Well here we are folks... on chp 13 and almost at the 1/3 point in the story. A lot has happened but even more adventures await Joshua and Vard. Will they ever be reunited? What evil plots is Gerick up to. Will this story ever have a happy ending. You will have to keep on reading to find out. Next update to the yahoo group will be on Sunday.
JMH
trandar2002@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adultwritingworkshop/
Not able to pilot the airship without Austin, Joshua abandoned it, making his way towards a Guild controlled village. There he was stopped by men in iron masks. "May we see your pass?"
"My pass?" Joshua asked confused.
"I take it you don't have one."
"No I don't." Joshua replied with his head bowed.
"What should we do with him sergeant?"
"Well he seems harmless enough. Can you tell us where you're from though boy?"
"The Barony of Dralor."
"But that's!" The private shouted.
"That's in the land of the Abomination." The Sergeant grunted. "Sorry boy looks like we will have to turn you in after all."
"I understand... then please tell Kentor that I will wait for him here." Joshua replied.
"Kentor... the Prelate's counterpart?"
"Yes... my name is Joshua. I believe the Guild has been looking for me."
"Private... go get the captain." The sergeant ordered. "Tell him... tell him the counterpart is here."
"Yes sir." The man jumped, running back into the village.
Once the private had disappeared from view the Sergeant turned his "Now young man... why don't we go have a seat by that bench. This might take a while."
Obediently Joshua sat where he was told, his hands in his lap.
"I have never been so close to a counterpart before but I can see why it is such a big deal. I've only been around you for a few minutes and I already feel like I am under your spell."
"I wish I didn't have this power."
"But you do."
"Looking at the sergeants iron mask Joshua felt compelled to ask a question. Why do Guild's men always wear masks?"
"It has always been the tradition. Officially it is to inspire fear among the groundlings... but as for the real purpose I don't know."
"I know they scare me. I wish they would not wear them. Will the Guild kill me after Gerick is dead?"
"I don't know. You are a counterpart... the key to the Void. As you grow stronger... as you will... so wanes the power of the old Prelate. You might be a little young to know this but no one likes being replaced."
The sergeant let out a moan as Joshua wrapped an arm around his back and buried his face against the soldier's chest. He could feel his bonds of loyalty to Prelate Lorien pulled, stretched, and yanked at by the young counterpart. "Joshua please... don't." Sergeant Brail pleaded.
Joshua did not hear him however. All he knew was the loneliness he felt. Without his birth kin he had felt as if he had been left naked to a cold harsh wind. The sergeant's gentle nature had been the only warmth offered him in days.
"Joshua... Joshua... Joshua..." Brail said with ever increasing volume as the counterpart's hold on him grew stronger and stronger. With a sudden jerk Brails connection to Prelate Lorien snapped. At that moment Brail felt his sex become engorged with blood and rupture with his seed, his vision turning bright red.
"Sergeant?" The privet's voice spoke, as he shook Brail out of his stupor. On seeing the Brail's red eyes however he took several steps back. "By the light!"
Grunting, Brail stood back up, lifting Joshua into his arms protectively. "Give my apologies to the captain."
"How did this happen. I was only gone for a few moments."
"The counterpart can be very insistent when he wants something or in the case someone." Brail chuckled as an officer approached. "Captain?"
"Protector... may I ask you keep the counterpart under better control from now on. I can ill afford to any more men as fine as you." The captain said, addressing Brail by his new title.
"May I recommend we be isolated until counterpart Kentor arrives?" Brail said.
"Yes... I will see that a house is prepared for you." The captain nodded. "I will also see if the black smith can make you a mask more appropriate to your station."
Brail shook his head no as he took off his iron mask. "No need captain... the counterpart would prefer if I did not wear one."
"So be it. I will come back when the house is ready." The captain said before leaving.
An hour latter the captain came back and led Brail to a house on the edge of town, guards posted around it in a fifty foot radius. Inside the house Brail quickly took his sleeping cargo to a large sofa before exploring the rest of the house. It was a small cottage with one bedroom, a bathroom and a decent size living room/kitchen. In the kitchen Brail found a pot of simmering beans and a loaf of warm bread. Preparing two bowls and slicing the bread in half Brail brought it back to the sofa.
On smelling the food Joshua's eyes opened wide for it had been three days since he had last eaten.
"Hungry Joshua?" Brail grinned.
"Yes... thank you." Joshua said as he eagerly took the offered bowl.
For a while they ate in silence, Brail not able to take his eyes off the gentle giant. When he saw a spot on gravy on Joshua's perfect pale face he could not stop himself from leaning over and kissing it clean.
Joshua responded by cupping Brails clean shaven face with his right hand.
"Joshua... what have you done to me." Brail sighed as he felt a slow burning lust grow inside him.
Joshua hung his head down in shame. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not mad at you... How can I be when you are now the center of my world? I just want to understand why you picked me for this honor."
"I was alone... and it hurt. Not even when I was a slave in the mines did I hurt so much when I sent my birth kin away."
"Why did you send him away?"
"I did not want Gerick to have him."
"Is he really an Abomination?"
"I do not know what an Abomination is. He was once a Prelate but his counterpart was killed. That took away something important to him. Ever since he has been trying to get it back."
"That is why he wants you... he wants to replace the counterpart he lost?"
"Yes." Joshua sighed.
Brail wrapped a warm arm around Joshua's waist pulling the young man close enough so that Joshua could rest his head on the sergeant's shoulders. Joshua then put his pale arms around the summer tanned skin of Brail's neck.
Once again Brail let out a moan... he had long heard the legends that the very touch of a counterpart would send a person into the deepest bliss. Now he knew it was true. Joshua did not stop with just a touch however, moving in with his lips to steal Brail's breath and soul.
"Joshua... Joshua... Joshua!" Brail shouted, his entire body aching for the counterpart.
The end of Brails yell was followed by the sound of ripping fabric as both men tore at each other's clothes into shreds freeing their dripping hard sex, taking each other in their mouths. For a while they suckled on each other... feasting off the taste of their maleness. This was enough for Brail whose seed soon filled Joshua's mouth with its salty taste. Joshua... having had his dreams filled for days with the visions Gerick had been sending, needed more. He rolled the exhausted Protector onto his back and lifted up the man's legs up, granting Joshua's sex entry. With a few strokes of Joshua's sex inside him, Brail's manhood harden again Joshua taking hold of the thick muscle with one hand.
The climax came with Joshua's thrusting wildly, his scrotum bouncing against Brail's ass, his essence going deep inside his Protector. At the same moment Brail spilled his own seed, spraying it onto Joshua's chest and hand.
While still staying buried inside his Protector Joshua reached over and locked his lips against Brail's, their tongues entering an intense duel. Finally exhaustion overcame both men, Joshua collapsing on top of Brail.
Before falling asleep Brail whispered, "My life is now yours Joshua... do with me as you will."
Vard woke as he had the past few weeks with Austin clinging to him tightly. The birth kin had been inconsolable in his grief from being sent away from Joshua. It amazed Vard that Austin had not gone back to Wor. Vard knew if he had the power to go to Joshua... no one... not even Joshua would be able to stop him.
A week ago the ship landed on the other side of the ocean but beside the seven birth kin he found in the nearby villages, Vard had not begun a major search. He was too afraid to.
"Good morning Austin." Vard smiled when he saw the wiry young man open his gray eyes.
"Beloved." Austin smiled weakly. It had only taken a few days for him to use that name.
Vard rolled on top of Austin, his sex resting on the other man's thigh. "Shall I make love to you?"
"Just hold me for now."
"More then happy to."
It was at times like these that Vard wished he had not been born a Prelate... with his inborn sexual hunger. He tried, he really did try to be content just holding Austin. But as would always happen, Vard would look into Austin's grey eyes and see his own reflection in them... his hungry look. His mouth would salivate, his heart quicken, and the precursor to his seed leak from his sex.
Already his sex had harden, leaving a wet trail along Austin's leg.
"Austin..." Vard moaned as he began running his sex up and down Austin's leg. "I'm sorry... I can't stop myself."
"I understand." Austin nodded, his own manhood not remaining flaccid.
Both young men became blind to all else but the touch and feel of each other's bodies... both men calling out Joshua's name as their mantra. They did not see the thousands upon thousands of people marching toward the tiny village Vard had made his base. Vard did not notice his power return, magnify and expand even as he ravaged Austin body. He did not notice how Austin increased the intensity of his own love making, digging his fingernail into the tanned skin of the clan chief.
It was only after Vard came down from the height of his climax that he heard the chanting coming from outside. Jumping off Austin Vard ran over to the window to find the inn surrounding as far as he could see by people... and not any people but birth kin.
Vard now felt the power coursing through his body... a power many times greater then he had ever experienced. With all that power however came the madness, striking Vard down like a hammer's blow.
"Please... not again... not again." Vard cried.
As the village only had the smallest of landing pads Kentor had been forced to leave his flagship in a tiny shuttle. Still the sky went dark from the heavy fighter and assault ship escorts that followed the counterpart in.
Entering the cottage with seven heavy armed Protectors Kentor could not help but chuckle at the sight of two naked men crowded together on a sofa, asleep, the smell of sex still in the air.
"Find these men some clothes please." Kentor said, seeing the tattered pieces of cloth on the floor.
Kentor looked down at his fellow counterpart seeing the man he had once been... youthful, innocent, idealistic... not weighted down by years of bloodshed... not twisted by centuries of isolation.
Next his eyes went to the face of the Protector... the man had a warm expression on his face... one that emitted kindness, not the fear Kentor's own Protectors. It made Kentor wish he had made better choices.
When his bodyguard returned with a pair of Guild uniforms Kentor could not think of any more excuses in delaying. Reaching out he touched Joshua's alabaster skin. He watched as Joshua opened his disguised blue eyes.
"Joshua." Kentor whispered.
"Kentor?" Joshua asked questioningly.
"Yes... You have been a hard man to track down."
Joshua rolled off the sofa waking Brail in the process. "I needed to decide who I could trust."
"So you trust me?"
"No... I don't. But I know what fate awaits me with Gerick."
"Yes... you will have to tell me about Gerick. He has been a mystery to the Guild."
"I do not know if I know much myself but what I know I will tell you."
"I am impressed you are a quite polite young man."
"I do not understand." Joshua said confused.
"When I was your age I was an arrogant bastard." Kentor laughed.
"I think if you look at my master's back you will have your answer to that mystery." Brail replied.
"May I see?"
Embarrassed Joshua turned around... showing the mass of scars that marked his back.
"What happened to the man who did this to you?" Kentor asked as he ran his fingers down one of the larger scars.
"He's dead."
"Good... no one in the Guild would ever dare treat the counterpart of a rival Prelate in such a manner.
"Can I ask you a question?" Joshua asked as he started to put on the white Guild uniform.
"Of course." Kentor said with a warm smile.
"Why are we called counterparts... it makes us sound like a piece of machinery."
"That is a very good question Joshua to which I can give you an answer. Why are we called counterparts while other halves have the grand title of Prelate? It is simple really... we... the bond-mates of Prelates are not meant for glory. We do not rule the Guild or the Assembly. We do not make laws or policy. Yes, we are the key to the Void but a very plain one. In a way we are a piece of machinery as you said... hidden and unpolished."
"But why is that so?"
"People can only be loyal to one person at a time... Even though the Prelate and I agree on most things... we do not always agree. If Guild's men were loyal to both the Prelate and myself they would feel pressured to pick sides in our disagreements. Such could lead to civil war. That is why we have such a mundane title... it makes it clear to the people who is their leader."
"I see." Joshua nodded. It all seemed unnecessarily complex to him but if it helped stop conflicts then he saw the good in it.
Seeing Joshua and his Protector were now dressed, Kentor prepared to leave. "Shall we go now?"
So folks what do you think so far? Which chacters do you love, hate, want bumped off. What would you like to see in a follow up story? Feel free to drop me a line anytime.
JMH
trandar2002@yahoo.com