The horse slowed down soon after they left the city noises behind, slowing from an insane speed to merely too fast. Del'rania clutched at the godsforsaken animal, jouncing up and down and feeling vaguely nauseous. Her concentration was mostly devoted to holding on; the rest was considering her situation.

The situation had slightly improved. She was no longer imprisoned by that damned trader, nor was she held by that odious man. Make a concubine out of her, would he? Someday, someday soon, she'd return and sneak into his bedroom, and then...and then...

The horse gave a particularly sickening lurch, jolting her out of her fantasies. Someday soon I'll likely be dead, she thought wearily. Or worse. The gods only knew why the strange human warrior had snatched her off her horse—perhaps he had stolen her for his own pleasure. Even now he was leaning in close to her, his chainmail rubbing against her already-wounded back. She tried to wriggle closer to the horse and away from the man, to no avail. Bitterly Del'rania cursed her fate.

After another half-hour or so, the horse slowed to a walk before finally coming to a halt. As soon as she was certain the horse would move no more, Del'rania hastily slid off, away from the warrior. For a moment she wobbled before falling to her knees and retching violently, heaving out what little food she held in her stomach.

A warm male voice asked her something in the odd language that humans spoke. With a squeak she tumbled away, pulling herself halfway upright and staring at the man with wild eyes.

He was not very tall, by human standards, only about a head taller than she was, looking uncertainly at her with hazel-brown eyes as if she were some wild animal. A curl of black hair spilled out from under his helmet; his face was strong and tanned golden and soft in a strange manner—no, not soft, but...kind. His hands were large and callous, and were straying towards the hilt of the longsword belted to his side. The man wore breastplate armor made from a fine silvery material she recognized as mithral, emblazoned with a hand grasping a lightning bolt; the same sigil dangled from a silver chain around his neck. Looking closer, she noticed a golden chain with another symbol hanging from it, a golden, stylized rose.

The man took a step towards her, and she scrambled to her feet. "Stay back!" she stammered out in her own language, even though she knew he could not understand her. She held out a shaking hand. "I'm warning you—stay back!"

He halted, considering her with a puzzled frown. After a moment of silence, he pointed at himself and said loudly, "Tamariko. Tamariko an-Emrei." He paused, waiting for her to respond.

When no reply came, the man asked her something in her own language. "I don't speak your surface gibberish," she snapped, irritated. Hadn't the man realized that fact already?

He frowned at her again with a thoughtful expression on his face. A minute passed before he said something again, in a strange tongue that sounded vaguely like Drow. She stared at him in bewilderment. "Speak normal Drow, not some nonsense," she replied crossly—and, to her surprise, a touch hopefully. Perhaps he actually knew another language that was much closer to Drow.

The man pursed his lips in frustration, and was silent for much longer. "Do you speak Goblan?" he finally asked.

Del'rania's face lit up. "You do speak something normal," she replied slowly in the same language, relieved. At least...at least I'll know what he's saying.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Goblan's not exactly what I'd call a normal language. I already told you my name. What's yours?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I've no reason to tell you my name."

"I rescued you," he protested. "You owe me your name at the very least—you could be polite—"

"Rescued? Ha! Be truthful, human—" Her voice still shook slightly, and she strengthened it—"Be truthful...why did you really come to my aid?"

For a moment he was dumbstruck. "Wha—you needed rescuing!" he shot back angrily. "You haven't ridden a horse before, have you. You wouldn't have gotten very far if I hadn't scooped you up."

"Hmph. Fine. You rescued me. And if you only aided me because I needed help, then I suppose you won't mind if I leave now," she purred, poisonously sweet, and turned on her heel.

But she had only taken a few steps when she felt a hand warm on her shoulder. "Wait."

A spastic jerk, and she was free of his grip, facing him, breathing hard. "S-stay away," she mumbled, knowing he couldn't hear her.

The man gave her an odd look. "You can't leave," he went on reluctantly. "There might be people looking for you."

"I—I don't care," she snapped. "I can take care of myself."

"You're on the surface. How on earth would you know which animals to hunt, which ones to avoid? Which plants are edible, which ones are poisonous?"

"I'll survive," she protested, a note of panic slithering into her voice."I—I've been on the surface f-for a while. I c-can find f-food by myself."

"Do you know good places to hide when humans pass by?" he continued relentlessly. "Because you will need to hide from everyone—very few humans like drow, and I'm sure many here recall the drow raids three years ago. Everyone will likely turn you in, and then chances are you'll end up back on the block. Mordikan isn't the only city-state on the Ralgir Plains where slave-trading is permitted. They all are, and being sold is a common punishment. Do you want to end up as a concubine after all?"

She had stumbled back a few steps from him, cringing at the force of his barrage of his questions. The human fell silent, then sighed and rubbed his temples. "Sorry," he muttered. "I'm...I'm just tired." After an awkward silence, he added very reluctantly, "I'm not sure if I did the right thing."

Del'rania barely heard the last comment. "There—there are drow here?"

He looked at her curiously. "A few, yes. Most live in the forest. Underground of course..." His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"

She shivered violently. "N-no reason," she mumbled, unable to keep the tremor out of her voice. "J-just wondering." That's right, there are several outposts...Oh gods, if the Council caught up to her...but that's ridiculous, she tried to comfort herself, they'd never go to those little colonies for help just to get me. IT can't be that important, IT just can't...But they'd gone through all that trouble to hunt her down, even after she fled...bending their stiff pride would probably be nothing next to all that work, just to find her...oh gods, why did I ever take the damned—

"What is that?"

The man's voice was much closer to her face, so close she could feel his breath. With a sudden, violent push she shoved him hard, and he fell back on his bottom. "Really, what is that?" he queried, getting back up. "I'm surprised the slaver didn't take it."

The man was staring at the necklace dangling out of the rags of her shirt. It was a beautiful, if odd piece—hair the color of moonlight braided in a loop, lacking a clasp or knot, as if the ends had melded together. A silver moon hung from it, with delicate golden stars running up the sides; one could barely make out a figure lightly carved into the silver disk. The necklace was smooth and soft like silk; light and yet metallic in some strange way.

"That's none of your business," Del'rania replied hastily, trying to stuff it back into her tunic. "And I don't need your hand to get up," she added at the proffered hand. Slowly she climbed to her feet. "What did you say your name was?" she asked hesitantly.

"Tamariko. You can call me Riko."

"...Mine's Del'rania," she replied after a long pause.

Doing well so far? Alright, nothing really happened yet in this chapter either. But it gets more interesting next time! Promise! And don't forget...review!! :) ;)

Oh yeah. I spelled the language "Goblan" on purpose. Just so ya know