“Me?” Reg asked.
“Do you want it?” The night air felt good on Querry’s flushed skin as he reached out for them, wrapping his arms around their waists to draw them close. Reg was delightfully damp with sweat, while Frolic felt like cool satin in comparison. Both of them smelled of gunpowder and blood, with the strong aroma of Reg’s arousal making the mix even more intoxicating. Querry almost couldn’t think as his cock slid against their bodies. His muscles clenched, and he worried he’d spill across them just from their scents and the textures of their skin.
“Fuck yes, I want it.” Reg licked the sweat from the side of Querry’s neck and nipped his earlobe.
“I want it too, Querry,” Frolic said. “So much. I’m out of my mind with it. I think it was the fighting. Our victory.”
“Yeah,” Reg breathed, surprising Querry a little. “I feel so alive. My blood’s on fire. Damn it, Querry. I want you to give it to me hard.”
Their words, and the desperation in their tones, made Querry’s cock leak. “Tell me,” he panted, moving his hands down their backs to cup their soft, slim asses. “Tell me how much you want my cock. Do you love it?”
“I love it when you get so turned on you don’t worry about hurting me,” Reg said. “Not that you ever do hurt me, except in the good way. I just love it when you can’t hold back.”
“Oh fuck, Reggie. It’s your fault if I can’t control myself. Yours and my beauty’s.”
“Don’t then,” Reg muttered, “just take me.” He turned away and knelt down on the forest floor, his elbows on the ground and his sweet little ass hoisted proudly in the air and spread open in offering.
Querry knew Reg loved that position, because it let Querry thrust so deep into him. Then he had a horrible realization. “Damn. I don’t have anything with me. I don’t want to hurt you, not for real.”
“I have it.” Frolic reached in his waistcoat pocket and withdrew the little chemist’s tin full of oily lotion.
“You little harlot,” Querry said, smiling. “You’ve been carrying it with you?”
Frolic nodded. “Ever since you suggested grappling over the wall. I miss touching the two of you. I need to do it.”
“Well done,” Querry said, reaching for the ointment.
Frolic didn’t relinquish it. Instead, he knelt down behind Reg and peppered Reg’s back with light kisses. Reg shivered pleasantly beneath him.
“Oh, beauty,” Reg panted.
“I like it when you call me that,” Frolic said, opening the tin and digging his fingers into the thick, clear liniment. He spread it liberally over Reg’s cleft and then wriggled a finger into Reg’s opening. Reg gasped at the penetration even as he pushed back against Frolic’s hand. Frolic slid a second finger inside him and pushed it in to the knuckle. “Is that it, Reggie? Your special place?”
“Ah. Yeah, that’s it. Oh God, Frolic.”
Querry stood watching Frolic’s pale, graceful fingers disappear into Reg, and he couldn’t believe how much it excited him. Reg circled his hips and moaned wantonly with enjoyment. It occurred to Querry that Frolic had never expressed any desire to penetrate either of them, but he sure seemed to delight in it. So did Reggie. It gave Querry an idea.
“Beauty, do you want to make love to Reg?”
Querry had expected Frolic to react with uncertainty, to maybe need some convincing, but he leaned down and kissed Reg’s tailbone before saying, “Yes, very much. Do you want me, Reggie?”
“Oh yes, my love.”
Querry watched intently as Frolic guided himself to Reg’s hole and pushed gently inside. “I’ve never felt anything like this,” Frolic gasped. “Oh, Reggie. I… do you….” Frolic collapsed across Reg’s back and clutched his ribs, trembling and moaning as he climaxed. Slowly he came back to himself and began thrusting into Reg with his forehead still pressed between Reg’s shoulder blades.
“Bloody hell, you’re beautiful,” Querry whispered, watching them move awkwardly against each other at first before finding a rhythm. Their muscles strained with their exertion, and a sheen of sweat covered Reg, while Frolic looked pearlescent in the darkness. Querry retrieved the tin Frolic had dropped in his fascination with Reg, and moved around behind Frolic.
“Querry, let me suck your cock,” Reg demanded as he clawed at the forest floor. “Please. I miss the taste of your come. I want it so much.”
“Oh, my love.” Querry ran his hand over Frolic’s satiny backside before he stood. He hurried to move in front of Reg, knelt down, and touched Reggie’s beautiful face. He traced circles over Reg’s full lips before grasping his cock at the base and steering it between them. Just as Reg wanted, Querry let himself go, thrusting into Reg’s warm, tight throat. Reg accepted him with barely a gag as his tongue flicked at the base of Querry’s dick. Querry threw his head back, grasped Reg’s hair, and fought not to explode too soon. Querry and Frolic thrust into Reg, and Reg pressed back and forth against them. Querry’s knees sank into the mud as he forgot everything besides his lovers.
He leaned over to kiss Frolic as he pushed into Reg’s throat. He just couldn’t hold back anymore. The sight of Frolic and Reg making love, the sight of the three of them pulling and thrusting against each other, muttering each other’s names, and declaring their love, pushed Querry over the edge. His whole body tensed and then relaxed as he came down Reggie’s throat. He fell over Reg’s back and nipped at his salty skin. The top of Frolic’s head touched Querry’s as he, too, draped his body over Reg’s as he lost himself to yet another orgasm. With one hand, Querry clasped the back of Frolic’s neck, and with the other, he clutched Reg’s mud-coated hand. Frolic reached down to bring Reg to completion with his fist. The three of them shook hard with the intensity of their lovemaking, their love. When he could avoid it no longer, Querry collapsed into the leaves.
The exertion of the fighting coupled with their bout of lovemaking caught up with Querry. He rolled to his back in the cool, wet soil and drew both Reg and Frolic onto his chest, crossing his arms over their backs. He fell asleep to the sound of them conversing softly, stopping now and then to kiss.
TERROR STRUCK Querry as a hand on his shoulder shook him awake, and he realized Reg and Frolic still lay sprawled across him. He instinctively reached for a nonexistent weapon at his naked hip. Slowly, his eyes focused on his undressed lovers, smeared with mud and reeking of sex. Even though he feared being discovered, Querry couldn’t help but smile at how pleasing they looked with their dirty limbs, swollen lips, heavy-lidded eyes, and disheveled hair. He knew getting hard beneath them was the absolute worst thing he could do, yet he couldn’t help it.
The Baron Starling shot Querry a smug smile. “Good morning, Querry. I thought your performance last night earned you a lie in. I also thought I might be wise to awaken you myself. It seems I wasn’t wrong. Believe me, I understand, but you must be more careful.”
Querry relaxed, more grateful to Starling than he could express. He thanked the baron, but it felt insufficient.
“Yes, yes.” Starling flicked his hand in front of his face in his annoying way, as if he waved away an unpleasant odor. “I also brought you this.” He set down a bucket of water, a bar of bright yellow soap, and a washing cloth. “I suggest you use them quickly and join the rest of us at the camp. We’re just about to set off.”
Without waiting for a response, Starling turned and gave them some privacy.
Querry felt Reg release the breath he’d been holding. “We can’t be so careless again. This was stupid.”
“It was wonderful,” Querry said, his tone dreamy with the memory of their lovely evening. “To hell and the devil with what anyone else thinks. I don’t regret it.”
“I truly can’t understand what we did wrong,” Frolic said as he stood and stretched his lithe arms over his head. “We haven’t hurt anyone.”
“It’s not that simple,” Reg said as he plunged the rag into the water and scrubbed the dried remainder of their passion from his body. “We were car
eless, and we can’t be again. Tell him, Querry.”
“He’s right,” Querry admitted.
“But why?” Frolic persisted. “I thought humans celebrated love. Look how they adore weddings. Why are we different?”
Querry balked. Never before had Frolic referred to humans as a separate race, called them “they.” Frolic thought of himself as something apart from Querry and Reg, and Querry didn’t feel any more comfortable with it than he did with the other recent changes in Frolic. Without a word, he took the cloth from Frolic and cleaned himself as best as he could before retrieving his clothes from the forest floor and getting dressed.
“The fey don’t see any problem with people taking pleasure together,” Frolic, now washed and dressed, persevered. “Why should we bow to the opinions of these others?”
As much as he agreed, Querry didn’t know what to say. Reg also remained silent as they walked up the hill toward the camp.
“Why do we have to pretend we don’t love each other?” Frolic asked again.
“It’s just the way it is.” Querry knew he offered a weak, sorry response to an honest question, but he didn’t know what else to say. He was no philosopher.
“Why do we accept the way it is?” Frolic asked. “Why just agree to this… this absurdity?”
“We must for now,” Reg said in a soothing voice as the three of them entered the crude encampment.
“I think this is ludicrous,” Frolic whispered as they stepped into the circle of tents.
Querry worried as the others emerged to meet them. He’d never seen Frolic so angry and indignant. He realized his worst fears as Tom Teezle came forward and kissed Frolic full on the mouth in front of everyone gathered there. Frolic, instead of pulling away, kissed him back before daring all of them, with his angry gaze, to object. Then the two of them clasped hands and went to sit in the dirt around the central fire. Querry glanced at Reg and found Reg equally conflicted. They sat together across the fire from Frolic and Tom. Thankfully, most of the other men thought Frolic a fey like Tom. The Fair Folk had assisted them, and they knew faerie ways differed from their own, so they did little more than mumble and whisper at the display. It still irritated Querry. He’d told Frolic many times to be discreet.
Starling stepped to the center of the group and waited for the former slaves to cease applauding. Querry expected him to make some sort of flowery speech, to thank the others for the supplies and encourage his men. Instead, Starling indicated a line of five carts with a swipe of his hand. “Thanks to these good people, we’re well equipped and ready to set out. Finally. I’d like those of you accompanying me to be ready to leave within the hour. Tom, with me.” Then he turned and left.
Querry, Reg, and Frolic readied their things and placed what they couldn’t carry on one of the four carts. The fifth held only the coal they’d need for fuel. Then Querry and Reg gratefully accepted the roast meat and strong coffee the former slaves offered. Querry knew they’d be subsisting on dried and preserved food until they completed their mission, so he savored the fresh fare.
Soon they all gathered around the carts: Corny and the three mercenaries, a trio of men from the quilombo, and a small young man in a crisp white shirt and wide-brimmed hat. Querry hadn’t seen him before and wondered at the wisdom at taking such a young man into danger. The boy, while dark, wasn’t one of the former slaves. His straight, smooth hair was pulled into a braid that trailed down his back. To Querry’s surprise, Jean-Andre also waited with the others. When the Belvaisian grinned and winked at Reg, Querry balled his fists until his nails broke his skin. Frolic, who normally wore every emotion on his face, stood with a blank expression, watching Starling and Tom at the head of the procession.
Querry found himself in a foul mood as they slowly descended into the jungle, the carts maneuvering the narrow, winding trails admirably. Thinking about Jean-Andre and Reg and Frolic and Tom made him angrier and angrier. He couldn’t believe Tom had actually kissed Frolic, and Jean-Andre’s intentions were obvious. Still, he trusted his partners and knew he shouldn’t be jealous, but he couldn’t help his frustration as he began to sweat in the hot, heavy air. Since he had no desire to speak with any of them, not even his lovers, Querry fell into step with the young man in the hat.
“Hello,” he said. What’s your name?”
The boy turned and smiled at Querry. “It’s Manuela, friend. Who are you?”
The name, and the sound of the voice, made Querry realize the mistake he’d made. “You’re a woman,” he said with surprise.
“Is that a problem?” she asked.
“Not at all. I’m just surprised. I’m Querrilous Knotte, by the way. Querry.” He took the hand she offered and shook it. “What’s your job in all this?”
“Guide,” she said. “My people lived near your destination, though you’ll be going farther than any white man has ever ventured. Still, I can speak the languages of many of the tribes we’ll encounter. Hopefully, I can convince them to help us find our way when we move beyond the parts of the jungle I’m familiar with. What about you? What do you do?”
Querry wondered how to answer. “I work for Baron Starling. I’m an expert in… infiltration.”
Manuela laughed. “A thief, then?”
“Well, when you put it that way, it sounds so common,” he teased, flashing her what he knew was a charming grin. “I’m very good at what I do.”
“Well, I don’t have anything a white man would value, so I guess I have nothing to worry about.”
“Even if you did, you’d have nothing to fear from me. I’ve only ever stolen from those who deserved it.”
“And who deserves it, Querry?”
He shrugged. “Old, fat, rich, entitled pigs who don’t care anything about the people who work their asses off while they line their pockets. Bastards like the ones back at that plantation.”
She giggled. How had Querry ever mistaken her for a man? “You are like the Anglican story. Like your Robin of the Greenwood, no?”
“Except that I keep what I take,” Querry said. “I just don’t take it from people who need or deserve what they have.”
“I think we’ll get along fine,” Manuela said. “My people didn’t hold to the standards of the colonists.”
He wondered if she referred to his profession or to Reg and Frolic or the relationship between the three of them.
“We didn’t care much what anyone did, so long as they pulled their weight and didn’t hurt anyone. It was easy to pull your weight. The forests provided everything. We hunted and cooked for two days, and spent the next six or seven at our leisure. Most of your people don’t appreciate that. They want only to hoard wealth, which was hard for us to understand. We valued the enjoyment of life, the time to savor it, over possessions. You probably wouldn’t have liked it, though. There was nothing to steal that we wouldn’t have happily shared with you for free.”
“You talk of your people as though in the past,” Querry noted. “What happened to them?”
“Cholera,” she said. “The Portalegrese missionaries thought they were doing us such a favor, saving us from our backward ways, but they brought the disease that killed all but a handful of my people. I loved the life they took. I miss it. I hate wearing all these clothes. Really, what’s the point of them?”
Querry wondered what Manuela would think if presented with what a proper Anglican lady wore. He said, “I’m sorry about your people, and I appreciate having your knowledge.”
Manuela shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand and looked out across the wide valley they’d just discovered. She nodded and said, “Where we’re going, you’re going to need it, and then some. I don’t look forward to this, and I only hope we’ll survive.”
Chapter 20
FROLIC COULDN’T believe the beauty of the jungle they passed through. After a few days, they moved beyond even the most rural of colonial settlements and farms. Nothing but wild, rugged majesty surrounded them. There were no trails here, not even th
e most basic, and it slowed their progress considerably, but Frolic didn’t mind. He spent the hours observing flora and creatures unlike anything he’d imagined: bright gold and emerald serpents as wide as his thigh, orange and scarlet frogs, and monkeys resembling small, hairy, human men. Some had black hair, others bright red, but Frolic sensed the intelligence behind their eyes as they watched his party from the trees. He also noticed graceful cats of various sizes, some spotted to mimic the sunlight and shade filtering through the trees and others as black as night. Frolic missed the two small cats he and Querry had left behind with Dink, and wondered if he could entice one of these wild beasts to accompany him.
Frolic perceived layer upon layer of life, beings existing in harmony, just as they should. No silly rules governed them. They wanted only to survive, to find enough to eat and flourish in this glorious paradise. The attitude the humans showed toward his love for Querry and Reg seemed even more appalling as Frolic thought about it. He didn’t like the way it made him feel to contemplate their judgments, the anger it stirred in him, so he soothed himself by returning his attention to the gorgeous flowers and bright birds.
After a few more days travel, the small group stopped at what their guide, Manuela, said would be the last quilombo before they passed into exclusively native lands. The men living in the tiny settlement of only about two dozen huts had heard of the party’s exploits on their peoples’ behalf, and they welcomed them for a fine meal of roasted meat and fresh fruit. Since he didn’t eat, Frolic didn’t feel like he could participate in the merriment. Even Tom smiled as he nibbled at a slice of melon, but there was nothing for Frolic to enjoy, so he simply waited for the feast to conclude and the others to load a few last-minute supplies onto the carts. By early afternoon, they set off once again.
Lord Starling, determined to make up for the time he’d lost, pushed them hard, not stopping to make camp until hours after dark. Frolic could have easily continued, but the humans groaned with relief as they pitched their simple tents and lit small fires. As soon as they’d finished, they collapsed on the forest floor. Once again, they reveled in eating and rest, things Frolic didn’t need.
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