Diamond Elf - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Gabriel waited until he was certain his master was asleep, and then he used his bound hands to push the blindfold off his eyes. His hands throbbed, but there wasn’t much he could do about that at the moment. He located the prisoner, and wondered how he could manage to free him with his hands firmly tied together.

He tried to sit up, and found he didn’t have the strength, so he crawled to his only hope of escape. As he reached the colonel’s feet, one of them wiggled slightly, and Gabriel decided to look inside his boot. If he could have, he would have shouted in triumph at the discovery of a dagger in the boot!

Gabriel continued crawling. The only way this might work was if he could free the Colonel’s hands before his strength gave out. Hopefully the colonel would be able to take over from there.

A closer inspection taught Gabriel that the colonel was wrapped from nearly neck to foot by a long, thick rope, and the whole thing had just one knot holding it together. Therefore, if he could cut the rope near the knot, it would be a relatively simple matter to unwrap him.

Gabriel had no choice; he had to muster the energy to sit up. He had to find the strength to saw through the rope, and he prayed that the knife was sharp enough to make the task as easy as possible. He whimpered as his bound hands pushed his body a few inches off the ground. He twisted his torso to place his weight on a hip rather than his hands, and slowly pushed himself upright.

Several long minutes later, Gabriel had the knife sawing through the rope, and almost cried tears of relief when it proved to be sharp enough to slice through several strands at a time as if they were butter. Once done, he tried to unwrap the rope, and swayed with pain and exhaustion. Only a few rounds were uncoiled when Gabriel collapsed.

Randy looked at Gabriel, and determined that it was a miracle the man had lasted this long. He was much thinner than the last time he had seen him, and looked as if this was not the first night of abuse he had suffered. He shifted until he was lying down, and rolled around the room until his hands were free. He was able to unwrap himself after that, and kept an eye on Gabriel as he did so.

Gabriel was so faint that he saw stars, and the room spun if he opened his eyes. He panted quietly, and wondered how he was going to find the strength to escape. He wondered if he would be in any better condition if he had eaten properly those few days after Chelindra had left. As it was, he hadn’t had much for actual sustenance in over a week.

Randy finally finished extracting himself from the rope, pulled the gag out of his mouth, and rushed to examine Gabriel. His first task was to take back his dagger and slice through the binding on Gabriel’s hands. Next, he took pity on the abused man, and carefully sliced through the ring keeping Gabriel’s penis painfully engorged. Lastly, he found some food and water left on the table. It wasn’t much, scraps of bread, cheese, and meat, but it was better than nothing, and Randy sensed that Gabriel needed food more than anything at the moment.

Randy had no idea how they were going to escape with Gabriel in such bad shape. Hopefully, the food and water would give him strength.

Gabriel swallowed until his throat was no longer dry, and whispered. “Where is Chelindra?” He figured that this must be part of some plan to rescue him.

“Camp gossip is that you ran away with Candace, and so I doubt Chelindra even knows where we are, though she may have heard that I was captured by now,” Randy informed him.

Gabriel was hurt that Chelindra believed he was capable of running away, but couldn’t blame her for giving him the freedom to do so. “They took both of us, then raped Candace to death… Even with this food, I don’t think I can walk.”

Randy knew he was right, and sighed gravely. “Will he kill you when he discovers you’ve let me go?”

“I don’t know. He has hinted that he is taking me to the Emperor, and that He would prefer me alive… I think not,” Gabriel tried to shrug.

“Chelindra may kill me when I tell her that I left you like this, but I will tell her, and then she will probably walk through hell itself to get you back,” Randy stated.

Gabriel merely nodded, and a powerful urge to sleep descended on him. “Tell Chelindra that I love her.”

He exhaled loudly, and Randy had to check to be sure he was still breathing. He sincerely hoped that Gabriel would not have nightmares, and forced himself to escape before their captor’s snores stopped.

*******

Chelindra could only mope in her tent for one day before her urge to defeat the enemy returned, and she left her Third in Command in charge of their main base while she went to join her unit occupying the field in enemy territory.

She arrived at their field camp the next day, and immediately held a status meeting. She was pleased to learn that her senior officers had carried out her orders of setting up traps. They all wanted to know how she had such detailed knowledge of the enemy territory. She waved aside their question.

“With any luck, Colonel Randy should be back today or tomorrow, and if he has been successful, we shall march forward! We shall give the Emperor no room to invade us any more!” Chelindra declared.

Her officers cheered, and immediately suggested that they form parties to raid nearby villages for supplies.

“Excellent idea,” Chelindra approved. “Only I don’t want you to harm anyone unless you absolutely have to. I want the people this close to the border to view us as better than the Emperor. I want them to know our King would not condone violence against them. In fact,” Chelindra grinned, “offer anyone who wants it the opportunity to relocate to our kingdom. I know that if we sent villagers to King Collin, he would grant them citizenship.”

Everyone agreed that this was an excellent plan, and left to complete their mission.

An hour later, Chelindra was just finishing up her paperwork when a few men rushed into camp shouting, “We have an urgent message for the General!”

She sighed, and set her work aside. She knew they would be in her tent in mere moments.

“General, the Colonel’s been captured!”

Once Chelindra had heard all the details, she roared, “Saddle up my horse!”

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