They lay in the quarter light of the little lantern Ohean had brought to the falls, and the sound of the water could be heard beyond them as they passed back and forth the gatfu cigarette, inhaling the strength of the burning herb. Conn exhaled as he passed it to Ohean then placed his head on Anson’s chest. The three of them lay, limbs entangled and at ease in the pile of Ohean’s cloak and clothing.
“And now we have celebrated the Alcot,” Ohean said, exhaling and passing the cigarette to Anson.
“What shall come of it, I wonder.”
“What shall come of it has come.” Ohean said. “And we offered it here, in the earth that was cursed. It must count for something. And our Conn, such a true priest.”
Conn felt for the first time in some time like a boy being praised. He flushed as Anson kissed him on the back of his neck and squeezed him with his strong thighs.
“Everything Conn has done since he’s been with us has been worthy of a master,” Ohean agreed, and kissed him deeply, and there was nothing like being trapped between the kisses of Ohean and Anson. Once he had thought how strange and impossible that would have been, but now he understood it was the same as Derek being with the Master or those boys who dreaded Derek being with him. Oh, those men in the city who were so ashamed and so afraid! They used sex like a mask, but sex was the unmasking. It was the revealer. Even in the dark rooms of the Gorgon where no names or faces were known, sex revealed to two people who they were once stripped of all things.
Had Ethan ever been with a man? Did it matter? All of these years, how gAllynt and honorable and alone he had been, but at the Alcot, while Ohean and Conn sang, Ethan lay on his back, stroking himself and panting in lust to what he saw all around him, rejoicing in the subtle touches of Arvad and Kenneth until now, here he lay, the red lion to Anson’s golden lion, spread out on top of the red headed Arvad, his strong buttocks rising and falling as he slept, his mouth on Arvad’s nipple.
“The prince Rendan has lost so much, and in the future will fight for much. His story has only begun, but for tonight, see, you have given him relief too.”
He was handsome and well muscled though not much taller than Arvad, his curls soft on his head, face slack with sleep as he lay beautiful, strong limbed and soft assed, hugging Ethan’s waist. He pressed against him, and Ethan, in his sleep, reached back and pulled him closer.
In the dark, almost hidden from them, contrasting with the running water and the whispers of Ohean and Anson and Conn was Soren, his long lean body furiously slamming into Kenneth who cried out in the night while, his buttocks clenching and unclenching, eyes and mouth slack with drugs and lust, and sweat pouring down his back, Soren continued fucking him hard, long into the night.
That last morning, though parting was sad, and Ethan doubted himself for traveling south with Rendan when Maud was in the north, they all knew that was best and that it was time to part ways, that every moment they waited beneath the earth they lost time
Ohean and Yarrow were discussing what Conn assumed to be wizardly matters, and Mehta and Arvad were murmuring things and roughly slapping each other until at last they embraced. And then Conn spoke.
“It is time.”
Mehta nodded. She embraced Arvad first, roughly, and then Soren, and then all of them, and Rendan said, “We’ll all meet again soon enough. And next time it will be above ground.”
“And in better times,” Ohean murmured.
“Yes, sir enchanter, in better times.”
And then Rendan took from his belt a horn, and he blew it, impulsively, three times, and it rang against the rock ceilings hidden in darkness. Rendan. Ethan, Mehta and all the Zahem including Austin, excluding Dahlan, headed off with Yarrow in one direction while the others watched them trudge into the dark.
When they were gone, Essily took a breath and Conn looked around the cavern to make sure they had left nothing. Arvad and Kenneth squeezed hands.
Anson wrapped his cloak tight about himself and said, looking at Conn, then Theone and lastly Ohean, “And now for us.”
