The reports of Latrian troops encountering elves had been terrifying.  They seemed less battles and more encounters with an unstoppable force that blazed through like wildfire.  Captain Alberto read them again, but there really wasn’t much tactically to go on, just that areas where battles had taken place were obviously scarred by some kind of pyrotechnics, so presumably elven magic.  On the one hand, lack of information made an intelligence officer like himself more valuable, but on the other hand, he’d prefer all the data was available and he could just analyze it, better predict what would happen when their forces inevitably met with the enemy.

It would have been nice to at least been able to request more records, but if the kingdom of Latria had any secret data on the Elsiran forces, it was unlikely that he’d get it.  The nobles built everything off of family ties and blood oaths, so it was only out of desperation that they had hired mercenaries from Nura.  Still, Alberto would need to report what little he’d found out to Major Pasquale.  Hopefully one of his scouts would return before then with some news they could use.  He was a bit worried about them, if the elves were as dangerous as it seemed, even his more experienced men would be in grave danger.

It had been quite a twisted road that had led Alberto to being in the mercenary units of the Nuran Republic.  He’d gone from living in the slums to scoring top marks on the provincial exams being able to study diplomacy and linguistics.  Naive dreams of being a diplomat were quickly dashed as it became apparent that any posts required significant connections, either family or personal, of which he had neither.  Joining the mercenaries had seemed about the only way out of his position, and he’d done surprisingly well, his promotion to Major was almost guaranteed, assuming he survived this assignment.

“Captain, Sergeant Bonetti has news!” The voice of his Lieutenant rang out.

“Send him in.”

A somewhat heavyset man entered the tent and gave a smart salute.  “Sir, Sergeant Bonetti reports!” Alberto stood to his considerable height and returned the salute.  “Let’s have your report.”

“Theres a series of Elsiran supply wagons enroute about 12 miles South West.  They’re heading up the river sir.”

“How many wagons?  How well defended are they?”

“At least 12 sir, there’s some calvary around them, about a platoon’s worth at each one.”

“Excellent job Sergeant, go get yourself and your men a rest.”

The two men exchanged salutes, and Alberto was alone in his tent again.  He turned to his map of Latria, studying the location described.  They’d end up reaching the inland sea eventually, but likely they would break off to join the main forces before then.  Looking at the terrain there, there were only a few spots where it would make sense to move supply wagons.  He scratched at his short brown hair, a bad habit from his humble beginnings; it seemed he’d be able to give the Major a decent brief after all.

—

The meeting had been short, this information needed to be acted on quickly to be of any use.  Major Pasquale had decided against sending the entire mercenary troupe to deal with the supply wagons, the local lord was nervous enough as it was with them shoring up the main defensive line, leaving was not an option.  Instead a significant force of landships and troops would be deployed to strike the supplies and return as soon as possible.  Alberto and his men were joining along as the principle navigation.

It was almost dusk, the biggest hindrance in their travel was also their greatest advantage, the landships.  The large war machines were self propelled armored chariots with powerful cannons, one of the reasons that Nura was able to both defend itself and rent out mercenaries despite the relatively small size of it’s armies.  Alberto’s men were keenly aware of the limitations of landship mobility and had picked a route that should cut off the supply wagons in time.  As the reached the overlook near the expected path, a sense of excitement and dread washed over the detachment, soon it would be time to encounter the mysterious forces of Elsira.

The scouts had more or less done their part of the job, Alberto checked ranks to make sure everyone’s bows were ready.  He looked over at his colleague Captain Marte, his muscular frame hidden in flexible leather armor, prepping his regular calvary for the charge.  Alberto turned to his sergeants.  “Alright everyone, we don’t know much about these elves, it’s likely they have powerful mages, so don’t assume you’re safe in the rearguard.  Let’s make sure the calvary is protected.  This isn’t just a battle for a client, this is for our pride as humans.”  A few of the troops let out a shout of agreement, and then, they waited.

The timing had been impeccable, within the hour the supply wagons began rounding the corner of a cliff.  There was an invisible sense of stillness in the air as the mercenaries waited, waited.  Surges of adrenaline being held back by discipline and training, like a pack of wolves bound by a ribbon.  Finally, all twelve of the wagons were within range.  A flash lit up the night sky as a bolt shot out and struck the rear wagon, not a moment later it was joined by a hail of similar bolts, bombarding the supply line and kicking up dust and smoke.

“Fire!” The scouts let loose their arrows, there was no aiming involved, the smoke made visibility impossible, but hopefully some would find their way into an elven heart.  “Repeat!”  Another salvo was launched, despite his ear plugs, Alberto could dimly hear the excited shouts of the calvary as they rushed into the smoke.  It was playing out like every battle he had been a part of.

And then the elven magic began.

Lightning rained down upon the landships, and within seconds the smoke that had been obscuring their view of the battlefield now surrounded them.  Some of the scouts had the presence of mind to drop their bows and take out their short swords, others simply dropped to the ground.  Alberto tried to duck down to see more clearly, but it was useless.  His scouts began helping the landship crew out of the smoking vessels, but something else was bothering him.  Despite the earplugs dampening sound, he should have been hearing some kind of melee confrontation from below, but he heard nothing.  All stood silently, the eerie silence only broken by a few sobs from shocked soldiers.  And then, ever so subtly, the atmosphere changed.

The smoke seemed thicker, heavier than it had before.  There was something else wrong, the landscape, it was...

“Merciful gods!”

A huge wall of brown leather crashed down in front of them, any semblance of discipline evaporated as they scrambled away from it.  Unnatural crunches rang out all around them, and soon more gigantic pillars of leather began surrounding them.

Alberto’s heart skipped a beat as he felt himself lifting into the air, it was hard to gauge how high he was going due to the smoke, but a fall would probably be fatal.  His arms and legs desperately flailed about to grab hold of something, anything, but it was useless.  A large glass tunnel broke through the smoke, and he soon found himself tumbling down into what seemed almost like a gigantic bottle, several of his troupe were already inside.  He crouched down, trying to get his wits about him, more of his men began falling into the glass chamber.  Trying his best to look strong for their sakes, he stood up and looked out at the glass walls, there was something looming beyond them, but it was still too unclear to make out.  He weakly drew his sword, prompting the others to do the same.  Whatever it was, they would need to be ready for...

Several of them dropped their weapons.

There, glaring into their prison, like the visage of a vengeful god,

was the massive face of an elf.

It was like a dream, but it became harder and harder to refute.  Soon, the smoke cleared, and that momentary glimpse of such an awe inspiring site was confirmed.  They were inside a bottle, in the hand of a gigantic elven warrior.  She was not heavily armored, with padded leather covering her body, her dark hair tied up in a practical bun.  The humans trapped in the jar were awed both by her size and her beauty, but even more shocking was when other titanic elves could be seen from within the glass prison.  There had been a mental block before, an understanding that they were being captured by a giant, by some ancient god.  But as the elves returned to the damaged wagons the truth became clear.

They had all shrunk.

Some of them tried in vain to clash their steel weapons against the bottles walls.  It was impossible to tell if they were magically fortified, but even if they weren’t, the blades were no match for what was effectively 4 feet of strengthened glass.  Still, fight or flight was the only emotion going through any of them, and they continued to uselessly clatter against the translucent barrier.

The bottle was placed next to several identical bottles, and they were able to dimly see some of their comrades trapped behind similar clear walls.  After some time, the stupefied silence that had paralyzed them began to wear away.

They looked about to figure out who all was trapped in the bottle, it wasn’t exactly spacious, but the 8 of them had enough room to adjust and turn around within.  Aside from Alberto, there were three of his young privates, Samuele, Simone and Dante, as well as Sergeant Pierra.  The other three were crew members from the landship that had been nearest them.  He only recognized Captain Lucrezia, a no-nonsense woman with light brown hair cut short, as he was not familiar with the enlisted members of the armored calvary.

Lucrezia was the first to try and problem solve.

“Alright…so we’ve been shrunk…and we’re prisoners of Elsira now.  Let’s remember what we’re to do when captured.”

Alberto nodded.

“As far as we know the elves won’t be able to tell where were from, if you’re tortured, you can admit to being mercenaries, but we’re just Latrian sell-swords.  Our story is that King Jadran was recruiting mercenaries, we’re from the town of Dobrava.  We don’t need to know who the local lords were or anything, I’m sure we can pass for dumb serfs.”

“Well, dumb serfs trained to use a landship.” Lucrezia grimaced.  “Remember, do your best not to break, we have to believe that Major Pasquale’s forces will get us back.”

Simone spoke up. “Get us back and what, let us live in a drawer?  The elves shrank us!  What are we going to do?!”

“We have faith in our comrades!  If we lose that, we lose everything!”  Lucrezia’s voice was stern, her eyes alight with indignation.  The other seven captives seemed to take solace in her conviction, and Simone calmed down.

Conversation was cut short as their captor stomped nearby to them, conversing in a booming, lyrical tone to an equally titanic blonde.  Their musical speech was clearly audible, but completely unintelligible to the tiny humans, except for one.

It had been on a whim that Alberto had chosen to study elven, could have been any second language to meet the requirements of his diplomatic studies.  But he had felt like taking something exotic, and with Elsira dominating it’s own continent, it had seemed like it might be useful.  Well, for the purposes of diplomacy it was not looking useful at all, but in this moment, the disappointment of his studies and how life had forced his hand at mercenary work faded, and it was with relief, and a little bit of hope, that he discovered he could follow the conversation of the titans that loomed above him.

“Dammnit, we do we have to keep these little shits safe?!  They destroyed more supplies than they’re worth, and Elluin’s dead!  Does that just not matter?!”  The blonde loudly complained.

“So what, you’re going to squish them and have even more nothing?  Remember, we’re here to tame the humans, not just wipe them out.  And these little ones will be worth quite a bit, the nobles back home are already tired of their domesticated humans, they’re willing to pay outrageous sums for wild ones brought to heel, warriors are the most valuable after human nobility.  Let’s just keep our wits about us alright?  We can’t let Elluin die in vain.”  The dark haired elf put a sympathetic hand on the blondes shoulder, the two were obviously grieving.

The blonde suddenly turned around and leaned down, her face towering above the humans as she sneered at them.  “I wish I could be there to see you little maggots learn your place.” Her friend patted her on the shoulder again.

“Come on, we’re nearly to Lyeecia’s forces, we need to make sure they’re adequately supplied before we head back.”  And with that the angry goddess stormed off, followed closely by her comrade.  Alberto waited a moment for them to leave, he didn’t know how good elf hearing was, but he didn’t want his secret discovered by them.

“Everyone, I know a little bit of elven, I think I understood what they were saying.”  He proceeded to explain the conversation as he had heard it.

“Domesticated?  It sounds almost as if they’re going to make us into livestock!” Pierra frowned.

“Well, at least it sounds like they aren’t planning on torturing us for information, at least not primarily.  Maybe we’ll be able to safely wait for Pasquale to save us.” Lucrezia offered hopefully.  The sun had completely set, and it was by now quite dark in the bottle, as a small mercy, there was enough space that it wasn’t quite claustrophobic.

Alberto scratched at his hair for a moment considering the situation they were in.  “It’s probably in our best interest to be docile then, if they think of us as animals they won’t be expecting much from us.”  They tried to communicate as much to the captives in neighboring bottles, but two sets of glass walls drowned out their little voices, a grim reminder of how small and powerless they had become. The group began talking about how to lie low, to keep it together with whatever kind of training the elves were going to do.  The situation was still dire, but it seemed like there was a plan now, a way out of this awful situation.  That burning hope that they would be rescued from these monsters.

The wagons stopped, and for awhile there was no activity in their storage room.  After some time, a light from somewhere, possibly magic, suddenly brightened as the blonde elf from before reentered the tent.  The little captives squinted as their eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.  Even having had hours to come To grips with their situation, it was still shocking to see something so large moving so quickly.  The elf sat down in front of them and kicked her feet up on the sides of the crates holding the bottles, the dirty bottom of her leather boot occasionally visible as she lazily rocked it back and forth.  She maintained her hateful glare from before.  She began to talk, but this time it was in common, albeit with a strange accent.

“You know, I’ve decided it’s pointless to be mad at you all.  You’re too dumb to know what you’re doing right?  To know how important an elf is?  Can’t blame you for that until you’ve been taught, after all.”  As she spoke, she pulled up a squirming little naked human.  The air seemed to freeze in place among the mercenaries as they watched.  “See this?” The spiteful elf continued.  “This is a human from Elsira.  This human knows their place, they understand how important elves are, how it’s an honor to serve us.  Just watch.”  The elf held out her long arm, tucking her chin against it and opening her palm, letting the tiny woman on her hand stand up.  

“Crawl into my mouth.”

The elf's mouth was agape, her arm forming a bridge between the helpless woman in her hand and the yawning, pristine portal to her stomach.  The woman looked up at her, tears in her eyes, but seemed strangely stoic.  She didn’t stand straight, she didn’t protest, she simply walked meekly across the green cloth of the elf’s tunic.  If she was crying, the mercenaries could not hear her.  They all watched in disgusted, disbelieving silence as the woman hefted herself over the elf’s teeth and into her mouth.

“Tuhn aroun.” The elf kept her mouth open, but the command was clear.  The woman turned around, facing her human audience.  She looked dead inside as she regarded them dimly.  And just like that, she was gone, replaced with the elf’s pearly white smile as her teeth slammed shut, sealing the woman away.  A second later and a visible lump traveled down her throat, disappearing past her collar.  She impishly opened wide and stuck out her tongue, showing the terrified captives her empty mouth.

“See?  That’s all humans are, that’s all you’re going to be.  So enjoy yourselves in those bottles, eventually, you’ll be taken out and shown your place, first hand!”  She smirked, her rapid breathing betraying the fact she was still angry and upset, then walked away, the magical light fading as she disappeared.

It was dark again, in every possible sense of the word.

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.

 “Well little one, can you understand me?”

Alberto didn’t reach outwardly.  He didn’t know if elves could hear little heartbeats, but his had been going crazy since she had picked him up, so perhaps it didn’t matter.  He stared forward, gazing at her soft lips.

“Someone already told me that you’ve been telling the other humans what I’m saying in elven, if you don’t answer me, there’s going to be consequences.”

He briefly wondered who it might have been, then decided it didn’t matter.  Cithrel stood back up to her impressive height, looking down inquisitively at the little human in the table, before very slowly reaching out with her finger.

“If you don’t want me to crush you, just tell me to stop in elven.”

Alberto watched her pointer finger approaching.  It was an odd thing with the elves.  In the brief moments of lucidity where he was alone with other humans, he hated them.  Despised them.  Fantasied about becoming a plague, a force of nature that could kill them by the thousands.  But all that evaporated as soon as Cithrel entered the room.  Replaced by fear.

“Almost out of time, little one.”

And awe.

Her dainty finger was almost level with him now, he quickly daring into action, kissing it, licking it, feverishly showing his unquestionable servility to the beautiful pillar that slowly continued further.  He was forced onto his back as it kept going, until it effortlessly crushed his arm into an unrecognizable mess.

“Aaaah!  Gods!  Oh gods!”  He tried to pick himself up using the arm that was no longer existent, 31 years of having an arm had built up some habits that were hard to break.  He collapsed on his face into the bloody mess, hyperventilating as tried to understand what was going on.

“You better tell me, your head is next.”  Cithrel cooed, gently nudging him back onto his back, and positioning the pad of her finger against his face.  In spite of himself, in spite of not being able to process what was happening, he began to kiss the deadly appendage.  There was a moment of silence, and then…

“Hmhm…hahaha.  Oh you’re coming along nicely.” Cithrel’s warm laughter rang out around him, and with a snap of her fingers, his arm slowly began pulling itself back together, until it was as good as new.  Her finger pulled away from his face.

“Now little one,” he began to relax a bit as she switched to common.  “That was a punishment for lying to your little friends about understanding elven.  It’s not proper to spread rumors.  But I’ll forgive you, you’ve become quite good at understanding your place.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes, thank you!  I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”  His words weren’t just pathetic pleas for mercy.  The idea that he was causing trouble, spreading rumors, making things harder for Cithrel, it seemed wrong.  She had given him forgiveness so quickly, making him feel even worse for having deceived her, but he knew he had to keep his secret.

“Now, let’s get you back to the others.”  Nonchalantly plucking him up from the table and carrying him back into the room with the others.  She sit him down inside the barrier, the cage doors magically swung open again.

Cithrel’s sing song voice addressed the room.  “Alright everyone, I know this little one has been spreading rumors about understanding elven, and how there’s going to be troops coming here to take the humans away or some such nonsense.  Now little one, can you tell them the truth?”

Alberto nervously looked at his compatriots as they filed out of the cage and stared attentively at him.  “Um…I…” he began to scratch his hair, noticing with a kind of grim amusement that he was doing it with the arm that he had briefly been without.

“Go ahead, it’s important to own up to our mistakes.” Cithrel said soothingly.

“I lied…I can’t speak elven…I just wanted everyone to feel better…” The expressions on the humans remained subdued, were they surprised?  Did they believe him?  It was hard to say.

“Now that’s better, I think this has taken up enough of your education, let’s get back to work!” Cithrel patronizingly clapped her hands together slightly and sat down on her chair, stretching out her legs.  She no longer had to take her sandals off, her “students” would figure that out.  Soon tiny hands were working diligently on unfastening leather straps, and working together to pull the heft of her dainty shoe.  When it finally fell off her foot, she let out a soft sigh, stretching out her toes as she felt the pleasing sensation of tiny humans crawling up and kneading her feet.  She glanced down at the group, singling out Alberto.

“Not you, my little liar.  You won’t get to touch my feet this morning, go clean the stains from my sandals with your tongue.”  Alberto’s face burned with shame as he crawled away, climbing onto the flat expanse of her leather sandal, and began lick at the slight sweat stains on the sole like he was some kind of insect.

Overall, he had gotten out of this pretty lightly.

-

Cithrel had just left for the day.  Everyone began to prepare for sleep.  They hadn’t been fed since they arrived, but it seemed as if Cithrel’s feet were coated in some kind of thin film, maybe it was a special bath that kept them alive.  Alberto was dreading talking to Lucrezia that night, but was surprised when private Dante approached him instead.  The young man looked like he had something on his mind.

“Um…sir, were you really lying about understanding elven?”  He wasn’t making eye contact, as if he was afraid of Alberto.

“I’ve told a lot of lies Dante.  You don’t need to call me sir, we’re all just pets here.”

For a moment neither man said anything.

“Sir, you looked out for me when I first joined…there was a lot I didn’t know.  I never knew my dad…so I just wanted to let you know…”

“Dante, things aren’t the same.  Half of us died on that battle field.  Died when we were shrunk.  There’s only two choices left for any of us.  We die completely, or live as that remaining half, as an animal.  It’s dangerous to believe anything else.”

“…which is the right choice?”

Alberto’s expression softened a bit.  “That’s up to you.  Some would say it’s better to die with honor.  I certainly don’t expect much good to come out of what’s left of my life.  But if I die now, it’s guaranteed nothing more will come of my life.”

Dante continued to look at the ground, it seemed like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t.

“It’s fine Dante, it’s not your fault you told her I said could understand elven.”

The young man’s blue eyes widened in shock.  “I, how did you know?”

“You’re an honest guy.  It’s obvious.  Just look out for yourself now, okay?  Don’t feel guilty about breaking, we’re all broken here.  Now get some rest, she’ll be back soon tomorrow.”

Dante nodded slightly, and sheepishly walked away.

-

The days actually got easier.  Cithrel gradually stopped punishing them at all as they took to their work of caring for her feet whenever she walked by.  They quickly learned how to help her put on jewelry, the best places to knead their little hands into her soles, dealing with being stepped on while under a protection charm and how to strap or unstrap her sandals.  She acted so proud of them, almost like a mother.  Well, she was an elf, she was probably older than any of their mothers.  They gradually talked less and less to one another.  The periods of sleep got shorter, Cithrel seemed to always be nearby.  In some ways it was a blessing really.  They were always hungry, when Cithrel walked in they found themselves drooling uncontrollably, waiting for her to take off her sandals, so they could finally consume something.  She was the only beautiful thing left for them.   They were in a drab stone room, they themselves were increasingly lean, increasingly hairy.  She was like an angel descending into the den of the unclean.  Finally, it was time for their graduation.

They stood in a line on the table, patiently waiting their turn.  Alberto waited with baited breath, he was next.

“Alright, next!”

Alberto practically sprung forward.  He stood in front of the towering elf, watching as she held out the little metal twig as she had with the others.

“Repeat after me little one, I shall serve Elsira till my dying day.”

It seemed less an oath of loyalty and more a statement of fact.

“I shall serve Elsira till my dying day.”  Cithrel’s eyes lit up as he spoke, the same way they had lit up for the nine people that had gone before him.

“Excellent!  You are now officially a human of the Priscille trading company!” She pressed the little twig against his chest, muttering an incantation.  The tip grew white hot, and Alberto clenched his mouth shut as the seal of the Priscille trademark was burned into his chest.  She pulled the brand away and smiled gently.

“T-thank you.” Alberto forced out, and stumbled to the back of the line.

The branding ceremony was followed by Cithrel placing a large plate of fresh cut fruit on the ground, then placing the humans down around it.  They cautiously looked up to her, and she nodded her approval.  Alberto had never tasted anything so good, even the simple bits of apple and fig were awakening tastes he had forgotten existed.  He greedily stuffed his mouth with fruit until no more would fit, then struggled to swallow.  The entire group made short work of the plate, ravenously consuming it.  After they had finished, Cithrel cleared her throat.

“Now that you’ve all graduated, you will get the honor of serving Priscille trading company customers.  They are powerful elves who deserve your utmost attention and respect, as with all elves.  I’m so proud of you all, I just know you’ll do well.  But please, don’t do your best just because you want to make me proud, do it for yourselves!  You see, whatever function you attend, that will be your only chance!  If you aren’t taken by a customer, I’m afraid you’ll be thrown out after the festivities are over.  So please, don’t let our time together be a waste, show them how amazing humans can be!”  Despite the gravity of her words, Cithrel spoke optimistically.  For the former mercenaries who had been under her care that week, the fact she believed in them gave them hope, hope they would survive this next ordeal.  Each of them had their reasons.

Lucrezia stubbornly refused to give up hope that someone would save her.

Marte wanted to live for himself, regardless of what that would take.

Dante wanted to live out his choice.

And Alberto…

-

As a child, Alberto had dealt with his father, an addict who frequently took out his frustrations on Alberto.  His mother was no help, a meek, compliant woman who seemed more of a maid than a matron.  The physical abuse was one thing, but his father would constantly berate him, call him worthless.  His father would constantly make up slights, explain to the young boy how he was worthless, damned to the deepest layer of hell.  That everything he had done was unforgivable.  And as a little boy, he had believed it.

His outlook began to change when he was granted a scholarship by the governor’s office and permitted to study in the University, he had begun to feel like he had worth, like he was going to change the future.  He removed himself from that childhood outlook of misery in that burnt out slum.

Unforgivable.

Thinking back on everything that had happened, Alberto realized that it had all been fate.  Going to university was simply a means of improving his standing for his future military post, and of teaching him elven, the language that would be of chief importance for whatever remained of his life.  Joining the military was the means of getting this amazing chance at serving not just an elf, but an elf that even other elves thought was truly important.  Even thinking about it now, he was filled with anticipation, with lust for that unknown higher being.

Unforgivable.

There was just one thing that bothered Alberto.  It was what the elven soldier had said to him and the other captives that first night.  That she realized that she should not be mad at them, because they hadn’t understood what they had done.  It was terrible to remember, that he had helped plan an ambush for the elves.  He had fired arrows into the smoke, hoping to kill more elves.  Maybe he had killed one, by his own hand.

Unforgivable.

Cithrel knew it as well, knew that he had fought against them, knew that elves had died.  But she had forgiven them as well.  She forgave him again for spreading rumors, and making her work harder to educate them.  She had taught him the error of his ways.  She had given him this opportunity to serve masters beyond peer.  He now had the chance to be at the feet of the closest thing to a god he was ever likely to encounter.  He found himself tearing up at the thought of it, the idea that such a thing was within his grasp.  In spite of his worthlessness, his corruption, he wanted to live, to serve at the feet of his betters.  That should have been enough, that should have been the most he could hope for.  But, Alberto had one other wish, a terrible wish, the one thing that bothered him.

Unforgivable.

It was a wish that he would never speak aloud.  A wish that no creature should have.  But he was corrupted, he was sinful.  It was a wish that he could not accomplish on his own, a wish that could only happen by luck.  He wondered if it was really fate that had brought him here, had let him understand how exquisite elves were.  Their lives were immortal, their words were song, their beauty beyond compare.  He could be forgiven for fighting against them, he had not known, he could be forgiven for his former ignorance.  Now the elves had taught him.  Now he knew his wish.

To be responsible for the death of an elf, knowing full well the weight of that sin.

To end that beautiful immortal spark.  To cause grief in the halls of these divine creatures.  It was the one, singular selfish desire that burned within the husk of the man that he had once been.  It was not for revenge.  It was not for anger.  He held no anger towards the elves, they were in the right, they always had been.  He simply wanted to truly become what he was always meant to be.

Unforgivable.

Unforgivable.

Unforgivable.

  Cithrel still had a few minutes before she needed to walk into the processing room.  Just as well, the rooms were depressingly drab, she knew it was to help bring the humans to heel faster, but she found it hard to imagine that it had a greater effective on wild humans from the frontier than it had on her.  It was probably the worst part of the job, all things told.  It was otherwise pretty simple, each batch of humans was the same as the rest, she could keep reusing the same lines, it was all routine by now.  Lately she’d only been getting one day off, but she knew why the long hours.  

Elsira kicking off the campaign into the human controlled continents had sparked a fresh flood of wild human captives.  Some of the older elves remembered having wild humans fondly, and began paying top coin for them.  After councilor Naecaryn was seen wearing a conquered human noble as a necklace it quickly became in vogue, and now companies like Priscille could barely keep up with demand.  Even better, when strangers found out her line of work she actually got compliments on her part in taming their former oppressors.

She’d decided to take Reia’s advice and bring a book with her this week.  She enjoyed having a the humans caring for her feet but it got old without something more mentally stimulating going on.  She began mixing the food solution that the little ones were going to be eating for the next few days.  Almost completely tasteless, but with all the nutrients they’d need to survive.  She added a few drops of Gertid’s Wort, a flavorless drug that would help make them more docile and open to suggestion.  She’d been told that humans could stubbornly hold on to their pride for months without the stuff, not at all efficient for the business.  She placed the finished tub of solution on the ground and put her bare feet in it, wincing slightly at how cold it was.  It felt strange applying something to hear feet without washing them first, but it was important for the humans to be used to the trace amounts of sweat and dirt that their future masters were likely to have.  Soon a coat had settled and she took her feet back out of the tub.

Strapping her sandals back on, she took one last look at the warm, richly decorated room before heading into processing room 32.  

“Good morning, humans.”  She said in common as she swung open the door and stepped over the little barrier that kept the humans from getting out.  She looked over at the cage of squirming little beings.  In spite of looking forward to training them, the oppressive atmosphere of the room was already starting to bring down her mood.  “Alright then, let’s get you out of there, come on, present yourselves!” She snapped her fingers and the heavy cage doors swung open.  As always, some of the humans began trying to run.  She let them reach the barrier, it was good for them to realize that even without someone there to stop them, it wasn’t realistic that they could get out.  She then walked over to the barrier and lifted her right foot, carefully jabbing her toe at one of the little thing’s legs, smiling as she saw it shatter in a tiny burst of dark crimson.  High pitched screams around her grew louder as she began walking about and crushing a leg of each of the would-be escapees, reminding herself to be fast so that none of them bled out.  She’d made that mistake her first day alone on the job, she was just glad her boss was so understanding about it!

“Alright, that’s the last of you runaways.”  She looked over at the cage with the humans who had not run.  “Do you not understand common?  I told you to present yourselves!  Now hurry up, or you’ll get the same!”  As always, the remaining humans began to run over to her, and soon a gaggle of them were about a foot away, all eyes looking up.  She snapped her fingers and muttered the healing spell to fix the broken legs of the would be escapees.  “Now you lot, join the rest of the class.”  The little things scrambled over to her, and soon the mewling crowd was all together.  She began her spiel.

“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’d given this speech countless times, and felt a little self conscious reusing it again, but she reminded herself that humans were simple creatures and it was best not to deviate too sharply from the proven methods of communicating with them.  She sat down on a stool and began unlacing her sandals, slipping them off and propping her feet up on her heels.  She wiggled her toes, actually looking forward having them lick the food solution off.  “Come on then, start licking!”

She felt the soothing licks cover her feet as the humans began their task.  It was still a little rough, they didn’t know the best spots, and they weren’t spreading out for even coverage, but she did enjoy how aggressive the wild humans were, she’d found herself getting a little bored when her friends domesticated pets licked at her toes, it was too slow and robotic, the frenzied pace her charges gave her was much more stimulating, especially as they got close to graduation.  She might have to buy some for her days off once they got more affordable.

Of course, she needed to stay focused.  The usual set of stragglers hung back, and she snapped her fingers again while chanting a low level nerve spell.  All the humans predictably fell to the ground in pain, their tiny yips sounding like a chorus of surprised rodents.  “I told ALL of you to lick my feet.  But there’s so many of you hanging out in the back!  Stop being so difficult!  And for those of you who were licking, shame on you for not helping the others understand what they’re supposed to do!”  She pouted a bit, not only to convey to the little ones that she was disappointed in them, but also because there was still entirely too much of the solution on her feet, and she really wanted them to get the trick of this fast enough that it would be gone.

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

Cithrel was mildly pleased to see two of the humans who had been licking her feet run to the stragglers and begin pushing them towards her, their angry little squeaks hurrying the others along.  She wondered if the line about helping out their teammates had made a difference, and decided to add that phrase to her repertoire.

“There, that’s much better, now make sure to get everywhere, you’ll need to master this skill if you want to make a good impression for your future masters.”  Her words were rewarded by the sensation of tiny humans climbing up in between her toes, and she decided to let them work for a bit, taking out her book.  Escaping into the pages of her story she was able to forget about the drab room for a bit, pretending she was in a fine hotel, getting a complimentary cleaning while relaxing.  She couldn’t get completely lost in the fantasy however, she still needed to occasionally look out from behind the pages to make sure that all the humans were hard at work.  She also began to study their tiny faces, looking for signs of defiance.  It was an easy enough thing to snag one of them between her toes when she went off for a “break” and interrogate them in private.  The last batch she’d gotten one of them to inform her about a human that claimed to understand elven, and was spreading ridiculous rumors about Elsira’s armies losing ground.  It had turned out to be all boasts, but it was important to nip rumors in the bud.  The same effects of Gertid’s Wort that made the humans accept her explanations of their place in the world could also make them believe such errant nonsense.

She was interrupted as Reia came in with her drink.

“Decided to take my advice about the book eh?” She laughed as she handed the saucer and cup to Cithrel.

“Don’t act so smug about it, I’m just catching up on some reading, these six day weeks are fun and all, but the only time off I get is when the little things are sleeping.”

“Sure sure, well, if you need any other tips just let me know.  Are you going to want the same drink tomorrow?  We’ve got some new teas.”

“I prefer something savory to help warm me up, it gets so drafty in these rooms.” Cithrel picked up the tiny silken pouch, happily noting the surprised wriggles from the little woman inside.  Healthy humans always had a better flavor.

“Alright dear, more of the same tomorrow then, have fun, and let me know if that books any good, I’ve been needing something to get into lately!”  Reia left her friend to her charges.

  Cithrel dunked the pouch into the hot water, eagerly watching the tiny ripples and bubbles coming to the surface, waiting for them to slowly dissipate, until the surface was smooth again.  She smelled the warm broth and took a sip, savoring the warm feeling that spread throughout her.

She hoped these days never ended.