Bon awoke, excited that today was the long-awaited day of the festival. Elves were sold on many days, but festivals were special. Bon had heard about the previous festival, held after the elven capital had been defeated by the humans. The male elves of the capital had been slain wherever they were found. Its female elves had been captured in large numbers. They had been taken to a special festival here in Ston to be sold. Men had sung afterwards of the many pleasures they had received from their new slaves. Bon, and many other men, had resolved to not miss the next festival.

Today’s festival celebrated the capture by humans of the elven city of Merifuge a month ago. Merifuge had been the last elven city on the continent. This was quite remarkable, as only a hundred years ago all humans on the continent had been slaves of the elves. Nearly every male elf of the city had been killed. Only a few male elves had escaped. Its female elves had been captured for enslavement. The harvest of female elves to be sold from this victory was expected to be bountiful. Bon was glad he was alive as a 25-year-old man for this festival. To the victors go the spoils. These spoils promised to be especially luscious.

The rules were simple: every man without a slave could buy at most one female elf at the auction. A set of female elves were to be raffled off to the eligible men who had not been able to buy one at auction. The elders understood that if every man didn’t have at least a chance to own a female elf, the resulting riots would make the elders’ money meaningless. These expected prizes had led many men to devote themselves to the challenging task of conquering the elves. The elves had been powerful. The men were more numerous, burned with revenge for their forefathers, and had powerful incentives.

Bon had occasionally thought of becoming a warrior when he was young. Successful warriors often got the best plunder. He had some ability with a sword, as well as a few weak abilities with magic. Practice and training had improved his skills. As he’d grown older he’d realized his skills were not enough. He lacked the strong abilities necessary to become a warrior. Even a team of powerful human warriors took a chance when fighting a male elf. A male elf was much faster and stronger than a man, as well as having senses no human could match. A single male elf was an even match for three human warriors. Most female elves were easily overpowered, but some had dangerous magic powers that could also best a warrior.

Bon was smart enough to choose a career that did not guarantee his quick death. Bon could have chosen to take a support role. It would have been a safer career, but it would also have had a matching meager salary.

Bon had chosen a different path. Bon specialized in plundering ruins. He had repeatedly defeated restless dead and magical traps to gain loot. This career was dangerous, but by using his head he’d survived so far. He sold whatever magical treasures he could find, providing aid to the war effort and to his moneybag.

Bon had expected the humans to eventually defeat Merifuge. Elves were individually powerful. but humans outnumbered the elves about fifty to one. Bon had been carefully saving for this day. Today he would see if his savings were enough. He fervently hoped so.

Bon arrived at the festival gate. He entered with the rest of the crowd once the gate opened. The slaves were on full display. Bon needed to decide on a slave to try to buy. Every female elf was beautiful until she became elderly, but every man has his preferences. Bon wanted to make his best use of this one opportunity.

Each slave stood, nude, with her hands humiliatingly kept above her head. The slaves’ wrists and ankles were shackled. Each wrist shackle was tightly bound to a matching post above. Each ankle shackle was bound to a matching post on the ground. There would be no escapees today.

Bon went from one naked elf slave to another. Up close, each female elf available for sale was stunningly beautiful. Bon had heard they were great fucks, too. Elves and humans couldn’t crossbreed to produce offspring, but their sexual organs worked the same way. A man could choose to purchase an elf for only cleaning and cooking. Bon doubted any man limited himself to that.

Bon found one elf particularly attractive. Like all female elves she was perfectly proportioned. Her long black silky hair flowed halfway down her light-skinned back. Her ear points stuck out of her hair, clearly identifying her as an elf. Her large DD breasts were perky and larger than some of the other elves. Her nipples jutted out. Her smooth slit promised endless pleasure. She was somehow more beautiful and alluring to him than all the other female elves.

Bon briefly read the information about her. Her name was Aareesha. She was a high elf, a kind known for their regal nature, arrogant temper, and rebellious disposition. She was a princess. This was unsurprising. There were many elven princesses. Elven females preferred to mate with elven kings. Male elves had wisely ensured there were many male elves with the title of king. Merifuge had been led by a large council of kings. A large set of kings meant many princesses. Aareesha was only 60 years old, a stripling by elven standards. Elves matured to adulthood at the same speed as humans. Elves aged slowly after they became adults. Elves easily lived for over 500 years. Aareesha looked like a gorgeous 20-year-old woman, not her 60 years of age, if you ignored her pointed ears and purple eyes. She was a virgin. Bon doubted this would be true for much longer.

Bon went up to stroke her breasts and slit. She tensed, but said nothing. Bon couldn’t believe how good it felt to stroke her private parts. He burned inside. He wanted to own her body.

Bon said to Aareesha, “So knife-ear, why would a human want trash like you?”

She tensed further. Bon could see warring emotions in her face. She was clearly an arrogant elf by nature. She was also humiliated by her nude display. She was unable to hide her terror and anxiety from her face. No doubt she’d believed the superior elves of Merifuge would never be conquered.

Bon said, “I asked you a question. It would be wise to answer.”

Aareesha trembled and replied, “please, let me go.”

Bon smirked. She had said “please” to a human! How amusing. He knew what he wanted. Bon could feel his cock telling him she was exactly what he needed. Bon moved on and carefully met and talked with other slaves. Bon didn’t want to risk someone noticing his preference. Someone might outbid him or force his bid higher. He also thought it prudent to have other options.

As announced, the slaves were auctioned off in a random order. For some elves, the bidding went up steeply. No elf was sold cheaply. Many men had died in the war, but there were still more men who wanted slaves than slaves available. When Aareesha went up for sale, in the middle of the afternoon, a few others put in bids. Bon repeatedly outbid them. As Bon had expected, the elders and many warriors had a slave, so they could not bid. Many of the other interested men had taken support roles, so their moneybags were not quite as heavy as Bon’s. Eventually Bon’s bid was unopposed. The auctioneer announced “sold!,” and Bon couldn’t help but grin.

Bon paid his money. In the early evening he went to collect his purchase. Aareesha saw his face when he got closer and trembled. He grabbed the rope attached to her bound wrists, along with the strangulation rope tied around her neck, and pulled her along. He knew she couldn’t escape for now. Besides the two ropes, her ankles were shackled close together. A female elf was also not strong like a male elf. A healthy man could easily overpower a female elf if the fight was purely physical. Some female elves had natural magical abilities that could slay dozens, but humans wisely stripped magical abilities from captured female elves.

Aareesha spoke, “please, sir, let me go.”

Bon smiled. She was clearly afraid. He noticed she was even willing to condescend to saying “please” and “sir.” These were not the usual ways an elven female addressed a human. Elves usually treated humans as scum or worse. He grinned. She would soon do much more.

Bon replied, “not a chance. I’ve bought you. You’re my property.”

Aareesha said, “you have the upper hand now, but I’m not the kind of elf who simply obeys whatever a mere human tells me to do. I suggest you treat me gently. I am princess. I will eventually be rescued by a male elf. He will kill you unless I tell him you treated me as a princess.”

Bon laughed. “Your elven cities are destroyed. Its kings are all dead. You are no longer a princess. Almost all male elves are dead. None of the rest would dare come near a human city.”

Aareesha said, “you would be unwise to act that way.”

Bon derisively grunted. He knew she would soon change her tune.

Bon led her to a neighboring building. Aareesha didn’t seem to know what it was, as she wasn’t resisting his lead. Bon knew this was the runing building. She would soon wish she’d never seen it.

Once inside, Bon led her to a pre-arranged room. He tightly tied her to the posts designed for the purpose. The runing blacksmith walked into the room. He said, “welcome, sir. Please carefully double-check the runes you’ve selected.” He handed Bon an open metal collar. The outside of the collar said, “Property of Bon.”

Bon examined the inside of the collar and verified its contents. He’d been selecting these runes for months, going to different experts to get exactly the runes he wanted. He had selected a large set. Bon could have chosen runes to make her mindlessly obey. Such slaves lacked intelligence and initiative. Bon would instead break her in, through both fear and need, until she became unable to disobey. The process was like breaking in a horse, enforced by magic. Breaking her in would produce a more useful slave. Bon didn’t expect the process to take too long. Bon also expected to enjoy the process.

The first rune was the adore rune. She would feel a surge of pleasure through her body every time she obeyed an order or received praise from her master.

The second rune was the fear rune. Every time she thought of going against her master’s orders she would become fearful. This rune wouldn’t prevent her from considering disobedience, no matter what some fast-talking salesmen said. The rune would make her feel a deeply unpleasant fear whenever she considered disobedience. Bon couldn’t wait to see its effects on her.

The third rune was the punish rune. Whenever she deliberately displeased or disobeyed her master, she would feel a deep painful anguish. The punish rune would clarify to her why she should have pleased and obeyed her master instead.

The fourth rune was the excited rune. This would make her body unnaturally sensitive to pleasure and pain, as if her entire body was an erogenous zone. This would make any physical discipline far more memorable to her. Bon planned to spank and paddle her often. It would amuse him, he found it arousing, and he expected she would soon learn to do anything to avoid it.

The fifth rune was the clear rune. This rune helped give her advanced mental clarity. He wanted his slave to serve him well. Also, her fear would act more powerfully on her if she could never dull the pain.

The sixth rune was the sorcerer rune. This rune would partly unlock her magical abilities. Humans stripped elves of their magic powers when they were taken captive. Bon understood why. Yet Bon planned to continue to search ruins for treasure. Giving her healing magic would make her especially useful to him. The rune was embellished to give her the abilities to treat and stabilize wounds, to heal wounds, and to cleanse sickness and toxins. She would not be able to cause any injury with magic.

The seventh rune was the stamina rune. This rune would enable her to undergo work or physical discipline for long periods of time without injury. He wanted his exploitations of her, through work and discipline, to not permanently damage his property. Elves’ native magic normally let them recover their bodies like this. She had been stripped of her access to her native magic to strengthen her body. This rune would partly compensate for it.

The eighth and final rune was the ensnarement rune, a newly-developed rune. The ensnarement rune would make it increasingly difficult for her to disobey or intentionally displease her master every time she obeyed her master. Its effects were subtle, gradual, and cumulative. Over time its trap would slowly suppress her will. The more she gave up her resistance, the harder it would be for her to ever resist. It would even make her feel guilt for disobedience and displeasure. Once she realized what this rune was doing, she would be incentivized to disobey. After all, her every obedient act would entrap her further. Bon couldn’t wait to observe this rune’s effects.

These were more runes than most slaves received. Bon had investigated and verified there was no problem applying this many. While he would enjoy the process of breaking her in, he wanted to do it quickly. High elves were rumored to be especially stubborn and hard to break in.

Aareesha asked, “what are you going to do to me?”

Bon could see no reason to hide it. He thought it might be entertaining if she knew he was going to put so many runes on her. He held up the inside of the collar for her to see. He wanted her to see their exquisite details before he explained some of them. He doubted she would recognize any of them, but she would surely know in general what runes could do.

Her mouth dropped. She gasped in terror. Bon wondered — was she frightened because there were so many runes? Bon noticed her eyes were carefully tracing the lines of the runes. Aareesha was carefully examining each rune. He realized she must know how to read the runes and what they meant. She was obviously well educated. Bon himself couldn’t read what these runes meant. Even some human mages wouldn’t be able to read all of these runes.

Aareesha began struggling. Her efforts were useless. She could not move away from her current position. Bon quietly put the collar around her neck. The blacksmith welded the collar shut tightly around her neck. Bon pressed magicked charcoal onto the collar to release its final incantations and to identify him as her master. The collar gave off an unnatural greenish glow and briefly made an ominous low hum.

Aareesha screamed as the runes’ power entered her.