Upon arriving at their village around mid day, the elf party with their captives stopped in a sort of courtyard area that was located just inside the main gate. There the elves dismounted, and gathered in a loose semi circle around Randor. There, Randor thanked all of them for their service, and told them to come to his compound the next day to receive payment for their past three week’s work. Randor never carried gold with him while on a raid, and he liked to make sure that everyone else was well aware of that fact. As the other elves were leaving, Randor asked Prindor to remaining behind. Prindor nodded, and the other elves all re-mounted to ride to their various homes, there to care for and stable their mounts before getting some much needed food and rest, themselves. Their real relaxation would have to wait until tomorrow after they were paid.
Turning to Prindor, Randor said to him, “You did a very good job this trip, my young friend, but I have one more task for you, and that is to take Tana and Beth back to the stable for me”. “Also, as soon as you get there, please tell Latkin and Rolf to meet me at Bothar’s place, as the day is still fairly young and we might as well get these four properly outfitted.” He added, gesturing toward the chain of girls who, except for Katryn, had all dropped to their knees on the ground. “I think that I will keep these four here for a little while to let folks get their first looks at them.” Randor said as Prindor was mounting Lacie after clipping Tana and Beth’s chain to a ring at the back of her saddle. “Letting potential customers see how wild girls look and act as opposed to how they will look and act following training, never hurts my reputation.” “Its just one more trick of the trade you need to know,” he added quietly.
Prindor turned Lacie in the direction of Randor’s facility, and with a touch of his spurs, rode away leading Tana and Beth. “Do you need me to help at Bothar’s after I get these two cleaned up and put away?” Prindor called back. “No, but thanks for the offer” Randor answered. “You go on back and take care of Tana and Beth”, he said. “Oh, and don’t forget Lacie,” he added grinning. Randor knew that Prindor had received more than his share of ribbing from the other elves over the past three weeks over his attentive care of Lacie. Randor was certain that young Lacie would be well cared for, indeed, before being put away in her stall for her much needed rest.
Randor had noticed that Prindor and Lacie had more than pulled their weight on this raid. “This youngster is one of the best I’ve got,” he mused to himself. “And that skinny little palomino of his can hang right in there with any of them as well.” Randor thought. “Well, almost any of them,” his thoughts continued as he considered Vixin. Randor, obviously, had great confidence in the magnificent dark roan who was standing, obediently ground hitched, where he had left her, the chain of captives still clipped to her saddle. After he had knelt Vixin and dismounted, Randor had signaled her to stand. He wanted her on her feet in a position to control matters, should the captives attempt to bolt on their chain. Vixin clearly knew her job and kept a constant tension on the chain to Katryn’s neck.
Walking back to his captives, Randor shouted “up, up” to the girls, in his language, while abruptly raising his hands, palm upward, in several easily understandable gestures. Madi, Lyra and Cynda, who had all been kneeling, rose slowly to their feet. Little Katryn was still on hers, and now all four girls stood facing Randor and the small crowd of elves of both sexes who were gathering behind him. “Come on in and take a look, folks.” “They are all a little rough around the edges now, but wait until you see them again in about six months,” he said, clearly working the crowd.
The crowd of elves all came closer, and examined the girls carefully from distances outside of kicking range. These were, after all, wild girls and, though securely neck chained were not hobbled. They could certainly try to kick. None of the spectators was bold enough to approach the girls for the close inspection and careful feeling of muscles that would take place when they were sold following their training. Randor allowed the inspection process to continue while trading comments and observations with his potential customers for about a half hour or until the crowd begin to thin. When there were only a few elves remaining, he thanked them for their interest, and took his leave. Randor returned to Vixin, who had been standing precisely where she had been left. He had her kneel for him, mounted her, and rode from the courtyard leading the four girls.
Randor still had plenty of work to do, so leading his chain of captives, he spurred Vixin up to a light trot quickly reaching Bothar’s facilities. Bothar, the best saddle maker in the village and far beyond, was also Randor’s preferred source for all types of girl tack. He needed Bothar to fit the new girls with the restraint harnesses that they would wear almost constantly from now on. A restraint harness rather severely restricted a girl’s use of her hands or arms and made her easier to control. It also provided a definite measure of safety and protection for the elves. Girls were much bigger and stronger than elves and were, after all, considered little more than wild animals, tamed or otherwise. Having seen and been seen by Bothar through the window of his saddle shop as they were approaching, Randor led his charges straight through Bothar’s open gate and right into his fitting shed.
Randor knelt Vixin and dismounted. Un-clipping the chain from the ring at the back of her saddle, he locked it, in turn, to a large steel ring on one of the several hitching posts that were set securely into the dirt floor of Bothar’s shed. Randor knew Bothar’s shed well, having brought many chains of new captives and purchases there. One wall of the shed contained a myriad of hooks and shelves that held all manner of girl tack. The other side of the long shed consisted of a series of stalls, of which four were currently occupied by girls who had been left with Bothar for saddle fitting, and were now watching the new girls with great curiosity . Once he had the chain of girls secured, Randor left them, remounted Vixin, and rode her out of the shed to Bothar’s special hitching post in the cool shade of a tree with a large trough of fresh cold water beneath it. Leaving her tied loosely there by her reins, Randor gave her a couple of proprietary slaps on her rump, spoke to her softly and returned to the shed just in time to meet Bothar. Long ago, Randor knew, Vixin had learned to drink from a trough around her bit, so he left her bridle on.
“Four new ones this trip, huh”? “That’s not a bad catch for one raid,” said Bothar as he examined the girls. “Did anyone get hurt taking them”? He added. “Not so much as a scratch.” Randor replied. “We caught them all out in the open with none of their old males even watching them,” he said. After greeting Randor, Bothar, began to examine all of the new girls with interest. “Just the usual restraint harnesses for now?” he asked, and Randor nodded. All the while the two were talking, Bothar had been visually measuring the necks, wrists and arms of the four girls, and making notes on a small pad he pulled from a shirt pocket. Bothar had been fitting girls for so long that he could judge sizes by eye as well as most could by actually taking measurements.
Bothar had been carefully checking out Katryn, and had decided that it would probably be best to begin with her. She was decidedly the smallest of the four which, he thought, would make her the easiest to handle. Over many years Bothar had learned that things generally went easier with multiple girls when the first one harnessed offered little resistance. Following a “good example” additional girls were generally more likely to accept what was, of course, inevitable, without a fight. As he finished his inspection of Katryn, he commented to Randor, “Is this what they’re growing down there now?” “She’s not much bigger than my Wegins”, he said, referring to diminutive race of humans that dwelled on the Eastern Islands, and of which Bothar owned a pair. “I guess you can always sell her to some rich elves for their children to ride”, he added, somewhat derisively. “Let’s get started with her”.
Randor laughed, then replied to Bothar, “Let’s leave her for last, my old friend, or at least until Latkin and Rolf get here.” “I sent Prindor to ask them to meet us here while I stopped for a little preliminary show of the girls,” he added. Before Bothar could answer, Randor went on with a degree of pride, “That little strawberry was harder to catch, and gave us more trouble than the other three combined”. “She’s got real fire in her.” “Where are Latkin and Rolf, anyway, have you heard from either of them, today?” He asked. “I’ll take your word for it”, Bothar said somewhat skeptically first referring to Katryn, then went on, “I haven’t seen or heard from Latkin yet, he’s probably on his way, and Rolf has been helping me here today.” “He evidently finished his work at your place early, and rode over here to see if I had any work he could do.” “You know how he never turns down a chance to earn a little extra.” “Before I knew that you had gotten back, I sent him with the team and cart to pick up my order of leather at the tanner’s”, Bothar answered. “He should be back soon”.
“Which girl did he ride over here, did you recognize her?” asked Randor. “No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before,” Bothar answered. “Rolf said she was almost finished with her training and about ready for sale.” He went on. “She’s a good strong looking tall black with dark brown eyes and a big chest” Bothar replied describing the large breasted, black haired girl. “She’s in the stable now, if you want to check on her”, he concluded. “No, that’s O.K., I think I know which one you mean, and I’m just glad to see him getting her out in public.” “When they are almost fully trained, we really need to get girls out of the compound for people to see as often as we can.” “It’s good to start getting them used to it, they seem to like it and it is certainly good advertising,” Randor commented to Bothar.
Of course, none of the four captives could understand a word of what had been said, as the elf language was not only complex, but the speaking speed and higher register of elf voices made them extremely difficult for humans to understand. Also, elves, as a separate species, considered themselves vastly superior to humans, and very reluctant to teach them any more than basic verbal commands. After all, they considered humans as basically wild animals which they caught and domesticated for their purposes. Elves considered themselves to be highly civilized and sophisticated creatures, easily the most intelligent on the planet. The very idea of one intelligent being using another to ride, or to carry and haul things, might have created a sense of guilt which the elves could ill afford. For thousands of years the elf culture, lifestyle and economy had depended on the much greater mobility their human mounts and draft animals brought them. No elf really wanted this to change. To the elves, riding saddle girls was far preferable than walking themselves.
The wait for Latkin was short as, within a few minutes he arrived, riding through the gate, mounted on his striking grey, Berin. Latkin dismounted, and tied Berin at the post next to Vixin. The two nuzzled each other in greeting as they were, obviously, old friends. Latkin, slightly bowlegged from many years of riding, came walking into Bothar’s shed with a greeting, “Four new ones I see.” “Well, let’s get started.” To Latkin, his work was everything.
At almost four foot, Latkin was the tallest elf that any of the four girls had ever seen, and although much older than either Randor or Bothar, Latkin had muscles to match his height. Katryn was impressed, but certainly not intimidated. It had taken four of the more normal sized three and a half foot tall elves to handle and chain her when she was captured. Whatever their intentions were for her, Katryn did not plan to make things easy for these elves.
As Latkin walked around inspecting the chain of girls, Bothar had been at his large inventory of tack selecting four thick leather collars and eight sets of leather cuffs, constantly referring to the notes that he had taken earlier. Both collars and cuffs closed, not with lumpy buckles but with locking metal latches. Collars and cuffs like these were completely smooth on the inside making them quite comfortable for the girl wearing them. They did require careful fitting to the individual girl, a task at which Bothar was a known expert. On his workbench, he then attached collars to cuffs and cuffs to cuffs with measured lengths of light, highly polished, welded link chain, making the connections permanent with special links that he riveted closed with a heavy hammer and riveting tool.
The looped chain and padlocks the girls had been wearing since their capture was heavy, bulky and rather uncomfortable, but it had served its purpose. It also had provided the sort of “one size fits all” practicality that better met the requirements of a raider.
Since it seemed to Katryn that being first on the chain, she would also be the first to receive what ever it was that the elves were planning to do, and she had been planning her response. However, she would have to wait her turn, as the elves first went toward Cynda at the other end of the chain. Cynda was the most striking girl of the four, being nearly six feet tall with chestnut brown hair, dark brown eyes, a round and beautiful face and flawless deeply tanned skin. However, as Katryn knew, Cynda lacked the self confidence to offer much resistance.
Katryn noticed that the big elf Latkin had equipped himself with a riding whip, very similar to those that the raiders had used occasionally on the trail to keep their captives moving along. Katryn had certainly felt their whips more often than the others during their travel and knew that, although she could take it, she didn’t like it. Cynda, on the other hand, Katryn knew to be terrified of it.
While the other two elves stood back, each holding a pair of connected cuffs or a cuff and collar set in their hands, Latkin, walked up to Cynda, alone, grabbed the chain where it depended from her neck, and gave it a series of short gentle tugs in a downward direction. Cynda resisted Latkin’s fourth pull with one of her own. At six feet, Cynda towered over him by two feet, and was, obviously, much stronger than even the large elf. Latkin, however, offered no resistance to Cynda’s pull. He simply let the chain slip through his calloused hand. Next he calmly stepped behind Cynda and, before she realized what he was doing, gave her two hard lashes from his whip. The first landed across her rump, and the second across the tender backs of her knees. He then stepped back in front of Cynda, grasped the chain again and gave her another short series of tugs, hard this time. Gasping and with tears streaming from her eyes, Cynda quickly knelt obediently. Once she was on her knees, Bothar set down the collar and cuffs he was holding and, while Latkin held the chain tightly right at her neck, quickly crossed and tied Cynda’s ankles with a length of braided leather and removed the shoes she had worn for the past two weeks. She would remain on her knees until the elves were ready for her to stand.
Before unlocking the padlock at Cynda’s throat, Latkin raised the chain loop that had been around her sweat and dirt stained neck for the past two weeks, and held it high under her chin while Latkin checked the fit then closed an almost two inch high leather collar snugly around her neck. The collar fit Cynda’s neck perfectly, and Latkin complimented Bother, “I see you haven’t lost your eye for necks” “Let’s see if you are still as good as always with wrists and arms,” he added. The collar’s lock clicked shut with a loud positive sound.
Depending from each side of the collar on about six inches of highly polished chain was a two inch wide fitted leather cuff with a lock just like the collar. The elves let these cuffs simply hang across Cynda’s breasts for now. Then, standing behind Cynda, Latkin grabbed her elbows, and pulled them as close together behind her back as the chain in the front would allow. He held her elbows behind her while Bothar attached the set of cuffs joined by about a foot of chain to Cynda’s upper arms just above her elbows. These cuffs fit perfectly as well, and clicked positively as they were closed. Next, while both Latkin and Randor held Cynda’s wrists, Randor removed the padlocks and wraps of chain that she had been wearing and, one at a time, locked on the cuffs that were dangling from her collar. “Looks like you’ve still got your eye,” Latkin said smiling at Bothar Although Cynda was, at the moment too shattered to recognize it, her new collar and cuffs were all lined in suede leather and all were lightly padded for her comfort. The purpose of her harness being to control and limit her arm and hand movement, not to abrade and cause pain or, worse yet, injury. The elves all stepped back satisfied that the “Big Chestnut” as they considered her, was secured, which she was.
In addition to the cuff chains, the collar had metal rings both front and back, obviously for leading or securing the wearer. While Bothar untied her ankles, Latkin took a ten foot rope lead from several that hung on his wall. These rope leads had a metal snap on one end and were plain on the other with the rope being whipped with cord to prevent unraveling. He snapped the clip to the front ring of Cynda’s collar, raised his whip for her to see, and tugged upward on the leash. Cynda, still crying, scrambled awkwardly to get to her feet as the elves looked on and chuckled knowingly. “This one was going to be easier than most to break and train,” they all thought. Randor took the lead from Latkin and led the sobbing girl from the shed to a hitching rail in the yard, near where Vixin and Berin stood tied. Cynda followed obediently. At the rail, Randor simply looped the rope a few times around the rail, and left Cynda standing there while he went back into the shed to help with the next girl.
Although Cynda was unaware of it, her loose tying was not carelessness on Randor’s part. It was both a test, and the beginning of Cynda’s training. Randor wanted to see if Cynda would try to escape. If she did, he was not worried as there was really nowhere for her to go. She did not know where she was, and no elf in the village would be likely to let a rider less girl just walk away. Even if she somehow did manage to get outside the village wall, there were open fields for miles in all directions, and he and Latkin could easily ride her down and catch her on Vixin and Berin. If Cynda did not try to escape, it would be an early indication that she was learning to accept her new condition, and was showing it by staying where he had left her and waiting for his return.
The elves’ harnessing of the next two girls proved to be remarkably easy. Growing up in their Village, the sisters, Madi and Lyra, both “Blacks” by elf description, had always been somewhat intimidated by Cynda as the bigger and taller girl had been something of a bully to them when they were children. They had watched in dismay how easily the elves had handled big Cynda, so offered no resistance when their turns came. All Latkin needed to do was to show them the whip, and they knelt in obedience. About fifteen minutes later they, too, were harnessed and tied at the rail in Bothar’s yard, leaving only little Katryn to be dealt with.
“Let’s take care of your little Wegin now, so that I can get back to some paying work” Bothar said to Randor with some impatience. “I’ve got saddles to finish fitting for these, and you know that’s where the real money comes from in this business,” he said indicating the four other girls that stood watching from the stalls in the far wall of his shed. “I really think that it will be better if we wait until Rolf gets back,” Randor replied, firmly. “With no disrespect to you or to Latkin here, I believe that things will just go easier for four of us instead of three.”
Latkin, who had, himself, noticed something in the little freckled red head’s bright green eyes, quietly nodded his agreement with the assessment of Randor. Latkin respected Randor and his considerable knowledge of girls, particularly wild ones. He knew that Bothar was the best in the business when it came to making saddles and all kinds of tack for girls, but had found his ability to judge the animals themselves, sometimes lacking.
The disagreement became quickly moot, however, as Rolf came flying through Bothar’s open gate driving the cart loaded with leather. Although the load of leather was not particularly heavy and Bothar’s cart was small and light, the girls drawing it were quite dusty and sweating heavily as Rolf drove them past the shed’s open end at a dead run on his way to the main stable. They were also breathing very hard with their small, firm, perfectly formed breasts rising and falling, almost in unison. It was evident that Rolf had heard of Randor’s return, and had run the girls hard all the way back from the tannery. Village tanneries were generally located on streams a few miles outside of the villages that they served, both for the water source and because of the bad smell of the tanning process. This one was no different, so the team pulling Bothar’s cart had had a good long run as a result.
The team that Rolf was driving was a beautiful pair of tiny Wegin “Blacks”, each barely four and a half feet tall. They were a pair of absolutely perfectly matched identical twins named Tei and Lei, with the long straight coal black hair, almond skin and beautiful slanted eyes of girls from those far Eastern Islands. A few months after acquiring them, Bothar had become frustrated when he could never tell the two apart, so had a small flower tattooed high on the inside of Tei’s left breast and the same tattoo on the right breast of Lei. The girls both seemed immensely proud of their marks which were, indeed, quite lovely.
Though actually in their early thirties, these Wegin girls looked much younger than they were, as was generally the case with girls of their race. Also, by comparison with the vast majority of elves’ saddle girls, this pair was quite petit, even considerably smaller than Katryn. Tei and Lei were so petit that in the ten or so years since they had been captured and trained, they had seldom been used for riding by adult elves. However, unless the girls were being used to pull Bothar’s buggy or cart, as they were today, Bothar’s young sons, Lon, and Crendle were generally on their backs riding them somewhere with Lon, as a rule, riding Tei and Crendle on Lei.
On a typical morning, the young elves would saddle and bridle the sisters and ride them to the village track for a series of races against each other. The races were often hard fought and close events, and the winning girl of each race was always rewarded with a fresh berry or some other sweet. These races always ended at one of the numerous water troughs located around the track where the Wegins were allowed to drink their fill before the winner received her treat. The young elves had been taught very early the importance of always keeping their mounts well watered. The climate here was generally warm and when ridden hard as in a race, all girls tended to sweat heavily, and that moisture had to be replaced on a regular basis.
Sometimes other young elves would also be at the track with their mounts, and would challenge Lon and Crendle to races. Due to their small size and shorter legs, Tei and Lei were generally at something of a disadvantage against their longer legged competitors but what the two lacked in height, they more than made up for in heart, and often outran the taller girls. Before the twin sisters became too well known in the village, Lon and Crendle had won many more bets than they had lost.
After a morning of racing the little Wegins, the two young elves would ride slowly back to Bothar’s stable, allowing the girls to cool off on the way. Back at the stable, the girls would be rubbed down, watered and fed and left to rest while Lon and Crendle were eating their own meals. After a couple of hours of rest, the two sisters were ready to go again, so the young elves would generally spend the afternoon riding them around the village or surrounding fields. On lazy afternoons the girls were often ridden bareback and without bridles. Lon and Crendle would braid their long black hair into single braids with which they guided the girls’ direction and slowed or stopped them. As spurs were really impractical when riding bareback, the young elves just used light willow switches to start their mounts or to encourage them when they wanted greater speed.
In the summer months after several hours of riding, the girls’ little bodies would become so slick with sweat, that it became difficult for the young elves to stay mounted riding bareback. When this happened, Tei and Lei knew it was time for a different game, and would give some sort of signal to each other that Lon and Crendle we never able to intercept. The sisters would then wait until they were crossing a soft grassy field, and suddenly begin to buck and throw their little bodies around until both of the young elves slipped off and fell laughing to the ground. The elves would quickly remount and the game would be repeated numerous times or until the young elves ran out of sweet rewards for the winning girl who each time first dislodged her rider. It was understood between Lon and Crendle that each must ride his bucking mount holding on only with his legs. One hand could be used to hold the girl’s braid and try somewhat to guide her, but the other had to be held free and clear. Occasionally, when Lon and Crendle brought an extra supply of treats for the girls, Tei and Lei might begin to tire somewhat before the young elves ran out of prizes for the winner. In these rare cases, a little encouragement from the willow switches would generally keep the sisters bucking with enthusiasm until the treats ran out. This also tended to serve as an occasional reminder to the girls who was really in control.
Tei and Lei both knew that when their treats ran out, Lon and Crendle would both finally mount them again, and either wrap both arms around their necks or reach around their shoulders and gently grasp their firm breasts in order to stay on their slippery backs. With the young elves now holding on with their hands and arms, Tei and Lei knew that it was time to head back to Bothar’s stable. There, they would be washed down with soap and warm water then rinsed with several buckets of cold water which they dearly loved. They would then be thoroughly rubbed down, watered, fed and put into their stall for the night.
The young elves were, obviously, very fond of the little Wegins, and loved their sports of racing them and trying to stay mounted on their sweaty little bare bodies while the girls did their best to throw them. Tei and Lei also appeared quite fond of the young elves, and seemed to enjoy the games as much as the elves did. They certainly enjoyed the treats that they received for winning. In these races and contests each girl seemed to win about as often as the other, although neither of the young elves ever seemed to notice this coincidence.
The girls did, however, make an absolutely striking matched team for drawing his cart, or buggy for which Bothar enjoyed using them whenever he had the time. They had been so thoroughly trained for this purpose that when in tandem harness, Tei and Lei moved virtually as one. Bothar knew that they would command a princely sum if he should find the right customer. He felt some concern that Tei and Lei really should be worked more in harness to maintain their skills as a team, but at least he knew that the girls got plenty of exercise, being ridden often by his sons.
The Wegin girls were so exquisite, and made such a perfectly matched team, that they really appeared far too expensive to be owned by a typical saddle maker like Bothar. Bothar, however, was anything but typical of members of his trade. He was known far and wide for the best saddles one could buy, and, was a very shrewd businessman to boot. As a result he could quite easily afford this beautiful team of little twin Wegins, but like everything else he owned he considered them always to be for sale. At the right time, he told himself, he would profit immensely as he had taken the girls in settlement of a debt for far less than their real value. In the meantime, he rationalized to himself, “Being small they don’t eat so much, and they certainly earn their keep, pulling my cart or buggy, and entertaining Lon and Crendle.” Elves, on the whole, were most indulgent patents.
Bothar, also, had a great affection for Tei and Lei, and, although he would never admit it even to himself, selling the pair was quite unlikely. He always liked to think of himself as a businessman first and foremost, which in his mind meant that “everything was always for sale,” but that wasn’t really always the case. Besides, should he sell the pair, he would just have to replace then as Bothar, although a master saddle maker, really preferred a buggy or cart to riding girlback as his own means of transportation. As a matter of fact he hadn’t owned a real saddle girl since acquiring the little Wegins, having sold, Tika, the girl that he had, shortly after getting the Wegins. Tika had only been properly trained to the saddle, and was never really been comfortable being harnessed and made to pull a buggy or cart. Bothar had, of course, ridden both Tei and Lei on occasion when he only had a short distance to go, and didn’t want to go to the trouble of getting out the cart or buggy. Although either could handle his weight well, Bothar never felt comfortable riding such small girls for long distances.
Rolf, who of course had just arrived back at Bothar’s compound driving the twin sisters at a hard run, was a young and ambitious elf who had been working for Randor as a handler for the past three years. Whenever Randor didn’t need him, as he thought was the case this morning, Rolf always sought out extra jobs. He was saving all that he could in order to buy a really exceptional saddle girl of his own. Rolf, though, could not seem to decide whether he wanted a magnificent powerful animal like Vixin, or a beautiful thoroughbred like Lacie, so kept dreaming of both. Rolf’s goal in life was to become a ponygirl raider and trainer like Randor, so Rolf always tried to be at Randor’s side whenever possible to learn everything that he could. It was no wonder that Rolf had run the little Wegins so hard getting back once he heard that Randor was to be at Bothar’s and needed him.
Back at Bothar’s stable, however, first things always came first. Rolf tied the team to one of the several hitching posts, used for the purpose, by their collar rings, unbridled and watered them well. Rolf then un-hitched the cart and rolled it, still loaded with leather, to its usual spot at the end of the stable. He next removed and hung to dry the girl’s sweaty draft harnesses which were, of course separate from the security harnesses which, like all girls, they almost constantly wore. Rolf cooled the team off by generously dousing each girl with several buckets of cold water which Lei and Tei, obviously loved as they practically giggled as they shook their little bodies.
Putting the girls in the stall that they shared, Rolf then hurried to the feed room, and returned with a small bucket of girl feed, which he poured into clean wooden feeding bowls. Placing the bowls on the ground in front of the girls, Tei and Lei immediately dropped to their knees and began to eat hungrily. “That will hold them until I am finished helping with Randor’s new girls”, he thought to himself. “I’ll come back to rub them down and unload the cart later, after helping Randor,” Rolf thought as he hurried to the fitting shed to join the others.
Katryn was now standing alone in the fitting shed, watching the elves that were obviously preparing to fit her with a permanent harness just like the ones that her three friends now wore. Katryn’s brain told her that resistance was futile, but her spirit told her to try. She was going to make these elves pay for what they were planning on doing to her. Katryn knew that she had been much stronger than any of the elves when they had captured her, and for some reason had begun to feel even stronger the past few days on the trail. Her wrists were still locked in chain and still attached to the loop of chain locked around her neck that she had worn continuously since her capture. The same chain now attached her to the stout hitching post set firmly in the floor of Bothar’s shed. Katryn stood a few feet from the hitching post which allowed slack in the chain connecting her to it. The other end of the chain had been coiled loosely, and left on the shed floor, also a few feet from where Katryn stood.
Randor picked up a loop of the coiled chain, and as had Latkin with the other three girls, began pulling out the slack between his left hand and Katryn’s neck with his right hand. However, unlike Latkin, Randor locked eyes with her, and began speaking to Katryn in a much slower and lower voice than she had ever heard from an elf. Katryn could not understand a word that was being said, but she knew that he was talking to her. Randor’s voice fascinated Katryn, but she had already made up her mind that she was not going to give up easily, and just allow these elves to do with her as they wished. As she felt the pull on the back of her neck that told her that the chain was now tight, Katryn suddenly jerked backwards hoping to pull Randor off his feet in front of her, with the idea of then kicking or stomping on him. She did not succeed, but if she had, Katryn suddenly had doubts as to whether of not she would she would have tried to hurt this elf if she had. There was something in his eyes and the sound of his voice.
Randor had simply let the chain slip through his left hand as had Latkin when Cynda had tried the same trick. Latkin, this time, was simply standing back holding his whip while Rolf stood by with the upper arm cuffs, and Bothar the collar set. Before Randor could stop him, the big elf stepped up right behind Katryn, and drew back the whip. He was about to give Katryn the same two stripes, one across her bottom and the other across the tender backs of her knees, that had so quickly subdued the “Big Chestnut”. This was just what Katryn had been waiting for. She bent forward at the waist, and kicked straight back with the heel of her right foot, catching Latkin in the stomach, doubling him over and sending him flying back at least six feet where he fell in a heap with most of the wind knocked out of him.
Latkin recovered fairly quickly, grabbed his whip from the ground where it had fallen and, clearly angry, was making a bee line for Katryn’s rear end. She fully expected a severe whipping from the elves that would eventually force her into submission. Other than kicking, naked and chained as she was, she was quite helpless to prevent it as she could only kick in one direction at a time. However, she had already decided that seeing the big elf fly through the air and land in a heap as he had, was worth whatever they might do to her.
Some of her confidence was not without reason, as Katryn had carefully examined the mounts of the ten elves in the raiding party during their two weeks of travel together. Although all of the elves carried riding whips, and some used them more than others, none of the women ridden by the elves bore any fresh whip cuts or permanent signs of past injuries. Katryn was also guessing that she and her friends had been captured to be trained and sold by these elves and, hopefully, they wouldn’t want to damage the merchandise too much. However, as she looked over her shoulder, the look in Latkin’s eyes told Katryn that she was certainly in for it, so she braced herself
Just as Latkin was drawing back his whip to give Katryn the first of his planned many lashes, Randor said calmly but most forcefully, “Wait Latkin.” “I want to try this, another way”. Latkin literally froze in his tracks, and glared at Randor. “I’m not about to let a little thing like her get away with kicking me like that”. “I well know how to handle rebellious animals like her, I’ve been doing is since before you were born,” said Latkin at a near shout. “She’s got to be taught a lesson and right now, or she’ll get the idea that she can get away with stunts like that, and I’m going to start teaching her that lesson right now” Latkin yelled. Randor countered calmly, “My old teacher, please stop and listen to yourself”. “Wasn’t it you who taught me years ago that the rare girls with her kind of spirit must be carefully tamed, but never broken?” “Isn’t she like nothing you or I have seen since I brought Vixin here, wild, almost twenty years ago?” Randor added. Upon hearing Vixin’s name, Latkin stopped in his tracks, and began regaining his composure. He was recalling that magnificent girl’s young wildness and how much trouble they had had with her. Finally, he smiled and nodded slowly, saying, “And nothing makes an old teacher more proud than one day to be taught by his student”. Rolf was hanging on every word that both had spoken.
Latkin re-hung the whip on the shed wall, and stepped around to stand behind Randor with the other two elves. Katryn had followed Latkin’s every movement until he had hung up his whip. She then turned back and locked eyes with Randor as if to say, “Well, now what are you going to do?” Randor again pulled down gently on Katryn’s neck chain while gently saying in his language, “Easy girl, easy girl, down girl, down girl”. Never breaking eye contact with Randor, Katryn stood for several minutes then slowly dropped to her knees before him.
Randor and Katryn stared at each other while Rolf immediately stepped up to cross and tie Katryn’s ankles and remove her battered shoes. Latkin and Bothar then moved in to exchange her new permanent harness for the travel chain. Katryn did not offer more resistance, allowing the elves to do with her as they wished all the while with her eyes locked on Randor’s.
Suddenly, Katryn began trembling all over and breathing so hard that she was nearly hyperventilating. Still she did not fight this elf. She had not expected things to turn out this way, and now she was absolutely furious with herself. “Why did I let him do that to me?” “What was it in his voice and eyes that had such an effect on me?” These thoughts raced through Katryn’s head. “Well”, she thought finally, with some degree of consolation, “I am tired, and all I really did was kneel for him and let them put this harness thing on me.” “They were going to do it, anyway, one way or another, and he’s still a long way from putting a saddle on my back and riding me,” Katryn’s thoughts continued now directed toward Randor. “You may have won today, but this contest is anything but over”.