Celeborn's Nine - Riders of the Night

Glorfindel was the first to start towards the chained god. So this was the creator of life, the god punished for loving men and elves too much. Prometheus was so beautiful it almost hurt his eyes. And the look on Tiger's face was pure devotion. Haldir didn't have a chance.

Prometheus took a deep breath and said in a strangely gentle voice, "Greetings Balrog slayer."

"My Lord," Glorfindel said and bowed his head.

"The young one is angry," Prometheus observed.

"He loves Tiger and can not bear the thought of losing her."

Prometheus smiled sadly and gazed back at his most perfect creation. "She is still his for the time being," he said wistfully. Her face on his hand was as close as he would allow her to touch him. Anything else would have been torturous, although he feared it wouldn't be too hard to persuade him otherwise.

"He will appreciate that," Glorfindel replied and crouched beside the Titan. "You know all, so you know why we are here."

"Not tonight," Prometheus said softly, his eyes drinking in Tiger's beauty. The woman Haldir saw was not the woman he saw. Indeed every male saw Tiger differently. She was his perfection. "But I would speak with Haldir," he decided.

Glorfindel inclined his head and went back to the waiting group. Looking at Haldir, he said, "Lord Prometheus wants to speak with you. Don't be a fool."

Haldir raised his chin a little higher and approached the chained god. It hurt him terribly to see the look in Tiger's eyes as she gazed upon the Titan's face, but there wasn't much he could do about that, was there?

"You wanted to see me?" he asked the god, his voice denying the turbulent emotions in his heart.

Prometheus smiled and glanced back at the proud elf. How could he not love this defiant one. "She is beautiful, isn't she?" he asked gently.

Haldir took a deep breath and held it. He wanted to yell at this 'man', curse him, hurt him, make him suffer, but how could he? Prometheus was already suffering as no other being had ever suffered. "My Lord," he said with a trembling voice, "I love her. I know no other way to say it. How can one not love what their dreams are made of?"

"I know, I love her, too," Prometheus said and turned his eyes back on her. "She can be whatever you want....whatever you desire." Prometheus stopped, hot tears burning in his eyes. "I have not felt another kind touch in thousands of years. Nor have I seen love either." He paused and looked back at the elf. "I want to kiss her but would not have you angry with her."

"If you kiss her, you will want more," Haldir said anxiously.

"True, I will,' Prometheus agreed.

"I can not allow it," Haldir said and turned away, suddenly ashamed of his possessiveness. She was his, and he could not share.

"Haldir," Prometheus said and turned the elf back towards him, "you won't be able to keep her forever. You know that, don't you?"

Haldir's heart turned to ice as he looked at the beautiful creature he adored. "Why can I not keep her?" he asked defensively. "You will come and take her from me?"

"One day I will come for her, but only when there is no other option."

"What do you mean?" Haldir asked, fighting back the shameful tears that burned his eyes. Haldir did not cry.....ever!

"Tiger will not live forever," Prometheus said so softly that Haldir wasn't sure he heard him. "My beautiful Tiger has an immortal soul, but there will be an end to her body."

"When?" Haldir demanded, his proud face fighting to keep the grief at bay.

"Not any time soon," Prometheus assured. "NOt until after your son is born."

"Is she?"

"No, not yet." Prometheus curled his fingers as a way to caress her face. "I love you, Tiger."

Her smile melted Haldir's heart. "Will you let me say good-bye to her when it is time?" he asked softly. "I don't want her to go without saying good-bye."

"I promise," Prometheus said.

"All right then," Haldir replied, the battle within his heart coming to a head. "Tiger?" She raised her head and looked at him. "Master," he began and motioned with his hand at Prometheus, "Master needs a kiss."

Tiger looked at Prometheus with eyes that seemed to glow, and hesitantly, afraid that she was going to be stopped, she crawled closer and bent over him, her tawny hair framing his beautiful face. When no one stopped her, she lowered her mouth to his. And for the first time in nearly 10,000 years Prometheus tasted the lips of his Tiger.

Haldir returned to his horse and uncinched its saddle even as his brothers looked to him for an explanation. There was none to give, none that Haldir wanted to give.

The Sakas seeing divine ritual in everything watched as the woman who had been the mare mated with the god of fire and creation. It all made sense to them.

Glorfindel, joining Haldir, leaned against the horse's back and said, "You are better than I thought."

"No, I'm not," Haldir replied bitterly. "I hate what is happening but can not say no."

"I would have thought you a fool if it did not bother you," the elf lord countered. " And there in lies the nobility of your gift."

Haldir choked back his emotions and met Glorfindel's thoughtful gaze. "He said I won't be able to keep her. And it doesn't matter if I let her go now or later, it is still going to hurt, but he promised me a son if later."

Glorfindel considered it a moment and then said, "I would take your place for one day, if I could. But it was you she bit."
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Celeborn knew he was waiting for something when he drew the opium blub out of his leather pouch. It was nearing dawn, the time when Tiger made her great shape shift. Suddenly he found himself in the company of Selene and her sister, rosey fingered Eos.

"Now! The eagle comes!" Selene told him. "Hurry!"

Eos, bathed in a light of pale pink, turned Haldir towards her and said, "You must get Tiger. She must not interfere."

Celeborn ran to the Titan, whose eyes were already scanning the skies. When Celeborn offered him the opium, he said, "Cut it! Please!" Haldir grabbed Tiger. She was frantic with fear but didn't resist him. Prometheus' thoughts were also pushing her away. Celeborn sliced into the green bulb, freeing the bitter white liquid inside. He pressed the bulb to Prometheus' lips and held it there as the Titan drank as much of the drug as he could.

Celeborn then stepped back and watched as something large and black approached from the north. "We can end this now, Prometheus," he offered.

"No, it must be another," Prometheus moaned. "Oh gods, don't tempt me now!"

Haldir dragged Tiger away from the terrible sight that was about to unfold before their eyes. She was weeping and pleading and trying to pull free. Thinking of no other way to control her, he brought her to the ground and then covered her body with his. He filled her eyes with his face, made her body feel only his body, and when the sounds became her worst nightmare, he whispered over and over how much he loved her.
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