Garion awoke to a bucket of what he hoped was water being thrown over his head. he moaned as he lay face down in the dirt. he was dragged To his feet. the thickest Globs of mud where washed away by the rain allowing Garion to look around. At first he thought he had been returned to Brackenfall castle so familiar did the soot covered walls that surrounded the courtyard look. even the vast stone keep looked nearly identical. But as Garion looked around himself at the people he realized slowly he had been taken to a much different place.

This Fort was far more densely populated then Brackenfall. the citizens all seemed to be paying attention to the small group Garion stood a part of he surveyed the crowd they where split into two groups. those armoured. and those who wore robes. The armour ranged from the now familiar scaled plate Garion had seen prove of little use. and the flayed leather armour of the inquisitorial guilds-men. The robed members of the crowd where split in two again. both set wore the same style of robes as the servants at Brackenfell but there robes where coloured blue and black respectively. Garion estimated maybe there where a hundred people in the courtyard at large.

A tall thin man stepped forwards. and his stamped his feet into the mud Garion looked over the man's armour. Garion recognised it as the armour of Inquisitor RIka. "Did you put me in that box?" spat Garion through gritted teeth. Rika did not answer. he merely raised a gauntleted hand and struck Garion hard in the face. Garion's vision blurred with pain and his legged threatened to give way again. Had it not been for the strong arms of the robed servants holding him up. Inquisitor Rika began to speak from underneath his skin leather helm. "Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Drakenfell. Guildhall of the Inquisitor and Hearth of the Dragonslayer's of Robertia"

"What the hell did you bring us here for?" came a voice to Garion's left. he turned his head to see the rest of the small group he was standing to the front of. aside from himself and the two servants at his sides there where three other men. all of them where much older then Garion the youngest looking around thirty years old and there other two seemingly over half a century each. the man who had spoke looked panicked. the other two merely looked broken. behind them Garion could see four dark wooden boxes stood open. clearly he hadn't been the only only to be unboxed today. Inquisitor Rika began to pace in front of the group before her answered the elderly man "You are here because you have broken the laws of Robertia. You are in the joint custody of Drackenfell." came the inquisitors cruel voice from under his helm.

"I didn't do it m'lord" the old man said before he dropped to his knees and beg to beg. "it was just a misunderstanding sir, i meant no offence" there was a sickening thud as the inquisitors guanlet collided with the man's face. "You will remain silent until you are asked to speak. you will not lie. you will follow me into the keep for processing" the inquisitor said before turning and striding into the stone building behind him. Garion looked around the caught yard as the rest of the group started to slowly follow the inquisitor inside. he briefly thought of trying to make a run for the gate. after taking his first step the idea disappeared. as the servants who had been holding him up released there grip he felt the weakness of many days spent without food take him.

as if moving through waste high mud. he forced his broken body to move. rather then walking he managed a pained hobble towards the stone door. He entered the castles inner keep. Unlike the outside of the courtyard, the inside of the keep bore no resemblance to its sister castle at all. where the dark torchlit winding passages of Brackenfell sought to confuse visitors. Drackenfell's entrance hall was a vast open space. the centre of which contained a large wooden table with a middle aged man in a dark leather tunic. as Garion hobble to join the rest of the group the man began to speak a speech with the security of somebody who has said the exact same speech thousands of times.

"Gentlemen, Welcome to Drackenfell, you will be remaining here until such time as you can stand trial for you crimes." he looked at each of them one by one before checking his notes "Trott, Baxter and Rustmouth" he said looking back up at the group. the three other men nodded "You will follow the warden there to the Low risk block in the east wing" he gestured to another man standing to his left also dressed in the same dark leather tunic. "Greensleeves?" he asked after checking his notes again. "Inquisitor Rika will escort you to the black tower." he gestured to Rika. Rika proceeded to roughly push Garion in the opposite direction to the rest of the prisoners. Garion in too much pain to really think about his situation let himself be lead out of the entrance hall.

As they passed through the corridors of the castle Garion was once again struck by how strikingly different the interior of the Drackenfell felt compared to the dark hallways of Brackenfell. The large ornate window allowed sun to bounce in across the stone walls. They eventually came to the most north westerly tower. it was with some difficulty Garion managed to climb the spiral staircase. as the reached the top the stairs opened out into a central room with maybe 30 or so round openings on the wall. each opening was covered by bars of a dark black metal. Rika Dragged Garion towards one of the opened and pushed him through. as Garion turned back to look at the inquisitor the stone of the wall expanded leaving the opening he had been pushed through no bigger then 10 or so inches wide and maybe 3 inches tall. "Your trial will be in three weeks. my suggestion would be to not die in that time." came the inquisitor's voice through the small gap. Rika had the tone of somebody who had already won. Garion resolved to not let Rika win. as he relaxed he felt his body give way from under him. the small cell swam in his vision. he collapsed onto the cold stone floor and felt sleep rush over him like an ocean. the world faded to black.