((Just so this doesn't get lost, I'm reposting it up here. Please reply to this post, not the lower one, and ignore my note at the end.))"Thanks, Zak," Iris said. "I'd better not mess up anything he's got in mind." She looked at the portal just in time to see Carrie step through. "OK, here I go." She entered the portal, and a heartbeat later was in the throne room in Yarfell Castle.
The place was crawling with guards, some of whom were running through a door, but Iris couldn't see any of her friends. Then someone grabbed her arm and she heard a voice call, "Here's another one, captain!"
Iris risked a quick glance to her left and spied a burly man with coarse jet-black hair and a matching beard. Then she faced the approaching captain of the guards, a leaner but still muscular man with dark red hair. He stopped and looked her over.
"The minstrel who played so well at the party," he commented. Iris nodded, but was paying him less attention than she should have. The guard who'd grabbed her was making her uneasy.
"So smooth, so fair," he murmured. His free hand was hovering close to her neckline, as if he wanted to touch her bare skin but didn't dare in front of his captain.
"Baras! Let go of her NOW!" the captain bellowed. "I don't want you anywhere NEAR her. Remember what the king told you?" Baras gulped and nodded, but didn't release his grip until the captain had taken Iris into custody and taken her lute from her. "Talmar, you take her to Lord Tolan. There's no need to restrain her, since she's not a warrior and she's a woman." Iris did her best not to bristle, knowing that any resistance would make things worse.
"Yes sir!" responded a younger guard with soft blond curls and a friendly face. Baras watched as the captain handed Iris and her lute over to Talmar and they left.
When they were well away from the throne room, Iris dared to ask, "Why didn't the captain want Baras to bring me to Lord Tolan?"
Talmar sighed. "I suppose I'd better tell you the whole story. About five years before the king died, the elves of the Forest of Macul sent an ambassador to the court so he and the king could work out a treaty. As is customary, the ambassador and his entourage were guarded by members of the Royal Guards.
"Baras was one at the time, and he was assigned to the ambassador's daughter, who had just reached adulthood as the elves reckon ages and was apprenticing to become an ambassador under her father. She'd never been in a human city before, and Baras taught her human ways while learning elven ways from her. She was very beautiful and charming, with an intelligent and quick mind. I guess Baras fell in love with her, or thought he had, but that doesn't excuse what he did. I do know this--he never would have been allowed near the visiting elves if anyone had know of his unhealthy desire for elven women, whether or not they desired him."
Talmar paused, as if trying to choose the right words, then continued, "I don't know a polite way to say it, so I'll just tell you. One night, Baras entered the bedchamber where the ambassador's daughter was looking over some documents and tried to persuade her to lie with him. When she refused his flattery and offers, he tried to take her by force. Between her resistance and the sounds of struggle, the rest of the guards caught him before he could do much more than tear her clothing and drop his trousers.
"The king had to give in on some points of the treaty where he and the ambassador disagreed and pay him a large sum in gold to make up for what Baras had done and tried to do. He punished Baras by dropping him to the rank he now holds and promising to take his manhood if Baras ever attacked another woman. Baras is still fond of women who might have elf blood in them, and when he visits the local pleasure houses he always chooses the women who look the most like elves. The captain doesn't want Baras near you because he thinks Baras will try to attack you."
Iris shuddered. She was still a virgin at almost 32, and proud of it. She didn't want to lose that to some lustful guard with a fetish for elven women. "Thank you for your warning. I hope the rest of the guards keep him away from me. We Outworlders don't seem to be in favor here."
"Yarfell law says that no prisoner is to be harmed in any way unless he or she is found guilty and sentenced. Then the only harm that is permissible is whatever was decreed. Anything else is a blotch on the honor of the guards assigned to that area of the dungeon, and if the guards could have kept the attack from happening but didn't, they and the attacker are punished."
By this time they had reached a door. Talmar opened it and began escorting Iris down a flight of stone stairs into the dungeon....
((Tag! Lord Tolan, please e-mail me. I want to discuss an important element of Iris's questioning with you.))
