2. Enchanted
When Abigail woke up, the world was upside down. The table, plates, and floorboards she had seen upon entering the tower were now high up in the air. There they stood, and sitting at the table, was a man covered by a bright green cloak that hung from his shoulders all the way to the ground.
Hands bound, as well as her feet, Abigail struggled in vain to try and free herself. Which, soon enough, got the man to turn from staring at the table and look at her.
He had a hard face, blonde hair, and red eyes. Most striking of all his features, though, were his ears. They were long and sharp, elvish even.
That was the final piece needed for her to realize, rather suddenly, that the man was an Elf. Just like the stories told, he was tall, of fair complexion, and looked to be a big fan of the color green.
From his seat he rose and walked over to her, close. "So the thief awakens at last?"
Abigail thought of spitting at him. "I'm no thief. Just thought this place was abandoned is all."
"Doesn't matter." The elf turned. "I'm bringing you in for theft and the crime of being human."
She spun. Over and over she spun. The ceiling cracked and sagged with her movement, still the chains held her steadfast. "How's being human a crime?"
He was distracted, packing his things across the room, too busy to notice what she was doing. "Because humans aren't supposed to be here. As elves aren't supposed to be over there."
The ceiling choked on pressure, snapped, and Abigail fell. Hands and feet bound, ardin surged through her blood, and she pulled at her chains. Still they held, and she was left lying on the ground.
Caught between a smirk and a frown, she rolled.
The elf noticed, he turned and drew his sword. Steel sang as it flew through the air, down to where she had just been. It missed her by the shortest of breaths. Any slower and she'd be dead, her face split.
"Now... I guess I have to kill you."
Abigail threw herself into her knees and wiggled onto her feet. She smiled a grin that stretched from one end of her face to the other. "If you can catch me."
The taunt was more effective than she thought. Mad as bull, the elf came running at her. But in her eyes, he was slow. She saw where his feet would be and where his sword would go. It was all too easy to lean back out of the blade's way and deliver a double legged kick to his chest.
A chest that was far more sturdy than she guessed. It was like hitting a wall of stone. So hard and tough that it drained all the impact out of her attack and threw it right back at her, sending her flying into the wall. From there it was a short fall to the floorboards.
And steel followed after her.
It sang a grim whistle as it fell down towards her skull. A strike she avoided with a shift to the left. Then she kicked the elf in his knee as hard as she could. Every ounce of might and Ardin she could muster was thrown into it.
The result was as an explosion of force redirected at her. A bang that sent her flying through the wall and out into the forest where she landed in a cloud of dirt. It was her cover as she rose on shaky legs and started hopping away as fast as she could.
Which wasn't very. Bound as she was, she couldn't even manage to clear the next five feet before she tripped over nothing and fell face first into the ground.
A position that offered little in the way of defending herself from the elf. Who, after casually strolling out the hole in the wall, kicked her over onto her back and raised his blade.
He poised it above her head, tip pointed down. "You're much more of a hassle than the last human that wondered into my tower."
The blade came down like a dragon swooping in to steal cattle, and right before blade could meet flesh, Abigail lifted her legs. Steel clashed with iron for a solid second in which sparks flew in every direction. Some fell on her, but she hardly cared about that and chose to relish the feeling of the chains fall off her legs.
Then she kicked the elf as hard as she Really could.
The difference was night and day. His body tensed like last time, hardening in response to the force leveled at it, but it wasn't enough. Her foot was moving too fast, it carried far too much force, and he was sent flying.
He hit the ground, and she ran over to him, closing the distance in seconds. Then, right as he tried to get up, she lifted her leg high and brought it down fast to the sound of something - most likely a rib - snapping. Not that she cared.
No, as she looked the elf in his eyes, smiling, there was only one thing on her mind. "Who was this last human you were talking about?"
He struggled beneath her boot for a second, then two, before finally giving up. "Old... red getup... big glasses. You look'in for him?"
She lessened the pressure on the elf. "I am."
"There's a town northeast of here, they bought him just a week ago. If you're fast you can catch the trail before it goes cold."
Her smile gone, Abigail leaned in just a little closer. "Did you say a week ago?"
"Yeah."
That didn't make sense.
That didn't make any sense.
"What do you mean a week ago? He couldn't have gotten here any sooner than today. So either you're lying to me or-"
The elf raised his hands. "Hey I'm just telling you what I know, alright. And that's all I know about any humans other than you. Okay."
Abigail thought about ending it. About crushing the elf underfoot and deeming him a liar. A liar and a slaver. But his words rang with truth, and she didn't like that because if it was true then that meant that she somehow arrived here a whole week after her mentor. Which was... It was hard to even wrap her head around.
Sadly it seemed she didn't have the luxury not to.
She could, at least, let the elf go. And she did. But not before getting him to give her some more pointed directions to the town he sold her mentor at.
Past the largest tree in the forest, by a river, and northeast of the setting sun.
Abigail didn't wait to start moving. As soon as she knew where to go she began her journey through the forest. Up from tree to tree, from branch to branch, each jump an instinctual thing as she scanned the tree tops.
There in the distance, standing tall, higher than any tree she'd ever seen, was her first landmark. Down below it, roaring with the force of a fierce Gale was the river. Not too far from it, the village.
Like an arrow loosed from a bow, Abigail sped towards it. She dashed through the leaves, jumping from one branch to the next. It was a carefully calculated thing, gentle enough to not break the branches beneath her while still maintaining speed.
And it was short lived.
All at once, she was hit with dizziness. Her eyes deceived her, sight turning into a blurry collage of shapes and colors. Strength left her and she tumbled. Feet tripping over each other and bringing her falling nearly off the branch, head hanging low.
There, she stayed a moment and waited. She caught her breath one inhale, exhale, at a time, and let her eyes recover over the next minute. Once they had, and she didn't feel like she was about to puke, she rose up into a seated position, back against the tree, and looked at herself. From her hands down to her legs.
Something was off. She knew it, she couldn't tell exactly what it was, but she knew that something was off. Which was more than a good enough reason to actually stop and check what.
And it only took her a moment of focus to spot the pink enchantment sprawled across her body.
The sight of it brought a frown to her face. One that only deepened as she further examined it. And there was a lot to examine.
This enchantment, a violent writhing thing that almost seemed alive, was painfully complicated. So complicated that it hurt just thinking about it. Which might have actually been one of the many effects it was having on her. A list that she was pretty sure was too long for her to figure out even if she had a week to study it.
Which she didn't. She wasn't sure how much time she had, but it certainly wasn't a lot. So, despite every warning she's ever received about tampering with an enchantment she didn't understand, she tampered with this one.
It was a big mistake.
Abigail immediately felt some part of the enchantment Click. What followed after that was pressure all over her body. It squeezed her, made her small, a ball of snow being pressed together into a more compact shape. And she tried to undo her little bit of tampering.
That too backfired. And she was left frozen as the sensation of whatever was about to happen only grew stronger.
It happened in an instant. One second she was herself, normal, fit, and somewhat thin. In the next she felt her body expanding. Chest growing just a little as her pants grew tight.
Oh, what's... What's going on?
The answer came in the form of more growth. It was mostly centered around her hips. A burning warmth that she found a mix of uncomfortable and ticklish. One that slowly pushed out the width of her flanks and then her thighs.
By the time it was done she had the beginnings of a more pear shaped frame. Along with some, uh, bigger boobs. Both of which she instinctively grabbed in bewilderment.
This... This can't be real, can it?
It was, as she discovered over the next few minutes. A short period of time filled with her slowly having to get used to her new assets. The weight. The way they moved when she moved. The uncomfortable tightness that they brought with them, her clothes not all prepared for whatever this was.
Still she refused to let this... Very strange development, hinder her. Esbern was an elven slave right now and she wasn't let that go on any longer than it had to. So, despite how she felt about this, she kept on moving through the trees. Though, at a much slowed pace as she tried to piece what just happened together.
Instead she gave up on figuring this out and swore to pay more attention to her classes when this was all over.