Ride Fast, Ride Far

When you're on the run from someone you tend to make bad decisions.  Like running to begin with, see stronger people mount a stand fight their enemy until the enemy fears them and legends are created around their bravery (or so I've heard, you know those legends tend to be written by people who got their asses kicked by a small group, perhaps they are exagerating what happened to explain their total failure as a military force?).  Me I run, I run fast, I run far, I run until I have nothing left in me to run.

It's kep me alive this whole time, when there is a problem I should be confronting I run from it.  Like I had a destination for an internment camp, but I still spent days running from the soldiers who were purusing me.  I could have probably turned around, killed them, and then moved on, but thats not my nature.  I tend to only fight when cornered, or angered, or when I'm annoyed.  Basically if you've upset me look out.

I actually think I rode faster and farther than I needed to, eventually I found the southern coast line and heard or saw no tracks from my pursuers.  I don't even know if they were following me, or were looking for me in general outside of me being a horse thief now. Either way with me finding the coast, I could easily locate myself on the map I had aquired and from there I could figure out a way to get to the internment camp.  Didn't know exactly what I would do when I got to the camp, if it would still be there, or what they were interring there to begin with (I mean the map looked fairly oldish, so I doubt this was a new for the war location).  All the same if I was going to rescue Morley that would be a good place to start, or to cause trouble, or just mess things up in general. And if there was ever something I was good at, its messing things up! So with a destination in hand, I made my preperations, fed and watered the stolen horse (I'd been riding haphazardly so the poor thing was hungry and making weird wheezing noises), gathered up some flammable materials (just in case) and said a prayer to whatever god would support a damn fool like myself and set off on another dumb adventure. 

I Hear Ya Knocking

There are distinct sounds on wood that I'll never forget.  One of those is rushed boots up stairs, for multiple reasons hearing this immediately puts me in flight mode (No fight here, I mean I've murdered countless people, but boots can be anything). My first thought was that the yokel downstairs screwed me, well my first thought was actually "I'm trying to sleep you dicks knock it off with all the stomping" and then I remembered stomping was a bad thing. I was out the window as the door to my room burst in (second floor, it hurt to hit the ground but better than getting killed) I thought for a brief moment as I crashed into the ground "Who pays for the door repair when someone kicks one in?"

I hit the ground running, in that I mean I slammed into the ground, howled in pain and hobbled off.  Behind me the sounds of shouting began, and then gunfire.  I quickly crossed from my side of the dirty road to the other making my way behind that building to put space between me and my pursuers.  As I rounded the corner I came across one very surprised stable boy tending the soldiers horses. I didn't kill the child (no point really, I'm not a monster), I just ran for the nearest horse, got on and took off in the night (I'm a habitual horse thief I'm sure my name would mean horse thief in some languages if anyone ever got my name correct).

I didn't really pick a direction so much as start riding in the "anywhere but here" one, the rain of course was still going on, so I was riding in the dark in hard rain, at a speed that was nowhere near safe.  I'm frankly amazed I didn't hit a gap and break my neck. It did work in my favor though, I easily lost the soldiers, sadly other than knowing I traveled south again I had no idea where I currently was.  I slowed the horse to a trot and tried to get a look at the land and came up short.  I couldn't see a damn thing, I could tell I was still on a plain, and the grass looked fairly high, but outside of that nothing.  I stopped the horse and hopped off, looking at my stolen goods, I noticed the soldier had included a bed roll with his possessions and took ownership of it immediately.  While I was unraveling the bedroll I came across a fairly detailed map, with what appeared to be fortifications drawn on it? I couldn't be sure, but from the looks of it, I had the entire Ronerawth military deployment, including a spot indicated for "internment". Now all I had to do was figure out where the hell I was and then I could find Morley, in theory.  It was better than when I woke up, despite being dry then and soaked to the bone a little bit later.  That's my life though, in a better position, but a worse condition.

I Hate Small Towns

"Haven't seen any soldiers come through as of late, have to say though haven't seen a lot of people come through for quite a while Mr. Rorentino." The innkeeper/bartender talked in a drawl that almost made me want to take my eyes out. I had come down after drying out a bit and surveyed the area, a couple inns, a general store, a stable for horses and as always the rich person in town, not much more than a place to stop get some food and move on. No formal law though, which seemed strange, until you think about the kind of government Ronerawth uses. Oh also if you haven't noticed, master of damn disguise.

"Not even with the war one you haven't seen any soldiers?"

"There's a war on?" Overall's that was about it for his fashion sense, who just wears overalls? Yokel small town jerks in the middle of nowhere.

"Yes no one told you guys?"

"Well mail hasn't come in a bit, but he's always late around this time of year, who we fighting?" I swear I don't remember him chewing cude while talking to me, but you can just add that in, I'm sure he did chew it, just wasn't at the time.

"Yourselves, inner conflict because of the emperors tax policy."

"Is it really a war if you fight yourselves?" I was standing for this particular conversation, but I felt like I should be sitting with how dumb it was I felt.

"I don't even know how to respond to that, look if you see soldiers just come knock on my door or something." I went to leave before he could respond, I'm sure it was a sure or a "Why would I see soldiers?" If I ever said something nice about small towns, I TAKE IT ALL BACK THEY ARE THE WORST PLACES EVER! I do know now that all was not as it seemed, but I swear just remembering this conversation causes me to be so angry. SO ANGRY!

Walk it Off

I hate walking, I hate owing people things, and I most certainly hate the rain which started not too long after leaving the canyons formerly of Morley and Fizzle. This was also my fault for not properly dressing before I left, I mean I got a new robe from Fizzle and some boots (stylish yet refined, and too freaking small, its not like shorties have to have smaller feet than regular people, fizzle just apparently did, becuase he's stupid), there was a coat there, but I figured since it had been hot and arid in the canyons the rest of the world would follow suit.  I was completely wrong as usual.

So within a few hours I looked like a drown rat wandering the country looking for a town, or Morley, or something else to distract me and leave Morley to his fate (if he wasn't already dead its not like Aloitious had any reason to keep him around once he had him, it was certainly in his best interest to kill him early in my experience). And so I walked, leery of seeing anything in the distance lest it be someone looking for me, or a creature time forgot, or someone else who needed my damn help (yes I know I said I was looking for a distraction, but not that kind of distraction). Thankfully there was nothing, just the usual empty green plains of this part of Ronerawth and the hateful rain soaking my very nature, keeping me awake at night (no tent, again I was genius here).

As I walked I could at least feel my ribs finally healing, despite all the days I've made them suffer they started relenting in their aching soreness.  It was one of the few good things about my trip, though the cold I picked up from being in the rain and the wet certainly didn't help things.  Any chance of me being stealthy went out the window when I let loose a hacking cough (not like I've ever been stealthy anyway). I did finally come to a ramshackle town in the middle of what appeared to be about six roads leading in different directions.  I can only assume the town formed because of their position on the road ways, though there weren't any train tracks, either becuase it would be too difficult to reach the area, or its importance had diminished since the invention of rail.

Either way it served me because it meant they would be more out of touch than other towns (no telegraph lines either) and less likely to be aware of my fugitive status.  I found one of two inn's in town and purchased a room for minimal coin (no need to draw attention to myself with spending a lot, also I'm cheap).  It was nice to get out of the rain and take off my sopping clothes.  While I laid down to figure out my next move, I stopped to consider just letting Morley die, but I realized that he was the kind of guy that in death would only get stronger.  So if I didn't help him because I owed him, I helped him because I feared what he would become if he died.  I really need to hope Morley never finds this journal, or I'm so dead (the dick references alone!).

Help a Brother Out

It's silly to admit to, but I always feel better when I have my sword back.  This gifted blade of Valyrms that I'm still not sure I didn't actually steal is a source of comfort in this world.  Everytime I'm captured I feel I might lose it forever, but magically the damn thing keeps coming back.  Probably also helps that just about everytime I'm in trouble I need a weapon of some kind and the sword fits the bill, and it does look imposing when I've got it at someones throat (well unless they know I'm a terrible swordsman, then they kind of mock me.)

I did find the key to my shackles in case you were wondering (though with a sword I guess I could have hacked them off and hoped to not slice off part of my body).  It did take longer than I'd like to admit, so I had the corpse of Fizzle for a traveling companion a little while more than I'd prefer (its not like I have an actual comfort zone for being chained to a corpse, but this felt like it was excessive). I wasn't a complete callous monster, once I unchained the little jerk I took him out front with the stinking remains of his men and ignited all three in a nice funeral pyre.  Sure it was more about the smell, but I still did it!

My total haul for killing Fizzle was some precious metal coins, some jewels, a couple books written in a language I couldn't immeadiately make out, and a note from Aloitious thanking him for delivering Morley. It raised to mind how long I'd been out from his electro shock, also why I just warranted getting staked out in a desert, but Morley was worth being traded for money.  No damn respect!  I'll admit I was two minds as to what do to Morley, on the one hand he had told me multiple times he would leave me to die, but on the other hand he had recently rescued me albeit by proxy.

So it was with heavy heart that I packed up the supplies I could aquire from Fizzle and set out to find Morley.  In a way he truely was family, I never wanted him around when he was, he always seemed like a bigger problem than he was worth, and anytime I saw him things were about to get worse.  I'm sure he feels the same way about me.  I didn't exactly know where I was going when I set out from Fizzles cave home.  I just started walking in the direction Morley and I were walking anyway and hoped for the best.  Honestly as far as plans go, it wasn't exactly my worst one ever, hell it wasn't even the worst plan I'd had from the past few days!

FizzBang

Unarmed combat with hurt ribs and shackles is not a very fun thing.  It would be not fun without the shackles and the ribs, but add those other things to it and it becomes super not fun (I always rate murdering people on a fun scale, some say I have issues). Either Fizzle wasn't paying attention to me, didn't feel the need to alert his guards, or I was extremely lucky, but I was able to make my way close to the entrance of the cave.  I could see both guards wielding some kind of large battle axe type weapon that even on my best day I'd barely be able to lift off the ground.  They didn't appear human at all, some kind of weird creature looking things from beyond (Fizzle must have been more than a Watcher he had powers and creatures beyond his stature).

Ordinarily I'd just use my magic on the beasts, this was of course entirely impossible due to the shackles.  I also had no sword, so my combat abilties were vastly diminished.  I did manage to find a solid piece of bone to potentially club one of the creatures with, so that was going to be my strategy (Yep, let me grab a bone and go to my death, another guarenteed Lorentino Victory). I don't believe in waiting for doom, so I made my way from underneath some long dead boney creature and charged ahead yelling as my shackles clanged behind me like some strange party favor. They both turned to look at me with what amounted to bemusement, I came up to about waist level (and I'm not that short really), so I'm sure on the threatometer I ranked pretty damn low. I ran up to the one on the right and swung my little bone mace at his head, hit his chest and the weapon shattered like well bone.  The big beast of a man thing hefted down the axe from its shoulder and aimed to cut me in half in one blow, I ducked the horizontal slash and heard a sickening splort in both ears as apparently the creature on my left had the same thought as the beast on the right, they had sliced each other in two.

Not one to look a gift good turn of events in the mouth, I took up the splintered remains of my bone mace (no way would I be able to heft the weapons of these creatures) and continued on into Fizzle's cave. I hoped I wouldn't run across another one of the creatures, so I just ran full on navigating a long narrow tunnel until I arrived in Fizzle's bed chamber again, he was there of course waiting for me, my sword at the ready.

"You stupid fool! I watched you, I knew you were coming, I'm a watcher it's what I do!"  He seemed a bit unhinged, I actually could smell the corruption on him now, I wondered if it was always there and before I was just too hungry/thirsty to care.

"And yet you didn't stop me Fizzle, I didn't intend on killing you before, but I'm damn sure going to enjoy it now." Bone vs Sword is not exactly a battle of the ages, especially since I knew my sword would cut through the bone, like well damn it bone.

"Do you think I know just watching magic boy? I have watched for years, I know magics you haven't heard of, now you watch in horror as I..." People love to monologue, I love to monologue, theres something delicious about talking about yourself, but when you are facing someone else who wants to kill you, talking about what you are going to do, instead of just doing it, is a bad idea. I had a plan for Fizzle, and that plan involved one of my loose shackles, I clasped the end of it around his wrist during his big speech.

"Bet you didn't see this coming." With his magic trapped inside of him he was stunned, just long enough for me to ram the bone fragment I had through his eye (thats all the description you'll get, but I assure you it was not a pretty sight).  "Damn it I should have said watch this." I do find myself second guessing quips after the fact. I searched Fizzle over for a key to my shackles and did not find one, which sadly meant I would have to drag him around with me until I found a key.  But that was an issue for after, my stomach couldn't take waiting any longer and so despite just murdering a man and having his corpse attached to my wrist, I sat down at his table and feasted on food and drink.

Yep, I killed a person and while shackled to their body ate their food.  Have to admit he actually wasn't the worst dinner companion I've ever had.  So there I was corpse hooked to me, feasting on food in the former cave of a watcher dead by my hand.  Proof that life as always has weird things in store for us! Something I want engraved on my tombstone should I ever die.  Though I think I've said that about a lot of things, my tombstone is going to read like a novel when I'm done.

The Problem with Stakes

You ever feel sweat sizzle on your body? No? Well its not a very fun feeling.  I had been staked in the hot sun for a couple hours before I started to hallucinate, or not hallucinate, its hard to tell what was or wasn't there.  I could see what looked like carrion birds waiting for their meal, I could also see I was alone.  Now I don't know if this means Morley was staked somewhere else, or this was all an elaborate rouse between him and Fizzle to just kill me.

I had to look at my situation clearly.  I was staked to the ground with shackles attached to both wrists, and then attached to the stakes in the ground.  See this would normally be done with rope, you keep the rope taut so as to not have any give, and because rope is not stronger than the wood stake you have in the ground (not that I've ever staked a person to have them die, but its not exactly an uncommon method of horrible execution).  You would do this because if the thing you attached to the stakes is too loose or stronger than the stakes themselves.  Well the person staked there can simply pull at their restraints until they break the stakes (thankfully he used wooden stakes, I guess if he had used metal I would have been really screwed, or his creepy tentacle things). It took a while, and wasting precious energy I didn't really have to waste, but eventually I pulled the shackles holding my arms free.  With that accomplished I did the same for my legs (talk about overkill, he could have just tied my legs there the shackles trapped my magical power anyway).

It wasn't like I was in a good place anyway.  I was in his bonefield, subject to his damn tentacles, and now I had 4 shiny magic inhibiting shackles locked to my body (Damn things were supposed to be rare, but it seemed like everyone had them). He also had my sword, and I liked that sword, so depsite me not originally intending on killing Fizzle I now certainly wanted to (talk about a self fulfilling prophecy, I bet he didn't see THAT coming). I figured he had to be close by, and there would be some kind of cave enterance for him to move in and out (and based on no drag marks, he also had help in that cave). On top of all of those problems, there was the fact he could literrally be watching me at any moment, though I wasn't sure how his power worked, if he had to think about me as a person, or an object or what? I was really confused (more so than normal).

I did know I had to get off the ground and so I hopped on to one of the bones and surveyed around.  I could make out what appeared to be an entrance ahead. Standing in front of it looked to be a couple creatures that did not appear to be human (oh Fizzle what other dark sorcery were you involved with sadly I had to find out).  I could kind of make out a path towards the cave walking on bones, with only a small bit of ground before the entrance. So at least I had a path in front of me, how I was going to take out the guards/not alert them while I jingle jangled my way up there? Yeah that was the trouble.  But as I've already explained many times before, I'm stupid, and part of being stupid is having the hope that in my dumbery I'll succeed.  It's kind of like dumb invincibility, if I don't think about it, I can totally take on the world. Try not to think about that for too long or blood will shoot from your nose.

Fizzle Fizzrinkfizzleton The Third

Hanging upside down hurts, blood flow fills your head very easily, and you can't really sleep.  So you just sit there a pounding headache and bleary eyed as you swing too and fro.  I don't know how bats manage this madness, though I suspect they think the same of our crazy laying down to sleep. Morley didn't seem worse for wear, maybe he was part bat? I dunno Morley is a mystery wrapped in evil, coated in evil, dipped in evil.  Basically I think Morley is evil, in case that lesson wasn't readily apparent.  It was a day of hanging around before our captor made an appearence. I'll admit at this point after being hung up side down, starving, and thirsty, I was half concerned he was a hallucination.

He was a shorty, he had long black hair that drug behind him like a gown.  He wasn't wearing much clothing, just a brown strap to keep his genitals unexposed.  Color wise he was as pale as you can assume someone who probaly lived underground would be.  Eyes were brown and he wore spectacles so they looked even bigger than normal.  He appraised both me and Morley picked up my sword, pricked his finger on it and then scowled at me.

"Assassins eh? Well you won't kill Fizzle Fizzrinkfizzleton the Third so easily!" His voice was scratchy, like he'd breathed smoke everyday of his life forever.

"We aren't assassins little man, well I'm not, Morley is his own person." Fizzle looked at Morley with more suspicion bringing my sword with him. He poked Morley and Morley for his part did his best put upon face, something he tended to reserve just for me.

"I'm not an assassin little man." Morley's voice cracked once, so hanging upside down did hurt him.

"Well then what are you doing here? Did you not see the bones? I thought the bones were a good keep out, but yet here you two are!" He snapped his fingers and the tentacles let go, we both were greeted by the hard stone floor, I tried to brace with my hand and ended up feeling my wrist compact (as well as my ribs groaning in pain).  Morley did a roll and came through mostly uninjured.  I suspected he'd attack poor fizzle despite claiming not to be an assassin, but he held back, I guess he wanted to see what the hell this little guy was up to.

He just walked off assuming we would follow, considering the cave we were in was a dead end, it was a good assumption (also yes I know another magic user in a cave, I swear we are related to trolls or something).  I don't know if we were walking deeper in or further out.  I could see the sand roof disappeared and just became stone.  There weren't any terrible smells, so that was a plus.  Eventually we arrived at his living quarters, it was fairly lavish for a cave, big four poster bed, carved drawers, nice desk set and table (with glorious food and drink on it inviting to us).  Amongst all his possession in the middle was a very large mirror, on it was displayed Morley and myself from earlier.

"You're a seer!" Morley sounded a bit more excited than I'd heard in a while, it was very creepy.

"I prefer the term watcher Mr. Morley." So he knew our names, probably from us screaming at each other for a bit.

"Ok pretend I have no idea about other magical disciplines explain to me what a watcher is?" Look I've read journals on magic, I've wrote journals on magic, but I still know little about all of magic.  According to Morley too little.

"A watcher or as your friend here calls us 'seer' have an ability to glimpse events going on all around us.  Some of us see the present, some see the possible future, some only can see events of the past, my gift is more of a combination of present and past."

"And so you thought we were assassins?"

"Well you both have a history of murder, and you missed the obvious path to a nearby town, I figured you were here to kill me, so I got to you first." It was not surprising Morley didn't know where he was going either, he just lied at it better than I did.

"More importantly watcher, we need your help." Morley trying to be all diplomatic, I have no idea what we can offer someone who can see the past and the present as easily as I could see Morley is a damn snake.

"Of course you do, your being pursued, in Trezlan's case by multiple people for different reasons I see, but why should I help either of you two? You have no tribute, no way of making amends, nor would I need what you bring as it only leads to death." The truest of truths, Morley and I really offer nothing to anyone except death.  We truely are disciples of that grim spector.

"Could you at least let us eat and be on our way?" I was trying to be diplomatic, but his food looked so good and so tasty.

"To lead people back to me? I think not Trezlan, no sadly I'll just have to kill you both." I was about to reply when we were hit by a shock of electricity.  I hadn't noticed we alone were standing on a mat that had been hooked up to some weird machine, before I passed out I thought for a moment "Who watches the watchers?"  When I woke up my throat was dry, I was in those accursed antimagic shackles and staked in the middle of Fizzle's bone field.

"Well this sucks." And suck it did.

I've got a Sinking Feeling

"Up to my knees now Morley." We were being slowly drug under by the creature or whatever the tentacles were attached to.  Morley had sort of gotten to his knees before it began taking him under, so now it was up to his thighs.

"Good to know that I'll die first, at least one thing is going to go right with that." I tell you I get out of weird situations all the time, why do people think that I'll die, sure they might and frequently do, but I'll live! Isn't that a consolation? That someone will live to grossly exagerate the tale later? No respect!

"Might be just trying to slowly capture us Morley, you never know."

"And all the bones in the area?"

"Failed captures, perhaps this beast is very broken up by its accidental deaths earlier and now wishes to try with something smaller."  It was a valid theory.

"You truely are the dumbest person I know, and I've known a lot of dumb people." I would have commented about Morley knowing a lot of dumb people was a character flaw, but I felt a sudden tug and the slow process of me being drug under became a very fast process.  I could see sand floating in front of my vision and I was ripped beneath the surface (closed my eyes at that point didn't really want to get sand in them, also for the first time in a long time shut my mouth).  I have to admit I was terrified I was going to drown in sand (its happened to others before I think, maybe? I'll have to look that up in places that information is stored).  Thankfully I wasn't drowned by sand.  I came through in a cavern underground (well naturally it wouldn't be like I came through in a cavern above ground, that would be weird). I thought maybe I lucked out until Morley came through the ground next to me, we were both swinging from the tentacle things that had drug us under in the first place, which raised several questions about what the hell the tentacles were.

The cavern was mostly rock with a sand ceiling (where we came through) I didn't want to know the logistitics of its construction and what kept the sand from falling through and drowning us.  It was clear there was some kind of magic at play here, I didn't see another prisoner other than Morley.  We were both swinging from our tentacles, sadly my sword was the first thing I dropped when I got pulled under, it sat there on the ground mocking me.

"I told you." Morley didn't respond, he looked away as best he could while we were swinging there.  But I totally did tell him.  There are few things I like better than being completely right.  Though I'll admit one of those things is not ending up swinging from a weird ground tentacle underground. But for the moment, I was completely right!

When In Doubt Sacrifice Your Enemy

"This whole area seems entirely implausible." We were walking through the boneyard area, the ground was thankfully just dirt, but the bones were implausibly large and its not like I saw a lot of wildlife to begin with.

"Yes of course Trezlan talk loud in an area full of large bones, what could possibly go wrong with that?" His sarcasm wounded me, well not really it was entirely expected, but at the same point he was directly hoping for my death.

"All I'm saying is these bones couldn't have come here naturally Morley, do you see any creatures of this size around? No, no you do not, it leads me to believe these may indeed be fake bones, this whole area a fake to scare off intruders from a grand treasure."

"Your powers of deduction are amazing Trezlan, I encourage you to seek your treasure." I was in front of Morley because frankly I figured the whole thing was crap to begin with, also seeing him gingerly stepping forward like a little child afraid to upset their parent was far too obnoxious considering how he emphasized how much trouble we were in if we didn't traverse the area fast. I was looking over some of the larger bone sections when something wrapped around my ankle, it was a tentacle of some kind and despite hitting it with my sword I wasn't able to hurt or dislodge it at all.

"Morley something's got my ankle." It shouldn't surprise me that just made him run away faster, Morley is reliable in how unreliable he is.

"I'll not send help brother, but know that, ahh damn it!" I could see something too had grabbed his ankle and due to him running it brought him down to the ground hard.

"Cut it off Trezlan and come save me."

"I tried idiot it doesn't cut, and for some reason I doubt fire would do anything either." It wasn't pulling me under or anything, it had just latched on and wasn't letting go.

"You are truely useless."

"You do something than smart guy."

"Great we're going to die here, and I get to listen to you whine about it the entire time, yes this is a fate worse than any other."  Morley always super optimistic, but I have to admit back then I felt the same I just didn't want to say it because it could hurt someones feelings MORLEY!  As I said, guys a dick, he cares not for others!  I'll write tomorrow to explain how our situation got weirder (naturally it never gets better, it gets weirder).

Me and Morley Down By the Boneyard

Walking with Morley is an experience.  I'd recommend it to everyone, but the cost for entry is kind of high (your immortal soul or whatever the gods damn you for nowadays, its kind of hard to understand with scripture constantly changing), and you are in danger of having your essence sapped out or you mind melted or whatever the hell else Morley does to people he does not like. He doesn't so much as walk as he glides forward, there are no breaks, you can barely go to the bathroom (and thats only if you have to pee if you have to go the other he's going to leave you to your horrible fate), he doesn't even stop to eat, which leads me to believe he doesn't anymore. I mean I don't mention all the eating and pooping in my stories, but rest assured there is plenty of both (sometimes at the same time, don't judge I'm rushed man).

We made good times in these canyons, where we were going I had no idea, but there was no sense in being late. For most of the journey Morley lead and I lagged behind panting and complaining (err suggesting alternate travel routes...) The white stone paths weren't very exciting to look at either, it was just partially blocked view points, the sound of wind cutting through the canyon, and Morely's foot steps ever ahead of me. I was actually so used to Morley's pace I didn't even notice when he stopped and I ran full into him.

"Well that's a new one, you having vision problems now Lorentino?"  Morley was rigid when I hit him, and my footing was not that good so I knocked myself over and he seemed no worse the wear, other than brushing off the dust left from the impact.

"Possibly, the same enviroment for hours on end with no food or rest does that to me."

"Suck it up, we got a problem ahead."  Sure enough we did, in front of us was a field of bones.  Picked clean by carrion eaters of various types, but obviously the bones didn't transport themselves there. Something was in the valley ahead, something that was hungry.

"So we go around?"

"Yeah sure its only a few days with no supplies, I'm sure we'll make it and not die of thirst first."

"Ok well lets start going." Morley hit me in the face, my eyes stung from the impact. Have I mentioned Morley is a dick before? Because he totally is. So the Boneyard was our path and we had to walk it.  I shake my head now at how dumb I was back then, not for going into a boneyard, but for following Morley.  I should have just turned around and walked back to the spider cat.

Always Have A Back Up Plan

"So you have a rear exit from your cave home, but we went out the front yesterday because?" We were traversing some of the steepest narrowest passages ever, I'm just glad I'm a peckish eater or this would have been a difficult journey (sadly I've thought this many times when deciding on food "will this make traversing narrow passages of the underworlds difficult?" I admit my life sucks).

"I was thinking about that yesterday, honestly I believe I made a mistake saving you from the gallows and I think I hoped they would kill you in their attempt to get me."

"You're joking right."

"Of course Trezlan we're brothers after all." Yeah I don't think he was joking.  We were going out the rear (thats what she said!) because my fire storm had apparently not died down, something about expended magical energy combined with dry air, needless to say the heat was getting unbearable in the cave and leaving seemed optimal to being slowly roasted alive. The cave smelled awful, I and the walls had a weird resin on them.  I was about to mention it to Morley when I heard a sound that can only be described as a snort mixed with a puke (a snuke as it were).

"What the hell was that?"

"Oh crap thats right there is another reason I didn't want to go this way." Morley loves to over share information, in fact he's so forthcoming about everything I'm always happy to be with him on adventures (that's sarcasm in case your people don't have that). I was about to ask why we shouldn't have gone this way when I stepped in the remains of something and noticed we'd entered a larger part of the cave system.  Whatever the creature had been before the snuking creature had eaten it/disolved it I could not tell.  Morley picked up his pace as we went and I tried to follow. Behind me I heard loud thumps following us. I knew this was Morley's fault, knew it, but due to my magical showing the day before I also knew that anymore uses of power and I seriously ran the risk of falling to corruption madness.  As it was I already hurt with my ribs and trying to fight something Morley was running from didn't seem like a great idea.  Morley started running, I followed as best I could and the thankfully the path ahead looked narrower than the current part we were in. Morley made it first and started to slide his way in.  I was after and turned around in time to see a beast I wish I could unsee.  It was part cat and part spider I lie to you not. The cat parts were front paws combined with the spiders spindly legs, the head was a combination of both with mandibles and creepy cats eyes.  I barely made it through the crack before the creature lunged.  The claws barely missed me and then it spit some kind of fluid after me that sizzled when it hit the rock.  I breathed a sigh of relief when we were beyond it.

"What in the gods name is that thing?"

"Failed experiment."

"Remind me never to ever ever go into your labratory."

"You say that like we weren't just walking through it, and relax Trezlan, it wouldn't have killed you, well initially, more like slowly disolved you over a weak while eating your insides."  We made it out of the cave system and it was nice to breathe fresh air.

"Oh was that all it would do? Well thanks Morley in the future I'll pass you know slowly dying while being eaten not on my to do list."

"I've heard dying is quite liberating." Morley walked off, we were still in the canyons, it was a white stone area.  The walls repeated noises and I could see no horses or anything.

"You'll have to tell me when I kill you eventually.  So where are the horses?" I didn't see any kind of travel to get somewhere else, and we didn't exactly pack a lot of supplies.

"Horses? Oh right I'm supposed to keep a servant with horses ready at the rear entrance of my cave in case you happen to cause a magical weather storm that makes leaving out the front impossible.  Sorry that was in my next list of things to do." His sarcasm stung me, as did the heat and dust and general lack of food and water.  We set out from his cave, two jerk necromancers being pursued by an army lead by another necromancer and potentially some evil thing creature sewer beast. Honestly its not the worst situation I've been in, but its pretty close!

I Only Meet The Nicest of People

Staring down the barrels of a lot of rifles can be intimidating. It would be like staring down a bunch of magic users, except every idiot can have a rifle and there is very little worry about being corrupted, only you know running out of bullets (and having to worry about fire users like myself igniting your bullets, sadly using the same metal work in anti magical shackles there are ways to prevent magic from working, expensive but they are an option).

"I just want to say I'm not with him at all." There I go being all diplomatic, Morley looked at me with a sour look.  I'll make no hide about it, I'm out for me all the time, everytime. Like if it was between me and a baby girl, well babies are easy to throw and will distract most enemies.

"Aloitious show yourself, I know you're here." Morley was standing forward daring them to shoot him, I was kind of in the back trying to think of a way out of a narrow canyon with no way out.  Needless to say there was not an easy way out of the situation.

"I'll stay where I'm at thank you very much Morley, I don't need you working your magic on me." It was a smart move, I couldn't tell where the voice was coming from, so it made it pretty hard to burn his face off.  It wasn't a huge shock that he would be there, two necromancers with a lot of experience between them would be a hard thing for an apprentice to pass up, despite the danger of confronting them (look I may not be the best killer in the world but my track record of murder is extensive).

"Coward."

"Trezlan I'm told you are an opportunist, I'll tell you what, you bring Morley to me and my men will let you go, I'll even get the emperor to pardon you for your crimes, you'll be a free man." Apparently Aloitious thinks opportunist means idiot, I knew that that particular deal was a thing of fantasy.  Morley apparently thought less of me, he turned and gave me a look that could have killed (have I mentioned what Morley uses as magic? I don't think I have, or don't recall doing so, its not a death stare but I'm sure he's been working on one).  I came forward, at the same time I was building power, over the years I've learned to accumulate fire magic without being obvious doing so (some lesser magic users tend to just wave their hands or scream words or some nonesense, its all just for show, if you really want to call down the wrath of magic its all in your head, which is why gagging people doesn't work.  Now blinding them, much more effective).

"Sorry Morley, but you know you should never have trusted me." I had to worry that Morley would kill me before he could see I was just delaying getting closer to the squad of soldiers. He either did trust me or his killing blow took longer than my explosive fire column did.  Yes I called down a wave of fire from the sky, this was a physically draining and dangerously corrupting maneuver, but we were in dire straits and I like to live even if it means I have to deal with potential madness (I mean I already live in a mad house, would being crazy really be that much different?).  Sometimes I have to stop and watch my own destruction, partially out of awe, and partially because calling fire down from the sky is incredibly taxing. I as always didn't exactly plan out this particular move very well, and the fire reacted with the dry air to create a sort of vortex of fire and wind.  Effectively it became a fire tornado.  I didn't feel Morley dragging me away I was so in awe of the destruction in front of me, it was only when the door slammed behind me I snapped out of my trance.

"So that went well." I felt drained, I was drained, but you can't say you've done something until you've actually done it.  So I Trezlan Lorentino have actually called down a tornado of flame, I bet your best accomplishment looks kind of lesser now.

"I'd say, you almost betrayed, me and you caused some new type of fire storm that may cook us alive, you know Trezlan I think in the future when I need your help, I'll just stab myself in the leg, it'll ultimately be less painful." There's Morley looking on the bright side of things.  And hey its not my fault he thought I could solve his problem, at that time the winds of fire howling outside the cave door the temperature rising, I thought maybe I did.  Alas not everything can be solved with a fire tornado. I know! Surprised the hell out of me too.

For Once its Not Actually My Fault

"Figured out a solution to our problem yet?"  This was something I had to deal with Morley saying to me, every minute or so, there are a lot of minutes in a day, and thus my first full day with the man was grating on my nerves.

"Stop being a dick yet?"

"No?" His answer seemed to imply he himself didn't think he was a dick.  I had evidence that pointed obviously to the contrary.

"Well then you have your answer." We had been sitting in Morley's cave going over "options" for getting into Dunlok.  The saddest one of course was dressing me up as a woman and hoping no one notices the difference (I make an ugly woman, don't ask, ok I don't know if I'll even include that story, its embarrasing on a lot of levels).

"I really don't see why you won't help me fix my mess because of your mess." He immediately stopped talking, I caught on that he had said something about his mess, which was counter to the "You screwed everything up Lorentino" stance he had taken earlier.

"Wait your mess? What exactly is in these journals that would be dangerous for a bunch of none magical necromancers to find anyway Morley? What exactly aren't you telling me?" Aside from a lot of horrible horrible things, you know never invite Morley to share personal story time.

He sighed, paced around his cave and then with a look that could have actually been sincerity laid it out for me, "Ok this whole thing is actually my fault, I figured you were going to die in your stupid cave and out of I don't know if it was desperation, or wanting to share, or whatever I helped another younger magical user into our order."

"Well that was a brilliant decision." Morley looked at me with a look of ice and death and I resolved living is better than dying because I had to get a word in.

"Silence I'm explaining.  Anyway my apprentice was named Aloitious and shut up I see your look.  I trained him in our art, and helped him get in with the previous emperor of Ronerawth, the one before the naked jack ass currently occupying the thrown."

"Because you wanted to influence things directly."

"Can you blame me? I saw their effective fighting force already, having access to that could do wonders, well would have done wonders, but now you see I'm in a damn cave and my apprentice is secretly running things in Ronerawth."  For the record thats two things secretly running things in Ronerawth for those playing at home.  Though this explained how the creature under the city knew about Disciples of Death.

"And so thats how the Rojove found me, it wasn't Malcyr's journal, it was you, like I figured, it's always you Morley!" I was angry, he tried to blame me and now he comes straight with me that this is all his fault to begin with!

"Look lets not think of who's to blame, lets think of it as in 'We need to figure out a solution before he finds us to steal our powers'" As if on cue a loud explosion echoed in the cavern.  Morley and I rushed out of his cave and saw a large amount of soldiers waiting for us.

"So you have that solution ready Morley? Because I think we have the problem its meant to address." And so two lone necromancers (lone as in by themselves, clearly we had each other), stood against a small army.  And tomorrow you shall see how they fared! (Here's a hint as I said still alive).

You Knew This Was Coming

I figured we might be trying to make the sea at some point, maybe get on a boat and sail away to a delightful island vacation.  Alas no, we were headed for a cave in a valley that smelled like rotting garbage (I was told later the smell is intentional, I made sure to save that little explination for the next time I don't take out the garbage for a while). It was all white stone and the occaisional bone dropped from carrion bird (or so I hoped).  Marian slowed her horse when we drew close to a large cave mouth and I muttered under my breath, nothing good ever comes from caves and this was no exception.  As if on demand from whatever dark god hates me Morley emerged from within.

"I should have guessed you'd be involved here." He looked creepier than when I last saw him, even though he was dressed fairly normally, a dark suit white shirt even had on a tie, why I have no idea.  Probably to be more evil looking, he wasn't even openly wearing a weapon I could see. He ignored me and paid Marian with a sack of coins.  She didn't even say good bye just got on her horse and rode off.

"Alone at last brother."

"I'm not your brother Morley." He directed me to follow and like a good little dog I did.

"Oh please Trezlan I'm the closest thing you have to family, and hell we are so much alike, you killed your father, I killed my father, see peas in a pod!" I hate when he makes a good point, its so grating.

"So you're involved in the rebellion now? Is that what this is about?"

"The rebellion? You mean that sad sack of idiots about to get annihilated in Rolak? No not in the slightest, I just heard about the 'Hero' of Rolak and what fate awaited you and figured my brother should not die at the gallows." It was almost sweet, if I didn't know that wasn't the real reason he wanted me not in Dunlok.

"And the real reason is?" We had made our want into his cave (necromancers and caves, thankfully its a tradition we have all since abandoned, now we just use basements, the we of course being me and morley I'm not aware of many other necromancers anymore). The mouth narrowed to a smaller corridor and he had a door installed there that was hilariously locked, he produced a key ring and had to fiddle to find the right one.

"You wound me Trezlan with your implication that I might have an ulterior motive for saving the only other person in this world who empathisizes with my plight."

"You'll get over the wounding Morley, because you know as well as I do that neither one of us is all that friendly with each other, or is the fact we haven't each other in over a hundred years slipped your mind." Once inside I could see he kept a fairly normal looking living area.  Bed, desk, some oil lamps, he even had a painting possibly done by him hanging next to his rather comfy looking bed.

"Oh ok fine we'll drop the fake civility, you had access to journals of our former master, you have now lost those journals do to your stupidity and I need you to get them back."

"And you can't just do this because?"

"Because fool the creature that sleeps under Dunlok is now aware of our scent thanks to your bumbling.  I tried to get the damn things already but he's got things watching for our approach."

"Despite his ability scent me out you want me to try and get the journals back how?"

"I dunno think of something you idiot, its your fault they are lost and I saved you from execution, you solve this or you'll be right back in line to be killed."  It was great, out of the frying pan and into morleys cave (ok that metaphor got away from me). On the plus side Morley did give me a cloak to "cover my hideous body" as he so delightfully put it. He also made me sleep on the floor, guy was a dick.  He invites me to a cave in the middle of nowhere to solve a problem he's having because of something I did, I tell you its almost like he is family, the uncle who always needs money kind!

Mo Bounties Mo Problems

"We're being followed." Marian said this while riding down a plain to the south.  We had been traveling south since we left the general area of the train.  Sadly Marian only had one horse so I was riding behind her (and it wasn't a super large horse so I basically was holding on to her while she rode like a lost maiden with their conquering hero, in case you were wondering yeah all the jostling hurt my ribs pretty bad).

"Really? I'd figured blowing up a train was such a definitive 'Don't follow me' statement, people today!" I couldn't see Marian's reaction but I'm pretty sure it was not one of adulation at my tremendous wit (such is the problem with being an unapreciated wit deliverer, your words are wasted on those who can not appreciate them properly or they die shortly thereafter in my case).

"Well I'm not going to let them shoot me in the back, so we'll pull up stakes and wait for the jerks right here." Because getting shot in an open field amongst rolling green hills was a better option, well thats what I wanted to say, but Marian is large and hits so I kept silent.  I expected to see a division of Ronerawth's military coming, but instead there were three dirty looking men dressed what appeared to be in furs, Marian grumbled under her breath about scum suckers, I took it that she knew them. They didn't have weapons drawn and neither did Marian, she just waited for the three to ride their horses up and called out to them.

"Working with Ronerawth now? Whatever happened to not believing in the empire?"

"Man has got to eat Marian, you'd know that if you were a good woman and got in the kitchen like the rest." The leader was of course the man in the middle, from the facial hair arrangement it appeared to be based on length of beard for qualifications.  His whole face was hair.

"I can't imagine a woman has ever cooked food for you Volerio, at least not willingly."

"Hardy Har, look we don't want to have to murder you, this is just business, hand over the necromancer and no one gets hurt."

"And who's going to make me? You three? Please you couldn't intimidate a child to give up candy." Marian had the shotgun out and hammers drawn pretty fast, the men corresponded by drawing their own guns, the two on ends had rifles, while super beard had a pair of pistols.

"So little girl, can we have your candy?" Marian nudged me and I got the gist of it from the hit.  I gathered some power and intended on tossing up a flare of some kind, I say intended because unfortunately like when you've built up pressure in pipes (you know what I'm saying fellas) you accidentally release more than you intend.  So what was supposed to be a light display exploded in a fiery blossom showering the area and burning our bearded friends facial hair off.  They didn't really have a lot of time to lement the loss of their most prized possesion as Marian shot them dead shortly after they caught on fire.

"Next time Lorentino, just burn them, don't taunt them."

"Magic is not an exact art Marian, its like horse shoes, close enough." We got mounted again and left our puruers where they lay (Marian commented that their weapons were shit and not worth taking, I agreed if the quality was like their personal cleaning habits they wouldn't be worth the metal they were made with. We made south past the plains and into rocky hills and canyons.  We made camp more carefully this time (ha ha yeah right we did it on top of a peak with a full fire again), not a lot of discussion, Marian hoped in the next two days she'd be rid of me and collect her bounty.  I was hurt by the implication, and from my ribs from riding all day.  Damn ribs not healing immediately.  Thats the problem with necromancy you get out of touch with how long real injuries last, and boy do they last! Oh well at least I knew I'd finally get to see who hired a bounty hunter to break me out of Ronerawth.  Knowing now, I think I would have rather faced execution.

My Hero Marian

"You know thinking it over I don't know if I should really take these shackles off you, you might think I'm a tasty necro treat and just murder me." Everyone always thinks when you're a necromancer you just look at them like some kind of life force cannibal sizing up the most tasty morsels. Its totally wrong, sometimes you think of them like life force cattle, to be herded and used as you see fit, see totally different.

"Talking like that will not support your case for not being a necro treat." Also my attitudes toward people can kind of negate the whole "Necromancer with a Heart of Gold" I work so hard to foster. Marian narrowed her eyes at me, but she still picked the shackles and once again I felt the rush of power from being connected to my magic.

"You're lucky we are still in trouble Trezlan, and you are more useful with your magic than without it." Marian and I had set up camp away from the train, partially because thats where her horse had ended up after she had jumped on the train (a feat I no doubt would have loved to see), and partially because it would be dumb to be near a dead train in the middle of the track to Dunlok after we had just killed everyone on board (well Marian killed most of them, I myself had killed one, somewhat two).

"So I have to ask because it'll bug me if I don't, how the hell did you find me? Who hired you?"  It was the most pressing question.

"I'm a bounty hunter Trezlan finding people is what I do, and the person who hired me wishes to remain anonymous until we get to him.  You have friends in this world, even more so now that you are the hero or Rolak."

"The Hero of Rolak?" Marian was absently cooking some animal on the fire in the middle of the camp, I would say it was silly to make a fire after our escape, but having seen Marian in action, not exactly the kind of person who runs from danger.

"Yeah some people got a damn fool notion you bravely charged artillery to stop the shelling, there was even talk that you died, but Rojove couldn't help himself to declare you alive and to be executed for your crimes, though he laughably called you by a different name."  This was a clue that whoever had paid for Marian knew my real name and not the new one I'd been given.

"And so you came to save me? I'm touched."

"You're just a job to me Lorentino, despite your overwhelmingly handsome looks that sets my heart a flutter (she said this completely this is not me embellishing at all... really!), I mean I've been a mercenary, been a pirate, even been a soldier, but right now I'm a bounty hunter and you are a bounty of a sort."

"You're all heart Marian."  She finished her cooking and sat down to eat her meal.

"Just try not to cut it out for a ritual while I'm sleeping or I'll come back from the dead and kill you." I believed her, she seemed like the type of lady to make that happen. I let her sleep and after a time I turned to sleep myself.  In the morning we had to move out and thats where things get exciting, but I'll wait to write that one tomorrow, you need to eat your pototoes of my conversation recollections to get the meat of my heroism stories.  Its the way things work little journal! Now go to bed so you can grow up to be evidence used against me in my trial!

Chugga Chugga Boom Boom

"Hold steady." Not an instruction you really want while chained to a wall with a huge lady standing over you wielding a hammer, oh and hello again to you too.

"You try holding steady, I'm chained to wall in a moving train! This wouldn't be such a thing if you just carried a sword or something."

"Swords are for idiots, why duel someone when you can smash them in the face." There wasn't a warning, Marian just struck the chain with her hammer and a loud metal on metal sound echoed in the train car.  Thankfully her blow struck true and didn't just fuse the chain to the thing I'd been clamped too, though even with the stupid chain broken my cuffs remained in tact leaving me without my magic. "Whew glad that worked, was worried for a second."

"I'm going to ignore that comment Marian, though I'm really happy to see you, how the hell did you find me or get on this train to begin with?" It was a valid question in my mind.

"Later we got bigger problems like getting off train and blowing it up."

"Hopefully in that order." It wouldn't be of course, nothing is ever in the order of safe things to unsafe things, no you have to do the unsafe things first, everytime.

"Unfortunately unless you really want to jump from a speeding train, we have to blow up the engine first, and then we can just hop on down."  Marian had started to move to my right towards the entrance she had made for herself, I was about to ask how the shooting and smashing hadn't arisen anyones ire, but the train was so loud it wasn't that surprising. I followed after her, in front of us was another similar looking car to the one we were on. She drew her shotgun up and kicked in the door, it was empty, I could hear her audibly sigh over the train noise (I guess not being able to murder people is a bit of a let down).  The car was mostly just boxes fixed to the ground, we moved on to the next car that looked more like a passenger car (would instead of metal).  Once again Marian raised up her boot and kicked in the door, inside a bunch of Ronerawthian soldiers turned around in surprise.  They were sitting on wooden benches rifles in front of them.  I heard Marian let out a huzzah and her shotgun roared to life, I didn't really see what it hit, because she kind of knocked me off the train (sort of), flailing to stay on my feet I snagged a hold of railing on the car she was fighting in.  I heard something like "Good idea." over the gunfire, and I almost had to laugh at the absurdity of it (yes I meant to get knocked off the narrow platform between cars to snag a hand hold on the outside).

I struggled holding on for dear life of a train car as the train seemed to be flying down the tracks towards my inevitable execution.  It occured to me I could simply drop off here and let the chips fall where they would, but without Marian's guidance I'd probably wind up stumbling into a random pack of cannibals or something equally unlikely for others, but not sadly for me. Inside the car I was sliding down I could hear a lot of shouts and gunfire, at one point a bullet exited a place I was formerly at. After what seemed like forever I reached the end of the car and swung myself to the other side (now at this point you'd wonder "Trezlan why didn't you just get back up to where Marian was?" to which I'd reply "When you are no longer standing near where bullets are being directed you don't jump back in their path"). The next car over was also full of soldiers though they were apparently afraid to get into the fight, I had to think fast on my feet.

"What are you idiots waiting for GET IN THERE OR ROJOVE WILL FLAY YOUR HIDES!"  Apparently a shirtless brown skinned man with whipe marks on his chest is commanding because they listened, when the door opened I could see Marian had taken out her mace and was busy showing how deadly a large weapon in tight spaces can be (thats what she said literraly this is what Marian informed me). I didn't wait around to see how things turned out (because I'm a dick, also I had no weapon and no magic, what do you want me to do?).  Passing through that car I found my way into what looked like an office car, judging from the noise of the train I was close to the engine at the front. The office area was empty, which was good, I could also see my sword sitting on the desk in the office area, which was better.  I rushed to get my sword to at least have some kind of weapon.  I didn't really notice that the occupant of the office had returned until a bullet shot right by my nose (and its such a beautiful nose). I rushed him with my sword and we spilled backwards out of his office and into a coal car.

I could really make out who my opponent was, I charged him blindly, we immediately rolled around in coal, so we both looked black as night and then he was firing at me while I was trying to stab him.  Beyond the coal car was the actual train engine, I saw the guy controlling the train briefly before a wild shot from my attacker blew a hole in his head and he slumped to the floor. My opponent knocked me backwards toward the boiler that kept the train going and I felt my flesh get seared from the heat (so busted ribs, whipped, and now burned, truely my body is a road map of pain). He clicked the hammer back on his pistol, through the coal I could vaguely make out a large fatman.  And then when he should have shot me, nothing, no bang no dead Trezlan (obviously, I keep telling your journal I'm still alive!) he was out of bullets, so I ran him through on my sword and tossed him into the fire (its why I don't carry a pistol, swords never run out of bullets and uhh normally I have magic for everything else).  Of course it was only after I tossed him to die in a fire I noticed he had explosives on his belt (why I have no idea).

So I started to run, and trip, and then run some more.  I cleared the office before the explosion roared behind me, the train though still had some speed going for it and the explosion seemingly threw the engine into the air and brought it crashing down into the car I was currently occupying. Thankfully I had kept running to avoid this exact scenario (yes of course thats why I did it).  I didn't stop my running until I basically ran right into Marian, who had murdered the soldiers who had come to her.  She looked no worse for where despite at least fifteen men nearby.

"So uhh stopped the train Marian, and you seemed to have murdered everyone."

"We all have our roles in life Trezlan, now lets get out of here before someone comes looking for this damn thing."  It occurs to me I should have been more concerned that Marian effortlessly murdered fifteen men, but you know when you see that many bodies you realize any extra lip could make you number sixteen no problem.  This is something you should remember should you run across a similar scenario, just saying.

The Wheels on the Train Go Snore

Chained to a wall with two armed guards for amusement you'd think that things would at least be exciting for my first train ride.  You'd be horribly wrong naturally, but you would at least think there was a possibility you wouldn't be wrong! I tried to amuse myself with the guards, see what kind of conversationalists they were.  Apparently when you are listed as being a huge rebellion leader no one wants to have a chit chat with you, like your words themselves are going to suddenly leap up and kill them or insight them to do bad things all on their own (if only I've been trying for years to find a way for my voice to kill, sadly the best I've ever accomplished is Valrym telling me if I say one more word he'll murder me, not exactly a "success").

After the first day I was gagged, as if being chained was not enough, I had to suffer like a harlot or politician (I mean at least for the harlots its all for fun, but being a politician? Fate worse than death).  I resigned myself to counting the lines on the train car (Two Hundred and two if I remember right) when I heard a knock at the door.  Now I had gotten used to my guards swapping out regularly, but this didn't seem like one of the intervals, I wasn't wondering about injuring myself yet, and that meant it was before noon.  The guard at the door being knocked on appeared surprised as well.  Cautiously he opened the door and didn't see anyone, and he kept on not seeing anyone as the blow came down on his head and sent him roughly from the train.  The guard on my left (because it was the guard on my right who just got murdered), was about to call alarm when a lady stepped into the car and opened fire.  One loud ringing blast resonated in the car the former guard to my left took the hit in the chest, it appeared whatever weapon she was using didn't use normal bullets as the injuries he sustained before passing out from the loss had blown open much of his chest region (I'd later learn her weapon was a shotgun, normally used for hunting birds, I bet it really stung with that guard to die to such a foul weapon).

My savior had brown skin like mine, a round face, piercing green eyes and red hair done up in a fairly elaborate bun.  The hair and the care she had taken to arrange it seemed a bit in contrast to the rest of her. She was wearing furs and scales of some creature, I couldn't exactly make out which from all the mishmashery of it.  She was also a rather large woman (not fat, tall I guess large can go either way), she appeared even taller and more muscular than myself (the tall being a surprise, the muscular portion sadly not).  Her barrell still smoking she approached me.  Aside from the shotgun, I could see the haft of a mallet/mace type weapon and an arrangement of intricate daggers, whoever she was she wasn't exactly in a polite line of work from the look of her.

"Trezlan Lorentino, Marian Ribiachi, I'm here to rescue you." It was a lovely set of words to here on the eve of ones execution.

"Fantastic did you get the keys from the guard before you knocked him off the train perchance?"

"Crap." Her look fell and so did my hopes for getting off the damn train in one piece.  Did I survive? Did Marian smash one of my hands into oblivion? Do I like leaving entries on cliff hangers? All these answers and more when I write to you tomorrow little journal.  Now get lost I have to deal with an annoying little shorty and I'd rather not be listfully dreaming of adventure while he tries to rip me off (and he most certainly will, try of course, no one without a pair of luscious... ideas has ever ripped me off in a trade deal).

Rojove The Conversationalist

"You are a very lucky man Mr. Lorentino." We were on a wagon, it was just Rojove and myself, I was still shackled and they had attached my shackle to a bolt in the front area of the wagon.  Barring a super human display of strength I don't have I wasn't going anywhere. I was unhooked in the morning, Rojove had a couple men load me up on the car and off we went, I had no idea of the destination I just knew we weren't going to the city.

"I tell you living in this life of luxury I feel like a lucky man." I could sense Rojove wanting to hit me, but seeing as he had to hold the reins and still potentially grab his pistol should I try and break free, he had to resist the urge.

"Most men would be appreciative of a Royal Execution, you are set to be amongst a select group of traitors in the Empire, though we really can't say you are Trezlan Lorentino, you understand no one knows who that is, so we have assigned a new name to you.  Toccs Enoi merchant instigator."

"Never really thought of myself as a Toccs before." Always wanted to be a Bill, maybe a Raz, Toccs seems so formal.

"I'll miss this wit of yours Trezlan, in the way that after a wound heals you miss the bites of pain from the previous injury."  Rojove had a way with words.

"So we're going to be trail buddies all way to Dunlok? Can't you just go back to whipping me?"

"Oh that would be torture for me, no I'm taking you to the a train that will take you to Dunlok, I have an operation to run and outside of this final time to tell you of your fate would rather not be stuck with you for another day even if you are to be locked up in a rear train car." My first train ride in Ronerawth and its to be in shackles, I was totally bummed, nevermind that whole execution part. Rojove and I continued on until we got to the makeshift train station.  The army had it guarded extremely well, with rifles and some artillery, they had even installed a make shift track turning thing so they could reverse the engine around.  Rojove gave my new jailers some choice words about my new incaceration, socked me in the ribs to remind me he still cared and set off back to the siege.

My new accomodations were at least nicer on my arms, instead of hanging up I was merely shackled to a wall and made to sit on a bench.  The train car was metal walls with benches and spots for shackle locking along them, at either end of the car stood a guard who rotated at intervals.  I couldn't tell if I was in the middle or the end of train car, but I figured middle to make it harder for someone to break me out.  With a definate fate ahead of me I decided to meet it with my usual good spirits.

"So anyone got a deck of cards, I've been itching to gamble!?" What can I say a man's got needs.

A Stinging Rebuke

You ever hear that sexual joke about how sticks and stones can break my bones but whips and chains excite me? Yeah I've never felt that whips or chains were that exciting, they hurt, both in unique ways and never in a fun way. I was hanging from a hook in Rojoves tent.  Why he had a tent set up with a beam strong enough to not only support a hook, but a person hanging from it? Well I'll just leave that up to your imagination (don't think too hard but I believe the word rhymes with Morture).

Rojoves command tent was actually decorated pretty lavishly, a large bed, a nice wood desk, various coats and other clothing options hung on racks, he even had a large armoire.  Honestly I felt sorry for whoever had to drag all this garbage around with him wherever he went.  I'm sure they felt like a real valuable member of the army. I was left to hang around for a day, I could hear troops moving back and forth outside muttering one garbage word or another.  I had one guard at the front of the tent, though that could have just been the normal guard for Rojoves tent independent of me being and occupant in it.

"Lorentino sorry I left you hanging, had business you understand." His tone was playful, the whip that ended in three sections with stones at the end of each said, his play would not be to my benefit.

"I'm just glad you could fit me into your schedule." The hardest part about being hung off the ground by your arms? Being thirsty, its weird, I always get thirsty (lets ignore the fact this happens enough that I can have a statement about whats the worst thing about it).  Rojove whipped me, the stones drug across my chest and tickled my ribs like a piano of pain. "I'm sorry I missed the question."

"There wasn't a question, I'm not here to interrogate you, or hear your lies, this is purely for me." Another strike, I tried not to cry out, but honestly my ribs hurt even before the whipping.  He whipped me like this for what felt like an hour but was probably only a few minutes. Sweat had accumulated on his brow when he finished, hung the whip up near his armoire and walked off to wherever he went when he wasn't at his tent (I was a little creeped out I was apparently in his personal quarters, though he hadn't slept there in the day I'd been hanging around). After Rojove left a maid came in, I figured she was there to clean his bed or but no she was there to wash my wounds in a solution that felt like liquid fire.  I was starting to wonder why this seemed so familiar when the memories of the ambassador tickled at the back of my mind, he too had suffered like this until I ended him. I'm sure somewhere a god laughed at the situation.  And so my days went, I'd get whipped Rojove would get aroused and the maid would clean the wounds.  I tell you have to say my Ronerawth vacation? Totally sucked, would not recommend.

The Siege of Rolak

A siege is always an interesting thing to behold, this of course assumes you are not within the sieged area and can actually watch from a safe distance and not have to worry about eating, or being shelled to hell and back. Ronerawth wasn't about to let Rolak remain "free" (as free as a city trapped on a penisula walled in by a huge wall and surrounded by an entire country can be).  To their credit Rolak citizens did blockade the train tracks thus preventing the army from just simply arriving by train and retaking the city, they also put out the fires in the city and sent out scouts to watch for the Ronerawth military proper (some of these scouts were dressed in military clothing, as I figured not everyone was super happy with the way the military was currently being run).

And come the military did, I didn't see any trains (because honestly it would be a bad idea a train is a fixed ride easily destroyed at multiple points).  First was the cavalry, followed by the standing army, and last but not least the cooks and other people required to keep the military moving.  I had withdrawn from my wooded area to watch how Rojove would assault Rolak.  Surrounding it was apparently his first move, setting up artillery was the second and finally waiting was the third.  It figures their strategy would be to starve out the population, they were cut off, no point in running in there and giving the rebellion any more martyrs. I was actually really intriuged at how the army looked like one massive group of insects preparing to eat the city, supply lines formed up, the army bunched up at first and then spread out making sure to cover gaps.  I was actually so intently watching them do their little show I totally didn't notice I had been snuck up on until the shackles were firmly locked around my wrists.

Yes you read that right, I was captured AGAIN! You would think, in all my years of being alive I would have back up plans or something to deal with simple capture? You'd be wrong, but its not like I should be proud of how easy it is to capture me. You know admitting this like I do, it occurs I should dramatize these captures, instead of getting shackled and punched in the jaw, I should fight off hundreds and finally due to blood loss and lack of a will to go on give up valiantly.  Yeah like someone would believe that.  Not that any of the rest of the stuff I write is all the more believable.