“Kaia… if you don’t come out, I’ll come in and get you!” Nerissa shouted in a sing-song teasing voice.
“This is bad…” Kaia’s eyes flashed with worry as she looked out of the cave.
I waved my hand, casting the White Mage spell Awaken, bringing the four humans back to consciousness. One of them appeared to be a youth, one of them was a middle-aged man, and the remaining two were women, one in her teens, and one much older. My eyes fell on the middle-aged man, who she had indicated was the human leader.
“Is what this woman saying true?” I asked, checking her story out before I reacted to it. “Is she helping you escape?”
The man blinked for a few minutes, but he seemed to be quick-witted and quickly grasped what was going on.
“It’s true. My name is Demetri, the leader of the Waterfield Rebellion.” He lowered his head. “I was betrayed by one of my own subordinates and captured. I’d have already lost my head, but the young Lady Kaia helped me escape. Please, let the rest of them go. They were just in the same cage as me. They’re not part of the rebellion at all.”
His words were filled with wisdom. He gave himself and Kaia up, yet pleaded for a small concession. However, something about Nerissa’s demeanor told me that such an action would have failed with her completely.
“I don’t know about the Waterfield Rebellion,” I responded, still watching him while my mind worked through everything carefully.
He winced. “To you all, it may not have even been a blip worthy of being named, but to us… it was our last hope.”
The younger woman started crying, and the youth put his arms around her shoulders, trying to calm her. It was clear this group had broken down into despair. It was hard watching this. On Faerith, I had yet to see a single Fey slave. I wondered if there was a reason behind that. Meanwhile, the Fey seemed to hold no qualms about making the lives of the humans they capture miserable. While we sat on our continent, fighting amongst each other, the Fey were over here, growing in power and subjugating the entire populace.
“I’m willing to help,” I said after a moment of silence.
The man, Demetri, looked up in surprise. Meanwhile, Kaia held her hands in front of her, a flash of hope in her eyes.
“With eight fighters instead of twenty, we might just be able to fight our way through. At least, the humans will be able to flee.”
“Make that nine.” Demetri stood up with a stiff back. “I will fight as well!”
“Demetri! If you get captured, then what was this all for?” Kaia shot back.
“You both seem to be misunderstanding something,” I spoke, breaking their touching scene apart in an instant.
The two spun to me in surprise. “Wh-what?”
“I said I would help. I didn’t say I would fight to the death.”
“Huh? How do you plan to help?”
“First, I have a caveat.” I sneered. “You all must become my slaves!”