He awoke to the feeling of eyes peering into his back. He could sense it. He wasn't hung up anymore, but he was still bound by hands and feet, laying with his face down on the cold stone. Light rain drizzled onto him, tickling his skin as it landed. Egalo's head ached like a rotten plum. Still feeling as though he was being watched, he wondered if the pair of eyes would speak or if they were just going to stay and stare a while.

"Good morning miserable creature." The voice sounded vaguely familiar. Egalo considered trying to turn himself around and sit up but it wasn't worth it. He didn't want a face to face discussion anyways with whoever that voice was.

"How are the limbs? Hands must be soon to fall off." Egalo checked over his wrists where the rope bound them. The whole area was purple and red. He hadn't felt them since whenever he was last conscious.

"Tell you what, I'll free you from those ropes if you play nicely. Last time I told you to do something, you disobeyed and now you're here. Remember?"

It must be the red cloak man. Egalo muttered something that certainly wasn't English, but enough to show that he obliged.

A chuckle followed. "you didn't think it would be that easy, did ya? Let's start easy. I'm Randor Redcloak. Now who are you?" Egalo tried wet his lips so they wouldn't stick together, but it was no use. It hurt to move them.

"Egalo, son of Elgamar." He continued to lay facing the mouth of the cave, towards the night sky that was lit by thousands of small stars.

Randor moved forward and Egalo winced slightly. "Don't worry, Egalo. I'm not that scary of a monster. I'm bringing you water; those lips are drier than the desert out here."

Randor moved in front of Egalo and knelt down to tilt a glass of water for Egalo to drink. Egalo drank two sips but the cup was quickly moved away.

"Whoa, hold on there. You're not in the clear yet."

"Free my hands now or I'm done talking." Egalo mustered all of his courage and energy, it might work, he thought.

Randor tossed the flagon of water off the ledge of the cliff mouth. "Rule number one with me, I'm always in control. As soon as you start stepping on me you lose everything. You just remember that now."

Egalo let out a whimper. He could smell the hot breath from Randor's mouth. He had a terrible odor about him. His eyes glossed over the crimson red cloak that hung from his shoulders, it was caked in dirt from top to bottom.

Randor began, "Let's cut the pleasantries. How did you find the temple? You tell me right now or I toss you off that cliff just like the water. It's that easy."

"The lights...I followed." Egalo could barely puff out more than a whisper, his throat was closing up.

Randor was getting angry, "I'm going to need more than that. No one just stumbles upon the Magi temple."

Egalo squeaked out as much as he could, "The messenger...he found me. Late night. Told me to follow the lights all the way to the temple. I didn't know what he was talking about until..." Egalo's voice gave out. Randor boots scuffled closer to Egalo.

"You better not be done there. Because I have no idea what in the world you are saying." Randor gave a swift kick to Egalo's ribs. He wretched and heaved whatever his insides could afford to dump out, which wasn't much.

Another blow to his side, and another. Egalo was prepared for another kick, it would probably be his death. Suddenly the kicks stopped. Someone was approaching from deep within the cave. Egalo couldn't angle his head but he could hear it. Footsteps scraping along slowly and steadily, as if he wanted himself heard. The sound echoed lightly off the walls and he came into view. Randor knelt and gave a soft, "my lord."

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A cold, voice that sounded like a blade against stone began, "Lord Egalo, son of Elgamar. What a pleasant surprise. I was expecting your company for some time."

A new flush of clarity rushed over Egalo, his gashes and pains forgotten momentarily. "How do you know me? Who are you?" Egalo was breathing quicker now, fearful of his company. Randor Red Cloak had been one enemy, but who was this new voice?

His questions were ignored. "Consider me your key to ever seeing the light outside of this cave ever again. You will answer my questions to the best of your ability, lord Egalo."

Since when was he known as lord Egalo? Egalo shuddered at the sound of his voice. It still bothered him; the low ramble that sounded wrong.

Randor Red Cloak chimed in, "he tells me he followed 'the light' until he arrived at the Magi Temple."

"I did not ask for the words of your mouth, Randor. The boy can speak for himself. Perhaps I shall make you more comfortable, boy. Randor, remove the bonds from his limbs."

Randor obeyed and moved to Egalo with a curved dagger in hand. He nimbly cut the bonds, careful not to cut Egalo, to which Egalo was thankful. The blade Randor held was razor sharp with jagged ridges along the top of the blade.

"Walk with me Egalo. Randor, leave us and go tend to our friends in the pits." The sound of 'the pits' troubled Egalo, but he did not have time to dwell on it. His mind had a thousand thoughts racing through it.

Egalo stood from where he had been bonded by rope and stood for the first time in a couple days, which was much more challenging than he expected. His first few steps almost sent him stumbling, but he steadied himself before falling in beside the new man in charge.

"I am Dalian Dagnar. You will call me Lord Dagnar. I have a great fascination as to why you seem to have been found at the Magi Temple just as my men had arrived at an empty temple. You seem to be an innocent boy by the looks of you, but with the recent happenings in the land I can never be so sure. So, tell me, who are you?"

Egalo didn't like the way lord Dagnar was labeling him as boy as if he was some dumb child. He had reached adulthood and had been away from his parents for a couple years, as a hunter of wild doe for the city's kitchens. Never had he been referred to as a boy since he had left his parents and joined up with the City's Huntsman as they were known.

Egalo swallowed to try and tame the cotton mouth that was closing up his throat. "I am a City Huntsman of the Kingdom Sunswood. I am no longer a boy, but I hunt with the City's finest bowmen." He stopped as he began to clear his throat, but swallowing was a great deal painful.

Lord Dagnar stopped him there, "I am no idiot, Egalo of Sunswood. Tell me how you went from hunting boar to finding yourself amongst a hidden Magi Temple, that was not just a temple but an empty one—the temple hasn't been empty for hundreds of years." His voice was still ice cold and he spoke slowly, annunciating each word in his deep, low voice. Egalo faintly recognized the accent but he couldn't determine what dialect it was. A mixture of a few, it seemed.

"I was hunting, and I got separated from the group. I was chasing a wild turkey, and something caught my eye. It was a bright light shining from a tree root a few feet ahead of me. Every time I trailed the light it seemed to move away from me. I followed it all the way to a clearing and suddenly I looked up and I realized I had no idea where I was or how long I had been travelling. It was then that I realized I was being watched, so then I ran. I ran until I couldn't because I knew there were rumors of mysterious creatures in the woods late at night, ever since the war. Eventually I tripped over a tree root and got banged up pretty bad. But when I got up my eyes led me to an incredulous palace—a temple. It was magnificent, beauty beyond my imagination, right there in the middle of the woods. I had to go in, fazed by its beauty. And that is where Randor Red Cloak found me."

A low rumble had turned into a noise that resembled a laugh. Egalo furrowed his brows.

"That is quite the fable my friend. I don't believe it for a second. You are one of them, aren't you?"

Suddenly Egalo felt as though he could be in serious peril. He could tell lord Dagnar had detected falsehood in his claim. The laughing stopped, however. He still had no idea what lord Dagnar looked like. His cloak hood came too far forward to reveal any features. He was fairly tall though, Egalo stood about two heads shorter than him.

Dalian Dagnar finally came to a halt deep inside the cave. They were standing at the ledge overlooking the huge clearing down below. Egalo pulled up beside lord Dagnar and looked below. Drums were beating and men were dancing. There were around fifty men dancing and drinking ale. The rest were seated on large boulders or rocks around the perimeter chatting. Egalo watched a pale green hand reach from underneath his cloak and grab the ledge made of blue stone as the shadows of the great large fire danced across the walls.

"We will continue our conversation tomorrow. For now, I welcome you to your new home until we figure out who you are, lord Egalo of Sunswood. We are the Miner's Guild of the Lost Caves. And from now on, as long as you serve me you will live like the companions down by the fire there. But act a fool and I will have you down with the slaves in the desert, digging for the stones of Ertorin for eternity."