Celeborn's Nine - Riders of the Night

Author's output: I am so glad those of you responding are still enjoying the story. Truthfully I only get the ideas for the chapters the day I write them, so I am as intrigued by how it is going as everyone else.
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Celeborn stared intently at the dark keep on the side of the mountain. Celestial seemed to be drifting effortlessly in the air, his normal celestial light absent to avoid detection. It was a stark black place deep within the mountain range beyond several peaks. Crossing them to get to the keep would be trying for his riders and heir horses. He might even have to leave the horses behind at some point as the footing became difficult for them.

"Do you still mean to attack it?" Longma curiously asked him.

"I have to," the elflord replied evenly. "One day I will leave Middle Earth, and I do not want it said that Celeborn abandoned his descendents to monsters." Sighing heavily, he added, "And that one is a monster."

"Now that you know what you are about to face, are you ready to go home?" the dragonwitch asked.

"Yes." Then smiling, he said, "One of us must smooth Glorfindel's ruffled feathers."

Longma smiled in agreement as she touched the dragon's thoughts and told it to return home. With a sensuous dip of its body, the dragon turned around and fled back into the midnight sky.
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Tired of waiting for Celeborn to return, most of the riders and Aragorn decided to call it quits for the night. Haldir, justifiably tired himself, climbed to his feet and returned his room with Tiger Blossom. Ever the amorous feline, she tried to seduce him, but he pointed to the foot of the bed and told her "no". He didn't even want her in human shape. She thought he was upset with her until he explained that she was almost too seductive for him to resist, and he really needed to rest.

This satisfied Tiger Blossom, so in her tiger skin, she stretched out on his bed, while he surrendered to sleep. Purring contentedly, she watched him.
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Tiger must have drifted off to sleep herself, because she did not know exactly when the daeva appeared, but the moment she sensed the demoness, she woke up. A horrible old woman with evil eyes and gnarled hands was leaning over her Haldir, stroking his face and filling him with pain and fear. He was starting to whimper in his sleep, silver tears sliding down the side of his face. Tiger sat up, startling the daeva.

Seeing her beloved master in misery, Tiger roared and sprang forward.

Agaz was impressed that the elf had found a jinn tiger to protect him, but it was time for the game to end. She had cultivated his insanity, tortured his heart, and for what? For creatures like this silly jinn cat to undo all her work. He was in the throes of a nightmare brought on by her, but it wouldn't last. It was time for her to take him and be done with it.

Tiger tried to protect her Haldir, but the daeva moved as a thought and was around her, two small spikes appearing in her hand. One spike she drove into her Haldir's head, the other into his heart. Tiger's eyes widened in terror as the red blood flowed. Insane with rage, she attacked the daeva and drove her back. The daeva struck Tiger with her staff, but Tiger didn't feel it. She wanted only to destroy this demon that hurt her Haldir. Slashing repeatedly at the demon, she screamed her rage until the monster disappeared before her eyes.

Leaping back on the bed, Tiger stared at her beloved master, agonizing over what to do. He was bleeding terribly. Then she remembered he had said the man king could heal him. The man king could save master!
Assuming human shape, tears of terror streaming down her face, Tiger went running down the passage looking for the man king. She beat on every door, waking everyone, pleading for the man king to come and save her Haldir! Glorfindel was the first to realize that something was terribly wrong and ran with her to get Aragorn since he seemed to be the object of her search.

"It's another nightmare," Glorfindel said as he and Aragorn sat on either side of Haldir. "Haldir, wake up."

Wake up? Tiger stared at him in disbelief. Could they not see he was unable to wake up? "The daeva hurt him," she tried to explain. "She hurt my Haldir. Can you not see the blood?"

Glorfindel and Aragorn threw back the covers but could see no blood. "Where is he hurt Tiger?" Aragorn asked. Her panic was real but they could see no blood.

Tiger was becoming confused. Could they not see her Haldir bleeding in front of them? Glorfindel tried to wake Haldir up, but he was not waking. The daeva had hurt him. Kneeling at Aragorn's feet, looking up at him, she said, "The daeva hurt him. Please, man king, I see the blood. He is dying."

"Where do you see the blood?" Glorfindel asked. "Show us."

Tiger stood up and dipped her fingers in the red blood that flowed from his forehead and the darker blood that pumped from his heart. "Do you not see it?" she asked as fresh tears filled her eyes.

"We don't see it," Aragorn replied sympathetically, although he was now worried about why they couldn't rouse Haldir. His brothers were also trying to wake him now without success.

"Tell us what happened," Orophin shouted. "What did you see."

Tiger told them everything. And she ended with, "She drove two spikes into him before I could drive her off." She was in pure agony, her tears unceasing. This was her fault for not being quick enough, smart enough, human enough. "She hurt my Haldir," she groaned, her misery so palatable that she was affecting everyone in the room. Even Gimli was feeling sorry for the cat woman.

Aragorn touched Haldir's forehead and frowned. The skin was hot where Tiger said there was a wound, but that was all he could tell. And it was the same over his heart. "Tiger, is there blood on my hand?" he asked and raised his hand.

Tiger looked up. She could see it.

"I wish Longma were here," Rumil whispered fearfully as Tiger climbed on the bed and laid herself over her Haldir. She didn't care if she got his blood on her face. She wanted to hear his heart beat. BUt at some point, she decided she couldn't stand seeing the blood on his beautiful face and climbed off the bed to find a towel.

The men and elves watched as she wiped his face. There was nothing on the towel that they could see, but she saw something, and when she thought the towel was of no further use, she threw it on the floor and went to find another. Aragorn was glad he couldn't see what she was seeing.
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Longma knew something was amiss when Celestial landed in his pond and there were servants there waiting on her and Celeborn. "What is wrong?" she demanded as she and the elf lord stepped off the dragon's tail.

"Something is wrong with one of the elves," the man answered quickly. "They can not wake him and Tiger Blossom is talking crazy."

"That she is talking at all is crazy," Longma returned as she and Celeborn picked up their pace. She knew if Tiger Blossom was involved, it was the elf Haldir. She had felt a dark shadow about him the first time she had touched him. She only hoped it wasn't Tiger Blossom who had hurt him.

Running into the room, she saw what Tiger Blossom saw and gasped in surprize. "Tiger, who did this?" she asked.

""Evil daeva with wicked eyes," the jinn tiger answered anxiously. "Help my Haldir."

"Agaz," Longma said and sat on the bed beside the elf. "I should have realized it sooner, but the daevas do not come here when I am here."

"You know how to help our brother?" Orophin asked hopefully. "You can see what the tiger sees?"

"Yes. If Tiger had not been here, she would have taken him." Stroking the tiger's human head, Longma said, "You saved him."

Tiger smiled. "I save my Haldir? But he still suffers."

"I know, my sweet. I know." Longma looked down at the elf and didn't have the heart to tell his companions that Tiger was right, he was dying, only slowly. Agaz was claiming her prize; one she had first visited at Helm's Deep. There was only one way to save him, and she could not ask that of anyone, except, maybe. She looked at the grieving tiger and asked, "How much do you love master?"

"Tiger adores, master," she replied with fresh tears.

"Enough to be only a tiger?" Longma asked. The men and elves in the room turned their heads to listen. Gimli slowly shook his head.

Tiger stared at Longma as realization sank in. "I can save my Haldir?" she asked softly.

"You and the king," Longma explained. "But it means becoming only a tiger. Only a tiger, my sweet."

"Will I still love my Haldir? Will I remember?" she asked.

"I don't know," Longma admitted and caressed her face.

"And he will die if I do not do this?" she asked.

"Yes. And Agaz will claim his fea."

"What are you asking of her?" Celeborn interrupted them.

"Your Haldir will die unless another immortal soul merges with his. I am asking Tiger to give up her immortality to save him. I am not asking her to give up her life."

Glorfindel shook his head and said, "You can not ask that of her. It's wrong!"

"Then he will die and Agaz will have his soul. No Halls of Mandos, no rebirth.....Hell, my friend."

"No!" Tiger hissed. "No! Take Tiger! Please." She looked up at Glorfindel with such agony in her eyes that he couldn't refuse.

"All right," Celeborn decided. "How do we do this?"

"Not here. Agaz will try to stop us," Longma said as she got up. "I have a place where we can go."

Glorfindel picked the unconcious elf up and followed Longma through the keep to a chamber that was dark until she lit some candles and they saw it was a temple or shrine of some sort. It was empty but for a circle of gold on the floor.

"Agaz will try to stop us," Longma said as she motioned for Glorfindel to lay Haldir in the circle. "Aragorn, hold him."

"I don't know how to do this," Aragorn said as he stepped into the circle and sat down, drawing Haldir into his arms.

"You will know when the time comes, healer," Longma said and indicated that the others should stand around the ring, facing outwards. "Agaz will try to scare you. Stand firm."

"And what will you do?" Glorfindel asked as he took his place.

"Save your friend." Turning tender eyes towards Tiger, she held her hand out and said, "Come, my sweet."

Tiger stepped into the circle and knelt before Haldir, as Longma indicated. She could still see the blood flowing from his body, but she knew he would be well soon. She would give him her immortality and make him well, and he would still love Tiger, she only hoped Tiger remembered.

Longma pressed her hands together and bowed to the four corners of Arda, and then she began the words that would begin the spell. The elves felt the air electrify first, but the men and dwarf felt it soon afterwards. There was great energy in the air, powerful energy. There was also an evil presence that appeared suddenly, lashing at them as they held it back away from the circle.

Aragorn held Haldir tightly, holding him up as Longma continued weaving the spell. Tiger moved closer, tears in her eyes as she caressed her master's face. Tiger loved Haldir, loved him more than her immortal soul. She would be just a tiger for him....please let me remember!

Agaz cursed Longma. Cursed the elves and men who blocked her from the inner ring. They could not see her, but they could feel her, and it was their own courage that kept her out, kept her back. The dwarf even threatened her with his axe. She raged at them, even as the light began to encircle the three in the center of the ring.

Tiger smiled through her tears as master opened his eyes and stared at her. He was going to be all right. She tried to kiss him as something inside of her stretched and then snapped.

Aragorn felt the change when it occurred; it electrified his hands, and he felt the soul of the tiger pass through him into the elf. He blinked unsteadily as a tiger took the place of the woman. Tiger Blossom had given up her immortal soul to save him.

The room became still except for the tiger's curious snuffing sound. Longma looked down at the cat and saw the light of the jinn was gone. Tiger Blossom was no more. Haldir sat up and touched the maginificent cat sitting in front of him. She was just a tiger, and it was breaking his heart.

Glorfindel was the one who first noticed the beautiful man in the chamber with him. His beauty was ageless, indeed, he was beauty and desire and passion. He was Agazmanahn, the spirit of desire, the god without whom life could not exist.

He approached the ring and paused, his eyes burning into the elflord, who waited a moment and then stepped aside for him. Just brushing his cloak in passing, seared the elf lord with the fire of desire.

Agazmanahn knelt beside the tiger and looked at the elf. "Lay with me, and I will give you your tiger back," he said in such a silky voice that he tempted the ears of all who heard.

"Exactly as she was? A jinn?" Haldir asked. "Nor will you take my life or return the madness?"

Agazmanahn smiled. "Lay with me and you will have what you desire."

Haldir was afraid; he did not know if he could survive it, but the tiger had given up her soul for him. No one tried to stop him as he stood and followed the god of desire.

Indeed, no mortal flesh could have survived the onslaught of Agazmanahn, whose white hot piercing was so all consuming he scorched his lover. And it seemed like an eternity that the elf trembled on the point of a blade, his body a play thing for the god. Even Agazmanahn's kisses were molten fire. He plundered the elf's mouth and ravaged his body. He repeatedly drew the sweetest of sensations out of him, giving him no time to breath or think, only feel.

Only when extreme pleasure turned to extreme pain did the god pity his lover and release him. When Agazmanahn departed, a day had passed and Haldir was certain he would never be able to move again. He didn't want to be bothered, but he heard someone entering his room on light feet.

"Master," Tiger said and sat on the bed beside him. Snuggling down she smiled when he stroked her head. "I love you, master."

Haldir couldn't speak, but he hoped Tiger knew how much she meant to him. He knew he loved her; she had been willing to die for him and that wasn't something you ran into everyday.