The Coffee House

After a long time, Rupert decided he had gone the wrong way and headed back. When he got back he saw Conor staring at the wall.

Conor was relieved when Rupert returned, thus breaking the monotony of staring at a wooden sign that he was unable to understand.

"You probably guessed, but the city's this way," Conor explained, pointing in the direction of the other tunnel. "It's not good, though. That poor dwarf we saw earlier... he obviously did something to antagonise Henrik. Last I saw, he was whacking him over the head with a massive iron hammer . I hope he's okay..."

“I doubt he’d hurt him that badly if he wants more biscuits.” Rupert said with a shrug

"Well, I hope he wouldn't," Conor responded apprehensively. "I've heard that the Dwarvish skull is very robust - but, that was one horrific hammer. It'd certainly crush any elf, for sure! Anyway, I guess we should probably head off."

An hour or so later, when Conor and Rupert made it back to the entrance to Kemmelhearth, they found the town square disturbingly quiet. There was no sign of either Henrik or Runrik - and there were very few lights on in the surrounding buildings. There wasn't even any sign of anybody to ask for directions.

"So... what do we do now ?" Conor asked, with a shrug.

"I guess look around?" Rupert suggested walking on ahead. "I wonder why no ones out? Maybe they're at dinner or something?"

Conor scanned the area, gazing towards the rooftops of various buildings - although, in the absence of light, he could do little more than pick out the outlines.

He found himself wandering aimlessly towards an inn - where an elderly Dwarvish woman grabbed hold of his arm, and dragged him off his feet and straight into the building.

"Don' yer be goin' out alone a' night!" she ordered in a shrill, high-pitched voice, as she slapped him over the head with a miniature wooden version of Henrik's hammer. "A' least, don' be goin' out alone, less yer wan' ter become Zarna's nex' captive!"

Rupert followed after Conor when he saw him pulled into the inn. "Does that mean Zarna's around here?"

"I'm afraid so..." the elderly woman whispered, after bolting her door shut. "Yesterday, she raided during the night... kidnapped a poor girl who was wandering the streets alone... Henrik tried to organise an army to re-capture her, but it was too late... she's gone now, and we don't know whether we'll see her again ..."

As the poor woman sat down on a chair and wept, Conor activated his bell to alert Nestor that that target had been present in Kemmelhearth. It was the first ring he'd received since the beginning of the mission - and it startled him so much that he fell backwards out of his chair, and landed against a suit of armour. Fortunately, he had surrounded this with strategically-placed pillows after a previous accident, so he was unhurt for once.

“Do you know if she’s still in the area? She took the prince of Light a kingdom as well.” Rupert said frowning.

"No, we don't..." the woman whispered, with a sigh. "But, she comes out very night, so we must all be indoors by dusk... I know it seems odd, there's not a lot of light down here even during day... but, Zarna's magic is much more powerful at night... that's why she always attacks then..."

Meanwhile, Zarna was in Jane's kitchen, operating on Chris. She had completely dismantled his fake brain - and therefore, he simply lay flat on the table, unable to move or perceive his surroundings. As for Cara, she was outside - curled up into a ball, and frozen into position inside a titanic block of ice that was almost the size of the entire house...