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When Nolan awoke the small inn room was washed in a cool morning haze. He was groggy, oppressed by a mild headache, and there was a sour taste in his mouth. When he tried to move he found that he couldn't. A weight lay across him and for a foolish moment he thought it was his knapsack, and that he had gone to sleep with it resting on his chest and stomach. He updated his theory when he discovered that the weight was breathing.

He cracked open his eyes and struggled onto his elbows. His long, red, dirty-feeling body was partially obscured under disheveled covers. On top of him, above the covers, laying face-down and at an angle was a large, nude male Tiger. Nolan remembered now. He let his head fall back against his pillow.

The room was a wreck; there was a cluster of beer bottles in one corner, most were standing though one was on its side, a hardened splash of wax ornamented the floor near the table by the door, there was a tipped over bucket with a rag hanging out of it and clothing was strewn everywhere. And there were big, obvious strings of dried cum; on the wall, on the floor, on the table. Nolan thought he had cleaned it all last night, apparently he had cleaned almost none of it. The musty odor of stale bodies and stale sex was strong in the room's cool air.

Last night had been a mistake, he realized that now. And though he had enjoyed himself immensely, and he still liked Kas, that didn't change anything. He was on a mission and this, this was a distraction. He blamed the alcohol and then he blamed himself, then he told himself to forget about blame and to start looking for a way out.

Nolan tried to slip out from under the sleeping Tiger. It was difficult, Kas was not a light person. He soon came to the understanding that there would be no delicate way of doing it, and so heaved and rolled the cat over, pitching him against the wall by the bed and onto his back. His morning wood flopped between his meaty thighs, and he remained asleep. He was a heavy sleeper. Nolan slipped from the bed, dressed in silence, gathered his things and slipped away without waking Kas.

***

The route was quiet. The bright sun warmed him through the trees and the breeze cooled him. The birds and the butterflies were out and the view had not changed, yet none of it enraptured him. He felt hollowed out. His heart was a lead weight that he dragged behind him. He was also physically dirty. There had been no opportunity for him to bathe, and so he carried the stink the previous night, it was a shameful bouquet.

After perhaps an hour and a half of immiserated trudging he heard a familiar voice calling from behind him, far off in the distance: "Hey! What the fuck?!"

Nolan turned. It was Kas, jogging to catch him up. He was still a few hundred yards off. Nolan waited on the roadside. Seeing that he was waiting Kas switched to a fast walk. He was laboring underneath a heavy pack, a set of poles extended out from shoulders and were wrapped in a roll of canvas. He was wearing the same clothes as the night before, the same tight beige shirt with string at the neck, the same black cloth pants. And as he approached the last few yards a terrible stench approached with him. It seemed that he too had not had a chance to bathe. His face was coated with beads of sweat and his shirt was damp in the usual spots, his fur was unkempt and tufted in places.

"Kas, I'm-" Nolan started to say, and was cut off when the sweaty Tiger grabbed him by the front of his shirt, jerked him off balance and then shoved him to the ground. Nolan fell backwards, dragged to the earth by the weight of his knapsack. He toppled heavily into the dirt of the roadside, raising a thin cloud of brown dust.

"Asshole!" said Kas, frowning down at him.

"You're right, I deserved that" said Nolan, sitting up in the dirt.

Kas stood panting for a moment, then said: "What the fuck, man? I really thought we had something back there."

"So did I" said Nolan, unable to meet his gaze.

"Then why'd you run off?" Kas demanded.

"Because..." said Nolan, he searched for the right thing to say. "Because I've been given a task" he said, "and until that task is completed everything else must be subordinated to that task. I have to focus, I can't let myself become distracted. It's very important that I avoid entanglements. And it's not that I don't like you! It's just... I can't do this right now. This isn't the best time." Having hoped to be firm, put things in order and explain himself, he had first fumbled, and then collapsed into an unedifying whining. The concepts and ideas that made sense in his head were gibberish in his mouth.

"What's the reward?" Kas asked. His anger diminished, he posed the question standoffishly.

"The... what?"

"For your task, what's the reward?"

"There is no reward" said Nolan, perplexed.

Kas looked upon him with a bemused pity. "Then why fuckin' do it?"

"I'm sorry?"

"If you're not getting paid, why do the work?" Kas asked, and by his tone and posture it was apparent that he thought the answer was shatteringly obvious.

"Because it's my job, I'm supposed to - I have to" said Nolan.

"How much did you make as a Champion?" Kas asked. "There must have been prize money, surely."

"I didn't..." Nolan trailed off as he did not know how to respond.

"Do you mean to say that you didn't take anything?"

"Well, no, not exactly, but it was never about the money" said Nolan.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Kas sniggered, a grin emerging on his feline face. "Where did you live?"

"A dormitory in the lower palace" said Nolan.

"A dormitory" Kas echoed sarcastically, his grin widening. "Like some palace guard?"

"Yes, I lived with the guards" said Nolan.

"Oh, wow" said Kas, smirking. He wiped his mouth with his hand and shifted his weight from one foot to the other and sniggered at Nolan's admission. "I never realized you were a complete fuckin' rube."

"Hey, I'm not a rube!" said Nolan, frowning, resenting the accusation.

"It makes sense now" said Kas. "You're a complete idiot."

"No I'm not!" Nolan grunted, and he struggled up to his feet, kicking up a cloud of dust. His confusion was turning to irritation, he wanted to be standing for this conversation.

"Yes you are" said Kas, still grinning. "You're a complete moron. How much did you get for winning a tournament, what was the prize money?"

"It depended on the tournament" said Nolan tersely, patting the dust from his clothes.

"How much, seriously?" Kas insisted.

"A purse of coins usually, and a statuette - trophy, thing."

"Were they gold coins?"

"Gold or silver, yes" said Nolan.

"And the statuette, was that gold too?"

"Sometimes."

"And you didn't see any of the money, you didn't get a cut or anything?" Kas asked, he was struggling with the concept of what he was being told.

"Listen" said Nolan, he was annoyed and defensive, and he didn't like these questions. "I serve the King of Ylot."

"And what do you get in return for your service?" Kas asked, posing the question as simply as possible.

"I don't need_anything in return!" said Nolan, raising his voice. "Because, unlike you, I have a sense of honor, and duty, and _loyalty. I'm loyal to my King, I do what he asks because that's my duty. And because it's honorable."

"So when you sold your brain, how much did you get for it?" Kas inquired mockingly.

"Oh fuck off!" Nolan yelled. He shoved Kas in the chest and turned away from him, walking off alone along the road. His equine ears were pinned to his scalp. It was the first time in years that he had lost his temper, with anyone, and for any reason. Kas had really wounded him.

"Hey, come on" said Kas, and broke into a quick-step to catch up. He walked beside Nolan. He wasn't upset. "Listen, I'm loyal too, and I have a sense of duty. But I expect some kind of... remuneration! Reciprocation! Loyalty is a two-way street, you know? Otherwise you're just a sucker."

"Why are you following me?" said Nolan, he was being very mean. His ears were still pinned back.

"Oh no fucking way am I letting you go without me" said Kas, "you're going to get torn to pieces out there."

"I don't need your help" said Nolan, upping the pace of his stride, eyes stubbornly fixed forward.

"Yes you do, you're just too stupid to realize it" said Kas. "You're too stupid to even see how stupid you are."

"Don't you have friends to get back to? They probably share your values" said Nolan. He was hoping to wound Kas the way Kas had wounded him. It was a good thing that he had no talent for cruelty.

"Ah! Fuck those guys" said Kas. "Nah I ditched 'em, remember, they - we - whatever, got kicked out of town last night. They took the road south. They're going to Yldon to look for work. The only way for me to catch them up now is by going through the town that I'm not allowed to enter. Yeah, I kind of burned that bridge already."

Nolan slowed and eventually stopped altogether. He was arriving at the realization that, through his actions, he had forced Kas into an ultimatum; to either go south with Wilda and the rest of her band, or go north and try to catch him up. The latter option didn't even have a guarantee of success. "So... you're saying you quit your job to come after me?" said Nolan, rounding on Kas slowly, ears no longer pinned back.

"Fuck Wilda, and fuck that job" said Kas, "I was thinking about what you said, the other night, about your secret mission. I thought maybe I could tag along, and help out." He was bashful about admitting that he wanted to go with Nolan.

"You did?"

"Well I assumed there'd be a fuckin' reward that we could split!" said Kas, he tried to be boisterous though the way his cheeks had reddened beneath his fur belayed his true feelings. "If I'd known you were doing it for free I wouldn't have bothered."

"So, umm, do you still want to come with me? Even though you don't know what my task is, and that there won't be a reward?"

"Not if you're going to be a prick the entire time" said Kas, he was very awkward now. He couldn't meet Nolan's gaze.

"I wasn't planning on it" he said, the tall red Horse was grinning, he couldn't help himself, the Tiger's actions were so heartening.

"And, you know, it's like I said, I can't let you be out here alone" said Kas. "Do you even know where you're going?"

Nolan turned his head and looked along the road. "Not really" he said. "Do you know the roads?"

"Sure I do" said Kas energetically, latching on to the lifeline Nolan had thrown to him.

"So what's down there?" Nolan asked, nodding to the road ahead.

"There's a town about six miles that way" said Kas, "but, about a mile that way, there's a river that would be a really good place to stop for a bath."

It was obvious what the cat wanted, what they both wanted, they were too bashful to ask it outright. Nolan thought he might provide a prompt, a technical excuse that would let them express themselves indirectly. "I could really use someone who knows the roads," he said "you would be doing me a big favor."

Kas was grinning in spite of himself. "Lucky for you I have some spare time on my hands, and I _suppose_I could help you out. I guess."

"Even though there's no reward?"

"I'm going to change my mind if you say that too many times" said Kas.

The two of them started walking along together. "So, what's the river like?" Nolan asked.

"Oh it's beautiful" said Kas. "Slow flowing, about waist deep, with a stony bed so the water's crystal clear. And it's rain fed too, not glacial, so it's not too cold either."

"Sounds like a pretty good river" said Nolan. "I'm really looking forward to that bath" he added as they walked together. "The stink coming off you is making my eyes sting." He elbowed Kas playfully in the ribs.

"You're no bed of roses yourself" Kas riposted, elbowing Nolan in return. Then he thought of a better response and said that too. "Though I'll bet you just want to look at my ass in the daylight."

"That's a crime now?" Nolan joked back, paying him the compliment he had been angling for. They both sniggered. Nolan had hoped Kas would catch him up. He was very glad that he did. He had been extremely prepared to cave in and... let Kas accompany him, as he had suspected Kas would want to. They were both quietly ecstatic.

***

They bathed naked in the river. It exactly as Kas had described. It was a hot, sunny summer day and the cool water was very welcome. Then afterwards they washed their clothes, and sunbathed nude on the pebbly bank while their clothing dried on the rocks beside. At midday they arrived at the town Kas had mentioned. It was a grain town, surrounded by waving fields of wheat. After lunch Kas found a farmer selling homebrewed beer, and purchased eight bottles, and for the whole afternoon Nolan was irritated by the clinking of the bottles on the outside of Kas's pack where he had strung them.

Kas pestered Nolan for details of his mission. Reluctantly, at first, Nolan spilled the beans. He found that once he had started it was difficult to stop. He told Kas all about the murder of Prince Yldgard, the escape of his Dragon-assailant into Kalrithia, and his specific task of crossing the border, locating the Dragon, and bringing him back to Ylot. The task made sense to Kas, and seemed ethical to him. He dismissed out of hand the possibility of them bringing this Dragon, this Roevwyn, back alive. The risk of him getting loose on the return journey was too great. He mused aloud that he was only going to be executed anyway, and that they would be performing justice. Kas tried to put a positive spin on the task ahead, but eventually conceded that he didn't want to think about it. And so for the rest of the day he strategized on how he would parlay their success into a reward, and then fantasized in detail, vocally, about all the things he was going to buy with his cut.

In the evening they made a camp, about twenty minutes' walk from the road, in a glade by a stream. They set traps on the obvious approaches, branches bent back and secured by ropes that they pegged across the paths. Anyone coming along would trip a rope, the branch would swish and Kas and Nolan would hear them coming. They felt more secure that way, and neither of them would have to keep a watch. They built a fire and sat in its warmth. Kas wedged a beer bottle in the stream so he would have a cold beer to drink.

They compared equipment. Nolan showed Kas his shortsword, his small bow and cylinder containing the arrows, his dried foods and his jars of fruit preserves, his stamina and healing potions, and the clothing he had been gifted. He told Kas to take whatever he needed. Kas had clothes but that was about it. He'd owned a good sword but Wilda hadn't let him keep it. He took only the bow and arrows. It was for hunting rabbits and other small game and wouldn't be much use in a fight, but it was better than nothing. Nolan wasn't much of an archer and so was happy to let it go.

Nolan chose not to mention his belt full of gold coins. He guessed at Kas's most likely response: fuck the mission, let's take the cash and leave! The coins would be a bone of contention between them, nothing more. Nor did he inform Kas of his suspicion Chancellor Brobham Tellard was scheming to get rid of him, and that his mission was a deception. It would only discourage him, and Nolan didn't think it was important, and he didn't really believe it himself either. It was only a theory.

While Kas had a tent (the two poles and the big roll of canvas that he carried on top of his pack) he did not erect it on that first night. The day had been hot, and the evening was warm and sticky. And so they had fucked in the open and bedded down under the stars. It was a strange sort of relationship. They showed each other little affection in the daytime; no kissing, hand-holding, or even any lingering eye-contact. It was more of a 'friends with benefits' type of arrangement, which suited them both.

The next two days passed in the same pattern.

They filled the hours with idle chatter, on the road, in camp in the evenings, and late at night when they spooned together under the covers inside Kas's tent. Nolan got to know his partner. He learned his full name was Kasmer Broadleaf, and that he received his last name when he was fourteen and living on the streets. He had signed on for poor-relief and had needed to give a last name, and as he did not have a last name the clerk had written the name of the street where he was staying. Kas had been living in the loft of some merchant warehouse at the time, squatting beneath the rafters, on Broadleaf Street. Thus: Kasmer Broadleaf.

When Nolan stated his intention to cross into Kalrithia, Kas suggested a change in plans. The Kalrithian border was a series of narrow mountain passes running east to west, with each crossing point fortified by a wall, a gatehouse, towers; all patrolled by border guards. The guards were well paid and looked after, Kas said, and so were impossible to bribe and almost impossible to sneak by. Crossing was not allowed without a pass. There was, however one crossing point which they might be able to use. Kas said it was two week's walk to the east, high in the mountains. There, there was no wall or gatehouse, only a lone watchtower and a few buildings that housed the guard detachment. That was the crossing point for them. He said he had used it before to get into Kalrithia.

Nolan agreed with this plan, and on their third day travelling together they turned off the main north-south road, leaving behind them the plentiful traffic and regularly spaced towns, and the ubiquitous Ylotian castles and fortresses they sometimes passed under, and started on the narrower trail to the east. They were entering the wilderness.

They camped out each night. Kas told Nolan that this was a good idea, because bandit lookouts would lurk in taverns in the small rural villages, scouting for travelers who they could follow into the woods and rob. Nolan was on edge the whole time. Every person they met in those rundown hillside villages seemed to him like a lookout in disguise, and every rustling gust of wind portended an ambush that would leave them stranded, naked and helpless in the forest. Kas mocked his caution, according to his personal ethos whatever would happen would happen, and could not be avoided or even delayed. And besides, he added, it wouldn't be the end of the world if they did get robbed. Bandits want your money and your stuff, not your life, and money and stuff can be replaced. Kas said that he had been left naked in the woods twice before and he was no better or worse off now than he had ever been.

They gained altitude as they travelled east, climbing through the grand scenery of the Ylotian chain of mountains. The ancient forests grew thick and wild around them, and the good weather left them. Their days were cloudy, there was a mist occasional rain and a pervasive dampness. And when it was not raining the dripping from the canopy overhead created the impression of rain. The pathways were muddy, and they walked through wild tall grass and ferns that soaked their shins, sometimes stepping over trees that had fallen across the path.

After two weeks of trekking Kas announced, in his own vivid style, that they had arrived at the border.

***

"Ah dogshit!" said Kas. "I don't fucking believe this!"

"What is it?" Nolan asked.

"Look!" said Kas. They had crested a rise and arrived at a vista. Nolan looked. Through the light rain, a mile away, he saw a watchtower rising through the trees; a stony-grey column supporting a wide, covered, hexagonal viewing platform. It rose up in the middle of a narrow mountain pass, the pass was swamped with pines and swathed in mist. The sharply rising mountainsides disappeared through the low blanket of cloud on either side.

"The tower?" said Nolan. He wasn't surprised by the tower, he had been told there would be one.

"Below the tower! Look below the tower!" said Kas, he was pacing around on the pine-needle covered forest floor, kicking the ferns which exploded in showers of water.

Nolan squinted. Through the gaps in the taller-standing trees he glimpsed the saw-tooth battlements of a wall. "Oh" he said. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Yes!" said Kas. He raged and thrashed within his beige-grey canvas raincoat "Listen... I'm sorry, it's been a few years since I came through here. The wall must be recent. Fuck!" He swung his padded, paw-like foot and decapitated another fern.

"So what does this mean?" Nolan asked.

"We can forget about crossing in secret!" Kas raged. "It'll be dark in a couple hours, they'll have the whole walkway lit up by torches, with archers patrolling. Even if we scale the wall and make it across without being turned into pin-cushions, and I'm not saying that'll be easy, they'll have a stable with horses. We won't outrun them, not on foot. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but we're fucked."

"Is there no other place we can cross?" Nolan asked.

"No! This was the place, and now it's fucked."

"Alright" said Nolan, he put his hands on his hips and sighed. Then he continued along the path they had been following.

"Where are you going?" Kas asked, standing and watching. "Was there some part of 'it's fucked' you didn't understand?"

"I'm going to see if I can bribe them" said Nolan, reverting to his original, pre-Kas plan for crossing the border. "The worst thing they can do is say no, and then we'll be no worse off than we are now."

"Oh, trust me, that's not the worst thing they can do" Kas called after him.

"I'm going to try anyway" Nolan replied with determinedly. "I didn't come this far not to try."

"Fine!" said Kas. He frowned for a moment, then hurried after Nolan, slipping and sliding down the muddy path. "Well wait for me!"

***

They went downhill where the valley dipped, crossed a stream that trickled through the rocks, and scrambled up the far side, stepping from boulder to boulder up what was apparently the path. They weaved through the trees on a trail that ran adjacent to the stream they had crossed. Nolan and Kas came to where the forest halted abruptly, arriving at the final hundred yards where the forest had been cleared and the stumps showed through the trampled, yellowish bracken.

Leaving the cover of the forest and emerging into the open, they felt very exposed. The watchtower loomed over them and in front of them was the wall and gatehouse. The tower was old; moss-covered, clutched by creeping vines, sprouting in places where the damp allowed. The walls were pristine, all freshly hewn, clean-fitting blocks of grey stone rising about two-dozen feet up. The stream was given passage, rippling through an iron cullis. There was a heavy, reinforced timber door, pierced with iron rivets and brackets, and unquestionably shut.

Nolan and Kas walked up the dirty, seldom used path. They glimpsed guards on the walls, armed with bows, dressed in leather and chainmail. If there were lookouts in the tower they could not see them. It was very much an outpost. Nolan and Kas hadn't seen a village since the early morning and doubted the situation on the Kalrithian side was any different. It was a lonely, isolated place.

Nolan approached the gate while Kas lingered in the rear. He lowered the hood of his beige-grey canvas raincoat and beat the timbers with his fist. There was no response and so he beat again. A hatch high up on the gate, covered by a grille, rasped suddenly open, and the cruelly barbed tip of a crossbow bolt poked out.

"Yars?" said the unseen crossbow-holder in a deep, masculine, heavily accented voice, in bad Ylotian.

"I wish to enter Kalrithia" said Nolan, trying to remain calm.

"Arve ye got a parse?" the male voice asked. He wanted to know if he had a pass.

"No."

"Weel ye can fack off theen carnt ye" the voice said, laughing. The hatch snapped shut. Nolan fumed silently in the gatehouse. He pounded the door and the panel rasped harshly open once again.

"Whart nah?" the same voice demanded.

"I'm willing to pay a... toll, if there is one" said Nolan. He knew little about bribery, but he understood that a bribe was never referred to directly. It was always called a 'fine' or a 'fee', or else you might say 'could we settle this between ourselves?' and it was brought up in that way.

"Nar, no tahl, no vee, parse only!" said the voice.

"I can go as high as-" the sound of the mechanical safety catch being disengaged caused him to drop his line of bargaining. "Never mind!" he said, leaping away. Nolan went to where Kas stood, the Tiger had his arms folded and was not terribly impressed.

"Peerless negotiation skills" said Kas sarcastically.

"Alright, you've proved your point, let's go then" said Nolan, dejected at his failure and emotionally prepared to give up and leave.

"Hold your horses..." said Kas. He had had a thought: the Kalrithian border guards were well paid and generally well looked after. However in a place as remote as this there was simply nowhere to spend a wage, regardless of how handsome. Kas was wondering what their rotation was like, how long these guards had been out here. He wondered if they might be open to bribery of non-monetary variety. He wanted to find out. This would need to be a tactful operation, Nolan could not be involved.

Kas entered the lee of the gatehouse. "What are you doing?" Nolan snapped rudely, he felt humiliated and was sulking.

"I'm going to try something" said Kas distractedly. Rather than beat on the door he wedged his feet between the door and the wall, which was sloped, and climbed up to hatch. He used knocked on the grille, the panel slid open and Kas found himself looking the wrong way down the aiming notch and post of a crossbow, at the mean, uncompromising, white-furred and black nosed face of a Polar Bear.

"Oh hello" said Kas, pleasant voice, ingratiating smile. And he spoke in Kalrithian, too. He had stayed in the Empire for several years and spoke the language fluently.

"If you don't have a pass I can't let you through" said the Polar Bear guardsman.

"Of course you can't, I know that" said Kas, still being sweet. "I was just wondering if you would like to make a trade." Kas maneuvered his pack to his front, rummaged for a moment, and then held out a pair of beer bottles; the last of the eight he had purchased a few weeks earlier. He had been saving them, hoping he and Nolan might use them to toast their successful crossing of the border.

"I was wondering if you'd be willing to trade me something for these" said Kas, holding up the bottles. He was testing them, seeing how desperate they were to acquire a luxury which might indicate how bored and desperate they were, and give him a sense of how long they had been out here.

"Is that... beer?" said the Polar Bear, he relaxed his grasp on his crossbow.

"Hand-brewed by a master brewer in Soufon" said Kas, mentioning a city that was known for its high quality beer, and, of course, lying. "And" he added, "nice and cold, too."

"How much do you want?" the Bear asked quickly, putting his crossbow aside.

Kas named a price, it was quite high for two just bottles.

"Done" he said without hesitation. To pay so much and so willingly they must have run out some time ago. The Bear dug into the purse he wore on his belt for the coins, then held them up to the grille in his padded hand. Kas held the beer up, the bottles were too large to fit through the grille. "You can leave them out there" said the Bear. "You can take the money, I'll come out for the beer after you've gone."

"Oh don't be silly" said Kas, "I won't bite."

"Alright, fine" said the Bear, "but try anything and the archers will shoot you down before you make the trees."

"I hardly doubt it" said Kas. The hatch shut and Kas climbed down from the wall, and a moment later there was a clanking and a grinding from within as the gate was unlocked,

"What did you say to him?" Nolan asked, he was standing in the wet grit outside the gatehouse from where he had watched everything. He had not been able to follow the conversation.

"Be quiet! I'm getting us through!" Kas hissed.

The door was hauled in, and the Bear came cautiously out. He was very large, taller than Kas and almost as tall as Nolan. He was more substantial than either of them; heavyset and big at the middle. He wore a blue and white leather surcoat over a chainmail shirt that bundled around his neck, and a pair of dark leather britches. He carried a straightsword on his hip and his hand rested warily on the leather-bound grip. He looked to be about thirty-five.

Kas gasped. "Oh look at this big silly thing" Kas fawned, flattering in Kalrithian. "What are you doing being afraid little old me?"

The big Polar Bear smirked. "Not afraid, just cautious."

"Oh of course not, a big fella' like you, what do you have to be afraid of?" Kas minced over to him in a provocative manner and placed the beers in the Bear's hand, and when he went to take the money he took a light hold of his arm and fawned again: "Oh my goodness, are all you border guard boys so strong?"

"Not all of us."

"It must be terribly frustrating to be out here," Kas continued, flirting unambiguously, "in the middle of nowhere, with only other guards for company."

"You don't know the half of it" said the Bear, playing along.

"Listen..." said Kas, he stepped in closer to the Bear, gazed up at him, making his green eyes as large as possible, "my friend and I really need to get across, and we're willing to do - anything - to make that happen."

"Is that so?" said the Bear, noting the tone and comprehending his meaning. He considered the offer, seemed to capitulate, ignore his better judgement. He said to Kas: "I suppose you'd better come in." He put an arm around Kas's shoulders and led him into the fortress, through the reinforced gateway. "Is your friend coming?"

"Yes, of course" said Kas, he twisted within the Bear's one-armed embrace and waved Nolan over.

Nolan followed and as a trio they passed into a yard. There was a stable with space for no more than three or four horses and open passageways presumably leading to dormitories and halls and probably an armory, and open-sided stairs to the wall's walkway. The Bear paused to close the gateway behind them, he turned the heavy lock and reset the beam set in an iron cradle like a deadbolt, and left the crossbow leaning against the wall by the hatch. On the Kalrithian side was a plain, unreinforced gate. There was no Ylotian border security. Nolan was tense and wary. He had a vague inkling of what Kas had agreed to, however his mind refused to admit the obvious conclusion and so he was very confused.

The courtyard was not deserted, there were guards around in their leather and mail. They eyed their guests with curiosity. They were smaller and more youthful than the Bear, who was apparently their chief.

Kas and Nolan were led from the courtyard into a torch-lit hallway. Windows lined the passage and out of them Nolan saw Kalrithia; it was barren heathland, dotted with boulders, continuing to rise, shrouded now in a mist that was darkening with the oncoming of the evening. They were brought to a small hall containing long tables and were beckoned to sit. The Bear went into a connecting room and returned with two metal plates, on each was a hunk of bread, some cheese and a black sausage.

"We can discuss things further when you have eaten, please, eat! You must be hungry" said the Bear, he'd gotten his rare beer and so was in a good mood. As he left he bumped into a guard who inquired about the beer, and who was not dissuaded when he was loudly told to fuck off.

"What's going on?" Nolan asked immediately, the instant they were alone.

"He's going to let us through without a pass" said Kas, while he did not share Nolan's concern he was sympathetic, and so he did not dive into his food.

"What does he want in return?" Nolan asked.

"We haven't discussed that yet" said Kas evasively. He tore a hole in his bread and pushed his cheese inside to make a sandwich, and took a bite. Nolan did not touch his food, he had concerns about what he would have to do in exchange for it. "You can eat, this is a courtesy" said Kas. "We haven't even started negotiating yet. Don't worry, I've done this before. I know what I'm doing."

"Alright" said Nolan, though he was still apprehensive. He took a bite of the sausage. It tasted better than it looked.

***

A guard acting as a kitchen orderly provided mugs of cold water. Kas told Nolan the Kalrithian word for 'thank you' which he repeated. The orderly nodded his thanks and left. They drank their water and ate their meal. After they were finished eating the Polar Bear returned to check on them.

Nolan immediately stood up and started talking. "Before we go any further I want to know what you expect from us in return for your hospitality. And I want to know what assurance you can give us that you will uphold your end of any bargain." Nolan hoped to speak firmly and so reassert control. Sadly the Bear guard had not understood a word of what he had said, and stood there placidly listening. It wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Kas sunk his head, he was unable to stop Nolan from looking foolish without looking foolish himself.

"Wars ye fahd, gud?" said the Bear, after a moment's pause.

"I-I'm sorry?" Nolan stammered.

"He wants to know if you enjoyed the food" said Kas, then he leaned round Nolan and addressed the Bear in Kalrithian: "it was very nice, thank you."

"Ah, good" said the Bear. "I have tasted your beer, it was excellent."

"Good, I'm very glad to hear that" said Kas. They were leaning around Nolan, he was an impediment to their conversation. He resented it deeply.

"I want your assurance that you will uphold your side of any bargain" Nolan demanded again.

Kas grabbed Nolan by his belt and yanked him back into his seat. He addressed the Bear in Kalrithian: "I'm very sorry about my friend, he doesn't understand how anything works."

"That's quite alright" said the Bear, "I have stupid friends myself." The men grinned to each other, meanwhile Nolan had to focus to keep his ears from flopping against his scalp, and this even without having understood the last exchange.

"I think we should have the discussion now" said Kas, "my friend is anxious to know exactly where we stand."

"Ah! So that's what he wants," said the Bear. "Why don't we accommodate him? No harm in getting it out of the way."

"Indeed, why not?" said Kas. Their host seated himself on the other side of the table where he made the unintentionally humiliating point of sitting across from Kas. The bench groaned under his weight. Kas decided to open negotiations: "Maybe if you tell us exactly what you are hoping for, and then my friend and I can see if we're able to help you."

"Very well..." said the Polar Bear, and he proceeded to politely lay out the situation in his outpost. He explained his problem and how he hoped Kas and Nolan might help, and he promised that if Kas and Nolan were to help him then he would let them through without a pass. Kas listened closely, and tried to keep his expression from dropping as he realized what the Bear was asking for.

"OK" said Kas, once the Bear finished. "I'd like to discuss your offer with my friend before we make a decision."

"Naturally" said the Bear, "if you're not interested just let me know and I will open the gate for you. As it is late I'll let you pitch your tent by the wall, we don't usually allow that. Don't feel pressured."

"Alright, thank you" said Kas. The Polar Bear rose and left, and they were alone once more.

***

"What does he want?" Nolan asked. He was anxious, his instincts told him he should leave this place as soon as possible. They spoke in hushed tones like conspirators.

"Right..." Kas tried to think of the best way to explain this. "You know how I used to be a mercenary?"

"Yeah" said Nolan slowly, in a hard, skeptical tone.

"Right, well, when you're a mercenary, you work on contract. And there are gaps between contracts. And in those gaps you need to find other ways of making money. You follow what I'm saying?"

"Sure" said Nolan in the same slow, steady voice.

"So, for me, when I needed money, what I would do, is..." Kas was blushing and fidgeting.

"What did you do?" Nolan prompted him.

"I... kind of used to work as a prostitute" he sheepishly admitted.

"Oh" said Nolan. He tried not to sound repelled or disgusted because he was neither of those things. He didn't have anything against prostitutes, it was a dirty job but he supposed that somebody had to do it. And he didn't have the right to feel superior, since his job was dirty too; a tournament fighter used their body to provide entertainment for others, and bodily fluids were generally involved. There were more than a few similarities now that he considered it. Still, it wasn't the most highly esteemed of professions.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't know how you would react" said Kas, still cringing.

"No, that's fine, I don't mind" said Nolan. "But, what does that have to do with this?"

"OK..." this was going to be tougher than he anticipated. Nolan wasn't a stupid person really, he was not especially bright but he wasn't stupid. There were just certain things his mind would not accept. He could not, in this instance, put two and two together and come up with four.

Kas decided to relay the information the guard Bear had given him and approach the problem from a technical perspective: "So the way it works here is the guards are on a 30-day rota; they're out here for 30 days then they get replaced. Right now they're 27 days into their rota. And... they're all young men, and none of them are getting laid, and they don't really have anything to distract them. They're getting kind of... antsy. Do you see what I'm saying?"

"Sure" said Nolan blithely. He still didn't understand.

Kas grunted with frustration. "So the Polar Bear guy, he's offering to let us through without a pass, and in exchange, he would like us to..." Kas gesticulated awkwardly "...help his boys blow of a little steam."

"Oh! Ohhh..." Nolan appeared to understand it now. "Alright, OK... so, how are we going to do that?"

"Gah! By letting them fuck us! Clearly!" Kas exploded, choking with frustration. He wanted to grab Nolan by his shirt collar and shake him until he stopped being so dense.

"Oh... Kay..." Nolan stared blankly across the empty dining hall, mouth agape. Now he understood.

"I'm aware that taking it in the ass isn't really your deal, so if it's too much..."

"No, I..." Nolan was stunned and found communication difficult. "I did it... that way, a bunch of times, when I was younger, uh... Wait! Does this mean every guy in this outpost queer, or...?"

"No," said Kas "because if they were queer they could fix each other. No, they're all straight. Apart from the Polar Bear guy. But he's particular like you, which puts him in the same bind as the others."

"But then..." Nolan knit his brow "what do they want with us?"

"Because," said Kas, wearily "for the past four weeks the closest thing to a woman these guys have seen has four legs and lives in the stables. And apparently, well... apparently they've all been taking these really long looks at her. The Bear guy said he has 'serious concerns about her ongoing chastity'."

"If they're so desperate why don't they fix each other?" Nolan asked.

"What makes you think I know how straight boys' minds work?" said Kas. "Listen, they're at the stage where farm animals are becoming tempting. They're not going to have a problem with us."

"Right..." said Nolan. He was more apprehensive than ever and it showed on his long horse face.

"I mean, it makes sense if you think about it" said Kas, "there's a difference between sucking a dude off and getting sucked off by a dude."

"Yeah, no, I-I got that..."

Kas shifted awkwardly, he looked down at the table. "It's alright if you don't want to do it," he said quietly, "we can find another way across. I'm with you either way."

"No, let's do it" said Nolan, suddenly purposeful and determined.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure" said Nolan. He understood what they wanted from him and while it wasn't ideal he felt better for being informed. And he welcomed the chance to be decisive again. He felt like less of a passenger now, less of a slave to fate - a state which he despised.

"It's going to be more than one guy" Kas added, in case Nolan hadn't figured that out.

"Yeah, I know" said Nolan.

"Should I tell their chief we've reached a decision?"

"Wait, no" said Nolan. He became thoughtful again, it seemed he had lost some of his initial nerve. "How can we be sure they won't screw us over?" he asked. "What's stopping them from having their fun and then kicking us back into Ylot?" He had remembered that earlier issue.

"Nothing" said Kas plainly. "You either do this thing on trust or you don't do it at all." He spoke from the confidence of experience. There were no guarantees. There nothing you could do if your client got up afterwards, dressed, said 'I'm not paying' and then walked out. You didn't chase after them, that kind of thing was dangerous and not worth it. And if you didn't trust them to pay then you didn't enter a room alone with them. As Kas said; you did it on trust or not at all. But how could you know who to trust? Well, there were ways.

From the moment that Kas had hinted he and Nolan might wish to 'pay by other means', their Polar Bear host, after initially being hostile and rude, had become tediously, grindingly polite and obeisant. This was normal, and had nothing to do with hospitality. Kas had been here before. When he picked up a client and they would go for a drink and talk first, sometimes for an hour, always about bullshit, and never about sex. It was through these conversations that trust was determined. It didn't need to be a deep or profound or lasting trust, but it _had_to be there. Generally asking for, or even hinting at, a 'guarantee' was a perfect way to ruin any arrangement. It announced a lack of trust. And it was impossible to make a guarantee anyway.

It wasn't always so time consuming; there were repeat customers, people who came recommended, secure institutions like brothels. Kas had lived in a brothel for a time, it had been OK, though after a time it had felt too much like real work and so he had moved on, joining another mercenary band.

"I won't do anything without a guarantee" said Nolan.

"There's no such thing" said Kas, annoyed and frustrated that Nolan wouldn't take his word on this. "And asking for one fucks up the goodwill, which is the only guarantee we'll get."

"I won't do anything without a guarantee" Nolan repeated, he was childishly fixated. He had become strangely vulnerable and almost weepy.

"OK, alright, I'll ask," said Kas "but I'm telling you we won't get one. It doesn't work that way."

"Alright, good" said Nolan. The two of them rose, sidled out from the table and bench, and, carrying their packs in their arms, went out into the hall where the Polar Bear, whose name Kas did not expect he would ever learn, was waiting for them.

"We'll do it" said Kas in Kalrithian.

"Ah! Excellent" the Bear smiled.

"But, first..." Kas hesitated and grimaced "...my friend here hasn't done this kind of work before, he's a tad nervous. He would like a guarantee from you, that you'll let us across afterwards."

"Hmm" said the Bear.

"I tried to tell him that's not how it works" said Kas, he smiled awkwardly. Nolan was standing very close behind him and looking furtively over his broad shoulder. He had become clingy, both physically and emotionally. He was badly out of his element and was handling it about as well as anybody would hope to.

"There is something we could do" said the huge Bear. "Come with me." He turned, and Kas and Nolan trailed after him.

They returned to the courtyard. It was by now fully dark and a fog swamped the outpost. The torches set in iron holders on the walls lit the fog from within. They climbed a stairway, following the Polar Bear's voluminous backside, with its small white tail protruding from the rear of his leather britches. They emerged onto the roof, it was flat and there was a wooden structure on the Kalrithian side. The Bear borrowed a torch from a holder and entered the structure, Kas and Nolan followed.

It was a pigeon coop. There was a second door inside embedded within a mesh screen, and beyond were cubbies, several of which contained pigeons. It was evening, so the birds were sitting quietly in their little compartments, they turned their heads and peered with their beady eyes at their guests.

"This is how I talk to my chief" the Bear explained. He waved the torch around in the otherwise dark wooden hut. On their side of the mesh there was a table containing some papers and a few tiny metal cylinders. "Hold this for me, please" he passed the torch to Kas and bent over the desk, he dipped a quill into an inkwell there, and began writing in miniature on one of the slips of paper.

"Two males..." he spoke as he wrote, "slipped over... in the fog... gave chase... could not find... many apologies." And he wrote a time and date, his outpost, and his signature. Kas leaned over his shoulder and observed. The Kalrithian script was complex and he could not read a word of it, though he didn't let on. "Once I send this I am in trouble regardless of what happens" said the Bear, and made a point of addressing Nolan too, to assuage his worries. "So you see, I'll have no reason not to let you across."

"Your boss won't send anyone to look for us?" Kas asked.

"I wouldn't worry" said the Bear pleasantly. "The bird takes a full day to fly to Brystledon, where my captain is based." Kas recognized the town, it was the first decent-sized place north of the border. "And then it will take them another four days to get out here. We're the most remote outpost. They won't come, I don't think they will bother, and even if they do you'll have five days' head start."

"And you don't mind getting in trouble?"

"Oh I don't think I'll be in trouble. It wasn't so long ago that this area had people crossing constantly. But ever since the wall went up, nobody comes across. The bosses still think it's a hotspot, they think we're lying in our reports if one or two don't get through, now and then. Better to tell a few stories."

"Alright" said Kas. He felt a tug at his sleeve, Nolan was looking at him questioningly. He translated what the Bear had told him. While Kas translated the Bear retrieved a pigeon and delicately attached the message to its leg. When they had both finished they went out into the cold, foggy night.

"Is everybody satisfied?" he asked. Kas and Nolan gave their assent. Nolan had been mollified by the offer. "Very well" said the Bear, and he launched the pigeon into the air. The bird flapped and landed on top of its coop and plainly wanted to return inside. It paced back and forth on the roof, bobbing its little head. The Bear reached up and slapped at it, and the bird flew off unharmed into the fog.

"She'll roost tonight, fly in the morning" said the Bear. "Would you like to see the bathhouse now?"

"The bathhouse?" said Kas.

"To freshen up, in preparation" said the Polar Bear. "Also, I thought it might be the best place for... what we've agreed upon. I think it would be the ideal place, but I'll let you make the final decision. I want you to feel at ease. Let me show you."

One more they followed. They descended into the courtyard and went through to a different building within the complex. The hallway here was more cramped and lacked windows, it had the atmosphere of a subterranean passageway. At the end of the fairly short hallway were a pair of doors, one ahead and one to the side. The Bear opened the one to the side.

Inside was a large hall with a vaulted ceiling. Everything was of stone, much of it smoothed or warped with age, and everything had acquired a patina of greenness from the irrevocable damp. In the middle were benches and to one side there was a trough of cold water meant for washing. To the rear, on a raised platform, was a huge copper tub with a fire burning underneath. A fountain poured fresh water in from one side while an overspill drained excess from the other. The light from the torches caught on the surface of the steamy water and reflected shimmeringly on the arched ceiling above. The air was hot and damp, like a mild sauna.

"The latrines are in the other room if you need them" said the Bear. "The day watch will be coming off duty soon. Ordinarily they stow their weapons and armor in the armory, eat their meal, and then have a bath. I can inform the boys of our arrangement over dinner."

"Yes, that would be good" said Kas. "And, um, how many in the day watch?"

"Twelve."

"Great..."

"Plus myself, of course" the Polar Bear added cheerfully.

"Fantastic..."

"I'll leave you two to clean up and make yourselves comfortable" said the Bear. "The boys will be through in forty minutes or so."

"That's fine" said Kas. And the Bear went off again.

***

Nolan and Kas entered the bathhouse, dropped their packs and took off their raincoats. Kas went to the benches and pulled the woven tunic he was wearing over his head, and sat shirtless on the stone bench. Nolan stayed by the door.

"What's up?" Kas asked.

Nolan sighed, he wasn't very happy. To sell your body was one thing, it wasn't completely beyond the pale, but for your first time to be with twelve - no, thirteen - men at once, well, it was a big ask to say the least.

"Hey, it'll be alright" said Kas sympathetically. "It's one evening and then it's done."

"Yeah, that's what I keep trying to tell myself" said the red Horse gloomily.

"It's not actually as bad as you think" said Kas, up-beat. "It's usually a lot of fun."

Nolan snorted. "Sure."

"I'm serious" said Kas, he was grinning, and hoping his bouncy and positive attitude would rub off on Nolan. "This is going to be a party" he explained. "They're going to want you to have fun too, they'll treat us like guests of honor."

"And then fuck us" said Nolan bitterly.

"So suddenly you've stopped liking sex?" said Kas. "Get paid to get laid; there is no downside. It's the easiest gig in the world. Trust me, you're going to enjoy yourself. And afterwards, you'll want to do more. I'm serious! You'll be picking up guys left and right." He was being farcical. Nolan tried not to smile but the corners of his lips kept curling against his wishes. "Obviously they're gonna be more interested in me," Kas continued "because I'm the cute one, but I'm sure they'll like you too. Some of the less choosy ones. You know you've got a pretty good ass."

"Shut the fuck up..." Nolan muttered without harshness, his cheeks growing redder than usual.

"I'm serious; big, round, meaty, kind of bubble-shaped" said Kas, "doesn't even have any scars, don't sell yourself short." He rose up from the bench and unbuckled his belt. "I mean..." he turned away from Nolan, leaned over the bench, and lowered the rear of his pants "...you're not a patch on yours truly." He showed off where the orange and black fur stopped and the white fur started, the crevice where his tail met his ass, his faintly bulging, boat-hull perineum and his furry backsack.

"Put that away."

"Get yours out" said Kas, laughing, having a great time. "We'll make them kiss."

"I'm going to the latrine" said Nolan, and he turned away so Kas wouldn't see the embarrassed smile, emerging unasked and unwanted on his long face.

"Hey that's a good idea" he stepped out of his pants and undershorts and followed Nolan, naked.

They visited the latrine and used the facilities there. Returning, Nolan stripped and they placed their clothes, folded, in the corner of the bathhouse, then placed their packs on their clothes, then covered their packs with their raincoats so nobody would be tempted to steal. Nolan completed his washing ritual using the cold water of the trough, while Kas washed more rapidly and rushed to test the big heated bathtub. He jumped in, splashed around, then indolently draped himself over the bathtub's lip, and from the high vantage point watched Nolan bathe and paid him effusive compliments about his body. Nolan was dismissive, he could tell that Kas was exaggerating, trying to boost his confidence and self-esteem. In spite of being entirely aware of what Kas was doing, and a maudlin determination to abstain from mirth, the ploy succeeded and Nolan felt better and more confident.

Washed and clean, Nolan joined Kas in the bathtub. The tub had seats under the waterline and seated the water came to their navels. There was space for a dozen men. Nolan sat while Kas floated on his back and expounded on the joys of anal sex. He described the light-headed, stomach-in-the-mouth anticipation that came before, the way it intensified like water rising behind a dam and how the dam broke upon the instant of penetration. He claimed the sensation was second only to orgasm itself.

They acquired lazy erections from his description. A few inches of Nolan's flat-headed, long-barreled boner broke the water's rippling surface, while Kas resembled a half-sunken sailboat whose mast had lost its sail. Kas noted that they had some time to themselves and suggested a practical demonstration which Nolan declined. So they lazed a little longer. Kas provided Nolan with pointers: relax, don't be passive, vocalize and let your partner know that you're enjoying yourself. He said a blowjob was a handjob, except you held the guy's dick in your mouth while you did it. Nolan claimed he knew how to give a blowjob; Kas demanded proof, Nolan splashed him.

Their Polar Bear host put his head through the door. Nolan and Kas were momentarily surprised, they had become so lost in their play that they had forgotten that they were expecting company. He called over, saying their 'new friends' would be arriving in a few minutes. Kas said that was fine and passed the message on to Nolan. The Bear went away again, he would be back soon.

***

Nolan and Kas watched as they entered the bathhouse, one after another, talking loudly. They were all young men; dressed uniformly in the padded coats they wore under their armor, which were greasy from the oil they put on the chainmail to keep off rust, and their sturdy leather britches. They were all types: an Otter, a Stag, an Antelope; a trio of Wolves who were as different from each other as the others were from them; a short of stature Fox whose muscular physique was queer to behold as Foxes tended to be lithesome; one with scales, none with feathers. The Polar Bear was there too, towering over them, his great bulk dominating them.

They went to the stone bench. The bench was long, an elongated plinth with rounded ends. The men undressed, and once undressed they went to cold water trough and bathed, the water slapped against the stone gullies under their feet and drained away.

Kas and Nolan watched them through the steamy air of the bathhouse, looking at them with a mix of apprehension, curiosity and lust. Nolan rested his chin on his elbows on the lustrous side of the copper tub, Kas wrapped himself around Nolan's shoulders, and whispered to him about which of the naked men he thought was the most handsome and well-hung. Nolan admitted he found the sight attractive, he was, for the most part, turned on by the same things as Kas. The bathing guards talked constantly, they boomed at each other in the deep manly voices and laughed hearty masculine laughs, and none of them were bashful about their nakedness. And as they washed Kas and Nolan discretely ogled their sleek physiques, tight muscles, pert rear ends, fat sheaths and dangling balls. Kas insisted their balls were all swollen from lack of action. Nolan tried to ignore him but Kas was insistent. Nolan's erection returned with a vengeance. He was embarrassed, he tried to make it go away.

"Nah, keep it" Kas whispered.

"Keep what?"

"This" said Kas, he reached round Nolan and grabbed his shaft. "It gives them permission to get hard too. Trust me, you want to keep it. I'm keeping mine."

"Oh, fair enough" said Nolan.

The men seemed reluctant to finish bathing. Most of them had shot at least one glance in the direction of Kas and Nolan. They had been informed of the arrangement, the 'party' their chief had laid on for them. They seemed happy enough, and outwardly boisterous. But they were not confident or entirely comfortable. Nobody wanted to be the first to acknowledge Kas or Nolan.

They were spared embarrassment when their chief came wet and dripping to the fore, sitting on the rounded end of the long bench. He had taken a rugged and hardy towel from a shelf near the through, where there were towels for the men's use. He scrubbed his head and dried the fur of his underarms, then he tossed the towel away and locked eyes with Kas and Nolan. He smirked, sat back and rested his black-padded palms on the green-grey stone behind him, and spread his heavy thighs revealing a tremendous flaccid dong, helmeted, black in color, falling from a retracted white sheath and draped over a pair of nuts that were each the size of a small man's fist. He cocked an eyebrow, and pointed to his soft genitals.

"That's my cue" Kas whispered, before raising himself out from the water, sitting on the edge of the tub and swinging his soaked legs splashily over the side.

"How can you be sure that he was looking at you and not me?" Nolan asked.

"Oh please, he's been looking at me since we arrived" said Kas. He stretched and cracked his spine while the water poured off of him, and his large feline prick stood proud. "Watch, and learn."

It was a quirk of their relationship that Nolan experienced no pangs of possessiveness or jealousy as he watched Kas descend the short stairs, and mince effeminately over to the Bear. He sat, legs curled in beneath him, on the bench beside his client. Kas fondled the larger man's cock and balls, and the Bear's heavy member swelled. If he had seemed huge flaccid, it was nothing compared to what he looked like erect; he was long, yes. Kas stroked him, teasing up a drip of pre, then he leaned in the Bear's lap and took as much of that heavy cock as his mouth could handle. He kept his head still and pumped with his hand, and the Polar Bear settled back onto his elbows and relaxed into his blowjob.

"Wey-hey!" one of the bathing men cheered upon noticing their chief getting blown, and there were further laughs and cheers as the others looked and saw the spectacle. Not every man joined in, some were less enthusiastic. Those other men shook their heads and turned their backs and focused instead on bathing and washing. The interested men did not restrict themselves to mere cheering, they took their towels and ambled over to watch while the dried themselves. There were six, they stood around in a loose semi-circle. And while they watched they were themselves watched in turn, by Nolan.

He was treated to the uncommon sight of half a dozen straight men getting awkwardly erect to the sight of homosexual intercourse. Sheaths swelled and pink tips protruded, and then when a tipping point was reached their, heavy, lubricated cocks flopped out, half-hard and heavy, and fell in front of their work-hardened and well-defined thighs.

One cock grew more rapidly than the rest, it belonged to the Stag. His tan brown shoulders and white gut were lightly muscled and completely without fat. He possessed a wonderfully lithe, athletic body. He had handsome, delicate cervine features and stood on somewhat dainty split hooves and sported antlers. And if a cock could be called athletic then his was indeed that. He was a shade under seven inches, narrow, with a sharp and slender crown. He stood close in and watched closely as Kas bobbed his head shallowly and stroked downwards on the Polar Bear's girthy shaft with one hand and fondled the Bear's weighty nuts with the other.

The Stag took a step nearer and put a hand on Kas's striped lower back, then began to stroke steadily lower, staking a claim on the Tiger's other orifice.

"Forget it pal, that hole's mine" the Polar Bear grunted through a fog of fellatio-pleasure.

"You can't screw both ends at the same time you greedy bastard" the Stag replied.

"Finders keepers you tree-headed twat" the Bear replied, enlisting the casual rudeness and that was the most common coin of manly verbal commerce. And he moved a paw onto Kas's ass, gently digging his black-padded fingertips into that furry crevice. The touch against his asshole caused Kas to stiffen and twitch his black and orange tail. "Why not use the other guy?" the Bear suggested idly, his head tilted skyward.

Nolan, having been unable to follow the conversation, realized that he was being discussed when half a dozen eyes suddenly swung in his direction. The Stag caught Nolan's gaze and grinned.

Alright, Nolan thought tremulously to himself, my turn now. He hopped out of the tub, causing the water to slosh. His heart was hammering and there was a swarming sensation in his head. He was so terribly afraid of committing an error or making a fool of himself that he could hardly keep a coherent thought in his head. He was endlessly, endlessly grateful that Kas was there with him. He could never have done this alone. Not in a thousand years.

The small crowd of nude, shamefully aroused men parted obsequiously. The Stag quailed and shrank, his cockiness completely evaporated. Nolan, approaching, wracked with nerves, had tried to bluff his confidence, and had swaggered over to them. He had committed faux-pas already. His huge, scarred personage, the heft of his muscles and the forearm-like beam of his long Horsecock had intimidated them. Nolan recalled how Kas had flounced and minced. Nolan did not know how to mince, nor did he have experience in playing a submissive role. He would need to learn quickly.

But one thing Nolan knew how to do was make manly men relax, having lived his whole life amongst them. He split his lips in a great smile and laughed heartily. He turned to the nearest man, a Lizard, a fellow with smooth tan scales and a generally smooth body, and punched him in the arm. He laughed too, and then the laughter spread. Then the entire gang of men were standing in a circle, with their erections like the spokes on a wheel, laughing and punching each other.

As the forced frivolity subsided Nolan locked eyes with the Stag. He thought he could almost hear his tight cervine asshole clamping shut, if he had placed a piece of coal in there it would be a diamond by now, and his smile wavered uncertainly as the big red Stallion stepped up to him, above him, hard brown cock overhanging above his smaller member. Nolan put a hand on the Stag's shoulder, kneaded the muscle beneath the brown fur, grinning all the while, and then swung his other hand to his crotch and grabbed him there. He wrapped a calloused thumb and forefinger around the Stag's sheath, and with his remaining fingers he cupped at his balls. The Stag stiffened, and his cock lurched and squirted a pre-seed. Nolan walked him backwards to the bench and seated him beside Kas's upturned ass, which was still being groped and fingered at by the Polar Bear.

Then, somewhat gracefully, Nolan got down on his knees. The Deer's organ did not align exactly with Nolan's mouth but was instead beneath it. The gaze of the crowd of men weighed heavily on Nolan's back. Everything up until this point had been a bluff, and now that bluff would culminate in a moment of truth. He licked his lips and bowed his head, and took that straining pink Deercock into his mouth.

The Stag's cock, which had seemed so narrow and delicate, filled his mouth and the mild, bitter taste of pre coated his tongue. Nolan's apprehension had been unfounded. This was merely a thing like any other. Sucking off a stranger, dragging the long slope of his nose and forehead over an unknown man's belly fur, resting his hands on this person's thighs. He could do these things. They were easy.

He recalled Kas's advice, that a blowjob was just a handjob with the mouth involved, and discarded it. Kas had a short muzzle while Nolan did not; his mouth was deep. He bobbed his head up and down, and the only time that the Stag's penis poked at his throat was when he was almost kissing his sheath. He wrapped a hand around that sheath to keep it retracted, and then settled into a steady motion. He made a seal with his lips and sucked, and he licked and swirled his tongue inside the cavern of his mouth. The Stag lay back and relaxed, planting his palms on the cool stone behind him. He was just as relieved as Nolan that this act was not so strange or terrible. Both men were wading into untested waters.

Meanwhile the disinterested men went one at a time over to the bathtub, and eased themselves into the hot water. They sat with their backs turned to the action, their scalps and the backs of their ears showing to the men below, and traded dismissive remarks while they luxuriated in their traditional after-work soak. The rest, the interested me, consisted of two of the three Wolves, one of which had white fur and blue eyes while the other had black, charcoal-streaked fur and dark eyes, and both of them had hard, knotted cocks... and with them was an Otter, compact and stocky, brown-furred with a thick rudder tail; a Snow Leopard, who had been at the rear of the crowd when they entered, his fluffy fur was tufted from his bath and he bore a large scar diagonally across his light grey chest, along with the aforementioned Lizard. Each of them was now openly masturbating and the scent of their masturbation filled the air, as did the steady, repetitive walloping of their hands against their dicks and the occasional flatulence that occurred when a pocket of air was pushed into a sheath and then farted out again.

There was communication between Kas and the Polar Bear. The Tiger removed his mouth but not his hand, and the Bear reclined, laying back with his paws behind his head as though he were in bed. Kas swung a leg over to straddle his partner's powerful-yet-doughy hips, then reached behind himself and guided the Bear's fat cock to his asshole.

The gamey flavor of Deer-dick saturated Nolan's mouth. He bobbed his head, swirled his tongue, and sucked. The slender fingers of one of the Stag's hands weaved into the red locks of his mane. Though he hated to admit it, he was really having fun. The act, stripped of its intimacy, was a fun challenge and he let himself to be creative in ways that he would not have been otherwise. And in creativeness there was self-expression and fulfillment. It wasn't often that he was provided with the opportunity to be creative. And it was a real turn-on to boot. His own long Horsecock, jutting up within the curve of his torso and sometimes touching his stomach, was achingly hard and he yearned to touch himself. He chose not to. Instead he focused entirely on pleasuring this stranger, whose name he did not know and whose face he could not remember.

A firm hand on his shoulder arrested his movements. He looked up, the Stag tentatively gestured that he would like to change positions. Nolan felt a swelling of apprehension. This development may have been inevitable but that didn't mean he was looking forward to it. Though since it was inevitable he wasn't going to worry either. And... a small part of him was curious. He was afraid that it would be too uncomfortable, but then he thought he was a pretty tough guy and he could withstand discomfort. Kas had made it sound like fun, and maybe it would fun. Who knew? Maybe it would be different from when he was a teen. He felt confident. Things had worked out so far.

And so they got to their feet. Nolan bent over the stone bench, which was sufficiently narrow for his head and shoulders to hang out over the other side. It was initially uncomfortable as the barrel of his dick was crushed under his gut, and he had to raise himself up and move it to the side, into the valley of his hip before laying down again. The broad, flat crown of his long Horsecock stuck out at his side, at an angle, like a drainpipe. And then, for the first time in a very long time, he tensed the muscles of his croup and rolled his water-bedraggled, reddish brown tail aside. He uncovered the round cheeks of his ass, and the dark hairless skin of his perineum connecting his smooth, heavy-hanging nuts with the puffy, protruding ring of his butthole. He felt the warm, moist air of the bathhouse breeze against him. It seemed cool, dry, and gruesomely intimate.

Perversely, Nolan did not feel humiliated or degraded. It was a feeling akin to drunkenness, like doing silly things whilst drunk at a party, things that would have been humiliating otherwise, but were not, because you were under that spell. And so for as long as the spell held, and so long as everyone else was drunk too, then the threshold for what was acceptable was vastly expanded.

The Stag asked him something in Kalrithian, Nolan couldn't understand his words but his meaning was unmistakable; he was asking if he was sure. "Yes, do it, go for it" said Nolan, and likewise his meaning was clear to the Stag. These questions rang across cultures.

A shaky hand appearing suddenly on his hip caused him to flinch. He could sense that hot Deer-dick hovering an inch from his butthole, the heat radiating off of it, the aura of its presence, the sheer unvarnished imminence of it. This must have been what Kas had been talking about, strangely Nolan could not recall having experienced it before. Perhaps teen Nolan had been less up-tight.

The slender tip of the Stag's manhood collided with Nolan's asshole and sent an electric shock pulsing through his body. He summoned up every ounce of concentration to keep from becoming tense, never in his life had he worked so hard to relax. Narrow and well lubricated, the Stag's prick met minimal resistance. Nolan's mouth hung open in a prolonged, soundless gasp as he was penetrated. The Stag's cock didn't seem so narrow now, either. Then without warning, unable to restrain himself, the Stag lurched forward and hilted his slippery cock in Nolan's ass. Both men moaned like whores.

His perception was distorted. In the way that your tongue felt larger in your mouth than it really was, so it was with the dick in Nolan's ass; it seemed to brush fill his ribcage, displace his lungs and press into his neck. The Stag withdrew, thrust again, and again, and again, sending waves crashing through Nolan. And on each successive thrust the ache, which was never really bad let along intolerable, was diminished. The pleasure was somewhat dull compared to what he was used to, but it was amplified by novelty and multiplied again by fear.

Just when Nolan was feeling proud of himself, right when he was most enamored by his own audacity, he turned his head to see how Kas was doing. The Tiger was straddling the Polar Bear, as he had been the last time Nolan checked, however now he was being pounded from beneath, the Bear's feet were planted and he was throwing his hips up in a hard and fast motion, smashing his thick dick into Kas's hideously stretched, soon to be gaped asshole. The attention Nolan had lavished on own his situation had kept him from hearing the repetitive sound of the Bear's thighs smashing into the Kas's ass. But that was not everything. The masturbating onlookers had joined in. The Otter had climbed the bench and stood, feet either side of the Polar Bear's snarling (black lips retracted, white teeth bared) head, getting blown by Kas as Kas was pounded from below. And the smooth-bodied Lizard (who was, to be precise, a Blue-Tongued Skink) had also made his way onto the bench; Kas was beating him off with a free hand. The Snow Leopard with the scarred chest had his black-spotted, furry-grey arms wrapped around the Tiger's torso and was pressing his cheek into the short glossy fur of Kas's back, blue eyes shut, sensuously and unselfconsciously hot-dogging the Tiger's ass. The pointed bulb head of his spiny kitty-pricker was nudging the underside of Kas's stripy tail, leaving a translucent trail. And the black and white furred Wolves, who were good friends, were leaning in, watching, and beating off haltingly so they would not climax prematurely.

Nolan preferred to believe that he was not competitive. He once fumbled his words and accidentally said 'I'm not competitive, I just don't like losing'. At the time it was received as a good joke, people had laughed. Of course he was competitive, of course he liked winning and disliked losing. And hated lagging behind, being outperformed. He would always try harder if he saw anyone else doing better, recklessly so. Disparities in experience meant nothing. It was a compulsion, and was neither realistic nor modest.

His achievement seemed paltry to him now. He swung his big horse head around and looked over his shoulder at the Stag, thrusting at a regular pace with minimal force and zero impact, and showed him an expression that implored him to go faster. It was a demanding, critical look, but mostly it was a look that said: 'can't you see that we're getting beaten?' Nolan started humping into the Stag's thrusts, clapping his red-brown ass against the short soft fur of the Stag's hips. And once a satisfactory rate had been achieved Nolan gestured and attracted the attention of the two masturbating Wolves. Laying on his chest and belly, Nolan beckoned them using both hands. The wet-furred Wolves smirked to each other and strutted idly over, and Nolan was presented with a pair of stiff knotty cocks at eye-level. He took both of those doggycocks eagerly into his hands. They were hard, hot and slippery with pre. Both were about the same length, maybe six inches or perhaps more, and both were fat, reddish-pink and had the infamous lobed knots at their base. Nolan took hold of both of them behind the knot and made a fist around the narrow stem, at the point where their retracted sheaths bundled, and by doing so made their cocks seem bigger as well as queerly disembodied from their groins. The friends stood with their hips touching while Nolan took one cock into his mouth and bobbed and sucked, then switched and performed the same act on the other, and then, after a brief moment of hesitation, in an act of wanton gluttony, and in naked competition with Kas, crammed both cocks into his mouth at once.

Due to the increase in speed, it was not long before the Stag began approaching his peak. His thrusts became uncoordinated and the nicely defined muscles in the backs of his thighs quivered. "Hey-" the Bear addressed the Stag by name as he breathlessly pounded Kas's tailhole "-don't blow inside, you'll ruin him for the next guy."

"You got it, chief!" the Stag replied. His thrusts became more ragged still. The rate of his breathing increased dramatically, becoming quick and shallow. Then finally he pulled out and jacked himself over the edge. Nolan had his tail raised and the Stag painted his ass with rope after rope of cum. He splattered both his cheeks, his tail dock, his puckering, freshly vacated asshole, his bulging perineum and his large equine balls. Nolan felt the Stag's cum hit him, and scented the burst of cum-smell that suddenly appeared in the bathhouse, but for the most part he hardly noticed as he remained dedicted to pleasuring the two Wolves. That capacity for focus would serve him yet.

The Stag radiated in the dreamy afterglow of orgasm before collecting a towel and returning to Nolan. He rubbed most of his jism off. Not for Nolan, for the next guy. Then he cleaned himself in the same general fashion, tossed the towel aside and ambled up to the bathtub where he was interrogated on what it was like to bone a dude.

Then the Otter came. He grunted and shuddered and his short stocky body convulsed in spasms as he blew a considerable nut all over Kas's face, shooting wildly, painting the Tiger in long ropes of pearly cum that hung like bunting across his stripy scalp, his cheeks, his eyelids, and some of the last weak ropes impacted his chest. Shuddering with aftershocks, cock still in hand, he climbed unsteadily down and took a fresh towel, which he threw to Kas. The Tiger cleaned his face off while he continued to be pounded from underneath. The cheeks of his ass were going numb from the constant hammering.

Kas really hoped the Bear would empty off soon. He was ripping his ass apart, his mind and body were used to this type of discomfort however the pain really was hovering on the limit of tolerability. The Skink took the Otter's spot, astride the Polar Bear's head and directly in front of Kas. The Skink was essentially a Snake with the dimensions of a Lizard. His tan scales were uncannily smooth, they gave the feel of greasiness despite being perfectly dry. His balls were internal and his cock protruded from a vagina-like slit (for anyone wondering, yes, the other guards make fun of him), and his serpentine dinger emerged thick with an upward curve, then kinked and became straight before winnowing to a needle tip with no head or crown to speak of. In color, his weird dong was an almost iridescent blue. Kas took it into his mouth, the shape and color may have been odd but the taste was the same.

With Nolan's rear-end unoccupied, the two Wolves shifted position. One stayed at his head while the other hopped over the bench and got round behind him. Nolan sensed the other one, the black-furred one, taking up position. He was not as apprehensive as before, he knew what he was in for this time. That presence returned, that general aura of a person combined with the more intense and specific aura of a hot cock being brought into line. His white-furred buddy also lined himself up, with Nolan's mouth.

"On the count of three?" suggested the white Wolf jokingly.

"Yeah, alright" said the black Wolf. Sniggering, they counted down together.

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three!" they both pushed their hips forwards, one cock plunged deep into Nolan's well-lubed asshole while the other pierced his mouth, and filled it. Nolan moaned convincingly as he was penetrated at both ends. He felt immediately that their cocks were bigger than the Stag's, not longer, but rather broader. Bigger in the more meaningful sense. He felt greater pressure in his asshole, he felt himself being stretched.

The cock in his mouth was a shade shorter than the Stag's, and its owner did not attempt to push his knot through his lips. The Wolf placed his hands on Nolan's firmly muscular shoulders and leaned over him, the fur of his gut occupied and dominated Nolan's vision. It was not a blowjob, he was ploughing Nolan's face, fucking his mouth just as the other guy was fucking his ass, in steady, deep strokes. All Nolan had to do was keep his teeth out of the equation. He endeavored to maintain a seal with his thick brown lips and let that Wolfcock ripple over the soft wet bed of his tongue.

Meanwhile the guy at his rear built up speed quickly. He didn't pussy-foot like the Stag, he got down to business. And soon they were both pounding away at him, each encouraged by the others actions. Their furry ballsacks swung and slapped at Nolan's perineum and chin respectively. The guy pounding his ass started popping his half-formed knot in and out of his asshole, and every time he did it Nolan experienced a burst in intensity that was more pleasure than pain. He beat his hips against Nolan's ass and rocked him bodily.

The rocking was difficult. At no point had Nolan's fierce state of arousal diminished, the sights, scents and sensations that were playing out in him as well as around him and coursing through his body were impossible to disregard. His own long Horse-boner was extraordinarily erect, it strained constantly in channel of his hip where he had left it. The rocking meant he was grinding on it, mashing it between his body and the smooth wet stone of the bench that had warmed to body-temperature.

A minute passed, than another. The slapping and pounding and moaning echoed across the bathhouse, saturated by the scent of sex. The less interested men were twisting leaning over the side of the big copper bath, observing noisily, shouting encouragement like a cheering section; many, despite their initial dismissal of the whole venture, were sporting erections of their own. A few of them were even touching themselves under the hot water. Nolan was entirely oblivious to them.

Then, suddenly, the Polar Bear finally jizzed. He sank his claws into Kas's flank and pulled him down while thrusting upwards, slamming his monstrous prick all the way inside Kas's deformed asshole. He grunted long and hard, his hefty nuts contracted, sucking in tight against his undercarriage while the underside of his dick clenched and he deposited his creamy load deep within Kas's ass. Then, seconds later, the hot-dogging Snow Leopard came too, shooting his pearly seed over the black and orange fur of Kas's lower back.

The Snow Leopard's meek and unaspiring orgasm went unnoticed, everyone was annoyed by the Polar Bear's hypocrisy. The men in the bathtub booed and jeered. He silenced his men in his breathless, post-orgasmic weariness by saying: "that... was a privilege of rank!"

The Wolves redoubled their efforts. Their knots were beginning to swell up. Nolan was being thrown back and forth. The Bear, recovering from his climax and his intense fuck-session, without taking his spent and slowly wilting cock from Kas's ass, wrapped a paw around the Tiger's member and tugged him off. Whether he intended this as a form of gratitude or if he was doing it for his own pleasure, it was not wholly clear. Probably the latter. Kas kept right on jerking and sucking on the Skink's oddly shaped tackle.

Everyone still in the game was getting close. The bathhouse air was so entirely saturated with male sex that it stung the eyes and caught in the throats of the observers, sitting a several yards distant.

When it came, it came like a chain-reaction. The Wolves were the first to go. The black-furred Wolf pounding Nolan's ass passed the point of no return. He cried through a grimace: "Can't hold back!" He succumbed to the wild, urgent neediness that came over men in the moments before orgasm and threw his hips forward, his rapidly swelling knot crushed into Nolan's ass. Nolan experienced a flash of serious pain but it passed quickly, and then the guy's knot was inside him where his flesh was soft and pliant and there was no pain whatsoever. The Wolf lurched and grunted in time with his pulses.

The white-furred Wolf blew at exactly the same time. They couldn't have performed it better if they had planned it. In a similar fit of lust he shoved his rapidly swelling knot past Nolan's lips and teeth and tied with his face, balls resting on Nolan's chin. Like a hand within a glove that Wolf's cock filled Nolan's mouth. His equine cheeks bulged as the knot swelled, his tongue was trapped at the bottom of his mouth and the tip pushed into his throat. He just barely kept himself from gagging. And when the Wolf came his cum splashed straight into his stomach. Both Wolves were ejaculating at the same time, and the big red Horse was creamed and plugged at both ends. It was certainly a change of pace for the Champion of Ylot.

Then, as a result, Nolan came too. The exhilarating experience of being knotted and blown into from both ends, as well as the mild stimulation applied to his own surging member, tipped him over the edge. His crown flared and his cum squirted out under pressure, rattling out under his hip and painting fans of cum across stone bench beside him. All three men moaned, breathless and uncoordinated. Nolan's large horse nostrils flared as he breathed heavily through his nose, which was pressed against the white Wolf's groin.

The Skink went next. A clawless scaled hand grabbed Kas's shoulder, and his entirely internal muscles clenched and he shot his load into the Tiger's open mouth. It jetted out of him in a thin, high-pressure stream of pulses, spraying the back of Kas's mouth and across his face, and it flew over his shoulder hitting the bathhouse floor several feet away.

Then Kas, face coated in cum, was finally tipped over the edge as well and his spine-covered prick shot a fat load into the Polar Bear's belly fur, where it immediately became indistinguishable. When he was finished, and the Skink had stepped down from the bench with his blue cock diminishing and withdrawing into his genital slit, Kas picked up the towel he had used to wipe the Otterspunk off his face and discretely spat the Skinkcum into it. He wiped his chin and shifted his hips, and the Polar Bear's soft black cock gently plopped from his grotesquely gaped asshole. Everyone was out of breath.

"This would be a good time to take a break, I think" said Kas. Everyone agreed.

***

Having cleaned up, the Skink and the Bear joined their others in the tub while Kas went over to check on Nolan. He laughed when he saw the state of Nolan's face. The Stallion's cheeks were bulging out obscenely and, while his jaw was wide, his lips were almost together. He appeared as if he was trying to hide a pair of apples in his mouth. "How did you find that?" Kas asked. Nolan shrugged, then gave a thumbs up. The two Wolves were enthusing over him, both literally and figuratively. It took a nearly a quarter of an hour for their knots to deflate. Once disentangled they and Nolan cleaned themselves up in the cool water of the troughs, with Kas and Nolan being obliged to perform the unedifying task of draining the spunk from their assholes, and then everyone retired to big tub.

They hung out for a while, chatting and joking, before things started up again. And though there was plenty more sex throughout the remainder of the evening their activities never became as frantic or as acrobatic as in that initial session. Mostly Kas and Nolan gave each guy a blowjob, or else let them fuck them in the ass. They went one after the other, sometimes with long spaces in between. By the end of the night, every guy had blown at least one load either in or on Nolan and Kas. There were no abstentions. Each of those straight men, with their minds warped by the prolonged absence of female company, succumbed to the mood of the moment.

On the whole Nolan and Kas found the whole experience generally tolerable. The worst guy was the excessively muscular Fox. He was fairly short of stature, and his muscly arms and legs, and his wedge-shaped torso, was gym-honed rather than work-honed. He was not tremendously well endowed (Foxes were not exactly known for being well-hung), though it didn't seem like anyone had informed him of this. He swaggered, strutted and boasted. He exuded insecurity like a bonfire exuded heat. And after he had left the bathhouse and gone to the dormitories because it was late, Nolan told Kas that it had felt like someone had hammered a nail through a door and then slammed the door against his backside repeatedly. The analogy had Kas in stitches.

When it was finally time for bed the Polar Bear took Nolan and Kas to his room. They weren't running a guest house, he explained, and there was nowhere else for them to sleep. But first the Bear wanted to go a second round with Kas. Nolan was provided with a chair, and he sat in the hallway and listened to a headboard rattling, and the other sounds of his friend getting destroyed by that monstrous dick.

The hallway was quiet and very dark. All the lights were out and the guards were asleep. The border guards had their dormitories here. They shared, two to a room, and there were no doors and thus no privacy, only open archways. Nolan heard an odd noise and, wanting to get away from the noise made by Kas and the Polar Bear, decided to investigate. He passed a few dorms, a couple of the beds were empty and were presumably belonged to the night watch (Nolan didn't stop to wonder if he and Kas might have simply slept in their beds) while others were occupied. Then he located the source of the noise. It was the two Wolves, the ones with the black and white fur, the two friends. They shared a dorm room, and now, it seemed, they shared a bed. Illuminated by a lone candle on the nightstand, the white one straddled the black one, and with the covers drawn in around them. They were gazing into each other's eyes, making love to each other tenderly. The two straight boys had escalated their friendship. Nolan pulled away from the arch, he didn't want to interrupt. He remembered Kas's words from earlier, when he had said that being hard gave the other guys to get hard too. Apparently the concept had a wider application.

Nolan returned to his chair and sometime later, after the banging of the headboard had ceased, he was allowed in. There was a fireplace and a single bed. Kas and the Bear would share the bed while Nolan got the floor. It was only now that he felt any jealousy, even though he was sure Kas was not infatuated with the Bear. However he did not act on his feelings, he was too tired. He built a bed for himself out of the room's rug and blankets that he took from his pack, and went gratefully to sleep.