Well, I'm alive and own very little. A few more games.

Chasing Through Hell

In the Dark

Maurus walked with stumbling, uncertain steps, constantly on the verge of losing his balance because the pulses of agony hit like physical blows to the skull. His body ached all over, though that was a distant thing to the pounding pain in his head, and so was the light burn of exertion from dragging his hooves through the mud. His senses seemed dulled and he only dimly noticed the shuffling mass of bodies around him, the noises and sight of the many-colored crowd and the blue marsh seeming to come through a thick fog.

Despite the pain that made him want to simply sit down and weep and the disconnection from the world around him, he kept walking, keeping pace with the throng around him and following the vague, warm pull in his mind.

As he walked, the pulsing pain began to abate, giving way to a tight, tense pain instead, but his mind refused to clear and his surroundings remained distant and unimportant compared to the soft, warmth that suffused his head and gently beckoned him forward. The moans and whimpers, harsh breathing and angry growls entered his ears without provoking a response and the sight of familiar people straining to keep pace only got a passing spark of attention. The small, shivering form that tried to catch his eyes set a little more into motion in his head, but that only amounted to a few aborted thoughts. HIs attention kept wandering, distracted by all the other green eyes around him.

He trudged on through the mist of Zangarmarsh and the clouds in his mind, fumbling as much for his own thoughts as for proper footing. Only when a vast lake came into view did something change. As he approached the wide barges at the shore, his mind slipped from the seductive embrace and he regained enough clarity to take in his surroundings properly.

Zangarmarsh' wet smells were almost completely drowned out by the stench of waste, sweat and blood around him. Horde prisoners were being driven into pens on the barges among a clanking of metal, a sloshing of water and hundreds of pained groans.

Like all the Horde prisoners, Maurus was chained to his companions. One length of chain connected him to Mathias, who had lost his helmet and been beaten so badly that his lower jaw was hanging crookedly. The burst of concern and rage that that ignited bloomed into an inferno when looked at at his other comrades. Arianna walked along on the other end of the chain, still mostly naked and Maurus realized with horror that they had been marching for at least a good day. She was curled in on herself and shivering violently and the bloody line Ven'Zarul's claws had drawn up her front was crusted with blood. Calen's left arm was hanging limply and his face was contorted in pain and Widget and Wiven looked dead on their feet. The rest of his soldiers looked only marginally better, so many of them had evidently put up a fight.

His instant urge to do violence was quelled though, both by the knowledge that he was at a massive disadvantage cuffed and chained and by the leaden weight of his limbs. He stepped onto a barge almost without thinking and realized that the unresponsiveness in his limbs had crawled in just as the fog had lifted from his head. Looking around, he understood and his lips parted in a snarl. The barges were manned by lumpy, squat creatures, most of them swathed in hooded robes and unnatural shadows that made their outlines fuzzy. Under their hoods, their eyes were small, bright and beady and their long teeth were revealed in permanent grimaces as they continually muttered enchantments. Most of the demons remained on the shore, felguards, felhounds and succubi handing the prisoner over to the ugly creatures and as they did, the mind fog of the succubi was replaced by a subtle physical hold that made aggressive movements feel almost impossible.

The pens on the barges were packed as full as possible before they glided out into the lake and it was a slow, cold and tiring crossing. He pushed back against the press of bodies keep a space between himself and the barge's railing for Arianna, Wiven and Widget and the weight of bodies discomforted him almost as much as being underground. The dark, deep water all around him did nothing to help the anxiety, particularly once he noticed the naga that swarmed in the water beneath the surface, guarding and propelling the vessel. He wanted to comfort Arianna, by word or by action, or speak to any of his comrades, but he remembered Ven'Zarul's threat. The dreadlord was on the barge and Maurus doubted he or the other remaining demons would be very particular about who had to speak before they began tearing out tongues.

So instead, he occupied himself with taking stock of his comrades and tried to think of where they were being taken and how they could get out of their situation. Mostly, he came up with terrifying suspicions and useless plans and the only positive thoughts he had were that there was more defiance than despair around him and that Arianna's warlock associates could track both them and Ven'Zarul.

The other shore eventually came into view and Maurus felt the slightest bit of relief. It was replaced by surprise when what looked like a huge, irregular hill appeared out of the mists, something that seemed out of place in Zangarmarsh's landscape of flat mud and narrow mushrooms stalks. As they came closer, he realized it was a pile of many of the gigantic mushrooms, heaped like the largest jumble of kindling he'd ever seen and the undergrowth that had grown over the mushrooms only strengthened that impression.

Equally out of place was the stone he saw in the shore. All of the land he could see was mud-slick rock, the first rocky ground he had seen since descending into the marsh. The rock was as smooth as the main roads in Orgrimmar and the plane of it sat at an angle to the water, rising slightly above the surface of the lake towards Maurus' left.

As they disembarked, he could make out the indistinct shapes of many more of their captors, squat figures placed on and around the hill and as they were herded forward, he saw that the hill was hollow. More of their captors, including a sizable number of demons, were visible inside the hollow that the enormous trunks created, standing guard or moving around with bustling energy. Ven'Zarul left the crowd of captives and moved toward the numerous demons inside the hollow and as Maurus' eyes followed him, he caught sight of the black rock that rose at a right angle to the tilted rocky floor.

He suddenly found it hard to breathe, both from shock and the breath of stinging fel that hit his face as looked up the twin black pillars to the slab that topped them, almost hidden beneath the mushrooms. He felt a pull, heard the harsh barks of his captors and followed the shuffling Horde without much thought. A glance and a tension in the air told him that he wasn't the only one who had noticed.

Hidden in a hill of mushrooms and swamp growth, with one corner sunken almost beneath the marsh water, was an obsidian portal. It was smaller and empty of the hypnotic swirl of the Dark Portal, but it still loomed like a huge, black maw and almost imperceptible flickers of emerald told him that it was not truly dead.

He hadn't thought he could have gotten more scared, but as tunnels half stone and half greenery closed over his head, he remembered what some orcs whispered about the start of the First War and shivered. Passing between worlds demanded a toll that could only be paid with death and the Dark Portal had consumed hundreds or thousands of draenei and orc lives.

Only a few hundred steps down the tunnel, Maurus found reason to fight the grip of the shadow priests. Widget called his name, her voice shrill and afraid and when he looked back, he saw, Drunnya and Shayla be pushed down a different corridor. He tensed against the grip around him and stopped. Before he could figure out what to do with his suddenly free body though, there was a harsh grunt and something rapped against the side of his head. He knew the touch had been almost light, but his vision filled with blurry light as the explosion of pain drove him to his knees. He barely had the strength to keep his eyes open to see his unit being herded away from him, everyone but those chained to him and Calen, Wiven and Drim.

Widget had never looked so small and fragile as that moment, as she was almost carried away into the darkness by those chained to her. Maurus felt a nausea that had little to do with the pain in his head and spat at the felguard that pushed him to his hooves.

Its face contorted in fury and it lifted its axe for another blow but stopped, with obvious reluctance, when the priest in front of Maurus said something. Instead of directing the blow at Maurus' head, it slammed the knob of the axe into Maurus' back and pushed him forward.

His head pounded and his chest was cold and empty as continued down the corridor. They stopped at and intersection and the demons went around, yanking their weapons from their belts before they another corridor lead them to a dimly lit cell

When the cell door clanged shut behind them and the pressure of bodies against Maurus' back eased, he turned and inspected the room. It was a small and cramped for the three or four dozen prisoners, who, as Maurus had vaguely noticed, were almost all blood elves. There was a single troll and a handful of orcs and undead and all of them were chained to at least one blood elf. Outside the cell was an alcove where the jailors sat, a little group of felguards, felhunters, succubi and shadow priests.

Maurus tensed when he heard hushed exchanges in the cell, remembering the threats, but their captors apparently hadn't heard or didn't care because they didn't react. After a few moments, Maurus dared speak.

"Arianna?" He asked, raising a hand toward her and to his surprise, she pulled back. Her eyes darted to the right, toward the prison bars before coming back to him, imploring and regretful before they hardened. The moment of regret took some of the sting, but it still felt like a stab when she pulled as far away as the chain allowed and spat: "Don't touch me."

Immediately, the closest blood elves he didn't know fell absolutely quiet and turned burning eyes to him. He ignored them, swallowed the lump in his throat and closed his hands into fists to fight the urge to take her into his arms regardless, reminding himself that the body heat in the small room was better for warming her than his armored body.

He felt a little better when a raven-haired elf with more bloody scar than face stepped up and draped Arianna in a mud- and blood-stained cloak, even if her thanks made him feel a twinge of annoyance.

"Wiven, Calen, Mathias? Drim?" He asked in a low murmur, turning to them.

"Improving," Calen said shortly. His lips kept moving silently after the short reply and in the dark, Maurus could just make out an almost imperceptible gold sheen around his arm.

Mathias rolled his arm stiffly and gave a rattling groan that almost sounded like "can't speak". His expression was murderous, though worry shone in his eyes.

"Breathing's hard," Drim said and Maurus felt a roll of worry, suddenly noticing Drim's strained breathing.

Wiven didn't speak. His eyes were wide and he held himself unnaturally still, breathing worryingly deep of the fel-heavy air.

"Help Drim, Calen?" Maurus asked quietly.

Calen grimaced, before tugging on the chain and dragging Drim and Wiven with him. They sat down along the wall opposite the bars, putting a solid wall of blood elves between them and the guards' eyes. Even then, Calen made it look like Drim was simply leaning against him and adopted an annoyed expression.

A pull on the chain made him look at Arianna and though she still didn't look at him, her dour expression and her second, deliberate tug made him slowly follow her as she pulled toward the bars. As he did, he whispered at those he passed, asking for priests for Mathias. He got mostly glares for his trouble, but when he was almost to the bars, a trio of reedy, red-haired elves deliberately moved to the back of the cell.

He turned back to Arianna when she addressed the guards in Eredun. He understood nothing, though he caught her name and he frowned at her odd tone. She sounded almost commanding, but there was a wavering undertone to her voice that could be pain or fear.

The closest demons and one of the shadow priests looked at her with maybe a glimmer of interest, but the strongest reaction came inside the cell. An angry mutter rose from the blood elves and Maruus glanced back into the cells to find a fair number of them staring at Arianna with hate in their eyes while whisper sweeped the room. The black-haired elf that had given Arianna a cloak looked regretful.

Arianna paid them no mind and repeated her words. One of the succubi outside tilted her head, her lips spreading in a smile before she answered in a languid, satisfied tone.

The tension thickened. Maurus turned his body so he partly shielded Arianna from the other elves and Mathias shifted beside him, eyes narrowing. Then Maurus reconsidered and just yanked on the chain, causing Arianna to stumble away from the steel bars.

"Come here, elf," Maurus made himself growl. Feeling his stomach turning, he grabbed Arianna's arm without any gentleness and dragged her toward back of the cell. His rough action seemed to confuse the elves, defusing some of the tension and redirecting some of their ire back to him. No-one tried to stop him though as he made his way to the red-haired elves and one of them discreetly began healing Mathias when he gestured at him.

Maurus sat and turned a glare on Arianna in order to inspect her condition. Her shivers had thankfully stopped and his insides relaxed a little when she met his eyes for a short moment before turning a haughty look on the elves around her.

He held back a sigh and leaned back against the wall. Both his limbs and eyelids felt like they were weighed down with lead, but the lingering pulses of pain and his worry made sleep unlikely. Instead, he kept his tired eyes open as the time crawled by, trying to think as he observed the room. There wasn't really room for it, but the elves kept themselves just slightly back from Maurus and his companions. They mostly made a show of ignoring them, but Maurus still kept catching glances and glares and he noticed that several of the looks Arianna got were thoughtful rather than hostile.

At some point he must have nodded off, because the cell was filled with the sound of sleeping people rather than furtive whispers when he came to. For a moment, blind panic made him go rigid and it only faded slightly when he realized where he was. He had clear view of the cell door over the sleeping elves and both the squalid room and the demons outside was a forceful reminder of their plight.

Still somewhat befuddled, he quickly looked around for his companions. Each one he located calmed him a little, but as he did, he also remembered all the ones he was missing and dreaded what had become of them.

Feeling cold despite the warmth of the room, he turned his gaze back to Arianna. She sat by his side, sleeping with her head propped up against the wall, the chain lying slack between his manacles and hers. He reached out a hand and gently touched her shoulder, feeling the warmth of her seeping down his fingers even through the chain that covered them.

She let out a low murmur and leaned into the touch. Her eyes opened lazily and the edges of her mouth lifted. Then the sleepy expression vanished, her eyes gaining a clear, hard look as she realized where they were. "Don't touch me," she repeated, though her vehemence was a little more subdued than last time.

Her words and actions still stung. The hurt was nothing however, compared to the ache he felt at the anguish that briefly came over her face when she glanced left. Maurus followed her gaze and realized that he not just stirred randomly. Their bored-looking captors stood as if waiting for someone and just then, nine elves entered the room.

They were a world apart from the elves on the floor. Their hair, various shades of blonde, was clean and styled in practical tails and buns. Their crimson robes and armor weren't spotless, but far cleaner than those of the elves inside the cell, and of more elaborate design, edged with golden designs of birds and flames. Their faces were unblemished but their eyes seemed a little sunken and blazed more brightly than those of any blood elf Maurus had seen so far. Their eyes also seemed cold, like shining peridot, barely showing any emotion as they swept over the prisoners that were rapidly waking and waking each other.

Arianna took an unsteady breath beside him and when he glanced at her, her saw another flicker of pain on her face. It was quickly replaced by an aggrieved, haughty expression, but it took visible effort.

"I'll get us out," she said. She barely moved her mouth and the words were so low and unsteady that it took a moment for him to even understand what she'd said, but the relief he felt was immense. In a much louder, more confident voice, she called across the room. Maurus only understood a few of the Thalassian words, among them 'friend' and 'Prince Kael'thas.'

An agitated couple of murmurs sounded from the blood elf prisoners and Maurus heard the rattle as both Wiven and Calen turned shocked gazes on Arianna. Outside the cell, several of the elves frowned. One of them, a tall one with a tail of hair that accentuated her willowy frame, barked something in Eredun to the jailguards.

The words weren't appreciated by the demons. The largest felguard rose to his full height, giving the elf a dark glower, but when the elf stood firm, it reluctantly nodded. The elf that had spoken turned to the cell and said something that could only be a threat, judging by the tone, and the cell fell into sullen silence.

The apparent speaker for the traitor elves said something in the distinct tone of an order and Maurus caught the word 'stand'. Only a few, Arianna included, rose to their feet, and the rest gave her no more response than glares. The speaker's lips twisted and green fire sprang to life in her hand. She repeated herself, adding a threat to the end and only then did the prisoners get to their feet, though only with deliberate, contrary slowness.

Maurus was reminded of a boar or wolf auction as the prisoners reluctantly stepped forward to the bars at the command of the elves outside. Four of the couple of dozen elves were freed of their chains and joined the elves outside. One of them, a warlock by the look of him, embraced the smallest of the elves outside, evidently thrilled to see the other warlock.

Finally, Arianna was called forward. Maurus made a show of reluctantly getting to his feet, dragging Mathias with him, scowling at the elves outside. He deliberately gave the freed elves his darkest glares and turned the same glare on Arianna when she spoke with the traitor elves.

A flicker of satisfaction appeared in the eyes of several of the elves outside at something Arianna said, something that got a short-lived angry response from inside the cell. Maurus resisted the urge to once again shield Arianna from her fellows and instead gave her his most hostile look when the elves turned to the jailors.

A squat, ugly priest stepped forward along with a succubus, the same pair that had stepped forward each time an elf was freed. A low chant oozed like oil between the priest's needle-like teeth as darkness gathered in his palms just like the other times and the succubus turned a very intense gaze on Maurus. Maurus couldn't stop himself from tensing when he felt the tendrils of dark magic creep into his limbs, but now he was aware and ready to dig up rage to resist and there was plenty to take from. Taking care not to be obvious about it, he tensed several muscles experimentally, clenched a fist and grit his teeth. Though the grit teeth made his head pound again and caused a faint wave of dizziness, he found to his satisfaction that he didn't feel constricted or confused this time.

The priest didn't seem to notice anything amiss and tossed his head toward the cell door. The succubus quickly opened it and freed Arianna, giving her an inviting smile as she did.

Feeling a rolling worry mix with his satisfaction, Maurus obediently stepped back from the cell door when the priest's eyes seemed to indicate that wish and he felt the magic withdraw when he was half-way back to the wall.

Only then did he dare turn and look and he didn't have to fake the expression of discomfort he showed his captors, the priest in particular. More worry twisted nauseatingly in his belly as he watched Arianna walk off along with the four others, surrounded by the almost immaculate traitor blood elves.

There was a clinking tug on his arm that made him look down at Mathias. The yellow light in his eyes were more prominent in the dim room and his gaze bored into Maurus' eyes. His expression was dour but when he shrugged a shoulder and flicked his eyes toward the steel bars, Maurus saw a flicker of uncommon emotions in him: Fear, doubt and worry.

His own emotions rose in response, flaring into a sullen anger. It was half because of the lack of trust Mathias displayed toward Arianna and half because it resonated with the niggling, guilty doubt that wouldn't leave his own head.

He forced away that anger, restraining the urge to grimace or grind his teeth. Instead, he gave Mathias the most confident look he could manage and briefly smiled with the side of his mouth that was turned away from the guards. Mathias gave the barest nod, rolling his shoulder and Maurus felt another drop of satisfaction disturb the deep well of dread in his belly.

Wiven and Calen were not so easily convinced though and for the first time, he saw Calen fully live up to the image of a paladin. He practically radiated what Maurus could only call righteous fury, even if it was probably undeserved. Wiven, on the other hand, looked like he was simply despairing. His face was white and his eyes shone with both tears and the blaze of the magic he was drawing in with each desperate breath. His fingers, resting in his laps, wove phantom sigils.

Calen reacted a moment before Maurus, pulling hard on Wiven's chain and giving him a stony glare. It stopped Wiven from whatever he had been about to do, but it also made Wiven curl in on himself and he stayed that way.

Imprisonment turned out to be different than he had expected. Their jailors didn't have to work to make the stay miserable, and except for striking anyone that spoke or came to close to the bars, they didn't. The imprisonment itself was enough. Maurus guessed that it was only thanks to what meager magic healers could do that no-one got sick when the hours dragged on and on and eventually turned into days. Despite Calen's covert help, his head kept aching and disorienting him and the fetid stench and the cramped room made him feel like he was slowly choking.

Worse than that was the oppressing silence, which left plenty of time to brood. The humiliation made his blood boil and the worry for Arianna, his comrades and himself filled his belly with watery dread and made his thoughts go down paths as dark as the tunnel outside the bars.

He did everything he could to fill the time, studying the other captives, trying to think of a way out and establish just a little rapport with the elves. He had little success, partly because he was only just now learning the sign language that some of the captive elves used and showed the others. Maurus' comrades and the non-elves were as attentive as him, also apparently trying to figure it out and compare it to what signs they already knew.

Finally the bleak monotony was broken. It was an early morning, if Maurus hadn't lost track of time, when Arianna returned. She looked far different than when she had left the cell. Her face was clean, her hair was immaculate and the ragged cloak she'd borrowed had been replaced with ornate robes. A slim dagger hung at her waist and a thin gold chain shone around her neck, though it paled compared to the blaze of her eyes.

Beside her walked her almost naked, demonic twin, radiating sensuality and erotic promise with every sway of her hip and on either side of the pair walked a blood elf, clad in robes like Arianna's, but also carrying a golden staff topped with a jagged piece of emerald.

Two felhounds, who Maurus guessed to be the blood elves' bound demons, walked in front of their masters into the room and immediately faced the cells.

The guards in the room rose with the causal air of someone who had been informed in advance, except for the felhound already inside the room, which kept facing the cell and only acknowleded the new arrivals by sniffing the air. There was a glint of curiosity in the eyes of the three succubi in the room though and one of the two shadow priests, who seemingly spoke for the group, followed up its greeting with something that sounded like a question, so they weren't fully informed.

The elf on Arianna's left answered and again, a number of the caged elves turned angry, questioning eyes toward him. Outside the room, whatever had been said also intrigued several of the demons. The succubi leered at Maurus, revealing fangs in smiles that contained nothing but sadistic glee. The four felguards in the room also suddenly became interested, following the succubi's gaze to Maurus, their expressions hungry behind their helmets.

All that Maurus noticed in passing, because most of his attention was focused on Arianna. As the elf beside her spoke, her posture, which had been as self-assured as the others when she entered, cracked a little, and she curled in on herself just slightly before looking at Maurus.

The worry her demeanor provoked and the hateful gaze in particular, made it feel like she had wrenched his guts from his belly. Telling himself that it was an act did little to ease the feeling, so the sickened scowl on his face wasn't far from the truth.

"Tauren," one of the felguards said in a guttural voice that obviously wasn't particularly used to Orcish. The cruel anticipation was unmistakable though. "Come here."

Hating the lie and feeling his heartbeat quicken, Maurus returned Arianna's gaze with a grim glare and obeyed. The elves readily got out of his way of his heavy hooves and he felt the weight of their gazes lighten as they seemed to remember that whatever ugliness they suspected, the most dangerous enemy was outside the cell.

He stopped in front of the cell door and once again, a shadow priest and a succubus stepped forward. A resonating incantation oozed from between the priest's needle-like teeth and Maurus felt the slithering magic come upon him and the befuddling caress of the succubus' magic. But once more, Maurus steeled himself, gathering his simmering rage around the pulsing pain in his head, and the magic failed to catch a hold. More aware this time too, Maurus realized that he was not the only target of the working but that the magic flowed in a wave into the cell to pacify all the people closest to the door.

Still muttering quietly, his eyes cloudy and his hands filled with shadow, the priest nodded at the succubus. She slinked forward, flanked by two felguards, and unlocked the door with a careless demeanor that brought to mind someone going to the bed of a lover. She beckoned with her fingers and, doing his best to seem docile and captive, Maurus took a step forward.

As he did, he glanced to his right, toward Arianna and his heart beat even harder in his chest. Her eyes caught his with an intensity he rarely saw and her right hand moved down to her belt. Mirlia sidled up to the blood elf on Arianna's left, casually putting one hand on his arm and sliding the other up his chest. His posture immediately slackened as he leaned one long ear toward Mirlia and his fellhunter suddenly drooped drowsily.

Arianna was as quick and violent as Mirlia was gentle. She snatched the dagger from her belt and drove it up beneath the other elf's jaw, severing the artery and plunging the slim blade into her brain. As the elf collapsed and her felhound dissolved into flakes of Ash, Arianna stepped back to avoid the spray of blood, her hands whirling and her lips forming frenzied syllables. The third felhunter in the room whirled toward Arianna but didn't get any further before it faded to a sickly green translucence. A heartbeat later, the shadow priest furthest from Maurus collapsed in thrashing, teeth-gnashing agony.

The rest of the guards, save the priest facing the cell, turned fully toward Arianna before she finished her third spell, which meant they didn't see the cords of blazing white flame that bound the largest felguard in the room. It stepped away from the bell in the corner and swung its massive sword, slicing off the head of a succubus and cutting deep into the one next to her, drawing a wheezy exhale from her.

With rage, pride and worry surging in a bewildering maelstrom inside him, Maurus charged forward. Mathias yelped and was dragged forward for a moment before he recovered from the spell and matched Maurus' pace. The succubus had turned and dropped her seductive aura and was advancing toward Arianna along with the felguards that wasn't fighting Arianna's bound demon, so the shadow priest was the only one facing Maurus and Mathias. His expression just had time to change from worried to panicked before they reached him. As if they had practiced it, they kept the chain level at the height of the priest's throat and pulled with both strength and momentum. It drew a croak and a nasty breaking sound from the priest before he simply fell over in a heap.

Maurus didn't stop. In the moment it had taken to kill the priest, the felguards and the succubus had reached Arianna and Mirlia and she didn't look like she was about to dodge. Her face was strained and the hand she was holding up to the bound felguard trembled.

He leapt forward, a rage that was half-terror swirling through his limbs. He had no idea how he should stop three different demons with no weapons and even if he did, the last succubus was about to strike Mirlia and bring the blood elf back into the fight. He saw the blades and claws rise, surreally slowly, inwardly praying to every spirit he knew as he strained with every muscle in his body and every ounce of will.

And something answered. He felt something unseen, something sullied and stained, but still proud and strong, reach out and touch him. It flowed through him like a cleansing stream of lightning, connecting him to the unseen sky far above and, as one of his hooves came down on the rock, to the earth. His other hoof stomped down onto the floor with all his weight and strength and that new energy behind it and the cave rang with a crack of thunder. The stone splintered and a wave of force and obsidian splinters flew up at the demons, sending them staggering away from him, their attacks hitting nothing but air.

As quickly as it had come, the connection he'd felt vanished, draining away and leaving an acute tiredness in its place. Maurus didn't stop to lament the loss, but grit his teeth and forced his muscles to propel him forward to kick the closest felguard in the back of the leg. There was a satisfying crack and with a pained howl, the demon fell.

Maurus grabbed the demon's head and wrenched backward, drawing another exclamation of pain from it, but it didn't go limp as he'd hoped. Its struggle was short-lived though, because Mathias came forward with a snarl on his face, whirling around and putting all of his momentum into a strike with his left hand. The bony claws stabbed into the demon's throat and dark gore sprayed from the wound.

Behind him came a clatter of armor and a subtle, bell-like sound preceded a felguard's breathless cry before a brief, fierce roar of flame overpowered all the sounds. Maurus paid it no mind and shoved the dying felguard away from him before jumping at the other felguard.

It had only just recovered from Maurus' stomp and it went down along with him, its weapon clanging onto the ground just beside his head. Out the corner of his eye, he saw Mathias, as far away as the chain allowed, sweep the legs out from under the succubus.

That was all he had time to see before he had to focus all of his concentration on his opponent. With the manacles, he couldn't separate his hands to properly grab hold and the weight of Mathias, and hopefully, the succubus, at the other end of his chain, made it hard to try for any solid blows. Instead, he kept throwing his weight at the demon simply to keep it occupied, grasping for momentary grips on its armor and kicking at it when he could.

The demon had no such trouble and kicked and thrashed and punched and Maurus felt throbbing, numb spots bloom all over his body. He barely avoided it when the felguard tried to slam his still injured head against the rocky floor and retaliated by scraping his remaining horn across the demon's face. Its response was a furious growl and a headbutt that made his vision explode with pain and ligh and it took instant advantage of disorientation. It shoved him off and he landed on his side with a grunt, pain spreading over his entire right side as the felguard groped around for its weapon.

Like him, it had hardly noticed the other prisoners that had left the cell and it didn't have time to react when Drim grabbed its neck and Calen placed both palms on its forehead. Calen spoke a single word that rang with crystal clarity and light, bright and golden like the noon sun, shone suddenly from the demon's eyes and mouth. There was a sound like fire spreading over dry grass and the demon trembled as if struck by lightning before it collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

Breathing heavily, Maurus pushed himself to his unsteady hooves and looked around. The succubus Mathias had been fighting lay between Mathias and Mirlia, her neck twisted and her eyes empty. The blood elf that had been charmed lay facedown on the ground, a dark-red pool spreading around his neck. The rest of their guards were dead too. The shadow priest Arianna had cursed had lost his head and the felguard Arianna had controlled lay on the ground with two felguard swords stuck in its abdomen. Beside it lay the burnt husk of the other felguard and standing over them were the orcs from the cell, along with the elves they were chained to. Finally, the felhunter Arianna had banished lay twitching like a dog in sleep, with a golden staff buried in its neck.

Satisfied that there was no immediate danger, Maurus turned Arianna, feeling his heartbeat slow as he saw her looking pale but unhurt. A fierce grin came unbidden to his face, but it vanished when she swayed forward and hurried forward to clumsily catch her.

"Are you alright?" He asked, searching her for injuries but thankfully finding none.

Arianna inhaled deeply as she stepped back from him and her nose wrinkled. "You stink."

Maurus snorted irritably. "Thanks," he said flatly." A little more insistently he repeated: "Are you alright?"

"Fine. A little much too fast," she said, though she neither looked or sounded alright. Her face remained pale, her grim expression seemed a little brittle and she was determinedly not looking down at the two corpses at her feet. "We should move quickly, I'm not sure about patrols, but they are somewhat frequent."

Maurus raised his hands but before he could speak, his ears twitched at the clink and rattle of chains. Glancing back, he saw that the elves had already taken the keys from the dead succubus and were busily freeing everyone of their shackles. He also noticed that a good number of the elves were giving Arianna rather stunned glances. He turned back to Arianna when he heard a clink and felt the weight fall from his wrists. He grinned at her and was relieved to see her expression gain more strength, even allowing for the ghost of a smile.

"Do you know where the others are? And weapons? Supplies?"

Arianna grimaced before turning to Mathias, who had demonstrably stuck his hands forward. "There's an armory, well, weapons pile, around the corner. There are a couple of other cells, and I think I can find them with little trouble. I don't know about supplies."

Maurus nodded, grimacing as the motion tugged at something and the lopsided weight of his head reminded him of his disfigurement. "Good enough," he grunted.

He turned and eyed the occupants of the room, dirty, exhausted and in a lot of cases, still wounded. But rage and determination, born of betrayal and humiliation, shone in their eyes and there was not a moment's doubt in Maurus' mind that they were itching for the same kind of violence he was. The grin reasserted itself.

"You heard her," he said, gesturing at Arianna and then at the tunnel opening. "Arm yourself. Healers, do what you can."

He paused for a moment as those who had been freed began to move. He didn't miss the looks of annoyance on a good deal of elf faces, but no-one spoke against him. "Warlocks?" He asked.

There was a brief hesitation before a couple of the elves and an orc nodded. "Summon whatever pets you can and stay on the front," Maurus said. One of them opened her mouth only to close it when she suddenly had to catch a small bag Arianna had thrown at her. Maurus could just see the dark, purplish stone when she opened it. "Snap to it. We can't linger."

Well, I hope it was worth the wait. I have little to say, except that I'm apparently bad at sticking to a schedule. Let me know what you think. Any input, be it good or bad, is very much appreciated.