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Chapter 3 continued...

     

As soon as the voice finished speaking, both the girl and I went towards the basement. We felt deep down that this was a trap, but we were intrigued by the silky, dark voice. We walked down the spiral steps where I saw the witch, dead in middle of the room, face down on the floor. The walls of the room were made of stone, the floor was also stone and in the center of the room stood a tall podium where a book rested. Against the wall were various alchemic and magical stations where different, odd looking items were placed. There were two zombie like creatures also dead, strewn across the room. This girl was quite impressive.

“Further.” Said the voice. We immediately glanced at a trap door in the corner of the room and headed towards it. The girl went down first, then me. I took in the odd sight of the passage way we had appeared in. The hallway was narrow and short, the walls made of dirt with vines and other plants growing out. There were bits of smoothed stone, cracked here and there, it must have once long ago been a beautiful place. At the end of the passage was an altar. It was not a table altar but more of a column like altar, as high as my ribs with a small basin in the center filled with what seemed to be lava. Four spikes curved upwards over the basin and came together to form a metal skull. On the skull was a beautiful (Spartan style) helmet with two horns protruding from the front. The eyes of the skull were rubies.

“Approach.” Said the voice which seemed to emanate from the skull. We did as it said. Then, without warning, a huge metal cage closed over us trapping us. We looked around frantically for an escape. We’d been tricked. I should have known this would happen. The voice laughed long and hard.

“Did you really think I was going to give you a reward for killing a petty witch, and you, mage, you didn’t even do anything, you should’ve saw this coming.” Then the voice laughed again.

“But I won’t kill you if you don’t mind doing a little favor for me.” There was a pause.

“Go to port Almira, southwest of here, seek out the one who calls himself the white wolf. Tell him… Mr. Black sent you.”

 .........................................................................................................................................................
“Who’s the White Wolf?” I asked. But no response came. The cage reseeded back into the walls, allowing us to leave. The girl in black and I left the altar and the house. Once we were outside, the girl pulled her hood and mask back revealing her face for the first time. She had nearly pale white skin, with only a hint of color, deep green eyes, and straight black hair, cut down to her shoulders.

“My name’s Dawn.” She said. Then she held out her hand which I shook. She smiled.

“So what do you think of that voice in the altar, should we listen to it?” she asked.

“I never meant to be kidnapped, I wasn’t seeking out that witch. I was heading for Mount Havok. The witch fooled me by dressing up as an old helpless woman, and attacked when I least expected it. I don’t want anything to do with Kalus or his altar or Mr. Black, whoever that is.” I said.

“I don’t want anything to do with that either, but I don’t need another enemy in this world, especially not a demon lord. I think the only way to not have him as our enemy is to what he asks.” She explained.

“I ran away from my master to get here, if I don’t get to Mount Havok fast, he’ll catch up to me, and probably punish me for my defiance.”

“Does he know where you’re going?” Dawn asked.

“I think he’ll figure it out sooner or later.” I said flatly.

“Then it’s probably best to head to Almira with me. He won’t expect that.” She said.

“You’re right,” I decided.

“So why did you run away from your master?” Dawn asked. So I told Dawn about the book and my master, I told her everything that occurred in the past few days. Soon the sun began to set, and we made camp. We had no tent or bags so we worked together to make two piles of leaves, dirt, and sticks which we climbed into as sleeping bags. It worked quite well.

            The next morning we ate no breakfast, just set of for Almira. We said little on our walk, we just sort of enjoyed the nice weather and the warm sun shine. We stopped at noon to rest by a stream, where we each drank some of the cool water. But we soon headed off once more. We reached Almira at six o’clock the sun was low in the sky, almost set, but we’d made it. It’d taken less time than I’d thought.
 “Where should we start?” I asked Dawn.

“The Tavern.” She said blankly, 

“That’s always the best place to start looking for information. We walked around the city streets, searching for a tavern. The city was mostly mad of cobble stone walls, houses, and shops with the lord’s castle in the center. The Castle was made of smooth blocked stone rather than the odd shaped rock and mortar houses. Although the city’s color was bleak, its people were generally happy, waving hello as we walked past, It didn’t take long to find the tavern, it was called The Winking Watchman Inn and Tavern, an odd name, I though. We went in without a word. The inn was quite lively, it had a singer in one corner, reciting his phrases in a language I didn’t understand. About twenty people crowded the bar, eating food and drinking mead. We sat down at the bar. Dawn ordered an ale. 

“Want anything?” she asked, I politely declined. Once Dawn had her ale she asked the bar tender, 

“Do you know anybody called the white wolf?”

“ ‘Course I do, everybody does, he’s the most wanted criminal in this city.” The bartender said. I sighed. The most wanted criminal! This mad things a lot more interesting. Dawn showed no sign of emotion at this response. 

“Do you know where I can find him?” she asked.

“Nope, all I know is that 100 of my best friends were supposed to show up tonight and they didn’t…” Dawn rolled her eyes and took out a bag of coins and handed it to the bartender. The bartender smiled.

“Second room on the right.” He whispered.

“Oh and just in case,” he handed Dawn a key, and then turned away from her completely. Dawn got up from the bar and went up the stairs to where the rooms were. She stood in front of the second room on the right and knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again, this time harder. Then she used the key to get in. A man sat at the desk in the room writing with a quill on some parchment.

“What part of me not answering the door don’t you get?” he asked.

“Mr. Black sent us…” replied Dawn. The man’s eyes went wide.

“I’m the white wolf as you might’ve guessed… I suppose it’d time then?” he asked

“Time for what?” Dawn asked.

“Didn’t Mr. Black tell you? We’re going to steal a prized artifact from the city safe!”