Thalien

One of Thalien\'s captors was an exceptionally burly human, his shoulders easily twice as wide as Thalien\'s. He was the one who had placed the hand over Thalien\'s mouth and so easily pulled him into the side room. The other was a smaller, smarter-looking human with soft features and hard, cold eyes. He was actually a bit shorter than Thalien himself, but had the more powerful build most human warriors did. Both humans were dressed in a fashion similar to Valenn\'s, wearing embroidered capes, flashy tunics, and expensive leather belts.

The smaller of the humans wagged his finger in Thalien\'s face in a chiding way. “Bad, naughty long-ears. What were you doing sneaking around here?” Thalien of course did not comprehend the question, and even if he had, the larger human still had his hand clamped over his mouth. Still, he could tell that he was being mocked.

The larger human\'s voice was like a rumbling in Thalien\'s ears. “Valenn will know.”

Thalien could understand that well enough, just from the mention of Valenn\'s name. He tried not to visibly panic; Valenn had been harsh enough with him even when he\'d been an ideal slave. The idea of being punished by Valenn was horrible.

“Valenn already has one to play with,” the small human pouted. “Why should he get all the action?”

“Business first,” the large one said. He began to move toward another doorway that was hidden in the shadows of the candlelit room. It turned out to be the entrance to a short hallway that lead back into the room where Valenn was having his way with Eleth. Valenn\'s expression had become savage as he fucked Eleth\'s upturned ass, his strokes so deep and hard that Eleth\'s entire body trembled under the force of them.

Eleth was screaming and crying, shifting back and forth between Human and Elven speech as he did. “I\'m sorry! Please! {It\'s too much, I can\'t--} Mercy! Mercy!”

Valenn ignored his cries and continued, his breath starting to come hard and rough. He slammed his hand down on Eleth\'s buttocks, twice, with enough force to leave an angry red glow to his skin. He sank himself in Eleth to the hilt for his last thrust, took a final breath, and then pulled himself free of Eleth\'s body. His hips shuddered, his cock trembled, and then he spilled his seed onto Eleth\'s bare back. The semen trickled down along his spine to slide over his shoulders and into the back of Eleth\'s roughly cropped hair.

“Beautiful!” the small human clapped as he entered the room, moving ahead of his large friend and Thalien.

Valenn glowered blackly as he adjusted himself and closed up his trousers. “I always knew you were a faggot, Dell.”

“Oh? And you\'re not?” Dell replied. He arched and eyebrow and gestured at Eleth, still trembling at Valenn\'s feet.
Valenn smirked and prodded Eleth contemptuously with his boot\'s metal toe. “That\'s a bitch, Dell, not a man.” He then stood and got his first good look at Dell\'s companion, still holding Thalien easily in his arms.

Dell gestured back at them. “We were wondering if you\'d know who this was?”

“That is Thalien,” Valenn growled, striding toward him. Thalien forced all his will on not trying to recoil from Valenn\'s hand as it reached up to take a handful of his hair. “He belongs to Father. What are you doing with him?”

“Sarks caught him trying to sneak out of your apartments,” Dell said. “What do you think?”

“Drop him,” Valenn commanded. Sarks complied, letting Thalien fall to his knees. He glanced up just in time to receive a stiff backhand from Valenn. Thalien crumpled to the ground in pain.

Then Valenn turned back to Eleth and barked a command. “Ask him what he was doing here.”

Eleth pushed himself wearily off the ground, his voice raw from screaming before. {Thalien, why?}

Terror was a cold claw twisting Thalien\'s stomach, making his words frantic. {Tell him I lost my way in the dark and did not realize where I was. I tried to leave quietly when I realized I had trespassed.}

“He lost his way in the dark, master. He tried to sneak away so he would not be punished,” Eleth repeated to Valenn in Human.

Sarks snorted. “Likely.”

The beginnings of a wicked smile crossed Valenn\'s lips. “Lying and sneaking around. Thalien wants it bad tonight.”

“Do we need to get rid of him?” Dell asked.

“No.” Valenn\'s voice was firm. “Thalien\'s lying, but he\'s too worthless to be up to anything serious. We\'d have the old man all over us if we tried, anyway?”

Dell sighed in disappointment. “So not even any fun with him?”

“Fun? Have all the fun you want.” Contempt crept into Valenn\'s voice. “The old man doesn\'t give a damn about that, so long as you don\'t break him.”

“What about yours?” Sarks asked, as he eyed Eleth\'s body.

Valenn spent a minute thinking that over, his eyes cold. “... hmph. I guess so, but don\'t break him either. He\'s staying with me, and I have plans.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and began walking toward the side exit, into the main hallway. “But let\'s talk before you get started... make some decisions.”

“Business first,” Sarks grinned.

Dell went over to one of the side tables and pulled out another blindfold and set of leather shackles. Thalien\'s world went dark as Dell tied the blindfold on him. Sarks then pushed him down into a position similar to Eleth\'s, on his knees with his ass thrust high into the air. The shackles were secured around his wrists, and the leather strap tied into another metal ring in the floor.

Sarks rumbled with approval as he stood up, gazing down at the two captive elves. “Be good boys, now, we\'ll be right back,” Dell added cheerfully. Then they, too, followed Valenn out of the room and into somewhere else in the building.

Thalien waited a long time before he dared to speak, and then his voice was barely above a whisper. {Eleth, I am... so sorry.}

{You\'ve done no wrong, Thalien.} Eleth murmured. {Who sent you here? Senneth?}

{Senneth?} Thalien could not help but sound surprised. {No, not at all. I came here... well. I came here because I wanted to ask you something.}

Eleth\'s voice suggested that this was the last thing he expected to hear, but he also sounded relieved. {Oh... of course. Really, is that all?} Eleth sounded as if he was trying not to laugh.

{Well, this wasn\'t supposed to happen.} Thalien felt strangely flustered.

{It\'s alright.} Eleth sounded less tired for a moment. {Here, ask me your question when it\'s over. They\'ll have to send us away to clean ourselves.}

It was a high price to pay, but Thalien had no choice but to go along with it now. {Of course. One more thing, Eleth... why are you here? I can tell it\'s not just Valenn amusing himself.}

Eleth\'s voice became grave. {No, it\'s not. But if you don\'t know... Thalien, you\'re better off not knowing. Just let Senneth know what\'s happened to me}

{What\'s going to happen to you?} Thalien asked.

{Valenn is adding me to his harem,} Eleth whispered. {I\'ll be cut off from the kitchens and the others... you probably aren\'t going to see me again after this, Thalien.}

For Thalien it was like hearing about a death sentence. He could imagine no fate more unpleasant than to be a private slave of Valenn\'s. Thalien had thought his heart had entirely hardened over the past year, but for some reason Eleth\'s fate seemed ready to break it in half. He could say nothing else.