The hard surface under her, only served to increase the pain she felt from her abused body. With a groan she rolled over and placed a hand flat upon the stone floor, attempting to push herself up, as her muscles screamed in protest. Air hissed betwen her teeth as she herself into a kneeling position.

She rolled her stiff neck and looked about her. She was in a small room carved from stone. The only objects in it being a bucket in the corner and a chair so rotten it looked as though it would collapse if she dared to sit on it.

There was a small barred opening in the door to her room. She began to crawl towards the door on her hands and knees but before she had gone half the distance seperating her from it, the cold bite of steel on her left ankle jerked her to a halt.

She glared at the iron manacle around her ankle, a chain trailing from it to a ring on the wall. The thud of footsteps and shouting outside her cell wrenched her attention away from the restraint and she colapsed to the floor prending to be asleep as the shouts became clearer.

A hissing voice cut through the noise. "Get him to the mender and be quick about it. We may be able to save his life. The Master will be displeased if we lose such a useful tool."

Cries of agony grew fainter as the object of their concern was carried away down the hall. A scratching at her door let her know that there were still others outside her door. "You." The voice hissed again. "Make sure to feed our guest as well, I see that she has moved. Be sure to add more Tears this time, she's beginning to resist it's effects."

"Of course, commander. I will take care of it." Another voice rasped.

"Be sure that you do. Her sister just removed our only means of controlling her if she wakes up. We must keep her asleep until his burns have been tended to."

Bethany listened to the sound of footsteps as they traveled away from her cell. A thrill raising goosebumps on her arms and starting her heart pounding as she processed what she had just learned. What she had thought was a dream was apparently real.

She had actually seen her sister and watched her battle her captor. She knew now why she had awakened before her jailors had expected her too. She remembered the feeling as her sister poured restoring energy into her soul through the link and she remembered the warm feeling of love that she had felt along with it.

Her sister had just given her her chance to escape, but her strength was still not what it should be. She would have to bide her time and wait for the right moment, and now that she knew her food was drugged she would have to stop eating, placing a time limit on her escape attempt.

She feigned unconsciousness again as she heard a sound outside her door. A rough voice muttering under its breath approached her, before she heard the scrape of metal on stone as something was placed on the floor of her cell.

As the footsteps moved away from her she risked opening her eyes a slit to see the person in her cell. He was human with long greasy black hair, and poorly kept filthy clothes. After he had closed and locked the door behind him, Bethany turned to find a metal plate with moldy bread and a metal cup of brakish water.

She knew she couldn't eat the food or she would likely end up unconscious again and have wasted the chance her sister had given her, at a cost she feared to think about. She crawled about her cell as best she could with the chain restricting her movement.

She found a small recess in one of the walls but it was full of rocks. She began to pull out the rocks and place them in different areas next to small holes they could be hidden in so that it wouldn't be obvious that she had been digging in the walls.

By the time she had made the whole large enough her fingers were bloodied and bruised from prying the more difficult rocks out of the crevice. She then took her food and stuffed it in the crack as far as she could and placed some of the rocks back into the hole, removing evidence of her tampering.

She didn't know if the water was drugged but she didn't know how long she might have to wait for her body to regain some strength and with already going without food she didn't think she could do without the water. She decided to take the risk and carefully drank the water being sure to get every drop. Her throat still felt parched with thirst, an effect of the drugs perhaps.

Bethany settled into the corner of her cell to rest and wait for the opportunity she knew would come, and when it did, she would be ready.

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