Nadezda awoke with a jerk.

“Get up!” Ondraya said anxiously. “Ulysses is in a really bad mood. No one know why” He has ordered all the prisoners to be taken to the main hall.”

Nadezda shoved off the ragged blanket and stood up. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Zip the talkin’!” a guard growled. He unlocked the door and grabbed them roughly.

Ondraya was obviously used to this treatment, for she didn’t give the ‘OW!’ that Nadezda gave.

The pair was hauled to the main hall swiftly, where they were roughly shoved onto some crude wooden seats.

Soon, all of the prisoners had been gathered.

Ulysses appeared in front of them.

“Oh, lookie, lookie, it’s bad mood dude!” one prisoner snickered loudly.

A nearby guard flicked a rod in the direction of the prisoner who had spoken. “Silence in the presence of Ulysses LaserDoom!”

“You’re not exactly being quiet!” shouted another.

The guard’s face turned red. “No talking! No talking in the presence of Ulysses LaserDoom!”

“More like Ulysses LaserDumb!” another prisoner shouted.

Nadezda looked shocked. They shouldn’t allow name calling, even if he is evil! She thought to herself.

Ondraya sat still. A smile of grim pleasure flickered across her face.

“This isn’t funny!” Nadezda hissed at her.

“It serves Ulysses right.” Ondraya shrugged. “They do it all the time! Even his guards, when he isn’t around.”

“How many followers does he have?” Nadezda asked in a whisper.

“About 500,000,” Ondraya whispered back.

“Guards, kill any who are not quiet!” Ulysses said. “My announcement is important.”

A young mother in front of Nadezda was trying to calm her wailing toddler when Ulysses made his statement. A nearby guard obeyed his master and grabbed the toddler. His mother let out a shriek.

“No!” she wailed.” Please, let him live!”

“The Green Teeth!” Ulysses proclaimed.

The mother screamed even louder. “No! Please, let him live!”

The followers of Ulysses who were in the room let out a shout. The prisoners were herded to ye another room that had a great tank. Two guards lifted off the top.

“What are the Green teeth?” Nadezda asked Ondraya.

“One of the most dangerous water beasts of Galandria!” Ondraya said. “The poisonous swamp crocodiles!”

“Oh no!” Nadezda gasped. “The poor mother!”

By then, everyone had assembled. The guard still held the kicking, wailing toddler.

Nadezda looked around quickly. She had to save the baby!

Ondraya knew exactly what her cellmate was about to do. “Don’t do it1” she hissed. “You’ll get eaten yourself!”

“I have to save him!” Nadezda protested. “And I’m going to!”

Before Ondraya could grab her, Nadezda wove her way to the giant tank, taking the steps up to it three at a time, dodging a guard who grabbed at her.

A guard dropped the baby into the tank. Making a swift dive, Nadezda entered the murky water and swam to the baby. Suddenly, an arrow pierced her arm. Clenching her teeth tightly, Nadezda grabbed the baby and paddled to a rotten log, where she was confronted by a Green Teeth. The crocodile snapped at her, and she barely escaped the sharp teeth. Then it came after her!

Two more crocodiles joined the chase.

Nadezda panicked. Her lungs were going to burst!

She then noticed something that she had not noticed before...

A trapdoor. In the wall.

Nadezda swam for it, barely managing to get inside before the Green Teeth arrived.

Once in the tube, Nadezda gulped in air. Then she revived the toddler. When he awoke, she pulled herself along the tube. After crawling for only a few yards, darkness enveloped her and she passed out.

The toddler wriggled out of her limp grasp and crawled on down the tube, giggling and thinking that it was all a game.

 

 

Nadezda awoke soon after. She broke the arrow stuck in her arm into two pieces, then pulled the pieces out. She then continued crawling down the tube, calling out for the toddler, who upon hearing her voice, crawled even faster, giggling.

Nadezda caught up with him and grabbed his leg. “No, no, don’t go away, you little rascal!”

“Wanna go ‘way! Want Momma!” The toddler struggled against her grip.

Glancing up, Nadezda saw the end of the tube. “OK, OK, keep going,” she said, releasing him.

At the end of the tube, Nadezda peered through the not too clear plastic. She recognized it all immediately. “Oh, brilliant! Ulysses bedchamber.”

A light appeared, and so did Ulysses. Nadezda grabbed the baby and wriggled backwards.

They went back, and Nadezda noticed tubes going off the main tube. She chose one and went down it, going slowly because of the toddler on her back.

When she spotted the end, she was too tired, hungry, and thirsty to even think of going to see what was at the end of it.

The baby climbed off her back, lay down, and promptly fell asleep. Nadezda followed suit. Neither of the pair was aware of coming danger.

Ulysses was in pursuit!

 

 

At the same time, Dacinia sat in her cell with her companion, Marelle.

“No doubt she’s gone,” Dacinia said aloud.

“I guess,” Marelle said, her voice hardening. “Nowhere in this filthy rat hole is safe. I should know. I was born in this prison. My parents became Green Teeth food when I was just six. I have no relatives that I can remember, so I am alone. I am going to get away from here someday. Just see if I don’t!” She scowled. “Ulysses started this army when he was 19. He’s so cruel, his parents must have thrown him out. Small wonder!” Marelle stood up and went to her cot. “I’m going to take a nap,” she said. “Please don’t bother me.”

Dacinia leaned back on her iron bench and pulled the undiscovered riddle from her pocket. She read it to herself quietly:

 

 

Continue on the path of brown,

Beware the dark ones five done,

Meet the one by light found,

And with him go; he is the one!

Go to the IOX,

Drop your guide,

Travel on to drail paths thrice,

In the brave one then confide.

 

 

 

“We’ve carried out the first two lines, in a way,” she commented to herself.” Too bad we were captured.” She continued studying the riddle.

 

Zaleigh sat in a lonely cell that had nothing but a hard bench and some straw on the floor.

The cell was three feet wide, six feet long, and five feet tall.

“Why didn’t we get away when we had the chance?” he wondered. “When we met up with them, I’m sure we had our suspicions. Those two guys that we met up with must do this kind of work all the time.”

Zaleigh jerked up. He must have fallen asleep. The cell door had just been slammed shut, and a boy was hammering on it, shouting:

“Lemme out! I didn’t do nothin’ wrong! Lemme out! Lemme out!”

“Calm down please!” Zaleigh called.

The boy stopped, glared at him, and returned to what he had been doing. “ Lemme out, now!”

“Shut up, boy! The Green Teeth is your next company. Haharrharrharr!” The guard marched down the hall, laughing uproariously.

“What an idiot,” Zaleigh muttered to himself.

The bow slumped down. “It ain’t fair,” he whispered fiercely. “They killed my dad just because he fell asleep on guard duty. It was their fault! They made him work too much. I had to watch him die. It’s not fair!”

“How did he die?” Zaleigh asked softly.

The boy looked up at Zaleigh. “Do you care?” he asked.

“Of course,” Zaleigh said, moving to the boy’s side.

“I can’t explain. It’s too horrible!” The boy looked down and sniffed.

Zaleigh led him to a pile of straw. “Why don’t you sleep for awhile?”

“OK.” The boy sniffed again, lay down and put some straw over himself.

Zaleigh lay down, wondering why he was stuck in here and if he would ever get out again. He gradually drifted off to sleep.

 

 

 

Farren peered out of the bars of her cell door window. A guard strode lazily strolled past. Farren kept quiet. Twice since being imprisoned, she had asked for food and water. She had been fortunate enough to get a moldy bread crust, but otherwise, there were shouts and threats that quieted her down.

“Heard rumors of THE DUDES today, Rok,” one guard said.

“Them again?”

“Yep. He’s hirin’ ‘em for even more this time.”

“Must be pretty desperate, bud.”

“Naw, just some special business to finish, Rok.”

Farren had caught the conversation and was listening closely. I wonder who THE DUDES are, she thought.

“How many?”

“Uh... seven or eight or somethin’.”

“That many? Man, he really does sound desperate.”

“He is never desperate, Rok.”

Just then, a bell sounded, signaling the change of the guards.

“Who are you talking about?” A new voice pierced the quiet darkness.

“Oh, my relief,” one of the other guards said. “Oh, only THE DUDES, Jeff.”

“Oh, them.” The new guard sighed. “Heard about their leader.”

Farren was frustrated. “Why do they need to speak like that?”

“I’ve met him,” boasted the guard who had started the whole conversation. “You haven’t been here long enough to hear about him, Jeff. How would you know about him?”

“Word gets around. Go get some dinner, Nolan.”

“Yeh, whatever.” Clomping sounds were heard as Nolan went off.

“So, Jeff, want to meet the leader DUDE?”

“Why doesn’t anyone call him by his normal name?”

“Oh, I dunno. Might not have a name.”

Farren decided to lie down and go to sleep, since the conversation did not seem to be going anywhere. She dreamt that she was dragged away by someone dressed completely in black, but she woke up just before he killed her.

The cold cell cooled her sweating face quickly. “What a nightmare!” she murmured to herself. Then she had a sudden thought. “Hmm... what if the black-dressed person in my dream was one of THE DUDES? Whoever THE DUDES are!”

Valora sat in a cell down the row from Farren’s. Lonely, hungry, and thirsty, she looked out her barred cell door window, wondering what was in store for her. “With Ulysses around, it’ll probably be nastier that I think,” she said to herself.

A guard strode past, swinging his sword and talking to himself.

“Does anyone get food around here?” Farren asked.

“Mostly not, unless they become food themselves,” he said. “Now, shut up, or you’ll become Green Teeth food!”

Farren had been witness to Nadezda’s bravery, although she did not realize it had been her friend going after her. She thought that whoever had gone after the baby was long gone. She sank onto a pile of straw in a dark corner of the tiny cell, and stank like nothing else. She longed for something good to smell and food and water.

Presently, the door opened. The female guard standing there growled,

“Come on girlie. Ain’t got all day, ya know.” She grabbed Valora.

Valora clenched her teeth as the guard hauled her along. “Where am I going?”

The guard hauled her along. “Shut up.”

Valora persisted . “Where am I going?”

The guard slapped her. “Shut up!”

Valora obeyed.

Sometime later, they came to another set of cells. The guard selected a key from her hug set, unlocked a cell door, and pushed Valora in.

Valora sat in a corner of the entirely bare cell. “Why was I moved here?” she mused to herself. “If they had had any other prisoners, why couldn’t they have just put them in here?” She was startled out of talking to herself by some sounds. She scurried to the cell door and peered out.

“Git in that cell, boy!”

“No! I won’t!”

“Yer pal just walked right in there! Git in, boy!”

There was the sound of a door banging and boots clumping away with someone muttering, “Glad I don’t have none o’ them kids.”

Then came another voice.

“Calm down, Lewis. We were just moved to another cell, that’s all.”

Valora listened closely. Where have I heard that voice before? she wondered.

“B-but I hate it here!”

“It’s OK, Lewis.”

“No, it ain’t!”

“Calm down, Lewis. There are other prisoners who might hear you, and they might start a ruckus.”

“F-fine.” The answering voice sounded sullen.

By now, Valora had figured out the calm, familiar voice. It was Zaleigh!

 

All her fellow travelers had been moved to similar cells.

There was the sound of a bucket clanging, and a din of shouting arose.

“Food! Finally! Gimme, gimme!”

“Gimme food! I ain’t eaten in days!”

“Be quiet, all o’ yer! Ya ain’t getting’ nothin’ if ya don’t shut yer traps!” shouted the guard with the food.

The din quieted and the food was handed out, yet not enough to satisfy any hungry stomachs. Those who knew better tried not to complain,though those who did not know better complained, and were soon silenced by the shouts and orders of the guards.

Sanole and Zanorm were in cells across from each other. They knew it, although they did not communicate; they had found out-the hard way- that even the slightest whisper caused guard problems. They felt responsible for the eight travelers being captured.

However, all the travelers felt, deep down inside, that they would somehow escape.

 

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  Nadezda awoke with a jerk.

   "Get up!” Ondraya said anxiously. “Ulysses is in a really bad mood. No one know why” He has ordered all the prisoners to be taken to the main hall.”

  Nadezda shoved off the ragged blanket and stood up. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

 “Zip the talkin’!” a guard growled. He unlocked the door and grabbed them roughly.

  Ondraya was obviously used to this treatment, for she didn’t give the ‘OW!’ that Nadezda yelped out in a pained voice.

  The pair was hauled to the main hall swiftly, where they were pushed into a crowd of other prisoners.

  Soon, all of the prisoners had been gathered.

  Ulysses appeared in front of them.

  “Oh, lookie, lookie, it’s bad mood dude!” one prisoner snickered loudly.

  A nearby guard flicked a rod in the direction of the prisoner who had spoken. “Silence in the presence of Ulysses LaserDoom!”

  “You’re not exactly being quiet!” shouted another.

  The guard’s face turned red. “No talking! No talking in the presence of Ulysses LaserDoom!”

  “More like Ulysses LaserDumb!” another prisoner shouted.

  Nadezda looked shocked. They shouldn’t allow name calling, even if he is evil! She thought to herself.

  Ondraya sat still. A smile of grim pleasure flickered across her face.

 “This isn’t funny!” Nadezda hissed at her.

 “It serves Ulysses right.” Ondraya shrugged. “They do it all the time! Even his guards, when he isn’t around.”

  “How many followers does he have?” Nadezda asked in a whisper.

  “About 50,000,” Ondraya whispered back.

  “Guards, kill any who are not quiet!” Ulysses said. “My announcement is important.”

  A young mother in front of Nadezda was trying to calm her wailing toddler when Ulysses made his statement. A nearby guard obeyed his master and grabbed the toddler. His mother let out a shriek.

  “No!” she wailed.” Please, let him live!”

 “The Green Teeth!” Ulysses proclaimed.

 The mother screamed even louder. “No! Please, let him live!”

  The followers of Ulysses who were in the room let out a shout. The prisoners were herded to yet another room that had a great tank. Two guards lifted off the top.

  “What are the Green teeth?” Nadezda asked Ondraya.

  “One of the most dangerous water beasts of Galandria!” Ondraya said. “The poisonous swamp crocodiles!”

  “Oh no!” Nadezda gasped. “The poor mother!”

  By then, everyone had assembled. The guard still held the kicking, wailing toddler.

  Nadezda looked around quickly. She had to save the baby!

  Ondraya knew exactly what her cellmate was about to do. “Don’t do it!” she hissed. “You’ll get eaten yourself!”

  “I have to save him!” Nadezda protested. “And I’m going to!”

  Before Ondraya could grab her, Nadezda wove her way to the giant tank. Hands of prisoners grabbed out to stop her, but she pushed on, taking the steps up to the tank two at a time, dodging a guard who grabbed at her.

  A guard dropped the baby into the tank. Making a swift dive, Nadezda entered the murky water and swam to the baby. Suddenly, an arrow pierced her arm. Clenching her teeth tightly, Nadezda grabbed the baby and paddled to a rotten log, where she was confronted by a Green Teeth. The crocodile snapped at her, and she barely escaped the sharp teeth. Then it came after her!

  Two more crocodiles joined the chase.

  Nadezda panicked. Her lungs were going to burst!

  She then noticed something that she had not noticed before...

  A trapdoor. In the wall.

  Nadezda swam for it, barely managing to get inside before the Green Teeth arrived.

  Once in the tube, Nadezda gulped in air. Then she revived the toddler. When he awoke, she pulled herself along the tube. After crawling for only a few yards, darkness enveloped her and she passed out.

  The toddler wriggled out of her limp grasp and crawled on down the tube, giggling and thinking that it was all a game.

 

  Nadezda awoke soon after. She broke the arrow stuck in her arm into two pieces, then pulled the pieces out, clenching her teeth in an attempt to not scream. She then continued crawling down the tube, calling out for the toddler, who upon hearing her voice, crawled even faster, giggling.

  Nadezda caught up with him and grabbed his leg. “No, no, don’t go away, you little rascal!”

  “Wanna go ‘way! Want Momma!” The toddler struggled against her grip.

  Glancing up, Nadezda saw the end of the tube. “OK, OK, keep going,” she said, releasing him.

 

   At the end of the tube, Nadezda peered through the not too clear trapdoor. She recognized it all immediately. “Oh, brilliant! Ulysses' bedchamber.”

   A light appeared, and so did Ulysses. Nadezda grabbed the baby and wriggled backwards.

   They went back, and Nadezda noticed tubes going off the main tube. She chose one and went down it, going slowly because of the toddler on her back.

   When she spotted the end, she was too tired, hungry, and thirsty to even think of going to see what was at the end of it.

   The baby climbed off her back, lay down, and promptly fell asleep. Nadezda followed suit. Neither of the pair was aware of coming danger.

   Ulysses was in pursuit!

 

   At  the same time, Dacinia sat in her cell with her companion, Marelle.

  “No doubt she’s gone,” Dacinia said aloud.

  “I guess,” Marelle said, her voice hardening. “Nowhere in this filthy rat hole is safe. I should know. I was born in this prison. My parents became Green Teeth food when I was just six. I have no relatives that I can remember, so I am alone. I am going to get away from here someday. Just see if I don’t!” She scowled. “Ulysses started this army when he was 19. He’s so cruel, his parents must have thrown him out. Small wonder!” Marelle stood up and went to her cot. “I’m going to take a nap,” she said. “Please don’t bother me.”

  Dacinia leaned back on her iron bench and pulled the undiscovered riddle from her pocket. She read it to herself quietly:

 

 

Continue on the path of brown,

Beware the dark ones five done,

Meet the one by light found,

And with him go; he is the one!

Go to the IOX,

Drop your guide,

Travel on to drail paths thrice,

In the brave one then confide.

 

 

 

  “We’ve carried out the first two lines, in a way,” she commented to herself.” Too bad we were captured.” She continued studying the riddle.

 

 

Zaleigh sat in a lonely cell that had nothing but a hard bench and some straw on the floor. The cell was three feet wide, six feet long, and five feet tall.

 “Why didn’t we get away when we had the chance?” he wondered. “When we met up with them, I’m sure we had our suspicions. Those two guys that we met up with must do this kind of work all the time.”

 Zaleigh jerked up. He must have fallen asleep. The cell door had just been slammed shut, and a boy was hammering on it, shouting:

 “Lemme out! I didn’t do nothin’ wrong! Lemme out! Lemme out!”

 “Calm down please!” Zaleigh called.

 The boy stopped, glared at him, and returned to what he had been doing. “ Lemme out, now!”

  “Shut up, boy! The Green Teeth is your next company. Haharrharrharr!” The guard marched down the hall, laughing uproariously.

  “What an idiot,” Zaleigh muttered to himself.

  The bow slumped down. “It ain’t fair,” he whispered fiercely. “They killed my dad just because he fell asleep on guard duty. It was their fault! They made him work too much. I had to watch him die. It’s not fair!”

  “How did he die?” Zaleigh asked softly.

  The boy looked up at Zaleigh. “Do you care?” he asked.

   “Of course,” Zaleigh said, moving to the boy’s side.

   “I can’t explain. It’s too horrible!” The boy looked down and sniffed.

   Zaleigh led him to a pile of straw. “Why don’t you sleep for awhile?”

   “OK.” The boy sniffed again, lay down and put some straw over himself.

   Zaleigh lay down, wondering why he was stuck in here and if he would ever get out again. He gradually drifted off to sleep.

 

  Farren peered out of the bars of her cell door window. A guard  lazily strolled past. Farren kept quiet. Twice since being imprisoned, she had asked for food and water. She had been fortunate enough to get a moldy bread crust, but otherwise, there were shouts and threats that quieted her down.

  “Heard rumors of THE DUDES today, Rok,” one guard said.

  “Them again?”

  “Yep. He’s hirin’ ‘em for even more this time.”

  “Must be pretty desperate, bud.”

  “Naw, just some special business to finish, Rok.”

  Farren had caught the conversation and was listening closely. I wonder who THE DUDES are, she thought.

  “How many?”

  “Uh... seven or eight or somethin’.”

  “That many? Man, he really does sound desperate.”

  “He is never desperate, Rok.”

  Just then, a bell sounded, signaling the change of the guards.

  “Who are you talking about?” A new voice pierced the quiet darkness.

  “Oh, my relief,” one of the other guards said. “Oh, only THE DUDES, Jeff.”

  “Oh, them.” The new guard sighed. “Heard about their leader.”

  Farren was frustrated. “Why do they need to speak like that?”

  “I’ve met him,” boasted the guard who had started the whole conversation. “You haven’t been here long enough to hear about him, Jeff. How would you know about him?”

  “Word gets around. Go get some dinner, Nolan.”

  “Yeh, whatever.” Clomping sounds were heard as Nolan went off.

  “So, Jeff, want to meet the leader DUDE?”

  “Why doesn’t anyone call him by his normal name?”

  “Oh, I dunno. Might not have a name.”

  Farren decided to lie down and go to sleep, since the conversation did not seem to be going anywhere. She dreamt that she was dragged away by someone dressed completely in black, but she woke up just before he killed her.

  The cold cell cooled her sweating face quickly. “What a nightmare!” she murmured to herself. Then she had a sudden thought. “Hmm... what if the black-dressed person in my dream was one of THE DUDES? Whoever THE DUDES are!”

  Valora sat in a cell down the row from Farren’s. Lonely, hungry, and thirsty, she looked out her barred cell door window, wondering what was in store for her. “With Ulysses around, it’ll probably be nastier that I think,” she said to herself.

  A guard strode past, swinging his sword and talking to himself.

  “Does anyone get food around here?” Farren asked.

  “Mostly not, unless they become food for the Greenteeth,” he said. “Now, shut up, or you’ll be  Green Teeth food!”

   Farren had been witness to Nadezda’s bravery, although she did not realize it had been her friend going after the baby. She thought that whoever had gone after the baby was long gone, and the baby, too. She sank onto a pile of straw in a dark corner of the tiny cell, and stank like nothing else. She longed for something good to smell and food and water.

  Presently, the door opened. The female guard standing there growled,

  “Come on, girlie. Ain’t got all day, ya know.” She grabbed Valora.

  Valora clenched her teeth as the guard hauled her along. “Where am I going?”

  The guard hauled her along. “Shut up.”

  Valora persisted .  “Where am I going?”

  The guard slapped her. “Shut up!”

  Valora obeyed.

  Sometime later, they came to another set of cells. The guard selected a key from her hug set, unlocked a cell door, and pushed Valora in.

  Valora sat in a  corner of the entirely bare cell. “Why was I moved here?” she mused to herself. “If they had had any other prisoners, why couldn’t they have just put them in here?” She was startled out of talking to herself by some sounds. She scurried to the cell door and peered out.

  “Git in that cell, boy!”

  “No! I won’t!”

  “Yer pal just walked right in there! Git in, boy!”

  There was the sound of a door banging and boots clumping away with someone muttering, “Glad I don’t have none o’ them kids.”

  Then came another voice.

  “Calm down, Lewis. We  were just moved to another cell, that’s all.”

  Valora listened closely. Where have I heard that voice before? she wondered.

  “B-but I hate it here!”

  “It’s OK, Lewis.”

  “No, it ain’t!”

  “Calm down, Lewis. There are other prisoners who might hear you, and they might start a ruckus.”

  “F-fine.” The answering voice sounded sullen.

  By now, Valora had figured out the calm, familiar voice. It was Zaleigh!

 

   All her fellow travelers had been moved to similar cells.

  There was the sound of a bucket clanging, and a din of shouting arose.

  “Food! Finally! Gimme, gimme!”

  “Gimme food! I ain’t eaten in days!”

 “Be quiet, all o’ yer! Ya ain’t getting’ nothin’ if ya don’t shut yer traps!” shouted the guard with the food.

  The din quieted and the food was handed out, yet not enough to satisfy any hungry stomachs. Those who knew better tried not to complain, though those whose stomachs got the better of them complained, and were soon silenced by the shouts and orders of the guards.

  Sanole and Zanorm were in cells across from each other. They knew it, although they did not communicate; they had found out-the hard way-that even the slightest whisper caused problems with the guards. They felt responsible for the eight travelers being captured.

  However, all the travelers felt, deep down inside, that they would somehow escape.

 

 

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