The War Begins

Chapter 17 - Almost Free

A hand came near her face as her captors tried to adjust the ropes tighter and she struck out. Her eye teeth sank deep into the flesh of one of her captor causing him to yowl and throw a back handed swipe at her face. She could not dodge the blow with the ropes limiting her motion so she used the sting on her face to remind herself that she dealt with beings much stronger than she.

With a growl in her throat, she allowed them to finish tightening the ropes. Each of her three guards left her with a blow to the head. Her vision swam again as she finally twisted to look down into the deep pits below her.

Men scrambled below, some with skin in tattered ribbons and other with little skin left on their backs. Dark elves stood guard on every ledge and scattered within the muddy mines. Breena could see the men struggle to carry empty barrels and pull wagons into the holes in the side of the pits and others dragging them out.

Out of the side of her eye she could see that there was only one path out of the pits and it was cut precariously into the walls. The wet earth looked as if it would collapse with every step an escaping slave took. She watched fascinated.

Three deep pits were linked together by thin passages and in each men worked desperately. As she turned her head further to the right a cry came from her left and she had to whip her head back around to stare down into the farthest pit. Her gaze swept over the pits as she did so, and with a stone forming in her stomach, she realized she could see into every pit and they could see her. Dread began to build in her as she wondered why the elves would want a woman in view of every man who labored below.

She again searched for the noise to find a dark elf bringing down a whip on the cowering back of an elderly human man. He cried out in pain, but no one would look at him, let alone help. The elf spoke loud, harsh words she could barely make out as he brought his whip down again and again.

"You will do as you are ordered!" He repeated again and again, as if hoping that repetition would drive it into the man's brain. When he thought the lesson learned, he coiled his whip and stepped back as if nothing had happened. Breena leaned her head back against the pole and let that support her weight. Closing her eyes, she let her mind float away from the pain in her face, the mud covering her body, and the suffering of those below her.

Her small rest was broken when a hand gripped her hair. Her eyes searched wildly for who held her and she saw that it was Konth, the older elf from before.

"This is my best safeguard. You will not run because you know that if you do, I will carve up every inch of this pretty girl for your transgression. Do you want to die, sweet human?" She noticed his words were directed towards her and she shook her head. He gripped harder and a small squeak slipped between her lips. "Use your words, inarticulate wench."

"No, sir," He seemed satisfied with her answer and relaxed his grip slightly. Breena hoped idly that the dark clouds above her would not rain as she stared up into the face of the pits commander and the sky behind his head.

"How old are you?" Konth spat out. She hoped he was still talking to her because he was still looking down at her and knew the punishment for speaking out of turn. It didn't matter her age, she looked young. So, she made it up; every piece of information they knew of her, the more control they gained.

"Twenty." She croaked out. He looked pleased.

"A nice young age, twenty." His gaze left her to stare at someone or some group of people she could not see because her face was still being held towards the sky. "You wouldn't want to be responsible for the painful death of one so young, would you? Just ask the men you meet when you get below, it is not pretty. All those who remain watch my young sacrifice's death and then get a lash of their own." Breena finally understood the pained screeches she had heard during morning gruel from the direction of the pit.