Part III- the king's chambers.

      When I awoke, I found myself in a very tiny cell, only about 6 feet by 6 feet wide. A bit of straw laid on the stone floor, and a small bared window allowed me to look up at the dark, night sky. I could hardly move. My back was swollen and torn apart, and any slight adjustment of any limb sent a cry from my lips. I knew it had been many days since I had passed out, for the moon was now full once more. Yet still I was a prisoner in a land I knew nothing about.

     I struggled over to the window a bit more, finding every available once of energy deep within just to lean up on the bars and peek out. It must have been fate helping me then, for at that exact time I looked out, I caught sight of a startling revelation. There in the courtyard, were three men dressed in long green robes, their hoods pulled down to allow golden hair and pointed ears to be viewed by all. The Elders. That was how my coming had been announced..the elders had gotten there before me and woven a string of lies to tell the King about me. Now it would be my job to convince the King otherwise.....

      When they noticed my stirs, two guards came and dragged me from the cell. I of course was in no position to give much of a fight; I didn't even know that my sword and dagger had been taken from me until I was flung into the King's private chambers and saw him inspecting them. To a soft mattress I was pushed, or actually, laid on my back which stung so much against the silk sheets. A smell of incense and perfumed oil invaded my nose, and I struggled to prop myself up against satin pillows to catch a better view of my new predicament.

      The king was dressed in a long robe of cream, left open to expose a naked chest and loin cloth of the same color. He seemed to not even care that I was just brought in, his eyes keenly going over the makings of my broad sword.

      "A fine weapon, this...." he said without even a glance to me, "Never have I seen it's like, the same as I have never seen the like of you."

      Placing my sword down he turned to me, and to my amazement, was smiling. Slowly, with deliberate steps, he made his way over to the bed I was laid upon and sat beside me. I must say, I was never so scared in my life. I had no idea what this man wanted of me, or why I was even still alive. If I was such a threat, why had I been allowed to stay alive, yet too weak to do anything mut sit and bleed? I was to find out all too soon.

      A hand went to my face, and the King looked over me as if he were looking over a finely crafted urn. Delicately he traced my nose, and with much inspection, the points to my ears. It was obvious, he had never before seen an elf.

      "Your kind I know of, but never have I heard of one being your color. Why are you blue, Nephythyss?"

      I could only blink white lashes at him. Did he just call me Nephythyss? It seemed as if he was no longer thinking me a goddess, so why the name?

     "My name is Camilla Valtonus. I am blue because fate has decreed I be so...."

      "No." He said simply, "Your name shall be Nephythyss, as a reminder that you came to us in the disguise of the great goddess. And you shall be my servant for the rest of your days, and shall respond to your new given name."

      Well, of course I was unimpressed. So I was to be his slave, and the thought made my already sickened body want to roll over and throw up any food which might have been left in my empty stomach. With as much strength as I could muster, I slapped his hand away and leaned up.

      "I am no one's slave. My name is Camilla Valtonus."

      My sudden force did not seem much of a surprise to him though. In my current condition, it took little effort on his part to grab my shoulders and pin me to the bed under him, his weight pressing me all the more tighter.

      "Your name is Nephythyss, and you are my slave to command as I see fit." A flare of anger raced across his eyes as he stared down on me, and instinctively I tried to struggle out of his grip. Yet still he repeated himself, "Your name is Nephythyss, and you are my slave to command as I see fit."

      "Never!" I screamed, as that filthy rag which I had been brought to his room in was somehow ripped off of me so that I was naked under him. Giving little care to the opening of my back wounds, I fought fiercely with him, but too much blood had I already lost, and soon I found the room spinning and my legs forced apart. All I heard was the name Nephythyss repeated over and over again as that small piece of myself was ripped away, forever lost to the King who now owned it and me.

      For the second time I awoke in the cell. Now, to add to the pain racing against my back, there was a burning sensation between my legs. I knew I had been raped, and on closer inspection I saw a line of dried blood down both my legs. But now I was alone, and the moon was almost across the sky, with a thin line of pink reaching out across the horizon. And then, I tucked my head in the crook of my arm, and for what would be the first and last time in my life, I cried. I cried so hard it hurt my lungs and soon I was gasping for air, one blue arm stuck between the rungs of my prison window, trying to catch the dawn as it appeared fresh and new.