Haze stumbled out of unconsciousness quite abruptly. Her blurry vision quickly cleared to reveal a stranger standing above them, though she could tell he wasn't one of the bandits. She looked down at her leg, the wound from the arrow bandaged and healing. It was obvious that the stranger was the one who tended to her, though the thought of a man touching her leg left her feeling very uncomfortable.

"They're gone, don't worry about them anymore, but I'm here now and I have questions. I want to know about the book and depending on your answers, I 'll decide whether or not to let you go."

The book? How did he know? She glanced down at her bag, which she was smart enough to take from their horses before they were spooked. He must have seen the parchment with the image of the book on it. The thought of why he would know that was what they were after troubled her, but it could have simply been a lucky guess.

“You're an idiot.” Kerel spoke up. So Carcaroth was gone once again. “But thanks for knocking them out for us, I suppose. That will make everything easier.”

Suddenly, Kerel was free. Haze wasn't sure what had happened, but amazingly he had somehow freed himself from his binds. Kerel was about to cut her free, but Haze had already broken her own binds without much trouble, having been filing away at the ropes with her claw-like nails from the moment she'd realized she was bound.

“As you can see, your questions will have to wait.” Kerel looked around; an expression of annoyance fell across his face. “Aww damn... we were at the right place, and now we're not. Do you know what this means? Do you?” he hissed. “You'll have to compensate.”

This wasn't going to end well. Haze grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled his eye around to meet hers. “Don't start anything.” Sometimes she felt like his mother or something.

“It's time for you to choose, woman," Kerel snarled back. "Either we have to use this guy, or we will have to go back and pray that the bandits are still there.”

Haze exchanged glances with the black haired elf and Kerel. “What are you talking about?”

“The entrance, the entrance!” Kerel groaned. “It's the entrance to the library!”

Wait, really, so soon? “The Library? Out here?” If he was serious, it was much closer than she'd first imagined. Thankfully, that would mean her time with the despicable demon was coming to a close.

“Hidden from view. There's only one way to get to it.”

Both Haze and Kerel locked eyes on the newcomer. Suddenly, their roles were reversed. He was now the one who had the odds stacked against him.

“You'll have to take us back.”

The stranger looked between them with an uncertain expression on his face. He didn't have much of a choice. He turned around and began leading them back to where they'd come from. The idea that this man alone had taken out an entire group of highly skilled highway robbers was baffling, but when it came down to one on one combat Haze was nigh unbeatable.

A rustling in the trees had caught Haze's attention, but she didn't draw attention to it. She knew another was watching them. She'd learned to recognize the sound of someone leaping through the trees, as she'd used the same technique as a method of pursuit a number of times. An opponant able to move so nimbly was not one to be underestimated, so she pretended she didn't notice. If he were to leap in at any moment, she would remain the one with the element of surprise. Also, if he were a ranged warrior, she'd be ready to avoid any attack, keeping the source of the sound in her peripheral vision.