“Enjoy your stay,” said the beast-man with a malicious whinny. “The master will leave you down here until you’ve forgotten your own name.”

Indignant but helpless in the prison, Sarah looked around for her companion. Kay was nowhere in sight, though. She was alone now, trapped by three stone walls and a fourth wall of solid iron bars. She pushed against the bars, hoping to find one of them loose, but they were all perfectly fitted. Even her thin body couldn’t fit between the bars. She was trapped and alone.

She sighed deeply, and then set about trying to get her bearings. She could hear the echoes of mice creeping across the stone corridors, squeaking in surprise when they saw someone in the largest cell. The room had a dank and moldy smell, like she was stuck in a mushroom garden. Or at least that was what she thought it might be like; Sarah didn’t exactly have much experience with either gardens or dungeons.

One corner of the room had an empty pot in it. Sarah didn’t want to guess what that was there for. The other had a makeshift bed of straw, with a single threadbare blanket covering it. Since she seemed to think better while lying down, she threw herself onto the lumpy bed. She heard a groan, and jumped back up again with a squeal. The bed wasn’t empty.

“Oh bother,” came out a melancholy voice from underneath the scratchy blanket. “Can’t I get any sleep around here?”

The form shifted, and whoever was in the bed threw off the blanket. The person underneath sat up and looked at Sarah through baggy eyes. He was old, or at least older than anyone else Sarah had met in Greystone Valley so far. Wrinkles lined his tanned face, making his skin looking like a leathery mask. His hair was thin and wild, pointing out in all directions. It was blonde, but haggard and unkempt, giving the rat’s nest of his hair the same color as the unwashed straw.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” stammered Sarah in surprise. “I didn’t realize there was someone else in this cell.”

“Of course you didn’t realize it,” sighed the old man. “The guards probably didn’t realize it, either. No one takes notice of an old wretch like me. People just look right through me, never even realizing I’m there.”

“Well, like I said, I’m sorry.” Sarah hesitated and made a slight curtsy. That seemed to be the proper way to greet someone in this land, even if she was in dirty pajamas. “My name is Sarah. I’m a prisoner here, like you.”

“Oh, you’re hardly like me,” moaned the old man. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he gnashed his teeth to accentuate his mood. “They won’t forget a pretty young lady like you down here. They probably won’t forget to bring you your gruel or leave you with flea-ridden blankets. No, that type of treatment is reserved for Dax and Dax alone.”

“Dax…is that your name?” Sarah put on her most friendly expression, although it was getting hard to keep smiling as she considered spending a night alone in a dungeon with this dreary fellow.

“That’s what people call me, so that might as well be my name. Heavens forbid anybody call me by my real title, Daxilianus Pouranger Asilas the Third. No, I’m just old Dax. And most people don’t remember that, either.”

Sarah blinked, trying to memorize all the long syllables of Dax’s real name. “Well, if it’s any consolation, I don’t think I’ll forget someone like you very easily.”

“Oh, don’t think that makes me happy at all. I won’t even know you long enough to be remembered, anyway. The guards will drag you off somewhere to be executed, and old Dax will be alone and forgotten again.”

Sarah’s face grew very pale at the thought of an execution – especially at the thought of her as the victim.

“And there I go frightening the young girl,” moaned Dax. “My apologies, Miss. Not that they aren’t going to execute you – Baelan likes hanging the best, although I think he recently acquired a guillotine somewhere. But I really must learn to remember my manners and not frighten guests so badly. Here.” He got out of bed, revealing a lanky body and long skinny limbs that made him look like a blonde scarecrow. “Take the bed and get some rest. Don’t worry; there aren’t any bugs left in it. I ate them all, you see. That’s the only way poor forgotten Dax can get any nourishment down here.”

Sarah curled her lips back. She looked at the filthy straw bed, and then at the ragged man in front of her. She didn’t know which bothered her more: that her bed had been crawling with bugs, or that the man who shared the cell with her had eaten them all. Luckily, she didn’t have to think about either subject for too long. After a few minutes of silence, another set of hoofed footsteps came echoing down the hall.

“They’re coming to take us away,” whispered Dax. “Hide!” Without any further warning, he threw the blanket over his head and stood as stiff as a board. Sarah scratched her head, wondering what that was supposed to accomplish. Now Dax just looked like a tall, skinny man with a blanket draped over his head.

The clap of hooves grew louder. In another moment, one of the horse-men guards appeared in front of the door, carrying a bound prisoner with a burlap bag over his head. Although she couldn’t see the new prisoner’s face, Sarah recognized Kay’s baggy purple robes immediately.

“Step back from the door, and sit on your hands,” ordered the guard as he reached for a set of keys on his belt.

Noticing the cruel-looking barbed whip also on the guard’s belt, Sarah decided it was better to do what he said. She sat down on her hands while the guard undid Kay’s bonds, pulled the hood off of his head, and thrust him into the room. Before Kay could turn around or Sarah could stand up, the guard slammed the door shut.

“Dinner’s in an hour. Stay put and shut up.” With those harsh words, the guard marched off.

“Did you see that?” Dax pulled the blanket off of his head and gave a sigh that sounded like wind rustling through dead leaves. “He didn’t even pay attention to me. Nobody pays attention to poor old Dax.”

“I’m starting to think there might be a good reason for that,” muttered Sarah under her breath. She decided to let Dax wallow in his own self-pity for a bit, and then went to attend to Kay. “Are you all right?”

Kay rubbed his aching wrists and offered only a frown. Sarah had to ask him again before he finally answered.

“They took my hat,” he said, pointing to his naked head. “And my staff.”

“Be happy that’s all they took,” said Sarah. Her concern disappeared as she remembered why the beast-men had been able to catch them in the first place. “If you hadn’t risked both our lives just to get that stupid stick of yours, then we wouldn’t be in this cell right now.”

“I’m a wizard. I need my staff.”

“Why? What’s so important about a walking stick?”

Kay stormed to the bed and sat down, not even looking at Dax as he passed him. Instead, he continued his argument with Sarah. “Haven’t you read any of the old legends?” he asked. “A wizard always has a staff. If he doesn’t…well, then he’s not much of a wizard, is he?”

“I’ve read lots of stories myself,” retorted Sarah, “and I’ve never known any wizard to walk around in oversized robes and to risk his life for a stupid piece of wood.”

“Oh, wonderful,” said Dax, standing forgotten in a corner. “All this shouting is giving me a headache.” When he saw that no one was paying attention to him, his face became even gloomier. “Don’t mind me, though. Just keep it up. I’ll be lying here with my brain leaking out my ears.”

Kay crossed his arms and looked at the floor. “I needed that staff.”

“Why?” Sarah wasn’t about to let the argument drop. “What’s so important about a piece of wood? You could have gotten another staff anywhere. Just pull a branch off of a tree!”

“What do you know about any of it? You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about this world,” snapped Kay.

“I don’t need to know anything about the world to realize how much trouble you’ve gotten us into! First you turn yourself into a frog. Then you have us running from an army because of a stupid book. Then we end up getting caught, all so you could look like a wizard for a few minutes.”

“The staff belonged to my father,” said Kay quietly. “That, these clothes, and my spellbook are the only things I have left of him.”

Suddenly, Sarah fell very quiet. Any more words she had to put into the argument died in her throat.

“What happened to your father?” The question came not from Sarah, but from Dax. That surprised both Sarah and Kay for a moment, for it seemed like the old man had been unable to do anything more than pity himself up to that point.

“He wasn’t really my father,” corrected Kay. “He took me in when I was young; I don’t remember my real parents. But he was family to me. He taught me how to be a wizard. But the villagers didn’t trust him. They thought he was a monster who bewitched children and kidnapped women. They stormed our tower, and he sent me out into the world with his spellbook, robes, and staff. I haven’t seen him since.”

Silence fell over the group. Sarah felt herself reach out and touch Kay on the arm. Words grew in her throat, and she finally let them out.

“If it’s any consolation,” she said, “I know how you feel.”

Kay looked at Sarah. His dark eyes had an unusual seriousness to them. At the same time, they seemed to want to ask her what had happened to her father. But Sarah didn’t want to tell that story yet.

The moment was broken by a wailing sob from Dax.

“That is the most touching thing I’ve seen in all my time here,” he said. A determined look fell upon his pale face. “As such, I’ve decided to help you escape.” He sniffed away sentimental tears, and made a snorting noise as he rubbed his nose across his sleeve.

“You know how to escape?” asked Sarah. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

“I didn’t say I knew how to escape,” corrected the old man. “I simply said I would help you escape. More than likely, we’ll all be caught again and tortured to death. But when that happens, at least they can say old Dax did one good thing in his wretched and forgettable life. At least, that’s what they would say if anyone remembers us. Most likely, we’ll all be forgotten after all is said and done.”

He returned to his melancholy self after that speech, and walked with hunched shoulders to the cell’s door. Grabbing hold of the iron bars, he shook them with all his might, rattling the hinges. To go with this racket, he started giving out a loud sickly moan that sounded like all the bugs he had eaten were about for force their way up his throat and out his mouth. He threw himself against the bars and made such a wailing racket that even Sarah and Kay thought he might be dying. Soon enough, one of the beast-men guards came down the corridor to find out what all the noise was. This one had a fat body and the head of a wild pig, complete with fierce-looking tusks that had likely been sharpened for combat.

“Here now, what’s all this racket? Settle down, or I’ll crack your skull!”

Dax did quiet down, but not the way the beast-man expected. In a movement that was almost too fast to follow, he darted his hands through the iron bars and grabbed the guard by the back of the skull. Then he pulled forward with all his might, smashing the creature’s snout against the barred door and running its tusks across the metal. The pig-man gave a squeal and staggered backwards. Dax’s hand darted toward the guard’s belt before the creature could recover, and snatched the key ring.

With a jangle of metal, Dax thrust the key into the locked door and gave it a twist. The barred door flew open, and Dax leapt out of the cell, just in time to face the recovered guard. Shouting an alarm, the guard reached for the sword at his belt, but not quickly enough. Wielding his fists like a pair of dangerous clubs, Dax bludgeoned the guard across the head. Then he kicked the beast-man’s knees, knocking the two short pig legs out from under it. As the guard fell, Dax seized the pig-man’s sword belt, drawing the blade in one deft movement. Then he brought the blade down, hitting the guard with the flat of the sword. The pig-man slumped in the corner, unconscious. He did not get up.

From inside the cell, Sarah and Kay watched in amazement.

“That was incredible!” shouted Sarah.

“Not really,” moaned Dax. He put his hand on the small of his back and gave a loud sigh. “I think I threw my back out.”