This Dark Mirror

by Tricia Owens

  It was scant comfort, but Hadrian could tell that the others—most importantly Manix—were inclined to agree. They had little choice, regardless. If they dared climb the cliffs, Gavedon’s trap might be sprung again and Hadrian couldn’t possibly save them a second time in his current condition.

  "We’re not chancing that magick again," Caled declared, startling Hadrian who hadn’t heard the mercenary and Gam returning. He searched Caled’s expression for some evidence of his feelings, but the mercenary was stone-faced. "We go forward. We face what comes next and find Gavedon and rid this land of his presence once and for all."

  "And if he’s set more traps for us?" Hadrian ventured, watching the mercenary closely. "More magickal traps—what then?"

  The tanned skin around Caled’s eyes tightened but he didn’t look away from Hadrian. "We ride with two sorcerers and a mage." He lifted a golden eyebrow. "Surely the three of you can scrape up enough magick to combat a single sorcerer. Impress me.”

  Had he not been so exhausted, Hadrian would have smiled.

  ~~~~~

  "Are you certain this passage isn’t magicked as well?" Gam inquired nervously. "I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the walls glitter like a lady’s trunk full of jewels."

  Hadrian had noticed the sparkles in the walls of the tunnel, but with his limited knowledge of the mainland he hadn’t wanted to mention it in case it was nothing worth noting. But now that Gam had called it out, he worried. Was this considered part of the Glass Falls, carrying its same latent sorcery?

  Manix guided his horse nearer the wall and held his torch higher as he studied the glittering surface. "I am unfamiliar with this type of stone." He twisted in his saddle, his eyes landing on Hadrian first, but moving on to Jessyd. "Have you seen this before? Do you recognize it from your lessons with Gavedon?"

  Hadrian was stung at the dismissal, even if it was warranted. Jessyd shot him a smirk before joining Manix to discuss the tunnel walls.

  "That one’s a brat, isn’t he?"

  Caled’s remark soothed Hadrian’s bruised pride. "You know how I feel about him," he said simply.

  Once he’d been helped to his feet after his leap off the cliff, he’d learned he could barely stand, so he rode once again with Caled, though in front this time. It was a mixed blessing. The moment their horse fell into step behind the others he’d become terribly dizzy and it was all he could do not to slide from the saddle to the ground. It wasn’t the show of strength he wished to present to Caled. He lost interest in Manix and Jessyd as nausea swelled in his throat.

  "By the gods," Caled muttered after Hadrian had had to grip the pommel with both hands to keep from keeling over. "Is this a trick to get me to hold you?" He wrapped both arms around Hadrian from behind. His voice rumbled deep in his chest, humming against Hadrian’s spine. Hot lips brushed the back of his ear. "Just how weak are you?"

  Though he knew Caled wasn’t flirting with him, Hadrian couldn’t stop the shiver that flitted through his body. His cock hardened, demanding to be rubbed.

  "If we encounter another trap at this moment, I’ll be of little help," he answered honestly. He closed his eyes briefly and regretted it when his senses spun. "I’m not well, Caled. I hope this tunnel proves to be harmless."

  Caled breathed against the back of his ear for several seconds before speaking again. "What you did to save us—Manix says you took part of your life to do it?"

  "Not as dramatic as that," Hadrian demurred, but by the exhaustion in his limbs perhaps Manix had the right of it. "I only need time to recuperate. I’m not injured, only very tired."

  "And if saving us had required even more of your energy?"

  Hadrian could answer truthfully. "I would have done all that was demanded of me. Gavedon won’t have you, Caled. Nor the others," he added belatedly, inwardly cringing. "Not while I can stop him."

  "You’re a stubborn thing. In Rhiad, I wouldn’t have guessed you possess such spine. You were shy like a green boy when I met you. Fragile. I was careful with you for fear of scaring you off, of breaking you. But I needn’t have worried, hmm?"

  Hadrian wanted badly to stroke himself. Whether Caled meant to be deliberately teasing or not, his soft voice and choice of words were having their effect on Hadrian’s body. His face felt flush. His buttocks clenched.

  "Your care was appreciated," Hadrian said in a strained voice. "You were my first in many things. Before you I hadn’t known what lust felt like or—"

  "Or what?" Caled prodded when Hadrian broke off. His lips brushed the sorcerer’s ears perhaps innocently. Perhaps not. "Tell me."

  Hadrian shut his eyes. "Or what love was like. But I learned it then, whether you intended it or not. I learned it."

  Caled’s strong arms tightened around him. "I intended many things with you, Hades. I saw only half of them to completion."

  Curiosity burned within Hadrian. "What more did you want with me?" Did you want to fall in love with me?

  But Caled said only, "Many things. The least of which was to introduce you to more carnal delights." His voice lowered. "Harder, more intense delights, the likes of which would have made you squeal, Hades. I never got to hear you squeal for me. At night while I lay with my staff in hand, I sorely regret that lack. A young man needs a reason to make such a noise at least once in his life. I’m very good at giving my lovers many such reasons."

  "Gods," Hadrian groaned beneath his breath. He didn’t entirely comprehend what Caled referred to, but he understood very well the desire that made his flesh hot and hard. "Do you—do you still want that?" He cleared his throat. "Do you still wish to make me—make me—"

  "Perhaps," Caled murmured. He cleared his throat also, but Hadrian had the impression Caled didn’t do so because lust had gotten the better of him but because he needed to pull himself out of fantasy. When Caled spoke again, the husk of seduction was gone. "Perhaps there will come a time when such an opportunity exists again."

  Hadrian slumped in the saddle, wearier than ever, but his cock was a hot brand of dissatisfaction between his thighs.

  "Cruelty becomes you," he mumbled without thinking.

  Caled gave a surprised laugh behind him. "Why, Hades, don’t tell me I’ve teased you into a state?"

  He drew his fingers up the inside of Hadrian’s thigh before Hadrian caught the hand. "Don’t."

  Caled’s breath warmed his ear again. "You need to have your strength for what I’d like to do to you, Hades. If I took you now—" He pulled free of Hadrian’s grip and cupped the sorcerer between the legs, making him gasp. Resisting Hadrian’s pull, he massaged the sorcerer’s stiff flesh until Hadrian began to melt backward against him. "Look at how easily you succumb to me." The rough burr of his voice made Hadrian’s cock swell. "Your response is gratifying but I fear it would be too much for your body to handle. We need you strong. As much as I enjoy a good romp, I value my life more."

  Hadrian looked to the others. Lio was watching them from the corner of his eye, but the others didn’t seem to be paying them any mind. Unable to control himself, he covered Caled’s hand with his own.

  "Don’t leave me like this," he panted. "You did this to me."

  "And I’ll continue to do this to you as I please."

  Hadrian gritted his teeth. "Gods, sometimes I hate you."

  "Just wait until you’re taken by a man you believe you hate," Caled said in a silken voice laced with darkness. "That’s one of those times when you will squeal, Hades. In bed, passion is passion, no matter its source. You’ll learn that soon enough if I have anything to say about it."

  You will, Hadrian thought desperately as his body cried out for completion. I’ll make certain you do.

  ~~~~~

  Caled didn’t often feel guilty. He rarely believed he was in the wrong. He was intelligent, street-smart, and charming. That usually meant he was right.

  But to his chagrin he did feel guilty over his reaction to Hadrian magicking. The sorcerer had saved their lives and Caled’s response to th
at had been to act in an ungrateful and, worse, unmanly way. He was ashamed of his squeamish behavior and was glad that only Gam had been witness to it. He could keep the thief quiet with bribes if need be.

  But he couldn’t erase the memory of his reaction from his mind. He had acted like a simpering coward and cursed Hadrian for saving them. He felt compelled to make it up to Hadrian in his own admittedly self-serving way. Hadrian was exhausted to the point he swayed with each step of the horse beneath them. Caled knew the younger man was two breaths from passing out. But there was a way to keep him awake in case of danger, while at the same time appeasing Caled’s feelings of guilt.

  "There are many things I didn’t do with you that I wished to," he murmured into Hadrian’s ear while his hand leisurely squeezed and released the younger man’s stiff, quivering cock. "Things I worried might have scared you off."

  Hadrian’s head fell back and Caled obligingly guided it to rest on his shoulder. It gave him the smooth curve of the sorcerer’s neck to drag his tongue along. Hadrian swallowed a strangled moan.

  "You’ve never been solidly spanked in bed, have you?"

  Hadrian sucked in his breath. "S-spanked? But—but what for?"

  "Not as punishment," Caled quickly clarified, remembering Jessyd’s tales of brutal corporal punishment at Gavedon’s hands. "Sometimes a certain kind of pain feels like pleasure when it’s applied skillfully." He found the head of Hadrian’s cock through his breeches and pinched it. "I happen to possess that skill."

  "You’d hurt me for pleasure?" Hadrian gasped, his voice ragged. The sound made Caled’s loins ache. He could picture Hadrian in sexual suffering and it stirred an animalistic side of Caled which he was careful to rein in for now.

  "Mmm, and I promise you you’d love it." Caled kissed the side of his throat. "Imagine yourself tied over my lap while my bare hand spanks your tight little arse. Your skin would be hot. You’d let loose with the most delightful moans. Your cock would be harder than it is now, make no mistake."

  "Impossible," Hadrian said weakly. His voice sounded fainter than it had when they’d begun riding. The weight of his body was heavy against Caled.

  Concerned, Caled rubbed the heel of his hand harder between Hadrian’s legs. The sorcerer moaned softly, but he didn’t buck in reaction as he had done earlier when Caled applied pressure to his erection.

  "Hades, are you with me?"

  The dark head lolled against his shoulder. The black fan of lashes lay still upon Hadrian’s cheeks. "Tired..."

  Two horses ahead, Lio exclaimed, "The walls are glowing!"

  Manix drew his horse up. "No, not the walls. The stones embedded within them."

  "Look!" Syellen cried next. "The stones move!"

  Hadrian suddenly slumped against Caled, unconscious. "Elder!" Caled called out, cradling Hadrian with one hand while pulling a dagger free with the other, "Hadrian’s fainted."

  "He was fine when you were—" Lio broke off, blushing fiercely. Caled narrowed his eyes at the nosy thief.

  "Everything’s happening at once," Jessyd breathed, looking in alarm at the glowing stones in the tunnel walls. "None of this occurred while the Order passed through here, I swear!"

  "But what is happening?" Manix cautiously approached the walls again. He leaned close to the twitching stones, his eyes squinted against their unexplained glow. Suddenly he gasped and jerked back. "Gurag Hoof!"

  "It wasn’t here before," Jessyd protested.

  "What, by the gods is Gurag Hoof?" Caled demanded, disliking the fear that had come over Jessyd’s face at the pronouncement.

  But Manix ignored him in favor of the brunette sorcerer. "Where does this tunnel lead, Jessyd? How much further must we travel until we are free of stone?"

  Jessyd looked back the way they had come, his eyes wide. "I-I don’t know how far we’ve come. There is a cavern ahead that opens to the sky—but I don’t know how much farther—"

  "We try for it," Manix announced grimly, kicking his horse into a gallop.

  Startled, Caled urged his horse to follow the others, struggling with the added burden of Hadrian’s limp weight.

  "What is Gurag Hoof?" he shouted ahead. "Damn you, Elder, tell me so I know what we’re facing!"

  "It is a gemstone from the dark side of the Fanawel," Manix shouted above the loud din of horse hooves ricocheting through the tunnel. "When activated, the stones tremble. A small mound of them rubbing together makes a sound that resembles a stampeding herd of Gurags. It is how they came to be named. They are activated by sunlight."

  "But there’s no sunlight here," Gam shouted.

  "No, but there is a source of tremendous energy in this tunnel which currently lies unguarded."

  Caled looked down at the man in his arms. Hadrian. It was Hadrian the stones were drawing from. The moment the sorcerer had lost his battle with consciousness his defenses were laid bare for the Gurag Hoof to leach off him.

  "But what danger are trembling stones?" Gam asked.

  Manix spared him a brief, impatient glance. "Vibration! If every stone in these tunnels begins to shake it will bring the earth down around our ears."

  Already Caled could hear it: a low rumble that if he put to imagination did indeed resemble the stampeding hoof beats of the heavy, pig-like Gurags.

  "By the gods," he gasped, finally understanding the danger they were in. The Gurag Hoof was scattered throughout the walls and ceiling of the tunnel like lights in a night sky. The tunnel could not hold up if all the Gurag Hoof trembled at the same time.

  He awkwardly shuffled his grip on the sorcerer to free one hand. He slapped Hadrian’s cheeks. "Hades! Hades, wake up, you sloth!"

  Black lashes fluttered. Hadrian’s lips moved but no sound issued forth.

  Caled firmed his lips and slapped Hadrian again. Hard.

  "Not my fault!" Hadrian moaned, turning his face away to escape another blow. "Didn’t want to choose..."

  Caled hoped Hadrian awoke before he said another word. "Hades, open your eyes!"

  A black gloved hand raised weakly in defense. "Please, Father, don’t—"

  "Hades!" Caled caught the younger man by the chin and shook him none too gently. "I’m not your blasted father. Open your eyes! I need you awake!"

  Hadrian cracked his eyes open. The silver orbs held a fear which made Caled’s stomach turn. He was thankful when the emotion slowly morphed into confusion. "Caled?"

  Caled forcibly relaxed his own jaw. He cupped the side of Hadrian’s reddened cheek. "Yes, it’s me. You need to stay with me, Hades. You can’t fall asleep again. You must stay awake, do you understand?"

  Hadrian nodded warily, but even as he did so his eyelids began to droop.

  "I see light ahead!" Syellen shouted.

  "Blast it all," Caled muttered. He gave up trying to keep Hadrian awake. He clutched the sorcerer against his chest and spurred their horse faster. Dust was beginning to fall upon their heads. It filled the passage ahead like a cloud of smoke. The rumble of the Gurag Hoof was becoming deafening and Caled knew they were but seconds from the tunnel collapsing atop them.

  "Hurry!" he shouted as bits of rock began to strike him on the head. He ducked over Hadrian to protect his face.

  "Ahh!" Lio cried out as a large stone struck him in the shoulder.

  "Lio!" Gam put out a friend to steady his friend as he swayed in the saddle.

  Caled could no longer see ahead of him. He coughed against the dust. "Hurry!"

  Crack!

  A fissure opened in the ceiling. Caled gasped. They were too late—

  And then they were out. The air cleared as if they’d passed through a curtain of fog into sunlight. Caled gulped in fresh air as his trembling horse skidded to a stop beside their coughing companions. They were within a bowl-shaped crater as large around as a town castle. The top opened to the welcome sight of a pink and orange sunset sky.

  Caled looked back over his shoulder as a tremendous boom rocked the ground. The opening of the tunnel belched an enormous c
loud of dust.

  "It seems backtracking will never be an option left to us," he said, his eyes seeking Jessyd. "Feels a bit like a fox being flushed to the hounds, doesn’t it?"

  "Everything that’s happened is as much a surprise to me as it is to you," Jessyd shot back heatedly between bouts of coughing. "I don’t know how or why this is happening, but you have my word that I’m not deliberately leading you into these traps!"

  "The why is rather simple," Manix spoke up as he tried in vain to brush dust from his robes. "Gavedon knows that upon finding you our only course of action would be to follow your lead. Whether or not you intend it, you are very much leading us directly into Gavedon’s hands."

  Jessyd looked stricken. "But I—"

  Manix held up his hand patiently. "As I said, it is our only course of action. We must find Gavedon and you are our means of doing so. I do not accuse you of anything, Jessyd."

  Caled wasn’t inclined to be so forgiving. However, he kept his tongue for now because Manix had a point. For good or ill, Jessyd was leading them to Gavedon.

  He tilted Hadrian’s head back. The sorcerer, like the rest of them, was covered with a thick layer of dust. Caled carefully brushed the debris away from the younger man’s nose, mouth, and eyes. When he looked up it was to find the thieves watching him with interest. Caled glared at them.

  "Is there a source of water nearby where we may bathe?"

  Jessyd nodded at Manix. "There are hot springs just beyond the crater’s edge. The Order stopped there, too, but only briefly. It should be safe."

  "Well as long as you say so then that makes me feel better," Caled said, not bothering to hide his bitterness. He clucked his horse into step. "Let’s clean up and plan our route. There has to be a better way to track the Order than to stumble after them like children. This is absurd."

  "It isn’t my fault that Hadrian energized the Gurag Hoof!" Jessyd argued, glaring mutinously at the unconscious sorcerer.