No one (POV)
All cal could see was darkness he heard spraying that caused him to cough with the rest of his group. When they open their eyes the saw people dressed in black clothes spraying then with some kind of spray bottle they had to push handles in the back. "What's going on" barda said lief and cal looked around and saw a magnificent stoned cobeled room the place looks spotless clean.
"Wait a minute where are my gloves and my sword and cloak are missing too"lief said cal looked down and said"hey my fob is gone too". "One more time" a voice said causing leaf and cal to look in the direction they saw group of people nine to be precise, in red latex suits that covered everything except their eyes, with yellow design with yellow orb colors on top and neck coverings only one was different from the others there was a top decoration on that one indicating that that's the head honcho.
The different one lifted up his right arm showing the palm of his hand and the people in black started spraying our adventures again. They coughed and filli hid under jasmines hair lief got up and said "what are you doing to us" then the different red suited guy said"cleansing" lief replied"uh cleansing", "in Noradz we constantly maintain cleanliness throughout the city clean noradzer" stand out red suit said then putting up his right arm next to hid left chest then opening fist into straight hand then putting his arm down pointed to their right side the rest of the red suits followed.
our group of adventures are confused as what is going on here "you must say it with us" red suit said and the people in Black wearing black hats that look the same did the same thing surpriseing our adventurous. "This seems to be the way they greet each other around here, I think we should do as he says" barda whispered "sure" lief whisped "there's no way I'm chatting that"jasmine whispered.
Then hands clapped getting our adventurous attention it was the man in the red suit that's different from the others that did this. "Hmph clean" he said "clean" barda/lief "noradzier" red suit "noradzier" barda/lief the three did the hand gestures except for Jasmine and Cal. Red suits"clean noradzier" black clothed people "clean noradzier" then the red suit said it again "excuse me, but where are we?" Lief asked. "This is noradz" red suit said "noardz?" Lief said "so this isn't the city of the rats?" Barda said.
Lead red suit guy said "hmph visitors are not welcomed here, tell us why you have come?" Lief said"actually the truth is we didn't come here on purpose, our animals bolted and carried us out of our way they knocked us off and then I can't remember what happened". "You were lying outside our gates with your good scattered about you, there were no animals to be seen" lead red suit said "then they must've ran away we were unconscious who knows what they did after we fell off, I mean do you really think we would knock ourselves off on purpose" jasmine said bluntly.
"Uncean one guard your tongue, and speak with respect do you not know who you are speaking to, I am Reese first Ra-kacharz ofthe nine leader of the city of noradz" reese said. Jasmine said mockingly "wow I'm so impressed" then barda stepped up placeing his arm around Jasmine getting her to say "hey"and spoke "please forgive us lord rakachar obviously we are strangers and do not know your ways and customs".
Reese said "in noradz the nine Ra-kacharz keep the people to all the laws of cleanliness, watchfulness and duty in this way the city remains safe clean noradzier" did the hand gesture along with the other rakachars and people in black saying and doing the exact same thing two times. Lief said"my Lord could you tell us what's happened to our things?" Reese said"they are being sterilized in a separate room".
Jasmine said "and where is kree!" Reese said" what's this? There is a fifth member of your group" lief said "no kree is a bird". The people said"a bird,oh, groans and mumble" reese said"an animal is one of your companions" barda then whispered to jasmine"filli still safe with you" she replied "ya of course" Barda added "then you better keep quiet about him for now" this caused jasmine to humph turning her head to right closeing her eyes.
Barda then turned his attention to reese"we are most thankful that you have taken us in,even though your laws prohibited strangers however if you're kind permission, we would like to have all our belongings back and continue on our journey" barda said. Then Reese snapped his fingers and the res of the Ra-kacharz huddled into a group and began talking amongst themselves the reese and the Ra-kacharz faced our adventurous "it is our time to eat and a platter has been prepared for all four of you, the food has already been cleansed by the nine this is not a simple ceremony and when food has been cleansed it must be eaten within the hour, clean noradzier" reese said and everyone said the catch frace even the other Ra-kacharz said it.
Down a very clean hallway (time unknown)
Everyone is walking down the hallway heading for the banquet ceremony "they must polish everything night and day to get everything in this shiny" lief said "what's wring with these people it's a whole city of neat freaks its kinda creepy" jasmine said. "They must go through a lot of soap" barda said cal chimed in "i've heard of too clean but this is way too clean" reese along with the other Ra-kacharz stopped by sinks he said"first we must perform the hand cleansing ceremony clean noradzier" the other repeated last part
ceremony chant RA-kacharz
scrub and scrub your palms scrub and scrub, scrub and scrub the back of your hands, scrub and scrub, scrub and scrub between your fingers, scrub and scrub, scrub and scrub under your nails, scrub and scrub clean noradzier, clean noradzier
Our adventures were intimidated by Reese's glare well lief and barda who lifted their hands up and said the chant and walked to sinks. Reese then glared at jasmine and cal"yeah yeah rub and scrub we get it already"jasmine said "take it easy Reese" cal said. The group began washing their hands in the highly fashionable sinks with soap and water cal next to jasmine,lief and barda while Reese continued the chant "I was a bit hungry before and now with all the scrubbing, I don't wanna eat" lief said. "Me either"jasmine "just do as they ask for now" barda said "it's not like we have much of a choice at this point" cal said reese said the chant then lief and Barda.
We see a gong with a symbol on it that looks like a blue circle pointing to the right with a white dot with a curvy line down to a smaller same circle pointing to the left and in between the line blue, what look like small wings. The gong was hit indicateing the washing ceremony finished "are these nails clean" ra-kacherz said "these nails are clean" another said while inspect with a magnifying glass. "What are they doing now?" Lief said "this is the nail inspection ceremony" reese said "but you just saw scrub and scrub them" jasmine said "at noradz we pursue absolute cleanliness" reese said. "Jasmine!" barda said jasmine submitted "fine" she said putting her hands out next to cal with his"this is annoying" he replied.
"Are these nails clean, these nails are clean" two ra-kacharz said we now see the Ra-kacharz all nine of then on top of a counter units like judges while our adventures and people in black were standing next too long brown tables that had big bowls of fruit on them. "Whats the deal with these tables?" Jasmine said as the table edge reached her chin "I feel like I'm five years old" lief said same situation as jasmine. "Clean noradzier" reese said doing the hand jester along with everyone else minus jasmine plates we're brought with food one look like sandwiches, cheese and ham "uh wait there aren't any spoons and forks" lief said "well for once they get something right" jasmime said "no complaints here all you can eat" cal said next to jasmines left.
A small girl brought a plate cover dome on top "now we shall begin eating,clean noradzier" reese said lift up the dome cover revealing desserts, cheesecake, cream, puffs, cream sandwiches, chocolate, mousse, and strawberry. Lief was excited said"look at that" barda spoke"this can't be true is this actually chocolate?" He was looking at bars of chocolate on a tray he took the single top one and ate it"yes it sure is I haven't had chocolate since I was a palace guard over sixteen years ago" he said. "What's chocolate?" Lief asked "is it really good?" Jasmine asked barda pushed the tray to the kids"try and find out its sweet smooth melts in your mouth"he said. Lief,jasmine and cal grabbed a piece of chocolate for each of them and ate it "yeah you're right It's delicious" lief said "i've never had anything like it" jasmine "this is gonna be my new favorite dessert" cal said.
Next barda he's eating a piece of chicken out of his left hand, while holding a bread roll in his right hand, "try the chicken" he said and continued with the roll. "Wow this is good too"leif said eating a piece of ham jasmine eat a sandwich piece "if nothing else at least the food is good in this joint"she said. None was more happy to eat then cal he was scarfing doen whole food left, and right like there was no time and he enjoyed and so much, and everyone was surprised how much food he scarfed.
Lief than pound his chest near his throat after eating another piece of food "water" he said he looked and saw a bowl of water. He drank the water picked it up and drank it surprising the girl and reacted like that was a mistake "um excuse me,that water is meant only for washing your hands you're not really supposed to drink it" she said "you could've told me that before" lief said. "Im so sorry" she said then her left hand, the bread from the bread basket to fall on the table then onto the floor.
She gasped then screamed really loud for the whole room to hear this caused everyone to stop eating. "Food is spilled pick it up" a Ra-kacharz said "food is spelled food is spelled" the people in black said over and over"seize the offender" same Ra-kacharz said "seize the offender" black clothes said surrounding the girl. Reese approached with a whipp with a big handle like a sword in hand withe the rest of the Ra-kacharz"what is your name?" Reese said "it's Tira master reese" tira said "tira spilled food upon the ground, spilt food is evil" reese said "master reese im really sorry please forgive me" tira said. "Tira you are guilty" reese said causing her to gasp and have tears in her eyes "guilty guilty" everyone said "the evil must be driven out 100 strokes of the whip clean noradzier".
Barda whispered"just because she accidentally dropped up some food?" Jasmine whispered"this is terrible" cal whispered" a hundred strokes from that whip could seriously hurt a girl her age". Reese tighten the whip, getting ready to whip tira then lief stood infront of her"please stop this" lief said this surprised tira and reese"i'm the one you should punish it was me who spilled the food,it was my fault"lief finished. Reese lowered the whip and said"you,you did this!?" Lief then answered "yes and I'm very sorry for it". Then reese snapped his fingers and the Ra-kacharz and him huddled into a group discussing amongst themselves when they're finished, they face leif"you are a stranger and you are unclean however you do not know the laws by which we live,the nine have decided that you are to be spared punishment" reese said. Lief said "thank you for your kindness" tira walked away since she was spared and leif walked backto his friends "do you always go looking for trouble!?" Barda said he hummed I don't know "I couldn't let it happen" lief said "I say we get out of this place as soon as possible" jasmine said "I couldn't agree with you more Jasmine" cal said.
Filli decided to pop out from behind jasmines neck and hair and started sniffing the air "hey filli so you decided to poke your head out" jasmine said and filli jumped onto the table by the chocolate smiled. Then one of the Ra-kacharz spotted him and when filli got on top of the chocolate the ra-kacharz screamed and then so did the people in black "there is evil in the halls, how did this happen!?" Reese said.
Everyone except our adventures were panicking this caused filli to jump into jasmines hands "filli" she said "look the filthy creature goes to her there on her body catch it, we must stop it" reese shouted. "Filli you've got to run,quickly go and find somewhere safe to hide" jasmine said two ra-kacharze gathered around our adventures "girl hand over the evil creature" one of them said. "Run and hide" said jasmine as she dropped filli tgen he scurried away "gotcha" said a ra-kacharz but failed to grab filli as he jumped on the guys shoulder. Then he jumped on a few black clothes people to escape while they were screaming filli stopped on a head looking back at jasmine tears were welling in his eyes said to leave his family member he jumped off and scurried through a vent with two bars.
"No the filthy creature got away" one ra-kacharze said during that entire commotion cal thoughts said 'baggy hatter grab four hand fulls of food with the hither thither scepter' and rainbow tentacles two with two black and white spider legs held the scepter and grabbed hands full of food like a snack put it throught one of the holes they made. Reese said"the unclean ones brought evil into our halls, they're trying to destroy us we must have a trial the evil must be cleansed from noradz!"
Trial room (unkown time)
Our cast of characters are inside a trial room on the far end the Ra-kacharze in the back with reese in the center on a podium and three noradz people up there one of them is tira. In front of them is a ring of fire with three paths two in the back and one in front below that stairs with our adventures and the people of noradz. Reese spoke "has the evil creature been found" another ra-kacharze said "no not yet" this was a sign of relief for jasmine.
Reese said"we can wait no longer the trial must begin immediately" and a gong was rang "because of these unclean ones,evil has infiltrated noradz,they have broken our most important law the nine have come to a unanimous desicion you are to be terminated" reese said. "You can't do that!" Lief said this surprised our adventures "terminated" barda said reese then lifte uo his right hand and said"however inline with the merciful laws of noradz we must leave the final verdict to this sacred cup" he jesturd to a man holding a big yellow cup with the same symbol as the gong only difference is there are two long lines next to it one for each side.
Reese said"as first of the nine I reese wish for nothing less then for noradz to be a clean, lawful and fair city" lief said to others"what's this sacred cup he keeps talking about?". Cal and jasmine just shrug their shoulder reese snapped his fingers and the guy with the cup came to him"our cherish cup reveals the truth and only the truth,clean niradzier" reese said and the others chanted. Next reese pulls two cards from his chest one has a light sun the other a dark moon "light and darkness?" Lief said "one among you will step forward and draw a card from the cup" reese said.
"Do you think were fools!?, this cup thing of yours isn't fair at all its pure luck" lief shouted "you would decide our fate by a simple game of chance" barda said "this is crazy" jasmine said "what are you even thinking?" Cal said. Reese said "who will draw the card from the cup" the others were deciding "I'll be the one"lief said "then come forward" reese said. Lief walked all the way to the accused stand "face the front" reese said to lief and that's just what he did and reese turned the cards faceing himself.
Reese said"i will put the cards in the sacred cup" and just as he was doing this tira noticed something reese had switched the light sun card for a dark moon card. This surprised tira as reese put the cards in the cup and the man holding it walked to lief. As soon as he arrived reese said"now you must choose a card" lief than walked to the cup reached in'which one is light and which one is darkness' he thought.
Everyone was in suspense when liefa hand came back with a card lief saw what it was the darkness card"show us all what card you have chosen as your fate" reese said. Lief thought' its the card of darkness this is the end the quest is over' a cough was heard he then saw tira she was mouthing something. 'What shes trying to tell me something' lief thought when tira finished "both of the cards are black" he whispered then it hit him 'both of the cards were black, he must've switched cards somehow' reese said "why do you delay show us".
Lief thought 'so reese is a liar and a cheater' reese moved his head up 'if I show him my card we're finished but even if the other card is a darkness card he's not going to admit to cheating so easily so what am i going to do'. Then an image of the topaz popped up'I know the topaz has helped me find answers before because it's strengthens and clears the mind' lief thought then touched the gem and closed his eyes. Lief looks aroud saw the fires surrounding them"bring it here now!,unclean one"Reese demanded.
Lief said"yes of course" then while he walked, he purposely slipped and threw the card he drew into the fire this surprised barda,jasmine and cal. "Excuse me for my clumsiness, but I think the card fell into the fire" lief said surpriseing reese"that shouldn't be a big problem though, because of course you can still quite easily tell the card I drew" he continued. "What how!?" Reese demanded "all you have to do is look and see which of the cards is still in the cup" lief said this angered reese a bit "show me the card" reese said. The man holding the cup reached in and drew the darkness card "its the card of darkness master reese" a ra-kacharze said.
Barda said "if the remaing card is the card of darkness" jasmine spoke "that would mean Lief chose the card of light" she ran towards him "looks like luck was on our side" cal said he and Barda followed jasmine. Reese had grabbed the card said"the unclean one has chosen the card of light the cup has spoken" barda said "you did well leif" jasmine said"yeah good stuff let's get out of this crazy city as quick as we can" cal added "agreed".
Reese then spoke"it's true the cup has given you life, but you cannot leave noradz" then the fires bellowed "take them to the dungeons, there they will live out their lives repenting of the evil they have done" reese said. "Your imprisoning us can't do that that's not fair at all!?" Lief said "what was the point of all this if you just sent us to the dungeon" cal said. Reese said"noradz must remain clean and pure forever, those who choose to be unclean and evil cannot be forgiven now continue to search for this creature that has infested our city and our lives it must be found and delt with before nightfall". Tira left the trial room passing by her people she remembered how lief saved her then she started to cry and ran faster down the hallway.
Dungeons (time unknown)
The place was a long, dark hallway that had torches for light, grey brick walls, grey cobblestone floor, brown ground celling and big brown wooden doors with window, metal bars, and small doggie door on the bottom. Our adventures struggled in the grasp of noradz people "let go of me" jasmine said "no way i'm not gonna spend the rest of my life in a place like this" lief said. They were all pushed into a cel and the door closed "hey let us out of here you can't do this to us, this isn't right let us out" jasmine said she repeated the last of her scentence over and over banging on the door.
Everyone was upset they got locked up for a long time even the guys didn't say anything.
Well, that's it for chapter 9. Hope you guys enjoyed it and the cliffhanger was annoying but hey that's what happend at the end (to be continued)