"Gods! All wrong." Uber muttered, after finished translating the eighth map the caretaker of the Royal Scriptorium of Fatoria brought to him. "Another fake." He was angry. He had a urge to rip it all the map and parchments to pieces. They were all copies.

Rand-Tor's words rang in his ears... {There are people. Some in very high places of authority and power that do not wish for those secret to be known for one reason or another.}

"Gaining of power for ones self and greed are the main reasons, if you ask me, Rand." he thought.

Once again he was indebted to Rand-Tor. The knowledge he passed onto him was priceless. The scholar's touch spell that Rand shared with, more or less branded his translation book onto his brain. With this new knowledge, he rewrote his own translation book.
Hell, he didn't even need a translation book to translate the ancient writing of the Pondor and several other great civilizations.

His thoughts were once again back to the question of Rand and the others. 'Why did he leave them'?

He couldn't lie to himself. He missed them. Gunner was right. He felt like he was part of a family. And being an only child, it was a good feeling.

"It would be so easy to go back to them."

He couldn't count how many times he said this since he left. But he knew what the answer was. It was his pride. His own, selfish, overbearing pride.

"I just can't stand being a number two to Rand. Even though....it's where I belong when I'm with him." Uber sighed in spite of himself.

He took a moment to look around the study area. It was a large room, well lit, with fine marble pillars, hand polished wood floors and walls, with large stain and glass windows.

Uber was sure that this place was something other then a scriptorium back in the days. He was sure they didn't spare gold in the building of this place. He could only guess what the areas that wasn't open to the public looked like. He looked around, noticing all the people, mostly old men, reading, writing or translating. Uber sighed.

"They looked like they belonged in a old closet. Gods! There is no life in them. They move like there zombies. I pray I don't move around like that if I reach there age." He muttered.

He was about to say more when, his eyes caught a pair to his right. It was a pair of teenagers. A boy and a girl.

It seem to Uber that they were brother and sister, with few differences. The boy looked around eighteen, with a wiry frame, much like his own when he was that age. He had close cropped dirty, blond hair, with a pair of gentle blue eyes, that complemented a hard, from jawline.

The girl looked the same age. Maybe a year younger, maybe two. Unlike the boy, she had shoulder length, honey blond hair that was braided and hung over her left shoulder. Another difference was her eyes. Where the boys eyes were blue, her eyes were a sparking green color, kind of like Merc. The only similar feature of the two was the firm jawline.

It wasn't odd for young people to be in the scriptorium. It was the wide eyes look of excitement on there faces that caught Uber's eye.

"That was me not so long ago." Uber thought with a smile. "My eyes had that gleam of amazement. My head filled with thoughts of treasures, and the joy of thinking how easy it would be for me to find them."

But it didn't quite work out for him. He ran in countless dead ends. Paths that lead no where, and countless days of frustration. And he had to thank Rand to show him who was leading him to one dead end after another. This very scriptorium. More like, the people who ran this place.

He couldn't express who much he hated the people here, or the ones who they took orders from. At that moment the boy spoke.

"I give up sis." the boy said with a sigh. "I'm not getting any where with this translation. It's leading me around in circles." Uber smiled. Clearly remembering himself saying more or less the same thing a time ago.

"Are you sure you marked the correct spots?" the girl asked, moving where the boy was sitting.

"See for yourself." he replied, moving the map towards her. After a few moments of looking at the map and cross referencing with the translation book, she put it down and nodded.

"No problem there." she finally said. "Could we be looking in the wrong area?" The boy raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders slightly, saying it was possible.

Uber looked and saw that the two was using a translation book given to them by the scriptorium.

"That's where you should be looking. That damn translation book." he thought bitterly.

He was about to get to his feet and offer to help, when a voice to his left caught his attention.

"Ah! Sir Pendragon." it was the caretaker. "Have you any success in the translation of these particular parchments you asked about?"

The caretaker was an old man, with white hair and a long white beard. Other then the slumped posture, his eyes were clear and his hands were steady. He wore a long Grey robe with Fatoria's crest on it's left side.

Uber felt the urge to throw the papers in the old man's face, but he remained civil.

"No sir,I did not." he said respectfully. "But I'm sure it's just me being tired and all. It's been a long couple of days for me."

He was about to say more, when he noticed the girl coming towards them with the translation book in hand.

Uber was sure what was going to happen. She would ask him questions about the translation book, no doubt saying she was having trouble with it. Then he would offer her another book, which he was sure that it would lead them, to even more confusion. He would know, the old man did it to him a while ago. And more then once.

Thinking quickly, he asked the caretaker for a book he knew that it would take him some time for him to retrieve. Clearly irritated, the old man walked off saying he would be back momentarily. He told the girl that he would help her as soon as he returned.

As the old man walked off, the girl seemed a little upset with getting brushed off like that without getting the chance to speak. Seeing the girl was about to head back to her table, Uber made his move.

"Excuse me." Uber called out to her. "You have a moment?" The girl turned to face him, as he walked towards her.

"What you want?" she asked in a soft voice..

"First I'd like to apologies to you for sending the caretaker away when you clearly wanted to talk to him."

"Why would you do that?"

"I'd be happy to explain, may I sit?" Uber asked. The girl pointed to where the boy was sitting, looking at them.

After they sat down, Uber asked the girl was the boy her brother. She nodded. Uber first thanked them for hearing him out.

"I take it you wanted to speak to the caretaker about the translation book you was holding in your hand." The two looked each other for a moment, then nodded. "My guess is that you are having trouble pinpointing the location on your map. Am I wrong?"

The two still said nothing, but he could see that they were clearly surprised by what he was saying, so he continued.

"You wanted the caretaker's help." Uber said flatly. "See if you were doing something wrong with the translation, but that's not where the problem lies. It is not your translation skills. It is the translation book itself. It's a fake."

"H-How do you know this?" the boy asked "Who are you?"

"My name is Uber Pendragon." he knew what was coming next.

"Uber?" the girl asked. "That's a strange name."

"I know," he replied with a smile. "Sounds kind of stupid when you think about it. But there's history behind it."

"I'm sure there is." the boy said. They all laughed. I take it that isn't your given name." Uber said it wasn't.

"And you are?"

"My name is Nina Cutler. And this my older brother Stephen." Uber reached out to shake the boy's hand.

Moments after the introduction were completed. Uber went into what he knew about the doctored translation book. He first pulled out his own, then asked Nina to hand over the book that they were using. She handed to him.

He then placed the two books on the table in front of Nina. Then he asked her to slowly and carefully compare each book side by side... He asked her check each page in both books at the same time, to see if any of the translated phrases or symbols were any different.

After a few minutes. Nina said there were five differences with in the two books.

"So there is a few mistakes." Stephen said "This means nothing." Uber looked at him and smiled.

"I take it that your new to this. Nina nodded, and told him that there parents were adventures before them. When Uber asked asked Nina about there parents. She looked away and told him that they died searching ruins in the south. Uber sighed inwardly.

"Well, this explains a lot." Uber thought to himself "These kids have no clue what they're getting into." He should know. IT was the same for him when he got into this life.

"It mean plenty, Stephen. Uber said firmly. "You know one mistakes on a map at the least can end up leading you in circles. And at the worst, putting you in the wrong place all together." Stephen nodded. But Uber could see, he hated the fact that he agreed with him. Right there Uber came up with an idea.

"I would like to put what I told you to a test." Uber said pulling out a small bag out from his tunic. "I would like you to go over your map once again. But this time using my translation book. Now if I'm wrong and it leads you to the same place on the map as the other book did, I'll give you two this bag of gold coins, then I'll leave you two alone, never to bother you again. But if I'm right. You two will mostly find what your looking for on the map and you'll have to accept what I was saying is true. So?... Care to try your luck?"

The two were silent for several moments. Was it because they were shocked to speechlessness or was it the bag of gold. Uber wasn't sure. But what ever the reason he had to chuckle inwardly. Finally Stephen spoke.

"How do we know if this isn't some kind of trick to get our map?" Uber nodded in agreement.

"This is true." Uber had to agree. "So how about this? Me and Nina will go though the translation book together, while you move over to the other side of the table with the map. This way you can pinpoint the location on the map without me seeing it. And like I said before, if it comes up in the same location as with the other translation book, the gold is yours."

Finally after some prodding from Nina, he agreed to Uber's challenge. Uber and Nina sat together, while Stephen moved over to the other side of the table with the map in front of him. Before starting Stephen asked a question.

"Why are you doing this, Uber?" He asked looking at him. Those blue eyes seem to bore into him."Are you looking for something from us if what you say is true?" Uber smiled, then spoke.

"Two reasons." he said. "I don't want you to end up like me." The two said nothing. Not sure where he was going with this. "I don't want you to feel the anger I felt when I found out I was lied to. The sick feeling in my gut when I found out the location on my maps were all wrong. And all that time I figured that I was doing something wrong. But it was a friend that opened my eyes to the truth. That there are people in authority and power that do not want the secrets getting out to commoners like us. They can't stop us from find or buying maps. But they can sure make it damn near impossible to find what your looking for. I don't want you to lose that gleam in your eyes That excitement you had when you were translating your map. It was like I was looking at myself years ago."

"And what is the second reason?" Nina asked.

"That's simple." Uber replied. "One day someone is going to ask you for help. If you believe what they say have merit. Give it to them." Nina and Stephen nodded in agreement.

For the next couple of minutes, the three worked slowly and carefully. Uber and Nina taking extra seconds to translate the information to Stephen. Stephen repeating what was translated, then painstakingly following the information that lead him to the final point on the map. After the last translation was past onto Stephen, he marked it on the map. Then his eyes went wide.

"Sis!" Stephen called out. "Look at this!"

"What is it, brother?" Nina asked sliding over to her her brother sat.

After several seconds of looking where her brother was pointing to.

"By the gods!" Nina nearly shouted, looking at her brother. "Are you sure?" Stephen said he triple checked it.

"No doubt it, Sis. Everything, Sir Uber said was correct."

Uber stayed where he was. Letting them see that wasn't showing any interest in seeing there map. But he couldn't help smiling, and picking up his bag of gold coins and placing it back into his tunic.

"So? What are you two planning to do now?" Uber asked, turning to face them.

"What do you think?" Stephen said "We're going to explore these ruins" Uber wasn't surprised. He would of done the same.

"I understand. But there is something I must urge you to do."

"And what is that?" Nina asked.

"Hire yourself a tracker and a sword arm or two for protection. I need not remind you, it can be dangerous." Nina nodded.

Nothing was said for several seconds, then Stephen leaned over to Nina and whispered something to her. She smiled and looked one towards Uber.

"Sir Uber?" she asked softly. "Are your services for hire?" Uber arched his eyebrows. Clearly he wasn't expecting this He took a deep breath before speaking.

"They are. But I think you should go to the guild and hire who you need there."

"Why?" Nina asked.

"Because you don't know me. Stephen could be right and the only thing I want from you is your map."

"Your just saying that." Nina said shaking her head. "I don't believe your that kind of person."

The way she looked at him, Uber wondered if she could read his thoughts. He seem to run into a lot of girls and women that could do that lately. Mentokka, Merc and now Nina. "I must be a magnet to these girls. Am I sounding like Gunner?" He thought to himself, worried. "But why me?" Uber asked.

"You seem to be a fair man. You have knowledge about this, and the sword you wield tells me you can take care of yourself." Stephen said

"And protect others." Nina added. "Will you help us... Please." They waited to here the words.

Uber was feeling conflicted. There was so many things he wanted to do, now that he was on his own. But looking into those green eyes of Nina. It was like talking to Mentokka. He could never say no to her. And history was about to repeat itself.

"Very well, you two." he said, taking a long sigh. "You got a deal. I guess I'm a sucker for a pretty face." He looked at Nina. She blushed slightly.

"I knew you couldn't resist my good looks." Stephen said in a mocking tone and flash his eye lashes at Uber. They all laughed.

The three spent the next few minutes going over where they should meet to talk about there agreement. Uber asked the two of them to keep quite about about this. Too many long ears in the city. With nothing more to say until later. Nina and Stephen rose from there seats.

"We want to once again thank you for helping us, Sir Uber." Nina said, the two bowed with respect.

"You know, you don't have to keep calling me, Sir" The two smiled.

"Well, we could call you 'Uncle', but I don't think you'd like that." Stephen said, his smile got broader. They all laughed again.

As the two walked off, Uber returned to his table, to wait for the caretaker to return.

Minutes later, as the old man returned, he thanked him for the book. The caretaker asked him about the two youngsters that was sitting at the other table. Uber told him that they were having trouble with there translating, so he offered his help. Uber noticed the expression of the caretaker changed form cheerful to angry. But it only last for a few seconds. Uber didn't think about it, after he received the book and the old man walked off.

He took his seat and was about to open the book, when something made him turn around. He looked to see the caretaker talking to a man. Uber wouldn't of thought much about it, but the way the old man was talking and his hand gestures, he was sure he was describing someone.

"Or maybe two people." he muttered.

After they finished talking, the man walked away, heading out of the Scriptorium.

Uber turned back around and thought for a moment. At first he thought he was over reacting. But thinking more on it, he wouldn't put nothing past these people.

"Fake translation books." he thought to himself. "Why not robbery...maybe even murder? By the Gods! Stephen! Nina!"

Uber stored all his belongings into his hip saddle bag, and strapped on his weapon. He was hoping it was nothing. But it was better to be safe then sorry.