Oh, no. This had been a bad idea, because Darrow was unhinged, and pushing him might have gotten him to forget about his wand but now it had triggered something else. Ford didn't like the way the other man's voice had dropped, or the way he'd hunched his shoulders. A thrill of fear ran through him and he had to fight the impulse to actually shudder. Darrow hadn't done anything yet, he told himself. This might be another level of bluffing, like pointing his wand at him without any intention of firing a hex. The only thing that was holding them here was Ford's supposed confidence, so he couldn't let it waver now, no matter how unsettling this was.

"If you are, you'd better untie me," Ford said. He hadn't even really considered the words until they'd left his mouth and he was shocked by his own temerity, but if he was going to keep pushing in the hopes of getting through to the other side of this it was really the only place left to escalate. Hopefully his voice wasn't wavering as he spoke — he felt like the words were coming from someone else and he couldn't have really said for sure. "Because you're definitely going to need my help to get through this."

The moment after he said it seemed to stretch on for eternity. There was no way this was going to work, but he couldn't back down now. He was committed to this. Fighting the urge to swallow a lump that had risen in his throat, Ford raised his bound arms and thrust them into what little space was left between the two of them, like a challenge.