Celeborn's Nine - Riders of the Night

Author's note: Thank you for the reviews...they are food for my soul
I know when I read a story I don't want to wait for a ages for another chapter, my great regret is that I was so tired last night I did not give the twins or Haldir what they truely deserved. May I be better rested when the time comes around again....and believe me there is so much more to do, so many more places to visit, a sphinx to run into and a Greek hero, too.
(hours later): oh yes!
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Aragorn decided they needed to go hunting, the entire court along with his esteemed guests. The ladies could make a day of it while the men...and elves....brought meat back to the great hall. Haldir was healing well enough to be able to sit outside, and he had Tiger looking out for him, and there would still be people at the great hall if they needed anything. Arwen had to laugh at the great and mighty king of Gondor making "pretty please" faces at her.

And so at daylight the next day, fifty men, women and elves, along with enough tenting to house a small army and everything one would need to feed such a group in appropriate style left Minis Tirith. Haldir, sitting in a chair, and Tiger, sitting at his feet, on the green before the King's Tree, watched them leave. His face showed indifference, but Tiger sensed he would have liked to have been going along. It was the type of thing males enjoyed doing, although Tiger was certain they were going to scare more animals than catch.

After they had gone, Tiger looked back at Master and smiled. He had slumped in the chair and was just enjoying the rising sun on his face and body. In the early hours before the sun became too hot, he liked to sit outside in just his leggings and soak up the early light. A thick cushion behind his back protected his shoulder from any hard edges that might rub against his shoulder blade. Master also had his eyes closed, which meant he wasn't sleeping. Sunight was not good for elven eyes, he told her, although she enjoyed sleeping with her eyes shut in the bright light. She had once slept an entire day on a rock outcropping with the sun blazing right over head. Didn't hurt her eyes a bit. Just to be certain, she moved closer and checked Master's eyes to see if they were maybe a little bit open.

Haldir felt her kneeling beside him. Opening one eye, he asked, "Yes?"

"Are you asleep?"

"Would I be talking to you if I were asleep?" he asked with a smile.

"You talk in your sleep, sometimes," she answered playfully.

"I do not," he retorted. "What do I say?" And she told him. "That makes no sense," he answered at the conclusion of her recitation.

"Tiger did not say she understood what you were saying, only that you said it," she replied evenly.

Haldir stared at her in amazement. "And you remember everything you hear even if you don't understand it?" he asked, finding his side of her intriguing.

"Not everything, but most everything," she answered and looked up as a small flock of song birds flew overhead. Made her want breakfast. "Are you hungry?' she asked.

He thought about it a moment. "Yes, that would be nice. I wonder if anyone is left in the kitchens."

"Dema is there," Tiger replied. Dema was an old woman too fat to ride a horse. Tiger liked her because she talked to Tiger the way Tiger talked to Celestial. Tiger liked Dema. She left Master sitting in the chair while she wandered back into the hall to find the kitchen.
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Armanea, dressed in riding clothes, stayed as far back in the shadows as she could to avoid being seen by the elf or jinn tiger. She was supposed to have gone on the hunt when the queen, but knowing that he was going to alone, or nearly alone, had stayed her leaving. His beauty filled her with an indiscribable rage, but she was not going to be reckless. No, she was going to make him beg. Yes, and she knew how.
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Tiger sat in the chair and smiled as Dema, starting up her stove, told her all about the great battle that had been fought right down the hill from them and how her son Hodder had single handedly saved the day for King Aragorn. Her son was truely a remarkable man to save not only King Aragorn from a hundred orcs but Lady Eowyn as well. And those Hobbits.......

"What are Hobbits?" Tiger asked curiously.

"Little people from the shire. Sometimes we see them in court. Friends of the king and all."

"I have never seen a Hobbit," Tiger confessed, "but I have seen a sprite."

"Really now? Well, I'll be. What's a sprite?"

"A little person with wings."

"You don't say. Well, I'll be."

Tiger grinned. She and Dema were having a wonderful conversation while the woman fixed eggs and fried meat and dug out jams and warm bread.

"You better go get Master Haldir," Dema said. "I'm ready."

Tiger rose from the chair and started back down the passages towards the arch that led outside. She passed an alcove and detected movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned as something heavy crashed down on her head. A second blow and there was darkness.
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Armanea worked quickly tieing Tiger's hands behind her back. "Get up!" she hissed and yanked on Tiger's arm. "Get up or I'll cut your throat here and now."

Tiger, her head splitting with pain, unable to focus her eyes on anything, climbed unsteadily to her feet. What was going on? Unable to keep her head up for more than a second, Tiger looked at the woman in amazement. The woman shoved her, making her walk in front of her. The moment they stepped outside, the woman laid the point of a knife against Tiger's throat. Master was on his feet staring at them.

"Are you mad?" he demanded angrily.

"Watch your words," she warned him and moved the knife so the point pricked Tiger's throat.

"What do you want?" Haldir asked more cautiously.

"I want you to beg me for her life," Armanea said as a starter. Tiger hissed as the knife jabbed in her neck again. With her head pounding, she didn't need the pain of the knife as well.

"Your grievence is with me. Let her go," Haldir countered. "You see I am unarmed."

"Beg," Armanea said and pricked Tiger until a pearl of blood appeared on her throat. Tiger growled softly.

"All right. Please don't hurt her," he said and opened his palms to her. The woman had a crazy look in her eyes, and the blood streaming down the side of Tiger's face told him how she had been captured. But the light in Tiger's eyes was getting clearer as she stared at him. Dropping down to one knee than the other, Haldir repeated his words, "Please don't hurt her."

Armanea was now in an interesting position. She had the elf on his knees, but there was no humility in his voice. He was watching her with great interest but there was no fear in his eyes. If she had seen Tiger's eyes, she would have understood.

Tiger, her eyes locked on her beautiful Master, curled her lip a second before she shape shifted. She had once told Master she would be anything he desired, and now he desired her to be a spirit, a puff of smoke, free of the woman who held her captive. Armanea gasped as the woman vanished infront of her. Just as quickly Tiger shifted back into a tiger. Armanea screamed and threw her hands up as Tiger lunged and knocked her down. Tiger bared her teeth and roared in the woman's face

"No Tiger!" Haldir yelled as a palace guard came running up. "Come back!" he ordered sharply before the man took it upon himself to rescue the woman. Tiger shape shifted back and looked at the man who now recognized her and saw the blood on her face and the faint thread that seeped down her throat.

"What goes here?" he asked, unsure of himself and them. Lady Armanea was sobbing bitterly on the ground, while the elf, the king's boon companion, was putting himself between him and the bloody faced woman, the elf's mistress. At least that was what everyone believed.

"Lady Armanea is having a difficult morning," Haldir replied and drew Tiger into his arms. "Perhaps she needs to be taken back to her room until the queen returns."

"That might be a wise decision," the guard said and offered the lady a hand up, but Armanea slapped it away and climbed to her feet on her own. She refused to look at anyone as she went back inside the great hall.

Tiger watched them leave and then looked up at her beautiful Master. "Dema has breakfast ready," she said softly.

Haldir smiled and hugged her tightly to him. "Maybe Dema can do something about this," he said and looked at her scalp. She growled softly and wrinkled her nose.

Dema was not a healer, but she knew how to clean scalp wounds, and while Haldir ate, Tiger recounted the story of Hodder the great. And if Tiger missed anything, Dema added it. Haldir grinned only because they reminded him of her and Celestial, only the dragon's conversation had been a little more private. Dema was perfectly content letting Haldir know about her brilliant family. Tiger had put Armanea's attack behind her, but Haldir was going to make sure the lady didn't try anything like that ever again.

"And what does your son do now?" Haldir asked curiously and then bit down on some bread.

"He makes harness now, but only the best," the woman replied proudly. "King Aragorn's own saddle was made by my son." Tiger looked impressed.

Haldir, finished with his meal, pushed the plate away from him, sat back and watched them interact. Tiger was happy. When she looked at him with those beautiful tiger eyes, he felt a stirring that said he was getting better. Much better. Although she had pleasured him a couple of times since their reunion, he had not been able to return the favor. Perhaps it was time.

Getting up from the table, he held out his hand and said, "Come Tiger." She said good-bye to Dema and followed him back to their room, her conversation constantly running between Dema's son and something else that was on her mind. Only when they were behind closed doors did he silence her the way she liked. And oh Tiger loved his mouth. And she wrapped her arms around his neck to hold his mouth to hers, to know the pleasure of his tongue in her mouth.

Moving his lips to her ear, he whispered, "What does Tiger want?"

Tiger wanted Master. Tiger ached for Master. When his hands found her breasts, when he teased her nipples though the fabric, she throught she would melt in her desire for him. "Tiger wants Master," she breathed against his lips.

He drew back, a wicked smile on his lips. Unlacing his leggings, he slid them down his legs and stepped out of them. Tiger, her thoughts not keeping up with what she was seeing, suddenly realized that Master was going to make love to Tiger. Haldir almost laughed at the surprised look on her face. He helped her out of the dress and made a mental note to try and find another robe like the blue one Longma had given her. It was so much easier to tease her in that than this. And Tiger loved being teased.

He took her to the bed and lay back on it. Tiger kissed his thigh and rubbed her face against his erection, but that wasn't what he wanted. He drew her up to him and kissed her, slowly and thoroughly, tasting her as she tasted him. When she tried to mount him, he shook his head and moved her up higher. Higher. Tiger's eyes glazed over as his tongue found the core of her being and settled on it. She would have moved, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and held on tightly. She tossed her head back as the need grew in her body, as he watched her through hooded eyes. Pleasurable sounds came from her throat. Then the spark suddenly ignited on the tip of his tongue, and he held her even tighter as it flamed through her body. Tiger wanted to die there in the throes of passion with her beautiful master. She could not remember another moment more perfect.

When her body had nothing left to give, he released her and Tiger moved down and licked his face clean and sought entry into his hot mouth. She gently bit down on his lip and sucked it into her mouth. He closed his eyes and sank into the sensations she was arousing in his body. Backing up, she settled on his erection but did not take him inside her. She wanted to enoy him awhile, enjoy the way he tasted, the way he smelled, the way he burned under her mouth. And Tiger enjoyed him, and licked him, and felt him tremble beneath her, and when she mounted him, he arched his back to drive himself deep into her. Tiger laid her hands on his breast for support and found the rythm that he needed to join her in the sweet fire of release. Master never looked more beautiful than when he came, except maybe when it was over and his eyes and body were soft and lazy. The Tiger could lay on his good shoulder and make patterns on his skin with her nails until he was ready to make love again.
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The hunters returned a little after dark with several stags, a wild boar, a wild ox and a domestic goat that someone had accidentally shot. Orophin swore up and down that it was Legolas' kill, but Legolas stated unequivocally that he knew the difference between a domestic goat and a wild one. It didn't matter, the twins were also calling it Legolas' boar, and Legolas was just going to have to deal with it until they found something else to amuse themselves with.

Sitting where they had left him, Tiger reclining langorously on the ground at his feet, Haldir cut an eye towards the Mirkwood elf who was about to challenge the Galadhrim to another hunt when King Aragorn slapped him on the shoulder and ordered everyone inside. There was game to be dressed and wine to be drunk. Haldir got up and helped Tiger to her feet.

Glorfindel, seeing that all too familar look in her eyes, smiled when she smiled at him. Tiger was happy now.