Lana woke when something fell on her. Something heavy.

As she opened her eyes she heard the door of the cell close and the bars start to hum again. Bishop – for it was him, thrown over her – gathered himself up into a sitting position and slid against the back wall, as far away from the door as he could get.

Jaluth was standing in front of the cage, delicately nibbling on one of her nails, regarding Bishop thoughtfully.

"I have to say, I'm not entirely happy with your performance today, my little one", she said. "We'll have to work on that. Let's see if we can't get you to hate me properly again. For now, sleep, children. Good night, sweet dreams." She blew them a kiss, turned and sashayed out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Lana glanced at Bishop. He was sitting against the wall, his arms around his knees, face buried in his arms. His shirt was untucked and had ridden up on his back, showing an expanse of bare, tanned skin – and a multitude of scratches, cuts and even burns. The cuts were obviously done with some sort of knife.

Lana hissed in horror as her gaze travelled upwards and she found more scratches and cuts, mingled with a liberal amount of bite marks, on his neck, trailing down into the collar of the shirt. Some of the bites looked as if they had bled. There was hardly an inch of unmarked skin to see.

She skidded over to him, reaching out, but then stopped, her hand hovering uncertainly over his mangled skin, not knowing where to touch him. At last, she settled for gently running her fingers through his hair.

He flinched under her touch, but did not look up.

"Oh gods, Bishop", she said softly, feeling more sorry for him than she had ever thought it possible. "Are you all right?"

She used to do that to him in the past – for quite a long time, it seems. How did he survive that?

It's a wonder he did not go completely insane.

She knew she should feel anger, but the horror was just too immense. The only thing she could feel were two things she thought she would never feel towards the ranger.

Pity.

And tenderness.

She realised she wanted to hold him close and comfort him like a child. No one deserved what that monster had done to him. No one, not even him.

"Are you all right?", she asked again when he did not react, continuing to softly stroke his hair.

He looked up at last, the expression on his face making her flinch. She'd never seen so much desperation, hopelessness and horror on a person's face. His eyes were ringed with deep shadows and had the expression of a hunted deer. But at least his face seemed unmarked.

"No", he said, hoarsely. "I'm not all right."

He won't be able to stand this. The old Bishop might have survived her attentions – but this one won't.

She wrapped her arms around him. "I'm so sorry", she whispered.

He winced when she touched him, and she wanted to draw back, because it had to hurt, but his arms went around her waist. He half turned, letting himself sink sideways to the floor, drawing her with him, drawing her close, so that they ended up lying face to face, her arms around his shoulders.

He buried his face in her neck and started to shiver. She stroked his hair for some minutes, and he just continued to shiver, clinging to her, not moving.

"Shhhh", she murmured. "It's gonna be all right".

One of the stupid things one said, trying to give comfort where there was none.

"No", he said into her neck, his voice shaking, not looking up. "It won't"

She did not know what to say to that, so she just held him, stroking his hair.

After some moments he added, his face still buried in her skin: "She was right, you know? She could make me enjoy it. Some of it, at least. She really knows how to touch a man's body to make it... function."

The shivering increased, and she felt his whole body tense and shudder. "Gods, I feel so dirty", he whispered, his hands clenching around her waist.

Lana drew back a bit, taking his chin into her hand, lifting his face to hers. There were no tears in his eyes, but they seemed huge and lost in his unusually pale face.

"Don't you blame this on yourself", she said, firmly. "She's a viper that has lots of practice with that kind of thing. And she knows you very well. No wonder she knows how to... touch you." She felt him shudder again. "But that does not make you the sick one, you hear? It's her, not you, who's screwed." She softly touched his face. "You're not the dirty one", she repeated.

He stared at her, wordlessly. Then he slowly bent forwards, closing his eyes, and she felt his lips on hers in a soft kiss. She was too surprised to draw back, and somehow, it even felt right. Before she knew it, her eyes closed and she found herself returning the tender kiss, stroking the soft skin of his neck. He sighed and drew her closer to him, his hand tangling in her long red hair.

Then suddenly his mouth was gone from hers, and he sat up, bringing some distance between them.

"I'm sorry", he said, hoarsely, rubbing his eyes with a tired gesture. "I had no right to do that. I don't know what... I guess I just had to feel something normal, something sane. I'm sorry."

She sat up, too, feeling cold suddenly, with his warmth gone.

"It's all right", she said, tonelessly. "It's just human. We both needed some comfort, I guess."

She felt guilt burn in her stomach like acid. Felt like she had cheated on Casavir.

I'm so sorry, my love, so sorry. I don't know how that happened.

But she could not lose herself to guilt. Not now. They had to find a way to get out of here. And for that, she needed Bishop's help.

Let's see how much damage she's done first.

She slid over to him. "Let me see", she said, trying to lift his shirt.

"No!", he said, forcibly, grabbing her hand.

She looked into his eyes. "Let me see", she repeated, firmly.

He let go of her hand, leaning back to the wall, averting his eyes. Lana carefully lifted the shirt, laying bare his stomach, his chest. She gasped. If she had thought his back and neck were bad, his front was a mess. A bloody mess. And as far as she could tell, the mess continued beyond the top of his breeches.

"Oh gods, Bishop", she said again, horrified.

"When I could not... would not... she got angry", he said, starting to shiver again.

"I can see that", she whispered, still staring at his chest, not able to look away.

"I... I can't do that again", Bishop said, his voice shaking. "I can't let her touch me again. I'll go crazy. If she... if she tries to do that again, I'll take one of her knifes and slit my own throat, since I can't hurt her. I'd rather die than go through that a second time."

He looked at her, and she stared back at him in horror. "I'm sorry to leave you alone in this", he continued, his voice still low and shaking. "But you have no idea. I don't know how I put up with it in the past, but now... I can't. I can't." His voice broke with a sob at last.

She let go of his shirt, grabbing his chin instead, rising his face to hers. "Stop it!", she said. "You're going to do nothing of the sort. We're going to get away, you hear? So no giving up! You never give up. And you always survive! That's just who you are."

"What do you know?", he hissed. "You think this is bad?" He gestured at his chest. "That's nothing! The bad part...", he swallowed, the anger vanishing from his voice. "...the bad part is what she made me do to her." He closed his eyes, shuddering. "And I wanted to do it. I enjoyed hurting her." He opened his eyes again, staring into Lana's face. "I guess I am sick after all."

She stared back at him, no knowing what to say.

Get over it, you've always enjoyed hurting people?

Somehow, she thought that was not going to cheer him up.

Who'd have thought I'd ever miss the old Bishop? She would not have been able to break him, that's for sure.

She was saved from having to say anything by the sound of an opening door. She whirled around, seeing Jaluth enter, the usual poisonous smile on her face.

Lana felt fury rise, hot and sickening. She hissed through her teeth, seething with anger, her eyes narrowing to slits. How she would have loved to burn that gloating smile away!

Jaluth laughed into Lana's furious face. "What, you do not like what I did with our boy? Don't fret, I left enough for you to have some fun with." She paused, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "Oh, I forgot, you don't have fun with him." She shrugged, the glittering smile back. "Your loss, kitty. Leaves more for me."

She turned and put some parchments onto the desk. "We might need those tomorrow, my little one. I have special plans for you. Let's see if we can't bring you back. For now, sleep – you'll need the rest."

With that, she left the room, closing the door with an audible click.

"Orcus' hooves!", Lana swore, giving the bars of the cage a violent kick, then yelped at the pain in her toes, cursing some more.

Get a grip! We need to get out of here!

Still fuming inside, she turned back to Bishop, who had hugged his knees again, burying his face in his arms. She knelt down beside him, grabbing his hair, pulling his head up.

"Pull yourself together! You can do it, I know that. Somewhere, there has to be something of the callous bastard you were left in you! Try to find him, we need him now!"

He smiled weakly. But it was a smile.

"What, you want the monster back?"

She returned his smile, softening her grip on his hair. "At the moment – yes. All he'd be thinking about would be how to break every bone in that hussy's body. Which, incidentally, is what's on my mind as well. So I think right now, we would get along just fine."

He shook his head. "I don't think he lives here anymore. But I'll try my best to replace him."

She let go of his hair, stroking his cheek briefly. "Good boy. Now, I recognised her name, but that does not help, I fear. She's Jaluth Alearth, one of the Hosttower Overwizards. As far as I know, even the other Overwizards fear her. You sure had illustrious friends back in your time, wolf boy."

He ran his fingers through his hair tiredly. "Seems like it." He paused, then added, his voice low: "When she... ran her fingers over my head... searching my brain... it sparked something. A memory."

"What? A memory? What is it?"

He shook his head. "Don't get excited. It's not going to help. But I remembered... a voice. A voice in my head. I was leaving some... tunnels, I think. I remember being glad to be outside again, glad to be... away, free again... don't know from what, honestly... and then there was this voice in my head. A man's voice. Said something like: You think I'd trust a betrayer? I have a surprise for you, Bishop. If I die, so does your mind. If you want it back, you'll have to bring me back. You'll remember this eventually. But nothing else, before you do what I bound you to. And then he laughed in my head, and I turned to run back, back into the tunnels, to prevent him from dying, but that must have been when it happened. Because my first real memory is me, standing in front of a tunnel, not knowing how I got there, not knowing who I was."

He paused. "So I guess, now we know how I lost my memory, huh? Not that it improves the situation, but I thought I'd tell you."

"Garius", Lana said, slowly. "He must have put some sort of Geas on you. You either bring him back to life, or your memory will be lost forever."

He laughed with desperation. "Garius? The guy I betrayed you to, before I betrayed him as well? Bring him back? Just swell."

"Well", she said grimly, "we'll worry about that later. First, we will have to get out of here."

I did really not like what she said about having special plans for tomorrow.

But she did not say that out loud, afraid that he might lose that bit of spirit again.

He curled his lips in a mocking smile that brought back memories of his old self. "Nice roar, lion. Any plans, or just words?"

She glared at him. "You're not being helpful!"

He opened his mouth to answer her, but in that moment, the door opened again, softly.

Lana whirled around, but not Jaluth entered this time. This time, it was the guard that had tried to warn her not to make Jaluth angry. He closed the door behind him and hurried over to the cell, one finger in front of his mouth to tell them to be silent.

"Quiet", he whispered when he was standing in front of them. "You have to leave tonight." He opened a small vial he was carrying, pouring the content over one of the bars of the cage. It made a hissing sound, and fumes started to rise, scratching in Lana's throat. "I've burned one of the runes away. That will weaken the magic. Try to make the best of it." He let the vial fall through the bars, into the cage. "Leave it inside, she will think you managed to keep it hidden. Your things are in the opposite room. Make haste."

With that, he turned and left as quietly as he had come, leaving Lana staring after him, her mouth open.

"Why would he do that?", Bishop asked, suspicion thick in his voice.

"I don't know", Lana answered. "Maybe he hates her. She certainly has that effect on me."

"They fear her. I doubt anyone would dare crossing her."

Lana shrugged. "I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. If we can escape, hooray. If not, we have lost nothing."

He hesitated, then nodded. "Fair enough. We'll try."

Lana regarded the bar that had started to flicker and turn dark, the magic glow gone. That should leave an opening in the magical protections... She shifted a bit around the cell, trying to reach out to her powers. Suddenly, she felt them rush back to her, and that eerie whisper that always accompanied her summonings filled the air.

"Gotcha!", she whispered in triumph.

She reached out with her arcane senses, trying to find the other runes protecting the cage. She found them, one after the other, and let her own powers devour the magic infusing them. Gradually, more and more of the bars stopped glowing. Then she found the rune on the bar, keeping the cage locked. Baring her teeth in a nasty smile, she disabled that as well.

"We've got the bitch!", she hissed. "Try open the bolt!"

Bishop got to the door of the cell, reaching out through the bars with shaking hands. His fingers found the bolt – and pulled it back. The door of the cell sprang open.

"Yes!", Lana grinned, hopping to her feet. "Let's get out!"

Bishop left the cell carefully, his feet making no sound while he walked, and strode over to the door.

"Wait", Lana said, turning to the desk, having a look at the papers Jaluth had left behind. One glance told her that they were magical scrolls, containing various spells. She had no time to examine them in detail now, but she grabbed them, shoving them under her shirt.

"Those might come in handy", she said. "Let's get our stuff and split."

Bishop opened the door without a sound and looked outside. He nodded at her and left the room. She followed. The gloomy corridor outside was empty. Noiselessly, Bishop opened the opposite door and they hurried inside the room. It seemed to be some kind of storage. And sure enough, there were their things, thrown carelessly on a heap on the floor. Bishop's leathers, scimitars, bow, her own chain shirt, greatsword, their backpacks – everything.

"Don't you think this is too good to be true?", he whispered.

"Bah", she said, voice low. "Old worrywart! Just grab your things and let's be off!"

He looked at her for a moment, then shrugged, picked up his stuff and started donning his leathers. She threw her chain shirt over her head, then helped him with the buckles of his armour. After strapping their weapons, they moved to the window and looked outside.

Nothing was to see but endless, moonlit forest. Bishop opened the window and turned to her.

"I'll go first. You jump after me. I'll catch you, don't worry." With that, he mounted the windowsill, looked down and jumped. Lana watched as he gracefully rolled as he hit the ground, coming to rest crouched, on his feet.

Must be a cat somewhere in his family tree.

She climbed the windowsill, looking down doubtfully. The jump had to be about five yards. Bishop got up, positioning himself under the window, nodding up at her.

Jumping, or Jaluth?

No choice, really. Lana closed her eyes and jumped.

Bishop's arms closed around her, breaking her fall. She felt him give, rolling to diminish the impact, with her in his arms. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Bishop's face, grinning at her, his teeth white in the moonlight, a triumphant glint in his eyes she had not seen since she met him again.

Hot damn, we made it!

He got up, dragging her to her feet, and they ran into the dark woods, hand in hand.

xxx

Behind a dark window of the mansion, Jaluth stood, watching the two figures disappear between the trees.

"So, the birds have flown", she said.

She turned around.

"You did well", she said to the cowering guard before her. "You may go."

Her gaze returned to the silent woods, a malicious smile on her face.