Iseldis expected to need to pry the lock on the door open, but she found it unlocked. She kept a pick tucked away in her braid for situations like this, but as of yet she didn't need it. Perhaps the witch didn't expect them to wake, or to be able to free themselves from their bonds. Either way it felt like a lucky break, one they sorely needed.

"Sounds like a plan," she answered. "We can do this." The words were more for herself than anything. She couldn't linger long on the thought of what she'd been caught in, or terror would creep in. At least she didn't have to go through it alone. With a twist of her fingers, Iseldis pulled the small ball of light she'd conjured into her hands, and reshaped into a little blade, smaller even than what Roland had to work with. She was draining reserves only just returning by casting, but there wasn't any choice.

They pushed the door open together; it swung to the left, giving Iseldis an obstacle to get around between her and the draugr. The hall outside was narrow, cold, and dark, but distant torchlight and the glow of her knife proved just enough. Iseldis darted around the door, lunging where she expected the draugr to be, but for a dead thing it had quick reactions. Her right arm was snared in its grasp, stopping the blade of light short of its throat, and then its other hand was suddenly grasping Iseldis's neck.

She was caught off guard, and unable to stop it from slamming her sideways into the hard rock wall. Dull pain rippled along her left side, her arm, her ribs, her hip. The hand released her throat while she was staggered and went for the rusted sword at its belt. Iseldis thought quickly, the dagger disappearing from her right hand, vanishing into darkness, and then emerging again, now in her left. She thrust the light blade into its chest, the magic cutting the dark creature like water, and she sliced sideways, sending it into death for good.

Suddenly free of its grip, Iseldis stumbled sideways to the other wall and fell to a knee, bracing herself as she turned to see how her partner had fared.
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