LOTD Part 1 Contin.

         “Look! The Hidden Gate of Gloria!” Pimply said as they reached a door of a dry brown color, with various runes scratched onto the sides.
The gate was attached to a large wall connected to the lower side of the Castle Of Gloria, which is the large and amazing sight aboveground. It’s golden towers glisten like dew or… really…shiny…gold. Yeah. Oh, and it’s made of mud.
         “Hmm… Yes…. Yes…” Joe mumbled. “The runes say: ‘Speak, Joe, and the door shall open. Thus say’s Igen-Ûdaj, Queen of Gloria.’ Strange… yes…” Hobo walked over to the door, and thought.
         “Joe, what is the Kelvin word for Joe?” He said at a length.
Joe raised an eyebrow. “Methane.” There was a rumble like an earthquake; a bolt of lightening struck the door and the sky darkened as the door glowed blue. Then all ceased, and the sun shone again. The door, however, stayed closed. They sat there for hours while Joe tried hitting the gate with various rocks and other bludgeons, when Jerry stood up.
         “Quite simple.” he said, and all eyes turned to him. “Joe, say ‘open’.”
         “Open.” Joe said in a loud voice. The door creaked loudly as it fell open. Jerry smiled and there were many congratulations to be given to him before they all went into Gloria. Suddenly there was a rumbling in the wall above them.
Thriver looked up and saw a claw, with a long rubbery arm at one end stretching towards him. He withdrew his sword and slashed at it, and it fell to the ground a jumpy piece of something.
         “It’s the claw of the Watch-Her,” Pimply said. “Guardian of the Lady that was cast out of Lanorian.”
Finally, they were ready to traverse through the gate, when Megalust began to complain.
         “N-no way! I am not going into that death trap. My great-uncle went in there and never returned. I sure heck am not going to meet him in the damp darkness of Gloria. No sir. Never. Not a- Ugh!” Jerry punched Megalust straight in the gut, and Gatomere carried him into the darkness farther past the entrance of the gate.

         It was rather dark in the tunnel the group had entered, and the only light they had to go by was the faint orange glow of Shinything as Joe held it out in the open. There were few windows, and the ones that weren’t blocked were about the size of a walnut. It was incredibly dusty, also, as Megalust noted.
         “Dirt, dust, slime, filth!” he said after he had come too. “It’s everywhere! I can’t take it! I'm going to end it all!” He withdrew a dagger and made a stabbing motion, which was aimed towards the ceiling. There was no clang, or even a swiping sound as Megalust thrust the dagger upwards. Thriver had grabbed his arm and slammed him to the ground.
         “You must not stab at the ceiling!” he said as he slowly let Megalust up. “We are under the Musky Lake which is the water link to the bathing pool-”
         “Of the Lady of the Lane.” Finished Pimply. “I used to hear stories of the days when Gloria was a bright kingdom for the Borff, but now it is abandoned and disheartening.” after Pimply finished speaking, he off went to the front line with Joe and did not talk for quite a while.
         Eventually, Hobo grew rather tired and requested a rest break, which everyone accepted gladly. They had more food than when they had set out, because Megalust stopped to pick strawberries outside the gate, against the advice of Joe. They had an early breakfast; or at least what they thought was an early breakfast, it was almost dawn when they entered the tunnel, and were replenished with the exception of rest. They set up a watch with Thriver on guard duty first, and the others drifted off to sleep.

         Hobo, however, woke up after only an hour of rest, and took over for Thriver. He sat there, in the dark tunnel with no light but throbbing light his minds’ eye made. After the first twenty minutes he was aware of a soft humming, and fifteen minutes after he first heard it, it became a loud murmur that resembled this: ‘Where they are, and where are they not? I don’t know, but what’s it got? Something tender, nice with bones. Maul-um don’t like nasty scones.’ At the word Maul-um, Hobo felt his heart skip a beat. Maul-um was following them, and he was either close enough Hobo could hear him, or speaking loudly.
         “You’ve heard him?” said Joe; who had just sat up when he saw Hobo turn pale. Hobo nodded, but could not utter a word. “I’ve been aware he has been following for the last little bit. He’s no harm, a bent old figure that was one a fierce and mighty giant. Ignore him. Scones… Kelvin biscuits… He’s just repeating parts of riddles he exchanged with Muldrow…” Hobo looked at Joe disbelievingly as he lay back down and began snoring. In old stories Hobo had heard, it was the wise leader who took watch from the carrier of some precious item, or the hero of the story; while Joe, Fatalist extraordinaire, went straight back to sleep without a second thought about Hobo.
         So Hobo sat awake in the tunnel, cold and alone… watching…and watching…and watching…and watching…and watching…and watching… till he fell asleep after watching for three straight hours.

         When Hobo woke up, Thriver was talking to Joe right in front of him.
         “So we make for the bridge of Xaran-Xur?” Thriver whispered to Joe.
         “Yes, yes, I said that already. Now wake the quarter-lings and we shall set off.”
         Hobo sat up and stretched, then walked over to Jerry, who immediately woke up along with the others. Megalust, however, was a bit hard to arouse. He had eaten an herb that put him to sleep because he felt he could hear the ghosts of Borff screaming at him. They found the remnants of the leaves in his pocket, along with what Thriver claimed to be an antidote. While he was partially right, its affects were not limited to the arousal of their comrade. It also gave him a very unsightly blemish right on his nose.
         “Curse the thing!” Megalust whispered. “I would cut it off if Joe had not taken my knife.” Joe threw the knife backwards to Megalust, and stuck in the wall by his head.
         “Knock yourself out.” He said back to him as he and Pimply led the way.
         As they walked, Hobo took off his metal helm, and stared at it. He could see his reflection in it, and he wiped away the few smudges he could find on its neatly polished surface. He slammed it back onto the top of his head and continued after his companions.

         They walked for another few minutes when Pimply stopped by tunnel leading upwards.
         “Do you smell it?” He said as he inched into the tunnel. “The smell of Greatness! Come my friends!” He rushed up the tunnel, followed by his annoyed companions. They followed him up a winding passage that seemed to go on forever. Finally, they arrived into a darkened hall made of Calaverite and mud. Pimply was standing in front of a wall, where two large coffins were melted on. One was a large coffin made of Hematite, which was sitting next to another one made of Garnet. He withdrew his ax and bowed before the first, and more metallic looking, coffin and recited a Borff chant in a low murmur.
         “What the fudge are those things, Pimply?” Hobo said as he walked towards Pimply.
         “These ‘things’ are the tombs of Greatness and Magnitude. Greatness was a Borff Master, holder of one of the Five, but was killed in a battle. Magnitude was the evil, and luckily dead, commander of the Implin. He was defeated by Greatness in The Second To The Last Battle of Hex-ladûne.” Suddenly there was a clang, and a ‘Ker-plop’. Thriver swirled around to see Megalust dropping large rocks down an old well.
         “Dupe of a Kelvin!” Joe said as he pushed Megalust aside, and closed the well.
         “Even Gatomere wouldn’t do something as stupid as dropping rocks down a well in Gloria! Did you learn nothing from the story of your great-uncle? You must be QUIET!” As Joe finished his speech by yelling the word: ‘Quiet,’ the ceiling shook as if an army were climbing along the floor up.
         “No! The Implin of Gloria!” Thriver cried as he and Gatomere went over to the front door and sealed it shut.
         “No,” Jerry said quietly. “It’s a Drûll!” Just as he finished saying the word ‘Drûll’, a monstrous beast came in through the back door.
         “Why hello, good friends. Welcome to Gloria.” It said, holding out a long-fingered hand. “I'm Moray, I live upstairs. I would like you to please be a bit quieter.”
         “Uh, yeah, sorry.” Joe mumbled. “Uh, look behind you.”
         The large Drûll turned around and saw fifty or so Implin, who immediately stuffed him full of arrows.

         They looked down at Moray, who was now lying on the ground with about forty arrows in him. Jerry jumped up to meet the army of Implin head on.
         “For Moray!” He called as he withdrew his sword.
         “For Moray!” called the rest of his companions.
Thriver, Gatomere and Jerry held the front line, slashing and clanging their swords onto, and into, the Implin warriors, while Pimply, Hobo, Leroy, Harry and Joe took out any Implin who either strayed past Jerry or Thriver, or broke through the front door.
         Hobo was slashing at nothing in particular. Already felled Implin were vainly grasping at the air as they lived out their last moments of life. Hobo was fighting another batch when he was flung to the ground. Thriver swirled around to see a group of warriors barge in past Joe.
         “The Alexin-Dai of Fourdoor!” Thriver exclaimed as Gatomere rushed to help Hobo, when one of the Alexin-Dai hurried at him with a long sword. He barely blocked the attack.
         “As stunningly beautiful as you are, Hobo needs my help. So Sayonara.” Gatomere said to the monster as he withdrew his own sword, then planted it into the warrior’s gut. He rushed over to Hobo; who was struggling to keep his attacker’s blade away from his throat, when Gatomere kicked his assailant into the wall.
         “Thank you.” Hobo gasped as Gatomere gave him a hand up.
         “No problem. C’mon; Harry is in danger.” Hobo rushed over to the south wall, where Harry was completely surrounded by Implin and Alexin-Dai. He never, however, had a chance to help Harry, because Jerry rushed through his foes, felling more than you could count in one swipe of his swords; swords only because he picked a jagged scimitar off a fallen Implin and was now using a variation double swing attack.
         After a few minutes, Jerry had cleared out every villain in the room, when the Drûll, Moray, stood up and pulled the mass of arrows from his body.
         “How unfriendly, hitting a man with poisoned arrows.”
         “Those were, p-poison arrows?” Megalust shrieked.
         “Yes, knockout poison I do believe. Not very potent when used on a Drûll, it seems.”
         “I think I’m going to lie down.” Megalust said as he fell over onto his face, showing everyone an arrow stuck in his leg.
         “That’s got to hurt.” Moray said as he attached Megalust to Joe’s Invisible Magic Carrier device. (A piece of thread tied around Megalust’s arms and around his shoulders, and then a large spider web to drag him along on.)

         “So, you go down the third hall after the magic fountain, and you’re there. Get it?”
         “Yes, thank you, Moray.” Thriver said as Moray finished his directions. “I’ll make sure you become Duke of Jetting when I reclaim my title as king. Goodbye.” The company walked off into the darkness, and traversed into a large orange-lit room with a large bridge; under which no one knows what exists.
         “Listen…” Joe muttered, as they were about to cross. “The pitter patter of- no, it could not be… It is! It’s-”
         “Firkin’s Bane! The Fuzzmog! Run for your opaque and meaningless lives! Fly, you fools! Fly!” Pimply cried as he ran across the bridge, almost falling into the abyss twice before he made it across.
         Then all eyes turned to the large doorway hidden in the shadows of the wall next to the tunnel leading into Greatness’ tomb; and out came a white furred, pink pawed little creature that looked like a half bird half kitten.
         “Eek!” Pimply screamed as he ran and hid behind a large boulder.
         “Pathetic!” Gatomere exclaimed. “I would much prefer those ‘Alexin-Dai’ over a harmless fuzz ball.”
         Joe looked at Gatomere, and then, taking a stick up, he smacked it into Gatomere’s chest, and knocked him into the abyss under the bridge.
         “Finally he shut up. Now let’s get go-whoa!” A hand grabbed onto Joe’s stick, and dragged him into the chasm.
         “I will not go alone, treacherous magician!” Gatomere cried as he and Joe fell.
         “Fly, you dupes.” Joe said, and he was gone.

         “Come, we must heed his last command.” Megalust said, “I must take to wing like the Kelvin of old!” Megalust ripped off his shirt and spread his arms out, revealing not only his waxy body, but also what looked like a shawl with feathers glued onto it.
         “Is that a shawl?” Hobo said as Megalust slowly flapped his arms.
         “No,” he retorted. “It is the Magic Monkey Coat of Jerkwood, given to the crown prince; or, in the case that the prince meets an unfortunate… um, incident, his younger brother. Now, we must fly!” Megalust then began restlessly flailing his arms up and down while running in circles, trying to take to the air.
         “Tell me, Megalust,” Thriver said as he sat down on a rock. “Exactly why is your body waxed?”
         “I coat—myself—with butter—and oil—everyday—to jeep—my abs—moisturized.” He answered as he jumped up and down.

*** ^_~ ***

         “Would you stop it, you dupe.” Thriver exclaimed after the first ten minutes.
         “Can we please just go already?” Megalust ignored him, and eventually Jerry had to just punch him in the gut and knock him out cold.
         “HURRY! We must run!” Pimply exclaimed as the others ran out of the only hall left and into the outskirts of Lanorian.

         “Our magician gone, my life in shambles, my beautiful hair burnt because of Leroy; what else could go wrong?” Megalust moaned as he hid his hair in his hood.
         “Shut up, or eat haggis, Kelvin.” Their annoyed Borff companion said as he rocked back and forth in front of the fire. “We are near Lanorian, and once we’re there you can gripe to your own kind, but until then keep it to yourself.”
         Hobo walked over to Thriver, who was sitting on a stump, looking up to the darkened sky. Thriver turned and looked at Hobo, then returned his gaze to the heavens.
         “Come on,” Jerry said as he stood up, “It would be best for is to make it to Lanorian before daylight when the Manticores come out for breakfast.”
         “Jerry is right.” Thriver said as he picked up his pack. “We should go. The Manticore are a barbaric and violent species, and are not to be trifled with. Firkin’s Dale is up ahead.”
         The company packed up their remaining supplies, put out their fire and began their short trek to the inner sanctum of Lanorian, Land Of Kelvin. They crossed a small fjord and were only five minute into walking when an arrow with a piglet’s head on the shaft flew straight at them and just missed Jerry.
         “Pare a la derecha allí: ¡Hijos Del Diablo!” Hobo looked up to see a brightly dressed Kelvin man hopping down from tree to tree.
         “What the ******fudge is he talking about?” Hobo whispered to Thriver.
         “It’s Spanlin-Kelv; The ancient speech of Kelvin,” Megalust said to Hobo before Thriver could answer. “Let me speak to him. I’ll ask him if we may pass” Megalust walked over to the other Kelvin and cleared his throat.
         “Sabía siempre que usted tenía un asunto con mi hermana.” He said in a deep voice.
         Thriver leaned over to Hobo and whispered: “He just said ‘I always knew you were having an affair with my sister.’ that stupid idiot. Never trust a Kelvin second-prince for translations.” The other Kelvin slowly withdrew another Piglet Arrow.
         “¿Qué en el infierno de mierda usted está hablando?” He replied calmly.
         “Ooh,” Thriver whispered. “There was some profanity in that one.” Megalust must’ve not caught it.
         “Deseo Baal para estar en mis pantalones del fútbol, hombre de Ork.” This was going nowhere.
         “Hmm…. Now he just said: ‘I wish Baal were in my soccer pants, Ork Man.’ Or something like that….”
         “What the ******fudge is an Ork?!” Hobo exclaimed. Thriver shrugged, then walked over to Megalust and threw him into a tree with amazing strength. He then turned to the Kelvin.
         “Le significamos ningún daño. Somos heros enviados en una misión por el gran Smellrond, y necesitamos satisfacer con a la Señora Of The Lane. Llévenos ella, si usted por favor. Le recompensarán bien luego.” The Kelvin nodded.
         “Mi nombre es Baldoor, protector del carril, alegre satisfacerle. He o muchas rumores sobre usted y su compa ?A propo, ustedhabla charla est??”
         “Si Señor.” Thriver replied.
         “Good,” Baldoor said. “That disgrace of a Kelvin was annoying me with his phony accent. Come, I will take you to meet the Lady.”

         Baldoor lead the company across a large bridge going over a great valley.
         “Down there somewhere,” Baldoor said, “is The Hidden Valley X, where scantily clad female elves do the cancan on grapes and make the best wine this side of SCOTE.” Hobo frowned.
         “If Gatomere were here he’d jump down there immediately.”
         “That he would, lad.” Pimply said patting Hobo on the back. “That he would.”
They continued walking across the bridge for another hour when they finally reached the end, which was a large golden gate. Baldoor opened it and they went inside, where they saw hundreds of thousands of partying Kelvin folk, all dancing like there was no tomorrow.
         “Is that all they do?” Thriver asked.
         “Just these guys,” Baldoor explained. “But the Lady and her hand servants and whatnot get opera and dancing plus amazing magic called Music Videos.”
         “Amazing…” Thriver mumbled as they walked into the throng of Kelvin.
         It was not long before Baldoor had led them into a large room, lit only by Giant Fireflies and an occasional Crumpet-Light. There were tables against every wall, and under every window, and all of them had plate of ham, bread and honey, ale, beer and lots and lots of the national food of the Kelvin, Morgan Le Fayette, which looks and smells a lot like pumpkin bread. In any case, it looked as if the hall was being readied for a feast, but actually it was like this everyday.
         “The national motto for the Kelvin of Lanorian is ‘If You’re Gonna Go, Go Happy.’” Baldoor explained. “So we treat every day as our last.”
         “If only the Kelvin in Jerkwood had the time for feasts and such frivolous things,” Megalust muttered indignantly. “But we are a hard worked people-”
         “I seem to remember,” Thriver said, cutting Megalust off. “That the last accounts I received from your parents say that you sat in your room till dinner for 9 years, Mr. Megalust.” Megalust crossed his arms and trotted behind everyone else.
         “Actually, the Kelvin of Lanorian only work one day in the year, but the large number of Kelvin working together get all our harvesting, planting and etcetera done in less than 24 hours. The rest of the year-round work, such as watering our crops is done by magic. Ok, here we are. You go right inside; I have to stay at the gate and watch for stalkers and fans.”
         The seven of them walked through the large golden door.

         Inside there were a few people walking here and there, and then in one section of the room there were two Kelvin, surrounded by a mass of other Kelvin, running to and fro and grabbing food, drink and anything the two Kelvin in the middle asked for. Then, all of a sudden, the male Kelvin in the middle of the group noticed Hobo and Company.
         “Well, We’ve been waiting for your arrival.” He said standing up and walking towards them. “I am Unihorn, and that is my fiancé Gabrielle. We are-”
         “What do you mean ‘we’?” Gabrielle said brusquely.
         “Pardon me.” Unihorn said to the Company.
         “No, no, quite all right,” Thriver said with a slight grin.
         “I’ll be right with you.” Unihorn walked over to Gabrielle.
         “¿Por favor, tenemos que ahora hablar de esto?” Unihorn tried to say quietly so that his guests didn’t hear him.
         “¡Sí, ! No voy a hacer para arriba con usted apenas porque entran algunos personas .” Gabrielle replied rather loudly.
         “Mire, apenas tolerado me hoy y le puede gritar y gritar en mí mañana. Debemos mantener nuestras imágenes. Podían ser paparazzi.”
Gabrielle clenched her teeth (they’re pure white). “Muy bien, usted híbrido. Pero mañana usted dado.” Gabrielle and Unihorn walked over to their guests together, though standing a few feet apart.
         “Hello Travelers,” Gabrielle said in a voice that made her sound wise beyond years. “Perhaps you could tell me why you have come here?”
Thriver bowed deep. “We were sent by Smellrond to destroy The Disk.” Thriver took a moment to introduce everyone. “We stopped here after our magician and one of our companions fell into Gloria.”
         “Joe the Shmoe is gone?!” Unihorn exclaimed. “How ill-timed.”
         “Yes, I know. But anyhow, I’d like to request that we may stay the night, and we will leave at noon tomorrow.”
         “Request granted, I suppose.” Gabrielle said. “You may stay in the guest room, and then you leave tomorrow.”

         “Nice, isn’t she?” Pimply said to Thriver as they were walking around the palace.
         “Yeah, whatever you say.” Thriver retorted as he stopped and stared at a painting of a very old man carrying a sword.
         “Who’s that?” Hobo asked as he backtracked to look at the painting.
         “A picture of Misildûn in his last moments of life. This was done at the moment Misildûn was given an award for nineteen years of rule over the Humans of SCOTE.”
         “Bah!” Pimply retorted grumpily. “Misildûn was a double-crossing, two-timing son of bilge rat who sold the Disk off the Maul-Um in the first place. Let’s go find the guest room so we can take a nap.” Gradually they followed after Pimply, but didn’t arrive at their room because they stopped to look at ever painting in the palace.
         After they finally went down to the courtyard where they were to sleep, they stayed up talking and playing poker.
         “I see you and raise you 100.” Pimply smirked as he threw down his chips.
         “I’m in.” Megalust said, throwing in the rest of his own chips. Everyone else dropped out.
         “Three jacks, a king and an ace. Beat that.” Pimply said as he lay his cards down.
         “Ha! Five aces. I win.”
         “What the- Accursed cheating Kelvin! There are only three aces in a deck of cards! Kill him!” Pimply stood and withdrew his axe, then chased after Megalust as he ran from the table. Thriver took out his pipe and began smoking idly as Megalust ran for dear life, and Hobo went off and wandered around.
         He was walking out of a vineyard when he heard an operatic voice coming from a small room underneath a large tree. He followed the voice and soon found it was coming from Gabrielle.
         “Would you like a look?” She said walking towards what seemed to be a toilet.
         “At what, exactly?”
         “Who knows,” She said nonchalantly. “The ‘Toilet Of Gabrielle’ shows many things, none of which are predetermined. Come.” Hobo walked over to the toilet bowl and looked in, and saw nothing but a green mint stuck to the side and water.
         “I don’t- augh!” Gabrielle grabbed his head and shoved it into the toilet.
         Then Hobo saw flashes of light, a few brief glimpses of a demonic looking child with an evil grin on his face. Sitting on a couch and looking at a Birthday card, which he set to flame on his flaming tongue. Then the vision disappeared as the monster walked away when his mother called him and Hobo popped out of the toilet and gasped for breath.
         “Was a swirly the only way I was going to see that?” Hobo exclaimed.
         “Yeah, pretty much. What did you see?”
         “A child demon.”
         “Damn, just Bourbon again. I never see anything but villains in that stupid thing. Just criminals and a few trailers for the Disk.”
         “Uh huh… Well, I’ll be going then.”
         “Ok…” Gabrielle said absent-mindedly as she looked into the toilet with a strange look of innocence on her face. Hobo walked away quietly.

         “Well, we’re sorry you have to leave so soon, but it must be so if you are going to end the Age of The Disk.” Unihorn said as Hobo & Co. walking into Kelvin boats and prepared to set sail down the river Indium.
         “What about gifts?” Hobo said. “We get gifts, right?” There was a loud murmuring sound amongst the Kelvin who gathered around.
         “Um… sure. What can we give them, Gabrielle?”
         “Uh… Here, just take this box of stuff. Ok bye.” She threw a box into the boat and kicked the boat off shore.
         “So what’s in there?” Pimply said as he began sharpening his ax on a rock in his hand. Megalust opened the box.
         “Hmm… 3 Gold belts: mine. A sword sheath: mine. A magic gem: mine. Dirt: Thriver’s. And Gabrielle’s latest album, ‘Kelvin Melodies’: Pimply can have that crud.” After much heated debate and the throwing of Megalust over the side of his ship, all the box’s contents were spit up and divided fairly. The sheath and one of the belts were given to Jerry; Jerry named the sheath Jarblui, after his mother, the dirt was given to Thriver, and everything else was fought over by everyone else.
         And so it was that one night, many moons after the group had left Lanorian, Hobo heard a sound from the branches above his makeshift bed. He looked up and saw two beady little yellow eyes, staring at him evilly. Then, in a split second, the eyes disappeared and were replaced by two orange/brown leaves.
         “Maul-Um…” Hobo whispered to himself as he nodded off.
         Suddenly Leroy sat up-
         “Well finally the Narrator remembered us, eh Harry?” What the- you’re not supposed to talk out of context! Stick with the story!
         “You’re the one who forgot us for what would be at least two chapters in a chapter book.” Harry grumbled.
Fine, I’ll put you in the last bit. But really, you’re going to get your own section in Book 2, so why whine about Book 1?
         “Because,” Leroy said, “You would have completely forgotten us in the end had we not spoken up to you now. Well, go ahead and finish narrating, we’ll cooperate.”
Ok. Ahem.
         Suddenly Leroy sat up, and looked east. Up in the sky, he saw a giant dragon-like monster swooping in circles above the trees. Then it disappeared, and was replaced with the morning sun. Leroy blinked a few times, and then turned and went to take over for Pimply on watch duty.

         “Breakfast is ready!” Pimply called to his companions. “Get it while it’s hot.”
         “What? It’s not even daylight yet.” Hobo muttered. “But I guess I should be use to this kind of thing by now. Well, what did you make?”
         “Pheasant eggs, Brook water, a few edible herb mixed with a few nuts, and some Kelvin bread you can put the egg on to make a sandwich. Hurry up and eat all of you; the end of Indium is not but a few hours travel down from out current position.”

         Everyone ate energetically but Hobo, who was feeling rather sick and woozy. When Thriver got everyone into boats, Hobo almost threw up as they hit rapids. It wasn’t long before they arrived to their destination: The Statues Of Reason, two statues of emissaries so persuasive that no one could resist them till they were slaughtered by their wives.
         “The statues of Granduil son of Misildûn, and Farthing, son of Pelion.” Thriver remarked as he stared up at the great statues. “Granduil was my great-great-great- great-great-great-great-great-great –grandfather on my mothers side.”
         “Hey Thriver,” Hobo said as he picked himself up off the edge of the boat. “I was wondering what your real name is?”
         “Bredanborn. Anyhow, we’re here, so lets encamp and decide what to do.”

         “Now, do we go straight to Fourdoor with Hobo,” Thriver said as he hid the boats out of sight. “Or shall we traverse to More-Gore?”
         “Do what you like,” Hobo said morosely. “I have no choice but to go to Fourdoor.” Thriver patted him on the back.
         “Good man. Now, though you should go by yourself, it’s not too safe, so I’d suggest Jerry go with you as protection.”
         “Ok.” Jerry said as he stood up. “We’ll set off in an hour, so go get some rest or whatever, Mr. Hobo. I’ll be here napping.” So the company strayed away from each other.
         Hobo went off into the woods, and soon came upon a large fallen statue of what looked like a wolf.
         “None of us should stray so far away alone, least of all you.” Hobo swirled around to see Megalust, carrying a few small twigs like they were massive logs for firewood.
         “Uh yeah….” Hobo said nervously as he backed away.
         “Why do you recoil? I am no thief.” Megalust said with slight anger in his voice. “My people are dying, Hobo. The monsters of Jerkwood are overpowering us. Bourbon’s call will overpower us all. If only I had some weapon of power…” Megalust eyed the box holding the Disk, which was on a chain around Hobo’s neck.
         “I ask only for the power to save my people! Give to me!”
         “No! You are not yourself!” Hobo ran, and was chased my Megalust, who, like the dunce he was, tripped and sprained his ankle.
         “You traitor! You will sell the Kelvin to Bourbon! …Hobo? I’m sorry? Why? What did I do? Ok, fine, I admit I attacked you, but don’t tell Thriver. Could you help me up? Hello?” Megalusts’ calls were in vain, because Hobo was already running back towards the camp. He was almost there when a hand grabbed his arm.
         “Whoa! What’s wrong Hobo?” It was Thriver.
         “Megalust attacked me.”
         “Oh that; he’s a klepto, he can’t help himself. He made up some story about his people dying right? It’s a lie he used once to get fifty bucks off me. But I suppose you should go before the Disk tells that idiot how to cause some serious trouble. Jerry is already waiting with a boat ready at the shore; go across the river and straight for a few days till you reach my brother’s domain The password is: Jennifer Amberly.” Suddenly a bugle called over through the woods. “Hurry, go! I must help Megalust!” Hobo ran off down to the shore where Jerry was loading some supplies into the boat.
         “Ready Mr. Hobo?” Hobo smiled slightly.
         “Yes Jerry. Lets go.”

         “Die! Die! Die!” Pimply yelled as he swung his axe, missing his target and smacking four Alexin-Dai heads to the ground. “Stand still so I may punish you, treacherous Kelvin!” Pimply had soon slaughtered every Alexin-Dai warrior who had come to capture them. Thriver soon came over to them.
         “Wow, good job, Pimply. Where are Leroy and Harry?” Pimply looked up at Thriver.
         “Lee—GASP – Roy who?” Pimply muttered.
         “The two other bobbits.”
         “Oh, Megalust used them as decoys so he wasn’t captured. They’re on their way to Uglybard.”
         “We must follow them.” Megalust said as he hopped up and stole a bow and arrow off a fallen warrior lying next to him.
         “Yes. Let us go!” Thriver said as they bounded off after their comrades.





Other Books In The Series:

The Burnt Towers: COMING SOON.
Return Of The Supposed King: COMING SOON.
The Bobbit: COMING SOON.
A.T.D. After The Disk, Book 1: COMING SOON.