The Prisoner

P

Psychedelic

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Orrin liked to think of himself as a cultured man, but that did not put his sensibilities above dirty tactics in war. It was one of the necessities of this conflict, in which both sides were ailing, and neither were willing to give ground. They were evenly matched, and unable to break the stalemate in which the races had been locked for many years. The dark elves of the mountain caves were numbering little more than five hundred, down from more than two thousand just a few years ago. They would not last long, even if they did win this war soon, the race was in dire straits, not that anything could be done about their numbers now.

The young noble elf had been sent out with a troop of half a dozen men, all lithely built and silent through the forested terrain in which their enemy dwelled. All were blessed with hair of various shades of white and grey. Orrin's own was pure ivory, falling to the small of his back, hanging loose behind his head as he trudged through the woodland. Grey eyes surveyed the route, aware that they were reaching the ambush site. The men fanned out, taking to the trees at this point.

Their dark skin and armour blended in well with the night air, and the rustling they made was minimal. They were not adept tree climbers, but had taken the time to learn the skill in order to ensure they were at least equal to their enemy. The seven men moved quickly through the trees, often leaping great distances from branch to branch, until finally they came to rest in varying positions around the enemy camp. The small fire had been quenched for the night, the diurnal men and women were sleeping, while the nocturnal aggressors were more than awake.

The officer of the group gave the order silently, and the men descended upon the camp. Orrin leaped from his position, wielding an ebony dagger, along with an intricately carved silver mace which he held in his right hand. The objective was to dispatch those deemed worthless, while a couple of the more informed members of the party would be taken prisoner, bled for their information, and then killed. It was a simple idea, and should go without any issue.
 
Ireth was an archer, one of the best of her clan, though now that isn't saying much since a toll had been taken from the last attack by the dark elves. There plan was to travel to the caves and ambush at morning, but the journey was far causing them to camp out half way there. The wood elves too pride in themselves for their good hearts and tried to stay out of the conflict, in the end they had no choice.

Her group had six other people with her, five with daggers and other blades, while her and another had arrows. Their armor, another thing they were proud of, was made to blend into their land and was made of a thick layered oak cut from the thick trees of their woods and thick woven grass strands, almost nothing could break through all the layers but the dark elves were starting to ware down their armor. The elves had a mixture of dark and light hair, from brown to blonde. Her own was a light brown with a few leaves sticking out from being in the trees earlier that day.

Sadly the night was their weakness when it came to the wars, that's when they would loose most of their clans, they maybe only had about four hundred of their kind left and it seems as though it was going to keep getting worse. It was so bad that they started to send out the women who were meant to stay behind and guard. Bright green eyes look around the trees for a moment as she drew her bow up and pulled back the arrow to her cheek, she had a feeling of being watched and it hadn't left since she sat down. She called out to her group seeing the dark elves attacking and shot her arrow at her best target, Orrin.
 
Had the dark elf not already been moving, he might have been able to avoid the shot entirely, but unfortunately he was already sailing through the air towards his target. Orrin did manage to twist in the air as he came down, but the arrow still stuck itself in the flesh between his collar bone and shoulder. It was not a deep wound, more an inconvenience than anything, but that didn't change the range young Orrin felt at being struck.

As he landed lightly on his feet, he lashed out at the female that had dared to harm him. Without hesitation, he went to bludgeon her with the mace. He deliberately ensured he did not use all his force, his immediate anger leading him to believe that leaving her alive would be the worst thing for her. She deserved all the torture the interrogation teams could muster. Well, he believed all the wood elves deserved that cruel treatment, but unfortunately there just wasn't time enough in the world to do that. So, for the time being they would have to make do with taking only two of this party.

The battle did not last long. Caught unaware, the wood elves fell quickly, most were felled in their sleep, and those that lived long enough to put up a fight were soon despatched without much fuss. Well, one dark elf was slain, but the one who had done that was soon stabbed directly in the throat. He drowned in his own blood. By the time it was over, only two of the wood elves remained alive, both unconscious. They were tied with thick lengths of rope, then hauled into the arms of the two strongest elves. Orrin finally pulled the arrow from his shoulder, pressing a patch of cloth to the puncture wound, making sure to stop the bleeding.

The journey back to the caves seemed much longer than it had done on the way out, mainly due to the burden they carried. However, once they were there, they were met with enthusiasm by their fellows. The prisoners were placed in two small, makeshift cells, many of the bars were natural formations of stalagmites and stalactites. Orrin, although already quite tired, volunteered to watch over them for the night. He was still full of adrenaline, and so for the next few hours he would be too wired to sleep.
 
Cursed herself for her shot, she knew she could have done so much better but with such short notice it was all she could do for now. She was surprised at how well he landed on his feet after taking the arrow, before she could even reach for another arrow his mace hit her hard knocking the wind out of her. Stumbling back into the ground from the force of his blow never having felt anything like it, a sword she was used but this was something else. The sight of her clan falling so quickly was unbelievable, those were a friends and family and now they were no more.

Her vision went blurry and her eyelids felt heavy, soon her body went limp as she became unconscious, his strong hits did more to her than she ever planned. On the way through the trees and to the caves her eyes were peek open seeing blurry bits and pieces of where they were, her wrists feeling tight from the ropes. Wanting to struggles against the one carrying her, she couldn't, her mind was too groggy and her limbs didn't want to obey her need to get free. She tried her best to remember the scenery before her mind would go black and her eyes would close once more.

Slowly her eyes blinked over, her head pounding and aching as she took in the space around her. A small cage with thick stalagmite bars was all she could see at first as her sight began to come back. "This can't be..." she muttered to herself as she attempts to sit up but just leans into one of the stalagmites. As her eyes fall onto the dark elf she glares and her 'brows furrow together with thought, she recognized him, he was the one from the ambush, the one that killed her kind. Her jaw clenched tightly as anger built up inside of her, nimble hands turning into tight white fists in her lap. Nothing could be said to express her hatred and scorn towards this dark elf.
 
He didn't have to wait too long for the first of the prisoners to wake. Of course, their weapons had been removed the moment they had arrived, but that didn't mean Orrin was going to rest on his laurels. Wood elves were wily creatures, and so it would be foolish to remain relaxed around this one as she gained her consciousness. Hopefully she wouldn't be in too much pain, she needed a clear enough head to be interrogated. If her head was fuzzy for too long, then it was likely that the jailer would lose patience and simply get rid of her. There was no point wasting time on the weak.

Orrin stood as the girl awoke, heading towards the natural bars of the cage, standing just a foot or so away from her. "Hello there. I admire your efforts, but I'm afraid it wasn't enough, little pixie." Truth be told, Orrin was not the best at taunting the enemy, that was better left to the more seasoned members of the interrogation force. He had only ever done open battle, so this was a new situation for him. That was why he had called her a pixie. Pixies were vermin, much like rats and bats, though they tended to be even more of a nuisance than those animals.

"Your friends are dead, apart from that guy. But, we'll only need one of you." The usual way these interrogations worked, was to torture and kill one prisoner, in the hope that they would feel enough compassion to spurt out information in an effort to save their comrade. The technique usually worked, and of course, neither elf was ever saved. Keeping prisoners for too long was a liability, and releasing them was just damn foolish.
 
A loud gasp escaped her lips as she heard him call her a pixie, scrambling to her feet she rushed towards the bar and grabbed, her hands swiping at him trying to get anything she could grab onto, shouting, "I'm not a pixie, you arrogant troll!!" Her anger boiled over and she couldn't control herself any longer. "My clan will come for us and kill all of you." she said through gritted teeth, this wasn't like her usually cool and collected but he was pushing all of the wrong buttons.

Taking deep breaths as she listened to his words, she knew very well how his kind worked they wouldn't live, they'd be lucky to stay a few days, but she wasn't going to go without a fight. Glancing over at her clansman and then back up at the thing standing before her "You won't get anything out of me. No matter what you do... You'll have to kill me first." she spoke slowly making sure he heard every word, her fingers curling around bars tightly, her knuckles turning white.

Taking a few steps back from the bars her eyes squint into another glare as she looked the man up and down to estimate how much strength he had, she could remember from last night what he could do with a mace but what about his hands. She knew that she wasn't going to make it through whatever it was that he had planned for her. "Whatever you're going to do, do it now. You're just going to kill me anyway."
 
Although he was ready for her to blow up, Orrin didn't quite manage to get out of the way in time. She managed to snag a few stands of his luxurious white hair, a testament to his gross inexperience. He couldn't be blamed for being young though, he had many years ahead of him in which to gain experience and prowess in all fields, besides just his excellence in the field of battle. Well, of course he only had these years if he managed to survive through the various skirmishes that would inevitably come more often as the years progressed. Hopefully his skill would speak for itself.

"Well, goodnight my pet. Make sure you get some rest." He smirked, deciding that now was the best time to leave her alone. When he returned the following night, the second prisoner would have awoken, and the real work could begin. It was Orrin's first chance at attempting an interrogation, and failure was not an option. He did not wish to experience the flaying that would inevitably go along with the failure that may well come along.

The next night, Orrin was accompanied by two lower born dark elves. Their skin was not as uniformly black, and their hair was a dull grey. They looked more like grotesque gargoyles than the elves they were, but their appearance hardly mattered. They were strong things, and they easily apprehended the male prisoner in the cell next to the girls. He was then tied with his arms above his head, suspended by chains that were fixed to the roof of the cavern.

"I expect you to tell me everything. Your number. Your planned attacks. Anything and everything." And without warning, Orrin produced a crudely crafted whip. It was a common form of punishment among his kind, and so it was a fitting way to start. He rapidly struck the elf, three times in quick succession, not that he cried out too much. He was apparently a tough cookie. Still, Orrin peered over at the girl, "Any gems you'd like to share?"
 
Grimaced as he called her pet and walked off, she cursed under her breath as she slumped down into the bars sliding to sit on the floor. Throughout the night she couldn't sleep, she couldn't look at her clansman knowing that tomorrow he would probably die. Though she was young she excepted that she and everyone she fought with would die during these scrimmages of the war. Looking down at her hands in her lap as fingers played along the silver strands.

Her head lulled back into the stalagmite bar staring up at the ceiling of the cage wondering how long they had been sitting there. It seemed like forever until she heard the footsteps. Seeing the two large elves scared her but she couldn't let them see it, she turned away having her back to the three of them. Her body tensing and flinching with each hit of the whip, the only thing she could do was mutter an apology, keeping their kind safe was worth more than his life. There was nothing she could do for him.

Upon hearing his question her jaw tightened, her teeth would have cracked if her jaw was any stronger. Her arms wrapped around herself with her hands wrapped around her biceps, nails digging into her own skin "No." she said through her teeth, it was all she could manage out. She didn't want to die tonight but instead he was, she was damned either way.
 
Seeing as she wasn't going to give in this easily, Orrin stepped up the level of pain that her comrade was going to endure. While he continued to flay the innocent young man, one of the odd little monstrosities stood on a stool in order to reach the hands of their prisoner. It was at his point that he produced a thinly edged pair of sharp pliers. It was a cruel device, made even worse as the previously quite gruff elf began screaming like a little girl. Starting with his thumbnail, these pliers were used to tear the nails from their beds one by one. Each one took several minutes to do, and it was safe to say that the poor elf scout had never experienced anything like it.

Through his screams, he began to speak. He knew little, as he was little more than a boy, but it didn't take him long to spout all the information he had. All he could say was that their number had not changed significantly, and the troop out the previous night had been the only one he knew of. Still, this small amount of cooperation did earn him a break from his torture. Orrin signalled for his goons to leave. They were getting too excited by the blood that was now flowing from the bare nailbeds, as well as the ongoing cries and whimpers of the male.

"Have you anything to say yet? Or do you wish me to start on his other hand? I could always brand him, if you would prefer, or remove his tongue?" Orrin knew it was terribly cruel, but he also knew it was necessary. It wasn't as if they were the only guilty ones here. He was sure that the wood elves would have treated their prisoners in just the same manner, although he had no way of knowing this for sure. They weren't exactly fans of comparing notes with one another.
 
Hands unclasped from around her biceps and wrapped over her head to try and muffle the screams, her eyes shut tightly as she attempted to tune out the loud cries of pain. The cries stopped and turned to see if he was dead, only to see him start to speak "Don't say anything!" she screamed out scrambling to the other side of her cage and hoped her voice covered the little information he knew. But it was too late, they now knew how large their numbers were, they wanted to lead the dark elves into false security and win the war but that was now over.

Her chest heaved up and down in hard breaths, if her eyes could turn red in anger they would. She was conflicted if she stayed silent then he would endure more torture but if she spoke everything would be lost, the planning, the victory. "I'm sorry, Aegnor." looking away in shame she fell back down to the floor, drawing her legs to her chest, her face hiding into her knees as her arms wrapped over her head once more preparing for more screams to come. Just hearing this was enough torture for her, she couldn't imagine what it would be like when it was her turn. Her body ached at the thought if she would be able to endure the same torture, or if she was ruin the survival of her kind and tell everything.
 
Seeing as the girl was still showing no sign of talking, Orrin continued to gradually pick the poor elf apart. Soon enough, the man had no nails left, either on his fingers or toes. It was at this point that Orrin moved onto heating a poker. Of course, it would take some time to heat the branding iron, but while they waited, he extracted Aegnor's tongue. Somehow his screams were now even more grotesque, the garbled sounds of blood gargling in his mouth as he screamed was terrible. Orrin almost lost his nerve at this point, but he knew what was at stake here.

"Talk. Now. I take his eyes next." Orrin said plainly, throwing the dismembered tongue into the cell with the woman. He wanted to disgust her, as well as frighten her. He needed to use every angle he could get, this girl seemed that she would be a tough nut to crack. Many hours had already passed, and yet she had still not broken. Often it took less than one hour for them to start talking, but perhaps Orrin wasn't very skilled at this, or else he'd drawn the short straw with this woman. Still, he had to try and break her, he had felt the bite of the whip far too many times in his life, and it was this fear that spurred him on. It seemed to be the primary source of motivation in all the dark elves, whether or not it was a good or bad thing.
 
Jumping in surprise of the bloody tongue to be thrown into her cage, she stared at it for a moment hearing his words. Her face twisted into a disgusted expression as she picked up the cut muscle and threw it back, hitting him in the chest and spoke "He can't talk and probably wont be able to walk by the time your done." she paused looking Aegnor over, blood running down his chin and from his hands and feet. "Just end it now!" she screamed at him "Might as well just kill us both because you're not succeeding!"

Her arms crossed over her chest hoping she'd seem tougher than she really was, though she had become numb to the screams over the past hours she still felt sorrow and spite over the loss of her comrades, now she just wanted to get everything over with and at least die with knowing what she did was right.
 
Orrin ignored her for the time being, and after a while he decided on a plan of action. He left the two alone. They were left to their own devices for three entire days, though the male elf died only a few hours after Orrin had left. He had already lost alot of blood, and so he had passed out, after which he had drowned in the blood that continuously pumped down his throat. The corpse hung there for the following two days, beginning to succumb to the basteria that ate away at it, causing a huge stench to gradually emanate through the room. It also began to discolour and bloat. It was truly a terrible thing to see.

On the fourth day, Orrin returned to the one surviving prisoner. "Are you ready to talk yet?" He asked, ignoring the corpse that still hung there like a piece of meat. The stench did bother him, but he was just about able to maintain his composure. He had seen alot in his relatively short life, and so to him this really was nothing. He just hoped that the girl had a little less fortitude than he had. Her relationship with the male would probably help her to crack, but it was still a longshot. What if she never did? He didn't know if he'd ever be able to admit defeat.
 
Sitting in the corner of her cage, her stomach growling for food, mouth dry and craving water, but the worst was the stench. A hand clamped over her mouth and nose, though it was not much help to avoid the horrible smell. Throughout the days she look over at the hanging body and saw the terrible decomposition of the body. Would this be her? Tortured and then left to hang like a piece of meat after a hunt? No, this couldn't be it.

Then she thought of a plan, the only problem would be if she could pull it off, through the days she had enough time to study the room and what could be used to help her. She was getting weak but knew she had a bit energy left, hopefully it was enough. Watching him walk in she studied him, doubt started to fill her mind. He obviously has had rest and food unlike her, but maybe she could catch him off guard. "Yes..." she replied softly as she managed to stand herself up and walked over to where he was standing.
 
Well, that was unexpected. Orrin actually had to pause for a moment, narrowing his eyes at the girl, although he was soon back on track and in control. He stepped close into the bars, standing without any real discernible intentions. For now, he would give her the benefit of the doubt, even though he wasn't entirely certain whether she was genuine. He knew that he could not trust this woman, she was a sly fox, and that was putting it nicely. So, with still a little bit of caution, Orrin spoke to the girl, demanding all the information she had.

"Tell me then, what have your betters got planned? We know you intend to march on us soon." There had been rumblings of a final stage of the war, though to be fair these had been occurring for many years. It was really one of the only things that kept the dark elves going - the hope that one day the war would finally be over and they could finally relax in the knowledge that they were safe. His eyes bore into hers, his expression cold and hard, though it was really all for show. He was actually quite nervous, and had no idea if this girl would even have any information worth getting.
 
As he stepped closer to the bars she gathered the last of her energy for when he let her out, but then he just stood there and her body just slouched into the bars. I should of planed for that, she thought to herself. Her eyes looked back up into his, tired and dull from the past few days not like they used to be, bright and happy. All that came from her lips was a sigh, her silence filling the room. She new only little things about the next act that was planned just in case their ambush was unsuccessful, it obviously was. All she could do now was go back to plan A, not give any information and hope the torture was quick.

"I know nothing." she said bluntly, knowing he'd probably get angry and just end her since practically nothing came from her lips in the past days. She heard rumors and horror stories of what dark elves did to prisoners, and after seeing what just happened to Aegnor she knew some of it to be true. Being sure that her response must have seemed confusing since she told him she was ready to talk "Nothing I want to tell you, nothing I will tell you."
 
How could he have been so stupid? He had been drawn in by that awful woman and her ridiculous lies. Orrin clenched his fists, gritting his teeth against the string of curses that just ached to come out. Of course, had he allowed himself to release the torrent of foul language, it hardly would have mattered, seeing as he wasn't exactly in polite company. Even so, he kept the words to himself, turning on his heel as he went to find the length of rope with which he had first tied her wrists. It was the only thing left to do.

"To the back of the cell." He ordered, opening the rudimentarily crafted but functional gate, stepping towards the woman without any hesitation. "You leave me no choice." Orrin said with some almost solemn sounding regret. He honestly did not want to torture her, had not wanted to torture her companion either, but it was a requirement of the war. The wood elves needed to be stopped, before they decimated the dark elves themselves.
 
Watched him carefully at his muscles tightened and his anger boil. She stepped back to the other end of her cage and mustered up the last sliver of strength that hid inside of her but kept the appearance of weakness. Though her body tensed seeing the rope, a small part of her being afraid and hoping she could put up enough of a fight. That glimmer of hope was quickly dieing the moment he opened the cage and stepped inside. When he got close enough she knew this would be her only chance.

Pulling up her strength, in one swift motion, she jammed the ball of her palm up under his jaw and squats down sweeping her leg into his. Kicking his legs out from under him so he hit the floor she grabbed the rope and jumped onto him. Pinning him down to the floor she pressed the rope to his throat "No, you give me now choice." she whispered back to him as to not draw any others to the room from any sounds she may have already made. "I don't want this, no one does, but your kind lead us to it."
 
There was no time to think until he was already on the floor, but Orrin wasted no time in responding once he was there. "My kind?! You are the evil in this war!" He spat, not making any effort to get up just yet. He was curious to see what the girl would do. He was confident that he could overpower her when the time came, but for the time being he would let her think she was in control. Who knew, maybe she'd let something important slip now that she was nice and confident again. He winced slightly, the action half feigned, though the pressure on his throat was indeed uncomfortable.

His grey eyes stared up into her own, strong and cold as always. He might be feigning his prone position, but he wasn't going to overdo it. She must have known that he would never truly give in to her, just as she would not intentionally disclose the secrets of the struggling wood elf race. They both seemed to be terribly stubborn characters, something that would no doubt lead to the untimely demise of one or both of them. It was really just a matter of waiting it out to see who crumbled first.
 
"Lair!" she yelled through gritted teeth as she applied more pressure, she leaned down her face just inches away from his own, her anger and adrenaline clouding her judgement, "We all know that you no good, filthy trolls started this war." from what she was told the dark elves were planning an uprising and was going to take over the wood elves' territory. Once that news spread they planned for an attack and responded, maybe it was them who actually started it but to the rest it was the black elves.

Her hand began to shake against her tight grip on the rope, trying to best to steady them before he could notice. Thinking she had the best opportunity and that he was the one who should be afraid. She was young and in the moment swore she had the upper hand "So lets talk." a smirk forming on her lips, "How about now you tell me what you know since the tables have turned?"