Bringer of Winter- a M/M/M Epic Fantasy Romance

11- Gladiators

*****From now on, any Nibean will be italicized :)*****

KHIFF—

"My soul, my blood, and my shay'yah demand no vengeance against the Pryn prince with the kind eyes."

A soft voice, melodic, familiar, and comforting, washed over me. The speaker was frightened and I could hear tears in her voice, but the ancestors would not allow me to see her, or to know her name. I sent out a prayer for her soul, sent to Myertha's realms, and pondered the words. I knew who she spoke of immediately. The man Ryker and I had met in the town called Uriok had the softest, kindest eyes of any I had seen. They showed compassion, even as other emotions pushed their way through. Always, the softness of his soul shone through his dark eyes. Remembering those eyes made my dreams turn to the man who bore them, and with the dream my body grew hot and restless.

He loomed over me, his thin lips bearing a constant smile and his pink tongue pressing against his teeth. I felt his hands, completely engulfing mine, shake slightly as he held me tightly to him, as if he was as affected as I. My chest tightened, my heart pounded in my throat, and my thighs pressed together of their own will.

He whispered something softly into my ear, those dark eyes luminous as his hot breath sent shivers racing across my body so violently I raised my chest as if to stifle them. His lips against my ear, I could feel the red rise to my cheeks.

I didn't understand his words, but I could feel their meaning deep in my bones. I could feel the emotion that rushed through his body, and just as I did, I felt fear, regret, and agony change the dream to one that was all too realistic, unlike the fantasy I had been wallowing in.

I saw the same man, his eyes hardened, staring down at dark, deep woods that I recognized as Nibean forest like I would know Rothart's halls. He watched the moon rise, his breath billowing out in front of his face thickly. The elven man stood behind him, silently comforting whatever trauma he now worked through, and I felt myself begin to drift away—reluctantly, for somehow, those hardened eyes made my body react to him with a softer, but just as strong, pull as the empathetic, compassionate gaze had.

Where is the Cailleach's Mala? the ancestors breathed in my ear, their confusion obvious. My own weighed me down, dragging me into a dreamless sleep filled only with my own thoughts, my own mind.

"Khif... Khif, we must not rest any longer. The sun has hidden behind the wall, and we must dress and leave this place. We need to eat, and find out what our positions in this household are."

I nodded and sat up, rubbing at my eyes, and then stood and moved to my undergarment. It was completely dry and stiffened. I stretched and moved it, flinching as I imagined the tightness pressing against my softest flesh.

Ryker moved to me, now wearing the pair of dark leather pants that our new master had given to him. They clung to him tightly but looked comfortable enough, with strips of leather on the seams that he would tie so as to make them the perfect fit.

He watched me, constant concern in his gaze, but I ignored him and began to dress. I pulled on the clean undergarment, and pressed my feet and legs through a pair of dark brown leather pants that hung only to my calves. They were an almost exact replica of Ryker's, with the strips on the outer seams that I had to tie. I threw on the soft, bright green shirt with no sleeves and then tied the tunic around my shoulders. It was a dark shade of black with swirling patterns sewed into it with just the slightest lighter shade of black string. Thin leather arm guards were the last things I donned before turning to Ryker and studying him. He hadn't put his tunic on, preferring to wear only the dark blue sleeveless cotton shirt. His tunic was the same as mine, and would fit him tightly. Arm guards lay on top of his tunic, as well as a pile of strings, and even a few feathers from various birds.