Chapter 27
H er eyes opened lazily to the sight of two Dark Elves standing over her. They were both female, and the one on the right had a tiny brush dipped in red in her hand. She had just finished applying it to Aelrie’s lips. They stood back and admired their work.
“Finished, Madam,” the elf on the left then said.
Aelrie tried to lift her arms, but she was tied to a chair. Her movements were slow, and her head still felt a little dizzy.
Had she been drugged?
The two Dark Elves parted to reveal another Dark Elf, alluring and sultry with smooth, dark gray skin and tattoos of twin serpents coiling around her arms. She wore a shimmering black dress that fit tight around her body with gems dripping in pendants between her ample bosoms.
The Dark Elf gave one look at her and then turned to the diminutive female Dark Elf beside her, dressed in an apprentice mage outfit. “She’s awake,” a darkly sensuous voice came from her. “Charm her.”
The short elf stepped up, and a rose-colored haze appeared over her eyes along with a familiar sweet scent, luring her, forcing her under its beguiling spell.
Aelrie’s nails scraped against the arms of the velvet-padded chair she sat in. She envisioned a strong wind gusting through a vale, blowing away the fog that had settled there during the night.
The small Dark Elf before her withdrew a deep breath and almost fell as she stumbled forward. Sweat dripped from her brow. “She is too strong. I cannot,” she said through effort, turning to the sultry elf who did not look amused by the situation. “She is Light Elf. She is too difficult to charm.”
“Darkor was able to,” another voice spoke up. It came from the female Dark Elf she saw in the abandoned shack, who put her to sleep with enchanted dust.
The Dark Elf in the shimmering dress, who looked to be their mistress, turned to the Dark Elf from the shack, her anger instantly rising. “I should kill that orc. Give him fifty more lashes.”
“At once, Madam Zaya.” The crossbow-wielding elf bowed to the madam with a wide smile on her face, looking like she was going to enjoy it.
Madam Zaya turned to the charm mage. “And you,” she said as she towered over her. “You’d better practice your spell for tonight’s auction. You only have one elf left to charm. If you can’t do that, it will be your head after the orc’s.”
The young mage trembled as she bowed. “Y…yes, Madam Zaya. I promise, I will…”
Madam Zaya turned to leave before the mage got to finish stuttering out the rest of her words. Her full hips swayed wildly as she walked on pointed heels with the young charm mage scurrying close behind. The door shut and locked behind them.
Aelrie fought against her restraints but stopped when she noticed she wasn’t alone in the room. She jerked her head toward a Dark Elf girl in the corner.
“Don’t hurt yourself,” the girl said and rushed to her. “I can help free you.”
She watched the Dark Elf carefully as she undid the soft ropes tying her arms to the chair. When she was free, she shot up and pressed her to the wall, arm across her neck.
“What are you going to do with me?” she demanded.
The girl didn’t answer, so Aelrie tried again. “Who are you?”
She was choking; she couldn’t breathe. Aelrie let go, and the Dark Elf collapsed to the floor. She watched and waited as the girl took a moment to catch her breath and stand up.
“I’m sorry,” Aelrie said. “I hurt you.” She was surprised and scared. She did not mean to take it out on this Dark Elf who helped free her.
“No,” the girl replied with one last cough, waving her hand. “You have reason to be angry. If I had known what this place was, what they did, I would have never come.”
“What is this place?” Aelrie asked as she tried the door and windows. They were all bolted down or locked tight. The golden beads and chains dripping from her outfit clinked and clanked in a delicate jingling sound as she walked .
She looked over at the Dark Elf dressed in loose black pants with slits all the way down the sides and a top that showed off her entire midriff. She was draped in similar silver beads and chains and wore a black veil on the back of her head that covered part of her luscious white hair.
Aelrie noticed her own outfit in an adjacent mirror.
It was red with a long, slinky skirt on a golden chain that sat low on her hips and was nothing but two pieces of fabric between her front and back that left her legs entirely bare.
Thankfully, she had undergarments on, though they left little to the imagination.
She also wore a midriff-baring top like the Dark Elf.
Her flesh, exposed to the still air, made her feel vulnerable.
But she had bigger things to worry about now than modesty.
They were both dressed as slave dancing girls, and she feared that this wasn’t far from the situation they found themselves in now.
“It’s what you think it is,” the Dark Elf answered. “An auction house for maidens. A brothel.”
Aelrie’s mouth hung open. Fragmented memories and unknown faces flashed through her mind.
She was charmed by the mage, Darkor, who was now dead.
She remembered that part. She also remembered being put to sleep with sleeping dust, but that was it.
She had no idea how she got here or what happened after.
“What did they do to me?” Her bottom lip trembled as she hoped and prayed against the fears growing in her mind. “Was I? Did someone?”
The Dark Elf rushed to her and gave her a hug.
The warmth of the gesture quieted the panic creeping up on her.
“Do not worry,” the girl told her as she broke from the hug.
“You were not harmed. Your innocence was not taken.” The Dark Elf then looked down, unable to meet her searching eyes. “Not yet.”
“Not yet?” Aelrie’s voice eked out.
The girl looked sad and perhaps even a little ashamed. “They plan to auction you off to the highest bidder, and the prize is your maidenhood.”
“Without my consent!” Beyond horrified, she scrambled for meaning. Why would they do this? How could any elf do this to another?
“That’s … why they needed a charmer,” the Dark Elf replied, biting her bottom lip.
To charm her into submission. To force her to have sex with another elf without her consent. To sell her maidenhood as if it were theirs to profit from. The evilness of it struck her to the bone.
“How did I get here?” she asked, trying to fit the missing pieces together. “What happened?”
“You came in yesterday morning, charmed by that mage who is now dead. Darkor, I think that was his name. He then took off with you. You came back late in the night. But don’t worry. That charmer didn’t harm you. They said you weren’t violated and remained ‘untouched.’”
“How could they know that?”
“They did not touch you,” the girl said and waved her hand to swat away Aelrie’s racing mind, firing off the worst-case scenarios. “It was merely a truth spell. Truth spells only work best when one is put under sleep and can tell the truth one does and does not see.”
A truth spell. That must be a Dark Elf spell from manipulation magic.
Aelrie pressed her lips together firmly and nodded her head. Relief came to her, and she released a breath she’d been holding. “And after that?”
“They kept you under the sleep spell because the charm spell wouldn’t work on you. They had to find a new charmer.”
Well, at least she had a good idea of what had happened and why she was here. Now, she had to find a way out of this. “How about you?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”
“I stayed. There were other girls here. They were charmed like you. But they escaped after the charm ended, maybe after that charmer died.”
“Why did you stay, especially if you knew what was going to happen?”
“I,” the Dark Elf started, then paused. “It was stupid, really stupid of me, at least that’s what she would say ... But I needed information. The kind of information only Madam Zaya could give me. The price was agreeing to the auction.”
Aelrie sighed as she scrutinized the Dark Elf.
How could this girl be so na?ve? Maybe the information she sought was crucial for her, but as she studied her face, she only saw a young elf unsure of herself and the decisions she’d made.
And that youthful face was as inexperienced to the world as it was beautiful with large red eyes, dark gray skin nearly black, and tiny white dots across her nose and cheeks that looked like stars on a cloudless night.
She realized these were Dark Elf freckles. How cute.
Staying in this place and not escaping with the others wasn’t very smart of her. But Aelrie could not judge her as she had made her own bad decisions, especially as of late. “We need to get out of here before that auction,” she told her.
“But how? The door is locked.”
Aelrie’s light brown hair was past her waist and naturally straight, and perhaps, because of this, they had styled her hair down and placed a plain golden circlet on her head.
She grew impatient and took a hair tie from the vanity and put her hair up in her usual high ponytail.
She thought better when her hair was up.
“How did the others escape when they broke from the charm spell?”
“They come up twice a day, once for bathing and once for a meal. Last night, the charm broke during the bath, not long after you were taken. The other girls attacked the chambermaids, who were weak and did not fight back. They were able to escape because the guards were gone, chasing after that charmer who took you.”
“How many guards are there?”
The Dark Elf thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. I’ve seen three, but there may be more.”
Armed guards. One was killed by the charm mage Darkor. She witnessed that the night he kidnapped her. But there was still a male orc and a female Dark Elf. She had no weapons, and going against an orc in combat was difficult enough. Also, she couldn’t count on them being the only two guards left .