The Ashen Ring

The Brand left him with the two prison guards. One of them circled around him, he followed with his eyes. The other guard punched him in the stomach, Rothox doubled over playing the part. The blow didn't bother him grateful for the many hours taking punches from Harim.

"You filth." The guard in front of him punched him again. The one at his back pushed him forward towards the large door. The guard who had punched twice now stepped aside and pulled a lever, the large door rumbled into the wall revealing a small cube room.

"Inside." The one at his back forced him into the small, perfectly square room.

The two guards stepped into the room with him. On the door side wall was another lever. The guard pulled it and the door slid shut. Once it was sealed the floor shifted and started to descend. The lift went deep into the earth, gradually getting warmer and warmer. It stopped moving and without pulling anything the door opened. Thick hot air greeted them from the large canteen room beyond the door. There were dozens more guards in the black and red armor. A couple more decorated looking guards sat at desks and there were a few long tables for guards to eat at. A handful were seated now. However, all of this was elevated above where Rothox was brought out. He walked in a trench down the middle of the room, being led and followed by the same guards. At the halfway point in the room were two staircases going to either side. Four more guards came down and created a square around him. The original two turned around and went back to the lift.

At the far end of the trench was another hallway that led to the right. The tunnel hallway was slowly getting even warmer, and Rothox could see a red hue at the end of it.

What Rothox saw at the end terrified him. The prison's name made sense to him now. A giant metal and stone ring jutted out of the wall suspended over the bubbling magma inside the volcano. The entire platform, attached to the wall by cables of rope and metal. One metal bridge connected to the ring of narrow catwalks. The ring is open to the burning steam, ash and air from the volcano. Each cell is an individual box that circles the outer side of the ring. There is a smaller inner ring that houses only a small amount of cells for the worst criminals.

The guards walked over the narrow bridge, a guide of chains the only protection against taking a lava plunge. They went to the left and led Rothox along the metal ring, he passed by four iron cubes before they stopped, each one before had a prisoner. Two of them stood up to see the new addition, their ash covered hands grasping the thick iron bars. The other two remained on their small beds only turning their head to catch a glipse of the new guy. The front guard removed a key and opened the metal metal gate. The two behind him shoved him inside. The metal was hot, just shy of burning. One of the guards unlocked his manacles and the other pulled the gate closed and locked it with a click. As it clicked closed Rothox's disguise faded. Luckily he had his back turned to the guards. The cell had some sort of dispel charm around it, making any illusionary magic fade away.

"Welcome to your new home," a guard laughed. "You'll hate it." The guards walked away, their feet clanging on the metal walkway.

Rothox's little cage had iron bars that faced the inside of the ring with the rest of the box made of iron. There was a small bed, a wooden bucket and a small barrel of simmering water. The heat was unbearable, he couldn't imagine being in these cages for years. He sat on the bed and waited for Julius to contact him, they would be in for a shock when they saw this place.

Julius looked over the edge into the glowing ash and smoke below. Alissa and Harim stood beside him with Erigos a few paces back. It was dark out, they had used the darkness to sneak up to the edge of the crater. The gondola, a few hundred feet to their left, was heavily guarded. These guards constantly patroled the edge of the volcano with access from the city. The Sect had to wait for an opening to get to the rim. He was nervous but with Rothox now in prison and to be executed he had no choice.

"Julius, try and see if you can find anything that could be a part of the prison. It should be on this side of the volcano."

"What if I can't?"

"Then Rothox is on his own somewhere underground. I trust in the rumors, there is something down there."

"Alright, here it goes." Julius could see a duo of guards beginning to make their way towards them on their route. He nodded to Harim and dove over the edge. He kept his wings tucked to plummet faster. As he entered the ashy smoke, it obscured his vision. He opened his wings billowing the smoke around. It was hot and the air tried to push him up. Slowly Julius began to fly down, with each flap helping see better. The lower he went the clearer it got until he burst through the cloud to see a bubbling magma far below and above it a large ringed structure on the side wall. 'What is that?' he thought.

Gradually Julius coasted lower to where he can make out the structure. It was a giant metal and stone ring, with cages around the outside and along the inside of an inner ring. 'This is the prison'. He didn't risk flying any lower just yet as he saw guards, carrying large crossbows walking along the catwalks. Julius had his information, he looked up and propelled himself back into cover.

Harim watched the birdman dive away before he and Alissa creeped back into cover behind a few large volcanic boulders where Erigos was waiting.

"Now we wait."

They didn't have to wait long as Julius emerged a few minutes later. He's skin and clothes covered in a thin layer of ash.

"You won't believe it," he said as he snuck over to them.

"What did you see?"

"It looked like the entire prison was suspended over the lava."

"Wait…the whole prison is inside the volcano?" Harim pulled Julius close as two guards walked by.

Julius waited until they moved on. "Yes. I saw these boxes of metal, I assume the cells, wrap around this giant metal ring. I think the prisoners are inside these iron things."

"Okay…this might be easier than I thought."

"How so?" Erigos asked.

"We can just fly down and grab Rothox once he has freed Trixia."

"It might not be that easy, there were lots of heavily armored guards and how is Rothox going to know which cell she is in?" Julius was uneasy, unlike the others he hadn't experienced anything this risky before.

"Julius, can you reach out to him?" Alissa asked

"I can…" He looked at Harim for confirmation.

"Do it."

Julius closed his eyes, waved a hand and began to speak, "Rothox, this is Julius, we are at the edge of the volcano. Can you break out and find Trixia? We found the prison." He waited a second and heard back, in his head.

"I am locked in a cell over lava, could maybe break out by using the cloak to find Trixia. Could get messy. Do you want–" The message cut off, the magic only allowing for a certain length of conversation.

"He is in the prison, not a holding cell."

"How did that happen? They should have placed him in a holding cell first, shit." Harim was unhappy. "It might be easier for him to find her now but breaking out will be harder, hmm."

"Harim, he wants to know if she should try and break out now?"

"Let's do it, we don't have much time. Julius, can you make us fly?"

"The spell only lasts an hour so once I cast it we have to move, are we ready?"

"Let's do it."

Julius summoned the arcane energy and gave Harim and Erigos the ability to fly. They felt their bodies grow weightless and start to hover over the ground. Erigos grabbed Alissa and placed her on his shoulders. With the coast clear they all rushed to the edge. Harim jumped, Erigos hesitated slightly, a memory of the last time he had carried Alissa and jumped.

"It's okay Eri, you got this." She squeezed his neck, he took a quick breath and he jumped, plummeting through the steam.

Julius went last, double checking no one had seen them. He contacted Rothox before leaping back into the volcano. "Rothox, now."