Part Twenty-three
Dale went downstairs and the other three followed, though more leisurely, as if not prepared to add their voices to Dale's. In truth, they were there to observe the reaction of the others as Dale would speak. "Have you and Kato had a chance to get your story straight since you have met?" Dale demanded of Galadhiel.
"I know not what you are speaking of," Galadhiel answered, her eyes shifting to Gwindor.
"Calm yourself, Dale," Kato suggested.
"Give me your story then, whether it be rehearsed with Kato or not. Where is your destination?"
"I am not at liberty to say."
"Then Tell Gwindor where your next stop would be. He is your escort still. Tell him."
"That is for Gwindor to know."
"Tell me in their presence," Gwindor sighed wearily.
"We must pass through the highlands."
"And Kato. Where will we head next?"
"Through the highlands."
"And who gave you your orders to lead Gwindor along the path you took?"
"Duinhir, our commander."
"Are they Rangers that will receive your message? If they needed to get a messagethrough, they would use pigeons. If some fort in the south has run out of pigeons that home to a base in the north, they would have sent rangers to collect some or you would have been sent with pigeons."
"They do not trust allmessages to birds, as the notes can be captured and deciphered."
"Then your mission does relate to some matter of security of all good people?" Dale asked.
Galadhiel did not answer.
"I do not think they will tell us," Tsuki said, "but at least we know that we are all heading through the highlands. We can travel together that far."
"They do not seem to like that idea," Dale observed. Galadhiel and Kato had hidden their feelings well, but not entirely. "I think that means we are correct to suspect that their destination is the same and that they know it. Why be so afraid to travel together, unless their orders are for the teams to remain separate, either because one of the two must get through, or because one is only a decoy meant to draw attention for the other."
"For now, it does not matter whether one team is meant as decoys or not," Tsuki reasoned, "what matters is that both teams had trouble with Orcs following them, enough that neither of our teams reached Newhaven without some aid."
"Well, we could have done it, if we had not been so honorable and stopped to help the others."
"But, Dale, if you think about the timing of the fire and the Orcs passing in the night, then had the hunting party not confronted us, the Orcs would have found us soon after and attacked when we did not have their extra swords to aid us."
"But before their reinforcements arrived."
"It would have been only four of us then against...how many Orcs were in that party that passed the dell?"
"Thirty perhaps. I see your point. And I suppose we should give Gwindor credit. They likely did evade many Orcs and slay many others in the process of getting here. The fact that they had such trouble shows just how thick the Orcs were along the river."
"We continue together then, unless one of these couriers can show their destinations lie in different directions," Gwindor said, "Our orders are to insure the safety of the messengers, and considering the things we do know about the Orcs, they may still pose a serious threat. Better to be eight traveling together." This meant Lenaduiniel would be allowed to replace Gib with regards to the mission. "That is if your two followers continue. In any case, it is better than sending out three again, without knowing whether there are dangers three alone will not be able to survive, no matter their skills."
Fei and Laurel said that they would continue. Without apparently consulting each other, Kato and Galadhiel both consented to the arrangement, saying that it might be temporary.
"Then other than the basic tasks of resupplying and making our farewell to Gib, we need only discuss our strategies and information regarding the Orcs, before we leave Newhaven," Lenaduiniel said.
"We should also discuss mode of transport," Dale said. "Our team rides. Horses in some cases may be easier to track than Elf feet, but they can not only run fast over long distances, but carry heavy packs while doing so and save the feet of Elves or Men for later work."
"I do not like riding," Lenaduiniel said. "Beryl made us all to ride his horses without saddles and I wore a gown. It feel so strange to have another creature undulating between one's thighs."
Dale laughed loudly. "So...we're riding then!"
"A matter of resupplying in any case; it can wait until we are healed and rested," Tsuki said, "tomorrow we can do more toward selecting our transport, gear and provisions. I have had little rest lately. What time is that play?"
"Beryl did suggest we may only want to stop and see a part of it. The drama is quite long," Kato said. "Go up and have your nap and when you are both ready, we can go to the theater."
"Both," Dale whispered and snorted a laugh.
Tsuki shrugged and went toward the ladder, stopping to wait for Dale. "I would vote for riding also," Tsuki said as Dale caught up to him.
Dale grinned, "Yes, you know I like to feel the wind in my hair."
"Yes," Tsuki said, laughing, and glanced to see if Gwindor followed.
When they came upstairs Dale suggested that Tsuki heat some water for a bath later and then come join him. Tsuki rolled up the flap in the bathing room and walked out to the balcony to draw water from the cistern. He filled some pots and kettles and then put them on the stove. Beryl kept a stack of wood and other dry vegetable matter near the stove and Tsuki used it to build up the fire enough to heat the water.
When he walked through the areas divided by trained potted trees, Tsuki found Dale lying beneath a blanket on Gwindor's sleeping pallet, and he found the canvas rolled to expose the space to the yard. "This is Gwindor's room," Tsuki said.
"Take off your clothes and come beneath the blanket," Dale whispered.
"Someone will see," Tsuki said, looking to the buildings across the small yards and ditch.
"The sun is setting at the front of the house and the shutters are closed. Only Gwindor will see anything clearly."
"Gwindor," Tsuki whispered. He undressed quickly, down to his skin, jewelry, and bandages, and then lifted the blanket to join Dale. Dale still had some clothing on, but he usually did. He turned and embraced Tsuki.
"I want to be the one inside you," Dale whispered quickly, "Do you want that?"
"Yes. Of course. I am pleased with you as a lover."
"I want to feel you inside me as well. It is well you wish to receive as well as give. I think Gwindor will be that way, but we should be gentle with him this time and see what he will want."
Tsuki said nothing then, but lay holding Dale. He was slightly more comforted than excited by the embrace, until Gwindor found them. Tsuki felt all his skin go hot as Gwindor removed his clothes. "He is blushing like a virgin," Gwindor laughed.
"He's never shared with two at the same time before," Dale said, "He's pretty enough to seduce a Wizard without doing much at all. Show him, Tsuki. Sit and take the tie from your hair."
Tsuki frowned at Dale's choice of words; he did feel strange knowing he was naked before the two Elves and that the situation was not so innocent as entering a washhouse. He removed himself from Dale and pulled the tie from his hair.
"You could be He Who Tends the Moon," Gwindor whispered.
"A spirit can be loved by an Elf as well as a Man," Dale said.
"I am an Elf at the moment, and one of more common coloring that either of you, and with prettier jewels."
Dale laughed, perhaps too loudly for a tryst. "And wouldn't I like to get my hands on his jewels!"
Tsuki lifted his hand to his mouth to hide just how wide he smiled.
"Is this Tsuki that I begged to smile?" Gwindor asked, "He jests and makes word play for us."
"Give him time to become accustomed to you and he will speak some poetry."
"I feel cruel to say it, but he is charming enough to make one who has vowed celibacy to his order long for him."
"I can see that you are long for him," Dale laughed, "But where is all your love for me?"
"My Precious, you know that I would do anything for you."
"Precious to you am I?" Dale whispered. His eyes rolled away from them. He thought of the Orc. 'Is she precious to you?'
Downstairs, Kato and Galadhiel were on the front balcony with a tray of sweet breads and cakes and a pouch of rings. On the street below there seemed a sea of people writhing as currents formed and dissipated, some coming from the nearby buildings, some entering, some heading north to the street named Riverside, other south toward Canal or Stone Bridge. It seemed nearly all the visitors and residents of Newhaven had taken to the streets and some wore costumes.
There were Elves dressed as Wizards, Men dressed as Elves, and children dressed as Halflings. There were even people dressed as the Dark Lord and his minions; so many pretend Orcs and wraiths running about making war on others with wooden swords.
Galadhiel tossed a handful of rings to the crowd and glanced to Kato, who was perched on the balcony rail and puffing away at his pipe. "A band of real Orcs could enter the city tonight and no one would know. This quarter is close to the place where they nearly ended our lives."
Kato took one of the cakes from the tray and ate it himself rather than toss it from the balcony. "They smell different," he said, mouth still half full. "Dale always knows when Orcs are about."
"Enchanted sword?"
Kato laughed. "In a manner of speaking, but that has nothing to do with the Orcs."
"Do you never stop?"
Kato grinned and ate another cake. "Actually," he mumbled, "Dale mentioned to me once that he was offered one of those swords that glow and said he would not wish upon his worst enemy a sword that announced his position to his enemies like a beacon in the dark."
"It is not the way of Elves to run or hide from their enemies, but to face them. Such a sword blinds Orcs and inspires dread in them. I have seen Beryl use such a sword."
"Beryl seems one I should like to have as an ally rather than an enemy," Kato said. "Still, you are an Elf, you should know if there were real Orcs down there, by sight or smell, I should think."
"Yes, but perhaps on some other street where there are Men and not so many lanterns."
There were many glowing paper lanterns on this street, called Bloom. "Perhaps that is true. All the more reason to complete my mission. They seem to have given you no more details than me, unless you are withholding from me as well, but we do know, even without our orders, that there is some strange business with the Orcs these days. I know I have seen it with my own eyes. So many of their clans working together, and as you described from your misadventures, they seem more defensive than is usual. I always heard they were willing to kill their own as well as other peoples, but by your account, some seemed to protect others among their numbers and to make effort to lead you away from their haven."
"The worst of the attacks came when we were near the old road to the mines."
"Oh, look a dragon!" Kato cheered happily. Galadhiel also looked as a long dragon operated by man Men inside slithered up Bloom street. "I should like to throw treats to them in recognition of their excellent costume, but I do not think they could catch them." As Kato spoke, he saw many other revelers beat the dragon with their costume swords and staves, and red streamers and treats poured from false wounds along the dragon's sides.
"I do not see, if the Orcs truly have become a threat to all people, and our mission has something to do with a means to stop them, why our mission must be so secret."
"I do not know. It is not as if they are pitiable creatures. They were creations of the Dark Lord."
"A Dark Lord, there has been more than one in history."
"Really?"
Galadhiel made a nod. "Sometimes a Master and an apprentice, and when one is defeated, the other rises as the next Dark Lord."
"Do you think that..." Kato lowered his voice, "was there an apprentice?"
"We cannot know. I am have only one thousand years. There are Elves older and wiser than I am. When this last Dark Lord was but an apprentice, they did not realize their peril. It is told he even pretended to be reformed and that many believed him. They spared his life and he betrayed them."
"How could they be fooled like that?"
"He did not look so foul then. In those days, he could appear rather like a Man, and not like some wraith or evil spirit. He took on that dark form after his first defeat."
"You do not think that he could return again? Would he be controlling the Orcs?"
"No. His power and spirit are completely destroyed. I suspect that the danger is that there is no longer anyone to control the Orcs. No Dark Lord and no Wizard."
"Sometimes I hear Men and Elves call the Orcs Wizard-spawned, but I had thought Wizards good."
"They are meant to be. But they can be tempted away from their vocations. Those large Orcs were lately spawned. It was the one who at the time wore White. He betrayed his former self and his allies and might have become the next Dark Lord, but he too has perished."
"Oh, yes, that one. I know of him. He made himself an enemy of my people, not like other Wizards at all. I think Tsuki knew him."
"That Ranger knew him? Well?"
"I was only speaking my suspicions aloud," Kato said calmly, "Tsuki was formerly a mercenary in the south, so many people who played some large part in the war may be known to him."
"Beryl, and the Wood Elves know him well, so he must be an Elf-friend. Do you know Dale well? He seemed so angry earlier, but it is perhaps that he is young. He seems young. I did not quite understand his meaning in speaking of his caretakers and his recovery."
"He will tell you more if he thinks you need to know," Kato said and sucked at his pipe and seemed thoughtful. "Clearly he means for you to understand that he had some past difficulty and that Elves of a certain house gave aide to him and so he has some connection to them from that time. Perhaps my escort seems strange to you, and I confess they seemed ill chosen to me at first, but they are highly capable."
"The Dwarf was capable and brave to the end," Galadhiel said.
Kato said nothing and watched the shutters open and Lenaduiniel climb out to the balcony. "Have the others come downstairs?" Kato asked after she had joined them.
"They were all on the road many days and exhausted by battle."
"Yes, they will need a lot of rest. I think I should go upstairs and have a little nap myself."
"You should stay here and stop eating the cakes you should be tossing to the paraders," Galadhiel told him.
Some Men called up to the balcony, "Fair Elf-Lady! Show us your legs!"
Lenaduiniel lifted her skirts and even lifted one leg over the rail. Galadhiel gasped in shock. Lenaduiniel leaned forward and caught the ring that was tossed to her by the Men.
"Our thanks, My Lady!"
"Kato, toss them some sweets," Lenaduiniel said coolly as she studied the ring.
"My Lady! You are a Princess...if your brother knew!"
"I only showed my legs. They had jewels."
"Are you certain it is not glass?" Kato asked as he threw cakes to the Men below.
"I believe it is only polished yellow feldspar, but so moonstone is a sort of feldspar, and as this one is set in gold, I have the moon and sun on my hands."
"Would you lift your skirts if I gave you a ring?" Kato asked.
"No."
"Beryl's pouch has some rings that have rarer jewels," Galadhiel said, "He must be rich to throw away such things."
"Or care more for living things," Lenaduiniel said, "That is as an Elf should be. I would trade my jewels if they could restore life."
"I think we have exhausted him," Dale said as he looked down to the bed and saw Gwindor turn in his sleep.
"We? You hardly let us touch each other, always being in the middle. You truly are inexhaustible as you are insatiable, giving and receiving twice as much as either of us."
Dale turned in Tsuki's embrace. "I was twice as aroused, but I do not see you falling into sated slumber either."
"It appears you are three times as aroused."
Dale lapped at Tsuki's throat. "And you?"
"Quite expert at handling wood."
"You are so good to me. Not too tired? I am quite skilled with my hands as well."
"I know. Not tired at all. I feel...strangely connected to everything, as if magic is being worked."
"Sharing is working magic, especially with you."
"I could die with you here, now, and be happy."
"Let me make you happy."
"Yes! Dale...I...do not stop!"
"You smell so good. I just want to..."
"Yes?"
"I want to be inside you again!"
"I will let you."
Dale knocked Tsuki to the floor. "Oh, you are so..." He tasted Tsuki's skin and bit at his chest. "What are you so...?" Dale's fingers squeezed Tsuki's arms.
"Not that hard," Tsuki whispered. They both looked at Tsuki's left arm. Blood was seeping through the bandages and some of it was on Dale's right hand.
"No," Dale rasped. He pushed himself up from the floor and in a stooped walk scampered out to the rear balcony and there curled in on himself and seemed to sing.
"Dale."
"Elves do not long for blood. No taste for it. No."
Tsuki stood and walked toward Dale. "Dale, stop. I will not tolerate your mad fits. You are stronger than this. You did nothing wrong."
"Go away! Stay away. Wrong. It's wrong."
"No. You stay there. I will go, but I will come right back for you." Tsuki took a blanket that was still relatively clean from his pile of belongings and wrapped it around his body as he went to the bathing room. He filled a bowl with hot water and took a roll of gauze from a cabinet.
Dale was still curled on himself when Tsuki returned. Only his bloody hand was held away from his body. Tsuki put the bowl and gauze down and knelt in front of Dale.
"You are not a child, so do not act like a child of Men or of Elves. Listen to me now. I am hurt and I cannot wash and wrap my wound as well as you can with two hands. Stop whimpering and help me."
"I wanted to eat you."
"No. You did not. You are simply afraid to feel that sort of hunger again." Tsuki sighed and then continued, as he removed the old wrapping from his arm. "You did not open the wound. I did it when I put weight into both arms earlier, when I positioned myself above you. I simply did not feel any pain then. And it was not the blood alone that made you desire me. You say that you dislike the smell of Men, but as much as we pretend, you do know that I am your lover. When you are close to me, it is the scent of your lover you sense, and everything that we have shared comes to you with that smell. I know, because that is just what happens when I am close to you. You smelled plenty of blood during battle and showed no sign of arousal, so you cannot really believe in your heart that my blood caused you to desire me."
"I smelled your blood and it made me want you more," Dale whispered, "That is not what an Elf does."
"Perhaps the blood did increase your arousal, but I do not blame you. You were a prisoner, and a pet, and perhaps something lower than a pet for ten years. It effected your mind. You are not truly an Orc, and so it was appropriate for the Elves who discovered you to do what they could to make you more what you should have been had you never been taken, but I think they did some slight wrong to you. You seem to break down whenever you suspect you are not behaving as Elves should. I think they tried to make you into an Elf as forcefully as others tried to make you like an Orc, though probably by different means. Perhaps it is time you stop trying so hard to bean Elf and just be yourself."
Dale lifted his head and looked at Tsuki with tears in his eyes. "What do you mean 'stop trying so hard to be an Elf'? I am an Elf."
"Dale...a person is not only their race. A person is partly their nature determined by their birth but also partly their experiences and the decisions they have made. You are an Elf, a Vale Elf, because that is what you were born and how you lived in your youth, but you did spend ten years of your life among Orcs and roughly eight years among those sort of Elves who became your caretakers and at least this past year among Wood Elves and now among Rangers. Instead of trying to be what you think an Elf must be, could you not instead ask yourself what a good person of any race must be?"
"But..."
"Yes, you are an Elf, but most Elves do not have the experiences you do. If they put you in bondage and starved you and threw you rotten scraps then getting the taste of fresh warm blood must have seemed very good, but now, you must be able to think of things that you have the ability to get that would taste much better to you. You do not need to drink blood...but even if you did want some, it might not be so wrong."
"How is drinking blood right?"
"Well, I would not advise you to kill people to get the taste of it, but..." Tsuki paused and tried to think of the best words. "Orcs eat many kinds of flesh. Elves tend to eat very little flesh. I have known some to eat fish, but they do not kill animals that are warm to feed themselves. You seem neither entirely like an Orc or an Elf. You will eat some flesh, but you carefully choose the animals and how they should be killed. Many Men who would be counted Elf-friends are more indiscriminant in obtaining meat than you. You found a balance between being and Elf and being something else. You determined what you were willing to do in order to feed yourself. That is what you must do in all things. Find your balance. The way that Orcs breed or socialize must be very different than the way that Elves will choose spouses or share or treat friends. Perhaps neither way is your way. Sometimes I see an expression of glee in you when you are the one who penetrates and I think it not Elven."
Dale bowed his head.
"I like to see it, that look makes me feel you are very pleased by me. I probably make some rather strange expressions myself. But even with that glee, you seem truly excited by giving your lover their turn to be in that same position. I do not think that is the way of Orcs."
"No. It is not their way. They cannot dominate and submit with the same partner. They must dominate one that is weaker and submit only to one who is stronger."
"Dale, do not say that you wish me to stay away. If you tell me that it is true the very scent of my blood heightens your pleasure I would gladly drawn blood for you."
"No. That can't be right. To cause pain while sharing cannot be right."
"I draw my blood often in spellcasting. It is only a little a few drops, but that is enough to know the smell and taste of it. I do not say that you must let me, only that I would be willing. Sometimes, when bodies join, it does cause some pain, so it is not right to say pain can never be part of a good thing. Birth is good and it causes a lot pain and sometimes even bleeding."
"I do not really know about female issues," Dale said.
"I have only read tomes."
Dale laughed.
"Wash your hands and then tend my wound. You can do it. I know you wound not hurt me."
Dale scooted closer and rubbed the hot water from the bowl over his hands. "Tsuki, I am sorry I left you that way. I do not really want you to stay away, because you are my friend, but sometimes there are things that make me feel so confused."
"All is well now. I understand. If you get confused again, do not run and hide. Ask someone to advise you on what is best. Ask me if I am there."
Dale sighed. "I will remember." He lifted the gauze and moved closer to Tsuki. He took Tsuki's hand to draw his arm closer. "You are a kind person. I knew that when I first met you."
Dale had no knife or shears, so he lifted the gauze to his mouth and held the edge in his teeth to tear several lengths from the roll. He rolled some gauze together to blot the blood that had come from the wound. It was not so much, though it had seemed more when it was seeping fresh into the gauze and onto his hand. Dale then made a pad of gauze to cover the wound and pressed it into place. "Hold there," he told Tsuki.
Tsuki lifted his fingers to his arm to hold the padding while Dale prepared a strip of gauze with which to bind the pad to the wounded arm. "I would kiss you," Tsuki said.
"No. I can't. Still..."
"Yes, I did not mean that I must...only that I was still willing."
Dale began to bind Tsuki's arm. "They did starve me sometimes. It was very much as you said. They treated me very badly."
"Yes."
"Sometimes I think when others kiss it looks like they want to eat each other. I do not understand the good in it. They must taste each other's spittle. Would you want to lick up another's spittle and drool?"
"No, but perhaps it is like the smelling. Perhaps when you know that person is your lover, the taste becomes something that you associate with the pleasant experiences and you enjoy the taste. Perhaps it tastes as nothing, the way your own mouth tastes."
"You do not know what it feels like?"
"No."
"I do not either, but I still do not want to try it yet."
"Then you should not, until you feel ready."
"Sometimes I feel like I should be happy that you would do that for me, even knowing how I was then. Sometimes I think you are mad to want it."
"You were a different person then. You were not even Dale yet. You will find your balance in all aspects of your life, Dale. No one can do that, except for you, but I would like to be near you, to support you as you find your balance, to keep you from falling too far. You helped me. It seemed things happened so quickly after I met you, but still, I know what it is like, to not be the person you ought to be, to not even be yourself all of the time."
"It was not me. You spent so much time meditating. It did not look like work, but I know that inside your mind you were working very hard. Do you think I could do it."
"I do not know if my way is the best way for you, but I think if you find your own way to make the rest of the world fall silent so that you are left only with yourself, then you will be able to help yourself."
"Old Rabbit helped you."
"In a way."
"I am not a very rabbit person. And I do not want to kill an animal."
"You do not have to. It does not have to be an animal, just something that represents a part of you that is outside yourself. Something you are connected to that can be the other voice in your conversation with yourself. Something that has properties you admire and wish to have."
"I could use some help."