"Ughh… my head… my tooth…"
Jessie stirred awake, groaning through the throb in his swollen jaw. His vision swam, blurred shapes shifting into focus. One eye refused to open fully, puffed and blackened from the beating he had suffered.
When the haze cleared, two silhouettes stood before him.
Auren and Austaire. But not as themselves. Tonight, they wore borrowed names and false faces- Nathan and Angela- disguised as low-ranking knights, their levels masked to appear unremarkable.
"You… you're courting death!" Jessie snarled. He tried to surge forward, but ropes bit into his wrists and ankles, binding him to the chair.
"Fuck! You think these ropes can hold me?" His laugh was a guttural bark. A level 35 soldier like him could normally snap bindings like twigs.
But the ropes did not yield. Panic flickered in his eyes.
