Father Ugu

As the wardrobe opened, he then discovered that it was just Cletus.

The two then hugged each other and Cletus joked about James trying to kill him. The two of them then moved towards the secret exit in the palace because Cletus told him that there were a lot of soldiers in the palace.

They went quietly into the store which was used by the royal family to store their valuables and took some food and a few pieces of gold and silver and got into the tunnel underground.

It was dark, wet and had the stench of dead rats. Cletus kept joking and talking with James throughout their journey in the tunnel.

After about 20 minutes, they saw the exit and when they got out, they discovered that the tunnel led them to the entrance of the Dead desert with the skull shaped rock towering in the horizon.

"At least we will be safe here but we have to get to the sytorax skull."James said pointing at the skull shaped rock ahead of them. (Sytorax was a Titan in mythology who was buried leaving only his head visible by the god herlock the god of magic and the rock is considered to be his skull.)

The two walked together and finally got to the rock. The two then started setting up camp in the cave in the rock. James then brought out some of the bread from the bag and started eating with Cletus. Cletus then helped him with his shoulder.

The two stayed awake all night with fire burning and kept singing folk songs and telling stories about the gods and other people.

Meanwhile Joy and Dorcas were still on the chariot which was being driven by a soldier called Tony who rarely talks and looked pretty stern with an eye patch. They were moving really fast. "Do you think James and others are okay?" Joy asked in a concerned voice. "I hope so but I am so scared." Dorcas replied in a low tone.

The two kept discussing about the war and they soon got to a city called Derbias a colony of the Snake nation which was close to the Dead desert. It is a busy city with a lot of herbs and spices. They were then taken to a building which was in an hidden part of the city. The soldier gave a secret knock and the door was opened by a short but burly man who looked like he was in his late forties.

He welcomed them and then Tony asked if Father ugu was around but the soldier replied that he went with his men to scout the Dead desert. Father ugu was one of the members of the union of elder statemen in Chanchan who help the King to make decisions. All members of the union of elders were called fathers. A fair maid was then told to take care of Joy and Dorcas. The maid then took them in and changed their clothes into cleaner ones. They were then served fried mutton and potatoes with sauce. Halfway through eating, they heard a knock on the door which had the same pattern Tony the soldier. The short burly man whose name is Ferguson went immediately to open the door. The man who came in was dark, tall, slim and a bit muscular with a moustache. "Father ugu you are welcome back master." Ferguson said in a low voice and took his cloak. Father ugu just gave a low grunt and when he saw Joy, he got happy and welcomed her. He asked about her well-being. He then told her that he was her father's old friend back in Warfleck academy. (Her father Grant was a legendary blacksmith who escaped from the snake kingdom during the first attack on their village to a place no one knew.) Joy didn't seem happy about it because she felt that her father ran from home and never came back because he didn't love them which led to her mother's death by the hands of a snake soldier who raped and killed her.

She then gave a mild smile and tried not to show her mood change. He then told her that Chanchan has finally been taken over by the snake kingdom and only a few soldiers are left and they were going to camp in the Dead desert according to his informants. He then told her that he ran away five years ago because Benard threatened his family and he had to send them to Fadian to stay but he could not leave Chanchan but chose to stay in a country close to Chanchan to continue to support his country and get information faster. When night settled, father ugu then bid them goodnight and they went to sleep.