"Saving Prince Theodred
Part 5
by Beryll

 

"Are you sure you can trust him?" The question was spoken softly.

"I have no choice." Faramir answered without turning to face the prince next to him, instead keeping his gaze on the courtyard outside. They were standing in the short hallway leading from the yard to the stairs leading down to the dungeons.

William had relocked the door to the stairs, taking the keys with him to give them back to the head of the guard. After that he was supposed to return to the kitchen to report for his next task. But instead he would steal off to find clothes for the prince so they could try and smuggle him through the keep dressed as just another human slave.

At least that was what Faramir had told him to do. The prince seemed to have doubts if the young slave could be trusted.

"What is there for him to gain, if he reports to the guard? A life in slavery?" Faramir continued, this time giving the prince a short glance. He winced inwardly at the likeness between him and Boromir. The same fierce green eyes, the same muscled body, even the same posture of a fighter barely relaxed. They must have had the same teacher.

The prince shrugged, the tension not easing from his body. "You're probably right." He looked at Faramir quizzically. "So what is your gain in this? Why would a pirate risk his neck to save a Gondorian prince from a place as dangerous as this?"

"I suppose your father would pay a good ransom for you, your highness." Faramir commented and grinned at the sharply indrawn breath from prince Theodred. "But that is not my reason for being here, never fear." he continued quickly. "It's a favor to a... friend."

"Whoever your friend is, he can count himself lucky that you will grant favors like this." the prince mused quietly.

Faramir smiled, considering if he should tell Theodred that it was his own brother Boromir. He decided against it though. Things would get tense enough once they got back to the ship and the prince found out his brother had no intention of going back to Gondor. If they got back.

"So how do you plan to get us out of here?" Theodred asked. "Even should they not recognize me... I don't think they will just let three human slaves walk out their gate."

"That very much depends on our company." Faramir answered, grinning as he noticed William, hurrying back across the courtyard, a bundle of clothes in his arms. "And here comes our young friend with your new attire. I hope you are good at ducking and groveling cause that's what will keep us alive now."

--

A few minutes later the heavy wooden door leading to the guest chambers where Lord Elrohir was quartered opened.

Elladan looked up from his seat by the fireplace. He had been getting more and more nervous over the course of the last days. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep up his masquerade forever. There were simply too many tiny bits of information he might have missed in the long years he had spent in the south. Things that Elrohir would know.

His hand had clenched on the hilt of his sword but he now relaxed, as Faramir held the door open for two other human slaves, carrying in bundles of wood for the fireplace.

Ignoring them, Elladan turned on his own 'slave'. "Where have you been?" he asked, the anger in his voice not faked at all. Faramir should have been back more than an hour ago from his duties in the kitchen.

Faramir carefully closed the door and then grinned at Elladan in a very unslavelike fashion.

"Down to the dungeons." he answered. "And I've even brought you a present so stop complaining."

Immediately Elladan's gaze turned to the two other humans, afraid how they would react to a slave addressing his master like this. He found one of them keeping his head low and trying hard to pretend he wasn't even there, just like a good slave should. But the other was glaring with barely veiled threat and in his stance there was nothing docile at all. It only took Elladan a moment to place where he had seen fiery green eyes like that before.

"Are you insane?!" he turned on Faramir again.

The human pirate just grinned. "I guess I must be, considering where I am." he commented but then raised a placating hand when Elladan drew breath. "I didn't plan on this, Elladan. Circumstance conspired against us. Now we have to make do with what we have."

"Fuck." Elladan muttered, again staring at the human, who had by now dropped the firewood and assumed a posture that could only be called battle ready.

"Cut it, your highness." Faramir admonished the prince. "This particular elf is on our side and he's the only chance you have to walk out of here alive so you better be nice to him."

Elladan could see the prince bristle at this demand but surprisingly the man managed to relax a fraction.

"We have about two or three hours to get out of here before they notice their precious prisoner is missing." Faramir explained.

For a few more moments Elladan and the Gondorian prince stared at another, Elladan wondering how he had managed to get himself into this situation and the prince probably doing the same. Then Elladan closed his eyes, concentrating on the matter at hand. He could well do with out being publicly tortured to death and that was what would happen to him if they were caught.

"Last time I checked our coach was still stored undisturbed in the stables down the road from the fortress." he said, opening his eyes and turning to Faramir. "I have been thinking about this anyway. What is the last thing they will expect?"

Faramir mirrored his reckless grin. "That their prisoner simply walks out of here in the bright light of day.," he answered.

"It would have been better if I had time to make a proper farewell to Lord Cirdan but I think we will have to take the risk and try to depart in a hurry." Elladan continued.

"An urgent mission from the honored Lord Cirdan, carrying important documents to wherever?" Faramir suggested.

Elladan shook his head. "Nay, won't do. Then I would be traveling with light luggage and wouldn't need two slaves to carry it. I assume that boy goes with us too?" He looked in the direction of the young slave who was still studying his feet.

Faramir nodded. "Yes, he has proven to be a great help and if we leave him it means his death." Thoughtfully the human Captain rubbed his neck. "You have received notice from home and need to go back in a hurry?" he made a second suggestion.

"Better." Elladan agreed. "They may wonder why they did not see a messenger passing their gate but we may be able to pull that off."

"Are you both mad?" the prince broke into their conversation. "This will never work! I would have thought you would have had a better plan, taking such a high risk in the first place."

Both Faramir and Elladan glared at him. "Listen, human," Elladan growled, "we got in here and that is more than any of your own people even tried. We'll get out of here as well. This is not a military operation, this is stealing. And believe me - pirates know all about that, princes don't."

"Besides - I have pulled this off before." Faramir added, grinning his trademark reckless grin. "Rescuing human prisoners from elven castles happens to be a pastime of mine."

Prince Theodred looked from one to the other, clearly wondering if maybe he would have been better off remaining in his cell but finally he shrugged. "Better to be shot down than to rot in that dungeon I suppose." he muttered but didn't sound happy about their plan either.

"Okay then, let's see what we can bundle together from this suite to make up enough luggage to justify three slaves carrying it." Faramir said and made shooing motions with his hands.

"And do collect all the silverware." Elladan added. "After all there is no reason to leave behind the loot."

--

"Are you sure you will be safe traveling without an escort, your lordship?"

Elladan's arrogant smile remained unwavering although he had to concentrate hard to keep it believable. Two or three hours Faramir had said and those had passed by now. And still the guard at the city gates of Umbar kept talking to him.

"I'll be fine." Elladan repeated. "My slave is well trained and I don't have far to go anyway. I'll pick up my entourage only a few hours away where I left them."

The guard nodded, then saluted in a perfect display of a dutiful soldier. "As you wish, your lordship." he said and gestured to the other guards to open the gates and allow the coach to pass.

At Elladan's feet, hidden from the curious eyes of the guards, the stowed away prince of Gondor and the young slave stirred uneasily and Elladan nudged the prince with a foot to remind him to keep quiet while he nodded to the guard in farewell. Then he drew the curtain in the small window shut while Faramir on the coach box smacked the horses back into motion.

Elladan leaned back in the seat, breathing deeply. They were past the gate and out of the city. Now they just had to get away far enough, before anybody suspected them. Mentally he counted hours. They would search the keep first, when they noticed their prisoner was missing. They would then notice that 'Lord Elrohir' was gone as well.

'Forgive me,' Elladan thought to his brother, 'I seem to be nothing but trouble to you'. But he was sure Elrohir would be quite able to convince the elves that it had been his criminal brother who pulled off this prank and not the respected member of elven nobility that was Elrohir.

"I can't believe this worked." prince Theodred muttered at his feet.

Elladan grinned down at him. "You better, your highness.," he said. "And take it as a lesson as well. For an elf and a human working together, nothing is impossible. We could have walked into Minas Tirith and freed an elven prisoner just as easily."

Prince Theodred tried to glare at him but his position and the thoughtful doubt in his eyes pretty much ruined the effect. Maybe he would think about the war that had been going on so long between elves and humans that the enmity between the two races was a fact seldom doubted. Maybe he would realize that an individual could always overcome or ignore customs. But Elladan doubted that this would change anything. Neither elves nor humans would let go of their age-old grudges.

He realized how much he looked forward to getting back to his ship and to the south. In a way it had been fun to pose as his brother. To be an elven noble again. But then again it had made him see all over again why he had left in the first place.

Looking down at Prince Theodred he wondered how the human noble would react to the fact that his brother Boromir had chosen the life of a pirate over that of a prince. And how Boromir would react to the pressure his brother would doubtlessly put on him to return to Gondor with him.

He hoped for Faramir that Boromir would not budge to that pressure. It would be a shame if his human friend lost his lover after all the trouble he had gone through to keep him.

 

If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Beryll

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