Ekleipsis (Fantasy Romance - LGBT, manXman)

5.7.

Stepping over two more prone bodies, they returned to the arms' dealer – the blond Marranian, who, judging by the stifled moans issuing from the cupboard in the storeroom, had been gagged and locked up. Strangely, Ithildin was not surprised by the turn of events at all. So he was right to have trusted Kintaro after all. The thought brought both annoyance and relief.

"They put something in my drink," moaned Alva. He was feeling ill. "At least I did not have the whole glass. I heard these bastards talk about how much they were going to get for girls as pretty as these. God, I'm sick!"

"Be quiet, my sweet, or the shopkeeper will hear us."

"You speak Faris?" Ithildin asked Alva.

"Why wouldn't I, since I studied it for two years in the Academy. Don't speak fluently, but I've read Shahnameh in the original. And you, Kintaro, how did you get there? I thought we wouldn't see you till nightfall."

Kintaro peeked out of the shop's door, locked it, and came back.

"You thought I'd leave you alone and unarmed in a strange city?" he asked taking Alva by the chin and planting a kiss on his lips. "I expected you to think better of me."

Alva blushed, and the smile he gave Kintaro was so warm and defenseless, it made Ithildin feel something akin to jealousy.

Right then, Kintaro grabbed him by the shoulders and said, almost laughing, "And you too, doll-face, you were awesome in action. Too bad it took you so long to catch on. See, me, I figure right away something was up. That shopkeeper boy was more fidgety than a sackful of ferrets. So I thought I'd see what was going on."

"What did you do to him?" asked Alva, without seeming particularly interested.

"Nothing much. Socked him one and tied him up. Now we can question him."

Kintaro came back with the youth slung over his shoulder, dumped him down and proffered Alva a bottle.

"Here, m'lady, have a drink. Make you feel better."

Alva took the advice and slumped with relief. In the meantime, Kintaro took a handkerchief out of his captive's mouth.

The youth immediately began to shout, "You bastards, what are you doing, I am an honest merchant, I'll call the guards!"

Alva said icily, "Yeah, the guards will be thrilled to learn that an honest merchant sleeps with men and helps the slavers. So do everybody a favor, quit the virgin act, or my barbarian will shred you like cabbage." The Chevalier was not inclined to be charitable, with all the stress, the nausea from the drug, and the fact that this guttersnipe had tried to take his man away.

The youth lowered his head and related, sniffily, that a local gang named Drum and Fife used the jeweler's as a front. In reality, they dealt in theft, forgeries and wouldn't say no to a bit of slave trading.

"They own all the guards. And they keep threatening to tell on me, that I sleep with men, or burn down my shop. So I have to do what they say. They told me to lure in your bodyguard today. I mean, I would have done it anyway," he said guilelessly meeting Kintaro's eyes, "or else they would have killed you, my lord."

"Like they could," snapped Alva. "Enough flirting with him, Kintaro, let's get out of here."

"Not so fast. You are forgetting I've got to thank our friend." The barbarian, with a lewd smile, started to unbutton the youth's shirt.

"Oh, hell," said Alva and rolled his eyes.

When the youth realized the plan was not to kill him, but quite the contrary, he got inspired and proffered Kintaro his lips. Kintaro slung him over the shoulder again, and dragged him to the storeroom, whence shortly came predictable gasps and the creaking of bedsprings.

"Animal!" Alva winced and took another mouthful of wine. Then he looked at the elf and his train of thought sharply veered. "Oh, my love, I think your stocking has slipped. Let me fix it?" And, not waiting for an answer, dived beneath Ithildin's skirts.

The jeweler obviously did not expect to see them back. He was just sitting there quietly, holding a wet rag to his black eye, but, at the sight of them, he leapt up, goggled and took a step back. Kintaro neatly lay the two thugs – who had barely recovered from their previous encounter with the Essanti – at the jeweler's feet, punched him in the stomach and lifted him up by the scruff of his neck.

"These ladies are under my protection. Same goes for the arms-seller. I catch you looking their way, you'll never walk again. 'Cause I will have ripped out your legs."

He was so convincing that the jeweler, reporting to the gang's leader, strongly advised that the dangerous foreigners are best left alone. The leader had to agree eventually, especially after Kintaro had broken the arms of the assassin the gang had sent along. The leader sent a conciliatory gift to the inn, and even refrained from enclosing a couple of venomous snakes with the trinket. He confined himself to a small scorpion.

"See, now I totally get those who insist their women should be veiled at all times," said Kintaro pleasantly as he watched Ithildin shake a scorpion out of the box, grab it gently across the back and let it out the window. The elf was impervious to insect and snake poison as well. "Maybe you should make yourselves look like two ugly old biddies, huh? Because what if that friend of yours we are planning to visit wants a piece of you as well?"

"Bakhriyar is a very upstanding scholarly man of letters," said Alva primly. "The only piece of me he could possibly ask for is my hand in marriage."

"Oh, that's no biggie, long as he does not start asking for your other pieces," Kintaro opened his pants, and demonstrated which piece he had in mind.

"Oh, wow!" Alva licked his lips. "Can I have some?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Evening in Arislan. Alva and Ithildin in dresses, fanart by Fururin (http://fururin.deviantart.com)