Elwen the Conquered

“Get up!” A gruff voice demanded them as he slammed open the door.

“Wha?” Elwen let out a surprised gasp as she watched a group of men in black uniforms stream through the door. Her mind was numb from being waken up so suddenly, but she still managed to throw her feet over the edge of the bed and stumble onto her feet. Her legs were rather unstable and she tipped forward, but she caught herself before she fell over.

The other girls in the room weren't doing any better than her. Yusha fell off the side of her bed, crashing loudly into the floor, and Skye was under the impression that they were under attack, so she tried to start fighting the men. She wasn't able to do much other than give one a black eye before one of the enforcers stuck her with a stick and another tackled her.

“Make a line!” The first man demanded. Now that Elwen could see a little clearer, she recognized that he was wearing the uniform of a supervisor. However, he wasn't the supervisor of their building, and she didn't recognize him. The other men were clearly enforcers, wearing simpler uniforms and armor.

One of the enforcers grabbed her and pushed her towards the center of the room. The other enforcers were doing the same to the other people in the room, and within seconds they were all gathered there. The supervisor repeated himself, something that he clearly didn't want to do, yelling even louder. That seemed to wake everyone up enough as they quickly formed the line he wanted.

The enforcer surrounded them, with a line in front of the and a group behind them. “Get them ready, and be quick about it. We don't have much time.” The supervisor commanded his men.

The men in front of them didn't move, but she heard rustling as the group of enforcers behind her worked. When she looked back to see what they were doing, one of the men in front of her hit her with his baton, sending a shock through her. “Stay still.” He told her. She complied, not wanting to be shocked again. Still, it made her nervous, not knowing what the men behind her were doing.

She soon found out as someone grabbed her wrists and pulled them behind her, locking them into a pair of cold handcuffs. Then, he shoved a black ball into her mouth, securing it there using a pair of straps that connected behind her head. She wanted it out, but she couldn't get rid of it and could only grunt and moan to express her discomfort. Next, a heavy set of shackles were placed around her ankles, with a chain connecting them, just slightly shorter than her natural stride would require. After that, her collar was replaced with a thicker metal one, much heavier and cumbersome that her previous one. It was similar to the one she had worn when she was traveling here. Still, she knew it wasn't the same as it felt different, like it was thicker and looser. Finally, the man grabbed her and turned her to face the girl beside her, before connecting their collars, and the man working on the girl behind her did the same once he was ready.

Soon, they were all connected into a neat line, thoroughly unable to resist as they were pulled forward and out the door. They were led down the stair, which was quite hard considering that they had to go down at the same rate or risk pulling each other, and out of the building. They were marked to the castle-like fortress, where a series of cage-wagons were waiting for them...

Varian stepped out of the Guild with Reia. They finished a simple hunt and collect quest in the morning, passing the time until the main event of the day. It didn't pay much, being something that even beginning adventurers could finish, but he didn't want to take a quest that would be a large time commitment.

Reia found a number of potential buyers for their remaining artifacts over the course of the week, and Varian decided to sell half of them to them. He put up the other half for auction, betting that they would bring in more money that way. In truth, he could have done that with all of the artifacts, but he wanted some security in case things didn't work out. He did manage to get all the money he needed to buy Elwen back, though, so he didn't need to worry about not making enough. But more money was always better.

They went to the auction house, intent on watching the proceedings. While Varian wasn't too interested, Reia wanted to see the rare and exotic items that they would be selling. It was a form of entertainment, he supposed, which the city was sorely lacking.

The atmosphere of the auction house was interesting as well, it seemed that they focused on hospitality to encourage their patrons to spend more money, particularly from their VIP guests who got their own rooms. Of course, they didn't qualify to claim one of those rooms, so they were stuck in the common area. But entertainment wasn't their only reasons for coming here, they also had an important appointment later...

Elwen tipped forward as the wagon came to a sudden halt. She didn't know where they were as they covered the wagon with a tarp just before the left, but she knew that they were in a city, or at least a place with a lot of people. She could hear the noise of the city, just like back home.

It was a short ride, so short that the enforcers didn't bother to disconnect their collars, so they were still stuck together, forced to huddle in a small group. They did separate them into two wagons, though, so there were only six of them in her wagon. Or perhaps they would care even if it was longer, and they were just lucky that it was so short.

Someone pulled the tarp back, but it wasn't one of the guards. Instead, it was a grey-skinned man in a fancy suit. He had four short horns poking up from his hair. He reminded her of the merchant Varian and her had met, but he was distinctly different as well.

“Good.” He said, “I think these will do nicely. Put them in the prep room and we'll pull them out as we need to. And be quick about it. We're starting soon, and we can't run out of items” The nicely-dressed man then walked away, leaving her view before she could see where he was going.

“Of course. We'll get them out and over there as quick as we can.” a woman responded. She was another supervisor, but she wore a slightly different uniform, styled to be more formal. The supervisor who commanded the group of enforcers who woke them up walked up to her, standing at her side as the man left.

“Fucking assholes.” He commented.

The woman gave him side-eye, reprimanding him for his carelessness, even if she did agree. “You have to be more careful. I don't want to have to smooth things over if someone overheard you.”

“What, you don't think they are?” The man argued.

The woman let out a sigh, feeling exhausted dealing with both him and their client. “I understand that the new schedule made things difficult for you, but you can't go around ruining our relationships just because you don't like it.”

“They moved up the auction three weeks! And they barely gave us a day's notice!” The man seethed through his teeth, “We didn't finish the last phase of training, and we had no time for prep! What if something happens and the buyer complains? It'll ruin our reputation!”

The woman pursed her lips, like she just took a bite of something sour, “We'll just have to hope your training was thorough enough, and nothing happens.”

'Auction?' Elwen thought. Fear came shooting through her as she realized that they were going to be sold. But she wasn't supposed to be sold, they had an agreement! Varian was supposed to come for her! She had to tell, them, there must have been some kind of mistake!

She tore at the cuffs around her, trying to get them off. She clawed at her collar, trying to separate herself from the others. She bit at the gag, trying to get it out of her mouth. All to let them know that she wasn't supposed to be here, she was waiting for someone. All for nothing, as she could even hope to get out by herself.

Her eyes began to let out tears as she realized that there was nothing she could do. She couldn't stop them as they opened the door and pulled them out. She couldn't stop them when they marched them through the empty hallways. She couldn't stop them as they split them up and shoved them into small cages.

All she could do was wait, listening to the loud, muffled voice of the auctioneer and the quiet whimpering of the others around her. Many of them, too, were scared. Their future would be determined in a few moments, whether they went to a kind master who appreciated their skills and hard work, or a cruel master that merely saw them as property.

They were in a large room filled with crates and boxes. People wearing vests and masks came into the room frequently, grabbing one of the boxes before disappearing behind a curtain that stretched across the room like a wall. The voice came from that direction, and she assumed that, behind the curtain, was a stage where they would be put on display and sold to the highest bidder. This wasn't what she wanted! This was... horrible!

One of the workers came and took someone out of a cage. She didn't recognize her; she must have been in a different group. A few minutes later, another worker came and took another. Elwen started shaking, realizing that she was almost out of time. One by one, they came, and one by one the cages were slowly emptied. Skye, Yuna, she even saw Evelyn and Lydia be taken. And soon, all of the cages were empty. A masked man came, and she knew it was for her. She was out of time. It was her turn. Varian wasn't coming to save her.

The man opened the cage door and grabbed the free end of her chain, pulling her up and out. She reluctantly followed him towards the edge of the curtain, dragging her feet as much as she could. When she fell to far behind him, he tugged on the leash harder, forcing her stumbling forward. They passed through a door just behind the curtain, heading down a long hallway. She was surprised that he didn't take her to the stage to be sold, which was what she thought he would take her. Dread filled her as she realized that he wasn't, which could only mean one thing: She had already been sold.

Each step felt like she was coming closer to her doom. Her knees wobbled as they stopped next to a door, the masked man sharply knocking against it before he opened it. She didn't want to go in, she didn't want to face whoever had stolen her future from her, but the man didn't let her, pulling her through.

She froze as her eyes met the one waiting for her. But instead of a horrible monster, instead a pair of beautiful crimson eyes kindly gazed at her.

'Varian!' She ran to him, throwing herself into his arms. She felt them wrap around her, bringing her into his warm embrace. She cried for the second time today, but now they weren't not tears of sorrow, but instead of joy.