Elwen the Conquered

Elwen felt every bump in the road, even through the spring cushions she was sitting on. The carriage ride was actually pretty smooth most of the time, it was just this patch of the road that was especially bad. Most of the time, it was a comfortable ride. Comfortable, except that her hands were tied together, attached to a rope tied to Mary’s waist. Mary had gotten annoyed with having to hold the other end after half an hour or so, so she tied it to her belt. This was much more comfortable for Mary, but didn’t do anything for Elwen. Luckily, the rope was long enough that she wasn’t pulled around every time Mary shifted, but it was still awkward having her hands tied.

It was even more awkward because there was absolutely nothing for her to do. It was silent inside the carriage, Darrix had continued looking over various papers and books, which she assumed was him getting caught up on work, and Mary had pulled out a book after she got bored too. In short, the only other people in the carriage were busy, and she didn’t want to interrupt them, so all she could do was sit there and twiddle her thumbs. She had tried to sleep earlier, but she had fallen to the side, which pulled Mary along with her. Mary wasn’t happy with that, as she was getting to a good part in her book. Elwen felt guilty for interrupting her reading, so she promptly ceased her attempts, lest she fall asleep and to the side, again.

After a few hours of traveling, the carriage slowly came to a halt.

“It’s not time for dinner already, is it?” Mary asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

Darrix took out a pocket watch, checking the time. “No. Not yet.” He responded. One of the guards rode up to the window and knocked on the door. Darrix opened the window in response. “What is it? Why have we stopped?”

“A messenger brought a letter.” The guard handed him a brown envelope. Elwen could no longer tell which guard he was, as he was wearing a helmet. Darrix took the envelope and opened it. It seemed to be a short message, as he was only reading for a few seconds before he crumpled it up.

“Mary, we’ve got to go back. That idiot mayor of Karlston is causing problems, again.” He practically spat out.

“Is he trying to require us to join his merchant association again? I thought you convinced him that was a bad idea?” Mary asked, seemingly annoyed as well.

“No. Well, yes, but not through the city laws. He wants to charge a twenty percent tax on all business not conducted ‘with the approval of the city.’ I swear, if he makes one more little ploy like this I am just going to abandon the city.” Darrix seethed.

“What’s the plan this time?” Mary asked.

“We’ll go back there and tell the city council this is clearly in violation of their contract with us, and if they don’t make the mayor drop it we’ll collect on them for breaking it.”

“Isn’t that a little forceful?” Mary doubted, “We still need them to cooperate if we want to get the rights to the mine…”

“The mine doesn’t matter. There are plenty of veins in those mountains, we can easily find another one with a more cooperative partner.” Darrix declared, now with an unsettling smirk on him face rather than frustration.

“Wait! What’ll we do with Elwen? We’ll miss the ship if we go back now!”

“Hmm… We’ll have to send her separately.” Darri turned back to the guard. “Have two guards take the girl up to Westport. Everyone else is going with us to Karlston.”
“Yes, boss!” The guard saluted and rode away.

“Mary, prepare the documents for meeting with the council. And make sure the girl is ready too.” Darrix ordered.

“Of course, sir,” Mary responded, opening the door as she finished. “Well,” she asked, turning her attention to Elwen, “are you ready?”

“Um… ready for what?” Elwen asked.

“Well, Darrix and I have to head south, so two of our guards are going to take you to Westport,” Mary explained.

“I heard that part. But why would need to get ready?”

“Well, it’s a rather long walk, even if we’re most of the way there…” Mary’s voice trailed off as she finished.

“Huh?” Elwen blinked.

“What?”

“W-walk?”

“Yes?” Mary was now as confused as Elwen was.

“W-why can’t I just ride on one of the horses?” Elwen thought that would be how they continued.

“Huh?” Mary tilted her head, before smiling as she realized the source of Elwen’s confusion, “Right. All of our guards have [Riding] skills that require them to be the only ones on their horses. It causes issues if they have a passenger, so you’ll have to walk. But don’t worry! It should only be two hours or so.”

“Um… ah…” To be honest, Elwen never would have thought that she could even walk for that long before they came to this world, but that was proven wrong in the last few weeks. It was just that… “Can we take breaks?” Her stamina wasn’t very good. They had to stop briefly every hour or so or she would collapse.

“Hmm… I’ll have to ask whoever the captain picks to go… I’m sure it won’t be a problem.” Mary said as she checked Elwen over. “The ropes aren’t too uncomfortable, are they?”

“They’re scratchy,” Elwen frowned, “and it feels weird…”

“Well, they’re not supposed to be comfortable. You can still feel your fingers, right?” Mary asked. Elwen replied with a nod. Mary untied the knot around her waist and measured the extra rope. “We might need to get more… This seems a little short…” she muttered.

One of the guards, now walking after handing his horse off to one of his comrades to take care of, approached. “Ma’am. Scott and I will take the girl to Westport. We’re ready whenever you are.” He declared.

“Good. You decided quickly.” Mary stated, a little surprised. Usually, it would take them at least ten minutes to make a decision. Something about ‘making well-balanced teams’ and ‘not creating a blindspot.’ Annoying.

“We drew straws. Neither mission is dangerous enough to warrant too much thought.” He explained. “Ah!” He frantically shouted, “But don’t tell the Commander that!”

“Fine. I don’t really care what you do anyways.” Mary replied. “Do you think this enough?” She asked, showing him the length of the rope, “Or do you need more? I’m not sure if we have any extra.”

“Hmm…” the guard thought for a moment, “It might work, but… I’ll see if I can dig up a longer one.” And, after going back to the small huddle of guards who appeared to be playing rock-paper-scissors while secretly taking sips of something they quickly hid in their pouches and a short search of the packs on their horses, he returned with an extra length of rope Harry had hidden in his saddlebag. He swiftly retied Elwen’s hands, this time using the second rope to create the lead.

“It’s not too tight, is it?” Mary asked.

“It’s supposed to be tight!” The guard responded, a little angry that his work was being questioned. He didn’t get to do that all that often, but If the Commander learned that he couldn’t properly secure a prisoner—er, slave, in this case—he wouldn’t survive the next training rounds. So, of course, he was extra careful to make sure it was perfect. Even if he didn’t have a [Rope Tying] or [Binding] skill, he was confident that no one could get out of it without having someone help them.

“Umm…” Elwen worriedly hummed as her fingers started to turn red and feel tingly.

After Mary smacked him over the head, the guard quickly redid his work, being careful not to make it too tight, while still being secure enough. Then, he handed the other end to his colleague who rode up next to them while he was working.

“I’m sorry, dear, but Darrix and I have to go now But don’t worry! Scott and Gordan will take good care of you!” Mary waved from behind the half-opened window of the carriage.

A sharp tug pulled her forward before she could respond. “Oh. Sorry,” The guard with the other end of her rope apologized, “I was just trying to get the other end tied to the saddle.” He said as he finished tying it to an extra metal ring on the side of the saddle.

Elwen was annoyed that he was so careless but didn’t want to complain. She didn’t want to get them mad and lose any chance of getting breaks. She wasn’t sure if she would make it if she didn’t…

“Well, no sense in staying here. Let’s go!” Scott said and he lightly tapped the side of his horse and guided it down the road. Elwen’s feet quickly sputtered forward, following him. She didn’t want to get pulled forward again.

The next three hours passed rather slowly for Elwen. She was constantly trying to keep up with the steady march of the horses, even after the guards slowed their pace. She felt exhausted after the first hour and started to fall behind, keeping up only because of the tug on her hands keeping her moving. She felt like she would collapse multiple times, but every time that almost happened they would stop. Scott made her drink a nasty green liquid from a glass jar every time they stopped. She didn’t like whatever it was, but she had to admit that she felt better after drinking it. Unfortunately, the breaks weren’t very long, and her feet were hurting by the second hour. This didn’t slow them down though, and Elwen was happy to finally see the port city on the horizon.

However, once they got closer to the city, the relative silence of their journey was interrupted. “Gordan, can you get those ready? I think it’s about time to get them on.”

“Sure, boss.” He replied, “But they’re in your back left bag.”

“I thought you had them? Why are they in mine?” Scott asked.

“Nah. I’m carrying the rations. You have the extra equipment.” Gordan stated. Both riders slowed their horse until they came to a natural stop, before dismounting.

“Well, do you want to put them on her?” Scott asked, trying to push the work onto him.

“Why would I want to do it? I’m not a pervert like the captain.” Gordan bluntly stated.

“Well I don’t want to do it either!” Scott replied.

“You’re supposed to be in charge! Be a leader a do it yourself!” Gordan shouted.

“What’s the point in being a leader if I don’t get people to do the stuff I don’t want to do!” Scott shouted back. Their conversation quickly devolved into a mini-shouting match, before turning into another rock-paper-scissors match.

Elwen was rather confused about what they were talking about. They said something about putting something on her, but she had no idea what it could be. She already had her hands tied up, and they seemed to be happy with that so far, so she had no idea what they wanted to do. And by the sounds of it, it wasn’t something good, as neither of them wanted to do it.

Gordan let out an exclamation of joy at his victory, and Scott an annoyed grumble. Still, he fished something out of his bag and brought it to her. Only upon closer inspection could she see what they were. She still didn’t know what they were for though.

The first item was a simple black cloth, like a bandana. ‘Do they want to tie up my hair with that? But I already have a ponytail….’ She thought, having no idea what they wanted to do with it. The second item seemed to be a bit of wood with a thin cord tied to one side.

“Um… w-what are those for?” she asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

“They’re for you, obviously.” He stated, “Sorry. Company policy. Open wide.”