by B N Miles
His heart was racing. He had no idea what he was doing, but he couldn’t help himself. Maybe it was the residual excitement from the fight, but he needed to feel Key, needed to feel her body in a way he’d never quite been able to articulate before. She only stared at him as he pushed her tunic open, revealing her muscular, flat stomach, the skin smooth and beautiful. Her breasts were round and perky, her nipples pink and hard, and her chest moved with every hard breath.
She bit her lip and stared at him without speaking as his right hand brushed against her breasts and nipples. He felt his cock stiffen as he moved closer to her, his hand coming up along the skin of her neck, across her cheek, and through her hair. He gripped it and pulled her against him in one smooth motion, her bare chest pressing against his, and he kissed her hard.
The kiss sent fire through his system. He felt her soft breasts and her hard nipples against his body, and she let out a soft little moan. Her feet fell into the water, her knees got wet, and Cam’s breeches were soaked, but he didn’t care. Nothing mattered but Key, her tongue in his mouth, her taste floating through his skin. He gripped her hair and pulled her tight against him, taking her, tasting her like he’d always dreamed.
“Key! Where the hell did you go?”
The voice broke through the frenzy and their kiss broke off as abruptly as it started. She moved back away from Cam, pulling the tunic closed across her chest. Cam was still kneeling in the water as Key stood. Theus burst through the bushes a second later, looking around with an annoyed expression, until his eyes fall on Cam.
“There you are,” he said. “You ran away, Key.”
“I didn’t run,” she said, turning away from Theus. “You just couldn’t keep up.”
He snorted. “Please. I’m the fastest guy in the village. No offense, Cam.”
“None taken,” he mumbled, still staring at Key as she stepped out of the water and stood on a sun baked rock, her back to Theus, buttoning her tunic.
“Well, all right,” Theus said, dropping his spear in a clatter and stepping up to the water. He dropped down on his ass and began to take off his boots. “Just what I needed.”
“I’m going to go back,” Key said. “I think I should check in with everyone.”
Cam didn’t say a word. He just watched her, his heart racing, his cock still half hard.
“Check in?” Theus laughed as he upturned his boots, dumping little rocks out. “I guess. But you’re already here and half undressed. You might as well bathe.”
Key shook her head, finished buttoning her tunic, and grabbed her boots. She pulled them on while standing, picked up her spear, and hesitated as Theus began to take off his tunic.
“We’ll be back soon,” Cam said.
She nodded and gave him a long look. Her eyes were clouded by something he couldn’t read, and she turned away without another word.
Theus watched her go and sighed. “Man, I don’t get her at all,” he said.
“No?” Cam wasn’t really listening. His mind was still on Key’s breasts and lips, and part of him hated Theus for interrupting, even if Theus didn’t know what he was doing.
“She wants to come find you, figures we’ll all bathe together like we used to, and then she just… runs off. You say something to her, oxhead?”
“No,” Cam said.
“Whatever.” Theus tossed his tunic aside and jumped into the water. He drank some, poured some over his head, and shook his shaggy locks. “Ah, much better.”
Cam smiled a little at his friend and stood. “I should head back too.”
“What the hell? You’re both just going to leave me here?”
“Sorry.” Cam walked over to the rock and sat down. “I’ll dry off a bit first.”
“Damn right.” Theus poured another handful of water over his head and sighed.
They spoke of small things, skirting around the battle, skirting around the flight from their village. That was always at the edge of everything they did, but it was like they both wanted to avoid it at all costs. If they didn’t look directly at the thing, if they could pretend like it was only off to one side and not the center of their existence, then maybe it wasn’t so bad.
As Theus finished bathing and stepped out of the water, Cam heard a nearby shout. He frowned and grabbed his boots, pulling them on. He stood, threw his tunic on, and grabbed his spear as the shout came again.
It was Key, running back through the forest. She was out of breath as she bent over and gestured back the way she’d come.
“Key?” Cam asked.
“Something… happening,” she said. “Come back.”
Cam looked at Theus, who jumped out of the water and began to get dressed. Cam buttoned his tunic as fast as he could and began to pull on his leathers, but Key waved him off.
“No time. Come on.”
Cam threw the leather armor over his shoulder, grabbed his spear, and waited a moment as Theus got his tunic halfway on and his spear in his hand.
Together, they ran back to the column.
16
Cam was breathing hard as they reached the column again. The carts had stopped and he heard voices coming from the head of the group. Most of the villagers were sitting idle with sour looks on their faces, some of them still tending to the wounded from the fight. Indri was among them, and when she saw Cam, she shook her head.
“Go help,” she said.
“What’s happening?” he asked.
“Arter.”
Cam glanced at Key and she just nodded once. He set his jaw, gripped his spear tighter, and put his leather armor down on a cart near Indri. “Watch this for me,” he grunted then walked quickly toward the raised voices.
He noticed eyes watching him as he strode through the makeshift camp. When he was growing up, he’d always felt invisible, especially with his father around. The great man always took attention away from everything else. He was like a beacon walking through a cloudy day, his light cutting through the gloom. Women loved him, men wanted to fight for him. Even Cam looked up to his father like a god, even if that god pushed him to meditate for hours on end, trying to find magic that would never come.
Now, though, he saw more eyes on him, more strange expressions he couldn’t read. Maybe it was just his imagination, or maybe it was something else. His hair was still wet, and the small beard beginning to grow on his cheeks made him look older, he knew that much at least. As he got closer to the noise, he slowed, and looked back at Key.
“Stay with me,” he said.
She nodded. “I’m with you.”
Theus hurried to catch up with them. “Did I hear Arter’s voice just now?” he asked.
Cam nodded. “This might get ugly. Be ready.” He pushed forward through a throng of men, his two friends just behind him.
“—are dead!” Arter’s voice said over the crowd. “And you want us to keep going on like nothing happened.” Cam made his way to the front and found Arter, flanked by his sons like always, but with a handful of other men standing with their spears in their hands. Dagan was standing in front of Arter, arms crossed over his chest, and Kraed lounged against the front cart nearby, sipping from a clay jug and absently running a hand down the horse’s flank.
“I know that,” Dagan growled. “I was in the front line. And where were you?”
“Fighting on the flank,” Arter snapped. “Don’t you dare question my bravery.”
“I question your stupidity,” Dagan said. “We can’t go into the woods at this point. We can’t just abandon our position.”
“Our position is death,” Arter said. “And I don’t propose we go into the woods. I propose we make a run for Teemly Village.”
Dagan frowned for a long moment. “Teemly is a day away at least,” he said. “Probably more with the wounded slowing us down. Why would we go to Teemly when we could press onto the Mansion?”
“Teemly is closer and they have stout walls. We can regroup there, let our wounded heal, then make a run to the Mansion with a
larger gathering.” Arter smiled at Dagan as a few of the men behind him grumbled their support.
“It’s not a bad idea,” Kraed called out.
“But we’d lose so much time,” Dagan said. “The longer we wait, the more wolves will spill into the valley and come scrambling up toward the rocks. If we go to Teemly and wait for our people to heal, we might get trapped in their walls and never escape.”
“Or we might get ripped to shreds along this damned cart path.” Arter shook his head. “We’re not going any further, Dagan.”
“You don’t tell me what we are and aren’t doing,” Dagan said, his voice full of malice.
“There’s no need for this,” Cam said, stepping forward. “Dagan’s right. If we go to Teemly now, we’re just going to let the wolves catch up and overwhelm us. We’re at the tip of a spear right now Arter, and we’re just barely outrunning the thrust. If we wait, if we go to Teemly, we’ll be impaled where we stand.”
Arter gave him an angry look. “Why does this boy keep speaking up when the men are discussing what to do?”
“That boy saved you and this whole village,” Dagan growled. “He sounded the alarm. He got his line into formation. Without him, we’d all be slaughtered.”
Arter smirked and shook his head. “I’m sick of a child getting a say with the elders. Send him away, Dagan, or I’m done with this conversation. I’ll take my men, and we’ll make a run for Teemly ourselves.”
Several of the men behind Arter seemed to frown at that suggestion. Dagan barked a laugh.
“And now you show your true colors,” he said, stepping closer. “You’re willing to run off and leave the rest of the village here. I bet you’d like that, Arter. You could move much faster without the carts, the women, the children. I bet you’d love to leave all these people out here as bait.”
Arter stared at Dagan, rage in his eyes, but he clearly knew his mistake. The men behind him were shifting from foot to foot, and one of them walked away, shaking his head. Arter’s sons looked horrified, and they searched around them like they were looking for support.
“That is not what I meant,” Arter said. “You twist my words, damn you, Dagan. If you call me a coward one more time—”
“You are a coward, Arter,” Dagan spat. “A coward and a fool.”
Arter reared his fist back and slammed it into Dagan’s face. The elder stumbled back, shocked by the blow, his hands coming up to his cheek and his eyes wide. Arter clenched his jaw, but he looked just as surprised as Dagan.
The Elders were untouchable. It was an unbreakable law that the three Elders could not be harmed for any reason. If that law didn’t exist, men could simply kill their leaders when they disagreed, and the village would be chaos. That rule applied to other Elders as much as it did to the common villagers, because an Elder that could strike another is an Elder that could kill and seize power.
Arter took a step back and raised his hands. “Dagan,” he said, but Cam didn’t let him get any further.
Cam stepped forward and brought the butt of his spear into Arter’s stomach. The man gasped and doubled over as Cam spun the weapon and smashed it down onto his back, slamming him to the ground.
Vorn screamed in shock, and Janter rushed at Cam, his eyes wild with anger. Cam swatted aside Janter’s spear thrust—a blow that was meant to kill. He let Janter’s momentum bring the boy forward as he turned his spear and slipped the butt against Janter’s head. His skull jerked sideways and he stumbled once before falling to the ground.
It happened fast, a couple seconds at most. Vorn screamed again, but he dropped his spear and fell to his father’s side. Arter coughed and groaned as he struggled to get to his knees.
Dagan stepped beside Cam and put a hand on his shoulder. Cam was breathing hard, rage flowing through him. These men were selfish bastards that only wanted to do what they felt was best for them. He couldn’t let them hurt the village, not any more than they already have.
“Enough, Camrus,” Dagan said, his voice firm. “You did well.”
Cam nodded and planted his spear in the ground, the tip gleaming in the sun. “He struck you,” Cam said.
Nobody else moved. He could tell the rest of the men were torn between violence and shock at what had happened. Dagan squeezed Cam’s shoulder and moved toward Arter.
“You broke a cardinal rule, Arter,” Dagan said. “And you got what you deserved.”
“Fucking boy struck me,” he wheezed from the ground. “Killed my boy.”
Theus knelt down next to Janter and shook him a bit. “He’s fine,” Theus said. “Alive, at any rate.”
Dagan shook his head at Arter. “You’re a disgrace. You understand that, don’t you? You’ve embarrassed yourself and now you’ve put the whole village in danger. I can’t let you live, Arter.”
Arter’s eyes widened and he struggled to his feet. Vorn helped his father stand, and the boy was breathing so hard he seemed as though he might pass out. Cam frowned at Dagan as the words began to sink in.
“You can’t… kill me,” Arter said. “I’m an Elder. Just because we disagree…”
“You came to blows,” Dagan said. “And you will not drop this foolishness. How can I trust you to stay here and not try to get revenge on Cam? How can I trust you not to try and kill me? You’ve ruined this, Arter. And you know you have.”
Arter glared at Dagan. “You’re talking of murder.”
“I’m talking of a justified killing.”
“Nobody’s getting killed.” Kraed pushed himself from the cart and stumbled toward the two men. “Enough of this, damn you both.” He spat on the ground. “Enough, you hear?”
Dagan crossed his arms but didn’t move. Arter took heavy breaths and glared at Kraed. “You’re not such a fool as to think that killing me can be justified?”
“Of course not,” Kraed snapped. “But Dagan’s right. You’re a danger to this community, and you can’t be trusted.”
“So you think you should slit my throat, then?”
“No,” Kraed said. “I think you should be sent away.”
Arter narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me?”
“Leave here. Make a run for Teemly. Bring your sons and whichever men will follow you.”
He stared at Kraed for a long moment. Dagan spoke up first.
“That would leave us with fewer warriors,” he said.
“Doesn’t matter now. He’s worthless, and any man that follows him is worthless as well.” Kraed spat again. “Send him off. He can do as he likes then.”
Arter stared between the men and Cam could see the uncertainty and the hope warring on his face. Arter wanted to leave more than anything, and Cam realized just how much of a coward he really was.
“Fine,” Dagan snapped. “Arter, you’re hereby cast out of this village. We’ll give you what supplies we can spare. You’re to leave in an hour. Bring your two sons and whichever men will agree to accompany you, and if you ever return to this village again, I will kill you myself.”
Arter grunted and nodded. “Fine. And I hope you all burn for this.” He turned and Vorn helped him limp over to Janter. Together, they lifted the boy and dragged him off. The men were silent and watched them go. Dagan’s eyes moved across the group, rage clear in his face.
“Any of you that want to join him, go now,” he snapped. “Any of you that want to abandon your village, your families, these women and children. Any sad, pathetic cowards among you, go with Arter, and go now.”
Nobody moved. Not a single man volunteered.
“Good,” Dagan said. “Get back to your posts and get this column moving again.”
That broke the spell. Men began to fan out, flowing back down along the column. Kraed spit again, mumbled something, and stumbled over to the cart. He climbed into the back and reclined on a bundle of grain as he poured more liquor down his throat.
Dagan turned toward Cam and shook his head. “That was ugly,” he said.
“But necessary.” Cam frowned at the Elder.
“Would you really have killed him?”
“Yes,” Dagan said, his eyes sharp. “I would do anything for these people. Anything I thought was necessary.”
Cam nodded slowly. He understood where Dagan was coming from, and he almost agreed. But killing an Elder like that, even a dangerous Elder, would have gone much too far. Cam would do anything to save his friends, but he couldn’t damn them in the process. There had to be a better way forward, one that wouldn’t leave them all exposed and vulnerable in the end.
“Thank you for the help,” Dagan said and put a hand on Cam’s shoulder. “That was well done.”
“Only did what any man here would have,” he said.
Dagan nodded, and for a moment, he looked tired, old. “We’re going to need to choose a new Elder,” he said.
Cam nodded slowly. “Do you have anyone in mind?”
“I have some ideas.” Dagan patted his shoulder then walked off. “Get some rest, Camrus. You’ve earned it.”
Cam watched him go before Key stepped up beside him. “This is bad,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“A new Elder, now of all times?”
He shook his head. “It couldn’t be avoided.”
“Who should it be?”
“I don’t know.”
“I wish your father was here,” she said and touched his arm. “He would’ve been a great Elder.”
“I wish that too.”
Key gave him a sad smile then squeezed his arm. He held her gaze for a long moment and wished he could have that time in the stream back. He wished he could kiss her, feel her breasts against his chest, taste her tongue, and feel her skin. But that wasn’t their world, and every time they came together, they only had a second to step out of existence, to replace their worries with something better, but only for a time.
“I’ll go speak with my parents,” Key said. “I think the village should know about this.”
“Good. Do that.” She nodded and walked off.
