Kira's Journals

Journal,

I'm not sure I'm ever going to trust people again. When ever I do, people just seem to stab me in the back, no matter what nice thing I try to do.

Our "friend," Hiram, was found missing early this morning, but he wasn't the only thing that was missing. He snuck out sometime during the night, and despite our all-night watches, he managed to get away with our copy of his map. The whole situation is kicking me in the head, because if I hadn't trusted him, I would have kept a better eye on him. Not to mention that if that other copy of the map wasn't made, he couldn't have snuck off without us. He couldn't exactly follow a map he couldn't see, which was why he need our help in the first place.

Anyway, we wasted most of the morning deciding how to go about finding him. By the time we decided to get a guide, it was after sunrise, and people were out starting their morning work. Malorrin and I asked around while Thrak and Gir got the wagon and horses ready. Malorrin and I were directed to a tavern on the east side of the town. We found there a human woman with bright red hair and a whip. Her name is Rayne, and she agreed to be our guide through the trails north east of town, which was where our map showed to get to the temple.

As we were on the trail to the temple, and I was kicking myself for trusting a thief, Gir stopped us. She heard a sound off the road to the left. So, knowing that Hiram could be just about anywhere, including hiding just off the trail, we left the cart and horses and went off the road to investigate. We didn't have to go very far though.

We soon found Hiram in a very precarious situation. He was in a crudely constructed cage, surrounded by what at first looked like just mounds of mud. But it jumped me a bit when those mud mounds started moving. They turned toward us and started moving, but not before I could start my attack. I zoomed straight in and started attacking the first mud thing I could get at. I wasn't protecting Hiram, but I wasn't going to let these things get him before me.

Looking back on it, it probably wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done. There were almost a dozen of them, and I know I couldn't have taken them all, but I was furious and I had to get through the mud men to get to Hiram.

Most of what happened during that fight is a little blurry to me, because I was fighting with anger and frustration in my head. The mud things kept sticking to me and trying to cover me in their muddy bodies, which was really very disgusting. It was a pretty gross fight, but I managed to beat them down and get the sticky, nasty mud off my arm.

After the fight, we made our way over to Hiram's new home. At least, that's the way I would have had it, because I refused to let him come with us again. Malorrin made it a point to get our map back first, which Hiram tried to lie his way out of, saying he didn't have it. After Malorrin threatened him with a fiery death, however, he was quick to hand it over. But he still tried to get out of his punishment by saying that he had greed problems. This wasn't totally unbelievable, as it was probably his greed that had Steel on his tail in the first place.

Once we had the map back though, I was getting ready to leave Hiram to the beasts in the forest, but Gir refused to leave him defenseless. Looking back on it with a clearer head, she was probably right. He didn't really deserve to be left there just for stealing a map that we got back safe and sound anyway. I was just mad because I was played for a fool again. I'm just a little tired of people betraying my trust.

Anyway, after a few minutes of bickering, we finally decided to tie Hiram up and take him with us in the back of the wagon. We had to borrow Rayne's whip to get him from the cage to the wagon where we had the rope, and I'll bet he didn't like that too much. Rayne's whip isn't exactly made of silk. That was probably punishment enough for him. But I am definitely going to keep my eye on him. I think I'll ride backwards on Thrak's shoulder, not only to watch Hiram, but to keep an eye on the road, just in case Steel somehow finds our trail. I would trust that she's rather determined to find our “friend.”

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