The morning came with Solrhat's cornmeal barely touched.  He did
not seem to be complaining about it, as he was moved into a cleaner,
drier cell.  But it was a cell, nonetheless.
	"Are you ready to continue?" asked the magistrate.  Solrhat nodded.
	"The man later explained that we were actually in Cthell, which
was part of Poasia, or Poasia had conquered it, or something like
that.  The men who destroyed the ship were under the orders of
the Poasian government, a council of some sort.  These people,
who were with us, however, did not like the Poasians.  They thought
I was some gift from the Elements, I think, because they had never
had anyone come from across the sea before.
	"'You have proven that the world does not stop at the ocean,'
he said, 'And that is something the Poasians would never admit
or believe.'  He then sent the people around him to fetch food
and water for us.  I sat back down, rubbing my shoulder.
	"'I think it's broken,' said Lovatska.  I was quite surprised,
but I guess whatever allowed us to understand the Poasians or
the Cthellians or whatever they called themselves also let us
understand each other.
	"'Maybe,' I said, 'That gentleman had quite a punch.'  She smiled
and reached over to my shoulder, touching it carefully.
	"'Definitely broken,' she said, ripping part of her silken wrap,
'I'll see what I can do.'  As she got to work, her voice dropped
to a whisper, 'Do you think we can trust them?'"
	"'They are preferable to our other option,' I said.
	"'Could we really be the first foreigners here?  It's hard to
imagine.'  She sat up from her work."
	"'I think you picked the wrong ship to hide on.'  She just laughed
to herself.
	"'Great Vatka, what would the Emporer say?' she mused, standing
and taking a deep voice, 'Lovatska, how dare you discover a new
country?  I'll have you're head!'  I was a little surprised by
this.
	"'The Emporer?  Of Turjin?' I asked, swallowing hard.  She simply
nodded, saying, 'I have the distinct honor of being his eighty-third
wife.  Do you think just any girl can learn how to fight like
that?'
	"'No, I guess not.'  I didn't want to think about it, I mean,
from the Emporer's harem?  More than I wanted to deal with.  At
that point the others returned with the food.

	"Now, and I say this with the greatest of seriousness, there is
no act of bravery greater than eating Poasian food.  I would have
rather been in front of the Emporer of Turjin at that moment.
 They brought us a plate with these giant scarab beetles, turned
upside-down and emptied out, filled with some mashed beetle parts,
and in the center of the plate was a bowl of some syrup with small
particles in it.
	"I neither wished to seem ungrateful or rude, and I was ravenous
at this point, so I picked one up.  Lovatska did the same, looking
afraid.  I dipped it into the syrup and tasted it.  I won't say
it wasn't bad because it was, but the syrup was sweet enough to
kill the taste.  Unfortunately, I made the error of asking what
the syrup was.
	"'Gupmarg juice,' one of them responded.  'What's a gupmarg?'
I asked.  Whatever translated things in my head didn't include
gupmarg.  He just frowned for a second, then looked to the cave
wall and grinned.  He reached out and pulled something off it
and showed it to me.  'Gupmarg.'
	"It was a large mud-slug, dripping with the same slime from the
bowl.
	"Lovatska and I both gagged in unison.  I was about to apologize
to our hosts when another one came in.
	"'Sorighar!' he said, 'Sorighar are coming!'
	"'How many?' one of others asked.  He shrugged frantically, 'At
least twenty.'   Everyone there seemed to panic.
	"'What are the Sorighar?' I asked the man who cast the spell on
us.
	"'Warriors, who used to fight for Cthell.  But now they work for
the Poasian government.  We have to get out!'  He and the others
started for the mouth of the cave, but a number of figures blocked
their way.  One stepped forward, and our hosts all parted for
him to enter.  The bruise on his chin told me he was our friend
from before.
	"He looked at me and Lovatska in strange regard, as if he was
unsure of what to do.  After a moment he said, 'I am Sojirand
of the Sorighar.  And you are my prisoners.'  He then turned to
the others behind him, 'Kill the rest.  They've seen too much
already.'
	"All of Hell broke loose, and in moments, only the two of us and
the Sorighar were still alive.  Lovatska stood before me to fight,
but I did the only sensible thing.
	"I surrendered."