Sixty-six hours until

"You wanna get holy, honey?  I'll take you to church.  It's been a while since I went a round with tusks like yours."

 Zaiah's quip was met with another backhand across her face. "Your defiance will only earn you more pain." the half-orc grunted as he turned away, rifling through the backpack that laid upon the table.  Zaiah pulled against the chains around her wrists, but the steel and stone was far stronger than she was.

"Pain?  That the word you wanna go with?" Zaiah swallowed down the coppery tang in her mouth, not wanting to give her captor the satisfaction of knowing he drew blood, "Listen up, sugarball.  I don't give a good rub what you want from the Pathfinders, but they like me a whole lot more than I like them, so you'll find all you need when they bust down that door and kick the unholy hell out o-" the rest of the words caught in her throat as the half-orc turned back around with the glass device in his hand.

"How deep into that cave were you when you found this?  How did you get past our guards?"

Zaiah sniffed, "About two knuckles." she enjoyed the look of confusion on his face, "Oh, are we not talking in metaphors anymore?" she shifted her weight, letting her hand hang a bit closer to her head, trying to scratch an itch under a barrette.  The half-orc lunged forward and buried his fist in Zaiah's gut, knocking the wind out of her.  She crumpled like old laundry, and would have fallen to the ground if not for the chains.

"I respect your secrets, whore.  But I will come for them later."  The half-orc uttered an incantation that shrank the device down into his gloved fist, disappearing it entirely.  He yelled something--probably in Orc, and a squat looking human opened the door.  The half-orc removed his glove, "Get this to the mage immediately."  The human turned and ran out the door, swinging it shut behind him, but it did not completely close, stopping only an inch open.

Zaiah noticed the door and grinned.  "Hey, if I tell you where the rest of the documents or whatever for that crystal thing are, what do I get in return?"

"I won't guarantee your immediate death," the half-orc replied, turning back to his prisoner.  Zaiah grinned, knowing that was all her invisible friend needed for an opening.

The door opened, seemingly of it's own volition, and a moment later the half-orc screamed in pain.  He looked down at his leg to find a goblin chewing on his knee and a dagger shredding his calf.  Appearing in the doorway behind them was a slender elf with hair the same color as the raven sitting on her shoulder.  She quickly incanted and a spray of magic missiles soared across the room, half of them striking the half orc in the spine, and the others striking one of Zaiah's chains, breaking it.

Zaiah had only a moment to lock eyes with her half-sister before she was knocked nearly off her feet by the two armored figures that charged in. 

"Sharlo! Kagan! Get this other chain!" Zaiah shouted, "And don't let that son of a bitch die!" she pointed at the half-orc trying with little success to get the goblin off his leg. "Rutch!  Get your teeth off him.  He needs t-" her words were drowned out by the angry dwarf charging her.

The last thing Kagan had seen clearly was the outside of the building he was pretty sure that he was inside of now.  The rage clouded his vision a bit, and the sound of blood pumping in his ears hid most of the sounds of battle.  He ran at Zaiah screaming at the top of his lungs and leapt, using the table that still held Zaiah's backpack as a boost.  His flail struck Zaiah's other restraint, shattering it and taking a large chunk of the stone wall along with it.  

Zaiah looked over at Rutch.  He had done as instructed and was holding down an arm while Sharlo pummeled the half-orc with his gauntleted fists.  "Hey, I said don't kill him!" She quickly incanted and waved a hand in their general direction, thrusting a minor wave of healing magic across the room.  

 

"Is okay to bite, yeah?" Rutch looked up, his mouth dripping red from orc blood.  Zaiah didn't respond, but heard Sharlo call out, "No teeth Rutch!" before quickly running out the door to find her sister.

"Hey, you alright?" Zaiah flexed her gloved hands, churning up the latent magic embedded in them.  Lenore, folded up next to a barrel on the shabby porch of this place, held up her hand. 

"Every time things get violent those two fall into their same stupid contest of who can go stab someone first.  Or the hardest.  I hate people sometimes." Lenore let out a long sigh, "I'm fine, you?"

Zaiah laughed as she offered a hand up.  "That fucker has no idea what kind of fresh hell he unleashed."

"Zee, your words." interrupted Lenore, taking a breath as she got to her feet.  "Your words are gross."

 

Zaiah opted to not dig into Lenore for that.  "My actions are what you need to watch out for, hon."  She plucked the Mithral Sting hidden under a barrette in her hair and walked back into the building.

 

Inside, the now bloody and unconcious half-orc had been bound by the same chains that restrained Zaiah earlier.  Rutch and Sharlo were checking the backpack on the table, and Kagan was admiring his handiwork with the chains when one sister followed another through the door.  "Hey wait, we've got him already.  Don't waste your Sting on him." Lenore pleaded.  Sharlo looked at Kagan, and their eyes widened at hearing Lenore's mention of the Sting.  Rutch dropped the backpack and smiled big, resting his elbows on the table and his head in his hands.

Zaiah crouched down in front of the half-orc, her glare burning a hole into his head.  She whispered a few words of magic and placed a hand on his chest, healing up enough of the wounds Sharlo, Rutch, and Kagan inflicted to bring him back around.  When the half-orc's eyes fluttered open, they were met with the unblinking stare of Zaiah Kibrinina, a half-elven cleric who had little patience for excuses and a predisposition for revenge.

 

"Wakey wakey, sugarball." 

 

The half-orc quickly took stock of his situation and sighed, "Do what you will." he glanced at the others gathered over him, "I am familiar with your policies.  I won't die today, Pathfinders." he spat out the final word.  Zaiah's grin tightened.

"You're right.  You won't die today," said Zaiah, "But let me bring you up to speed.  I'm not a Pathfinder...yet.  Still kind of on the probational period I guess," she looked up and shrugged at her half-sister Lenore, who shrugged back "And while I can't kill you, I don't have to bring you back in mint condition." she held up the silver needle in her hands, only given to those in her order, and whispered a word in Elven that lit the needle up like a fire.

Sharlo spoke up, his voice full of unease, "Zee...he needs to be alive and able to talk if we're going to find out where his employers are."  Zaiah didn't acknowledge the champion's words, instead tracing symbols in the air only she could see--symbols designating the target of the Mithral Sting.

"Zaiah" Lenore tried appealing to her sister's senses one last time, "It'll be a waste.  You know those things are expensive."

Zaiah traced the final rune before her and pointed at the half-orc's left eye, "So is calling me a whore."

She released the needle.

 

She loved the screams.