Chapter Text
Yasha made her way down the stairs three, sometimes even four, steps as a time. Her skeletal wings pulled in slightly to allow her to quickly move through the narrow passage. As she reached the bottom, she paused briefly to examine her surroundings. The hall was lined with cells that went on further than her darkvision allowed her to see.
Shit. She thought to herself.
The guard had confirmed she was down here. Yasha's necrotic shroud had been enough to frighten him into admitting that to her. But in her rage, she hadn’t thought to ask him which cell she was in before plunging the Magician’s Judge through his chest, grabbing his keys, and rushing off down the passage he had indicated. She hadn’t expected the dungeon to be this large.
She started making her way down the hall pausing at each cell for just long enough to glance inside.
No. No. Empty. Empty. No. Empty. Empty. No. Empty. Empty. Empty. Empty. Empty. N-
Yasha did a double take into one of the cells. She went over to the door, wrapped her hands around the bars, and leaned closer to get a better look. Her wings retracted, her hair returned to its normal color, and while she couldn’t see it, from listening to the accounts of her friends she knew her eyes were returning to normal as well.
“Beau?” she said as gently as she could.
The figure in the cell didn’t respond or react in any way.
Please just be asleep or unconscious. Don’t let it be the other option.
There were shackles around Beau’s wrists and ankles. Her hands were chained to the ceiling high enough that her feet couldn’t touch the floor, and it looked as though both her shoulders had dislocated from being in that position for so long. Yasha could understand why she hadn’t recognized her immediately. She looked nothing like the Beau she remembered. Her face was covered in blood, which was honestly the most Beau-looking thing about her. She also had a black eye and maybe a broken nose. The rest of her body was covered in bruises, indicating some probably broken ribs as well. It wasn’t hard for Yasha to make the connection that Beau had been tortured while in their captivity. Yasha prayed to the Storm Lord that there weren’t any serious injuries she wasn’t able to see.
But what was most evident to Yasha was that since the time she had been abducted, she had lost a lot of weight. Beau had always been slender, but toned. Now, even from the other side of the cell, Yasha could count her ribs.
“Beau,” she exclaimed quietly again before reaching down and trying the keys on the ring she had taken. Thinking back, she should have realized how many cells were down here by the sheer number of keys on the ring. There were dozens of them. Yasha tried her best to go through them quickly, but after the 6th or 7th one she dropped the whole thing and lost her place.
Fuck! I don’t have time for this! Beau doesn’t have time for this!
Yasha threw the keys to the ground and grasped the bars of the door once more. She felt her rage boiling up inside her again as she pulled. The door was strong, but Yasha was stronger. And she was angry. Slowly she felt the door start to give way and, letting out a primal scream, her veins bulged, her muscles flexed, and she pulled the door straight off its hinges.
Either the sound of Yasha’s yell or the door busting was enough to wake Beau. Yasha saw her jump and then wince in pain before looking up. Her hair was falling in front of her face, no longer is its signature bun on the top of her head. She caught sight of Yasha, rolled her head back, and groaned.
“I thought we were done with the fucking mind games. What are you going to make her do to me this time? How many more times do I have to tell you I don’t know where it is?!” She got a little quieter. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. Just kill me already and put me out of my misery.”
Yasha wanted to believe that that last line was Beau being her normal, snarky self, but the tone in her voice indicated otherwise. She sounded like she was ready to die. Whatever these bastards have been doing to her, if they had been trying to break her, they succeeded.
Yasha calmly approached her friend, and gently reached forward to cup Beau’s face.
“Beauregard. It’s me. I’m here. I’m sorry it took so long.”
Beau finally made eye contact with her. She was struggling to keep her eyes open. “Y-Yasha?” she asked quietly, her voice small and shaky. Also very un-Beau-like. “Is it… is it really you?”
“Yes. Yes, Beau. I am here.” Yasha's eyes scanned over Beauregard taking in all her injuries. From this closer view, she could see tiny cuts all over her arms and torso and some small, circular marks that looked a lot like burns. She was about to reach up for the shackles around her wrists to try to find a way to free Beau from her bonds when she heard someone behind her.
“Yasha?” a high voice called out.
Yasha swiftly pulled her sword from its sheath and swung it towards the noise, the tip coming within an inch of Nott's throat.
“Sorry! Sorry!” Nott apologized rapidly. “Things are handled upstairs so I came to see if you needed some help!”
“Nott,” Yasha sighed as she resheathed her sword. At least now she understood why she hadn’t heard anyone coming down the long hall. She had to commend the goblin for her timing. “Can you pick the lock on these shackles?”
“Yeah! I can do that!” She scurried up Yasha’s back to stand on her shoulders so she could reach the lock and started with her picks.
Yasha returned her attention to Beau, whose head was starting to drop down to her chest. “Stay with me, Beau. Stay awake.” She reached out to lift Beau’s face up towards hers again.
“Almost got it,” Nott called from above her.
At the last second, Yasha reached out to grab the sides of Beau’s shoulders in hopes of keeping the dislocated appendages from jostling them too much when the bonds released, and to keep her from completely collapsing immediately to the floor. When the lock opened, she felt all of Beau’s weight drop into her hands. The monk cried out in pain as Yasha lowered her to the floor, sitting her up against the wall, and tried to bring her arms down as gently as she could. Nott had jumped off Yasha’s shoulders and started on the bonds around Beau’s ankles.
“I can make your shoulders hurt less, but first it’s going to hurt more. Okay?”
Beau didn’t respond, but it wasn’t really a question. Yasha pulled out the book she had all her flowers pressed in. “Here. Bite onto this.” She held it out to Beau and encouraged it between her teeth. She grasped Beau by the upper arms and caught her eye. “On three. 1… 2… 3” and she popped Beau’s shoulders back into place simultaneously. Yasha was thankful for the book. Not only did it keep Beau from biting her tongue off, but it muffled her screams. Yasha didn’t think she would have been able to handle hearing the full, raw cry of pain.
The pain had been enough that Beau immediately passed out. Yasha gently laid her down on the ground as Nott said, “Got it!” and the shackles came off her ankles.
“Go get Jester or Caduceus.”
“Is she going to be-"
“NOW, Nott!”
As she rushed off, Yasha’s focus went entirely towards Beau. She pushed Beau’s hair out of her face. She was sweating, but her skin felt cold and clammy. Her eyes were closed and her breathing sounded labored. Yasha placed her hand on Beau’s sternum. And said a quiet prayer to the Storm Lord.
“Please don’t take another one from me.”
She felt her healing magic course through her body and into Beau’s. Yasha almost felt relief as Beau’s breathing seemed to become a bit easier. But she knew that her healing was minimal. Beau needed a cleric.
Yasha spent the next minute or so stroking Beau’s hair and talking to her. Trying to get her to wake back up. It felt like forever before she finally heard a set of feet running down the hall.
“Yasha!” She had never been so happy to hear Jester's accent. “Nott said you found her! Is she okay?!”
Yasha kept her attention on Beau, but rotated her body in such a way that Jester could see Beau lying on the ground.
“Oh Beau, oh Beau, oh Beau!” Jester worriedly exclaimed as she knelt down next to Beau and started casting as many Cure Wounds spells as she could muster. “Help her, Traveler!” she called out before directing her next words at Yasha. “The fighting is done upstairs,” she explained. “Everyone is okay. Dairon took a few good hits, but Caduceus is taking care of her.”
With every spell that Jester cast, Yasha relaxed the tiniest bit. Some open cuts on Beau’s body closed and a few bruises began to fade.
“I’m going to do a Greater Restoration too just in case,” Jester explained before casting one last spell on Beau. “There. That’s all I can do. I’m out of spells now. But we can see if Caduceus has some.”
Yasha put her hand on Beau’s cheek and tried to shake her awake. “Beau. Beau? Can you open your eyes?” Beau groaned and her eyes flickered open, only to immediately close again. Yasha gave Jester a concerned look. “Why isn’t she waking up?” When someone fell unconscious in battle, the healing magic always brought them back to their feet. Why was this time different?
“She’s been through a lot,” Jester offered. “She needs rest. But she’s safe now. We’ll keep her safe. Let’s get her out of here.”
Yasha scooped Beau up in her arms. As they began to head out, they were met in the hall by Caduceus.
“Hey. Dairon thought this might be a two-cleric job. They'd only take one base level healing spell and then sent me down here.” He looked down at the figure in Yasha’s arms. “Seems they were right.” He laid his hand on Beau’s arm and cast his own Cure Wounds spells and turned to Jester. “Did you use any restoration spells on her?”
“I did a Greater Restoration, but another one couldn’t hurt.”
Caduceus cast a few more spells but Yasha didn’t ask what any of them were. She was looking at Beau’s face, trying to see any discernable change in to her current status. More bruises faded, small and large cuts sealed, but the color didn’t return to her abnormally pale skin.
“Well, that’s all we can do for now. Let’s get out of this dungeon,” Caduceus suggested and started heading up to the warehouse they had been fighting in.
When they got to the top of the stairs, Yasha looked around to take in the current status of the rest of her friends. Caleb and Nott were looting the bodies of the dead. Fjord was sitting on the floor and talking with Dairon. Dairon was staring at the door they had just walked through and immediately started pushing herself to standing. Her effort was pained and labored, but she pushed through and started heading over to the group.
Yasha then looked around at the carnage. Their intel had told them there were six guards stationed here at all times. Then, part way through the battle, two more made their way up from the dungeon and all of a sudden, they were outnumbered. But you should never underestimate the determination of a party fighting for one of their own. Yasha counted the bodies. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…
“Seven,” she said aloud. “Why are there only seven bodies?”
“One got away,” Dairon provided having made her way over to the group, hand pushing tightly against her ribs.
“What?! You let one get away?!” Yasha instinctively pulled Beau closer to her and started looking around, as if he might be sitting around the corner just waiting to get sight of her and finish her off.
“We’ll find him, Yasha,” Fjord said. The rest of the group had made their way over to see the status of their friend. “Is she…?”
Beau looked even worse in the sunlight that was coming through the warehouse windows than she had in the dim light of the dungeon.
“She’s alive,” Yasha said.
“What now?” Caleb asked. “Where do we go next? We need to bring her somewhere safe to recover. And soon. Before the next shift comes to take over or that mage returns with more friends.”
The answer came to Yasha after only a short moment. “The Ball-Eater.”
“I’m sorry. The what?” Usually Dairon let the weird things they said slide, but apparently this was too strange for even her to ignore.
“Our ship!” Jester explained excitedly. “That’s perfect, Yasha! We can go out into the middle of the ocean where no one will bother us! And if they do, we’ll see them coming from miles away!”
“We’re only a five day walk from the coast,” Caleb said. “We could get Orly to meet us.”
“Ooo! I can send him a message! Er… tomorrow. I cast all my spells for today already.”
“Let’s start heading to the coast then,” Fjord decided. He turns to Yasha. “Is she okay enough to travel? Will you be able to carry her, at least until we’re able to get some horses? Or do you want us to help you carry her?”
“I’ve got her. Let’s go.”
And they all started towards the coast.