by Pfantazm

Here's a real disclaimer: this story tends to get kinda violent towards the end. Nothing too explicit, but if you don't cook chicken, for example, 'cause then you'd have to, like, touch it, then you'd best be prepared.

To be about as sure as you can be that you'll never catch anything, then before your legs go in the air, be very choosy about who you sleep with, number one, and make sure your partner wears a condom to catch everything for you.

If you want to yell at me because I took so long to get this next section of the story out, or if, you know, you want to tell me what you think of my new website, write me at pfantazm-at-hotmail-dot-com. Everything I've written is there, and more. Look for the story that you'll find there and nowhere else. Write me to find out what the URL is.

	entered the main gates to the town. The Harvest Festival was officially beginning tomorrow, but many revellers would not wait, and took any excuse for their fun to begin. The riders were split between three horses, and one man on each bore the colors of King Dunstan's Guard: one in red, one in green and one in gold. The fourth clung tightly onto the man in gold. As they trotted past, two men, who were stopping in an alehouse, nodded to each other. The one downed his mead and crept off after them. With as much traffic on the byways here as there was, a man on foot could move faster than one on horseback. The other finished his ale at leisure, then walked back to where he was staying. There was no hurry. The knowledge would be as fresh when he did report in. There would be enough time to use it. Sir Madoc, as spokesman for the group, had gone alone into the garrison of Annisport, as the building was as crowded, if not more, than the rest of the town. When he returned, he looked upset. "What is it?" Thom asked. "The garrison is full. There are no rooms left." "How can that be?" asked Sir Bastian. "When I was here several weeks ago, there was ample room." "The master sergeant says they've inflated their ranks because of the festival. They're always overworked at this time," Sir Madoc explained. "Great," said Thom. "What would he have us do, then?" "He suggests we find an inn. Quickly. Many of the new guards have had to do the same." They went to three inns before they found one that could house them all. It was agreed that splitting up was not a good solution. The Three Red Fish's attic was normally used for storage, but the innkeeper agreed to lodge the knights there. The men dropped their saddlebags in the corners of their makeshift garret and collapsed. There were two pallets in the room which would pass as beds, but they would only fit one man, no matter how intimate two may get. Bastian and Madoc insisted Lennox take one, and Thom and Madoc volunteered to take the floor. "Now that that is settled," Thom said, "let's decide what we do in town to try to find Kraid. Do you know where Kraid keeps his supplies here?" "Not as such," Lennox replied. "I know that it's in a warehouse near the docks and that's all. I've never been there. I do know that Damon often spoke of a woman named Roselta who works in a tavern nearby." "Well, that shouldn't be too hard to find," Thom groused. "At least asking after a serving girl or a tavern owner will sound more harmless than asking for Kraid." "Let's be off, then," Bastian said. "Hold a minute, Sir Bastian. It's getting late. Chances are that some of the Marauders will be in that tavern. That could only lead to trouble. Even if we arrest all the ones who are there, they are likely to have friends we don't know about, and word will get back to Kraid. They could get scared and move, and we'll never know where they went." Thom pointed to Lennox. "They're not ones for the morning, are they?" Lennox shook his head no. "Thieves usually aren't. That's when we go. First thing tomorrow." "That sounds logical," Bastian said. "How will we search?" Thom said, "Unless you have some... special way of finding this place, I think Madoc and I should just search door to door." Bastian started to speak, but Thom interrupted him. "I know you'll want to go, but everything about you screams 'magician'. You'll draw too much attention." "And why should Sir Madoc join you?" Bastian asked. "My first choice, in truth, would be to go alone. Madoc carries himself like a knight, and it shows, even without his colors. If there is trouble, though, I'll want someone at my back. "I know it seems like I'm making all the decisions here, but if we were to argue all of this out, we'd only end up in the same place. I've been doing this kind of thing for years. I think fast. If there's something I'm missing, I'd be glad to hear it." Thom could tell Sir Bastian was trying to think of some new angle. He rather hoped Bastian could do it. Any information was valuable, and Thom wasn't taking this as personally as Bastian seemed to be. "Lennox," Bastian said, "do you...." They all looked. Some time during the conversation, Lennox had fallen asleep. Bastian smiled down on him. "Someone should stay with him as well," Thom suggested. Bastian nodded. "It was a long ride. We should all get some rest." "That's a good idea," Thom said. Thom looked at Madoc, who was staring off at nothing. The blond went over to him and put his arm around his shoulder. He whispered something in Sir Madoc's ear, and they went off to the side of the room. Bastian went to his pallet, faced the other way and meditated, blocking them out. The kitchen had long since closed for the night, but the common room was always open. Bastian had it all to himself, and welcomed the space to sit and think. "I was wondering where you'd gone," Thom said from the doorway. He came over to Sir Bastian's table and joined him. "Weren't you the one who suggested we sleep?" he asked, smiling. "Sleep would not come, and I have much to think on. What of you?" "My spot on the floor keeps me awake. I swear, I've slept on more comfortable rocks. There are nails and - ahh." "Perhaps we should share my pallet. You take it tomorrow night, Sir Madoc after,..." Thom grinned. "That won't be necessary. With luck we won't be here long enough." He cast Bastian a curious look. "You're not here worrying about Madoc, are you?" "No," Bastian replied warmly. "The life of a mage is never easy. Of late I've had much to worry about, Sir Madoc included. How is he doing?" Thom told Bastian about the previous night in the forest after Madoc's confession. Thom held Madoc in sorrowful silence for quite a long time. Madoc clung to him as though he expected Thom to disappear at any moment. More tears leaked down their bodies. They sat together naked and wrapped in one of their blankets. "Madoc?" Thom asked, backing his head away. The darker knight wouldn't meet his eye. Thom turned his head to look at Madoc. He didn't resist. Sir Madoc's brilliant eyes, a deeper blue than the most beautiful sky, seemed somewhat dead now as Madoc relived the horror of his childhood. "Do you believe what Bastian said? That it really wasn't your fault?" Madoc shook his head no, freeing another tear to trail down his cheek. "Then we'll have to convince you. But not now. Do you believe that I still love you and that I always will?" Madoc didn't move. "Right now, that's more important, I think. None of us, not me, not Lennox, and not Bastian, none of us think any less of you. We'll stand by you. You understand?" Madoc's face twisted with sudden sadness and he turned away. "Oh, Madoc," Thom sighed. He knew Madoc was torn. He didn't want to believe that Thom still felt the same about him, but he needed it to be true desperately right then. That Madoc was holding onto him and not trying to run away was proof of that. The wound that had been opened that night hurt him a great deal, and Thom might be all that was keeping him together. Tenderly, Thom kissed Madoc's cheek. He flinched. Thom kissed him again, and again, until Madoc no longer reacted to it by jerking away. Then Thom nuzzled at Madoc's neck, and Madoc let him. He kissed him and tickled his skin with his tongue. Madoc whimpered. Thom kissed the two points where Madoc's collarbone protruded from his chest. "Thom, please, I--" Madoc began to say. "Shhh," Thom whispered, using the pucker of his lips to kiss Madoc on the mouth. He said, "I love you," and he kissed him, "I will always love you," another kiss, "and you will not talk me out of it." "But, Thom, I don't deserve...." Thom sighed and put his head on Madoc's shoulder. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Madoc, is it true what Bastian said about you? That you can feel what some other people feel?" Madoc's muttered reply was barely above hearing. "I don't know. I think he could be right." "And I'm one of the ones you can do this with." Madoc just nodded. "So, Sir Madoc of Fieldgate, how do I feel?" "I don't know how. I...." Madoc was starting to get really upset. "You never needed to do anything before. Just try to relax. If Bastian is right, then you already know the answer. Look at me. How do I feel?" Madoc's wet eyes fixed on Thom's. His lips twitched into half a smile. "There, see? You knew it all along." "But what I did, I don't deserve--" "Your parents didn't deserve what happened to them. My parents didn't deserve to be locked away and left to die for my uncle's crime. Lots of people get things they don't deserve. I'm not sure I deserved to meet someone who would save my life the way you did, but I have you, and I'm grateful. Whether you think you deserve to have someone like me, you have me. "Not everything comes down to what's right and what's not, Madoc, my love. It doesn't always come out equal. Things are just the way things are. We can try to make them better but that's all. Okay?" Madoc looked down and nodded. "Now," Thom admonished, "you're not just going to say it to get me off your back. Do you truly believe me?" Madoc took a moment to answer. "I do believe you." "Good. Here's my next question. If you can tell what I'm thinking of doing, am I going to leave you?" Madoc thought. "No." "Then what am I going to do?" Madoc's eyes closed. He started getting hard and his eyebrows went up. "But I don't...." "It's what you have, my love," Thom said, stroking Madoc's growing cock. "Just take it." Madoc lay back as the blanket fell to the ground under him. Thom lifted Madoc's legs and hefted them onto his shoulders. Madoc still hadn't been able to take anything more than one finger a short distance into his ass, but Thom wasn't hoping to fuck Madoc. The blond got his face right into his partner's crotch and started feasting. He licked Madoc's balls, which were nearly free of hair. While he did this, he pressed his nose against Madoc's member, and let his breath drift around it and through his generous, dark bush. His chin butted against the nethermost part of his ass. He tended to the bigger man's sac, his lips and tongue brushing the tender skin. Madoc groaned. His eggs moved around slightly in their pouch. Thom's head was wedged securely between Madoc's thick thighs, and he grasped Madoc's body to keep him in this position. The blond's talented hands gripped thick slabs of muscle under the other guard's skin. He licked lower, deeper, teasing the area between Madoc's balls and ass. There was a tube there which looked like the continuation of Madoc's cock leading right into his body. This Thom attacked, licking and sucking it all over. Madoc's eyes were closed and he was moaning almost as though he were in pain. His hot cock stood straight up, where the late autumn breeze surrounded it. The darker knight didn't want Thom to stop what he was doing, but he wished he would pay his member some attention. Madoc's eyes opened, and he looked up along his muscular body. Thom was staring straight down at him. As though Thom could read his thoughts, he licked right up the shaft of Madoc's penis, and all the while, Thom's hazel eyes were locked on his. Thom gazed at Madoc with a look of lust on his face. He ran his tongue up to the folds of skin just under Madoc's head and played among them with the tip of his tongue. The High Guardsman sucked in a breath between his teeth. Still looking directly into the eyes of his lover, Thom sank his lips over the crown of Madoc's stiff cock. He wrapped his tongue around the very tip and licked it all around. He descended onto its length, until he couldn't fit anymore of his man in, then drew back and sucked him in again. Madoc watched as Thom fucked himself ever faster. The blood had rushed into his head, making him feel strange. He didn't think he was going to last very long. Madoc could feel Thom's shoulder flexing under his leg. Thom had to be pleasuring himself while he sucked Madoc off. He pictured Thom's long, slender cock, his hand flexing back and forth across the surface, aimed at his back so that when Thom finally brought himself to the height of pleasure-- Madoc cried out and fired off his seed into Thom's mouth. His legs twitched around Thom's ears as all of his essence was drawn out of him. When the throes of Madoc's passion were over, Madoc spread his legs wide enough to allow them to slide off Thom's shoulders. The trim blond sighed in relief. That position must have been hard on him. Madoc rolled over and spun around so he could put Thom's cock into his own mouth and fucked his face on his love with the same fury as Thom had shown. Thom let go of his member and surrendered to this new pleasure. He clasped his hands to Madoc's head and ran his fingers though his short, black hair. Thom pumped his hips in time to Madoc's ministrations. It didn't take long at all for Thom to reach release himself, offering his cream for Madoc to taste. The dark knight licked up the last drops and lay back on the ground. The fair knight lay right alongside him, bodies touching head to toe. "How do you feel?" Thom asked. "Better?" Madoc nodded sheepishly. "You know for certain that I still love you?" "Yes. And I love you." Madoc hugged Thom tightly. "Good. That's the answer I wanted to hear." He smiled and kissed Madoc's cheek. Madoc turned his head in and they kissed properly. "We should sleep. We have quite the ride ahead of us tomorrow," Madoc said. "Yes, but do you want to move?" Madoc shook his head no. Thom chuckled and wrapped the blanket they had lain on around them. In their favorite position, sleep found them quickly. "I hope Madoc can deal with this guilt he feels," Bastian said after he heard Thom's telling of the story. "From what I've heard and seen, he is one of the finest men I've ever worked with. I wish we had more like him." Thom smiled. "I'm thinking that if we tell him that often enough, he may start to listen eventually. "What about you and Lennox, now? How are things working out between you two?" Bastian smiled broadly. "Very well. I couldn't be happier. He has the spirit of a child, and when it shows I get carried right along with it." He could see Lennox's pale skin and bright red hair in his mind. "He excites me." "That's wonderful to hear. I hope you can find a way to stay together if it works out between you." "As do I, though it will be difficult. I travel even more than Sir Madoc does. But...." "But what?" Thom asked. "He frightens me as well." Thom grinned wryly. "That, sir mage, is perfectly normal. I feel so strongly for Madoc, it scares the wits out of me." "That's not quite what I meant," Bastian explained. "He does things he isn't supposed to be able to do." Thom gave him an odd look, so Bastian told him about the flying Lennox had done, and about the exchange of memories when Bastian got the names and faces of the Marauders. "He interferes with my magic, and if there's one thing we learned from Ellaston, it was that strange magic is not to be played with. I don't know what it is that he does. "How long have you known him?" "Not very long. I only met him about a month ago while he was in the Marauders camp," Thom replied. "Have you seen him do any magic?" "No." "Has anything odd happened around him that no one could explain?" "I can't think of anything. Why?" "I tested Lennox for magic yesterday, and he has just as much as I do," Bastian said. Thom looked surprised. "I don't believe he's had any training, but that's something else that's strange. If he had magic, it would leak out sometimes. He couldn't help but use it." "By Braggia," Thom cursed, "I'm the only one who doesn't have it." Thom thought a second. Bastian seemed to read his mind. He reached across the table and laid a hand on Thom's wrist. He closed his eyes. "Nothing," he pronounced. "Good," Thom said, with some relief. "No offense meant, but magic makes me uneasy." "And yet, you seem to be more comfortable around me, not so guarded as before," Bastian said. "You trust that I have nothing more to hide?" "I believe you. The fact that not even Sir Rhys would give you complete information about Madoc and me says a lot. If you were out to hang us, he would give you every inch of rope he had. We may not ever be good friends, but we can work together." "Can I ask your advice, then?" Bastian asked. "Alright." "What do you think I should tell Lennox about this? I don't want to frighten him, but I should try to find out what he's doing." Thom considered a moment. "I don't know much about magic, I'm proud to say, but in my last line of work, if I was working with somebody, I told them everything I knew about a job. You never knew what may be helpful if you get separated. In your case, Lennox might be doing something dangerous, and from what you've told me, there is nothing he knows about to warn him. Unless there is some reason I don't know about that he shouldn't know more than he does, some Wizard's Code of Silence or what-have-you, I'd tell him everything. You saw how Sir Rhys holding back the truth tied your hands in dealing with us. Lennox isn't aware anything is happening." Bastian weighed Thom's words. "You have the right of it. I'm not protecting him from anything this way. I just wish I knew what he does." "Don't worry. I can tell that Lennox loves you very much. He won't do anything to hurt you if he can help it." Bastian nodded, smiling to himself. "We should try to get to sleep. You have to scour the docks, and I need to talk with Lennox in the morning." Thom followed Bastian up the stairs and up again to their garret. In the darkness of their room, Bastian could see clearer even than Thom. He looked at the two pallets, his own and Lennox's, separated from each other. He tapped a spell point and levitated his next to his love's. Thom had already undressed for bed and was trying to get comfortable in his space on the floor. Bastian stripped, and slid in next to Lennox, who snuggled closer. The mage fell asleep with a smile on his face, with the feeling that tonight's troubles would be solved in the morning.

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