Angel groaned. His head was throbbing something fierce and the back of his neck was wet. The world around him was dark and cold. He rolled over, searching for his blanket before freezing as his memories flooded back into him.

His eyes snapped open and he grimaced at the spark of pain that shot through his head at the motion. Cold metal pressed against his cheek, and there were thick metal bars several feet away from him.

A holding cell. The barge had taken them alive. A laugh escaped Angel’s mouth. It hurt, but that only made him laugh harder.

“What’s so funny?” Silver asked. Angel rolled over in surprise. The bandit sat on the far end of the room, leaning against a dark wall. His hat had been confiscated.

“Ah. They took you too,” Angel muttered, slightly less pleased.

“They took everyone that survived,” Silver said. “Killed my crew. Did you plan this?”

“Not exactly,” Angel said, trying to ignore the jabbing pain shooting through his head. He twitched his fingers and was surprised to find that his right arm was still there.

“They tried.”

“Tried what?” Angel asked.

“Your arm. They tried to take it, but every artifact they brought near it ended up getting fried. They were going to kill you, but one of them said something in a language I don’t speak and you just got tossed down here with the rest of us. Pretty sure it involved slavery and money.”

“Us? Your crew?”

“They killed everyone other than me,” Silver said, his voice cold. “I already mentioned that.”

“Sorry.”

Silver clicked his tongue. He scooted towards Angel, grabbing him by the hair and turning his head to the side. The movement was firm, but it didn’t seem to be intentionally harmful. “Head injury.”

“Gathered that. Got hit in the head.”

The bandit captain held up a finger. He moved it back and forth in front of Angel. “You’ll get over it. If your magical energy isn’t already healing you, I’d be surprised. You’ve got to be at least level thirty.”

“Thirty one,” Angel confirmed. His words felt a bit fuzzy. “Who else is in the room? It hurts to move.”

Silver snorted. He flipped Angel over. A young woman about his age hung from the wall, her hands shackled above her head with heavy black chains. Her feet had both been chained down as well, and there was a gag in her mouth.

She wore what appeared to be a tattered canvas bag and scars covered the parts of her arms and legs that Angel could see.

“Damn. What did she do?”

“No clue,” Silver said. “She was already here before I woke up. You weren’t the only one that got knocked out. I just woke up a lot earlier due to my higher level.”

Angel sucked in a breath and pressed his hands against the ground. He forced himself upright. The world swam for a moment before coming back into focus. “Where are the bandits? What do they want?”

“Don’t know that either,” Silver said, sitting back against the wall and closing his eyes. “Doesn’t matter.”

“What, you give up?” Angel asked, letting out a weak laugh.

Silver didn’t respond. With a sigh, the Seeker pushed himself against the wall and used it to lever himself to his feet. He was still dizzy, but the pain was slowly fading as his body healed. If it hadn’t been for the extra levels he’d gotten recently, Angel got the feeling he would have been down for quite a while.

He took stock of the situation. His arm was in decent shape, but the bandits had confiscated all of his canisters. There didn’t seem to be anyone in the holding area other than Silver and the girl, which struck him as particularly stupid.

“What about you?” Angel asked, looking at the girl. “Any fight left?”

She glanced up, her eyes focusing on him for a moment. Angel’s hand retracted as his arm turned to the blade form. He carefully brought it up to her face and cut the gag away. The girl spat it onto the ground and drew in a deep breath.

“Thank you.”

“No problem,” Angel said. “Say, did either of you see what they did with Vanessa? The girl traveling with me.”

“Different holding cell, I think,” Silver said from his corner. “Bastards are stealing my loot.”

Angel sighed. “Wonderful. That makes this a lot harder.”

“You’re planning to try to save her?” the girl asked, blinking. “Why? If you get a chance, you should just run. The bandits on this ship are powerful. Some of them are over level one hundred. They’ll eat you alive if you fight them.”

“I’ve got a duty to my friend,” Angel said, rolling his shoulders to get a knot out of them. “What’s your name?”

“You’re going to die.”

Angel cocked an eyebrow.

“Lilian,” she said after a moment of hesitation. She was doing a good job of hiding it, but Angel could tell she was in a significant amount of pain. He examined the chains holding her to the wall, but they were far too sturdy to cut.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t see any traces of magic on them either. They were old fashioned steel, which meant his arm wasn’t going to be much use.

“Why are you all chained to the wall, Lilian? Are you scarier than we are?” Angel asked.

“I kicked the captain in the nuts,” Lilian said, a flicker of a grin flashing across her face. “Felt something pop. They don’t like me very much.”

“That’ll do it,” Angel said, wincing despite himself. “I guess he deserved it. If I see him, I’ll make sure to kick him in the nuts as well. Maybe I can get the other one.”

“I’ll do it myself, thank you very much,” Lilian said with a pained grimace. Angel examined her for a moment. Her shirt was baggy, so it was difficult to see very much, but her breathing was just barely labored enough to be noticeable.

“Did they break your ribs?”

“I don’t think so,” Lillian said. “Bruised or fractured, probably. I’ll live until I don’t.”

Angel went to examine her with his artifact, but nothing was there. His brow furrowed as he realized that the bandits had taken his artifact. “Bastards.”

“Tell me about it,” Lilian wheezed. “They put an artifact on me that inhibits my healing as well, just to watch me suffer.”

“Really?” Angel asked, perking up. “Where?”

“You don’t have to sound so happy,” Lillian muttered. She raised her neck, revealing a thin collar that had been hidden underneath the ratty clothing. Angel touched it with a finger. A spark of purple electricity arced down his metallic arm and surged into the artifact.

It shattered into three pieces and fell to the floor around Lilian.

“I thought the other guy was lying about them not taking away your magic,” Lilian said, blinking. “Why would they let you keep it?”

“Slaves make a lot more money than an individual artifact. Angel might be just as big a payday to them as his girl,” Silver piped up. “And I have a name, thank you very much.”

“She’s not my girl,” Angel said, rolling his eyes. “Just a traveling companion. I had two of them, although one of them turned out to be a traitorous bastard.”

“It happens,” Silver said, shrugging one shoulder. “Besides, you saw what happened to him. Got what was coming from your perspective.”

Angel sighed. “I guess. I would have preferred to beat some sense into him myself. I honestly thought we were friends for a little.”

“Maybe you were,” Silver said, opening one eye. “You can separate your job from your friends. Just because he liked you doesn’t mean he didn’t have a goal he had to complete. Either that or he was playing you from the start and never cared about you or the girl in the slightest.”

“Thank you,” Angel said dryly. “Very helpful.”

“I always wanted to be a therapist,” Silver mused. “Even went to school for it for about a month.”

“What happened?” Lilian asked.

“I found out robbing people makes a lot more money,” Silver said. “I like money.”