CHAPTER XIII

I curled up on my cot after Kain had left me. I thought of everything that had happened in the last few days (weeks? months?) and finally allowed myself to cry. This wasn't how it was supposed to be! I was supposed to be home, safe and warm in bed. I was supposed to be worrying about getting my algebra homework done, or about whether this boy or that boy liked me instead of worrying about how much longer I was going to live or whether I was going to get beaten or raped or worse...

I wrapped my arms around myself, digging my nails into the flesh. I couldn't cry. I couldn't! I needed to figure out how to get out of this situation and get home. Maybe I did bring myself into this world. Maybe it was all me. Maybe I could get myself home.

I heard heavy footsteps outside my cell, and the rattle of keys. It wasn't mealtime, I knew. Surely Kain wouldn't be back already? I didn't think I'd been in the cell for that long. I heard the keys hit the ground, and a muffled curse. Then, whoever it was opened the door. I waited, and I allowed myself to hope for the first time since Ice had died.

When Rahab strode into my cell like he owned it, I nearly fainted.

"I know I'm handsome, dear girl But that's no reason to faint on me..."

"Don't give yourself so much credit," muttered another, more familiar voice. My heart almost stopped as I saw Raziel walk into the cell.

"Why...why are you here?" I whispered.

"Well..Dumah has these strange ideas about honor. It occurred to him that what he did to you was very dishonorable," Rahab explained, "So he asked us to, ah, get you out of here."

"Don't go thinking he loves you," Raziel warned. "Dumah felt guilty for betraying you. He feels guilty every time he betrays someone. He's just never asked any of us to do something foolhardy like this on his behalf."

"Why did you agree with him? What's in it for you?" I asked.

"Well..." Rahab began, "Living forever makes life dull. It's the same, day in and day out. Being a little rebellious and helping you escape will certainly provide me with a little entertainment..."

"I owe Dumah a favor," Raziel muttered.

"Won't you get into trouble for helping me?"

"Kain always seems to know everything before it happens," Rahab said. "I imagine that he's probably already aware that we've beaten up a guard and stolen the keys. He probably knows we're here, and he'll probably have sent someone to stop us from breaking you out..."

"Indeed he has," said a smooth, female voice. Dragon appeared from behind Raziel and walked into the cell. "You both know that there could be serious consequences for this."

Rahab shrugged. "And Kain could find this whole thing highly amusing and let us off with a slap on the wrist."

"Is that a chance you're willing to take?" Dragon growled. She drew a sword and held it against Rahab's throat.

"If you kill us, or the girl, it'll be worse for you," Raziel pointed out.

"Kain values me as a servant. If his precious lieutenants openly defied him, well, I'd be rewarded for disposing of them, wouldn't I..."

"The only order regarding this girl that Kain gave was that she is not to be harmed," Rahab countered. Dragon pressed the sword against his throat, hard enough to draw blood.

"I'm sure he'd consider your breaking her out to be an act of treason..."

I looked around the room while they argued. There was a metal bucket that I'd been using as a chamberpot in the corner. One of the kinder guards had emptied it for me earlier. I'd not used it since. I looked at the bucket. Then at Dragon. She was heavily involved in her argument with Raziel and Rahab. She might not notice if I rushed her...maybe if I hit her hard enough...

Enough thinking.

I picked up the bucket and ran at Dragon with it. I quickly swung it over my head and struck her hard in the back of the head with it. I heard a sharp crack! and Dragon collapsed. I then threw the bucket aside. "Well, let's go then!" I said. Raziel and Rahab nodded. I started running, with the two vampires beside me.

"You're so slow!" Rahab said after a few minutes. "Here." He lifted me into his arms and carried me.

I was apprehensive. I wondered if Raziel and Rahab's appearance might not be a trap. I wondered if Kain really did have some kind of omniscience. Wouldn't he know, then? And what would happen to Rahab and Raziel? Maybe they were in on this, too...

We reached what I assumed was a ballroom in this palace when we met Kain. He was standing at the top of the stairs.

"I've been waiting for you..." Kain purred. Rahab set me down.

"See, I told you he knew..." he said quietly.

"I knew when the girl arrived here what would happen," Kain said with a smirk. "I'm amused that you found the loophole in my commands, Rahab...and as for you, girl, I am amused that you were able to dispatch Dragon so easily..."

I wondered, then, how much of the knowledge of the future that he seemed to possess he passed on to Dragon. He must have omitted a lot, if it had been so easy for me to knock her out. Unless it was another trap.

"Are you going to...punish them?" I said quietly.

Kain shook his head. "This is not where or how...but it doesn't matter."

I suddenly understood what he meant. I knew from Ice's playing of the game that something terrible was going to befall Raziel, and I assumed that meant that something was going to happen to Rahab, too. I didn't want to be there for that. Who knew how soon it would be that the terrible things would befall my benefactors?

"Send me home!" I said, "I know you can!" It was a bluff, but...

"Are you so sure? Maybe you're trapped here, girl..."

"You can send me home! I know you can!" I rushed at him then. I had every intention of ripping him apart with my bare hands, first for bringing me to this Godforsaken world and second, for having Ice killed. I reached him, swung at him, and he easily threw me off of the stairs with a telekinetic bolt. I hit my head hard on the floor, and saw a blinding flash of white light...and then everything went black...

Did I die? I thought. I felt warm, much warmer than I had in Nosgoth. I always thought that Death would be colder. I tried to move my fingers. When I could, I noticed that I was under a blanket. It felt like a rather nice, cotton/polyester blanket..

Huh? Cotton?

I opened my eyes and sat up. To my amazement, I was in Ice's room, on a cot, wearing my jeans and tube top. My collar was on her dresser. I looked up and saw Ice fast asleep in her bed. She looked a little paler than usual, but it might have been the light. The room was bathed in the faint light of that time just as the sun is rising. I flopped back down onto the cot. I started laughing. Ice stirred, and sat up.

"What's so funny? Are you having some kind of crazy dream?"

"I had the craziest dream," I affirmed. "I dreamed I was in Nosgoth, in your game, and that you were there, and that you died and that Kain had me locked up..." I stopped when I heard Ice laughing.

"I had that dream, too!" She was laughing hard, and for a moment I could have sworn that her canine teeth were longer and pointier than I remembered them being. "Except, in my dream, I was Raziel's grilfriend and after I died, he turned me..." She sighed and rolled over. "It's five in the morning. Go back to sleep."

"I'm so glad it was just a dream," I sighed, laying back down. I noticed there was a weight in my pocket. Curious, I reached in and felt something like a small metal chain. I slowly pulled it out.

My eyes widened when I saw what it was. I quickly put my hand over my mouth to muffle a cry. I could not, could not believe what I was seeing. Ice's new pallor and sharper teeth suddenly made a lot more sense.

The thing I'd pulled out of my pocket was a round amethyst pendant, set in silver, and attached to a thin silver chain...

FIN.