"I can't believe you got us caught."
"Oh, screw off, Alex. You didn't see that guard either."
The pair were seated next to each other, tied to a pair of large trees with thick ropes wrapped tightly around their waists, knots secured firmly out of reach.
The guards who had bound them were leaving, heading back down the road to rejoin the caravan.
"It could be worse," Ellie said, looking up at the blue skies above, "at least they had the decency to tie us up sitting down instead of standing up."
"Yeah, things are finally turning our way", Alex muttered, craning his neck to look over at his friend. They were both facing the same way, and the angle was awkward.
Ellie shot him a look. The effect was somewhat diminished by her dark hair falling down into her eyes, which she unsuccessfully attempted to remove by blowing at it and shaking her head.
He and Ellie had grown up in the same orphanage in Ravenwood, and by now, as young adults, were thick as thieves.
Which, coincidentally, was what they were -- and why they were now both tied to a tree.
Alex grinned as she cursed, flailing her arms, which were trapped at the bicep by the same heavy ropes that bound her waist to the tree.
"Hey, you don't get to complain," she said. "It was your idea to steal from the caravan."
"They looked wealthy!", he protested.
"They were! So wealthy, in fact, that they hired guards who were half-way competent!"
He had no response for that, so the two fell silent. He could hear the distant clomping of hooves as the caravan began moving again.
He wouldn't admit it to Ellie, but she was right. It could have been worse. Getting tied to a tree was pretty generous, as punishments go. That is, if someone eventually came along to let them go.
As they were being bound to the tree, one of the guards, an older man, had explained their situation.
"The elves'll pick ye up by nightfall," The guard had said, his strange accent grating, "This here's their woods, and they know the goings-on. They'll cut ye loose in good time."
Alex had a feeling things wouldn't be so simple. After a minute, he broke the silence.
"Have you ever seen an elf before?"
Ellie hesitated before speaking,
"Once, I think, down by Jerrick's forge. Might have been a half-elf, though. You?"
"Never."
She chuckled, "Well, maybe today's your chance to become more worldly."
They fell into silence again.
Perhaps a quarter of an hour passed without words. It was a bright and clear day, and Alex was sitting in a cozy, shaded spot. It was actually pretty nice out here. If he could move, he might have laid down for a nap. Instead, he looked around, alternating between cloud-gazing and scanning the trees, trying to spot elves.
As he looked around, his eyes were eventually drawn to Ellie, who was idly staring up at the sky.
She was, as she constantly reminded him, three months older than him, with dark hair that fell to her shoulders.
She had slumped a little in her bindings, and Alex noticed that the ropes around her midsection had slid upward a bit, pulling her clothes tight, and framing her breasts nicely.
Alex's face reddened and he quickly looked away before she could notice.
Had his friend always been so well-endowed?
She interrupted his thoughts.
"What's the plan for when we get out of here?"
"I dunno. Head home, I guess?"
He sat for a moment, before realizing the strangeness of her question. He turned to look at her.
"Why? Do you not want to go home?"
To his knowledge, neither of them had been out of their home city of Ravenwood before their current attempt to steal from the caravan.
She sighed. "I don't know. Maybe. I mean, do you want to stay here all your life?"
"I guess not."
She looked at him. "We could go today. We're already about a third of the way to Port Welles. I mean, don't get me wrong," she grinned,
"It's not that I don't loooove sharing a bedroom with eight people. It's not that."
Alex fought, and failed, to suppress a grin. She watched him try, giggling. Soon, they were both laughing.
After a moment, Alex returned to the conversation. "So we go to Port Welles. Then what?"
Ellie pursed her lips.
"There's definitely more work there. Granted, it all sucks, but it's not like what we're doing now is much better. Maybe we could join the city guard! I always thought I'd look darling in full plate." she batted her eyes dramatically.
They laughed again, their eyes meeting. Then she looked past him, and her expression became one of alarm.
"What have we here?"
A soft voice murmured into Alex's ear.
He let out a startled yelp, pulling himself back as far as he could in his restraints and spinning to come face to face with the first elf he had ever seen.
They were dressed in olive green, their long golden hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Oh, you are a cute one, aren't you?" the elf murmured.
They were beautiful, with smooth, feminine features, and startlingly blue eyes. Their long, pointed ears twitched as the elf grinned, pulling back to regard both Alex and Ellie with an appraising eye.
Ellie cursed in surprise as another elf silently emerged from behind her.
More came into view, moving soundlessly to join the pair looking down at the helpless thieves. All were armed, bows and quivers slung over shoulders.
The elves were tall and lithe, each elf sporting long hair of varying colors. Alex had heard that elves were androgynous, and those stories seemed to be true, unless this was a woman-only patrol.
The first elf 's smirk grew as they stood, moving between the pair of thieves to address them both.
"I am Althaea, daughter of Isanith,"
A woman, then,
thought Alex, "and this is our glade. I would ask the names of those who trespass here."
"I'm Ellie, and this is Alex," Ellie began quickly, her voice sounding loud and harsh following the gentle, sing-song speech of the elf.
"And we obviously don't want to be here trespassing in your awesome glade." she wiggled in her restraints for emphasis, "We were bound here against our will by... uh..."
Ellie trailed off. The elf raised an eyebrow.
"By brigands!", Alex cut in, "They tied us up and took our things. We were lucky to escape with our lives!".
