Captured.
Ridley felt the tips of his ears burn with humiliation as he and his comrades were pushed and pestered forward on their way to the bandits' destination, presumably their camp. He couldn't help thinking now that the timing of this was too close to have been a coincidence, and that likely they had been set up from the start. He felt responsible for his friends, and what was worse, he didn't know what the bandits had planned for them.
And, of course, he'd lost possession of the dragon's eye again.
Their journey took some time, but he realised they must finally be close when the travelers passed a group of sentries, also wearing brown and green, whom nodded in acknowledgement as they passed by.
After that it was only a short walk, and suddenly they were in the middle of a medium sized camp filled with tents and a hut or two. There was a large clearing in the centre where a bonfire rose up with several people warming themselves, or food, upon it. Compared to the thirty who had surrounded his friends, there must have been another twenty or so in camp, wandering from tent to tent and occasionally looking up in vague interest as the troupe of prisoners were marched through.
They were taken to the far side of the bonfire, away from the tents, and pushed into a small prison of metal bars that looked to be a portable cage. The doors clanged shut on them, the key turned and suddenly they were left alone but for one guard who stood a few paces away, straying an eye to them from time to time.
Ridley, frustrated, tested the metal bars and then turned to face the strange man they'd been imprisoned with as thought struck him.
"You," he accused furiously, "you're connected to this somehow." Damon began to back up away from the rest of his prison mates as he realised he'd suddenly become the focus of their attention.
"Now, now," he soothed, "no need to get violent." The dwarf grunted and growled as if to exclaim otherwise. He looked just about ready to leap up and tear Damon's head from his body in one jerk.
"What are they going to do with us?" Marina suddenly asked. Her voice had lost its defiant tone and now seemed to be laced with traces of fear and uncertainty. The question, however, relaxed Damon slightly, his body loosening for a moment.
"Probably nothing," he replied calmly, though the question had not really been directed to him, nor anyone for that matter. He stroked his chin thoughtfully, "give us a scare, maybe, and dump us back in town tomorrow." Marina frowned, and Ridley couldn't help thinking that didn't seem too characteristic of bandits either.
"Why?" the mage asked doubtfully and Damon laughed.
"I know it might be hard to believe, what with all the Empress says about them, but they are good folk," he explained, "they don't like hurting people unnecessarily." He couldn't have been making it any clearer for them, however, because they all immediately frowned and looked puzzled.
"I don't remember the Empress having addressed the problem of bandits recently," Norda replied. She should know, she had, after all, been loyal to the throne for many years.
"Bandits!" Damon immediately exclaimed, staring around the group with an amused glint in his eye, "By Lord you folk really don t have a clue, do you. These folks aren't bandits, they're dissenters."
"Dissenters?" Marina repeated in a questioning murmur. She was immediately worried that they'd fallen into the hands of those powerful folk who had followed Profion into battle against their Empress. These were not the kind of people she'd prefer to spend her time with right now.
"Mmmm," Damon encouraged, "rebels. People who don t believe Empress Lauthal should be on the throne, and who aren't afraid of fighting for it. Personally I," he said, peering around the camp as he did so, "would rather be safe than dead man walking."
"Empress Lauthal?" Marina copied again, "but Empress Savina is ruler of Izmer!" She sounded rather outraged, Damon merely blinked.
"What's an Izmer?" he asked dumfoundedly.
"I don't think we're in Izmer anymore," Norda explained to the female mage gently at almost exactly the same time. There was a short moment of silence.
"We have to get out of here," Ridley finally said. He was hanging around the door to the cage and watching the guard in the hopes that he might have a chance of picking the lock. So far, it was not looking promising.
"You're telling me," Damon agreed whole-heartedly, "We shouldn't be here in the first place. I don't know what Jereez was thinking her sister won't be happy when she finds out, and she always has spies around, so she will find out. We'll probably be attacked before the night is out."
"Jereez? That s the woman who stole our gem?" Norda inquired with only a little intrigue. She'd lived long enough to know that the more informed one was of the situation, the better one's chances were in succeeding, or surviving in it.
"That s right," Damon replied, nodding. These people desperately needed clueing up.
"Who's her sister?" Marina asked puzzledly and frowned, still not putting it all together.
"Who else?" Damon said distastefully, "Empress Lauthal." He almost wanted to wash his mouth out just mentioning the woman.
"She's related to your Empress!" Marina exclaimed a little sarcastically, not sounding particularly impressed. Damon decided not to deign it with a reply.
"We have to get the dragon's eye back," Ridley interrupted as though none of the conversation had actually been going on. Elwood grunted his agreement with that.
"What? That gem?" Damon commented, then laughed bitterly, "don't we all need that, eh!" Knowing his luck, he'd missed out now. Jereez would keep it to herself. Well, he supposed he'd just have to live without that thirty percent. Still, he felt overly mournful when thinking of all the wealth he nearly had.
"You don't understand," Marina lamented, "it may be our only way home." Damon hesitated for a moment then burst out into laughter.
"Oh, you folks really are the cream of the crop, aren't ya," he commented through the laughter, "and you almost had me going there for a moment. Nice story. Couldn't do it better myself." At least he'd been quickly cheered up. Damon winked at Marina who bristled angrily and averted her eyes.
