The ropes cut into his wrists, rubbing his skin raw. The two soldiers had tied him between their horses and carried him back towards their lord's castle. Master studied their features to draw his focus away from his uncomfortable bindings. A man and woman, each obviously Divine Warriors, their left breasts exposed to reveal the mark. Their armor was a set of plates running from right shoulder to under their left pectoral muscle and then down to their hips. The man carried a bow and the woman a rapier, each had a short sword and a shield.

"Where are ya takin me?" The question was met with jolting of the spear holding him, causing the ropes to cut through what was left of the skin on his wrists and blood started to drip over his and down towards his chest. He did not wince nor grimace.

After a few minutes of travel the horses came to a stop at the orders of their riders. The female drew in a shallow breath from her nose, the muscles along her neck flexed in time to meet an ax. Three men burst from the ground, two taking the horses legs from beneath them and the third engaging the female Divine in combat as she had survived the strike to her throat.

The ground rose up to meet the master as the horses fell and he quickly rolled to put the spear under his legs and he watched the combat taking place in front of him. The female was bleeding heavily from her neck wound but her head stayed in place and her movements were still amazing compared to a normal human. Her rapier darted into her attackers chest and out his back but it was too late and his ax crushed her skull, blue eyes burst from their sockets. The two fell to the ground and Master turned his attention to his work, drawing a triangle on the ground in front of him.

The male was faring better, he had been hamstrung and was limping but one of his attackers already lay dead with a broken arrow sticking from his neck. The final survivor from the ambushers was wielding his ax with skill and using its length to his advantage, having already broken his opponents bow.

The Divine Warrior switched his short sword to his left hand and placed his right over his mark, his face stoic. Three quick ax strikes were blocked before the mark responded with a bright light, the formerly hamstrung soldier leaped forward and cut the ax's handle in half.

The warrior looked over his recent kill, to where his captive had fallen, in time to see the summoning complete. A small dog rose and fed off the entrails of the first man that he had killed, with each bite it grew. The summoner looked on without any sign of remorse or fear, he turned and locked eyes with his captor.

"I'll leave the body of your comrade, just let me leave in peace." The dog demon turned, it was still only the size of a wolf.

His wife was dead now, the soldier didn't feel charitable. Without a word he threw his sword into the side of the corpse defiling monstrosity and watched as it turned to ash. "Come, we will get your wrists wrapped faster if you walk then if I have to drag you."

"Do I even get to learn your name?" The master walked along the road with the warrior, anyone who could kill a demon with a normal weapon was not to be trifled with.

"No"

"Are all Divine Warriors so talkative?" he was answered by a hand gripping his wounded wrist and twisting.

They continued walking for hours, the day had come and it was already noon by the time they reached the castle. The summoner looked up at the imposing gate and sighed, it would take a lot of power or finesse to escape. They entered the walls and were met by an advance guard, all normal humans, the guards bowed to the Divine accepted the prisoner.

"Visit me will ya? It was fun talkin!" The summoner received a vicious knock to his ribs from the mortal guards.

The summoner was taken to a small prison at the base of one of the towers in the middle of the city. The cell he was unceremoniously tossed in was small, hardly fitting the four other captives. 'I doubt they will be very happy to have me as a guest'.

"Nice day out." Master turned to his cell mates with a smile.

"Is it? What time of year?" The nearest man smiled back at him, what teeth he had were black.

"Fall actually, warm days still but cold nights. Ya mind tellin me how often we get fed?"

"Er, every twelve hours is what they tell us, time just sort of runs together here. Say do ya wanna be my wife?" The same black toothed man was still smiling.

"No, actually. No offense meant of course." The summoner still smiled and looked around for a sharp implement. A chipped stone by his left hand was quickly palmed and prepared to strike.

"None taken, I'm not as pretty as I used ta be." The man turned back to the ground and stared blankly at it.

The summoner looked out of his new home and found that they were alone, as soon as he confirmed it he began working on his escape plan. He removed some straw from the floor and started etching into the dirt floor. He drew a circle, about the size of a plate, and started etching runes along the outside while muttering under his breath.

The other prisoners looked on with amusement on their faces. They watched as he wove spells around the outskirts of his circle, and smiled when he scratched his scabbed over wrists to draw blood for the offering. The master looked at his work frowning as nothing happened.

"Did ya figure it out yet?" the older prisoner smiled and pulled his beard to the side, revealing a red palm mark. "This cell blocks magic, all of it."