On The Road To Herein

Chapter Eight

Fire burnt the dust and damp away leaving  Sol untouched on dry hard stone, his kind was immune to the flame, but the consequences of his rage ignited the moisture in the air and smoke now clouded around him, thick and heavy for It could not escape through the open bars, Jax's containment magic saw to that, and so It stagnated there waiting to be absorbed into the rock. Sol knew he must get in control of himself, or the fire his best friend, his very soul, would be his end - but how?   Even now he could could hear footsteps approaching him, the rats come back for more mocking, the very thought of them was causing more smoke to appear.

"Just in here!" 

"Surely there were more pressing matters than to just watch me die!" Sol spat angrily from the floor. Sol turned his head just in time to see that both Jax and his guests enter the room. It didn't take him long to recognize the orc, even blurred by the still thick air around him.

"YOU!" he growled realizing the depth of the betrayal, he got to his feet hardly without knowing, ready to attack the magical barrier again, it would, of course, be of no use.

"Stand back elf!" Jax said with a smile raising his hand in the air, his eyes glowing, Sol did not obey. "I said, back, elf!" Sol was suddenly lifted up as if invisible vines reached out from the wall behind him, like the tentacles of a monstrous beast, wrapped him up and pulled him not so gently against the back wall; there he hung, stuck to the rock as if crucified. He struggled against the invisible binds trying in vain to burn them loose, but all the did was grow tighter like a constrictor coiling around its victim.  "Stay!" Jax said smiling wickedly. "Good boy!" he added with a laugh. "Good boy"

"Put her in there?" Lox asked.

"Yes, yes just give me a moment" Jax unlocked the cage, opened the door and dispelled his barrier, the smoke within flooded out like it was alive and grateful to be set free, the air became breathable again. "Toss her in," He said more to sol than Lox "No need to be gentle." He smiled at how angry he was making the elf, it made him feel joy to see him so upset and knowing that the more the poor fool struggled the more his spell would choke him, so much that he laughed a little. "What's wrong elf? Isn't this what you wanted? Your pet human, safe and sound." His words menacing, almost sounding more serpent then rat.

Lox relieved the weight was off his shoulder, entered the cage and dropped her on the ground; as she hit she grunted.

"She's alive?" Jax asked clearly disappointed. "How disappointing"

"She's not my kill." Lox exited the cage and moved beside Jax who began to re-lock it.

"Too bad, I was hoping she was dead" Jax laughed and raised his hands to reactivate the barrier, but instead was met with a giant black fist, which broke his concentration, his eyes glowed for a moment but popped with surprise,  glowing no more. He stumbled, confused. What the hell happened, why did his head suddenly feel like it was going to explode from the inside? Confused no longer he gathered himself to counter with a curse but he was met with another blow to the face. This knocked him against the far wall where his head met stone and he slid down the side. Now unconscious his binding curse on Sol broke, dropping him to the floor.

Art who had witnessed the whole thing, moved in and smelled the broken rat and burst out laughing in his face "I liked the part where his head bounced off the wall" then turning to his friend, "Can we see it again?"

"Rainnah!" Sol said aloud moving toward her. She sat up and grabbed him and held him and kissed him. All seemed well, but what just happened? All this time he tried to save her, she was saving him? "But the orc and his friends didn't hurt you?" even as he said it, he regretted it.