~~~ Gold for Stone ~~~

"The new ruler of General Vizaga's fate now lay in the hands of the Thruns!" came Deatheelia's foul voice.

The auction was over, her plan had worked. Taking full advantage of her situation, Sarah had her golden body melted down and re-forged to resemble a drow blademaiden from the Thrun war. Raven, Linsey and Caedrus posed as Thrun soldiers with Thor acting as their commanding officer.

The bids for Gerad had started at an incredible one-million gold coins and everyone who was anyone was there to compete for the prize. From the Grand Wee Wizard, to drider officials, Duergar, Thruns, Lady Darkrose and even the wretched bone dragon Tremior was there. Amongst them, the Greenskins stood diligently by. Through the course of the evening, Sarah learned that they were there to rescue Gerad, should none of his allies come to his aid.

Posed lifeless under the dark shroud, she cringed at their whispers, "Be ready. We'll have to get him out of here if none of his friends show up..." A bold and honorable action, but it would surely end in their deaths and quite possibly disrupt the ruse of the Gummites.

Then that wretched dracolich... she had felt his presence as soon as he entered, as he had hers. As he sniffed at what lay beneath the shroud, she knew he was on to her, but would he expose them? Tremior was an odd power. While Sarah would seize any opportunity to destroy the blight, he seemed more anxious to use her to his own ends and purposes.

While he remained quiet through most the evening, he did make one attempt to foil their plans. As the bids drew near a closing, standing at 6 million gold, Sarah was finally brought forth and the shroud removed. Several gasps escaped a few of the bidders as they gazed upon the solid-gold replica of a blademaiden, poised with her two bastard swords. It was then that Tremior stepped forward and made his pitch.

"One million gold and a secret..." he offered to Deatheelia. Sarah cringed inwardly, knowing full-well what the secret was. Lucky for she and her companions, however, without revealing the secret ahead of time, his bid was far too low to match that of this statue and Deatheelia questioned the value of his 'secrets'. Indifferent, Tremior left the scene as many of the others now had, unable to match the ridiculously high bids. Jember was of the last to stand against them, but in the end, even she could not match their offer.

"You will regret this betrayal..." she whispered scornfully to Deatheelia as she turned and left with her men. Deatheelia announced the Gummite 'Thruns' as the victor and had Gerad brought out. He had been turned to stone for 'safe keeping', something Sarah was mostly glad for, knowing drow torture to be merciless and extreme.

The trade was made and Deatheelia ordered that Sarah be taken down to the forge to be melted down into something more 'spendable'. It was all Sarah could do to keep from breaking her posture. Her plan had worked and the excitement of having pulled one over on the drow was almost enough to ruin it all. But she remained calm as she was carted off, down several corridors to the depths of the drow lair. The others had been forced to join up with a number of other 'outcast' Thruns. She hoped they would be able to rid themselves of them and get Gerad safely to Elumbrae.

Escaping the drow herself seemed almost too easy and yet was exactly how she thought it would be. The drow who carted her to the forge simply set her down and left, leaving her for the smiths to deal with. Once free of observation, she simply 'came to life', threw the blademaiden swords down and began her long, arduous journey out of the depths.

This plot had been a huge victory for Treegum. It was Deatheelia's plan to use the gold gathered from Gerad's sale to fund her continued war campaign. In one fell swoop, Gerad had been freed and Deatheelia's funds stemmed. It was greatly significant to Sarah on a personal level as well. Suffering defeat after defeat for the past several months, a beautifully executed victory with little-to-no flaws was exactly what she needed to keep her going through the war.

No simple task, Sarah had much thanks to give Linsey, Caedrus, Thor and Raven for willingly walking into a den of pure evil, ready to give their lives for Treegum and Gerad, and putting their faith and trust in Sarah and her scheme.

As she once again saw the light of day and felt its warm embrace, Sarah smiled to herself and made way for Elumbrae.

-~-~-