:: WINGED INTERLUDE ::

Author :: Starshadow

Warning :: Yaoi - Contains scenes of a sexual nature




Chapter One

"Give you good day, Lady Holder!" 

"Fair morning to you, Lady Shavra!" 

The cheerful commotion in the courtyard of Kuruda's palace floated on the warm summer breeze, upwards through a pair of arched windows belonging to Crimson Kai Shinks, making him lift his titian head with an inward smile. Until that point he had been engaged in drafting a written report of new events around the Kingdom of Kuruda. A tedious job, but one that the King's ministers were insistent he accomplish.

A woman's merry laugh followed hard upon the chorus of greetings, and Crimson pushed himself from his desk with a small sound that could have been a chuckle. With an easy grace he moved to the windows and keen blue eyes scanned the courtyard.

It didn't take very long to find the source of the pleasant disturbance. Kuruda's sunshine seemed to delight in playing in the silvery hair of a young woman of magnificent proportions, bringing out pink highlights and turning her head into a nimbus. Moving with the grace of a hunting cat, the young woman cheerfully acknowledged the greetings with a clear, polite voice as she made her way directly to a point beneath Crimson.

The bright head lifted, and Crimson, ever one to appreciate beauty when he saw it, felt the familiar thrill of pleasure as eyes the color of purest amethyst lifted up to meet his sapphire gaze head-on. Large and thickly lashed, they sparkled with mischief as she stood with hands on her hips to call up to him.

"Give you good day, my lord Crimson Kai Sink!" she cried, and Crimson returned the laughing gaze with a cool stare.

"What, pray tell, makes the day so fine, that you must upset the peace of the palace with your entrance?"

Shavra of Fort Ly'valle, Lady Holder and swordcraft mistress, merely laughed up at her former teacher and made him an elegant bow of respect before meeting his blue eyes once more.

"Have you no eyes, my lord sevalle?" she retorted, with a boldness that made many in the courtyard hold their breaths, for few had heard Crimson addressed in such a fashion. "You've been cooped up in that tower for far too long! 'Tis summer-and the day is too marvelous to be wasted indoors."

"Never did good weather alone put that gleam in your eyes, Lady Holder. What mischief have you been hatching?" Crimson's blue eyes twinkled in spite of his best efforts at keeping a straight face, and those spectators who had been waiting with bated breath suddenly remembered how to exhale once more.

"I beg your pardon, my lord!!" Shavra's voice was sweetly indignant. "I have done nothing of the sort. Unless it is now mischief to leave off Hold affairs in order to practice a new sword pattern for the summer festival."

"Irresponsible baggage," came Crimson's lazy drawl, which was met with a burst of laughter from the Lady Holder. "After all that your teachers tried to drum into your head about duty, honor and responsbility, can you so cheerfully leave your poor steward to run the Hold while you go gadding about the countryside?"

The amethyst eyes sparkled with purest mischief, and her voice was honey-sweet as she retorted, "Ahhh, but you were ever my favorite teacher, Kai-sama; I learned more from you about duty, honor and responsibility than anyone else."

"Flattery will get you nowhere. You should be at Fort Ly'valle, seeing to its affairs."

Shavra tossed her head in self-assured defiance. "You know as well as I that I am no slacker in managing Fort Ly'valle, Kai-sama, and Morwen is more than capable of holding the reins for a day. When I receive a message from the drum heights that the Black Wing is testing a new blade just inside the borders of Ly'valle, you can hardly expect me to stay indoors."

"Indeed," murmured Crimson, suddenly dropping his eyes from Shavra's as heat swept up his face. Watching him, Shavra schooled her lovely features to innocent blandness, well aware of the effect her news was having on her former teacher. In days gone by, she had been his pupil in the ways of swordcraft-little more than a child when her guardian the King had apprenticed her to the sevalle. She had proven an apt pupil with a natural affinity for the blades that had surprised Crimson. Learning quickly, she was soon equal to her master-and had her destiny not been to assume her place as Lady Holder of one of the most important strongholds in Kuruda, her footsteps would surely have walked in sevalle tradition.

Dias Ragu, the Black Wing, played an important part in that destiny, for it had been he who rescued Shavra from death when she was just a child of nine and he just starting his mercenary career in her father's employ. Delivering her to the guardianship of King Iba Stola, in obedience to her mother's final commands, the bonds between them had remained strong in spite of his wanderings throughout the kingdom. For Shavra's coming-of-age ceremony, Dias had forged the magnificent sword Lyorax, and used with the swordcraft skills learned from Crimson, the blade named Lion's Wing was as deadly as it was beautiful.

Crimson's miniscule retreat into the shadow of the windowsill was lost to all but Shavra, who had spent the better part of her life in close quarters with him and knew him as well as anyone in Kuruda, and perhaps even more than any of his alleged lovers - all of whom envied the Lady Holder's ties to Crimson with a passion. It was the love she cherished for them both that awoke an insistent speculation in her mind, the moment she intercepted the burning glance exchanged by the swordmaster and the mercenary, the day Dias returned to Kuruda.

Over time, her suspicions were confirmed in myriad ways. Being of a romantic and mischievous disposition, Shavra schemed endlessly to bring the two men she adored together, and in the most basic way possible. Now, she realized, here was an opportunity staring her in the face, but it had to be managed in a manner worthy of that master intriguer, Scarface Vy Low.



Chapter Two

Now she looked up at a point over Crimson's shoulder, tilting her head in a childhood gesture that told the sevalle she was considering a matter of interest. The smile that eventually curved her mouth crashed through his cool demeanor and many were the appreciative sighs as Crimson finally allowed his own broad grin to answer her own.

"I'll have you know that I've just come from the Black Wing," she said at last, amethyst eyes warm with delight at the memory of the encounter. "As Lady Holder, it was only proper to welcome him to my domain."

"Did you find him well?" asked Crimson casually, eyes gleaming sapphire from the shadows. Shavra lifted an alabaster shoulder in an elegant shrug, her face demure.

"As well as can be expected," she said, equally casual. "I showed him the new sword pattern I was creating. He was kind enough to go through it with me, and said it was worthy of your review. Which is really why I've come, to invite you up to join us."

Crimson hesitated the merest fraction, torn between duty and desire. He had managed to keep his distance from Dias ever since the young valle's return to Kuruda, at what cost to his self-control only he knew - or so he believed. The day Dias presented himself at court, Shavra broke all protocol by launching herself bodily into the embrace of her childhood friend, and the jealousy that twisted Crimson's heart rocked him to the core. It was not jealousy of the love Shavra kept for Dias, or the young valle's devotion to her welfare. That was something Crimson accepted as a given. What he envied was the freedom of the Lady Holder to express her feelings in the open, and have no one see anything out of the ordinary in it. Had he dared to follow Shavra's footsteps...Crimson shook his head with a small sound of impatience at the all-too-clear vision of what it would have been like to seize Dias Ragu in *his* arms and smother him in a bear hug in front of the King and the entire Court. In the courtyard, Shavra smiled inwardly as she felt her master's resistance yielding, and bounced eagerly.

"Oh, please, do come out for a while!" she coaxed gaily. "If you really must, you can write your reports just as easily in the field as in that stuffy room. And I *so* want to see if my new sword pattern meets with your approval."

Crimson sighed, acknowledging defeat, for he had never been proof against the expression of expectant sweetness that now graced Shavra's face. It had been bad enough when she was a child, high-spirited and eager to please his every wish; now that she was a woman grown, the look was well-nigh irresistible.

"Give me a few moments, irreverent brat," he called out, making Shavra's laughter ring gaily throughout the courtyard. Moving inside, he began to gather the papers he had been working on and placed them into a leather dispatch case. Suddenly, Shavra's voice echoed in his memory, making him swing round to the window and look out at the brilliant summer day, noticing it for the first time.

"If you really must..."

Crimson looked down at the dispatch case, and then back out the window. Slowly and deliberately, he closed the case and centered it on the table. Then he came to a moment of swift decision, and turned to hurry swiftly down the palace corridors to join the Lady Holder, nearly sweeping her off her feet as she stood just outside the threshold of the huge double doors leading into the palace.

Shavra opened her mouth in teasing reproof, but the words died upon her lips as the power of Crimson's dancing sapphire gaze locked with her amethyst ones. It was a look at once reckless and vulnerable, the expression of a man who had come to terms with himself and was prepared to take the consequences, come what may.



Chapter Three

The summer wind was playful on the hills looming over the proud city of Kuruda. Blowing coolly down from the mountain heights where Ly'valle Hold held imperious sway, it grew warmer as it approached the treeline, running swift fingers through the foliage. The leaves, green with life, murmured in gentle whispers at having their repose so rudely disturbed, but the wind merely danced away as suddenly as it had arrived.

Continuing on its heedless path, the steadily warming air erupted into a clearing, stirring up little puffs of dust and dry grass. Then, without warning, a shower of sparkling light burst out of nowhere, sunlight glinting on a blade with an edge fine enough to slice through an errant breeze. With only the barest thread of sound, the winged blade snapped through the cloud stirred up by the wind, then executed a wide, graceful turn to fly like a homing pigeon into the outstretched hand of the lone young man standing in the center of the clearing.

Dias Ragu felt the boomerang make solid contact with his open palm, and allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction. There had been a nagging problem with the balance of this particular blade, but not for nothing was he known as a master at making weapons. The winged blade now flew on a true path, as he had intended it should.

Emerald eyes darkened as he remembered other weapons he had made. Not many, not a few, each one paid for with just that much more of his life's blood. Each one a labor of love for someone he loved. The winged blades that were his specialty, and which had given him the nickname of Black Wing, used in defence of all he held dear. The tempered beauty of the blade that Gau Ban wielded on that long night in Prorahan, when the boy won the name of Black Howling over the bodies of a thousand men. The magnificent sword Lyorax, that most perfect of blades to ever come from his hands, a weapon that sang in the hands of its owner, the Lady of Fort Ly'valle.

Dias chuckled softly as he set the boomerang loose once more in the summer air, remembering his meeting with Shavra earlier that day. She had been full of laughter and daring, teasing him with innuendos that had brought fire to his cheeks. Having all but raised her for two years, there were few secrets between them, and it had taken only one shared glance to tell Dias she knew to whom his heart belonged. That she was aware of his desire for Crimson was at once a relief and a torment. Relief because it was good to share the secret with someone who understood. Torment because of her relentless teasing, meant to goad him into action.

"You men!" she had exclaimed laughingly that morning, on her way to Kuruda. "At least you, Dias-sama, know your own heart. I have half a mind to see if I can't drag the honorable Crimson Kai Sink up here..."

"Lady of Ly'valle Hold, you will do no such thing!" exclaimed Dias, flushing to the roots of his hair, his eyes glinting greenly as Shavra stared challengingly back at him.

"I will do as I please within the borders of my lands, Valle Black Wing," she shot back in her most imperious tones. "If I please to bring my lord Crimson up to this very clearing to review my new sword pattern, what is that to you? And if you are here to observe our practice, what is that to me? But this I promise you, Dias-sama. If there is any way at all by which I can coax Kai-sama out of whatever stuffy rooms he's locked himself in, I'm going to do it."

"What if the stuffy room he's locked in is that of a woman, what then, Lady Holder?" teased Dias softly, aware of Shavra's proprietary attitude towards her former sword master.

Shavra's eyes glinted back in a way that spoke ill for the unknown female. "Then I would advise you not to waste your time further on such a scalawag, Dias-sama. Though I am sure that doing so would be a complete waste of breath."

Another chuckle escaped Dias as he caught the boomerang neatly from yet another throw. It was at that moment that Crimson and Shavra reached the edge of the clearing, after hiking in companionable silence from the city. They paused for a moment in the shade of the trees, and if Shavra heard the sudden intake of breath from above her shining head, she gave no sign, though her eyes, hidden from Crimson's view, were dancing with mirthful triumph. The pause lengthened and grew heavy, neither one eager to break the spell of the moment.



Chapter Four

Crimson's throat suddenly went dry at the sight of the young valle standing gilded in the sunlight. His upper garments were folded neatly on a flat rock - obviously Shavra's handiwork. Past experience told him how very careless the Black Wing could be in the matter of discarding shirts.

Once again, Shavra's words echoed in his mind: "He looks as well as can be expected..."

Blue eyes made sharp with longing cast a swift, encompassing glance at the lithe body standing relaxed yet powerful; perhaps a little thinner than the last time he had seen it without the constraint of cloak and shirt. Muscles hardened from constant use, more developed now and no longer carrying the lingering traces of boyhood softness he had so enjoyed beneath his hands. Remembered pleasures brought a familiar tightening ache to the older man's groin, and he was more than grateful for Shavra's sudden movement into the clearing, calling out Dias' name.

The young valle looked up swiftly, a startled hawk with emerald eyes, scanning the trees behind Shavra in an automatic gesture. His keen eyes caught the sapphire gaze burning from behind the shadows of the trees, and he swallowed hard as memory swept over him. It was with great difficulty that he managed to bend down enough for Shavra to press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth, as was her custom, his eyes never leaving Crimson's as the older man stepped out of the trees into the sunlight.

"As I promised, Dias Ragu," whispered Shavra as she stepped away, a smile flirting with her lips as turned her head and felt satisfaction at seeing the equally distracted Crimson. "I've coaxed him out, and he's in the open now..."

A slow flush crept up Dias' fine cheekbones as he caught the teasing undertone in Shavra's words, pitched for his ears alone. Yet his eyes were trapped in blue depths of Crimson's, warm with a look he had seen only by moonlight and only when they were alone. Belatedly he remembered that they were most certainly *not* alone and turned to discover that Shavra had discreetly removed herself from their immediate vicinity and was padding on light feet in the general direction of Fort Ly'valle.

"Ho, there, Lady Holder!" exclaimed Crimson, freezing Shavra in her steps. "Where do you think you are going?"

"Going?" she replied over her shoulder, half-turning to face the two men. The sunlight fractured itself into a shower of sparkling light as she tossed her unbound hair. "Why, I have Hold affairs to look after, as you so rightly pointed out, my lord sevalle."

"What of the sword pattern you promised you would show me, baggage?" challenged Crimson, and smiled in spite of himself as Shavra transformed herself from his one-time pupil into the Lady Holder of Fort Ly'valle, last heiress of a line nearly as old as that of the Kingdom of Kuruda.

"Within my domain, Crimson Kai Sink," she said, echoing her words to Dias earlier that day, amethyst eyes coolly imperious, no longer teasing. " I may do as I please. At this moment it pleases me to have a cool bath and fresh clothes, without any delay...

"While you, on the other hand," she retorted, eyes glinting purposefully, "You, my lord sevalle, have that which you wish to discuss with the Black Wing. Business too long delayed, to my mind, and therefore will I leave you now, gentle lords, to follow me at your leisure."

With that, she turned gracefully and resumed her interrupted journey to the Hold. Shavra was well aware of the two pairs of eyes boring holes into her back as she walked, and managed to keep a nonchalant pace until she disappeared into the trees. No sooner had she entered the treeline than she jumped and turned a perfect cartwheel in the excess of her delight.

Crimson snorted as he heard a triumphant laugh carried on the breeze, accompanied by the faint sound of feet breaking into a run. Shaking his head, he looked at Dias with warm blue eyes. "She's impossible, isn't she?"

Dias laughed, a sound to warm the older man's heart. It was a laugh that came from within, the laugh of a man secure of his place in the world. How long had it been since he had seen Dias wear that carefree expression that made him look younger than his years? Emerald eyes flashed into his own, and suddenly time didn't matter any more.



Chapter Five

"So...what business is this our impossible young Lady Holder says you wish to discuss, Kai?" said Dias, gesturing with a nod of his head to a shady spot at the edge of the clearing. "Come, I've got a jug of Ly'valle white down by those trees. We can sit and it will do you good to get out of the sun, you look rather hot."

In mesmerized silence, Crimson followed Dias into the shade, and felt immediately the caress of a cool breeze on his flushed face. At the younger man's gesture, he dropped down on the grass beside Dias, both men using the trunk of a huge oak tree to lean on. With a grateful sigh, Dias uncorked the wine jug and took a long swallow of the light white wine from the the southern slopes of Ly'valle Hold. Slanting a glance at Crimson, he held out the jug to the older man and as it was taken from him, suddenly reached over and twitched the fastening that held Crimson's cloak together.

At the sudden contact, Crimson started, the movement dropping the cloak from his shoulders in a whisper of fine fabric. Green eyes flashed appreciatively at the sight of lean muscles outlined by the thin shirt, muscles Dias vividly remembered circled round his waist in fierce possessiveness. A slow fire began in his belly as memories of other muscles engaged in other forms of possession flashed through his mind.

"Much better," Dias murmured, watching Crimson take a long pull at the wine jug. "Though you'd probably be more comfortable with your shirt off....you still haven't told me what you wanted to talk to me about."

Crimson carefully corked the bottle and set it down beside him, painfully aware of a familiar tightening in his groin. Looking at Dias with rueful humor, he said, "I'm not sure where to start."
"Seems like the cat has got your tongue," grinned Dias, shifting his position in a fluid motion that trapped Crimson against the tree trunk, the valle's arms on either side of him. "I used to know how to solve that problem. Let's see if it still works..."

Crimson's breath locked in his throat as Dias' mouth came down over his in a kiss that could only be described as gentle ferocity. A kiss from a man who knew what he was about - no longer the awkward movements of someone newly-awakened to the delights of the flesh. A soft moan finally emerged from his mouth as Dias lifted his head the merest fraction, teasing him with the barest touch of his lips. The respite was only as long as a heartbeat, one indrawn breath, and then the sweet assault began again, more insistent now.

Obeying the silent command, Crimson's mouth parted, as his hands slid over the valle's slim hips for purchase as a wave of long-suppressed desire crashed through every last one of his defenses. King Iba Stola himself could have walked in on them now, and it wouldn't have mattered. It had been so long...too long since he had felt the taste of his lover's tongue against his own, flavored now with the tang of Ly'valle white wine, and twice as heady. Once, he had been the one in control, the one who knew just where to touch and how to excite. Now, it was a different story, as he arched up against Dias' seeking hands, which were divesting him of his shirt with a deftness that spoke more eloquently than words of the young valle's lonely nights in Prorathan.

It was with great reluctance that Dias broke the kiss, but he was running out of breath. Besides, it was worth it, to look down from half-lidded eyes into Crimson's face, sheened over with sweat, breath coming in shallow gasps. More than worth it, to lean back a little and with deliberate slowness, slide the pristine white shirt off broad muscled shoulders to expose the golden skin beneath. Dias let his palms stroke down Crimson's arms, tracing the tensing muscles with the lightest of touches, traveling upwards to those shoulders and then down again, over the smooth chest until the pads of his thumbs rested lightly on erect and straining nipples.

"I haven't lost my touch, it seems," purred the young valle, teasing the nipples and drawing lazy circles around the pectoral muscles with deft touches. Crimson rumbled something incoherent, rocking his hips in an effort to ease the heavy tautness between his legs. Sapphire eyes had darkened to almost black with the passion that was being held barely in leash as he allowed Dias to play his body like a finely-tuned instrument. However, it was a game that two could play equally well...



Chapter Six

The pleased smirk that the young valle had been wearing turned into an expression of surprise, then anticipation as his hips were pulled forward at the same time that Crimson surged towards him.
The effect of this manuever was to land Dias flat on his back on the grass, pinned between Crimson's legs, the sevalle's iron grip locked about his wrists.

Dias looked up into his lover's face, the laughter in his emerald eyes slowly darkening with passion as Crimson ground his hips hard against his willing captive, lowering his face to a mere handspan from the valle's, titian hair falling in a heavy curtain about their faces. Crimson bent towards Dias' mouth, and chuckled low in his throat at the moan of protest from the younger man as he chose a different target - the soft spot where throat met collarbone.

"Hush," murmured Crimson against Dias' skin, even as he laved the little jumping pulse point with his tongue, provoking another moan, this time accompanied by an urgent arching of the body beneath him. Crimson's mouth traveled downwards now, kissing a deliberate trail down his lover's chest that had the valle crying out his name in a strangled voice. Due homage was paid to each pert nipple, first by teasing fingers, then by warm lips. The fragrance of warm grass mingled with the musky scent of Dias' skin as the valle's hands crushed the slender stalks in a death-grip of pure and unadulterated pleasure.

Neither one knew for sure how the rest of their clothes managed to disappear; only that at some point, both men were finally skin on skin and revelling in the sensation of reckless freedom. Freedom for seeking mouths and hands to wander over familiar territory that until now was only the stuff of dreams. Dias only barely managed to stay still as Crimson resumed his slow torture, spreading his legs wide as the sevalle urged them apart with his knees. He marked a trail down Dias' inner thigh that ended with a light nip at the junction of thigh and hip, continuing onwards...

The cry that left the Black Wing's throat as Crimson's lips slid over the head of his manhood was sufficient to startle a flock of birds and send them wheeling for Fort Ly'valle. Their sudden flight caught the attention of Shavra in her tower bedroom, fresh from her bath and robed in silk, combing her silver hair by the window. Closing her eyes, she let her underhearing hover for a moment around the two men, and caught her breath at the strength of the love and desire that swept over her own flesh. Pulling her senses back, a smile curved her sweet mouth as her heart rejoiced in full measure over the success of her little plot.

The two individuals concerned, however, were blissfully unaware of the place they occupied in Shavra's thoughts, busy as they were with the satisfaction of their own desires. Crimson took Dias' velvety hardness deep into the warm cavern of his mouth, moving in slow, langorous strokes over the throbbing shaft. With a practised movement, he cupped the young valle's scrotum, giving it a gentle squeeze that brought a moan of near-unbearable pleasure to Dias' throat.

"Kai...oh...yes..." It was all the valle could do, to keep his control from breaking. He thrust himself upward into the welcoming heat, his eyes closed to savor each and every incredible sensation. With every stroke from Crimson's tongue he felt his body tauten and soar into the warm sunlight surrounding them. How he had missed the exquisite suspense that Crimson knew how to create! The times when need and longing had led him to relieve himself with his own hands and imagination were but a pale imitation compared to the reality of this hot man's mouth, the gentle hands that kept his hips steady as he flexed his thighs to delay the final moment of surrender.

"Please...Kai...!"

The words were more than music to Crimson's ears, they were fuel to the raging fire burning inside him. More than anything else, he wanted to make this good for the young valle. Ever since Dias returned home to Kuruda, all those who loved him were aware of the shadow of death that hovered over him, and none more so than the sevalle who had offered him the medicine of life that had been gently but firmly refused. By unspoken consent, those who loved the Black Wing refused to become maudlin or brood over what would eventually come to pass; each day was a celebration of thanksgiving for his life - there would be time enough for tears after he had gone.

These thoughts passed fleetingly through the back of Crimson's consciousness before an urgent plea from the writhing captive beneath him brought an inward smile to his heart and banished them completely. As Crimson used his considerable skill to pleasure his lover, he was more than amply rewarded by Dias' generous response to his ministrations. Together they celebrated a reunion made all the sweeter for the knowledge of the limited time hanging over their heads.



Chapter Seven

Dias gasped for breath as his nerve endings delivered wave upon wave of a pleasure so intense it was like being in the heart of the sun. Impossible to think, let alone speak - Crimon's mouth was demanding nothing less than the surrender of the complete and total control that was part of both their lives as fighting men. The fire continued to build and grow, until he *was* the fire, burning from the inside out with blazing so intense that it seemed selfish to keep it only for himself.

Crimson felt slender fingers slide over his hands, the familiar callouses from holding the black wings grazing his knuckles before Dias' hands gripped his in a convulsive grip as another wave of pleasure swept through the young valle. Crimson could feel Dias' body gathering and bunching up beneath him, until at last, with a cry of purest joy, the Black Wing allowed himself to slip off the precipice and fall apart, drowning in wave after wave of fulfilled pleasure. Crimson felt the hot flood that erupted in his mouth and drew it all in, holding the fiercely pulsing member until at last it was over.

Slowly he lifted his head and sighted upwards along Dias' body, one eyebrow quirking upward even as a tender smile graced his features. The young valle was breathing easily, eyes closed, completely limp, and despite that fact that Crimson himself was still a long way from finding his own satisfaction, he managed to chuckle, recognizing that the Black Wing's repose was due to more than just the exhaustion following a powerful climax...much more.

Dias Ragu, the fearsome valle Black Wing, had fainted. 

Another chuckle escaped Crimson, and very slowly, so as not to disturb his resting lover, he moved away and stretched like some hunting cat who had just devoured its prey. Looking around, his eyes fell on the bottle of Ly'valle white that lay where they had abandoned it - how long ago? Crimson squinted upwards at the sun, which had barely seemed to move, then reached for the bottle and uncorked it, taking a long draught of the sweet wine. Mentally he saluted the Lady Holder, then turned at a soft sound from Dias.

"Oh, Souma..." the young valle said, staring at Crimson with dazed emerald eyes, lying perfectly still as the sevalle returned and offered him the jug of wine. Dias sat up somewhat gingerly, accepting the bottle and taking a long draught himself, his eyes lighting up in response to the laughter in Crimson's. "You look insufferably pleased with yourself."

"You fainted," Crimson replied, tossing the near-empty bottle into a pile of grass, and dropping down beside the young valle. "I would never have guessed you'd miss me that much."

Dias' eyes glinted greenly, tracing the lean muscled length stretched out beside him, before sweeping his gaze to Crimson's face. "I suppose that Shavra has told you that you can be an arrogant, self-assured bastard enough times for me not to state the obvious."

Sapphire eyes flashed in response to the dare in the emerald ones. "The Lady Holder would never use such language to her former swordmaster...at least, she's never referred to me as a bastard."

"Indeed?" this time it was Dias' eyebrow that quirked upwards. "I'm glad she still retains some manners after so many years under your influence. It's a pity that I can't say the same of your own conduct."

Crimson's soft laugh hung in the quiet summer air, growing heavy once again with excitement and anticipation. "That rather sounds as though you'd like to teach me a thing or two..."

"Or three," growled Dias softly, seconds before his mouth came crashing down over Crimson's, smothering the chuckle that had been rising in the older man's throat. It was a fierce kiss, purposeful, one that made its eventual end extremely plain. Crimson willingly followed the lead set by Dias, as the valle plundered the warmth of his mouth, capturing the moan of pleasure that swept upwards from his lungs as a skilled hand reached down to grasp his rampant erection.

Crimson jolted as Dias began to stroke him, breaking the kiss and finding himself staring up at emerald eyes grown smoky with desire renewed. He lifted up one hand to place it alongside the young valle's cheek, tracing a fine cheekbone with his thumb as his free arm circled Dias' waist, bringing him close for a long moment. Sapphire eyes drank in every detail, as if to imprint its beloved image forever on his hungry heart.

Dias understood the look and turned his cheek into Crimson's palm to kiss it softly, a gesture of consolation that made the sevalle sigh and relax beneath him. On that day in Prorathan, when he refused the elixir that would have extended his life, Dias looked into his lover's eyes and saw the blue fires of rage blazing in them. Rage alone, he could have faced calmly, but he had seen something else as well - fear, born out of love, and the knowledge of how little time was left for Dias. Fear of losing the best part of one's self to the shadows, when it had barely been recovered.

As they faced each other across the table in that long moment, Dias saw the haunted look behind the anger, and would have given the world to be able to tell Crimson that he would take the medicine that would buy them a little more time. Just a little more time...but for what? To make the inevitable parting twice as hard when the time finally came? Dias shook his head almost imperceptibly as the thought crossed his mind that day, and saw resignation replace anger in Crimson's eyes, before they had to deal with the matter of Suluothan's entire army just outside the door.



Chapter Eight

Crimson stirred slightly beneath Dias' hand, bringing the valle's thoughts winging back to the present moment. With the faintest of half-smiles, he squeezed gently on the straining member in his hand, and was rewarded with a ragged gasping plea from his willing captive. He began a slow, steady stroking that sent a shudder of pleasure racing through Crimson's limbs, sending him to heights never reached with any of the women who had willingly given themselves to slake his hunger for the one person who was always out of his reach.

Dias moved downward to brush feather-light lips in a teasing trail over Crimson's chest, exploring his muscles and the barely-leashed passion coiled within them. A strangled sound escaped the sevalle as Dias traced his name with his tongue downwards over sweat-sheened skin, making the younger man chuckle from within his throat. It was a gesture from days gone by, when Crimson had introduced the young valle to the pleasures of male coupling, a lover's brand that marked each for the other in more than just the delights of the flesh.

"Dias...." The name emerged as a ragged whisper as the valle's mouth began to work its well-remembered magic together with the hands that held his length, now rock-hard and pulsing with urgent need. Crimson's legs fell apart of their own volition as Dias engulfed him in a velvet warmth that only served to fan the liquid fire that radiated from between his thighs. His mind reeled, and it was all he could do to keep himself together, even as his fingers slipped into the brown hair streaked with gold, smooth as silk, urging Dias closer...

A low moan of protest escaped Crimson as the young valle pulled away, only to surge upwards and capture his mouth, plundering the warm depths with his tongue while his hips ground into Crimson's in a fierce demand. When Dias finally released him, both men were gasping, hearts pounding, more than ready to take their pleasure to new heights.

Crimson managed to rise to his knees, drawing Dias up with him, turning the younger man so that his back was leaning full against Crimson's chest, the sevalle's hands sliding softly over his slender hips. Gentle teeth nipped at the valle's nape, eliciting a soft plea: "Now...please, now..." A gasp escaped Dias as he felt his maleness grasped by masterful fingers that played back and forth in a rhythm that somehow managed to simultaneously soothe and inflame the desperate desire for release that thundered through him. The young valle ground his bottom against Crimson's hips impatiently, a move that elicited a soft sound suspiciously like a purring chuckle, and a feather-light kiss on his shoulder.

Crimson closed his eyes as he eased himself forward, cradling Dias in his strong arms, murmuring soft honeyed words that blended with the moans of ecstasy issuing from his lover's mouth. Time fell away from them in splintering shards of delight as they rediscovered the familiar rhythm of their loving, discovering how nothing and everything had changed over the years they had been apart. Dias revelled at the way Crimson delved deeper with each stroke, nerves singing, meeting him more than halfway.

"Yes..." he whispered, as he felt a faint shudder ripple through Crimson's body. "Kai...come for me...now..."

The soft words unlocked the last restraint on Crimson's already precarious control, and with a shout to drop all the leaves on the trees within a three-yard radius, the 56th sevalle of Kuruda finally allowed himself to lose himself completely, his muscles locking for a split second before releasing in a climax so powerful he thought his heart would stop, and the last thing he wanted to do at that moment was to die. Not now.

As Dias felt Crimson's seed flood into him, he felt his own control shatter, and with a cry of utter delight, he spent himself completely, all over Crimson's hand and his own, his shuddering orgasm joining together with the older man's to topple them both into the sweet-smelling grass, where they lay for endless gasping minutes until at last both of them returned to firm ground once again.

It was with extreme reluctance that Crimson allowed Dias to leave the circle of his arms so that the young valle could stretch and turn to face him, propped up on one elbow and green eyes smoky with the sleepy satisfaction of a man thoroughly sated with direct, most excellent sex. Living emeralds that were also tinged with mischief at the look of dazed content that graced Crimson's features.

"I would never have guessed..." chuckled Dias, echoing Crimson's earlier words. "I swear they've heard you up and down the length of the Hold."

The older man snorted, his eyes glinting purest cobalt at the high color in Dias' cheeks. Crimson stretched lazily, the shadows of the leaves dappling his lean muscles like some hunting cat. Eyes of sapphire blue gleamed softly up from half-closed lids, and an inarticulate murmur escaped his mouth as he reached over with an arm to pull the young valle hard against his chest, as though to assure himself that he wasn't dreaming.

"No doubt," he replied, sighing in sated drowsiness, then added, "Dias..."

"Mmm-hm?" 

"Do you think we could stay this way for...say...at least until Lunalis Umbra comes back to Ashlianna?"

Dias chuckled low in his throat, pressing a kiss to Crimson's mouth before answering. "There is nothing I would enjoy more, Kai. But if I know anything about our one-time fosterling, the Lady Holder will be sending out a patrol after us if we're not at the Fort by sundown."

"I suppose we had better make the most of the time, then," sighed Crimson, the words carrying a double edge. Dias nodded, and for a long time afterward, no words were necessary for the declarations that passed from one heart to another in that little meadow.



[[end of Winged Interlude]]