Chapter 33 Reeducated, Fined, Or Killed.

“That’s the last of it.” Isaac commented as he rose to his feet. They had just finished stuffing almost all of Brennen’s campsite into Lenna’s bottomless bag. Part of the reason was for evidence but the rest was because magic items were neat. There was a ball of wool that was always wet and soapy. There was also a bucket with the self cleaning enchantment that didn’t seem to work on water but would remove any impurities from it. They were good utility items but with the way Isaac and Lenna traveled they were all but useless. Isaac turned just in time to see an airborne Lisa with a dagger aiming for his neck. Her cheeks were tearstained and her eyes were puffy. There was nothing but hatred and sadness in her eyes. He hadn’t even heard her move. The last he saw she was a dozen feet away and still sobbing on the ground. If he had gotten up a second later then he wouldn’t have even seen her coming. He barely had enough time for his eyes to go wide and tilt his head to the side before the blade struck true.

Isaac’s carotid artery was perfectly cut the entire way through. He had barely managed to keep her from burying her dagger in his esophagus. She twisted in mid air and another dagger flashed from under her cloak towards his face. Isaac jerked his head to the other side and blasted death mana through his entire system. It would still take him a few seconds to get his boosting ability properly up and running but as it was he was effectively immortal. Her dagger cut into his cheekbone as it passed. The blade went through his bone like it wasn’t even there. His fist came up in an uppercut but instead of meeting her side like he expected, it met her boot.

Lisa used his uppercut to launch herself into the air. She turned midair and hit the ceiling with her feet. She launched off of it back down at him. Lenna moved to intercept her with a powerful upwards swing but Lisa caught it with both of her daggers. She used the incoming force to spin her end over end into an ax kick aimed at Isaac’s face. Isaac blocked her kick with both of his forearms. The impact was way harder than he was expecting based on her size and the fact that she was airborne. She had actually managed to conserve almost all of the momentum from Lenna’s strike and transferred it into Isaac’s forearms with her boot.

“I’ll handle her.” Isaac told Lenna as he turned and grabbed her ankle before throwing her towards the wall next to him. Lenna took a step back with a raised eyebrow.

Lisa hit the wall hard. There hadn’t been enough distance between them and the wall for her to shift properly. She barely managed to not hit the wall headfirst but instead she had to take it between her shoulder blades. She fell to the ground on her hands and knees. She coughed as she rose to her feet.

“I’ll kill you.” She swore to Isaac just barely loud enough for him to hear. “I don’t care if it’s the last thing I do.” Fresh tears were forming in her eyes. “I loved him!” She yelled as she launched at him again. Isaac had finally gotten to a point where his strength and speed were approaching double what they usually were. He parried and deflected each of her dagger swings and stabs one after another. “And you took him from me!”

Isaac’s power continued to rise but he didn’t go on the offensive. He noticed after the fifth launch towards his face that she was babying the ankle that he had grabbed. The death flames that had coated his skin had seared through her skin despite the pant leg, boot, and sock in the way. That ankle had also been what impacted his forearms when he blocked her kick. He was surprised that it still worked at all. “He tried to run.” Isaac defended himself before catching her dagger stab with his palm. The blade went through his hand and he grabbed it. His fingers brushed against her hand and he saw her face contort in pain as she let go of the weapon.

“You!” She screamed in recognition even as she went for another attack with her other hand. She learned from the most recent attack to avoid stabs as Isaac was more likely to take it if it meant that he could disarm her at the same time. Isaac easily bent out of the way. He was now far faster than her and from her perspective it looked like he could see the future. He dodged every attack that he didn’t want to take by a hair’s breadth without blocking or counter attacking.

Isaac danced backwards as she chased him across the room. He pulled the dagger out of his hand with a wince and tossed it to the side. It vanished into thin air. Lisa noticed that it happened but she was too focused on killing him to process what she had just seen. “Stop before you really get hurt.” Isaac told her.

“Just, die!” She cried. She was starting to slow down. Her body was not used to going at a hundred percent for so long. She wasn’t getting enough oxygen for how hard her body was working. Every breath was her gulping air between strikes.

Isaac’s eyes narrowed. ‘Fine.’ He thought to himself. He stepped back from her to dodge another strike and then in a blink he had planted a spinning back kick into her stomach. He heard something break as she was thrown across the cavern. She had left some of her breakfast behind as she flew. Isaac was moving so fast that he was able to dodge the leftovers without getting any of it on him. He willed the death flames on his skin to turn to shadows and teleported to the other side of her as she hit the ground. He planted his feet and she slammed into his shin like it was a fencepost. He heard something else crack. He glanced at Lenna and then down to the broken and battered scout at his feet.

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Lenna was there in an instant pouring healing into her. Isaac’s power wound down until it eventually vanished entirely. Lenna was focused as she poured massive amounts of healing into the small scout. Isaac had almost killed her from those two hits. She had five shattered ribs and a broken breastbone. Almost all of her organs were shutting down from extensive damage. Luckily her heart had gotten away with almost no damage.

“How is she?” Isaac asked once Lenna had finally stopped pouring healing into Lisa and sat back on her heels.

Lenna looked up at him. There was sweat on her face from how much effort it took to keep the woman alive. “She’ll live.” She replied wearily. “You almost killed her. She should have died.”

Isaac winced. “I’m not used to holding back. Especially with that much power flowing through me.” His eyes went wide before he slammed them shut. He took a deep breath to focus and tried to sense any dark creatures around. He felt something small moving around a good distance away but he couldn’t tell what it was or how far away it was. He let out a heavy sigh of relief. “I keep forgetting about Tunnel Horrors.”

“I take it we are safe?” Lenna asked. If Isaac wasn’t preparing for combat then that was a safe assumption but she had to be sure.

Isaac nodded. “Yeah. At least for now.” He told her. He squatted down next to her and looked at the unconscious rogue. “Is she safe to be moved?”

Lenna tilted her hand back and forth in a ‘sort of’ gesture. “Her bones and organs are back in one piece.” She said simply.

“But only barely.” Isaac presumed.

“Yes.” Lenna agreed. She was almost completely out of mana so that was the best she could do.

“We need a stretcher or to wait until you can heal her more.” Isaac commented.

Lenna nodded in agreement. “The latter will take a few hours.”

“I could make a stretcher but the slightest lapse in concentration would drop her.” He explained. “I don’t want to risk it.”

“Agreed.” Lenna replied.

Isaac shrugged and laid back on the cold stone. He looked up towards the ceiling. “We really are under a shit load of rock aren’t we?”

Lenna chuckled. “You are just now realizing this?”

Isaac shook his head. “No.” He replied. “But it’s a lot more… real, I guess, in a cavern like this.” He turned his head to look at her. “Does that make sense?”

Lenna looked up for a long moment before nodding. “Yes.” She answered. “In a tunnel it is more of a mystery and in a city size cavern it is hard to imagine.”

“But when all you can see is a massive slab of stone overhead, then the mind starts to make up images of hundreds of feet of stone falling down on you.” Isaac finished for her.

“I wouldn’t have put it that way.” She replied. “But yes.”

After a while of Isaac and Lenna just relaxing in companionable silence Lenna took a rope out of her bottomless bag and firmly tied Lisa’s ankles together. She also made sure the scout didn’t have any more hidden weapons. The only thing she found was a skinning knife which was promptly taken. Lenna then sat cross legged and began meditating.

After almost an hour Lisa stirred. She let out a groan of pain and tried to move. Her face scrunched in pain before her eyes slowly fluttered open. “Ugh,” She groaned again. “what happened?” She blinked a few more times before turning her head to look around. It was then that everything that had happened slammed back into her. She froze as she tried to process everything. She saw Isaac casually reading a book while snacking on some jerky and an absolutely gorgeous dark elven woman meditating a few feet from her. She finally got a proper look at the woman. Her clothes looked too small at first before she noticed that they were over something else. The clothes that she had on under the dress were snug against her skin which explained why she was wearing something over top of it. Clothes that tight wouldn’t leave much to the imagination.

She tried to move but quickly realized that her feet were bound together. Her everything hurt. Her hand tried to sneakily grab her skinning knife only for her to find the sheath empty. “This didn’t have to go this way.” Isaac commented as he turned a page and placed his bookmark inside before closing the book. He looked up from it and met her gaze. “We would have just taken you two in for questioning. If I really wanted to kill you two I would have done it immediately.” He explained.

“Then why didn’t you just let him go?” She questioned. She looked like she was on the verge of tears again. She was more sad than angry but her complete resentment of Isaac was still there, it was just muted at the moment.

“I couldn’t have him reporting back on anything.” Isaac explained.

“To who?!” Lisa cried. “There wasn’t anyone for him to report back to!”

“He lied to you.” Lenna said, finally speaking up.

“No he didn’t!” Lisa shot back. “He was using the money to bribe one of the guards to let him in for supplies! That was it! I swear! And you killed him…”

Lenna shook her head without opening her eyes. “Exile is not something drow do.” Lenna explained. “Especially not to dark elves. It is better to kill them so they can reincarnate without their memories.” Lisa just stared at Lenna. “He would have either been reeducated, fined, or killed.” She continued. “Anything else is a waste of resources.”

“No.” Lisa whispered. “No, he was exiled. He told me. You’re lying!”

“I have no reason to lie to you.” Lenna replied calmly.

“I guess that answers that.” Isaac grumbled. “She really doesn’t know anything.”

“You’re lying.” Lisa whispered again. “You’re lying.”