by Mike Shade
Bram's hand found his and he was tugged along. He found one of his little mirrors, just held it, stroked it as he stumbled along.
"What are you doing?" Bram asked. "I thought your magic was still rebuilding. Renewing. Whatever."
"It is." He just...He just wanted to touch.
One of Bram's eyebrows went up, but he didn't say anything, just kept them moving, walking and walking and walking. Like they'd been doing for three whole days.
He tested the magic a little, bowing the glass, thumbs pressing in.
"Quinn!" Bram glared at him. "No magic."
"Huh?" He blinked up, going for innocence.
Bram snorted. "I don't know if the Emperor's tracking magic, but it would be my recommendation if I was still with the Guard. No magic until we're over the mountain."
He sighed, fingers playing over the face of the mirror. "So long..."
Bram's arm went around his shoulders and gave him a squeeze. "Better to do without for a while than to be dead, wouldn't you say?"
"Yeah." He just closed his eyes, kept walking.
Bram sighed. "I think there's a stream not far ahead. If we find somewhere to camp for a couple of hours, will you stop sulking?"
The rebuke stung and he tightened his lips. "We can stop when you're ready."
"I can go through the night, Quinn, is that what you want?"
He held the little mirror in his hand, focusing only on the smooth touch. Bram thought he was weak, but he could run and run, and he’d been trained to hide his soul away and leave his body to follow orders. "I can walk, Bram."
"Fine. Then keep up."
Bram's arm dropped away and he strode forward, setting a hard pace. Those wide shoulders were stiff, tight.
Quinn told his body to keep up, no matter what. Then he poured himself into the little mirror where he could rest and hide and remember the fun he used to have, before the Emperor.
He didn't know how long it was before Bram called a halt, but it was dark as pitch, he couldn't even see the trees around them anymore, could barely see Bram's face.
He could feel Bram's hand though, hard on his arm and shaking him. "Quinn! Stop that! Talk to me."
His consciousness poured back into his body, the pain in his hurt leg and feet almost enough to send him back out. "What? What's the matter?"
"You with me?" Bram asked, eyes narrowed, the grip on his arm almost painful.
"Yeah. Yeah. I'm here." Unfortunately. Ow.
"You haven't said a word for hours and then when I called a halt you just stood there. It was like nobody was home." Bram's hands started to wander over his body. "You sure you're all right?"
"Just tired." He pulled away when Bram's fingers touched his thigh. "Have we gone far?"
"Yeah, we're at the base of the mountains now. I think it's safe to stop for awhile." Bram nodded at his leg. "Is that bothering you?"
"It hurts, but I can keep up, if you need me to." He wasn't going to be a bother, a hindrance.
"No, we're all set up for a break. The mountain's going to make the last four days seem like a walk in the park, we need to be rested, fed."
Bram moved away from him and struck a flint and a fire started, slowly revealing their camp, already set up. There was the fire in a pit and their blanket roll spread out on the upwind side of the fire.
"It looks great." Quinn made it until Bram stepped away to relieve himself. Then he moved to the blankets, almost collapsing against them, not even taking off his pack first.
He'd been hoping to get away with it, but Bram was frowning again when he came back out of the trees to their tiny camp. "You sure you're alright, Quinn?" Bram squatted next to him. "I know we've been pushing pretty hard, but I don't want to get caught out here."
"I won't make you get caught. I promise. My body will go and go."
Bram's expression softened and his cheek was stroked. "I'm more worried about you getting caught, Quinn."
Quinn whimpered softly, nuzzled into the touch. "Bram."
Bram leaned forward, the kiss soft and gentle, Bram's breath filling him.
"Mmm..." He struggled out of the pack, then cuddled into Bram's strength, just purring.
Bram groaned softly. "Holding you feels so good, Quinn. Like the only thing that's made sense for days, weeks."
He nodded. "Maybe longer. Touch me, Bram. Please."
Bram nodded and pushed him down onto his back on their blankets, mouth covering his.
The kiss started out softly, but grew deeper quickly. Quinn stopped thinking, stopped doing anything but feeling that kiss. Bram's kiss.
Bram lay down on top of him, body strong and solid, as Bram devoured his mouth. The energy between them was exploding with sensation wherever they touched. He moaned, so focused, needing so badly. His fingers tangled in the soft, short hair, tugging Bram closer.
Bram's hips pushed against him and he could feel the strength in the man's thigh muscles, the heat and hardness that made him ache with need.
"Mmm..." Quinn spread wide, his thigh protesting.
One of Bram's hands dropped, massaging Quinn's thigh, helping spread him. The touch made him moan, eased him deep inside. Bram deepened the kiss, working his clothes off slowly. The woods faded away, the walking and pushing himself, it all disappeared.
"Good. So good." He kept moving, sliding under Bram's touch.
The air was cool against his skin, but Bram's body and hands were so hot, keeping him warm. His cock was filling, exhaustion making him slow, but desire taking over.
"You smell good, Quinn," Bram told him, hand sliding to cup his balls, little finger just teasing the ring.
"You feel good. So right."
Bram nodded. "You, too. I needed to touch you, to remember why we're doing this."
"We shouldn't wait so long. We should love each other more."
"We had to keep moving, Quinn. I won't let them have you."
Bram's fingers toyed with his ring and then one slid into him, pushing right into his body.
"No. I belong with you, yes?"
"Yes. You're mine." Bram looked down at him, eyes serious. "I know how that sounds, Quinn, but it's true. You belong to me and no one else can have you."
He didn't know what to say about that. He didn't know at all. Then Bram was kissing him again and it didn't matter.
The sturdy hands slid over him, massaging and touching and making him feel good as Bram's mouth made love to his own. The woods were quiet and dark, the crackling of the fire and its soft glow encapsulating them in intimacy. It was perfect, less scary and wild and more... loving. Right. Decent.
Another finger pushed into him, Bram stretching him slowly, opening him up.
"So good." His entire focus was on his hole.
The magic seemed to leap, to arc within him, between them, growing ever stronger as a third finger slid into him. Bram's fingers spread inside him before curling and searching, finding his gland. The push of Bram’s fingers was so smooth, the magic seeming to ease the way. "Gonna make it the best ever, Quinn."
A deep low sound escaped him, his shoulders rolling up as pleasure burned through him.
"Yeah, that's it. That's it." Bram's fingers pushed against his gland again and then again.
He panted in time with the touches, energy filling him, making him soar. "More. All of you."
"I would climb into you if I could," Bram told him, little finger stealing in with the other three and taking his breath away.
He spread, heart stilling, toes curling as the stretch burned through him. "Yes..."
"You're incredible," murmured Bram, fingers pushing in slowly, drawing away and then pushing in again, filling him so full.
Energy. All he could see was the bright spark of Bram pushing inside him, filling him, spreading inside him.
And then it was Bram's whole hand inside him, so huge, so impossibly huge. The energy was... there were no words for it, for the way they were merging into each other. He could see it -- the spark when two colors
became one, his entire body shuddering, shaking, pleasure and pressure one and the same.
"Quinn..." The whisper could have come from his own mouth as stunned and laden with pleasure as it was.
Bram's tongue filled his mouth, hand and tongue both moving inside him, and there was nothing, nothing but the two of them joining, becoming one.
Quinn forced his eyes open, forced himself to see Bram, see those eyes. They were looking straight at him, into him. And it was while he was watching them that Bram's hand slid out of him, that thick cock filling him instead.
"Yours. Bram." He started moving, fire burning through him.
Bram nodded, met his movements, matched them, thrusting into him, filling him over and over again. "Mine, Quinn."
He reached up, palm against Bram's cheek, the connection more than anything he'd ever felt. Bram nuzzled into his hand, but never broke their gaze, never stopped thrusting, bringing their bodies together with each plunge into him.
He came without a sound, completely caught in Bram's eyes. Heat filled him at the same moment, their bodies so in tune, so together.
Neither of them blinked, they just lay together, caught, combined, one.
***
Bram was up with the sun, repacking his bag and Quinn's, making the mage's as light as possible.
He worked quickly, efficiently and tried not to think, tried not to remember what it had been like last night, buried inside Quinn's body, almost inside Quinn’s mind.
He broke down the camp and then woke Quinn up. "Time to move on, Quinn. Here's a breakfast pie. Do your business, eat and we need to move on."
Quinn's eyes flashed open, and he nodded. "Okay. How far do we have to go?"
"As far as we can before it gets dark. It's going to be a hard slog, uphill all the way and we won't be safe until we're over the other side."
He resisted the urge to take Quinn in his arms and make love, bury himself in that sweet body where everything seemed right.
Quinn nodded. "I can do it. I can."
"You tell me when you're hurting this time," he ordered.
"I'll try." Quinn headed over to a tree to relieve himself.
Bram shook his head. "You need to do more than try. I can't carry you if you cripple yourself." Though he would. If he had to. And that thought made him growl. "Come on, we need to go."
"Okay." Quinn pulled a tiny mirror from his bag, before shouldering his pack. He looked around as he nibbled his pie; you couldn’t tell anyone had camped here at all.
"What are you doing with that thing?" Bram asked. Quinn had been holding that mirror yesterday, too.
"Hmm? It's a way to help."
"What do you mean?"
"I can put me into the mirror, just leave the body behind."
"It's not dangerous?" He didn't want Quinn to go into the mirror and get lost in it, he needed for Quinn to come back, to be more than just a body. He didn't want to think about why he thought that though.
"Only if I drop the mirror and it breaks."
Something inside him went tight at the thought. "Is it worth the risk?" he asked, voice tight, hard.
Those odd eyes blinked up at him, wide, earnest. "You need me to keep up. You said it was important so they wouldn't find us. I won't be why you're caught."
"I can't lose you to them, but if I lose you to the mirror, it'll be the same result, Quinn."
"Well, I'll do my best, then, but if you need me to, I'll go into mirror sleep."
He stroked Quinn's face, thumbs sliding along Quinn's lips. "Come on. Lets get started."
Maybe the need to keep moving, to get them over the mountains and out of reach of the Guard would back off. Maybe.
Quinn followed, leaving their campsite behind.
The way was easy enough to start with, but it wasn't long before the climb became steeper, any sign of a path disappearing beneath the scrub and grasses. The sun was getting warmer, too, making it hot and sticky.
Bram stopped and went back to Quinn. "You doing all right?"
Quinn's face was red, a few spots bleeding where the leaves and branches had sliced him. Still, the magician -- his magician -- struggled on, fighting to keep up.
He held out his canteen, offering Quinn a drink. He got a smile, warm and happy, if tired. "Thank you."
He nodded and looked back down the way they'd come. It didn't seem very far. Not for the work they'd been doing. And that feeling of being hunted, of needing to keep moving, wasn't abating in the least.
"You okay to keep going? You need a break?"
"I can go. I won't slow you down."
Bram grunted. "That's not what I asked. Come on."
He grabbed hold of Quinn's arm and started moving again. Quinn moved along beside him, growing quieter and quieter, eyes on the ground.
"You going to tell me when you need a break?" He asked, hand still on Quinn's arm, propelling them both forward.
Those pale eyes blinked at him, distant but there. "Yes, Bram."
He frowned. "You're doing that thing, aren't you? With the mirror."
"Yes, Bram. My leg hurts."
"Then we stop." He looked around and then tugged Quinn over to a small outcropping of rocks, taking off their packs for a few moments rest. "Sit. Get out of the mirror."
"Yes." Those eyes slowly came back to life, warming and shining for him.
Growling, he brought their lips together, kissing Quinn hard. Quinn opened to him, letting him in and in and in, arms wrapping around his neck.
Grunting, he shifted, pushing Quinn to the ground and following the mage down, covering the slender body with his own.
"Yours." Quinn sucked his tongue, fully aware. His.
He nodded, hips pushing rhythmically. Gods, Quinn brought out the heat in him.
Quinn's hand was on his hip, encouraging his motions. He bit at Quinn's lips, fingers pushing beneath Quinn's tunic to pinch the little nipples.
"Bram!" Quinn's leg wrapped around his waist, their hips slamming together.
He reached between them and got their pants undone so their pricks slid together. Then it was just rock and push, pleasure growing and growing. Quinn was right with him, completely there, he could feel it all around him.
It built quickly, so quickly it took his breath and as quickly as they'd started, he was coming, heat spreading between their bodies. Quinn followed there, too, crying out into his lips.
He gasped, breathing heavily, but also amazed at the energy and well-being that flooded through him. He felt he could just fly up that mountain now.
Quinn stared at him, wide-eyed. "You can feel that? Us? It's bigger, now."
He nodded. "It gets bigger every time. More necessary, too." He'd been bewitched, it was the only thing that made sense.
Quinn nodded. "I don't understand."
"But it's magic of some kind, you must know what's going on." This was Quinn's bailiwick.
"I told you, it's not magic. It's nothing like magic."
"Then what is it?" he asked, sitting, pulling Quinn up into his lap. If Quinn didn't know and he didn't know... somehow, being bewitched was more comforting.
"Well, it must be us. Together. It must be." Quinn pressed close, the energy tingling and bright.
He nodded, keeping his question of why them to himself. "Are you feeling better? Shall we continue?"
Quinn nodded. "I can. We can. I feel better."
“I've never felt this good," Bram admitted.
He stood and held his hand out to Quinn, pulling the mage up against his body. "Tell me next time, before you escape into your mirror. I don't like it.
"You don't?" Quinn's arm wrapped around his waist, holding on.
He shook his head. "If someone comes up on us, I need you to have all your wits about you." He told himself that was the extent of it and helped Quinn put the pack back on, reshouldering his own.
"Okay. What should I do?" They started walking, Quinn leaning against him. "If someone sees us."
"Get behind me to star
t with. And I'll be moving to find us cover." He considered Quinn's magic, trying to think outside of the box. "How much longer until you can use your magic again?"
"I can reach in now, but it'll make me tired. I only have smaller mirrors, but I can reach in, grab bigger ones."