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~ CHAPTER 26 ~

Sadism of a Grand High Blood

An hour of scrambling around his cage had uncovered nothing. The bars were impenetrable and the cemented bricks unyielding. It was like a dungeon. How many other people had felt this exact same way? This alone and trapped... Dwayne was sure there were a lot of them in the past. The sound of a metal door shrieking open on its hinges alerted him. When Reagan had visited him before she'd entered as quiet as a mouse. Light flowed in and sure enough a pair of men that weren't the highblood sauntered to the cage and began fiddling with the lock.

Dwayne had been kneeling and inspecting the wall. He watched them fearfully when they went straight at him.

"Get the fuck up!" he was yanked onto his feet and he let himself get pulled out of the cage. The man grabbed his collar and pushed him along to the door. The jarring movements sent waves of pain rocking through Dwayne's busted arm and he bit down on his lip while his eyes watered. The second man following behind sent a kick at the back of his legs and Dwayne tried moving at the appropriate pace. His heart was hammering, he didn't dare ask these men anything.

He kept his eyes lowered but a glance once they were in the light showed a bearded face with harsh lines and that's as long as he looked. The corridor outside seemed just as bleary although well-lit. The heavy dank smell of the holding cell didn't go away and Dwayne remembered the highblood saying they were in the sewer systems. He was taken along the length of the thin corridor then harshly guided left down a broader one and then a heavy door was pushed open. Dwayne was shoved in and he stumbled, the door closed and locked behind him. It was bright in here and at the far side Wesley looked up weakly.

Dwayne's heart skipped a beat and for a moment he felt pure joy that his friend was still alive.

"Dwayne!" he was pale and sitting on a fold-up chair at the back of the room, dirty bandages were wrapped around his left thigh where he'd been stabbed. "Your arm..." his eyes widened in shock when he saw the limp swollen thing, Dwayne refused to follow his stare and look at it.

He staggered quickly and then leaned forward to wrap his Moirail into a one-armed hug. Wesley's face lowered and then rested on Dwayne's neck and shoulder. Then his arms slowly wound around the standing boy. Dwayne sniffled but refused to cry here.

"Are you alright?"

"I'll live," he replied "We all will. I'll get us out of here."

Dwayne let go and stepped back.

"You can't even walk."

"Yes I can." he insisted "I'm just... slow. That arm looks really painful."

"They gave me something strong for the pain."

"Oh, you're lucky." Wesley stated and Dwayne's eyes widened.

"You didn't get anything!?"

"I'm bearing through it," and Dwayne noticed then that he'd been gritting his teeth the whole time.

"You got stabbed! Really deep!" Dwayne looked at the boy's pale and weak face, then he staggered back and looked around as if someone would appear that he could demand those drugs from. They wouldn't have listened anyway.

"Where's Camila?" Wesley asked and Dwayne turned around to face him again.

"I was going to ask you."

"We'll need her powers to get out of here."

"Reagan already knows what she can do... I think our only hope is to convince her."

"Don't be stupid, Dwayne." his voice was harsh "You don't still want to take that bitch back with us do you? She's a complete psychopath."

"We don't have a choice."

"Yes, we do."

"I thought you wanted to complete this mission! Or are you going to sabotage everything again!" that was a low blow and all of Dwayne's rage had seemed to come from nowhere.

"I don't care about the mission." Wesley spoke quietly in a low voice, his response surprised Dwayne "All I care about is you and Camila, and getting us back safely."

"I..." Dwayne faced away and then he went to the wall "yeah." he slid down it onto his bottom. His sore arm bent painfully and he manoeuvred it carefully with his other hand. "Wesley I know this is pretty fucked up but... I linked with Reagan before I even saw her face. It's not like with Camila or even you. This feeling is really strong and electric and I can feel it in my brain even now, but I hate it. And I hate myself for feeling it after everything but it's like I can't..." Dwayne struggled with his eyes on the floor as he continued "it's in my hormones, my blood. I don't know if she's feeling it too but or if she's even capable. I think... this is a troll romance thing." he concluded and then raised his head slowly to meet Wesley's eyes.

Wesley had turned in his chair but while his expression was surprised there was no shock or judgement.

"I know what you mean," he responded quietly, his tone and features implied something more personal.

"Wait! You-?" the door swung open as if it'd been kicked and they both turned. Camila's face was bruised and her lip busted, she was held in a tight lock by Reagan from behind her. The highblood had her arm beneath Camila's shoulder and around her neck in some kind of hold, she more or less dragged the small girl ahead of her into the room. Then she tossed Camila and the girl stumbled with a grunt and landed on her hands and knees. Reagan was no longer in a robe but still dressed in black and wearing that pentagram necklace. She smacked her hands together as if she were removing dirt then she stepped forward and pushed the door closed.

That bizarre red eye-liner she wore really made her look menacing.

"Are you okay Camila?" Dwayne asked while Wesley only glared forward.

"Yes," she grumbled and slowly got back up.

"Let's get to it," Reagan began, not in the mood to waste time.

"Where's your help?" Wesley mocked, which seemed like a stupid thing to do Dwayne thought "You think you can fight three of us off that easy even if we're injured?"

Reagan spun around and punched the brick wall behind her with a great deal of force. She drew her bleeding fist back and chips of rock clattered to the ground. She faced us again and Wesley said nothing. When Dwayne looked closer he could see the wiry muscle on her arms.

"I brought my followers with me because I needed to see for myself how strong you were. If I'd known you were this weak I would've taken you myself." her intimidating vibe made the rest of them stay quiet. She was different than the trolls Dwayne had met so far, of that he could feel with certainty.

Reagan narrowed her eyes at them "I want answers now. I want you to tell me all about our kind, including who you're working for."

How are they going to get out of this one? Should be a pretty cool chapter next one, we get to see the four trolls conversing together. What exactly did Wesley mean by that...? Review?