Hot breath blasted over Wyheree as she looked around - the red dragon was close, close enough she could smell its hot sulfur breath..... the others will be here soon, they would not leave her to face the dragon alone..... suddenly it burst from the cave, its breath reeking like rotten eggs, a huge claw raised back to swipe at her face....

Impact to her face jarred Wyh fully awake - the dragon, it had been a dream. Yet - the stinging across her cheek, something struck her. Blinking slowly, she opened her eyes - and what she saw made them glitter in anger. The face - she knew him, she had seen him at the Inn on occasion, she knew that his presence agitated Icer, so she always made a point to watch him. It had been months and months since she had last seen him - why was she here?

Never had she been so hot - not even by the volcano had she felt such heat. Struggling against the bonds only served to make them hotter - so hot, she swore she could feel blisters rising. If she could get her hands free - but the searing pain finally forced her to stillness. Only her eyes moved - glowing silver from within as she glared at him.

Before she could speak, he torn the sleeve of her blouse - one she wore when aboard ship, and the needle slid in like hot metal - making her grit her teeth to keep from screaming. Silvery sweat began to trickle down her temples as he turned to set the needle down, the boule filled with glimmering silver liquid - her blood.

Struggling once again, Wyheree finally rediscovered her voice - and spat at the man, for though she knew his face, she did not recall his name.

"Release me at once - you have no right to hold me here!"

As if to test his words, Wyheree unleashed her icy tendrils - or tried to, at least, until stabbing pains shot through her wrists. When she tried phasing, excruiciating pain stabbed all through her entire body, until she finally slumped in the chair which served as her prison, staring up at the man with glittering eyes, her teeth clenched tightly - Wyheree would not scream.

Even though the pain was almost intolerable, Wyheree kept struggling against the bonds - silver eyes widening as she realized he had planned this, designed ways to hold her, neutralizing her powers.

His hand yanked hard in her pale hair, making Wyh hiss with pain - he twisted as he pulled back, making her eyes sting as she was forced to meet that horrible auburn stare. Words were spat through clenched teeth - no matter what, she flat-out refused to scream.

"I am no one's toy."

The words barely left her lips when his hand crushed across her face - stars danced before her eyes from the sheer force of the blow. No one she knew had strength like that - not even the worst of the crew, and the last person to lay hands on her - she had laid them against the alley wall with an ice blast. Unfortunately, the involuntary surge of power sent agony through her hands ands arms, compounded when he violently let go of her head and pulled her back over the chair, locking her in an even worse position. Struggling was useless - as it just made the pain stab through her back.

From the corner of her watering eye, Wyheree saw him move to the table and take something in his hand - and fear began racing through her. All sorts of possibilities and outcomes swam in her mind - and none of them had happy endings. Struggling weakly as her back arched and bent in a way nature never intended - the heat blistering through her bonds, she made every effort to keep her voice free from fear as she spoke once more.

"What is that in your hand?"

As he loomed over her, Wyheree fought in the bonds - her silver eyes stinging with tears of utter frustration. The chair ground into the small of her back, no matter how she arched and wriggled to ease the pain. Even within the syringe, she felt the heat of the mixture - and she squirmed away from the needle, digging the bonds deeper into her blistered wrists.

"No - I will not sta-"

At that moment, the single drop of fluid dripped on the hollow of her throat - burning with a heat far, far worse than the proximity of the volcano. There, she had been able to move, to escape. Now - she was bound fast, unable to even move - let alone flee. A sound forced its way past her gritted teeth as her delicate skin bubbled and sizzled where the fluid touched. Fear glimmered in her silver eyes - she felt the fire and the earth in that drop - no.. somehow he had made liquid magma.

As the needle approached her arm, another sound - almost a whimper, slpped past her lips as she squirmed, trying to stop the needle's descent. The needle burned even worse than the one he had used to draw her blood - and when he pressed the syringe, emptying its contents into her, she lasted all of about a second before her back arched against the chair - and she screamed in utter pain and anguish, silver lines running from her eyes down her bruised cheeks as she felt her insides literally burning.

Even as the magma "cocktail" ripped through her bloodstream, her organs - even through her screaming, Wyheree had a glimmer of hope. One man - surely she could somehow break free and overpower one mortal man. All the time spent in the Outback and the Arena would surely come in handy against one - surely she could escape and find her way back home.....

As her body absorbed and altered the liquid, her screams lessened - and she was finally able to open her eyes once again, silvery tears streaming down her cheeks. She blinked - she felt someone nearby, walking around her, studying her like she was on exhibition at the menagerie - someone much taller than the first man. Wyheree's small glimmer of hope flickered and died - she knew that while she might have been able to overpower one man, two men was another matter entirely. Incredibly, she jerked her head towards this new one - prompting him to slide out of her extremely limited range as he breathed in all the fear she could not hide. Resolve - a faint shimmer deep in the recesses of her mind, gave Wyh something to cling to - she would prove them both wrong, she would indeed see her beloved, her family - all her friends - she would see them again.

Suddenly, without warning - without the taunting of the first man, bolt after bolt of lightning ripped through her still-damaged body. Once, she had absorbed lightning (for it was supercharged air, after all) and used it to boost her already formidible powers to aid her brother in a battle against a powerful enemy. This time, this lightning was not charged air - this was beyond her experiences, for no one in Greyhawk used magic the way this man did. Purple lit up her vision - the cell was awash in a sea of purple, and although she could not hear the man's words - Wyheree screamed her agony until the cell echoed in the sound.

Bonded to her sister, the dragon could feel the fear, the pain, the irritation, and she concentrated, trying some way to reach out to Wyheree.

They were sisters after all, each time she received nothing but pain, yet she would not give up, she was not one to abandon kin.

Eyes had widened and she writhed as the link, the bond shared the latest pain her sister felt, still she had to get through.

As the door slammed shut behind them he stopped to lean against it, waiting for the feelings of fear, pain, and anguish to overtake her once again. Romax shivered excitedly as Wyheree began to sob helplessly. He snapped out of it a few moments later and turned to check the control panel that was recessed into the wall. Making sure all of settings were good he quickly keyed the feeds to register on his lab computer so that he would be able to watch, and listen, to her while he worked; it would surely make the night go faster. Tucking the vial of Wyheree?s blood into one of the pouches on his belt he walked towards the turboshaft whistling a dark tune that Travanix had taught him.

Ten minutes. Twenty. Thirty. One hour. Several hours. A day. Several days. There was no way for Wyheree to tell just how long the two men had been gone. There were no windows, no clocks, no devices of any kind that would somehow give her an idea of just how long she?d been alone; not to mention how long she?d been held here. Without warning the two men once again came through the door, Romax taking the lead as he was laden with ?goodies? for Wyheree. In each of his hands were several more vials of the red-orange liquid magma that they had synthesized specially for her. Resting on his right hip was a six-inch cylindrical device that she could only guess at as to its nature and purpose. She would find out soon enough.

He tapped the wall control and the platform that she was on began to widen just enough for the two men to be able to stand on and maneuver around comfortably. Without a though to the still-gaping hole in the floor Romax simply walked ahead towards the far wall, where his next step should have taken him down into the magma he just continued to walk along as if there were solid ground under his feet; there wasn?t. Carefully placing the vials in his left hand into his right to rest with the others, he reached out and through the Force pulled the tray-table embedded in the wall out just enough to hold the six vials. Setting them down gently he moved back to Wyheree and began to circle about her, staring at her in a most analytical fashion.

After a moment or two of study he stepped back to the edge of the platform and removed the device from his belt. Tapping the small activation switch a four foot long laser coil sprang from the end of the handle, the laser whip humming softly as it ramped up to full power. Without a word he reared back and cracked the whip against the closest wall, watching with a dark smile on his face as the laser scored the steel and sent sparks flying in every direction. A second crack of the whip would find a tear in her garment and a long, burning welt across her flawless skin. Suddenly the air was filled with the sound of the cracking of the whip as more tears and more welts became evident. Several of those welts were now slick with her glimmering sliver blood as her skin was torn by the beam of energy; each cut to her tender flesh was paper-thin. Romax was an expert with the whip and it showed as he methodically worked her over from shoulders to toes. He loved his work.

"Poor wyheree..." He said, his voice faking sympathy. What was worse, however, was when he said her name, there was no respect in the tone, as if she were just a thing. "All cut up and bleeding. The pain, must be so hard." As Romax did, so did he: he walked across the magma as well. "I enjoyed your screams from earlier. I hope you do not mind, but I have sold them to a few associates of ours. They will enjoy listening to you as well."

He stepped a little closer as Romax recalled the laser whip. He placed the unnaturally chilled finger on now exposed flesh near one of her wounds. "That looks horrible. I hope it does not hurt too badly." He walked around her body. He could feel the anger, the frustration - but nothing as deep as the fear and terror that radiated from her body. A bottle of clear fluid flew through the air, slapping his hand sharply. He looked, Romax was containing a near-insane chuckle. He looked back at wyheree, smirking darkly.

"You know, I can make this end. I can take this pain away completely." He caressed her cheek gently. "Something your friends have failed to do so far." He shook his head. "They really must not care that you are missing. I am sure that even by now, they have called off the search, and gone back to their own lives." He moved down to the side where Romax had been when he whipped her.

He unscrewed the lid from the bottle. As soon as the lid was off, the stench of alcohol. He saw her eyes go wide, when she smelt it. Of course, he methodically poured the clear fluid into each of her wounds slowly, making sure that they were going to get taken care of. "We would not want you to get diseased from any of this." He handed the empty bottle to Romax and took one of the viles of orange and red chemicals.

"Perhaps, if you begged for your release..." One of the viles were cracked open under his fingers. "But then again, maybe it does not matter." He began pouring the liquid heat directly into her wounds.

In a way, she was now his musical instrument: The size of the drop that fell from the vile and splashed into her wounds. Each drop was a different size and shape. He moved his hand above her body like playing; small drops falling upon her would cause a shriek or a hiss of air. Larger drops, however, caused a more primal scream. If he poured it quickly, the screams were short - long streams, however, caused her to scream until the chemical drip was stopped.

In a strange sort of way, the tone and tempo was the same as that dark tune the dark form had begun to whistle as he went about his business. He shook his head, a dark smirk on his lips as he listened to her various sounds. When the vile was emptied, he dropped into the molten pit beneath him. "Well, that was the entertainment portion of our evening. I do so hope you enjoyed it. We will have a brief interlude as your mind is raked over hot coals."

He leaned forward, touching her forehead briefly. In her weakened state, she stood no resistance against his mental assult that would leave her in a dream state. Words directed to his associate would be heard through a fog. "Make sure she suffers." The two began to laugh, the sound echoing around her, sure to invade the nightmares.

With the laser whip shut down and replaced on his belt once more, Romax indeed had to hide an insane chuckle as the clear vial of alcohol flew across the room to land in Travanix?s hand. A genuinely dark smile spread across his face as he listened to Travanix speak to Wyheree.

"You know, I can make this end. I can take this pain away completely. Something your friends have failed to do so far. They really must not care that you are missing. I am sure that even by now, they have called off the search, and gone back to their own lives.?

Romax laughed harshly as Travanix worked over each of the major slices in her skin with the alcohol and his laughter only became more enthusiastic as she tried to avoid the sting of the clear fluid by twisting and contorting her body this way and that. Romax gladly took the empty vial of alcohol from Travanix and as his partner turned to the liquid magma to elicit more screams and whimpers from the elemental he simply dropped the vial into the pool of magma just behind him. As Travanix cracked the vial of magma open over Wyh?s body he reveled as the feelings of her despair rose to wash over him, just as her pain and anguish had been doing all along.

Closing his eyes so he would be able to drown out everything else but the sound of her screaming, Romax waved his fingers as if he were conducting the symphony that Travanix?s ?musical instrument? was playing in; a symphony of pain. When the dark little tune was over his eyes only opened half way as something in the Force began to nag at the back of his mind. Stretching out with his senses he was able to see the city as if he were looking down on it from a shuttle overhead. Suddenly it was as if someone had pressed a button to zoom the picture in because he was now focused on the dock area, more specifically: the harbor. What he saw caused him to laugh so hard that within seconds he was gasping for breath and holding his chest with his left hand. He could hear Travanix speak but wasn?t able to respond at first.

"Well, that was the entertainment portion of our evening. I do so hope you enjoyed it. We will have a brief interlude as your mind is raked over hot coals. Make sure she suffers."

Romax continued his dark laughter for a few moments more as Travanix used the Force to place Wyheree in a dream-like state and he nodded to his partner in crime before he spoke.

?I have just the thing in mind, Travanix. While I am working why don?t you cast your senses out over the harbor and see just what it is that she will be seeing??

Ever the opportunist, Romax stepped around Travanix as he moved to stand near Wyh?s head. Straddling her head with his feet, Romax dropped to his knees and painstakingly cracked his knuckles before placing the tips of his index and middle finger onto Wyheree?s temples; first his left hand, then his right. When the final contact was made his eyes became hooded as he slipped first into the Force, then deep into her mind. She thought her friends would come for her, that her husband would come for her, but she was about to see just how wrong she was. Through the Force he opened her mind to the vision he saw, the vision of her beloved husband leaving her behind. A window of sorts opened up in the dark, swirling fog that had clouded her mind and this is what she could see.

?The ice in the harbor keeping most seafaring ships from leaving suddenly and inexplicably turned black and melted. The breaking ice seemed to race by her vision until it suddenly stopped on the deck of a ship, a ship that was most familiar to her. There seemed to be a commotion of sorts on deck. No, not a commotion but a celebration filled with saber waving, pistols firing, and jubilant sailors dancing around. After what looked to be a meeting of the whole crew she could see the captain, her beloved husband give the order to set sail and leave. Time seemed to speed up as the crew prepared the ship to leave and slowed once more to allow her to watch as the ship cleared the mouth of the harbor and sail off into the setting winter sun.?

The window that allowed her to see her husband abandoning her closed quickly as the vision faded back into the dark, swirling fog and Romax began to rummage through her memories to find those that will hurt her most.

"Set me free.. Your Heaven's a lie..."

"I cannot save you.. I can't even save myself.."

"No... Not aga-- Anything but th-- Wyh-- run... Need to run away.. Sa-- Bound? Where..? Wy, te-- NO!"

"NO! Wyheree, NO!"

As if he were struck in the gut with a one ton hammer, Brian lifted from the bed he shared with his beloved, as blue eyes widely opened. His mouth agape, trying to draw breath, as the eldest Ravenlock nearly fell off the side. Instead, curling into a somewhat fetal position, he simply rolled off the side of the bed, to the floor, landing in a heap.

A series of deep breaths were taken, as he lay there curled on the floor for what felt like an eternity, yet was in reality only a few moments.. It had been a very long time since Brian had nightmares of this.. Magnitude. Not since, Darkin and his machinations had the elder Ravenlock awake with such a fearful feeling.

Recovering himself finally, Brian lifted himself to knees, his eyes panning the darkness of their bedroom. A hand lifted, wiping sweat from his brow as his breathing once more regulated itself, due to his finally calming some. An inward sigh of relief was given, as he noted the time of nearly 2AM, and more importantly Jenai was still alseep.

Carefully padding to the bathroom, a candle was clumsily lit, as Brian then splashed his face again and again. After a few moments, he finally stopped, as blue eyes lifted to the mirror, gazing upon the watery beaded face before him. No words said to himself, no encouraging or witty remarks. No false bravado of any kind.. No, none of that. What he felt would not allow such things to occur.

He knew sleep would not come again this evening.. He knew what he felt was in fact real.. Something had occured.. Something terrible was in fact still occuring, and it centered around his sister, Wyheree. The bond he shared with her, the bond forged years ago, was a testament to what he saw and felt in relation to those nightmares. Still he knew not where.. Where could this be happening, who could done this..? Why would Wyheree not free herself, and more so why did Brian feel it in such a vivid manner? Shaking his head he looked to the mirror once more, and reached for a nearby towel. In a hushed tone, he finally spoke.

"You won't get any answers here, Raven.. Ya know what ya have to do."

Indeed he knew what needed to be done.. Leaving a note for Jenai, that explained he went out for a walk with Jean Luc, Brian carefully kissed his beloved on her cheek and left the room. Padding along quietly, he checked on the twins and left a sweet kiss upon each one's head. Moments later he was down stairs inside the 'ready room', as he geared up as quickly as possible. As he did so, there were a few distinct places he would look into first off. Where he knew her to be last. The docks, the Inn and some others.

The clicking of clasps, and sheathing of swords were all that was heard, as Brian said nothing else. A satchel was grabbed and loaded, as Jean Luc padded along beside his master. Looking down to the Moor Cat Brian nodded, and slung and satchel over his shoulder. Sliding his gloves on, and then his half mask, the eldest Ravenlock looked to his companion.

"It's time to do whatever we do, old friend. I'm counting on you, alright?"

The big cat yawned as he usually did, that gaping maw of his was sight to behold, as Brian knew he was well covered, by the impressive animal. Reaching down, Brian scritched Jean's head a bit and quietly the pair left the compound and were on their way towards the city, there was a great deal of ground to cover and time was iindeed of the essence.

Something was wrong.., the dragonesss hissed and writhed as the link with her missing heartsister burned again as if on fire, waking her from a restful slumber.

Nostrils flared as she bit back a snarl, shaking out her neck, trying once again, even if it burned, she had to find Wyh. -Sister..-

He pulled the now empty vile from her neck. He chuckled darkly as he did so. "So weak. You cling to one thread of hope...such nonsense." He shook his head, throwing the vile into the magma. It sizzled as it melted away. He reached down, releasing her clamps from the floor. He pushed her over the chair, so she was sitting right once more. "You think there is some hope you will surivive this." He grasped her hair once more, pulling her up in her weakened condition.

He released her legs from the chair bindings, then kicked it out of the way. He threw her to the ground. If she moved much, she would fall into the magma that was carefully placed around her. He began to work, seperating her bindings so that her arms were now apart. With a dark tune being whistled, he forced her on to her back, and spread her arms out over her head. Her arms were streched over the magma as they were now locked into place on the floor once more. He repeated the process for her legs, spreading them over the pit as well. Only her back rested upon the metal plate that the chair once sat on. He stepped onto the magma and then back to the other side of the pit.

He hit a few buttons on the panel near the door. There was a grinding as the plate from her back was released, disappearing to the side, moving her body slightly before exposing her to the magma pit as a whole.

"Say good-bye to hope." He said, laughing darkly as he disappeared out of the cell. The lights dimmed as the door closed - leaving her alone once more.

The girl was released, gone. The lackies that were paid for her removal from the facilities. He walked back over the metal plate that had bound her down not so long ago. He smirked as he closed his eyes to hear her screams once more.

He shook his head as he stepped slowly over what would have been the open pit, then back out past the door.

Over the next while, pieces would be put together, agenda determined.

It would be pointless.

He did it because he could.

She suffered because he wanted her to.

Who was she?

Did it really matter?