"Bruised, but okay," Althea answered, still whispering. She felt a mix of emotion at seeing Zed dumped into the cell with them. Part of her was relieved to see her companion still alive, but an equal part wished he had been able to escape, offering them some small hope that he would be able to rescue them. "Okay as I can be for being stabbed in the back by that greasy boil-brained clotpole," she spat, her initial shock turning to anger at Straw's betrayal. "May the gods grant him a thousand slow and painful deaths." 

--

As the cell door closed, Haelerin took up a place just outside to keep guard over their merchandise. Rhyldaer looked to Laele, deferring to her best judgement, "Do you wish to depart for the city tonight? Or would you prefer to wait until the moon is waning?"