m: I saw 'The Mask of Zorro' several weeks ago and thought of this.

Chapter Five

Nathyrra woke up due to the loud sound of running footsteps. She rubbed her eyes and opened the door to her room. Across the hall, Zarra opened her door and peered outside. The other drow looked at a recruit. "You! Male!" she called out.

The guard turned around and bowed to the two women. "I am most sorry that we have disturbed your slumber, mistresses."

"Why have you done so?" asked Zarra.

"The slave, Seelamin, has disposed of his collar somehow. He will escape if I do not leave now. I believe he is in the stables as of this moment."

Nathyrra and Zarra looked at each other. They both ran out the door and started racing towards the stables. Zarra pushed Nathyrra and got ahead. Nathyrra crashed into a chest and fell down. She growled and cast a spell of haste. She caught up with her sister and returned the favor of being pushed.

Unlike Nathyrra, Zarra fell towards an open window. She grabbed onto the ledge before she fell five stories down. Nathyrra walked over to the ledge. "I think I'll let you hang here for awhile. I do have a male to catch up with after all."

An expression of pure rage was painted across Zarra's face. "Vith'os!" she snarled.

Nathyrra gave her an infuriating grin before running off.

---

Seelamin reached towards the door.

"Now Seelamin, is this truly necessary?"

Seelamin spun around. Nathyrra stood behind him, across the room. He shook his head. "I want my freedom, Nathyrra."

"Freedom eh?" she walked over to a chest and pulled out two swords. "I'll make a deal with you, we will spar. If I win, you stay. If you win, you leave."

He sighed. "Can't I just leave?"

"I want a rematch." She tossed him the sword.

He caught it easily and laughed. "If you insist."

They circled around each other, each daring the other to strike. Seelamin finally swung at her torso. She parried it and aimed a blow at his shoulder. He dodged it, but the blade still grazed his shirt, tearing the cloth on his shoulder. He looked at the tear. He then swung at her head. She ducked and twisted her sword around towards his legs. He jumped up to avoid it and swung at her shoulder, creating a tear identical to his own.

She raised an eyebrow. They made an unspoken momentary truce so that Seelamin could remove his cloak and Nathyrra could remove her bathrobe. Seelamin looked at Nathyrra. He didn't know that she preferred a black shirt andblue pants as pajamas. She moved with a natural grace, her bare feet making almost no noise on the stable floor.

He raised his sword in an offensive stance. She attacked first, pulling him into a continuous pattern of blocks and blows. He swung at her legs, missing her but creating a rip at her knees. Nathyrra looked down at her legs. "You've improved." she murmured before tearing the ruined cloth off and attacking him once more.

Seelamin aimed another blow at her. The effort of dodging this caused her to lose her balance. Seelamin caught her before she fell. "You've improved as well." He reached down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips before jumping back. He chuckled at the astounded and angry look that adorned her face.

Nathyrra ran forward and stabbed at his thigh. He parried the blow. She grabbed one of the stable poles and swung around it, sword drawn and ready to slice Seelamin. He caught her arm. The sudden stop made her let go of the pillar and fall backwards towards the man. She hit his chest with a soft thud but he didn't budge. He grabbed her arms to keep her from falling and reached down, stealing another kiss.

He let go and jumped backwards. She snarled and swung at him once more. The force of the blow knocked the weapon out of this hand and made it fly towards the wall, embedding it in the door. Seelamin walked over to the door and tried to pull the sword out of the wall but it wouldn't budge.

When he turned around he saw that Nathyrra held a sword to his throat. "Nathyrra…" he began. She hissed and tightened her grip.

He scowled. "This will make it harder." He surprised her with agility that she didn't know he possessed and flipped backwards, out of her way. She snarled and attacked him. He dodged her continually until he grabbed a spare quarterstaff and parried her blows with the new weapon.

She ran over to the wall. She whispered a spell of bull's strength and pulled other sword out of the door. Seelamin blinked. "Make that twice as hard." He amended.

Nathyrra performed a move meant to decapitate him with both swords. He dodged it and knocked the other sword out of her hand. He grabbed it out of the air and attacked her with the sword. He had both their swords locked. Nathyrra was too focused on his sword to see the staff coming towards her shins. She yelped as the staff hit her legs, distracting her. Seelamin took advantage of this and knocked the sword out of her hand.

She did a back handspring to get to her sword. She started to pick it up but stopped when she saw that Seelamin's sword was pointing at her throat. He bade her to stand up, shaking his head as she did so. She glared at him, her eyes smoldering.

"Don't move." He cautioned her. He swung at her torso. Nathyrra stared at him, too scared to move as he cut at her torso and shoulders. She could feel nothing, it was as though he was swiping at the air in front of her.

Seelamin made one final cut before stepping backwards, a satisfied smirk on his face.

A loud ripping sound was heard as Nathyrra's shirt and breast band fell apart, falling to the ground in a pile of rags. A look of astonishment crossed her face. She looked down and saw that her hair was conveniently draped over her breasts, revealing nothing. The half-naked drow let out a gasp and turned around. Seelamin chuckled as she grabbed her bathrobe and held it up to her chest.

He walked over to her. He took her arms and gently pushed her against the wall. She stared at him. "I'll scream." she threatened.

He grinned. "I think I'm going to stick around, see if I ever get the opportunity to do this again." He reached down and kissed her passionately. She closed her eyes as a blissful feeling came over her. Wow…

He turned around and tossed the sword aside. "I'll see you later, Nathyrra." He said before walking out the door.

Nathyrra barely had time to reflect on what had happened before the door burst open. Vasenna, Nackor, and two recruits ran in. Vasenna stared at her daughter. "What happened?"

"I fought with Seelamin and he decided to stay. Don't punish him! He's staying!"

"I'll bet." said Nackor, brightly. "You must have made him really happy. Reminds me of my cousin, Wanda. Wanda was actually a prostitute-"

Nathyrra glared at Nackor. "You, dwarf, are starting to irk me." she declared. She looked at the shocked people in the room. "Mother, Nackor, lowly males, I take my leave now." she walked towards the exit, looking very poised and dignified despite the fact that she was clutching a bathrobe to her chest.

The twos recruits looked at each other. "Lucky man." they said in unison.

Vasenna stared at her daughter's retreating back. "I think I'm going to have a heart-attack."

"That's too bad." commented Nackor.