Captured by the Elves Ch. 07

"It's about time," said Landa. "We're going to need all of our fighters soon enough." She looked to me. "Would you be interested in doing some fighting today?"

"I came as a healer," I said. "I'm ready to do that."

"As you will. We moved the wounded closed to the spring so they could have water. Rowan will show you."

I couldn't help but to ask: "Is Raina here?"

Landa was amused. "Are you worried? Old relationships cling to us despite our better natures. I think a priest said that to me once. Yes. She's here somewhere. She's not particularly good at following orders. Don't worry about her for the moment. See to your task."

Before we left, the tall dark elf Dria approached me. She said, "I was hoping to see you out here. Fighting is fun, but I'm interested in your company Would you do me the honor?"

The proposition did have its appeal. "Perhaps later. There is...work to do."

I tried to forget the fact that giving others pleasure was also part of my healing profession. Leave it to Braith to build on and complicate her previous arts. I intended to ask her about that, but gradually just came to accept it.

Dria was disappointed to see me leave, but complimented my outfit before we left.

"However," she said, "I'd prefer to see you in something more revealing."

Dria grabbed my ass as I walked away, and the others were all laughs. My mind was already filled with all manner of scenarios involving myself and the dark elf warrior. I'd asked Braith if Dria and her companions were the "dark elves" that I'd heard legends about in my youth.

"No," she said. "Be grateful for that. Dria and hers reflect the coloring of the peoples to the far south. They frequently take those fierce warriors and convert them so that's how they usually are. The 'dark elves' that you've likely heard of are something like mundane elves but with skin that ranges from gray to onyx. They live underground and are shunned by all on the surface for their viciousness. Our kind has killed plenty of humans, but we can't hold a candle to the cruelty of those creatures. Be thankful that you were not captured by them."

I believed her, and hoped that no one that I knew from my old life was ever taken by those nightmarish creatures. It was yet even more evidence that the world was a far more interesting and dangerous place than I'd been aware.

Braith and I followed Rowan towards the spring, which had been sheltered by several thick branches tied down to wooden stakes. The sound of the spring was there ever so lightly, but the area was completely masked. We followed Rowan as she squeezed through the wall of leaves to find a group of elves resting on makeshift bedding. Various wounds had been temporarily staunched, so we went to work. The outfits that Braith had made for us proved to be very useful. The supplies contained in them and our bags proved to be up to the task.

"Well, look at you," said a familiar high-pitched girly voice. "I heard it was true, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to see it."

I couldn't believe it. I hadn't recognized her lithe petite frame, and her face had been partially obscured by a bandage. My cock stirred at the memory of our night together.

"Yanitza."

"You do remember. That's good. You seemed very concerned about that."

"I was concerned about who I was," I said.

"How's that working out for you.?"

"You're looking at it."

She laughed, and then cringed in pain. "It's not fun out here. What's a cute new girl like you doing here?"

I began examining her. There was still some basic training that I'd received for treating wounds in the army, and Braith had been giving me an intense crash course in the build up to us going out there.

I said, "We're here to see you. Heard there was trouble." She'd taken a bad blow to the head that had torn her scalp. Her jet-black hair was stiff with blood. "Do you feel sick? How's your vision?"

"I know. I used to be with Braith, remember? It was a glancing blow while I dodged away. I'll be fine."

I felt what I could of her forehead. "You have a fever. I have some herbs to make a tea that helps...I think."

"Sounds promising. I have nothing else to do, so why not?"

"You're in good hands," Braith said from the other side of the spring. "She might be a better student than you are."

Yanitza snorted. "I'm always inclined to blame the teachers not the students."

After much work the wounded elves had been treated, and we believed them to be on the mend. Braith went to check in with Landa and the others while I waited with Yanitza.

"You seem well-adjusted," she said. "I was worried about you. I...liked you as a man. I'll miss the old you."

"Me too...I think."

"Don't worry."

"Yanitza, have you seen Raina around here? Landa said she was around."

"Why do you want her? I saw you make your choice back at the settlement."

I'd been asking myself that same thing during the trip out into the forest. The best thing that I could do for myself would be to move on and to let Raina have her own life apart from mine. Some relationships were just doomed and they need to be allowed to fizzle out.

I said, "I...I have to know she's all right."

Yanitza shook her bandaged head in disapproval. "I shouldn't help you. But now you know why even though Braith and I stay away from each other I still care. The bond can be cruel to us, but we desire it. It's just as destructive as normal love."

I nodded.

She said, "Raina may have gone feral. We tried keeping an eye on her, but things didn't go well. Then the attacks stepped up and we lost track of her. I don't recommend that you go."

"Where?"

She tried not to answer me, but Yanitza knew what it felt like to worry. She said, "I think she has a place that she hunts northeast of here. Please, don't go, Kiari."

"Thank you."

I took my time in slipping away from the elves. I didn't move quickly, and even talked to people and offered my services as I moved. Braith, Landa, and several others were by the map on the stump. I imagined that Braith was making her case for the them to pull back. She had told me of such plans on our trip. Neither one of us expected that to work, but she had to try. I told myself that I was able to be stealthy in my approach to looking for Raina. I had no idea what I was going to find out amongst the trees and the smoke.

I walked for some time. Following the northeast as best as I could. The smoke grew worse in the air. In some areas I had to crouch down to breathe because it was so thick. There was no way that Raina could be out in this I thought. After walking a long time, I came to an area where the forest opened up to the air, but this was no natural clearing. Scores of trees had been felled by axe and fire. They were strewn about like victims of some terrible plague that had come down and spared no one.

I crept amongst the felled trees. Smoke was still heavy in the area. The humans had burned the bases of the larger trees to make them easier to cut down. Both stumps and felled trees were left still smoldering. Fresh victims of the invasion. Father away I could hear some of the repetitive whacking of axes on log. Faintly, I could even hear saws being worked. There were so many trees that had been brought down. Some of them were enormous redwoods that must have been ancient. Looking at the ruins of the once proud line of trees evoked a sadness in me that I did not expect. I had no idea where these thoughts came from, but they were there.

Then I could smell their arrival. Sweat, body odor, leather, and even the old splashes of piss that had stained their leggings.

Humans.

I crawled beneath one of the logs and hid.

"We're not supposed to be so far away," said the older man as the two came into view. "The sergeant said so."

"You're such a woman," said the younger man. "How'd I get stuck with you again?"

"Cause I'm a man that actually knows how to do an honest day's work. I also do what I'm told."

I didn't recognize the colors or standards present on their uniforms, but they were not that different from the one that I'd worn. Their accents were different than mine, but the language was the same. These were not the far easterners that I'd been taught to fear. These were eastern kingdom men. The allies that my army had been going to reinforce. That was my best guess.

The younger man was not impressed by his elder's claims. He said, "We're soldiers. Not guards for the bloody loggers."

"Says you," said the older man. "Work is work wherever you go. I'd rather be doing that than fighting these monsters."

"More glory for me then." The younger man patted the sword at his hip. "I can't wait to use this finally. Fifty gold ducats for a dead elf and one hundred for a living one."

"They ain't no regular elves," said the older man. "Abominations, the priests are saying."

"And our cold steel with defend us."

"That sword is probably older than my grandfather and twice as frail."

"Nonsense."

The young man drew the blade with a great flourish. While I knew that I was in danger, part of me wanted to laugh. My long dead comrades and I had not been so different. Brendan and I had been fortunate to receive new arms and armor, or at least unused. Our lord had filled his armory years before, but probably didn't expect to be fielding troops during his lifetime. We'd been so confident going forth and so wrong.

The young soldier showed off some of his moves. They looked very pretty, but he didn't have a shield, and a fight was different when arrows and spears were coming at you. However, I had to remember that these were probably auxiliary troops assigned to a work detail. Not the cream of the crop.

"That's what I'd do," said the younger man as he finished with his demonstration. He was putting his sword back into its scabbard when the point of a spear burst out of his chest in a gout of blood. He barely had time to react before the spear was yanked out and he was left to sink to his knees. Behind him stood a shadow with rags, moss, and bits of tree clinging to it. The attacker kicked the wounded human to the ground near where I was hiding.

The dying man looked right at me in his final moments. There was a look of perplexion in his eyes as well as the strain of dying on the rest of his face. He had no idea that one of the abominations he sought was so close to him. There wasn't much time for him to reflect on that for him as the back end of the spear came down and crushed his skull spraying me all over with blood in my supposed hiding place.

The shadow quickly moved off. I heard the older man crying for help. I should have stayed hidden, but my curiosity got the better of me, and a I rolled out from beneath my log. I scanned the area, doing my best to stay close to the downed tree, and I found the older human as he tried feebly to outrun his pursuer. He struggled to climb over a downed tree, but was unable to do so. The shadow didn't even have to move quickly to catch up to him. That was when I recognized her finally. It was Raina. She was covered with her make-shift camouflage as well as the first man's blood, but it was her. She approached the human soldier like he was prey.

I called out to her, but if she heard there was no indication. I moved closer to them—not sure exactly what my intention was. Was I going to check if she was injured? How would she even respond to me? Was I going to convince her not to kill him? I knew none of this. I just wanted to get closer.

Raina was already close enough to spear her victim like he was a wild pig, but she didn't. She waited there as the man tried futilely to pull himself up over the log. When I made it closer to them, I could her hear talking to him.

She said, "This isn't how it's supposed to be. You're supposed to fight and not run away. You're a soldier, aren't you?"

"Please...please..."

The man knew that he wasn't getting away, but couldn't stop trying. Raina spun her spear around for a time. She was bored judging by the expression of her face. Her large brown eyes pensive. Raina spun her spear around one last time, and then drove it through the man's throat covering herself and him with more blood. She let it rest there a bit, and then yanked it out with a wet flourish sending blood everywhere. The dead man fell to the forest floor as I approached. I'd been around death before, but with my new elf senses the coppery smell of blood was so think in the air.

"Raina..." I said. "We need to leave here."

She frowned at me. "No," she said. "My name is 'Brendan'. It's not 'Raina'. Leave me alone, elf."

I stared at her. Not quite believing her response. "Did you forget?"

She studied my face for a moment. "You're Kiari," she said. "You're not supposed to be here. Your place is in the bathhouse."

"I'm here to help. Are you hurt?"

She looked down at herself. "None of this blood is mine. These men are weak. This was supposed to be harder. Landa said it would be a challenge for me."

"Come with me," I said, offering my hand. "We can go back. Landa and the others are waiting."

"Why do you care about me?"

"You're my friend. Please, come with you."

"I can't. You have nothing that I want, so why should I care."

"I'm sorry," I told her. "I still care about you though. Why do you think I'm out here?"

She studied me for a moment. Raina said, "I'm hungry. Did you bring food?"

"It's back at the camp. Is that what you want? Let's go get some food then."

She softened her look towards me, then turned away for a moment. When she looked back at me there were tears in her eyes. "I'm not supposed to be like this. I don't look like this...I don't."

"Everything will be fine," I told her. "Let's go back to the others. They'll know what to do."

Raina finally took my hand. We stood there for a moment together waiting to see if each of us could trust the other. I was worried about her. No sense in denying that, but I had to try. Raina had wronged me. That was true, but I just couldn't let her go. Perhaps it was our past. The lives and memories that may have still existed between us. Or maybe it was the fact that she had been the one to convert me. The bond had to be a real thing, I thought. Why else was is so hard for me to hate her?

My ears perked up at the sound of boots crunching through the leaves and pine needles on their way towards us. I had to get her away from there, so I yanked her arm to follow me, but I couldn't move her. Raina was too strong, and she was already being drawn towards the other direction. I looked to see what it was: another human had arrived. He stared in shock and anger at the sight of his dead comrades.

"Monsters," he cursed. "You'll pay for this."

This soldier was different from the other two. He didn't rush forward in foolish bravado and he didn't run away in cowardice and fear. The man moved forward slowly and with caution. He drew his sword, and his wasn't an old, abused thing, but a well-made piece of steel. He drew a small axe in his off-hand. His test swings with both said that he had experience and skill.

Raina pushed me away and set out to meet him. She closed the distance between them quickly, and for a moment the two circled each other. Neither made a move for the longest time as I stood there watching. Then Raina feigned a thrust with her spear, and darted to the side. The butt of her spear lashing out at the soldier. The human deflected the blow and offered his own counter, which Raina was still able to avoid. The duel intensified. The steel of his sword rang against the steel of her spear tip. Raina met or evaded every one of the man's attacks. I didn't know how it was possible. This human reminded me of the few veterans that had come to our town with the commander in order to train us. Back then, Brendan and I had admired those men. Their trade had been war, and for a bunch of boys from a far-flung town that had been very impressive. Raina's opponent moved like them. Every movement was planned and measured. Raina was faster and more agile than he, but his experience kept her at bay.

I didn't know what to do. The only thing resembling a weapon that I had was a small knife that Braith had given me to trim bandages. That wasn't going to help Raina, so I watched. The other elves were too far away for me to reach them in time, though I hoped that they heard the sound of fighting. Landa and the other would be more capable of helping. That wasn't what happened.

The sounds of fighting had been heard by someone. I could hear their approach, and eventually heart the voices of men as they barked orders and responded to those orders. It wasn't long before I saw them emerge from the smoke and the trees. They wore the same uniforms as the others. Some carried axes for they had been felling the trees, but the others were armed with more martial weapons. More than a dozen of them were visible by then, and my ears already picked up on still more approaching.

I searched frantically for some egress. For a moment, I considered hiding amongst the felled logs again, but some of them men had already pointed towards me. They began to spread out as they approached in an effort to surround me. I should've just bolted into the smoke and the trees, but some many had emerged from there. My new body was fast—my legs strong. My chances would've been decent, but then I looked back to Raina. I couldn't just leave her. In no time the men had me completely surrounded.

"You there," said the closest man to me. He was older than the others with streaks of grey in his beard. He said, "Stay right where you are. We don't need to kill you today. So, don't try anything."

"She probably doesn't understand you," said another. "Those normal elves said it was possible they didn't speak the same tongue no more."

A very large man beside him said: "Let's just wonk her on the head and drag her back. Even split up a hundred ducats is worth it."

"Why should we share?" asked the previous man. "Maybe it should be whoever grabs her."

"Equal risk equal reward," said the big man. "Speakin' o' which...someone ought to help out poor Geralt over there. That bigger elf looks rather fierce." He looked back to me. "This one here is the pretty one. Maybe she'll want to be friendly with us."

"They say she has a cock, Lloyd."

"I don't mind for a day. That face and those big tits make up for that. Ain't no normal women around here, so I can make do. Besides: she's got a nice big ass for me to enjoy."

"Are we sharing that too?"

One of the men snickered. "The commander didn't say that we couldn't."

All of us heard Raina cry out, and we all turned our attention back toward the duel that had continued on. Raina held her opponent back with her spear, but she was now favoring one leg that was bleeding profusely. Her opponent was breathing heavily, but otherwise unharmed. I imagined that he was now weighing his options as to if it was worth it trying to take her alive. One hundred gold ducats was more money than most common men could ever hope to get at one time. It woudn't last forever, but a man could enjoy himself for a long while in the capital. The man made his decision. He flipped his axe around to the blunt end. A good crack on Raina's head and he had a decent chance of securing a live elf.

Raina was winced, clutched at her wounded leg, and her guard was lowered for the briefest moment. The man made his move—he put everything he had into his swing—probably enough to kill his target, but that was a chance that he was willing to take. He extended himself fully into his attack and nearly fell over when he hit nothing. Raina had sprung up from where she'd been feigning weakness, evaded his strike, and drove through his eye and out the back of his head.

Suddenly I was forgotten about by most of the men. Their rage and fear took hold and they moved towards Raina in search of revenge. For her own part, Raina had recovered some of her strength despite her wound. However, after the intense use of her spear it was damaged, and when she yanked it out of her defeated foe the tip broke off the haft.