“Yustradil, you need to come!” I shouted as I burst into the hall of the kobolds. I was dishevelled from running and hopefully seemed adequately desperate and in a hurry. “Calcryx is... the goblins keep her as a hostage, and they are planning to kill her soon! You have to help us; we cannot free her alone!”

The kobolds were stunned for a moment, then started buzzing like an angry beehive. Yustradil's shout cut over the noise. She was panicking hard.

“Right! Of course!” then she started to shout in her language, and four of the better-armed kobolds followed their leader as it ran towards me. Just four? I thought in annoyance. Well, we will have to make do with that much, I guess.

“Lead the way!” Yustradil shouted, and I obeyed.

I took them to the well, and we climbed down to the level where my other companions were waiting. We ran through the deserted corridors and chambers. They were peaceful now, there was no sign of the previous day's bloody fight. I led them on and on, deeper and deeper into the bowels of the maze. At last, we arrived at the room where we found the books last night. I opened the door, ready to fight, but there was only another corridor behind, so I ran forward.

I was expecting resistance every moment now, but instead, we came upon stairs, running down, then running up again, panting from the exertion. And still the corridor went on, and I was getting worried that the kobolds might see through my lies before we encountered any goblins, but then, at last, I saw two doors. I tried to open the first one, but it would not give way, so I tore at the second in panic, and to my relief, it flew open. I rushed in, the kobolds right after me, Beldrak, Jim and Erky inconspicuously staying behind.

Three arrows flew at me the moment I barged in, but they all harmlessly bounced off my mail. Six goblins stood before us, surprised but ready for battle. Three armed themselves with bows, and other three with small swords.

They came at us, and the kobolds, who were even smaller and weaker than our enemies, fell one by one. I cut down a goblin, then saw movement on my left, and brought up my shield just in time to deflect a blow from a moving bush that appeared from the darkness. A door sprang open on my right, three further goblins streamed out. Two more bushes moved on my left.

Then there was a roaring of fire, the hands of Yustradil spitting flame, and the bushes were gone. Then the kobold was chanting again, I desperately held the goblins at bay, and suddenly they were gone too, their charred bodies hitting the ground at my feet.

“Nice work,” I said. “Now we have to go this way...”

“Enough!” shouted Yustradil. “Where is Calcryx?”

“That's where I am leading you, if you come with me just a little longer...”

“I won't go anywhere until I see Calcryx!” the kobold's nostrils were flaring. “What kind of fool do you take me for? I will wait outside, on the corridor! Bring my dragon here, and soon, or you will face dire consequences!”

“As you wish,” I spit mockingly, not hiding my scorn anymore. “Wait here if you are too much of a coward to finish a job you started.”

“I would think,” it hissed in a threatening voice “that we are paying you to get this job done. We have bled enough on your behalf now.” It stormed out on the door whence we came from, its only surviving guard behind it.

“Well, you have done it now,” said Jim disapprovingly. “How will you talk yourself out from that?”

“I am done talking with kobolds,” I snarled, my blood still boiling from anger. I considered killing Yustradil there and then, but I did not want Erky to see my treachery, lest he decides to desert us before we faced the Outcast. “Let us go,” I said instead, and we went into the room where the last three goblins came from.

It was a study with books and some other valuables scattered around, but nothing dangerous sprang at us, so we left looting the room for later, and went back to the bigger chamber.

This wasn't so much a room, but a gigantic cave, stretching out in a southern direction. We were at the northern tip, where the ground was bare, but not far from us bushes and trees grew in the unhealthy light of the luminous lichen. This must have been the Grove of Twilight.

We went into the grove in a skirmish line so we could cover the whole width of the cave, but we could still aid each other. This proved to be a very effective strategy in flushing out the moving bushes; we didn't leave out a single one of them. Either they attacked one of us, or we spotted them in time, but either way they perished. Luck, or stupidity of the enemy, was still on our side, and the bushes attacked in ones and twos instead of massing together, and overwhelming us with their numbers.

In less than a half-hour, we spotted the southern wall of the cave. A giant tree stood before it, old, withered and rugged, with barely any leaves on it. There was no wind in the cave, yet the branches of the tree were still moving.

“Don't tell me that big one can move as well,” I muttered.

We pulled together instinctively, abandoning our skirmisher line, so Beldrak heard me, and answered.

“In all likelihood, it can. I would guess the small ones are its branches.”

“And what a fine guess!” a tall and scrawny man stepped from the shadow of the tree. His head was little more than a skull, like he was in the final stage of starvation. But otherwise, he did not seem weak, his posture was self-assured, and his green eyes glowed with a fiery determination. “You arrive just as I expected.”

“I assume you are the one whom the kobolds call the Outcast,” said Jim.

“Your assumption is correct! However, I prefer to be called Belak.”

“The man does not seem very disturbed by the fact that we massacred all its minions,” I said to Beldrak.

“I would say that's because he is completely bonkers.”

“What a rude thing to say about your host, and soon to be employer!” the Outcast exclaimed jovially. “But sadly I am not unfamiliar with the accusation. This was the reasoning of my peers as well when they exiled me from the Circle.”

“We are curious folks,” I admitted. “So it is a welcome thing that you are willing to chat with us. We do have some questions. But first we would like to negotiate the release of your prisoners.”

“Oh! But I don't have any prisoners.” He gestured, and two other figures stepped out from behind the big tree, a woman and a big brute of a man. I could not see their faces, but their figure matched the descriptions of Sharwin Hucrele and Sir Braford. Talgen Hucrele was nowhere to be seen. “These fine people are helping me from their own will.”

“Tough luck, we are taking them anyway,” I announced. “You will persuade them to come with us.”

“Oh! And why would I do such a thing?”

“Because if you don't, I will stick my sword up into your arse, obviously.” That was more of a thing that Publius Decius Mus, the proud Roman noble would have said, not Arnold, the smooth-talking conniving schemer, but I was past caring. The man was completely out of it, as Beldrak had said, and I saw no other way forward than killing the bastard right then and there.

“And again I am being unreasonably threatened! Here I am, trying my best to save the world...”

“We don't have time for that,” smiled Beldrak apologetically. “Tell us more about the tree, please. Is it the one that is making the healing apples?”

“Oh, right, the apples! The literal fruits of my diligent research! This tree is an untapped source of power, and I shepherded it, pruned it, tended to it. It grew out from a stake that was hammered into the heart of a powerful vampire. And now all the lifeforce, all the beautiful magic...”

“So it had nothing to do with the dragon-cult. How disappointing.” I was feeling cheated. The mystery of the fortress and the mystery of the apples were unrelated after all.

“And the moving bushes?” asked Beldrak.

“Ah! My tree blights!” The man showed no sign of annoyance with our continuous interruptions; he gladly raved on. “They grow from the seeds of the apples! That's why I instructed the goblins to give the apples to humans, to trade with them and...”

“So these were the lumberjack-killers,” said Jim sourly. “And I thought a rapier caused the wounds...” This place turned out to be a disappointment for all of us.

“Well, if you ask me, the lumberjacks only got what they deserved. Cutting down trees, what a barbaric act. That's why I let you kill my goblins too. They were useful little fellows, but I just could not get them to respect the woods properly. But you, my friends, will be different. Surely you agree with me after seeing my beautiful underground gardens, after experiencing the variety of life and nature, after...”

We did not have any more questions, so this seemed as good an opportunity as any to dispatch the raving lunatic. Alas, he was surprisingly alert and dodged the javelin I hurled at him.

To my displeasure, the man did not only dodge my javelin but also had time to cast a spell on me. Suddenly the ground came alive around me as tendrils sprouted from it, and twisted around my arms and legs. Jim had his hands full with two moving bushes that sneaked up on him, probably waiting for this very moment, and Erky Timbers was put to sleep by Sharwin Hucrele. Then a donkey-sized toad jumped down from the evil magical tree, and suggestively gaped at me. Things were beginning to assume a decidedly pear-shaped form.

Luckily, my companions had nerves of steel. A moving bush and sir Braford with a long sword were hacking at Beldrak, wounding him on his arm and abdomen but he somehow still managed to finish his chanting, and torched the magical tree.

The moving bush attacking the wizard stopped, and Sir Braford stopped too. The big man turned away from Beldrak and charged at the Outcast. The scrawny man froze in indicision, and at the next moment the brute was on him, hacking wildly with his massive sword.

The wounded Belak screamed in a blood-curdling voice, but an even more chilling sound stifled his voice. Jim has beaten back the two moving bushes taking stabs at him, and using the moment he bought for himself, he threw away his shield, and called to the heavens with his hand. His eyes were closed, his mouth opened, and a frightful roar reverberated in the giant cave.

The shadows deepened around the tiefling, and when he opened his eyes, they were crimson instead of the usual pitch-black. The moving bushes had no eyes and no ears, but somehow the sight and sound still frightened them, and they were retreating from Jim's ire. Sir Braford was running too, only the Outcast, and Sharwin Hucrele stood their ground.

The giant toad did neither. It attacked instead.

The beast was aiming to land near the sleeping Erky Timbers. Then no doubt it intended to devour him. The jump was misjudged though. The monster landed on its head in the middle of the tendrils that were summoned by the Outcast. It lay stunned only a few feet away from me, right when I was able to free myself at last, and with a battle-cry I was suddenly over it, hacking frantically at its head and torso.

For a few moments, it seemed that we were doomed, but my comrades successfully turned the tide of the battle. The Outcast started to prepare a new spell, but he couldn't finish chanting, because one of the moving bushes running from Jim stabbed him on the arm. But Beldrak was free from attackers, finished his spell, and shot it at the Outcast. The man was now bleeding from multiple wounds, his clothes burning, then Jim came up fast behind the fleeing bushes and finished him off.

Sharvin Hucrele vanished, the moving bushes were methodically torched, I killed the giant toad, but sir Braford appeared on the battlefield again. He somehow overcame the fear that Jim awakened in him, and now he was walking menacingly towards us, his massive sword ready to strike. Then I finally saw his face, and there was no battle-joy, no hate, no viciousness on that face. It was sad, and the eyes were like that of a dead man. Seeing that, my bloodthirst was quelled.

I sheathed my sword and spread my palms out towards sir Braford. I cried in a pleading voice.

“Sir Braford, we have come to save you! We have come here to free you from the captivity of the goblins. Do not force us to kill you! Let us take you back in peace!”

The man looked at me, at first without comprehension, then his face slowly contorted into an expression of grief. The sword fell from his hand, and he was weeping then, kneeling on the ground and burying his face into his palms.

Jim was scanning the bushes on our right to see if any of the moving ones remained, and trying to find Sharvin Hucrele without luck. So I walked up there and repeated my pleading. I hoped to rip the woman too out of the madness that must have been induced by the Outcast.

“Lady Hucrele! Your aunt sent us to rescue you! Kerowyn Hucrele is worried about you and your brother! Stop hiding from us, come out so we can help you!”

Suddenly the woman appeared from thin air, and she was kneeling on the ground, weeping too. I picked her up and carried where the already awake Erky Timbers treated sir Braford.

“Will he live? What's wrong with him?”

“I wish I knew,” Erky was shaking his head. “I will do what I can.”

“See that you do,” I clapped on his shoulder and gestured Jim and Beldrak to come. I didn't want Erky to see what was coming.

“Beldrak you still have the dragon's skull?” I asked.

“Sure,” said the wizard. Yesterday he spent a few hours of our rest cutting out the valuable bits from Calcryx, and meticulously packing them away.

“Can I have it?”

“It's on the bottom. Wait a minute, will you?”

He fetched his rucksack from where he left it before the fight, and soon I held the severed head in my hand, packed tightly into a bloody rag. I peeled the cloth away and kept the skull.

“What do you need it for?” asked Jim.

“You will see.”

We walked back to the corridor from whence we entered this cave. Yustradil and its one remaining guard were waiting for us.

“Where is Calcryx?” the kobold hissed at me when it saw me.

The best course of action would have been to hurl a javelin at the nubbin without a word. But I wanted the Kobolds to draw blood first. So I threw the severed head of the dragon to the kobold's feet.

“I killed Calcryx because it was a beast. A feral monster that would have killed us, and even you eventually.”

BANGG. The door slammed shut as Jim called forth his usual spell, and the tiefling was looking at me, visibly shaken.

“What are you doing you idiot?! Why have you told her?”

“It would have found out. If we have to fight, it's better now, when it has no help from the other kobolds.”

If Yustradil swallows its pride and anger, we will just walk away, I thought. But I don't think it will. I started to open the door.

“Don't!” shrieked Jim. “You fool...”

The corridor was suddenly alight with orange flames stemming from the spread-out arms of Yustradil, and I was on the ground again, screaming from the pain, my face and my hand burnt, my armour unbearably hot. Then I passed out.

“You are the stupidest man I have ever met,” Jim said to me when I opened my eyes. “Why did you have to do this? They were our friends. They gave as shelter, and they even fought with us.”

My thoughts were still slow, and my tongue barely obeyed me.

“Have we... won?” I asked.

“We are certainly still alive, but I think we have lost the kobolds forever.”

“We lost them... when we... killed Calcryx. Is... Yustradil dead?”

“Beldrak put them to sleep. We can decide what to do later...”

I shook my head. By Jove, I was thirsty!

“Drink...,” I whispered, as I stood up.

“Here,” Jim gave me his waterskin. “Yours is done for; the fire ruined it.”

I drank deep, then walked out to the corridor. Beldrak was binding the remaining kobold warrior and Yustradil. It was the easiest thing to walk up to them, and stab the sleeping figures through the throat.

“What the...” Jim stared at me incredulously, and even Beldrak seemed nauseated.

“We could have exchanged them...”

“They would have turned on us right after that. And Yustradil was too dangerous. To keep it prisoner, we should have watched it day and night, or it could have used its lesser spells to cause mischief.”

Jim turned around and left without a word.

“Well, it seems the fire ruined most of my pouches,” I said to Beldrak. Thankfully the one that had the myrtle berries is miraculously untouched.

“What of it?”

“I will have to sew some pockets onto my clothes,” I mused. “Those are convenient things anyway. And since we are already here, we could also search for coins to stuff into them.”

Beldrak grinned at last. “You have the right of it, boy.”

We looted the place, I, despite my still hurting injuries somewhat giddily, Beldrak methodically, and Jim sulked.

“There was no need to murder her. Aren't you always the one who wants to talk his way out of fights? And even if you don't find a problem with murdering prisoners, they could have been very useful to us! You know, I wanted to learn Draconic from Meepo at least!” he said at last. “Now there is hardly a chance he will come with us when we leave.”

“What a coincidence, I also want to learn Draconic,” I answered. Dragons seemed to be an important force in this world. “I think Erky will be a splendid teacher.”

“He speaks with an accent!”

“The point is that he speaks at all.”

Jim turned away with a disgusted expression again.

By now they already stripped the room at the northern wall of the cave of valuables. We netted a few hundred coins again, mostly silver, but some gold as well. We found no magical apple, though.

“Then it's time we got going,” I put on the backpack I bought in Oakhurst. “If Erky asks, Yustradil attacked first.”

“She did attack us first,” answered Beldrak. “We will just have to leave out the part where you threw the head of their precious dragon at them.”

Erky was still with the Sharwin Hucrele and sir Braford. The little man was earnest and sad.

“I have done what I could, but it's far from enough. There is a curse on them which I can't dispel. They are both dying.”

“Surely not,” I said. “There is a priest in Oakhurst who has even stronger healing powers than you, isn't that right? If we hurry, we can be back in the village by nightfall.”

“What should we tell the Kobolds?” whispered Jim to me.

“I will handle that,” I answered.

“We got into the whole mess in the first place because we let you handle our negotiations...”He is not wrong.

I scooped up Sharwin Hucrele and left my companions to deal with sir Braford. The magic of this world was something amazing. Back home, assuming I would have survived my grievous injuries at all, I would have to lie in bed for months with them. And even after that, I would have been weak as a kitten. Here it took less than an hour, and I was up and running again, carrying a grown woman even though I was already clad in heavy armour.

We left the cavern, Jim supporting sir Braford, while Erky and Beldrak carried our packs and everything we pilfered down here. Erky gasped when he saw the dead kobolds. It was not a pretty sight.

“Those are...”

“It was self-defence,” I assured him. “They tried to kill me.”

“But why?”

“You were the one who found out that they were planning to betray us in the first place. You shouldn't be all that surprised.”

“But...”

“I understand your pain, I had no desire to kill them either,” I lied through my teeth. “But it was them or us. Thankfully she couldn't have the time to give order the other Kobolds to turn against us. Let me speak with them so that we can pass through their territory peacefully.”

Erky stayed quiet, but he shot me a very suspicious look. So much about not losing his trust.

The conversation with the kobolds on the upper level proved to be easy, as I expected. The stupid little beasts swallowed my lies easily, and believed me that the goblins slew Yustradil. I suspected that sooner or later they will find out the truth, but for now, they let us go unmolested with the two prisoners we rescued.

The journey back to Oakhurst was long and arduous. Even though a floating disk conjured by Beldrak now carried sir Braford, we were still slowed down, and it was already dark when we arrived in the village.

“Who goes there?” a post stopped us before the line of houses.

“Derham, don't you remember? It is me; we were drinking together the other day. I played dice with Sergeant Irwin.”

“Of course, that Arnold fellow. Indeed it is you.”

“And we have brought back Sharwin Hucrele.”

“The young lady! By the gods, it is true!” the guard exclaimed as his torch lit the face of the woman. “Go ahead then!”

We took our proteges to the temple of Adaron, where Erky's superior took them into her care. She was not hopeful.

“That is a powerful curse... I might not be able to lift it...”

While Erky showed us out to let the priestess work in peace, I mused aloud.

“Maybe a magical apple could cure them.”

“Maybe,” Beldrak agreed. “But leave that for tomorrow. Tonight, I am going to get drunk.”

“Well said,” Jim answered. “Lead the way master Trueanvil.”

On that note they left for the tavern. I was planning to join them, and soon, but there were still some people I needed to talk first. I walked to the town hall, and informed the mayor and Captain Felosial of the moving trees of the Outcast.

“You never found the murderers because you were searching for animals or people. But they were these bushes all along, hiding in plain sight.”

“How do you suggest we deal with them?” asked the mayor, pale after my tale about the murdering bushes.

“Fire and axes will do the trick just fine,” mused Captain Felosial. “We will move in groups of five, and simply cut down every bush we come across. It will take a while.”

“I think that is a good plan. Also, your men should wear some armour. This mail protected me well, but you have seen yourself what those bushes can do to an unprotected human body.”

“I will take your advice to heart,” said the captain. “It seems that my instincts were lying to me this time. I suspected you would be villains, but turned out to be heroes.”

“Well, I wouldn't go that far,” I said, thinking back on my lies, schemes and murders. “We are villains all right. But your villains.”

“Be as it may, we are thankful,” said the mayor. “And I am sure the Lady Hucrele is even more thankful that you brought back her niece.”

“We never found her nephew though,” I said grimly. “Only his mail and ring. I shall talk to her. Do you know if I find her in her mansion?”

“No, she went to the church to see her niece right after she got the news. I saw her from the window.”

“We must have missed each other then.”

I took my leave and walked back to the church whence I came from. The lady was there, as the captain said, she was sitting at the bedside of her niece, clutching at her hands, and crying. When she saw me, she got up and gestured me to go over to another room.

“She is dying,” the lady sad in a flat voice. “So is the troublemaker.”

“The priestess can do nothing?”

“Nackle is the very best healer in a hundred miles. And she says her powers are insufficient.”

“I am so sorry, my lady.” And this time, I meant it. Somehow all the monsters and beasts I had the misfortune to meet in the last few days have forged a bond between me and the rest of humanity. Back in Italia there were no monsters, and no talking beasts, only humans, so I felt little kinship with a Greek or a Samnite. But in this dangerous, foreign world I couldn't help but care more about other humans.

And also, the way the lady sat at her niece's bed awoke memories in me. I have been there where she was, helpless and hopeless, and I knew exactly how it felt.

Maybe one of the apples could help. But I did not say it out aloud. I did not want to give the lady false hope. We hadn't found a healing apple among the Outcast's belongings, and Beldrak torched the tree that was creating the fruits. True, we hadn't had the time to examine all of Belak's rooms thoroughly, and the Grove of Twilight was enormous. The chances that the Outcast had hidden an apple somewhere, were slim. He was giving out the healing fruits so they could spread their cursed seeds.

“Has she said anything about her brother?” I asked, instead. We have never seen his corpse. And there were some rooms which we haven't visited yet, and which could be used as a prison.

“Dead,” Lady Hucrele answered flatly.

I stayed silent.

“Still, I am grateful that you brought back my niece. At least she can die in peace. I do not have any money on me, but I will send my manservant to you with your payment first thing in the morning.”

“Thank you, my lady.”

“Will you stay in the village for a time?”

“Just for the night. We still have some unfinished business in the old fortress.”

“After you finished all your business there, I would like to talk to you and your companions. But I will not keep you for now. You are surely tired.”

I was tired, indeed, and I was not in the mood for celebration. Beldrak and Jim were already hopelessly drunk when I got to the inn; both of them chuffing the horrid smoke of the tobacco that still made me cough.

“Go sleep some!” I shouted at them. “We have to wake up early in the morning!”

“Don't be such a sour bastard,” Beldrak generously handed me an empty mug. “Here, drink up!”

“Yeah don't be a spoilsport,” said Jim too. “You already killed my cute little dragon, don't kill the fun too!”

Well, one mug won't hurt, that's true, I told myself the line no young soldier should ever say, when drink is involved.

As it was foreseeable, I woke up with a terrible headache the next day.