[ashram/pirotess; nc-17] Sacrifice Title: Sacrifice Author:: emilie_burns Fandom:The Record of Lodoss War Pairing: Ashram / Pirotess Theme set: Epsilon (1sentence) Rating: G through NC-17 Disclaimer: The Record of Lodoss War is copyright Group-SNE/Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd. This is a work of fanfiction for personal entertainment only. Notes: Spoilers galore. Be warned. Teaser:...as soon as Marmo bowed to him, it would only be a matter of time before all of Lodoss did too. Original LJ Post Date: December 12, 2006 @ Chaotic_Library
Sacrifice
Love is... You've got the softest lips. Love is... The touch of your fingertips. Ooh, she says love is Knowing you won't let go. Love is... Watching you go. - Fleetwood Mac, Love Is
#01 - Motion There were times when she was still, Ashram noticed, achieving a degree of motionlessness beyond anything he'd seen in a human, but it was never a visual shock when the moment would break; Pirotess slipped back into movement as unobtrusive and fluid as water.
#02 - Cool He played it cool, which amused her to no end; he desired her -- they all did -- but he was the only one who made her seek him out, to initiate it, to not pursue her.
#03 - Young She knew Ashram was still young yet, as a human, and that made his skill and his power all the more fascinating to her, to achieve so much in such a short span of time.
#04 - Last She swore she would never leave his side; even if she were to be the last one standing, she would remain.
#05 - Wrong It occurred to her as she stroked her fingers through thick black hair that it was probably considered wrong for a powerful dark elf to so willingly submit to a mere human; Pirotess decided that if it were, she would just have to deal with the others until it became right.
#06 - Gentle He was never gentle with her; their lovemaking was every bit as hard and demanding and powerful as himself, and being made to kneel, choosing to kneel to that was a heady rush to her, a sharp contrast to the control and power she wielded over her people.
#07 - One Her disdain for humans was well-known, but Pirotess was not a stupid woman; when she first saw Ashram that night in the firelight, she knew in her heart of hearts that he was the one who would be destined to lead Lodoss into an era of greatness.
#08 - Thousand Pirotess had been desired by many over the centuries of her life, and had taken several lovers over the years, but she knew that if she lived a thousand more, she would not be likely to meet another who set every fiber of her being aflame like he did.
#09 - King Beld might have the throne, she knew, but in her heart, Ashram was the true king of Marmo; as soon as Marmo bowed to him, it would only be a matter of time before all of Lodoss did too.
#10 - Learn They never took the time to truly explore and learn one another; he needed the pretense that no emotions were involved between them, that their relationship was nothing more than mutual release, and she allowed him that much and everything else.
#11 - Blur Ashram watched Pirotess out of the corner of his eye as she moved among the overhead branches of the trees in the forest, and silently marveled at the speed with which she moved, gone from one limb to another in a blur of white and dark.
#12 - Wait It felt as if every nerve would catch fire and shatter when he would make her wait, his expression betraying just a hint of devilish delight at the control he held over her as he teased her, his fingers keeping her on the brink of climax, but drawing back just before she could find release.
#13 - Change Women were only good for physical relief, and even then that was often just an unnecessary waste of time when his energies could be directed toward preparing for battle, and a relationship was never even a possible part of his reality... at least not until Pirotess swore herself to his side, and little by little, his opinion on the matter began to change.
#14 - Command He knew that she was his, completely and wholly, without reserve or hesitation -- his to command, to love, to wield -- and that knowledge sometimes rattled him more than a battlefield ever could with a single question: how did he ever come to merit that devotion from a Dark Elf?
#15 - Hold Gentle tenderness was not a part of their relationship, where rough sex and hungry lust concealed deeper feelings left unspoken in the shadows, save for the quiet heartbeats after they each had found release, tangled up in one another's arms, breathless and trembling and sweaty.
#16 - Need He might have only been a human, but he occupied her thoughts, desires, and her heart; Pirotess knew the only path to salvation lay toward getting Ashram to see that he needed her too.
#17 - Vision All her dreams ended in fire and she did her best to ignore it, to shun the potential reality of the visions, for she would not allow anything to sway her from the path her heart had chosen.
#18 - Attention She had his attention now, she knew, and her nerves tangled and melted in a crackling fire as he watched her approach him, his face impassive save for the heated look in his eyes as his gaze raked over her body.
#19 - Soul Despite his serious and humorless bearing, Ashram wasn't an old soul, wearied down by a life lived too many years, and she could feel that whenever she touched him, the intensity of youth, the fire and passion, carefully concealed behind an expressionless face.
#20 - Picture Not even the wind moved, not a blade of grass nor a leaf on the tree, like the world held its breath as Pirotess paused in the branches, her ears perked to listen to something far beyond his range of hearing, and in the humid stillness of the morning, it looked unnaturally serene, like a painting frozen in time.
#21 - Fool The others said she was a fool for devoting herself to a human for even if he were worthy of a dark elf's devotion, his lifespan would be but a brief season in her life; Pirotess couldn't shake the feeling that somehow, he would be there for all the remaining time she had left.
#22 - Mad She drove him to the edge of madness sometimes, the skill she possessed with her fingers and tongue and lips, and the madness was only in part due to the teasing, ignoring his demands for release; he wondered where she'd learned those skills, and with whom, and was whoever it was still a part of her life, and he denied that was unacceptable, that he wanted her entirely to himself.
#23 - Child High elves were silly things, and Pirotess could not fathom why Deedlit was so taken by Parn, who was nothing more than an immature and dim-witted boy in comparison to Ashram; perhaps she was nothing more than mentally a child herself.
#24 - Now Ashram had enough of the dark elf's seductive teasing, the way she would lean over his shoulder when he was attempting to work on a battle strategy, the way she would stretch and twist and pretend she didn't know he was looking when she warmed up for practice, or the way she would lick her lips after eating a morsel of food; he claimed what he wanted when there was no reason to bide his time, and he wanted her now.
#25 - Shadow In the shadow of the mountain, Pirotess felt a chill and looked back over her shoulder, wondering why she couldn't shake the feeling she wouldn't see the next moonrise; Ashram arched an eyebrow at her, impatient, wondering at her hesitation, and she fell into wordless step behind him for if he did not possess the Scepter, all hope would be lost.
#26 - Goodbye She couldn't say good-bye; her strength was fading too rapidly to have more than a few moments left to spare, and she would not pull him from his course -- for Lodoss -- and even breathing took more than she could give.
#27 - Hide He hid his feelings well -- so well, in fact, that her peers believed Pirotess's devotion to be foolishly one-sided -- but no one saw the things she did, like the way he looked at her when no one else was near.
#28 - Fortune Ashram didn't believe in fate enough to trust it -- he would get to where he wanted to be by earning every last scrap of power with his own know-how and cunning -- but he could only explain Pirotess as pure fortune, for how could a human as himself earn her loyalty and love?
#29 - Safe She knew that even her most powerful shield would not withstand the intensity of an ancient dragon's breath weapon, and she felt it begin to falter, the heat of it prickling and cooking the skin on her back, her arms, her legs, and in a final rush of desperation to keep him safe, she poured her own life energy into bolstering it, holding it long enough for the flames to taper off.
#30 - Ghost He felt her lips against his, her fingers brushing over his hair, and Ashram snapped awake, suddenly alert as he looked around the silent room; there was nothing there, and there would never be again.
#31 - Book Ashram could be single-minded in his studies on battle strategy and reports of enemy activities, and Pirotess took it as a challenging game to play to see how long it took and how far she had to go before she could waver his interest from his books.
#32 - Eye Terrified and breathless, she looked up into his eyes as he caught her wrist, stopping her from plummeting to her death, and despite her fear, she almost smiled; for once, his eyes weren't guarded, for once, she could see real emotion with crystal clarity, and if it took almost dying to achieve that, then it was worth the shock to her system.
#33 - Never It was in a fit of pain-borne rage that he cast aside her circlet, telling himself he was unwilling to hold onto a token of a lie; she had stated she would never leave his side, but she forgot something: never was a promise too.
#34 - Sing Ashram only heard her singing once, a haunting and supernatural sound, and that was purely by chance as he sought her out one day; though he'd never hesitated to demand information on her whereabouts and activities, he slipped away without a word, feeling very much reminded that although she yielded to him, she was of a life that he could never truly hope to be part of even if he tried.
#35 - Sudden Ashram was so accustomed to being in complete control of himself that he was barely prepared for the skill of Pirotess's tongue, and the sudden arrival of his orgasm almost caused him to cry out, which would have possibly alerted the troops outside the tent as to what was really going on away from prying eyes.
#36 - Stop The first time hurt; humans were larger than elves, enough for it to be uncomfortable, but she didn't request him to stop, knowing that soon enough, she would adapt, and the pain would give way to pleasure.
#37 - Time Her only real regret as she collapsed against him, feeling her own heartbeat slowing down too much despite the adrenaline still coursing through her, was simply that they hadn't enough time, when not even forever would have been long enough to satisfy her.
#38 - Wash To a casual observer, it might have appeared that Pirotess was debasing herself, lowered to the status of a mere servant as she washed Ashram's hair; on the contrary, she held all the power then, for it required him to close his eyes and place his safety in her hands.
#39 - Torn The robe was worthless now, the fabric itself torn, as opposed to the nearly-invisible seams, but Pirotess kept it close for the memory of the night it tore -- and oh, what a memory indeed!
#40 - History The way he carried himself, the set of his jaw, the look in his eye... Pirotess knew, with several hundred years of life experience behind her knowledge; it was men like Ashram who made history sit up and take notice.
#41 - Power As the rocks thundered down around them and the magma surged and bubbled, Ashram realized that there were some things which were more precious than power, after all.
#42 - Bother It didn't bother her as much as others would likely think it should that he never said her name, and never whispered so much as a word of love; when she heard it finally, she closed her eyes a final time, satisfied in the knowledge that she'd given the best of her life to someone worthy of it.
#43 - God Ashram knew what he was doing when he opposed Parn, delaying him from saving Deedlit, that the destruction of Lodoss was at hand and time was running out to stop it; if he couldn't have it, no one would, and he couldn't, and didn't want to make it without her.
#44 - Wall The castle walls were cool against her back, a delicious contrast to the heat of his skin as he pressed her against the old, smooth stones, holding her legs around his waist.
#45 - Naked He watched Pirotess move between shadows and moonlight in his room, taking note of how she carried herself, and it did not escape his notice that she could do what precious few truly could, if she were so inclined, and command the same degree of reverence and respect naked as she could when clothed.
#46 - Drive It crossed her mind to caution Ashram against going to the mountain, but she stayed her tongue; not only was he a driven and ambitious man with his eyes on a goal which was one reason she loved him so) but Pirotess knew that in order to have any chance, the time had come to take a big one, for there was nothing gained without sacrifice.
#47 - Harm Pirotess remained still and regarded him coolly even though she could feel the threat of the razor-sharp blade against her neck; Ashram was not a man given to bluffing, but she had every confidence that he would never harm her.
#48 - Precious He'd survived, or was brought back, one way or the other, for whatever reason; as much as he wanted to stay there and not move, she'd surrendered her life for his, for the goals, for Lodoss, and he didn't dare to waste something as precious as that.
#49 - Hunger It lay dormant so often for so long, but yet, all it would take was a look, a touch, and a banked fire was ablaze again, fueling an aggressive hunger for each other that would not be contained until it was finally sated, until the next time.
#50 - Believe He asked her once why she was there, and the reply came back -- "I believe you can unite Lodoss under one rule" -- and he never again let his gaze fall from the goal.