Ten fixed his grip on the machete in his right hand, his bastard sword strapped to his back. He entered the stone temple while Veroth waited for him outside.

It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dimness inside. When his sight came to, he saw a figured seated in the middle of the room behind a wooden desk. He approached the person.

He cleared his throat. "I'm here for the Keeper."

The woman behind the desk hardly noticed him. She answered without so much as a glance at him, "He's not here."

Ten watched her continue scribbling on the parchment for several moments. Her long dark hair covered her face from his view, but he fixated on her slender tan fingers that nimbly clutched the quill.

Trying again, in a less hostile tone, he quietly asked, "So…when will he be back?"

"He won't be," she said briskly. "Now if you don't mind…"

She looked up at him, locking her eyes with his, "…I will have to ask you to leave."

Ten had half a mind to hold the edge of his machete to her throat, but the weapon nearly fell out of his hand when his gaze met her almond eyes. His breath caught in his throat as she blinked blankly back at him.

Her full lips pulled into a frown.

"No weapons are allowed here," she told him. He only gripped the handle tighter.

"You are…a resident of this temple?" he asked unbelievingly.

She nodded. "I am one of the scribes here. If you are looking for a Keeper, you'll not find one. He's long abandoned this post."

She shrugged, "Probably already dead if I had to guess. You've come for his head?"

Ten relaxed a bit, knowing she was no threat to him. "Not exactly. I was asked to escort the Keeper here back to the northern kingdoms."

This time it was her turn to be surprised, though she tried best to hide it. The slight widening of her pupils gave it away, but she quickly regained her indifferent composure.

"Well, it seems all for nothing." She hesitated before carefully choosing her next words, "But you may stay as long as needed before your return journey. However, weapons stay outside the temple all times."

He nodded in agreement, feeling exhausted by his journey in a climate he thought unsuitable for living. It was far too hot and humid in the Southern Kingdoms.

A small part of him felt disappointed that he embarked on this long journey and cut through the dense jungle only to find people living in such meager conditions.

Veroth was waiting for him just beyond the temple's front doors. Ten ought to update his travel companion of the grim news.

As Ten stepped out, he caught his subordinate engaged in a tense standoff on the steps of the temple with a shirtless muscular tan man armed with a machete that he held to Veroth's throat.

It took Ten a moment to realize that the man was armed with Veroth's weapon and Veroth was empty-handed. They were both frozen and slowly turned their heads at the same time to see who had joined the party.

A light scent of jasmine tickled Ten's nose. He felt the woman close behind him. As a warrior it was not like him to be so unguarded in an unfamiliar place with strangers but he had easily let her come up from behind him.

"Mithra," she ordered, "Let our guest go."

"Guests don't come armed and refuse to identify themselves." The man snarled and then flung the machete down several steps to the dirt ground sending a plume of red dust into the air.

Veroth, shook his silver hair and straighten himself out and looked to Ten, trying to figure out the situation.

Ten turned to the woman. Now that she stood beside him, he could see her full outfit. She wore nothing but a gray cloth that wrapped around her chest leaving her midriff exposed and loose fitting gray pants. Draped over her shoulders was a thin blue scarf whose ends she let fall under her elbows. Her head barely reached his shoulder.

He bowed slightly, "Allow me to give you our introductions. My name is Ten Wonzigan. This is my subordinate Veroth Trellis. We are soldiers sent by the Northern council. We are, well… were seeking the Keeper residing at this temple and told to safely bring him back."

"We are from the Windward Army. And that's captain Ten. I am his vice captain," Veroth boasted, sticking his chest out.

The woman looked back and forth between the foreign men with her lifeless expression.

She sighed, "That is Mithra. I am Sunniva. We are the only scribes left here. Like I've told your captain, there is not much we can do for you in regard to your task."

Veroth hung his head and muttered, "Why are we here again?"

 &

Sunniva showed the men to the living quarters behind the temple. The wooden house was small but well kept. There were four rooms. Veroth insisted that Ten and him stay together in the same room. Sunniva shrugged and left them to themselves.

Veroth waited until she was out of earshot before berating his captain, "We can't go back empty-handed, sir!"

Veroth only called Ten "sir" when serious matters called for it. This definitely called for it. Ten needed to come to his senses.

The Northern council wouldn't have sent them on this mission only to set them up for failure. This was supposed to be their chance at redemption after their previous mistake.

"We are missing something," Ten scratched at his unkempt beard that had grown out during their lengthy journey.

"You said all they gave you was orders to retrieve a Keeper and a location? That's all? No other instructions or descriptions? We braved a jungle and waded through a swamp to get here!"

As a matter of fact, that wasn't all. However, Ten wasn't sure if it was time to disclose that to Veroth.