Chapter 8 - Y

"Right Bastards! Don't fucking touch me!" I elbowed the guards' grubby mitts away. My hands were bound and I was sandwiched between the two guards. Mirania and Dagran were behind me with two of their own problems.

We approached a cell and the guard to my right started to pull out his keys.

"Yurick! Thank god you're alright." Zael leaned against the bars of the cell and looked as if he wanted to reach out to me.

"Alright? Are you serious? I'm in a cell in a dungeon. Who in the world thinks that's alright?" I was irritated. Why was I being pulled into this? What did I do?

"Why are we being put in here?" Mirania had a strange cool in her voice for having just been arrested.

"You kidnapped the Lady Calista." The guard explained.

"Hold on. You think we kidnapped her? So you didn't notice the giant Gurak king grabbing her and running off?" Syrenne walked over to the door as the guard closed it behind us. The guards had unbound our hands as we entered the cell, or cage. Seriously. It was very disgusting, even for a band of mercenaries. The place reeked of dead rats and sweat. The walls were moist and mildewed. The bars were rusting. Ech….

"If you deny your charge, you'll 'ave to take it up with the Count." He locked the gate and walked away with his partner.

"Now what?" I turned to face everyone and leaned against the rusty bars.

"I'm going to see if I can negotiate our release. Oh. Here comes someone now." Dagran uncrossed his arms and slowly walked over to the gate.

I turned to see General Asthar standing outside of the gate. "You fight well. You have earned my trust. I know that Calista was kidnapped by the Gurak King. I will try to appeal to the court as much as I can, but they are only accusing Zael. The rest of you are only in here because you are comrades."

"May I come with you to talk this over with the Count, since I am not the accused?" Dagran was trying to help us, but it came across as more of a passive aggressive attitude towards Zael. They really thought that just because that little bitch had a little crush on my Zael, that he would kidnap her? Oh, hell no.

The general nodded and Dagran was released to go with him. I hoped for the best.

Zael sighed. "I'm sorry for getting you into this." He apologized to us.

"It's not your fault. If the Gurak hadn't attacked, none of this would have happened." Mirania said. I took my position against the bars again. "We didn't actually kidnap her so we shouldn't have much problem getting out of this."

"Good luck with that." A random voice from the back of the cell. A man scooted into a small patch of sunlight. "It's all social status. If you are lower than a noble man, your word means nothing."

"Well that's pretty shitty." Zael sounded irritated now. He takes a while to get cranky, but when he does it becomes BAD. Last time he was angry, he took out an entire squad of Gurak and an Ork in less than 2 minutes and by 'took out' I mean demolished, tore apart, ravaged. As impressive as it was, it wasn't pretty.

"I'm coming up with a plan." An old voiced man was kneeling in the other corner at the back of the cell. "I have been digging a hole to get out of here."

"That doesn't seem smart. If we get caught, we'd just be in more trouble." Lowell stood and walked over to Zael. He was giving him a look that told him to stop thinking about escape.

"What? I don't want to dig us any deeper either." He stood up straight and uncrossed his arms. "It's not like I meant to get us in here."

"Zael." He turned around. "You have been summoned to the court." A guard was unlocking the door. Zael nodded and went with him.

"I hope he'll be alright." I whispered, to myself mostly, after he had left ear shot. I sat down in the corner and started fidgeting with my boot. Images of the night before had slipped into my mind and I couldn't help but smile. I think I might have snickered a little as well.

Syrenne sat next to me and placed her hand on my knee. "He'll be fine. That boy can take care of himself."

"That's not what I'm worried about." A frown returned to my face. "He doesn't seem like he'd give anything away, especially if someone he loves is at stake."

"As much as I agree with you on that, I believe he'll do what he knows to be best." She leaned close to my face and whispered, "Besides, he never compromises a loved one. He'd never reveal anything, if that's what you're scared of."

I blushed and twisted the loose fabric of my pants. "I know. I- I just have a bad feeling about this."