Chapter 16(Von)
Days later not much had changed.
Ynarana was still a constantly watched pariah among the Gwendils, and even Sethelel was given a cold reception if not quite as coldly as Ynarana was treated.
No one had murdered anyone at least, but Ynarana still felt lonely and isolated with every woman except Sethelel avoiding Ynarana coldly.
"Hello Methi", Ynarana attempted to greet Methi out in the corn fields at a chance meeting in the thick night fog.
Methi raised her nose coldly and just kept walking without replying or acknowledging Ynarana.
Ynarana sadly watched her walk away into the dark fog, wondering when the other Gwendils would forgive her.
It was currently midsummer harvest time, the first of two harvests this year, very early in the morning, before sunrise in fact, and it was so strange to have everyone outside right now.
The entire plantation was flooded with slaves and dark elves, not even terror of vampires keeping the plantation inside during the critical harvest time. Lordling Runor simply didn't care how many slaves or staff members might get eaten, he wanted the entire harvest collected in full and on time.
Screams of fear and pain from another human slave pierced the foggy air, then becoming orgasmic pleasure.
"The vampire got another one!, After her!", dark riders shouted, thundering in the direction of the commotion.
"Wait don't stop!", the slave man begged, Vladana apparently cutting her meal short to evade the dark riders. The slave man clearly orgasmically pleasured by the bite of the vampire.
"Get back to work!", the voice of a slave driver snarled at the bitten slave, terrible fear of vampires making the slave driver even more vicious than usual.
Ynarana couldn't see a thing in this damn fog and was hopelessly lost in the corn, it was stupidly dark in a fog bank before any hint of dawn!
Ynarana encountered some terrified looking slaves in the dark, the slaves all jumping with fright when she approached, fearing that she was the vampire.
"I'm just a guard, get back to work!", Ynarana snapped at the fearful wretches.
"You keep us safe from the monster, please ma'am!", the slaves begged.
"Get back to work!", Ynarana snarled.
"Can I help?", Vladana called cheerfully from somewhere in the fog in her sexy Arnheim accent.
"It's the monster!, Masters the monster is here!", slaves panicked.
Ynarana was nearly trampled by an angry cavalry rush that followed, the angry dark riders angrily trying to hunt Vladana in the fog.
"Be careful!, You almost ran me down!", Ynarana snapped angrily at the riders.
The impenetrable black fog was making a mockery of both security and the harvest, this was just ridiculous.
Ynarana suddenly cried out in pain that became screams of orgasmic pleasure as something very strong bit her arm, and she turned in surprise to see Vladana biting her!
Ynarana moaned in pleasure and delight for a few wonderful seconds as the slaves around her screamed for help.
Vladana suddenly vanished away into the misty corn, and seconds later the angry dark riders arrived.
"Shit!, It's Torvines' bound bride!, She got bitten!", one of the dark riders shouted.
"Ynarana!?", Torvines' voice exclaimed somewhere in the distance, and more thunderous hoofs approached.
Ynarana was still dazed and lightheaded from the pleasure of being bitten by Vladana, and she felt confused and disoriented.
Ynarana was being fussed over by dismounted dark riders, and then found her husband fussing over her.
"I got bitten", Ynarana giggled, silly from the pleasure of her bite.
"My wife needs to be taken away to safety and patched up", Torvines said protectively.
"Where is safety?, I can't even see the stars in this accursed fog!", another dark rider cursed.
"It was only a small bite, you are over reacting", Vladana's voice called out teasingly from the fog.
"Don't you DARE lay a hand on my wife!", Torvines snarled back at the fog.
"That's pretty rich coming from you, wife beater", Vladana yelled back at him mockingly.
"How do you know my business?!", Torvines demanded.
"You elves gossip like crazy, I can't help hearing the racket of gossip you make, the plantation house is far from soundproof", Vladana yelled back tauntingly.
"You infuriating undead creature!", dark riders yelled, and charged yet again in an attempt to find Vladana.
"You riders are wasting your time", Vladana mocked from a completely different direction, shockingly fast.
"Why don't you make yourself useful and help with the harvest or something?", Ynarana called out to Vladana playfully, still silly from her bite.
"Gladly!, It's the least I can do in thanks for all the blood tonight", Vladana laughed back playfully.
There was a sudden zipping noise through the corn.
"This section is mostly harvested, I ran out of bags though, the full bags are over there to your left", Vladana laughed happily.
Ynarana looked to the left and was surprised to see a pile of sacks bulging with harvested corn.
Ynarana giggled delightedly.
"What a useful vampire she is", Ynarana giggled.
"You are not well Ynarana", Torvines hushed her, sounding worried.
"I will find some more bags and keep harvesting corn", Vladana called happily from the fog.
"Thanks", Ynarana giggled.
"I'm getting you out of here", Torvines said, and trotted away in the opposite direction from the vampire.
Terrified looking slaves were everywhere in the corn as the horse trotted carefully through, and Torvines ask directions from every slave driver or other dark elf he encountered.
Ynarana sat quietly in the saddle in front of Torvines, and watched the view of endless corn as Torvines attempted to navigate.
Firelight twinkled up ahead, and Torvines trotted out of the corn into the cleared land of the settlement, with huge burning torches set up everywhere on poles for illumination.
Torvines trotted up to one of the watch towers overlooking the slave houses, the only one that was currently manned and barred closed, serving as a command tower for Lordling Runor.
"What is it Torvines?", Lordling Runor said imperiously from an arrow slit at the top of the tower.
"My wife got bitten by the vampire", Torvines called up, pointing at Ynarana's arm.
"She survived?", Lordling Runor asked in slight surprise.
"We dark riders are working very hard to chase the vampire away before she drains anyone dry, many slaves have been bitten, but none seem to have died", Torvines reported.
"Indeed?", Lordling Runor asked in surprise.
"We can't see much in the fog My Lord, it is possible that the vampire has killed more than I am aware of, but I found no evidence that the vampire has actually killed anyone yet. She just appears to be feeding without killing", Torvines hypothesised.
"Is the vampire using magic to turn invisible again like in the past?", Lordling Runor asked seriously, believing this old lie.
"It's possible, she is only spotted when she feeds on someone. The rest of the time she vanishes into the mist and the corn. She seems unable to remain invisible when she feeds", Torvines replied uncertainly.
"I don't want this vampire to interfere with the harvest", Lordling Runor cursed bitterly.
"Actually My Lord, the vampire is helping harvest the corn…", Torvines began.
"What?!", Lordling Runor snapped incredulously.
"She has filled over ten sacks, she is doing it to mock us I believe", Torvines recounted.
"Tell me exactly what you saw", Lordling Runor demanded.
Torvines concisely reported everything he had seen, with surprising detail. Ynarana was impressed by his ability to recall information.
Lordling Runor was silent at the end of the report.
"Well well, so the vampire thinks to mock me by helping with the harvest… Well more fool her. I will let her help enrich me, after the amount this vampire has cost me this is the least she can do to repay me. I don't care about any slaves she bites, so long as she makes up for them with her work gathering the harvest. I still want this vampire caught, but let her enrich me first", Lordling Runor laughed nastily.
"Yes My Lord. Where shall I take my wife?", Torvines said humbly.
"She looks fine. Take her to the well to drink some water if you like, give her some food if you have any, then put her back to work", Lordling Runor dismissed.
"Erm… Yes My Lord", Torvines replied hesitantly and rode off towards one of the wells near the plantation house.
"His concern for my well-being is truly touching", Ynarana chuckled in a whisper when the tower was definitely out of earshot.
Torvines did not reply, and simply trotted up to the well, dismounting and lowering Ynarana to the ground.
Torvines picked up a simple wood and rope bucket, with an extremely long rope attached to it, and lowered the bucket down into the dark depths of the well, the light of the somewhat distant torches just enough to see by.
Torvines pulled the bucket up again with his hands on the rope, full of water now, and both he and Ynarana had a long drink of water. Torvines fiddled with his saddle bag, and pulled out a hardtack biscuit, breaking bits off it and giving them to Ynarana to eat.
Ynarana felt a bit better after drinking and eating, and was much less unsteady when she was lifted back into the saddle.
Torvines reluctantly trotted them back into the dark misty corn fields, and Ynarana could barely see a thing.
This was the unfortunate reality of a harvest. The harvest waited for no one, you picked the crop on time or it was wasted. The fields had to be ploughed and reseeded on time to get two harvests this year, nothing could delay the timing.
A vampire or other threat was not important. Darkness was not important. Fog was not important. The corn needed to be harvested NOW, the plantation had no choice.
Harvest days were always the longest work days. You got up far before dawn, worked in the dark, kept working the entire day, and worked long into the night until every last cob of corn was collected. Everyone helped, even people who usually didn't touch the corn, it just had to be done.
The darkness and fog was impenetrable, but the air rang out with fearful noises from the vicinity of the vampire, and Torvines trotted his horse blindly in this direction.
"That's another twenty bags filled", Vladana's voice called mockingly from somewhere ahead.
Dark riders seemed to be angrily galloping in the direction of the voice.
"Dark riders!, This is Torvines!, To me!", Torvines shouted into the distance.
The sounds changed, horses now trotting towards Torvines, and Torvines called periodically so that they could follow the sound of his voice.
Many elves on horses were soon surrounding Torvines on all sides, and Torvines addressed them.
"New orders from Lordling Runor. The vampire is to help in the harvest if that is her wish, so do not attack her or pursue her unless she is actively attacking a dark elf. Lordling Runor said that the slaves are all expendable, the vampire is gathering more than them anyway, so do not go to the aid of any slave being fed on. She won't eat all that many, nothing that can't be easily replaced. Just keep out of the vampire's way for as long as she helps with the harvest", Torvines paraphrased.
"Understood", the riders all acknowledged the new orders.
Slaves were still screaming in dismay from briefly sighting Vladana in the corn, but the dark riders didn't move.
"I keep running out of bags, I will just pile the corn up in a pile over here", Vladana called mockingly.
"Thank you vampire!", Ynarana yelled back in amusement.
"You are very welcome Ynarana Movavul", Vladana yelled back playfully.
"She knows our names?", one of the dark riders noted.
"Apparently so", Torvines shrugged.
The group of riders was still and silent for a time, just listening to the sounds in the dark fog.
"Masters, the corns all been harvested already it has!", a slave called out in the fog.
"Nonsense!, Get back to work!", a dark elf slave driver snarled from another part of the corn.
"It's all gone!, The monster's harvested all the corn I can see!", a different slave insisted.
There was more of this sort of confusion and shouting, slaves everywhere were reporting that the corn was already picked.
"I already finished that area, I'm picking over here now", Vladana called teasingly from somewhere off in the distance.
"This is too easy…", one of the dark riders quietly opined.
"Masters!, There's a HUGE pile of corn cobs!", a slave called uncertainly.
"Too easy…", Torvines hesitantly agreed.
***…
Ynarana was still riding with Torvines a significant time later, Torvines refusing to leave his bitten bound bride alone in the corn where he couldn't protect her, despite the orders of Lordling Runor to put Ynarana back to work as a soldier in the corn.
The sun was still not risen, but a very faint grey twilight was just visible now, changing the fog from black to a dull bluish grey colour.
Ynarana could actually see the corn plants in any real detail now, the faint light just enough. Every single plant she could see was harvested, and as the horse trotted she encountered nothing but more harvested plants stripped completely of corn.
A large mound loomed out of the fog up ahead, and a huge pile of corn cobs taller than an elf showed itself as the form of this mound.
"Yet another mound of corn. By Khaine that vampire works fast…", Torvines murmured softly.
"I have never seen anything like this", Ynarana agreed, slightly stunned by this display of raw speed.
"This will surely be the shortest harvest on record, we might even be able to start ploughing and planting today at this rate", Torvines murmured.
The husband and wife just kept riding in silence for a while, seeing endless harvested corn plants and occasional mounds of corn cobs. It was quite eerie.
"Masters!", a slave screamed out in terror ahead, followed by sounds of pain and pleasure.
"She is still feeding on slaves", Torvines noted conversationally, completely indifferent to the fate of the slaves.
"Please bite me more vampire!", the slave moaned disappointedly a few moments later.
"She isn't killing them", Ynarana noted quietly.
"This harvesting sure is thirsty work", Vladana's sexy Arnheim accent chuckled up ahead.
Torvines deliberately steered his horse away from the sounds of the vampire, not wishing to disturb her, and the horse just kept trotting.
"Please bite me again any time vampire", the bitten slave called out, sounding lovesick.
"I will think about it", Vladana's voice called back cutely to the slave, her voice now right in front of the horse…
Torvines frantically stopped his horse, but the dark cloaked form of Vladana walked into view in front of the horse anyway, waving playfully to them.
"Go bite a slave, you are free to eat them, but let us dark elves be", Torvines fearfully addressed the vampire.
Vladana laughed mockingly.
"I am completely full of blood for the moment, wife beater. This is just a social visit", Vladana said happily, lifting back her hood to show her blood stained mouth, intensely blonde hair, and shockingly attractive pale face.
Torvines backed his horse away fearfully.
"I want to congratulate you both on your wedding. I am almost slighted that I wasn't invited", Vladana purred.
"We don't want any trouble", Torvines insisted fearfully.
"Oh it's no trouble you are in, I'm just being friendly", Vladana reassured happily.
"Thank you, for congratulating us on our wedding", Ynarana said hesitantly.
"You are most welcome Ynarana, most most welcome", Vladana warmly accepted the thanks.
"How is it being a bound bride?, Does he tickle you like your mother-in-law got tickled?", Vladana asked warmly.
"I get tickled a bit…", Ynarana began.
"How do you know all of these details?", Torvines interrupted.
"The laughter of your mother could be heard for some distance, I couldn't help sneaking closer to investigate", Vladana chuckled.
"You have not bitten a slave in a long time, why do you return to this plantation now?", Torvines softly demanded, deliberately changing the subject.
"I never left the area, I just got smarter in my feeding strategies. I hunt in many plantations besides this one, many are much easier to get a meal from than this one", Vladana chuckled, Ynarana suspected she was lying.
"You kill in other plantations?", Torvines pressed.
"Not kill anymore if I can help it, owners notice dead slaves far more than living slaves that have been simply bitten. It's pretty easy to get by with some of the terrible security of your neighbours", Vladana lied happily.
"Why are you here now?", Torvines asked.
"You are just giving the blood away here tonight, call me an opportunistic eater", Vladana laughed.
"I need to get back to the harvest now, I hope to see you again soon", Vladana waved, and then suddenly zipped out of sight with blurring speed and vanished into the corn.
Torvines just sat fearfully in the saddle, not moving his horse. The sounds of Vladana rustling corn and throwing cobs in a pile could be heard up ahead.
"I need to report this…", Torvines murmured.
"So go report it", Ynarana suggested when he hesitated to move.
"Lordling Runor expects you in the corn providing security", Torvines said unhappily.
"Security against what?, The vampire is doing all the work and isn't killing anyone", Ynarana pointed out.
"I still would be a terrible husband to just leave you here", Torvines replied.
"Take me with you then?", Ynarana suggested.
"Lordling Runor won't like that", Torvines noted.
"I can keep Ynarana safe, no one will hurt her on my watch", Vladana called happily from somewhere off in the fog.
"That is ok vampire, I politely decline your offer", Torvines said nervously, moving his horse away.
Torvines trotted for a while, and came across a trio of Gwendils in the corn, all wearing hoods and with scarfs wrapped around their faces to cover everything but their eyes, totally concealing their identities.
They all held their crossbows at the ready…
"Hello ladies, I can hardly see your faces?", Torvines noted.
"Silence… Is… Life…", one of the Gwendils hissed threateningly in such a way that her voice could not be identified!
Ynarana and Torvines both put up their hands immediately as repeater crossbows were aimed at them!
"Silence… Or… Die…", the Gwendil hissed again.
"Silence, I choose silence!", Torvines whispered adamantly.
"Wise… Choice…", the Gwendil hissed, and the trio of Gwendils backed away into the corn and vanished from sight.
Ynarana and Torvines did not dare to make a sound, and just urgently trotted away from this place, hearts pounding with fear.
The horse exited the corn without warning, and came upon one of the watch towers, currently dark and open and unmanned.
"Where are we?", Torvines whispered in confusion, not recognising this particular watch tower as a unique landmark.
Torvines and Ynarana dismounted, tying the horse to a ring in the side of the wooden tower, and entering the dark tower, climbing up the ladder to see if they could see above the fog from the sentry platform.
Ynarana and Torvines climbed out into thick fog at the top, unable to see a single thing through the thick fog.
"We will just have to keep going until we can get our bearings", Torvines said unhappily.
"Yes husband", Ynarana said obediently, and followed him back down the ladder to the horse.
The pair kept riding for an unknown time through the corn, and came upon corn plants that had yet to be harvested.
"We are further away than ever…", Torvines murmured, totally lost.
"I can't even hear anyone anymore", Ynarana whispered apprehensively.
"We will come to a landmark or the boundary fence eventually", Torvines noted, and just pressed ever deeper into the corn.
What felt like an eternity later, Torvines' was vindicated, and they came to the cleared land surrounding the boundary fence of the plantation.
Torvines laughed in triumph and galloped his swift dark steed with full blistering speed in the improved visibility of this cleared land, following the fence line.
The light was noticeably increased now, still twilight but approaching dawn, and only the fog obscured vision in this increased light.
The horse was very swift, and soon came to the gate house and tower at the plantation entrance, where the rutted path cut through the corn all the way to the plantation settlement.
Torvines galloped along this rutted path right to the end, and wisely dropped Ynarana off at the end of the path so that Lordling Runor wouldn't see her, and galloped off into the fog towards Lordling Runor's watch tower.
Ynarana stood in the middle of the path, hugging herself for warmth, and waited in the thick fog for Torvines to return.
Ynarana could hear the voices of Torvines and Lordling Runor in the distance, Torvines giving a carefully edited account of his encounter with the vampire. Lordling Runor was intrigued by this account, but had little to say about it, and soon sent Torvines away again.
Torvines found her where he had left her, and lifted her back into the saddle, before hesitantly entering the corn field again.
This was quite an interesting morning so far.
***…
Ynarana was back in her day shift watch tower once the sun rose and the fog lifted, holding signal flags as the slaves harvested the corn.
Signal flags were waving like crazy from various towers and the plantation house, relaying information, and directing and coordinating the harvest.
Ynarana was almost going hoarse shouting down at the corn to verbally relay orders and information to the slave drivers in the corn, and she occasionally used her flags to send information to other towers or the plantation house.
According to all the information being transmitted by the various signal flags, the vampire had harvested a shocking amount of the corn last night, and only the light of approaching dawn had driven her away before she could complete it all.
More than half of the corn was now harvested, much of it by Vladana herself but some by the slaves, and piles of corn cobs lay everywhere in the corn fields, with slaves simply stuffing these cobs easily into sacks to carry away.
The harvest would be easily finished before sunset, and a few dark elves were already slashing down some of the harvested corn plants in preparation for immediate ploughing.
Vladana hadn't killed anyone at all last night, though she had bitten slaves and dark elves alike, drinking nonlethal amounts of blood from each, with tens of slaves bitten at last count. The non-Gwendil dark elves were all amazed that there hadn't been a body count this morning.
Ynarana stifled a yawn, having been out in the corn since a little after midnight. She hadn't slept well in her bride binding for the few hours of sleep she was allowed last night, and getting bitten by Vladana hadn't helped her fatigue either. Ynarana felt very fatigued right now.
Ynarana ate a carrot as a snack, (without inserting it anywhere), during a pause in her flag waving, and felt slightly more invigorated from this simple snack.
"This area is fully harvested!", a slave driver yelled up at Ynarana, as slaves carried full sacks out of the field, piling the sacks up against the sides of the tower for temporary storage.
Ynarana used signal flags to relay this information to Lordling Runor, impressed by how quickly this was going.
The plantation house gave Ynarana fresh orders for where the slaves were to go next, and Ynarana shouted this information down to the slave drivers.
Ynarana felt suddenly idle when the slaves and slave drivers moved away from her tower to distant parts of the corn field. She had little to do now.
Ynarana wondered if she could relax now?
Ynarana was just getting comfortable leaning against a support beam, when signal flags from the plantation house ordered all crossbow women guarding already harvested sections of the corn to muster.
Ynarana sighed glumly, and climbed down the ladder, marching through the corn at top speed towards the muddy muster yard of the plantation settlement.
Ynarana exited the corn some time later to find Gwendils hard at work slashing corn plants with their swords?
Ynarana entered the muster yard proper, with other Gwendils arriving from other towers, and saw Lordling Runor himself standing imperiously waiting for them?
"Go help the other women slash the corn, I want to have the fields slashed and ready to be ploughed today", Lordling Runor informed them.
Ynarana and the other women were not exactly enthusiastic, but obeyed, pulling out their cheap quality archer swords and slashing the corn as ordered.
Ynarana had little enjoyment as she repetitively cut down corn plants with the blade of her sword, frowning slightly at the thought of how dull the blade would grow from this treatment.
The corn stems were no match for dark elf steel, and fell easily, it wasn't at all difficult, but it was still rather boring and repetitive.
The Gwendils made fairly good progress. They were not cutting with any great care, as this stuff was about to be ploughed up anyway, and focused on cutting a clearing through the corn as quickly as possible with the speed only elves possessed.
Hundreds of paces were soon cleared, stems and stumps left inelegantly on the ground, and the Gwendils were completely bored stiff.
Ynarana and Sethelel were currently slashing together, having found each other. More and more Gwendils arrived as more of the harvest was gathered, but these shunned Ynarana, barely tolerating even Sethelel. There was a conspicuous space between Ynarana and the other Gwendils, with a small wedge of uncut corn forming between them.
"Cut all of it, don't leave strips or patches!", Lordling Runor shouted from the distant muster yard when this wedge became noticeably out of place.
The cold Gwendils were forced to double back to cut down the wedge, and then stopped avoiding Ynarana just to get the work done.
Ynarana greeted them shyly.
The Gwendils completely ignored her greeting…
"Hi?", Sethelel attempted curiously.
"Hello Sethelel", the closest Gwendils replied politely, making their meaning towards Ynarana completely clear.
Ynarana hung her head sadly, and just focused on her work. The others had still not forgiven her…
The work continued for over an hour, and the Gwendils cleared quite an impressive amount of corn plants, leaving a huge cleared area covered in cut down corn stems behind them.
Ynarana looked over her shoulder, and saw a mass of slaves with deliberately blunted machetes trudging towards the Gwendils.
Other Gwendils were noticing the slaves, and happily stopped working, moving out of the way to let the slaves continue this monotonous task.
"Good morning ladies", one of the male dark elf slave drivers greeted them charmingly as he drove his charges forward with a whip.
The Gwendils politely returned the greeting, and other slave drivers greeted the Gwendils, some of them grabbing the women on their bottoms.
"Do you mind?", Sethelel tutted when one of the slave drivers very very softly swatted her clothed bottom with his whip.
The overly familiar dark elf men bothered the women for maybe half a minute more, before irritated noises from the far distant Lordling Runor motivated the slave drivers to get moving and stop bothering the women.
The Gwendils were ready to walk back to Lordling Runor now, but signal flags on the plantation house told the women to continue slashing the corn!
The Gwendils grumbled among themselves as they intermingled with the slaves in slashing the corn, making irritated noises when the slave drivers made various types of sexual harassment towards them.
"Stop whipping my bottom!", Sethelel snapped in annoyance at a slave driver standing behind her.
The dark elf man laughed huskily and swatted her bottom again.
"You are such a pest!", Sethelel snapped.
"You like it", the slave driver accused huskily, obviously intent on fucking Sethelel.
"No I don't!, Just fuck off you pest!", Sethelel snapped.
"You are so coy"
"Give me that thing and I will show you how annoying it is!", Sethelel snapped at the man.
"Kinky", the man chuckled.
Ynarana sighed at this open sexual harassment of her girlfriend, this really was a terrible place for any woman to work, the sexual harassment was bad even by Naggaroth standards.
Sethelel was pestered relentlessly, to the point that she picked up a cut corn stem and whacked him across the head with it repeatedly until he backed off.
The slave driver merely laughed, finding her reaction endearing for some reason, and he picked up a stem of his own, initiating a "playful" sword fight with Sethelel using this harmless vegetation.
"Lordling Runor will be furious if you don't get back to work", Ynarana warned the slave driver.
The slave driver looked over his shoulder guiltily, at the far distant plantation house, and got back to driving the slaves just in case Lordling Runor was looking his way.
"I'm about to hit you again", Sethelel warned when her bottom was subtly swatted.
The slave driver chuckled.
"I don't see you pestering Ynarana", Sethelel accused the man.
"She is Torvines' bound bride!", the slave driver exclaimed in shock at this mere suggestion.
"Do it you coward!, Swat her bottom!", Sethelel taunted the slave driver.
Ynarana compliantly presented her bottom at him, pulling down her pants to show off her bare bottom.
"No!, I will have no part of this!", the slave driver exclaimed in terror, backing away.
"Coward!", Sethelel taunted the retreating slave driver.
The slave driver bothered Sethelel no more after this, apparently terrified to be seen as any sort of romantic rival to Torvines.
The two women continued slashing the corn, finally enjoying some peace.
***…
The sun was setting now, but everyone was still outside, (Lordling Runor safely in a tower with a tiny handful of Gwendils).
Ynarana was absolutely exhausted, her sword arm hurting from slashing corn half the day.
The fields were all completely slashed now, and slaves and horses alike were tethered to heavy iron ploughs, ploughing the fields as other slaves pushed corn seeds deep into the ploughed soil with their bare fingers. Other slaves with buckets and scoops were carefully watering every seed as it was planted, and even more slaves were spreading manure over the land that was about to be ploughed.
Ynarana wrinkled her nose as she trudged through the ploughed manure rich dirt, holding her repeater crossbow ensuring that none of the thousands of slaves tried to escape or neglect their duties.
Vladana could return to the plantation at any time now that the sun was set, and all the dark elf men and many of the slaves were extremely fearful and apprehensive.
"Be on guard crossbow women!, The vampire can't hide in the corn anymore, you might be able to shoot her from afar!", one of the dark riders shouted as the sun set fully.
The Gwendils were all reluctant to shoot their pet vampire, but hid this reluctance well, simply nodding.
The slaves wanted to hurry in ploughing and seeding, to finish as quickly as possible to go to safety, but the slave drivers beat them, forcing them to do their work thoroughly.
The light was failing fast, and torches and oil lamps were reluctantly lit, these light sources secured to the ploughs to illuminate the delicate task of slaves seeding the dirt with their fingers in precise places. The two moons glowed only slightly tonight, enough for an elf to just see, but certainly not enough light for a human slave doing such delicate work.
The work was fiddly, but very fast with the motivation of mortal fear of the vampire, fast even by the standards of dark elf slave labor. The slave drivers as mentioned actually had to whip the slaves to work SLOWER!
The hours stretched by sluggishly, and the slaves ploughed and planted more and more of the fields, making incredible progress. They would be finished before midnight Ynarana guessed.
This was excellent news. Normally the second harvest of the year was harvested slightly too early just before the cold of winter completely killed the corn plants, resulting in a poorer quality second harvest in a normal year. Today they were planting a day earlier than usual, making the crops that little bit better from an extra day of growth, meaning hopefully a slightly more profitable second harvest than usual this year.
Vladana's help in speeding the harvest this morning, and the resulting early seeding, might even earn enough extra this year to (only just) reimburse Lordling Runor for everything she had cost him so far in lost slaves, new towers and extra Gwendil crossbow archers for day shift.
Vladana was nowhere to be seen, but was almost certainly watching from afar. The removal of the corn plants had taken away her usual cover from being seen, and she would easily be seen on the open fields from a considerable distance now.
The vampire was quite cautious and cunning by nature, and was not so unwise as to risk being shot full of crossbow bolts in an open field. Even if the Gwendils might not shoot, the dark riders also carried repeater crossbows, and the riders certainly would not hesitate to fire. Vladana would be wary of this happening, and would not approach in this open terrain.
"There she is, on the fence!", a dark rider suddenly shouted, pointing at a dark shape on the fence hundreds of paces away!
Dark rider repeater crossbows fired a hail of bolts, but were slightly out of range, the bolts hitting harmlessly into the ground.
"I'm not even hungry tonight, I'm just watching!", Vladana's sexy Arnheim accent shouted back in mock protest.
The dark riders thundered towards her at full gallop, but the vampire simply jumped off the fence on the other side, into the property of a neighbouring plantation lordling where the dark riders could not follow her.
The dark riders thoroughly investigated the area all the same, but the vampire was apparently gone.
The dark riders all irritably trotted back to the slaves after a while longer, cursing the vampire with filthy bad language.
Vladana was gone briefly, but soon returned to sitting on a different part of the fence calling cheekily to the dark riders.
"Just ignore her", Torvines sighed to the other dark riders, clearly growing tired of this game.
The dark riders reluctantly obeyed, simply observing the vampire and keeping her in their sight. Vladana silently watched the group of dark elves and slaves, occasionally calling to them playfully, but didn't attempt to enter the plantation ground, staying on the fence.
The work just continued hour by hour, the slaves slowing as the vampire continued to offer no threat, until the slave drivers had to whip them to keep an adequate speed.
Maybe an hour before midnight, the last seed was planted and watered, the entire field fertilised, ploughed, seeded and watered, the slashed corn plants all buried and torn up by the heavy ploughs.
"Well done!", Vladana applauded from the fence, making male dark elves tut with annoyance.
The slaves all too happily carried away all of the ploughs and other equipment, and were mustered and counted, fed and put to bed in their locked slave houses.
Extremely exhausted Gwendils were chosen at random to form an extremely small night shift to watch the slave houses in the watch towers, and Lordling Runor cautiously left the safety of his watch tower, escorted inside the plantation house by many armed dark elves.
Ynarana was absolutely exhausted as she and Torvines entered their home, doing so while their were still plenty of armed dark elves still outside to watch the distant vampire on the fence.
Torvines lit a candle and made completely sure no vampire was in the room just in case, and then closed and barred the door.
Ynarana felt disgustingly tired as she stripped naked and washed herself before bed, and was barely still awake as she put on her bride binding gloves and lay spread eagle to be bound.
Torvines looked almost as tired as Ynarana felt as he tied her to the bed, and he collapsed naked beside her, pausing only to cover them both with the bed covers before he fell asleep.
Ynarana yawned in her bride binding, and was asleep a moment later.
Harvest days were absolutely exhausting!
***…