Untamed Tales 4 - The Tattoo

Untamed Tales - The Tattoo, Chapter 2

 

 

“Never in all my long years have I seen an elf, let alone a female elf drink so much so quickly,” said Green, the youngest dwarf.

 

“And she outlasted her brother,” said Purple quite amazed. They were both standing there looking down at the two elves that had lost the challenge and the rematch of Puff and Dart. Now it seemed they had lost their dignity too.

 

Antien sat on one side of the small round table, slouched forward, arms crossed and head resting upon them. Rhavaniel sat across from him, leaning back in her chair, one leg on top of the table, the other foot firmly planted on the floor. Her head was thrown back and her mouth was agape. Both elves were seemingly fast asleep, passed out cold.

 

The dwarves left them to go and boast about their victory to some of the other patrons. A group of young boys, dishwashers for the tavern, overheard what had happened and went to see this unusual circumstance, drunken elves. They looked at Antien, buried face down on his arms, and laughed. Then their eyes grew wide as they gazed at Rhavaniel. The position, in which she was displayed, left not much to a young man’s imagination, or old for that matter. The boys had a clear view down her cleavage, the tops of her rounded breasts lifting and lowering slowly as she slept. One of the boys, feeling quite brave as curiosity took over, started to reach out with his hand to cop a feel while she was in this vulnerable state. Just as he was about to touch his first breast, a man’s hand slapped him away.

 

“That will be enough from you, young man. Don’t you have tables to clean?” said a strong voice. Without answering,  the boys took off running to a door that led to the backroom of the tavern.

 

A very tall and handsome Gondorian guard stood there looking at the two elves. He shook his head, his shoulder length brown hair swishing back and forth as he did. “And they say men can’t hold their liquor,” he said to himself. He reached out to Antien and shook his shoulder until he stirred.

 

“One more blow, then we must be going,” he mumbled as he sat up and looked around.

 

The Gondorian man wasn’t sure he wanted to know what the handsome elf meant by this. Such a statement could be taken several ways. He chose to ignore it. “Tis getting late, Master elf,” the man said. He saw a flash of gold and noticed he wore a wedding band on his finger. “It is time you and your lovely wife had best be on your way.”

 

Antien blinked several times, trying to focus on the face in front of him. He smiled, his eyes half opened and said. “Why thank you, my good man, but this is not my wife.” Antien hiccupped and laughed. “My wife is at home.” He broke into a fit of laughter thinking of calling Glandur his wife. The man looked at him, shocked by his statement. Antien shook his head. “Silly humans do not understand the ways of love.” He got up on wobbly legs, almost falling back down, but the man grabbed his arm to help steady him. Antien continued. “You see, my husband is my wife . . . my she is a he . . . my wife is a . . . oh, never mind.” It was obvious the man did not understand. Antien looked at Rhavaniel. “This is my sister,” he slurred. It was easier to just tell him this rather than try to explain anymore.

 

Antien stepped over to Rhavaniel and shook her arm. “Rhav, Rhav darling, it’s time to go now.”

 

Rhavaniel mumbled something about blow darts and wedding dresses then lifted her head until her chin rested on her chest. “Damn dwarves,” she said as the room was spinning. “I think that Red bastard cheated.”

 

“Rhav, my Princess, we have to go home now,” Antien said then he gasped and looked shocked. He brought his finger to his lips and made a shushing sound. “Shh, we are not supposed to call her that in front of the dwarves,” he whispered to the Gondorian guard who was still watching these two and trying with all his might not to laugh.

 

“It will be our little secret,” the man answered, playing along with Antien.

 

With the man’s help and what little help Antien was in his state, they got Rhavaniel to her feet. They made their way to the tavern door and walked outside. All three stood there a moment before the man spoke. “Would you like for me to help your sister get home safely?” he asked. He was being quite sincere and only wanted to help.

 

Antien jumped between them, a hand on his hip and the other poking the very tall, very muscled Gondorian in his chest with his long elvish finger. “Don’t think I don’t know what you are up to,” Antien said accusingly. “This is the Lady Rhavaniel of Mirkwood, soon to be Princess, soon to be Lady of North Ithilien.” He glanced at Rhavaniel. “Pull you shirt up dear. You’re about to set the girls loose.”

 

Rhavaniel looked down and laughed. “Oops,” she said shrugging her shoulders. “Sometimes they have a mind of their own.” She pulled at the neckline of her shirt and then cupped her breasts with her hands making a quick adjustment.

 

The man put his hands in the air, trying to look as submissive as possible. Truth be told, he knew who she was and he was worried that she would not make it home safely. However, Antien was being overly protective and there was no arguing with an elf, least an elf under the influence of dwarfish ale. “I meant no harm to you or our *soon to be* Princess. Do be careful getting her home though, my friend,” the man said to Antien.

 

Antien stood up straight and looked the man in the eyes, all six of them. “I’ll have you know that the Lady Rhavaniel has fought spiders in Mirkwood, Orcs in Lorien, and trolls in . . . in . . . well, where ever it was that she fought trolls. She has been to the Black Gate and back. I think she will make it home.”

 

The man chuckled to himself. These two really were quite entertaining, even in their inebriated state. “Well then, I will leave you to it. It seems you are in good hands under her protection. Good evening Master elf, Lady Rhavaniel,” he said and bowed to them both. Then he went off for home. The Gondorian man couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for not insisting that he follow them home, just to make sure they did not get into any trouble

 

Antien and Rhavaniel did their best to walk down the empty street. It was quite late and most people were home already. The two friends held each other up the best they could. Rhavaniel was still complaining that the dwarves had cheated somehow while Antien was commenting on the pretty shop windows as they passed by.

 

Suddenly Rhavaniel stopped, jumping in front of Antien. She grabbed his shoulders and waited for him to look her square the eyes. Antien smiled a silly grin. “What?” he said.

 

“Antien, you know you are my best friend in all of Arda, right?” she said with a slurred accent.

 

“Yes,” he responded.

 

“And you know I love you, right?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And things are about to change quite drastically.”

 

“Uh huh.”

 

Rhavaniel lowered her head to his until they were touching foreheads. “Tell me the truth, Antien. Do you think less of me for going back on my word?”

 

The two friends stood on the sidewalk, swaying with each other and holding each other up. Antien stood up straight and crinkled his brow. “What are you talking about? What word did you go back on?”

 

“Oh, don’t you remember when we were just starting out as trainees? We swore that we would never be caught up in the politics of royalty and court life and such. We would be warriors and nothing else.”

 

Antien smiled. “I remember. That was the day you swore off dresses.”

 

Rhavaniel rolled her eyes. “Antien, you are not listening to me. That was the day we swore to always be friends. We said that as long as we had each other, nothing else would matter. And now I am about to go against everything I have ever fought not to become. I am going to be a Princess, a Lady of my own city. For Eru’s sake Antien, I am going to have a throne. But I just want you to know that even though all of this is about to happen to me, I will never forget you. You will always be my closest friend and I am sorry if I ever disappointed you.” As she spoke the last word, a tear filled in the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek.

 

Antien cupped her face in his hands, his thumb carefully wiping away the tear. “Rhavaniel, you are now and will always be my best friend. You are practically family. No matter what happens that one thing will never change. Glandur may have my soul and my eternity, but you have my heart. I love you Rhav.” He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, then the tip of her nose and finally her lips. Then he connected with her blue eyes once more. “Better?”

 

“I guess so,” she said wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

 

Antien pulled her in for a hug. “Good,” he whispered in her ear. At the same time, his attention suddenly switched from this private and emotional moment to pretty flashy things dangling in the window of the store behind them. He released Rhavaniel from his hold. “Huh, I don’t remember ever seeing that place before.”

 

Rhavaniel turned around to see what he was talking about. There were many sketched pictures on yellowed parchments hanging in the window. Silver and gold baubles of different shapes hung from the top, twisting and twirling to get ones attention. “What do you suppose they sell in there?”

 

Antien scrunched his shoulders. “It looks like an art shop to me.” He gasped and grabbed Rhavaniel’s hands as an idea came to him. “Let’s do something to commemorate this moment. We’ll have an artist draw something for each of us, something that will remind us of each other every time we see it.”

 

“I love that idea,” Rhavaniel squealed, and off they walked, stumbling and giggling as they entered the store, still quite plastered from the dwarfish ale.