Alright, at long last, chapter 17 is up! Again, very sorry for the long wait, but the Fall semester just started for my college classes so I was getting settled into the new schedule. Thank you all for your patience!

Chapter 17:

Survival

Fenrir tried for almost an hour to send a thought out to the Blue Rider, without success. He just couldn't reach out to a mind he had never met before. As the first hour drew to a close, the White Fire interrogator began to lose patience. The White Fire soldiers in the pit below began to pick their tools of choice and move towards the other Riders.

"Please, don't hurt them! I–I can figure out how to contact him, I just need more time!" Fenir yelled at the men.

"Sorry, Fenrir, we have given you enough time already" the interrogator replied coldly.

The soldier closest to Icerara moved toward him, his torture device gleaming sinisterly in the dim torchlight. The man strapped the device to Icerara's left hand.

"Unless you have made some miraculous progress, Fenrir, we will begin."

"I can do it if you give me more time, just leave them alone!"

"I take that as a confirmation that you have not. You may begin" he said, motioning to the soldier.

The soldier pulled a small metal pin from the device and it began a quiet ticking as it slowly closed in on Icerara's hand. There was nothing at first, but then small red spots began to dot his hand as the dozens of tiny needles of the device began piercing his skin. Icerara bit his lip, trying to mask the pain it was surely causing him.

Fenrir struggled against the straps that held him. He shot thoughts of help out as loud and as fast as he could, hoping that against all odds, someone would find them before any of them were hurt any more. His pleas were left unanswered as seconds grew to minutes.

"Enough," the White Fire interrogator snapped, breaking his concentration.

"It seems to me, we are making little progress with this one. Obviously, Fenrir does not care. Let's try the sister," he continued coldly.

"No!" he shouted at the idea.

He continued straining himself against the straps. He went through his collection of spells, but none of them seemed to have a chance of working. Even just simply breaking the straps would do nothing; the guards would be on him before he was able to take a single step. He couldn't attack any of them directly either, all of them were layered with wards.

The soldiers below were already choosing from the collection of torture devices for their new victim. He had very little time to figure out a plan.

"Stop!" he shouted as they drew near Evalette with an arsenal of knives.

"What is it? Have you any success in calling the Master Rider? For your sister's sake, I hope that is the reason for your outburst," the interrogator answered.

"Let me take her place," he replied.

The interrogator raised a scruffy grey eyebrow.

"Why, by the gods, should I do that?"

"I do not wish to be the one to betray the Riders. My sister will break much easier, sparing me the weight upon my conscience"

The interrogator scrutinized him, looking for signs of a lie no doubt, but Fenrir held firm under his gaze.

"Very well"

Fenrir felt the metal table he was strapped to lean back and roll down a shallow ramp to the pit below. He met his sister's worried eyes for only a second as they were moved into each other's restraints. He watched them roll her to where he had just been a moment before, up on the balcony overlooking the torture pit. He had not thought through this plan very long. Even now, he tried to brace himself for his escape plan.

As he had hoped they would, the soldiers did not bother choosing new torture devices. They came toward him with the same knives they had prepared for Evalette.

As soon as they were within reach, he whispered a quick breaking spell.

But not on the restraints.

He tried to hide the immense pain as the bones in his hand snapped. He yanked the loose limb through the restraints before the human guards could react. He rammed his elbow into the ribs of the soldier on his right, the side with his broken hand, and head butted the other soldier on his left in the chest. He rushed through a healing spell and groaned in pain as the bones in his hand snapped back into place and fused together again within seconds. He almost fainted from the energy the spell required. Healing spells were usually done much slower, but he didn't have time.

He prayed that his hand was fully recovered as he punched the recovering soldiers, knocking them out. This was his advantage. They were only human, while he had the speed and strength of an elf.

He could hear the other guards coming down the ramp to the pit though, and rushed through another spell to snap the chains that held him to the wall. The other Riders followed his example and the room echoed with iron falling to the stone floor as they all snapped their restraints. They each grabbed one of the tiny torture knives that now lay scattered on the floor. They were no match for a soldier's sword but it was a weapon nonetheless.

The interrogator was already escaping, with Evalette still strapped to the table. Aerin threw her small knife and it stuck firmly in the rear left wheel of the table. Their escape slowed, but the interrogator continued rolling Evalette out of the room.

Fenrir ran toward the ramp. He had to catch them on their way out. As he rounded the corner of the doorway, he was met with four guards with their spears at the ready guarding the top of the ramp. He ran towards the one farthest to the left. When he was a few feet away from the gleaming tip of the man's spear, Fenrir threw his knife into the man's eye. He fell backwards, screaming, leaving a gap between the wall and the other soldiers. He leapt over the man as he lay on the ground in pain, continuing his sprint towards the balcony.

The interrogator came out into the hallway a few yards in front of Fenrir. He ran at the interrogator and tackled him to the ground. The man drew a knife from his belt and slashed at him. He winced as the blade sliced a shallow wound through his abdomen. He grabbed the man's wrist, keeping him from swinging the knife again. They struggled for control of the weapon, but soon Fenrir's strength won over and he wrenched the blade from the man's grasp. He sank the blade into the interrogator's neck without a moment's hesitation. He would worry about his conscience when Evalette was free.

He stood up from the man's body, wiping his now blood-covered hand on his pants. He turned toward the entrance to the balcony to find Evalette staring at him. Aerin was standing next to her, still holding the leather strap from Evalette's restraints.

He could tell her stare was one of concern. He glanced down at the knife protruding from the man's neck. It was an unpleasant sight to say the least.

"Later" he answered her questioning eyes.

Valeria and Icerara came up the ramp behind them.

"Is there a reason we are all standing around?" Valeria asked.

Fenrir saw the soldiers who had been guarding the ramp sprawled out across the floor behind her and Icerara.

When none of them answered her question, she started forward down the hallway. The rest of them followed her close behind. They carefully rounded countless corners, navigating the hallways carefully to avoid any more combat, until they finally reached a stretch of hallway that opened up to expose a gentle moonlit night.

They all sprinted toward the exit, glad to be free of this place. They had barely gotten out of the entranceway before a group of guards saw them and ran after them. Fenrir heard the whistle of a javelin and sidestepped as the weapon fell, sinking into the dirt dangerously close to him. Aerin, who was running slightly behind him, grabbed the javelin as she passed it, and threw it blindly over her shoulder. He heard the sharp point clang with a soldier's armor, but knew it hadn't been enough to kill him. He took a fleeting glance over his shoulder to see how many were pursuing them. There were only about ten, but what caught his eye was the place they had just escaped from. The entranceway they had emerged from was situated at the base of a large, isolated mountain. There was a small clearing around it, where they were currently running, which was surrounded by thick forest. Fenrir assumed they were still in Du Weldenvarden, for he knew of no other forest as large as this anywhere else in Alagaesia, and he didn't think it had been that long since they were taken from Elesmera, so they couldn't have gone far.

Another javelin flew past them, bringing his thoughts back to the danger they were still in. they continued their dash to the forest, which was only a few yards away now, while the steady stream of weapons fell around them. A few actually managed to graze him as well as the other Riders, leaving long wounds cascading down their bodies.

At long last, they made it into the thick forest, using their natural Elven instincts to easily navigate through the brush, ducking under limbs and leaping over logs as they made their way deeper and deeper into the woods.

It felt like it must have been hours before they finally began to slow. Even if the White Fire Dominion knew where they were, it would take them a long time to make their way through the trees to them. Still too tired from the experience to talk about it, they all silently agreed to make camp till morning, which was not far off at this hour. Each of them found a relatively flat area of the ground and lay down, content with nothing more than the dirt beneath them. It wasn't long before they had all fallen into the Elves' strange waking sleep.