Jack's Viking Sky 5

Stone

by Mitch H

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asm/mitchh/jacksv05.php
Summary: Leaving their friends and meadows home, House Ondeil travels north and encounters danger and excitement. Daniel learns more of how a hosted Sky should comport himself, and rebels. Jack struggles to keep him grounded while enduring the hardship of his own recent recovery

Chapter 21 - Dark Champion

The trees House Ondeil's small party rode under were tall. Conifers mostly, they had long, deep green needles. Mist hung heavy in the upper reaches, obscuring the pointed tops. They'd left the inn early today, riding east through wooded, rolling lands. Having crashed on Nortvegr a year and two months ago, Daniel and Jack had traveled from a world of nothing but barren sand and desperation into lush green forested lands and dedicated friends.

"But Jack, they said there's a Sky at that holding to the north. Couldn't we at least--"

Jack pressed his heels briefly in Freyfaxi's sides and rode up abreast of his Champion. "Balin, next time we crash at an inn tell all the people in the place, no gossip where our dainty Sky might hear, got it?"

"Crash? Do ye mean we should break up the place before leaving?" Lemmel asked, keeping his post in the rear, trailing closely behind Frost Mane.

"Lad!" Balin scolded. "Ye--"

"Ach! Never go into my master's conversation with his Champion. I know better," Lemmel said, showing great disappointment in himself.

"What would it hurt?" Daniel said. "A day's delay at the most. We swing by and ... I mean, we could visit, perhaps give Lemmel a nice opportunity to further practice his very excellent skills."

Jack kicked Freyfaxi and trotted ahead of Balin. The Champion nudged his own mount and soon all four were chasing each other.

"Might as well ... Jack! Reign up. Come on."

"Ah, hell."

Jack pulled Freyfaxi up to a walk and Balin took his rightful place at the front of the group.

Daniel walked his mount by Jack's. "They said--"

"I heard the gossip. There's some bad blood between the big guy in that stone building they were talking about and his neighbors. Some think he doesn't follow the Nortvegr. You think we should stick our noses in it, don't you?"

Daniel held Frost Mane's reigns low and loose. He pushed his veil back off his head and gave Jack a stern gaze.

"Don't try that with me, Da--Sky. I'm not ... Ah, hell," Jack swore, this time in resignation.

"North, then?" Balin asked, not bothering to look back at the two smaller men.

"Well, there was that one comment I heard," Jack said quietly for only Daniel to hear. "The thing about how isolated he keeps his people. That's a red flag right there. All that talk about him not following the Nortvegr's got to be just talk or someone would have killed him before now. But ... if he's got something to hide we shouldn't be sticking our noses in it, Daniel. We're too vulnerable here."

Daniel continued to stare mutely at him.

"But, a little recon, a fast check. Just a quick howdy, to see how the other half lives here. I suppose ... I'd like to find out what we're going to be messing with, what we're going to destroy if we manage to show these people the truth about Nirrti."

"Other half. Those who don't follow the Nortvegr. You're thinking that's what the whole continent will be like if we let them know they've been living a lie for the past thousand years."

"Yeah. I think I'm kind of afraid to see. We've messed with so many cultures, caused some good things to happen. But ... "

"The truth has to be better than slavery to a false god, Jack. It has to be. Always. If this man lives free of the Nortvegr, then we have an opportunity to see what we'll be bringing to this continent."

Jack scrubbed a hand across his face. "All right. If this guy really doesn't follow the Nortvegr, if he keeps his place isolated because he and this Sky are living free, then that's how things will be like all over the planet if we successfully destroy this web of lies Nirrti has strung up here. This could be what we're striving for. Let's go see."

By late in the afternoon, they reached marker stones painted with a Champion's crest.

"Should'a taken that last farmer up on his offer of a place to sleep," Jack said. "Then come here first thing in the morning. I don't like going into unknown territory near dark. We need to back up a ways and go to ground for the night. Pitch the tent."

"Ye know the ways, Highborn Jack. I'm not knowing the crest of this Champion. Best we do as ye say," Balin turned his horse but before he could move to lead the group back along their trail, someone shouted a greeting.

Standing in his stirrups, Balin peered into the wooded area that was marked as belonging to a Champion's household. Though not posted with the colors of a Highborn, and only a token tribute charged for crossing, no one casually crossed a Champion's private lands uninvited.

"Hail! Well met!" a man's voice rang out. Soon the speaker stepped into view. He was a stocky man with broad, muscular shoulders and unkempt hair. He waved the party to come onto the posted land.

"Ho, and well met," Balin answered, then gave his title. "Champion and sworn arm of the great northern House of Ondeil. Here be the House and he brings with him the Sky. State ye allegiance, man."

"Dolf, steward of Hrainlang, master archer and Champion." He walked from the wooded area into the roadway that led into the marked land.

"Well met ... Dolf." Balin cupped a hand by his mouth and spoke to Jack. "Calls himself a steward, and serving a Champion. I'm not liking this already. I've not my full armor on today, House. Not feeling good about this."

"Give him a chance," Jack said, then turned to Daniel and lifted his eyebrows. He mouthed a question silently. "Calls himself a steward?"

Daniel shook his head and made sure his veil was down properly. Then he realized what had Balin upset. He leaned over to whisper to Jack. "Worker castes don't have stewards. They have ... well, I don't know. A second, a serf. That's the term I heard. Serf. Only Highborn have stewards."

"My good master will be right glad to receive ye and the Highborn. Come, Champion. Come. All be good here. Come," he waved for them to follow as he set out in an uneven jog into the dark land.

Jack touched his heels to Freyfaxi's sides and moved out behind the jogging man. Balin moved to take the lead and Lemmel pulled in tighter behind Daniel and Jack.

Tangled undergrowth had the road narrow. Knotted trees with fan-shaped leaves arched their branches completely over the narrow roadway. The great Flemish horses shied sideways a few times as they moved through the gloom under the close reign of their riders. They seemed to grow more nervous with each step. The trees overhead grew thicker, taller, forming a denser canopy, finally blocking out all but the brightest rays of the low sun.

Daniel pulled his summer cloak from his saddle bag and got it on under his veil. He felt cold.

"Your master have company very often?" Jack asked.

"Oh, aye," Dolf answered. "Many a day in the summer season. He'll lay on a feast for ye, Highborn. Ye and ye Sky. He likes all Sky. Has one himself."

"Watch ye tongue, man. Veil be plain for all to see," Balin said.

Dolf glanced over his shoulder at Daniel and giggled. "Oh, aye. Should have looked sharper. My shame. My shame, Highborn."

"Speak not to him, Dolf. House Ondeil follows the Nortvegr." Balin rested his hand on his sword handle. He turned to Jack and started to speak.

"Here! All be well, Champion. Look. Yon grand castle of my master. Come!" he called toward the tall stone edifice that appeared from the mist and gloom. "Come! Stable hand! Come take charge of these magnificent mounts. Highborn come to visit our master's humble home!"

A scrawny, filthy boy emerged from the metal banded wooden door set deep in the stone structure. The grand castle as Dolf had called it, was blocky and solid, looking more like a fortress than anything Jack or Daniel had yet seen on this planet. Twice as tall as the Ram's Head Inn, it was an imposing structure. The windows were very narrow slits in the wall, deep set. They wouldn't allow much light to pass into the interior. Four square towers rose from the corners of the place. Thick and tall, they dominated the structure.

"Bunratty," Daniel said in surprise.

"What?" Jack asked, arching an eyebrow in surprise. "Rats?"

"Bunratty, or rather, Bun Raite, a Gaelic castle. The resemblance is remarkable, but just coincidence. Bun Raite was constructed in the fourteen hundreds, long after these people were brought here."

To the south of the three-story stone castle was an open sided shed, deep enough for horses to be there out of the rain. A small, empty paddock surrounded the shed.

"This place could withstand a siege," Jack said under his breath as he dismounted. He hung onto the leg pad of the saddle and dropped down to the ground, then stood there studying the stone building.

"Aye. Less and less do I like this," Balin said darkly. He stood at the ready, his eyes scanning their surroundings. "Best go from this place now. Though, we'd insult the Champion. Still ... "

A worker caste man strode from the dwelling that Dolf had called a castle. He was dressed in a padded leather breastplate, leather pants and a chain mail codpiece. Draped over one shoulder was a furry skin. Dangling from that skin was a paw with four claws, each as long as Daniel or Jack's forearm.

The brawny man stood just outside the doorway and laughed heartily. He also wore a helmet like Balin's with gold tipped horns stabbing up and glinting dully in the gloom. This helmet had a circle of gold about the lower rim.

"Company! My steward told no lie when he ran to the road. Said a farmer'd told him Highborn were about these lands. Well come, all. My humble home be open to ye. Come and rest, and I will feed ye this night."

"Yeah, well ... " Jack pause, glancing to Balin to see the man's reaction.

"Come, gentle Highborn. It grows dark and surely ye wish to get ye companion in to comfort?"

Jack looked back at the man and then felt Daniel's tug at his sleeve. "Yeah," he whispered to his lover. "If this is the way things will be ... we should find out."

Balin directed Lemmel to help put the horses in the corral and see to the tack and packs of supplies.

The other three men followed Hrainlang and Dolf into the stone fortress, Balin in the lead, followed by Jack who led Daniel.

Daniel walked a respectable half pace behind Jack who supported his hand out high, a very seemly posture. He gave into temptation and lifted one side of his veil to peer around in the gloomy interior as they walked through a long, spacious hallway. The ceiling was so high it was indistinguishable in the gloom. There were no candles or lamps burning in the area they passed through. Finally they reached a banquet hall. It was easily larger than the size of the entire Ram's Head Inn. There was a dais at one end, and a long table down the center of the hall, with a few high-backed chairs ringing it. The place was in disarray. Chairs were scattered about the room as were small serving tables with remnants of old meals here and there.

A cat hissed at them from a corner, guarding a scavenged piece of meat. Looking at the big feline, Daniel suddenly realized he'd seen nothing like a dog on this continent yet. The gloom and mess around the place brought to mind paintings of great castle dining halls on Earth, with huge fireplaces, banquet tables laden with roasted pigs and big dogs scrambling under their master's feet tearing at large, meat-covered bones.

Daniel eyed a wall hanging as they passed it. It was a tapestry of a battle, with runes stitched around the border. He longed to sit and translate it. But Jack guided him further into the great hall.

They followed the Champion to the steps of the dais. He climbed up to the middle of the five steps, then turned and put his fists on his hips. "Well come to the humble cot of Hrainlang, the Champion. I am a master archer. Have trained many men in the ways of killing, and have sent many a clumsy fool to his early death."

"Something no Champion needs to brag on," Balin said, his face turned full to Hrainlang.

Silence beat through the hall like the dead heart of a grim reaper. Daniel glanced from Balin to the other Champion. He leaned close to Jack. "We should go. This was a mistake--"

Suddenly Hrainlang roared with laughter. "True! True! Any fool who needs to brag hasn't killed enough! Ye point out my error, Champion. I shall have to see to that little deficiency but soon, eh?" He threw his head back and laughed again.

"Master," Dolf said, then added his own, sly laugh. "Ye wish me to fetch ye Sky? Him in right proper clothes as so to show off his lovely bits?" Dolf moved in a sideways scrabble toward a doorway at the left of the dais.

"Fetch him!" Hrainlang commanded and laughed again. Then he climbed the last three steps of the dais and sat on the gold-leafed throne there.

"Sit! Sit," Hrainlang said. "Where be that daft scullery maid? Wench! Get ye in here! Seat our honored guests!"

The scrawny boy from the stable was there then, with Lemmel a few steps behind him coming through the doorway at the far end from the dais.

A raw-boned woman, tall and rangy, scurried from a dark doorway to the right of the dais. She wore a long brown shift that hung down to the floor. She also wore a full length stained apron tied around her neck and cinched at her waist. Her bare feet made slapping noises on the stone floor as she raced around, setting chairs by the bottom of the dais. Then she and the boy began to clean the end of the long table closest to that end of the hall.

"My hunter return with anything yet, wench?"

"Aye, master. Roe. Got a big buck. Big one. Him, he be dressing it out by the kitchen now. Venison and wheat cakes for a banquet feast, master. Root mash and lovely cakes. Wine now?"

"Bring wine! Bring the dark bottles and silver goblets for my honored guests. Highborn and a Champion grace us with their presence today. Go on, lazy wench before I begin to solve my deficiency with ye head on a pole!" Hrainlang leaned from his chair toward Balin and laughed. "A jest only. See how she runs? She does love a jest."

Balin glared at the seated man.

"But sit. Sit. My Sky comes and surely ye wish to ... Well, we discuss all things in their proper time, do we not?"

Chairs had been set for them and Lemmel had brought in his cloak. He draped it over one of the chairs, the resplendent greens and browns obscuring the bare wooden thing and its tattered seat cushion. Then Lemmel held the back of the chair.

Daniel nudged Jack, then tilted his head toward the chair. His lover got the message and led him over to the seat where Lemmel waited. Jack held his hand and Daniel sat. Then Jack leaned over him and unclasped his pale summer weight cloak.

"Leave it over your legs, but if you get hot ... " Jack whispered.

Silently, Daniel nodded.

Jack sat in the chair at Daniel's right side and turned his attention to Balin who stood slightly to his right, halfway between the steps to the dais and the two seated Highborn. Balin's legs were spread slightly apart as if he were ready for an attack.

Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw movement back by the dark doorway opposite the one the kitchen wench had gone through.

Dolf had reappeared. At first Daniel thought the man was leading the filthy, scrawny stable boy who'd helped Lemmel with the horses. The figure trailing after Dolt looked like a child in comparison to the size of the worker caste man. He held the small one by the wrist and tugged him along. As they stepped into the better lighting of the gloomy hall Daniel saw the child was actually a veiled Highborn. A Sky. He was looking at the second Sky he'd seen on this planet.

The veiled figure looked small and frail. Daniel sat up, his gaze locked on the duo. Dolf took great strides, his grinning face focused on his master, heedless of how his gait forced the shorter man to stumble and scurry to stay upright.

Was that how he looked when he walked across the meadows with Lemmel? Like a child scurrying to keep up with an adult?

The Sky wore a winter veil, short and thick. It was looped loosely under his chin, hanging down in the back. His pants were filthy, Daniel could tell immediately. They were stained and tattered as the clothing of the serving wench and stable boy was. As he stumbled and caught himself, Daniel could see the customary slit in the pants, running from ankle to the waistband which rode low on his hips. He wore a cropped shirt and was barefoot.

Dolf dragged him heedlessly to the dais and then pushed him up the steps to Hrainlang's throne. Then Dolf pushed the Sky to the floor. The smaller man sank down on one hip, clutching at the armrest of the throne to prevent Dolf's thrust from sending him crashing flat to the floor.

Daniel gripped Jack's arm, digging his fingertips into his lover.

"What ... Wait," Jack protested as he patted Daniel's hand.

Haltingly, Daniel loosened his painful grip on his lover. He studied the cowering figure on the dais at Hrainlang's feet. Blond hair showed under the poorly worn, winter-length veil. The hair hung in dirty, greasy clumps halfway down the man's back. The Sky's head was bowed and he kept a grip on the armrest, probably as tight a grip as Daniel had given Jack moments earlier.

With his legs bent under him, the slits in the pant legs were wide open. His bare feet were close to black with dirt and soot. His legs were almost as filthy, up to just below his groin where it looked like he'd been scrubbed pretty recently. The skin there was pale and smooth. Though the man's head was bowed Daniel could also see that his face and neck had been recently washed. He was clean shaven. Though he wasn't bathing, he was at least keeping himself shaved, and his groin clean.

On his right, Daniel saw Jack give him a cautioning shake of his head. Heeding Jack's warning, Daniel sat back in his chair, trying to ease his posture.

Jack was looking at Balin now, Daniel realized. He looked too and saw the Champion resting his hand lightly on the grip of his great sword. Balin's jaw muscle was jumping, as was Jack's.

"My beauty," Hrainlang said as he grinned at Jack. Then he reached down and patted his Sky's head, as if the man were a pet. He began stroking the veil, then harshly tugged it off and let it drop to the floor at his feet. It fluttered across the toe of his dusty boot.

With his face revealed now Daniel could see how young the man was. The way he'd walked, so hunched over and tottering, Daniel had thought perhaps he was old. He looked a little younger than Daniel.

Balin turned to Lemmel. Daniel heard the steward's leather boots creak as he shifted from behind Daniel's chair to stand slightly in front of it on the left side. Lemmel was barely in his line of sight now. Daniel saw the big youth clenching his fists.

The unveiled Sky turned his face against the side of the chair, his eyes tightly closed.

"Now, my fine guests, what brings ye to my little corner of the world?"

Lemmel stepped forward and bowed low, and then he straightened and spoke clearly. "Before ye be the great House Ondeil. All here follow the Nortvegr. My master hears ye question into House Ondeil business."

"Ah. No questions, eh? Highborn don't like questions, do they lad? Even if they be on my land, me being a good host this day, preparing a feast in the honor of the Highborn and ... others."

"My master follows the Nortvegr. Charity hurts the Highborn. If ye wish to discuss a trade, then as steward I gladly will hear. If ye wish the trade to be of a banquet feast, then my master will pay for what his household might do to deplete ye grand kitchens and the fine work of ye honorable maids and cooks."

"Young one, ye do him well, this Highborn. But again, say his name, lest I in my shortcomings forget it."

"Before ye be the Highborn, Jack Ondeil, master of the prosperous village, Brooksmeet, master of the favored and glorious Meadows Farm, master of the Ram's Head Inn, master of the House Ondeil of the far northern reaches. Before ye be House Ondeil, host," he said, with a dramatic pause, "of the Sky."

Daniel again gripped Jack's arm. The moment Lemmel said Sky, the crouching figure on the dais had suddenly raised his head and looked directly at Daniel. He had shock and raw fear in his naked eyes, a fear that redoubled as he glanced up at Hrainlang, and then looked back at Daniel.

"... and protected by Balin, Champion and master swordsman. I am the House's humble servant and steward, Lemmel Larsson." Lemmel bowed again.

The Sky who huddled on the floor moved his head, giving an almost imperceptible, negative shake. He tore his fearful gaze from Daniel and looked up at Hrainlang again, then turned back to Daniel. Then he seemed to tremble as he mouthed one word.

Daniel squinted at the filthy Sky. "Flee?" he whispered. Was the man trying to tell them to leave?

Hrainlang dropped his hand heavily on the Sky's head, his fingertips and thumb of the broad hand reaching down past the man's temples. The Sky clenched his eyes shut and grimaced. Then Hrainlang let go of the cowed man and rose. "Then stay and feast with me, House Ondeil, if my pitiful table be not too far beneath ye fine household."

Jack stood and gazed levelly at the tall man. "I'm sure that'd be just peachy. Lemmel will give your serf some coins so everything will be on the up and up. Following the Nortvegr," he added when Hrainlang looked up in puzzlement. "Pardon the northern far reaches expression."

There was no way the venison could have been thoroughly cooked if it had truly just come from a fresh kill. The serving wench and her little dirty follower were piling dishes on the table. Two more unkempt servants appeared, both women, both curvaceous and showing a great deal of skin.

Daniel fought against the urge to get out of his chair and go to the dais. He wanted to get a better look at the blond man on the floor. Hrainlang had left the man sitting on the floor by his throne, stepping on the veil as he left. Had Lemmel and Balin seen that, Daniel wondered?

Hrainlang was now walking around the great hall showing things to Jack and Balin. He had an impressive collection of stag heads mounted high around the entire room. One wall displayed a full skin from a claw beast, not the same fearsome creature whose right paw and fur hung over Hrainlang's right shoulder. The Champion displayed that he'd killed two such monsters. Or, he'd bought the skins. The stuffed head on the wall looked large, but from such a distance and with his veil obscuring his vision Daniel wasn't able to judge it clearly. As he watched the three men looking up at the stretched skin, Daniel realized someone was watching him. Turning, he saw Dolf standing in the shadows near a sideboard. He was staring straight at Daniel.

Jack was suddenly at his side, and Daniel realized he'd been spoken too. He was so intent on Dolf's effrontery that he hadn't heard Jack call to him in a low voice.

"Food's ready," Jack whispered. "Come sit at the table. I won't put anything on your plate that doesn't look fully cooked or completely recognizable. This place doesn't exactly look very sanitary."

"Um," Daniel said and gave his lover a nod. He bowed his head, breaking the blasphemous stare with Dolf. "We need to find out what's going on here. That Sky looks terrorized."

As he was seated at Hrainlang's table, Daniel recalled when he'd stared at Odamari, how he'd walked across the great hall, staring. When he'd gotten too close, too obvious, Brynvold had warned him off, and then threatened to have him killed. How close was inexcusable for Dolf to be? He knew the answer to that. Even the far end of the great hall was too close to stare at a veiled Sky. On the same continent was too close. Staring at a veiled Sky was inviting disaster. He realized he was very grateful to Brynvold's restraint.

Hrainlang was already seated at the head of the table and Dolf came then, dragging the Sky with him. The blond man had his dirty veil clutched against his chest. After Dolf shoved him into the chair at Hrainlang's left, the Sky tugged his veil back on only to have Hrainlang jerk it off before he could get it tied. He sat, slumped and turned away, hiding his face from the guests.

"My beauty be shy, Ondeil. Forgive him. He be a master at enticing a man by this shy display of his delights. He hides them so. But ... in a while ... Well, enough of this lusty talk. Eat!"

Daniel tried to fight off a shiver that ran up his spine. Gunnlaug had used that word. Lusty. Young and lusty, that's what he'd said Daniel preferred in bed companions. Then he'd suggested Daniel would enjoy his son. Was there truth in that accusation? Was that why it stung so much? Lemmel was young and almost always lusty. But that was absurd. Lemmel was a friend. Lemmel loved him. Lemmel wanted to make him smile, to play, to have joy in the act of lovemaking. He was young at heart and always would be, Daniel hoped, if this world didn't harden his heart too much. Lemmel was beautiful. He gazed across the broad table at Jack's steward, so resplendent and proud in his fine jerkin and crisp shirt. Lemmel had a kind and loving face and a heart to match. That's why Daniel spent so much time making love with him. Daniel smiled.

"Ah. Beauty surrounds us, Ondeil. My lovely little pet and ye smiling beauty. We are truly fortunate men, eh?"

"I think, Hrainlang, that your hospitality, your food and house are something to be admired. Your comment about my veiled Sky, however, is not welcome. I hope that doesn't offend you ... too much." Jack smiled at his host.

Daniel bowed his head and held himself rock-still.

Hrainlang let loose another bellowing laugh, throwing his head back and roaring as if he were trying to shake dust from the cobweb-covered rafters hidden in the darkness far overhead. "Fine, Ondeil. Ye be a witty one. Witty. Offend too much, eh? Offend just enough, I'm thinking that be what ye mean. Aye. Well said."

Jack raised a glass of wine to the big host.

"Ye must spend the night, Ondeil. Under my roof. I've hosted many a fine traveler. Champions, Highborn and merchant traders. All are honored to be under my roof. And a trade, of course. No two great Houses must pass and not perform a little trade, eh?"

"What did you have in mind to trade, Hrainlang?"

Daniel looked sharply at Jack who gave no sign that he'd heard Hrainlang name his hold as a great House. That was clearly reserved only for Highborn. The man insisted he had a steward and that he was head of a great House.

"Ah. Delights. Delights. I've a sweet one to offer ye. As we be trading even, no coin be required. Though, I dare say ye could spare a gold mark or two, seeing as how ye pay no real amount for crossing land which be rightfully mine, and posted so."

He pulled his bare-headed Sky to his feet and unlaced the man's pants. Then he pushed them open to reveal the binding underwear, loop pulled mercilessly tight. The Sky's cock, so bound at the base was semi-hard. The loop in its present state acted like a cock ring, trapping blood in the shaft and causing the cock to stay semi-hard all the time.

"Highborn pay gold mark tribute only to Highborn to cross posted land," Lemmel said formally. "This be the way of the Nortvegr. House Ondeil follows the Nortvegr, and will pay ye no more than the five simple coins a worker caste may ask for."

"Young whelp likes giving his betters the lip, eh Ondeil? Smack him around much? Or ... of course ye have a Champion on leash to do the smacking for ye, eh?"

Hrainlang fondled the bulge of his Sky's underwear, stretching the thin fabric to reveal the corona of his penis, the left ball, and then the right one.

"Balin, we should--" Jack was moving to rise when Daniel restrained him. He leaned into Jack and whispered in his ear.

"I want a chance to talk to his Sky. The guy looks scared to death. No way is he here voluntarily."

"Skys are free to leave anytime they want to, Daniel," Jack whispered very softly, his lips pressed against Daniel's ear so no one else could hear. "He could walk out the door the same as we're going to do now. I don't care how dark it is out there. We're outta here. This guy's nuts."

"If you truly believe he's nuts you can't leave that Sky here. You--We can't. Look at him, Jack."

"Daniel," Jack whispered harshly.

"Bed him any way ye wish, Ondeil. He be a strong one, this little bird of mine. Sheathe ye mighty sword in him or give him to yon Champion to do so. Or, of course, both. That be a fair bargain if ye throw in a gold mark or two." He tugged the Sky's pants completely off and spun him around, showing his ass off to them now.

"No," Jack said firmly. "Not going to happen."

"Desire," Daniel said, laying his hand on Jack's arm.

Jack pursed his lips and glared at Daniel's veiled face. "However ... However, Hrainlang, I'd trade for the right to let my Sky ... exchange ... time behind the veil with your Sky ... alone."

"Alone? What good be that to me?" Hrainlang asked indignantly. He shoved his Sky back into his chair. The man was frantically trying to get his pants from the floor but Hrainlang shoved him back again in the huge chair. All the furniture in this hall, just like everywhere on this planet was built for the size and weight of worker castes. Two Highborn men could have sat comfortably in that chair, but their feet would have been off the floor. The Sky had no hope of reaching down to the floor while sitting in it.

"It'll give you and me a chance to discuss possible future trade agreements. Maybe you'd like the right to cross my land free? That interest you?"

"Free? As ye cross mine. Ye give me something that ye take for granted. A mighty honor ye offer, Ondeil," the man said scornfully.

"Let's talk. Send the two Skys off to have a little visit ... alone ... and you and I talk."

"What gold marks will ye offer in faith of future trade?"

Keeping his eyes locked on the swaggering man, Jack spoke. "Lemmel," he said, his tone still calm, controlled, "get me a gold mark."

Lemmel stood and opened his waist pouch carefully, preventing anyone from seeing the contents. He removed a weighty gold piece, oblong in shape and about an inch long. He brought it around the table and offered it to Jack.

Jack took the mark and laid it on the table. He slid it several inches toward Hrainlang, but kept his fingers on it.

The big man seemed to salivate at the site of the gold. "Aye. We talk now. Go," he said, shooing the Sky from his table. The cowed man stood and wavered uncertainly until Dolf came and grabbed his wrist again, pulling him through the great hall to the dark doorway to the back hall. He'd never gotten his pants off the floor, nor his dirty veil from Hrainlang.

Daniel began to rise and Balin was there instantly, pulling his chair out. Daniel skirted past Lemmel and hurried to the dark passage. Several feet into the darkness Lemmel caught up with him and Daniel had to raise his veil to make his way in the darkness.

"Here, little Highborn," Dolf called far down the passage as he held open a doorway. The room inside was lit by a single candle. Daniel entered and Dolf stopped Lemmel at the door. Dolf was a half a foot taller than Lemmel, and had much more muscle mass than the younger man. "Master didn't include us, fancy steward. We wait without." With one stiff arm blocking Lemmel's way, Dolf slammed the door shut. Then a metal click rang loud in the small passage.

The room was very large, but poorly lit. Daniel took several steps inside and saw a huge bed. It was a chamber fit for a king, with a large canopied bed resplendent with draperies and cushioned pillows. There was a massive fireplace, dark and cold for the warmer season. The room seemed to have no windows and only one door. Two walls were decorated with huge tapestries depicting more hunting scenes bordered with runes. Daniel studied them for too long, and then reluctantly tore his attention away from the runes. He looked around for the Sky he'd followed. No one was in the room!

Where had the blond man gone? They'd only been a few steps behind Dolf who was pulling the man along. Daniel spun around and grasped the door handle. It didn't budge. He was locked in. Instantly he began to pound on the thick door and shout for Lemmel.

The moment Dolf had shut the door to the candle-lit room the hall was plunged into thick blackness. In the pitch black, Lemmel groped for the wall. Dolf then grabbed him and wrenched his arm as he dragged him back along the way they'd come. Lemmel stumbled into the stone wall and righted himself. Dolf jerked harder, pulling him off his feet for several steps.

As they reached the great dining hall, Lemmel shouted to Balin. "Lost in the dark, Champion. Come. There's a need to see to the safety of the Sky!"

Dolf shoved Lemmel away and hurried across the hall, quickly disappearing through the doorway that led back to the kitchen.

"What? And interrupt them behind the veil?" Hrainlang called loudly. "Ye follow not the Nortvegr! Leave them in peace."

"Lemmel," Jack rose and came to his steward. "Did you see them go in a room together?"

"I ... I saw the Highborn go in where his servant said. A candle-lit room. Then his servant closed the door and I saw nothing else. The hallway was that dark."

"They're in the room alone?"

"I cannot say, master. I did not get to inspect the room."

"This won't do, Hrainlang," Jack said. "You'll pardon us," he said as he snatched a glowing candle from the table, and then took off down the hallway. Balin was on his heels. At the first door, Jack tried the handle but it was locked. He looked back for Lemmel. "Was it this door?"

"Nay. I think more far down the hall, master. It was too dark. The servant was too hasty dragging the dirty Sky along. Ye Highborn, he ran headlong and fast. No caution."

"That's Da-- That's just like him. Balin, let's beat on some doors. Spread out, guys. Fast. I don't like this at all. Notice who's not with us?" Jack hurried to the next door, but it was locked too.

Balin glanced behind them and didn't see the Champion or his serf. "Sky!" Balin began to shout. He followed Jack to the next door and beat on it, and then bashed his shoulder against the thick wood. The door didn't give way.

"Lemmel! With me, lad. Spare no strength!"

Together they battered at the door.

Daniel hammered his fist on the solid wood, trying to remember how thick it was when he saw it swing shut. As he raise his fist for another hit, it was grabbed in a vice-like grip. Daniel swung around and came face to face with Dolf.

"How did you--" He saw Hrainlang push aside one of the tapestries and come into the room through a hidden passageway. The huge Champion grabbed at him, getting him in a bear hug, face to face. Daniel brought a knee up to kick him and Dolf grabbed his legs.

"Stupid little Sky," Hrainlang said with glee. "My little, stupid Sky." He and his servant carried their prize through the hidden passageway.

Down the hall, Jack and the two big worker caste men moved from the empty room they'd broken into, and then reached a third door and began to batter at it. After several blows the wood around the latch splintered. Balin shoved it open and stumbled to his knees into a pitch black room. Jack was right behind him, trying to protect the flame of the candle that was their only light. "Daniel!" he shouted.

Lemmel scrambled past Balin before the big man could rise to his feet. "Sky?" he called frantically.

Kneeling in a heap in the middle of the bare room was the unveiled Sky, his dirty blond hair a dull glow in the candle light. Lemmel ran to the man and knelt in front of him. He put a hand out to touch the man, and then jerked it back. "Sky, where be my master's Highborn? He was to be in here with ye. Where--"

"Answer him," Jack said urgently. "Where's the man who was with me? Where is he?" Jack pushed Lemmel aside and knelt down. He reached out and touched the cringing man's shoulder. Under his fingers, he felt the man flinch violently. "I'm sorry. I know you're unveiled and all and I'm not supposed to touch you but, come on. Tell me where he is. Where's the Sky who came here with me?"

"I ... Please, don't. Please. I don't want to. No imparting. No. Please." The man shook his head as he covered his face with his hands. "Please."

"I'm not going to ... No imparting. No sex. I don't want that from you."

The Sky wrapped his arms tightly about his chest and hugged himself.

Jack was stunned for a moment, seeing the man use Daniel's old stance, his self-comforting pose. Then he realized the Sky had sat up and was staring over his shoulder at Balin.

"Champion ... Please don't fuck me."

"Ah, gods!" Balin cursed. "I won't touch ye. Never. I follow the Nortvegr. Don ye veil, Sky. Don it and know all in House Ondeil follows the Nortvegr. Tell us where he be. He be in danger, Sky."

"Veil ... " the Sky said. "Took it from me. Always takes it. Always." He began to rock.

The dirty Sky sounded as if he were becoming hysterical. Jack stood and scanned the room frantically. It was bare. One corner had a straw mat and a chamber pot but there was nothing else in the room. "This where Hrainlang keeps you? You're a prisoner here?"

"Don't ... I cause no trouble. No need to be judged. No need to be fucked. Please. I follow ... " He bowed his head. His dirty hair hung over his face.

"Lemmel, give me your shirt!" Jack said quickly.

Lemmel stripped out of his vest and tore his shirt off over his head. Jack grabbed it and draped it over the rocking man's head.

"There. A loan. You can pay me later. Now, you're safe from me and my household. Tell me where they took my Sky."

"A loan? Oh, gods. No. You want payment. Please, take it back!"

"It's yours for a day and for payment, I want you to tell me where they took my Sky. I'll pay you to tell me. Tell me!" Jack shouted.

"Pay? Pay?" the blond Highborn asked repeatedly. "I ... Yes! Odin! Yes. Pay you back. Tell you. Through the wall. Took him through the wall by now. Into the deep chamber under the floor. Bad place. He'll take me to be judged for telling you. I don't care! Save ... save your Sky. Save him. Don't leave him here. No matter what they do, don't leave him here. Judgment is better than this. Judgment is better."

"Where's this room under the floor? How do we get there?" Jack demanded.

"Through the wall. Secret passages lead through the wall behind the cloth scenes. In my master's chamber."

"Master!" Balin said it like a curse word. "Nay, Highborn. Nay. He be no Sky's master. He be worker caste. Worker caste."

"No. He says he's Highborn. We must ... believe him. Don't see the truth."

Jack waved Balin to be silent. "Where's his chamber? Get up. Come on," Jack said as he pulled the shivering man to his feet. He stank of urine and feces. There were other smells that Jack recognized. Dried cum. His hair was clumped in thick patches of dried cum.

"Show us." Jack pulled him into the hallway. For a moment he feared the man would collapse on him. Jack was touching him forcefully and he was veiled. "Come on. Show me where he is. He came back here to try to help you. So help find him now."

"Thi--this door. The master's chamber. Through the wall down into the low room."

"Get it open, Balin," Jack commanded as he pulled the veiled man out of the way.

Balin attacked the door vigorously, Lemmel battering his body against it right along with the Champion.

"Any other way down there?" Jack asked. He saw an oil lamp hanging from the wall and lit it with his candle.

"Down? There is ... It goes up into the steward's room. The door is barred. It will be hard to break in. What if the servants come to stop you? You will die, Highborn."

"Just stay back here." Jack tugged the man further away as Balin began kicking at the hinge side of the door. There were metal strips across the doorway, bolted through the thick wood. This was a fortress inside and out. Balin was making no progress.

"Show me the steward's room," Jack ordered. He took the candle with him and followed the veiled Highborn further down the dark hall. A halo of light glowed around them.

Deep under the fortress, Daniel struggled in Hrainlang's grip. The Champion laughed, hugging him to his chest. Dolf let go of Daniel's legs and tore at his pants. The lacing broke under Dolf's strong jerks. The serf was equal to his Champion in strength. Daniel wrenched his leg back, kicking Dolf hard in the thigh. The worker caste man screeched in anger, not in pain. Then he began to swear at Daniel. He stepped against the struggling man, trapping him upright.

"You'll die for this!" Daniel swore at Hrainlang. "My--"

"Shut up, soiled little Sky shit. Ye think ... You think you're my better? Stupid Skys. Such empty headed toys. Nothing to me but toys. Think you have some special right to lord it over me? That I am not good enough to screw your ass? Soiled little shit!" Hrainlang spat in Daniel's face, striking his cheek just below his left eye.

Daniel tried to head butt the Champion.

"Ah! See? Shit. You fight like a woman. I'll fuck you like one, hear me? But first you will prove what a soiled little piece of scum you are. I saw their blue eyes. Saw them with the blue. I know what you are."

"Master, tell the shit. Tell him. Say what ye will do to him and how I get some too. Ye promised. Ye won't forget, eh, master?" Dolf said, his voice sickeningly sweet in contrast to the hard mauling he was giving Daniel's cock and balls through the binding underwear. "Not even pulled his loop. Let me pull it for him master? Let me?"

"No, fool! How will we get his juice if we pull it now? Wait until we've milked him, milked this little patch of scum for all he has in his little balls. Thinks he's my better. Talking with his airs like that pig, Ondeil. I'll teach him. Teach him, then his owner. Show them both that I'm just as good as they are. They should pay me gold marks to cross this land. My House! I'm just as good as them! Drop of scum."

Daniel felt sick with pain as Dolf worked his hand inside the underwear and squeezed his nuts hard. He fell limp and speechless with a soul-deep hurt. He lost his breath.

"Hold him tight, steward."

As Dolf wrapped a rib-bruising hold on Daniel, Hrainlang tore the veil from Daniel's head, choking him in the process before he got the knot undone. Then he twisted his fingers in Daniel's mop of hair and pulled his ear to his mouth.

"Now ... now you will tell me, shit. You will say it, what you never say to anyone but other Highborn, the ones who fuck you and don't have to pay for it, the ones who ride you on their slave's laps across posted lands and never pay me a single coin for the privileged. Tell me what you whisper in their ear, what they whisper back when they shove their Highborn cocks in your ass, shit. Tell me your name."

"Go to hell!" Daniel ground out the curse. "Go fuck yourself, you pretender."

"Agh!" Hrainlang hauled his hand back and slapped Daniel a backhanded blow across his cheek. Then he clenched that hand around Daniel's neck.

"Nay! Kill him not, master. Milk him. Ye said I'd get the milk. A sip. A lick, master. Odin's smile." His words were wheedling, weaselish. But Dolf's tone was not. His face was masterful, grinning, and the epitome of leering evil.

"Aye." Hrainlang grimaced then took a half step back. "Yes. Yes, I did say you could have a suck of the juices if I could ever lay my hands on one who can still make the nectar. That worthless filthy lout upstairs ... "

"Milk him now?"

"Not until he tells me his name."

"Fuck you!" Daniel screamed.

Hrainlang tore him from Dolf's grasp and threw him across the room. Daniel smacked into the stone wall and slid to the floor. The Champion was on him before he drew a single breath, pulling him upright. Then he hoisted Daniel in the air as if he were a bundle of rags, carrying him under his arm. He walked to a very tall bench made of metal straps and threw Daniel face down on it. Dolf was there instantly, crawling under the contraption. He brandished a long knife and reached up through the slats to cut Daniel's underwear away.

"Tie him now, master? Tie him to the milker?" Again Dolf spoke in words that did not match his masterful tone of voice, the strength or meanness of his sound.

"Don't waste the time. Just get at it, man!"

In the hallway the dirty Highborn, draped in Lemmel's crisp, white shirt had reached a doorway. Shorter than those further down the hall, this one had a rounded top instead of a squared one. "Here," he pronounced. "Where the steward keeps his money and sometimes uses the kitchen wenches in this room. I've seen him, I have. Unwise. Unwise to say such."

Jack tried the handle and found it locked. He began to kick at the door, just below the locking mechanism. On his forth blow the door sprang open, banging against the stone wall inside. He heard Balin's shout of triumph. He and Lemmel had broken through the heavier, steel-banded door of Hrainlang's bedroom.

"Come on," Jack urged the shivering man. Jack hauled him inside the serf's bedroom. It was austere, with more animal skins on display, spikes, and swords leaning against the walls. High on a shelf sat a Champion's helmet, its gold tipped horns gleaming in the light cast by several glowing lanterns. Jack searched for another doorway, another exit.

"There," the Highborn said, pointing a shaking, dirty finger at a tapestry on the wall.

Jack grabbed at one side and jerked the thing from the hooks holding it up. It tore off half of the hooks, and hung rumpled from the remaining ones. Under the torn tapestry Jack saw a door set flush with the stone wall. He pulled at the handle and it swung open. Jack grabbed one of the lit lanterns, singing his fingers on the hot, glass globe before he got a good grip on the handle. Then he stepped into the passage. Ahead of him was a sloping, uneven stone surface. He ran down the passage, holding the lantern high before him.

The veiled Sky was no longer with him.

"Ah!" Dolf exclaimed in triumph. He grabbed at Daniel's crotch, getting a tight grip on his cock.

Flailing, Daniel fought to bring his hips up from the steel bench. He had to escape Dolf's crushing grip! The serf was now pawing at his balls. On his back, Hrainlang shifted, turning to bring his right hip down on Daniel's naked ass. He ground the bone into Daniel's left cheek, making the muscle cramp. Then Hrainlang leaned his right shoulder into the middle of Daniel's back. His mouth was now against Daniel's left ear.

"Stink of shit, ye--you stupid Sky. Tell me your name. Tell me or I'll have my man cut your belly open and spill ye guts through the bars. Want that? I'll let him have you back, that stupid Highborn who thinks he's my better. Jack. What does Jack whisper in your ear, scum? What does he call you when he's fucking you? What does he call you when you give him Odin's smile? Wasted. Worthless as it is on stupid Jack. Won't make his eyes glow with the favor of the gods. You won't waste a drop on him anymore. No. All for me, now, stupid little toy."

Hrainlang brought his meaty hand up and gripped Daniel's neck, his fingers completely encircling it. "Tell me!" he shouted. "What name? Tell me or I send him your guts! He'll like that, won't he! Tell me your name!"

Dolf held the tip of the blade against Daniel's stomach and leered up at him.

Then the monster on top of him shifted his weight, bringing his knee to press against the small of Daniel's back. Mercilessly he pushed his knee into the trapped man. "Aye, this I will take," he whispered, spittle hitting his victim's ear. "And ye not give me what I want so I take what I can. Learned that with the weak one upstairs. Never did go in him, as I'm not one for wanting to bugger ye type. Leave that to Dolf, I do. Still, if so it takes, then so I will do to ye!"

Hrainlang's dirty, fat finger pushed between the tight globes of Daniel's ass, penetrating him instantly. "Say!" Hrainlang commanded, "Or in goes my whole hand!"

"D-- Daniel!"

"Daniel," Hrainlang said slowly. "Daniel. Ah, little Sky Daniel." He ground his dirty finger in deeper. "Now, Daniel, you'll give my steward his due. Give him the nectar you charge poor worker caste for, but that you give to stupid Jack for free. Give it to him, Daniel!"

Dolf tugged at his cock, tugged and began to milk it as if he were handling a goat teat. Daniel widened his eyes, appalled at the stupidity of the two brutes assaulting him. Was this how they thought they'd make him come? Insanity! He renewed his struggles, his face pressed hard against one of the wide bands of steel.

Suddenly, Dolf jerked away, crouching under the bench. He was facing the door they'd come into the room through, his long blade pointed at it.

"What?" Hrainlang said. He jerked up, withdrawing his finger with a wrench that got him a gasp of pain from his victim. He pressed down harder with his knee.

"They ... I think they're through!" the serf shouted in alarm. "Heard something."

"Impossible. Maybe they've broken down the hall door and have gotten through the tapestry. That's all ye be hearing."

"I go look, Hrainlang," Dolf declared, and dropped the long knife on the floor. He scrambled from under the tall bench and grabbed a flail, a spiked ball and chain attached to a thick rod, from a rack by the doorway.

"Fool. Get back here. They can't get through the lower lock. We've got plenty of time to play with little toy Daniel before we have to go kill the Highborn and his pig slaves. Get back here!"

"I hear them," Dolf said, tilting his head to listen. Then he grabbed a lantern and was through the door and gone, leaving it gaping open.

"Damned fool. No wonder his horns needed stripping. Coward. But ye, you, Daniel, you're struggling still, aren't you? Fool Sky. Fool as much as Dolf."

Balin charged headlong down hard, stone steps into inky blackness. "Bring light!" he bellowed behind him and heard Lemmel scramble back up the steps. Then Balin slammed into a wooden wall. He fell on his ass, losing the grip on his blade in the darkness. He fished around for it and grabbed it, then scrambled to his feet. He felt the wooden surface. It was a door, a door with no handle and no hinges on this side. But he could feel the crack around the sides, could feel the slight passage of air around it. He began to hack at the surface with his immense blade.

Jack stumbled on an uneven stone and caught himself against the wall at his left. Ahead he could hear a loud thumping noise and distantly what sounded like someone running. He pushed off the wall and drove ahead, keeping the lantern high.

Several feet farther along, he reached a small branching of the pathway. To his left he heard the banging much louder now and muffled curses. To his right the footsteps were growing closer. He took a step into the left passage and saw that it ended just two yards from him, in a small wooden door. It had two thick wooden beams slatted across it, held in deep metal cups. The cursing was coming from behind the door too. It was Balin!

"Hold on, Balin! Balin! I'll unlock it!" Jack bellowed. He sat the lantern down on the cobblestone surface at his feet and grappled with the lower beam, then the upper one. As he lifted the upper one away from the door, Balin shoved the wooden obstacle toward him. Jack dropped the beam and scrambled back fast.

"Where be the Sky!" Balin demanded.

Lemmel slid to a stop at the Champion's back, his candle flame flickering.

The pounding footsteps had reached them now. Jack whirled toward the juncture of the three passages and came face to face with Dolf. The huge man slid to a stop, gaping in shock at the three men. Quickly he twisted his body, changing directions and began to run up the passage Jack had just come down. Jack tore out after him, his lantern behind on the ground, he chased through darkness after the golden glow of Dolf's lamp.

Back at the passage junction, Balin and Lemmel heard Daniel scream.

"Sky!" Lemmel yelled and tried to shoulder his way past Balin.

"Nay!" Balin commanded. "Get ye to the master. Keep him safe! I go for the Sky."

Wordlessly, Lemmel leaped toward the passage leading up, his unsheathed blade tucked tight at his hip. He pounded after Jack and the fleeing serf. The candle was crushed and extinguished in his clenched fist.

Balin scooped up the lantern Jack had dropped and ran down the steps Dolf had climbed to reach them. He heard Daniel scream again.

In the secret chamber, Daniel felt Hrainlang shift his grip again. The big man rose and gaped at the doorway. He'd heard the shouts.

"They broke through? Impossible! I'll kill you now, stupid little Sky. Daniel. Daniel," he repeated the name as if it was a curse word. He grabbed the back of Daniel's thigh and dug his fingertips in, cramping the muscle. Then he wrenched one of Daniel's arms hard and smacked the man on the back.

Satisfied that he'd debilitated his victim, Hrainlang left him, and ran to the rack of weapons by the door. He pulled a great sword from a leather sheath. Then he whirled to face his helpless victim.

The moment Hrainlang got off him, Daniel rolled off the far side of the metal bench. He scrambled under it, scraping his bare knees and snatched up the knife Dolf had pressed against his stomach only seconds ago. The knife felt huge in his hands. It had seemed small when Dolf handled it, small and wieldy. To Daniel the grip felt awkwardly large, the blade too long. It was as long as his shin bone and wickedly sharp looking.

But he didn't stop. With the blade in his grip, Daniel charged under the bench and out the other side. He ran full-tilt toward the Champion who had a sword in his hand now. As the big man turned to murder him, Daniel lunged. With his right hand wrapped around the handle, he aimed the tip at Hrainlang's unprotected belly, just below the man's rib cage. He angled the blade up, up as he thrust with all his strength. He put the palm of his left hand on the pommel of the handle and pushed with everything in him. He pushed up with his knees and back, straightening himself to his full six foot height. Daniel drove the blade up into the beating, black heart of the vile monster.

As his heart beat its last dying throbs, Hrainlang gasped and his sword fell from his senseless grip. On the legs of a dead man, he took a step back and gaped down at Daniel who kept the blade pressed home.

Balin burst through the doorway and slid to a stop, his great sword at the ready.

As Hrainlang stumbled back another step, Daniel pulled the blade out, watching as a small slit of blood appeared at the wound. The big man toppled backward into the rack, sliding bonelessly to the floor.

Daniel stood over him, panting in shock and the cold flood of adrenalin coursing through his system. No blood spurted from the hole. Hrainlang's heart was no longer beating. He was dead.

Balin stood in the doorway, his great sword still poised. There was no enemy for him to kill. Almost naked, the Sky stood before him, holding a bloody blade. Balin looked from the Sky to the dead body at his feet, then looked at the Sky again, unable to reconcile what he was seeing.

Jack pumped his arms harder, gaining on the fleeing worker caste man who kept stumbling into the walls. Though he held the lantern, his terror seemed to have stripped him of coordination, and the metal spikes of his flail sent sparks off the walls as he banged his way upward. Jack put in a final burst of speed when he realized Dolf had reached the opening to his chamber. He knew he'd never catch the worker caste man in the unfamiliar castle. Despite his clumsiness and blinding terror, the huge man was still capable of beating Jack through the advantage of his size alone.

Dolf burst through the bright opening and Jack cursed. He kept going. Suddenly Dolf fell to the ground in the well-lit bed chamber. Jack felt a ray of hope and pumped his arms and legs higher. He burst through the same opening and saw the dirty, shirt-veiled Sky crouching by Dolf, a lance in his hands, sticking between the fallen man's legs. The Sky had tripped Dolf!

Jack dove onto the fallen man's back, grappling for a choking grip around his neck. Dolf bellowed in rage and scrambled to his feet, his flail and lantern abandoned. Jack hung on as if his life depended on it, which it surely did at that moment. Dolf whirled and twisted, grabbing over his shoulders at his assailant. The crouching Sky scrambled away and hid on the far side of Dolf's bed. As Jack locked his legs around Dolf's thick waist, Lemmel charged through the passage.

"Master! Master, away! I be ... Duck! Duck!"

Jack loosened his hold on Dolf's neck and tucked his head as low as he could get it from the struggling man's own head. He heard the singing of a blade, followed by a dull thud and felt Dolf stagger, then begin to topple.

Lemmel had hit Dolf with the side of his blade, too scared to try striking the man with the edge, least his aim not be true and he kill his master. As Dolf toppled, Lemmel grabbed at Jack's arm. "Away!"

Jack let go and jumped back, avoiding being crushed as the huge man went down bonelessly.

He stood there with Lemmel's support, his lungs heaving. "Daniel," he said.

Lemmel shifted his grip to support Jack while keeping his eyes focused on the downed man. "Balin be for him. Ran down the steps as I come up here for ye. Come."

Jack turned back to the passage, feeling his muscles cramping in anguish. He stopped at the door. "Go. I'll guard this one. Hand me the blade from his waist sheath. I'll skewer him if he starts to stir. Go, Lemmel."

"Hail," Balin's calm voice rose up the passage. "Hail, Lemmel. How fare ye? How fares ye master?"

"Balin!" Lemmel called frantically as he started down the passage. "Find the Sky?"

"Have him. He be well. Wait for us, lad. We come. How be the House?"

"Unhurt. Exhaustion. Near to falling down, he be. The Sky? He be unhurt?"

"Aye. We come, lad. Secure where ye are?"

"Aye. Unless other servants arrive to defend their dark master."

"Watch the doors, lad. Stay steady. We ... we come now. Guard ye master."

"Aye." Lemmel returned to the room and stood over the fallen servant, his blade resting on the man's neck.

Jack sagged against the hidden door's post. "Daniel?" he called into the darkness.

"We come, House. We come," Balin called, softer now as he neared the end of the passage.

He stepped through the opening, Daniel almost completely naked in his arms. He still had on his travel boots and his summer shirt.

"Put me down," Daniel said calmly. "I can ... Put me down, Balin. I'm unveiled."

"Sky," Balin said and set the smaller man on his booted feet. Then he took off his jerkin and placed it around Daniel's shoulders. It hung down past Daniel's knees. "Veil be down below. I will bring it after ye and the House are secure.

Daniel still held the bloody blade he'd used to kill Hrainlang. He brought it up and looked at it in the brightly lit chamber, then he laid it on a nearby table. "Hrainlang's dead," he said flatly. "My God, Jack. Sit down. Sit ... Lay down on the bed." Daniel helped the older man to the bed. "You're hurting."

"Cramp. Legs. Let me rest a minute. Danny, what'd they do to you?"

"Not much. They didn't have time, thanks to Balin breaking in."

"Not me, Sky. Ye love saved ye life. It was he who found a passage past the block that kept me out. He lifted the bars and let me in. All I did was come in too late, after ... a Champion ... a Champion was defeated."

"Yeah. Well, thanks," Daniel said to the big man, then he turned to Jack and bent over him, gathering the exhausted man into his arms. "Jack," he said softly, his lips brushing Jack's cheek. "Jack," he whispered again, rocking the panting man in his arms. "Let me rub your legs."

"Danny. What'd they do?" Jack asked, his eyes closed now as Daniel laid him back and began to try to relieve some of the cramping in his overused legs.

"Cut my clothes off. I'm naked. Pushed me on a metal rack and made some threats. Idiots actually thought they were going to get cum out of me. Fools. Disgusting fools."

"Baby," Jack said, his breathing growing more regular. "I thought they'd rape you."

"No time. I swear, you guys saved the day. How'd you find me?"

"The Sky. He showed me this door. Told us about the other one. He's ... here somewhere. He tripped Dolf for me. Stopped him from getting away. Where's the little guy?"

"Lemmel, do you see the Sky?"

"Highborn, he be now. Veiled with my shirt, he be. He ... hides ... there," Lemmel said, seeming reluctant to say a Sky was hiding.

"Come here," Daniel said to Lemmel. "Rub Jack's legs, lightly. Then his back. He's going to be very sore." Then Daniel left his lover in Lemmel's capable and devoted care, and went around behind the bed. He found the dirty, bedraggled man crouching in a tight ball of fear. "Hey. Hello. Are you all right? Are you hurt?" he asked as he crouched low by the man. "Can I help you?"

"No," the man whispered. "Please, leave me be. Please."

"I'm not going to hurt you. None of us will hurt you. I promise. Thank you. Thank you for helping free me."

"He's d--dead?" the man asked in a hoarse whisper, his voice breaking as he spoke.

"Yes. Hrainlang's dead. You're going to be all right. Come on. Come out here with me." Daniel held out his hand coaxingly.

"Veil," the covered man said.

"What? You've got ... That's Lemmel's shirt. Where's your veil?" Daniel turned back to the others. "Where's his veil? He needs it."

"Ye've not ye own, Sky," Balin said slowly, as if embarrassed to point out Daniel's lack.

"Uh. Mine's ... I think it's still downstairs."

"Aye. As I said, Sky." Balin nodded. "Lemmel, go fetch what the Sky needs. I'll not beat ye for it, lad, as ye be steward in full now. Go. And mind, don't touch the dead one down there. He's cursed. And bar the passage we come through. I'd have no one sneak up on us here from that unguarded way." He eyed the door Jack had broken through. "One opening be enough to guard for now."

Lemmel took a lantern and was gone for a few moments. Daniel took that time to cover Jack with a furry skin.

"Warm your legs, and hopefully keep the cramping from getting worse."

"How's the ... the Sky?"

"Frightened. Like he's been since we got here. And I think he's in shock now. I'm going to go see if I can get him to get up. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to ... " He paused and glanced at Balin whose attention was focused on the door and also on the unconscious serf at his feet. "Well, I think the rules have been trashed pretty hard here. I don't think it will matter if I break a few more and touch him."

"No, Danny." Jack reached out and restrained his lover. "The guy's on the edge. Only way I got him to respond was by following the Nortvegr stuff. Use it, use what you can of it to get him to do what needs to be done."

"Okay," Daniel said with a nod. "Don't worry. Just try and relax. We'll get some clean water for you to drink in a minute."

"You seem pretty solid, Daniel. Why did Balin carry you up here?"

"I ... I ... Maybe because my knees are bleeding. I was kind of in shock myself I guess. I killed Hrainlang. Shoved a knife into his heart. I think ... maybe Balin was more in shock than me. He saw the guy go down, then he just silently scooped me up and left."

"Didn't ask permission to touch you unveiled?"

"No."

"Shock, then. He looks calm enough now, though."

"House," Balin said hesitantly as he glanced at the two men on the bed who were looking at him.

"Balin," Jack answered him, giving the man a reassuring nod.

Lemmel returned then, and handed Daniel's crumpled and soiled veil to him. Daniel shook it out and put it on, but he shoved the front part up to the top of his head. He needed clear vision. The long, gauzy veil hung down over Balin's jerkin, adding to Daniel's sense of modesty.

"I'm gonna go get him up, and we can get out of this place," Daniel said.

"Nay, Highborn." He touched his blade to the neck of the fallen man. "Things must be done here," Balin said solemnly. He moved his blade to point at a Champion's helmet on a high shelf. "See that? I fear it be his, or if not, him posing. The dead one below was master archer. Archer killed the claw beasts. I saw the wounds on the skins, and that be a hard feat with bow and arrow. This helm be of a swordsman. I fear we see the scum who has claim to that helmet, that crest. This must be dealt with. I follow the Nortvegr."

"Tell me what you'll do, Balin," Jack said.

Balin knelt and used a chord from the bed curtain to tie the unconscious man's hands and feet. "Challenge him in an honorable fight. It must be done." Balin stood and stared boldly at Jack. "I follow the Nortvegr."

"We all follow the Nortvegr," Daniel said as he went back to the huddled Sky. "You're safe with us. We follow the Nortvegr. You heard the Champion. He won't harm you. He won't touch you without permission. Even Highborn Jack will not touch you. Can you get up? Let me help you?"

"Sky? Judge me?"

"No," Daniel said. "You've done no wrong. You were held here against your will by men who did not follow the Nortvegr. They ... One is dead now, and the other, will be judged by one of his own kind. You're safe with me. Come. Sit on the bed where I can help you."

Daniel held his hand out and the dirty, cowed man took it. He helped the Sky to stand and was startled to realize they were the same height. The man had seemed so much smaller. But perhaps that was only in comparison to when he'd been by Dolf.
Daniel led him to the foot of the bed near Jack and got him seated. He huddled there, his shoulders hunched, his posture clenched.

"I go to the great hall," Balin said. "Lemmel, guard this scum while I summon all under this roof. Whoever wants to die by my sword need but oppose me in the smallest of ways this night and I will grant their wish instantly. Guard ye the House and the precious ones. I go to summon any who wish to breathe past the light of this night's moon."

Balin left then, the gold tips of his horns flashing in the lantern light.

They heard distant shouts, then silence for a while. Lemmel shifted restlessly on his feet. He had his blade ready and frequently checked the man he'd clouted into unconsciousness. Dolf never stirred.

"That's Balin again," Daniel said. "I heard a woman scream while ago. Think it was one of the maids?"

"Probably," Jack said. "I didn't see any other grown men here. Just that dirty boy and the women. Didn't see the huntsman they mentioned."

"Might have been a lie, master. Maybe no huntsman exists," Lemmel said. "Men lie. Ma says ... "

"She's a smart woman, Lemmel." Jack stirred, sitting up and easing the pressure on his lower back.

"Are you warm enough?" Daniel asked the silent Sky. He got a nod and backed off from the man a little.

Balin returned then. He passed through the room, pausing long enough to finish ripping the tapestry from the wall, and then he was gone down the dark tunnel with it. When he returned, he carried Hrainlang's body rolled up in the tapestry, slung over his shoulder. He told Jack it was time for the household to move to the great hall.

"I've summoned the ones I left alive to the great hall. Any more who wish to die can come to my blade there," Balin explained. "Them that won't accept the change to living under House Ondeil colors have time to leave while I cross blades with this scum. Lemmel, hoist him. He thinks to fool us now, lad. He be awake. Likely pissing his pants in terror of me. I am fierce," he said.

Daniel didn't doubt Balin's assertion that he was fierce. And he was also angry. He'd been robbed of the chance to kill Hrainlang.

"If you intend to hack this piece of shit up, Balin, I require a front row seat."

"House?" Balin asked for clarification. He shifted the dead weight on his shoulder to a firmer balance.

"Northern far reaches expression. I will, as you know, want to be there to see the deed done."

"It be always an honor to kill the deserving before one's House."

Daniel lifted his eyebrows and pursed his lips as he looked at Jack. The military man in Jack was strong at this moment. Daniel saw him nod casually.

"We go to the great hall, steward, then ye are back here for the House." Balin got the horned helmet from the high shelf, sheathed his weapon and waited as Lemmel hoisted Dolf to his feet. The man was indeed conscious. He remained silent though.

At the point of his blade, Lemmel steered Dolf and followed Balin. Then the steward returned a few moments later.

Daniel wanted to help Jack to his feet too, but was waved away and got a stern glare from his lover.

Jack rolled his neck and shoulders, working the stiffness out that had begun to set in rapidly. His calves twinged in protest at standing. Then Jack held his hand out, palm down, expecting Daniel to take it.

The Sky on the bed rose and moved to Jack's side but didn't touch the man. He stood, shivering in his dirty underwear and ragged jacket. Lemmel's pale shirt provided his biggest covering.

"Sky?" Jack said softly. "Will you come with us to the great hall to see the end of the man who's hurt you?"

The Sky nodded, but kept his head bowed.

"Take my hand?" Jack offered.

"Will you use me too?" he whispered.

"He follows the Nortvegr," Daniel said. "If you don't offer a bargain, none will be forced on you. You are protected by the veil."

"It's dirty. He pisses on it. My veil--" the Sky said, his voice breaking.

"We'll clean ... " Daniel stopped speaking. "A new one. I have another you will accept as partial payment. I owe you. I owe you."

The Sky's eyes were wet now. He shook his head. "Is it true?"

"Yes. Come on now," Jack said. "We'll finish things here then get the hell out of this place. Take my hand."

Daniel, with Lemmel leading him, followed Jack and the silent Sky. The man was shaking beside Jack now and Daniel couldn't decide which of them was more apt to collapse during the walk back to the great room. The hallway was lit now. Balin had apparently lit all the lanterns along the way. When they came into the great hall Daniel was surprised at the change.

There were several women and older girl children there now, maybe twenty in all, along with two very young men. One elderly, stooped man stood by the dirty stable lad, leaning heavily on the youngster. All the tables and chairs had been cleared from the center of the room. All lanterns and candles that Daniel could spot were lit. Still, the rafters high overhead were shrouded in darkness. The place was vast.

Balin stood at the foot of the dais, his sword tip resting on a fur rug that had been recently placed there. Hrainlang's dead body was on display by the rug. Dolf was kneeling in the center of the hall, his hands and feet still bound, the horned helmet jammed on his head.

Jack stopped a few feet in the room and Lemmel moved past him, leading Daniel up the steps of the dais. Two of the high-backed chairs sat on either side of Hrainlang's grandiose throne. Lemmel led Daniel to one of the chairs, the one draped in his cloak that had covered the chair Daniel sat in earlier. Then he returned to Jack's side and offered support if it was needed, for Jack to climb the stairs.

"I'm stiff, not dead, kid. Beat it. Go, Lemmel. Do whatever it is you're supposed to be doing for Balin."

"I am to see the House seated, as be seemly," Lemmel said quietly.

Jack walked up the steps, leading the silent Sky with him. Lemmel ushered them to where Daniel waited. Jack stopped, not sure of what to do.

"After you sit, Jack, we will too."

Gratefully, Jack nodded at his lover and watched as Lemmel arranged a cushion on the seat of the throne. The chair would be ridiculously too big for him. His feet would dangle like a child's. He'd be very uncomfortable trying to sit back in that huge thing which looked big enough for two worker caste men. But Lemmel came to the rescue of Jack's dignity. He fetched a small wooden box and placed it on the floor in front of Hrainlang's throne. Then he regarded the seat cushion he'd added, and promptly moved it up to pad the back instead. Now Jack would sit lower and have something to lean back against. His feet could rest comfortably on the wooden box.

Jack brought the silent, nearly naked Sky to stand in front of the chair on his left. Then Jack sat. Daniel sat after him but the silent Sky didn't. He glanced around in fear, then dropped to his knees, clutching at the arm of the throne as he'd done earlier when Hrainlang sat in it.

"No," Jack said and watched the frightened man flinch. "Sorry. I want you to sit in this chair beside me. Do you need help getting up?"

The silent Sky shook his head and climbed slowly to his feet. Then he huddled in the chair. Lemmel came then and held out a cloak to the man, kneeling on one knee and holding the cloth high.

"Take it," Jack said. "Cover with it if you want to. Go on. Take it. A loan."

He took it and clutched it over his front.

Lemmel then brought Daniel his summer cloak, abandoned on one of the dining chairs earlier in the evening. Daniel wrapped it around himself, and fastened the clasp securely. He felt much better with it over Balin's too-big tunic.

At the foot of the dais Balin stood, his legs apart, his head high.

"Any who have had a hand in harming the blessed one who was held captive under this roof, step forward now and take an honorable death. Hide from ye guilt and I will hack ye and all ye lay kin with until blood drenches the floor where I find ye, as I did the huntsman and his evil woman."

"Great master!" wailed one of the women. "We've had no hand in it! All us poor, innocent ones. Leave us in peace! Take that vile one ye've bound and go from here. Please!"

"Come here, wench," Balin said. "Fast. An honorable Champion calls ye."

She scurried forward, her head high in defiance, her posture an uneven match to her whining tone. When she reached Balin's feet she knelt, forehead to the floor, but then glared up at him.

"I see ye black heart," Balin said. Then as swift as lightening he stepped forward and cleaved her head from her shoulders.

Daniel was out of his chair before he felt Jack's clenching grip on his wrist. He was spun about by the grasp.

"Sit down," Jack said firmly.

With his jaw clenching in anger, Daniel sat on the high-backed chair, but he stayed poised on the edge. Jack let go of him. Daniel fisted his hands in the light cloak and looked across Jack at the other Sky. The man was weeping, his hands clenching the cloak Lemmel had given him, just as Daniel was doing.

"House Ondeil follows the Nortvegr," Jack said quietly, so only the men seated beside him could hear. He kept his gaze locked on Balin.

Daniel stayed on the edge of his seat so Jack reached out and laid a hand on his arm, but lightly this time. "She had a knife stuck in the band of her apron. I saw the glint. So did Balin."

"And for that, she dies?"

"Leave this to Balin. I am."

With a hard show of calmness, Daniel sat back in the chair and tried to appear at ease behind Jack's Champion.

"Who else?" Balin called. "Come meet ye death."

"Her, Champion," the old man called out. "She was one who done what the cursed one bid. Did it readily and was happy in the life he had here. Us lot here, the boy's dead da and me, we worked this land long before he come and bought this land from our late master's son. We owed him no allegiance, the false Highborn. Nor that horned one bound yon. Him a real Champion and shamed. Come here to live when he was shamed. Evil. Hrainlang, him were a false Champion with stolen horns."

"Old man, who here follows the Nortvegr?"

The old man answered by dropping to the floor, his face pressed to the stone surface. Then he rose up and tugged the boy down with him. Slowly the women and the two young men began to kneel and press their faces down too. All but one woman knelt, and that one turned and fled through the exit out the front of the castle.

"Any who wish to leave the land, do so now. Take what be on ye backs and naught else. Or stay, and see ... see if this scum can best me. Then ye can swear allegiance to him again and let him ruin what's left of ye pitiful lives. Go, or stay! But if ye stay, know I will slaughter this filth. Then the rightful ruler of this house will be master of ye all. Go now! Or accept what fate Odin decrees."

Two of the women scrambled up and ran out the front door. There were seventeen women and girls left now, plus the two very young men, and the old man and boy. Balin nodded.

"Then, give ye eyes to me and see my glory," he said darkly. Then he lifted his sword and strode to the center of the hall.

The people lifted their faces from the floor, some rising, some staying crouched in fear.

Daniel tensed again as Balin raised the blade. The big Champion cut Dolf's bonds and turned his back on the man. "Lemmel! A blade, steward."

Lemmel ran from the dais and fetched one of the great swords mounted among the arms on display about the hall. He came within a few feet of the Champion and stopped, tossing the blade high in the air to him. Balin snatched the five foot sword from the air as if it were a butter knife he was playing with. Then he threw it underhanded behind him, letting it slide on the floor, hilt first, toward Dolf.

Keeping his back to Dolf, Balin nodded at Lemmel and watched the young man run back to his guard position on the dais.

Dolf rose onto his knees and looked at the blade as if it were a pile of gold marks. He snatched it up and sprang to his feet, bringing it high at the back of Balin's head.

Balin whirled, bringing his blade in a reverse maneuver, hilt out in a great arc, easily under-cutting Dolf's assault. He crouched to his right, going down almost onto his knee and swung gracefully up at Dolf. The unkempt swordsman danced away, grinning as Balin's sword sailed uselessly past his stomach.

"Best ye, I will!" Dolf shouted.

Balin sprang up and whirled his blade in a vertical circle on his right, then switched hands and whirled it around on his left. He began advancing on Dolf. Slowly, methodically, Balin beat him back, back across the great hall. Dolf retreated step by step, growing angrier, more frantic as he continued to lose ground against Balin's unwavering assault.

Balin would attack, then pause, toying with the dirty Champion.

"Think to take ... what be not rightfully ... for ye," Dolf said. "Mine! The master be dead, it all goes to me! Mine. This house. This land. These pitiful excuses for servants!" Dolf lunged, his point straight out. "Mine!" he screeched.

"Enough!" House Ondeil's Champion bellowed.

Balin batted the blade aside to his left, continued moving his body in the direction of the blow, whirling completely about and came chest to chest with Dolf. Balin's blade was out in the air to the right of their bodies and the master swordsman brought it in, burying it through Dolf's armpit, to protrude out through the other side of his torso. For a moment the two men froze there in an embrace of death.

Then Balin grimaced and wrenched his blade free. He turned and walked from Dolf as the man fell to his knees. Balin kept walking toward the dais. Dolf slowly toppled forward, blood foaming from his mouth. He choked, then was silent.

At the bottom step, Balin turned and held his arms high. "On this day, I claim this house, these lands and all herein for the great House Ondeil. No one may question this! I, Balin, honorable Champion make this claim and any who dispute it will die on my blade! House Ondeil follows the Nortvegr!"

Daniel rose slowly, holding on to the arms of the chair. He took a step forward, his gleaming bright cloak trailing down behind him, his white veil shimmering in the dozens of glowing candles and lanterns.

Lemmel moved down to the second step. He glanced back up at Daniel for a moment, enraptured in the sight of the man. Then he turned to face Balin again. Then Lemmel raised his fist in the air. "Balin!" he shouted solemnly. "Balin! Balin!" He began to chant loudly.

The old man rose to his feet, pushing himself up using the dirty youngster's shoulder. "Balin," he joined in Lemmel's chant. Around the room the other servants rose and one by one, joined the old man and House Ondeil's steward. Soon the hall rang with Balin's name. Finally the Champion raised his bloody sword high again.

Lemmel raised his hands and called for silence.

"Ondeil," Balin said. "Ondeil." He gazed about the hall. "Ondeil!"

"Ondeil!" The servants chorused. "Ondeil! Ondeil!"

The old man tottered a few steps toward the dais, shouting with all his lungs. "Ondeil! Ondeil follows the Nortvegr! We follow the Nortvegr! Ondeil! Ondeil! Ondeil!"

Chapter 22 - Setting the Castle in Order

The chant of Ondeil rang on in the bloody, great hall of the stone castle. Balin took a stride forward and leaned his blade tip down onto the fur rug again. He nodded at the shouting servants. After a moment, he held his hand up, signaling them to be quiet.

"House Ondeil has claimed this place. Let it be marked with the colors of the House, as ye see them. Mark all. Set this house, this land in order or leave before the sun comes. Any who will not follow the Nortvegr are free to leave now, with what clothes are on their back. Walk past the boundaries before the sun rises. Any who do not follow the Nortvegr and are caught on Ondeil land when the sun be up tomorrow, are forfeit. Thus it will be for all time. Go. Clean yeselves. Wash as be proper, seemly. Clean this sty. Clean. Then tell all about, all farms and cots and merchants near here that Hrainlang be dead, that House Ondeil rules here now. Post the colors. Go all now, except ye, old man. Come. Speak with ye new master's steward."

Balin turned and walked up the dais. The old man hobbled up a few steps after him.

"Steward, comes before ye now, the senior servant of this stone castle. He will do as ye instruct. He wishes to keep his head and that of his grandson. I go tend to House business."

Lemmel met the old man halfway up the steps and spoke quietly with him.

Balin removed the bodies from the hall, careful to avoid touching them with his bare hands.

Daniel sat down but shifted restlessly. "Could I at least--"

"Not yet. Let this play out for a minute," Jack said.

After Lemmel sent the man on his way he came back to the seated Highborn.

"I need my tuc from the saddle bags, Lemmel, and some clean water for Highborn Jack."

Lemmel issued orders, then crossed to the lit hallway that led back to the kitchens. He called out for a wench; never leaving sight of the three Highborns on the dais. Water and food was ordered to be brought to the hall. Lemmel specified fresh fruit only. Apparently he didn't trust the cooking in the dirty stone castle either.

Balin was back soon, with the grimy youth scurrying in his wake. The lad carried Daniel's tuc.

Lemmel met them at the bottom of the steps and took Daniel's tuc, discretely wiping the strap where the stable hand had touched it. Balin handed him a flask of water, one marked with Ondeil's rune.

When he got his tuc, Daniel expelled some frustration in a huff of air. He hated this sitting and waiting! He fished around carefully inside the tuc and pulled out a little white bundle to get it out of his way. It was the veil Lemmel's mother had given him long ago.

Lemmel recognized the cloth and let out a little, excited gasp. "Ye still have it? Mercy."

Daniel glanced up at Lemmel, seeing the awe in the young man's eyes. "Yes. I still have it. It reminds me of someone who has the kindest heart of any woman on this world." He laid the veil on his chair and then reached in further, finding the square of white cloth he'd been searching for. It clinked heavy with gold marks and beads. Daniel pulled it out and shook the folds out of it.

Jack touched his arm. "That one? With the gold?"

"I think he needs it. It goes a long way toward repaying what he did for me tonight. He went beyond probably what he ever thought possible. You said he saved my life, Jack."

"Yes. He did. We owe him more than that veil. You're priceless to me, Daniel. Can't think of any better way of saying that."

Daniel rose and went to the silent Sky. He held the veil out to the man. "We'll wash your hair, and then put this on. Come with me. Lemmel, bring some water, soap. We'll go behind Jack's chair for some privacy. We're not leaving the safety of this well-lit room for a while."

The seated man stared at the veil, unmoving. Daniel turned it in the light, showing the gold marks sewn along the hem in back. He could see the Sky didn't believe it was going to be given to him. Daniel, like Jack, had also realized why the silent man's hair hung in clumps. He was covered in dry cum. He also stank of urine and other things. The dead Champions had been pissing on him too, probably through the veil. Anger flashed through him and for a moment Daniel shook in rage. Then he remembered the stunned look on Hrainlang's face as he realized a Sky had just delivered a mortal blow to him. He nodded in satisfaction.

Lemmel was back, ferrying buckets of water up to the dais. He'd summoned kitchen wenches again, but wouldn't let them close to the dais. Daniel pulled the shaking Sky to his feet and led him behind the huge throne. "A towel also, Lemmel," he said.

Jack appeared at the edge of the throne then, and draped a towel over the top of the chair the filthy Sky had been sitting in. "Lemmel thinks of everything. Here's a bar of soap and a scrubbing cloth." He held them out, not approaching the two blue-eyed men.

Gratefully, Daniel took the soap, and then gave Jack a little smile. "Be out in a minute."

Jack withdrew and sat down. Lemmel knelt at his feet and began to rub his legs. Jack groaned, and then thanked him. He sipped at the water flask and watched Balin down in the great hall in a low conversation with the old man. Another kitchen wench returned to the bottom step with two more buckets of water. The floor around the throne was getting wet as water ran from behind it. Jack ignored it but noticed Lemmel had already shifted to kneeling on his wooden box. He was keeping the knees of his leather pants dry.

Daniel took the unused cloak from the Sky's dirty hands and hung it over the same chair that held the towel. The chairs, solid and absurdly wide provided a perfect screen for the two men. Daniel then removed his own, light cloak, matching the shivering man as he stripped.

Then he removed the man's short top, and took off Balin's jerkin. The filthy Sky's groin was clean shaven, but he'd only been washed in that small patch. He was only clean there because he'd been shaved recently. Then Daniel removed his own veil and his boots. He was nude now, and very grateful that the chairs had provided such good privacy. What had started out as an intention to rinse the dirty Sky's hair had slowly turned into a double shower. The high-backed chairs doubled as their clothes rack and shower wall.

"They keep you shaved?" Daniel asked as he worked soap into a lather in one of the buckets.

"H--her. Headless one."

"She wasn't nice to you?" He picked up the bucket and prepared to pour it over the man's head.

The Sky shook his head. "Was not ... nice."

"Can you remove the borrowed ... Lemmel's shirt?"

He removed the shirt, untying it reluctantly, and then held it out to Daniel.

"Uh, just lay it over that chair, can you? I don't want to put the bucket down and have to pick it up again. Okay? My shoulder's a little sore."

The Sky nodded, and stepped close enough to lay the shirt over the chair by Daniel.

"Good. I'll pour this over your head, and we'll let the soap run down. Then, if you'll permit, I'll help you scrub yourself. Close your eyes."

After the man closed his eyes Daniel poured the water on his head. The lather he'd worked up in the bucket slid down, leaving trails of foam on the man's grimy skin. This would take a lot of scrubbing, more than Daniel thought was wise right now. The man was on the edge. His nerves were shot to hell. Everyone's nerves were.

"Let me pour a second bucket. I didn't get your back wet enough." He poured more water, then picked up the scrubbing cloth and pushed it into the man's hands. Daniel went behind the man and worked the bar of soap through the nasty strands of hair. The dried cum came out readily, he was glad to see. The strong scent of the soap destroyed the stench of urine. Daniel sniffed the bar and recognized the scent. It was one they'd brought with them. Lemmel didn't even trust the soap in this place. That was probably a good thing. The new smell might help the traumatized Sky as much as getting the stench of human waste and cum off him.

"Better," Daniel said, as he finished with the man's hair. "Much better. It's all going to rinse right out. Shall I scrub your back for you?"

The Sky turned slightly and handed him the cloth. Daniel took it and worked over the man's back, and then cleaned his arms too. He moved lower and lathered the bar in the cloth, then cleaned the man's lower back, going down to the globes of his ass. Daniel got soap all over himself too. Then Daniel handed the cloth back to the silent Sky and dumped a bucket of water over his head, rinsing foam down him. The Sky squatted and rubbed the cloth between his legs, then down to his feet.

Daniel rubbed his own skin for a while, cleaning off the grime from where Hrainlang and Dolf had touched him. He rinsed his scraped knees, and then hissed as he mercilessly put soap on the scrapes.

The silent Sky scrubbed harshly for a while, and then laid the cloth on the floor by the bar of soap. Daniel dumped more water on him, and then Jack was back, exchanging the empty buckets for full ones. Daniel kept rinsing the man then himself until all the water was used up.

"That's enough," he told Jack who was back seated in the throne. "Tell your steward not to bring any more water."

"Need a second towel? You probably got yourself pretty soaked too."

"I did. I smell a hell of a lot better now too. It was filthy down on that metal bench."

Jack brought a stack of towels to the two, holding them out toward Daniel who took one and draped it over the silent Sky's shoulders. They used up the entire stack, drying their bodies and long hair as thoroughly as possible. Then Daniel held the gold embellished veil out to the man and waited for him to take it.

"This is real?" the man whispered.

"Yes. Partial payment. I still owe you more. But this is a start. Take it."

The Sky took it, his hands trembling so that he almost dropped it in the puddle of water the two stood in. Then, with the veil firmly tied in place, he bowed his head. The beads hung just below his eyes, keeping the front edge in place well.

"Looks good," Daniel said, shocked instantly at his own words. It didn't look good. It looked like a mark of slavery, of servitude. He hated the way it looked.

They moved out of the water to finish dressing, putting on clothes Lemmel had brought from Daniel's saddle bags. Lemmel was before the throne now, mopping up water and throwing soaking rags down the dais steps to a haggard looking wench.

"Are we sleeping here tonight, Highborn Jack?" Daniel asked.

"No way. No freaking way," Jack said calmly. "Balin's off setting up some chain of command. The old geezer's going to be the big man on campus until something more permanent is done. We're bugging out of here at first light. We'll fall back to that farmer's house we passed up, and regroup there. Figure out what needs to be done. I'm not closing my eyes under this roof. Balin seems confident that all the servants loyal to Hrainlang are dead or they took off, but I'm not counting on it."

"Okay." Daniel laid his hand lightly on the sleeve of the silent Sky. "We're leaving this place within a few hours. Is there anything you need to pack? Anything you need to bring with you?"

"Leave?" the Sky asked. "Leave here?"

"Yes. You're coming with us."

"I ... " He fell silent again.

"I don't think there's anything here he'll need. I don't think he had anything. They had him in a bare room."

"Locked up?" Daniel asked. "Like I thought."

"You were right," Jack said. "If we'd left when I first wanted to ... "

"Am I free? Is this real?"

"Yes," Daniel assured him. "You're free to go from this place. You can ride out with us. You can stay with us as long as you'd like. If you wish to leave at any time, you may do so."

To his credit, the man stood taller, visibly worked hard to appear calmer. Daniel nodded approvingly at him.

"Been a hell of a night," Jack said. "If that farmer back down the road is still willing to rent us his cot, I'm going to sleep all day tomorrow. All day."

"Me too," Daniel said with a slight chuckle. "Then eat. I'm going to eat first, then sleep. Then, eat again. Where's that fruit Lemmel brought up here earlier?"

"Over there," Jack said, pointing to a small table the steward had carried up the steps. Even now with both Lemmel and Balin in the vast hall, none of the stone castle's servants were being allowed anywhere near the dais.

"This is real," the veiled man whispered.

Balin searched the dead Champion's rooms and found a sizable stash of gold marks. He also came up with a sack of the lower value coins in Dolf's room. The coins he turned over to the stooped old man to buy food, soap, and other cleaning supplies. Then he brought the gold marks to House Ondeil.

"We ride within the hour," Balin said as he sat with Jack at a table near the bottom step of the Dais. The two Skys were still on high, guarded by Lemmel. "I've sent one of the young lads to the farmer's cot, to tell him we come his way. The youths seem malleable enough, but as ye say, none be that much trusted here. The old one, he has naught to gain or lose. The little lad be his grandson. The ma was slaughtered by Dolf, tortured and then slaughtered in that dark room below, he thinks."

"That's nasty. They never left?"

"Old man could walk slow, but only for a day's ride in all directions. Hrainlang would have found him, then done to the child what was done to the woman. They stayed through no choice. The child seems sound enough. Perhaps he'll make a good servant some day. Good training might be worth it. He stole nothing from the packs."

"That's probably high praise in a place like this."

"Aye," Balin said.

"So, we're out of here soon?"

"Horses are ready, Highborn Jack. First light, we show our backs to this dark place."

"Good. Good." Jack gazed up at the dais, seeing Daniel sitting on the huge throne, his arms around the veiled Highborn. "I wish we'd never set foot on this place, but then ... to think of that guy still trapped here with that pig? Not a pretty thought."

"Ye Sky endangered himself, House. As the littlest steward told me ye said he done in the past. He ... He done something here that cannot happen. He ... killed a trained warrior. This be not possible. It can not ever be thought of as real. Never be known. Highborn Jack, what he did, it be not possible."

Jack turned back to his Champion and met his stare calmly. "Not possible? You're a man of logic, Balin. Why is it not possible?"

"He be Sky. Simply, he be Sky. There be no ... It be not possible."

"In the distant past, is it not said that at one time, Highborn roamed the face of the planet? That Highborn, Sky, lived in all the far reaches and went a'Viking on the roughest seas?"

Balin rolled his lips in and stared up at the Skys on the Dais now, as Jack had done moments ago. "In the distant past. There are tales of the times before the goddess Nirrti came here to bless us all. She brought the new traditions and added them to the Nortvegr. She ... changed our peoples. She gave us such great blessings, such great strengths and heartiness. These are truly magnificent blessings."

"But in the times before Nirrti, the Highborn lived everywhere here, did everything. They had no limits on them."

"Aye. None sheltered and protected them. But then there became too few. They grew too weak and too few until almost none of the blessed ones were left among us. Odin almost turned his face from us. So Nirrti decreed, gave us more ways to follow the Nortvegr so that great Odin would never turn from us. And we see the wonders of her works still. We see proof in Odin's smile, that he still sees us. We see the blessed Nirrti in the blue eyes and light hair of her children, the Sky caste. We see the miracle of our gods when we impart our offering to them, and gaze into the sacred blue. Our gods are living with us, and the Sky caste are proof. We must ... keep them safe, apart, sacred. They must not risk themselves, or they risk Odin turning his face from us."

"I hear you, Balin. I hear. We'll talk more about this after we've all had some sleep."

Balin looked very troubled, but he nodded and left Jack to rest under Lemmel's watchful gaze.

As they walked outside in the dawn light, the silent Sky clung to Daniel. "We'll have to get you up on the horse. You can ride with me. It'll be okay."

"Highborn," Balin said, bowing respectfully. "A Sky be never wrong," he began, then glanced up at Daniel.

Daniel pushed the dangling edge of his summer veil up onto his forehead and glared at Balin. "Yes. You are right, Champion. Now, as to the riding arrangements, you have a suggestion about ... my comfort and that of our Highborn friend?"

"Aye, Highborn. Ye do me such honor in asking. It would be a great honor for ye steward to care for the little Highborn, ye ... Highborn friend. Young Lemmel would be most pleased, most honored. And above all, Lemmel, true steward and a man who follows the Nortvegr, young Lemmel, he would be most honored to be allowed to fulfill his duties to his master, a real master. If he could please make the little Highborn comfortable on his saddle? He be quite stout and could hold ye ... friend ... secure on the great black beast. There would be naught to fear along the journey if Lemmel were to be permitted to perform his duty as it be owed to House Ondeil. House Ondeil follows the Nortvegr."

"Follows the Nortvegr," Daniel repeated, one eyebrow up in disdain. "Yes. That's a good suggestion, but I'll ask my friend," he stressed the word, "if he wishes to ride with Lemmel, who follows the Nortvegr."

Daniel did ask. And he explained that Lemmel was to be trusted, as Lemmel did indeed follow the Nortvegr and had carried Daniel many times, very safely. Then Daniel reflected on something Odamari had said to him long ago. "All servants in House Ondeil are well trained in the art of not looking at a Sky, and the art of not feeling us even though we are in their arms," he added to Odamari's words to fit the occasion.

The veiled Sky nodded his agreement. Daniel led him to Lemmel's mount where the steward was already in the roomier of the two large saddles, the one that had been specifically made for when they'd need to ride with Daniel in one of the worker caste's laps. This would become necessary in certain populated areas. Daniel was dreading that time. He'd lose the freedom he had with Freyfaxi under him. Looking up at the saddle Daniel realized Balin had once again planned ahead, knowing the seemly thing to do with the silent Sky.

He also realized Balin's help would be needed to get the jittery Sky up on the tall horse. Apparently the man was ready for that. When Balin approached, he lifted his arms from his side and Balin effortlessly handed him up to Lemmel who got him seated on the saddle, without any exchange of words and with a minimum of touching. Sitting there now, Lemmel completely ignored the man between his thighs. His arms on either side of the man, extended so he could hold the reigns, kept the man securely in the saddle.

Daniel tried to be as cooperative when Balin lifted him onto his mount. He held his arms out to his sides and for once, let Balin seat him on the saddle instead of insisting on a leg up. He was riding Frost Mane this morning and would be seated in Jack's lap, Jack unquestioningly holding the reigns.

Balin led them off the land and to the farmer's cot. The man was indeed expecting them. His small family waited outside and took the horses to an empty sheep corral. Lemmel cooked. The farmer had left food out, but Lemmel unpacked supplies from one of their bags and served dried bread and nut cake, along with the green seed pods Daniel liked so much. He had jerked mutton, heavily spiced that went well with the filling cakes.

Then the three Highborn went to bed on the farmer's broad sleeping platform. It was made to accommodate two worker caste adults, and easily held the three Highborn in comfort. Daniel slept in the middle, plastered to Jack, and snored heavily.

Jack shifted a lot at first, his aching muscles reminding him of the head-long, mad dashes he'd done down then back up the dark tunnel. The silent Sky lay down, curled in a tight ball and never moved. He clutched at the veil on his head and was breathing deeply within minutes. Balin and Lemmel made one pallet on the floor and slept in shifts for the rest of the day. Jack was true to his word. He slept until dark, and then Daniel roused him, complaining of hunger.

For their second meal in the cot, Lemmel allowed the farmer's wife to enter and cook fresh pork. She made enough for the visitors and her small family. They were bedding down for the night in the sheep shed and happy with the coins they'd received to do so.

"We'll head back to that inn tomorrow," Jack said at the supper table. He sat on a bench across from Daniel and the silent sky. The two blue-eyed men shared one bench. Balin and Lemmel stood and ate in the kitchen alcove of the cozy, humble cot.

"Not sure what to do after that. We can soak away a little soreness in that tub again. Then ... Got any suggestions, Balin?"

"Not at this moment, House. I've no mind for thinking past the next meal at this time."

"Uh ... Sky," Jack said falteringly. "Feels odd, Sky," he said, turning from the silent man to Daniel. "Don't know who I'm talking to, do you? But how do I distinguish ... between ... " Jack lifted his eyebrows and tilted his head toward Daniel, then the silent man at his side.

"We're veiled, Jack, but I get your meaning. I don't know. That's not something Brynvold seemed to have a problem with. I think ... I don't know."

"You're a big help here, babe. Big help."

Daniel smiled smugly at his lover. "I do try." He speared a green stalk and chewed it slowly.

"Uh, Highborn, if you don't mind," Jack said, crouching down in his seat to peer at the veiled man, "I was wondering if you and I could talk? Would that be okay?"

The man glanced up, looking to the side at Balin and Lemmel, then quickly bowed his head again.

"Oh, don't mind them," Jack said with a light tone. "Nice guys. Honestly. Both of 'em. They'll ... uh ... they'll go take a walk, right guys? You two take off for a while. Go check on the horses. You through eating, Lemmel?"

"Aye, master. Am. Right quick I'm for going to check on the horses."

As Lemmel left, Balin trailed after him. He seemed very reluctant to leave. The cot door was closed firmly and Daniel removed his veil, then turned to the anxious looking Sky. He waited for a moment, then tried to remember more of what Odamari had said to him.

"I welcome you behind the veil," he tried, but got no response.

"Turn away, Jack. Kinsman," he tried a more direct approach. "I welcome you behind the veil." He held his hands out, palms down.

The cowed man turned to him and slowly pushed his own veil back and off his head. Then he stared at Daniel's hands. He reached his own out, but held them palms down also, his brow wrinkled in worry. Hastily, Daniel turned his hands over and gently brought them in contact with the silent man's hands.

"I ... Yes, this is right," Daniel said, to cover his error. A Sky was never wrong, but obviously he'd just made a blunder. Odamari had been the visitor, so his palms were facing down? Was that how it worked? And this guy was considering himself a visitor among House Ondeil, which, surely he was now. So his hands should be palm down. Daniel should be on the bottom.

"I welcome you behind the veil," Daniel repeated.

"Kinsman," the Sky returned Daniel's greeting.

"Will you allow the presence of my desire, the Highborn Jack Ondeil?"

"Honored," the man said. Then he leaned forward and offered his lips to Daniel.

Daniel was genuinely surprised after what all this man had been through, that he would be so willing for that kind of contact. But then they'd just slept for a day in the same bed. He met the man, giving him a gentle, but very shallow kiss. Daniel realized Jack had turned back around when he heard a little nervous clearing of his throat. As he broke the kiss and moved his hands away, Daniel thought hard on the first moments of meeting Brynvold and Odamari.

"You now meet my desire, the Highborn Jack Ondeil. He is an honest man and follows the Nortvegr." Perhaps the formal words were said too late and were unnecessary but Daniel didn't think it would hurt to try and reinforce customs. Jack said the man responded best to firm traditional behavior. Perhaps in his shocked state of mind that was all he could cling to, was what was keeping him grounded from moment to moment.

"Jack, well met," the Sky said.

"Honored," Jack said. Then he chewed at his lower lip. "I'm a little unsure of what is safe to talk about right now. You've been through some rough times. If I offend you, will you let me know? I'll try to be respectful."

The man bowed his head.

"Daniel?" Jack said.

That was what he'd done when they met Brynvold and Odamari. He'd said Daniel's name as a question. This time it had a good affect too. The cowed man lifted his gaze and gave Daniel a slight smile.

"Daniel, thank you for the honor of being behind the veil with me. I'm not ... not free to give you my name, as my ... my household is ... is lost to me. I don't know where I am," he said, his voice breaking. "I do not know where ... where my desire ... or if he still lives." He covered his face and began to cry.

A pain lanced through Daniel's chest. He reached out and gathered the crying man into his arms. If he were trapped in this miserable excuse for a society, alone here without Jack? If he'd been raised in the hellish way this man had, been subjected to the constant objectification, degradation and limits this man had been put through, would he react the same?

"We'll help you. We owe you still, you realize that, right? We'll help you find out where you are, and ... where your desire might be. We'll help."

They reached the little inn by midday. The room was theirs again, with no one having to be thrown out. Lemmel secured the use of the entire inn and the spa room for the duration of House Ondeil's residency. He used one of Hrainlang's gold marks to pay for it, satisfying the innkeeper for the time being, and promising more if they stayed over long. Lemmel chose two young women to come to the spa and serve the Sky castes. He inspected them thoroughly, verifying their cleanliness and their manners. He made sure they had no problem with modesty, and understood a Sky's total lack of sexual interest in women.

While Daniel and the other Sky were working off more grime in the spa, Jack told Lemmel to hunt up someone to make Daniel a replacement winter veil and get coins and marks sewn on it as fast as possible.

Balin sat in the inn's little hall, a stein of ale untouched in front of him. He worked slowly at cleaning his sword and the knife that had killed Hrainlang. Jack peeked in on the Champion for a moment, and then left the man to brood and deal with specters on his own. Then Jack went to the room and collapsed on the bed. Daniel came in and woke him moments later.

"Ah, hell. I was hoping you'd be stuck in the spa for a few hours and I could grab some shut-eye." He was lying face down on the bed, his clothing strewn all about him.

"The Sky's going to be in there for hours, that's for sure. The women Lemmel hired are taking good care of him and he's responding better to them that he did even to me. They've got some hair stuff to help his scalp." Daniel began to undress. "Then they're going to lotion him up and get the soot out from under his nails and ... Oh, they have a massage table and some oils. You're next. Give him a couple of hours, though. He's getting the works in there and he really needs it."

"Okay," Jack said then rolled over onto his side. "Oh. Naked. I like. It's your best look, honestly."

"Yeah?" Daniel asked with an impish grin.

"Even with the bruises. What happened to your thigh? I saw you limping this morning. They hit you there?"

"More of a pinch. My right shoulder was pulled, but it's not bad today. I was lucky."

"More than luck," Jack said as he reached out and pulled Daniel to him.

"Love you, Jack." Daniel slid into his lover's arms. He jumped a bit when the door opened.

Lemmel came in the room without knocking, Balin was just behind him.

"Sorry, master. This one apologizes for interrupting--"

"Get in here," Jack said sternly. "Something up?"

"No, master. Just ... a meal be ready whenever ye wish. I was coming to get the Sky's clothing to be washed. What was worn at the stone castle, I'm for scrubbing all of it. Then there's tears to be sewn."

"Lemmel, Balin, come in," Daniel said. "Close the door. I want to tell you guys how ... Well, I can't say thanks. But you saved me from something pretty bad."

Lemmel came to the side of the bed and knelt there. "Sky," he said softly. Balin stood behind him and put a hand on Lemmel's hair, brushing his fingers across the shiny, black strands.

"It was ... What they were doing to that Sky in that room, it was absurd. When I see your blue eyes, yours too, Balin, I like what I see. But Hrainlang and Dolf, they wanted the same thing and couldn't get it. No wonder. I don't think it's because the other Sky can't ... You know. I think it's because they tried to hurt it out of him. They tried that with me. Isn't that absurd?"

"To force a Sky to give Odin's smile?" Lemmel asked, his bewilderment plain to see. "It ... It be not even ... not evil. It be ... insanity. Odin's smile only comes from beauty and ... care. I care for ye, Sky."

"I too," Balin said solemnly.

"I know," Daniel said and gasped suddenly as Jack reached from behind him and began to idly pump his cock. Jack's hand on him felt fantastic.

"Me too," Jack said, his voice husky with lust. "When you do that with Lemmel, I see how much Lemmel loves it and I can't imagine anyone ever trying to force that."

"I do love it, master," Lemmel said, his gaze now focused on Daniel's filling cock. He licked his lips.

"Want it, Lemmel?" Jack asked. "I guess you do. I see you do."

Daniel closed his eyes and leaned his head back against his lover's shoulder, feeling Jack's naked body all along his back. "Oh, yes. Jack. I ... want you to ... "

"What, baby," Jack said softly, his lips against Daniel's neck. "Want Lemmel's mouth here? Want him sucking at you as I hold you in my arms? Loving you?"

"Oh," Daniel said, pushing his hips back against Jack now.

"Lemmel, strip. You want to, don't you? Balin, lock the door. Take your clothes off and join us if you can." Jack scooted back in the wide bed, bringing Daniel with him.

Lemmel was naked and kneeling on the bed, bringing his mouth down to Daniel's cock.

"Wait," Daniel said, as he struggled to open his eyes. "Lay down on your back, Lemmel. I want ... I kind of want to clear away a memory of something. I want to reclaim ... my choice. Lay down, please."

Quickly, Lemmel complied, lying in the bed beside the two Highborn. He sprawled on his back, letting his legs fall apart slightly. Then as Daniel knelt by him, Lemmel moved as the smaller man directed, bringing his arms far out to the sides. Daniel climbed over him and knelt, his knees over Lemmel's shoulders.

"Jack, take me in your hand. I want you to ... "

"Put you in his mouth? Want me to keep ahold of you?"

"Yes. For a bit. I want you to ... milk me into his mouth."

"This what they did to yo--"

"No. But the concept--"

"Daniel, why?"

"Because I want to see you do it. I want to feel your hand, your ... direction. I want you to be in charge. Is that sick of me?"

"No, baby. No. You don't want it because you have to. You want to do it because you can, and do give that much of yourself to me. You do it because you want to, not because you have to."

Jack climbed up behind Daniel, straddling Lemmel's too-broad chest. His knees wouldn't rest on the bed when he sat astride Lemmel; the worker caste man was that big. With his left arm wrapped across his lover's chest, Jack reached around with his right and grasped Daniel's cock. His own was hard too. He began to slowly slide his hand down the fabulous length of hardening flesh, pausing to squeeze the head, then sliding his hand back down to the base and squeezing gently. He worked Daniel like he worked his own cock.

"Ah. Oh, God, how do you know, Jack? How do you know so well what I need? Use my cock like it's your own. That's ... oh, fuck, that's just what I need. In your arms. Oh, Jack!" he gasped out his lover's name as Jack pushed the head of his cock between Lemmel's wet lips. The young man sucked, sucked softly at first and then slowly began to suck harder as Jack kept milking his lover's cock. Daniel clutched at the headboard now, almost too dizzy with passion.

Then Jack let go of his cock and pushed Daniel by his hips, pushed him deeper into the mouth that was now milking him. Lemmel had stopped using so much suction and was just working his tongue along the shaft. His fantastically big and talented tongue rolled around Daniel's cock, curved into a tight tube with the roof of his mouth, he milked Daniel.

Jack shifted down Lemmel's body, laying on the man, feeling his youthful and huge erection sliding against his stomach. Jack dove down Daniel's back, licking his spine, licking lower until he reached that pert, hard butt he loved to watch. He reached his right hand back up Daniel and pushed the man forward.

Pliantly, Daniel huddled over Lemmel's head, his cock firmly in a heavenly place. Then Daniel gasped loudly as Jack's tongue found his opening. "Jack!" he cried out as the older man penetrated him. Jack began to probe and suck at his puckered ring, driving his tongue as deep in as it would go, then roaming around the ring, getting every sensitive crease and crevice there.

Jack worked at his lover, thrilling to hear each moan and gasp he was eliciting. Then suddenly, Jack lurched forward. Balin had licked his own exposed asshole! Jack clutched at Daniel's bent hips, holding on, trying to stay steady. He pushed his tongue deep in Daniel again and then Balin was back on him, licking, rimming all around Jack's most private opening. He hissed as Balin pushed forward. The man was going to ... Oh, God, the man was in him! Balin was tongue fucking Jack!

The older man thrashed his tongue around inside Daniel, slurping his saliva up as he began to drool on his lover's tight ass. Balin worked him mercilessly.

"Jack?" Daniel asked softly, then he twisted around to see what was wrong. Jack was quivering. "Balin. Balin," Daniel said in awe. He'd never seen Balin and Jack do anything more than caress each other, and then only with either Daniel or Lemmel between them. "Balin," he breathed the big swordsman's name reverently as Jack shuddered in ecstasy.

"Jack," Daniel said softly, tenderly. "Oh, Jack. Love you." He watched over his shoulder as Jack rose up, his eyes clenched in torturous arousal. Balin was working him hard now. Jack's cock was twitching in the air, and drooling clear nectar.

"W--w--wait!" Jack shouted. "Balin ... wait." He lurched up higher and scooted up Lemmel's hard body. Jack took his own cock in his right hand and aimed the head at his intended target. In one hard thrust he speared himself into his lover.

Daniel howled in pain and pleasure. He bent low over Lemmel's head again, crouching in a tight ball around the man and his milking mouth.

Jack seated himself deep in Daniel. "Now, Balin. Now ... " Jack's voice trailed off. How could he demand to have the big man stick his tongue back up his ass? But he wanted it! He wanted Balin there, in the way that Daniel so loved to have Lemmel and had also had Balin while Jack watched. Well, this time he wouldn't simply sit in the tub and watch! "In me," he finally said.

The bed shifted as the Champion climbed to straddle his own lover's shins. Then Balin bent low and brought his mouth to the warrior Highborn's opening. Balin's cock rubbed just below Lemmel's balls, occasionally rising high enough to nudge the wrinkled, hairless orbs.

"Ah!" Jack howled as his body was invaded, as his cock was pushed deep into the body of the man he loved with all his heart. Jack thrust into Daniel, and then rocked back onto Balin's fucking tongue. He pushed himself into heaven then slammed himself back onto hell. It was nirvana. His soul was lost between heaven and hell, between the diaphanous sky and the rock-solid earth.

Jack felt his consciousness thin, spread out in all directions and grow fainter into a pale fog of reality. His world was white with mist, the mist of passion. All was white around him, white like Daniel's veil, gauzy and light. He let go of everything and embraced the whiteness. His consciousness stretched out as wide and thin as the vastness of space. Jack sank himself into Daniel and felt an echoing pulse in his lover's body as Daniel began coming. Jack began to match that double pulse, joining in it with his own. He realized that he was able to put part of his being into Daniel, to send it into his lover, to give it to his lover. His cum. He pushed it into Daniel and was grateful as Balin helped him then, Balin's tongue forcing into him, forcing the cum into Daniel.

Jack clung to his lover's body as his orgasm swooshed like wind through tall pines into Daniel, leaving Jack with nothing but white mist, white fog, and white love for the man in his arms. Jack lay on Daniel's back as the last of his seed left his body. Balin's arms were around him then, lifting him, shifting him to lay on the bed beside Lemmel. Daniel was still plastered to him, from shoulder to heel. Their naked flesh touched along the length of their lean bodies.

Balin was kissing him. Jack tried to be shocked, tried to open his eyes as he felt the warrior's lips on his own. He moaned and Balin deepened the kiss for a moment, and then was gone.

"Balin," Jack said and heard Daniel say the man's name at the same moment. He squeezed Daniel.

Daniel shifted and nudged at Jack. "Roll over. I mean, wait. I want under you. I want to feel your weight on me a little longer."

Jack obliged his lover, moving until Daniel could lay down beside Lemmel, stretched out beside the taller man. Then Jack laid on Daniel, their chests and groins together, their legs entwined. Jack turned his face as Daniel had, and looked at Lemmel.

Balin was kneeling over his lover, gazing down into Lemmel's blue-shimmering eyes. He knelt lower and brought his lips to Lemmel's. The younger man opened his mouth. Jack could see white on his tongue. Lemmel hadn't swallowed Daniel's cum. He pulled Balin down and gave Daniel's sweet cum to his lover.

"Oh," Daniel groaned. "That ... "

"Yeah," Jack said. "It's ... "

"Beautiful. To share that, it's ... Lemmel's giving him ... what others would die for. Have died for. It ... Jack, I love you."

"That much, Daniel. I know you do. I love you that much too."

"Jack," Daniel whispered softly.

Carefully, Jack reached out and brushed a hand along Balin's arm. "I've never seen you ... on ... I've never seen you and Lemmel in a real bed ... "

"Do it, Balin. If you want. Make love to him," Daniel urged.

"Sky," Balin said. "Seemly, it be not ... "

"Make love to him, Balin."

"Please," Lemmel said in a whisper so quiet that the three in bed with him barely heard.

"Odin," Balin said as a reverent supplication. "What else can I do but make love to ye, lad? What else would my heart let me do?"

Lemmel spread his legs wider and lifted his knees.

Balin brought his head down to Lemmel's neck on the side where Daniel and Jack were. He bit and sucked at the skin there and hooked one hand behind Lemmel's knee. Then he pushed himself straight into Lemmel's eager body.

Lemmel rounded his back and tilted his head back. "Ah!" he gasped, echoing Daniel's cry of pleasure and pain at the abrupt and forceful invasion of his lover. "'Ah, mighty Odin!" he prayed. "Love," he said, his voice hitching now as Balin began to thrust quickly.

The big Champion gave no chance for his lover to adjust, to relax or brace for his onslaught. He began to mercilessly pound his huge erection into Lemmel. They rocked the sleeping platform on its stout legs. The wood surface creaked frantically as Balin drove himself in and in, on and on.

Beneath his lover, Lemmel tossed his head from side to side and began to howl.

Jack eased back from the two and watched in awe as they locked arms and legs around each other. Lemmel's cock was nothing but a blur, pressed hard between the two men's washboard stomachs. Balin's hips and ass muscles pumped like iron pistons and Lemmel began to beg him to fuck harder, harder.

Jack's mouth gaped open. "Daniel," he said slowly, "is that what it's like?" A hint of fear colored his voice. "When you do that, when you're under them, do they ... No. No, you'd break. They'd ... You said they're careful. Like I've seen Lemmel with you. Always so ... careful. We must be like fragile dolls to them."

"Spun glass," Daniel said, his eyes firmly locked on the two savagely fucking men. "Like spun glass."

"It's incredible. The bed. No wonder they make 'em so ... Incredible."

Balin was frantic now, his hands clutching at Lemmel's shoulders to get more leverage. He rose up higher, rounding Lemmel's back more and drove himself with full force into the thrashing man. Lemmel bucked, bellowed and then clenched his legs tight around his lover's waist. He was coming.

"He's coming," Daniel said to his awed lover. "Lemmel. Look at him, Jack. Look."

"I ... am. Seen him come before, but this, this is ... Balin. Balin's coming. My God. Incredible."

"Beautiful," Daniel said and reached out to stroke Balin's sweaty arm. "Beautiful."

Jack held his lover and spoke reverently. "They're the treasure on this world. Them. This. This love. Incredible." Jack shook his head and hugged Daniel to him.

Chapter 23 - Finding the Right Road

Before he went to bed that night, Jack saw to it that Daniel's new winter veil, complete with new gold marks and many coins was rolled up and stashed in his tuc. His summer weight cloak also had marks added to the hem. Jack was determined this veil would not be given away for any reason. What if Daniel became separated from them? If he were thrown from the horse and lost down a river or one of a myriad other scenarios that Jack kept suggesting, he'd end up like the nameless one. Jack was through taking chances. Regardless of how heavy the marks made it, Daniel would wear the mark-embellished cloak at all times for the rest of the trip. He would have payment at all times, no matter where they went.

Jack also stuffed Daniel's imparting cloth with more of their stash of gold marks. Jarngerd had sewn a layer onto the back, making it into a nice, big pouch. It had lots of coins and marks, and was rolled up and tied closed with leather cords.

The nameless Sky slept between Jack and Daniel that night. He had soaked all the grime from his body.

All through the night the silent Sky kept waking and touching Jack. He'd lay a hand on the Highborn's chest, or touch his arm, just light touches. Each one woke Jack. He'd had too many years of military life, of sleeping behind enemy lines, hiding under brush and having to come alert at the slightest sound not to be disturbed by each timid touch. Finally the older man leaned up on his elbow and whispered to the Sky. "I'm not leaving. Are you scared that I'll leave or are you nervous about having me this close to you?"

He listened as the Sky's breath hitched. He was crying. "Please. Don't leave me. I'm lost. If I can't find my way home ... don't leave me among them, the big ones. They hurt ... hurt me."

"The two in here, the ones sleeping on the floor, they won't hurt you. I swear it. You had a ... household at one time, right? You've lived with them as servants, right?" In the near-total darkness he saw the man nod, saw the veil he wore even in sleep move. "All right, then. So at one time you knew, men like them, the big ones, they could be trusted, right? They didn't hurt you, right?"

"The ones who served my ... my desire. They ... weren't like ... the soiled ones. That place, it was so dirty. Them, they stank. Oh," he said and pressed his hands to his face.

"I'm not leaving you here. We'll try to get you to your home, wherever you lived before. You want to go back there, right?"

"If ... my desire lives, if they didn't kill him. I think ... When I think on him, Jack, I think they killed him. He would have come for me. He ... never would have just ... "

"They snatched you? I mean, they took you from him against your will?"

"Stole. The ... false Highborn--I was never to say he was false, but he was. He pretended to be a Highborn, spoke like us, tried to be ... He hurt me. Always. Then he grew angry when I refused to make his eyes blue. I think he wanted to be Sky."

"So he stole you?" Jack sat up, his elbow was growing tired.

"Yes. He and that angry man. He was a Champion. Your Balin was correct. He ... At their grand dinners when Hrainlang would pretend to be Highborn, then Dolf would wear his horns and be Champion of House Hrainlang. It was scary. So scary. I hated it."

"I'm glad they're both dead," Jack said honestly.

"I am too. If they killed my desire, I would go back some day to their graves and ... desecrate the ground."

"It has been done already," Balin said, whispering from the dark at the foot of the bed. "Little Highborn, both criminals were buried with their faces turned from Odin for all time. As was the wench and the huntsman. Then I desecrated the ground where their corpses now rot."

"Oh," the veiled Sky said, his voice tiny and high with pain. "I'm glad. I am. Thank you, Champion." He sniffed and wiped at his face. "Skys are never supposed to even wish for it, but I'm glad, and will say thank you though it's not seemly. Glad you did that. I would have. They pissed on me. On my ... veil. My desire gave it to me." He began to cry.

"It be here, little Highborn. If ye wish it, my Lemmel, he brought it and cleaned it. Said maybe, maybe ye'd need it too. Said his master's Sky still had one from the low desert, and though, maybe ye'd want ... " Balin cleared his throat.

"Yes," the crying man said. "My desire ... "

"Balin, can you get it for him?" Jack said.

The Champion rustled around for a moment, then had to light a candle. "It be in ye steward's tuc. Ah, here."

Balin held the open tuc toward Jack who took it and peered into the bag. He stopped himself from reaching for the cloth, thinking it probably wasn't seemly, and he didn't need a beating from Balin for touching someone else's veil. He held the open bag to the man lying beside him.

The veiled man sat up and looked at Jack solemnly. "Will you, Jack? If you would give it to me, from your own hand, it will be ... you know."

"Ah. Yes. Of course. I know." Jack nodded as if he did know, and drew the white cloth from Lemmel's tuc. He rubbed it between his fingers, feeling the textured weave, the unusual ribbing. That would probably make it stay in place better. He should mention that to Daniel, about the unusual pattern woven into the fabric. Jack held the clean, white cloth out to the Sky.

With his head bowed, the veiled man took the white cloth. He held it against his chest, then brought it up to his lips. He choked back a sob, but then was overcome. "Desire," he said in a broken cry.

Jack let Balin take Lemmel's tuc back and then with just a little hesitation put his arms around the crying Sky. The man leaned into Jack's lap and Jack was struck with a profound flash of a moment in the past, when he'd held Daniel the same way, deep underground in the SGC.

A woman had wanted Daniel, had taken him, and forced him gently through coercion and lies to stay with her. She'd trapped Daniel and then cruelly addicted him to a goa'uld sarcophagus. Daniel had escaped her trap, then tried to flee back to the only way to escape the pain of the terrible addiction she'd cause and he'd collapsed in Jack's arms, in Jack's hold like this.

Daniel was so innocent back then, so naïve. And what was another way of saying naïve? Pure of heart. Pure was a good way of describing Daniel then. And he was always looking for the best in people, the goodness. Did he still? Did Daniel still charge headlong toward cliffs, running full-tilt into danger to save people who were in distress? Yes. Just as he'd charged madly toward that cliff to save a princess from plunging to her death, Daniel had charged down that dark hallway in the stone castle after the man crying in Jack's lap now. Daniel was still pure in his heart.

For rescuing Shyla, Daniel had suffered horribly. For his attempt to rescue the Sky, he'd suffered, but would do so again without hesitation, Jack knew. Sometimes it was incredibly hard to live next to such radiant humanity. Jack also knew he would never choose to live anywhere but at Daniel's side.

Staring into the flickering candlelight, Jack suddenly realized his cheeks were wet. He glanced over at Daniel and saw his lover lying on his side looking solemnly at him. Jack wiped his own tears away and tilted his head, studying Daniel's beautiful features. The candlelight sent little dancing flickers across his lover's face. Daniel was truly beautiful. He turned heads. He caused women to lose concentration, caused men to stand up straighter, to square their shoulders. Daniel was a living sculpture of pure beauty, and didn't care one bit for his own looks.

Jack let a little smile play across his lips as he gazed at his lover.

The dawn came at a reasonable time for Jack the next day. He stretched and rolled away from the veiled man. He yawned and sat up slowly, groaning as his back muscles woke and let him know they were tired of his antics. He'd run a marathon up and down dank, hard cobblestone passages. Then he'd had mind blowing, gut busting sex with three other men all in the same bed. He was too old for this!

"You're not too old," Daniel scoffed as he sat up and pushed the covers down.

"Did I say that out loud?" Jack asked, his eyebrows high in alarm.

"'Fraid so," Daniel said. "And you're not. You're just how I like 'em. Perfection."

"I agree," the veiled Sky said, flashing Jack a little grin. "My kinsman speaks the truth. You've finally reached an age that has maturity and wisdom. Why would you think you are too old? Is there such a thing?"

"Not in my mind," Daniel said, then climbed, naked from the bed.

Lemmel had taken first guard duty outside the door, and was now finishing his turn to sleep at the foot of the bed. Daniel almost stepped on him, did trip and went down on the big youth. Both men laughed.

The veiled Sky at Jack's side shot up onto his knees, clutching the covers to his chest and then he eased back on his heels. "It's strange, the way you have one sleep in here with you. But I see the wisdom in it. So Jack, again this proves that you are of a perfect age."

"You think so?" Jack asked, basking in the complement.

Daniel peered up over the foot of the bed and barked out a scornful laugh.

Jack shot him a sneer.

From out of sight at the foot of the bed, Jack heard Lemmel.

"Master, breakfast shall be served in the hall unless again ye wish to dine in here? But none be in the whole inn except House Ondeil and female servants of the inn. We have solitude."

"Steward, is Daniel kneeling on you? Why haven't you gotten up?"

"If the Sky wishes to use my worthless belly for a pillow for his divine knees, then I will gladly serve as such, master. Alas, he does not kneel on me."

"Oh, good grief! It's getting thick in here," Jack said. "Go on, Lemmel. Go do whatever you need to. I got things covered in here."

Lemmel stood then. He was grinning and he bowed deeply as he backed away. Daniel stayed on his knees facing Jack and grinning just as broadly.

"You're mooning him, aren't you, Daniel? And Lemmel ... Oh, never mind. I'm sure you'd never be doing anything unseemly. Go on, kid."

"This kid be gone, master," Lemmel said, and snagged his tuc as he backed out the door to go clean up and get dressed.

"Breakfast sounds like a good idea," Daniel said as he rose. He was naked from head to toe and stood there as if he were completely at ease.

"Anybody up for jumping in the hot tub with me?" Jack asked.

It didn't take the three of them long to gather things and traipse down the hall to the spa room. They locked the door, barring out all the worker castes and stripped naked, and then scrubbed off in the warm water provided.

"This is a good scent," the Sky said. "I haven't used soap such as this before. Where does it come from?"

"It's nice to have someone ask me a question," Daniel said with a broad smile. "It's from Brooksmeet, a village southwest of here. Jack is master of Brooksmeet."

"You bought a village? You're quite wealthy. Where are your northern homelands? I'm assuming you aren't a second generation southerner. Your accent is ... unusual. I've spent most of my free life here in the south."

"Yeah, we're from pretty far away," Jack answered. "You've been down here a long time?"

"Since shortly after my ... that day. I met my desire in the city soon after I was freed from the Forbidden Garden. It was a blessed day when I met him."

"Jack, would you scrub my back? I think I've got dried cum on me."

"Lemmel works damned fast, doesn't he?" Jack said snidely.

The Sky's eyes grew round. "The steward?"

"I'm joking," Jack said. "I was just teasing Daniel about tripping over Lemmel this morning." He ran his fingers along a nasty bruise on Daniel's lower back.

"But," Daniel said, then hesitated. He looked solemnly at the Sky. "I do enjoy ... with Lemmel, I ... like being behind the veil with Lemmel. I trust him and he's very gentle with me. I have fun with him, and my desire approves of it. Does that upset you? I don't want to offend you, and I realize Jack and I ... are a bit free with our expressions of love."

"It is love you feel for the steward? This steward feels warmly for you? If your desire permits it, and won't turn you out for this, having sex with his steward, then it doesn't offend me at all."

"Permits it? Not so much permits it ... as likes it," Daniel said honestly. "I would never do it if Jack didn't like or approve of it. I respect Jack. I respect and love him. I try very hard not to do things that might hurt him."

"Love should never hurt," the Sky said. "But so they say about sex. Though, with them, how can it not? It always has hurt. When I was young and alone in the city, I had to ... There were always times when I had no other option but to ... As we are supposed to do. It's our duty. Please don't misunderstand me. I do follow the Nortvegr. I do my duty to Nirrti. I did many impartings during the year following my freedom day. Then I met my desire and he claimed me into his household. We lived in the city another year before he felt he needed to return to the south. It was a good decision, he felt. So I had to go serve my time in the temple as required and earn my pass to leave the city.

"I went eagerly, thinking all the while only of my desire and going with him to his home ... But you know how it is, how they come into the temple and ... So many of them." He sank onto the wooden bench by the tub. "I wasn't ready. I thought I was, but how could one be ready for that? After the safety of his arms for a year, to go back to that even for the ten days required? I thought I'd never walk again. So many of them. So big. So ... How could anyone serve more than once in the temple? Who would be desperate enough for the marks the temple guardians pay you?

"Hrainlang was worse. I guess he put it in perspective for me. Isn't that funny." He stared at the floor.

"No," Daniel said. "Not funny at all. You were hurt in more than just a physical way. That's ... I'm sorry you went through ... All that you've been through, I'm sorry you've had to endure it."

The Sky looked up and met Daniel's blue gaze. "Thank you for caring. We should all care for each other so, shouldn't we? Kinsmen."

"Yes, we should," Daniel agreed.

"And since we've reached an agreement on that," Jack said, "let's soak up some heat and ease our sore muscles. Jump in, kids."

The Sky smiled and climbed in with Jack and Daniel. "He calls us kids, the same as he calls his steward. How unseemly." He chuckled.

"Hey, act like kids, get called kids. That's my motto." Jack drew Daniel to him, tracing the bruise on his lover's shoulder.

"I thought your motto was thirty minutes or it's free," Daniel teased.

The Sky shook his head. "Northern far reaches, you say? Funny expressions up there."

"Yep," Jack said smugly. "Now, who's going to rub my aching shoulders?"

"I'll do it, if you promise to rub my bruised thigh. And my ass is ... well, unseemly, I'm sure."

"Did you have the steward fuck you last night?" the Sky asked.

"Uh," Jack looked a little shocked at the openness, at the bluntness.

"I started to," Daniel answered boldly. "But ended up fucking his mouth instead. He's fantastic at sucking. Jack fucked me."

"Ah," the Sky said. "You give him Odin's smile often, I think? It would be fun to watch, if I may."

"You'd get off on that?" Jack asked, trying and losing the fight to keep his eyebrows from climbing his forehead. "Where'd I get the idea you were shy?"

"Shy? I'm not sure. Does ... Is it part of your requirement for your Sky that he only have sex in private? I can respect that. You allow him many other freedoms. It would make sense."

"No, he can do whatever he wants as far as Lemmel and Balin are concerned. He's a big boy. I mean, not really a kid. But what freedoms are you talking about?"

"He's allowed to hold a horse's reigns. I saw that. And he's allowed to fasten the clasp of his cloak, and he eats what he wants. Those are great freedoms."

"Does your desire allow ... "Daniel stopped. "I'm sorry. I've upset you. That was insensitive."

"I miss him. If he's still alive ..."

"I hope he is," Jack said. "Where does he live?"

"I don't know how to tell you where. I don't know where I am."

"We can fix that. We have a map of all of Nortvegr. Though it doesn't have some of the Northern far reaches on it. But it's got all of the southern part, everything below the great divide."

"I lived in the east. We were within a few days easy ride south of the great divide. That's how Hrainlang happened to steal me. He visited my desire's holdings, pretending to be an honorable Champion, as Balin really is. He came into my desire's castle as an honest man who follows the Nortvegr. Then he left the next day to go north to hunt the claw beasts, he said. He lied."

"What happened," Jack prompted him.

"My desire, he used to indulge me a lot. I regret that now, so much. I'd ask and he'd be unable to say no. I was a fool. I had heard the visitors and my desire talking about the white beards the stags grew in winter. I wanted to see them and none would come near the castle, so a few days later I went with my desire's steward down to the frozen river where the stags come to drink. They break the crust at the edge there. We walked. It was such a beautiful day to be out. The wind was gone and the sky was peaceful. You know what snow is, right? Being from the north of course you do. Here below the great divide we only have snow for a short while, and then only near the divide. It had snowed. We left tracks that were easy to follow and I think that's how he found us. He knew I would go to the water to see the stags."

"So he waited until you were outside the castle," Jack said.

"My desire was going to meet us there. I think ... Hrainlang killed him, and then came for me. I have to find out. I have to find his lands, see if his fate was the same as his steward. Hrainlang beheaded him, like your Balin did the dirty, treacherous one. Hrainlang's hunter, he was ... sick. His tastes were ... " He shook his head. "He's dead now."

"If you want to tell us, if it will make you feel better to talk about it ..." Daniel's thought trailed off.

"The huntsman liked to use me, my mouth."

"To cum in? It must upset you when I talk about fucking Lemmel's mouth."

"No," the man said, shaking his head. "As a chamber pot. He'd try to make me swallow it. He's really dead now, though. Your Balin killed him. What will I owe for such service? How can I ever repay you, Jack?"

"We still owe you, Sky," Jack said. "You got up and showed me how to save Daniel. You risked yourself to show me the way down and then to top it off, you helped capture Dolf."

"We must never speak of my part in Dolf's capture, of course. It can't be known."

"Or mine in the death of Hrainlang," Daniel said.

The Sky turned to Daniel. "You helped the Champion defeat him?"

"I stabbed him."

The Sky blinked at him. "Stabbed at him? With what?"

"A knife," he said, letting the misconception slip by. "So we won't speak of this again. You owe House Ondeil nothing. We'll take you to your desire's lands, and if that's where you wish to stay, then we'll both consider any debts paid. If you need to go further, maybe with us to the port town of Fairwood, then when we get there and you are settled someplace safe we'll be even. Agreed?"

"I think the bargain is unbalanced. I owe--"

"No," Jack insisted. "You saved Daniel's life. If you hadn't shown me that passageway, Balin would have never gotten through that door in time to prevent Daniel from being ... I'd rather not say. I owe you, and that's that."

"Say it, leave it," the Sky said softly. "You're a masterful man, Jack. I think you're deserving of hosting the Sky."

"I'm a lucky man. Daniel loves me. That's what I value the most."

"I'm honored to be with you two."

Daniel nodded, and then bowed his head. "It feels good to be in here with you also, Sky. I want to learn your name. I want to call you by your name."

"My desire should be the one to tell you ... "The Sky grew quiet and stared off into the distance.

Jack and Daniel met each other's gaze.

"So," Jack said, "I'll get that map out and you can take a look at it after breakfast."

The Sky nodded, lost in his own thoughts.

They left the inn two days later. Daniel had scribed a letter to Tal. She would dispatch whoever she wanted as a regent steward of the stone castle and its lands. If she felt the place was too much of a drain she was given authorization, through her position as regent to Asny, to dispose of the place as she saw fit. The letter was on its way, carried by a young woman who owned her own horse. She was paid half of the fee by Lemmel, and then would receive more from Tal as the letter instructed.

And now the two worker caste men and the three Highborn were riding west again, the way they'd been traveling before taking their detour north. They'd go west for two days, then turn straight north in the direction of the great divide.

It would take the band of riders seven or eight days to reach the land where the Sky thought his desire was. He wasn't sure. He'd never seen a map before, never had to deal with distances or directions. He knew north was the way to the city of the Highborn, and that traveling east or west would lead one to a vast ocean, but he knew very little else. It wasn't a skill for Skys, being able to navigate. They always rode in someone's lap, a caravan, or in a cart. They simply never needed to know.

Daniel gained a new understanding of why it had been so difficult for him to get directions during the anguishing trek from the low desert northward to a place where Jack could recover. He gained a new understanding, as well as a new reason to hate the restraints Nirrti's laws had placed on him in this society.

On the morning of the third day of traveling due north, Daniel took Freyfaxi's reigns from Lemmel and bent his leg for the steward to hoist him up. "Come on, Lemmel. Quick before I have to start yelling back at Balin. I'm riding Frey today."

"Aye," Lemmel said with a worried whine. He looked around for the Champion but all he saw was the veiled Sky who stood behind House Ondeil's Sky a few steps, shifting around nervously too. "A Sky be never wrong. And it matters not that master swordsman Balin had me put the double saddle on Freyfaxi this dawn, so as I could ride with the Highborn guest, and that master Balin was expecting to take ye on Frost Mane, eh? Matters not?"

"Up, Lemmel," Daniel insisted in a hushed voice. He got his leg up and swung into the deep saddle. It felt way too roomy. He scooted forward into the front dip where he'd normally have ridden if one of the big worker castes were behind him.

"Now, quick, Lemmel, help my kinsman up." Daniel leaned forward over the horse's neck. "Just like I told you," he said to the veiled, blue-eyed man who stared up in a bit of a state of fright.

Lemmel balked. "Hands on him, Highborn?" He backed up.

"I said hurry!" Daniel ordered in a stage whisper. "Leg up. Like you saw me do," he said to the Sky.

Gamely, the veiled man stepped forward and put his arms around Lemmel's neck as the worker caste man squatted down. Lemmel got the man's foot in his hands and stood carefully, then lifted slowly higher, higher, until the Highborn let go of him with one hand and reached to meet Daniel's extended arm. He swung his right leg over and was snug behind Daniel then.

"Grab on low, around my waist like I showed you. There. Okay? Nice and tight. Great. Are you breathing?"

"Y--yes, Sky. I think so. Oh, this is strange. Just the two of us."

"Great, isn't it? Can you see okay? Lean a little left and I'll lean right--"

"No! Stay up. Stay ... Oh, this is nice. So much room. But the beast, will he know it's only us two and take off running away?"

"Freyfaxi minds me more than anyone. He's a good old horse, aren't you Frey?" Daniel said as he leaned over and patted the horse's neck. Daniel let out a gush of air as the Sky behind him squeezed hard. "Sorry. Should have told you I was going to lean over. You'll get used to it. Let's get going down the road before Balin has a chance to--"

"Highborn! Lemmel, ye daft cluck! What have ye done? Fool, I'll beat ye within an inch of ye life! I swear--"

"It's my prerogative to deliver the beating, Balin," Daniel said merrily. "My kinsman hasn't gotten to see me beat Lemmel yet. It's great," he said as he turned in the saddle to look at the pale, shaking man behind him. "Oh, sorry. Just hold on. See? You're fine. I like to beat Lemmel with the both of us naked. It always ends with us having fantastic sex. He gets so hard, and I'm very careful not to actually break his skin or hurt him. Not in that way. Okay, we're off!" In deference to his friend, Daniel was very gentle in coaxing Freyfaxi to move out along the trail.

They were several paces down the road before Balin passed them, cursing Lemmel under his breath.

"Is he really angry?" the Sky asked.

"Probably. But there's nothing he can do about it, other than get great sex." Daniel chuckled. Jack rode up beside the two blue-eyed men then, and Daniel dropped his head in mock shame.

"You ought to be, Daniel. That was dirty pool. You do that just to make Balin give Lemmel a punishment and you end up dispensing it and the whole thing turns into hot sex every damned time. You're going to make Balin go nuts."

"Should I stop?"

"Stop? Stop being you? Yeah, like that's gonna happen. Right." Jack spurred his mount and rode up abreast of Balin for a while.

"Come up here, Lemmel," Daniel invited the young man.

"Aft," Lemmel said cheerfully. "My duty to ride aft, Highborn. Or, I can not see if ye still have on ye veil. Have I earned another punishment?" He trotted his horse up next to them.

"I did have it on, mostly. But it's off now that Balin's not watching. Can't risk guiding Frey into a tree branch simply because I couldn't see where I was going, right?"

"A Sky be always right," Lemmel said with relief. "So tonight, if we've a room and a roof, I get a beating. Will ye tie me again, please, Sky? Hands behind my back so as I cannot touch my own self even if I want. And then will ye bite my nipples? Ye've only done that once recently and they're sore in need of biting. Naughty nipples. If ye put the rope around my cock then will ye wish me to ... Oh. Unseemly talk. I forget myself. Now I truly do deserve one that be only from the master swordsman. I am sore ashamed."

"Because you spoke in front of me?" the properly veiled Highborn asked.

"Aye. My deepest apologies. This one has offended," Lemmel said, his head hanging in real shame. "I be too lusty and I speak out of turn. It be beyond unseemly."

"I think not, steward. I think ... I think my kinsman is ... " The Sky grew silent as his hands roamed lower down Daniel's body. He rested them there on the bulge in Daniel's thin, summer pants. He squeezed lightly, then released. Then he squeezed again and kept a gentle pressure on Daniel. The Sky laid his head on Daniel's shoulder, his face turned to Lemmel. "Yes. My kinsman wishes to hear what you say, steward. I ... would hear also, though he is veilless and I am not. For you he dismisses much seemliness, does he not?"

"Oh," Lemmel said, his eyes wide with wonder now.

"Lemmel, he's right. He's squeezing my cock and it's got me so turned on I want to beat you right now. I'm going to bite your nipples. I'm going to suck your--" He broke off, realizing the Sky against his back would not want to even think about a worker caste's cock in a Sky's mouth, not after the way he'd been used by Hrainlang's huntsman.

"You do that? It's ... unseemly," the Sky said. "It goes against the teachings of Nirrti. It's against the way of giving Odin's smile, isn't it?"

"I think so," Daniel said. "But I'm not doing it for that reason, or for anything to do with Nirrti. I like ... I like to watch Lemmel's face when I do it. He gets ... hysterical. Do you know what I mean?"

"Fun? You like to have fun."

"Well, yes, I like to have fun, but what I mean is, Lemmel kind of loses control. To me. I can make him yell or moan or ... well, it's a very powerful thing."

"Skys aren't supposed to be powerful. We have no need of power."

"Can you honestly say that?" Daniel asked gently. "Do you really feel like you need no power, after what you've been through?" The man behind him was completely silent, his hands stilled on Daniel's groin. They rode along for several moments that way. Then Daniel spoke again. "You had power and you did use it. When Dolf came running up the passage you--"

"I ... had power. I had power. I ... did something that I should never have needed to do. Is that what being real is like? For Jack and for other Highborn like my desire? Is that what they have? And Balin and for the steward here beside us. They have power, and that makes them real."

Lemmel slowed his horse for a bit, retaking his position aft of the line of travelers. The two Skys were left to talk in private.

Daniel pondered the Sky's confusing words. "Real? You're real. If you weren't real, then Hrainlang would not have been able to hurt you. You're real."

"Not before. I wasn't real before. I was just a tool. A thing."

"An object?" Daniel asked, realization dawning on him. "That's how I feel most of the time, like an object. Sometimes I'm an object that belongs to Jack, like this saddle, or his shoes or his razor. And other times, I'm an object to be rented by a worker caste, like a room at an Inn, or a horse to ride for an hour or so. I'm an object one way or another. But when I have power, the power to ride Frey, or the power to make Lemmel laugh, I'm real. I'm real."

"I understand," the Sky said, and began to knead Daniel's crotch again, working his fingers along the length of Daniel's cock. "I want to be real. I want to have the power to read a map, or like you, to write runes and read them too. I want to have power enough to keep myself safe from the big ones who don't follow the Nortvegr."

Daniel shifted Freyfaxi's reigns to his right hand and laid his left hand over the Sky's. He squeezed, then began to stroke the man's arm. "Tonight, if there's light enough, I can teach you some runes. Would you like that?"

"And teach me to make Lemmel laugh? Teach me how you have power when you're with the big ones. I want to know that. I want ... Did you use that power when you earned the right to leave the city by serving in the temple? Or perhaps you have such power that you also served during the festivals for the gold. Jack's house is very wealthy. Did you earn him money there?

"No. I haven't done that." Daniel shook his head. So a Sky was required to serve in the temple before they could leave the city. Were records kept of that? Would Daniel have trouble passing back into the city since he had no proof he'd left legally? "But you went willingly so that you could leave with your desire. That got you passage from the city?"

"Passage, and also, I wanted our mating ceremony to take place, and only free Skys can step through the ring. I wanted to step through Odin's great ring with him, and didn't wish to wait another year. I thought I was ready, but to step through after being used so ... It took so much joy out of the bonding ceremony. He never knew why I appeared so withdrawn. He didn't know it would be so hard on me. Did your Jack know what you had to do in order to leave the city?"

"I ... " Daniel didn't want to lie. How could he get around answering this? "Maybe we can talk more about that at another time. I would like to teach you to read and write runes. I have extra quills with me. You can look over the map again tonight and pick out runes you'd like to learn about. And you can teach me some things too. It may sound silly to you but I've been traveling so long, I've forgotten what it's like to be a Sky in one of the great houses, to just live in one place and have a routine. You could tell me about it and teach me what I've forgotten."

"Done," the Sky said. "And sex power too. We could do a little of that too. I want to learn all I can before ... If my desire is alive, I want to return to him well in my mind. I want to be strong, not weak and broken like Hrainlang wanted me to be."

"He said some ugly things, didn't he? He had a lot of hatred for Skys, a lot of fear too. He feared and envied us. I think you were right when you said he wanted to be one himself. It drove him to do crazy things."

"He's dead now. I'm glad. And I'm glad I'm free enough to say that. It's not easy, is it?"

"No. It never is."

There were too many things that Daniel didn't understand about the way Skys interacted with each other. And one day he'd be in a city full of them! He had to work at learning their ways as fast as possible. He had to understand the way they related to each other.

Odamari had almost been sexually aggressive with him, as the unnamed Sky at his back was being now. His hands were still idly playing with Daniel's cock and balls, so easily accessible in the summer pants. But was it sexual aggression to these blue-eyed people? The open mouthed kisses at first greeting did seem to indicate a more casual attitude toward physical contact, a lack of personal boundaries or personal space. And the way he and Jack had rather stumbled into bed with Odamari and Brynvold? At the time it had felt somewhat graceful, almost natural. Maybe that was due to how casual Odamari and Brynvold had treated sexual contact between Highborn, or Skys. Just like the unnamed Sky was reacting now. He hadn't asked permission to kiss Daniel and certainly hadn't asked permission to grope him. Was that the way Skys always interacted?

The man at his back seemed to be finding peace in touching Daniel. His breathing was calm. His body was much more relaxed than it had been since Daniel had met him, even more relaxed than last night in bed. He was finding comfort in the sexual contact with Daniel. So even the Skys of this world saw themselves as totally different than the worker caste, in regard to personal boundaries, sexual contact. Could Daniel find a way to fit into that way of thinking? Maybe in a small way, he already had. His sexual contact with Odamari and now with this unnamed Sky, this was behavior that he'd never have taken part in back on Earth.

Later that night Lemmel had a wonderful time. They did find a big one-room cot to rent for a night from a goat herder who gladly turned over his home and went with his wife and five children to sleep at a relative's cot not too far away. Poor Balin worked hard not to appear angry.

Daniel found enough rope in Balin's own tuc, tied Lemmel's hands over his head to rafters up high, not even letting Balin do that much tonight. But to get a good stretch in the little cot, he had to put Lemmel on his knees. This worked out good because he could get to more of Lemmel's body that way and the signal of falling to his knees was moot, they all knew by now.

Jack sat on the huge sleeping platform, one foot dangling over the side, his back and head nestled against a mound of pillows. He swung his leg back and forth and waited for the entertainment to heat up.

"Come on, Balin. Over here with me. Give it up. Two Skys against little old you? You don't stand a chance. Come on," Jack said as if calling a recalcitrant child. He patted the bed beside him. "Come to papa and take a load off."

"I have no load," Balin grumbled. "It be most unseemly, what we teach this innocent, young Sky. He will speak ill of House Ondeil--"

"No I won't," the bold, unveiled man said. He'd done like Daniel often did and pushed his now-clean veil back to hang around his neck. He'd stop every once in a while to stroke it, to let the clean, fresh cloth run through his fingers. Sometimes he'd lift a tail end and sniff it, press it to his lips. He looked almost happy tonight. He'd offered to return the gold-embellished veil to Daniel but had been refused.

"My kinsman teaches me something tonight, Champion. I can't do him a disservice and gossip like an old kitchen maid. I ... I called you Champion and ... I didn't feel bad. That's a good thing. See? I do grow more seemly. Hrainlang no longer has power over me. He's dead. Did I tell you I was glad he was dead? I am. Unseemly, but true. Real. I'm real tonight."

"Yep," Jack said the Champion. "You don't stand a chance, bud. And what can it hurt to indulge them tonight? Honestly. The Sky needs to loosen up a bit, work out the kinks. And my desire is pretty good at kinks. I think you've realized that."

"Tonight," Balin whispered sternly, keeping his face averted from the unveiled Sky. "They are loosened tonight. But tomorrow when we ride, all must be seemly. We near the lands he believes belong to House Wulfstag. It will not do to be seen riding with a stolen Sky and behaving ... oddly."

"Why, Balin. I do think that was a criticism of the way I run my household," Jack said softly.

"Nay. Never. Only what be needed to be done or said to keep the household secure. Ye know my duty be that above all else. Do not jest with me about it, Highborn Jack."

"You're right. You deserve the respect due a Champion, one who's laid his life on the line in the performance of his duty."

"Always, ye word things in a way that surprise me, but at the same time, ring so true. It be a good way of saying it. I like it."

"I like watching ... this," Jack said. "It's good for my desire to let loose like this. Life has been impossibly hard on him lately. He's been through hell, taking care of me, keeping me alive. And then the thing in Brooksmeet, it's been hard on him. He needs this crazy play with Lemmel. He needs it."

"And so ye give it to him, because ye love him."

"True. Oh, wow. Look. The Sky guy's gonna ... Touchdown. Wow. He's got his mouth on Lemmel's nipple."

Balin glanced up and then ducked his head. "Not permitted to see. His House, if he exists, must give permission. Until I know, I may not look."

"What about Lemmel? He doesn't have permission."

"He be blindfolded. Did ye not notice? I insisted. And, amazing, eh? That ye Sky for once listened to me? I'm not yet understanding why he blindfolded Lemmel so readily."

"Well, I could tell you to watch and find out, but apparently that fun is all for me tonight. All by my lonesome."

"I could have fun too, Highborn Jack. If ye'd loosen too. I'd like to ... try to imitate what ye Sky finds so much pleasure in doing with my Lemmel."

"What? Suck my cock?" Jack said, a rakish grin on his face as he tried to embarrass the big swordsman.

"Aye," Balin said, not letting Jack get away with even the smallest of the verbal torture the Sky did to him. "Aye. Bring it out or would ye prefer I reach in ye pants and pull out ye weapon myself? I've a mind to suck ye until ye be loose."

"Ah, shit, Balin. You just had to say that. Suck. Yeah. Man, I'm turning into a real pushover." Jack spread his legs and untied his pants. He pulled his cock out and Balin reached for it, stroking it long and slow.

The unveiled Sky touched his kinsman and pointed at the bed. He stared while Daniel turned to see what it was he stared at.

Daniel's hand on Lemmel's hard cock kept pumping. He whispered to the Sky, "Yeah. Jack's feeling good."

"With his Champion? I've heard of such, of a House joining with his Champion before. Two strong men make a strong bond. But you have Jack's heart. You have nothing to fear. He won't abandon you."

"No. He doesn't need to abandon me in order to have a good time without me in the mix." Daniel turned back to Lemmel and began licking the cock. He tugged at the Sky urging the man to watch closer. "See his," he said between licks, "his mouth hanging open. You could climb up on a chair and ... put your cock in ... "

"His mouth? He would permit it?"

"No," Daniel said sternly. "He'd love it. He'd be so turned on, and let me warn you, he's got a very talented tongue. You'll get pleasure out of it. Be sure you're ready to feel pleasure."

"Good that you ask me, Daniel. I'm not sure I am ready. Not really sure. What if I feel bad afterwards? What if I give him more of Odin's smile?"

"Think that might happen?"

Lemmel began to whimper and thrust his cock in the air.

"I think it might. I like how he ... he wants but can't take. That's ... nice. I want to try it."

"Chair? Or what I'm doing?"

"Chair," the Sky said decisively.

Daniel let go of Lemmel's cock, which caused the low-desert man to thrust his hips harder in the air and whimper even louder.

"Open your mouth," Daniel told him. "Keep it open."

Eagerly Lemmel complied, knowing full well what was coming. He began to make a keening noise deep in his empty throat.

Daniel chuckled. He helped the Sky into the chair. The man touched Lemmel's head, and then leaned into him. Daniel steadied him.

"Oh!" the Sky yelled as Lemmel's wet mouth found his half-hard erection. He thrust into the big worker caste man, thrust into Lemmel's sucking mouth.

Daniel worked his friend's ass cheeks, kneading them, pushing one up and then the other. He dug his fingertips in a little ways and squeezed gently. "Like that, kinsman? He's good, isn't he?"

"Ah! Ah, yes! Yes!" He dissolved into wordless groans of abject pleasure as Lemmel sucked, running his fabulously talented tongue along the length of the now-hard cock.

Daniel reached up and steadied the Sky as his knees began to tremble out of control. He held the man and was surprised when an orgasm rolled through him very quickly and very hard. After a few thrusts, the Sky collapsed and Daniel struggled to let the man down out of the chair. He laid him on the floor and smiled down at him. "Wow," Daniel said.

"Oh, sweet release," the Sky said. "I have come. It's been so long. I had forgotten ... " He closed his eyes and lay there bonelessly.

Daniel grinned at the man who seemed to be drifting off to sleep. Grabbing the closest cloak at hand, Daniel covered him, then quickly went back to Lemmel. The big man was smacking his lips and licking his chin as well as he could.

"More?" Lemmel chirped.

"No. The next load is for me, and I want it up my ass." Daniel slipped the knot out of the ropes binding Lemmel's wrists and knelt in front of the man, facing away. "Now, on my hands and knees this time. And we'll do it successfully. You're hard as a rock, Lemmel. I better get ... this lube ... There, okay. You know what I want."

"Aye. And me still blindfolded, so I have to reach out and feel ... my way ... like ... this!" he said the last word loudly as he stabbed his rod into Daniel.

Daniel loved that Lemmel knew how rough he wanted it, how he loved having himself filled. Balin just didn't understand, couldn't grasp that Daniel could take it, and wanted it. But he knew if Balin came to realize how much this pained him to take Lemmel balls-deep, he'd forbid it and enforce it with his life. This hurt Daniel, but it also brought him the highest level of pleasure. Lemmel wouldn't deny him that, ever.

He rounded his back as Lemmel drove in him, making the man's thick cock pound his prostate. Daniel was hard, despite the pain, and was drooling precum on the floor under him. Suddenly that damned dark feeling of panic nudged at his consciousness, the feeling of being under Thaid again. His body felt trapped, trapped between that crushing weight and the smothering mattress. Daniel tried to rear up, to get Lemmel off him. He couldn't come straight up and fought with the black fog in his mind. He got his left hand off the floor and clawed at Lemmel's hand on his left hip.

Instantly, Lemmel stilled his pumping thrusts. The big low-desert man rose upright onto his knees, keeping his grip on Daniel. "Sky," Lemmel said softly. "Me here, Sky. Lemmel. I don't hurt ye, sweet brother. Love ye."

Gasping past the panic that was closing his throat, Daniel nodded wordlessly. He pulled at Lemmel's hand, trying to drag it around his body. "Don't ... Don't let go, brother," Daniel whispered harshly. "Hold me."

Lemmel reached his left hand around under Daniel's chest and up to his shoulder. He brought his right hand around across Daniel's hips, bringing his body back in tight contact. Then Lemmel shifted his weight back and Daniel was upright, plastered to the big man's chest and hips. Lemmel was seated deeply in him.

"Oh, fuck, yes," Daniel hissed. "Ye--" He nodded his head.

Then Lemmel shifted back further and struggled to his feet, finding his balance with Daniel hanging in his arms, and impaled fully on his shaft.

Daniel laid his head back against Lemmel's collarbone, rolling from side to side as the pain and pleasure of being impaled by his own weight sent blood surging back to his cock. He was hard again. The panic was gone.

Lemmel was still blindfolded. He began shuffling forward toward the sleeping platform, his precious burden tight in his arms. He slid his feet carefully, taking very small steps.

Daniel became alarmed again when he realized Lemmel was moving. Was the other Sky in the way? No, he was off by the table. Lemmel was taking them toward the platform. Daniel tried to focus through the haze of pain and pleasure. He saw Balin's big body draped diagonally across the bed. His mouth was wrapped around Jack's cock. Jack's eyes were closed, and his face was tense with arousal. He was thrusting slightly up into Balin's sucking mouth.

Lemmel reached the edge of the bed and Daniel's legs touched it lightly. The steward stopped. Then he moved his right hand, shifting from his hold on Daniel's hips and wrapping his huge fist around Daniel's pre-cum leaking cock.

As the intense sensation of being pumped hit him Daniel gasped loudly and gripped at Lemmel's wrists, one high, the other low.

On the bed Jack's eyes flew open and Balin jerked back. Both men gaped at the locked duo who towered over them. With his mouth slack, Daniel gaped down at the men who watched him being fucked and jerked off.

"Oh, fuck," Jack swore in lust. "Fucking hell, babe."

Balin blew out a breath of air, then dove back on Jack's cock. His renewed efforts had Jack bucking and fisting his hands in the bed covers at his hips. "Ah, shit! Here it co-comes." He exploded in Balin's mouth.

In Lemmel's incredible embrace, Daniel groaned at the lustful sight before him. His eyes locked with Jack's. Daniel whimpered. As his lover emptied his cum into the Champion's mouth, Daniel looked longingly at him.

"Want you," Daniel gasped out the words.

On the bed, Balin pulled off Jack's cock and licked his wide tongue up the deflating shaft, from balls to head. Jack shuddered. "Balin," Jack said in deep appreciation.

The big swordsman slid off Jack's hips, his head now just below Daniel's leaking cock. A drop of clear nectar fell and Balin lunged out and got it on his tongue. Daniel saw Jack's eyes flash with hunger. Then his lover rose up, pulling his knees under him. Jack straddled Balin's back and came down, bringing his mouth to Daniel's cock. He licked the slit.

"Jack!" Daniel called sharply as lust roared through him.

Quickly, Jack went forward, his mouth open, sliding down Daniel's shaft and engulfing half of him in one move.

Under Jack, Balin rose up slightly, bringing his tongue to Daniel's balls. Then Balin pushed Daniel's legs apart and up, and ran his tongue back, around Daniel's stretched hole, licking Lemmel's plundering shaft too.

Jack shifted to accommodate Balin, and got a good suction on Daniel's hard cock.

With his legs pushed up in the air, Daniel felt a sudden rush of peace. It washed over him and he couldn't imagine where it came from. He was stretched open to the point of pain. His body was naked, spread and completely vulnerable as three men worked him mercilessly. He thrashed his head from side to side, and let out a long, wordless howl of pleasure.

An orgasm took him over eventually. He wasn't sure when it started or how he'd let it have control. He'd intended to make this last for a long, long time. As his betraying nuts gave away his cum to Jack, Daniel realized the moment of futility had arrived and he let go of his resistance. He let his body's cream empty into his lover, into Jack who would always have his heart, always have some part of Daniel in him forever.

He felt a return of that incredible feeling of peace. His world faded to misty white again.

Jack was speaking. Daniel could hear him, but he couldn't feel him. There was a soft pillow under his face and chest. His body rested on the bed. Jack was still speaking, his voice low and arousing. He was saying nasty words, but to who? It was Balin. He was telling Balin to show him how deep Lemmel could take something. Daniel murmured what he hoped was a word of encouragement to Lemmel. He didn't think anyone heard him, though. So he snuggled back into the pillow and slept.

He woke again later. Someone's tongue was lapping in and around his asshole. Someone was eating Lemmel's cum from his body. He groaned in protest, but the person didn't stop. He couldn't rouse himself enough to form words so he laid there and let them take from him what Lemmel had given him. He could get more later. He would get more. But, later. And he'd forgotten to use the lash on Lemmel. Later. He'd do it later. Daniel drifted back to sleep when the tongue withdrew from him.

"Come on, sleepy head," Jack said as he dragged a washcloth across Daniel's groin. "Morning's half over. We have to hit the road. Balin's outside at the table under the shade tree. Go on, babe. The Sky's gonna have a bath in here by himself. We're gonna let him have some privacy for once."

Daniel groaned and rolled onto his back. "Coffee?" he said, hoping his inevitable disappointment would be enough to make Jack take pity on him and let him sleep another hour.

"Don't even," Jack said sternly. "And throw some clothes on. The farmer's somewhere around here. Veil too."

The other Sky was smiling when Daniel wandered over to him in the little kitchen alcove. It wasn't little to the two men, though. But by worker caste standards, the space was small. The blond man was seated in a three foot wide, round tub, his legs folded to his chest. The water level was up to his shoulders and he looked very relaxed.

"How are you feeling about last night? The fun we had with Lemmel," Daniel specified.

"Amazing," the smiling man said. "It was something I can't put into words yet. I did that. You saw me, right?"

Daniel chuckled. "I've got to go have breakfast outside. See you out there in a little while?"

"Yes," the Sky said, then groaned in pleasure as he slumped deeper in the water.

Again, Daniel chuckled as he pulled on fresh underwear and pants Lemmel had laid out for him. It had been an amazing night in more ways than one. Open relationship, that's how Jack and he defined what they had, and it was. It was also profoundly secret. And it wasn't truly open. Jack slept with others. He had before they'd gotten together and he still did. But every one of the others he slept with were women. And that's where the deepest difference between them was. Daniel occasionally dated a woman and just as frequently spent time with men. His other relationships were more acts of friendship and never progressed to sex. Jack's always progressed to sex. At lightening speed.

Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am was a phrase well known in the Jack O'Neill lexicon. But if a reader tried to look up wham, bam, thank you, sir, there'd be no entry.

With a shrug of his shoulders and his veil on, Daniel carried his boots and socks outside. He joined Jack, Balin and Lemmel at the table sliding onto a rough-hewn bench beside his lover. He straightened out his soft socks and held them in his lap.

"We must--" Balin stopped and glanced at Daniel before talking to Jack again. "The closer we get to our goal the more care we must take. Traveling with two Skys be very close to unheard of. We will attract attention everywhere."

"I know I've said this before, but what if I just wore a long robe and a bucca?"

Balin glared at Daniel harshly. "As ye did entering Brooksmeet. Which be, Highborn, a sleepy little southern village. Small, very small. Ye had the protection of duty to ye ill House to cover that behavior. Ye had a ... uncrowded, not many people place. Where we go, the chances of bumping accidentally into ye be assured if ye are not revealed. If this happens a man will die. Remember young Harv? He did come within a breath of dying that first night ye resided at the Ram's Head. Took him many a day to recover. Still, he quakes when he sees ye and him remembering them that by right called for his death even so. That'll happen, Highborn. My word on it. Men will die."

"But if they never find out--"

"If it come to light even months later, somehow someone sees a glimpse of blue, then back they trace ye steps and any who need to die, will then."

Daniel sat back, shocked that Balin had interrupted him, that Balin was speaking so harshly to him.

"I'll not see it, Highborn. I'll not see ye hurt that way."

"Me? You're talking about men being killed and you're worried about me being hurt by a little bump?"

"I worry because I know it will wound ye to see men die because of a bump. I know this about ye, Highborn. Some Sky would care not. One or two might have secret glee from it. Ye would not. Ye are healthy in spirit and I will keep ye that way. I've failed another of ye kind." Balin stopped talking and bowed his head for a moment, then jerked himself upright, his face flashing in anger. He slammed his fist down on the table. "I have made an oath! On my life I will not fail ye!"

The big Champion pushed himself from the table and strode away, his great sword swinging, his leather armor creaking in the cool, morning air. Daniel stared dumbly after the big man. Balin had hardly taken the leather armor off since leaving the stone castle. He'd hacked off the heads of two women and three men. He'd threatened the lives of twenty more, women and children among them. Balin was not playing around.

As he stared at the broad back of the man Daniel set his socks on the bench at his side. Jack reached out and touched his arm. Daniel looked at his lover, a career military officer who lived by the chain of command, who held other's lives in his hands daily. Jack had ordered men and women to their deaths many times. He'd held dying comrades in his arms and killed enemies in hand to hand combat. Jack understood the realities of life. Jack gazed steadily at him, and Daniel saw something in his lover's eyes. He saw belief. Jack believed in him. He knew Daniel would do the right thing. He knew Daniel had the strength, the bravery to do the right thing.

On the table in front of a very silent Lemmel sat Balin's Champion's helmet, the golden decorations gleaming in the patches of sunlight that filtered through the leaves that would soon be turning bright colors for fall. Daniel regarded the helmet and all that it stood for, all that it meant about the bold warrior who guided them toward home.

He picked up the helmet and took it to Balin. The big warrior had stopped under a tree and was looking off into the distance down the road they'd travel today. Quietly Daniel walked around the big man and stood in front of Balin, looking down the road with him.

"Sometimes I argue. Jack says I try his patience. But mostly I argue for what I think is right, the right thing to do, the right choices to make. Sometimes Jack has to tell me how to see something from a different perspective, to consider other viewpoints. I listen to him, Balin, and I listened to you. I see the wisdom in what you say and I understand your viewpoint." He turned and held the mighty Champion's helmet up to him. "Tell me, and I will listen, and I will do what I can to help you keep your oath."

As Balin took the heavy helmet, Daniel rose up on his bare toes, pressing his hands on the warrior's armored chest. With a tiny groan of protest, Balin bent his neck, bringing his face down to the Sky's. Daniel kissed him.

They set out along the road that morning, Daniel between Balin's strong thighs and the other Sky riding secure in front of Lemmel. Balin held Freyfaxi's reigns low, then gently pressed them in Daniel's hands. He squeezed Daniel's shoulder briefly, and then put his hands back down near the reigns. If someone saw them from a distance, they wouldn't be able to tell Daniel held the leather strips, and Daniel could give them back before anyone got too close.

"Thank you," Daniel said.

"Never," Balin said sternly.

"Ah," Daniel said in a little show of dismay. He leaned forward and patted Freyfaxi's neck. No saying please, ever. No saying thank you for something that was given to him out of duty. He'd heard the other Sky say thank you to Balin for how he'd treated the bodies of the dead at the stone castle. Murder of one's torturers seemed to be slightly acceptable. Holding the reigns was something not to be acknowledged, and Balin didn't need gratitude or even politeness from him. He needed seemly behavior. Daniel was going to have a very rough time over the next few days.

They passed a shepherd driving a flock down the road toward them. The horses waded calmly through the bleating animals. Balin nudged Freyfaxi's flanks, flicked the reigns Daniel had returned to him moments earlier, and ignored the shepherd's gaping stare. Daniel watched the man behind the safety and secrecy of the veil, never turning his head. Balin was right. They'd shocked the man; two Skys in the same small party of travelers.

Jack rode in front for a while, trotting a bit. Daniel could see his lover shifting in the saddle, trying to work his hips and thighs. These long rides were very hard on Jack's recently recovered muscles.

Lemmel brought his horse up abreast of Freyfaxi, the forth, riderless horse laden with their packs on a lead behind him.

"What if he's dead?" the Sky asked.

Daniel turned to look at the veiled man, realizing that now the two of them looked very similar from a distance. Daniel had on his summer veil, and the Sky had on the short, winter veil his lover had given him. Both wore white cloaks now, Daniel's the one that Jarngerd had made so lovingly for him, and the Sky at his side wore one hastily made by a tailor at the inn they'd stayed at for so long, south of the stone castle.

"What if my desire is ... I don't think I can bear to ... "

"I don't know," Daniel said. "We'll just have to go find out. You want to know what happened to him."

"I don't think I do," the Sky said softly. "I don't think I want to. If he's dead, I don't want to know."

"Does any of this land look familiar to you yet?"

"No," the man said, bewilderment easy to hear in his voice. "No. None of it. His lands could be just over that rise and I'd never know it. I never went past the markers. I never left the castle except on very rare occasions. I don't know. I won't recognize it. I won't."

"It's okay," Daniel said reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. We have Balin, remember? He'll find it. He'll ask as we get farther north. Someone will point us in the right direction."

Balin hadn't asked the shepherd. Why not? Because the man had looked so upset at seeing two Skys together? Daniel wanted to ask and knew perfectly well that was unseemly. He could ask Jack who could then relay the question to Balin, but Jack was far ahead now, leaning over his horse's neck, working his lower back muscles. He was hurting. Daniel thought it best to leave Jack alone for a while.

Was this how Jack felt? Going off world with Daniel where he couldn't speak to the people there? Didn't know the language? Did Jack feel this same frustration at having to wait for Daniel to translate everything he heard and everything he wanted to say? Daniel realized it would take a great deal of patience to rely on others to speak and translate for him. He hated this imposed isolation. He was used to speaking with anyone! Anywhere! It was his main skill, and he was robbed of that ability on this planet, robbed of the ability to use the skill that he most loved.

"Tonight, if we find a good-sized inn, perhaps the Champion will feel it seemly for me to do some scribe work. Seemly Skys do honest work," Daniel said. "I could offer scribing services for a little while, and you could sit at my side and see how the negotiation and the work is done. You're picking up writing skills so quickly; it'd be something you might want to do someday."

"I would. Yes," the Sky said.

Balin cleared his throat. "This evening, Highborn, if we find a suitable Inn, one that be well run and seemly for blessed ones to patronize, there may be time to sit in the great hall, if it pleases ye."

Daniel smiled and winked at his fellow Sky, and then realized the man couldn't see the wink. But the smile he did see, because he flashed one back to Daniel.

After they took a short break, Daniel got back in the saddle, a parchment and a stick of charcoal in his hands. As they rode along he worked with the Sky on runes. He drew the runes for Jack's name and as he completed the last one, the L, the Sky pointed to it eagerly.

"I know this mark. My desire's crest has this. Like half an arrow from a hunter's quiver."

"Do you remember the mark that comes before it?"

"Yes. It's like half a man with his arm bent out from his waist. Like this," he said, placing his hand on his hip and sticking his elbow out.

"That's the rune for the wuh sound. Here's how it looks on parchment. So you'll have something to help you remember that one always, the wuh sound in any word. Here, see if you can make one on this paper."

Lemmel reached far out and took the parchment and charcoal stick, and then handed it to the Sky riding between his thighs.

Balin found an inn for the night. It wasn't as clean as the Ram's Head was, but it didn't have a Tal running it either. They would take what they could get. Daniel walked a half step behind Jack to a table in a corner later that evening, and was seated in a seemly manner. Lemmel brought the Sky with him, but Jack held the man's chair and unclasped his cloak, leaving it loosely about his shoulders. Tonight, the man wore the gold embellished veil.

"Now, the first thing I do is lay my supplies out. Everyone who's pretending not to watch, but like you know, really they are, well, they'll see the quills, parchment and ink first. So when I bring out the brown cloth, they kind of already know it's not going to be an imparting cloth. Okay?"

"Yes, kinsman. I see you ... prepare them, right?"

"I like to, yeah. That way there's kind of a calmer atmosphere in the place."

"Good. I like that too," the Sky said.

Daniel had everything arranged, and then realized Balin was standing at his back, his muscular arms crossed, and his horned helmet gleaming in the flickering lamplights. Was he going to stand there the whole time like that? Like a guard on duty? But then, that's what Balin was. Daniel would have to work on ignoring the big man's presence. The timid man at his side who had recently been so abused by a false Champion was more at ease with Balin back there than Daniel was. That made Daniel ponder just how ingrained it was in a Sky, that Champions and stewards were simply a part of their environment. He tried to match the Sky's state of relaxation.

It was really too dark in the great hall for Daniel's needs. He'd been without glasses for what seemed like forever now, and rarely had trouble with his astigmatism. This society didn't require him to see a lot of detailed, small things. But scribing for a long time in a dimly lit room would give him a tremendous headache. He would only do one or two bargains tonight. That would probably be enough for his friend anyway.

He took the brown cloth out of his pocket and showed off the black runes stitched on it.

"I recognize this one, and this, and the other one there," the Sky said. "And, here too! The eff sound of my desire's crest. The eff symbol of Wulfstag. It's lovely."

"I think so too," Daniel said. He spread the cloth neatly on the table across from him. There was a flurry of activity as men and women both jumped to their feet. Balin took an imposing step closer to Daniel's back and the people as one, stopped. Then a few brave souls started toward the table again, but at a much more sedate pace. The first to reach the chair sat, and the others turned away, but no one groaned in disappointment as would have happened at the Ram's Head Inn. Daniel glanced over his shoulder and shot Balin a glare.

The big man didn't even bother to meet Daniel's disapproving look. Daniel grimaced, but then turned back to his potential customer. He began the bargaining process, getting a thorough description of what the woman wanted to have written for her.

With the Sky watching closely, Daniel composed a letter, and then blotted the inked parchment. He handed it to the Sky to inspect. The woman waited happily, all smiles as the two Skys handled the parchment she would soon possess in trade for her stack of coins.

"Here, the names of her children?" the Sky asked.

"That's right. This one says Bitra, her eldest daughter. The first rune, the buh sound, looks like that half a man you were talking about earlier, only this one has two arms on one side, one on top of the other."

"You're right," the Sky said in delight. "I see one elbow, and then he has another elbow below that. Bitra. A good name for a girl," he said, looking over the top of the parchment at the woman.

"Thank ye, Highborn," the woman said, and then held her hand over her mouth and giggled.

With her parchment held carefully in front of her like it was a sheet of gold, the woman left the table.

"So now we have a little break," Daniel explained. "No one else will come to bargain until I remove her coins from the cloth. And if I am through for the night I fold it closed the very moment I pick up the coins."

"This ... truly is amazing. You have coins on your cloth and didn't have to ... It's ... a feeling of being real, isn't it? In the city after I was freed from the garden I saw a Sky scribing for coins. I thought it was so mysterious, so incomprehensible." He dropped his voice to a very hushed whisper. "I thought it looked like magic."

"That's understandable," Daniel said.

"I saw a Sky who sewed garments in exchange for coins. He worked very hard and made very little money. I don't know where he slept. Renting inn rooms is very expensive in the city. I slept in the doorways of shops on a few nights. You can't do that very much though or you might get judged as unsound. Did you ever sleep in doorways?"

"I have, in other places."

"Scary, isn't it? The thought of waking up with the temple guardians standing over you, ready to carry you to be judged. Scary. Better to lay out your imparting cloth and at least have some privacy after the man gets off you and leaves. Sometimes I would accept a bargain if the man rented a different room than he slept in. Then I could sleep in it after he was through using me. That helped stretch my coins."

"I see." Daniel thought back on the little hovels and stuffy rooms he'd shared with Jack on the trek north to Brooksmeet. He remembered getting fucked in the bed of the innkeeper in Thorbalstead, with nothing but a thin curtain giving him privacy from all the patrons waiting, listening only a few steps away. He remembered clutching his desert robe about him, hurrying back to Jack's cramped room, cum leaking from him. And he remembered the pain that gripped his heart when he came in and found Jack so ill he could no longer open his eyes.

"Sad times," the Sky said. "Sad times. I see the pain in your face, kinsman. Think on them no more. You have Jack now. He keeps you well. And you have your incredible gift, this scribing ability."

"Yes," Daniel said, focusing on the parchment and quills. "It's bought me food many times, and a roof, privacy too. Without this skill I think I would have lost ... But I have Jack. You're right."

"If my desire is gone ... I don't know ... I won't go back to the city. There's nothing for me there."

"If we can't find your desire, you can go with us to the coast. Or if you'd rather, you could go to Brooksmeet and live on Jack's land there. He'd be honored. You could live with Tal at the inn and learn more scribing skills from Asny. She's continuing her studies at the scribing hall now. She could teach you, and you could scribe in the Ram's Head Inn's great hall just like I used to do. There'd be a room for you at the inn or at the Meadows Cot, wherever you felt most comfortable. We owe you."

"I could be real all the time," he said faintly.

"Ready to do another bargain? Let's do one more and then go to bed. Jack's probably already asleep." Daniel smiled

"Yes. One more," he said with a smile.

Chapter 24 - Merchandise

They rode the next day with Daniel again on Freyfaxi with Balin. This time the Champion said it would be seemly for Lemmel to ride behind them with Highborn Jack at his side. Lemmel was to say if a break was needed.

When the sun was straight overhead they passed a small collection of homes and a few guild huts. One was a tanner's business, its shop windows unshuttered, and the work shed attached to the shop open to the path. Balin pulled Freyfaxi to a halt and called out a greeting.

Two tanners emerged from the work shed, both stout men wearing stained, leather aprons that had seen a great deal of honest work. The man in front gave a hearty greeting to Balin and patted Freyfaxi's nose.

"Well met, Champion. What might we do for ye? Need leather work done on that fine armor?"

"Nay, tanner. My House seeks the boundary markers of another that is possibly in this district. Might ye point the way?

"Aye," the man said, squinting into the sunlight. He flicked his gaze briefly at Daniel, and then away quick. Then he looked past Balin at Jack. He curtseyed respectfully, and then turned his attention back to Balin.

"My House seeks the land of House Wulfstag. Know ye of such?

"Wulfstag, ye say?" the man asked, and then his attention was caught by Lemmel who'd brought his mare to a halt behind his master. The tanner squinted hard and backed up a step. He put his hand up to shade his eyes and stared first at the Sky in Lemmel's lap, then turned sharply to stare at Daniel. "Wulfstag," he said, his voice dropping to an ugly growl. "Ye get no help here, merchant," he said the word sharply, and then turned to spit on the ground. "I've work to do. Be gone, merchant."

He and the other tanner turned their backs on House Ondeil and strode into the shop attached to the shed. They shut the door and then pulled the shutters closed.

"Merchant?" Lemmel asked indignantly. "Merchant, he called ye! For that insult--"

"Silence," Balin said. He stared at the shop, deep in thought. "Ride on, House. Lemmel, ride on, lad and stay close to ye master." He nudged Freyfaxi back into the lane and kept the animal to a sedate pace.

"What was that about," Jack asked.

"Damn," Daniel swore. "Thought I was going to explode before you asked."

"Hush," Balin whispered, giving Daniel a squeeze with his thighs. "Ride on, House. We take no notice, or we kill them."

Jack schooled his features and pointed his horse's nose down the road.

After they'd cleared the dwellings and passed all foot traffic Balin signaled Lemmel to fall back a little, and nudged Freyfaxi over to Jack's mount, keeping the group walking casually. "I don't know. Could be there have been a curse put on Wulfstag's household. Him losing a Sky, he might be thought to be careless. He'd be cursed and all might be slaughtered there. Or could be his death was considered dishonorable or... many other reasons, House. I'm thinking it be best next time we ask a little less directly."

"Yeah," Jack said. "Ask if there are any Highborn lands around, like I'm just looking for more of my kind, or wanting to avoid paying tribute fees. Something like that."

"Aye. Ye know the ways of infiltration. Know this word, Highborn?"

"Yes."

"Thought ye would. Ye be a soldier in deed sure as I, though, that not be possible. Highborn may play at it, take an interest in it as distraction, but none live the life."

Jack eyed Balin silently for a moment. "So, what do you make of him calling you a merchant? Or was he talking about me?"

"Ye. Though he dare not speak to ye direct with me there, he was calling ye a merchant. Of what, I'm afraid I don't know."

"Skys," Daniel said. "He didn't get angry until he saw you had two Skys with you, Jack. He thought you were selling us, not just renting."

"Odin," Balin swore. "Nasty man."

"Renting?" Jack said in alarm. "I don't rent you out. I fucking don't--"

"Jack," Daniel said, trying to stop his lover's anger. "I'm sor-- Oh, hell. I ... Never mind."

Jack sulked for an entire hour until they reached another dwelling. Balin called another greeting. Though this cot was not open, he told Jack he wasn't risking dismounting until he felt the place was decent, that the inhabitants followed the Nortvegr.

"We could have Lemmel hang back," Jack suggested.

"Nay. Unwise. We may be even now watched. Best we appear as honest as we are."

"Good point."

Just as Lemmel pulled his horse to a stop an old woman came from the cot. She stood in the shade of the overhanging thatch and smiled her gap-toothed grin up at the mounted men.

"What foolishness be this? A horned Champion thinking he got some business with my humble self? Silly foolishness. Away. Oh! Highborn. Highborn. Little Highborn. One, two ... three! Little men. How cute, they be. So tiny. Hungry, little Highborn men?"

"Nay, gracious elder. I travel with my House who seeks to know if there be other Highborn about. He might wish to greet others of his kind. Know ye of any near?"

"None that care for greetings, Champion. Why don't ye let the little cuties down? They can have milk at my table. So tiny, are they not? Him, he got the white cloth on. Why, Champion? Be that one Sky? And ... Oh another Sky? Bring ye to sell? Heard one such as ye tried that. Got sent with his head bleeding, he did. Packed off. Leave 'em be in that mourning house, Champion. Take ye wares and go from here. No one at House Wulfstag wants ye wares."

"House Wulfstag? Ye know where it be, old woman?"

"Aye. Now, go on. Take the cute, little dears and go. Go on," she insisted in a screechy voice, and then went back in her cot, shutting the door securely.

Balin thrust Freyfaxi's reigns in Daniel's hands and swung off the big mount. He stormed up to the cot door and banged his gloved fist against the wood. "Old woman!" he shouted. Then he pounded again, splintering part of the wood with the blow.

"Stop! Stop, ye nasty ruffian!" she screeched from an open shutter. She leaned out the window and shook her fist at Balin. "I take a switch to ye, nasty Champion. Take them horns, I will. Just ye wait and see. I've a switch right here!" She ducked back in the window and was back in a second, brandishing a thin reed. "Bend over, nasty lad. I'll give ye a welt ye'll feel bouncing around on that puffed up steed! Bend over, I say!"

Balin strode over to the window, his face tight with ire. "I'll eat that switch for lunch, old woman! Then ye hand! That suit ye? Eh? Treat my House with disrespect! Him just asking a simple question that any folk should answer with decency! What insanity be this?"

"My hand? My hand?" she screeched in fear. "Oh nay, fine master Champion. Not my measly, stringy, old, bony hand. I've a need for it, I do. I knits and make shoes and clothes for my grandbabies. Who'll clothe the little darlings? They'll freeze in winter, sweet, magnificent Champion. Such a kind Champion."

As Balin glared at her, she brought the switch up and swung at his face. He snatched it from the air and bit it between his teeth, twisting and pulling it to pieces. Then he spat out what he'd bitten off and threw the rest on the ground.

"I'm for knocking down ye cot next. Answer the House's question! Where be the land of House Wulfstag!"

"Yon! Yon two day's ride, Champion. Yon," she whined, pointing to the south.

Balin clenched his lips in a straight line and put his fists on his hips. Then he hung his head and shook it. "Ach," he said sadly. "My House, she lies. The old woman lies. Now there's nothing for it but that I beat her cot into rubble and hack her to bits. Tisk, tisk."

"Now, now," Jack said slowly. "I think perhaps I'll give her another chance to answer. She's old. Her memory might be playing tricks on her."

"Indeed, House. Might be. But then, if she tells me again and I find the place not in the direction she says, there'll be me back here again, hacking her up. And for my trouble, looking for any maidens of her family, me with my bloodlust high by that time. I could rape maybe a dozen or so with that much ire in me."

"Or one maiden a dozen times?" Lemmel called out helpfully. "If one be all she has kinship with."

Daniel failed to completely hold in the guffaw. He clamped his hand over his mouth but most of it still got out. He looked over his shoulder and saw the Sky in Lemmel's lap shivering and holding his hands over his face. Lemmel dropped the reins, took the pack horse's lead rope and tucked it under his thigh, and gathered the man into his arms. Daniel saw Lemmel urgently whispering to him. The Sky looked like he was crying, but then he reached up and hugged Lemmel's neck.

It was so hard not to nudge Frey and go to the man, to tell him that Balin was joking. He was. Of course he was joking. Though, Daniel'd seen him cleave a woman's head for merely possessing a knife. She'd proven later to be a co-conspirator with Dolf and Hrainlang, but he didn't think Balin knew that at the time. Worried now, Daniel turned back to the big warrior.

The old woman held a shaky finger out, pointing to the east across a rolling pastureland of autumn-dry grass. "A day's ride, no more."

Without a word, Balin turned from her and swung up behind Daniel. He turned the horse back on the trail north. As they rode out of sight of the cot, he signaled Lemmel to come up abreast of him and Jack.

"I have offended," Balin said. "Little Highborn, this one has offended. My words were harsher than any Sky should ever hear. My House's Sky knew I jested. He knows me, knows my ways and my judgment. He knows I would not harm the old woman merely for being stubborn. But ye do not. And I should have sent the steward to take ye from reach of my antics. For that, I apologize, little Highborn. My ire got the best of me and I have offended. I owe ye a grievance and will pay it however ye wish."

The Sky was wiping at his face. Daniel leaned out from Freyfaxi's back and brushed at his knee. "You okay?"

"Yes," he said, sounding frustrated. "I should have known too. The steward told me, though. He told me. I feel silly. I kept picturing what Dolf did to that woman, the little boy's mother. I don't want to ... It's good that Dolf is dead now, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"When he killed Dolf, I ... I realized that you were all really there to do good things. I think that's when I started having hope that I'd get out of that place."

"Not until then?" Daniel asked, aware now that the two worker caste men were pointedly staying distant from the conversation. This is what Odamari had meant when he said Brynvold's servants were well trained in the art of not seeing or hearing. Lemmel really was as good at it as Balin. He'd have to tell the steward that, and soon.

"It was then, when he died. Until then I didn't dare allow myself hope. I had hoped for so long that my desire would come for me. And ... he never did." The Sky began to cry again, curling forward over the horse's neck. Lemmel let the reigns fall on Frost Mane's neck and handed Svaolfari's lead rope to Balin. Then he put his arms around the crying man and lifted him to sit sideways across his lap. He held the Sky's head against his shoulder and cradled the smaller man as he wept.

Daniel looked up into Lemmel's face. The man was stoic but Daniel knew he was fighting back tears. Lemmel was maturing. He could feel another's pain, could comfort, and not be devastated as he had been back in the low desert.

They rode for a few more minutes, until Balin was satisfied that the terrain they'd be heading east into would provide some cover if needed.

"We do not cross open fields like that, and never show others where we go if we can avoid it. She'd have watched, and would know for sure. This way, she only guesses."

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "This wooded area here looks good. Not too thick to make our way easy, and no clear line of sight for very far. We just need to hold as straight a course east as possible. You sighted by the sun before we left the road?"

"Aye," Balin said.

Daniel was very tempted to suggest he take Freyfaxi's reigns then but decided to save his favors for when Balin was feeling a little more solid. The man had really gotten upset over making the Sky cry. When had Balin even had time to notice that? He'd been facing the old woman, and then Jack, and then he'd mounted quickly. Maybe his response wasn't to the crying but merely to his own words. Balin believed in the Nortvegr, believed in the rightness of it and that it was in place for a reason.

And he and Jack were secretly contemplating ways to destroy it. If they did, would that free this society to a reign of chaos? Would Skys everywhere be kidnapped and held in dungeons as sexual toys? The effect of Odin's smile couldn't be undone, couldn't be ended by simply revealing Nirrti's lies. It was a biological response that Nirrti had coded into these people's DNA structure. Doing away with her rules wouldn't undo the changes she'd brought about to these people's bodies. That was a reality, unlike her godhood.

The forest way was narrow and Lemmel dropped back to the rear, once again leading Svaolfari, the nameless Sky resting well between his thighs.

"A day's ride. We'll need to find a place to sleep, maybe late afternoon, but well before dark," Balin said.

"I'd like to find some walls and a roof tonight," Jack said. "I don't want to have an open fire out here. Make us way too visible at night."

"Aye. Even if we sit a guard, a fire would be most unwise, House. What other problems do ye see that we should avoid?"

"I'm weighing the consequences of splitting up. You're a Champion. It wouldn't be that unreasonable for you to ride on with one Sky in your saddle. And it wouldn't be that unreasonable for me and my steward to be riding along with a Sky. If we split up for a short while we attract less attention and get no accusations of being flesh peddlers. But there's always safety in numbers. And then we have the little problem of toting around a stolen Sky. If one of us gets nabbed with him, then the other's not there to back up our story of how we came by him."

"Wise," Balin said. "Safety in numbers. A turn of phrase I've not heard before meeting ye, but it makes sense. We stay together then, as ye wish."

"How you came by him," Daniel said. "As if he can't speak for himself."

"Indeed," Bain said. "He cannot."

The way the big swordsman worded that sounded so much like Teal'c. The way he misunderstood the statement, taking it literally was so like Teal'c too. Daniel grimaced. He missed Teal'c. "We still have the problem of this crap about House Wulfstag sending away a merchant. She was saying that someone had gone there recently to try and sell a Sky to them, wasn't she?"

"Aye. I fear it be. And someone hacked at his head for his troubles. It be not truly possible to sell a Sky but thus it seems to them that do not understand the ways. He'd ride up, having ferried the Sky most usually as a trade for impartings. Then he'd make overtures on the Sky's behalf and expect a few gold marks from the House for his trouble."

"Sounds like selling to me," Jack said angrily.

"Except," Daniel said as his mind worked over the problem, "the Sky is free to take the deal or not. He can get off the horse and walk away. I would."

"I know ye would," Balin said. "But ye are not as our little Highborn back yon. Ye'd go scribe in a hall somewhere and make trade for food and lodging. Ye'd provide for a near-death lover and own the hearts of all near with ye precious smile in a handful of days. Ye'd end up not only providing ye lover with life, but coal for freezing babes, food for old men, and--"

"If you don't stop, I'm going to say thank you."

Balin hushed immediately.

They ended up camping at the base of a cliff. While Balin settled the horses, Jack dug a deep pit and ringed the side away from the cliff with tall stones. Then he made a low fire down in the earth. Lemmel finished settling the Skys on soft bedrolls and heated a stew mixture for their supper. They had hard bread to dip in it and a bottle of wine. The next morning, they found a stream and bathed. Lemmel sloshed around naked in full view of both Skys, but got no summons for sex. Daniel watched out of the corner of his eye as the big steward reluctantly dried off and got dressed. Breakfast was more hard bread and a rich spread made of a sweet squash and crushed nuts.

Before he mounted to ride with Lemmel, he gave the low desert youth a chaste kiss and a whispered promise that when things calmed down they'd fuck until they both passed out. Lemmel seemed as stoic as he had the day before, and again Daniel was struck with the maturity the young steward was showing.

They rode in a close group that morning, in single file. Jack had mentioned single file would be a good tactic to hide their numbers from anyone who came across their trail. Balin accepted this bit of tactical knowledge without comment this time.

The younger Sky rode in the front of the group with Balin on Frost Mane. Jack was again on Sleipner and Daniel was with Lemmel on Freyfaxi. Lemmel led Svaolfari who was the calmest of the mares when led with only packs on her back.

They hadn't gone far when they reached the edge of the forested land. They stopped abreast of each other. Ahead, the land rolled gently over a grassy, golden meadow. The smell of the long grass, drying in the autumn sun wafted gently up the rise to meet them. To the north the forest edge ran in a straight line almost out of sight, and then curved east to run along the silvery path of a river that had emerged from the forest not far north of where the riders were.

"We could ride on this side of the river, so as not to have to cross it later," Balin said. "Ride in the open that way, though. I'm thinking that we'd have one side we didn't need to defend that way."

"And no room to retreat," Jack pointed out. "I'd rather we hold steady due east right through the long grass, and then we have the option of retreating in several directions if trouble comes. The way south looks just as open as due east."

"Aye," Balin said as he raised up in the saddle behind the Sky and looked south. "Meadowlands. Rich country, this. Good grazing and a fair amount of water. Forest nearby. Not too crowded. A man could stretch out here. Lemmel, see any marker stones? Could be anywhere, now that we're off the trail."

"I see none, Champion."

"Me either," Daniel said. "Kinsman, what colors are House Wulfstag?"

"House Wulfstag? Brown like the earth here. See the earth where the horse has turned it over? That brown."

"And the other color, little Highborn?" Balin coaxed.

"Like the sun in summer. Yellow."

"As light as ye beautiful hair?" the big swordsman asked.

The Sky laughed softly. "More strong than that. My desire wears the yellow with brown border. He has a jerkin with cording--What if he doesn't want me back? I shouldn't have come. I should have ... gone to the city or down to your meadows cot, Jack. I shouldn't be here. He's dead. He would have come for me. I could learn to scribe and earn food that way and not have to take the big ones in me. I could-- Oh, gods. I can't be here. This ... this is the wrong way. The lands are that way," he said, twisting around and pointing behind them.

Balin dismounted and swiftly lifted the veiled man from Frost Mane's tall back. He put him down on his feet, and then gently took his hands. "We ride east, little Highborn. We go there to see if he lives. If he does not, or if he wishes ye to not stay, then there are many wonderful places ye may go. East with us to see fancy houses and beautiful ships, or back south to Highborn Jack's lovely cot in the peaceful meadows. Ye have many options and each one, full of security. Ye need never fear the big ones like me again. My Lemmel and I will see to it, and of course the powerful master of House Ondeil has sworn to protect ye. He owes ye. He be an honest man. He follows the Nortvegr. Ye are wanted and ... and as his little Sky be, ye are loved here among House Ondeil. Fear nothing but running from what might be ye good future. Am I speaking true, House Ondeil?"

"You speak true, Balin. My Sky would have it no other way, and neither would I."

Daniel nudged Freyfaxi forward a step, then pulled him to a stop. "Where's your other veil? The one with coins?"

"Here, Highborn," Lemmel said as he opened the saddlebag behind his right leg.

Daniel twisted over Lemmel, very pleased that Freyfaxi stayed steady. Frey always did exactly as he should when Daniel was on his back. Daniel got ahold of his old winter veil, feeling the weight of the gold on it. Then he leaned down to hand it to the Sky. "Just hold this. Keep it in your lap as you ride. It's yours, remember. You have the freedom to make choices."

"Oh," he exclaimed. "I'd forgotten. Thank you, kinsman." He took the veil and kissed it before tucking it tight against his stomach. "I'm ready to ride on. I am," he said firmly, and then held his arms out for Balin to pick him up.

Daniel watched him be sat in the saddle. He'd have to remember, no leg up for himself in the future. He was supposed to hold his arms out and expect Lemmel or Balin to put him on the horse without the use of the stirrups.

They struck out into the meadow, the sun shining warm on them after the coolness of the autumn air in the forest. The grass was tall enough to tickle the horse's' bellies and dried to a fresh, golden hue. The heavy grain tops swayed in the gentle breeze. Daniel sagged back against Lemmel and let his mind wander to other places and other times. He thought of wheat fields in Egypt, and learning how bricks were made from the stuff. And he remembered running through fields of cotton in Egypt too, pulling the white fibers from the sharp, split boles. His childhood had been very rich in experiences.

The Sky who rode in Balin's lap had spent his childhood behind the walls of a garden, seeing nothing new, learning nothing, not even how to read or write.

"Stones," Balin announced, bringing all of them to a higher level of alertness. "Got a trail coming over the horizon from the south. See it, Highborn Jack?"

"Yes. Looks like a two-rut trail. Carts. Market road maybe?"

"Likely, aye. Then north of here it goes east again. Our way. This be our road. But I see no colors on the stones." Balin turned his horse north on the trail.

"No colors?" asked the Sky. "Then, he's dead. He would have come for me. He would have found me somehow."

"Maybe the winter took the colors off and no one come to put them on this past spring. Ye been gone long, little Highborn."

"Yes. It was the end of winter. If I had waited another week the stags wouldn't have been coming that close for a drink. And the false Highborn said he was timing his hunting trip to get a clawbeast just as they woke for spring. I missed spring and summer here."

"Then we wont jump to conclusions," Jack said. "I mean, make hasty assumptions about the absence of color on the stones. We know it's most likely some Highborn's land, or a Champion's home. So, let's go see which it is."

Over the next rise Balin called to Lemmel to close ranks. There were markers ahead and a watchman's hut.

"Hallo, the hut," Balin called. He halted his horse, and the other riders did too. He checked the markers on both sides of the road. They showed brown and yellow.

Shortly, a squat man came from the hut. His face was thin and he had gray braids that hung down to his waist. He was picking at his teeth with a grass stalk. "Aye. What business?"

"I am Balin, master swordsman and Champion of the great northern far reaches House Ondeil. My House seeks the Highborn here. What household be this?"

"Highborn? Ondeil, ye say? Well come, Champion. Though, from the looks of ye party ye'll be sent packing soon. And maybe with a headache I'll wager. House won't take to what ye offer."

"House Ondeil follows the Nortvegr," Balin said sternly.

"Aye. My apologies, good Champion. Ye intentions are none of my affair. This be House Wulfstag, right so it be. Still wish ye entry?"

"Aye. Summon House Wulfstag's steward, if ye follow the Nortvegr."

"I know my business, I do. Aye. I know my business," the old man said and waved at Balin to be patient. "Steward be at the castle this fine, fall day. Beautiful day. Warms my bones. Ride if ye wish. That long hill be too much for my bones. Sun warms 'em, though it does. Still, too long. Steward knows this. He says, let 'em through and so I do. Ride to the front and many will see ye. The steward will be at the great door by the time ye are. Ride on this posted land and go pay him for the privilege of getting ye skull banged. No business of mine. No. Not my business."

Balin clucked Frost Mane to move out.

Almost a month after crossing boundary stones onto Hrainlang's land, House Ondeil and his men crossed onto Wulfstag land.

"You didn't ask him?" the Sky said, his voice tremulous. "Ask if he's alive?"

"Nay. We go and see with our own eyes, eh, House?"

"Yeah. I'm not taking that old codger's word for anything."

"Codger?" the Sky asked.

"Uh ... old, sour man." Jack nodded firmly.

"I see the colors," Lemmel said, and pointed ahead.

As the horses walked forward two flags gradually appeared at the horizon. The flags were a cheery, bright yellow, with a dark border. From a distance it wasn't possible to make out the color of the border but Balin said it had to be brown. The marker stones told him so.

Daniel nodded but began to look around the horizon in apprehension. A flock of sheep moved over the horizon on the right, slowly munching their way north. He saw two boys following the flock, herding them along. They caught sight of the party and waved.

Lemmel waved back.

When Daniel turned back around the flags had risen high and he could see they were set on the top of two round turrets. The turrets had notches in the top where archers could lay in wait, or watchers could look out unseen over the surrounding meadows. No one could approach this place unseen.

"It is," the Sky said shakily. "I know it now. The towers, I've been up in them. We had meals up on top sometimes. There's a garden in the center of the castle grounds, with walls all around. Farmers can't come in there. See the front? That big door is very heavy. My desire can't even open it. He has his steward do it. And there," he said pointing to the north side of the castle. "That's where horses are stabled. They go down that way to water."

Near the open sheds, Daniel could see people working and a few horses milling about in several well-kept paddocks.

"Beyond the horses, that's where I went to look at the stags. We walked that way, and then down through those trees." He wiped at his cheeks as he spoke. "There was snow then. I loved the brightness. It was bright, so we kept walking. It wasn't too cold. It was so beautiful that day."

"We be expected," Balin said quietly to Jack as he nodded his head toward the man waiting on the top step before the huge, metal studded door. "They've watchers in the towers for certain. That be why they've no need to wear out the old man's legs."

A couple of women who'd been sitting on benches in the sunlight against the front castle wall to do handwork, picked up their baskets and strode swiftly away around to the north side of the castle.

"Best move slow now," Balin said. "No need to alarm any archers on high."

"You got that right," Jack said, shading his eyes to inspect the slits in the turrets. Archers could take positions at several levels up the tower structures, and probably were there right now.

When they were within a few yards of the bottom step, Balin brought his horse to a standstill. When Jack and Lemmel were in line with him, all presented honestly, Balin held up his hand.

"Hallo, the castle," his voice rang out deeply as he addressed the stern man on the top step. "Comes now before ye, the great House Ondeil. Ondeil follows the Nortvegr."

The man had his arms crossed over his chest. He wore a brown tunic with yellow trimming on the shoulders. On his right bicep were brown and yellow ribbons, marking him as a titled servant of the House.

"That the steward?" Daniel whispered to Lemmel.

"Aye. New man, serving where the old one died when their Sky was stolen."

"So he won't recognize Wulfstag's Sky," Daniel realized.

The new steward had long, black braids hanging down over his chest, and thick waves of unbound hair hanging far down his back. His face had a stern scowl. "Ye've an embarrassment of riches, Champion," the stern man said.

"Ondeil follows the Nortvegr. Does this household?" Balin met the man's glare equally.

"Come ye now onto posted lands. Here and all about for a days ride be House Wulfstag, an honorable house that follows the Nortvegr. Now that ye know where ye are, be off with ye. My master has no need of what ye peddle."

"Follows the Nortvegr?" Balin said, showing scorn in his voice.

The stern man looked away from Balin and let out a snide laugh. "So that be the way ye want this done, eh? Ye had ye chance. Come ye now on posted lands and have been warned off. Pay ye marks, and then say ye peace so my master's Champion can be summoned from his noon meal to kick ye off. He be right good at that. Had one before ye offering what my master has no interest in."

"State the value," Balin said. "What cost to set foot on this land?"

"Ten full marks. And I'll see 'em before any man dismounts, no matter how small the foot."

"Nasty," Balin said with a snarl.

"How small the foot?" Daniel whispered to Lemmel. "He means Highborn, right?"

"He means Sky." Lemmel answered without moving his lips. "Nasty to speak of what he has no right to see."

Daniel nodded, and then caught himself and held perfectly motionless.

Jack turned to Lemmel. "Get out--"

"Ten?" the nameless Sky asked loudly. "Ten." He fumbled in his lap, and then held up the gold embellished veil Daniel had given him. "I've no blade to cut the threads with."

The steward on the steps uncrossed his arms and took a hasty step down the stairs. He stood poised on the second step, leaning forward. "Veil marks," he said in surprise.

With great caution, Balin slowly extracted a knife from his boot and held it stiffly out, pointed away from the Sky in his lap. The Sky leaned over, slipping the thread from the veil over the knife. He pulled the veil back and cut a mark free. Then he carefully cut nine more. As he did this everyone held still, waiting tensely. When all the marks were free he stretched the veil out and hung it around his shoulders. The remaining marks and coins glinted in the sunlight.

"Down," the Sky said as he began to shift in the saddle. "Champion, I need down."

Balin looked at the steward on the step and got a nod. Then he swung out of the saddle and lifted the Highborn down. The steward came down the steps and met the veiled man. He held his big, calloused hands out and the Sky gently placed the pile of gold marks in his palms.

"Done," the steward said in a soft, solicitous tone. "But I fear, little Highborn, that it buys ye entrance to the front hall to see his Champion only to be sent away. My master will have no Sky. His heart be not for it. I fear ye've wasted hard-earned marks. I regret taking them from ye, little Highborn."

Balin signaled the others and they all dismounted, draping their reigns on the hard packed dirt before the stairs. Daniel moved up to stand close and solid behind the other Sky. He laid his hand on the man's lower back. The Sky turned and looked at him, then turned back to the new steward. Daniel touched him firmer. He'd seen tears sliding down the man's cheeks.

"I would ... " His voice was trembling. "For my marks, I would hope to buy entrance to see your master."

"I ... He'll not, I fear. Never. His heart be not for any other. He's lost what will never be here again. This house be in mourning, little sweetling. Ah, cry not, precious one. It will not get ye his heart. He has none left to give. Go now, I beg ye."

The Sky mutely shook his head. Daniel could feel him crying now.

"Ach," the steward said, shaking his head like the Sky did. "I can but lead ye in and ye can see then that he will take ye marks and tell me to send ye on ye way. That will do."

The Sky shook his head for a moment, and then stopped. "Yes. Yes, it will do. One moment." He turned to face Daniel.

"Hold the winter veil behind me, kinsman. Shield me from his sight."

Daniel reached over his shoulders and lifted the beaded edge of the gold-laden veil, spreading it wide to hide the Sky. Then he watched as his blue-eyed friend untied the veil that Lemmel had washed so thoroughly. He pulled it off and held it to his lips. Daniel nodded, and laid the gold decorated veil on his head. He adjusted it until the beads rested across the man's cheeks. He pulled the ends under his chin and reached around the man's neck to tie them under the drape, as Asny had shown him how to do. Then Daniel patted the folds and drape of the veil, settling it so that the coins and marks showed brightly.

"There, kinsman," Daniel whispered. "Seemly now."

The Sky looked up, meeting Daniel's unfettered blue gaze under the beaded edge. He lifted a trailing hem of the gold-decorated veil and kissed it. Then he looked directly into Daniel's eyes and spoke to the steward behind him. "I'm ready, steward, if you will use this to carry the marks to your master?" He held the plain veil out behind him, still keeping his steady gaze on Daniel's eyes.

The steward balked for a moment, but then took the veil without a word. He juggled the marks while folding the veil, and then put the marks in it and gathered the edges.

The Sky turned and moved to Jack's side. Jack held out his hand in the correct posture and walked up the steps behind the steward. Daniel put his hand on Jack's Champion's hand and walked behind his lover and his friend. Lemmel came behind them.

The steward walked up the steps, leading the men in through the huge door. It swung slow, with a strong squeaking noise.

Daniel glanced at the thickness of it as Balin led him in. Even Teal'c would have a hard time moving that thing!

The steward led them through a high, arched hallway into a sitting room. The vaulted ceiling in here was easily two stories high. Tall, narrow windows let light in from well up on the walls. What he'd thought was a second story was actually part of this room. There was a third floor somewhere, if the interior matched the windows outside. The room had a myriad of sitting areas, with weapons mounted high, and stuffed heads of animals. It was similar to the stone castle to the south, but had a much more rich, lived in feel. There were plush carpets and lanterns. He saw vases with runes on their surfaces. He saw stone objects with runes chiseled in tight rows across their surfaces much the way Viking writing was back on Earth.

One round table had a stack of parchments that had been bound together with a ribbon. It was the first book-like thing he'd seen on this planet. He almost took a step toward it, and then remembered where he was, who he was.

The steward turned and stopped them by a low table with wine and glasses displayed. He didn't offer them anything to drink. It seemed he'd merely stopped them at that place just to have a point of reference for them to stand by. Daniel kept glancing at the table, trying to figure out what was odd about it. It was very low; no taller than his own hips. Then he looked around, realizing all the furniture in the room was shorter than anything he'd seen recently, with the exception of Jack's reclining chair. Everything in sight was sized for Highborn!

"Wait here," the steward said to the Sky. "I will give him ye hard-earned marks, wrapped in the veil wet with ye tears, little sweetling. But, I fear ye idea of giving him ye tears be no ... Oh, please. I'm not one for seeing any Sky cry. Oh," he said in terrible dismay. "But I must obey my master. I go now. Dry ye eyes or that veil too will be ... It be already wet. Ach," the man said in genuine regret. He backed away and went across the room.

Daniel stepped a little to his right to see around a lamp. There was a Highborn man seated across the room. He was slumped in a chair with his feet on a footstool. He appeared to be staring into an unlit fire. Dressed in dark pants and a white shirt, this Highborn man had pale skin and dark brown hair that was cut as short as Brynvold's had been. It hit just above the collar of his shirt.

The steward knelt at the man's side and spoke for a moment. Then he handed the white bundle to the sitting man.

The man took the bundle and set it on his thigh, and then idly pushed it open. Gold marks slid out, some falling on the chair and others on the floor. Daniel spared a glance over at the other Sky. The man was crying silently but very hard now. He wasn't doing anything to wipe away the tears. That was his desire in the chair. He must be so frightened right now. He said he was afraid his desire wouldn't want him any longer. After what he'd been through, what had been done to him was that possible? Jack still loved Daniel as much as ever. Jack didn't think less of him. Jack would never turn from him, no matter what. Daniel knew that. He had no doubts about the strength of the love he and Jack shared. Would this Sky's lover feel the same?

Across the room the man pushed himself out of the chair, letting the rest of the marks fall to the floor. He held the veil out in front of him, inspecting it in the shafts of sunlight that cut diagonal swaths across the room. Then he turned and looked back at the group the steward pointed at. He took a step toward them and looked back at the steward. Then he took another step and another. Then he was almost running the length of the huge hall. He was limping, Daniel noticed. His gait was uneven.

As he got within a few feet of Balin and the veiled Sky, he stopped suddenly, holding the veil out in front of him. His face was twisted in a look of torturous pain.

"How did you come by this?" he asked, and then he stepped closer. "Oh! Oh! Are you real?"

Daniel was stunned with the similarity to the words the Sky had used when they'd freed him from Hrainlang's imprisonment. The Sky let go of Balin and took a step forward. He pushed the veil back. Daniel had tied it loosely, and it fluttered back, the coins and marks clinking as it slid to hang down his back.

"Desire," the Sky whispered, his face shining with his tears.

"Ashild?" the Highborn whispered. "Ashild?" he said louder. "Is it you? Ashild?" he shouted as he reached for his desire. "Ashild!" he cried. He lunged forward, engulfing his lover in his arms.

The Sky, Ashild, fell into his lover's embrace, his crying sound now breaking through his silent agony. His body was wracked with sobs of pain and joy. He buried his face against his lover's neck, dampening the sounds of hurt and need.

The steward was there then, trying to usher Jack and his household from the room. Daniel felt rooted to the spot. He watched the depth of love in front of him, and then he turned to Jack and melted into his lover's arms. He brought his mouth to Jack's and swore to keep kissing the man until he couldn't stand up any longer.

He almost got his wish. Long moments of crying and kissing passed behind Daniel as he made love to Jack's mouth. When Jack grew unsteady, Daniel broke the kiss and held his hands against Jack's cheeks. "I love you. I love you like ... that. Like that. And I hope we're never apart again. I don't ever want to be apart from you, Jack. Ever. When we go back through the gate, I'm not going to settle for living apart from you. I won't. Not any more. Nothing is worth it."

Jack pushed his veil up his forehead and whispered to him. "Danny. We'll find a way to be together at home, or, or we'll go elsewhere. Nothing is worth not waking up with you in my arms. Nothing is worth going to sleep thinking of you in a lonely bed across town while I'm in my lonely bed. I love you. We'll make it work."

"Took us getting lost a galaxy away from home to figure that out," Daniel whispered. He let Jack tilt his head forward until their foreheads were touching.

They stood there, toe to toe, arms around each other's neck in complete intimacy. Finally Daniel noticed he couldn't hear the other Sky--Ashild--couldn't hear Ashild or his lover any more. He raised up and looked around.

None of the worker caste men were in the room with them. Balin and Lemmel and the steward of House Wulfstag were gone. Across the room Ashild and his lover were sitting on a sofa, locked in a tight embrace. Ashild's head was on his lover's shoulder, their arms encircling each other.

The head of House Wulfstag looked up at them, then smiled. He motioned for them to approach. Jack took Daniel's hand, holding it palm to palm, as lover's walked together on Earth. Daniel smiled down at their clasped hands and followed Jack to the other two Highborn.

"Please," the Highborn said. "Sit. I have ... so many questions. My heart, though, I think it's close to bursting." He smiled.

In his embrace Ashild stirred and opened his eyes. "I'm home. It's real. I'm really here."

"You sure are," Jack said with a wide grin. He moved to one of the low, cushioned chairs and sat, and then pulled Daniel down to sit with him. They fit together in the wide chair, though it was low enough that it had obviously not been made for worker caste men.

"Who are you?" the Highborn asked.

"Jack ... Ondeil. This is my ... my desire. This is Daniel."

"Jack," the man said, with a little laugh of heightened emotions. "Well met. My desire ... I ... How did you come to ... I don't know where to begin," he said as he looked down at his lover who was hugging his chest. He bent down and kissed the man's unveiled hair.

Jack reached over and untied Daniel's veil, letting it fall down around his shoulders. "Much better," he whispered.

"Ashild," the Highborn said, and then shook his head. He blinked back tears, but then had to wipe his face. "I truly don't know what to say."

"That's understandable," Jack said reassuringly.

"Oh, I'm Sven. Sven Wulfstag."

"Well met," Jack said, then shot Daniel a prideful grin.

"Yes, you're brilliant," Daniel whispered. "Now tell him you give him my name to use freely and that he may touch."

"'Am I inviting him to an orgy?" Jack whispered, his eyebrows drawn together.

"Uh, no. No, I'm sure you're not. Definitely not."

"You're brilliant too, Doctor Jackson."

"No, wait," Daniel said. "No, go ahead. Definitely. I'm sure."

Jack pursed his lips, and then to cover the exchange he kissed Daniel on the cheek before turning back to the other couple.

"You meet my desire, Daniel, of the Sky caste. He's my life mate and you can use his name free. You may also touch him." Jack nodded.

"I am honored. I ... " He cleared his throat and began again. "I think you know well, but ... this is--"

"They don't know my name. I never spoke it because I ... hoped you would be alive to do so."

"Oh, desire," Sven said urgently. "I'm alive. You see me. I'm alive. And you are too. I thought you were dead too. There was so much blood. They didn't find me until it was dark. My wound had bled out down the bank onto the ice and that's how they spotted me. They found the steward, but no sign of you. There were tracks. We know you were attacked by men. With that much blood, I thought ... We looked anyway. I wanted to have you back regardless. I ... There was no sign in any direction after a day's ride. No one had seen a Sky. No one had ever seen an unclaimed one in any of the great Houses around here. I sent a servant to the city in the north that spring. He's there and watches for you daily. He's sent word back every time a Sky is heard of that might be you. I've sent a man deep to the south to a little village on a river there. A tale came through there was a Sky there who was out of place. I thought it might be you. I hadn't really given up hope. But ... it ... Never mind. You're alive. You're here. How did you get here? Where ... where have you been all this time?"

"I was held captive. The man who attacked, it was the Champion hunter who used your hospitality a few days before he stole me. Him and his serf. They took me."

"My desire," Sven said softly. "You've been hurt. Tell me. I need to go kill them. I need to rend them. Tell me where to find them. But first, I ... must hold you. Hold you forever."

As the two reunited lovers spoke, Daniel turned away, giving them privacy. "Jack," Daniel whispered. "That's how I feel."

"Like rending someone?" Jack asked, his lips brushing Daniel's cheek.

"Hold me forever, Jack. I'm going to hold you forever." Daniel brought his mouth to Jack's again. Their kiss was less frantic this time, more sweet but still very needy.

As Jack pulled back, Daniel slid down and laid his head on his lover's chest. He could hear Jack's heartbeat. He opened his eyes and saw Ashild in the same posture, as if he were listening to his lover's heartbeat too. Daniel smiled.

Sven cleared his throat and wiped at his eyes. "Honored, Jack Ondeil. Honored. This is my desire, the love of my life. This is Ashild of the Sky caste. He is my heart--" Sven began crying again, his breath coming in great hitches. "I thought you dead. Oh, Ashild! I love you."

Daniel watched the two lovers embracing and then realized he was being moved back and forth. Jack was rocking him. He turned his head and kissed Jack's chest. Then he pulled one of Jack's hands to his mouth and kissed his palm, and then the tip of each finger. Ashild was crying now.

"My desire, Ashild," Sven said. "My desire's name will be spoken freely between us. You may touch. I expect you've had to touch him many times to get him safely back to me. Where did you find him? Who killed the black-heart who harmed him? He's truly dead? You are sure?"

"One of them died with a knife through his black heart," Jack said bluntly. "The other gave up his life to my Champion's blade. Then they were ... there were three others who helped keep Ashild a prisoner. My Champion killed them all. Then he buried them face down and desecrated the ground where they rot. I saw the dead bodies. They're truly dead."

Sven nodded, his face drawn and pinched. "Ashild, where were you? Where did I not look?"

Jack answered. "About seven day's ride south, and about two days west. We found him by accident. We stopped at this castle just to ... say hello. We saw him there and Daniel ... Daniel said we weren't leaving without him. So," Jack paused and shrugged, "we didn't."

"Langhairin," Sven said darkly.

"He told us his name was Hrainlang. Makes sense that he'd give you a false name. Less chance of you being able to track him that way."

"Yes," Sven said, shaking his head in anger. "He hurt my desire, Jack."

Jack nodded.

Daniel reached up and cupped Jack's cheek. Jack turned and kissed his palm. Then Daniel sat up and took Jack's hand between his. Then he looked at Sven. "Hrainlang had a disgraced Champion working for him. The two of them and their huntsman hurt Ashild and died for it. The huntsman's wife was killed, and I'm not sure what part she had in things. Also there was a woman from the kitchens. Balin, my desire's Champion, said she deserved to die, so he cut her head off. We took Ashild with us and came in search of you. We're ... I can't say how relieved we are that you're alive."

"I can't ever tell you how much you've done for me, freeing him and bringing him back to me."

"Home," Ashild said.

"In my arms," Sven said, his lips pressed to his lover's hair. "It will take some time for me to really believe it."

"Me too," Ashild said with a smile.

"You folks must have a million things to talk about," Jack said as he started to rise.

"A million at least," Sven said. "My steward ... Where'd the man go? Well, he's around here somewhere. He'll settle you in comfortable rooms. You can rest. Daniel, you may feel free to be unveiled under this roof. My steward and Champion are the only men allowed in here, now that my desire is returned to me. I'll make sure ... Let me make sure he knows that rule. He's new to my house and I'm afraid I haven't been taking care of training anyone ... " he chuckled in amazement, "haven't been taking care of anything at all lately."

"Understandable," Jack said again. "I'd be climbing the walls if-- I mean I'd be unable to take care of things if Daniel were missing."

The four Highborn men sat there in companionable silence for a while. Ashild and Sven touched and kissed, and so did Jack and Daniel. Sven got bits and pieces of the story, of how Ashild had been carried south, blindfolded, tied and wrapped in a tarp like a dead beast. He heard a little of the sexual abuse, of the perverted things that Ashild endured, and then he heard about Ashild's hope of being rescued, his difficulty believing Jack was actually real and that he'd save him. Several times Sven stopped the telling to thank Jack. Ashild told him that Jack had turned his travel plans north to come search for Sven, and how he'd be eternally indebted.

Jack waved that indebtedness off, stating clearly again that they were even. Sven asked for an explanation about how they could be even but Ashild said he couldn't bear any more of this harsh talk. He needed to rest in his lover's arms. They excused themselves and left, Sven saying they would be tended to very soon, as was proper and hospitable.

The steward arrived almost immediately. He'd apparently been waiting outside the room. He showed Jack and a veilless Daniel to the suite of rooms he'd set in order for him and his household. Balin and Lemmel were already there, along with the baggage from their horses.

Jack said he was taking a nap immediately and forbade any sexual antics that might disturb his sleep in the slightest. Daniel followed his lover through the grand sitting room into the master bedroom and went straight to bed with his lover, shutting the door on Lemmel and a tense looking Balin.

Chapter 25 - Castle Wulfstag

They'd arrived at Sven's castle mid day and had spent the afternoon in the vast hall with Sven and Ashild, staying well into the early evening. When Daniel woke the room was dark. The thick, bubbled glass in the deep-set window showed a black night. He had no idea how late it was but Daniel was determined to find some food so he slid from the big bed, careful not to wake Jack. As his bare feet touched the carpet, he realized this bed was very low! It was made for a Highborn. He hadn't even noticed when he'd crawled in here with Jack hours ago. He'd stripped off the veil and his clothes, collapsed against his lover's equally naked body and let his mind be at peace in a way that it hadn't from the moment they crashed on this planet.

No veil! Sven had said he was free! He was free to be without that thing, and not just the stolen moments of freedom that he'd enjoyed in Jack's bed or in Jack's meadows. This was real, honest freedom! No white noose hanging around his neck as he'd had even while galloping at the speed of wind on Freyfaxi's back.

Daniel stood by the bed reveling in the feel of having his head and neck unbound. Even though it was dark, he was free to see details, shading, and shapes in the subdued room. The bedchamber was lit only with silvery moonlight and a line of yellow, flickering candlelight coming from under the door he'd closed earlier. He opened it and let the light spill into the room.

"Wha's up?" Jack called sleepily, but sat up immediately. "What time is it?"

Daniel stood, naked in the dim spill of flickering light, looking back over his shoulder at his lover, seeing Jack's strong features with no veil obscuring the warm sight. He turned and took his fill of the sight of the man who owned his heart, and smiled. "Well, Asny would say it's time to eat, of course. Which, by the way, it is. I'm starving. We haven't had anything to eat since breakfast in the woods where we camped last night. Come on, sleepyhead. Let's go find the guys and get some--"

"They're right behind you, babe. You're mooning them."

"Ah," Daniel said with a little grin. He turned back around. "Hey. Do we have food up here? You brought up the packs?"

"Aye, Sky," Lemmel said solemnly. "We have food here when ye wish." He stepped aside and pointed to a table piled with fruits, breads, and many covered dishes. "House Wulfstag provides as it should, Champion says."

Balin bowed to Daniel and then directed his gaze to Jack. "House, I've a need to speak with ye and ye Sky. Now please, before any come rapping on the door here."

"Come in," Jack said and fished around on the foot of the bed for his discarded underwear and pants.

Lemmel came into the room walking sedately and carrying a candle. He lit four of the lanterns mounted on the walls in various spots around the room, and then moved into an alcove on the far side, lighting more in there. Then he returned.

Daniel went to the foot of the bed and picked up his long, summer veil. He wrapped it around and over his shoulders, letting it fall down past his ass. The gauzy fabric hid very little but he felt secure in it. Balin and Lemmel's formal attitude was indicative of trouble and he didn't intend to hear the details naked or dressed in those damned slutty pants. When Jack wore pants he looked like he was dressed. Daniel felt the slit-legged, ass-huggers he was forced to wear left him more revealed than if he were simply wrapped in his veil.

"Spit it out, Balin. What's up?" Jack ordered the big Champion.

Balin was still in his armor and cloak. The long, flowing garment was thrown back artfully over his shoulders, folded in pleats at the top so that it draped to show House Ondeil colors well. He had his helmet under his arm. He came to the side of the bed where Daniel and Jack stood, and he knelt on one knee in front of Daniel, placing his helmet by his leg. Lemmel stood two steps behind him, his face a solemn mask.

"House, there be a need to speak with ye Sky. A need to speak of serious things that no little Sky should ever be troubled with, but, there be ... a need."

"Go on, Balin," Daniel said, his posture stiffening.

Balin stayed there, head bowed and silent.

Jack rolled his lips in and looked at Daniel. "Babe," he said, and then laid a hand on Daniel's arm. "Let's try the seemly thing for a while, okay?"

Mutely Daniel nodded. He was hungry. He wanted to get this nonsense out of the way. That table laden with food was calling him.

"Balin, tell my Sky what you need to. It's obviously something that has to do with keeping my household safe, so speak up."

"I wish to speak down, House, so as no other ears than these in here can know my words. Only ye household must hear this and must understand."

"Go on," Jack said, his annoyance showing now. He sat on the edge of the bed, his legs comfortable and his feet firmly touching the floor.

Daniel stood stiffly, wrapped in his veil.

Balin looked up at him for a moment, his brows knitted in deep thought. "I must choose my words carefully, little Sky, so that ye will listen and hear as ye promised to do on the trail south of this great castle. Here, all here on the lands of House Wulfstag, his people have been injured. They've been hurt in the nastiest way possible, if ye can imagine this. Their beauty was ripped from their loving breast and taken away to be despoiled and tortured. They ached and mourned and hurt for a long time. And now he's come back to them. By now word has made it around the castle, words that tell at least some of how he was harmed.

"Bloodlust was high when we arrived. It now be at a frenzied pitch, though ye will see none of it. Ye sweet eyes will never see the pain and anguish that burns in each man and woman under this fine master's roof. They'd sooner die than be so crass within ye sight."

Jack stood and interrupted Balin. "Bloodlust when we arrived. You're talking about the archers in the blinds along the road between here and the watcher's hut?"

Balin blinked in surprise as he looked up at Jack, and then he nodded once. "Aye. Of course ye saw them too. Even my Lemmel didn't see, Highborn Jack."

"Blinds?" Daniel asked.

"Foxholes, Daniel. Dug in the sides of the rises, with the openings covered in beige nets. I figure two archers in each, maybe more. Enough so they could take turns keeping the road under surveillance. I saw two stations. Balin, did you see more than two?"

"Nay. Two be sufficient to guard that stretch, as I'm sure they had means to signal the castle as well as deplete any force by quite a bit. We rode steady and honest to the castle, never pausing. We were safe as long as we showed ourselves, House. I feared it would have been dangerous to turn along the way. Best to state our business to the steward. We followed the Nortvegr and so did they. Though, House, they not be foss holes. They be way hides, and ye need not know this."

"Ah." Jack nodded.

"This house shows to have been under siege, at the direction of the Champion, him who I've met while ye were with his House and the Sky of Wulfstag. While his master lay near to dying, the Champion sent seekers over the country to search for Wulfstag's heart these past many months. The way hides and the other defenses are the Champion's doing. But they speak much of how this household has been living. As we approached, the idling women, seeming casual, left from sight. No person approached the greeting area but the steward.

"All here have been doing the best they could to live in defense of what scraps of humanity they had left, which was poorly at best. As Wulfstag's Champion showed me about the castle grounds I saw and heard the bloodlust that burns here."

"So why are you telling us this?" Daniel asked. "Get to the point."

Balin bowed his head for a moment, and then nodded. He looked up at Daniel and took his hands, just as he had taken Ashild's that morning on the trail when Ashild had grown frantic and wanted to flee.

"Little Sky, this household be now more than ever full of bloodlust. They jump at every noise and flinch at every movement. They have had a wound so deep it came near to killing every man, woman and babe. They've been holding on by fingernails, bloody and beaten for long months. Their precious heart be back among them now, but ye must know, their souls cry out for vengeance which has been stolen from them by ... me. I killed the wrongdoers and for that they are adulate of me. But still, the least little provocation causes them to stare and bristle in alarm. I must walk the most narrow path of seemliness. I must not breathe where breath be not seemly. Understand, little sweetling?"

"Seemliness? Yes. Okay. You killed both of the Champions, and we all have to be seemly."

"Seemly with each breath, Sky. With each breath here. Never a step out of place that they wouldn't expect, or a tone or word or ... deed. Never until we leave this grand place, Sky."

"Look, I can do my part--"

Balin pulled Daniel's hands forward and pressed his lips to the smaller man's palms. He stayed that way as still as a marble statue. Then, with his face still bowed over the kissed palms he shook his head sadly.

"Balin," Daniel began, but stopped to fight his own frustration.

"I've told the Champion our steward be a novice. Allowances will be made. House Wulfstag's steward has taken young Lemmel on a fine tour of the grounds, showing him the workings of a seemly house. Lemmel shall be getting an exceptional opportunity to further his education as well as time to watch an experienced steward conduct himself as should be. This time here, it could be excellent for the lad and for the House."

Balin shook his head again, and then looked up into Daniel's unveiled eyes. He stared intently into the blue. "Ye, Sky, ye must not go from this room unless ye are so tightly within seemliness that ... " Again he shook his head.

"Not go out? I ... He said I'd be free here, that I could go out without my veil. Jack?" Daniel said, turning to his silent lover. "I want to visit with Ashild. I want to see how this place runs, how these people live. Their culture ... Those tapestries in the great hall, Jack, and ... I saw a book on a table down there. It's the first book I've seen here. Jack?" Daniel felt his chest ache.

"Daniel ... Balin's ... He's got a point ... Baby," Jack said, pulling Daniel from Balin's grasp. "Honey." Jack said softly as he held Daniel to his chest. "I know. You've been through so much."

"But that's my life, Jack! What else am I good for? I want to translate that book. That's my life." Daniel took deep breaths. The ache in his chest tightened. A promise of freedom, the delicate taste of it was just barely on his lips! And now it was being torn away? Again? "No, Jack," Daniel whispered against Jack's neck. "No. I won't stay a prisoner up in this room. Ashild was locked up in that castle and we risked our lives to free him. So, why? Why should I accept being locked up here? Why?"

"Baby, can you ... Daniel," Jack said firmly, and then he took his lover by the shoulders and held him at arm's length. "You've been through a lot since we crashed. You've had a lot of bad things happen to you and you're on edge just like these people are. But, you're strong. You're incredibly strong. I know that. Balin knows that too, but he's never seen you ... I've seen you do some things that he hasn't. I know you can pull it together if you have the strength left to do it. Now, you have to tell me, you have to decide if you do. You know the risks, and you know what Balin's asking of you. If you go out that door and around these people, can you do what Balin's asking of you? Can you?"

Daniel looked into his lover's intense gaze. Jack was giving him the choice, the freedom to choose. Imprisonment, constant confinement and isolation where he was free only to be himself, to dress as he wished, eat as he wished, and be with the three men here as long as he never walked out the door or allowed anyone else in? Or go out the door walking the tightrope this society required of him. Could he keep balancing on that thin wire high above the audience, with no safety net? This wasn't Brooksmeet or the Meadows Cot. If he fell off the high wire here, he'd fall to his death and very likely take Jack, Lemmel and Balin with him.

"I can do it," he said readily. "I can."

"Can do what?" Jack asked solemnly.

"Be a Sky. Be ... ," his voice trailed off. He looked down at his body, and then whispered, "Be a pampered slave, a thing, not a man."

"I ... " Jack swallowed and shook his head. "Slave," he whispered. "I don't think you can ... "

"I'll do it," Daniel said. "What other choice do I have? If that's what it takes to live my life? What other choice do I have, Jack?"

Jack pulled him back into an embrace. Over Daniel's shoulder he looked down at Balin who still knelt on the floor. Jack shooed him and Lemmel out. "Daniel, I trust your judgment."

"Maybe you shouldn't."

"That's why I do, because of what you just said. If things get too hard on you, you'll take a break. Say you're tired and need to sleep. You can come back in here any time you want."

Daniel sniffed and wiped at his face. "God!" he swore. "I'm acting like they treat me. By the end of this trip I'll be a simpering little bag of mush."

"And I'll be Genghis Khan."

"It's a deal," Daniel said.

"Oh, brother!" Jack said. "Okay. Wash up, get dressed and some food, then we're good to go. And, Daniel? I need to stop calling you baby. I need to stop collaborating with this ... " He shrugged, unable to put into words what Balin and the rest of these people were doing to Daniel. Sweetling. Kissing his palms. All of it was like an assault on Daniel's self-sufficiency, his autonomy. They were trying their damnedest to objectify him and reduce him to a dependent weakling.

They found a real bathroom through an arched doorway. It had a basin and mirror, a small tub and a chair with a chamber pot in the seat. Jack almost refused to use it until Daniel said he could carry the pot into the bedroom like at the inn if that'd make him feel better. Jack had shot him a sour look. They forewent a tub bath, not wanting to summon servants for heated water, and washed up in the basin. Having the mirror for shaving so handy was nice. They'd not had that convenience since leaving the cot. Jack shaved Daniel's crotch and got a thank you kiss instead of a whining protest.

"Okay, that was new," Jack said as he rinsed and dried the long blade.

"I'm going to do this, Jack. It's like playing a role, right? I'm getting in character."

There was knock at the bedroom door and Jack called out for them to come in. Lemmel appeared at the archway, his head barely clearing the opening. This entire suite had been constructed and furnished for Highborns.

"Master, Wulfstag awaits ye company in the dining hall below. His household does not sleep this night. Any hour ye wish a meal, it shall be waiting."

"Lemmel?" Daniel said, drawing near to the man. "Brother?" he whispered.

Lemmel dropped to one knee, his head bowed. "I ... "

Jack stepped forward and reached around Daniel to touch his steward's shoulder. "Is the bedroom door closed?"

"Aye, master."

"Then get up."

Lemmel stood and stared at his master. Jack moved closer, pushing Daniel gradually until he was against Lemmel's big body. Then Jack took Lemmel's hands and put them around Daniel's waist.

"Big guy," Jack said, "for just a while you and your brother here are going to pretend. You're going to act all prim and proper, even in here. So right now you two know what's going on, and anything said and done while we're on Wulfstag land isn't going to hurt your friendship, got it?"

"Aye," Lemmel whispered. He closed his eyes and kissed the top of Daniel's head. "And now this steward must be seemly lest he forget. He must ... Ah, my sweet brother," he said with a pang of longing in his voice. "I will be good. I promise."

Daniel stood on his toes and kissed the base of Lemmel's throat. "I promise too."

The big lad left the room and Daniel turned to Jack. "Brother? You know Lemmel's still calling me that? Balin mustn't hear that."

"See? You've kept that secret from Balin all this time. You can do this."

"But not from you, I didn't keep it successfully from you."

Jack kissed his nose and shot him a satisfied smirk. "You can't keep anything from me, Daniel. Not a single thing. You love me too much."

Daniel balked, stepping back a bit. "You sanctimonious, self-satisfied ... "

"Yes," Jack said. "I've got you, Daniel. How couldn't I be?"

"Couldn't I be? That's not proper English ... proper anything! And you're using their language and turning it inside out, you know that? Your syntax is hideous."

"Hey, my syntax is not that bad," Jack said, turning to admire his own ass in the mirror.

"I give up!" Daniel said and stormed from the bathroom. He dressed in a seemly manner, his pants low, his cropped top high, his navel and every other thing showing. Without complaining he put on the suede slippers Lemmel had laid out for him. And he picked up the summer veil. Sven had said he didn't need it, but the way Balin talked; it wasn't really something he'd be leaving here in the room. He'd pictured himself stuffing the offending cloth in his tuc and forgetting it existed while they were here in the castle. Now that wasn't the way it was working out. Maybe Sven had meant he could take it off when servants weren't present. Or maybe he'd meant Daniel could go veilless in the privacy of his own room.

Ashild had worn his even to sleep, except for a couple of nights when they'd been having sex and had fallen asleep afterward. Were Skys expected to wear the things twenty-four hours a day? Every waking moment that someone wasn't fucking them?

He followed Jack out into the sitting room where Lemmel waited for them.

"Ye Champion be down in the dining hall, master. He awaits with House Wulfstag's Champion. Wish ye to go there now?"

"Yes. Lead the way, kid--steward."

"Aye," Lemmel said with a bow and then he glanced nervously at Daniel. "Uh ... "

"What, Lemmel?" Jack said. "Do your job."

"Veil, Sky. As we move about, it be suggested ... "

"I need to wear it in the halls," Daniel said flatly. He shook the gauzy cloth out and brought it up behind his head, but Lemmel reached out as if to stop him.

"Sky," Lemmel whispered, but seemed unable to go on.

"Your job, steward," Jack said sternly and got a worried look from the young man.

"It be ... I've not known before, but now I know. And, mind ye, it makes sense. But the veil be sacred cloth. None but Sky may touch except a Highborn who hosts a Sky, or a steward or Champion who performs a duty. The veil, Sky, when it be put on, ye show us, when we see ye do it. I know that ye ... dislike ... "

"How do you know that," Jack asked. "What's Daniel doing that you need to tell him about?"

"He lets us see that he does not show the reverence. He does not kiss it," Lemmel said with shame, his eyes downcast now.

"Oh!" Daniel said in horror. He balled the veil up and threw it on the floor. He held his hands over his face and turned his back on Lemmel.

Jack reached a hand out to his lover, but then stopped himself. He waited, watching to see if Daniel would find his equilibrium and be able to handle this latest outrage. To have to kiss his sign of sexual slavery?

Lemmel knelt down, his face pressed to the floor and waited silently. Jack bent and picked up the crumpled veil, feeling the feathery lightness of the cloth. He straightened it out and moved in front of Daniel. He stood there, silently waiting.

Daniel battled the raging demon in his chest. He breathed deeply, pressing his fingers to his eyes. Kiss that disgusting thing? That sign of what he was here? It was his cage, his walking prison. It fettered him, blinded him, trapped ... trapped him in this waking nightmare. He brought his hands down and looked at the vile device in his lover's hands. Jack held it, not pressing it on him, or hiding it from him. He just held it, like it was a benign, powerless piece of cloth. It had no ability to grab at Daniel, cling to him, and bind him. It was just cloth.

And he had to kiss it, to show his surrender to its unbreakable, inescapable power.

Ashild had kissed his veil every time he put it on or took it off. Sometimes he'd gather the folds of it as he rode, pressing it to his lips. He kissed it. Daniel'd thought he did it in remembrance and love of Sven. But that wasn't the only reason. He'd kissed the gold-decorated veil too. Had Odamari kissed his? Daniel hadn't noticed. He'd never noticed.

"I can do this, Jack," he whispered. "I can. I ... " He took the veil from his lover's hands and closed his eyes before bringing the abhorrent thing up to his lips. He pressed it there for a moment before bringing it down. Then he looked at Jack again. "See? I did it. I did it."

"Danny," Jack said, his voice husky with pain. "Is this worth it?"

"To be me? I want to see that book. I want ... to be me again. I don't want to do nothing but lie in bed and be fucked. I don't. I can do this."

"You can, lover." Jack kissed his lips. "What can I do to help?"

"Kiss me. Don't ever stop. It doesn't make my lips dirty."

"Danny," Jack said his name again, that soft, intimate shortened version, and then pulled him into his arms. He whispered, "Nothing you've done for me, or will have to do to get off this planet makes you dirty. Nothing. You hear me?"

Silently, Daniel nodded.

Downstairs, Daniel walked a half a step behind Jack, his hand held in the seemly manner. Daniel had donned his light cloak, needing that comfort. He had the front edges folded back over his shoulder, much as Balin had worn his, with the colors of Jack's ownership showing. Belonging to Jack shouldn't be a hardship. Jack knew the truth and on this planet he was the only one who should really matter.

But the cloak covered his ass better than the summer veil alone. He was going to hate it if they were still on this planet when it became cold enough that he had to wear the winter veil. It was much shorter, reaching only a couple of inches down past his shoulders. It was thicker, and obscured his vision more than the summer veil did. Though, then he could get by with wearing the cloak more. Which really was better?

The castle was well lit with lanterns everywhere. They were mounted in sconces on the walls, hung from chandeliers high overhead, and sitting on occasional tables everywhere.

"This way, master," Lemmel said as he bowed and held his palm out toward a doublewide doorway.

Inside, they found a dining table, large enough to seat two dozen of the worker caste men. The table was high, but not quite as high as those at the inns they'd frequented, and was laden with food as the one up in their room had been. Several places were set at the table. While Balin or Lemmel would be slightly uncomfortable seated at it, Daniel and Jack wouldn't have to sit on thick cushions to feel comfortable. It was a good compromise.

The master of Wulfstag sat at the far end in a tall, wide chair. The chair was pulled back from the table and Ashild, unveiled, stood between his lover's legs, his arms around the man's shoulders. They were kissing.

Jack's boot steps when he reached the end of the carpeted hallway rang out. Daniels suede slippers were silent. He glanced down at them and was suddenly struck with a remark he'd made to Lemmel's father a long time ago. Here he was, in slippers. But they weren't velvet or satin.

"House Ondeil," Sven called brightly. He rose and brought his Sky to meet the two Highborn visitors.

Jack nodded respectfully.

Sven presented Ashild before them. Daniel was shocked at the difference. His friend was dressed in sheer, diaphanous pants and a short top of the same material. It was a golden white, with strong gold trim. His feet were bare. His underwear was plain to see through the pants, and the loop was snugged around his genitals, keeping them prominently and clearly on display. He had gold hoops around his neck and a blue gemstone in his navel. A delicate gold chain was around his waist, with a strand running down to the blue gemstone. His eyelids were darkened with kohl, which swept up at the corners. It had been lightly applied, and blended well at the edges. His hair hung loose and shiny in gentle waves down to the middle of his back. There were gold filigree chains braided into it, with blue gemstones dangling from the strands in several places. One bicep had gold bracelets around it. Those too had gemstones of blue on them.

He had his veil loose about his shoulders, just as Daniel had taken to wearing his, while at Jack's cot in the Meadows.

"Kinsman," Ashild said politely, then took a step beyond his lover and held out his hands. "Daniel," he said in a delicate tone.

Matching the man's posture, Daniel took his hands and whispered his name.

Ashild stepped against his friend and brought his lips to Daniel's. While the kiss was not as deep as what Daniel had shared with Odamari at first meeting, it wasn't chaste. He felt Ashild's tongue brushing his lips, and felt Ashild's groin, so prominent by the tight loop, push against him.

Then Ashild was gone and Daniel realized he'd closed his eyes. He cleared his throat while opening his eyes and looked behind him to his lover. Jack stepped up and put his hand on Daniel's lower back. He felt steadied by the touch.

"Desire," Jack said softly.

Daniel placed a hand on Jack's chest. Then he glanced around again and saw Ashild locked in a tight embrace with Sven. They were kissing deeply. Behind them, Daniel saw Balin and another man in Champion's armor and helmet. This man appeared older than Balin, though his hair was still jet black. His eyes were piercing, his stance tense. Balin touched the man and whispered to him. Then the older warrior nodded and appeared to ease his posture a little. Daniel longed to go find out what they were talking about. Jack held him in place though, with that hand on his lower back.

Lemmel was now standing at the other end of the long table behind a chair on the left. He gazed lovingly at Daniel. It seemed he was putting all his strength into giving Daniel a look of reassurance. Daniel smiled at him.

"We may be unveiled in here?" Ashild asked Sven.

"Oh, yes. Of course, my sweet desire," Sven said solicitously.

Jack brushed his hand up Daniel's back. Daniel untied his veil and started to pull it back, then paused. He turned to Jack, raised the edge of the veil to his lips and kissed it. Then he slid it from his head. Jack immediately leaned forward and kissed Daniel.

Daniel gave him a grateful smile. He could do this. He would do this.

"Come," Ashild said brightly to Daniel. "I'll show you my desire's Champion. He's fierce too. But of course, he's just as seemly as House Ondeil's so you have nothing to fear. Come," he urged, tugging at Daniel. The man rushed along the great hall and Daniel trailed after him.

Sven clapped Jack on the shoulder. "Jack, there is nothing I could ever say to convey my gratitude sufficiently. You rescue my desire and bring him to me, with his freedom on his head for all to see. I am still in a state of shock."

"It was our pleasure, Sven. Believe me. Toppling those bastards was a real pleasure. I'm just damned glad you're alive."

"I was nearly not. They got me in the shoulder and the hip. Barbed shafts too. Nasty to cut out that way. Wood splinters too damned easy if the one doing the work on you isn't careful. Come, have a seat. The little beauties are going to be buzzing about for a while. It's nerves, of course. Ashild will calm down in a few days. He slept for a while and then started buzzing around. I expect he'll collapse in a bit."

Jack walked with Sven to the far end of the table and sat where Lemmel held a chair out for him. Then Sven's steward entered the room and stood behind his master, his head bowed respectfully. Jack didn't check behind him but he figured Lemmel was standing a similar post. It wasn't all that different than a hundred military briefings and dinners Jack had attended with ranking officers before. Aids were often at attention behind their commanding officers. It was nothing he couldn't be comfortable with. Daniel would hate it.

"Looks like you've still got a little bit of a limp there," Jack said.

"I'll have it for life, I'm sure. Took me too many days to recover enough to wake up. By then my Champion had returned from his trip east. He'd already dispatched seekers in every direction. Every great house and village we could think of was discreetly notified to be on the watch for Ashild. He sent a man to the city to take up a post there too. Of course, he told the man not to be so overt as to alert the temple. I didn't need those women or their guardians sticking their noses into men's business. Didn't want to chance them getting him first and judging him just to be on the safe side. Bitches," he swore under his breath.

Jack nodded. "So you sent riders--searchers everywhere looking for him. I'm guessing they didn't make it down as far south as we were."

"Or the men who had him hid his presence well. Perhaps lying to any who might have seen him, saying they'd bargained for a Sky in the city or from some Highborn fallen on hard times. It's not that rare for a Champion to have a Sky under his roof. Though, at the time we didn't know if it was worker caste or Highborn who'd taken him. Either way, it spoke clearly of insanity."

"Your Champion looks like a capable man," Jack said, seeing Ashild pull Daniel away from the two warriors and take him around the room to see decorative vases, little statues, paintings and tapestries.

"He'll do. The new steward is a good man too. One bad thing that came of my seekers is that word spread my house had no Sky. Seems some took that as an opportunity to make a mark or two. It was summer and travel was easy, so some fool brought a Sky here and tried to sell him. My man challenged him to first blood. The fool accepted. I guess talk of that spread a bit around here, grew out of proportion as things often do. It gave you trouble on your trip here, your Champion said."

"A little. Nothing that got in our way, honestly."

"Well said. You have great tact. I would propose an alliance between our houses." Sven picked up his wine glass and held it high.

Jack picked up his and held it out.

"To House Ondeil," Sven said and waited expectantly.

"To House Wulfstag," Jack said and nodded.

They touched the goblets, and then drank.

"Well done," Sven said. "An alliance is agreed upon from this day forward. As if," he stopped to shake his head, "if I could ever refuse you anything. You've given me back my heart."

Jack turned to see what Sven was now watching. Ashild was showing Daniel some little trinket. Instead of looking bored as Jack would have, Daniel seemed intrigued. He was in his element. A discrete few steps behind the two blue-eyed men, two huge warriors, tough in their armor, stood watch. When the two smaller men walked on to the next object, the warriors trailed behind them. Jack saw Ashild approach the door to the room, then pause to check behind him. He smiled up at his desire's Champion then pulled Daniel on with him.

"If you don't mind," Sven said nervously, "I'd like to keep him in sight. Shall we take our wine and follow?"

"Fine by me," Jack said amiably. "I've got nothing better to do than watch my lover. It's a favorite past time of mine." He gave Sven a lopsided grin.

Sven took Jack at his word, pacing along discreetly behind the two. "I'm still not fully over the shock," he said. "Seeing him standing there. It was indescribable. I thought I was having another dream."

"I would imagine that's how it felt," Jack said. "So tell me, how much of the land around here is yours?"

"Oh, the posted farmland stretches north to the great divide. That's a few days' ride. Then east a ways," he said, waving his hand. "A couple of small villages that way, and the little collection of craftsmen south of here. I've not posted that, though. I don't need the coins, and the folks there could use the extra profits to get themselves established. I've a few meadows west where most of the grazing land is also unposted. There's a good, strong weaver community there and they tender what they can. I make more than is needed off that enterprise. It's a good living and the people around here are pleasant. Life is kind to them here."

Ashild had led Daniel to the table that held the bound sheets of parchment. Daniel ran his fingers lovingly over the front page, feeling the wonderful texture and soaking up the feel of a book under his hands again.

"He must know the rest of it," Ashild said, his voice so soft that the two Champions standing guard could not hear. "Before another sun rises. I'm going to tell him the rest of what was done to me and then he must decide if I am too ruined to deserve his love. If so, then I'll go, but I won't have a lie between us."

Daniel frowned and opened the book as Ashild urged him by pushing at his arm. "But you've told him enough already and he hasn't rejected you in the least bit."

"And power. He must know I have power now--Daniel, please, keep examining the parchment collection." Ashild glanced behind him at the Champions, then at his lover. He smiled brightly at Sven, and then turned back to whisper to his friend again. "I stopped that dirty pig from getting away. He might have roused the servants and killed Jack and your big ones. I have power now. Sven will have to decide if that's too unseemly for him to live with. I'm real all the time now."

"Maybe you should tell him a little now and save the rest for later?" Daniel glanced over at Jack, and then quickly back at the book. He turned another page and ran his finger along a line of runes.

"I've already told him some small bit of it. I want him to know about the huntsman and that nasty woman. So perverted," he said, shaking his head. "He has to know about what my body has been through before I'll dare risk letting him touch me any further. I won't let him regret touching me in bed. I won't live with that. I have power now. He'll need to make a decision, won't he?"

"Yes," Daniel whispered, his eyes up at Ashild now. "I see what you mean. It's like, how I don't hide things from Jack. When I began to play with Lemmel, I made sure Jack was aware. Sometimes he found out after we did new things, but mostly, before. Or ... during."

"I want Sven to know. I don't intend to try to hide this from him like I did the festival services I provided in the temple. He needs to know the whole thing. Even of what goes on in the temple."

Daniel nodded. "And you want Jack and me there to help you?"

"Yes."

"I'll do what I can," Daniel said solemnly.

Ashild leaned in and kissed Daniel's cheek. "My kinsman. You are a treasure. More than these gaudy stones I wear, you are a real treasure."

"Perhaps we can persuade the little sweetlings it's time for them to eat?" Sven said to Jack, his eyes only on his lover.

"Uh, I'm sure Daniel's pretty hungry," Jack said. "Sweetling," he added under his breath. Balin had used that term. He would have to try damned hard not to accidentally pick up that habit. Daniel'd never let him forget that once they got back home.

At the table, Daniel sat by Jack and across from Ashild who was being fed by Sven. Suddenly Sven rose, his steward scrambling to pull his chair back. Then the Highborn man pulled his lover from his chair and took him back to sit with him in the wide chair at the head of the table. Sven sat, spreading his legs wide, and then he turned Ashild sideways, putting his bottom on the chair seat between his spread thighs and his legs over Sven's left thigh. They were almost of the same height, no farther apart than Jack and Daniel were, really. But Ashild seemed smaller somehow. His posture wasn't as stiff, his gestures weren't grand. He always held his arms in at his sides and kept his legs together. He just took up less space. Daniel watched as Sven began to feed his desire by hand from his own plate.

Looking back over the months on this planet, Daniel realized he'd gradually adapted many of the postures Ashild displayed. He'd withdrawn from the world around him. He held himself in, arms tight to his side, making minimal gestures with his hands now. This had happened gradually, as a reaction to the people around him, the way they treated him, and his desire to avoid accidentally touching any of them. That's how Ashild moved through this world, as if afraid to let any of it touch him, or him touch it.

Ashild smiled and ate each morsel that was held to his lips. Daniel cut a glare over at Jack who held his hands up in protest.

Jack leaned to whisper in Daniel's ear, "I was not, absolutely not thinking you'd look good in my lap, Daniel."

"Oh really? Because I was thinking you'd look pretty good between my thighs right about now. Give me a break or I'll climb on your lap and I'm not going to sink my ass between your thighs. I'll mash your bony legs to pieces."

"Bony!" Jack said a bit too loudly. He got an odd look from Sven so he covered it with a little chuckle. "Skys," he said with a shrug. "What can you do?"

"Love the little sweetlings," Sven said with an indulgent smile.

Jack flinched and carefully avoided looking at Daniel.

"Are we full yet?" Ashild asked his lover.

"I think we are," Sven said. "I'm a bit tired. Perhaps a rest?"

"I'd like to talk," Ashild said slowly, and then paused. "With you, desire," he added hopefully. "Would it be enjoyable to have your guest and his Sky join us? I think Daniel would like to look at your parchment collections. Did you know he can read the little drawings? The runes?"

"Is that so," Sven said brightly, giving Daniel an amazed look. "How marvelous. Wherever did you learn such a daunting skill?"

"I learned to translate--I learned to read runes from my fath--" Daniel closed his mouth and blinked. He had caught one blunder only to come close to making another, much more serious one.

Jack touched Daniel's arm lightly. "Are you tired, Daniel?"

Silently, Daniel shook his head. "I was just confused for a moment. The runes are a lot of fun to read."

"Enchanting," Sven said. "Such a talented Sky, House Ondeil. You are truly blessed."

"The sitting room?" Ashild asked again.

"Ah, of course, desire."

He lifted his right hand and waved it casually at the steward who stood directly behind him. The big working caste man slid the chair back effortlessly and then helped Ashild to rise. Sven took his lover and led him from the room.

Jack got the same treatment from Lemmel, but managed to pull Daniel's chair out himself, and then took his lover's hand. Halfway to the huge vaulted hall Jack shifted his hold from a nice seemly one to holding Daniel's hand, palm to palm. Then he stepped closer shifted their hands again, putting his arm over Daniel's shoulder and holding him tight.

Once the four smaller men were seated, Sven sent his Champion and steward from the room. Jack hastily did the same thing, but only after Lemmel cleared his throat.

"I would speak of serious things," Ashild said. "It might displease you, desire. But you need to know ... the rest. There's more. I want you to know it all so that you can better protect your household, and keep it seemly, orderly, as you need it to be. I will not risk ... you. I won't ... You need to make a decision after you hear all that has been done to my body."

Sven frowned, but pulled his lover close. He listened as the story was told. Daniel and Jack knew much of what Ashild was going to say. Parts of the story had Ashild crying. But he insisted on continuing even when Sven tried to tell him to let the rest wait for another day. When it was all out, including his part in stopping the disgraced Champion from escaping, Sven's eyes had a distant look in them. He sat there for a long time and the room seemed to ache with silence.

Ashild never moved. Neither did Jack or Daniel. Despite the tension he was feeling, Daniel began to grow sleepy again. He glanced at his lover and saw Jack staring straight at Sven, unflinching, very alert. Jack was judging the man. For a moment Daniel saw a flash of anger flit across Jack's features. Did he think Sven was going to send Ashild away?

If he did, they'd take Ashild with them. They'd keep him safe. Daniel felt an overwhelming need to protect the man. And what would happen to Ashild once they went through the gate back to Earth? He'd be miserable on Earth. They could send him back to Brooksmeet as Daniel had proposed earlier. That would work.

As his mind had wandered he'd turned away from the two men. When he realized it, he turned back to them to see Sven with his arms clenched around Ashild. He was rocking the man as Jack had rocked Daniel. Sven kissed Ashild's forehead, then tipped his face up and kissed his mouth.

"My desire, I can't ache any more than I already do, even hearing what pain you've been through. I can't love you any more than I do, because you already have all of my heart. I am overwhelmed at the strength you've shown, and I will make myself be as strong as you. If you will hold onto me as I hold onto you, we will heal together."

"Hold onto me, Daniel," Jack whispered to his lover. "I'm not going to let go of you, so hold onto me."

"Jack," Daniel said, his eyes wet again. He was really getting annoyed at all this crying. "Sorry," he whispered very secretively. "I'm going to blubber like a baby again if you keep talking to me this way."

"Good," Jack whispered back.

Daniel climbed up and straddled Jack's lap, draping himself over his lover's chest and kissing his neck.

"Least you're not crushing my bony old legs."

"Scrawny," Daniel whispered. "I meant to say scrawny."

"Scrawny's good," Jack said, encouragement in his voice. "Scrawny I like. Scrawny can be improved on."

The following morning Daniel felt stronger. He'd pulled off a great performance last night and it seemed that the better he did the less worried Lemmel looked. That was something that Daniel felt was important. Lars and his wife had entrusted their son to Jack, pressed the boy into servitude, and in doing so Lemmel had become Jack's responsibility. Daniel had to do what he could to help Lemmel survive this arduous journey. The sex antics had to stop. The testing of boundaries and using Lemmel as a co-conspirator had to stop. Balin was right. It was Lemmel's life on the line here. Daniel had to mature just as Lemmel was. And he could. He'd already shown that last night in Sven's presence.

Today Jack and Sven were going to discuss travel routes and danger points near their future destinations. Their Champions were expected to be in attendance and would be the ones actually doing the planning, as such trivialities were usually beneath a House's notice. But Sven felt responsible and Jack had voiced his desire to learn more of the eastern lands where it was presumed he'd never ventured having lived in the far north and only traveled along the western coast. The story provided them by Lemmel's father in the low desert, the explanation that their ship had crashed against the great western cliffs still served them well.

Ashild and Daniel were to spend the day in what sounded like activities suited for two elderly women. Daniel intended to circumvent most of that nonsense and get his hands on more of the parchments in Sven's lower chambers. Maybe there'd be time to see some of the castle workers doing what was needed to keep such a large place running.

Jack and he breakfasted in the sitting room with Lemmel stiffly on duty serving them. Two young women also assisted, bringing fresh juices and warmed dishes to the table and because no men were in service in this area of the castle Daniel was allowed to be veilless this morning. He wore his seemly, completely slutty pants, and one of the sleeveless shirts that consisted of a loop of fabric that barely hung low enough to cover his nipples. Lemmel had gently taken Daniel's boots from him this morning and wordlessly put his suede slippers on, giving him what Daniel took to be a warm, but not apologetic smile.

As Lemmel supervised the maids, Balin sat by a sideboard having breakfast too, but not interacting with anyone else. He seemed to be brooding again.

"Balin," Jack said over his shoulder. "When's Sven expecting us?"

"As soon as ye wish, House. Highborn Sven be ever ready to spend his time with ye today. This talk of maps and routes has him much pleased."

"I expect he sees it as a small way to return some of what he owes you, Jack," Daniel said. He looked over Jack's plate noting whether his lover had eaten enough protein-rich foods. "You could skip some of that bread and have more of this ... I don't need to be telling you what to eat, do I? Wonder why I started up that old habit again?" Daniel asked rhetorically. Then he realized Balin was eyeing him warily. Daniel glanced at the two maids. They'd taken notice. He managed not to swear over his blunder.

A knock at the outer chamber door distracted the maids and Daniel took the opportunity to shrug apologetically at Balin. This only made the man shift his gaze to the floor and break into a full-blown glower.

Lemmel answered the knock and then stood aside, holding the door wide, his posture respectfully stiff.

The head of House Wulfstag strode in, his desire a half step behind him. Wulfstag's steward and Champion accompanied them, the Champion carrying Ashild's white cloak over his leather-clad arm.

Jack rose to greet the Highborn man and Daniel managed to remain seated. Seeing that Sven paused to remove Ashild's veil, Daniel left his own lying around his neck. Ashild was dressed exactly as Daniel was, complete down to suede slippers. He'd spent yesterday barefoot. This was an improvement as far as Daniel was concerned.

His navel sparkled with a red faceted gem today. There were red gems in his hair, some clipped in place, others dangling from delicate golden chains. His eyes were outlined in kohl, his eyelids gracefully shaded with brown. The shadowing made his blue eyes more dramatic, as if that was needed in this society! Again he had a gold chain around his waist, a short length of it hanging down past his navel toward the pouch that cupped his genitals so prominently. He had bangles on one wrist and a wide gold band around one bicep.

"I trust you slept well, Jack?" Sven asked. "What else may my household provide you to make your stay more comfortable?"

As Jack and Sven spoke, Daniel studied Ashild more, looking past the makeup, past the jewelry. The man seemed calm. He stood placidly at his lover's side and the calmness wasn't a facade. His shoulders were relaxed and his hip was cocked to the side. He darted his unveiled eyes from man to man, taking delight in watching his lover talk. But he was also perfectly happy to be completely left out of the conversation, while Daniel was fully aware that he himself was chaffing at the seemliness of staying seated and waiting on Jack to take notice of his needs.

By the time Jack turned back to him, Daniel was almost jumping out of his skin. When his lover spoke his name, Daniel had to draw a deep breath and force himself to relax. He managed it, and when Lemmel helped him to stand, he was fully in control of himself. He copied Ashild's placid expression, not feeling it anywhere as deeply as Ashild did. Lemmel brought him to Jack's side.

"Tour the inner gardens?" Ashild asked Sven. "Yes. And then we'll be brought back inside when you and Jack are through looking at the horses?"

"Yes, my precious. I'll only allow you out of my sight for that long. The gardens are perfectly safe, though. Nothing gets through those walls. I'll keep telling myself that while Jack and I are outside the castle. Then my Champion and Jack's Champion will bring you two sweetlings back to us in the grand hall."

"All right," Ashild said. "Only to the gardens. But when you come back inside, Daniel and I may go to the tower to look out?"

"Yes. The stewards will do for taking you to the towers. With the guardsmen on duty I won't worry. But the gardens ... I want my Champion with you and I'm sure Jack feels the same."

"Uh. If that's what you suggest," Jack said.

"Gardens?" Daniel asked. He'd wanted to take a look at the rest of the parchments.

"We go there now," Ashild said brightly and smiled eagerly at Daniel. "And veilless the whole way because my desire said so! Is it not the height of decadence?"

As Daniel nodded he thought furiously of how he could graciously change their destination.

"Ye Sky's cloak?" Lemmel whispered to Jack.

"Uh, yeah," Jack said, then waved for Lemmel to do what he needed to.

Lemmel was back in a moment, handing the lightweight, white cloak to Jack's Champion who now stood by the door with House Wulfstag's armored warrior.

"You'll finish your--" Daniel cut himself off before he made the blunder of telling Jack to go eat the rest of the high protein food. He felt a momentary flash of anger at himself. He wasn't doing well at all this morning. Why was he so worried about Jack?

Jack glanced back at his plate, and then turned back to Sven. "While our Skys enjoy your garden would you join me for the rest of my breakfast? The most important meal of the day, you know," he quipped with a broad smile.

"Is it?" Sven said, showing a little flash of surprise. "You have a most delightful way of looking at things, Jack. I'd be very pleased to sit with you." His steward held a chair as the Highborn sat where Daniel had been moments before.

Daniel smiled at his lover and gave Lemmel a quick nod, knowing that Lemmel would tend to Jack and that his concerns were unfounded. Jack was in fine hands. Then Daniel turned back to Ashild.

"Let's go, friend!" Ashild exclaimed, showing breathless excitement. He took Daniel's hand and gave him a kiss on his lips. As the enthusiastic man turned to the chamber door, House Wulfstag's Champion chuckled and shook his head. "What is it?" Ashild asked in bewilderment. "Am I not ready?"

"Sweetling," the Champion said indulgently as he bent over, his hands on his knees. "Ye little ... friend. It be he whom ye rush too much. Give ye friend time to be ready before ye drag him out the door."

"What?" Ashild said, his impatience showing. He stepped away from Daniel to better look at the blue-eyed man, but kept ahold of his hand. "Are we not ready to go?"

Daniel pulled his brows together. Neither of them had their veils up. What was the problem? Sven had said they could be veilless. He looked to Balin for help.

"Uh," Balin said, his face showing his deeply troubled state. "Bit of a hurry is all," he said hastily. Then he stepped up to the two Skys and went down on one knee in front of Daniel. With the summer cloak over his arm and his hands free he reached out and hastily untied Daniel's pants. Then he reached inside Daniel's skimpy underwear and pulled his genitals forward, molding the pouch around them. Then Balin pulled the looped ribbon and tied it off. Then he relaced Daniel's pants.

His face burned! With no table behind him to stop his retreat, Daniel had come too close to bolting away. Ashild's hold on his hand was too slack to keep him in place. But Balin had anticipated it. He'd gripped Daniel solidly by his nuts. Daniel bit off an oumfh of discomfort. Sven's Champion had watched intently as Balin manipulated him. Ashild stood there as if it were expected, common for him to be watching too. Sven and Jack, along with their stewards and the two maids all watched as Daniel had his nuts and cock tied up.

Daniel opened his mouth, his eyes flashing in a conflicting mix of anger and panic. Balin stared morosely up at Daniel, his eyes showing no sign of conflict at all. Balin knew what had to be done and he did it. Could Daniel?

"So cute," House Wulfstag's Champion said to Ondeil's Champion as Balin stood. Then Wulfstag's Champion pulled the door open and stood aside for Ashild and Daniel.

As Ashild pulled him from the room, Daniel looked back at Balin who strode beside Wulfstag's Champion.

"What my House's Sky calls Ondeil's," the big man continued. "It be ever cute. He has a friend! Precious, is it not?"

Quickly, Daniel turned away. He didn't want to see or hear Balin's response. So, for a Sky to have a friend was something to be considered cute, precious.

Sven showed Jack through the castle's thick, outer wall and down to the low field on the northern side. "My archers work out here. They hone their skills under the tutelage of my Champion. He's the best at what he does. I've four rounds here at all times. He trains many that come to him from other Houses to learn his techniques."

"Four rounds," Jack said idly, still completely in the dark about how many men that was.

"He was away the day Ashild was ripped from us. Off to the east meeting with a consortium of Champions who are hoping to open a new spring tourney here in the south." Sven led Jack past several horse paddocks. "If he'd been here ... I still can't believe what a fool that bastard Hrainlang was. Ashild said he wanted Odin's smile. Absurd."

"My Sky explained a little of what Hrainlang and Dolf were up to in that dungeon. I agree with you. It was absurd to try to get cum that way."

"I'm surprised they didn't try the goat-hair herb on him. As stupid as those two were. They could have gotten cum from him, but of course, the herb renders it inactive. They'd not have gotten Odin's smile."

"Goat-hair herb?"

"Yes," Sven said, showing a little surprise. "It's available in the right circles. Most think it's an old woman's tale but it's there if one knows where to ask. I've seen it abused in the city. Not a pretty thing to behold. Never something I'd ever let Ashild hear about."

"It's available?" Jack said, playing hard on Sven's desire to talk. Daniel wasn't the only one who could get people to talk.

"Right so. I wish it weren't. It's such a perversion. But then, every village has its perverts. We shouldn't dwell on that one. Come. Let me introduce you to my master herdsman."

So much for his great ability to get someone to talk. Jack shook his head.

That night Daniel's stomach burned with bitter disappointment. He sat in Jack's brightly lit sitting room, jammed sideways into one of the wide, padded chairs by the window, his legs drawn up against his chest, his discarded veil lying across his bare toes. He stared out the open window at the stars. He'd been so angry today, so upset at the way he and Ashild were forced to behave that he'd never gotten around to seeing the rest of the parchments or finding a way to tour the back halls and servant's areas in the castle. Daniel stared hard and ignored the ache in his gut. He was also ignoring the talk between Jack and Balin about their departure tomorrow and the plans for the rest of the trip to the coast.

Then Jack was tugging at Daniel's pant leg, the gaping fabric of the garment as usual exposing more skin than it covered.

"What?" Daniel asked, not masking his irritation. He kept staring out at the stars, his back to the dozen bright lamps.

Jack took a step back and swung a long wooden staff hard against the side of Daniel's chair. Startled by the loud crack, Daniel bolted to his knees on the padded seat cushion.

With a rakish grin Jack stepped back further and tossed a matching staff to Daniel who deftly caught it with his right hand. Jack retreated, taking a fighting stance in the center of the room.

Slowly, Daniel climbed from the chair, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What are you up to, Jack?"

"Who, me?" Jack said, squaring off. He brought his staff up in a horizontal hold, chest high.

"Where'd you get these bos?" Daniel demanded.

"Bo, Balin," Jack said, his eyes locked on Daniel's approaching form, "is the term for this type of weapon. It--"

"Please, House," Balin protested. The big man was kneeling, his back against the bolted chamber door. Lemmel was silent at Balin's side as the big man tried to protest Jack's plans. "This isn't even ... not even ...

Daniel realized all the furniture had been moved back to the walls of the spacious seating chamber. The table where they'd had breakfast that morning was against the wall, its chairs piled carefully on it. The other furniture had also been moved back. He'd been very self absorbed while staring out that window!

Jack tapped one end of his staff on the wooden floor and backed up another step. Then he swung the weapon on a slow arc around his head. "As I was saying, a bo is a very old weapon that's been used in many forms. For some reason, folks around here seem to think these staff weapons are actually tools used in herding goats. Imagine my surprise--"

He broke off and had to dance back as Daniel leaped forward, crouching low and swinging his bo in a low arc at Jack's ankles.

"--surprise when Sven took me on a tour and I saw one--" Jack leaped to his left as Daniel came up with a chopping blow that barely missed its target.

Balin gasped.

Jack laughed and spun back away from Daniel. "Looks like once Teal'c teaches something it's learned for life," he said.

"I think," Daniel said and then paused to make a rapid series of cross-cutting blows at Jack's well-guarded shoulders, "that goes for both of us."

"Let's see if we can heat this up," Jack suggested. He lunged forward, dropping to his right as he brought the weapon around behind his back and struck low at Daniel's ankles.

Daniel leaped in the air and came down lightly on his bare feet, taking several running steps sideways to his right. He then ran straight at Jack and used his bo as a vaulting pole, going over his crouching opponent. On the other side of the room now, his back to the door, Daniel dropped too, whirling his weapon out in a sweeping motion.

Jack stumbled back, wheeling his arms in the air to gain his balance. "Crap!" he said and then laughed. "Okay, so my knees aren't quite up to it. Too many hours in the saddle. Balin!" he called as he tossed the bo over Daniel's head toward the kneeling Champion. "See if you've learned anything."

Jack turned his back on the men and got himself a glass of water. By the time he turned back around Daniel was making quick chopping motions in the air at the still-kneeling Champion. Daniel pulled all of his chops, just short of making contact.

"Not going to play, Balin?" Daniel said. "That's one way to keep it seemly. Sit there while I beat you to death? Or ... keep me in my proper place at the risk of having your head split open."

Balin sputtered incoherently, but never rose off his knees. Lemmel reached a hand out toward the bo, smiling hopefully. Balin jerked it further from the steward and growled at him, the sound reminiscent of a cornered, wounded animal.

Lemmel dropped low onto his heels and waited perfectly still.

"Well, Sky, I think this means there's no one in the room who can go toe to toe with you in an honest contest. Me because my knees aren't up to it. Lemmel, because his balls would be in a sling if he did, and Balin, because he's not strong enough. He's not as strong as you are because he can't walk a different path than the one that's been drilled into him. You have no such limitations. You can walk wherever you need to. But ... you didn't really need me to tell you that. You'd have come back to that conclusion yourself sooner or later."

Daniel stood there regarding the big warrior. "Jack's right." Daniel lowered the weapon.

Slowly Balin rose to his feet. He hefted the bo, feeling the thin, wooden pole in his hand. It was as tall as the Sky and very lightweight. "I could kill ye with this little toothpick as likely as with my sword."

"Yes," Daniel said certainly. "Though, I don't think you'd be calling it a toothpick if you were man enough to do what I've done today."

"Challenge me, little Sky?" Balin said, an odd twinkle in his eyes.

"Yes," Daniel replied, and drew back, bringing the bo up in a horizontal position. "If you'd care to dance?"

"Aye. And nay. Nay, as it be my life if I slip."

"Then you'd best not slip," Daniel said.

Balin tried to whirl the staff as Jack had, bringing it in a sweeping arc around his head. Daniel danced in under the big man's swing and knocked the bo hard, just below Balin's fingers. the big man barked in surprise as the blow stung his palm. He flinched back, almost dropping the staff.

"That's one," Daniel said. "Care to count the rest for me?" He lunged low and made a hard strike on Balin's left shin.

"Two!" Lemmel called out helpfully. "I do so love to count."

Balin whirled at the kneeling steward and growled at him, then gasped in pain. Daniel had snuck in and whacked Balin across his ass.

"Three!"

As the Champion whirled back around, Daniel struck Balin's right hand right across the big man's knuckles. His bo fell to the ground from his stinging fingers. Balin roared in anger at his own clumsiness. He lurched down and grabbed at the weapon. Daniel leaped on it, stomping down with all his weight, then danced back several paces. Balin grunted in discomfort.

"Four! And was that five, master?" Lemmel asked Jack's opinion.

"I think so. Though a blow from his feet ... Still, I think it was five, regardless of whose bo caused the pain," Jack decided.

Balin got the wooden staff off the ground and brought it up in a defensive posture, held in a death grip in front of his chest. Daniel brought the end of his bo forward from hip height, jabbing the tip of it solidly with lightening speed into the front crease of Balin's hip, barely missing the man's crotch.

"Now if you'd been wearing your armor," Daniel said as he withdrew, "I'd have gone for your side then. Maybe tapped you in the ribs."

"Agh!" Balin growled as he lunged forward in a frontal attack.

Daniel darted forward and passed under the big man's extended right arm. Behind Balin now, he turned and jabbed the man fast in the lower ribs, getting three swift strikes in before Balin could turn.

"Six! Seven! Eight!" Lemmel shouted.

"Not--" Balin huffed out another sharp gasp of pain as Daniel slid in under his arm and came up hard as he landed a blow in Balin's armpit. That was going to sting! And the big Champion would probably have a bruise there tomorrow. That skin was thin and tender.

"Nine! One more, Sky. One more! Give him ten as ye so fancy to do on me. Oh, I do sore wish to see him get ten."

"Daft fool steward!" Balin shouted, but this time he kept his eyes locked warily on Daniel.

"Even if you'd had your armor on, that one in the armpit would have struck true," Daniel said.

The two circled slowly now in a low crouch as they both sized the other up for attacks and defenses. Daniel feinted low, but was thwarted by a sweeping block from Balin. His bo was struck so hard Daniel winced as his hands stung. Then he smiled through the pain. Balin was grimacing now, moving carefully in a circle to his right. He was favoring his right arm, keeping it down to protect his injured armpit. Daniel shifted left a little and saw Balin turn hard in that direction. He backed off and moved right. Balin followed sluggishly. Daniel shifted left sharply and when Balin countered his move quickly, Daniel stepped back to his right and struck up high on Balin's right. His blow came in and contacted with the side of Balin's neck. The big man couldn't get his injured arm up fast enough to ward off the blow. Daniel had worked on the man's injury and weakness to his advantage.

"Ten!" Lemmel shouted triumphantly. He jumped to his feet and shook his fists in the air.

"Ten!" Jack echoed.

Daniel stepped back and brought the end of his bo to the floor. He tapped it on the floor lightly three times and then stood at rest.

Balin glowered, but then matched Daniel's stance. Jack came over and took Balin's weapon, patting the huge man on his back. "Maybe the next time we have some privacy, a woods to play in, you'd like the dainty little sweetling to give you a lesson or two, hum?"

"Little sweetling?" Balin mumbled under his breath. "Scorpion," he swore. "Though, I knew it before, Highborn Jack. This lesson, I did not need." He nursed his injured right side.

"No. I didn't think you particularly needed the lesson," Jack said. "Just a reminder. We'll be leaving here tomorrow. I don't want anyone mounting up tomorrow without their heads on straight. Anyone," he repeated, his eyes focused on Daniel.

Daniel leaned the bo against the wall and came to his lover. Jack pulled him into the bedchamber, closing the door on the sullen Champion and delighted steward. "Jack I know what you're trying to do--"

"Am doing, desire." Jack began undressing for bed.

"You're trying to get me as balanced as possible, right?"

"I realized something today. I can't do what you do. What I was out there trying to pound into Balin's head? I'm a fraud in a way, because I can't do it. I could never stand there in a room full of people and have my dick and nuts tied up like that. If it had been brown eyed people instead of blue eyed ones that these people went ga-ga over? You and I'd be in pretty big trouble right now."

"I don't think so, Jack. Remember your little tryst with Kynthia? You were boffing her in a room full of her people hours after you met her--"

"And I was top-dog in her society. The oldest living being they'd ever met. So when I toppled her entire culture, there was absolutely no danger that they were going to hack my head off for doing so. That ain't the case here, Danny boy. You go trying to topple anything here and it's your neck, my neck, Balin's, Lemmel's ... Fucking hell. Everybody in Brooksmeet maybe. Who knows how far back their retribution would go?"

Daniel discarded the last of his skimpy clothing and crawled into the middle of the huge bed, watching Jack undress.

"You notice the way Sven said he asked Ashild who he needed to go kill? Balin was completely in the right, hacking off heads at that place. Anyone who'd touched Ashild, who'd done the least bit of wrong to him? The hunter's wife? She had a key to the room where he was locked up. She died because of that. The woman who lost her head in the great hall? She brought him his meals. She knew she was going to die no matter what she did or said. Running wasn't an option. Balin knew who'd touched Ashild there. Just touched him. Damn," Jack swore. He stood by the bed naked, running his fingers through his hair. "I got off the topic."

"You were lecturing me about the dangers of toppling this society."

"I was telling you I'd go fucking nuts if I tried to do what you're doing. So would Balin. I don't need to remind you that you're strong, but I do need to give you times to show the other kind of strength you have. You're so tightly bound up I'm afraid you're going to explode."

"I won't," Daniel said confidently. He pushed the covers down with his bare feet and waited for Jack to crawl in beside him. "I won't. Too many people would die if I did."

Jack joined his lover in the big bed. "That's a hell of a lot of responsibility to carry."

"You do it all the time. People live or die based on your orders all the time, Jack."

"Because I chose that life, Daniel. I chose it. I've trained for it for years. You didn't choose this."

"No," Daniel said slowly, dropping his eyes to the sheets. "I didn't choose it. And unlike Ashild and Odamari, I didn't train for this. But with your help I'll do it as long as I need to."

"What you need to do tonight is sleep in my arms." Jack pulled Daniel to him, wrapping his arms firmly around his lover. They snuggled in the huge bed and slept soundly.

Mid morning the next day found them mounted and ready to leave.

"This rune stone here sees your household across my lands anywhere. Your household and of course, another stone for use by your Champion should he have a need," Sven said as he handed the chiseled stone up to Jack. He had to stretch to reach up to the Highborn who sat on Freyfaxi in the morning light. "And Balin, you've the right to call on House Wulfstag anytime, any place you've a need. My men are at your bidding. Watch for my colors, and show this to any who claim allegiance to Wulfstag. There's a northern house of similar colors, but of course you know to call the name. Well met, Champion." He held his hand up to Balin who kept a firm grip on Daniel with his meaty thighs.

"Honored, House Wulfstag." Balin gave the man a nod and took the second rune stone.

"Ride well," Sven said, and then joined his veiled desire on the top step.

Ashild was crying, but smiling. He waved to Daniel and lifted his veil. "Kinsman," Ashild said, his voice heavy with emotion. "I love you. Thank you."

"Kinsman," Daniel answered, regretting that he couldn't say his friend's name even one more time because there were other ears around now. "I love you too. I'll miss you, friend."

"Sweetling," Sven said. "Tell him I'll keep teaching you the little drawings."

Though Daniel could hear Sven, Ashild called out. "My desire will teach me the rest of the sounds. Don't worry. I'll learn the rest and draw them out every day. Thank you! Thank you!"

"Bye," Daniel said. He waved as Balin turned his mount away from the castle. "Bye!" he called again.

Jack trotted along beside Balin. "A little faster, Balin, or I'm going to start bawling myself. That was hard ... to leave him. He'll be all right, though."

"Aye. The precious one be where he be loved. The Champion swore a blood oath to me. No harm will come to the Sky. The Champion also has a rune stone of House Ondeil, do not forget. He has resources should any disaster ever befall House Wulfstag. He would take the precious one and bring him to safety in Brooksmeet. Fear not, little Highborn. Ye friend has a grand future," Balin said to Daniel. "Fear not. No tears are needed."

"I know," Daniel said, trying hard to feel like a scorpion nestled in Balin's most vulnerable spot. Little Highborn? So Balin could stretch his mind out of the rigid lines his culture demanded but was still snapped back to his narrow path eventually. Daniel nodded to himself "He's going to stick with the reading and writing. I bet by next year he's going to learn to ride a horse by himself."

"Ach!" Balin said in dismay as he shook his head at Jack. "I shall begin to cry now, but in fear. Best we ride on fast so ye Highborn here can put his mind to other things. House. Ye Champion be strong, but not that strong!"

Lemmel started laughing, but got it under control quickly. A few paces down the road Lemmel began to chuckle again. It rolled into a huge belly laugh and finally Balin threatened to smack him if he didn't silence himself. This started Daniel laughing which just made Lemmel go into hysterics. Balin began to swear very colorfully. Finally Jack complimented Lemmel saying he'd just developed a great new way of getting sex. Balin stopped cursing and began to fume silently.

They topped the final rise between Sven's tall castle and the little, unimposing guardhouse at the marker stones. Balin tensed and Daniel felt the man's thigh muscles grow rigid. Through the haze of his white veil he could see throngs of people. There'd only been the Champion and steward outside when they'd made their farewells at Castle Wulfstag. Daniel lifted the edge of his veil to get a better look at the gathering of people and Balin roughly pulled his hand back down.

"What--" Daniel protested. Balin squeezed him with his powerful thighs. Daniel became instantly still. A scorpion knew when to avoid a boot stomping down on him and when striking was worth the risk.

"Champion?" Lemmel asked, bringing his horse in a closer knot with the others.

In a small defiance of Balin, Daniel tilted his head back for a better view. He saw people lining the road. Standing shoulder to shoulder they covered both sides of the track leading south from the gate house. They stood silently, their heads bowed. He gazed down the road and saw lines of people stretching to the south as far as he could see. That road was their route. They'd plotted the route with Sven's assistance, south to the knot of craftsmen, then due east along a safe course that should be relatively easy riding.

Sven's people had gathered to mark their passing, Daniel realized.

"Steward," Balin said softly, "tall and proud, now, lad. Head high. Off ye mount and pass the Highborn to ye master's saddle. Then hand ye reigns and lead to me. Walk ahead of ye master to accept the tribute offered for what House Ondeil has returned to them. The House rides with his Sky until we pass the honors. Me, I'm dropping back to aft. We show 'em House Ondeil trusts its safety on House Wulfstag land."

Jack took Balin's instructions to Lemmel as a cue and shifted back in the cupped seat of his saddle as far as possible.

Lemmel eagerly leaped from his mount and with ease, lifted Daniel from Balin's hold and literally carried him to Jack. Daniel gave no protest at being handled so, and settled between Jack's thighs on Frey's well-made saddle.

Then Jack nudged Freyfaxi to ride ahead of the other three horses. Lemmel jogged a few steps, to get ahead of Jack. As they passed the guardhouse and began the trek between the rows of people the tall working castes turned their faces up proudly to Jack. These people did not bow or curtsey. They were not showing subservience, but honor. Their faces were turned up, up to the blue sky Odin blessed them with. Women and men, resplendent in whatever finery they had stood tall and respectfully silent along the traveled way. A few children gawked openly as House Ondeil passed by.

Several of the big worker castes held their cupped hands out, offering something to Lemmel. As the steward went from hand to hand Daniel saw him receiving coins. Tribute! They were paying for having Ashild returned to them. Daniel frowned, and turned in his saddle to glare, troubled, back at Balin.

"A mighty thing, to be able to return their heart to them. And House Ondeil did it with gold in the Sky's lap. He rode onto the posted land with veil marks in his lap. That be what done it, ye realize?" Balin said softly to Daniel's glaring face. "But, of course ye do. House Ondeil be a clever man. He gave the Sky's original veil back, purified by his own hand. Then we ride the Sky onto posted land with his freedom intact and he pays his own way home. Nothing could have returned him to these people more than that."

"And why is it suddenly acceptable ... seemly for me to ride with Jack?"

Balin balked at answering him, almost appearing to refuse to respond, but then he gave a slight nod and spoke frankly, "We ride on lands of a House of alliance. It be seemly in civilized places, as well as on allianced land. Why do ye not know ... " Balin shook his head, cutting off his own question. He stopped himself from doing something for which he would have chastised Lemmel.

High on Freyfaxi's back, Daniel peered down at the children standing along the roadway, smiling at them. He got a wave here and there from the children and though he knew Balin would disapprove, he waved back and smiled. The huge Champion riding back and to Jack's right must have chosen to disregard Daniel's scandalous behavior.

Balin's words about Ashild haunted Daniel for the long trek through the gathered people. Ashild had been returned to them, like he was a lost puppy. They were getting a reward, like a kid who saw a notice on a street pole about a missing pet. They were getting a reward for returning the lost puppy.

And the big warrior's disapproval at Daniel's ignorance of customs was growing.

On they rode until the people were no longer shoulder-to-shoulder, but were in scattered knots continuing along the road south. Lemmel would mount and ride between the small groupings, letting Jack's party make better time on the path. This road wound east for a while and passed the old woman's hut. She too stood out offering coins, a fair gathering of maidens and grandchildren with her. Lemmel was taking coins from her, easily a dozen female relatives gathered at her side. Balin wouldn't have had to rape just one a dozen times.

The irony wasn't lost on Jack who nudged Daniel. "A dozen virgins. I think he'd have been up for the task."

This time Daniel chose to take what he was sure was Balin's preferred stance. He kept his head discretely bowed and ignored Jack's mirth.

Even with Lemmel on foot some of the time the little group reached the tanner's shop by late afternoon. Daniel was surprised to see them gathered, family members too. They didn't look the least bit remorseful for the disrespect they'd shown only a couple of days ago but instead very pleased with themselves to be offering several gold marks.

Still troubled over what Balin had said about Ashild being returned to these people, Daniel watched as Lemmel received the marks, his head high and no sign of appreciation showing. These people acted as if they owned Ashild. Or, perhaps a part of him. It was if they owed part of their prosperity to him. They'd been in mourning at his loss and now it felt to Daniel as if they were buying him from Jack. They'd rejected buying a replacement Sky but were willing to shell out an incredible amount of money to have their original back. Was that all this was? Payment for a lost pet?

Was Ashild nothing more to them than a pampered, caged pet?

"What?" Jack asked, prodding his lover.

Daniel shook his head, causing the veil to shift back and forth across his shoulders.

"Out with it. You're stewing on something." Jack ran a hand around Daniel's stomach, searching with his long fingers under the edge of his light cloak. He touched Daniel's bare stomach.

"Don't," Daniel whispered angrily. "I'm not your pet, your sex toy. You can't play with me any time you want--"

Instead of pulling his hand away, Jack flattened it against Daniel's bare flesh. "I'm not playing. You're not a toy. This is not about us, is it?" he said calmly, his voice low enough not to be heard by the onlookers.

His posture now tight, Daniel shook his head again, more forcefully. "I'm not a damned puppy. Neither is Ashild. This is wrong, Jack."

"You're not a puppy? Daniel, where the hell did that come from?"

"You're getting a reward for returning their lost puppy, aren't you?" he said accusingly.

"No. We're getting a reward. You're right about that. But Ashild isn't a puppy to these people--"

"They didn't even recognize him. We stopped right here at this tanner's shop and they didn't even recognize him."

"Daniel!" Jack whispered harshly, but then paused. He shifted his hand, wrapping it further around his lover's stomach. "Tell me. Tell me what's going on in your head."

"Jack," he replied, his voice as tight as his posture. "I can't get past the idea that to these people Ashild is nothing more than a puppy. He's not a man."

"The veil. That's why they didn't recognize him. And not a puppy. You're equating it wrong. You of all people should be able to see they treat him like royalty. You're the cultural expert here."

"You're right. Without mass media the typical citizen wouldn't recognize their royal ruler. So, that argument isn't sound. Still ... "

"The reward issue?" Jack prompted him.

"Yes. It feels like we're getting a reward for returning him."

"Balin said it, Daniel. We brought him back as a free man. What you're seeing here isn't a reward for us returning a lost puppy. We're getting a reward for freeing him."

"That's just as wrong. He's a free man as much as any of them are. He's just not as tall, as overgrown or over muscled or--"

"Like you. Like me. Just a man. They don't see it that way, and you're always the one telling me I need to respect other cultures and see their ways as different, not wrong or right. How about a little Nox wisdom here?"

"Their ways are not our ways," Daniel said softly. "Point taken. Still--"

"You're having to live by their ways. I know," Jack said, spreading his fingers again, rubbing his lover's bare stomach. "I know."

"I hate it," Daniel whispered bitterly.

"I know," Jack repeated. "I'm here, Daniel. I'm supposed to listen when you say you're angry about something."

A bark of derisive laughter escaped Daniel's tight lips. "Since when?"

"Since maybe about two years ago. I started listening. Didn't you notice? When you discovered those Unas artifacts that SG-9 had moved. I can kind of pinpoint that as the start. But I really mean, downtime. I mean, when we're not on a mission. This is kind of downtime. This is just you and me surviving life, kind of. Living, I mean. Like a couple."

"Living like a couple?"

"Man and wi--" Jack swallowed his words. "I mean, partners. Like a couple. A couple."

"Christ, Jack," Daniel swore. "I know you're trying to say something nice but ... Wife? Crap."

"I'm sorry. All I want to do is make things easier on you and I keep blundering and ending up hurting you more. I'm sorry."

"Me too," Daniel said, his voice thick with emotional pain. He brought his right hand up and covered Jack's on his stomach. "I'm sorry, Jack. I'm being too sensitive. I know what you were trying to say, and yes. I feel the same. I mean, I've never been with you this long. Day and night, and not having to hide our relationship. It should be a terrific thing for us. This being together. I do appreciate getting to be with you. I like the physical closeness. We've probably talked more, touched more in the months on this planet than in our entire lives together."

"I like it too. It's strange. I mean everyone around us knows we're a couple. They all know and it's nothing weird if I reach out and touch you. I can hold your hand and hell, I can even kiss you and it's no big deal. That's something I guess we should appreciate more while we've got it. That openness will be gone once we step back through the gate."

"But the feelings inside won't be gone. You're right. It has been weird, everyone accepting us as a couple. Nice," he said wistfully.

"Nice," Jack echoed him. He lay the horse's reigns on his neck, knowing that the beast would keep a gentle pace with the other animals. Jack wrapped both of his arms around Daniel, snuggling his lover into him tighter.

With a gentle smile Daniel twisted on the saddle, turning as much as he could to face Jack. They were on a secluded stretch of road now, having finally left the knot of craftsmen behind. Daniel pushed and pulled against Jack's shoulders, raising more until he managed to turn completely around in the saddle, sitting facing backward, his thighs over Jack's. They were face to face now. Daniel's gentle smile softened to a look of adulation. He brought the trailing edges of his gauzy veil up and draped Jack under the garment too. They had seclusion, riding a trail between the two worker caste men they had solitude.

Under the white cloth, Daniel gazed tenderly into Jack's eyes. "Sweet," he whispered.

"Stealing my line," Jack whispered as he shifted his hold on his lover. His long fingers were now resting on Daniel's thighs. The slits in the pants left that skin exposed. He stroked his fingertips along the bare flesh, then brought both of his hands up to cup Daniel's smooth-shaven cheeks. "Nice. Gonna kiss you now, Daniel."

"Gonna kiss you too, Jack."

"Good."

"Good, then," Daniel echoed, his look of adoration breaking into a grin, his eyes sparkling.

They both leaned forward, pressing their chests together, bringing their lips together. The white haze of sunlight filtering strongly through the thin veil surrounded them. The plodding beat of the horse's hooves on the trail and the low murmurs of Balin and Lemmel were a soft backdrop to the sounds of intimacy passing between the two men behind the veil.

End of Book 5

Next: Sea