The Duke of Tremont II - Bloodspell

Chapter 35
 

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The white banners of parley flew as the two groups of warriors from each side met in the middle of what soon would be a field of battle. It was unseasonably warm for October and all the men were sweating profusely under their armor.

"This seems familiar," Brian leaned over to mutter to Justin, who rode next to him. Brian was desperately trying to lighten his lover's obvious disapproving attitude.

"Except last time we did this you weren't so weak that you could barely keep your seat," Justin grumbled back so only Brian could hear.

"I told you, I'm fine." Brian swiped at the sweat on his brow.

Justin snorted and continued to stare straight ahead at the oncoming enemy. "You keep telling yourself that, Brian, but don't come running to me when you slide off your horse in a dead faint."

"You worry too much. I need to be by Jonathan's side, showing a united front."

"You need to be in bed." Justin's voice went up a notch.

"Quiet, you two," Bishop Vic snapped from Justin's other side. "We're almost there."

They fell silent, but Justin shot one more disapproving glare at Brian before they approached Duke James and his men.

"Hail, King Jonathan of Pennington," Duke James spoke easily. "You have a lot of nerve showing your face in Maynor."

"Oh, and why is that, Duke?" Jonathan returned conversationally.

"Well, since you and Mage Master Blake there," he pointed at Blake, "conspired to kidnap Crown Prince Tristan and kill him, the answer would seem obvious."

A figure next to Jonathan reached up and removed his full faced helmet. "I have a very different version of that story to tell, Uncle," Tristan said coldly. He searched the faces of the Maynoran generals that rode by his uncle's side, men that had been loyal to his father and wondered why none of them looked surprised to see him. In fact none of them seemed to be showing any emotion. His heart sank as he spoke again. "And that is King Tristan to you, Duke James."

If the duke was surprised to see his nephew he did not show it. "Your Highness, you are alive! What a wonderful surprise!"

"No thanks to you, Uncle."

"Why whatever do you mean, Tristan? I'm ecstatic to see you again."

"Somehow I doubt that, since it was you who conspired with Mage Kipton to kill my father and I, along with King Jonathan, with that blood spell."

"Your Highness, I am offended at such accusations. I could never harm my brother, or you." He gestured around him. "And as you can see Adept Mage Kipton is nowhere to be found. I believe he acted alone and knew I was close to discovering the truth."

Tristan rolled his eyes. "Uncle, this is getting us nowhere. The fact of the matter is that I am still alive and you are committing treason by usurping my throne. I command you to surrender and stop this farce of a war."

"You forget that you are not of age to decide anything about this kingdom. I am still regent and all decisions are made by me. You have no proof of anything you are accusing me of."

"Adept Kipton, if you will please come forward," Tristan called.

Kipton rode forward, removing his helmet just as Tristan had done. If looks could kill, Kipton would have died instantly from the sheer force of Duke James' glare alone. "I see," James said flatly.

"As you can see, we do have proof of your crimes," Jonathan spoke. "Adept Kipton has confessed his crimes and has told us of yours. You would do well to surrender now. Let us be reasonable and avoid more bloodshed."

Duke James did not answer right away, and Tristan decided to try another tactic. He turned his attention to one of the generals who rode at the duke's side. The man had been loyal to his father, and would be to him, or so he thought. "General Black, you were one of my father's best men. Surely, you will not fight with this man after what he has done."
The only reply he got was the stony faced stare of the other man. Blake nudged Tristan and shook his head and Tristan turned back to Duke James. "What is your answer, uncle?"

"I will not give up the throne without a fight," James answered defiantly.

"Then it is a fight you shall have," Jonathan replied. "What are your terms?"

"This day grows late. We will meet on this field tomorrow at dawn."

"And you'll not send any more of your creatures for another surprise attack?" Jonathan asked warily.

"I don't know what you mean," James replied with a smirk as he wheeled his horse around and took off for his own army. "Until tomorrow!!" he shouted. "Prepare yourselves for defeat!"

King Jonathan turned as well, his party following close behind. "Cocky bastard, isn't he?" Jonathan commented.

"Yes, he is," Tristan replied. "I can see why he wouldn't want to surrender, but why are our generals standing with him? They were always fiercely loyal to my father."

Kipton and Blake shared a look. "They are being controlled," Blake answered. "By magic, most likely."

"Is it you?" Tristan turned to Kipton.

"No, Highness. I performed no such spell, and I don't know who did."

"It would take an adept to have that much control. I thought you were the only adept in his employ," Justin commented.

"I did too," Kipton answered, his brow furrowing. "But I was out of commission for a bit, and I could not tell you anything that happened during that time." He looked down at the hook that had replaced his right hand. "It would not surprise me if he found another mage. He was very angry with me when Justin escaped. I don't know who he could have gotten, unless he hired from outland."

He and Blake shared another look. "Damn, some of those mercenary mages from the east are very dangerous."

"Beside that, why wait for battle until tomorrow?" Brian interjected. "It's not that late today. Why not get it over with if he's so certain he will win?"

"We surprised him," Jonathan answered his brother. "Did you not see how shocked he looked when he saw Kipton with us? I believe he was fully prepared to engage in battle with us today, but now we have another weapon he has to consider."

"I still think he is underestimating Justin's power as well," Kipton added. "He is still too stupid to see beyond Justin's boyish looks, and obviously has no clue of Brian's power."

"Then we are better off than we thought," Brian smirked as they rode through their own line of men, who had parted for their return.

The generals began barking orders regarding their upcoming battle, while the rest dismounted their horses and gave them over to the grooms. They were met by Ben, Michael and the young princes, who were all anxious to hear how it went. When Brian slid off of Hugo his legs gave out and he started to sway. Luckily Justin and Jonathan were both nearby and grabbed him before he hit the ground.

"Well some of us are better off than we thought, anyway," Jonathan quipped.

"I'm all right!" Brian snapped as he tried to shrug off his brother and lover.

"I told you that you shouldn't have ridden with us," Justin chastised his lover. "And if you think you are fighting tomorrow you have another think coming," he added low enough so that his voice wouldn't carry. He didn’t want to embarrass the duke in front of the whole army.

"Justin..." Brian began.

"Just, shut up, Brian. I'm angry with you for putting yourself in danger today. What if they had attacked? You aren't strong enough to defend yourself from a kitten." Justin began to tug his lover toward their tent.

"That's exaggerating just a bit," Brian argued as he tried to pull away from Justin. "I need to stay here to help plan for tomorrow. Jon will need me."

"I said to shush!" Justin retorted. He gripped Brian more firmly. "You're going to lie down and that's final."

Brian looked to his brother for help, but Jonathan simply shrugged. "I think we'll be fine without you."

"Traitor!" he hissed at his brother as his shoulders slumped and he let Justin pull him away.

The others tried very hard not to laugh, but the best they could do was at least wait until Brian couldn't hear them anymore.

 

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Brian and Justin didn't speak until they got to the tent.

"Here, lie down," Justin said as he led Brian to one of the sleeping areas.

"This is Jon's bed," Brian protested.

"I know. Please just lie down and stop arguing."

After catching a glimpse of Justin's stormy face, Brian wisely decided to comply quietly.

"All right." As he lay down he tried not to let Justin see what a relief it was to be prone again. He really was exhausted.

Of course Justin saw right through him and smirked a little. "I'll be back in a moment."

Justin disappeared to the other section of the tent and began to make a lot of noise, moving and shifting things around. Brian drifted off trying to figure out what on earth his lover was doing.

It was about half a candle mark later when Justin shook Brian awake. "Brian, come on. Come with me."

Brian opened his eyes. "Hmm, don't want to get up. I'm too tired."

"Funny, a little while ago I could barely get you to lie down."

"If I admit that you were right, would you let me stay here?"

"No." Justin pulled on Brian's arm. "Let's go. I'm sure your brother is going to want his bed back eventually."

Brian groaned, but rose slowly and let Justin lead him into his own section of the tent.

"Holy…Jus, what did you do?" Brian's eyes went wide when he took in the sight before him.

"I thought this would be a little more comfortable for you," Justin replied almost shyly and Brian noted that Justin was already stripped down to only pants and his white under tunic. "For both of us, really." He nudged Brian to sit down on his camp bed which had been shoved over to the side of the tent by the wall. On the floor Justin had created a virtual nest of cushions and blankets for both of them to sleep on.

"That looks heavenly." Brian ran a gentle hand through his lover’s hair as Justin knelt in front of Brian and helped him remove his riding boots.

Justin looked up and smiled. "Thought it might be a little better than the cot." He finished his task and moved away from Brian, crawling onto their makeshift bed and over to a low table. "I also brought us some dinner so we don't have to get up at all tonight."

Brian smiled and dropped to his knees, crawling over to where his lover sat. "You think of everything, don't you?" He eyed the food and then laughed out loud. "You stole this from Debbie, didn't you?"

Justin didn't bother to deny it as he lifted one of Debbie's sausage filled pastries to Brian's mouth. The two shared their meal in silence, feeding each other bites of food and sharing a bottle of their favorite wine that Justin had filched from home as well.

Brian drained his goblet, set it down and then fell back on their bed with his hand over his stomach. "I am stuffed. If I eat one more bite I'll explode."

"You hardly ate anything," Justin scoffed around a bite of sweet cake.

"Says the human stomach," Brian retorted. He reached out and pulled Justin down to him, happy to be able to share this moment of playfulness amidst all the angst they'd had to deal with lately.

"Brian, I'm not done!" Justin protested, but he was laughing.

"You're right, you aren't done," Brian spoke softly into Justin's ear as he shifted so that he hovered over Justin's body, their faces only inches apart. "In fact, you're only just beginning."

"Brian, you're exhausted," Justin reminded him in a husky voice.

"The night is young, Sunshine, we've got hours to sleep, and tomorrow we will see battle." He leaned down and covered Justin's lips with a tender kiss, pulling away after a few moments. "I want to have this memory to take with us."

Justin surged up and flipped Brian onto his back. "I will see battle, you mean." He stole his own kiss from his lover and then spoke again. "You are staying safely with the healers."

Brian thought of protesting, but one look at Justin's determined face made him think twice. He definitely wouldn't get what he wanted tonight if he decided to fight Justin. He grabbed Justin's face and brought him down in a passion filled kiss that consumed both of them and ignited the fires that always burned so close to the surface. As Brian continued to kiss his lover senseless, Justin magically removed their clothing.

Justin began placing gentle kisses all over Brian’s face, neck, shoulders and muscular chest, finally settling for teasing each of his nipples until Brian could take it no more and pulled his lover back up to his lips for another searing kiss.

Finally, Justin sat up, and leaning over to the table, grabbed the small dish of herbed oil they had been dipping pieces of bread in. He drizzled some over Brian’s cock and then dipped his own fingers into the dish. Brian hissed when Justin rose to his knees and began to prepare his own hole with his own fingers. “God, Justin…so beautiful…want you so much.”

“I want you inside me, My Lord,” Justin replied huskily as he took hold of Brian’s already leaking cock and slowly impaled himself upon it.

“Yesssss,” Brian hissed again and forced himself to wait while Justin adjusted to his girth. Finally Justin raised himself up, almost completely off of Brian, using his lover‘s knees for leverage, then slammed back down. “God, Justin…so good.”

Justin leaned forward to kiss Brian and then Brian held out his hands and they twined their fingers together as Justin continued to ride his lover with abandon.

The friction of his cock against Brian’s stomach soon became too much and Justin felt his orgasm beginning to build. He exploded, his hole gripping tightly around Brian’s cock, and he spilled his hot seed onto his lover‘s stomach. This set Brian off and he quickly fell into his own blissful release.

The two men lay silent for awhile as they recovered, running gentle hands over soft skin and sweaty hair, as they stole small kisses. It was not long before the hands became more insistent again, and they were ready for round two.

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When Jonathan returned to his tent late that night he knew better than to even sneak a look into his brother's section. He heard a low moan and rolled his eyes, and moving to his own bed, he dug through his pack to find the woolen ear muffs he had placed there for specifically such an occasion.

Later when Brian had long fallen asleep, Justin lay stroking Brian's hair while he tried to quiet his mind enough to fall asleep. Brian had been so tired he had practically passed out on Justin's chest after their last round of lovemaking. As Justin finally began to doze, he was jolted awake by a thought. Although Brian had not argued with Justin about staying behind in the morning, he had not agreed with him either.

Justin frowned and unconsciously the hand carding through Brian's hair became decidedly less gentle. Brian stirred a little. "Ow, Jus…what?" he mumbled groggily.

"Sorry," Justin whispered. "Shh, go back to sleep, love." Brian settled back down quickly, and Justin came up with a plan, eventually calling to King Jonathan's mind for help.

 

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