Creak's feet swished in the cold water of her bath. After messing herself up in the head and passing out she couldn't remember how many days she had been in the slavers' wagon. All she knew was that she had taken a nice nap only to be woken up and dragged away from Vern. Her head had exploded with pain and the woman slaver practically had to carry her up the stairs and into the room she was in now. She had been told to get cleaned up either with the slaver's help or by herself. She had chosen the latter and then soon found herself shivering in an icy tub of water. Any slight movement threatening to give her a nasty splinter.
The once clear water had turned black shortly after she had touched it. Creak was so filthy she wasn't sure she could even get clean.

Presentable? Maybe, but it wouldn't be easy.

"Well at least one good thing will come out of our imprisonment," Gorgos said almost gleefully, "you might actually smell good for the first time in your life."

Creak almost laughed. "Is that optimism I hear in your voice?"

"Eww." She spat back, "who do you think I am? Angel?"

A pounding on the washroom door knocked Creak back to the real world. "Are you done yet?" The raspy voice of her female guard slapped her from the other side of the door.

"Just about." Creak yelled back not bothering to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "It takes more than a minute to get clean, you know."
The woman didn't respond and Creak figured she had probably left to the other side of the room.

Dipping her head in the the grimy water, Creak scrubbed her scalp. Her hair hadn't been washed in years and she wasn't sure if it would ever detangle. Once the cold proved to be too much and her breath was almost gone, Creak resurfaced and got out of the tub. Her skin was as clean as it was going to get, but still looked stained with dirt. Maybe she was just tan or maybe the dirt would never really go away.

Sighing, she put on the dress that the slaves got her to replace the shredded one she had owned before. Creak didn't know what they would do with her old dress, but it was so ruined nothing but burning it would suffice.

Running her fingers through her wild, wet mane, Creak looked at herself in the tall, wood-framed mirror. She hadn't seen herself in years. Hadn't seen why men looked at her with lust and fear and women glared at her with envy.

She didn't want to be vain, but the only word she could find to describe her appearance was beautiful. Her eyes were an ordinary brown, but glowed with a crazy, caring glint. Her face was shaped differently than most people's with a strong jaw that was somehow soft at the same time. Her cheeks were hollow from lack of food and sleep, and her thick eyebrows gave her face a darkness that looked mysterious. Her lips were chapped despite her constant effort to keep them damp.

The sight of herself made her sick. She couldn't stand to look into the eyes of a broken girl; a girl who had ruined her once tolerable life.
Shaking her head, Creak finished tying up the back of her plain cotton dress. It was beautiful, her new dress. Sure it was nothing like what the upper class ladies would wear, but for an urchin? No, it wasn't bad at all. A slight smile crept over her face and for some reason she wonder what Rip would think of her now. Freshly cleaned and wearing nice, new attire. Sure she was going to an auction to be sold as a companion, but her life tended to throw her into distasteful situations.

Pushing past her own thoughts, thoughts that threatened to make her giggle uncontrollably, Creak opened the door. She leaned in the doorway, a smirk on her face and called, "Oh, Miss. Captor Lady I'm done. How do I look?" She strutted across the room, allowing humor to help her cope. She stopped in front of the guard, a hand resting on her hip. "Stunning, right?"

The woman's eyebrows shot into the air so fast Creak could have sworn they were trying to jump off her face and commit suicide.
"Well if I were a part of that lady's face I'd want to die too." Gorgos said flatly.

That's about when Creak lost it. A wicked smile split her face and a laugh bubbled out of her. Disgust covered the guard's face causing Creak to laugh so hard tears poured down her face.

"Enough!" Anger bubbled out of guard and Creak could see a war raging behind her eyes.

"She's going to hit you." Gorgos said with amusement.

Creak smiled at the woman and said aloud, "She wouldn't dare bruising my possible profit with a mark."

With a quick glance behind her the guard swallowed back the fear in her throat. "Who are you talking to?"

Creak just giggled at her discomfort and whispered as if she didn't want someone or something to hear her. "Don't you see the demons?"

She was of course just messing with the woman, using her own needless fear against her. Creak liked playing with people's mind when they deserved it and being as crazy as she was only made having a little fun easier.

"That's it!" The woman roughly pulled her arms behind her back and pushed Creak towards the door. "Out! You're sleeping outside tonight!"
"Splendid!" Creak cheered. "An adventure!"

Her arms were held so far behind her back that she marveled at her shoulders flexibility. Her muscles stranded, but she clinched her teeth against the pain.

Creak stumbled down the stairs, putting all her concentration into keeping her footing. She knew she was likely to freeze to death in the night, but wouldn't that be better than her fate as a slave?

Tripping, Creak fell to her knees at the bottom of the steps. Her shoulder popped and she bit back a cry of pain. Tears sprung to her eyes but she quickly blinked them back.

"Excuse me ma'am, but might I ask what's going on here?"

Creak's head shot up at the voice. 'No!' She thought in horror. 'How did he find me?'

A growing fear settled in her stomach along with a feeling she couldn't begin to understand. Standing in front of her stood Riptide, the knight responsible for hunting down and sending her to her death, but also the knight who had given her second chance at life. Until now.

He had found her and she didn't doubt he would keep his promise to kill her.

He didn't meet her eyes and Creak couldn't help but feel invisible. He kept his spectacular eyes, which appeared a deep blue in the shallow lighting, on the woman who held her captive.

"My affairs are none of your business." The woman's steely voice sent a blush of anger to Creak's cheeks. Here she was again. Helpless with her fate resting in the hands of another. It was as if she were destined to be held captive, only to feel freedom in her own dreams.

"Am afraid any business is the king's business." Rip growled back at the woman, who failed to take the warning.

"This far from the capital?" The guard laughed. "The king's rule doesn't reach this far."

Creak snorted. The king controlled everything and everyone, and her captor was crazy to think otherwise.

A sharp twist of her arm had Creak back on the floor in pain. The woman didn't look down at her, but instead kept her eyes on Rip. Her lips curled up into a wicked smile... it was as if she knew something they didn't.

Creak gasped as she saw it. A glint of moonlight reflected off of metal right outside the window.

"Rip!" She screamed, knowing it would already be too late.

A small dart pierced his neck and sent him crashing to the ground beside Creak.

"Rip!" Creak reached for him. 'Is he even breathing? He's not breathing!'

"Up!" The guard pulled her to her feet before she could get ahold of Rip. "We have to leave. Now."

Creak shoved and kicked at her with everything she had, but the woman was strong and Creak hadn't had a decent meal in days. "No!" She screamed slamming the back of her head into the guard's nose resulting a satisfying crack. The woman's grip slipped and Creak scrambled away from her and to Rip. Pulling the small dart out of his neck, she checked for a pulse. "Please," she pleaded. "Please be okay."

She let out the breath she had been holding as a strong pulse thumped under her fingers. The guard came up behind her and slammed the heel of her boot into the back of Creak's head and she smiled as the darkness took her into its arms. He was okay and in that moment that was all Creak could care about.