by Pfantazm
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When dinner was over, Thom was rushed back to their quarters so that he
could prepare for his "master's" arrival. He used the time to think, or
to try to think despite the nausea.
When Madoc finally arrived, he thought he had some idea where to start. Madoc didn't look well. "Was dinner so bad as that?" Thom asked, only half-joking. "We're finished. There is no way to get the mirror." "You found it then? Good! Where is it?" Madoc proceeded to describe the location and the size of their target, while not forgetting to describe his own horrible evening. "Even if we can manage to get something that large and heavy out of the house, Fleetfire could never carry it and us to Cairncross!" "Then it is good fortune that while you were suffering through with Tybalt, I was winning us an accomplice." "Accomplice?" he asked suspiciously. "Willing assistant to the High Guard, we'll call her then." Thom told the knight about Melydia and her reasons for wanting to help. "We'll be talking to her later tonight. We'll have to find out if she can get a cart. That should solve our travelling trouble." "But what about getting the flaming thing out to the cart?!" "Keep your voice down," Thom said in a stage whisper. "I've done something similar before, and with Melydia's help I know how the guards patrol the manse, and I should be able to get us around them. It's just as well there are two of us to carry the prize then." "I wish you would stop talking about all of this that way. This is not a theft." "Must you spoil this for me? This will be my final foray. After tonight I will never again feel the thrill of what it is I do." Madoc grimaced. "I will spend the rest of my days in Dunstan's cells. You will continue to have your adventures. Give me tonight, please." Madoc grimaced. He wasn't sure what to say. If he said yes, it would be as though he approved of this scheme. He wasn't completely sure the whole of it was inside the law, particularly when it came to allowing Magister Eleazar to use the evidence for his spell before turning it over. But he saw the pleading in Thom's eyes. This he could not understand. How could this man long to do such immoral acts? How could he like to steal? Madoc knew he was in trouble. He had allowed himself to get too close. He should not feel any temptation to indulge this "final foray." He should remind him that he was doing this in the service of the King, that this was a serious matter. He said nothing about it. But he would ask later what Thom meant. "What are we to do now?" he said quietly. Thom smiled. "We wait. We wait until everyone has gone to bed. Then we examine the dining room. I need to find out if the mirror has any traps on it. Then we figure out how to remove it from here. And then we bring Melydia in." "How long must we wait?" "It's fairly late. You say that Tybalt wants to take you to hunt on the morrow? He'll be retiring early then. He's the only one we need worry about. If we wait for the guards to leave, we'll wait until forever. So we have... half an hour to kill?" Thom smiled again and took off his shirt. "What are you doing?" Madoc asked, eyes wide. "What else do you suggest we do?" "Here?! Now?!" "Just the time, I think. You're too nervous. You'll be no good to me if you're ready to jump at your shadow. You must keep yourself in check the whole time. Stay calm. Keep control. Your nerves must be as steel. But right now you're as tense as a bowstring." Madoc was forced to admit Thom was right. He was apprehensive about the night's activities. Excited, too. In several senses of the word. He removed his borrowed tunic. Thom had already gone to the bed and taken off his leggings and boots. Thom lay there, admiring the body of the man before him. Barechested and now wearing his customary hose, if borrowed, which displayed his thigh muscles perfectly. Every contour was hugged by the material. His stomach tapered to the point where, without a belt, the hose were in peril of slipping down. His billowy tunics fairly hid his strong, thick arms. Thom took all of this in in a brief instant. He wondered how in the world it had come to this, that he should be captured so thoroughly by this man. He hadn't even seriously considered escape in days. He wanted to stay with, of all people, one of the king's own knights! When he was handed over to the gaoler, his punishment would not be imprisonment; he had lived in solitude much of his life. It would be the separation from Madoc that would finally break him. Best to enjoy what time he had. Madoc was naked. His proud erection pointed the way to the bed. In a rare show of playfulness, he leapt at Thom, tackling him while he was still lost in thought. They rolled over on the wide bed, disturbing the sheets. Thom pushed on Madoc's shoulders, trying to get the upper hand but Madoc braced against the bed and lifted Thom a few inches and tossed him aside. Thom landed on his back and Madoc scrambled to straddle him, sitting on his stomach. He was grinning triumphantly. Thom pushed up on Madoc's knees, tipping him backwards on the bed. Thom slid out from underneath him while the knight recovered his balance. The thief lay down on top of the knight and held down his arms. They were both breathing heavily. Thom reached over and kissed Madoc's chest, near the shoulder. He switched from lips to tongue and licked his way to Madoc's raised nipple. The knight laid his head down and abandoned any thoughts of struggle. He closed his eyes to better concentrate on what he could feel. Thom was still working on his left nipple, and now he gripped it with his teeth, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to excite. Madoc moaned breathily. Thom moved down Madoc's chest, licking, tasting, sampling. He could taste the salty sweat of his captor. Thom held the other man's body in his hands, just at the sides, revelling in the heat of his skin as though it were from the sun. As he backed down the knight's body, circling the abdominal muscles with his tongue, Madoc groaned contentedly. Thom looked up and tapped him on the chest. Madoc looked up. Thom held his finger up in front of his lips. Madoc nodded and lay back down again. Thom gave up on the stomach and moved straight to the cock. Thom looked at Madoc's privates. The hair down here was very sparse. When Thom took one of his balls into his mouth, Madoc was surprised. Thom sucked on it and stroked it with his tongue. Madoc squirmed on the bed, lost in pleasure. Thom's nose brushed past the very stiff shaft of Madoc's member occasionally as he mouthed the knight's ball. He shifted over and gave the other one similar treatment. Madoc was in thrall. The sensations were so wonderful, his arms and legs moved of their own accord, not sure what to do. A deep grunt escaped from his throat. Thom stopped and glared at Madoc, who looked sheepish. Thom didn't want to stop, but if he couldn't keep quiet.... The thief got an inspiration. He untied and removed his smallclothes, which he hadn't bothered to touch until now. His rigid cock bobbed in the air. He crawled up beside a puzzled Madoc, and turned around. He clambered across Madoc's body and began to suck on Madoc's dick. Madoc himself was faced with Thom's throbbing pole, and he got the idea. If his mouth was busy.... He sat up slightly and accepted his prisoner's penis into his mouth. From there he took his cues from Thom. Everything Thom did, he did. If he closed his eyes, he got the uncanny feeling he was sucking himself off. Thom was getting very hot. He was moving up and down on Madoc's cock when the knight joined in. Madoc aimed to time his own bobbing in rhythm with Thom's. Thom had to keep to a slower pace so that Madoc could get the timing right, but the steady sucking was quite erotic. Thom moved his tongue in a long, slow arc around the head of Madoc's manhood, dragging the tip around the underside of the head, beginning near his slit. The knight's copycat motion on Thom's pecker had to stop when Thom touched the very sensitive side of Madoc's dick. Madoc shuddered from the stimulation and the acts of sucking and being sucked took more concentration to coordinate than he could spare. Thom felt a shiver from Madoc's body below him. Once they'd gone all the way around the head once, Thom went back to sucking on Madoc as he had before. He didn't think he could take that twice and not blow. Soon he had to pull off Madoc just long enough to whisper, "I'm close." He then dove back onto Madoc's pecker taking it to the hilt. The head of it was in his throat, and Thom reserved part of his mind for squelching his gag reflex. Madoc also strove to cram all of the thief's member into his mouth. He contracted his throat muscles and sent Thom past the brink. He whimpered quietly and began to fuck Madoc's face as he came. Madoc began to spew his load a few seconds later. When it was over, Thom slumped, sated, on Madoc's body, their cocks still in each other's mouths. He turned himself around, so he was head-to-head with Madoc. Both men were breathing heavily and smiling. Thom reached over and grabbed Madoc about the chest, holding him. Madoc draped his arm around Thom's head and shoulder. "I-- I want to thank you," Madoc said softly. Thom looked up into his face. "I've never had anything like this...." Words failed him. "I know. You said," Thom began. "You didn't think that it was right between two men, but--" "No, no, not that." He licked his lips. "I've bedded women before. Ones that I've loved, or that I thought I did. But I've never had the feeling that they loved me as well. They weren't right for me somehow. There were ones that I found out were with me only because I was in the High Guard. Obviously this isn't the case with you." He paused. "Is it?" "Do you mean, am I doing this to try to get you to let me go?" he asked, incredulous. "You're far too bound to your duty for that." He lay his head on Madoc's arm. "You'll still turn me in, no matter what I may do. You have to." He clutched Madoc close. `And then I'll never see you again,' he thought. Madoc said nothing, even when he felt a wetness on his chest near Thom's eyes. Tears briefly came to Madoc's eyes too, but he willed them away. Instead he just stroked Thom's back, comforting him. The dog trainer's ring glinted in the dim light. Thom peeked through the door connecting the kitchens to the dining hall. He could hear no guards nearby. He passed through the doorway, and Madoc followed. He strode quickly to the fireplace. The servants hadn't bothered to replace the painting that had covered the glass all through dinner. Madoc wasn't completely sure what Thom was searching for. He had taken a candle from their rooms and lit it, despite the torches that were already in the room burning away. He pulled the mirror slightly away from the wall and peered behind it. He looked for a moment, then let the mirror drop back to the wall. It hadn't moved more than an inch. Madoc's eyes kept straying to the main door, waiting for someone to open it. Thom blew out the candle, pocketed it, and moved over to the door that led to the front hall. He opened it slightly, then pulled it to again. He signalled to Madoc that they were leaving. Madoc was confused, but he followed without comment. They went back through the kitchens and past the servants' quarters and toward the stairs to the second floor. When he reached the top of the stairs, Thom removed his boots and motioned for Madoc to do the same. Their room had been on the main floor, where there was less trouble about being heard. Upstairs there were more guards around. Thom tried the first door on his left. It was locked. He pulled his picks from his pocket and began to tease it open. Madoc watched as Thom worked. He supposed he should be keeping an eye for the guards, but Thom's activities were fascinating to him. For obvious reasons, he'd never had the chance to see how a thief picked a lock up close. Thom didn't use his eyes, as Madoc assumed he would, but worked by hearing and by feel. When Madoc asked about it later, Thom told him that it was as though the picks were extensions of his own fingers. He was extremely sensitive to their movements. He had the door open in less than a minute. The room they had broken into was a bedroom. Thom smiled in the darkness. He strode directly to the garderobe. Inside was a pair of boards with a circular hole sawn in between them. The hole was exposed to the outside breezy air, and the smell wafting up left little question as to what the garderobe was for. In what little light came in through the closet, Thom presented this find like a fine piece of art; Madoc grimaced at the foul odor. "This is it," Thom whispered. "This is how we're getting the mirror out of the house." Madoc looked at the hole. "It won't fit." Even with the boards removed, the closet was only three feet on a side. The mirror was four feet by six. Thom was still grinning. "It'll fit." They left the bedroom. Madoc started toward the stairs, but Thom stayed behind to relock the door with his picks. Madoc looked around. There weren't any guards about, but one could arrive at any moment. Madoc was started to panic. He wasn't taking this well. He was almost ready to scream from the tension and frustration when Thom straightened up and joined Madoc at the stairs. Thom hadn't even been as long locking the door as unlocking it, but it seemed like forever. Madoc glared at Thom, but Thom ignored him. They put their boots back on, and when they got back down the stairs they went straight back to their rooms. As soon as the door was shut, Madoc turned on Thom. "Are you out of your mind?! Why did we go creeping around this place when we didn't do anything?" "Keep your voice down. We got plenty done. Well, I did. You had to tag along." "What did you do?" "I found out what defenses there are on the mirror, on the door to the room, and I verified that I could get the mirror out of the house." "But you barely looked at them." "Yes, but I heard plenty. Whoever did the security on this place likes springlocks. A lot. There's one on the mirror and another on the door. Whoever he is, he was never a thief." Madoc looked perplexed. "If I chose to, I could go into legitimate business as a locksmith. Think about it: who knows the things better than me? I know a few locksmiths who were once thieves. It's just the natural way to go." Madoc looked astonished, but pressed on. "What did you find out?" "The mirror is trapped. There's a small peg behind it that is attached to a spring. The weight of the mirror is keeping the spring contracted. If someone moves the mirror, the peg pops out and an alarm goes off. "The door is slightly different. There's a string across the top of the door tied to a key. The key is inside the stone of the wall, and it's attached to another spring. The key is sitting in a slot in the stone. If some unsuspecting dolt opens the door, the string pulls the key, the key falls out of its slot and into a hole, the spring stretches and--" "The alarm goes off," Madoc finished. "Right. The nice part about springlocks is that they're hard to detect. Take that mirror, for example, and we will. The only way to know that there's a springlock behind it is to remove the mirror and look." "But if you remove the mirror, the trap is triggered, and...." "And now you see why springlocks are so diabolical. On the other hand, any thief who thinks to look for them, and knows how, can find them with no trouble." "Do you know how you're going to get around them?" "I think so," Thom said, smirking. "With Melydia's help, we can get clear easy." "I can think of a way around the door lock. Just cut the string." "That would work, but if the locksmith knows his craft, there'll be a long metal pin or hook on the side of the door that opens. You can't cut it, and if you do, the pin acts as a weight pulling the alarm anyway." Thom smiled. "You want to know how we're going to get around that lock?" "Yes." "We won't use that door." "Alright," Madoc said uncertainly. "What about locking that damn door upstairs? I still don't see the point of that." Thom stared at him. "Have you ever done any work as an ordinary guard, a watchman?" "Yes, of course." "If you found a door unlocked on your patrol that you knew should be locked, and either you or someone else had already checked it and found it locked, what would you think?" "That something was wrong." Madoc was nodding with sudden understanding. "Right. In all that we did just now, the guards would have a hard time figuring out that someone had been through who shouldn't have been. They'll be patrolling as though it's just another boring night." "I should trust you in this manner. You have the experience. What do we do now?" "It's time to talk to Melydia." | ||
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