Fan Fiction ❯ Tên Mûel ❯ Punishing the slave ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Title: Tên Mûel
Authors: Makiko Igami (makikoigami@yahoo.de) & My-chan (My-chan@gmx.de)
Category: AU, RPG
Rating: PG 13
Pairings: Aragorn/Legolas, others as well *glances over to Elladan & Elrohir*
Warnings: Slash, OOC (of Arwen mostly), slavery, angst, violence...
Spoilers: A few... not really as I don't remember much of the book, just that Aragorn became King of Gondor in the end and that Arwen was his Queen.
Summary: After seven years of marriage, the excitement of being together has vanished from Aragorn's and Arwen's marriage... maybe a present might change this.

Disclaimer: You know the deal don't you? J.R.R. Tolkien invented them, and if we owned them, we would be related to him, but since neither I nor My-chan are... we just play around with them, toy with their minds and use them for fun only. <insert evil laughter here>

Note:The Sindarin we used (and transformed for ourselves) comes from a little program called Dragon Flame (which I always think that it is this game I don't want to play unless I know I am on my own), but since it didn't have all the words we needed, we had to make them up. If you have any questions feel free to send an email to any of us... and hope that we still know what we wanted to say. ^^;;;;
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After the servants had left the room, Legolas slowly rose to his feet and walked over to the chair his new clothes laid on. He lowered his gaze as he noticed his master was starting to undress himself, quickly grabbed the leggings and the shirt and turned around to move a couple of steps away.

The Elf let the shirt drop to the ground and unfolded the leggings. He looked at them for a few seconds in thought before he took them on. Pulling them up he already noticed that they were way too wide, but it was better than nothing.

Legolas removed the belt from his tunic and put it around the waistband of the leggings to make them stay on his hips. After that he pulled the tunic over his head, revealing a pale back with an ugly red mark under his right shoulder blade.

Aragorn was fighting with one of the knots on his shirt. Whoever made them the previous day did a very good job on it; there was no way he could open them from his point of view. So he sighed and concentrated on his trousers instead. Loosening his belt and putting it on his bed, he grabbed for the fresh trousers but hesitated as he caught the glimpse of Legolas' back. Or rather on the red mark there.

He'd seen this kind of marks before, in fact had suffered through the wounds that caused them himself more often than he wanted to. At least he now had a clue how Elves were caught by Humans: with arrows, as if they were hunting deer. He could almost see Legolas running through the woods, men with arrows on his track, shooting towards his direction, the Elf able to dodge them several times until one was lucky enough to send an arrow into his back. Weakened he crashed to the ground, not able to get up fast enough...

Aragorn turned his head away and stared at his clothes. He felt so much shame for his race that he almost wished they never existed. The x-shaped weal from whips next to the cankerous wound gave him the rest though. He thought he had lost all his motivation to go through his daily routine. But just because he felt pity for Legolas didn't mean that there wasn't any more work for the king of Gondor and since this was him...

Frustrated he sat down on his bed and peeled off his old trousers, grabbed his new ones and pulled them on rather harshly. All the while his shirt was still half-opened and as he stood to bind the chord of his pants it was hanging loosely on his body, making him look anything but kingly.

Legolas kneeled down to get the shirt after he freed himself completely from the tunic. He shivered as he put it on and the cool fabric brushed his bruised skin. The shirt was way too wide as well, but he didn't mind it. It was soft and warmer than his tunic.

Standing up again he glanced over his back he checked on Aragorn if he had finished dressing up as well, and saw him with half buttoned shirt, obviously having trouble getting the knots open.

"M... master?" he peeped quietly and turned around fully. It was his duty as a slave to do what was needed, and his master looked like he could use some help there. "En edra?" he added after the Human was looking at him, and pointed towards his shirt.

Aragorn almost hadn't heard Legolas talking to him as he was way too frustrated with himself and his inability to open the knots he had put onto his own shirt. It went almost this far that he just wanted to cut the straps open, not caring that his tailor had to sew it back together afterwards. Also, he was still fuming about the wrongfulness of his race towards other beings. But when he heard the Elf's voice he looked up with almost pleading eyes, pleading for somebody - anybody - to help him with those knots.

He studied the Elf's face for a moment, not sure if he had the right to ask him to do this, but then he lowered his hands from his shirts and just looked up at the standing Elf.

Legolas nodded slightly and walked over to the Human. He kneeled down again in front of his master to get a better look at the knots. Running his fingers over the top knot he eyed it carefully, until he finally grabbed one of the bands and gave a quick tug. It was enough to open the stubborn thing and the Elf continued his work with the other bands until the shirt was fully open.

Aragorn was sure he had tried this tactic before and that he had tugged at the bands with all his might and all the tactics he could imagine. He had been sure one had to fumble the knots open with high skill and sure instinct, but Legolas worked so easily and efficiently on the knots that the man could only stare.

When he was done, he stared at the Elf for a moment longer, mumbling an astonished "Thank you" before he shrugged the shirt off of his shoulders.

Flashing a shy smile at the Human, Legolas rose to his feet again, and took the fresh shirt from the bed to hold it open for his master so he could easily slip in. He hadn't expected the man to thank him, since it was almost natural for him to do these things.

But it made him feel a little more like a living being than the unworthy creature he had been treated as.

After Aragorn had put on the shirt, Legolas slightly turned his upper body around and began to button it up with fast and efficient movements, ignoring his throbbing thumb.

The man couldn't react fast enough to stop the Elf from using his hurt and still bleeding fingers. He didn't care if he had bloodstains on his shirt, not much that is, but he didn't want to increase Legolas' pain. So as soon as he got the chance, he grasped the pale wrist and gently pulled it away from his shirt.

"Thank you. I can finish on my own," he said and smiled. "Your thumb is a little more important than the decent looks of my shirt," he added, not wanting the Elf to misunderstand his reasons. "Of which I can now take care of my own, thanks to your help."

Legolas blinked quite startled when his hand was moved away from the buttons, but nodded slightly as he noticed that his thumb had started bleeding again. Of course his master had noticed it was hurt earlier.

Taking a few steps back so that the Human had enough space to get dressed the Elf stuck his finger back in his mouth and sucked it carefully. Suppressing another yawn, the Elf glanced around to make out a spot where he could lie down to sleep. Preferably next to the wall, or probably even in the corner of the room. But the problem was, there was no carpet in the corner, and the stone floor was cold.

On the other hand, he was just a slave and if that was the best he could get, so be it.

Finishing putting on his clothes, Aragorn followed Legolas' gaze. It seemed as if he was studying the escape-possibilities of this room... or rather, the interior. And to be most exact, he was staring at the floor, so Aragorn guessed he was trying to find out which would be his place along with the bed, the chairs and all the other items of furniture...

"You can use anything in this room... if you promise me not to try to escape again. At least not today. I think I had too much excitement for just one day already..." he said, a little sigh in his voice. "I'm getting too old for this..."

He adjusted the jerkin with the white tree of Gondor one more time and than turned to leave the room.

"Sû", he whispered, the embarrassment clearly audible in the Elf's voice. He didn't intend to try to escape again. Not if it stayed like it was now. There wasn't much more that Legolas could wish for, except his freedom. His master was nice and gentle, he could eat as much as he wanted and he even got new clothes.

When Aragorn finally left and closed the door behind him, the Woodelf returned to the table to get another glass of milk. After he had finished it, Legolas studied the carpets once again before he approached one of them, lifted it at one corner and dragged it into the corner he'd been sitting in the night before.

Legolas sat down on the carpet, glanced at the door once more to make sure it was shut and nobody was coming in and lay down. Curling up into a tight ball he pressed his back against the wall. The Elf closed his eyes and sighed contently, before he soon slid into a light sleep.

The little nagging feeling of concern over the Elf never left Aragorn's consciousness as he went to the throne room where Boromir was surely waiting impatiently for him. The king imagined that the other man had already walked a path into the thin carpets there and chuckled silently to himself.

Boromir was quite a firebrand, but he should know how to handle a love-letter from Eowyn of Rohan more calmly. It wasn't like the woman was a bad catch, in fact she was quite nice and if Aragorn hadn't been betrothed to Arwen all those years ago when he had visited Edoras with Gandalf, his brothers and Gimli, he would have considered taking her as his wife. But he had Arwen and that was enough at that time.

His face hardened as he thought of his wife. He had never thought that she would betray the Elves' believe of rights for everybody's freedom in purchasing somebody of her own race as a slave for him. He just couldn't fathom it.

Meanwhile said Elf-woman was pacing over the carpet in her room. She was so furious that she couldn't even say HOW furious she was. How could Estel DARE to intimidate her like that in front of everyone, including their guest? She didn't care about the slave as he was just some kind of nice decoration in her opinion, but then there was the Dwarf who she had spent a lot of time with since he came to visit her husband. And Estel hadn't even had the time to talk to HIS friend!

And how he had reacted to her kind, gracious and generous present! How could one man be THIS impolite and rude? She had only wanted his best and how did he thank her? With a threat!

She felt a serious pout coming to her face, and the only thing that stopped her was her fear to get wrinkles. Sighing she relaxed just a bit as she noticed that her face had been contorted in such a grim expression that even without a pout she would get wrinkles soon.

"How can he do this to me?" she sighed and sat down on a chair in front of her untouched breakfast. "I am not even able to eat as it is like this..."

She was about to heave another sigh, when it knocked on the door of her chambers and Ban entered the room. He was the head of the royal servants and quite sly, even for a Human, as Arwen had to admit. He was the one that told her about the goings-on in her husband's chambers, and those were quite interesting sometimes... although Estel was an exemplary husband.

Never had he lain with another woman or if he had, he didn't invite that slut into his bed, at least not for Ban to notice. Arwen didn't even consider the possibility that the king had paid his servants not to let slip out a word about this, because Estel didn't have a clue that he was watched constantly by everybody.

"My Queen..." the middle-aged man with the fading auburn hair and the silver temples said as he bowed before the ageless woman.

Arwen nodded in response and smiled softly at the man. "Welcome Ban. What can you tell me this morning?"

"My lady, I think you would like to know that the King requested that you tell your maidens to change the gown you wanted your husband's slave to wear." He could see how the eternally beautiful features of the Lady Undómiel darkened. "But that isn't what you want to hear, is it?"

"No," the Elf said firmly and coldly. "Tell me something more cheerful."

"I'm afraid I must fail this... But I can tell you how your husband treats his... present."

"I think I know that. I have seen his display of pity and affection for him this morning."

The man nodded. "It is worse than you think, milady. He has given him his own clothes and treats him like a guest, even better than his Dwarf-friend. Last night he allowed the slave to sleep in his bed, while he preferred the armchair. He didn't even punish him for his attempt to escape."

Arwen's blue eyes widened considerably. "How can he? Aren't slaves supposed to be punished if they do something bad? Isn't it their duty to obey their masters?"

"It is, but it seems as if the king doesn't know that."

Thinking fiercely, the queen stared at the folded hands in her lap. "I think it is us who have to punish him then. How did he get free of the chain around his neck? I thought you secured it."

Ban seemed considerably embarrassed. "I did, milady, but I didn't calculate the fact that the slave could get his hands free and remove the little bold that held the collar in place."

"Why did you use only a bolt in the first place? Wouldn't a lock have been better?" the woman asked in her innocent way of knowing things better.

"Oh, how wise you are, my Queen," Ban cringed verbally and was pleased to see a tiny blush on his lady's pale cheeks. "I should have listened to you before I took measures for the slave's... handling." Seeing Arwen wave it off he continued. "I will personally take care that the collar around the king's slave's neck will be improved und replaced." He bowed once more and started to back out of the room.

And stopped, still slightly bowed, when Arwen called him.

"Ban, send somebody with parchment and a quill to my chambers. I need to write a letter."

"Very well."

Arwen watched how the bootlicking man disappeared out of the room and allowed herself a little smile. He might have had bad news for her, but she knew just the right way for playful revenge on her beloved Estel.

It had been a long time she had last seen her brothers. She would go in for any bet to say that Estel missed them just as much as she did.

~~~

Ban quickly made his way towards the King's chambers, a new, tiny lock of silver and mithril in his hands. The Dwarf-friend of the king had looked quite surprised as he asked him for an appropriate item, but had found it nevertheless in one of his pockets. It was fine Dwarven handiwork and Ban thought that not even the strongest being in the world could destroy it with its bare hands. So it was the right item to use on the slave's collar.

He didn't even bother to knock at the door and just walked into the room where King Elessar spent his nights. He found the Elvin slave lying in a corner with his back pressed to the wall, seemingly sleeping tightly on a carpet. The servant was sure that the carpet was supposed to lie quite more in the middle of the room and not in an unimportant corner, being the mattress for a slave.

Shaking his head, he walked over where the chain for the slave was still connected with the hook on the wall and dragged it over to the sleeping slave. He then pulled the chain over to the one in the corner and kneeled down. Maybe he didn't even have to wake the blond beauty...

Legolas had awakened the moment somebody opened the door, and glancing through his half closed lids he saw one of the servants entering the room again. A couple of minutes before, three men had entered the room to clean up the breakfast table, but they had paid him no mind. But still he didn't move and pretended to be still asleep, hoping the human would just get or bring something and leave without bothering him.

But he didn't. Instead he went over to the chain and dragged it into his direction. The Elf winced at the sound but still didn't move, only when the man kneeled down next to him he shot up and wanted to back away, but he didn't even get the chance to move, since the man's hand grabbed his necklace and held him.

Ban had predicted the slave to do something like that, and therefore only waited for him to try to escape once he noticed he was already awake. But he wouldn't let him get away again. He had clear instructions from his queen, and he followed them gladly.

Pulling the Elf closer to him, he narrowed his eyes and glared at him.

"Our Queen orders you back in chains, slave. And you shall not escape again", he hissed and ignored the Elf's struggling while he pulled him closer towards the end of the chain. Legolas' struggling though only increased when the words hit his sensitive ears and he saw the man was about to connect his collar to the chain again. He even managed to kick the steel rings out of the Human's hand, but only one heartbeat later he realized that it had been a big mistake.

Once the chain fell to the floor with a loud chatter Ban lost his patience. He had never possessed much of it, thus making it even easier to make him really mad. He grabbed the Elf's wrists and held them together with one hand, roughly pulling the captured man to a stand, before he drove his free fist in his stomach.

"It seems you need to be taught how to behave properly, slave!" he almost spit out the words and still held the weakened Elf at his wrists, brutally pressing them together. Legolas coughed and sank to the ground as his knees gave in, caused by the hard impact. He knew he better kept silent and so he just bowed his head down in defeat, indicating that he wouldn't struggle anymore.

Ban saw how the Elf bowed his head down, but he wouldn't let him get away this easily. He grabbed the slave's chin and pulled him up again, only to punch his face, sending the thin figure against the wall.

Pain struck him as Legolas hit the wall with his head, shoulder and hip and he finally sank to the ground, since the hands holding him up let go of his wrists. His sight became blurry and even the sounds around him seemed far away. The Elf was hardly able to move and he lay there, now fully defenseless and almost unconscious.

The servant nodded satisfied. Now he could finally drag the Elf in reach of the chain and connect his collar with it, this time making sure it was safe and locked. Then he went over to the carpet in the corner and put it back where it belonged. Turning around once more, he looked if everything was neat and tidy, and nodded to himself before he left the room without giving Legolas another thought.

Closing the door behind him, Ban smiled as he had fulfilled his queen's wishes, and could now continue with his daily chores. But before that he had to send somebody with parchment and quill to her chambers like she ordered, and he was going to do that now.

After he was sure the Human left, Legolas moaned lowly and coughed, blood dropping from his bleeding lips to the floor, but he was too weak to wipe it away, and soon he fully lost consciousness.

To be continued...
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*sweatdrops* Don't hurt us...