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ten, payment from someone calling their self
The Messiah.  The other nine had already been shipped out it had seemed.
 What the payment was for, it did not say.  Above and beyond the
coins was the armor I found, at the time it was the most beautiful thing I had
ever seen.  I do not know who it was made for but it fit me like a glove.
 If I ever find who made it, I owe them a great deal of debt as this armor
has saved my life, countless times.
     " I cannot open this without more study. We
need to return back to town ." We all had things to tend to and things
to mend. We had some good information for Turk.  We had clues for smarter
heads to think on. I had my armor and a chest of gold to take account of.
 Oh and Hetaron had that stupid rug he wouldn't shut up about.  I
thought he was crazy at the time, flying carpet.  Who ever heard of such a
thing?  Today I can say it is a wonder to behold but you truly have to be
an insane wizard to use it.  I remember coming up that stair well for the
first time in three days being the happiest man alive.  It wouldn't last
long.  It wouldn't last long at all.
     The city had started to come alive as we were riding
into town.  A new day, new coin, it was a new me.  I told the others
that the first stop would be the inn to get all of the stuff we left behind. We
were going to some place different, some place nice.  Some place that was
clean.  No one argued with me.  I was leading the way, I could hear
Hans and Hetaron talking of something.  I didn't think it was important.
 People in the streets were speaking in those hushed tones again. I didn't
notice and if I did, I wouldn't have cared.  That was when I heard the
terror in Hans’s voice for the first time, when he rode past me, telling me to
hurry.   "We have to get to Turk!" It startled me just a
bit.  We did get to him but not at his office but closer to the office of
Captain Nikle.  Outside of the city jail was a large squared off
area.  In the center of that area was the hangman’s gallows.  It was
in this area that people would come to see public executions.  This
morning, the house was packed.
        
Still mounted on my horse I could see Turk on the other side of the gallows.
 He was alone, his face a mask of stone.  A hooded man stood on the
gallows, checking the ropes.  Checking the trap door.  Once he was
satisfied he stood and waited.  The executioner stood still, watching the
door of the guard post.  Knowing his next job was coming.  A large man,
huge axe hanging from his hip.  As he waited he kept reaching down to
touch it.  Almost as if he hoped to use it.  My eyes kept shifting
between him, Turk and the door they were both watching.  Then came the
horns.
         One single
long tone sounded in the air as a hush fell over the gathered crowd.  The
door to the guard house opened and two lines of the city watch came marching
out.  They were clearing a path to the gallows for the condemned.
 Then came the man I had met only a few days before.  Hogan, from the
king’s guards.  He was bound and gagged being pushed forward by Nikle.
 The crowd began to throw stuff at him.  That was when I felt the
pull on my foot.  I looked down to see Pare, white as a ghost. "Please
tell me I don't have to watch Darmot, please I can't watch." I pulled
a few coins out of my pouches and told Pare to return to the inn, pay our bill
and to gather our stuff. Pare ran off as if the dark lords had been chasing
him.
        
"On this day, by the order of King Roderick this man will be put to death
for the crimes of murder and treason against Arcadia." Nikle seemed
pleased with himself.  It was as if he was happy to carry out this order.
 Nikle placed a black hood over the head of Hogan and then the rope.
 The crowd was cheering when Nikle gave the signal for the lever to be
pulled.  I felt as if I was falling with him as I watched him drop.
 I could feel the pull when he reached the end