Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Little Slave Girl ❯ Survival of the Fittest ( Chapter 11 )

Rowyn could move only slightly. Among all the aches and pains that had been inflicted upon her by her captors nothing hurt more than what they'd stolen from her. Heedlessly, her hand drifted to her throat, where the familar chain used to hang which held the locket she so cherished. Tears blocked her vision as she curled her hand into a useless fist that fell to her side, as empty as the space about her neck.

She was curled up against the wall, weeping softly, her long dark hair hiding her face like a tangled curtain, when she heard the noise. It was faint, if she'd been human she'd have missed it entirely. It was a sort of soft shuffling noise, but more pronouced, as if the person or thing making the noise was seeking something.

Ryven had done her best to elude the other guards and hopefully the Princess would think she was just a crappy player and was still searching for her, she moved carefully along the hallways, looking into every room she could find without being spotted. She was just about to slip into the turbolift to the next floor and start looking there when she felt a familar tug at the back of her mind.

Almost as a hunch, more of a gut feeling, and Ryven had learned to trust gut feelings, she began to feel along the walls, opening her mind and reaching out telepathically. The tiny star at the back of her mind began to grow and to glow brighter the farther along the hallway she got.

Rowyn's eyes opened wide as she felt a tingling in her head, like someone was trying to pull at her attention. She shook her head and forced herself to focus more clearly upon it. She recognized it now!

Ryven-san! She thought and sent at the same time. Ryven caught her sending just as her palms touched the wall she knew, felt the younger elf behind. There was no door, however, so she was at a loss as to how, exactly she was to reach her. She sent to Rowyn that she was near and that everything would be all right if she could just hold on for a few more minutes...

**...Have to try and figure this out...**

** There is a panel in the side of the wall,** Came Rowyn's ready, yet unskilled response, ** It's hidden a little behind the bulkhead...here...use my eyes...my memory...to see it...see? **

Ryven did so, looking through Rowyn's eyes when she had been a slave here and cleaned these hallways, the sensation was un-nerving to say the least, but she used the girl's memory of the area to locate the needed panel and reached over to flip the lid upwards. What she saw confused her even more and she reached up to shove an errent lock of her pale golden hair from her eyes as she studied it.

** The two blinking red lights, ** Rowyn instructed, ** Press the left one twice **

She did so and a hidden panel in the wall slide open, revealing a secret chamber, the one in which Rowyn had been shoved into. She gasped to see the girl, naked and bruised, her eyes red-rimmed from crying and shivering with cold. She hated these people even more than she had thought she did, seeing, firsthand, thier cruelty.

Removing her cloak from her shoulders, she draped it around the younger elf and helped her to her feet, one arm carefully wrapped about her slender waist, the other holding her upright. It was hard, she realized, for Rowyn to walk and saw that her right leg was twisted oddly and she was breathing funny, like a rib was caught in her lung or something.

Kami, I hope it's not more than that!

"...Ryven..."

** Hush! Keep sending! We must be like mist through these halls, unnoticed...** Ryven sent, helping her out of the room and into the empty hallway.

** I know of a way...** Rowyn said, coughing, blood in her mouth, ** When I was smaller, the other slave children and I...used to play...remove the panel over there...**

She pointed to a circular panel in the wall, using her smaller dagger, Ryven pried it open and peered inside. It looked like a tunnel of some sort. She heard footfalls coming closer! Laughter and talking. But what if the tunnel only led to to dead end, cornering them...like rodents?

Louder footsteps, more talking. No more time! She helped Rowyn inside and barely got the panel opening closed and sealed up as best she could from the inside before she heard the footsteps and the voices pass them by.

** Come on...** Rowyn, hurt but doing her best to keep going, sent, crawling ahead of Ryven slowly, ** I know where this leads...trust me...**

As they crawled, endlessly it seemed, her knees starting to ache from being on them for so long and her back as well from being so crunched down, a tugging began in her head again. This time she knew what it was right off the bat. She smiled grimly, thinking that come what may her Papa would be proud of her.

I'm sorry, Papa! She thought, following Rowyn as they came to an erea where they could actually stand up and had room to move about before the tunnel forked in three different directions, I can't answer you yet...so tired and Rowyn needs me more than ever now!

"We can talk here..." Rowyn said, her voice a whisper, it was hard for her speak, she sat against the wall, shivering, holding Ryven's cloak tightly about her shoulders, trying to gain some small bit of warmth from it. Without thinking about what she was doing, more like she was just reacting to the situation, Ryven held her hands out, palms outwards, towards Rowyn, nearly touching her but not quite.

As she consentrated, her ki began to flow and form into a kind of bubble, enveloping the younger elf and herself, the warmth from it circling them and, much to Rowyn's surprise, healing much of her surface wounds and bruises. She sighed and leaned against her friend, closing her eyes in exhaustion. Ryven knew she couldn't keep this up forever and that both she and Rowyn needed to find food soon....!

She felt it safe to leave the other elf there, sleeping curled against the wall, the faint light from her ki bubble still illuminating them faintly as it dissipaited slowly, while she explored a bit and tried to find what she needed to keep them both alive. She didn't know which tunnel fork to choose so she just picked the one closest.

She followed it for a bit and came to an erea where there seemed to be shelves built into the walls, she held her breath, hardly daring to hope her hunch had paid off! Reaching up, she felt vaccum-sealed packages and pulled a few down ontop of her, ripping them open with her teeth. Course, yet durable material met her questing fingertips.

Blankets! And some pillows! She realized and carried as many as she could back through the tunnels towards Rowyn, who was trembling in her sleep again once she arrived. Carefully and quickly she wrapped as many of the blankets she had been able to bring back with her around the girl and lifted her head to place a pillow beneath it.

It's not luxury, but it's the best I can do for now.

Her stomach began to growl and she realized that she hadn't had anything to eat in awhile, neither had Rowyn, though she thought the other elf probably would feel like eating...still...she had to keep up her strength somehow and eating would help the healing process along faster.

It was a good thing she wasn't a human! If she were, she probably wouldn't have survived this long. Her own body was more than likely well on to the task of mending herself as she slept.

Thank Kami for small favors! Ryven thought, stifling a yawn. But she knew she could not rest, not yet. She had to find them some food...anything! She'd eat rats if it came down to it! She wasn't about to give up and let either of them perish! Never!

She thought of what Piccolo, Papa, would want her to do if he were with her and knew that he would never allow her to even consider the possibility of giving up!

"N-no...please...!" Rowyn moaned in her sleep, moving about a bit beneath the blankets, "Don't take that away...Mother...! Please...!"

Laying a calming hand to her forehead, Ryven stilled the other elf's nightmare's by sending a feeling of safty and calmness into her friend's mind. Rowyn opened her eyes a bit and looked up at Ryven in confusion. "Shh...sleep some more," She said to her, "I'm going to try and find something to eat..."

Rowyn barely heard her as she drifted in and out of dreams which were more like nightmares...

A few moments later, Ryven arrived back, her arms laden with artificatially grown vegetables, it wasn't much, but it least it would give them strength. She dropped the food beside Rowyn and knelt down to touch the other elf's head, frowning at what she felt. Rowyn moved a bit in her sleep, moaning softly, trying to kick free of the blankets Ryven had piled around her.

Damn! She's burning up! Ryven thought, her hand still on the girl's forehead, trying to think of what she should do.

"S-so hot..." Rowyn murmered, shoving free of the blankets, She shook her head when Ryven pulled them back up, "N-no...please...too hot..."

"You've got a fever, Rowyn," Ryven tried to reason with her, but by the glazed look in the other elf's eyes, she knew that she barely understood, "You need to keep the blankets on you..."

"M-mother...?" Rowyn reached out, her fingers grasping, shaking, towards Ryven, "I didn't mean it! I'm sorry! Please..."

"Shh..." Ryven said, "Lay back. Rest. I'll...try to think of something..."

Just then, her sharp ears picked up the sound of activity down the tunnel from wince they'd come. It sounded like they were trying to pry the panel off the wall. She realized that they would have to start moving again to avoid being re-captured.

It's one thing after another, She thought, her heart racing beneath her breast, as she struggled to get Rowyn to her feet.

"I'm sorry!" She cried, tears in her eyes, "But we can't stay in one place for too long...they'll find us! You have to try..."

She heard talking in the tunnels behind them and knew they didn't have much time. Even burning up with fever and delusional, Rowyn had to wake enough to let Ryven help her get out of there!