Chapter 21
Teleziel swallowed with difficulty as he felt himself slowly pushed back on the blanket. Above him the cold stars wheeled while a slow, intense fire filled his soul as Faramir ran gentle fingertips over the fine bones of his face. He was trapped between fear and desire, longing and despair. Memories tried to drown out the pleasant experience of Faramir’s touch and he closed his eyes against the intrusion.
“Teleziel, don’t,” whispered Faramir. He kissed the shell of Teleziel’s ear. “Look at me, please.” When the Haradrim at last opened his eyes, Faramir stared down into them for a long moment, reading the fear and humiliation mingled with desire that threatened to overwhelm his love. “I love you.”
Teleziel smiled and slipped his arms around Faramir’s shoulders. “I believe you.”
“That doesn’t stop you from being afraid. We don’t have to—“
“I want this.”
Faramir reached down and placed his hand on Teleziel’s thigh and rubbed his palm over the long bulge. “Wanting and doing can be two separate things. I just want you to know that I can wait…forever if I must.”
Thinking of the coming battle, Teleziel felt his heart grow cold with dread. He knew that tomorrow was a grim uncertainty for all of them, and Faramir was no exception to fate’s whims. Beyond tomorrow was a gray haze without end. “Why wait for forever when we can have now?”
With an easy smile, Faramir sat up and began slowly to unlace Teleziel’s breeches. He felt the young body tremble and listened to the Haradrim’s controlled breathing. He pulled open the breeches until Teleziel’s warm length sprang into his waiting palm. Staring deeply into his lover’s eyes, Faramir stroked the long cock slowly, holding it loosely in the circle of his palm and fingers as he moved his hand up and down. He smiled as he watched a slow, delicate flush creep up Teleziel’s cheekbones and the eyes—once filled with trepidation—glaze with passion. Once Teleziel was sufficiently distracted, Faramir bent his head and touched his lips to the rigid flesh.
The soft brush of Faramir’s lips on his cock made Teleziel suck in his breath and then the man’s slick tongue touched him and could not hold back the surprised whimper. His fingers dug into the blanket and gouged furrows in the soft, fragrant earth beneath the wool. He lifted his head and stared the length of his own body, watching as Faramir’s red-gold hair brushed over his thighs and belly. Faramir’s tongue danced wickedly up and down his cock, sending shivers of delight up and down his spine. Tentatively, he placed one hand on the back of Faramir’s head and the suction on his shaft increased as a response. Without thinking, he bucked his hips upwards, thrusting deeper into the Ranger’s mouth until the head of his cock touched the back of Faramir’s throat, causing both of them to moan.
Faramir laid one arm across Teleziel’s slender hips to hold him down as he worked his tongue over the weeping cock. He clamped his lips tightly around it as he steadily increased pressure, sucking on Teleziel as though on a straw reed. The trembling increased, but this time Faramir knew it wasn’t from fear but rather from pent desire. He worked his tongue along the underside and up to the tip, where he slathered the head and licked pre-cum from the slit. His ears listened for Teleziel’s breathing, noting the rising pitch of his soft moans. Grabbing the base with his free hand, he squeezed as he sucked and allowed his palm to brush across the full balls, causing Teleziel to squirm even more. Once more he moved his tongue down to the base and back up to the head before pausing to swirl his tongue over the smooth tip. He felt the throbbing of Teleziel’s cock in his mouth and he guessed that his lover was close. He kept his fist around Teleziel and pumped in time with his sucking, allowing his head and his fist to move in a slowly increasing tempo.
Teleziel had never known such sexual pleasure and his head thrashed back and forth and a long moan dragged from deep in his chest. His fantasies and dreams and lonely nights pleasuring himself left him ill prepared for the sensations now coursing through his body. Every fiber of his being focused into one point, fused and blurred until he was only aware of Faramir’s mouth upon him. And then his body tightened until his back arched and he strained against Faramir’s arm and a heat—white hot like the flowing of lava from Mount Doom—flooded his body and his mind and he trembled as the sweet ache became an intense pleasure-pain that he could not comprehend, only knew that he wanted to never end. He cried out without realizing it was he who cried out and his body shook as his seed spilled from his body into Faramir’s waiting mouth. And then it was over and all that remained to him was a satisfied lethargy, a complete draining and a fulfilling completeness.
Faramir lapped at the sweet cum, swallowing as much as he could as it shot to the back of his throat and capturing the remaining with his quick tongue before at last lifting his head to stare at Teleziel. The Haradrim’s face was sweaty and flushed and his chest heaved. Smiling, Faramir stretched forward and touched his lips to Teleziel’s.
Drowsily opening his eyes, Teleziel smiled and Faramir laughed. Teleziel chewed self-consciously on his lower lip. “I never imagined such a thing as this.”
The fine brow rose a fraction. “Have you never heard of such a thing as this before?”
Teleziel shook his head. “I do not think the women of my country perform such an act.”
“The Haradrim don’t know what they are missing.” Faramir rubbed his nose against Teleziel’s playfully.
Suddenly mindful of Faramir, Teleziel reached down between them and he felt the still hard bulge in the man’s breeches. He fondled Faramir through the cloth and felt suddenly quite shy, uncertain of what to do or what was expected of him.
“Here,” said Faramir as he straightened up and quickly unlaced his breeches. With his cock jutting stiffly from between his thighs, he lay back so that his head rested on Teleziel’s chest. “Now hold me.”
Tentatively the Haradrim grasped Faramir’s heavy cock in his hand and stroked it. He saw Faramir close his eyes and smile and grew more confident and bold with his strokes. He moved his hand firmly and brushed his hand over the smooth-skinned head and felt it grow sticky as milk white drops of cum seeped from the slit.
Faramir reached down and placed his hand over Teleziel’s. “Harder,” he coaxed as he increased the pressure on his aching cock. When Teleziel stroked him harder, he let his arm fall to his side. His hips thrust up in time to the Haradrim's strokes, shoving his thick cock into the circle of palm and fingers. Soon, Teleziel was stroking faster as cum coated his hand and Faramir’s cock. Faramir groaned and opened his eyes to stare at Teleziel for a long moment before closing them again. Sweat beaded his forehead and his belly, matting the fine hairs. He dug his heels into the ground and arched his back like a bow with each stroke and counter thrust. His breathing was loud and ragged and he bit his lip to stifle his growl as his release spurted over Teleziel’s clenched fist.
They lay together for a moment, each lost in the velvet darkness and each other. At last, Faramir sat up and reached for his water skin. He took a sip and then passed it to Teleziel, who also drank deeply. Retrieving the skin, Faramir poured a small amount of water into his cupped palm and splashed it over his thighs and belly. Turning to Teleziel, he told the Haradrim to hold out his hand and when the young man did so, Faramir washed his hand clean.
“Is it what you imaged when you dreamed of Imiro?” Faramir couldn’t resist asking, even though caution warned him he shouldn’t. That jealous part of all lovers needed the answers to such questions about past loves even as the cool tactician that was Faramir warned against such foolishness.
“Remember when I said the reality of Imiro was different than the dream? A boy dreamed those dreams and held those fantasies to his heart. Have no fear, Faramir, for tonight you clasped a boy to your heart, but he has walked away from the embrace a man.”
*~*
The column moving from Ithilien to Osgiliath moved slowly and carefully. Faramir kept the wounded scattered among the ambulatory and the fighters surrounding every one else. His primary goal was to reach Osgiliath’s stone ruins safely. After that, all he hoped for was a chance to hold the invaders at bay long enough for Gondor’s great white city to gather her last resources. No beacons yet shown on the hilltops and he knew Denethor declined to seek the aid of the Horse-lords. He wondered, too, how much aid the mighty Rohirrim might offer for, if rumors were true, Theoden was hard pressed to defend his own, never mind aiding any one else. Grimly, he set his heart against such thoughts. He refused to give up hope. He couldn’t believe there was never any hope.
His scouts reported frequently, bringing him news of Gondor’s troops as well as those of the orcs. The reports only strengthened his resolve. Orcs would never step foot in his beloved city; he would perish first. He could feel Teleziel’s eyes on his back and knew, without turning around, that Mablung and Damrod were not far behind. The three had become his shadow, each following in their turn, to trail quietly in his wake. Having the two Rangers look after the Haradrim had met with opposition from all sides, but in the end, the arrangement proved a blessing. For Teleziel took the opportunity to learn from his shadows and they, too, learned something of the Haradrim from him, although Mablung would have sooner sliced out his own tongue than admit to such. What was at first an uneasy alliance was quickly developing into a genuine friendship and this gave Faramir some measure of peace.
Then, too, Teleziel’s words, sincerely uttered in the afterglow of passion, held true. The shy and, sometimes, frightened youth was slowly replaced by a man determined in his courses. Each day he grew stronger both in mind and body. He did not allow fatigue to slow him down for he refused to slow down Mablung and Damrod. The last of the cuts on his body faded to pale scars and his hair began to grow out and the hideous scabs dropped away and his scalp healed. His flesh, once a little too loose on his bones, filled out as he gained some of the weight illness and exposure and rough treatment had shed. His step grew confident and light, as if the burdens he once bore were lifted from his shoulders. Had any one asked him, Teleziel would have told them he felt inexplicably lighter. While, too, he was going to war against his own people, Teleziel did not feel as though he were fighting his flesh and blood. In fact, he felt closer to the Rangers than the Haradrim for though Faramir marked him as a lover and friend, no one remarked upon their budding relationship. And if any over heard the night of passion, none spoke of it within their hearing. It was if he was accepted. For the first time in his life Teleziel felt at peace and he was ready to lay down his life for the man who had taken him in his strong arms and given him shelter.
Mablung said and did nothing that gave away his feelings about Teleziel. He still wasn’t quite sure the Haradrim was trustworthy, but he’d seen the way both the Haradrim and Faramir had blossomed in the wake of their love and he realized that things had changed, at least where the Haradrim was concerned. So he waited and he watched, ready to defend Faramir if need be, but he did not refuse the hand of friendship to Teleziel.
Damrod spent most of his days hiding his smile. He watched the way Faramir and Teleziel grew closer and knew that what the captain had needed had arrived in the most peculiar fashion. But who was he to gainsay them? He glanced over at Mablung and his eyes sparkled with concealed mirth and a great deal of love. The hardened veteran would not admit it, but even he’d come to admire and respect the Haradrim. Even though Mablung wasn’t quite ready to admit it, Damrod knew his lover was reassessing his original thoughts about the prisoner and it pleased him to see how willingly Mablung accepted the changes taking place in their one time enemy.
But, Damrod sobered, time would reveal soon enough if kindness
could over come blood for on the horizon white bones of Osgiliath loomed.