The First Spark

by T J Trapp

  Erin was certain that Amelia would not allow them to move unimpeded once they reached Theland. She decided the best strategy would be to split her riders. Her large force would not be able to travel rapidly with their wounded riders and supply wagons, but a small group of riders should be able to travel rapidly before Amelia could assemble a force to stop them.

  With Ferd in command, most of Erin’s troops continued at a slow trek across Gott towards the center of Theland through the main route along the River Ryn. Ferd would make sure his progress was well-known so that the information could quickly reach Brun and Amelia.

  Erin, Alec, Thom, and forty riders split off from the main group to head through Gott; they would enter Theland near the Elf Mountains. It would require at least six days of hard riding to reach the Elf Mountains but if they moved quickly they should not encounter any of Amelia’s riders.

  On the fourth day, they safely passed out of Gott and into Theland and in another day they came to the edge of the Elf Mountains and made camp. The next morning, they rode into the mountains. About mid-morning they came to a narrow passageway through the rock.

  “This is the only way I know to enter the Elf Land, and this is as far as we can take the trogus,” said Erin.

  “What next?” asked Alec.

  “From here we need to go on foot. We don’t want to take a large group, or they will think we have hostile intentions. Just the two of us, Thom, and four riders will go the rest of the way.” She turned to her riders. “Thom, Cryl, Nikka, Rhor, and Bon – you five will come with us. We will need food for three days.

  “The rest of you, make camp here. Take care of the trogus. If you don’t hear from us in two weeks, assume we need help and send a rescue column.”

  The seven left the others and started their walk into the Elf Mountains. The passageway ran through the side of a cliff, and they walked for about an hour before it opened into a high meadow. They started across the meadow and walked for another hour.

  “Stop!” said Erin abruptly, looking at the ground. “Look at that track! I would recognize it anywhere.” She pointed at a scuff mark. “That is the mark of Alec’s staff! We must have gone in a circle.” Her riders looked chagrined. Except for Alec, they were experienced trackers and should have caught the significance of the mark.

  They walked for two more hours through the meadow when Bon stopped.

  “Look,” she said. “That is my mark. I have been marking our trail since we encountered Consort Alec’s track. We are still doubling back on ourselves.” Erin sighed in exasperation.

  “We are getting nowhere. We might as well make camp here for the night and try again in the morning.”

  Few of Erin’s riders had ever encountered elves, and the five riders accompanying their group were not even sure what an elf would look like. There was a lot of apprehension and concern in the camp that night, but the night passed uneventfully.

  Alec took Erin aside in the morning.

  “I have been thinking about what is going on. I think the elves have created an optical distortion region to protect their land. I have an idea.” He had the riders cut about a hundred stakes, each about an arn long. He hammered the first one into the ground where they had camped; then, he walked backwards towards where the passageway first came out of the mountain side and hammered in a second stake. As they walked, every thirty paces he hammered in another stake. It was a slow process, and he could hear Cryl and Rhor muttering that this was a waste of time.

  After five stakes they looked back. Alec pointed out how their seemingly-straight path had curved distinctly to the right.

  “Move back to the left,” Alec said and fixed the next stake. They fixed the stake so that they were in a straight line with two of the earlier stakes. After that, they stopped and checked their path by lining up with the previous stakes. Every time they stopped, they could see that their straight march had drifted offline. Finally, when they were almost out of stakes, the line of stakes and their line of march agreed with each other.

  “I think we are through the distorting region,” said Alec. Because of the delay it had taken to check and correct the stakes, they had made slow progress that day. It was time to camp for the night.

  They reached the far side of the meadow by late morning on the next day and found a path that led further into the mountain. The path took them along the side of the mountain and then turned to follow a narrow, deep ravine formed by a small rill of water. Halfway into the ravine, they heard a voice.

  “Who intrudes in our land?” the voice said, in a reasonably good rendition of the Theland language.

  Erin stepped forward, looking for the source of the voice.

  “I am Erin – Princess of Theland and descendent of the Elf Lian. I travel with my Consort, Alec, and my personal guard. We come to your land to meet with your leaders to discuss a matter of great common importance.”

  There was no response, so they waited.

  After fifteen minutes Erin was becoming restless and thinking of moving on when five people stepped out of the front edge of the ravine: a tall woman with four men standing behind her. The woman acted like the leader. The four men were armed with short spears and swords.

  So, these are elves, Alec thought. No pointy ears. The woman looked very much like Erin, tall and lean, with black hair pulled back in a knot, and was wearing a ring like Erin’s. Even though she was apparently on patrol, she wore a long over-cloak of brightly-colored material over her trousers and tunic – these fit more closely to her form compared to the loose-fitting wear of the Grasslands, and were much more colorful, with an iridescent pattern.

  “You enter our land uninvited,” said the elf woman.

  Erin repeated her statement.

  “I am Erin – Princess of Theland and descendent of the Elf Lian. I travel with my Consort, Alec, and my personal guard. We come to your land to meet with your leaders to discuss a matter of great common importance.”

  The elf woman motioned to the accompanying elf men. The men spread out and walked towards Erin’s group. Erin motioned to her riders to remain still.

  “Don’t draw any weapons,” she whispered. “We need to make this a peaceful encounter.”

  The elves continued to advance until they were positioned on either side of the seven. Alec felt very defenseless – but knew that Erin was right. If they acted in a hostile manner towards the elves, they were guaranteed to get a poor reception.

  When the elves were in place, the elf woman spoke.

  “Any who come to our land uninvited, forfeit all rights.” She raised her hand, and Cryl slumped to the ground.

  Alec thought to Erin; I can feel she is using her ring to twist the lines of force. Can you untwist them?

  Now that Alec pointed it out, Erin realized that she could use her ring to manipulate the twisted lines of force from the elf woman. Every time Erin had worn her ring, she had always sensed the force lines, but never realized that she could manipulate them. Now she worked to sense the lines and mentally try to untwist them. After a second or so, she could sense them straighten. The elf woman sensed Erin’s actions and increased her intensity. Erin could feel that she and the elf woman were linked into a mental struggle through their rings. The lines started twisting again, and two more of Erin’s riders slumped to the ground. Then the elf twisted the lines in a way that Erin did not expect. Before Erin could respond, she felt her mind becoming unfocused and confused. The elf woman looked at her and sneered, then twisted the lines of force differently. Erin was thrown off-balance mentally and could not respond quickly; her mind became fogged, and she lost control of her body, slumping towards the ground as her knees gave way.

  Alec was concerned by the force lines. He could feel that Erin and the elf woman were engaged in a mental battle and that somehow his ring was protecting him. He started to focus to draw dark energy in case they needed it. Then, as Erin lost consciousness and started to fall, Alec broke his focus and grabbed her.

  The elf w
oman looked at him and twisted her force-lines again. The force slid past him. Focus. Just as Alec started to gather dark energy, the blunt end of a spear hit him on the head. He collapsed unconscious to the ground with Erin in his arms.

  ✽✽✽

  When they came back to consciousness, the seven members of Erin’s party found themselves lying in a row, shoulder to shoulder, at the side of the ravine, next to the flowing trickle of a stream. Their weapons had been removed, but Alec’s medallion still hung from his neck, and he and Erin still wore their rings. Alec’s head ached from the blow that felled him. As his vision cleared, Alec could see a band around Erin’s neck, like the neckpiece she had worn when enslaved by the nomads. He noticed that each of their riders also wore a neckband. His hands went to his neck, and he could feel that he, too, wore a neckband.

  The elf woman walked over and looked at them. She said something in a strange language – when she saw that none of them understood, she changed to a heavily-accented version of Erin’s language.

  “You are now my captive drones. I am Mother Marta. These three are my clutchmen,” and nodding at the fourth, “and he is my apprentice. You will show us respect.” She strode around the pile of fallen travelers. “I am taking you to our drone pens. The Drone Master will train you and then decide your fate. However, I am going to train you enough to make you compliant on the way there. I want you to feel pain.

  “Hurt!” she commanded.

  An intense, agonizing pain pulsed through Alec.

  “Stop pain!” The pain went away.

  What just happened? thought Alec.

  “You will not try to speak without permission,” the elf woman continued in a commanding voice. “You will answer all my questions fully and address all responses with ‘yes, Mother’ or ‘no, Mother.’ If for some reason you need to communicate with us, you will come and crouch at my feet and wait for permission to speak. You will not try to harm us or escape.

  “If you do not fully follow directions, I will give you pain until you fully comply.” She clapped her hands sharply.

  “Line up in front of me! Stay on your knees with your heads down!” After a few zaps of pain, the seven of them complied and were lined up on their knees with their heads down, in front of the Mother.

  The Mother stepped up to the first rider, Cryl, touched him, and started asking him questions. He eagerly answered in full and told everything about himself and the rest of them. Then she told him to undress, and he was quickly on his knees in front of her, naked. The same thing happened with the next rider, Bon, and on down the line. Eventually, the Mother came to Alec and touched him. Nothing happened. She looked at his hand and saw the ring. She motioned to one of her clutchmen, and he grabbed Alec’s hand and roughly pulled all the rings from his fingers.

  Now when the Mother touched him, Alec felt a deep desire to please her. It seemed to him that there was nothing more important in life than pleasing the Mother. He would do anything to please her. The Mother twisted and implanted a version of the elf language in his mind. She started asking questions, and he answered fully, volunteering important information that she hadn’t asked. He told her his complete history, about his boyhood growing up in Washington State, about his life in Theland, and about his medallion and staff. He knew she wanted him to remove his medallion, so without being asked, he took it off and handed it to one of her clutchmen. Next, the Mother told him to undress – he almost tore his clothes off as he willingly complied. Then the Mother released him, and the feeling that he had to please her immediately dissipated. His mind returned to normal with a sense of revulsion, at what he had just done, and a feeling of regret that he had voluntarily handed over his medallion.

  Erin was next. The Mother touched her, and nothing happened. The Mother reached down and carefully removed Erin’s ring. Then, Alec could hear Erin telling the elf everything she asked. Erin held nothing back. Erin also willingly undressed.

  Finally, the elf asked, “Is the tall one talented at coupling?” and pointed at Alec.

  “Oh yes,” said Erin, beaming.

  “What about the one beside him?” the Mother asked, pointing to Thom.

  “I don’t know,” said Erin. “I have never coupled with him.”

  The answer surprised the Mother; then she indicated for Erin to return to her place in line.

  The elf apprentice came up to the Mother and stood in front of her respectfully with his head down.

  “Speak,” said the Mother.

  He gestured towards Alec, and continued, “You could make that one you like please you while I use the women and then kill them for you. That won’t waste any of your time.”

  The mother gave the apprentice a withering look and shook her head.

  “Although our tradition is to kill all captive women immediately, I think the stories told by these three are important enough that the Disca should hear them,” the Mother intoned. “We will not kill them here. We will take all of them with us, not just the males.” She looked at her disappointed apprentice, and then her captives. A sly smile crossed her face. “We do have a little time to enjoy them.” She eyed the three women.

  “I think that one might be a cross-breed,” she said, pointing at Erin. “Stay away from her. She might give you trouble. You can have whichever of the other two you want. Leave her alive when you are done.”

  The elf looked at the two female riders, eagerly licking his lips, and pointed at Nikka. The Mother walked up to her and took her hand.

  “Stand up,” she said, and the woman stood. “Please him,” the Mother said and gave her hand to the elf apprentice.

  Nikka tried to resist but was immediately struck by intense pain. Finally, she gave in and stopped resisting. She began helping the elf remove his clothes, and compliantly slithered underneath him, legs spread, in the middle of the wet, muddy path.

  Then the Mother walked over to Alec and touched him, gesturing for him to stand. Alec immediately felt a deep desire to please the Mother, to cater to her every want, to satisfy her. He felt himself grow hard. Then the mother touched Thom and gestured for him to stand next to Alec. He had a similar reaction.

  “Look up,” she said to them both. She looked them both over for a while, stroking their arms and legs, and feeling their bodies. Alec hoped desperately that she would pick him, that he would be the one to satisfy her. Then she took Thom’s hand. She didn’t say a word, and the rider eagerly followed the Mother to a spot away from the muddy trail. Soon Alec could hear her moans of pleasure – Thom was doing a good job at pleasing her, he figured.

  As soon as the Mother left, Alec was released from his deep and urgent desire and felt more than a little embarrassed and ashamed at his obvious physical reaction to her.

  Where are we? Alec wondered. Without their rings, he could not communicate with Erin through their thoughts, and suddenly realized how dependent he had become on this method of conversing.

  He turned his head to look around the ravine. One of the clutchmen noticed him standing with his head held high.

  “Look down!” the clutchman growled. Alec immediately felt intense pain and looked down. The clutchman walked up to him and poked him in the chest with a strong finger.

  “You wild orbs are arrogant! You think that you are as good as we are! You fancy that you are like an elf!” He kept jabbing Alec in the chest. “But you’ll find your place. We train animals like you naked until you become a bit domesticated. It can be quite uncomfortable, if you know what I mean! But, if you do well and learn your place quickly, we will give you a bit of a reward – perhaps a few clothes, something to wear.” He smiled paternally, then scowled.

  “Now! Punish yourself for looking up!” Alec felt intense pain, growing and throbbing until he was bent double with the intensity of it. Alec wasn’t sure he could stand it anymore. Then the clutchman seemed to tire of Alec’s writhing. “Return to the line,” he said, dismissively. The pain quit, and Alec scrambled back to his place in line on his knees with his
head down.

  Soon Nikka returned to her place in line. She was coated with mud and gravel and was very upset at having willingly participated in being raped. From his head-down position, Alec could see that the clutchmen were enjoying the Mother’s tryst, listening to the sounds of sex and sneaking a quick peek now and then. After a while the Mother returned, pushing Thom in front of her.

  “You were not good enough,” she said. “Punish yourself.” Thom flopped on the ground moaning and contorted in pain. The mother looked at the body on the ground and said, “Suffer silently.” Thom’s body continued writhing silently at her feet. “When the Drone Master finishes training you, you will perform for me again. I expect you to be much better.” The elf woman touched Alec. “I should have picked you. Dream about me tonight, because I will have time tomorrow for you to please me.” Then she said to the writhing man at her feet, “Return to your place.” Thom dutifully got back into line with his head down.

  The Mother turned to the seven, still on their knees with their heads down.

  “Get up and follow us,” she said in her elf language. After a moment Alec realized that they all understood her and were following her. Her apprentice picked up the sack of captured weapons, medallion, and rings; their discarded clothing and packs were left where they had strewn them.

  Alec could feel a compulsion deep in his mind that was encouraging him to obey the mother. It did not control him like her touch, but he still felt the desire to cooperate and obey her. He wondered if the others felt this way too. After a few steps, Cryl hesitated and then bent double in agony. Erin started to say, ‘this is not the time to resist,’ but before she could speak, she felt intense pain. After that, they all followed the elves quietly and compliantly.