Chapter 9
Ron opened his eyes as he woke up then shut them tight again as the sunlight shone right into them. He groaned and rubbed them to be rid of the sting of pain. As his eyes adjusted he turned on his side and snuggled into Cilath's bare back. She stirred and rolled over cuddling into his arms. He kissed her brow and stroked her cheek. Her open glazed eyes came into focus and she smiled at him tiredly, tucking her head in under his chin. Ron sighed contentedly. He could not believe he was lying in bed with Cilath after making love to her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and said quietly
"I feel different, good different, like I'm floating."
"I know… melamin." She looked up at him in surprise, then her blood red lips, which stood out against her pale skin, curved into a smile. He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips then began to work his way down. She leaned her head back moaning softly as he kissed tenderly on her neck, his hands stroking her sides.
"Oh Ron… wait! What time is it?" she asked pushing him back and sitting up. Ron looked outside at the sun and said
"Eleven o clock, why?"
"We're late for potions!" she exclaimed looking horrified. Ron chuckled; she looked very cute with her wide eyes, like a deer. He gently pushed her back to lie down, saying softly,
"Snape and Mc Gonagall are both on business for the order, I got a letter a few days ago telling me they would be gone for a week or more." He ran his large hand up her leg to her hip; she shivered excitedly and giggled softly. Ron chuckled then lay on his side, content with holding her in his arms. She snuggled contentedly into his hold, sighing sleepily. Ron grinned cheekily
"I thought elves don't get tired." Cilath rolled her eyes,
"Normally, no, but you exhausted me." Ron blushed crimson. She giggled, "You're cute when you blush."
Earithramir was in a pretty good mood that day, considering he had lost two friends very recently. He walked down the path to the stables and checked on his prize. A tall pure white steed was in the best stall. He stamped his hard feet in greeting as the elf approached.
"Good morning Urúvion. How are you this morning?" In answer, the great beast nudged his hand clearly demanding the sugar lumps in it. Earithramir laughed and gave him the sweet substance. He then began to groom the fine stallion.
"He looks well." said a voice to the side of him. Looking, his eyes lit up to see Lomli, gently stroking the soft muzzle of the horse while watching him out of the corner of his green eyes.
"So do you." he answered by way of greeting. Lomli blushed red and smiled embarrassedly.
"Hannon le, anyway, when do you think he'll be ready?"
"Oh he's ready now if you ask me… lets just be clear about who we're talking about."
"I'm talking about Ron."
"Right, so am I! Anyway, I think Ron's ready, he's trained really hard over the last month and he's as good as the twins and Sircyn and is catching up on Legolas and Elrond."
"I agree, I heard Elrond, Glorfindel, Legolas and Gandalf talking, they want to speed things up and christen him as captain very soon and finish his classes now."
"Now?"
"Mhm, they think he's learned enough, besides he needs to start being a captain now, I heard that the Tok'ra are demanding that he start meeting with them." Earithramir shivered, Lomli looked at him questioningly,
"Sorry but those people, regardless of what side they are on, give me the creeps." Lomli smiled fondly at him
"You got that word from Ron, didn't you?" Earithramir blushed and nodded. Lomli came and put an arm around his waist. He spoke the two most dangerous words on the planet,
"I'm bored!"
The room was lit with gold, even the flames that lit it seemed to shine with gold instead of the normal warm red yellow and orange. The walls were covered in gold, engraved with hieroglyphics. At the top of this room was a platform made of marble, and upon this was a throne. It was high backed and also made of gold, although the seat of it had a soft cushion for extreme comfort. The room was very like an Egyptian tomb, except the only object in the room was the throne. A set of door was on either side of the room, and the one on the left opened.
The man who entered was very handsome and lavishly clothed, but his eyes were cruel, and it was clear that his heart was black. He went and ascended the throne, sitting in it arrogantly, his chin raised in superiority. Following him were six warriors, heavily built, muscular, wearing grey armour and helmets shaped like a jackals head that were so big that they had to rest on the broad shoulders. In their hands they carried staff weapons, long weapons that looked like staffs with wide round ends. At the bottom was a large purple crystal; the other end was for shooting the golden energy blast out. They marched as one, their footsteps loud and foreboding. They knelt before the man who sat upon the throne, a superior smirk on his face,
"You have news for me my Jaffa." he stated, his voice was odd, deeper then normal, the depth like a second voice, lacing with the normal voice. One Jaffa, his first prime, opened his helmet. The jackal seemed to open its mouth to reveal a normal human face, with one difference. In the centre of his forehead was a symbol within a small oval made of gold. It was the symbol of Osiris, for that was the name of this man, who proclaimed himself a god. The Jaffa spoke with great reverence and honour,
"My lord, we have news of the supposed great captain of the elves. He is but a mere child of seventeen or eighteen, human, with red hair, like the sun."
"Red hair… hmm, Malfoy spoke of a family of pure-blood wizards that all had red hair, the Weasleys I believe. Very well, continue."
"He may be young but he is also skilled, he killed many orc and Jaffa alone." Now Osiris sat up straight,
"What!" he demanded angrily, his eyes flashing a golden glow. The Jaffa bowed his head,
"I am afraid it's true my lord. He was a strong opponent, however we believe the key to his defeat, lies in his heart." Osiris raised an eyebrow,
"Go on."
"We captured an elf as you ordered, and your son, Ra, blended him with a symbiote, the honoured Seth, right before the boys eyes, he froze in horror, I believe, if we go after those who mean something to him he will surrender just to stop it." Osiris smiled sinisterly,
"Well done Herak I believe I chose well in selecting you as my first prime." Herak smiled, pleased with himself.
"A WEASLEY BRAT!" raged the Dark Lord, otherwise known as Lord Voldemort, "A BETRAYER OF THE PURE-BLOODS! HE! HE IS THE NEW CAPTAIN OF THE ELVEN ARMY!" The Death Eaters cowered at the feet of their master; they had never seen him this angry before.
"My, my lord-"
"SILENCE." he snapped, pacing around his room. He had not counted on this; he had planned on retrieving the youngest male Weasley and using him against Harry Potter along with that mud-blood, Hermione Granger. To hear that he was the captain completely went against his plans. Just then there was a timid knock on the door.
"Come in." he called wearily, a trembling Death Eater came in and knelt before him saying,
"M-my lord, we have just received a letter f-from Osiris. I- I believe, it may be ab-about Ron Weasley."
"Give it to me." he ordered grudgingly, holding out a long thin hand. The trembling death eater gave him the letter. His red eyes skimmed over the words then he nodded slightly and rolled it up again. He set it down on the table with deliberate calmness then he hissed,
"Leave, except you Severus." Snape paused halfway through rising and crouched back down. Only once the door was shut, did Voldemort move again. He paced back and forth slowly while Snape held his breath his heart hammering. Did Voldemort suspect him as a traitor because of this revelation? He jumped slightly as the Dark Lord spoke again. "Tell me Severus, how is it that you did not know that the new captain was one of your students, Potters best friend no less?"
"My, my lord, Dumbledore kept that information to himself and himself alone. I did not know about the elves until you told me, i-if I had know then of course I w-would have told you straight away." Voldemort snarled like an animal and whipped his wand out and shouted
"Crucio!" Snape screamed in agony, but that was all he let past his lips. Finally he was released and he lay on the ground trembling. "Leave Severus, it will take much time before you prove yourself to me again."
"Yes master." he whispered as he dragged himself out of the room, thinking to himself,
'I knew Potter and his friends would be the death of me, I just didn't count on how slow a death.' He knew if he slipped up like that again, then he was a dead man.
The next morning Legolas wandered into the hall, and sat in his usual place at the table and began to eat calmly and deliberately, waiting. A chorus of screams shattered the usual peace of Rivendell and was quickly followed by yells of
"LEGOLAS! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Elrond looked towards the ceiling sending a silent prayer that his house would still be standing after the poor victims of Legolas' latest prank got their own on him. Legolas stood up calmly and walked out as if he hadn't heard the shouts. Typical Legolas, he was never one for panicking about being caught, in fact he would have been insulted if someone else got the credit or rather blame. Elrond decided he really did not want to know about the latest pranks. He was sipping his fruit juice when he tuned involuntarily into the conversation to his left.
"Are you sure Kuli?"
"Yes I'm sure Fend, I heard Earithramir telling Sircyn about it."
"What did he say?" asked Frudo,
"That Ron and Cilath must have spent the night together!" It took a lot of self-control on Elrond's part not to choke on his drink.
"How would he know?"
"Sircyn asked the same question, and Earithramir said, that, not only was Ron not in his own bed this morning, but Cilath was telling him that she was attracted to him only that same day. She was going to talk to him, I guess they did and a lot more!" Elrond decided he'd heard enough. He rose from his seat and walked purposefully to his study, making it appear he had something important to do. He entered the orderly messy room and sat down behind his desk.
'Hm, Ron and Cilath, this complicates things quite a bit.' he thought to himself. He was reminded very much of Aragorn and Arwen and their situation. If Ron and Cilath were serious about each other, Cilath would have to be to spend the night with someone, then that posed a problem. Ron was mortal, Cilath was elven, Ron would die, by the sword or old age and Cilath would have to choose whether she would follow him or live on.
"This could be a problem." he whispered to himself softly. Just then there was a round of long and short knocks on his door. Elrond chuckled, that knock was Legolas saying,
'The twins and/or Glorfindel are going to kill me because of a prank I pulled, can I hide in here?'
"Come in Legolas, we need to talk anyway." Legolas popped his head in and then the rest of his body followed. Elrond motioned him to sit down. He did so warily; he knew something was up.
"Legolas have you heard any rumours regarding Cilath today?"
"No, not today." Legolas smiled
"Well if you had you would probably have heard the rumour that Ron and Cilath spent the night together." Legolas sat there for many moments before finally saying
"Oh."
"That's all you have to say?" asked Elrond raising his eyebrow. Legolas nodded, his face passive.
"Yes, that's all."
"But what about the mortality issue?"
"I don't know why but I'm not worried about that, I know the right choices will be made." Elrond sighed and then they sat in silence, the occasional angry shout for Legolas breaking the peaceful silence of Rivendell. Legolas shifted in his seat then said
"This must remind you of Arwen and Estel."
"…Yes it does, such similar circumstances, same decision to make… I just don't want to lose her and even more I don't want you to lose her." Legolas looked at him curiously, "Legolas I know she means the world to you, you think of her as the daughter you never had, you were always there for her right from the beginning. I'm, I'm just worried if she dies then you will fade, and the elven world needs its Greenleaf and I need my friend." Legolas smiled gratefully and said
"Thank you mellon nin, but it's Cilath's choice, and I know that even if it is hard, she will make the right one." Elrond looked at Legolas and saw his eyes were sparkling knowingly, and he knew that Legolas knew what would come. Legolas was an extraordinarily gifted elf, he spoke with tree with more ease then any other, and he always seemed to know things before they happened. Elrond nodded to show he saw his friends meaning and smiled gently. Just then the door burst open angrily and three fuming, blue-faced elves stood on the threshold.
"YOU!" they all shouted pointing at the blond elf who froze, his eyes wide. Before Legolas could try to escape the twins pounced on him and dragged him out with Glorfindel following, crying all sorts of threats ranging from shaving him bald to throwing him in a pit full of orcs. All things considered Elrond knew Legolas would choose the pit.
Ron slipped out of the bed making sure he didn't wake up Cilath and went into the bathroom, and turned on the shower. Ron wasn't sure when or how the elves had invented them but he was very grateful seeing as having a bath all the time would have driven him mad. He ran a hand through his hair as it rained gently down on his head. He sighed contentedly and then let his mind drift. Suddenly his eyes widened in horror,
"Oh bugger!" he whispered. He quickly hopped out and grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist and went back into the bedroom. Cilath had a sheet wrapped around her and she was crouched down holding out her fingers to the baby rabbits that licked her fingers sweetly. "Um Cilath?" Cilath turned to look at him curiously, "Uh…" Ron had forgotten the important thing he had to ask her because she looked so beautiful. Her skin was glowing softly and the stars in her blue eyes were dancing to a tune only they could hear. He shook his head slightly and said "Cilath I just realised that, um…" Damn his tongue that couldn't get the bloody words out!
"What?"
"That we didn't do anything to prevent an unexpected present." 'Smooth, Weasley, very smooth!' Cilath looked confused then her face cleared and she smiled again.
"Ron, relax. Elven women control their own reproductive system. I'm not ready to have a child so my body does not allow me to conceive." Ron sighed and relaxed. Cilath giggled and kissed the tip of his nose then she said
"I'm going to get washed, would you like to help me?" Ron beamed.