Olear opened his eyes very slowly. He awoke to find himself bound with what remained of my magic string. My dark aura sword was pointed at his throat.

He began to panic, shaking with fright.

“Hero, please!” Eshami threatened. “He nearly died!”

“I’m beginning to think that he should have…”

“Devon, stop!”

The dark aura slowly faded away, and I extended my free hand to pull him up to his feet.

“Now,” I started, looking the Ark Attendant carefully in the eye, “tell me who this dwarf is and his connection to you, the Ark, Koriya… tell me everything!”

Olear was breathing heavily, and he swallowed hard.

“The dwarf is Ranton, one of Koriya’s enforcers. He was looking for his brother Kaul. He was the one who sabotaged the ship’s systems when we went through the singularity. Don’t know what happened to him, but Ranton thought I had killed him, and came after me.”

“So Koriya had the ship sabotaged in order to destroy it?” Eshami asked.

Olear shook his head. “No, Koriya wanted to take control of the ship. She told me her thugs had found my family! She said they’d die if I didn’t help her take control of the Ark!”

The man was close to tears, and Eshami placed her hands on his forehead to calm his emotions with her healing aura. Then she untied him from the rope.

“Eshami, what are you doing?” I asked, angry.

She only turned and disarmed me with a sincere smile. “This poor man is as much a victim as anyone. He deserves our pity — and our help.”

Olear, finally free, avoided making eye contact with me but saluted in respect. “I’m sorry for my part in all of this,” he said. “But now that your work is done, it’s my turn to lend a hand.”