The moonlight crept into the cave as my blindfold was removed. Squinting against the sudden light, I had my first look at my captors up close. A bit of blood oozed into my right eye, causing me to blink in irritation. The blood on me was starting to harden and get sticky. Yet, ironically, I found peace of mind with the thought that this would soon be the least of my problems.

Achoo!

I sneezed into my captors face due to the light night breeze. The cave floor was also slightly wet and the chamber was quite moist. The blood soaked dress also didn't offer much protection against the cold, and I was still used to being pampered with warm fire at night. The blood had yet to dry out entirely though, so I probably hadn't been out for long. I shirked sideways in expectation of a hit, but after waiting a moment nothing came. I looked back only to see a blanket flying at me, covering my view.

Landing on top of my head, then worn out covering scratched my head injury; it's random loose edges poking at me. Well, at least nobody threw a blow at me. They must have come to a uneasy acceptance or agreement not to injure me. That was, as long as I behaved. I sneezed again. I was just protected from the chill and my body had yet to warm up. I gradually wriggled my head out of the blanket.

I looked around again. Yes, I was in a cave. It was a moderately sized cavern, maybe slightly bigger then a barn. The entrance was quite narrow, one man wide, but it rapidly enlarged past the entrance, forming a full size circular room. I had been placed on the left side, away from the entrance. There was a small fire pit in the middle with egg-sized stones forming the circular pit. Bits and pieces of burnt cinders lay there slowly dying away. My hands had been chained to a stalagmite behind my back, so I looked up. Yes! My intuition had been correct. The dim glow the fire provided illuminated a few low hanging stalactites, reflected in the hanging water droplets. They might come in handy...*1

After performing some basic chores and checks, my attackers had sat down leisurely around the fire. There appeared to be some sort of hierarchy or prearranged seating arrangement as a few of them went around the circle before sitting down. Another one of them sat at the entrance. He wasn't being a very good guard, constantly looking back at the fire. Not that they needed to worry about any threats- this forest only had a white danger rating, which was the most basic danger rating. It was probably mainly an act just out of habit.

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"So let's torture that little b*%#~!" It was the angry guy from before. John I think. "She definitely knows where the artefact is, we just need to beat her up until she spills it!"

Everyone turned to stare at me, their eyes boring into me, as if trying to discern truths. Hmmm, this did not bode well for me. Should I try withholding information or just tell them. They may not believe me if I tell them straight up, but it would probably not be a good idea to agitate them anymore. The information wasn't that valuable after all. Actually it might even put splinters into this group!

"Don't! I'll talk! I'll talk! I don't know much, except that it was stolen from the Duke by a bunch of gangs around the slums. I don't anything else! Don't hurt me!" I cowered underneath the blankets. People who have their ego inflated tend to be less violent, or so I've thought. If they thought my spirt was broken already, they would be less wary of me as well.

An uneasy silence followed my scream. What's going on? I wriggled out of the blankets, poking my head out to peak. Everyone seemed to be silently staring at each other with distrustful faces. Suddenly, the foreign looking man, wearing the eastern sashed style clothing approached me. I started to stare in trepidation. Looks like I wouldn't escape torture after all. As he reached me, he grasped a bundle of my hair in his hand, pulling and tugging on the roots. My scalp was burning in pain.... literally. He had been muttering as he came towards me and had casted some sought of basic flame spell directly into the top of my head. Normally, casting a spell inside someone would be extremely hard, if not impossible without their co-operation, but as I was lacking so much mana that my bodily functions were starting to fail, it became extremely easy for the foreign energy to invade me.

"So?"

So? So what? What do you even want me to say?! Did you want me to scream in pain? Or say that my statement from before was a lie?

"I'm telling the tru-AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" I stretched, and shifted writhing from the agony, trying to yank myself out of his grasp. Pure white splotches filled my vision as I barely retained my conscience.*2 If they definitely weren't gonna play nice, I may as well give them a peace of mind. My mind just went mad, and forgetting my original intent of self-control, I could hear my self shouting wildly and splitting saliva. "You f£^%#!* ass-hat. It's the bloody truth, you morons. Some kids from the slums stole it from the duke's idiotic men before I got there. Like that traitorous dog over there."

I could feel myself grinning savagely as I pointedly stared at the man who had betrayed us. The moment John had murdered Mathew; I swore to myself that he wouldn't have a happy ending.

"Hmm, it seems there may be some truth in this. I guess we will need to go consult our respective people. Well, thanks for your help, good night." I felt a bolt of electricity coursing through my brain.

I collapsed onto the ground. Suddenly I heard a slurred and blurry high pitch voice say "Two of you guys should stay here with me. The rest can go report to their respective bosses tomorrow." My last thoughts were that my ears were probably messing with my hearing. I lost conscious.