The trip to the facility they were in had been uneventful, but tortuously uncertain.  They had changed locations several times, losing their weapons in the process, whether that was to keep the elves safe or to stop them from maiming each other was anyone’s guess.  Now in some sort of large cage, but there had been very little to go off of exactly what was happening.  The elves rarely said anything at all when they came by, and when they did, it was something banal like “Alright humans, let’s go.”  They had obviously traveled a great distance, and the rocking of a ship had indicated that they had sailed somewhere as well.  Of course, it seemed obvious that they were now on the Elsiran continent.  Alberto knew that meant there was almost no hope of them being rescued from the heart of enemy territory, but he also knew that not much had changed as far as what could be done, the goal was still to survive whatever taming process they would be put through, and hope that somehow, this could be over.

If Lucrezia understood how unlikely it was for them to rescued, she didn’t show it.  She remained a steadfast pillar of support in the group, encouraging everyone to wait for reinforcements to come and rescue them.  Alberto was personally curious if she really still had so much optimism, but there was no secretive way for him to ask her while they were in these pens.

In spite of the dire circumstances, there were some reasons to be happy.  In the new, larger caged area they were joined by several bottles worth of comrades, including Captain Marte and much of his calvary.  It seemed that there had been very few casualties whatsoever in the skirmish, the elves had been coldly efficient in shrinking them.  Of course, that they were able to take so many of them alive was also a testament to their power.  How were the main forces doing back in Latria?

“Good morning, humans.”  The voice startled them.  It was the first time since the soldier girl’s threats that any of them had heard an elf speaking common.  With booming footsteps rapidly approaching, they were soon facing their new captor as she stepped over a small barrier and in front of their cage.  As with all elves, she was strikingly beautiful, with a pale, round face, framed by thick brown hair in ringlets.  She was wearing a simple white toga, with her feet in a pair of strappy leather sandals.  Her expression seemed a little bored, if anything.

“Alright then, let’s get you out of there, come on, present yourselves!” She snapped her fingers and the heavy cage doors swung open.  For a fraction of a second there was a nervous silence, but then several men took off as fast as they could run, followed quickly by others.  An almost feverish race as they all began to run past the colossal elf and towards the barrier.  Many hung back, knowing that even if they got over the wall, where would they go?  They had no idea where they were.

Frowning, the elf casually walked over to the tiny humans trying to scale the wall and, one by one, began to daintily press the toe of her sandal against their legs.  Even from the cage entrance, the horrific screams that grew into a ghoulish chorus were chilling.

“And you, and you…aaaaand there, that’s all of you.” The elf spoke to herself, nodding contentedly that she’d gotten them all.  She turned to the remaining humans, who had still not left the cage.  “Do you not understand common?  I told you to present yourselves!  Now hurry up, or you’ll get the same!”

The humans nervously rushed up to the elf’s feet, Alberto looked up, but saw that she was studying her nails, not looking down at them.  Looking ahead, he saw her long, flawless toes peeking out from the sandals, he felt something in the pit of his stomach as he saw blood stains on the leather.

“Alright, for all you eager escapees, please join the rest of your kind.” The elf snapped her fingers again, and slowly the crushed legs of the men and women near the barrier began to mend.  They nervously began to stand, then walked to join the rest of the group.  The elf finally looked down at them, smiling cheerfully.

“Welcome to Elsira.  I am Cithrel.  I will be seeing to your education here at the Priscille Trading Company.  You see, you humans have been criminally out of contact with elven kind, and do not understand your place in the world.  You’re all very lucky!  Despite attacking your masters, the empress and her loyal subjects have asked that you be given the chance to serve, to prove that you can be educated, to better yourselves!  We’ll start off easy, your first task is to show proper respect to your betters!”  She sat down on a stool and began unlacing her sandals, slipping them off and propping her feet up on her heels.  Her soles towered above the minuscule prisoners, the slender toes clenching and unclenching lazily, the plush skin of her sole wrinkling up ever so slightly each time.  “Come on then, start licking!”  She commanded happily.

No one moved.  No one wanted the shame of being the first to submit.  Cithrel stared blankly at them, her smile never wavering.  After a few seconds, she let out a theatrical sigh.

“Well then, maybe your listening comprehension isn’t very good then?”  She snapped her fingers again, and Alberto fell to the ground in pain as he felt a fire burning in his chest.  As he writhed around on the ground in agony, he was dimly aware of the fact that everyone else was rolling around screaming as well.  The pain finally subsided, leaving a numb sensation in all of Alberto’s limbs.  He didn’t want to stand, he just wanted to catch his breath.

“Now let’s try this again.  Start.  Licking.”

This time they rushed to her towering soles.  Alberto found himself bumping into his fellow captives, everyone still a bit numb and clumsy from the punishment.  He quickly pressed his face up against the soft, almost odorless sole in front of him and began licking the smooth skin back and forth, desperate to avoid another shock.

Again he fell to the ground in burning agony.

“I was talking to all of you.  What are those four doing in the back?  Let’s try this again, but EVERYONE starts licking!”

Alberto didn’t bother to look at who the stragglers had been, he once again began working his tongue against Cithrel’s soft feet, actually climbing up them in an attempt to reach her toes.

Before he could reach them, a snap of the elf’s fingers made the pain flare up in him again, causing him to collapse off her foot and fall to the ground, rolling and clutching himself as he collided with other flailing bodies.

“Just one of you now hmmm?  Do you not care that your friends are getting hurt?  I’m shocked to see humans can be so selfish.  Maybe your friends need to help you”. This time, Alberto looked back.  Sitting alone, breathing heavily as she recovered from the pain, was Lucrezia, glaring up at Cithrel.  The elf’s gaze shifted to the squirming masses at her feet, and her smiling expression hardened as she raised her hand, her fingers pressed together.

Alberto watched weakly as five men yanked Lucrezia from the ground and dragged her to Cithrel’s heels.  Alberto recognized Captain Marte as he hefted Lucrezia’s tiny face into the pale wall.  The elf seemed mildly amused as she watched the small woman’s former comrades berate her and force her to begin licking.  Alberto began climbing the foot again, briefly sparing a look at Lucrezia, whose face was burning with anger even as her former comrades in arms were forcing her against the plush wall in front of her.  Alberto perched himself between Cithrel’s toes and began lapping away at the silky digits.  A few others joined him, there was only so much room to lick her feet from the ground.  Cithrel contentedly watched them for a few moments.

“That’s better, see?  Things go well when you do what you’re told.  Now, I’m being very kind with you all, but you can’t expect elves to speak to you in common, or at all really!  You’ll need to look for non-verbal cues.  For example, when I stretched my feet out of my sandals, that’s all the cue you needed to start licking!  If the elf doesn’t want you to, they’ll let you know.”  Her musical voice oozed with kindness, an attentive smile on her face as she looked down at all of them.  But her words were clear, they would need to be watching her for future demands.  “Now, I’m going to relax a little longer, don’t let me stop you!” Suddenly her feet began to surge forward, knocking the little people on the ground to the side and nearly throwing Alberto and the others perched on top of her foot off.  She had now completely stretched her legs out, and soon those that had fallen were back to her feet, slavishly licking away at them.

A door opened and an elf with her long blonde hair done up in a braid walked in holding a tray and stepped over the barrier, similarly wearing a toga and sandals.  The feverish ministrations of the tiny humans paused for a moment as they huddled closer to Cithrel’s feet, terrified of this new, mobile creature, some of them keenly remembering when Cithrel had crushed their legs.  The two women began to chat in elven.

“Thanks for the tea, it’s always boring when they’re just kissing your feet and you don’t have anything to do.” Cithrel beamed as she took a cup and saucer from the tray.  Alberto swore he could see movement from the saucer…

“I know!  I usually try to bring a book or something to pass the time, although it can be fun seeing what little dynamics the untamed humans have, how is this week’s batch?” The blonde asked, putting the now empty tray against her chest.

“Just started them out, a little resistance, but they learn nicely, as you can see.  That big one seems especially eager.” She didn’t point out who she was talking about, but it was probably Marte.

Cithrel raised up a tea bag to dab in her cup of steaming hot water, and it was with a sinking feeling Alberto saw a tiny moving figure in the bag, too distant to be clear, but it didn’t need to be clear for him to know what it was.  He looked back down to the relative comfort of Cithrel’s toes and continued to lick and kiss the soft skin.  Mercifully, the two elves did not make any acknowledgement of what was happening in that cup.

“We’re booked for a function every week this month, it’s a good thing the armies are so efficient at catching these little ones, shame we can’t just recycle them after a party.” The blonde said.

Recycled?

“People only hire us because they want the very best my dear.  Can you imagine the scandal if a council member found out that the human sucking on their toe had performed the same service on one of their rivals?”  The two elves laughed at the frivolous thought.

“When you have a moment, I wanted to show you some of the letters we’ve received.”

Cithrel’s feet shook suddenly, dropping Alberto and the others to the floor in a heap.  “I can come right now, nothing too serious going on anyways.”  He had barely had time to stand up before Cithrel was already slipping on her sandals, and walking out the room with her coworker.

Lucrezia was upon him almost immediately.

“Alberto, what were they saying?  Just then, what were they saying to each other?  Is there any kind of news?”  Her cheeks were still flushed from anger, but she didn’t look angry…she looked, desperate.  Alberto had the realization that Lucrezia’s insistences that they would be rescued were not merely something to keep up the morale of the others, but very much something that she had been telling herself.  Honestly, aside from the recycled bit, which he still didn’t fully understand, there had been nothing of interest in the conversation.  But as he looked at that desperate face…

“Chatting about their day really…but one thing stood out, they said the next shipment might be delayed, apparently their army has run into some problems.”

Relief washed over Lucrezia’s face, that glimmer of hope in her eyes.  “Good, maybe Pasquale is still ok, as long as he’s out there, someone will be looking for us, so, we can’t give up, we can’t give up!”

“So what if someone knows we exist?  We’re obviously in Elsira now, don’t you get it?  This is it!”  Marte’s voice signaled his arrival to the spot where Alberto and Lucrezia were chatting.  “What in the hells was that earlier?  Are you trying to get us killed Lucrezia?  These things eat people!  We’re stuck like this, but they aren’t eating us, so that means we have a chance!  Even if that chance means being a little lapdog to these bitches, what, you think you’re too good for that?  Did you forget that we saw a woman march herself into an elf’s damn mouth?  I’m trying to keep you safe for your own good, but if you pull a stunt like that again…”

He didn’t finish, he didn’t need to, but if his speech had worked, Lucrezia didn’t show it.  She was still in her own world, one where help was out there.

Alberto knew Marte was right of course.  It had been an easy thing for him to accept, it was just like death on the battlefield, or being captured in a dungeon somewhere.  This was just a different form of that, but still one that was very much final.

The next two days were filled with humiliations.  Licking Cithrel’s feet was less of a task and more of a state of being, something to be done if it was possible to do and they had not been ordered otherwise.  The haphazard rush of people kissing her feet had gradually become organized, and now the sound of the elf’s sandals slipping off were accompanied by tiny hands climbing and grasping their way to covering her peds and giving tender care to each little space.  They were worn in boots, being pressed up against musty leather as lithe toes prodded them.  Cithrel used some kind of protection charm on them and ordered them to stay still while she stepped on them, if anyone disobeyed, they all received the same burning pain.  They learned how to work together to pick up something she had dropped, and painstakingly scale her leg so as to hand it back to her without her needing to expend the effort of bending down.  Sometimes, if they did especially well, she might grace them with a small nod of approval.

At night there was little talking, little conspiring.  Everyone was too exhausted, the cage where they slept was not comfortable, but they didn’t need it, their aching muscles just wanted to pass out into merciful oblivion.

The third morning, as Cithrel stepped into the room and the cage doors magically opened, she scanned the room for a moment, then pointed at Alberto.  “You, to me.”  Alberto ran as quickly as he could, stopping in front of her toes and meekly kissing them.  He yelped in surprise as he was grabbed between her forefinger and thumb, and carried out of the room.  Clinging in fear to her finger, he looked around but saw only a drab hallway, she turned into another room, identical to the one they had been in before, except the cage there was empty.  She set him down on a table and leaned in over the table, her lips so close to him he could see nothing else.  The smell of her breath was sweet, and in spite of everything…arousing.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Cithrel asked him.

It was a terrifying question.

She had asked it in elven.