My waking was all too familiar. Not in terms of who held me, but the fact I was yet again a prisoner. I'd gone well past sorely tired of the entire business and the moment my eyes opened, my anger woke with me.

I found myself surrounded, both by darkness and trees, and the angry energy of a circle of shadows. Light flickered to my left, campfire glow, casting those around me in the inky black of night as they hunched forward.

"Chovihani." Someone spat on me, voice ...