An entire day went by on the cart, as the party travelled from Cie’Awll to the wall separating Odnw’Aldn from the wasteland beyond. By the evening of the second day Laurence and the guards had arrived at the unloading area under the wall. Laurence was taken aback by the distance from which he could see the wall itself. The wall was massive, it stretched in either direction for what seemed like an eternity and dominated the landscape. The wall was breath-taking in every respect, the top seeming to reach the heavens itself. It truly cut the land in two.

Laurence asked Jake how the wall was built, because it was one of the most incredible feats of human creation he had ever seen. Even things in the book did not match the ingenuity of this wall, which was an odd idea when he thought about it. His book told him how to make anything, but there was nothing truly big or difficult in it. Jake said it was something that had been there since ages past, that the ascended ones built it so the wildlings would stay out of Odnw’Aldn.

The boy found Jake and Trev to actually be quite good company once they had worked past the awkwardness of the plot they had formed. For almost all the questions Laurence had one of the two would have an answer. Most of the talking was done by Trev on the way back, because Jake would often stare into the middle distance and shake his head like he was contemplating something that he had a problem with. Often nothing would set him off, he would just finish what he was asked or what he was doing and then stare. Yun tried to cheer the young man up by placing his head on Jake’s lap. It did not help, but Jake scratched between Yun’s ears, so he was distracted from the effects of his attempt. The thousand yard stare of Jake’s only seemed to get worse as they got closer to the wall. Finally they arrived at the monolith and he seemed to snap out of it.

Jake rushed off to talk to the commander while Laurence and Trev unloaded the cart they had rode in on. Laurence knew that their transport was only partly an excuse to get him within the wall. He did not know whether they would try and capture him or whether they would just ask him what they wanted to know but he could not wait to find out. The situation was exciting to him, but then any unknown was. After about five minutes Jake came back looking very torn about his choice with a guard detail of twenty men. The commanding officer pointed at Laurence and men immediately surrounded him.

“Young boy, we are arresting you in the name of the Frontier Guard.” The officer paused as Laurence looked at him expectantly. He thought the child would look many things; like worried or afraid, but definitely not expectant, if not excited. “By the power invested in me by Garrison Lord Adrigal I will now escort you to the prison below the wall where you will be interrogated until you tell us what we want to know.”

The guardsmen pointed their spears and ushered the young boy and his dog inside the wall. They were escorted down into the depths of the earth, on an almost direct route downwards. After an hour or so of walking the guards reached a doorway and forced the pair through into the room beyond. It was a small room, with no light source and a small, inhabited cot on the right side of the room. In the far corner of the left side of the room there was a small hole that was used as a toilet. This room was the bare minimum of what was needed to live, however it was still more than Laurence was expecting. His view of things was often skewed by the expectations set from the epic tales and poems his parents had read to him before he went to bed. His view that prisons should be unimaginable places of punishment came from the story of «David The Betrayer», who was imprisoned and tortured for five years. His only resting spot was a coffin that was too small for him to lie in or ever stretch out straight in. Compared to that this room was positively luxurious.

The commanding officer closed the door and said, “We will leave you here for the night. You had best hope that you are willing to talk tomorrow or we will leave you in for longer with no food or water.” Laurence could see Jake visibly blanch at the idea of leaving a small boy in a room with no food, water, fresh air or light source. It was obviously against his morals, but there was nothing he could do about it. He would be court-martialled and thrown in prison with the boy if he tried anything. To the higher ups this was absolutely for the greater good.

As the light faded from the room and the men left the boy and dog to their own devices, Laurence ignited his mana reservoir to create a light. He moved over to the bed to see who their companion would be while Yun walked over to the hole and immediately regretted sniffing it. The body of the creature was small, thin and covered completely by the blanket. It was definitely not a human. He peeled off the blanket and was confronted by an imp-like creature with four wings, huge eyes and extremely long ears. It blinked at the boy as Laurence said “Who are you?”

The imp split its face in half with a smile and replied, “My name is Damascus, and I know who you are, hammer boy.”