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Old 09-09-2003, 04:33 PM   #25
Ealasaide
Shadow of Tyrn Gorthad
 
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: The Fencing Lyst
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Sting

Benia

Benia watched as Gilly climbed the stairs and closed the trapdoor behind her, leaving Benia alone again in the light of the candle the bounty hunter had left burning. Once Gilly had gone, Benia turned her eyes toward the flickering light only to see that the candle had burned down to a nub and was soon to go out.

"Oh, be careful, Gilly!" she whispered to herself. She had no idea where the bounty hunter had gotten off to, but, wherever it was, she had a feeling it was not terribly far away. In fact, he might be back at any moment. In afterthought, Benia wished she had let Gilly at least untie her, but was grateful Gilly had left her her little knife. At the time, she had been more concerned with keeping Gilly out of the clutches of Kaldir. Although she had said nothing to Gilly about it, she remembered clearly the sound of Kaldir's voice as he bent over her bed in the inn, his hand pressed firmly over her mouth, "If you cry out the first one through that door to be slain will be your friend, Gilly," he had growled in a low, forbidding tone. She had known at once that he was not one to bluff and that Gilly's life was in danger. She would not be responsible for Gilly's death.

Resolutely, Benia tested the knots that bound her wrists behind her. The rope was strong and the knots as firm as iron shackles. She wouldn't be untying them. If only she could work them around to the front, maybe she could cut through the ropes themselves with Gilly's knife. Rolling over on to her side, Benia stretched as far as she could and, with a good deal of effort, managed to slide her bound wrists over her hips to behind her knees. There she got tangled briefly in her skirts before finally being able to slide her bare feet through the circle of her arms. Her shoulders felt as though she had nearly dislocated them in the process, but she breathed a sigh of relief. She now had at least a fighting chance at freeing herself.

She found Gilly's knife in the pocket of her skirt and wedged it tightly between her feet. Her sprained ankle throbbed, but she ignored the pain and began to saw at the rope that held her wrists. She missed her own dagger, the one Kaldir had taken from her back at the inn. It had a longer blade and was always carefully honed to a fine edge. She had received it and its silver and lapis lazuli inlaid scabbard as a gift from Qirfah, the wife of the Painted Sand chieftain, when she had been formally recognized as her mother Benia the Fair's daughter and a member of the Painted Sand tribe. To lose it pained her greatly, but Benia put the thought of it out of her mind. She had larger troubles than just a lost dagger, although it did bother her to think of such a fine thing in the hands of a hunter like Kaldir. But she would have to let it go.

She blew a stray strand of black hair out of her eyes as she worked at the rope. It was a good little knife and sharper than she had expected, knowing that Gilly kept it more as a tool and kitchen utensil than a weapon. She was making slow progress through the thick fibers of the rope, but she was making progress. She paused to reposition the knife, listening for any sound from above that meant the bounty hunter was returning. Satisfied at last that there was nothing to be heard but the usual creaking of an old empty building, she returned to her work. A half hour passed before finally the last strand of rope popped apart and her wrists were free. She allowed herself a quick smile, nearly the first one since the time of her capture. She flung the cut ropes aside and, taking the knife in her hand, began sawing at the ropes that bound her feet. The night was passing quickly. She had to be out of the basement when Kaldir returned.

Last edited by piosenniel; 05-11-2006 at 10:37 AM.
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