Beyond the Crags - 10. Chapter 10

Adga didn’t have time to dwell on the fate of the boys. She escorted the teen Healthman to a turn towards a sharply downward sloping passage which he said led to the dining room and let him go. She fully expected the three sick would not be brought out but decided letting the kid go was worth the risk. If they got away, she could live with it. On the other hand, if handed over, she would do her duty as a guard and turn them over and collect the offered bounties as expected.

As she made her way back to the others, she knew the Dead Storm had moved into Scorpion Falls. She could feel it. Judging by the squirms, gasps, and cringes of those in the room, everyone who had enough magic to be trainable and guilded felt a shift in the magic around them. Even a few of the lowest Training Echelon youth winced. Only a couple of teens seemed unaffected. Adga guessed they were true Mundanes with little to no innate magic.

Within minutes the air seemed to go stale and took on a sulfur smell. The glow from the nobles’ Daggers of Light started to shimmer and pulsate. Their warm golden glow changed to an eerie gloomy dark orange. Razor moved up close to Vendra and pushed into her side as if seeking protection.

The temperature dropped suddenly while the shadows caused by the flickering light of the magical blades shifted and wavered in unnatural ways. There were times it appeared the shadows had some intelligence behind them as they shifted and changed into figures with claws, heads that appeared to be screaming, and even bodies with weapons sticking out of them. Instincts took over. The shackled captives slid closer to each other while Adga and most of the others with her drew weapons.

It didn’t take long for more straightforward signs of the storm to appear. Even with the secret stone door entrance, heavy wood trapdoor, and thick metal grate leading out of the underground complex shut and barred in place, fine sand drifted down from above. Occasionally a thud caused extra dust to fall from the ceiling. The trapdoor at the top of the metal ladder started to vibrate and the sound of wind caused a constant whistle which the heavy door couldn’t drown out. At times, the pitch of the wind sounded like an agonized scream. At least once, Adga was certain it had been a scream, not the wind.

Once there was pounding, as if someone was beating on the trap door. A couple of the captives begged for someone to let whoever it was in. Eyes pleaded with Adga as a couple of the kids talked of it possibly being one of their friends. It sounded like several of the cutpurses were missing from the underground shelter. Adga hoped most of them had been those her patrol had captured, but she knew some had gotten away during the fight at the wagon. Many, if not most, were too fearful or intelligent to return to this den. They knew guards had captured several of their buddies. A few had certainly seen Adga question the red-headed kid.

Adga glanced down the line of pleading eyes and trembling lips. She closed her eyes to cut off the looks but shook her head. It caused a couple of the youngest to cry.

The thumping stopped as quickly as it started. Taglon let out a sad sigh, “Chances are good whoever is out there will have to be re-slain. If it was a friend, it is no longer. He or she will be one of the scores who thought they could somehow outsmart the tempest or simply didn’t believe how horrible it would be…”

He eyed the line of kids before looking up at the ceiling. “Upon me and my sister’s graduation to the royal guard, my grandfather told us stories of having to patrol the street his home was in following the last Dead Storm. In one day, he claims he took blade and hammer to seven undead who were former friends. His guess was someone opened the door to a home. The storm sucked the life out of all inside. One of those he had to re-kill included my father’s best friend. It was a kid who my grandfather had known well enough that the boy called him uncle. He handed me this enchanted hammer," he patted his side, “and my sister the magical blade he had done the deeds with. As he did so, he told us it would one day be our turn. What he had to do following the last Dead Storm haunted him till his last days.”

This caused many of the captives to shudder. A few wept. A couple begged to be let go so they could rejoin friends still within the thieves' den. Adga ignored it all. Instead, she moved up and down the line. Each captive was given a full waterskin. All but the Halforc and the older teen with the knife in his back were given a hunk of bread and a slice of smoked desert boar from one of the bags brought down by her slaves. She shook her head at the thought. Her slaves... after spending several moons going into the Crags in an attempt to get enough loot to buy the freedom of a slave, she now owned two… No, three. She corrected her thoughts with the clench of a fist. She hated the very idea. In her opinion, no one should be able to own another thinking being as if they were nothing more than a pet or piece of property. Yet she could also understand Tez’s view about criminals or those who owned large debts. However, in her opinion, the truly evil and rotten should get what is coming to them in the arena. The entertainment they would provide might offset the harm they had done while some of the gate fees could go to those harmed by them.

Others, such as petty thieves should get time in dungeons and be forced to work off the damage they did plus a hefty added fine. If this happens to be in an arena, so be it. Those who continued minor crimes should be exiled; given basic gear, taken deep into the wastelands, and banished to the desert. But not owned. She knew she would kill herself before being relegated to the property of another with no say over her own actions.

This caused her mind to spiral into looking for an easier way out for the three boys. Again she came up with nothing, at least not without seriously insulting a noble, most likely an entire noble house, if not all five houses of the Combined Desert Realm. It would also hurt Rin and Vyrax’s chances of going up in caste. More than herself, this was what forced her not to order their freedom.

The very fact two had been branded and the third certainly would as soon as the Dead Storm broke, caused her guts to churn. If she went with Taglon’s idea, three additional brands would be added to each of them. This was on her. She had asked for the use of them. Had she misunderstood, missed, or ignored what Count Kandahar had decreed? In the grand scheme, it didn’t matter.

In her heart, Adga knew the truth. The original request to keep the kids around to tend to gear had been motivated by selfishness and laziness. Knowing she had at least two moons, probably four or five, worth of hard patrols with no days off coming her way, made her look for a way to make her life easier. Her sole thought had been to get someone else to do chores she didn’t want to deal with at the end of each day. They could do the work while she tended to important matters, like getting extra sleep. Even if she treated them extremely well, they would forever be known as slaves. If freed, they would be in one of the two lowest free castes: Ex-slave. The brand could be altered, just like Vendra’s had been. However, it would be a taint on them forever. Was an extra sandglass or two a night of sleep for sixty to a hundred-and-fifty days worth having a trio of boys, kids a few human equivalent years younger than her, enslaved and branded? Of course, the answer was ‘NO!’ Branded. The thought sent a shiver down her spine. A mark burned into them as if they had been herd animals. There was no way they would ever forgive her… Nor should they, she admitted to herself.

Was there anything worse one person could do to another? She started to shake her head no, only to have the image of the young Mage’s eyes she had killed in the Crags flash into her brain. She pushed her hand into her forehead. “Yeah, I guess there is something worse,” she muttered softly while clenching up with anger.

Rar’rin glanced over, “Ad, what ya talk ‘bout over der?”

Adga’s head turned sharply, not realizing she had spoken aloud. “Um, no… Nothing… Nothing important.”

Seeing both Rin and Vyrax give her the ‘yeah, right!’ stare, she forced a snort she hoped sounded like one of humor. “Really, guys. I was just cursing the whole day. We should just be leaving the Crags, bedding down in a cave, and getting ready to head back in tomorrow. Not…” She spread her arms wide and gestured to the passage and the ceiling above, “This!”

Nuk responded, “Patrol Leader, while being stuck in an unknown passageway with Dead Storm roaring above us is certainly not ideal, this day could have been much worse.”

As Adga scowled at him he held up a hand to stop her from talking and took a deep breath. “Tez told me you were the one who first saw the signs of the Dead Storm. Therefore, today has actually gone far better than it would have had you not sounded the alarm when you did.”

Vendra spoke up, “He’s right Adga. Zeris has been with all of us, through you, this day.”

Vyrax joined in. “Come on Ad! Look at how many things went right, not wrong. You got the word out to the Spires. A noble gave you an open slate to pick a team to warn the South. Because of this, Vendra was freed. We were able to go around the mass of people trying to get into the Northern Spires. We got amazing loot out of the Crags and happened to speak to someone who knew what quite a bit of the magic we now carry does!”

“And do not forget, you got a healing potion to fix your tusk,” Tez added.

Taglon stood and moved up to Adga, “You also saved a caravan, including the caravan master’s son, and took out brigands. At least two have bounties, and from what a few of the others told us, three or four others do as well. Many were deserters from city and town garrisons. You dealt a huge blow to brigands and deserters in this area."

“Royal Guardsman Taglon makes a good point,” Vendra stated. “However, I have one more. Without you, some of these young bandits would have certainly been up on the streets above. You heard them. They thought the warning was for a monsoon, a rain. Just like in the Spires, I am sure there are spots they know of where they could have gotten up to higher ground where snakes, lizards, scorpions, and the like would not congregate. They could stay there until the water running down the streets stopped. You have shown me five spots outside the walls and a couple inside. They may not like what is coming their way, but they are at least alive. Now sit down, drink some water, grab a bite, and take a breather. It certainly sounds like you need it.”

Nuk forcefully agreed. “Both Taglon and Ven are correct, Patrol Leader. You are not doing anyone any good, including yourself, cursing the events already behind you. Take a break while you can.”

Adga slid down a wall and pulled up her waterskin. “I could have done things a lot better, though.”

At this point, the gladiatorial slave spoke for the first time, “May I speak?”

Adga glanced over with raised eyebrows, “Of course, you can! Until now I didn’t know you could!”

“My owner requests I do not when others are around for fear of insulting anyone. Your desert realm seems to be harsher toward vocal slaves than many places I have journeyed through.”

“While you are under me, I want you to be one of us…” She glanced down at the two branded boys, “I don’t want those handed me to fear talking to me either.” She returned her gaze to Tur, “So yes, please say what’s on your mind.”

Tur’s face remained unreadable as he took a deep breath. “Commander, mistakes are needed. I say the same thing you did about doing things better every time I get in the arena. But when I look back, it could have been worse and because of the mistakes I made, I am better than I was before. For I learn from missteps more than what I do correctly. My recommendation is to use those moments as an inspiration, not a loss. It is what I do, and by some miracle or act of the gods, I am still here. So are you. Take heart in it. It is what keeps me going.”

Adga eyed the kid for several seconds as she let his words sink in. “Take heart, huh?”

The boy simply nodded, slid down, used his large pack to prop himself up, tore off a hunk of meat with his teeth, and closed his eyes. He talked as he chewed. “Take heart, eat, and seek rest as we live to see tomorrow. The gods gave us another victory so we may fight again.”

The words sounded strong yet sad and resigned. She contemplated sliding close and giving him a hug. She shook off the thought as quickly as it came. The kid was a trained, tried, and proven killer. While his weapons had been cleaned and oiled, he didn’t even bother to wipe the blood off his armor or shield.

Adga watched him as he devoured the food handed to him without opening his eyes. She couldn’t help but wonder what the kid thought about, dreamed about. She studied his expression. It was impossible to read. While scarred, she found a natural beauty in the added creases to a very young, yet strong-looking face. She debated striking up a conversation, but like it or not he was someone else’s property. The last thing she wanted to do was get to know and like a kid, she couldn’t help. Finally, she focused her attention elsewhere.

The captives were lined up on the north wall. Taglon had taken it upon himself to chain their legs to each other. The slave boys were not part of the group, but their ankles were chained to each other. While it had to add discomfort to an already terrifying and unpleasant situation, it would all but guarantee none could escape. Furthermore, it would make a rescue attempt from those deeper into the thieves’ complex extremely difficult. Getting them to chamber pots would be the biggest problem. Words of a former commander entered her mind. ‘I’m the patrol leader. I give crap tasks, not do them!’ She glanced over at Thul-mora and Rebklos and smirked. ‘Sometimes it’s good to be the boss,’ she thought to herself.

Adga ripped off a large hunk of bread and took a bite. “Vyrax, Nuk, you two are in pretty good shape. Take first watch. Thul, you are on watch with them. Vyrax is in charge. Rin, finish patching our first watch then finalize bandages on the rest of us. Feel free to touch up the others. But the Halforc gets nothing!”

“Ya got it, Ad!” Rin stated. “Ya done earn a rest!”

Adga closed her eyes but refused to sleep. Rest would have to be enough. She listened, hand on Foelay’s mace. Voices were muted. A few talked of possibly being branded like Wiro and Gefin. She would have to figure out which was which… Others tried to figure out who was where. She caught the names of at least seven who were probably still up top that no one saw captured. Finally, she realized the two kids Tur had caught stealing food from a cart were not part of this group. It didn’t matter to Adga, they were thieves, thus the bounty was applied. But for those in the thief complex, they were unknowns and clearly not trusted. Without opening her eyes, she ordered them separated from the others for their own safety and her wanting the bounty on them.

Three sandglass turns in, no one talked. Most, including the captives, let out occasional gasps and whimpers since occasional thuds from above caused puffs of dust to fall from the arched stonework roof.

Rin did most of the work but was greatly aided by Thul-mora who happened to be a Healthman in training. He spent time with almost everyone, tending to wounds the best he could. It was fortunate Lord Saban Kandahar had sent down extra Healthman supplies with one of the slaves, since everyone in the patrol, and all but two of those captured needed the skilled hands of a Healthman. Only the Halforc was left untreated. The huge thief leader tried a few times to get the others to keep their mouths closed and not provide any information. At first, the intimidation worked. A second gauntleted fist, this time from Tur, into the Halforc’s jaw loosened the tongues of the young ones and shut the mouth of the kid who finally had the dagger removed from his back and was bandaged.

The Halforc had yet to regain consciousness.

A shout from the deep male voice told everyone those who were poisoned had been moved into the dining hall. Adga stood, stretched, and glanced around. Many along the wall were asleep. A few held their heads in their hands in dejection. If there was any fight left in them, none showed it.

Guided by the shackled Q-ling, Nuk, Vyrax, Tur, Thul-mora, and Taglon retrieved three kids left in a dining hall. All three looked to be in bad shape and smelled dreadfully of not having bathed in quite some time. They all appeared pale and were coated in sweat, yet were shivering.

Under Rin’s close supervision, they were given the anti-toxin vials, while Taglon made sure they were shackled. If there was an upside, all three were too weak to fully realize what was happening.

Within minutes of drinking the liquid in the vials, they fell into a deep sleep. Adga breathed a sigh of relief as she ordered them cloth washed and put into bedrolls. She occasionally looked at the tallest of the three. There was no question that, while not an identical twin of the redheaded boy, he was the brother. The hair and facial features were too close to be otherwise. She clenched her fist as she watched him sleep. It wouldn’t be long before he would have to endure a slave branding. She wondered if there was a way out for him. If there was, she couldn’t see it.

During this whole time, the sounds of beings moving from the supply room and well room could be heard. A few times Adga caught a glimpse of a small form, as a boy or girl darted into the supply room empty-handed, then hustled out carrying items. She could tell waterskins were taking priority. Activity tapered off after a sandglass turn or two. This was followed by the sounds of metal doors being slammed shut deeper in the complex. There was no further activity she could see or hear. Another couple of sandglass turns allowed Adga to get used to the sounds and feel of the storm. She finally dozed off.

A tap on her foot caused Adga’s eyes to pop open as her hand snagged Foelay’s mace. She saw Tur, axehammer in hand, take a step back. He gave her a nod.

She wiped at crusties in the corners of her eyes, yawned, and blinked. “Problem?”

Tur nodded. “Commander, I strongly recommend we move everyone out of this dead-end room and into a bunkroom on the far side of the dining hall.”

Adga stood, took a drink from a waterskin, and glanced around. She noticed she had a headache. Off to the side, Taglon was up and getting the captives to stand. Those who couldn’t were unchained from the others. She yawned again. “Um, OK… why?”

“The trapdoor stopped howling a while ago. I think it is now covered with sand. There is not much airflow in this area any longer. I checked with a candle. The flame is weak. It gets better in the hall. There is airflow under the door blocked by the partially collapsed roof.

“Furthermore, your two slaves were correct, this place drips venomous threats. The underside of the blocked door leaks scorpions, spiders, and even a few snakes and there are many in the well room, some very large with two poison tails. It required Rin to breathe fire to open a path to the well and the royal guard, Vendra, Nuk-lem, and me to keep the well clear so we could refill all the waterskins. I believe they called the biggest scorpions with two blue-banded tails, twin tails. Of which I killed four and the others killed at least two each.

"It is not much better here. I have had to kill over a dozen spiders, seven small scorpions, a couple of larger ones, a twin tail, and one snake while you slept. However, it is much better in the bunk room. It is much deeper below ground so there is no thuds felt from above. There is good airflow, and it has blade strips along the doorframe. We could also put two of the bunks together to give you a bed. The only downside I could find is the door out. It, like all the others down here, is extremely old, yet very thick bronze and is either locked, stuck, or barred, but since I can wiggle it and it does not push far, my guess is it is locked. However, it too has blade strips, so nothing is likely to come under it.”

Adga yawned. “Um… Sure… Was it your idea to check with a candle?”

“It was. I became concerned when I noticed it was getting harder to breathe and several who had recently awakened, fell back asleep.” The boy picked up his scale mail armor. “I am sorry if I was not supposed to wake you, but my duty is to you until you hand me back to my master.”

Vyrax spoke up. “He woke me and asked first Ad.”

“Glad he did. He may have just saved our lives!” She shook her head and moved into the hall, stomping on a huge spider as she did so. With an eye cast down at Tur, she spoke. “I am surprised you noticed.”

“In the arena, I was born, when not fighting, I worked in an old opal mine to build strength and stamina. All did. Occasionally quality stones were found and we got a good meal as well. Now, when not on the road or in the arena, I work in my master’s salt mine down the road from his estate.”

“Miner Subfield?”

“I have never tested in any guild… Not exactly accurate. I tested in a Swordsman guild before my master bought me from the arena. I failed the test.”

“Failed? As in Mundane?”

“According to the Swordsman guild master, yes. He said I came close and given expensive training could eventually make it into the lower echelons of a Swordsman Guild because I have some magic. However, I failed. A retest a moon later gave the same result. Because of this, I was tested in an Animal Adept guild as well, but I showed less aptitude there. I cannot cast spells, so I must be Mundane, or so low magic I can only train in Subfields.”

“But I have seen you fight!” Adga stated firmly. “There is no way you are partially Mundane!”

“It matters not. I fight as I am, not what I am or am not guilded as. Nor will a guild matter when I die. I will not be judged on what guild I belong to, only how I fought and what or who eventually kills me.”

At this point, Adga couldn’t help herself. She patted the boy on the shoulder. She blinked. It was like touching stone. “By the gods, you are even stronger than you look!”

Tur shrugged. “I have been told more than once I was born tough. None of the other kids close to my age could stand up to me from the first time I was pitted against them. I am born into the arena with the gift of dying in one. There are worse things.”

Adga made sure everyone was up and moving. She grabbed a girl who was unable to walk, before gesturing for Tur to lead the way. She was surprised to find he had managed to put his armor back on so fast without aid. However, the words Tur spoke caused her to blink. “Worse things than being born as an arena slave?”

“My skill, possibly my looks, allowed me to get bought. I have seen much because I travel. My master has given me limited guard rights. I get some coin and have made purchases. Been tutored in three written and spoken arts. I have read amazing stories of dragons, knights, and huge treasures. Yet have lived to hear thousands, including you, cheer for me.”

“How do you know I cheered for you?”

“You cannot hide, even in a crowd thick with bloodlust, Commander. The first time, eleventh row back north side. The second time, fifteenth row south side. Both times you were with your fellow guards, only you were in basic armor. Next to you was the boy you all but annihilated out by the falls. He looked quite queasy when I killed the Halfdwarf and Gobling. He liked the non-death fight better. I believe you preferred the death match, or you really detest Goblings.”

“Very observant!” Adga praised yet was startled to realize Tur remembered her so well. “As for your matches, my mother and father were killed by four Goblings who were part of a group of slaver raiders. I was a whisper of sand from becoming a slave myself because my village was all but wiped out. But I still remember a Gobling stabbing my mother as she tried to protect my younger brother. I HATE Goblings. It took everything I had not to say or do something to the Gobling in your caravan.”

“Dux is very used to being treated badly. I do not know why my master travels with him, but he has been with the caravan since before I was purchased. He has always treated me decently. He is also incredibly good with axehammers. He taught me much in their use. Which is good. I seldom use one in the arena. However, it is a perfect weapon with undead threats so heavy in your kingdom.”

“It is a common weapon here because it can both hack and bash. Carrying one weapon with both ways of attack is a benefit, but it is not balanced like long blades.”

Tur put the axehammer over his shoulder. “There is a downside to every weapon. I have gotten good at knowing what they are and using such knowledge against my opponents. Although, today, maybe yesterday by now, was my first time in lethal combat outside the arena. It felt strange not to hear the cheer of the crowd when I took down the three bandits. I think I prefer the crowd noise. It adds to the enjoyment of recognizing the vulnerability, exploiting it, and landing the final blow.”

Adga swallowed hard at hearing the kid seemed to enjoy being in the arena. “Judging by the blood on your arms and armor you didn’t hesitate to find and exploit the weakness of the bandits and thieves today.”

If Tur realized the underlying trepidation in Adga he didn’t show it. “Details and noting them fast is required to survive when I fight multiple foes. I need to know who to cripple fast. With the major threat eliminated, I can play to the crowd with the other or others. It is then a crowd pleaser when I toy with who should be the most dangerous. I can let him show skill and even allow him to get in a shot or two. Normally, by the time I circle back to the biggest threat, there is enough blood loss or limb damage to where he doesn’t have the needed strength to do serious damage, but few if any realize this. They see a skilled combatant struggling to stay alive and me seemingly outmatched, but refusing to back down.”

“The Halfdwarf,” Adga stated as she thought back. “You put a gash under his armpit, then focused on the other. You already could move faster than him, so it was easy to stay out of range while you worked on the Gobling. Once you dropped the Gobling with a vicious hip stab, the Halfdwarf was tiring from trying to catch up to you and the wound…”

“Yes, and by eliminating the use of his non-weapon hand, I didn’t have to worry about him pulling the dagger he had on his hip. It also let him deliver proper swings with his weapon hand, which I dutifully blocked several times. The blood coming from my hand was actually done by me, so the crowd thought he had done damage and had a chance.”

He held up his right hand. It had dozens of scars. “I always use arm guards in lethal combat. My left has a sharp edge so I can cut myself when the time is right. To those watching on, it looks like I have been hit since I grab at the spot, and then blood drips down my hand. If I see the same people in the seats too many times, I cut myself in other places. It makes it look like I am hurt worse than I am. It also lets everyone see my blood. Very few times do I let myself come out of the arena unscathed. When I do, it is to prove a point. Like when I am put up against three thugs who had the combined threat of a toothless rat.”

Adga shook her head and snickered at the thought of a toothless rat, “I really thought the Halfdwarf had hurt you bad!”

“Not even a scratch from him. I open and close my hand a few times to push out enough blood to where it runs down my hand. There is an added benefit, since almost always, the opponent focuses on what he thinks is a weak spot. Knowing what the foe is going after lets me easily spot flaws in their attack or openings in their defense.”

Adga continued down the passage, surprised by how much it sloped downward. Suddenly she entered a chamber she could easily stand in. The room was dimly lit by a score of glowing spots on the upper edge of the ceiling. It was certainly the dining hall she had heard others mention. But it was so much more. It was vast with an enormous arched ceiling. As she gazed up, more dots of glowing light could be seen along the arches, but it also appeared many were missing or the magic on them had long ago faded. She figured four of her could stand on her shoulders and not touch the lower stone arches. A huge central stone table with fifteen stone chairs the size of thrones dominated the room. The table’s edge was badly worn but still had some carvings along the sides. The head chair was truly massive. It had carvings, badly aged and worn, but still looked very ornate.

The table and the head chair were too big for the doors, so they had to have been carved out of the stone as the chamber was constructed. A smaller stone table with eleven stone chairs was off to the side. Between most of the stone chairs at the smaller table, makeshift stools and chairs made out of everything from old chests to wood doors with nailed-on legs made out of door frames were pushed up close to the table. The small table had a head chair as well, also with carvings, but nowhere near as big as the one at the main table. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she noticed more. All the stone was the same as the surrounding rock. Adga bet even the smaller table and stone chairs had been carved out of the surrounding stone. Another odd thing was, in front of several of the stone chairs at the small table and one at the big table, there were small sandglasses.

They reminded her of the tiny sandglass Burntmetal used when he cracked an egg into boiling water. Once the sand ran out, Burntmetal used a ladle to pull the egg out. These were even smaller though. It made her wonder what game was played with turns of such a short time.

Another glance up caused all thoughts toward the tiny sandglasses to vanish. Long arched stone supports held up the ceiling. All six supports were ornately carved with creatures and plants. Above the main table, the skeletonized structure of a huge chandelier hung. While it had probably once been very grand, it was now green and covered in cobwebs. Chains ran down to a hook on the back wall so it could be lowered but judging by the buildup of nasty greyish-black crud around the chain links and thick cobwebs, it hadn’t been lowered in a very long time.

“Oh, wow!” Adga gasped in amazement. She moved up to the head chair of the big table as the captives were escorted through a doorway without a door behind her. She didn’t even put the girl down as she ran her hand over the carved stone. The top of the chair had a pair of cats with huge fangs facing each other with a paw up and claws out. Between them, the head of a lizard of some sort looked straightforward. It appeared as if it had a horn in the center of its head. The deep insets of its eyes told Adga it probably had gems for eyes in the distant past. Below the top was a badly worn crest. She felt her heart speed up.

Still holding the girl in one hand, she dug into her pouch and pulled out a gold coin. “Nuk! I need your lit dagger!”

Nuk scrambled over and twisted the handle of his Dagger of Light. Even with the pulsating orange glow, he let out a long whistle. “By Vaneuben’s name! It’s the same! The exact same!”

Tez and Vyrax quickly came over. They looked at the gold coin, then at the massive chair. Both blinked.

Taglon came out of where the prisoners had been moved to and stopped short, “You… you have gold?”

Adga ignored the stunned sound of the man. She put the coin on the table and gently moved her hand over the crest. She spoke in awe. “What is this place?”

“Who cares?” Taglon gasped out. “You have gold!”

As Adga frowned deeply, Vyrax gulped and dug into his pouch. He tossed Taglon a gold coin. “Here, now you have one too. You may want to back off and let Ad do her thing.”

Vendra moved out of the room with the captives and over to the chair, “Oh, by Zeris’ light! Ad, I’d bet you are looking at a chair the owner of this crest sat on… at… whatever. My guess is this was a high noble’s throne. Maybe a duke, prince, or even a king.”

Nuk moved down to the far side, “Same crest and lizard head over here, but with some kind of flowering plant around it. Smaller chair, but not by much. “Probably the big guy's wife. There is another right next to it with a slightly smaller center horn.”

“Probably their firstborn,” Vendra stated. "But these chairs… they’re massive. How did they move them around?”

“Probably a team of servants or something.” Nuk snickered. “Poor bastards… what a horrible job. Bet whoever this was, is not happy his home has become a house of cutpurses!”

“Surprised he isn’t haunting the halls,” Tez joked as he moved to join the group. He turned up the light on his dagger and looked over the crest. “You know, Count Kandahar said this used to be the land of Odin, then Greysac. Any chance this is their crest?”

Vendra shook her head. “No. All Ruinseekers are taught the major crests within the line of Odin early on. This isn’t even close. The Odin line all had crossed axehammers sticking up from behind a kite shield. It is believed the axehammer was first made by Odin… It wasn’t talked about in any texts prior and was only favored as a major weapon by the Highmen after the Odin line ended. It came back into widespread favor after the Mythling Wars because they are great against undead of both bone and flesh.

“Because Odin is believed to be the first Highman king, and helped pull Humans out of the lower races to be mid-race, the emblem on the front of the shield always contained what is now the Highman royal symbol of a sideways eight with a four-pointed star with four smaller points between the big ones. The outer band of the shield and the markings around the sideways eight identified the actual person.”

Tur pulled a glow coin out from his pack and looked at the chair at the front of the smaller table. “You mean like this one?”

Adga and Vendra ran into each other as they both bolted toward the other table at the same time. Ven ended up on the floor, but quickly scrambled to her feet. She pushed both Taglon and Nuk out of the way and managed to make it to the chair before anyone other than Adga.

“Need a glowing dagger over here!” both called out at the same time.

Tez’s eyebrows shot up as he moved up to them, “Geez, guys, it’s not like it’s going anywhere!”

Adga said nothing. Instead, she all but ripped the dagger out of Tez’s hand and twisted the handle so the light got as bright as it could.

Tez shook his hand, turned his head away from the deep orange pulsing light from his dagger, and frowned. “Guess it’s not a good idea to stand between a Ruinseeker and possible ancient history!”

Tur moved down the smaller table and put a glow coin he pulled from his pack up to each of the stone chairs. Like the dagger, it pulsated, but with a purple hue. “Commander, all these chairs have marks. Different, but they look like crests to me.”

Adga started to put the girl down on the stone chair. “No! Please no!” The girl shouted.

Adga yanked the girl back up into her arms and blinked as if suddenly pulled from a trance. “Huh? Why!”

Thul-mora came out of the back room pulling on a rope, “Your two slaves were just saying the door in here is the one leading to the Twisted Spoon. It is locked with a key only a couple of the adults have and can be barred from either or both sides. They also said you don’t want to sit on any of the chairs with sandglasses in front of them. I figured you best hear it from them yourself, Patrol Leader.”

The redheaded boy was yanked out into the massive dining room by the rope in Thul-mora’s hand. It was hooked to a small loop on his slave collar. He was followed by the Halfelf since their feet were chained to each other. The force of the pull caused both boys to almost fall and the redhead to grip his neck and make a choking sound.

Thul-mora glared at them, “Tell your owner what is going on, slaves!”

Adga let out a low snarl, “They are kids not much younger than you, Thul, and I expect them to be treated like people, not property! Now go bar the door so we have a secure room. Once settled, give all the captives a chance to use a chamber pot, cloth wash them as needed, check, and retreat their wounds, and give them some food!”

The girl’s eyes went wide, “By myself?”

“Yes!” Adga growled.

“Why me?”

“Because I am your patrol leader, you’re lucky I even let you join me, and you just pissed me off for mistreatment of those two! Do what you are told and don’t back talk me again or I swear to you…” Adga’s voice became deeper, darker, and angrier. “Keep it up and I will make your life so miserable, that you’ll abandon your rite before the Dead Storm even ends!”

As Thul-mora gulped and all but ran into the other room, Adga looked at the two boys. “But Thul’s also right. Now calm down. I’m not going to let anyone else treat you like that. But we all need to know what is going on!”

The Halfelf spoke with a quivering lower lip. “I know we have to do what you want, but please… I’ll do whatever… Both of us will! Just don’t put any of us on any of the stone chairs with the sand-timers in front of them…especially not with metal chains on us!”

Adga cocked her head to the side, “Why?”

The redhead answered. “Some a them chairs won’t let ya sit on ‘em. Them shock bad if ya try. It be punishment when we do bad er them mad at us... Ya gots to go down to yer loincloth and ya gets held down till the sand run out.” He pointed to a side table with several small sandglasses of various sizes, all bigger than the ones sitting in front of the chairs. “If yer real bad er them be awful mad, ya gets a bigger one.”

The Halfelf pointed to the chair Adga almost put the girl on. “That chair is one of the worst. The other really bad one is at the far side of the table... The one at the main table doesn’t shock as hard at first, but it’s worse after.”

The redhead took over. “It be why we gots the made up chairs ‘roud the table. Ya gots to be full guilded ta gets ta sit at the big one… Many chairs at the small table shock. Only da one at the big table do.”

The Halfelf quickly added, “The shocks are only part of it. Doesn’t matter which chair. It leaves you woozy and in need of sleep… There are real bad dreams after you go to sleep, but you can’t wake up. Even if someone tries to wake you up, you don’t until the dream ends.”

Tez glanced over with strong growing curiosity. “Are the dreams the same?”

“No. Depends on the chair and even then, they can be different, but most of us have had several of the same ones. We also kind of know what to expect by the chair we have to sit on.”

“Ad,” Nuk stated, “I have heard of this kind of thing. I bet it is a Memory Impression! It is an immensely powerful combination of Sorcerer spells. A time spell combined with a memory, event, or illusion meant to look like a memory. Only a Master or Legendary Echelon Sorcerer can cast one, but I have never heard of one being made permanent or tied to an item. Until now I thought it could only be tied to someone alive who had lived it. Or, in the case of an illusion, a single carefully crafted one that can take hours to create. The illusion is then destroyed at the time of the casting. If done well enough, the impression becomes powerful enough to cause real wounds because you believe they are happening!"

“I got to do one once as part of a magic class,” Tez stated. “It let me see a memory from my grandfather when he fought a pair of Bear Scorpions by himself. It was like I was really there!”

“I got to see Sir Lenti jump on the back of a Colossus general and shove a potion down its throat. It’s how he earned his knighthood. Someone must have wanted to convey something,” Nuk stated. He looked at the slave boys, “Can you tell us about some of the dreams?”

The Halfelf took in a deep breath and let it out. “Nightmares… nothing nice about them…”

“Tell us!” Adga demanded.

Another deep breath. The Halfelf closed his eyes and shuddered, but after a few seconds started to speak. “Most of us have had dreams of a city being hit by balls of fire falling from the sky. Sometime it rains fire… I have had it in several different cities, but mostly it is one with a huge building with a gigantic metal dome up on a hill. But no matter what city, it’s pretty much the same. People of all types run all over trying to escape, many on fire. The smoke makes it hard to breathe. Horrid-smelling ash falls from the sky. At the same time, dead walkers come over the burning walls in waves.

“All of us have had those and one where unliving pour out of sewers and basements in a small town. Most of the time it is in a place where you can see a six-sided tower in the town square, but not always.

“If you aren’t in one with the six-sided tower, you probably sat at the chair at the big table or the one with the wings. If you have to sit on the wing chair, you are in a burning town with a castle. You run out of the castle gate. Over a dozen guards move out as well… It is raining tiny burning rocks. You hold up a shield that someone grabs off a wall and hands it to you. It’s a big and heavy shield, but you still get lots of little burns… But the nightmare always ends with a glowing arch with weird marks around it. It appears in front of you just as you make it to a hole in the town wall. A Hawkling, but with blue and gold feathers, some black and melted… he is really the one being protected by guards as they run toward a section of the town wall that has fallen. It… its wings are wrapped protectively around a young dark-skinned Elf and a tan Dragonling with sparkles.

“The Hawkling shouts something and points at the glowing arch. The guards with it form a protective wall and engage some dead walkers. Several toss in their packs before they move to give the Hawkling time to get into the gate. It's almost like they are expecting to die, and they know it…

“The Hawkling bumps into you, pushes you out of the way, shoves the two with him into the arch, glances at you, shrugs, and pushes you and a girl in as well. Girls say they get pushed in with a boy. The force of the push sends you to the ground, but you are inside a weird spinning tunnel. The bottom is squishy. You feel like you are about to get sucked back out into the burning rock storm, but the Hawkling comes in behind you. It has another Dragonling or Lizardman by the back of a burning cloak in its talons. Once the Hawkling steps in, the exit closes.

“The tunnel is nothing but spirals, and there is only one way to go. The nightmare ends as the Hawkling rips off the burning cloak and pours water on the Dragonling while looking around in confusion.”

The Halfelf paused and stared at one of the chairs at the small table that was cocked to the side and had a crest of wings and crossed cutlasses. “You only get the Hawkling if you sit in that one. We call it the wing chair. It is probably the best, but it is still horrible and scary. And if you sit in it a long time you wake with some small blisters like you got burned by some of the rocks…”

He shuddered, but a sharp look from Adga caused him to gulp and continue. “The worse dreams come from the three bad chairs… A dream most of us have is of hundreds and hundreds, probably many thousands of bodies lying out in a rocky field with deep cracks in the rocks. Many are massive, winged lizards and dragonlings. You start off looting some of the dead. You somehow know you need food and water, but grab weapons, coins, jewelry, whatever you can take. It’s real nasty.

“So many died, there is blood running in the cracks. The smell is so bad, I can’t describe. Insects are thick and bite you all over. You smack at the bugs, but then, as a hand of a dying Dwarf hands up a pack with a crest, like on the chair two down from you…” He pointed. His lip quivered but he continued. “You grab the pack. It’s heavy and has weapons hanging off… blood-coated dead walkers start to pull themselves out of the deeper and wider cracks… They are covered in blood. They start to come after you. You run. You have to. It doesn’t matter what way. The cracks are too wide and deep in many places, so you end up running toward a rocky ridge with a huge rock with three points in front of you. Because you have to run toward it, and the only way is on a wide path between two deep and wide cracks with blood-coated dead walkers pulling themselves out of them, you always end up in front of a giant lizard, as big as some of the inns in Scorpion Falls. It comes up out of one of the big cracks. It has brown scales, long massive claw marks down the left side of its neck, and a broken right wing."

The girl hugged Adga tight as she added, “Blood rolls off it… big drops splatter and get on you. You taste some!”

“Yeah,” the Halfelf shuddered. “But what’s worse is it has parts of people stuck in its teeth.”

The redhead nodded. “Yeah, arms, legs, a head... One, a big guy in chain armor… He’s still alive, stuck on a tooth comin’ out his back. He’s half down on a lower tooth… thrashin’ and screamin’. But still tryin’ to stick the big lizard’s tongue with a sword.”

A few voices came out of the room where the captives had been taken. They all spoke as one. “Fifth tooth over.”

The Halfelf gulped, “Yeah… what they said.” He shuddered. “Another lizard, just as big, maybe bigger, along with a smaller lizard, a quarter of a building-sized or so, show up. Don’t know where they come from, but they aren’t blood coated… They both have tan scales with sparkles. With them is a small group. Always the same. A Human, Halfling, Dwarf, Elf, and Drow… They’re kids about your age… They appear just as the unliving get to you. The Dwarf… it has armor on with the same crest as the pack… The Elf points toward the large rock with three peaks and opens a path by killing a pair of dead walkers leading past the blood-coated brown lizard. They fight the other dead walkers while the lizards with tan-colored scales with shiny speckles tear into the brown one. You wake as the brown one falls right behind you, but not before you get grabbed and bit by the last few dead walkers even as they get taken out by the small group. It’s like you are really there… It’s horrible. One time I’m sure I was there! I woke with bony hand marks on my arm and leg.”

The redhead took a deep breath, “Them all be real bad, but… Nothin’ like da nightmare ya get after ya sit at da one at the big table…”

“Yeah…” the Halfelf wiped at his eyes. “You are always in some kind of cave… huge and very hot. There is a massive lizard in chains bigger than… I don’t even know what… It’s over… like a fire, so hot the rocks under it are red and bubbling. It's still alive and things… creatures… nasty ones, pull hunks off it and eat as it thrashes. There are lines of chained soldiers. Behind are men, women, and children of all sorts of races… they are in chains too… once in a while one of the creatures grabs one and sticks him or her over the bubbling rocks, pulls them back, and starts to chew on the burned still-living body…

“You’re in the front line. The chain around your wrists are very tight… If you close your eyes you get hit with a whip with bits of bone in it, so you have to watch… But it isn’t the big lizard being eaten where you find yourself looking. Instead, you see a dark-skinned Elf with white hair who is dragged in. The chained lizard thrashes madly, the dark-skinned Elf, sure he is a Drow, screams and headbutts one of those holding its chains, but is quickly knocked to the ground and kicked till it is bloody. The Drow is horribly tortured. Branded, burned, fingers broken, teeth pulled… You can’t understand the language, but the three doing it keep pointing to a large pack. You are grabbed by one of the creatures feeding on the lizard, but then there is suddenly a big fight between the three torturing the dark-skinned Elf.

“It’s like crazy. All the other creatures break into three groups and start fighting each other. The thing holding you pulls a blade from over its back and swings. It never lands.

“A Halfling appears out of nowhere… It uses a crystal armguard to block the swing. The blade shatters when it hits the crystal. The Halfling pulls a dagger with its other hand. I bet it stabs the clawed and horned thing grabbing you twenty times in a matter of moments. Its guts splatter at your feet. It happens so fast the thing… it is still standing looking at what just spilled out of it before its eyes roll up and it falls.

“The Halfling then cuts the chains holding you with a green-colored weird, curved blade with a hook, like carved into the chair to the left of the bad one at the far end of the small table. It cuts right through the metal around your wrist but doesn’t even scratch the skin. The Halfling points at a spinning mass of magic. It sends a wave of bright light out. Many of the creatures scream and grab at their eyes. A second dark glob of magic forms between you and most of the fighting creatures. Black tendrils shoot out of the second mass and pull many creatures into it. But the light pushes you toward the cave opening while the Drow is pushed into the bright light by the Halfling who also tosses the pack and several other things, likes some weapons, in as well. Moments later another burst of light flings you out of the cave and into a desert even as shadowy strands yank at creatures trying to stop you from running… the cave mouth collapses. Dust and sand blast into you as a huge section of the cliff falls over where the mouth of the cave had been.

“Dead walkers come out of the sand. You run… your feet burn on the hot sand. All around you, others, soldiers, men, women, kids, who were chained up with and behind you run as well… You wake up as you and many others jump into a raging river. Once the dream ended with me jumping into the river as a dead walker grabbed me and bit my arm. I woke with a bloody mark right where it bit me.”

“Those only happen if you sit at the chair at the big table with the sandglass in front of it.” The Q-ling interjected from the other room. “The longer you are forced to sit on it the longer the dream and the closer you are to the Drow and the heat from the bubbling rocks.”

The girl in Adga’s arms grabbed her tightly. “No one wanna grab da Red marble!”

“Red marble?” Thul-mora asked.

“Yeah,” the redhead responded. “When ya gets inta trouble er dem gets mad at ya, ya gots ta pull a marble out a the bag in the pot by them other sand-things. Dem makes ya go down ta loincloth… Ya sit at the chair with the same color sand in the glass thingy. Whatever adult be mad at ya, hold ya down while ya flip the sand thing. Ya stays in it till no more sand be in the top… Getting’ red, black er yellow be bad…”

“All of them are bad,” the Halfelf stated with trepidation. “Those are the worst… in that order. Red is the chair at the big table…” He shuddered. “The longer you get held in any chair, the worse the shocks get… But the one at the big table doesn’t start off as bad as the black or yellow but gets worse faster. And the dreams…” he took a deep breath. “One time I didn’t do what Wyger wanted, so he grabbed the real big sandglass. I peed myself… It was like the chair got angry. It shocked even harder. So hard Wyger had to let me go cause it shocked him too… The dreams were the worst ever!... That’s the one where I got bit.” The boy’s voice lowered as did his head, “And I never told him no again no matter what he wanted…”

The Halfelf wiped at some tears spilling down his cheeks. “We’ll do whatever. Just… please don’t make us sit in one of those chairs!” He looked at the chair at the big table with the sandglass in front of it, “And if you do… I beg you… not with chains on…”

Adga moved over to the two boys, “Relax. I’m not going to do anything of the sort!” She handed him the Halfelf the girl in her arms. “Get her a place to sit, use chamber pots, and get some food and water.”

As the boy took the younger girl, by letting her wrap her arms around his neck, Tez glanced at Nuk with a smirk, “Challenge! Both of us pull a marble, the winner gets to decide who gets what one we each take! Gatewall or city?”

Nuk hung his head. “Oh, come on! NO!”

“I lost the last challenge, so it’s still my turn.” Tez hardened. “Gatewall or city?”

“Oh, crap… Three coins. Gatewall!”

Adga glanced back and forth between the two nobles as each pulled out three copper coins. “What in the name of the gods are you two doing?”

“Challenge,” Nuk smirked. “Whenever we find something we know we are not supposed to, or should not do, the loser of the last one can declare a challenge. We then go gatewall or city. While not as nice or fancy as some of the old coins that are sometimes found, all coins minted in the Combined Desert Realms have a picture of the gatewall on one side and a main gate of the Spires on the other. It serves two purposes. First, a combined realms minted coin has a guaranteed weight and purity. Second, it lets us check and add tax to blank coins or those from outside our realm. If you get to come into the Northern Spires or in any merchant or higher caste area you can only buy with our minted coins.” He held up the coin, “So gatewall or,” he turned the coin around, “city?”

“I know about using only minted coins,” Adga announced. “It’s one of the reasons we couldn’t use the gold we all have to buy Ven… Trying to exchange gold would have gotten us way too much notice, cause gold can only be exchanged at the central keep!”

Tez grinned, “Sure would have! Glad you didn’t have to waste them. But anyway, whoever gets the most of the called-out coin side wins. After we got paid, we separated most of the coins in the pay pouches. My coins have the Northern Spires gate, Nuk’s has the Southern, except he has two Northern, but he cannot use those…”

Nuk held up three coins showing all of them had the Southern Spires main gate on them. “This way we can tell which coins belong to us. The winner gets to decide which one of us does the deed. So this time Tez is making sure I have to sit on a shocking chair even if I win, but the winner gets to decide who gets which marble.”

“What?” Taglon asked in horror at what he was hearing. “Young lords, did you not hear? It could be to your serious harm! You cannot sit on those chairs!”

“Watch us!” Nuk fired back with a grim determination in his voice, “You’re going down, again, Tez!”

“We’ll see...” Tez shrugged. “We are both going to get it, but this way, even if I lose you will not get off just laughing at me! Besides, I want to have one of those dreams. Maybe I can see something the person who enchanted the chair wanted to be found. So even if I lose, I win!” He turned to Adga. “Hey Patrol Leader, do you mind grabbing two marbles out of the bag? Don’t show them to us until after we see who wins.”

As Adga slapped her forehead with her free hand, Rin moved up to the pot with the pouch of marbles. “Me! Me! Let me! I wanna watch ya no’bul type get zapped!”

Vendra, who still couldn’t pull her eyes off the crest of one of Odin’s lineage, snickered, “Ad, this is not an Odin lineage crest I know, but it’s definitely from the line of Odin… Down the direct lineage from Greysac, and definitely someone of high title. It should have been in the tomes and scrolls of Odin the shrine of Zeris has, but it isn’t… But I’m with Rin on letting them try out the chairs. After all, you did tell us Lord Shunral said they’d fit in with us pretty well. Sounds like he was right to me! Besides, it will let us see and study the chairs as it happens. There may be a clue we can’t see until it starts, much like how my pendant of Zeris did nothing until I channeled my first Zeris spirit and became one with the order of Zeris.”

Adga rolled her eyes, “Yup, they definitely fit in with us… And you got a point Ven. Go ahead and grab two, Rin. We might as well all see… and probably even enjoy… this.”

Tez and Nuk shook their heads at the banter. However, the moment Rin said he had two marbles, they shook the coins in cupped together hands and tossed the coins on the smaller table. Five of the coins clattered around and quickly ended up on city. The last coin of Nuk’s hit on its edge and rolled all the way to the far side of the table did half a dozen circles, bumped into a sandglass, and finally fell with the gatewall up. He pumped a fist as he moved up to verify. “Three times in a row! Yes!”

As Tez groaned, Nuk glanced over to Rin, “What colors did you grab?”

Rin shrugged and held out his clawed hand. “Gots a green and white.”

Nuk turned to Tez, “You get the Gr….” He stopped and looked at the chair the coin had come to rest in front of. “Hey look here!” He rubbed his finger into an indentation in the stone chair. “It’s the same as your necklace!”

He glanced at the tiny sandglass. It had black sand.

Nuk turned to the slaves. “And this is a bad shocking chair?”

The redhead nodded, “Yeah, be one a the real bad ones. Ya don’t wanna…”

“No,” Nuk grinned, “I’m sure Tez doesn’t!”

Tez shook his head, “You don’t get to change the chair!”

Nuk snatched up his three coins, “Gatewall or city?”

“And if you lose?” Tez smirked.

“Then… I have to sit in whatever chair you want me to, but you have to take this one!”

“Done! I want one of those big lizard dreams anyway. I bet it was a dragon and this way I get to see one!” Tez stated. “City, but you are upping the bet, so I call for best of five!”

Everyone watching could see Nuk cringe at this, but he quickly produced two more coins. There was clearly more going on than the challenge as set forth.

The coins hit the table again. All five of Nuk’s landed on ‘gatewall’, while all of Tez’s landed on ‘city’. Tez let out a loud, “OH Yeah! Got you! Got you!” He pumped his fist and jumped up and down in excitement. Nuk hung his head and groaned.

“Young lords, what are we missing?” Taglon demanded to know.

Nuk let out a long breath. “I just lost in a clean sweep… Damn!”

“A what?” Adga asked in confusion.

Tez’s grin was huge. “When one of us ups a bet, the other can call for a best of five. It used to be the winner got to up the ante by adding in another stipulation. Sir Lenti saw us do this when we were up in Black Rapids. He recommended we make a special wager if there is a sweep on a best of five.” He pointed to the table. “I just swept. He has no ‘city’ I have five!”

Thul-mora moved to the table and looked at the coins. “That sure can’t happen very often…”

“Only happened twice before…” Nuk stated with a note of trepidation. “To me, of course…”

“And what is this special wager?” Rebklos asked while eyeing both Nuk and Tez with a bewildered look.

“It means not only do I get to add in the special circumstance, but I automatically get a win the next time I call for a challenge!”

“But he can only hold it over me for half a moon cycle,” Nuk added. “It was something Sir Lenti made us add in when he helped us finalize what a clean sweep victory means… But as often as we do these, I doubt it will be more than a few days before he finds something I will be forced to do…”

“Count on it!” Tez stated with pure satisfaction in his voice. “As for this one…” Tez eyed the table with the larger sandglasses. He smirked as he glanced them over.

“Aw, crap… Come on Tez you aren’t going to make me use the biggest one, are you?”

“No fun in making it so simple. But you are taking the red sand chair and a bigger sandglass…” He eyed the sandglasses again. “We’ll go by order of size. Pull ten coins. Toss them. However many land on gatewall is how big a sandglass you have to use while you sit on the chair!”

Nuk eyed the sandglasses for several seconds before reluctantly cupping ten coins in his hands. “On good odds, I am going to have to sit in my chair at least twice as long as you do…”

The Halfelf spoke up, “No way you can sit in those chairs. Someone will have to hold you… in one of the others with the small sandglass, maybe, but not the red, black, or yellow. No one can.”

Rin spoke up, “Me’ll be happy ta hold one a dem!”

Nuk shot a frown over at Rin, “If you expect me to say thanks, you are very wrong!”

“No need!” Rin stated with a wide smile. “But me’ll tuck ya inta bed after. Ya can thank me fer dat!”

Vyrax snickered. “If needed, I’ll offer to hold the other… But what if we need them, Ad? We were just told we won’t be able to wake them up… Truce or not, we are in a hideout of thieves. And I don’t know how long we’ve been down here, but it feels like a long time. The truce was only until force replenishment at the first light of Zeris.”

Adga couldn’t help but smirk, “Everything I’ve read and heard, a Dead Storm lasts for at least two, but normally three or even four days. While the truce will end before then, I can’t see them forcing the issue. Neither side wants to fight while it is going on above. I doubt it has even been one full day yet, so they can take over watch when they wake up... Sounds like they’ll want something to do after the dreams they’re about to have!”

“Patrol Leader,” Taglon grumbled, “are you really OK with this?”

“I’m not the one sitting in the chair, so sure. But to make you happy, I’ll sleep next to them in case I need to jump up and hold them or whatever. This way I’ll also be on watch with them in case something goes wrong after they wake up.”

Taglon hung his head and walked back into the room with the captives. “It’s your patrol… I will get beds ready for you and the two Spires nobles… Kids… makes me glad I don’t have any!”

Nuk moved up to the side table and looked at the sandglasses again before tossing down the ten coins. Well before the last coins settled, it was clear there were more ‘gatewall’ sides up than ‘city’. He turned away with a wince before the last three settled on the table.

Rebklos pulled up one of the stools so he could more easily look at what was on the tall table. “Oh, ouch!”

Nuk closed his eyes and shook his head. He didn’t even turn to look. “How bad?”

“Eight are on ‘gatewall’!”

At this Tez even cringed, “You want a redo, Nuk?”

Nuk took a couple of deep breaths. “No. If I take a redo, you will be able to ask for one in the future. As Sir Lenti has made clear to us at least a score of times, a bet is a bet, and a deal is a deal. I upped the challenge, you won and set a reasonable raise in ante. You also gave me a fair chance by not just picking the biggest sandglass. Seriff decided, and I will not go against her. I must deal with what my coins gave me!”

Adga moved over to the table and arranged the sandglasses by size. She raised an eyebrow. “Almost like the lady of luck and mystery had this one in mind.” She held it up. “It’s the only other one with red sand.”

“Guess it’s what Seriff decided I deserve. I was the one who changed the bet at the last moment…” Nuk took in a long breath and looked upward, “Now you get to help me make it through this oh lady of luck and mystery!”

Nuk moved up to the chair and poked at it a couple of times. "Doesn’t shock when you touch it…”

“Only when you sit on it.” The Halfelf stated from the doorway. “Look, I know I’m probably not allowed to try to talk you out of this, but… You’ve never done this. Starting out with such a big timer on the worst chair is a REALLY bad idea.”

“I am sure you are right. As for not trying to say anything, your owner made it clear you are expected to speak up. Therefore, it is your duty to your owner to do so.” Nuk glanced over to Tez, “Do I go first, you, or together?”

Tez didn’t hesitate, “As always we do this together!”

Even knowing what he was facing, Nuk grinned and nodded. The two then spoke as one. “Brothers not by birth but soon by blood!”

Nuk slid over and got ready to sit, “Patrol Leader, you’re probably the only one down here, other than Guardsman Taglon, who is able to hold me down for the duration. And I don’t think Taglon is willing."

“I most certainly am not!” the man barked as he moved out into the dining room.

Nuk shot Adga a smirk, “If you would please?”

“Commander,” Tur spoke up. “Allow me. We cannot afford you to be shocked and made sleepy.”

“He has a good point.” Nuk stated. “He is certainly strong enough… Let the slave hold me.”

Tez pointed to Rin, “You wanted to hold one of us. You get me.”

Rin nodded eagerly, “Be happy ta!”

Tez snorted, “Your delight in this makes me wonder about you Rin! Just remember you promised to tuck us in bed after.”

“Uh-huh! But hear dem tell it, ya gotta be in loincloth.”

The redhead spoke up, “If’n ya got metal armor, even studs on it’ll burn ya. Be bestest if ya be only in loincloth.”

The nobles quickly helped remove each other’s armor, then moved back to the chairs. Adga eyed them both as Rin and Tur moved up behind to hold them down. “Last chance to back out, guys.”

Nuk and Tez glanced at each other, shook their heads, and sat on the chairs. Arcs of shifting energy blasted out of the crests on the chairs. The magical energy twisted and turned then, just as both, already twitching and gritting their teeth managed to flip over the sandglasses and slammed down into them. Both nobles let out anguished cries. With each passing trickle of sand, the energy erupts out of the crests built. The nobles quickly started jerking uncontrollably.

Rin looked over at Adga, “Me no feel it… but he hurt! Me let go?”

“NO!” Tez managed to get out through a tightly clenched jaw. Even though tears started to roll down his cheeks.

Adga shook her head as she studied the crest and the twisting waves of energy. “He wanted to do this, so we let him.” She glanced over, “Nuk?”

“A… bet… is… a… bet… Do… not… let… me… up!” This was followed by, “Owwww! Owwwww!”

The moment the sand had drained from the top of the glass in front of Tez, Rin yanked him off. Tez fell into him. However, part of Tez was held back because during the time in the chair, his necklace with the flying lizard amulet had spun around and had stuck into the indentation on the chair he had sat on. It was a perfect match. Because of this Tez continued to twitch and jerk as if he were still in the chair. Rin also hissed as the shocks built, and rolled through Tez and into him.

Vyrax grabbed at the necklace but was blasted back by a very strong and loud crackle of golden energy.

While almost everyone was focused on Tez and Nuk. Vendra grabbed Vyrax and looked at his hand. Meanwhile, Tur gritted his teeth as he pushed down on Nuk’s shoulders and cringed. His voice betrayed some pain, “Commander, I too am now getting shocked… But… Look… Look at the small table!”

Adga turned her attention to the smaller table. She blinked. The center was no longer smooth. Instead, it rippled. Rocky formations seemed to take shape but shifted some.

Vyrax stood with Vendra’s help. He staggered to the table, gasped, and pointed, “Ad! That looks like the path inside the Crags around Burning Lion’s Point!”

Adga studied it for a few seconds, “It is! By the gods, it’s a map of the Crags! There is the north-northwest run where we found the hide walker with your katana!”

Rin, still holding onto Tez, pointed and extended a claw, “Der be da double X… trail… by da only place we ever find water in der! It hurt Ad… it hurt bad! But think it makes da map!”

“But it’s shifting too much for me to make out much more!” Vendra shouted in frustration.

“I… I… think… it… it… is… me…” Nuk managed to get out. “Hold… me… down harder!”

Adga looked at the sandglass in front of Nuk. It wasn’t even half empty. A grim determined, yet questioning look from Tur, asked what he should do. “Do it, but if he starts screaming or begs to be let up, pull him off!”

“I… I… want… a… gold… for… this!” Nuk gasped out as Tur grabbed both his arms and pulled him tighter to the chair.

“Me… too… what… Nuk… said… gold…” Tez stammered out.

At the same time, Tur’s hair went out from his head and a few sparks danced across his teeth. Still, he forced himself to speak. “I… I… would prefer to get hit… hit with a sword across the face over this… a sword feelssss better!”

Adga cringed at what was happening, but Tur’s efforts quickly paid off. The tabletop, seemingly made of sand, formed a much clearer map. Vendra let out a gasp, “Adga, there is the gatewall and both spires… but look!" She pointed to the opposite end of the Crags map. It was extremely clear.

On the far side of the Crags there was another, even bigger gatewall. Beyond was a few bits of buildings and a pair of towers poking out of deep sand. A rock road led toward a shattered wall with some buildings further out, but that is where the map ended. They could even see the waves of sand from the Dead Storm washing over the Crags. Even more astonishing, they could see undead being blown from the desert beyond, over the gatewall and into the Crags. As the sand fell into the Crags it was sucked out, along all the twisting, turning maze-like structures toward the far side gatewall. The two towers of the far side sent streams of sand out from them away from the Crags. It was like it was fighting the Dead Storm, pushing against it. The more sand that came in, the more it pushed it back. A couple of times powerful bursts of sand shot out of the towers. The bursts of sand destroyed red tendrils as they spiraled out of the storm. A few other intense small blasts of sand shot out in spurts hitting shadowy undead as they were blown over the top.

Adga pointed, “If this is real… and I bet it is, this explains why the Crags don’t fill up with sand after Dead Storms. Those towers suck it all back out and blow it back into the desert beyond!”

"And fights the Dead Storm as it does so!” Vyrax stated in total awe while clutching his shocked hand into his stomach.

Moments later the table became flat and rock hard again as Tur yanked Nuk off the chair. At the same time the necklace fell loose from the chair Tez had sat on. Which allowed Rin to pull him further away from it.

Tur fell on his back with Nuk on top of him. “The sand ran out Commander… Thank the gods… Thank the gods…”

“What him tell!” Rin let out with a long sigh as Tez fell and drooled on him. “Dat be badder den me ever feel!” He managed a smirk as he patted Tez’s head, “Um, ‘cept maybe me tail on way down here… Dat, me think, hurt badder…”

Before more could be said, the Q-ling's voice came from the other room, “Um, one of you who is, um, like not chained up… can you come in here please?!”