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THE UNINTENDED CURSE

Ch. 18 Pt.2

When we'd finally reached the bottom of the stairs leading to the underground holding area for all the elves that the lord had in his keeping, I expected there to be some filth that would permeate the place, but the shear overwhelming atmosphere of the place had me taken aback. It wasn't so much that I was totally taken aback, as I remembered the two sister elves that I'd rescued some time ago, but this place...was much, much worse.

The chains left upon the walls that had layers upon layers of dried blood upon them, straw that was so dirty that not even the rats that ran along the walls would touch, and so much more that my host instantly reached for a handkerchief to cover his nose and mouth to make sure that he didn't breath in any of the taint. To say the least, I was quite taken aback that my host had moved so swiftly, 'That could have turned out much worse,' I thought as we continued towards the far end of the cell block. 'If my host had known some kind of spell or something of the like, it would only take a lapse in my control for any host to possibly cast a spell and render me impotent.'

My thoughts were all a whirl as far as those possibilities went, especially since my main portion had other smaller portions within the elven sisters which could possibly use such spells, but all that would have to be put on hold as my hosts mind alerted me that we were coming to the end of the block and the guards guarding this block would be just beyond the next turn. With that knowledge I knew that I had to take control once more and to that had to think of how to play out this next part 'properly'. I mean, I couldn't just walk my host right into the guard station and tell them to let all of the prisoners go, not to mention, how would I get those prisoners to follow me to safety?

"Remind me why it is that I pay you two to just sit around...," I paused in mid-sentence as I rounded the corner and sitting upon either end of an old wooden table were a couple of guards passed out with what could only be the red cheeks/noses of someone whom really loved their drink, "Drinking!" The sound of an angered Lord seemed to have done the trick as just as the last letter was uttered in a large/menacing tone that both guards suddenly awoke and began stumbling over themselves righting themselves, making themselves presentable, and trying to keep the effects of their drunken stupor from making them lose any more face before/in-front of their Lord.

"Uh...," was the general consensus/reply from either guard and to that I could feel my host beginning to really question the worthiness of these two.

"I have it on good authority that my esteemed guest is soon to arrive," I stopped in mid-sentence for a dramatic pause as to give the two guards a chance to piece together what was about to be said and what kind of mental state the Lord would be in if he were in control of himself; "And it would reflect poorly upon me to have my guest see how...'sloppy'...my guards appear who are supposed to be guarding my product." I had my host take another step closer to the two guards and in that allowed his mere presence to drive home my final sentence to their core. "And how do I punish those that make me look inferior to that of my guests?" The question was that of a rhetorical one but the point was clearly there and one that wasn't lost on the two guards. Almost like someone had just shouted in someone's ear, the two guards took to their heels and vanished up the stairs to the far side of the place, hoping that they could get themselves cleaned up and sober before their Lord would lose what little patience he had left and his frustration out of their hides.

With both of the guards now out of the way and no longer of any concern, I smiled to myself, turned to survey the dungeon/cells, and the occupants of those cells. With a bit of curiosity, I had my host slowly walk along the way we'd come, and to that, gazed slowly into each cell that we passed. I knew that I could just as easily look into the lord's mind and see what was down here, but that would do little to get a grander scope of things. I mean, I knew that the lord knew of what he kept down here and to which I knew that as well, but that would do little to inform me of many other things; much like that of the state of the occupants, their general demeanor, and/or whether or not they would be able to move about.

For the first few cells I one could see the occupants were in fairly good condition, but as we continued I could see that the condition of the occupants quickly deteriorate. In a weird sort of way it made sense, as one would expect that you would want to put your best product first, and the rest of the product towards the rear. So the first of the cells were that of the high or noble class of elves; which would be understandable as they would probably go for a higher selling price, and as we continued down the line I could see that either their class or general look would quickly deteriorate. 'How in the world did this lord come by so many types and stationed elves,' I wondered as I wanted to dig into the lords mind but refrained as I had more important things to think about right then.

'The first thing would be to infest one of these elves and get it to come to terms with what I am and my goal,' I thought as I came to that of one of the few single occupant cells and looked within. The male elf within looked to be of middle age but that in itself could be deceiving as it was known that many of which aged far differently or at different speeds, so as I looked into the cell, the elf looked up and gave me a scowl.

"So I take it that my usefulness has come to an end," the elf said in what could only be that of a defeated/withered tone. The chains upon said elf wound down from the upper section of the wall he was leaning against, to clasp not only around that of his neck but also that of either of his wrists. I couldn't really see what kind of metal those chains were made of, but I knew that if they were any kind that they would have to be some really strong or one that the elf couldn't open/free them with their magic.

I slightly raised an eyebrow at the elf's words and searched through the Lord's mind to the meaning behind the elves words. As it turned out that, 'this' elf had aided the Lord in many a thing, ranging from interpreter of those that didn't speak the human tongue, providing different elixirs which could vary from the cure to that of the common cough to love potions, but the largest of it all was determining the overall value of each elf that the Lord would eventually sell into bondage/slavery. I marveled slightly at them many uses such an elf would be to a lord such as my host, but I knew that such usefulness would only last as long as the elf could provide a reason as not to be sold.

"Hardly," I stated to the elf as he slowly raised an eyebrow towards us. I don't know how long that the two of us stared at each other but eventually the elf's other eyebrow rose and a look of shock overtook his face.

"Wait a moment...you aren't the lord."

I gave him a slight smirk. "That is one way to look at things," I said with a smile as I pulled out a set of keys from within the folds of the Lord's cloths and unlocked the cell door. The door didn't seem to want to open, as the hinges of the door grinded and let out a screeching sound that grated on the ears, but once the door opened we stepped inside and stood before the elf who slowly followed us into cell and gazed deeply into our eyes. "But the truth will have to wait for a while as we need to focus on getting all of the occupants of the cells out of this horrid place." A few moments later I had the elf released from his bonds and offered my hand down to him.

"And why should I believe what you say," the elf asked as he rubbed at not only that of his wrists but also that of his neck that seemed to have been rubbed raw and bore the marks of several layers of skin missing, as well as several scabs where the cuffs had no doubt broken the skin to allow blood to flow. "For all I know, this could be some elaborate scheme to get me to believe or trust you. And just when I do so you will either beat me for your enjoyment or something far worse."

To this I really didn't have an answer. I mean, this elf did have a reason to be skeptical as I could see within the Lord's memories that he too had done just as the elf had said; in which the Lord seemed to take great delight in many different kinds of torture and not all of them with that of the flesh or some other kind of thing that would make even the most depraved person flinch/shudder in disgust. I didn't really know how I was not only going to convince this elf of my intent, also that of the other captives, but I was defiantly going to give it my best effort. With that of a sigh I slowly knelt before the elf so that we were more on an eye to eye level and said, "I don't know what it will take to convince you that this is no trick, but I can promise you that I am not the Lord."

This got the elf to tilt his head slightly to the side and his gaze to turn to one of confusion. "If you wish to know more, then you must promise that you will keep what I am about to tell you a secret," I paused as I looked out of either corner of my eye at the other occupants within the other cells. "Secret long enough that we can meet up with my main body."

This got the elf to raise an eyebrow and after a few seconds he shook his head. "That is too vague for me to agree too."

I slowly let out a breath, then shook my head. "Then I believe that we are at an impasse. It is too dangerous to reveal more than that, and we don't have much time before the true buyer of all of you to arrive and all of us need to be long gone from this place before he arrives."

The elf took on a thoughtful look and then finally a slow smile spread across his face. "I think I may have an idea," to which I gave him a nod and a roll of the wrist for him to continue. "You say that your goal is to hasten our escape of this place?" To which I nodded and rolled my wrist once more. "And you also claim that you are not the Lord." Once again I nodded to elf.

"What are you getting at?"

"Here is what I 'can' agree to," to which he let out a sigh and re-met our gaze. "I will talk to the other occupants of the cells on your behalf but whether or not they believe that you are here to help us will be up to them," he paused for a brief breath and searched my eyes; probably to see if I would give him any indication of falsehood. "If you agree to the promise of non-hostility or aggression to anyone/thing that resides here, then I can pass that along in which will probably sway all of us here into trusting you."

I didn't quite know what he was getting at but maybe he was trying to swindle me into a promise that would no doubt be bad for me or that of my host. To that thought I had to think over his words fairly carefully and to that I let out a sigh. "I will agree to that if you can agree that none of the occupants won't attack my host until I give the okay."

This got the elf to raise the other eyebrow to and quirk his head slightly to the side. "You said something that has caught my attention," I nodded to him to continue, "Do you not care if your current host dies then?"

I gave the elf a shrug. "Like I said, this isn't my real body, but that of a temporary one. Once I'm finished with this body, I'll return to my 'true' body and you and those of these cells may do what you will with the Lord."

The elf did a few double takes between the Lord and that of many of the other occupants of the cells and once his gaze finally settled upon the Lord I couldn't help but cringe at the evil like grin that he now sported across his face. "Give us the Lord once you are free of him, and we will follow you to where-ever you say."

I extended a hand down to the elf in which he took it. "I believe that we have an agreement," to which the elf nodded and we shook hands.