Chapter 14
Selinde and Tanad counted themselves lucky. Esgaroth was an Elf friendly town and they were able to purchase two extra horses and supplies to last for months. They were directed to a safe place to cross the River Celduin, and started to head toward Rhun. They stayed as far from the banks as felt safe, and started to search the far shores for the evil band of humans, but mostly for their friends.
"How do you know this area?" Tanad asked one morning as they were getting breakfast. They had yet to sight their friends, and tried to travel as many hours as the horses and Tan could stand.
Selinde visibly winced, but answered the boy. "I was born in Rhun," she said. Tan looked surprised. Selinde laughed at his reaction. "Don't you remember when I told you my age?" Tan nodded. "When I was born, it was safer there. I lived in a place called Bethune, which was an Elven realm. Anyway, to make a long story short, we were attacked by humans and enslaved." She paused, trying to control the onslaught of feelings. "That man," she paused. Tan nodded. "The one who hurt Kao?" Tan nodded again. "He was my master." She said this so quietly Tan almost missed it.
He wasn't sure what to say. This was something he had never dealt with before. "I, um, " the boy stalled.
Selinde reached for Tan's hand. "You don't have to say anything Tan. I know what you are thinking. We need to get them back. Especially Kao…Noor is ruthless."
Not needing to say more, the pair packed up and mounted their horses for another long day of riding. It was about four days later that they spotted their prey. And from what they could tell, things didn't look good.
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They had reached the River soon after the first night's incident, and that was when things turned for the worse. When the captives had been loaded into the carts, Kaolith thought that she would be left alone. She was sorely mistaken, however, and soon found herself sitting on Noor's horse once again as they started off. Besides her obvious discomfort and fear of being this close to the man, and feeling his fingers stroke up and down her spine, the Ranger was relatively calm. Then they reached the Celduin. When she saw that they would be crossing, familiar fear took over, and she panicked.
Shaking and thrashing, she finally elbowed her captor in the sternum, and was surprised to feel herself being thrown to the ground. She landed in knee-deep water, and didn't notice when Aragorn jumped out of the cart and grabbed onto her, trying to convey that she was safe, and at the same time protect her from Noor's wrath.
Images of floating down the Anduin, half-dead, were invading her thoughts, followed be memories of diving in after Selinde, and then holding on to her sword in the Bay. She was turning gray, and shaking her head, but she did not notice any of that. She was suddenly remembering Hagley holding her small body in the knee-deep stream, could hear his laughter as she struggled to breathe. She then heard him calling her name. *Wait, that can't be right,* she thought, *he never called out to me, only beat me or drugged me.* She came slowly out of her memories and saw the staring eyes of the twins, Aragorn, and Legolas.
"Kao, Kaolith. Listen to me; you have to snap out of it. Kaolith."
"I…I…I can hear you, Strider. What happened?" Suddenly, pain came crashing down on her, and she could feel every bruise and cut that Noor had inflicted on her in the past days to bring her out of her shock. She grimaced, and clenched her teeth, arching her back against the pain.
Carefully, she was brought into the Man's embrace, with Elven hands on her shoulders, lending their strength to her. She sunk into the support, not able to hold herself up, and asked quietly, "Where are we now?"
"We are three days from the River, little one, you are safe from the water once more."
"Th-th-three days?"
"You had us all worried, mellon nin, yes, three days."
"Oh." She had wanted to say more, but Noor appeared at that moment, pulling her from her friends, and to her feet.
"I see you are back among the living. It is time to owe up to a better reputation than this one has for you my pet."
"No…no, please, leave me alone, no."
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Selinde and Tanad watched from a safe distance as the group crossed the river. Tanad was shocked at Kao's reaction to the river and Selinde had to explain it to him. She was also sorry to see them cross so soon, knowing that they would have to be much more careful now. She knew how they worked, sending patrols out to check behind them. Everything was fine for the first three days, and then their luck ran out.
They had set up camp when the others had. No fire had been lit, for they did not want to be detected. Unfortunately for them, they had been spotted a couple days before, and there was nothing they could do about what happened next.
The Elf heard them coming, but not fast enough to do much. She stood quickly and notched her bow, but Tanad was not used to such things, and they had a knife to his throat before he could react.
"Put down the bow," one man said, "or he dies."
Selinde recognized this man as Fynn, Noor's second in command. It only took Fynn about three seconds more then Selinde to recognize her.
"Well, well," he said. "I will be well rewarded for this. Little Lindy has come home. Your master has missed you. You are a fool to have come back. For you will pay for all that was lost."
The men gathered all of their belongings. They tied both Tanad and Selinde and mounted them on horses and headed back to the main camp. The captors did not miss the shock of seeing the pair, and they soon realized that they were trying to rescue the others.
They had arrived back about fifteen minutes after Noor had taken Kao into his tent, and he was not happy at the interruption.
"I said I was not to be disturbed!" He roared.
"Yes sir, I know. I will gladly pay for my disobedience if you are not pleased with what I have brought you sir."
"Show me then," he said. "For I am busy."
"Bring the boy," Fynn said.
They produced the boy for Noor, who was not amused. "Put him with the others," he said and then turned back to Fynn. "That was worth the interruption?" He asked.
"No sir," Fynn said. "But I think this will be."
With those words, Selinde was brought forward and dropped at Noor's feet.
"Well, Fynn, you are right, I am pleased. This will make for a better night than I had planned. I have missed you my sweet. I thought there was something oddly familiar about that Man, it seems you have found a master that you like better than I. You shouldn't have left me in the first place, and now I will make it up to you." He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the tent, tossing her next to the sobbing child he hadn't quite tamed yet. Selinde noticed the blood seeping from his lip, and the timbre of his voice an octave higher than she remembered.
"I have to go introduce myself to your companion; I'll leave you to get acquainted, as you will both provide me my entertainment tonight." With that, he slunk out of the tent.
Selinde turned to her kid sister, "Oh Elbereth no, don't let him have done anything to her that she can't heal from." She saw the all too familiar marks of one of Noor's beatings on Kaolith's back and sides, and reached out to get her attention.
Sobbing, not knowing how to escape her fate, the Ranger had completely withdrawn into herself, ignoring everything around her. She had tried to escape too many times, and after the third rib had been broke once again, she had resigned herself to her fate, willing herself to block it out. Survival instincts took over, however, when she felt a hand on her back.
Whirling on her attacker, she almost complimented the healing black eye that she had already given Selinde. Stopping only just in time, she began to hyperventilate as she saw the she-Elf in front of her. "S-S-Selinde?" She wasn't sure that she wasn't hallucinating, and at the same time was begging her mind to confirm what she saw.
"Oh, thel nin, I'm so sorry this happened to you." Taking off her cloak, she pulled it over the girl's tattered shirt, and hugged her close, heart breaking as Kaolith was gripping her tunic so tightly Selinde thought it might rip. "Shh, it will be all right, little one, I promise you it will. He won't hurt you now. I won't let him. Shh, we'll get out of this somehow; and then I'm going to kill him for what he's done." She stroked the child's hair with one hand, holding tightly to her with the other, not knowing what else to do.
She knew Noor too well to think of escape when they were in the tent, but knew that she needed to get Kaolith back to their friends. Tears streamed down her face as she felt the Ranger go limp in her arms, feeling safe for the first time since waking alone in Mirkwood. *Please, let her comfort not be short-lived, let her be safe.*
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Noor walked back out of the tent and headed for Tanad. He eyed the young boy and laughed. "I can't imagine you have got much service from her." He looked as if he was going to walk away with that, but surprised the boy when he turned and backhanded him. Tan was knocked to the ground with the force. "You will remember to stay away from my property."
Noor then stopped and glared daggers at Strider. Deciding to deal with him later, he stalked back to the tent. He was not surprised to see his Lindy comforting the young girl. As he approached them, Selinde's words stopped him.
"Leave her to her friends," she said. "You can have me back. I give you my word to stay with you till your death, if you will just let the girl go."
Noor was surprised at the passion in her voice. This was not the Little Lindy that he remembered. Maybe her being gone for six years has brought the fight out in her. He contemplated her words. *To my death she said. I wonder how she plans to accomplish it.* He was smart enough to know that after tasting freedom, she would likely want it back as soon as she could accomplish his death.
The young girl had been more trouble then he wanted to deal with, and he could sell her when they reached the town. She would still get what she deserved. Maybe I will give her to Fynn for bringing Lindy back.
Selinde saw the looks pass over his face, and knew that she was just buying time. She also knew though that if he gave his word he would not touch her, ever. She was just hoping that would give them the time they needed.
"I will accept your challenge. For that is what it is." He smiled when the Elf flinched. "I will not touch her, now or ever. And I will let her be in safety while we finish our travels. When we reach our destination however, she will be sold. Is that agreed?"
"Yes." Selinde replied.
Noor glared at the Elf and Selinde amended her statement.
"Yes my master. I agree to your terms." Noor was glad that the fight didn't leave her with the statement. He was going to enjoy this.
He walked over to a chest and pulled out a flimsy garment. "Put this on. Then we will take the child back to her protectors."
"Yes master," she said as she removed her clothes and put the garment on. Noor watched the entire time, and remembered how much he had missed this slave.
He shackled Selinde's wrists. He grabbed Kao and ordered Selinde to follow, which of course she did.
Her friends were shocked to see Kao's condition and more so at how Selinde was dressed. They were also surprised when she refused to meet their eyes.
Noor addressed the group. "She is yours to take care of for the rest of the journey. I will decide upon our arrival what is to be done with her." He then grabbed Selinde and took her to a nearby tree, which his men strapped her to. "You will now pay for the years I have missed you. You understand that this is your fault, and that I must teach you a lesson."
The hearts of her friends broke when they heard her response.
"Yes my master. I have wronged you and I must pay. Please teach me the lesson I deserve." She had been imprisoned for many years by this man's family and knew the responses by heart.
Noor then was handed a whip, and the beatings began.
To the Reviewers:
TC - Hey TC! Glad you are still enjoying it. But I'm thinking we need to start posting once a week again. Because begging is not pretty. LMAO
Kar – Uhh, Kar? If you strangle us, we can't post anymore, and then you won't ever see it get better…*looks at chapter* oh shoot, guess we'd better run…you might want to skip the next chapter if you don't want worse…Escape? Who said they would escape? And you may want to wait in the wings to kill Noor…especially for what he's about to do…hehe…
Sparx - Hey Sparx! What can I say? Keeping Kao out of trouble is like trying to keep a pig out of mud. LMAO Just won't happen.
Trish - Hey Trish! How can we do it, it's fun. And yes, Selinde was a slave. A slave in all ways. But who said her "master" was dead?
Eleni - ELENI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I thought you just hated the story. Since you were not reviewing. LMAO There is a third, as to a forth, I guess that depends on if Cube and I continue to be friends.
