Odd could feel his blood pumping through his veins, more powerful than any natural disaster. Sweat coated his palms and his neck from nervous anticipation, and a primal desire—no, need—to destroy every last person who had threatened his family took him over, plaguing his mind with hate filled thoughts.

In the distance, Odd could make out the slight thumping of the guard's boots upon the cold stone floor, muffled by the heavy wooden door. There was no way he could move it on his own, especially thin as he was; he'd have to improvise when the time was right.

Sound echoed in the caves as the gears in Odd's head began to turn. Taking a deep breath, he then jumped into action as he tied a knot in the thin, baggy shirt which he'd been made to wear, so that it fitted tightly. He then braced his foot up against the wall of the cave to the left of the door. Grunting, he reached across to the other wall, resting the remainder of his weight on his hands and, with a considerable effort, placed his remaining foot upon the stone, so that he was completely suspended.

Odd could hear the men's voices drawing nearer, and he carefully, but quickly, began to scale the wall, using the rough crevices and outcrops as supports, much like a very difficult climbing wall. His foot slipped multiple times, and his sweaty palms did little to help him up.

Still, the thought of getting free urged him on. With convulsing limbs, he groaned as he pulled himself up, breathing heavily after the climb. By now, the guards were but a few metres away, and as the door creaked open, Odd could feel his heart palpatating faster than he ever remembered. Recently, the only time which could have been similarly bad was when he was attacked by the Southern Isles' guards.

The door creaked open, and Odd took a deep breath quickly, holding it with all of his will. The guards, three of them, filed into the room; not seeing their prisoner they immediately began to murmur, looking about wildly.

Odd felt his lungs burning and he squeezed his eyes shut at the discomfort, willing the guards to search the other end of the room to give him a chance to get out. But he had no such luck; the smallest guard turned his way almost immediately. Stalking forwards, he then grinned as he laid eyes on the balancing prisoner—but had no chance to yell out as Odd leapt down, grabbing the guard's arm and spinning around him, thrusting him backwards and taking the propulsion to speed himself forwards.

He didn't dare look around; he just ran. He could hear the shouts of the guards behind, but they were muffled as adrenaline coursed through his body. He smashed into a door at the end of the corridor, wincing as the force of the impact threw it wide open with a deafening thud as it hit the wall opposite. Still he didn't look back, pushing her screaming body harder than he could ever remember. This was his one chance to escape, and he was not about to blow it.

Scrambling over the steep, uneven floor of the cave, Odd struggled to keep his balance, to not trip over and fall. But with every step he took forward, he could feel his body beginning to awaken, the air growing crisper with each passing second, giving him a new life and a new sense of power which he hadn't had before. His limbs burned with a new need to just run; his eyes shot open, taking everything in with a new sense of clarity.

Turning a corner sharply, gripping the wall to make the turn without falling, Odd could have almost shouted in glee from the welcome energy his body had granted him. A second later, though, he stopped short, skidding to a sudden halt when he saw a guard standing in the middle of the corridor, glaring daggers and grinning coldly. He was a large, burly man, not one who could be easily intimidated. He had a short, fat little neck, but that was the only part of him which could be considered small - the rest of his body was bulked up to at least three, maybe four, times the size of a normal man's.

Odd gulped, hearing his pursuers come to a stop behind him. Freezing for a minute, he then gave a bellow and galloped forwards, running straight towards the guard before leaping to the side just before him. But it was to no avail; the guard grabbed him in an instant, looping a rope around his neck and jerking it backwards, making Odd scream and yell as he gasped involuntarily.

"Got you!" the guard growled. "Come on, get moving."

Gasping again as he was jerked forwards, Odd glanced around, his sharp eyes soon landing on a sharp fragment of wood shattered in the doorway, and he grinned. Slowly, he inched his way to the left as he was heaved forwards; before he could be pulled away from his one chance, he leapt onto the shard. The rope sliced cleanly in two and fell to the floor, as Odd felt his neck be slashed down the side, a layer of skin torn off.

Blood splashed on the floor and, as they felt the rope slacken, the guards span to see their prisoner free once again. Odd groaned, immediately running as fast as he could, fully embracing the fact that it was now or never.

His feet pounded against the uneven ground once again, blood flowing from his neck in a stream. Unable to do anything to slow the flow, he then ran ever faster, his unfit and fragile body agonised. He could hear the heavy footsteps of all four guards behind him, barely ten metres back, but he could also see blue sky barely fifty metres away; he was unfit and fragile, but being light at least gave him a slight advantage.

He struggled forward, bumbling along like an excited child—although his excitement was more to do with the fact that he might not be caught again, might not die a slow and painful death as he had been before. Because that was what it had been; pushing his body to the point of near death, and then letting him recover very slightly to do it all over again. Similar to drowning someone then reviving them, just to drown them again.

Pure, sick, twisted torture. But boy, did it work.

Barely a few metres to go, and Odd could hear the footsteps of the men closing in behind him, could almost feel their heavy breaths against his neck. And then he felt his world come crashing down as his caught on a crevice in the tunnel's floor. Sent falling, his world then turned black as he slowly plummeted to the ground, almost imagining he could smell the sweet scent of his wife as he descended.

Elsa leapt around the corner, surveying the situation for the briefest of moments before sending a blast of ice towards three large, muscled men. She felt no remorse at all; the only thing she cared about was the falling man before her.

Rushing forwards, she managed to catch him before his body hit the ground, her heart was pounding ten-to-the-dozen in her chest. Then sinking to the floor, she cradled the injured man—barely heavier than a boy—as tears of both happiness and terror cascaded down her pale cheeks. Waving her hand, an icy bandage wrapped itself around his neck, enough to stem the blood flow without suffocating him.

He was too heavy for her to carry on her own, that much she knew. Laying him down on the floor tenderly, she then rose to her feet and took a shaky breath, rushing to the cave's mouth and motioning for the rest of her small party of soldiers, waiting at the base of a rocky set of stairs carved into the cliff.

Rushing back inside, she placed a very gentle kiss on her husband's forehead, cradling his head once again. "Come on, Odd..." she whispered, her hand trembling. Her voice caught in her throat as she saw the blood staining the icy bandage, saw Odd's chest rise and fall weakly at an irregular, concerning rate. "Come back to me."

He was extremely pale. In the light of the sun, Elsa could make out every single bone of his body, could see the dark bags under his eyes, the scars across his arms, face, chest, and legs.

He was so thin, so very thin, and so pale and weak...

"Please..." Her voice was barely audible, more a sigh, a silent plea to any higher power above to have mercy upon him. He'd been through too much already.

I'm so sorry, I'm despicable for uploading this late... I've been writing from 11:00pm to 2:00 am straight, and I'm exhausted.

So, this is a repeat challenge, because I'm too tired to think of an original one now. So, choose a word, any words, and I'll include it somewhere in the next chapter. (if you post the word before I finish writing the chapter of course)

So, yeah. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you soon (if I ever wake up, I'm so tired I might pull a 'sleeping beauty'. If I don't update in the next month, I'm either dead, being really lazy or asleep.

Night / morning!

-SG

(p.s. No chapter dedication today, sorry - I'm too tired to be bothered. Haha, I'm evil. Sorry!)