Feyrith groaned as he came to, but he couldn't manage to open his eyes quite yet. His head hurt too much to focus on anything else, and so he took a moment to simply breathe in and out. As soon as he regained the ability to think through the pain, he remembered what had happened.

His eyes flew open, quickly looking over the dark, stone walls surrounding him. He flinched when he noticed the man in the corner, watching him, and immediately tried to get up, only to realize that his hands were tied together with rope. It must have been attached to something because he could barely move an inch. And to make matters so much worse, there was a piece of cloth filling his mouth, with another strip tied around his head, so he wouldn't be able to spit it out.

Feyrith's heart hammered in his ears as he pulled on the rope, chafing his wrists in his panic. If he couldn't talk, he wouldn't be able to use his magic. And that meant that he was powerless.

"Come now, elf, you won't come to any harm," the man grumbled, making Feyrith focus on him again. The elf glared, realizing that this was the man he'd healed. And who had then knocked him out. Why had he done that? Why would a human ever attack an elf? Especially one who had just helped him.

Feyrith continued rubbing his wrists raw as he tried to break free. It was the only thing he could do right now. What was the Council going to say about him getting overpowered and captured by a human? Assuming he would get away from here. But surely the man would let him go eventually.

"Well, I won't harm you as long as you behave," the man continued, standing up and walking up to him. Feyrith bit into his gag as the man peered down at him. He'd never felt scared of a human—never even considered it—but now he certainly was. He'd never been this powerless and he hated it. Was this how the Cursed felt? Or the humans? It was awful. Though this human was clearly not afraid.

"I will ask you some questions, and you will either nod or shake your head to answer them. Are we clear?"

Feyrith gritted his teeth, simply glaring up at the man. He would not be ordered around and threatened like this. But his pride and outrage quickly dissipated when the man took out a large knife from the sheath hanging from his belt.

Feyrith did his best to shrink away as the man pointed the knife at him, pushing himself against the stone wall. Finally, when he had nowhere else to go, he shut his eyes and did his best not to whimper as the man pushed the tip of the knife against his neck. But that was where the blade stopped, an uncomfortable, terrifying pressure against his skin.

"Are we clear?"

Feyrith was nodding before he could even think about resisting. He just wanted that knife away from his neck, but if anything, it felt like it was now being pressed at harder.

"Good. Now, you can't do any magic as long as we keep you quiet, correct?"

Feyrith nodded again, swallowing thickly as the man finally removed the knife from his neck. He felt his whole body starting to shake. This wasn't something he'd thought might happen when he'd come here. He'd imagined being attacked by a hundred beasts but never a human. Humans weren't supposed to be a threat. And yet this one could end his life right now if he wanted to.

"I thought so." How could he know that? Feyrith felt cold dread spread through him when he realized that he'd implied it to the man's niece. Why hadn't he just kept it to himself?

Feyrith continued trying to get out of his bindings but stopped when he saw the man pick up his staff. He stared at it in horror, shaking his head. No human was ever supposed to touch it. No other elf was supposed to, even.

"I can't use this, can I?"

Feyrith shook his head. That was the only small comfort in this situation. It was one thing to have the staff taken away from him, but it was another to let a human go around casting spells for their own gain. And Feyrith had no doubts that was the goal of his capture. These people must have been bandits. He felt so stupid for not realizing that in time. It should have been suspicious that they lived in a cave, instead of Feyrith feeling empathy for them.

He felt anger fill him yet again as he yanked at the rope with all his strength, making his wrists all the sorer. His eyes widened when he felt the slightest give in the rope. If he could loosen it enough....

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"I don't mean to keep you from whatever task you are supposed to be doing right now," the man said, thankfully putting the staff where it had been, propped against the wall. "I am willing to let you go immediately. All I want from you is to turn some rocks into gold. Or diamond. And then you can be on your way."

Feyrith scowled at him. He had been expecting something like this, but it still sounded ridiculous. To think he would ever use the Goddess' gifts like this.... It was more insulting than anything Feyrith could think of.

"Not going to make it easy for yourself, eh?" Feyrith expected the man to threaten him with the knife again, but surprisingly that didn't happen. The man just shrugged and headed for the door. "Suit yourself. I've got time. A few days without water will change your mind."

Feyrith flinched as the door slammed shut, leaving him alone in the small, bare room. The elf renewed his efforts to get free, biting the rag in his mouth as pain stabbed through his wrists. He knew the pain was only temporary—as soon as he got free he could heal himself with a few words. But he was having a hard time ignoring it. He'd never actually been seriously hurt at any point in his life, and while this wasn't serious, he was also actively making it worse.

He froze when he felt something warm flow down his fingers, dripping onto the stone floor. Right, of course, blood. Feyrith's stomach churned. He breathed in and out a few times, leaning back against the wall. His wrists burned even more now that he'd stopped trying to get out of the rope, continuing to slowly bleed, but he did his best to try to drown that out through thinking.

He technically didn't need to get free. All he needed was to get the gag out of his mouth. He craned his neck, his eyes scanning the wall behind him for anything that could help him get the tight knot pushing against the back of his head. But there was nothing within reach, aside from the slightly rough wall.

Feyrith did his best to try to make use of at least that, pushing his head against it and trying to drag the gag's knot up and over his head. But it was stubbornly staying in place, barely moving an inch one way or the other. Feyrith kept trying, even as the cloth cut deeper into the corners of his mouth, hoping to manage to catch it on some sharper part of the wall. It was less painful than trying to get his hands out of the rope, at the very least.

What would the Council do after he told them about this? He couldn't lie or just not tell them. That felt wrong on every level. But Feyrith had gotten captured by some humans. The Council might demote him for simply that. And maybe he would deserve it. He hadn't been taking the rules seriously enough. Maybe this was his punishment.

Feyrith let out a shuttering sigh before shaking his head and pulling on the rope again. He would just have to keep trying. If he didn't lose too much time by being stuck here, whatever he found at that ruin might be important enough to completely overshadow this humiliation.

He wouldn't give up just yet.

It took what seemed like forever. There was no way for Feyrith to tell the time with barely any light at his disposal, aside from a few candles here and there. But he could finally, finally feel the rope loosening. Be it from him actually undoing a few of the knots or from it gradually snapping, he was almost about to get free and put this entire ordeal behind him.

But then he froze when he heard voices beyond the door.

"Uncle, this is too risky," said the muffled voice of the woman who had led Feyrith here in the first place. The elf felt anger rise within him. All he wanted to do was to try to break his bonds here and now, but he couldn't. If he didn't manage to get that gag out of his mouth in time, he might end up right where he started, so he willed his rapidly beating heart to slow down and tried not to move.

"It's worth it," the man replied, sounding annoyed, as if they'd had this conversation several times already. "Do you think that elf is going to blab about a few feeble humans capturing him?" A scoff followed. "He's going to make us more money than we will ever need and in return, we'll let him go. And then buy a proper house in Lightkeep and forget about all of this."

Even though Feyrith knew the Council put great emphasis on a lack of emotional expression, he couldn't help but glare at the two bandits with pure hate as they walked inside the small room, bringing with them weak candlelight from the corridor beyond. To her credit, the woman grimaced, avoiding his eyes while the man simply stared him down.

"Have you changed your mind, elf?"

Feyrith just glared harder, but once the man came over to him, he froze, barely able to breathe at that moment. Feyrith shut his eyes as the man looked behind him, no doubt seeing the damaged rope, likely stained with his blood as well.

"Clearly not." Then the man turned to his niece. "Bring some shackles, Yrin."

The woman said nothing, only giving her uncle a dirty look before walking out of the room. Feyrith swallowed. He wouldn't be able to break metal, so it was now or never. He pulled at the rope with all his might, biting back a cry as the ropes bit into his wrists again, but the pain was quickly overshadowed with a sense of triumph as the rope broke, his hands free at last.

But before he could finally get the gag out of his mouth, the man was grabbing his wrists and slamming him against the wall. Feyrith let out a muffled groan as his back collided with the hard, uneven surface, biting into the gag as the man squeezed his injured wrists.

"I see I was almost too late," the man grumbled as he scowled at Feyrith's hands. Feyrith gritted his teeth, trying to push the man off, but a combination of exhaustion and pain made him lose very quickly.

Feyrith hung his head, feeling tears of frustration prick at his eyes. He should have broken the ropes before they'd even come in. Maybe then he could have made it, but it was too late now. He was well and truly trapped.