by D. R. Rosier
She couldn’t just order people to show up to be freed, they’d set off the alarm and fight back, but she could summon people unawares in small groups. It wouldn’t take long to heal a hundred elves, give or take twenty or so. An hour or two if everything went smoothly. We wouldn’t have exact numbers until we were done.
Then once we’d convinced Desirae of our plan, we’d do the same for the dark elves, and then the humans. We weren’t nailed down on those yet, outside of a general plan, we were depending on Desirae having more up to date and complete information. We didn’t know if there was a similar person of authority for the dark elves in thrall to the king, we might just have to do them the hard way, which would be much more difficult and have a greater risk.
Then I took Regina into our tent, and tired us both out quite thoroughly by late afternoon, we’d get four or five hours sleep before nighttime fully fell and it was time to move on the city…
A soft touch on my face and neck woke me up. My eyes snapped open and I froze.
Saria leaned over me, her face just inches away from mine. Her dark blue eyes were wide, pupil’s dilated, her nostrils flared, and I could see the intense desire there. Her eyes flicked down to my lips, and back up to my eyes. Her breath was shallow, and she looked overwhelmed by our closeness and the scent of sex that still permeated the tent. There was passion in her whole stance, and I could feel her breasts lightly brush my chest in time with each breath she took.
My cock hardened, as her breath mixed with mine, and her bowed lips slightly parted. The sexual tension between us was explosive, and I knew if I reached out and touched her, pulled her to me and claimed her lips with mine, she would be mine. I’d learned enough the last few days to know that the mate bond spell between elves was just a formality. I could rise up and take her now, with a kiss that would lead to explosively hot and passionate sex, an oath of sorts made with our bodies that would bind her to me. The elven people didn’t have casual sex.
Regina being right next to us or not, it would happen.
She wanted it, wanted me, but I hesitated. She was overwhelmed by the heat between our bodies, and the scents in the tent. She obviously wanted me, but at the same time I could see her trembling slightly, as if fighting it. If I claimed her here and now, she would be mine, but I feared she would regret it, and grow to hate and resent me over the years as she was stuck by my side and unable to go home. This wasn’t a choice about a quick tumble, or a mere hour of pleasure, this was about both our lives, the rest of mine, and a good chunk of hers.
What had she said that day? The decision shouldn’t be made in the heat of passion. She also said I’d know when she decided, and I didn’t know. She had fear and doubt among the lust and passion in her eyes.
It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, I wanted to take her more in that moment than I could possibly say. When I finally spoke, my voice was gravelly and strained with desire.
“Time to go?”
She nodded, and that seemed to break the spell she was under, and the hold on her tongue. Her voice wasn’t ragged, but it was the softest I’d ever heard it, breathy and sweet. The desire was still there, but she wasn’t trapped and frozen by it.
“It is, though you may want to wash, we leave in thirty minutes.”
I smirked, “Noted, don’t I always?”
She smiled at me, and removed the hand that had still been lingering at the junction of my neck and shoulder. She turned and left the tent, I couldn’t help but look at that sweet tight little bubble butt and groan.
Fuck, she drove me crazy.
Regina sighed, “That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Only because we don’t have a mirror love, let’s go get ready.”
She smirked, and kissed me, “You say the sweetest things.”
I laughed, and she grumbled, but we grabbed our clothes, the soap, and headed down to the nearby creek. It wasn’t a shower, and it was a little cool, but it would do the job. It also cooled my ardor enough to make it bearable.
Chapter Twenty-One
We left a lot of the camp behind, just packing the tent for two, and other stuff that Regina and I had started with. The other horse would be fine on its own for a day or two, if we lived, one of the elves would come reclaim it and the rest of their stuff.
I was dressed in leather armor that didn’t fit too badly, the elves had managed to adjust it to fit me. I had a sword on my side, and a dagger on the other. It was odd, sweaty, and distinctly uncomfortable. I was glad I’d only have to wear it for a short time.
Regina wore her riding outfit, and looked radiant in it. She was a little nervous, but I didn’t think men that didn’t know her would notice. Not with her gorgeous sinful body and the face of an angel, not to mention her flowing curly red hair was down.
The elves walked beside us, they wouldn’t have been given horses to return here, they were supposed to be newly enthralled elves under the king’s influence and orders. As soon as we got out of the thick trees, Regina moved her horse to my right side, and Saria walked on my left side. The city was about a quarter mile away, all the trees had been cleared in a wide swath to the gate.
I felt a quick light touch my left side, and looked down into Saria’s eyes.
She smiled up at me, and her eyes gleamed in the moonlight.
“Thank you,” she said in a much more neutral and controlled voice.
That’s all she needed to say, I’d gotten the message. She was grateful for me not taking advantage of her moment of weakness in the tent. What surprised me though, was how much it hurt. She was lovely and graceful, and I’d done the right thing, but I hated the relief in her eyes. I’d come to care about her far more than I’d suspected.
I also sensed she’d made her decision, and it wasn’t in my favor.
If we lived through the night, and tomorrow morning, her oath would be complete. I’d never see her exotically beautiful visage again, or be graced with one of her rare smiles. Or feel the awe I felt at her intimidating and predatory movements, which only drew me to her.
Despite the feeling of being stabbed in the gut, my voice was steady as I replied with a slight smile.
“You’re welcome Saria.”
I turned my head forward, the walls of the city were intimidating, and I could see the elves on top of it. Misshaped, too muscular, but clearly elves. That might put another wrinkle in the plan, but we were prepared for it. We’d already discussed the possibility that the elves and dark elves had the night shift because of their ability to see heat even when it was dark.
The only humans were on the gate, there were four guards at the gate, and several burning torches.
What the hell was I doing?
I was a medical doctor, and there I was about to start a rebellion in a city full of slaves, and free men who were less than upstanding. It was insane. My heart picked up speed, and the fear of failure reared its head in my mind. Regina could die, Saria could die, as well as her men. I could die. I’d known it of course, intellectually, but as we got closer to the city at a walk, it drove home how real this all was.
There was something a little surreal about being on a new world, not to mention travelling across a kingdom with a beautiful amazing woman who was loving, sweet, smart, great in the sack, and even had a magical ability to enhance pleasure. Not to even mention the elves.
But it felt all too real now, as my stomach tightened with the visceral knowledge that this was now my world, it was all real, and I was about to go from hunted, to the healer of a group of people who were wronged by the king. I didn’t have doubts it was the right thing, and my fear wouldn’t stop me, my only other option was to lay down and die, but it was definitely nuts.
The guards narrowed their eyes at us, and called out, “Halt!” about twenty feet from the gate. I pulled up on the reigns and stopped.
The guard said, “Why are you arriving so late?”
Fortunately, we had a story prepared. A few of the elves even had splas
hes of blood on them from the animal we’d eaten at this afternoon’s meal.
“Bandits. They must have had a death wish to attack with these along,” I waved at the elves, “but they did manage to kill the other escorts. I thought it better to keep going and report in as early as possible, and get them where they belong.”
The guard grunted, “We weren’t expecting a shipment of reinforcements for another ten days.”
That made sense, we’d picked up the elves outside of Dulcier, should have been five days to Malburn and five days back. Ten more days added to the trip.
“Well, here they are,” I said in an obvious tone of course, just short of sarcasm. Still, there was definitely the sense of duh in my words.
The guard’s eyes narrowed, but he turned his head, “Open the gates.”
He looked back at me with cold angry eyes, “Get these slaves where they belong, and report to the barracks.”
I nodded sharply and tried to look intimidated, it wasn’t hard, my heart was pounding like a drum. I also really wished I knew the lingo. It seemed safer than calling him sir, or sergeant, or whatever the hell he was. The military had their own words for things, which is why I called the elves them, instead of slaves, abominations, or even elves. Saying them would stick out a lot less than choosing a more specific but wrong word to name them. It seemed to have worked, even if it felt really awkward to me.
Of course, now I knew they called them slaves, but the information was a little late.
I rode through the gate, and into a short blocky stone room that was obviously some kind of death room for invaders. The back of my neck tingled, and I was thankful when I went through the arch on the other side.
The relatively small city opened before me, which was made up of uniformly drab dark stoned buildings. The free humans lived in this section, closer to the gate, in the middle was the baron. I could even see the small keep structure from where I was. On the far side of the baron were the human enslaved, which split up the elves and dark elves sections of the city. They didn’t mix, which meant no riding straight through the city, but there was a wide lane road that circled the whole city, which was used for when the disparate races needed to be moved in or out of their sections.
The main lane straight ahead was obviously the marketplace, and I could make out people moving around even this late around a somewhat larger building which must be the inn. I didn’t see a barracks, maybe it was in the center with the baron’s little keep?
I turned my horse to the left, and started to ride along the wall, the elves following me on foot. So far so good, we’d gotten in the city, but it was just a matter of time until the plan fell apart. There was a low five-foot wall to our right as well once we’d gone a few feet. I speculated that all the sections must be walled off from each other, and each section had their own single entrance to the circling road.
Like prison blocks.
On the other side of the low wall, I could make out small houses, and farther down the lane larger buildings that might have been warehouses. It was pretty clear that the free humans had a much larger slice of the city than anyone else.
I could sense the eyes of the elves on the walls as I passed, but I ignored the feeling and sat stiffly on my horse. The city was much smaller than Malburn, even smaller than a single district of Malburn. At a guess, there were probably only a thousand to twelve hundred people here, slaves included. It didn’t take long to reach the corner of the city, and we turned to the right. It didn’t take long even at a walk, to reach the much smaller elven section of the city, which opened up about three quarters back.
There were no houses, or store houses. There were large barrack type buildings, and what looked like a general store, though I could hardly make out the whole section from its gate. It made me wonder though, they were slaves and didn’t have jobs except to guard the city, so they must have been fed on the king’s dime, and I doubted they had any luxuries at all.
There were two elven guards at the entrance. They were both male, and quite large and muscular which looked wrong. They both had nasty growths on their faces, and were a bit hunched over. My stomach turned at the sight of them, not because of their appearance, but because of the king’s evil.
They both held up a hand, “You are not authorized to enter. We’ll take it from here.”
While I wondered what to do, four of my elves dashed forward and restrained the two men, and covered their mouths. Belatedly, I connected my magic to them and put them to sleep one at a time.
Saria assigned two of her men to take their place, and we moved into the elven quarter of the city, the two unconscious guards being carried with us. We ducked into the first alley, and Regina and I dismounted from our horses. We’d leave them there for now, and be a lot less conspicuous that way.
I gladly stripped off the guard armor and weapons, and the cool night air against the lighter tunic made me shiver. Armor was nasty, I was all sweaty and would’ve killed for a hot shower.
We moved back into the road, and walked around the quarter. There was a general store, sort of, it was more of a quartermaster’s building. Basic soap and other supplies to live, and I wondered just how bad the food they were given was, no doubt I’d find out. There were five larger barracks buildings which would probably fit twenty individuals, and one other larger building which looked like a mess hall maybe? Another building as well, but I had no guesses as to what was in it.
That was it, eight buildings in the elven section of the city.
There was no inn or anything for a visitor, I was sure those places only existed in the free human part of the city, which I estimated was over half of it despite being less than half the total population. The enslaved light elf, human, and dark elf sections were obviously very small, though the human slaves would have a slightly bigger section, with more barracks to accommodate three times the population of the elves or dark elves, it would still be small.
“Saria?”
She grunted, “I’m not sure which barracks the princess is in, I’d been thinking they would put her in separate accommodations, but obviously not. Can you fix these two, maybe they can tell us, which is better than randomly entering the five barracks.”
I nodded, and pushed my magic inside one of them, and winced at what I saw.
I’d been expecting it, but I could see how the king twisted their instincts to cement their loyalties to him, programming them to be his slaves with their DNA. For lack of a better word, they were programmed, their memories and old loyalties would be completely overridden.
The rest of it, bulkier musculature making them faster and stronger, and the growths or disfigurement I wasn’t all that worried about, and would be easily fixed. I worried though, about reversing the changes to their instincts, would they be in any shape to fight, or would they drown in horror, regret, and be completely disoriented. They wouldn’t be who they were, their old memories and beliefs would be restored, but they’d be poisoned by what had happened to them.
It took me quite a while to figure out how to undo it with the least amount of rebuilding of their bodies, but the rest of them would go a lot quicker once I had a good grasp on it. After double checking all the changes I’d made to their DNA, to verify I didn’t fuck anything up, I surged my magic into the changes.
The elven man seemed to shrink, as his musculature was rebuilt lean and willowy, the disparities on his face disappeared, as did the unsightly growths. I did the same for the second elf, this time it only took me about ten seconds. At least the king was consistent, I hoped that held true for all of them, it would make it easier. Though, I knew elven women would be quite different.
Two down, a hundred or so to go.
“Do you want me to fix you all now? Or wait.”
Saria replied, “Wait. Did you forget we need the princess to believe we’re changed when we walk in?”
I nodded, a bit embarrassed I had forgotten, “Too eager to make you perfect again,” I joked.
Her
eyes flickered with desire, but she turned away without a response, and looked at the unconscious elves.
“Wake them.”
I sent my magic in, four seconds later they were both awake, and looked quite disoriented as they looked up at us from the ground. I half expected them to attack the humans, but they both disregarded my and Regina’s presence.
As soon as one of them met Saria’s eyes, his widened, and he got up on his knees and bowed his head to her.
“Orders?”
The second elf followed suite a moment later.
Holy shit, I hadn’t seen that coming. Just who was Saria, to gain such instant obedience from these elves, who were obviously very confused and mentally strained? I thought she was the leader of a simple scout group, what was she hiding from us? And why? I didn’t doubt her, she’d given her vow, but I felt untrusted.
“Where is Princess Desirae?”
They both pointed at one of the five barracks.
Saria asked, “How many attend her?”
The elf grimaced, “The humans only allow her two guards when we’re manning the walls, the rest are on the walls or by the entrance to our section of the city.”
That would slow things down, we were counting on doing larger batches at a time than two. I didn’t think we had time to wait for fifty trade outs. The princess could give orders and send relief, but not against standing orders. But then, at midnight the dark elves would take the walls for their eight-hour shift, so I could get the rest quickly after that. We just needed to make sure we got all the elves that lived in the princess’s barracks before midnight, or we’d get caught.
Saria nodded, “Very well, do you know if she’s shielding?”
He shook his head, “I don’t know for sure.”
Saria waved at me, “This is James, a flesh sculptor and enemy of the king of Desal, he freed you both from your shackles. Here’s the plan, we rush in. I’ll handle the heir, we need her unconscious so he can free her. The rest of you will contain the two guards, and make sure no one escapes the room to sound the alarm.”