* * * *
Nevair snapped awake in a single jolt. Blinking, he looked around trying to figure out his location. The smell of sand and oak filled his nose and he struggled to focus his gaze.
The wine cellars.
Built hundreds of years ago, the cathedral had several levels below ground that few people remembered. The first Pontifex had considered himself an expert on wine and had used his position to force his parishioners to work as his personal slaves to create a dessert wine from cacti. It wasn't until after his death that his behavior had been discovered. Behavior the council had worked hard to cover up to protect the religious order.
Still, why was he here? Nevair tried to move his hands. The shock of cold metal wrapped around his wrists and ankles made his stomach sink with dread. Glancing up, a red sheen struck fear into his heart. The shackles were coated with dragon glaze. Originally invented to brush on jewelry for adolescent dragonkin who had difficulty controlling their transforming powers, it had since been outlawed due to illegal use by slavers. Searching his mind, Nevair tried to figure out how he'd come to this point. In his last memory he'd run into Tres outside the cathedral.
Tres!
Why would his best friend kidnap him?
"Goddess help me," he whispered.
"I'm afraid I can't interfere, beloved Nevair," a woman's voice echoed in the cave.
Nevair had only seen the goddess twice in his life. To see her now only increased his fear. The Pontifex generally only saw the goddess three times in their lives: At birth, at their naming as Pontifex, and at their death.
"I can't leave him," Nevair shouted.
He didn't care about being rude. He couldn't abandon Lian not when he finally got the man to agree to be his. It might have only been a few days but damn it had felt like a century.
The female form shimmered before him. "I can't free you. It would be too much interference."
"Then show him where I am. Whisper my location in his ear. Something!" Nevair screamed.
"Your man is different. He has a pure heart," the goddess mused.
"Yes, he does." He didn't know Lian well, but the way he interacted with others, how he healed with no thought of his own recompense, spoke well of the man.
"I know what I'll do." With a gleeful laugh the goddess vanished.
"Crap," Nevair muttered, thunking his head against the cave walls. The sharp pain added to his misery.
Dangling in the manacles time ceased to have any meaning. Nevair fell in and out of consciousness, more out of boredom than anything else. His wrists ached and his spine, twisted in an unnatural angle, would never be the same. To top off his misery, a painful cramp came and went in his left foot. He tried to keep his breaths shallow because the cave smelled of mold and fungus. Enough damp had seeped into the room to keep the floor wet. A few puddles dotted the area. Nevair could almost make them out in the dim light.
"Find me, babe, please," he whispered. Even his whisper sounded loud in the echoing cavern.
The screech of the cave's metal door snapped him out of his semi-sleep. The person who appeared through the opening made joy shoot through Nevair's heart.
"Lian," he choked.
"Nevair!" Lian pushed enough to widen his opening and slipped through. Rushing over, Lian yanked futilely at the cuffs. "I need help!" he shouted.
"I've got a cutter!" One of the people accompanying Lian rushed forward with a key chain.
Nevair watched, bemused, when the man removed a small red laser and quickly severed the cuffs from the wall, then neatly from around Nevair's wrist.
"Thanks," Nevair rubbed the raw marks on his arms.
"Gimme," Lian took Nevair's hands in his own as the guard took care of the leg shackles.
"How did you find me?" Nevair asked.
Lian frowned. "It was really strange. I called the cops and when they were on their way, I suddenly knew where to find you."
Nevair smiled. "The goddess showed you the way."
