ji-indur:
misbehavingmaiar :
admirable-mairon:
admirable-mairon-moved:
Mairon had exhausted himself rather early on as he tried to fight and didn’t realize how weak a human body is.
He slumped, even dozing off from sheer exhaustion as they traveled on horse-back. Because of this, he didn’t even realize where they were. He could barely hear the waves as his hearing had been muted.
He had barely been concious of what was going on around him because of the immense amount of water around him – pushing – flowing – threatening to drag him into the deeps – so in a way he was grateful that Ossë pulled him away from it.
It was painful however – much more painful than it had been when he was a maia – and he couldn’t help but yelp as he was hoisted up like that. His many years with Melkor had taught him to stay quiet most often however, so when Ossë twisted his hand in his hair, he remained silent. He knew how to lessen his pain somewhat, and therefore reached up to take hold of Ossë’s hand. It didn’t do much and he didn’t try to pry him off, but it helped to get some of the weight off his scalp.
He was panting heavily however, as he tried to understand what they were talking about. He didn’t get the details – He didn’t get the exact purpose of either of them – but it was very clear that Sauron would not help him.
Sauron – His brother to whom he had gone to get help in his hour of need – Would hurt him worse than Ossë ever could. No fair judgement… No fair trial…. Just the cruelty the two of them were known for.
“Traitor…!” he hissed at Sauron, before being cut off by how carelessly Ossë handled him. Even if he had planned on saying more things – spewing more accusations at his brother – the abrupt tossing of his fragile body made sure that he couldn’t say anything else.
It was a miracle that his neck didn’t snap (he had done so accidently with more than enough elves and men to know just how little force it took to break bones), but the force still tugged and tore at him. It put great strain on his muscles and nerves, and in some places the skin actually even tore, causing him to bleed.
Overall he was intact, but the physical trauma was still enough to make him whimper.
@ji-indur @masteroftheseas @misbehavingmaiar
———-((Ossë’s reply))
“Traitor?” Sauron laughed. “But I am fulfilling the very letter of my word! I promised you I would protect your life, ensure you came to no harm for the duration of your curse, and so I shall!” He strode over the sand to where Ossë held his sibling prone and kicking in the air, his mewling sweet in the dark lord’s ear.
He grasped Mairon’s narrow chin between gloved thumb and finger, squeezing hard with a creak of leather while his voice dripped honey. “I will take good care of you, brother, for as long as you shall live– and it will be a hundred years at least, I guarantee it,” he smiled. “Long enough for your hair to turn white and recede past your ears, for your skin to sag and turn spotty as old fruit, for all that is taut and smooth to loosen and wrinkle, for your amber eyes to grow dull and cloudy, for your gut to billow and your knees protrude, your back bend and your jowls quiver… Oh, my pretty, pretty brother… don’t worry. I’ll look after you even when you no longer have teeth to chew with, and any attempt you make to end your days before Eru calls you home, I will forestall. You see? I will be keeping my promise to you for years and years to come.”
He stroked Mairon’s fair cheek. It amused him to see his brother dangle so, like a child’s top in the hands of a storm. His cousin-Maia’s wrath was absolute, terrible as lightning at sea, chilling the air and whipping the surf into a lashing spray. It froze him to the core, but delighted him all the same.
Releasing his brother’s face roughly, he pulled back to address the towering figure of Ossë.
“I swear it,” he said, touching his chest. “And to you, wraith, I swear also: when his power is undone, you will be his servant no longer– nor any other’s. But we must hurry; it fast approaches the hour of the curse’s end.”
He beckoned to the kneeling corsair, one of the nine undead men his brother had enslaved to his power, the mirror of his own magic-bound servants. “You, friend of Ossë,” he urged, “you need not wait to receive your boon. I will give it to you now, as a gesture of good faith. Come, give me your ring-bearing hand, and I will unshackle you from his will.”
@admirable-mairon @ji-indur @masteroftheseas
As they had reached the shore again, Ji Indur stood aside to not get in between the Maiar. He was but a mere mortal, nay even less than that and he knew that while Mairon’s anger could not hurt him right now, Sauron’s and osse’s fury could. And he doubted they would hold back should it come to more than just an exchange of angry words. Watching everything unfold with his master’s fury palpable in the air and yet it being such an empty, helpless fury- it did his heart well but somehow he couldn’t truly enjoy it.
Too often had he struggled like this, at the receiving end of the Dark Lord’s overpowering will. Out of control and like a puppet on strings. It was a fate he had not wished about anybody else, not even his worst enemy. But was it not Mairon who he hated the most? Was this a fate he wished for Him? To age, to grow old- it had been something the wraith had feared. Enough for him to take that accursed ring. To know that Mairon would suffer the fate he had tried to escape but would suffer it eternally…
Ah, it was odd. His anger had been drowned by the cold water, the flame extinguished and all he felt was a strange sort of pity for what would become of his master should Osse and he accept Sauron’s offer.
Though was there even a discussion to be had? Of course Sauron was right. Should the Master of the Seas use this moment to end Mairon’s life to take revenge, he would have to pay the price because the Valar would question him for such an act. But to keep Him alive and chained up… Eventually He would regain his powers. And then…
He had been kneeling as matters had gotten heated and now as Sauron called him, beckoning him closer, the Umbarim slowly rose to his feet and approached the Maia. Lifting his hand after removing his gauntlet he revealed the ring that had been stuck on his finger for four thousand years. There was a sudden profound fear. What if it was a trap? What if this was his last moment to be? But Ji Indur knew he could not falter, red eyes meeting golden amber fire as he took a deep breath.
“Free at last…” he said and was surprised how weak his own voice sounded, filled with fear and disbelief. ‘Tis was…too good to be true, was it not? “Take the ring away from me, I beg you. Let me roam the ocean forever, bound to and by nobody but my own will and the tides of time.”
@misbehavingmaiar @admirable-mairon @masteroftheseas
On principle, Sauron liked the Men of the East. By nature or perhaps simply by accident of geography, they were largely free of indoctrination by elves or Valar. They had their own way of understanding the world, inclined to explore and study the earth to find answers, weaving their own philosophies from whole cloth. Here was one, he thought, who had drunk deep of the well of life and was loathe to give up its pleasures, even if it had cost him all freedom. It reminded him of a parable of a man who had sold his eyes for a chance to see the world; a sad fate, for one so beloved of the sea.
Not that he would have spared the man, had it been one of his rings on that finger and not his brother’s. Having a servant who was at once beholden to him and to Ossë, who could navigate the waters without fear of the ocean’s wrath, would be a powerful asset indeed.
Sauron reviewed his own words carefully– had he indeed promised that the corsair would be free of all powers, not only Mairon’s? Yes… damn it all. He had been too quick, too eager to close the deal between them, had not considered every potential gain.
A loss he would have to accept; if all went as planned, he would still come out ahead in this transaction.
Taking the salt-weathered hand in his own, he met the wraith’s eyes, whose weariness was so much older than the lined and handsome face that bore them. Time had taken much from him, and that was something it was not in the power of a Maia to return.
“Free you I shall, but I will not take the ring from you; not if you indeed wish to roam the sea forever,” he explained gently. “But it will be yours to remove, if your eternal life becomes too burdensome.”
Emerald facets flickered with moonlight. The ring was heavy and lustrous; it felt like wealth that wanted spending, like a laughing voice urging you to stay another hour. It would be difficult to unbind its power without breaking it, and without damaging the spirit it held in thrall.
In his mind, he held up its mechanism for scrutiny. He could see it’s power, a bright green circuit of light whose coursing energy was fed by a vast wheel of fire. The golden wheel had many such looping tributaries, twisted off from its main body like jeweler’s wire, each taking on a discreet color.
Carefully, he drew the razor of his mind between the green and the gold. He felt like a watchmaker attempting to fix a clock while it was still running. Sparks shot from the point of contact, for great ring fought against the loss of energy, resisted any change in momentum.
For a moment Sauron feared he would lose control-– but his own ring was equal to his brother’s, and its bright power matched it in speed, forcing stability on the rebelling system.
With utmost precision and perfect timing, he twisted off the circuit of green light, giving it a final push so that it continued spinning on its own power, independent of its source. Less bright than before, it nevertheless continued on its separate journey without a flicker.
Sauron opened his eyes, finding the gold band on his finger glowing white hot, until he released the corsair’s hand.
“It is done,” he breathed, aware suddenly of sweat on his brow, cooling along with his ring in the night air. He looked to Ossë and the dangling maia in mortal form that was his prisoner, and licked his lips. “…And now, by your leave and by my Cousin’s, I will take my brother, and bestow on him the fate he deserves.”
@ji-indur @masteroftheseas @admirable-mairon
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