Date: Sun, 09 Jul 2000 23:38:29 PDT
From: Guy Trache <pfantazm@hotmail.com>
Subject: Knights of the Road 6

Knights of the Road - Part 6: Conclusion

By Pfantazm

~~~

Author's Note:  Please don't kill me.  You'll find out why later.

This story contains depictions of sex between adult males.  Duh.

Bad things do happen to good people.  Thom and Madoc aren't people, good
or bad;  they're ones and zeroes that do a pretty good imitation.  You, on
the other hand, *are* good people.  I can tell from here.  Please be safe
to keep as many bad things from happening to you as possible.  Okay?

If you'd like to give me feedback on this story, any of my other stories,
or if you can actually do something about the weather, rather than talk
about it, write me at pfantazm@hotmail.com.  What other stories?  Glad you
asked.  Find out at my website at its new permanent home:
www.pridesites.com/pfantazm/index.html

~~~

The garrison was fairly quiet.

Thom sat with his head in his hands.  "They were replacement guards," he
said.  "They were just ordinary men who wanted a little extra money for
helping to police the festival.  They didn't really know what they were
doing."

He looked up.  "When I told them who he was, they got scared.  This was
Kraid.  He was like the bogeyman.  He was bigger than real.  They weren't
supposed to handle any real criminals.

"I only turned away for a second.  When I turned back, I - I don't know.
The dagger was in my hand, and then it wasn't."

His voice dropped to a whisper.  "I killed him, Madoc.  I killed someone."

The High Guardsman was crouched at Thom's side next to the chair.  He took
Thom's hand.  "You did well.  From what I heard, he was ready to kill one
of the guards himself.  Any guard would have done the same thing as you."

"I've never - I haven't."  Tears formed at the corners of Thom's eyes.
"It was very important to me."

Madoc couldn't help but cry in sympathy.  Since he'd been told about it,
and since he'd tuned himself to Thom's feelings several ago, he was quite
aware of his emotional connection to Thom.  He could always tell what his
partner was feeling, and he usually ended up feeling the same way.  He
held Thom, for once not worrying if someone came into the briefing room
where they were.

"And on top of it all, I feel responsible for whatever's happened to Sir
Bastian."

The mage had regained consciousness, but hadn't spoken.  Lennox told them
that he'd awakened, completely healed, to find Bastian lying there on the
floor.

Thom and Madoc remembered how Eleazar had acted when his magic had been
taken away and feared the worst.  One of Bastian's fellow mages was
examining him right now.

"I should never have left him alone."

"From what you said, it sounded like he did not give you a choice, and
whatever's happened to Bastian, he seems to have done to himself.  What
would you have done?"

Thom did not have an answer.

"All you can do is help Bastian however you can, now."

Thom grinned.  "Look who's telling who what."  Madoc looked downwards.
"Seems like we both have to learn to live with the choices we've made."
Thom's face went long again as he looked at Madoc.  The High Guard looked
up and they embraced.

"Let's go and see how Sir Bastian's doing, and how Lennox is holding up,"
Madoc said.

Thom just nodded.  They got up and headed over to the infirmary where
Bastian was being cared for.

Lennox was wrapped in a blanket.  Given the state his clothes were in
after Kraid had laid his hands on him, it was about the only thing
keeping him decent.  He didn't seem to care.  He was listening to what the
mage who had come to see Bastian was saying.

She was an older woman, with greying hair.  Thom would have guessed she
was in her fifties, but Bastian had said that mages age more slowly than
most people.  She wore a dark cloak similar to Bastian's, but hers was a
bright green.

"...and I'm afraid that's all we can do," she was saying.

"But I don't understand," Lennox told her.  "He had his magic checked just
today, and he had a lot of it.  How can it be gone?"

Thom sighed.  Bastian had suffered the same fate as Eleazar.

"A mage can burn himself out, like a candle.  From what the constable here
and you describe, Mage Bastian expended a great deal of his magick,
attacking those thieves and then healing you."  Her tone expressed what
she thought of such uses of magick.  "He said you were dying, from what I
understand.  He must have poured all the energy he had into you, since you
appear to be perfectly fine.

"If a mage expends too much of his magick at once, he may not be able to
recover, and I fear this is what has happened in Mage Bastian's case."

"It's a shame," the constable said.  "When he was here a few weeks ago, he
seemed like a very nice man."

Thom couldn't help but notice the constable spoke of Sir Bastian as though
he were dead, even though he was lying right there with his eyes open.
Whatever Thom had thought about Bastian's tactics, or of magic, he
wouldn't wish that on anyone.

"We should move him back to the inn," Sir Madoc said, "since there doesn't
seem to be much that can be done here."

"I will relay the information back to the Council of Mages," the witch
said.  "They will not be pleased."

  * * *

They allowed Sir Bastian the dignity of riding home to the inn in a
covered sedan chair, rather than being carried on a stretcher.  Bastian
seemed barely aware of his surroundings and could only just stand, let
alone walk.  Madoc had to carry him up the flights of stairs to the
garret.

The innkeeper moved a mattress upstairs for Bastian to lie on for the
time being.  It didn't appear the four would be staying much longer in
Annisport.

Thom and Madoc were returning the sedan chair.

The longhaired man lay on his bed as still as death, his eyes open and
aimed straight ahead.  He could have been counting knotholes in the
ceiling.

Lennox sat at his side, weepy-eyed.  It couldn't be true, that the
wonderful man who had kept him safe was gone.  As he understood it,
Bastian might come to be able to recognize Lennox once again, and maybe
they would make love, but Bastian would never speak, he would need help
eating, and he certainly would never use magic again.  It was horrible to
contemplate.

Lennox laid his hand on Bastian's chest and felt his heart beat through
the cotton sheet.  What had he done it for?  To save Lennox.

The witch told him he must have been as close to death as he could be and
still be healed.  Lennox remembered some of the things Kraid and Damon
both had done to him.  They'd beaten him severely, broken many bones.
There had been blood flowing everywhere.  The pain had heated his body
until it had run cold from blood loss.

Now it was as though it hadn't happened.  He'd fallen asleep, and he woke
to find his body whole again.  The price had been Bastian.

The Marauders were gone now.  Lennox had somehow known Bastian would keep
him safe, and he had, sacrificing his mind and soul for him.  Was he worth
that?

Teardrops splashed against Bastian's bare shoulder.

The Council would come for Bastian soon.  They would take him and take
care of him.  Lennox wondered if he'd be allowed to see him.  If he
couldn't, he might as well have died anyway.  He loved him so much, he
couldn't stand to think of life without him.

Lennox took off the scraps of reddened cloth the covered him, what
remained of the clothes he'd been wearing earlier that afternoon.  He slid
his perfect body under the covers with Bastian and held him.

Lennox owed his love a debt.  Bastian had done what he needed to in order
to save Lennox.  He had to try to save Bastian.  He knew he'd promised
Bastian he wouldn't play at magic again, but even if he did get himself
trapped again, he would be with Bastian forever.  He lay still for hours
until he dreamed the stars came out.

  * * *

It was dim.  It was the same deep blue that it had been before, but the
stars were so pale Lennox could hardly see them.

Lennox swooped down over the sharp, angular constellation below him.  This
was Bastian's body, he recalled.  He glided in close and looked everything
over.  The bright, twinkling lights he'd seen before were now reduced to
faint pulses.  It saddened Lennox even more to see something that was once
so beautiful come to ruin.

One point was different from the others.  While all the others were lit,
however dimly, this one was black, almost invisible against the dark blue
that surrounded it.  Judging by the shape of the stars nearby, it looked
like it was right in the center of Bastian's body.

Lennox asked himself if this might be where the trouble was.  Maybe he
could light this one star again.

He could feel where the connections between the points were.  He found
some which were joined to the darkened one.  The redhead *squeezed*.

Lennox watched as energy flowed into the point.  He'd done it!  It lit up!
Then he realized the other stars he was using were much fainter than they
had been before.  Lennox let go.  Oh, no.  It wasn't going to be possible
to make everything shine like it had before.  It was like moving water
from well to well:  there was only so much to go around.  After a little
while everything went back to the way it had been.

Lennox tried again.  Maybe if he didn't squeeze so hard this time?  The
light pulled into the black point, but again, the others grew dimmer.
When Lennox let go, the energy went back to where it had been.

He peered at the dark star.  Was his mind playing tricks, or was there a
very small spark there?  He squeezed and let go.  He couldn't tell that
the others were any fainter, but the dark point had gotten brighter.  Hope
flared in his chest.

Lennox pumped the light in and out of Bastian's center.  With every pass
that black point got stronger, until it was as bright as the constellation
had been when he first saw it.

The redhead stopped, not certain what to do next.

The energy from the point he'd built up shot out to its neighbors.  There
was a sharp crackling noise.

The neighbors were quite bright now, and the original point was dimmer
now, but not out.

He pumped again until the center point was fully bright, and more energy
crackled out.  It got easier.

After the third time pumping, the light flowed beyond the original cluster
of points and lit up *their* neighbors.  Then the ones beyond that.

Lennox pumped faster, energy flowing in and out until it burst across
Bastian's body.  Soon the whole of it was lit.  Bastian's mind above him
came to life again.  The power flowed until even the threads between the
points glowed.  There were more stars to be seen than there had been
before.

Lennox heard someone was crying out.  He woke up.

  * * *

The stars were out, but the garret was brighter than daylight.  There
were no shadows to be seen anywhere, but there were also no torches.

They had lain for hours.  What was the time?

Bastian stared through him.  He was sitting up, and it had been his voice
Lennox had heard.  Bastian's eyes were aglow.  Lennox thought he could see
the two shades of grey in them move around.

Lennox felt lightheaded.  Every muscle in his body hummed as though it had
gone to sleep.  He felt powerful.

Bastian fixed his eyes on Lennox.  They wanted to kiss.  Their hands
clutched lustily at each other's bodies.  Tongues explored mouths.  They
humped against one another.

They had forged a perfect connection.  They were no longer two;  they
were one.  Their minds were in perfect communication.  This was more
power than they had ever known.  They must have overdone it when they
were healing themselves.

It was too much power.  They overturned crates across the room.  They set
fires and put them out.  They spun in crazy circles over the bed, turning
heels over head, and all around, as they loved.

Someone - Thom, with Madoc behind him, was coming up the stairs to see
what the noise was.  They decided they were dangerous right now and they
locked and held the door fast to spare their friends.

Their bodies shifted so that Bastian could push his stone-stiff cock into
Lennox's ass.  Lennox's body knew how to accommodate it, loosening
perfectly so there was no pain despite Bastian's swiftness.

"The Marauders are not all gone," Lennox panted.

"Damon escaped us," Bastian replied as he plunged into Lennox with a fury.
The mage twisted so that Lennox could lick at his love's neck.

They felt it coming.  They were not two people;  they were one.  Climax
approached and both bodies screamed in unison.  A flood of cum poured out
of them, dripping down as they floated above the bed.  Their bodies were
slick with clean sweat and the semen which ran at unnatural angles across
their skin.

They moved in midair again, and this time Bastian accepted Lennox's
dripping manhood inside.  This was a sensation Bastian's body had never
experienced, but he knew it well from his other half.  Lennox's member
parted Bastian's muscle and touched new places.  This was no invasion;
it was a homecoming.  Lennox's cock brought heat to the core of Bastian's
soul.  How could he be without this?

"Damon is in the mountains," Lennox reported.

"He stole a horse," Bastian noted.  He pushed himself harder onto Lennox,
wanting him as deep inside as his mate could be.

"But he rode it to death," Lennox finished.

"He's on foot, then."

"We know where he is.  We hid there from the Marauders.  We can catch
him," Lennox's mouth uttered.

Bastian could feel it coming again.  Lennox was about to fire his seed
into him.  "We... *will*... catch--"

In tandem the lovers cried out again as they came.  Bastian and Lennox
felt as though they knew the universe and all of its wonders.

Lennox's essence gushed into his bowels as Bastian's coated their chests.
Their bodies merged and they shared their heat, their mouths, their minds.

After a few moments, they touched down and fatigue took them.  They passed
out on the bed.

Sir Madoc barged into the room, knocking the door off one hinge.  He and
Thom found them asleep.

  * * *

Bastian awoke with a splitting headache.  He sat up and tried to rub the
pain away.  Lennox was beside him, one arm over his stomach.

"He's awake," Thom said.  He and Sir Madoc came over.  "Bastian?  Say
something."

"Hello?"

"He's fine," Madoc said, smiling.  They both came over to the bed and
hugged him.

"Do you remember much of anything after the warehouse?" Thom asked.

"Not really," Bastian said as he touched Lennox's hair.

"Not even having sex in the air with Lennox?  We saw you before the door
slammed.  We had quite a time trying to keep the innkeeper away with all
the noise you were making."

Bastian remembered... something.  He'd fucked Lennox and then Lennox
fucked him. And....

"Damon got away.  He's in the Greypoint Mountains near where Lennox and
you... that cave."

"How do you know about that?  And how do you know he's there?" Sir Madoc
asked.

"I know you and Lennox exchanged memories," Thom explained, "but that
doesn't--"

Lennox groaned, cutting him off.  He sat up, one hand at his temple.  "Did
it work?"  He looked over at Sir Bastian and grabbed him in a bear hug.
The mage rocked him back and forth, and made soothing noises at his lover.

"Did what work?" Thom wanted to know.

"I was going to ask the same thing," said Bastian.

Lennox explained what he'd done with Bastian's spell points.

"Then what happened afterwards?" Madoc asked.  "It would appear that you
got your magic back."  He pointed to the disarray and scorched items in
the room.

"I'd always had trouble with fire," Bastian said ponderously.

"Not judging by the warehouse," said Thom.  "We captured Ivor and Kraid
alive, even though...."  He trailed off.

Sir Madoc put in, "We also found several burnt bodies, enough to account
for all the remaining Marauders--"

"But not Damon.  He escaped," Lennox told him.  "We saw him," he and
Bastian finished in unison.  They smiled at each other.

"Hm.  We found more than enough to account for the Marauders," Madoc said.
"Do we know that no others escaped the warehouse?"

"I think Damon is the only one left," Sir Bastian said.

"If not, our orders were to capture Kraid and Damon specifically.  As many
of the henchmen as possible, but those two by name," Thom reminded them.
"If there *are* others, we'll never find them now.  Besides, Bastian
terrified the Marauder who ran into the city guards and me when we first
arrived.  I think he may be glad to be put out of his misery at dawn."

Madoc said, "Then we should apprehend Damon and leave it at that.  Let any
that remain alive live with their consciences."

"I'm truly sorry for that," said Bastian.  "I was so enraged by what I
felt them do to Lennox - those memories are with me now, and they are real
to me."

"You're not one to let something like that happen to you and not fight
back," Lennox told him.  "I wish I had your strength."

"You have it and more, Lennox," Bastian said, holding him.  "You endured
much more than I did."  He looked to the window.  The moons were up.
"What is the hour?"

"Late evening.  The festival is still in full swing," Thom reported.

"Then we will eave for Mount Silpin on the morrow," Sir Bastian declared.

"There is a mage, one Mage Tolaren, from the Council of Mages, who is
supposed to be arriving tomorrow to take you back to Septana and the
Academy.  Should we not wait?" Madoc asked.

Bastian sneered at the thought.  "I have a duty to perform, and neither
Tolaren nor anyone else will take me anywhere.  When I have finished, I
will present myself to them.  I will have no difficulty proving I have my
magic."  He snapped his fingers and sparks flew.  His scowl lifted.  "Now,
how to spend our evening?"

"Asleep, I should think," said Thom.  "Today has been most trying."

"First, we must return the bed," said Sir Madoc.  "The innkeeper has been
asking after it."  Bastian and Lennox, undressed, got up.  Bastian
stretched.

Thom sighed.  "All bloody morning I'm running around the docks, and all
evening, I'm carrying furniture."

They each took an end and started down the stairs.

Madoc carefully stepped backwards.  "How are you feeling?"

"Better, now that Sir Bastian is up and about," Thom grunted.

"You still feel guilty about having killed Kraid, though."

They had reached a corner in the staircase.  Madoc set his end down on the
landing.  Thom wouldn't answer.

"Didn't you say that you only...,"  Madoc looked over his shoulder for
eavesdroppers, "*did*work*, for people who deserved it?"  Thom nodded.
"Don't you think Kraid caused enough suffering in his life to be one of
those people?"

Thom glared at him.  "Killing someone is a far cry from what I did to
them.  Now let's get this thing down the stairs."

Madoc frowned and hefted his end.  He didn't press the point again that
night.

  * * *

"Can I talk to you, Madoc?" Lennox asked the next morning.

"Of course," the High Guard replied as he pulled his tunic over his head.

The redhead looked around at the others.  "In private?"

"We'll go down to the stables."  Madoc grabbed his tabard and they headed
down the stairs.

Lennox waited until they were on the ground floor to speak.  "Bastian and
I both heard what you and Thom said yesterday while you were carrying down
the bed.  Thom told me you two have had arguments like that before."

"He did?"  Madoc stopped at the side door and turned to look at him.

"He said he didn't understand why you were sorry about one of the castle
guards getting thrown out.  The guard trying taking your face off?"

"Yes.  We did have a disagreement about that."  Someone was coming near to
enter the inn with a sack of flour.  Madoc stepped inside to let him pass,
then continued on to the stables.  He slipped into his tabard.

When they were alone, Lennox continued.  "Most thieves live by a code.
They don't steal from each other unless there's a problem between them.
If someone has set his cap for something, the job is his and no one else
takes a shot at it.  That kind of thing.

"Thom's sense of right and wrong is stronger than it is in most thieves,
but it's still not the same as yours."

They were now standing at Fleetfire's stall.  "I don't understand why you
were troubled about the guard, and I do understand why Thom is angry about
Kraid.

"That was part of his legend, you see.  No matter how rough a spot he got
into with the guards, he had no blood on his hands, and now that's
changed."

"Are you saying he still thinks of himself as the Dark Rogue?  As a
thief?" Madoc asked.

"Not exactly.  I believe that he's stopped stealing, but the legend was
very important to him.  It made him who he was.

"What I think you need to do is to give him some time to get it right in
his mind.  He doesn't think about these things the same way you do.  If
you press, he'll only fight you.  He'll figure it out, though."

Madoc looked at Lennox over Fleetfire's back.  "How do you know?"

Lennox shrugged.  "I see your side of it.  So will he."

"Are you Sir Thom?" asked a female voice.

Madoc looked over his shoulders at her.  She was standing nervously at the
street entrance to the stable, as though something bad would happen if she
were to step inside.

"No, I'm Thom's partner, Sir Madoc.  Can I help you?"

"My name is Trissa, goodknight.  My husband was the man who... well, Thom
saved his life."  She took a pot out of the bag she had with her.  "I
wanted to thank him for saving my husband."

Sir Madoc smiled.  "He is preparing to leave, upstairs.  I can take you
to him, m'lady."

Trissa smiled as Sir Madoc took her arm and escorted her into the
building.  Lennox followed behind, curious.

Madoc seated her in the common room, introduced her to Lennox, and went to
fetch Thom.

"Thom saved your husband?"

"Yes.  He was one of the guards the town hired on for the Festival.  I
told him it was dangerous, but he insisted.  It was a way to make some
extra coin, he said.  I told him, `You're only a tinsmith.  You don't know
anything about guarding a city gate.'  Off he went, though, and he
enlisted."

"What happened with Thom?"

"From what I gather, he came running to the garrison asking for help
catching Kraid, of all people, and instead of sending the real guards,
they sent bakers and butchers, and my husband.  They catch him and my
Gyles lays his hand on him.  Kraid gets hold of a knife and--"  The
tinsmith's wife recoiled from the thought.  "From there, Sir Thom took
care of him:  got him to the garrison and had the knife checked to find
out what poison the fiend had on the blade.  Lady Rumour even says Sir
Thom killed Kraid himself."

"How is your husband now?"

"He's home resting in bed.  I think he just likes the lazing around, but
I'm so glad to have him still, I don't care.  His friends have come by to
see him, and to see `Kraid's last mark on him,' as he calls it.  Trissa
rolled her eyes.

Lennox heard Madoc and the others enter the common room.

"The cut wasn't deep, thank Katusha.  They found an antidote to the
poison, what was it, shadowwort, shadow--"

"Shadowbane," Lennox said grimly.  Every thief knew of someone who'd died
the slow, painful death of the toxin after tripping the wrong defense.
That Kraid, a one who fancied himself a thief, would use it angered
Lennox.

"Yes!  That was it.  What I know is, if Sir Thom hadn't acted just when
he did, my dear Gyles would be dead today."

"M'lady Trissa?" Madoc said.  The woman turned to look.  "This is Thom."

The knight-errant stepped forward.  "How do you do?"

"I'm well, and thanks to you, so is my husband."

"I heard you telling Lennox about it.  Your husband is very lucky."

"If he is, it's because Katusha acted through you."  She held the pot out
to him.  "I'd like you to have this.  You deserve more, but it's all we
can spare."

Thom remembered the Code of Chivalry.  He was to refuse once.  "You don't
need to do that, goodwoman."

"Sir Thom, you gave the man I love back to me.  Please."

He took it, awkwardly, and said thank-you.

Trissa smiled, stood up, said her goodbyes, and, kissing Thom, left the
tavern.

"Lennox," Thom said, "could you use a tin pot?"

"I suppose I--"

"Here, then."  He tossed it to Lennox and turned to go back upstairs.

"Thom?" Madoc began.

"Don't," his partner warned before heading back up to the garret.

Lennox stood up and laid a hand on Madoc's shoulder.  "He needs some time,
Sir Madoc," he reminded him.

The High Guard nodded and went back out to the stables.

  * * *

The three horses were resting.

The four men had ridden back eastward through Erral Pass and northwards
again toward the area Bastian and Lennox had divined Damon to be in.

"Do you know what happened in the room where you were recuperating?" Madoc
asked before biting into his pear.

"We think," Bastian replied, "that when Lennox healed me, he stopped too
late.

"What he seems to do is to take whatever magic I am doing and reflect it
back at myself.  After any discharge of magick, a mage starts to produce
more.  It may be that when a mage burns out, he does not use *all* of his
power up, but nearly all.  It would take more than my lifetime to
recover with what little magick I still had in me after saving Lennox."

The redhead nestled closer to Sir Bastian at the sound of his name.

"However, Lennox was helping me to recover, and he was speeding it up.  It
eventually got to where I had far more magick than I had when I was on my
way to the warehouse."

Thom looked stunned.

"Do you still have it?" Madoc asked.

"No.  It has dissipated.  I used up most of it in the room that afternoon.
That's what all the commotion was:  the excess power discharging.

"I learned that I have many more spell points I can try to develop.
They're very faint, though.  I think it was through one of them that we
found Damon.

"Can you tell where he is now?"

"Almost.  We have a vague sense of where he is," Lennox said.  "I don't
remember much, but I know I could do things.  Now all I have is a faint
connection to where Damon is."

"You said he didn't have a horse.  Is that still true?"

They thought a moment, then said, in unison, "I think so."  Lennox
finished, "He's moving slowly enough."

Thom and Madoc looked at each other.  The High Guard simply said, "We
should still try to catch him quickly before he comes by a mount."

"In this country?" Thom said.  "I think there's scant chance of that, but
I agree.  No sense dragging this out.  We catch him, and that's the end of
it."

  * * *

Bastian and Lennox led the party to Damon, but it was Thom who spotted him
first.

They rode up close and dismounted.  Lennox led the horses away, to keep
Damon from getting them, and the others raced after him on foot.  The last
Marauder heard them coming and fled along a mountain ledge.

The knights closed in on him.  Their quarry had been walking for quite
some time, while the others had been riding.  The distance between them
lessened as the pursuit went on.

Damon ducked into a cave, hoping to hide.

The three approached.  "Isn't that--?" Bastian whispered.  Thom and Madoc
nodded vigorously.  It was the cave they had slept in, the one that had
led to the dragon's lair.

Madoc whispered into Thom's ear.  "Take Bastian and go to the exit we
found.  I'll flush him out."

Thom looked grim, but couldn't argue.  He was no match for Damon, and
Bastian would not be able to find the exit alone.  "Be careful," he
whispered back. The knight-errant and the mage hurried off.

Madoc licked his lips.  His back was pressed to the stone near the cave
entrance.  He took a deep breath and dashed inside.

He remembered the layout of this chamber, more or less.  It was vaguely
round.  The floor was gritty soil.  The only way further into the
mountains was down a sinkhole to the back.  The cave was not very well
lit, even on this bright afternoon.  He didn't recall there being a
hiding place in here, but the knight kept an eye on the entrance, just in
case.

Madoc crept around the perimeter of the cavern, his sword out and ready.
He had to move cautiously but he needed to keep pace with Damon.

When he was sure Damon had moved on, he dropped down the hole leading to
the next chamber.

This section of the cave had changed.  The small sinkhole in the roof had
widened considerably, lighting the large space.  The passage Madoc and
Thom had taken was now a blob of dark, black rock.  Madoc guessed that the
dragon had caused a small eruption, sealing off its tomb.  That meant
Damon had to be here.

"You're trapped, Damon," Sir Madoc called out.  "I've been in this cave
before.  You can't climb out the roof, you can't go back the way we came,
and there are no other open passages.  The only way out is by rope.  I
don't have one, and I don't think you do either."

"Then yeh're trapped wi' me, knight."

Madoc couldn't be sure where the voice had come from, but he'd found his
quarry.

"Why don't you step out where I can see you?" Madoc said.

"Why do I need teh?  Yeh know I'm here.  And I can see ye good and fine
from here."  Damon chuckled from the back of his throat.  "Where's 'at
scrappy little blond friend o' yehrs who made such a mess of our camp
that first time?  I've seen 'im wi' yeh before.  Came into our home
calling himself Dark Rogue, and saved ye.  Lady Rumour says 'e's passed on
and ere I see him alive.  What is he, 'zactly?  Knight, or thief?"

"Knight, and nearby."

"`Forthright and true'?"

That was from the Knight's Oath.  Was it coincidence?  Damon couldn't know
it....

"Funny how yeh don't answer that one," Damon said.

"What does it matter to you, Damon?  I *have* you.  Either you die today
or tomorrow at dawn after all of your kind."

"Are yeh sure yeh have me?  Or do I have ye?"

A third voice came from above. "Sir Madoc?"

"Lenny!" Damon yelled jovially.  "Such a joy teh hear yehr voice again.
It's been too long a while.  Why don't yeh drop in?"

"Damon and I are both trapped here, Lennox.  Go get Thom and Bastian, and
a rope.  Thom will know where this is.  Just mention the hole in the
roof."

"I'm going," Lennox said.

"Yes, run, Lenny!  Run teh the pigs, yeh rat!  I'll finish yeh later."
Damon laughed again.

"And now we wait," Madoc said, still ready.

"Will yeh look a' ye?  Standin' there like I'm going teh jump out the
shadows and take a bite out yehr leg.  Yeh're my way out, Sir Madoc.  I
kill ye and them three'll leave me in here teh rot.

"This isn't a way for two men of action teh be settling this.  We'll do
this like men."

A sword came out of the darkness to land in the patch of sunlight.

"You think I'll trust you?" Madoc asked.  "I remember what you did to me.
You have no honor."

"`I pledge my life, soul, and body teh the Crown.  No force on this plane
or any other will stay me from my duty.  I will be a knight of the realm,
forthright and true.'"

Sir Madoc stood dumbfounded.

Damon cackled.  "Yeh know there's only one way I could be reciting the
Knight's Oath teh ye.  Hate teh say it, but I was a pig meself."

"What happened?"

"Got meself thrown out.  Brutality, they said.  Can yeh imagine?"  He
laughed at his own joke.  "I have the honor, Sir Madoc.  I just have no
reason left teh be loyal.

"Now ye, yeh're something else.  Yeh took a lot of punishment from me.
Yeh're still walking besides.  Yeh were the kind of man I was proud teh
have as brother-in-arms.  Yeh were caught on the shade in that field, the
Marauders sneaking up and grabbing yeh.  Not sporting 'tall.

"Why don't yeh get rid o' that sword and get rid o' mine too, and we'll
settle that.  I want to know if yeh're good enough teh beat me on the
square."

Madoc didn't move.

"The brethren meant a lot teh me, Madoc.  Losing that was nearly the end
of me.  I swear, as a Knight of the Realm, it'll be a fair match.  We
grapple to a fall and pin, and that's the finish."

Madoc walked into the center and hefted Damon's sword.  He backed to the
wall and rammed it into the rock.  "Come out into the light."

Damon stepped forward, while Madoc was still in shadow.  He stood an inch
or two taller than Madoc.  A trim, black beard framed a wickedly grinning
mouth.  His heavy brow kept his eyes in darkness.

"The belt.  Throw it here," Madoc commanded.

Damon unbuckled it and threw it, and the knife it held, over to the
knight.  He picked it up and pitched the dagger where he hoped Damon
wouldn't see it.

The bandit's red tunic hung straight down.  The faded green trousers he
wore were losing their dye with age.  "I've done my bit.  As a man of
honor, I expect the same of ye."

Madoc hesitated, then drew his sword and rammed it into the wall.  Damon's
grin broadened.

Both men began to strip.  Damon kicked off his boots and tossed them aside.

Madoc folded his tabard carefully and set it down.

"Ground rules," Damon said as he undid his pants.  "This sandy dirt here
should be plenty soft.  We stay in here.  We get too close teh the bare
rock, we move back to the middle."

"Agreed," Madoc said as he unrolled his hose.  "The first fall and pin
decides the winner.  I don't want to be all day at this."

Damon laughed at this.  "I feel the same."  Off came the red tunic.

His body was crisscrossed with old scars.  The fur covering his chest was
parted by pale trenches of scarred flesh.  He wore only the brief double-
triangle that kept him decent.

Madoc stepped out, similarly unclad.

"The marks I left on yeh.  They've gone.  I've kept mine."  Damon turned
to the side and raised his arm.  There was a nasty red gash in his side
where Madoc had stabbed him in the shack.  "I nearly died o' that.  I was
very lucky.  Fair is fair.  No hard feelings."

"Let's just get this done."

Damon held out his hand.  "I'll enjoy this."

Sir Madoc shook it without a word.

Fist in fist, they crouched slightly.  Then their bodies collided as the
test of strength started.

Damon overpowered Madoc and forced him to the ground.  The knight felt the
soil scratch into his hip as he landed.  The two men struggled to gain an
advantage over the other.  Madoc wrapped a leg behind Damon's thigh and
tried to pull himself up on top.  Instead, Damon rolled them both over and
ended up on top of Madoc's leg.

The knight pushed the robber's body away with his arms.  He dug his free
heel into the dirt to brace himself.  Damon hooked his own leg around
Madoc's.  He was climbing on top of him.

Madoc twisted his body and pulled himself half out from underneath the
bigger man.  He used the momentum to flip Damon onto his back.  Madoc
tried to get onto Damon, but the robber reached up and threw him clear
over his body.  Madoc landed on his knees, and he scrambled to his feet,
ready for another attack.

Damon was standing now as well, and he laughed.  "No more play, now,
Madoc."

He came at Madoc, but the knight dodged.  He wrenched Damon's arm behind
his back.  His other arm tensed around Damon's neck.

The robber tried to flip Madoc over his back, but the knight jerked
against him to stay on his feet.  Damon tried again and succeeded this
time, laying the knight flat on his back.

Madoc began to sit up, but Damon skipped around and pressed him back into
the dirt, his body crossways on top of him.

Madoc gritted his teeth and tried to heft the bigger man away, but
Damon's size was against him.  His shoulders fell flat to the ground.

Damon counted.  "One...  two..."

With one quick burst of strength, Madoc jerked up and got himself out of
the pin.

Damon continued to dominate the fight, leaving Madoc struggling to keep
his shoulders from the floor of the cave.  Madoc was tiring, but at least
Damon seemed to be wearing out as well.

Madoc was on all fours, Damon over him.  The knight was tensing his limbs
to keep the highwayman from pushing him over.  When he judged the moment
was right, he turned quickly and reversed the hold.  Damon tumbled onto
his back.

Sir Madoc pounced on top of his opponent and pressed down on him.

"One..." he counted.

The robber squirmed, trying to force the knight off, but Madoc stayed fast.

"Two..."

Madoc saw Damon prepare for one last-ditch push, just as he had done
earlier.  Damon swung his legs up.  Madoc forced a knee between his and
pushed down.

"Three!"

Damon collapsed.  The guard maintained his position.  "You beat me," he
said.

Now Madoc relaxed.  He was breathing heavily.  He was drenched with sweat
and both men's skin radiated heat from exertion.

"I did," Madoc said.  He stood up and retrieved his shirt to wipe his face.

"Yeh beat me fair and square, Madoc."

This time there was no warning.  The knight was grabbed from behind and
picked up.  "I haven't fought fair in years."  Damon threw him across the
cave.

Sir Madoc landed badly.  Before he could get up, Damon was on him again.
He grabbed Madoc by the hair and smallclothes and pulled him to his feet.
His eyes watered in pain.

In retaliation, Madoc grabbed the highwayman's neck.  If he could choke
him into unconsciousness, he could wait for the others.

Instead, Damon kicked Madoc's foot out from under him, and he fell down
with a yelp.  The bigger man was left clutching a handful of cloth.

The two really grappled now, hands in faces, grabbing arms and rolling
around in the dirt.

Madoc kicked against the robber, scrabbling to find purchase to pull away
even as Damon gripped him.

In the end, Damon got the knight on his stomach, the full length of his
body atop him.  The robber's legs were around those of the knight.

Sir Madoc was immobilized.

Damon's undergarment had torn and twisted, exposing his penis.  It was
rock hard against Madoc's exposed rear end.  The knight stayed frozen as
Damon shifted around.

His cock grated against Madoc's skin.  Wetness flowed slowly in between
the cheeks of the knight's ass.

Sir Madoc had no emotional connection with Damon, as he did with Thom, but
he knew what the bigger man was thinking.

"Do it," Madoc whispered.

Damon stopped moving.

"Just let me get to my knees.  It'll work better for you."

The bearded man paused to let it sink in what he was hearing, then roughly
picked his captive up off the ground.  Madoc found himself on all fours,
with Damon's on hand on his shoulder, and the other on his balls, gripping
tightly.  Madoc knew Damon could grip more tightly if he tried anything.

The knight's body was trembling.  His eyes were wide and his teeth were
clenched.  It would take Damon only a moment to decide to go through with
it, and then....

He screamed in pain as Damon's cock entered him.  He'd done it in one
solid stroke.  He felt tears at his eyes as the searing pain drove through
him.

The robber was moaning as he penetrated him.  He felt hot breath on his
neck, and a hairy chest across his back.  Holding him as he was, Damon was
very close to him.  Madoc's own body was twisted and tense with pain, and
Damon was everywhere around him, through him.

Damon pulled back, then rammed forward again.  The knight felt as though
he were being torn up by Damon's stiff dick.  All he could do was bear
down against the pain.

Another shout escaped his lips.  Damon groaned an "Oh, yeah," into his
ear.  His ass became more tender with every thrust of Damon's hips.

In time, the hurt did fade some, and Madoc could concentrate on the
sensation of being fucked.  Damon's monster buried itself deeply within
him time and again.  It rubbed against that place inside him where Thom
had felt with his fingers, only now the feeling was much more intense.

Madoc squeezed, as he sometimes did when he jerked off and his pleasure
grew when he did it.

Both men moaned.  Damon sped up.  Madoc dared to do it again.  The robber
growled contentedly.

The hand that held Madoc's balls released its grip some and began to roam.
It drifted up Madoc's shaft.  He was erect too.

Damon reached back with his other hand and tore off the rest of his
smallclothes as they fucked.  His fingers slid up to the crown of Madoc's
hard cock as they felt their way along.  His first arm returned and
wrapped itself around Madoc's chest.

The knight's flexing around Damon's manhood finally pushed Madoc past the
brink.  He came just as the fingers got to the head and they caught sticky
fluid all over them.

"Fuckin' 'ell, yeah, yeah, yeah...!" Damon panted as he slammed his hips
against Madoc's form and released his own cum into the knight's guts.

Afterwards, they stilled again as realizations of what had happened crept
over them.

Suddenly the highwayman pulled out and stood up.  Madoc turned back to
look.  He saw Damon's penis with spots of brown and red before they were
wiped away in his torn smallclothes.  Damon dressed.

Madoc got up and did likewise, assuming he was free to move again.  He
ached all over.

The tone in the cave had changed.  Damon was clearly on edge.  He kept
looking back at Madoc, his brown eyes just a little too wide, his jaw set
just a little too tensely.

Damon pulled his boots on and dashed for the cave wall.  He was headed for
the swords.  In just his tunic, Madoc raced after him.

The robber made it to the wall first and tugged on Madoc's sword.  The
knight arrived a moment later and freed Damon's weapon easily.  The blade
flew to Damon's throat.  "Don't move!" he commanded.

Damon's mouth was open.  He let go of the hilt of the other sword.  "You
left my sword free?  But ye're not supposed to be sneaky.  Yeh wouldn't
'ave...."

"Thom is a knight, but he wasn't always.  I'm learning from him.  I never
trusted you completely.  Up against the far wall!"

Damon backed away, genuine fear in his eyes.

  * * *

The three approached the sinkhole at a run.  They'd left Madoc alone with
Damon for too long.

The area at the top of the cave was nearly free of plant life, save for
one tree.

It had survived lightning storms, hot dry summers, harsh winters, poor
soil, and even a volcanic eruption.  Now, the three men had tied a long
rope to it, and this it would survive too.

"Madoc," the blond one called, "are you alright?"

"I'm just fine," came the irritated reply.  "Damon is here and he's ready
to go.  Lower the rope."

The redhead who'd tied up the tree tossed the free end down and into the
gaping hole in the rock, and a weight tugged at the roots of it.  With the
weight of the man climbing, there was a slight strain on its trunk, but
the tree was strong and healthy, and no one man would be able to pull it
down.

As the climber reached the top, the blond and the dark-haired man reached
to pull him up.  The two took him aside, and one more a weight could be
felt on the rope.

The long-haired man took the climber off to the side.  Suddenly, the
climber pushed the dark man down and ran around the sinkhole.  He punched
the redhead on the way by.  As he came back around to where the rope was,
a blade appeared in his hand and he slashed the rope.  The tree got jerked
as fibres snapped.

The blond gave up the chase and grabbed the rope below the break.  The
redhead came over to help.

The climber threw the blade away and started climbing down the cliffside.
The long-haired man had recovered and started after him.

When the second climber was finally hauled up, the three remaining men
took to the cliff and followed the first two.

The tree remained, with the discarded rope still tied to it, and stood as
it always had, as though nothing interesting had happened.

  * * *

Damon and Bastian had a good head start, but Lennox was experienced in
climbing, and Thom even more so.  The irregularity of a cliff face was a
new challenge, though.  Stone buildings were much more regular.

Damon was moving fast and looked up to his pursuers constantly.  Seeing
Thom descend so quickly toward him made him panic.

Lennox had never seen Damon afraid before.  He was always a one to charge
in against the guards, but now he was running scared.  He couldn't imagine
what could have affected him like that.

Thom got to Damon's level and passed him.  Lennox moved beside the robber,
a safe distance away.

"Yeh best leave me be, Lenny!  I'll throw yeh off this mountain!  I mean
it!"

Seeing Damon so desperate took all of the impact out of the threat.  He
couldn't see Damon doing it with his love and his friends closing in on
him.  Damon just seemed... pitiful.

Thom was under Damon now, and watching where the Marauder was putting his
feet.  He could try to step on Thom's fingers, but he risked losing his
footing, and Thom had much more confidence.  Damon would be more likely to
fall, and he clearly did not want to die.

The bandit was surrounded.  Nobody moved.  Damon looked at the people
around him, then at where he could possibly go.

"We have you, Damon.  Climb back to the top," Bastian ordered.

"Damon still did not budge.  Lennox could see sweat on his brow.

Something had to happen.  They couldn't hang on to the cliff face for too
long.

"Damon," he repeated, "hanging there isn't going to save you, and we're
not going to move until you do."

The last Marauder's mouth was open in a grimace of pain.  He seemed unable
even to speak.

Bastian approached him.  He edged nearer on the side opposite Lennox.  He
laid a hand on Damon's far shoulder.

"Bastian," Thom called, "what are you doing?"

The mage climbed onto the bandit's back.  Damon looked up and around, but
was afraid to move.

Lennox was seeing ahead.  If he's hanging off his body when he
disappears....

"Bastian!" Lennox yelled.

The mage laid his hand down on the Marauder's other wrist, ending their
mission.  He was left clutching empty air.  Madoc could only watch
helplessly as Bastian tipped slowly backwards and off the cliff.  Thom
pressed himself to the rock so Bastian wouldn't necessarily pull him down
with him.

Lennox wasted no time.  He dove off the top of the mountain.  He had
started from a great height, but he was falling very fast.  The distance
to the ground was shrinking very rapidly.  The trip would last only a few
seconds, even when one is not trying to understand what's happening.

Lennox kept himself in a dive pose, trying to catch up to his lover.
Bastian was falling back first, staring up at him.

The redhead grabbed Bastian as they collided.

"Fly me!" he yelled.

Lennox aimed them upwards and they cleared the tops of the trees below.

Bastian was levitating Lennox, as he had the other night, and Lennox
carried Bastian in his arms.

He gripped Bastian tighter, wrapping his legs around his hips while
hanging on to his chest.  He cheered as they flew through the air.  This
was the feeling he'd wanted in the forest:  to fly for real, and he had
the man he knew he loved with him.

"Lennox, how did you know...?"

"It's like a witch with a broomstick, I think," he replied.  "You're
making me fly, but I'm lugging your weight.  I thought of it a couple of
days ago, but I never remembered to tell you about it."

Lennox steered them back to Mt. Silpin, where Sir Madoc and Thom had
climbed back to the top and were waiting.

Their landing was a little clumsy:  Lennox dropped onto Bastian's back
when Bastian ceased the spell.  Their friends helped them to their feet.

Lennox and Bastian hugged and kissed each other.

"Thank you for saving me," Bastian whispered.

"Kraid's Marauders are all gone now.  Thank *you* for saving *me*."

  * * *

The mood was light as the four headed back to Aragon to give their
reports.  They made camp early since they were no longer in a rush.

"You're a hero, you know, Lennox," Thom was saying.

"I'm not," came the reply.

"But you are, leaping off the mountain like you did to save Bastian.  You
couldn't know you'd be able to carry him.  If that's not being a hero,
then I don't know what is."

Lennox just blushed and stayed quiet.

"There's sure to be a legend or two written about this.  The end of the
Marauders, brought about by a team of four men--"  Thom paraded around the
campsite presenting each of them to an unseen audience as he described
them, "the powerful mage, who dealt fire to the enemy; the mysterious
redhead with unknown powers; the handsome High Guardsman, the youngest in
history; and the former Dark Rogue, with no innocent man's blood on his
hands!"

Lennox smiled at Sir Madoc as the knight tended to the fire.  The word
_innocent_ was a new addition.

"Of course," he continued, "they'll have to leave out all the best
parts."  Thom raised Madoc's shirttail and pinched him.  The knight
straightened up with a yelp.  Bastian and Lennox laughed.

Thom suddenly grew serious.  "Can we talk in private a moment, Madoc?"

The guard nodded.

"In private, hmm?" Lennox said, grinning.

Thom smiled back and Bastian chuckled.  Lennox hugged him and curled up
around him as the other two left.

They walked through the field and into forest cover, out of earshot.  Thom
held Madoc, kissed him, and laid his head on his shoulder.

"How did you hurt yourself?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Madoc said.

Thom waved the flap of tunic covering Madoc's backside.  "I lifted this
just now and saw that you don't have your smallclothes on anymore, and
there's a stain that could be something else, but I'm pretty sure is
blood."

Madoc looked pained.

"Did something happen with Damon?"

The knight explained about the wrestling match.  "Damon wasn't satisfied
with that outcome.  He came after me again.  We ended up on the ground
with him on top of me, and he...."

Thom held his partner close.

"I told him to," Madoc finished.

"You said *what?*"  The former thief looked him in the eye.

"I'm sure he was going to anyway, so I chose before he could take the
choice away."

"Oh, Madoc," Thom said, head over Madoc's shoulder, "why do you put
yourself in these situations?"  Thom rocked Madoc back and forth. "How are
you doing?"


"I'm well."

"I'll tell you this: you'd better not do anything as bloody stupid as
Bastian did this afternoon, because I wouldn't dive after you."

"You wouldn't?"

"Hell, no.  I can't fly.  *Someone* has to be there to bury your body and
waste away at your graveside.  So don't do it, alright?"

"Alright," Madoc said, tears in his eyes.

"Thank you.  Now let's go back and let Sir Bastian have a look at you."

"Alright," he said meekly.

Thom kissed his partner deeply.  "I still love you, Madoc, heart and soul,
and I think I always will, whatever you do."

"I love you, too, Thom."

They walked back to camp together, while Thom tried to figure out how to
get Madoc healed without having to tell Bastian why.

  * * *

The Greypoint Road had fallen into disuse over the last few years.  No one
had wanted to use the rough road, with its rocky foothills on one side and
dense forest on the other, because the Marauders had liked to keep an eye
on it.  `Perhaps now,' Thom thought as they took this route back to Castle
Cal-Dragan, `people will start travelling it again.'

They'd done it.  King Dunstan had set for them a task that most people,
themselves included, thought would get them neatly and conveniently
killed.  Bastian and Madoc had both said that if killing Thom had been the
real point, there were far easier ways to do it.

Thom still trusted his instincts, though.  He wondered how the King would
react when they returned triumphant.  He suspected he would find a
similarly daunting or impossible task for them, and continue until the
inevitable happened.  In one sense, this was what became of all the High
Guard;  none ever retired.  The only difference would be that no tears
would be shed at Thom's demise.

The former thief could accept this.  He was still doing what he had set
out to do:  to right wrongs.  Removing the threat of a Marauder attack
from anyone who would travel through the Greypoint Mountains, or work a
farm they might raid for food, was a far greater change than any theft
he'd committed.

He rode with his comrades into the city with a quiet confidence, secure in
the knowledge that he'd done well, whatever the Crown might do or say.

  * * *

Lennox and the others arrived in midmorning and the streets were full of
people.  The business of the largest city in Aragon was being conducted
and the redhead caught himself gawking like a farm hand.  He'd lived in
cities before, but the capital was enormous.  From the time they'd entered
the city gates to the time they'd reached Dragon's Keep, Lennox had seen
more stores, more horses, more alleys and more people than he'd seen in a
day in Janusport or Karelia.

Lennox was installed in the guest chambers where witnesses were
protected.  Bastian stayed with him.

"Don't you have to go and talk with Calder?" he asked.

"Yes, but it can wait.  He can sense when I am here, and thus he knows I
truly do have my magic still.  I think he can guess who was responsible
for that," Bastian said, smiling.

"Am I going to see him as well?"

"I'm not sure yet.  He knows about you through your mental communication
with him.  That means that he is bound by honor not to reveal what he
found out that way."  Bastian described Calder's ability to read the
thoughts of those around him.  "He could probably break the kingdom with
the secrets he knows.  That's why the vow is so important.

"While we are on the subject of who knows what about whom, there is
something I would discuss with you."

This sounded serious.  Lennox paid close attention.

"I am most grateful for the fact that you returned my magick to me.  I
will be indebted to you forever for that.  The Council of Mages, however,
will want to know how I did it.

"The Council...."  Bastian paused, considering how best to describe them.
"They and I do not get along well. Our political stances are quite
incompatible.  That's all I really need to say for now.

"They are interested in improving our collective magical knowledge, and
they will demand to know how I got my powers back.  I have no option but
to tell them the truth, about you and what you can do."

Bastian licked his lips.  "This is a warning.  Right now, my strongest
wards are up, and even Calder cannot read my mind, or yours.  We should
start teaching you how to discipline your mind so as to keep your thoughts
from straying.  What I am about to tell you is a dangerous thought to have.

"They will try to manipulate you.  They will try to use your gift to their
ends, and they will try to separate us."

Lennox's eyes were wide and he was sitting stiffly.

"Take this," the mage said.  He held out a green stone in a gold setting
on a chain.  It was glowing brightly.  "It will tell you if there are any
people nearby with magic.  The brighter the stone gets, the more powerful
the mage.  If that is glowing, try not to let anybody touch you.  The
Council will want to know if what I tell them is so.  They will want to
see for themselves."

Lennox took the amulet and looked into the jewel.  "It's happening again.
People are going to be looking for me again, and this time, I'll know they
are."

Bastian brushed Lennox's cheek.  "I did not want to get you involved in
this.  I'm very sorry that I have to.  I will do everything in my power to
help you.  But there is one decision you must make.

"Once I find out what my next assignment is, I will know whether it will
be practical for you to accompany me or not.  You must decide whether you
will come."

"Of course, I'll come," Lennox began.

"Do not decide so quickly.  Listen to the consequences of that choice.
Right now, only you, Thom, Madoc, and I can tell the Council about you.
Calder Grimes is bound to silence until he sees you.  The Council does not
know where you are or what you look like.  They cannot find you right
now.  If you come with me wherever I go, they will be able to follow you
even when I am not there.  It *will* be as though the Marauders are
chasing you again, and I cannot guarantee that I will be there to protect
you.  If the Council calls me home, I must go, and you must not.  Until I
returned, you would have to be in hiding."

Lennox was trembling.  "What would they do?"

"They would most likely experiment with you to see what you do.  You would
not be harmed, I can tell you, but once they learn your secrets you would
be put to use.  They have... plans.  I don't know much about them.  I only
know they want power - political power.  You would be useful to them.
Once you were under their control, I do not believe you would be given the
choice not to go along with them."

Lennox sighed heavily.  He had thought his troubles were over.  "Do I have
time to think about this?"

"Some.  Once I have my assignment, time will be short."

"I don't have much, then."

"Would you like me to leave you to consider?"

Lennox hugged Bastian tight.  "No.  For now, I know I want to stay with
you."

  * * *

Thom was suspicious.

When he and Sir Madoc had come to put the Dark Rogue on trial, he had been
left in a room with four guards while the King decided his fate.

This room was *full* of guards.  It seemed as though every member of the
palace guard, and every knight who was anywhere nearby had been rounded up.

The large throne room had a large balcony above, overlooking it.
Ordinarily, archers and crossbowmen would take their posts there.  Today,
they were on the main floor along with everyone else.  Thom presumed the
many rows of armed warriors surrounding him could take care of any
trouble.

There was only one person in the room who wasn't wearing the dragon
tabard:  the King himself.

King Dunstan sat in his usual place on the dais.  His face was no less
serious than it had been when he had been trying cases and Thom had first
laid eyes on him.

Sir Rhys, the bulldog-faced leader of all the guards, stood to the King's
right, but closer to floor level.  It would not do to have anyone's head
higher than the king's.  Thom could not help but notice the large, nasty
broadsword hanging from his belt.  The hilt alone looked to be ten pounds
of gold and precious stones, in his expert estimation.

"Sir Madoc of Fieldgate," the King said.

Madoc stepped forward and bowed.

"You have impressed me once again.  I called upon you and your comrades to
bring Kraid and his men to justice, and I saw those very men hang from my
gallows these past three weeks.  Have you anything in particular to
report?"

"No, sire.  All the details will be in my report to Sir Rhys, but there
was nothing out of the ordinary.  I would just say, Your Majesty, that the
help I received from Sir Bastian and from my partner was crucial.

"Yes," King Dunstan said, with a hint of a smile.  "Thom At-the-Well, step
forward."

He did so, and bowed nervously.

"I will look forward to hearing how you helped out on this mission.  I
feel I may learn something.

"You have performed well, Thom, where I was not certain you would perform
at all.  We have already heard that you yourself dispatched Kraid to save
an Annisport city guard.  That alone is enough to convince me that you are
deserving.  Stand before me, Thom At-the-Well, and kneel."

As Thom approached the dais and bent down, he heard much movement behind
him.  He dared not look, but he was certain that the other knights in the
room were all kneeling before the King.

Thom saw Sir Rhys draw the monster of a sword and hand it to King
Dunstan.  He put his head down.

Sir Rhys said, "Repeat after me, Thom:  I pledge my life, soul, and body
to the Crown."

The words stuck in Thom's throat, but he forced them out.  "I - I pledge
my life, soul, and body to the Crown."

"No force on this plane, or any other, will stay me from my duty."

As he recited, Thom felt the flat of the sword point tap him on each
shoulder, twice.  He still could not believe it wasn't trying to pass
through his neck.

"I will be a Knight of the Realm, forthright and true."

After Thom finished, he heard a thunderous, "forthright and true," from
the assembly behind him.  Oh, gods, he was being knighted.

The King said, "None but the Brethren of the Guard know the Knight's
Oath.  Arise, Sir Thom, Knight-Errant of the Realm."

"All hail Sir Thom," cried Sir Rhys.

"Hail!" came the reply.

Thom wanted to weep.  They had accepted him, after all.  He hadn't
realized how important it had been until then.

He shakily got to his feet.

"Sir Thom, Sir Madoc, I would see you in private momentarily.  Then I
understand that the Guard have rituals of their own, and even I don't know
the details."

"All rise," commanded Sir Rhys.

"You are dismissed," said the King before being escorted through the door
to the Private Throne Room.

The new knight made his way over to the door, receiving handshakes and
pats on the back from the others.

A man he recognized said, "Welcome, brother."  It was Sir Fergus, who had
angered him during his training.

When Thom followed Madoc into the empty corridor, he was picked up as soon
as it was closed.  Sir Madoc kissed him and spun him around.  He crushed
Thom's body to his own and his tongue filled his mouth.  After he set Thom
down again, he said, "I am so proud of you."

"Madoc, I thought I was a knight all along."

"Only in duty.  The King wanted to be sure of your intentions first."

"You knew?"

Madoc nodded.  "I thought it would be better that you didn't know.  You
said that you didn't feel like you belonged and I thought telling you
would make it worse."

"But Dorian called me--"  Then Thom thought, but why would Dorian know any
better?  Madoc, Bastian, Sir Rhys, Dunstan, none of them had ever called
him "Sir Thom", only Dorian, and other civilians who had made the same
assumption he had.

"Are you angry?"

Thom paused.  "No.  I suppose that was sensible.  I'm glad you didn't tell
me.  I don't think I could have done this if I hadn't thought I was truly
a knight."

"Come, we shouldn't keep the King waiting."

They knocked on the door to King Dunstan's inner chamber, and Sir Rhys
bade them enter.

Madoc kneeled immediately upon entering, and Thom followed a second behind
him.

"Rise, goodknights," said the King.

They stood and approached the monarch once more.

"I am forced to admit, I expected less from you, Sir Thom, when I sent the
two of you out to capture the Marauders.  I was aware of your crimes, but
less so of the legends that go with them.  For the most part, they tend to
be inaccurate, but comparing them to any record we have of the Dark
Rogue's crimes, it seems they are to be believed."

The King was smiling openly.  "You act a moral man, even in theft.  I
misjudged you greatly.  My only hope is that you will continue to serve as
nobly as you did in this assignment."

Thom wasn't sure, but thought that this was as close to an apology as a
king ever got.

"For the time being, you are free to travel where you may, as
representatives of the Crown.  If ever we should find an assignment
calling for your particular talents, Sir Thom, Sir Madoc, you will be
notified and you will return straight here, whatever you may be doing.  If
you are investigating a crime, find a local authority and come at once.
Is that clear?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," they said.

"Good.  Dismissed."

Thom could only stare with his jaw open.

"Sir Thom, were you expecting something else?  We are on the same side
now.  You *are* serving your sentence, but it need not be a death
sentence.  Have faith."

"Y-yes, sire," he stammered.

The king dismissed them again, and Thom managed to make it back into the
corridor before the tears really did start to flow.

  * * *

That night Bastian came to see Lennox in his room.

He wasted no time.  "I must leave in the morning."

"So soon," said the redhead.

"I'm dreading this," Bastian told him.  "Have you decided?"

"Almost."

Bastian sat down on the straw bed beside his love.  "Almost?"

"There is one thing I need to know.  Would you come back for me?"

The mage's grey eyes filled with tears.  "Of course."  They embraced.

"I can't do that again.  I can't run for the rest of my life.  I need to
rest.  I--"  Teardrops rolled down Lennox's face.

"I understand, my love.  You've been through a lot."

"I need to gather myself together.  It's too much to take all at once."

Bastian ran his hands through Lennox's hair.  "I can't hide you forever.
The Council will demand to see you, and I can only put them off for so
long."

"I thought so.  By then, I hope I will be strong again."

"You *are* strong, Lennox.  You did face the Marauders and you know this
new challenge is coming.  I have felt your courage," the mage said,
touching Lennox's temple.

"If I have had courage, then I have drawn it from you.  I need to find it
in myself, now."

Bastian kissed him.  "I will miss you dearly."

"And I'll miss you, but we have tonight."

They held each other close, and cried, and slept safe in each other's arms.

  * * *

Warrigal stepped carefully along the rough path through the woods.  Thom,
on her back, thought back on the rest of their stay in Aragon.

The king had congratulated them, and had given them free choice of where
to go next.  They would seek out crimes much as Thom had when seeking
targets to steal from.  Melydia and Rab's wedding was less than a week
away.  They would be able to attend.

The Guard held a feast to welcome Thom among the Brethren.  He felt that
he had finally earned his colours.

Lennox had told them that he would be settling down in a town somewhere to
set himself up as a locksmith.  He would not be able to stay with Sir
Bastian.  This saddened Thom, but it couldn't be helped.  Thom and Madoc
promised to visit.

After riding for a day, Thom had only been somewhat surprised to discover
his Guard-issue cooking pot was missing, and the tin pot he'd given Lennox
was in its place.  That seemed more like the old Lennox he'd met in
Kraid's camp.  It was a hopeful sign for his friend.

Now they were riding through the forest by twilight, where Thom knew he'd
always belonged.  Before anything else, he insisted that they stop in one
place.

In front of a twisted, old tree, Thom reined in Warrigal.

"Thom, what is this place?"

"You'll see.  It's a surprise."

He came over to Madoc when he dismounted and kissed him sweetly.  "Follow
me."

Thom climbed up into the tree.  When they reached the right branch, he
told Madoc to wait where he was.  The new knight crossed and lit the
lantern.  Madoc saw the bridge.  "Cross carefully, and use the branches on
your left to brace yourself.  Don't use the right.  I'm not kidding you."

Sir Madoc nimbly crossed into the safehouse.  "Wow," he said.

"I built the place myself," Thom told him.  "There were times when I would
need somewhere to go that was mine."  He put the blanket he had over his
shoulders onto the uneven floor.  "Only three people know about it.  No
one else has ever found it."  Thom unbuckled his leather armor.  "Me,
Lennox when I found him a few weeks ago, and now you."  Sir Thom pulled
the cuirass over his head.  He walked over to Madoc, who had also removed
his armor.

"I want this place to be the same for you."  Thom held his love.  "I've
seen some of what you've gone through in your life.  I want to help you
put some of that behind you.  Between the orphanage and the barracks,
you've never had a home of your own.  I'd like this to be *our* home."

Madoc looked around the treehouse.  When he met Thom's eyes once more,
they were shining.  "Thank you.  Thank you so much."  He kissed Thom and
hugged him.  "I don't deserve someone like you."

"Well, I don't think I deserve you.  It's better like that, wouldn't you
say?"

"Yes.  I love you, Sir Thom."

"And I love you."

They kissed.  Thom bent down and grabbed the blanket.  He wrapped both of
their bodies in it.  "Let's lie down," Madoc suggested.

The dark knight lay on his back, and the fair knight draped himself over
him.  The blanket covered them both.

Thom's hand came to rest on Madoc's thigh, and it massaged him up and down.

"Mmmm...," Madoc purred.  "I wasn't sure you wanted to do this again.
After you found out Damon buggered me, you haven't touched me once."

"I was waiting until we were alone.  I think Bastian had his suspicions
that something was seriously wrong with you.  Now stop talking silly."
Thom's hand moved onto Madoc's crotch.  "I am yours for however long you
want me..."  Thom squeezed.  "...and it feels like you do."

Madoc blushed.  "What about Damon?"

"What about him?  He's dead.  I am disappointed, but I had *my* first time
with you.  That's good enough for me.  Besides, I hope there'll be quite a
difference between the way he did it, and the way I'll do it.  It'll be
like your first time."

"How do you know how he did it?"

"I did meet the man.  He hurt you, didn't he?  He was rough with you, and
I know he made you bleed.  That was the way he *was*.  I promise you won't
feel pain with me."

Madoc's hands shifted unseen under the blanket, one to Thom's back and one
to his butt.  Their legs tangled together and they soul kissed.  As their
passion rose to the surface once more, their bodies writhed each against
the other.  Madoc felt his partner's cock hard against his hip, and his
own manhood strained against the material of his hose, aching to be freed.

The dark knight reached for Thom's shirt and began to pull it up to his
shoulders.  The blond threw the blanket off his back and got up to his
knees.  Madoc sat up and they began to strip each other.

Madoc's cock escaped from his hose in front of Thom's face.  Thom dove
onto it, taking fully half its length in one gulp.  Madoc groaned.  The
former thief slowly moved up and down its length, letting his tongue
caress the soft skin in his mouth.

Madoc sat, his body supported by his arms while his partner made love to
his manhood.  His jaw was hanging open, and he was panting.  He moaned
Thom's name.

The blond pulled off Madoc's member and moved to tongue his balls.  The
dark knight graciously spread his legs as his head fell back.  Thom licked
the sac with the flat of his tongue, painting all sides of it.  Then he
circled each egg in its enclosure with the tip of his tongue.  Madoc was
whimpering.  Thom sucked each one into his mouth, washing it with his
spit.  A long, hard cock quivered before his eyes.

Thom continued to move southward, licking along the tops of his legs, the
large tube that jutted out from Madoc's underside and down to the crack of
his ass.

"Thom, please," Madoc moaned.  "I want you inside me.  Pleeeease...."

The blond lifted the leg nearer to him and the brunet raised the other.
They were still spread out, so Thom had a perfect view of the scenery.
Madoc's hole twitched in anticipation.

The former thief rested one of his talented fingers right on the opening.
It moved in a small circle, rubbing the muscle under the skin.

Madoc lay on his back, eyes wide and bright, and he watched snatches of
night sky dance among the leaves above him.  His muscles were relaxed
though his anxiety was rising.  He was in the improbable state of a forced
calm;  he feared moving, that he might tense up.

Thom's fingertip was now trying to poke ever so slightly into his
partner.  A small trace of sweat on Madoc's body eased the finger's way
well enough for now, but Thom reached back for the bag with the greasepot.

The dark knight wet his lips.  He wanted this as badly as Thom did.  He'd
tried very hard to let Thom enter him when they'd tried before now, and
Thom had been very patient.  One good thing that had come of his encounter
with Damon was that he knew he was *capable* of it.  `Please,' Madoc
thought, `let me be able to do this.'  Madoc gasped as something wet and
wriggly touched his hole.

He looked down.  Thom's face was buried in his ass and he was eating him
out.  His tongue flicked at the entrance and wormed its way in.

Madoc grunted gutturally and started feeling warmer.  He had his legs in
the air, hooked in his elbows, and he pulled on his knees to try to get
more.  He heard Thom shuffle on the floor, grab his cheeks, and dive in
deeper.  Madoc groaned louder.

Thom rimmed his love's ass for several minutes, until his tongue was
sore.  He decided Madoc was more than ready for the next step.  He dipped
his finger into the grease.

When Thom stopped, Madoc was short of breath.  That had been *so* good.
Then came the finger.  The High Guardsman stopped moving.  It was
beginning.

The finger moved slowly, carefully, feeling its way around unseen.  Madoc
felt it close in on his hole, dip in once, as though to test the water,
and then start to burrow inside.

Thom felt Madoc's body stiffen, and he thought he was holding his breath.
He got up, still inside of him, and stretched over to Madoc's head.  The
former thief laid a hand on Madoc's chest and kissed him.  "Relax," he
told him, "you'll be alright."  Madoc exhaled, and the tension in his
muscles abated.

Thom shifted over, closer to his love's feet.  His finger approached the
aperture again, rubbing it gently, and then slid inside.

Slowly, over minutes, Thom worked his fingertip into Madoc's ass to one
knuckle, then to two.  As Madoc's sphincter relaxed more, the ex-thief
penetrated his partner with two fingers.

Soon enough, the High Guardsman was physically ready for him.  Thom
shifted back up to Madoc's head.  "How are you feeling?"

"Great," Madoc said dreamily.

"Do you want me to continue?"

Madoc's pure blue eyes looked deeply into Thom's.  "Yes, I do."

Thom smiled back at him.  "I love you."

"I love you too."

The blond picked up the greasepot again and scooped out a healthy amount
on two fingers.  He spread it thickly onto his very hard cock.  He watched
Madoc's face as he got down on his shins between the dark knight's spread
legs.  The moment had come.

Thom loomed over Madoc, his lithe body poised just above, and his face
inches from his own.  Madoc could see nervousness and excitement in his
love's eyes.  He could see more of the love and joy, though.  The dark
knight's mouth curled up into a smile.

They kissed once more.  Thom's body sank onto his partner's, and Madoc
grabbed him with arms and legs.  The blond's cock dragged through the
trench of Madoc's ass, greasing it more.  Their tongues twisted around
each other, and their hands gripped them closer.  Madoc's cock was searing
hot between them, and grinding against Thom's stomach.

Madoc couldn't think when he'd wanted this more.  "I'm ready, Thom."

Thom moved off Madoc's torso and took his manhood in his hand.

Damon had fucked him as he lived:  crashing in roughly, taking what he
wanted, and leaving a bloody mess behind.

Thom entered Madoc as his own code dictated:  gently, slowly, and with
great care.

As the head of Thom's cock eased past his sphincter, he felt himself open
right up.  He knew he could take him, all of him, and there was nothing
more that he wanted to do.

Thom's long, slender penis slid into Madoc over the minutes.  It was so
beautiful and good that Thom wanted to cry.  He looked at his own
penetration.  Thom reached for Madoc's hand.  He could feel in the bigger
man's touch that everything was just fine.  Maybe he could read Madoc's
emotions by magic too.

At long last there was nothing left for Thom to give.  Madoc had it all.
The blond leaned down again and whispered, "You did it, dear one."

They kissed again, as they had just now, but this time connected most
intimately.

Thom's hips stirred slightly and Madoc purred.  The former thief moved a
little more and Madoc urged him onward with his heels.  Soon Thom was
making long, gliding strokes in and out of Madoc's ass.

Thom had been right.  This time was so very different.  As he grunted,
gasped, and groaned, Thom changed what he was doing to gage what Madoc
liked best.  When he leaned down to suck on Madoc's nipple, he had to
strain to keep from cumming immediately.

His body was overloaded with sensation.  The only thing that had ever come
close had been hanging on the outside of a building while getting the
mirror two months ago.  This was more intense, though.  It felt as though
his blood was bubbling underneath his skin.  He wasn't aware of anything
he did, though he could hear his own moans.  He'd never felt so good.
Madoc wanted to touch himself, but he couldn't for Thom's body over him,
and it would be far too much sensation besides.

They made love for what seemed like hours.  Heat flowed from one body to
the other.  Their climax was inevitable.

If Thom entered Madoc as a thief, then he also came like a thief in the
knight, sending his hot juices into his love, and gaining the treasures
inside.

Madoc felt Thom fill him and saw him straighten up.  His cock was stirring
up his insides.  He grabbed his own manhood and stroked himself wildly.
In no time at all cum sprayed in all directions, smacking against both
their bodies.

Thom collapsed, breathless, onto Madoc's body.  The dark knight laid a
hand on his partner's back while they recovered.

"Thom," Madoc whispered.

"Yes, my dear one?"

"I love you.  Thank you.  This was...."

Thom chuckled.  "Yeah, it was.  How are you doing?"

"I feel great."  Thom was in his arms, they were both alive and safe, and
Madoc felt that their love was complete.  He felt he was home.

  * * *

Author's Afternotes:

The next Thom and Madoc story is _Thief_of_Hearts_.  Before that is a
science fiction series, beginning within the next few months.

---

You've probably been thinking all along that the knights of the road from
the title were Thom and Madoc, but no.  According to the dictionary, a
"knight of the road" is a highwayman, a knight who is a thief.  The title
characters were the Marauders.

Similarly, a "knight of industry" is a swindler, and a "knight of the
post" was a professional (?!) false witness in 15th to 17th century
England.

---

Thanks to Mikey for proofing this story for me, and suggesting the odd
touch-up here and there.  Not that I ever make mistkaes or anything, you
understand.

Thank you all once again for reading the story to its completion, despite
delays and cliffhangers and my having a life and job as a sideline to
writing.

Until next time,
Pfantazm