"That's right, I had forgotten," Elrohir said and reached into his coin pouch for the small silver ring. "Tiger? Tiger," he called, "come see what I've got you." Tiger, who was watching Glorfindel tie off one of their two pack horses, looked up to see who was calling her. "Come here, I have you something," Elrohir called again. Tiger hurried over and looked pleased when Elrohir slipped it on her finger. "I thought it looked like Celestial," he explained, enjoying the way her face brightened.
"You bought this for Tiger?" she asked gratefully.
"I thought you would like it," Elrohir said as Haldir came over to see what he had given her. He was beginning to get annoyed at how everyone wanted to humor her. Haldier of Lothlorien suffer guilt and jealousy? Not on your life.
"Look Master," she said and held it up. "It is beautiful."
"Yes, it is," Haldir agreed with a smile for her and a slight warning in his eyes for Elrohir. It was bad enough he had to deal with Old Glory wanting her to show him everything; he wasn't going to stand idly by while the twins seduced her with presents. Then just so she remembered who was Master, he bent down and kissed her. It was such a thorough kiss, that when he raised his head, she had a glazed look in her eyes that he enjoyed very much. "Come," he told her and went back to their horse.
Elladan thought Haldir's little jealous display was amusing. "I don't think he appreciated the ring," he stated with a roguish look in his eyes while trying very hard not to laugh.
"I am certain of it," Elrohir agreed, "but Tiger likes it, and that is what counts."
Celeborn, sitting on his animal, rode by his grandsons and said, "Mount up, we need to go."
The Grasslands north of the inland sea looked as if they rolled on forever, but it was not the lush grass of Rohan, nor were any of the horses that they saw in the distance as magnificent as the horses of the Rohirrim. But those wirey little duns with their thick manes and tails were suited to the land. A land that was hot in the summer and bitterly cold in the winter.
The mountains they were looking for were in the east, but they first had to ride north a day or two and then cut back east to avoid the great inland lake's northern shore. Since they were traveling slow, Tiger shape shifted and did a little hunting. There appeared to be an excellent supply of ground birds in the area. Rumil and one of the Galadhrim soon dismounted and joined her, Orophin and Haldir leading their horses for them.
By early afternoon they had collected a respectable number of chicken sized birds and a couple of stray hares. Mounting their horses as they walked by, the two elves rode forward to show the twins what they had collected. Haldir offered Tiger a hand up and swung her up behind him. She then found the space on his back between quiver and bow where she could lay her cheek. Her hands slipped under his tunic but she didn't try anything. She just liked touching his skin.
"Shouldn't we be seeing these wild Sakas about now?" Celeborn asked Glorfindel curiously.
"I suspect we have already been spotted," Glorfindel answered easily. "They miss nothing in their own lands."
Celeborn, glancing back at Haldir and Tiger, asked, "Tiger, do you speak Saka?"
"Most Sakas speak Hellenes," she answered easily while staring up at the sky. Not a cloud in sight.
"Are you sure?" Glorfindel, also looking back, asked and noticed a slight angry look in Haldir's eyes. "Something wrong?"
"Not a thing," Haldir answered as Tiger peered around him to look at Glorfindel.
She smiled and then looked back to the west. "Riders are coming," she announced and pointed.
The riders knew they couldn't outrun who was approaching and so they turned their horses and readied their bows, just in case. Tiger, on the ground, stood beside Celeborn's horse and waited for him to tell her what to say or do.
The horsemen approaching them were indeed wild looking, with their long hair flying behind them. Men and women clothed in leather and mail made up the troop. Their leader was a fiercely handsome man with dark dark red hair and brown eyes. He carried a bow in a strange looking quiver that also held his arrows on his hip. It was shaped just like a Galadhrim bow only a third the size. A woman with extremely long white hair tied back in a braid rode at his side. She was beautiful in the way a she-wolf was beautiful. Seven more men and five women made up the group.
Whatever difficulties that might have arisen between the Saka horsemen and the elves were quickly calmed when the woman took one look at the twins and whispered tersely, "Ashvans!"
It took a little while for Celeborn to explain to the Sakas who he and his grandsons were. He assured them that all was well and they meant no hardm, but even so, he sensed some skepticism on their part. The woman kept staring at Elrohir and Elladan, even when it was decided they would share a night camp together. The Saka chieftain, Scopias, seemed a trustworthy fellow, and his riders were appreciative of the fresh meat being offered them, but the woman was a little unnerving with her stare.
The blonde woman, Tomyris, sat at Scopias' side and periodically whispered into his ear, which always drew his eyes back to the twins. It was apparent that she still believed the twins were her immortal horsegods in the flesh, and nothing could convince her otherwise. As the evening progressed, some pipeweed that had a drugging effect on the body was brought out. Glorfindel readily accepted an offered pipe, and once the other elves saw it would do them no harm, they smoked some. All but Celeborn. He desired a clear mind at all times.
Tiger did not smoke anything either, nor did she accept any of the fermented mare's milk, but she watched everything with bright curious eyes. The blonde woman was still watching the twins, but there was a new look in her eyes, and Tiger recognized it. The other women were also staring at the twins. Elrohir and Elladan would have had to have been blind not to realize that these women wanted sex with them. The twins might not be the Ashvans, but with the right rituals, they could become the Ashvans.
Before Elrohir and Elladan were aware of what was really going on, they were starting to feel funny. The pipeweed was making them feel more than a little numb.
Celeborn realized something was up, but before he could do anything someone had a sword at his throat. And with the other elves clearly intoxicated, it was best he didn't do anything to upset anyone. He gave Tiger a look that told her not do anything rash. Tiger settled back by Haldir and watched Tomyris and the other women. She would not do anything unless the women tried to draw blood. Tiger would not let them hurt Elrohir or Elladan.
Tomyris didn't want blood. She wanted sex; sex with the Ashvans, or at least their representatives. The drug she had slipped them would not hold them long, and once it wore off, they would be wanting relief, lots of relief. And her virgin she-warriors were ready to be bred, and who better for a first lover than an ashvan. The Saka men made no effort to prevent the breeding. It was considered a good thing among them to have a woman covered by an immortal horsegod.
As the tribe's warrior priestess, it was her place to be the covered first offering. Stripping off her mail and leggings, she approached Elrohir and with the help of a virgin warrior, stripped him while planting hungry kisses on his mouth and body, making sure he was hard and ready to do his duty to the gods.
Elrohir did not know what was happening to him except that he had a raging hunger in his flesh that demanded satisfaction. When Tomyris turned herself to him like a mare before a stallion, he growled and mounted her, driving himself into her repeatedly, violently, until his flesh imploded only to be solidifed again in that burning hunger. Someone kissed him, and he saw briefly that Elladan was in the hands of the other women.
They each had their turn with him, and each time the violence of his love making became harder. He wanted the desire to subside even as it became painful. But at the same time, he could not control the emotion or the senstions that ravaged his body. Even one of the Saka men approached him; not for sex but for the magic that dripped off his body in his sweat.
Elrohir wanted it to end even as the desire continued to control him. He had passed into the threshold of pain. Tomyris covered him with a thin blanket and poured cool water on him, and it was electrifying and soothing at the same time. She drew him into her lap and held his head, caressing him like a shivering horse, as the fire subsided in his body. A deep heavy sleep quickly overtook him, but before he collapsed completely, he could see that Elladan was being handled in a similar way.
Like a pair of stallions he thought and then passed out.
The vulture settled on the Titan's body, one taloned foot digging into his breast, the other into his belly. IF it were possible to sweat blood, the Titan would have been bleeding out of every poor. Then the vulture lowered its beak to his belly and carved open the flesh to get at his liver. The pain was beyond imaginable as Prometheus screamed his pain to the sky.
Tiger awoke with a sharp cry and reached for Haldir. She was frantic, believing something was hurting him, and nothing he said could reassure her that he was all right. Confused and frightened, her mind filled with an image she could not understand, she clung to him for a moment and then released him to pace. Someone was hurting Master, but he was right there with her. She was confused and frightened. What was happening?
The Sakas watched her in numb silence, while the twins, none the worse for their experience, tried to understand what was going on. It was only by chance that Glorfindel, sensing that he and Celeborn knew what was going on, noticed her ring.
"Look at the eyes," he said and nodded in the direction of her hand.
Haldir grabbed Tiger's hand and held it up. The dragon's eyes were bleeding. This immediately sent the Sakas rushing to saddle their horses as they believed a great magic was about to happen. Haldir tried to pull the ring off Tiger's finger, but it wouldn't move, and then Tiger got a strange look in her eyes that he had never seen before. He was standing right in front of her, but she didn't see him.
Glorfindel felt the sudden surge of power around Tiger. She was about to shape shift into something new and more dangerous than a jinn tiger. Lunging for Haldir, Glorfindel threw him back as Tiger caught fire, and from within that fire leaped a red mare with flames for a mane and tail. The Sakas became excited and swung on their horses. Celeborn motioned that they needed to do the same thing. Tiger was about to start running.
Glorfindel, still keeping Haldir away from Tiger, looked up at Celeborn and said, "You know where she's going, don't you?"
Grabbing the front of Glorfindel's tunic, Haldir hissed, "What's happening? You know!"
Tiger squealed but it was not the cry of a mortal animal. There was fear and pain and rage in her voice. Tossing her head, the flames illuminating the still dark sky, she looked around, faced east and started to run.
"HUrry before we lose her!" Celeborn shouted.
"She's going to him, to Prometheus," Glorfindel shouted back at Haldir. "And we'll lose her if we don't ride now."
Haldir was stunned that Glorfindel had been keeping this secret from him, but his body reacted on its own and he hurried to get his horse ready to follow Tiger, or that thing that had been Tiger. Within minutes the nine were spurring their horses behind Celeborn and the Sakas, following the flame that was Tiger.
All though the day they gave chase, coming close but not close enough to catch her, and while Haldir tried calling to her, she ignored him, answering a summons none of them could hear. The Sakas proving just how tough their horses were stayed with the elves, their leader Scopias just as determined to find out where the fire mare was going.
Sometimes the mare (no one could bring themselves to say that she was Tiger) would slow to a trot but she was always just beyond their reach. When it got dark they followed the light burning off her mane and tail. As morning approached her speed picked up until she was running flat out. It was at these times they lost her, but Scopias showed them where the grass had been burnt by her passing. All they had to do was follow that.
Having a trail to follow meant they could stop and rest their horses, get something to eat, or in the case of the Sakas, get some sleep. It also meant Haldir could find out why no one thought it important enough to tell him about Prometheus and his connection to Tiger.
Grabbing Glorfindel by the shoulder, he jerked him around and snapped, "When were you going to tell me?"
Glorfindel stared into the young elf's face, but he had no answer for him. "We had no choice," he finally said helplessly.
"Oh, you had a choice," Haldir countered and threw the first punch. "You damn well had a choice!"
Celeborn, sword in hand to seperate them, stepped forward and said, "Haldir, it was my decision to keep this from you."
Haldir stepped back, disbelief etched on his face. "Why, my Lord?" he asked in dismay.
"We can not go back," Celeborn told him, "and we feared you would try. We just did not anticipate this happening."
Glorfindel, sitting on the ground wiggling his jaw to make sure it still worked, waited for Celeborn to turn away before striking back. He was tired of Haldir's arrogance and petty jealousies. He slammed himself in Haldir's midsection and rode him to the ground. It satisfied his ears to hear Haldir grunt in pain.
Celeborn turned back, but it was too late to stop the fight. Glorfindel was not as stout as Haldir, but he was certainly every bit as tough, and he meant to hurt Haldir.
The Sakas scattered out of the way as the two combatants wrestled on the ground, but it was Glorfindel who freed his arm first and made contact with Haldir's jaw. Blood flew. Enraged, Haldir twisted free and lunged back at Glorfindel, but the elf lord was fighting with a cold brain, while the younger one was full of passion and fire. Glorfindel dodged out of the way and used his clutched fists to send Haldir into the dirt. Haldir crawled to his hands and knees, his head hanging, but he wasn't whipped. Pausing a moment, he sprang back at Glorfindel and grabbed him around the midsection. Glorfindel dropped on his back which threw Haldir face first in the dirt.
"Enough!" Orophin yelled. "Enough!"
Glorfindel threw Haldir away from him and waited. Haldir rose unsteadily to his feet and looked at the elf lord. Haldir didn't know what to do. "Maybe I should just go," he finally said, the weight of his emotions threatening to overwhelm him.
"And prove to everyone you really are a fool?" Glorfindel taunted him. "Lord Celeborn told you we had to do this. We had no choice. If you don't want Tiger, I'll gladly take her, because the god she is running to see is chained to a rock and won't be able to keep her."
"You have always wanted her," Haldir retorted angrily.
"Not always," Glorfindel admitted. "But we all like her. You were the one she bit, and so you became her master. Believe me, I would gladly bare my skin for her teeth, but she doesn't love me."
Haldir stared at him a long hard minute and then turned away. Why are men such fools?
"We need to ride," Celeborn announced and picked the reins of his horse off the ground.
A second day of hard riding took them closer to the Mountains of the Wild Horsemen, but they lost Tiger after sun up in the rocks. Trusting Scopias who said he knew where she was going, Celeborn fell in beside him for the hard climb on horseback. In the dark the surefooted Saka horses led the way. Sometimes they followed trails that only mountain goats and wild sheep crossed.
It was almost dusk when the Sakas drew rein and dismounted. Scopias kneeling on the dry rocky ground pointed.
Haldir's throat tightened in misery. Tiger was herself but she was lying on the ground beside the chained creator god, the side of her face lying in his manacled hand. They were looking at each other, no words passing between suspected that the words were in their minds. Slowly Prometheus turned his head and stared at them.
The Sakas dropped to their knees, but Haldir refused to bend his knee. Tiger belonged to him, and he was not going pay homage to the man who took her from him.