"You want to buy us off!" the father screamed as he tossed the bucket they had been using for a restroom against the wall near us.

Crap splattered against the wall, and I saw some hit Turk's leg.

Turk sighed and looked at me, and shrugged.

"Sir, you have kept your part of the deal. I know it was not easy. We should be gone in a day if all goes as we think it will. Please, accept the pouch and the items inside as payment for what we broke and used."

"You have held us as prisoners in our own home! Now you want us to forget and move on as we try to overcome all the pain and sorrow you have made us endure?!"

The man's wife tried to calm him down by putting her hand on his arm, but he jerked it free and accidentally caused her to fall. When he saw her on the ground, he started crying and bent down to help her.

"I'm sorry," he lamented. "They are asking for too much!"

His wife stayed on the ground even though he was trying to help her up and put her hand against his face. She smiled and shook her head no.

"Look at them," she said as she tried to turn his face towards us. "They could have killed us. They could have raped me and our daughter. They did not need to care for us. Yes, it has been hard but remember why you did not fight that first night. You and I hoped our children will live." She paused and pushed harder till her husband's face was now looking at us. "Look at their eyes. They are not filled with hate or anger. There is no malice. They could have cut you down without a struggle."

Her husband's face snapped back to his wife, and I could see that the last comment hurt him.

"You would mock my skill?!" he gasped.

"I would never mock your skill, my life," she declared. "You are a great warrior, but those are not like any others you have fought. I can tell by how they hold themselves now they could snuff all of us out without a care."

The man paused and looked back at Turk and me. I could see him looking at us differently. He rubbed his dirty face with his dirty hand and wiped away the muddy tear trail from his face. He took a deep breath and let it out.

"We will accept your payment for what you have taken and done to our home." He grumbled as he gazed hard into my eyes. "Thank you for keeping your word and honoring the bargain you set."

I smiled and nodded.

Turk took the pouch and tossed it to the man, who caught it with ease. He opened up the pouch, and his eyes went wide.

"You would give us all of this?!" he gasped.

Turk chuckled and nodded.

"The truth is we have no real idea how much all that is worth, but I believe there is at least one magical item in there. I cannot tell what, but I can feel it. All that should easily cover the costs of what we have done."

The man stood there transfixed, put a finger in the pouch, and stirred the items inside. Closing up the pouch, he handed it to his wife who opened it up to look inside. I also saw her eyes go wide, and I wondered how much we had given them.

After a moment, she closed the pouch and held it close to her chest. Her clothes were matted and filthy after almost a week in here. Her long hair was no longer well-kept or straight. I realized they looked just like their slaves did in some way. The difference was the way she held herself.

She got to her knee and bowed her head towards us.

"May your god watch over you for the kindness you have shown us," she whispered.

Her husband stood there momentarily, and I could not see his face, but I could see he was obviously shocked by what she had done. A few seconds passed, and when his wife looked up and their eyes connected, I knew what would come next.

The husband turned around and put his fist to his chest, and kneeled down as well.

"May your god watch over you for the kindness you have shown us."

His had been quieter than hers, but I could feel it was sincere.

"May your goddess watch over you for your commitment to your word," Turk said as he tapped his chest with his fist.

Both of them smiled and stood up.

"Tomorrow, you say?" the husband asked as his wife drew near to him.

Turk nodded and motioned outside.

"One of ours is still recovering from some exercise, but once he has recovered, we will be going. We believe it will sometime tomorrow morning." Turk motioned to me, and I opened the door and grabbed the stacked-up meat we had cooked and the water bucket. It was more than usual, and we wanted to give them a little extra to enjoy. "Here is your food, and I will fetch another bucket or two for you to use. Thank you again."

I put the food down on the table we used every time and nodded as I left, waiting for Turk to join me. After we closed the door and had moved away, I stopped Turk and rubbed his head.

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"Nice work back there, son. Maybe all those debate team things weren't a waste after all," I joked.

Turk laughed and nodded.

"Sometimes they were, but tonight I'll sleep better knowing this is one less problem we have to worry about."

"Sleep?" I asked. "You and your brother slept for days. I think it's my turn to sleep now."

Turk groaned and shook his head.

"Maybe Dirk can stay up tonight. He said he wanted to work on his shadow stuff, right?"

We both laughed and started looking for Dirk.

Vreek slept for a day and was up a little after the sun had risen. His mood was hard to read. He was upset for not lasting as long as he had hoped and only sleeping for a day. He was excited because he could feel the difference after having enjoyed a heart and trained after so long.

I could see where he appeared to be a little more muscular, and it looked like his topknot was a little longer. His growth was not as fast as either of the boys, and I knew if we had time he could eat another heart and train again. Time was not on our side now, and we needed to keep all our hearts until we had to use them.

"You really trust them?" Vreek asked after I told him our plan to let the people live. "What if they run off and make it to a village or something close by?"

I shrugged and shook my head.

"We will be gone and moving away from their people. If that happens, it would still be days before they could get here and try to track us," I explained again. "Besides, I saw the look the husband and wife had. They are grateful we are not killing their children."

Vreek grumbled and mumbled some. I heard the words parent and children as well as eating dwarf nutts, but I knew he would eventually drop it.

We were packed and ready to go. Turk was taking care of the family. He had put a stick outside the door of the shack they were in. He had drawn a line for when the sun would be at a certain point and told them to stay inside until the sun hit that line. After that time, they were free to come out.

Dirk had part of the cow we butchered on his back and another pack for Vreek. Since Turk used a bow, he had decided it was not worth it having the pack on Turk for now. As we ran off to the east, I took one glance back at the farm as it disappeared through the trees.

At least one family survived and got to be together, I thought.

A week had flown by, and it looked like we were about two days from the dwarf kingdom. The forest and the tall evergreen trees that seemed everywhere started to turn into rock-filled ground. If the change that was taking place continued, I knew the mountains that were north of us would soon meet from the east, and we would hit a massive mountain formation.

We had seen no other races. A deer fell to Turk’s bow and we enjoyed some fresh meat before deciding to eat the last three hearts we had. They would go bad soon, and we would have to find replacements before infiltrating the capital.

Turk and I shared half a heart, and Dirk and Vreek got their own. They served more as an energy source for Turk, and I while possibly adding some growth for Vreek.

"Since we are doing nothing more than running, I will not need to sleep like I usually do," declared Vreek as we jogged through the woods. "If I do pass out, just put me on your shoulder and carry me."

"Not it!" Turk and Dirk both cried out at the same time.

I laughed and nodded as we kept moving.

"What is not it?" asked Vreek.

All three of us howled with laughter as we ran, our voices echoing through the forest.

After another two days of jogging, we approached a farm and stopped to inspect it.

"Three dwarves, seven slaves," Turk informed us as he watched the farm from the tree line. "No children that I see."

I grunted and was glad but also frustrated. We needed four hearts at least, and there were only three dwarves. The lack of children made this easy.

"Do we want to kill the slaves also?" Dirk asked.

Vreek shook his head and tapped his chest.

"I am not sure I would get anything out of their heart. It might heal a little, but they are so weak that it would be almost as bad as a goblin heart."

"Can't a goblin heart heal?" I asked.

Vreek nodded yes and then suddenly shook his head no.

"It can heal but not like we will need. Maybe a small scratch but nothing more. You need one of the three races or a stronger beast like a boar we faced to do anything else."

"Dirk, you got this?" Turk asked as he kept watching the farm.

"Yeah. I'll wait till it's dark and then take care of everything."

By everything, Dirk meant he would sneak inside, kill them while they slept, harvest their heart, and then set the house on fire. That way it would look like an accident, and no one would suspect what had really happened. The slaves would be locked up, meaning no one could help extinguish the fire. It should but us some time as the dwarves come to investigate what happened.

Turk pointed off in the distance.

"The capital is there."

We could all see the massive walls surrounding it looked like they had been carved out of the mountainside. The ground sloped up, and farmlands filled a chunk of the space between us and the capital. We had at least six hours of sunlight, and I wondered how big the castle walls were. We were a good half-day away from it. If we jogged during the night, we could easily shave an hour or two off that time, but it also meant we would be moving fast and might draw attention.

"Vreek, what is this crop? This is not a grain I recognize."

Vreek groaned, and I knew what was coming next.

"Sorry, I asked," I interjected before I heard his usual tirade.

Vreek stopped what he was going to say and laughed.

"It is a grain I believe they use for alcohol. They like to drink."

"In our world, the stories we know about dwarves say that they drink almost their weight in beer or alcohol as often as they can. Is that true?"

Vreek groaned at Drik's question, and I laughed.

"I have never met a dwarf," Vreek declared with a huff. "I will have to trust your knowledge. I know they are strong fighters, have powerful healers, and have some magic users. There are the occasional ones that do what you do, Dirk, I believe, but not many." Vreek paused again, and I saw him tapping his forehead with his finger. We could tell he was thinking.

"I also think a few of them make stuff that makes giant holes and put stuff on fire."

"Explosives!" Dirk gleefully exclaimed. "Imagine if we can get some of those!"

Turk moaned and shook his head no.

"You almost blew your hand off with an m-80 and a cherry bomb once! Why would you risk it again with something we have no clue about."

Dirk laughed and winked at Vreek.

"Because I like it when stuff goes boom!"

"Enough," I interrupted as I held up my hand. "We need to focus on tonight. We get these hearts and then make a path to the capital. We have to try tonight if we are going to do this. The longer we stay out here the higher the chance someone finds us."

"What if someone does find us?" asked Turk.

"Then we make sure they cannot tell others about us."