The two took down their tents the next morning in companionable silence.

Casper figured for her sake, given that she was still very confident in her assertion of last night's events being clinical, he wouldn't be mentioning that he had woken up to her cuddling him.

However, given what little he knew about her past, he couldn't stay silence about everything”

“Had you ever done something like that before?” He asked as he squatted to roll his tent into a More compacted shape.

“No, not that specifically. Though if you're asking if I've been intimate with another person you may be disappointed to know that I have.” She admitted plainly. Her voice a mix of mild disappointment without compromising her casual confidence.

“Really? Was there someone before the acolytes?” Casper asked in follow up. She seemed shockingly open about her sexuality for a woman. This was very likely because of the nature of her upbringing. But Casper Couldn't say he was displeased by it.

He was aware of that. In general, save for whores it was considered “proper” for a woman to save themselves until marriage, meanwhile a man was expected to be experienced well beforehand. Another one of the many cultural norms of this kingdom he couldn't quite understand the logic of, so he was grateful for her directness.

“No, no one before the acolytes. It was they who taught me. As I was learning to Use the mark, I of course felt the ache of its effects. They showed me how to navigate my body, And on occasion would offer their assistance in my release. Though I had never engaged myself with a man in The way I had with you last night.”

“Huh, could have fooled me. You moved like an expert” Casper admitted bashfully.

“Likewise, You performed better than any of the acolytes.”

“Would you believe me if I told you I've never done that before either?”

“No”

Casper laughed. “Well, I've had some experience before but never that specifically.”

“You're a fast learner, Casper.” She blushed, but tried to hide it.

“As are you.” he prodded, picking his Fully stuffed pack and throwing it over himself Without much effort.

“I'm glad we were able to…so thoroughly remedy our affliction.” She nods softly, blushing as her mind assuredly floods With the memories.

“As am I, it was very practical indeed.”

“Yes. Practical. The logical course of action.”

As much as Casper wanted to continue to allow his thoughts to fill with the memory of last night, he needed to refocus his efforts on the task at hand.

It wasn’t hard, last night was, after all, necessary, because with a clear head and steady mind he realized he had already made a critical mistake.

He had taken this girl with him, and Annabelle knew she was marked.

It would be impossible to justify this decision, but he couldn’t simply abandon one or the other, could he?

Casper cared deeply about his companions, but he needed answers from this girl, he needed to train her so she could train him to grow stronger. Of course he could always deal with the consequences of his haste decisions later, but as they two now approached closer and closer to the location his companions were being held, he needed to consider all of the possible outcomes.

Casper and the nameless girl crest the top of a much steeper hill, several dozen miles into the southern forests, though it had arced along the western bend taking them in the opposite direction of Casper's original goal.

By now the morning fog was gone, sent away by the much heavier winds pushing against their efforts. Casper let his body come to rest against the very peak of the hill, hiding behind the silhouette of stone and underbrush in order to look down at his goal just beyond another valley.

The hill dipped down, where a heavy stream carved through the earth to act as a natural mote that protects the impressive stone fort standing proudly at the top of another, much taller hill just beyond.

The trees around the fort had been chopped down ages ago it appeared, with their trunks and branches whittled down into heavy stakes that now protruded from the base of the stone making it nearly impossible for any large body of soldiers to assault the location without at least a few getting run through.

Its cold stone walls rise up an impressive 30 feet, blocking any view to the interior, save for the four towers positioned on each of the four corners of the structure, each one surrounded by slits for archers to fire from.

If Casper had to guess, it was a much older fort built quite some time ago, for the moss and ivy that still clung to the exterior, as well as the rust on the portcullis. It must have been recently repurposed for this man's goals then.

The earth leading up to the main gates is churned heavily from the movement of nearly two dozen footprints, though it was impossible to tell if it was two dozen individuals or simply frequent travel from a few individuals.

Channeling the mark, Casper extended his senses outward to the fortress, allowing his hearing to sweep the quarter mile from his location to the air above the walls.

Footsteps shifted against earth and stone, and along with it the whistle of some non descript tune. The sliding of metal armor and tightening on leather straps, the grinding of steel on a whetstone, the murmur of some distant conversation.

“There are 20 men inside, as well as a man in black from the auction house. There are additionally several women and one boy” the nameless girl whispers softly.

“How can you tell?” Casper asked. Even with his enhanced senses, there must be men inside the fort or its dungeons that he couldn't pick up on.

“Divination. I see you infiltrating the fortress, I see your fight your way through, I see the number of men you kill”

“So I win? Good to know”

“Not in all of them…” the nameless girl admits in a much more grim tone.

“What? What does that mean? Can you give me specifics? Id prefer not to die” Casper muttered, annoyed at the inherent cryptic nature of divining the future.

For a moment, she doesn’t speak, as she considers the consequences, but a stern look from Casper forces the words from her mouth.

“You win if you use the mark, but in doing so your companions learn of it, and their reactions are…unfavorable. There is no telling which path they take is the most certain because I do not know them well enough, but they all react in a way that will change your relationship forever.”

“And if I don't use the mark? Or don't use it enough?”

“The man in black gets the edge over you, and kills you. He takes us captive and the future becomes blurry from there.”

“Fuck me…” Casper sighs, bringing his hand to his mouth to weigh the options.

It was of course possible that her divination of the situation wasn’t accurate or full. He knew from her explanation she could see nearly every possible future but had to distinguish what was most likely from her own understanding of things.

She didn’t know Casper, let alone all that he was capable of, and she didn't know the girls either. She must be assuming the likely outcomes from her own experience with him which wasn’t very much at all. That being the case then, he came to his conclusion.

“I have a task for you, and it's going to be dangerous but it needs to be done. Understood?” Casper asked.

“Yes Casper, I will do whatever you ask of me”

“Good, here's the plan…”

***

Alex had woken up after hearing the clash of metal on metal from somewhere else inside the camp, but by the time she had managed to open her tent enough to see what was going on, a gauntleted fist had grabbed her by hair and pulled her nearly all the way into the camp's middle.

Her vision was blurry, half asleep though fading quickly as the adrenaline worked through her system.

She fumbled, slapping at the armor and leather band of belt to get at the man's dagger but her fingers were peeled off and away from him too quickly.

In brief flashes of clear vision, Alex watched as Annabelle was thrown to the ground from her tent. Several men in armor tried desperately to hold her thrashing limbs, and they almost couldn’t contain her were it not for the tall, central figure who struck her once across the face, sending her head lulling into the mud.

“Get hell off me!” Alex tried to scream, but didn’t realize that her mouth had already been gagged somewhere between being pulled from her tent and reaching the bundle of other bound bodies at the camps center.

She couldn’t make heads or tails of what was going on, not specifically. Obviously she knew they were being attacked but she couldn’t catch a clear view of the armor or banners.

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That's right, they weren’t wearing any markings…no wonder she couldn’t see them.

It must have been more than a dozen men she figured, as her mind finally settled long enough to take in information other than “fight or flee”, now that those two were off the table for her.

Each man was adorned in rugged, heavy armor. Most wielded longswords and shields, though a few carried polearms around the outskirts.

She was the last to be dragged into the pile at the center, Elisayra, Annabelle, Nephinae, and Laihal were already there with their arms and legs bound, mouths gagged with strips of dirty cloth, stripped of their weapons.

One of the armored men approached quickly, grabbing heavy rope handed to him by another as he made his way to Alex.

Shit, this was her chance, maybe, she thought.

Alex quickly grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground, trying her best to not make the motion obvious, and waited until he got close enough.

“Hands, now.’ the armor man demanded, and so Alex provided her hands, by rapidly flinging the collection of loose dirt and pebbles directly into the man's eyes.

Her movements were quick, but not nearly fast enough. He moved his head just in time to avoid catching the debris entirely, though most of the dirt had managed to make its way into his left eye she figured, by the recoil of his head and grunt of pain.

Alex rushed for the opening. Her feet scraped across the uneven ground causing her to stumble and trip as she tried to right herself enough to make a break for the forest.

Two, three, four powerful bounds and she was at the forest's edge, five, six and she caught the glimpse of metal coming towards her from the side. Steps seven and eight, she braced for the shock of pain that was bound to hit her at any minute as an arcing sword caught the light on its path to carve through her legs.

A rush of wind hit her before the pain did, followed by the sound of metal pinging, like a nail struck by a hammer, and by the ninth step she felt as though she had run head first into a brick wall.

The air rushed from her lugs as the sudden stop knocked her back to the ground with a heavy thud.

The path to the forest, her escape, was now blocked by the man in black she had seen earlier.

He looked so… unbothered. In fact it was more appropriate to say he looked rather annoyed, despite the shattered remains of a sword he brushed diligently from his gloved hands.

He was the tallest man she had ever seen, nearly a full head taller than the Casper she figured. His pitch black hair and equally black eyes rested in a pale, skulls face. He was gaunt, almost ghostly in a strange, handsome kind of way. He must have been twice her age, she thought, despite looking so young.

She could tell in the way he moved. The simple elegance of it, the annoying confidence, and the ultimately horrifying power behind even the simplest gestures.

Alex could have sworn she had seen him before. His features were so distinct, down to the heavy black high collared coat, pants, boots and black gloves, surely if she had seen him before she would remember. Instead, it was more akin to the feeling of having forgotten something one really should have remembered. Like the inability to place the name of a family member.

“I told you, we need them, alive.” the man spoke to the soldier now only holding the hilt of his sword.

“Tell me, good sir, would she have lived, had your blade bisected her?”

Gods his voice was deep. She had never been so lucky as to hear the voice of any god unlike the few high priests she had spoken to in her time at her uncle's court, but she imagined they must sound exactly as this man does. She would be impressed by the regal cadence were she not so damn petrified by it.

“No, my lord, I suppose she would not.” the man sputtered out.

“You, suppose?” the man in black mocked.

“I-”

Alex blinked as her face was splattered in droplets of blood faster than she could possibly perceive.

Muffled screams bled through the man in black’s gloved hand, as he held his fist inside the shattered jaw of the soldier.

“You suppose it would have killed her?” the man intoned again, this time in a low, steady voice that was somehow more terrifying than if he had yelled it.

Alex winces, as the man in black twisted his fist in the man's mouth, causing several teeth to fall into the mud.

He pinched the man's jaw between his thumb and forefinger, crunching down on the few remaining teeth to get a good hold.

“Lets not have you speak any more this evening, am I understood?” the man whispered.

The soldier nodded feverishly, desperate for the pain to end.

“Good.” The man in black pulled his fingers from the soldier's mouth, and with a flick of his wrist removed the blood from his gloved hand.

“Have I made myself perfectly clear, gentlemen?” he spoke loudly now, turning his gaze upon the remaining soldiers around the camp.

Not a one did anything other than nod at the man's words, Alex found herself doing much the same.

“Now, give me your hands.” the man in black asked Alex, extending the rope the soldier had held.

Alex diligently obeyed the command.

She was furious with herself. For caving so easily to the man's request firstly, and secondly for playing the role of a good little captive and failing to help herself or the others as they marched through the woods.

Dammit she should have been paying attention to landmarks, trying to memorize the direction they were heading, some way to leave clues for Casper to eventually follow.

Alex bit down hard on the gag. It tasted sour, and dirty, and it was not saturated in her salvia which made it hard to breath, but still she worked to remove it slowly.

At the very least, if she could manage to work the gag off she could have options. She wasn’t proud of it, but she had bitten the hell out of some men before and would gladly do it again. Not to escape, but just for the raw satisfaction of drawing their blood for the audacity of taking them captive.

They walked for hours, well into the night. By then she had managed to loosen the gag enough to speak, should she so desire, but kept it around her mouth as to not reveal herself too early.

The man in black commanded the soldiers to set camp and post watch. Alex watched as they made their tents and food, as they began to break into patrols around the area.

Now would be her chance then, once they set them up to sleep she could whisper to the others about…something…anything…she didn’t have a plan dammit but surely Elisayra would, wouldn’t she? Laihal? Someone…

“Separate them.” The man in black yawned dismissively. “I want 3 guards on each at all times, 5 on the big girl and the half fiend, and break the half elf's fingers. I've seen her working at the bindings”

Alex’s heart sank. Having been at the center of the pack and being marched quickly through the forest she hadn't risked a look behind her to the others. Now, she turned to stare.

Elisayra’s eyes went wide as she mumbled through her gag. She fell to the ground, trying to drop her weight and be harder to move as a particularly brawny guard made his way over.

Alex almost began to move to help the girl. She didn’t know what the hell she could possibly accomplish though. Maybe buy some time? Give her a chance to escape? No, that was foolish. The man in black had appeared so quickly, he had broken a sword with his bare hands, it was clear he was a mage or something similar. There was no escape for them then…

Still, her chest twisted as tears streamed from the half elf’s eyes.

Without thinking, Alex threw herself into the guard approaching Elisayra, enough to knock him off balance in all that heavy armor and send them both to the ground.

It looked like Annabelle had the same idea, still dazed and closing one eye from the concussion she was likely suffering from, she cleared the distance to the guard and brought her boot down hard onto the man's temple.

The camp erupted then, as more guards saw what had transpired, they rushed in to get Annabelle to stop, but they were too late.

Alex watched from the ground next to him, as the woman brought all her weight down onto the helmet once, twice, three times until the metal caved and the man's screams were cut into a gurgle.

Laihal moved then too, her tail swiping at a guard's legs as she positioned her horns to try and gore the man.

In a puff of rolling black smoke, Alex watched wide eyed as the man in black appeared in the space between the tripped soldier and Laihal, grabbing her by the horns and twisting her head until she was driven into the ground.

A loud crack rang out, as one of the horns gave under the force of the man's grip, which he used to drive into the half fiends stomach.

Laihal gasped, or rather, exhaled sharply as the air was driven from her lungs from the force of the strike.

The man in black stood, leaving her own horn embedded into the slaves chest. “Remove the horn and you’ll die, move too quickly, and you’ll die. Remain there in the earth and live a while longer.” the man in black drolled.

Alex choked back a shout, they couldn’t know her gag was loose, she had to keep it inside.

A soldier she couldn’t see hoisted her upright from behind. She tried to kick at him, but her leg was quickly locked up in the soldiers as he twisted her arms hard behind her back while pinning her leg.

Alex winces as she felt the bones of her arm protest against the force, she wanted to cry, she almost yelped but bit her tongue hard until it bled to stop the noise from escaping.

“Now, as for you-” The man in black brushed his hands, as he approached Elisayra.

She had managed to scoot only a few feet away on the ground before he grabbed her by the ankles, and dragged her the remaining distance.

Alex wanted to look away, in fact she tried, only to feel the soldier's tension of her arm tighten further.

“Watch” he demanded, making the message clear that they needed them alive, not in one piece, and her arm was already about to give.

Alex nodded, as she opened her eyes to watch as the man spun Elisayra around, driving his knee into her spine to pin her stomach to the earth.

“I believe I have you to thank for my failure on the boat the other day” he said with a mix of amusement and annoyance.

“Not many people can evade my perception. Let's make sure that doesn’t happen again, shall we?”

Alex winced, as the sounds of shattering bones filled her ears.

Elisayra sobbed over the pain, as one by one the man in black grabbed a finger, and crushed it in his hand.

Alex could feel the bile in her stomach rising, as even in the darkness of a night in the forest she caught the glimpse of stark white bone breaking from the flash of her hands.

Each finger was a grueling, horrific sight, making sure to take enough pause between each one so the pain wouldn’t bleed together.

After he was done, Alex watched as he pulled something akin to a cat's collar from his pack. A strip of simple leather with a large bell at the end. He placed it around Elisayra's throat, and with one smooth motion pinned the leather together via a nail that sunk into the muscle of the half elf's neck.

By now her cries had died to an incomprehensible begging, that sputtered and died as her body was incapable of handling the pain, and forced her into unconsciousness.

Alex was sick. Tears streamed down her own cheeks as the man stood and grumbled at the inconvenience of it all. It didn’t even look like he took pleasure in the act, it was all business to him, the business of torture.

“I will say this to you all once. I would prefer you all alive, in fact, I would go so far as to say it is supremely beneficial that you remain alive, however… this is not absolute. I will give you one warning, and one warning only.” He looked down to the slowly breathing Laihal, her reddish tanned skin having gone incredibly pale already, down to the unconscious Elisayra.

“Consider this, your one warning. Should you attempt to cause more trouble for me, I will not hesitate to do what I must.”

Alex’s eyes met the mans, and she found herself once more nodding.

“Break her arm, the big one loses an eye. The full Elf is the only one who has yet to be a nuisance, leave her untouched '' the man dismisses with a wave of his hands.

Alex’s vision burns white with pain as the pressure mounts to a snapping. Fire lights her entire left arm from wrist to shoulder as the soldier breaks her like she was a branch.

It takes every ounce of willpower not to scream. To bear the pain as she collapses to the ground and wishes she too could pass out like Elisayra had.

In the dirt, Alex drives her forehead into the ground. Her ears ring for the force of her clenching jaw, ringing almost enough to drown out the thrashing, furious screams from Annabelle as they take one of her eyes from its socket.

This is hell, and she still doesn’t even know why she is here.

Surely these weren’t her uncles men, they weren’t local city guards, or any mercenaries she had ever seen before. Despite the vague notion of some distant familiarity she had no idea who this mage in all black was, or why he needed them alive, or how he found them or why he was doing any of this.

She wanted to know, but she couldn’t think, for the impossible throbbing radiating from every bone in her arm, pain that only got worse as she was pulled away by her bound hands to the opposite end of the camp as the others.

How could this happen? How could she have been so weak? So unaware? So pitiful, so foolish. If only she was as strong as Annabelle, as quiet or dexterous as Elisayra, as Obedient as Nephinae, as clever or as resourceful as Laihal, maybe she could have thought of something, or helped in some way. Maybe they could have had the edge, maybe if they waited for Casper, instead of leaving him behind they wouldn’t be in whatever this is.