Polinues Marines, the would be mage.

Chapter 40.
Title: Polinues Marines, the would be mage.

Chapter Title & No.: #40. A taste for blood and tragedy.

Author: Darkling Willow

Pairing: Non.

Rating: NC - 17
Abuse, Anal, Angst, BDSM, Bi, B-Mod, Bond, Death, D/s, H/C, HJ, Humil, Language, M/F, M/M, Minor, N/C, OC, Oral, Preg, Rim, Spank, Violence, Voy, VS, WD, WIP.

Archive: Originals - misc. > Slash – Male/Male.
Feedback: Yes thank you very much. An author can only improve with criticism. Please rate if you do not want to leave a review.

Disclaimer: This is an original work of fiction. Any resemblance of places and characters to actual persons, living or dead, and places is purely coincidental.
The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

Authors Notes: For review replies, comments and thank you's go to: http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/14530-polinues-marines-the-would-be-mage/

Summary: Polinues realizes something new about himself, and a tragedy strikes.

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Chapter 40. A taste for blood and tragedy.

Leyjen smiled his most charming smile at the brown eyed beauty, offering his own cloak against the chill of the winter night as they left the tavern, arms linked around waists, and lips seeking each other.
He felt slightly sick, the tremble of the Bloodlust like an earthquake deep in his core, he had let too much time pass since the last time he had hunted.

Hunting in the Temple forest had become almost impossible since rumours started spreading about a deamon living there.
Most of the brigands and vagabonds who used to hide there were gone. The hardy few that still dared to hide in the forest had become wary and guarded, some even banding together, which made hunting dangerous at best, especially for him alone.

He hated hunting in polite society, even more so when he needed to hunt in the town neighbouring the Temples, because there was always the possibility that his victim had a family, and it increased the chances of someone recognizing him, of someone making the connection between him and the Temples.

This time he had found himself in luck, for this particular victim was alone in the world, without a spouse and childless, and had sunk low on the social ladder.
They walked through the town together, entering the forest by an old loggers path. Leyjen was uneasy, a feeling in his gut warning him that they were being followed, but the Bloodlust was too strong and he ignored it.

A couple of kilometers in Leyjen turned off the path and lead his victim into a small round clearing, spreading his cloak on the chill ground under them.


Treading softly Polinues held his cloak tight around himself, making sure it would not tangle in the undergrowth, as he stalked his prey through the forest.
He was downwind from the path, and his skin prickled with the scent of rosemary and jasmine as it mingled with the scent that made his heart beat faster.

He had been in the village with his cousin Jorad and a few other novices browsing through the traveling carnival that was in town, when he saw a familiar cloak disappear around a corner.
Polinues slipped away from the group he was with, disappearing into the crowd.
He knew that he would get into trouble if he was caught sneaking into the Temples after curfew, but his curiosity got the better of him.
Polinues had followed Leyjen to a seedy little tavern on the outskirts of the town, settling down in an alley beside the building and keeping an eye on Leyjen through the grimy window.

Some time after midnight Leyjen left the establishment with a curvy woman at least ten years older than him, and Polinues stalked them through the shadows.
His prey entered a small bowl shaped clearing, Polinues ghosting between the trees until he found a place beside an old roganwood, where he could watch the scene unfold below him in the clearing.

Leyjen kissed the woman with great passion as he pulled free the laces of her corset, her large breasts yielding to demanding hands, and her moans made Polinues’ skin crawl.
Leyjen played the woman like an instrument until she was writhing on the ground below him, her skirts pulled up to her waist, and he sank into her body with strong thrusts.

Polinues held his breath, long enough to grow dizzy, but he didn’t dare to gasp. He pushed his shoulder into the tree beside him, carefully pulling the skirts of his robe up to his waist to reach his aching erection.

In the small hollow below his hiding place the woman moaned wantonly, pulling at the slender hips thrusting between her legs.
Polinues bit his lip hard, stroking his cock fast, gripping the root of the tree with his free hand to keep from falling over.
Below him Leyjen arched his back as he thrust, hard and vicious, fingers clawing into the rotting leaves and soggy earth on either side of the woman’s shoulders, muscles rippling in the long arms.

Polinues bit his own arm to keep from screaming out as he spilled his semen into the soil, the man below pulling the woman into his arms as he came, sinking his face into the crook of her neck.
Polinues was still trembling, stroking his spent cock slowly, watching the other man thrusting erratically, the woman strangely unresponsive, her arms hanging down by her sides, her legs jerking in time with the man’s movements.

Leyjen moaned with such deep passion that Polinues’ cock twitched, a silent gasp escaping him.
Leyjen looked up with terrifying speed, deep auburn strands of hair flying about his angular face, the eyes a deep molten gold, the canines needle sharp points, blood staining his lips, chin and his mouth.

Polinues fell down between the roots of the tree he had been hiding behind, and did not dare to move again until both moons had passed their zenith.

Daring a look into the hollow, the woman’s corpse lay half covered with leaves, her broken eyes staring up at the stars.
Polinues rose on shaking legs and slipping down the side of the dell, he stood over the corpse, staring down at the woman with round eyes, his mind struggling to make sense of what he had seen.

She had been pretty once, a common sort of pretty, with long blonde braids and a round healthy face. Now her eyes were a pair of matte glass marbles, her skin pale blue and her scent gone, replaced with the stench of death.
One side of her neck was torn open by a vicious bitemark, her body drained of blood.

Covering his mouth with a his sleeve, Polinues gagged and took off running as fast as he could.
He made it to the edge of the forest before he stumbled, and threw up his dinner under the shadows of the trees.
Crumbling down on the ground he wrapped his arms around his knees to muffle his crying in the skirts of his robes. A couple of hours later he stood on shaking feet and slipped through the Garden Gate. He crawled into his bed fully clothed, falling asleep almost before his head hit the pillow.


“Are you alright? You’ve been so jumpy the last couple of days.” Leyjen whispered into Polinues’ ear, wrapping his arms around the teen’s shoulders, nudging his groin into the teen’s ass.
Polinues jumped, but Leyjen didn’t let go.

“I’m fine. I’m just not in the mood. I’ve got too much homework.”

“Since when have you had too much homework?”

“I’m helping Tiensin. He’s been rather depressed since before Yule. Since they found the body of that stable hand, remember? He won’t say, but I think that was the guy who molested him.”

“That makes sense. Maybe you shouldn’t push him too much. He’ll open up when he’s ready. How is he doing anyway?”
Leyjen let go of Polinues and sat down on a bench by the garden path, patting the seat beside him lightly, a warm smile on his lips.
The small shudder that ran through Polinues’ body did not escape his notice, but Polinues looked away and sat down beside him.

“He’s doing very well. I convinced his father to track down his Nana, and now they write each other every week. She’s coming to visit him in the summer. His nightmares have lessened, but he still shies away from all touch. One of his peers grabbed him from behind the other day, intending to give him a hug, but Tiensin elbowed the kid in the gut so hard he lost his breath. I’m not really sure he’ll ever become comfortable with being touched.”

“There’s hope yet. He’s young. But what about his school work? Is he all caught up on it? His teachers told me he’d been falling behind before he came to see me.”

“Yeah. He was getting very slack marks, I even failed him once, but I could tell there was something wrong. I just wish I had talked to him sooner. He was showing signs of something being wrong, but I didn’t think to talk to him.”

“I doubt it would have worked. He didn’t really tell me anything, it was just the way he acted that made me wonder. But you did help him.”

“I don’t mean when we examined him. I was talking about before.”

“I know, and I’m saying you did. He came to me because of the way you talked about me. He said that you had spoken so well of me that he felt safe coming to see me. Your faith in me made him feel like he could trust me. So, you see, you did help him, even though you didn’t speak to him yourself.”

“Still doesn’t make me feel like I helped him.”

“Like I said, it probably wouldn’t have worked. I never told anyone.”
Leyjen cut himself off, biting the left side of his bottom lip hard, Polinues whipping his head about to stare at Leyjen.

“What do you mean you never told anyone? You were molested?”

“No. Not really. Someone tried to rape me when I was seven summers. The year before my mother died.”

“Who? Where? What happened? What do you mean, tried?” Polinues’ hand was shaking as he grabbed Leyjen’s hand and squeezed it tightly against his chest.

Leyjen worried at his lip for a moment, then wrapped his other hand around Polinues’ hands, his voice quiet,
“It was during the end of Harvest feast. Everyone was celebrating at the feast, except my mother was home with me, and she sent me out to get water. A man I had worked with during the harvest convinced me to come and look at some kittens with him. I trusted him because he was the straw boss. He lured me to the back of the barn, but when I realized there were no kittens I fought back.”
Leyjen swallowed a lump in his throat, and Polinues threaded his fingers through the hair on the back of his head, kneading his neck gently.

“How did you get away?” Polinues whispered, a fear in the tone that Leyjen did not like.

“I killed him. I had my dagger in my belt and I stabbed him. I must have hit him in the liver because there was so much blood. My mother saw me and she took me back to our cottage. She must have gotten help, because the man’s bones were found in the forest a few years later. But it took me years to forget that feeling, and I hated it when people touched me for many years. It wasn’t really until I fell for Amraeen that I started liking it.”

“Who was he? You said he was a straw boss at the castle. But we’ve had the same straw bosses for as long as I can remember.”

“Well, it happened two and a half years before you were even born, so there’s no wonder you don’t remember. Do you know who Gwendir in your father’s life guard is? It was his father.”

“So that’s why Gwendir hates your guts?”

Leyjen chuckled at the nonchalant way Polinues asked the question, and nodding with a wry smile answered,
“Yeah, I guess so. Noone ever found out the truth of the matter, but I think Gwendir always suspected me of being involved. I convinced myself as a child that it had only been a bad dream, but once I grew up I sort of came to terms with it.”

“So that’s the reason behind that whole speech about murder changing who you are?”

Leyjen smiled without the smile reaching his eyes, and stroking Polinues’ cheek pulled the teen into his embrace.
Polinues resisted for a heartbeat before he leaned his head on Leyjen’s shoulder and breathed in the heavy scent of opium.
They sat still for a few minutes in each others arms, ignoring the world around them, hidden from their peers in the dense grove beside the old Abbey, the same grove where Leyjen had tasted Polinues’ blood ten years earlier.


“Oy, boys, don’t run ahead! Be careful. Don’t get in the way.” Polinues shouted, coughing into his sleeve, as he stumbled down the path after his students, Tiensin shouting after the teens as well.
The wet snow reached the boy almost to his knees, and the slush was leaking into Polinues’ shoes agitating his cough.
The seven boys that were under Polinues’ tutelage didn’t seem to mind that much about the soaked leather shoes and freezing robe skirts, not while they could crowd around the carpenters and watch them fix the roof of the philosophy study hall. It had collapsed shortly after Yule, when a five day snowstorm had torn through the countryside, and the snow piled high enough to bury the ground floor of the Novice’s Cloister.

Now it was nearing Imbolc and the carpenters had finally gotten a chance to fix the damage.
Polinues had been unable to maintain his student’s focus on the theory of faith for the past three days.
Slipping over the frozen cobbles Polinues nearly fell on his ass, gripping the back of Tiensin’s cloak for support, while he made a wild grab for another of his students and yanked him out of the way of a wagon that thundered past them, loaded with massive pillars meant for the rafters.

“Are you alright, master Polinues?” Tiensin asked in his timid voice, his green eyes dark with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bad cough, that’s all. I got a cold last moon and haven’t gotten rid of it yet. And once again, stop calling me Master, I hate it.” Polinues answered between wracking fits of coughs, Tiensin smiling brightly when he answered,
“Sure thing, master Polinues.”

Polinues smiled at the boy, mussing his woolen hat so it fell over his eyes, while grabbing another student by the collar and yanking him back up onto the sidewalk, out of the way of the builders.
A familiar head bobbed around in the throng of carpenters, and Polinues waved frantically when the head looked up. Owain nodded back with a smile when he noticed the novices, his hands occupied with the winch rope.

Polinues pulled his scarf up to cover his mouth and cheeks, hoping that noone noticed the blush that was creeping up his face, as he watched Owain.
The executioner’s son was equal to most of the grown men around him, his muscles rippling under sunbaked skin, his dark hair plastered to his forehead as he pulled on the ropes in perfect sync with the other men.
Polinues tried his best to squelch the rush of lust that ran down his spine, but he knew it was useless.

In the six moons since they had first met Polinues had found himself thinking with his crotch every time they met.
He hated the feeling because his heart rebelled against the feeling, and his dick made his head really stupid. It also made him feel more restless because he had not been to Leyjen’s bed in almost four weeks, not since he had watched Leyjen with that woman.

“Alright, boys. Now you’ve seen them get that rafter into place. Can we please go back inside and continue our lesson? I’m freezing my ass off here.” Polinues demanded, pulling on arms and hoods, the second stage novices all grumbling in protest. All except Tiensin, who started urging them on as well.
Finally Polinues had all seven rebels turned away and was herding them towards the mathematics study hall, where they had been given temporary lodgings.
The first boy was stumbling up the steps when a chorus of shouts went up at the building site with the sound of wood splintering, followed by a scream so horrible that some of the boys crowded together whimpering.

Polinues froze in his steps, his chest constricting so hard he couldn’t catch his breath for a moment, the scream had reminded him of the screams he had heard in the fire ten years earlier.
His heart jumped into overdrive as he shouted at Tiensin and his students to get inside, at the same time he turned around and ran as fast as his soaked skirts allowed him back to the building site.

The site was in utter chaos.
Clerics and novices were streaming out of every building in sight, Temple workers hesitantly making their way towards the scene of the accident, while carpenters ran around the place, shouting for help.

The hoist had broken at the middle, a massive rafter lay beside the building, tangled in ropes, and running towards the scene through the milling crowd Polinues saw that at least three people had been crushed underneath the enormous beam.
Two builders came rushing towards Polinues, a half unconcious man hanging between them, his arm spouting blood in rhythmic spurts, his right hand reduced to a bloody lump.
Without thinking Polinues ran up beside them, shouting at them,
“Put him down. He needs a Healer. I can stop the bleeding. Lay him down on the cart over there. As soon as I stop the bleeding you have to drive us to the Healing Halls.”

The men did as ordered, and climbing in after the man, Polinues was already pulling his hemp belt off, shouting for a stick or something to make a tourniquet.
Polinues straddled the young man’s hips while he wrapped his belt around his mangled arm, one of the carpenters handing him a hammer handle to use.
Twisting the handle so tight that the young man underneath him moaned in pain, Polinues finally noticed the face and just barely managed to stifle a cry, as one of the builders started pulling the small cart towards the Healing Halls.

Owain’s hazel eyes stared up at Polinues, glazed with pain, his breath shallow and fast, and Polinues couldn’t stop the tears that started flowing down his cheeks, as Owain whispered,
“Please don’t. Please let me die. Please, let go.”


“Polinues? Hey, hey, stop, come here. It’s alright. I’m here.” Leyjen whispered into the thick hood of Polinues’ winter robes, as Polinues twisted around and crashed into Leyjen’s embrace.

Leyjen had rushed to the building site, like most of his peers, as soon as he got word of the accident, and after a few hours of work the few builders that had been injured were at the Healing Halls, and the corpses of the four that had died were in the morgue.

Tiensin had found Leyjen on his way to the Healing Halls and told him about Polinues and Owain.
Leyjen had found Owain asleep, Head Healer Chauncer telling Leyjen that the teen had lost his right hand at the wrist. It had been so badly crushed that there was no other option possible, despite all the best efforts of the highest ranking Healers.

Polinues was sitting in a dark alcove in the front hallway, crying into his skirts when Leyjen found him.
Shaking from head to toe Polinues crawled into Leyjen’s arms, squeezing the older cleric so hard it became difficult to breathe. Leyjen rubbed slow circles on his back, soothing his hair through the hood, muttering nonsense words into the heavy fabric.
After more than an hour Polinues’ tears dried, and his body shook with violent sobs as he remembered how to breathe.

“He asked me to let him die, Leyjen. He asked me to let go.” Polinues whispered, and Leyjen sushed him gently.

“It’s alrigt, Ilithil. He’s safe now. You saved him, and he’s going to be alright.”

“No, Leyjen. Don’t you get it. He won’t be alright. How is he going to wield an executioner’s axe with only one hand?” Polinues pushed away from Leyjen as he spoke, staring up at him with blazing eyes, the pain of Owain’s words still etched on his face.

Leyjen pulled Polinues forcefully back into his embrace, and hugging him tightly he said,
“We’ll think of something. We’ll figure something out to help him. I promise you. We’ll figure something out.”

Polinues broke down again, and Leyjen held him until the boy fell asleep in his arms.
Leyjen carried him to bed, laying down beside him and fighting his nightmares until he fell asleep himself just before daybreak.


“Hey there, sweetheart. I brought you some dinner.” The gentle voice made Polinues jump, and tearing his eyes away from Owain’s sleeping face he twisted around on the bed and smiled at the tall woman, his stomach growling at the sight of the bowl of soup and fresh bread that she carried on a tray.

“Oh, wow, it’s dinner already?” He blushed pink and smiled his brightest, scratching the back of his head, which made him realize that his hood was down.

“Actually it’s well past dinner. It’s nearing evening prayers. Don’t worry. Leyjen and Head Healer got you off the hook. Tiensin is a little miffed at you for skipping classes today, but I think he’ll get over it. How is our patient anyway?”

“He’s been asleep all day. He started to wake up a little just after tea, but we gave him something for the pain, and he fell right back asleep. This soup is fantastic. It’s almost exactly like Cooksie makes it.”

The Healer smiled at him, without taking her dark hazel eyes off Owain, as she unwrapped his bandages.
“I need to change his dressings now, Polinues. Why don’t you go outside and eat your dinner there?”

Polinues pulled his face out of the bowl and stared at her unblinking for a moment, before answering her with a ingenuous tone,
“Uhm, why? I’ve seen far worse than that, Alina. I won’t lose my appetite. And if I sit here, I won’t get in your way.”

Alina made a sound of acceptence and continued her work. Polinues did turn to the side though, so he wouldn’t see the wound.
Alina sat down at the foot of the bed when she had finished, and ran a hand through Polinues’ hair.

“So, how are you doing these days, sweetheart? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you around.”

“Yeah, I know. Chauncer said I needed to focus a little more on the teaching, so I’ve been set in charge of three classes for the second stage boys. I hate it. They never listen and question every damned word I tell them. The only one who’s really shown any interest is Tiensin.”

“I know all of that, love. I talk to Leyjen almost every day, you know. What I really want to know is how you’re doing. Are you alright?”

“No. I’m not feeling too great.” Polinues sighed and sank into Alina’s embrace, breathing in her soothing scent of fresh lavender in big gulps.
He had loved that scent ever since the fire in the Abbey.

Alina had been one of the many Healers that had attended to him during his moons in the Healing Halls, and they had formed a friendship that was almost as strong as his friendship with his sister Lanja. Polinues had even gone as far as secretly assigning her the title of sister.
She was one of the handful of people that could see past Polinues’ scar, since she had seen his initial injuries, and usually ordered him to pull his hood down when they were alone with each other.
Alina and Leyjen had also become close friends after the fire, their friendship only deepening after Tisék’s attack on Leyjen.
Leyjen had admitted to Polinues a few years ago that Alina had been his very first crush, before he had fallen for Amraeen.
Now Alina was half twenty-eight summers, a Healer of the First Stage, and one of the most accomplished Healers at the Temples.
Her natural healing skills had advanced her through the ranks so fast that she was now considered a viable successor for the Head Healer, which would make her the youngest Head Healer in the Temple’s history.

Ruffling Polinues’ hair she pulled him closer and nudged him a little with her shoulder.
“Why don’t you feel too great, sweetie?”

“I feel guilty.”

“About?”

“Saving him.”

“Because he lost his hand and can’t wield the executioner’s axe?”

“Exactly. Leyjen thinks I did a good job. But I don’t feel like I did. I mean, his father had already started training him, and his father is half sixty already. It shouldn’t be too many years before Owain should at least start assisting his father.”

“I know what you mean. You are afraid that Owain won’t be able to take over from his father, when the time comes, and therefore his family will be on the streets.”

“It will be Owain’s responsibility to care for his family when the time comes, and how is he going to do that with only one hand. His brother is damaged in the head so he won’t be able to care for them, and his sisters are far too young, plus they’re executioner’s daughters. They won’t find rich husbands. So, Owain, his mother and father and his dimwit brother will all become wards of the state, and it’ll all be my fault, because I saved his life.”

Alina stroked his back gently, kissing the top of his head, Polinues finding more peace in her embrace than he had felt in a long time.
“Well. If you look at it that way, there’s no wonder you feel like crap. But try to think of it the other way. You saved a life. Instead of leaving his parents and siblings with the same fate, plus the expenses for his funeral, you saved their son’s life. And honestly, if you really put your mind to it, I think you might be just the guy to figure out something to help him. Do you remember when you were nine summers and we went to town to see the travelling performers?”

“The jokesters?”

“Yes. You remember one of the jugglers in the group was one legged, but he had a wooden leg he could fasten to a harness on his leg? I’m sure something like that could be thought up to help Owain.”
Polinues sat up with a jerk, and staring at Alina his face slowly split in half as a massive smile spread across his lips.
Rising up on his knees Polinues grabbed her face between his hands and shouted,
“Alina. You’re a fucking genius.”

And kissed her hard, smack on the lips, then jumped out of the bed, bursting through the curtains around the bed and Alina watched the soles of his shoes as he darted out of the Healing Halls.

“And you’re fucking crazy but you’re welcome, sweetie.” Alina muttered to herself, rising to her feet and smiling gently at Owain as he blinked his eyes open.