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Chapter Twenty-Five:

Captured

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Golden eyes wrenched open and squinted upon the bright shafts of sunlight that speared down through the choked limbs of the forest.

Brain cells tried to collect themselves and failed. Pain wasn't allowing any thoughts, not until it had its fill of torturing the man it currently resided in.

Those eyes closed again and the man they belonged to let out a groan. The whole left side of his head was throbbing with its own angry pulse and he was almost certain his head would explode. The pain was worse than a hangover. He would've given a boat load of gold not be conscious right now.

A single thought formed and made it passed the pain.

What in the hells happened?

He could hear voices nearby and he recognized them without much effort as the drow and the halfling. They were yammering about him. The halfling wanted to wake him up, time was wasting and the drow thought it would be better to just let him rest for a while, her kind weren't going anywhere. Her voice sounded guilty for some reason.

He opened his eyes again, regretfully and attempted to sit up. Vertigo slammed into him and he bowed his head to fight it off.

"Urrgg..."

Two shadows fell over him.

"Well, look who's up!" the halfling said, loudly and cheerfully.

His voice was like an axe through the brain causing the ranger to wince. His his hand shot out, grabbed the front of Quin's leather armor and yanked him down to his eye level.

"Stop yelling." he said in a slow, vicious tone.

"All right, all right," Quin replied, holding his hands up. "No need getting violent about it."

Bishop let him go and lifted his hand to the side of his head where there was a nasty bump and a small gash. The wound had stopped bleeding, but the hair there was still damp with blood.

His brain cells made a courageous effort to regroup again, and were successful this time. He remembered he was about to attack the native when something or someone hit him.

He looked up between the drow and the halfling with a heated, accusatory expression.

"All right, who in the Nine Hells hit me?"

There was a moment of silence as attentions were drawn to boots. Then the halfling whistled innocently as he clasped his hands behind his back and rocked back and forth on his feet.

The ranger's face hardened into a stony look. "I said, who-"

"It was a branch!" Jaelyn insisted forcefully and with a grin that nearly overtook her face.

Quin's head swiveled around to her, his eyes wide in disbelief. She nudged him with her elbow.

"Oh!" he blurted, looking back at Bishop with as much innocence as possible. "Yeah, a branch. Guess you were in striking distance of an angry tree."

Of course, Bishop wasn't buying it. The drow never grinned that big and the halfling already had an innocent face, so he could easily tell when Quin was trying to force an innocent look.

"I'm only going to ask once more." he warned and then spoke more slowly, just in case they weren't getting it. "Who in the hells hit me?"

Jaelyn crossed her arms, stubbornly. "I already told you, it was a branch. It really was. You know how violent these trees are."

"Do I look stupid to you?" he snapped.

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"All right, that does it." he said, fed up, as he got to his feet and tried to ignore his spinning head. "If I don't start getting answers, I'm going to start stabbing people."

"Now, wait a minute, you're being-" Quin began but was cut off by something sharp sticking him in the neck.

"And I'll start with him." the ranger said, his sword out in a flash and pointed at the halfling.

It seemed like it was coming out of its sheath one moment and then just decided to skip the whole journey to Quin's neck. It was just there. They blinked and missed it.

Jaelyn sighed, her arms flopping down to her sides.

"All right, fine. It was me; I hit you."

He glared at her. "Yeah? Well, I'm just going to have to get you back for that, then."

"It was only fair." she said, darkly.

He looked incredulous. "Fair? How in hells do you figure that?"

"You could've let the whole thing go." she said. "Besides, you put a mark on me; it was only fair that I put one on you."

"I didn't want to let it go; that bastard had it coming. No one attacks me and gets away with it. And what do you mean, I put a mark on you? I didn't put any mark on you."

She stepped up to him, angrily and yanked her hair back. She pointed to the bruise on her neck. "What do you call this, then?"

He was a bit surprised to see something there. At the time when he had his hands around her neck, he was angry, admittedly, but he was mostly trying to scare her. He didn't know he had actually left behind a bruise.

What did it matter? So what?

He looked away from it, trying to ignore the slight culpable pang in his gut.

"It's just a bruise, drow. You drew my blood."

"And I'll draw more of it if you ever do something like that again." she shot back, angrily, jabbing him in the chest with a finger.

He was almost tempted to laugh at her. She was cute when she was angry.

"Sounds to me like you're more upset about that bruise than with me trying to kill your friend." he pointed out. "Grew bored with him, eh? I could've told you that was going to happen."

"How dare you!"

This time he did laugh, out of sheer amusement. "Didn't miss, though, did I?"

Jaelyn looked ready to explode. Her face was contorted into an outraged expression and her hands were clenched tight at her sides.

"You're way off!" she shouted. "As it so happens, I like Akereth!"

He nodded and rolled his eyes. "Sure you do."

Her eyes flamed with her anger. "I do! In fact, I like him a lot. I may even sleep with him."

Bishop snorted. "Is that an attempt to try and make me jealous? Don't waste your time. I could care less about you."

"And I could care less about you!" Jaelyn retorted. "Jerk!"

She stomped off.

Quin watched her and then slowly shook his head with an exasperated sigh. "Won't you two ever stop?"

The ranger shrugged. "She started it. Don't think I'm not going to be the one that finishes it."

"She didn't start it." Quin replied. "You did when you put your hands around her neck. No matter how hard she pushed you, she didn't deserve that."

"Just be thankful that was all I did. I could've done much worse."

The halfing nodded. "I don't have any doubt there. So, why didn't you?"

"I was making a point; I'm sick and tired of her pushing."

"You want her to give up." It was not a question. "On you."

"So, what?" he spat, angrily.

Quin shrugged and gave him a dark look. "She won't. I've already told her you're not worth the effort, but she won't listen. She doesn't believe in giving up on people. Or maybe she just doesn't believe in giving up on you, specifically. "

The halfling had a thoughtful look on his child-like face and then he nodded to himself. "Yeah, I think that's what it is."

"Then she's going to be sorry."

"Yeah, I don't have any doubt about that, either." Quin's thoughtful expression turned dark. "Here's an idea: since you're so intent on being the cold-hearted bastard we both know you are, why don't you just stay away from her?"

Bishop sent a glare his way. "And if I don't?"

"Then you're going to be the one that's sorry." Quin said with a sneer that was quite uncharacteristic of him. "Don't let my stature fool you; I could kick your ass twelve different ways. I'll even be kind enough to let you pick which one."

Bishop laughed. He couldn't help it. The halfling's moxie was amusing.

"You're out of your insignificant little mind, half-man." he said, grinning darkly. "You may know twelve different ways to kick someone's ass, but I know a hundred different ways to kill someone. Are you sure you want to be making threats?"

Quin stepped close to the significantly taller man, glaring up at him. "When are you going to get it that no one is afraid of you?"

"I wouldn't expect fools to know fear." he replied. "That's why they're the ones that go first."

"Says the man who claims to be afraid of nothing." Quin shot back. "So, you're calling yourself a fool, then?"

"All right, that's enough." said Jaelyn a few feet away from them, a deep frown on her face and her bow in one hand. It was obvious that she was still angry, but they had more important matters to attend to. "We don't have time for this childish bickering. Look at the sky. We've wasted over an hour!"

Both males looked up and noticed that, yes, a little over an hour had passed since they'd stopped. Quin nodded to Jaelyn.

"You're right. Let's get down to business, then." he said and then pulled his gaze over and up at the ranger. "You're the one that stopped us here. Do you mind telling us why exactly?"

"Because, if that map of yours is accurate, we should be about ten miles from the cave." replied Bishop with ice in his voice. "We need to know what we're up against there, if anything. Going as a group is too risky, so-"

"So we leave the natives here and scout ahead." Jaelyn butted in. "Yeah, that's what I thought you were going to do."

"Good," he said, not bothering to hide his irritation with her. "Then let's go."

She nodded, curtly and turned to Quin as Bishop made his way out into the forest. "Stay here with the natives. I expect we'll be gone a while."

"Right. Be careful, Jae."

She smiled and touched his shoulder as she set off after the ranger, her animal companion following close at her side.

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They traveled a good ways in silence, keeping their attention on their environment, watching for possible drow hidden in trees or any where else around them.

The island itself was eerily quiet. There wasn't much of a breeze, so there was no rustling of the wind in the trees, and there was no roar of the ocean here. No birds sang because, for some reason still unknown to them, there were no birds, not even seagulls. The place was deceptively peaceful. It might have been a utopia if they didn't know drow were lurking about somewhere.

Their journey brought them to a small creek where they had their first glimpse of a creature that wasn't a rabbit, a pheasant-turkey thing, or a cat-bear. It was a lone stag standing on the bank, drinking the water and appearing majestic against the lush forest background.

The two rangers paused for a moment and exchanged a quick glance before looking back at the scene.

While Jaelyn enjoyed watching the graceful animal refresh itself at the creek with Feral crowded around her feet, Bishop silently lamented the timing of coming across it. What he would've given to have found the damn thing later on toward night, when he would've had time to kill it and roast it. His stomach grumbled in despair.

Moments later, they continued on, departing the scene as quietly as they had arrived. The stag never knew they were there.

The rest of the journey was uneventful until they were within two miles of the cave, where they came upon a small clearing. In the midst of the clearing was a tiny camp, set up with a make-shift tent and a barren fire pit with a spit set up over it. Two male drow stood beside it, engaged in conversation. They were both heavily armed, one with a pair of swords and the other with a mean-looking falchion and a longbow slung over one shoulder.

Both rangers crouched behind the trunk of a nearby tree, using it and the foliage around it as camouflage as they studied the enemy. Feral kept low to the ground between them and produced a small, but no less menacing growl. Jaelyn put a hand on the scruff of his neck to calm him, lest his growling alert the drow to their presence.

After a moment of scrutiny, Bishop brought his gaze around and leaned toward Jaelyn a bit.

"This camp was set up for only two." he whispered.

Jaelyn nodded her agreement. There was only the one tent, and upon keener inspection of the camp, there were only two bundles of belongings. She had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to do next, but she asked anyway.

"So, how are we going to go about this?"

"Simple," he replied, getting down to business. He had already been thinking about it. "That is, if your bow skill is reliable enough to pull it off."

She smiled. "Don't doubt my prowess, Bishop. You've already seen what I can do with my bow."

"Don't get cocky, girl. You're not that good." he lied.

"I beat you, didn't I?"

He sniffed indignantly. "I don't think so. We never finished that contest."

"No, we didn't. As I recall, you ran off the moment you started losing."

"I didn't run off, drow. I left 'cause I kept getting this inclination to gut you."

"And when have you ever worried about restraining your murderous desires?"

He grinned nastily. "Well, I didn't have much of a choice, did I? There were witnesses."

Jaelyn waved him off, dismissively. "Whatever you say. We don't have time to argue, so let's just stick to the matter at hand."

"Fine by me."

"Good, then get on with it."

With a cold look, he went on. "You take the northern part of the camp and I'll stay here on the southern part. Get your shot off on the one with the swords. When the other starts moving your way, that's when I'll come in and surprise him from behind."

She looked vaguely impressed.

"All right, sounds like a plan. Let's get to it."

Jaelyn moved but he caught her wrist. She looked back with inquiry in her features.

"And what ever you do, drow, don't miss."

She only nodded and he returned his gaze to the clearing.

Jaelyn remained there for a moment, studying him when she should've been heading off toward the northern side of the clearing. She shouldn't have been looking at him at all. Doing so was starting to make her want to do crazy things, like kiss him, and the last time they had kissed, things hadn't gone over so well. Still, the desire remained and she wondered briefly how he'd react if she just grabbed him and went for it.

She shook her head. It was a stupid idea. Now wasn't the time for such things and she doubted he'd appreciate it, especially after she'd tricked him the last time.

Jaelyn reached out tentatively, laying a hand on his shoulder. Just touching him created a stir in her.

When he glanced back with one of those looks that said 'this better be good', her hand tightened slightly on his shoulder and she offered a warm smile.

"Be careful."

His expression wasn't as friendly as hers; neither was his response. With a disdainful frown, he shrugged away from her.

"Just get going."

She wasn't surprised in the least by the reaction.

Without a word, she headed toward the northern side of the clearing, keeping hidden and not making so much as a rustle. Feral kept in stride behind her, looking back toward the human ranger curiously.

The feel of her hand on his shoulder remained with Bishop; the sensation did an impressive job of creeping into his brain. It proceeded to cause havoc with his thoughts when it was crucial that they be clear at the moment, and it also created an emotional disturbance.

It was just a touch! he yelled internally. Get it together.

He forced himself to focus on the two drow in the clearing as he waited for his drow to get into position and let her arrow fly.

His drow...?

He drew his sword silently, grit his teeth in frustration and tried desperately to get her out of his head before he had to go in there.

This was why he needed to get laid, all this godsdamned frustration. Just one night with a woman; hells, any woman would do, and he knew the problem would be fixed. He wouldn't be having these thoughts or emotions anymore.

Yeah, that was it. When he got back to the village, he was going to find himself a willing native wench to roll around with for a night. That would take care of the problem. It had to. And he wouldn't have any trouble finding one, either. He'd noticed plenty of the women eying him. The language barrier wouldn't be a problem; he could easily make his intentions plain through action.

It was the cry of one of the drow that broke through his train of thought.

He saw the one with the swords arch forward to the ground and then he noted the shaft sticking out of the back of his head. The other was already taking cover behind the tent, withdrawing his own bow.

Bishop stood and advanced behind him as quietly as possible. Unfortunately, the drow sensed the movement behind him and swung around, loosing an arrow in the same move.

Had the ranger's reflexes not been good, that arrow would've went through his skull. As it was, the sharp tip grazed his cheek, leaving behind a shallow, bleeding line.

He barreled on the drow before he could fit another arrow to his bow.

Bishop's speed was startling. The drow's eyes widened in alarm and he threw down his bow, fumbling to draw his falchion, but it was too late.

Jaelyn and Feral made it around the tent just in time to see Bishop impale him, the tip of his sword exiting from the drow's back. The drow made a desperate wheezing noise and blood dribbled out of his mouth and down his chin. There was a flicker of hatred in his eyes as he stared at the ranger and then he slumped forward.

Bishop shoved him off his sword and the body hit the ground like a sack of bricks. Feral moved over to the body, sniffed it for a few moments and then began lapping at the blood.

Jaelyn had been frowning before, but now that frown turned into a look of disgust.

"I really wish he wouldn't do that."

The ranger said nothing as he strode past her and began searching around the camp for anything useful. Jaelyn joined him, stepping into the tent.

There were two bedrolls laid out on the ground, a deck of risque playing cards set up for a game that would never be, and not much else.

She stepped back out again and noticed Bishop removing the drow's swords, the ones he never got a chance to draw. Jaelyn moved to do the same with the other drow when she saw them, a whole lot of them, standing around the clearing.

Six armed drow surrounded them. Three had their crossbows aimed at them and the other three had their swords out and ready.

Jaelyn swallowed hard and Feral let out a growl. However, the cat-bear made no move to do anything. Even he knew when he didn't stand a chance, despite his volatile hatred of the drow.

"Uh...Bishop?"

"What do you wan-" he began irritably, not wanting to be bothered, but the question turned into something else when he finally saw them. "Shit."

She nodded, grimly in agreement. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

One of the sword-wielding drow stepped forward, grinning and addressed them in the Common tongue.

"Put down your weapons, unless you have no real attachment to your lives."

Jaelyn didn't hesitate to put her bow down on the ground, but Bishop made no such move with his weapon. His hand tightened around the grip of his sword as he stared angrily and defiantly at the six drow.

The drow standing before the others smirked.

"Do you really wish to test their accuracy?" he said, waving a hand at the crossbowmen. "Put down your weapon; that's your last warning."

Jaelyn looked back at the ranger with a worried frown, wondering what it was he thought he was doing. They had no chance to win. Any offensive move would have them full of bolts in a heartbeat. He cared more about survival than anything else, so surely he wasn't stupid enough to think he could take them all on.

A moment that seemed like ages passed and a bitter, thwarted look came across the ranger's rough visage. He flung his sword forward and it landed with a thump a few feet in front of the leader of the drow party.

"Very good." the leader remarked. "Now, both of you get on your knees."

The rangers complied, one more reluctant than the other. Jaelyn knew there was no way out of this, but Bishop's mind was racing, trying to find a way.

It was Jaelyn, however, that had thought of something. It wasn't much, but it was their only hope.

Her gaze fell on the snarling cat-bear.

"Feral!" she shouted. "Run! Go!"

The cat-bear looked over at her, briefly, saw the meaningful intensity in her gaze and took off.

"Shoot it!" the leader commanded without pause. "Don't let it leave here alive!"

The crossbowmen aimed their weapons and sent bolts after the dark brown and beige stripped blur. Jaelyn held her breath, but she didn't need to. She forgot how fast the cat-bear was. Every shot missed her animal companion. Now she could only hope Feral could get Quin and the others to rescue them.

Growling in anger, the leader came forward at Jaelyn and backhanded her hard across the face. The strength behind the blow made bright spots appear on her vision. She winced; she couldn't help it, but she didn't make any sound of pain. It didn't matter. The appearance of it on her face was enough to satisfy the leader.

He was smirking.

"So, this is the mysterious female drow we've been hearing so much about." he said. "You've been causing us a lot of problems, you and your friends."

She glared up at him. "Good, then we've been doing our job properly. You think we're trouble now? Just wait."

He laughed wickedly in amusement. "Your days of causing us trouble have come to an end. Dresmor has demanded that you be dealt with if you were captured. Of course, " he bent down to her and touched her, the tips of his fingers on her cheek for a moment before they slid down her arched throat and then further over the small curves of her breasts. "There are ways you can convince me to keep you alive."

Jaelyn shuddered under the touch, revolted and angered by the violation.

She wasn't the only one getting angry.

"Savor it, drow." came the growl from her side. "She's the last woman you're ever going to touch."

He said it as if he were stating a fact.

The leader looked down at the ranger with an evil, knowing smile. "Oh, my touching her bothers you, does it? Interesting."

He looked back down at Jaelyn with a lewd glint in his eyes. "It's been a long time since I've been in the presence of a female drow, and never before one so powerless. I'll be sure to take advantage of this fact before I put you to death."

"You're not going to be alive that long." said Bishop, struggling to hold back the urge to tear him apart. "Not even that spider-loving whore you worship is going to save you from me."

The leader was expressionless, but the rage Bishop's blasphemous words put in the drow was apparent by the sudden red glow in his pink gaze, a drow trait. "For that, your blood will spill in the name of Lolth."

The ranger grinned, devilishly. "Lolth can kiss my ass, or better yet, she can suck my di-"

"Bishop!" Jaelyn exclaimed, her eyes wide in shock. Then she started laughing, unable to help herself. He was bold, her ranger was; bold and brave to utter such words.

Her laughter got her smacked again, harder than the last time. The leader's knuckles bit into her cheek and the whole right side of her face pulsed with pain. He then grabbed her roughly beneath the chin, wrenching her face around to him. "You find it amusing that he insults your goddess?"

Jaelyn sneered at him. "That bitch is no goddess of mine. I despise her and all who worship her."

This seemed to anger the leader further, who was unquestionably devout to Lolth. His grip slid down to her throat from her chin and tightened over her windpipe.

"You owe your pitiful existence to Lolth!" he spat. "You may only be half drow, but the blood still runs in your veins."

"It does, I won't deny it. I know who I am." she countered. "But the drow side of me is only skin deep. Because I forsake Lolth, I remain untainted by her corruption. She is the reason our kind is evil and hated."

A demonic, satisfied smile came over the drow and his eyes gleamed. "Dresmor simply wanted you dead and out of the way, but I think I have a better use for you. When I've had my fun with you, you will be sacrificed to Lolth. The death of a drow who has refused to worship Her will please our Spider Queen. The sacrifice of surface elves are highly prized as well and I hear such hated blood mixes with your drow blood. Lolth will be pleased with this as well and She will no doubt grant us power for such a sacrifice."

Jaelyn's heart filled with dread and fear.

The leader swung around to the nearest drow.

"Bind their hands and blindfold them."

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Despite being blindfolded, Jaelyn knew they were being taken to the cave. The direction of the light breeze hadn't changed, which meant that they were still moving east as she and the ranger had been doing.

There was no talking between any of them, but she felt a strong hand gripping her arm like a vise, guiding her along, and every time she stopped, someone prodded her roughly in the back to get her moving again.

Sometime later, she felt the shift in the environment. The air around her became compact, moist, and cooler and the soft ground turned rock hard beneath her feet. She could also hear an echoed, dripping sound that sounded far away, yet all around her at once. They were inside the cave.

She was led down a slope. They traversed a long corridor and began descending a set of stairs that seemed to last forever. Jaelyn memorized each step she took, every sound she heard, and ever smell that filled her nostrils. They were things that would help her and Bishop escape.

And speaking of the ranger, Jaelyn had not heard a single word from him since they'd left the clearing, which was not what she expected at all. She had thought he'd threaten and curse them the whole way, or at least try to escape. But no, there was nothing but silence from him, and she had to wonder if he was even still there with her or if the drow had done something to him. She thought about calling out his name, see if he'd answer, but she knew that would likely only get her smacked around more, or maybe it would get him smacked, and she didn't want that.

The steps finally ended and they traversed another long corridor. They rounded a corner, traveled a ways more and then began descending another set of stairs.

How deep was this cave?

It turned out to be three flights of stairs deep.

They finally came to their destination.

There was a sharp, creaking sound, like a door on rusty hinges and then she was being shoved forward harshly. She stumbled a bit but caught her balance. Someone grabbed her arm and drug her over a few paces until she felt her back against a cold wall. She then heard a thick rattling sound, like chains. Jaelyn soon found out that that was exactly what it was. She was yanked down by a rough hand until she was kneeling and then the leather strips that bound her hands together were removed and replaced by frigid metal.

Her blindfold was then removed.

Jaelyn's eyes focused immediately on the sneering drow kneeling in front of her. It wasn't the leader, but one of his followers.

He tested the manacles on her wrists and then did the same to the chain lead, which was attached to a large, rusted metal ring in the stone floor.

Satisfied that it was secure, the drow stood and exited the cell, slamming the large metal door behind him.

With a sigh, Jaelyn looked around.

The cell was all stone walls with no windows. A single torch was lit on the wall beside the metal door, providing the grim place with a dim glow of warm light. Jaelyn also noted that the chains were slack enough for her to move about the cell somewhat.

Well, at least she wasn't alone in that place.

Bishop shifted beside her, his chains rattling on the stone floor. He gave them an experimental tug to test his strength against that of the chains and then peered down at the metal ring with a frown. It may have all been rusted on the outside, but it was still solid on the inside.

"Are you all right?" Jaelyn asked.

"Perfect." he grumbled.

"Well, at least they put us in the same cell."

"There's that." he replied sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm just trying to look on the bright sid-"

"What fucking bright side?" he snapped. "We're drow prisoners, the last thing anyone ever wants to be...other than dead."

"How are we going to get out of here?"

"Hells if I know, but if I were you, I'd start trying to find a way. You know what they're planning on doing to you, right?"

She frowned sourly at him. "Yeah, I was there when the drow said it. They're going to sacrifice me to Lolth."

Bishop shook his head, grimly. "I don't mean that. I mean the 'fun' they plan to have with you before they sacrifice you."

Jaelyn gave him a stricken look as she realized what he meant. She gripped her chain lead and began yanking it hard against the metal ring in a sorry attempt to break it.

"We've got to get out of here."

She yanked at it again and again, her face filling with a fear he hadn't seen there in a while.

He thought warning her about what to expect would've been a good idea. He thought wrong. The grim reality only made her panic.

The chain lead gave her enough slack to stand up and move around a bit and so she got up and placed her feet against the metal ring to give herself leverage. She yanked with all her might, but it did nothing but dig the iron manacles into her wrists, drawing blood. But she didn't quit. Despite how impossible it seemed, she kept at it. She kept trying; she wasn't giving up, no matter how much it must've hurt to keep going.

It irritated him. It was exactly what she did for him; she simply wouldn't stop trying.

"Give up." he said, harshly, staring at her with a confusing mix of admiration and loathing in his gaze.

Jaelyn stopped a moment and looked at him in confusion. "Give up? Why? So they can win? So they can do...horrible things to me? Never! I'll die first."

She went back to yanking on her chains, while he shook his head at her. She didn't know what he was really saying, what he truly meant by his words. It was probably just as well. Now wasn't the time to discuss it. He needed to focus on finding a way out before their captors returned.

"I've never even..." she trailed off, her face contorting in despair. Tears glittered in her eyes as she realized what could be stolen from her here. "And they want to take that away from me, my...my innocence! I'll never..."

She trailed off ,wondering why she was even saying this stuff to him. Like he cared.

He looked at her. They weren't the only ones that wanted that innocence. It had become a strong desire in him to have it when he realized she'd never been with a man before. Of course, he wanted it to be willing. Bishop was many things, but a rapist wasn't one of them.

You don't have time to be thinking like this. Concentrate.

He couldn't. That need to have her had become infused with something else now, something that made it all overwhelming. And now the threat of death was making it worse.

He leaned back against the wall and let his eyes roam over her. He never had cared much for her body. She had always seemed too frail and thin, like he could easily crush her, but he knew she was anything but. That lithe body was deceptive. She was strong and tough; he knew she could handle him, even if he hated to admit it. It made her more attractive than a full figured woman.

He opened his mouth to speak, but realized his throat had gone dry. He had to swallow to moisten it up.

"You could always give it away." he suggested. "Then they can't take it away from you."

Jaelyn couldn't believe her ears. "Give it away? Give it away? Be willing with one of them? You're out of your mind!"

"I wasn't talking about them."

There was a meaningful look on his face and then he smiled. Jaelyn's face creased in irritation.

"What's wrong with you?" she shouted at him. "How can you be thinking about such things when we're in this situation? You're supposed to be thinking about escape."

He scoffed, disdainfully. "Prude."

Jaelyn looked at her chains for a moment and considered strangling him with them. Then she sat down beside him with her back to the wall, staring down at her bleeding wrists.

Things looked really bad. She could feel death looming over them. Their only hope was Quin and the natives, and though she trusted Quin to come through, he wouldn't be able to do it alone and the natives were incapable of fighting.

She sighed and tried not to think about death, which only made her think about the man next to her. She obviously didn't want to die, but she didn't want him to die even more.

She thought about that day they had first met in Port Llast, when she had stopped him from putting out Quin's eye with his dagger. She had thought about how fun it had been fighting him at the inn. She fondly remembered the look of horror on his face when he first saw Elegy, her draconic brother, or when he clumsily hurled Quin's golf club across the deck of the Seawolf when the halfling had been trying to teach them the game. She recalled their battle against the Luskan pirates, how in the midst of fighting, they had seemed the best of friends. It was one of the rarer moments when they got along splendidly. Yet, no matter how much they argued and kept at each other's throats, she appreciated his challenges and she enjoyed challenging him. They kept each other on their toes and their arguments rarely led to dire consequences. So, why couldn't they be friends?

She turned her head and looked at him.

"You know," she spoke, softly, drawing his gaze to her. "Despite everything, I'm not sorry I met you."

Jaelyn steeled herself for some harsh comment, some hateful response that would emotionally pull him as far away from her as possible.

"Oh?" he replied with an acidic bite in his tone. "Well, you've been nothing but a pain in my ass from day one. You push and prod me too much for your own good, and you don't know when to give up."

Jaelyn bit her lip and tried to ignore the terrible pounding in her chest. She had something to confess to him, and she was more than a little nervous about it. It would be the first time she ever opened herself up to anyone, never mind the fact that she had never had anyone to open herself up to before.

She looked at him steadily, seriously.

"I do those things because I care about you...a lot."

At first, he said nothing, only remained looking at her. Her eyes stared into his, pleading with him not to push away. And the desire she had felt when they'd been crouched near the clearing, when she had been watching him, filled her now. It was the perfect moment to act upon it, or so she thought. She had thought it had been the perfect moment for all of it. When you stared death in the face, it was time to come clean with how you truly felt, because you may never get the chance again.

She reached out to touch his face, careful not to brush over the purple welt Akereth had given him, and then she boldly leaned in to kiss him, a kiss that was clear of all trickery. But his inexhaustible defenses rose up and blocked her out.

He wrenched away and shoved her back, a dark, ominous expression on his face.

"Well, I don't care about you," he said, coldly. "And I never will. So, just stop trying. Your efforts are useless and pathetic."

Jaelyn stared at him, stricken. Her eyes filled with tears again. This time they fell over the rim and down her dark cheeks.

She moved as far away from him as her chain lead would allow and tried to ignore the terrible, sharp pain in her chest. He looked away, stared at the door and tried not to hate himself.

Why should he hate himself for it? It was the truth, and it was about time she realized it.

Jaelyn sat back against the wall again, her face turned away and her back to him as she stared through tear-blurred eyes into the darkest corner of the room. At the moment, she wanted nothing more than to fade into that darkness. She had never felt more terrible in her life. He might as well have stabbed her through the heart; it felt no different.

She put her hands over her eyes as if it were enough to restrain the tears and she bit back a sob. She had been a fool, an utter fool to tell him how she truly felt.

She had opened her heart to him and he had crushed it, just as Gulaonar had said he would.