The Lost City Of Cirus
Author's Note:
Thanks so much for your reviews, I'm so happy you're still following this story. And thank you to Christiana Anderson for picking up on my very bad typo, yes Addramyr was replaced as captain by Seobryn and only paragraphs before too. That'll teach me to proofread at one am.
Please enjoy and review
Twenty-eight
The Ill Behavior Of Men
"I am sorry to hear you were treated in such a manner Legolas." Faramir responded genuinely after Aragorn was through telling them what had become of Legolas the night before.
"Yes it is a grave thing to discover what some of us are capable of." Aragorn sighed heavily.
Aniond looked mortified at this foul treatment of his Prince but Aquila kept him quiet with a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He looked past her to his Prince and Legolas nodded to assure the other Elf that he was, in fact, unharmed and that the wounds he had sustained from the fight were already healing.
"You don't think…" Faramir shifted uneasily in his seat and his eyes darted about the room.
"Think what Faramir?" Elrond insisted.
"You don't think this had anything to do with Eomer do you?" Faramir finished wearily.
Legolas locked eyes with Faramir as he spoke.
"Why would you think Eomer had something to do with this?"
"Well while the rest of us have come to be quite accepting of the Rocs, he has remained steadfast in his dislike of them and has spoken ill of them on more than one occasion."
"We cannot prove Eomer had anything to do with, nor do we know for sure that it has something to do with Aquila or the Rocs." Aragorn interjected.
"If you managed to find some of the Men couldn't you find out from them who else was involved?" Frodo questioned.
"That we can do, once I have at least one of them before me."
"You have set only one man to this task Aragorn, it will take some time." Elrond commented.
"Yes but it is harder for one man to spread scandalous news about the city as quickly as could many." Aragorn rubbed both his hands over his face before standing from his chair.
"Thank you all once again for attending but I will take my leave now. I wish to see this matter resolved as quickly and quietly as possible. You are free to do as you please my Lords and Lady. Lunch will be sent to your rooms if you so desire it but there will be no formal luncheon held today. Dinner will be held in the main dinning hall if you wish to attend. So until this evening I bid you all good day."
Aragorn then pushed his chair back and exited the throne room but the Citadel doors, no doubt as to where he was going was in anyone's mind but they respected his wish to deal with the matter as discreetly as possible.
Elrond decided to spend the rest of the day with Aniond and Sphenurus who were keen on getting to know the Hobbits and so had joined them in the gardens. Aniond had been keen to meet the Hobbits ever since Legolas had return from his perilous journey and told him all about it. As for Sphenurus, he had heard of Hobbits but had never met one. Nor four who held so much acclaim, even in a city they were not from.
"You Shire sounds lovely. I should like to visit when all this is over." Sphenurus commented enthusiastically.
"You'd be hard pressed to find somewhere to stay. All our homes are built for Hobbits." Merry responded.
"Now, now Merry. Bagend used to house Gandalf when he came to visit, Sphenurus will easily fit." Frodo interjected.
"I know Frodo, I was only teasing." Merry grinned at Sphenurus who winked back.
"Tell you what. House me in your beautiful Shire for a visit and I in turn will fly you back with me to visit Cirus."
The four Hobbits took on a look of excitement and Elrond smiled at them over the book he was reading.
"I thought your King didn't allow visitors Sphenurus." The Elven Lord queried.
"Yes but that was the old laws. I have a feeling much will change come with the union of our Princess and your Prince." Sphenurus elbowed Aniond suggestively in the side and the Elf grinned at him.
Elrond shook his head and went back to his book. However before his eyes could bring into focus the words he had been reading something in the distance caught his interest. Lowering his book slightly he peered off into the depth of the trees and spotted it again. This time with his eyes in focus he was more than sure it was a very joyous looking Legolas pulling a giggling Aquila deeper into the garden by one hand as her other held her skirts gathered above her knees. Elrond thought much of it but said nothing, returning his attention to his book while the others about him continued their chatting.
As Aragorn hurried from his halls he was met by the guard he had sent out, closely followed by two men on a long chain.
"You have something for me then?"
"Yes your Majesty. These two fit your descriptions perfectly and one of them has even confessed."
"Bloody good for nothing!" One of the Men kicked the other, presumably the one who had made the confession for their guilt.
"Thank you, you have done well. Take the day to yourself." Aragorn smiled at his guard who could barely contain his glee.
"Why thank you your Majesty!"
The guard hurried off after handing the chain that tied the two Men together to his King. Aragorn took the chain gladly and roughly led the two Men into his throne room. Once inside he dropped the length of chain and ordered the two Men to stand before him as he seated himself upon his throne.
"Both of you. Remove your shirts so that I may see for myself that you are the traitors I seek."
Both Men complied with their King's request in absolute silence. One had a badly infected cut on his arm, the one who had been accused of confessing to their actions, and the other had vast amounts of blood soaked bandages wrapped about his middle.
"How, may I ask men, did you receive these wounds you carry?"
Both refused to make eye contact with their King but Aragorn was more than happy to sit in silence until one of them cracked. He didn't have to wait long though as the one with the infected arm wound knelt both for him and began to plead.
"Please my King they promised we wouldn't be found out, they paid me and my family is so poor your Majesty!"
"Shut up!" The other man kicked him sharply in the leg and caused him to fall to the floor.
"Please my King!" He continued. "You must believe me! They told me it was a Roc we were attacking! They never said it would be an Elf!"
"It does not matter!" Aragorn bellowed as he stood from his throne and looked down upon the two Men. "I do not care who it was you were meant to attack, that fact makes no difference. The Rocs are guests in my Kingdom too and I consider any wrong doing to them a sign of treason! What is worse though is you have caused harm to a long welcome visitor to this city and my good friend!"
The two Men shuffled under the King's cold eyes and the one upon the floor dared not pick himself up.
"I am not willing to forgive your behavior and you will be punished for it. However, if you inform me of who your other accomplices were and who orchestrated the attack I will see that your wounds are treated properly and you receive a reduced punishment. In other words you will find your head placed in the stocks, rather than a noose."
The two looked decidedly frightened by the threat of the gallows. Even the one with his stomach wrapped in bloodstained bandages seemed to be seriously contemplating turning their accomplices in. This was exactly what Aragorn had been hopping for and he sat back down as he awaited their decision.
The two Men looked at each other and tried to silently communicate their plans. Aragorn had a strong feeling that the one with the infected cut was going to be the one to spill the information he was after. After all, it would seem he'd already betrayed himself earlier and his cut looked rather painful and would only be getting worse without proper treatment. To his surprise though it was the other man who cracked first.
"Alright we'll tell you who else was involved but you have to promise we wont be hung and that these wounds will be treated."
"That is what I promised." The King stated simply. "Legolas get you deep did he? You're still bleeding I can see."
The man looked like he was trying very hard to hold an insult back but to his credit he succeeded. The other man picked himself up from the floor and stood beside his accomplice.
"Well are you going to tell me who else was involved or do I have to guess?"
"No your Majesty! There were eight of us who attacked him but we were acting on behalf of another."
Aragorn waited in silence for the man to continue. He would find out the names of the other six Men involved in the beating once he knew who the driving force behind the attack was.
"Eomer asked us to your Majesty. He said if we saw the Elf in the city we were to attack the Roc he was with but there weren't no Roc my Lord…so we beat on the Elf."
"No as bad as we would have done the Roc though my Lord." The other man interjected.
Aragorn was so furious he was afraid that if he opened his mouth all that would come out would be an animalist roar. So he sat stiffly on his throne with his jaw clenched tightly closed while the two men waited uncomfortably for a response.
"For now I can't stand the sight of either of you and I don't trust myself to make a well informed decision on any matter at the moment. So for now you two can enjoy one another's company in a cell."
Aragorn called a guard over an instructed him to take the two men to the dungeon. The two looked fearful and pleaded loudly for mercy and the guard took up the chain that tied them together and lead them from the throne room.
Aragorn sunk back heavily into his throne and closed his eyes. How was he going to approach Eomer about this? No only that but how was he going to tell Legolas that a man who he thought was a friend had been behind his attack. First though he had to get the rest of those involved behind bars and he'd forgotten to get names off the two brought before him. He groaned in annoyance as he hoisted himself up off his throne and stalked off in the wake of the guard and the two, now, prisoners.
"Where are we going Legolas?" Aquila giggled as the Elf dragged her further into the vast gardens of Minas Tirith.
Legolas thought he saw Elrond and some others off to their left as he kept running. He wasn't sure why but he felt so free all of a sudden. Even though war loomed large and not everyone seemed to be particularly happy with him he was happy. He was doing what he wanted and that wasn't what everyone else wanted, and that made him feel great.
Finally he stopped in front of what he'd been looking for, a tree, far larger than any other in the entire garden. Its trunk was thick and smooth and it's branches hung low, almost to the ground, creating a sort of veil around it.
"It's my favorite." He said has he ducked beneath its branches and lead Aquila behind him. "When Aragorn asked me to help him replant the gardens here after they were destroyed in the war, I brought several Elves from Mirkwood and we replanted everything."
"It looks wonderful, not as magnificent as Mirkwood but it is ultimately confined by stonewalls."
Aquila took Legolas' hands in hers and pressed herself up against him, slowly backing him toward the tree's trunk. He smiled down at her and bent slightly to capture her lips as his back hit the tree trunk behind him.
"This tree I planted and it is by far my favorite. The only one of it's kind in the entire garden and taller than any other tree here. I always make a point of visiting it when I come to Minas Tirith, it has a good spirit."
"You and the tree have a lot in common then."
Aquila trailed kisses down his neck and tugged open the top of his tunic in an effort to expose more of his neck to her lips.
"Do Rocs have a spiritual connection with the trees?" Legolas mused as he let his head fall back against the tree's smooth bark.
"No, we feel more at home in the sky. I understand clouds better than I understand trees." Aquila said between kisses.
Legolas laughed lightly but was by now too occupied with Aquila's lips upon his neck to be concentrating on humor. As he rolled his head to the side he felt her lips leave his skin. Her hands were upon his sides and they trailed down his body as she sank to her knees before him. She nuzzled her face against his inner thigh and felt the heat radiating from his groin hot against her cheek.
Legolas pressed his hands flat against the tree behind him as Aquila hooked her fingers into the waistband of his now achingly tight leggings. He moaned low in the back of his throat as she then took his engorged member into her hot mouth. She pressed her hands to the front of his thighs and gripped his legs as she took as much of his length into her mouth as she could.
Legolas fisted his hands in her soft brown hair and gently encouraged her to take even more of his member down her throat. He then let up the pressure he was applying to the back of her head and she slowly drew his hardened length out of her mouth. She flicked her tongue across its head before taking his shaft back into her mouth and swirling her tongue around it.
He groaned loudly and stumbled slightly as his knees gave way temporarily, but the tree he had his back pressed to kept him up and he found new strength from his legs as Aquila took him in again.
"Aquila……………oh……………yes……"
His hands remained in her hair and every now and then he would unconsciously twist her locks enough to bring pain but she remained unfazed by it, her passion for him fueled by the expressions and sounds she was evoking from him. She took his member deep in her mouth once again and she felt his body stiffen and a breathless cry escape his lips, before he began thrusting his pelvis towards her as he emptied himself.
Once he lay still against the tree she withdrew his softening member from her mouth and pulled his tights back up to rest about his hips. She then smoothed his tunic back down before she attempted to rise. Legolas stopped her though, unsure how much longer his legs were going to hold him up, and instead lowered himself to the ground before her.
He sat with his back pressed to the tree, knees drawn up before him and legs slightly spread. Aquila still knelt before him and he took her hand in his and pulled her into his lap. He brushed strands of dark hair off her shoulders and kissed at the soft skin at her throat, wholly exposed to him by the low neckline of the dress she was wearing.
She then turned in his arms so her back was pressed to his front and she lent her head to the side to rest on his shoulder. His arms wrapped around her front and she covered his arms with her own.
Her eyes fluttered closed and before long she was soundly asleep in his arms beneath the cover of the tree. He nuzzled his face into her soft hair and breathed her scent in deeply. Something about his Roc intoxicated him, he wasn't sure what it was but he was grateful for it all the same. Soon he too had allowed himself to fall asleep but his was a restless one, plagued by ill dreams of no real meaning or concern, as they were no more than that, dreams.
It was dark out in the garden with only a little moonlight to bathe it in a soft glow and Aragorn was thankful he knew the grounds well enough to navigate in total darkness. He finally came upon the tree he was heading for and after ducking beneath its branches found exactly who he'd been looking for.
"Legolas!" Aragorn called out softly to his sleeping friend as he approached.
Legolas woke suddenly, in shock, and looked over in Aragorn's direction. He blinked several times and straightened himself as best he could against the tree's trunk with the sleeping Aquila still in his lap.
"Aragorn?"
"We missed you at lunch and then when you didn't show for dinner I assumed the two of you had barricaded yourselves in your room for an afternoon of passionate lovemaking."
Legolas turned a slight shade of pink and looked moderately mortified by Aragorn's sudden interest in his private life.
"Pandion's words not mine." Aragorn laughed as he squatted down beside Legolas, one hand resting against the tree's trunk.
"I'm sorry we missed dinner we both must have fallen asleep. It certainly wasn't this dark the last time my eyes were open. How did you know we were here anyway?"
"Well when you didn't show at dinner I went upstairs to see if you were in fact in your room and when no one answered I opened the door to find no one inside. Elrond passed by in the hallway on my way out of your room and mentioned that he'd seen the two of you in the gardens when he was there with the others."
"Can't get any privacy around here can you?"
"I'm afraid not my friend but I imagine you get more privacy here than you do in Mirkwood."
"This is true."
"There a reason you're out here so late?"
"I wanted to show Aquila the gardens, especially the tree, and I suppose we must have fallen asleep."
Aragorn raised an eyebrow, feeling as though his friend was leaving something out.
Legolas ignored the questioning look and instead gently shoved Aragorn in the shoulder.
Aragorn, however, was not particularly well balanced in his squatting position and ended up sprawled on his back.
"You're going to be nasty now are you?" Aragorn said as he propped himself up on his elbows.
Legolas laughed and eased Aquila out of his lap so that he could stand and help Aragorn back to his feet. Aragorn accepted Legolas' extended hand and let the Prince help him up. Aragorn dusted himself off before shoving Legolas playfully in the shoulder. The Elf stumbled slightly but didn't fall and the two laughed.
"She sleeps a lot doesn't she?" Aragorn asked as he looked down at Aquila's sleeping form.
"Not really, she sleeps less than I do. Rocs by nature don't need a lot of sleep but she flew for twelve days with only one day of rest."
"Yes I think even if I rode for that only with only a days rest I would fall asleep on the grass too."
"She should be fine tomorrow, after she gets a good nights rest tonight."
"Well she's certainly not going to get that out here on the grass."
"No." Legolas laughed as he scooped Aquila up into his arms.
"Hungry Legolas?"
Aragorn asked as they made their way back to his halls.
"Famished actually."
"I'm not surprised. You haven't eaten since breakfast. How about joining me for a late supper in my study once you've put your Princess to bed."
Aragorn winked before he ducked into his study as Legolas continued down the corridor to the stairs.
He managed to lay her on the bed and pull the sheets up over her without waking her. He hadn't realized she was that exhausted but he was going to make sure she didn't tire herself tomorrow. A task he knew she was going to hate him for but it was for her own good, the last thing they needed was her collapsing from exhaustion.
He closed the door quietly and waited a moment outside the door to be sure he hadn't woken her. When he heard no noise coming from within the room and he was confident she was still sleeping he made his way back down to meet up with Aragorn in his study. The promise of not only a good meal but some time alone with his friend to catch up on their lives was more than enough incentive to keep him up for the majority of the night.
To be continued…