Diamond Elf - Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Chelindra raced to the spot where Randy had been captured, and once there, followed the trail his captors left. The trail led to a well-used road, and Chelindra had no choice but to follow it and hope it would bring her to where she needed to be. The road seemed to be leading towards the Imperial Palace, and it made sense that such a high-ranking enemy officer would be brought before the Emperor.

I cannot lose my best friend too!

Having chosen a horse with both speed and stamina had allowed her to travel in one day what had probably taken the men she tracked about 3 days. At this rate she might be able to catch up with them before they reached the Imperial city. Her chances of finding and rescuing Randy were almost nonexistent if they reached the Imperial City before she found them. At least the Emperor might try to ransom King Collin’s second highest-ranking officer.

I simply cannot lose him!

She allowed her horse to rest for a few hours after the sun set, but continued long before it considered rising again. She reached a small city shortly after dawn. This city had to be at least a day from the Imperial Palace.

Chelindra wandered around using her ears to detect even the smallest whispers in the city. Surely someone would mention a group of men traveling with a prisoner. The city was just waking up, and she was glad she was wearing unremarkable clothing so as to not attract attention.

“This is inexcusable!” A roar easily reached her ears. “How can he have just walked out of here with no one stopping him?”

“None of my men standing watch saw him, and there was nothing to indicate the prisoner being kept in your room was not actually where he was supposed to be!”

“Watch your tongue, Ando, or I’ll see to it that the Emperor thinks this was your fault!”

Chelindra knew that voice; it belonged to someone she had captured a few years ago, and was still waiting for the Emperor to pay ransom for. What’s he doing here?

“Are you really so certain that the Emperor will believe you when all of my men will testify to the fact that you kept the enemy officer in your room?”

The other man was quiet for a moment, then sighed unhappily. “Fine, perhaps it is best we do not even mention that we had the enemy Colonel. The Emperor can’t blame us for loosing him if he never finds out we had him.”

Chelindra ran back out of town. If Randy had escaped during the night, she might be able to find him if she searched the surrounding area.

*******

“You are very lucky that I am too impatient to return to my lover,” John the sadist informed Gabriel. “If I were not so impatient, I would devise a long and painful punishment for helping the prisoner escape. I am mystified as to why you did not escape as well.”

Gabriel lacked the capability to speak at the moment, and did not bother to try. He tried to watch his master through eyes that would not focus.

His master sighed in disgust. “Bah! By the look of you, he probably tricked you into helping him, and then abandoned you the moment he realized that you were too pathetic too bother returning the favor. Perhaps I had better get you to the Emperor before I accidentally kill you, though I have no idea why he even knows your name,” he sneered.

Gabriel swayed, and shut his eyes against the spinning room.

“He specifically asked me to check up on you many times over the years, but don’t flatter yourself into believing that he cares for you one ounce. I believe that he only remembered you in passing as he sent me to spy on your master. It seems your duties as General Grey’s slave interested the Emperor, and I’ll bet he wanted to demand you as a prize if the General ever failed in his duty. I am going to give the Emperor his prize,” the sadist vowed.

Gabriel was just coherent enough to feel a bit of pride that he carried out his duties well enough to interest the Emperor. He felt hot, and sincerely wished the room would hold still. It felt like he blinked, but the next thing he knew, he was in a carriage the movement of which made him nauseous.

It really was no surprise that his master was sodomizing him again, since Gabriel couldn’t think of any other reason he would be allowed to ride in a carriage. Gabriel was beyond feeling pain from the rough using of his body, and was grateful when his head banged into the wall of the carriage and he passed out again.

“Are you awake?” A woman asked him.

Gabriel cracked open one eye just enough to look around. He was in a small room with a woman he did not know, and there was no sign of his master. He opened both eyes and focused on the woman.

“So you are awake. I’m glad. I’m Alyda, assistant to the Imperial Healer. For a while there, we thought you were going to die, but not for nothing is my Lady the Imperial Healer. She must have had her hands on you for at least an hour, but now you’re better. You’re just lucky the Emperor decided you were worth sending to us; not just anyone can afford the services of my Lady.”

Gabriel blinked, and was grateful that he wasn’t in any pain, and better yet, the room wasn’t spinning. He didn’t dare move and risk his body remembering how much pain he was supposed to be in.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t told your name,” Alyda stated suggestively.

“Gabriel,” he whispered, expecting his throat to be raw.

“Wonderful to meet you Gabriel! Would you like something to eat? You must be starving, you look positively emaciated.”

Gabriel did not feel hunger or thirst, but he knew he must need to eat something. After all, he hadn’t eaten since the night he was captured, and not much in the days prior to that. “Yes please.”

“You poor poor thing!” Alyda nearly clucked like a mother hen as she transferred a little bit of stew from a pot over a candle to a bowl. “Do you remember what happened to you?”

“Yes…” Gabriel answered hesitantly.

“I hope whoever is responsible is put to death! You don’t really look it now, but when you were first brought in, you had obviously been raped and beaten. You had wounds and bruises everywhere, and – “ she gasped, “I’m sorry, I bet you don’t want to be reminded of what happened.”

“How long have I been here?” Gabriel asked.

Alyda blew on the hot stew for a few moments. “Only overnight. As I said, my Lady is an excellent healer. She’s resting, healing you exhausted her.”

The door opened as Alyda was helping Gabriel into a sitting position. She looked at someone he couldn’t see from where he was.

“You may inform his Imperial Majesty that the patient is awake now, but I can’t guarantee that he will remain so for long,” Alyda said. The door closed again.

Gabriel found that not only was he pain free, but he was able to feed himself, and was grateful that the assistant’s chatter kept his mind off of unpleasant memories. Just as he ate the last spoonful of stew, the door opened again.

“I was ordered to take the patient to the Emperor.”

“That’s just crazy! There’s no way he can get out of bed right now, he’s still weak!” Alyda protested.

“I cannot disobey the Emperor!” The man insisted.

“Fine, but I am coming with him,” Alyda said in a tone that left no room for arguments.

“As you wish,” the man replied as he gathered Gabriel in his arms.

I used to be too heavy to carry, Gabriel thought as he looked at his body. He looked like nothing more than skin and bones. Why am I wearing silk nightclothes?

Gabriel nearly fell asleep by the time they reached the Emperor’s chambers. The man carrying him set him in a plush armchair, and then left.

“You may wait outside my chambers, I will call you if you are needed,” the Emperor ordered Alyda.

Gabriel saw that his master and all of the men who brought him here were in the room, as was one man who seemed to be the Emperor’s bodyguard. The bodyguard offered Gabriel a glass of water.

“Now that we have finished our breakfast,” from what Gabriel could tell this was a literal we rather than a royal one, “I wish to tell you all a story. Many years ago, my wife was in labor, and I feared she would die. I sent her to the only person I believed could help her; the woman who is now Imperial Healer. A miracle was performed, and my wife was saved, however, she was weak, and passed out from her ordeal.

“As it happens, the Imperial Healer also had a slave in her care, a woman who had also just given birth. This slave had also nearly died, and had not yet seen her newborn. I studied the two infants closely, and realized that I could use them to my advantage.

“You see, my wife had given birth to a son, but the woman had only whelped a girl. Girls are of no use, and her fate was dismal to be sure. Born to a slave she was destined to lifelong slavery, and possibly horrible suffering, but she would live, which was more than I could say for my son. His fate was to live an extremely sheltered and overprotected life until the day an assassin killed him, as had happened with his three predecessors.

“I was tired of losing sons to assassins, and decided that having a princess was far more useful. She could never inherit the throne, and maybe the prospect of marriage to her would drive the assassin’s employer out into the open. So, I switched the babies. No one knew except the woman who helped birth them, and she would never tell a soul.

“When the slave’s master came to check on her, I told him that he was lucky. A person who was born a slave could be taught to serve in ways no captured slave could ever compare to. A born slave knew no other way of life, and if handled right, would be the most trustworthy and loyal person. I suggested that I would be delighted to take this infant slave into my household, but was told:

“’This child’s mother may be a slave, but I am his father. I may never be able to acknowledge this fact, but I will care for him as best I can within the parameters of slavehood.’ I knew that this son of mine would be safe and well taken care of, and left him to grow up in the safety of another household.

“So, John, my favorite lover; can you explain to me why you have abused my son unto near death?” The Emperor asked, obviously displeased.

 

 

  Go To Chapter 19