Before she had managed to pull even a single skyfire storm to her aid, something solid and heavy hit her on the back of the head. She was not sure what had happened after that, or how long it had been since she had taken the blow. She only knew her head rang with pain, and every light, every sound was overpowering.

She tried to listen for any signs of the Stormlord, but she could only hear sounds of nature. There was a babbling brook somewhere nearby, and wind blew hard through the trees, hard enough that it had sounded like distant rainfall at first, before she felt the cold bite of it herself. There were a few birds, but even they were quiet, as if they knew they were in dangerous territory.

Eventually, Aurora chanced opening her eyes again. And though the pain was searing, and water filled her eyes, she managed to keep them open long enough to determine that she was alone, and that both her hands and feet were bound with iron manacles and attached to metal stakes hammered deep into the ground. The bindings had just enough give to let her roll from side to side, but not enough to allow her to sit up.

Aurora took a deep breath, and when that was not enough to stop the panic welling inside her, she took several more. She would not cry. She would not lose her mind to fear. She was not helpless.

She could not use her skyfire against her manacles; it would likely only heat the metal and burn her. She supposed she could call a skyfire storm now while her captor was gone, and hope that she was strong enough to defeat him when he returned. But she was weak and weary, and he had far more varied storms at his disposal, while she had just the one. He could kill her in an instant.

But if that was what he wanted, why not do it exactly where he found her? Why go through the bother of kidnapping her at all?

She could call a storm not for her defense, but to draw attention to the area. Maybe if they were close enough to the city, someone would see. Maybe Kiran would see and send help.

But Kiran did not even know what had happened to her. She would be drawing him directly into the most dangerous ambush possible. Or the Stormlord could have taken her far enough away that no one would see.