Angel awoke with a jolt, her eyes snapping open. Instinctively, she flared her wings out in readiness for danger. Her injured wing twinged dangerously at the pull.

Wincing, she flicked her tail out instead. She heard it slap against stone. Much to her dismay, they were still in the cave.

She was lying on her stomach, nose throbbing from being squashed into the rock floor. Tugging it upwards, she raised her head, blinking a few times to let the room come into focus. Even once it had, making out her surroundings was still very difficult.

It was almost completely dark. The only light that allowed her to make out the shape of the room at all was the flickering lamp, barely a flame as it smoldered in the far corner of the room. As Angel's eyes adjusted further, the minature pool of light it created allowed her to trace the shapes of several wolves, all slumped in a similar way to her. Judging from the easy way the patch of fur nearest to the lamp shone, they were the fallen Icewylf soldiers. Her shoulders relaxed when she noticed the slight dilation of the lit-up wolf's nostrils.

Pushing upwards, Angel forced herself into a sitting position. Every movement made the numerous scratches slicing beneath her fur sting, but the pain wasn't unbearable. If anything, she was becoming used to the constant prick of wounds.

She turned her head away from the unconcious Icewylves to survey the other side of the room, to her left. It was much harder to make out the area, as shadows hid it from the feeble glow of the lamp, but there was just enough light to make out the bodies of more wolves. Squinting, Angel studied them, but even with her newly-adjusted eyes she couldn't identify them.

"Psst!"

Ears pricking up, Angel's gaze shot towards the noise, twisting her body back towards the Icewylves. One wolf was now stood above the others. The pale shine of a pair of eyes, staring her way, caught the lamplight with ease.

After a moment of Angel's hesitation, the wolf jerked their head to the side, beckoning her over. With a nod she hoped could be detected, she rose stiffly to her paws and padded over.

As she approached, the wolf became clearer, until Angel realised that she was the same wolf that had followed her through the tunnel and into the battle. Perching beside her, Angel examined the nearby wolves, recognising Konrad splayed right next to the lamp. She gulped, the idea of such a powerful wolf being so helpless tightening her throat.

"Is anyone else awake?" the Icewylf asked. Her whisper was perfect - an icy mist, quiet yet still prickling cold. Angel's reply felt like rough sand compared to her voice.

"I don't think so. I can't see anyone else moving." Turning, she met the Icewylf's eyes. "Are you quite close to Konrad, then?" The question had been forming ever since she'd first met this wolf.

"Yes," came her reply, short and sharp. "I'm one of his commanders - Wylfrost leader for Vendett." She flicked her tail, the snowy colour glinting in the pool of light. "And you're the Twilytra Airewylf, right?"

"Yeah. I'm Angel." She held out a paw automatically, as if to shake, then retracted it quickly just as the Icewylf lifted her own. They stilled for a few moments, before both setting down their paws, glancing away.

"I'm Miyuki," said the Icewylf, after clearing her throat awkwardly. She rose to her paws, casting a shadow over Angel as she blocked the light. "Have a look for any possible exits," she ordered. "If they got us in here, this place can't be entirely sealed up."

Nodding, Angel jumped up, stepping carefully around the fallen Icewylves to scan the rock of the walls. A crack caught her eye, and she darted up to run her claw along it, but it was nothing but a dent that led nowhere. Sighing, she moved on, resorting to patting at the wall with her paw as she crossed into the shadows.

Just as she was bending closer to inspect a place where the wall bent in, light flashed up to blind her. She closed her eyes, gasping at the brightness, before blinking repeatedly. The light flickered just as the lamp's flame did, but this flame was far stronger, chasing the shadows from the room and making colour drain into gathered fur.

Once her eyes could agree that the light was a good thing and not something out to steal her ability to see, she turned around to search for its source. Fiammetta stood behind her, a mane of fire blazing around her neck. Though her paws shook slightly, she was awake, and her eyes glowed with that same fire.

"Where are we?" Fiammetta asked.

Angel glanced around, as if the answer to that question would just pop into place to satisfy both of them. Unfortunately, it didn't. "I don't know. Somewhere still in Nefaris, I think."

"Where's the exit?"

"That's what we're looking for." Angel flicked her tail at the crack in the wall. The new flame had confirmed that it was only a crack, but she wouldn't give up yet.

Just as Fiammetta was opening her snout, most likely to ask who that 'we' was, Miyuki bounded over. "Thanks for the light, Flamewylf," she said. Her tone had lost some of its icy quality now, but her eyes were still sharp as icicles.

"Come, let's keep looking," she added, to both of them.

The three of them scanned the entire perimeter of the cave room, then double and triple checked, using Fiammetta's fire to examine every crevice of the wall. None of them could understand why there wouldn't be an exit. As far as they knew, Shadewylves couldn't walk through solid rock - and even if they could, how could they bring the entire rescue team in here without leaving a trace?

But they had. The room was completely sealed. Angel could feel her fur beginning to itch, even such a wide space seeming to close in on her. No way out. No natural light, no nothing. She had no idea even how far she was from her precious sky.

By the time they'd finished their search, unsatisfied, fearful, and rather frustrated, the others were beginning to rise. Miyuki hurried over to help as Konrad lifted his head, and she helped him to his paws, the two of them whispering furiously. Konrad's snout wrinkled in thought, most likely as he recieved the brief on how strangely trapped they were.

It wasn't long until nearly every wolf in the army was awake and moving about. Thea, thankfully more rested now and less drained of magic, began moving around, tending to any more serious wounds, though Fiammetta warned her to take it easy and use her power sparingly. Wonderfully for Angel, that meant her broken wing was soon to be fixed, though it wasn't the priority. Despite her impatience, she understood.

Katana was the only wolf in the room not able to even rise to her paws. Even in all her pain, her unceasing determination had driven her to fight the Shadewylves in the only way she could manage - draining her last dregs of strength in making the earth shake. She'd managed only a few weak tremors before passing out from the strain, and even though she was grasping for conciousness, Angel knew how broken she was. Thea curled around her, eyes pleading, once again doing her best to save the reckless Earthwylf.

"Do you think they plan on leaving us here to rot?" Fiammetta whispered, after some time had passed and still no exit - or Shadewylves - were to be seen.

"I really hope not," Angel said. She knew her fear was clear. This was turning into her worst nightmare, and the longer they stayed here, the more the trapped feeling clutched at her.

Eventually, Thea moved onto her wing, and she at least gained a little of her freedom once again. Fiammetta held it firmly in place, and Angel gritted her teeth as the Glitterwylf curled her magic tight and sewed the bones back together. By now, exhaustion was darkening Thea's eyes once more, but still Angel hugged and thanked her as much as she could.

At least if she ever got out of here, she'd be able to fly away with ease.

She curled up next to Katana, nudging her friend in the snout. "You alright?"

Katana snorted. "Sure, I'm great." She twisted her head to look at Angel. At least she was able to do that now. With Thea's power, the gashes running down her flank were beginning to seal, but her body was still exhausted from its constant battle. They needed to get her out of here. That was even clearer than the pull of the sky.

Angel was just about to tell her all that, and to reassure her that they'd find a way out - for the benefit of both of them - when a loud crash sent every head snapping upwards. All eyes darted to the wall straight in front of them.

There, the exit they'd searched for all this time appeared from nowhere.

The first thing Angel saw was a flash of pink - a wolf of deeper pink than Thea, almost magenta. She was gone in an instant, flitting away into the darkness beyond, but Angel caught the look in her eyes. Strong and narrowed, pupils dilating slightly: the look of a wolf using their Pelt's power.

"That explains how they got us in here," Thea breathed from nearby, shock shaking her tone.

The pink wolf left behind a gash in the wall, widening even as she vanished, much in the same way the enchanted tool had parted rock. Through that opening, a black wolf appeared, melting from the shadows as the light grasped at his fur.

Two more wolves slid in to flank him, fading into existence in much the same way. Of course, it was natural to only see a wolf when they were lit up, but something about their appearance felt disjointed, as if they'd popped from the shadows just slightly too abruptly. One of them lifted his head, allowing his eyes to glint blood-red in the flame's light. Paired with the smug flick of his ears, he was instantly recognisable.

Drawing her lips back, Angel bared her fangs at Jaser as he cast them all a look of triumph. She could hear a low, gutteral sound vibrating in Fiammetta's throat as she too displayed her fury.

The other flanking wolf Angel also recognised - she was the same wolf who had knocked her out during the failed rescue. Harisah. Though she didn't tilt her head in the same mocking way Jaser did, the disdain in her eyes was harshly clear.

But it was the wolf in the centre that carried the most fear as he slipped in to the room. He wasn't much larger than Jaser, probably not even as tall as Konrad, but he didn't need to be. It wasn't size that this wolf used to intimidate. It was the flick of his tail, and the slow movement of his paws, and the grey of his eyes, unwavering in their gaze. He was cold, she realised, all of him - his stare, his posture, his smile. Cold and dark, with much of him swallowed by shadow, eerily like the cave he inhabited.

Angel wasn't sure what the look in his eyes was telling her. All she knew was that she didn't want to meet them and find out.