* [i]He's... alive,[/i] Savara thought again, still struggling to quantify what she'd seen when she'd finally solved the arum. The holodrone, but a few seconds in length, had shown her Sorran, speaking with an older Sangheili. It was time-stamped but a few weeks ago. There was always the possibility it was fabricated... but for the life of her she could not understand why Pel would do such a thing, unless he was truly cruel. He did not seem cruel; ruthless and cold, certainly. But not cruel - a man like that could not understand mockery anymore than they could understand humour. No, she believed what she had seen to be true. At first this had filled her with a joy so intense she'd momentarily forgot her dark captivity, until when moving her hand to her face to wipe away the euphoric tears the manacles her wrists had been locked with chafed against the skin, snapping her back to her situation. Now she wondered, and to her horror suspected. Had anything about Sorran even been true? What if he'd been an agent of Pel, sent to infiltrate with the ultimate goal of... what, exactly? Coercing her father? Imperial Admiral Grymar'ee had always been a wild-card amongst the admiralty, perhaps this was the sanctum's attempt to bring him into line. It couldn't be as mundane as that, though. The way Pel had spoken, it had seemed like he worked to preserve a secret so terrible that not even he knew it. And Sorran was embroiled in it all, a seeming traitor to the Covenant. He'd seemed so genuine, so naive, so utterly grounded and free of any of the political and social traps of their empire. Maybe that had all been an act. [i]Or maybe I'm jumping to conclusions.[/i] Whatever was going on, none of it would matter if she wasted away in her cell. Pel had not checked in on her in a long time, and after what had happened with her former captor no other stood watch outside her cell. There was a camera in the very top right corner of the room, but it was old and inefficient. Savara had ascertained a blind spot in its range, and there lay the key to her escape. In his wish to keep her occupied, Pel had put the holodrone with Sorran's footage inside the arum. It sat now in the camera's blind spot, a beautiful ornament with an array of edged crystals decorating its intricate surface. This was an arum intended for display in a cabinet, not one given to children. Savara had spent the last hour grinding it against the cold stone of the wall, and the crystal had crumbled away under her tenacity. Its edge and point had become tapered and sharp, a small dot of purple graced its tip from where Savara had proved its keen on her own finger. The puzzle had given her the solution to her captivity; the arum was a weapon. It would not hold up for long, but it would be enough. She picked up the dagger-sharp shard of crystal, sliding it up her sleave. The rough edge grated against her blistered skin painfully, and she had to bite back a cry. [i]Once you step onto the path, do not stray. Elsewhere lies uncertainty,[/i] a stern lecturing of her father's came calling back to her. "Guard!" she called out. Her foot met the path, yet she struggled to see where it would take her. Her sole guide was the weapon she concealed now. It took a few minutes for a response, which was promising. A portly Sangheili lumbered into the room. His face was splotched, and he seemed fit to burst from his armour. "What?" he demanded roughly, glancing up at the camera nervously. No doubt he had seen what Pel had done to her last gaoler. "I grow cold," she pined. "Have you no blankets?" "We're not supposed to pass you anything but food and water," her fat gaoler told her abruptly. "I'm sorry, my lady." "Surely you can give me something," she sighed, her eyes staring at the gaoler's. "You must understand, stuck down here too." "... it is cold," her gaoler admitted. "I could pass you a sheet, I suppose. I shall be a minute." "You are too kind," she simpered, flashing him her best smile. The gaoler turned to leave the room, and looked back at her as he did so. When he returned, he had in his hands a light sheet which had seen better days; it was wrought with holes and dirt. Her gaoler moved towards her cell, and held a sheet just outside its hard, basic bars of metal. "It is not much, but it should ward away some of the frost," the man told her. Savara reached out for the sheet, letting her hand rest lightly upon the gaoler's arm as she reached to grab it. Her fingers stroked the clammy skin of the gaoler, trailing across it delicately. "But what of you?" she asked him in a near-whisper. The gaoler's eyes widened slightly, flush filling his skin. "Such a brave and noble man, I cannot let you freeze on my behalf." She moved her hand down the gaoler's side, caressing his waist and drawing him closer. She could smell his breath, rancid and strong, and had to fight back a gag. "I- I don't think- Pel would not be best pleased if-" her gaoler stuttered, letting out a little gasp of shock as her hand reached down to his crotch, squeezing gently. "He hasn't been down to check on me in hours," she breathed in his ear, her fingers playing with the catch on the gaoler's lightly armoured leggings. "He has more important things to worry about, and it [i]is[/i] so cold down here." The catch come undone, and her hand reached inside. Her gaoler let out a small moan of pleasure as her fingers played about his manhood. Savara's wide eyes stared with feigned lust into the small, squinty beads of the gaoler. "What say you, my sir?" she asked of him seductively, undoing her own top and baring the peak of her breasts to show. The gaoler's eyes moved south. She grabbed one of his hands softly, and laid it to rest there. "Won't you share my sheets with me?" "If the lady so wishes," the gaoler droned, courtesies mixed with longing as his hands moved across her body through the bars. Savara shuddered with disgust, and the gaoler mistook it for pleasure as he reached down to her loins. She backed away, smiling playfully as she lay sprawled on her thin bed and beckoned for the gaoler to come join her. The door to her cell was quickly opened as the gaoler waddled his way inside, and moved towards the bed, his leggings brought down to his feet and then discarded onto the floor as he pressed down upon her, planting an ugly kiss on her neck. His hands reached down, eager for what lay between her legs. "Oh, my lord," Savara moaned even as the arum slid its way down her sleave and nestled within her hand. Her trousers were pulled down, and she felt welted hands slide their way down her soft skin. He would reach no further. She struck. The sharpened crystal shard of the arum sank into the gaoler's neck assuredly, and hot blood spilled from the gash, staining the sheet he had brought her a dark purple. A small cry erupted from the man, but her hands grabbed his jaw and held it closed. The gaoler quivered violently, and then he died. Savara rolled out from beneath him, and fastened herself up. The gaoler was a pathetic sight, naked and still hard with lust even as the life fled from his eyes and his body collapsed into a pool of his blood. A small trace of pity struck her, but it was just as soon buried as she saw the fresh scratches his groping hands had made across her chest. Still, she could not help but feel a little disgusted with herself. He was not the first man she had ever killed, but even so she had sworn an oath as a physician, and no matter how many souls had fled under your hands, it never became any easier. The door to her cell lay open, and the camera in the corner remained immobile; Pel obviously wasn't watching her. Savara moved towards the gaoler's discarded leggings and delved into the pockets; she found the keycard she had been searching for, and a knife to boot. Savara pressed the glyph on the side of the hilt as her father's arms master had shown her so many years ago, and a sharp blade of plasma sprang into the dark. [i]The things fools do for lust and love,[/i] she thought to herself as she edged her way towards the cell door, running along the path now. A bright light lay at its end.