Barbaric Behaviour

I whipped myself a few more times, each time feeling a rush of rage, the blue mist reacting to each whip crack like a burst of a bellows on a roaring fire. For his part, Jodrolim seemed to lend his dwarven endurance to my punished bottom, keeping the damage as minimised as possible, until I felt myself falling to an almighty orgasm there in the fields.

'What is wrong with that farmer?' I thought to myself as I stood up, alone but satisfied. 'Here I am cracking a whip and giving myself a screaming orgasm and they didn't even wake up.'

I began the long walk back to the inn.

'Unless they did and kept quiet.' The thought of a farmer peeking out of their window and watching my show allowed a little flicker of blue to return to me and keep me warm in the cold night air.

When I got back to the inn I felt a little disappointed that the adventure had been a bit of a dud. I was satisfied that any time I could spend with Jodrolim was better than nothing and I fell asleep with a reformed eagerness to connect again soon.

...

I was strangely bereft of orders when we departed the various community leaders of the agricultural lands we had found ourselves in. We had achieved some goodwill and even shared some seeds that some smart elf somewhere thought would assist their crop rotations. It felt like back to the gruntwork of diplomacy that I remembered.

My bottom still felt sore and I relished the reminder of once again feeling Jodrolim by my side. It felt like cheating to call upon physical pain, but I at least felt comforted that it didn't count as self harm as long as Jodrolim was with me.

Right?

That unpleasant thought process became buried as Legus Stillstar brought our convoy to a halt in a forest that seemed like a whimsical place to stay and await orders. We set up a camp and I assigned light duties to the guards as we sent hawks and runners to figure out what our next move was.

I was happy to be without orders for a bit. I had satisfied myself and now I was getting no end of joy seeing the emotional pain being told to relax was causing Legus Stillstar. He eventually managed to settle into light drills and reading military strategy books to pass the time, but I could tell he almost kissed the hawk that arrived with our next assignment.

As I told him our next stop, his face dropped and he probably wished he was just a listless soldier once more.

"Gelder Forgefire!" he exclaimed, even his heightened sense of propriety lost to his disbelief. "Begging your pardon but I am shocked that high command would risk one of our most valuable ambassadors on, let's not mince words here, a brutal warlord. Maybe once we are finished we can go reason with the ancient dragon of Sharpspear forest."

"Legus Stillstar, if I'd known I'd get some genuine emotion out of you I would have volunteered to visit Gelder Forgefire long ago." I japed, although Legus Stillstar did not see the funny side. "It makes sense that they would send the ambassador with the best track records of securing the release of slaves to the magistrate with the largest number of elven slaves imprisoned within her district."

"This isn't the legacy elves from forgotten wars that were released from Thrommtin. The ambush invasion of Glimmerlake was a cynical and cowardly attack. What kind of dwarf sees the elven soldiers heading to the front to repel the hoard of men on the basis of a treaty not yet ratified and sees an opportunity for expansion and mass enslavement? I have met the broken soldiers who retreated, leaving behind the town to her evil machinations." The Legus rambled.

"Indeed it is a sore spot between our kingdoms. But that's all the more reason to begin diplomacy. The status of the occupied land of Glimmerlake will need to be resolved if this war ever ends and those talks need to start now." I replied.

"Any ending that doesn't end with the arrest and punishment of Gelder Forgefire is a failure." Legus Stillstar sneered as he went to gather his elves.

...

Glimmerlake had been transformed by Gelder's command. The ornate elven houses were crudely adapted for various industrial purposes while the scenic vistas were cut off by a giant rampart to guard the ill-gotten land. even the eponymous lake was now polluted from the industrial runoff that accompanied Gelder's big plans for a town whose previous dominant industries were panning the lakeside for gemstones and tourism.

Our retinue reached the gate, a thick layer of unease laying heavy upon us as the dwarven guard instructed us to wait. This was clearly a power play, a deliberate demonstration that we were to play by Gelder's rules on Gelder's terms. After an hour waiting at the gate, we were told how honoured we should feel that Magistrate Forgefire had decided to personally escort us to the magistrate's mansion.

After a bit more time, there was a bellow of trumpets as the large metal gate swung open to reveal a solid block of Gelder's military, all in a tight formation staring us down. Slowly they parted to allow an ornate carriage to approach. The carriage was of a design that you would usually expect 4 horses to be pulling it around, however this one was being pulled by 8 elves, all of them dressed in leather outfits designed to look like the humanoid equivalent of a horse harness. The total derision for her slave's sentence stitched into every panel of their harnesses. Much like horses they had a bit between their teeth, blinders either side of their eyes, and their long elvish hair had been tied back into a ponytail and plaited to resemble show horses.

Soon the carriage driver pulled hard on the reigns and the slaves groaned in unison as they brought the carriage to rest and allowed a beaming dwarf to step out. Gelder Forgefire, her flowing red hair cascading down the fine red and black ceremonial armour she had commissioned herself to work with a theme of intense fire that she carried with every powerful step she took towards us.

"Greetings Ambassador Springdew, and welcome to Wetforge." Gelder announced, taunting me with the new name she had given Glimmerlake as much as she was through a brazen display of contempt for elves.

"Well met Magistrate Forgefire." I cordially replied, hoping to direct her eyes away from a certain Legus who was not hiding his contempt for her outrage strategy well at all. "Thank you for meeting us at the gate, you needn't have extended such hospitality."

"Well I knew you would be weary from your travels and I figured I would offer you a ride in my carriage." Gelder replied with a smug grin, a disarming tone of paper thin respect. Bhador, like most magistrates, had been polite because he had spent long enough swimming in politics to know that his dark side needed to be hidden. Gelder's politeness came from a more vicious place, it was almost elven in its arrogance, that she was above goading us and was comfortable enough with civil disrespect to layer it on thick, hoping that her target would snap and prove her right about everything.

"Thank you kindly for the offer, but I have brought my own carriage and would prefer time to freshen up before being in close quarters with someone as well put together as yourself." I countered. "However, if permissible I would love to store my conveyance within the same premises as yours, it looks well taken care of."

"Thank you. Elven gilding is difficult to maintain but you must agree the effect is second to none." Gelder explained, subtly throwing in the depths of her use of seized elven citizens. We made our pleasantries before returning to our respective coaches for the journey into the town.

"How can you be so chummy with someone who so clearly detests our very race?" Legus Stillstar growled as we rode.

"She is trying to bait us to anger, this is still a vassal state of the dwarven kingdom and her superiors ordered this meeting against her will. She couldn't say no as support from the dwarven kingdom is the only reason we haven't marched to take this territory back, she has to keep them happy and they want this alliance to work. So her only purpose is to show us as not worthy of that respect in the future. She can only do that in a public forum with witnesses though and once we are behind closed doors I can become more firm." I explained, the logic of the situation not cooling the Legus's hot head.

Eventually we pulled up to the magistrate's house and were shown in by dwarven guards. The house was pristine, maintained to the standards of the most persnickety elf by a legion of Gelder's enslaved. The elves scuttled around in black and white servants outfits with metal collars around their neck. Legus Stillstar and I were shown to a seating area, while the remainder of our party waited outside. We were immediately brought tankards of ale to drink while we awaited Gelder's arrival from a more circuitous route.

"So then..." Gelder announced, bursting through the door. "What plans have we during your stay in my humble dominion?"

I finished my ale before I started talking, noting the interest it generated from Gelder that I didn't shy away from a drink she assumed would make me uncomfortable.

"Well, my protocol is usually not to do any negotiating or discussion on the day of our arrival, we are weary from travel and would need to be of quick wit to discuss lofty matters of state." I explained.

"And let me guess, instead of taking advantage of my hospitality, you wish to stay at one of the common establishments in the town?" Gelder chuckled. "We dwarves talk, your ways are known to me."

"May I ask which dwarves you talk to? Just so I can save you time on explaining what you already know." I diplomatically replied, although my stomach fizzed at the worst implications of what she was saying."

"If you're asking if Bhador told me how you secured the release of his slaves, don't worry, you still have the element of surprise there. But don't get too cocky, the reason I don't know is that I have not had a word to say to that capitulating traitor since he bent the knee to your bosses." Gelder sneered, giving me a calculated peek behind her mask of civility, not realising the depths of relief she had just given to me. "But on the question of staying at a common establishment, I'm afraid that is out of the question. In Wetforge there are no free elves, you would be subdued and returned to one of the slave masters the moment you were seen."

"Surely, as ruler of the domain, there are steps you can take to bring me under your protection?" I asked, delighting in the diplomatic chess move I had presented. Gelder now had to either admit she was not as powerful as she first claimed, or accommodate my request, either path an embarrassing acknowledgement of weakness.

"I could issue you a writ, but my attitude to elves is so well known I can see dwarves in the town assuming it's a forgery and taking matters into their own hands before I have a chance to clean it up." Gelder prevaricated.

"Well then maybe you could accompany me?" I suggested. I could see the look on her face, the idea of being seen chumming around with an elf appalled her but she could not start our visit off on such a sour note..

"A fabulous idea, alas I will be working into the night ensuring you are treated to the heights of hospitality. So with all options exhausted, I must insist that tonight you stay within the Magistrate's mansion." Gelder blustered, putting an end to our first passive aggressive verbal skirmish.

"And my entourage?" I asked.

"This is where things get a little awkward, the only facilities within Wetforge that can house a contingent of elves in that size are some currently unused slave quarters." Gelder explained, the wide grin on her face confirming how hilarious she found the situation.

"Well, my guards are a highly trained military unit, they have endured worse conditions." I shrugged it off, gripping Legus Stillstar's leg under the table to still his tongue. "Let us make arrangements and then turn in for the night."

"Very good, if you need anything, just order one of the slaves and they will bring it over to you." Gelder smugly suggested as she left us to prepare.

"You trust her to place us in slave quarters and then just release us in the morning?" Legus Stillstar asked with the utmost disbelief.

"Not necessarily, but I do know the full stakes here. The dwarven rulers know her attitude to elves, as do our superiors, so we drafted up the rules of engagement ahead of time. If any harm befalls a single one of us, if after the visit I do not report back a clean bill of health for the whole unit, even if a subordinate treats us with disrespect and goes unpunished, the dwarven kingdom will pull all support from Gelder. So if she captures and enslaves us, it will be the price we pay to allow Glimmerlake's liberation within the month." I explained.

"And the relentless disrespect? We just leave that unpunished?" He replied.

"If we strike first, she gets to indulge her sadism without consequence, so we will be the picture of good behaviour." I ordered as we left the house to explain the living situation to guards. "However, while you are in the slave quarters, take intense and detailed notes of how the place operates, we will be liberating all our kind eventually, and I'm sure if diplomacy fails, your assessment of the situation will be critical for alternative arrangements."

This order returned the smile to Legus Stillstar's face.

...

The sun had set, and my guards had taken to their quarters when I returned to the Magistrate's mansion alone. I was met at the door by Gelder, who showed me in. The mansion now seemed abandoned, all guards and slaves gone, Gelder wanted this to be just the two of us and I saw value in the opportunity as well.

"Now that it's unofficial, just the two of us, you won't get your high strung elven panties in a twist if I talk like a normal dwarf will you?" Gelder began, slowly walking towards some stairs, her back turned to me, displaying how not only did she not fear me, but that she expected me to follow her.

"Depends on how big of a bitch you're planning to be." I bluntly replied.

"There we go! One sentence explains more about your successes than that whole flouncy bullshit with everyone watching." Gelder laughed. "But in answer to what you said, I'm planning on being a huge bitch."

Gelder led me through two large mahogany doors into an office that was covered in intricate gilding and gemstones. It was the work of ancient elven artisans who had desired the seat of power to project the light that Glimmerlake was known for.

"Every time I step in this office I feel like I need a forge mask to protect my eyes. This is where I found the elven leader when I first marched into this town, hiding behind his desk like a coward. I kept the office because like all elven things it came with a dark side." Gelder reached under a desk and pulled something. There was a loud knock that came from a bookcase to one side. Gelder then walked over, pulled the secret bookcase door open, and invited me into the tunnel that led somewhere unknowable.

The tunnel descended and squirmed in such a way I could tell it was leading to a secret basement. Eventually we came to another locked door and Gelder pulled out a key to unlock it.

Gelder had converted the secret basement into an office with a far more dwarven aesthetic. There were torches on the wall, everything was made with sturdy oak or stone, there were even decorative axes behind her robust desk. These are not what caught my eye though.

What caught my eye were the 4 elves, stripped naked, and placed inside decorative metal restraints designed to convert them into display pieces for Gelder's office. 2 male elves facing away from me and 2 female elves that were looking at me with fear and embarrassment.

Gelder had taken to them with pure malice to make them as degraded as possible. Their nipples were pierced, with a chain stretching between them, their heads had been shaved, stripping them of any dignity they could try and salvage and on the two facing away I could see the slave brand on their bottoms, demonstrating that even if I freed them, they would be forever marked by this experience.

As I took in the disgraceful degradation of my kind, a few wisps of blue arose around me. These people had not volunteered to subject themselves to such debasement as I had in the past. The reality of the abuse that I had played with for my own amusement hit me like a warhammer to the gut. I pushed down my fury, fury that someone would do this and fury that I had detached myself so much from the pain it caused.

"I figured this was the right environment for me to lay out my position on your kind." Gelder began as she idly ran her hands over the naked elven flesh on the way back to her desk. "I am aware that since Bhador released his elven slaves, he has been receiving more than adequate compensation in terms of man slaves and other goods. Your elven masters want to encourage others to release their slaves with showers of prosperity, but I want to make myself clear. I wouldn't care if I was offered one hundred non-elves for each elf here, I would still tell them to go fuck themselves."

"Why do you hate elves so much? Did one of my kind toss you a pity fuck and leave before you woke up?" I asked, trying to derail Gelder's self-indulgence. One of the decorative elven women let out a slight chuckle and immediately her face contorted with fear. Gelder walked over to that elf's restraints and pressed one of the gems. Immediately lightning danced between the restraints and the elf's flesh, her screams echoing in the chamber.

"As I was about to say, before I was so rudely interrupted, is that no external threat or peice of paper will convince me that elven snobbishness will be able to accept dwarven equality. I simply made sure that I was in the position of being the superior before your lot had me in this sort of situation." Gelder explained.

"We would never do something like this to you." I pleaded. "You're far too ugly, we'd have you working the pig farms or something."

Nobody laughed but I could feel Gelder's frustration that I was not as intimidated as she would have hoped.

"Keep running your mouth elf, I have another one of these display pieces set aside just for you." Gelder growled.

"Careful magistrate, you don't want to find yourself facing the elven kingdom alone." I tutted. Gelder closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she needed to change the tone of this conversation.

"Did you know that we keep meticulous records of the captured elves here? Intense interrogations under zones of truth are continuously ongoing. So do you want to know what these 4 elves did to deserve becoming the centrepiece of my office decor?" Gelder asked, regaining her composure.

"No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me anyway." I sighed. Gelder began by walking up to one of the men, aggressively swatting his ass.

"This was the former... mayor? Town leader? I dunno what words you elves use so let's just say my predecessor. He's always part of my collection, I need to make sure he always stays broken. But the other three were moved here especially for you." Gelder explained, making her way to the elf who was so sadistically punished for my joke. "Look closely at this one's face, do you recognise her?"

There was a twinge of recognition in the eyes of this poor girl, but I couldn't quite place it. I'm sure my memory would have been jogged by her hair, were it present.

"Her name is Chantelle. She was visiting Wetforge with her father when we rolled in. In preparation for your visit we checked if anyone would know you and what a surprise it was to find one of your childhood friends amongst our slaves." Gelder informed. I looked away from the elf and all of a sudden a wave of recognition washed over me, quickly followed by a wave of anger. This was not a conflicted and induced rage, impure from being caught out. As the blue mist came over me, it came in white hot and was purely focussed on my hatred for Gelder.