I awoke again, having cried myself to sleep. The man had said the he'd sent a ransom note, before he left me. But the amount he demanded ... it was impossibly high, I thought. There would be no way that my ... maybe Zan. But what if she couldn't? What then? Would he simply discard of me, where no one would find me? Or worse ... would he leave me here to die? Not knowing what would happen, I stood up, noting that it was daylight again. I grabbed the small rock I had managed to find, and went to the window to begin working on the knothole.
For some time, I worked on the hole; I know not how long. I was making progress on it. My fingers were bloody and sore, but I didn't care. I had to get out of this room. Setting the rock back down near my bedroll, I went to the barrel and drank some water, before going to the basket to see how much of the bread was left. I'd been careful not to eat much of it, and there was still most of the loaf left. I broke off a small piece and bringing it with me, I sat on the bedroll as I ate slowly. After finishing, I lay back and closed my eyes as I took a brief respite before continuing my work.
I was only asleep a short time before I heard the door open again. Shielding my eyes against the light, I pushed myself back against the wall as someone approached. I heard the sound of a blade being drawn and cried out, but a moment later the blade found the ropes tying my wrists, and they came off of me to my relief. A familiar voice called my name. "Des, we found you ...."
"Raak?" I asked, hearing his voice.
Outside, I heard someone else. "We can't stay here, it's too dangerous. We have to move her now." Ana ... I thought. They had come for me.
Then I felt something cold against my hand, as one so dear butted my hand with his darkly furred head. "GIZMO!!" My lynx was alive!
Raak quickly picked me up, though I would have protested that I could walk. With great speed, we made our way back to Bree ....
