by Sean Kennedy
“Are you armed?” asked a familiar voice.
Ezra’s knees felt weak with relief. And hope. “Tobias,” he said, knowing that nobody else knew the man by his real name.
The press of the metal was gone, and Icarus moved around to step in front of him. “Kneebone?”
“Yeah,” was all he could say. He was still trying to figure out how close he had come to getting his head blown off.
“It really is you,” Icarus said in awe.
“As far as I can tell,” Ezra said, and sighed heavily. “You have no idea how glad I am that you’re here—”
Evidently Icarus must have felt the same way, because the pressure of his lips were now upon Ezra’s. Ezra responded eagerly, even though he knew that he should be pulling away and trying to knock some sense into the other man. He thrilled at that first taste of Icarus’s tongue against his own again, and as he drew him in tighter to his own body, he felt the bare skin of Icarus’s back. He had ached for the touch of this flesh again, and even now that he held Icarus again, it wasn’t enough. He wanted more, and he wanted it now. He sank to his knees and he pulled Icarus down with him, still kissing. Playfully, but also with a desperate edge to it, he nipped at Icarus’s chin, which brought a delighted laugh from the other man.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Icarus said. “Part of me wanted you to chase me, and you’re here.”
“You could have chased me,” Ezra said huskily. “It would have made me one happy man.” To prove how happy it would have made him, he dipped his head and sucked Icarus’s left nipple.
Icarus groaned against him, tenderly stroking Ezra’s hair. “Have you come to stop me?”
Ezra lifted his head. “You know about the train, then.”
Icarus laughed. “Of course I know. They might as well have sent me a telegram, they’ve been so obvious about it.”
“Then shouldn’t that make you see sense, and not pursue it?”
“You didn’t come here just to fight me, did you?” Icarus made to pull away, but Ezra tightened his grip.
“Yes, I did,” he admitted. “This is suicide.”
“This is the worst-kept secret in the entire county,” Icarus shot back. “If I don’t do this, it will destroy everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve.”
“You can’t continue feeding the poor if you’re dead!”
“This is an old argument.”
Ezra dropped his hold on the other man. “What next, then? Say you manage to survive this; do you just keep rising to the bait every time they raise the stakes and make it even harder for you? Do you still plan to be doing this when you’re an old man? Or do you not want to make it that far?”
Icarus didn’t answer him.
Realization dawned on Ezra. “That’s it, isn’t it? You don’t.”
“What did I say about trying to analyze me?” Icarus asked, scowling.
“You just think that because you had the life you had taken away from you that there’s nothing else you can do except this.”
“There is nothing else!”
“There are other things you can do! Other ways you can help people! There’s your sister! Your nephews! They’re all still there for you!” Ezra nervously reached for him again. “And there’s me.”
“For how long?” Icarus asked.
“For how long what?” Ezra repeated, feeling stupid that he didn’t quite get what Icarus was asking.
“How long are you there for me?”
“As long as you want me,” Ezra replied. “Which you seem to think isn’t long at all.”
“I don’t know anything right now.” And Ezra felt that maybe it was the first time Icarus had ever voiced that doubt out loud.
“Come back to Shrevesport with us,” Ezra pleaded. He thought of his lone ship, which now could have been a fleet if he hadn’t been so stubborn and proud—in essence, the very same emotions that Icarus was a prisoner of. How could he criticize and rail against Icarus when he was guilty of doing the same very thing?
“Why are you doing this?” Icarus asked.
Ezra wondered why he had been fighting this all this time. Why had he played fool with his own, and Jazz’s, future? They could also have had the lives they dreamed of, but he had dragged them down. Would it have been so bad to accept Lady Bart’s help? Especially now, when it could have saved Icarus and given assistance to many others in the long term? He could have presented Icarus with a range of concrete options, plans to draw upon the business to set up schemes to help the poor while helping themselves if that was what Icarus was so focused upon.
Unnerved by the silence, Icarus asked, “What are you thinking?”
“You ask me why I’m doing this,” Ezra said softly. “I’m doing it because you’ve grown on me. You want to make a change in peoples’ lives, well, you’ve made a change in mine.”
It wasn’t exactly a declaration of love like in those books Jazz read, and even he had picked up himself on their longer hauls, but it was the most eloquent and heartfelt speech that Ezra had ever made to another person. Perhaps time would allow him to take it further, but that all depended on how Icarus reacted.
Icarus studied him for a long moment, but couldn’t say anything. Instead, he kissed him.
This time Ezra didn’t pull away. He knew Icarus was showing him in his own way that there was some depth to how he was feeling as well; there had to be a reason why they kept being drawn to each other. Ezra didn’t know what Icarus’s final decision would be, but in this moment, he at least knew Icarus felt for him too. Maybe this was a moment to get lost in, and try to hold onto it for as long as he could. Icarus’s hands were already impatiently pulling at Ezra’s duster, yanking it off his shoulders and letting it fall to the cavern floor. They were past talking now—it was all tactile, all action. Icarus sat back on his heels and unbuttoned his jeans. Ezra had a glimpse of the pecker already jutting through the waist of the denim before it was swallowed by the gloom of the moonlight as Icarus leaned forward again and started to unbutton Ezra’s shirt for him. After his speed stripping him from his duster, Icarus’s actions now were patient and delicate. He nuzzled the hair on Ezra’s chest, seeking out his nipple and licking it. Ezra’s hands slid down Icarus’s back and came to rest within the material, cupping his cheeks. As Icarus turned his attention to the other, neglected, nipple, Ezra groaned and began to pull Icarus’s jeans down, exposing his ass to the blue light of the cavern. With his jeans still puddling around his thighs, Icarus freed Ezra of his shirt, and their chests bumped. This thrilling touch of skin against skin only made them want to be completely bare so that every inch of their flesh could meet without barriers.
Ezra gently pushed his lover back, and with a laugh, Icarus fell onto his ass. Ezra was instantly on top of him, removing his jeans. Icarus lay before him, exposed, and his hand inched toward his pecker. Ezra pushed his hand away and took it into his mouth. He heard Icarus moan and smiled at the man’s weight upon his tongue, sucking him in further until his nose crinkled at the touch of pubic hair against its tip. He pulled off with a hearty lick up the vein in the shaft, and Icarus looked at him through a happy haze.
“Get your pants off, Mister.”
He was only too happy to comply. As he shucked himself out of his jeans, he watched Icarus roll over onto his stomach and begin rooting around in his supplies, his ass raised tantalizingly in the air. Ezra threw his jeans next to his duster and turned to find Icarus on his back once more, his knees bent and his hands slick as he fingered himself, ready for Ezra to claim him.
Ezra was humbled, but it wasn’t what he wanted. He reached out and took Icarus’s hand. He lay before him and drew Icarus down to his own ass.
“What are you doing?” Icarus breathed.
“I want you to take me.”
“Are you sure?”
Ezra nodded, and to make sure Icarus couldn’t deny him, he helped guide his fingers within him. He groaned and closed his eyes, scared of the emotion that his partner might be able to read
upon his face. Ezra was scared of what tomorrow would bring, and that this could be the only time he was with Icarus. If that was the case, he wanted to hold onto a piece of him forever—this certainty that one time they had been one, joined together, and Icarus had moved within him as close and as intimate as anybody could ever get. He could sense Icarus positioning himself between his splayed legs; Ezra hooked one of his legs around Icarus’s ass to draw him in. Icarus was slick with sweat despite the cold in the cavern, and his body took on a sheen in the filtered light that rendered him as if he were a painting in a gallery.
He felt empty as Icarus’s fingers left him, and he ached to be filled again. It was a breathless moment until he felt the blunt head of Icarus’s pecker against his entrance. There was an initial resistance and a slight burning sensation as Icarus slid into him. Ezra wanted to be past that already, and in his haste as he began moving against his partner, he felt Icarus slide out again.
“Sorry,” Icarus panted, wiping the sweat off his face.
Ezra reached up and pulled him down against him, and then rolled over so that he was lying flush against Icarus’s chest. Icarus looked up at him with wonder, and Ezra pulled himself up into a half-seated position, reaching behind him for Icarus’s pecker, guiding it home. Icarus bit his lip as he slid back into Ezra, and Ezra began to move for them. He took pleasure in watching Icarus watching him, as if they were caught in a crazy hall of mirrors, reflecting in each other’s eyes. His pecker slapped heavily against Icarus’s belly as he rose and fell upon him, Icarus gripping onto his hips hard enough to leave bruises. There was a desperation mounting between them as they rode to their release, which spilled white hot across Icarus’s chest as he continued thrusting into Ezra. Finally he tensed, and Ezra leaned down and kissed him as he fell back against the dirt.
“Holy blazes,” Icarus breathed.
Ezra carefully rolled off him and settled on his side, pulling Icarus into his arms. “Isn’t this something you could want? A life, with a partner, going forward?”
Icarus sat up, breaking their embrace. “Of course I would. But it’s not that simple.”
“It can be.”
“It seems we always come from opposite directions,” Icarus said bitterly, pulling his knees up to his chest. “You offer something so readily that I know can’t be taken so easily.”
“You’re just fighting against it,” Ezra told him. “You could just as well capitulate.”
“Then I would be changing myself.”
“We’re always changing ourselves, especially for other people. I’m not asking you to change who you are or what you believe, I’m just wanting you to stay alive and find some other way to do it.”
“And I was kind of hoping that if you came here, it wasn’t to philosophize.”
It was like Icarus had leaned over and jabbed his thumb into Ezra’s bullet wound, breaking it afresh. “I’ve wasted my time, then,” he said brusquely.
“No, no,” Icarus protested, turning back to him. He dropped his knees and pulled Ezra against his chest, holding him in place. “I have planned for this, believe me. I’m not going into this unprepared. You’ll never understand, but I have to do this.”
“You’re right. I’m past understanding.” Ezra stood and made his way over to the small waterfall and pool. He stood beneath the cold water, washing away every trace of Icarus from his body. It was a shame the water only went skin-deep.
Icarus climbed in after him, and hugged him from behind. “I’m sorry.”
Ezra shrugged. “Why become a lost cause?”
There was no response.
Ezra jumped out of the pool and dried himself with the sheet off the cot as best he could. Icarus silently watched him as he dressed, sitting wet and naked on the natural shelving of the pool.
Standing at the entrance of the tunnel, Ezra said, “Come here.”
Icarus did so, and looked surprised when Ezra fastened a leather and metal cuff upon his wrist. “It’s set to the frequency of the Lilliput. If you need us, at any time, let me know.”
He could have sworn there was the glimmer of a tear in Icarus’s eyes, but maybe he was fooling himself. He nodded curtly and turned to leave, but was stopped by Icarus pulling him back for a kiss. This time it was only the pressure of lips against lips, but it was hard, it was intense, and there was a sorrow behind it that could barely be named.
Against his better judgment, Ezra reached out and stroked Icarus’s chin. And then with one more brief kiss, he turned on his heel and made his way through the tunnel.
Chapter 20
“IT’S not over, is it?” Jazz asked as Ezra sank exhaustedly into his seat.
She watched him with concern, and that only made Ezra feel worse. He pulled his goggles over his eyes so she couldn’t see the exhaustion and the hint of tears threatening to form. “We’re staying here to the bitter end, my friend.”
Jazz nodded and decided to leave it at that. She knew he would talk when he was ready. “Prepare for take-off.”
“Open the window, Jazz,” Ezra instructed. “I want to feel the wind in my hair.”
She did so, and despite the fact that the wind felt as if it was stripping him to the bone as they flew through the dark skies back to Waulkham Hills, he still felt that the story of Icarus was written all over his body.
THE small town of Waulkham Hills had never experienced such activity. Every hotel, saloon room, and spare room amongst the general populace was currently being inhabited by those looking to capture Icarus.
Like before, Ezra and Jazz gave up trying to get accommodation for the night. Instead, they stocked up on supplies and trudged back toward the Lilliput.
“This is going to be even more difficult than we thought,” Ezra said as he sank into his chair, opening the bag of hot biscuits he had managed to get from the local diner before it closed.
“I don’t know, I was expecting it to be pretty difficult,” Jazz grumped, reaching for a biscuit and blowing on it to cool it down. “Do you have any ideas?”
“Not a one,” Ezra admitted.
“Great.”
“I’m relying upon your piloting skills, I’m afraid.”
“How so?” Jazz bit into her biscuit. “Oh good, these are buttered.”
“I know you like them that way.”
“So you’re trying to butter me up?” Jazz said, grinning. “With buttered biscuits and compliments?”
“More like biscuits and truth.” He paused, and laughed. “Okay, and a little bit of buttering you up. Is it working?”
“Maybe.”
“The only thing we can do is get amongst the fray when it begins. All hell is going to break loose when Icarus approaches that train. All these hunters are going to go after him. We’re smaller than they are; we can outmaneuver them far more easily. So we shield Icarus while looking like we’re chasing him.”
“They’ll shoot us out of the sky,” Jazz told him. “Some plan.”
“Icarus said he had something planned, but I don’t know how useful it would be and he wasn’t exactly forthcoming about it. Like I said, I trust your skills.”
“So it’s all on me, then?” Jazz really didn’t seem to like that one bit.
“You’ll have me on board,” he assured her.
“I feel better already.” She shook her head. “Give me the rest of those damn biscuits.”
THE sun rose mercilessly that next morning, looking to burn the landscape below it. The temperatures had peaked to an all-time high, and Ezra wasn’t happy with how sluggish the engines were sounding as Jazz ran through her usual preflight checks.
“Can you hear that?” he asked.
She nodded, her expression inscrutable behind her goggles as she leaned into the engine and observed it. She gave him the signal to quit the engine, and came back into the cabin. “I might do an oil change. It’ll probably help, because I can’t see anything wrong with the motors themselves.”
“We need the Lilliput working at a hundred and
ten percent, Jazz.”
Pulling her goggles up to rest in her hair and push it back, Jazz said calmly, “I always have them working beyond that, and you know it.”
He could feel the heat rise in his face; he had been told off, and rightly so. Jazz always pushed the Lilliput to its utmost limits, and then some. “Sorry,” he murmured. “Just feeling anxious.”
“I know,” Jazz replied, “and that’s why you’re not lying in the dirt right now.”
Point taken. He nodded.
“Look,” Jazz said, kinder now. “We’re going to be out there doing our best to protect him. In the end, that’s all we can do.”
Ezra knew she meant well, but it didn’t exactly fill him with confidence. But he gave her a smile to try and reassure her he was fine and had taken her sentiment on board. She watched him for a moment and then went back to her inspection of the engine. That, she knew how to fix.
“You know, this is a tough situation,” she said, working with her back to him. “You can’t beat yourself up because it’s hard to come up with a plan. It seems like the odds are against us no matter what we do this time.”
He wished she had left it at the last rally for the troops, but he reached out and squeezed her shoulder before returning to the cockpit to check the airwaves and see if there was any inter-airship chatter about the day’s events.
AN UNEXPECTED storm front rolled in midmorning. Ezra didn’t like the look of the skies; if they had been waves on an ocean, he would be convinced that their ship might not last the day.
Jazz stomped through the doorway of the cabin and bounded into her chair. “Glad I did the engines that early. Don’t want rain getting in them.”
Ezra was still frowning at the dark dense clouds through the windshield. “I’m more worried about this big hunk of metal attracting lightning strikes when we’re up in the air.”
“There’ll be bigger ships than us to attract them,” Jazz said with a shrug.
He found himself laughing, even though it was nothing to joke about. One lightning strike could fry their systems and their hunk of metal would be just that, and plummeting to kiss the earth on top of it all to boot.