She watched him leave and gave the reins the hardest pull she could muster, hoping that by some slim chance she could become unbridled and take him from behind. More than once she jerked and twisted, growling as the leads would not give and she finally sat on her hind haunches, she was tired. Her hope of being able to escape was starting to diminish, by no means able to do what she needed and even if she could...she knew that her stamina to run or fight whatever horde of enemies was inaccessible. “Oouurhhhhf.”, softly she groaned through the large gag in her mouth before trying to bite it again but still finding the same resistance from its material as before.

Well, at least the floor was warm and she wasn't going to get a numb rear...in fact, she noted that the whole room was heated. Which, frankly had kind of surprised her that he would do that...given her reptilian nature, it'd make sense to keep it chilled to slow down her metabolism...which in turn would further keep her weakened. Either he was cocky enough to believe she would give up after a while or he was just foolish to think she wasn't resourceful. In that line of thinking, she looked around her again and took a further inspection to her bonds...seeing that the bar between her ankle cuffs wasn't anchored down to anything...not even to the bar between wrists. There was no time to waste, she sat still for a couple minutes....or at least it felt like it, before she looked up to the reins. Now, she could see clearly that they were only held to a metal loop in the wall and she didn't see anything to note them more than pieces of dried cow hide.

Carefully, she centered herself on her rear and used the wall to brace herself, hopping both front paws closer to the straps. Once she was able to reach the holding pieces, she pulled back on the reins to tighten them...putting them under as much strain as she could before swiping with her right paw. This would have resulted in the reins snapping, had it been at her usual power but instead she only nicked them...it was a start and she couldn't give up now. She cursed herself for not doing this sooner, she raised her paws again and gave another swipe...the leather becoming further under stress and weakened from their integrity. It was hard going, every raise of her front paws drawing out of her and weak slashes only slowed the pace but she was making headway.

Inevitably, after many cuts of her sharp claws...the straps released their hold and she fell over to lay on her back, unable to catch herself. “OooouuuUUhhh!”, came a muffled roar of both success and disappointment, her nostrils flaring now from the hard labor. When her flank made hard contact with the floor, it made an audible thud and she hoped that she would have time before the next round of checking. At her best estimate, he'd only been gone for about five to ten minutes...at most, and if she knew him well enough...she had less than a half hour before a guard would come to “check in”. She was so tired though, somehow...some way, she had to find it deep within herself to keep going. Her eyes closed some and she used the past to summon her anger against him, the fire that had been burning like a nuclear inferno to when he'd been there. Yes...yes, there it was....she could feel the borrowed energy come back to her, the screams of pain coming to echo in her ears. Her pleads of mercy gone unheard and the maniacal laughter of the man that had left her for dead, the loss...the suffering...transforming into a mountain of vengeful malice.

Finally, finally she felt the strength return to keep going and wrenched herself over to lay on her belly, to relieve the shoulder that was propped outwards from the bar, then turned her head to pick at the strap against her head. Now that she could use her trio of weapons more effectively, she pulled hard and partially shredded the leather. Another tug and only thin strings attached the strap into one piece, at least until she tore through them with the final pull. “HhhouuuRRGGHH!”, she released a muffled bellow before turning her attention to the other side and repeating the process. Despite the sides having been cut, the other two remained, the upper jaw and lower one to hold it center and this took a little more patience to get through them...particularly since one was against the softest portion of her body...the underside. Now that the straps could no longer hold the ball in place, she spat it out and sent it rolling across the floor a distance...a trail of her saliva coating it plus the wooden bottom to the room. With her maw no longer stuffed, she stretched the jaws to try relieving the tenderness that had developed earlier on and was glad to finally have use of her teeth.

As she laid there, she kept focusing on the past to try keeping the fire lit inside of her...to push on to what needed to be done, if she had any chance of escape. But, anger only lasted so long and she had used it as a crutch just to force the reins and gag to release their holds. Still...there had to be something, anything, to rekindle her strength...just a little more. “Come on....come on Sar, you have a promise...to keep.”, the smell of burnt flesh was one that could not be forgotten, nor could the screams of the innocent be unheard. As memory replayed the past, she felt her tears welling into her eyes but she inhaled deeply to keep them at bay...no, this was no time to weep.

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Previously: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9803171/

Next Time: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9823762/