I scramble through the opening created by Ryan as a second explosion echoes in the dark chamber revealing a light coming from my left. I choke on the dust and rub dirt from my eyes. I draw my short sword as a strange figure blocks the light to my left and pushes past me, retreating into the darkness.

I fail to follow the dark figure with my eyes and pull the neck of my shirt up over my nose. With one hand I hold the neck of my shirt over my nose while I wave the short sword in front of me, afraid to hit something. Through my shirt I can smell the foul stench of the figure that ran past me. An Ogre.

I step away from the darkness and towards the light and emerge at the back of Yadout’s throne room. The throne room is like the other rooms in the caslte except with a large chair and a few banners. The Ogre and I appear to have found a previously unknown passage leading into an unexplored area of the castle.

Only moments ago the only exit to the throne room was the main door that now glitters with a magical aura. From the back of the throne room I see Amber, Tom and Gordo’ fighting six Ogres with staves similar to Amber’s instead of the usual club. The beasts cast clumsy spells at my friends and the foul stench in here in nearly enough to make me walk back out and speak with Ryan again.

Before anyone realizes that I am here, I rush in, leap over the crystal on the throne, spring off the royal seat and straight at the back of one of the Ogres, my aim is true and the blade slides through its spine. I jump off its falling body and join the with other three. “What happened here? Why’s the door shiny?”

Amber lets out a momentary shrill laugh, she cups her hand over her mouth to try and quiet the laughter. “The Ogre King cast a spell after we entered and it sealed the door behind us keeping the rest of our army out.” She informs me.

“Then he jumped off the throne bashed in the wall at the back of the room, and these five came out and the Ogre King went in. That’s when you showed up.” Gordo finishes for her. He grips his forging hammer tightly, his eyes scanning the Ogres, sizing them up. The death of one of them seems to have caused the others to rethink their situation.

“Did you hear, Gordo? Your brothers back.” I tell him. “I saw him myself, he brought reinforcements.”

“Yeah, someone mentioned Stuart was coming.” Gordo’ says. Though it has been days since the Blacksmith has last seen his brother, Gordo’s voice is as cold as a winter night.

“Chris is here too.” I add side stepping to speak easier with Amber.

Amber takes a step back and scans the room, finally her gaze lands on me. “What? Really?”

“Him and Ryan.” I say, nodding. Gordo’ tenses up and charges in with the hammer, swinging furiously. Tom follows after him more cautiously. Gordo’ crushes the skull of one of the Ogres while Tom engages another, his sword swinging in a frenzy to keep the large staff from hitting either himself of the blacksmith.

“Amber!” Tom shouts. “The crystal!” My brother sees his opening as he parries another blow; he spins around moving himself to the Ogre’s flank slicing open its side as he moves. The Ogre spins in rage and knocks my brother off his feet with a single blow.

“What about it?” She asks as the Ogre jumps Tom again only to have Gordo’s hammer come down on its back, it falls on top of my brother.

“Their source of power!” He gasps, struggling to get the Ogre’s massive girth off of him, it is alive but wounded.

“What?” Amber asks blankly. Tom stabs his sword through the Ogre’s gut as it tries to stand up; it collapses on top of him again and he groans in pain.

Gordo jumps away from the Ogres as they cast another spell at him. I notice the crystal glow as the bolt streaks across the room and clings to the wall before disappearing.

“I think the Ogre Magi draw their power from the crystal!” I tell her, speaking quickly. “If we destroy it we might gain the upper hand.” A bolt of blue magic streaks between us cutting through the air and disappearing as it hits the magically enhanced door.

The sound of glass breaking resounds and graceful light reflects through the room, shards of glass pelt me and get tangled up with my hair as Chris and his pelican break through a window. He squeals in fear as he loses grip of his pelican and falls to the floor. His red leggings pile over his body and he continues to roll head over heels until he comes to rest near Amber and I.

I help the young man to his feet. Chris looks around in confusion as he tries to get his bearings. Staggering for a moment he shakes his head vigorously and glass flies from his hair, I pull my arm up instinctively to block the foreign objects.

Chris is younger than the rest of us at seventeen harvests and has the innocent look of a child. When his father, Stuart, decided to go on a quest to find a tool to aid us Chris joined him, eager to see the world. We all laughed insisting that he must have been eager to see the inside of a fish’s stomach if he wished to sail north. If Ryan is to be believed, though, they must have found something in the north.

Pulling the crossbow off his back he shakes more glass out of his hair and takes careful aim at a nearby Ogre. The young man’s finger gently presses the tickler and the bolt flies through the air with grace and filled the dignity of a thousand royal families, it completely misses its target embedding itself in the red, gold-laced throne. Chris curses and reloads a bolt, stepping back behind me while he winds the bow again. The pelican flaps its wings sporadically and leaves through the broken window.

I race forward towards the Ogre nearest Chris and swing my blade warningly at the Ogre keeping its blood shot eyes locked with mine.

Amber casts magical bolt that flies across the room and strikes the crystal, shattering it. The Ogres are all momentarily stunned. I step forward, taking advantage of what little time I have, and thrust my sword into his gut. Thick red blood oozes over my hand and the smell of death fills my mind causing me to gag. The Ogre slumps over, the fat in its belly wrapping around my hand with a disgusting sucking sound that mixes with its mournful groan. Chris shakes his head then puts a bolt through the Ogres skull at point blank range.

Without their magic and their friends the other two Ogres surrender.

Tom looks over at Amber who leans against the wall, out of breath. I pull my blade out of the Ogre and go to her.

The Ogre prisoners are on their knees in front of my brother. For a warrior race, I think sneeringly, they certainly surrendered in a hurry.

Tom’s arm is limp at his side as he stands before the surrendered Ogres. He takes one final look at Amber before he swings his sword at one of the Ogres, the head is easily liberated from its body by the sharp blade.

“Tom!” I shout in shock.

“Enough!” Gordo’ cries. “They’ve surrendered! It’s over!” Amber staggers towards him but falls forward, I catch her and she lifts her head to look defiantly at my brother. Her eyes blaze in anger. Amber pushes me away and stands on her own.

“It’s not over.” My brother says, his clenched fist shaking. The Ogre trembles in fear. This Ogre is killed as well with a quick thrust of my brother’s sword. We shout at him again. “It’s not over until the Ogre King is dead!” He angrily says, his hand still gripped tightly on the hilt of the sword.

Tom points to the door behind us. “That barrier is still up. If we left them alive they would have been at our backs when we engaged their king. We need all the strength we have to defeat the evil king.” He smiles mockingly at us. “I’ve done you all a favor.” He turns and leaves the room, disappearing into the darkness of the previously undiscovered hall.

Amber kneels down on the floor. “Go.” She whispers. “I’m just tired.”

I look around; the others aren’t sure what to do. “Go!” I demand of the Blacksmith. “I’ll take care of Amber.” I nod to Chris, the young man nods back. He strides to the secret hall behind Gordo.

I pull he Alchemist’s bottle from my vest and uncork it (with ease this time). “Here.” I whisper, kneeling down beside her.

She lifts a hand weakly as I assist her in drinking the strange potion. She gags but manages to get some of the drink down. She gasps for air and pushes my hand away forcefully. “Thank you.” She says pushing herself up.

Her cheeks quickly grow red again and she smiles, pleasantly surprised with the effect. She sighs and thanks me again suddenly she runs for the back of the throne room to follow the others.

“You’re welcome.” I say as she disappears into the opening. I too follow after her leaving the throne room empty save for the bodies of the Ogres who lay lifeless on the floor.

I continue through the darkness and past the hole to the outside created by Ryan. A faint breeze is the only reprieve to the musty and bitter smell of the chamber. The blinding light beaming in from outsides robs me of my ability to see down the hall, my ability to see Amber.

I hear Amber in front of me cry out and then sound of metal and wood crashing against stone. There is quiet except for the sound of Tom and the others and a quiet shuffling that I can only assume must be Amber. I purposefully slow my breathing to try and calm my racing heart.

I nearly fall as the floor suddenly gives out underneath me and continues down in a set of stairs causing my heart to jump back into full motion. I put my hand gently on the cold wall of stone to my right, my shaking left hand still holding my short sword.

I enter a secret and undiscovered room in the castle where the massive Ogre King, a beast nearly twice the size of a regular Ogre, is calmly standing, the large two handed sword held firmly in his right hand. Chris turns as I enter but appears to feel no safer than a moment ago. Gordo’ and Tom make sure to keep their eyes locked on the Ogre King to watch for any sudden movements.

The flickering torches on the wall are nearly half burned already; this is not the first time that the Ogres have seen this room. They have been using it for something. That hole was either a hidden door or there is another way into this level of the castle. There must be another chamber down the other end of the hidden passage.

The shining sword held in the Ogre’s hand, nearly the length of a full grown man, was a marvelous piece of work. The shimmering blade reflects the red torchlight giving the look of a bloodied weapon; it is a beautiful example of a blacksmith’s finest work.

“Do the Ogres know how to smith?” I ask leaning over to Gordo’.

The blacksmith shakes his head. “I didn’t think so. It looks like it’s been overlaid with silver.” The large man told me. That would explain the beauty of the piece.

I stare at the large sword, suddenly imagining it tearing me in half. I swallow hard against the fear trying to ready myself for the engagement. “They must have discovered how.” I say unable to keep my voice from shaking. If we survive this, their knowledge will make any future encounters with them much more difficult.

“Even if they did, where’d they get the metal from?” The Blacksmith asks. I suddenly worry that Stuart’s discovery of the land to the north may have brought the Ogre’s a trading partner. What can they trade though? As I look at this brutish creature I suddenly have the answer. Strength, labor, or perhaps they have offered Yadout.

Amber steps forward to challenge the Ogre King. She raises the staff high above her head, the red orb gracing the rod glowing fierce in the torchlight. She slams the staff down into the ground and concentrates on the spell she is going to cast. A magical wind brushes her back, all of us remain behind her, more than willing to allow her the pleasure of killing the creature that has taken her castle.

The Ogre King sees his opening and wastes no time in taking advantage of it. He rushes Amber and before we can react throws his left arm into her throwing her staff to the ground and Amber into the wall behind us. The Ogre King raises his sword and lets out a shout as though daring us to turn our backs and help her.

“Well Chris,” I say slowly, “how about we take that thing out at a distance?” He holds the crossbow in his shaking hands.

“Are you insane?” He demands moving the crossbow behind himself, vainly attempting to hide the weapon. “Do you want that thing mad at me? That is suicide!” The bolt falls harmlessly onto the floor, the weapon still ready to fire.

Tempted to say, better you than me: “What do you suggest?” I instead ask.

“I say we let the warriors handle this.” Chris says. “Deany and I will help Amber.” Chris turns and the Ogre King shouts again causing everyone to jump and Chris to remain where he is. The Ogre King watches each one of us, waiting for us to make the first move. He watches Tom more closely than anyone else.

Tom steps forward towards the Ogre King, my brother’s sword held firmly at the ready. The Ogre King takes a step back but holds his ground there. Tom breathes deeply as he starts pacing back and forth in front of the Ogre King.

“You coward,” My brother says smugly, “hitting a woman while she is casting a spell? We thought that perhaps your kind had a shred of honor about them but we appear to have been wrong. Wrong to ever strike a deal with you.”

“The deal was to your benefit alone, human.” The Ogre King speaks. Though he speaks a slurred tongue he speaks much more clearly than his subjects do. The Ogre tenses up, ready to jump my brother at a moment’s notice. “We Ogres got nothing that we couldn’t take by force.” The King suddenly laughs throwing his hands up in a show of mercy. “Puny human, throw down your weapon before you hurt yourself.” He taunts as my brother begins to circle him. The Ogre side steps to keep close to the wall Tom is heading towards, not allowing himself to get flanked.

“The plan was…” My brother begins; a blur enters the room moving faster than anything I have ever seen. It circles the Ogre twice before jumping onto the beast’s back and driving a spear through the Ogre King’s spine. Blood, ugly thick blood spills out over the floor covering the ground immediately around the Ogre King.

The Ogre stumbles in its own blood, unwilling to die. It staggers and falls forward catching Tom’s legs under it as he tries to dive out of the corpse’s path. He cringes with pain as his feet are caught beneath the weight.

The blue blur slows down as it pulls the spear out of the Ogre King’s back revealing itself to be Stuart. His sparkling eyes glitter with as much mischief as wisdom as he watches our response to his unexpected entrance.

Nearly twice my age, the old man wears the blue and white jacket he wears contrasts sharply against the red undershirt. This seemingly odd choice in color was actually very common when Stuart was a young man. The beard he has is also traditional and would not be shaved off until Chris is married. The beard, supposedly, hides also the scars that Stuart had received as a young man in brawls with other people his age.

“What was that?” I ask as the bearded man jumps from the back of the creature.

Stuart laughs to himself. “That, my friends, was a gift from the caverns of…” The old man pauses, his eyes suddenly darting around. “Un…ca…chun…ca” He says slowly, making the word as he goes along. “Uncachunca!” He proudly announces.

Even in the end of a bloody battle, the old man has a strange air about him. Other than appearance, Stuart reminds me nothing of his brother.

“Uncachunca?” Gordo’ asks him suspiciously. “How does it work?”

“Well,” Stuart begins as he holds the artifact up to his eye, a simple metal bar with a small red orb grafted into it. “The thing about that is…” Stuart activates the artifact and darts out of the room, avoiding the question and the cleanup. Gordo’ grinds his teeth together in an anger that only brothers can truly share. With all the progress we’ve made in Yadout, some things never change.