Disclaimer: Drow not mine…

Alhana: Don't worry the danger has passed :-) I gave the Master some cookies and promised you'd share the next batch with him.

Lady Janelly: Well here's what happens, even though Ayren has only a small role. Evil me always using her as "fill up"…her miraculous survival will be explained in later chapters by the way.

Cat in the web: Hach danke das freut mich aber dass dir meine stories gefallen! geschmeicheltfühlundrotwerd

A/N: Sorry for taking so long, but I seem to go through phases with my stories… and Blickwinkel took up quite some time.

Nariel: Ach ja a propos Blickwinkel, welches Buch ist denn der schwarze zauber, der mit dem größenwahnsinnigen kristall mit diesem unsäglichen namen? (Ich hab die bücher nach nacht ohne sterne nur auf english, nehme aber einfach mal an dass du servant of the shard meinst.) falls das stimmt dann hast du recht, aber von entreri und jarlaxle zusammen in eine ecke gedrängt zu werden stell ich mir trotzdem irgendwie furchteinflößend vor.

C

Giciel

C

"Giciel." He whispers wide eyed and his grip on my arm is so hard I think I'll have several new bruises tomorrow. I don't really notice it at that time though, because my mind is still trying to comprehend what I'm seeing.

"But she's dead!" I say rather stupidly, as this is quite obviously not the case. When he doesn't show any reaction and only continues to stare I turn around to grab his shoulders and shake him.

"What do we do now damn it? If he finds out about their presence we're dead!"

"He must've turned their skin color." He mumbles absently commenting the obvious, before he suddenly flinches.

"We can't let them see us." Oh really? Although there's no need for it Andy has switched to an urgent whisper and this tells me more than anything else that he's afraid. We both are. But even as he says the words my cousin just has to look in our direction and a second later I can clearly see her point to where we are standing. With a muttered curse I turn around and pull Andy towards a less crowded side street. He holds me back though.

"That's a dead end Toren! We can't go there!"

"So where do you suggest we go then?" I hiss agitatedly, while trying to keep track of their progress through the crowd. I'm quite certain that if we don't find a way to leave the market very soon, they'll catch up with us eventually.

"We have to split up, that way we'll be able to move faster. Meet me at the Silver in an hour."

And just like that he's gone, slipped away in the crowd. I am left standing there cursing him softly but continuously. Of course it'll be much easier for him to blend in, in this city so full of Drow where I stand out like a sore tooth, because the color of my skin sets me apart from everybody else. It is also because of my skin color that most of them wish to bed me, to have me begging under them.

Sometimes I hate the fact that I'm so pale, especially when I look at the bruises I still acquire frequently in the course of a night with my Master, how they stand out darkly against the whiteness of my skin. He loves to mark me and knows very well that I can't stand it, this constant reminder of his power over me. Even though I no longer try to resist, that doesn't mean I can accept it without difficulty.

But for now I do my best to look inconspicuous and pull up the hood of my expensive black cloak in an attempt to hide my features, before I turn and try to escape the searching gaze of that troubling person who wears my cousin's face.

As I am soon forced to find out when she manages to corner me in another deserted side street, she apparently is the very same Ayren I know and detest. In her efforts to catch me she has lost her companion or maybe he went after Andy, but I neither know nor care I just want to get rid of her before anybody sees us, tells my Master about this little encounter and thereby causes our drawn out and painful death.

Oh well maybe he'll not kill me, I still have some use after all, but I won't like what he'll do, that much is certain. With these cheerful thoughts at the back of my head it is no wonder that the first thing I do is to snap at her: "What the fuck do you think you're doing running after me like this?"

It seems my evident lack of joy at her sight comes as a bit of a surprise to her and in reply she can only stutter incoherently.

"But you… I … I thought that…don't you want to leave Toren?"

I have to grit my teeth to keep from strangling her.

"Why are you here?" I ground out after taking a few seconds to compose myself enough to speak quietly instead of screaming so loud I'd probably shatter some windows. I can guess of course, but I want to hear it from her lips. Now she comes to rescue me! Six months after I've been broken and used in so many ways I can't even count them anymore?

"We came to get you back." She says uncertainly, taken aback by my sudden anger. "No one deserves to be under the control of that …that bastard!"

I can only laugh cynically.

"And yet when you cast me out you said I deserved it! I did nothing then, I was innocent. You forced me out of the only home I've ever known for something that I never did and condemned me to a life of loneliness and danger, but now that you have had a taste of what it is like to be alone and powerless you come running to rescue me, the murderer; the one you sent away? Do you expect me to get on my knees and thank you now?"

The last words I spit out with an amount of bitter hatred I never knew I felt towards her and I can see her flinch at my harsh accusations. I know of course that it wasn't entirely her fault, but I'm so caught up in my fury I can't bring myself to care right now.

"You have no idea what I went through." I growl and roughly push her against a wall, trapping her wrists above her head like it has been done to me so many times in the past months and I can clearly see the flicker of fear in her eyes.

"Do you think you can just come and take me back and get on with your life, that everything will be fine again? It doesn't work that way Ayren."

"I know!" An anguished wail, but before I can say or do anything else someone grabs my collar from behind. I was so focused on my cousin that I didn't notice his approach and now it is too late. The last thing I feel is a hard yank backwards and then the sensation of walking through or rather being pushed, because I'm not inclined to walk anywhere voluntarily as long as I don't know where I'm going, through warm water until we all tumble down in an untidy heap on the carpeted floor of a richly furnished room.

By pure chance I come to lie under who I assume must be Giciel still in his Drow guise and am presented with a short uncontrolled flash of lust in his eyes before he gets a grip on himself and rises. The situation is strangely familiar and new at once, because what usually follows after I see such an expression in the eyes of somebody who's lying on top of me is quite different from this hasty withdrawal. I do my best to suppress a mocking smirk in his direction and because of all the practice I've had during the last months I even succeed fairly well.

"I hope you are aware that this will have unpleasant consequences."

I can't resist telling him, although I'm sure he must know, having fought against Drow before. This puts a sour smile on his handsome face.

"Oh really?"

With a careless flick of his hand the ebony skin changes back to its normal golden color and against my will I find myself wondering what it would be like if I were to sleep with him. Would he mark me as my Master does? I wouldn't put it past him seeing the rather cool look he is currently giving me. Or maybe that is just the usual condescension from a gold Elf towards a grey, as they like to call us. I've only known him for a few seconds and already I can't stand the git. That does not bode well for our future interactions, especially when I'm only too aware of the fact that I'll have to depend on him for protection.

"Why did you come anyway?"

He frowns and Ayren blurts out a reprimanding "Toren!", someone tell me please why I ever regretted her supposed death.

"Do you mind? If so I can send you back immediately and you can go and be a slave for the rest of your life."

Ah I see, he doesn't like me either. Maybe he's just annoyed, because I caused that short slip of self control and saw his inappropriate look. I don't mind, I'm quite used to being around people who don't like me for some reason or another, so all I do is to smile and say: "No thanks, the food there wasn't all that good."

I hope he finds a way to get the collar off me before my Master learns of my un-allowed absence. The mage gives me a last irritated glance and turns to Ayren to alter her appearance back to the usual whiteness with the same casual gesture he had used on himself.

"Very well." He says to her. "Your cousin is here now and our bargain settled, from now on his dealings will be directly with me."

She nods and turns to me. "I would have expected you to be more grateful after all that I've done for you Toren, but maybe I've presumed too much. Please be aware that I consider all obligations fulfilled now and will leave you be."

Before I can give a sarcastic reply to her little speech she has already turned around and left the room leaving me to stare after her in helpless anger. Why is it that she always provokes this kind of reaction in me? I want to scream at her, tell her that in fact she has worsened my situation by doing this, removing me from my Master's reach without preventing him from going after me, leaving me at the mercy of this mage who presently does nothing more than to watch me with a slight smile on his lips amused by our interaction.

"We should find a way to remove that." He says pointing towards the collar.

"You wish me to pay?" I ask with an elegantly raised eyebrow for no other reason than to annoy him further and for a second I can see the battle of conflicting emotions on his face. He knows that it would be so easy to have me, in fact I have practically offered myself, but his moral background does not allow him to take advantage of the situation. I permit myself a smirk to let him know that I am fully aware of his desires and his inability to force me.

My mirth doesn't last for long though, because suddenly the only thing I feel is the pain from my collar. So he has found out sooner than I expected is the last coherent thought I manage before everything becomes a blur of red, tears and stars flashing in front of my closed eyelids. Through the haze of pain I can dimly hear myself desperately begging for forgiveness, begging for him to stop even though he cannot hear me until my throat is raw from screaming and I'm so exhausted I can only whimper while drifting in and out of consciousness.

Just when I think I can't stand this any longer, I will break for good and die here on this soft carpet, soaked with my blood, tears and other more distasteful fluids, just when I have finally given up it all ends as quickly as it started. Too weak and exhausted to even open my eye I let myself fall into the merciful darkness of unconsciousness.