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Chapter Forty-Four:

Goodbye, Father

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The glowing woman waited patiently for an answer.

Though her question had been directed at Dresmor, Jaelyn still felt compelled to answer it. Whoever or whatever this creature was, she was powerful and certainly not one to be trifled with.

And yet Dresmor had the gall to ignore her question as if she hadn't even spoken, and asked his own.

"What manner of being are you?"

Silence.

The woman's glowing body shifted and for a brief moment it looked to Jaelyn as if she was struggling to hold her form together, then it became steady once again.

"I am not of your world." she spoke finally, her voice resounding off the walls of the cave. "I come from a world far beyond yours...one that is no more."

"No more?" Jaelyn heard herself asking.

The woman shifted, her bright white eyes staring intently at Jaelyn. It was as if the woman was stripping Jaelyn of her physical body to peer at the soul beneath. "It was destroyed in war with another world similiar to my own. I am the sole survivor, the last of my kind."

Jaelyn cringed. "Oh...I'm sorry."

The woman waved a dismissive hand. "I care not for your pity."

Jaelyn shook her head as she slowly got to her feet now that Dresmor was too distracted by the woman to stop her. "I didn't mean to offend you. What happened in this war? How is it that you came to be here? And why are you here?"

"My people were connected with our world; we were born from the great rivers of energy that flowed beneath the land. Always we were linked to those streams of energy; they flowed through us as blood flows through your kind. Our enemies knew this.

"In the war, my people had fought strong and with great courage, but it was not enough. Our enemies attacked us with disease. A considerable number of my people who were tainted were forced to sever their connection to the rivers in an effort to keep the enemy's poison from entering the life rivers. This left them too weak to fight. Our numbers thinned quickly. And when there was but a small group of us left, our enemies made their final move. They poisoned the life rivers themselves. Had there been more of us alive, we could have removed their poison before it could do damage, but there was nothing we could do. There was not enough of us. Our only choice was to sever our connection to our world and flee.

"We retreated under the surface of our world, to a hidden portal that would lead us to safety. Our proud cities crumbled as we fled and the land decayed and broke apart in our wake. I was ahead of them when I entered the portal, but when I reached the haven on the other side and looked back, there was no one. I waited and waited, but none of my people came through the portal. I knew then that they had died...and I was the last.

"I was weak from battle, and without the life rivers flowing through me, I was made even weaker, close to death, but I knew I could not simply stay there in that haven and let death take me. I needed to find a way to heal myself. So, I journeyed through many portals and gates, and through the very cosmos itself for a world that could renew my life. I finally found your world. Initially, I had merely stopped here for rest, but I could feel something familiar in the land, something that reminded me of home and when I tried to meld with this...insignificant speck of land, I found myself connecting to great, flowing streams of energy. The energies of this world are weak compared to the ones of my former world, but over time they have healed me and now I am as strong as I was before. Scarred, but strong."

There was a long silence after the woman finished her story.

Jaelyn stood there in awe, unable to wrap her head around all she had just been told or to actually believe that she was standing before a being from another world. Sure, she'd heard stories about creatures and entities from other worlds, but she'd never imagined she'd meet one of them. To her, and probably to most people, these things were just myths, obscure stories passed through generations; things not to be taken seriously. But how do you ignore solid proof, standing before you? And how do you accept it?

Her mind was blown away.

She hardly even registered Dresmor's voice when he finally spoke.

"What essence do you speak of?"

"Your people call it...magic, yes?"

"Magic?" Jaelyn replied, her eyes wide.

"I have learned much of your world since melding with it. Yes, these energies you would call magic. My being is made of those same energies."

As Dresmor stared at this strange being with a look of evil intent, Jaelyn's jaw nearly hit the floor.

"A being made of pure magic..." Jaelyn stared at the woman for a long moment and then shook her head. "Wait, don't you need...uh, permission or something from the gods to draw magic out of the world like this?"

"If I needed permission, then it has been given. None of these deities you speak of have come to me or spoken to me. Either they do not know of my presence or they do not care what I am doing."

"Won't your enemies come looking for you?"

The woman's bright white eyes turned flame red and it became obvious to Jaelyn when the woman spoke that this was a sign of anger.

"I wish they would. If I could crush just one of them...But no, they will not come for me. Why would they? They have succeeded. My world and my people are no more. It is unlikely that they even know I am the last. They will have assumed that all died with the decay of the world."

"Why do you go on when you are the last?" Jaelyn asked. "You must now live to the end of your days with the knowledge that you're the last, you must live knowing all you loved is gone...your home, your family and friends. It must be difficult to continue."

"I go on for them. Through me, they live, even if it is only through memory and emotion. All the death, that war, would mean nothing if I do not go on. I survived for a reason."

Dresmor gave her a sneering grin. "Indeed. It is merely a shame that it is not for the reason you think."

Jaelyn turned to him then, her fists clenching at her sides. "You're not going to use that spell on her. You will go through me first."

"As I intend to do and without much difficulty."

"Stop." the woman said, holding up a green glowing hand. "If this one intends to harm me, let him try."

Jaelyn looked at her, frowning. "You don't understand. He will use a spell on you that will suck the very life and power out of you to strengthen himself!"

"A spell...it must be spoken, yes?" the woman replied, calmly. "Do you honestly believe that he can speak those words before I attack him?"

"We will see, won't we?" Dresmor said.

"No, we won't!" Jaelyn shouted at him.

She knew the woman could defend herself if she needed to, but she had been through enough. The destruction of her home and the loss of her people...that was bad enough. She shouldn't have to deal with a deranged, power-hungry psychopath who wanted nothing more than to drain the life out of her. Jaelyn was unsure if his spell would even work on the woman, but she wasn't taking the chance.

She looked at the woman, her expression firm and resolute. "I will deal with him. This is my fight and you deserve your peace."

Dresmor laughed. "I will be doing her a favor. She will be released from her lonely existence."

Jaelyn moved, putting herself between him and the woman. "If she didn't want to survive, she wouldn't have fought so hard to. Your madness ends here."

Dresmor let out a growl and swung his fist at her, while at the same time he voiced arcane words.

Jaelyn's arm shot out to block his fist and silenced him with a blow to the mouth. His teeth cut into her knuckles.

He staggered away, but Jaelyn never hesitated to close in, a fierce expression on her face.

She moved in a combination of attacks, her fists a blur as they struck him repeatedly. Dresmor struggled to keep up with her. He was only capable of parrying a few of her attacks and he was too preoccupied with keeping up with her to utter any spells.

Jaelyn knew that as long as she kept up this speed, she would have him beat.

She pushed attack after attack, her mind running through the manuels of hand to hand combat that had been added to her knowledge. Her form moved as gracefully as a dancer's, her feet floating in and out of stances and her hands striking hard at soft targets. She was vaguely aware of how natural it felt. It was as if she had always known how to fight on this skill level.

On one of Dresmor's successful parries, he issued a counterattack, his first since their fight had begun. His hand struck at her and her left arm blocked it wide. She lifted her foot to slam it into his stomach, but his other hand shot out and grabbed it, giving it a nasty twist. Jaelyn threw her body in the same direction he twisted her foot to keep him from breaking her ankle and used the momentum to swing her other foot into his face.

They both crashed to the floor.

Jaelyn was on her feet first.

She moved quickly over to her sword, noticing in dismay how close it was within Dresmor's reach.

He noticed this as well.

His hand fell on it before she could reach it. Jaelyn altered her path and made for him instead. He threw out his hand toward her, shouting words to a spell.

A brilliant flash of white light filled her vision, blinding her. She threw up her hands to shield her eyes and stumbled away.

Dresmor, with sword in hand, jumped to his feet. When the light faded, he thrust the weapon at his disoriented daughter, the blade aimed for her chest.

Jaelyn opened her eyes a second too late. She could do nothing to defend herself in time.

In those brief seconds of which she was certain were all she had remaining, Jaelyn heard a keen whistling noise. It was followed by Dresmor's shout of pain.

His arm jerked and he dropped the sword at her feet.

Jaelyn blinked, her eyes wide as she stood there in utter shock and surprise to the fact that she was still alive when she was supposed to be dead.

She vaguely heard someone shout her name, but she was too stricken to look around and see who it was.

Dresmor looked down at his arm, at the dagger sticking out of him just above his iron armguard. He grabbed the hilt and yanked it out with a growl.

Jaelyn immediately noticed the familiar bone handle and curved blade of the weapon.

She snapped back to reality and looked around, finding her friends standing at the entrance to the cavern with their weapons drawn. She smiled at them and wanted nothing more than to rush over and embrace them, but the fight was not finished.

Jaelyn sensed sudden movement and when she looked back at Dresmor, he was reaching down for the sword.

She quickly slammed her foot on the blade, cocked her elbow and threw it into Dresmor's face, breaking his nose in a spray of blood.

He staggered back with a growl, wiped a hand across his bloody nose as he regained his composure and then sliced the dagger at her. Jaelyn ducked low, grabbed the sword from the ground and slashed upward at her opponent as she straightened up. The blade came within an inch of cutting into Dresmor's stomach, but he evaded quick enough to save himself.

He followed up with an attack of his own, the dagger first thrusting in at her only to be blocked. It then cut at an angle toward her throat. Jaelyn bent back a bit to avoid it. The weapon came back on a downward slice and it was met with her blade. Jaelyn forced the dagger up with her sword, opening up Dresmor's midsection to attack. She kicked him back a bit, just enough to give her sword some room to manuever. Jaelyn followed immediately with the same attack she had made on Bishop not long ago after Feral's burial. Only this time the attack was not made in blind rage. It was aimed perfectly, came in with the right amount of force, and was too quick to be avoided.

The blade sliced across Dresmor's chest and stomach, biting deep and forcing a pained cry from the drow. Blood dribbled out of the wound. Jaelyn followed her attack with another, one that would end the bastard's life. She thrust her sword in at his stomach. It went in a mere inch before Dresmor dropped the dagger and halted her blade from going in any further, holding the flat of it between his palms. All that kept it from ending his life was his own strength.

Jaelyn met his eyes, her expression firm and determined.

"You had your chance to turn away from this." she said to him.

She pressed her sword forward.

Dresmor grit his teeth as he pressed his palms more firmly onto the blade, the edge cutting into his hands. He began backing away to lessen the press of the sword, but he knew this was a mistake, for he was backing towards the cavern wall.

He didn't have a choice.

"No." he growled. "It will not end...not now, not like this! You will not defeat me! You will not-"

His words ended in an agonized groan as his back finally hit the wall and the blade sank into his stomach. His eyes widened and he tried to say something but all that came out was another terrible groan.

Jaelyn stepped back and ripped her sword from his gut.

Dresmor held his hands over his fatal wound and slipped to his knees before her. Blood poured over his hands.

"This...can't be."

Jaelyn looked down at him. There were tears in her eyes. "All you had to do was turn away from the path you were on. Some part of you had to know your plan would never succeed."

He gave a pained laugh. "It might have. I simply never expected you to kill your own father."

She grit her teeth. Her tears spilled over onto her cheeks. "You left me with no choice."

He laughed again. "You are more drow than you think."

Anger coursed through her at his words. "Don't confuse my intentions with your own. I did what had to be done for a greater good, to protect what you would have destroyed in hatred!"

"You will come to see my reasons for this one day. You will come to see that the...Unh!..." he paused as a wave of deep pain passed through him. "...that the elves of the surface deserve what I would have done to them."

Jaelyn shook her head. "No, I won't."

She bent to retrieve her dagger from where Dresmor had dropped it and then turned away from him to make her way over to the strange, green glowing woman, who had been watching everything unfold in an impassive manner.

"Finish it!" Dresmor called at her back. "Finish what you started, for I am not yet dead."

Jaelyn paused in her steps to look over her shoulder at him. "You want it to be quick. That is a mercy you don't deserve."

She faced forward again and stood at the edge of the pond of green energy, which swirled and sparked beneath the woman's feet.

"You should have peace again." Jaelyn said to the woman. "The drow on the island should have been taken care of. I doubt any that still live will pose a threat to you or the natives. Things will be getting back to normal here now. Well, back to whatever is considered normal here."

"Indeed." the woman replied. "I thank you for what you have done here. This...is my home now. And the natives, as you call them, have inadvertently become my people. I have been quite limited in what I can do here and I have not always been able to help the natives. Without the help of you and your friends, I doubt the natives would've survived the threat they have faced. Though you have done a great deed, I do have something more to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"I ask that you do not reveal my true form to the natives."

"Why not? Don't they deserve to know?"

"The natives are happy as they are and as long as the magical energies keep flowing through your world, I will remain here and watch over them the best I can. I will remain that vague divine presence they call the Heart of the Island. To strip them of all they've ever known and based their religion and origins on would devestate them."

Jaelyn nodded. "I agree, though I wonder if you simply want to hold onto the rank of 'divine being'."

"No." the woman replied, unoffended. "It was never a desire of mine to become a divine being to these people, but it is what I must do now."

"Then your true nature will remain a secret."

"Thank you. And now what of him?" She pointed at Dresmor.

Jaelyn looked over her shoulder at him. He was sitting with his back to the cavern wall in a slumped, limp position and in a puddle of his own blood. Jaelyn could see that he was still breathing, albeit slowly. His death was coming slow.

"He'll die soon." she said. "One of the natives will be down to retrieve his body. No doubt they won't want his rotting corpse defiling sacred ground."

"Very well. I will now return to my 'disguise'." the woman stated. "Again, thank you for your deeds this day and may we never meet again...at least not under these circumstances."

With that, the woman began to lose her form. The bright white lights that were her eyes faded and then her body seemed to melt until it reunited with the pool of green energy.

Jaelyn sighed and turned away to join her companions.

The trio stood there in silence for a few moments, looking at each other. Quin was the first to break it.

"Are you all right?"

"I don't know." Jaelyn replied, shaking her head, her eyes welling up again. "I know what I had to do, but...he was still my father."

"Is that why you didn't finish him off?" Bishop inquired.

She didn't answer.

"Who was that glowing woman?" Quin asked.

"The Heart of the Island."

"But...I thought the Heart of the Island was magic?"

"She is."

"Huh?"

Jaelyn sighed and laid a hand on the halfling's shoulder. "A long story, my friend, and one I would rather tell over a strong drink and a hot meal."

"Good idea!" Quin piped. He looked up at her and grinned. "It's finally over. We won, Jae."

"I guess so." she replied. "I want to thank both of you...for being there. I couldn't have done any of this without-"

"Here she goes again." groused the ranger with a roll of his eyes.

Jaelyn made a face at him. "Stop interrupting me. Everytime I try to tell you how I feel you cut me off."

"I already know how you feel. You don't have to spout it at me every chance you get."

"You'd think you'd want to know how much you're appreciated and loved."

"Didn't need it before and don't need it now." Bishop replied. "If we're done here, let's go. It's a long trip back to the surface and the sooner were out of this hole, the better."

Jaelyn shook her head and reminded herself to be patient with him. It wasn't easy. Sometimes she just wanted to smack him.

"All right." she said. "Just remember not to say anything to the natives about what you saw down here. I doubt they'd believe it, anyway, but it's better to not take the risk."

"But don't they have the right to know the truth?" Quin asked.

"It's not our place to interfere." she replied. "We've done enough of that already. If the woman wants them to know, she will tell them herself. And that's the way it should be."

Quin made an uncertain face. "I guess..."

"So you won't say anything?"

The halfling shook his head. "Of course not."

Jaelyn nodded. "Right." She looked at Bishop with an expectant expression.

He snorted. "As much trouble as they've put us through, I should tell them. They damn well deserve it."

Jaelyn frowned, heatedly. "I swear to the gods, if you say something, I'm going to rip your arm off and beat you to death with it."

He smirked at the threat. "Relax, drow. It's not even worth the effort. Like you said, they probably wouldn't believe it, anyway."

With that, he turned away to make for the tunnel that led back to the surface.

Quin tugged on Jaelyn's arm. "Let's go!"

He jogged off after the ranger.

Jaelyn remained there a moment longer, looking around the cavern as if already recalling what had happened there after a long absence. She then gave a deep sigh and followed after her friends.

Across the cavern, with his back still to the stone wall, Dresmor fought his end while his blood continued to pour from the wound in his stomach.

In a final act of hatred, he reached a weak hand to the wall, pressing it flat against the stone, and with his final breaths, he spoke the words of a spell. Then he died with a smile on his face.

The floor and walls shook and vibrated. There was a loud crack and a rumble as the stone arc of the entranceway to the cavern and the wall above it fissured.

Jaelyn had been approaching it when she saw it happen. Her friends were right below it; there was no time to consider what might happen to herself. They would be crushed if she didn't react.

Jaelyn dashed forward, yelling for them to run.

As was most people's reaction, they both turned around to see what was going on.

Jaelyn entered the tunnel a moment before the stone came crashing down in pieces, giving her friends a shove away from the collapsing entrance.

The tunnel filled with Jaelyn's cry and the sound of falling rocks.

Then there was nothing but silence...and darkness.

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When the dust settled, Quin lowered his arms from his head and looked up and around, wincing slightly from the numerous cuts on his face and arms.

He couldn't see a thing. The tunnel was pitch black.

There was dirt and dust in his nose, mouth, and throat. He coughed and spat it out as he pushed himself up from the floor, wondering what in the hells had happened.

The entrance had collapsed, that much was obvious, but he wondered what had caused it to do so in the first place.

If it hadn't been for Jaelyn he would surely be dead right now. Jaelyn...

Jaelyn! Oh, gods!

Quin, in a panic, began feeling around the ground, hoping and praying to come in contact with her, hoping and praying that she was all right.

"Jaelyn!" he called out. "Where are you?"

No answer.

He next called out the ranger's name and there was no answer from him either.

Quin's heart sank.

What if they're both...No! Don't think like that!

He continued feeling around until he finally came in contact with someone. Relief filled him. By the sensation of leather and hard muscle under his hands, he knew he'd found Bishop.

By the rise and fall of the man's chest, Quin knew he was still alive, but when the halfling called his name again, he still did not respond.

In the utter darkness, Quin couldn't tell if he had any injuries. If he did, touching or moving him would likely make them worse.

He called for Jaelyn a final time and when he got no answer again, he decided he had no choice but to try to get a response out of Bishop.

He shook the man repeatedly, calling out his name.

It took a few tries but the ranger finally gave a groan as he came to with a massive headache.

The ranger slowly sat up, raising a hand to the back of his head where that agonizing pounding was coming from. It came away a bit damp. There were other cuts and bruises on him, but they were nothing compared to that ache at the back of his skull.

"What in the hells happened?"

"Cave in, I guess." came the halfling's voice from beside him.

Bishop tried in vain to see Quin through the darkness. There wasn't a speck of light anywhere.

"I can't find Jaelyn." the halfling went on, his voice quivering. "I-I called to her, but she doesn't answer. What if...What if she's...gods...she can't be!"

A hand fought through the darkness and grabbed the halfling's shoulder. It was a strong, painful grip.

"We can't do anything in this dark. Go find some light."

But Quin remained there, near hysteria. There were tears on his face. "She just can't be, not after all this! Gods! Why her? She's our friend! If she's gone...she died because of us! She saved our lives, but she-"

A loud smack resounded in the tunnel, echoing along the walls. Somehow, the back of Bishop's hand found the halfling's face.

"Stop blubbering and go find some fucking light!"

Quin held a hand to his stinging face. Although shocked that he'd done it, the blow had still succeeded in clearing the halfling's mind of the depressing thoughts of death.

He hopped to his feet, his heart racing with the spike of adrenaline that ran through him.

"Where?"

"There was another cavern back the way we came. There was a torch there. Be quick about it."

"Right!"

Without further ado, the halfling made his way back through the tunnel as quick as he could manage in the darkness, keeping one hand out in front of him for any obstacles and feeling along the walls with the other to give himself direction.

The only thing that mattered to the halfling was finding that torch, and by the gods, he would find it.

While Quin made his way back, Bishop felt along the floor, trying to locate where the cave in was.

There was a terrible knot in his stomach and an ache in his chest that he blamed on the cave in. In the back of his mind-the part he tended to ignore most of the time, as he was trying to do now-he knew it had nothing to do with that.

He knew what he would likely find under all those damn rocks: Jaelyn's crushed form. She couldn't survive that.

He tried to shut the thought out, as well as the fact that she had likely given her life for him; he tried to ignore the image of her dead, broken body that kept flashing across his mind, but those things remained to torture him as he continued to feel along the stone ground.

His hands grazed over pebbles and pieces of rocks until they finally touched the wall of broken stones. He ran his hands over them to get an idea of how big they were, if any of them could be moved. He knew it was a bad idea to move any rocks before he had light to judge the structure of the collapse, which areas were weak and would likely collapse further if he removed any of the stones, but at this point, he simply didn't care. She was under there somewhere, and he was going to get her out.

Bishop began carefully removing what rocks he could, starting from the top and working his way down.

Some time later, he had a good number of small rocks laying behind him and still a good deal more to move in front of him. He was exhausted and sweating from the toil, but he didn't pause. That was, until his hand grazed something of a different texture among all the hard, cold stones. It was something soft and fleshy.

His heart was pounding as he moved what rocks he could from around the soft object, eventually uncovering a hand, by the feel of it. It was a small hand, one he knew well, for he'd held it before, knew its softness.

It was only slightly warm and he was uncertain if the fading warmth was because she was dead or because it had simply been surrounded by cold stones.

Regardless, he gripped her hand tight, letting her know, if she was alive and conscious, that someone was there.

There was no response to his touch.

"Drow!" he called out.

Nothing.

"Jaelyn...answer me, damn you!"

There were several agonizing moments of nothing, then he felt the slightest pressure of her hand as it tried to squeeze his.

He let out a breath, relieved that he'd finally gotten a response from her and wasn't wasting his efforts on a dead body.

"Keep hanging on, drow."

Bishop removed a few more rocks from around her with his free hand. There were too many of them, and as far as he could tell, she was buried deep under them. It was a wonder she was still alive.

He paused, wiped his brow on his arm and cast a look over his shoulder in hopes of seeing the flicker of a torch making its way toward them. There was nothing but that endless dark.

Where in the hells was that halfling?

A soft moan brought his attention back around to Jaelyn. Her hand tried to squeeze his again, but the pressure was much weaker than it was the first time.

He heard her voice then, muffled and filled with pain, but he still understood her nonetheless.

"Hurts...everywhere."

"Don't think about it." he replied. "Think about something else."

He felt a tremor run through her. "Hurts...too much."

Bishop frowned. "Don't give me that. You survived two crossbow bolts in the back, drow imprisonment, and whatever that sword did to you. This should be nothing."

There was a long moment of silence before she spoke again, her voice weak and barely audible.

"Sorry."

"I don't want to hear it." he said, angrily. "I just want you to live."

There was another long moment of silence from her. Then:

"Sleepy..."

"Don't close your eyes; don't give in to it. Keep talking to me."

"I'll...try..."

"No, there's no trying. If you want to stay alive, you'll do it. Tell me what happened in there, in that cavern."

So she did. It hurt to even talk, but underneath all the agony, she knew he was right. If she didn't stay conscious, she was going to die. So she recounted what had happened in the cave earlier, keeping her mind focused on the events and away from the pain trying to drag her under. Her voice was slurred and weak when she spoke.

Sometime later, the walls of the tunnel were beginning to lighten and Bishop looked back over his shoulder to see the halfling returning with the torch.

Quin was out of breath when he reached the man's side.

The first thing he noticed was the hand Bishop held in his own.

A look of deep anxiety and concern creased the halfling's face. "Oh gods...is she...is she alive?"

"For now." the man replied. "Set up that torch somewhere and help me move these damn rocks."

Quin nodded and set the torch in the pile of broken stones behind them, wedging it between two rocks to hold it in place. He then moved to help the ranger.

It took a lot of time, over thirty minutes or so to move the rocks, and it took good judgment to know which rocks to move to avoid the mass from collapsing further on top of the drow. Any more pain and she would no longer be able to fight; the temptation to free herself from the agony would be too much.

When they had her completely uncovered, Bishop immediately noticed that one of her legs was broken, the other was tucked beneath the broken leg, had been saved from being crushed. Her body was curled up a bit, her right arm, which was also broken, covered her head. If she hadn't done that, more than likely her head would've been crushed by the rocks. She was conscious still, but she looked dazed and disoriented.

She was cut up and bruised all over, but as far as he could tell none of her injuries were life-threatening. Cuts could be bandaged and bones could be mended.

He bent down next to her to check her head, neck, and back for any abnormalities. It all looked fine, so he gently moved her until she was laying flat on her back and them motioned to the halfling for light.

Quin brought it over, holding it just out of the way of anyone getting burnt.

They both noticed it at the same moment, the large shard of rock embedded in Jaelyn's chest, dangerously close to her heart. It was in deep, blood seeping out from around it, leaving a good portion of her top soaked in it. The shard was too deep to be removed at the moment; it was probably keeping her from bleeding to death.

"Hells."

Quin blinked back his tears. "That's not good. That's really not good. We have to get her out of here."

"Her arm and leg need to be splinted first." And as Bishop said those words, he realized he had nothing to splint them with.

So, he did the next best thing. He pulled off his shirt, found his knife on Jaelyn's person and used it to cut the garment into strips of cloth.

After several agonized cries from Jaelyn, he had the broken leg splinted to her unbroken one. He looked up after the task was done to figure out what to do with her arm and noticed her eyes struggling to stay open. His heart sank.

"No!" he shouted at her to no effect. He leaned over her and smacked her face lightly. "Open your eyes."

His hand slipped beneath her head, raising it a bit off the ground, hoping the movement would cause her to open her eyes. At the same time, he kept smacking her face with his other hand. "Look at me."

Her brows drew together and she let out a moan. There was an annoyed expression on her face when her eyes opened once again to mere slits. Weakly, she reached out with her good hand to slap his away from her face, whimpering when a wave of deep pain crashed through her.

He grabbed her hand, held it, and smiled down at her. "Stay awake and I won't have to do it."

Trusting that she would remain conscious, Bishop set about putting her right arm in a sling, the best he could do for it with nothing to splint it to.

"Will she be all right?" Quin asked from behind the man.

He shrugged. "The bones will mend...the other wound doesn't look good." He moved closer to Jaelyn, preparing to lift her up. "Lead the way out, half-man, and fast."

Quin moved without hesitation, making his way down the tunnel a bit to light the way.

Bishop lifted the drow up with him as gently as possible. When her head fell against his shoulder, he held her a little more tighter against him.

"Stay with me." he said to her in a voice only loud enough for her to hear, then he followed after the halfling.