They quickly placed the Knight on the long table and Lynx approached them with a small tube filled with a colourless liquid. “Sodium thiopental,” he pronounced. “In other words, a truth potion.”
“Rubbish,” James said dismissively. “There is no such thing as a truth potion.”
“While you could be right, Mr Know-it-all,” Lynx admitted, “your vast reserve of knowledge has also made you somewhat reclusive, and you refuse to acknowledge things which you have no idea about or have never heard of.”
James scratched his head. “Say what?”
Lynx finished, “Let me explain. There is no truth potion, but there are liquids, like the one I’m holding, which are very close to serving the same purpose as a truth potion.”
“How does it work?” James asked eagerly.
“It slows the speed at which your body sends messages to the brain. You would not be able to concentrate on any activity. So when someone asks you something, your impulsive habit of lying is subdued and you blurt out the truth. By the way, this is from Earth. A friend of mine gave it to me.”
“Blah blah blah,” the Scavenger interrupted. “Can we just try the serum on the Knight instead of wasting time?”
Lynx raised a finger. “NO! First, correct yourself. It’s not a serum. It’s sodium thiopental. Calling it a serum reduces its dignity!”
“How can a non-living thing have dignity?” Archer asked.
“NEVER MIND!” the Scavenger yelled. “Just give the damn SODIUM THIOPENTAL to the Knight!”
Lynx covered his ears. “All right, all right!” He vigorously shook the Knight and woke him up.
The Knight sat up, spluttering. He looked at Lynx with a scared expression. “Who are you? What do you want from me?” he asked.
“Tell us where Hellfire is,” Lynx asked.
“Never in my life,” the Knight replied.
“Let me complete,” Lynx said. “Tell us where Hellfire is...” Lynx raised the test tube full of sodium thiopental. “Or face this.”
The Knight looked at the serum. “What’s that? You’re going to beat me with a test tube?”
Lynx shook his head. “Knowledge is wasted on fools. Look here, this is sodium thiopental.”
The Knight looked at him blankly.
Lynx sighed and almost spat out the words. “Truth potion.”
The Knight’s face turned pale, but then he scowled. “Do your worst.”
Lynx shrugged. “As you wish.”
The Scavenger opened the Knight’s mouth with his fingers, and Lynx emptied the contents of the serum down the Knight’s throat.
The effect was immediate. The Knight’s eyelids weighed down and he looked drowsy.
“Now, I will ask you again,” Lynx said. “Where in the hell is Hellfire?”
“The Portal of Sawning,” The Knight replied at once, and immediately put a hand to his mouth sluggishly and silenced himself. Lynx swiftly moved to place both of his hands on the Knight’s head and read what he was mentally thinking.
“Thank you.” After a few seconds, Lynx bowed with a flourish. “He is no more of any use to us.”
Almost instantly, the Scavenger knocked out the Knight with a blow to his head.
“Why didn’t you do your head magic earlier, instead of using the truth potion?” James asked Lynx.
“Did what? Come again,” Lynx asked James.
James said, “I mean, you could have placed your hands on the Knight’s head and got to know all his thinking. What’s the use of truth potion then?”
Lynx replied, “Good question! You see, I could have done this before, but the Knight would have misled us by thinking something unrelated. The truth potion limited his thinking capabilities. Then, I asked him a question to drive his thinking towards particular thoughts.”
James nodded in understanding. “Wow! That is cool,” he said with excitement.
“Now.” Lynx clicked his fingers. “As I just explained, I read his thought strains as they flashed in his mind. The Portal of Sawning is in the village of Sawning. There is a huge statue of the Death Lord with a Crown on the head. The portal is in the form of stones at the top of the Crown. Pressing the stones would teleport you to the Palace of Darkness, which is the location of Hellfire. Duh. I know a bit about Sawning. People of Sawning are die-hard supporters of the Death Lord and the Skull Warrior. I will make a portal for you to reach there.”
The portal dumped them on the outskirts of Sawning. A giant statue of the Death Lord, with a Crown on its head, was visible at a distance.
The Scavenger and the children walked towards the statue.
As they came closer, the Scavenger took a running leap towards the statue. He landed on its arm and climbed his way up as fast he could. The others followed quickly.
Once everyone was on the head of the Death Lord’s statue, the Scavenger started pressing the stones on the Crown. There was a hissing sound, and a grey portal appeared. Just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared, sucking the group into it.
They emerged in a big hall. Archer was feeling a sense of vertigo. Overhead torches lit up the hall that had glass cabinets with strange-looking things inside. Archer rubbed his eyes and looked hard at the things.
They were skulls.
The skulls were in all shapes and sizes – from very big to tiny.
“What are these?” he asked out loud.
“Skulls,” the Scavenger replied.
“I can see that,” Archer said indignantly. “I mean, why are these skulls here?”
“People are fond of collecting various things,” the Scavenger said while walking ahead. “I have seen people collecting stamps and bottle caps on Earth. Well, here in the Dark World, things are deadlier. Powerful warriors collect creatures’ heads to show them off. Well, it seems Hellfire is a Collector of Skulls.”
Matt made a barfing sound. “That is so sick.”
The Scavenger nodded. “I agree, but at the same time, I can’t help but admire how Hellfire has removed the skin so smoothly. Look, he has even expertly hidden the wounds of weapons on the skulls.”
Everyone glared at the Scavenger, who shrugged. “Anyway, let’s go further.”
They went past the skulls to a narrow door at the end of the hall. Suddenly the lights
