You deserve this, you murderer. Rayla thought, as she hung there, chained to the wall. She could feel the roughly worked stone through her vest, and her arms were scraped from rubbing against the wall. You killed the man who practically raised you, from behind, to save a human.
And now you're being treated exactly like any human would treat an elf, aren't you? As fuel for one of their evil rituals. And it won't just be a lock of hair, a few drops of blood, a fingernail or anything like that. No, dumb elf, you're going to be the one powering the ritual. Just like you deserve.
Just because you like the kid, doesn't mean that you needed to... do that... just to save the life of a man you were literally sent to kill, who literally turned the King of the Dragons to stone.
And now you're getting what any assassin who turns their back on a mission deserves: death. Slow, painful, and drawn-out death, at the hands of humans who just see you as a battery.
I bet you're so proud of yourself, aren't you? You're going to die. Right here, in a damp human dungeon that smalls vaguely of sewage, because you were stupid enough to like a human. Even if he isn't one of the ones using you as a battery, he would in a heartbeat if it was his dad who was dead.
No, that's not right. Callum isn't like that.
Isn't he? He's a human. He's interested in magic. And humans can't do real magic without using a primal stone or innocent creatures to power it.
He's a friend.
Sure he is. You've known him two days, and you're already defending him. Can we expect a happy announcement by the end of the week?
NO! He. Is. My. Friend. And I don't like him that way
Sure you don't.
Rayla screamed, silently, before forcing the part of her mind that was attacking her into the back of her mind. She needed to survive. That was her job. Get herself out of this situation, survive doing so, and worry about what comes next later.
Forcing herself to breathe deeply and steadily, she managed to bring her fear, and her racing heart, under control. And then she began properly testing the shackles holding her almost completely immobile.
The ones around my wrists would have been a better fit on Runaan. I mean, sure, I'm not going to get out of them easily, but they're not that tight. If I just... easy, Rayla. Nice and slow... moon and stars, that hurts... her eyes watered, and tears rolled down her cheeks as she pulled her right hand through the shackle locked around her right wrist, forming the hand into the tightest cone she could, thumb tucked in as much as possible. She could feel a burning pain as the skin on her hand was scraped off by the rough iron of the manacles, before her right hand suddenly popped free. She silently screamed, tucking her hand into her chest.
She didn't have a moment to lose. Her hand flashed to the heel of her right boot, sliding open the secret compartment. Inside, was a small set of lock picks, crafted by Ethari to be able to open almost any lock he could imagine.
Runaan, for his part, had started her off picking the lock on a set of human handcuffs. That had quickly progressed to her having one handcuff locked around her wrist, then having her hands cuffed in front of her, and finally picking the lock with her hands cuffed behind her back. Extra obstacles such as blindfolds had been added at that point, until she could pick the lock one-handed, without even having seen it.
She'd thought he was crazy. But now, it enabled her to quickly pick the lock of the shackle around her left wrist, and then the locks around her ankle shackles.
She tensed to run, to flee into the tunnels, trusting her speed and agility.
And then she paused.
I've got one chance. If I run, right now, I might get away. But I'm going to be running away from a couple of humans on their home turf. And, sure, I'm a Moonshadow elf, fastest and strongest of me team, but that don't mean I'm going to get away. And if I don't get away…
She paused her thoughts, for a second.
Well, I need to make sure I get away. The male isn't smart. He's big and strong, but that's it. I could beat him easily. Claudia is the one I'm worried about. She's a dark mage, which means that she can do all sorts of things. She managed to paralyse me, and she probably has whatever it was that sent me to sleep handy. Anything I do, I need to take her properly by surprise. So she can't do anything to stop me getting away.
Rayla sat on her haunches for a moment, before looping her handcuffs over her wrists, leaving them unfastened, and kneeling back where she had been. She gripped the chain to make sure that the shackles would stay in place, and that she'd stay in the position the human would expect to find her in.
It's dumb, but it just might work. She thought.
Perhaps five minutes later, Claudia walked back into the cell, holding a cup of broth. Without preamble, she knelt down in front of Rayla, and pressed it to her lips, after pulling away the copper gag.
"Drink."
Rayla did as she was told, averting her eyes from the human in her best attempt at pretending to have been broken.
"You're a lot more cooperative, suddenly." Claudia commented.
Rayla just kept looking at the ground.
And then Claudia's eyes registered that the shackles weren't fastened, and she took in a breath to scream for Soren.
Before she could finish, Rayla pounced. Lunging upwards with all her speed, she wrapped her right arm around Claudia's neck from behind, pulling her forward, over the low wooden table, and cutting off her airway with a single motion. She heard the coins fall to the ground.
Rayla quickly grabbed her right hand with her left and pulled it up towards herself, as the human's hands clawed at her arms and chest. She heard a couple of muffled gasps, and a little bit of scuffling of feet, before the human went limp. Rayla maintained the hold, though, until she felt the human's full weight fall against her.
The first thing she did was remove the human's satchel and tuck it over her own shoulders. Once she'd done that, she looked at the limp human, checked her breathing, and smiled. She knew exactly what she was doing with this human.
Once she'd finished with Claudia, she had to deal with the other obstacle.
Soren.
Rayla grinned, or at least flashed most of her teeth, as she stalked towards him. This was something she'd only get one shot at, at least without having to fight an armed, armoured human with her bare hands.
I need to stop him being able to go anywhere or fight back. If I jump on his back and wrap my legs around his waist, sure, he can't pull me off, but he can slam me into a wall. Which means I need to take his legs out first, and then wrap myself around his torso.
She got within a few feet, before he commented "She's starting to cooperate then, Cla… GAHK!"
As soon as he'd started talking, Rayla had sprung into lightning-fast action, sweeping her leg through both of his. As he started to fall, she handsprang up, wrapping her legs around his waist, before punching the ground so that he'd land with her on top of him. Before he'd even hit the ground, her left arm was clamping down around his neck with the sinuous strength of a python, cutting off his air supply, as her right hand grabbed onto her left bicep, and she bought her elbows together. Soren's fingers made it to her arms, and began pulling at them, before he went limp, his full weight falling onto the elf.
Grabbing some supplies from a nearby workbench, she hauled her second prisoner back into the cell, and quickly hogtied him. She grabbed his sword, which he hadn't managed to draw before passing out, and looked down at the two humans.
They'd do the same to you. She thought, staring at them. If you killed them, no-one would ever know.
I would. She replied. I'd know that I killed two defenceless humans, who weren't a threat.
Sure they're not a threat. They were going to use you to power a ritual. And I doubt you'd have survived, or they'd have let you go if you had.
I can't decide how others behave. She thought. But I can remember exactly how scared that human looked in the woods, when he thought he was going to die. And… these humans aren't much older than me.
And? They'd have killed you without a thought!
Well, then if I don't kill them, doesn't that make me much better than them?
She paused, looking around for the gleaming coins, and tucked them into her jacket. With her parents… collected up, she locked the door behind her, and then left. In a few paces she was running, her footsteps ringing out through the corridors as she fled, not wanting to be in that place a moment longer than she had to.
A minute or so later, Claudia came to, with a splitting headache, and found herself kneeling, with her hands chained above her head, her ankles shackled to the wall, and a copper gag covering her mouth.
Rayla was nowhere to be seen. She trashed in the chains, much as Rayla had, before noticing her brother lying there.
"Muhrun!" She shouted, through the gag. He stirred feebly.
"I… I can get us out of this, Clauds. Don't worry." He said, once he'd come to a bit more. "I… I can definitely get us out of this."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Rayla just ran through the maze of tunnels, trying to follow any sense of a breeze. She had no idea where she was, or how to find the exit, or anything else. It was just a maze of dark, damp secret passages, with virtually no light.
Finally, she dropped to her haunches, panting, and completely lost as she slumped against a stone wall. She was sitting underneath a tiny, barred window, which cast a dim beam of moonlight on a pool of water.
She stared at her dishevelled, wide-eyed reflection.
So, this is what you've become. You're scared, you're alone, and you're utterly powerless. Utterly unable to affect anyone's destiny, especially your own. You're never going to be able to redeem your parents, or even save them. They've probably already ghosted you.
No! She shouted at the voice in her head. That's not true. They won't have ghosted me.
They will. Everyone assumed your parents were cowards, Rayla. Even Runaan. Even you did the ritual, didn't you? Because you were so angry with them for letting you down.
So what if I did? I made a mistake, sure. That doesn't mean that I can't unghost them any time I want. And I can see their faces just fine in these coins.
That'll only last until you release them. Assuming that you can. Assuming that you don't die here like the traitorous, back-stabbing kinslayer you are!
She burst into tears as she stared at her reflection, sobbing in heartbreak, waiting for the world to end. For the first time in her entire life, Rayla gave up.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
As he and Amaya walked through the passages, holding torches, Callum was surprised by Amaya's ability to find her way around them.
"How do you know your way?" he asked
"When Sarai and the King were falling in love, someone had to make sure they weren't going to be interrupted at the wrong moment. And do so without hovering, but just appear."
"And that was you?"
"I wasn't going to let my big sister get embarrassed by anyone else."
Callum laughed soundlessly at that, as did Amaya.
"Do you have any guesses as to where she might be?"
"I'm going to start with the area around the Mage's tower. You said Viren had his storeroom down there?"
Callum nodded.
"Then that's where they'll probably be." Amaya grinned, before stopping as Callum put his hand on her arm, hearing the faintest of faint sounds. He strained his ears, focusing on the sound to the exclusion of all else, before picking up the faintest sounds of crying, in a register he recognised.
"Rayla!" he signed, before breaking into a sprint.
AN: Hopefully, this is a little less unpleasant than the last chapter. I'd like to thank TheFranninator and BlackDragon829 for their feedback, and encourage anyone who is reading and enjoying this story to share their thoughts with me. I'd also like to thank CallMeMatrix, for advising me of a mistake that I'd made involving Amaya.