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I woke up at the sound of the wolves howl. I check my watch, 3 am. Perfect. I extinguished the fire I made, since the deserts are known for being extremely hot in the day, and extremely cold in the night. I walked towards the secret opening,looking around in case some desert thieves are still outside. Seeing im not being followed, I recited the magical words and entered the cave. This time, there were no guards. Figures. I gripped onto my 22. revolver harder, scared of the torturous death I might have to endure if i'm caught in this place. The narrow cave seems to be echoing the sounds of the tortured slaves Sahim is known to keep. As I go further inside the lair, the wet and mossy narrow cave slowly turn into smooth pavements. "Almost there" I keep whispering to myself. The pavements than slowly arched to form a hallway, with doors on the sides of the wall. I listen as the screams of the slaves filled the room. Then, I my eye caught a glimpse of a guard. I hastily took out my revolver, but did not pull the trigger when I saw the guard was asleep. I can use this to my advantage.

I crept up to him as silent as I could, making sure not to wake him from his slumber. Slowly and carefully I crept, and crept, until I was so close to him I can smell the heavy scent of dried blood and sweat. Obviously this one never bathed. I took his keys, and went to one of the doors. I saw a weak man, seemingly blind because he kept saying "please no more... no more". I left him. I went to the next door. I saw nothing but rats and bones. Probably best to leave that one behind. I crept up to the next door, and finally found someone that might be of some use to me. He seemed confused by my arrival, since im not wearing the guards usual desert clothes. I asked him if he has full control of his limbs and if he could see and hear fine. He nodded. Yes, maybe I can take him. I asked him if he would like to join me in my raid to kill Sahim, and warned him that he may be given more stricter punishments if he was found with me. He seemed to be not caring about where he'll end up, as he replied a determined yes. I unlocked his cell door, and told him to wait there for a moment. I knocked out the guard, and took his weapon. He had a scimitar with him. I gave the boy the weapon, and asked him if he knows how to slice people. He said he served in the Royal Guards for 2 years and knew very well how to handle each weapon he has ever laid his eyes on. I picked a good sidekick.

I told him that should he ever doublecross me, I was'nt hesitant on killing him. He answered, "Why should I double cross someone whos gonna die anyway?". His words creeped me out. We continued down the hallway, and came to a junction. The sidekick, who prefered to be called X told me that he has been here before, and should never turn left, since it leads to the guards bedroom. We headed right, and saw more doors with slaves in them. I felt a chill down my spine as I passed one of the doors. It was dark, and the door was stained with a lot of blood. It had scratch marks all over it, and I kept reminding myself that it might just be a wolf. I told X to hurry up. As we scurry along the hallway, suddenly I hear footsteps. It seemed like it came in front of us. Much to our surprise, the hallway ahead of us was foggy. So we decided to hide. In choosing battles, always choose a battle that you are sure to win. If the enemy is unknown, the best thing to do is hide. We took separate cell rooms that were empty. We waited for a few seconds as the footsteps became louder and louder. I tried my best not to make any noise. X looked very scared. Suddenly, a figure passed us. It was a desert thief, as seen from his clothes. He had a morningstar in one hand, and a longsword in the other, indicating that he is an experienced fighter. Wishing to conserve ammo, I ushered X to leave him be. We came to another junction, and followed X's instincts to go right. We silently passed through endless hallways, and it seems that Sahim's lair is more of a maze. It became a problem if we had to escape. So I told X to stop for awhile, and I took out a chalk piece. I drew a circle on one of the walls, and told him that if we had to escape, we will use these markings as guide. X thought it was a brilliant idea. We continued on, avoiding as much guards as possible.

Somehow, I had a feeling that we should've turned left. It looked like we were going round and round, if not for the chalk markings, I wouldve gone mad. Then, we turned to a different looking hallway. It was not paved like the ones we passed through, it was paved with marble rocks. This had to be Sahim's whereabouts! I told X to stay on guard, as this place should be crawling with guards. I gripped my revolver, vibrating in nervousness with each turn I made. Suddenly, I saw 3 guards. As I said, 3 is easy. I shot 2 guards, and X took out the 3rd guard. But what we hadn't expected was that the guards had back up. 5 more guards appeared behind where we took out the 3 guards. I urged X to run and lose them, but he insisted that we stay and fight. Looking at my ammo cache, I reloaded my revolver and took out 2 guards. X was in a fight with 1 of em. 1 of the guards sprinted towards me, I had to dodge his attacks. As the only weapon I had was a revolver, I jumped towards one of the dead guards and took his weapon. A dagger. Great.... The guard. holding a battle axe lunged towards me, intent to kill me. I side-stepped and felt the whoosh of air beside me as he fell. I stabbed his back, and cracked his neck. X had already killed his foe and was going onto the last surviving guard. He seemed to know what he was doing. With the last guard taken out, I took a deep breathe of relief. I took a second look at X, and saw that his face was calm.2 years? more like 20. I pat X's back, thanking him for joining me in killing Sahim. He would rather be dead than endure years of pain and torture. He told me that it be best to move as quickly as possible since the smell of the dead guards will attract more of them. I agreed and we went off, leaving the dead bodies. As we turned to the left, we opened our mouths in awe...