The Bastard’s Pearl

by Connie Bailey

  “I would welcome a chance to face you before the high king’s judgment, but isn’t it a somewhat unmanly thing for a Sumadi warrior to suggest?”

  “You’ll not trick me into a trial by combat,” Ognyan said.

  “I don’t think I’m the coward here,” Kholya said. “If you fear demons, you should return to your camp before it gets much darker.”

  “Yes, run away,” Kashyan told Ognyan. “You know how to do that.”

  “You’ll pay for your taunts, Bastard,” Ognyan shouted. He gave the sky a wary glance before he spoke again. “You killed my king and stole my daaksi and you will answer for those crimes.”

  “Ware away south!” the topmost lookout called out. “Ware the sky!”

  Every man looked up at the southern quarter of the cloudless sky. Five black blotches against the serene violet dusk grew larger until they resolved into the shapes of winged demons. The pack soon reached the fortress and wheeled overhead like vultures.

  “Why aren’t they attacking?” Kashyan asked Kholya.

  “They’re looking for something,” Kholya said.

  One of the demons opened its beak and gave a loud, croaking cry. All five monsters dove on the Sumadinim. Kholya shouted an order, and the Savaani archers on the wall loosed their arrows. The demons roared in pain as the bolts pierced their flesh, but they were not deterred. Kholya shouted again, and clay balls filled with black powder were flung into the air with fuses alight. The balls exploded and rained fire on the demons as the Sumadinim desperately tried to control their maddened horses. Ognyan’s champions did their best to protect their king as the demons swooped on them. Slashing and snapping, four of the demons hovered over the Sumadinim as the warriors thrust at them with swords and spears. The fifth monster used the speed of its dive to propel it up to the top of the fortress wall.

  A sentry shouted an alarm as the beast opened it wings and stopped in midair. Clutching a merlon with its lower limbs, it snatched Luks up and prepared to launch itself back into the sky. Sheyn brought his saber around in a short arc and severed one of the demon’s claws. The monster began to rise with Luks’s tunic still clutched in its talons. Luks twisted wildly in an effort to shed the garment as Kashyan and Kholya ran toward him. Sheyn cut at the thing’s tail as it lifted off, and then ducked as a knife flew past his head. The beast squealed as the blade sank into its back, but it kept flying.

  “No!” Sheyn screamed. “You can’t have him!” He reached up as though he could pluck Luks from the demon’s grip as he willed his friend back to his side. It was unthinkable that the horrible old man in the Temple should get his hands on Luks. Sheyn utterly rejected the very notion of Luks suffering through the demon-summoning ritual. He would not let it happen.

  Something stirred at Sheyn’s core, and something ancient rolled over in its long sleep. Propelled by an unknown force, Sheyn leaped to the top of the wall and flung out his hand in a grab for Luks’s ankle. As Kashyan wrapped his arms around Sheyn’s knees, a beam of eye-searing light shot from Sheyn’s hand and struck the demon. The beast vanished in a flash of purple-white light, and Luks plummeted toward the ground. Sheyn snagged Luks’s burning tunic with his outstretched hand and swung him over the wall. Kholya caught Luks and smothered the flames as Kashyan lifted Sheyn down from the merlon. They were all stunned by what had just happened, but it was no time to be frozen by shock.

  Kholya gave Luks over to Sheyn, ran back to the wall, and looked down with Kashyan at his side. “At least it was quick,” he said.

  Kashyan counted eight human corpses: some Sumadi, some Savaani who’d gone out on Kholya’s orders. Four demons decomposed at the usual rapid rate, while one flapped slowly in the direction of Taar Muergan. “If Ognyan doesn’t clear the road soon, I’m taking a few Black Hawks on a raid to the Red Temple.”

  “I forbid it.”

  Kashyan stared at his brother. “You forbid it?”

  “Yes. This one thing I’ll deny you. Don’t go alone to Taankh’s Temple. If you do, you’ll no longer be my brother.”

  “Then I’d better start making new plans for tomorrow.”

  “For now, let’s see to Pearl and Velvet. I’d like to hear what they were doing up here.”

  Luks’s burns were mild and already healing as he and Sheyn accompanied Kholya and Kashyan to Kholya’s quarters for the evening meal. After food was set out, Sheyn insisted on serving everyone and scolded Luks if Luks even looked as though he was going to move.

  “Stay as you are,” Sheyn said for the tenth time as Luks shifted on his cushions.

  “I wish I healed as fast as you. I’m tired of lying on my stomach,” Luks said.

  “I never thought to hear those words from your mouth,” Sheyn said drolly.

  “Don’t tease him,” Kholya said. “I’d rather hear how you destroyed that demon.”

  “For which I’m grateful,” Luks said.

  “But how did you do it?” Kholya asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Sheyn replied. “When that creature grabbed Luks, it made me so angry. I couldn’t bear the thought of Luks in that horrible temple and I just felt like… I felt like I could stop it from happening because I didn’t want it to happen. I… wished him back, I suppose.”

  “What about that light?” Kashyan asked.

  “I was as surprised as you were,” Sheyn said. “I reached for Luks and I could see that I was going to miss, but I couldn’t let that monster have him. I felt something sort of rise inside me, and then that light shot out and burned the demon.”

  “It rose in you?” Kashyan said. “Like a belch?”

  Sheyn gave him a chilly glance. “I suppose a certain sort of person might describe it that way.”

  Kholya smiled. “I should spend more time around you, Pearl. You’re always amusing.”

  “My lord,” Luks said coyly. “I wonder that you would speak such words where I can hear them.”

  “Are you jealous?” Kholya asked with something akin to delight in his tone.

  “Jealousy and envy are vulgar emotions,” Luks said. He shifted again and grimaced in pain.

  “Is your back hurting you?” Kholya asked. “Would you like me to put salve on your burns?”

  “You should probably stay naked to the waist until you heal,” Sheyn said. “Modesty be damned. Burns need air.”

  Luks sighed. “I’m doing my best to be a good daaksi, but fate conspires against me.”

  “Then thank your stars,” Sheyn said. “Now eat this pudding.” He set a bowl and spoon in front of Luks.

  “Bossy,” Luks said, making Kholya smile again.

  “This is my thanks for tending you?” Sheyn sat down next to Kashyan. “That’s how it is with some people. All that sweetness goes the way of the wind when they fall ill.”

  Luks threw a pillow awkwardly at Sheyn and knocked Kashyan’s ale from his hand. Luks’s rapid change of expression made Sheyn and Kholya laugh heartily.

  “I’m sorry, my lord,” Luks said. “Let me fetch something to dry you off.”

  “Stay as you are,” Sheyn said, flattening his palm against the small of Luks’s back as he got to his feet. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “I’ve already taken care of it.” Kashyan finished blotting up the ale with his cloak and held out his cup for more. “Sit down and pour.”

  “Even though I know you order me around just to get a rise out of me, it still gets a rise out of me,” Sheyn said as he sat. He picked up the pitcher of ale and poured for Kashyan.

  “Does it make your blood stir?” Kashyan asked with an inept leer.

  “If you want to enjoy my body, you know what you have to do,” Sheyn said, smiling at the sound of Luks’s gasp.

  “Remind me,” Kashyan said coolly.

  “You have to ask, my lord.”

  Kholya drowned his chuckle in his ale cup.

  “What is it about Pearl that captivates you so?” Luks asked. “He’s forward and headstrong.”

  “You’ve answered your quest
ion, my own,” Kholya said.

  “Then why are daaksim trained to speak softly and always agree with their lords?”

  “I don’t know. You’d have to inquire at the Shrine.” Kholya plucked at the lacing that ran up the back of Luks’s tunic. “Let me take this off. I’m sure it would be a relief.”

  “I promise not to pounce on you in crazed lust at the sight of bare flesh,” Kashyan said.

  “And if he is driven mad by your charms, I won’t let him force himself on you,” Sheyn said. He took over unfastening the laces as Kholya brought out the pot of salve.

  Sheyn sat next to Kashyan again and nibbled on a few cakes while he watched the scarred warrior prince tenderly apply ointment to Luks’s burns. Kholya was nearly finished when one of his officers requested entry. After a few moments speech at the door, Kholya returned.

  “Ognyan has decamped and marches toward Taar Muergan,” Kholya said.

  “Ognyan and Kezlath will make interesting bedfellows,” Kashyan said.

  “If the bed isn’t already too crowded with Chanesh and the Red Priesthood in it.”

  “You have a point,” Kashyan said.

  “I often do. You should try it.”

  Sheyn snickered, and Kashyan gave him the wounded look he used to save for Djenya. “Shouldn’t you be doing something to soothe my pride?” he asked.

  “I would,” Sheyn said. “But I happen to agree with Kholya.”

  Even Luks laughed at Kashyan’s expression.

  “You don’t seem troubled at all by the thought of Ognyan allying Sumadin with Muergath.” Kashyan returned to the subject.

  “I’m not worried,” Kholya said. “I’m curious, because I can’t see the future, but I’m confident in my allies.”

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Almost everything,” Kholya said as he put the salve away. One hand lingered on the smooth, cinnamon-brown skin of Luks’s back as he spoke again. “You’ve refused every attempt of mine to elevate you to a rank above captain, so you can’t be surprised when I don’t share every detail with you. If you were a general—”

  “Ayeesh!” Kashyan cursed. “I’m your brother.”

  “You’re a hothead.”

  “That’s true,” Sheyn said.

  Kashyan glared at Sheyn. “While you are the soul of restraint,” he said.

  “I haven’t killed you yet,” Sheyn drawled.

  Kholya laughed so hard he started coughing. Luks tried to get up to fetch some water, and Sheyn lost his balance while trying to prevent Luks from rising. Kashyan stared at his red-faced brother and the daaksim entangled in a mound of pillows.

  “And you all think I’m the simple one,” Kashyan said.

  “Stop,” Kholya begged with tears in his eyes. “If I laugh any harder I’ll have hysterics.”

  “Well, I would hate to strap you to your bed and pour snow melt over you until you returned to your senses,” Kashyan gestured to Sheyn to attend him. “We’ll go to your quarters now.”

  Luks waited for Sheyn’s blistering retort to the command, but it never came. “Go on,” Luks said to his oddly quiet friend. “Prince Kholya will see that I survive until morning. By then, my burns will have healed.”

  “Are you sure?” Sheyn said as he rose to his knees among the scattered cushions. “I feel awful about burning you.”

  “You saved me.” Luks kissed Sheyn’s hand. “Now go and find joy with your master.” He smiled. “After what you did tonight, you’ll need to recover some energy.”

  “Are you telling me to get a good night’s sleep?”

  “No. I’m telling you to let Kashyan fulfill his half of the bond. Each time you find release with him, it adds to your power.”

  “You’re choosing to tell me this now?”

  “Well, I didn’t know before that you could shoot lightning from your fingers.”

  Sheyn smiled, kissed Luks’s forehead, and took the hand Kashyan offered him. He fancied he felt a small jolt when his flesh touched Kashyan’s. The tingle became a spreading warmth that raced up his arm into his chest. “Sleep well,” Sheyn said to Luks as he went to the door, suddenly eager to be gone.

  “I wish you a good night,” Kholya told Kashyan.

  “I wish you the same.” Kashyan opened the door, and Sheyn followed him into the hall.

  “Take me to the baths,” Sheyn said.

  “You want another bath?”

  “Yes, and so do you.”

  After a brisk walk through the fortress, Kashyan and Sheyn reached the bathhouse, and the guard let them enter the daaksim’s room. Sheyn quickly shed his clothing and left it in a pile as he waded into the waist-deep pool. Kashyan unlaced his leather vest and kilt and joined Sheyn in the water.

  “Have you ever washed your hair?” Sheyn asked, eyeing Kashyan’s spiky mane.

  “Not often. When it’s clean it just lies there and isn’t very intimidating.”

  “I can show you how to do the same thing with beeswax. Here’s the soap. Wash your hair.”

  Kashyan washed and rinsed his hair and looked around for Sheyn. In the next moment, Sheyn had grabbed one of Kashyan’s feet, yanked his leg from under him, and lifted it high. Kashyan floundered for a moment, unable to raise his head until Sheyn let go. Spinning agilely, Kashyan grabbed a handful of Sheyn’s hair and reeled him in.

  Sheyn laughed as he fetched up against Kashyan’s broad chest and bobbed up to kiss his lips. He put his palms against Kashyan’s shoulders and shoved Kashyan back against the wall. Sheyn rested his arms on the side of the pool and looked down into Kashyan’s eyes. “How like you this?” he murmured.

  Kashyan took hold of Sheyn’s hips. “How can I judge on a mere taste?”

  Sheyn wrapped his legs around Kashyan’s waist. “Judging by what I feel, you approve.” Leaning back, he grasped Kashyan’s arousal and seated the tip at his entrance. Sheyn braced one hand on Kashyan’s shoulder and sank slowly down on the hard shaft. When he’d taken the full length, he put his other hand on Kashyan’s opposite shoulder and levered himself up. Using the buoyancy of the water, he rose and sank, rhythmically clenching his interior muscles on the rod that stretched them.

  “You can keep doing that for as long as you like,” Kashyan said in a strained voice.

  “Stroke me,” Sheyn said throatily.

  Kashyan reached under the water between them and took hold of Sheyn’s shaft. Sheyn wasn’t hard yet, but it took only a few pumps of Kashyan’s hand to rouse him. With his calves gripping Kashyan’s flanks, Sheyn bobbed up and down, taking Kashyan to the root before pulling off. His cock pushed into Kashyan’s fist, and Kashyan licked at his nipples on each upstroke.

  “I’ll not last long.” Kashyan panted in Sheyn’s ear.

  “Don’t hold back,” Sheyn answered. “We have all night to play.”

  “You’ll be the death of me, Pearl.” Kashyan groaned as Sheyn squeezed his jaavi. “I still expect to wake from this dream, but I don’t want to anymore.”

  Completely in control of the depth and speed of the stroke, Sheyn rode Kashyan’s reyl, glorying in being in charge for a change. Kashyan had no objections at all to this position. He kept an arm wrapped around Sheyn’s back to steady him, but otherwise, he had nothing to do but caress Sheyn, lean against the wall, and enjoy it. Not until his pleasure peaked did he take active part. Planting his feet on the bottom of the pool, he thrust into Sheyn’s tight heat and sank his fingers into the resilient muscles of Sheyn’s ass.

  Sheyn bent backward at the waist, his hair fanning out in the water. He raised his legs to rest his feet on the edge of the pool and spread his arms wide, floating on the surface as Kashyan rocked him.

  “I can’t—” Kashyan gasped before his hips stuttered and his seed unspooled in Sheyn’s passage. He gazed down at Sheyn, his chest heaving as he panted for breath. “My love,” he mouthed.

  Sheyn braced his feet against the wall and pushed. Kashyan’s sated cock slid free, and Sheyn flipped over in the water to gr
ab it with one hand. Using Kashyan’s shaft to anchor himself, Sheyn floated in front of him. “You look almost sad after you come,” he said.

  “I’m not,” Kashyan assured him. “My knees are a little weak, but I don’t feel sad at all.”

  “I feel glorious.”

  “I haven’t given you pleasure yet.”

  “Anticipation is half the fun.”

  Kashyan shook his head. “That’s foolishness.” He snaked an arm around Sheyn’s waist and pulled him close. “Let me show you what fun is.”

  Sheyn giggled as Kashyan spun him around and put him belly down on the edge of the pool. Kashyan reached under Sheyn and cradled his jaavi and naaks. As he gently massaged them, he eased a spit-slickened finger into Sheyn’s passage. Thrusting gently, he rubbed his fingertip around until Sheyn shivered and moaned.

  “Is that what you like, Pearl?” Kashyan asked in a low voice. “Tell me you like it.”

  “It feels good.”

  Kashyan applied a bit more pressure, circling his finger around the small swelling at the front of Sheyn’s passage. He shuttled his hand slowly up and down Sheyn’s hard shaft as he moved his finger in Sheyn’s narrow channel. It wasn’t long before Sheyn’s moans of pleasure inspired Kashyan’s rod to rise again. Taking himself in hand, he nuzzled the head of his jaavi against Sheyn’s spit-shiny opening.

  “Yes,” Sheyn said breathlessly. “Give it to me.”

  Kashyan resisted the strong urge to plunge his shaft into Sheyn and thrust until he exploded. He wanted Sheyn to take as much pleasure in the action as he did. Holding his instincts in check, he rubbed the leaking tip of his cock up and down Sheyn’s cleft and around his crinkled entrance. He was gratified when Sheyn moaned loudly and tried to push backward.

  “You want me to give you more of this?” Kashyan asked as he pressed harder against Sheyn’s port. “Or do you want me to play with you for a while longer?”

  Sheyn made a frustrated, demanding noise and gave Kashyan a smoking glare over his shoulder. Kashyan smiled as he resumed teasing Sheyn, growing even harder as Sheyn made it plain how much he wanted to continue. Kashyan took a firm grip on his shaft and eased the head through the flexing ring of muscle that squeezed it so rousingly. Reining in his excitement, Kashyan moved his hips in subtle arcs, shunting the tip in and out. The short, shallow strokes tagged the spot inside Sheyn that made him shudder and cry out in bliss. Patiently, Kashyan thrust and stroked Sheyn’s arousal as Sheyn’s cries of pleasure grew louder.