Choose Your Chains (Closed for haremfaery)

[haremfaery]

Desire blinked. Speechless. Cillian finally stopped talking and took a breath giving her a chance to finally say something. She opened her mouth. And closed it again. Had she heard him right?

"Your wife. Your wife?" She still wasn't sure she understood. "You really think we can get away with that? How did we meet? How long have we been married? What were we doing in Westfirid? Do you know people here? Will they trust me at all? Will they trust you showing up with a tiefling for a wife?"

She spoke in as much a rush as Cillian. It seemed a harder sell to her. But the thought of being married--making that sort of commitment to each other. It gave her butterflies.

Stop it. You'll get us both killed.

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

"Desire, you would not be the first tiefling bride. We only need people to trust us so far as them thinking you're under control and sympathetic to the elves."

Cillian sighed. "I'm not going to be returning to Westfirid. I have no reason to pretend to be human here."

This is gonna hurt like hell.

"We drop off the intelligence. Then we're gonna need to find a room at the inn for at least three days. When I got my ears clipped, I had to take a particular potion to stop healing spells from reversing the surgery. I'm burned. My career as a spy for the High Council is over. I can get the antidote to that potion. I'd look fully half-elf again. But growing my ear tips back will be extremely painful. But once it's done, fewer people will harass us."

Cillian realized he just divulged one of his notions secrets to Desire.

"No one can know I told you that. I could be branded a traitor, and we'd both be executed. Would seem a shame to escape one execution just to walk into another. But after that, all I'd need to get you is a ring, and then I'm just another horny half-elf tempted by tiefling. That part, I won't even have to lie about."

He brought Desire in for an embrace, rubbing the base of her tail through her clothes. Putting his forehead on hers, he said, "So, willing to watch me writhe for three days in a totally not fun way?"

Cillian also knew that his lockpick would be forced out of his skin as well.

 

[haremfaery]

"If the elves are against the empire, then I can be sympathetic to the elves. If only we could all work together instead of all the mistrust. The elves and the Freeholders together might actually be able to do something about the empire." There was a thought. Elves and Freeholders as allies instead of leaving each other to their own devices.

"Who would I tell? There aren't many humans in the Freeholds--because of the empire, they just aren't trusted. And elf passing as a human would just be ridiculous."

Desire hadn't thought about how a healing potion might reverse the effect on Cillian's ears. "A friend had a badly broken bone mended by a healer once. Took multiple healing spells over the course of a fortnight. I have an idea what that pain is like even if I've never experienced it."

She practically purred when he rubbed the base of her tail. "I won't leave your side. I promise."

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

As they entered Ulfamel, the gate was busy with farmers and merchants. Cillian gripped Desire's hand and weaved through the crowd. There were a few sideways glances, but with Cillian's hood up and his hand on Desire's, it seemed like someone not worth bothering with had her on some form of leash. And everyone watching Desire made it super easy for Cillian to pick people's pockets with his free hand. Though, in a crowd this tight with Cillian's skills, her presence wouldn't have been needed but was deeply appreciated. They had an essential purchase to make, and he wanted to have plenty of money to do it with.

When the crowd thinned a little, he led her through some twisting streets to a modest jeweler's shop. Walking in, he said, "Well, wife, which rings should we get?"

The jeweler looked up and smiled, though his eyes narrowed a bit when he saw who the wife was. The rings displayed ranged from simple to downright gaudy.

 

[haremfaery]

Desire looked over the rings. She didn't want something too flashy, it would attract the wrong kind of attention--thieves. She also didn't want something that would catch on anything, so no raised settings.

And then she saw it. A gold band with scroll work, two small diamonds on each side of a heart-shaped ruby. "May I see this one?" She pointed it out. "What do you think, my heart?"

"A fine choice." The jeweler flattered her.

Desire was sure he'd up the price because he didn't like tieflings.

The jeweler put a piece of velvet on the counter, then took the ring from the case and placed it on the cloth for her inspection. Desire tilted the rig to see how the ruby caught the light.

She turned to Cillian, "Do you like it? Will you put it on my finger?"

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

Cillian knew the guy was up charging them. If he wasn't trying to draw as little attention to him as possible, he might have let the jeweler know precisely what he thought about that. Even with the price gouging, nothing was too expensive for his love. He selected a gold band in a matching gold for himself.

He paid the man his exorbitant price and picked up the rings.

"Well, my love," he said as he slipped the ring onto Desire's finger. Then he handed her the gold ring, "Would you do the honors? And then I think it's time for us to find room."

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

(Posted on behalf of haremfaery)

“It is my pleasure, my heart.” She placed the ring on his finger. While this was no wedding ceremony and the jeweler certainly was no cleric, there was something in the ritual of exchanging rings that made it feel binding to Desire. She couldn’t tell if Cillian felt the same. For herself, she was conflicted. She loved Cillian, but whether it was something that could last—she didn’t know.

They left the jeweler’s hand in hand.

“Is there anything you need before we get a room? To you know, help?”

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

Cillian couldn't help but feel his breath hitch when she put the ring on his finger. He was suddenly seeing visions of them doing this for real. He felt foolish. They'd been through a lot already, but they hadn't known each other for more than a week.

"Is there anything you need before we get a room? To you know, help?"

"I don't see that ever being a being a problem with you." He smirked and cast his eyes downward. But the smile didn't last. "Let's get the room. And we can talk about it."

Once behind closed doors, he said, "I'm gonna need you to stay here. To get what I need to get my ears back, I have to go someplace I can't tell you. It's not that I don't trust you. It's that the more people with this information, the more dangerous it is for everyone. I don't want to tell you something that would turn you into a target. So, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna come back. Over the next three days, I'm gonna be in a lot of pain. I just have to ride out. But when it's done, I'll be whole again. I'll be back before nightfall. Just... no questions, okay?"

 

[haremfaery]

Desire knew exactly what Cillian meant about not asking questions, about need-to-know. Besides, she'd never need a potion like that.

"I understand, but , let me ask one question. When you get back ... can we have another night together before you take the potion? I mean, it is our wedding night," she blushed. "Husband." She went to him and ran her fingers over his round ears. She was used to him looking like a human. She had fallen for the man, not the ears. She wondered how Cillian would feel after passing for a human for so many years and finally being his true self. Would that feel just as strange after all this time.

"Go. The sooner you leave the sooner you'll be back. Tell the innkeep to send up some food for dinner and we'll eat when you get back--Unless this potion is better on an empty stomach." She had a knot in her stomach already about seeeing Cillian in pain. "I guess I'll sharpen our weapons while yo're gone."

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

"Wedding night?" Cillian smiled. "Sure. My bride at least deserves that."

Cillian left to find the cities spymaster. He knew the signs to follow until he was in a dark alley. An elf at the door stopped him, and Cillian gave the passphrase.

He didn't know who the spymaster was in this city. It had been 30 years since the last time he was in his homeland. It didn't matter. He had intelligence for them, and he had all the proof he needed to convince that he worked for them. After he told them about the attack and handed over the message, he said, "I'm burned. I can't return to the Empire. I'm cashing out."

"Are you sure?" The spymaster asked.

"Yes."

The spymaster handed Cillian a vial of opake yellow liquid.

"Good luck. You're going to need it."

The potion was the last in a set of three. The first held an image of your body, deep in your soul. The second had an altered image of yourself, the new baseline that healing spells would return you to. The third restored your body to what it was like when you took the first dose. The reason it was so painful was that it reversed everything that had been done to your body until it was as it was before. That meant old wounds would open up and close again. You wouldn't get younger, but as long as you were in good health when you drank the first potion, you'd be restored to almost perfect health.

Cillian walked back to the inn. Sat down at the table and joined Desire in what would be his last meal for the next three days.

 

[haremfaery]

Desire spent the afternoon cleaning and sharpening their weapons, reorganizing the pack, pacing, and napping. Cillian would be safe, nothing would happen to him, these were his people after all.

She was still relieved when Cillian returned. "It went well?"

Desire wasn't too talkative during dinner. She fiddled with her ring, looked at it often. She'd be grinning like an idiot if not for knowing the ordeal Cillian would be going through.

Finally, she just went to him and put her arms around his neck. "Let's go to bed."

Their lovemaking--and it was lovemaking, was sweet and tender. It lasted a long time as they took their time to explore all the ways to please each other. They fell asleep in a tangle of limbs, happy and exhausted.

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

Cillian awoke next to Desire, having temporarily forgotten what he was about to do today. He gently shook Desire awake.

"My love, I'm sorry you'll have to see this. He kissed her one last time before he took the vial and uncorked it. "Bottoms up."

After swallowing it down and nothing happened. He waited a minute.

"Did the give me a dud poti—"

Then the lock picks he had hidden under the skin of his arms wormed their way out. The blood didn't even have time to drip out before the wound closed. Then Cillian remembered just how many times he used that trick.

Then he was reminded that he'd been stabbed by an Empire spy hunter a week before he met Desire. Cillian began to scream as every wound, no matter how minor, was suddenly revisited on his flesh. He collapsed to the bed, curled into a ball. Cillian might have regretted taking tho potion if he had had the presence of mind for regrets. For now, it was just pain as his body tore itself apart and put itself back together again.

 

[haremfaery]

Cillian had given Desire a scroll with a silence spell on it so no sound would be heard outside the room. They didn't want the innkeep to call the watch on them because of Cillian's screams. She read the scroll.

At first it wasn't bad. Minor wounds opened and closed, then Cillian began screaming as the wounds opened and closed. Some closed faster than others. Sometimes his limbs shot out at weird angles as bones broke and reset. Cillian cried, whimpered, and screamed.

Desire cried along with him. She wanted to touch him to sooth him, but she never knew where the next wound would appear. Just how long had he stayed in the empire? How much abuse had his body taken? She wondered if it was truly worth it to get his ears back. But then what wouldn't she do if someone cut off her tail? Besides, he already took the potion.

She paced and drank a lot. She didn't sleep at all that night.

Dawn came. Desire was wrung out. She had no tears left to cry.

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

Cillian tried not to scream, but holding it in was more exhausting than the pain. He was now remembering everything from a severely stubbed toe to the multiple stab wounds he received while trying to escape a nobleman's manorhouse because the fucking cat decided to sleep under a different window that night, and he'd stepped on its tail. There were the sustained beatings he intentionally took when he chose to be interrogated to see what they knew.

The worst wounds were those that had taken a while for him to get healed for whatever reason. The time he'd been in a crawl space, eavesdropping, tore his side open on a rusted nail and had to wait there for five days, shivering with fever until one slaver told another where they'd taken a group of elf women to be sold.

But, he'd do it. If it meant Desire could travel without the damned collar, the metal one that she hated, he'd do it twice over.

 

[haremfaery]

The last hour was the worst so far. Cillian didn't seem to be healing at all--or very slowly. Why? Was something wrong? There were so many questions she should have asked before he took the potion. He said "no questions," but there was a lot he should have told her. If he lived through this, he was going to get a taste of her anger.

She wished she knew where he got the potion. She paced with her hands over her ears.

An apothecary! That was it. She'd go to an apothecary and get juice of the poppy for Cillian. It would ease his pain, put him into a stupor until this was over. She huffed out a sigh and made up her mind.

She took some coins and a few things from the back and put them into a pouch that she tied to her belt. She had an idea where the apothecary was because she noticed it when they made their way to the inn. She had planned to get a few more potions to keep from getting pregnant before they left town.

She bent over Cillian. "My heart, my love. I can't bear this. I don't know if you can hear me, but I am going out to get you something to relieve your pain. I cannot stad idly by and watch your writhe any longer. I will be back as quickly as I can. I promise."

She kissed his forehead just as a nasty lump appeared on it. She held back a sob and left.

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

Living on the border of two warring states leads to interesting relationships. In the case of Cillian's parents, it meant a loving relationship that produced a child whose alliances fell with his father's people after his mother became distrustful of her own.

In the case of Roland and Marcus, it meant an elf and a human coming together to form a slaver ring, kidnapping and selling vulnerable people. They knew that in an elf city, you were less likely to be stopped if you didn't take elves, and in a human city, you less likely to be stopped if you didn't take a human. And they understood that in either, nobody really cared if you kidnapped a tiefling. They were also smart enough to know you never approached any potential slave who might know magic without someway to suppress it. Marcus had less than scrupulous friends who worked in Empire's dungeons and was willing to supply them with antimagic collars for a modest fee.

And that was how Roland, Marcus, and a few in their employ approached a distressed tiefling as she was walking the streets, looking for an apothecary. One of their men, an unusually large half-elf named Oren, carried the collar in his hand.

They were walking in a group, acting as though they had all just come from the tavern. The plan was simple. They'd done it plenty of time. One man would grab one limb each, and then Oren would wrestle the collar on the victim's neck. They'd even done it plenty of times with tieflings. Unfortunately for them, they'd never tried to use this strategy on Desire.

Things did not go according to plan.

 

[haremfaery]

Desire was beside herself after watching Cillian in so much pain. She knew which direction to go for the apothecary, but asked passersby the way to the closest one in case there was another option. Some ignored her, some gave her disgusted looks and walked away, most waved in the vague direction of of the marketplace Cillian and she had walked through when they first arrived—Was that just the day before?

More people were around the closer she got to the marketplace. She was jostled and catcalled by a group of drunken half-elves. In different circumstances, she would have taught them a lesson. But she had no time to deal with lowlifes, nor to to attract the Watch.

She kept moving. She had to be close to the apothecary by now. Then the drunkards stepped out of an alley in front of her.

“Where are you going in such a hurry, little tiefling?” The big one asked. He had his hands behind his back.

They started crowding her.

Desire looked around. Where was the thrice-damned Watch when you needed them?

"I don't want any trouble. I'm just going to the apothecary to get a draught for my husband."

"Then how 'bout you suck me of? I'l give you three silver and you can be on your way. I've heard no one gives better head than a tiefling. We can just step into the alley." Another leered.

Desire looked around for escape routes or someone who might help. She really didn't want to blast the stupid louts, but she might have to.

 

[haremfaery]

One of the other men laughed. "You've forgotten about the pointy teeth, brother."

"If she nips me once, I'll knock all of them out--problem solved."

Desire made herself as inconspicuous as she could and tried to sneak away while they talked about the ways they might use her.

The big one spotted her. "There you go again, trying to sneak off."

They made a semicircle and herded her toward the alley. Maybe that was a good thing. She could blast them and people would be less likely to notice.

She let them force her into the alley. "Just ... please let me go when you're done. I won't tell anyone." She acted frightened.

She let one come close. He grabbed her arm. She gave him a shocking grasp that made him twitch on the ground. One down. Two came at her then. She shot a firebolt at each of them. It slowed them but didn't drop them. Beshaba's Tits! Casting Darkness wouldn't do any good--they were half-elves.

"You like it rough, eh?" The big one said. "We like rough. All right boys."

Four of the rushed her. She shot more firebolts, one went wide, one connected, but they kept coming at her.

She held her own with them until one slashed her on her side and the big one hit her on the side of the head with something heavy. Blood trickled down the side of her face. She saw stars and thought she might pass out. Then she saw the iron collar.

She tried to fight back, but her limbs were going numb. She slumped. With the last of her strength she managed to get to the copper wire and sent a message to Cillian.

Slavers have me. So sorry. Wanted to get something to help you. Alley near apothecary.​

She fell to the ground cursing herself for letting them get the upper hand. Next time, the Watch be thrice-damned--she'd burn them all.

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

Cillian woke up, and he felt his right eye swell shut. But he heard her voice. Slavers had Desire.

In a voice as cold as ice, he responded, "I'm coming."

Cillian strapped on the belt with the two daggers in it. He left the sword behind. It would only slow him down. He let out one final scream of pain before he opened the window and jumped to the roof of the next building. Everything hurt, but it didn't matter. Someone thought they could touch Desire. Someone thought they could take her. He was determined to show them the error of their ways. He leapt from rooftop to rooftop. He was one street away from where Desire said she had been. He went to take a running leap from one building to the next when his right ankle shattered, an injury from failing a maneuver like this before. He fell the street, ruining the ankle. But it didn't matter. His body was going to return to what it was more than three decades ago, no matter what happened to it now.

He forced himself upright as the bones knit themselves. And he ran. He felt flesh tearing and reforming. He wanted to scream, but he bit his tongue instead. Drawing blood wasn't a problem right now. He could have chewed it clean off, and it would just regrow. Then he saw them and what Desire had done to a few of them. And he saw the collar. He'd done this to himself so she wouldn't have to wear one ever again. The men walking with Desire were dead. They were still moving, and they didn't know it yet, but they were dead men walking.

Cillian stuck to the shadows. They were taking her into one of the less reputable parts of the city. They probably had a den where they kept the people pulled off the streets. Blood trickled down his right eye. He couldn't remember which injury that was.

The slavers didn't appear to be hurting Desire, just carrying her. He couldn't see if she was conscious or not, but the fact she was cursing their entire lineage made Cillian sure she was unconscious. That meant he had time to follow them. He stuck to the shadows as best he could. But even not on top of his game, Cillian might as well have been a shadow. A burn bloomed up his entire left side, the skin melting like wax before it reformed as though it had never been. He earned that burn in a house fire started by an empire spy who was trying to burn everything before Cillian had the chance to discover it. He got out the intel just fine. Then he saw them descend a staircase, into a sewer entrance. Of course, they'd be with the shit and rats.

He followed them as three of his teeth shattered. The lesson there was never box with a drunken half-orc. He'd take the big one down first. Dagger at the ready, he snuck up behind him, about to slip the blade between his ribs when Cillian shoulder popped out of joint and his forearm shattered. The lesson there was never box with a drunken full-blooded orc.

His dagger clattered to the ground, and they all turned to see him. One of the slavers yelped as saw Cillian's cheek was sliced away and reformed. They knew he was there. He didn't need to stop himself from screaming anymore. Some might have thought it was a battle cry, but it was the pain of three ribs broken and a punctured liver. The man holding Desire dropped her to the ground. Cillian ignored the sword slashes from the others as drove a dagger into the man who had just hurt his love. Two more slavers drawn by the commotion rounded the corner with crossbows. Cillian didn't even bother dodging as one bolt pierced belly and the other his heart. He grabbed them as his healing body forced them out of his flesh. He took one and stabbed it through the eye of the largest one and then, for good measure, stabbed him in the groin. If he wasn't dead, he was going to wish he was in the time it took him to bleed out. Cillian picked up a sword from the ground and then began cutting his way through them, one by one. He followed one who fled further into the base of operations—a move his superiors would have chastised him for if they had lived through the night.

In the years to follow, slavers would avoid Ulfamel entirely. The tales of a screaming monster that would not die living in the sewers of the city, a monster with a taste for slaver blood, made them steer clear. It wasn't slavers who told the story. None survived that night. The story was told by the other slaves who Cillian freed. He scared many of them, but they gladly accepted keys to their cages. Covered in blood that was not his own, Cillian suppressed his screams once more as unlocked the collar, picked up Desire, and carried her back to their room before he collapsed into a ball of pain and misery.

Through his agony, Cillian was glad that Desire had been unconscious during the battle. Slavers and terrified slaves could think him a monster, but if Desire thought he was so, that would have killed no matter what potion was pumping through his veins. By the time Cillian had his ear tips back, the city was abuzz with the stories of what had happened in the sewers.

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

(Posted on behalf of haremfaery)

Desire stayed unconscious for the rest of the day and into the night. At some point, it turned into real sleep. Cillian had put her on the bed while he continued to writhe on the floor. One particularly loud cry from him woke her up. She was groggy and out of sorts. Her body ached. Her hand went to her neck. Did she dream that slavers caught her?

No. It came back to her. Going to the apothecary, getting waylaid by slavers, deciding not to dance and burn them. Stupid. But she hadn’t wanted any undue attention. She was a tiefling, after all. She had no way to know if she’d be arrested even if the men she killed were slavers. She was angry at herself for getting caught. But how did she get away? She remembered trying to send a message to Cillian.

He cried out. She went to him. “Cillian, I am so sorry. How did you save me?” She held his hand gently. “I was stupid. But I couldn’t stand to watch you suffer. It was killing me. I love you. I wanted to get you juice if the poppy to help the pain.” Her tears mixed with his blood as she cried over him. “ I won’t do anything so stupid ever again. Only one more day and you’ll be whole again. I won’t leave your side. I promise.”

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

Cillian had always hated slavers, but disrupting their operations would draw too much attention when he was a spy. While it hadn't been his intent when he took the potion, part of him was glad he was finally able to do something about them. If he was going to be in extreme pain, at least he could do something with it.

The last half a day was more manageable. These were the earliest injuries from his first few years, things earned in less dangerous missions. He looked at Desire, still wincing when his body reversed past something was incredibly painful. But he was able to at least hold conversation and bath the blood off himself.

"Desire, it's my fault you got caught. I should have told you there's nothing I can take for the pain." His skin when red and blistered before returning to normal. A reminder of the time he had to march across the desert to deliver a message in time. "I'm sorry." His nose broken and reformed as he spoke.

Then, almost all at once, his ear tips reformed, and Cillian let out a deep breath. He felt along his ears and could feel them as they had been over 30 years ago.

"So, Desire, what do you think of me now?"

 

[haremfaery]

"No. It was my fault. You told me to stay here. I didn't listen. Even if you didn't tell me that nothing could help you, I should have just stayed put like you asked. But--it was driving me mad." It also bothered her that Cillian would keep such important information from her. No, it hurt.

Now that Cillian wasn't screaming in pain and there were longer gaps between his bouts of pain. Desire felt like she could finally breathe again. And then he was whole again. She forgot about the slavers and how hurt she felt that Cillian still held things back from her.

"So, Desire, what do you think of me now?"

Desire grinned. She kissed the point of each ear. "I have to say, I am partial to pointed ears. Yours are cute." His ears were not nearly so extravagant as her own, but they suited him. She kissed him on the lips while running her fingers over his ear tips. "Are they ... sensitive?" She traced an ear with her nose. "Mine are." She breathed huskily past his ear.

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

Cillian shuddered as Desire touched them.

"I don't know if they were before, but they most definitely are now." He kissed her ears, returning the favor. "Or maybe it's just you," he whispered, running his tongue along hers.

He sat back on a moment, cupping her face.

"Desire, I'm sorry you had to go through that. But I want you to know, I think it was worth it. I... When they put that collar on you... I did this so you'd never have to wear one of those things again. I..." Cillian paused. "Oh, fuck. Talk later."

Cillian picked up Desire and took to the bed.

"Now, I wonder if you'll sound different, screaming my name now."

 

[haremfaery]

"We'll have to find out." She kissed him hard. Her tail twitched and brushed against him.

Their lovemaking was sweet and gentle as if they were discovering each other's bodies for the first time. Desire enjoyed the way Cillian shivered when she traced his ears.

They brought each other to bliss, then slept in each other's arms only to wake and make love again.

They slept late. The harrowing last few days caught up with them.

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

Cillian and Desire packed up their supplies.

"There are a couple of good paths to the freeholds. But we should get out of the city as soon as we can. We can make our decision when we are out of sight. I don't want to be here any longer than we have to. I don't want to be recognized."

There were more than a few people who might recognize Cillian and make his life a hundred times more difficult. When they were on the road, they'd be safer.

I can't continue keeping secrets from her. When we are out of here, I'll tell her—tell her everything. She'll understand if I'm just honest.

They left the inn and hit the streets. Cillian took the back alleys and less traveled roads, but there was no way to escape the walled city without passing through one of the gates. If he kept his head down, got out of the city, he'd be free to travel with Desire where ever she wanted to go.

As they came to the gate, Cillian saw him. He grabbed Desire's wrist. "We have to go back."

But it was too late. He'd been spotted.

"Cillian? Cillian!"

A tall elvish man in fine robes atop a pristine white horse trotted up to them and said, "Cillian, how long has it been?'

"Thiry-two years, seven months, and sixteen days."

"Ah, my boy, that memory of yours has always been so exceptional. Excepting a few key details, of course. Who is this charming woman you're traveling with."

His tone of voice was polite, but there was a venom in there that could fell a dragon.

"Her name is Desire and I—"

"Desire." The elf man laughed. "How fitting. Well, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend."

"Desire, meet Ailred Farceran. My father."