Chapter 9
Something poked Dani in the side, and she woke up abruptly.
She blinked and squinted into the bright light shining in her face.
" How are you feeling, sister?" a sneering voice asked her, the voice dripping with disgust.
The light moved out of her eyes, and she could see the leering faces of Emma and David, her older brother and sister, looking down at her.
" Soooo, do you regret not joining up with Mom and Dad all those years ago now, little sis?" David taunted, watching her reaction closely.
Dani stiffened at the memories of that fateful night flashed before her vividly.
When she had turned eight, her Mom and Dad had, on great ceremony, taken her down to the basement, promising her lots of rewords and power if she joined them in what they were doing.
Emma and David came along too, as they proclaimed that when they had each turned eight, they had accepted the request and were enjoying much from it.
The basement was dark when they entered, but a second later her dad called out in ringing tones, " Lights!" and the whole basement lit u with huge fireflies that were chained to the wall.
Dani remembered gaping in astonishment at the fireflies, until she looked at everything else around her.
There were kids like her chained down there, some filthy, some not, but whose feet were covered in scars.
Every one of them looked miserable to the point of death, and they were not the only living creatures down there.
Elves, gnomes, fairies, dire wolves, dinosaurs that spoke, waifs, unicorns, dwarves, and a host of other living creatures, some of which she could not name.
Her dad, mom, sister, and brother led her down the aisle, talking proudly of their work in the slave market.
They sold sex slaves, as well as regular slaves, and research creatures as well as stocked private zoos and private pets.
Most of the beings would not even look at them; they would cringe and turn away.
Dani had been sickened by it all, but the rest of her family had appeared to revel in it.
Her dad talked long and passionately about their work to get into a fabled world that was know simply as Earth 3.
It was said to have every kind of creature that was deemed important in it, and it was a world of peace amongst lands.
Her dad dreamed of slipping past a guardian he called Number Nine, and capturing the inhabitants and bring them back to Earth one, where the family lived now.
Then they stopped in front of the only prisoner who looked unbroken.
It was a small girl, who looked to be about 6 or 7 years old.
When Dani looked closer, the girl seemed to be glowing a bluish hue.
" This," her dad said proudly, " Is the reason we need to get into Earth 3. This is the only living Sports Elf, besides a nearly untouchable on my comrade, Des Styles, foolishly allowed traitor Robert Rotten access too, after the third one died. She is a young she elf, and very valuable."
Her dad then looked at her closely.
" She can be yours if you join us."
Dani looked at the thin, beautiful girl elf, and felt sad.
She could almost see the burning energy in the young one's body, and her bright blue eyes burned with knowledge she should not have.
" No." Dani blurted out, and with a quick motion, she had snatched the keys form her dad and released the elf.
What happened next was amazing.
Time seemed to slow as the she-elf leaped up and pressed her palm into Dani's.
There was a brief burning feeling, before the warm hand was removed and Dani glanced down at it.
There was a strange looking S in her palm, which rapidly faded.
Then the elf flew ran like lightning, and was gone, time returning back to normal.
Her dad was furious, and that night, Dani discovered just how cruel her family was.
They had always been kind to her, but now they hated her.
They beat her everyday, and repeatedly burned her with oil and iron, scarring her horribly.
When she was older, her dad and whoever paid to use her used her as a sex slave herself in a way.
It was a miserable life, and she hated it.
As she looked up into the sneering faces of her siblings, however, she knew she would never go back, no matter what.
" No." she said quietly.
Her siblings looked at her in astonishment, and two outside the walls looked at each other and nodded.
" Sportsicus, it is time." The larger one spoke to the smaller beside him.
She nodded and looked up at him with a bewitching smile.
" Yes, Sportacus, it is time."
She was 5' 41/2", and he was 5' 8 ½", but they had a way of looking larger to those they met.
No one was to guess that the two banished Sports Elves were back on a special mission.
They had been banished from Earth 1 as they could not take the portal effects for long, but they had been allowed back on special missions, and this was their first one.
They raised their hands as if in a high five, then pressed their palms together and looked in each other's eyes.
" Let's do this." They both said simultaneously, and then sped off to their respective targets.
Inside the walls, Emma and David had drawn knives and were staring down at their sister.
" Bitter Blue, have you kept her from sleeping?" Emma asked.
A tiny blue fairy fluttered down and hovered nearby.
" Yes, your Highness, I have done as you commanded me." she mewled in a tinkling voice.
So it wasn't the elf that did that, it was a fairy. Dani thought.
" Good." Emma said, and flicked the fairy out of the air with her knife.
It cried out as if smacked the wall, and lay still.
Dani leaped to her feet, suddenly noticing she was not bound.
Both sibling held up long sharp knives, and backed away.
" How is she free?" they whispered nervously as Dani rushed over to the fairy.
" I need light." The small blue fairy sighed, as purple blood came out of her side.
Dani scooped up the fairy and ran to the only window.
A triceratops lifted her to the tiny hole in the wall, and she laid the fairy in the light.
The wound healed as a drop of sticky liquid fell on Bitter Blue, and a pair of strong hands suddenly wrenched the bars free.
The fairy flew out and was gone with a whispered thanks.
Dani was lowered to the ground, and was yanked back by a rope that sailed around her neck.
She was thrown to the ground and stabbed repeatedly as her brother cursed her.
Emma finally stopped him., her eyes wide with fright.
" What is Dad going to do if you kill her?" she said fearfully.
" Nothing, she is going to die for this, but slowly and in my time." Her dad's enraged voice boomed around the basement.
" She has released now two of my most valuable merchandise, and she will pay long and well for it before she dies."
Dani cringed as her dad stormed up to her and threw her across the room.
She passed out as she hit the floor, and was spared the sight of the fangs poised about her body.