Thick as Thieves (4 page)

“Like what?”

Vorgell grinned. “I like to kiss. And snuggle.”

Madd considered. The man really couldn’t help thinking about sex, but there was a chance Madd could help him control it. Being partners in survival with an overgrown barbarian was certain to involve negotiations. “No kissing. But I might snuggle,” he conceded. “If it’s cold.”

“Fair enough.” Vorgell yawned and stretched out on his blanket. He was too long for the bed, so was making do with the floor. “I’m sleepy.”

Madd waited until the big man was snoring before he placed his own head on the pillow. He could barely believe his luck had actually—for once—taken a turn for the better, but maybe it really had this time. Maybe Vorgell could be trusted. Maybe between the two of them, they could both stay alive.

Chapter 4

V
ORGELL
groaned and pushed his ass backward, about to finally experience his fondest fantasy, when he was awakened by his elbow hitting wood. Grumbling, he opened a bleary eye. He lay on a plank floor, head pounding, and horny as a stag in rut. His cock was so hard it would soon rip through his pants. As he slid a hand into the gap of his trousers to address the matter, he lifted his head to look at the cot next to him.

Inhabiting the mattress was a delectable creature drawn from his dreams.
Madd
, he remembered. Vorgell bit back a groan. Madd was real, real and warm and sleeping but inches away. It was his fortune, good or bad, to have fallen in with a man who could tempt him simply by breathing. Coal-black lashes feathered Madd’s smooth cheek, his pink lips slightly parted, looking soft and vulnerable… so damn kissable it would be a crime not to do it.

As Vorgell moved in for a taste of heaven, Madd’s dark eyes flew open and fixed on his, eyeball-to-eyeball. Vorgell stopped cold.

“I thought we settled this last night,” said the object of his desire.

“You know I can’t help it.” Vorgell pressed forward, still intent on a kiss, only to have Madd shove a hand in his face.

“Get the fuck off!” The little guy sat up, his cloak falling open and sliding off one shoulder.

Vorgell stared at the golden torque clasping a large snake-eyed jewel at the base of Madd’s throat. He’d seen such adornments on the necks of captured pleasure slaves and knew their magic. He looked for lettering on the metal.

Distracted by a puzzle, he sank back on his haunches. “You wear Baron Flemgu’s
love collar
?”

“Love has nothing to do with it.” Madd jerked the cloak up and fastened it high on his neck, hiding the collar again.

“I never saw a slave wearing one of those who did not love their master.” The thought of Madd loving anyone felt wrong.

“He’s not my master.”

“That collar says he is.”

Madd’s shoulders sagged. “Flemgu forced it on me, all right? He made my life a living hell. He’s a godless bastard.” He shook his head, raven-wing hair falling across his eyes. “My grandmother was a witch. She lived in the woods near Flemgu’s castle. Made her way by bartering love potions and fertility amulets, mostly to women. After I ran off to Gurgh and got in trouble, she took me in. Soon after, Flemgu’s pretty little bride came to her for an amulet to prevent conception, but he found out. His wizards were so fucking incompetent they couldn’t uncouple the spell, so he brought it to my grandmother to break. But she refused, so he broke her.”

“You saw?”

“Yeah. She—I wish I hadn’t.”

“And he took you?”

Madd nodded. “Hell yes. The dinky-cocked pig screws girls on the side, but he prefers boys for fun. I fought him so damn hard it became a game, and he determined to break me. He tried everything: force, starvation, even his last speck of unicorn horn. So much for innocence; I was every man’s whore that night. Finally his damn wizards got something right and used a basilisk egg to create a love collar that would do the trick. But Gran had fed me an adder-stone, and I had magic enough to counter the spell, or at least part of it. It’s just, well… if I’m close to him, I want him. I can’t say no to him when we’re face-to-face.”

That had to be the worst kind of hell, to not be able to say no to your rapist. Rape was not something Vorgell knew much about. He’d seen it, of course. A man didn’t gain experience in raiding and pillage without witnessing acts of force. He’d never forced his body into that of someone unwilling, however. Only his adventure with the unicorn horn made the idea somewhat appealing—and that was because his cock now stiffened at just about anything that might involve sex.

“I need to get it off.” Madd sounded angry, which was normal.

“The collar?” Vorgell could envision getting other things off.

“What else? Hide it with a scarf? While I wear it, I’m screwed. If anyone sees his letters, they’ll tell him. And if he finds me, I’m helpless because all I’ll do is fall to my knees and beg to suck his dick while he lops off my head.”

“Maybe he won’t—”

“Are you listening to me? This isn’t a love collar, you unschooled oaf! This is a
hate
collar. And Flemgu promised to kill me the next time I resisted. I think escaping his castle pretty much seals my fate—though he might fuck me first.” Blowing out a disgusted sigh, Madd bounced from the bed and grabbed his boots. “I would have gone to a crank wizard to get it off, except that I don’t trust any of that lot.”

“I’ll help you.”

“What?” One boot already on his foot and the other boot in hand, Madd looked his way.

“I have nothing else to do. And it’s not right a man should be enslaved by sorcery.”

“You are. You’re enslaved to your cock for the rest of your life after fucking that damn unicorn horn.”

Vorgell growled. “Remind me at your peril. I’m tempted at every turn to have my way with your pretty ass.”

Madd shot him a hard little smile. “So why not just do it? Why help me?”

Why indeed? All he had to do was grab the slim, pretty man sitting on the cot. He could easily throw him down and have his way. Oh, Madd would put up a fight, and he’d be a tight fit for certain, but Vorgell knew he’d find pleasure in fucking that smooth young bottom. Or that acid-tongued mouth, which would yield much sweeter sounds when filled with his greedy cock. But somehow that thought didn’t excite him as much as it did the ramrod between his legs.

He shrugged. “Because back in the forest, you didn’t save yourself by leaving me behind. You sent me through first. So,” he said, hunkering forward. “What do we have to do to free you of that thing?”

Madd’s hopeful, wary eyes met his. “Something crazy. We need to break back into Stormfell, the baron’s castle.”

M
ADD
couldn’t believe he was telling Vorgell any of this, much less enlisting the giant to his cause. He thought Vorgell would laugh at him and was grateful when he didn’t.

“The castle is leagues from here, and it’s a fortress. I hope you have a plan for how to do this,” Vorgell said instead.

“Not a good one.” Madd went back to yanking on his boots. He was still coming to grips with Vorgell wanting to help him. No one ever helped him. Not unless something was in it for them. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what Vorgell would get out of this. What moved a man to put his own life at risk for someone he barely knew? They were both doing it, acting like fools, because hiding out would be a hell of a lot easier for Madd without Vorgell.

His only goal in helping the oaf was keeping Vorgell out of the hands of wizards, because he knew what wizards did to people with magic in their bones. As far as he could tell, though, Vorgell’s only goal in helping
him
was to get into his pants.

Madd shrugged, deciding he might as well accept the help. It wasn’t as though he had any other offers, and he could sort the rest out later. “The baron’s castle is well-guarded. And if he’s in residence, I can’t risk getting caught. But the Sun Festival’s coming up, and he has to attend. That gives me a chance. With your help, I can get past whatever magic he’s deployed.” He stood and said, “Let’s hit the latrine, then find something to eat.”

“If you don’t need my help just yet, and aren’t willing to address my needs, perhaps we could stop by a brothel before breakfast?”

“Seriously? Can’t you use your hand? The coin we got last night should last us a while, but not if you spend it all on whores. Unless I hire you out as a draft animal, we’re not getting paid again anytime soon.” They stepped out into a misty morning reeking of urine. The alley leading to the street also served as the tavern latrine.

“This city is impressive but not a healthy place to live. That’s why I left it in the first place. It’s filled with liars and thieves, and smells of sewage.” Vorgell availed himself of the wall. He craned his neck, looking over, but Madd had anticipated the big guy trying to catch a peek and positioned his cloak accordingly.

“We’re not exactly hiding out in the high-rent district.” He had chosen the establishment specifically for its low reputation. “I would have accepted the Sun Virgin’s offer for us to serve as her escort but for—” Madd tapped the collar of his cloak to indicate what lay beneath.

“At least I now know why you turned her down.”

They stepped into the street, where the air no longer smelled of piss. They inhaled new scents of frying meats and breads, sharp spices, and wet laundry. Whereas the night before the street had been mostly empty, the domain of street vendors, drunks, and thieves, morning presented a quite different picture. Cooks and artisans were setting up shop, and the people looked busy without being furtive.

“If the baron is looking for us, I will be easier to find than you,” Vorgell noted. He towered above the crowd.

“You
are
difficult to conceal. We can’t do anything about your size, but maybe we could dye your hair.”

“It stays as it is,” Vorgell growled. “I will not bow to fear of any man.”

“Balls to you, but Flemgu’s probably saying you’re a runaway slave. Both of us.” Madd frowned. He wasn’t a slave at all, despite the collar around his neck that proclaimed him to be one. And not just any slave, but a pricey, spellbound, cock-in-ass favorite. His current position in society could not be more degrading. “He won’t go public about the unicorn thing. He’ll be afraid that the Wizards’ Guild would find you first.”

Vorgell simply grunted. Now that he was distracted by food, his erection no longer cleared a path before them. Indeed, dressed in proper clothes he actually looked presentable, though he still drew stares for his formidable appearance. The downside for Madd was that he looked positively tiny next to his towering companion. He shrugged. At least no one would get to him now without having to deal with Vorgell first. He’d been in worse situations.

They found a woman selling meat pies from a covered basket and bought five of her tasty wares, one pie for Madd and four for Vorgell. That was another problem.
All
of the barbarian’s appetites were enormous.

“Those were quite good,” Vorgell said, licking his lips.

“Lucky for us they were cheap.”

The barbarian shot him a wide grin. “You have frugal habits. You would make a good wife.”

Madd shook his head in disgust. “I’ll make a good corpse if I can’t get my hands on the basilisk egg the baron keeps locked up in his castle.”

As they walked toward the river, something new and eager glinted in Vorgell’s eyes. Even with meat juice dripping into his unkempt beard, he looked up for a fight. If he were ever inclined to take the man as a lover, Madd thought, that beard would be the first thing to go. He wondered what Vorgell would look like with less facial hair.

“That brings us back to your plan,” Vorgell said.

Yes, it did. Unfortunately, while Madd was pretty sure he could get them into the castle—and even to where Baron Flemgu kept the basilisk egg—that was the extent of his plan. The main crux of it was that the baron needed to be absent.

“Like I said, we do it during the Sun Festival, because that’s a time we can count on that the baron won’t be there. I really can’t afford to run into him.”

“And I can’t go in alone because I don’t know what a basilisk egg looks like. And because I need you to deal with any magic.”

“No. You can’t go in alone because if Flemgu catches
you
, he will sell you to the Wizards’ Guild before another day passes—and part of his price will be a spell to find me.” He could think of several other reasons Vorgell going in alone was a bad idea. Among other things, the man didn’t know how to hide. “We’re both safer if we’re together. But yes, if I can get enough magic, I can counter the castle wards. I know my way around the place, and you can crush the skulls of anyone unlucky enough to catch us.”

“I’ve heard better plans.”

“Then cough one up.”

At the corner just ahead of them, a small gang of painted youths clustered near an open portal garishly decorated with images of copulating men. Each of the youths sported bright-red genitals dyed to advertise his profession. Vorgell stopped in his tracks, cock at attention. Madd silently cursed. The boys were nothing but damn teases. It was against city law for a brothel to open for business before dark.