© 2006 Myr All Characters, plot etc belong to me
Author's Note:
This is a work in progress. Well, it used to be in progress. I'm posting it mainly to test to see if the Author Alert actually sends out a message saying I posted. I'll probably leave it up for awhile. If you read, please let me know what you think. I plan on continuing this story at some point.
Aryn, a small fifteen-year-old boy, clung to the wall with all his might. This was his most dangerous assignment yet. The Guild Masters had ordered him to sneak into the palace itself and bring back one of the Royal Seals. They told him that if he were successful, then he would be allowed into the Guild.
And that is how he found himself several stories above the ground, clinging to a wall. He had managed to make it onto the Palace grounds with very little trouble. The guards had been distracted by a little surge of magic. He couldn’t control it all that well, but it always seemed to flare up in whatever way would most help him at the moment.
He was almost at his destination, a small open window high up in the center of this wall. If he could have turned around, then he’d be able to see over the outer curtain wall at this point, straight into the great bay.
Zoran stood up on wobbly legs. He had been in bed for almost two weeks. The last spell sickness had left his fifteen-year-old body completely gutted. The healers said that he needed to make an effort to walk around a little and to get as much fresh air as possible. He hadn’t bothered lighting any of the lamps, since he saw well enough in the dark.
He hobbled over to the window and breathed the fresh sea air as he looked at the bay, far below. He was surprised when a pair of hands appeared the sill from below. He was even more surprised when a boy smaller than he was hauled himself into the window.
The boy nearly fell back out of the window in surprise when he saw him, but Zoran caught a hold of his arms and half pulled, half fell backwards into the room. The boy came into the room with a surprised oomph. Zoran landed with a thud on the floor, smacking his head hard. The other boy tumbled into the room, landing on top of him. The momentum caused the other boy’s head to smack into Zoran’s head, knocking them both out.
It was almost an hour before Zoran regained consciousness. When he did, he realized immediately that he felt much better than he had in some time. He also noticed that the intruder was still lying on top of him. However, what surprised him the most was that he had his arms wrapped around the boy. He started in surprise and then went into his own mind, trying to determine where the energy had come from.
He saw it right away. Anybody with even a trace of power would be able to see this. He had bonded. Not to a noble either, he had bonded to the boy that was sneaking into his room. His father had searched long and hard to try to find someone that he was compatible with in powers, but there hadn’t been anybody. That was why he was getting reaction sickness from using his power and suffering from the uncontrolled backlash. A bondmate stabilized a mage’s power control and each bondmate complimented the other’s power. The combination of a properly joined pair, once trained, produced a very formidable team.
And he was bonded to a young thief. The High Prince of the Kingdom was bonded to a thief. Father will love this, he thought.
No use fighting it though. He tightened his grip on his new bondmate and basked in the shared energies. They were healing him and he could feel his energy repairing places that the other boy presumably didn’t even know about. The other boy was still in a deep sleep from the bonding.
Aryn woke up very slowly. The first thing his groggy mind processed was that he felt calmer than he had ever felt. The next thing he noticed was a pair of arms wrapped around him in a rather intimate way. He opened his eyes.
And nearly choked in surprise.
“You woke up. I was beginning to wonder if you ever would. Do you have a name?”
“Aryn,” the boy whispered quietly.
“Do you know where you are?”
“In the palace I think,” he replied a little louder.
“You are,” Zoran confirmed, “the question is why?”
“I…” and then he stopped, confused.
“Aryn, you won’t be able to lie to me,” Zoran said quietly.
“I came here to steal one of the Royal Seals so that I could be accepted into the Thieves Guild,” he said, looking horrified moments afterwards.
“Well, you won’t be doing that now,” Zoran replied, his voice full of irony.
“What have you done to me?” Aryn’s voice rose in panic.
“I stopped you from falling back out of the window. That wasn’t the only thing that happened though,” the Prince replied quietly.
“Why are you holding me?” Aryn asked, suddenly remembering the arms that were wrapped comfortably around him.
“Two reasons really. One: because it feels good. And two: because I didn’t want you to try running off. That would be very bad for both of us.”
“What do you mean very bad for both of us?” Aryn asked, fear creeping into his tenor voice.
“What do you know about magic Aryn?”
“Not all that much… your highness,” Aryn replied, finally recognizing the boy he was laying on.
“Call me Zoran or Zory, if you prefer. In our world, powerful mages have a certain pattern of power. Another person always balances the pattern. When two people with matching patterns come in contact with each other, their magic interacts. These two people eventually bond and then train together. In very rare circumstances, the bonding occurs on contact. This occurred with us.”
“We’re bonded?” Aryn yelped, “What does that mean?”
Aryn’s whole body stiffened in surprise when he saw the person. Zory held him a little tighter, protectively.
“Hello Father.”
“Good evening Zoran. I am glad to see you are feeling much better,” he replied smoothly while glaring down at the black-haired boy in his arms.
“It was not my fault, sir,” Zoran replied a bit stiffly.
“I can see that. Nor was it this other boys,” the King sighed. “You realize how deep your bond is, do you not?” he asked his son quietly.
“I think so. We won’t be getting any older… will we?”
Aryn shook silently in Zoran’s arms. Zoran tightened his protective hold again.
“It does not look like it. You two shall be very powerful in time. What is your name boy?”
Zoran rubbed Aryn’s side for a few moments while the King looked on. Finally the boy answered, quite frightened, “Aryn… you Majesty.”
“Do you have any family Aryn?”
“No Majesty. They abandoned me when I was 10 summers old.”
“And you live with the Thieves Guild?”
“Yes, sire.”
“They told you to come here to steal something in order to become a member?”
Aryn looked very surprised, but nodded.
“Who did you upset in the Guild?” the King asked quietly.
“I think a few because I was advancing so quickly.”
“That explains it then. They did not expect you to return. They are right this time, though for entirely different reasons. I am quite certain that they were hoping that you would be killed. That obviously will not do.”
“Father? How long will the bonding take to complete?”
“A few weeks. Perhaps a month. You will have to remain within a few yards of each other until then.”
“I understand sir.”
“We will speak on the morrow. I suggest that you two clean up and then get to bed.”
“Yes Father.”
The King turned and walked out. A Royal Guardsman in the hall closed the door behind the king.
“You heard Father, Aryn. We need to get you cleaned up.”
Aryn was fairly slow to move. Zoran flipped him over so that he was on top and then he stood up and reached down to drag Aryn to his feet as well.
The boy staggered a little on his feet as Zoran guided him towards his bathing chambers. Zoran dragged him as far as the center of the room. Aryn stared at his surroundings in no small amount of shock. Zoran didn’t pay much attention to that. He stripped his own clothes off so that he was completely naked. He then started removing Aryn’s clothes and tossing them in a separate pile. He hissed to himself when he saw some of the scars on Aryn, but it didn’t slow him in his task. Aryn didn’t resist Zoran when he was removing his clothes, but he still had a stunned expression on his face.
“Relax Aryn. I’m not going to hurt you. Please come over to this bath. We need to get the worse of the grime off you before we go into the main bathing pool.”
Aryn moved stiffly and Zoran gave up any idea of Aryn cleaning himself. Zoran set to work quickly scrubbing the grime off from Aryn. He had to stop to cast a spell to completely remove the critters that were living on him. Once that was done, he washed the boy’s grimy black hair.
Zoran cleaned Aryn’s more private areas with careful attention, but didn’t linger there for any longer than was strictly necessary to clean him. Aryn was almost catatonic. When he was done, he pulled the boy out of the tub and kicked the drain release so the tub would drain. He then pushed Aryn towards the bathing pool. The bathing pool thoroughly rinsed both boys. Aryn sat in one of the built in seats with water up to his chin and stared at the wall while Zoran thoroughly cleaned him self.
Zoran was lounging in the seat across from Aryn when Aryn finally spoke again, “What’s to become of me?”
“You’ll remain here with me, of course,” Zoran replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“But I’m a thief,” the boy replied in surprise.
“You used to be. You are now bonded to me. You’ll be trained in court etiquette and magecraft.”
“What if I don’t want to?” the boy replied indignantly.
“Neither one of us have a choice Aryn. I’m sorry if you can’t handle that, but this has got to be a better place to live than living as a thief?” Zoran looked hopeful.
Aryn slowly came to his senses and looked hard at Zoran. “You’ve washed me,” his voice puzzled.
“Yes. You’ve been a bit witted from the energy drain caused by the bonding.”
“What am I supposed to feel about you?” Aryn asked.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Am I to be your sex toy then?” Aryn demanded bluntly.
Zoran looked very embarrassed. “I…”
“What?” Aryn prompted when the Prince’s voice had trailed off.
“Magebonds do not necessarily imply sexual relations Aryn. They do almost always lead to them though. Also, by our own laws, you will have the same status as a Prince Consort. We are essentially equal in rank now. No matter what, you would never be a toy to me.”
Aryn’s face resumed a look of surprise.
“We need to get to bed.” Zoran said, rising out of the water, his naked body completely visible to the other boy.
Aryn went red.
“I’ve already washed you everywhere Aryn. There is no reason to be embarrassed.”
Aryn rose, nodded and caught the towel that Zoran tossed at him.
As soon as Zoran was done drying himself, he walked straight for his bed, leaving the towel behind. Aryn followed him, leaving his towel behind as well.
Zoran climbed into his bed and lay down up against the wall. Aryn stared at the bed and the open sheets and blankets that Zoran was holding. He climbed in after him after a few moments of hesitation, settling into the very comfortable bed. Zoran dropped the sheet and blankets, creating a warm little cocoon between them.
Zoran stared comfortably at the ceiling contemplating the boy next to him. While Zoran was breathing deeply and calmly, it was readily apparent that Aryn was frightened about something. The other boy was all tensed up, breathing raggedly and quick. Zoran reached over and touched Aryn’s shoulder, only to have him yelp and leap halfway out of the bed.
Quick as lightning, Zoran clamped his hand on Aryn’s arm and dragged him back into bed and all the way into a tight embrace. The other boy struggled for a few moments while Zoran concentrated. Due to the heavy physical contact, the bond between them was greatly intensified at the moment and Zoran used that to empathically project calm feelings to Aryn. Aryn finally relaxed into Zoran’s embrace and his whole body loosened at once from the rigid way he was acting before.
“What did you do?” Aryn asked groggily.
“I used the bond between us to force you to see the truth. I can’t hurt you Aryn. Not that I would anyway, but I can’t because of the bond.”
“How do I know that?”
“We’ll begin your training soon.”
“The other boys and men were always trying to get me to sleep with them, but something kept them away from me.”
“Your magic most likely thrust them away to protect itself and you. If you want, you can sleep on the floor, though I think you’ll freeze to death if you do.”
“I’ll stay,” he said slowly, “this is very comfortable.”
“The body heat certainly helps,” Zoran replied, tugging the other boy closer.
Aryn drifted off to sleep followed shortly after by Zoran.
End for now
