Chapter 4
The strange drug had rendered them helpless. Legolas could hear and feel what was going on around him, yet his body would not respond to him.
They were still in the clearing as far as he could tell. He knew Idrial was still close by, he could feel her nervous tension. He tried to lift his head and look for her, but his body did not move.
Suddenly he felt her emotions change to fear and pain.
NO! Stop! Leave me ALONE!
Her terror and desperation ripped at him, her scream echoed in his head. He could hear the man, grunting and panting. Anger flared in Legolas' heart.
Don't TOUCH her! IF you hurt her I will kill you! There is NOTHING I won't do to you! GET OFF HER! He tried so hard to move he thought he might explode for the effort. IDRIAL!
Legolas! Please, help me. Legolas!
The agony of her spirit at the violation of her body made Legolas' heart burn with anger and sorrow. His helplessness weighed on him as he felt her soul being torn inside her. He had failed to protect her. Those words that had so long ago changed his life forever now hung unanswered. Her cry of agony rang through his mind, a desperate plea he could not answer.
. . . . . . . . . . .
"Come on, Erabus. You're gonna kill her if you keep that up."
"You just want to get on."
"Yea, but Jehethera wants us back soon. Come on." Erabus only glared. "Ok, she looks like a lot of fun. Move."
Erabus stood. "Keep it speedy."
After a few short minutes, Erabus looked at the elf. "I think we should dose him again. He is starting to break the hold."
"Just a little bit." Barabas grunted.
"I know. Wouldn't want to spoil my prize."
"Yours?"
"I caught him while you were busy getting slapped for smart mouthing."
Barabas glowered and slowly lifted himself off the she-elf. "Too bad we can't keep her."
"If you had a better reason than lust for crossing Jehethra, than I might take you up on it."
"What about profit? You know the pay we will receive from her will be nothing close to what these two are worth. Keeping her would help make up the gap."
"In your mind. If you really were concerned about money, you would keep him, not her. I would love to see the gypsy's face when she learns how we cheated her. You know, give her a taste of her own medicine."
"Whoa, slow down! What are you talking about?"
"Haven't you heard the old slaver's stories, Barabas?"
"No. I don't work with them."
"Well, if you did, you would know that when an elf is raped, they give up their soul. We would not have her for two days before she died. So, we give her to Jehethra. That means when she goes, it is Jehethra who suffers." Barabas, whose face had soured at the term rape, smiled at that. "It also sets us up for keeping the other elf. Since we would keep the male, we could say he was too strong, and that we could only catch her. Your wit gave you the bruises to support the story. I will send a shout-out to Yulhan; you know him, we have enlisted his help before. We take the elf to him, and he takes us to Harad. We sell the elf there for way more than Jehethra would have paid for him. All we would owe would be a small dividend to Yulhan for the use of the ship."
Slowly Barabas nodded, smiling widely. "I like it."
"Come on. The sun is setting. Let's get these two loaded into the cart."