“What?!” Devin whirled towards Daisy. His mind was reeling at what was happening. The orc he had taken a contract from, the contract that ended up helping him discover some of Bronn’s treachery, was now standing in front of him, clad in Argenti robes with two of his band mates. And now, his fellow prisoner was telling him she is her sister.

“We really don’t have time to explain everything. We have to get going now, or else we might not make it out of here at all,” Dahlia said.

Devin shook his head, trying to clear his mind and remain focused. Looking over, he saw Teryn and Shia, both worried and shifting from foot to foot. Shia kept glancing back toward the door they had come from.

“Wait,” he said, “Where are Murton and Griff?”

“Weren't they in the cells with you?” Teryn asked.

“No, it was only me and Daisy,” he gestured toward the orc next to him.

“Dammit, we really don’t have time for this,” Dahlia mumbled, her brow furrowed.

“I may know where they are,” Daisy said.

Everyone whirled toward her, nearly in unison. If it wasn't for their current predicament, Devin could have found it almost comical.

She shrugged, “Before they brought you in, they brought in a dwarf and a giant. The two put up a bit of a fight getting put into their cells and the head guard lost his temper. He told his staff to take them to the Cellar.”

“What in the world is the Cellar?” Shia asked.

“It’s where they bring the trouble makers to, ahem, bring them more into line.” Daisy said, fiddling with the blanket that acted as her clothing.

“So a torture chamber?” Devin asked.

She nodded.

“We have to go get them,” Devin turned back to the three other women who had come to his rescue. Teryn and Shia were both nodding in agreement, while Dahlia had a scowl on her face.

“I’m just not sure we have the time to rescue them as well,” Dahlia said, shaking her head. “The potential we have now to rescue you and get out outweighs the risk of going for them as well.”

“I’m not leaving without them,” Devin said, crossing his arms. “They wouldn’t leave without me.”

“I wont leave without them, either,” Teryn said.

“Same here,” Shia added.

“It looks like you’re outnumbered, sweet sister,” Daisy grinned up at Dahlia.

Dahlia glared at each of them in turn, and, seeing she could not win this fight, acquiesced. “Fine, we can go for them too. But if anything goes wrong, I will abandon anyone I need to complete my mission.”

“Mission?” Devin looked toward Teryn and Shia.

Teryn waved at him, “We will explain later.”

“Right,” Devin said. “I’m assuming the Cellar is this way?” He pointed down the hall, the opposite direction the three others had come from.

“Yes. You follow the hall to the end and there is a door on the right that opens into the Cellar.” Daisy said.

“And how do you know this?” Dahlia demanded.

“Because they took me there many times when I was first deposited here,” Daisy spat with venom in her voice. “Then they took me back many times after the week I was supposed to be here.”

“What in the hells is happening here?” Devin asked.

“No time!” Dahlia said, her voice rising. “I’ve been going along with this so far but I don’t think any of you understand what will happen if we are caught and don’t get out of here quickly. In case you forgot, we are in Bronn’s private dungeon. He has sole jurisdiction here and can do what he wants to us. Now, if we are going to save your other two friends we need to move now so we can get out.”

No one said anything after the outburst. Daisy continued to glare at her sister. Dahlia looked between them all, passing over Daisy.

“Ok, lets move into the torture chamber. I will go first since I'm best armed for short range confrontation at this moment.” Dahlia started down the hall, pushing past Devin and Daisy with no attempt to be gentle. They started to follow her, shuffling along as quietly as they could.

They reached the end of the torchlit stone hall, a much longer walk than Devin had anticipated, and Dahlia held her hand up, motioning for them to stop. She crept toward the door and peered through the small window with metal bars in it. After a second she crouched back down and came back to the group.

“They are both in there, each strapped to a table. There seems to be a single torturer in there. If we can get the door open I can sneak in and take out the torturer.”

“I’m on it,” Daisy held up her makeshift lockpick and crept toward the door. She slid it into the lock and started to work, her tongue sticking out of her mouth in concentration.

Devin heard the small clicks and rattling, same as the doors earlier. He wondered if the noises were small enough to be unnoticed by whoever was in the room, just like the guards had failed to notice them. His question was answered shortly afterward.

“Is someone trying to get in?” a soft voice called from within the room. “Jessop, did you forget your keys again, I swear, you are the worst assistant I’ve ever had.”

Daisy’s eyes went wide and she backed away from the door just as the handle turned and swung open slowly.

“Shit,” Dahlia whispered as she shot forward. A frail man with a slight hunch shuffled through the door. Blonde hair fell in stringy wisps from his head and he started to glance around the hall.

Dahlia stood up straight and billowed her robes out, trying to obscure the people behind her. Teryn darted in front of Devin, just behind Dahlia, and billowed her robe as well.

“What in the-” the man started. Devin peeked around Teryn’s robes to see him squinting at the orc woman in Argenti robes now standing before him.

“Who are you?” he asked, rheumy eyes darting between the two women.

“How dare you!” Dahlia hissed at the man. “You dare question a member of the Argenti?”

Surprisingly, the torturer started to chuckle. His chuckle built until he was laughing, tears starting to leak down his cheeks. He wiped at the tears as his laugh faded.

“No, you’re not Argenti. Not even close.”

Teryn took a small step back. Dahlia leaned in toward the man, “What?” she said lowly.

“The Argenti rarely take women, let alone an elf and an orc. I don’t know where you got the robes or how you managed to trick the guards, but you could never be Argenti. “ The man chuckled softly again as he reached toward his belt. With surprising speed belying his physical fitness he withdrew a dagger and lunged toward Dahlia. Teryn cried out as Devin saw ice beginning to form on her hands.

Dahlia jerked back and caught the man's wrist. He let out a grunt of surprise and she twisted his thrust down and inward. He thrashed to the side and tried to avoid the blow coming in. With a final twist and cry he dodged to the side as the dagger slashed through the air.

Dahlia brought down her own dagger with her free hand into the torturers exposed back. A small whooshing sound escaped his lips as the dagger sunk into its hilt. With a ferocious intensity, Dahlia withdrew the dagger and stuck him again, then again, in his back. Each time smaller breaths of air escaped as he started to fall.

The man landed on his knees as Dahlia stabbed him over and over. Blood began to spatter onto her face and robe with each consecutive stab. She kicked the man in his ribs and he flopped over. Lifeless eyes started up at the ceiling as Dahlia began to work at his chest, sinking her dagger in over and over.

“Dahlia. DAHLIA!” Devin cried out as the woman gored the dead man. He pushed past Teryn and reached out to the orc. As he touched her shoulder she whirled on him, her face a savage snarl. The dagger came up to his throat in a heartbeats span and he found himself shoved back against the wall opposite of the door to the torture chambers.

A fire blazed in her eyes as she held him there. After what felt like an eternity, the fire dimmed and she pulled the dagger away. She looked down at the dead man with an almost puzzled expression. Turning, she saw Teryn and Shia staring at her with open shock. Daisy was peeking around the corner of the open door with a wicked grin.

“Never could control that bloodlust, could you sister?” she taunted. Dahlia shot her a wicked look as she dropped the dagger onto the mess of a corpse.

“Let’s finish this up and get out of here,” she growled, stepping over the body and into the room. Devin glanced at Teryn and Shia, both of their eyes were still wide. He gave a small shrug and followed Dahlia. Daisy grinned at him as he walked in. Why did this whole endeavour have to keep getting more confusing and difficult? It wasn’t enough he was trying to break his friends from a torture chamber, the gods saw fit to add family issues into the mix?

As he stepped through the door his own worries were wiped away in an instant. The room was small, with a desk near the door and two tables just beyond that. The desk held a host of strange and wicked looking tools that he could not even fathom there use beyond supplying pain.

Lying on the two tables spaced apart just enough that two people could walk side by side between them lay Murton and Griff. They were both clad in only their undergarments, held down with manacles of iron that had rubbed their wrists and ankles raw. Griff also had a crude looking chain draped across his enormous chest, cutting into him and causing small rivulets of blood to run down him.

Devin inched toward Dahlia and whispered, “Are they alive?”

“Have ya finished yer little meeting and come back to tickle us some more? Be sure to tell your superiors you don't have it in ya to be a torturer!” Murton shouted from his table. He was strapped down so he could only start up at the ceiling.

“Good luck getting me to talk about anything, and this one,” he jerked in his straps toward Griff, “Can’t talk so might as well leave him alone. Won't get you anywhere ya cowards!”

Dahlia turned back toward Devin, “I suppose that answers your question for at least one of them.”

Griff let out a large groan as he strained against his chains, causing fresh blood to well up and run down his chest.

“And there is the other,” Dahlia said. Devin stepped past her toward his companions. He walked around the table and went in between the two tables. He looked down at Murton first and was horrified at what he saw.

Small lacerations criss crossed his face and his eyes were so swollen Devin doubted he could see anything beyond flashes of light and dark. Angry wounds covered his chest and shoulders as well, likely cut then aggravated with caustic chemicals and items. Worst of all though, at least Devin knew it would be for Murton, was his bare chin. The man torturing them had done a hack job, cutting off his beloved beard and leaving a scratched face behind.

“There you are, you weak ass coward. You couldn’t get a chuckle out of a gnome, and everyone knows how squeamish they are!”

“Murton.”

“You couldn't get yourself out of a river if you were already standing on the shore!”

“Murton, that doesn’t make sense,” Devin said.

“Of course it wouldn’t to you, you…. Devin?” The dwarfs' eyes tried to squeeze open more, eliciting tears to stream from the bruised corners.

“Oh, Devin, either they are tricking me real good or you got yourself out somehow. Please oh please let it be the latter.”

“I had help getting out. Teryn and Shia are here too. We are going to get you both out and escape.”

“The lasses came too? Oh bless them, I knew they had it in them. I knew they were too smart to get caught like we did. Hear that Griff? We are getting out of here, I told ya so.”

Griff snorted a little. Devin couldn't help but let a small smile out. Likely the dwarf had abandoned all hope of an escape and wanted to go down fighting. He turned toward the two orc women and his free companions.

“Quick, we need to find the key to get them both out. Check the desk and the dead torturer.”

“Who got to kill him? Tell me someone really did it to that wispy little shit stain of a person.” Murton called out into the room.

“I did, and he suffered greatly for what was done here.” Dahlia said as she went to the desk, rifling through its draws. Teryn turned back and started going through the clothes of the dead man while Shia helped Dahlia, checking in between all the tools on the mess of a desk.

“Who’s that? I don’t recognize that voice. She sounds like a very fair lass though. Once I get my eyes back I am taking you out for a drink of your choice. Hell, make it ten of your choice, as long as you promise to tell me in explicit detail what you did to him.” Murton said.

“Got it,” Dahlia called as she held aloft a single key. “And it would be my pleasure dwarf, but be warned, I am an expensive date when it comes to my stories.”

“I like the sound of ya already,” Murton grinned, a grotesque thing revealing a bloody mouth with several missing teeth.

“Oh Gods, what did they do to you two?” Shia asked as she came over, looking horrified at the two men still strapped to their tables. Dahlia worked the key in Murton’s manacles, freeing him quickly, and stepped over to Griff. Murton went to sit up and Devin reached for him, easing him into a sitting position.

“Oh, not much,” he groaned as he swung his legs off the table, wincing. “Just some cuts, some acid, a little teeth pulling here and there.” He held up his hands, revealing several missing fingernails. “Oh, and these.”

“But what about-” Shia started before she was stopped with a quick shush from Teryn, who was shaking her head, eyes wide.

“What about what?” he asked, looking around at the voices, trying to follow them through swollen eyes. “Is it my face?”

The members of the Black Boar Band held their collective breath as Murton’s hands went to his face, feeling around his forehead and eyes.

“Ah, it's the eyes isn't it?” he asked, dropping his hands back down. The sigh that left everyone sounded like wind whistling through the dungeon tunnels. “Those’ll go back to normal here soon. Us dwarves can heal at a much greater pace than you fragile humans.”

Daisy snorted at that as she looked around the room.

“Someone laughing at that? Figures a human would want to be best at everything and can't accept that they aren’t,” he challenged, looking around the torture chamber.

“I’m an orc, dwarf. I bet you I can heal even faster than you. I also spent a lot longer than you in here and came out looking better, even though I'm sure I took worse.”

“Fat chance little orc! If all that was true, how come dwarves drove you off the home continent? Answer that for me?”

Dahlia snarled at that as Daisy growled, “We can just as easily leave you here you sad excuse for a dwarf. Why don't you go look in a mirror at that pathetic excuse you call a chin.”

The room fell silent again as Murton's face grew concerned. His eyebrows knit above the purple bruises that constituted his eyes. “My chin? How can you see my chin?” He reached up and felt his chin with his hand. As soon as it touched his face blanched.

“Oh shit,” Teryn whispered.