He was in a council meeting with the king when the report came. Rebels had taken the king's blade hostage and were demanding a ransom. Damn it all to hell, he knew she'd needed rest, she'd looked half dead when he saw her that morning, he'd've bet everything he owned that she hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. The king looked annoyed, he glanced towards Benitce who looked almost nervous, like he didn't know what the king would do. Benitce's entire position depended on Anatia and her usefulness.

"Tell them to kill her." Aspen bolted up in his seat.

"You can't!"

"You dare tell a king what to do?" Alonso said quietly but the King brushed him off.

"If she's stupid enough to get caught than she is useless to me."

"Wait, wait," the messenger paused, Aspen turned to the king, "Give me until the end of the day to get her back before you send the message." The king looked from him to Benitce before turning back to the messenger,

"Fine, fine, wait until tomorrow at dawn then send the message."

"Thank you." Aspen said, bowing his head to the king and moving to exit. The king called to him as he left the room,

"Just bring the bitch back here, and tell her she'll pay for this little vacation with her hide, I already told her dogs don't get breaks."

Anaita had left the papers with all the information he needed on her desk in her room and the message that gave instructions on how to pay the ransom told him exactly where to start looking. The note said to meet with a representative at a warehouse in the slums.

When he got there he circled the area three times, surveying the land before he went in. There he saw from where he watched in the shadows a man standing in the center of the room looking bored and sharpening his knives. Aspen slipped up behind him and breathed,

"Take me to where you're keeping her or I'll spill your throat on the floor."

"Three hundred twenty eight Baker Street." the man breathed and Aspen sliced his throat. He didn't like loose threads.

He went to the area of the area of the slums where the building was located, circling around the surrounding blocks and scoping out the area. It was on the south side of the slums, near the river. As he looked around he saw a small stand where a man sat trying to sell what looked like half rotted fish. He saw a thief try to grab a fish and run but the man caught him and chopped off a finger. The boy didn't scream, and it looked like he only had three fingers on his other hand. He had to admit humans could be resilient when they needed to be.

When he reached his destination he scouted out the area. It looked like it was an abandoned apartment building. He found four rebels guarding the perimeter. They were dead before they hit the floor.

Inside there were five rebels three died before they could sound the alarm but the last two managed a scream and seven more came barreling up the stairs to the basement. He ducked and dogged, slicing and dancing to a song of death. When he reached the bottom it opened into a room. In the center he saw a rebel with a knife ready to stab Ana through the heart.

"Not one more step-'' Aspen threw a dagger and it embedded itself to the hilt in his throat. But before the man died he managed to stab Anatia. Apparently though a dying man's aim wasn't very good so instead of piercing her heart he stabbed her in the gut. The man slumped, falling over the chair and Aspen pushed him off and he slumped in a heap on the floor.

Anatia was unconscious but she was losing blood fast. He moved behind her untying the coarse scratchy rope that bound her wrists and untying the cloth that had been tied over her nose and mouth. It was wet and smelled like-

Of course they'd drugged her. He couldn't know how much they had given her, hopefully not a lethal dose. Though if they were going to try and bargain with the king for her he doubted they'd be stupid enough to kill her before getting anything from the king. He recognized the smell of the drug, and he was sure the nurses at the castle likely had the antidote but he had to move quickly. She was losing too much blood from the stab wound and though the poison likely hadn't been a lethal dose it definitely wouldn't be helping.

He picked her up, carrying her out of the run down building and back to the Iron cage of a Castle.