When I woke up, it was with a feeling of trying to struggle through morasses clinging to your consciousness. One that spelled trouble, waking from a sleep that was too deep. Especially since I wasn’t supposed to dream anymore, but I also couldn’t remember what I’d been doing while I was out. That made me suspect that the Zarian had sedated me.

I lay still and didn’t move while I recalled what happened. At least I did wake up and they hadn’t killed me, so my gamble had probably paid off. I was still in pain, but it was a world of difference compared to before. My chest ached and my arms and legs felt like they had lead weights pinning them down, but I was mostly healed.

Perhaps the lead weights weren’t just a metaphor. When I tried to move, I couldn’t. Something was holding me in place. Experimentally, I strained against the restraints, but they didn’t give at all. Probably qi imbued material. My fingers were pinned down individually so I couldn’t move my hands, but at least I could wiggle my toes and shift my head a fraction. My qi was almost drained, and I didn’t try to use it, for now.

Everything around me was quiet, except for a deep, steady thrum that reminded me of machinery, and the quiet breathing of three people. I laid silent for a few minutes, listening for any changes, but as far as I could tell, nothing happened.

Carefully, I tried to open my eyes. They didn’t take as long to adjust to the brightness as they would for a normal person, but I still blinked against the light. I was looking up at a ceiling made of wooden planks, with no distinguishing markers I could see. I lifted my head to try and get a better view, but my mobility was limited, and I only managed to get a glimpse of the edge where the wall met the ceiling.

“Looks like someone’s awake,” a man commented in Zarian. Footsteps sounded, coming closer.

I tried to turn my head as much as I could and got a view of a Zarian soldier leaning forward. He looked like he was in his thirties, but must have been at least in the fifth stage. He was messing with something to the side of my head, and I felt the straps holding it down give, so I could move more easily.

I lifted and turned my head so I could see him better, and found the soldier looking back at me.

“I hope you’re not going to try to fight,” he said. “Wouldn’t do you much good in an airship full of our people, anyway. Aren’t you the one they found in the middle of soldier and elite corpses? Lucky bitch, but I wouldn’t trust my luck that far.”

I smiled a bit. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I won’t try anything stupid.”

He raised an eyebrow, perhaps surprised that I spoke his language. “Then we can move you to join the others.” He turned and called to someone else. “Come on, wood-head, help me with this.”

Someone else sighed, and a second soldier walked over from the other side. He didn’t speak, but went to work releasing some buckles and screws holding me to the board I was lying on.

I cooperated as they released me from my restraints. Some of them, at least. My arms and hands were still chained, fixed in place, and my legs hobbled so I could only take small steps. I breathed out deeply, and took a moment to be thankful that my disguise seemed to work. I’d need to be careful about veiling my qi presence, of course. But I hadn’t exactly met many Zarian before, so the chance that someone would recognize me by it was low enough that I didn’t worry about it.

With my shapeshifting, I should be able to slip away at some point. Perhaps I could try to impersonate a Zarian soldier. But for now, I’d need to play along and assess what measures they used to deal with captives. If we were really on an airship, that complicated matters, too. At least escape gives me something else to focus on, rather than the betrayal.

The room I was in held several pallets like the one I’d been on. Most were empty, though a few were occupied by other people. Imperial soldiers, judging by what I could see of their clothing, and I recognized one of the faces.

“You seem pretty young for a soldier,” the talkative Zarian commented as the two of them escorted me through the room. It was slow going because of the restraints. “Fast cultivator. Are you one of those Imperial nobles? No, don’t answer that. Shows potential, though.”

I grunted in reply. Note to self, make myself look older next time. I hope they’re not too interested in recruiting me. I frowned. Judging by what I’d read, the Zarian probably tried to recruit any captive soldiers, at least the ones they didn’t eliminate for being too much of a threat.

It wasn’t mentioned, but I got the impression that they were somewhat successful, too. Maybe it was because their methods included offers you couldn’t refuse. But in some ways, the Dominion was enticing for strong cultivators. They probably made sure to show them respect, maybe deference from weaker people, explain how their system put them at the top in a more direct manner than the Empire.

But I shook those thoughts off and concentrated on the situation. We were walking through a small hallway now, illuminated by a few glowstones. After a minute, the soldiers brought me to a stop in front of another door. By now, I was pretty sure we were in an airship that was currently in flight, making a mental map of it from my qi senses, but some areas were hard to get a sense of.

The door opened into a large hold. There were groups of Zarian soldiers posted at both ends, led by someone who let enough of their aura show to make it clear she was in the seventh stage. In the middle, there was a group of Imperial POWs, most in the fourth or fifth stage. They looked a little worse for wear, but no one had obvious injuries.

My arrival caused a bit of a stir, but not enough for this to be out of the ordinary, so I assumed I wasn’t the only wounded to be brought to join them later. I ducked my head and waited for the soldiers to release me. To my surprise, the talkative soldier unfastened the restraints on my hands, while the quiet one took off the one hobbling me. I still wouldn’t be able to move my arms or hands much, but it was nice to be able to wriggle my fingers. And, of course, I wasn’t too concerned about the restraints. Slipping out of handcuffs was one of the first tricks I’d learned with my shapeshifting.

Once I was free, I took a few careful steps to the other prisoners. They were watching me, quite a few of them with thoughtful frowns, probably trying to place me.

A man in the sixth stage took a step forward to bar my path. I recognized his face, though I didn’t know his name. “Hello, soldier. My name is captain Miyu, I’m the ranking prisoner here.”

I came to attention and saluted, as well as I could given the restraints. “Yes, sir. I’m corporal Aik. I was gravely wounded, then taken by the enemy, fighting at target two.”

“Target two, huh?” His eyes narrowed. “I don’t recall seeing you in that group.” After a moment, he shrugged. “What do you have to report?”

“We almost managed to capture the fortress, sir,” I replied, choosing my words carefully. I didn’t want to let on that I knew too much, and didn’t know what other prisoners might have told him, but I did want to give accurate information. “There was a large explosion, I was caught at the fringes. From what I can tell, the Minions managed to beat us back, I passed out before they got to me.”

He frowned and gave me another once-over, and I had to force myself not to hold my breath. Should I not have used the slang, or was he suspicious about the information?

“I suppose that makes sense given the presence of you and the others from there,” he finally said. “No one else saw the Zarian reinforcements. Do you have any information on -” he hesitated, “the status of your primary commander?”

I stiffened a little. “Nothing recent, sir. I’m sorry.”

He waved that off. “Good work, soldier. You may join the others, rest up.”

I saluted again, then moved off. I eyed the other prisoners, then found a spot some distance away from the rest, leaning against the wall, and tried to ignore their looks.

My heart was beating more rapidly than the exercise would explain, even with my injuries. I didn’t like having to worry about the other prisoners, my own soldiers. Even if exposing myself was too much of a risk. It was starting to sink in that I was truly here, alone, on an airship into Dominion territory.

I really screwed up this time.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The memory of when I returned from my underwater exploration rose, and I focused on it. Coming back with Al safely with me, even Mior, seeing my friends unharmed. Hugging Tenira. The memory was reassuring, in a way. Something to strive to replicate.

When I get back, I’ll talk to Tenira about my feelings, I promised myself. The thought released a bit of my tension. I’d be careful, of course. I did want to preserve our friendship, most of all, and I knew how much damage outing unrequited feelings could do. But I wanted to know if some of the hints I thought I’d picked up were just in my imagination, figure out what it meant. If she liked me.

I shook my head. I needed to get back, but more than that, to get in contact with someone. I briefly considered trying to go to sleep now, but I didn’t want to let my guard down, and it might seem suspicious.

The sound of footsteps coming toward me ripped me from my thoughts. I straightened up and opened my eyes, then saluted as I recognized the officer from before. He was accompanied by another man, who looked a little older and felt like he was in the fifth stage. I’d seen that one with the Imperial troops at the fortress, though he hadn’t taken part in the planning meeting.

“At ease, corporal,” the captain said. “This is lieutenant Yi, the senior prisoner from the second strike force.”

I nodded. The group I was claiming to be a part of. No wonder the man was regarding me with a frown. He wouldn’t recognize me unless I’d really screwed up the disguise, which might be a problem now.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you there, soldier,” he said. “You say you were gravely wounded following an explosion. That would place you at the western side, checking buildings.”

“It was the eastern side, sir, close to the chasm,” I replied. Was that an attempt to see if I was a spy and would be tripped up by something like this? “We were indeed checking buildings, together with some Velisha troops.”

The lieutenant nodded slowly, but he still looked wary. “I don’t think any of our regular squads were part of that detail.”

I hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward slightly. “You might not recognize me because I wasn’t part of the normal army, sir, but rather an … adjunct unit. We were ordered to join the operation on short notice, after we came from the north.”

Our captors were almost certainly keeping us under surveillance, which limited how openly we could speak. In this case, it might work to my advantage. The officers seemed to get the implications I wanted, at least.

“I see, corporal Aik,” the captain said, after exchanging a glance with the lieutenant.

They both straightened up just a little, and I noted that he might be speaking with more respect now. That was to be expected, of course. I’d heard someone say that ‘a corporal in the Imperial Guard is higher than a lieutenant in the army’. Of course, most guards had at least that rank, so they could take command of regular troops in a pinch. Being in the late part of the fourth stage, I’d seem weak for a member of the Guard, especially in a protection detail for the Imperial Princess, but not weak enough to make it implausible.

“That would explain why I didn’t recognize you,” the other officer agreed.

I nodded. I wouldn’t expect him to know every face of my guard detail, which was why I’d done this.

“Did you perhaps see what happened to the package at the eastern side?”

I shrugged a little, trying to appear casual so I didn’t tip off any watcher. “Unharmed, last I saw. I hope it made it out alright.” I hesitated again. “I do have information concerning the battle that I wish I could share with Command. Probably as valuable as my meager unit. I suppose the package wasn’t that important, but still.”

Their expressions tightened. The captain snorted. “A unit of auxiliaries from the vassals? Can’t be that important. But keep that information to yourself, just to be safe, unless it can help our situation here.”

“No, sir, I’m afraid not.”

He nodded. “That was all. Carry on. If we come up with a way out of here, we may need you again, since you saw most of the Zarian. For now, rest up.”

“Yes, sir.”

I tried to appear relaxed as I leaned against the wall again. I hope that was him telling me that they’d help me escape. I sucks not being able to talk freely. I could tell him I was confident in making my way back. Oh well.

I started to cultivate, doing my best to pull in some qi without getting stopped by the Zarian. The hold we were in was kept in a dim twilight that didn’t offer a lot to me, but I wouldn’t need much. Subtlety was going to be key, here.

I didn’t have a good way to tell how much time passed, so it could have been half an hour or several hours before anything changed. I noticed it from the qi around me, stirring in response to the Zarian shifting position. Then I noticed that the airship was starting to descend. I opened my eyes and walked forward, trying to see what was going on.

I had to give our captors credit, they knew what they were doing. One by one, two of them came forward to grab one of us, heedless of any protests, and put on more restraints. When my time came, I was silent and let them shackle me, pieces on my hands and a chain hobbling my legs again. Something in the new restraints felt weightier than before, making my qi harder to access. But the seventh stager watching over us ensured that none of the Imperials really fought back.

They put us into a line, and I tried to keep between the middle and back of it. “We’re going out, would be the best opportunity …” I muttered.

When I glanced up, my gaze met the captain’s, who had his head turned in my direction. He didn’t give any sign of acknowledgment, only turned around again, but I knew he understood.

In short order, we prisoners were all lined up and the Zarian escorted us from the hold. There were at least three elites at each end of the line, with regular soldiers keeping pace beside us. But the airship’s corridors were narrow enough that they didn’t have much room to maneuver. I pulled some qi, with excruciating slowness so no one would notice, as we walked through two corridors and up a cramped staircase.

Then we reached the entrance of the airship. Its doors were relatively wide, set behind a short entrance hall. Sunlight flooded the outside, but I could glimpse tall buildings around us, a short distance from where we set down. More soldiers crowded around the airship, an organized mob.

“Distraction,” I sighed.

The captain made a small gesture, putting his thumb and index finger together to form a lopsided triangle.

He timed things just right. The moment the seventh stager and most of the sixth stagers stepped outside, when they needed just a moment to adjust to the brightness levels but were still mostly in the doorway, he struck. The other prisoners followed him without hesitation, throwing themselves onto their guards, using what little qi reserves they had for attacks. Most of them concentrated on the elites.

I used the opportunity. My restraints fell, and before the handcuffs had even touched the ground, I was moving. The elites were distracted for an instant, one that I used to slip through the crowd. The chaos of the attack allowed me to get into the Zarian soldiers around us, who were only just turning to help.

I’d changed my features again, a quick, inelegant modification, but no one would look at me too closely. My clothing was covered by the thinnest layer of qi, a minor illusion that turned it into a regular Zarian uniform. I pushed through the crowd carefully, taking care to use their movements to my advantage instead of shoving myself through. At the same time, I was focused on the fresh air around me, drawing it in, gathering some in my core and letting it release through my meridians.

The sound of the fight behind me reached a crescendo, but I didn’t look back.

Things went still, and I felt a prickle at the back of my neck. Someone’s searching for something. Me, perhaps. For a moment, I thought this was it, that I’d blown my chance. Then the feeling moved on, no one around me reacted, and no one started in my direction. The disguise was working, and using air affinity qi like this must be changing my aura enough, with how tightly I was trying to veil it, that no one recognized me.

I broke through the crowd, walking with brisk but steady steps toward the path leading into the city proper. Its buildings loomed before me, so similar and yet different from those I was used to, built mostly of wood or spirit beast materials, walkways in the air connecting the tall buildings. No one gave me a second glance.

From what I could see of the surrounding terrain, the hint of the mountains in the distance, we were hundreds of kilometers to the east, at minimum. Still a few hundred from the sea, and probably from the closest border to Imperial territory.

I allowed myself a small, humorless smile. I was stuck in a foreign land alone, but at least I’d escaped captivity.