The stifling smell of sweat and blood wrapped tendrils around Ryadni's throat. All that filled her ears were rapid, shallow breathing and the drip-drip-drip of blood hitting the growing puddle on the ground. A limp form hung by its wrists in the dead centre.

Ryadni's eyesight blurred as her knees threatened to buckle. Casten's body swam in and out of her focus and her stomach churned again. Her limbs moved of their own accord. Swaying, she reached a shaking hand up to his face.

"Casten?" she croaked. The figure remained motionless. There was a dull pat as her foot stepped onto his puddle of blood.

The weak candlelight made the blood congealed in his hair appear almost black. Bits of his fringe covered his eyes and blood crusted on his cheeks and at the corners of his mouth. She touched his cheek gently and he stirred at the contact. His skin was icy cold.

"Casten?"

He shuddered as though even sounds hurt him.

"Hang in there. I'll get you out."

She slipped her hand into her back pouch and pulled out two pins. With shaking hands, she stuck the ends into the keyhole. She was trembling so much she almost snapped the pins. One of the Raiders took over, throwing a glance at her over his shoulder as she ducked out and wrapped her arms around herself.

Casten's raiding clothes barely clung to his body and were in strips. His entire body was either beaten blue-black or streaked with blood and bearing open cuts. His legs collapsed beneath him. Ryadni gagged as the Raider unlocked one of the handcuffs: four of Casten's fingers bent at painful angles. It was just as well that he was unconscious again.

With another click, his other handcuff released. No longer suspended, he fell and the big Raider caught him. The other Raider took the keys from Ryadni's hands and disappeared further ahead.

Casten's head lolled and his skin was deathly pale. Ryadni's hands curled into fists and blood pounded in her ears. If she couldn't hear his raspy breathing, she would be convinced he was dead.

Monsters. She was tingling all over. Blood continued to run in trickles from his cuts. His left eye was swollen and forced shut by a shiny purple bruise. His lips were cut so badly she could see more crusted blood than mouth. Who could so casually beat someone else to a pulp like that? And not only that but to hang him up and torture him... all this because he was caught stealing?

God knows what punishment would await if they were caught at that point.

"...Ryadni."

She looked up and realised the big Raider had been talking to her all that time. He shifted Casten so that he was bearing the weight of the unconscious boy and repeated, "I got this. You go get Urseus."

It struck Ryadni at that point that there was another Raider with Casten. The extra baggage so-called Raider.

She nodded mutely and walked on legs that didn't feel like her own. The ruckus outside increased as the flame continued its ravenous journey through stacks of old paintings and tapestries. The thick smoke appeared to have kept the guards at bay upstairs. It was a shame they had no water to douse the flames.

Ryadni continued along the empty dungeon corridor. All the guards had left their posts to fight the raging fire. There was time, but she couldn't concentrate. The image of Casten's battle-worn body occupied her mind. Moving ahead to catch up with the other Raider, Ryadni barely registered the other forlorn, weary faces staring out at her. All she could see were his broken fingers, the violent bruises, the deep cuts, the guttural noises...

She shivered and hated herself for her cowardice.

The other Raider appeared silently from the shadows, a frown on her face.

"He's not here."

"He's not... how? These are the only dungeons!"

"Perhaps Casten knows—"

"Are you stupid?" Irritation – not just at the Raider – made Ryadni's back prickle. "He's so out of it an earthquake won't bring him round."

The Raider bit her lip.

"Sumair will go mad if we return without Urseus... he's only a boy."

"Sumair's already mad anyway. Have you checked all the cells?"

"Every single one."

Ryadni's eyes fell upon the dirt-streaked face of one of the prisoners. She snatched the keys from the Raider and with the other hand grabbed the prisoner's tunic collar, yanking him towards her.

"Tell me what I want to know and I'll let you go," she snarled.

"S-sure."

"I'm looking for a young kid. Short, whiny, annoying. Came with the mouthy one who had the hell beaten out of him just now." She held the keys up in her hand and jangled them.

"He was here earlier today!" was the eager reply. "Came in a few days ago – looked a sorry state, mind – but he's not been back since they took him away."

"Away where?"

"I don't know... he's not been – hey!"

Aridne turned away.

"You said you'll let me out if—"

"Anyone got any useful information?" Ryadni demanded. Time was running out, particularly Casten's. If she didn't have to face Pallas, she'd leave right now, Urseus be damned. One less mouth to feed. The flurry outside quietened and the smoky tinge in the air was dissipating. The guards could be just around the corner.

And Urseus, damn the boy, was nowhere to be found.

"We need to go," said Ryadni, when she was met with silence.

The Raider glanced at her nervously. "But Sumair..."

"Casten's in no state to run and we can't risk getting caught. We'll have to return later." She knew there would be no 'later'. Once Casten's escape was made known, any chance of getting Urseus would be removed and getting into this castle again would be near impossible. She tossed the keys to the prisoner. "Do what you want with it. We need to—"

Come to me.

The voice floated from nowhere and everywhere at once, sweet and melodic and familiar as Jace's. For a fleeting moment, Ryadni's anxiety melted away and a long lost wave of warmth and safety as she hadn't experienced in over a decade washed over her. The comfort spread from her chest to her fingers and toes. She almost cried.

The sound trailed away. Ryadni took a step into the darkness, entranced, straining for the speaker's voice again.

Come.

Happy sensations flowed through her body. She almost floated. Her mission was forgotten.

Come to me.

She wanted nothing more than to obey the beautiful voice, to please it. She would do anything for that voice. Child-like joy flooded her veins and her heart could almost burst with happiness.

"—here?"

Ryadni jumped, jolted violently back to reality. The female Raider was staring at her, her face pale and her eyes wide. For a brief moment, Ryadni's mind was blissfully empty and then it all came back to her.

"What..." She looked around, her mouth falling open, turning in bewilderment on the spot. They stood in a circular room with drawn curtains in almost pitch blackness except for a pale purple glow from further down the corridor. "Where are we?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me, but you wouldn't say anything for ages."

Ryadni stared at her companion as she shook her head. Her eyes darted from the dusty bookshelves to the moth-eaten curtains and carpets. The air was stifling. Nothing looked familiar. This place hadn't seen human habitation in decades.

"...wouldn't listen to me," the Raider's voice came again. Ryadni looked down: the Raider's hand was clamped over her arm. She hadn't even felt it.

That voice... but it was silent again. She padded across the carpeted floor, letting the Raider's arm slide as she approached the light. Her eyes fixated on the purple glow reflecting from the walls. Something inexplicable was pulling her and she was nothing more than a faithful servant, yielding to the silent demands.

She rounded the corner. There, within a glass box set upon a pedestal, was a set of deep purple crystals.

Ryadni was pulled back in time. She was five years old again. Dark shadows, monstrous and angry, filled the black sky. Indescribable terror gripped her heart. Smoke filled her nostrils and the panic squeezed her chest.

Her mother lay dead on the ground with her throat cut open and her eyes large and glassy, staring blankly up at her.

The helpless darkness pressed in, suffocating her.

A presence floated over the corpse. The details were so clear Ryadni could have been standing just next to her. From her mother's dead body, the presence pulled out a cluster of purple crystals, which glowed without an energy source and pulsed with life.

Aeris... the Essence whispered to her.

"Khaus..."

She reached out. The feelings of peace washing over her eased the horror of the flashback.

Before she made contact, something rammed into her back with enough power to force all the air from her lungs.

Glass shattered and suddenly Ryadni fell through the air.