Chapter Two: Splitting the Party

Sweet Percival,

You were always my favorite, you know. Oh, I enjoyed my time with your sister as well, but there was for too much fire in her to be truly interesting. You, though… you were the perfect balance of stubborn and sensitive. You never gave up anything, yet I could play you like a lute. You were such a fascinating boy; I wanted to take you apart just to see what made you tick. And I loved you for it.

Now that you're a man, I can't stop thinking about you. How I long to feel your flesh under my fingers again, to trace the old scars and open them back up. How I long to hear your voice, moaning and weeping as you sob my name. How I long to see you writhe under my touch once more.

What a beautiful thing we had!

But as much as I loved you, I know you never would have stayed. You were a captive. And a relationship like that is so very… one-sided. I want more. I want your to come to me. Submit to me. Give yourself to me, mind and body. We could make such beautiful things together!

Alas, I also know that you will never return to me of your own will. Not without some… incentive. So I have provided that incentive.

Come and find her. Find me. And hurry, Percival—you don't want me to get bored waiting.

The note was unsigned, the handwriting awkward and jagged, but he knew. Percy squeezed his eyes shut and crushed the note in his trembling fist, struggling to keep his breathing even and not hyperventilate. "I knew she'd come back to haunt me," he ground out. "I just didn't think it would be so soon."

"Who?" Vax demanded, but Percy could hear his guess in the tone of his voice. In the dread and anger that filled the single word.

"Ripley." Percy spat the name like a curse, opening his eyes to meet Vax's stare. "Vax'ildan, Doctor Ripley has Vex'ahlia!"

Saying it out loud made suddenly, terribly real. In that instant, flashback met nightmare, and—

—and I am back in Ripley's chair, bound and bleeding and screaming as her wicked hook bites deep and tears at my flesh, white-hot lines of agony blazing across my body. Gods, if only I knew what the Briarwoods wanted, I'd tell them! They think I'm being brave, or stubborn. They think I'm trying to be some kind of hero, holding out to protect my family's secrets, but the truth…

The truth is that they broke me long ago.

Sylas waves his hand, and a swirl of dark magic catches another chair, with another captive, sliding it forward. I cry out once more and slump forward as Ripley tears her hook free, but she catches me by the hair and forces me to look up and see her next victim.

Cassandra—no. Vex'ahlia. Bruised and bloodied, but still defiant. For how long?

"Don't you touch her!" I try to shout, but my voice is raw and hoarse and comes out barely a whisper. I swallow hard and try again. "Do what you want with me, but leave her alone!"

She either doesn't hear me or doesn't care. Her hook flashes in the light, still streaked with my blood, as she—

Percy forced himself back to the present before his imagination could conjure up the sound of Vex's screams. As the other members of Vox Machina gathered around, he said, "We have to save her!"

His voice came out in the same raw rasp.

The others chorused their agreement, but Pike frowned and looked back over her shoulder at the carriage. I'm with you, of course, Percy, but… what about Sovereign Uriel?" she asked hesitantly. "We can't just leave him and his family alone."

A large, gentle hand landed on Percy's shoulder, and he turned to find the Sovereign standing right behind him. "Go, Percival," Uriel said. "Take Vax'ildan with you. The others can keep us safe on the road."

Percy nodded, unable to speak.

"Tha-thank you, Sovereign," Vax stammered. "We'll meet you at Castle Gildspire."

"Of course. May the Gods guide you."

Pike watched with apprehension as Percy and Vax took off into the woods. She knew how deeply both of them cared for Vex—each in their own way, on a different level than the rest of the team—and understood their eagerness to rescue her. Gods knew, she and Grog and Keyleth wanted to go, too, but they had a duty to fulfill. If the party had to be split up, though… surely it would have been wise to send a cooler head into that fray with them.

But there was nothing she could do about that now. Instead, she clutched her amulet and whispered a prayer to her Goddess. "Everlight," she murmured, "keep them safe. Grant them the wisdom and courage to rescue Vex, and bring them all home safely.

"Please."

Though he was considerably taller and had the longer stride, Percy struggled to keep up with Vax as he plunged into the forest in the direction from which Ripley's arrow had come. Vax simple flowed between the trees with the sure and graceful steps peculiar to Elvenkind. Added to that, his years spent with his sister simply trying to survive had honed that natural ability to a fine edge. For all he always insisted he preferred city streets to woodland underbrush, there could be no denying his skill and agility in navigating here. He barely made a sound, hardly disturbed a leaf as he passed.

Percy, his head still swimming with terror and dread, felt clumsy and slow by comparison. He stumbled and crashed through the foliage like a drunken Goliath, focused solely on keeping his companion in sight. But Vax didn't stop, didn't slow down, didn't so much as look back until Percy's boot caught in a tangle of brush and he hit the ground hard.

Vax was at his side in an instant, none too gently yanking him back to his feet. "Really, Percival," he snapped, "could you be any louder? Ripley's going to hear you coming a mile away."

All these years later, the name still twisted his stomach into knots. Percy hid the feeling behind an imperious sneer as he brushed the leaves and twigs from his coat and straightened it with a sharp tug. "Forgive me for having been raised in a castle, Vax'ildan. This is not exactly my element, you know." His jaw clenched. "Besides, she wants me to find her. That's why she took Vex'ahlia in the first place."

"I know," Vax growled back. His eyes flashed as he glared up at Percy. "That psychopath took my sister to get to you."

"I—" For the first time since the battle, Percy looked, truly looked, at Vax's face, and saw there the same perfect storm of panic and fury that roiled in his own heart. He'd been so wrapped up in his own misery he hadn't stopped to consider that Vax would be in just as much pain. Gods above, how could he have been so selfish? "Of course," he said softly. "I'm sorry, Vax'ildan." He reached out to put a hand on Vax's shoulder. "We'll get her back, I promise."

Vax said nothing, but only shrugged off Percy's touch, turned, and strode away.