Chapter 1

Gillied was never silent, its walls were always holding in the screams of the many unfortunate souls who were forced to enter its fort, they all fought, all but one. Arya the elf walked proudly, not making a sound as she was led away into the depth of her nightmares.

It was not like she wanted to go, no one ever wanted to go, but she had no choice and when there is no choice all that remains is dignity. Arya knew that inside the black stone walls lie the most horrid days of her life. She sadly glanced at the dying sun that was disappearing into the mountains. This could be her last glance of it and she cherished every second that she watched it shine.

"Move ya filthy little hag." Came a gruff voice, followed by a painful twist of the arm.

Arya bit on her lower lip to keep herself from screaming, it would do no good, no one could hear her now and her screaming would only make the damn beasts happy. She walked on through the gates of Gillied and into the dark world of the unknown.

The stone walls were overgrown with moss and the dark ceiling which couldn't be seen in the evenings, was dripping from several places. The corridors were so dark that if not for the torches they would be invisible.

Arya could only try to remember the many routes she was led by and all the turns she took.

'That's one way of getting rid of a person, bring him into this maze and leave him with no light or magic and he will wander these halls forever.'

She felt a shiver as she wondered how many people did just that.

Suddenly she heard the Urgal beside her shout out.

"I brought the elf, put her in the cell but don't touch her, Durza wants to have her clean for interrogation."

"Sure, what ever I'm just the guard, my job is to watch her." Came a dumb sounding voice from the darkness, then another Urgal appeared, he grabbed Arya under the arm with one great paw and unlocked the cell with the other. Then with out even looking at her, threw her through the threshold and onto the hard floor.

Arya tried to sustain her voice but she couldn't help it and landed with a painful yelp.

"That's better" came the voice of the first Urgal. "Now you lock her up and I'll call Durza," then he walked off and soon the light of his torch was lost in the darkness.

The only place in Gillied that could be considered half decent was the head office in the western wing of the prison. It was made in reasonable 18th century style, with a large black oak table and a couple of reasonably comfortable chairs. The walls of the room were bare and on the ceiling hung one age worn chandelier that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years.

Even though this was the best place in Gillied, Durza never stayed there for long, there was always things to do and prisoners to interrogate. If ever there was time for a break, Durza usually preferred to spend it reading literature and examining old prison records.

This particular day, he was doing just that when a loud knock interrupted his reading.

"Come in." said Durza, reluctantly tearing his eyes from the scroll.

The door open and Be' gda, the chief Urgal came lumbering in.

"We have delivered the elf sir. She's locked up in the south wing, under Shu'rgels guard."

Durza's eyes glimmered, with excitement finally' he thought. It took the lumbering fools two weeks to drag the elf to Gillied, and now he finally had her.

"I will come now. You have done well and I shall give you the rest of the day off." said Durza dismissing the Urgal with a wave of his hand. As soon as the Urgal was gone Durza got up and fading, apparated to the south wing right opposite Arya's cell.