Razam turned back, staring at the creature at the doorway. It was wearing armor, but it was either the most physically deformed human he’d seen, or that was not a human but a monster. The shoulders were not even, he seemed unnaturally tall, and his skin bulged in places. Was that a rock instead of a head? The more Razam looked, the more it seemed like that person was made of rock and mud.

And he immediately crawled toward Razam. The innkeeper screamed and ran toward the window and escaped in fright. The only two people who were in the corner did the same.

Razam gasped while a single, massive fist of clay pivoted toward him. Razam ducked, slipping away from the table. He watched in shock as the fist crashed against the wood, bursting in pieces, then reforming as if the mud had a life of its own. And then, the monster swung his other fist; a massive rock with the size of a human skull. Razam dodged, then reached for his scimitar, unsheathed and swung in one fluid movement, slicing upward toward the creature’s arm.

“Aha!” Razam shouted, seeing half a dozen people scream, racing out of their rooms, leaping through windows into the street.

Razam’s smile was short lived, as suddenly, the pieces of broken clay that had fallen turned watery and once again, leapt back into the monster’s arms.

“You think you are strong enough,” said a screechy voice, seemingly right into his ears.

“Who said that?” Razam shouted. But the monster was swinging at Razam again. He managed to duck, to step back. He turned around and raced to the broken doorway, but as he ran, a rock struck him in the back, making him stumble and fall forward.

He grunted in pain, trying to get to his feet and face the creature. What kind of a being of black magic was he seeing?

“Are you facing a monster of rock, human? I’ve seen him before,” the dragon said into his mind. “A monster of stone and mud.”

“What is this thing?” Razam asked.

“It’s the thing that captured and killed my partner.”

“Oh, spit on a grave,” Razam said out loud.

The monster was again on top of him, raising that powerful hand of stone and trying to hammer it over Razam’s head.

“I’m tired of this,” Razam exclaimed, closing in on the creature and striking at its leg, his scimitar bit into a piece of stone, so that wouldn’t do. He tried the other leg, and it collapsed on itself, the leg falling off. He immediately rushed to strike at the arm he had cut, then at the head, as the neck seemed to be mud and not just rock. Its head fell off, the arm did too, and Razam grinned.

“See? I can tear you to pieces. You’re slow, old man, whoever you are.”

“Fool,” the old man’s voice echoed in his head.

In that moment, Razam saw a flash of light and a powerful force that pushed him to the wall. Pain jolted through his back, through his legs, the back of his head and each of his bones. He groaned, collapsing to the floor on one knee, panting.

“What the hell did you do?” he asked.

“Magic, powerful magic,” he said.

“What are you?”

“Soon to be the god of this world,” said the voice.

“That means you’re crazy,” Razam said through his teeth.

Then, Razam saw something crawling into the room, like a silver serpent writhing on the ground. He gasped, he didn’t like lizards at all and snakes in particular. But that was not a snake, it slithered forward with the sound of ringing metal, it was an iron chain, it rounded around Razam’s legs then sharply tightened around them. Razam gasped as another set of chains writhed around him, curling around his arms and pulling them together.

“The more you struggle the tighter they will be.”

“Stop, stop!”

“I’m coming,” Vrarog’s voice said into his mind. “But I’m far away.”

Another, more alien voice reverberated into his mind, the creaky voice of an older man. “Tell me, how much pain do you want? How much pain do you need to feel until he returns.”

Razam realized that the old man’s voice was not really inside his mind; it came from somewhere around him, like a shadow, a presence that enveloped him.

Razam grunted as the chains tightened around him.

But he knew what was going on. He was bait for Vrarog to come.

“He know where my kin dwells,” said the dragon. “And he wants to capture me again”

“That means this is a trap for you,” Razam said in his mind, closing his eyes.

“Very good, this is how I like it,” the old man screeched in Razam’s mind. Suddenly, the chains pulled Razam to his feet.

Razam thought. He wanted the dragon to come for Razam.

“Vrarog,” Razam called. “It’s a trap!”

“I know…” Vrarog said. “But how can I let this happen? You are in pain again…”

“That’s my life,” Razam grunted out loud.

In that moment, shadows obscured the broken doorway. A group of figures dashed into the inn. Razam saw them from the ground, they seemed like shadows drifting across the room. Then, he saw a rivet of silver light cross through the sky with the sound of a whiplash, and the monster of clay fell apart in six pieces.

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Razam turned. Those were… The Khanjar. Fahad, the guy who’d chased him, Arash, the older man with the scars and the whip, now extracting a weapon, a whip-blade, and Fara, throwing tiny paper balls at the…

A loud bang echoed in the room, the stone face of the monster erupted into pieces as Fara’s projectile made contact with him. She was throwing explosives at the creature.

“Fools!” hissed a creaky voice, all across the room. “You think you can hurt me,” said the creature, as broken stones floated back to the monster, reforming into its face.

It turned, shaking its head. A blinding light flashed across the room, and the warriors crashed against the walls, grunting in pain.

“Stop trying to thwart my plans,” said the creaky voice. “For you shall always fail. You’ve got no chance against me. Each time I offer a sacrifice, I can summon power to destroy you.”

In that moment, another explosive burst, right around the monster’s torso, sending pieces and debris across the room.

“Fools!” shouted that voice. It was clear that everyone in the room could hear it. Suddenly, Razam felt the chains pulling him back to his feet and toward the street.

“No, he’s ours,” shouted Fahad, just as he raced toward the monster and started slicing it with his sword. Arms, legs, head, all fell off and reformed again.

Razam grunted, holding on to the pain and not letting out a whisper. At that moment, he felt a pull, the old man, Arash, was dragging him out of the inn.

“Hey,” Razam looked up at Arash, who didn’t even return the glance.

Through the door, Razam could see another member of the Khanjar, fighting along with Fahad, attacking, or rather, distracting the clay monster, slicing him to pieces at a faster rate than he could regenerate. Fara moved from one corner to the other of the room.

“Stand back!” shouted Fahad. His comrades obeyed, stepping back toward the door. Just as Fahad sliced the monster’s legs once more. Fara was the first to emerge, then the other two, and last of all, was Fahad, exiting just as the creature started taking shape again.

At that moment, a loud bang echoed throughout the city block, followed by another, then another, a chain reaction of explosions that burst through the windows and walls.

“Whoa!” Razam shouted, staring as the walls of the inn burst in an explosion. Flame erupted on the roof, as the walls collapsed inward, lifting a massive cloud of dust, shards of wood and rock dispersing across the street.

Razam stared at Fara. All the members of the Khanjar were outside.

“Wait, that was my inn!” shouted a gruff voice that Razam recognized immediately as the innkeeper.

Meanwhile, Arash and Fara got down and started untying Razam’s chains

“Let’s get out of here before we draw any more attention,” said Fahad, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Hey, I’m talking to you.”

A crowd had gathered outside the inn. Including men in silver plate armor.

“Stop right where you are!” ordered one of them. Razam’s chains had been loosened and he managed to get on his feet. He saw a figure among the multitude, drawing his attention. It was an old man wearing white robes, a conical hat on his head. A golden necklace with a strange symbol hung from his chest. He was gazing at Razam intently.

For some reason, the man made him think of a wizard.

The troop of soldiers drew closer.

“Stand close together!” Fahad shouted.

“They saw us, Fahad.”

“It’s him!” one of them shouted. “The woman too, they’re the ones.”

“Go get reinforcements!” the leading soldier said to one of his men. The other man nodded and immediately ran backwards.

Razam got to his feet. He looked around. He had no weapons, maybe the chains at his feet could be used, but he would be at a severe disadvantage.

That very moment, the leading soldier signaled by raising his scimitar.

The members of the Khanjar got ready, one with the whip, Fahad with a spear and Fara… Fara was next to him, whispering in his ear.

“Huh?” Razam raised an eyebrow. She was presenting him with his scimitar. Razam nodded thanks and took it immediately. The soldiers rushed at them. Razam lunged, swinging his scimitar upward, parrying his attacker’s blow, then sliding the blade through his neck. Fara finished two soldiers with her secret throwing knives, and Fahad killed one by piercing him through the eyes, into his skull.

“Now, we really have to go!” Fahad ordered.

They turned toward the multitude. Razam was shocked to see how some among them cheered. Others told them to keep their voices low. One man just stared, that old man with the brown staff.

“Sorcerer!” Razam ordered, pointing at him.

“Huh?” said Fahad, stopping for an instant.

But Razam rushed and grabbed the man by the collar. The man opened his eyes wide in shock. But there was something to his eyes. Perhaps, they seemed too deep and too knowing.

“Are you the one who’s causing all this?”

“Razam let’s go!” said Fara into his ear.

“Tell me!” Razam shouted, anger in his mind. “Are you the one behind all this?”

“No,” said the old man. “But I know there’s someone out there doing it.”

“What’s going on,” Fahad said with an urgent tone. “Thief! If you don’t move we will chain you again and move you.”

“This man,” Razam said. “We need to interrogate him.”

“We?” Fahad said sarcastically.

“Let’s just go!” Fara said.

Razam held the man. “He know what’s going on!” Razam said. “He knows!”

Fahad was already reaching for Razam’s arms. Fahad and Arash pulled Razam. In that moment, they saw the silhouette of soldiers moving through the crowd. Razam turned around and followed the group toward the streets. They sprinted at full speed, passing through the crowd and patrols.

Fahad knew the way. Razam was surprised that this time, Fahad led them to an inn. He spoke to the innkeeper in code, and they lead the group up the stairs into an empty room. Razam figured that the innkeeper was a collaborator of the royal family and that they had set places such as this in place for their protection.

Arash escorted Razam up and shut the door behind.

“What have you brought into our city?” Fahad shouted at Razam.

Razam shrugged. “Whatever’s going on, it was already in your city.”

Razam finally took notice of the place they were staying. The room was large and hosted five beds.

“You see?” Fahad addressed Fara. “This man is out of control. We can’t trust him.”

“He’s not what you’re used to, Fahad, but he’s not against us. I understand what he wants.”

“And what do I want?” said Razam, turning toward Fara.

“To do the right thing.”

Razam snickered.

“Could be, but that doesn’t mean I’m here to support you. I’m going. Going away from all this mess.”

“You can’t leave until we re sure you’re not a threat,” Fahad said sternly.

Razam sighed.

“Listen, Fahad, I don’t plan on staying for long. I’ve got a friend coming to pick me up. I plan to fly really far away and not bother you anymore.”