by Jb Mcdonald
His feet hammered against the ground, chest bursting as he pushed himself faster. He gulped air and bellowed, "Dragon! There's a dragon after us! Get over here!"
One minute he was racing through the forest, and the next he'd burst into their campsite. He nearly fell in a fire, vaulting it at the last second and landing hard on the other side.
Eddie already had her bow nocked.
"It's after Katsu! Go!" Ashe yelled. People around him scrambled, snatching up weapons and racing back the way he'd come. He shoved upward and went with them, leading the way faster than they could track.
The dragon helped. Even barely out of the campsite, they could hear it. It crashed through the forest, half blinded by the daylight, still drugged. Ashe focused, trying to see through bushes and trees to spot Katsu. He saw the medic, sprawled out on the ground, rolling under a bush. The dragon skidded to a halt nearby and reared back. It roared and lunged.
Ashe was too far away. Too far away to do anything except watch as it eviscerated Katsu. And then an arrow appeared between its teeth, stone point buried in the roof of its mouth. The roar turned to a scream. It rocked back, and another arrow grazed its belly.
Eddie leapt forward, took a knee, and shot again. The next arrow went past the dragon, stringing a rope across the path in front of it.
"Hold strong!" Nate bellowed, and Ashe realized they were taking trapping positions. The dragon was going to eat Katsu, and they were trapping it.
He flung himself into the mess, leaping more ropes even as they went whizzing by him, trusting that Eddie wouldn't hit what she hadn't aimed at. He hoped the other archers were aiming well away from him.
The dragon stunk of decay and smoke. It didn't even look at him as he flung himself over Katsu and dragged them both farther under the bush.
"Don't be an idiot!" Katsu snarled, curling into a ball and throwing his arms over his head. "You could get yourself killed doing things like this! And don't think I'm going to patch you up!"
Ashe yelled back, though his face was buried in Katsu's neck and he probably didn't need to shout. "Be grateful I came for you! Otherwise when it toppled, you'd be in the path!"
"Yeah, and now a bush is going to protect us. I could have run if you'd given me the chance!"
"Run? You couldn't even stand!"
"I could--" Katsu fell silent.
Ashe froze. The rest of the world fell silent, too. The skin between his shoulder blades itched, waiting for a talon to drive into his heart. Carefully, he looked around.
The dragon was bound, jaws tied together, tail thrashing. Everyone else was either holding it down or watching them -- or, in Eddie's case, both.
"We spent all night looking for you," Nate drawled, leaning on a pike. "And when you return, you bring a dragon right into camp."
"Not quite into camp," Katsu muttered, shoving Ashe aside and sitting up. Ashe looked at him in surprise. Normally, Ashe was the one making wise-ass excuses.
He looked up at Nate, summoning a grin from somewhere inside. "Pretty well done, huh? I'm thinking we deserve double pay for saving the rest of the troop a hunt."
Nate nodded. "Sure thing. You can use it to pay everyone's wages for looking for you all night."
Ashe's smile twisted into a grimace.
"Nate?" Eddie called. "What should we do with the dragon?" She sat on its ribs, hanging onto the ropes that wrapped around its body. It thrashed, nearly unseating her, but she rode it out and put herself back in place as if it were no more concerning than driftwood on the ocean.
Nate smiled. "We're going to offer it to the townspeople."
"We already gave them one. What if they don't want it?" she asked.
Nate's smile turned broad and innocent, like the islanders Ashe knew Nate came from. "Then we'll turn it loose."
Eddie snorted.
"Before you do that," Katsu said quickly. "Do you mind if I find its lair? There might be something there of use." Katsu hesitated, then, without so much as looking at Ashe, added, "Ashe can go with me, so we're still in pairs."
Ashe did his best not to look surprised, and turned quickly to see Nate's expression.
Nate had better things to do than worry about the lair. He was already summoning people over, trying to figure out how to move a dragon. "Sure. If you aren't back by sunset, we're not going after you again."
Katsu frowned in annoyance. He seemed to think about something for a moment, then finally said, "It's under a partial paralytic now. It'll be stronger in a few minutes. Don't think that was its best fight."
Nate did look at him, then, black eyebrows rising toward his hairline. "Thanks for the tip. If you're still missing, we'll find you." The glance he directed toward Ashe left no doubt who they wouldn't bother looking for.
Ashe smirked. It was all bluster; he'd been with this crew too long to think anything else. Nate might look ferocious, and dock his share of the bounty at a moment's notice, but Ashe was liked.
A sideways look gave him only Katsu's profile. Maybe he was liked by more important people, too.
***
It took them a few moments to grab their things. Katsu needed to stabilize and salve his ankle -- Ashe barely understood what magic was being done, just that something clearly made it better -- and then wanted sacks filled with leaves. Ashe figured now was a good chance to put on that tunic that framed his shoulders, and maybe pluck the sticks out of his hair. Eddie bumped into him as he headed out of the camp, hurrying to catch up to Katsu. "Non-compatible," she murmured.
Ashe whipped around to look at her, but she'd already moved on. The wench. No wonder she'd joined a mercenary group; she really wasn't a lady. Heck, sometimes he doubted she was actually female. What sort of woman would talk about a human's bits?
That sort of woman.
He looked at Katsu's retreating figure with curiosity and wondered if what Eddie said was right. It didn't matter. It really didn't. There were other ways to enjoy each other -- ways most men used, if they were interested in men at all. Obviously, Eddie's education about male sex was sadly lacking. Maybe he'd try to inform her later, just to see if he could get her to blush--
"You coming?" Katsu stared at him over one lean, muscular shoulder. Ashe hurried to catch up.
They walked in silence. It grated on Ashe, but he was almost afraid to start a conversation. Katsu had asked him along -- in that odd, backwards way -- for a reason. It might be that Katsu wanted to berate Ashe in private for, well, almost anything. Ashe had never known the medic to keep something like that private, though, which made him hope -- hope that there was any other reason. Maybe a nice reason. Maybe something having to do with him being halfway decent. When you lived with no one but men (and Eddie, who was just one of the guys) long enough, they started to look good even if you'd never been interested before. Maybe--
"You weren't completely incompetent out there."
They weren't the warm words he'd been hoping for, but he'd take it. "That's practically a glowing review, from you."
Katsu snorted, and Ashe caught the edge of a smile in the curve of Katsu's cheek. "Practically." Ashe guessed that was as close to agreement as he'd get.
Cautiously, he tried his own. "You weren't bad yourself. You were right. I don't think I'd have been able to stay so still under the dragon." Just the thought gave him chills.
Katsu shrugged, looking uncomfortable. He shifted the bags he'd brought along, re-settling them on his shoulder. Then he shifted them again and stuffed his thumbs in his belt. "I knew that the dragon wouldn't see me as long as I was still. It'd be too busy figuring out the smoke. Movement would have attracted its attention, but as long as I stayed there..."
"It was a good plan." Ashe thought about it for a minute more, then added, "It scared the snot out of me, but it was a good plan." Just remembering made him feel a little ill. He stopped, catching Katsu's arm. "Don't do things like that again, all right?"
Katsu looked at him, dark eyes searching his face. Ashe wasn't sure what Katsu wa
s looking for, or if there was even a way to express it, so he simply waited and hoped. "You shouldn't get in so much trouble," Katsu said at last, solemnly. "Do such idiot things. One of these days, you're going to sever a finger or start to bleed out and I won't be there, and then what will you do?"
Ashe smiled slowly. Warmth unfurled in his stomach, goosebumps rising on his arms. They began walking again, strides long and easy. "I wouldn't do that. I only hurt myself when you're around. It's no fun to get hurt if you aren't there to fuss over me."
"Fuss over you!" Katsu squawked. "I don't fuss--"
"You do. In your own special Katsu-way."
Katsu fell silent. Eyes the color of agate narrowed and stared at him as they walked. "I'm going to start treating your cuts and scratches with alcohol."
"That would be Katsu-fussing." And painful. Before Katsu could come up with anything worse, Ashe asked, "What are we doing, anyway?"
"Finding the dragon's lair."
Ashe stopped walking. Katsu continued for three more steps before he stopped, too, and looked back. "The dragon's lair?" Ashe's vocal cords tightened on the last word. But then, they'd been tight on the first word, too.
"I want the eggs. I told you they were worth money."
"Yes, but--"
"The dragons are caught or dead. It's not like we have anything to worry about now." Katsu turned and started walking again, not bothering to wait and see if Ashe would catch up.
Of course, Ashe did. "That isn't the point!" So much for a semi-romantic walk through a forest, complete with light bantering and soulful looks. Dragon eggs definitely put a damper on his libido.
"I think it's exactly the point. What else do you think is going to be in a dragon's lair besides dragons and eggs? If there are no dragons, that leaves only eggs." He looked up at Ashe and drawled, "I swear I won't let the eggs hurt you."
It was hard to argue with that sort of sarcasm. Ashe walked on, wishing he could come up with any kind of reason that they should leave dragon eggs alone. Aside, of course, from the obvious fact that they were dragon eggs, and surely no good could come of this.
Unless he was getting half the bounty. "How much are they worth?"
Katsu smirked. "Depends on what you sell them for."
"Do you know where the dragon's lair is?"
Katsu nodded easily while still watching his step. His lashes were shadows against dusky skin. "I have a pretty good idea. You think if that dragon had felt his eggs were safe, he'd have left us today?"
Ashe considered that, then nodded slowly.
"He didn't leave us. So he didn't feel his eggs were safe. There's only a few spots dragons of that species will hatch eggs. They need heat -- you don't find that in a shady forest. They need warmth. No breezes. Caves are good."
Slowly, the pieces fell into place in Ashe's mind. "We were practically on top of the lair."
Katsu nodded again.
Ashe turned that over in his mind. Moran care for him in the afterlife, they were lucky to have escaped. "How do you know so much about dragons?"
The corner of Katsu's mouth twitched upward in a little smile. "Cultural hazard."
Ashe spent a moment trying to puzzle that out, then finally gave up. He offered another gambit instead. "You did well last night. I mean, I knew you were a good doctor and all, but that magic thing--"
"Chakra."
Ashe waved a hand. "Whatever you want to call it. That was pretty amazing." He hesitated, realizing suddenly that Katsu had saved his life. He'd known it before, of course, but somehow the import of it hadn't really hit him until now. "Thanks," he said quietly. He shifted his shoulders, feeling the sting of the small cuts Katsu had drawn into him. At the moment, he didn't mind them.
Katsu glanced at him, then nodded once, dark eyes steady on Ashe's face. "You're welcome." He went around a tree, brushing something off his sleeve as he went. "I could probably teach you some of it. How to use your -- magic better, anyway." There was an odd emphasis around the word "magic," and it didn't take much of a guess to figure out that he'd substituted for his own word.
Ashe grimaced. "Believe it or not, at one point I could use magic just fine. I was pretty good at it, even. I'm just out of practice."
"I still probably know things you don't. And I'm sure you know things I don't," Katsu added grudgingly. "It could be mutually beneficial."
Given they had all afternoon, Ashe couldn't see why not. But even more than the afternoon stretching out before them, Katsu was offering him something. Katsu never offered anyone anything. Ashe wasn't about to let the opportunity slip by.
***
By the time they located the correct cave, Ashe was feeling every sore muscle from their hunt, escape, and run over the last twenty-four hours. He didn't even know he had that many muscles.
He gazed over the nooks and crannies within the cavern, each of which had held an egg the size of his fist, and felt quietly amazed that they'd had enough satchels. Katsu knelt nearby, settling the last egg into the cloth, grass and leaves packed around each one.
"What do you use dragon eggs for, anyway?" Ashe asked, turning to look out over the small valley. There was water here, but trees and plants still had a hard time forcing their way through the rock. The ravine was pocked with caves, most of them far too small to contain a dragon, much less a breeding pair and eggs, so that had cut their search down. Still, the sun was disappearing behind the cliff above, sending long shadows stretching over the ground.
The townies wouldn't tell Nate to release the dragon, though. Surely.
Katsu's voice broke into his reverie, reminding him of the question he'd asked. "All sorts of things. Burn salves, fertility potions... Rubbing powdered shells on your skin is a powerful aphrodisiac."
Ashe looked down at his hands with alarm. He certainly felt horny, but he'd thought that was just because he always felt horny. Was-- He twisted to look at Katsu, and saw the medic grinning, a wicked twinkle in Katsu's eyes. Ashe relaxed and chuckled. "You asshole."
Katsu barked a laugh, then, setting the last satchel aside and standing up. He put his hands against the small of his back and arched, stretching. Ashe watched appreciatively. The tunic flattened against Katsu's chest and stomach, clearly outlining muscles.
Ashe glanced away. Despite learning more about Katsu in the last few hours than he had in the entire time they'd been working together, Ashe still didn't know much. Katsu was a gifted healer, with what must have been years of training under his belt. He was a foreigner, but he'd been here long enough to shed all traces of an accent. He didn't like to talk about himself.
Ashe figured that by this time, his crush should have worn off. It hadn't.
"Wash?"
Snapped out of his thoughts, he glanced at Katsu. "What?"
Katsu nodded toward the shallow stream that meandered through the valley. "You want to wash before we head back?"
Practicality argued with desire. It would be cold soon, and if the townies did take the chance on the dragon being released, it might head straight here. On the other hand, seeing Katsu with nothing but water running down his golden skin... "Sure." The word was out before his mind had a chance to censor his libido.
"I'm only partially kidding, by the way," Katsu said, picking up two satchels and carrying them toward the water. Ashe scrambled to get the other two and follow. Katsu kept talking, voice drifting back to him on a gentle breeze. "Powdered dragon egg shells are used as an aphrodisiac. They just don't work. It's an old wives' tale."
Ashe picked his way down the rocky slope, watching gravel and shale spill out from under his feet in a miniature avalanche. Katsu was already at the water's edge, setting bagfuls of eggs down carefully on a patch of grass. Then Katsu shimmied out of his tunic, and Ashe stopped to watch.
Katsu was shorter than almost any of the other humans, but covered in compact muscle and gorgeous skin. He draped his tunic over a branch, pulling his boots off and setting them aside. His long-fingered hands started on the laces of his
trousers.
Ashe told himself to look away. He told himself over and over, but somehow he was still watching when the trousers fell to Katsu's ankles and Katsu stepped out of them, wading directly into the water.
Water lapped at Katsu's ankles, then his calves, knees, firm buttocks, the small of his back -- and then he turned to face Ashe, still wading deeper, the tattoos across his chest and shoulders inky lines that moved with every stroke of his arms. "You coming in?" His gaze drifted down Ashe's body, and his eyebrows rose.
Ashe glanced down himself and wasn't surprised to see the evidence of his own arousal in the shape of his trousers. He set the satchels down and began stripping, unembarrassed. "Maybe that bit about the dragon eggs isn't an old wives' tale," he suggested laughingly.
Rubbing grime off his arms, Katsu chuckled. "Maybe not. Or maybe you're just a typical elf."
That did seem more likely. Ashe stepped to the shore, letting the water lap at his toes, watching it kiss the tips in tiny surges. Only four toes. Pale pink skin. Longer legs than any of the humans, willowy in comparison. His body hair was sparse -- in that, at least, he and Katsu were similar -- and the same sandy brown as the braids on his head.
He stepped into the water, glad to feel it was still warm from the summer sun. Silt drifted around his ankles, stirred up by their passage. He waded in farther, letting the water encompass his legs, his thighs, his hips, the thin trail of hair on his abdomen. Once more, he glanced at Katsu.
Surely they weren't that different, physically. Eddie had just been harassing him. He was almost positive.
It was impossible to tell, though; Katsu had dipped himself into the river and was smoothing the water out of his face and hair. It ran down his chest, between pectoral muscles, following the tattoos. Ashe's cock twitched.
"Are you doing this just to tease me?" he asked finally. Everyone knew him. Everyone knew his sex drive was all-encompassing, and no one asked him to bathe alone unless it was an invitation. Katsu had never been interested before, though, and, well, Ashe liked him. He didn't want to fuck something up.
Katsu stalled, movement halting for a moment as a frown touched his brow. "Do I seem like the teasing type?"
