Fic: You Will Not Be Forgotten
Title: You Will Not Be Forgotten
Author: Lemondilemma
Pairing: Esca/OMC, Esca/Marcus
Rating: PG
Warnings: implied underage sexual activity (I’m supposing Esca and his friend are 16 or thereabouts at the time of the story …)
Word Count: 2900 ish
Author’s notes: I apologise to any purists for the names I’ve given Esca’s brothers and their friends and the horse, but names are hard! I used this post by carmarthen which was really useful.
Written for Round 3 of the Fanmedia Challenge 2013, inspired by the pictures of the waterfall and the lantern
Disclaimer: The characters don’t belong to me, this is just for fun
Summary: Esca remembers while he waits for Marcus to come home
Esca stopped by the gate and held the lantern out in front of him but the flame did nothing to pierce the darkness.
“Marcus!” he called out into the night but there was no answer.
He shook his head - Marcus should have been home long before now. Well, serve him right if he’d drunk too much wine with their neighbour and fallen over on the way home, Esca had no intention of going out to look for him! No, it was enough for him to leave the lantern burning by the gate as a beacon to guide home a stray, drunken Roman.
He supposed could wait a while though so he settled himself on the ground, propped up against the gatepost and strained his ears to listen for the whistling of a tune or the shuffle of feet. There was nothing; nothing but the stirring of the long grass in the breeze and the distant sound of the small waterfall that fed the stream.
Esca was drawn to the sound of the water and he focused on it, allowing long-buried memories to surface and clamour for attention. It was late and he was tired after a long day’s labour on the farm - he found he had no inclination to fight them so, as he waited for Marcus, he closed his eyes and remembered.
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Two per horse, the group of six - each of Cunoval’s sons and their three chosen friends - set off just after sunrise and rode towards the high ground, reaching the edge of the great forest well before the sun was at its highest.
“Do you remember the way, Esca?” Brigio, second of the chieftain’s sons, called ahead to his elder brother as they began to make their way through the trees.
“I think so brother, although I cannot be sure,” Esca teased, knowing full well that he remembered the way to the special place. “But Brokko and the others do.” He patted the sturdy black and white horse he and his best friend Trenus were riding and it bobbed its head in silent agreement.
There was no obvious trail to follow but the three horses forged onwards, deep into the forest, Esca and Trenus out in front. Esca was the eldest son of the chieftain and one day he would be chieftain himself - it was only right that he should be ahead of the others as they rode along. It wasn’t long before Esca and Trenus grew impatient though and urged Brokko onwards, eager to be at their destination while the others were happy to dawdle along, chattering and sharing stories.
The horse trotted smartly through the trees, his riders ducking out of the way of stray branches that reached out and threatened to knock them to the ground if they didn’t look out. The forest grew thicker, the trees almost blocking out the light from the sun but after a while the rays once more began to filter through the canopy as the trees thinned out and they came out into the place they had been seeking.
As soon as the snows melted each year, they came here to the clearing where the waterfall fed into a large pool, as they had done every year since Esca’s grandfather had first shown him this place when he entered his tenth year. The cascade foamed and frothed as it ran over the rocks high above the ground, winding its way down through the narrow channel it had carved out for itself before it reached an overhang and fell the remainder of the way as a smooth veil of water. This clearing with the waterfall and the deep, clear pool was Esca’s favourite place, the waterfall especially. The tail of the great god’s favourite horse, his grandfather used to say.
They jumped down from Brokko and Esca tethered him to a tree, feeding the horse a handful of oats from the bag of provisions they had brought before looking around at the scene before him. The rocks were covered in moss, bright green in the sunlight that glinted off the droplets of water spraying onto them. Esca had always loved coming here, first with his grandfather, then with his brothers and Trenus and their friends. He and Trenus would not come here again though, to swim naked and duck each other under the icy water, laughing and splashing. This would be their last time for they would soon be initiated as spears, painted with the ink of warriors. They would be boys no longer and they would be unable to ride off for the day to roam the forest with the others or to sneak off to spend time alone. Esca would be so proud to be one of his father’s spears at last but he would miss this.
He looked over to where Trenus was standing at the edge of the pool, his clothing already shed. Dark haired and green-eyed, he was taller and broader than Esca; he always had been, even when they had been children and Esca had found that he liked Trenus best out of all the other boys in the tribe. Trenus was quiet and thoughtful when the others were around but when it was just the two of them, he came out of his shell and Esca felt as if this Trenus belonged to him and him alone. As they had grown older, their friendship had deepened and finally - was it only two years earlier? - they had discovered the joy of becoming more to each other than just friends.
Trenus looked over then and grinned widely at Esca. With a loud yell, hurled himself into the water, disappearing from sight as water splashed high into the air. He surfaced quickly, hooting and flailing his arms around wildly.
“Hurry up, Esca!” he shouted. “The others will be here soon. Get in while there’s still enough room to swim properly.”
“Is it as cold as last year?” Esca asked as he pulled his clothes off, his bare skin prickling in the cool, spring air.
“Get in and see,” Trenus laughed, ducking under the water again and swimming away towards the waterfall.
Esca braced himself, took a run up to the water’s edge and jumped into the pool. It was as cold as he could ever remember it and he found himself breathless for a moment, his chest constricting painfully with the shock of the icy water. The feeling soon passed though and by the time the other boys arrived in the clearing, he was swimming and splashing around with such abandon that he felt as free as a child, without duty or care to weigh heavily on his shoulders.
Ceasing his horseplay, Esca shouted a greeting to the others then he caught Trenus’ eye and tilted his head towards the waterfall in silent instruction. Together they ducked underneath it and resurfaced in the dim cave beyond the watery curtain, where the rocky walls shimmered with reflected light and the thunder of the falling water echoed around them.
“Is it still there?” Trenus asked.
“Of course it is!” Esca replied with mock exasperation. “It will be here for all time, long after you and I have become old men and then turned to dust.” On their last visit they had carved a picture onto a large, flat piece of rock, depicting themselves as glorious warriors standing atop a pile of their vanquished enemies. Esca swam over to it and pulled himself out of the water to look at it more closely. He ran his finger along the crudely carved figures and shivered with the cold. “Do you remember how long it took us? We almost froze to death before it was finished!”
“Aye, I remember. I remember how we warmed ourselves too.” Trenus swam over, treading water beside Esca’s dangling legs but he did not reach out to touch, nor did he make further mention of how they had banished the cold that time, hidden from view behind the waterfall. “Perhaps our sons will come here one day and carve their own images beside ours,” he said, teeth chattering.
“Perhaps,” Esca mused. He shivered violently again and dropped back into the water to try and warm himself, diving under the water and twisting around like an otter. “We should see what the others are up to,” he spluttered as he surfaced again. “That fool Vatto has probably got the horses in the water by now! I don’t know why Lucanus likes him so much.”
When they emerged from behind the waterfall, Esca’s brothers Brigio and Lucanus and Brigio’s friend Solinus were already in the water but thankfully the horses were still quietly grazing in the shade. With a shout of “Watch out Esca!”, Vatto came out of nowhere, landing in the water right next to him, apparently having climbed up the rocks and hurled himself off without thought for who may be in the water below. As soon as he resurfaced, Esca grabbed his head and pushed him down, holding him under the water and laughing as Vatto thrashed and kicked until he freed himself.
After that, all six of them took turns holding each other under the water to see who could last the longest then they all climbed up the slippery side of the waterfall, jumping off the rocks over and over again and plummeting into the water below with great whoops. If father could have seen them, Esca thought, he’d haul each and every one of them out of the water and give them a beating for making such a noise and possibly attracting whoever or whatever might be lurking in the surrounding forest. Father worried too much. Nothing bad could ever happen in such a special place.
When they were done with the water, too cold to stay in any longer, they dried off and dressed then ate the food they had brought with them and dozed in the patches of sunlight that dotted the ground by the pool.
By the time the sun had moved across the sky and could no longer provide pockets of warmth within the clearing, the younger boys began to gather together their belongings and mounted their horses.
“Aren’t you coming, Esca?” Brigio asked when neither Esca nor Trenus showed any inclination to leave. “The sun is well to the west and we promised we would be back before nightfall.”
“Trenus and I will follow in a little while.” Esca patted the rump of his brother’s horse and it swished its tail at him. “Stay together and tell mother I shall be home soon.”
He watched them until they had vanished into the trees then sat cross-legged on the ground next to Trenus who had gathered some dry sticks and successfully set a small fire.
“All winter I’ve dreamed about coming back here and now it’s over,” Trenus said, staring into the tiny flames. “I don’t mind admitting to you that there’s a part of me wishes things could stay the same as they are right now.”
“Don’t you want to be a spear?” Esca asked, unable to give voice to his own sadness for the life that they were leaving behind.
“Of course I do. It’s just…….”
Trenus hesitated and Esca resisted the impulse to reach over and take his hand.
“We will be warriors, you and I,” he said instead. “We will finally be men in the eyes of the tribe. We cannot do the same things we could as boys.”
“I know,” Trenus said, smiling back at him. “That doesn’t mean I cannot think the same things or want the same things.”
“You will always be special to me,” Esca told him, “and I shall never forget what we have been to each other, no matter what the future brings. We will always be friends, if we can be nothing more and when I am chieftain, you will be my shield-bearer. ”
They sat in silence, watching the fire as the flames grew stronger and sent sparks up into the air, relishing the peace and quiet and the rare chance to be alone together. There was much to be done in the days to come and there would be no time for carefree days with friends. Preparations for the initiation ceremony had to be made and their training would intensify.
“There are rumours that the red crests and their armies are growing restless,” Trenus said after a while. “Perhaps we will have the chance to prove ourselves in battle sooner rather than later.”
“Father says that they are not to be trusted,” Esca told him, “that they wish to take our lands no matter the old alliances.”
“Is it to be war then?”
Esca shrugged his shoulders. “He does not speak to me of such things, not yet. Once we are initiated, then perhaps he will.”
Trenus spat into the fire, causing it to fizz and crackle.
“Those red crested Roman fiends are like the pox,” he said.
“And you would know, eh?” Esca playfully pushed at him and then found himself wrestled to the ground, Trenus straddling him.
“If I ever had a pox, it would have been you I caught it from, Esca MacCunoval!”
Esca found himself breathless again but this time it was from laughing so hard, not from the ice-cold waters of the pond. “A bold statement, Trenus MacLuernoden,” he chortled. “What about all those girls you told Brigio you’d tumbled with?”
Trenus rolled off Esca and lay next to him in the bracken, laughing himself. “I may have exaggerated to him,” he said, turning his head so they were face to face, “to disguise where my heart really lies.”
Esca smiled at him fondly, the light-hearted moment turned suddenly serious. “My heart has always belonged to you,” he said, staring hard into his friend’s unusual green eyes.
“And mine to you,” Trenus whispered, although there was nobody else there to hear. “I shall fight alongside you, Esca MacCunoval, with pride and honour, if the red crests come.”
Trenus was good in a fight, strong and ruthless. When they had first begun to train with spear and arrow, Trenus had always bested him but they had practised together endlessly and over time Esca had matched him. No enemy would take what was theirs. Fighting alongside each other, they would be invincible.
They smiled at each other and Esca wanted desperately to embrace Trenus once more, to kiss him and hold that familiar, beloved body close to him but such tender foolishness was for boys and they were on the very brink of their manhood. By the time the moon had once again become full in the night sky, they would bear the warrior’s markings inked across their skin. They could never again be to each other what they had been in the past but theirs was a bond that could only be broken by death and they would always have their memories; riding across windswept moors, swimming under the majestic waterfall, stealing wondrous moments together. In time they would be expected to take wives and produce fine sons; it was the way of things and they had always known it but it didn’t seem possible that Esca could ever love another as much as he loved Trenus.
They threw some water on the fire and stamped out the embers then untethered Brokko and Esca jumped up onto his back first, holding his arm out for Trenus to swing up behind him. It was a slow journey back to the settlement, neither of them in a hurry to return home despite Esca’s promises to his mother and it was only when they sighted the first dwellings in the gathering dusk that Trenus lifted his head from Esca’s shoulder and moved his hands from where they rested at Esca’s waist.
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Marcus saw the light from the lantern before he saw Esca slumped against the gate and chuckled to himself. How like his friend to be waiting for him, even at this late hour. Gently he reached down but before he could shake Esca’s shoulder to wake him, Esca’s eyes flew open.
He seemed to frown slightly when their eyes met, almost as if he had been expecting someone other than Marcus to be standing before him but it was a fleeting thing and soon enough he was smiling with a mild look of disapproval on his face.
“Where have you been?” he asked with that familiar tilt of his head.
“I know, I know,” Marcus said, helping him to his feet. “It is late but I beg of you, Esca, please save your scolding until tomorrow.”
“Who am I to scold you?” Esca said, his tone all innocence, but the set of his jaw and the look in his eyes told a different story, a story where Marcus would indeed be scolded for his late return.
“Were you asleep?” Marcus asked as Esca dusted down his braccae.
“Not asleep, no. I was simply lost in thought, thinking of a time long ago. A happy time,” he quickly added when he saw the look of guilt which Marcus could never stop from crossing his face whenever mention was made of the past.
“I am glad it was a happy memory.” Relieved, Marcus held out his hand and Esca took it. “Come inside with me,” he said, keeping his voice low and trying his best to be seductive despite the wine coursing through his veins, “and we can make some more happy memories of our own.”
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Esca lifted the lantern with his free hand and took one last look out into the darkness beyond their farm, then he turned away from the ghosts that lingered in the night air and followed the man who had freed him from more than just slavery up the path to their home.
Author: Lemondilemma
Pairing: Esca/OMC, Esca/Marcus
Rating: PG
Warnings: implied underage sexual activity (I’m supposing Esca and his friend are 16 or thereabouts at the time of the story …)
Word Count: 2900 ish
Author’s notes: I apologise to any purists for the names I’ve given Esca’s brothers and their friends and the horse, but names are hard! I used this post by carmarthen which was really useful.
Written for Round 3 of the Fanmedia Challenge 2013, inspired by the pictures of the waterfall and the lantern
Disclaimer: The characters don’t belong to me, this is just for fun
Summary: Esca remembers while he waits for Marcus to come home
Esca stopped by the gate and held the lantern out in front of him but the flame did nothing to pierce the darkness.
“Marcus!” he called out into the night but there was no answer.
He shook his head - Marcus should have been home long before now. Well, serve him right if he’d drunk too much wine with their neighbour and fallen over on the way home, Esca had no intention of going out to look for him! No, it was enough for him to leave the lantern burning by the gate as a beacon to guide home a stray, drunken Roman.
He supposed could wait a while though so he settled himself on the ground, propped up against the gatepost and strained his ears to listen for the whistling of a tune or the shuffle of feet. There was nothing; nothing but the stirring of the long grass in the breeze and the distant sound of the small waterfall that fed the stream.
Esca was drawn to the sound of the water and he focused on it, allowing long-buried memories to surface and clamour for attention. It was late and he was tired after a long day’s labour on the farm - he found he had no inclination to fight them so, as he waited for Marcus, he closed his eyes and remembered.
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Two per horse, the group of six - each of Cunoval’s sons and their three chosen friends - set off just after sunrise and rode towards the high ground, reaching the edge of the great forest well before the sun was at its highest.
“Do you remember the way, Esca?” Brigio, second of the chieftain’s sons, called ahead to his elder brother as they began to make their way through the trees.
“I think so brother, although I cannot be sure,” Esca teased, knowing full well that he remembered the way to the special place. “But Brokko and the others do.” He patted the sturdy black and white horse he and his best friend Trenus were riding and it bobbed its head in silent agreement.
There was no obvious trail to follow but the three horses forged onwards, deep into the forest, Esca and Trenus out in front. Esca was the eldest son of the chieftain and one day he would be chieftain himself - it was only right that he should be ahead of the others as they rode along. It wasn’t long before Esca and Trenus grew impatient though and urged Brokko onwards, eager to be at their destination while the others were happy to dawdle along, chattering and sharing stories.
The horse trotted smartly through the trees, his riders ducking out of the way of stray branches that reached out and threatened to knock them to the ground if they didn’t look out. The forest grew thicker, the trees almost blocking out the light from the sun but after a while the rays once more began to filter through the canopy as the trees thinned out and they came out into the place they had been seeking.
As soon as the snows melted each year, they came here to the clearing where the waterfall fed into a large pool, as they had done every year since Esca’s grandfather had first shown him this place when he entered his tenth year. The cascade foamed and frothed as it ran over the rocks high above the ground, winding its way down through the narrow channel it had carved out for itself before it reached an overhang and fell the remainder of the way as a smooth veil of water. This clearing with the waterfall and the deep, clear pool was Esca’s favourite place, the waterfall especially. The tail of the great god’s favourite horse, his grandfather used to say.
They jumped down from Brokko and Esca tethered him to a tree, feeding the horse a handful of oats from the bag of provisions they had brought before looking around at the scene before him. The rocks were covered in moss, bright green in the sunlight that glinted off the droplets of water spraying onto them. Esca had always loved coming here, first with his grandfather, then with his brothers and Trenus and their friends. He and Trenus would not come here again though, to swim naked and duck each other under the icy water, laughing and splashing. This would be their last time for they would soon be initiated as spears, painted with the ink of warriors. They would be boys no longer and they would be unable to ride off for the day to roam the forest with the others or to sneak off to spend time alone. Esca would be so proud to be one of his father’s spears at last but he would miss this.
He looked over to where Trenus was standing at the edge of the pool, his clothing already shed. Dark haired and green-eyed, he was taller and broader than Esca; he always had been, even when they had been children and Esca had found that he liked Trenus best out of all the other boys in the tribe. Trenus was quiet and thoughtful when the others were around but when it was just the two of them, he came out of his shell and Esca felt as if this Trenus belonged to him and him alone. As they had grown older, their friendship had deepened and finally - was it only two years earlier? - they had discovered the joy of becoming more to each other than just friends.
Trenus looked over then and grinned widely at Esca. With a loud yell, hurled himself into the water, disappearing from sight as water splashed high into the air. He surfaced quickly, hooting and flailing his arms around wildly.
“Hurry up, Esca!” he shouted. “The others will be here soon. Get in while there’s still enough room to swim properly.”
“Is it as cold as last year?” Esca asked as he pulled his clothes off, his bare skin prickling in the cool, spring air.
“Get in and see,” Trenus laughed, ducking under the water again and swimming away towards the waterfall.
Esca braced himself, took a run up to the water’s edge and jumped into the pool. It was as cold as he could ever remember it and he found himself breathless for a moment, his chest constricting painfully with the shock of the icy water. The feeling soon passed though and by the time the other boys arrived in the clearing, he was swimming and splashing around with such abandon that he felt as free as a child, without duty or care to weigh heavily on his shoulders.
Ceasing his horseplay, Esca shouted a greeting to the others then he caught Trenus’ eye and tilted his head towards the waterfall in silent instruction. Together they ducked underneath it and resurfaced in the dim cave beyond the watery curtain, where the rocky walls shimmered with reflected light and the thunder of the falling water echoed around them.
“Is it still there?” Trenus asked.
“Of course it is!” Esca replied with mock exasperation. “It will be here for all time, long after you and I have become old men and then turned to dust.” On their last visit they had carved a picture onto a large, flat piece of rock, depicting themselves as glorious warriors standing atop a pile of their vanquished enemies. Esca swam over to it and pulled himself out of the water to look at it more closely. He ran his finger along the crudely carved figures and shivered with the cold. “Do you remember how long it took us? We almost froze to death before it was finished!”
“Aye, I remember. I remember how we warmed ourselves too.” Trenus swam over, treading water beside Esca’s dangling legs but he did not reach out to touch, nor did he make further mention of how they had banished the cold that time, hidden from view behind the waterfall. “Perhaps our sons will come here one day and carve their own images beside ours,” he said, teeth chattering.
“Perhaps,” Esca mused. He shivered violently again and dropped back into the water to try and warm himself, diving under the water and twisting around like an otter. “We should see what the others are up to,” he spluttered as he surfaced again. “That fool Vatto has probably got the horses in the water by now! I don’t know why Lucanus likes him so much.”
When they emerged from behind the waterfall, Esca’s brothers Brigio and Lucanus and Brigio’s friend Solinus were already in the water but thankfully the horses were still quietly grazing in the shade. With a shout of “Watch out Esca!”, Vatto came out of nowhere, landing in the water right next to him, apparently having climbed up the rocks and hurled himself off without thought for who may be in the water below. As soon as he resurfaced, Esca grabbed his head and pushed him down, holding him under the water and laughing as Vatto thrashed and kicked until he freed himself.
After that, all six of them took turns holding each other under the water to see who could last the longest then they all climbed up the slippery side of the waterfall, jumping off the rocks over and over again and plummeting into the water below with great whoops. If father could have seen them, Esca thought, he’d haul each and every one of them out of the water and give them a beating for making such a noise and possibly attracting whoever or whatever might be lurking in the surrounding forest. Father worried too much. Nothing bad could ever happen in such a special place.
When they were done with the water, too cold to stay in any longer, they dried off and dressed then ate the food they had brought with them and dozed in the patches of sunlight that dotted the ground by the pool.
By the time the sun had moved across the sky and could no longer provide pockets of warmth within the clearing, the younger boys began to gather together their belongings and mounted their horses.
“Aren’t you coming, Esca?” Brigio asked when neither Esca nor Trenus showed any inclination to leave. “The sun is well to the west and we promised we would be back before nightfall.”
“Trenus and I will follow in a little while.” Esca patted the rump of his brother’s horse and it swished its tail at him. “Stay together and tell mother I shall be home soon.”
He watched them until they had vanished into the trees then sat cross-legged on the ground next to Trenus who had gathered some dry sticks and successfully set a small fire.
“All winter I’ve dreamed about coming back here and now it’s over,” Trenus said, staring into the tiny flames. “I don’t mind admitting to you that there’s a part of me wishes things could stay the same as they are right now.”
“Don’t you want to be a spear?” Esca asked, unable to give voice to his own sadness for the life that they were leaving behind.
“Of course I do. It’s just…….”
Trenus hesitated and Esca resisted the impulse to reach over and take his hand.
“We will be warriors, you and I,” he said instead. “We will finally be men in the eyes of the tribe. We cannot do the same things we could as boys.”
“I know,” Trenus said, smiling back at him. “That doesn’t mean I cannot think the same things or want the same things.”
“You will always be special to me,” Esca told him, “and I shall never forget what we have been to each other, no matter what the future brings. We will always be friends, if we can be nothing more and when I am chieftain, you will be my shield-bearer. ”
They sat in silence, watching the fire as the flames grew stronger and sent sparks up into the air, relishing the peace and quiet and the rare chance to be alone together. There was much to be done in the days to come and there would be no time for carefree days with friends. Preparations for the initiation ceremony had to be made and their training would intensify.
“There are rumours that the red crests and their armies are growing restless,” Trenus said after a while. “Perhaps we will have the chance to prove ourselves in battle sooner rather than later.”
“Father says that they are not to be trusted,” Esca told him, “that they wish to take our lands no matter the old alliances.”
“Is it to be war then?”
Esca shrugged his shoulders. “He does not speak to me of such things, not yet. Once we are initiated, then perhaps he will.”
Trenus spat into the fire, causing it to fizz and crackle.
“Those red crested Roman fiends are like the pox,” he said.
“And you would know, eh?” Esca playfully pushed at him and then found himself wrestled to the ground, Trenus straddling him.
“If I ever had a pox, it would have been you I caught it from, Esca MacCunoval!”
Esca found himself breathless again but this time it was from laughing so hard, not from the ice-cold waters of the pond. “A bold statement, Trenus MacLuernoden,” he chortled. “What about all those girls you told Brigio you’d tumbled with?”
Trenus rolled off Esca and lay next to him in the bracken, laughing himself. “I may have exaggerated to him,” he said, turning his head so they were face to face, “to disguise where my heart really lies.”
Esca smiled at him fondly, the light-hearted moment turned suddenly serious. “My heart has always belonged to you,” he said, staring hard into his friend’s unusual green eyes.
“And mine to you,” Trenus whispered, although there was nobody else there to hear. “I shall fight alongside you, Esca MacCunoval, with pride and honour, if the red crests come.”
Trenus was good in a fight, strong and ruthless. When they had first begun to train with spear and arrow, Trenus had always bested him but they had practised together endlessly and over time Esca had matched him. No enemy would take what was theirs. Fighting alongside each other, they would be invincible.
They smiled at each other and Esca wanted desperately to embrace Trenus once more, to kiss him and hold that familiar, beloved body close to him but such tender foolishness was for boys and they were on the very brink of their manhood. By the time the moon had once again become full in the night sky, they would bear the warrior’s markings inked across their skin. They could never again be to each other what they had been in the past but theirs was a bond that could only be broken by death and they would always have their memories; riding across windswept moors, swimming under the majestic waterfall, stealing wondrous moments together. In time they would be expected to take wives and produce fine sons; it was the way of things and they had always known it but it didn’t seem possible that Esca could ever love another as much as he loved Trenus.
They threw some water on the fire and stamped out the embers then untethered Brokko and Esca jumped up onto his back first, holding his arm out for Trenus to swing up behind him. It was a slow journey back to the settlement, neither of them in a hurry to return home despite Esca’s promises to his mother and it was only when they sighted the first dwellings in the gathering dusk that Trenus lifted his head from Esca’s shoulder and moved his hands from where they rested at Esca’s waist.
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Marcus saw the light from the lantern before he saw Esca slumped against the gate and chuckled to himself. How like his friend to be waiting for him, even at this late hour. Gently he reached down but before he could shake Esca’s shoulder to wake him, Esca’s eyes flew open.
He seemed to frown slightly when their eyes met, almost as if he had been expecting someone other than Marcus to be standing before him but it was a fleeting thing and soon enough he was smiling with a mild look of disapproval on his face.
“Where have you been?” he asked with that familiar tilt of his head.
“I know, I know,” Marcus said, helping him to his feet. “It is late but I beg of you, Esca, please save your scolding until tomorrow.”
“Who am I to scold you?” Esca said, his tone all innocence, but the set of his jaw and the look in his eyes told a different story, a story where Marcus would indeed be scolded for his late return.
“Were you asleep?” Marcus asked as Esca dusted down his braccae.
“Not asleep, no. I was simply lost in thought, thinking of a time long ago. A happy time,” he quickly added when he saw the look of guilt which Marcus could never stop from crossing his face whenever mention was made of the past.
“I am glad it was a happy memory.” Relieved, Marcus held out his hand and Esca took it. “Come inside with me,” he said, keeping his voice low and trying his best to be seductive despite the wine coursing through his veins, “and we can make some more happy memories of our own.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Esca lifted the lantern with his free hand and took one last look out into the darkness beyond their farm, then he turned away from the ghosts that lingered in the night air and followed the man who had freed him from more than just slavery up the path to their home.