To the Victor

by Samantha M. Derr

  "Enough of that," ey said, deft hands wrapping his together with one of his leather cords. He hissed as they traced the lines Uwain had left earlier, but Safere was careful and the material was much more forgiving. When ey was done, ey dropped his hands and used eir foot to pin them to the ground above his head. "While your mouth is free, just say 'no' and I will stop. While it is... otherwise occupied, pinch me and I will stop."

  Lam nodded, impatient but glad to know the rules. He didn't expect to need an out, but having one made him even hungrier to feel Safere's hands on him, eir cock inside him. He squirmed enticingly and was rewarded by an appreciative smile from Safere.

  "Now let's see what you have here," ey said, replacing eir foot with a knee on Lam's hands, eir hands on either of his shoulders. Lam sucked in a breath, seeing eir cock just inches from his face, pulsing with green light, alive with promise. He strained his neck, tongue sneaking from his mouth, only to have Safere stop him, hand on his forehead pushing him back to the ground.

  "Aren't we the greedy one," ey said, and Lam gave em the best puppy dog eyes he could manage. One hand still on his forehead, Safere drew eir other from his shoulder to his chest, drawing circles around his nipple with a fingertip. Lam stayed still, quiet, stifled a moan as Safere pinched his nipple, drawing out a mix of pain and pleasure and making him buck his hips against the fabric still trapping his cock.

  "Oh, you want something?" Safere asked, moving eir hand from his nipple to his stomach and trailing toward... He groaned as ey stopped at the skin just below his belly button.

  "Yes," he said, thrusting his hips against the open air, enjoying the pressure of Safere's knee on his wrists, eir hand on his forehead.

  "Yes... what?" ey asked.

  "Yes, please," he said, his pride forgotten as he begged to be touched.

  "Well, since you asked nicely." But instead of proceeding, ey pulled away entirely and Lam hissed his disapproval. The weight disappeared from his wrists, and he watched as Safere lifted his arms up again and then slid eir body against him, slipping through his bound arms and shimmying forward until his arms were wrapped around eir waist, eir knees on either side of his head, eir cock so close that ey couldn't stop him from leaning back and giving it a quick lick.

  Safere hummed eir appreciation and placed a hand behind his neck, keeping his head tilted back as ey eased forward, as Lam relaxed his jaw as eir cock slid into his mouth. And he moaned around the thick length as finally Safere slid his pants down to the boots he hadn't managed to remove. Ey began to thrust, slowly at first, as ey circled the base of his cock with eir hand.

  Inch by inch, ey drew eir circle up his length, just right enough to send small fireflies of pleasure shooting through his body. Just shy of his head ey stopped, even as ey began to move faster into his mouth.

  "If you're thinking I'm doing the work for the both of us, you're sorely mistaken," Safere said, though ey didn't pull the ring of eir fingers away. The implication was clear—if he wanted to release, he'd have to be the one to get himself there.

  Raising his knees up to that his feet were flat on the ground, Lam began to thrust, moving his cock through Safere's light grasp. After the melee, after the strain of the last few days, his body protested, threatened to cramp, but he refused to be denied. He pushed up into the intense pleasure of Safere's hand as Safere continued to increase eir pace into his mouth, pushing deeper. His own pace faltered as he had to work not to gag, as he could start to feel a tightness in the pit of his stomach. It was quick, almost too quick, but he wanted it, wanted to—and then the pressure of Safere's hand disappeared and Lam whimpered as his hips kept thrusting, seeking contact, seeking anything to get him over the edge, which was close, so close.

  Safere wrapped both hands around the back of his neck and shoved emself into him faster still, each thrust bordering on painful as Lam gagged. Safere did not relent, and Lam watched the muscles of eir thighs shake slightly as ey thrust, knew it was only a matter of time before—there was a flash of green light, nearly like Safere had managed with eir mask before, and ey cried out, hips quivering as ey came. Lam relished the moment of pleasure, the taste of Safere's cock, which was a mixture of smoke and electric spice.

  Then he gasped as ey pulled back and out, as ey stood so that Lam's hands glided down eir ass and legs and to the ground. He coughed, throat ragged, cock unsatisfied, body quivering.

  "I'm glad to see that you more than live up to your reputation," Safere said. Ey used eir foot to roll Lam onto his stomach. He was tempted to reach down and take care of him, see what ways Safere would find to punish him for it, but before he could, there was a sharp thud as Safere jammed a spear point first into the ground directly between his arms, just inches from his skin. He jumped back onto his knees but found himself stuck, the spear trapping his hands in front of him.

  "Wha—" he began to ask, only to find a leather gag shoved into his mouth and secured behind the back of his head.

  "Hush now. You'll like this part, I'm sure. Just start tapping the spear with your hands and I'll stop." A moment later, Safere shoved him so that he landed on his elbows, his ass in the air. And a moment after that, he felt the cold contact of lube trailing down the crack of his ass.

  Lam tensed as the head of Safere's cock pressed at his hole, but relaxed as ey pushed forward, spreading him, filling him. The gag ate his greedy moans, ate everything but the feeling as Safere pulled back, pushed in again. Lam pressed his face against the ground, drool spilling from around the gag and wetting the packed earth. He shuddered with each thrust, and nearly forgot to breathe when Safere reached around and grabbed his cock, stroking him as ey rode his ass. He surrendered to the motions, to the full pleasure of Safere inside him, to the way ey brought him to the brink and kept him there until pleasure and pain blurred and joined and became only intensity, only feeling. And then everything burst with light as he came, and he couldn't tell if the flash was from Safere's cock or from his brain refusing to deal with the overwhelming sensation.

  Whatever the case, Safere didn't stop, kept thrusting until his orgasm fully fled and he was little more than a twitching mass of over-satisfied flesh. And then ey pulled out and removed the spear and gently removed his gag and unbound his hands.

  "Do you want me to stay?" ey asked, and it was such a strange question, such a strange thought to have someone stay the night. Normally it was just sex for him, sex and slipping away in the middle of the night. It was fast and done and he would sleep alone, and that was how he normally liked it. And yet he didn't find himself repulsed by the idea of sleeping near to Safere. It sounded... almost nice. Almost safe. But still he shook his head.

  "If you do, there's no way we'll make the melee on time tomorrow," he said, knowing that it was true, that he wouldn't want to leave the tent, that the draw of what Safere could give him would be too great. He didn't trust himself around Safere, didn't trust himself and wasn't sure how to feel about that. He needed space, despite what his body longed for. And he needed time.

  "I'll see myself out, then," Safere said, tilting Lam's head back and planting a soft kiss on his lips. Their first kiss, which seemed more intimate than anything else they had just done. "Thank you for a lovely time."

  Lam nodded, a hundred different emotions rushing through him. "Thank you," he said, and watched in silence as Safere dressed and, with a final smile, slipped back out into the larger tent, into the night beyond. How long he just knelt there, staring at the emptiness ey had left, he wasn't sure.

  *~*~*

  The Queen with the Hundred Knights was known as Sir Bara le Apres to those she liked, and apparently clearing the field of most of her enemies the day before made Lam someone she took a liking to. She stood with him at the edge of the melee field, pointing out the teams she had particular cause to want humiliated.

  "I'm not sure I want you riding with the rest of the sweepers, though," she said, dropping her hands to her sides and not quite meeting his eyes.

  "What do you mean
?" Lam asked. He had only been paying partial attention to her descriptions, distracted by trying to find where Safere was hiding, but the statement snapped him back to the present. "You can't be planning on keeping me in reserve."

  Bara shrugged. "I just mean that you didn't make friends yesterday. There will be a target on your back as wide as the ocean today. There's really no need to take unnecessary risks. You'll certainly win the prize even if you remain in defense, and we'll be better able to direct the flow of battle."

  It was a sensible plan. Lam could practically hear Percy agreeing, urging him to remain in the pack of defenders, to not give anyone the chance to get him alone like Agravaine had done yesterday. But it wasn't how he fought.

  "I appreciate the concern," he said, "but I'm not giving anyone the chance to say that yesterday was a fluke. I'll be in the front of the offense, just as before."

  "You don't need to do that," she said, and Lam could see a weariness in her eyes. "Even if you knock every knight on the field on their ass, they'll find a way to dismiss you, if they hate you enough."

  Lam smiled. "At least I'll get to knock them on their asses, then."

  Bara said nothing as he turned and walked to his suit, where Percy and Ruwena were waiting for him.

  "I've done what I can for the arm," Ruwena said. "You fought well yesterday, but I'd keep an eye out for Agravaine and Gaheris."

  "Gaheris is back?" Lam bit back a curse. There was no way, after what had happened, that they wouldn't have something planed.

  "Got healed enough by Merlin to fight, or so I hear," Ruwena said. "Your friend Uwain's been knocked back down to defense."

  Lam frowned. At the thought of Uwain having to give up his spot to a worse knight, at the relief he felt that it meant he'd probably be spared having to face him on the field again. With all that had happened, he knew Agravain and Gaheris might try to use Uwain to get at him.

  "I can handle them," he said, though he couldn't help looking around again for Safere. It would certainly be easier to handle them if he had backup of his own.

  Ru grunted and spat. "Then there's nothing more to say." She stepped back to emphasize her words, leaving Percy there, bottom lip nearly bloody from where he must have been biting it.

  "I suppose you want me to be safe?" Lam asked, a bit more harshly than he intended.

  "I want you to live," Percy said, voice cracking.

  Lam paused, remembering what Safere had said the night before. He looked at his brother, at the tears welling in his eyes, at the way his hands clenched into fists. A boy. No, a young man. Who had run away from home to keep his older brother safe. Who had to deal with that same brother thinking less of him just because they were different, just because Lam couldn't find it in him to see his brother's identity as disconnected from his own. Lam swallowed, felt shame spike in the pit of his stomach.

  "You're a good brother, Percival," Lam said. "Better than I deserve. When this is over, we need to have a talk. Until then, I'll do my best not to let anyone kill me."

  Percy managed a nod, and Lam climbed into his suit, strapped himself in. When everything was ready, he walked out into the field, and the day's melee began.

  *~*~*

  The Runic retinue was either running or on the ground, and Lam barely had the chance to give word to the rest of Sir Bara's knights to fall back before the red and gold of Guinevere covered the field. All day they had been harried but never directly engaged. Lam caught glimpses of Gaheris and Agravaine, but neither of them strode forward to challenge. Instead they would sweep in and disappear, would deny them a chance to rest. Already half of the knights that had started out under Sir Bara's flag had fallen or been forced back to defense.

  "We should pull back," Sir Cargril said, doing a decent job of hiding her annoyance with him. She was Bara's eldest child and was presumably in command, though so far she had stubbornly refused to abandon him to the dogs of war. It was obvious that they were all being punished for Lamorak's success, and there was no way he could protect them all from the constant harassment.

  "You're welcome to," Lam said. He didn't want Bara's knights to get hurt on his account, but he wasn't going to be chased away. It wasn't about the prize anymore. It was about showing everyone that he shouldn't have to hide, shouldn't have to run. There was nothing wrong with him, and he'd show them that he couldn't be forced to comply.

  He surged forward, directly into the advancing ranks of Camelot knights. He could actually hear Cargril sigh through the communication crystal, but she still ordered the advance. Lam waded into battle, muscles numb from adrenaline and exhaustion and the world a blur as he crashed into one of Guinevere's knights and toppled them, jammed his lance into their shoulder so he could draw his sword. Two more suits rushed at him from opposite directions, and Lam planted himself, deflected a stroke from one and turned to see Cargril take out the other.

  One-on-one, he made short work of his opponent, and he scanned the field for Agravaine or Gaheris. Without them to orchestrate this little vendetta, Lam doubted the rest of the retinue would pursue him, would be more content to retreat and lick their wounds. He caught sight of one of them and ran for them, ignoring Cargril's warning.

  "Well, look who finally decided to show," Gaheris said, squaring his suit to Lam's approach. Lam didn't bother to raise his sword, and he smiled as Gaheris dropped his own defense, took his sword like it was an ax and Lam but a sapling. He really would need to get some new tricks soon, but for the moment Lam was grateful no one had figured them out yet. At the last moment he dropped and jumped forward, under Gaheris's swing, landing on his elbows and knees, just as he had with Uwain yesterday.

  The world spun as something crashed into his side. Pain laced through his entire body like cracks on a broken mirror, and Lamorak felt himself airborne before meeting the earth again. It took a moment for his suit’s visuals to reconnect, and when it did, nothing seemed to make sense. Gaheris just stood there, giving no indication he had moved at all. There was nothing else there, no sign of what had hit him, and yet his suit's shield shoulder felt shattered, the feedback like a sharp edge running up his arm. His sword arm felt fine, and at least he still held onto his weapon. But what had happened? What had hit him?

  "You're not nearly so clever as you think," came Agravaine's voice, but still Lam could see nothing. Then, a glint, and he rolled, forced his body to react despite the pain. The ground where he had been a moment before indented, and there was a plume of dirt as something struck it. Something he couldn't see.

  "You think that Merlin would just let you get away with making a fool of us?" Gaheris asked, turning toward him slowly. "He cooked up something special for you."

  "Lam, are you okay?" Percy's voice cut through his communication crystal. "What's going on? What hit you?"

  Lam cursed as he lurched to his feet, as he got his sword in front of him, for all the good it would do against an invisible foe. "Percy, get Nimue," he said. "Merlin's got Agravaine out here and invisible. My shoulder is completely wrecked. Nimue will know what to do."

  He waited for an answer, but there was no reply.

  "Something wrong with your communications?" Agravaine asked just as there was another glint and Lam swiped, only to stumble as his sword met air. "I wonder whatever might be preventing you from getting help." The brothers laughed, and Lam contemplated just running, but knew it would leave him too open. He couldn't be sure where Agravaine was and wouldn't know if he was being pursued.

  Gaheris charged, limiting Lam's options to one: defend. Even with one arm badly damaged, he turned Gaheris's attack aside, landed a shallow gash in his suit's leg, but no sooner had he struck than there was a glint and he was pushed back, an unseen force slamming him to the ground again.

  "Say good night, whore," Agravaine said, and Lam expected to see a glint of metal as he was skewered by Agravaine's blade. Instead, there was a flash of green light and Lam flinched at the brightness of it, at the sudden intensity. He blinked, and it was like in the
aftermath of the flash he could see a patch of... something above him. An outline of a suit.

  Lam reacted without thinking, swinging his sword while prone, aiming for—there was the sound of tearing metal as his blade connected with the inner thigh of the suit above him, the suit that suddenly was completely visible and falling, leg neatly severed. The sound of Agravaine's screams as he toppled was like a heavenly chorus.

  Lam winced and stood again, saw that Safere had arrived, dark suit liquid as ey moved around a clumsy attack from Gaheris and countered with a vicious swing. Gaheris's sword fell to the earth... still attached to the arm that carried it. Gaheris stood a momen,t as if the feedback hadn't made its way down the relays to—he cried out and fell to his knees. Safere caught him full in the face with a forward kick, and the rest of the Camelot knights around them turned in flight, Cargrill calling pursuit as Lam let the battle leave him behind. For now, at least.

  "Thanks for the save," Lam said, wanting to collapse himself. "Again."

  "You'll make it up to me, I'm sure," Safere said, and Lam felt heat rush to his face. Safere helped him to his feet, held him there a moment.

  "Sorry about leaving you so long," ey said. "I didn't know what was happening right away. I had to adjust my optic crystals on the fly to be able to see who was attacking you."

  "You can do that?" Lam asked.

  Safere laughed. "You can, too," ey said. "You really should pay attention to your squires."

  "Lam, are you okay?" Percy's voice broke in over the crystal again. Lam sighed, grateful that this little adventure was finally over.

  "Thanks to Safere, I'm fine," he said. "Though apparently I'm a bit behind on my technical lessons. I don't suppose you'd let me borrow your notes?" He laughed until the silence from the other end stretched longer than it should. "Percy?"

  Still no response. Lam turned to Safere, who tilted the head of eir suit in confusion.

  "Not quite done with you yet," came a new voice to the field, and Lam cried out as his body seized and he dropped to his knees. It was like he had been dropped into a fire, pain licking at his muscles, into his very mind. He realized too late the sensation was familiar.