The Orcs dragged Dan to one side. At first they took one look at him, then said, 'he's one of our Enemies. Kill him.' Dan flinched as he expected death.

But then a vaguely familiar voice said, 'No, let's spare him for the time been, let him live,' Dan looked up and recognized Buggerz, the Orc that he had spared a little while back.

'Hey, your Buggerz,' declared he.

'Actually, that's Captain Buggerz to you. Lord Buggerz even. Possibly even soon King Buggerz,'

'think he's overplaying the Buggerz name,' thought Dan. But he also said, 'so you're not going to kill me then?'

'No, I think I'll keep you alive for a little while,' answered Captain Buggerz of the Orcs.

'Well, that's nice,' thought Dan, 'nice that even Orcs recognized that one kind deed deserves another,'

'That's alive in bitter pain,' declared Buggerz. 'I'm not going to give you an easy death.' He said to his command, 'this human is the one who defeated, and humiliated me. He's not going to get away with that. I'm going to see him tortured for hours, days, possibly and then slowly killed. Let's have some fun!'

'Ah, that's kind of not what I had in mind,' thought Dan again.

'Firstly, lets see what we can do with these very sharp pair of Scissors,' suggested Buggerz, clipping them at Dan's face…………

Meantime, elsewhere Gandalf and Fred were having a discussion. Gandalf had been kept very busy in the main assault upon Morgelz. But Gandalf was worried about Dan. 'He hasn't turned up at the rendezvous point, he could be in trouble. He saved many lives back there we should look for him.'

Fred wasn't very happy about this, a strange sense of fear pinged his heart, 'do we have do, he's probably all right,' he tried, but Gandalf persuaded him and so reluctantly he joined Gandalf in searching the dark, shadowy mountains alone, for signs of Dan.

After some time and travelling far, Fred gave a cry. He saw Dan tied to a post in the middle of several dozen Orcs. Dan appeared asleep. Gandalf whispered, 'Now's our chance. If we startle these Orcs, I think that together we can manage them. Ready?' Fred gave a short nod.

So the two crept up to the Orcs. In the night, Gandalf and Fred slew many of the Orcs, the last one been Buggerz and the remainder fled in terror. Then Fred came to Dan and untied Dan with his sword. But unwittingly he cut Dan a little as Fred did so.

Now what happened next was completely out of character for Dan. But he had been tortured, badly, by Orcs who can torture like none other can, no need to go into details! And was not really in his right mind. So when he felt a cut, he awoke and instantly assumed that the Orcs were back to torment him. So he tried to fight back. Surprised to find himself free, he pushed Fred back who stumbled, then snatched Fred's sword from him who was not expecting this. In the darkness, Dan did not recognize his friend and slew Fred, thinking him a foe……….

Or at least he would have done, had not Gandalf taken some decisive action. Gandalf saw in an instant what was happening, and, showing his considerable agility, reached out, grabbed Dan's sword with his hand, with micro-seconds to spare, then literally caught it, on the blade and ripped the sword from Dan, cutting Gandalf's own hand quite badly and painfully, even for a Wizard. Blood flowed. But he looked at Dan firmly in the eye and said, 'Dan Shoemaker come back,' under this influence Dan came to himself. He was appalled at what he had so nearly done.

'Fred. I'm … err…' he attempted to apologize.

Fred to give him credit was gracious, 'oh, never mind, kid, what's done, done and no harm has happened,' he replied. But the 3 of them then decided to flee far away back to their friends. On the way Dan did notice,

'Gandalf, your hand, it's bleeding a lot of blood,'

Even Gandalf gasped in pain, 'I'm afraid it is, It was the only thing I could do without harming anyone in time. I think I can bandage this, however. Ouch,' Gandalf winched. He would not be free of his hurt for some weeks and indeed the scars would be on his hand for over a hundred years.

Fred smiled, 'well at least this incident ended more happily than one which I once heard from the Elder years about some mighty warrior slaying his friend by mishap,'

'Matter of opinion, Fred,' replied Gandalf in a rare but understandable moment of selfishness.