The first thing that hit Axel was the large amount of pain that was in his head. As soon as his eyes opened, his head began to beat like a drum and a tremendous amount of pain issued, in what could only be described as "The Hangover from Hell". Axel had had hangovers before, but this one ranked on the top 10 most painful. The second thing was the taste of beer and vomit in his mouth and the third was that the room was spinning so fast that as soon as Axel tried to get up, he fell straight down and hit the ground with a dull thump.

Axel decided not to get back up and instead groaned with pain as he waited for his spinning head to stop. After several seconds it did stop and the barbarian rose to his feet and looked around, taking in his surroundings. He was in a dank, damp prison cell... in the corner was his bed which consisted of nothing more than a lumpy matress and a thin cover. There was a sink, and a bucket... which Axel immediatley dashed to and vomited in.

After several seconds of puking his guts (and his meals out), Axel arose and washed his face over before walking over to the metal bars that were keeping him in. On a table was the goaler, who was sitting at his wooden table with his hands buried underneath his arms. There was a groan of pain and Axel wondered if the goaler had also had a problem with a hangover.

"Hey," Axel called out, "Hey, man..."

The goaler looked up, his face red and his eyes redder. He looked groggy and seemed to have trouble looking directly at Axel without his head lolling to one-side.

"Be quiet in there fer crying out loud," the jailer said, "I've got a splittin' headache and I need some quiet. So you be quiet and go back to sleep, and think on what a stupid mistake it was to get into a drunken brawl in Taras..."

So that was what Axel was in for... a drunken brawl. Not his first though, wherever there was booze involved, Axel would normally end up in a fight over something and then he would be locked up. As per usual, his possesions had been taken away and he was alone with only a rag for a shirt and some ragged trousers.

And so Axel walked back to his bed and sat down on it, wondering what next. He had only entered this city a few days ago and had already been locked up. A personal record for the quickest time ended up in the slammer.

"You have got to be insane."

"I beg your pardon? I am not insane, merely a trifle smarter then you. That is no reason to call me-"

A loud popping sound echoed out around the room, the sound coming just out of Axel's range of sight. The sound, which sounded suspiciously like a terribly hard slap, did a good job in silencing whatever had been talking just moments before.

Or at least, it did for a good few seconds.

"That hurt."

A loud growl and impatient sigh was heard, and then both men came into view. The first was a large, burly prison guard, who looked almost like a twin brother of the one Axel was becoming so buddy-buddy with. The second was a rogue of a man, who had the look all about him. Black hair fell lightly over bright blue eyes that darted around with a look that hadn't ever taken anything seriously, not once in his life. He was wearing a bright blue cloak over a green shirt and trousers, quite a bright outfit for what would appear to be a thief. And if Axel was still listening to anything the guard was yelling at the young man, that whole 'thief' idea would be confirmed. The jail door had been unlocked, and the keys put to the guard's hip, but if Axel tried anything, he had a brute close to his own size to deal with.

"I can't believe it. You couldn't get enough, could you? What idiot would try to carry five hundred gold pieces out of town in his pockets?"

The young man made an effort to look thoughtful, and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Your mother?"

A hard punch was sent flying out, which caught the young man in the jaw, sending him hard agaisnt the prison bars that Axel was behind, and bouncing off to slam into the side of the burly guard and down to his knees, hands on the waist of the guard, body leaning agaisnt him to support it. The blow had obviously hurt him, a little stream of blood running down from his lip. He had several bruises and bloody spots on his face already, obviously he had been beaten into submission and on the way here. Perhaps that was why they hadn't bothered to tie or cuff his hands and feet.

Without a word, the guard grabbed him around the collar, sneered, and hurled him into the cell with Axel, slamming the door shut after him. Xendral landed hard on his face, sliding a bit, and simply lying there as the guard jeered at him. After a few moments of this, the guard grew tired of it and tramped over to his headaching ally, leaving Axel and Xendral alone. Xendral slowly propped himself up on his hands, and got into a sitting position, leaning agaisnt the wall and slowly meeting Axel's eyes with his own, a small grin crossing his bloodied features.

"I always had a smart mouth."