After the long day of traveling, the group stopped for the night and Rufus, Leone and Arngrim started setting up the camp. Alicia offered to help and got the job of gathering some grass and dry leaves so it would be more comfortable to sleep on the ground. Setting up the fire ended up being Lezard's job again, though he couldn't complain. Normal means to do that were impractical in his opinion, anyway.

"I'll go check that the area is secure," Dylan simply said when the others have started their tasks and walked off to the darkening night.

Arngrim dumped a pile of firewood next to Lezard and went to find some more. The mage set some up where he had cleaned a spot for the campfire and used a simple fire spell to light the twigs. He then stood up and looked into the horizon. The sun had just set, and the western sky was crimson and yellow.

"Looks like Dylan wandered off on his own," he stated, mostly to himself though both Rufus and Alicia were close enough to hear him. "Better go check that he didn't run into anything dangerous. I thought I sensed the undead nearby earlier."

"I'll look after the campfire," Alicia offered, and Lezard bowed his head slightly to her before walking off towards where Dylan had gone.

It was a good thing all daylight had not disappeared yet, though it was a little hard to see outside the campfire range. He wasn't about to bother with magic lights right now though; finding a big man from what was mostly plains and small woods couldn't be that hard, now could it? Nevertheless, it took him several minutes to locate Dylan, as the man had gone to check the nearby group of trees. Lezard smirked to himself and headed over.

"Hmm?" Dylan mumbled and turned around. He was holding his sword ready and had a rather mean look on his face. He then lowered the sword. "Just you, huh. You should be more careful. We're not the only ones here, and whatever is here is not human."

"Aww, come on now. You couldn't possibly think that I'm a monster," Lezard commented and gave the other man the most innocent look he just could. "But, seeing that you have your sword in hand," he then pointed out, "I'm not surprised or anything. That is a dead giveaway on the something being here part, you know."

The other man didn't answer. He simply turned around and pointed towards a group of trees and bushes further away and moved to the side, apparently trying to see what was in there. Lezard tilted his head. This had to be what he had sensed earlier, but why was it not moving? The undead usually attacked living things on sight, after all. He sighed and started chanting; once Dylan would draw the enemy out, he would be ready to zap whatever it was.

Dylan didn't waste too much time doing that, and Lezard wasn't even done with his chant yet when a couple of ghostly forms floated from the bush area and attacked the swordsman. Dylan swung his sword at the closest one, cutting right through it. The hit wasn't enough to kill the thing, and it counterattacked. Dylan chose to evade and moved backwards while Lezard finished his spell and aimed it at the second ghost.

"Fire Storm!" He yelled, and flames engulfed the thing. It screamed silently before vanishing, and Lezard smiled victoriously. He then moved to the side; he would have to let Dylan take care of the other enemy, since he couldn't charge another spell right away.

"Begone!" Dylan muttered as he brought his sword down on the thing, again cutting straight through. The ghostly form met the same fate as its friend, and it also vanished without a trace. The area fell silent; the battle had apparently scared of any birds and such that had been around.

"Well," Lezard said, straightening his clothes. "That was all of them, I believe?"

Dylan nodded and put his sword away. "It was just those two. Makes me wonder though; those were lower-level spirits that are usually controlled by vampires. It doesn't seem to me like there are any vampires here. Can you use magic to confirm that?"

"If you insist..." Lezard closed his eyes and did a quick scan on the area. There was nothing magical or undead around, so he shrugged. "Nothing around indeed. They must have strayed away from their master and lost their way... Nevertheless, the undead should not be allowed to wander around freely."

Dylan looked at where the spirits had been, a thoughtful look on his face. He then turned and nodded towards the camp. "Let us go back, hmm?"

Lezard didn't reply; instead, he simply followed the other man back to where the group of trees was then stopped. "Wait a moment, would you, Dylan?" He called to the swordsman and sat down next to the nearest tree. "There's something I'd like to ask you."

Dylan looked at him. "What is it?"

"Well," Lezard said with a friendly smile on his face. "I must admit I'm getting curious here. You seem to know a lot about... things. Like that thing back in Coriander, which you said was common knowledge but the princess didn't know anything about it. Also, just now you were being awfully knowledgeable about those spirits."

"The princess has been away from her home for years," Dylan pointed out. "And really, what makes you so curious about something like this?"

Lezard's eyes darkened a little. "Now that is not fair, answering a question with another question."

"Is that so," Dylan answered and crossed his arms across his chest. "Maybe I don't like your questions. Are you suspecting me of something, then?"

"No, no, not at all!" Lezard replied quickly, a smile on his face again. "As I said, I'm merely curious, that's all. You can't blame me for that, can you?" He stood up and dusted off his cloak. Not buying it I see, he thought to himself. You are a clever man, Dylan, and definitely hiding something.

Dylan shook his head. "And how many questions are you going to be asking should I answer one of them? Looks like instead of anything else, I should be asking you if there is a way to shut your mouth."

"Aww, but that's easy, you could just press me against the tree and kiss me passionately," Lezard said cheerfully, in an attempt to take the conversation to a completely unrelated direction. If he thought that Dylan was being suspicious, it was clear that it was also the other way around.

He didn't get a reply; instead, the swordsman grabbed him by the collar, pressed him against the tree and kissed him. Lezard tried to mumble something but couldn't and ended up responding to the kiss. He had hard time doing anything else anyway, being stuck between Dylan and the tree. Dylan had also grabbed a hold of his hands for no apparent reason - unless the swordsman was expecting resistance, of course.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" He hissed to Dylan once the swordsman broke the kiss. Dylan was still keeping Lezard pinned against the tree, and the mage squirmed slightly, glaring death at the other man. Both actions were unfortunately being ineffective, and Dylan didn't react at all.

"Silencing you," Dylan stated the obvious. "I also miss the point of glaring at me like that, seeing that should you actually want me gone, you could just zap me."

Think that didn't cross my mind yet? Lezard thought, somewhat annoyed. He had to admit being good, though; his distraction had worked perfectly. Now he just had to keep the conversation focused on something that would keep Dylan from doubting him. "Ah, but why would I do that?" He asked, trying to sound as carefree as he just could.

A hint of a smile flashed on Dylan's face, and he let go of the mage's hands. He lifted Lezard's chin a little then let his hand wander down on the other man's body. "I don't see a reason," he said as he stopped his hand on Lezard's crotch. "Your body doesn't seem to have one, either."

Lezard froze at the sudden realization then gathered his thoughts again. "Ah, yes, indeed."

"Well," Dylan said and knelt down, looking up. "Guess I should do something about that. My fault, after all." He worked on Lezard's clothes shortly then leaned closer and took the tip of the mage's erection in his mouth.

"Gah," Lezard moaned involuntarily and closed his eyes, the sensation making him rather weak all of a sudden. He shortly considered zapping the other man to make him stop this, but his body was telling him to forget about it. He was still more or less calm at least, and planned on doing his best to annoy the swordsman if he just could. "So is this... something that's... expected from... loyal subjects of Dipan?"

Dylan paused for a moment. "Depends entirely on who you serve," he replied matter-of-factly and glanced up, only to find the look on Lezard's face quite amusing. The mage did seem a little weakened by his actions though, and he wrapped one hand around Lezard's lower back in case he needed support. "If you are inquiring about my preferences and if I've done this before," Dylan continued, "the answer would be yes." He then returned to what he had been doing, and Lezard gritted his teeth.

"You're really... bothersome... you know," he muttered.

Dylan didn't answer. He continued licking the length then raised his free hand and stroked the base of the mage's erection carefully, applying just enough pressure to make Lezard squirm.

"I really... should- aah," Lezard mumbled, suddenly quite happy that there was a tree trunk behind his back. He grabbed it with one hand for support; his other hand found Dylan's shoulder, and he gripped it tight. "Just kill you."

Again, he didn't receive a reply. He ended up biting his lip, rather annoyed by that fact. He couldn't of course exactly expect Dylan to be talking, but that didn't change the fact that his attempts at annoying the man had been in vain so far. Physical resistance wasn't an option at the moment, so all he could do was talk - and maybe criticize the swordsman's performance.

He got his chance a few seconds later when Dylan moved a little to take more of the length into his mouth, and squeezed the base of the organ enough to make Lezard cry out. "You don't think you could be a little more... guh... gentle down there?" He hissed at Dylan. He didn't dare to move, though, and could just hope the swordsman got the message.

Dylan did; he moved his hand away and slid it along the mage's side to his backside, pushing Lezard's clothes out of the way in the process. He then proceeded to fondle the mage's buttocks, skillfully moving his fingers around. Lezard trembled a little and unconsciously pushed his hips forward as Dylan continued to pleasure his sex. He was starting to feel powerless and feared that he wouldn't be able to support himself much longer. At least Dylan seemed to have a good hold on his waist, so there was little chance of falling even if his strength did run out.

"G-aah," Lezard muttered through his still clenched teeth. "Dylan... mmh..."

A little more, and Lezard figured he wouldn't be able to take much more. Dylan certainly knew what he was doing, and he had to wonder where the man had learned all that. Considering Dylan's answer to an earlier question though, he had... obviously had the opportunity.

"Makes me... wonder... gah... what else you're... good at," Lezard managed to say while trying to keep himself from moaning too loud. Yes, he definitely wouldn't be able to last much longer.

"Many things," Dylan shortly replied and proceeded to lick the tip of the mage's organ while stroking the length of it carefully. He had apparently noticed Lezard was nearing climax as his caresses were getting more intense.

Lezard forced his eyes open and looked down then let his head fall back as his field of vision suddenly went blurry. He let go of Dylan's shoulder and slapped his hand over his mouth just in time to stop himself from crying out as he came. His strength also failed at that point, but Dylan caught him and held him up until he managed to clear his head a little.

"Well," Lezard commented, more or less out of breath. He was still leaning on the tree and didn't dare to move right now. "One less mystery to solve, then."

"How come?" Dylan inquired as he stood up and drew his hands away from the mage's body.

Lezard smiled. "Oh, never mind that. I should really-" He was about to say something else but caught movement farther away and froze. Dylan turned to look, raising his hand to the hilt of his sword. There was a shadow coming towards them.

"Dylan? Lezard?" Rufus' voice then called. Dylan let go of the sword and mumbled some kind of a reply; Lezard glanced at him - and then started hastily fixing his clothes when he realized he still needed to do that. He could only hope that Rufus didn't see them yet, or that he wasn't paying attention.

Rufus noticed them a couple of seconds later and walked over. "Oh, there you are."

"Ran into a couple of ghosts," Dylan said, nodding to the archer. "Wasn't much of a battle, but had to check that there aren't more and take a little breather."

"Oh?" Rufus commented and then looked at Lezard, who grinned at him.

"Just a little dizzy," the mage explained. "The spell I used was rather exhausting, you see. Dylan helped me over here and we stopped for a moment." He got to his feet properly, though he had to hold on to the tree for support. His legs were feeling weak, and though this fact annoyed him greatly he did his best not to let the other two notice anything.

Rufus frowned a little. "That bad huh? But didn't Dylan just say..."

"I have high standards when it comes to enemies," Dylan interrupted, and Rufus looked at him for a moment before shaking his head. Dylan ignored him and looked at Lezard. "Well, let's return to the camp. Can you walk, or should I carry you?"

"You go on ahead," Lezard said. "I'll follow in a minute. Want to do a scan on the area and all."

"Sure thing." Rufus turned and headed back towards where he had come from. Dylan didn't move; he simply stood still and looked at Lezard.

"And what are you staring at? Get going already," Lezard hissed at the swordsman. "I might have let you touch me earlier, but you are not carrying me anywhere."

Dylan gave him a knowing smirk and walked off.

Author's notes:

Lezard needs molesting. Any questions?

My sister requested this. Most of it was written in snippet-size parts on my creative journal, so if any part of it feels like it connects badly with another, it's probably just that.

- Elm (September 2007)