Mantle of the Gods

Rix was thrown face first into the floor of the cave.

“Are you really going to give them four days?” One of her captors asked.

She flexed against her bonds. Her feet had started to tingle. The restraints weren’t cutting off the circulation, but they were tight enough that her extremities were starting to go to sleep.

The redhead inched her way deeper into the cave. It wasn’t very deep and since none of her captors were dragging her back, she assumed that they had checked for a way that she could escape, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try to find a way out. In her experience, any deal not sealed with magic got modified by the person with the upper hand. She might be on the second floor, but she still would rather take her chances with the monsters than let herself be used as a bargaining chip by her captors.

They weren’t very good at using rope as restraints, given that while they had fought the boss, she’d managed to loosen the knot enough that she slipped it off her hands, then untied herself the rest of the way. She thought about attacking the other group and even without a weapon, she had a feeling she could win while they didn’t have their weapons out.

The problem with that was what they could do to her team if she failed again. She didn’t like leaving this unresolved, but she’d rather this group chase her rather than harass her team.

She’d meant what she’d said earlier about being better able to handle herself. This wasn’t the first time she’d been a prisoner. She’d gotten out then and she was certain that she could get out now.

Since they weren’t paying attention to her, she decided to explore the cave a little. If she didn’t find anything useful, she only had to wait until they went to bed. A single sentinel wasn’t going to be able to keep her in the cave. She smiled as she thought about the second years chasing her. At least that way they wouldn’t be able to hamper the team’s ability to complete the stupid challenge.

As she slid against the wall, one of the larger rocks gave way. The redhead checked to see if anyone had heard, but none of them looked her way, so she turned to inspect it. The hole went down at an angle farther than she could see. She tossed a rock down it and after a few seconds of not hearing anything decided that this trapdoor was her way out.

Rix wrapped the rope around her arms, it was the only weapon she was going to have for a while, but she’d gotten by with less before. She spared one last look at her captors and grinned.

“Hey losers!”

Only their black-haired leader turned to look at her. “How do you keep getting the… HEY SHE’S FREE!”

The whole group scrambled to their feet, but she was already gone, sliding down the chute to somewhere that would take these bullies far away from the people she’d started to care about.