Faramir Fiction Archive

Darkness and Light (NC-17)

Written by Sairalinde and Anorienbean

11 August 2009 | 145537 words

Chapter 15

It was early morning and Dorvane and Haldir were just finishing breakfast when suddenly loud shouting and a scream came from the hallway. Dorvane was up and to the door immediately, swinging it wide open as he took in the sight of one of the slaves being held by one guard as the other punched him in the stomach.

“What is going on?” Dorvane barked, irritated at his meal being interrupted.

“Sorry to disturb you my lord, the prisoner fought us,” one of the guards said.

The man was still twisting in the other guards hold trying to get free as he glared hatefully at Dorvane. Dorvane recognized him as one who normally was fairly docile, the man, named Shoran rarely ever gave him trouble. “What did you do to cause him to fight you? This one normally does not fight,” Dorvane asked, curious what the guards had been up to. They were never given free reign with the slaves other than to move them from one cell or another or tie them up, always they had to be given permission directly from Dorvane himself to take them or touch them, the slaves were not here for the guards pleasure they were here for Saruman’s army. When no one answered him, Dorvane began to grow more irritated and looked at the slave. “What did they do, I will not ask again!”

Haldir hesitated for a moment, and then walked over to stand behind Dorvane, eyeing the guards warily. A soft gasp fell from his lips as he saw a slave he knew – one he’d been forced to take and who had been forced to return the favor several years back, when Shoran was younger and, in Dorvane’s eyes, prettier. Before he thought, he was standing beside, not behind his master. “Shoran… they have hurt you,” he said softly before the guards had time to even answer their captain. He started to move, then looked pleadingly up at Dorvane. “May I at least give him some water?”

Dorvane started just a little as Haldir spoke beside him and he glanced back at the blood on the man’s lips and back at the Elf. “You may… ,” he answered and before he could say more Haldir had gone back into their room, “and someone needs to start telling me what happened. This man should not be bleeding yet.”

“He hit me,” the guard repeated and Dorvane sighed heavily. “I think we have established that… I want to know why he hit you,” he said thinking that the guards here grew more stupid by the day.

Though Dorvane had changed so much in the past few weeks, he still left every morning with at least one, and sometimes more rings on his fingers to control the slaves that were kept in the small rooms at the east end of the property, where Haldir and Faramir had once stayed. Oddly enough though, his sexual appetite never seemed to wane when he returned to Haldir, making the Elf wonder if he had unusually long stamina or no longer took the other slaves as much as he had, since he’d, as he put it, ‘fallen in love’ with Haldir, words that Haldir still had trouble believing. Still, he couldn’t deny that Dorvane had treated him like a prince these last few weeks, and true to his word, had not laid one punishing finger on him. The other slaves obviously weren’t faring as well.

Shoran glared toward Haldir but the Elf had already disappeared back into what looked to be a very luxurious room, his hatred for the Elf grew deeper then. Dorvane’s personal whore – but he couldn’t dwell on that now. Dorvane was waiting for an answer. “He grabbed me… and tried to force me to my knees to pleasure him… he’s done it before.”

Haldir quickly got his own water glass and slipped past Dorvane, reaching out to Shoran. “Here, drink this,” he said softly as the guards shifted nervously beside the slave and glared at Haldir. One of them even had the nerve to leer at him, remembering all the times he’d taken the Elf against his will.

Dorvane’s eyes widened when Shoran spoke but he had no chance to react before Haldir had stepped between them to aid the man. He saw the same guard who’d been accused leer at Haldir too and in that instant lost control of his temper. Dorvane’s hand shot out quickly, gripping the guard by his throat and lifting him at least a foot off the ground as he slammed him against the wall. “If I catch you looking at Haldir that way again I’ll kill you,” he murmured, “and if you try to force a slave to pleasure you before you have leave to do so ever again you will wish for death because so help me I’ll turn you over to them and let them punish you… do I make myself clear?”

As the guard was slammed against the wall, he almost took Shoran with him, he was gripping the man’s arm so tightly. Haldir caught Shoran before he could be pushed back as well, steadied him, and looked at Dorvane in utter shock. He’d been so used to the guards leering at him, he’d barely noticed, so Dorvane’s jealousy came as a complete surprise. The threat of turning the guard over to the slaves, however, was even more so. As a dead silence filled the hallway, Haldir finally turned back to Shoran and held the glass up to his lips. “I… here, Shoran… drink this. I think… I think you are safe for the moment,” he finally managed though his voice was a bit unsteady.

Shoran was shocked as Dorvane attacked the guard that had tormented him so many times in the past but when he turned back to the Elf his eyes flared with hatred again. “I do not need your help, whore,” he said turning away from the Elf. “You think you are better than us now because you spread your legs for him willingly? You are nothing, even less than us because you do not fight; you just let him take you,” Shoran hissed, not thinking of the consequences of his words.

Stung by Shoran’s words, Haldir backed away just in time to see Dorvane’s face. His master was heading toward the slave now, with a murderous look in his eyes that left the Elf no doubt as to what he would do. “No, Dorvane, please!” He stepped between Dorvane and Shoran, knowing that Shoran had every right to feel as he did. “I beg of you, don’t hurt him! He is right… I…” He ignored the guards and rested his hand on Dorvane’s arm. “I do spread my legs willingly for you. He speaks only the truth. Please don’t punish him for that.”

When Shoran insulted Haldir, Dorvane dropped the guard roughly and started to grab the slave but Haldir stood between them, begging him not to hurt the man who had just insulted him. “He just insulted you,” he said angrily and glared at the slave behind Haldir. When the Elf touched his arm gently though, Dorvane took a breath and looked at Haldir, seeing the worry in his eyes. “You, Shoran, are lucky he is speaking for you despite your words. You should not be so quick to judge another… if you were given the choices this Elf was, you might have taken them too,” he said simply to remind the man that the Elf had been in his position.

“Take him back to his cell… and do not touch him again until I give you leave to do so.” He turned from the guards then and took Haldir’s arm to lead him back to his rooms still irritated at all that had taken place. “You should not have defended him.”

Haldir swallowed the lump in his throat, wondering if now Dorvane’s old temper would flare. If it did, he could no longer fight back, or the Valar only knew what would happen to Faramir, but he sincerely hoped he could at least keep the damage to a minimum. “I am sorry, Dorvane,” he said softly, resting his hand over Dorvane’s as it gripped his arm. “It is only that I have been in his position too many times. He is a good man, and he only spoke out of anger. He was taken from his family and loves another slave, though he is forced to do terrible things to him. I cannot blame him for being angry to see me so healthy and hale, with not a mark on me.”

Dorvane frowned as he led Haldir back into their rooms and sighed heavily as he released the Elf’s arm. “Do not be sorry… I just meant,” Dorvane paused and sat down heavily in a chair and shook his head. “I do not understand you very well at all do I?” he smiled then and reached out to tangle his fingers with Haldir’s pulling him closer and down into his lap. “All right, you cannot blame him, even if he was snapping at someone trying to help him. You say he loves someone here in this prison? I take it not his cell mate?”

Relaxing as Dorvane’s temper seemed to dissipate before his very eyes, Haldir shook his head and let one arm rest around broad shoulders, idly twisting a lock of hair around his fingers – something he never, ever thought he would be able to do a few months ago. Gods, how things had changed, and how different his life was now without Faramir. “No. They were cellmates for a short time, when Landar first arrived, but then they were separated. Now, they only see each other in the… in the rooms when you or the guards want them to… perform.” He watched Dorvane’s face carefully as he spoke, treading on uncertain ground here, and ready to stop should he see any signs of anger. “He was put in my cell for a few weeks and told me as much, then he was moved again. I only saw him when…
when we were taken to the rooms.”

Dorvane frowned as Haldir spoke but simply continued to rub small circles at his waist and enjoyed the fact Haldir too was touching him and even toying with his hair. “I am going to ask an obvious question now… you think I should arrange for them to be cellmates?” He smiled just a little when he saw Haldir hesitate as if afraid to answer. “I will tell the guards when they return to arrange it… and I’ll make sure they know it was your idea. They can make of it what they will. Unfortunately… all of this has set my day off badly, I am to meet with Saruman in less than an hour and still have the guards to deal with their assignments. When I return this evening I will send dinner ahead of me,” he said and pulled Haldir close to kiss him gently.

Haldir smiled when Dorvane promised to make the arrangements but shuddered when he mentioned Saruman. Despite himself, he was beginning to lose his hatred of Dorvane. He couldn’t deny that Dorvane did everything he could to please him. He was, completely against his will, beginning to care for the man in some odd way. His fingers tangled in Dorvane’s hair as they kissed and when they finally pulled away, he didn’t make a move to get up. “I will wait and eat with you, but…” He stopped, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, not believing he was going to ask this, but even more than that, not believing that he actually cared to know the answer. It was something they’d never talked about however, and for now at least, he felt secure enough to question Dorvane. “When you meet with him… with Saruman…” He pulled back and met his lover’s gaze squarely. His fingers, kept gently twisting in Dorvane’s hair, however, subconsciously soothing him without even being aware of doing so. “He does not hurt you, does he?”

Dorvane could never get over how Haldir’s kisses made him feel. They seemed to open something inside him that had been hidden for so very long and he loved that feeling. But then the look, the… concern he thought he saw in those blue eyes made his stomach flutter. Dorvane worried his bottom lip for a moment when Haldir asked if Saruman hurt him. He wasn’t sure how to answer Haldir’s question and felt the Elf try to catch his gaze again. “You do not wish to hear such things,” he said softly to avoid the subject but he couldn’t stand up to walk away, Haldir was still firmly planted in his lap and he wasn’t about to just push the Elf away even if that had been his first instinct.

Long lashes fell over blue eyes and despite all Dorvane had put both him and Faramir through; the idea of the man he was with now being hurt made Haldir’s heart ache. He had no idea what to say, so he simply wrapped his arms around Dorvane’s neck and held him for a moment, knowing that it brought him comfort, and in some strange way helped Haldir as well. Every time they had been together, even in the same room, he had wondered what the bands on Dorvane’s forearms meant, wondered if they were somehow connected to Saurman. Sometimes, he almost felt that Dorvane the slavemaster was only Saruman’s puppet, and Dorvane the man was buried hidden away far beneath the handsome outer layers, able to show himself only on rare occasions and at great expense. “I am sorry,” he whispered against his lover’s ear.

Dorvane’s arms came up to wrap around Haldir, feeling comforted by the hug and the softly whispered words. It made him feel cared for, something he hadn’t felt in a lifetime it seemed. He swallowed back the lump in his throat and pulled Haldir even tighter against him. “Thank you… it is easier to bear knowing… knowing I have you to come back to at the end of the day though. I was not… I was not always the man you have known all these years. We all have our debts to pay, Haldir,” he said softly and finally released the Elf so he could pull away if he wished. “These… you asked about these before and I refused to tell you what they were. They… they are my handcuffs… they bind me to Saruman’s will. They were once my salvation as well as my own prison.” At that he sat back and patted Haldir on the thigh. “I need to go soon…”

Haldir sighed and sat up straighter in Dorvane’s lap, but took both his wrists and studied them closely. “One day, I wish to know more about these.” His fingertips ran over both his lover’s forearms, then down, over the bands that he had seldom touched, and over the palms of his hands. “I do not wish to make you late, but one day, I do hope that I can remove these handcuffs from your wrists as you removed the submission ring from me.” He smiled and pressed a final kiss against Dorvane’s cheek. He had not been with Dorvane after he’d met with Saruman, so he had no idea in what shape or mood he would return. “Why don’t you order a cold dinner, and we can eat late? I will have a hot bath waiting and if there is anything I can do to make you forget… whatever happens, I will gladly do so.”

Dorvane repressed a shudder when Haldir’s fingertips passed over the cuffs, feeling them automatically tighten at the touch. He nodded as Haldir spoke of wishing to know more about them and found himself smiling wistfully as he spoke of removing them. They could never be removed unless Saruman died and then… and then Dorvane likely would die too. “A cold dinner it is then,” he said smiling and pressing a quick sweet kiss to the tip of Haldir’s nose. “I’ll make sure that we have more of those berries you liked as well… oh… I almost forgot,” he said as Haldir slipped from his lap and Dorvane stood and crossed to a small dresser. “I brought this back for you yesterday but… you distracted me so much I forgot to give it to you,” he grinned at the memory of how Haldir had distracted him. It was a small book that Haldir had said he had read many years ago but wished to read again. It had not been easy to find.

Reaching for the book and running his fingers lightly over the spine, Haldir looked up at Dorvane in astonishment. “You… you got me a gift.” As he opened the book and realized it was in Elvish, his astonishment grew. He knew how difficult this must have been to locate, and must have cost Dorvane dearly as well. He leaned forward and kissed Dorvane deeply, and much longer than a simple ‘thank you’ kiss should last. “You are different these days, Dorvane,” he said, resting his forehead against his lover’s. “I do not know if the others see it, but here, when it is just us, I…” He stopped, worried his bottom lip for a moment, then gave Dorvane a tentative smile, trying to both thank and compliment him for no other reason than he deserved it. “When I first suggested being your lover, I thought my life would be dark, cold, and filled with pain. I thought I would hate you, and hate every moment, and wish for death with every sunrise.” His fingers combed through Dorvane’s hair as he smiled. He still longed for Faramir with ever fiber of his being, but this, this life he led, could have been far, far worse. “I do not wish for death, and there is no darkness or coldness or pain. And…” Their gazes met and he looked deep into dark eyes. “I do not hate you. Not even a little. Not anymore.” Slowly, his hand moved to cup Dorvane’s face. “I wish you didn’t have to go to him tonight, Dorvane. Not tonight or any other night… not ever again.”

Dorvane was surprised but deeply pleased by the kiss Haldir gave him in exchange for the gift he’d brought him. He loved that feeling, the feeling of making the Elf happy and the feeling it gave him to see the light in those blue eyes when he was happy.

When Haldir spoke of him being different these days he knew the Elf spoke the truth. As the tides of the war had begun to turn and Saruman began to suffer more and more defeats, Dorvane had begun to feel different himself, the wizards hold lessening somewhat because his energies were being directed elsewhere. The man Dorvane had once been before his agreement with the wizard was starting to surface again and though at one time Dorvane felt he didn’t deserve to live, now… now that he’d fallen in love with Haldir he felt differently. The man he once was wanted to reclaim the life he had all but given up.

Dorvane found himself worried at first when Haldir spoke of his fears but then found himself smiling as he said he didn’t hate him. “I am glad you no longer hate me… that… is more than I could have ever hoped for,” he said softly, not willing to push for more because he knew the Elf did not love him. Like, care for even but certainly not love. Not after the things he’d done and not after the choices the Elf had been forced to make. “I will hopefully be back soon… and when I do… I promise I will tell you of… of these bands and why I have them… and what Saruman uses them for.” With that the man brushed another sweet kiss against Haldir’s lips and headed for the door, just as he reached it however one of the guards knocked. He sighed heavily. “I almost timed that perfectly,” he murmured hoping to have been away from his rooms before the guards came.

Haldir knew that whatever Dorvane had to tell him when he returned wouldn’t be pleasant, yet he still felt the need to hear it. He also knew that whenever he returned, he would not be himself… a meeting with Saruman could not possibly end well, and often, his worst punishments were on the days he saw Saruman drifting in and out of the main houses, or Dorvane leaving, heading in the direction of Isengard. He tried to remember all the pain Dorvane had caused, tried telling himself that he deserved whatever Saruman had in store for him, but memories of the past few weeks filled his mind instead, and he looked down at the book in his hand. With a sigh, he settled on the couch, watching as Dorvane regarded the guard before him with a rather odd look on his face.

When Dorvane opened the door the smell assaulted him before he could even utter a word to the guard. He pulled a face and tried to ignore it as the guard began to report that they had in fact moved Shoran to Lindar’s room and shifted their respective cellmates to share a room. Dorvane nodded and then the guard proceeded to remind him that Saruman was on the premises.

“I know, I am on my way to meet with him now but first, you understand what took place earlier? I cannot have you undermine my authority for your own pleasure, you know I allow you to take the slaves often enough without having to go behind my back… besides someone might actually not even mind you so much if you weren’t so filthy. You do know what a bath is do you not?” he said straightening the cuffs of his tunic, allowing them to drape over his wristbands.

“A… a bath my lord?”

“A. Bath. You know, soap and water? Does your sense of smell not work? You stink… ,” he said waving his hands to get the guard to move out of the doorway and with that slipped out of the room, missing he look on Haldir’s face as he left to go meet with Saruman.

Haldir only just managed to keep from howling with laughter at Dorvane’s words until the door had closed and he was certain the guards were a safe distance away. It was odd to think that Dorvane had a sense of humor, but sometimes, like now, he could make Haldir’s sides hurt he laughed so hard.

Yes, he thought as he curled up under a blanket and carefully opened his new book caressing the pages as if they were a lover, things could have turned out far, far worse for him.

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