The Queen of the Elves

Chapter 11

Mason crept up to the mound and found it utterly deserted. He had been running for over an hour and had just now arrived... just as the last of the elves had gone to bed. The darkness was now complete and Mason turned himself back into human form. He didn't want to give himself away, but he always had been able to think better when he was Mason Harvey and not some animal. Although he had complete control over his mind it was strange how he seemed to want to chase every little rabbit that sprinted out of his way when he was a leopard and he found it very distracting.

So he stood there, once again Mason Harvey, and thought. He couldn't recall exactly where the elves held their prisoners, but he would have to try to find it. Wouldn't he? The thought suddenly occurred to him for the first time that he was free. He could leave and go on with his life and do whatever he pleased. Somehow he had escaped Silvia and now he knew without a doubt that she was no longer in control of him. He could feel it in his bones. There's no real way to describe freedom, but he was smart enough to recognize it.

If he was free then what was he doing here? He could be caught here and punished, maybe even killed. Why would he want to risk his new-found freedom? He knew the answer, but he didn't want to admit it to himself. He refused to admit it to himself. So he groped blindly for another reason. Finding none he slowly forced his feet to turn and begin walking towards home. That's when he stumbled upon his excuse. He didn't have any home to go to. With nothing better to do and nothing meaningful in his life, why not risk it for the few friends that he had? He turned eagerly back and headed towards the elfin village.

Caroline sat weeping in her cell. She hadn't stopped since she had been dragged from the hill. She couldn't stop. Her breath was coming in wisps and snatches, the gag preventing gasps and she was dizzy for lack of oxygen. Bernard was in the cell next to her begging her to calm down, but she didn't care. Tomorrow she would die. Why couldn't they have just killed her? It would have saved her the terrible pain that she was enduring now. She might not have minded the pain so much if she thought she might get out of dying, but she knew she wouldn't. Why suffer anymore? She wondered, Why not die now?

That was the dark turn her thoughts had taken and Bernard was beginning to get caught in the same one. He was tired of hearing the little girl sob persistently and incessantly. He ears hurt and his heart ached in her pain. He didn't know that she had displaced her shoulder, or that she was bleeding at all. He had missed that part because they had dragged him away. He himself had been flogged and felt rather bit to pieces. His whole back throbbed and burned and felt like someone was stabbing him all the while. If boys did cry ever he would be crying now, but he was tough, he could take a few lickings.

Yet he heartily wished Caroline would pipe down. He never knew before that he actually cared, but now he knew. He didn't want her to hurt anymore than he himself wanted to hurt. He had never seen Caroline cry before, and she didn't seem like the person who would ever cry, no matter how fragile. He had been amazed when she had been dragged weeping into the cave and thrown down beside him.

He was chained to the wall. His wrists cuffed behind his back and his feet locked into place. Caroline was still tied, so they had merely locked a cuff around her neck to keep her to the wall. She was horrified at that. She had a large, cold, hard iron locked about her neck. She couldn't get out of it and it chaffed at her chin and chest that was how thick it was. She had never, ever before in her life admitted to anyone that she was scared, but now she finally admitted to herself that she was scared.

"Caroline, why are you crying?" Bernard asked for the fiftieth time at least.

She managed to croak somehow that he could understand her through her gag and between sobs, "Bernard, I'm so scared!" she gasped and cried some more, "Everything hurts so badly."