Dear Readers,

After the last chapter a lot of brutal feedback as well as well-constructed feedback was sent my way, which is understandable. For those of you who have given well-constructed feedback and critiques, I have made sure to send you a message to hopefully make you understand more of my perspective and where I am going. It is because of that I have rated this story M which wasn't my original intention but stuff happens.

A lot of people don't think it's believable that Persie was kidnapped, just think about the critique that was sent her way from others, what happens when she dives into her powers, as well as the fact that Riptide doesn't work on mortals. She was concerned with the people around her- could that Loyalty be her weakness? Hmmm purghaps, but we will not know for sure until later ;)

XOXO Ally Layne

Warning: Mentions of Rape in this Chapter (rated M for this reason)

Do Not Go Gentle

Chapter 44: I Walk The Line

A sharp whistling sound whispered between the trees before a powerful "thunk" could be heard, sending blood spattering along Tira's body and the ground surrounding her.

Everything went silent.

"Get down!" The man behind me yelled, just as the man who had been standing above Tira with his sword above his head in an executioner stance, fell to the ground- dead.

An arrow had gone straight into his neck, killing him instantly as it severed his carotid artery and sent blood spattering many feet in front of him. His body luckily fell to the side of Tira, who started screaming loudly at the sight of a murdered man in front of her.

She was most likely about to slip into shock, and from the kick I felt on my side, the men were still going to try and keep me from helping her.

"Tira!" I yelled, wrestling with the man who still held my hair. She needed me. I wasn't going to give in without a fight- and I didn't know if whoever killed that man was going to be on my side or not.

I felt a tug on my gut as I reached above me, grabbed the man's hands, and pulled myself closer to him to deliver a swift elbow to his nethers. Luckily, that was all it took for his grip on my hair to loosen and for me to send him sprawling with a quick burst of water that must have come from a ways away, but I decided not to focus on that.

I hopped up from where I was laying and wrenched the dead man's sword from his fingers as it still laid in his cold, hard grip. Tira looked absolutely stricken, but I couldn't help her at the moment as I turned to face the remaining men that seemed to filter in and created a tight line against me.

"You shouldna' had done that." I recognized the voice to belong to Tig, who likes women a bit too much- who had grabbed my hair- and was spitting out some dirty water.

I cocked my head to the side, twirling my newfound blade in my hand as I fought the headache that continued to ravage my brain and the weakness in my bones. This concussion thing wasn't the greatest, but I was going to either deal with it or die, so I chose the former.

"She is not alone," A man's voice came from behind me, dressed in a deep green cloak with a dark tunic and trousers. I noted that he wore a satchel tied around his shoulder, and a bow shouldered on his side. His boots were riddled with mud and muck, and his scent was a mix of pipeweed and horse, something I noticed as the wind shifted with his passage.

"Help Tira," I told him. "I've got a bone to pick with these assholes, and you're not spoiling my fun."

The faces of the men across from us visibly seemed to ashen, but I doubted it was from my words. Whoever this man was, I had a good feeling that he was dangerous.

He looked down at me briefly, and I was silently rattled by the grey eyes that looked over my features, cataloging my every movement and muscle to see if I was worth letting go on my own. It stunned me how young he looked, probably around my own age. However, the dirt on his face and in his dark hair gave him a rugged enough look for him to pass as being older.

Without a word, the man quickly went behind me to check on the young girl, and I took that as the time for me to start my death vigil.

They were untrained.

Or, rather, they were trained with a light hand and did not have godly blood running through their veins. Even though I most likely had a few broken or cracked ribs, a stab in my side, and a raging concussion that made me feel nauseous enough to bend over and start to blow chunks- I ended them like it was child's play.

I didn't force myself to use my powers with water because the little amount of it that I had done was extremely draining with hardly being able to focus through the pounding in my head.

The first two- who I did not know their names or voices, went down with single slices to their abdomens, one right after the other. I did not need to look to see their guts fall to the ground, flayed from the skin as stomach acid burned through the soft tissues of other vital organs.

I doubted I would have to worry about them anymore.

Jerry- the asshole who had flitted around the cabin and supposedly knocked me unconscious quickly found his head rolling on the ground with an inhumanly strong slice to his neck.

That left Tig.

Poor, poor Tig.

The one who talked of raping women, who wanted to hunt down the others who were kept in the carriage with me for sport.

I didn't want to think about how many times he must've done exactly that, considering how excited he seemed to want to do it another time. He was on the ground, looking up at me with eyes that were wide and full of fear.

Forgoing the aching bloodlust that ran through my very veins, I held myself back.

"Who sent you?" I asked, kicking the sword that was held shakily in his hand far away, unreachable even if he decided to make a break for it.

"I-I don' know-"

My lip curled menacingly as I let out a snarl.

He scooted back and I took short, definite steps to follow him. "Don't make me ask you again," I told him, pointing my newly acquired sword at his neck. "Who sent you?"

Tig looked down at the point of my sword dangerously close to his flesh and gulped. "Apparently she-she loved that blond elf, ya see-"

I nearly lowered the sword in shock. "What?"

His eyes tilted down to the sword again, before looking back up into mine in earnest. "We was told to pick a girl with dark hair and green eyes that was stationed with dark haired elf on their patrol- we normally avoid them elves but we was paid real good-"

"Who paid you?" I asked, pushing the sharp point of the cold metal that already was stained with blood against his neck. "Who?"

"She didna' tell us her name! But she said she loves him so she had to get rid o' you!"

I growled, already knowing exactly who he was referring to.

I still struggle to get the picture of the two of them kissing cleared from my mind.

And I narrowed my eyes down at him in disdain. What sort of person would happily hunt people down for sport? What kind of person would be willing to take a woman in the most intimate way without permission? What kind of person would send men, women- children, to places where they would be sold and tortured and live as slaves? The very muck of this world all seemed to be welled up in one person, one man, and if he were gone-

I looked down at him with a sneer slowly moving onto my face.

"I am going to enjoy this-"

"Let him live."

"What?" My head snapped around to see the young man who had tended to Tira now slowly moving toward me with his hands raised as if he were trying to calm a wounded animal.

"You do not need to kill this man in cold blood," he told me as he stopped a few feet from my side. He eyed the blood on the blade I had acquired earlier with a grimace. "No more blood needs to be spilled."

I grit my teeth. Who was this man to say that I needed to let this bastard live? This… thing, this monster had more than likely killed many women and children just like Tira and I and if I let him live, I would just be allowing it to continue to occur!

"That would not be wise," I told him, turning to glare down at the man who was looking at the newcomer as if he were some sort of saving grace. I spat on the ground, letting the saliva drop on the coward's feet. "He will only move on to hurt more people if I don't."

The newcomer shrugged and turned around to give a glance at Tira, who now was sporting a bandage around her head and what looked to be a make-shift splint on her leg. This guy seemed to know what he was doing.

"Or, we save this young girl, Tira, I believe you said her name is, and keep her from having more nightmares than she deserves."

I swallowed the bile that gathered in my throat, seeing the broken, flayed bodies and blood that I had left in my wake. What had I done? What did I do?

"We take him as a prisoner, and when we reach our camp I have men who will take him into custody, and he will properly be charged for his crimes as well as bring us one more step closer to where this trafficking ring is started."

I blinked, lowering the sword and took a step back. "You're a Ranger?"

His answering smile was enough. "You know of us?"

I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes. "Well, duh, how else would I know?"

"I think we should bind the man on the ground before he suddenly grows smart and decides to run," the Ranger said, looking down at the man as if the mere thought was just an annoyance. Yes, he definitely was younger than he looked at first glance.

"You have rope?" I asked, before rubbing the blood off the blade off the coward's boots, and remembered that my cloak and daggers were lost, so I was stuck holding the thing. I was probably going to lose it soon, anyway, but I had no way of knowing if I was going to need it in the relative future or not.

Obviously this Ranger was well-stocked or just a natural genius because he took a whirl of rope out from the bottom of the knapsack he wore. I bet he had shoved some things in from wherever the horse was that carried the rest, which he smelled so wonderfully from.

I quickly tied the bonds of the vile man before forcing him to get up and follow me to where the Ranger was with Tira. "You know, I never really got your name back there," I told him, smiling at how natural he calmed the young girl down as he took her in his arms.

Tira even was able to manage a small smile, before hiding her face in his cloak when she saw just who I was carting around with me.

"You can call me Strider," he said with the rise of a brow. "I do not believe I have received a name in return, my Lady."

I rolled my eyes as we started to make our way through the woods, even though I probably was about to drop dead any second here. My body was only working on adrenaline, and that was cutting it close.

"I'm Persephone," I told him. "Persephone Jackson."

Strider stopped and turned to look at me with curiosity. "Lord Elrond to keep an eye out with your coloring and that name. Is it true-"

"That I have water powers? Heck yeah," I weakly cheered, feeling pleased that Lord Elrond was being awesome and putting out words and stuff for me… wait a minute- "Strider? You're Strider- the Chieftain of the Dúnedain and the Leader for the Northern Rangers?"

Both his eyebrows raised. "Who told you?"

"Your buddy Halbarad spilled the beans when he went to Imladris earlier. I was invited to speak about this very thing- and look, I found a perfect informant for you and your Rangers to use." I pushed Tig forward ahead of us with a tired grin on my face. "All's well end's well."

He hummed in response, and we continued in silence except for the off-hand question I threw his way. It baffled me that he was so young and he seemed to be very firm in his being, something that I have only seen around one type of person… "You spent a lot of time with elves?"

Strider narrowed his eyes. "Is that a question?"

"Well, I can tell you have, and your defensive response is telling me that I'm right."

He let out a sigh. "Perhaps I can explain further when there are no precarious ears or young ones around to listen in."

I looked to Tig, who even though he seemed to be dead on his feet, probably was taking in as much information as he possibly could at the moment. "That's not a bad idea."

When we got to the little camp area that had been set up, I was pleasantly surprised to see the other captives had already found their way there and were eating happily around a warm fire at the kindness of Strider's fellow Rangers.

"Tira! I told you she was gonna be fine!" Aria exclaimed, running over to where Strider was carrying her sister and was peering into his arms with tears in her eyes. Unsurprisingly, Laila quickly followed after her cousin with red eyes. "You are fine, aren't ya, Tira?"

Tira, who I could tell was probably given some milk of the poppy, smiled at her sister lazily. "Imma 'kay, Arie."

It looked like Aria had just heard the most beautiful sound in the entire world. "Thank you, Sephie! Thank you, Mister Ranger!"

Strider nodded politely down to the blazing young girl and gestured for someone to come take Tig off my hands. "Bring him to Halbarad, he is one of their holders. We need to know where this is stemming from," he insisted. "I pray to the Valar that it is not what I fear, but seeing this scum is leading me to believe in the opposite."

Two heavily armed and cloaked Rangers came by and wordlessly nodded to their Chieftain before heading off to go to wherever my scruffy friend Halbarad was.

And at that moment, it felt like a curtain suddenly had come over me, and I nearly keeled over onto the ground had another Ranger not rushed over to keep me from falling face-first. "Strider- her side!"

Oh, yeah. My side did hurt pretty bad.

"Sephie!"

Poor Tira. Poor Aria and Laila, those three girls had gone through so much, they didn't need to see me die, too.

"She has a massive concussion from the blunt force trauma that was delivered initially to her head," Irene's hurried voice spoke. "She spoke of being nauseous and having headaches, but given how she had made it all this way with a wound like that on her side-"

"It must be bad," Strider confirmed, and I felt hands move to my face and open my eyelids to peer at my pupils. I groaned at the light and the worried look in his grey eyes. "You are correct, Miss. She needs rest, and we need to find some hydration-"

"She-She has water powers, too!" I heard Elfhilda exclaim. "She was using them earlier."

"That could add to her mental strain," Irene voiced. "Perhaps…"

"From what I have heard, water also heals her. We need to get her to water, now!" Strider called, and his voice melted into a flurry of other voices that filled my mind to its brim.

"Just stay with us, Persephone," Strider's voice coaxed. "Stay with us."

I wanted to tell him I was trying, but I was just so tired and now that everyone was safe…

"They need you," he reminded me. "He needs you."

He?

And I fell into darkness's embrace.