The Knights of the Road

Knights of the Road - Part 6: Conclusion

By Pfantazm

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, "didwork*, 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