Inside the temple city, Verna swept an imperial soldier to the ground with her tail. She hissed, revealing her fanged teeth and extended her arms to her sides with her hands clenched into fists. The moon shone on her body, making her iridescent scales glisten and her eyes brighten like silver stars. She pushed herself to full height, towering over the soldiers that swarmed towards her. With a strong sweep of her giant tail, she threw two imperial soldiers to the wall of the galleries as another one hit a nearby tree. Three more soldiers came with their swords drawn and tried to slash Verna using their sharp weapons, but Verna saw them coming and with a push from her tail, she was able to jump to the roof of the galleries. The soldiers hesitated for a few moments and then started climbing the walls to reach Verna. They were strong and agile and were able to scale the walls to quickly reach the roof. As they lifted their head above the roof, they saw that Verna had been waiting. She his

The two men were silent after breakfast as they thought about what had happened and what they would do next. Enzir knew that his plan had failed. He had wanted to bring the jade statue back to Alnoc and possibly bargain with Jal Dalik, but failed. He also wanted to retrieve the pearl from the thief who took it, but again failed as they were not able to track the dancer. Now, they had also lost the means to track her since Enzir had drunk all the remaining magic elixir to subdue the snake creature. Enzir was once again at a loss on what they would do next. The worst part was that he was defeated by a living statue, and he was made to kneel before someone of lower status."What do we do now, Jad Enzir?" asked Lankko, much to Enzir's annoyance."I don't know!" replied Enzir in a loud voice. "We lost our chance to return to Alnoc when we lost that jade statue and that dancer who took the pearl. Now, it looks like we'll have to live in this jungle while relying on fruits an

They walked for more than an hour and Enzir felt disoriented after being pushed towards unknown directions and tumbling several times to the ground. There were times when he was pushed forward to climb upward slopes or made to wade through shallow water. When he slowed his steps to avoid slipping, he was given a shove on the back by one of the outlaws. They made too many numerous turns and it did not take long before Enzir lost his own bearings. He knew that he would not be able to find his way back should he ever get the chance to escape. Even Lankko could not have remembered their way after the many turns that they were forced to make. Enzir guessed that the outlaws intentionally sent them through a circuitous route and probably even doubled back a few times until it was impossible to remember the way. The outlaws remained silent all through out and there was no way of recognizing who they were with. The outlaw chief may have even left them at the hands of his men as he went directly

Mira gently unsheathed her knife and held its blade between her fingers. She felt the smoothness of the cold metal as she raised it a few inches above her shoulder while her eyes remained focused on a small spot several steps away. She drew in her breath and saw the brown and gray bark of the ancient tree. Its surface had spots of lichen and moss and the earth-colored patterns all seemed natural, but right in the middle of it, Mira could see the faint outline of a lizard. It blinked its eyes and a thin pink tongue slipped out of its mouth, but its body remained still in perfect camouflage with the back of the tree.As Mira prepared to throw the knife, she sensed something else in her peripheral vision. A slight movement, something that was not really part of the environment but trying to blend in. It was more conspicuous than the lizard that she had detected on the tree trunk, but Mira knew that it would remain hidden to the untrained eye. Mira’s eyes rolled to the left and she tried t

Eldion and Mira squinted at the man who just spoke to them. The man was standing in front of the light and they found it hard to discern his features. Eldion thought that it was weird being welcomed into a secret camp that might as well be prison camp, after feeling the ropes around her wrist cutting deeper into his skin.Casser moved his head to one side to be able to look at the man properly. He thought he recognized the voice but wanted to see the man’s face to be sure.“Remuel?” Casser asked, trying to see the man’s face in the dim light. The man moved closer and Casser asked again, “Remuel, is that you?”“Casser! I didn’t realize that it was you.” Remuel then signaled to his men. “Cut off their bonds.” The outlaws immediately cut off the ropes that bound the prisoners’ hands. Eldion was instantly relieved and massaged his wrists to get his blood to circulate.“I recognized