His mind fabricated the ultimate torture. He pictured that crumbling hall, safe and deep in the forest. Somebody waited there for him, the one he could love. He'd revelled in such daydreams before, and for the first time he knew who that person was.
But what was the point?
He ran his knuckles along Cal's cheekbone, cool beneath his touch. Cal shuddered violently, the strain carving an old man's years on his boyish face, and helplessness seized Robin. "Darling, I'm so sorry."
But this was no death rattle. Robin shook also, and the mulch trembled. The stolen horse, which he'd tethered nearby, stamped and snorted in distress.
A luminous green mist swept beneath the branches of the chestnut, a harbinger indicating that the Wild Men of Niogaerst roamed near. Jaw locked, he cast his sorrow aside for anger.
He'd dared not believe they'd come for Cal now that his life ebbed away, but they were here. Wild Men crept from behind the trees and rose from the undergrowth, each part human and part hazel, birch, pine, or blasted ash. Like the Green Man, they possessed thick wooden limbs of knotted sinew, but their leafy crowns had withered to dry thorns, and their craggy faces warped with malice.
His insides curled with disgust. If the Goddess had delivered Herne to help him, then sent these monsters to desecrate Cal, she was no good mother. Having to let go of Cal made him want to shout with outrage.
"Faederswica."
He couldn't tell which of the Wild Men spoke. Rising to face them, he found he didn't care. He wished he had his bow, but he'd battle them with bare hands if he must. He drew his sword and raised the dagger still stained with Cal's blood.
"You lie," he answered. "He's no traitor, and he's never been yours. Leave us alone."
The tree creatures came closer, the vapour of rot catching in Robin's throat like the stink of a week-old corpse. A being of blasted ash drew within punching distance. Robin slashed his knife, severing twiggy talons that served for fingers. A hoary birch lashed out simultaneously, gashing his cheek.
He braced his foot against its trunk and kicked it away, then sliced the air with his sword, striving to stop any from reaching Cal. The Wild Men's cruel laughter crackled, but his determination swelled with every slash. He looked from one gnarled fiend to another and vowed he'd die before they took Cal, then refused even that. If anything in this Greenwood realm remained right and good, Cal would be allowed to rest in peace.
More Wild Men bowed their heads beneath the chestnut's branches and pressed relentlessly in. Robin smothered his chagrin and shouted one last, desperate prayer. "He belongs to the oak…and so do I. In the name of all that's sacred and all that's true—Green Man, now's a good time for that help!"
He slung the dagger, piercing the birch in one of its hollow black eyes, then launched forward, swinging the sword like a madman. He hacked through rotten bark and flailing branch alike. If a Wild Man collapsed or crumpled, another reared up and took his place. Robin's battle cry faded as a tree beast slashed pine needles into him, grazing his ribs. He staggered.
"Stay back," he hissed, his glaive at arm's length, a wounded fox defending his cub from a pack of famished wolves. "Green Man?"
The moss-coloured fog surged thicker, blinding him, and a vision flashed in front of his smarting eyes. A tiny waiflike woman with braids in her hair reclined happily in the Green Man's arms. He adored and cherished her, but she could not stay, and Robin understood.
No boundaries could contain her wandering nature, though as her belly swelled with child, the road had sapped her strength. She'd left her squalling babe near the steps of a cottage he remembered well, a merry home in Inglewood, where a mother nursed her little girl with plenty of milk to share.
The dying woman faded. In another forest far away, the Green Man wept, though he reached out to his son with all the love in his oaken heart.
"He loves you as family," Odo had said.
"I see all now," whispered Robin. "He sired me. The Green Man…sired me."
The vapour that blurred his sight cleared. Lightning forked, illuminating every crag and crevice of the Wild Men's twisted forms. Thunder sounded from the clear night sky, and Robin's heart thumped so hard he feared his ribs would fracture. He hacked frantically with the sword as fire ripped through the chestnut. Tongues of vibrant yellow licked the shrivelled crowns of the Wild Men, who buckled and writhed as they caught alight. They beat their heads against one another in an effort to damp the flames, serving to spread them instead.
Robin heard a fretful whinny and the pounding of hooves, which then faded. Someone or something had freed the horse. Squinting, he discerned the silhouette of the Green Man, taller and stronger than any, watching on.
"Thank you," he muttered, though they were far from out of danger, and he coughed smoke from his lungs. Stooping beneath smouldering branches, he turned to pick up Cal and then dropped to the ground, dizzy and numb.
Sparks showered the forest floor, the drier leaves curling into blackened ash. Nobody lay there. Cal had been taken.
Chapter Fifteen
The wall of rain hit Robin before he'd cleared the smoke. Water smashed down, whipped by the wind and smothering the conflagration. He pressed forward, his sword still clenched in his wet hand, despair seeping through him as surely as his soaked clothes stuck to his back.
They took him. I've failed.
The babble of a brook joined the hiss and crackle of the fading fire, and he stumbled to a halt before a stream. He let his weapon drop from his grasp.
A woman bathed in the waters. She held Cal loosely in front of her, his body naked and relaxed, floating on the tide.
"Sulis!"
Robin skidded down the muddy bank to join them. The icy torrent hit his groin, then lapped high as his navel. Under the moonlight, the river ran clear. Where Daniel had stabbed his blade into Cal's belly, the skin had healed to lily-white and smooth as an eel.
Robin hardly dared ask. "Is he…?"
She smiled and let Cal flow forward into his outstretched arms. "His job here is not yet done, but for now, Robin, he belongs to you."
He lifted Cal, sweeping him clear of the cold waters. "Thank you. I owe you everything."
On the bank, he turned to her. Their last meeting played through his mind. She'd known his mother, that wandering soul from his vision. He hadn't asked questions before, so perhaps it was his fault he'd gone so long without answers. Still, after all he'd just learned, he wanted to know now.
"Do you know my father as well? Hell, what am I saying? All you spirits must know each other."
Her smile was pristine. She remained silent. That was answer enough.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it was for him to say. And I believe he got through to you at last." She laughed, and her skin and hair glittered like frosted seashells. "Ah, you men! Whether spirit or human, the simplest and most important words are always the hardest for you."
He nodded. The Green Man had proved his devotion, calling the spirits of water, thunder, and lightning to their aid. Robin had much to ponder, but right now he worried about Cal above all things.
"Will he recover? What must I do?"
"Care for him," whispered Sulis. "When the time comes, he'll tell you what he needs."
*~*~*
Cal awoke to the twitter of songbirds, the dazzle of low autumn sunlight, and not the faintest clue where he was. He screwed his eyes tight, licking lips parched as bone…and the memories hit back.
The fairies, the castle.
The cold steel sliding into his guts, and then the torturous chase into the forest.
He ought to be dead. Maybe he was, though this couldn't be any hellish underworld. The fleeces enveloping him were soft as duckling down, and a wood hearth crackling nearby warmed his face. He dared to peep. An awning of timber and rushes had been erected above his nest, and then the man who made his survival plausible leaned over him.
He managed a croak. "Robin."
When Robin smiled, the lines
crinkling at the edges of his eyes rendered him all the more beautiful. Robin slid a large hand beneath Cal's head, urging him up, and then pressed a wooden cup to his lips. "Drink, Cal. You'll need it. It's been three days."
Cool liquid wet his lips and trickled down his chin and throat. Swallowing took effort, though after the first few drops, thirst overcame him, and he managed to down the whole vessel. When he'd finished, Robin shifted him so his head and shoulders rested on Robin's lap.
Robin ran warm, rough fingertips across his brow. Cal pulled a face, confused.
"How do you feel?" asked Robin.
"Nothing hurts," replied Cal. "I feel good. Everything's fine, apart from…I don't understand. I can't imagine the fair folk wanted to help me."
"It was Sulis. The water spirit. She healed you, and now I'm here for you, as long as you'd like. Whatever you require, she told me you'd say."
"Oh."
A plethora of troublesome notions brewed just beyond his comprehension, regarding love, truth, and identity, some charter of hunting laws, and the impossible dream that he'd ever be worthy of Robin. He wished them all away, at least for now. For the first time, somebody had stood by him, and he didn't have to fight today. Fear, his only constant companion, had fled. Even better, his skin tingled with a delicious heat beneath Robin's soothing touch.
Unable to suppress a slight smile, he grew acutely aware of the solid thighs that supported him, the brute strength of Robin's warrior frame. Cal's spring of optimism, long since dried up, found a new life source that welled fresh and pure.
Robin.
Sulis had been right. Cal knew what he needed.
He absorbed Robin's kind brown gaze, the heave of his broad chest, and the wisps of coarse hair spilling between the laces of his tunic. He wanted to kiss Robin, to explore and taste every part of him. A thread of arousal tautened in his groin, and he clenched his buttocks.
"What is it?" asked Robin.
"I feel strange, new," whispered Cal, "and I want you to fuck me."
"What?" Robin stilled his knuckles on Cal's cheek. "It's too soon, Cal, even if—"
"I need you to fuck me." Ardour heated Cal's voice, and he laughed. "Please! If I really was protector of this hellish Greenwood, I'd command it. Sulis said I'd know what I need, and I need you, deep inside me."
Robin softened his frown, though his body remained stiff, and his touch felt awkward. "I can't. You've been ill."
Cal wouldn't be refused, and hunger swept through him. Shakily he reached to brush Robin's rough chin. Robin's evident perplexity couldn't dilute the fondness in his eyes. He yielded a ravishing smile, setting Cal's blood racing. Cal cupped Robin's jaw, urging him down.
"I'm trembling because I need you," he murmured. "Just damned well take me now."
*~*~*
Robin swooped to indulge Cal with a kiss. The brush of their lips sent tremors of desire racing through him, though he swore their coupling would go no further.
Cal had been helpless as a babe since Robin had carried him from the river. Robin had nursed him through the long nights, had held him close when he'd felt so still and cold Robin had lost faith in Sulis's word and believed Cal had faded from him.
But Cal struggled on, and now, as he licked the seam of Robin's mouth, pushing for entry, it proved impossible to rebuff him. Robin parted his lips and felt the silky glide of Cal's tongue against his. The energy Cal poured into their union startled him.
Cal twined his fingers in Robin's hair, begging him to intensify the kiss. Once again, Robin couldn't deny his charge, and the rate at which their bodies heated and hardened alarmed him. By the time they broke apart, moaning and panting, Cal sat naked on his lap. Looping Robin with his arms, he grinned like a lad who'd got lucky at a May dance. Robin's erection tented his tunic, pressing the curves of Cal's backside.
Cal scrubbed his arse against Robin. "You can't tell me you don't want this."
"I want you very much," said Robin, his voice hoarse with lust. Cal's skin was flawless save the flaxen hair on his chest and curling about his groin, and his cock bobbed as thick and ready as Robin's. His too-prominent ribs shivered with every breath, though Robin's next refusal lacked conviction. "We mustn't, not yet."
"If you don't fuck me," whispered Cal, "I've a feeling the forest will tie me down and do it anyway. I've strayed and sinned, I need its magic to remake me, and I'd much rather it came from you."
Robin hardly heard. He'd become lost in Cal's eyes, blazing with passion, speaking louder than the pleas from his lips. This was how it should be. The forest demanded it, and from the Green Man's riddle-like actions and Sulis's kind words, he well understood he'd been conceived of Greenwood stock. As had Cal, who required his closeness to make him strong again, a duty that paled in light of the wonderful truth.
Cal needed—wanted—him, and Robin returned his every desire. He glimpsed in Cal that reflection of his soul, and this time he didn't doubt it. The solution obvious, and his body aching for it, he lowered his lover to their soft bed.
*~*~*
Cal's heart rate skittered, his breaths coming hard and fast as Robin kissed his throat, his chest, his stomach. Robin worked lips and hands over each part of him, the tender skin under his elbows, beneath his wrists, reawakening every inch—though not yet touching his needy cock. Exacerbated by the feel of Robin's thick rod sliding against him, Cal's desires pitched till he battled tears of need.
"Please." He gasped. "Fuck me."
"Oh, believe me, I'm going to." Robin's roguish grin set him squirming. "But we're taking this slow."
Robin pulled away, and Cal whimpered. He bit his lip against complaining. When Robin retrieved a small pot of grease from among the deerskins and other scant belongings he must have recently gathered, since they'd lost everything at Castle Brock, Cal gave up the fight. "Hurry up with that."
Robin laughed as he slicked his erection. "You're insatiable."
"I'm not. I…" For a second, confusion overwhelmed him. He'd been fucked many times, but this meant so much more, and he didn't know what to expect. He felt like a silly virgin, thrumming with eagerness and a wisp of trepidation, though he enjoyed even that.
"Relax, Cal. You can stop me anytime."
That wasn't going to happen.
He grinned as Robin reared over him, hot breath skimming his belly, then his crotch. He clenched his fists in the furs, wriggling with pure bliss as Robin kissed his shaft, fondling with mouth, then hands. Robin massaged his thighs, rubbing along the crease beside his groin, the sensitive strip beneath his balls. Cal had never been touched there; indeed, no other lover had ever given a jot about his pleasures, let alone taken control over them. He didn't know it could feel so good.
Robin let every stroke linger, then rumpled the bedding beneath Cal's arse and hitched his legs up so he could trace the heat between his buttocks. Cal could have writhed under his spell forever—till Robin circled his entrance with the grease. Cal's blood quickened, his cock jerked, and a new sense of urgency seized him. When Robin pressed a finger into him, he arched his hips, trying to draw him deeper.
"Need all of you. Need you inside."
Robin worked him and opened him without a fleck of pain, and then moved up over him so his cock nestled in Cal's crack. Words deserted him. Robin's gaze penetrated him already. He parted his lips and pleaded with his silence.
Please do it. Please save me.
Robin pressed his cockhead to Cal's entrance and breached him with a careful nudge.
Cal's body yielded, and Robin slid inside. He kissed Cal, then scrutinized him, solicitous as ever. Cal could only nod and widen his eyes.
Claim me back.
Robin started moving, fucking gentle and slow, skimming Cal's prostate—and oh, it felt right. That wonderful friction intensified with every strike, his muscles milking Robin, the base of his groin tightening. He would have closed his eyes to savour the sensations, but he needed to be at one with Robin as much as he longed for his vitality. He rea
ched about Robin's neck and finally found his voice. "Harder. I can take it."
"But—"
He shoved his arse forward, impaling himself deeper. He threw his chin back and cried out with wanton yearning, and his message hit its target. Robin sped up, the slam of flesh into flesh punishing as well as rewarding as he unleashed the primal power of the forest from that age before men. Cal's senses reeled, the burn against his sweet spot excruciating and sublime.
His rapture mounted, his balls drawing up. Reading Robin's expression, adoring and pleasure-racked, he knew Robin's climax built too. Requiring contact about his prick to finish, he grasped for himself, but Robin beat him to it and took his length in a calloused palm. Supported on a single strong arm, Robin jerked Cal's prick to the rhythm of his fucking, till Cal's wits splintered and he teetered on that knife-edge between unbearable pleasure and exquisite pain.
Tears of elation could not blur his vision of Robin, who claimed his mouth, sealing them together. Robin gave a series of strenuous jerks, and then his seed burst. His heat flooded Cal deep inside. Cal's hot, thick liquid coated his hand and both their stomachs, and bliss swept them along together like a lava flow in the sun-kissed south.
Later they lay enfolded in each other's embrace, staring into the embers of the fire.
"I don't know who I am anymore," said Cal, his face nestled in the crook of Robin's neck. "I can't even think about the world beyond here without my head hurting."
Fear crept back. Even in Robin's arms, the future frightened him. Odo wasn't dead, and Robin still had the gore-spattered evidence of his treason that Cal ought to deliver to Marshal.
Except he couldn't be the person he'd been before he met Robin. The thought of the things he used to do made him feel sick and weak again, though Robin hadn't changed. Robin was still…so damned good. He'd need to fight his noble fight forevermore.
Robin pressed his hand on top of Cal's, interlacing their fingers. "I'll be here for you as long as you need me. All winter, if that's what it takes, till you decide what you need to do."
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