Jelune kept himself camouflaged as he ran as quickly as he could towards Lor'Danel. He stuck closer to the edge of the forest that was near the sea. It was easier for him to move there. Sabine, whose coat wasn't as white anymore, kept pace with him. Their former mounts, however, were gone. They provided enough of a distraction though for Jelune to make his escape. With Ileeya somewhere ahead of him he grimaced at the thought of the sentinel. If she was alive, she wouldn't be by the time the orcs finished with the sabers. After what seemed like an eternity, the hunter finally arrived at the newly-formed town, rushing towards the inn when he didn't see Ileeya right away. He had to catch his breath, and motioned for the innkeeper to give him something to drink. A quick swig of the mug of water and he was finally able to inquire about his sister, so sure she would be here. When Innkeeper Kyteran told him she wasn't there, Jelune slammed his fist on the counter, letting out a kaldorei curse.
Jelune quickly turned and ran back out of the inn and spotted Ranger Nal'Shea coming towards him. The hunter blurted out everything that had happened as soon as he reached her, but the ranger shook her head and told him to slow down because she could hardly understand him. He then reiterated his tale more slowly and ended with, "and now Ileeya could be captured, or..or.." He cut himself short, not wanting to think of the second option.
Ranger Nal'Shea quickly gave orders for five of her sentinels to follow her and Jelune back to the spot on hippogryphs. As they flew back, Jelune kept his eyes peeled for Ileeya just in case he had missed seeing her among the trees, but she was nowhere in sight.
...
"Where is he?" The blood elf asked the question as soon as he and Ileeya returned to the place where Ileeya had been gathering herbs. She didn't understand what he was upset about because he had spoken orcish. But, the first thing she looked for was Jelune. She didn't see him anywhere. He escaped. A wave of relief washed over her. But a tug on her rope brought her back to the reality of her own predicament. The sin'dorei and the orcs were in some sort of argument and Ileeya wanted to just run away and hide from the glares the orcs were giving her. She could only guess they were upset about Jelune getting away.
The two orcs made a sudden move towards Ileeya and she backed up, but only a couple of steps as the rope was not very long. The first orc reached her and pulled on her green hair asking her a question in orcish. Ileeya tried hard not to whimper and couldn't help but fear the orc was going to bite her head off. The blood elf's voice came from behind the orcs. "He wants to know where the hunter is." Ileeya shook her head ever so briefly, which the orc seemed to think was her refusal to answer. "I don't know! I DON'T KNOW!" She cried over and over until the sin'dorei translated for her. The orc let her go in disgust and gave what sounded like an order to the small group. The orcs glanced above them and began to gather their weapons and other belongings.
The elf turned to Ileeya, looking in her eyes. "We're leaving." His hand touched her temple and he uttered a word in Thalassian. The world faded away as Ileeya suddenly fell asleep.
...
"We're almost there!" shouted Jelune to the ranger. He prayed to Elune they would be in time to save Ileeya. As they arrived, Jelune could see the dead orc and sentinel, but no others. The survivors were gone and with them, possibly Ileeya. The ranger motioned for the party to land and they did as she asked. She surveyed the area and searched the ground motioning Jelune over. "Can you track?"
Jelune blinked. In his panic, he'd temporarily forgotten he could do that and forced himself to nod his head. He hoped Nal'Shea couldn't see his skin darken in embarrassment as he began looking for tracks where the orcs went. They walked for awhile before he started to notice how much fresher the tracks he was following were. They were catching up! He could barely contain his eagerness to rush forward. Even a greenhorn like himself knew better than to just rush in among enemies. Shortly, they came to two orcs moving south through the trees, carrying a few bags of items most likely pilfered from the Auberdine ruins. There was no sign of Ileeya. Ahead, Jelune could see a boat on the beach. So that's how they had gotten there. He and the ranger made hand signals to communicate. They wanted the orcs caught alive for questioning.
On her signal, Ranger Nal'Shea rushed forward, shooting her bow to distract the two orcs. Jelune followed suit and the two orcs turned swiftly around. Raising their axes, they gave a warcry and charged the ranger and hunter. Had they continued with their charge, they would have gotten at least a good swing in on the two elves. However, Nal'Shea's and Jelune's distraction worked perfectly as the five sentinels, still on their hippogryphs descended down on the charging orcs, the hippogryphs sharp talons quickly attempting to tear at the two raiders. Surrounded, they had nowhere to run, but they still fought for all they were worth. The orcs were determined to not be captured. In the end, one orc was captured, only because he had been knocked unconscious by a blow to the head by the back hoof of a hippogryph. The other orc had been killed.
"Tie him up and put him on the back of your hippogryph," Nal'Shea told one of the sentinels. "Take him to Darnassus. We'll heal his wounds and question him there."
Jelune glanced from the orc to the ranger shaking his head. "We need to question him now! Here! I need to find out what happened to my sister!"
Nal'Shea gave the hunter a hard look. "I warned you not to go out here in the first place! We can't interrogate an unconscious orc! He's barely alive as it is. Let the priestesses do their job. They can heal him...then interrogate him. They have ways of learning things even if the orc doesn't want to cooperate. Now, out of my way!"
Jelune watched her walk away and he growled in frustration. She was right. He cursed and went in search of his mount. There was no other choice.
...
Ileeya felt the breeze on her face and a gentle rocking motion. She was leaning on something hard. Did she fall asleep outside again? She opened her eyes and nearly fell off in surprise. She was riding on a wyrven. Her hands were bound and there were two strong arms on either side of her, guiding the creature. In a flash, it all came back to her. The herb gathering, the attack, fleeing, and finally allowing herself to be caught.
"You're awake," the voice of the blood elf rumbled behind her. "Good. Now you can keep yourself balanced." She sat still, not liking her situation one bit. The overwhelming terror she felt earlier had toned down, but she was still scared and knew the terror would probably return. Ileeya glanced around, unsure of where they were or how long they had been flying. The first thing to come to mind, of course, was escape. She had time, it seemed. The sin'dorei wasn't very talkative, which suited her just fine. She tossed around ideas of how to get away. None of which would work while they were in the air. But she at least had a plan for once they landed...provided they landed somewhere other than a major horde settlement.
It was a couple of hours later when she felt him guide the wyrven down and she glanced down to see an orc settlement nestled in some woods. Hmm...IF she could get away from him, and IF she could reach the forest, she could hide in the shadows. It wasn't much of a plan, but she had to try. She studied the area below as they began to land and mapped out her escape route in her head. Just as the beast landed, with her fearful heart pumping adrenaline, Ileeya cast a quick spell upon herself and sharp thorns grew out of her skin, surprising her captor. Feeling him automatically move away from her thorns, she quickly jumped off the wyrven and ran towards some crates piled on top of each other beside a building. An orc guard rushed towards her and she cast the second spell that she knew. The guard found himself surrounded by roots and he had to use his axe to try and free himself. This bought Ileeya a few seconds. She jumped on top of the crates and pulled herself up onto the roof of the orc building. Just a few more feet and she can jump over the wooden wall and into the trees beyond.
A blast of cold caught her unawares and she suddenly couldn't move her feet. Ileeya fell forward, using her still bound arms to break her fall. What happened? Why can't she move her feet? She rolled onto her back and glanced down to see her feet literally frozen in an ice block. The sin'dorei flew up to the roof. He and the wyrven landed next to her. Her captor had nicks and cuts over part of his face and arms from the thorns, and he didn't look happy about it. The mage jumped off the animal and leaned close to her, anger clearly written all over his face. "There's no escaping me." His voice was a low hiss. He grabbed her hands and lifted her into a sitting position. "Never!" He paused for emphasis. "Never try to escape again. Or I'll be forced to use more than just a trap to stop you!"
Ileeya could only sit in fear. She couldn't even nod or shake her head. What in the world made her think she could escape a frost mage? The orc she had rooted earlier finally freed himself and ran enraged up the crates and to the roof. The sin'dorei shouted to him in orcish, probably telling him he has her under control again. The orc didn't seem to care. He apparently didn't like being rooted and missing out on the chase. A voice from below stopped the orc. From the sound of it, a superior. The unrooted orc gave a growl and turned around to climb back off the roof.
As she watched the orc leave, Ileeya felt something be put around her neck and her eyes flew back to the blood elf as a part of her started to feel a little bit weaker. "No more thorns or roots or whatever else you may have up your sleeve, kaldorei." Ileeya's hands flew to her neck and felt what seemed to be a plain metal collar with a single jewel embedded in it. The mage tapped the jewel. "That keeps you from doing any magic." Without preamble, he lifted her over his shoulder and jumped off the roof, casting a spell to slow his fall. The mount flew down to settle in with other wyrven near what she assumed was the horde flight master.
She was lead into a building, up some stairs and into a room. Ileeya glanced around nervously. She didn't know what to expect and eyed the sin'dorei with caution. He had thrown his bag onto a table and then conjured some food and water. With barely a glance in her direction, he threw some of the bread in her direction. Ileeya didn't bother to even try to catch it. Instead she just stood there staring at him as he sat down on a chair and crossed his feet to rest on the seat of the other chair. He looked at his prisoner, studying her. "I don't care if you eat or not," he said with an air of indifference. Ileeya looked at the bread which had fallen on the floor next to her. Her stomach growled, but she was loathe to pick it up. The mage gave an amused grin as he chewed his food. Ileeya thought about it for a few minutes, then with a glare in his direction, she reached down and picked the bread off the floor. She examined it and brushed off any dust that may or may not have been there, then proceeded to eat. She ignored her grinning captor.
After a long time of silence, the blood elf began to examine his fingernails and said nonchalantly, "Tomorrow we head to Ratchet and will take the first boat to Booty Bay. It'll take a few days of travel, but once we are there, I'll sell you to the highest bidder and be off with my gold." He looked rather pleased with himself. Ileeya glanced at the door, but didn't dare try to escape. She was too scared of what he would do should she fail.
The mage then stood as a knock came to the door. Opening the door, there was a short, but intense discussion with an orc. The green-skinned orc glanced in her direction with a distrusting glare as he spoke to the mage. Finally, the orc grunted and left. The mage closed the door. "He doesn't like you here. He thinks you'll try to escape." The blood elf's eyes narrowed as he crooned, "but I don't think you'll do that, will you, my dear?" Not bothering to wait for an answer, he turned from her and began casting a spell. Ileeya jumped back when a large water elemental suddenly appeared. The sin'dorei's cold voice commanded the elemental, "Guard her! She's not to leave this room..." He then glanced at her with a smirk. "...or come near me." After that, he removed his robe revealing a cream colored tunic underneath and some gold pants. He then removed his shoes and climbed into bed. "Get some sleep, kaldorei. You'll need it." He then turned his back to her and relaxed to go to sleep. It was obvious he did not consider her a threat at all.
Ileeya stared at the frost elemental, sure she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight just because of it's presence. It watched her without blinking and it creeped her out. Eventually, she grew tired of standing and sat down on the floor as there was no place else for her to sleep and there was no way she would share the bed with the blood elf...not that she would be able to in the first place with the water elemental ordered to not let her near him. Ileeya rested her bound wrists on her knees and leaned back against the wall. Once more tears fell from her eyes. She was to be sold into slavery, she assumed. She could only hope that whoever bought her would be easier to escape from than the frost mage.