------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warm liquid ran over his eye. It was accompanied by a small ache to the front of his skull. Lem opened his eyes. He was laying on his back staring up at the sun. Another man stared down at him and cracked a smile. His teeth were stained with juice from whatever plant he was stuffing in his mouth and chewing. The offending liquid ran down his brown bearded chin as he turned to spit out the juices. 

"'ello sleeping beauty," he said before standing from his crouched position. 

 Lem winced as he touched his head injury. Red?

He tried to reach his sword but his hands were bound, and his weapons had been stripped from him. They had been very thorough. His boot knife was missing as well as several he kept close to his chest. There was a line of people bound stretched out next to him. Some were older, some still clinging to their mothers who were also in line. He was hauled roughly to his feet. The man secured Lem into the back of the line and turned away.

"This one, will do." Tobacco man said spitting again. 

Lem's eyes were drawn to the saddlebags of the lead horse, a black mare that danced in place. Vengeance, his sword was stowed away there, the pommel sticking out from the saddlebag. The blade hummed with raw energy that crackled down Lem's spine.

His eyes were drawn upward, to the shock of red hair spilling over the saddle. Red was out cold, hanging over the side her ebony hands tied together and dangling below her head. Lem stared, trying to figure out if she was ok.

"She's injured." A second man, with thick blonde wooly hair shoved under a knitted cap, pointed out. "Better to leave her." 

"She's a drow, she'll get better quick." Tobacco man spat again and ran a hand down Red's arm. "She be part drow anyway," he said. "No drow has this color hair. Moma probably got knocked up in a raid or somethin'. Not our problem da? We just clean up."

He reached out to touch Red's hair, running the silky strands through his fingers.

Rage coursed through Lem and he tried to take a step forward but was locked in place at the back of the slave line. He was helpless to do anything. He wiped blood away from his eye and studied the man intently memorizing every detail of his face. Vengeance called to him, desperate to be in his hand, desperate to finish off these men.

The mare rose up on her hind legs. Tobacco man reached out for the reins to calm her. 

"I don't think she likes the cargo," Knitted Cap said as he dragged a whip out of his belt. The others in line with Lem were immediately alert. 

"We should leave the drow."

"Nah," the tobacco chew guy said. "She's exotic. She'll make us enough to last the winter in some brothel. Who knows, maybe we'll get a taste of her if Mabel likes her enough."

"Pshhh," Knitted Cap looked at the injured drow doubtfully. He maintained his distance.

Tobacco chew moved closer again and reached out again. This time placing his hand under Red's chin and lifted to look her in the eye. 

"Da, Mabel will definitely have fu---"

Red's eyes snapped open.

Lem wasn't sure what happened next. Her white eyes were focused on Tobacco man before her,  a globe of darkness surrounded them both blocking everything from view. He strained against his bonds as  Knitted cap man backed up a step drawing his blade in his other hand, eyes wide with fear.

"Donnocha?" Knitted Cap said, his deep voice shaking. There was a thud, sounds of a scuffle. The mare shrieked and her hooves hit the ground with loud thuds but she did not run out of the dark globe. 

A scream erupted from inside the darkness and the globe disapparated revealing Red. She stood, a short dagger in her hand, the tobacco-chewing man slumped at her feet, blood dripping from his chin as he gurgled his last bits of life away, a wound to his throat. Her eyes were no longer the kind gentle soul Lem was used to seeing. There was rage there, Vengeance was in her right hand, the sword humming a death knell, and a small dagger was in the left. 

Her eyes zeroed in on Knitted Cap. 

"No!" He screamed. He lifted the whip in one hand and the sword in the other and charged in. 

Vengeance danced as Red expertly moved the sword to counter Knitted Cap's enraged thrust. She moved nimbly out of his path, but what Lem took as her trying desperately to stay out of his way was only a ruse. The black blade flashed as it countered the man's crudely built sword.

He tried sidestepping the smaller woman to the left but she only met him with an upward swing that knicked his chin. Blood droplets littered the snow as he reached up and grabbed his chin. Knitted Cap pushed into blow after blow hoping to simply overcome her with strength. But the dark elf proved to be his match and more.

She met each swing either dodging and getting another knick on his body, or tearing his clothes. Blood dripped off the man and he was slowing down, his swings becoming lackluster.

He tried pressing his advantage to her injured leg but that proved to be a fatal error. Red stepped into his swing under his arm Vengeance danced up into his chest. Knitted Cap gasped as he sank to his knees not quite believing there was a sword in his chest. Red put her foot on Knitted Cap's chest and shoved him back off of Vengeance. 

She turned to Lem and he shuddered. Her white eyes seemed to glow with the wrath of a goddess as she rushed over to him. 

The rest of the slaves shrank back in fear as she approached. Lem didn't miss the hurt in her eyes as she freed them. They moved away in hushed tones still suspicious.

He touched his own head injury again and gingerly accepted Vengeance back into his hands.

I did that, the sword said smugly. 

Be quiet, he snapped as he wiped the blade clean. 

Red eyed the mare and the wagon. She turned to the group. "Takes these, there is a ranger's outpost two miles that way."

"You are not going with us, right?"

"I--"

"Please," a woman said. "Just go, don't hurt us, please."

"Hurt you? She just saved your life," Lem snapped. He watched the group as they skittered, some moving in the direction Red had indicated.

"She's a drow," the woman said eyeing him with suspicion. 

"But--" 

Red held up her hand and Lem went silent. They gathered their things quickly and moved away from the group.

"What the hell happened back there?" Lem said.

Red didn't turn around. She pulled her hood up over her head so that it covered her face. "What do you see when you look at me, Lem?" She asked quietly.

"A drow, I guess..." he shrugged.

"Exactly," she answered. "That's all anyone ever sees."