Sorry it's taken so long for me to update. I've got three stories in progress (please review Friend of Darkness if you read it), and I've been at camp for the past week. But I'm back now, so hopefully I'll be updating more frequently.
"Well, this is the place." Jake looked down at the slip of paper in his hand to confirm the address. An uneasy feeling flitted in his stomach. He didn't like the looks of this place.
It reminded him of an ancient castle belonging to a cruel ruler or evil conspirator. A large edifice of weathered stone stood before them. The windows were barred, and spiked turrets ran along the top of the outer wall.
Glancing over at his friends, Jake saw the same agitation on their faces that he felt. "I guess we can handle this." he said, trying to sound reassuring.
He stepped forward, acting braver than he felt, and placed both hands on the black metal handle attached to the large wooden door. He pulled, and the door slowly creaked open.
The four friends exchanged nervous glances before entering. Slowly and hesitantly they walked inside, into a dark room. The only light in the room shone down in the center of the floor, where a figure sat in a wicked-looking chair. The figure's face was hidden in shadow.
"So, you have come." The mysterious figure said. His voice was amplified and distorted by speakers, so as to conceal his true identity. The man motioned with one hand, and two trolls brandishing spears and dressed in uniforms—they were guards, Jake guessed—stepped out of the shadows behind the four teenagers.
The guards pressed their staffs lightly against Jake, Rose, Trixie and Spud, forcing them to move forward. They now stood only meters away from the strange man, yet they still could not see his face.
"The four of you," the man said. "have been called here in regards to the murder of Terimoku the Great, one of the finest political leaders in the magical world."
"What?!" Jake exclaimed. "What are you talking about? We did nothing of the sort! I knew Terimoku. He was a dragon, and a fine and fair politician. What reason would we have to kill him?"
"Is it not true that he once put you in prison?" the man pointed out.
"Yes." Jake replied. "But it was all a misunderstanding. He let me go as soon as he realized that. Besides, I—we," he corrected, looking over at Rose, Trixie and Spud. "would never kill anyone. Haven't I built a good reputation in the magical communtiy, one that could assure you that I would not commit a murder?"
"Yes," the figure agreed. "You have built a fine reputation, but we have witnesses."
"That's impossible." Rose spoke up. "How can you have witnesses to something that didn't happen?"
The mysterious man gestured again. A young elf boy stepped forward. His eyes looked empty and hollow. He began to describe a horrible scene of a dragon and three humans brutally beating and stabbing Terimoku to death.
Jake was outraged, but he kept a calm expression as the next witness, a merman displaying the same haunted eyes as the elf boy, came forward and described the same scene in his own words.
The merman was followed by a giant, then a pixie. Witness after witness testified to the same murder scene as the one before them.
"Perhaps," Jake said in a reasoning tone. "It was a misunderstanding. I can't be the only red and gold dragon in the world, right?"
"There are others," the shadow-cloaked man agreed. "But what of your human friends? They, too, match every witnesses' description of the three humans involved in the murder."
He gave a dissmissive wave. "But, no matter arguing over it. We have enough evidence to convict you. The four of you are hereby sentenced to exile in the Teltar dimension, where you will spend the rest of your lives working in the mining camp, Tartarus."
"What?!" Jake exclaimed. "But we didn't kill Terimoku!"
"According to these witnesses, you did." the mysterious man replied. "Take them away."
With that, the two guards stepped forward and dragged Jake and his friends out of the room, torwards a sinister black elevator that would lead them straight to Teltar…