Prelude

     "Don't turn your back on me again!" the young winged dark elf called threateningly over to the human general. At a mere five feet, and with his slender build he seemed more a kid than anything else, and the lack of sword on his belt seemed to lend itself that he'd be next to helpless in a fight, especially against a man of the general's stature and skill. The only advantage the elf would have apparently, would be the gift of flight, something that would only make a difference in running away.

     "Or you'll what?" The general asked, looking back to coolly regard the elf that had just threatened him. The kid wasn't even a full drow; otherwise he wouldn't have those wings. Loosening the sword in it's sheathe the general watched the half-drow for his reaction.

     "Turn your back on me one more time, and I'll kill you" the young elf responded, not backing a step or even flinching under that gaze from the human general.

     "That's funny kid, really it is. Why don't you go back to your mommy and tell her I said no deal" The general responded, a hearty laugh escaping him as he turned his back to the elf and walked back to his body guards. The encounter had happened when him and two of his men had found the winged dark elf standing in the middle of the path claiming to have a message from the leader of the drow armies. She'd offered a deal, that if it wasn't taken supposedly meant death to him and all of his men. The general had no reason to fear the child, the kid wasn't armed aside for a knife, and his two men were watching. Before the kid would be able to charge half the distance his men would know and run the elf down.

     "I warned you," the elf said as he grabbed something off his back, quickly getting a grip on it as his arm whipped around releasing the stick with a shiny blade on the end. The looks on the two guards' faces were priceless as they watched helplessly as the hand axe went spinning through the air. The general turned around to see what was going on, his body turning fully just in time to take the blade of the axe through his Adam's apple, a soft gurgle the only sound on the road as the general fell to his back.

     "TREACHERY!" One of the guards's called as he dismounted from his horse, and grabbed his sword and shield in record time before charging the young elf. The sword came over; striking the ground where the nimble elf had been a second before, not skipping a beat the guard twisted the blade so the edge was horizontal, and then swiped it sideways at the elf.

     The young elf was fast, as the sword came around the dark-skinned boy moved in, his knife slashing for the guard's face. The pair fell away from each other, the guard holding his face where a line of red was beginning to spill it's contents down over the man's face. Darius had barely landed when something hard slammed into his back sending him sprawling to the ground. He landed wrong, and a sharp pain lanced through a wing as the holly bone shattered. The guard's grinned evilly at the loud scream of pain the boy let out, before a raised boot slammed down hard on the other one, making the scream even louder.

     "Time to end this little one" the guard spoke as he brought his sword over his head. The blade came down, but again the elf proved the faster for the most part, rolling out of the way as the knife was slammed blade first into the guard's boot. The sudden pain in the guard's foot caused the sword to thankfully draw short of cutting the elf's head in half, still a long red line was drawn diagonally over the boys face, blood leaking out of it as a grin fell over the elf's face. The youth was still grinning when the boot took him in the head, sending him sprawling backwards to land in a mass of pain as weight was once again suddenly applied to his broken wings. Struggling to sit up, dazed and punch drunk, the young elf smiled once more and then the world went black, the last thing he saw was a sword tip appear through the guard's chest.

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     The youth awoke in a tent, a dark elven priestess leaning over him and removing the bandage from over his face. He winced in pain as the cloth, attached to him by dried blood, tugged on the sensitive flesh. The priestess either knew better than he, or just didn't care how he felt as with a quick tug she ripped the bandage off, leaving the youth to yelp in pain as the wound reopened.

     "That was foolish boy, and you know it" a male voice spoke to him. The young elf only caught a glance of the other winged elf, this one with no dark skin, before the priestess roughly turned his head back so he was facing him.
"Hold still, or I'll make you," The priestess hissed, and knowing she would, the young elf stayed very still as she chanted a prayer to heal his wounds. The Priestess's goddess responded favorably, and the youth smiled as the pain lessened in both his wings and on his face. It was still there, he knew the cut was gone, but the goddess had left some of the pain, she wouldn't grant a male total respite from the pain, she would reduce it if the male was still useful, but she wouldn't take it all away. He'd asked his mother about that once, and she'd laughed at him. The priestess that had over-heard had whipped him, but that was because what he'd done was wrong.

     "Come boy, time to see the Jabress about what you did, she didn't seem to pleased" the older winged elf spoke, and nodding slightly, the youth got off the caught as the priestess left. Together the two winged elves were the best scouts the army had, their gift of flight making them exceptionally useful, which was why they were treated better than any of the other men in the camp. Only a foolish general treated their scouts as they treated the rest of their men, and only the most foolish of those would treat their best scouts poorly, even if such action was dictated by theological beliefs. So it was that the two men were both the most respected, envied, and loathed of all among the men. The women still looked down on them, and at least the older elf knew that in privacy words of scorn were thrown their way from every direction, especially the females who were forced to acknowledge the superiority of two males over the females in one area. It was only made worse due to the fact that the child was a half-breed, and the elder winged elf was only related to them by being an elf.

     Arriving at the tent, the two female guards stepped aside after giving both males a brief sneer. The inside of the tent was huge, and a lot of the space was simply that, empty space. The biggest sign of rank and superiority one could have in an army camp was how much empty space their tent had. And the amount of free-space this tent had, was tremendous indeed. Especially when one took in that the tent was holding a table and chairs for discussing strategy, a large four-post bed, dresser, mirror, carpets, and more than a few other odds and ends. It would take a normal army two wagons to carry this tent, but this army moved it in less than one thanks to their magic. Sitting in the most luxurious and comfortable of those chairs was the army's leader. She was tall, just an inch or two short of six feet. Her hair was long and a healthy pure white color, it shined like silk and from the looks of it felt just as soft and smooth. Her skin was dark ebony in color; velvet over steel as the soft skin covered a well-toned muscular body. Her looks had captured the fantasies of more than half of her male underlings, and even one or two of the females who preferred spending their time with someone more their equal than a male dog.

     "Well, if it isn't my two best scouts" the commander purred as she watched them enter. The youth did his best to hide his frown seeing the high priestess standing behind the commander. "So tell me young one, how did your scouting go? Did the humans accept your offer?"

     "No, they didn't. Their general is dead now, and I believe his bodyguards are as well." The youth spoke to her, giving his report.

     "How did the general die?" the commander asked, suddenly alert.

     "I killed him. As per your orders" the youth responded.

     "But how did he die?" something was wrong; the youth could almost taste it in the air. Something was wrong, and the youth was afraid he was the cause of it.

     "I hit him in the neck with my axe" He said tentatively.

     "You did what?!" The commander asked. Almost immediately the youth fell to the ground as the priestess' whip bit into his shoulder hard. His hand went to hold where he hurt only to be cut by the same sharp whip tip that had cut his shoulder.

     "Ow! Mother please, I did only as you said..Mother OUCH!" the youth cried out as the priestess started to whip him in earnest, behind his screams he could hear the commander yelling at him for calling him mother, and for killing the general. She'd told him to kill the general, why was she doing this to him? "Please mother" Another whip, this one on his wing, the tip hitting enough to actually tear a chunk of the bit of protective flesh off the bone. The youth screamed even louder.

     "DON'T CALL ME THAT! I AM NOT YOUR MOTHER! I AM YOUR OWNER! THE CONDUIT TO YOUR GODDESS! YOUR ONLY CHANCE OF SALVATION I AM NOT YOUR MOTHER!" The commander screamed at him, letting the whipping of the boy she'd given birth to continue, even when the flesh was starting to be stripped off his wings she didn't stop it.

     The older winged elf just stood there and watched. He'd learned long ago that to speak up in defense of the youth was to get them both double the punishment. Best to just let the boy pass out, and then the whipping would hopefully stop. Better to stay quiet then to get them both twice what he would get. Besides, the boy had messed up bad by killing the general with his axe, and while the avariel was pretty sure the axe had been part of the orders, if the females wanted to punish him, it was their right. Especially the high priest and commander, if for no other reason that it gave them pleasure to do so, and showed that while the two winged ones were treated better than the rest, they were still just male dogs to the High Priestess and commander.
The screams eventually died as the boy passed out, years of experience had taught him to not curl up or try and protect himself. That also made it worse, it had also taught him to not scream out as easily, the fact that the boy had been wailing like a newborn showed the fury in the high priestess as well as the severity of the earlier wounds. Still, the whipping was interrupted about ten strokes after the boy had passed out. "Leave us," The commander said. Nodding and bowing the winged elf went for the door, unable to hide his smile when he heard the commander repeat the order, this time to the High priestess who looked absolutely shocked. The moment of shock was used by the avariel to make his escape before she got to him though.

     Back in the room, the Commander knelt down next to her son, murmuring her own healing pray over him. Again the wounds sealed, but the pain remembered. She was smiling softly as the youth's eyes opened, silently asking "why".

     "I'm sorry that had to happen, but you know I only do it because I love you. You're the only one I can, and even that has to stay private. You did good, you did very good," She cooed to him as he was obviously still in pain.
"But why did you let her beat me so hard mot..jabress?" the youth asked.
"You can call me mother when we're alone. And I did it because you need to be seen to not be special above and beyond what's already known. And because you need to be strong my child. You need to be able to rise above and ignore pain. You want to be strong right?" The commander, now letting the mother side of her show spoke.

     "Yes, I want to be strong mother. But it hurts so much"

     "Of course it hurts" she responded quickly, almost laughing, "You won't get any further then you are if it doesn't hurt. That is the other reason why healing spells don't take away the pain from males. To help make them better and hopefully get them further in the eyes of our goddess. Now, go out there, and start today's training. And don't cry" She finished, her voice getting the commander's edge to it again.

     The young elf nodded and stood up, wincing in pain as recently whipped body parts protested. He headed for the tent flap, almost reaching it when the commander spoke again. "And Darius, some day you're going to be given the opportunity to bring me back and save me. You will do it right?"
"Yes Jabress" Darius responded, knowing this close to the door saying mother would get him beaten again.

     "Do you swear?"

     "I swear, on all that I own, or may I be turned into a Drider and left to rot forever" Darius responded, making the oath up on the spot. His mother smiled darkly, apparently liking the oath and the consequences of what would happen should he break it. Not that he would, he loved his mother too much, or at least what he thought was his mother's true personality.

     "Good boy, now go run along now. I have work to do. Female work" She said to him, dismissing him before barking orders for certain people to be brought to her. Darius was out of the tent and flying to find the other winged elf to do today's training before they went out again.

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