“Get off me!” I growled. Being rested upon by a six feet tall faun is not comfortable in the least.

“Do you think I enjoy this?” it asked as it stood, with an edge in its voice. “This whole thing was your bright idea, after all!”

In the last few minutes we both tried to jump to the edge of the shaft from the other’s shoulders, but ultimately we both fell back. The monster – Jim, I will have to remember that - succeeded in catching the edge with one hand, but it only resulted in a shower of mud and dirt. We were both tired, we were both hurt, and now we were both sitting in the mud; panting with our backs propped against the walls.

“Why did you run from me?” Jim asked after a bout of silence.

“You reminded me of an old enemy of mine,” I lied.

“Oh, you know other tieflings? Are there many of my kind living around here?” the thing asked. So that’s what these wretched creatures call themselves – tieflings. One more thing to remember.

“I am a traveller as well,” I said dismissively. “I have no idea how many… tieflings live among these wretched hills.”

“Pity,” it said. “But not too surprising. I have seen no one but you all morning. Truth to be told, I was looking for a railroad track to follow, but strangely, I haven’t found any. Not even a dirt road or a path.”

A railroad? I understood the two words in themselves but put together they made little sense. A road that is protected by fence maybe? What is the point of that? Never mind that, let’s just agree for now.

“Yes, this countryside is eerily deserted. These hills would be a prime place to raise sheep or cattle, but no sign of that,” I said.

“When you ran away, I hoped you would lead me to a settlement, so I followed you, but you were just as lost among these hills as me,” mused Jim. I winced.

“I have looked around, and I have not seen you tracking me.”

“My old man taught me how to hunt. Well, he was only my foster-father, but he taught me a lot of things anyway. The grass is high around here, and you didn’t know where to look exactly, so it was easy to hide from you. I wasn’t right behind you, but further away. Then I cut ahead of you, and that’s when I fell into this duct.” This confession really hurt my pride as a veles, but we had more urgent matters to mull over than my deficiencies as a scout.

“If neither you, nor I met a soul besides each other, then that means we have no hope of rescue,” I said. “We will have to save ourselves!”

“But how?” asked Jim. “We tried jumping, climbing, clawing a rampart for ourselves, and nothing worked.”

“I will let you know as soon as I come up with a new idea,” I answered. “But I have to rest a little first.”

While we tried, failed, and tried again, the minutes went by. Then half an hour. The wind started to whistle, then howl, then roar. The first drops of rain were warm and small, but they quickly became colder and bigger, as the sky turned from blue to black. There was the flash of lightning, the crack of thunder. We looked at each other in desperation. In the end it was Jim, who put our worry into words.

“We are totally and irrecoverably fucked,” it declared.

Streams of water from the torrential downpour cascaded down the walls, rapidly filling up the shaft. The thick mud became softer and more diluted, causing us to sink deeper into the sludge from the force of its suction.

“We might be able to swim out,” I declared hopefully. “Of course, we would have to leave our armour behind, but…”

“Look at the walls,” gestured the tiefling to the streams running down, washing away larger and larger clogs of sludge. “This shaft will collapse way before that.”

Jim was right of course, but I refused to resign myself to death just yet. One more try, Publius, I said to myself. Give me at least one more idea we can try.

“You said you saw me through the fog,” I said, my voice desperate. “How?”

“I see well in the dark,” it shrugged. “I can see even here, despite the rain, for all the good it does me.” Then let’s hope this is universal among the dwellers of this world.

“We will make signs,” I declared, and started to rip one of my tunics into pieces.

“We agreed that no one is living among these hills,” shook Jim its head.

“We have nothing to lose,” I pointed out.

After we tore my white tunic into pieces, we bound each piece to the handle of a javelin. Then I took aim, and one by one hurled my pila out of the pit. I tried to arc them so they would bore into the soft, rain-soaked earth around our prison. I hoped that the white pieces of cloth would wave and flutter in the wind and signal our presence.

After that, there was nothing but to wait and pray.

Only an hour ago, I was concerned that the monster I saw, or its kin might have followed me, or spotted me accidentally. Now, I was hoping against all hope that Jim did have kin among these hills, and that they would find us. The wind was roaring over our prison now, and I could barely discern the edge of the shaft anymore. I sharpened my ears, wishing to pick up the heavy footsteps of another heavily armoured faun-thing, but of course, even if such a creature was anywhere near the trap, I would have heard nothing. The cracking of thunder and the sound of raindrops drowned out everything.

Then, out of nowhere, a rope fell on Jim’s head. There was a noose at the end of it, big enough for the creature to slip its arms through it. Jim looked at the strand with a face of utter surprise. Then it overcame its bewilderment, and quickly got into the loop and pulled on the rope three times. Without warning, it jolted, started to rise, and soon I lost it from sight.

It didn’t take two minutes and the rope was back. By this time the walls of the shaft were practically melting away in the torrent. There was no time to waste. I put my arms through the noose, pulled on the rope and suddenly I was free from the mud, slamming into the wall. My eyes, ears and mouth went full of dirt, then the rope jolted again, and I started to slide up on the wall.

Not a moment too soon. Whether it was my inadvertent flailing, or the torrential downpour finally undermining them, the walls of the shaft started to angle inwards. But I was hoisted upwards as the trap collapsed around me, and suddenly I was over the edge.

Dirt filled my mouth and nose, my clothes were caked in mud, but finally, I was free. As I was trying to clear my face with rainwater, I suddenly felt two strong pairs of arms raising me up.

“Come! Let us go into the house!” someone shouted into my ear, and started to drag me in of direction where the cabin.

So it must have been occupied after all. Masterful scouting indeed, I congratulated to myself. Falling into a trap and being rescued by the very people I was planning to spy upon – this has probably never happened before in Rome’s long history. Now let’s just hope they didn’t rescue me from drowning in mud just so they could give me an even more gruesome death.

As we walked, I was able to clear my eyes at last and could take a look at my saviours. But there was only Jim and a small man. This latter was rather peculiar: he wore a beard that would have been a subject of envy for the strange folks who lived east from the Mare Internum and eschewed shaving their faces.

I frowned. Where are the others? Did this little hairy man pull Jim out from the pit alone?

That seemed unlikely. The man was a head shorter than me. True, he was also thick and muscular, but the tiefling still must have weighed a lot more than him. Especially since it wore its armour and its weapons as well. Maybe the little man used block and tackle? But where did he find a suitably strong point? I tried to remember whether I had seen a bush or a tree close enough to the shaft before I had fallen into it. Nothing came to my mind. But I can find the answers later. For now – I should be happy that I am free and alive! I couldn’t supress a joyful whoop for that thought. Not like anybody would have heard me in that storm.

Soon we reached the cabin. The sounds of the storm were still loud inside. The walls moaned and cracked, the rain drummed on the roof, and still, the occasional thunder shook the ground under us. But at least we could understand each other’s words now.

“Thank you for saving us!” I shouted to the bearded little man.

“How can we repay your kindness?” Jim asked.

“It’s all right,” shouted the little man. “It was a decent thing to do! Anyone would have done the same. But you were lucky, that I discovered your signs, that much is true! I was heading for this cabin to find shelter from this storm, and that’s how I saw them.”

“I had already given up hope. We thought nobody lived among these hills,” explained the tiefling. “It’s a good thing you were so well-prepared.”

“One should never travel without at last fifty feet of rope” the man said, obviously satisfied with himself. “Let that be a lesson for you, my young friends!”

“I…” I stammered, then cleared my throat. “I will remember this advice.”

“Good lad!” answered he. “What is your name by the way?”

Maybe I was too paranoid, and without a doubt, I was ungrateful – but I had no desire to reveal my real name to strangers, even if they saved my life. Quirinus warned me that I might have enemies looking for me, and for all I knew, this bearded man might have been serving the force that dragged me to this land. Maybe they were even searching for me, just failed to recognise that the man they rescued was also the man they were hunting. Also – I had already lied to Jim, and who knows what that thing would do, if I revealed that I have misled it?

“Arnold,” I said. “The other fellow is Jim. How about you?”

“Beldrak Trueanvil, at your service,” he bowed. “Well, I had just brewed some tea before the storm caught me in the open, it must be still warm. I daresay I make the best tea on the whole of Tegilpén. Or at least in the Misty Hills. Do you have something to eat? If not, I have enough for three people.”

“Tea sounds great,” said Jim. “And I think I will take you up for your offer of food as well.”

What might this “tea” be? I wondered. But the little man – Beldrak – said it was warm, and I was miserably cold – I did not refuse the offer either. In the end the drink was hot as promised, and it had a fruity flavour that I found pleasing.

We ate and drank, and the sounds of the storm slowly abated. Jim and Beldrak talked over our lunch, exchanging recipes and cooking tips with each other, but I took no part in the conversation. My unease of speaking a language I shouldn’t have been able to greatly subsided, but I still had some lingering apprehension. I also had many things to think about.

Once we finished our meal, Trueanvil spoke to us in a more serious tone.

“It is none of my business, of course, but I see that you are both strangers in this land. You,” he nodded towards Jim, “are a tiefling, and I have not seen a tiefling in the Misty Hills in twenty years. And you,” he turned towards me,” wear garments that were already ancient in the times of Tholl Rightiron.”

“Well,” shrugged Jim. “As you said, that’s none of your business.”

“True. Still, I wondered whether or not you might need a guide. I don’t believe in accidents, and the fact that I have met you right here right now must mean something.”

“Do you mean,” I croaked, “that some god has arranged this?”

“Gods?! I hope not, when deities involve themselves into mortal affairs, that spells trouble. I hope that we met here because of fate.”

What is the difference? I wondered. I never cared much for such things, and I always assumed that fate was mostly analogous with the gods’ will. Apparently, they were two distinct things all along, at least according to this little man.

“Sure,” smiled Jim sourly. “The fact is, that in my case at least, gods were involved. Just one god, actually. The deity I served commanded me to travel into this land and spread his name. But he did not give any specific orders, and as you have noticed, I am a stranger here. I would like to have a friend or guide.”

“What about you, Arnold?” asked me Beldrak.

I mulled over the question a minute. On one hand, Quirinus said to me not be too trusting towards the dwellers of this world. On the other hand, I needed guidance, and I needed money too. It would be a logical decision to stay with Beldrak until I knew more about this land.

“I will keep your company too, if you don’t mind. But what do you get out of helping us?”

“Your help with my affairs, what else?” beamed Trueanvil.

“You see, I am a scout here. I was sent here to take a good look at certain things and then report back to the University of Golden Grove. The thing is that I would rather take the opportunity and make a name for myself. There is money to be had here, and maybe even more than that.”

“You are rather vague,” observed Jim. “But the money sounds nice. Do tell us more.”

“You see, this godforsaken place is really at the edge of civilisation,” said Beldrak. “Oakhurst is the only settlement in a thirty miles circle, other than that there are only forests, hills and ruins here. Now, I am interested in ruins, especially in a particular ruin.”

“Which would be?”

“A citadel, swallowed by the earth.”

“You mean a citadel that collapsed?” I asked, suddenly interested. Architecture was always a favourite subject of mine.

“No my boy, the fort was literally swallowed by the earth. The rooms, corridors and halls are still all there, but it’s under the earth now.”

“That, I wish to see,” I said incredulously. “I won’t believe that such a thing can exist before I see it.”

“Then you are in luck because I am heading towards the place,” answered Beldrak. “Apparently, back then, in the times of the Liberation, it was a significant fort, guarding a busy road. But during the wars, the fort was sunk, and the road fell into disuse. The folks at the university never really found out what happened here. You know how it is, there were always more pressing issues, and they never got around sending an expedition here to properly investigate.”

“Until now?” asked Jim.

“Until now,” confirmed Beldrak. “You see, there are rumours of apples coming from the citadel, apples that can heal anyone. The first one appeared a year or two ago, and there are trustworthy witnesses about such a fruit healing a person whom even the most knowledgeable priests couldn’t help before.”

A magical apple that can cure everyone? I heard many tales like this before. I listened to such tales, searched for these medicines, even bought a few of them. They did not work. They never work.

“So they sent you to investigate and report back,” said the tiefling.

“They did, but if the rumours are true, I would rather take an apple with myself. I could make powerful people indebted to me, and as I said, I think there is quite a bit of money to be had in that underground fortress. According to what I know, the place is a refuge of goblin bandits nowadays, who rob merchants through this region. That’s not a lot of merchants, but what the ruffians get in gold and silver cannot spend easily, as the only settlement here is the village of Oakhurst. So they must have accumulated some wealth over the years.”

“And we get to share the spoils of adventure?” asked Jim.

“Each one of us gets a third of the money we make together, and I get all the books, should we find any,” answered Beldrak. “I won’t lie, coming with me has its dangers. I think something, some ancient force must have awakened in the citadel, and they are the ones, making these apples. They won’t take kindly to our investigation either. But I genuinely think that our meeting here was fated. I think the three of us together will uncover the history of the fortress, find out how the appearance of the apples is related to it, and we will also clear out a dangerous nest of criminals.”

What am I doing? I thought. That is the point where a sensible man should take back his rash words from before about accompanying this little troublemaker. This Beldrak might provide guidance, but he wants to guide me straight into mayhem. And this other one, this Jim… I am still not sure what to think about it.

But I was never sensible enough for my own good. My curiosity was piqued, and so was my greed. Trueanvil spoke about gold, silver, and secrets that were all ours to uncover. So I cleared my throat and asked:

“Shouldn’t we get on our way then? The storm is over now."