Castor felt the all too familiar crack of the whip on his back. He wore armor and his shirt so it did no real damage and dealt no pain, save the most uncomfortable twangs up his back. He walked, as did the elves, with his hands tied in front of him. Argles surrounded them. They had been traveling for a day now, though where they were going he did not know. Only Tarris rode a horse. It was a grey, powerful looking horse with black eyes. He raised his hand. "Hold. We will rest."

The Argles tossed the prisoners to the side of the rode in a heap. Two guards stood on either side of them, watching like hawks. Castor turned over with a grunt. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

Theuses shook his head. "We have been moving uphill since they captured us. That, along with the fact we have been moving north-east, I would say we are going to the mountains."

"Mountains? Why?" Castor asked, puzzled.

"I have no idea." He answered in a frustrated voice.

L'arch shifted over. "What about the rumor of the fortress?"

"What? What is it?"

"The mountains, the Saber Pass, the Urki fortress."

Theuses swallowed. "You may be right."

"Right about what? What are you talking about?"

"There is a fortress, called Armu-Ari, stands on the edge of a mountainside. It is tall and heavily guarded with strong gates and a very strategic position. Chances are Bantu is going to stash us there until he can make further plans. It would be a good prison."

Suddenly the dull pain of the Argles' whips stung against Castor's back. "Get up, prisoner. We march," One of the Argles announced in their grunting, barbaric speech. They were forced to their feet and once again lined up with drivers. Again, Tarris raised his hand and the party set off at their steady, mind staking pace.

Minutes formed hours and hours formed days. As they traveled the ground began to get coded thick with snow and the temperature steadily grew lower. Castor constantly found himself shivering uncontrollably. Their breath came in puffs of steam. Walls of black rock stuck up from the ground in snow coated pillars.

After almost a week the fortress was finally visible. It was made of the black, slate-like stone that was found all over the mountains. It was tall like a mountain in itself, looming across the snow covered crags and cliffs. Cracks webbed through the ground, glowing faintly like lava was deep beneath the ground, waiting to come up. The area around the fortress was clear, plagued with pebbles and stones. At the top of the fortress four tall spikes stuck out horizontally like prongs ready to impale anyone who dare take refuge inside of its walls.

As they approached the front opened like a mouth collapsing into the ground. Tarris raised his hand, signaling the party to stop. Five figures appeared from the gate. Even from the distance they were at, Castor could see they were Urki. Two stood on either side with one in the middle. The four on either side wore heavy black armor that covered them from head to foot. In their hands they held eight foot-long iron spears. The leader, stationed in the center of the group, wore only armor from the neck down, revealing his reddish black skin and the two ram-like horns protruding from his skull that marked him an Urki general. Once they reached the Argles the leader looked Tarris squarely in the eyes.

"What business do you have with us, Maneket?" His voice was full of loathing.

"Emperor Bantu requires your facilities. We have several captives that require a more..... Advanced restraint. You are to keep them until the Dark Lord can come up with a more permanent residence."

The Urki snorted. "What would make me willing to do this for you? We have nothing to lose, you do."

"I thought you might say something like that. Lord Bantu told me to tell you if you do not, you will have no allies in this upcoming war. I have a feeling you will need a strong ally."

The Urki grumbled. "You underestimate the power of the Urki tribes. Regardless of your insolence, we will do this for you."

Tarris smiled. "I thought as much." He gestured for the Argles to release them. Castor felt the knife cut through his bonds before he was pushed forward into the line of Urki. The leader snapped. Suddenly an armored Urki fist smashed into his skull. The last thing he remembered was the cold feel of the snow and the iron clutch of one of the soldiers pulling him up.

~ ~ ~

What he assumed to be hours later he woke up.

The first thing he felt was cold stone on his back. Painfully, he lifted his head and looked around.

He was in a cave-like structure, surrounded by black iron bars. The stone ceiling was low, but tall enough to crouch. The ledge-like cave was about fourteen square feet.

Carefully he pulled himself closer to the bars. Outside of them, steam rose like clouds. Then it dawned on him. Across the cavern was another shear wall of stone. From below he heard constant hammering and saw the walls glow. He was in a mine shaft. So that's what the tall mountain fortress's use was. After looking closer at the opposite wall he saw caves. More correctly, tunnels. Ropes stretch down from above, linked by supposedly random chains.

Movement suddenly came from next to him. He realized he wasn't the only one in the prison. The dim light revealed the face of Theuses. "You got put here too?"

Theuses nodded. "They hauled us up these wooded platforms and dumped us in here. Unfortunately, I have no idea where they put L'arch."

"Did you see what's going on below?"

He nodded again. "They have some sort of mine set up. They are harvesting liquid metal and pouring it into molds. They are making spearheads, sword blades, helmets, armor plates, you name it."

"They're building an army?" Castor asked in disbelief.

"That's what it looks like." Theuses shrugged.

"How far is it down there?"

"Nearly a hundred feet. Even if we could break though the bars, it's a shear drop down with no way up without one of their movable platforms," He explained.

"Do you know where they are keeping our weapons?"

Theuses shook his head. "No. We came in an entrance about halfway up that juts out on a long cliff over this pit. From there, the leader took a platform to the top and sent four of the five soldiers down here with us. We were put in one cell before they continued down farther with L'arch. I did not see our weapons at all."

They were silent.

"Did you see any way of escape at all?"

"No. Like I said, the only way up or down is by those platforms that are all manned by an Urki. If we had some rope we could maybe try and climb out."

"Didn't the Urki leader seem rather reluctant to hold us? We could use that. We could convince him that we could help him if he let us out."

"That wouldn't work. He seemed much more afraid, for lack of a better word, of Tarris then of us."

Suddenly they were interrupted. A wooden platform, covered in iron, pulled up next to their cell door. One of the five armed soldiers pulled out a key and roughly opened the lock. Castor and Theuses were hauled on before the Urki manning it started pulling them upward.

Castor scanned his surroundings. There were tons of caves and tunnels lining the walls, though no guards. He quickly looked down. What he saw was terrifying. Iron covered platforms lined the tunnel walls while in the center a pool of boiling, white-hot liquid seethed and bubbled. Along the sides, Urki, wielding sledge hammers, hacked away at the glowing ore. At the center, Urki dropped stone boxes into the liquid before quickly drawing it out, then sending it upward on a chain. Four rock shelves were set near the bottom where all the boxes were sent. Here, Urki blacksmiths poured the boiling metal into casts. Others took the glowing ore and hammered them fiercely into sheets of metal. Once the swords, armor, or spearheads were made by the blacksmiths they were sent yet again, upward onto the last overhang shelf in the operation. Here, they took all the arms and stacked them into boxes before placing them into a tunnel, guarded by four Urki. Castor estimated they made nearly forty swords and spears in an day and three suits of armor.

The platform stopped, making him jolt and look up. They had reached the very top of the fortress. Encouraged by the jabs of the Urki swords, they stepped off onto the fortification. The four spikes he had seen before were arranged with one pointing outward at each directional point of the compass. Along the top of the fortification, a five foot high wall circled them. At every fifty feet or so, a ballista was stationed.

At the center of the defense, a huge, movable catapult stood. Urki soldiers in full armor and carrying long spears stood at the walls, scanning the ground around them for any trace of movement. Next to the catapult, along with four of his soldiers, stood the leader. In his hand he carried a huge sword. He looked just as he had several hours ago. The Urki behind them jabbed them again. Slowly, they approached the leader. When they reached him they were shoved to their knees. He looked down at them distastefully.

"If what I am told is true, you are Castor of Archain and you," He said looking at Theuses, "are Theuses of Ilesmatr?" He spoke with a thick, heavy accent like he was grinding his teeth while speaking. "Bring forth the third one." From out of nowhere, L'arch was tossed beside them. "Look at this," He mocked. "The three most powerful, anti-imperial figures in Unisus, standing on my own turf. Lucky for you I have received orders not to harm you. A pity it is really. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to let you go either. I couldn't care less about your movements against the Empire, though my revenge would not be fulfilled."

"What do you want with us?" Castor growled.

"Of you? I want your blood. I want it to pour onto my land and your screams to be heard by my people so that we will know we have been avenged."

"Avenged from what?"

The Urki laughed loudly. "Do no pretend you don't know, human." He used 'human' with such poison in his words that Castor flinched. "In the Ancient War we were slaughtered by your kind," He flicked his deadly look at Theuses, "and yours. Hear my words: whether it is now or at a distant date, your blood will run across my peoples' hands and we will be at peace. Take them away, but remember this Castor of Archain and you, Theuses of Ilesmatr you are in the deepest parts of are lands. There is no escape. Here you will rot and you flesh burn." The soldiers pulled them to their feet and shoved them forward, toward the wooden platform that would once again carry them toward they prison cell.