The ogre picked up the dead orc and walked out.

"You three, come over here!" an orc shouted in elvish.

Shayna, Alara and Talin walked over. The orc looked them over and grabbed Shayna by the arm. "We should be paid extra for this one. She's got more meat on her than both of those put together." he said in orcish.

Shayna could tell that the orc was squeezing hard from the expectant look on his face. He wanted her to be in pain from his grip. She resisted the almost overwhelming urge to flex and expand her arm out of his grip. She yelped in mock pain and tried to look like that's how she felt.

"I guess her magic protection that makes her arm feel like rock isn't as strong as me." the orc thought to itself. It smiled, showing a mouth of smelly, broken and rotten teeth.

They were put with the other elves. Ropes were tied around their wrists and ankles. Afterwards, the orcs left the chamber.

"Why did you stop fighting them?" Talin asked.

"The ogre was gonna smush people with his club if I didn't stop." Shayna answered. "Now we've got to wait for a good time to get away."

"We can't wait until we get to the plains. Then the orcs could just track us down and catch us again." Talin said.

"We'll get free one night while still in the woods. I've got an idea. Could anyone do illusions?"

"Sure, but only for a short time." one of the other captives answered.

They spent some time planning. Later, the orcs returned.

"We'll be leaving at first light." the orc said in elvish. "Since its you're fault we're down a couple of us, you get to cary the extra supplies. We might as well put those muscles of yours to work." The orc chuckled to itself as it left. It returned with some food and water.

The next morning, the elves were led out single file. The ropes on their wrists and ankles were removed, and other ones were placed tieing them together at the waist. About five feet of slack seperated each of them. The orcs had carypacks slung over their shoulders. The ogre had one that was dripping blood. The injured orcs were missing.

"Ok now. Here's your little bit to carry." an orc said to Shayna as he put a carrypack over her shoulders. "Lets give her all she can lift. That'll make our climb down easier." the orc told the others, in orcish." The orc opened the pack and put in metal spikes and water jugs until it was filled. The pack easily outweighed Shayna, but didn't seem to bother her at all. Her abdominal muscles showed increased definition and her leg muscles had expanded a little as the load had increased. She then thought that she had better not give herself away, so she acted like the pack was a heavy load. "Haw, haw. Snort." the orc laughed. "None of you better try getting away. We'll just have to take it out on the rest of you if you do." it said in elvish.

The trip down the winding path took all day. The trail was steep, and there were plenty of pebbles to slip on. One time, one of the elves ahead of Shayna slipped. He pulled a couple of others down with him when the rope caught around their waists. Shayna was pulled off her feet onto her stomach when the rope pulled her. She managed to wrap her arms around a rock outcropping before any of them managed to fall over one of the many cliffs. She quickly looked up and down the trail and was relieved when none of the orcs noticed that she had stopped the slide down the mountain by herself. Their first night and day through the forest went by well enough. On the second night, they decided to act. Only one orc was awake.

Meanwhile, in a inn room in the orcish port city, Malanger the wizard checked on his ogre. The crystal ball showed him to be sleeping. It also showed a bunch of elves tied up nearby. "Good" he said to himself. "Now I'll get what I need."

Shayna looked over to see the illusionist wink at her. She then pulled her arms apart until the rope snapped. She was especially careful not to elbow Talin when the rope gave way. Shayna untied her ankles next. She started untying Talin, but decided that would take to long. Keeping up illusions is hard to do, she was told. There was no reason to put them all in too great of danger. This thought made her hurry. She gragged the rope and pulled until it snapped.

"Ow." Talin wasn't able suppress that. "Be careful. You don't want to break my arms."

"Sorry. I just didn't want to take too long. I don't know if the orcs'll see past the illusion." Shayna answered.

Shayna snapped the roped off of others while Talin untied knots. The others went into the woods while Shayna crept over to where the ogre was sleeping. Its club of gnarled wood lay beside the ogre's sleeping form. The handle had indentations where the ogre's huge hands would grasp it. Shayna was about to lift it when she realized that it would be too awkward for her to use. It would outweigh any elf, so she couldn't keep her balance while swinging it. Shayna then decided on a different plan. She slipped one leg under the ogre's neck and the other one around it, hooking her ankles together. She then took a few deep breaths and squeezed her legs together as tight as she could. The ogre sat upright when Shayna did this, picking her up with it. She continued to use every ounce of her strength as the ogre grasped her legs and tried to pull them loose. Shayna felt the ogre trying to get its fingers around her legs. She kept up her efforts even though the ogre squeezed its fingers painfully into her thighs. She eventually felt the ogre's neck bones snap under her efforts. She dropped to the ground as the ogre fell beside her.

The orc that was awake heard the orgre fall and come over to see what had happened. When it got over to the heat bolb that its night vision showed where the ogre lay, the orc saw another heat blob come away from it.

Shayna saw the orc coming over to her and met it with a quick attack. She hit it with a quick punch that shattered its leg and put it into a quick headlock. The orc's jaw was resting on shayna's bicep while her hand was on top of its head. "If you don't shout and wake the others, I'll just tie you up and go away." Shayna said. The orc answered "Like I'm going to trust anyone." in broken elvish. The orc yelled from between clenched teeth. The other orcs quickly jumped to ther feet. Shayna was startled and tensed up. She felt the orc's head splash against her hand as her bicep rapidly expanded against it. "Eew!" Shayna said as this happened.

The other two orcs rushed Shayna, as she was the only elf within sight. She leapt over them and spun around to kick an orc. Shayna's foot passed up through its back into its chest cavity. The force of the impact sent the orc's organs flying out its chest. The other orc spun around, catching Shayna in the stomach with a rising punch. The orc felt the bones in its hand break as they impacted Shayna's stomach muscles. Shayna tossed the orc onto its back and lept onto its chest. She landed in a split, with her legs pinning the orcs arms down. Shayna's feet were at the orcs elbows.

"I'll let you go if you stop fighting." Shayna said. "You know you're not going to beat me." Shayna then flexed all her muscles. She felt herself sink down onto the orc's chest as she did this. The orcs breath left its lungs in a whoosh. "What's happening?" Shayna said to herself. She relaxed herself, and the orc was able to catch its breath. "Did I get heavier when I did that?" she said quietly.

"Are you trying to kill me by not letting me breath?" the orc said.

"No." Shayna answered. She looked off to think. "I guess that muscles have to weigh something. That means I get a lot heavier when I do this." Shayna flexed her arms, but stopped when the orc gasped for breath.

The orc took Shayna's momentary distraction to make its move. It pushed Shayna off and ran to pick up its club. When it started to swing, Shayna pulled the weapon out of the orc's hands. She continued the swing in an arc, bringing the club across the orcs stomach. The impact splashed orc guts across the clearing.

"That was gross." one of the elves said, entering the clearing.

"Yeah, orcs are like that." Shayna replied.

Talin used his magic to clean Shayna up as they all made their way far from the orcs' camp.

The wizard Malanger decided to take one last look at how his prizes were doing before settling down to sleep. What he saw when he peered at his ogre's location was not at all like he had expected. There were signs of a brief battle. The ogre was dead, and the orcs were ripped to shreds. Did a bear eat them all? "I wouldn't put it past the elves to have some large animals rescue them." he said. "I guess I'll have to use the other plan." He worked at spells for about half an hour. "At least I'll get one elf. That bit of hair *has* come in useful."

Late the next day, the excaped elves were having their evening meal. Shayna was busying herself playing with a squirrel. She'd put a cracked nut on her bicep, then fling it up into the tree by flexing and expanding her arm rapidly. The squirrel would then catch and eat the offered treat. Meanwhile, Alara was recounting the journey uner the mountain. There was a sudden rushing of wind. The sun was blacked out for a second. And an enormous figure dropped from the sky to sit next to the elves' camp. A bat-winged reptillian form had surprised them. The elves froze in fright as the sight of a dragon.

"I have come for you." It said. Smoke drifted from its nostrils as it pointed at Shayna.

Shayna stood up and tensed up for a fight. This caused the dragon to laugh. It threw its head up and chuckled, sending brief jets of flame skyward. "Do not resist. I have no desire to destroy you, little one." the dragon said. "I am Phligistan, Essence of Fire. You have little chance of beating me. Do you want to risk your life so quickly? And what of your friends? They will surely die if you resist."

"You're right." Shayna said dejectedly. "What are you going to do with me?"

"I am bidden to bring you to Malanger the Wizard." the dragon replied. "You will ride on the back of my neck. I know that my neck spines will not pierce your flesh like they will of others."

"Then I have to go." Shayna said. She climbed onto the dragon's neck. Shayna grasped the spine ahead of her and tightened her legs around Phlogistan's neck.

"If you try to harm me, you will only drop thousands of feet to your doom." The dragon announced. It then lept into the air. The gusts from its great wings sent clouds of debris into the air as it climbed rapidly into the sky.

"This wizard has unknown designs on you. It will be interesting to see what they are." Phlogistan said as he flew.

"What do you mean?" Shayna asked. She was careful not to grip the dragon too hard. She did't want it to kill her.

"He uses his magics to charm others. He is also an artificer." The dragon said.

"A what?" Shayna asked.

"An artificer. He creates magical devices." Phlogistan answered. "Do not interrupt me. I am telling you this because it amuses me, not because I have anything to gain from it. This Malanger fancies himself a powerful wizard, able to charm anything into serving him. Too bad he is not a wise one. He doesn't know that elves are resistant to such magics. He also relies on his servants and creations far too much."

"He was able to catch me easy enough before." Shayna said

"He probably used some device." Phlogistan answered. "You are turning out to be an interesting experiment."

"What do you mean?" Shayna asked.

"You know that the different races have their own individual patrons. Elves have Nymphs, Humans have Genii, Dwarves have Titans, and I have orcs. These patrons personify the elements of water, air, earth and fire."

"I'm, umh, sorry I killed some of your orcs." Shayna said, nervously.

"Ha. HAH!" The dragon answered with bellowing laughter. "The orcs are but playthings to me. I don't take such care in my race as the others do. They are but tools to be used. You see, we sometimes bestow a gift on a race not of our own to see how it would be handled. In your case, a gift of strength was given. You have yet to reach its limits. So far you have handled it well. Just be warned, though, if you gain much more strength, you will not be able to control it."

The rest of the journey passed uneventially. They landed a few miles outside of the city. The wizard was there with a wooden chest.

"I see you have the agreed payment." Phlogistan said.

"Yes. Now give the elf to me." Malanger said.

"Go to him. You are his prisoner now." Phlogistan ordered Shayna.

Shayna started towards the magician, when he grabbed the amulet hanging from his necklace and gesturd at her. Shayna fell asleep quickly.

When she woke up, Shayna was in a room with a stone floor, brick walls, and a wood roof. A wooden chair, an oil lamp, and a stairway leading up were the only fixtures she could see. She was sitting in a large, heavy chair with her legs straight out in front of her. Rope was coiled around her thighs and tied to the chair. She looked down to see large stone hands grasped around her upper arms. She couldn't turn her head around far enough to see what the hands were attached to. Shayna saw the magician walk down the stairs as she gained alertness.

"Good. You aren't trying that 'pretend to still be asleep' ruse. You'd be surprised how many fools think I'd fall for that. I know that your magic gives you enhanced strength. Not even an angry bull could break free of those restraints. And, Don't think I'm going to give you the time to try, either. You'd probably have a mouse chew the ropes off and come up with some clever way to slip free of my golem's grasp." Malanger sat down in the chair opposite her. "You will look into my eyes." he said.

Shayna tried to look away, but the magician's face suddenly looked to interesting to ignore.

"You know I'm not your enemy. I'm not going to hurt you." he said. Malanger's voice took on a soothing, resonant quality. "I'm concerned about you. I am an old friend. You want to stay with me. You want to help me any way you can..."

Shayna kept quiet while the magician talked. He seemed to be looking past her as he spoke. Shayna thought to herself "Why is he telling me to like him. I get it. He's trying to use those charm magics that the dragon said won't work." She smiled a little. "I'd better act while he's not paying attention to anything." she thought. Shayna slowly flexed her thighs. Her muscles slowly expanded under the coiled ropes. The lines shifted around her legs and started to creak. Shayna could feel the ropes tighten as they started to fray and throw off bits of string and dust. The wood of the chair groaned as the ropes cut into it. "He's not even slowing down in that silly speech." Sheyna thought. The rope coils gave way in quick succession. One line would snap, its ragged ends flying apart rapidly. They slapped against the chair and left indentations from the force and speed of their impacts. Shayna strained her legs to flex against the ropes even harder. The next few lines snapped away to reveal her thickly muscled thighs, quivering with effort and still expanding. The ends of the ropes bit into the magicians chest and stomach as he was leaning over her when they gave way. His concentration was broken by the sudden, mind-numbing pain.

"You! YOU!" he stammered as an idea came to him. He used his magic to 'possess' the golem. It had no true mind of its own, so there was no resistance to this. "Too bad this form wasn't built for speech. It'll be the first improvement I'll have to make." he thought.

"I'll make you pay for this." the golem mouthed silently.

Shayna saw the magician suddenly sit upright and then slump to the side and fall out of the chair. "I guess the gods'll get you now for making people into slaves for you like that." she said. Malanger was the only person she could remember being mad at. Shayna's legs tingled where the ropes had been. They also stayed a little expanded when she relaxed them.

The golem stood up, holding Shayna out at arms length.

"What!" Shayna shouted.

"She's not getting away again. I'll just have to kill her seeing I can't make her my slave." Malanger thought. He willed his hands to grip her tighter. "Its going to take some time to get used to this form. It could come in very useful. I can modify it to whatever I need at the time." he went on thinking.

Shayna felt the golem's grip tighten. "Its really squeezing hard. I'd better get away before it tries anything else." she thought. The golems hands wouldn't give way when Shanyna tried pulling her arms free. "This thing can't move too fast, being made of stone and all." she thought. The statue's hands opened up a little when Shayna bent her arms and her biceps expanded a bit. "The hands won't close as fast as I could pull free." she thought. But, as she was about to take the opportunity to pull her arms free, the golem reacted.

"You won't get away that easily." Malanger thought as her tightened his new hands, catching Shayna's arms when she relaxed them. He mentally commanded the golem body to continue squeezing. "How could I kill her if I can't even keep hold of her." he thought.

Shayna flexed her arms to counter the pressure that the huge stone hands were putting on her. She had never felt anything press hard enough to cause pain to her arms before. Her muscles expanded to their limits, forcing the vice-like grip apart. "I'm gonna be able to get free now." she thought. The golem's hands snapped shut when Shayna relaxed her arms. "OW!" she shouted in pain as the hands gripped her. "Those hands shut a -lot- faster than I thought they could." she thought. Shayna fought past her pain to flex her arms again. "The more I tighten my muscles, the more they protect me. It could have broke my arm." Shayna thought. "I know the dragon warned me that i could have trouble if I get too much stronger, but I've gotta get free." she thought. Shayna fought against the golem, but the pressure was getting too much for her to bear. She felt tears coming to her eyes as the painful grip started to overwhelm her. She called on her inner strength and continued to push her body to resist. There was the sound of grating stone as the golem's hands were forced further apart. Shayna felt a wave of relief as the pressure on her arms suddenly lessened. Cracks appeared on the golems hands as it was magically forced to press beyonds the limits of its rock hands against Shayn's arms. One of the hands shattered as it strained too hard against Shanna's steel-hard bicep.

Malanger was stunned by what happened. He dropped the elf to look at his hands.

Shayna took the opportunity to move to the other side of the room. She winced as she rubbed her aching biceps. "I'm going to have some awful bruises." she said quietly. She looked over to see the golem standing between her and the stairway. She ran up to the golem and lept halfway up the stairs. The golem's intact fist caught her in the stomach. Shayna was slammed to the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of her. The golem's hand had shattered as it impacted her stomach.

"How am I going to be able to do anyting without any hands or the ability to talk?" Malanger thought. "I'm going to make you pay for this now, you little ant!" He mouthed silently.

Shayna saw the golem lift it's foot over her. She managed to roll out of the way when it came crashing down hard enough to send shards of stone flying from its impact on the floor. The projectiles tore holes in Shayna's clothes, but bounced off her skin, leaving gold marks. She got to her feet, gasping for breath. "I've got to start fighting back or it'll kill me." Shayna thought. She took a step toward the golem and lept into a kick. The muscles in her thigh rippled and expanded as she hit the golem in the center of the chest. The statue was flung back into the wall, bringing down bricks and dirt. Cracks had formed where she had hit it. They radiated out from a newly formed depression in the golem,s chest. Shayna hopped a few times as she held her now sore foot. "I'd better hit it again before it has time to recover." Shayna thought. She ran over to the golem and lept.

"The blasted little elf's going to win! But I can still come out ahead." Malanger thought as he got back to his feet. "I call upon all the magic that still resides in me to bring a curse upon you. May you spend all your days trapped in the form of a..." He was distracted by the sight of a small animal running down the stars. When he got his thoughts back together, her saw Shayna's fist striking him in the chest. He could only get out part of his last word as his new body shattered. "ca..."

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