Celeborn's Nine - Riders of the Night

Author's note: Thanks for the reviews as always. Korolevacher may have a reason for being understanding.
Hey Marz there is more than one way to play with a beautiful young wolf..hehehe
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Celeborn was ready for them to leave the safety of the forsest when a storm blew in that made first one look tame by comparison. It howled and shook the trees and forced all to hunker down and wait. And the white was so thick it was impossible to see through it. Celeborn was thankful that they were in the safety of the forest and not out on the steppes. Standing outside his wind battered tent, he scanned the sky in search of an elusive patch of blue.

Scopias, wrapped in a heavy wooly ox skin, crunched through the knee deep snow to join him. "Lord Celeborn," he said, his heavy Saka accent making the name almost unrecognizable, "we may have to sit the winter out."

"I do not relish that thought," Celeborn replied uncomfortably.

"But the steppes will be treacherous," Scopias explained, "and the mountains are impassable now."

Celeborn, wrapped in his own fur robes, sighed heavily. He wanted to go on but not at the expense of his allies, and the Sakas had proven themself loyal allies who did not deserve being left behind now. And Melanippus was certainly suffering from excess cold. Perhaps they needed to turn back and try again in the spring.

BUt then no one had expected another visit from Korovalecher at the end of the storm. The snow queen, magnificent in her two horse sleigh, arrived just before dusk on the fourth day.

Elladan stepped out to greet her and noticed that she had already replaced the tragic Volk with a young black wolf that was hardly more than a yearling. Keeping him in wolf form, the snow queen stepped out of the sleigh and met Lord Celeborn and Glorfindel officially.

"I am honored to meet you," she said and offered Celeborn her pale, jewel covered hand. Admiring the roaring fire that the Sakas had built, she smiled and motioned back at her sleigh. "I thought you might be hungry and brought something from my kitchen."

Food! The Sakas dove into the sleigh and brought out fresh meat and breads that only needed some warming. The meat was spitted over the fire, and soon everyone was enjoying the queen's hospitality.
Providing her a chair to sit in, they watched as she took off her cloak and laid it on the ground. She summoned the young wolf to her and turned him into a man, albeit a very young man, a very young fearful man with black hair and golden brown eyes that looked as if they were lined with kohl.

Tiger, sitting with Haldir, was fascinated with him. Everything about him but his skin was wolf. And while everyone else whispered that he was timid and frightened, she saw the courage. A timid wolf would be sitting in the sleigh or running for home. This beautiful young male was sitting at his mistress's feet. And when he fixed his golden brown eyes on her, she saw just how much courage was there. He was terrified.

Conversation drifted from topic to topic, but eventually it found its way to the one Korolevacher wanted to bring up. "It's too dangerous on the steppes now," she said after Glorfindel's remark on the weather.

"It is," Celeborn agreed. "Scopias has suggested we spend the winter here."

"In my forest?" the snow queen asked. "I have no objections to that, but I think my rath and keep would be more comfortable."

"You are offering us shelter for the winter?" Elladan asked curiously.

"Yes, and you will be free to come and go as you wish."

Glorfindel thought it was an excellent offer, but, "Why?"

"I have heard on the wind that there are elves about looking to slay a balrog, and that already they have driven the steppe Hags into the nether world."

"And who told you this?" Celeborn asked.

Korolevacher glanced up and in the tree sat a very quiet but very large black raven. "I have my spies," she said with a gentle smile.

"We are not doing this alone," Glorfindel remarked.

"True, and I admit, I would enjoy the company," the snow queen confessed. "Your balrog has gone deep underground and moved, so the bats tell me."

"The balrog is supposed to be at least a week's worth of riding away from us," Haldir spoke up. He was rubbing Tiger's back, but she didn't seem to notice, she was so intent on watching the yearling wolf/man. If Haldir had to judge his human age, he was not much older than Asplil.

"Not anymore. The hags summoned him, and he has moved closer."

Celeborn looked at Glorfindel and asked, "Well?"

"If the lady offers us sanctuary from the storms, I accept."

"The lady offers sanctuary," Korolevacher said. "And your company will help Atawulfe socialize quicker."

"What of Anya and Nasha?" Orophin asked curiously.

"They have returned to the forest," the snow queen answered. "We won't see them again until spring." She smiled and added, "Do not fear a return visit; I control whether they are woman or wolf."

"I do not fear a return visit," Orophin answered. "I'm just curious."

"I know," she said with a shadow of amusement on her face. Turning to Celeborn, she asked, "Do you wish to spend the night here or follow me home?"

It was decided to follow her home.
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Korolevacher's keep was deep in the forest, and once inside the rath, the winter world turned from one of violence to one of great beauty. The trees were covered in white and icecicles dripped off frozen branches.
Korolevacher offered them rooms in the keep, which Celeborn accepted as a way to stay in contact with the queen's spies, but everyone else threw up their tents in the courtyward since Melanippus could not go inside and it would have been rude to make him stay with the horses in the stable.

Haldir put up their tent a little way from the others while Tiger took care of the horses. Horse, as was his nature, listened intently to every word Tiger said about the Snow Queen and Atawulfe. It really fascinated her that Korolevacher could turn a wolf into a man, and she wondered if that was how she came into being.


Glorfindel, overhearing her, smiled and said, "I don't think that was how you were created." Tiger smiled back and continued brushing Horse out, but the moment she was certain Glorfindel couldn't hear her, she whispered, "He doesn't really know since he wasn't there." But Glorfindel did hear her and exited the stable grinning. Jinn tigers were wasted on elves like Haldir.
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Although there was no place for Melanippus to sleep comfortably in the keep, which quite frankly made him nervous, he was permitted to join everyone else in the dining hall for their meals. And it had never been suggested that he couldn't stay inside the keep; it was just his choosing. The Sakas were also a little uneasy inside the walls, but for a good meal, they went inside.

When the Snow Queen brought her wolves inside, Tiger's eyes literally glowed with pleasure, and when she changed Atawulfe into a man, Tiger's expression became almost eager. This naturally led to a bout of jealousy in Tiger's master. It was bad enough an adolescent human was still pining for her, but now she was enthralled with a wolf/man.

"Tiger," Rumil asked on Haldir's behalf at the long dining table, "You seem fascinated with Atawulfe."

"Yes," she answered as the young male looked at her with those incredible brown gold eyes. He smiled, and if he had been human, one could have said they were flirting with each other.

"Have you grown weary of Master?" Rumil asked, trying to keep all emotion out of his voice.

Tiger looked at him with surprise and then anger in her eyes. "You speak foolishly. Master is master." She looked back at Haldir who was studying her with a strange look in her eyes. "Tiger loves Master." The corner of Haldir's mouth twitched as if he considered a smile and then decided against it.

"Tiger," Glorfindel spoke up between bites of food, "Master is jealous of your interest in Atawulfe."

"Now you speak foolishly," Haldir snorted. Glorfindel was really beginning to annoy him.

"Am I?" Glorfindel asked curiously. "All right."

Korolevacher, motioning for the invisible hands to refill everyone's wine cup, said, "Atawulfe does not think like a man...yet. He sees Tiger as a kindred spirit and at worst wants to play with her." She ran her hand over his ebony mane. Taking a piece of meat off her plate, she fed him. "See? It takes many years to change their thinking patterns."

"Putting clothes on him might be a good start," Elrohir said. "The Saka women can't take their eyes off him either." To be percise Aslin was practically drooling over the naked male sitting at the snow queen's feet. What woman didn't want a lover that was beautiful and obedient?

"Atawulfe has never worn clothes. The first time I tried to put clothes on a wolf, he sulked all day and wouldn't come out from under the table." She laughed as she remembered the beautiful male in human skin hiding under the table

But as fascinating as that was, the conversation turned to the Bal-rog and its whereabouts. Korolevacher was convinced that he had moved closer to the forest, but that he was still deep underground. There were many caves in the mountains, but she was not certain which one opened into his realm.

Tiger listened but said nothing. Every so often Atawulf would peek over the table at her and smile. She smiled back at him.

Haldir questioned Tiger in private about why she was fascinated with Atawulfe, but Tiger insisted it was because he was like her. Did she want to sleep with him? Tiger got very upset at that question. Tiger loved Master only and did not want to sleep with the wolf/man cub. Haldir knew she would not lie to him, but he was still alittle unsure of her...or maybe he was unsure of himself, but he wanted to remind her in intimate detail why she loved him.

He wanted to show her that he alone controlled her pleasure, that no one else could make her body melt into a liquid fire on the tip of his tongue. He wanted her to beg him for relief, beg him by name so there was no mistaking who was satisfying her needs. And when he took her, he made certain that she was looking at his face and not imagining someone else's.That the firm hard flesh riding her belonged to him and not a magic wolf. Tiger moaned his name several times that night as he didn't just make love to her. He took possession of her completely and fully.

Tiger curled her back against his body and listened for his even breathing. He was asleep. Lying there in thought, the balrog coming to mind, she decided she wasn't tired and wanted to sit outside by the fire. Slipping out of the tent, she found that all the wolves were sitting just outside of the light by themselves, as if they were waiting on her.

She sat down and Atawulfe came to her. She petted his head and ears and said, "Your master says the balrog is not far from us."

"Close enough" the wolf replied to her mind. Wolves and jinn tigers did not need to use their voices to speak to one another.

"Will you show me where?"

"It will take us two days to get there."

"Then we must go now." Tiger shape shifted and then stretched her full length. Happy to have the wolves for company, she led them up the battlement steps where they all paused and looked down.

"It's a big leap," Atawulfe commented and crouched low so it didn't seem so far down.

"Scared?"

"You first."

Tiger leaped to the ground and looked up at the wolves. "The snow will buffer your fall."

Atawulfe basically fell down next and landed on his face. "That was not much of a buffer." he growled.

"It is if you jump and don't fall on your face," she laughed.

The rest of the wolves cleared the wall a little more gracefully. "They will notice us gone," Atawulfe said thoughtfully. "Mistress will be upset."

"Maybe one of the she-wolves should stay behind and let them know we are all right," Tiger opined.

"Good idea. Nasha, you stay."

"Who died and made you leader?" She thought about it a moment and then said, "oh, that is right."

"We will be back soon," Tiger promised. "Make sure the masters know this or they will worry."

Nasha, unable to go back inside the keep, sat at the gate and waited. Tiger and the other wolves bolted into the dark forest and disappeared. She stayed there all night, cold and miserable, until she heard a male calling for Tiger. Hoping someone would let her back inside where it was warm, she started whining and scratching at the wooden gate. The snow queen opened it and let her inside and then permitted her to wear human skin to give her message.

Glorfindel frowned at Haldir and said, "I didn't think she was paying attention to anything we said."