Chapter 2

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"You can put your weapons away. You won't need them in here." Both of the men were stunned to hear the most beautiful female voice in the world in one of the most treacherous of places. Needless to say they did as she said. A woman with dark skin emerged from the shadows of the cave. Slender and dark, dressed all in black from her neck down. She pulled a black cloak from the shadows and put it on, walked over and said, "My name is Kali. Who are you?"

"My name is ..." Error started to say when Nameless hit him quickly in the side, "OW!? What was that for?"

Nameless pulled Error over to the side, "Error, She's a beautiful woman! Don't you remember how everyone reacts whenever they hear our names?"

"Yeah so?" he replied.

Nameless hit him again, "So do you want her to laugh at us too?"

"Good point."

So they walked right up to her and Nameless smiled and said, "Hi, My name's Ted ..."

" ... And my name's Dan," Error finished also smiling.

She pulled out two blades and put one to each of their throats and then said, "Usually when someone smiles that stupidly when they are saying their names they are usually lying ... So one more time. WHO. ARE. YOU?"

"My name is Nameless and he is Error ... please don't kill us," Nameless whimpered.

"At least not me. Lying was his idea," Error said.

"SHUT UP!" She yelled as she put her blades away, "If I had stupid names like yours I'd lie too." She had sounded like her point against their lying had been defeated.

"Hey! Our names are not Stupid!" Error shouted.

"Yeah," Nameless said backing him up, "At least it's not Kali, or something like that ..."

"What?!" She exclaimed, "At least I have a real name unlike yours. My parents loved me enough to give me a name. I'll bet yours didn't even care to name you," she said to Nameless. Then she turned to Error and said, "And I'll bet your parents had you by mistake!"

"WOOOOOOOOO!" Yes, it was our friend ugly.

"THATS IT!" Nameless shouted having his fill. Nameless whipped out a very special arrow he'd been saving for a while. Near the tip of the arrow was a little bag of black powder, Nameless had received from an old friend quite a while back, with a fuse sticking out of it. Nameless sparked a couple of rocks together lighting the fuse. Then took careful aim and shot him.

KA-BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!

Ugly was no more.

"What was that?" Error asked amazed.

"Black powder," Nameless answered.

"What's black powder?" he asked.

"And how did you make it?" inquired Kali sounding very impressed.

Nameless smiled, and not just because their friend Ugly was no more, but because he was the first to impress Kali.

But then Nameless shrugged. He didn't know how to make black powder, but he didn't want to tell her that. So he lied, "Ah, well you just take a rock, and you grind it down. You use plant juice to ..."

Kali replied with a quick response, "You're lying again, but if you don't want to tell me that's fine."

Error stuck his tongue out at Nameless from behind her, and Nameless made a funny face toward his direction.

Error then wised up and asked, "So what now?"

Kali responded, "You are welcome to stay."

Error quick, excited, and worried, "So, this is your place?!"

"Only at night and only if I am here," replied Kali.

Nameless was getting tired. He remembered being up all day and the night before with that foot thing, running forever, and so on and so forth. So Nameless simply said, "I vote to go to sleep."

"Agreed," nodded Error also tired from the long run.

"Do as you will," Kali said.

So everyone went to sleep. Next day in the evening Nameless woke up, and Kali was gone. And as he thought of it so were his arrows, bows, clothes. Hey he was nude.

"Hey Error. Error? Error!" Nameless screamed finally tossing a rock at his friend's head.

Error woke screaming, "I didn't say anything about no foot."

"Wait, before you step out of the dark, do you have anything?"

Error then screamed, "My sword!"

"Your clothes!"

"My sword!"

"Hello!! Your cloths!"

"My sword?"

And as Error started to tear up Nameless just thought, man, he doesn't have any idea of what is important, and Oh darn it's getting dark again.

"She stole my clothes!!!" Error screamed.

"Finally!"

"Nameless, what are we gonna do?" Error asked.

"We have to find something to wear," Nameless replied.

Error got a look of desperation on his face, then turned toward the opening of the cave. "That will take too long. If we're here when night falls those Uglies will come after us. And if we're here till morning she'll have plenty of time to get away."

"She's already gotten away!!?"

"I'm not a tracker or hunter like you but by the looks of her footprints.... All of our stuff must be weighing her down. She'll be in Greenview, and if we hurry we'll make it before sundown," Error said.

"Hello? We don't have any clothes??!"

"I already lost my father's ring, I am not going to lose his sword as well. Are you going with me or not?"

"Well," Nameless shrugged, "I guess there's no stopping you. And I'm not sure how else we're going to get our stuff back."

"Good, lets get going ...." Error stopped as something in the back of the cave caught his eye.

"What is it?" Nameless asked. As he turned around he saw a couple of big bags that looked like something Kali used for hauling stuff around in. Apparently she left these behind without realizing it. And soon they had three more holes ripped in each of the two bags, one for their heads and two for their arms.

Nameless and Error then started running for the city. The sun was getting ready to set. They started running out of breath but they had done this once before so they should be able to do it again.

They saw the gate just starting to close.

"Run faster!" Error cried.

"I'm trying!" Nameless replied.

They got about two feet from the gate as the doors were slowly closing toward them. The gate was just about closed when Error yelled, "Jump!"

Nameless and Error put their hands up and bent their knees as they crashed into the doors, forcing the gate back open.

"What are you doing? Are you insane??" asked one of the men who had been trying to close the doors.

"If I were you I'd get those doors closed," Nameless said sternly as he and Error got up onto their feet and walked inside.

Several other men joined in helping the two men close the doors much more quickly this time.

"How can you be so cold? Don't you realize what the those things would do to us if they got in here?" The man asked catching up to us as we continued to look around the city. "I ought to have you arrested."

"No I don't know what they would do to you, and quite frankly, I don't care. If I remember correctly.... You left us out there to die last night," Nameless replied.

"Oh ... but your ok now. So there was no harm done ..."

That's when Nameless hit him. Right in the nose sending him flat on his back. Error joined his friend at that point picking the man up by his collar.

"Where is she?" Error asked him.

"Who?" he asked.

"A woman, about 5'5", wearing black, carrying two pairs of men's clothing, a sword, and a set of bow and arrows," Error replied.

"You mean the trader, Kali. She imports stuff all the time and sells it in the market," he said.

"Yeah, she imports things alright. From us." Error scoffed.

About that time the other men came up to us with angry looks on their faces. Error set their friend down back on his back.

"What's going on here?" asked one the men.

"We want our stuff back," Nameless replied, "It was stolen from us last night by Kali."

"That's a pretty strong accusation coming from a couple of ruffians wearing sacks. Do you have any proof?" He replied smiling.

"How about the fact that we are wearing sacks?" Nameless retorted.

"Sorry that doesn't count," He sneered.

"I have proof," stated Error sneering back.

"Where?" asked the man laughing, "You have nothing but a sack, Ha Ha ah aha ha..."

"Here," he said showing them his tattoo on his right shoulder. It was a Phoenix coming up out of the flames. Nameless hadn't seen that for a long time. The phoenix was a mythical creature that men claimed they had seen on the brink of death. But the last time Nameless happened to see that particular tattoo was on the wrist of the man at the bar who told him about the object in the Dark Valley of Lost Souls.

"Oh cool! A tattoo ..." the man taunted sarcastically.

"Well, my stupid friend, if you'd look closely, you'd see that it is my family crest. It also resides on the sword's base where the handle meets the blade."

Nameless gulped, waiting to see what the man would do to Error for calling him stupid. When all of a sudden the man Nameless had hit, Mr. Broken Nose, stood up and said, "He's right! I saw that crest on the sword that Kali brought in."

The other man just stood there a moment then said, "Sorry about that. The market is down this street in the center of town. It will be open just a while longer, and if you hurry you can catch the man who bought your sword."

"Was any of the other stuff sold?" Nameless asked.

"I don't really know. The only reason I remember the sale of the sword is because the man said something about completing his collection, which I thought was really odd. But don't worry if I know Kali she'll be at the Inn tonight. We'll call the guards and have your stuff retrieved for you."

"That's ok," Nameless said, "But if you don't mind we'd like to handle this ourselves."

"Suit yourselves, but we're here if you need us," he replied.

As Nameless and Error turned to walk downtown. Error asked a question that Nameless was starting to ask himself, "That was a nice change of events back there, but why do you suppose they became all nicey nice to us?"

"I don't know. Maybe they really are nice people or maybe ... they did just have a little too much info didn't they?"

They shrugged and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Nameless also decided not to tell Error about his Tattoo until after this was all over. It would only complicate things.

When they got to the square, Error looked startled. He was staring at a man playing cards and talking loud like he was important. Then Nameless noticed Error's sword at the man's side.

"I know him ..." Error said getting an intense look in his eye, "The Great Drake!"

It was then that Nameless noticed the ring on the man's finger, but before Nameless could do anything else, Error rushed ahead and threw over the Great Drake's table.

"What is the meaning of this!" shouted the Great Drake standing to his feet. But before he could get his balance Error pushed him back down and grabbed his sword and put his blade to the man's neck. Then Drake looking surprised said, "Give me back my sword!!?"

"What's wrong, Drake? Don't you remember your most valued customer?" Error smirked. If Nameless didn't know better he'd say Error was enjoying this, but at the same time Nameless was asking himself, where the heck did Error get all of his newfound confidence?

Drake gulped, "Oh, it's you ..."

"That's right," Error replied, "Now give me back my father's ring!"

By this time they were attracting an audience. Then Drake responded, "Boys ..." and a couple of rather huge men appeared from behind a curtain Drake was sitting in front of.

Before they could break Error's body in two again, Error poked a small hole in Drake and said, "Call'em off!" And Drake waved them away.

Drake started to take the ring off when a woman from the crowd spoke up, "You can not take his ring, Error. You have proven to us that the sword is yours, but you have not yet proven the ring is yours. So you can not steal it from him. We won't let you."

This had gone from exciting to weird in about two seconds. Then Nameless got an idea. "What if he gambles for it?" Nameless asked.

"That is permissible," said a boy.

"Okaaay ..." Nameless said eyeing the boy. "So what do you say, Drake?"

"No. The ring is mine and I'm keeping it," Drake replied.

Error looked lost for a moment then came back with, "What? The Great Drake, turning down a challenge?"

To which Drake responded much like clockwork, "The Great Drake Never Turns Down a Challenge!"

"So then you wouldn't want to be called a liar then, would you?" asked Error. The kid did it, hook, line and sinker.

Drake started reviewing the last few sentences in his head then turned beat red, "You tricked me!"

"You bet your sweet petuty," Error smiled.

But then Drake got a conniving look on his face, "I'll play you for the sword ... and the sacks."

Error backed away from him and took Nameless to the side, "We should let this slide. I got my sword back. And he cheats very well. I don't want to lose what we got and we still have to get your stuff back."

"Don't worry about it. Play the best you can. I have a backup plan," Nameless replied.

So Error turned around picked up the table and cards. When the mess was cleaned up, he handed Drake the cards. And they began to play.

Almost ten minutes later, Drake had won.

"Now give him your things and prepare to be arrested for indecent exposure," said a man.

"Just a second," Error said, "He cheated me again."

"Even if that were true, you couldn't prove it," said Drake.

That's when Nameless stepped up behind Drake's table and said, "Perhaps not! But I can!"

Nameless could hear Drake cuss under his breath, but before Drake could do anything more Nameless opened up the curtain and revealed the two henchmen holding an extra deck of cards ready to hand Drake another one. "That's why it's never been proven that you cheat. Who after all, would question a couple of thugs like these?"

Then realizing that was all there was to his plan, Nameless's smile soon turned to a frown when Drake said, "KILL THEM BOTH!"

"OH SHOOT!" Nameless screamed jumping away, towards Error. He raised his sword to defend them as the two mountains of men came towards them. But then as if things hadn't been strange enough, Four townspeople rushed up to Drake and his men and held them. Then three of them hauled Drake and his men away while the fourth came up to Nameless and Error.

"We are so glad you have come to us and proved his guilt. As long as he had not broken any laws we could do nothing to stop him. Here is your ring." Then she took Error's hand and placed his ring on his finger and walked away.

Then the crowd parted, leaving a path between them leading to the inn. "Good luck," said a man, "She is in room 12b."

"Thanks ... I think," Nameless said scanning the crowd trying to figure them out.

As they walked into the inn Error asked, "After we get our stuff back, Do you think they'll let us go and face the Zombies. This town is really weird."

"I hope so," Nameless replied, "Just answer me one thing."

"What's that?"

"How the heck did you do all that stuff back there?"

"Anger, I guess. And after surviving the zombies, Drake and friends didn't seem so ... scary."

That answer seemed logical. But there was something about Error. Every time they'd been in danger Error seemed to pick up more and more skills. Which Nameless figured is normal, but this quickly?

They then came to room 12b. Nameless tried the door, but it was locked. So he knocked.

"Who is it?" came a voice.

Nameless's eyes widened and he looked at Error who said, "Pizza Delivery!"

"What's Pizza?" Nameless whispered.

"I honestly don't know. It just sounded good."

"Couldn't you think of something more realistic like Room Service or something."

Just then she opened the door. Nameless grabbed her arm and pushed her on the bed. Error closed the door behind them and secured the room while Nameless watched Kali. She was wrapped up in a towel, which gave him an idea.

"Where's our stuff?" asked Error.

"Over there," she pointed to a pile in the corner of the room. After taking turns in the bathing room and watching Kali, they were soon dressed. Nameless then picked up Kali's clothes.

"What are you doing?" Error and Kali both asked.

"What's it look like? I am doing to her what she did to us."

"Nameless, those people out there are pretty strict about the law. Wouldn't they nail us for stealing?" asked Error.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Then they stepped out the door and closed it, leaving Kali in her room in a towel and with the sacks. Then they walked to the front desk and gave the clothes to the man there, "Could you have these pressed and clean by the morning for the lady in 12b, please?"

"Why certainly," he said as Nameless handed him Kali's clothes.

As they stepped out the door Nameless said, "You see? Not stealing, merely delaying her for a while."

"Good job. So what now? We can't leave till morning and we don't want to stay somewhere she can steal our stuff again?" asked Error.