The Happy Few

A/N: I want to try and see if maybe writing some shorter chapters makes me want to write more. Many thanks to the reviewers. Reviews make me happy and motivate me to work more.

Chapter 6

They had a decision to make. After resting, the three gathered at a table in the tavern and looked over the map and information Lucas had provided.

“There should be another object here.” Emery pointed to a spot on the map, a few days walk from the town they were in and close to Trese. “We can get the second artifact then beeline back to Trese. Or we can deliver the first artifact then go and retrieve the second one. What do you think?”

Ari looked at the map, trying to judge distances between the towns. He ran a hand down his face, pausing to idly rub his chin. “It would be easy to choose either path.” He turned to look at Kir. “I don’t suppose you have any input?”

The human looked at him, mouth open, fork halfway to his lips. “Why not just get both of ‘em and bring ‘em back? Then your boss elf will be happy and so will that red bear Emi talks to.”

“That’s my uncle, idiot.” The boy said.

Kir looked at him. “You’re lucky; you don’t look a thing like him!”

Emery groaned and pulled the map away from Kir. “What are we going to do?”

“Hmmm.” Ari leaned back in his chair, thinking. Or the soldier thought he was thinking; it was hard to tell with the ever-bored expression the elf usually wore. “I think it best to retrieve the second artifact and then return to your town. Then, if they have further use of us, they will have the two artifacts that your teacher could locate.”

“Alright.” Emery nodded then turned his attention to the map. “Then we go to the port town, Portica.”

Kir laughed. “What a dumb name.”

Ari said nothing. He glanced at the map, frowning at the name of the town. His eyes flicked up to Emery and then to Kir, who was laughing and teasing the boy about something. The elf sighed, picking up his drink and taking a long sip. With any luck, they would have the same good fortune retrieving the second artifact as they had with the first one. And, he prayed, no personal tragedy would befall them.

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“Why do we have to go to sleep so early?” Kir whined, hanging onto Ari’s back as the elf sat in bed.

Ari sighed and glanced at the young man over his shoulder. “Because we need to leave early tomorrow to make good time and you would sleep until evening, if allowed. So we go to sleep now and wake up at a decent time tomorrow.”

“But I’m not tired.”

“Too bad. Go to sleep.”

Kir dug his nails into the man’s shoulder. He leaned forward to purr into Ari’s ear, “Why don’t you make me tired then?”

“Tempting,” The man said, pulling the human’s hands off him then wrangling the thief around him to lie flat on the bed. “but you take too long to please.”

“I do not!”

“You do.”

“Then how ‘bout this.” Kir sat up and reached between the elf’s legs, settling his hand on the man’s groin.

Ari jumped, not expecting the sudden intimate touch. He growled low in his throat and lifted his hands to push the human away, but Kir ducked the arm and shifted into his lap. Before he could protest further, the thief had pulled his cock free and was stroking it with fervor. He grew in the human’s hands against his will. Ari desperately wanted to get to sleep, but the wants of his body were quickly dashing that notion.

Kir smirked to himself, proud of how his skilled hands were able to make the elf’s cock swell and harden. He rubbed his thumb across the slit on the head of the Ari’s cock, pleased with the way the man shuddered and let out a shaky moan. For a few minutes, he contented himself with running his hands up and down the man’s large shaft, listening to him pant and groan.

A hand tangled in the thief’s short hair and urged his head down. Kir laughed, glancing up to meet the man’s eyes and he saw the shouldering desire in Ari’s usually bored stare. He grinned to himself.

“Ya lik that, Ari?” The man did not reply. “Then yer gonna love this.”

When the human leaned down and wrapped his mouth around the head of his cock, Ari sunk his nails into the thief’s backside and growled. He tried to hang onto a bit of his sanity, but it was difficult with the human’s moist, hot mouth working up and down his shaft. Kir hummed softly, sending pleasant vibrations down the length of his cock.

Once he surrendered to the fact that he had lost the battle miserably, Ari let his body slump and fall back into the mattress. He kept a hand in the human’s hair, keeping the mouth on his shaft, loath to give up the intense pleasure that was building in his gut. Kir made a pleased noise, proud and happy that he could cause the man such pleasure.

Kir moved a hand and squeezed the elf’s sac, earning a sharp gasp. Ari arched into his mouth and he sucked harder, working his tongue over the man’s hot flesh until he felt the elf tense. Ari curled his fingers in the thief’s black hair, tugging absentmindedly as he shot his seed down the human’s throat.

The thief continued sucking, even when he tasted the man’s semen filling his mouth. After the waves of his orgasm had passed, Ari released his hold on the human and let his body go slack. He felt the young man licking at him, cleaning him of his semen. The warmth of Kir’s mouth left him and a moment later, the human was nestled close, burrowing against his chest. He put an arm around the thief’s waist.

“Didja like that?” Kir asked coyly.

Ari sighed. “Go to sleep.”

“Nu-uh.” He shifted so that he was straddling the elf’s thick waist. “I think it’s my turn now. You owe me.”

“Oh, do I?” The elf ran a hand through Kir’s hair. “And you think you’ve been good enough to deserve such a reward?”

“Oh yes, I’ve been good. I’ve definitely been good. I promise.”

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Emery stood outside the tavern at nine the following morning, waiting for his traveling partners to appear. There had been no sign of Kir or Ari, which seemed odd to the boy because he had always seen the elf up and about, even at the earliest of hours. He suspected Kir had made some mischief last night and had dragged the man into it. When a half an hour passed, the soldier sat down in the dirt outside the building and waited.

He waited for another hour and a half before the other two appeared. When Kir trotted up, oddly happy, and started to make jokes, he glared at the thief angrily.

“We were supposed to leave two hours ago. Where have you two been?”

Kir grinned. “Sleepin’, what else? We had a busy night last night.”

Ari kicked him then addressed the boy. “Excuse the delay. Let’s not waste any more time. The sooner we begin, the sooner we get to Portica.”

As they left the town, Emery showed the town guard some drawings he had put together of the gorge. The guard nodded at the drawings, making notes about them to the boy, fully believing that their business in town had been nothing more than creating maps for an atlas.

As they left, Kir sighed. “You guys are always so anxious to keep movin’. You’re such slave drivers.”

He was ignored. They had a lot of land to cover before nightfall and listening to the thief’s gripping did nothing or lift their spirits.

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The days passed in a miasma of hot, sweaty misery. On the sixth night, they camped a several hour hike away from the port town. Ari put a stop to their traveling a short time after noon, which seemed odd to the two humans.

When they were putting up their tents, Kir ventured to ask, “How come we’re stoppin’ so early? Couldn’t we make it to the town today?”

“We could, but we won’t.” Ari said simply.

“But why?”

It was an answer Emery wanted to know as well, so he paused in erecting his tent and fixed his eyes on the elf. When Ari saw that the two were watching him intently, he sighed and tossed a stick into the fire he had made.

“Portica is not a place we want to be moving through at night. It’s dangerous enough during the day.”

“What’s so dangerous about it?” Kir asked. “I heard it’s a good trading town.”

Ari narrowed his eyes at the young man. “You would say that.” He said tightly. “It’s a trading town for thieves. It’s a place of bad business and I won’t have us moving through it at dangerous times.”

There was a silence, then Kir smacked the man on the back. “Yer just worryin’! I bet no one would bother us! We’d just be passin’ through anyway, right?”

“I’d rather not take the risk. We’re favorable targets. We’re foreign, we have valuables and,” his eyes flicked to the boy soldier, “and we have something they want.”

Emery shifted uncomfortably, noting the way the man’s wary eye had settled on him. “What does that mean?”

“Yeah, Ari, what does that mean?”

The elf growled, irritated. He did not want to talk about such things. Tomorrow would be tiring enough with all the worrying they would have to do. “Portica is renowned for having a profitable child slave ring.”

Emery tensed, balling the canvas of his tent in his fist. Kir glanced at the soldier, noting the reaction but not comprehending, then looked back to Ari.

“A child slave ring? What does that mean?”

“It means pedophiles!” The boy shouted.

“Oh.” The thief paused. “How old are you, Emery?”

“Seventeen.”

Kir looked the boy over. “You got a good body for a kid.”

Emery growled. “Don’t eyeball me, pervert.”

The insult did not bother Kir. “Hey, are you worried about me too, Ari? I’m 23. I look young and profitable, right?”

“No.” Ari said without hesitation.

“Hey!” An indignant wave of anger washed over him at the perceived slight. If Emery was worth something then surely he had to be as well. Then a thought struck him. “How old are you, Ari? You look 30, 35-ish.”

A small smile played on the man’s lips. He contemplated not telling, just to tease Kir, but when he thought about it, he realized the human would just pester him relentlessly until he answered. “I’m over 600 years old.”

The two humans glanced at each other. Emery had known that elves lived long lives, but he had never spent long periods of time with them, nor had he ever worked closely with one. When he thought about it, he realized he hadn’t even seen an elf until several months ago. He wondered what else he didn’t know about the race.

“Wow! You’re really old, Ari!” Kir blurted.

Emery saw the man twitch in agitation. He went back to building his tent, listening to Kir lay insult upon insult on the elf. The thief’s lack of tact and sense amazed him sometimes.

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They stood perched atop a dune of sand, looking at the dot in the distance that was portica. They could also see the hazy blue of the ocean that the port town was nestled on. Ari was ill at ease, worrying about what would happen when they were in the town. Necessity demanded that they spend a night, until they could pinpoint the location of the second artifact. Until they could leave, Ari was resolved to have them barricaded in their room.

“Let’s go.” He said. As they began walking, he put a hand on the thief’s shoulder and leaned low to whisper in his ear, “Stay close to Emery.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Regardless of the fact that he is a soldier, he’s still a child. People will be eyeing him the second we get into town. Stay by his side and protect him.”

Kir looked at the elf. It was on the tip of his tongue to protest the severity of Ari’s beliefs, but when he saw the worry in the man’s eyes, his voice died in his throat. He nodded firmly, then rushed forward to grab Emery by the hand and started babbling at the boy happily.

From a distance, Ari watched the two. Emery tried to pull away, but the thief’s hand on his was firm. He smiled slightly, glad to see that the young man had several redeeming traits.

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It had not taken long for Kir to see that Ari’s fears were well-founded. As soon as they had walked into the town, he noticed that people turned and stared at them, grinning devilishly. After realizing that, he was distraught to see that no few of the eyes fell on Emery.

Ari had bought them an expensive room in the best inn in the town. Perhaps he thought that the better looking the hotel, the less likely they were to be cornered and assaulted. The man had gone out again in an attempt to get information and to replenish their stock of food and equipment. Ari wanted to use the daylight to his advantage; even he did not want to be out and about at night. Before he had left the room, he instructed them to block the door and keep a weapon close at hand. He had then repeated his demand that Kir watch over the boy soldier.

Kir had nodded obediently. Before the elf had left, he also reminded the thief not to leave the room.

“Come on, I’m not dumb.” He said. To which Ari only laughed nervously then left the room.

For awhile, the two humans had sat in the room, talking quietly. Then Emery had pulled out a book and retreated to his small bed to read quietly. Kir watched him, bored now that his only source of entertainment had withdrawn. He glanced at the door, tempted to go out and see what sort of fun he would muck up, but Ari’s words rung in his ears. Tempting as it was, he wouldn’t dare disobey the elf, especially when the man was so tense.

With nothing better to do, Kir turned onto his back on his own tiny bed and fell asleep. He had been dreaming peacefully when a loud noise disturbed him. Just as he had been opening his eyes, he felt someone move on top of him and slide something black over his head. For a brief moment, he thought Ari had returned and was playing a game, but a panicked squeak from the other side of the room killed that fantasy.

Fighting was not something Kir did well. He flailed about, trying to throw the person off of him, but all he managed to do was free himself from the sack that had been placed over his head. As he looked around frantically, he noted that there were half a dozen men in the room and one of them had a hand clamped over Emery’s mouth while the other held a sharp dagger at the boy’s throat. He was not sure what would happen, but Kir knew that they were headed for a heap of trouble.

END

I hope you like. It was difficult to write since my 'co-writer' and I are currently in a heated debate about the direction of the story and a specific character. You can tell I'm turning bitchy since I put co-writer in quotes sicne she doesn't actually write. Thus is the problem with working with someone else on projects. Anyway, aren't the guys so cute?