Malevein Part A
Jan. 28th, 2005 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jessara40k_ljHere's a fic from BtVS fandom, crossed with Forgotten Realms. I started writing it as a request for a yahoo group, any comments?
"...so that's the plan." Danilo concluded looking mostly at Elaith Craulnober, this briefing had been mostly for the Moon Elf's benefit - everyone else present had already known about the spell, it was the entire reason the resistance had rescued the elf from the ruler of the Malevein who had taken over Waterdeep and much of the surrounding countryside. The Bard felt guilty about that, Elaith had got warning of what was coming long before any other had, he'd even taken it to the Masked Lords and been ignored, but still he'd stayed in an effort to convince Danilo and Arilyn to flee so as to be able to fight later, from a position of greater strength, and been captured for his pains. Captured, enslaved, crippled and sexually abused, in ways Danilo didn't care to imagine - and yet Danilo had only thought to help him when he could be useful, and worse Elaith had understood and accepted that.
"You plan to bring someone here against their will and force them to aid us?" Elaith sounded shocked and he nibbled at his lip in discomfort. "Would not that render us as bad as those monsters who took Waterdeep and cut us off from our gods?" Then the elf flushed deep blue and bowed putting his forehead to the ground. "Forgive me, I did not mean to be insolent."
"It's alright Elaith." Danilo crouched to stroke Elaith's silver hair, it still shocked him when he realised that a scant six months ago this broken submissive creature had been one of the most notorious and cold-blooded killers in Waterdeep. And that Elaith was the only one who'd considered how their summoning would affect the summoned, who cared about the means, not merely the end of throwing the Malevein out...it scared the golden haired bard. "It was a very good question. It wouldn't do for us to summon someone only to find he wouldn't aid us, so the spell will only bring someone who is willing to come here and help."
"You must rival Elminster himself, to cast a spell that will let someone who can help us in another world know about our situation and ask his consent before bringing him here." The elf had calmed and now sat back on his heels, looking up at Danilo from lowered lashes with awe in his amber eyes. "What must I do?"
"Just kneel here, and stay still." Danilo guided Elaith to kneel at the centre of an arcane design he'd scribed on the floor. He carefully let the elf believe that his spell required informed consent from their hoped for saviour, it didn't, all it required was a wish to leave whatever situation the subject was in and a willingness to help people who needed it, but there was no reason to trouble Elaith with details.
~~~0~~~
Xander paced restlessly in the confines of his bedroom, the predator that always lurked at the back of his mind coming to the fore in a need for some physical action if he couldn't hunt his chosen prey. But he was caged by a promise he'd made after Willow had awakened all the potential Slayers, a promise that he wouldn't go on patrol without a Slayer until Giles had trained at least ten other Watchers. When he'd made that promise he'd never imagined it would be used to chain him to books, to research and to teaching the Slayers what he could of how to survive their calling, but no Slayer would take him to hunt with her, they all wished to keep him safe, save for Faith, and when they realised she would hunt with him she was sent to 'search out other Slayers'.
So now, rather than enjoy the thrill of hunting worthy prey that was one of the reasons no efforts to shake him from slaying had worked he was expected to sit quietly where it was safe and do research, moreover research that anyone could do, not the tearing apart of old spells to analyse and improve them theoretically that was the other reason he stayed. Helping and protecting people had come to lie only third in his priorities, for all that it was the first reason he aided Buffy. But he couldn't entirely blame them for assigning him such mind-numbingly boring projects, he'd hidden his understanding of magic for too long, convinced that because he could only manage the smallest of spells in his own right there was no point in showing the others that his theoretical understanding of magic exceeded Giles', let alone poor ignorant Willow's. He'd survived her magic on Kingsman's Bluff by the use of one of the clever little spells he'd designed that absorbed magic directed against him and redirected it into other channels, transmuting it into harmless forms as it did, one that was powered by the atmospheric magic of the Hellmouth and hostile magic such as Willow's. He had fully as many kills as even Buffy did, although she did not know it, no-one did, but he was denied the joy of the hunt, of being able to help fight for humanity.
*Do you want to go somewhere you can help? Where people are dying and being enslaved by monsters, and you can make a difference?* Xander knew better than to give the simple unqualified 'yes' that was his first response, instead he questioned the strange voice.
*What sort of people? And what sort of monsters?*
*Ordinary people, some good, some bad, more good than bad on the whole, inhabitants of a city ruled mostly well and by good men and women. Monsters that invaded, cut off their victims from all contact with any closer hope of help, and enslaved half the population and killed most of the other half.*
*I'm in.* Xander set up his baseline defensive spells and grabbed a cross he'd been wearing for almost seven years whenever he left wherever it was he called home at the time before stepping through the opening portal in front of him.
~~~0~~~
Elaith watched from beneath lowered lashes as a portal formed in front of him and a strange room appeared through it. A tall human grabbed a chain with some sort of amulet hanging from it and stepped calmly through the portal. The human had brown hair and eyes, no eye, he was missing his left eye and had some sort of artificial replacement, he was a bit taller than Lord Thann, as much taller as the mage was taller than Arilyn, and he was wearing the strangest clothes; black shoes of a type Elaith had never seen before, black trousers of some strange material with metal rivets set into them and a close fitting black tunic of some type. His calm could only come from vast experience with things like this and great power or skill, enough that he had no need to fear whoever had summoned him - not that he would have in any case as the mage was totally exhausted from powering the spell, barely on his feet, supported by his beloved. Elaith bowed to the ground in obeisance, hoping to pass unnoticed by the man who could well be their saviour, attracting the attention of the powerful was dangerous, not something he'd care to risk again. It proved to have the wrong effect.
"Who is that, and why is he bowing down that way?" Shock coloured the man's voice and Elaith barely resisted cringing in fear.
"He's called Elaith Craulnober, and he was enslaved by the bastards who took our city. He also knows the most about them, from some things he learned before they got here, and from being raped by their leader for six months. they did a lot of damage to him, and he's pretty badly broken. My name is Danilo Thann, and this is Arilyn Moonblade, the other elf is Kirinel Sunstar." The gold elf had been set to kneel opposite Elaith and the two of them had acted as the foci for Lord Thann to create the portal, elves being more tied to the magic of this world than humans. "Who are you if I might ask?"
"Call me Xander." The man's voice was absent, and Elaith could tell that he was moving to crouch in front of him through the confusion whirling through his mind. Hadn't the spell Lord Thann cast told Lord Xander about their situation? Why mention the pitiful scraps of knowledge Elaith had managed to gather? The rest of the resistance had made it all too clear that they weren't enough to compensate for the men they had lost in rescuing him, nor was his participation in Lord Thann's spell, although they had decided not to touch him until it was done they'd made their plans for him afterwards clear, he had no other use than to relieve the stresses of valuable members of the resistance after all. And he had no reason to believe anyone would protect him, not after he'd learned that Danilo and Arilyn wouldn't, unless he had caught Lord Xander's interest, he could only hope it was so, and that the human would be gentle - one was a better choice than many, at least if that one wasn't exceptionally cruel. "Look at me please, I won't hurt you." His voice was gentle and Elaith slowly pushed himself back up to kneel back on his heels, fixing his gaze on the man's chest.
"What is your wish Lord?"
"Don't!" Lord Xander kept his voice quiet, but he couldn't keep the word from coming out harsh. "My name is Xander, I'm not a lord of any kind. Can you tell me about these creatures that have conquered your city?"
"If it pleases you I will serve you in any way you choose." Elaith didn't mention the protection he was hoping to get, he knew better than to presume that way.
"Thanks. I'm going to need that information, and a guide to this new world for that matter. Unless you need him urgently for something else Danilo?"
"No, of course if you wish his service you can have it. I'm sorry, but this spell wiped me out. I'll show to your room, then I need to get to sleep, we can start working on things when we wake up."
"I want Elaith there as well when we make our plans, for the information he has if nothing else." Lord Xander's voice was suddenly weary and Elaith was left behind. He crawled over to a corner, hoping he could pass unnoticed, he knew Kirinel would not try to protect him, the other elf despised him, for his race, his history, and the fact that he had been crippled by his master, so he could not try to escape.
~~~0~~~
Xander had been feeling uncomfortable about just leaving the pale, scared elf behind and immediately after Danilo left him in his room he turned around to go back to make sure Elaith was alright. It was just as well he did, when he arrived he found some thug leaning over the fragile creature, stripping him of the rags he was wearing and opening his own trousers - and Elaith was cringing away as best he could.
"Never touch him again!" Xander stepped forward and pulled the man off Elaith, bringing the hyena forward for strength and throwing him into the wall. "Elaith Craulnober belongs to me, and anyone who hurts him will answer to me!" Xander blinked as he realised that claim had come straight from the most primal part of himself, the part that had hosted the hyena. He glanced away to let the elf dress himself with the rags left nearby, returning his attention to him once he was decently covered. He knelt in front of the shivering elf and reached out a hand, stopping just short of touching him. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"
"No, he didn't hurt me. I know better than to fight back, and anyway you saved me before he had a chance to get started. Thank you, I am very grateful. I..." Elaith hesitated, looking down at the ground for a moment "I can show you just how grateful if you want?"
"No!" Swift negation, Xander would never take advantage of anyone like that, sleeping with Elaith now would be no different to rape, and besides... "I prefer my lovers female, and I swore never to sleep with someone after I rescued them again after I lost my virginity to a girl I rescued from Jhe demons, only to have her try and kill me later when I tried to talk to her about something else."
"Then how am I to serve you if I am yours?" The uncertainty and fear in the elf's voice were palpable.
"To guide me through your world and culture, to tell me about these invaders you need my help with, to help me figure out how the magic of this world compares to that of mine - at least if you know a little of the magic here?"
"A bit my lord." Elaith was calming from Xander's words and actions, so he didn't address the matter of the title he'd been given and didn't want. "But..." and now he was nervous "unless I am with you at all times, or in your room the men will try to use me, at least at first."
"Then I'll keep you with me, except when you're with someone who'll keep you safe." Elaith's story was giving Xander doubts that he should help these people, but...this was wartime apparently, only the toughest would survive, and the hard times would be stripping away their scruples. Xander stood and held out a hand to help the silver haired elf to his feet.
"I can't stand, not without support, and I certainly cannot walk by myself my lord." He sounded ashamed of that, but Xander just lifted him into his arms, carrying the surprisingly light elf to his room.
~~~0~~~
Elaith felt a frission of fear when Lord Xander dropped him on his bed and sat beside him, but the human had refused to use him sexually, he'd said he was only interested in females after rescuing him, and had promised his protection. Elaith knew he was in trouble, he was rapidly falling in love with this strange man who was sensitive to his fears, who acted as if a pleasure slave could still feel modesty. It wasn't just gratitude, he was certain of that, being around Lord Xander gave him a peace he had only ever felt around Princess Amnestria, or occasionally her mother Queen Amlaruil. He'd never felt the same peace around Arilyn, his one time betrothed's daughter, for all that he'd once thought to court her, for the resemblance as much as anything.
"The first thing I need to do is check that I can still access my dimensional pocket." Elaith understood every word that his master said, but he didn't understand the sentence as a whole. It didn't matter, his master did something with the amulet he'd brought, a cross-shaped piece of metal with the bottom arm longer than the other three, and began pulling out spellbooks, weapons, both hand weapons and something else that still looked like a weapon, clothes, mostly black leather, but there was a vest made of something else, something strange. "Kevlar," Lord Xander explained when he saw Elaith looking at the vest and reaching hesitantly to touch it. "it's designed for use against guns, but it turns a knife-point too, and it should work more or less against arrows and quarrels." Then he handed one of the spellbooks to Elaith. "This contains some minor spells, the useless ones to be honest. I want you to read through it, if you can read my language and tell me how well they fit into the magic system here. If you've got the power you can try to cast one if you want, they're harmless too, only useful to see how my magic works here when cast by someone else."
"Then you have no problems using it yourself?" Elaith was uncertain he had the right to question his new master, but this one at least seemed primarily interested in his mind, rather than using his body as his previous masters had, and he would no doubt desire proof that he could think.
"Yes and no. What I could cast back in my world I can still cast, but I have limited reserves of power and I cannot cast the really useful spells, not at the moment." Lord Xander bit his lower lip as if uncertain for a moment. "The spell I'm thinking of as being most useful is something I plan to use to get more magical ability, possibly including the ability to heal you, at least if I remember correctly. The spells I normally use are low on power, but they can draw on ambient magic to maintain themselves if necessary, and they are versatile, I designed them that way."
"Our spells can be versatile in the hands of a master, but not really when an amateur uses them." Elaith made the comparison quietly, thinking about how much skill his master had to have to speak casually of creating his own spells. He found a problem as soon as he opened the book. "Forgive me, my lord, but I cannot read your language. The portal spell Lord Thann used to summon you must have given you our tongue, well Common anyway."
"Ah, yes I see. I hadn't thought about it." There was a frown on his master's face, and he had a distant look, almost as if he were meditating, or something similar. "One of my spells will exchange knowledge of languages, if you trust me."
"Of course I trust you my lord. I am under your protection am I not? And, being around you gives me a sense of peace." Elaith was perfectly serious, so he didn't understand why his master laughed at that. But Lord Xander accepted his inadequate words as consent and picked up a knife, cutting his own hand across the palm, and then taking Elaith's hand made a matching cut there. Finally he laid their hands together and said a few words - and Elaith could understand all the strange languages that his master could - including more than one that would be spoken by demons. But he was puzzled by his master's actions. "Do you keep such an obscure spell in your mind at all times my lord?"
"I created it, I can use it at any time. Are you saying that spellcasters here can only cast a spell once before they have to study it again?"
"Yes my lord. Perhaps it will be different with your magic." And Elaith returned to his task, studying the first spell in the book, an equivalent of faerie fire.
~~~0~~~
Xander concentrated on sorting through his survival kit for the things that would be most useful here while his new pack member studied what he termed 'the display spells', flashy things that had little to no practical use, and could be cast with a minimum of energy. His guns were of minimal value here he decided, magic was a far more important ranged weapon, and besides the ammunition was probably irreplaceable in this world, so he returned them through his cross. He'd never attained more than minimal proficiency with crossbows, or the more conventional bow, of any sort, so he'd never bothered to store them, but he did keep out a bandoleer of throwing knives that he was pretty good with, besides an axe - he couldn't really use a sword after he'd lost his eye. The rest of his weapons, and most of his spellbooks went back into the dimensional pocket, leaving only the book Elaith was studying from. His motorcycle leathers would work well enough as light armour, adding in the kevlar vest would make it even more effective, so he left them out along with a change of clothes, but he didn't need the jewels he'd collected as a fallback cash reserve - profits from looting vampire and demon lairs.
Finally he looked up at Elaith, to find the elf seemingly stuck on one page, going over and over a single spell obsessively.
"What seems to be the problem Elaith?"
"I can understand the basis of the spell more or less, but it doesn't 'feel' right, I can remember what the spell requires, but there's no sense of power there, and normally when we memorise a spell there is a sense of power, ready for us to use it when we need it, at least in the system of magic I'm trained in."
"Oh. It doesn't work that way with my spells. Just try casting it cold, if that doesn't work there's one more thing I can try. I really need it to be possible for people here to be able to use my spells, as one of them will give people I trust a considerable power boost, but I don't have the power to cast it myself."
"But, if you teach the spell to another how can you be certain he will not use it empower people you do not trust?"
"I'll have Danilo cast it on me first, to give me a large power reserve, among other things - at least if you think he is trustworthy. Then I'll use another spell or something similar to make him forget it. Besides I've put certain limitations in place on the variant I'm going to teach him, and he won't know exactly what they are. One benefit of this spell is it might give me the ability to heal you."
"Thank you my lord." The elf bowed his head, and it looked as if he was trying to cast the spell Xander had seen him try to memorise, but he failed. "Forgive me, I cannot master your spells." Almost all of Xander's spells only required words to cast them, and possibly blood, he far preferred that to relying on components that might not be there in an emergency situation, but the spell he'd privately labelled 'Halloween' relied on the subjects wearing the appropriate costumes, and knowing who they were supposed to be - and a lot of possibilities were ruled out in his spell.
"It's alright. We'll exchange knowledge of magical theory, although not spells. If that works I can do the same with Danilo. At least," Xander suddenly realised Elaith had failed to answer his earlier implied question, "is he trustworthy?"
"Yes, he is most trustworthy in most things." Elaith shrugged. "But he successfully kept most of Waterdeep, this city, convinced he was a useless fop, when in truth he is a Harper, an agent for Balance, for years."
"And who else do you think can be trusted with the power this spell can give?"
"Only Arilyn his beloved." Elaith sounded as if there was something about Arilyn's name that upset him, but Xander pushed that aside and cast the spell to exchange knowledge of magical theory - almost identical to that for languages, with a slight change in mindset and wording. Elaith was able to cast Xander's spells easily then, due to the sheer amount of magical theory he'd studied, whereas Xander got the short end of the deal, as Elaith's abilities were minimal. But then he had benefited more from the language spell, as all the tongues Elaith knew were in use in this new world.
"Good. Now lie down and get some sleep." Xander swiftly stored his things and cast a ward on them then pulled Elaith to lie inside his protective embrace, protecting a weaker pack member.
~~~0~~~
Danilo woke slowly in Arilyn's embrace, a bit confused about what had happened the day before, but he gradually remembered meeting Xander, through the headache of the backlash from reaching across the planes and searching for a hero who could save the city, and probably the rest of the world too. From what Elaith had said the Malevein in Waterdeep were an advance scout unit, if they were wiped out the rest of the Malevein would stay away, if they managed to destroy the whole resistance and start expanding their territory a full colonial effort would follow. The benefit to the Malevein in the scout unit was pretty high rank in the new colony if it was successful, especially for their leader, the Malevein who'd ended up owning Elaith.
"What time is it Arilyn?" He hoped that he'd be able to function by the time he needed to meet with Xander and explain things, although getting Elaith to do a lot of that would help.
"Just after dawn." He'd cast the spell to summon Xander at noon the previous day, so he'd been out for a long time. Danilo hadn't really understood just how much power he'd need to cast that spell, but it was brought home to him now, with a vengeance, he really didn't think he wanted to try casting another spell for a week at least and he'd be in pain for the next two or three days. Unless Xander specifically forbade it the rest of the resistance could continue their normal operations while Danilo recovered, and their hero made his plans - Danilo knew that his spells didn't work too well against the Malevein, so he'd mostly been restricted to property damage and a distraction. His magical contribution had been far from essential in any of the raids he'd participated in, what he'd supplied was the leadership and the planning needed, and he'd worked out who they needed to successfully destroy the invaders.
"What happened with Xander?"
"I don't know." It sounded as if it stuck in her craw for Arilyn to admit that. "I stayed here with you all the time you were sleeping." He knew that his elven lover hated the human vermin who made up most of the resistance, and the few elves and dwarves involved weren't much better, but she would have felt it her duty to take care of their guest, even though he had to be more than capable of looking after himself and she had agreed to let Danilo draw from her to power his spell if he needed to. One reason they hadn't tried to rescue Elaith before this was that he'd been crippled by the time the resistance was organised enough to do so, and rescuing him would have just meant taking him from one place where he was being raped, to another, with different rapists. Unless they claimed him as their property, and were vicious enough in defending their exclusive rights to him that no-one else would dare touch him. And neither Danilo or Arilyn had it in them to be that vicious - or rather they did, but they didn't trust themselves to control that viciousness if they let it out, and were afraid that they'd hurt him even more. They'd both found themselves growing crueller and colder since the Malevein had killed Laeral and Khelben 'Blackstaff' Arunsun and Khelben had transferred much of his power to Danilo in desperation. It was even harder for Danilo to keep control because of the sudden new power he had access to - but the mere fact that spellcasting had become so limited in its use had helped to keep him in check.
"Then would you go and check please?" Danilo sat up slowly and painfully. "I'd do it myself, but I really don't feel up to it." Arilyn was in much better condition than he was, but then she'd just supplied power, he'd been casting the spell.
"Of course Dan." She didn't need to go far, one of the fighters was waiting outside their door, with a message from Xander, who had already exerted his influence over them all somehow.
"Lord Thann, Xander asks if you could meet him at noon, or sunset if noon would be inconvenient for you."
"Sunset would be better." Danilo knew better than to outright say that he needed more rest, or even to imply it in front of one of his men, so he pulled Arilyn into an embrace instead, and the man retreated. "I'm sorry for using you like that, but..."
"I understand, we can't show weakness. I need to sleep for a while now, I didn't dare without you awake, or wards. Can you stand guard for awhile?"
"Yeah, I don't need to sleep, just to rest, and perhaps meditate, to try and control the pain." Danilo stood, leaving the bed to Arilyn and pushed a chair in front of the door, to act as a crude but effective alarm before he started to meditate.
~~~0~~~
Elaith emerged from reverie wrapped in someone's protective embrace. For a moment he wasn't sure whose, or why, and stiffened in fear, but then he remembered that his new master had told him to share his bed, and promised not to take him, at all, had in fact expressed a total lack of desire for him. He relaxed, and realised that his master was already awake and aware of his reactions.
"Master?" Elaith trembled at his presumption in addressing Xander first, any of his prior masters would have beaten him for doing so, he knew that Xander wouldn't do something like that, but his actions still scared him. He'd been conditioned to submit to his master, and remain almost passive, only acting as they wished far too well to throw it off easily, and he needed to have a master now, at least to some degree. It had shocked him that the Malevein had managed to break him so easily, but he'd been crippled physically almost right off - after all a bed slave doesn't need to be able to walk, just move pleasingly when he's fucked - and then his first master had cast some sort of spell that ripped most of Elaith's magical ability from him, using the power to condition him to respond as he wanted him to, and taking a lot of his knowledge of magic too, replacing it with some of the skills a bed slave should have. The spell hadn't changed his sexual orientation for some reason, either because he didn't have a strong gender preference, although he normally preferred females slightly, or more likely because his first master hadn't cared about whether Elaith was comfortable sleeping with another male or not.
"What do you mean 'master'? I'm not your master. Where did you get that idea from?" Xander's voice was harsh, and he sat up pulling away from Elaith. Shivering he rolled onto his back to address his master, carefully not meeting his eyes.
"You said that I belong to you, so that makes you my master doesn't it?" Elaith couldn't understand why that form of address displeased his master so much, but he tried to explain how he felt as best he could. He knew he was just clinging on to the first person who'd really been nice to him since he'd been captured, but he couldn't help it. "I can't think of you as anything else but my master, the one who owns me. I...the first Malevein to own me, he ripped a lot of my magic out of me. Before that I was a lot more powerful, not truly spectacular, but powerful enough that I could use my magic in a fight if I needed to, and I warded all my houses myself. And he made it so that I'd need someone to own me, using my own magic to do it."
"Oh! We'll try to find some way to reverse the damage he did to you as soon as I can then. And the spells that give me a magic boost can give you one too." Lord Xander reached down and stroked Elaith's hair soothingly, Elaith barely managed to keep from purring - he couldn't keep from leaning into his master's touch.
"Th-thank you, but you don't need to do that. I've come to terms with how I've been changed, I don't want my problem to distract you from helping us with the Malevein. And besides I feel safe now, belonging to you, I haven't for at least fifty years, I don't want to lose that. Also, I think all the spell did to me was accelerate the effects of living as a slave, they would have broken me even without magic, just not so fast, so there isn't any spell for you to reverse. After you have dealt with the Malevein will be soon enough, unless my behaviour displeases you?" He realised that even though his master had been so kind to him his dependency might be making him uncomfortable.
"Not that much. And you're right, it can wait until after the Malevein are defeated." Lord Xander paused, as if he was uncomfortable with the next topic. "If we fail to defeat them, do you want to live, as their slave, or die by your own hand or mine? I would choose death myself, but I won't question your choice whatever it is."
"I...don't know. Might I think about it?" Elaith realised how stupid it was of him not to have considered that after he'd been rescued by the resistance, but he'd been too scared to really think straight, he kept expecting his last master to try to get him back, Drachar had been very possessive of him after all.
"Of course you may. It's good to put as much thought as you can into stuff like that." Lord Xander smiled down at Elaith, and the elf felt a sense of warmth in his stomach. "I discussed something similar with my lover a few years back, where I lived was overrun with vampires and we discussed whether we wanted to be turned and cursed with a soul if we were dying or not. I didn't want to, but Ahn did. Do all elves sleep with their eyes open?"
"It isn't exactly sleep my lord, it is called reverie, I do not know how to explain it." Elaith felt ashamed at being unable to convey such a basic tenet of elven life to his master, but he tried not to let it show and kept basking in the attention his master was showing him.
~~~0~~~
Xander smiled down at his pack mate as the elf revelled in the attention he was showing him, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Elaith to make him so desperate for touch. The elf had whimpered in loss earlier when he'd woken first, perhaps three hours before dawn and grabbed one of the four men hanging around outside his room, sending him to tell Danilo when to meet him - after they'd attacked him in a group, and Xander had used the skills bought fighting vampires and demons to knock the others out. He hadn't dared leave his new pack mate any longer, and Xander had spent the rest of the night holding Elaith to comfort and reassure him, and meditating as best he could until he felt Elaith wake up, interrupted once by the messenger returning to give Danilo's answer. It was just as well that he hadn't still been aroused, because that would have scared the poor creature no end, or made him think that he needed to relieve Xander of his arousal to 'earn' his protection. The fact that elves here didn't need to sleep was fascinating, something he hadn't heard of before, and he hoped this 'reverie' was enjoyable, he wished he could find out for himself, but he knew that was out of the question.
Reluctantly he stopped petting the elf, it soothed him as well, but he had work to do and this was a distraction. But first, he sniffed the air discretely, realising that Elaith was filthy, probably an attempt to make the men here reluctant to use him, and to avoid being vulnerable while he was bathing, or washing himself, or whatever was available here. But Danilo, Arilyn and that other elf had looked pretty clean, so he was betting that there were some sort of washing facilities at least.
"Do you want to get yourself clean? I'll guard you while you bathe, or whatever it is you can do here. But you do need to show me where we can go for that." He resisted the urge to just lift the older male, knowing that it would make him feel powerless and controlled rather than protected.
"Please." Elaith lifted his arms, reaching out for Xander with total trust. "There hasn't been anyone willing to take me to the bathing chambers, well no one I'd trust, and most of the men here don't really care about staying clean." So he was wrong about the reasons for Elaith's current condition. Xander smiled again and lifted him, cradling the elf to his body as he walked through the halls, once very well appointed, now badly damaged most likely by the current inhabitants. "Just down this corridor. This used to be one of my businesses, an inn, until the Malevein arrived. They've ignored it because it's not that impressive on the outside, it catered to criminals, and other supposed undesirables, such as rebel drow."
"Drow are undesirables?" Xander wasn't entirely certain what drow were, but he wanted to know.
"Yes and no my lord. Drow are elves with black skin and white hair, mostly they live below the surface and worship an evil goddess, and they have a reputation for being evil, one that is well earned. But the ones who rebel against their society are not always evil, some worship a good goddess, and are no more evil than surface elves, normal surface elves are, others just don't like being abused by the priestesses and are morally no different to criminals of any other race. This is the bathing chamber my lord. I just hope the spell maintaining it wasn't disrupted."
"What sort of spell?" Xander was looking down at Elaith as he entered the bathroom, so he didn't really notice what it was like until he looked up, and whistled in awe at the pool set into the marble floor.
"A spell that keeps the water constantly circulating and replaced by clean water. It looks as if it still works my lord." And it did, Xander could see from the way the surface moved that the water wasn't just still below the surface.
"Do you need to take a piss or anything before you get clean?" Xander'd used the pot he found beneath the bed when he woke up, and had the first of the men he'd knocked out to wake up empty it for him.
"Please my lord, yes." Elaith refused to look at him, keeping his head bowed, but he did point out the toilet, hidden behind a screen. Xander gave the elf privacy to relieve himself before picking him up again and carrying him to the pool.
He lowered Elaith to the floor by the pool and turned his back so the elf could undress in some semblance of privacy. "You do not need to do that my lord. And I thought that you wanted to bathe yourself, why not join me?" The elf shivered noticeably. "I...am not certain I am capable of bathing by myself any longer. The Malevein have some soldiers, people of the city who joined them willingly, or at least serve them willingly now, and they were sometimes rewarded by being ordered to bathe me, that or my master bathed me himself as foreplay."
Xander stripped, then knelt to remove the rags Elaith was wearing, lifting him and carrying him into the pool before laying him down and offering him some soap. They bathed in silence, Xander ignoring the times Elaith seemed to be aroused and helping him as he needed. Then he got out and dried them both off, repressing the slight arousal he felt from the way Elaith rubbed up against his groin unconsciously. Glancing around nervously he noticed a pile of robes lying in one corner and snagged two of them, one for Elaith and one for himself, at least to get them back to his room.
~~~0~~~
Elaith lay back on the bed in his master's room, wrapping the robe he was wearing tightly around his body. He didn't feel too happy about wearing just a robe, it made him feel too vulnerable, but he was sure Lord Xander would have thought of that and would tell him what to wear.
"Shit! You don't have any decent clothes do you?" Elaith opened his mouth to answer, but his master forestalled him, answering his own question. "Of course you don't, or you'd have been wearing them. Give me a few minutes and I'll let you pick from some of my clothes."
"Thank you my lord." Elaith kept his eyes cast down submissively as his master pulled out more of those strange trousers and tunics, the trousers blue this time, and the tunics many colours, and then some looser, soft black trousers and a loose black shirt. "My lord, unless you wish to wear these I would prefer them to your other clothes."
"Of course you can wear them. I prefer my jeans anyway. Any reason in particular you prefer these?" Lord Xander was putting the rest of the clothes away as he spoke, looking down into Elaith's eyes, rather than even glancing at his body.
"They are softer, looser, and I might be able to dress myself in them without aid. It has been too long since I was permitted to dress myself, except in things that display more of me than they hide." The rags he'd been wearing before were the remnants of the last outfit Drachar had put him into, and the uniform of the guard Danilo had killed while rescuing him.
"I see. I won't look at you then." And Lord Xander immediately turned away from him, waiting patiently for Elaith to change into his clothes. Elaith had pretty much given up on retaining any sense of modesty a month into his captivity, but it had still made him feel dirty every time he was dressed in something that made his purpose obvious, and the stares everyone here but Danilo and Arilyn directed at him, even the only other elf, made him feel even more soiled. It was all too obvious that the only thing they thought he could possibly be good for now was sex. Everything Lord Xander did was making Elaith fall deeper and deeper in love with him, and he cursed the fact that he was male, meaning he had absolutely no chance to be with his master. The joke was that before he'd met Lord Xander he would have been grateful to be in just this situation, under the protection of someone strong, and not required to offer his body in exchange, and now he wished Lord Xander would demand his services in bed. It was a bit of a struggle to get into the trousers, but he did manage eventually.
"I'm dressed my lord." Elaith had not considered how good he would look in the clothes his master lent him, but he did think that they suited him, making him look more fragile, and hopefully making his master more protective, which was positive attention at least. His master didn't seem to notice his appearance, not consciously anyway, but that didn't matter, as long as it did not anger him.
"You can keep those, but you need some more clothes, stuff that fits you properly." As he spoke Lord Xander dressed himself, totally lacking the modesty he attributed to Elaith, who kept his eyes cast down throughout, although he did sneak glances from time to time. "Is there any easy way to get them, or will I have to make a raid to steal them?" It sounded as though the man was seriously considering leading a raid against the Malevein just to get decent clothes for his property. "I've got some jewels, and that sort of thing if I can buy them without raising suspicion."
"About half of the Malevein's slaves have some degree of freedom, no a bit more than half. You could probably pass for one of the guards assigned to the lesser harems, the ones kept to reward trusted native servants, if you tried, and 'requisition' clothes for an elven pet. They would probably assume you wanted to have a more responsive toy when you enjoyed the privileges of guarding a lesser harem and thought decent clothes might get you that." Elaith bit his lower lip and finally allowed himself to look up. "If you could show me what you have as trade goods I might be able to pick out something suitable for you to use to bribe whoever you get the clothes from to stay quiet, as if you didn't want the Malevein, or anyone else, to know there was one bed-slave you were interested in particularly."
"Ok." Lord Xander sat down beside Elaith on the bed, lifting his cross and pulling jewels and jewellery from it somehow - Elaith knew that at one point he'd understood in theory how to do that, at least in outline, but he didn't now. Most of the things his master laid on the bed Elaith immediately dismissed as being too valuable for his master to possess according to the cover story he'd come up with, and certainly too valuable to waste on a bribe for a storekeeper. The jewellery was almost all gold, from '18 carat' to '24 carat' some standard of purity from Lord Xander's world, and Elaith dismissed that out of hand, as he did the loose jewels. But there were a few silver pieces, almost pure silver, and eventually Elaith picked out a heavy silver bracelet that would work.
"This is the sort of thing a guard of that rank might have, and be willing to give away to keep a seduction quiet. But the clothes you are wearing will not work. they are too exotic, and possibly too expensive and well made for a guard to plausibly be wearing them. Some sort of armour would work, mercenaries buy the best armour they can afford, so the higher quality of what you have wouldn't be out of place. And they get their armour from all over, so no one will think twice about it being exotic, that is if you have any armour."
"Will this do?" Lord Xander held up some leather clothes, all in black, with some metal on, but not enough to make it too noticeable. "And I'll need to carry a weapon won't I? An axe would be best."
"I think I need to see it on to really judge, but it looks right." His master stripped off and pulled the leathers on immediately at his words, and he looked dangerous wearing them. On receiving Elaith's approval he changed back again, and it looked as if something had just occurred to him.
"Can I leave you safely with Danilo and Arilyn?"
"I think so yes."
"Good." Lord Xander lifted Elaith into his arms. "I need to pick up the clothes I was wearing, and wash them too for that matter. Direct me to their room."
Danilo was sitting meditating when Lord Xander knocked on the door, he'd also given one of the men they'd passed orders to bring some food to his room in about an hour. "Take care of Elaith, I'll be coming to pick him up inside of an hour." The gentleness with which Lord Xander laid him on the bed contrasted with the brusqueness of his words and he only waited for the mage's agreement before leaving.
~~~0~~~
"...so that's the plan." Danilo concluded looking mostly at Elaith Craulnober, this briefing had been mostly for the Moon Elf's benefit - everyone else present had already known about the spell, it was the entire reason the resistance had rescued the elf from the ruler of the Malevein who had taken over Waterdeep and much of the surrounding countryside. The Bard felt guilty about that, Elaith had got warning of what was coming long before any other had, he'd even taken it to the Masked Lords and been ignored, but still he'd stayed in an effort to convince Danilo and Arilyn to flee so as to be able to fight later, from a position of greater strength, and been captured for his pains. Captured, enslaved, crippled and sexually abused, in ways Danilo didn't care to imagine - and yet Danilo had only thought to help him when he could be useful, and worse Elaith had understood and accepted that.
"You plan to bring someone here against their will and force them to aid us?" Elaith sounded shocked and he nibbled at his lip in discomfort. "Would not that render us as bad as those monsters who took Waterdeep and cut us off from our gods?" Then the elf flushed deep blue and bowed putting his forehead to the ground. "Forgive me, I did not mean to be insolent."
"It's alright Elaith." Danilo crouched to stroke Elaith's silver hair, it still shocked him when he realised that a scant six months ago this broken submissive creature had been one of the most notorious and cold-blooded killers in Waterdeep. And that Elaith was the only one who'd considered how their summoning would affect the summoned, who cared about the means, not merely the end of throwing the Malevein out...it scared the golden haired bard. "It was a very good question. It wouldn't do for us to summon someone only to find he wouldn't aid us, so the spell will only bring someone who is willing to come here and help."
"You must rival Elminster himself, to cast a spell that will let someone who can help us in another world know about our situation and ask his consent before bringing him here." The elf had calmed and now sat back on his heels, looking up at Danilo from lowered lashes with awe in his amber eyes. "What must I do?"
"Just kneel here, and stay still." Danilo guided Elaith to kneel at the centre of an arcane design he'd scribed on the floor. He carefully let the elf believe that his spell required informed consent from their hoped for saviour, it didn't, all it required was a wish to leave whatever situation the subject was in and a willingness to help people who needed it, but there was no reason to trouble Elaith with details.
~~~0~~~
Xander paced restlessly in the confines of his bedroom, the predator that always lurked at the back of his mind coming to the fore in a need for some physical action if he couldn't hunt his chosen prey. But he was caged by a promise he'd made after Willow had awakened all the potential Slayers, a promise that he wouldn't go on patrol without a Slayer until Giles had trained at least ten other Watchers. When he'd made that promise he'd never imagined it would be used to chain him to books, to research and to teaching the Slayers what he could of how to survive their calling, but no Slayer would take him to hunt with her, they all wished to keep him safe, save for Faith, and when they realised she would hunt with him she was sent to 'search out other Slayers'.
So now, rather than enjoy the thrill of hunting worthy prey that was one of the reasons no efforts to shake him from slaying had worked he was expected to sit quietly where it was safe and do research, moreover research that anyone could do, not the tearing apart of old spells to analyse and improve them theoretically that was the other reason he stayed. Helping and protecting people had come to lie only third in his priorities, for all that it was the first reason he aided Buffy. But he couldn't entirely blame them for assigning him such mind-numbingly boring projects, he'd hidden his understanding of magic for too long, convinced that because he could only manage the smallest of spells in his own right there was no point in showing the others that his theoretical understanding of magic exceeded Giles', let alone poor ignorant Willow's. He'd survived her magic on Kingsman's Bluff by the use of one of the clever little spells he'd designed that absorbed magic directed against him and redirected it into other channels, transmuting it into harmless forms as it did, one that was powered by the atmospheric magic of the Hellmouth and hostile magic such as Willow's. He had fully as many kills as even Buffy did, although she did not know it, no-one did, but he was denied the joy of the hunt, of being able to help fight for humanity.
*Do you want to go somewhere you can help? Where people are dying and being enslaved by monsters, and you can make a difference?* Xander knew better than to give the simple unqualified 'yes' that was his first response, instead he questioned the strange voice.
*What sort of people? And what sort of monsters?*
*Ordinary people, some good, some bad, more good than bad on the whole, inhabitants of a city ruled mostly well and by good men and women. Monsters that invaded, cut off their victims from all contact with any closer hope of help, and enslaved half the population and killed most of the other half.*
*I'm in.* Xander set up his baseline defensive spells and grabbed a cross he'd been wearing for almost seven years whenever he left wherever it was he called home at the time before stepping through the opening portal in front of him.
~~~0~~~
Elaith watched from beneath lowered lashes as a portal formed in front of him and a strange room appeared through it. A tall human grabbed a chain with some sort of amulet hanging from it and stepped calmly through the portal. The human had brown hair and eyes, no eye, he was missing his left eye and had some sort of artificial replacement, he was a bit taller than Lord Thann, as much taller as the mage was taller than Arilyn, and he was wearing the strangest clothes; black shoes of a type Elaith had never seen before, black trousers of some strange material with metal rivets set into them and a close fitting black tunic of some type. His calm could only come from vast experience with things like this and great power or skill, enough that he had no need to fear whoever had summoned him - not that he would have in any case as the mage was totally exhausted from powering the spell, barely on his feet, supported by his beloved. Elaith bowed to the ground in obeisance, hoping to pass unnoticed by the man who could well be their saviour, attracting the attention of the powerful was dangerous, not something he'd care to risk again. It proved to have the wrong effect.
"Who is that, and why is he bowing down that way?" Shock coloured the man's voice and Elaith barely resisted cringing in fear.
"He's called Elaith Craulnober, and he was enslaved by the bastards who took our city. He also knows the most about them, from some things he learned before they got here, and from being raped by their leader for six months. they did a lot of damage to him, and he's pretty badly broken. My name is Danilo Thann, and this is Arilyn Moonblade, the other elf is Kirinel Sunstar." The gold elf had been set to kneel opposite Elaith and the two of them had acted as the foci for Lord Thann to create the portal, elves being more tied to the magic of this world than humans. "Who are you if I might ask?"
"Call me Xander." The man's voice was absent, and Elaith could tell that he was moving to crouch in front of him through the confusion whirling through his mind. Hadn't the spell Lord Thann cast told Lord Xander about their situation? Why mention the pitiful scraps of knowledge Elaith had managed to gather? The rest of the resistance had made it all too clear that they weren't enough to compensate for the men they had lost in rescuing him, nor was his participation in Lord Thann's spell, although they had decided not to touch him until it was done they'd made their plans for him afterwards clear, he had no other use than to relieve the stresses of valuable members of the resistance after all. And he had no reason to believe anyone would protect him, not after he'd learned that Danilo and Arilyn wouldn't, unless he had caught Lord Xander's interest, he could only hope it was so, and that the human would be gentle - one was a better choice than many, at least if that one wasn't exceptionally cruel. "Look at me please, I won't hurt you." His voice was gentle and Elaith slowly pushed himself back up to kneel back on his heels, fixing his gaze on the man's chest.
"What is your wish Lord?"
"Don't!" Lord Xander kept his voice quiet, but he couldn't keep the word from coming out harsh. "My name is Xander, I'm not a lord of any kind. Can you tell me about these creatures that have conquered your city?"
"If it pleases you I will serve you in any way you choose." Elaith didn't mention the protection he was hoping to get, he knew better than to presume that way.
"Thanks. I'm going to need that information, and a guide to this new world for that matter. Unless you need him urgently for something else Danilo?"
"No, of course if you wish his service you can have it. I'm sorry, but this spell wiped me out. I'll show to your room, then I need to get to sleep, we can start working on things when we wake up."
"I want Elaith there as well when we make our plans, for the information he has if nothing else." Lord Xander's voice was suddenly weary and Elaith was left behind. He crawled over to a corner, hoping he could pass unnoticed, he knew Kirinel would not try to protect him, the other elf despised him, for his race, his history, and the fact that he had been crippled by his master, so he could not try to escape.
~~~0~~~
Xander had been feeling uncomfortable about just leaving the pale, scared elf behind and immediately after Danilo left him in his room he turned around to go back to make sure Elaith was alright. It was just as well he did, when he arrived he found some thug leaning over the fragile creature, stripping him of the rags he was wearing and opening his own trousers - and Elaith was cringing away as best he could.
"Never touch him again!" Xander stepped forward and pulled the man off Elaith, bringing the hyena forward for strength and throwing him into the wall. "Elaith Craulnober belongs to me, and anyone who hurts him will answer to me!" Xander blinked as he realised that claim had come straight from the most primal part of himself, the part that had hosted the hyena. He glanced away to let the elf dress himself with the rags left nearby, returning his attention to him once he was decently covered. He knelt in front of the shivering elf and reached out a hand, stopping just short of touching him. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"
"No, he didn't hurt me. I know better than to fight back, and anyway you saved me before he had a chance to get started. Thank you, I am very grateful. I..." Elaith hesitated, looking down at the ground for a moment "I can show you just how grateful if you want?"
"No!" Swift negation, Xander would never take advantage of anyone like that, sleeping with Elaith now would be no different to rape, and besides... "I prefer my lovers female, and I swore never to sleep with someone after I rescued them again after I lost my virginity to a girl I rescued from Jhe demons, only to have her try and kill me later when I tried to talk to her about something else."
"Then how am I to serve you if I am yours?" The uncertainty and fear in the elf's voice were palpable.
"To guide me through your world and culture, to tell me about these invaders you need my help with, to help me figure out how the magic of this world compares to that of mine - at least if you know a little of the magic here?"
"A bit my lord." Elaith was calming from Xander's words and actions, so he didn't address the matter of the title he'd been given and didn't want. "But..." and now he was nervous "unless I am with you at all times, or in your room the men will try to use me, at least at first."
"Then I'll keep you with me, except when you're with someone who'll keep you safe." Elaith's story was giving Xander doubts that he should help these people, but...this was wartime apparently, only the toughest would survive, and the hard times would be stripping away their scruples. Xander stood and held out a hand to help the silver haired elf to his feet.
"I can't stand, not without support, and I certainly cannot walk by myself my lord." He sounded ashamed of that, but Xander just lifted him into his arms, carrying the surprisingly light elf to his room.
~~~0~~~
Elaith felt a frission of fear when Lord Xander dropped him on his bed and sat beside him, but the human had refused to use him sexually, he'd said he was only interested in females after rescuing him, and had promised his protection. Elaith knew he was in trouble, he was rapidly falling in love with this strange man who was sensitive to his fears, who acted as if a pleasure slave could still feel modesty. It wasn't just gratitude, he was certain of that, being around Lord Xander gave him a peace he had only ever felt around Princess Amnestria, or occasionally her mother Queen Amlaruil. He'd never felt the same peace around Arilyn, his one time betrothed's daughter, for all that he'd once thought to court her, for the resemblance as much as anything.
"The first thing I need to do is check that I can still access my dimensional pocket." Elaith understood every word that his master said, but he didn't understand the sentence as a whole. It didn't matter, his master did something with the amulet he'd brought, a cross-shaped piece of metal with the bottom arm longer than the other three, and began pulling out spellbooks, weapons, both hand weapons and something else that still looked like a weapon, clothes, mostly black leather, but there was a vest made of something else, something strange. "Kevlar," Lord Xander explained when he saw Elaith looking at the vest and reaching hesitantly to touch it. "it's designed for use against guns, but it turns a knife-point too, and it should work more or less against arrows and quarrels." Then he handed one of the spellbooks to Elaith. "This contains some minor spells, the useless ones to be honest. I want you to read through it, if you can read my language and tell me how well they fit into the magic system here. If you've got the power you can try to cast one if you want, they're harmless too, only useful to see how my magic works here when cast by someone else."
"Then you have no problems using it yourself?" Elaith was uncertain he had the right to question his new master, but this one at least seemed primarily interested in his mind, rather than using his body as his previous masters had, and he would no doubt desire proof that he could think.
"Yes and no. What I could cast back in my world I can still cast, but I have limited reserves of power and I cannot cast the really useful spells, not at the moment." Lord Xander bit his lower lip as if uncertain for a moment. "The spell I'm thinking of as being most useful is something I plan to use to get more magical ability, possibly including the ability to heal you, at least if I remember correctly. The spells I normally use are low on power, but they can draw on ambient magic to maintain themselves if necessary, and they are versatile, I designed them that way."
"Our spells can be versatile in the hands of a master, but not really when an amateur uses them." Elaith made the comparison quietly, thinking about how much skill his master had to have to speak casually of creating his own spells. He found a problem as soon as he opened the book. "Forgive me, my lord, but I cannot read your language. The portal spell Lord Thann used to summon you must have given you our tongue, well Common anyway."
"Ah, yes I see. I hadn't thought about it." There was a frown on his master's face, and he had a distant look, almost as if he were meditating, or something similar. "One of my spells will exchange knowledge of languages, if you trust me."
"Of course I trust you my lord. I am under your protection am I not? And, being around you gives me a sense of peace." Elaith was perfectly serious, so he didn't understand why his master laughed at that. But Lord Xander accepted his inadequate words as consent and picked up a knife, cutting his own hand across the palm, and then taking Elaith's hand made a matching cut there. Finally he laid their hands together and said a few words - and Elaith could understand all the strange languages that his master could - including more than one that would be spoken by demons. But he was puzzled by his master's actions. "Do you keep such an obscure spell in your mind at all times my lord?"
"I created it, I can use it at any time. Are you saying that spellcasters here can only cast a spell once before they have to study it again?"
"Yes my lord. Perhaps it will be different with your magic." And Elaith returned to his task, studying the first spell in the book, an equivalent of faerie fire.
~~~0~~~
Xander concentrated on sorting through his survival kit for the things that would be most useful here while his new pack member studied what he termed 'the display spells', flashy things that had little to no practical use, and could be cast with a minimum of energy. His guns were of minimal value here he decided, magic was a far more important ranged weapon, and besides the ammunition was probably irreplaceable in this world, so he returned them through his cross. He'd never attained more than minimal proficiency with crossbows, or the more conventional bow, of any sort, so he'd never bothered to store them, but he did keep out a bandoleer of throwing knives that he was pretty good with, besides an axe - he couldn't really use a sword after he'd lost his eye. The rest of his weapons, and most of his spellbooks went back into the dimensional pocket, leaving only the book Elaith was studying from. His motorcycle leathers would work well enough as light armour, adding in the kevlar vest would make it even more effective, so he left them out along with a change of clothes, but he didn't need the jewels he'd collected as a fallback cash reserve - profits from looting vampire and demon lairs.
Finally he looked up at Elaith, to find the elf seemingly stuck on one page, going over and over a single spell obsessively.
"What seems to be the problem Elaith?"
"I can understand the basis of the spell more or less, but it doesn't 'feel' right, I can remember what the spell requires, but there's no sense of power there, and normally when we memorise a spell there is a sense of power, ready for us to use it when we need it, at least in the system of magic I'm trained in."
"Oh. It doesn't work that way with my spells. Just try casting it cold, if that doesn't work there's one more thing I can try. I really need it to be possible for people here to be able to use my spells, as one of them will give people I trust a considerable power boost, but I don't have the power to cast it myself."
"But, if you teach the spell to another how can you be certain he will not use it empower people you do not trust?"
"I'll have Danilo cast it on me first, to give me a large power reserve, among other things - at least if you think he is trustworthy. Then I'll use another spell or something similar to make him forget it. Besides I've put certain limitations in place on the variant I'm going to teach him, and he won't know exactly what they are. One benefit of this spell is it might give me the ability to heal you."
"Thank you my lord." The elf bowed his head, and it looked as if he was trying to cast the spell Xander had seen him try to memorise, but he failed. "Forgive me, I cannot master your spells." Almost all of Xander's spells only required words to cast them, and possibly blood, he far preferred that to relying on components that might not be there in an emergency situation, but the spell he'd privately labelled 'Halloween' relied on the subjects wearing the appropriate costumes, and knowing who they were supposed to be - and a lot of possibilities were ruled out in his spell.
"It's alright. We'll exchange knowledge of magical theory, although not spells. If that works I can do the same with Danilo. At least," Xander suddenly realised Elaith had failed to answer his earlier implied question, "is he trustworthy?"
"Yes, he is most trustworthy in most things." Elaith shrugged. "But he successfully kept most of Waterdeep, this city, convinced he was a useless fop, when in truth he is a Harper, an agent for Balance, for years."
"And who else do you think can be trusted with the power this spell can give?"
"Only Arilyn his beloved." Elaith sounded as if there was something about Arilyn's name that upset him, but Xander pushed that aside and cast the spell to exchange knowledge of magical theory - almost identical to that for languages, with a slight change in mindset and wording. Elaith was able to cast Xander's spells easily then, due to the sheer amount of magical theory he'd studied, whereas Xander got the short end of the deal, as Elaith's abilities were minimal. But then he had benefited more from the language spell, as all the tongues Elaith knew were in use in this new world.
"Good. Now lie down and get some sleep." Xander swiftly stored his things and cast a ward on them then pulled Elaith to lie inside his protective embrace, protecting a weaker pack member.
~~~0~~~
Danilo woke slowly in Arilyn's embrace, a bit confused about what had happened the day before, but he gradually remembered meeting Xander, through the headache of the backlash from reaching across the planes and searching for a hero who could save the city, and probably the rest of the world too. From what Elaith had said the Malevein in Waterdeep were an advance scout unit, if they were wiped out the rest of the Malevein would stay away, if they managed to destroy the whole resistance and start expanding their territory a full colonial effort would follow. The benefit to the Malevein in the scout unit was pretty high rank in the new colony if it was successful, especially for their leader, the Malevein who'd ended up owning Elaith.
"What time is it Arilyn?" He hoped that he'd be able to function by the time he needed to meet with Xander and explain things, although getting Elaith to do a lot of that would help.
"Just after dawn." He'd cast the spell to summon Xander at noon the previous day, so he'd been out for a long time. Danilo hadn't really understood just how much power he'd need to cast that spell, but it was brought home to him now, with a vengeance, he really didn't think he wanted to try casting another spell for a week at least and he'd be in pain for the next two or three days. Unless Xander specifically forbade it the rest of the resistance could continue their normal operations while Danilo recovered, and their hero made his plans - Danilo knew that his spells didn't work too well against the Malevein, so he'd mostly been restricted to property damage and a distraction. His magical contribution had been far from essential in any of the raids he'd participated in, what he'd supplied was the leadership and the planning needed, and he'd worked out who they needed to successfully destroy the invaders.
"What happened with Xander?"
"I don't know." It sounded as if it stuck in her craw for Arilyn to admit that. "I stayed here with you all the time you were sleeping." He knew that his elven lover hated the human vermin who made up most of the resistance, and the few elves and dwarves involved weren't much better, but she would have felt it her duty to take care of their guest, even though he had to be more than capable of looking after himself and she had agreed to let Danilo draw from her to power his spell if he needed to. One reason they hadn't tried to rescue Elaith before this was that he'd been crippled by the time the resistance was organised enough to do so, and rescuing him would have just meant taking him from one place where he was being raped, to another, with different rapists. Unless they claimed him as their property, and were vicious enough in defending their exclusive rights to him that no-one else would dare touch him. And neither Danilo or Arilyn had it in them to be that vicious - or rather they did, but they didn't trust themselves to control that viciousness if they let it out, and were afraid that they'd hurt him even more. They'd both found themselves growing crueller and colder since the Malevein had killed Laeral and Khelben 'Blackstaff' Arunsun and Khelben had transferred much of his power to Danilo in desperation. It was even harder for Danilo to keep control because of the sudden new power he had access to - but the mere fact that spellcasting had become so limited in its use had helped to keep him in check.
"Then would you go and check please?" Danilo sat up slowly and painfully. "I'd do it myself, but I really don't feel up to it." Arilyn was in much better condition than he was, but then she'd just supplied power, he'd been casting the spell.
"Of course Dan." She didn't need to go far, one of the fighters was waiting outside their door, with a message from Xander, who had already exerted his influence over them all somehow.
"Lord Thann, Xander asks if you could meet him at noon, or sunset if noon would be inconvenient for you."
"Sunset would be better." Danilo knew better than to outright say that he needed more rest, or even to imply it in front of one of his men, so he pulled Arilyn into an embrace instead, and the man retreated. "I'm sorry for using you like that, but..."
"I understand, we can't show weakness. I need to sleep for a while now, I didn't dare without you awake, or wards. Can you stand guard for awhile?"
"Yeah, I don't need to sleep, just to rest, and perhaps meditate, to try and control the pain." Danilo stood, leaving the bed to Arilyn and pushed a chair in front of the door, to act as a crude but effective alarm before he started to meditate.
~~~0~~~
Elaith emerged from reverie wrapped in someone's protective embrace. For a moment he wasn't sure whose, or why, and stiffened in fear, but then he remembered that his new master had told him to share his bed, and promised not to take him, at all, had in fact expressed a total lack of desire for him. He relaxed, and realised that his master was already awake and aware of his reactions.
"Master?" Elaith trembled at his presumption in addressing Xander first, any of his prior masters would have beaten him for doing so, he knew that Xander wouldn't do something like that, but his actions still scared him. He'd been conditioned to submit to his master, and remain almost passive, only acting as they wished far too well to throw it off easily, and he needed to have a master now, at least to some degree. It had shocked him that the Malevein had managed to break him so easily, but he'd been crippled physically almost right off - after all a bed slave doesn't need to be able to walk, just move pleasingly when he's fucked - and then his first master had cast some sort of spell that ripped most of Elaith's magical ability from him, using the power to condition him to respond as he wanted him to, and taking a lot of his knowledge of magic too, replacing it with some of the skills a bed slave should have. The spell hadn't changed his sexual orientation for some reason, either because he didn't have a strong gender preference, although he normally preferred females slightly, or more likely because his first master hadn't cared about whether Elaith was comfortable sleeping with another male or not.
"What do you mean 'master'? I'm not your master. Where did you get that idea from?" Xander's voice was harsh, and he sat up pulling away from Elaith. Shivering he rolled onto his back to address his master, carefully not meeting his eyes.
"You said that I belong to you, so that makes you my master doesn't it?" Elaith couldn't understand why that form of address displeased his master so much, but he tried to explain how he felt as best he could. He knew he was just clinging on to the first person who'd really been nice to him since he'd been captured, but he couldn't help it. "I can't think of you as anything else but my master, the one who owns me. I...the first Malevein to own me, he ripped a lot of my magic out of me. Before that I was a lot more powerful, not truly spectacular, but powerful enough that I could use my magic in a fight if I needed to, and I warded all my houses myself. And he made it so that I'd need someone to own me, using my own magic to do it."
"Oh! We'll try to find some way to reverse the damage he did to you as soon as I can then. And the spells that give me a magic boost can give you one too." Lord Xander reached down and stroked Elaith's hair soothingly, Elaith barely managed to keep from purring - he couldn't keep from leaning into his master's touch.
"Th-thank you, but you don't need to do that. I've come to terms with how I've been changed, I don't want my problem to distract you from helping us with the Malevein. And besides I feel safe now, belonging to you, I haven't for at least fifty years, I don't want to lose that. Also, I think all the spell did to me was accelerate the effects of living as a slave, they would have broken me even without magic, just not so fast, so there isn't any spell for you to reverse. After you have dealt with the Malevein will be soon enough, unless my behaviour displeases you?" He realised that even though his master had been so kind to him his dependency might be making him uncomfortable.
"Not that much. And you're right, it can wait until after the Malevein are defeated." Lord Xander paused, as if he was uncomfortable with the next topic. "If we fail to defeat them, do you want to live, as their slave, or die by your own hand or mine? I would choose death myself, but I won't question your choice whatever it is."
"I...don't know. Might I think about it?" Elaith realised how stupid it was of him not to have considered that after he'd been rescued by the resistance, but he'd been too scared to really think straight, he kept expecting his last master to try to get him back, Drachar had been very possessive of him after all.
"Of course you may. It's good to put as much thought as you can into stuff like that." Lord Xander smiled down at Elaith, and the elf felt a sense of warmth in his stomach. "I discussed something similar with my lover a few years back, where I lived was overrun with vampires and we discussed whether we wanted to be turned and cursed with a soul if we were dying or not. I didn't want to, but Ahn did. Do all elves sleep with their eyes open?"
"It isn't exactly sleep my lord, it is called reverie, I do not know how to explain it." Elaith felt ashamed at being unable to convey such a basic tenet of elven life to his master, but he tried not to let it show and kept basking in the attention his master was showing him.
~~~0~~~
Xander smiled down at his pack mate as the elf revelled in the attention he was showing him, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Elaith to make him so desperate for touch. The elf had whimpered in loss earlier when he'd woken first, perhaps three hours before dawn and grabbed one of the four men hanging around outside his room, sending him to tell Danilo when to meet him - after they'd attacked him in a group, and Xander had used the skills bought fighting vampires and demons to knock the others out. He hadn't dared leave his new pack mate any longer, and Xander had spent the rest of the night holding Elaith to comfort and reassure him, and meditating as best he could until he felt Elaith wake up, interrupted once by the messenger returning to give Danilo's answer. It was just as well that he hadn't still been aroused, because that would have scared the poor creature no end, or made him think that he needed to relieve Xander of his arousal to 'earn' his protection. The fact that elves here didn't need to sleep was fascinating, something he hadn't heard of before, and he hoped this 'reverie' was enjoyable, he wished he could find out for himself, but he knew that was out of the question.
Reluctantly he stopped petting the elf, it soothed him as well, but he had work to do and this was a distraction. But first, he sniffed the air discretely, realising that Elaith was filthy, probably an attempt to make the men here reluctant to use him, and to avoid being vulnerable while he was bathing, or washing himself, or whatever was available here. But Danilo, Arilyn and that other elf had looked pretty clean, so he was betting that there were some sort of washing facilities at least.
"Do you want to get yourself clean? I'll guard you while you bathe, or whatever it is you can do here. But you do need to show me where we can go for that." He resisted the urge to just lift the older male, knowing that it would make him feel powerless and controlled rather than protected.
"Please." Elaith lifted his arms, reaching out for Xander with total trust. "There hasn't been anyone willing to take me to the bathing chambers, well no one I'd trust, and most of the men here don't really care about staying clean." So he was wrong about the reasons for Elaith's current condition. Xander smiled again and lifted him, cradling the elf to his body as he walked through the halls, once very well appointed, now badly damaged most likely by the current inhabitants. "Just down this corridor. This used to be one of my businesses, an inn, until the Malevein arrived. They've ignored it because it's not that impressive on the outside, it catered to criminals, and other supposed undesirables, such as rebel drow."
"Drow are undesirables?" Xander wasn't entirely certain what drow were, but he wanted to know.
"Yes and no my lord. Drow are elves with black skin and white hair, mostly they live below the surface and worship an evil goddess, and they have a reputation for being evil, one that is well earned. But the ones who rebel against their society are not always evil, some worship a good goddess, and are no more evil than surface elves, normal surface elves are, others just don't like being abused by the priestesses and are morally no different to criminals of any other race. This is the bathing chamber my lord. I just hope the spell maintaining it wasn't disrupted."
"What sort of spell?" Xander was looking down at Elaith as he entered the bathroom, so he didn't really notice what it was like until he looked up, and whistled in awe at the pool set into the marble floor.
"A spell that keeps the water constantly circulating and replaced by clean water. It looks as if it still works my lord." And it did, Xander could see from the way the surface moved that the water wasn't just still below the surface.
"Do you need to take a piss or anything before you get clean?" Xander'd used the pot he found beneath the bed when he woke up, and had the first of the men he'd knocked out to wake up empty it for him.
"Please my lord, yes." Elaith refused to look at him, keeping his head bowed, but he did point out the toilet, hidden behind a screen. Xander gave the elf privacy to relieve himself before picking him up again and carrying him to the pool.
He lowered Elaith to the floor by the pool and turned his back so the elf could undress in some semblance of privacy. "You do not need to do that my lord. And I thought that you wanted to bathe yourself, why not join me?" The elf shivered noticeably. "I...am not certain I am capable of bathing by myself any longer. The Malevein have some soldiers, people of the city who joined them willingly, or at least serve them willingly now, and they were sometimes rewarded by being ordered to bathe me, that or my master bathed me himself as foreplay."
Xander stripped, then knelt to remove the rags Elaith was wearing, lifting him and carrying him into the pool before laying him down and offering him some soap. They bathed in silence, Xander ignoring the times Elaith seemed to be aroused and helping him as he needed. Then he got out and dried them both off, repressing the slight arousal he felt from the way Elaith rubbed up against his groin unconsciously. Glancing around nervously he noticed a pile of robes lying in one corner and snagged two of them, one for Elaith and one for himself, at least to get them back to his room.
~~~0~~~
Elaith lay back on the bed in his master's room, wrapping the robe he was wearing tightly around his body. He didn't feel too happy about wearing just a robe, it made him feel too vulnerable, but he was sure Lord Xander would have thought of that and would tell him what to wear.
"Shit! You don't have any decent clothes do you?" Elaith opened his mouth to answer, but his master forestalled him, answering his own question. "Of course you don't, or you'd have been wearing them. Give me a few minutes and I'll let you pick from some of my clothes."
"Thank you my lord." Elaith kept his eyes cast down submissively as his master pulled out more of those strange trousers and tunics, the trousers blue this time, and the tunics many colours, and then some looser, soft black trousers and a loose black shirt. "My lord, unless you wish to wear these I would prefer them to your other clothes."
"Of course you can wear them. I prefer my jeans anyway. Any reason in particular you prefer these?" Lord Xander was putting the rest of the clothes away as he spoke, looking down into Elaith's eyes, rather than even glancing at his body.
"They are softer, looser, and I might be able to dress myself in them without aid. It has been too long since I was permitted to dress myself, except in things that display more of me than they hide." The rags he'd been wearing before were the remnants of the last outfit Drachar had put him into, and the uniform of the guard Danilo had killed while rescuing him.
"I see. I won't look at you then." And Lord Xander immediately turned away from him, waiting patiently for Elaith to change into his clothes. Elaith had pretty much given up on retaining any sense of modesty a month into his captivity, but it had still made him feel dirty every time he was dressed in something that made his purpose obvious, and the stares everyone here but Danilo and Arilyn directed at him, even the only other elf, made him feel even more soiled. It was all too obvious that the only thing they thought he could possibly be good for now was sex. Everything Lord Xander did was making Elaith fall deeper and deeper in love with him, and he cursed the fact that he was male, meaning he had absolutely no chance to be with his master. The joke was that before he'd met Lord Xander he would have been grateful to be in just this situation, under the protection of someone strong, and not required to offer his body in exchange, and now he wished Lord Xander would demand his services in bed. It was a bit of a struggle to get into the trousers, but he did manage eventually.
"I'm dressed my lord." Elaith had not considered how good he would look in the clothes his master lent him, but he did think that they suited him, making him look more fragile, and hopefully making his master more protective, which was positive attention at least. His master didn't seem to notice his appearance, not consciously anyway, but that didn't matter, as long as it did not anger him.
"You can keep those, but you need some more clothes, stuff that fits you properly." As he spoke Lord Xander dressed himself, totally lacking the modesty he attributed to Elaith, who kept his eyes cast down throughout, although he did sneak glances from time to time. "Is there any easy way to get them, or will I have to make a raid to steal them?" It sounded as though the man was seriously considering leading a raid against the Malevein just to get decent clothes for his property. "I've got some jewels, and that sort of thing if I can buy them without raising suspicion."
"About half of the Malevein's slaves have some degree of freedom, no a bit more than half. You could probably pass for one of the guards assigned to the lesser harems, the ones kept to reward trusted native servants, if you tried, and 'requisition' clothes for an elven pet. They would probably assume you wanted to have a more responsive toy when you enjoyed the privileges of guarding a lesser harem and thought decent clothes might get you that." Elaith bit his lower lip and finally allowed himself to look up. "If you could show me what you have as trade goods I might be able to pick out something suitable for you to use to bribe whoever you get the clothes from to stay quiet, as if you didn't want the Malevein, or anyone else, to know there was one bed-slave you were interested in particularly."
"Ok." Lord Xander sat down beside Elaith on the bed, lifting his cross and pulling jewels and jewellery from it somehow - Elaith knew that at one point he'd understood in theory how to do that, at least in outline, but he didn't now. Most of the things his master laid on the bed Elaith immediately dismissed as being too valuable for his master to possess according to the cover story he'd come up with, and certainly too valuable to waste on a bribe for a storekeeper. The jewellery was almost all gold, from '18 carat' to '24 carat' some standard of purity from Lord Xander's world, and Elaith dismissed that out of hand, as he did the loose jewels. But there were a few silver pieces, almost pure silver, and eventually Elaith picked out a heavy silver bracelet that would work.
"This is the sort of thing a guard of that rank might have, and be willing to give away to keep a seduction quiet. But the clothes you are wearing will not work. they are too exotic, and possibly too expensive and well made for a guard to plausibly be wearing them. Some sort of armour would work, mercenaries buy the best armour they can afford, so the higher quality of what you have wouldn't be out of place. And they get their armour from all over, so no one will think twice about it being exotic, that is if you have any armour."
"Will this do?" Lord Xander held up some leather clothes, all in black, with some metal on, but not enough to make it too noticeable. "And I'll need to carry a weapon won't I? An axe would be best."
"I think I need to see it on to really judge, but it looks right." His master stripped off and pulled the leathers on immediately at his words, and he looked dangerous wearing them. On receiving Elaith's approval he changed back again, and it looked as if something had just occurred to him.
"Can I leave you safely with Danilo and Arilyn?"
"I think so yes."
"Good." Lord Xander lifted Elaith into his arms. "I need to pick up the clothes I was wearing, and wash them too for that matter. Direct me to their room."
Danilo was sitting meditating when Lord Xander knocked on the door, he'd also given one of the men they'd passed orders to bring some food to his room in about an hour. "Take care of Elaith, I'll be coming to pick him up inside of an hour." The gentleness with which Lord Xander laid him on the bed contrasted with the brusqueness of his words and he only waited for the mage's agreement before leaving.
~~~0~~~
