Elwen the Conquered

Elwen awoke to a sharp rapping on her door. Well, she was already mostly awake, shifting between awake and asleep for the past few hours. Although she couldn’t tell who was at the door, she assumed that it was Mary, as she had woken her up in the same way the past few days.

Elwen yawned as she sat up, still tired, even though she felt like she had slept in for hours. The boisterous laughing she could hear coming from the direction of the mess hall told her it was long past early morning.

She heard a click as the door unlocked and saw Mary peek through the door.

“Good morning!” She brightly called.

“Good morning, Mary!” Elwen returned her greeting, although she wasn’t quite able to muster the same energy behind it as Mary had.

“How are you feeling?” Mary asked.

“Uh… fine? A little tired, I guess.” Elwen replied.

“Oh good. There’s a little bit of a stomach bug going through. Although, that might just be the couriers trying to get out of work again. I swear, those guys will do anything to laze about.” Mary complained.

“Well anyways,” Mary clapped her hands together, “Are you excited for the big day?”

“Huh? Big day?” Elwen had no idea what she was talking about.

“Didn’t someone tell you? Darrix is done with his business here, so we’re moving on to Westport…” Mary’s explanation trailed off.

“Um… You’re the only one who talks to me…” Elwen quietly responded.

“Oh, right.” An awkward silence filled the room as Mary realized her mistake.

“Well anyways,” Mary explained, “We’re going to Westport. One of our ships will meet us there and take us to Blackport. The rest of the caravan is about to leave, but we have a couple of hours before we have to leave. Darrix is busy on some last-minute errands. Come on, let’s get you some breakfast!”

“Ok! What’s on the menu today?” Elwen asked as she got up.

“Oh, I think it’s plain oatmeal,” Mary said, holding a near-perfect poker face.

Elwen gave her a grumpy look.

“I got you!” Mary laughed, “I think the chefs were doing scrambled eggs today. I think the sides were hashbrowns, sausage, and toast. Oh! And they got some fresh apples from the market today, too!”

“Sounds good!” Elwen was much happier with that meal.

They sat down at a small table near the wall in the middle of the room. Elwen was confused, as when she had come here previously, they stood in line at the counter for their food.

“Because today is a special day, we came a little later. The chefs usually do table service during the later hours.” Mary explained.

Soon enough, one of the chefs came to take their order. Mary ordered for both of them, asking for extra eggs. Their food came quickly, and they dug in.

“That was delicious!” Elwen exclaimed.

“Yeah, the chefs really did a good job this time,” Mary replied. “Well, I think it’s time to start getting ready. Let’s go back to your room.”

The two took a short walk back to the room Elwen had been staying in.

“What here for a minute. I’ll be right back!” Mary said as she closed the door behind Elwen. A few minutes later, she came back, carrying a bucket of water and some handcloths.

“Alright, let’s get you cleaned up!” Mary happily sang.

 “Ugh.” Elwen groaned, “Can’t we go to the bath?” It was much better than using a towel to wipe oneself off with.

“We could,” Mary explained, “But everyone in the caravan also took a bath this morning. They haven’t had time to change the water yet, and because there were so many of them, they ended up using both of the baths.” The baths were similar to the eastern bathhouse style, where people would share one giant bath. However, they typically didn’t wash themselves off first like she remembered those bathhouses were supposed to work, so the water got dirty.

“Eh, Ok.” Even if the water was cold, it was better than soaking in other people’s filth.

A few minutes of scrubbing and washing later, they were finally finished and Elwen changed into her other set of clothes.

“Alright, I’m going to go take care of this,” Mary said, picking up the bucket and washcloths, “I’ll be right back!”

Mary came back shortly after carrying a small box.

“We just have a couple more things and we can set off.” She declared, sitting down on the bed. “Darrix seems to be taking forever at the mayor’s house, but his aide just came back, so he should be coming back soon, too.” She took out a piece of paper and pressed a few buttons on a little lock on the box while reading something from the price of paper. “Come on, it’s nothing scary. Sit.” She said, patting the bed next to her.

Elwen did so, curious about what was in the box. After Mary finished entering the code to unlock the box, the top popped open. Mary took the entire cover off, revealing several bracelets on the inside.

“It’s a good thing we had these in the storeroom,” Mary explained, “Company policy dictates that we have to minimize risks, and there are special requirements for transportation. Now, we have a lot of strong people going with us, so we can get around some of that, but your magic is too strong for us to just ignore. These bracelets will suppress it, so we don’t need to call for a special unit.”

“Oh, ok.” Elwen was a little confused as to why her magic was considered dangerous, in her opinion people like Varian were much more dangerous. She was also a little disappointed, as this meant she wouldn’t be able to practice any magic, at least in the short term. Still, she didn’t object when Mary snapped one around each of her wrists.

“Alright, that’s everything we need for now! The guards might want something else they want, but we’ll let them figure it out.” Mary declared.

After that, the two walked through the nearly-empty halls once more, this time heading to the back of the building, where a carriage was waiting for them.

Several men were standing around the carriage, clad in what she could only describe as knight’s armor. The only part of them that was exposed was their heads, as they didn’t have their helmets on yet. Elwen found it strange that they all seemed to have the same three or four haircuts. If you couldn’t see their faces, the only way to tell them apart was their hair color. They each had a sword hanging from their waist, along with several other accessories to which she could only guess the purpose.

“Ah, Mary. You’re finally here.” One of the guards spoke up upon seeing her, “Darrix’s back, so we were just waiting on you.” 

“Why didn’t anyone tell us? We’re not late, are we?” Mary started rushing, anxious that they were holding everyone up.

“No, he just got back. Had to run something inside, should just be a couple of minutes.” The guard responded. He glanced over at Elwen. “John’s in charge. Talk to him about what we’re going to do with the girl. He should be around here somewhere… I just saw him a minute ago…”

Just then, another guard stepped out from behind the carriage. He wore similar armor to the rest of the guards, except his was a little more embellished. He had green eyes and red hair, a color she hadn’t seen among any of the other guards. “Did I hear someone calling? I swear, it better be… Ah! Mary! Good, you’re here.” The man spotted them and quickly walked towards them. “This the girl? Wait, why isn’t she ready? Mary, weren’t you supposed to take care of her?”

“Didn’t you read the papers I sent you? And you’re the one in charge of security! She’s supposed to be your responsibility!” Mary was annoyed that he clearly hadn’t read the notes she had sent him.

“Oh, right. The papers.” The guard captain remembered. “Scott. Distract her.”

Mary’s annoyed expression turned to anger.

“So, nice weather we’re having.” The first guard started talking.

“Be quiet,” Mary glared at the guard.

“Yes, Ma’am.” The guard decided her orders overrode his captain’s.

Her glare immediately turned to the captain, who started sweating seeing that his plan failed. Mary decided to quietly let him finish reading, but her eyes told him that he would not be getting away unscathed.

“Ahem.” The captain finished reading Mary’s notes, “Yeah, I don’t see anything we need to be concerned about, other than the magic. But you already have the magic bracelets, so I don’t think that’s an issue. Heck, I don’t think it would be an issue without them. She doesn’t have enough physical stats to pose a threat, and I don’t think we’ll have any issues with her running away. Reg could probably catch her.”

“Hey! Are you calling me fat!” A bear-like man complained, overhearing the captain as he was carrying a crate to the carriage.

“No, I’m calling you slow.” The captain responded, “Your size has nothing to do with it.” He rolled up the notes and stuck them into a little bag on his belt. “Still, I don’t think we can do nothing.”

“Why not? You said it yourself, she doesn’t pose a risk to anyone.” Mary complained.

“Well, I mean,” The captain scratched his chin, “We’ve never had a slave that can just… y’know, wander around. Usually, we have them restrained or secured so they’re not a problem, but this would be… I don’t know, weird? It just feels weird not to have her under control.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Another guard with black hair and a goatee popped up next to the captain, “You always gotta be careful, man! You never know when their gonna sneak cucumbers into your soup, or put little rocks into your shoes! Or, like, stab you while you’re taking a shower, man! That’s how they got Jeffries, man!”

“Who’s they? And we don’t know a Jeffries.” The captain retorted. “But yeah. Harry’s got a point. We can’t have her free to do what she wants.”

“So what do you want to do about it?” Mary asked.

“Well…” The captain thought through a couple of possible options.

“Why don’t we just tie her up and have her on a lead, or something?” Scott proposed, “Sure, we’d lose a man, but it’s not like we’re in a dangerous area anyway.”

“Good idea!” The captain agreed. “Harry, you still got that extra rope?”

Harry handed him a bundle of thin rope, grumbling something about not having something to detect gremlin attacks anymore.

“Hold out your hands, this’ll take just a second!” The captain said.

Elwen did as she was told. Blinking, she noticed her hands were firmly tied together, with the excess rope leading from the center of the knot to the captain’s hands.

“Here you go, Mary!” He said, handing the rope to her, “Now we have her secured and we don’t lose a man!”

“Wow, captain! How did you do that so fast!” Scott exclaimed.

“Heh heh. It’s all that practice from tying my girl up every night.” The captain’s smug face instantly paled as he realized what he said. “My Horse!” He shouted, “From tying up my horse!”

“Oh,” Mary’s face instantly formed a concerned expression, “It looks like I have to have a little talk with Sarah next time I see her…”

“Please don’t. I’ll do anything.” The captain begged.

“Well, anyways. I think it’s time for Elwen and I to get in the carriage. See, Darrix just came out!” Mary declared, pointing at the door behind the captain.

“Huh? It’s time to go?” The captain briefly looked over his shoulder, before swiveling back as he heard the carriage door opening. “No! Wait!” the guard cried. He tried to say something else, but the door slammed shut before he could.

Mary let out a content sigh from terrorizing the man, getting her just vengeance for his rude lapse in judgment regarding her notes.

“Are you done?” Elwen heard from the other side of the carriage, spooking her.

“Yes, everything is taken care of,” Mary responded to Darrix, who was waiting in the carriage the entire time.

“I hope we didn’t keep you waiting?” Mary softly inquired.

Elwen could feel Darrix’s eyes pierce through her at Mary’s question.

“A merchant is always patient when there is money involved. And that man… I smelled the potential for good business on him.” With that, the merchant returned to reading whatever report he was analyzing when they stepped into the carriage. Two taps on the wall sent the carriage moving forward, and the guards scurrying to get on their horses to follow.