It had been two long years after Bon had lost Aareesha.

Bon hadn’t been idle. He wasn’t allowed to be. He was still financially liable for his portion of the mansion. He could have tried to sell it, perhaps. That would have been complicated. A sale might have raised the ire of some elders. Bon had decided to try to keep the mansion. He feared he might need the mansion if he could ever get Aareesha back. For all he knew, the elves would again chase her down if he retrieved her.

Bon had devoted himself to profitable adventuring. He’d been welcomed with open arms as part of Ti’s team. He was a known, liked, and trusted quantity. Most of their adventures were now in dungeons, so Bon’s expertise was a welcome addition to the team. Bon could no longer safely go into dungeons alone anyway. Nowadays there was a decent chance of encountering a male elf in a dungeon.

Bon had gotten himself massaged to be permanently strong and fast. Ti hadn’t been lying, it was absurdly expensive. The reagents required were a small fortune. He had been deeply in debt from the mansion before paying for this permanent change. Bon had decided to do it as a worthwhile investment. The permanent massage was a potent addition to his magical ability to increase his speed and strength. Thanks to this investment, Bon felt he was a more productive member of the team.

Like nearly all humans, by himself Bon still wasn’t a match for a healthy male elf. Yet over two years Bon had become a formidable warrior thanks to the permanent massage, his own magical skill, a few new magic items he had picked up along the way, and the experience he gained over two years. Bon wasn’t as powerful as Ti or Kadn, but few humans were.

Their team had had a lot to do. Humans across the continent, including Ti’s team, were trying to find the location of Sanctuary. There had been no success so far. It appeared to be deep under rock, probably far under a mountain. There was a suspicion that it no longer had a working tunnel to the surface. Its only connection to the surface appeared to be its heavily-guarded magic wormhole. That wormhole only briefly connected to other places.

The humans had received only a few sporadic communications over the last two years from within Sanctuary. The humans had learned that the “Eye of Elvendom,” whoever he was, was good at counter-espionage. As far as the humans could tell, the Eye had risen to prominence after Aareesha had stolen the power orb. The Eye had effectively shut down nearly all communication from Sanctuary except communications approved by its king. Soon after Aareesha had been taken, the Eye had run a purge that rounded up the female elves who had occasionally sent information to the humans.

The elves now appeared to be looting old ruins. While most ruins were long picked over, they were elven ruins. The elves were sometimes able to find loot where the humans had not. It wasn’t clear to humans what the elves’ goals were. They were unlikely to be compatible with human life and freedom.

Ti and his team, including Bon, tried to show up wherever elves showed up. There were too many ruins, and too few powerful teams, to place teams there ahead of time. Sensors and occasional informants told them when a site was being visited by elves. They tried to arrive as quickly as they could to each alert.

Ti and his team were not expecting the results of their next alert.

Every member of Ti’s team received the alert at the same time. Elves had been spotted at a dungeon in a ruin near Ston. Bon remembered that dungeon well. It was the dungeon where he had first met Eeltanuu. It’s easy to remember days and places of near-death experiences.

Ti’s team was stationed in Ston, so their team was the obvious one to go. It was mid-morning. All were ready. It was 4 hours’ walking distance, but Kadn could cut that to something like 20 minutes. The team had hopes they could catch the elves while they were still at the ruins. There was a chance the elves wouldn’t expect the humans to arrive so soon. Bon knew parts of this dungeon, giving the humans a distinct advantage this time.

The team arrived at the ruins. Bon reached under a worn rock decoration and pressed a concealed button. A hidden passage opened next to them, exactly the same as Bon remembered.

The team descended, then walked down a passage to a larger passage. The large passage was collapsed on one side and continued on the other. After they took a turn they saw, on each side, jail cells with metal bars and doors. One cell contained a woman’s skeleton. Its wrists and ankles were still chained to the stone floor. An opened pear of anguish was near her pelvis. On the floor of the passageway were two more collapsed skeletons, wearing armor with their swords nearby.

The passage turned again. A tunnel hole was in front of them on the side of the passageway. Bon was sure this hole was new. Bon noted that the tunnel’s sides were made of granite. Bon knew Kadn had a spell that could collapse or prop up a granite tunnel like this if necessary.

The team stopped. They could hear movement coming from the hole. The team quietly made their way towards it. Bon slowly glanced around the hole to see inside the tunnel. Bon couldn’t believe what he saw.

Aareesha was sitting in the tunnel that the passageway hole led into. She was wearing high heels paired with her short black maidservant skirt that covered essentially nothing. Practically all of her skin was visible. She was wearing jingle bells on her nipple rings. Her breasts were once again branded. Her ass was blazing red. She was sitting carefully on her side to ensure she wasn’t sitting on her ass. She seemed to be loudly crying from some recent punishment. Her eyes were closed. She had not noticed Bon.

On the far side of the tunnel, past Aareesha, Bon could see an open area that was some kind of treasure room. Five male elves were attempting to open some sort of vault. A large magical ellipse was in front of a far wall, near where the male elves were working.

Bon pulled back. He retrieved a magical blowgun from its holster. This was one of the new toys he’d picked up in the last two years. The blowgun was useless against male elves. Bon had learned that the list of male elf immunities was annoying long. The blowgun did work on humans, some monsters, … and female elves. Bon popped his head into the tunnel. With a breath he quietly sent a blowgun dart into Aareesha’s shoulder.

Aareesha felt a sudden sting in her left shoulder. She looked around and saw a human at the entrance. She realized it wasn’t any human. It was Bon. She opened her mouth to call out a warning. She fell unconscious instead.

Bon stealthily went to Aareesha. His permanent massage had made him much stronger than when he’d last been in this dungeon. He temporarily improved his strength through his magical skill. He easily picked her up. He did his best to minimize the jingle bells’ sounds as brought her back to the team.

Ti’s eyes bulged. He whispered, “of all the elves in the world, you find her?”

Bon shrugged and whispered his reply, “it’s a surprise to me too.”

They brought her sleeping form out of the dungeon. Bon did his best to minimize the sounds of the jingle bells. Bon tied her up and gagged her next to the entrance. To ensure she wouldn’t be going anywhere, Bon gave her an extra dose of a sleeping potion. She would stay asleep for hours.

The team went back towards the hole. They could hear two male elves talking with each other as they unknowingly approached the team.

The first elf said, “I can’t believe that bitch ran off. We only brought her because she’d been here before. The idea was to exploit her knowledge, not to help her escape. She said she’d only been in this dungeon briefly. I think she lied. Two coins says she knows this area well and took some secret path to escape.”

“Hmm. Maybe. I thought she was addicted to raw pleasure-magics. I’d heard she was once a princess. Why would she run away? You’d think she’d be desperate to stay in elvendom.”

“She is, and was, but you must not have heard what the boss said. The boss said that if we didn’t get what we expected here, she’d lose her privileges to ever receive pleasure-magics again. He said he didn’t believe she was holding up her end of some bargain. That’s something you don’t hear every day. A male elf saying there was a bargain with a female elf!? What’s next? Anyway, because we didn’t find what we were expecting to find, the boss gave her a harsh discipline session. Once he finished, we started to extract what we could. He reminded her of the pleasures she was losing forever because she hadn’t kept up her end of the bargain. He left her to cry. Now she’s gone.”

“Yeah, I didn’t hear most of that. I was on the other side finishing the perimeter search. All I heard was her screaming as she got her ass beat. I didn’t think there was anything special about that. Great Lord Saanteeli can beat his maidservants whenever he wants to. I didn’t think there was anything all that special about her. I hear that even Lord Eye has grown tired of her. When we find her and bring her back, I bet Great Lord Saanteeli will really punish her.”

The elves turned the corner and saw Ti’s team. One elf quickly blew a loud whistle. The whistle’s sound pierced through the dungeon.

The two elves raised their swords and attacked Zent, the tank, who was roughly in the center of the human party’s front line. One attack bounced, the other mildly cut into Zent’s shoulder. Ti, Xio, and Bon all attacked the male elf respectively closest in front of them. Xio and Bon were parried, but Ti managed to get a shallow cut into one elf. Two red beams of light traced from the magician Kadn. Each beam tracked from Kadn to one of the elves. Kadn was safely behind the other four humans.

Both elves looked at the humans’ faces. The elves realized this was not a normal team of humans. These were elite human warriors. The elves could see there was no way to quickly get to Kadn the magician. They could also see there were too many experienced human fighters for the elves to disarm in time. Both elves turned and attempted to flee.

“Get out of here!,” yelled one of the elves, “it’s a trap!”

Both male elves exploded into vapor.

The humans surged forward. They approached the new hole in the passageway. Once they reached it, they could see three male elves far beyond the other side of the tunnel. The vault near them was open and empty. The elves were carrying some bags and were running towards a large magical ellipse. The humans entered the tunnel. The elves jumped through the ellipse. As the last elf went through, the ellipse disappeared before the running humans could get to it. The humans looked at the empty space, where the ellipse had been, in frustration.

“SHIT!,” said Ti. “I wish we knew what they’d gotten.”

“Me too,” replied Kadn. “We know it wasn’t what they were hoping for. We also got Bon’s slave back. I’m sure Bon is happy about that.”

“Damn straight,” said Bon, “let’s go home. I need to have a discussion with my elf slave.”