The Regent walked up to the guards and then moved on to Liam and the others. He eyed the prisoners one at a time. He looked at Liam and seemed entirely unimpressed. He moved down the line to Ezra and had a similar response. When he came to Jrasta, he recognized him. "Hello, Jrasta."

"Hello, Ree-gee," Jrasta said, clearly trying to annoy the Regent.

"My title is 'Regent,' Jrasta, and you know it! Say it! SAY IT!!"

"Hello, Fleegent, sir," Jrasta responded.

"That's better, Jrasta. Carry on!"

Jrasta looked confused. Liam didn't know if the confusion was because the Regent didn't recognize his title was pronounced incorrectly or because Jrasta didn't know what he was supposed to carry on with, but he simply said, "Very good, your High-ney."

As he came to the end of the line, the Regent's face lit up. "Ahh, Jep! My good friend! What are you doing messed up with these three scoundrels? You should be staying in the castle with me!"

Liam swore Jep managed to portray both humility and dignity in the slightest tilt of his head to the Regent. The Regent leaned in close and let Jep latch onto his nose for a moment. Jep chomped down and then simply let go. Liam glared at Jep, mouthing the words, "Why don't you let go of my nose so quickly?" Somehow Jep smiled at Liam.

Sergeant Dimmock spoke up, interrupting Liam's glare at Jep. "Your Audaciousness, this one on the end is a traveler from a world where he is a worm."

"I'm not a worm, the world is called... oh, never mind." Liam was learning which battles were worth fighting and which ones were not. It was beginning to appear that few battles were worth the fight in Snotworld or Arestana or wherever he was.

"A traveler! Wonderful! We love travelers here! Welcome, my dear friend, to Snotworld. We are named this because of the great snot mines in the Booger Mountains not far from the capital city of Phlegm. The people of this land are called the Snots, and I am the Big Booger." The Regent stopped abruptly as he saw the Sergeant trying to get his attention.

"Your Odor-iferousness, he has already been told all that and, well, he knows that this is actually the land of Arestana."

"What??" The Regent seemed genuinely distraught. "How dare you tell him without giving me a chance to speak about Snotworld!" The Regent's voice turned into a whine, and he looked like he was about ready to cry. "You know how much I love telling that story!"

"I'm sorry, your Obtusiveness. I will be more careful in the future." The Sergeant didn't look sorry.

"That is enough! You will be punished! To the Rack with you!"

All the guards gasped with horror. Liam remembered something from school in history about the Rack being a torture device where someone would be tied up and stretched on a table. It didn't sound like much fun. Liam noticed Sergeant Dimmock did not appear concerned about the turn of events.

"Thank you, your Obliviousness. You are always so wise in your handing out of punishments." Dimmock looked a little annoyed. "This sounds like a most appropriate punishment for such an evil and rebellious deed. However, the Rack is quite a complicated machine. It requires a Rack Certification just to use it. The training for this is offered in a night school setting, but it requires three months, four evenings a week of training just to receive your certification. You, sir, were actually the one to institute this new certification."

"Silence! Enough of your talk of education and certification! Who in the castle is certified to use the Rack?" The Regent sounded annoyed but seemed distracted. Liam wondered if the reason the Sergeant did not look worried was because he regularly distracted the Regent with details about schooling and certifications and so forth. "Tell me! Who can we bring in to operate the Rack while you scream in pain and holler out your apologies to me for telling a traveler our world is not Snotworld?"

"Well, sir, that's the thing. There is only one person who is certified to run the Rack."

The Regent leaned forward and hollered, "Call this person to the throne room immediately so you may be punished!"

"Your Insensibleness, I am actually the only one who is certified to run the Rack."

"Then take another guard and teach them so they can torture you!" The Regent wasn't even trying anymore.

"Very good, sir. Consider it done." Sergeant Dimmock stood where he was and didn't move.

"I will then. Let that be a lesson to you. Do not tell future travelers that this is not Snotworld until I have had a chance to have some fun with them." The Regent turned his attention to Liam, appearing to forget all about the punishment.

The Regent stepped over to Liam. "Have you, young man, discerned what quest you have been given?"

"No, sir, I have not. I have just arrived in your... wonderful land." Liam thought he should try to be polite to a Regent.

"Well then, as the Regent of this wonderful land I will assign you your quest. It will be a dangerous quest. One which will take you from this land, across many lands. You will fight monsters and battle evil creatures. You will be tested beyond what you might imagine. But you will pursue a great treasure."

"Thank you, sir," Liam replied. "But sir, do you think you might have a different quest for me? One that's not quite so dangerous and which I may be able to finish, say, before dinner?" Liam was all for great adventures, but he preferred the kind he could watch in a movie theater while he ate popcorn.

"Silence! Once a quest has been given, it cannot be changed! You shall accept this challenge. You will travel beyond the Sandy Desert and retrieve the lost key to the magic box so that we might read the name contained in the box and identify the new king of Arestana. Years ago a thief made his way into the castle and stole this key. No one has ever seen him before, nor does anyone know what type of person or creature he might be. However, from information we have gleaned, we believe he is large, covered in scales, looks exactly like a dragon, breathes fire and responds to the name of Kenny the Dragon. He lives in a cave at the bottom of a great pit on the other side of the Sandy Desert. You will need to slay this person or this beast, whatever it might be, if you are to retrieve the key without dying. Aside from these details, we know nothing of this person or creature."

Liam didn't like the sound of the quest, but he was learning there was much in Arestana he did not like. He also was beginning to understand that there wasn't much he could do about it.

"If you, Traveler Liam, fail to complete this quest, do not feel troubled. We, as a nation, will grieve your death and the next traveler to arrive will be assigned this quest in the hopes that they will not fail miserably and die a gruesome death as the traveler before them has."

The Regent climbed the stairs and sat down on the throne. "To add to the wonder and privilege of this particular quest, I hereby declare that the one to return to this kingdom with the key will be appointed to the position of Royal Advisor to the Throne, a position of great esteem and honor."

At that, all the guards perked up and looked interested. Sergeant Dimmock spoke up. "Your Obnoxiousness, I would like to volunteer to go on this quest as well. Not in partnership with the traveler, but in competition."

The Regent looked the Sergeant up and down. It was as if he had just noticed him for the first time and was not aware that the Sergeant should be in the dungeon torturing himself. "This is rare. It is not often that an Arestanian takes a quest in competition with a traveler. Rare, but not unheard of. I suppose that would be fine. Yes, you may go, and you may select your team to travel with you."

The Sergeant looked absolutely thrilled and nodded to the other guards. Each one, in turn, saluted the Regent before turning to follow Dimmock as he made his way to the door. All twelve wanted to take part in the quest. Liam had a sneaky suspicion that this would complicate matters somewhat.

I hope you are enjoying the first part of Arestana: The Key Quest. Keep reading to find out what happens next! If you want to get a hold of this entire story, you can pick it up from Amazon, Chapters, Foyles or just about everywhere else!

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