Pothax woke to a blazing fire in a wood paneled room. Not, he noticed with some surprise, with ice walls. The pile of fur and silk covered pillows, a stone fireplace with real wood and not dung was proof that this was definitely not Fort Phal. The naked woman sleeping beside him and the fact that he too was naked however suggested something akin to a brothel, though only the Lord knew where.

Shaking the woman gently he saw her eyes open and widen. She smiled crookedly and made no move to cover her naked body. "Good morning Monsieur Pothax. I thought you'd never wake up. I'm afraid they hit you pretty hard!"

"Who are you and where am I?" Pothax demanded grasping her throat and tightening his hand.

"I am Kristine and you are in my room at the Lair."

"Oh, really? The poacher's headquarters?"

"You can call it that, but I prefer Lair. It's simpler." She reached up a thin arm and felt his arms. "My, you are strong!"

Pothax scowled at her. Something was wrong here. Prisoners definitely didn't get treated in this fashion, at any prison. "Why am I here?" he demanded.

"You were going to be thrown in the mines, where you'd die cold, wretched and diseased but I decided to buy you. You are now my love-slave. Your orders as of now consist of releasing my neck and making love to me. I might decide to let you go free someday soon. We could use a good fighter like you."

"No kidding? How can I refuse?"

"True," said the beautiful maiden. "How can you refuse?"

"Like this," spat Pothax, grabbing her hair and pulling her to her feet. He wrapped an arm around her neck and held her head off to one side. "Now if you don't tell me what's going on here, I'm gonna break your neck. I don't care what you just said, because you're a lousy liar! I've seen charlatans do a better job of pulling the wool over somebody's eyes!"

"You're here because I'm to seduce you and bring you over to join our side. An new era of technology has come and black dust is just the beginning! When we're done with this continent we'll have so many machines that we could fly to the stars if we wanted to!"

"I find that very hard to believe," spat Pothax. "Especially if you're going to cause wars to bring it about!"

"There won't be a war if we hold your people off long enough to increase our technology to a strength far beyond that of even the last Vormian Dynasty. We are creating new and better machines everyday here. Just think of what the world could be like twenty years from now if it started to increase in the rate of number of new technologies everyday!"

"Like that crosspiece-less-crossbow I keep seeing?"

"A thunder-bow. Or a rifle, as some people here call it. It can kill a man in a single shot!"

"So can a regular crossbow!"

"But not at the range and accuracy a rifle can!"

Pothax released her neck and pushed her into the pile of pillows. "What other machines have you made?" he demanded. "New and better ways to make a new Lake Vormia? Lake Kobalix perhaps?"

"No! We don't want that to happen! We want new forms of transportation! You came to Fort Phal in that new ship correct? Just imagine going ten times that speed! Maybe even flying!" She stood and faced him. Her breasts rubbed his chest as she breathed heavily

"Flying?"

"Yes, flying! One of our scientists is trying to find new ways of sending messages, through the air! We wouldn't have to hire the pony express or send a courier! New ways of doing everything! Eventually we might not even have to do work! The machines would do everything for us! Think of how much peace would be in the world then? You could have or do anything you wanted! And all the free time, you could play games, go to festivals, travel the world, drink as much wine as you wanted without a care, make love for years and years because you don't have to work! Just think of making love for eternity!" She reached over and took hold of him and kissed him.

Pothax's imagination was too overworked. His blood pressure was too high and having a irresistible woman's naked body pressed against his and kissing his lips was too much for the beleaguered cutthroat. His hands came up to knead her large breasts.

Kristine stood back from him and smiled crookedly. "Will you join us?"

She could have asked for his soul in exchange for a kiss right then and he would have said yes without a second thought. "Yes," he said, lustily reaching for her. He wanted to hold her in his arms and make her his. For eternity. Pothax liked that word eternity. He knew he was betraying his brother, Victoria, and Kerry, but he couldn't help it. This was too good to be true!

"I envy that dung," moaned Rades, staring into the fire. They were roasting their meat on their shovels. "Why couldn't I have been born dung?"

The old man chuckled and Rodrigo raised an eyebrow curiously. "You're a funny man, Lieutenant, despite your somber expression. "For every man who's here today I'll bet half of them envy you!"

Rades looked up surprised. "But-?"

"You stood up to the Lairmaster. That's something most of us didn't do and will continue to wish we had! Even if he cuts out one of our eyes! It'd be worth punching that bastard! From the rumours I've heard, you slugged that hijo de una perra a couple of times!"

"Hijo de una-?"

"Son of a bitch," translated Johann in old Stornium. He smiled and bit into a chunk of roasted meat.

Rades frowned and took his meat off the fire. It was burnt, but better than eating it raw. He bit in and discovered it was soft and juicy inside. It tasted to him like the greatest steak he'd ever ate.

There was a shout and someone screamed for a period of about five seconds. Rades dropped the food and leapt to his feet. "What was that?" he demanded, forgetting to speak in old Stornium for Johann's sake.

"Another slave," muttered Rodrigo. "Sounds like this one was conscious when they threw her down. We better get to her quickly. They're usually raped several times before finally thrown down here."

Old Johann grabbed his cane and followed as the two ran towards the pit, Rodrigo limping and leading the way. Rades couldn't help but forget the way back, so many passages they seemed to run through haphazardly. When they finally came out into the huge pit that Rades too had been thrown down he saw her.

When the Lieutenant saw her he remembered feeling pity for what looked like the most badly treated person on the face of the planet. Her hair had been cut off so it barely an inch long even at the best of places. It was still a tangled mess. Her cheeks were swollen and puffy from multiple bruises though Rades was sure he looked much the same. Tears rolled down the swollen cheeks, past a bleeding and possibly broken nose, and torn, battered lips. Her neck was red with a trail of blood and bruises that covered her shoulders and arms. She too had been given a ragged tunic, a kilt and a pair of boots identical to Rades'. The fabric didn't cover that well and Rades could see multiple scars and bruises on her breasts, stomach, back, buttocks and thighs. Her legs were scrapped from being throw down the pit and landing on the hard ice floor. A shovel lay beside her on the ice.

"A girl for once," muttered a hairy man, ambling over to see. "Make a fine guest in my tunnel! Heh, heh heh!" he cackled and poked her with his shovel. "What do ye say girlie? Huh?"

She looked up fearfully at the hairy man only to see him stumble away from a punch from Rades.

"Can't you see she's had enough misery for one day?" the Lieutenant demanded, standing between her and the hairy man. He raised his fists ominously.

The hairy man laughed and held up his fists. "You can barely see yerself boy! If ye wanted to fight over who gets 'er, why didn't ye say so?" There were laughs above from the guards watching.

Rades raised his fist higher to punch the man. Rodrigo however beat him to it and looped an arm with the man's and jerked it upwards and to the side. The hairy fellow flew through the air and landed in a crumpled heap as Rades stood there amazed. "You gotta teach me that sometime," he muttered and turned to face the woman.

He held out a hand to her but she backed away from him in fear. Rades raised a puzzled eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"She's still in shock, Rades," answered Johann, walking over and letting his cane drop to the floor as he sat down. "She's been raped several times already by those guards up above and maybe by the Lairmaster. He always gets first pick and enjoys that sort of thing. Why with the number of girls tossed down here and the number of ones that were pregnant, I'd say he has a couple kids down here! For the moment, Rades, let her be. If you get too persistent, she's likely to attack you. She might even become malephobic, like some of the rarely seen slaves down here."

"Fear of men," Rodrigo translated for Rades. For a pair of slaves, Rades thought these two were fairly smart with words. But what do you expect of a Stornium Count and a Cherten nobleman who could probably write circles around the Lieutenant who could barely write his own name?

"What's your name?" Rades asked cautiously.

She sat staring at him for a long time. Finally she opened her mouth to speak, talking like she hadn't spoken in a decade. "P-princess Kelly of the Royal House of Kinian."

Dame Larel watched as the trenches disappeared into the distance. Only a few figures seemed to notice the ships departure, only a few figures were above ground. She wondered how long it would be until someone noticed that so many of their best warriors were missing and a ship already halfway to Fort Phal. It shouldn't take that long.

A freshly shaved, young knight came over to stand beside her at the gunwale. "Dame Larel," he said politely. "I understand you were supposed to give us elites a training session?"

"Sir Carlo?" Larel asked, raising an eyebrow. "You shaved off your beard."

"Ye kidding? I thought nobody was noticing!"

"No, nobody recognized you. I bet Dame Brenda is looking for you right now," said the Kinian.

"Not likely. She's the one that shaved me."

Larel raised the other eyebrow. "I'll give you a lesson some other time, this isn't the best time. Why did you ask?"

"Well," began Carlo, scratching his chin. "I-I..." he stopped and grew frustrated. "I needed someone to talk to and you seemed a logical choice."

"I'm flattered," Larel said sarcastically.

"No, that's not what I mean. Not that you aren't attractive, but Brenda..." Carlo took a deep breath. "Were you ever revolted by Waytorn's attitude around death?"

Larel frowned. She didn't usually jump to conclusions. "Of course. You're referring to Brenda, aren't you?" Carlo nodded. "Try to ignore it when you can but if this is really bothering you, stop. Just stop. Tell her why though, don't leave her hanging helplessly." Larel felt a strange kind of kinship suddenly and hugged the young man. "If you love her however, well, that's something you'd have to discuss with Brenda."

"Danke schon, Dame Larel," thanked Carlo and walked away.

She sighed and shook her head.

"I overheard that," said Waytorn. Larel knew it was him without even turning around. "Is that how you felt?"

"Something like that. I loved you but when whenever we discussed the matter it turned into an argument. I couldn't live like that and you didn't want to be held back from your 'big chance' as I remember you calling it. Are you happy now?"

"Oh, yes, I've started planning my retirement."

Larel nearly choked. "What? Retirement?"

"Shhs! Be quiet, I don't want anybody to know! If word gets out that I'm planning retirement there'll be killers lurking around every corner wanting to get their hands on the throne. They can go at it as soon as I find someone to become my successor. He'll have to be good because I worked pretty hard to create an united crime network. If it falls apart into petty squabblings it will be the same that it was fifty years ago before Hitlot started organizing a crime network."

"But- but you're actually going to do it. This was what you wanted wasn't it?"

"Not anymore. Did I mention I'm also getting married to the second richest person in the world?"

"No. I didn't think you liked men, let alone Blackaxe!" She laughed and poked him.

"Very funny. Do you recall the Panther and Dirk dying during Hitlot's war?"

"Of course. They were your idols."

"Well they didn't die. They got married, stole Hitlot's hoard and built a house in Jaton that makes King Sear's look like a cottage! Do you also remember that one maiden at the Timothy's Club?"

"The one who made the speech about scars and started a fad?"

"That's the one! She's the Panther's and Dirk's daughter."

"Whoa! Whoa! Let me guess! Where most families would forbid their daughter's, like my father did, to not even talk to cutthroat, this family is encouraging her to marry the King of Cutthroats?"

"Correct. Hard to believe, isn't it?"

"It's times like this that prove to me how strange this world is. Just look at us, a knight and a cutthroat king and we're on a ship that doesn't use water. Where are we going? Why we're going to pick up the Paladin Assassin, the only assassin to become a public hero and sail across ice to an underground lair of poachers so we can stop a second Ice War. Does that sound possible?"

"If we were two people meeting in a barroom and you told that to me that, I'd buy you another drink and tell the barkeep to make sure this drunkard gets home okay."

Larel laughed. "I sure hope we don't have another war for quite awhile. Everything seems to go nuts around here! For instance when Hitlot was killed he tripped on a rug and impaled himself a sword!"

"I don't think this enterprise is going to be that easy. We're outnumbered four to one."

"Oh, oh," spat Rodrigo. He sat down beside Johann and translated. "A Princess. That might mean..."

Rades gulped and stared at the maiden. What was she doing here? This didn't bode well for Rades' friends up above, wherever they were. If she was here, what had happened to the rest of her family? Was there a war going on? "What happened?" he demanded.

Kelly looked at him fearfully and backed away.

"Be quiet, Rades!" hissed Johann. "Princess," he said soothingly in old Kinian. "Could you tell us why you are here? In the Ice Lands?"

"I-I came here in a ship."

Johann shook his head. "She must be still in shock," he said to Rades and Rodrigo in old Stornium. "She say's she came here in a ship."

Rodrigo raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't make sense!"

"I came here in a ship," the girl repeated, this time in old Stornium and more persistently. "An Iceship."

Rades swore. "Mathex," he shouted with glee. He knew what had happened now, though he just wished the minotaur had done it sooner. Maybe Rades wouldn't have got lost in the Kinian Mountains and ended up here. Kelly jumped back, looking around for someplace to hide. The Lieutenant struggled to stay calm. "Did the minotaur Mathex build the ship?" he asked in the common tongue.

She nodded slowly.

"Can you tell us who came with you?"

"The Paladin Assassin, Pothax Doxon, Victoria Doxon, Sir Eluth, Sir Carlo, Dame Brenda, Sir Roreed, Prince Boyce, my sister and several others..."

Rodrigo translated for Johann. He turned to Rades. "Who's the Paladin Assassin?"

"The assassin who killed Kobalix. He's a hero now," explained Rades.

"What is the world coming to," muttered Johann. He smiled as he saw his Stornium Shepherd walking over It lay down in front of Kelly. "He doesn't bite," he said in old Kinian.

She held her hand out and ruffled the old dog's ears and chin. He rolled over and she scratched it's belly. He panted and his tongue lolled out from between sharp, yellowed teeth.

"Would you mind speaking in old Stornium?" asked Rades. "Johann, here doesn't speak the common tongue."

She nodded and seemed to relax.

"Are you hungry?" asked Rodrigo. "We have food back at our tunnel if you want some?"

Kelly looked up and opened her mouth to speak. Nothing came out. She nodded though and started to stand on weak legs. Rades offered her a hand but she shied away from it. Instead she sought out the dog's aid.

Johann got to his feet and offered her his cane. She took it thankfully. The old man stooped over and picked up the shovel at her feet and started walking.

Rodrigo led the way, limping and wondering what in hell had happened.

Fort Phal was nearly deserted. Those people that were there pointed to the north-east in the direction of the lair, saying the bulk of the army stationed there had went there when they heard one of the Princesses had been abducted. The sailors upon the Icicle were outraged. Though most of them were cutthroats, they still held a fair bit of loyalty to the throne. Savin and Carlo both agreed the ship was unloaded and on its way to the Lair in record time.

They caught up to them quickly and before they knew it the leaders had been gathered together for a meeting to discuss their battle strategy. The fact that they had a map improved their situation dramatically.

"Gentlemen, cutthroats, knights," began Redhawk, pulling out a larger copy of Waytorn's map. Don't get confused with this map. It is vertical, with about twenty different levels, sort of like a giant upside-down tower. We will have to fight our way through most of the levels before we reach the area where the Princess is likely being held prisoner. On the top level there is the stables. What is useful there is the fact that there is a shaft that is for dropping the dung down from one level to another. It goes all the way down to the mining area, which is restricted because of the slaves and the fact that they might have diseases.

"If we go down this shaft we will surprise the enemy on every level and gain an ultimate advantage. There is the problem however that we lose just one level of the shaft, we may get caught down there with no way up. Other than the stairs which we want to avoid.

"Certain areas of this place will require certain people. For example, this level marked chemistry will be left to the minotaur's led by Mathex. Mathex you're going to have to be very careful going in there. We already know they're using black dust and we don't want the whole place to explode. May I remind you all that they're using these so called thunder-bows, be very careful around those and we don't know how they work.

"Wynic, Waytorn and Waytorn's crew of cutthroats are going to have to take care of this level, the Lairleader's quarters. The people on this level should be massacred, we don't want someone to take the Lairmaster's place and cause another war. On the west side of the level is the Lairmaster's quarters. This will be the most heavily guarded place in the whole Lair. So be careful.

"The prisoners level is where they're likely keeping Kelly, Pothax and Rades. Unless they've been thrown down the pit and into the mines. On the west side of this level is the torture chamber. You shouldn't have to go out this way, but make sure somebody checks for anyone locked up there.

"The artillery level. This is where Dame Larel and the elites come in. Anybody who can shoot a crossbow will be needed there. This is one of the most crucial areas because it has the thunder-bows, though our captive claims it also has things called cannons. Sort of like catapults or giant-crossbows, only worse. Be extremely cautious in this area!

"The rest of the levels are for food, where they store the furs, the platinum they mine down in the pit, stuff like that. Levels eight to sixteen however are where the bulk of the poachers stay. Concentrate on those levels if you can!" Redhawk sighed. "Now that my little speech is done there's copies of the maps on the desk over there, pick one up and proceed on foot to the Lair."

"You look tired," commented Wynic.

"Out of breath," said Redhawk. "Let's go, Wynic, I've got that place memorized by now." Wynic smiled and followed. He grabbed a map anyway, remembering getting lost in Hitlot's castle with Redhawk as a guide.

Rades sat there staring at the Princess eating. He was hungry but this was too important. He needed to know more. Something was happening up above and she was his only link to his friends. He hadn't seen most of them since he left Athex. They were just up above in Fort Phal, but that seemed so far away it might as well have been the stars. He'd never see them again. Much like Deltex.

Old Johann could stand not seeing Deltex ever again. He had resigned himself to never seeing the light of day again. To living the remainder of his days in a dung smelling tunnel of ice and eating half-burnt, half raw meat with the faint glimmer of hope that he might someday come forward into the world he once knew so well, but is now nothing but vivid memories.

Rades seemed to remember only the bad times. When he was told of Deltex's fall, realizing it was indeed true, weeping for Susanna Stein, when he was tricked in Athex, lost in the Kinian Mountains, nearly dying from the cold, tricked and betrayed again in Fort Phal, his eye ripped out for some cruel man's collection, thrown in a slave pit to live out the remainder of his days like Johann has.

Kelly was staring at him and Rades realized he was muttering to himself. I must look like a lunatic! He wondered bitterly if she knew how terrible she herself looked. He felt the anger growing in him suddenly. How dare they! To do that to a Princess, to reduce someone of radiant beauty to the scared, bruised creature before him now. Did they have no compassion? He was talking out loud now, but didn't care. He picked up his shovel and stormed out of the cave heading for the pit. Rodrigo woke from his siesta and saw the enraged Lieutenant go, he nudged Johann and followed the young Stornium.

Rades went to the pit and stood for a minute watching the guards joking and pointing at the angry slave below. Rodrigo limped forward, wondering what the Stornium was thinking. Suddenly without warning, Rades' arm went up and he threw the shovel at the Captain of the Guard. It struck the man in the shoulder and fell forward clawing desperately as he fell into the pit headfirst. Rodrigo cheered.

The man tried to tuck into a small ball to prevent much injury but landed on his back with an audible crack. There were shouts of surprise and anger from above accompanied by one person shouting a thanks for Rades making him the new Captain of the Guard. Rades ignored their shout and walked forward and drew the rapier from the Captain's belt and sliced the man's neck. He then striped the man's clothing and armour off him and clothed himself, replacing the rapier in his new sheath.

"Rades," said Rodrigo, picking up the shovel. "Before I ask why you did that, I'm going to ask what caused you to do it?"

"I wanted to relieve my anger. Simple as that, I was angry."

"Why?"

"I asked myself what's the point of staying here to wither away and die if you can't take somebody with ye! I'm not going to grow old here like Johann if I have the chance to take some of those bastards with me!" spat Rades. "Besides, I was also cold and wanted a new pair of clothes." He looked around and saw that he and Rodrigo weren't alone in the pit. There was perhaps twenty other slaves gathered in the pit, though there were many more watching from a distance.

He looked back up at the guards once again laughing and joking. Stooping down to the floor, he gathered up a handful of snow, packed it into a small ball and threw it, smacking one of the guards in the face. He wasn't the only one either, the hairy man Rades had seen before scrambled forward with his shovel, dug a small hole and launched a chunk of ice at the guards with his shovel. It struck one of the guards senseless. He cackled and catapulted another chunk, this time knocking one of them into the pit.

The hairy man cackled and hobbled forward, smacking the guard over the head with his shovel. He drew a shiny saber from the man's belt and mock saluted Rades with a giggle. He giggled again and began hacking the man's head off.

Rades saw something in the man's belt. A pistol. A pistol! He ran forward and grabbed the weapon from the dead man's belt, aimed and pulled the trigger.

The sound was like a lightning crack and it echoed throughout the tunnels and mines echoing back to the pit where Rades stood holding the weapon with a confused grin. Nothing appeared to have happened except the noise and that another one of the guards had fallen into the pit. The guards up above took cover, not daring to come out for fear that Rades might learn how to reload the weapon.

He pulled the trigger again but nothing happened. No thunder, nothing. Then he remembered being at that camp for a night and the man showing him the thunder-pistol. He also remembered the man complaining about how slow they were to reload. He knelt down beside the hairy man and took the pouch from the guard's belt.

A second thunder crack sounded and the hairy man slumped over beside Rades with a groan. Not daring to take the time to check the pouch, the Stornium ran towards the tunnel where Johann, Rodrigo and the Princess were waiting. The dog barked when a third thunder crack went off and leapt up at Rades when he ran into the safety of the tunnel.

"Sit," Johann commanded in old Stornium. The dog only responds to commands in his homeland's language and sat before Rades, panting softly. "Rades, I figured out how those things worked long ago. There are lead pellets in that pouch. You have to uncock the weapon, place a pellet in the slot, recock it and pull the trigger. You'd think they could have made it simpler to reload but they didn't."

"Okay," said Rades, taking a small lead pellet from the pouch and doing as told, with the exception of pulling the trigger. "I think it's time we started fighting back," he declared.

The entrance was very narrow, some of the minotaurs would have to struggle to fit through. Larry went first, quiet for once, followed by Wynic, Waytorn and several cutthroats. The guards stood laughing and joking at the gate, never knowing what hit them for two seconds later all twenty lay dead. Their blood soaked the ice red and made it very slippery.

Wynic motioned Waytorn through the gate and he followed, a dagger raised and ready to be thrown. Waytorn finished off the two guards that had been hiding behind the iron gate before Wynic even took his first step into the fortress. He could smell the stables from here.

"Scout out ahead," Waytorn ordered several cutthroats. "Kill anybody that you can without being seeing." He waved at Wynic, the signal to start letting the army come through the gate.

Wynic nodded and whistled to Redhawk who stood at the head of the line of people waiting to get inside and out of the snow. The knight hurried in and gave command over to the individual leaders of the different groups assigned to each level. He followed Wynic down the tunnel and stairway to the stables.

The stables were huge, there were perhaps five thousand animals housed here. Whether they were cattle, horses, or cougars, Wynic didn't care. He followed Redhawk past the rows and rows of animals killing any poachers they happened to see with the deadly efficiency Redhawk was used to seeing from the assassin.

When they arrived at the dung shaft, Redhawk regretted picking this as the perfect spot to take advantage of. To say it stunk was an understatement. "Now I know how you felt in the sewers below Kobalix's citadel," muttered Redhawk, covering his nose with a bandanna.

"Oh, be quiet. Just think of wine and you'll be okay," laughed Wynic.

"Ah, no thanks. Everytime I get the chance to have a drink I get drowsy and fall asleep before I get to the second glass. I must be getting old or something."

Behind his lord, Derick adjusted his crossbow strap, smiled and thanked Mathex mentally for those pills.

The process of getting down the dung shaft was incredibly smelly and Eluth wasn't the only one to throw up this time. It was the people below him that had to watch out. Victoria was very happy when she reached the artillery level though and not having lost her breakfast.

She waved the elites and crossbowmen to hide in the rooms along the tunnel and be quiet. Slowly, she crept down the tunnel without a sound and knelt behind a doorway as it opened and a man came out carrying a thunder-bow. She drew a dagger, slipped up behind him and cut his throat. She smiled and dragged the man back into his room. Wynic must be rubbing off on me, she thought with a smile.