They walked a few miles until they came to a gushing river which sloped down the hill, blocking their path. They gladly filled their water bottles and moved on. They were walking on smooth grass, with bumpy hills, one after the other. As night fell, they set up camp. It was a peaceful night. The moon shone brightly, and the crickets chirped. Caracus lay down in his sleeping bag, looking up at the sky. The sky was clear. They slept in the open, but they didn’t mind, for there was no living being in sight.

The night passed quickly and before Caracus knew it they once again began their travels. Soon they reached a grassy hill, and from it they saw in front of them, a valley, with a sort of arched stone. And after it, they could see, valley after valley, and they all had the archways!

Caracus sat down, dumbstruck. How would they pass this? There must have been twenty of them there.

“I think I know what these are” said Uthea, in her soft voice. “These to my knowledge, are the Barrenland Valleys. My father spoke of them once before. He said he came here for business with some strange folk He also said they didn’t seem normal” ( I know what you are thinking, is there any such thing as normal in this story?).
“”I think I’ve heard of this place” interrupted Nargeg. “Tell me Uthea, did your father speak about any road?” Uthea paused for a moment to think; “Then again” she answered “he said something about an old ancient road of some sort……”

“Got it” exclaimed Nargeg, clicking his fingers in the air. “This used to be an old road to Robinion, but it doesn’t seem to be one anymore”. Caracus looked down to the bottom of the valley. Nargeg was right. It was no longer the great road it had supposedly been. The surface was of stony ground with rushes growing all around it. “Well” Nargeg began again, “I have a friend here, in the fourth or fifth valley. He’ll guide us safely through here. The valleys, that is. It may be reachable by this evening”.
“Ahh ”Leeron spoke cheerfully, “You know how the saying goes. Make haste, while the sun shines!!” Laughter rang around the place.

The first valley took about half an hour to overcome. They walked to the right side, where they could see, towering mountains in the distance. The day was calm, and the valley side had flowers which attracted all kinds of butterflies. The flowers gave them special seeds to use for Nargegs potions. Caracus didn’t feel safe, for he kept thinking about what Uthea said, and as night fell, his fear grew. Soon, after a, few hours of passing valleys, a deeply dug path, led the way down one side. “This is it” Nargeg shouted as he led them down the path. It had dried mud and even though the path was very steep, the thick mud sort of made their feet stick to it.

About thirty feet down the valley, there was a door (it was a bit more like a trap door) and Nargeg spoke some funny words. With that, the door creaked, and slowly opened. Caracus listened eagerly. He was curious about these strange folk, Uthea had mentioned. What if they were still here? Then Nargeg called out to them, and they passed through the door.

Inside were tunnels, dug out and, would you believe it houses?! Children ran around playing and some more adults walked about. Dwarfs, men, Elves and even Fairy-men lived there. People were busy setting up market stalls and different stalls selling different things. Caracus was amazed. It was like an underground world! He had never heard of, or imagined or seen anything quite like it! “Nargeg” asked Caracus, “What are fairy-men?”
“Descendents of elves, he replied, “but smaller and they can produce a bit of magic. They also have pointy ears and usually have spears, special made fairy spears. Just wait until you see their army!”
“This place has an army?” was Caracus’s surprised reply.
“Oh yes “Nargeg chuckled, “you never know what might lurk here. The army have been skilled in every deadly weapon you could think of”. Soon they came to a particular house and Nargeg, rapped on the door. “Come in” was the reply.

The door opened to reveal a large room. A fairy man sat at a table. He wore a sort of blue mini wizard hat. He was dressed all in blue with green socks and blue clown like shoes. “Nargeg” he said, cheerfully, welcome, to you and all your friends”.
“Why” the fairy said to Juimar, “that’s a fine whip you have on you master.”
“Thanks” the dwarf replied, and my name is Juimar. What is yours?”
“My name” he said” is Luceros, Good to see you all. Now shall we have dinner?”
“Yes” everyone replied. Luceros dished them all out, steaming jugs of delicious stew, and also provided mugs of ale. After the grand feast, the weary travellers felt much better. “Shall I show you around our Otzale?”
“Yes” they replied, and they all followed Luceros out the door.

Caracus had never seen a place of such intense beauty and peace. There were lamps to light every where up. It was nice for Caracus to be out in the open (well it wasn’t really, but you get my meaning) as it was very small inside the fairy’s house, for fairies only stand about four and a half feet tall. Soon they ventured into the army Nargeg had spoke of.

Caracus didn’t think much of the fairies army because of their size, but he knew they were the army and must have some power. They seemed to very many. “How many are there?”. Caracus asked Luceros eagerly. “They’ve got 200 bowmen, 200 swordsmen, 200 pike men, 200 axe men and a surprise to the enemy of 50 men with spike ball whips” he replied matter of factly.

Suddenly, a sound indicated to Caracus he should hide. He jumped behind a rock. He peered over it to see an army of goblins, with their cruel weapons. A fairy played a drum and the normal townsfolk rushed to their houses. The army got their special fairy sized weapons at the ready.

Caracus drew his knife just in case. He held it tightly. The goblin army charged. There were about 500 of them. “Chainmen” cried the fairy leader. From both sides chainmen lashed out knocking about 10 goblins from each side. The fairy bowmen took aim. The goblins were now twenty yards from the fairy front line. The bowmen fired. It took out many of the goblins. Then the goblins met the front line and the battle began. Swords lashed and axes chopped. Then the chainmen came from behind and began to attack the goblins army at the back.

It was only at that point Caracus and the others joined the fight. “For Carlai, ” Caracus roared and attacked with his knife. He killed all round him with only a cut in his arm to show for it. The fairy bowmen fired again. They mostly found their targets. The fairies were over whelming. “Retreat” ordered the goblin leader to his remaining mere 100 goblins. “Run, Run, Retreat” he repeated in his croaky voice. The remaining army turned and ran. The bowmen fired once more. They took another 20 goblins crashing dead to the ground. The chainmen killed yet more. The last 50 goblins escaped.

“Victory” announced the relieved and proud fairy leader. The army roared in celebration. Then they began to clean up the dead goblin bodies! They piled the bodies in wheelbarrows and dumped them faraway into some exile caves! Within a few hours the streets were clean again.

None of Caracus’s fellow companions had bad wounds. “You know” boasted Luceros to the others “no fairy lives were lost”. A few astounded faces turned to the fairy. “Yes” he chuckled, “their magic means they cannot be harmed on their homeland”.

It was the early hours of the morning now so they only rested for a few hours. When they woke, Luceros (who was now coming on their journey) had prepared Pablo and four other beautiful brown horses.

“Well” he insisted “the sooner we get to Robinion the better”. They ate some bread loaves and set off. The horses were swift movers. Nargeg and Caracus shared Pablo and the others used the brown horses. As night fell they came out of the Valleys and into open air. Caracus now felt safe. Luceros had assured him the creatures in Uthea’s story were goblins and he had seen them before.

After a while the weary travellers came to a fortress with a large metal gate. The fortress was about 50 foot high. They all turned to Nargeg who was the eldest, and wisest out of the group. “This, my friends” he grinned “is the fortress of Robinion”.