Vreek had complimented Turk and Dirk multiple times already as he looted the three survivors and the four bodies they had collected. They had gone through the gear and collected a few trinkets and both Vreek and Turk upgraded their weapons.

The sword that Arbane used was better than the one that Vreek had and the bow that Turk had seen made his old bow feel like a training one. The white bow drew back smoothly and had at least a quarter more power to it than his old one.

“I’ll need to make some better arrows,” Turk stated as he saw cracks appear from the force the new bow caused when firing his old arrows. “There is a lot more power in this one.”

Vreek nodded and smiled as he continued looting the dead bodies.

A small pouch held all the rings and necklaces they wore.

“You never know if any of these things might be magical. One day we might find a goblin or orc who can determine if these things are magical or not. The tougher opponents will sometimes have something magical Brar taught us.”

“Did you or any of the other captains ever find anything magical?” asked Turk as he yanked the last pair of rings off the caster he had killed.

Vreek shook his head no.

“In all the time I killed someone near our old camp, I never did. I think one captain found a ring a long time ago but Brar kept it.”

“Should we harvest the hearts now or later?” Dirk interrupted as he finished checking the last body.

Turk glanced at Arbane, who was watching them and then pointed off into the woods.

“Take them out there, and you and Vreek can harvest them. They will respond better if they do not see us do it.”

Turk bent down and removed the last two bottles from Theodmere’s pouch and tossed it to Vreek.

“Make sure to wrap them up a little better so you two don’t carry a blood bag that drips all over the forest.”

Vreek chucked and nodded.

“Come, Dirk, let’s get to work.”

Dirk groaned a little but grabbed a foot from two different bodies and started dragging them to the area Turk had pointed to.

“Guess we know who the boss is now,” Dirk joked as Vreek drug the other two corpses beside him.

Vreek laughed and nodded.

“So, how do you think we should do this?” Turk asked me as he turned back towards the three captives.

“The female is awake, but she has not spoken yet,” I pointed out to Turk as I watched him. “She appears in shock that you are able to speak their language and I doubt she wants to draw attention to herself after she saw how hurt that one is.”

I watched as Turk nodded and gazed at the elf girl. She held his gaze for a moment before she turned away and grimaced. She had been upset as she watched Turk hang the white bow over his back and put all the arrows she had had in his quiver.

“I guess we should be fine until Theodmere wakes up,” Turk stated. “It appears Dirk hit him harder than I think he had planned.”

I nodded and walked over to where Arbane was. I studied his skin and saw that the potion had started healing his body, but he was still severely disfigured and burnt. His hair was burnt down to his scalp, and I imagined that his once handsome face now would scare most goblins who stumbled upon him.

“Time to talk,” I growled in their language.

Arbane’s eyes glared at me, and I noticed the girl flinched some when she heard me speak their language as well.

“I am not as nice as that one,” I declared as I motioned to Turk.”

Turk coughed and I looked over at him and saw him shake his head and grimace.

“You said, ‘I am not high as him,’ Dad. You messed up on the wording again.”

I rolled my eyes and saw that Arbane was also confused by what I had said.

Muttering to myself, I motioned for Turk to come closer.

“How about you talk then? No point in me looking like a fool while I try to get answers.”

Turk grinned for a moment and nodded as he slowly walked over to where I was and bent down to get in the face of Arbane.

“This one is in charge,” Turk started in. “He will make you suffer a lot more than me. He is not as smart as I am which is why he cannot speak your language as well as I can.”

I tried to make sure I gave a nasty grin as I heard Turk talk badly about me.

“He will eat you while you are alive and tie off your limbs or burn them so that you do not die if he thinks you are lying to him. So do not lie."

I could see the fear in the girl’s eyes as she glanced between Turk and me. She was obviously not as brave as this warrior was.

“We won’t tell you anything!” Arbane shouted as he spat on Turk.

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Turk smiled and nodded and moved to where the female archer was. She was bound behind her back, and her feet were bound together. She tried to struggle a little as Turk bent down next to her and reached out with his hand, and started to run them through her hair.

“How about you?” Turk asked as he flashed a mischievous grin. “Arbane seems to think suffering is the best plan. All I want is some information. Give me what I want, and I will let you go.”

“He is lying!” Arbane shouted as he watched Turk stroke the girl's hair. "They will kill you and do horrible things to you! They are goblins! Remember our goddess!"

Turk shook his head and took his hand, and gently lifted her face even though she struggled against him so that she looked him in the eyes.

"You know who the Black Death is, don't you?"

The girl's eyes watered, and she nodded.

"Good. You only know about us because we left one alive in the town that hunted our kind. If we had not left him alive, then no one would know who we are. So when I say that I will let you go if you give me what you want, know I am not lying.”

Turk leaned in as close to her ear as possible.

“Lie to me, and I will make you suffer worse than the one I left alive,” he whispered in her ear.

The girl nodded her head, and tears started to flow down her face.

“What… what do you want to know?” she said quietly between the tears and sobs she was trying to hold back.

Turk smiled and moved back from her. He sat down on the ground a few feet away from her and crossed his legs so she would not have to look up to talk to him.

“Tell me about the labyrinth in your city.”

The girl's eyes went wide, and Arbane started to struggle against the rope that bound him.

“Do not do it!” He shouted as he squirmed. “You would be betraying our people!”

Tired of listening to Arbane I walked over and pulled out a bit of cloth from the inside of my armor. I had put it here earlier, knowing I would need it. It was damp from my sweat, and I could only imagine what it smelled like. I went and stuffed it in Arbane’s mouth. As he fought me, I simply squeezed his jaw and felt the skin that had healed from the burns coming off in my grip as he struggled. He finally stopped trashing as I poked more and more of it into his mouth.

“Spit it out, and I’ll shove something worse down your throat,” I growled at him.

Turk shook his head a groaned.

“We really need to practice more. You suck at their language.”

Pushing Arbane to the ground, I shrugged and moved back so I would not crowd the girl.

“Maybe my inability to communicate actually helps them believe you are smarter than me,” I joked.

Turk nodded and turned back to the girl.

“Now tell me everything you know about the Labyrinth.

Vreek and Dirk had returned while the girl spewed gobs of information about the labyrinth. They were about twenty days or so, she believed, from when it would reset. It was in the center of the town, and there was no real guard around it. Since only adventures of a certain caliber would go in after the early levels had been cleared, only the more powerful ones would take a turn. Right now, there was only one large party in there. They had been in there for a few weeks, and the King had teams entering in with food and healing potions every few days to make sure they were stocked up.

After sharing everything she knew, we huddled together and left her and the other two elves. I had watched Arbane glare at the girl and even cry some as she spoke about it. I could tell that if he had been able to kill her to silence her, he would have.

“Thoughts?” Turk asked.

Dirk shrugged and looked at the three captives.

“I guess we need to kill the crispy one. He is more of a pain, and I think he is stronger than the other two. It would be a good heart for us.”

“I meant about the labyrinth stuff,” Turk groaned.

Drik laughed and shrugged.

“We aren’t going to storm the city and rush into it. Knowing that it is in the center of the city causes some problems. How do you plan on getting inside?”

I shook my head and put my hand on Dirk’s shoulder.

“We never planned to get inside the elf one. We will head to the dwarf capital and try to get in theirs. She said that all three labyrinths share the same reset time. That gives us almost three weeks to get to the city and try to figure out how to get inside. We must stockpile some food and hearts before we even attempt that.”

“Can’t we just eat the monsters we kill?”

“Yes, but we will need hearts as well. Eventually, we will find something that will test us, and I would prefer to stay inside as long as possible and see how far we can go.”

Vreek nodded as he listened to us talk, and I could see he was still unsure about this idea.

“You think this is a bad idea?” I asked.

Vreek grimaced and rubbed his chin. I almost thought I could see a few whiskers forming on it now.

“I know you and Turk think this is a good plan, but I cannot imagine how we are going to sneak into a dwarven city and make it to their labyrinth. You three must realize there will be guards, they have walls, and there will be an entire capital of dwarves who would love to do nothing more than bash in our skulls and use them to drink from!”

Turk laughed and nodded yes.

“You are overlooking a few things Vreek,” Turk replied. “First, they are not expecting us. The dwarves would never expect a pack of goblins actually to attempt what we are doing right now. They will not have guards like I think you expect. What are they guarding? No goblins or orcs are attacking their city. It will be a bare-bones guard crew.”

Turk motioned to the second finger he was holding up.

“Second, if we get inside, we will have a crystal. Brar and the girl agreed that if that crystal is broken, the party will be kicked out of the labyrinth and put somewhere outside of the city usually.”

“Usually,” interrupted Vreek. “What happens if it puts us in the king's throne room?”

Dirk laughed and chimed in.

“That’s simple. We kill him!”

Vreek groaned and shook his head as he looked at me.

“They really are your children… They have the same stupid idea that we could somehow kill the king of the dwarves.”

I smiled and nodded. I doubted we could, but then again, after getting my butt kicked by Yashk, I realized there were much stronger opponents probably everywhere.

“Vreek,” Turk said as he snapped his fingers. “We are going to do something no other orc or goblin has attempted in so long it will catch them off, guard. We need to get stronger and see what we can find in the labyrinth.” Turk looked at all of them slowly. “We all know this was something we decided needed to be done when we left Yashk’s base. If we will help our people, we need better items as well. Those can only be found in there.”

Vreek nodded. He was not excited about the plan, but I could tell he knew Turk was right. We all knew Turk was right, which was why we had decided to find out information at the elf capital.

“So, what do you want to do with the three captives?” Vreek asked as he pointed in their direction.

Turk turned and looked at them.

“I have a plan for that.”