I twist my body to avoid my opponent's oncoming fist. I grab his arm and pull him towards me then grasp his head between my hands and send it colliding with my knee.

The crowd roars its approval as I throw the unconcious figure onto the sand. I turn towards the crowd in disgust but they don't notice.

My eyes land on the figure of my "master" Veliron. This is what he had planned for me ever since I was captured. To use me as a fighter in these idiotic Pit Fights.

Pit Fighting is a popular pastime in this place and the men here are constantly pitting themselves against each other in order to earn money.

The men who volunteer to fight willingly earn money if they win, while others are forced by their masters to fight and their masters get money depending on if their fighters win or not.

Veliron has gotten rich from entering me into fights, the men who compete against me all do it willingly, each one wanting to prove that they could defeat me.

But I have been undefeated ever since my first fight. I don't enjoy the "sport" at all. It's barbaric that men would beat each other for money or send others to do it for them.

Sometimes people die from these fights and no one cares. It only makes things more interesting for the crowd. Since I'm practically unstoppable and people were starting to get bored with me winning all the time Veliron has ordered me to make the fights interesting and pleasing for the audience.

I hate how he controls me like a puppet. The only good that comes out of these fights is that I get to unleash my anger on the Easterlings.

I have only killed a few but I make sure that everyone knows that I am not to be trifled with.

With the fights over for the day Veliron's guards come to escort me back to his home.
I narrow my eyes at them as they approach and smirk when I see the fear in their eyes.

The four men surround me and lead me out of the arena. I wear a brown slave's tunic and trousers and still keep my hair back with a leather strap.

I have no wounds and the only sign of me being in a struggle is the dirt and sweat that covers my face and body.

Veliron is collecting his winnings as we arrive and when he notices us he smiles at me as if he were a proud father about to praise his son.

If this man were my father I would have run away as soon as I could walk.

"You fought well today elf."
He shakes the bag of money he was given and continues to smile.
"I should have gotten one of your kind to fight for me sooner."

"I'll have you know that the only reason I haven't killed you yet is because fighting the rest of your people everyday is enough to ease my burning desire to spill your guts onto the sand."

The men around me stiffen as I cross my arms. It's almost as if they expected me to pull out a knife and carry out my words.

But Veliron's only response is a laugh.
"You still have that firey spirit in you elf. Keep using it and soon I'll be richer than both the Kings of Rhun and Harad!"

Veliron leads us away from the arena and into the crowded streets of the city. We have to walk through the MarketPlace in order to reach his home and as usual we are given awed and fearful glances as we pass by.

The crowd parts and watches us while murmering things to one another. I can hear their whispers and know that they are directed at me. The people of this city fear me, and they should.

I have no love for these Easterlings, and I would gladly see every single one of them destroyed.

Well, maybe not all of them.
I have seen people that deserve much better than the lives they have been given. People that protest against the Easterling's merciless way of life and are shunned or even imprisoned because of it.

The children are the ones I have the most compassion for. They are being raised to be heartless and cruel, it is the only life they know.

I hear an angry shout from Veliron and peer over his shoulder to see a little girl kneeling on the ground in front of him.

She had appeared to have dropped some coins and was trying to pick them up as fast as she could but Veliron was scaring her with his yelling.

The girl looked up at him with fearful brown eyes, her blonde hair was dirty and tangled.
An urchin as their people called the lower-class in this city.

Veliron is shouting for the girl to move but she is frozen in place by fear. Veliron could easily walk around her but he enjoys showing his power wherever he can.

Even if that means terrorizing a poor girl. I can't take this any longer. I shove my guards and Veliron out of the way and crouch down beside the girl.

Her eyes widen in fear, no doubt she thinks that Veliron sent me to harm her in some way.
I smile to comfort her and start gathering the spilled coins.

"Don't worry about him he can't harm you, he wouldn't want to do anything that would get his robes dirty."

She gawks at me in surprise as I place the coins I gathered back into her bag.
In her eyes I was a dangerous elf who killed without mercy; yet here I was helping her.

I hand her the bag and help her to her feet.
"Run along now little one."
I give her a gentle nudge towards the side of the path.
She looks at me in confusion then down at her bag.

Finally she looks up at me and offers me a shy smile.
I smile back and dip my head. Watching as she disappears from sight and noticing the bewildered glances coming from the bystanders.

Someone grabs me by the shoulder and turns me around. Veliron is glaring at me while digging his fingers into my shoulder.

"How dare you think that you can defy me this way?! You should remember to stay in your place elf!"

"Why didn't you stop me? Or order your guards to?"
I ask innocently.
Veliron stutters and turns towards his men who look just as nervous.

I smirk and shrug his hand off my shoulder.
I calmly walk back to my guards who flinch as I approach, even though I have no intentions of harming them.

I see the faces of the onlookers and see suspicion and fear depsite my show of kindness towards the girl.

Sometimes I enjoy the fear that the Easterlings display towards me, and other times all I feel is lonliness as I am faced with the knowledge that I am completely and utterly alone in this place.

////

I sit on the floor of my cell reflecting on the events of last week while I wait to be escorted to the arena.

One thing that continues to resound in my mind is when I had told the girl that Veliron couldn't hurt her.

I had been lying, Veliron could kill and was not afraid to. He slit my son's throat right before my eyes. He had only been a child, still a baby in the eyes of the elves.

He should not have had his life taken from him. He deserved to live on this earth forever with the rest of our people.

So did Elwin, Landion, my parents, and Anna.
I close my eyes and sigh as I think about my little sister.
I wonder where she is and if she's alright.

Does she ever think about me? Does she blame me for what happened or hate me for breaking my promise to protect her?

I'm sorry Anna, I'm so sorry that I failed you. I failed Elwin, Rilien, Landion, our parents, and our people. Idhrenion was right, I am doom.

My guards come and once again we make the familiar trek to the arena. I search the crowd for any sign of Anna or even the little girl from yesterday.

It would settle the fear in my heart to see that they were well.
Unfortunately I see neither one of them as we enter the arena.

Word about my kindness towards the girl got out and I was greeted with taunts about me being soft.

All of the jesting ends after I've severely injured fifteen men and have left five dead.
I expect the fighting to be over then but someone announces that there is going to be one last fight.

I wait to see who the unlucky rat who thinks that he can stand against me when to my surprise the man who is enters the arena is a slave.

No one has ever entered one of their slaves against me and for good reason, none of them want to waste a fighter on a fight they couldn't win.

But there's something odd about this slave, he looks scrawny and fearful. This is no fighter, this is a slave being punished by his master.

The man cowers in fear before me as the fight starts. The crowd bellows for me to make him scream and suffer and I wish that they would all shut up.

I pick up an sword whose previous owner lost a hand because of me. I shake the sand off of it and walk calmly towards the trembling man.

He drops onto his knees and clasps his hands together.
"Please, please have mercy on me!"
The crowd laughs mockingly at his pleas and waits for me to attack.

I raise my sword and plan on finishing him off quickly, that would dispoint the crowd and save the man from torment.

But as I look down at him I discover that I can't bring myself to kill him. This man was probably taken from his home just as I was. He may have had to watch his own family be killed or sold off to other masters.

So in an act of compassion on my part, as well as defiance against the crowd, I do nothing.

The crowd shouts for me to do something but instead I turn away from the man and nonchalantly walk in the opposite direction, swinging the sword back and forth while whistling a tune.

The cowering slave looks at me in shock and absolute bewilderment. Meanwhile the crowd is enraged that at my behavior.

Some men think that I'm just messing with the slave, making him think that I'm going to spare him only to kill him, while others are realizing that I have no intentions of harming the man.

"Kill him!"
Someone shouts.
I ignore them and toss the sword into the air and catch it by the hilt as it comes down.

"Attack him you sorry exscuse for an elf!"
I glance in Veliron's direction and smirk.
"Go kiss an orc!"
This causes some of the crowd to start snickering while others begin to shout in outrage.

Veliron looks as if he is about to burst. He storms out of the seating area of the arena and a moment later he appears with his guards.

They grab me and force me towards him. Veliron grabs the front of my tunic and pulls me forward to where my face is inches away from his.

"You will not get away with disrespecting me!"
"I already have."
I reply calmly.
"No matter what you do to punish me it won't matter. I'll still disrespect you and show everyone the thick-headed maggot eater you truly are."

If Veliron was mad before it was nothing compared to this. He personally drags me foward with his guards following behind.

I exchange a look with the slave who nods gratefully at me. I nod back as I'm led out of the areana and into the crowded streets of the city.

We go through the MarketPlace but instead of heading for Veliron's home we go to the heart of the city. Now I know what Veliron has in store for me and I brace myself.

In the center of the city is where important announcements are made and where prisoners or slaves are punished publicly.

There's a wooden platform with a tall wooden pole on it. Veliron leads me to it and orders his guards to get a rope.

By now a crowd has gathered to watch the punishment take place and I say nothing as I see the excitement in their eyes.

It has been awhile since the last time a prisoner was punished and the people were eager for another one to take place. Not to mention the fact that I am the elf that everyone in this city knows about and fears.

Watching me be helplessly flogged or beaten by one of their own is something they will all enjoy watching. My heart twists inside of me as their taunts fill my ears.

Any compassion or empathy I felt for these people vanishes as one of the guards rips off my shirt and another arrives with rope and binds my wrists together.

They then tie the other end of the rope to a metal ring on the pole and hoist me up so that my feet are hanging two inches off the ground.

I try to block out the cruel laughter of the people but the sound thunders in my ears as I hang there helpless in front of them.

Veliron produces a whip with sharp metal barbs stuck to it.
I close my eyes and take in a sharp breath.

As the whip and metal strikes my bare back I bite my tongue to stiffle any cries of pain while my body jerks in the air.

Veliron continues to flog me again and again. My tongue begins to bleed from me biting it the metal taste of blood fills my mouth.

Veliron is merciless with his beating, I know that he won't stop until I cry and beg him for to but I refuse to give him the satisfaction.

The crowd shouts and encourages me to beg for relief but I ignore them.
I feel blood running down my back and I can see drops of it falling onto the wooden platform.

After what seems like hours the beating finally stops and I dangle limply with my head hanging.
My entire body is in pain but I still refuse to let it show.

Veliron steps in front of me and glares at me.
"Have you learned your lesson elf?"
I look up and narrow my eyes at him.

I respond to his question by spitting onto his boot.
He seeths in anger and punches me in the face, causing more blood to fill my mouth.

"One night out here will teach you a lesson."
He motions for his guards to follow him and they leave me hanging alone on the platform.

Some people linger for a little while longer before gradually dispersing. I breathe slowly in ragged gasps as I try to keep myself from slipping into unconciousness.

As the day moves on and night eventually covers the land everyone has gone to their homes and for the first time that day I am truly alone.

The days in Rhun are usually hot and the nights are freezing, since I am an elf I am not affected by the cold.

But since I am weak a small chill creeps into my body and I begin to shiver as the dark wraps me in its cruel arms.

I look up at the stars and wonder where my people are at. I wonder if they found a new home yet. I wonder if Anna is looking up at the stars too like she always did.

I wonder if I'll ever escape this place. I close my eyes and hang my head. My arms are sore from hanging for hours on end and my back is burning.

Did I truly deserve all this? Was all this suffering necessary to punish me for what I did?
It seems as though I'll never find the answer.

As I hang there I never notice the lone cloaked figure watching me. Silently and without a word he disappears into the darkness.