Harper frowned. “What do you mean, judgement?” she asked while turning to look at the gnome youth. But he had let go of her hand and was nowhere to be seen. She finished turning to see that the front door was gone as well. Grimacing, she faced forward and saw another door at the far end of the foyer.

  “Guess that is where I need to go, so I can be judged,” Harper muttered. She walked across the space, her steps making little noise on the polished stone of the floor. The door itself opened as she approached, leading to a shadowy hallway with only a few lights along its length. Good thing the shadows are where I play, she thought.

  The walk down the hallway was not unpleasant, but Harper was on high alert. She knew that whatever she was walking into could be very dangerous. At the end of the hall, the lights dimmed, and she could barely see that she was moving into a large space.

  Continuing, she came to where she thought was a good place to stop and wait. “Hello? Is anyone here? Where am I supposed to go next?” Harper asked.

  “That’s far enough,” a deep, yet nasal voice stated ahead and above her.

  “Okay,” Harper said.

  A light hit her in the face, and she squinted her eyes to avoid being blinded by it. In front of her, a high dais rose, similar to a multi-judge bench. Now that her eyes had adjusted, she could see that between her and the light were seven hooded figures sitting and looking at her. Or so she assumed they were looking at her, as she couldn’t see their faces.

  “Who are you and what are you doing here?” asked a woman with an icy voice.

  Harper inhaled. So this is a trial, I guess the truth wouldn’t hurt. “My name’s Harper. I am here seeking the body of the man who raised me.”

  “You lie. You are a scout for an invading army. One of many. We saw you and your comrades coming down the Wall!” claimed another of the hooded figures. There was murmuring of agreement from the others.

  “I was a scout for the Allied Army, but I’m not sure if I still am,” Harper replied ruefully. “The Allied Army doesn’t have a reason to come down here except to retrieve the body I spoke of, which is the reason I am here.”

  “We have heard of this Allied Army of the Twelve Kingdoms. Which kingdom are you from?” asked yet another of the cloaked figures.

  “I’m not. I’m an Earthborn,” Harper replied bluntly.

  The sharp intake of breath from one of them bred unease among the rest. They spoke quietly among themselves for a tense minute while Harper stood there waiting patiently. She was willing to put up with this as long as it didn’t get in her way.

  “So you are an invader,” said the figure with the nasal voice.

  Harper cocked her head to the side. “Invader? Again, I’m only here for a body. As soon as my comrades and I have retrieved it or evidence that my mentor’s body is gone, we will leave and are not likely to come back.”

  “We have been informed that the Earthborn are invaders. Though not all the representatives of the Gods agree on this, the priest of Nathas has made very compelling arguments.”

  Harper snorted. “No offense to Nathas or his priests, but labeling us as invaders and trying to kill us is not a good indication of a healthy mind or a just god,” she said. “I’d prefer not to be judged only on the words of those who wish me dead.”

  “Where is this body?”

  “To the west. There should also be the body of an ogre,” Harper replied. This might be what does it. I hope.

  “Simple enough solution, then. We will send word to the west to verify your story,” said the man with the nasally voice. “Is there anything that you can tell us about the man to help identify him?”

  “He’s in his sixties, I think. White goatee and a bushy mustache. Was a Ranger and was the wielder of the Bows of Harmon.”

  “That should be easy enough,” the man said, pleased. “This should take a few hours, so don’t worry. Then we’ll continue your Judgment.”

  Before she had been able to respond, Harper was alone. The hooded figures were just gone.

  “Great, now what?” she said to herself. With a sigh, she sat down, pulled out a canteen, an old shirt, and a rag before going about cleaning off her feet. Once down with that, she pulled out her boots and a pair of clean socks from her inventory.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Ahhhh, much better! Since she had the water out, she decided she might as well have something to eat and pulled out the last of the breakfast sausages and some biscuits. While it was a simple lunch, it gave her time to think.

  Harper was alone in the poorly lit space. How long will this take them? The idea that they could find Juan’s body and possibly give her the location, if not bring it back, eased her mind. This was not what she expected to be down here. A structured society living in peace with the monsters was not on her bingo card for the chasm. But she didn’t know if they lived in harmony with all the monsters, just the spiders.

  To help the time pass, she explored the space and didn’t find any entrances. At least by sight. Running her hands over where she had come in, she found the edges of the door, but no way to open it. “Must open from the other side,” Harper said. “And decent illusion magic.”

  She started to check for other exits when she heard a throat being cleared behind her. The tall dais in the middle of the room was once again occupied.

  “We have been able to confirm some of what you said as the truth,” the nasal-voiced man said. “The half-eaten body of an ogre was found already in the far west with several arrows puncturing the skin. Yet there was no report of another body, cambion or otherwise.”

  “Juan was human, if that helps,” Harper said hopefully.

  “Interesting, but it doesn’t change the fact that a body hadn’t been found other than that of the ogre’s,” the man said. “But what was found goes a long way toward helping your case. And with that, we can continue with your Judgment.”

  “Okay, so the reason I’m being judged is that I’m not from around here?” Harper asked.

  “All who come here must be judged. It is our way. As our ancestors were judged, so should all,” intoned the man with the nasally voice. The other six hooded figures repeated the last part reverently.

  And I’ve found another cult, Harper thought wryly. Guess I have to play this smart, don’t want to end up with a red dress. I hate red! “Okay. Then let’s move forward.”

  The lead cloaked figure nodded. “Very well. Why did you choose the point you did to come down the wall? Are there going to be more people like you coming down?”

  “We chose our descent based on how close it was to the mountains, as that is as far west as we could go without going into the mountains, and that route we deemed more dangerous. Our plan… well, it isn’t top secret, and since you all are down here, you should know,” Harper said thoughtfully. “We were planning on bringing down a recovery team and strike force of thirty to fifty soldiers, with a couple of civilians, to fight our way through the hordes of dangerous monsters we expected to find down here. There was no expectation of people living down here, despite the stories of how your ancestors and the monsters got down here.”

  “Mercy of God’s kept safe. Monsters have place, we have place,” explained one that was definitely a kobold.

  The hooded figures conferred quietly. Then the lead one spoke again. “It is good that you are willing to share that information with us. That many people—so many soldiers—would worry our communities greatly,” he said. “What Gods do you worship? Have you any knowledge about the Mage running around the Twelve Kingdoms?”

  Harper was surprised. No one had asked her about her religious leanings in a long time, just assuming that her being part demon would put a kibosh on that. “I don’t worship any of the gods. Though I have done some work for the temples of some, and I did meet Missana the Storyteller.”

  Whispers of Missana’s name with some awe drifted to her. Like Harper had been blessed or something. She waited for them to calm down as she considered their response.

  “And what of the Mage?” the lead cloaked figure asked. He sounded more polite and pleasant to her.

  “I know the Mage,” Harper replied. “He isn’t rampaging across the world, as he hasn’t and won’t be corrupted. I wouldn’t worry about him.”

  The hurried whispering of the cloaked figures at Harper’s last statement had her a little worried. Would they decide to lock her up and torture her for more information?

  “Miss Harper, we have made up our minds. It is time to Judge you. I vote worthy.”

  Following the lead cloaked figure, each of the others put forth their votes.

  “Worthy.”

  “Worthy.”

  “Worthy.”

  “Wanting.”

  “Worthy.”

  “Wanting.”

  Harper shuddered. Wanting did not sound like a good thing. Of all the things that she could be, wanting wasn’t one of them.

  “The council has spoken,” the lead cloaked figure said. The ambient light increased, and the figures threw back their hoods one at a time. “We will allow you to leave and gather what forces you need to search for your mentor’s body. I can’t promise that you’ll find it.”

  The one with the nasal voice turned out to be a gnome, likely Alant’s father. “Come with me. We need to talk.” He led me from the chamber and into a sitting area with a small kitchen. “I can have a map made for you, to show where the ogre may still be lying. It’s hard to tell, because that area belongs to the monsters. But I ask that you do your best not to kill any of them.”

  There was a flat, circular stone that he did something to, and it started giving off heat. Placing a kettle on it, he busied himself with making tea.

  “Thank you for your help. And for not killing me,” Harper said, sitting in an empty chair.

  “Killing you? Oh!” he said. “No, if you had been found wanting, we would have sent you back up with a geas to prevent you from coming back. We don’t like killing down here. No, there are always better ways than that.”

  “I will take your word for it… I’m sorry, I never caught your name,” Harper said.

  “Where are my manners? My name’s Gullvant, and I am the magistrate of this town,” Gullvant replied with a little bow. “Now, would you like some tea?”

  Harper nodded and accepted the proffered cup of hot tea. It was surprising how quickly the gnome had prepared it, but she sipped it and it was the perfect temperature and steeped just enough to be slightly bitter. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

  The gnome magistrate fussed a bit over the tea set before bringing his cup over and sitting in the other chair next to the small table. Taking a sip, he let out a contented sigh. “I love it when it is just right. Nothing beats a good cup of tea,” he said with a smile. The smile didn’t last long, and he looked at Harper seriously. “I would like to meet with the Mage. So I have to ask you to bring him down here.”

  Despite the fact that she wasn’t going to come back down without Finn, she was a little taken aback by the request. “Why would you want to meet with a Mage?”

  “I have a task for him,” Gullvant said, his voice full of gravity. “And if he doesn’t complete it, we—all of us down here—are going to die.”

  Le sigh

  But I know a lot of you are enjoying it, and you are the readers I am writing this for.