Aquillia and Tunio walked through the market district where they passed merchants offering fruit, vegetables, meat, and grains. They rounded another corner where more merchants were offering jewels, trinkets and bolts of fine cloth and silks. Tunio spotted the door to Irrawella’s shop. She stood behind a mannequin, sewing and stitching the cloth over it. Tunio pushed open the door and walked through, Aquillia following and closing the door behind her.

Irrawella looked up as they came in and smiled at Tunio and Aquillia. “You two are friends?”

Aquillia chuckled.

“You two know each other?” Tunio asked.

“I met her during the festival. She helped me work through something. It helped me come back to you.”

Tunio turned back Aquillia. “It looks like you have helped me out.”

“What do you mean?” Aquillia asked.

“Irrawella ran away from me during the festival and then came back a little while later. If she hadn’t, I never would have gotten my father’s sword back.”

Aquillia smiled. “He was the man that lost his sword?”

She turned to Tunio, “That was you?”

Irrawella nodded. “It was.”

Tunio chuckled.

“Well I need your help now.”

“How can I help?” Irrawella said, putting her sewing kit down on the bench.

“Do you know an elf named Paulus?”

“Paulus? The baker? I can show you to him. He is a good friend of mine. What do you want with him?’

“He might be my brother,” Aquillia explained. “I haven’t seen him for nearly a hundred years, this is the first clue in nearly thirty-four years.”

Irrawella smiled and grasped Aquillia’s shoulder. “I will be glad to. Just let me get changed.” She ducked behind the bench, dropped her grey slave’s skirt, and pulled out a white blouse and blue skirt. She stepped into the blue skirt and pulled the white blouse on over her head.

Stepping around the bench, she slipped into a pair of sandals and pushed open the door. Tunio and Aquillia followed. Irrawella closed the shop door and locked it behind them. She led them back through the merchants selling cloth and silks. She rounded a corner and came to a small plaza area with many sets of tables and chairs filling the plaza. She strode through them and walked down a short alley. At the end of the alley they came to another plaza with a road running through. The area was filled with bakers, candlestick makers, florists, and a few soap makers.

“Paulus's shop is that one.” Irrawella pointed to a shop with several loaves of bread and several cakes sitting in the window. “Do you need me to make introductions?”

“I will be fine, thank you.” Aquillia squared her shoulders and walked to the shop, pulled the door open, and stepped inside. She let go of the door and it closed behind her.

“You ready for our trip to the top of Mount Wealth?”

“You don’t want to watch?”

“I am certain that if he is her brother, then she will tell us about it.”

“Take me to Mount Wealth.”

Irrawella grabbed his hand and pulled him away. “The start of the path is not far from here.” She headed west along the road which ended with a small incense merchant and a tailor. Between the two shops was a small alleyway, wide enough for only one person to squeeze through. She led Tunio between the buildings; at the other side was a small sign that read, “Mount Wealth pilgrimage trek”. On the bottom of the sign was a symbol of three coins stacked.

“This is the place.” Irrawella clapped her hands and bounced on her toes.

A small dirt track made up the side of the hill. On either side were tall trees and low ferns. Tunio looked at the mountain and it loomed large in front of them.

“Does this track take us all the way to the top?”

“Yes.” Irrawella stopped bouncing and stood next to Tunio, looking up at the peak.

“Let’s begin.”

“Last night I packed two bags with a few essentials in case it takes longer than I predicted.” She reached into a clump of ferns and pulled out two bags, slinging one over her shoulder and handing the other to Tunio, who slung it over his shoulder.

“What’s in it?”

“Not much. Just a blanket, some food and a tinderbox.”

Tunio nodded. “Good thinking. How long does it normally take to scale the mountain?”

“I have heard of people getting to the top and back again in half a day, but I have also heard of people taking a day and a night.”

“Lead on.”

Irrawella took the lead and started up the mountain. The track started off gentle and started to slope gradually upwards. The small stand of trees soon became thick, and the sound of running water was heard. The track ran north along the side of the mountain, with the mountain to the south. The trees became thicker, nearly blocking out all the sunlight. What light did come down was broken through the trees. As the track flattened out and the trees cleared, the sound of rushing and falling water became deafening. A large waterfall, hewn from the stone of the mountain, crashed over them. They walked under the water as it crashed over from its source high above them. The track continued through the waterfall and the trees resumed. After hiking for about an hour, the track came to a small clearing and Irrawella stopped. A sign sat before the clearing, “The beginning of wealth is the journey of humility. Rest and reflect on your place in the world”. The three-stacked coin symbol was tucked into the bottom of the sign.

“That was truly beautiful,” Irrawella said, placing her bag on the ground.

Tunio placed his bag next to hers. “It was.”

“Is it hot or is it just me?”

“With the sun and the exercise, it can be a little warm.” Tunio sat down on the grass of the clearing and Irrawella joined him.

“A small break is a good idea.”

Irrawella fanned herself with her hand as they sat and rested. After a short break Tunio got up and shouldered his bag again. So Irrawella stood and shouldered her bag.

“Onwards and upwards.”

Irrawella took the lead, taking them back to the track. The track sloped gently and soon became very steep. Steps were carved into the rock of the mountain.

Tunio found two large walking sticks on the side of the track and gave one to Irrawella, who smiled gratefully at him. As they rounded to the south side of the mountain the trees thinned and they came to an open field. The sun beat down on them and sweat broke on their foreheads. The lack of trees opened a small vista to them. They looked south and could see the tower spires of the gnomish district. The tallest spires, which seemed impossibly tall from their base, seemed small from their current vantage point. The mountain grew steeply to their right with a quick drop off to their left.

“We have come quite a distance,” Tunio commented.

“Wow,” Irrawella said.

“I thought you had taken this walk before.”

“I am a slave,” she replied. “I never had the time nor a good reason. It is hot now.”

“It is,” Tunio agreed, wiping his head with his arm.

Irrawella dropped her bag to the ground, pulled her blouse off and tied it around her head. She picked up her bag and shouldered it on her bare shoulders.

“That is much better,” she sighed.

Tunio chuckled.

“I notice that you don’t wear shirts.”

“I only own one.”

“So why don’t you wear it?”

“I grew up on a farm, we didn’t have much and we made do with what we could.”

“Shirts were not essential?”

Tunio shook his head. “You’re a slave, you don’t normally wear a shirt yourself.”

Irrawella nodded and continued along the path. They were now halfway up and had completed one full circling of the mountain. The trees returned and the path came to a small clearing with soft grass. Another sign sat in the clearing. It read: “Wealth is patient and kindness better than gold: Rest and refresh yourself”. The three-stacked coin was sitting at the bottom of the sign.

Tunio and Irrawella dropped their bags and sat on the grass.

“We are on the right path,” said Tunio.

“We are,” Irrawella assured.

“There have been so many clues; one clue leads to another. I hope that at the summit we don’t find just another clue.”

“Why is it so important to you?”

Tunio lifted the sword strap over his head and held the sword in front of him. “This is my father’s sword, but it is not just a sword.”

“It’s the last memory of your father.”

“The thing is, I only saw my father use it once, apart from the time he spent training my sisters and I.”

“What happened?”

“A group of dark elves cut down my father and the rest of my family. When my father died, he insisted that I take no revenge, saying that his death and that of mother and my sisters fulfilled a curse.”

“How does this link to the sword?”

“I am not certain. I believe that the sword is linked to something bigger than freeing the curse, millennia old.”

“How did you come to that conclusion?”

“I love that you question everything,” Tunio smiled.

“Sorry.” Irrawella hung her head.

“It’s okay. After grieving for my father, my dreams changed from reliving that night to something very strange.”

Irrawella looked up at Tunio, curiosity in her eyes.

“I started dreaming of myself, dressed in a set of armour and facing off against what I can only assume is a god; the only god that matches is the god Mars. Mars, dressed in bronze armour, came down from a mountain and I fought with him. Then I would hear words in my head.”

“What words?”

“Now until this point, I had had the sword for maybe a month, and I had never even drawn the sword. The words I heard were:

A man’s heart is fickle,

true must a man’s heart be

to wield the spirit.

Honour and glory,

reveal the soul

remain true to your word

and see glory.”

“How long have you heard this voice?”

“About seven days now.”

“How did you work out the sword was the one sending the words?”

“At one point before I met you.”

Irrawella nodded.

“I had a woman over. She unsheathed the sword and showed me the words.”

“What made her unsheathe the sword?”

“I am not certain,” Tunio admitted. “From what I could gather, she is part of a secret society that believes something about the seals that protect the realms of men.”

“Now you have lost me.”

Tunio chuckled, “Regardless of what she believes, she discovered this.” He unsheathed the sword enough so that the words were visible and passed the blade over to Irrawella.

She read the words on the first side, then turned the blade over and read the words on the other side. “How is this possible?’

“While I take what she said with a grain of salt, I can’t deny the words on the sword. That isn’t even the end of the story.”

“There is more?”

“This is when it gets really strange. A few nights ago, I had another dream, but this one was different.”

“How so?”

“Well, in the dream I was standing around a campfire with eight other people. They started by reciting these verses, but then went on, each person reciting two verses much like the verses on the blade.”

“How do you know there were two verses?”

“The verses the king gave as the original clue for the hunt for the Belt of Veritas. One is on the blade of my sword, and the second was recited in the dream by the second person. The second person in the dream also added another verse to what I already know.”

“What were the verses?”

Tunio recited,

“Lies destroy the heart and mind.

Truth frees the soul,

Honesty shall humble you.

Gains shall follow.

Return to truth

Separate truth from lie

The sword divides

Truth sets the captives free.”

Tunio took the blade from Irrawella and replaced it inside its scabbard.

“Do you have the whole poem memorised?”

Tunio shook his head. “So far only the first four verses have been relevant.”

Irrawella nodded and then she looked up at the sky. “I don’t think we will be able to finish the climb today.”

“I think we can make it to the summit, before the sun sets.”

Tunio stood and helped Irrawella stand. They shouldered their bags and set off up the mountain, rounding the north side. The trees were shorter and thinner here, the track was very steep, and they had to climb steep steps on all fours. The top of the mountain was hollowed out and the track went down into the bowl of the mountain where the ground was bleak and black. They wound their way deeper, following the narrowing track which ended at a small cave. They went inside and found a small wooden door with the tree-stacked coin symbol emblazoned on the front.

“This is the place.” Tunio pushed the door and it opened with a creak. It was dark behind the door.

“We need to make a torch. Can I have your tinderbox and your blouse?”

Irrawella dropped her bag to the floor, pulled out a small box, and gave it to Tunio with her blouse.

Tunio wrapped the blouse around the end of his walking staff, struck a flame into the tinder box and then lit the blouse with it. The door had no handle just a rounded indentation. Tunio pushed against the door and it did not budge.

“This indentation looks similar to the one in the Library,” Irrawella said.

Tunio drew his sword and placed the hilt into the indentation, there was a whirling and the door swung wide and opened inwards. The light of the torch cast into the room beyond the door and Tunio stepped inside. The room beyond was a small square, wide enough for two people. The walls were smooth, not carved.

“This is strange. It’s almost as if this cave was formed by the rock itself,” Irrawella mused. A small tunnel headed down and to their right. As Tunio headed off down the tunnel, it curled down and then the room widened. They saw that the room contained two small chests. Tunio bent down and opened one chest; it was filled with precious gems and several gold bars and many gold folia!

“Well, at least you don’t have to worry about money,” Irrawella smirked, her eyes growing as wide as saucers.

“You were here with me, you deserve half,” said Tunio.

“Any money I have belongs to my owner, and she doesn’t deserve the money.”

“So, you can’t buy your freedom?”

“Pretty much. I must either be freed by my master or be bought by someone else. If I presented this money to my owner and asked to be freed, my owner would be within her right to take the money and not free me.”

Tunio nodded, his eye narrowing. “That’s a shame.”

“What’s in the other one?”

Tunio opened the other chest. Inside was a single metal belt, made from interlocking plates. Tunio picked it up and turned it over. Inside the belt words were inscribed:

Lies destroy the heart and mind.

Truth frees the soul,

Honesty shall humble you.

Gains shall follow.

Return to truth

Separate truth from lie

The sword divides

Truth sets the captives fre.e

“Is that the Belt of Veritas?” asked Irrawella.

“I hope so.”

Tunio stood, opened the belt and wrapped it around his waist. A small steel ring hung on his left side. Tunio lifted the strap to his sword over his head, unhitching it from the scabbard, and threaded it through the metal ring. Then he reattached the strap to the scabbard again.

The belt and the sword glowed. The sword and the scabbard shifted. The sword became shorter and thinned. The belt became thinner and fitted Tunio with ease.

“She was right. They do go together.”

What does all this mean? Am I destined for something more?