Missteps Book Two

Chapter Twelve – Stuck in a Rut

Thanks to Iados’s late night, and a couple of slight hangovers from a night of imbibing at the pub, M.A. got a later start the next morning than they’d originally planned. After a late breakfast/early lunch, they finally settled in the cart and got on the road shortly before noon.

Jun sat in the back of the cart, his head in his hands as he silently cursed the sun. Carric laid out next to him, legs over the side and arm thrown over his eyes. Ander sat up front, legs tucked up under him.

“It’s your own fault.” The wizard grinned as he turned another page in his spellbook. Next to him, Elaine rolled her eyes as she did her best to keep the cart steady. She didn’t quite have Carric’s skill, but she could at least keep the horse going straight.

Carric flipped the halfling the bird. “You didn’t even compete, so keep quiet.” Shomma nudged her Master’s ribcage as she begged for pets, which he complied.

“As the duly appointed scorekeeper, I’m allowed to have an opinion.” The halfling quipped back.

Iados chortled from the back of a shape-changed horse-Lia. “Explain to me again why you didn’t use the ringer in a drinking contest?”

“It wasn’t a drinking contest.” Jun groaned and rolled his neck. “First and foremost it was an arm-wrestling contest.”

“It just happened to include drinking, right?” The akudaem laughed again. He looked over at Ander. “How’d our boys do?”

“Pretty well, but in the end were beat out by this old dwarf.” Ander chuckled. “Not that they were in any condition to realize they’d been beat. This wasn’t a bracket-style contest, this was a points-based contest. Ordinarily, the one who drinks the most beer is the winner, but this time it was the one who drank the least and stayed awake.” The halfling turned in his seat and faced the former pirate. “For every round you lost, you drank two beers. For every round you won, you only drank one. If you passed out or threw up, you were disqualified. There were about seven rounds in total.”

Horse-Lia threw her head as she neighed in what sounded like a laugh. The akudaem grinned as he reached down and patted her neck. “It sounds more like a drinking contest that just happened to have arm-wrestling.”

Jun waved him off and went back to hiding his face from the oh-so-bright sun.

A few hours later the boys got some relief as the road headed into a shady glade. Large evergreens dotted the landscape around them, while thick, bare branches crisscrossed the air above them. The road narrowed as it led into a depression in between two hills.

The ruts in the road became deeper, as did the snow that hid them. By this time Lia’s spell had run out, so she and Iados each took a side, and with their staffs tried to help Elaine navigate the rough terrain.

“Be careful!” Jun grumbled as the cart suddenly lurched to the side so violently it threatened to tip over.

“I’m trying.” Elaine hissed under her breath as she white-knuckled the reins. The cart went only another couple of feet before it came to a full stop.

As the cleric grumbled her breath, the two passengers hopped out. Up front, the horse Carric had purchased in Aleton began to toss its head and pound its hooves into the ground. The ranger jogged up and tried to calm the animal.

Behind, Iados and Jun examined the stuck wheel. Thankfully neither it nor the axle appeared to be broken, just stuck in a vacuum of snow and mud.

“I’ll lift, and you dig it out.” Jun ordered as he positioned himself a bit behind the stuck rear wheel and grabbed onto the side of the wooden cart. Up front, both Elaine and Ander clambered out and headed towards them. The cleric handed Iados Lia’s shield before she knelt and readied her own to start digging.

Jun counted down from three, before he lifted the cart as high as he could. Immediately the cleric and former pirate began to dig with direction from Ander.

Up front, Lia watched the ranger calm the skittish horse. “Did he hurt himself?” The elf crossed her arms over herself as a cold breeze went through the depression. On either side of the road, the hillsides that had been dug to make room for the roadway rose nearly five feet in the air.

Carric shook his head as he softly ran his hand down the horse’s neck. As he did, he reached out and connected his mind with the horse. What’s wrong?

A shiver went down the horses back as it shook its head. Bad feeling. Watched.

The ranger’s eyes narrowed. He turned his attention to the hillsides above him, a cold feeling of dread washing over him.

At the same time, the hairs on the back of the berserker’s neck lifted, while the hammer at his waist began to vibrate.

“Get down!” The berserker growled, just before a volley of rocks erupted from atop the hillside and rained down on the party.

Carric pulled Lia down and shoved her under the cart as two of the large stones hit his back sharply. He watched a few of the stones bounce off Elaine’s shield as she reflexively raised it. Iados had the same idea.

The former pirate cursed as he felt something prick his leg. His vision began to go wonky, and he nearly dropped his shield as he reached out towards the cart for support. After a moment the wooziness passed, and his head cleared. He looked down at his leg, and saw a small green-feathered dart embedded in his calf. He wrenched it out and chucked it far away.

As he did, he saw Ander unconscious on the ground, a similar dart stuck in his upper arm. The akudaem swore, grabbed the halflings foot, and drug him towards the safety of the cart as yet another round of stones rained down.

“Do you see who’s attacking us?” Carric yelled as he hunkered behind the horse. He worked to undo the ropes keeping the beast stuck to the cart.

“Nothing.” Lia peeked out from one side of the cart, and then quickly moved to peek out the other side, her sight trained on the tops of the hills. Next to her, Elaine checked Ander out, breathing a sigh of relief when she found a strong pulse in the halfling’s neck.

Iados grunted as larger stones hit his small shield, with one getting through and landing with a heavy thud in his side. “Jun, do you see anything?”

No response.

“Jun, are you down?” Iados called out again.

Elaine twisted around as much as her armor would allow in the cramped space. Behind them, she could still see Jun’s legs, so at least he seemed to be upright. She crawled towards the back. “Jun, answer us.” She hissed as she poked her head out from under the safety of the cart.

The berserker’s large hand suddenly reached out and grasped Elaine’s hair. With a powerful yank, he pulled the cleric out from under the cart.

Elaine gave a cry of pain as she was wrenched into the air, her feet twisting underneath her. Her eyes widened as she saw the brilliant red of his irises, a fierce juxtaposition to the stoic look on the rest of his face. In the hand that didn’t hold her aloft, he held his warhammer tightly.

“Jun, let me go.” Her dark hands reached up and tried to pry his fingers open.

“What the hell Jun!” Iados’s voice yelled out. “This is no time for that shit!” The former pirate’s gaze quickly went from Jun and Elaine, to the small goblinoid shapes that began to dot the hillsides on either side. As he turned to cuss out the berserker even more, Iados saw the green-feathered dart that stuck out of the back of Jun’s neck.

“What’s going on?” Carric yelled back from the front of the cart, the horse’s reins in one hand. The ranger gulped as he watched a large bugbear saunter out of the foliage and into the road in front of them. Behind them, Lia watched as two more bugbears blocked the path.

“Jun’s gone insane.” Iados answered as he jumped into the back of the cart and grabbed his quarterstaff.

Carric gritted his teeth. That was the last thing they needed. He glanced over his shoulder at the still unconscious form of Ander. Shomma stood over his tiny body, teeth bared as if she dared anyone to hurt him. He allowed himself a small grin before he turned his eyes back to the incoming threats.

Next to him, Lia squirmed out from under the cart and looked towards the closest bugbear. “What do you want?”

The large, fur-covered form stopped advancing. He held up a hand, and the goblins surrounding them froze as well. “We’re in need of product.”

The elf’s eyebrows raised. “If you tell us what kind of product, we might be able to help you.” Mentally she tried to remember how much money they still had.

The bugbear laughed. He was joined by the goblins and other bugbear creatures behind them.

The sound was enough to make Jun drop Elaine.

"What’s so funny?” Carric yelled out. “Just tell us!”

“Carric, he’s laughing because what he wants is us.” Iados’s voice was low as he surveyed the enemies that surrounded them. “They’re slavers.” He watched as an eerily calm Jun turned to face the two bugbears at the end.

Icy chills went down the backs of Carric, Lia, and Elaine as the realization of the situation dawned on them.

Carric gritted his teeth again and tightened his grasp on the reins. He flicked his gaze towards the waiting horde of goblins on the sidelines, outfitted in slings and daggers. The fact that they were seemingly waiting to attack did nothing to help alleviate his nerves. He leaned forward and hissed into Lia’s ear. “Got anything that’ll distract them?”

Lia gulped. “Perhaps, but we’re outnumbered, do you really want to fight?”

The ranger shook his. “The only thing we have going for us in this scenario is that they don’t want to kill us. We’re already down a wizard and a Jun. If you can cause a distraction, then we make a run for it.”

The elf hesitated for just a moment before she nodded. “Live to fight another day.” With a steeled determination in her eyes, she began to mutter a spell under her breath. As the words passed her lips, sparks of white lightning came together in her palm. As she spoke the last syllable, the druid threw the small ball of lightning into the air. The ball expanded as static tendrils stretched out, and dark storm clouds emerged into being around them.

Disquieting grumbles began to arise from the goblins, who before had been confident as they’d lorded over their cowering prey. With every rumble of thunder from the sudden storm, the goblins jumped. Only the bugbears didn’t seem bothered by the sudden turn of events.

Lia held up a hand, and flicked her eyes at Carric. “Get ready.”

She snapped, and a bolt of lightning struck the middle of a goblin pack on the left. The goblins screamed and scattered from the spot. On either side of the hills, small greenish bodies were thrown down the embankment.

Carric reached back and grabbed the body of Ander, dragging him out from under the cart. As a second bolt hit the hillside, the ranger slung the unconscious body across the horse’s back. The ranger bolted towards the cart and grabbed their gear. He grabbed half and hung them on Lia as she continued to snap out bolts. “Iados, get out of here!” The ranger yelled over his shoulder towards the back of the cart.

Iados groaned. “Yeah, I’ll just let Jun know real quick.” A small goblin ran towards him, but the akudaem shoved him back forcefully with his staff. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jun bash the oblong heads of any goblin that came near him.

As even more lightning strikes hit the area around them, the only time the bugbears moved was to evade these strikes. A few times the large bodies weren’t quick enough and they came away with singed hair. Each time, the bugbears merely patted themselves off and went back to observing.

With a flash of light, Elaine surrounded herself with three heavily armored individuals made of light, her goddess’ symbol emblazoned on their spectral cloaks. As she moved towards Jun, these celestial bodyguards fought back the pesky goblins that threatened to impede her.

“Jun, wake up!” The cleric yelled. She watched as the berserker sent another goblin into the side of the hill. One by one, her bodyguards began to dissipate under the weight of the goblin’s attacks. She reached out towards her friend, her hand glowing under a spell she’d hoped would bring him back to his senses.

To Iados, it was like the world slowed down as he watched the scene unfold.

Jun rounded on Elaine, his warhammer held high above his head. Just as the last bodyguard of light winked out of existence around her, he brought it down towards her outstretched, glowing hand.

The dark-skinned cleric cried out in pain as the force of the blow forced her hand down, and flung her body to the ground. As she cradled her injury, Iados watched as Jun brought the hammer up for another strike.

This time he didn’t hesitate. Iados ran over, jumped onto Jun’s back, and brought his quarterstaff right against his neck. As the former pirate held on with his legs, he exerted as much pressure against his friend’s windpipe as he could. “Lia! Get Elaine!” He yelled out.

At the sound of her name, Lia whipped her head back. She saw Jun gasp for breath as his legs collapsed under him. She turned her gaze towards Carric and as he jumped on the back of the back of the unsaddled horse, Ander still unconscious in front of him, gear hanging haphazardly off of his body.

The ranger grimaced. “What are you waiting for? Get her and run!” He slapped the reins and bolted straight for the bugbear in front of them.

As the horse approached, the bugbear pulled out a large spiked club from its belt and took a swing as it passed. The animal screamed as the club gashed its hind quarters, but kept running and was soon out of sight. Shomma scurried as fast as her legs would let her after her master.

With another gulp, Lia called down the last of her lightning and rushed to Elaine.

“We have to run.” The druid helped Elaine to her feet, the other woman’s dark face pale with pain as she cradled her arm.

Lia glanced over at Iados. He sat atop a now-unconscious Jun, his breath coming in gasps. With horror, she saw a green-feathered dart in his shoulder.

The last of the still-conscious goblins, calmer now that the lightning had stopped, picked up their daggers and approached their prey.

The former pirate grinned and looked at his girlfriend. “What are you still doing here? How are you supposed to rescue us if you don’t get away?” Iados wobbled on top of his perch when he tried to wave Lia away.

Lia didn’t say anything. She quickly shifted into Bitey, the packs that Carric had hung on her frame disappearing into the magic for the moment. Quickly, she nudged Elaine on to her back. The bugbears in the back drew their clubs. A look over her shoulder told the druid that the third one had started to advance as well.

Not wasting another moment, Bitey leapt over the goblins coming towards them, and scaled the hillside.

Once the dire wolf was out of sight, Iados turned his attention to the two approaching bugbears. He chuckled. “Guess you’ll have to make do with only two of us.”

One of the bugbears shrugged. “As long as we have something for the block.”

The former pirate didn’t get a chance to say anything more, as the effects of the drug finally overcame him, and he passed into unconsciousness.

***

The next time Iados woke up he was in a cage.

As his eyes fluttered open, the world around him was blurry. He groaned and shook his head in a vain attempt to clear his vision. When he tried to wipe his eyes, he was startled by a loud rattle.

“What the hell?” The former pirate whispered as he pulled weakly against the metal bonds that cuffed his hand to the bar. A quick glance told him that his other hand was also cuffed, both his arms spread eagle as his back was forced into the metallic barred wall.

There was a heavy snort from a similar cage behind him. “Don’t waste your strength, the bastards gave you and your friend each an extra dose of their favorite drug.”

The akudaem craned his neck over his shoulder. He could just make out a heavily cloaked figure. “Any idea where we’re headed?”

“Where else, the auction block.” The figure gave a heavy sigh. “So, how’d they get you two?” By the sounds of his slightly gravelly throat, the former pirate guessed he was speaking with a male, but didn’t really care as long as he got some answers.

Iados gave another half-hearted tug against his bonds. This wasn’t the first time he’d been tied up, but he always enjoyed the sensation better when it was at least consensual. “Ambush, you?”

“Stupidity.” The cloaked figure groaned and slammed the back of his head into the metal bars of his confines. “I agreed to a duel against one the bugbears, and after I won, took them up on their offer of drinks. I never even considered they’d drug me that way.”

The akudaem winced in sympathy. “Obviously this group has no decency.” His eyes widened as the events of the fight came back to him. He began to look around his dark surroundings in earnest, seeing even more cages scattered around the large room. Some of them were occupied, but a majority were empty. “Don’t suppose you saw them bring in my friend? Big human with brown hair and a beard?”

The prisoner chuckled. “You mean Jun? I saw him, but just for a moment. Our jailers took him to another room.”

Iados froze and his eyes narrowed as he twisted as far as he could to see the cloaked figure. “How did you know his name?”

“The same way I know what he is going through right now,” The figure turned to look at Iados. In the shadowed darkness of his vision, the akudaem could see a snout just barely peek out of the cloak’s hood. “We can only hope your friend is a strong as Zhonnic thinks he is.” He chuckled again and turned away, leaving Iados with a cold shiver down his back.

“Who are you?” The akudaem hissed, but received no answer.

At one point Iados succumbed to the lingering effects of the drug. When he next awoke, no longer were they in a room. They also weren’t on land.

“Now where are we?” The former pirate mumbled to himself as he felt the familiar rocking of water. He took a deep breath, but couldn’t taste any salt on his tongue.

“Lake Valwynne,” The same gravelly voice from before said, this time to Iados’s right. “From what I heard, we’ll be at the slave market in a couple of hours.”

Iados shook his head, the cobwebs finally clearing from his mind. “Valwynne, that’s outside Silverbank, right?” He took a look around, and saw that they were on an open-air barge as they sailed across a large lake.

It was familiar, tired, voice that answered this time. “It’s a few miles out, but yeah not far.”

The akudaem’s head shot up as he peered through the faint pre-dawn light into the cage across from him. “Jun, that you?”

The barbarian chuckled. “Yeah, it’s me. You doing alright?”

“Considering where we are, I guess so.” A noise caught the former pirate’s attention. To his left, a group of goblins seemed awfully excited over the contents of a large pail. “Heard you got some special treatment from our bugbear friends.”

Jun groaned, and Iados heard the rattle of his friend’s chains. “Ran into a bit of bad luck with them. Turns out our captors are followers of Sezgrin, the war-loving brother of the god Zhonnic.”

The hooded figure snorted. “Melindan must have planned this as a gift for her husband.”

Iados gave a heavy sigh as he leaned back against his cage. “It would be my luck that I get captured by followers of my race’s godly enemy.”

“If it helps, I’m sure none of this is personal.” Jun tried to stretch out his back. He winced as the bars scraped a tender spot on his back. “Got to say, I was a surprised when I heard that I was the second Champion they’d captured.”

“Let’s make a deal, I’ll keep quiet about this as long as you do.” A loud chuckle came out from under the hood. “Think they’ll sell us as a pair? A couple of collector pieces?”

“Oh I’m sure being a Champion of Zhonnic is only the cherry on top of your sell price, Bidrek.” The human berserker gave a long sigh. “Iados, how are the others?”

The former pirate shrugged. “Last I saw they’d all managed to run, and the fact that they’re not on this barge gives me hope that their safe.”

“That’s good.” The berserker went quiet for a few moments. “I’m sorry I wasn’t any help.”

“You got drugged, it wasn’t your fault.” As the sun rose more over the horizon, it became easier for Iados to see his friend’s face. The whole left side was swollen, the area around the eye a heavy dark color.

Jun shook his head. “Even so, I should have been able to fight it off. It makes me sick that I went down without a single punch.”

A cold, icy shiver went down the back of Iados’s spine. His mind flashed back to the sight of an enraged Jun smacking anything that moved with his hammer. He felt his mouth dry up, as his mind began to race with one simple dilemma: dare he tell Jun the truth, or should he let his friend live a lie for as long as possible? The scene of Jun striking down Elaine sprang to the forefront of his mind. How would Jun react to that?

The cloaked Champion next to him began to laugh. “That’s not the way I heard it went down.”

Iados turned to look at the cage next to him. He watched as the hood fell down, and exposed the silver head of the Dragonborn to the morning light.

“What do you mean?” Though the question was directed at Bidrek, the human’s eyes fixated on his friend. “What happened?”

The Dragonborn continued. “You were drugged alright, but you didn’t go unconscious. No, you did the same thing you gave me so much crap for doing during the fight.” Bidrek laughed even more, his shiny, scaly skin crinkling as he grinned. “You went into a verta-kochen and gave yourself to it. For all that talk of control, and not letting the power guide you, it turned out that your default is to become another mindless berserker, striking down anyone in your path, friend or foe.”

Jun’s eyes went wide. The light of the breaking dawn highlighted the fear within his eyes as he searched Iados’s face for a sign. A sign that Bidrek had lied. A sign that he hadn’t done what had been described. A sign that he hadn’t hurt his friends.

Iados opened his mouth to say something, but the words caught in his throat as he saw Jun’s tattoo. When they’d started out the morning before, both fists of the symbol of Zhonnic had been colored in. Now, only one was.

The berserker saw Iados’s stare, and turned to look for himself. His face paled and his jaw dropped as the realization hit him. He closed his eyes, and banged his head forcefully back into the bars of his cage. When he next spoke, his words were almost a whisper, and directed at Iados.

“Who?”

The akudaem swallowed hard, grateful that the sun was to his back so his face was hidden. Once again, the cloaked figure stole the show.

“It was the holy woman.” Bidrek clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “The way the goblins tell it, you shattered her arm with that big warhammer of yours.”

“Shut the hell up!” A burst of flame shot out of Iados’s eyes as he bellowed at the Dragonborn. The akudaem turned back towards his friend. “She knows it wasn’t really you Jun! She tried to wake you up, to get you to safety.”

“And I repaid her with violence.” Jun’s voice was small, as he squeezed his eyes closed. His breath shook as he took small gasps of air. “I hurt her, worse even than I hurt you. I thought I was finally getting this power under control, but it seems all I managed to do was fool myself.”

Iados groped for the words that would make his friend feel better, but anything he could think stopped in his throat. The hairs on the back of his neck tingled, and the former pirate’s gaze was pulled upward. Above their cages, one of their bugbear captors stood on a small deck, the scene getting their full attention. He twirled a wooden pipe in one hand, as he palmed a green-feathered dart in his other.

The former pirate sneered up at their captor. “Got something to say?”

The bugbear smiled and shook its head. He made a motion towards the small group of goblins and pointed down towards the three of them.

With a loud chattering, the small goblins abandoned their bucket and quickly swarmed over to the prisoners. None of the chained occupants could put up a fight as they were all pricked in the back of the neck with a dart.

Iados fought against the poison for as long as he could, but eventually succumbed

***

The next time the akudaem awakened, he was standing. He also had a goblin in his face.

“Wakey-wakey time!” The goblin sang as it stashed something in a pocket and lightly slapped Iados in the face. “You need to look your best for the masters.” The small green body scuttled down the former pirate’s body.

Iados shook his head and squeezed his eyes against the bright sun. This time he was in an open-air arena. Wooden platforms had been set up in several rows that ran the length of the space. Live merchandise was chained atop each platform.

It wasn’t just humanoid races that were for sale, several species of animals and monsters seemed to be on display. A large mottled troll roared from a back corner, while a small goblin child cried only a few platforms down from Iados.

The former pirate gritted his teeth and tried to pull his hands free of the metal cuffs that kept him affixed in a standing position to the stout pole.

“Man, you do not stop do you?” The muffled voice of Bidrek said from next to him. Iados looked over, and saw in addition to the bands around the wrists, the Dragonborn also had a metal band around his throat and a muzzle over his snout.

The akudaem sneered. “That’s a good look on you.” He looked around him, searching for his friend.

“You won’t find him.” Bidrek sighed and leaned against his pole. “A buyer came up while we were being set up and snatched Jun up. He’s probably already on his way out.”

“What’d this buyer look like?” Iados snarled.

“Big and cloaked.” The Dragonborn shrugged. “Don’t really care what happens to him as long as it means less competition for me.”

The former pirate muttered a foul curse under his breath and turned his attention back towards the room at large. That’s when he noticed that the duo had an audience.

A slender woman, not very tall, and wrapped in a floor-length, fur-lined coat stood in the middle of the makeshift aisle. She faced the two of them, but it was hard to tell which one held her attention as her eyes were covered with a thick length of lacy purple fabric. Her long silver hair held traces of pink highlights, and was tied back with a similar colored ribbon. At her feet sat a small owlbear cub in a leather harness and leash that was wrapped around her hand.

Next to her in a tailored suit of leather armor and standing nearly seven feet, was a cyclops. Though the creature still stood straight, the dark lines and deep wrinkles on its face belied its advanced age. The only hair on its age-spotted head was a single gray top-knot. A broadsword was strapped across its back.

One of Iados’s bugbear captors (no idea which one as they all looked alike to the former pirate) bustled up the row towards the woman. “Lady Sabriah, how can we help you today?” The bugbear gave a small bow.

“I’m in the market for an Orc, and since you were such a big help with Eli,” the woman gestured towards the cyclops, “you were of course my first choice.” The small owlbear started to sniff the bugbear’s fur-covered legs.

“As flattered as I am that you came to us first, I’m afraid we don’t have an orc currently.” With a wary eye towards the cub, the bugbear reached out and gently guided the woman forward. “We do have some fresh acquisitions you might enjoy. First is a violet akudaem. Very striking in appearance, and able to hold their own in a fight against many enemies.”

Iados couldn’t help but puff up his chest a bit at the praise. He met the gaze of the cyclops as it raked its yellow-irised eye over him.

Lady Sabriah shook her head. “Akudaem’s are a dime a dozen nowadays. What else do you have?”

The bugbear directed the cyclops attention towards Bidrek. “The next is our current prize jewel, an adult male silver-skinned Dragonborn. Very competent in battle, but not very bright when it comes to intelligence.”

“That’s a stinking lie.” Bidrek growled as he also met the cyclops gaze. The creature stalked forward and grabbed the dragonborn’s arm, examining the tattoo. The woman knelt down and petted the cub who had begun to cry.

“Ah, the sign of Zhonnic,” The woman sighed. “How annoying, he was almost perfect.”

Iados’s eyes widened slightly as he wondered how the woman knew that. The tattoo was completely hidden from her sight by the cyclops broad back. Perhaps she wasn’t as blind as he’d first assumed?

The woman called the cyclops back to her side, thanked the bugbear for his time, and moved on down the line.

As the woman moved on, a new duo stepped up to inspect the merchandise. Iados nearly groaned as he caught sight of the large half-orc form of the Rabble Lord. Trailing after him, was Maron.

“Well well, who do we have here?” The Rabble Lord grinned widely as he crossed his arms over his burly chest. “You seem to have gotten yourself into some trouble.”

“Don’t suppose you can help me get out of it?” Iados plastered on his best look of helplessness.

The large half-orc pulled a palm-sized crystal out of a belt pouch and held it up. “I will as soon as this crystal lights up. We’re just waiting for your friends to finish paying for your freedom.”

As much as Iados willed the crystal to light up that very second, he was also very afraid at what kind of price his friends had bargained. Last time they’d encountered the Lord, they’d all taken a stroll through the palace, much to the displeasure of its owner.