Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Harry stared into the nothingness sitting on the stone bench of the small temple whilst waiting for Boromir to arrive.
The wizard almost couldn’t believe that it’d already been a week since the captain had returned. The best week he’d lived in years.
The dinner on the first night had been calm, full of comfortable silences, innocent caresses and unimportant talks. Harry had almost had to force his companion to go sleep when he saw how exhausted he was after his travelling.
The rest of the week flied by, within moment full of silence and fond gestures, trying to get to know each other better.
Boromir was usually busy in the morning, trying to fulfil all his duties before lunch so he could spend the rest of the day with his young love.
Harry, on his part, spent the mornings taking care of Boromir’s garden. The nobleman had insisted Harry needn’t do it, but the wizard had argued that he liked taking care of the plants and needed something to do other than reading to pass the time whilst he was busy.
The captain in the end gave up, much to the wizard’s satisfaction, so he spent the morning killing his boredom in the gardens. Professor Sprout and Neville would’ve been proud if they’d seen his small paradise.
Of course, not all the merit was his, but it was nice seen the fruit of his labour.
The sound of footsteps made him look up and he saw Boromir had arrived. Harry waited for him and accepted a kiss to the cheek when he sat down on the bench next to him.
“Good evening, Harry.”
“Good evening, Boromir.” The wizard kept silent a moment, doubting. “Boromir, I have to… we… I think…”
The man looked at him seriously at the voice tone and waited till he spoke. Harry took a deep breath.
“I don’t think we should see each other again.”
The captain looked at him without a reaction and Harry started to grow uncomfortable.
“Why?” was the only thing the man was able to say.
“Because it wouldn’t be fair to you.” He muttered. “Because one day you’ll die.”
The warrior kept silent for a few more seconds, looking at him in confusion.
“I do not understand.” He said almost desperately. “Have I done something wrong? Is it because being the Captain-General is dangerous? Is it…?”
“No, Boromir, it’s none of that.” Hurried to interrupt him feeling an uncomfortable pressure in his chest at having to do this. “It’s got nothing to with you, it’s got to do with… with my past.”
Instantly, Boromir’s attitude changed completely and his eyes turned hard.
“Is someone threatening you? Did someone from your past find you or…?”
“No, there’s no one from my past in Arda.”
Boromir looked at him even more confused.
“I do not understand, Harry. Why do you want…?”
Harry sighed and looked the warrior in the eyes, the man keeping silent at his look.
“I’m going to be honest with you, Boromir, but you won’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
“Alright.” Sighed again the young man. “The Valar sent me here.”
The warrior looked at him in silence.
“The Valar… sent you to Gondor?”
“Yes, I mean, no.” Boromir looked even more confused. “The Valar sent me to Gondor, yes, but… they brought me to Arda, Boromir. I’m from another world.”
Harry stared at him, waiting for the moment when the captain would stand up and start to shout that he’d gone crazy, but the moment never arrived.
“Alright… you come from… a different world…”
“You believe me?” asked Harry, sceptical.
“I can’t believe it right now, but I’m ready to consider the possibility.” Answered Boromir. “Anyway, I don’t understand why we shouldn’t see each other again. You don’t… you don’t have to go back, do you?” asked the man.
Whilst waiting for an answer, he unconsciously held his breath. If Harry had to go… Boromir didn’t know what he’d do, but he couldn’t keep on living without him.
“No.” calmed him down Harry. “It’s not that, I… Boromir, my world is complex. There is a secret community of Men and other beings. They all have something in common: magic. The Men capable of using it are called witches and wizards, something like your Istari. The biggest difference lies in that their powers don’t come from the Valar, but from Magic itself.” Boromir was about to ask something, but the youth stopped him. “It’s something complicated to explain. Thing is, our wizards don’t live eternally. They are born, live and die the same as any other Man.”
“How do you know they exist if they live in secret?” asked the captain.
“Because I’m one of them.” He confessed.
The man looked at him open-mouthed, not knowing what to say, and Harry smiled weakly at him.
“But my case is somehow special, unique. You see, my world was at war and the responsibility to stop it was mine. There were three powerful objects that no one had been able to gather ever. I did, with the intention of using them to put a stop to the war. As no one had ever managed to do it before, I didn’t understand the consequences of uniting the hollows until it was too late. I just wanted to save my loved ones, or those left. I ended the war, we won…” Harry sighed and looked at Boromir, who listened attentively. “Some time later, in another battle… one of my friends almost died. I put myself in the middle and received the curse in his place.” Boromir took a sudden breath. “The curse should have killed me, but I stood up again. I can’t die, Boromir.”
Harry kept silent and waited for Boromir to process the information.
“Like… like an elf?”
“No. elves cannot die of old age, but as far as I know they can die of sadness or grave wounds. It’s difficult but possible. I, on the other hand, can’t die. It doesn’t matter how grave the wounds or the time that goes by. Simply put, it’s impossible.”
The captain stared straight at him for a few more seconds before shaking his head with a slight smile on his lips.
“Boromir?” called him the wizard in surprise.
“I don’t care, Harry, none of that matters to me. I love you and I know you feel something for me too. We can make this work, I know we can.”
Boromir caught one of his hands and with the other caressed his face. Harry leant into the touch and closed his eyes with a sigh. When he opened them again, he was faced with the warrior’s smile. The youth sighed again, this time in resignation, and nodded.
Harry knew he should keep away, that he wouldn’t stand seeing Boromir die no matter if it was due to old age or the battlefield, but when the man leant forward and kissed him softly in the lips, he knew that didn’t matter any longer. He couldn’t keep away from Boromir, even if that destroyed him.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
After that day, it was like a dam broke.
Boromir had his proof that what Harry had told him was true every time he used his magic and the young wizard told him about his life in the magical world. He didn’t go into great detail about the war and Boromir didn’t ask either. The gondorian could see that the memory was still too fresh in his memory.
The Man had a chance to know the real Harry. Not the warrior, nor the servant. Just Harry. And every day he found himself more in love with him.
Harry, on his part, started to experiment new emotions. Despite never before having felt like this, he knew what it was. It was just a matter of time before he was ready to say it aloud.
Slowly, their relationship progressed and none of them could be happier.
A few weeks after their discussion at the small temple, Boromir introduced him to his brother Faramir. The Seneschal’s son had wanted to do it much sooner, but harry had insisted they should wait a while.
Surprisingly, Faramir and Harry connected easily and they both appreciated the other’s company, to the point that Faramir seeked him out often in his free time.
The wizard discovered that Boromir’s younger brother deeply appreciated the arts and the sciences and surprised the man with his advanced knowledge.
Boromir couldn’t be happier. The new friendship between his beloved and his brother had given him the chance to repair their relationship, harmed by their parent’s favouritism.
The soldiers under his command also noticed the change in the seneschal’s son’s attitude, although most of them didn’t know the reason behind it. Boromir was still a proud and brave warrior, but he’d become more understanding and less reckless.
Their relationship hadn’t advanced much in the physical sense, in part due to Boromir’s desire to have Harry understand he didn’t just love his body but everything that he was, and in part due to not wanting Harry to regret anything if they hurried too much.
The only bump in their relationship was produced by the seneschal’s disapproval. Denethor had made it clear to Boromir that he must marry a woman and produce an heir. Until then he could do whatever he wanted with whoever he wanted, but in the end he must do as he’d been told. His father hadn’t even deigned to meet Harry.
Boromir had been furious and hurt that his father wasn’t glad he’d found happiness, but he’d refused to let that affect his relationship with the young wizard.
It was then that Harry revealed him a matter that brought him great joy: when the time came, Harry would be able to give him an heir. Apparently, there was a potion that would make it possible.
However, that would mean revealing to his father that the youth was a wizard. Boromir knew of his father’s distrust towards the Istari and he was afraid to tell him. If Denethor learnt of Harry’s power, he’d want to turn him into a weapon for Gondor.
Now, Boromir loved Gondor and was completely loyal to its people, but that didn’t mean he’d allow anyone to use his little emerald that way.
“Boromir?”
The soldier moved from the doorframe he’d been leaning against, lost in thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“Are you alright? You seem very tense.”
The warrior smiled tenderly at the obvious worry in the green-eyed man’s voice and nodded.
“I’m fine, my love.” Answered the gondorian taking pleasure in the flush of the youth at his tender words.
The wizard left the book he’d previously been reading on a table and focused all his attention on the man. Boromir could say he was alright as much as he wanted, but he could see the impotency and the sadness that weighted him over.
The youth thought for a moment about what he could do to calm the warrior’s stressed mind and soon he had an idea.
Standing up from the seat where he’d been waiting in Boromir’s rooms, he approached the man and brought him hand in hand to his room. The seneschal’s son looked at him in askance but let himself be guided.
Once the door was closed behind them both, Harry turned to the man who, little by little, had began to win over his heart, and shyly started to unbutton his shirt.
At first Boromir was too surprised to do anything. It was when Harry was already pushing the shirt off his shoulders that the Man finally managed to react.
Holding the wizards’ hands in his, he brought the to his mouth to kiss them without looking away from the youth’s eyes.
“I’m certainly not complaining, but what are you doing, my love?” he inquired.
Harry softly bit down on his lower lip, a habit that indicated he was nervous, before looking away.
Unable to stop himself, Boromir bent down to capture that tempting lip with his own teeth, receiving a delicious moan from the youth before him.
Gathering his courage, Harry settled his hands on the now naked chest of the soldier, softly tracing one of his scars.
“Lay down on the bed.” He muttered lightly pushing him towards it.
Wondering what his little gem intended to do, the soldier obeyed and arched an eyebrow in his direction.
“Face down.” He instructed with a blush.
Confused, Boromir did as asked, crossing his arms and leaning his head on them. The slight sound of the wizard’s robe gliding over the floor alerted him of the moment he approached the bed.
The bed bent with the weight of a new weight and Boromir startled when Harry sat astride his back, but it didn’t take him long to relax.
Soft and skilful hands started to trace circles and caress the tense muscles of his back. The smell of rosemary oil mixed with an almost imperceptible note of lavender reached him and Boromir felt himself relax more and more under the dexterous hands massaging his back.
The soldier sighed in relief whilst the wizard kneaded the knots on his back from a long day riding on horse.
“Faramir came by yesterday.”
The warrior emitted a sound from the depths of his throat to encourage him to keep on talking, too relaxed to do anything else.
“He believes I spend too long shuttered away in the palace, so he’s set on bringing me on a horse ride.”
“My little brother is a very intelligent man.2
“Oh, not you too.” He moaned.
“I think it’s a good idea, Harry. He’s right that you spend too much time hidden away in the palace. Tomorrow I’ll speak to my men so you’ll have an escort.”
“Boromir, it’s just a ride.”
“A ride in which you’ll probably leave the city. The forests aren’t safe, Harry.”
“Boromir, I can take care of myself. And your brother is a great warrior.”
“Either way, I’d feel much better if you were escorted.” Insisted the Man firmly.
Harry’s hands stopped where a second before he’d been rubbing the oil into the soldier’s shoulders.
“Boromir, what happened?” he asked softly. “What weighs so heavily on your mind?”
The seneschal’s son sighed silently at his little emerald’s perceptiveness and debated with himself whether to tell him what had happened.
“Boromir, I’m here for you. You know you can tell me what worries you.”
“I didn’t want to weigh you down.” Sighed the man. “In our last expedition, we found a razed village. It was orcs. We were too late to save them. And those beasts made sure not to leave any survivors.”
“I’m sorry, my warrior.” Answered Harry in a sad voice. “But you must not blame yourself. You do what you can. You can’t be in two places at the same time. You can’t save everyone.”
“I know.” Accepted the man. “But it won’t stop me from trying.”
“Of course not.” Agreed Harry with a slight smile. “Now relax. You’ll have time to be tense when you have to return to the battlefield.”
“You’re an angel. You know, right?” muttered the soldier turning slightly to look him in the eyes. “My angel.”
Harry blushed and looked away, incapable of standing the intensity of those grey eyes.
“I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you, Harry. Especially if there was something I could’ve done to stop it. Please, will you allow two of my soldiers to escort you and Faramir on your ride?”
The youth sighed heavily, but ended up nodding.
“If that’ll keep your mind from worrying.”
“It will.” Nodded Boromir.
“Then, yes. I will allow us to be escorted. But you’ll have to get Faramir’s approval first. Now, relax.”
Boromir nodded, satisfied, and returned to leaning his head on his arms, letting his beloved’s skilful hands take away all the tension.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
Two days later, Faramir was waiting for Harry in one of the palace’s gardens with the horses all ready.
The youth didn’t take long to arrive, dressed in black riding pants and a dark green robe with a hood that reached to the middle of his thighs.
Over it all, the young man wore a black cape with an emerald brooch and the hood down.
With the slightly long hair and his petit complexion, it wouldn’t have been difficult to confuse him with a woman.
Next to him walked Boromir, who held Harry’s small hand across his arm.
Faramir greeted them with a big smile and offered Harry the reigns of one of the most docile white mares.
“Are you sure you can’t come, brother?” he asked mounting his horse.
“I’m afraid our father requires my presence. Again.” Answered the Captain-General with a small scowl.
The scowl disappeared when two men on horse standing nearby approached them.
“Captain-General.”
“Harry, let me introduce you to Arborn and Tolan. They’ve fought several battles with me and my brother and they’re two of my best warriors. They will accompany you and make sure you’re safe. Arborn, Tolan, this is my angel, Harry.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, my lord.”
The mentioned blushed and hurried to correct them.
“Harry, please. Call me Harry.”
Both looked sideways to their Captain before nodding their heads.
“As you wish.”
Boromir looked at the two soldiers and his brother with seriousness before speaking again.
“I’m trusting you with my life, for I do not know what I’d do if something happened to my angel. Treat him as such and be careful.”
The Captain didn’t wait to see their reactions. He turned to the blushing wizard and bent down to press a chaste kiss to his gem’s lips before helping him onto the mare.
“I’ll see you later, then.” He said with a smile.
The four of them nodded and directed their mounts away from the gardens and through the streets of Minas Tirith.´
Soon enough they were outside the city and they spurred their mounts into a light gallop through the forest’s roads.
Harry and Faramir fell into conversation fast and, once in a while, their escorts participated.
The wizard took an instant liking to the lively and mischievous personality of Arborn and the friendly silence of Tolan.
When they’d spent little less than an hour in the forest, the sound of hoofs alerted them to the presence of someone else.
The guards tensed and the four of them looked around. A little while later, they were able to distinguish a strange creature.
Harry recognised it instantly, however, the others had never seen anything like it. The riders tried to approach and Harry galloped behind them.
Unfortunately they weren’t able to see more than a blue and silver shadow before it, apparently, vanished into thin air.
When the four of them reached the clearing the being had disappeared at, Harry was the only one to notice an eagle atop the lower branches of a fir. The youth winked at it mischievously.
“Did you see that, Harry? What creature was that being? I’d never even heard of something like that.”
“I don’t know, Faramir. I’m afraid it was so far I only seemed to recognise a simple horse. I’m not sure what you’ve seen but it must have been a trick of your eyes.” Muttered he innocently.
When they returned to the palace, Faramir recounted their encounter with the strange beast to his brother, still confused.
The Captain-General looked at Harry inquisitively, but he simply smiled mysteriously.
ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ
“Did you enjoy the ride?” asked Boromir playing with a black bang of hair between his fingers.
“Aha. The forest is beautiful.” He muttered with his head laying on the man’s chest.
“No more beautiful than you.” Remarked the soldier. “What do you think about Arborn and Tolan?”
“They’re nice company.”
“I’m glad. They will escort you whenever they’re not out on a ranging.”
“Boromir…”
“Please, Harry. The orcs are becoming more forward. They’re coming too close to Minas Tirith. I’m afraid for your safety.”
“Boromir, I can take care of a few orcs.” Commented the wizard raising his head from his chest and looking at him in amusement.
“That doesn’t mean you need to.” Answered Boromir raising his head too to look him in the eyes.
Harry smiled. He had to admit it was nice having someone worry over him and who wished to spare him unnecessary suffering. The fact that that someone was Boromir made something warm fill his chest.
“I should return to my rooms.”
Harry bit his lower lip and leant his head back over where the warrior’s heart rested, making him stop when he was about to get up from the bed.
“Stay.” He whispered.
The Man looked down from his half-sitting position and his breath cut off when his grey eyes found those beautiful emeralds.
“Are you sure?” he whispered as if afraid it was all a dream that would disappear if he talked too loud.
Harry nodded and hid his face in the man’s muscled chest. Boromir leant back again, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and bending the other under his head.
None of them bothered undressing that night and, for the first time, Harry had a peaceful sleep in another’s arms. In the arms of the Man who, with patience and tenderness, had won over his heart.