Bonds broken, she rose up from her grass bedding on gently shaking legs. Her expression a mixture of fear and bewildered excitement, she asked. "What are you going to do with me?"

Blackthorne looked down at her for a brief moment. It was a good question. What did one normally do in a situation like this? When has this ever been a normal situation? It was certainly out of the ordinary for him, and the girl seemed to need some sort of guidance.

Briefly, he considered asking her simple questions such as her name and how she came to be down in this root cellar. He chose to shove those thoughts to the side. The important thing was to get her topside.

"We need to get you back to town, so we can tell the guards," he said with conviction. That was the way to handle this situation. Rescue the girl, and let the investigative stuff get handled by other people. He was no detective, and quite honestly he would probably be killed by anyone who was native to this world due to level differences.

"Ah, that..." she said before shifting her gaze to the side, "It could be a problem."

"What do you mean?" he asked, obvious confusion in his tone.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" she asked him in kind.

"No."

She blinked at him after receiving his simple answer, "Well... I suppose it makes sense that a dreamer wouldn't know."

"I really don't think this is the time to be cryptic," said Blackthorne.

The little girl sighed slightly then shook her head. "I can't leave till the sun goes down."

Blackthorne snorted then sarcastically began to ask, "Why not? Are you some kind of vam—" but let the rest of the sentence trail off into the darkness of the cellar. His eyes widened slightly.

"Vampire? No. I'm a dark elf. But I'm too young to travel during the day," she said.

"...Why?" he asked simply.

She closed her eyes then opened them once more. "I'll be blinded by the sun. Your torch stone is fine, but raw daylight..."

Blackthorne took a good look at her eyes then nodded. Their red glow probably allowed her to see clearly in the dark. Given what she'd said, moving her during the day would be problematic.

"I could carry you..." he said after a moment.

"That is kind of you, but you've already done so much..."

"It's better than just staying here till dark," he said before realizing that he probably did need to know more about her story. On the surface of things it seemed to him that she'd been kidnapped. However, there could be some weird alternate reason "How did you get down here?"

"I was taken on the streets of the port town, Kaasvalia, while my mother attended to business," she said in her childish voice. It was a strange dichotomy to witness, however. Though her voice was that of a young girl, her words were those of one much older. "They've spoken little to me other than threats of intimate violence, but the few things they've mentioned have led me to believe that I'm being held for ransom."

Blackthorne's eyes narrowed. He heard little of what she said after the words 'threats of intimate violence'. There was no need for explanation. He knew exactly what those words implied, and his body temperature began to rise even as the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand at attention.

Unwanted images from the past surfaced to torment him. A tiny body, battered and bruised, was curled into a fetal ball. Shaking while sobbing in that darkened room the girl was utterly alone save for one thing, the while mocking laughter that rang through the air.

Fingers curled into tight fists, it took him a moment to calm himself. He forced those damnable images and the hateful laughter away. He could not change what happened in the past, his failure. However, if he kept his shit together he could do something about what was happening here and now. "I'll make sure you get back to your mother. We should go before they decide to come check on things here."

"I..." she began timidly, only to recognize the sincerity in his tone and expression. She bit her lower lip then nodded once. He was a large frightening thing, but he was a large frightening thing that had come to set her free.

Blackthorne reached out his hand to her. She looked at it curiously for a moment. Like a wounded animal wary of a trap, she slowly moved her hand forward while staring at his face. When he made no sudden change in his outward demeanor, she allowed her tiny hand to rest inside of his large masculine one.

She squeaked slightly when his fingers gripped her hand tight, but his words soothed her immediately. "You're going home."

"T-thank you," she said shyly before looking away. The intensity of his gaze was overwhelming considering the fact that he dwarfed her in size. At that moment, and from her childish perspective, he could have passed for a cave giant in stature.

He led her to the entrance of the root cellar. The light of day beat down fiercely as it was barely afternoon, but she remained in his shadow at this point.

"Once we're out of here, we need to move fast to secure your safety. We need to be long gone before the ones who took you show up," he said before leading her outside.

Free of his shadow, she hissed softly and closed her eyes tightly before turning away from the source of the light. Blackthorne took notice of how much the light hurt her and frowned slightly. He shut the hatch that led down into the root cellar then locked it even as a terrible thought occurred to him.

There was a reason that the bastards only came to torment her at night. Even if she'd gotten free while they were gone, she'd be blinded by the sun and would not be able to get far without being attacked. They counted on the fact that they only needed to watch her during the night when she could actually get away if she escaped.

Admittedly, there was another reason to only come by night. The cover of darkness would also make them harder to spot when coming and going. No one would have known that she was down in that abandoned root cellar. It was a fool proof plan, at least on the surface.

His face grew hot and her growled lightly as he realized something else. The chains he'd cut earlier did not look particularly new. "Those bastards..." His nostrils flared in agitation as he realized the terrible implications. This was not the first time the kidnappers used this place.

Time seemed to come to a halt for him as his imagination ran wild. How many was it? How many little girls had those men stolen from their homes and kept locked down in the dark? Eyes closed tight, and breathing labored, he did his best to fight back against the ravages of his own worst thoughts.

It took serious effort on his part to shake away the images assaulting his mind, but he was well practiced at doing so. He turned to look at the cringing girl. Tears streamed down her eyes and she did her best to cover them with her hands.

It was not possible for her travel on foot in that state, not when monsters and assholish kidnappers were on the prowl. Thinking quickly he called to her and told her of what he'd decided.

"If... If you're sure," she said shyly.

In response, Blackthorne knelt down and cut apart one of his cloth bags. He fashioned it into a temporary bandana then handed it to her. Dutifully, she chose to wear it to cover eyes so that her hands could be free.

"Alright, from here on you'll have to trust me," said Blackthorne before turning around.

"Y-yes..." she said in a nervous tone. She stepped forward and he helped her to mount his back.

The feel of her slight weight on his back caused him to smile slightly. For the first time in quite some time, a pleasant memory surfaced. Unbidden, a sweet childish voice called out a few beautiful words of encouragement. He chuckled softly at the memory, even as hot tears tracked down his face.

Just after he rose to his feet, his precious cargo in tow, the girl quietly asked, "What's so humorous?"

He took a deep breath then slowly released it, and with that release also went a few of his personal misgivings. "You should smile. It's a happy day."

She did not speak immediately, but slowly her lips quirked sideways in a tremulous smile. It was too soon to rejoice, but compared to before this truly was a happy day.