Stepping Through the Mirror

by Mike Shade

  He was laid carefully down onto the ground and Bram pulled a bag out of the pack. "All right, let’s see how bad the damage is."

  "No digging. I am not a flowerpot."

  "A flowerpot? Oh!" Bram chuckled. "Depends where the bullet is, Quinn. I should at least try to get it out."

  "It didn't go through? Why didn't it go through me? I'm not very wide." He felt very grey.

  "Probably the angle it hit you at. Stay with me." Bram frowned at him, cupping his cheek and propping open his eyelids. "Come on, Quinn. No passing out."

  He nodded, the motion making the world swing. "Don't leave me here with the dead ones."

  Bram gave him a hard look. "You must be worse off than I thought if you even think for a moment that I'd leave you behind. I'm going to fix your arm and then I'm going to carry you. We need to get away from here."

  Then Bram gave him a small pill. "Swallow this. It'll help with the pain."

  He swallowed it, the taste chalky and bitter before it numbed his tongue.

  His hand was pulled away from his shoulder, Bram using a small knife to cut away the sleeve of his shirt. A clean cloth was used to clean the area and then Bram probed it gently with his fingers. The dull pain went sharp, made him gasp and shake, but he didn't move away.

  "Okay, it's actually pretty clean. I was worried they'd used a dirty bullet, but they didn't." Bram gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm just going to get the bullet out and then sew you back up, okay?"

  Bram took out a small bottle and wet a new piece of cloth with it, wiping off the knife, making the blade edge gleam.

  "I. I've never been. Never. Do you know how?"

  Bram nodded. "I do. You got something you can bite down on?"

  He found a grin, winked. "You have a nice, big something."

  Bram laughed and gave him another hard kiss. "No way you're biting down on that, Quinn. No damned way."

  Bram looked through the bag and came up with some rope. "Here, this'll do."

  His hands were shaking badly as he picked the rope up, put it in his mouth.

  "Try and stay with me, Quinn. I'll be as quick as possible." Those green eyes looked at him, looked into him and he was given a tender touch, Bram stroking his cheek. Then the man was all business.

  The bottle was upended, sterilizer pouring over his wound, making the pain bite deep. Quinn closed his eyes, thinking about mirrors and light and home. Home. Bram did something and he screamed against the rope as the pain flared, made lights dance behind his eyes.

  Bram's other hand braced his shoulder, warm and solid, something to focus on as it held him against the rock and the pain came again and then again like stabs of a jagged knife. "That's the worst of it, Quinn."

  "Promise?" He spit the rope out, afraid he was going to vomit, his stomach roiling.

  Bram nodded, but handed him the rope again, eyes sympathetic. Bran’s voice was soft, but implacable. "I have to pour more sterilizer on it and then sew it up. It won't be as bad, but it'll hurt."

  Quinn pushed the rope away, closed his eyes and tried not to throw up. "Hurry. Just do it."

  He wanted to go home.

  Right now.

  Bram grunted and the hold on his arm increased, pushing him back into the ragged, rock wall. And he caught his breath, body tensing. He knew it was coming, his nerves screaming already before Bram had even done anything.

  There was a burning pain as the sterilizer poured over his arm and then Bram began to sew him up. Quinn could feel the needle push into his skin, could feel the thread pulling through in sharp detail, sliding through his skin. He could feel each pull drag his stomach a little further up his throat. He was sure Bram was going quickly, but it seemed to take forever.

  He was going to get his pack. Get his mirror. Go home and sleep.

  He was.

  As soon as he finished hitting Bram.

  The sewing finally stopped and Bram wrapped his arm in white gauze.

  "There."

  One big hand cupped his cheek, tilted his face. "How're you doing?"

  "I...I've had better days."

  Bram nodded, handing him another pill and the canteen. "I'm going to redo my pack, attach yours to it and then we'll move on. We need to get away from here, find somewhere hidden where we can stop for the night."

  Bram turned to scan the mountainside.

  He got a tiny mirror, trying to push himself inside the slick surface.

  "Hey! What are you doing?"

  Bram took the mirror away from him. "You're not in any condition to be doing magic, Quinn. You need to sleep, rest. Let me get everything together and we'll go -- I'm going to carry you."

  "If you let me try..." Try, because he didn't think he could. Not right now.

  "Let you try what, Quinn? To walk? To do magic?" Bram shook his head. "I need you alive. I need you to come out of this soon. Which means you do as little as possible that takes energy."

  Bram quickly packed both the packs, tying them together and then shouldering them on. Then those strong arms were going beneath him and he was hoisted up against Bram.

  He sighed, Bram's heat and strength feeling so good to him, the buzz and the pills making him dizzy.

  "Shh. Shh. Just relax, Quinn. I've got you."

  "Love you, Bram. I'm sorry."

  "For what?" Bram asked, voice harsh.

  "For getting hurt." He cuddled in closer, the energies moving easily between them.

  "Did you deliberately walk into the bullet?"

  The question made him chuckle. "Well, they say to be open to new experiences..."

  Bram snorted, surprised laughter sounding. "I meant you don't have anything to apologize for. You're a lot tougher than you look, aren't you?"

  "Hey, magic isn't for sissies. I get chased. Hunted. Shot. I'm a very busy man."

  Bram's chuckles shook him. "I bet they don't put that in the recruitment posters."

  "Nope. 'Do magic'. 'Read good books'. That's all they tell you." He smiled, cheek on Bram's shoulder.

  Bram grunted. "False advertising. I think it's par for the course."

  "Yeah. You are the most true person I know."

  "Me?" Bram sounded surprised again.

  "Mmhmm. You never hurt me. Loved me. Filled me up." He was floating.

  "You're drugged out," Bram told him, arms squeezing him a little bit tighter.

  "Doesn't mean I'm lying. You are...mine."

  Bram grunted. "I guess I am at that."

  He just nodded. No guessing to it.

  Bram shifted him slightly, breath starting to come at a pant.

  "Am I too heavy?"

  "No. The trail's too steep." Bram chuckled. "I should be able to keep going a few hours. I just hope we find something in that time."

  "I can walk, Bram. I will. I'm..." Dizzy, hurting, bleeding and shaken, but capable.

  Bram's arms tightened around him. "I'll carry you, Quinn."

  "Thank you, Bram."

  "You're welcome, Quinn." The way Bran said the words, they sounded an awful lot like "I love you".

  ***

  Bram walked until he didn't think he could take another step and then he scanned the mountain above him and kept moving, changing the angle of his ascent to get to what looked like more caves up ahead.

  They were further away than he'd thought and by the time he got there it was well into night. His legs were trembling with effort, his arms...well he couldn't feel them anymore, but he wouldn't drop Quinn for the world.

  He nearly did exactly that as he stumbled into the cave, but managed to twist so that he landed hard on his ass, cradling Quinn's sleeping form against him.

  Tempted to stay sitting and just pass out right where he was, he forced himself to lay Quinn gently on the rock floor and get their camp set up.

  He pulled blankets out of his pack first, wrapping them around Quinn to keep his mage warm. With the sun down, the temperature was dropping quickly and while he hadn't noticed it while he'd been climbing, he was noticing it n
ow.

  He didn't want to risk a fire, either, and as soon as he set up a couple of warning systems, he'd hunker down with Quinn, share their body heat.

  The cave was small, but that meant there wasn't a wide opening for anyone to notice and the last twenty feet had been hell coming up, which could only help them.

  He set up a couple of traps by the light of the moon, pleased it was already partway across the sky -- it would soon be pitch dark and that would slow down anyone else who was following.

  Returning to Quinn's side, he slid beneath the covers, trying not to jostle Quinn's arm.

  Quinn moaned, scooting closer, nuzzling into him. "Bram."

  "I've got you," he murmured. "You're safe. You're safe."

  "Safe. Love." Quinn kissed his shoulder, still asleep, so close.

  He nodded, held Quinn closer. He guessed that's what it was, though he'd never loved before, never wanted to. This was...different and strange and he wouldn't give it up, wouldn't give Quinn up for anything.

  "They can't find us here. I can't feel them." Quinn's good hand was petting, stroking, moving slowly.

  "Good. You need to rest. Heal." He trusted Quinn's instincts as if they were his own. Something he'd never done with anyone else ever before.

  "Yes. Stay with me."

  He gave Quinn a surprised look. "I'm not going anywhere, Quinn. You know that, don't you?"

  "Mmhmm. You're warm, though, so don't go...guarding or anything.

  He chuckled. "So I'm just a big hot water bottle to you, am I?"

  "Heat and sex. Don't forget the sex."

  Grinning he pulled Quinn a little closer. "I'm not likely to forget the sex, Quinn."

  "It's really great sex, isn't it?"

  "Yes, Quinn, it's really, really great sex." He stroked Quinn's belly, not trying to arouse, just touching, connecting.

  "I'd stay with you anyway, though. Even with no sex." Quinn frowned. "Not that I want no sex. I'm just saying."

  "We can test your theory tonight -- because there's no sex." He doubted Quinn could get it up in his condition and they both needed to rest.

  "No. I don't. I hurt, yeah. I just want you."

  "You've got me, Quinn. You've got me." He patted Quinn's belly again, trying to soothe him. "Try to sleep."

  "Tell me about your favorite things. About your life before me."

  Bram shrugged. "I was in the Emperor's Guard. We weren't encouraged to have favorite things or a life beyond the Guard."

  "Well you can have favorite things now." Quinn lifted his chin for a kiss.

  Bram bent his head automatically, pressing their lips together. "You are a favorite thing, Quinn."

  "Good." Quinn's eyes opened, red-rimmed and exhausted.

  He stroked Quinn's cheek. "You need to sleep, to heal."

  "You do too, Bram."

  He nodded. "I'll sleep when I know you're alright." He'd gone days without sleep before, he could do it again.

  Quinn nodded. "I'm going to be fine."

  "Can you see the future?" he asked.

  "I can tell if it's wrong. You were never wrong."

  "Never? I was trying to kill you."

  "Never. You wouldn't have. You couldn't have."

  He thought about it. He wasn't as convinced. It was his job, to carry out the Emperor's orders, and this was the first time he'd not done it. "I didn't. That's what counts."

  He didn't get an answer from Quinn, the soft, snuffling sigh the only sound.

  He lay there, holding his lover, resting his body so he could continue their trek when the sun came up again.

  ***

  They had rested for days, while the wound in his shoulder went septic and hot. Bram washed it out again and again until the wound ran clear.

  Quinn? Was becoming violently opposed to this whole being shot thing.

  Bram held him and helped him and wouldn't let him do anything but lie there. The worry lines in Bram's forehead were becoming permanent.

  He reached over, opening Bram’s shirt, petting and stroking Bram's belly, trying to soothe. "I'm going to live, Bram. I promise."

  "You'd better," Bram growled, the words not quite gruff enough to hide the worry.

  "I promise." Quinn rolled closer, snuggling. "You need to rest. Let me take care of you a bit."

  A grunt was his answer. "I wasn't shot, Quinn."

  Like he didn't know that.

  "Hey, but I can still love on you."

  "You need to conserve your energy, Quinn." But Bram was pushing against him, pressing close.

  "No. I need you. I need you to relax."

  "Relax? We're on the run. You're hurt."

  "We're free. I'm alive." He kept touching, stroking.

  "I need to keep you that way," murmured Bram, arching beneath his touches.

  "You will. You will. You're my heart." He leaned, sucked on one nipple.

  Bram jerked, hands coming up to hold his head.

  Yes. Yes, love. He stroked Bram's balls through his trousers, sucking hard on that firm, little nipple.

  Bram started rocking into his touches. "Quinn...you need to conserve your energy."

  "Mmhmm." Energy. Yes. They created beautiful energy.

  Bram's hands pulled him off the nipple he was sucking, tilting his head for Bram's kiss. It was deep and hard and had nothing of worry in it, only need. He opened eagerly, pulling Bram's tongue in and sucking it. Yes. Yes. Please.

  "We shouldn't," murmured Bram, hands sliding on him, mouth pressing against his again as soon as the words were spoken.

  They should. They needed to. Right now.

  Quinn got the clothes between them off, pressed close.

  Bram gasped and rolled, putting him beneath the big body. "Need you," growled his lover, the energy growing quickly between them.

  "Take me. Yours. Love." He nodded, spread, offering himself.

  Bram nodded, too, fingers pressing into him, one and then two and then three with only a bit of stretching.

  "The ring. Please, Bram. Touch it?"

  Bram grinned down at him. "Ring? There's a ring, Quinn?"

  "Bram!" He pushed up, rocking harder.

  Tease.

  Bastard.

  Bram's laughter filled his mouth, even as one finger hooked through the ring embedded in his skin and twisted it. He arched, pleasure filling him, making him rock.

  "Yes," hissed Bram, twisting it again, fingers sliding away.

  "Fuck me. Deep. Bram, I need."

  "I know. I can feel you."

  Bram's cock pressed against his entrance and then into him, filling him with a long stroke. One last tug pulled at the ring and then Bram's hand disappeared and his cock slid the rest of the way in.

  "Yes. Yes." Quinn reached up, held on tight as they moved together.

  Bram's eyes held his, gazed into him as their bodies came together again and again. The rhythm was fast and hard, their need driving them. They had needed this, both of them; they needed to heal.

  It seemed to go on forever, Bram filling him, the energy building, moving and swirling through them. At the same time, it was no time at all before Bram's hand wrapped around his cock and he could feel Bram's cock growing even harder inside him, getting ready to shoot.

  His toes curled, hips bucking, ass squeezing.

  Bram nodded. "Together. Together, Quinn."

  "Uh-huh. Now. Right now." He shot as heat filled him, world spinning.

  Bram collapsed onto him, cock still buried deep, head on his good shoulder. Bram panted against his neck, breath hot.

  He struggled to catch his breath, eyes rolling, heart pounding. "Good."

  "Yes." Bram grunted. "You all right?"

  "Uh-huh. Better than I've been for days."

  Bram chuckled and bit his bottom lip. "You weren't up to making love before today."

  "You sure? I might've been..." You never know.

  "You were shot, Quinn. The wound went septic." Bram shook his head and settled back down beside him with a sigh. "We
need to get moving again."