The tour began.

Durag led Relma out of the dining hall while things were cleared away. They walked now through a tunnel of smoothed rock. On the walls here, Relma saw some actual designs. They showed many dwarves marching with spears and square shields. Their helms and armor had a death motif, much like William bore in his. As they walked, they came to two statues before them on either side of gray. One was of a beautiful maiden in flowing garb, standing with a hand upraised. The other, on the right, was kneeling in prayer. Her face was solemn, and a sword was in her hands.

Relma thought they were very beautiful, particularly liking the one on the left. It seemed somehow majestic and nice.

"These statues are beautiful," said Relma.

"Yes, we don't usually make statues, to be honest," said Durag. "They take a great deal of effort and are not a practical form of decoration. These, however, were forged recently.

"However, the details seemed worthwhile."

"Who are these angels of?" asked Relma, moving in to get a closer look.

"The Angel of Virtue, Rasoria on the left," said Durag. "And the Angel of Ways, Gabora, on the right."

"I am Rasoria," mused Relma. "But who is Gabora?" Why did she like her own statue so much? What did that say about her? But then, she hadn't known it was supposed to be her and it might not even look like her.

"A being who serves Barden," said Durag. "Mostly specializing in connecting different faraway places and bring about greater civilization."

They walked between the angels and came to an area where a pit was being filled with a gray material by dwarves. As Durag approached, one of the dwarves saluted but said nothing.

"What is this?" asked Relma.

"Don't step too near," said Durag. "We are experimenting with a new form of building material. A chemical mixture, which, when combined, turns from liquid into stone. We call it cement.

"You mix together a paste with certain rocks and then pour it into a mold."

"Then those statues weren't carved?" asked Relma.

"No, however, the molds took a truly painstaking amount of work to set up," said Durag. "It was why I made them in the first place. I wanted to see what I could make.

"Tell me, have you seen the guns of the Conquista?"

"Yes," said Relma.

"Yes, well, guns are a very useful invention. However, they have some critical weaknesses," said Durag and he led her over to a series of targets. A row of guns was laid out on racks. "For one thing, they create a massive amount of noise and smoke and are dangerous to the wielder. In bad weather, they are almost useless. And, last, of all, they are worthless against spiritual entities.

"Demons, spirits, and the divine are more or less immune to guns. All these things mean they are only useful against mortals. And lightly armored mortals at that. Even so, they have certain benefits."

"What makes you say that?" asked Relma. This information seemed like the sort of thing she might need to know. Perhaps she could use these guns for her own purposes when she became King?

"A somewhat complicated explanation," said Durag. "Demons, spirits, and angels are not harmed by physical objects. It is what is put into those physical objects that kill them. A weapon that was painstakingly crafted by a master will be far more effective. And when wielded by someone who trained for years in its use will be even more so."

"Guns, however, require virtually no training to use properly." He took a gun and aimed it downrange. "You merely point-

"And fire." He pulled the trigger, and there was a noise like thunder, as smug filled the air. Relma looked and saw he'd missed the target completely. It seemed to chip off a chunk of the wall, though. Durag let out what might have been a sigh and Relma didn't feel comfortable saying anything. "Unfortunately, it doesn't take as much effort to learn to use one. Advantageous for a militia, but the less time spent working on something, the less it means to you. They are also inaccurate and impersonal.

"When you are up close and fighting a demon hand to hand, it is a very personal matter. Shooting at them with a bow is less so. It takes a trained archer to piece a demon's armor.

"Guns take neither extensive training nor immense discipline, and they are impersonal.

"As such, well, perhaps we should demonstrate," He snatched up another gun and showed it to Relma. "Aim this gun straight at me and fire."

"I'm sorry, what," said Relma, taking the gun and checking the trigger.

"Shoot me," said Durag. "You needn't worry; I have no vital organs. Just aim and fire."

"I uh... well, to be honest, I wouldn't feel comfortable," said Relma. She remembered the Tournament of Kings, when Estela had fired an arrow into her by accident. Thatw as not something she wanted to repeat. "A friend of mine accidentally shot me in this sort of situation."

"Oh very well, you, take this and fire," said Durag, and a dwarf took the gun.

"Me?" said the dwarf. "But Master Durag-"

"Do so, that's an order," said Durag.

The dwarf nodded. "Yes, master Durag."

The dwarf pulled the trigger, and the gun went off again. It was directly against Durag's breast. Yes, there was no discernable difference. "You see? Not a hole in me. There's nothing inherently personal about shooting a gun. It takes very little training to do properly. And there is nothing special about the weapon itself.

"Now, let's see what happens when we fire this same device at that suit of armor." He pointed some ways off to where a suit of armor stood. "You, get a trained marksman to shoot it, will you."

Stolen novel; please report.

The dwarf nodded and hurried off. A little time later, another dwarf came with a rifle. He filled the weapon with powder from a horn, then cocked it and fired. Once again, there was a bang and the armor visibly dented. No sword could have done that.

"Very useful," said Durag. "A few shots like that would kill a man from the impact.

"I think that guns are going to become the way of the future, at least so far to doing battle with mortals. In fact, I would like for you to take a full set of these weapons back to Harlenor if you don't mind."

"I'd prefer to finish my tour and talk with my allies before I accept any gifts," said Relma.

"Of course," said Durag, nodding with what might have been approved. "A wise choice, for one of your age."

Relma looked down a passage and had a foreboding feeling from it. "What is over there?"

"That is the human experiments section, of course," said Durag.

"Human experiments?" asked Relma.

"Yes, in order to better understand how to cure the body, one must have subjects to take apart," said Durag.

Relma felt a twinge of horror. "People, who are still alive?"

"A necessary sacrifice," said Durag. "You need not fear; every one of them has committed one grievous crime or another. All of them warrant their suffering. Think of this place as a sort of... purgatory in the living world.

"Follow me."

This had just gotten very bleak.

The first thing Durag showed her was a corpse. It was desiccated, thin, and had been mummified and put on display. Relma shuddered as she looked at him and wondered his name.

It looked like he had been starved to death.

"This man was a bandit before he came to us," said Durag. "He murdered men, women, and children alongside his band. We observed his atrocities through the eyes of the dead and eventually had a need for one of his age and size. Eventually, he burned an entire field of crops, and the farmer and his family starved to death. He gained nothing by the action, it was done out of spite.

"Our experiment was fairly simple.

"We wanted to see the minimum diet that a human of his size and weight could survive on. To this end, we put him on a steadily decreasing diet of various kinds and observed his body's effects. We also provided him with different levels of movement. They ranged from total immobility to free reign."

"What happened to him?" asked Relma, feeling sick.

"When we had exhausted all other experiments, we locked him within this cell. From there, we observed him deteriorate without food," said Durag. "Eventually, he died."

Relma could not contain herself any longer. "That's horrible! How could you do something like that?!"

"The knowledge is valuable. And it is no more than he deserves," said Durag. And he walked on, bringing her to another corpse, this one female. "This woman had a similar story, she was a member of the same gang. However, we observed that she gaze a crust of bread to a beggar alongside the occasional charity. As such, we provided her with food when she was on the brink of starvation.

"From this, we learned that when one is near death from lack of food, to suddenly be given a large meal is to die. A perplexing result that you would not expect, but it was helpful. Now, when providing food aid to those who are starving, we know to use easily digestible."

"Durag, this is..." Relma looked for the words. "This is sick. Even if they are doing awful things, performing this kind of atrocity on them..." How could she say it without offending him.

"I prefer to think of it as a form of redemption," said Durag. "These people willingly chose to murder and steal, and many other, less savory crimes. All of them did them many times. And in so doing, they have damned many innocent people to the same fate. We make it very clear why they suffer from them.

"Now, they experience the effects of their actions and provide a service to life.

"I expect they shall learn from their errors in their next life.

"Of course, we've found certain dead ends in our research, people who are never guilty."

"What do you mean?" asked Relma, not wanting to know, but needing to.

"Infants, of course," said Durag. "Children are, by nature, innocent and cannot be held responsible for their actions. It would not be possible to pass judgment. And I prefer not to hurt innocents if it can be avoided.

"Fortunately, I've come up with a possible means to dodge the issue."

This was ominous; Relma needed to know more. "What do you mean?"

"I've devised a means by which I will be able to track the soul of horrific criminals after they die," said Durag. "Then, once they reincarnate, I may use them for experimentation without fear of-"

"Don't do it!" said Relma in sudden horror.

"Hmm?" said Durag, with the appearance of one who hears this kind of thing often.

"Listen, what you are doing here... whether it is wrong or right, it will look awful when it comes out," said Relma. Durag was not going to respond to an appeal to his conscience. "And it will come out eventually. If... you want this alliance to work out...

"You need to focus on more humane experiments.

"I realize you have good intentions, but not everyone will understand. The Conquista outright wants you dead. And if word spreads of... that kind of thing it could turn my allies against you." Not that what she'd seen already wouldn't already do that.

Durag paused and seemed to consider it. "Hmm, well, I suppose we had exhausted the possibilities with this area of expertise.

"Would you be interested in live vivisection?"

"You cut people open?" asked Relma.

"Don't be absurd, that would be inhumane," said Durag. "We reanimate the corpses after poisoning them to death. The unholy magics simulate blood movement quite well, so long as the experiment is done fast. 'Live' is a somewhat outdated term.

"One due for changing, I suppose."

Relma sighed as she realized she'd have to learn more. You could not understand something if you didn't look at unpleasant truths. "...I'm really starting to hate playing peacemaker."

"I'm certain we all feel that way sometimes," said Durag.

Obviously, he missed the point.

If hell existed in the real world, it was ruled by Durag.

Relma saw horrors she'd never heard of before. Innumerable experiments, all with one practical purpose in mind. None were live, fortunately. If Relma had found them being actively tortured, she'd have to try and rescue them. That could ruin all her plans. But Durag always had some way in which the information gathered helped him. All of the victims had been villains of their own kind, and the worse the torment put to them, the worse they were.

Durag had chronicled their lives. From the experiments to their reactions and all that came from it. All were bound up in leather books meticulously. And his voice remained level and calm, and Relma tried not to burst into tears. What made it all the worse was the fact that Durag seemed to notice and suggest they retire.

Relma, however, refused to.

"I am certain we can return to this another day if you so wish," said Durag.

Relma wished she could. But even if she did not know about what happened, it would still be happening. And to know the atrocities that happened here was necessary.

"I need to see the rest," said Relma. "Ignoring what happened here would be worse than knowing it."

"Your resolve to gain knowledge is admirable," said Durag.

Here was a devil of a different kind.

But not a devil of sin, but of simple utility. If Durag ruled hell, it would be a place of coldblooded torture, not done for malice, but for knowledge. Perhaps some useful knowledge had been gained yet...

Was it right that good should come out of this?

Relma did not know. Nor did she know if she should destroy Durag. But she was looking forward to when Wrynncurth finally arrived.

She had to get out of here.