Tivi's Dagger (7 page)

“
Lana, you can’t protect me. Things
are as they are, and this won’t last forever.” I put my arm around
her and squeezed. “He cannot invoke more than one Rite, it is
forbidden. Soon we’ll return to Azmara and everything will be back
to normal. We’ll be back at the Duck and Swan in no time with our
tankards full of a fine vintage. Kaldar is stocking up the barrels
in his cellar as we speak, I’m sure of it.”

“
Ah, don’t talk of such things! I
already dream of the wine and the fun we’re missing. Do you not
dream of it also?”

I remembered my dream with a grin.
“Actually, I do not.”

She glanced over at Kari, amused. “I think
you have found something more attractive to dream of, have you not?
Ah, Ned, he is truly a glorious specimen. Alas, his desires do not
seem to include women, more’s the pity. But on the bright side,
perhaps you can finally sample the dish you’ve always dreamed of. A
good fuck would certainly liven up these wearisome trudgings.”

“
Language, woman!” I gave her a
mock-stern look with a passing imitation of my brother and she
laughed loud and long. It cheered me to hear the musical sound and
we were nudging each other and giggling like children when Brin —
obviously detecting unsanctioned fun — came to loom over us, hands
on hips, casting a grim shadow.

“
Nedim, go with the guide and help him
gather these…
plants
. The rest
of us will remain, to guard the valuables.” He glanced toward the
donkey and his precious box, and I gritted my teeth with annoyance
while I prepared to
snivel like a
manservant
, as Lana had so aptly put it.

“
Yes, brother.”

“
And be quick about it.”

“
Yes, brother.”

Dragging my feet, I walked over to where
Kari waited with an empty bag slung over his shoulder. Our guide
was a fine sight in his soft-fitted leathers and he had tied a
colorful band around his head to absorb sweat. He seemed more than
happy to learn that I was to accompany him, and gave a sunny
grin.

“
We’ll collect mushrooms,” he said.
“It may take time to find the right ones. Many of them are
poisonous, and we must watch out for the spiders.”

“
Spiders?” I looked at him,
dubious.

He waved toward the forest and I followed
him into the pines.

“
This region is populated by giant
spiders, few in number but as big as a goat and deadly poisonous.
They live under the earth and love to feast on the unwary
traveller, for we are easier prey than deer. But don’t be afraid. I
will easily be able to tell if we are nearing a lair. The silk
shines on the forest floor, as good as any signpost.”

When the Pilgrim’s Rest was safely behind
us, I paused in a small clearing. “About yesterday…”

“
It was wonderful, was it not?” He
turned to me with a smile. “I dreamed of you last night,
Ned.”

“
Oh, Kari.” All thoughts flew out of
my head. I pulled him into my arms and buried my nose in his hair.
The smell of his body was an aphrodisiac in itself. He relaxed in
my embrace but then his hands settled on my back. I stiffened at
the sudden pain.

“
What’s wrong?”

I pushed him away and looked at my feet,
feeling once more that creeping sense of humiliation.

“
Nothing’s wrong.”

“
You are in pain. I wondered why your
brother packed your belongings onto the donkey this
morning.”

“
It’s nothing, really. Please don’t
ask again.”

My pleas fell on deaf ears. He fumbled at
the buttons on my shirt and then eased it off my shoulders. The
cool wind on my back was a blessed relief. There was a sharp intake
of breath as he looked upon my back and saw the welts on my
skin.

“
Did your brother do this to
you,
tiyal
?”

“
Things are how they are, Kari. You
can neither protect me nor be my judge. This is my
choice.”

He stood behind me, tracing a gentle
fingertip across the lines where the whip had marked me. The
feeling of his breath on my skin made me shiver. I heard him fumble
in his bag, then a cork popped from a stopper. “Then let me help
you. This ointment will soothe the soreness. It’s made with healing
herbs and soured goat milk. My grandmother would not have had me
walk ten paces without it.”

The shock of the cool cream made me jump but
the soft touch of his fingers was both relaxing and slightly
erotic. He spent long minutes smearing the ointment over my back
and I closed my eyes, content. The stinging disappeared almost
immediately under his ministrations.

“
Better?”

I flexed my shoulders and smiled at him.
“Much.”

He returned my smile with the slow blink of
a contented feline, then touched my cheek with the back of his
hand. “Then kiss me again, Ned.”

“
Kari…” I turned from him with a heavy
heart.

Brin’s whip had brought the real world
crashing through my dreams of seduction and defiance. I had not
counted upon Kari being such a willing participant in these
forbidden activities and I was suddenly afraid for both myself and
him. “I cannot. You know how such liaisons between men are looked
upon in Lis. If my brother was to learn of it…”

There was a silence. A small creature darted
through the undergrowth and a flock of pale birds burst from the
trees above. Eventually, Kari spoke.

“
You do not want me, then.”

I spun around, surprised. “No, it’s
not…”

“
Because I haven’t been desired by
many others, as you have. I know!” He ran his hands through his
hair. “Shame on me for thinking a man like you would want one such
as I am, without a single ring in my ears.”

Baffled, I took his hands in mine. “Kari…I
don’t understand what you’re saying. It’s my shame and mine only,
for being such an utter coward. My brother may well whip me more,
and the next time he will not hold himself back.”

“
I do not understand why you don’t
simply take the whip from his hands. You are a grown man, and a
strong one.” He turned away, frowning. “If it’s like that, then
let’s just gather the mushrooms before Brindar grows angry
again.”

He gave me the empty bag to hold and I
followed him around the trees, watching him examine the
meaty-looking pale mushrooms that sprouted around the base of the
trunks. He pulled the darker ones off and brushed them with his
fingers before putting them into the bag. There were some
long-stalked plants growing among the sprinkle of blue flowers
which seemed to thrive despite the little light that reached
through the thick canopy to shine on the forest floor. He pulled
the stalks from the earth to reveal fleshy, cream-colored roots and
separated them from their foliage, which he sniffed and pocketed
with a half-smile.

With his bitter words echoing in my ears, I
watched the muscles in his arms flex as he picked the plants we
were later to eat. His shirt pulled free of his britches and as he
crouched once more, I saw the tip of his arse crack and remembered
what a glorious sight his naked body was.

“
Kari,” I blurted out suddenly. “My
brother has invoked a Rite of Instruction, according to the Divine
Laws of Lis. If I do not obey his every word on this pilgrimage,
I’ll be cast out of our home and left on the streets with nothing
more than the clothes I wear. I’m bound not to speak of it, but…I
suppose I’ve already broken it in telling you. That’s why things
are as they are. I must obey him, can you understand that? Please,
say nothing to Brin.”

He looked at me with sorrow in his eyes. The
neck of his shirt had come apart, revealing the dark hairs of his
chest. I pulled him to me with a sigh. “I am not always this
subservient.”

The bag slid from his arms to the forest
floor as I kissed him. He was stiff against me for a second, but
then his mouth opened like a flower. His lips were soft, his
stubble scraping against mine. He tasted both sweet and sour and my
head filled with the scent of his body, slightly sweaty from all
the walking, but clean and masculine all the same. I broke the
kiss, took one of his hands in mine, and pressed it against the
surging hardness in my groin. “How could you think I don’t want
you?” I whispered, sucking his earlobe gently into my mouth.
“You’re the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.”

With trembling fingers I popped the buttons
of his shirt, watching the reactions to the sensations in his body
play across his face as my fingertips brushed through the chest
hair to those dark little nipples. His breath caught in his throat
as I teased them into hard points. His eyes were half-closed and
bright with arousal, his lips parted and slicked with saliva from
our kisses, his breathing shallow.

As I looked into those eyes, I realized I’d
never seen such naked desire on a lover’s face before. The
Immorality Laws stated that sex was for the marital bed only, and
that good women should never desire or initiate it. Even those who
readily entered my bed were still conditioned to go through a coy
charade of pretending not to want it, an act which quickly grew
tiresome and dulled the passion somewhat. The lust burning in
Kari’s eyes was like a fuel to the flames of my own desires and
right then I wanted to do so many things to him that I did not know
where to start.

Kari cupped my face and kissed me again. So
gentle were his lips, and yet his quick breaths and the hard heat
of his groin belied a great passion. My fingertips brushed his
nipples once more and he clutched me hard, digging his fingers into
the tender skin of my back. The sudden pain made my cock surge
rigid and somehow we crashed down together on the forest floor,
fumbling at each other’s belts in a mindless frenzy.

I rolled on top of him, bracing my weight on
one arm. My lips were kissing a line up the tendon in his neck,
along the line of his jaw, then back to his warm mouth. He shifted
under me and I felt my britches popping open. I could not stop
kissing him. Our breaths were coming in faint gasps. I felt his
ribcage rise and fall under me, his chest hair tickling my skin.
With one hand I freed my cock and balls, wriggling awkwardly to get
my britches to a comfortable level, and then went to work on his
own which, between the two of us, we managed to yank down to his
ankles. My knees ground into the slimy leaves of the forest floor
as I settled, panting.

He held my face in his hands and kissed me
hard as my cock came to rest against his. The liquid leaking
between us gave a delicious friction and I ground against him
mindlessly, feeling my balls mash against his, the incredible heat
and hardness against the coolness of our bellies. He met my thrusts
with faint moans, his hands gentle on my back, slipping down to my
bare buttocks. “Harder,” he whispered in my ear.

That was all I needed. The wetness was
spreading across our bellies as I thrust against him with all my
force, our cocks squished together in their little close-quarters
duel. I bit down on the smooth skin of his neck as I felt my climax
rushing all-too-quickly forward. And then his back arched and he
spurted against me, gasping my name. It drove me over the edge and
I spilled my seed onto his belly to mingle with his, slowing down
in a sticky, wonderful mess as I came back down to earth and
collapsed into his arms.

It was as if I was looking into a white
light. My head rested against his shoulder and I tried to focus.
The smell of the earth and soil beneath us mingled with the scent
of sex wafting up from between our bodies. When my breathing had
returned to normal, I picked a twig out of his hair and kissed the
tender spot I’d bitten. He was stroking my face, his lips moving
against my ear, but I couldn’t hear the words. I kissed him again,
slowly and softly.

He pushed me gently off him and smiled.
“Ned, I am so thankful. I think Mata is turning her smile to me at
last.”

I bit my lip, unsure of how to respond. Then
from nearby, I heard Lana’s voice. “Ned! Kari! Where are you?”

I swore and rolled off him, groping for my
handkerchief. Hastily, I spat on it and scrubbed the evidence of
our recent exertions from my belly and Kari’s before we dragged our
britches up and our shirts back on. My hands trembled as I brushed
the leaves and dirt from my knees and arms. When we were fully
dressed, I grabbed the bag off the ground and handed it to Kari. I
gave Lana an answering call and soon she stood with us, hands on
hips.

“
Brindar bids you hurry,” she said,
looking us up and down with a sudden twinkle in her eye.

“
I have gathered all we need,” Kari
said. His voice was a little more high-pitched than usual and his
hands trembled as he clasped the bag containing the supplies to his
chest. His cheeks were still flushed and he looked at his boots, a
nervous smile playing on his lips.

Lana surveyed us for a moment, then rummaged
in her back pocket and pulled out a pouch, from which she produced
some of the dwarven chewing tobacco she loved and I loathed.
“Here,” she handed a small pinch to both Kari and me. “Chew
it.”

“
Lana, are you mad? It’s disgusting,
and this is hardly the time.”

“
Do what I say!”

I put the wretched leaves in my mouth and
grimaced as the bitter flavor spread over my tongue. I chewed it
for as long as I could endure, then spat it out. “I’m sorry to
waste it, but you know I can’t stand that stuff.”

Kari spat his out in a similar fashion and
dragged the back of his hand across his mouth. Lana chuckled.
“Well, it has certainly done the job of wiping that massive sex
grin off both your faces before we return to the hut and your
brother.”