My Sweet Ilithil

Title: My Sweet Ilithil.

Chapter Title & No.: And so it ends... . #8.

Author: Darkling Willow

Pairing: Non

Rating: NC-17

Archive: Yes please.
Feedback: Yes thank you very much. An author can only improve with criticism.

Disclaimer: This is an original work of fiction. Any resemblance of places and characters to actual persons, living or dead, and places is purely coincidental.
The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

Authors Notes: I’ve been working on a fantasy novel for half my life now. It all started with one character and a name, but has grown into about a dozen characters, original races and species and a whole world. Yeah, it kind of got out of hand.
These chapters are just little oneshots, that I want to have as a part of the main story, but would never be allowed in mainstream publishing, so, I’m giving you guys a chance to read them.

I thank Kylee, for being such a diligent reader and reviewer. I hope you don't hate me too much for letting it end this way. Maybe I'll add a little bit later, the story isn't quite finished yet.
But until then keep your eyes open for the full story of Ley. and Pol.
Thank you.

Summary: The secret is out, and Pol. proves that even smart people make mistakes.
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“Are you sure it’s full!?” Pol. shouted at Bri., the dark haired knight pulled on the line as hard as he could, Pol. barely managing to keep up, the two retainers behind him setting the pace for the knight.
Bri. didn’t look up but shouted back,
“See for yourself, you ass, and keep pulling!”
Pol. looked over the water as the net surfaced and sure enough it was full of fish.
The four kitchen girls and Cooksie came wading into the water to their knees, to help land the catch.
Pol. pulled with everything he had, drawing the line in to close the net, at the same time he began to wade to shore, in sync with the two retainers and Bri..
Looking up on the shore, half way there, Pol. saw Ley. coming out of the castle.
The cleric stopped short at the top of the bank staring down at Pol., then he turned to the right and walked briskly towards the Willow Grove.
“Ley.! Fresh fish for dinner! Ley.? Ley.!” Pol. called happily, waving at the net, calling after Ley. as the cleric turned away.
Something was seriously wrong, Pol. could tell.
“Here, take over.” Pol. said quickly to Cooksie and one of the kitchen girls, and handed them the rope to the fishing nets, Bri. shouting after him, as Pol. waded out of the water and ran after Ley. barefoot across the grassy bank.

Pol. ducked silently under the first willow tree, some sense of foreboding made him not call out for Ley..
Suddenly a scream of desperation tore through the still summer air, and Pol. saw Ley. pacing around beneath the central tree, the oldest willow in the grove.
As the scream dwindled into a heartwrenching sob, Ley. fell down on a root close to the trunk of the tree, and started crying.
Pol. walked silently across the dry ground, ducking under the branches of the enormous golden weeping willow, and stood for a few moments watching as heartwrenching sobs wracked through his mentor, crystalline tears flowing freely down his cheeks.
After a few minutes Pol. cleared his throat, and spoke hardly above a whisper,
“Ley.? Are you alright?”
Ley. jumped at the sound of his voice, but looking up he brushed the sleeve of his robe over his face drying his tears, and shaking his head he answered in a shaking voice,
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“Sure as Hell looks like you’re fine. Talk to me! Tell me what’s the matter?”
Pol. pleaded, reaching out to cup Ley.’s cheek, but the elder cleric pushed his hands aside,
“Nothing! Nothing’s wrong.”
“Fine then, don’t tell me!” Pol. shouted back, taking a step back as Ley. jumped to his feet and began pacing again.
“I can’t tell you. There is nothing to tell… Oh, it’s all gone to shit, it has. How could I do this to you?”
“Do what exactly? Force yourself on me, the last time you looked at me? Ignored me for more than a month? What are you talking about? Talk to me, because I feel as if I don’t know you any more! Ley., please, I’m begging you.”
Ley. turned around so quickly that it frightened Pol., and closing the few feet between them, he grabbed the front of Pol.’s muslin shirt, and shouted into is face,
“Begging me! Pleading with me! It’s always you, Pol.! You always ask and beg and plead, and no matter how much I tell myself not to listen I always do! I always give into you, I always bow to your will!”
Ley. pushed the teen away, Pol. stumbled a little before he caught himself, and Ley. continued ranting,
“I tried! I really tried, but no, you pushed and begged, until you got a kiss. Then you wanted to fuck, and I gave you that. And then you wanted all of me and I gave you that, but that wasn’t enough! You had to drink from me as well, and I didn’t get angry with you… no, instead I hid it, I lied for you, and now it’s all coming to light! Now, I’m going to have to pay for your childishness.”
Ley. sank to his knees, and began crying again.
Pol. gave him a few moments before he knelt down beside him and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, cradling Ley’s head close to his chest, Pol. rained small kisses down on the auburn hair, and the back of Ley.’s neck.
Slowly Ley. began to breathe slowly, and Pol. hardly heard him when Ley. spoke again,
“You have to forget me.”
“What?”
“You need to forget me. We need to move on.” Pol. jumped to his feet, Ley. following him stiffly.
His jaw was set, his eyes unreadable as he looked the teen in the eyes and continued,
“I need to move on. I’m tired of hiding. For both our sake’s, for our friendship, we need to stop this.”
“Stop…? Stop…? You mean to forget the past five years and just go our separate ways?”
“Yes. Sort of. We don’t need to stop being friends. I just can’t take this secrecy and pressure any more. Maybe I’ll go away for a while.”
“NO!”
“I don’t know what to do, Pol.. You can’t leave me alone. And I can’t deny you anything.”
Pol. gasped, sinking down onto the thick root, where Ley. had been crying only moments before, his eyes blurry and his chest tight.
“But I love you, Ley.” he whispered, shaking hard, Ley. looked away,
“But I don’t love you. Only as a brother, Pol., I only love you as a brother.”
“That’s a lie.” Pol. whispered again, his voice had fled him completely,
“I know you love me just as much as I love you, if not more. You never would have been with me if you didn’t.”
“Don’t, please, don’t. There are so many things… important things… you remember your prophecy? The one that the hag at the village made for you? She said you were destined for great things, with a woman with black hair by your side? Last time I checked I’m not a ravenhair, nor am I a woman.”
Ley. was pleading now, crawling on his knees infront of Pol., and reaching out tenatively Ley. brushed his cheekbone, a soft smile on his lips.
Pol. couldn’t stop the tears from welling up, his bottom lip quivering.
“Don’t cry. There’s no need for you to cry.” Ley. said in a low voice, his eyes becoming sad.
“I don’t understand this, Ley.. How can you demand this of me? I can’t understand…” Pol. spoke haltingly, standing up and gripping the front of Ley.’s black robes, trying desperately to pull him closer.
The elder cleric resisted, not only the desperated pleas of his lover, but also the emotions welling up inside himself with more force than he had ever felt before.
Pol.’s face contorted into a hideous mask of rage when Ley. resisted him.
“I will not obey you! What are the prophecies of some hag to me?! I will not heed this! As you said yourself, you shall do as you please! Well, so shall I, and I refuse to let you go! You are mine, Ley., you swore to me…”
Pol. cried out, the violence in his outburst surprised Ley. enough to not see the fist that swung into his face.
Ley. grunted, falling back as the full force of the right hook landed on his cheek.
Angered Ley. pushed Pol. back, but the teen advanced again, with a low punch in Ley.’s right eye, followed by another in his gut.
Ley. swung a right hook into the side of Pol.’s face but the teen ducked just in time and the punch landed on the side of his head, making Ley. cry out in pain.
Ley. gasped painfully as another right hook landed under his ribs and he buckled over, grabbing Pol.’s leg as his knee came up aiming for Ley.’s face.
Pol. had learned to fight from Bri., and Bri. was known for anything but a fair fight.
The two of them fell down on the ground, and wild punches flew through the air, Ley. screamed out in agony as Pol. got a well aimed elbow shot between his shoulder blades.
Ley. rolled away from the teen, moaning in pain.
Pol. was not finished.
Pol. jumped on Ley., straddling him and threw a few punches into his face, sitting up Ley. managed to get his arms around the teen’s waist and roll them both over so he was ontop, but the lithe Pol. wriggled away and Ley. barely caught him, on all fours, grabbing him in a sort of wrestling move.
Pol. struggled for a few moments, Ley. struggled to ignore the heat from Pol.’s body, the thudding of his blood in his veins and the erection straining against the damp fabric of Pol.’s soft khaki trousers.
The distraction proved too much.
Pol. elbowed Ley. in the face, Ley. crying out in pain and fell away from the teen.
Pol. twisted around and pushed Ley. to the ground hissing in anger.
Ley. was too stunned to move for a few moments, but when he felt the skirts of his robes being pulled up to his waist he pushed up on all fours,
“Pol. what do you think you’re doing?” he exclaimed.
Without answering him, Pol. grabbed his long auburn hair and the back of his robes, and dragged Ley. over to the root where he had been sitting only a few moments before.
Ley. fought against him, pushing against the root, but Pol. kneed him in the back and bent Ley. over the root, then twisted both his arms behind his back, holding them tightly.
Ley. struggled hard enough to make his shoulder pop painfully, as Pol. pulled the black skirts up to the elder cleric’s waist and then tore the thin linen trousers.
Without another word Pol. spit into his palm and rubbed it between Ley.’s cheeks, pushing a finger into the tight ring of muscle.
Ley. gasped in pain, trying to buck away fromt the intrusion, but Pol.’s strength was fuelled by years of pent up rage.
Most of that rage was aimed against his own family, and Ley. realized he was only a convenient target, there at the right time for Pol. to snap.
The pain was so great, that Ley. was unable to scream, only gasp silently, as Pol. thrust into his opening, with nothing more than a little spit for lubrication.
Threading his fingers into Ley.’s thick hair, Pol. pulled his head back painfully far, and thrust into Ley. with a frantic pace.
Pol. grunted and moaned into Ley.’s ear, the pain was too great for Ley. to find any pleasure.
This was not what he had wanted to leave Pol. with as their last moments.
After long minutes of painful thrusting, Pol.’s movements became erratic, uneven, and finally Pol. smashed Ley.’s face into the dirt on the other side of the root he was bent over, panting hard and Ley. felt warmth spread inside his gut.
Pol. rested his head against Ley.’s back for a couple of breaths, his softening cock slipping out of Ley.’s ass.
Pol. looked down at what he had done, blood mingled semen running down the inside of Ley.’s thigh, as the cleric pushed himself up to his knees, whimpering with the pain.
Pol. tucked himself into his trousers, looking down at Ley., with fear and sadness in his eyes.
Ley. looked up, and whispered,
“So, now we’re even, huh?”
Pol.’s breath hitched, he couldn’t think of an answer, he hadn’t meant to do it, there had just been this urge in him to shut Ley. up, to show Ley. that he wasn’t always right.
Ley. struggled to his feet, pulling his skirts into order so they would hide the torn trousers underneath, and staggering past Pol. he looked at his chest, not daring to look into the grey eye and hissed,
“This makes us even. I will never give into you again. You have taken everything I had to give you. This was the last thing. Don’t come to me ever again, I will not have you.”
Pol. sobbed quietly, racking his brain for something to say, but the pain blocked everything and he let Ley. walk past, away from the willow grove and to the castle.
When it came time for dinner, Ley. wasn’t at the table, and when Pol. went to knock on his door after dinner, his father called him to the library on some trivial notion.


The next morning dawned, cold and brisk, a mist laying on the shores of the Peolin Sea, and Pol. woke as the twin suns coloured the western skies orange.
It would be a few more hours before they rose above the mountains, but the castle was already bustling with activity.
Pol. pulled on a pair of cotton trousers and a shirt, running barefoot around the corner of the hallway, and towards the small blue wallpapered room by the galleria.
His heart was pounding, he had to make things right with Ley. again, and ask the clerics forgiveness. He had spent the entire night fighting horrible nightmares, reliving what he had done under the willows over and over again.
As he reached the small white painted door, a rug came flying out of the door, and to his surprise Pol. found it empty, save for Hiram, the nursemaid of his youngest sisters.
“Hey, Hiram, what’re you doing?” Pol. asked cheerfully, making the young woman squeal and jump slightly.
“Master Pol.! You scared the living daylights out of me!” she shouted at him, pulling the sheets off the bed and tossing them in a large hamper by the door, before she answered him,
“I’m cleaning the room. M’Lady wants it stripped down and cleared out. Only the furniture and nothing else, she said.”
“Stripped down? What on earth for? Where’s Ley. anyway? Is he up already?”
“Oh, no, Master, he’s gone.” Hiram stopped her work, and looked at Pol. quizzically, the teen only stared back, swallowing hard.
“What do you mean he’s gone?”
“I thought you knew, sir, he left last night. Around midnight. He said farewell to the staff, and your sisters, and Bri. of course, and then he rode off with Gwendir. I thought you knew.”
“Rode off where? Where was he going, Hiram, tell me!?”
The maid yelped as Pol. grabbed her arms hard and yelled in her face,
“I don’t know, sir! He said his farewells like he wasn’t expecting to ever come back. He wouldn’t say where he was going, just that he had to leave.”
Pol. pushed her so hard the woman fell over, as he turned on his heel and ran down the grand stairs, bursting into this father’s office, screaming at his father and oldest brother,
“Where is he?! Where did you send Ley. to?!”
Wrai. crashed his fist into the large desk and fixing his son with a glare, he shouted back,
“He’s gone! You shall not see him again, not while you live under my roof!”
“Where did you send him?!”
“I will never tell you.” Came the answer in a calm collected tone, and staring at his father Pol. realized that he would never see Ley. again.
Pol. ran out of the castle, a half dressed Bri. running after him, still bleary eyed with sleep.

Pol. was already wading into the water when Bri. came to the shore, shouting after the temple novice,
“Come back, Pol., come back! This is not the way to get him back.”
Bri. ran after his friend into the cold water, when the water reached Pol.’s chest, the knight dove in and swam up behind him.
Pol. fought hard to free himself from the tight grasp of the knight’s arms, but nearly eight years of training with a sword and a shield had strengthened Bri.’s arms immensely.
Bri. struggled with Pol., dragging him towards the shore, Pol. howling wildly, kicking and screaming for his friend to let go, to let him swim out into the dark water.
Winded and shivering cold, Bri. stumbled in the shallows and both of them went crashing down into the lapping waves.
Pol. wrestled with Bri. to get up and out into the water again, but Bri. twisted the novice down and straddling him crushed Pol.’s face into his chest, whispering into his wet hair,
“Pol. stop! Stop this! This is not the way to get him back! Please, stop it! Stop this for me!”
Pol. screamed into his chest, shaking hands finally stopped pushing and tangled themselves in the back of Bri.’s shirt.
Bri. sushed the teen, cradling him against his chest, stroking his soft hair, and mumbling,
“Thank you, little brother, thank you. Stay with me. I couldn’t bare to lose you too. Stay with me.”
When Pol.’s desperate crying had dwindled down to hiccuping sobs, Bri. dragged him to his feet, and lead him to the bathing hall, where they took steaming hot showers to get the chill out of their bodies.
They sat quiet side by side in the dressing room for a long time, Pol. still sniffling a little, Bri. waiting for the inevitable.
“Why did he leave without saying good bye to me?” Pol. moaned, tears obscuring his eyes again.
Bri. grabbed his hand, and whispered,
“Your father sent him away. He pulled all of us into his office yesterday, and said he was sending Ley. away, and that if anyone of us ever talked about him with you again, we’d be sent to the work houses or worse. I know he threatened the whole staff into forgetting Ley. ever existed yesterday as well. We are not allowed to speak of him ever again.”
“But why? Why now, all of a sudden after so many years?”
“Your father heard rumours at the Temples two years ago. After that vampire attacked you. He started listening to the household gossip here as well… He even dragged me into his office once and questioned me for hours about you and Ley.. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell him anything. But since then it’s like he’s been waiting for the opportunity to send Ley. away.”
“Do you know where he sent him? I have to find him.”
“There’s no use, Pol. Your father will never say.”
“You don’t understand… I have to tell him how sorry I am.” Pol. hid his face in his hands sobbing uncontrollably.
“Sorry for what?”
“The last thing I did… Bri., I forced myself on him… I have to tell him I’m sorry.”
Bri. gulped, unsure what to say next, he did the most outrageous thing.
He pulled Pol. into an embrace, and stroking his hair the young knight sushed him quietly, letting him cry until he could barely breathe. This was so uncharacteristic for Bri., and yet it felt perfectly right.
Pol. rested his face against Bri.’s bare chest, crying until he was certain his heart would break in two. Pol. sobbed quietly into the hairless chest, wrinkling his nose at the smell he realized was all Bri.’s. The strong scent of tannin and saddle oil, invaded his senses, and Pol. realized that there was no sexual element to the touch, or the embrace, he would never find himself attracted to Bri. in that manner.
Bri. was only doing what an older brother should, protecting his younger brother.

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Ley. smiled bitterly at the oldest daughter of the Mar.’s, Lanja, as she pulled the front door of her castle almost closed behind her, the loud laughter of a hunting party echoing from the dining hall.
“M’Lady…” Ley. began, but Lanja sushed at him,
“Don’t be ridiculous, Ley.. What’s the matter? What are you doing here at this hour?”
“He threw me out. Your father, he told me to leave and never come back. He’s got me a place in Aquelim, at the Temples.”
“So, what you said last summer came true? So, what you told me about you and Pol. is the truth then also?”
“Did you ever doubt that?”
“No, I guess not.”
“Only trust that I love him, Lanja. I would never do anything to hurt him on purpose. I love him with all my heart.”
“I know. I’ve seen it in the way you look at him. The way you only seem half a man when he is not around you.”
“Your father wouldn’t let me say good bye to him. Please, Lanja, tell him that I forgive him, and that I understand that he is sorry. I will write to you, and trust that you will get the letters to him. As you promised.”
“I will keep my word. Pol. will get your letters, as often as I can. I suspect that father will have a spy among the clerics that will screen Pol.’s mail. But I will uphold my promise.”
Gwendir, one of Lord Mar.’s guards, cleared his throat loudly, and the horses snorted loudly, feeling their masters impatience.
Ley. nodded at the man, and pulled Lanja into a tight embrace.
“Farewell, Lanja. I will write to you as soon as I reach Aquelim. You can never tell Polinues where I am. He might try to follow me, and that will only end in tragedy. Give my best to Elohaim.”
“Thank you for being such a good friend and brother, Ley., I will miss you dearly. Oh, and thank you for the potion. It has already worked it’s magick, I think.” Lanja whispered into his ear, pressing his palm against her lower abdomen, and Ley.’s eyes grew wide.
“It worked? So soon?”
“Yes. Only a few drops in his wine, and Elohaim couldn’t leave me be. What shall I do when it is finished? You will not be able to help me all the way from Aquelim.”
“I got the potion from Arlin. She is more wise in the way of love potions. She lives in the village, a brown stone cottage, on a side street two houses over from the Piglet’s Tavern. You can ask the barkeep there, if you get lost, he knows her. And Arlin knows that this potion was for you, so she will be expecting you some day. But hopefully you will not need it. Elohaim will have learned to love the warmth of his marriage bed, before you need another bottle. I will write letters to Pol. and send them to the castle, just to make it seem like I'm trying. Then your father might not suspect any foul play for someime. Remember to tell Pol. that I know he's sorry and that I forgive him, Lanja, please do not forget to tell him that.”
Ley. kissed Lanja softly on the cheek and jumped on the brown stallion. He waved her as they trotted out of the gates and disappered down the road.
Lanja sighed, fearing this would be the last time she ever saw her childhood friend, and that this would be the death of her younger brother.