The Blade's Edge

[Lylessa Uluki]

((Continued from: http://www.tharshaddin.com/rp/viewtopic ... 487#p17487))


((NPC Post))

Ianna Hij frowned. Though she was a beautiful woman-- with long, thick, curly red hair tied in a loose braid, slim body with just enough curve, unblemished marble skin, ruby red lips, and dark brown eyes that seemed almost black-- there was something inhuman about her, and not just because had Elven blood somewhere back in her ancestry. No, the inhuman quality was more due to the fact that, physically attractive as she was, there was a sort of emptiness about her, as though she was not only emotionless, but sucked away the emotions of others. Her lovely eyes were terrifying, too, because there seemed to be no heart behind them. Ianna Hij was a walking, talking pit of other people's despair, and her beauty couldn't quite hide it.

When she frowned, as she was now, her fellow sellswords waited nervously for her words. They had never heard her raise her voice-- in fact, such a display of humanity would have made her seem far less intimidating to them-- but they had seen what she did to people. And though she never threatened them, not outright, there was an undercurrent.

"Good news, I suppose," she said finally. "It saves us the trouble of trying to extract them from the compound, which might have proven-- tedious."

"A direct attack, then, Commander?" the bald one asked. Ianna had never bothered to learn their names, and thought of them mainly by description.

She considered that. A direct attack on the compound obviously would have been quite impossible. Skilled as she and her men were, there were only five of the sellswords, and they had no hope of overrunning the heavily guarded fortifications. Outside the base, things changed. She had known the target couldn't stay in there forever, and was glad she'd played her hunch and waited. Still, she wasn't sure if a direct attack was a good idea. They were matched, their five against her five, and she'd been warned about the girls. Ianna preferred odds more in her favour. "No. We stick to the plan. Separate them, take the girls, deliver the message to the father. No fights. No Guard."

The whore twisted her hands together, looking worried. "What?" Ianna asked shortly, making it clear she wouldn't be bothered with frivolity.

"I just wondered... Miss. Commander. Miss Commander. If you were gonna pay me now. Lord Honey Hair said..."

"I am well aware of what our employer said. You will be paid. Once your part in this is finished."

Delphina pondered that. She had two goals, really. The money, and to be Lady Honey Hair. It seemed the girls weren't Lord Honey Hair's objective after all, but Delphina didn't really care. If they weren't his daughters, as it had become clear they weren't, and he didn't want them for sex, all it meant was less competition.

Miss Commander had let Delphina in on the plan-- grudgingly, but she'd had to, since she needed Delphina's help to carry it out-- and Delphina was prepared to do it all enthusiastically. It was perfect, really. She could weaken the Fae's hold on the compound, gaining Delphina the admiration and gratitude of the refugees, pay the old bastard she'd come to hate back for rejecting her advances, and win Lord Honey Hair's heart with her devotion. The sellswords would stick to the plan, but Delphina was prepared to go above and beyond.


***


Rollick looked over the garments in the street vendor's cart, disappointed by the poor selection. "You have nothing a bit more... sturdy?" he asked the merchant, fingering a flimsy tunic from the pile.

"Best we got," the merchant said without concern. "You buying or not?"

"Not this. You have no...?"

His words were cut off by a shrill cry from the next stall. "Thief! He's taking things off this poor lady's cart." To Rollick's surprise, it was Doeni the other shoppers were staring at. Rollick couldn't tell who had raised the cry, but now everyone's attention was drawn to the poor man, who was standing there looking helpless. And now the merchant was making threats about how she was going to call the Guard. That wouldn't do at all.

"I'm sure he didn't steal," Rollick said quickly, moving away from the cart with the shoddy garments. "I know him. He's a good man."

"He's an outsider. Can't be trusted," the vendor countered.

By now Doeni was turning out his pockets, making it clear he had nothing from the woman's cart on his person, Rollick was trying to talk the vendor out of summoning the Guard, then the woman spotted the bow and arrows awkwardly concealed by Doeni's cloak, and once again she started shrieking about the Guard, more hysterically this time...

In all that confusion, just for a few moments, Vorakh's attention was distracted from the two girls he'd promised to keep an eye on no matter what happened. And unfortunately, those few moments were enough.

Zee saw nothing amiss as Delphina approached her. She knew Delphina from the compound, and odd as it was that the woman would be here on the street, it didn't seem threatening. Delphina smiled at her, and said, "Your mother is looking for you; she's right over here," and she acted so nice that Zee didn't think to question if it was true, and simply followed.

Dash, seeing her sister vanishing around the corner, called out to her father and her friends from the compound, but her voice didn't carry over the racket. Making a split second decision, not wanting Zee to be left all alone, she followed her sister and Delphina a few blocks, till she saw them turning down a blind alleyway. By the time Dash reached them, Zee had already taken a drink from the cup Delphina had given her. Dash turned away, deciding it was time to get help, but there were hands grabbing her, fists pounding into her, and she never made it out of the alley.

Rollick noticed almost immediately that Dash and Zee were gone. He'd convinced the merchant not to call the Guard, promising that he and Doeni and the others would go somewhere else. Now that the girls were missing and he actually wanted the Guard, no one seemed willing to fetch them anymore. "My daughters are gone! I need to find them! Please! Summon the authorities!"

The merchant and Rollick's fellow shoppers looked at him like he was insane. "Not like they're little babies, buddy," one man ventured. "Your girls are what, fifteen, sixteen? They just wandered off to look in some shop. Don't need to be wasting the Guards' time for that."

"They ain't 'missing' when they been gone about a minute, Mister," the shopkeeper added, turning back to customers who seemed less likely to cause trouble and more likely to pay.

Seeing no one else was going to help, Rollick, Doeni, and Vorakh began a frantic search for the two girls. Maybe it was completely innocent, as everyone else seemed to think, but the three men weren't taking any chances. They peered around corners, into shops, and down side streets, splitting now and then to cover more ground, but quickly reconvening again.

Rollick stopped dead down one side street when he saw Delphina. He registered simultaneously that she wasn't supposed to downtown, he hadn't seen her in a couple of days, and he didn't trust her at all. "What are you doing here?" he asked curtly and not particularly kindly. It was possible her presence was a coincidence, but he wasn't going to bet on it.

"Looking for you, actually," she said with a sweet smile. "We have your daughters." Seeing him take a step back from her, she added, "Don't get the others. We're watching you. If you get the savage and the monster, the girls will be dead before you reach them." Her honeyed tone never faltered, as though she spoke to one of her clients.

"Or perhaps these are all lies, and you don't have the girls at all." Rollick wasn't inclined to just take her word on the matter.

Delphina laughed in mockery. "You're wasting time, Rollick. If you want to see your daughters again, leave your companions and follow me."

That struck Rollick as a very, very bad idea, and he wasn't planning to do it, when Delphina took his hand. He was surprised by the action... and that her hand felt slippery. Blood, but not hers; it was cold on her hand.

"Dashie's blood, Rollick." She was pressing two locks of hair into his palm. "The auburn one is Dash too, though I'm sure you recognize them both." He didn't want to look, hoped she was faking it... but the locks, one auburn and one blond, tipped with blood, looked too familiar. Delphina stared at him, completely dropping the sweet facade. "I'm not shitting around here. Follow me, right now, or the girls are dead."

Rollick still felt very wary about doing so, but he didn't think he had much choice. If he tried to get his comrades, Delphina would run ahead to her co-conspirators. He could simply attack Delphina then and there... but if there really was someone else watching, which he didn't doubt, that would make things all the worse for his daughters... and how would he even find them? Rollick would go along-- for now-- and try to turn the situation to his advantage. He hoped Doeni and Vorakh would catch on and follow, or go back to the compound for help.

Rollick didn't bother talking to Delphina as they walked. Even if he could get more information out of her, he'd have no way of knowing if it was true. Instead, he mentally went over strategies that would cover different scenarios. They walked for what seemed like a long time, out of the shopping district, to a street of rundown buildings with no pedestrians around. Delphina made her way between two buildings, and Rollick followed her.

Seven others in the alley, besides Delphina. One woman, four men, all armed to the teeth-- and his two daughters, each firmly grasped by a warrior, with a knife to her throat. Zee was unconscious but unharmed and looked drugged, while Dash was in sorry shape. Her face was bruised and swollen, and there was a bleeding cut along her hairline. Worse, her wings hung at awkward angles, twisted and broken. Rollick was afraid she was dead, but she opened her eyes and looked at him, so at least that was something... for now.

"Let them go!" Rollick demanded.

The red-haired woman who seemed to be the leader answered him. "We'd be glad to." Her voice was calm, almost lazy, but that was far from reassuring. "We have no use for them. However, their father we do have use for. Lay down your arms and surrender, and they will be released unharmed. Otherwise, we slit their pretty throats."

Rollick saw his position was not a good one. He was fairly sure he would have been able to free either girl, but not both, not at the same time; they were too far apart. He could rescue one of them, and the other would die while he made the attempt. Or he could do as these vipers asked.

Rollick raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I yield," he called out to them. "I yield; just let them go."

He wasn't sure how far he would have to go with this. He didn't exactly trust these predators to keep their word, and he was preparing to fight back if the knives moved; he'd at least try, even if he failed. But they made no attempt to harm the girls as they stripped off his cloak, armour, and weapons-- nor did they show any signs of releasing them.

"Thank you for being so cooperative," the leader told him, running her hand along his cheek. "I give you my word as a warrior that the girls will be freed... once I have some insurance." She nodded to the warriors, and everything started happening very fast, almost a blur.

The man holding Zee simply dropped her in the street, while Dash was passed to Delphina, the knife never wavering from her throat. "Move an inch and your father sees you bleed to death, you little freak," Delphina whispered tenderly, caressing Dash and then grasping her chin, forcing her to watch.

Meanwhile, all the warriors piled on Rollick, shoving him backward onto the ground. One of the men pulled Rollick's right arm straight while another shoved a wad of cloth in his mouth, then the ax flashed, cleaving through muscle and bone. Rollick screamed, the sound almost completely muffled by the cloth, faded in and out of consciousness but managed not to black out... until they lit a torch and forced the stump into the flame, cauterizing the wound. Having ensured their victim wouldn't bleed to death, they dragged his unconscious body off down the alley.

Dash was shaking in horror and disbelief, unable to take her eyes off the grisly sight. Delphina seemed unfazed. "I guess you aren't going to be Lord Honey Hair's daughter after all. But I still intend to be his wife. Goodnight, Dashie."

Dash fell forward, striking the pavement face-first, Delphina's knife protruding from her back, between her shattered wings.

[Lylessa Uluki]

Delphina couldn't quite decide whether she felt bad for stabbing the girl, or should have stabbed the other one too. Delphina had never done anything like that before, and it didn't really feel that good. Now that the heat of the moment was past and her wild emotions had calmed down, she actually felt kind of guilty. Though it wasn't as if Dash was likely to have been a real human. Probably just some kind of fairy magical construct. So why did Delphina feel like she'd stabbed a person?

On the other hand, from a practical standpoint it would have been better if she'd killed the other one too. Ianna had instructed Delphina to go back to the compound to wait for Lord Honey Hair, and that would be a lot more of a problem if the other girl showed up and started telling tales. But everyone knew she was simple, so they probably wouldn't believe her anyway.

It was the old man's fault. All of it. If he'd just slept with Delphina, none of this would have happened. But he ran away, and then the fairy laughed. Delphina had been naked and vulnerable, and she was rejected and mocked. That hurt. And now she would make them hurt.

That was the part that had been enticing. Not hurting the girls; she didn't care one way or the other about them. What had made her heart beat fast and her blood run hot was Rollick's fear, Rollick's pain. He deserved it, for rejecting her. Deserved to lose his hand, to be the father of a dead daughter. If he managed to survive, next time he'd know better than to cross her... though it wasn't as if he'd ever be offered her body again. He had missed his chance.

It was Rollick's fault, not hers. So why did the feelings of guilt nag her? Why did every sound remind her of the rustle of wings?


***


It took Doeni and Vorakh awhile to find the girls, time in which Doeni fretted and Vorakh's regret tore at him. How had he been so stupid? He'd only taken his eyes off the girls for a minute, but that was a minute too long. Now they were in danger, and so was Rollick.

It was Vorakh's nose that eventually guided them. Dash's blood left a scent that wasn't entirely human, and when they found the alley where Delphina had been standing, Vorakh had been able to recognize it. His sense of smell was much keener than a human's; his father had been a tracker. Still, it wasn't easy. There hadn't been much blood, and there were so many other city smells overlaying it. Several times they lost the trail, only to pick it up again when they'd almost given up hope. Their route was far from direct, and they both worried over every minute wasted.

As they approached an alley between two decaying buildings, the scent of blood suddenly grew almost overwhelming. It was no longer just Dash's blood, but a human's... Rollick's. Vorakh's tusked face fell, but he didn't slow. Doeni had to look away from the pool of blood, but both men raced over to help the two girls.

Though he'd originally thought she was dead, when he got closer Doeni saw Dash was still breathing. Her breaths were shallow and sounded wet, but she was making them. The extra muscle needed for her wings to move had saved her life, though Doeni was afraid the knife had nicked her lung. "We need to get her back. Now."

Vorakh looked torn. He wanted to help Dash, but he didn't want to abandon a comrade. "What of Rollick?"

Doeni paused. "We'll come back for him. I can't carry both of the girls, and we can't just leave Zee lying in the street. And I can't track him like you can. We'll bring the girls back, and get more help. We have to keep Dash alive. It's what he would have wanted." He stopped, realizing how that sounded. "I mean, if he was here." This wasn't the time to start speaking of Rollick in the past tense. There was still hope.


***


Uluki was working in the garden when Delphina got back to the compound. She listened, shocked and wide-eyed, as Delphina spun a tale of being kidnapped, and making a heroic escape even though no one came to help her. Uluki's mind flashed back to the last time someone had told a story of kidnapping to her, which had been an utter lie, but she dismissed the thought. People really did get kidnapped, and she shouldn't be so cynical just because of one person. "That sounds terrible. I'm so glad you got back safely!"

"They told me to give you this. So you wouldn't bother with him. I don't know what they meant by it." Delphina handed Uluki a small parcel wrapped in many layers of dark-coloured cloth.

Uluki, looked inside, gasped, and fell to her knees, clutching it to her chest and rocking back and forth. Tears streamed from her eyes, but she seemed unaware of them.

"Uluki, what's going on, what is it?" Jenny asked, and when there was no response, she gently pried the cloth parcel out of Uluki's fingers. Uluki made no attempt to stop Jenny, didn't even seem to see her. "Gods, it's a hand! A person's hand! Why would someone send you that?"

Jenny didn't expect Uluki to respond, but Uluki did, her voice sounding distant, like she was in a cave. "Not just a person. Rollick." Her voice suddenly turned desperate. "We have to go find him! We have to find my daughters!"

"You sure it's his? All hands kind of look alike..."

"I'm sure." She knew his hands too well not to be. The freckle just below the thumb knuckle, the small scar running between the third and fourth fingers, the thicker scar on the palm, the calluses. A hand that had been through battles, and unmistakably Rollick's. If that wasn't enough, though this was a right hand, his wedding ring had been shoved awkwardly onto his index finger, not making it past the joint. Just to be sure there was no doubt about whose hand it was, she assumed. "We have to go. Now! Where are they?" she demanded of Delphina.

"Shanty town. They took them to the shanty town. Snyde did it." Delphina was improvising, but it made sense. Uluki would accept that.

And Uluki would have, had Doeni and Vorakh not arrived back at the compound right at that moment, carrying the two unconscious girls. Uluki gave a wordless cry like a wounded animal as she ran to them. A brief instant later, she regained her composure. "Bring them inside. Hurry." Already the refugees were crowding around, limiting movement, making it hard to work. "Once they're out of danger, we'll go help Rollick. He'll need... me." She didn't mean just as his wife, but as a healer.

Delphina, seeing how this was going to go, vanished into the crowd, but Uluki was only paying to attention to her daughters and didn't notice.

Doeni and Vorakh hurried the girls up to their bedroom, so they wouldn't have to be moved again. Uluki knelt beside Dash, her hands shaking, and healed her. Once again, the tears were falling, though they didn't break her concentration. Uluki wrapped her arms around Dash, holding her close as the magic flowed, Uluki's crying dampening Dash's hair. Dash's eyelids fluttered.

"Dashie, sweetheart..."

"Where's Papa?"

"We're going to get him now. He needs a healer, but I had to make sure you were safe first."

"I saw. They..." Dash couldn't even say the words.

"We need to go now, Dashie. I'll be back soon. Look after your sister." She was sorry to have to leave her alone after all she'd been through, but there was no time for talking. Zee was sleeping peacefully, her breathing deep and even; Uluki could use her magic to purge the drugs from her system, as though healing the damage from poison, but it would take time and lots of energy. Zee was in no danger of death and would wake on her own once it wore off, so time and energy had to be rationed for Rollick. "I love you so much. I'm glad you're safe. I'll see you soon."

Kira was standing in the doorway, her eyes wide. "Where's Rollick?" she asked. Then, without waiting for an answer, since she already knew there wasn't one, "Where's Rollick? Where's Rollick? Where's Rollick? Where's Rollick...?"

Uluki took Kira gently by the shoulders. "I have to go, so we can find him. I'm sorry I can't be with you now. Stay with Dash and Zee, alright? It's going to be fine. Try not to be scared." As if any of them weren't scared.

They set off right away: Uluki, Doeni, and Vorakh, now joined by two more nomads, Nasima and Yonash, and the Centaur Rhona. All who could ride horses did so; Rhona of course didn't need to, and Vorakh strode quickly beside them. Uluki was surprised they weren't heading to the shanty town, but Doeni and Vorakh clearly knew where they were going. Uluki wondered what that meant about Delphina, but would ponder that later. For now, she whispered a quiet prayer.

"Dear Amaranda, Karsimir's angel, I know I'm not one of your people and I shouldn't ask you for things, but it isn't for me so please don't stop listening. If you are listening. My husband, Rollick, is a good man. He helps people and he loves us a lot. He's hurt right now, and I'm scared for him. If there's anything you can do to save him, then please, please don't let him die. Please keep him alive till we can get there. Keep him breathing. Keep his heart beating. Keep his blood in him. Help him hold out just a little while longer. Please. Please. Please..."


***


Rollick was a man with only one hand. He repeated this over and over to himself, trying to come to terms with it, to make it seem ordinary. This stump at the end of his right arm was permanent. His hand wasn't coming back. He knew that. He knew it with a fiery pain that burned all the way up to his shoulder. But it was still a shock, every time he thought about it. Every time he saw the place where it used to be. His sword hand. The hand that had made his name as a warrior. His hand, but not himself. That was the important thing to remember.

They weren't sending his guards to him one at a time anymore, and sooner than Rollick had hoped. Hurt as he was, he was determined to survive, and escape if he could; he'd managed to kill two of them before they caught on. The first he strangled with the chain that bound his left wrist to the wall, and the other he stabbed with a long iron nail he'd managed to pry out of the wall behind him. Then the other three had come in together, and they'd been predictably angry.

Now he hung from the manacle that bound his left wrist directly to the wall, suspended in an awkward kneeling position. He was no longer trusted with a chain, and it was far less comfortable. Not that he could have been comfortable anyway after the beating they gave him to avenge their fallen comrades. He'd blacked out again when the tallest and burliest of his captors kicked the raw injury that was his stump.

Now he was awake again, and looking around. As best he could tell, they were in some sort of storeroom connected to a larger building. There were stacks of carpets curled around wooden rollers, and racks full of bottles of wine. Rollick assumed the premises must belong to some merchant... who probably did not know of or condone his captors' presence, given how casually destructive they were being of the property.

The red-haired woman approached him, while her two glowering male companions hung back near the door. "Good evening, Rollick," she said with incongruous pleasantry.

Rollick doubted that much time had passed; he didn't imagine it could be later than afternoon. He wondered what the woman's game was, but he simply asked, "Where are my daughters? Are they hurt?"

"Such rudeness. Sometimes I feel I'm the only warrior with any manners at all. To answer your question, they're fine and safely home with their mother. To answer what a more polite man would have asked, my name is Ianna Hij. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Telling your name to a man you've just hacked and beaten doesn't seem wise. An intelligent person would fear reprisals, it seems to me, once such a name is known."

She laughed, like a tinkling of bells. "And who exactly will you tell? The carpets? The wine bottles? You don't seriously think you'll make it out of this alive, do you?"

"If you were going to kill me, you would have done so already. Once I'd killed your men, if not before."

"True, Rollick. Very true. That is, if it it were I who was going to kill you. My job is simply to deliver the merchandise. But I assure you, you will die."

"I suppose that explains why you were so willing to butcher a hostage."

"Yes. No need to worry about ransoms or value. You don't need to have hands. Would you like me to tell you what fate has in store for you?"

Rollick felt a wave of nausea wash over him, and he had to fight to stay alert. Trying to carry on a normal conversation was taxing in his injured state. "Certainly."

"They're going to cut you up, I think. Your brain, at least. You'll be alive when it happens. I'm not sure exactly what they'll do. I should have asked, I suppose. They're magic-types. There's something in you that they want. Or that was in you. A god. They think they can use you to bring it back. You'll die in the process, of course, but we need to keep you alive till then." She gave Rollick a long stare. "Ideally."

Rollick tried not to let his alarm show on his face. That couldn't be allowed to happen. They couldn't summon the god back. If his friends couldn't save him in time, he'd have to find some method of taking his own life. But that was a last resort. "My comrades will come for me."

Ianna laughed at him. "Warriors and the pretty wife, riding in like a cavalry charge? Somehow I doubt that. The warriors are in Shim, as I understand it, at least the real warriors. And as for the wife... well, I doubt she wants you back."

Ianna's lips turned down in a way that would have suggested sadness and sympathy if her eyes weren't quite so empty. Truthfully, she didn't doubt it. The wife would probably come. Ianna hoped so, as a matter of fact. It had been weeks since her warriors had enjoyed a woman, and Ianna had been reluctant to give them access to Delphina, since they tended to be... rough. Delphina needed to be in good shape to carry out the plan. The fairy woman, though, didn't matter. Ianna thought it would be particularly amusing if her men took their pleasure with the husband looking on.

"You underestimate them," Rollick said, his voice thickening with the pain he was struggling to fight.

"Who, your 'army' of freaks? If they do as well as they did before... well, it's not as if we can kidnap you again, so I suppose it can't go quite as badly, but my men can take them. It's your reliance on your wife that makes me doubt your sanity, though." She moved toward him like a predator, a lioness to wounded prey. "You honestly think she'll still want you? Gods, but men are naive!"

"She will." Rollick forced the words through gritted teeth. "She loves me."

"She loves the strong warrior who defends her home and her children. Will she love the crippled old man? What use are you to her now? If you were my husband, I'd just leave you here," she said with a smile.

"She's not you. She's nothing like you!"

"All women are the same on the inside, Rollick. It's time you realized that. She's surrounded by handsome, whole men day in and day out. You think she'd choose a cripple? You think she wants a weak, useless man teaching her son to be weak and useless? Open your eyes. She isn't coming for you. Soon enough she'll have someone else."

"You're trying to break me. Trying to wear me down, so I won't fight you. That's why you're trying to use her against me, but it isn't going to work."

"Fight? You're such a witty man, Rollick. I think it's more likely you'll just sort of... hang there. At least until they take you to kill you. Free advice, me to you: don't hold out false hope. This will all be easier on you if you just... accept it. She isn't coming to save you. No one is. No one wants you anymore. You're a burden. You're an embarrassment. No one cares if you live or die."

She stepped away and blew him a kiss. "We'll talk again soon, Rollick."

[Lylessa Uluki]

Things were getting worse for Rollick. He'd thought he was in pain before, thought he knew the full scope of his injury, but now the adrenaline was wearing off and all the sensations caused by the sudden severing were hitting him in force. The pain he hadn't even been conscious of suppressing was forcing its way to the surface and becoming almost unbearable. Rollick's right arm felt white-hot, his stump as though it was still being burned by the torch, while the rest of his skin felt cold and clammy.

Ianna was also adding to his woes. She hadn't ordered another beating, but he would have preferred blows to her poison words. A punch hurt; you prepared as best you could, and then it was over. It didn't get inside your head like those horrible whispers that buzzed like crickets, as hard as you tried to shake them.

You're a burden. You're an embarrassment. No one wants you anymore...

She hadn't really said anything substantially different from the first time they'd spoken, but the sheer repetition was like the pounding of a hammer. And as his body blazed with pain, it was getting harder and harder to remember that what she said wasn't true.

He wished he would start hallucinating. He knew if he did, he would see Uluki and his children; they were the only things he was thinking about. Their presence, even as fleeting dreams, would lift him out of this hell. But his mind stubbornly refused him this release, and stayed firmly rooted in the present, in here and now.

Rollick hoped his daughters were alive, that they'd gotten home safely and Uluki was tending to Dash's wounds. He was terrified for them, but he had no way to verify that they were alright. Ianna would simply tell him any lie that suited her agenda, and the other two thugs, even if they were inclined to be more honest, had refused to speak a word in Rollick's presence. If Dash and Zee were alive-- if he had saved them-- then this whole ordeal was worth it. If they were dead anyway, his sufferings now were only a grotesque mockery. Either way, he couldn't know, he could only hope for the best.

When Ianna spoke of Uluki, Rollick tried to hold the real Uluki in his mind. The one who snuggled with him in bed, who came to talk to him at random times just to tell him she loved him, who had borne his child... not the chimera-Uluki that Ianna described, still beautiful but opportunistic and cruel. But it got harder with every passing moment to hold love and gentleness in his mind as he slipped further and further into physical agony. Harder for the pain-wracked body to remember what it felt like to be held and caressed. Harder for the mind, after being told over and over how worthless he was, to remember why he was loved.

Ianna drew the knife from her belt. Rollick looked up at her; this was new. Since they'd taken his hand, no one had used a blade on him. He wondered if she intended to kill him, or if it was just another mind game.

"I think we've been too easy on you so far, Rollick. Maybe that's why you've continued to remain... defiant... rather than admitting defeat. My employer has instructed that you remain alive, but otherwise has not specified your condition. So I think..." She brought her face close to his, so close he could smell the mint on her breath. "I think it's time to teach you some humility."

She seemed to expect some reaction from Rollick. Did she want him to cower and beg, or to spit in her face? He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of either, so he just stared at her, his face impassive.

Ianna just smiled more and drew her knife along his cheek, breaking the skin and drawing blood. Rollick tried to shove her away, but his only available limb was his injured right arm, and the pain of using it was enough to make him see stars. She shook him off easily, then casually backhanded him so hard his teeth rattled. "We were talking, Rollick! That was rude."

She used her knife to open the front of what was left of his shirt, popping the buttons off with practiced ease. "Shall I carve my name?" She made a downward cut on his chest that might have been the first letter, through skin and into muscle, deeply enough that blood welled but not so deep as to endanger his life. She was just playing, like a cat with a mouse, and they both knew it. Ianna was cutting him for no reason other than that there was nothing stopping her from doing it, and she was bored.

"Maybe you'd like to lose the other hand? It would make you much more balanced. Or perhaps a foot? Or maybe your manhood. Not like you'll need that anymore, once your wife finds out..."

There was a scuffling commotion outside the door. Ianna scowled at Rollick, as though it was somehow his fault, then the door burst open and the group from the compound rushed in.

Uluki was vaguely aware of the others engaging the two men by the door, but didn't notice Nasima calling her name as Uluki brushed past, not even giving any of the warriors time to go in ahead of her. All Uluki saw was Rollick, bound and injured, and the red-haired woman holding the knife.

Ianna, even with her knife drawn and facing an unarmed woman, was still in predator mode rather than warrior mode, going for the pain instead of the kill, and she underestimated the determination of her new prey. Uluki calmly picked up one of the wooden carpet rollers from the floor, drew it back with all of her strength, and whacked Ianna squarely in the face. Uluki doing something "with all her strength" wasn't saying a lot, and the roller didn't do extensive damage, but Ianna was slightly off balance after getting up from a crouch and making an abrupt turn, and the unexpected impact made her lose her footing. Ianna stumbled backward, cracking her head on a wine rack with an audible crunching sound, leaving a trail of blood as she slipped down to the floor.

Uluki ignored her and ran to kneel by Rollick. "My love, my love..." she said softly, stroking his brow and wrapping her arms around him. Rhona and Vorakh, working together, managed to release Rollick's arm from the manacle, and with Uluki's help they eased him to the floor.

"Uluki...?" he whispered through cracked, bruised lips.

"I'm here." She was already healing him. "You're going to be safe now."

"The girls?"

"They're safe too. Dash got hurt, but she's better now. They're back at the compound, and they're fine. They're worried about you, though. They'll be very glad to see you."

"These people cut off my hand, Uluki."

"I know, love. I know. I'm so sorry. And you know I can't fix it. But I promise I'll make it hurt less." She was crying, but her voice was full of relief at finding him alive.

He clung to her, pressing his face against her, unable to express his feelings in words but desperate to be close to her. She held tight to him too, nestled beside him as the magic flowed from her.

"Can we go home?" he finally asked, once he knew he was well enough to make the trip. "Please, can we go home?"

She nodded. "Yes. It's definitely time to go home."