Taj and Aero: Advent of the Feather King

Her singing cut off when she saw Demetri's eyes finally flutter open, her heart swelling to see him awake again. "Run?" She asked, looking his face over rapidly, the dream still clinging to him obviously. She leaned down and brushed a kiss across his lips and sat back, smiling at him. "You're safe, it's fine now, just a dream. Look." She lifted his hand, holding it up where he could see, the scars where the shackles had held him obviously gone now after she'd sung them away. "You're not there anymore."

Alex, having watched the entire exchange went to Oriana's side and slipped his arm around her waist, grateful that he was awake and that terrible nightmare was over with, for all of them. "Let's get out of here." He said to the group at large, meeting everyone's eyes before looking out at the drizzling rain. "Whatever it is about this cave… I don't want to spend another night here, bad weather or no."

As the haze of the dream began to fall away from him Demetri felt Roses' soft kiss, drawing his attention to his wrists. There were no marks there, had it really been a dream? He sat up, testing the strength of his back and noticed with some happiness that he could easily move it minus the stiffness that had set in while he had slept. He sighed, shaking with relief that it had not been real, and his dark wild eyes met Rose's. He framed her face with his hands. "Thank you." He said quietly, pulling her in to kiss her gently. He only pulled back when he heard Alex move, looking up at the man and then around the room. Seemed everyone was alright.

Oriana leaned into Alex's strength when he came to her putting her hand over his much larger one and giving it a small squeeze. "You'll have no argument from me." Oriana said, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible.

~*~*~*~

Pain was the first thing he felt, pain and weariness that he felt all the way down to his bones. There was an unusual weakness in his body that he wasn't accustom to. Kol's vivid green eyes slowly opened clouded with pain that he felt throbbing in his head. He felt that his hands were above his head and behind held up by something. He was sitting on the cold ground his legs numb from disuse. When he finally could get a grips, Kol soon realized he was in a cell. Oh yeah, they had been captured, his last memory of him trying to reach for his wife, Mai, to save her and the smaller children from being attacked. He vaguely remembered waking up once or twice on the shoulder of one of the floating warriors and then when he began to fight he was knocked out. He moved his arm against his head and hissed as he felt the pain from the fresh wounds.

Kol looked over to his side to see Talos hanging limply in the same position as he and then soon realize the girls were not in the same cell. Panic came to life in his chest as she looked around frantically, staining his eyes to see in the dark cell. The small flicker of light from a torch was enough to allow him to see there was another cell across from them and it was inhabited. In the dim light however he couldn't tell by whom though. Pulling whatever energy he could, Kol brought forth the fire within him and had enough energy to send a small bit into the next cell. Long enough for him to see Mai and Lena laying limply on the ground. Rage hit him like a slap to the face and he pulled at his chains, desperate to get to his wife, his sister in law.

A wave of sickness hit Kol as he slumped against the wall, out of energy to fight against the chains any longer. How on Earth did they get into this mess in the first place? His wife, his children...He could hope hope that his sweet Rose, and his boys had made it out of there before they were captured.

Lean groaned as she began to awaken, rolling onto her back and then groaning some more. Memories came rushing back to her, standing back to back with Talos fighting off the floating men. That was until she was hit in the head, she had been knocked out cold before she had even hit the floor. Talos...The thought of him was enough to get her to sit up, looking around. Laying next her was Mai, and she winced when she saw the dark stain on blood matted her the woman's hair from where she must have been hit. She had heard the rattling of chains across from her. "Talos...?" She whispered her voice rough from disuse and lack of water.

"Lena!" Came back a hissed whisper, it wasn't Talos but Kol! "Lena, are you alright? Is Mai?" He asked the pain easily detected in his voice.

"She is here, a bump on the head is all it seems. Where is Talos? The kids?"

"Talos is next to me, I..." His voice quivered for a moment, sadness in his voice. "I'm not sure about any of the children." He answered honestly, and then the two of them grew silent.

His shoulders ached, his wings cramped, and overall he just didn't want to wake up. It was cold and he was sitting awkwardly, the feeling in his fingers the tingling numbness that he would usually associate with sleeping awkwardly on his hands. But that couldn't be it. Kol had often made fun of the humble life he lived with his family on the southern coast, but their beds didn't feel like this. A dry groan left his throat, more of a croak and he opened his eyes, blinking a few times as the haze that had been draped over his mind slowly cleared. It was dark, dark enough that his vision was failing him, but the light of the torches nearby gave him enough illumination for him to see that he was being stared at. Tugging weakly at the chains binding his wrists to the wall behind him, Talos winced and met the gaze of his half-brother. "Fancy meeting you here." He rasped dryly, cleared his throat and swallowed. Looking around he began to take in their surroundings, noting the cage that held Lena and Mai, his heart pounding hard briefly when he realized that they were both trapped here as well.

But that only made sense, right? Lena had gone down first, and his defeat wasn't long after. It made sense that if they were captured by the same people they would end up in the same dungeon. He didn't panic, though, even when it became abundantly clear that there was little chance for escape. The hardships of war and anti-pirating had tempered him to keep his head in desperate situations. "Are you alright?" he asked of Lena, looking at the small figure curled up in the dark and assumed it was Mai by how small she was and nodded to her. "Is that Mai? Is she okay?"

Kol normally would have made some smart remark to Talos, a dry look on his features but he said nothing. At least he was conscious once again, the only one not awake was Mai and it was putting a knot in his stomach even when Lena had told him she was alright. He adjusted his sitting position, trying to shake some of the numb feelings crawling into his body and regain blood flow to some parts of his body. How long had they been there?

Lena perked slightly when she heard Talos’ voice, comforted by the sound and reasonably she knew he more than likely he hadn’t died. They survived war together, on battle front while she had been carrying Ryleon and he never faltered her. “Yeah, relevantly speaking I’m fine. Mai is next to me, she is alive.” She said, unsure if anything else was wrong with the woman and if she had sustained brain damage she didn’t want to move the woman more than needed. “We aren’t bound but there is no way for us to get out of here.” Her voice was calm as she spoke, and even tone reporting what she was and very so slowly she found the strength to stand. She stretched her sore muscles and walked to the edge of the cage looking at the lock and then the boys. She sort of wished she had possessed magic powers like Talos or Kol but for some reason someone had figured it out and deemed that they were helpless enough not to be able to escape if not chained down. Great.

Reaching up Talos examined the chains holding his wrists and turned them around, looking at the bindings while he listened to Lena, glad that she was alright at the very least. When he determined that there wouldn't be a way out just by picking at the weaknesses of the chains he let his weight rest against them, too sore to put up much struggle against an inanimate object that wouldn't budge anyway. Looking around the dungeon again, he tried to see if they were being guarded, but it was all stone wall and iron bars where his faltering vision could reach. "Has anyone come in or out?" He asked, hoping that the answer was yes. If someone had imprisoned them here, then they were probably still here keeping an eye on them. It would only make sense. And if there were people, he could hex them.

Hearing the others talking finally roused Mai, though she did so very slowly, dazed from the crack over the head she'd received on the road when she'd woken up after their initial kidnapping and started screaming. With a small groan she managed to roll on her back, laying on her wings awkwardly but didn't care and started to rub her head, tears pricking her eyes with the pain that it caused her. Slowly she sat up though the effort made her dizzy and slightly nauseous. When her vision cleared, it was to see very little in the weak torch light, but immediately recognized Kol's bright hair. "Where are we?" She whispered in a small dry voice.

"Not since I've been awake." Kol responded to Talos, having seen only them but it had only been a short while since had been conscious and there was no telling if someone had come back here or not. He leaned his head against the wall behind him, flexing his numb fingers until he heard Mai's moan. Instantly he was leaning forward to try and see Mai. "Lena, is she alright?" He asked, leaning heavily against the chains holding him in place as he watched Mai turn over and then sit up.

"Calm down before you rip your arms off, Kol." Lena responded and then turned to Mai. As she knelt she felt an overwhelming dizziness and then quickly shook it off. "All we know, Mai, is we are in a cell somewhere. To our knowledge we are the only four here." She moved out of Mai's direct line of sight to let her see Talos and Kol were across from them. And not their children.

Just as Lena's eyes were starting to get adjusted to the darkness of the cell, a door opened and blinding light spilled into the room. She hissed in displeasure as she covered her face and Mai's for protection. In walked a man with dark flowing robes, he was short and had grey streaks running through his hair to signify his age. The front of his robes were stained with blood and could easily been seen despite the dark fabric which it was on. A devilish grin found its way to his face as he scanned the cells. "Well, well, seems you are all awake. I've got plans for each one of you! No need to feel left out!" He called walking between the two cells and glancing down at Lena first.

There was a fire in her eyes that promised retribution, that would easily be beaten out of her. He then looked to the boys and went to their cell. He pulled out a set of cuffs that were attached to a chain. He walked to Talos, putting them on his wrists right below the first set. "Seems you are lucky enough to go first." He unlocked the handcuffs that were attached to the wall and pulled hard on Talos' new leash to force him to fall forwards. He saw Lena standing at the edge of her cell now, staring at him like a wild cat, ready to attack if she was given the chance."Know why its lucky? Then you don't have to hear the screams of your wife over there. Or your family." He laughed, tugging on his chains again so he could start dragging him out the door.

It took her a moment to understand the full implications of what it meant if they were the only four there. Immediately Mai began to panic, her feathers ruffling in distress. "Where are the children?" She whispered, her voice little more than a soft whimper. Her protective streak as a mother ran deep and it was being fiercely roused right now, every fiber of her being coming alive in an effort to find out where her children had gone. Before she could get too worked up or Talos had to start thinking of something that would knock her out again, the door burst open. Immediately, Mai shrank from the light, silently grateful that Lena had the thought to protect her sensitive eyes from the sudden burst of light. She watched the man entering their prison with large eyes, her body trembling with fear.

Chained up as he was, Talos did nothing to fight when the man clamped the second set of chains around his hands, but he did recoil at the foul presence of the man, pressing his back against the wall even though it hurt his wings to do so. He could not stop himself from falling forward, landing with his cheek pressed against the cold stone floor and struggled to his feet, stumbling forward as the man continued to tug at his bindings, drawing him forward. Anger burned low in the pit of his stomach, his warm brown eyes gone flinty with silent rage as the warrior in him rose to the surface with a roar, power flooding his extremities as the ancient magic dwelling in his blood came to life.


The power building within him leapt from his body, his eyes glowing briefly with a swimming gold as the hex leapt from his throat and wrapped around the black-robed man, his knees trembling as the effects of the hex took it's price from the caster.

Lena let her eyes linger on the man in the robes for a moment longer before bending down to protect Mai from the harsh light of the torches. "I'm not sure, Mai." She said responding to her question about the kids. She would have only hoped that many of them were able to get away but Mai's younger children never stood a chance. She kept her thoughts to herself however when she saw Talos hit the floor, something akin to a growl left her throat as she kept her gaze fixated on them.

When Talos began to speak, the robed man began to feel a deep seeded fear rise within him. "What are you saying?" He demanded, yanking on Talos' chains but as soon as he was done speaking a cold weight dropped into his stomach. "What have you done, you rat?!" He released Talos, taking a step back before his arm began to move on its own and against his will. "No..." He watched as he pulled his blade from underneath his clothing and leveled it with his heart. Adrenaline pumped through his heart and a sweat broke out on his face. "NO! GUARDS! HELP!" The man called but it was far too late for any help to come as he plunged the blade into his heart. He made a noise that was meant to be a scream but came out as a gergel as he choked on blood just before two armed guards came running into the room.

The first guard that entered was more than confused to see the prisoner laying on the ground and the man sent to 'experiment' on him had his own hands wrapped around the blade in his heart. The robed man fell to the ground with a thud as his blood began to form a pool around him. The guard moved quickly, grabbing Talos' chains and putting him back against the wall. "What the hell happened here?" He demanded from Talos, shaking him a bit.

In the face of the guard's anger, Talos only smiled wearily, not at all resisting the man as he laid hands on him, pulling him off the floor slightly in his state of confusion and anger. His wings crumpled against the wall, laying uncomfortably against his back, but it was a pain that he could deal with. "Nothing that wasn't deserved." He replied cryptically, searching the man's face briefly before the power of a hex flooded him again, rising slowly unlike the sudden surge that had gripped him before. "Be weary, be weak, be honest, be true. Long has this wearing duty drawn at you. You are tired, your mind is drained, but honesty is yet sustained." He waited until the tell tale surge trickled out of him an into the man, letting the hex take it's toll before speaking again. "Tell me now and tell me short, where are my keth and kin? The children that were took. What fate has befallen the young ones?"

The guard shaking Talos began to stop, feeling a heaviness in his limbs as a glazed look came over his eyes. Why wasn't the other guard helping him? Oh, yes, he was taking care of the body in the room...must have left. His eyes began to glaze and he loosened his grip on the avian."The children that didn't escape are being kept in another hall to the east. We can't use them yet. Must wait till they are older." He said in Talos' thrall, standing there in a half daze. He had let go of Talos at this point and simply waited to hear what Talos' next order was.

Lena felt a surge of hope run through her, "Did you hear that? Some of them escaped." She said quietly to Mai, not wanting to break Talos' concentration on the small thread of magic he might have had in him. "Mai, did you hear him?" She asked, hoping to comfort the distraught woman and ease her fears slightly that at least some of her children might not have been 'experimented' on yet.

Kol kept quiet as he sat limply against his chains, watching the interact between the guard and Talos. "Hurry Talos, the other guard may come back." He hissed in a warning, keeping an eye on the door in case he was right.

Mai clung to Lena, relief sweeping through her when he heard the guard. Some of her children had escaped. She was so thankful she could have cried. But of the others… well, at least it was good news that they couldn't be used, whatever that meant. It sent a thrill of fear through her for what that entailed for them should they be caught, but she could control fear for herself. "We need to get out of here." She whispered, her watery gaze centered on her half brother.

Talos pointedly ignored the others giving him orders, keeping his gaze on the guard to keep the man his thrall. It would be unfortunate if the man succumbed fully to his spell and fell asleep, or else broke free of it and roused a warning. "Unbind our shackles, set us free, then take us to where our children be." He added the command onto the already effective spell, raising his chains to the guard's line of sight so that he understood loud and clear if the exhaustion spell was muddling his mind too much. Hexes were a tricky thing to control or predict what they would do, but so far so good. It was much easier to make people just kill themselves.

The guard looked at Talos and then the chains when the were brought to his line of sight. He pulled out a key and undid them, going to Kol next and doing the same. He then stood and went to the door, waiting for them to follow him.

Lena took note that sadly it seem that the guard wasn't going to unlock their cell and remained still, holding onto Mai and leveling a gaze at Talos. Pride swelled in her for her husband and his power at that moment and there was real love shining in her eyes in hopes of giving him encouragement to hold the spell. She would hope Talos would go with the guard to get the children and come back for them later.

Kol sagged onto the ground when his chains were undone, letting out a sigh in relief that he could stretch some of his muscles that had been so sore. Blood rushed into his limbs and his arms tingled but that was all a good sign, perhaps long lasting nerve damage could be avoided. Kol pushed himself against the wall, biting back a groan as he did so and stood to join Talos.He too took notice that the guard did not open their cell and he looked to Talos.

He rubbed his wrists where they had been chafed by the manacles he'd worn earlier, dirt and dried blood falling from his arms as he worked at them. Silently he watched the guard, frowning when the man didn't go to unlock the cage. Apparently, he hadn't been specific enough or too specific in his commands. For a moment he hesitated, wondering if he should re-word the command and add that he should free the women as well, but the look that Lena was giving him was enough. Time was everything now, and they needed to get the children out of here, at the very least.

He stood to follow the thrall out to go find the children when he heard someone coming down the hall and cursed his luck, only just barely managing to retreat inside the doorway and wrench the knife from the chest of the man he'd killed earlier, palming the weapon just as three more guards came in the door, staring first at the enthralled man then at the two freed prisoners. Talos did not waste time when he leapt forward, blade in hand and went straight for the nearest guard, aiming for the kill.

Kol hissed a noise of displeasure when he heard the guards coming down the hallway and then come into the room. The only weapon he had was his fire and at his current state there was no chance he was going be able to use it more than a few short moments.

The stunned guard that was standing in the doorway under the trance of Talos' spell soon snapped out of it. When Talos attacked the first guard, he turned in a stunned sort of fashion to face the two escaped prisoners. How on Earth did he end up like this? He turned on Talos quickly, leaping on the man in order to retrain him.

Kol gathered what energy he could and waited, waited until there was a few guards crowing the door in a tight cluster in order to get to Talos. In one burst of energy Kol released the fire welling inside of him and onto the guards. HE focused his energy on aiming for the man on Talos and the group forming at the door to get in. Immediately he was hit with the smell of burning flesh and he covered his nose in order to keep his empty stomach from heaving. As he felt the pull of magic leaving his body however, Kol went face down on the stone floor, sending silent hopes that Talos could make it out. The last thing he saw were several men running from the room, caught on fire.

Lena gripped the bars of her cell tightly as she watched on in horror as Talos went down under the man who had recently been under his trance. And then she watched Kol go down after setting the men on fire. Fool! He should have tried to save more of his energy instead of such a flashy attack! "Talos! Go if you can!" She called to him, unsure of his current condition.

Talos collapsed immediately when the man crashed into him. He simply didn't have the strength to resist the fall. Between no food and a high metabolism, all of his strength had been gone long ago. Putting up a fight was more of an act of desperation and less of a conscious decision at this point. As he fell though, he turn the blade of the dagger he held up toward his attacker. His back hit the floor and he braced the dagger against the ground, leveling it as best he could so that the man would fall on it and be impaled. The bright flash of Kol's fire went largely unnoticed by Talos as the guard died on his blade, the weapon impaling him in the abdomen. With a struggle, Talos managed to throw the man off and looked up to see three of the guards on fire.

Well, at least Kol was good for something before collapsing. Struggling to his feet, Talos picked up a second dropped dagger from one of the men that was now flailing around on fire. At least the fools were fleeing now, though their screams were sure to rouse the rest of the guards in the compound. He hesitated for a second, caught between the need to save his wife and sister and the need to make sure that the children were safe. Gripping the dagger, he made his decision and turned back into the room, rushing to the cage and slipped the dagger into the crack between the lock and the door, fiddling with it to try and wrench it open. "If we're getting out of here, we're doing it together." He growled, prying at the lock.

Lena watched the action from behind the cell, gripping the bars until her knuckles had turned white. She detested not being able to fight along side her husband and to watch her Kol fall. When the men who had been on fire seemed to scatter from the room, Lena lossened her grip slightly, now was his chance to get to the children.

But Talos didn't do as she expected, what she believed was the right thing to do. Fear and anger mixed with love clawed at her gut when she saw Talos return for them. "What are you doing?" She hissed, "The children are more important!" Despite her obvious disapproval to him wasting time on them, she made no move to stop him picking at the lock. Her face was against the bars and them stubborn look she normally got that was stamped on her face when she believed she was right. Even though she was one hundred percent sure her own children had made it out before they were taken and only Kol and Mai's children were left they were just as important. Her gaze flicked between Talos and the door, anxious fear written all over her face despite the calm in her voice.

"I can't make it out of here alone." Talos replied in a ragged voice, working at the lock still though paused briefly to look up to Lena and meet her eyes. Something down the hall crashed. He went back to work. "There's no way I can fight my way to wherever the children are by myself. I need someone at my back, and Kol just exhausted himself." He didn't even need to look behind him to check that Kol was still out. Magic took a toll, and from the way that Kol had collapsed earlier, he was guessing that the toll was too much for him to do it again. Frustrated that the lock hadn't come apart yet, he angrily jabbed the knife at it and finally the thing let go. Immediately he swung the bars open and stepped back just in time to not get run over by Mai who went to Kol's side as quickly as she could. "Let's get out of here before they come back." Which could be any second if the sounds of chaos from down the hall were any idicator.

Talos' tone disarmed any further argument Lena was going to give him. The brief look he gave her before going back to work on the lock was enough to twist her heart painfully. She stepped back slightly so as to not be hit by any flying debris when he broke the it she was nearly run down by Mai leaving the cell first. She blinked after the woman, having never seen her move so fast and then made her way to Talos' side. She put a hand on his shoulder and for a brief moment locked eyes with him. It was just long enough to convey her feelings before she bent down to pick up a sword that one of the guards had dropped. When she stood back up, Lena looked over to Mai hovering over an unconscious Kol. "Mai...We have to go." They didn't have time to waste pulling Mai away from her husband.

Mai was gently cradling Kol's head in her lap, her eyes very nearly about to spill over with tears, but she was holding it together, if only just. "I can't just leave him…" She whispered, brushing his hair out of his eyes and biting her lip. But she couldn't leave her children either.

The delima was quickly put on the back burner however when the noise down the hall became the noise in the doorway. Talos cursed explosively, whipping around from where he had been about to get Mai back on her feet and brandished the now chipped dagger he had in hand at the new intruders. Three more jailers in soft clothes had come, with three of the floating armor suits in tow. Well damn, this wasn't going to be nice at all.

Would she have left Talos for the children? No, probably not, that was her reason for not yanking Mai from Kol the instant she got the chance. Just as Talos was about to however there was a noise coming announcing the presence of more guards. Cursing in an unlady like manner Lena took up her position next to Talos and prepared to defend him. She could only hope Talos wasn't going to be stupid enough to use magic at this point, knowing he would soon end up like Kol if he did.

Lena lunged for the closest man first, not bothering to attack the floating men seeing as how any and all attacks she had done when they were taken did nothing to harm them. She drew back the crude sword and went in low, hoping to catch him off guard and to end this quickly. They didn't appear to have armor on and anywhere was a good enough target on the body if she drove the sword deep enough.

Talos followed quickly on Lena's heels, guarding her flank and her back from attack, though the men that had appeared through the doors appeared to be more surprised than ready to fight. The one that Lena attacked went down easy enough, but when Talos tried for a follow-up one of the floating armored suits interfered and his chipped blade rang when it hit the unyielding metal of the ghost knight. Then the three armored creatures were crowding into the room and Talos fell back from them, the robed men that had appeared first falling behind the wall of protection. If only he weren't so weak! Hexing these abominations might be their only way out after all.

Lena let out a string of unlady-like curses when the floating men started to circle them and the more squishy robed targets fell back. If only she had some sort of magic to get these freaks to explode or something! She looked to Talos, he looked literally and figurativly backed into a corner. "Don't. You'll end up like Kol and then we really will be hopeless." She didn't want to give the robed men any idea that he had magic and make things worse for them. She wasn't sure how to fight these things but maybe they would out maneuver them?

Talos had already started thinking up the beginning lines to a hex that might paralyze the metal creatures when Lena's voice broke his concentration. She was, unfortunately, right. He didn't even know if his brand of hexing would work on the ghost knights, let alone if they would do what he wanted them too. However, weak as he was and without Kol there to help drive the possessed armored suits back, he was as good as a sitting duck. One of the creatures caught his arm and Tlaos desperately struck out at it to try and get it to let go. It punched him in the gut, knocking out his wind and slapping away the knife while the other two ganged up on Lena since she was still standing.

He struggled against his captor to no avail. The metal hand around his arm was unyielding and he was soon pinned with his wings against the metal knight's back and his arms against his sides as the creature held him in a bearhug, facing the robed men out in the hallway that were now watching the fight in the room and gawking. In a few seconds, they were joined by other robed men who crowded in the hallways just beyond the door.

Well, her plans had just hit a full and complete stop. With two of the floating monsters after her, there was no way Lena was going to be able to dodge their attacks and get free. So, she tried the other thing she knew how, brute force. Having been in so many fights over the years, she knew this kind of tactic more than likely wasn't going to work but maybe if she beat them off hard enough she could drive them back and get herself free?

Taking a chance at her plan, Lena charged forward, bringing the crude sword down onto the 'head' of the first metal floating being before quickly doing the same to the next. Instead of her attacks fending them further away the two just seemed to get closer and closer. "Damnit all!" Lena said in frustration as exhaustion was starting to set it. As she went to hit the first floating armor on her left, her right arm was grabbed by the second one and yanked her backwards.

Shocked by the force, Lena stumbled a bit leaving herself open to get her left arm grabbed by the other floating man who squeezed her arm nearly to the breaking point, in which case she dropped the sword. Pulling at both of the floating men seemed to do absolutely nothing. After a few moments of thrashing (and getting punched a few times) around Lena found herself being held up by both arms, one by each floating armor, panting.

He watched, horrified as Lena was beaten down by the other metal men and struggled again against his captor but to no avail. The metal knight just hugged him tighter to the opine where it began to hurt and he was truly afraid of his ribs cracking under the pressure. Gasping for breath, Talos desperately tried to conjure up a hex, but he was out of energy, inspiration and breath. No coherent words would leave his lips, and eventually he just had to give up, unable to struggle any more against what was an impossible obstacle to overcome.

"Kol, wake up love, wake up." Mai hissed quietly, tapping his cheek with her hand gently as more of the metal guardians parted the crowd of robed men standing in the doorway. They came to float in front of her briefly before one went to pick her up and haul her to her feet by the arms. She screamed, struggling weakly against the magical creature.