Reese shouted at the closed door. He kicked the door, making another dent. Freya lay on the floor under the window and moaned.

“Shut up Reese,” Chastity said, again.

“It’s all your fault,” Reese said. He looked at Jenna. Her ears flattened against her head.

“We’ll just get sanctuary and then attack from the inside,” he said, imitating Jenna’s voice.

“Quiet!” Drexel said. He looked at the door. “Lower your voice. We’re in enough trouble as it is.”

“It was my idea,” Freya said. Reese looked at her.

“Sanctuary is an inviolable tenet of a monastery,” she said. She sat up and rubbed her head with her hand. She looked up.

“Until now,” Drexel said.

“Tang's monestary is not like mine, but they wouldn't grant Sanctuary to attackers where I come from, either.” she said.

“Who cares?” Reese said. “I wish I was at Barry's.”

“If Freya had lost that match, we’d all be dead right now,” Jenna said. “Show a little respect.”

“The question now is how to escape,” Drexel said. The door opened and everyone stopped talking. Ledshek held a pot of gruel and a bag. He spooned the gruel into everyone’s bowl. Then he dropped the bag on the floor. He left without a word.

“Sheesha must be starving!” Drexel said. He scooped some of his gruel out of his bowl and held it out to Sheesha. She lapped the paste out of his palm. Reese grabbed the bag and looked inside.

“No way!” He said. Jenna took the bag from him and looked inside. She frowned.

“Green robes,” she said. “Six of them.”

“Never,” Freya said. She spooned the gruel into her mouth. Sheesha sat up and looked at Drexel. She barked.

“No begging,” he said. He held the bowl away from her.

“Here girl.” I scooped half my bowl and fed it to her. She happily lapped it up. When everyone else had eaten, Drexel started in on his. Jenna smirked at him.

“I like it cold,” he said. We watched him eat.

“You like it safe,” Jenna said. She smiled.

I looked down at Sheesha. She rested, contentedly curled on the floor. I stared at Drexel. He licked his lips after spooning down the last bite of his meal.

“You used my dog to test for poison?” I carefully set my bowl on the floor. I got to my feet. Drexel yawned and looked out the window. I ran at him. Freya’s leg shot out. I sprawled at Drexel’s feet. He reached down and picked me up.

“Dog’s are much heartier than we are,” he said.

“Stop it.” Freya said. “There will be plenty of time to fight later.”

“The rest of our lives,” Reese said, throwing up his arms.

“Have you forgotten that Falstaag is coming in five short days?” Jenna whispered. "We just have to stay alive until he comes."

“His men are not skilled enough to deal with these monks, and we can hardly help him from in here,” Freya said.

“We have to get out of here and warn him,” Jenna said. “Now please be quiet. I’m working on something.” She flipped open her book and stared at the yellowed pages. She moved her lips when she read. She made the same motion over and over. Freya began to stretch.

“That meal had no Chau. None. But I feel much better having eaten it,” she said.

“I feel pretty good myself,” Grundy said.

"Barry said we were gonna be hero's but all do is get beaten and captured" Reese said.

"It's good training for when we kill Orka" Grundy said.

"Kill Orka!" Reese said, "We can't even manage to find the smooger bandits!"

"We killed two of them yesterday" I said.

"Nah" Grundy said "Freya's right, these monks don't fight nothing like those dog-ridin yellowtoes near Falstaag's."

"Well lets just kill Tangs guys and use that to become heroes" Reese said.

"Reese," Drexel said wearily, "I don't think we'll be able to gain the trust of the town by slaughtering the local police force. As if we even could."

"It might work in some parts of Twaddle" Chastity reminded him.

"It would?". Grundy asked.

"In many places in this country," Freya said,"A city's authorities hold the citizens in check by using fear and cruelty. That's the reason we met each other, we were helping Cloda overthrow the regime."

"Hmm. Aint like that here," Grundy said. "Falstaag's guards always kiss people's asses, and the monks patrol the east road for free. Nobody got any problems with either of em"

"Why couldn't we have found the smooger bandits" Reese whined, "Falstaags men probably cleaned out the whole infestation by now"

"I seriously doubt that" Drexel said.

"Well its too late for that now," I said, "We're due to be taking orders from smoogers if we even live."

“Are you ready for the new plan?” Drexel said. He smiled firmly. We gathered around.

“Telle and Jenna are small enough to fit through that window,” he said. “At some point, Tang will return. If we are lucky, all the monks will get in that formation, bang their drums and so forth. While they do that, Telle and Jenna sneak out the window. Then they come back around and let us out.”

“How do we get out of the compound?” Reese asked.

“Third story window,” he said.

“Great plan,” Reese snorted.

“How do we get down from the window?” I asked.

“We use Freya’s leather wrap as a rope."

Reese coughed. My eyes burned. Grundy looked around the room. An overpowering stench filled the air.

“Sheesha!” Chastity said. Sheesha lay on the floor and slept.

“No more gruel for her!” Reese said. He held a robe over his nose. I moved to the window for fresh air. I stuck my head out. It was a long way down. I shuddered at the thought of climbing down. I ducked back in. I looked at the others. Freya actually smiled. Reese laughed.

“I’m trying to concentrate,” Jenna said.

“Explain that to Sheesha,” I said. We laughed together for the first time in a while. We sat and rested. Jenna studied. I even slept for what felt like a few minutes. I opened my eyes and it was evening. The door swung open, and Ledshek was there.

“The acolytes will eat with the others,” he said. Two stilts with poles stood on either side of him.

“Why are you not in uniform?” He asked.

“Because we have no intention of…” Freya started to protest.

“Just do it,” Drexel said. We all slipped a green robe over our clothing. Drexel stared at Freya until she finally slipped one on. She slowly slid each arm through the sleeve as if she were getting into freezing water. She bit her lip and tied the sash.

“You will eat with the others,” Ledshek said. The stilts used their poles to make us walk in a line down the hall. They led us down the steps to the back of the barracks. Rows of monks sat at bare wooden tables. They sat in groups according to the color of their robes.

“Orange dismissed!” A voice announced from the back. The monks in orange robes all stood at once. They left the room without a word. Ledshek led us to an empty table in the green robe group. Some monks looked up when we entered. I noticed Gnabbit at the table across from ours. He stared at me. I stared back. A stilt wheeled in with a pot of gruel on a cart. He brought it by the monks in yellow robes first. The only sound was that of wooden spoons scraping wooden bowls. Then he wheeled the cart of gruel to our section. When he came to our table, he ladled a scoop of gruel into our bowls.

“What is in this?” Freya asked.

The stilt did not reply. He spooned her gruel and continued on. She rolled her eyes.

“Empty discipline is worse than no discipline at all,” she said. The monks around us glared at her. I looked across the table at Gnabbit. I ate a spoonful of gruel. I nearly choked on the thick paste. I swallowed the lump. Gnabbit just stared at me. Except for his black, bushy eyebrows, he looked like a typical gnome in early adolescence. His skin was light brown.

“Why are you with these freaks?” I asked him, in the language of Gnomes.

“You are the freak. You killed a friend of mine,” he said. He spooned gruel into his mouth and swallowed.

“Your traitor boss killed my entire town!” I said. He looked confused.

“Silence.” A stilt said. A staff cracked across the table. Our bowls bounced.

“Don’t get us into any more trouble, Telle,” Freya whispered.

“Maybe if you weren't so weak, they’d still be alive.” Gnabbit said. I jumped onto the table. I reached for the nearest thing, my bowl of gruel. I threw it at Gnabbit. The bowl hit him in the forehead. Gruel sprayed across the monks on either side of him. There was shouting. He leapt for me, but a stilt grabbed him by the waist.

I dove off the table. Ledshek caught me in mid air. He pulled me away.

“I’ll find out what Tang did to my town! I’ll kill you all!” I shouted as Ledshek dragged me out of the barracks. Gnabbit looked more confused. The stilts nearby tilted their heads in puzzled looks. To my horror I realized I’d shouted my threats in the language of goblins.

“Never make an oath you don’t intend to keep.” Ledshek said in Goblin. He carried me back to our room. When we got there, he tossed me on the floor.

“You have the fire to be a strong monk. Don’t get yourself killed, acolyte,” he said. “I’ll show you fire, smooger!” I shouted. He shut the door. Ledshek’s footsteps echoed down the hall. Sheesha licked the gruel off my robe and I lay on the floor with her until the others returned.

When the door opened again, the others were pushed in by several stilt monks.

“Nice one Telle,” Reese said. He sat next to me.

“We have to work quickly,” Drexel said. He looked at me.

“Your silly food fight got us some information at least,” he said.

“What happened?” I asked.

“A group of monks began to chant,” Freya said. “They were demanding our execution. Gunther and Ledshek had another argument. It was tense, but Gunther backed down. They agreed that when Tang returns, he will decide what to do with us.”

Drexel walked to the window.

“None of these options are very appealing,” he said.

“Hopefully their obsession with ceremony will buy us some time when Tang gets back.” Drexel said to me.

“You and Jenna go out the window, sneak back up to here and let us out. It’s dangerous, but I don’t know what else to do,” he said.

“I can’t leave until I find out what Tang knows about Pusstown,” I said. Reese looked at me.

“You can find that out when Tang is under Falstaag’s sword,” Jenna said. “That’s our only chance.” She rubbed the beads around her neck.

“You can’t avenge Pusstown if you’re dead,” Freya said. The others looked at me. I knew she was right.

“You're right,” I said. I walked to the corner of our room and sat next to Sheesha.

“But you have to promise me you’ll help me find out about my town,” I said.

“Of course,” Drexel said. “I promise.” I sat with my back to the others and pulled out my Idol of Kraken.

“You’ve gotten me through things I never could have imagined.” I prayed. “I’m close now, Tang knows what happened. Please give me the strength to do your work. My your horn miss me.” I put my hand in front of my forehead and thrust it forward, veering it to the right, like my mother taught me. Reese saw me and did the same.

The next day passed very slowly. Reese and Chastity bickered about the words to one of Cloda’s songs.

“Love not hate should rule my friends, Twaddle deserves the joy that mends.” Chastity sang.

“The joy of men! Twaddle deserves the joy of men!” Reese said. He rolled his eyes. “Mends sounds stupid,” he said.

“If…” Chastity said, “If she says men, and I’m not saying she does, because she doesn't. But if she says men...then she’s not thinking of halfbreeds! So I don’t see why you care,” she said.

"Yes she is thinking of halfbreeds" Reese said, "Cloda loved every being"

“Would you be quiet!” Jenna said. She studied from her book, not even closing her eyes to rest for a moment. Drexel just stared out the window. The night came and we tried to rest. We slept fitfully that night. At one point I awoke to yelling from outside our door.

“Ledshek said nobody enters.” A deep voice said.

“They killed Grimston. How can you defend them?” Another replied. More shouting followed. We looked at one another in the dim night. Reese snored through the entire scuffle. Eventually the troublemakers left. I lay awake for the rest of the night and prayed for Kraken’s will. A warmth spread inside my chest. I felt a sense of peace.

“Oh Kraken, I accept my fate, no matter what should happen,” I prayed quietly.

Drexel woke everyone up before dawn.

"Its time to move, people, Ive just overheard some monks in the courtyard say Tang was on the road"

“But I've almost got it!” Jenna said. Her ears flapped excitedly against the side of her head, making a strange applause. She slammed her spell book shut.

“I think I can get us out of here,” she said.

“Is that right?” Drexel asked. He did not seem impressed.

“I have created a spell that will render us invisible,” she said. She raised her nose in the air. Her ears pointed upward.

"Thats fantastic!" I said.

“You almost have it?” Freya asked.

“Nobody will see us. We can walk right out of here,” she said. She opened the her book and flipped to the back.

“There’s just one thing I have to work out…” She ran her finger down columns of bizarre symbols.

“You’re not casting anything untested on any of us,” Freya said.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Magic is bad enough, but a magic mistake could cause our annihlation, or worse” Freya said.

“What could go wrong?” I asked.

“It’s really nothing,” Jenna said. “Literally, I'm afraid.” She continued to scan the page.

Freya frowned.

“The language in which I cast spells is very ancient. In fact, it is never spoken except to create magic.”

“That’s why you babble when you do something,” I said.

“Babble, yes. Because the language is only written in rare books, and almost never spoken, problems do arise,” she said. She pointed to a symbol in the book. Two lines wound around each other to make a braided circle.

“This glyph could be pronounced, ‘oogeth’, or ‘ooogetht.’” She said.

“So?” I asked.

“In one case, it means ‘nothing’ and in another, it means ‘no thing’. It is difficult to explain, but that glyph is the last component I don't quite understand.”

“No way,” Freya said. She glared at Jenna.

“You’re not testing this." she said.

“I’m fairly certain…” Jenna said.

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

“If I mispronounce the spell, then we won’t become invisible, we will simply disappear,” she said.

“Classic!” Reese shouted. “I’d like to see you make one plan that actually works,” he said. Jenna’s ears drooped.

“I’d like to see you make one plan at all,” she said.

“We have a plan, and we stick to it,” Freya said. “It may be difficult, but it’s better than vanishing, or being inducted into this…cult,” she said.

“Quiet,” Drexel said. “Listen.”

Drum beats sounded. Faintly, off in the distance, the slow repetition of the deep drums pounded. I looked out the window. The sun was not yet over the horizon and the monks stood in rigid formation. From down the gravel road, I heard a block of monks marching in lock step.

“Get ready you two,” Freya said. She wore a green robe. Her leather body wrap was unwound into a surprisingly long length. She wrapped the end around Grundy and knotted it at his waist.

“You’re the anchor,” she said. She made knots along the length of the strap. She worked so quickly that her hands were just a blur.

“I hear the gate opening,” Drexel said.

“You sneak down, get back inside the barracks, and then let us out. Then we head for the big red building that Tang lives in and climb out a back window,” he said.

“How do we sneak past all those monks?” I asked.

“Very carefully,” he said.

“Move.” He stepped aside. Freya tossed the leather strap out the window. I walked to the window and looked down. The ground seemed further down than the last time I looked. Tang was being carried into the courtyard to the right. I could see all the monks from my window. They all stared straight ahead.

“They’ll see me,” I said.

Drexel picked me up from behind and dangled me out the window. My stomach turned.

“Grab the rope,” he said. I reached for it. As soon as I held a knot, he let go. I fell against the side of the building. I dangled from the knot and kicked my legs in the air. The world spun as I twisted on the rope.

“Put your feet on the knot below.” Freya said from above. My fingers began to slip. I prayed a desperate prayer to Kraken. I put my feet together and tried to pinch the rope between them. I extended my legs and felt a knot. I exhaled slowly and put my weight on the knot. I stopped spinning. The panic slowly subsided.

I crouched and grabbed a lower knot with one hand and then the other. I reached down with one foot. My foot found a knot beneath the one that supported me, and I made my way down the leather rope as they simultaneously lowered it. Jenna climbed out the window when I was halfway down. She quickly lowered herself down the rope. She was practically stepping on my fingers when my feet touched the ground. They pulled up the wrap. The drums kept pounding. Thanks to a shed on the first floor, we could no longer see the monks from where we were. Jenna sneaked towards the shed and then came back.

“Too many monks,” she said. “There is no way we can get into the barracks.” She reached for her necklace. She pulled off a bead. Only five remained.

“What are you doing with that bead?” I asked.

“Run for the other building,” she said. She took a few steps back from the barracks.

“No!” I said. I looked up. Freya looked down at us.

"NO!" Freya said.

“Get back!” Jenna said. I turned and sprinted for the main building. I tried to keep out of view of the courtyard. A loud explosion roared from behind me. I fell face forward into the sand. Planks of wood landed around me. I looked back.

Jenna lay on her back. On the first floor, below our window, was a jagged, smoking hole. There was a groan of wood straining, and then the side of the building slid downward. Chastity fell with the building. She rode the shattered wall precariously to the ground. Drexel and Freya lightly hopped down, using protruding planks as steps. A wave of smoke and dust hit us. When the smoke cleared, Grundy and Reese looked down at us from the ledge that was once the second floor of the building. Freya helped Chastity and Drexel to their feet. She looked at us.

“Run for Tang’s building,” she said.

“We can’t leave them.” I pointed up. Reese and Grundy looked down at us. Smoke poured out of the hole.

The drumming stopped. There were shouts from our right.

“Don’t leave us!” Reese shouted. Sheesha barked behind him.

"Sheesha! I cried.

Jenna looked at Freya. Freya frowned.

“Do it,” she said. Jenna’s ears flapped back against her head. She closed her eyes and muttered. Her hands raised in the air. She said a long sentence of nonsense, the last word was ‘oogeth.’ There was a strange crackle in the air. I looked back up at the ledge. Reese, Grundy, and Sheesha were gone.

“I hope that worked,” Freya said. Monks ran around the corner of the barracks. Jenna reached for her necklace.

There was another explosion to our right. Freya quickly passed me as I ran. I followed her. Hot sand sprayed over me. There were more shouts and screams. A haze of smoke drifted over us. We ran to the tall red building. I climbed the many entrance steps, panting from the exertion. Jenna, Freya, Drexel and Chastity were already inside the giant, opulent chamber. As soon as I entered, they shut and barred the door behind me. lamps burned along the walls next to colorful banners. On this floor there were no windows.

"I don't think they saw us go in!" I yelled.

We made our way through the chamber to an enormous spiral staircase.

“Third floor should be high enough,” Drexel said. He took the steps two at a time. We filed up the stairs. At the second floor, I stopped and opened a door. Inside was a bare room. Shelves were lined with statues of little figures in fighting stances. Gold plaques on the walls were etched in words I didn’t understand.

“What are you waiting for?” Freya asked.

“Don’t you want to know what is in here?” I asked. There was shouting outside.

“Not right now I don’t,” Drexel said. “You want to wander around Tang’s temple until we’re all slaughtered? Fine. Im going up to the third floor to find a window. Goodbye.” Drexel turned and climbed the steps. I left the room and followed Drexel up the stairs. On the next floor was at another door. Drexel tried the handle, but it was locked.

He reached into his cloak and withdrew two long thin metal rods. He bent down and put his ear against the door. He pushed the rods into the lock.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

"I'm guessing there's a window in this room to the side facing the wall." Drexel said, he moved the rods back and forth. The lock clicked. He pushed and the door swung open. Drexel smiled. Jenna gasped. Inside was an enormous chamber. Bookcases lined the walls. Ancient, leather bound books filled every shelf. A metal cauldron hung on a chain over a fire pit. Crates and jars were stacked everywhere. A pedestal stood near the cauldron. We stood with our mouths open for at least a minute. The room was overwhelming.

Jenna ran to the pedestal. A book lay open to the middle. She examined it quickly and then moved on to the bookshelves.

“The books this library contains!” She said.

"Do you hear that?" Chastity said nervously. The monks were pounding at the temple door below. A smaller staircase led upstairs from the far wall of the room we were in. A shuttered widow was across the room.

“This is it!,” Drexel said. Everyone else ran toward the window, but I climbed the narrow staircase. There was a locked door at the top. A note on the door read, "Any monk found to have opened this door will be executed without opportunity for absolution."

“Drexel, can you let me in here?” I asked.

“Can, but won’t,” he said. He pulled giant wooden shutters back from the window. The window overlooked the plains of Twaddle.

“But what If he's hiding some clue about pusstown here!,” I said. I fondled the Idol of Kraken.

“Kid! Don't work yourself up! It’s time to go,” he said.

“Wait Drexel,” Jenna said. “Do what Telle wants.” Drexel looked at her, his mouth dropped open.

“It should take the monks some time to get through the barred door downstairs,” she said.

“Drexel!” I shouted after him. “Please.”

“Do you have any idea what these books alone are worth?” Jenna asked, holding up a book from the shelf, "These are just sitting out! Can you imagine the riches that are the behind the 'off limits' door?" Drexel turned from the window.

“Riches?” He said.

“Imagine the treasures in here. We have enough time,” Jenna said. She pulled more books off the shelves.

"You're crazy!" Chastity shouted.

Drexel bounded up the stairs. Freya ran back and barred the door to the room we were in. He examined the lock. There was pounding at the door beneath us. Beads of sweat broke out on Drexel’s forehead.

“This is a very sophisticated mechanism,” he said. He closed his eyes.

“It may be trapped.” His hands shook. The rod slowly entered the lock. Then he pulled it out suddenly. He looked up. “I’m just a little nervous,” he said. The Temple door below crashed open, shaking the building.

"Let's Go!" Freya shouted. "They're in!"

"One more second, Dear!" He switched hands and wiped the sweat off on his shirt. He poked the rod into the lock again. A loud bang came from below. We both jumped in startled surprise.

“Sorry,” Jenna said. A huge book lay at her feet. “I dropped it.” She went back to the bookshelf. Freya pushed the pedestal from the cauldron to the door.

Drexel leaned closer and pushed his pick deeper in the lock. There was a small click. A needle shot out and pricked his finger.

“Ouch.” He pulled his hand back. A black bead dripped from the tip of the needle. Drexel turned white. “Oh no,” he said. His face changed quickly from shock, to fear, then anger. He looked back at the lock, rammed in both of his picks, and twisted. There was a grinding noise and then the door swung open. I ran in. A Gnome-sized bed was in the center of an empty room.

"There's nothing here but his damn bed!" Drexel screamed.

Freya was throwing our few sacks of equipment out the window. Chastity was frantically biting her fingertips and watching Freya.

I looked under the bed. A leather portfolio and a book lay on the floor. I slid them both out.

“We’ve got to go,” Freya said. A crash followed. I picked up the book and the portfolio. Drexel tore off his sleeve and wrapped it around his arm. He bit one end and pulled the rag tight around his arm.

“I’m doomed,” he said.

“We’ll find help outside,” I said. He followed me down the stairs. Freya tied one end of the wrap around the cauldron and one end to the thick book Jenna found. She through the book out the window, clearing the nearby wooden wall.

“Jenna first!” Freya said. She climbed down the rope.

"Now me!" Chastity said, scrambling out of the window behind Jenna.

“Drexel next,” Freya said. Drexel looked around the room.

“If I’m going to die from breaking that lock, I’m making it worth my while,” he said. He ran to the back wall. There was a stack of wooden crates. He took the top crate and ran to the window. He held the crate over his shoulder and climbed down with one hand.

I was next. The last thing I saw when I climbed down the rope was the door to the room buckle inward. Freya was still at the window above me.

“Hurry Telle!” She shouted. I shimmied down as quickly as I could. As soon as I reached the bottom, Freya bit through her leather wrap, snapping it. She used it to deflect the blows of several monks, while winding it around her body. Spinning, She doffed her green robe by wrapping it around two monks heads.

"We've got to run people" Drexel said, picking up his box from the grass. Jenna and I gathered the things we’d taken, but my eye was still on the window above. I couldn't see Freya, just monks swarming.

Suddenly, the two monks wrapped together in Freya's green robe flew out the window, flailing. They fell, and gutted themselves on the wooden spikes of the wall, twenty-five feet up. Freya flew out right after, carefully landing on the dying monks. They slid a little farther down the spikes. She dropped down to us, rolled with the impact, and popped up to stand.

“Stop or you will die!” A monk stuck his head out the window above us. Monks appeared in all the windows in the building. We turned and ran into the field. Strange cries and magic muttering came from the building. Traces of fire flew past me.

“Magic monks,” Freya said. She shook her fist at the monastery as we ran. Small explosions flared around me. I ran blindly. I heard a loud bang and fell on my face. I got back up and kept running. Freya was so far ahead I could barely see here. My legs burned from the fire they threw at us. I panted and clung to the book. I pumped my legs. Jenna ran by my side.

After a few minutes the explosions were further behind us.

“We’re out of range,” Jenna said. We ran until we collapsed. Then we crawled. We moved away from the monastery and into the tall grass. We fled into the endless plains. I prayed to Kraken as I crawled through the grass. I asked that we not be found. I prayed that Reese, Grundy and Sheesha were still alive.