Celeborn's Nine - Riders of the Night

Haldir was thirsty. They had not removed the rag from his mouth and it had literally pulled every drop of moisture out of it. And without moisture swallowing was difficult. And the darkness was starting to bother him. How long had he been here? His internal clock said only two days at most, but when the dark gnaws at you like a live thing, even two days is bad.

Sifting through the emotions that were tugging against one another in his mind, he found the soft whisper that was Tiger and concentrated on her. Although he knew she couldn't feel him, at least he didn't think she could feel him, he found himself willing her to him. It was a desperate idea, but he was desperate.

Armanea waited until noon to visit her 'prize'. His beauty still took her breath away, and the brand on his breast, marking him as her property, was still a fierce red. He recoiled from her touch, but with nowhere to go, he had to accept it. And her hands went where they wanted, but his hatred for her prevented any desired response. But she literally had something up her sleeve that was going to make him wish he had not toyed with her.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked and drew a small pot of red salve out of her pocket. He looked at it hard, and she thought she saw recognition in his eyes. Fear and recognition. Telling the guard with her to untie the gag, she stood back and waited for him to plead with her, to beg her not to touch his skin with the salve that men called the Devil's Passion. She even allowed Haldir a drink of water so he could speak, but he said nothing since speaking would do him no good anyway.

Angered by his silence, she dabbed a fine bit of salve on a scarf and told Brute to hold his head still. Haldir squeezed his eyes shut and gringed as she smoothed it over his lower lip, his full lower lip. She imagined the sensations now filling his mouth. Another dab of salve and she circled his right ear and then his left and down his throat to the pulsing hollow. He was already starting to tremble, but no sound, no pleas for her to stop. She rubbed the salve into each tender nipple and watched the reaction on his face. Desire was starting to flair up. He was so beautiful it made her throat tight.

And slowly down his midline. She wasn't going to strip him, but she meant to have him. Unlacing his leggings, she eased them down and applied the salve to his unresponsive flesh. He shuddered violently, unable to deny the electricity singing in his nerves. It thrilled her to have him respond to her touch now, but relief was not her intention. She pulled the leggings back up and loosely laced them. But the look in his eyes angered her. Haldir didn't care if she covered him in the stuff so long as she removed her hands from his body.

"You'll want me to touch you before I'm through," she promised him. Of course she couldn't leave without a caress. She was going to love breaking this proud bastard. How beautiful.

Armanea left the cell, and Haldir gasped at the sensations running through his body. Raging, blind desire and the least little breath of wind inflamed his exposed skin. Now he was really thinking about Tiger, and not just because he needed to be rescued.
Afraid of Armanea's next visit, he pleaded for Tiger to wake up, to feel him, to come to him. He knew she was hurt, but he was frantic.
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Tiger arched her back and half gasped/half screamed. Longma ran to her side and quickly whispered the words that would ease Tiger's mind and put her back to sleep. Haldir's brothers were watching, and she could see they wanted Tiger awake so they could speak with her, but Celeborn and Glorfindel were siding with her for now. Tiger was hurt and would probably make no sense.

Longma bathed Tiger's face with a clean rag after checking her wounds to see that they were still closed. Tiger was having troubled dreams about her Master. Longma had suspected that there would be a link between them but she didn't know how strong it would be.

'Celestial' she called to the dragon, not wanting the elves to know what she was doing.

'Yes?"

"When Tiger is awake, do you feel her?'

'I can.'

'The next she is awake, try and feel Master also.'

'I will try.'