Capturing the family was a simple task. There was a mother and father and two younger children. They also had four Tabaxi slaves.

Turk and Vreek decided the best way to capture them was to take the children captive and convince the parents they should give up if they wanted them and their children to live. Turk had convinced Vreek that a parent was willing to do almost anything if they felt their child had a real chance of surviving.

Turk had gone out and stood away from the house and had started shouting in their tongue. The father had come out with a sword while his wife held a torch in her hands. As they moved farther from the house Dirk had climbed in through a window on the back side of the house and secured one of their children. Once they realized Turk was a goblin and Dirk came around the house holding their little girl, the father obeyed Turk when he was told to drop his sword.

When all four of us were there, they clung to each other, and the children were whimpering.

"I promise you, we will not kill you if you do not try to escape or fight back," Turk declared again as we put them in the building with the slaves.

"You are cowards!" the father shouted again. "Hiding behind my children! I would cut you down if it were not for them."

Turk sighed and shook his head.

"Listen. I have let other elves go because they did not break their promise to me. I will make you the same promise. Stay in this building. We will bring you food and water. If you come out, we will butcher you and everyone here down and burn this place." Turk's eyes glowed in the night. "If I wanted you dead, you would be dead already. If I wanted to do terrible things to your wife and children, we would have done it!" Turk paused a moment as he let the man think about what he had just been told. "Now go console your family and stay here. In a few days, we will be gone, and you will be able to return to raising your children and caring for your farm."

The man started to speak again, but his wife reached out her hand and put it on his arm. He saw her shaking her head and letting out a huff before moving with them into the back of the shack for their slaves.

"I'll be chaining up this door. There are no second chances. Try to escape. Try to fight, and everyone dies."

Turk shut the door, and Vreek took the chains he had found, ran them through the handles, and put a metal spike through the links to secure it.

"Looks like you were right," Vreek declared. "At first, I thought he was going to fight you even though Dirk had one of his children."

"Did you see what the mother did?" I asked. "Her hand stayed his anger and made him see sense. Parents do things for their children that seem foolish at the time."

Vreek nodded as he pointed at Dirk.

"Go get a few buckets of water. I'll work on butchering a cow and preparing some food. Turk, you get a fire going out here."

"What about me?" I asked.

Vreek laughed.

"Relax while you can. These two are about to wear you out."

Turk and Dirk both ate a heart. Turk had held each heart and he said he could somehow sense which two were the strongest. One was the magic user he had killed, and the other was Arbane's heart.

Both boys took turns fighting me while the other ran or pushed something.

Vreek had butchered a cow and started setting slabs of meat near the water buckets for them to eat. He cooked a few pieces and had taken them to the family in the shed and left them there with some water for them.

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After about the fourth hour of dueling both boys, I had to stop and let the two of them go at it against each other. Watching the two of them fight was a lesson for me. Dirk was fast, he held the wooden daggers Vreek had cut for him in different positions, which made each time we fought a different lesson in striking. He could defend from multiple positions while cutting once he got in close.

Turk spent a full hour exhausting his magical supply into a massive crater he had created. Explosion after explosion from different colored bolts flying into the ground. When he was fully drained, he would eat and then duel or run.

Vreek had slept first as I watched the boys fight. Their movements were smooth, and there was no wasted effort. Turk could fire arrow after arrow with pinpoint rapid accuracy. We had to limit the number of times he shot his bow as we did not have the large number of arrows we had enjoyed back at Brar's camp.

Finally, after almost a full day they both started to waver, and we made sure they ate again. Two cows had been slaughtered, and we got them inside the house and onto the wooden floor where they lay. Vreek found some blankets inside and covered them up.

"How many days do you expect them to be out?" I asked Vreek with a wink. I knew he hated those questions.

"Probably at least two days," Vreek simply answered with a shrug. "Once they wake up, I need need to eat a heart and train. I am falling behind. I can barely see any of their attacks now."

I realized Vreek was right and nodded in agreement. I could not remember how long it had been since he had actually trained.

"Well then, let's get some stuff prepared for your training. Help me cut up some trees and make some logs for you to use."

Vreek smiled and nodded. I could see he was excited to get a chance to get stronger finally.

A little more than two days later, both boys had woken up. In that time, Vreek and I had created many training materials. I felt like I was making some strongman competition with all the logs I had cut and cleaned up for him to move and carry.

Dirk woke up first and came out to find us setting things up. I could see that he had grown a few inches and gotten a little thicker as well. His eyes had gotten darker, and his hair on his head was longer.

"Turks still snoring," Dirk commented as he stretched and yawned. "And there is a foul smell from where he is sleeping. I believe he crapped his pants."

Vreek laughed and shrugged.

"I do not think the woman will enjoy that mess at all. That smell will stay for quite some time."

I nodded and remembered just how long that smell seemed to last from our time back in Brar's camp. That thought suddenly made me remember I needed to contact Brar.

I groaned, and both Dirk and Vreek looked at me.

"Everything ok, Dad?"

I shrugged.

"I just remembered I need to contact Brar. I am sure he will complain since it has been over a week since we last spoke."

"Hasn't he tried to contact you?" asked Vreek.

"I have no clue if he has tried," I stated. "He did not tell me much about it other than how to contact him. He never told me how I was supposed to know if he was trying to contact me."

Vreek chuckled and gave a big smile. "That is Brar, all right. He often forgot we did not know everything he did and expected us to know."

"Terrible leadership," Dirk chimed in.

"I still need to talk to him. I will share our plans and what we have learned but I do not think he will approve of our plans." I paused and pointed to the food that Vreek had made us this morning. "Go eat, son. You two will help Vreek train once Turk wakes up."

Dirk grinned as he looked at Vreek. "I cannot wait for a chance to return all the marks Vreek gave us."

Vreek groaned and shook his head.

"Where would you three be now if I had not pushed you so hard? You three were soft and hairless. Now look at you!" Vreek exclaimed. His voice sounded proud at knowing he had done a lot to help prepare us for all we had experienced so far.

Dirk went and ate while Vreek and I started finishing up the preparation of his training. He wanted to make sure that he got in as much as possible and he had already made me promise to let him train till he passed out.

Hours had passed, and the sun was a few hours from setting. I decided that since Turk had not woken up yet, I would go ahead and reach out to Brar. Standing out in one of the fields, I did my usual ritual and waited for Brar to respond.

Minutes went by, and no response came from Brar. I waited a few more minutes before trying the same thing again. Tapping the ring three times and saying his name as always, I waited.

Five minutes stretched by, and still nothing. I was unsure what Brar was doing, but I decided to try again tomorrow.

A few steps back toward where Vreek was, Brar called out and blew my mind with what he said.