Timid Terror

After rigging the warehouse to explode, the group proceeded to enter the sewers. The two mercenaries carried the chest, while Rakot lead in the front and Tendir was dragging his feet in the back of the formation. Things were going relatively well, they were making good time, now all they needed to do was get out of the city, contact Lorek and arrange for a new spot for the buyer to pick up the mark. Once they were rid of her, they would be much safer. Suddenly Rakot felt a wave of heat move in from behind. The chest cover exploded into a million pieces, the mercenaries dropped it as one of them fell to the ground screaming as his beard caught fire.

"I thought I told you morons to tie her up!"

Rakot put his helmet back on, making sure that his face was covered and aproached.

"She must have chewed through the ropes."

Replied the mercenary who was left unharmed.

"Be quiet and let me see."

Rakot looked down at Jezarine, laying on the smoldering remains of the chest.

"You cast a spell inside an enclosed space lighting the walls around you on fire...yeah, I'm sure that hurts, take that as a lesson in civility. Let me cut the nug-shit, and list the facts for you so maybe you can cooperate a little better in the future. One, you are our hostage. Two, no one is coming for you. Three, there is four of us and we are all heavily armed. And four, you pull something like this again and I will end you, now I hope we have an understanding and can continue our journey in a peaceable manner."

"The bitch burned my face! I'll have her head!"

The mercenary with the smoldering beard unsheathed his sword and in a feat of rage leaped at Jezarine. Rakot caught him mid-air, by the neck with one hand, he then looked into the mercenary's eyes and squeezed. The mercenary's throat collapsed under the pressure, the man quickly succumbing to suffocation. Rakot tossed the corpse to the ground and looked at Tendir and the remaining mercenary.

"Let me remind you people, our job is to capture this girl alive, that means that we do not kill her and we do not hurt her, aside from what is necessary to keep her confined and compliant. I as much as sense one of you making an ill-intended move towards her without my direct command, I'll do what I just did to our colleague over here. Now you, pick up your friend's corpse, we'll dump it somewhere out of the way."

Rakot pointed at the remaining mercenary, he then turned his gaze back towards Jezarine.

"And you, you can take off the bag, you're walking and I'll be watching you myself. I've seen it all before, and I will knock you out and drag you at the first sign of you casting a spell or deciding to cause any other sort of trouble. Now lets get a move on."

Let's see her reaction.

Rakot's fist tightened, ready to strike.

An elbow on the table, chin resting in the hand which was attached to the arm that also contained the elbow and a wide, cat ate the bird, satisfied, half closed eyes look upon her face as she waved about a fabulous piece of cheese for amusement then popped it into her mouth to chew. Today Nygozy was happy, ignoring her worries for the simple, wonderful chance at a fresh meal not made over the fire and certainly not made by Sinjan.

Said Sinjan was sitting at the table to her right, watching her and trying not to point out, once again, that she looked drunk and someone should take away that cheese before she became too intoxicated to leave the room. She'd snorted at him for that as she did not really care if she left that room for a long while. No, now she was happy, in a dreamy land where she'd had an omelet oozing with cheese, delectable meats that were great finger food, fruits and vegetables so sweet and juicy she could hardly stand it and lots and lots of cheese from who knew where but there was cheese made from a few different animal's milks and in different styles. It was wonderful.

Yes, the king was trying to pacify her and Nygozy was more than content to let him at this time. She deserved some pampering. Ok, she felt she deserved a LOT of pampering from that man before he could talk to her again. He was not going to even get near her until she was pacified enough but this was a good start.

Then there was yelling at the door. Her eyes opened but she did not move as a frown came upon her face. Whoever was disturbing her well deserved relaxation and cheese munching was going to die. Oh yes whoever it was would be dying a horrible death with their head inside a butter churn. That would be ironic. And fun.

Drake got up from his chair across from Sinjan where he had been flicking his fork about, pushing around a piece of meat for the heck of it and opened the door. An Elven servant rushed past the guard but the fighter easily caught her by putting out one arm.

"Ser ser! I need to speak with you now, m'lady! A man sent me here to tell you something."

Drake turned his head, "It's for you, Nygozy."

With her face still being held above the table she used her other hand to wipe her brow, trying to ease the anger out so it didn't come through in her voice. She didn't want to scare the servant, this was not her fault, but she wondered why oh why she couldn't have one day of just enjoying someone sucking up to her without interruptions, "What is it?" She said tiredly.

The woman calmed a bit, probably realizing how tired the other woman was from the voice, "A man told me to tell you that the healer Jezarine has been kidnapped and that he and Calliara were leaving to find her."

Nygozy had just picked up another piece of cheese and was about to pop it into her mouth but with that declaration, the cheese dropped. Her heart pounded in her chest and her body locked up for a moment, keeping her quiet. Then a sudden movement later and the chair was on the floor and Nygozy had the woman's shoulders in her hands, "Where? Where did this man come from and what did he look like?"

"Well, he was a human, ser, with short brown hair but the hair at the front was a creamy colour. He came from the garden in a panic."

"Ianto." The realization made her let the woman go as both Drake and Sinjan exited the room to do what they had to do. She had to stay there for other duties, the duties of a commander but by the stone she was glad of those she had as they would get the job done. And Drake knew what to do when he found the culprit. He'd bring the head of that group down to her.

Her eyes narrowed and she let the Elf go to rush off to her other duties. Suddenly the Dwarf was no longer hungry.

The fire hurt, it hurt a lot but it did get her out of the chest, yet did little else to help her. Her hands were still tied behind her back, it didn't take having her hands free for the ability to cast that easy spell, but she was still choking and suffocating on her own vomit.

Tears ran down her face as she thought of how those she knew would feel and that they probably would never find her and maybe Maghai would go onto another search, this time fruitless as she would be dead.

It hurt, oh it hurt but she couldn't even cry out.

Is this how it was going to end? In the dark with no one there for her? Her life snuffed out by this?

She didn't hear anything that was going on around her because now she was blacking out as there was no breath left in her.

"I think the lass is not breathing."

Proclaimed Tendir, after noticing Jezarine's lack of response and movement.

"Well thank you for noting that....sodding stone...follow my example and put your helmet on, its better if she does not see our faces."

Rakot ripped the bag off Jezarine's head, and looked at her face, she was showing signs of discoloration, she was obviously choking on something. Rakot lifted her up to her feet.

"I'm gonna pump her stomach."

Rakot locked his fists around her stomach in a Heimlich Maneuver, and thrust them into her abdomen.

"By the damn stone girl, throw it up!"

Rakot's measures to make her choke out whatever she had in her mouth worked but she still was not breathing. She wasn't dead yet but the healer was not in a good place, her mind wandering in the dark waiting for something to happen.

"She still doesn't seem very lively, boss."

Said Tendir, and spat on the ground.

"Yes, she doesn't, once again, thank you for stating the obvious. This is why I don't do jobs like this. If you have to kill someone, you're in, you're out, its easy. But if you capture a person then keeping them alive becomes your responsibility, and there is about a billion things that can go wrong. I know how to mend a broken bone, treat a cut, and cure poison, that's as far as my skills with medicine goes. Do either of you know more?"

"I do, if only a bit. I have this thing right here."

Said the mercenary.

"Its a potion of sorts, has a very foul stench, enough to wake up a dead man."

"I assume you're speaking figuratively, we are in a sewer if you haven't noticed, it can't get much worse."

"All you need to know is that it woke my uncle up from a drunken coma he has been in for eight years."

"Just do it."

The mercenary took out a small bottle and opened it, he then put it right up to Jezarine's nostrils.

"She isn't breathing."

"We've already established that."

"No, I mean, she'll have to inhale the stuff, press on her chest to let the air out of her lungs, maybe that'll be enough to get them working again if only a little."

"I'll hold the bottle to her nose, you do the pressing, I might break her ribs by accident."

The mercenary put his hands on Jezarine's chest and pressed downwards than released and repeated.

Rakot's squeezing of Jezarine made the vomit come out of her nose but with still not breathing it was not feeling any good. Then someone was able to do chest palpatations with this foul stuff at her nose and that did it.

Her breathing started in a choking fit then she started getting sick again even before fully coming to. Lying on her back this was not a good thing.

"Alright, now lets turn her on the side, or she is going to choke on her puke again."

Rakot flipped Jezarine over on the side so she could throw up properly.

"Should I keep her sniffing the bottle?"

"No, no, put it away, lets just let her throw up everything she has for now."

Rakot complied.

It took some time to get everything out as Jezarine also was choking out nothing for a while. She was puffing from the exertion, tears falling down her face due to the pain from it and her burns. For a while it looked like she was going to continue but she didn't.

Suddenly her skin started to heal the burns, removing most traces that they had even been there but some scarring remained on her right shoulder. She breathed deeply the coughed, immediately regretting that choice.

"Eeh ... is this the sewers?" She asked hardly above a whisper, looking only at the ground between her hands not seeing much else besides boots, "I couldn't be kidnapped by people who didn't live in the sewers could I?"

"She speaks, good...you think she can move on her own, merc?"

"Maybe in a few minutes, she still seems kind of weak."

"We might not have minutes, its fine, I'll carry her. Don't forget to pick up your friend's body, merc, we still need to dump it. And Tendir, anything to report?"

"Can't hear anyone coming, looks like we're still in the clear."

Rakot looked down to check the ropes that tied Jezarine's hands and feet. Aside from a few burned spots they still looked solid. Rakot lifted her up and slung her over his shoulder, head first, holding her in place with one hand.

"If you can hear me now, don't move, don't try to escape, and we're not going to hurt you. It doesn't get much simpler than this, now enjoy the free ride, being carried beats landing on a sodding pile of shit every other step you make."

The group began moving once again.

"Oohmph." Jezarine exclaimed as she was thrown over the man's shoulder and closed her eyes. Don't try to escape? How stupid did this man think she was? There had been many people, dead and alive who had tried to escape from a situation like this. She was no fighter and certainly not in any shape to try anything.

It was enough for her at this moment that they were keeping her alive. Jezarine was scared, yes, she was terrified but she was not about to do something which would get her damaged in other ways. She had no idea what they wanted with her but it did not matter. All she had to do was stay alive and things would work out.

One way or another they would work out. Right? Yes, they had to work out somehow.

Drake was off and running well before Sinjan had gotten out the door. He moved with intent, sliding across floors when it was easier to do so than to run then forcing himself through groups of people with no care to whom they were or any other thing. His mind was only on a couple of things at that moment: save Jezarine and beat the person who had kidnapped her to the inch of his or her life.

He got outside and into the gardens right near the herbs as he knew that was probably where the healer would have gone. Everyone knew that the woman dealt with such things so it was not to hard for anyone to figure out where she would have gone. The poor girl was rather predictable.

He looked about and sniffed the air, his eyes narrowed while catching the scents just as Calliara had; however, his sense of smell was stronger than hers and he picked her up in moments. That added a new level to his search which equalled: they hurt Calliara and torture shall ensue rather than just plain beating. Then Jezarine can keep them alive for further torture. A win win situation all around. Except for the kidnappers.

Drake swirled and rushed off to the side of the palace where he knew few people ever went and found some bushes and trees where he could not be seen then changed into a hawk.

The hawk flew into the air and zipped about, a ear splitting screech following in his wake. Up and up he went to see if he could find anything which could resemble people kidnapping someone. There was a lot up here to see so he flew down enough to get details of the people moving about and soon found Calliara. He noted the direction she and Ianto were going then flew off to check out that route.

No one that could be viewed as kidnappers were anywhere about. The only thing he could find was a burning cart outside of a warehouse.

Wait! Burning cart outside of a warehouse?

He flew around, checking out the area. It was quiet and it was a perfect place for kidnappers to go. But why burn the cart? That in itself did not make sense. He flew down and into a hidden section between the warehouse and the next building, changed back to humanoid and walked around the perimeter considering the problem.

Alright. This wasn't fast enough. He couldn't blame Calliara, not one bit, but when another minute passed where all he wanted to do was run and find Jez, he couldn't take it. Tracking was a delicate art, he knew, but maybe they could speed it up? They weren't looking for art here, after all - they were looking for Jez.

"Anything?" He asked for about the twentieth time, knowing he must have been at the height of 'annoying' and not caring. He'd be as annoying as he had to be if if got him to Jez quicker, and 'annoying' was better than 'unstoppably angry.' That was there too, of course, but he was trying harder to keep that in check.

"Maybe Drake or even Margaid should come. They have animal senses on them." He knew that was a bad idea before he said it, though. Both were back at the Keep, and he refused to so much as take one step back, because that would just be another twenty minutes wasted. Twenty more minutes for Jez to get further and further away.

Then, there was a smell in the air that even he couldn't miss, tracker or not. "Is that fire?" He asked, a knot in his stomach growing as he spoke. A fire wasn't so uncommon in Denerim, but this early in the day, just after Jez had been kidnapped, was too coincidental.

Calliara turned to face him, eyes hard

''If you keep asking me stupid questions and not letting me do my work, I'll kick your ass back to the estate. And yes, they have animal senses, but I am a fucking ranger and fucking good in what I do, so please, just SHUT UP and let me work. And if you don't want my help because you think I can't do it, then, ser, go to hell''

Huffing, she turned again and continued. She had been talking with the animals the found in their way, and all of them told her the same: four men and one bag in one cart that now smelled foul. Animals had common minds, and what one knew, the others knew shortly after that.

''And yes, that is fire and it is a trap. They are trying to hide their track, but if they are thinking that I'm going to think they are inside'' She pointed at the warehouse ''they are fucking wrong. Don't touch that door. I can swear they are not there''

The Wolf started sniffing again, wandering before she found the track: the known scent

"It smells of fresh air ahead!"

"Keep it down Tendir, I smell it too, looks like we're about to leave this sodding sewer behind us."

They continued along the sewers tunnel, soon they heard the tweeting of birds, and soon after they saw a light.

"Thats the opening right there, if I got this right, we should end up just outside the city walls."

A few minutes later they were out of the sewer the city was behind them, to the front of them lay the Ferelden countryside.

"Tendir, mine this entrance."

"Wouldn't it be better if we just collapse it?"

"No, the less noise we make the better. Let them trigger it, once we're far away. Be quick about it, we need to get to the treeline."

"As you say boss."

Tendir reached inside his pack for firebombs and got to work.

"They went into the sewers." Drake mentioned non-chalantly as he came up behind the other two. He looked back and forth then sneered as he turned towards where the men had gone, "So far it is us three. Sin has gone to get others to back us up and search the town. I am betting that the king would have people on this now as well."

He looked into the sewer entrance and shook his head, "Whoever it is knows enough to try some good wilderness tricks." Drake glanced back at the other two and noticed how furious each were, "We'll find her."

Drake then moved into the sewers and continued the hunt. He moved efficiently, quickly and like a dangerous animal out for blood. His eyes were narrowed as he tried to gain the proper scents as it was difficult in this environment to do so.

"There are bats and rats here, love. They are good gossips." He pointed out for her to talk to them.

"Right," Ianto said, tersely. "Sorry." He didn't sound particularly sorry, because he wasn't going to apologize for worrying about Jez, but Calliara didn't need his constant pestering. He'd be quiet, for now - following her orders was a lot easier than dealing with her yelling at him, which, by the by, made his teeth grit together, even though he knew she was perfectly in the right for doing so. He couldn't help it, though. As long as he didn't say anything about it, though, well, then whatever she thought would be whatever she though. Right now, he only cared about finding whatever bastards took Jez.

Somehow, Drake coming up behind them didn't faze Ianto much at all. In fact, it was a relief to know that the man was there - there were the animal senses he was talking about. Now he and Callaira could work faster, which would mean that Ianto could start smashing heads faster. All in all, a win-win.

"The sewers go all over the city," he said quietly as he followed the two trackers down into the dark. "I mean, literally. All over." He'd lived in this city for most of his life, and he knew how they worked. "But there's only two tracks that go out of the city, for maintenance's sake. Wouldn't they head for the forest, to lose us?" That's what Ianto would do, at least. Four men and an obviously kidnapped elf would draw more than a few stares if they were to come out of a sewer in the middle of the city, and there was still no way that that sort of scene wouldn't cause a commotion. Common sense said that going for the forest was the most sensible way of doing things - out of prying eyes, and they could lay low until the search for Jez took a different turn. Then again, there was always the chance that the kidnappers would do just the opposite, because they figured that whoever was chasing them would know that, but then, Ianto didn't really want to mix his head up in that kind of logic.

''If they are trying to loose us in the forest, they are going to die for more reasons than their stupidity'' Calliara almost growled, eyes staring at the front, but when she talked to the bats and the rats her words and voice were gentle. She even stopped to pet some of them and then continued

''They've gone this way. One of the bats said they stopped some moments at the end of the tunnel so I take they were preparing a trap for us''

Rakot walked up to the mercenary.

"Did you find a good spot to dump the corpse of our unfortunate colleague?"

"Yes, there was a shaft in the tunnel that lead to the lower level of the sewer, I just tossed him into it."

"That should be fine....now lets get a move on, Tendir looks like he is about done setting up the bombs."

"'Stupidity'. Right." Well, 'stupid' was one way to put it - 'unaccountably suicidal' was another. In any event, these kidnappers sure were going out of their way to lay traps for them. If Calliara and Drake hadn't been able to talk to animals and stuff, they'd have been blown up no less than twice on this trip (or maybe only once, since there wasn't much coming back after a first blow-up). They were paranoid, then. Good. They had better be paranoid. Not even the Maker could have had their backs, now - not after kidnapping someone so innocent as Jez.

"How do we get around the trap?" Knowing it was there, and walking into it anyway were two different things. Knowing what to expect was all well and good, but they still had to get around the trap, to keep on their way to Jez.

"Traps are normally on the ground." Drake chuckled evilly, "You have rope I suppose, my dear?"

He stopped for a moment to look at the ground and kicked some wood, "It looks like whatever they had her in blew up too." Drake kept looking then shook his head as he saw the bag that had been on Jez's head then noticed the signs of the young woman almost dying.

Drake went still as he saw these signs, his heart beating hard as he realized how close they had come to losing their little healer. He glanced back at Calli, giving her a knowing, angry expression that was directed at what must have happened in this spot then turned and continued on with a deep growl of anger, "We're almost there."

Calliara's eyes were studying the same as him, and the ice in them was furiously obvious. Returning his look, she nodded lightly and lifted an arm. Wrapped around her bracelet there was a long chain with a serrated blade on the end. On her other arm there was another chain just as similar

''I just have these'' The Wolf muttered angrily, and then looked around, walking casually till she got to whisper to Drake ''Don't tell him''

Then she moved to find a good spot to set the chain

After another half hour of walking they reached the treeline. After moving for another half hour, Rakot lifted his hand, giving a sign for the others to stop.

"We're going to make camp? Because by the Stone, I could use a rest."

Tendir said, breathing heavily.

"No, we're going to lay another trap."

"Another trap!? For all we know they got torched back at the warehouse, and aren't following us anymore."

"I gave my word, dwarf, that means I will do everything in my power to see this operation succeed. I am going by what my instincts are telling me, and they haven't failed me yet. We're going to lay what some trackers up north call a wolf-noose. We assume that we are being pursued, so we use that fact to our advantage and turn the situation on them, laying an ambush. The element of surprise will be on our side, and this is a good spot we've got plenty of cover. Set a few bombs on the ground, the kind we can detonate remotely, can you do that Tendir?"

"Well yes, I got some of these bombs, you pull out the pin, the two alchemical mixtures inside collide with each other and that makes it go off in an explosion. So all we'll need to do is attach some rope to the pins, so you can pull the rope and make it go off from a distance. Pretty much how I set up all my traps, except I usually expect them to trip over the rope and pull the pin out that way. Do we need anything else, boss?"

"Yes, I'm going to need a volunteer. One of us is going to take the girl and continue going down South, that's going to be you Tendir, once you get done with setting up the traps. Leave whatever bombs you have left with us, we might have use for them. Our young mercenary friend here is staying with me. We'll lie in wait here until tomorrow morning, if the Wardens don't show up by then, we'll follow after you, if they do, we'll delay them so you can hopefully move too far for them to track you."

"Sounds like a plan, boss. I'm flattered that you trust me all the sudden."

"I don't trust you, but I know that you're afraid of Lorek, your master, and will see this task completed for him. Now go and start doing your work, we may not have time to rest."

"Whatever you say, boss."

When they said that they were setting bombs at the end of the tunnel Jezarine started to worry. What if it went as these kidnappers planned. That would be bad, very very bad but there was nothing she could do to stop them. There were still what ... four of them? She guessed at it but did not want to press her luck and assume less than there were and she was in no position to see if she was right. There was also the factor that there could be more. How was she to know?

They continued and Jez did not speak, did not make much noise except for maybe a small yip or cry from being joggled about too hard. Her mind was in a constant state of fear of what they would do to her when they got her to wherever they had planned to go. There were too many horror stories in her mind related to her from voice and book which bore into her fears.

It took what seemed like many hours until they stopped and the human, or she assumed he was as he was bigger, started ordering the men about again. More traps. What was it with this guy and traps? Or was that normal for people doing this kind of thing? There was nothing in her past to assure her on whether it was or not. There were stories from books but that didn't help much.

Once the traps seemed to be set she just sat there and looked up at whoever came to see her, her big brown eyes still frightened of what would happen.

"I am all done setting up, boss."

"Alright Tendir, now its time for you to go. The girl looks like she can walk now, cut the ropes on her feet. Don't forget that she is a magic user."

"That shouldn't be a problem, I am a dwarf after all, we're resistant."

"Not to the point there a fireball won't effect you."

"This isn't the first time I've kidnapped someone, I sodding know what I'm doing. She won't escape."

"We'll see...another thing, in the event that we don't catch up with you, do you have a way of getting a message to Lorek and setting up the trade by yourself?"

"I got orders for just such a possibility from Lord Lorek himself, don't worry, I take care of my business."

"Then go."

"Good luck, Rakot."

Rakot didn't say a word, simply nodded his head, Tendir walked over to Jezarine, pulled out his knife and cut the ropes that tied her feet together.

"Now this is how its going to work, lass. You walk forward, I walk right behind you with my crossbow over here. You get any ideas I don't like, I'll put an arrow in you before you can as much as think of casting a spell. Now get up, and get to it."