Of Pleasure and Peril

Of Pleasure and Peril

Chapter Eight/?

by Tasmia Gaylord

Rating: Hard NC 17

Warning: graphic S&M type situations but not too harsh, explicit sex

Disclaimer:The Tolkein characters are borrowed for private use in this story, I do not claim to own them and have no intentions of profiting from them

Summary: King Thranduil meets his match in his private punishment chamber with amazing consequences for all parties involved

Pairings: Thranduil/OFC , Legolas/OFC Elrond/OFC Haldir/OFC and perhaps some others, who knows?

Feedback: Post it here or you can send me an email "Tasmia7@yahoo.com"
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Averfad sat gleefully beside her mistress, Tulare, and planned her next set of moves as she stared into the crackling fire before them. Tulare still shivered off and on but Averfad doubted she was chilled any longer as the fire had dried her hair and warmed her exposed skin and the clothing that had stuck to her wet skin when first she had dressed was now dry and warmed as well. 'She is spoiled, the brat, and scared about being so far from her mother and out in the dark woods with only me to guide her,' the tiny wood elf told herself.

She felt her journey so far had been successful, until the boat became entangled in the river brush that evening, but the serendipitous arrival of the King's son, Legolas, had only emboldened her further along the serruptuous path she led Tulare down. To receive a rich but well deserved reward was her chief design; to finally be free of theergrerground life of drudgery she had been subjected to her was her life's goal; to restore the elleth's spirit would do much to enhance her mission. But just how to complete her tasks without arousing suspicion required careful planning.

The fact that the trusting and gullible princeling had believed her garbled tale was no surprise but she had much more in store for him as a new strategy began to form in her twisted mind. He had reacted predictably to her dramatic tale as she had hoped. She was only sorry that she had not been better prepared when he questioned her and Tulare, but she was a fast thinker and felt secure with her performance.

There were very few in the Kingdom of Mirkwood who knew the truth about Tulare's parentage and Averfad had been a sly ear around tight corners as she investigated the depth of knowledge among the close knit tribe. She and her father knew and, of course, Arthame and his wife knew, but other than they no other elf in Thranduil's realm seemed aware of the fair elleths unusual origin.

It was no coincidence that she had been hired as a house elf by the drear Haefaniel, wife to the treasurer, shortly after she had arrived with her father to the underground realm, in order to help the new mother keep house while she raised the infant girl, Tulare. It was Averfad's own father who had delivered the days-old infant, to the Treasurer and his wife, as a living, breathing bribe in exchange for safe refuge within the underground kingdom during the darker days of Southern Mirkwood.

Only those wild wood elves who could provide evidence of sharing direct blood kindred with the rulilasslass were allowed into the inner realm and even so the halls and chambers were filled to capacity and overflowing when the King called a halt to any new inhabitants. But Arthame was able to concoct a dubious relationship with Averfad's father, Dinwilya, and he and his daughter were squeezed into the warren like community of elves which dwelt underground in safety.

In exchange for their silence over their participation in arranging Tulare's unusual adoption, they were housed, clothed and fed, but Dinwilya's original plans extended far beyond mere safe haven. As he had explained it to Averfad, he had been hopeful of laying hands on some of Thranduil's legendary treasure but all those hopes were immediately dashed as soon as he entered the cavernous realm and discovered how well guarded and gated the famous treasure store house was. From that point on he was ever hopeful of receiving a bountiful, if not magnificent, reward, when he returned the girl to her rightful family in Lorien.


"I would have returned her immediately if not for the orc army standing in my way," he explained to his daughter when he handed her the squealing bundle on the day he found the mother, and the remnants of the boat she had been traveling within, on the banks of the river Anduin.

He had helped deliver the infant but new new nothing of midwifery and left the mother where she lay, to presumably die where she was, calling weakly for her infant, "Tulare," as she bled and turned whiter by the moment. He could not carry both of them to safety as the orc host who had originally attacked the boat were swift approaching along the western shore. It was only a matter of moments before he and the babe and the dying mother would have been discovered and there was no other choice but to tuck the squalling elfling within his tunic and fly to the forest with his prize. "When the time is right," he had assured his astonished daughter, "we will return her to Lorien, for I believe that is where she is from, and we will be richly rewarded on that day, for I am sure this is the offspring of the high and mighty priestess class who serve the Lady of Light in her devotions to the Valar and her value is equal to her weight in mithril."


He had torn a section of the mother's gown off to wrap the shivering infant with and he had Averfad launder it and keep it hidden. The intricate embroidery and beadwork on just the small section of cloth was like a signature for those who recognized the handiwork and meaning behind the tiny shapes and figures it described.


Averfad had never been near other elves before that day, having lived her entire life in the deepest part of southern Mirkwood, but she did not doubt her father's word. She had been taught the tale of the elves who had stayed to tend to their beloved forest and those who had sailed away but later returned. The "high and mighty Sindar," as her father would refer to them with a snarl, who came back to Middle Earth after their self-imposed exile, and expected to be welcomed by the elves who had stayed with open arms. They, eventually, would turn and run again someday, he assured her, leaving the forest to itself, again, and if not for the attention of the wood elves, who loved the trees and defended them fiercely against the ever increasing encroachment of men and orcs, the forest would vanish completely.


But their own home was being threatened and they too found themselves forced from the deep forest they loved in search of safe haven. The Mirkwood realm was preferable to Dinwilya over any other choice as a safe haven for him and his daughter, for the denizens of Mirkwood proper were mostly of the Sylvan tribes, the original elven forest dwellers who helped shape Middle Earth, and were most akin to Dinwilya and Averfad, unlike the other groups who had settled in Rivendell or Lothlorien when they had returned.


He and Averfad had traveled to Thranduil's kingdom with trepidation for it was well known that gaining entrance and safe harbor in the crowded cavernous city would be difficult. "This babe should be the key to unlock that great gate and, when the time is right, we will take her back to her true home and receive our reward." He had left her in the nearby forest with the babe as he investigated the area and met with other elves who dwelt in the surrounding forestland.
Ave Averfad never learned how her father had arranged the adoption with Arthame and his wife. She had hated leaving her home and she hated the underground life in the guarded kingdom and she hated serving the simpering wife of the treasurer but she mostly hated the elfling who, to her mind, had led them to this stuffy, starless, treeless world and her boring daily .
.


"We must keep her ever in our watch, Averfad, we are responsible for her safe delivery to Caras Galadhon when the time is ripe and the forest cleared of evil enough for us to reestablish our own dwelling there." But as the years went by the time never seemed to ripen and Averfad grew more bitter over her unacceptable living conditions and more determined to move her father out of the comfortable niche he had swiftly carved for himself and back inhe fhe forest which he professed to love more than the caves of Thranduil..

And as Tulare grew in lightness of spirit her Sindar blood became more apparent in the lines of her physique and the shape of her face and the sparkle in her glittering olive-colored eyes. Her foster parents were just as wary of discovery as they watched their adopted daughter's growth in beauty and grace outpace other elflings in the cavernous city and they kept her hidden from view as much as possible to forestall any questions of her true parentage.


"As much as possible, daughter," her father had warned repeatedly, "she must be kept from view of Thranduil. He is clever and his magic runs deep within the roots and rocks of Mirkwood. Of all the elves in this kingdom he will not be fooled into believing that cretin Arthame is her father and he will banish us surely and lay a curse upon us as well if he learns the truth. Keep an eye on her." But neither she nor her father had been prepared for the elleth, Tulare, being able to circumvent their constant vigilance and end up in the punishment chambers of the great dungeons beneath them all. Her father had shaken with fear when the day came for Tulare to be delivered to Thranduil's cruel punishment as he was sure it would be only a matter of moments before the wise elf recognized the true nature of his victim and he hid himself after sending Averfad to learn what she could and return to him with whatever information she could glean as she slipped in and out of the shadowed stairways and torch-lit h.
.


The shriek he emitted when he learned that Tulare had been removed from her father and locked away in the Royal chambers still rang in Averfad's sensitive ears all these days later as she sat by the fire and contemplated her next moves. "He knows! He knows! Oh, what a miserable day it was when I lifted her from her mother's arms and brought her away to safety! Why did I not leave her there and escape this doom!" He was inconsolable and completely convinced that the King would soon be raging throughout the realm in search of answers. As soon as he learned that Arthame had been escorted out the frontrantrance and banished into the forest he left his daughter to gather what information she could and slipped out to find the treasurer and concoct a likely story to explain the elleth's presence in their midst.


Averfad used her opportunity wisely, as far as she was concerned, for she was not convinced at all that the King was aware of mueyoneyond his desire to keep the comely elleth as a pet for his lusty pleasures. Her own father's guilty conscience had obviously clouded his usually clever wits and his fear of Thranduil's wrath had completely blotted out what may have been left of them in their cloudy state. It was easy enough to convince the head house-elf, Thole, that Tulare's inconsolable mother would be relieved if Averfad were allowed a moment to visit the imprisoned elleth and determine her state of well being. But convincing him was easier than actually gaining entrance to the private rooms as he tried to reassure her that Tulare's mother had nothing to fear, her daughter was safe and well cared for, the King had breakfasted with her and then had left suddenly on what must be important business and he, Thole, awaited the word of the King on allowing the elleth any visitors upon his return. "I see no reason for his highness to refuse your visit but I dare not risk allowing you in there without his express permission."

Averfad pretended to weep with worry but to no avail,the imperious elf remained steadfast against her. Finally she appeared to accept defeat and assured Thole she would return when the King was able to speak with her personally and promised to deliver what news she could to Haefaniel in the meantime. Bhe whe waited just outside the inner halls and remained still as a statue, her ears twitching slightly at the smallest noise, where she was discovered by the King's daughter, Sayri, who proved an unlikely ally in her attempt to gain entrance to the guarded passages and Tulare.

Although she had a different mother than las,las, Sayri's heart was just as warm and generous as the princeling's and it was not difficult at all to convince the young elf princess to help bring imprimprisoned elleth's mother some reassurance of the fate of her darling daughter at the hands of her cruel father. "It is a mystery why Ada has taken her to his rooms but I am sure he has not harmed her any morece..ce...," but she did not finish her thoughts for confessing further knowledge of the elleth, Tulare's, fate would surely reach the ears of her father and remind him of her disobedient appearance at the punishment chamber doors.

But, even though Sayri had no apparent knowledge of the reason behind the King's unusual interest in his latest victim, she was quite helpful in luring Thole away for a private conversation while Averfad slipped within the opulent royal rooms and fouer mer mistress asleep in his richly decorated sleeping chamber. It would have been a pleasure to slit her throat while she slept so comfortably on the velvety coverlet but Averfad needed the brat alive if she was going to snatch any rewardm hem her Lorien kin so she hastawokawoke Tulare and convinced her swiftly of her need to return to her mother and escape any further humiliation at the hands of the wicked King.

"The word going around Mirkwood proper is that you are now the King's new plaything for him to use up and dispose of at his leisure. Do you not think it unusual to be locked away from the view of his subjects while he enjoys your youthful charms? He has no care about your future or your life and he may even kill you when he is done with you to prevent any others from having what he has claimed for his own personal use." She was surprised that her tactics worked so well and the gullible elleth so easily fooled into thinking her life was in danger, or, at least, not of value to this king with his reputation of ravenous but quickly slaked appetite for novelty. "The King's doxie, that is how you are referred to among the high born this day, how charming,"

Tulare was easily led to the docking area underneath the city that was used to load and unload the river barges which came from the Long Lake with supplies and foodstuffs on a daily basis and they were away in the tiny boat which had, at last, become tangled in the brush and roots in the center of the swiftly flowing riverlet. Averfad had convinced her that her mother had fled before them to Lorien and was going to hide there in her shame over the fateher her husband and daughter and would be pleased to see Tulare had escaped as well and their reunion would be a happy one if she would just hurry along and remain quiet. She was a little more than surprised at how shattered Tulare appeared from just the short time she had spent in the King's bed and she used her own imagination to fill in the details that must have led to such anguish and despair to wrap the fair elleth in her cloak of sorrow. Tulare answered no questions but followed the wild wood elf's directions without hesitation as she willingly fled the only home she had ever known and followed Averfad silently into the wilderness.