“We should just take their things and kill them. Then our hands are clean.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to sell them. There are plenty of bandit camps looking for extra miners in the west.”

“We could make more money...but we’d have to take them pretty far.” I open my eyes, and it takes a while for my vision to come into focus. When it does, I see Lorra and Krin arguing in front of me. They’ve gotten rid of their dresses, and wear black clothing with a leather chestpiece and bracers. Krin wears a short sword, and Lorra has a dangerous looking curved dagger. When they see me looking at them, they turn away and continue in hushed voices.

I realize that my hands and legs are tied to a chair, and looking to my right I see Vern. He smiles nervously at me, and wiggles his fingers behind his back. Miraculously, Vern’s hat sits in his lap.

“How did you keep your hat?” I wonder aloud, mainly to myself...and the Gods. I’m starting to think they’re trying to drive me insane.

“What?” Vern asks with a tilt of his head.

“Nothing. Sorry,” I say with a shake of my head. I turn my attention to the rest of the room, which is empty except a small table with a lantern and stairs leading up. Krin and Lorra stand alert in front of us, as if we could run away at any moment.

“What do you want from us? Other than to look pretty, which may I say, I’m doing wonderfully.” Vern says with a weak smile. I hear a slight quiver in his voice, though I can’t even make fun of him, because my hands are trembling behind my back.

“Oh, you’re still so charming, even like this.” Lorra says, walking closer and leaning down to stare him in the eyes. “Don’t worry, we’ve come to the conclusion that we won’t kill you.” She pats his cheek.

“Great, so does that mean you’ll let us go.” I ask, hopeful.

“Nope!” Krin says cheerily. “We’ll sell you into slavery. That way we make money, and you get a new job. A win-win situation.” She smiles devilishly. I shiver. These women are dangerous. Though, I suppose everything before this already made that clear.

“And here I thought we had something special.” I say, my mouth full of cotton and my heart beating wildly.

“Nope again! But, I did mean it when I said you were cute.” Krin says, still full of energy. You know, not an ideal circumstance to hear it, but I’ll take what I can get. Lorra claps her hands suddenly.

“Alright, time to sleep.” She says, sounding like a schoolteacher. They turn and start heading up the stairs.

“WAIT!” Vern calls out suddenly. The women stop, turning to look at him. “Come on hear us out we just left two days ago on an adventure I decided we’d leave and the first night I thought we’d die but we didn’t but now we’re going to be sold into slavery don’t you think this is just wrong slavery is bad we just want to achieve our dreams please let us….”

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“Calm down!” Lorra calls out, stopping Vern’s tirade mid-stream. The room is silent for a few seconds. I didn’t realize Vern was this strung out right now. I mean, it’s a fair reaction, but usually he’s steady in tough situations.

“What are your dreams?” Krin asks quietly. Vern is staring at the ground with defeated eyes, so I answer.

“I want to be a poet, and he wants to be a jester in King Yudeli’s court.” I say, nodding my head at Vern.

“Why?” Lorra asks, her eyes serious.

“Because we didn’t want to be stuck in lives we’d hate.” I say firmly. Krin and Lorra look at each other, having a discussion with their eyes. It ends with both of them nodding after just a moment.

“Listen, we understand you. We actually left our homes for the same reason.” Krin says.

“Really? What did you want to become?” I ask, sensing an opportunity.

“Bandits.” Lorra says deadpan.

“Oh..” Yup, we’re screwed.

“How about we make a deal? As one group of dreamers to the next.” Krin says, with a reassuring smile. I feel my heart rise. Vern finally looks up, a spark of life behind his eyes.

“Okay, what are you thinking?” I ask, a small smile rising to my face.

“Well, first we’ll sell you to the slavers.” Huh?

“Huh?” Vern echoes my thoughts.

“We need to make our money first. On the third night, we’ll come break you out.” Krin says.

“If we live that long.” Vern says in a dead tone of voice.

“You don’t seem that frail.” Krin replies.

“I’m a delicate thing. I’m meant to look pretty and be funny. Not do manual labor.”

“Think of it as a training program. To put on some muscle.”

“Oh yeah, I’ll make it one big game. Except, for one thing.”

“What?”

“I’LL BE A SLAVE!” Vern yells the last part.

“If you’re not grateful, we can just leave you there.” Lorra says sternly.

“No no, we are grateful for the help.” I say quickly. Though, it’s their fault in the first place that we have to go through any of this...but of course I’m not going to air that thought.

“Now that that’s settled, it’s time for bed.” Lorra says grumpily. I wonder if they’ve been awake the whole time we were unconscious? It isn’t until the lantern is off, and the women are up the stairs, that I realize I might have been able to get them to untie our legs at least. I sigh heavily. I guess we have to sleep like this.

“Ren?” Vern calls out in the dark.

“Yeah?” I say.

“I’m sorry I forced us on this adventure.” He says. I’ve never heard him this serious before.

“Don’t say that. I wanted to come, and besides, it’s only been a few days. Our adventure is still waiting for us. We just ran into a….detour.” I say. A silence stretches for a few minutes. Long enough to make me wonder if Vern fell asleep, when all of a sudden he speaks up.

“Thanks Ren.”

“Don’t worry about it, Vern,” I say. Despite our circumstance, my eyelids feel heavy, and soon I give into my fatigue.