Author's note: This one's gets a bit rougher, I'll probably edit it later because it doesn't convey quite the emotions I was hoping for, but for now, I hope you enjoy!
"What exactly are we doing again?" Catalin asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly. The group was hidden in a little alcove surrounded by large rocks, where it would be difficult to be spotted by casual passersby. No fire was lit, and the companions sat huddled in their cloaks, watching, and waiting after a short rest.
Makareth turned from his position peering through the gap between two boulders to look at the blonde. The dim glow cast by Kirion's small light spell allowed the companions not gifted with darkvision to see the others.
"Waiting for a slaver caravan to come by." the drow responded, "Slave traders are very active this time of year. It won't be too long before one comes along, heading for the surface." He turned back to the space between the rocks, "We follow it, and they lead us straight out."
"Right." the human said, Makareth's re-explanation jogging his young sleep-addled memory.
"How long do you suppose we will have to wait?" Beoric inquires, pulling his weather-stained grey cloak tighter around his shoulders.
"No longer than a day." the rogue replied, "Though, I hope we see one sooner. I fear waiting here will allow any pursuers out there to catch up to us."
"I do not believe we have much longer to wait." Kirion said, his pale features, and dark blue eyes partially shadowed by his hood, appearing slightly ominous in the light of his glowing orb, "I hear a group approaching."
He put the light out, and before long the tramp of boots, and hooves on stone, and the creek of wooden wheels could be heard faintly from down the tunnel.
The whole party waited silently as the sounds drew nearer, and soon a group of drow came into sight. Some marched alongside the currently empty wagons pulled by dark brown rothe, others drove the carts, and a few rode on giant lizards, whose bulging white eyes flicked around hungrilly.
Alongside the drow on the ground, walked spiders of varying sizes and shapes; ranging from small and fuzzy like Makareth's spiders, to large long-limbed monsters, taller than two of the rothe combined, with smooth glossy exoskeletons, and vicious claws.
It took ten whole minutes for the caravan to pass, and the seven adventurers waited a bit longer before following behind. No second caravan came by, and they moved out from their sheltered hiding place, treading as quietly as possible after the slavers.
Days went past without more than a few words spoken between the companions, none of them wishing their presence to be noticed by the drow ahead of them. When the caravan stopped for rest periods, the drow lighting fires to warm themselves; the small group of escaping prisoners did not, all seven curling up in a huddle to keep warm instead.
All went smoothly, until one day, the tunnel opened up on one side, the wall giving way to a steep drop into a vast cavern. This would not have been a problem, had they not been right in the middle of this gap with nowhere to run, or hide, when Kirion's head snapped around to look back the way they had come.
"Someone's coming!" he exclaimed, looking around for someplace to conceal the group, but to no avail.
The noise Kirion had heard reached the others' ears soon afterwards, the sound of some large creature running up the passage towards them. They all reached for their weapons, scanning the tunnel mouth for this new threat.
A few tense moments passed as the sound grew nearer, then the creature finally came into view.
Large, long-limbed, and covered in black fur, the bones in its mane rattled as it rushed towards them with a roar.
They drew their weapons, backing away as the quaggoth loped forward, herding the group back along the cliff's edge.
A female voice drew the adventurers' attention away from the beast before them, and they turned back to the tunnel mouth as the speaker came out of the passage.
"Trying to escape back to the surface, are we?" she asked, four drow guards flanking her as she advanced, "I would have guessed as much from you adventuring types," she says, walking slowly past them, "But you…" she halted in front of Makareth, who's gaze flicked to the ground with a whimper, eyes wide, and small frame trembling, "I thought I trained you better than this, Makareth." Her voice was laced with disappointment and anger, making him duck his head submissively. "All of you are coming back with us." she said to the group, taking a chain, and leather band out of a pouch on her belt, and nodding to her men who also pulled out restraining items, moving forward, despite the armed state of their would-be prisoners.
Taking a quick look at what lay below them in the cavern at their backs, Beoric snarls:
"We will do no such thing! Everyone, follow me!"
Effortlessly picking Makareth up, the young drow still terrified into inaction, the dragonborn leapt off the cliff, startling both friends and enemies alike.
Not bothering to think too much about what the paladin had just done, Kirion jumped off after him, followed immediately by Grolim, and Catalin. Lila leapt off next, with Liana right behind her, firing a single arrow at Ishrae before her descent.
Makareth's two spiders scurried down the cliff face after them, as the five drow rushed to the edge, peering down, the priestess holding her shoulder where Liana's arrow had struck her.
"There's no way they would have survived that." one of the guards announced, gazing at the fast flowing river far below.
"He has made me think he was dead once already, and held up the illusion for six months." Ishrae growled, pulling Liana's arrow free of her shoulder with a grimace, "I will assume he is alive until a body is found." She turned away from the ledge, and back to the quaggoth, "Find a way down there." she commanded.
0*0*0*0*0
The second he heard Ishrae's voice, Makareth's heart rate increased drastically, and his breath caught in his throat.
As she drew nearer, her voice was the only thing he could hear, cutting sharp and clear through the sound of blood roaring in his ears.
"I thought I trained you better than this, Makareth." she said, standing now right in front of him.
She was angry.
He had disobeyed her, and could feel the promise of retribution in her voice.
He dropped his gaze with a whimper, breath coming in ragged gasps, his whole body shaking.
Memories of what happened the last time he had angered the priestess flashed through his mind:
A lash, five venomous snakes in place of leather thongs.
Unable to move as the cruel instrument fell….
Burning agony.
Unrelenting strikes until his voice was too hoarse to scream.
A pool of blood. His blood, accumulating on the floor below him….
Vision swimming from blood loss and pain….
That had been years ago, but the memories were fresh and clear, as if they were the events of yesterday. He had behaved, so she felt no need to punish him; but after his continual refusal to return, and blatant defiance in her dungeons, she would make his retribution twice as severe.
"All of you are coming back with us." Her statement was accompanied by the rattle of chains, and Makareth bit back a sob of terror, his mind being assaulted by more flashes of past events:
Cold.
Dark.
Left alone.
Chained to the wall….
Bleeding welts flaming with pain at every movement,
Lying on the floor in a sobbing heap….
He was so absorbed in these memories, that he didn't even notice Beoric's strong arms enveloping him, or that the dragonborn had leapt off the cliff.
He was suddenly brought back to his senses as he was submerged in freezing cold water.
0*0*0*0*0
Liana gasped involuntarily as she hit the water, chilled to the bone the second she sank under. Swept away by the fast flowing current, she floundered to the surface, coughing and spluttering, fighting to keep her head above the water.
Ahead of her, she could make out multiple other shapes that she guessed were her companions, but couldn't call out to them, struggling as she was to even draw a proper breath.
It felt like ages of being swept along by the river, pulled under, and slammed into rocks by the violent water, before Liana found herself pitched over the edge of a waterfall, and into a still lake.
Swimming to the edge, and grabbing hold of a stone poking over the surface, she felt someone take her hand, and help her out of the water as she coughed weakly in an attempt to rid her lungs of fluid.
Looking up, she saw that it was Catalin helping her out of the lake.
A glance at her surroundings showed her the other companions as well. Lila was already on the bank, helping Grolim pull an unconscious Kirion onto the slate, and Beoric was trudging out of the lake, water streaming from his armour, with Makareth clinging to him, and coughing miserably.
From above the waterfall, the twin jumping spiders leapt down the rocks to join them.
"What happened?" Liana exclaimed, seeing the state of their two elven companions, "Are they going to be alright?"
"Aye, they'll be fine." Grolim said, holding the high elf in a position for his body to expel the water from his lungs, "Kirion jumped in all alone, knowing full well he can't swim. Inhaled quite a bit of water before I could get to him."
"Apparently Makareth never learned how either." Beoric added, making sure the drow wasn't going to collapse, before removing his steadying hand, and ruffling the rogue's hair slightly, "Kiddo got a lot of water in his lungs as well."
"We've been swept pretty far from where we landed in the water." Lila stated, glancing around the cave, "We should find a sheltered spot to light a fire, and dry off, before anyone goes hypothermic." She leveled her gaze pointedly at Catalin, Kirion, and Makareth, who were all shivering more violently than the others.
Everyone nodded, and they moved towards an area where there were large quantities of boulders, capable of concealing them. On the way, Lila picked up any flotsam, and burnable material she could find, with which to build a fire.
Finding a moderately hidden cove under an overhang, and surrounded by large stones, they huddled inside, pressing together, trying to keep each other warm with their own body heat, while they waited for the cleric to get a blaze going.