Beyond the Crags - 11. Chapter 11

Taglon turned and looked into the room. A, “By the gods! Fire!” erupted from him as he bolted in.

Adga and Vendra followed. Adga glanced down in confusion as she saw Taglon smacking at a large pack, but didn’t have time to dwell on it since there were three others, all with smoldering spots lying in the middle of the room while a fifth was on one of the beds. The bed was already starting to smoke, but the two chained together slaves were frantically slapping at it.

Tur entered the room, blinked, and grabbed one of the large waterskins. He shoved the two boys out of the way and dumped it on the pack and bed. “You two!” he barked at the Halfelf and redhead, “Get the other skins and put out all the hot spots!”

As this happened, Adga grabbed a nearby waterskin and dumped it on the pack in front of her. Once she was certain it was out and the other packs were being watered down, she looked around the room frantically, “What? How?”

The Q-ling answered, “While you were all talking about a map, a glowing door opened, exactly like the one in the dream with the Hawkling! Those packs came out. Um, I heard what I thought were voices, but… it… the door vanished as quickly as it appeared.”

The Halfelf pointed to a spot on the wall behind a small wooden chest. “It was right there! I saw it for an instant! It went away when the kid was pulled off the chair! I think I saw a face!”

“Impossible, slave!” Taglon shook his head, “Magical gates and other such spells do not work in the Combined Desert Realm!”

“This one sure did!” an older girl stated. “Those burning packs came out of it!”

Another boy pointed to the same spot, “And Gefin’s right! There was faces! It was a boy in a grey robe… and someone right behind was runnin’ this way!

As Taglon turned and glared, Vendra stated the obvious, “These packs had to come from somewhere, guardsman!”

The redhead picked up one of the packs, but only got it up to his knees before he dropped it. It hit the ground with a heavy-sounding thud. He shook his hand and pulled out a small sharp shard of obsidian. “Ouch!” The boy flipped the small stone up in the air and caught it several times. “It’s hot!”

As the small black stone cooled, he kicked at the pack, “It gots lots in it, but more a them sharp rock bits… and look!” He pointed to the top flap of the pack. “It’s one a them mark on them guards out a the Hawklin’ dream!” He pointed at a crest of a full moon being held up by a hand with two crossed khopesh swords behind it. “When me had it, them guards made a wall ta stop the dead walkers from getting’ ta the others. A few tossed in packs… Me’s tellin’ ya, it had them pictures on ‘em!”

“Uh, huh!” Yet another captive, a teen close to the age of ascension, managed to speak with a raspy voice since Tur had hit him in the throat during his capture. “The door… It had same marks as on the chairs!” he pointed toward the dining room. “Two around the door glowed brighter than the others and some didn’t have much glow to ‘em at all! But it was there… right there!” He pointed to the same spot as several others. “It was a door with people coming toward it!”

Vyrax went to the pack on the bed and pulled at a buckle. Because of how burned it was, the top tore off instead. A few small shards of obsidian fell out of some of the burn marks.

He dumped the contents on the bed. It was as full as it looked. The contents included: Two blankets, a wood box with writing items, a small book with writing on the front and over fifty blank pages, a small knife, a sharpening stone, a dagger with glyphs on the hilt, a bronze chain-lined pouch with around two dozen swoops in it, a woodcarver's tool set, two sets of clothing, one rugged looking, the other nice but not like any of them had seen before, a scroll case, a pair of potions in a protected satchel with spots for six others, a satchel with dried meats. Another with dried fruits, a pouch of salt, a pouch with a sling with several silver-coated bronze bullets, a small sack with three compartments, each with a flat bottomed ten sided diamond shaped stone with two runes on them, and a Dwarven Steel chain mesh pouch, with many coins and a few gems.

Vyrax pulled out the three diamond shaped stones and pumped his fist repeatedly, “Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! Thank you Zeris! Oh yeah!”

Adga moved up to the bed and pulled up a couple of items while looking at Vyrax and the three stones, “I gather those are something special?”

“Something special? Are you kidding? No! They’re one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen! My dad has a set of these!”

“What are they?”

“Cooking stones!” Vyrax shouted. “Cooking stones!” As Adga, along with several others shot him blank looks, he tossed up his arms, grabbed the stones, and moved to the center of the room. He took a knee and pointed to the ruins. “Line them up so they match and push them together!” As soon as he did so, the tops of all three stones got red hot.

Vyrax pushed his fingers up against the side of the rocks. “See! No heat! It is only hot on top! You can use these to cook on a wood table if you want to! Even better, you can pull them apart to adjust the intensity of the heat. Once you totally pull one away from the others, they cool very quickly. They are awesome for mixing mystical ingredients that need to be heated, but they can boil water, cook, whatever! The only downside is they don’t work on a new or full moon, but Dad has never had to find a way to recharge them and has had them since I was like human equivalent of five.

“Dad says they used to be very common, but the knowledge of making them has been lost somehow! I can’t believe we have a set!”

Vendra eyed one of the other packs. After a few seconds of debate, she dumped the contents on the floor. Like the first, the shell was irreparably damaged by burns and had small shards of obsidian stuck into several of the burn spots. However, what was inside was undamaged.

Once again, the pile was quite large: A trio of blankets, satchel with three potions and slots for five others, two sets of outfits that had to be costumes for a theater since one was thin but looked like leather armor with fancy strips of leather hanging off the shoulders, had a belt with six knives in shiny sheaths, but the blades weren’t even sharp, a decorative hat with a trio of feathers in the top and green boots that had the same decorative frills as on the fake armor. The other was of fake dark-colored leather, blackened unsharpened gladius, a blackened dagger, black boots, and a black cape. It also had a kit with paints and a silver highly polished hand mirror. In addition, the pack held a box of 10 candles, a large ration sack with preserved rations of nuts, dried fruits, and hunks of meat all mixed, an empty waterskin, hand axe, Dwarven Steel mesh pouch full of coins, and a few gems, a set of rugged yet odd-looking clothing, a silver flute, a scroll case, writing kit, heavy cloak, and another set of cooking stones.

Vyrax blinked as Vendra held up the cooking stones. “No way! Dad paid a merchant several thousand silver worth of potions for his…”

Taglon emptied a third pack. While it was full and had lots of similar personal items as the other packs, it too had cooking stones. He held up the satchel and one of the stones. “While I have never heard of them, maybe they are not as uncommon as you may have thought…”

The man’s words were brought to a stop as Thul-mora spoke up, “Royal Guardsman, like Vyrax, my grandfather is a Mystic. He has been looking for a set of those since well before I was born. I have heard him talk to just about every merchant who comes through Scorpion Falls inquiring about them.”

Everyone paused and watched Vyrax dash up the sloping passage with the key to the well room. They heard the door slam, then he quickly returned with a trio of large twintails stuck on the tip of his Katana. He pulled out a cooking pan, poured some water in it, and sliced off the six poison tails. He scraped the still thrashing twintails into the water off his katana with a dagger then squeezed one of the poison glands into the water. He glanced up with a wide grin. “We won’t be eating nothing raw!”

Thul-mora raised an eyebrow as she moved up to the already boiling water. She licked her lips. “Boiled twintail… Looks like we eat gourmet in the middle of a Dead Storm!”

As a few of the others looked on with skepticism, Thul-mora lowered her head to look at the stones. “I would have never known what they were… When this is over, and no, this is not meant to be a bribe to better my lot during my rite… But I am certain I could get you an audience with Grandfather, who would certainly pay a god’s ransom and may even hand over some trade secrets for a set of those!”

Vyrax pulled out the twintail with a pair of small tongs once the shell was a deep blue. He grinned as he placed it on the tray of his mess kit and cracked the shell with the tongs. Flaky white chucks fell around the cooked critter. Vyrax took a deep sniff and smiled. After taking a few bites he held up the dish. “Anyone want to try some?”

Thul-mora, Rebklos, and Taglon quickly moved up.

Vyrax passed it around so all the captives could try some if they wanted. Most reluctantly did. Several licked their lips.

Vyrax grinned, “If more keep coming into the well room, I can cook them. But any who go hunting, you have to stab them in the center and bring them back still alive.”

Tez, with Rin’s assistance, finally staggered into the room. His ebony skin was not too dark to hide a redness to his face. He dropped down to a knee and rubbed at some burn spots around his neck from where the chain from his amulet had heated up. “That was not one of my better ideas for a challenge…” he turned and puked.

However, even as he took an offered waterskin from Vyrax, he looked at the remnants of one of the packs. “Nuk… Get Nuk in here!”

Nuk, supported by Tur, spoke from over at the door. He was very pale. “Here… wish I wasn’t…” He too blew chunks, staggered forward, and dropped to his knees next to Tez. “The chair… it was sorcerer magic… Just like we thought… but… not like normal… It took some of my force… that’s how I knew whatever you were seeing on the table was linked to it… to me… I never had a shot to stop it. It’s too powerful… It ripped the force out of me to help make it… I HATE you right now… but what?”

Tez put a hand up to his forehead, but managed a humor-filled short, “Think I said the same thing when you had me climb the tower and I got stuck waiting on top of it for several sandglasses… So stop complaining and look…” He pointed to the crest with a burn mark right next to it.

Nuk gagged and almost puked again, but leaned forward. He seemed to perk up a little as he rubbed it then pulled up his left hand. His right spun the bracelet. “Patrol leader, look at this…”

Adga maneuvered around the two puddles of vomit and knelt next to the two nobles. She stared at the crest on the bracelet and pack. They were identical. She frowned, but the smell was getting to her. “Reb, Thul, get this puke cleaned up, it stinks…”

Rebklos let out a huff. “NO! You have slaves for…”

A snarl crossed her lips. Before more could be said, she grabbed one of the still-full packs and flung it across the room. It hit Rebklos dead center. The force of the impact flipped him over the bed behind him. He hit the ground on the far side with a howl of pain.

Adga stood and cracked her knuckles, “Knock off the bawling, get up and get over here now!”

“Ad…” Vendra started.

“Shut up, Ven!” Adga barked. “No patrol member tells a patrol leader no!”

At this Taglon pulled Vendra back, “Insubordination cannot be tolerated in a military command. This is now between your patrol leader and a patrol member. At times like this, Adga cannot be seen as your friend, and you cannot take a role of peacemaker. She needs to be seen as your patrol leader and you need to back her fully.”

Adga shot Taglon a nod as she moved up to the bed. Before Rebklos could stand, she reached over the bed and yanked Rebklos over it by the front collar of his armor. She held him up with one hand and shook him like a ragdoll, “Do you have any clue what my patrol leader would have done to me if I had told him no? I saw him beat men and women bigger than he was down into a bloody puddle for less! Now get this through your pampered ass right now. You are in a military patrol, not as a noble, not even as a guardsman, but as a trainee!”

She shook him even harder, then without warning took her other hand and slapped him across the mouth hard enough to get an echo from the underground passages. She dropped him on the bed. “Next time I’ll beat your bare ass in front of everyone, just like I saw done to a few other trainees, a couple older than you, while out on patrol. I’ll also remove your callous on the back of your ear! Now cry to your heart’s content, but clean up the puke while you do it!”

She reached over the wailing Dwarf, grabbed the pack she had knocked him down with, and took a couple of deep breaths. She looked down. The boy’s lower lip was spit and bleeding. She felt a twinge of guilt. To hide this, she spun away from the young noble and glared at Thul-mora. “You can treat his bloody lip after all of this is cleaned up. Not before. You may help but don’t have to. If either of you try to quit your rite before the Dead Storm is over, I will… I will… I’m not even sure, but I assure you this: you really don’t want to know!

“No one quits this patrol until we are back on top. You can then go cry to Count Kandahar or your mommies! But remember, if you do quit, you forfeit all your gear and get offered a slot as a guard trainee with no noble rights. I don’t know what your caste will be, nor do I give a rat’s turd! But for the next moon or so it won’t matter. If you don’t stick with us, you will shovel with every able person in Scorpion Fall. Therefore, I would recommend not giving up on yourself, your patrol members, me, or your stupid rite!”

Adga took another deep breath and glanced over only to find Nuk and Tez had crawled over and were in front of two of the other packs. Both shook their heads as they glanced over at Rebklos. Clearly, neither felt much, if any, sorrow for him.

However, as Rebklos put his hand up to his mouth and cried, Nuk sighed. “Rebklos, accept the punishment. To do anything less will mean you fail your rite. Remember, we will be checked by a Mindmaster. Therefore, to do anything less than what is demanded at this point will be seen and surely be deemed as a failure.” Nuk shook his head again as Rebklos started to say something. “Not a word… At least not if you want to keep the Kandahar name!” Nuk rubbed at the burn mark under the bracelet, then turned his attention back to the packs.

Adga moved up to Rebklos again. She towered over him. “No lip. Get it cleaned up and I’ll forget this. Otherwise, the next couple of days down here will be the worst of your life!” She spun back to focus on Nuk and Tez. She raised an eyebrow as she noticed they were more focused on the outer shells of the packs than what had been dumped out of them. She moved closer.

Tez had his necklace up to one. Nuk put his bracelet over another. Both were talking to the Q-ling and the slaves. The three captives pointed at the jewelry and back into the dining room. While still trying to fight off her anger at Rebklos, she watched as the two Spires nobles pulled three coins.

Adga moved over, still fuming, but curiosity began to take over, “What are you two doing?”

“Challenge!” Tez managed to get out even as he rubbed his neck.

“Are you two insane!” Taglon shouted. “This last one damn near killed you!”

Nuk ran his hand down his face and yawned, “Just took some of my daily Force… and made us real tired…”

“And a little sick… and burned us around our enchanted jewelry…” Tez added with a juicy-sounding burp.

Adga slapped the sides of her head with both hands. “What challenge are you planning now?”

Tur, who had sat on one of the beds, shook his head, “I highly doubt you want to know, commander.”

“Well, I do!” Taglon snarled.

“Pretty sure you don’t,” Vyrax stated with a smirk. “But guarantee Rin and Tur don’t.”

“Without question, definitely not,” Tur responded with a sigh, “But I am a slave, and will do my duty again if needed.”

“Again?” Adga gasped, “As in hold them down in the chairs again?”

“Yup,” Rin nodded and even hissed out a snicker. “Me do it. Only hurt while me hold on. Me not know till now… Many think, includin’ me, dark color be from me bein’ part black, but now me bet me dark red from bein’ part Blue Dragonlin’. Shock not hurt me bad like me believe after pullin’ Tez back. Only while me hold on and little time after. Me do one more time. No fun, not at all. But worth if me get ta watch no’bul type get zap again!

Adga moved up to the packs and looked at what Nuk and Tez were looking at. Of the three empty packs, one had a duplicate crest of Nuk’s bracelet. The other two had nicer crests of Tez’s necklace. She drummed her fingers over her forehead for a few seconds. “If you are going to sit in the chairs again, why challenge?”

Tez looked up while rubbing his neck, “Because, Patrol Leader, we are going to sit at the chairs with the crests on this jewelry, not the nasty one at the big table…” He cringed as he burped. “Oh, yuck… Um, anyway…” he took a deep breath, “the winner gets to sit in the chair we were told was not as bad.”

Adga covered her face with her hands. “Why not just use your automatic win you told us about?”

Tez shook his head, “No, 'cause we aren’t sure what is going to happen… So you may want us to sit on other chairs after we do this… If you do, I may want… or even need… to pick what chair.”

Taglon clenched both fists. “This is not a good idea, patrol leader.”

Adga let out a long breath, “Agreed.” As both Nuk and Tez looked up and started to protest, she made a slashing motion cutting them off before they could start. “No. You two get some sleep. Have the dreams. Then, after you pull watch with me and before your next rest you can…” She stopped and smirked. “You get to go back to the same chairs and do exactly what you just did.”

Both boys looked up with wide eyes as Nuk gasped out, “The same chairs again?”

“Yes.”

“But…” Tez stated with quivering lips.

Adga tapped her patrol leader pin, “I’m the boss and you are on your rite. I want Ven, Vyrax, and if one or more of these kids in here can draw, someone else to all do their damnedest to draw as much of the Crags map as possible! I also want to see if this doorway no one but the prisoners saw opens. And if it does, see if someone was really about to come out. Then you can sleep again… and if the Dead Storm is still raging, after you pull another watch with me, I’ll let you try the other chairs if you want.” She then handed both boys a gold coin. “You’ll get another two each if you can stay on for as long or longer.”

Taglon blinked at the gold coins, “How much gold do you have?”

Rin grinned, “Me guess more den you!”

“I have only ever held one! The one the Mystic tossed to me!”

“It’s yours,” Vyrax stated with a smirk. “I’ve got more.”

Rin pulled out a pouch and pulled out five gold coins. “Me do too! Got more in here, too!” He shook the pouch and replaced the coins with a wide smile. “Ad got way more den me!”

Taglon gasped and shook his head, “You… you could buy a small estate within Scorpion Falls for that!” He sat down on one of the beds and took a long drink of water. “All of you are high merchants!”

Adga shrugged, “Gold doesn’t do us much good when we can’t change it in without getting some noble’s loincloth in a bunch.” She glanced over to Vendra, “We tried a dozen times to get caravan masters to trade for some to buy your freedom, but even showing them two or three gold caused a great deal of suspicion, so we stopped trying. Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for!” Vendra stated with teary eyes. “The fact you were trying… There is no better friends than the three of you!”

Taglon let out a long breath. “Devoted to your friend to such an extent is a fine trait to be sure… However, Patrol Leader, while the Young Shunral and Vylevin must do what they are told… Forcing them to sit on those chairs again could be seen as you overstepping your authority over them…”

Tez interrupted. “Only if we say something… And while I sure do not look forward to another time in the same chairs, I think she’s right. We could come out of this with something no one has ever thought possible. A map of the Crags.”

“And two more gold…” Nuk added. “Almost worth it… almost…”

“A decent map of the Crags would probably be worth a few gold to the noble houses,” Tez interjected.

“More if we can somehow get to the far gatewall you were talking about. It would prove there is something beyond the Crags.” Nuk added with a yawn followed by another burp that caused him to cringe. “But I need to get to a bed. I do not feel well at all.”

Rin moved up and helped Nuk into the nearest one. “Me’ll tuck ya in. Fer a no’bul type ya done good!”

Vendra helped Tez over to another bed. “I don’t know if I could have forced myself to stay on the chair when given a chance to get out of it, so yeah. You both did good.” She glanced over to Tur, “How are you doing?”

“Never knew anything had such power. It hurt… I am sure there is a stronger word but it will not come to me… But while I was dizzy for a bit after I pulled the noble off the chair, I feel nothing other than lingering discomfort in my arms, hands, and jaw. I am not sleepy. If you want me to, I could easily take this watch.”

Taglon took in a deep breath and fingered the gold coin in his hand, “Young gladiator, you have been up for quite some time. It also appears our patrol leader trusts you. Therefore, I would recommend you take downtime with her and the two young nobles. I will take this watch with our Channeler and Mystic. Thul-mora and Rebklos can assist the Dragonling with tending to the prisoners and can thus be available if there is a problem.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Adga stated. “Wake me if there are any problems. I did get some decent rest before Tur got us out of the bad air.”

Adga moved up to the two beds and tested them. They were sturdy with what she guessed were dried moss-filled mattresses. Someone, she guessed Taglon, had cut off the two footboard ends with an axe and used them to nail the feet together. It was a simple solution to hold her size. She cast a couple of cold bursts on the mattresses to kill any critters, let it warm, then lay down.

As before, she kept her hand on Foelay’s mace, laying on her chest as she closed her eyes. Sleep didn’t come easily. Next to her, one on each side, the young nobles tossed, turned, called out, yelped, and gasped. Her first instinct was to try to wake them, but she found, as she opened her eyes, Rin and Ven were by their sides.

The Q-ling spoke up. “We have all seen this too many times to count. Nothing you do is gonna wake them. We even tried pouring water over each other.”

“How long ‘till it end?” Rin asked.

“Until it do,” a girl responded. “A few turn of a sandglass, prob’ly longer. They was on them chairs fer a long time, so it’ll be a long while.”

“We got ‘em, Ad,” Rin stated as she looked over toward Nuk.

She dozed back off. The sounds Nuk and Tez made reminded her of the first weeks in the training barracks with scores of other youth who, like her, were there to get an introduction into being a guard trainee. Most nights included sobs and nightmares from those who were homesick, worked to the point of tears, or simply couldn’t handle the constant insults and mean-natured banter of the guardsman teaching them. Less than half her bunkmates had made it through those first two moons.

Adga woke up suddenly as Nuk sat straight up in the bed and shouted, “Get off! Get off! You are pulling me down!” As she jumped off the bed, she found Rin at Nuk’s side. Rin had Nuk’s right wrist held tightly in his hand.

Nuk’s fingernails were bloody and he had some bleeding scratches on his left leg.

“Nothin’ there!” Ya be OK, nothin’s there!”

Tur jumped up from where he had been sleeping on the floor and looked over at Adga as Nuk nailed Rin with an elbow while shouting for something to get off him. “Permission to hold him down, commander!”

“Do it!” Adga stated as she rolled out of bed and blinked her eyes.

Tur moved behind Nuk and wrapped his arms around him. He then locked his hands and held him tight.

Nuk thrashed and lashed out with his feet and the back of his head, using Sectwarrior skills.

Tur winced as the back of Nuk’s head slammed into his nose and his heel got him in the hip. “Not bad for an Eagle Sectwarrior!” Suddenly the young gladiator stood, with Nuk still in his grasp, flipped him down hard on the bed, and put him into a combo head and arm lock. “But you need more work before you can handle this Dragon Sectwarrior!”

Nuk thrashed madly, but there was simply no getting out of the hold Tur had put him in. He still delivered a couple more blows, but with each, the hold became tighter and more painful. After several seconds Nuk’s eyes seemed to clear. As this happened, he became aware of his predicament. “I tap! I tap! Let go!”

Adga moved up and held up a hand to stop Tur from letting go. “Hold up! Nuk, you back with us? You know where you are?”

It took a few seconds before Nuk managed to gasp out, “Yes. In Scorpion Falls! Under it. You are my Patrol Leader. Owww! Please let go!”

Adga took a few breaths, “Let him go, but if he turns on any of us, pop him.”

“Understood, commander,” Tur stated as he released his hold, jumped back from the bed, and went into a fighting crouch.

Nuk looked around while rubbing his neck and arm. “Oh, by the gods I am soooo glad I am seeing all of you…” he glanced over at Tur and held up both hands. “I’m good… I’m good… I assume you had permission to grab me?”

“He did.” Adga and Taglon stated in unison.

“Just wanted to make sure…” Nuk rolled his neck, blinked, and looked back at Tur as the Gladiator came out of his fighting crouch. “Quite the hold… and… I do not think I have ever said this to a slave before, but thank you… I mean it. Thank you.”

“Glad I was able to pin you until you regained your… equilibrium…” Tur wiped at some blood coming out of his nose and smiled. “However, you managed to get in a few good shots. Overall, you did well.”

“I bloodied your nose?”

“And I am certain blackened my eye. Better than any kid your age has done in almost a year.”

“I am sorry!”

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Tur stated. “You were in full fight mode. You did well.”

Nuk rubbed his hand down his face and winced. He looked at his hands. There were a few small blisters on a couple of his fingertips. He rubbed his fingers lightly, then refocused on Tur. “Part of my training was to identify other Sectwarriors. However, I never picked up on you being one…”

“My guess is you let my property status get in the way of your training, young lord… Or should I call you by some other title? I have yet to be told how I am supposed to address any of you.”

“Nuk is fine.”

“You are noble, I am a slave. It is not proper.”

“While on my rite I am not a noble, and I hope to spar with you a couple of times, so please… Nuk is fine…”

Tur smiled again. “It is rare I get to spar with another Sectwarrior! I look forward to it… Nuk…” He paused as a frown crossed his lips. “If I may ask, when you see my owner again, please let him know you requested I call you by your shortened name. I am concerned he would not understand, even if he allowed me to try to clarify.”

“Consider it done,” Nuk responded as he fell back on the bed and wiped at his eyes. “I have never seen, felt, or heard such horror… If that was real… if that was real… all those creatures in the cave need to be purged from both this realm and the after…”

Nuk glanced over to Tez as the noble tossed and turned while Vendra wiped his sweat-coated body down with a damp cloth, “He has not woken yet?”

“No,” Vendra responded. “His words tell me he is being chased by something with half its face hanging off.”

“It won’t be long, then.” The Q-ling spoke up. “That comes out of one of the big cracks right before the big lizard. “I think it is a Orc, but you can see part of its skull, teeth, and jaw. The skin hangs down. It has a spiked chain. It swings the chain and hits a girl with it… the chain wraps around her. The dead Orc pulls the girl toward her. It is about to take a bite. It’s when the others show up. They stop her from getting bit. The Drow pulls out two weird-looking blades and takes the hand holding the chain off the Orc. The Elf and Human team up to take off both legs. The Dwarf kicks it back into the blood-filled crack. The big Lizard comes out of the blood… the other two lizards swoop down… It is a nasty fight, but doesn’t last long.”

Nuk glanced over, “How many times have you been forced to sit on those chairs?”

“Lots… and lots…” others joined in, “and lots… and lots…”

The Halfelf spoke up. “Every time we do anything wrong or don’t do what we’re told… Don’t do what they want, talk back, look at them wrong, … and sometimes just because one of the bosses wants to make us…”

Adga let out an angry breath. “Sounds like I have a few more to gunch before we head up top.” She punched her left hand into her right as she turned back to Nuk. “So what can you tell us about the dream?”

“It was too real… way too real… It was like they told us. I was right up front. It was so hot I had to put up my hands to block some of the heat coming from the boiling rocks.” He held up his fingers. “I have small blisters… In the nightmare, I had big ones… I am sure the massive lizard chained over them was a dragon. It was… Adga, it had one horn in the center of its head. With two small ones on each side, but they had been hacked off… It has to be what is on the coin and chairs… The creatures, they teamed up to pull scales off it. They dug into the skin and pulled out hunks of meat and ate it… The Drow was brought in… and yes it was a Drow. Both the Dragon and the Drow fought hard when they saw each other. I am sure they knew each other. But there was no use… At least not until the Halfling showed up. I have never seen anyone or anything move so fast.”

Nuk took a deep breath, “But I’ve hung around Tez and the Master Echelon instructor Sir Lenti who got us too long or something. I have learned to spot things most would not. The Halfling set up the fight between the three groups in the cavern! It stole something off one of the leaders and stuck it into the belt pouch of one of the others. But he left a cord of what I think was a sling hanging out along with a feather of something else.

“That is what caused the fight and the three groups to separate and start fighting each other. The other thing I can tell you is the Halfling had red-scale armor on. It let it blend into the red bubbling rock. Whoever it was even managed to swim through it to start a few other fights between the three sides. By the time it cut me loose, it had all sorts of those creatures mad at each other. I bet the Halfling killed fifty, if not more of those beasts, but it did so in a way that it distracted all of them from the Drow.

“For whatever reason, the Drow was the Halfling’s rescue target. The rest of us he freed were just part of the bigger distraction. Also, and what we were told was dead on, the creature holding me… about to cut me open, was stabbed so many times so fast its guts hit the ground before its knees even buckled. It tried to scream, but part of what came out were the lungs, and yeah, I have seen lungs. My older brother is a Healthman and he showed me on a Skinwalker Lord Alagor took down so he could have something to cut into and practice on... talk about disgusting… But lungs are what lets us breathe! Since it did not have lungs left, it couldn’t even exhale to let a scream out.”

Nuk took a few deep breaths, “The run to the river was horrible. People all around me kept getting pulled down as undead came out of the sand. One jumped on me as I dove into the water, its bony hand would not let go of my leg! I woke as it started to pull me under… and I am a decent swimmer. Sir Lenti made both Tez and me learn!”

As Nuk looked himself over and continued to breathe hard, Tez woke with a howl. “Put me down! Put me down! NO! Oh by the gods, PUT ME DOWN!”

Adga pointed to Tur then over to Tez.

As Tur wrapped Tez into an expert Sectwarrior hold, the redhead winced, “Him got all the way ta the end. Only got there one time.”

“To the end? End of what?” Taglon demanded to know.

“The nightmare.” The Q-ling responded. “You almost always wake as the big lizard with people stuck in its teeth falls and the smaller of the two tan lizards looks at you. But sometimes, and I have only had it happen twice… But those two time the larger tan lizard wraps its claws around you as those fighting the nonliving jump on the smaller one, get grabbed by the bigger one’s tail, or gets grabbed by one of their other claws. I woke both times as the claw tightens around me as I try to struggle to get loose.”

“The ground was disappearing below me!” Tez managed to get out through tears and sobs… “It had to be Dragons! Real Dragons… It took me into and through clouds! I was in a cloud! I was in a cloud! They are not soft like they look. They are wet and…” He took several deep breaths. He managed to glance back over his shoulder, “And let me go!”

“Per our commander’s orders, not until you calm and can tell us you know where you are,” Tur stated firmly. “And I know you are trying to escape, and with most, you would certainly be successful, but I am a gladiator and slave with commands to hold you, so it will not do you any good. However, if you grab my groin and twist one more time, noble or not, I will knee you in yours, so stop. I don’t want to receive punishments, but it would be worth it to get you to stop. That hurts almost as bad as holding Nuk down on the chair... Almost.”

Nuk quickly rolled off the bed and grabbed both of Tez’s hands. “Calm down and let him go. Now, where are you Tez?”

“With you! With you under the streets of Scorpion Falls, now let me go already! I cannot get the feeling of the Dragon claws around me to stop with you both holding me like this!”

Adga stood and moved closer. “Let him go but stay ready.”

Both Nuk and Tur let go and rolled clear. Then came up in fighting crouches. The pair shot each other a quick grin before returning their focus to Tez.

Tez stayed on the bed, moved, rolled, and stretched in every way possible. He checked himself over with his hands, wincing a few times. As he ran his hand across his right side, he came back with a little blood.

Rin moved up and took a closer look, “Claw mark! Ad, look! Him have claw mark.”

Adga moved closer. Even with Tez’s dark skin, she could make out lines of huge claw wounds around Tez’s chest. They wrapped around the back. A couple ended with small puncture marks. “Whoa! Those look real…”

“Them be!” Rin stated as he put on some star clover and bandaged them. “Not know why it no break rib. Luck… very luck!”

Tez took in a deep breath, “No… not lucky. I think the Dragon… it had one long center horn and two smaller ones on each side… The center one is like on the coin, amulet, and chair! Um, anyway… It had to grip me tighter as I tried to squirm free. If it had not, I would have fallen… a really long way… We were above the cloud when I started to slip and it gripped tighter. I woke as it snarled something at me.”

He wiped at his face and noticed a pile of wet cloths next to the bed. “Someone has been tending to me?”

Vendra nodded. “Several turns of a sandglass. I am sure you both need water.”

Thul-mora handed them each a full waterskin. She focused on Tez. “You said you wanted the dream to see what else you could see. So did you see anything else?”

Tez took a long drink, “Yeah…” He glanced over to Nuk, “The Elf who helped fight the undead. He had a crest on. It was of Alphar House Wellaras, maker of the Frozen Flames!”

“You sure?” Nuk asked.

Tez pointed at his gear, “Someone bring me… bring me my bow from my bow case.”

Rebklos grabbed the bow out of the case. He eyed it with confusion. “It is… in two pieces and… metal… with the string… it’s a metal string and it is attached.”

“Yeah.” Tez took it and put the two pieces together while saying a soft phrase. The bow rippled with energy for a moment then became one. He pointed to an area below the notch to fire an arrow. Get some light…”

Tur handed him his glow coin.

Tez held the coin up to the spot he pointed and moved the bow back and forth. The metal shimmered and sparkled even under the weird purple glow from the coin. However, everyone watching could see a crest of a gold-trimmed kite shield with a pair of golden arrows crossed over a black anvil with a red fire behind it. The moment he stopped twisting it back and forth, the crest faded back into the metal as if it wasn’t there. “The crest of Alphar House Wellaras, at least according to texts our house Ruinseeker showed me.”

“There’s no way you got it as part of your rite gear!” Thul-mora stated with jealousy dripping off her. “How did you get it?”

Nuk took a couple of deep breaths, shivered, stood, moved over his gear, and drew his serrated back machete. “Same place I got my Frozen Flame. They were rewards for service to the Combined Desert Realm. Sir Lenti has a stash of lesser Frozen Flame weapons. I have no clue how he came by them all, but we got to pick ours out of a locked vault with probably about a hundred of them.” He held out his machete and wiggled the blade back and forth until the same crest was visible. Once he stopped moving it in the light, the crest faded and blended back into the blade. “We were told the right weapons would choose us. I walked in and for some reason was drawn straight to this. The same thing happened to Tez. They attuned to us as soon as we pulled them off the racks.”

Tez wiped at his forehead, “And when the bow attuned to me, it imparted the command word.” He glanced over at Adga and managed a weak smile, “Told you it was nicer than it looked…”

Rebklos blinked several times. “Service to the realm? How? Is this not your first rite?”

“It is,” Tez stated. He paused, spoke a soft phrase, and broke the bow into two parts so it could be stowed in his bow pouch on the side of his pack. “We were granted the award while we were out on patrol.” He smirked. “Unlike the two of you, we came into our rite with Primary Echelon pins and many moons of patrol service behind us.”

Thul-mora frowned deeply. “How do you know what we did or did not do?”

Rin snickered. “Ain’t no way ya been no place ‘er done no fightin’ with yer fool load in yer packs!”

“Did you just call me a fool?”

“Yup!” Rin nodded smugly. “Me did.” He crossed his arms and stared right into Thul-mora’s eyes. “Ya gonna make me take it back?”

Thul-mora shook with anger and glared, however, after several seconds she looked down. “No…”

“Good, no want ta eat ya. Not yet.”

Thul-mora’s eyes went wide as she took a step back, stumbled over herself, and fell.

“Rin…” Adga sighed. “There will be no talk of eating the nobles! How many times do I have to tell you?”

“Many. Prob’ly more den many!” Rin grinned and licked at his lips with his long forked tongue. “How ‘bout me do, no talk?”

Thul-mora scooched back on her butt, “Stay away from me Dragonling!”

Rin smirked and shrugged, “Tell ya what me tell Nuk and Tez. No eat ya if’n ya do good in fight. Do bad, not good idea. Make me mad and hungry fer lazzzzy no’bul!”

Off to the side, Rebklos whimpered.

Taglon covered his face with his hands. “Kids, how about you not terrify Thul-mora and Rebklos?”

“Ya take all fun out-a life!” Rin grumbled. He moved up and offered Thul-mora a hand, “Me not eat ya. Do good, me no even bite ya.”

Thul-mora reluctantly took the hand and got pulled back to her feet. She still backed well off while giving Rin a stink-eye glare. “So is this why we are trainees while Nuk-lem and Son-tez are squad members?”

“No,” Adga countered. “Like I said up top, they came through the Crags with us and killed dead walkers and bandits just outside the city. Have either of you seen real combat?”

Rebklos looked down and shook his head.

Thul-mora shrugged, “Only fist-to-fist and wood weapon to wood weapon in the arena pit against thugs and cutpurses. Just like my sisters and brother, the day after I hit the Human equivalent of ten, Mother would not let me collect my full noble youth stipend until I fought ten fights and won five… I only got half until I did. I did not get my fifth victory until my twelfth fight. Since then, I must fight in the pit with full crowds at least once per two moons to keep it. If I lose, I must fight again the next time the pit opens, so I have several fights under me. I have never killed… At least I do not think I have.”

Thul-mora paused. “There was one thug a few moons ago. He kept saying what he wanted to do to me when he knocked me down and jumped on my back. It was vile and nasty. I managed to get him with an elbow when he grabbed me where he should not have. I think it stunned him. I do not remember much until I was pulled off him by the arena master. All I know I was on top of him, my knees and knuckles were bleeding and his face was a mess. He did not move and was rushed out on a stretcher... He has not been back to the arena since and he was sentenced to fifteen fights for being a repeat mugger... He may have died.”

“Explains your refusal to give up when pinned on the street,” Vyrax stated. “You have heart. Stick with us and you’ll learn how to harness it… just do us all a favor and don’t go Adga on us. We can only take one girl who can pull off a full gunch!”

Rebklos let out a long sigh, “Lord Saban Kandahar selected Thul-mora as my second from over a score of nobles who were getting their gear. He said Patrol Leader Adga needed another girl in the patrol and said after the arena fight Thul-mora was telling you about, she would fit in well. I did not know what he meant. But now, after hearing about the arena match, it makes sense.”