You think all this cruel? I believe it to be wise. I can’t risk pulling the information out of her, which makes you the next best candidate. You should count yourself lucky, then. I’d make you watch, if I was able to work on her.

…

Like a bucket of ice water had been dunked over her body, Serena Lash jerked awake to nothing. A sudden intake of breath revealed that the nothingness was really a burlap sack pulled over her head.

She sputtered and spat the fabric out, earthy on her tongue. Her heart hammered in her chest as she struggled to slow her breathing, skin prickling as the inside of the sack grew warm. Thankfully, when she angled her head up, the fabric pulled away from her neck in just the right way for her to suck in fresh air.

It was then, with her head craned back and the fear of suffocation absent, did Serena allow her body to seize with terror, as memories of before came flashing back.

The inside of the sack became unbearably hot with her panicked breathes, beads of sweat forming across her face. The memories came crashing down one by one, each a mace to her mind, each furthering the waves of panic that coursed through her body. As the sweat trickled down her face, Serena sucked the burlap back into her mouth, sparking her panic into flames of horror as she began to choke, chest heaving. Her hands darted to her head, only for the skin around her wrists to burn as she struggled against rope bonds she hadn’t realized where there; the frantic clawing at her face, though automatic, only made everything worse.

After a few desperate attempts – choking all the while – she managed to hook a fingernail into the burlap and pull the fabric from her mouth. She pinched it and held it away as she sucked in a deep breath, then another – and another and another – until the burning panic in her chest faltered to a dull ache.

Serena let herself relax on the floor, her head tilting to one side as the dregs of fear evaporated from her body, now a shivering mess against the stone floor. How long it had taken, she didn’t know, but it had occurred to her – somewhere in the midst – that no one had tried to stop her or hold her down. She was alone.

The darkness looked no different to Serena when she squeezed her eyes shut, only her arms trembling now; perhaps a thousand guesses at where she could have been whirled about in her mind, clashing with each horrible detail of her fight with Jarlaxle – of bringing Werond back to life, of passing her off to Graham, of fighting within an inch of her life, of the brilliant light that blinded her, of –

Serena flinched and shook her head, feeling her heart take up the drum of panic once more; it did her no good to think on any of that right now. She had to find a way out first.

With effort, as though she’d been laying on the stone for years, Serena sat up, groaning as quietly as she could. Her head felt light, and she wobbled a bit, though a few deep breathes solved both those issues. She wiggled her hands and, despite being blind, realized that her wrists had been sloppily bound together, as though done in a hurry. It was a simple effort, then, to curl her fingers towards her wrist and burn through the bonds, cursing as she accidently burned herself several times.

The rope finally snapped apart, the skin on her wrists suddenly able to breathe again; Serena reached up and ripped the sack from her head and threw it into her lap. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the gloom around her, and immediately failed to understand where she was.

The room she was in seemed constructed entirely out of grey stone – chiseled bricks that looked more in place in a prison than anything else. Even the floor was made of the stuff, though she couldn’t imagine why. Motes of dust hung in the beam of light that shone through a slot cut into one of the walls, high up and out of reach, with thin iron bars preventing any from squeezing through. A few feet in front of her, a door of solid wood barred the only way out, looking odd amongst the stone.

Serena’s gaze flicked about the place, her heart beginning to speed up. She couldn’t hear a single thing from outside – no bustle of people out and about, no waves carried upon the wind, nothing to suggest that she was still in Waterdeep. But before she could work where she might have been, catching a flash of green out the slot, Serena jumped as she suddenly realized that she was sitting among four other people, all laid out on the floor, all bound just as she was.

One was obviously Cruck’aa, as his wings, flattened against his back, were a dead giveaway. The person closest to her had to be Jo then, for she was the shortest of the group and still had on the cloak she liked to wear. On the other side of Cruck’aa rested Pavel, easily told from the golden locks that poked out from his burlap hood. And on his side, farthest from Serena, laid someone she didn’t recognize. A giant of a man, he dwarfed all of them, looking as though he were eight feet tall, perhaps almost the length of the entire cell.

And Werond was among none of them.

A horrible mixture of relief and terror exploded through Serena’s chest, threatening to send her into hysterics once more; she buried her face in her hands, sucked in a deep breath, held it, then exhaled. It was good – it was good that Werond wasn’t here. That meant Graham had gotten away. That’s what it had to mean. It had to. She was sure of it, no doubt –

Serena ripped her hands away just as the tears began to fall, her hands curling into fists as she fought against the maelstrom that threatened to rip her apart. She lurched forward and almost fell on top of Jo, determined not to think about anything else but getting her friends free. For now.

She burnt through Jo’s bonds just as easily as she had her own; when she tore the sack off Jo’s head, however, Serena was stunned to find the elven woman’s eyes already open.

Before she could react, Jo’s hand shot out and covered Serena’s mouth, starting her. Jo raised a finger to her thin lips, her sharply angled face betraying no emotion as her green eyes flicked about the room. Her blonde hair lay in a tangled heap behind her head, bunched up from having been stuffed into the burlap, and the white tunic she wore had been stained with dirt and grime, her cloak looking even worse up close, though Serena was sure she looked just as disheveled.

Serena raised her hands to sign; Jo’s eyes snapped back towards her, going wide.

“Have you been awake this whole time?” Serena whispered.

Realization flashed through her friend’s eyes; Jo pulled her hand away from Serena’s mouth, a bit of red trickling into her cheeks.

“Yes, heard you panicking.” She whispered. “You okay?”

“No, of course I’m not okay!” Serena snapped, glancing around. “Jo, where –”

“I don’t know. Are we all here?”

“No –” Her heart hammered against her chest. “W-Werond isn’t here…”

“I meant – right, okay.” Jo craned her head up and looked around. “We need to get out of here. Can you get them up and awake? I’ll check out everything else,” she jerked her head towards the door. “in the meantime.”

Serena nodded, grateful for a direction for her to stumble in; she crawled around Cruck’aa and towards Pavel as Jo pushed herself up, wobbling and grunting before stalking towards the door.

It seemed odd to her that whoever had taken them – for they must have been abducted, as she couldn’t think of any other reason for their predicament – had simply bound them with rope, of all things. When Serena freed Pavel’s head, his golden locks tumbled out like a waterfall, filthy gold just as Jo’s hair had been, though the waviness was somehow still intact. Unlike Jo, however, Pavel was still asleep, his chiseled face pulled up into a small smile; as disgusting as he was, tunic and pants just as dirty, Pavel still looked almost like a prince from one of the stories Mom used to read to her.

It took a moment for his blue eyes to flicker open, his face scrunched up in annoyance from Serena’s prodding. After another jab in his ribs, Pavel’s eyes shot open, his body tense, only for Serena to clap a hand over his mouth while holding a finger to her own.

Pavel’s eyes snapped to the door as Jo creaked it open; as she stood in the threshold, he glanced around, then locked eyes with Serena, giving her a single nod. Satisfied, she pulled her hand away and wiped it on Pavel’s dirty tunic, before gesturing at Cruck’aa behind her.

Pavel groaned just as Jo had when he stood up, though he tried to stifle it; stiff as a board, he and Serena rolled Cruck’aa onto his side and began going through the legion of rope that had been tied around his wings; when they laid him back down, however, the Aarakocra had already woken up, thrashing and squawking against his remaining bonds as though someone had driven a branding iron into his back.

Pavel was ready when Serena yanked Cruck’aa’s bag off, his hands flying out and slamming his beak shut before he could screech again. Cruck’aa’s hawk like face twisted in fury, brown and white feathers puffing up in their usual display of complete outrage. Despite the gloom, his beady golden eyes bore holes through them both as Pavel leaned down and whispered something in the tuff of feathers that poked out where his ears would be.

“Sounds good?” Pavel whispered, leaning back. Despite the fury still visible on Cruck’aa’s face – though maybe it had finally frozen that way – he nodded.

“What then?” Cruck’aa asked, his voice the harshest of whispers as Pavel released his beak.

“Jo’s checking outside. We’ll wait to hear from her.”

“And what happens if she runs into someone?”

“Then we’ll hear her scream and run out to help. Easy.”

Cruck’aa rolled his eyes but offered no further argument as they all stood up; he glanced over to Serena, eyes narrowed, only to look away just as quick when she offered him a small smile. It was good to see him up again, even if he was already back to his usual irritating self.

That irritation become more prominent, however, as she and Pavel moved to the last person. Cruck’aa hovered over them as they kneeled beside the giant of a man, Pavel working the rope around his wrists loose as Serena reached for the burlap sack.

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“What are you two doing?!” Cruck’aa hissed, causing Serena to freeze. “Who is that?! Why are you untying him?!”

“Getting him out?” Serena twisted around. “He’s in the same situation as us, Cruck’aa, we should help –”

“It doesn’t matter! That hood must have cut off the air to your head, none of us know who this is!”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t help him.” Pavel muttered.

“It means we should leave him alone!”

“And let him lay here and die?”

“He’d do it to us in a heartbeat!” Cruck’aa grabbed at Pavel’s shoulder, only for him to shake the talons off. “You two are going to get us killed!” Serena rolled her eyes and twisted back around.

The man laying before them was perhaps the broadest man Serena had ever seen; his chest barely fit within his tunic, the sleeves close to bursting from his trunk like arms. Even his hands seemed muscular, looking as though they could palm Serena’s head with ease; Pavel’s looked tiny in comparison as he untied the man’s bonds, muttering about it being too tight this time. As he pulled away the rope, Serena reached out and ripped the sack off the man’s head, revealing a veritable mane of fire flowing to his neck, thicker than Serena’s, along with –

An opened pair of eyes, darker than blood, staring directly at her.

“Who the fuck are you people?!”

The giant’s voice was like a thunderclap echoing against the stone; Serena leapt back, heart tearing through her chest; Cruck’aa shot into the ceiling, squawking as he collided with it; Pavel screamed, drew back, and launched a fist into the man’s straight jawline. He didn’t so much as flinch, dark skin rippling under the impact.

The giant grinned; his hands flew out and seized Pavel by his tunic, yanking him to the floor; Pavel screamed again as the man rolled on top of him, dwarfing him to an absurd degree as he sat on top of Pavel.

“Shit way to answer a question. Let me ask again.” The giant said, flaming hair a mess. “who the fuck –”

He grunted as Pavel’s fist connected into his chin, jerking his head back; the giant man looked back down, looking more annoyed than harmed.

“You punch like shit.” He said.

“What – fuck you too!” Pavel spat.

“I wouldn’t feel you.”

“What?!” Pavel yelled at the giant’s grin.

“Anyway, who the fuck are you people?” The man asked again; his hands slide up towards Pavel’s throat, eclipsing it as he wrapped them around it. “You’ve got five seconds to tell me before –”

Fire sprang to life across Serena’s hands, illuminating the cell like the early morning sun as she aimed at the man, index and pinky finger pointed at his head; beside her, a horrible feral growl tore its way from Cruck’aa’s throat, spiked vines sprouting from his feathers and curling around his talons; Pavel, glancing between them and the giant’s stunned expression, drew back his fist, aiming another blow at the man’s face.

“But you’ll feel that.” Pavel grunted under the giant’s weight.

“Yeah, probably.” The giant replied.

“Get. Off. Of him.” Cruck’aa growled.

“What’s the magic word?”

The flames across Serena’s hands writhed; they flared up her shoulders and licked the ceiling, scorch marks left in their wake; shadows danced across the giant’s face as he whistled and released Pavel’s neck, though he stayed seated.

“Cool trick, but I’m immune to fire.” The giant said.

“Bullshit.” Serena spat back.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Serena narrowed her eyes. “Get off of him then.”

“Get off of him what?”

“Really?!”

Four heads snapped towards the door; Jo, her arms crossed, now stood in the threshold, lantern light bleeding out around her, casting a dark shadow over her scrunched up face.

“Is any of this really necessary?”

“It is when I’m attacked by unknown dwarves.” The giant said, glancing down as Pavel laughed.

“Get your eyes checked then – the only dwarf here is that ego of yours that you’re trying to stroke. Now,” She waved a hand at them. “if all of you are quite finished with your antics, I need you out here. We’re by ourselves.”

Without waiting for a response, Jo flipped on her heel and walked back into the other room, lantern light flooding through the now unobstructed doorway. The giant man immediately hopped off Pavel, who looked relieved to be breathing again, and offered his enormous hand to pull him off the floor. After a moment of consideration, Pavel took it, grunting as he flew to his feet.

“Thanks.” He said, dusting himself off.

“Sure. Doriyah, by the way.” The giant replied.

“Pavel.” He turned and gestured behind himself. “Serena and Cruck’aa. They’d have blown you up if you tried anything.”

“Sure.”

Doriyah turned and made his way out of the cell, Pavel hot on his heels. The flames along Serena’s arms winked out as she shared a look with Cruck’aa, his eyes just as wide, before the both of them followed out the door. A part of her knew she shouldn’t be surprised though; from what she’d seen at Mom’s tavern, that was an exceptionally normal interaction between men.

The room adjacent to their cell looked almost identical to it; grey stone made up the walls and floor, lit only by the light of a single lantern hung up alongside a wooden door. A slot window, just like the last one, had been carved into the wall above the door, barely illuminating the room as it offered a view of the trees outside. The room itself was bare save for the table shoved against the wall closest to the door, and the two chairs placed on either side it. Just looking at the decrepit furniture made Serena sorry for anyone who was forced to sit there.

As they filed into the room, Jo pulled one of the chairs away from the table and shoved it against the door, dropping herself into it. She leaned forward and rested her arms atop her legs as Doriyah marched over and took the second chair, creaking under his weight. Serena hovered by the door to their cell and wrapped her arms about herself as Pavel and Cruck’aa stalked into the room, each inspecting it as though it held the revelation of where they now where.

But what did that matter, when Werond wasn’t in this room either.

“So…” Jo began, oblivious to the hammering of Serena’s heart. “Poked my head out, I think we’re in a swamp. No clue where, though. No one else around, no footprints, no signs of previous life. The canopy’s thick, but I think it’s close to midday. Now,” She pointed a finger at Doriyah. “who the hell are you?”

“Doriyah.” Doriyah replied. “Said it earlier, you deaf?”

“Does the name Jarlaxle ring a bell?”

Serena jerked and ducked her head; she began rubbing the back of her head as her mind slowly unraveled. Someone pounded their fist against the wall, while Cruck’aa let loose a guttural noise of irritation.

“It does.” Doriyah finally said.

“What did you do to piss him off?”

“Mercenary work. What about you four?”

“Long story.” Jo paused. “We can discuss that later. Seems like you’re in the same boat as us, then.” Another pause. “And unless anyone has a better idea, we need to take stock – we have nothing but the clothes on our backs, and we’re in the middle of gods know where. Any guesses as to why?”

“Jarlaxle wants us for something, my guess.” Pavel’s voice came from the far end of the room. “I bet that if we had put him down, we wouldn’t be out here. But if it is him, he didn’t kill us, and I have no idea why he’d do that.”

“Hostages.” Jo offered.

“Doubtful. Who’d we’d be of value to?”

“Selling us, then?”

“Possibly. But slavery is illegal on the coast. He’d have to ship us further east, and I don’t know if the profits would be worth it.”

“Right.” Jo sighed. “Although…I suppose it doesn’t matter the reason right now. What does matter is that we get out of here before he comes back…if he planned on coming back.”

“Why wouldn’t he?” Doriyah asked. “Wouldn’t make sense if he didn’t.”

“Who knows how that bastard’s mind works. It’s entirely possible that he left us in here to starve, and Serena just happened to wake up.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Cruck’aa said.

“I mean, it’s possible.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Are you going to explain why you believe this or…?”

“Look, I really don’t want to get into it with him right now,” Pavel cut Cruck’aa off. “we have bigger issues to worry about…”

Pavel trailed off into something else and Cruck’aa said something irritating and Doriyah chimed in and Jo tried to defuse it, but Serena heard not a word; the steady roar of blood rushing in her ears had deafened her to the conversation, while the churning of her stomach pulled her down into a hunch, sweat once again beading on her forehead.

A part of her knew that she should be relieved that Werond wasn’t with them; that meant that Graham had gotten her to safety, it had to. It just had to. But their own predicament meant that Jarlaxle had survived their encounter – regardless of the amount force she’d used against him – and was more than likely still active. It was entirely possible that he had snapped Werond up already, and the gods only knew what he planned on doing –

Her body shuddered, throat tightening. Serena bit into one of her knuckles as she sucked in air around it, fighting in vain to fill her lungs.

They had to get back to Waterdeep, or at the very least, she needed to get back. Sleep would evade her until she wrapped her arms around Werond, but that would be a small price to pay for knowing that she was safe.

Still gulping down breathes, Serena glanced up at the now semi-heated argument that filled the room; none of them would be happy with that assertion, and it was entirely possible that Serena would be forced to set out alone. But just the thought of leaving her friends set the skin along her neck prickling; she couldn’t just run off and never look back, Serena knew she wouldn’t be able to handle it, but neither could she hike away from were Werond might be. She owed it to –

“Serena!”

Serena shot upright, tearing her hand away, biting off a piece of skin with it. Everyone save Doriyah stared at her, two sets of eyebrows raised in questionable looks.

“You didn’t hear any of that, did you?” Jo asked.

“Ah, no…sorry.” Serena signed.

“Cruck’aa’s going to fly up and figure out where we are, and we’ll strike out based on that. We’ll leave in a moment. Forge or hunt for some food on the way. Sound good to you?”

“Ah…yeah, that sounds fine.” Doriyah glanced up and narrowed his eyes.

“Really? No objections?” Jo waved at hand at Cruck’aa. “We’ve heard them all, but if you have any…”

There was a lighthearted tone to her voice, one that didn’t belong anywhere in their vicinity. “No, I’m fine…are we planning on going back to Waterdeep, then?”

“If it’s close. If not, we’ll go somewhere else.”

“Right…o-okay.”

Serena ducked her head as a wave of dizziness descended upon her; before she could sign again, however, Jo grabbed her attention with a small, “Hey”.

She looked back up and met her gaze; Jo’s eyes had softened, and a familiar tone crept into her voice, one that she hadn’t heard since she’d been in Mirabar.

“You worried about her?”

The corners of her eyes stung; Serena nodded.

“Did you get her out?”

“I – Graham c-carried her out.”

“She’ll be alright then.” Jo said. “We’ll get back, eventually. I’m sure she and Graham can take care of themselves. Try not to worry.”

Easy to say. A lump formed in Serena’s throat as she nodded and looked away, unwilling to let them see her tears. Her hand moved up to massage her neck, hoping that –

Dad’s choker was gone.

Everyone flinched as Serena shot off the wall, hand around her throat, squeezing against the tidal wave of fear that rose from her chest. “Choker – choker – gone – where?!”

Eyes wide, Jo leapt up and began to glance around the room, Pavel following after a moment’s hesitation; Cruck’aa and Doriyah remained where they were, as the three of them began to search in vain.

“Probably lost it in the fight.” A bitter edge crept into Cruck’aa’s voice.

“I didn’t – I didn’t!” Serena signed, hands trembling.

“Check the cell,” Jo said, pointing at the door. “check the bag your head was in, maybe it slipped off. We’ll keep looking in here.”

“Uh…I don’t know.” Pavel froze in the middle of the room. “I hate to say it, but Cruck’aa’s right…there’s no place in here to –”

His words were drowned as Serena hurling herself through the cell door, the wood smashing into the stone. A frigid fear had chilled the blood within her veins, and despite looking, despite searching through her bag and the other bags and where they lay and the cracks in the stone and everywhere, she found nothing – nothing beyond the horrible realization that the one object she treasured the most, the one anchor she had to her life in Mirabar, was gone. She froze in the middle of the cell, hands clutching at clumps of dirty hair, eyes wide as she knew – knew beyond a shadow of a doubt – that her choker was gone. It was gone, gone, gone – wasn’t in her pocket, wasn’t on the floor, wasn’t in the sack, wasn’t in the corners of the room, wasn’t anywhere close, wasn’t –

She jerked violently as her eyes swept the far corner of the room once more; there was something – someone – in it, someone she hadn’t seen before.

Despite the thudding of her heart and the terror that lanced through her body, Serena pulled her arms to her chest and hurried over, believing for a single moment that this new person may have had her choker. But it took less than a glance to realize that that was a false hope.

Dangling by their arms manacled to chains barely long enough for their feet to scrape the ground, the person – the woman, Serena realized – had seen better days. Bruises and gashes covered the woman’s body, beacons across her dark skin. Her hair lay in matted clumps against her chest, while the tattered remains of a purple tunic clung to her skinny frame. And as Serena halted before her, heart stopping, the woman slowly raised her head to meet Serena’s gaze.

There was no light to be found in Werond’s amber eyes.