6. Prisoner's Dilemma

The bag was pulled off of Jefizon’s head. The room was gray and lit by only one candle in front of him. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been unconscious, but felt he was still inside the same fort.

“What is your name?” asked an animal who stayed in the darkness.

“Jefizon.” His voice wavered. He’d accepted that being a rebel might kill him one day. But being captured by the enemy instead seemed far worse. “I tell you nothing. Kill me then, my bad man.”

He hoped it sounded brave. His interrogator laughed and stepped closer.

“I have a proposal.”

“I won’t switch sides to join filthy Casbrita,” Jefizon said, fighting the ropes that bound him to the chair. “Not for any pro—”

“I gave this same proposal to your friends. That girl of yours, the strong leader, and so forth.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was lost in the fort and have no friends. I mean, what are friends? What is a fort? Can we first define that—”

“You have a choice: admit you’re a rebel and cooperate with us, or keep refusing and working against us. If you cooperate, we let you go. If you refuse, we can punish you by taking all your money and your estate, but the laws of Casbrita don’t allow more than that.”

Jefizon looked away. He loved his money and his home. But it felt like a minimal punishment to walk away alive and free.

“But …” His interrogator stepped closer, but remained a black silhouette in the shadows. His breath nearly blew out the candle. “If one of your friends cooperates, and you refuse, we can sentence you to death. If they claim you’re a rebel and enemy of the state, and proof you’ve lied to us, you will hang tomorrow.”

“What … what did the others I do not know say?”

Deadly silence. Of course they’d never tell him.

“Is there a third option?” he asked against better judgment. Even more silence.

Cooperation would be the highest treason. He could snitch on Ajay, but if Ajay had refused, then that meant killing his boss and friend. And Fuja? What would she have chosen?

Their best option was to all refuse. They’d all receive fines and light punishments, but otherwise go free. But were all of them strong enough? Only one of them needed to open his mouth and say the wrong things, and all the other rebels would hang from the gallows tomorrow.

And Pikan? How well did they even know him? Could they trust an ex-slave? Jefizon realized he was starting to see the reasons for Ajay’s distrust. A reason not to allow absolute freedom.

When the candle went out, all candle wax burned, Jefizon had to give his response.

Fuja screamed for help and growled at her abductors. They let it happen, until exhaustion made the native girl sink in her chair. These animals had all the time in the world, apparently. The room had no windows and only a single door, which gave her no indication about the time of day. Maybe she wasn’t even inside Fort Tondoga anymore.

She’d always had nightmares about waking up on a ship, sailing for Casbrita. She didn’t want to live among them. They’d look at her funny all day and call her a … freak, like Ajay did with his own friend Fracclin. While everyone else saw that Fracclin was just a normal, very kind person. He was just too clever for Ajay, yes, and that scared the stupid monkey.

As long as she still felt her native lands underneath her feet, she kept power and hope.

Until the interrogator gave her a dilemma. Refuse and they’d ban her from the colonies, returned to “her own folk” behind the mountains. Even though that was a completely different group of natives who didn’t know Fuja and would like reject or kill her. In the eyes of Casbrita, sure, all natives were the same.

Cooperate and snitch on her friends, and she’d go free. She’d even become an official citizen of Casbrita. But her friends who refused would all die.

She wouldn’t miss Ajay—but she would miss all the others. The thought of Jefizon receiving the same dilemma and now judging how much they loved each other …

She burst out in tears. Why was the world like this? Why couldn’t animals just live? Just exist? Without powerful idiots waging wars and taking away the freedom of others?

When the candle burned out, she’d have to give her response. But as soon as her bout of crying was over, she already knew the only possible answer.

Pikan had suffered abuse from strangers often enough. He looked at this abductors with a numb and mostly irritated expression. The rhino wasn’t placed on a chair, of course, just chained to the wall. He didn’t fight the ropes, because he happened to know the knot they used and that he could undo it. He just had to stall for time.

He received a dilemma. Refuse and he became a slave again. Cooperate and he’d go free.

But he received an extra tasty bite in the offer, just for him.

“We’ve heard how the Continental Army handles slaves,” the interrogator said. “They want you to fight for them. But when the fighting is over, they also want you to return to your plantations and become slaves again.”

He leaned forward, which allowed Pikan to see his nose but not his face. Did he recognize that nose?

“The colonies will never see you as equals, Pikan. However hard you fight for them, however many missions you do.”

“And so I must switch sides to the oppressors?”

“You have a choice. Cooperate with us, and we make you a high general in our army. You may form your own platoon of slaves, who, when the war is over, will all receive their freedom. Casbrita does care about you, Elwar does not.”

Pikan’s mouth became a line. He looked away, at the gray walls with crumbled stone. In other parts of the fort, footsteps sounded and heavy objects were being moved. Thanks to Benni Arrold they had been able to attack with a large group of soldiers, right? How could they have lost this hard?

Unless …

He leaned forward suddenly and pulled his interrogator into the candlelight with his horn.

It was Arrold himself.

He seemed not to care and bound Pikan even more tightly.

“What is your response?” Arrold asked.

Pikan knew there was no best solution. He could choose for himself, or for the group, that was the real choice. If he cooperated, he chose himself and doomed everyone who’d refused. If he refused, he chose the group but doomed himself and the rest of his entire life.

Ajay had always treated him like an inferior slave. Fuja was nice, but Jefizon also didn’t seem to love Pikan’s presence. Even Wasserbox, the moral crusador, owned slaves himself and wouldn’t mind if Pikan worked for him on his plantations. For as little pay as possible, of course.

But then you had Bardams and Fracclin. Good friends with the others. They trusted each other and had taken many good steps towards freedom. Without the Children of Freedom, the colonies might still be divided.

Could it be possible that someone achieved great things and still made terrible mistakes? Could it be possible to absolutely trust someone on certain matters, and completely distrust them on others?

“Can I receive official confirmation that Casbrita will treat slaves well and set them free? A letter by the king, signed?”

Arrold grinned and found exactly that piece of paper in a pile of them. Pikan had never learned to read their language, but it looked kingly. Stamp and everything.

He studied the paper for a while. His eyes watered, as if making it extra hard for him to make this decision.

The candle flickered, nearly extinguished. The door of the room opened, as if they wanted to immediately jump on the opportunity of Pikan spilling all rebel secrets.

What he had to say, however, still turned out to be a surprise.

“My real name is Beeris and I am the Demigod of Luck. I will cooperate if you fulfill your promise to take better care of the slaves and the poor, to only protect and not destroy, to be the good side in this war.”

He had freed himself. Arrold stumbled backward and ran from the room in fear.

Was that too much? Whatever. His Luckmagic would allow him to free the others before they were hurt. And then—

Arrold’s soldiers flooded the room. They overpowered him and threw another bag over his head.

“Let me go! I said I would cooperate! Didn’t you—”

His paws only felt empty air. Shortly after, he landed on a lower floor, and was lucky not to break any bones.