Running, looking, panting, dodging, ducking, jumping. Caracus’s mind was racing. He had escaped the horrid walls of Zonu. Caracus was being followed in hot pursuit by a pack of Goblins, armed with axes, knives, spears, swords, bows, cross-bows arrows and of course they had defence of shields and armour. If caught, Caracus would be tortured and returned to his dull life of slavery. He kept on running, the goblins were ten feet behind. An arrow whistled behind Caracus, nearly pinning his foot to the ground. Suddenly, the ground disappeared infront of Caracus. He was falling, falling, falling.
Caracus woke with a start. He was in a room of white. There was a big, blue bruise on his right leg. He was covered in cuts and bruises. The birds chorused loudly outside as they gathered bits and pieces for their nests. Caracus was watching a black bird defending its nest from a magpie when footsteps made him turn around.

It was Nargeg, the wizard. Carucus hadn’t seen him in nine years, but recognised him straight away. They shook hands and hugged each other tightly. “You’ve grown my boy!”. exclaimed Nargeg. “You haven’t changed a bit!” Caracus replied. “By the way, what age are you?”
“272” Nargeg said joyfully, and “still feeling young!”.

The wizard prepared a meal. He made it on the counter top, clicked his fingers and it was steaming, right in front of Caracus!.

Caracus wolfed down the meal,( for in Zonu slaves only got one meal a day), and had room for three cups of fine buttermilk!.

“Well aren’t I the lucky one!” Caracus laughed while enjoying some of Nargegs home made pipe. “It is good to see you again” the wizard said “but it really was of some good luck. You see I was on a walk looking for peppergin (a rare plant used for his pipe). When I saw you lying there, on the ground, I decided to take you in. Later, when I realised who you were, I was delighted I made that choice!”

Nargeg told Caracus lots of news. Funny, interesting, but when he told him where there were, it made Caracus’s day. “We are in Joycens Land” he said. “My home for seven years now, . I’ve only met Joycens once, he is a kind man. Well, he’s not a man actually, he’s a giant. You will see him some day .Oh! We are in the South-West aspect of the Land, seventy-six miles from Zonu.

Caracus leapt for joy. It was so high a leap, Nargeg laughed. He laughed so hard that his skinny belly actually shook. But, they were actually seventy-six miles East of Zonu.

Caracus gave a big yawn, when once again Nargeg spoke.

“Just to test you, I’m going to the Aback Gem, the bar in the village. You must find it alone. Turn left when you come out the gate. It’s only a mile or so. You will have to go through a forest. It’s small, and it’s a good night, so it should be like a stroll. However, there are some nasty creatures in the woods, so if you get in trouble, pluck a leaf, pierce a hole in the leaf, and give three high pitched whistles through the hole. I will be there to assist you pretty quick”.

Nargeg rode off into the night on his stallion Pablo. Caracus began walking. Nargeg was right, the night was perfect. The stars were like candles in the sky, and the moon was watching over them.

After a few minutes, Caracus reached the dreaded Razed forest. He took a deep breath and began to walk in. It was a dark forest. The trees were tall, fir trees, and there was a hill to one side and down hill to the other. Suddenly, Caracus heard a noise behind him. He looked around and on the ground saw a hedgehog. It scuttled off into the trees.

Nothing else came near Caracus. Then, round the corner of the path, about one hundred feet ahead, lay the end of the forest.

Caracus walked; calmed now realising it was only about ten metres to the clearing… He then heard a squeal. He turned to see two red eyes looking at him. It was like a monkey, but about the size of a fox. It then disappeared into the shadows of the trees.

Caracus entered the village and found the Aback Gem. He went in and found Nargeg sitting with a man in the corner.

“This is , Leeron” Nargeg said. He had brown, fuzzy hair, with blue eyes and wore a green jumper and had faded, brown pants and brown leather boots (of what size I’m not sure!) Caracus and Leeron welcomed each other with open arms. They all had a drink, of best ale and a chat, and they were soon all like the best of friends. Eventually they got up off their seats and made their way to the door.

They walked home together. Nargeg walked beside Pablo. He stopped on the edge of Ranzed.

“Pable loves the leaves and buds on this bush” said Nargeg. “I will just feed him for a few minutes. You two can walk home”

Leeron and Caracus began walking; soon however, they bumped into the monkey like creature again, except there were two of them.

They proceeded towards the two men. “Damn” shouted Leeron. “What is it?” asked Caracus. “My sword is in my bag on the horse!” he replied. Suddenly, someone shouted behind them.

“Azaram” they roared. The ground shook. There was a sound like thunder. It was Nargeg. The two creatures fell to the floor, dead.