Lady Juniper stood in shock behind one of the bushes as she watched Sarah leave the garden. She saw the temple Mistress slump on the bench she sat upon. She slowly stepped around the bush and walked towards her. "Mistress," she greeted her.

The temple Mistress looked up and smiled, "Lady Juniper, what a surprise. Sit and join me."

Lady Juniper sat down and the temple Mistress took her hand. "What's going on Mistress? I heard part of what you said to Sarah. What are you so upset over?" Lady Juniper asked.

The Mistress nodded, "First, what did you find out from Lord Beyon?"

"Well a number of things actually. But the short version is Merrick orchestrated all of this to get his grandson whose being held by some woman named Paige. Both of whom are being protected by Lord Walter of Scorpion Keep," Lady Juniper told her.

The Mistress nodded, "This is indeed troubling, I've spent a lot of time trying to commune with the wise Lady but something is blocking me. The same for auguries, none of the clerics have been able to."

Lady Juniper gasped, "What is causing it?"

The temple Mistress shook her head, "I don't know. I've got a few sisters quietly going out into the city to see if the other temples are affected as well."

"What is going on with Sarah?" Lady Juniper asked.

"When I learned of the Lord ordering a summons of Lord Walter, I knew something bad was happening. Merrick is scum, I don't trust him. I advised Terean to do what he could to delay the message from being received by Lord Walter. Unfortunately I didn't count on Wendell going home and his Mother undoing it all. I didn't know anything about this Paige or the child," the Mistress told her.

Lady Juniper nodded, "He's definitely scum. Out of irritation he had my Lord beaten for telling him that this Paige didn't kill his son. And he's order him to have this woman drawn and quartered as an object lesson to Lord Walter and anyone else who would dare refuse his wishes."

The temple Mistress looked at her, "Why is the Lord going on with it then?"

Lady Juniper looked away, "He's getting older, he feels his age, and he fears death, fear of losing the throne."

The temple Mistress nodded, "Very understandable. Maybe if the wise Lady had given you a child he wouldn't have these fears. If it comes to it, are you prepared to take his place on the throne?"

Lady Juniper looked at her sharply, "What are you saying?"

"Lord Walter is a knight in the full bloom of his power with the wise Lady. If he has sworn his protection to this Paige and the child he will bring this place to the ground if need be. You may have to take your Lord's place and revoke his agreements with Merrick. And then all of us working together can move against Merrick and end his miserable existence in this life." The temple Mistress told her.

"That's easy for you to say, you'd be safe from retaliation," Lady Juniper got irate with her.

"Hardly, if not for Terean I probably would have broken a hip yesterday when one of the rear guard tripped me in front of the Lord on purpose. Thankfully his reflexes allowed him to catch me," the Mistress told her.

Lady Juniper stared in disbelief, "My Lord didn't say anything about it?"

The Mistress shook her head.


Lord Walter and his company had found a small cave that they began moving every body they came across into. While everyone was wearing strips of cloth Paige and Allie had to treat her strip of cloth Allie made from Sir Cabe's shirt more frequently with the solution she made than she had figured. To protect Paige, Lord Walter forbade her from helping with or getting too close to the bodies.

The looks that Paige directed at Lord Walter seemed to bounce off of him as he refused to back down from his position. Sylvester was having the hardest time with the smell and finally Lord Walter told him to investigate the small cabins to ensure there were no bodies in them while he doubled up carrying two and even three of the bodies at a time.

Paige didn't like feeling useless so while Lord Walter and Sir Cabe toiled she played her lute and sang the melody that lifted up their spirits as they rode their horses.

"My Lord, you're not going to do yourself any favors working this hard. Slow down a bit," Sir Cabe pressed him.

Lord Walter shook his head, "I am not willing for us to have to come back tomorrow and further endanger my Lady. I want these poor souls buried today and then free the elemental before we go back to camp. Hopefully by tomorrow morning we'll either know for sure that this blight is over or Allie can tell for sure by then. Then we can leave this horrible place."

Sir Cabe nodded, "Well I know not to argue with you when your mind is made up. Let's get back to work."

It took them almost three hours to move all the bodies from around the mining camp and the entrance to the main mine into the cave. Lord Walter looked over, "Sylvester, do you have any idea where this elemental might be?"

"My guess would be they would keep him close to the area they wanted him to work at," Sylvester told him.

Lord Walter nodded, "Much as I guessed then. Allie, I'm reluctant to leave my Lady up here by herself, would she be okay to journey with us into the mine shaft?"

Allie nodded, "I walked over there earlier and I am okay with it as long as we keep her strip of cloth moist with the solution."

Walter looked longingly at Paige, he hated being so close to her and unable to touch her. "I wish I could hold and kiss you my Love. I think this is the longest I have gone without some physical contact with you, I miss you."

Paige smiled as she reached out for his hands but Walter pulled his hands behind him and shook his head, "I don't want to risk anymore contamination for you then is required."

He saw the fabric around her mouth push out at him as she stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh man, that stuff tastes worst than it smells," Paige complained to Allie.

Allie laughed, "My Lord, you can hold Paige's hand without fear of contamination, as long as she doesn't have any open sores and she washes properly when we get back to camp."

Paige smiled and held out her right hand and Walter gladly took it with his left. His nerves immediately calmed down as their hands joined. As they began walking to the mine shaft, "Sylvester, we'll need light."

Sylvester nodded and picked up two discarded torches and cast a light spell on both and handed one to Lord Walter and the other to Sir Cabe. Lord Walter handed it to Paige so his sword hand was free just in case. The mine shaft ran back into the hillside almost two hundred feet before they found the elevator that went down to the lower levels.

Sylvester examined it, "Everything looks okay my Lord, whoever used to do maintenance on it took good care of it."


Lord Walter nodded as he stepped on with Paige followed by the others. Sir Cabe closed the gate and Lord Walter grabbed the crank handle and began turning it, as the elevator began to lower down into the darkness, "This is almost more than I can move, the weight is severely off balanced." Lord Walter told them as he strained and grunted.

Sir Cabe nodded, "Last time it was used they probably brought up a bunch of gold or equipment."

Lord Walter nodded as sweat started running down his face. Paige took out a cloth and began wiping his forehead and face trying to keep the stinging salt laded fluid from getting into his eyes.

Sylvester looked down into the shaft, "When we get so far down the counter balance should match us and we can probably pull some of the weight off of it to make it easier."

"That would be a relief," Lord Walter grunted as his muscles strained against moving the weight.

Finally at about two hundred feet the counter balance came up along side of them. Lord Walter maintained their position while Sir Cabe reached out and pulled a number of the weights off handing them to Sylvester who set them on the floor of the elevator. After they removed seven hundred pounds Lord Walter moved the crank and found it much easier and he nodded, "That will work."

The elevator traveled much faster now and they reached the bottom in only a few minutes. They heard a gravelly voice, "You scum have finally grown tired of throwing animals down here to foul the air and have returned to torment Grattar some more in other ways?"

Sir Cabe and Paige held their torches up. "I am Lord Walter, I am here with my friends on behalf of Arebrac," Lord Walter announced as he moved out of the elevator and down the passageway with Paige by his side.

The number of dead animals they found down there was surprising. It looked like they had basically fallen from the upper level. The stench was almost overpowering.

"Arebrac sent you?" Grattar asked. The light finally illuminated the elemental, "How do I know you are telling me the truth young Lord?"

"I suppose you don't, but I am a Paladin of the wise Lady and I wouldn't lie to you. We're going to release you and send you home," Lord Walter told him.

"Why would you do this for Arebrac young Lord?" Grattar asked as he looked them over.

"He repaired my hammer," Lord Walter answered.

Grattar looked down at his side, "The hammer that lies in pieces in that bag young Lord?"

Lord Walter nodded.

"Release me and I will repair it again before you send me home young Lord," Grattar told him.

"Sylvester, break the binding symbols and free Grattar," Lord Walter commanded.

Sylvester stepped into the protection circle and began speaking words of power and slowly the symbols keeping the elemental trapped began disappearing.

"Thank you young Lord, open your bag," Grattar told him.

Lord Walter nodded as he removed the bag from his side and opened it. Grattar gestured and all the pieces of stone rose up out of the bag along with the handle, and began joining together. Grattar asked, "This is a Dwarvish hammer isn't it young Lord?"

Lord Walter nodded.

"Arebrac might not have realized that when he joined it back together and why it broke again," Grattar told him.

Once the bag was empty of the fragments there was still a number of pieces missing like last time. "This will take a few minutes to finish," Grattar told him. His eyes closed and almost ten minutes later bits of stone fragments came down the elevator shaft before joining with the stone head and then the hammer glowed as the stone fused back into a solid piece again.

"Thank you Grattar, I will not forget your kindness," Lord Walter told him. "Sylvester, open a portal and send our friend home," Lord Walter looked at Sylvester as he reached out and took his hammer back.

Sylvester began intoning the spell and just before he finished, Grattar looked at Lord Walter, "A final gift for your marriage young Lord." He gestured at the wall of the tunnel and a huge section broke apart from the wall and fell to the ground with a rich gold ore deposit in it. Paige gasped at the gold she saw.

"What an astonishing thing, I don't believe I have ever heard of such an encounter with an elemental like this. I honestly thought we were going to be up to our ears in a fight as soon as those markings were gone," Sir Cabe told them.

"Was he calling you young Lord as an insult?" Allie asked.

Lord Walter laughed, "Hardly, he's probably blinked longer than I have been alive."

Paige bent down and examined the section of stone that was lying on the ground, "There must be over three hundred pounds of gold in this stone."

"Too bad we can't keep it," Sir Cabe told her.

"We can't? But he gave it to us as a wedding present. How did he know we were married anyway?" Paige looked back at him.

Sir Cabe shook his head, "Technically it wasn't his to give, it belongs to the mining consortium."

Lord Walter smiled, "Well, actually we can keep it. The consortium offered to allow us to mine one piece of ore as compensation. I was only concerned with the horrors they reported. As for our marriage I would speculate that he read it from the stone of my hammer."

"How are we going to transport it then? It's much too large for the opening of that bag of yours," Paige stood back up.

Walter nodded, "Well I could break it into smaller pieces to fit in but I didn't bring the bag with me and I wouldn't want to put it into the bag without cleaning it first." He grabbed the rock and grunted a little as he picked it up.

They all got onto the elevator and after putting the rock on the floor Lord Walter took the crank, "Throw the excess weights off, it'll help speed up our return to the surface." He was growing concerned as the flask of liquid was getting lower and he wanted Paige back at the camp long before it ran out.

The ascent was much faster. Allie was looking up, "How will the consortium get more miners down here now that the weight is so out of balanced?"

"That isn't our concern," Sir Cabe laughed. "But it won't be too difficult, they'll just load more people or equipment onto the elevator until they can move it."

"Makes sense," Allie said as they came to a stop at the top.


Sir Cabe took a moment to look inside the cave with the bodies to ensure no one had gone inside while they were in the mine. Lord Walter had walked out with the others and sat the rock down before picking up his hammer. Sir Cabe walked back out to where everyone waited. Lord Walter hurtled the hammer, "By the grace of Athena." The hammer transformed into lightning and there was a clap of thunder as the hammer flew towards the hillside and struck the rock overhead of the cave and caused a cave-in sealing the cave.

Toby and Happy had moved the two large water pots into the tent while everyone was gone and put in towels, wash cloths and soaps so Lord Walter and Lady Paige could step inside immediately and get cleaned up. Ralph stood watching as his parents made their way back to camp. He almost ran out to them when Happy grabbed his tunic, "Ralph, you have to wait until they wash and change clothes, you don't want to get any of that contaminated material on you do you? You'd have to wash before you could touch your Mom again if you did."

Ralph sighed, "You're right Happy. I'm sorry, thank you."

The three of them moved up wind of the group as they drew near so there was no cross contamination. As the group drew close to the camp Happy called out, "Lord Walter, we placed a bag inside of the tent for you to put your leathers in."

Lord Walter nodded, "Thank you Happy. As soon as my Lady and I are done washing I will refill the pots with water so you guys may enter and clean up. The smell is bad enough, I'm sure you don't want to go too long smelling it."

"Thank you my Lord. My Lady, remember there is another strip of cloth with your clean clothes as well as another flask of the fluid. You'll need to use them until we're all clean. Keep your current cloth on until our Lord has washed completely. Then you can untie it and hold it in place with your hands while he washes your hair, face and neck. My Lord, before you wash her hair soak her well from head to toe. That will keep any particles from floating off of her. Make sure you rewash your hands before she removes it," Allie told them.

Lord Walter sat the rock down beside the entrance of the tent. Both Happy and Toby stared at the rock as they saw the glint of gold from the one side.


As they stood within the tent Walter smiled at Paige as he stepped up and took hold of the bottom of her tunic and slowly started pulling it up. "You know, if this wasn't so serious, this could be a lot more fun." He grinned at her as he imagined she returned her own wicked grin. Once Paige was naked she grabbed Walter's tunic and pulled it off. Each piece of leather they removed was placed into the bag Happy had placed inside the tent.

The seriousness of the situation didn't stop either of them from at least taking some liberties while they soaked and washed the other. After they were clean they stepped through the partition and they embraced fully. Walter shivered as Paige pushed her tongue into his mouth as they kissed. It didn't take long before Paige felt his manhood beginning to grow. Paige grinned and reached up and stroked his face, "Perhaps we should get dressed and retire to our tent for a while."

Walter smiled, "If you are up for it, I would like that a lot."

Paige picked up the cloth strip lying on her stack of clothes and applied the solution from the flask that was left in the tent. She tied it back around her face before getting dressed.

Lord Walter took hold of the owl emblem and concentrated on the two pots and spoke the word and they filled with water. They walked out the back of the tent holding hands and Ralph came running over to hug his parents.

As Walter and Paige entered their tent Allie and Sir Cabe entered the tent to wash.

There was just enough water left when they finished for Sylvester to wash as well.

After Sylvester exited the tent Happy came down and after removing the partition from inside the tent, she placed it inside of the bag of clothes. She carefully removed the bag and tied it shut. Toby entered the tent and raised the sides up before he scrubbed the water pots clean. Ralph brought over a couple of the smaller pots of water and they used it to rinse the pots off and took them over to sit them in the campfire.

When Cabe had explained that Lord Walter wanted to make sure the blight was indeed over as soon as possible so they could get Paige out of the area. Allie spent a while focusing her power. Reaching out, trying to discover any more signs of life.


Once the bottom of the water pots had begun to glow Happy used her leather gloves and removed them. She decided they had to be sterilized from any contamination.

Happy walked over and joined Ralph and Toby as they stood next to the rock looking at the vein of gold inside of it. Toby's eyes were calculating the value while Happy was imagining all the things she could use the metal to make. Ralph was floored as he had never seen so much gold in one place before.

Paige sat before the campfire preparing dinner. For some reason she was tired and kept yawning. After she nicked her finger cutting some vegetables Walter took the knife away from her and after dressing her cut he cleaned the blade and took over cutting the vegetables for her.

Though a little annoyed she was still grateful and sat with her head against his shoulder and her hands holding his bicep half dozing. She tried to answer his questions concerning what to do next but she had the hardest time staying awake. Finally Walter stood and picked her up in his arms and carried her into their tent. He knelt down before carefully lowering Paige down to the ground. Paige kind of fought with him as he removed her boots and pulled the cover over her, but she fell asleep again. He gently kissed her, "I'll have Allie come check on you shortly my Love."

Lord Walter saw Sir Cabe when he left his tent and walked over, "Sir Cabe is Allie available to check on my Lady?"

Sir Cabe frowned as he nodded, "Is something wrong my Lord?"

"Unsure, she keeps falling asleep. She cut herself while working on dinner. I just put her to bed," Lord Walter told him.

Sir Cabe nodded and walked back over and entered their tent, "Allie, there may be something wrong with our Lady. Lord Walter says she keeps falling asleep and cut herself trying to make dinner."

Allie's eyes opened, "I'm sure she is fine but I'll go check on her to be sure."

She stepped out of the tent with Sir Cabe and Lord Walter smiled, "Thank you Allie."

Allie smiled, "Of course my Lord, don't worry, I am sure she is fine."

Allie entered the tent with Lord Walter and she knelt down next to Paige as Lord Walter knelt down on the other side. Allie pulled down the blanket and pulled the hem of Paige's dress up and placed her hand against the flesh of her stomach and placed her other hand on Paige's forehead. Allie's eyes went white as her power rose up and Allie slowly smiled. She pulled the hem of her dress back down and pulled the blanket back up.

"My Lord, she is fine. Just a side effect of what is going on. Let's give her an hour and wake her for dinner. She'll be fine I promise you," Allie told him as she touched his hand.

Lord Walter smiled with relief, "Thank you Allie. I'm kind of out of my element with dinner though, I'm not sure what the next step is for what Paige was trying to make."

Allie laughed lightly, "No worries my Lord, if you would like we can finish it together."


Hoping this is finding everyone still doing well! Kind of weird when this leg of the story began and I knew where it was headed and now to think that we are facing a health crisis at the same time just kind of boggles me. Anyway Wheeler's Ridge is almost completed and then the next leg of the adventure starts. At this time I plan to keep working on this story line rather than jump back to "normal" Scorpion. Since several of the other writers are writing their stories I think I can keep indulging this one. Anyway, to the Adventure! -Tim