"I... I tied him up! I know I did!"
One of the kidnappers said quietly, "He kept squirming like he was uncomfortable, so I untied him..."
"Idiot! He's our target, and you were worried about whether he was comfortable?!"
The Bandit Leader kicked his foolish subordinate, nearly sending him into the bonfire. Pulling a torch from the flames, he roared, "Find him! The Woodland is pitch-black. He can't have gone far!"
They blundered through the Woodland like headless chickens until they burst out of the trees. Fortunately, the moon was full tonight, its light spilling across the winter wilderness.
"There he is!"
A subordinate pointed into the distance, where a shape beside a jutting rock swayed in the moonlight, half-hidden by the darkness.
"Get him!"
The four kidnappers charged toward their 100 Gold Narls.
Martin hadn't run. Instead, he lay across two oddly shaped... steel bars, his ear pressed against one.
"Shh..."
He motioned for the four kidnappers to be quiet. "Do you hear that?"
Without a word, the Bandit Leader hauled him up. One of his subordinates came closer. "What's this?" He kicked a rail, then hopped around howling and clutching his foot.
One of his companions was a little smarter. He picked up a stone and struck the rail, sending a few sparks flying.
"What is this thing...?"
The two straight steel bars stretched into the darkness, with rows of wooden beams set between them. They looked like a ladder laid flat. Strange, no matter how you looked at them.
"It's talking," Martin whispered.
"Ta... talking...?" A timid kidnapper hunched his shoulders.
"Quit trying to scare us. You, get down there and listen." The Bandit Leader ordered a subordinate onto the rail.
He was curious about the strange thing in the wilderness himself.
The subordinate set down his