Thalien

Valsgav's hand lashed out, clamping around the base of Thalien's jaw. Slow, quiet fury began to fill his eyes and contort his face. “How long,” he demanded.

Not long ago Thalien would have panicked; now he controlled himself a bit better, but still betrayed obvious fear. “I don't understa--”

“How long have you been understanding me,” Valsgav demanded. He was growing quietly livid, and his grip on Thalien's jaw tightened.

“This is the first time,” Thalien squeaked, growing closer to forgetting his training. “I had grown curious, I began to listen carefully to the humans....”

Valsgav's eyes bored into his for a long, taut moment, looking for signs of untruth or deception. Thalien was able to meet his gaze, because what he said was technically not untrue at all. Finally, Valsgav exhaled in frustration and released his hold on Thalien. The elf quivered against the bed, afraid to move. He watched his master as he pushed himself up to a sitting position on the bed, and turned his back on Thalien.

A grim smile slowly crossed his face as he gazed over into the fireplace. “You applied yourself... and that's really all it took?”

“Yes, master... I wanted to know what troubled you and the others....” Thalien bit his lip and fell silent, watching for Valsgav's reaction.

The human laughed, a deep, homey sound. “So your people don't talk to us because they don't want to?”

Thalien's eyes widened. He had no idea how to answer. He supposed it was mostly true; most slaves developed an aversion to their human masters.

His obvious discomfort seemed to amuse Valsgav even more; he took it as an affirmation. “Silly thing. I'm not the type that minds hearing the truth.”

The best Thalien could muster after his shocks was a little smile. Valsgav filled the silence with more chatter, almost as if he was relieved. “Who else have you been talking to?”

“No one,” Thalien said. “Other humans do not interest me.”

Valsgav's mouth quirked upward. “What's so interesting about me?”

“You are kind to me...” Thalien began. Something about the speech was embarrassing, and he couldn't meet Valsgav's eyes. He could feel himself beginning to blush. “And gentle... and good to me. I like you.”

Thalien could hear Valsgav sigh, and his voice sounded heavy. “The kindest of your captors, you mean.”
“I did not mean it that way....”

Valsgav snorted. “Perhaps not, but it's the truth. Tell me, who have you been listening to, to learn so much?”

Thalien's voice became shy again. “No one special... I went down to the common rooms and began to listen, when I had time to myself.”

“Hm. Yes, most of the kitchen-elves have some language to them,” Valsgav murmured. He turned, eying Thalien more carefully now. “You are to speak to no one but me in the future, is that clear? And do not let it be known that you understand our talk. The skill you have picked up is very dangerous in times like these.”

Thalien nodded, but his curiosity was obvious. He leaned forward, slightly. “What times are these, master?”

Valsgav eyed him very carefully, and seemed to be considering his decision. “I will not speak of everything, but perhaps telling you a little could be useful. Not tonight, though; I am tired from sitting in Council, and there will be more meetings tomorrow. I will come for you at the end of the session.”

“Yes, master!” Thalien replied, his enthusiasm obvious.

“For now, go clean yourself,” Valsgav ordered. He stood and adjusted himself, then went over toward his sitting table. Suddenly the distance between them, closed for a moment, became once again vast. Thalien did not want to leave, but did not dare flaunt a command from his master. He murmured his assent, then buttoned his clothes and began a dash for the bathing rooms.

The baths were warm and inviting as ever, or at least they were for a time. Thalien had finished the business of cleaning himself and was having a momentary soak when he heard voices – human voices – approaching from the entrance way. He decided he didn't want to risk an encounter while he was still so satisfied from being with his Master, and slipped from the water as quietly as his training allowed. Then he drew himself into a distant corner of the steam-filled room, hoping the faint outline of his body would go unnoticed by the bathers.

Once he could pin down the voices, Thalien decided his timing and instincts had never been sharper. It was Sarks, Dell, and Valenn who were entering the baths together.

“Are you sure it's safe in here?” Dell asked, his voice somehow plaintive and nasal to Thalien now that he could understand the words.

“This time of night? Nobody in here but slaves,” Valenn snorted. “The old men have private baths.”

“Slave wouldn't be bad now,” Sarks grunted as he slid into the water. “Should have brought one.”

Valenn snorted again. “Keeping you two focused on business is hard enough as it is. No, we've got the end of the Council to discuss. The campaign is up for consideration, we have to make sure it gets approval.”

“And that they put you in command?” Dell asked, grinning wickedly.

Valenn settled back against the edge of the bath, and sounded rather smug to Thalien's ears. “I've been the campaign's main proponent, after all. Besides, the old men keep going on about controlling what we have... fine, then, they can sit here and do that. Leaves us free to carve out our own stake.”

“Just remember who helped you get this far,” Sarks said.

“You'll get a post, don't worry,” Valenn replied. “But that comes later. Right now, we have one week to get enough support from the nobles to win a majority. After that, we'll be left sitting here twiddling our thumbs for another year.”

Thalien's brows furrowed. Valenn's words suggested that he was pushing for the humans to mount an attack of some kind, but on what? Their control of Salthessen was uncontested. What was left to conquer?

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Thalien knew what the answer must be. Senneth's resistance group was passing information to elves on the outside, who had fled to cities further into the thick forests of elven territory. Valenn must be trying to goad the humans into making some sort of new offensive in the next year, probably toward the river citadel Senneth's men visited at Mar Delthenn. Thalien couldn't pretend to understand the exact political consequences of that city falling into human hands, but he knew it would break the back of the resistance movement in Salthessen for good.

Could Valenn's scheme be what had Valsgav so worried? It would make a certain amount of sense, but even Thalien's kind master had no reason to fret over the fate of an elven fortress. Still, Valenn made it sound as if the older humans opposed his ideas. Perhaps it was simply having to maneuver against his son that upset Valsgav so, or perhaps Valenn's schemes went farther than Thalien realized. Regardless, Thalien knew he had to report this to Senneth as quick as possible. He might even be able to report it to Valsgav, as well, allowing him to satisfy both of his divided loyalties.

The trick would be to get out of the room without being seized or spotted by Valenn, Sarks, and Dell. Raven stealth played upon dark and shadow to draw its power, but the softly lit bathhouse was not nearly dark enough by far to cover any kind of escape. Thalien could've easily fought his way out, at least if he avoided Sarks, but daring such a thing would be a death sentence. Even the option of disguise was cut off from him, because he was naked. He could try to hide until the men grew tired of the bath and left, but that could be hours. Thalien didn't want to waste that time.

Valenn was still talking about his plans with the other two humans as Thalien turned his options over in his mind, but had moved into the discussion of political minutiae that was far beyond Thalien's comprehension. The best he could gather is that it had something to do with debating who would vote with or against Valenn's faction when the time for decision making came up in the human Council. Idly, Thalien wished that he could somehow get Valenn to talk about something more useful to him, that he could understand better.

A flash of insight suggested a plan to him, one he wouldn't have dared a month ago. It would be unpleasant, but so long as Valenn and his men didn't realize that Thalien understood human speech, it could yield a gold mine of information for both Valsgav and the elven resistance. The trick would be to reveal his presence to the humans without giving the impression that he'd been eavesdropping on them.

As the talk about voting grew more heated between Valenn and Dell, Thalien glances around the steamy enclave where he was hiding for something he could make noise with. He settled for the bath's own rough-hewn stone walls, which slowly shed flakes of stone from the moisture's effects upon the rock. He gently reached up to flick one such flake of stone down to the ground, where it landed with a loud clatter. Dell and Valenn fell silent. Thalien could make out Valenn gesturing toward his hiding place in the mist, and Sarks rising from the water like a bear. So far, so good; now he had only to act sufficiently terrified of him. It wouldn't require much of a stretch.

In fact, the leer on Sarks' face sent chills down his spine as the burly human grabbed his shoulder and dragged him out of his hiding place. “-- hah! Speakin' of slaves! It's just your daddy's pet.”

Valenn looked relieved, but a cold smirk covered his face. “Hiding from us? Despicable. A good slave is always ready to wait on his masters.”

“You'd think Thalien didn't like us,” Dell pouted.

“We don't coddle him like the old man does,” Valenn said. His smirk became disgusted. “This is exactly what I mean, about needing our own claim. No slave in a keep of mine would dare try a stunt like this. Those old men had the power to take the place, and then don't have the balls to rule it.”

“So your slaves would bend over for you and like it?” Dell asked.

Valenn snorted. “I don't give a damn if they like it.”

Sarks lifted Thalien easily off the ground, and toted him back toward the water at the center of the room. “This long-ears needs a good lesson, then,” he chuckled. Thalien tried to keep himself from thinking ahead to the implications of that, and just trying to make sure he showed no signs of comprehension.

“Oh, yes,” Dell agreed all too enthusiastically. “I've never had a better fuck from an elf. If anything incredibly unfortunate were to happen to your father, Valenn, I know what slave I'd try and make a claim for....”

Thalien's breath caught in his throat, and he numbly tried to pass it off as a spasm of fear. Were they seriously plotting to kill Valsgav? He knew Valenn was rotten, but never would've expected that from him.

Perhaps it was just idle talk. All Valenn did was roll his eyes at Dell's crude suggestion... but he acted amused, not horrified, by idle talk of murder. “He's not that good. But what the hell, he'll do tonight.”

Sarks seemed vaguely displeased at Dell and Valenn's sudden interest in sharing. “I thought you wanted to be all business tonight,” he snorted.

“We covered the heavy stuff,” Valenn said. He waved his hand dismissively, but when he spoke there was deep cruelty in his voice. “Besides, you don't know how much it'd piss the old man off if he found out I fucked his favorite.”

Thalien was beginning to regret his plan. He was learning more information, to be sure, but now that he could understand Valenn's smug chatter he was feeling himself saddled with the overwhelming urge to kick him in the face. On top of that, the idea that Valsgav found other hands upon him offensive made him want to wriggle out of Sarks' grasp and make a run for it. He didn't, of course, but took some thin solace in the fact that he could.

Sarks set him down in the center of the small round bathing area, such that he was between the three men. He stood there with eyes downcast, unwilling to make himself look at any of them. He had to somehow get through this without betraying the anger that was welling up inside of him, and it would be hard. He could hear Dell laughing, a brainless noise, at Valenn's crack about his father. “And you say that I'm the sick one!”

Thalien struggled not to tighten his hands into fists. Instead he tried to focus on the sensation of the water level draining around him, until it was no higher than his ankles. The controls were magical, and while a slave couldn't pull off such a trick, it made sense that humans could. Without the water, the bath was now a round circular pit, with a low seat cut into the wall that ran its length. The humans had been sitting there, but stood and moved to stand around him in a semi-circle. Thalien could see they were already in early stages of erection from excitement. He tried to swallow his disgust as Sarks pushed him down to his knees, or he'd never be able to go through with his ruse.

Valenn wound his fingers in Thalien's long, honey-blond hair and used it to jerk his head forward. Thalien felt Valenn's fat, wide half-hard cock slap his face demandingly. “Suck on it, bitch,” Valenn growled. Thalien had no choice but to oblige, opening his mouth to run his tongue delicately over its surface. But Valenn wanted no gentle foreplay, and simply used the opening to force his cock as deeply into Thalien's mouth as he could. The suddenness choked Thalien for a moment, as Valenn's cock began growing to full erection in his mouth. He had to relax his muscles forcibly to take it all in, saliva dripping from the corners of his lips. Thalien began sucking, obediently, nose buried deep in Valenn's pubic hairs as his human master's cock reached its full erection. As Valenn groaned in delight, Thalien could feel his stomach twist.

Still, he knew all too well how to be the center of an orgy. He lifted his hands for the other humans once he had found a rhythm for fellating Valenn, and both Sarks and Dell guided his hands to their stiffening cocks. Thalien grasped them both and began stroking them, but he knew he couldn't hope to get them off like this. He was talented, but even with one hand there was only so much he could do, and he was far more interested in making sure Valenn was satisfied. He'd seen how violent Valenn could get when an elf failed to please him.

Still, Sarks and Dell were content to be stroked for longer than Thalien would have initially guessed. Dell's cock felt long and slender, almost like an elf's, with a velvety soft touch to it. Sark's was as large and grotesque as his body, with Thalien even able to feel some veins running along the shaft. Sarks seemed to rumble with pleasure at Thalien's touch, while Dell murmured in appreciation.

It was Sarks who was first to demand more of Thalien's body. “Fuck. I can't take this anymore, I want that ass,” he grumbled as he pulled Thalien's hand off of him.

“Do it. You fuck that end, I'll fuck this one,” Valenn said.

Thalien was beginning to wish he'd never begun to understand human speech at all. Some genuine fear rattled him at the thought of taking such a large cock as Sark's. His hand involuntarily tightened on Dell's cock, much to the little man's delight.

“He knows what's coming. Make it good!” Dell laughed.

Thalien could hear Sarks slicking himself up with saliva – hardly his first choice for lubricant – and then felt the big man's hands wrap around his hips. Sarks lifted him into a standing position with frightful ease, but he was still bent over to keep his mouth on Valenn's erection. Valenn took the change of position as an opportunity to cram more cock into his elf's throat. Thalien's attempts to fellate Valenn were rapidly degenerating into Valenn giving him a furious face-fucking, but the group's ringleader seemed ready to pause – with his own cock used as a gag – so Sarks could mount their long-eared prey.
Thalien got the feeling both Valenn and Dell were going to watch Sarks closely, as voyeurs, as the big man penetrated him.

It came with agonizing slowness. Thalien first felt the head of Sarks' cock push up against his ring of muscle, and even spreading himself as wide as he could to accommodate, Sarks' head made him feel stretched so thin and tight. His legs trembled, and his knees buckled, but Sarks' strong hands easily kept his hips in position. Valenn began to stroke his elf's hair as Thalien's muffled cries of discomfort vibrated along him, his voice husky with satisfaction. “That's good, long-ears. Take it in. Take it all.”

“Gods, he's perfect,” Sark gasped as he began to push himself in more completely. “I think this one can take it all.”
Thalien could feel the big man's grip on his hips tightening, almost painfully. Inch by terrible inch, he felt Sarks fill him until the big human's hips finally pressed against his rear.

“Sarks bottomed out,” Dell gasped in amazement.

“That's fucking hot,” Valenn breathed.

Sarks cackled, joyously. Thalien whimpered as the man's laughter made the huge cock buried inside of him tremble, provoking a sensation that lingered between pleasure and pain.

Valenn's voice was hot with need. “Fuck. Let's go, Sarks, I can't take the waiting...”

“Follow my lead,” Sarks warned. “Slow at first, let him stretch out.”

“You're worried about hurting him?” Valenn snapped.

Sarks laughed. “No. Means you can fuck him harder at the end!”

Thalien felt Valenn's displeasure as a hand tightening in his hair, but Valenn did comply with Sarks' request. When Sarks gently began to rock back and thrust forward, Valenn matched his motion, slowly dragging his slick erection across Thalien's pursed lips. Thalien shuddered between them, as both humans thrust inward at the same time. He had never felt so utterly overwhelmed and taken by a group of men since the very first time humans had crowded around him and forced their cocks upon him. That had been a much larger group of men, but this invasion somehow felt infinitely more personal and complete. It was like being sexually devoured by a pack of wolves.

He was dimly aware of Dell repositioning himself, sliding onto his back into the shallow water beneath Thalien's body. He moved Thalien's other free hand around his cock, and began to move both of Thalien's hands in a stroking motion. Thalien numbly tried to oblige, his hands shaking. He could hear Dell breathing heavily beneath him, cock twitching. The handjob seemed mere formality; it was probably the rhythmic shaking of Thalien's body as Sarks and Valenn fucked him that was turning him on.

Thalien's whimpering became half-muted moaning as Sarks and Valenn became more aggressive with him. They still thrust in simultaneously, and the raw humiliation of Valenn's cock in his throat coupled with the hot fullness of Sarks' manhood to produce an intoxicating, disheartening sensation. A raw, shattering pleasure shot through him as Sarks began to hit his pleasure center with his quicker, more powerful thrusts. At the same time, Thalien was startled to feel Dell's hands close around his cock, and begin stroking. His head was already swimming with sensations so intense that he could barely remember who he was or who he was with, so soft hands running along his balls and shaft easily coaxed his half-hard cock into an erection. Humbling need for release began to build in the pit of Thalien's stomach, and he hated himself for it.

Sarks and Valenn's motions were beginning to grow tense and spasmodic as they, too, grew nearer to sweet release. Now their syncopated thrusts shook Thalien's whole body violently as they came together, and Thalien's muscles twitched helplessly in response around Sarks' great cock. “Spray him,” Dell murmured from beneath the two men, as he continued to play with Thalien's pale erection. “All over him.”

“Good idea,” Valenn grunted savagely. He thrust into Thalien's prone mouth one more time before he pulled out. He steadied Thalien's torso with one hand while the other went to cock, and braced it as he began to ejaculate. Thalien closed his eyes against it and tried to toss his head away, but he could still feel droplets of hot, thick semen spatter against his face, neck, and hair. Valenn laughed at his obvious disgust, which seemed to add some kind of barbaric edge to what was clearly an intense orgasm already.

He kept holding Thalien's torso up as Sarks made his last few thrusts. Without Valenn's cock in his mouth to choke on now, Thalien could not muffle the urge to scream and cry at each torturous, punishing stroke. The sounds seemed to set Sarks off, whose hips smacked into Thalien's ever harder and faster until he abruptly pulled out. Thalien hung his head in deep humiliation as Sarks held his hips in the air, and began to ejaculate heavily onto his back. “Holy fuck,” Valenn breathed, as he saw spurt after spurt of semen splatter onto Thalien's pale back. By the time Sarks was finished and groaning softly in satisfaction, jism was running in thin streams over Thalien's buttocks.

Dell had held a tight hand around Thalien's erection the whole time, and his voice had become tight and breathy. “Put him on me. Gods, now, I need him.”

Thalien was a living marionette, hot tears streaming from his eyes, as Dell's friends obliged his request. Sarks maintained his hold on his hips and Valenn spread Thalien's already-stretched anal ring wide. Thalien himself helped feed Dell's cock into his own tortured body. For all that Dell was smaller, Thalien still felt impaled upon him. Dell's hands clutching at his erection were like human shackles. And since Thalien was on top of Dell, he knew he would have to exert most of the effort. He would have to rape himself before his human captors.

He took to the task before him with the frustration of a caged animal. Thalien wanted this encounter over and done with, and quickly. Dell let out a scream of erotic delight as Thalien began to move himself up and down upon him, his muscles squeezing gently against the shaft inside of him. Dell moved his hands down to grip Thalien's balls, to feel them slowly swell and tighten, and brushed his thumb rhythmically against the elf's glans.

Sarks watched it all through half-lidded eyes, smoky with lust. “All that fucking before, and look at him go. Gods.”

“Don't I always say it? All the long-ears really want is a good hard fuck on a big human cock at the end of the day. Why do you think they gave up so easy? They like being our fucktoys,” Valenn spoke in a soft tone, one of a conviction so deep it made Thalien's skin crawl. “They want it.”

“And all those elves just sitting around at Mar Delthenn, going unfucked. Must break your heart,” Sarks laughed.

“Just imagine it. The whole city to ourselves, and no old farts to rein us in,” Valenn began. “This time we'll strike fast and hard enough to take the nobles and the rulers. None of the old man's rules of war shit. I'll ride into the old man's keep with the Lord of Mar Delthenn on his knees in front of me, sucking me off!”

“Then the hawks will rule the council, and we'll have all the Elfwoods open to us. Fresh lands and slaves all around,” Sarks smiled in satisfaction. “And this time we'll be the commanders, so we'll get the sweetest picks of the spoils.”

Thalien disguised a scream of panic as a scream of pleasure. Hearing the two men outline their plans so cold-bloodedly while Dell was fucking him restored him to his senses, although it was hard to fully grasp all the details while he was still so near to climax. He tried to make himself focus more on Dell's soft hands all over his cock and the rhythmic motions of Dell's cock inside him. Especially in comparison to Sarks and Valenn, Dell was really not such a bad lover, although Thalien couldn't say he really liked him. The little man was as consumed by lust as his friends, but it was simply lust of a different sort.

It was nothing like Valsgav, who showed him the true tenderness of a life-mate. Thalien's mind wandered away from the humid atmosphere of the bath, and he imagined what it would be like to make love to his true master, surrounded by water, the older man's rough fingers playing tenderly up and down Thalien's erection, groaning in ecstasy as Thalien rode upon his manhood and coaxed every last drop of sweet pleasure from it....

The fantasy was enough to send Thalien spilling over the edge in a way that Dell's clumsy attentions simply couldn't. He shattered the relative quiet of the baths with a deep, throaty cry, arched his back, and spasmed as he ejaculated over Dell's chest. The little man seemed to find his own orgasm waiting in Thalien's cries, and began to bounce and scream uncontrollably beneath Thalien's writhing body.

“Unbelievable,” Sarks murmured as he watched. “You need to bring that elf to a party sometime. We could really put him through his paces.”

Valenn frowned as he watched Dell and Thalien's dual climax. “Maybe I will. We'd have to give him back, but... it'd be a good way to call out the old man for being so damned soft with the long-ears.”

“You're a real son of a bitch, Valenn,” Sarks said admiringly.

Thalien had slumped against Dell's chest, both men exhausted and spent. On top of that, Thalien was beginning to feel rather unpleasantly sticky all over. He wanted to move away and clean himself, but such personal initiative was unbecoming in a proper slave. He waited until Dell sat up and gently pushed him off, then remained crouched in place as Dell cleaned himself off with the water coursing through the bottom of the bath.

“That was amazing. I have to have him, Valenn,” Dell said.

“Then you try getting him from the old man,” Valenn snorted. “You're nuts if you think I'm going to organize an assassination so you can fuck an elf.”

“Oh, come on. We'd have such an easier time raising the siege army if old Valsgav was gone. And you'd take up command of the Ferengen armies once he was gone.” Dell's voice was sickly sweet and wheedling.

Thalien didn't dare try to look any of the men in the face for the anger building in his heart. He tried to focus on the mechanical, harmless act of cleaning himself. Fortunately, the humans paid him no mind once they were done with him.

“You know where I stand on that, Dell. Until things change, offing the old man is more trouble than it's worth.” Valenn's refusal was absolute, but still chilled Thalien's heart. It meant that Valenn was only refusing to kill his father because it was, for the moment, inconvenient.

“Anyway, we oughta get out of here,” Sarks said. “Me and Dell have to get back to the Ilsford keep.”

“No second round?” Valenn smirked.

“We didn't bring any henneth!” Sarks smirked. “Maybe at that party, huh?”

“Gods, no, you two would break him in half before I got to lay a finger on him!” Dell laughed.

The three men moved out of the baths as a group, Dell thinking to reset the water level back to its original level before they stepped out. Thalien proceeded to spend the longest, most furious time cleaning himself that he could ever remember. Even after every trace of semen was gone and his hair sparkled cleanly, he felt like Valenn's cruel stench was wrapped around him like a blanket. It was his own anger, he knew, and he forced himself to control it before he rubbed his skin raw.

Thalien had many plans to make. First he would have to report all he knew to Valsgav the next evening, then seek out Senneth to report it all a second time. He might also have to speak of it with his mysterious Raven teacher if the dark being chose to visit him in his dreams that evening. It would take every bit of skill and talent he had amassed in the last month to see himself safely through whatever was coming. If Valenn or his agents ever raised a finger to threaten Valsgav in his presence, he would draw his knife and stab their eyes out, appearances be damned. He would certainly lay down his life before he'd let Valenn break the back of the resistance and destroy Mar Delthenn, the last hope of the captive elves.