Ysaryn translated orders at the others, Bolym helping her as they separated and readied their paths. She shared a few soft words for him, making him promise to deliver these women back to their people and to safety. Hard-faced, he nodded, they gripped one another's wrists firmly, and said their farewells. 
It was only when Kire offered her hand for Ysaryn to join her on the horse that the elf balked. [i]Shit.[/i] She swore inwardly. "I do not know how." She warned, before taking Kire's arm anyway and settling behind the woman. She wrapped her arm tight around Kire's middle, her thighs bracing Kire as they moved, the horses fast pace cutting minutes off of their pursuit. 

She let Kire deal with anyone they came across, the elf uneasy about taking her arms from around Kire. She knew leaping off the horse to dispatch them would eat away at their time, so Ysaryn refrained. 

"I have no answer you want." Ysaryn answered brutally. "They will do their best. It is all and enough. Just like us."

She was silently grateful when Kire stopped and dismounted, the elf hopping down immediately after, her knees shaking slightly after clenching her thighs so tightly against Kire. "I do not like." Ysaryn admitted shamelessly, watching the horse meander away in search of something on which to graze. She withdrew her two blades once more, ready, facing the darkening path into the mine. 
And the figure moving within. 

At Kire's swear, Ysaryn's eyes darted to the woman, uncertainty creeping across her face, before the [i]thing[/i] emerged. Kire straightened and stepped back, shielding Ysaryn as her fuchsia eyes took in full-bred Kartaian for the first time. 
"Holy Gods." Ysaryn swore quietly. 

She'd heard countless stories about the giant monsters with demonic eyes and skin like shadow, so similar yet so different from many of their own kind. She had met Envy and enjoyed his company, but he had often mentioned that he'd been a runt, a pariah, compared to his kin. Never had she thought the contrast would be so dramatic. 
It was [i]huge[/i]. Lethal in every movement. 
[i]And dead.[/i]

Kire confirmed it with words as soon as Ysaryn smelled the decay in the air, along with the blood and flora. 

They all moved, aiming to spill blood and cast down one another, blades glinting in the bit of torchlight. Close quarters, such as it was, gave them the advantage, as the Kartaian boasted several feet above their height, and often had to bend or swivel to avoid hitting his head. Not that he would have noticed if he did. Ysaryn wasn't sure he could feel anything, and confirmed it when her blade sunk into him and he barely flinched, hardly aware. He retaliated, thrusting his blade forward, aiming for her ribs.
Ysaryn clamped her arm down against her side, blade caught between, and twisted, yanking the blade from his grasp with a sharp inhalation of pain. Her other hand went to bury her blade deep in its chest, to pierce its heart, but the doll flung an arm out and sent the elf flying against the cavern wall. Ysaryn yelped as she hit the hard surface, the sound carrying, and she vanished before the Kartaian pounced on her. 

When she'd reappeared, Kire had dispatched it, only to be tackled by elves. [i]Her[/i] elves. Her people, enslaved bodily with gems of their own and forced to attack. "[i]Stop it![/i]" Ysaryn shouted, her left hand tingling slightly. "[i]Stop! I command you, as Daughter of Scindere, to stop! Unhand her![/i]" 
Her eyes burned as they ignored her, minds overpowered by the tether that bound them to their new master. She couldn't. These were her people. Her elves. Her tribe. She couldn't raise a hand against them. Even when they turned their attention on her, moved against her, grabbing, pulling, Ysaryn couldn't raise her hands. Her blades were ripped from her hands, her left arm, now tingling up to the shoulder, burned in agony. [i]Bloodloss.[/i] Ysaryn realized, seeing the red river that poured over her dark fingers. [i]From when she'd torn the blade from the Kartaian using her body.[/i] Ysaryn felt pressure on her body, felt her knees bent to kiss the ground, before hands, more than one, reached around her throat. She clenched her eyes, blocking out their empty faces as they moved to end her. 

[hr]

He blinked. He understood. Rab looked from the man to Gavin, wondering what it meant. Just as Gavin turned to him. It was clarified, and Rab automatically nodded, knowing he looked more eager, more hopeful, than he should. They'd be free. [i]He[/i] would be free. 

Rab didn't hesitate in lifting the blond again, hoisting him over his shoulder once more. The man's blue eyes glared viciously, but he couldn't move. Couldn't speak. As he stood, Rab froze, his eyes unfocused as he saw himself in a different city, someplace Rab didn't know. The horrible woman, the master Akuma, was smiling at him, stroking his face. The sun that beat down on her black hair was swallowed, but her eyes glittered brilliantly in the light. "And are you mine, Rulitus?" Her cold voice said. A dark hand, certainly not Rab's, rose to grasp her cold fingers, his cheeks stretching in a smile. It blurred, and then was gone, and Rab turned to look towards Gavin in confusion. But Gavin's face was set, blank, as they marched toward his chambers. 
[i]I don't understand.[/i] Rab thought to himself. When he turned his head back toward the blond, who face hung upside down just below Rab's left elbow, his face was blank, lost in unconsciousness. 

As he was given further instructions, Rab obeyed, carefully laying the man down. He groaned softly, but lay limp. More careful still, Rab rolled him onto his front, carefully pulling his arms back to bind with the ropes offered. Rab paused, staring at the dark hands in his grasp. Had they been [i]his[/i] hands? Rab blinked. Had it been a memory? But how? Had he known Akuma? Was that his name, then? Rulitus?
He finsihed tying together Ruli's wrists and ankles, not too tightly, just as he'd been ordered, and he looked up to Gavin. Somehow, he needed this information, didn't he? That this man and Akuma knew one another? ...Right?
Gavin was offering more instructions as he dosed the man, Rulitus, and Rab tried to motion to the blond on the ground. Gavin looked to misinterpret his gestures for understanding, and the young man left, stalking through the dark caverns towards the manor. 

Rab exhaled noisily through his nostrils, watching the blond in the silence that hung over them. [i]She'll kill everyone.[/i] That was what he'd said before the drugs claimed his body. So he knew that Akuma would hurt them. And had come anyway. Rab would not have done that. he'd have fled. Let the town and these slavers come to their end without help.
As he thought it, Rab bent down to scoop up the man again, carrying him to the eunuchs. Once he handed him over, he could leave. Gavin had given his permission. And he would, too. Rab would leave this place behind and never look back. Let them die under whatever darkness followed that woman and her master. He'd leave and find somewhere peaceful to live. Not like this foolish man bound and semi-conscious over his shoulder. 

He froze again as another memory, as that was what it had to be, surfaced and twisted into his head. The same city, the sun-baked buildings demolished and soaked in blood and ash alike, bodies everywhere. The stench in the air was thick and unrivaled, the ache in Rulitus's chest, in [i]Rab's[/i] chest, hurt just as bad as the torture they'd rained on him as punishment. 
Rab was on his knees from the agony, the man falling from his shoulders to thump onto the ground with a grunt. The memory slipped away just as quickly, and Rab turned to glance down at the disappearing man. His eyes stared back, now more clear as the drug wore off. But the anger still burned in them. 
"Help." He whispered quietly, his voice still fighting the effects.

Swallowing thickly, Rab held up an open hand. [i]Stop.[/i] He pleaded. He didn't like the memories. The pain. The smell. He hoisted the man back onto his shoulders and kept going. 
To the eunuchs. Rab gently lowered the blond to the ground again. While Rab had felt him move and test his muscles while being carried, Rulitus went limp as Rab went to release him, playing his part as the drugged hostage. Even his face was slack and unresponsive. He didn't flinch when the eunuchs came forward and scooped him up.

That's it. Rab inhaled. Freedom. His to claim. He turned back to look behind him, to the endless options he had in leaving. Never looking back. 
And yet...
Rab did. He turned back around to look at the blond as he was dragged away.