Disclaimer: Drow are still not mine

A/N: Wow, long chapter. See what reviews do to me? (Thanks to everybody who did review by the way, it puts a huge smile on my face every single time)

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Slave ?

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"Can you just kill everybody who happens to annoy you?"

"Well, no of course not. What's your point damn it?" If I could he'd probably be dead by now.

"See, same with me. It's only the really powerful ones who can actually do what you are accusing my people of. Most of us are not mages, lethal warriors or mighty priestesses but are simply trying their best to get through life without starving to death. And don't you dare tell me it's my fault when some lunatic decides to sacrifice boy children would be a good idea. Only because they want to please some stupid Goddess I…."

Andy suddenly stops in mid sentence and looks at me. What the hell does he expect me to do now? I don't have the slightest idea what he's going on about and I'm nearly sure it's better that way. I despise the idea of anybody being sacrificed.

"Look," he tries again "if we really were as bad as everybody makes us out to be, wouldn't I have tried to kill you by now?"

"If you say so." I'm not convinced in the least, but maybe I should talk some more. If he's busy answering he won't attack me. He could be insane, and that's the reason they put him in here. Shit, alone in a cell with a madman. I've certainly had better prospects in my life.

"So you're not powerful then?" I venture. Might as well find out exactly how dangerous he is. Always better to know what you're up against.

"Powerful?" A bitter laugh escapes him.

"I am…was my Masters whore, you fucking idiot." Andy snaps. "Haven't you noticed?" To be completely honest, no I had not. But I've got a hangover that still threatens to let me fall flat on my face the moment I loose concentration, so you could probably call me preoccupied. Now that he mentions it I can clearly see the silver collar around his slender neck, which marks him as somebody else's property. And he's very pretty, so I admit I could have reached this conclusion earlier and on my own, if I had paid any attention. Don't know how this has escaped my notice, it's actually quite obvious. Something bothers me about the last sentence…oh yes, the past tense. He said "was". I'll have to find out about that.

"You're a slave?"

"Yes." He hisses angrily "Are you daft or just blind?"

Dumb as shit would be more accurate I believe. I could have asked about ten thousand other much more intelligent questions, but as usual I opted for the one that would leave me looking like the biggest moron on the face of this earth. Maybe if I started to actually think before I speak my life would become more pleasant, without people shouting at me or wanting to beat me up all the time.

"What happened to your Master?"

"Dead." Ah, thanks a lot for this enlightening answer. And he said I'm not talkative!

"But if your Master is dead, you're not exactly a slave anymore, are you?"

He looks at me strangely. Seems like up until now this thought hadn't really occurred to him. And he's supposedly been here for weeks! Maybe sometimes cute little Andy is just as dense as I am. He frowns and I watch his face going through a vast set of emotions while he's examining this new concept in his head. It's rather fascinating to see him end up quite expressionless after all that.

Very carefully he lifts his hands up to slide his fingertips along the collar until suddenly I can hear a faint click and the silvery ring comes off. Just like that, amazing. I had always imagined those things would be bloody hard to get rid of. He must have noticed my surprised look, because he says: "It's the magic that holds them closed, without that it's more like wearing a normal necklace which can be taken off any time."

After this astounding revelation I can only blurt out one question. "Why in the nine hells didn't you take it off before!"

Andy is still clutching the collar as if he's afraid to let it go. He gives me an embarrassed look.

"To be honest, I haven't even thought about this possibility before you mentioned it. I've been a slave nearly all my life it just never occurred to me that this could change. My training was…" He trails of helplessly and all I can do is stare at him. It doesn't happen very often, but this is one of the few situations where I don't have a single clue what to say next. I open my mouth but nothing comes out.

He starts to fidget and twitch and I start to feel worried. I hope he won't have a nervous breakdown while I'm still trapped here. I really couldn't deal with that right now. Now would be a convenient moment for some kind of grumpy, underpaid guard to make an appearance. Anything as long as it happens immediately and puts Andy out of this strange mood. After a few minutes nothing has happened and I realize that I must do something, get his attention try to distract him somehow. He looks lost and even though I can't picture myself feeling lost after being freed from the fate of slavery, I still know how alone and panicked I felt after my clan cast me out. I imagine it must at least be similar for Andy. I would get him drunk if that was an option. But unfortunately it isn't at the moment. Being drunk tends to give you a pleasantly detached view on all your troubles. On the other hand drinking is what got me here in the first place. I sigh.

"Andy?" I ask softly. His head snaps up and he stares as if he's seeing me for the first time ever. He doesn't say anything though and I try again.

"Andy? Are you ok?"

This time he pulls himself together and nods.

"I… I'm sorry." He says. "I just need some time to think about this." I shrug and he goes to sit down in a corner.

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because when I wake up Andy is laying next to me and I don't know when or how he got there. All I do know is that he's too close for me not to be affected by it. Ok, Toren you can cope with this. Think about ugly slimy things that want to eat you…no, not working, need something else, something more terrifying, anything but the warm body next to you. Hey, how about the ghostly transparent form of the sneering Drow mage floating in front of us?

Please no, this can't be true. In the last hours I've seen more dark Elves than I've ever wanted to lay my tired eyes on! I try to wake Andy up by nudging him discreetly with my elbow. It doesn't seem to work. "Andy" I hiss. "Wake up damn it."

He still shows no sign of waking anytime soon, but then the scary Drow starts to chuckle so softly I can barely hear it and to my surprise Andy reacts instantly. I swear I've never in my entire life seen anybody go from peaceful sleeping to petrified crouching this fast. It doesn't get better when the mage starts to speak.

"There you are! Where's my brother you worthless little slut?"