A Sense of History: Straight Road
The next in a series of articles about ships passing to and from the West, Simon uses "The Fall of Númenor" to attempt to arrive at Tolkien's reading of the exordium to "Beowulf."
Maedhros sat down across from Nolofinwe, this time he’d invited him completely officially to his tent.
“Fingolfin?”, he said with raised eyebrows instead of a greeting and Nolofinwe felt his cheeks heat.
“Yes, well… Golfin sounds weird and I am High King. Do you mind?”
“No. Just took me a moment to realise they were talking about you. All these new names…” Maedhros gave him a wicked smile. “Prince Nelyafinwe might mind, though...”
“Oh?” Nolofinwe felt a shiver of excitement run through his body, pooling between his legs.
Maedhros chuckled and bowed over, careful to not overturn one of the cups and carafes on the table between them. “He might think you need to be put in your place, a reminder of whom you serve. Would you like that?” His hand squeezed Nolofinwe’s thigh under the table.
“Yes.” Nolofinwe shuddered. “Later”, he whispered with trembling voice.
Maedhros nodded and moved back a little. “I’ll await you in my tent this time. When the moon is in its zenith. Don’t be late.”
“Yes, my prince.”
“So, did you want to talk about anything special when you invited me here?”, Maedhros asked.
“Not really, just wanted to spend some time with you. How are your brothers?”
“Well, for the most part. Ambarussa… he’s grieving in his own way, most of the time he’s living in the woods, I don’t see much of him.” Maedhros took a deep breath, looking at him with haunted eyes. “Do you think, he is in the Void, as we said in the Oath?”
“I hope not”, Nolofinwe answered, reaching out to squeeze Maedhros’s hand. “Is that even possible? I’m not sure why Feanáro said that. I hope both he and your brother are safely in Mandos.”
Maedhros nodded and gave him a grateful look. “We need to get the Silmarils back as quickly as possible”, he said. “Fulfil the Oath for them.”
“You know it’s not simple”, Nolofinwe answered. “He’s powerful. We need allies.”
It wasn’t, that he didn’t want to help — this feast was also an opportunity to win new allies — but he knew that they needed to bide their time. When they attacked Morgoth, it would need to be decisive, they couldn’t risk anything else.
Maedhros gripped his cup tighter. “I know.” He shook his head. “I’ve seen it from up close.” He laughed bitterly. “You are right, we can’t rush it. I just wish it were easier.”
“Yes.” Nolofinwe touched his fingers. “I understand. But we can not strike too early.”
He might not have forgiven his brother for his betrayal, but he did not wish him to suffer from the consequences of his ill-considered Oath. (No, he wanted to punch him in the face himself.) And his youngest nephew had never deserved such a fate.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” Maedhros smiled sadly. “I’m glad that you are at my side, you and Findekáno, someone who didn’t swear the Oath, who has his wits about him.”
Nolofinwe saw no guards in front of Maedhros’s tent as he went towards it. He must have dismissed them. An excited shiver ran down Nolofinwe’s back. They’d have their privacy — and he’d be put in his place. The tent flap was open and Nolofinwe looked inside. Maedhros was sitting on a folding chair, cleaning his prosthesis. A late dinner was ready on the table, only one plate. He smiled at him when their eyes met.
“Close the flap, I’ll be ready in a moment.”
Nolofinwe tied the straps that would hold the entry closed. Even if someone needed to see one of them, it would hopefully give them enough time to hide what they were doing. Maedhros put his prosthesis back on and stood up.
“Now, Fingolfin”, he said, stepping close and gripping Nolofinwe’s chin. “I think you’ve gotten a little full of yourself in my absence. I think, you need a reminder of who let you take the crown you seem so proud of. A lesson in humility.”
“My prince, I…”
“Ah!" Maedhros laid a finger on his lips. "Not a word.”
Nolofinwe gulped, his knees becoming weak. Maedhros started to deftly undress him. Nolofinwe’s heart sped up as both his hands stroked over his naked skin — one warm, one cool.
“Mine”, Maedhros said, squeezing his buttock that was still tender from their tryst in the woods a few days ago. “You are mine, Fingolfin, and that name is preposterous. Kneel.”
Nolofinwe went to his knees without hesitation, a spike of pleasure shooting through his body.
“Now, was that so hard?”, Maedhros asked with a smirk. “This is your natural place in the world, núro, at my feet.” The fingers of his prosthesis carded through Nolofinwe’s hair and he shivered at the unfamiliar sensation. “Is it not so, núro? Am I not your master? Do you not worship me? You may speak.”
“Yes, Prince Nelyafinwe”, Nolofinwe answered, his voice unsteady. “You are my master and I worship you.”
“Very good. I’ll make sure you don’t forget it, when people call you ‘king’ twice over in one name. Kiss my boots, Fingolfin.”
Nolofinwe felt his cheeks heat as he bowed forward to press his lips to his prince’s boot. Shame was curling in his stomach at the way Maedhros called him by his Sindarin name. It should have been a bad feeling, but it wasn’t, it made his cock fill.
“Very good”, Nelyafinwe crooned. “You look good doing that, Fingolfin.”
He continued to kiss his prince’s feet, tasting leather and dust, until he stopped him by stepping back.
“Look at me”, Nelyafinwe said and Nolofinwe lifted his eyes, apprehension welling up in his breast. How else would his prince make him pay for his pridefulness? Nelyafinwe gently touched his cheek. “You’re so beautiful, my núro. Now, lets eat.”
His prince pointed to the cushion beside his chair and Nolofinwe crawled over, kneeling down on it. His prince sat down beside him, patting his head.
“Not feeling so kingly now, hm?”, he said.
“No, my prince”, Nolofinwe answered. “I’m only your servant.”
“Good boy.”
Maedhros started to cut his meat, Nolofinwe marvelled at how deftly he used his artificial hand.
“Eat.”
Nolofinwe pulled the meat off the fork with his lips, chewing slowly. Feeding him was a way to put him in his place, he knew that, and it made shame mixed with arousal pool hot in his belly.
Maedhros leaned back, his plate empty. He looked down at his núro. Fingolfin. He huffed, knowing that Nolofinwe had already set a second Finwe before his name, when they’d travelled up the coast of Araman. He wasn’t angry about it — Nolofinwe was a natural leader and most of their people had followed him, not Maedhros’s father — but Prince Nelyafinwe could be and he enjoyed the opportunity to play with Nolofinwe. Maedhros undid the clasps that held his prosthesis in place and slipped it off. He felt better not wearing it when he was with Nolofinwe.
“On the bed with you, núro”, he said.
Nolofinwe obeyed quickly, eagerness speaking from his motions. He knelt on the bed, legs spread wide, open for him. Maedhros reached between his legs and squeezed his cock, drawing a throaty moan from his núro.
“Beg me to fuck you”, he whispered into his ear. “Prove that you’ve learned your lesson, Fingolfin.”
Nolofinwe shuddered beneath him.
“Please, my prince”, he said, his voice trembling. “Take your pleasure from me, find your release within my body. I’m yours, your servant, yours to use.”
Maedhros’s cock twitched at the words. He kissed Nolofinwe’s neck and undressed quickly, moving between his núro’s legs. Maedhros slid a finger into his oil-slick hole, moving it slowly in and out. Nolofinwe whimpered, moving his hips. Maedhros pulled out and slapped his buttock.
“Hold still, Fingolfin. It pleases me to take you slowly, don’t try to force my pace.”
“Yes, my prince, I’m sorry”, Nolofinwe gasped.
“Of course you are, however, I think, this proves that you haven’t learnt your lesson on humility, yet.”
Maedhros pushed his finger back in, moving it slowly. He took his time, adding a second one after a while, enjoying the whimpers he drew from him. By the time he aligned his cock with Nolofinwe’s entrance, his núro’s back was beaded with sweat and he shivering with need. Maedhros licked up his spine, from cleft to nape and felt him shudder violently. He grinned. How much he loved to see him so undone. He breached him slowly, stopping when barely the head of his cock was inside him, feeling Nolofinwe’s muscles quiver around him.
“Beg me again”, he said, gripping his núro’s hair and pulling his head back.
“Please, Prince Nelyafinwe”, Nolofinwe sobbed. “Please, take me. I’m yours. I’m yours!”
Maedhros slowly pushed deeper, holding on tightly to his self-restraint when all he wanted to do was to bury himself to the hilt in his núro’s quivering passage. But he loved to feel the shudders that shook Nolofinwe’s body, hear him sob and keen as he slowly rocked into him. He clamped his hand over Nolofinwe’s mouth, muffling his sounds. He’d sent his guards away and if anyone heard them, they probably wouldn’t think it was the High King of the Noldor making these (delicious, arousing) noises, but he didn’t want to take a risk.
“Yes”, he growled into his ear. “You are mine. My núro. Mine to use as I please.”
Maedhros groaned as a violent shudder made Nolofinwe’s muscles clench around him. He couldn’t stop himself then from quickening his pace, fucking him harder. The wooden frame of his bed creaking beneath them. He heard Nolofinwe cry out when he hit his prostate. His thrusts became jerky as his pleasure washed over him. He stilled, groaning into Nolofinwe’s ear, as he filled him with his seed and laid them down on their sides, taking care to not slip out of his núro. Nolofinwe was trembling, his cock dark and leaking pre-cum.
“This is what you are, Fingolfin”, Maedhros whispered into his ear, rolling a hard nipple between his fingers, “my servant, a willing sheath for my cock.” Nolofinwe’s muscles trembled around him. “You are here to serve my pleasure and if I decide so, you’ll leave this tent unfulfilled.”
Nolofinwe whimpered, arching his back as Maedhros’s treatment of his nipples became more rough. Maedhros saw his cock twitch, admiring his núro’s restraint.
“You are so beautiful like this”, he whispered into his núro’s ear, his own cock already hardening again in the warm confines of Nolofinwe’s ass. “If it pleases me, I’ll send you back to your tent, hard and aching for release, my seed filling you and running down your thighs. To contemplate your pridefulness.” He rocked his hips, his cock swelling.
Nolofinwe shuddered violently, uttering a breathless: “Please!”
Maedhros chuckled, deliberately misunderstanding him. “Oh, you want me to do that? But if you beg me for it, it is no punishment at all. No, I have a better idea. Tomorrow, when Fingolfin will take the oaths of those who follow him, he will know, who he bows to, because he’ll be sore from being fucked hard by his prince — and also because he’ll wear a plug up his ass that his prince put there.”
Nolofinwe knew he was making loud — and very undignified — noises, his face was buried in the mattress, muffling his sounds a little, but he didn’t care either way as his prince was pounding into him. His own cock pulsed in painful arousal, leaking pre-cum. He was shivering, his muscles spasming every time Nelyafinwe hit his prostate. His face was wet with tears of want. He held to any thread of self-restraint he possessed, because he knew his body would win over his mind, if he let go for just a moment — and that would mean disappointing his prince. He felt him jerk, felt him find his release inside him a second time, and sobbed as finally a hand wrapped around his arousal.
“Come”, his prince gasped into his ear.
Nolofinwe whimpered and sobbed as his release washed over him, painful in its intensity, his passage clenching around his prince’s softening cock. He felt Nelyafinwe slip out of him and slumped down in exhaustion, breathing heavily. Nelyafinwe peppered kisses on his shoulders, brushing damp hair out of the way and licking the sweat off his skin.
“Have you learned your lesson, my núro Fingolfin?”
“Yes”, Nolofinwe croaked. “You are my prince and I bow to you, your will is my command — and I serve you gladly.”
He threw Nelyafinwe a tired smile over his shoulder. Nelyafinwe chuckled.
“Very good. And so you don’t forget tomorrow, when everyone’s going to fawn over you…” He rummaged around in a bag beside his bed and pulled out a plug of smooth, shining metal. Nolofinwe tried not to tense at the burn when his prince worked it into his sore passage, still slick with his semen. “You know, I’ll be hard tomorrow, when I renew my oath to you. Knowing that my plug is up your ass, keeping my seed inside you.”
Nolofinwe shivered and moaned softly at the thought. Nelyafinwe moved up, his breath hot on his ear as he whispered: “Maybe I’ll pull you aside later tomorrow, when everyone’s too drunk to notice us gone, and make you suck me off.”
“Your will is my command”, Nolofinwe mumbled sleepily.
At another time he’d already be hard again at that idea, but right now he was simply too exhausted.
Nelyafinwe chuckled and pulled him into a loving embrace. “Did I tire you out, my dear?”
Nolofinwe nodded and fell asleep.
Maedhros kissed his sleeping lover’s forehead, Nolofinwe snuggled comfortably into him. He wanted to fall asleep with him in his arm, but he knew he couldn’t, chances that they would only wake up in the morning — to a camp searching for their missing High King — were too high. So he just lay there for a while, letting Nolofinwe have his rest after this intense scene. He hoped, he hadn’t been too rough or too focused on the name — he didn’t want Nolofinwe to think he was mad about it for real.
“It’s alright”, he said quickly when Nolofinwe woke and he saw the look of dread coming to his face. “You haven’t been asleep for long. Frankly, I’d love to let you sleep here, but I think that’s too risky.”
Maedhros rose to pour him a cup of water, sure that he must be thirsty.
“Thank you. Is Prince Nelyafinwe pacified by his servant’s obedience?”, Nolofinwe asked with a little smile.
Maedhros laughed, feeling relieved that he was joking about it. He filled a basin with water and washed them both with a cloth.
“He is for now. He might bring it up again, though, if he feels annoyed.”
Nolofinwe chuckled and kissed him. “That’s his right, I suppose. I love you, Maedhros.”
“I love you, too.”
Maedhros swallowed around the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. The festival was drawing to a close and he knew they’d be parted again afterwards. It hurt to think of it.
“I wish, I could stay”, he whispered.
Nolofinwe propped himself up on his elbows and caressed his cheek.
“Then stay”, he said. “We’ll think of an explanation.”
“I can’t leave my brothers alone.” Unsupervised. The Valar knew what ideas they’d get, if he wasn’t there to hold them back. “And also… I feel, that if He attacks, he’ll do so in a place like the Gap, where there’s no natural defence. I want to be close to that.”
“Yes, I can understand that.” Nolofinwe sighed as he stood up and gathered his clothes. “I’m just dreaming.” He smiled at Maedhros. “But we’ll visit each other, yes?”
“As often as possible.”
Though Maedhros knew that meant not very often. They both had responsibilities and they couldn’t risk to meet too frequently and draw attention to it. Nolofinwe had dressed and bowed down to give him another kiss.
“Good night, Maedhros. Sweet dreams.”
“Good night, Nolofinwe.” Maedhros smiled at him. “I’ll have those. See you tomorrow.”
They’d have a few more days together and Maedhros decided he’d concentrate on that instead of lamenting already about their parting.