Faded Light
folder
-Multi-Age › Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
20
Views:
10,227
Reviews:
26
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
-Multi-Age › Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
20
Views:
10,227
Reviews:
26
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own the Lord of the Rings (and associated) book series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Shadows
(For additional notes and disclaimers please see top of Chapter 1.)
Chapter Five
Shadows
“He’s too far along. I can’t do it now without killing him.”
Arya looked disdainfully over at the Elf who had been tied to a bed and sedated after he had put up a desperate struggle to keep from being brought to the small room that came as close to an infirmary as Arya had set aside for these cases.
“If you won’t do it, I’ll find someone else,” he warned the healer, for the hundredth time that day, cursing the Elf and the peculiarities of his kind.
“By the gods, who ever heard of a male getting pregnant? It’s unnatural. And, even with the herbs, this one has had a troublesome habit of it; though none have ever lasted this long.”
“I suppose he would not be worth your trouble, at all, if he didn’t keep your customers so well entertained.”
“What am I supposed to tell the king?”
“Tell him the Elf is indisposed. But, slave or not, I won’t be the one to perform a procedure that will most likely kill him.
“And I doubt you wish to let your best whore, and the king’s new favorite, die to keep your profits from being disrupted.”
“I certainly can’t be expected to keep around a useless slave until the brat’s born,” complained Arya again. “Even if I sold it, it wouldn’t make up my loses...”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through the drugs’ fog, Dafi could hear the voices and thought vaguely that they were speaking of him, but he had already retreated as far away as he could. Into the safety of his own mind, where he had learned long ago to escape the torment that was his existence.
In his dreams, he could be home again, in the peace of his father's forests where he could find comfort in the past...in the ever more distant visions of those who had once made up his world.
Perhaps, he thought, he would stay here and give up on his weary body...here where no one could reach him.
Someone else was there this time, however, when he stepped into his dreams; a silver-haired Elleth he had not seen in a lifetime.
He could not help smiling to see Morwen, dressed in a long tunic and worn pair of leggings, barefoot with a quiver on her back, as she had often looked in life. Some had thought her a rather strange Elleth, one of the very few female warriors in Mirkwood’s army.
She leaned against a tree and smiled back, as beautiful as the day she had come to Mirkwood to become his betrothed.
Her parents, friends of Thranduil, had died; leaving her to the Elvenking's protection, who had thought she would be a good match for his son. Indeed, from the beginning there had been a deep connection between the two young Elves though they were several centuries from reaching a marriageable age...
“Come on, Highness, everyone's waiting for us.” She laughed brightly and took off, as he ran to follow.
He quickly caught up to her, but then the sudden memory of that last day jolted him and made him back away...the image of her body struck down by a marauder's arrow through her gentle heart. Though at least she had died before the Men could defile her.
“Don’t think about that, melethron,” she said, placing a soft hand on his lips.
He closed his eyes and hugged her close trying to hold on to the memory of that life together, which had been nothing more than a childish dream. “Ai, I’m so tired, Morwen,” he whispered.
“I know. But do not lose hope beloved. Rest here awhile and take comfort in this moment.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“...Thranduil blames himself, you know.”
“What do you mean?” asked Elrond.
“The last time he and Haryon Legolas were together, they had an argument and then the prince went on that d...that wretched patrol,” the young Elleth blushed at the language she had been about to use.
“Do you know what it was about?”
“There had been tension between them for about a hundred years before,” said another warrior who was riding on the other side of the maiden.
“They were always close, especially after the death of Queen Thalielwen...but it seemed at the time like Legolas tried to stay away from the palace as much as possible, and when he was home he and Thranduil often argued.” He shrugged, “It seemed to me that it was usually little things, but it was not my place to pry.”
The two Mirkwood warriors were among those who had joined Elrond’s escort back to Imladris, now that the king was recovering again, and they had felt more free to speak out here than they did at the palace.
"Though as far as I can recall, it all really started not long after Nardol's sailing," the warrior went on. "I could almost swear to it."
"Nardol," repeated the Elven lord thoughtfully, "he was the prince's bodyguard was he not? I did meet him once or twice."
"He was, my lord. For well over two centuries."
"His parting was a great sorrow for his highness," Ciel added. "But I don't believe Nardol's absence alone was the source of all the discord between he and his father.
"I know on more than one occasion Legolas did not approve of the way Lord Ruthlagor managed one thing or another and it caused disagreements with Thranduil...”
Leralonde, who had been riding in silence, frowned at that, “Careful, Ciel, you’re speaking of my father now and the king’s chief advisor.”
“I am sorry, Highness, but it is what I know,” she said.
“And it’s no secret, your Adar never liked Legolas,” added the other warrior. “Though I know of few others who ever had anything against him.
“Even when we were all Elflings, he had such winning ways,” he smiled and the mood immediately lightened as he and Ciel began recounting amusing anecdotes of growing up with the prince.
A few others soon joined in with their own memories; only Leralonde stayed out of it, for his own relationship with his cousin had never been so warm. And he wondered if that had not been an unconscious reaction to his father’s strained relationship with Legolas. There were indeed few among their people who had not dearly loved their prince.
TBC...
Elvish translations:
elleth / female elf
Ai / Elvish exclamation
melethron / a male lover
Haryon / prince and heir; crown prince
Shadows
“He’s too far along. I can’t do it now without killing him.”
Arya looked disdainfully over at the Elf who had been tied to a bed and sedated after he had put up a desperate struggle to keep from being brought to the small room that came as close to an infirmary as Arya had set aside for these cases.
“If you won’t do it, I’ll find someone else,” he warned the healer, for the hundredth time that day, cursing the Elf and the peculiarities of his kind.
“By the gods, who ever heard of a male getting pregnant? It’s unnatural. And, even with the herbs, this one has had a troublesome habit of it; though none have ever lasted this long.”
“I suppose he would not be worth your trouble, at all, if he didn’t keep your customers so well entertained.”
“What am I supposed to tell the king?”
“Tell him the Elf is indisposed. But, slave or not, I won’t be the one to perform a procedure that will most likely kill him.
“And I doubt you wish to let your best whore, and the king’s new favorite, die to keep your profits from being disrupted.”
“I certainly can’t be expected to keep around a useless slave until the brat’s born,” complained Arya again. “Even if I sold it, it wouldn’t make up my loses...”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through the drugs’ fog, Dafi could hear the voices and thought vaguely that they were speaking of him, but he had already retreated as far away as he could. Into the safety of his own mind, where he had learned long ago to escape the torment that was his existence.
In his dreams, he could be home again, in the peace of his father's forests where he could find comfort in the past...in the ever more distant visions of those who had once made up his world.
Perhaps, he thought, he would stay here and give up on his weary body...here where no one could reach him.
Someone else was there this time, however, when he stepped into his dreams; a silver-haired Elleth he had not seen in a lifetime.
He could not help smiling to see Morwen, dressed in a long tunic and worn pair of leggings, barefoot with a quiver on her back, as she had often looked in life. Some had thought her a rather strange Elleth, one of the very few female warriors in Mirkwood’s army.
She leaned against a tree and smiled back, as beautiful as the day she had come to Mirkwood to become his betrothed.
Her parents, friends of Thranduil, had died; leaving her to the Elvenking's protection, who had thought she would be a good match for his son. Indeed, from the beginning there had been a deep connection between the two young Elves though they were several centuries from reaching a marriageable age...
“Come on, Highness, everyone's waiting for us.” She laughed brightly and took off, as he ran to follow.
He quickly caught up to her, but then the sudden memory of that last day jolted him and made him back away...the image of her body struck down by a marauder's arrow through her gentle heart. Though at least she had died before the Men could defile her.
“Don’t think about that, melethron,” she said, placing a soft hand on his lips.
He closed his eyes and hugged her close trying to hold on to the memory of that life together, which had been nothing more than a childish dream. “Ai, I’m so tired, Morwen,” he whispered.
“I know. But do not lose hope beloved. Rest here awhile and take comfort in this moment.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“...Thranduil blames himself, you know.”
“What do you mean?” asked Elrond.
“The last time he and Haryon Legolas were together, they had an argument and then the prince went on that d...that wretched patrol,” the young Elleth blushed at the language she had been about to use.
“Do you know what it was about?”
“There had been tension between them for about a hundred years before,” said another warrior who was riding on the other side of the maiden.
“They were always close, especially after the death of Queen Thalielwen...but it seemed at the time like Legolas tried to stay away from the palace as much as possible, and when he was home he and Thranduil often argued.” He shrugged, “It seemed to me that it was usually little things, but it was not my place to pry.”
The two Mirkwood warriors were among those who had joined Elrond’s escort back to Imladris, now that the king was recovering again, and they had felt more free to speak out here than they did at the palace.
"Though as far as I can recall, it all really started not long after Nardol's sailing," the warrior went on. "I could almost swear to it."
"Nardol," repeated the Elven lord thoughtfully, "he was the prince's bodyguard was he not? I did meet him once or twice."
"He was, my lord. For well over two centuries."
"His parting was a great sorrow for his highness," Ciel added. "But I don't believe Nardol's absence alone was the source of all the discord between he and his father.
"I know on more than one occasion Legolas did not approve of the way Lord Ruthlagor managed one thing or another and it caused disagreements with Thranduil...”
Leralonde, who had been riding in silence, frowned at that, “Careful, Ciel, you’re speaking of my father now and the king’s chief advisor.”
“I am sorry, Highness, but it is what I know,” she said.
“And it’s no secret, your Adar never liked Legolas,” added the other warrior. “Though I know of few others who ever had anything against him.
“Even when we were all Elflings, he had such winning ways,” he smiled and the mood immediately lightened as he and Ciel began recounting amusing anecdotes of growing up with the prince.
A few others soon joined in with their own memories; only Leralonde stayed out of it, for his own relationship with his cousin had never been so warm. And he wondered if that had not been an unconscious reaction to his father’s strained relationship with Legolas. There were indeed few among their people who had not dearly loved their prince.
TBC...
Elvish translations:
elleth / female elf
Ai / Elvish exclamation
melethron / a male lover
Haryon / prince and heir; crown prince