Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek TNG or any of its original characters.

To My Readers: Oh, I love the teasing. And I am even more happy that you are reading and wanting to continue to do so. I know it is hard stuff, but hopefully at the end (when I ever get there) it will not leave a bad taste in your mouth. This is the last chapter of the first section. I am now working on section two. I thought it would be easier to write. So far- not so much- so enjoy this and check back often, or alert it, because it will be at least a week, if not more until the next update. Happy Holidays, and please review! I am DYING to know what you think of it ;)

Chapter 4

Will and Karva ascended the steps in silence. When Karva stepped onto the landing, he spoke to Will. "She is too fierce for me without the fala root," he told Will. "Has she ever bit you?"

Will looked back, no longer sure if he was simply acting the part, or if he truly was insulted by the question. "No," he said as he stepped towards the door.

He glanced back at Karva and stared as if to remind him that Mortain said he would wait on the stairs.

"I will lock the door behind you. Simply knock when you would like the lock lifted." He pulled up the heavy cross bar and Will stepped back into the dark dingy room. With a nod, Karva closed the door behind him and dropped the cross bar back in place.

Will waited until he heard his footsteps fall along the stairs before he approached her unconscious body. For the first time in two days, he was not playing a part, but just being himself.

"Deanna," he said trying to gently stir her. Her eyes did not flutter, and her body hung lifelessly from his arms. He lowered her back to the ground and dropped his pack. He tapped at the communicator closed inside it.

"Riker to Enterprise," he said softly.

"We…ead you…mmander," Data's voice answered him.

"I'm going to try to evaluate her medical condition," he spoke. "She is unconscious, they said they gave her something called fala root. It appears to sedate her somehow." Slowly, he pulled the dingy stained sheet away from her and laid her body flat. "She appears to have several superficial bruising to the face and head. I don't see any sign of blood."

He slowly moved down her body. "There were marks on her neck where it appeared that she had been choked." Slowly, gently, he began to pull the light material covering her up from her body. He paused as the material pooled around her waist, showing him her bruised and blood stained thighs. He thought about who would be hearing the words that he spoke through the ship's communication system, and decided to keep that part of his visual exam private.

He moved the cloth up further, over her breasts. It looked as though she had been branded with a knife, somehow. "There are several cuts on her chest," he said. "They don't appear to be too deep." He could not let himself think too much about what he was seeing. It would kill him. He had to just do what was needed to get her out of here.

He rolled her gently back to her side, and the gasp that left his mouth was clearly audible across the communication system. "Oh, my god." It was no more than a whisper. He fought back his emotions, clearing his throat. "She has dozens of cuts along her back. They are red and pussy. They must be infected."

"W..ll," It was Dr. Crusher's voice that he heard. "Is…e runn… a fev..r?"

Will touched her forehead and cheeks with the back of his hand. "She feels more clammy than hot. I can't be sure."

"The…f..la roo…ay be…ting…as a fever….pressant…"

Will studied her face. "Her lips look dry and cracked. She must be dehydrated." He reviewed the rest of her body quickly, looking over her limbs. "Her hands have been bound. There are lacerations on both her wrists." He moved down her to look at her legs. "Her left ankle is swollen. It doesn't appear to be broken. I can't be…" Will's focus had been so complete in providing the doctor with a medical evaluation that he had not noticed Deanna start to stir slightly. Suddenly in the middle of his thought, he felt her other foot come in contact with his face, hard, flinging him away from her. "Ahh," he cried, being caught off guard.

Immediately he was moving back towards her. She was flailing and squirming, fighting against him however she could, scratching and clawing. "Stop," he said as he fought against her. "Deanna, stop!" He was concerned she would hurt herself more. He pressed his body over hers to weigh her down and put his hand tightly over her snapping mouth.

Her eyes were large, alert and panicked. He could feel her trying to fill her lugs with air to scream. "Shhh," he told her. "Deanna, it's okay."

Her eyes were darting around the darkened room.

"Look at me," he spoke softly. Still she did not respond. "Look at me, Deanna. Look at my eyes. Listen to my voice. You know me. You're safe now. It's okay."

Slowly her body stopped fighting against him and her eyes slowed and locked on his, so that they were looking deeply into each other's gaze.

"I'm going to move my hand now, and you aren't going to scream, okay?" he asked as if he were talking to a scared child.

She nodded with the little head movement he allowed her to have, and he slowly released the pressure over her mouth.

The Enterprise bridge crew could hear the sounds of her panting over the crackle of the communication, unclear of exactly what was happening on the planet. When her voice came through, it was if they all released their held breath.

It took a moment of her breathing heavily against him, staring into his eyes as he slowly pulled the weight of his body off her. Then she slowly opened her mouth, and in no more than a harsh sounding whisper, she cried. "Will?" she asked as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"I'm right here," he said wiping her tear for her. "We're gonna get you home." He reached back into his bag and took out his container of water and put it to her lips. "Try and drink this," he offered.

She took a few ragged sips before she began to cough and sputter.

"Let me get your hands untied and you can sit up." He noticed that Deanna's eyes looked away from him for the first time, down to the floor as if she were ashamed or embarrassed. He took his hands away from the strap and lifted her chin to look at him again.

"You are going to be okay now. Do you understand? Everything's alright."

Her eyes closed and more tears spilled down her cheeks.

Will tried to untie the cord from the wall, rather than her wrists, knowing that it would hurt to press into the deep cuts and also knowing that he would have to tie her up again before leaving her. He heard her wince every time he moved her arms and shoulders until he managed to free it from its bolt. Now her wrists were bound together, but she was no longer tethered to the wall. Gently, and vary aware of the condition of the wounds on her back, he lifted her enough to sit, propped against the wall.

"Do you want to try to drink again?" he asked her and she quickly nodded. He handed the container of water to her and she sipped at it gingery, water trickling down her chin, as Will wiped her sweat matted hair away from her face.

When she put the water back on the ground next to her, Will tried again. "Do you know where you are?" he asked gently. He knew that the communication link was still open and that Beverly would be looking for information on her cognitive skills.

She closed her eyes and did not answer.

He decided to start with a simpler question. "Can you tell me your name?"

She looked up at him, almost annoyed. "Deanna Troi," she answered, her voice hoarse.

"What about my name?" he asked again.

"William T. Riker," she said looking at him again.

"What ship do you serve on?" he continued his quiz.

"I am the ships counselor, and commander on the Enterprise. Happy?" she asked.

"Do you know where you are?" he asked again.

She shook her head slightly. "Galia Prime," she finally said.

"How did you get here?"

"We were bringing the Ambassador up to the surface," she told him. "We were almost there, but something happened." She shrugged. "I blacked out," she finished. They sat in silence for a moment.

"Will," she asked. "How long have I been here?"

"Almost six days," he told her. "Are you in any pain? Are there other injuries?" Will was quick to change the subject from how she had been left behind.

She just shook her head and reached out and pulled the filthy sheet around herself as if it were a protection. Will noticed that she was starting to shake, to shiver, even though the room was almost unbearably stuffy.

"Deanna," he said. He placed his hand back across her forehead. "Oh, god. You're burning up."

"The tea," she said through slightly clenched teeth. "Makes the fever go away."

"It's drugged," he told her and she nodded. "You knew it was drugged?" he asked.

"All there is to drink," she said again, her teeth starting to chatter.

"What about food? When was the last time you ate?"

Deanna looked away from him again, down to the floor ashamed. Again he pulled her chin up. "Can you try to eat for me?" he asked. "Then I can give you something for the fever. I have a small med kit."

Deanna nodded weakly.

Will moved back to his bag and pulled out some bread that was wrapped inside and handed it to her. She nibbled at it gratefully as he rummaged through the med kit and loaded a hypo spray and put it to her neck. She winced and pulled away slightly, but Will dropped the instruments and pulled her close to him, to keep her warm until the medicine took affect. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her arms to warm her. Slowly she relaxed into him, resting her head on his chest as he murmured to her that she was safe, that he was going to take her home. Her breathing became deeper and more even as her body became heavier against him. She was not nibbling at the bread anymore.

"Dea," he said pulling away slightly to look at her. She looked exhausted.

"How are you here, Will?" she asked. "Why are we still here?"

Will sighed and looked away from her around the cramped room.

"You bought me back," she said rather matter of factly.

"The custom," Will began to explain. "Is that I need to leave you here, just until tomorrow morning."

Deana laid back on the floor and turned onto her side, away from him.

"Deanna," he tried. He could hear her beginning to sob quietly. "Deanna." She did not respond.

Will stood up and repacked his disguised med kit and bread into his bag and began to pace. He looked at her huddled on the floor at his feet and he realized he couldn't do it.

"Riker to Enterprise," he called again through his communicator. "Data, we're leaving now. Prepare the transporter."

"Co…nder. If you…eave from…side the village…massacre," Data's emotionless voice crackled back at him.

"I don't care, Data! I can't leave her here. Just do it!"

"No!" Deanna was sitting back up, wiping at her own tears. "Data?" she asked hesitantly.

"Couns..lor," Data replied.

"What did you just say? I couldn't understand you."

"If ..the..b..con….to be..activa…ed..the mali..a..wou…kill ev..one in ….illage."

Deanna looked back at Will as he stood peering out the grimy window at the back alley.

There were a group of boys running around behind the shops, no older than thirteen or fourteen and in his mind he pictured the young man he had met the day before, Torvan, and his family, his father and mother and younger sister as they sat in their parent's stairwell listening to them talk to this stranger, willing to sacrifice for the other's safety.

He saw Torvan's arm protectively around his younger sister. Suddenly he wondered if there were resisters in this town. There must be. That is how Gault had received word about Deanna. His activating the beacon in his hand would mean their death. He shook his head for a moment and looked back to where Deanna sat on the floor looking up at him with her large dark eyes.

"Data, you are breaking up," she said clearly and confidently. "Did you say that if the militia detects this beacon that Commander Riker is holding they will kill everyone in the village?"

"Yes," came Data's unbroken answer.

The two of them stared at each other across the room. "You came down here with a plan?" she asked Will.

He nodded. "Yes," he answered her softly.

"And it was to buy me back and in the morning get out of the village before transporting out…to protect them from the militia?"

Will nodded again.

Deanna closed her eyes and began to breath heavily. "Then stick to your plan, Commander," she told him. "Tie me back up," she said as she choked back her own sobs.

With one movement, Will was back, kneeling next to her. "No," he said. "No. I can't."

Deanna nodded as tears streamed down her face and her chin quivered. "Yes, you can," she said with every confidence she could muster. "You can, and you will."

Will held her tight to him as they cried together.

Back aboard the Enterprise the bridge crew heard the stifled sobs and sniffs through the crackling silence. None of them knew if the tears were the counselor's, the commander's or both.

Captain Picard looked to his left where his chief medical officer sat in what would usually have been the counselor's chair. Her head was bowed slightly and he saw her wipe at her own tears. The captain felt his own eyes fill with tears. He knew then that he did not give his ship's counselor enough credit for her bravery and deep regard for others.

The others on the bridge looked around at one another. It occurred to some of them that they were somehow intruding on a very private, intimate moment between the two officers on the planet.

The sobs lessened to deep breaths, and Deanna pulled away from him, looking back into his eyes. "Tie the strap back up, Will. You have to." She watched him hesitate again. "Better you than them," she told him.

"I'm sorry," he said as he took the strap and tied it securely to the wall again. "Do you know who they are? Is there some way that I can protect you?"

"I'll manage," was her only response.

"There's more than Mortain," he said, and with her eyes down again, she nodded. "Dea,"

"I've been here six days and I'm still alive. They won't hit me or cut me if you've already paid."

"That's the least of my fears," he admitted.

"This village is filled with children. I can hear them outside in the evenings. And Women with no more say in what is happening in their lives than I have currently in mine. They don't deserve to be killed to protect me from something that has already happened…I don't know how many times. I stopped counting. One more night won't matter, Will."

She nodded to him and slowly he nodded in return. He ran his hand along her bruised face and kissed her fiercely on her now much cooler forehead. He looked back into her eyes. "I…"

"I know," she said, realizing that the communication link was still open and that she didn't really need to hear it. She could feel his love for her coming off him in waves. It was the only thing giving her the strength to do what she was doing. "Come back for me," she said as more tears slipped down her cheeks.

"I swear," he said.

"Couns..or," a static voice entered the room. It was the captain.

"Yes, Sir?" she asked.

" I wish..th..r…nother..ay," he said.

"I know," she told him. "I understand."

"It is go..od … you..r voice," the captain said. "Ent…prise out.."

The two were left in the room alone, looking into each other's eyes.

"It's okay," she told him.

"Deanna, I love you," he said uninterrupted this time.

"Please, Imzadi. Don't' say that. It makes me feel like you're not coming back."

Will lifted her chin to look into his eyes for the last time. "The only thing that could stop me from being here at first light is death itself. And I don't plan on getting myself killed. Okay? All you have to do is hang on for first light." He nodded at her and she nodded in return.

"Fist light," she repeated. Slowly he stood to walk out and leave her. "Will," she cried out. "I love you too," she said. "Just in case," she added. She then rolled over onto her side, away from the door, the sheet loosely clinging to her.

Will took a few deep breaths before knocking on the door for Karva to open it for him. He looked back one more time at her. He could see her back shaking and he could hear her soft sobs. He didn't know if this was her terror of the night ahead of her, or her holding up her part for the man who would be opening the door, but when Karva opened the door, Will strode out quickly, before he could change his mind, and Karva locked her in the room again behind him.

"She was quiet for you. Clearly, she has bent to your will," Karva commented as they descended the stairs together. It took all Will's strength to not punch him in the face. But he set his mind on his next task, and that was keeping Deanna as safe as possible until first light.

He walked back into the room of men milling around barrels of dried goods.

"And?" Mortain asked as Will made his way towards him. "I assume you found her no worse for the experiences she has had," he told him.

Will had more trouble playing the part now than he had before, but he knew it was necessary. "She was…not herself. Perhaps it is the fala root."

"And was that a better or worse experience?" Mortain asked.

Will only grunted.

"You will need her sedate for travel. I can't imagine that she is easily contained on the back of an urh." The other men laughed around him. "Come, it is time to dine. With a thousand plat to bring home today, we have much to celebrate."

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating and drinking, and drinking heavily. Will made careful efforts to appear to keep up with them drink for drink and to mimic the slur in their speech, but he didn't take more than a sip. They were served by shrouded women. They were a group of about twenty men in all.

By nightfall the men were making toasts: to god, to the moon, to urhs, to wives, to children, to wine. Whatever moved around them. And as the amount of drink continued, their tongues loosened and the demeanor relaxed.

As the room milled about, a man older than Will, who had been more sedate than the others approached and passed him what looked like a root of some kind. He slipped it quietly into his hand. "Fala," he told him in a slurred voice that did not match the clear look in his eyes. "It will sedate any who drink it. You just crush it, and it dissolves in liquid."

"For my wife on the journey?" Will asked cautiously.

"For…whomever you see fit," he said quietly. "You are Trav, of Kamreen. My family also comes from Kamreen, and Vore- I believe you obtained an urh from them."

Will stood still realizing this man knew exactly who he was. He was a member of the resistance. "Yes, I paid well for it."

"500 plat," the man told him. "You seem to be making a habit of paying too much for things," he cautioned him.

Will nodded. He had not repeated how much he was to have paid for the urh. No one had asked. Gault had told this man that. Will looked down to the root in his hand. "I crush it?" he asked.

The man picked up a knife off the table near them and though there was nothing on it, demonstrated how to crush the root with the side of his knife. "In liquid of strong taste, it will be undetected," he said firmly glancing at the wine goblets of the men that were mulling about the table in mostly drunken stupors. "Just a small amount should do what you desire."

Will nodded again, and the man patted him firmly on the back, slurring his speech and talking too loudly again, as he moved on to another in the crowd.

Will quickly and quietly went to work. By the end of the night, he had slipped a small amount of crushed fala root into the goblets of those closest to Mortain. He didn't dare drug them all, but he covered those that he thought posed the most risk to Deanna.

One by one, the men staggered home, and Will accompanied Jep to his home with rented rooms. He showed Will to his room, and staggered off to his own. Will quickly latched the door and went to the window and gauged where he was in the town. It did not take him long to place himself in relation on Deanna. He could even see her grimy window over the buildings that stood between them.

He closed his eyes and prayed to whatever god might be listening on this world or any other that she was safe. After a while longer and unable to determine anything from his vigil by the window, he dropped onto the rough bed and dozed in and out of sleep for a few hours.

When the first whispers of light came over the hills, he was off, finding his way to his urh, where he tied his pack and mounted the animal and rode towards the stall of Mortain. There was no sign of anyone and he waited impatiently letting the animals feet stamp at the ground. Finally the tent was drawn back and Karva and Rameek came out into the street.

"Mortain invites you again to join him for a morning meal," Karva spoke.

"It is first light, and I must go. I would ask my property to be brought to me."

"You are an interesting man, Trav of Kamreen." Mortain said stepping out of the tent as well, tucking his shirt into his pants. He looked smugly satisfied with himself and Will's stomach began to turn. He worried that he had not been successful in protecting her. "She is being shrouded by my first wife. She will be down momentarily. I made sure she was…ready for your travels," he said, a chuckle in his voice.

Will couldn't keep doing this. He was going crazy inside. Just as he was thinking of going after her, he saw the black of a shroud coming around the corner of the tent. There were two of them standing with their heads bowed and in panic, he realized he could not identify Deanna among them.

"Karva, help her mount," Mortain ordered.

Karva grabbed at one of the women and thrust her forward. When her head came up, her eyes met his and he sighed in relief, knowing that he was looking into his Imzadi's eyes. He also noticed the limp in her step as she walked forward on her swollen ankle. He reached down for her arm and Karva gave her a rough lift onto the back of the animal, groping at her bottom as he did it. Karva then lifted her arms, reveling the binding still around her wrists and slid the cord over Will's head and around his waist to hold her to him.

"You have been a good game, Trav. Feel free to come again looking for lost property," Mortain told him.

"Safe journey," Rameek told him more subdued behind his son in law.

With a nod, Will tapped at the animal and they started off away from the town, the way he had come in the day before. He felt how weak Deanna's body was against his back and he closed his hands tightly around her arms, tied around his waist. He nodded to the militiaman at the checkpoint and continued on his way until they were out of sight.

He was not far enough out of town to activate the beacon, but it was scaring him that Deanna was seeming more and more non responsive behind him. He stopped the animal and swung Deanna so, while her hands were still tied around his waist, she sat in front of him, now cradled in his arms.

"Deanna," he whispered to her. "Are you alright?" Here eyes were drifting open and then closed. "Deanna!" he said shaking her slightly.

"Ahh," she moaned in agony. She looked at him more purposefully. "Tea," she whispered.

"They gave you more fala root this morning?"

"Bitter," she said.

"More than usual?"

She was drifting off again in his arms. Her head came to rest on his chest. He rode on for several more minutes before he pulled the animal off the path and behind an outcropping of rocks. He reached down to his bag and pulled a small knife, the only weapon he carried, and with one motion, cut the cord that bound Deanna to him. Her arms fell loose and he carefully carried her off the animal and laid her in the shadow of the rock outcropping. He went back to the animal and untied his pack. He placed it next to Deanna and went to work unbinding her wrists. She winced as he pulled the cords to rid her wrists of them. Then he pulled her free of the black shroud.

To his surprise she was completely naked under the shroud. In the light of day, her injuries looked far worse. He reached into the bag for the beacon, but something stopped him. He looked again at Deanna lying before him, completely naked and vulnerable. She looked horrid. He just couldn't allow anyone else to see her like that. Quickly he grabbed his water and began rinsing her face and her hair. He wiped around the cuts on her chest to wipe away the dried blood and them moved down her body.

He stifled an angry sob as he saw the fresh blood running down her thighs. He poured the water over her trying to clean her and then wrapped the shroud around her body, like she would a towel. He looked back up at her face as he tucked the end of the material in and saw that her eyes were open and watching him.

He couldn't read her expression. He raised her head slightly and tired to help her drink the remaining water.

She thirstily gulped the water, but pulled away suddenly, then sat herself up more and turned her head and began to vomit.

Will held her shoulders and smoothed her now damp hair. "Shh. It's okay. Just a few more minutes."

Deanna gasped for air as the retching subsided. She leaned back into Will's arms and closed her eyes.

Will reached into the bag and tapped the comm. badge. "Riker to Enterprise. I am activating the transport beacon now." He picked up the beacon and slammed the tube into the ground, breaking a compartment on the bottom and causing the tube to glow with a chemical reaction. "Two to beam directly to sick bay."

"We…re…sear..ing for…beaco…Just..momen.."

Will scooped Deanna up into his arms like a rag doll, her head tucked against his chest, and he waited. And he waited. Just as he felt the panic start to overwhelm him, he felt the transporter beam closing around the two of them, and unconsciously he gripped Deanna tighter in his arms as if afraid that she would be left behind again.