A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in so long, but school start for me on August 24 and it really hasn't put me in a mood to write. But I forced myself to write this, but I don't think it's very good. Review anyway!

And thank you to Robin Reen, vanyelashke89, catwraith (thanks for pointing out the mistakes - I made sure to fix them), wishingIcould thinkofsomething, and loonyloonylupin for reviewing. I never got so many reviews for one chapter!I think, at least.

X-X-X

Rothas paced around his cell, as he had been doing for at least the last candlemark. He knew Lythe still hadn't awakened, and, at the moment, was at a loss of what to do. He wanted to try to escape, try to use his new Mage Gift to blast down the cell door, try to do something!

But he couldn't. Not without Lythe.

The mage hadn't come back to bewitch Lythe. Yet. It was like a race against time but Rothas hadn't even started.

If he tried to use his Mage Gift, he might set some alarm which Rothas would have preferred to go off when they escaped, not when he was practicing. He couldn't let the mage know he was using it, and that left him nothing to do.

Rothas groan again like he had many times in the last candlemark and continued to pace.

X-X-X

Lythe blinked and found she had a pounding headache. Lythe closed her eyes and found in wonder she was wide-awake, not still sleepy. But when had she gone to sleep? The last thing she remembered was talking to Rothas …

Did something happen to Rothas? she thought suddenly, but it made her head flare in pain even to think.

So Lythe slowly sat up, being careful to not jar her head and cause her unnecessary pain. When she finally sat up, she felt a wave of dizziness and moaned.

"Lythe?" It was Rothas, his voice quiet and cautious.

"Rothas? What—"

"Oh, Lythe. Finally! Now we can escape! I …"

Lythe felt her headache grow worse as Rothas continued to talk. She really needed silence right now to she think.

"Rothas!" she whispered harshly.

"What?" he asked, mildly confused.

"Please slow down and explain slowly. I have a horrid headache and you're making it worse."

"I'm sorry, Lythe. I—ah—I was just saying," he started, now sounding awkward, "how now that your awake, we can escape these cells."

"What? How?" she exclaimed ignoring her pain.

"Our captor talked to me."

"When did that happen?"

"We were talking and he put you under a spell to make you fall asleep. Then he explained to me how we were caught, and how we both had Mage Gifts."

That does explain a lot, she thought. The energy I felt inside me when there was the forest fire. That must have been my Mage Gift. I probably deflected the fire somehow, because Rothas and I had just been about to die. And that does explain how I woke up wide awake.

"But how would we escape?" Lythe asked. "You don't know how to use your Mage Gift."

"No …" Rothas said quietly. "I don't."

Now Lythe felt horrible because he had sounded so excited before, but now he sounded so dejected.

"Well—I … did use mine once," Lythe said, painfully noticing the high pitch-ness and hesitancy of her own voice.

"When?" Rothas asked, breathlessly.

"The forest fire. It—it was just about to burn us alive when I somehow repelled it and then fainted. Next thing I knew I was in this cell, but know I'm certain that was my Gift."

"So you could use it again?"

"I—I don't know," Lythe said, knowing this was nothing less than the truth, even though it would hurt Rothas. "But I can try."

"That's all I'm asking."

X-X-X

"That's all I'm asking," Rothas had said, but that violently contradicted what he was thinking in his head.

You can't try, you have to do it. If you don't we'll both die!

But Rothas held his tongue as Lythe said to him quietly, "I'm ready." Rothas could feel the worry and apprehension of Lythe. He wondered what the apprehension was about. Not being able to tear down their cell doors?

Please Lythe, be able to do it. Please! he thought just before he saw a blinding light Lythe's attempt at mage-craft.. It illuminated the dark prison and forced Rothas to cover his eyes. Within a few seconds, the light had died down and Rothas was able to open his eyes—to see Lythe leaning against the wall outside his cell.

"Lythe! You were able to do it!" he exclaimed.

She turned to him gave a smile, but it was obvious that had tired her. He was just about to ask if she was okay when she said, "I don't need to look for keys. These doors are locked by magery, not a key."

"So can you knock it down?" Rothas asked.

"I think so," she said, but Rothas felt doubt and desperation coming off of her in waves.

Rothas covered his eyes and but saw light through his eyelids anyway. A crash soon followed and he opened his eyes.

It's a good thing I was in the back of the cell.

The metal door had been burned and twisted and now laid a foot in front of Rothas. If he hadn't stepped back, he would have been crushed and burned by the door.

He looked up and saw Lythe looking worse than she had before, now pale and sitting on the ground, breathing heavily. Rothas quickly stepped around the red-hot metal and kneeled next to Lythe.

"I'm fine," Lythe said before Rothas could say anything. "Just let me sit here for a minute."

"I don't believe you," Rothas said, worried. He could feel Lythe's exhaustion easily.

"But it wouldn't matter if you did, because we have to go now."

Rothas hesitantly nodded, knowing she was right. "Okay, let's go."

The two ran out of the prison and found themselves in a labyrinth of hallways. They were indistinguishable from one another apart from the occasional door. It seemed as if this was made just to confuse those who didn't know their way around.

"What are we going to do?" Lythe whispered. It seemed inappropriate to talk to too loud.

"I don't know," Rothas replied. He took another step and, for one second, was surrounded by light. It quickly dimmed.

Oh no.

He was in another prison cell, this time with another prisoner. He had very strange, short sliver hair for someone who looked to be in his twenties. He was on the floor unconscious, covered in numerous bruises and cut, but some of those bruises could have just been dirt.

Light flooded the room and Rothas quickly turned around to see Lythe right behind him, obviously have come into the cell the same way he did. She glanced around and whispered, "Where are we?"

Rothas silently moved from in front of her and she saw the man, and gasped.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps and Rothas felt a familiar being.

The mage.