My legs weren't tired anymore, so I did a patrol. We were far from the pool and it didn't seem the men wandered too far from it, but they had a reason to now. I imagine their eyesight was no better than ours and none of them seemed to be able to use magic so we probably had lost them but they knew which direction we had gone and if any of them had any sense remaining they would realize this was a good place to hide. Even if they hadn't followed us, there was still a chance of one wandering here randomly.

The rock field was large and there were plenty of places to hide. Still, I had already found two. I just had to wonder how many more there were here. I wouldn't find out. It wasn't safe to leave those two alone, and I still had not gotten used to the air.

On my way back I came across another man. He still wasn't too close to the rock house, but being in the rock field was too close as far as I was concerned. I pulled out an arrow and readied my bow. It would be an easy shot.

As soon as I took the shot, another man jumped from the rocks to my left. I wouldn't have time to get another arrow and shoot him and I had left my poleaxe behind so I pulled out my sword.

I barely made it in time. I slashed at him and he jumped back, surprised. He knew how dangerous my sword was so he had stepped back and watched me. He was still too close to use the bow and even though he was unarmed, I was hesitant to attack him.

Not only was he healthy-looking, he also wore light armor. I wasn't sure, but whoever came here kept the clothes they had died it. This man had died in armor. This also meant he was trained. Even though he had no weapon, he could still be dangerous if he had been trained in martial arts.

This meant I had to use my trump card. I would electrocute him with my sword. Even if that didn't work, I still had my unreliable magic.

I put energy into the sword and lunged at him. My magic seemed weak at the moment so no electricity arced off the sword at him. He easily dodged my attacks but did not counterattack. He was studying me.

Since my melee attacks weren't working, I would have to try magic. My power output had been low ever since I came here so I would be lucky to produce something strong.

I jumped back away from him and summoned fire. It was weak, but it would be enough to injure a person. It didn't. The man had covered his face, and the fire swept over him. It did nothing. His armor glowed slightly. His armor had somehow protected him from my magic. I even tried using a lightning attack on him and his armor easily stopped it.

I was out of breath now. All the jumping from rock to rock and attacking him had taken its toll on me. I couldn't tell how tired the man was, but he had merely been defending. I needed to get away.

I jumped down to the sand below. The man did too. He wasn't going to let me go. I hadn't planned on it so it didn't change my plans.

I knew I couldn't outrun him so I needed to hinder his movement. My magic was not strong but for what I needed to do it didn't need to be. The black sand that seemed to be everywhere was light and powdery. Whenever it was kicked up, it took a while for it to settle if it didn't end up adding to the haze. I would use this to my advantage. It would only take a decent breeze to pick up enough sand to effectively blind someone.

It worked. The surrounding area soon became obscured and I could no longer see him. I knew that he would expect me to either attack him through the dust or flee. It tempted me to attack him but I wanted to get out of here so I ducked and ran at the spot I thought he would least likely expect me to run, the big rock to my right.

I ran as fast as I could to where I remembered the rock being. I got past the spot where I thought he would most likely get me if he knew where I was cleared the dust. He was waiting for they soon knocked me and me to the ground.

He had pinned me. There was no way I could stop him from doing anything. I didn't know what he wanted to do and had to wait.

He studied me. I don't know what was going through his head. If he was sane or insane. If he had any plans at all. I would find out soon.

He smiled at me. “I am impressed, Terran. For one as small as you, you put up a good fight. I had watched you as you came and went from that place.” The black pool or our house? “And am wondering why three young girls would be in such a place.”

I didn't know what to do. Should I tell him everything or should I stay silent? He seemed more curious than anything, but if he wanted to know he could have just asked instead of jumping me. This place seemed to make those that came here go insane so trying to figure out what he was thinking would be sketchy at best. All I could do was to talk to him.

“If you wanted to ask that you didn't have to jump me.”

He laughed. “You looked like you would have killed anything that made a wrong move. I also wanted to see how well you used that sword.”

“Were you watching us at the black pool?”

“The black pool? Oh, yes, I was there. It was funny how you eventually made all but that one stop attacking you. That was quite a feat only I and a few others have accomplished.”

“When the loud one was calling out would have been a good time to talk.”

“The loud one? Does she not have a name? Regardless, I was more interested in watching at the moment.” He smiled again. “So, are you going to tell me what three young girls are doing here?”

“What we're doing here? We're here for a test.”

“Oh, what kind of test?”

“Finding out what the test is is part of the test.”

“You do not even know why you are here? You must have done something bad to Kel to get sent here.”

“It was Usui, not Kel. Why he sent us here, I will not tell you.”

“Usui sent you? Did you burn down his favorite forest or something similar?”

“Even walking into his forest is enough to get you into trouble.”

He laughed, “I have heard. That seems harsh, but there is not much you can do to change that.”

“Can you get off of me now?”

“Oh yes. It must not be comfortable having me leaning on you like this,” He got off of me.

“Is that all?”

He thought, “Are you mad at me? I can understand if you are. Nobody likes to be attacked.”

“Does it matter?”

“Of course it does. You will not let me come close to you again if you are.”

I didn't answer.

“Would you mind taking me to the other two? I would like to speak to “the loud one.””

“Normally I wouldn't but I want to get out of this place and if you can help…”

“Do you want to ask her first?”

“Come.” I got up and ran towards the rock house. I didn't think bringing him was a very good idea, but neither was choosing to come here. At least it made life interesting. Who else could say they had met Usui, Kel, and come to Korran without dying?

Perrinu jumped when she saw me come inside the rock house with the man. She had not expected me to come back with anyone. I bet she thought I killed everything that got too close if she wasn't with me, which was probably true.

“Greetings,” The man knelt on one knee in front of Helnion, “I am called Martu. I would like to know if I can be of any help.”

Perrinu smiled, “I am Perrinu and I thank you for your offer and gladly accept.”

“Good! I look forward to working with you and your friends,” He looked at me then Helnion, who was watching with apprehension. To her, he said, “I will not hurt you.”

Helnion didn't show any sign of believing him.

He sighed, “I guess I can understand being afraid of me. I have been here long enough to know how dangerous everyone here is.”

Perrinu nodded in agreement but changed subjects, “Can you tell us more about this place?”

“Of course. Your… companion said part of your test was finding out what the test and if I can help you find out what that is then all the better.”

“Before we start can I ask you why you decided to help us?”

“In all honesty? I think if you got here you can also leave. I do not know if I could leave with you but even if there is the smallest chance I will take it and even if not it will help relieve the pain and boredom.” Relieving boredom was something Helnion and I could sympathize with. Maybe I could trust him a little.

“I know everyone that comes here has a… reason to come here so I do not mind if you do not talk about that, but would ask if you would explain why everyone is the way they are and what it is like here.”

“Fair enough,” He sat down by the fire and began warming his hands over it. “You already know about the black pool so I assume I need not talk about that. I also assume you have noticed the setting sun that never moves, the lack of anything but rock and sand, and the lack of women.

“I cannot tell you why the sun never moves and I can only speculate why there are no women, but I firmly believe that the lack of anything besides rock and sand is part of the punishment.”

“Punishment?” Perrinu asked.

“I am sure you are aware that Korran is where those that kill themselves are sent to atone. It seems part of the punishment is starvation and thirst. We even still “die” from it.”

“Is that why most of the men are laying on the ground?”

“That is part of it. The rest I will explain now. As you know, we came here to be punished. Starving to death is only part of it. The main punishment is to have us relive our sin every time we sleep. This drives most men insane, either from lack of sleep or from the dreams. Most succumb quickly.”

Well, duh they would. They wouldn't have killed themselves if they were mentally stable.

Perrinu looked shocked when he mentioned the dreams. Had she been having dreams about her past? She hadn't committed suicide, but she was still seeing something. It explained her sobbing.

The man, um Mardu? The man had noticed her too, “Have you had dreams also? I would not think someone that came here like you would have them. It must be the nature of this place.” He looked at Helnion and me, “Have you two been having these dreams?”

I had yet to sleep, so I had no idea. I couldn't tell from Helnion's expression if she had or not, but her life had been rich and easy so I thought nothing terrible enough to start her sobbing had happened.

Neither of us spoke, so the man shrugged, “That is all I can tell you about this place.”

So, this place was simple. You kill yourself. You come here. You have bad dreams, no water, no food, and are surrounded by other insane people that could kill you for no reason. You also kept your wounds.

This brought up a question. “How did you die?” I asked the man.

“Salis!” Perrinu said angrily, “That is something we do not need to know about.”

“I don't care why he killed himself, I just noticed that he doesn't have wounds like the others.”

The man laughed. “I do not mind. I cannot hide it from you forever. I killed myself with poison. As to why I killed myself…”

Perrinu cut him off, “You do not need to tell us if you do not want to.”

“I do not mind. I think talking about it will do me some good.”

Perrinu looked not only sad, but it also looked like she didn't want to hear something like why someone would see killing themselves as good. Even so, she nodded.

“Have you heard of the Kingdom of Ioo?”

The Kingdom of Ioo. I had heard of it. It was a Kingdom far north and east of Flaern across an inland sea.

“My country had been at war for just over two years. I was an officer in charge of the defense of the northwestern gate to a city. The enemy had just laid siege to the city, and we did not have the manpower to break it. We also did not have the food stores to feed everybody for long. The fighting was fierce on several fronts and we knew that the chances of getting reinforcements was low. It was either distract the enemy and keep them away from reinforcing any of the other fronts and slowly starve or hope for a lucky break and we would get reinforcements.

“To my regret, a third option came. I could not stand seeing my people starve so I went to the enemy to negotiate. I thought surrendering would save my people from starvation. I tried to persuade my command to do this, but they thought holding them off for as long as possible was for the best of the war effort even if it meant starvation.

“I… I betrayed them. I went to the enemy camp and told them that if they promised to spare the common people I would… I would let them in.

“They agreed and a few nights later I opened the gate. It was a massacre. They lied to me. Their soldiers did unspeakable things to my people, and once they were in the city, there was nothing that could stop it. They even brought my wife in front of me and… and…”

“That is enough,” Perrinu said, crying and patting his back.

“They let me live so I would suffer from what I had done. I couldn't face myself so I…” Strangely he didn't look as sad as I thought he would have been considering what he had done and what had happened because of it.

“I do not know how long I have been here, but it is a fitting place for someone as polluted as I.”

“Are you going to be here for eternity?” Perrinu asked.

“I do not know. I would like to believe I have come to terms with my sin, but I cannot bring myself to forgive myself.” He looked at us each once before continuing, “This brings me to why I came.”

“Why you came to us?” Perrinu asked.

“When I saw you, girls, I thought if I helped you might help me redeem myself. If I could protect you from the… the others then maybe, just maybe I could repay some of my sins.”

Perrinu was now smiling, “We would appreciate any help you could give us.” She looked at me.

I shrugged.

“Thank you,” Martu looked at me and then back to Perrinu, “I may not be as capable as I once was, and I will not ask for a sword, but I have been trained in hand to hand techniques and should still be able to protect you.” He looked at me again, “I can even help the little one improve her fighting skills.”

Perrinu looked at me, “Is this all right with you, Salis?”

I still didn't trust him. I didn't know if I could trust any of these nut cases. This man even had a history of betrayal, but…

“All right,” I said grudgingly. “But he sleeps outside.”

“Is that fine with you?” Perrinu asked him.

“Of course. It would not be… appropriate to sleep in here with you girls.”

Negotiations were now complete. I wasn't happy, but I knew it was the best thing we could do. There was also the fact that we could do nothing to stop him if he attacked us so staying on his good side was the smartest thing to do.

Martu stood up, “Do you have any plans?”

Perrinu looked at me then back to him. “I think the most we can do is to find any others and hope that they can give us any ideas about what we were sent here for.”

“All right. You will not have much luck here, but I have met a few others that have kept their wits. I do not know where they are but I can look around where I last saw them. Unfortunately, it will probably take a while and I will not be here to help train or protect. If the little one meets any others like me, she cannot do much.”

“What do you mean?” Perrinu asked. “If you do not think Salis is enough to protect us, we can go with you. I would prefer to go with.”

He shook his head. “Even I cannot protect you if we got attacked by too many at once. I am surprised that it has not happened to you yet. So I believe you should stay here while I am gone where this rock house can protect you.”

Perrinu sighed, “If you think that is the best.”

“She's just bored and is tired of sitting around here,” I put in, hoping for a good reaction. I also thought it was true.

Martu laughed and Perrinu looked at the floor, embarrassed.

“Is this true?” Martu asked Perrinu.

“Y-yes.”

“I do not blame you, but boredom is not something you should risk your life to quell.”

Note to self: Do not tell Martu about things Helnion and I do when we are bored.

“If it gets too bad, you can always make up some games,” Martu said, hoping we thought it was a good idea.

Perrinu took one look at Helnion and me then sighed.

“Well, I think the sooner I leave the better.” He started to leave.

“Fare thee well, and good fortune in your search,” Perrinu waved.

“And you three stay safe, though the little one will probably see to that just fine.”

I did not look forward to him sending men our way. I'm sure what he told us was true. If he wanted to kill us, he would have. Any other man we meet might have different ideas about that. Neither Helnion nor Perrinu were what I would call exceptionally beautiful, but these men had been away from women for so long it wouldn't matter. There could also be a pedophile or two that would take a fancy to me, like Usui.

Now that we could look forward to getting more visitors, I wanted to finish our rock wall, but with so many rocks around most of the work was already done and we just needed to fill in the gaps. The only problem would be keeping anyone from climbing over so I would have to think about ways to stop that.

Helnion was not happy about moving stones again. She was bored, so she did do it, but it almost looked that she would rather sit around doing nothing than to move any more stones. I helped as much as I could but we had only finished a small portion before she tired and took her spot by the fire.

Perrinu was reading a new book. Usui had been sending them a little more frequently now. He had even sent one to Helnion after we put a book back through her box. I wasn't in the mood to join in the reading so I practiced some drills with my weapons.