Princess of The Elves Ch. 04

Note: All the characters in this story are over the age of eighteen. The elves even more so. It does not represent any real people or groups. It is a fantasy. There are literally elves in it. This part does contain some fantasy violence and related blood. I didn't go overboard, but stories in worlds like this often have it. Please look at the story tags. If you don't like those things, then you really should move on. Enjoy.

Alma was gone. Disappeared into the night like a phantom. Collette tried to run off after her, but I grabbed her hand.

"Let me go," she said. "I have to find Alma."

"And what are you going to tell her?"

"You don't understand. She's my sister."

"Things have changed, Collette."

"It's Colin."

"Is it?" I asked. "Look at yourself."

Collette turned on me with a rage in her. She was a beautiful and lithe creature there in the pale light of the moon. Colin had been a very fine man to look upon. He didn't have the blonde hair and fair skin of the classic "Northman". His family was of a ruddier, darker stock. Sadly, there were some among our people who still maintained ideas of "purity", so the chances of Alma being allowed to marry me had always been slim. However, I'd always been so drawn to Alma and her brother. Seeing Collette now...she looked so much like Alma only fiercer and now an elf.

This new reality did eventually resonate with her. She looked down at her nude body and seethed. There was no going back.

"You hate me now," I said. "For what I've done to you."

Collette took a deep breath. She squeezed my hand tightly. "No. What you did, you did because you love me. Am I right?"

I nodded, and said: "If I'd been able to get you and Alma out of here without me that would've been acceptable to me, but for you to want to die...I could never forgive myself for letting that happen."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm better now. I promise. For a long time, I've been..."

Collette looked confused for a moment. I took her in my arms.

"What's wrong?"

"I had trouble remembering something just now. It's fine though."

I stared at her. Likely it meant nothing, but the possibility was still frightening. I had to be honest with her if I ever hoped to be anything with her.

"Collette," I said to her. "I have to tell you something."

She blinked at me. Waiting.

"I'm still learning how this whole thing works. To be honest: I don't know how the elves will react to what I've done with you."

"You're saying that it might just be you and I versus the world then?"

"Maybe."

"All right. Well, I believed that was going to happen anyway for years."

"About that...I think it's a possibility that we might forget our old selves. I guess this happens among these elves. Something about the change being too much for the old personalities to stay. Or maybe they just recede to the background. When I was looking at my reflection in the pond, I had trouble thinking of myself as the old Sindri."

She leaned in so close to me. Her sweet, hot breath all over my face. Ticking my skin. "Are you going to forget me?" she asked with a smile.

"I don't think so."

"Good. Look, Sindri, we have each other no matter what else happens. I'm yours forever now, Sindri. Do you understand?"

My lips found hers in all that darkness and all that doubt. I held her new body against mine. I was stronger than she was now, and I knew that I would do anything to keep her safe. I had to be better. Converting Colin into Collette had been born out of a moment of weakness. There was no denying that. I had feared for Colin's life. That was true, but looking back at what I did, I can't help but believe that I was trying to save myself that night under the moon.

I put back on my light tunic, and Collette put back on her leather adventurer's outfit, which didn't fit as well as it used to, but it was what she had. We walked back to the elf encampment hand in hand. The rest of the world be damned.

It was almost morning when we returned. The elves were all roused. I thought that I'd been stealthy in my leaving, but I'd been seen. It shouldn't have been surprising. I was the "princess" after all. There was no such thing as privacy.

Collette and I walked into the middle of them. I kept my hand in hers. Ready to face judgement. Jericka stared me down. Her short red hair was a disaster without my recent attendance. Everything else about her body looked to be calm, but her eyes spoke of rage born somewhere dark and terrible.

"What did you do?" she asked.

I took a breath and answered her. "I saved my friend's life. It wasn't the wisest choice considering what's happening, but I did it anyway."

Jericka approached slowly. She wasn't armed, but in truth: that woman had no need of weapons to destroy me or anyone else in her way. Collette and I squeezed our hands together so hard that it hurt. Jericka's eyes took note of this, and she moved to stand as if she meant to pass between us. Close enough for me to smell the old berry mixture going bad in her hair.

"We had an accord," she said. "We were going to stay separate and safe. That's gone now. Did you do this to destroy us, princess?"

"I want to protect our people."

"You have a strange way of showing it."

Jericka turned her gaze towards Collette. "Perhaps I should've killed you on the beach. You do make for a lovely elf, but I still see that petulance in your eyes. Let Sindri go and then step aside," she told the new girl. "I'll say this once."

Collete did indeed still have so much of the old Colin in her. She puffed out her chest like a man might. As she was back in her old adventurer clothes this did look impressive for a second, but then everyone noticed how her new breasts were straining against the thinning material. Still, her spirit was brave. However, Jericka was not amused. She grabbed the new girl and flung her several feet away. I made a fist like an idiot and before I knew it, Jericka had grabbed that fist and spun me around. Yanking my arm behind my back so hard that I screamed.

"Look at you," said Jericka. "You can't even begin to fight me. Are you even my convert? Why are you so weak?"

Riley pleaded with Jericka to stop. Her eyes spoke of so much desire to help, but she also felt the bond from Jericka, and it could be very difficult to go against the one who had converted you. I felt much the same about Jericka--even as she hurt me, I wanted to be near her.

I saw Imani standing off to the side. She was shaking her head in disapproval and muttering to herself. She disapproved of the whole thing, but she wasn't going to be interfering. It would be unseemly.

Being there, surrounded by the other girls while Jericka terrorized me...I was right back in the courtyard of my father's castle. My older brothers beating me into the mud. Telling me how worthless I was as their little brother. That had been my life for so long. Even after it stopped, the spirit of it lingered on haunting me thousands of miles away after my whole being had been transformed. This was still who I was.

"Stop it, Jericka."

I managed to turn my head to see who was confronting her. It was some of the other girls. The ones who, for the most part, remained silent and let the primary she-elves run things. I could understand their hesitancy. The trio of Jericka, Imani, and Riley was formidable. Jericka alone was a brutal force of nature.

Lika, Rene, and Brie stood before us. They were "the girls" of the five other she-elves that were there. From my understanding most of their ages were actually close, but while two of the five had taken on more mature roles to help the running of the group(these were Tawny and Lizette) the three "girls" spent what time they could reveling in being playful.

"This is not what we're about," said Lika.

"It's not what we appreciate about you either."

Jericka suddenly relaxed her contortion of my arm, but still held me in place. I felt her take a deep breath, and she softened her tone to speak to these other elves.

"Ladies, you know me. I have my...indulgences, but I believe in protecting our people, and I've always done that. Protected you."

"How is hurting Sindri doing that?" demanded Brie.

"I'm not really going to hurt her, okay? But I need to correct certain behavior. I admit that this is my fault." Jericka brought me closer. Her hot breath on my neck. "I saw a pretty thing and I wanted to take it home with me. We've played around with this little fantasy of her being a 'princess', but she is simply another she-elf. One that has endangered us now."

"We don't know that," said Rene. "Those people looked to be tired and scared more than anything."

"Yes. And that was our advantage. That woman, who leads them, she will see this as a betrayal. We stole her brother and destroyed him as far as she'll be concerned."

"I'll speak to my sister," said Collette, who'd gotten back up. "We can make this work."

"Have you seen yourself?" asked Jericka. "She was horrified to see what Sindri had become. You will only drive that horror like a knife into her heart."

"I'm still her...brother."

Jericka sighed. Like she felt sad for Collette. She said: "Give it time, girl. Trust me, I thought that I could go back to my old life once. As much as I loathed it before. Too much had changed though and not just my body. There's no going back. And know this: you can't be without your own kind. I learned that the hard way. It's only a matter of time until you desperately crave to make another she-elf just so you won't be alone anymore. Most of the people in this world fear and loathe us. We only have each other."

Her words subdued Collette more than any physical assault ever could. Collette looked like a scared lost girl then.

It was Imani who stepped forward finally. She took hold of me and turned me around to face Jericka. This freed my arm, for which I was deeply grateful.

Imani said to Jericka: "Look at Sindri. She's your convert. She didn't look like you wanted her to look, but she is yours. And this new girl that she has brought to us...she wasn't expected, but she is ours now. She is of your line."

Jericka eventually relaxed.

"I'm trying to make you girls understand," she said. "I'm not the enemy here."

I detected something in her voice. The slightest trace of a stifled cry. Well hidden by someone who had spent so much of her life trying to hide that vulnerability.

Jericka let me go, and she walked off into the trees of the island's interior. She quickly vanished.

The tension that was threatening to break everyone was finally released. We all returned to some semblance of what was normal. The heat of the sun had returned with a vengeance. I could see that Collette was already sweating heavily in her old leather outfit. When she began fussing with it too much, she attracted the attention of the three youngest she-elves. "The girls" was they were called. They tried to take the outfit off her. Collette tried to shoo them away, but they were already on her. Pressing their bodies against her front and back.

"Don't you feel hot?" asked Brie. She leaned into Collette--keeping her lips just apart from those of my recently converted friend.

"Well...I mean...maybe."

The girls would have Collette stripped naked soon after. They delighted in getting to know her and her body. Rene promised me that they would get her some new clothes when they were done with her. The girls led Collette away to introduce her to her new home and to themselves. I was left with the others, and in a way, I truly wished that I'd been taken away with her.

It sounded fun.

"That didn't take long," said Imani. "The girls have been pent up for a while I suppose."

"Let them have their fun," said Riley. "There's little else to do out here, besides: we need to have a talk, don't we?"

Riley was looking at me.

I was led over to a log and told to sit down.

I was flanked by Imani and Riley. The dark and exotic elf girl watched me while the sailor that I'd gotten to know so well spoke.

Riley said, "That didn't go as well as I'd hoped. You really owe Imani and the girls everything."

"I know."

"Good. That's a place to begin. Collette seems nice. It's a good thing when a new girl joins us. We're stronger for it. Jericka's reaction was wrong, but take a moment, Sindri, and tell me what the bigger problem is."

"Uhh..."

I wasn't given any more time to answer before Imani spoke.

She said, "Jericka has her faults, but her instincts are sound. She is right to be angry with you."

"I know it was foolish," I finally admitted. "I just couldn't watch my friend die."

Imani nodded solemnly. "I know the feeling. You did it for love and that is admirable. However, sometimes we must look beyond our love at what is best for our people. I left behind my home and my love for that very reason. This is part of maturing over time. You're still a young woman, so I suppose that we can understand, but at some point, you do need to see the greater need."

It was a great deal to take it, but I promised that I would.

"What are we going to do about Jericka?" I asked. Worried that she'd find me later.

"We need to give her time," said Riley. "She's been through worse, and she always comes back. Perhaps I'll ask one of the girls to cozy up to her when she returns. Her mood tends to greatly improve after a good fuck."

I wanted to laugh at that, but after considering what I really knew about Jericka that was likely true.

"Riley," said Imani, "after the girls have their fun with Collette, I want you to put everyone to work gathering up supplies and working to get your boat ready."

"You think it's happening?"

Imani considered this for a moment, and then slowly shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "And that's what troubles me. We've been too comfortable for too long. We're asking for trouble."

Imani had a talent for letting the gravity of something sink into people regardless of how happy they may have wanted to be.

"I want to go check on Alma and the others," I told them. "She hates me, but I owe her that much."

"So, you say," said Imani. "Very well, but this time I'll be with you. To both protect you and to provide some supervision. No offence, princess."

I wasn't able to disagree, so I went along with it. We had no way of knowing what we were in for. I would later blame the bitch goddess of Fortune for everything. I still had hope for the elf goddess though.

Imani and I set off from the elf encampment. She insisted that we take our time in getting there. As we made our way, Imani kept a sharp eye on everything that we passed. When I asked if she was all right, she silenced me with a gesture, and then urged me to keep moving. I didn't want to argue with her. Besides, most of my mind was occupied with how I was going to have a conversation with Alma without her attacking me. I wanted Collette there, I thought. Jericka's harsh words had taken their toll on the new elf girl, but at least...

No, I couldn't count on her appealing to Alma. This meeting couldn't be based on our past relationships. It would need to be practical. She and the other survivors wanted to survive and escape. There had to be something I could do to help them.

We passed by the spring. For a moment, I wanted to sit and look upon my reflection again. Wondering if I would find some deeper insight. Hoping perhaps that I would receive some wisdom from the elf goddess Angelanhala. I was fairly certain that was the name. It was a rather difficult one. By comparison, the old gods of my homeland had very short names and the gods of the prevailing religion in the west had names that were roughly in the middle.

Religion always confuses me.

Imani left the path and stepped into the trees for a moment. I followed her--not wanting to lose my escort and make her angry with me. I found her perusing a short tree laden with fruit. The fruits looked like eggs to me: green with blushes of red and yellow. Imani quickly picked some and put them in a small sack that she had.

"Mangos," she said. "Or at least a variety of them. We have larger and sweeter ones where I'm from. It looks like your friends were here. Most of the ripe ones are gone, and the other trees are stripped bare."

"They were starving. You can't blame them."

"Blame can always go around. Unlike food, it's always in abundance."

I wasn't sure if she was being serious or not, but after living with Jericka the concept was becoming familiar.

"Perhaps I should advise Alma to return to Tol Batu," I said. "Other northerners were docking there. She could make it home."

Imani studied me for a moment. "Are you so sure that you want them to return?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"People change. They change more and faster than we want to believe. Perhaps they could make it, although Tol Batu isn't that close either. It would take a long time and much hardship, but perhaps she could get home. Then she'll likely tell them everything. About Colllette and especially about you."

I considered that. "I suppose that she would, but if she was safe, it would be worth it."

Imani weighed my words for a long time. Then she said: "I understand that, but the old rules say that we must take great care to be secretive to keep ourselves safe. That is how it has always been."

"You said that in the south the she-elves are more known."

She nodded. "We are. Different cultures though. Much of what people from your part of the world know comes from the mundane elves. Triumphs and tragedies mar what people later believe. Our origin is based upon being banished by the other elves. In some areas, our people encountered your early humans. We helped you to develop in opposition to the mundane elves, who saw you only as competition before they decided to play more of a role in shaping you. Then you turned on them.

"For our part: we allowed, perhaps wrongly, for some of you to believe that we were divine beings or just 'magical'. We only converted a few at a time, but in those days of legend your ancestors came over to us quite willingly. Those must have been good times."

"You weren't there?"

Imani laughed. "How old do you think I am? No, I wasn't there. We live a long time, but not forever. The goddess will call us all back eventually."

"To be honest: I'm not sure what I believe in anymore," I told her. "I spent so much time drinking and trying not to think about things."

She nodded. "You and Jericka are more alike than you think."

"Are you really saying that I'm like her? You must be joking."

"Not at all," she said. "It's a different perspective than your own, but your bond with Jericka affects you. As well does the game that she plays with you."

"You think what she's been doing to me has been a game?"

"I know it is. It's ridiculous in its own way, but it is." Imani sighed. "You are all so young to me, and I have only ever known this one life so I cannot understand how you former humans act."

That got me interested. "Do you have any converts?"

"Not here," she said. "I almost converted the man that became Brie, but I resisted the urge."

"Why?"

"My own reasons. The bond should be a special thing, but sometimes it fades, and personalities conflict. Like you and Jericka."

"I thought we were suddenly alike," I said impetuously, but then immediately apologized for my tone.

"Think nothing of it. Jericka has said worse."

"Why do I suspect that you let Jericka be in charge?"

A curious smile briefly graced Imani's full lips. She said: "You have strange ideas, princess. How do you know that you're not the one 'in charge' as it were?"

"I have no power at all."

"You're still not seeing the game."

"What game?"

"When Jericka captured you, I'm sure that she gave you a chance to resist and fight. Did she not?"