience that.

Me: It is ok, everyday I try to accept it and get over it. Thanks again.

She then sits next to by me on the bed and looks at me, expectingly. She thinks about something for a moment, hesitant to say something, but I can't make out what. She finally speaks.

Euriele: I want to ask you some questions of mine. But only if you can answer them? I don't want to push if you can't answer them at this moment.

I suspected that she had some questions. The way she acted during the commanders brief questioning  I could tell that she had questions of her own. She might be in the army, but she is clearly inexperienced and too innocent. The least I could do is answer her questions.

Me: I am alright now. You can ask away.

Euriele: Forgive me, but while you were unconscious I inspected you gear a little, especially the stick you had. I hope you are not mad, and that you understand. And I fiddled with with the stick and noticed it has a hole in it that leads to some kind of chamber that you access by turning the ball thing and then the rod thing. What is the purpose of it?

I sit there, thinking for a moment, looking at her. All that is heard is the humming of the wind outside. She sits there awaiting an answer, to a question she isn't going to get one. I look at her seriously which catches her by surprise as of the sudden change of my mood.

Me: Sweet Euriele, I was ready to answer to any question you had. But to that one I simply can't give you an answer. I hope you understand.

Euriele: But why? Why hide it? What purpos...

I cut her off with an even more of a stern and serious look.

Me: I said what I said. To some questions, it is not a good idea to get an answer. Now have you got any other questions?

She genuinely looks even more sad now. Like all her excitement was crushed and shattered. She was probably waiting to ask that question for quite some time but now she can't get an answer. She shakes her head, and gets up and leaves, looking really shattered. I kind of feel really sorry, but it is better for me for nobody to know of what purpose my 'stick' has. When she finally leaves the room I immediately get up and go to the table and start getting dressed. I need to leave this place, this is a military complex, I need a civilian one, where I can more easily blend in. First, change of gear. I summon a German WW2 winter unifrom.

I exchange my Arisaka for a M1 Garand

Webley for a Luger P08

But before I would leave, I wrote a small thank you and sorry letter and since night had fallen I manage to leave the fort with ease. The guards are doing quite an appalling job if I may say so. I felt sorry for leaving in this way but I needed to leave. I didn't really have a choice.

I would travel for maybe a week or more until I managed to leave the darn mountains and finally encounter some green. And as I would head further down the mountain there would be more and more green. By the time I finally got out of the mountains I was tired and hungry, as my supplies ran out. And for two days I was walking without any food. But finally I reached a forest and the first thing I did was hunt something, anything just so that I could eat. And then I would head towards the village I saw in the distance.

...............................................................................................................................................................

Another chapter completed. I didn't want to keep him long in the fort since like it is said, it is a military compound and you can't exactly blend in there without garnering too much attention.