Chained for a reason.

*Now, stain it with his blood.* the priestess rushed her, with eyes widened with excitement.

"How? I - " Anna froze, when she remembered that there is still his corpse. There is no way she is bringing his body in here. She must lead the priestess to him.

Anna felt a strange force urging her mind to move forward; it made her uncomfortable.

Suddenly that priestess wailed tearfully and tried to swing herself higher, as she desperately reached out to grab her arm. But something stopped her from moving forward and she fell back into the well with a loud thud.

"Did they chain you down?" Anna asked in a trembling voice, leaning over the well, ignoring the cold terror she felt when the priestess tried to seize her hand.

*Yeees...* tears welled up in her eyes as she wiped her nose on the back of her equally wet hand.

"Tell me, how can I break these chains?" Anna asked determined to set her free, to be able to lead her back to that battlefield.

*I don't know... I tried to do so with magic. But there is no magic spell and I'm too weak to damage them with my bare hands.*

"I met a Crocodilian. He is much stronger than I am, he might be able to smash it to pieces. But I must ask you not to hurt him, if he comes closer. He helped me so much..," She explained and looked back at him. His hand flew up again so she wouldn't miss him. He had to keep his eyes on her the whole time.

*I - I'll try. I'll keep my eyes closed the whole time...* She honored her promise and closed her eyes without hesitation.

"I'll talk to you the whole time, please wait a moment!" Anna promised, before she took off towards the shore, vigorously waving her hand in the air.

"I need your help one last time, please come to me!"

He pulled himself up above the surface and after a short hesitation set off slowly toward the island.

"The Priestess is chained to the well base and I'm too weak to break her free. I want to take her with me, please help me..," she told him as he got closer. He thought for a long time and swam restlessly around, but then he growled and strode to the shore.

"Ughhh…" His growl got out of his jagged jaws as he froze not far away from her "The pain – no, I can't help you,"

"Wait, please. There is a solution, I need you to join me. You will be able to bear it better," Anna quickly realized that she could invite him into that alliance she created for Bugak and herself. And it worked. It eased the pain and he cautiously stepped out of the water. On all four at first, as he tried to get used to the different pressure, but then, he straightened his back and tried to move forward.

His feet slumping in the sandy mud under his colossal weight. She had never seen so much meat and muscle on anyone. He was a beast. This must work.

"He is here to help, could you hand me the chain?" She asked the priestess as she returned to the well.

*No. It's too deep, under my left leg...* she gripped the edge of the well with her hands and pressed her forehead against the flat stone. She was breathing shallowly and looked like she was going to faint at any moment.

"She is chained by her left ankle, it's deep down, can you reach it?" Anna asked him and knelt down to put her arms around her shoulders. She stroked her long wet hair, black like a raven feathers, and spoke softly to her, trying to calm her mind.

Both are aggressive, normally they would go at each other as soon as they got close, but now neither looked like they wanted to kill the other one. The priestess was having a panic attack and he looked annoyed, or at least bored as hell.