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Laudna sighed, and tried to blow a few lank strands of dark hair away from her eyes. She usually only lets it down when she’s sleeping. Which, to be fair, she would normally still be sleeping. And ordinarily, if blowing didn’t work, she would just tuck the offending strands away.
Unfortunately, the bandits that got the drop on them have bound and gagged them. (Laudna would be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about being bound and gagged for Imogen before. Not that she thought her traveling companion would be interested in posing for her in just those boots. Or maybe something with straps. Or–)
Focus, Laudna, she reminded herself. At least she could see their predicament: the three bandits had left them literally in the dark. Presumably so they could keep the warmth of their small fire for themselves. One of them seemed to be keeping a half-hearted eye on them while his fellows slept; apparently their fates would be decided in the morning. Laudna shuddered: for Imogen’s sake, if not for her own.
Doubly unfortunately, all of their spells needed them to say something, or those bandits would be screaming for mercy. Or something, Laudna amended. She sighed again, and gazed over at Imogen. Laudna could sense Imogen was thinking about something very intently over their telepathic bond, and she tried to radiate as much calm as she could.
Then, suddenly, dazzlingly, a literal flash of inspiration from Imogen: a picture of an eye, then a picture of the gag, followed by the memory of a sensation Laudna had felt once before, when Imogen had used her telekinesis to pull Laudna out of the way of a falling tree branch, heavy with snow (and into the warmth of Imogen’s arms - she rather liked that part of the memory, and - was that a flicker of embarrassment from Imogen? She would have to interrogate that later.) For now, though… Eye, gag, pull, she thought. Sounds like a very unlikely rebus. A snicker of amused telepathic laughter from Imogen, drawing her eye once again; Laudna could see her smile around the gag.
Of course, Laudna realized. She’d have to see what she was targeting. Making what she could only assume was a preposterous face, she rolled her eyes down as far as they would go while jutting her jaw as far forward as she could stretch it, until she could just see the scrap of cloth tied around her mouth.
Yoink went the knot, and the hasty gag fell away easily. Another quick glance behind her back and the cord around her wrists scraped violently down and over her hands. She winced with pain. But most importantly: she was free.
Which was good, because the goon on guard duty had noticed Imogen’s efforts, and was now leveling his crossbow at her. A quick, muttered prestidigitation snuffed the campfire, and in the unexpected darkness his shot sailed wide. The loud twang roused his comrades, but Laudna was up, now, eldritch power humming in each fist, a bright, noxious green. One bolt of it sent the lout with the crossbow flying back; another blasted the woman reaching for her rusty sword. This was rather more resistance than they had apparently been expecting, and they tore off into the night, bedrolls and belongings forgotten. That left one to stagger back through the ashes of the fire, clutching a crude spear. A few words and a flick of her fingers and the fire roared back to life, a deep hellish red, the same color that now radiated from her eyes. “Run!” she shrieked, her voice amplified to nightmarish levels, as she strode towards him.
He did not require further encouraging, Laudna noted with satisfaction, before realizing that Imogen absolutely saw and heard all of that. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured, scampering back into a crouch next to Imogen, who was apparently either too tightly bound or too terrified to shrink away from her. “I’ll untie you, I promise I won’t hurt you.”
“I know, Laudna,” Imogen replied once her gag was removed. Confusion wafted from Imogen like fragrance from a flower. “If you’d wanted to hurt me, you could have.” She paused to kiss the badly scraped backs of Laudna’s hands. “Instead, you saved me.”
“In the most terrifying way possible!” Laudna countered, a little manic. Imogen bit her lip in response, body language saying she wanted to weigh her words carefully but emotionally - well, Laudna recognized the fire-bright desire radiating from Imogen as the twin to her own. “Imogen, I–” Laudna began, before, relenting, she kissed Imogen, long and deep and all the sweeter for having been anticipated for so long.
“Finally,” Imogen whispered as their lips parted, but that was their last coherent word until the flames burned down to embers.