It is someone delivering a message.
Chapter 16: The Ceremony[edit]
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Marek glared at the messenger hard enough to send the man scuttling out again and then at Aran and then at Faramir and brought his belt down, hard, on Faramir’s stomach causing him to cry out and curl up in pain.
“Come on Aran,” Marek hissed, as the advisor instantly bent towards Faramir, “Leave that whelp alone! He needs to learn he can’t indulge in his uncouth Gondorian ways in my land!”
Marek was not away for long. Faramir had barely managed to uncurl himself and grimace at the pain that the thick belt had caused before Marek flung the door open again, even more furious now. Aran followed.
“Five days! To prepare? He’s ready! What is to prepare?” Marek glared angrily at Faramir.
Whatever he was going to say next was interrupted by the entry of a slender young man with a smirk on his face.
“Neerai,” Marek barked angrily, “You have five days to get my partner ready for our bonding. It is a bonding remember, not like the wedding I had with my wife. Keep in mind the written traditions I asked you to study and prepare my consort for me so that he does not shame me again in front of the gathering.”
Faramir stared at Marek in surprise. Five days? Were they not to be bonded upon arrival?
Aran was the one to explain, “There are some preparations to be made for either partner – fasting, and –“
“Aran, you are riding out to my father today, are you not?” Marek interrupted, “Give him my regards and tell him I am sorry not to see him at my bonding.”
Then he turned to Faramir, “But worry not, love, I have some other special guests who will watch. Make it worth it for me Neerai!”
Aran left that afternoon and Faramir watched his departure with a sinking heart. Despite the spanking and the tests Aran had made him endure, he did seem kinder than Marek or even Neerai whose roving eyes made him uneasy.
The first day, Neerai made Faramir strip and ran his eyes over his body. Faramir withstood the gaze defiantly but jumped when Neerai began to touch him.
“Stop that!” he hissed as Neerai pinched his left nipple, “Prince Marek will not like it.”
Neerai shrugged, “It is my duty to prepare you for your bonding. I need to see if you can withstand the Prince’s lovemaking. You look delicate. I am sure he wants you just to see you cry each night.”
He bathed Faramir after that, and shaved the hair off his chest, arms and legs, noting rather gleefully that it wasn’t much. Faramir was then given a white silk robe that hung just above his knees and was held in place by a belt woven from gold cloth.
Over the next four days, he was made to fast and fed virtually nothing. He was given water, and a fruit each morning. In the daytime he was forced by Neerai to learn all about the people at the small court that Marek had here in Umbar. He was shown who were the important courtiers, told about the important dignitaries who visited and whom he must please. He also learned that his ceremony would be attended by barely a dozen lords and their wives.
In the afternoons, he was bathed, usually by Neerai himself. The man made no pretense of his enjoyment of the act, regularly forcing his way between Faramir’s legs and shaking his head at his lord’s preference for unclean and uncouth Gondorians who stank worse than horses. Faramir could do little other than tolerate his ministrations. An attempt to complain to Marek had led to Marek slapping him and calling him a little liar and threatening to hand him over to Lord Fezel of Khand every other night after their bonding.
In the evenings, he was taken to meet Marek in sitting with some of his lords and their ladies. There he would be left to Marek’s mercy. The first evening, Marek had kissed him in front of them, slipping his hands under Faramir’s robe and baring his buttocks to the assembled lords.
“You see how beautiful he is?” he boasted when he released Faramir’s mouth but continued to hold the robe up. Then he patted him lightly and sent him out. Faramir spent the night alone in his room, hungry and weeping tears of humiliation.
The next day, when Faramir moved his head away from the kiss, Marek was not as kind. He called for Neerai. Faramir was flipped over Neerai’s thighs and spanked furiously with a small, hard, flat piece of wood in front of the five lords and ladies Marek had been entertaining. To Faramir’s abject misery, the lords including Suladan and Fezel had goaded Neerai on, while the women had tittered. Neerai had not released him until Faramir had nearly begun to howl from the pain of the continued spanking.
The morning before the ceremony dawned bright and fresh but Faramir woke sore and tired. He was hungry from the fasting and from having been forced to watch Marek and his friends eat a seven course dinner the night before while he stood behind Marek’s table and was forced to watch. He felt sore too from the beatings Neerai had given him the day before while teaching him how exactly to stand at the bonding – head bowed, shoulders hunched inwards.
That morning, he was spanked again. He had seen the attire he was to wear. To Faramir it seemed like nothing more than two strips of white gauzy cloth. And that was all it was. And he’d protested. Neerai had called Marek who had thrashed him, hard.
Once Marek had thrashed him and left, he stood still, white-faced, not just from the fasting but also the realization that today was the day his future was going to be irretrievably enmeshed with Marek’s.
One strip of cloth was placed over his left shoulder and then aligned crossways to cover most of his groin and his right thigh from the front and his right buttock from the back. The other strip was similarly aligned over the right shoulder so that his front and back were covered reasonably. The belt held the unstitched garment in place. There were to be no shoes or gloves. Save for the two strips of cloth and the belt Faramir wore nothing else. Neerai even lowered the strip to hang off his shoulders so that the left nipple was exposed. When Marek came back to see him, he bit into that nipple, to mark it, he told Faramir.
“And today, I will truly mark you as mine. I will take you as I promised I would, little one. The ring, Neerai.”
To Faramir’s utter mortification, Neerai lifted his robe and taking his limp cock in his hands slipped a shimmering golden ring over it, Marek watching all the while with hawk-like eyes. The ring closed in around the soft flesh, causing Faramir to yelp and stare at the two men confused.
“Why-?” he started and the other two immediately laughed. Marek stepped forward and squeezed him playfully, before smoothening his robes again.
At the appointed time, Neerai led him out, commanding him to walk with his head bowed. Faramir obeyed. He had no desire to look up and catch the smirks on the faces of all they passed by, even the servants who knew he was no more than an exchange for peace. Their words were just as unkind as their glances. He heard voices call him whore, common, ugly, ungainly as he passed through the long corridors to the open courtyard behind Marek’s palace where they were to have the ceremony.
“Faramir!” that voice made him raise his head in consternation. Surely not – hadn’t Marek been joking?
Denethor and Aragorn stood in front of him. He felt the heat pool in his groin and his cock began to throb, but the ring was restricting it he realized in dismay… until he noticed them staring at his attire and his appearance with strange looks – revulsion and disgust he thought it might be.
“Father,” he said softly, “M-my king…” Aragorn was still his king, even if Marek tried to beat that out of him! And then he remembered his brother, “Boromir…”
“Boromir has not come with us,” Aragorn said distantly, continuing to stare at Faramir. The young man flushed at the scrutiny.
“He thinks I’m dead,’ he said hollowly, and suddenly he felt immensely tired, and the effect of being starved for five days was beginning to tell.
“No!” Denethor cut in, his voice as cold as ever, “He wanted to search for your body, so we have told him you live, and that you have betrayed Gondor and the family by running away with your lover, Prince Marek and that you marry him today. He never wants to see you again now.”
“What?” Faramir started in dismay, “but I-“
“An excellent idea, my lords,” Marek interrupted Faramir’s horrified thoughts, “Come love, the ceremony starts now.”
The courtyard opened to a blue sky with wisps of white cloud scattered across it. Tall white columns stood in a circle around ti, with flowering vines growing over them lending a scent to the air. Tall trees circled the pillar hiding the courtyard from sight by outside eyes. At one end was a small stone dais with a large stone bench on it. Marek led Faramir to stand in front of the bench. The young man was pale from hunger and despair and Denethor’s words.
……He never wants to see you again………
People had assembled in a small semi-circle around the dais and an old man was making Marek repeat some words. Faramir felt everything happen round him in a haze, until hands gripped his shoulders bringing him to alertness. He stared frightened, into the eyes of Suladan who had been standing by Marek.
“As per tradition,” Marek announced loudly, “Before the signs of binding I prove that I have claimed Faramir of Gondor as mine by my seal.”
Before Faramir could react, Marek had undid the golden belt and allowed the cloth to fall, leaving Faramir completely naked save for the ring and immediately Suladan had lifted him up and held him against his broad chest, while Marek had lifted his legs and then shifted his robe and his member with the ring still on it to display his brand, clearly visible to all.
It was met with cheers from all except Denethor and Aragorn. When Faramir was set down again, he saw Aragorn was staring at the grass while Denethor simply looked away, the disgust clear on his face.
Faramir swayed slightly on his feet, feeling weak as he stood there, naked. Marek suddenly lifted his hand and slipped a silver band through his hand upto his arm.
“The bonding is now complete,” the old man behind them announced.
“And now, to complete the traditional bonding,” Marek announced to the waiting audience, “I remind you of a tradition that was much valued in times of old and which I now reinstate for my lovely consort.”
He waited until he was sure everyone was listening to him.
Faramir stared at Marek in surprise. Even Aragorn was looking up now.
“I invite you to witness my consummation with my new consort. Right here and right now.”
So saying he threw Faramir’s naked body over the stone bench and undid his own robe.
What happens next?[edit]
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