by D. R. Rosier
The two elves looked at me doubtfully, and then back at Saria.
Saria barked, “Is there a problem?”
He asked, “Why would a human be helping us?”
Saria answered, “Because we are going to help him, and ourselves. We are allies for the next couple of days, then we will go our own way.”
They both nodded, and stood. The elves moved with deadly grace as they moved toward the barracks, Regina and I followed in their wake.
Chapter Twenty-two
Regina and I waited outside the door, if the princess saw us the jig would be up. I was nervous and worried about Saria as we waited for the signal to join them. Still, if the princess was a mage, Saria’s only chance to take her down would be to get very close before the princess sensed a trap or was alarmed.
Regina touched my back, “You okay?” she whispered.
I blew out a breath, “Tense, but okay. You?”
She smiled, and gave me a soft lingering kiss that made me forget where we were.
“I’m good, I’m also sorry. You know this is our first real private moment in five days.”
I nodded, “Assuming they can’t hear us whispering even through stone and thick wood. Why are you sorry?”
She blushed, “I kind of pushed you at her, I see how much you care about her, and it’s my fault.”
I pulled her against me.
“Don’t worry about that, it was still my choice. Let’s just get through the next couple of days, then we can see where we stand and plan our future.”
The door opened before she could reply.
Saria stood there with burned skin on her face, and several cuts and bruises. There was no indication of pain on her face at all.
My magic reached out almost of its own accord, to my wishes, and I quickly rebuilt her damaged skin and the bruised muscles.
She smiled in thanks, and said, “Come in, she’s unconscious.”
When we walked inside, it was one large barracks room with twenty beds. There was another door at the other end, maybe for a bathing room? There were no decorations, it was stark stone, with a small chest at the foot of each bed for changes of clothing. It also stunk, the elven slaves were living in squalor.
I took care of the two guards first, who were being held down by four men each, and were gagged. The changes were almost identical to the last two, and easily undone.
When I approached the princess, I saw a very familiar face, but slightly older. I turned and looked at Saria with a raised eyebrow.
Saria’s voice was even, “Desirae, the princess heir… and my older sister.”
Well… fuck. Seriously?
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I shook my head at the cold look in her eyes, and looked at the princess when the moment dragged out and it became clear she wasn’t going to answer my question. Much like Saria, it looked like the only thing done to her had been a breast enlargement, at least to outward appearance. She looked almost exactly like Saria, just about thirty instead of twenty. She was simply stunning.
I reached out with my magic. The enslavement part was identical to the men, but the rest of it was done to enhance her physical appeal to the king, and there were other changes as well not as readily apparent by simply looking. It took me a minute to figure out what he’d done.
Her vaginal floor muscles had been strengthened, obviously to increase tightness and the pleasure she could provide to a man, and her nerve clusters around her labia and sex had been almost doubled with increased sensitivity. There were other changes as well. In short, he’d made the princess a fuck toy, one that would be almost constantly horny. I imagined she’d been used by the elven men at her direction a whole lot since her capture.
My stomach twisted at the thought of it. I also decided I wouldn’t be telling anyone that truth. That would violate my oath as a physician.
There was also one more catch, she was two months pregnant.
I’d thought the men would have trouble adjusting, but Desirae, the sister of the woman I loved, would take a long time to recover from what was done to her, if she ever could.
Yes, I loved Saria, nothing made that clearer than now, on the night when she’d turned me away and I found out she’d been keeping secrets from me, if not why. It hurt. In hindsight, it was obviously why she’d failed to reveal the names of her family.
I carefully made the changes to restore Desirae’s original body, instincts, and her free will. Also, to repair the slight concussion she had from Saria knocking her out. Then I pushed my magic into it, and her skin wavered as her body was reformed. As for the pregnancy, I preserved that life as well, it would be up to her to decide and take action if she wished.
I used my best bedside manner to hide the revulsion and even the compassion I felt at what she must have endured, as I turned to Saria and nodded.
“She’ll wake up normally, if you give her a shake.”
I took Regina’s hand, and moved over half a room away and out of sight. Call me crazy, but if I was a mage and elf, and woke up after that kind of abuse, I’d roast the first fucking human I laid eyes on. Better for Saria to fill in the princess on who I was and the plan, before she saw me.
I was also afraid the princess wouldn’t be thinking straight, and would reject it out of hand. Not freeing her own people, but freeing the dark elves and humans besides.
Saria gave me a questioning look at my actions, but this time I was the one that ignored her, she’d find out soon enough.
Saria shook Desirae, and the princess’s eyes shot open with alarm.
Desirae started to shake, and a growling keening sound rose from her lips. All the elven men turned away from the sight, and only Saria looked down at her sister.
Saria looked at me with alarm, but I had no answers for her.
I watched helplessly as Saria grabbed and shook her arms, but Desirae’s eyes were empty, and nonresponsive, but she did stop growling.
Saria looked up at the four men I’d fixed, and snapped, “Explain.”
The four elven men looked distinctly uncomfortable.
One of them said, “She was abused by the king before being sent here, and she was voracious in her appetites, many of us serviced those needs.”
Another said, “As we were, we didn’t have the judgement to refuse.”
That was more than a bit blunt, but the elves didn’t really use colloquialisms, or beat around the bush.
Saria’s voice was soft, which made all the elven men in the room flinch.
“James, please do what you can. Our plans just changed, and I’m now in command, my sister is unable to complete her duties at this time.”
I moved just close enough, out of her view, to put Desirae to sleep.
I said, “She needs time…” I trailed off. Perhaps sleep would help her.
Saria ordered, “Four of you, go in pairs to different sections of the wall, and relieve two men and send them here. That’s as much as we can risk at once. The rest of us will subdue them as they come in, and send them back out when they’re freed.”
An elf asked, “What is the plan?”
Saria shook her head, “Later, when all our people are freed, and stand in this room. I’m not telling the plan twenty-five times, just follow your orders for now. Are there any other females here?”
He shook his head, “No. Our female warriors are kept by the king in Malburn. Desirae told us he has a harem of them in his castle, sixteen of them. She never said as much, but I believe he only let her come here was because the thought of her servicing her future subjects amused him, and he wanted to debase her. I am sorry princess.”
My stomach twisted further, and I felt guilty for healing the man, even if my oaths hadn’t given me a choice in the matter.
Saria nodded curtly, “You weren’t in control of your actions, the guilt for these crimes lay with King Hanson. Go, let’s free our people, start with those that live in this barracks. We won’t finish by midnight and we don’t want to
be overwhelmed by returning slaves.”
“Understood, this barracks is assigned to the western wall, so we’ll only be able to get two at a time from here.”
Four of the elves left swiftly then. Saria didn’t betray her turbulent emotions on her face, but I could see the impotent frustrated anger and deep sorrow in her dark blue eyes.
One thing was very clear, I’d be happy to support and keep those who fought against the king healthy and whole, that sick twisted son of a bitch needed to die…
Chapter Twenty-Three
The first phase of the plan went smoothly, as far as it went. The elves came in two at a time staggered by about five minutes. We had four elves swapping almost constantly, but not at exactly the same time, it was more two groups of two, at differing intervals. I was just glad it was dark out, or the elves on the walls wouldn’t miss the fact their neighbors weren’t so bulky anymore.
Regardless, at the rate of two every five minutes, that was twelve an hour. We had just enough time to get two barracks worth of elves done, along with a few stragglers. Those stragglers reported to the freed barracks when the dark elves took over watch at midnight.
No one said it, but as we started in on the other three barracks, it was apparent the excuse given was the princess summoned them for certain activities.
Saria looked icy and in control, but I knew her well enough to catch the signs she was on the edge of falling apart herself. I imagined if the king was present, she’d have castrated him, and then killed him, slowly.
Or maybe that was just my plan, not that I’d actually torture him to death, it was just nice to imagine.
There were a few close calls, but by three in the morning all the elves had been freed, and stood packed shoulder to shoulder in the one barracks. There were one hundred and fourteen including Saria and her men.
Saria stood at the end of the room, by the door to the washroom. I had taken a look in there when nature came to call, and as I’d suspected there were a few tubs in there, clothes washing basins, and soaps, as well as chamber pots.
She was back to her normal self, and looked so damned good it was killing me, with her original B cups which were proportionally perfect to her body, and returned the willowy elegant look that went so well with her fluidly predatory and graceful movements.
She was breathtaking, and I tried not to stare at her like a parched man denied drink.
Saria said, “Alright, our people are freed, but we aren’t done here and can’t leave yet. The short version of our plan is to free our dark cousins, and then the enslaved humans. There may come a point where our secrecy is lost and we have to fight, so I want patrols around our interior perimeter walls ready to act. If things go to plan, we won’t be exposed until daylight when we’re freeing the enslaved humans.
“While we’re all doing that, the dark elves will be killing the baron and his guard, and containing any of the free humans that act against us. I don’t expect them to, they aren’t warriors, just greedy men and women who have leeched onto the edges of human society.
“I have given my oath to James, the sculptor who has freed all of you from the king’s grasp. We are allies until the moment all enslaved beings in this city are freed. Freeing this city from the king’s grasp will also protect our forests for a time, the king will be focused on reclaiming it and not raiding us. Does anyone have any questions about what we’re doing, or why we’re doing it?”
The silence was profound.
Saria nodded, “Now, we have a basic plan, but freeing the dark elves won’t be as simple, we can’t replace them on the walls, and I can’t command them. I need information, what are their numbers, and is there anyone in command over there?”
An elf near the front said, “Princess, there are eighty-six of our dark cousins on the walls. I don’t know if anyone is in their compound, or enjoys a similar authority to you or the heir. We were kept separate, and weren’t allowed to speak. We only know their numbers on the wall because we were relieved by them every night. Also, the humans are weaker than us, but they outnumber us by three to one. We may need the dark elves to assist us to subdue the humans.”
My stomach dropped every time they called her princess. She’d looked at me more than once the last few hours with wishful longing. I did my best to ignore those looks, whatever she felt for me it obviously wasn’t enough.
Another elf said, “Only a small team can go to their section of the city. We can’t go over the walls, even if they’re only five feet high, because they’re all warded. The baron’s mage will detect it, if any of us crosses over them, and we’ll be discovered. That means leaving by our exit, and then going around a third of the city, past the human entrance halfway around, and through the dark elves entrance. A small team might succeed, but the dark elves on the walls would never fail to notice a hundred of their light cousins rounding the city in the middle of the night, and would raise the alarm.”
Saria’s eyes looked thoughtful, though her stance hardly changed.
“Myself and my men will go, along with James and Regina, and convert whoever remains in their section. The rest of you will get rest, and prepare to release and free the humans. You will use non-deadly force, we want enough of them alive to hold this city against the king for a long while. If you don’t hear back from us on the details of a final plan for the humans before the humans take the walls, assume we were compromised, captured, or killed, and abandon the plan and escape over the walls to return home. Understood?”
They all nodded curtly, it was a bit eerie. I guess we were going into the unknown without any plan at all, that just sounded like a bad idea. I hoped there was someone similar in power over there to free and take command of the dark elves for swap outs. It was a risk, but this whole plan was nuts anyway. By the time we were ready and started to free the humans, the city would be in chaos. I also knew in their case, there would definitely not be a single leader.
Saria added, “Take care of the heir if she wakes up, and brief her on the plan and my vow.”
We left the room then, and Saria gave me a long look.
“I’m sorry,” I said regretfully, wishing I could have done more.
She shook her head, “Not your fault, you saved her, and the king will pay one day. She is strong, and will recover with time.”
I nodded in agreement, even as I wondered. Elves weren’t humans, but they weren’t that different under the strange ears, mannerisms, and quirks. I couldn’t even imagine what Desirae had been through, or how she’d bear under the weight of it. I just knew it was horrific, evil, and sick.
She waved and said, “You six go in the opposite direction, we’ll meet up at their entrance, that way the individual dark elves on the walls will only see half of us rounding the city, and have even less reason to be suspicious or alarmed. I’ll handle the two guards with telekinesis strikes, James can heal them when he restores them. Hopefully, I can make them see reason at that point, and they’ll either take us to their highest-ranking person in their section, or failing that, replace two on the walls for us to start freeing them. I know hope is a terrible plan, but we’re blind right now. We’ll figure it out, or die trying. I can’t command them, but I don’t imagine they’d turn down the chance for rescue, even if it comes with a caveat for their assistance.”
I could tell she wasn’t so sure of that. What had she called them, more volatile and emotional than their lighter cousins? Something like that. Still, that was why she had the dark elves on the kill the baron and guards part of the plan, and defending from the free humans if necessary, she’d built their anticipated desire for revenge into the plan.
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
The corners of her lips twitched, and we moved out. I wasn’t mad at Saria, and understood her choice perfectly, I just wished she’d have made a different one.
Regina and I followed Saria and four of her men on the shorter route, the one that passed by the human entrance at the rear wall of the city, while the other six
rounded the city the long way. Eastguard wasn’t that big, and it would only take them a minute or two longer at a steady jog.
I was able to make out the similar setup inside the human slave section, except they had three rows of five barracks instead of one row, which took up quite a bit more room. Their general store, or quartermasters building, was also much bigger, closer to warehouse sized. I assumed the other two buildings were behind the warehouse, the mess hall and who knew what the last building was, maybe an armory? But I couldn’t see them with just a casual glance as we walked by. The two humans guarding the entrance looked bored, and didn’t give us a second look as the seven of us walked by.
I’d noticed one thing about the slavery part of the changes, it made them a little dull. Not stupid, but far less aware and suspicious of the unknown, they didn’t question anything outside of what they were told to look for.
We rounded the second corner on the other side of the city, and like the elven section, the entrance to the dark elf section was about a quarter or a third of the way along the wall to the front of the city.
As we approached, I looked up on the wall, and there were only two dark elves near enough to see the entrance well. They were looking outward right now, searching for heat signatures no doubt, and I hoped it stayed that way for the next minute or so.
Saria’s telekinesis reached out and slammed both of the guards at the entrance one a split second after the other. The four elven men ran forward to catch them before they hit the ground, probably more out of concern for the noise than preventing further damage from a fall.
With one last look over my shoulder, we entered their area and ducked behind the wall. My magic surged and entered a dark elf for the first time.
Huh.
The only differences I could find were in skin pigmentation. They had ebony skin, and the man I was working on now had dark red eyes. Otherwise, they were virtually the same as their light elven cousins. If it was true that they were more impulsive, less restrained, and surrendered to their emotions more, it was the way they were raised and taught. In other words, a nurturing difference in their two societies, not nature.