Chapter 10

Varden was startled awake by the sound of fighting in the hall. Drake had been awakened at the same time and they both were getting dressed Varden grab his sword and shield and headed for the hall. While Drake was struggling to get in his armor.

When Varden opened the door, he saw nothing. The sound wasn't coming from the hall it was coming from outside. So, he quickly ran down the stairs and out the door where he saw eight huge hulking grayish creatures fighting a group of townspeople. As Varden got close he could see that they were about 12 feet tall, their skin was cold and grayish in color and their arms were huge and they had a tremendous pot belly. They were carrying big clubs that were very crudely made. The townspeople were losing badly. They were being thrown around like little toys bashed, broken, and even torn apart in some cases.

Varden headed straight for the largest one knowing it must be leading the others. He carefully dodged out of the way of the others trying to get to the leader as fast as he could. When Varden finely reached the leader the two of them squared off.

The ogre swung his club and just nicked Varden's shield as he jumped to the side. But the nick was just enough to knock him off balance, but he was able just barely to keep on his feet. The ogre taking advantage of Varden being off-balance swung again.

This time Varden was ready and swung his sword and chopped the club in half. Then he slammed his shield into its chest.

The ogre slid back a couple of feet. And with a tremendous laugh, it pulled a fence post out of the ground to use as a club.

Hearing the loud laugh, all the other actions stopped, and everyone turned to watch the battle.

The two of them faced off once more then they circled each other looking for any signs of weakness. The ogre had a new respect for Varden because he had been hit harder by this little human than anything that ever hit it before. They stayed there circling each other, each waiting for the other one to make the first move.

Finally, one of the other ogres attacked Varden from behind.

Varden saw it in time, he sliced through its club and cut across its chest. It buckled and he picked it up like it was a toy and threw it off to the side out of the way.

The leader took the chance to clobber Varden and brought the swing down straight at his head.

Varden jumped out of the way and swung his sword. He managed to cut open the leader's side.

The leader was furious that he had been hurt and let out a scream in anger then swung hard at Varden again.

Varden rolled out of the way as quickly as he could then threw his sword and missed the leader completely. The sword flew past the leader and sunk into a tree all the way to its hilt. Varden just stood there shaking his head in disgust trying to think of what to do next.

The leader laughed and swung again.

This time Varden caught the post with one hand. He brought the leader in close then slammed it hard in the face with his shield.

The leader's head slammed back, and it blacked out from the hit letting go of the past as it fell to the ground. The others seeing their leader defeated ran off in defeat spreading out in every direction. When the leader woke up, he saw that his brethren had taken off, so it got up held its side, and walked away in defeat.

By the time Drake, Drayden, and Wolfram got there it was all over. And the leader was holding his side and walking away.

Drake searched the body he came up with a small pouch of gold and silver coins.

Drayden had Wolfram run to the church to bring back some help to heal everyone while she started healing the ones that she could.

By the time it was all over, it was almost dawn. Varden asked Drayden if she would like to walk back to the inn with him.

With a puzzled look, she said, " Sure." But she wondered why to go back to the inn now it was almost time to go see Argus.

They started for the town when they came to the tree where Varden's sword was buried. They almost didn't notice it but when Varden got close the crystal started flashing the closer he got the brighter flash. He went over and drew it out of the tree and slid it into its scabbard. Varden thought to himself that was the first time he ever missed when he threw his sword.

As they got close to the inn Varden took off his necklace and turned to Drayden and said, " I have held onto this for a long time, and I've always thought that it brought me luck. Now I want you to have it."

Drayden looked at it. It was a glowing gem on a gold chain, she took it in her hand and looked at it closely then thanked him. She didn't want to take it from him, but she knew if she didn't, she would have hurt his feelings.

As he dropped the chain in her hand he said, " I want you to keep this close to your heart. So that it will be like I am close to your heart."

As Drayden touched it, it began to flicker then they heard a low hum and some popping sounds. She almost dropped it, and she would have if she had felt anything coming from it.

Varden wondered what was going on with it, he had never seen it do anything like that before. The gem did nothing more, it turned into a slow dull glow. They looked into each other's eyes and each of them could feel the other's passion and the other's wanting. They took a little time and just stood there kissing in a passionate embrace. Then he told her that he needed to put his armor on so that they could go meet Argus.

She nodded her head and told him that she would wait for him there.

On his way into the bar, he stumbled and almost fell to the ground. That caught him by total surprise. He looked down at the step and didn't see anything that he could have tripped on or stumbled over. So, after looking around, he continued on to his room.

In a while, Varden returned to Drayden and said, " I'm sorry that took so long but I seem to be all thumbs today I can't seem to do anything right."

Drayden looked up at him and said, " That's okay. Now we had better get to Argus's castle."

He took her hand, and they started walking to the castle. As they got close, they stopped holding hands, they didn't want everyone to know that they were involved. Not that anyone had not noticed it before they just didn't want them to know just how involved they were.

When they got to Argus's castle everyone had been waiting for them for a while, so they set off for the castle.

As they entered the main entrance of the castle, they saw the three doors again and tried to decide which door to go in first.

Varden turned to the others and asked for opinions and while turning he stepped on Drake's foot. Drake yelled and dropped his sword. The sword fell and manage to find a weak spot in Varden's armor at the knee joint it sliced down and cut his knee. Drake fell backward into Argus who managed to catch him but not before stepping on Drayden's foot. She then fell into Cara in the two of them managed to knock Wolfram down.

There were a lot of bumps and bruises but the only one that got any kind of hurt was Varden. Drayden was starting to notice a trend of bad luck. She didn't say anything, at least for now, but she knew she would have to keep an eye on it.

While Drayden was curing Varden, Drake was picking up his stuff off the floor, he noticed the magic bracelet that he had got from Argus. He slipped it on and then into a trance and started walking in a straight line. He walked straight into the center of the door and just kept walking. He wasn't going anywhere except for pressing into the door but he still just kept trying to walk.

Argus told them, " Drake is acting this way because of the magic bracelet that he put on. He will walk in a straight line until he reaches his destination which is some sort of treasure."

Varden asked, " Why hasn't this happened before this?"

Argus replied, " He must have just put the magic bracelet on."

Varden said, " Well I guess our direction has been decided for us, we will just have to follow Drake and try and protect him the best we can until he comes out of the trance that he is in."

Just then Wolfram spoke up and said, " What if it's a trap?"

Varden gave him a stern look and said, " So what if it is a trap? It isn't like we have any other choice."

Wolfram and the others nodded their heads prepared their weapons and got ready for the worst and hoped that nothing more would happen.

Varden pulled Drake away from the door and Drayden opened it. Varden asked, " Is everyone ready?" Everyone nodded in agreement that they were ready, so Varden let go of Drake.

Drake went straight down the 160-foot hall then he ran into a wall. The wall was 100 feet long and in the center was a door. There was an opening 30 feet from the door on the right side.

Varden pulled Drake over to the hall and then let him go. Drake got halfway down the hall when some grayish jelly-looking stuff came from under the door.

As soon as Drake touched the jelly, he stopped dead in his tracks. Varden hadn't been far behind Drake, but he was far enough that he couldn't stop him from touching it. As Varden ran to stop Drake he slipped and slid into the jelly. Then he too was frozen in his tracks unable to move.

Argus said, " If you touch it, it will paralyze you. So, stand back and I will take care of this."

He prepared his spell, mumbled a few words and then went to touch the jelly. When Varden's shield slipped and bumped into Argus. There was a blinding flash of light and Varden started on fire. The jelly started to smoke and then shriveled into nothing.

Drayden quickly threw water on Varden to try and put him out, but it wasn't that simple. This was a magic fire and continued to burn. It took Argus to cast another spell to get the flames to die out. She had time to cure most of the worst of the burns before Drake started moving again.

Varden told her, " I must keep up with him or we could wind up losing him or something else might get to him first."

Drayden nodded her head then she and Wolfram helped Varden to his feet. Varden quickly caught up with Drake. While they were walking down the hall Drayden cured Argus's hands. They had been burnt by the blast when Varden had triggered Argus's spell early.

The hall ended in another room when Drake stopped moving because of the wall. Drayden took the time to finish healing Varden and then told him. " I need to talk to you privately for a minute."

Varden told the others, " Watch Drake we'll be right back." Then Drayden and Varden went down about 50 feet off to the side to have a little bit of privacy so they could talk.

Then she slipped the necklace off and gave it back to him. He pulled away from her and said, " I gave that to you to protect you." She could see in his eyes how devastated and hurt he was, thinking that she was rejecting him and his gift.

She said, " Can't you see what's been happening ever since you gave this to me, we have had nothing but bad luck and if you don't take it back, I think we'll all wind up dead."

She quickly handed the necklace back to Varden and then returned to the others without saying another word.

He didn't want to take it back, but he couldn't deny that she was right, and everything had gone wrong ever since he gave the necklace to her. As Varden looked in his hand he saw the gem glowing brightly. Then he heard a loud pop and he suddenly felt himself again.

He returned to the others feeling more confident than ever. He moved Drake 20 feet to the left into the next hall. The hall was only 50 feet long been turned into a hall that ran the Width of the castle.

When Drake reached the other hall, he turned to the right and followed it to the end. He led them to the left which led to a staircase that led going down.

Drake followed the stairs and then at the bottom, there were a lot of prison cells. The cells ranged in size from ones that were big enough to hold a full-grown dragon to some hanging ones that were small enough to hold the smallest fairy.

Drake walked past two rows of cells then down a row to the sixth cell then walked straight into the door before anyone could stop him. The door was locked, and they didn't have their expert lock pick, Drake, to open it but they had to get it open to get Drake back to normal.

Argus told Cara to try and open it first. She gathered the power she thought she needed, whispered her words, and touched the lock but nothing happened. Varden had some thoughts, and he was hoping that the cells were not protected against magic.

Argus had the same thought as Varden but there was nothing he could do the power of and try. Argus said, " Stand back and I will get this open." He did just as she had done before but this time there was a whistling sound that came from him as he drew on the power. As he touched the lock there was a loud crackling sound and every door in the row flew open except for the one that they needed.

Varden said, " Well I guess I can try to force it open." He gathered all his strength and pulled on the door. The places where its hands were bent slightly but this door was still locked, and he knew that he wasn't strong enough to break through the lock.

Varden asks for suggestions, he thought if only it wasn't resistant to the magic, they could've had Argus open it. Then all of a sudden Varden remembered the key that they had found. Varden asked, " Does anyone remember what happened to the key that we found?"

Argus replied, " It is back in the counting room on the table in my castle."

Varden asked, " Is there a quick way to go get it?"

Argus pulled Cara aside and they talked back and forth for a few minutes. Then Argus said, " There is a way but it's extremely dangerous because if we do this wrong neither Cara nor myself will survive. So, we need absolute quiet and no one to move either of our bodies.

After a minute of preparation, they began to chant and suddenly Argus disappeared, and Cara didn't make a sound or move even a muscle. After a minute Argus returned and Cara dropped to the floor. Argus handed Varden the key. He also brought with him some acid that he collected earlier in case the key didn't work. Argus knelt by Cara and started looking over to Drayden who quickly joined him to see if there was anything that she could do to help. Argus said she will be all right momentarily the magic just overcame her and she needs some time to rest.

As Drayden watched she noticed that Argus was giving her some of his magic to help her stabilize and not get any worse. As she watched she noticed that there was a glowing force traveling between them.

Argus told Drayden, " She must awaken with the power around her, or she will lose it and she won't be able to cast any spells anymore."

Varden left the curing to the others. He placed the key in the lock and the whole place started to shake. There was a loud explosion, and the door blew off its hinges and out of his hand knocking him off his feet and wound up breaking through another cell that it hit.

Then they heard some moaning coming from one of the cells. Varden told Wolfram to go and see what the sound was, he needed to stay with Drake. Wolfram nodded his head and started for the noise, Drayden got up and went with him.

While they were doing that Varden moved Drake into the cell. When Drake walked over and touched the corner of the bed out from under it rolled a matching bracelet. As soon as he touched it, he came out of the trance and the spell was broken.

Drake didn't know where he was, what he was doing, or how he got there. He just knew he didn't like it. After Drake came back to his senses Varden asked him, " Would you like to sell those bracelets?"

Since they weren't leading to any other treasure Drake figured that he didn't need them anymore. So, he said, " I will sell them to you for the price it paid for it."

Varden thought about it, it was a lot of money, but he liked the bracelets in the power that they had. So, he finally agreed on the price and went to get the bracelets.

At first, they wouldn't move it all, but then they released it. Drake handed them to Varden and the bracelets broke apart with a snap. Varden looked at them closely and they were exactly alike except for the fact that one was made for a man, and one was made for a woman. That was why he wanted them in the first place and as he studied them, he was surprised to see an inscription that said, " We shall never be far apart, and I will always return to you."

Just as Drake started asking a question they heard Drayden scream, Varden started running and nothing would have stopped him, not even a dragon.

When he got there, she explained it was just that one of the people in the cell had frightened her. He had not noticed them until she mentioned them. He saw Wolfram kneeling in the cell holding one of the people in it.

Varden quickly unlocked the cell door they went in and brought out four people that were locked inside. They gave them some food and water that they had desperately been needing. While they were taking care of them Varden and Drake went to see how Argus and Cara were doing now.

When they got there Cara had woken up and seemed to be doing much better. Varden said, " We have got to get these people back to town if they are all going to make it."

They helped her to her feet she was weak, but she still was all right. They walked over to where everybody else was and saw that Wolfram was desperately trying to tend to some of the prisoners. Wolfram said, " These are some of the people that were in my party, and I want to thank you all for helping me find them and now we just have to save them."

They got them to their feet and helped them out of the castle and carefully back to town.

They took Cara to Argus's castle and the rest they took to the church so that they could be healed and restored. Wolfram stayed at the church with his friends filling them in on everything that had happened to him.

Since it was only midday Varden, Drayden, Argus, and Drake went back to the castle. Nothing happened on the way to the entry hall, and they came to the spot where they had to decide which way to go. This time they decided to go back to the left again.

As they opened the door an arrow went flying out of the room. Everyone managed to dodge out of the way of it. Then they heard the voice say, " Sorry about that. I didn't see you clearly. This place is really getting to me."

Varden looked up and saw the three men that they had met in the bar and again in the tower.

The leader of the three said, " I heard about the action that you people have been having in here. So, we thought that we would come in and try our luck as well."

Varden didn't know what to think about the situation. Then Varden asked, " What are your plans?"

The leader said, " We plan to go up to the next floor and explore it." Varden wished them good luck. Then the three of them left and went upstairs.

Varden was glad that they were going to the next floor because anyone would shoot before they knew what they were shooting at. He really didn't want them around. They decided to open the door that was on the right side of the hall next.

Drake carefully searched the door and told Varden he best opens it slowly this time. Varden was ready but didn't want any more surprises. Varden opened the door and looked in and all he saw was another hall. The hall was 100 feet long and 20 feet wide. There was a door on both sides of the hall down 50 feet and the hall opened on both sides at the end.

Drake searched the hall and found nothing, but he did see that at the end of the hall went into another hall that ran the other way the width of the castle. Since the halls were clear they decided that it's best to search the rooms as they come to them once they've cleared the halls. So, they decided to go into the room on the left side first. They open the door to what appeared to be the sleeping room for a family of giants. The room that they entered was 80 feet wide by 80 feet long and there were two beds in it each was 20 feet wide by 30 feet long and often one side was a smaller bed that was only 10 feet wide by 20 feet long. There was also a table in the room that they must have been using for a nightstand. And across from the door was a huge closet the length of the room.

Drake started searching the room, but it was extremely slow going because of the size of everything that was in the room. While he was searching, he needed Varden's help to get other things out of the way because they were too heavy. This room took 10 times longer to search than anything he had run into before but there was a lot of stuff to go through and a lot of area to cover. Drake finally came across the small hole that was just big enough for a giant's hand to go into. Drake looked and could see the treasure inside the hole, but it was too deep to reach, and he was a little bit too big to fit in the hole. Drake told the others what he had seen in the size of the hole. The only problem was the only one that would be able to fit would be Drayden she was the only one small enough to go into the hole. Right away, Varden didn't like the sound of the thought of her going off by herself into a place where he couldn't get to help her if she needed it.

Drayden knew the risk and the risks that everyone else had been taking so she agreed to go in after it. The hole in the wall near the floor looked just big enough for Drayden to fit. But when she tried to squeeze through her robe got caught on the sides and would not let her go any more forward. She would have to remove her armor and her robe to fit the whole way.

Varden immediately started protesting at the mention of it, but this wasn't Varden's choice, and it wasn't up to him to decide whether she could do it are not.

Drayden had already decided that she was going to do it. She told them all to leave the room till she'd call them back in.

Drake and Argus quickly left the room. Varden said, " Don't you feel that I should stay close just in case you need some help? I have a really bad feeling about this, and I feel that I need to stay close."

She looked at him and saw how worried he was about her, so she let him stay close. Actually, she felt better knowing that he would be close by. She made him promise to keep his back turned and tell she told him it was okay.

Varden promised to keep his back turned, and he kept his promise even though every fiber in his body wanted him not to.

As her robe fell to the floor a strange feeling came over her. It was as if she had taken her robe off in front of him. She had never experienced the longing that she was feeling right now. She tried to put it out of her mind but was only partly successful. She continued stripping down to just her slip feeling more and more vulnerable as she took her clothes off.

The slip was made from fine silk, and she didn't want to get it torn or dirty but her only choice was to wear the slip or to strip down to nothing and that was not an option.

She crawled through the whole it in a couple of spots it was a really tight squeeze, but she made it through. When she finally made it should call the Varden to let him know that she was okay.

Varden turned and saw her clothes lying on the floor and that aroused him to know that she was practically naked. Drayden called to him again saying she didn't hear from him the first time, and she was starting to wonder what was going on out there. This time Varden answered her, but his voice wasn't quite right. Drayden asked, " Are you all right? Your voice sounds kind of strange."

Varden cleared his throat and gathered his thoughts and said, " I'm fine everything out here is okay." Then he went and got closer to the hole so she could hear better.

Drayden gathered the treasure together and started trying to push it through the hole. The treasure had been in a sack but over time it had rotted away leaving only the treasure behind. Varden reached in as far as he could to help her get the treasure out of the hole.

After a few minutes of working together, they had cleared the treasure out and had it in a new sack of their own.

Drayden told Varden to go back across the room and wait for her. She would call him when she was dressed and ready to go.

Varden did what she had told him to do. But as she started crawling out her slip got caught on something. She tried moving forward but the slip was caught too well for that. Then she tried backing up but there was no room for that and as she moved to back up it was stripping her of her slip. She tried to twist and turn but no matter what it would not loosen at all. In fact, it seemed like no matter what she did it just made it stuck all the harder. She finally came to the conclusion she was going to have to be pulled out. She finally had to call Varden for help.

He went over and saw that she was trapped and couldn't move. He asked, " What should I do?"

Drayden had a mean look on her face. She was upset by this comment but also upset at herself for getting into that situation. She said, " Don't just stand there. Pull me out!"

Varden took hold of both her hands and started to pull. He heard a tearing sound and then stopped pulling. Drayden yelled, " Don't stop pulling now, get me out of here!"

He gave her a hard yank and the slip ripped free. The slip had been sliced from the middle of her chest in front to the bottom as well as torn on both sides but in the back, it had been cut almost all of the way just short of opening it all the way. She was pulled out easily as it was shredded, he was left there holding her up by the hands dangling a foot off of the ground. For a moment she just hung there in his hands up in the air. He had her trapped without even realizing it, he was just standing there staring at her. He saw her slip was torn all the way up to the middle of her chest exposing most of her body, he was just stunned by her beauty.

She made him set her down and quickly pulled out of his hands. She pulled her slip together in front but that just made the sides and the back seem to open more. She did her best to try to cover up but couldn't quite cover everything.

Varden quickly grabbed some of her robes and handed them to her while he closed his eyes. Then after she took the robe he turned and left the room.

Drayden just stood there covering herself until he was out of the room.

Varden went out of the door so that she could get dressed. When Varden came out Drake asked, " Where's Drayden?"

Varden answered, " She will be out in a minute." Then a smile came to his face as he thought back to Drayden. She was just hanging there in his hands so close he wanted to feel and see her there again.

Drayden was really feeling embarrassed and kind of helpless, but there was nothing she could do about it now, so she quickly got dressed. In about 10 minutes Drayden came out of the room carrying the sack of treasure. Seeing that Varden quickly went over and took the treasure out of her hands. Then she whispered to him, " Don't tell the others what happened."

He whispered back, " I will never tell what happened, I promise."

Drake asked, " Is there something going on, or is this just going to take all day? We have a lot more rooms to search yet."

The two walked over and rejoined the others. Drake searched the door and found that it was trapped. He told the others to stay back, he was going to try and disarm it.

The others took a step back, and Drake started to work on it. He was almost finished when his hand slipped and set off the trap. A block above the door was released. Drake saw it coming but couldn't get out of the way in time. As he dove out of the way the block pinned his legs. Varden picked up the block and threw it aside. But it was too late the damage had been done, breaking his leg and crushing his ankle.

It didn't take Drayden long to cure Drake, and as soon as he was cured, Varden peeked into the room. The room was a large L-shaped dining hall that was 80 feet wide by 90 feet long but had a 30 by 40-foot chunk taken out of the southern side. There was a huge L-shaped table with chairs along one side.

Drake searched the room but only found one gold coin stuck in a chair. He thought to himself, all that work and only to find that.

They went back out the door, and Drake started searching the other hall. He found absolutely nothing on his way up the hall. On the other side of the hall of the room they were just in there was a path leading back to the door. They realized that this was the center door in the entry hall.

After Drake searched the hall leading to the door, Argus suggested that they head back to town. Varden and the others were ready because they had had a long and tiring day.

They made it back to town before the sun had started to set. They each went their own ways. Varden took Drayden by the hand, but she wouldn't look at him no matter what he tried.

They held hands while the sunset. He tried talking to her, but he got no response from her. She wasn't trying to act cold, but she didn't know how to act or what to say since he saw her that way.

He knew that there wouldn't be any better time for him to give her the bracelet, so he dug them out of his pack. He handed one to her and said, "I want to give you this as a symbol of my love and I will always wear the other."

She took it but didn't know what to say and was still really embarrassed and confused.

He knew what was on her mind so he asked, "Would you like to talk about what happened? After all, it wasn't your fault that it happened. It was more mine for pulling so hard."

She looked up at him for a moment but by this time he was looking down. She said, " It wasn't your fault. You didn't want me going in there in the first place. In the second place you couldn't leave me there now, could you?"

He looked up at her and said, "No. I guess not. But I still feel responsible for it."

Having talked about it helped ease the tension a little and made them both feel a little better. There was something building up in him and he needed to tell her, but he felt if he told her that it might cause more problems.

Time went on, the sunset and the feeling grew in Varden till finally, he told her, " I just want you to know that I think you are the most beautiful woman I have ever known."

A first she was upset at the remark, but when she saw how serious he was, she took it as the compliment it was intended to be. She smiled, then they kissed. He figured he must have said the right thing after all. He wasn't trying to seduce her, he just wanted to make her feel better.

After the kiss, they started for the Inn. His heart was overflowing with joy.

When they got to their rooms, they looked deeply into the eyes of each other and kissed once more. He felt their passion growing and the longing becoming so intense. Then suddenly she broke the kiss off and slipped into her room without another word. As they went to their rooms a sadness washed over Varden he was not sure why.

Varden didn't want to try and explain things to Drake, so he got undressed and went to bed. He was hoping to get extra rest by getting to sleep early. But as he closed his eyes all he could see was Drayden and her torn slip showing that soft smooth skin he was longing to touch. All night long as he would make it to sleep the dream of trying to touch her would come and as he would get close, she would move farther away. Then he would wake up and see that he was just dreaming and fall asleep again. To have it all start over as soon as he made it to sleep.

Drayden was not having much luck sleeping either. She kept dreaming of him pulling her out of the hole and then sliding her torn slip off of her while they kissed and as he would pull her close, she would wake with a longing to be touched.

So, all night long they both tossed and turned, both of them longing for the other.