You keep your eyes locked on Dugu's. The big man seems taken aback for a moment, and, surely just as a reflex, he blinks. You allow a slight smile to pull at the corner of your mouth, and Dugu's eyes narrow in anger.
"Something funny, is there, northerner?" he asks. "Well, it's time for a new joke. Let me show you how I like to amuse myself."
Dugu turns and gestures to a number of bandits who have been watching this confrontation. "Get over here and help our new friend out of his cage," he says. "Vanya and Tihana, too. They've been cooped up in there for too long."
The bandits open the cage doors and drag the three of you out into the encampment. Vanya goes along quietly, while Tihana struggles against her captors, but eventually the three of you are forced to your knees in a line next to one another near the fire pit in the center of the camp, the hands of a bandit on each of your shoulders, holding you down.
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