Beyond the Crags - 12. Chapter 12

Adga stayed in what she guessed had once been a guards’ barracks room or servants’ quarters area until everything settled. Once both Tez and Nuk had been tended to, she looked around, “Looks like we are good. Any problems or breaks in the truce?”

Taglon responded, “Nothing from them. I took a couple up to refill all our water and impaled a half dozen more Twintails. The well room is literally crawling with nasty critters. We cannot let anyone go up there alone. However, it gives us a food source above what Lord Kandahar sent down. Also, while your Mystic cooked the Twintails, I took the Dragonling along with the Q-ling prisoner. We poked around.

“Everything is quiet. Too quiet if you ask me. There are three more sleeping areas on the far side of the dining hall, each smaller and nicer than the prior, and all are better than this one. The Q-ling told us all but four of the beds were being used, and there are more sleeping areas for the fully guilded adult thieves beyond one of the locked doors. By my count, we only got just over half between up top and down here.

“However, all doors we found are locked or barred, so other than the partially collapsed arch in the well room, the stone obstructed passage when we first got down, and the way we came down there is no other open passages down here.

“The footlockers inside the rooms we can get to are empty and there is no bedding on the mattresses. The Q-ling said they had bedding and all his stuff was also gone, including food he had purchased. Makes me think they have abandoned those in this room and had another way out. I checked. None of those we captured, other than maybe the Halforc, say they know of other ways out. The Halforc is not talking at all.”

“Then he goes hungry,” Adga stated while shooting the Halforc a glare.

“Pretty sure eating would be difficult with as many teeth as he’s missing after being punched by both you and Tur.” Vyrax snickered.

The Halforc’s brow scrunched up as he gave a light snarl. It didn’t last long. Tur’s left foot shot out nailed the Halforc in the mouth and sent his head into the wall behind him. His tongue fell out of his re-bloodied mouth as he lost consciousness.

Adga gave a Tur fist bump as she checked on the captives. She made sure Thul-mora and Rebklos rotated them through chamber pots, allowed them time to stretch, and gave them a light snack.

While they ate, she glanced around and spoke with as mean a voice as she could muster, “So are you all really telling my people none of you know where your bosses and other cutpurses went? One of you must know something!”

Several captives stopped eating. Most shook their heads. A few gulped.

Adga let out a growl. “They didn’t disappear! If you want another meal before the end of the Dead Storm, one of you all best speak up!”

The redhead pointed to the door on the far side of the room. “Jus way ya come down and there. It be only other way we know a, be through da door ta the Twisted Spoon. There be two other doors back where the big bosses be, but not know what’s behind ‘em.”

Adga gave the door the boy pointed to a hard shake. It felt locked, but a rattle on the other side told her a bar was also in place. She gave it another hard shove as she turned back to the captives. “Where does this go, exactly?”

The Halfelf spoke. “It’s a long passage with a few side doors we never saw opened and none budge if you push on them. The main passage is partially collapsed, full of fallen statues, and there is a locked door at the far end. Just before the door is another way in. A hidden door in the back of the Twisted Spoon stables. Past the door is another passage. It has lots of offshoots, most are collapsed, but we’re not allowed to explore the ones that ain’t for some reason.

“If you go the proper way, pretty easy since you can follow the path everyone walks, but if you do you get ta a ladder up to a room with a weird statue of a black figure with horns. It seems to suck up the light. No matter how much light is with you, the room is always dim. There is a door stuck half open on the far side of the statue. It leads to a room with a glowing statue of what kind of looks like the dark statue, only it looks like a woman… it’s got boobs.”

This got a snicker out of Vyrax while Vendra moved over to the door and gave it a hard frustrated shake. “We have got to figure out a way to open this door!”

“Why?” Taglon asked with a yawn.

“Because!” Vendra shouted. “The basic description sounds like two of the ancient ones! That could be a forgotten temple of the pre-gods!”

Excitement dripped off her as she spoke fast. “The descriptions sounds like Dawnbreaker and Afterdusk, the gods of light and dark before the gods we know now ascended and Afterdusk, Dawnbreaker, Earthvoid, Mountraiser, and the others were killed or whatever by those who became demon lords, especially Frexla, Inaxia, Murderic, and Senexsia. There is a real old tome in the Zeris shrine with pictures of the ancient ones and a few dozen scrolls about each. They don’t say much about some of the ancient ones, but there is lots of information on what sounded like the main four… But the real power behind the ancient ones seemed to be from Dawnbreaker and Afterdusk!

“According to the tome and scrolls, Zeris was a worshiper of Dawnbreaker as was Rovnar, Vindayin, and Veldora. If one of the scrolls is correct, Rovnar was a lead priest or maybe a temple defender of Dawnbreaker! The scrolls also say Quati, Salem, and Lunara worshiped Afterdusk. The way the scrolls are written it is possible all seven of those gods were Channelers for the ancient ones! But by worshiping one, you really worshiped both since Dawnbreaker and Afterdusk were brother and sister and their temples were almost always a combination of the two of them! I would do almost anything to see those statues!”

The Halfelf waited to make sure Vendra was done. He took a deep breath, “Never knew there were other gods… But um, well, there are three rooms off of the statue rooms. Two have stone beds, or what sure look like beds and the other has a small fountain. But it doesn’t put out much water. Looks like it probably did at one point since there is a pool wall around it, but it only has a little water in the bottom that flows out of six holes in the bottom of where the water bubbles out of the top of what looks like the mouth of a lizard with a long horn in the middle and two much smaller on each side.”

A Halfdwarven girl spoke up while the Halfelf took a drink out of a waterskin. “Over the past couple of moons, more water has come out. There used to be no water in the bottom of the pool, but now there is a few centimeters. It’s real cold and got even colder when the fountain started to put out more water.”

Adga moved up to the door and gave it a hard shake. “Ven’s right! I want to see it for myself. We’ve got to find a way to get this door open. For all we know those rooms with the stone beds may be where the other cutpurses are staying!” She stared at the Halfelf, “What else can you tell us?”

The boy let out a long breath. “The fountain room has a door. It is real heavy but gets very hot if more than one tries to open it, so only the strongest can. On the other side is a sloping passage, then another door that is always warm to the touch. You have to push it. If you pull you get real sick. All of us have been punished by making us pull on it… I was sick for days the last time Kotab made me pull on that damned door…” He let out a sigh. “But it’s even worse if you try to push or pull it open from the other side even though it has a handle. You have to push from the other side to get back through or you get super sick and dizzy. A few have fallen.”

He shot the adult Halforc a glare. “Dabigo died when he fell and hit his head a few moons ago… Wyger laughed about it…”

“Kotab thought it was funny too,” The Q-ling grumbled. “But we all know Dabigo was doing too much talking. I think they let him fall to shut him up and send a message to the rest of us.”

The Halfelf shook his head with sadness, “Um, yeah… Dabigo should have kept his mouth shut… But the important thing is whenever anyone goes past the last door, someone has to wait on the other side and open it when those on the other side knock.

“I have heard the door closes by itself if you try to leave it open, but have never seen it do so. On the other side is a long metal ladder down. It’s where Dabigo fell… the ladder goes to a small chamber with a round tube down. It leads into the city sewers about a meter up on the wall. You can jump down onto a ledge above the sewer floor. Rats, four fangers, huge spiders, giant red stripe centipedes, and dung lizards are everywhere. Almost everything has poison or can make ya sick! I’ve heard others say there is dead walkers down there too.”

“There is,” a Halfdwaven girl stated with a shudder. “One almost got me a few moons ago. Both Lalara and Kegan-Kray had to be rescued by a couple of the brutes and leaders when they got cornered… And it smells horrible unless you go a day to two after a sewer flush. It’s never nice, but way better and more safe if you go into the sewers a few hours after a flush, but you got to wait for all the water to flow out. After only two or three days it gets real bad again.”

Thul-mora spoke up, “Which means it should be about as good as it gets by now since Lord Saban Kandahar ordered a sewer flush as soon as he heard about the Dead Storm. He was going to shut off the flow at the same time the chimes sounded to close the underground animal shelters. Sounded to me like shovel crews will have to go clear the water entrances and exits before it could be flushed again and it would take time, so he wanted to flush them out just before the storm hit. But seriously? You go into the sewers?”

“Yeah, we do,” the Q-ling muttered. “Cause no guards will chase us down into it! And now at least I know why the early washout! It’s why I’m down here. Four of us and one of the leaders got caught in it when we grabbed food to move to the carriage house. I think they were going to take everyone over to it after all the trouble on the street. As it is, I barely got back up to the ladder thanks to my half-sister. The flush caught us off guard since it wasn’t a clean-out day. Don’t think there is much chance the other three made it out. Even if they did, they’ll be super sick and caught out in the storm.”

“Sorry to hear anyone was down there,” Taglon interjected. “But it sounds like, with enough water, the area above the sewers or the carriage house would be safe spots to hole up and wait out the storm,” He moved over to the door and slammed up against it. After two tries he backed off rubbing his shoulder. “Cannot believe something as old as this must be is so solid! Barely wiggled.”

Adga’s jaw moved back and forth as she stared at the door. After some thought, she turned back to her Halfelf slave. “So if they did all go out all the way to the sewer do you know what way they went?”

The halfelvin boy’s shoulders dropped even further as he whispered, “Yeah. Once on the ledge in the main sewers, you get to the end of the passage, you have to take two lefts to go up into another upwards sloping tunnel. At the turn, there are three tunnels up high. The middle of the three tunnels turns left. There it has a small cutout section with a ladder up. Leads to a small room with two doors. One is bent and twisted. No way to open it. The other goes to stairs up to a subbasement with stairs on both sides. Left one goes up to a locked trap door. The other goes up the main basement of the Twisted Spoon, but it’s almost always locked and barred. I’ve only seen it twice.”

As Adga’s eyes narrowed and scanned the line of chained captives an Elvin girl jumped in. “Gefin ain’t trusted ‘nough ta see what be on other side a the locked door…”

Adga took note of the Halfelf’s name then let out a deep breath and made it sound as angry as she could. It was getting harder to act mean when she was starting to feel sorry for many of those she had captured. She hoped her size accompanied by mean sounds would convey what she doubted her voice could. It worked.

The Elvin girl gulped. “The second set a step go up ta a wood door in the floor a the old wagon buildin’ behind the Twisted Spoon stable. Gojiness rent… Um, guess rented since ya kill her… Um, but her paid ta keep her merchant wagon in it. It be how her restock it with what some of the robbers brought back.”

“You are all robbers!” Taglon stated harshly.

The redhead shook his head. “No… most a us er pouch snatchers. We gots to get ‘nough to keep the leaders happy er we gets inta trouble. New bloods who can’t be trusted er not good ‘nough ta be snatch pouches er gets what’s pokin’ out a pockets er grunts. Grunts ain’t do nothing’ but clean, be the adults’ go-fers, and train ta be pickers. Them don’t even get up top but a couple time a moon. If’n ya get good and tougher, ya gets ta be a robber. Them go after big stuff Gojiness can sell out a her wagon.”

Gefin gulped as both Adga and Taglon frowned. “Wiro’s telling the truth! Newcomers are called grunts.” He pointed to a couple of younger kids and one boy who was in his early teens. “They are the ones who have to stay in this room and don’t get to do much of anything other than work in the training room. They only get scraps when food runs low, and not much better when there is plenty.

“Most of the rest of us only go after pouches or small things. The adults call us pickers. Those who go after bigger stuff, mug people, or break into buildings and steal things are called robbers. They get better beds, food, and get to boss us around. If they don’t get enough or mess up, they get put on the chairs for long times, sometimes days in a row… Then there is the brutes, they are the muscle. They are real close to being guilded, but just like the rest of us, they have to bring in loot or find new members. If not, they go to the chairs. Brutes who don’t do good enough have to take two marbles and get two chairs…”

The redhead, who Adga now knew was Wiro, added. “Brutes also be lookouts, guards, and boss when adults no be ‘round… The two with Gonjiness was brutes. Two others, Evinda and Bryron ran to warn us down here… they sent us to stop you then pulled back with the others as soon as the cold cloud went off...”

Both kids paused as they noticed a few of the others muttered and glared at them.

Tur loudly punched his right hand with his left as he spoke, “From one slave to another, let me give you both a word of warning. Ignore anyone and everyone except your owner. Your only concern needs to be what she wants and expects. In simple terms: Do nothing to annoy your owner. It never turns out well for the slave.”

He turned away from the pair and panned a stern gaze over the others. “The rest of you best stop trying to scare those who are being helpful to the patrol leader. Keep in mind, those two are owned by the patrol leader. Their very lives, just like mine, rests in their owner’s hands. Since ownership of myself was temporarily handed to the patrol leader, none of the three of us, four if you include the other who has yet to wake, have choices unless we are told we do.

“One other thing you all may want to consider; you are all bounty. You will be turned over to the Dwarven Lord of this settlement, or his people when we get back up top. The only thing required for the patrol leader to get the bounty on each of you is to make sure you can shovel. So you can keep being treated as you are or…” He extended the axehammer and used it to point at the Halforc. He shrugged.

As eyes went wide at the implication, Adga gave Tur a nod, “Thanks.” She turned back to the captives. “So it sounds like you had a rank system of sorts. I already know we have one leader, and he ain’t talking. It sounds like brutes are the next highest. Who here is a brute?”

Most looked down. A few glanced at the Q-ling while others eyed a bed with a female Dwarf. No one said anything.

Vyrax smirked, “Looks like we have a winner.” He moved over to the Q-ling. “Brute, huh?”

“Me and Torga.” The Q-ling admitted.

Taglon’s forehead scrunched up, “How does someone as tiny as you become a brute?”

“Don’t take Cuson lightly,” the Halfdwarven girl warned. “He’s a spell thrower and so deadly fast the adults allowed him to stay even though he’s not a Lockmaster.”

“She’s right,” Adga interjected. “He’s lightning fast and a Sectwarrior. He gave me a good fight. Without the backup of both Nuk and Vyrax, I’m betting he would have bloodied me. As it is, he came close a couple of times. Didn’t know he is a caster though.”

She turned to the Q-ling, “So your name is Cuson and you aren’t a Lockmaster?”

Cuson shrugged, “Yup.”

“So what does a non-Lockmaster do in a den of robbers?” Vendra demanded to know.

Cuson let out a sigh, “I do what I’m told like all the kids down here. But for the most part, I protect the pickers, help them get away if they get caught picking, and scout for new blood. I also help to teach casters to read.”

The redhead glanced over, “If him had been up top when ya came after us, we’d a all got away.”

“I’m not easily distracted when food and coin are on the line,” Adga countered with a snort. She glanced at the bed with the Dwarf. The girl had obviously been heavily tended to by Rin. There were bandages around her ribs and lower stomach. Another large bloody bandage covered her hand. In addition, two bloody areas showed through a cloth wrapped around her head. “Who took her down?”

“Pretty much all of us,” Vyrax responded. “The cold burst potion had her down on all fours when I got down, but she was still in the fight. I think she tried to cast a spell judging by finger and hand movements, but couldn’t talk. Instead, she stabbed at me with a dagger.”

Vendra nodded. “Both Vyrax and me had to kick her a few times even though she was real close to where the cold and two of the stagger vials broke. Even then she managed to cut my hand. So Rin nailed her at least a couple of times, too.”

Rin glanced over, “Me jump on her and hit her head inta wall with me tail… Maybe two… er more time… Her got four broke rib and two big blood lump on head… No matter. Her cut me wit dagger. Me sssstomp on her hand. Broke finger. Bone come out. But her got me wit blade pointed whip wit off hand before me gut punch her with me claw out. Me fix, but took lot a work and herb. Most be dead. Her tough!”

Rin pulled a whip with a silver steel barbed tip out of his pack and tossed it onto the floor for all to see. “Hit me hard wit it. Not know whip made wit metal point ‘till now!”

Tur picked it up, “She’s a Scorpion Sectwarrior! They are rare. I have been taught about them, but never seen one before.”

“Not as rare here as other places I have been,” Nuk responded. “There are five known Scorpion Teachers with schools outside the noble houses within the combined realms. In addition, the noble houses have more Scorpion Sectwarriors than any other. They are closely followed by Vipers. There are at least three Scorpion and two Viper Teachers in every house, except Oldsurn. They have one Scorpion, two Vipers, two Dragons, and a Shark. House Shunral also has a pair of Spiders and House Kandahar has a Wolf. I had to travel well outside the Desert Realm to get trained as an Eagle.”

Vyrax joined in, “The first time I saw a Scorpion use her whip I wanted to become one. I tried with every school I could gain access to, but because of my family, none would take me. I finally settled on becoming a Lockmaster instead of a Scorpion Sectwarrior.”

Tez glanced over at Vyrax, “While the taint on your family certainly had something to do with you being rejected, it would have been hard for you to get accepted regardless. Most Scorpions are nobles or very high caste. It is considered a prestigious sect and no teachers I know of would take in a low merchant borne… No insult intended.”

“None taken. Low merchant is what I was born as. But it makes me wonder how a Dwarf who ended up in a robber guild managed to get trained as one.”

Cuson frowned deeply as he looked over at the Dwarf. “Torga told me she got trained by an old woman in some village called Crimson Cactus.”

“Dad has taken me out there a few times. It’s almost straight east from here. It’s the furthest stop along the Nine Springs Road before the Ragged Dunes start,” Vyrax stated. “Those dark red cactus are good eating and the juice and roots from them are used in several potions.”

“I have no idea where much of anything is,” Cuson admitted. “The caravan master took ill and died after sitting on what turned out not to be a rock. It shot a dozen spines into him.”

“Sssspine thhhrower,” Rin interjected. “Ya got ta leave da quill in and sssuck out the poisssion er drip in anti-toxin liquid ‘em or it not be good. Me hear they be common many place but all blend inta where them live. Treat four er five a moon back home. Few not know and pull quill. Them get bad ill. Half no make it.”

“Well, he was one of them. He died in the Healthman shop. It’s where we found Torga. She was recovering from a couple of twin tail stings. When she heard we were going to Scorpion Falls she signed up with us. She told us when the woman who trained her died, she set out for a city called Twin Spires, but she got separated from those she was traveling with in a sandstorm. She made her way to a small fortress called Sand of the Dragon which is where we detoured to because the caravan master was so sick.”

“Last outpost before the Statue Pass down to the deep lower desert,” Adga stated. “Been there twice. I like it. Lots of history. Even better, I don’t have to duck to go through any of the doors and all the rooms, even in the outbuildings, are big enough for me to stand in!”

“Yeah,” Cuson managed to snort. “Made me feel even smaller than I already am. It’s also got a real awesome museum. The pass to the south is real creepy though. It looks like hundreds and hundreds of creatures and people were carved out of the rocks. Most are worn down, but it creeped me out.”

Tez nodded. “The vast number of statues only go about five kilometers, then they get less and less but most of the Colossus stay clear of it. They say it's haunted. Having been in the pass once, I can see why they believe it. I also agree with you. It is spooky! However, Sand of the Dragon is co-owned by House Vylevin and Shunral, so Nuk and I have been there several times.”

Rebklos jumped in. “I’ve been there too. All noble borne in and around Scorpion falls go there as part of a few classes. Rumor has it, when found it was buried in sand and full of valuables. Some even say when dug out, it was like totally preserved under all the sand. The west wing and northwest tower were left as they found things when they dug it out. If true, it’s crazy, cause there are bowls, plates, and mugs on tables, weapons in racks, and all sort of other stuff that looks like it was in use when the sand suddenly filled it up. The name came from a scroll saying it was buried by the sand of dragons to prevent the supporters of the demon lords Frexla and Inaxia from using it.

“Really awesome scroll!” Thul-mora added. “It is written in a magical language that is readable by anyone who reads any language. There is a passage in the middle that says ‘Look for the clues to locate the other six’. All five houses have tried over the centuries to find the clues in hopes of finding other buried fortresses, but from what I hear, so far they have found nothing.”

Tez took a long breath. “Nuk and I have been over every crack and crevice in Sand of the Dragon, but haven’t found anything. But every time we go, we still try again.”

Cuson sighed, “I read the scroll three times. Both my half-sister and me think one of the clues is in the scroll. It says the seven fortresses were selected to honor where last light of the first day of spring crosses the first light of the last day of winter. But what that means, we couldn’t figure out.”

“Tez and I think the same,” Nuk responded. “Problem is, it makes no sense.”

“Sure doesn’t,” Cuson agreed. “Anyway, Torga got hired by the second in charge of the caravan, who was also the lead guard. We stopped here and…” He clenched his fists. “The bastard tried to sell us along with my half-sister and two other young workers with fake documents saying we were owned by him. Only the letter of introduction from Count Valador Shunral prevented the guards from taking us to the cages. But we still almost ended up sold. The new caravan master had his people murder the guards. He took the letter and tossed it in the fire. While this happened, we managed to get to our gear. One of the former brutes, Coparin… She’s one of the two who you yelled back and forth with… Anyway, she saw what happened. Coparin grabbed a couple of robbers and several pickers. With this group’s help, we killed and hurt a few of his guards and escaped. She pulled us into this complex.

“That night we helped them kill the draft animals and a couple more guards. Coparin shot the new caravan master with a sleeping poison. It wasn’t enough to take him down, but it made him sick enough to let us grab one of the wagons. We left him and the rest of his people with no draft or riding animals and the remaining four wagons burning surrounded by the six murdered guards. It attracted a patrol. The adult survivors from the caravan were put in the arena. I heard the rest were sold to mines. None of the adults survived the sentence of twenty death matches.”

Rebklos spoke up, “I heard about that! My uncle was furious about the murdered guards. Two were young former nobles who failed their Rites of Noblehood. Count Saban Kandahar made sure the remainder of the caravan they captured didn’t have much of a chance. The two who made it through fifteen matches were forced to go against each other. The final one was pitted against captured Colossus raiders. He killed the first two, so Uncle Kandahar put him with four other low echelon criminals and sent them against a Colossus commander and three of his surviving contingent. The Colossus were given all their gear for the fight. The criminals got basic bronze weapons. I heard it was a mess.”

“Mess is an understatement,” Thul-mora stated. “It was the only time I lost a meal watching an arena match. The Colossus pounded those five into bloody puddles. I heard the Colossus leader and his two surviving warriors were granted freedom under the condition he left the desert, including the lower desert. He agreed. Last I heard the three were escorted out to Black Toad Butte and released with all their weapons, gear, along with a few coin and gems.”

Cuson’s lips twisted up into a slight grin. “I saw them escorted out. One of the royal guards handed each of them a pouch, a pack, and said something about the Count being satisfied by the results.

“But I guess because of how well we fought, the four of us who survived were offered beds down here and Torga helped me learn the basics of my Primary Field. Once they were sure I was the same as Torga, the leaders here found me someone who could finalize my training. I am sure I can pass the guild test and Torga’s way better than me, but the adults down here don’t let kids test into the guilds. They say it would attract attention. I think they just want to have skilled kids to boss around and take all the risks while they live a good life. But whatever. And, well, here we are four years later. We are two of the five in this group who don’t have a subfield of Lockmaster...”

Vyrax raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at Cuson. “So your loyalty to this den of cutpurses is out of gratitude.” His words were a statement, not a question. “I also assume you really weren’t asking for help as it sounded when Adga cornered you in the pack room. Right?”

Cuson smirked, “No, it was my way of warning my half-sister to tell the others you had control of the whole entry area and they needed to back out. You all were right. My fight with your patrol leader and the bargaining was simply to buy time, cause I knew there was no way I was going to escape once you found me. Not many of those left down here could have held up against your group, especially with those potions we got tossed at us.”

Adga shot Vyrax a grin as she moved up to the bed with the Dwarf and looked down. “I gather she is one of those you are hoping to leave with?”

“Yeah, if she lives…” Cuson wiped at the corner of his eyes as his voice dropped and spoke in what was clearly a concerned tone. “How bad is she?”

Rin sat on the edge of the bed and dripped some water into her mouth. “Me work on her more den any. Her gonna hurt fer long time, but her make it. Me bet few would.”

“Rin will take good care of her,” Adga stated as she gently stroked the Dwarf’s hair, then returned her focus to Cuson, “So you’re really not a Lockmaster, huh?”

“No. I’m also not a Shaman, which is why I ended up in this cursed desert.”

Taglon’s eyebrows arched up “What does you not being a Shaman have to do with you being in the Combined Desert Realms?”

“Up till eight years ago me and my half-sister were living in an orphanage in Bitter Creek. Most thought we were Half-Drow cause of our ashen colored hair and deeply tanned skin, so we got it even worse than I bet we normally would have. But once both of us started to cast Autospells most of the others backed off. As we got good control and started casting more, word got out.

“The son of a powerful local merchant took an interest in us. Don’t know how he heard of us, but he was, is, a Mage. As it turned out, so is my half-sister. He agreed to take us on during the days and train us if we worked for his family. He even offered to pay the orphanage to get us better clothing and let it be known he would take it personally if anyone hurt us. It was too good of an offer to say no.

“At the time, he thought I was a Shaman, but it turned out I wasn’t. Anyway, the merchant’s family owned a series of pearl diving platforms just downriver from Bitter Creek, in Pale Oyster Cove, at the edge of the Kingdom of Eagleonia and the Duchy of Guggenheim. My half-sister and me worked on them for over two years and learned real good control over our Autospells. And Querenstock, he was the merchant, got a spell book made for my sister.

“Querenstock’s son found a Shaman to train me, but some of the stuff she was sure I could do, I just couldn’t. However, Querenstock knew someone in the Guggenheim line and talked to this person about me. One day, as I was sailing the skiff back from the diving platforms with the pearls and four guards, a large ship with Guggenheim flags pulled up to us. The ship had a man by the name of Valador Shunral on board. At first I thought he was Drow, but he had normal ears.” He paused and looked over to Tez, “He had eyes the same color as yours...”

“Count Valador Shunral is my great great uncle. Many in the Shunral line have hazel eyes with a yellow-green ring around the outside.” Tez stated with astonishment. “Count Valador handed his lands to my Great Uncle just before I cast my first Autospell and left for parts unknown!”

“From what I heard, he was looking for someone by the name of Gardagam Koladic. He asked everyone he could about whoever it was.”

“Never heard of the name.” Tez stated while Nuk nodded in agreement.

Cuson shrugged, “I’m sure about the name 'cause I heard it a hundred times… Almost sounded like he was hunting whoever it was. But whatever. Valador Shunral was on board the Guggenheim ship with five kids who he was clearly in charge of. The oldest girl was real seasick and there was almost no waves… But the others were nice enough. This Valador said he overheard a conversation about me not being able to do some Shaman junk but could do other stuff. He bought the whole day’s haul of pearls and had me show what I could do. He told me I wasn’t a Shaman at all. Although he said he could teach me to be a Shaman if I wanted. But he strongly recommended I come out here because I was something much rarer than a Shaman and I could be taught to be what I was meant to be. He gave me a letter… The last bit of it is in my pouch you took from me. The rest was burned by the bastard who tried to sell us.”

“You’re a Spirit Warrior, right?” Nuk asked as Tez scrambled over to the boy’s gear and grabbed the pouch.

“Yeah…”

Vendra looked over with confusion, “What? They didn’t know what a Spirit Warrior was where you came from?”

“Most places do not,” Tez responded as he dug into the pouch and came up with a crinkled corner of cloth-weaved parchment with burned edges. “The whole time we traveled with Sir Lenti Avery, we only saw one Spirit Warrior guild outside the Combined Desert Realms. It was in a small town called Lucas the Lost. It is just to the west of the Wastelands of Odin and to the northwest of Lear’s Crossing.”

Nuk let out a snort, “Weird place. They had a statue with a baby being held that was basically worshiped. We didn’t stay very long, so we didn’t get the story behind it. But, yes. It had the only Spirit Warrior Guild outside our desert realm we saw.”

Nuk shook his head. “If nothing else, this explains how the Guggenheim noble found out about the Crags…”

Tez nodded, “And why the Guggenheim representative came to House Shunral for help.” He carefully spread out what was left of the parchment. It had a part of a crest on it with a few words including ‘I proclaim… a sponsorship… Take in… a Spirit Warr…’. He handed it over to Adga. “It has the lower two thirds of Count Valador Shunral’s crest and this is special parchment we use for official communications. Looks like my Great Great Uncle was asking to sponsor him. But there is not enough left to be certain.”

Adga lightly rubbed the cloth-infused parchment and glanced at the crest. A look down at her sponsorship pin and back at the crest allowed her to see several similarities to what was left. Adga let out a long breath and turned to Cuson. “Can you give us any other details about the Count or who was with him?”

“Yeah, sure… Um… Valador Shunral had five kids with him. Two were a little younger than me. A Kenedim Vylevin, and a Chark Shunral. Chark was a Drow for sure. He had pointed ears, real white hair, and a slender face… And your eyes… There were three older ones. A Kanudessa Oldsurn, Penloxa Kandahar, and another girl who I didn’t get to know… She was not good in boats at all, so other than the first time I only saw her on the docks. She never joined us on the Guggenheim ship or when I went out to work on the pearl diving platforms.”

Adga glanced around, “Four of the five noble houses. Any of you know any of them?”

“Yes!” Tez, Thul-mora, Nuk, and Rebklos stated one right after the other.

Adga turned to Tez since he was the first to speak. “What one?”

“Three actually!” Tez stated with excitement. “Chark is the shortened name for Prince Chark’ash Shunral, son of Princess Oporthiss’jenda Shunral, leader of the entire Shunral line! Kenedim is a first cousin to Nuk, and Penloxa Kandahar was a junior fighting instructor. She used to spar with Chark, Nuk, Kenedim, and me all the time. She taught us all to fight! Chark and Kenedim left on their Rite of Noblehood years ago, almost as soon as they were old enough to do so, and haven’t returned. We heard Penloxa went with them. Many think they’re all dead, but less than a moon ago I overheard Father talk about a communication from someone needing funds and to send a group up to someplace called Rolling Dale to recover Prince Chark!”

“If we’re talking about the same kid, he was with Valador living at a keep in Guggenheim lands about four years ago. It sounded to me like whoever this Gardagam Koladic was or is, was their mission. Whoever it was, they wanted to capture or kill him.”

After several seconds of silence, Thul-mora looked over at Cuson, “What can you tell me about Kanudessa?”

“Mean and tough. She beat the crap out of four older kids in the orphanage who were giving us problems. Two were bigger than her. It didn’t matter. They never stood a chance. She also has an extra thumb on each hand that she uses to twirl and slash with her fangs faster than I ever could hope to.” Cuson smirked. “Sanifer told her to get her freaky thumbs off him after she flipped him. It made her real mad, so after beating them down she stripped them all and left them in the woods. She even taught me the basics and is the reason I became a Viper Sectwarrior.”

This got an excited grin out of Thul-mora. “My oldest sister… She was born with extra thumbs! Maybe she is still alive! We haven’t heard from her in almost seven years! One thing is for sure, if someone teased her about thumbs, she would have made them pay! She hated when she got jokes about being all thumbs… many regretted those kind of jokes… Patrol Leader, he certainly knows many nobles from our combined Desert Realm and it sounds like he was supposed to get a sponsorship!”

Adga glanced over at the royal guardsman.

“You are patrol leader. It is up to you what you want to do about this surprising information if anything. He is a bounty unless you decide otherwise.

Adga let out a long breath and stared at what was left of the parchment. “Get him extra rations while I think about this.”

Adga gave the area a once-over. Satisfied the captives were taken care of and the truce was holding, she once again made sure the door in the sleeping area was secured.

As she ate, she glanced around. “So I agreed for the truce to hold until first light of Zeris. The only way to know when we get first light above us is when those who are attuned to force replenishment at the first light of Zeris feel theirs refresh. Both Vyrax and me are attuned to first light of Lunara. So what spell casters are force attuned to Zeris?”

Nuk held up a hand. “Me. Tez is Lunara.”

Adga focused on Nuk. “You get your force back yet?”

“Nope. How about you?”

“Just before I bedded down between you and Tez.”

Vyrax yawned, “Me too.”

Tez let out a long breath, “I got replenished. And I feel like I need to cast… I may have gained a step, or I am still weirded out by the dream. Perhaps both.”

Taglon rolled his eyes as he stood, “Patrol leader, you have a common misconception regarding those of us who cannot cast spells.”

“I do? What is it?”

Thul-mora responded with a disgusted shake of her head. “Us Swordsmen never get any respect! All trained beings, even those of us who cannot cast spells, get force replenished by Zeris or Lunara. I also get mine back at the first light of Zeris. I have yet to feel it replenish.”

Adga cocked her head to the side, “You have magical force? What does a Swordsman do with it?”

Taglon snickered. “I have seen the exact same look out of the eyes of every spellcaster I have been around when they find out us non-spell throwers have internal magical force. As far as how we know, we feel it, just like you do. There are rumors we can use it, but I have yet to discover how.

“If I had not failed my second Rite of Noblehood, I might have been able to find out. It is quietly talked about among non-casting nobles; those who make it to the Teaching Echelon are given a chance to learn deeper magical secrets. But I have no idea what those are. Nor have I ever seen any Swordsman, Legionnaire, or Animal Adept do anything to suggest we use force or generate any magical effects.”

Adga blinked and turned to Rin, “You have force?” Seeing him nod she frowned, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Not know you not know,” Rin responded with a shrug. “But me Dragonlin’. Me can make more fire wit me force. Thought it be Dragonlin’ power. Not know other no-casssster type have it.” He smiled widely, “Me get it back at light a moon like you!”

Adga pointed to Nuk, “Need a second with me as I check things out. You’re it. This way you can tell me when you get daily force back which will signal the end of the truce. Ven, Rin, get some sleep. Royal Guardsman Taglon, you should as well. Tez, Tur, make sure the prisoners are secured… Cuson gets a bed and needs to be given enough freedom to help the Dwarf… Torga. Make sure the Halforc gets some water when he wakes, but nothing else. Feel free to beat on him any time he gives you any problems or attitude…” She shorted, “Or even if you just want to… Just make sure he will be able to shovel. Also, keep a close eye on the door and everyone here.”

Getting a nod from Tez, Adga made her way around the complex before focusing on the dining room. She studied the crests carved into all the chairs, made some notes in a blank book found in one of the mysterious packs, and even took some rubbings of the crests.

Her Ruinseeker training played an important role in determining what several of the surrounding chambers had been originally used for. In the large room up from the dining hall she found evidence of racks and stone counters along with two massive pots. This, she guessed, had to be a food preparation area. She wondered about how the food was heated. However, she realized if cooking stones were at one time plentiful, it could easily solve the problem of a missing fireplace.

The large trash room took a little longer to figure out, but the clues were along the walls. There were niches with holes in them. She guessed there were once wooden pegs to hang things. She cleared a section of the floor. It took time to look past the huge amount of rat and snake droppings, but once she did, she found indentations on the floor. Once enough was cleared, she could make out spots where beds had been placed along with foot lockers. The indentations in the walls lined up to where they were to the right and left of each bed. She spoke softly to herself as the pieces fell into place. “Weapons and armor racks for quick access.”

Nuk smashed yet another large rat with his shod staff before looking over. “Find something?”

“Just piecing this place together. I’d bet this was a barracks room for at least thirty. We’d have to fully clear the floor to get a full count. Find anything?”

“Another bronze snap trap, lots of rats, a couple of snakes, a Twintail… No wonder three of them got poisoned with all the nasties down here… And the smell is awful!”

“I bet this was done on purpose so anyone who happened to stumble on this place wouldn’t want to explore further. Stick around the squatter shantytown on the outside of the northern Spires walls for a bit. You’ll get used to such smells... and critters.”

“Thanks, but given the choice, I’ll pass.”

Adga snorted, “Glad I don’t have to live there, but I’ve seen and smelled it when visiting Rin, Vyrax, my brother, and sister, or going to get training at the Zerris shrine. I spent a lot of time at the shrine, so I could become a Ruinseeker and get extra time with Ven. It gets really bad. A day or two before each sewer flushing, the smell from the grates just outside the city walls is awful. It's where most of those in the squatter’s market dump their chamber pots. They start to fill up about two days before the sewer flush. It’s when your Vylevin Calvary rat sweeps are needed the most, but they almost never bother with the squatter market area.”

“When I get back, I will let it be known. I bet it would be a good place to get the newest riders to learn… or as a punishment for minor infractions. But it would mean some would certainly get trampled by out of control skimmers along with damage to buildings. I have never been in there, but the streets look real narrow.”

“They are,” Adga confirmed. “I’m not sure you can really call most of them streets. If you send word, there are hundreds of kids who would be criers for a few tin. They could warn everyone to get off the paths. As far as damage to buildings, to get rid of the rats, it’d be worth it.”

“Interesting thoughts. I will talk to my uncle to see what he thinks. So what else have you figured out?”

Adga pointed into what the thieves had used for a storage room. “I’d bet that used to be the guards’ dining room. Those spike strips are fairly new, but they are in groves I’d bet were there from the time this place was built.

“The remaining doors are all bronze, but extremely thick. The anchor points are very deep into the stone. This tells me this was built as a fortress of sorts. Makes me wonder if there was some kind of castle originally above or some kind of fort. But there is some really weird things about this place, too.”

“Stranger than the shocking chairs?” Nuk snickered. “Still not looking forward to another round on them, by the way.”

Adga smirked, “I’m sure you don’t. But honestly, I really don’t care.” She paused as Nuk’s eyes went wide. “Not saying I don’t care about you or Tez. But you two caused this and you were about to jump onto other chairs, so…” She grinned.

Nuk’s shoulders dropped. “Yeah, I guess…” He managed a weak smile. “It is not unlike what got us into trouble with Sir Lenti Avery and…” He shook his head. “But here we are, and I want to see if I can make the table change with the Crag map again.” He pulled up the gold coin, “As long as I get two more of these!”

Adga cocked her head to the side, “I would think being nobles you wouldn’t be so amazed by gold.”

Nuk held up the coin again. “Gold is the coin of the elite. While the average guardsman only sees the basic value of this, 50 silver, 500 copper, or 5000 tin, to the rest it is so much more. We pay our guardsman quite well. As far as I know, we pay our guardsmen more than anyplace. Thanks to Sir Lenti Avery, I have been to lots of places with Tez… more places than my family would ever believe or want… but regardless. I have seen what other places, from small independent towns to kingdoms, pay guards. Most are ten to fifteen copper a week, some less. Of course, they almost never have to deal with the undead. Just as few have to worry about food and water like we do. But even with our pay to a standard guardsman, this one coin is twenty weeks of pay.

“I mean think about what this single gold means! This coin is twenty weeks’ worth of a fully trained and guilded man or woman risking serious injury or even death over. While to me, that should say everything worth saying, it does not. Gold is the coin of the influential. You are carrying at least fifteen…” He paused and glanced over clearly hoping for the full number.

“After I pay you and Tez two more, I’ll have fourteen with me. There is quite a bit more hidden in a secret alcove in the Squatter Market’s Healthman shop. I think it has to be about a hundred and twenty, maybe more. We stopped counting several moons ago when we got to seventy-five.”

Nuk choked on his saliva and had to fight to get his breath back. “Think of what even a hundred gold means to the common man, who thinks in terms of copper as the coin he earns…” Nuk twiddled his fingers for a few seconds. “You are talking 50,000 copper. At two copper a day for a standard skilled laborer, you have 25,000 days of pay tucked away in a locked box! You could buy the haunted estate in the northern Spires and have probably three to five years’ worth of taxes prepaid for that!”

Adga couldn’t help but snort, “Even if I was allowed to do so, I can’t see those inside the northern walls being terribly accepting of me and my friends!”

Nuk smacked another small rat while shaking his head, “If you ever got permission, which you just might, you would certainly be the talk of the Northern Spires. However, my guess is you would be hesitantly accepted. Maybe not as an equal, but as someone to get to know as an unusual status symbol. Most would want to know you since you would certainly be and may already be a Combined Desert Realm symbol of power, self-fortitude, and…” He shrugged, “I guess the best way to say it is you are on a road to become a banner of commoner grit and determination.”

“Why would anyone want such a person around, let alone the great five noble houses?”

“Because the lower casts need an occasional beacon. Someone who breaks out and becomes something more. It provides hope to those who both wish they could become more and think they are prevented from doing so by those above them. You could be the proof of what anyone can become. If you take Rin and Vyrax, and even Vendra with you, it would say even more.”

“You’re talking crazy, Nuk. I’m nothing but a big orphan Illorc… A monster race or at least near-monster to most.”

“I cannot argue, however, can you not see what those who live in places like the Squatter’s Market and in the caves just to the west of what most call the ‘Noble trash pit’ would see in you?”

Adga gave a dismissive flip of her wrist. “Most are already jealous or fearful. Even before I became a full guardsman, the senior guard apprentice rank insignia along with the House Shunral sponsorship pin caused many to stare… The rest did because I can only fit into about half the buildings inside the Squatter’s Market.”

Nuk couldn’t help but snicker, “It’s a good thing many places have buildings built for Colossus to come in and do trade, and even better the latest war with their marauder tribes is over. We will need their trade to help refill coffers. You would think after at least a dozen prolonged wars over the last several hundred years they would abandon their whimsical claim to huge swaths of the middle desert.”

Adga raised an eyebrow, “Is that why we’ve been fighting them since I was offered sponsorship?”

“Yeah.” Nuk took a deep breath. “Every few decades a new Colossus warlord comes to power and moves to take what they think is their ancient territorial lands.” Nuk shrugged. “My Uncle, who teaches many of the nobles in and around the Spires in basic and noble history, says the Colossus of the Shocker Lizard and Quilled Fox clans believe this was all once their territory. They point out many of the structures were built big, including many ruins we have found.” He pointed up. “All you have to do is look up. You can stand in this room… Barely, but you can. The further down we go the bigger the rooms and taller the ceilings.”

Adga nodded, “Yeah, it is one of the other odd things about this place. The deeper underground we go the bigger and taller the rooms. From a construction standpoint, this is the opposite of how it should be. Both from needing to dig it out, to the difficulties of supporting weight above. Even stranger, if it was built for someone bigger, how did they get in? I had to crouch in the upper passage, and my hair scraps the ceiling in here, yet as I go down, I can stand fully with lots of room to spare. The doors are also much bigger below us.”

Nuk frowned, “Huh, never thought about any of that!”

“It also makes me wonder who built it. Someone my size or bigger would not want to build small tight places to get out all the rock that had to have been pulled out of here.” Adga patted a wall, “And while there is some brickwork, most of this has been carved out of rock with arches and supports made to strengthen it.”

Nuk frowned and glanced around. “You are correct. This is weird… Yet from what I have been told and the ruins I have seen, this is not uncommon. My uncle believes most were not built by Colossus, but instead another large race. Maybe the predecessors of the Colossus. On the other hand, my Oldsurn language instructor, who is also a Ruinseeker, says this land used to be highly fertile during the time of Odin and Greysac. After they were driven out by the Mythings, it became the home of all races, which required structures to be built to hold whoever, or whatever happened to be around. A few surviving records indicate Colossus or beings very close in size were among the most skilled builders of the day, and built much of what we know. Yet, if they did all the work, getting in and out through ever-shrinking passages makes no sense.”

“It sure doesn’t.” Adga stomped on a snake, knelt, and took its head off with her dagger. She held it up so the blood would drain and added it to a small sack with a few other snakes for cooking. “What is more amazing is a place like this can exist under the streets of Scorpion Falls without it being widely known!”

“There are passages and ruins under all the major towns and cities in the Combined Desert Realm.” Nuk stated. “I have seen several. More are found all the time. The passages under the towers are one such example. Most have been there since before records were lost, yet they are in almost every town and city. Many have passages that branch out into underground complexes. Most collapsed over the eons and have been rebuilt to shelter animals and wagons from Dead Storms. However, many still have remnants of what they used to be before this whole land was all but laid to waste. One text Tez has in his house says it started during the Mythling Wars and culminated in the destruction of most everything within our Combined Desert Realm. With few exceptions, most places were reduced to ruin.

“The five houses have Ruinseekers who do nothing but hunt for clues in surviving archives trying to locate areas to explore. They work with heavily armed patrols in hopes of finding bits and pieces from the time before the Mythling and Dragon wars. Lord Alagor Shunral was a commander of one such team. He had to fight off a Spectral Champion when novice Ruinseekers accidentally opened a sealed crypt it was kept in. The Spector had been a commander for who is now the Demon Lord Murderic. Someone or something had imprisoned him in the tomb where he became a Spector. Had it not been for Lord Alagor, the entire village of Dune Vista would have been wiped out and would probably now be haunted by those the Spector killed. As it is, a quarter of the village had been wiped out before his team got there. They had to re-kill many.”

“Could I become part of such a team?

“If you are interested, and the way you are being treated, you may be able to be the backbone of a new team. I would hazard a guess there are fifteen to twenty such groups. But why bother? You could explore ruins as a patrol commander without being under the thumb of house Ruinseekers and would get to keep more of what you find.

“My ring and Tez Amulet were found by one such team along with over a dozen other magical items. The team had to turn it all over. I know they got a bonus of some sort, but as a Patrol Commander, you would have a second or third pick. However, you go somewhere I do not think is explored. For not once have I heard of one of the Ruinseeker teams exploring the Crags!”

“Good, more for me to find without having to worry about taxes!”

Nuk laughed. “It is unlikely anything found within the Crags will ever be taxed, even if it becomes well known you know them and have pulled out such vast wealth. If anything, you and those who travel with you would be granted an exception. This is especially probable if you were to share some of your knowledge with the five noble houses. For one thing, both my uncle and language instructor agree on is the five houses of the Combined Desert Realm united to reclaim the land this side of the Crags. We are the buffer between the kingdoms to our east and south and the horrors of the Desert of the Dead. Plus, whatever lies beyond it.

“While it is not openly talked about, it is one of the biggest reasons we are left alone except by the Colossus. The other is the logistical problem of supplying an army to fight in a desert against people who know how to survive in it. But if we could force an invading force to move into the Crags, even small portions of it, the result would be a slaughter. Between us knowing it to some degree and the undead within, entire invading armies could be wiped out.”

Adga rolled her eyes. “Come on Nuk, from what I hear magic doesn’t even work the same here. No one could hope to conquer the Combined Desert Realms! The temple of Zeris even has scrolls that say this area is protected by the gods themselves because one of their own sacrificed ascension into godhood. Instead, he or she and the entire family claimed this land in the hopes of... Um, something to the effect of ‘returning the land to its former glory’. But it sounded like it wasn’t just here, but everywhere. It is one of Zeris’ Tenants of Faith Vendra proclaims all the time.

“However, from what Vendra and the Ruinseekers in the shrines have taught me, it is more than a tenant of Zeris’ faith,” Adga continued. “Channelers of other gods say similar things. Lunara, who I worship the most, has a similar foundation in belief. And I have heard Vaneuban, Herzal, and Warvon Channelers say very similar things about this land. It must have some foundation for so many Channelers of the gods to speak of this land in such a way. If nothing else, something sure stopped the horrors from the Desert of the Dead from talking over this side of the Crags! Those towers, if they really exist on the far side of the Crags, had to have been built by someone or something of immense power!”

“Maybe.” Nuk shrugged. “Who knows? I have heard talk in my house of the Oldsurn lineage being in the bloodlines of the gods, but even this was not enough to reclaim this land. It took them allying with the other four major houses and the nine lesser ones to hold back the evils within the Desert of the Dead. There is even talk it almost did not happen. Many of the places we take for granted had to be reclaimed after the Dragon Wars. It is even said this land, and what is beyond the Crags is where the Mythlings who could not flee to the Mythling capital made their final stand. It is also said by some, that those Mythlings are the ones who started the Dragon Wars. If this is true, we live in lands where the Dragon Wars began.

“Whatever happened, it altered the flow of magic within our realm and I felt the same out in the Crags, so it expands at least that far. Patrols who go out as far as Ship Rock, and down into the lower desert to push the Colossus raiders back say it is the same in those places as well.”

“I can tell you what you have heard is correct. Magic feels and behaves differently outside our lands. In Black Toad Butte, I am able to do more with my sorcery and Tez can cast faster with stronger effects as a Mage than we can here. What we could do in places like Black Rapids, Eagleonia, Junsac, Slome, Paws, Oric Falls and scores of other places was even better. There is one place, in the middle of a swamp not far from the city of Slome, where there are highlands. It is a place where magic is so strong Sir Avery taught us how to cast without using much, if any, force. It is also a place filled with danger. He told us many powerful creatures are drawn there.

“He had to kill a massive cat with meter long fangs, three Harpies, and a pair of Manticores… We were just on the edge of the highlands and for only five days… But it was the most amazing magical lesson. It almost made it worth it to be chosen as one of Sir Lenti Avery’s favorites…”

Nuk stopped and rolled his eyes. “But because of such trips, we have been able to cast spells far from the taint within this land. We learned more, significantly faster than anyone in any of our noble classes. It takes a great deal of effort to hold back sometimes since what we brought back here works, but it takes more force and concentration to cast.”

“Never been out of our lands,” Adga admitted with a note of sadness.

“Once we get done clearing Scorpion Falls and escort the caravan out to Black Toad Butte, you will have to tell me if you feel the same change in magic Tez and I do when we get outside the Combined Desert Realms…” Nuk paused and shook his head. “Sun just came up. I got all my Force back… and I think some extra. I wonder if I did not just go up a step!”

Adga frowned, “My force has only replenished once since we came down here, just after the two of you got put into beds. I also felt an increase in magic when it did so, much like I get on a full moon night. But the next isn’t for a couple of weeks.” She shrugged. “The stranger thing is I could have sworn we have been down here longer than one night!”

“Unless the Dead Storm does something to magic replenishment, the first light of Zeris should now be touching Scorpion Falls. But it is probably nothing but blowing sand and those red tendrils.”

“While out on patrol I’ve been in a sandstorm too thick for light to be seen. Without the caves along the rimrock basin, I don’t know if we would have made it.” Adga stated. “If the Dead Storm is as bad as it looked from afar and we’ve been told, it’s certainly like night above us.” She stepped into an alcove with what looked to have once been a fountain with a shallow pool and small channels leading to rounded basins. She bet it had been a foot washing station to be used before meals.

She moved up to a metal panel in the back of the foot washing alcove she took to be a door. It didn’t budge. Her jaw moved back and forth as she eyed it. “There is no handle, keyhole, nothing… And it’s not Bronze. This grayish-blue metal looks a whole lot like Vyrax’s blade… There are strange black marks where it looks like the stone around it has been pounded on, but not the door…”

Nuk moved up beside Adga. He looked the door over. He tried to push and slide it by putting his hands flat against it. After several attempts to move it, he shrugged, “It sure looks like a doorway. Tez is a lockmaster, maybe he can figure it out.”

“We’re in a den of them, Nuk. If they haven’t gotten in, then we sure ain’t.”

“You have me there, Patrol Leader,” Nuk snickered. “So why not get the Q-ling, Cuson? He has been helpful. Let us find out what he knows.”

Adga gave a nod as she moved back down the sloping passage, “Good idea, but sooner or later he’s going to demand to spar with you.”

“I know. On the off chance he beats me, then what?”

“He gets to take two others, some gear, and go his own way or…” Adga fingered her sponsorship pin and shot Nuk a smirk. “Win or lose, we could try to recruit him … Even with Thul and Reb, we are still five short of a full patrol, and those two are more like apprentices than patrol members... Most patrols have two apprentices and a standard bearer…

“Besides. Cuson does have what appears to be part of a letter of sponsorship from a Shunral noble, can describe him, and knows a few young lords you all know firsthand. With all those things I bet with you and Tez backing me, we could get him in.”

“With you backing him, and both of us speaking on his behalf, maybe even Thul and Reb, I am certain we could… We may as well try to get the other two he wants to take with him. Rin says the Dwarf will make it. The other he wants must be his half-sister. It would be nice to have another Mage if we can find her. But I must ask. Will you really let him go if he beats me?”

“Yes, if his choice is to go his own way and not join us.” Adga stated resolutely. “One of the first things Burntmetal made me promise before he agreed to teach me was to never back out once I gave my word. Even when teaching me the deepest arts of combat, he always stressed my word is who and what I am. If I lie or don’t do everything I can to fulfill what I said, I am nothing more than the lies I tell.” She grinned as she added, “Which is also why Burntmetal taught me to keep promises to a minimum.”

Nuk snickered. “Great advice.” He took a deep breath and turned serious. “If I am going to face Cuson, we need to have rules about magic use and I’d prefer to do it before I have to take another turn on the chair of horrors.”

“We’ve scouted out every place we can easily get to, so let’s get back and see if he really wants a piece of you.”