Sabine continued to struggle for breath. Having her magicka sucked out of her all at once was as much chilling as it was nauseating. She could feel the familiar, taken-for-granted safety of her magic get replaced with a void. Any last vestiges of lucid thought in her mind were now replaced with the nightmarish reality she was in.

She could not have stopped herself wheezing in a breath and breaking into a coughing fit the instant Arinette moved her foot away. Do'rhajul's iron grip was all that kept her from stumbling to the ground after being picked up. The icy feeling of a blade at her throat made her tense up. She became a statue but for the rapid rising and falling of her chest.

Fendros and Janius burst out brandishing their own weapons. Their eyes glinted with shock behind their helmets when they saw Sabine.

They halted on orders. The exchange was short between Meesei and the enemy. Janius' head twitched from side to side to see each in Do'rhajul's team. Fendros felt he could put an arrow through the eye of any one of them. Both were caught in futility.

Sabine's face showed only pure fright. Her tears ran down her cheeks. And then the team teleported away.

There was silence.

The pack knew they would teleport away. Fendros and Janius froze in place, Fendros with his bow drawn and Janius with his guard up. It sank in slowly and painfully.

Fendros lowered his bow as his jaw quivered. He listed his head from side to side in denial before pitching his bow upon the ground in anger. It bounced a distance behind him. He stomped forward. "We can't let them get away with this!" He growled and spun around to the others. With spread arms he shouted through the gap the lower half of his chitin helmet afforded his mouth. "There has to be a way to [i]follow them![/i] They can't get away again!"

Janius was standing straight with his arms hanging limp. His axe and shield were held only barely in his fingers. "Fendros," Janius said only loud enough to make himself heard. He raised his hand and slowly lifted his visor with a creak. His mouth was slightly parted and his eyes were lined red. "They're gone," he stated. "She's...She's gone."

As if only now realising truth, Fendros' arms lost their energy. He glowered through his helmet at Janius. Nothing he could muster to say would prove Janius wrong. Fendros' eyes sunk and his breathing slowed.

Only then did he have a realisation. His head perked momentarily. "Ahnasha," he said softly. He half-turned and raised his voice. "Ahna!?"

[hr]
Sabine remained frozen and breathing shallowly throughout the entire experience. Her eyes were open but she did not know where she was. With the knife still at her neck, she was too scared to think further on her situation, much less speak. She barely even noticed the smallest dregs of magicka flow back into her body naturally.