Faramir Fiction Archive

Love is... (NC-17)

Written by Sairalinde and Anorienbean

19 November 2009 | 145965 words

Chapter 22

The day started out as any other had in recent months. Rahl and Faramir woke before dawn together and spent the early part of their morning exploring one another’s bodies and exhausting themselves back to sleep until breakfast came. They shared their meal together and then headed for Rahl’s study where Rahl went over his spell books and ledgers and reports from captains in the field while Faramir explored maps and ancient tomes about magic and history of D’Hara.

During his reading Faramir found a passage about a scroll that held a spell that could possibly defeat the magic of the seeker’s sword. His head snapped up as he realized what he read and he immediately told his lover what he’d found. They were both excited about the possibility of the spell and scroll actually existing. The library where the ancient scrolls of the house of Rahl were stored in a tower room and even Faramir was far too excited to look around them as they went up the long winding staircase to the tower.

When they reached the library, Rahl maneuvered them both around dozens of shelves to the back of the room where the oldest of the scrolls were carefully preserved. He reached for the one they would need, cast a spell over it so it wouldn’t be quite so delicate, and quickly unrolled it. They moved toward the window where there was more light and he handed one side to Faramir. Faramir wouldn’t understand the magic of course, but it didn’t feel right not to share this moment with him, when he’d been directly responsible for finding the clue that had led them here. “This is it… this spell, if done correctly will drain the magic from the seeker’s sword and kill him the first time he tries to use it.” He smiled at his lover and threw both arms around him. “Thank you, Faramir. You may have just saved us both.”

Faramir stared at the strange markings on the parchment, not understanding them in the least but he knew Rahl would. “If it works…” Faramir said softly as his lover actually hugged him. Rahl did not give hugs really, he either held him for kisses or for sex but rarely actually hugged him so Faramir naturally sank into it holding his lover in return. “Gods, I hope it works, the entry I read did not say if it actually worked or not in the past.” Faramir drew back and looked into his lover’s eyes and smiled. “Can it be cast from a distance?”

“A very short distance it seems,” Rahl explained. “And if…” He stopped abruptly as he heard a noise at the door. Despite all his spells on them both, he pushed Faramir behind him – something he would never to do anyone else – and shoved the scroll into his hands. “Who’s there?”

Faramir was startled when Rahl shoved him behind him and clutched the scroll in his hands. Surely it was just Bergan or a servant or one of the captains, but Rahl’s stance had Faramir worried as if he sensed something Faramir could not. “I thought I heard Bergan’s voice,” he said as he realized what the sound was.

The door opened and Krenn was standing in it. “It is just I, my lord, I have important news for you that could not wait,” Krenn said as he closed the heavy door behind him. “I bring news of the seeker and I know you are eager to hear what I have to say.”

The hair on the back of Rahl’s neck rose and he glared at the man before him. He always locked the doors from the inside when he entered a room but this time, he’d been so excited about the scroll, he’d simply forgotten. Something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “Why were you not announced?” he asked suspiciously. “Bergan knows better than to let someone just walk in on me and you know better as well, Krenn.”

Krenn advanced into the room and laughed. “That I might know, if I were actually Krenn,” he said as the glamour slipped away and before them stood a young man that Faramir did not recognize but he knew in his heart was the seeker.

Faramir moved from behind Rahl to stand at his lover’s side. “How… how did…” he wanted to ask how the man got in but it was obvious that he’d used a spell. He was alone though, the other two they had been seeking were not with him and that gave Faramir some hope.

So this is it, Rahl thought, his magic rolling in him and making his fingers tingle. Some, but not all of his magic would work on the seeker – mostly only spells he’d learned in the underworld. He was sure Zeddicus had protected the boy from many, but there were a few tricks even the old wizard didn’t know Rahl possessed. “Stay back, Faramir. He is here for me…” His gaze never left the man in front of him even as he smiled. “Aren’t you Richard? Come to fulfill the prophecy fools like Zeddicus have filled your head with?”

Faramir shook his head. “I will stand with you, my love,” he said softly. Faramir laid the scroll down on a nearby ledge and turned to his lover, he had no weapons of his own but he would fight by his lover’s side. “Give me a weapon, I will not stand idly by and watch this,” Faramir whispered for only Rahl to hear.

Richard smiled and nodded. “I have come to fulfill my destiny and yours… you know you will die by my sword, Rahl. That is why you fear me… all of your magic and deception and you fear me,” Richard said as he drew his sword and held it before him. “I had hoped to find you alone, I have no wish to kill your slave but if they interfere, I will.”

Amazingly to Rahl at least, his fear was more for Faramir than for himself. It was an odd feeling to say the least, one that was totally unexpected, and one that he would consider later, when this was over. He didn’t want Faramir to fight – he merely wanted him to stay back out of harm’s way, but he knew his lover better than that. A wave of his hand caused a sword from a cabinet in the corner of the room to sail from its hiding place to Faramir’s hand. It distracted the seeker for a moment, and Rahl took full advantage. An underworld spell was uttered and a blue light flew across the room toward his potential assassin, but merely bounced back and showered both Rahl and Faramir with sparks of light. A second spell did the same. “Zeddicus and the sword… they protect you well,” he observed. “I would expect no less.”

Richard was taken aback slightly by the sword that came to the slave’s hand, he imagined he might gain an ally if what he’d heard about Rahl’s slaves was true. Before he could say anything, Rahl sent two spells his way but the sword and the protective spells Zedd had cast on him were holding for now. Richard smiled. “Of course I would not come without protection against your magic… I learned that lesson once if you recall,” he answered. He looked to the slave and offered a kinder smile. “You do not have to fight for him, wouldn’t you like your freedom? Freedom from his games and the pain he puts you through?”

Faramir laughed and shook his head. “You are a fool if you cannot see that I have no wish to be free. I already am free and I will not stand by and watch you kill the man that I love nor will I side with you, seeker!” Faramir snapped, readying himself with his sword. He had no magic of his own but he did have protective spells over him, cast by Rahl himself so Faramir felt he could hold his own against the seeker if he had to.

Despite the direness of the situation, Rahl’s smile widened and he felt so very proud of Faramir… and happy that the man loved him. It was a gift indeed, one he wanted to give serious thought to returning once this seeker problem had been taken care of. “He is no slave,” he said, surprising everyone in the room. “He is my lover, and he is loyal to me.” Another spell, this one much more powerful than the first two, was cast, and when it was repelled by the wizard’s web around the seeker, it bounced back, much like the spell that had nearly killed him. The force of it caused Rahl to take a step back and pull Faramir with him. “You can be free as well, Richard.” Rahl’s voice took on an eerily calm, soothing edge that he used when he wanted something. “You can serve me and have an army of your own. All you have to do is put your sword down.”

The man that he loved? Richard barely heard Rahl, he was shocked by the mention of love, having thought that Rahl was incapable of anyone loving him. This man did not look possessed and claimed to be free of all things… that was not what Zedd had told him would be the case. He shook his head at Rahl’s words, taking a step closer to the wizard. “Free? Do you really expect me to believe that? You will kill me if I lower my sword, just as you have been trying to do since the moment I was born!” He said angrily. “You speak of a lover and loyalty, you killed my father, you turned my brother against me… and you murdered my mother… and you expect me to believe you would just accept me into your army. I am not a fool!” Richard’s anger drove him forward, lifting his sword, directed toward Rahl but Faramir was the one who stepped forward first.

Faramir rushed at the man trying to keep him from Rahl and engaged him, his sword ringing loudly as it clashed with the seeker’s. Faramir managed to hold his own against the magical sword. The man was smaller than Faramir in build and height but it seemed as if he was huge, the force of his blows driving Faramir back. He realized it was the power of the sword and redoubled his own efforts, knowing that Rahl would seek an opportunity to use magic against their enemy.

Startled by Faramir’s distraction, Rahl nonetheless knew he was a gifted swordsman and knew he had to trust him. He cast every dark spell he could think of and cursed under his breath as one by one, they either dissipated or were thrown back at him, weakening his own spells of protection. Finally, he gathered his strength and prepared to cast two of his most powerful spells at once. “Leave him alone!” he yelled as he spelled a sword of his own into his hands, unable to simply stand by and watch the two men fight any longer. He thrust the sword forward, hoping to at least distract the seeker and cast his spells, desperately clinging to the hope that they wouldn’t be thrown back at him by Zeddicus’s magic. As soon as they left him, however,
he knew the were going to do just that. A force like a stone wall was thrust toward both him and Faramir, weakening their defenses and knocking him against a book case which fell to the ground behind him. He began casting more protective spells on Faramir at once, but he had the sinking feeling that the old wizard’s magic had wormed its way inside the webs around them both and would keep any other spells away.

Faramir stumbled back as Rahl’s attempt to disable the seeker rebounded off the man’s protective spells. He regained his footing, not wanting to be back on his heels as the seeker advanced. The man was not a well-trained swordsman really, he hacked with the blade and when he raised it above his head, opening his body to attack, Faramir lunged forward. His blow landed as if he were hitting a wall though, he managed to just barely break the man’s skin rather than run him through because of the protective spells. They sent him backwards, stumbling as if time had slowed but in reality it all happened within moments. His own spells rebounded on the seeker as the sword of truth pierced his chest. He fell against a bookcase, crumpling to the floor in pain and could only seek out his lover’s eyes one final time as he felt his body began to grow cold.

Rahl was still casting spells on Faramir, leaving himself more vulnerable than he’d ever been in his life as he saw the sword pierce his lover’s heart. He was filled with a rage like nothing he’d ever known before and a sorrow so deep he felt as if his own heart had been ripped from his chest. He nearly flew across the room to Faramir’s side and gathered the dying man up in his arms, not even noticing the tears that were freely flowing down his face, and not even caring that his back was toward the seeker. It became clear in an instant – in his dream, the seeker had driven a blade through his heart… just as he had done now, by piercing Faramir with that damnable sword. How could he have missed it for so long?

Richard was stunned by the force of the spells protecting the slave, throwing him back against the opposite wall even as he found a small hole in the spells that had been weakened by Rahl’s rebound spells. He sat down hard, unable to move for a few moments as he stared at the scene before him. Zedd had told him Rahl loved no one, that the man would kill him as soon as he was incapacitated in the least, yet the dark wizard was not even looking at him, instead, hovering over his slave, holding him tenderly. It… wasn’t what he’d expected.

Faramir knew he was dying, knew he had failed his lover. “I…” he coughed and winced from the pain. “I am sorry, love… I tried,” he whispered. When Rahl held him though and looked so terrified and so lost, Faramir tried to offer a smile. “You will still defeat him…” he whispered as everything started to grow dark.

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