They rode through the dark and the wet, praying that Kraid's Marauders were far behind them. Their tracks would be easy to follow by day, so they had to put as much distance between them and the campsite as they could while they still had the cover of the night.

Madoc was beginning to succumb to exhaustion. Thom (who had righted himself soon after leaving the forest) worked to keep the knight awake.

The goddess Katusha's fortune blew at their back, and soon they discovered that they had ridden to the Greypoint Mountains. It was the wrong way to go to get to Cairncross, but in the gently sloping, stony foothills, they would not leave tracks. They journeyed on a little farther through the storm so that they could not be easily found, and finally stopped.

Thom slid gratefully off of Fleetfire's back. Madoc almost tumbled off, and it fell to Thom to take care of his captor. He laid Madoc carefully on the hard ground and took down one of the sacks from the horse's gear. Thom had heard that there was one item that was standard issue for the king's knights. He hadn't been asked to carry it (just as well, all of that was abandoned in the sawgrass field) and he hoped the rumors were right. Inside the sack he found a piece of black cloth. Thom stretched the cloth slowly. It was time consuming and his muscles protested all the while, but it eventually became the size of a large quilt. This magical item was waterproof and would keep the humans warm tonight. He draped it over Madoc's form.

Thom removed the riding gear from Fleetfire, and tried to duplicate the rubdown ritual that he had seen Madoc perform the past three nights. Thom had never had a horse in his life. He thanked the horse and apologized for the fact that he couldn't properly take care of him. He only felt a little foolish doing so.

Thom turned his attention to Madoc. He knew that the wet clothes he was wearing would do him no good tonight, and would only leech whatever heat he had in his body. He pulled off the blanket and undressed him as quickly as he could. He covered the knight again with the blanket, rolling him over so he wouldn't be lying on bare ground.

Thom undressed himself and put one foot on Madoc's recumbent body. He yanked on the blanket until it would accommodate two. He lay next to Madoc's naked form, his body heat feeling good after exposure to the wind and the rain. He rolled the two of them up in the blanket as best he could. They were face to face, and Thom hugged Madoc's body close for comfort before falling asleep himself.

The blanket had begun to shrink overnight, pressing Thom's and Madoc's muscular bodies together as close as possible. Thom still had his arms wrapped around Madoc, and Madoc's erect cock poked between Thom's thighs. Thom's own erection burned against his stomach. He was glad the two of them had become so close during their time together, or there would have been difficult questions to answer when Madoc awoke.

By the thin daylight, Madoc's face was still in rough shape. His handsome features were bloodied, covered in cuts and scrapes. Thom knew the knight's chest and back were in the same state beneath the blanket.

Thom hadn't moved, but Madoc began to stir. Madoc awoke feeling warm and secure. The morning mental fog cleared and he looked into Thom's hazel eyes, with the usual sleepy grin on his face. "We made it?" he asked dopily.

Thom couldn't help but grin back. "Yeah. We made it. We even got a third item off our list last night." Madoc raised his eyebrows and winced. "Kraid had a spritestone that I snagged on our way out."

"You should not have done that--"

"Do you really think Kraid came by that honestly? And this way it'll be going to the best of causes."

Madoc relented. "I suppose you have the right of it." Pause. "Thank you for rescuing me last night. You saved my life."

"I only did what you would have done in my place."

Both men suddenly became aware of their closeness. Thom began to kick his feet so that he could free himself from the blanket. His thighs massaged Sir Madoc's still-hard member between them. The knight moaned appreciatively. Thom smirked. He kicked his legs again, stimulating his captor more. Madoc pushed farther between them, rubbing against Thom's cock between their stomachs. Madoc's eyes twinkled.

Soon both knight and thief were humping, each against the other, grunting partly from their injuries and partly from their growing lust. The tip of Madoc's prick grated against the rough fabric of the blanket behind Thom, and he was writhing in ecstasy. This helped to massage the thief's dick between their well-defined abs. Madoc's hands stroked Thom's sides as best he could inside the constricting blanket.

Madoc groaned, "Oh, I'm close, Thom, I'm nearly there." This spurred the thief to go faster. He was stretching the fabric again, and his thrusting created a muted thudding sound.

Madoc unleashed a guttural cry as he came. He spewed ample amounts of cum around Thom's ass and legs. As Thom felt this growing wet spot, he slammed into Madoc once more and sprayed his own cum between their chests, scorching hot fluid fusing them somehow closer.

Both men were breathing heavily after their orgasms. Impulsively, Thom gripped Madoc painfully tight and tongue kissed him. Madoc grunted from the crushing pressure aggravating his injuries, but in the deepest part of him, he loved it. He pushed into Thom's mouth with a vengeance.

When they broke the kiss, Madoc had a look on his face as if he had something he wanted to say. "What?" Thom asked, curious.

Madoc hesitated. "When-- When Kraid tried to use the ring on you, you held out your hand...."

"Yes?"

"But you and I both know that the ring will only work if it is put to your forehead. Why...?"

"To keep you alive, o' course. You don't even have to want to do it, either, but if Kraid found that out, you'd have been dead before we ever left the meadow. I have no man's blood on my hands, and I wasn't about to start with yours."

Madoc looked vaguely disappointed, but let the matter drop. "We should get going. They may still be looking for us."

The two unrolled themselves from the blanket. Thom got a first good look at the extent of Sir Madoc's injuries. "Hellfire," he muttered. He had whip marks and slashes all across his back and more cuts and scratches across his chest and stomach, which were covered with dried blood and now, semen. Some of the nastier wounds had reopened, spilling fresh blood. "Come on, first things first. We have to clean you up. Let's find water."

Yesterday's rain had stopped but there were some depressions in the rocks nearby where rainwater had collected. The rain had also cooled off the air, and there was still a high wind. Their clothes were still damp, so the two men draped the black blanket around them. Thom had retrieved the small white cloth that Madoc used to dry himself off after bathing and used it as a washcloth, tending to the wounds as best he could. Fortunately Damon seemed to have left everything below Madoc's waist alone. Madoc suggested that he tear up the tunic he'd worn yesterday for bandages since it was mostly ruined anyway. Since it was more than twenty feet back to their clothes, that would have to wait.

It wasn't practical for the two of them to share the blanket (which continued to shrink slowly) around the small pool of rainwater as Thom cleansed Madoc's cuts. Thom started to shiver.

"Here, Thom," Madoc said as he transferred the blanket to him.

"Thank you. Turn around. I need to do your back now anyway."

"Where did you learn to tend to wounds? If I'm not intruding."

Thom rolled his eyes. "You can't exactly live on your own without learning something of the healing arts."

Madoc wasn't satisfied with this answer, though. "If you live alone, then from whom did you learn?"

Thom sighed. "My mother was an herbalist. I sometimes helped her with the sick and injured."

"Have you ever seen anything like this plague?"

"No. Those villagers were in sorry shape. If it's a magical plague, herbalism won't help much."

"What happened to your father?"

"He was with us. He was a tinker. We wandered a lot. I guess that's part of why I'm so solitary now."

"That's very commendable, him allowing her to continue with her works while they were wed."

"Yes," Thom smiled. "He knew he would never make them rich, and her talents helped a lot of people. He wasn't proud that way. But he was proud of her."

Thom snapped out of his memories and finished with Madoc's back. The knight was shivering now. Thom wrung out the cloth and moved to put the blanket back over Madoc's shoulder. Together they went back to where the rest of their belongings were.

They watched out for possible ambushes from the Marauders, but they found nor hide nor hair of them.

They made their way back to Eleazar's village of Cairncross and delivered the pods and the spritestone.

"Wonderful!" Eleazar said. "You've recovered half the list already, and in only three days. I don't mind saying I was beginning to lose all hope of helping these people." Eleazar clapped Thom on the shoulder. He winced. "What's the matter?"

"Recovering these last two items was not so simple. We've both suffered some injuries," Madoc told him. "I was tortured and he was beaten."

Eleazar seemed to look at Madoc's face for the first time. `How could he miss the fresh cuts on his face?' Thom wondered.

"My word. Well, I have something for that." Eleazar rummaged around in one of his many cupboards and pulled out a slender brass rod. It was about two feet long, and half an inch in diameter. Eleazar twisted one end, and the other glowed with a golden aura. The wizard dragged the glowing end across one of the abrasions on the knight's face. Madoc twitched in pain, but the abrasion disappeared with the wand's touch.

"That's amazing!" Thom cried. "It's completely healed!"

Madoc and Thom both removed their shirts. Eleazar saw the numerous bandages crisscrossing Sir Madoc's body. When he saw the thief's badly bruised chest, however, he said, "I'm sorry, the wand only works where the skin is broken." He set down the wand, which ceased to glow. He pressed his fingers against Thom's black and blue spots. "Nothing seems to be broken. You'll be fine. You'll just need a few days to heal." Thom was nodding all the while Eleazar spoke. He figured that he was merely bruised. "Would you help me to remove these bandages?"

The three men were busy for several minutes: Thom removing strips of tunic, Eleazar operating the wand, and Madoc healing. Madoc stopped Eleazar when he came to the scar that Thom had noticed before in Polyny. Madoc asked that that scar not be healed. Thom looked at him curiously, but Madoc said no more. When they were finished, Madoc was whole again and the pains were gone.

Madoc tended to his mount, rubbing him down. Thom came up and said, "Here, let me help."

"Of course. You did a fairly good job--" He looked over to Thom, who was stroking the nose of the horse as he had in the thieves' camp. "Don't! He bites!" Madoc called. But he could see that Fleetfire was tolerating the thief's attentions. Even enjoying them.

"Your horse may know what I do," Thom said, "but I think he also knows what I did for you back there."

"I must say again how grateful I am--"

"I know. Perhaps you can do something for me one day." Thom waggled his eyebrows. Madoc's eyes tracked briefly to Thom's crotch. "No, no, Sir Madoc, that is another matter besides. There we are even."

Madoc became suspicious. "If you believe that I will release you, I'll not. I have my duty."

"Don't be foolish. I meant, we still have half the items to cover together, and as you say, one of them may be claiming the lives of all who seek it. I do not want to die."

Madoc accepted this and finished grooming his horse.

Their fire pit had remained in place. Both men were now having supper, eating the game that they had caught after tending to Fleetfire. Neither of them had eaten all day. And Madoc hadn't eaten in two days. They were ravenous.

During their meal, Thom commented, "You know, we are very lucky to have gotten out of there alive. We work pretty well together, you and I."

Madoc considered this as he chewed, his face neutral was again. "You're right. We do." He swallowed. "But I cannot see myself becoming a thief, and I doubt you'll become one of the King's Men."

Thom grinned. "No, I suppose you have the right of it. Still, I consider myself very lucky."

When dinner was finished Madoc brought out his blanket and began stretching it to size. "I thought that tonight," he said, "I would take you between my legs." He laid the blanket on the ground and began to undress.

`Yes,' Thom thought. `Very lucky.'