"You didn't have to tell them! You idiot!" Harod was fuming as usual, but with great reason this time.

"I know I didn't have to, but I could not live with myself if I didn't." Pierce kept his head down; a glum look spread across his face.

"Well you might not live anyways now that you admitted it," said Harod.

"I do not want to be associated with you, Pierce. I'm sorry, its better if we split up so that they won't know that we were the ones in the tent," chimed Baradorn.

"It's too late, I heard him tell them who was in the tent." Egalo had chirped in, lying all the way against the far side of the tent, crammed between the tent and another man who was sprawled out on the tent floor.

Baradorn relented, "well I guess since they know now, it's better we stay as a pack in case they try to take us out."

Harod was already flustered, "Well that's it now, we're already lucky as it is to have Egalo's incident with that guard keep us alive, but now we have our fellow slave men out to get us. I say we escape sooner rather than later. Let's leave tonight."

"No!" Egalo shot up, "I have a plan and we must be patient. We have to wait, we have to!"

Harod replied, "Oh yeah? Well what's this perfect plan of yours, huh? We wait until The Worm beats us and then we steal his whip and slay the camp? Yeah I think I'll just go do that by myself after I get my arse beat by the enemies Pierce has kindly granted to us."

Harod finally finished and then realized everyone was just staring at him. It was the six of them jammed in a tent, but Harod never felt so small.

Egalo nodded his head with his lips pursed, feeling a bit irritated by it—but he kept a cool head and kept calm as he replied, "No Harod, we'll escape by night, since you want to know so bad—"

"—by the night? No one has ever managed to escape by the—" Pierce had interrupted but Egalo finished what he was saying.

"—as I was saying we'll escape by the night. However, there's more to it. We saw Randor Redcloak's remains, yeah?" The men nodded sullenly but unsure of what he was getting at.

"Those creatures, those animals, they have a feeding frenzy whenever they have a chance. I don't know how many there are, but I think I know a way to get us the time to escape."

"Let me guess," began Pierce, "I'm willing to be the distraction sacrifice, its only right."

The men in the tent chuckled, but no one realized Pierce was serious.

"No Pierce, we find a different sacrifice. To pull this off, it must be a night when the creatures are out. If so, we have to have tent as close to The Worm as possible. When the creatures are out, we have to put on such a racket, that The Worm does not even realize the creatures are out in all of his rage. At that point, he'll make his way to our tent, but in the process hopefully he gets eaten by those things."

Baradorn wasn't convinced. "Just a moment, Egalo. Tell me what happens if The Worm doesn't throw himself out as bait? And what if the creatures of the night are many, and they are just waiting for us to come along as seconds?"

Egalo was ready for the question, "That's where I will come in, but don't you worry about me."

"No, no, no. That won't work for me. I need to know if this will work or I'm not in." Harod had overcome his embarrassment to reassert himself into the discussion.

"We'll just have to leave you behind then, I guess." Egalo wasn't about to give in that easily.

The men finally began about their nightly preparations, beginning with the usual awkward process of positioning themselves within the tent, most times some legs had to cross over another pair or else it just wouldn't work for space.

Days passed and Egalo, Baradorn, and Harod continued receiving looks from a man they called Joga. He must have been the one struggling against the beatings that they heard for most of the night, because he was scratched and scathed head to toe. His face was a scribbling board of scratches and gashes with dried blood. It made Egalo uneasy when he could feel someone's eyes on his back and he turned around to see Joga watching him from a way back, studying him as he dug.

Nothing materialized for the next couple days though, but there was one problem. It was out of nowhere one night. Harod had not said much as they settled down in the tent after one of the hottest days since they'd all been there. Egalo assumed it was dehydration or simply the heat. They all had quiet days. But Harod was so still, Pierce had to roll him over to see if he was still conscious.

"Stop, leave me." Harod's lips barely moved as he spoke.

"What do you think it is?" Pierce was peering at Harod's face as if the answer was right there.

"Fatigue or dehydration. He needs sleep." Baradorn must have been describing his own situation because he rolled over and made space for his body to extend fully and he slept soundly.

The next morning Harod refused to move out of bed.

"We must go out and dig, they will beat you senseless, Harod." Egalo was dreading the consequence if he did not dig. Grudgingly, and to Egalo's relief, he slowly rose and made his way to his holes. It was mid-day when the sun was the hottest that Harod collapsed. Egalo heard gasps and whispers around him and paid no mind to it at first, but when the men around him stopped digging altogether, he figured it was something serious.

He turned and saw the body of Harod lying flat on his back. Egalo knew it was his end. It didn't surprise him too much when he considered how long Harod had made it out here. Men had come later than him and died here weeks before Harod had even been done for. It suddenly hit Egalo hard, this is on me. Harod wanted to escape sooner. He must have known his body was shutting down. Egalo's heart was fluttering and he suddenly had no interest in digging holes.

It had to be now, tonight. Regardless as to whether the night creatures are there. But, before that could happen, there was another obstacle. Egalo shuffled his way into the tent closest to The Worm, quickly explaining in a quiet tone to the men who usually slept there that it would just be a one-night thing. At first, they seemed to nod understandingly, but one of the four men had a feistiness in his eyes that Egalo knew looked like danger.

"Yeah, that makes sense. You just need our tent...for one night, eh? The tent right next to The Worm? Yeah, I guess that makes a lot of sense. You want to just tell us why? You think we're just some easy bait like the men that you had beaten by The Worm?" The men around him starting nodding and shaking their head as they heard him speak. Another with peach fuzz over his lip and a baby face chimed in, "your ties don't make you invincible. You might have the leash to that dirty worm, but that doesn't make me some peasant that you can do with whatever you'd like. I'll kill myself before you have me beaten bloody."

Egalo sensed things were about to take a turn for the worse. He was also concerned with how loud the group were speaking, with The Worm's tent just a few yards away. The first man who spoke began speaking loudly again, talking taunts to the group when Baradorn made the rash decision to gut him with a knife—Egalo couldn't believe his eyes. It was the knife that belonged to Harod, he could tell by the odd markings on the handle. This was trouble. He knew the group wasn't going to walk away quietly, in fact the opposite happened. The big man Joga came around the corner with his group of guys.

Suddenly Egalo was outnumbered four to ten. The man with the knife in his belly dropped to the ground, blood pooling everywhere right at the opening flaps of The Worm's tent. Joga was about to open his mouth when the tent flaps came flying open and The Worm stepped out with eyes that suggested he had just fallen asleep. His whip was curled in one hand and a dagger was held in the other.

"Oh, it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun tonight. WATCHMEN! GUARDS!" Before the guards could come from their tents Baradorn had his knife hurled through the air and the tip of the knife stuck right into The Worm's right eye, a mess of blood squirted out messily over the body that lie between him and the slaves. "AHHHHHH!" The scream surely woke up the whole camp.

In a moment of madness, a mass of twenty guards swarmed into the area with big pikes and bats and were swatting men down to the ground and bounding hand and foot. The Worm was screaming bloody murder before a guard came and plucked the knife out, and The Worm in all his rage gutted the guard for his help. It took five guards to finally restrain The Worm and calm him, but it was almost useless. The Worm was a cyclops now. The mountain of a man Joga hacked down two men with his bare firsts before they were back up and had him domed severely with spiked bats. They smashed his head in until it was a lump of gore and skull. One other man had run for his freedom but was chased down and struck dead before he could make any escape. The rest of the men involved were bound, hand and foot and carried up, up, and away towards the foot passageway of the large mountainous caves that loomed above.

The watchmen hurled the men down to the hard ground, the bodies falling helplessly as they were tied up hand and feet. Lord Dagnar had arrived and he looked none too happy. It was the first time Egalo had seen his face up close since his long cloak was not hooded over his head. Black beady eyes sunk deep into his head large, outgrown forehead. Wrinkles lined his forehead but nowhere else on his face. His cheeks were wide but tight against his face. His lips were thin and pink. Egalo wondered how different he might look if he wasn't under the cover of a shaded cave day and night.

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"My lord, these treacherous slaves were found attempting and plotting to murder the camp and plot their escape. They managed to severely injure The Worm, taking his eye."

Pierce couldn't help himself, "That is not true m'lord, it was a big misunderst—" Pierce could not finish as one of the guards let a kick fly into Pierce's gut, winding him. Pierce squeaked out, "Thank you, kind sir." That earned him kicks galore from four of the guards standing nearby.

"Enough. Toss them into Cove by North and have as many sentries and guards posted as necessary. They'll be fine there for the night."

"M'lord, I beg your pardons, but these men committed outrageous treachery and attempted murder. Surely a beating should suffice, if not death if it please m'lord." The guard stood in shock and amazement, his giant white teeth too big for his mouth and they stuck out like giant chopsticks.

"Do not belittle me Halfman, or I will have you fed to the night critters like your brother."

The man called Halfman shuffled backwards a bit uneasy, looking at his surroundings half expectant of someone to grab him and throw him off the cliff at that moment.

"I hope I can trust on you men to watch these slaves of men and be sure to feed them and bathe them. I have matters far beyond the scope of this small incident. If I'm interrupted again, you'd better hope I don't take your head for it." With that, lord Dagnar disappeared to the back of the meandering cave and wandered down the man-made steps into the darkness.

Have they really built a massive fortress within the mountain and caves? Egalo stared after lord Dagnar with awe. He didn't have too much time to gape in awe before he was carried off by the big burly hands of a guardsman.

They were taken down the same path lord Dagnar had traversed and it was then that Egalo saw the immenseness of the natural fortress. High ceilings decorated with large hanging rocks that appeared like icicles growing down from the rock above. Small coves surrounded them as they passed, filled with important looking men in capes and cloaks, as well as chainmail and armor. Some men looked as though they were ready to strike for battle on the 'morrow as Egalo saw it. He thought for a moment that he saw the red cloak of Randor but the man turned as he spoke and Egalo saw his face was similar but different in that he had a thin trimmed red-brown speckled beard. The face certainly looked familiar for some reason.

Egalo wondered to himself who these men were exactly. Sure, they had left their home in search of a fabled magic stone, but how had they gathered such a large host here in the mountains—and why did they need slaves out in the desert plains so desperately rather than hire some of their own men—they certainly had plenty! I wonder what Baradorn is thinking about all of this. He looked around for Baradorn but he didn't see him. He couldn't turn behind him because of the guard that had his knee up his back.

They had finally wandered far into what seemed to have been Cove by North, when the hesitation continued into more walking. The cave seemed to go on forever. Egalo paused and turned to his guard, "I need to take a leak, do you mind?" he grunted and nodded his head toward the side of the stone chiseled path where a brook of water ran through the mountain. The group went on past Egalo and the guard. Egalo looked up and locked eyes with Pierce as he passed. Yet again, he didn't see Baradorn. Had he simply overlooked him again?

"Hurry up. Finish the piss, would ya?"

"A moment please, guard. I've got a large bladder and a lot of piss."

The guard slumped and turned away again. Egalo took in his surroundings—no one nearby. He whirled around and landed a fist at the guard's face, stunning him. His hand went to his hilt but Egalo sent a kick to his knee, sending him faltering down the stone steps. He caught himself a few steps down but Egalo landed a hard blow to his head with his foot. Man, that hurts. Never again going barefoot to half helm. The guard was out cold and Egalo grabbed the sword from the scabbard. He considered running the blade through his throat and then he hesitated. I've never killed a man. He stared at the face of the man he had just knocked. His face was turning purple on the cheekbone where he had landed that first hit. He realized his knuckle was purple as well, and throbbing. He rose from a crouch and made his way back up the long twisting steps toward the light of the fires above where he had come from.

He arrived at a spot overlooking a cove that had a group of men talking hurriedly in commanding voices down below. Egalo paused to listen for a moment. He noticed lord Dagnar sitting amongst the circle, his eyes almost lost in the back of his head from this far away. The fire light danced shadows against the wall behind the men seated below.

Large, natural pillars of jagged rock rose up from the cove where the men sat around the fire and past the curved path that Egalo traversed. He was ducked behind one of the pillars.

"Lord Dagnar, I would speak if it please you."

Lord Dagnar gave a curt nod.

"We have seen them travelling in the night, you know who, of course. They travel as few, but I am sure it was them. Even the creatures of the night parted the way for them and didn't dare cross their path."

The man stopped speaking abruptly, as if someone had cut him off, yet no one had spoken.

"Were the Night Orcs amongst them?" Lord Dagnar asked almost accursedly, as if offended by the latest news.

"My lord, I could not tell, as night had fallen, but if there were Orcs of the Night, I didn't hap to see one."

Lord Dagnar turned his gaze to a man directly across from him on the other side of the warm fire that blazed furiously before them. The man raised his chin slightly towards the top of the cave, carefully pondering his words.

"I did not journey this far to offer comforting news, my lord. My scouts have been posted on the borders of the Carnakanes, and they have spotted a large army—thousands of men—making their way through. It could be men from the East, word may have reached them about the whereabouts of the sacred stones that lies in these sands."

Lord Dagnar had sunk back further in his wooden seat, his eyes still barely palpable. Egalo rose from his crouch to stretch his leg and his toe slipped, hitting a small rock over the ledge. He held his breathe as the rock tumbled down to the ground a few yards from where the men congregated but to Egalo's relief, none paid any heed to it.

Lord Dagnar began, "Tell me, Gerinor of Raideth, who is the leader of this group? I will have his head if he thinks he will traverse this territory."

"He is one of the Rainblood's, the new free leader of Raideth after the war of the Last Kings. My men believe he is headed for a sweep through the Carnakanes with a large mass of men."

Lord Dagnar was silent and sat back, watching the crackling flames before him. A man beside Lord Dagnar waved away smoke as the waft of it began clouding him and causing him to cough vehemently.

Egalo glanced downwards where he had come from. He had heard the sound of footsteps, but no one approached. He held his breathe as he waited, expecting a guard to come around the side of the winding path down, but none came. He eventually rose from a kneel to a crouch and slowly continued moving upwards until he came upon a small nook in the wall to his left. He heard footsteps, and this time he was certain. He stared at the small nook two feet up from the base of the cavern wall. It was just barely big enough of a hole to squeeze himself into. He had to; he would be caught if he waited any longer. He saw the foot of the guard protrude from below and Egalo crammed himself head first through the gap, squeezing in.

His heart stopped for a second as his waist resisted against the rigged rock, but it was only half a second and his flung his lower body in after him. It was a small box he found himself in, a little cove within the rock. His knees were drawn to his chest naturally, no room to stretch his body or legs. He dared not move once he settled as the approaching footsteps turned to whispering voices conversating as they got closer.

"Reyno was out cold, I think one of the captives got away."

"Should we alert Lord Dagnar? Spread the alarm, he can't get away."

"No, if Lord Dagnar found out, he would feed us to night creatures. Who is the one missing, do you know?"

"Yeah, I think it's actually uh..."

The voices trailed off as they passed by, Egalo's eyes were wide and his ears were straining to hear the name that was on the tip of one of the guard's tongues. Did they know it was him? Would they even be too bothered?

Egalo awkwardly maneuvered his body forward so that he could peak his head out of his nook. His heart jumped; his eyes instantly locked with another man standing a couple yards away to his right. It was a guard, but he was in light armor and unarmed, or so Egalo thought.

Egalo squirmed around and made a noise that resembled a struggle of some sort, desperate to get himself in a less helpless position. The guard was already rushing over, but stealthily. Why the secrecy? He belongs here...The man wore no helmet, and his hair was swept to the side, but sweaty strands of dark hair clung to his face. His face was full of fear.

Egalo had gotten his upper torso out of the wall of rock, but the man unsheathed a knife from thin air and held it firmly at Egalo's neck.

"Don't move slave, or ill slit your neck right off. I haven't seen blood since yesterday boy. I'd say that's pretty dangerous for your chances." His voice was gruff and rusted.

"Calm, calm..." Egalo was breathing hard and had nothing to say other than calm. He gulped nervously and felt the ball of spit run down his gullet and push against the pressure of the knife against throat. The blade was cold as ice.

"I'll remove this knife from your throat. But you must promise me one thing, slave scum."

"What...is it?" Egalo struggled to push his words out with the flat of the knife pressed up chokingly against his gullet.

"Get me out of this hell hole. However, I swear I'll stuck this knife so far up your—"

He didn't have time to finish as a man was scurrying up the pathway from below.

The man flung Egalo out of the rock, slamming Egalo's head into the bumpy rocks by the man's feet. He pushed a hand against Egalo's chest whilst peering over towards where the approaching footsteps came, as if to keep Egalo from moving towards the newcomer before him. Egalo was ready to land a strike to the man's head and break for it, but the something stopped him abruptly. A few men turned the corner, and it was Baradorn amongst two others he recognized from digging holes in the sands together.

Baradorn arrived panting and first addressed the man, "We must go Blade, there is a huge host aware of our escape down below."

Baradorn had just realized Egalo standing there when the shouts and screams of men below them rung out and the five of them turned without word and ran.

Egalo led the charge up the continuous path, not daring to look back. A few arrows hissed past their heads and clinked harmlessly off jutting rocks to the left of their heads. The man named Blade continually muttered, "faster! Faster!" Yet Egalo did not believe they could physically move faster. Eventually Egalo recognized a clearing that led to the ledge where he had been hung by his limbs a while back when he first arrived in bondage. The image of the Man in the Red Cloak came to his mind, and then the foul images of the remnants of his skeleton scattered in the dirt. He didn't have time to think too far into it though, as the guards were quickly approaching.

The man named Blade had ripped away his plating from his chest so that now his chainmail remained on his upper body. "What now slave scum, you brought us to a cliff edge! You fool!" Baradorn and the two others caught up, panting for air.

Egalo peered over the edge of the cliff and out towards the holes in the sand down below. He was out of ideas. Baradorn stood with hands on head. The five men edged closer to cliff's edge. The blue light of the moon shining through the cavernous mouth. A mass of men arrived shortly with crossbows aimed at each head. Eventually, a man stepped forward past the armed guards and a pit grew in Egalo's stomach.

"The Worm comes out for the rain and becomes lost. But when food comes to The Worm in his own soil, it's a safe bet that The Worm knows its way around. Hello Egalo and company, this has just become very interesting."

And with that The Worm gave a nasty snort of laughter and ordered the guards to take the slaves down to the sands where the only sounds to be heard was the howling of the night creatures—invisible against the dark of the night.