Raven leaned his shoulder against the thick wooden pole that stood in the middle of the tent. It felt cool against skin that burned half from the effects of hard labor under the desert sun and half he guessed from the growing infection spreading thru the wounds on his back. The intricate lattice of red, weeping stripes aggravated by sand and sun made it nearly impossible for him to find comfort in any position for long. He knew the marks encircling his wrists from the heavy manacles chaining him to the pole had become infected. Their inflammation gave off such heat the metal cuffs no longer felt cool at night. Shifting his weight awakened the dull ache along his left side. Two, maybe three broken ribs he mused. He couldn't be sure anymore. The pain that once made every breath an agony had grown numb or maybe it was he who had. There had been a time he still held out hope that his brother's-in-arms would descend on midnight wings to free him from his captors. Now he only thought of food and sleep. At night he dreamt of curling up beneath the embrace of his soot coloured wings, but the drugs the Elyos kept giving him robbed him of even that. The burgundy coloured liquid they forced down his throat each dawn left him with a ringing in his ears while draining him of his mana and preventing him from unfurling his wings. Raven stared at his palms, worn raw and blistered from pushing the heavy wheelbarrow that had become his entire world. The irony of how he'd fallen into the hands of the Elyos wasn't lost on him... a rock, a tiny little rock and one hyper alert mage. Raven had felt the pebble slide from under his heel, but he didn't hear it hit the ground. The next thing he remembered was waking up in chains. He lost track of how many days they had spent interrogating him, having lost consciousness to many times to keep it straight in his mind. Raven had been well trained though, the only things his inquisitors managed to wrench from him were his blood and screams.
The heat of the day still clung to the air, but Raven found himself shivering. He didn't know if it was from his rising fever or the memories of his ordeal. It was then that she appeared. A vision in white from head to toe. She glided toward him with unearthly grace, her eyes as soft as a Daru. Her slender fingers reached out to his burning brow. Cold as ice they rested there, her touch so comforting he found himself closing his eyes, his head leaning into her hand. She shimmered like the snows of Morheim and he thought for a moment that Lady Triniel had sent this vision to escort his soul to the Aether, until she spoke.
" Poor thing." She said. Her accent betrayed her as Elyos and he glared at her, his golden eyes taking on a menacing glow as crimson as the sun that slowly set behind him.
" So, I guess you are supposed to be a snow clad memory of home sent in some new attempt to coax information from me." He growled, pulling away from her touch. " Or have you come to take me off to some new ordeal beneath this blasted sun of yours? Best be quick about it either way. There is precious little left in me, so I doubt you will be able to wrench as gratifying of sport from watching me bleed. You'll find you have tarried over long, dear. My voice, no longer quite as strong as when your whips were teaching me new songs to sing."
" Neither." She said, her eyes filled with a mix of concern and pity. " I'm simply a tailor, here to take measurements and believe me when I say I mean you no harm."
" You mean me no harm? I've heard those self same words from the lips of those who later laughed as I writhed in pain." He said sardonically. " Your kind knows no greater pleasure than inflicting harm on Asmodians like me."
"Poor soul." She said. " I know another like you who suffered the lash at the hands of my people. I'm sorry. Please know that not all of the Elyos are like those who have hurt you." Lowering her eyes, she reached up into her hair. She removed an ornament and worked at it in her hand. With a faint crack, the pin came loose. A look of satisfaction on her face, she placed the pin in the sand beside Raven. " Here, take this." She whispered.
Raven's eyes darted from Shade to the pin that winked up at him from the sand and back to her with mistrust. Sure that this was some devious plan to kindle in him a spark of hope before cruely extinguishing it, Raven sat as still as he could with the shivering he could not manage to quell. " Take it?" he sneered. " ...and do what exactly, White Wing? Free myself of these so that you can call out to the guards and watch them cut me down for your amusement?" He said extending a manacled wrist just enough to cause his chains to clink softly.
" Poor thing, you've been used so badly." She said sorrowfully. " I do not offer this to see you suffer. On the contrary, I have an idea."
Again his eyes, unable to resist the temptation, moved from her to the object of his possible escape. He could detect no guile in her words nor her manner. Moments ago, he sat resigned to die. Now, he was filled with an intense desire to live. The sun sat half devoured by the horizon and the ringing in his ears had subsided to a barely audible hum. He might, just might be able to scrape together the mana he'd need to conceal himself long enough to evade detection. Wheat coloured eyes glinted almost as brightly as the thin metal rod laying in the sand. Something about her made him want to believe her. Something he could not explain, but wasted little time working over. This was his chance. Possibly his only one. His strength was waning. He knew it was only a matter of time before it failed him completely or he succumbed to the infection that had settled into his wounds. If it was Triniel's will for him to die in this desert, Raven would rather meet that fate free than have it find him in chains. His hand darted out, taking the pin from where it lay almost to quickly for Shade to see him do it. In the space of a heartbeat, the manacles lay open at his feet. He sprang in one fluid movement, pinning the Elyos to the center tent pole, his hand around her neck. The sudden exertion made his vision blur and his head spin. Not wishing to show any sign of his weakness, he placed his other hand on the pole above her head to support himself.
Leaning in close, he breathed into her ear menacingly "...and what might this 'idea' of your's be...?"
Fear flashed across Shade's face as she found herself thrust against the center tent pole, his hand around her throat, holding her there. The Asmodian leaned in so close she could feel the heat from his flushed skin radiating onto her face. He whispered into her ear, his words dripping with malice, but as he drew his face away to look into her eyes, she saw no real hatred in his slightly unfocused stare. His golden eyes instead, swum with desperation...and hope. Slowly, careful not to spook the man, Shade raised her hands to grasp the arm that held her firmly in place. Squeezing just enough to garner a response, she moved to push his arm down and away from her. As she had hoped, he released his hold on her allowing her touch to guide him. " You're free from the chains that held you here. You could take me as your hostage to help your escape." She said watching him closely, judging his mood.
Visibly shocked by her plan, he took a step away from her. What she proposed flew in the face of his personal code. Oh, his blade had never hesitated to cut the throats of any of his targets nor those that stood in the way of his completing his missions, but this? This he was loath to even consider. " No,... no. You have just given me a chance at freedom, risking more than just your own to do so. I could never repay your gift by placing you in danger." Raven said solemnly. Shade stood considering his words. " My kind have difficulty seeing in the dark, especially at this time of day. You could slip away into the night." She proposed.
Raven nodded as she spoke. Then he did something he never thought he would ever do of his own free will. He knelt at the feet of an Elyos. " Raven, Raven ShadowSong of Morheim." He said rising from his knees. " I owe you a debt. One that will not easily be repaid. I owe you my life. You are an Elyos, but I pledge to place you under my protection should you ever find need. I give you my word and my word is my bond."
" Your name." She said. " It's fitting. Shade, my name is Shade."
" You should leave first...Shade. I shall wait until you are safely away before I make my move." He said peering thru a gap in the tent fabric. " Go, go now. Try not to draw attention to your leaving."
She held him in her gaze a moment more, then she walked out of the tent and out of his view.