…or, Cloak Of Delvin’ Kind
donate $1 or more.
It was lucky for me that I’d never been too sensitive to poison ivy, since we didn’t have any healing lotions with us. The bumpy red rash was just beginning to show when Iason pointed it out. I felt it as soon as I saw it. I was tempted to blame Iason for that, but he had enough faults of his own.
I was all for heading back and seeking treatment, but Iason was grumbling about his stomach and dipping my legs in the cool stream did help. Iason got the fire going and started cooking again.
“The ashes were cool,” he said once the blaze was going.
“Say what?”
“Back up on the hill,” he said. “When we went back to collect our things. The fire was out and the ashes were cool.”
I shivered. Suddenly the water was a little too cold. Iason had spread his cape on the ground, and I used it as a towel before getting back into my clothes.
“Let’s not go back there again,” I said.
“You don’t want to know what lies underneath the ruins?” he asked.
“I have an intellectual curiosity about it,” I said. “Doesn’t mean I want to get up close and personal with it. Anyway, who says there’s anything beneath it? I didn’t see stairs or anything like a trapdoor.”
“My theory is that there is an entrance beneath the altar stone,” he said.
“Why would they put the stairs under the altar?”
“For one thing, it is the merest supposition to call it an altar, or the whole structure a temple,” Iason said. “Though the available facts do seem to support that.”
“Yeah,” I said. “For one thing, you hardly ever run into cursed guardians of an ancient bakery.”
“But the building seems to have consisted of one large open room,” he said. “It seems likely that there would have been a basement to the structure, particularly with the way it sits high on the hill. There could have been storerooms, or a shelter of some kind, or any number of things below the ground. If the temple is now under some sort of curse, what we are calling the altar stone may have been moved from its original position in order to block off the lower level, or even erected in the first place for that purpose.”
“Sounds like a great reason to leave it alone,” I said.
“Iamie, you are speaking like a slow-blooded elf, not a hot-blooded human,” Iason said. “Why shouldn’t we take a look around?”
“For one thing, those guardians drove us off pretty easily,” I said. “And that was on the open ground. Can you imagine facing them in their lair?”
“They only drove us off because we ran away,” Iason said. “We didn’t even attempt to mount a defense.”
“It wasn’t exactly a conscious choice,” I said. “Running really seemed like the thing to do.”
“We just need to bring a little divine magic to bolster us,” he said. “Where is your spirit of adventure?”
“Where’s your common sense?” I asked. “Hiking through these woods was an adventure. Outrunning the lightning worms was an adventure. Meeting with the sidhe was an adventure. Even going to the bathroom in Treehome is an adventure, to hear you tell it. Disturbing a ruin that’s been sealed off since some time after the fall of Athanasia is just stupid.”
“But how often do you think you’ll have the chance to delve in undisturbed ruins, with the university so close?”
“If I was going to delve, I’d start with something a little easier,” I said.
“Very well,” Iason said.
I closed my eyes and breathed in the scent of wood smoke and roasting meat. It wasn’t a cigarette but it would have to do.
“In your mind, we just had another compromise, didn’t we?” I asked.
“This weekend is no good, as I have a skirmish match, but next weekend we’ll try our hands in one of the cave systems,” Iason said.
“I’ll think about it,” I said.
“What’s to think about?” Iason asked. “We have already vanquished one ravenous monster and evaded many others.”
“Sure, we evaded hundreds, if you count all the worms separately,” I said. “What are the caves like?”
“Natural cavern formations, with some alterations and expansions by the clans of savage humanoids that have taken up residence in them at various times,” he said. “They are now mostly home to various animals and fungal creatures.”
“Mostly,” I repeated. “Anybody ‘in residence’ these days?”
“It varies with the seasons,” Iason said, holding up his hand and making a see-saw gesture. “Many of the creatures are nomadic, or opportunistic. A decent set of caves cannot stand empty for too long.”
“What do we do if we find out the caves are occupied?” I asked. Sneaking around the homes of intelligent creatures was a whole different proposition from exploring caves full of weird animals and monsters.
“I suppose it would depend on what exactly we found,” he said. “There are many lesser races that are inimical to both of our kinds. Who knows? We may be eliminating a threat.”
“The thinking these days is that just because somebody lives underground and talks funny, that doesn’t mean they’re a threat that needs to be eliminated,” I said.
“But neither does it mean that they are innocent,” Iason said. “But this is why I said it depends. The situation may call for discretion or diplomacy, but on the other hand, we may find ourselves stumbling into a camp of bandits or a nest of ghouls. Either way, it is sure to be an adventure of some kind.”
“Why exactly are those situations on the other hand from discretion?” I asked.
“It will be fun!”
“Fun,” I said. “Who else is coming along with us, in this scenario?”
“You don’t think we could handle a little cave crawl by ourselves?” he asked.
“You and me against the world?”
“Now you are getting into the spirit of things, Iamie. A rider and his stag!” Iason said. “A knight of the oldest elven tradition, born anew in modern times.”
“Have you ever been delving, Sir Knight?”
“I’ve poked around some of the caves before.”
“I’ll take that as a no,” I said. “I’m pretty sure the school has rules about these things.”
“I do not think the school has any say in how we conduct ourselves away from its grounds, on our own time,” he said.
“All the same, if the possible consequences already include ‘maimed’ and ‘killed’, I’d rather not add ‘expelled’ to the list,” I said. “If you want me to even think about this, we’re going to do it by the book. Register our expedition or whatever. We’ll need somebody who knows about delving, and somebody who knows at least a little magic. A healer would be good, too.”
“Do you have anybody in particular in mind?”
“Not really,” I said. “Marlot’s pretty good with the cantrips and force bolts, but I can’t really feature her tromping through the woods, much less crawling around a cave, can you?”
“I cannot,” Iason said. “So, in essence, you are placing these conditions upon the venture, but you have no idea how we can fulfill them.”
“I’m not asking the impossible,” I said. “If we can’t even put together a decent party, we’ve got no business cave crawling. I wonder if Alli’s any good at delving?”
“I should have brought your cigarettes along,” Iason muttered, fidgeting with his hat. “You are much more reasonable when you have access to them.”
“Yeah, you should let me wear pants when we’re in the woods, too,” I said.
“If you had stayed close, you wouldn’t have been exposed,” Iason said.
“After all the talk, I saw an opportunity to meet one of the folk and I took it,” I said. “You really going to complain about me taking initiative and doing some exploring when you’re trying to talk me into delving?”
“I don’t know what’s worse,” Iason said, “your refusal to be reasonable or your insistence that I do so.”
“Seems like your idea of me being unreasonable is me insisting that you be reasonable,” I said.
He laughed. I laughed, too. I don’t know why I thought it was funny. Iason was a jerk but I liked him. It wasn’t just that he was hot. That made up for a lot. I actually liked him, though, and that made up for more. He was a liar, but he was relentlessly Iason. There was a kind of honesty in that. At least, there was integrity.
He knew exactly who he was and what he wanted from life. I’d followed my best friend to the school she wanted to go to. I hadn’t even declared a major. His self-assurance was comforting. A little frightening, too.
And very sexy.
Iason’s idea of camp cooking was good. Some of the packets had chicken or rabbit in them, with a bit of olive oil and savory herbs. Others had mixes of onions, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, and bits of bacon. He let the meat heat through close to the fire, then started combining them so that the meat would finish cooking with the vegetables. Once they’d cooled, we ate with our fingers. It was greasy and delicious, like eating outdoors was supposed to be.
“That was good,” I admitted after we finished eating. We sprawled on Iason’s cape, leaning up against each other. “And probably more peaceful than eating in Treehome would have been. Less threat of castration and anal rape.”
“We could generate a little of that sort of excitement,” Iason said, shifting around as he fished his cock out of his pants.
“Yeah, no,” I said. “I don’t think that would be really comfortable under the circumstances.”
“I am going to require some form of attention before we ride back to Treehome,” Iason said, taking my hand and guiding it to his shaft. “Otherwise I will not be able to devote my full concentration to the task of guiding you through the perils of the woods.”
“If I give in, it doesn’t mean—”
“Don’t make this about more than it is, Iamie,” Iason said. “You’ve made your position clear to me, and now you may do what you want. Do what you like. Do what you do well. Do not be stingy with your gifts on my behalf.”
“I don’t want you thinking I’m yours to do whatever you want with,” I said.
“So you won’t do what you want?”
“What do you think I want?” I asked.
He put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me down along his body. He wasn’t wrong. I’d always loved the feel of a hard cock in my mouth. I liked his in particular. If he wasn’t shooting his own mouth out about how mine was “made for” it or suggesting that using my mouth to talk was a waste, we were on the same page there all the way.
So, I ignored the itches and my growing headache and enjoyed myself. He enjoyed it, too. We didn’t make a big thing out of it. After that, I’d had as much as I could stand of the great outdoors and deprivation. My eagerness to transform didn’t worry me because I wanted to get back to civilization, where they had rash cures and tobacco. I could feel the poison ivy in my other body, but it was like the same amount had been spread out over a bigger area. It didn’t bother me nearly as much. Any annoyance I felt disappeared in the joy of running and of being ridden.
The woods flew by behind us. If we traveled over the domain of wood monsters or lightning worms, we didn’t tarry long enough for them to be a problem. Iason rode me towards the river, and we were in the tunnel to Treehome before long. I had a moment of—not really worry, but heightened anticipation—when he took me into the stables, but he put his hand on my muzzle and I melted back into myself.
“I think I’ve given the rest of Treehome enough glimpses of your lovely body for one day,” he said, handing me back my clothes.
“Thanks,” I said. I started to get dressed. “I thought maybe you were going to stick me in a stall.”
“Disappointed?” he asked.
I didn’t answer. Having come right up to the threshold of it, so to speak, I almost was. That didn’t mean I wanted him to do it, though.
“You’ve made yourself very clear over the course of the afternoon,” Iason said. “So I’m going to be equally clear. If I am to speak with the perfect honesty you claim to cherish, then I must say that I do believe I should have the right to do with my mount as I will. That includes putting you into the form I choose and keeping you where I see fit. But,” he said, holding up a hand to stop me as I started to speak,” but I understand you disagree, and I know that I would risk losing you if I asserted those rights. It is not as important to me that you behave as a proper mount as it is that you are my mount at all.” He took my hand and bent low over it, kissing the knuckles. “I would have you beneath me, but if the choice is to have you beside me or not at all, I would walk beside you forever.”
“Oh,” I said. “Okay, then.”
“That is acceptable to you?”
“It works.”
