{"sf1_id":681281,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Hawthorne Accord - Chapter 3","author":"JakeXtraTall","words":5967,"posted_at":"2014-03-18T03:18:00.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Fantasy","Fellatio","Gay","Human","Love","M/M","Male","Relationships","Rimming","boy"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/681281-the-hawthorne-accord-chapter-3","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/681281","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=681281\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Neville ran as fast as he could while the smith pulled him through\nthe dark forest toward the northwestern side of the mountains deeper\ninto kobold territory than he'd ever been before.The\nsame range of low mountains curved around and to the northeast, past orc\ncountry, and then became a larger and more imposing range of mountains\nat the ogre domain north of the human realm.  Neville hoped they\nwould not be going anywhere near the other races' domains.  He\nwasn't sure where they were headed in fact.  He trusted the smith\nto go the best way to keep them safe.The\nsmith had\nslowed his own speed down to allow the boy to keep up and to allow them\nboth to maintain a pace they could sustain for longer.  They had\nbeen running at that pace for what seemed\nlike a long time, at least an hour, and the boy was not sure how much\nlonger he would be\nable to maintain it.  The blacksmith seemed to sense this so\nhe finally slowed to a stop.Breathing heavily, yet still clearly not\nexhausted, the smith asked, \"Will you be alright to run some more if we\nrest a short while?\"Neville nodded.  He was too breathless to speak.The\nsmith rubbed the top of his head and walked them over behind a stand of\nvery large trees and sat down.  Neville joined him in the tall\ngrass.  It was difficult to see anything from a distance since the\nonly sources of\nlight were the brighter constellations in the clear night sky and a\nsliver of moon, but with their eyes were well adjusted and sitting\nclosely\ntogether they could see each other clearly.  No one else could\npossibly see them here so they would be safe to rest for a while.The\nnight was completely silent save the sound of crickets and it seemed\nlike they did not appear to be in any immediate danger so they sat and regained\ntheir breath.Now\nthat Neville had a quiet moment to contemplate and was relatively safe,\nthe terror of all he'd endured suddenly came crashing down on him and\ncaused him to finally succumb to the fear he'd felt and still felt for his family and his town.  The\nevents of the evening began to replay in his head like a nightmare and\nhe began to shake uncontrollably.\"I'm sorry, my boy, but I have nothing to give you to cover yourself against the cold,\" the smith said.Neville\nrealized the smith assumed he was shaking from the chill night air.\n He did not want the man to think him a coward so he pretended\nthat was indeed the reason.  Neville was completely naked still\nand the smith had only his trousers on and whatever he had underneath.\n Neither was dressed appropriately for a run through the crisp\nnight air.\"I will be fine once I've rested and the sweat from our run dries off,\" Neville said through chattering teeth.\"The\ndrying of your sweat will do you no favors in this chill; it will only\nserve to cool your body more.  Come and sit on my lap and let me\nhold you to share my heat while we rest.\"Neville\ndid so and\nmoved into the large man's lap.  The smith was sitting\ncross-legged so Neville sat his naked form down in the smith's lap and\ncrossed his legs as well, facing the same\ndirection as the big man, and leaned back against his very warm chest.\"Wait, we can do better.  Get up for one moment,\" the smith requested and Neville complied.The\nsmith then pulled down his trousers so that he was wearing only his\nbreechclout.  He dropped the trousers to the side and sat\ncross-legged again.Neville's\nheart began to beat just a bit\nfaster as he took his position in the smith's lap again, crossed his\nlegs to make as much contact with the smith's warm legs as possible and\nwiggled just a bit to put the smith's cock right between his naked ass\ncheeks with only the thin cloth of the man's breechclout separating\nthem.  Once again he leaned back against the blacksmith.\n Neville placed his hands on\nhis knees\nand breathed a long sigh of contentment.The\nsmith reached his big strong arms out and took Neville's hands from his knees\nand wrapped both of their sets of arms tightly around Neville like a\nblanket.Neville's shaking was already gone.  This was mainly\nbecause he had no time to be afraid right now.  He was too busy\nbeing the happiest boy in the realm at the moment.He could not\nbelieve he was finally as close as he'd been wishing to be for so long\nwith the man he'd been smitten with for months.  What a bizarre,\nyet wonderful turn of events.\"You certainly warmed up fast.  You are done shivering already,\" chuckled the smith in his warm, masculine voice.Neville did not want to deceive the man, it was not in his nature and he cared about him and wanted to be honest with him.\"Honestly,\nI was shivering from fear.  I didn't want you to think me a coward\nthough so I let you believe I was only cold.  I don't think I\ncould fear anything while being held in your arms this way so the\nshaking has stopped.\"\"Think\nyou a\ncoward?!  I would have to be a fool to think such a thing.\n You are\neasily the most courageous boy I could ever hope to know.  I can't\nbelieve how you were able to survive what you must have gone through to\nbe in this condition and yet you have not once bemoaned your woes\nthat I've heard, and as most would have done.  You have simply\ndone what was needed as it was needed without complaint.  I feel\nperhaps you do not know your own indomitable strength of character yet.\n Your father clearly saw it\nand knows it well.  He is very proud of you as am I, and as you\nshould be proud\nof yourself.\"The \"condition\" that the smith was referring to was the fact that\nNeville was covered in the stench of Braddock's urine and still had the dried\ncum of several men on his back, in his hair and on his face and along the inside of his thighs from where it had leaked\nout of his rectum.  All were the result of the brutal multiple rape he had endured.The boy suddenly felt an even deeper fondness\nfor the smith when he realized the man had clearly guessed what had happened and\nnot only still wanted to hold the boy, but did not care that he was\ngetting the soldiers' foul mess all over himself as well.The\nboy leaned back harder against the smith to try to touch him more and\nthe smith increased the strength of his hug just a bit more to pull the\nboy in closer.The gratitude Neville felt for the man at this moment\ncould not be measured.  He would have been fucked to death by an\narmy if it wasn't for the big man's intervention.  There were so many things he wanted to\nsay to the smith.  He wanted so badly to tell him all of the\nthings he felt for the man.  He wanted to tell him that he loved\nhim and had done for months, and was as happy as anyone could be to be held by him at last.\n His head began to spin with all of the emotions he was trying to\nkeep contained.  He wanted to say so much to the man but he wasn't\nsure where he should begin.\"You saved my life,\" Neville said simply.\"I\nwould do it as often as necessary and in any way that was required of\nme to the point of forfeiting my own life were it the only course.\n Your life means a great deal\nto me.  I will keep you safe, whatever it takes.  I owe your\nfather that, but that is not the reason I am doing this.\n I loved your father once, long ago and before he met your mother,\nbut it's you I love now.\"Neville could not believe his ears.  His heart leaped for joy.  Could this be real?\"You love me?\"\"I\ndo.  I should have told you some time ago.  I knew your\nfather would not have objected to it but out of respect for him and for\nyou I chose\nto keep quiet regardless.  Your father and I shared our love in\nsecret so long ago because we knew it would not be accepted by others\nin the town or in the realm and it would only cause problems for\neveryone.  I had to keep my\nlove for you secret for the same reason.  Given your youth and\nenthusiasm I felt that you would not be able to keep the secret if you\nknew it and felt the same way, so in order to protect you I chose to\nkeep my true feelings to myself and continue my act of gruff and crass\nvulgarity around you.  I chose to simply be the rough man you used\nto run from when you were little.\"In\ntruth you are the most wonderful\nperson I have\never known, Neville.  You have a way about you that lifts my spirit\nand makes me wish I could spend all of my waking hours with you.\n I was more thrilled than you could know\nwhen you approached me for an apprenticeship.  I have been\nstruggling very hard to contain my desire for you, but it has been\ndifficult with you working so closely to me in the shop.  I have\noften caught myself gazing at you, with my mind wandering to the things\nI would like to do with you, and I've had to turn away from you as you\napproached in order to hide my straining manhood from your view.\"Neville once again could not believe what he was hearing.  That was why the smith had seemed aloof sometimes when Neville had approached him.Neville chuckled and said, \"I've had to do the same more times than you can imagine.\"The smith chuckled too.\"I\nhave to confess,\" the smith continued, \"I've known of your attraction\nto me for quite some time.  I chose to simply treat it as a\nteenage boy's crush.  As I said before, out of my love and respect for your father and for you\nI decided I should not pursue you directly at all so as not to create any problems with the townsfolk should they discover.\"\"What has changed your mind now?\" Neville asked, curious why the man was suddenly confessing his feelings.\"Your father must have suspected how I felt about you.  The\nwords he spoke as we parted tonight, 'love him as I know you\ncan', were his way of telling me to\nlet you know how I feel about you.  He was giving me both his approval and his encouragement at once.\n I am also telling you now because the danger we are still in is grave\nand I do not know what will happen.  I had to let you know in\ncase I should lose the opportunity to do so due to unforeseen circumstance.\"\"Do you think my father and mother will be killed?\" asked Neville with trepidation.\"Your\nfather is a very resourceful, intelligent and courageous man.  I\nwould not give up on him yet were I you.  I most certainly have\nnot done so.  I have every confidence in his ability to find a\nsolution,\" the smith reassured him.\"You said that you were aware of my attraction to you.  How did you know?\" Neville asked.\"Did\nyou think you were the only one who knew of the hole in the wall at the\nback of the smithy?  I found it strange that every time I came\nback into the shop after relieving myself you would be waiting by the door to rush right out\nimmediately after me, so I spied on you through the hole.  I saw that you\nwent straight to where I had pissed and looked for any drops you could\nfind and would take them onto your tongue.\"Neville could feel himself start to flush with extreme embarrassment and shame.  The smith hugged him more tightly.\"No, do not be ashamed.  I can feel the heat coming off you from\nit.  It is not something you need to be embarrassed about with me.  I love you\nfor it.  I saw that you were disappointed when I simply pissed on\nthe ground so I began to try to get it all over the weeds to leave more droplets behind.  When\nyou went out after me I would often take my cock in hand and pleasure\nmyself as I crouched in the shop looking through the hole and watching\nyou out there carefully taking each droplet onto your tongue to get the\nessence of me.  I would have to quickly clean up a very large\npuddle of cum before you came back inside needless to say.\"At the words of the smith, Neville began to relax again.\"Once,\nI decided to see what you would do with my cum if I left it out there for\nyou and it was quite a wonderful show you gave me so I knew I would\nhave to do that more often.  I would sometimes not cum so I could\npleasure myself while watching you lick my piss, and sometimes while I was out there I would\nimagine you out there with me taking my piss directly from me.  Then I would pleasure myself while you watched\nthrough the hole and I would leave my cum on a leaf for you to\nenjoy so I could go back in and watch you work it into your sweet\ncock while thinking of me.  It was my favorite part of every day.\"Neville laughed and said, \"In a way we've pleasured each other many times, and yet we've never touched before.\"\"Just so, you are indeed clever to see the irony.\"Neville\nsuddenly noticed the Blacksmith's cock was very hard between his ass\ncheeks underneath him from all the talk of pissing and pleasuring.\"Will you let me pleasure you now?\" Neville asked.\"No, I don't feel we should do that just now.\"Neville\nfelt somewhat rejected.  The thought occurred to him that perhaps\nit was due to the fact he was covered in the spunk and piss of the vile\nsoldiers and still carried their seed within himself.\"Is it because I've been violated?  I wish I\ncould have come to you a virgin but it was not in my control,\" Neville\nlamented.\"No!\n It's nothing like that.  Why would you have such a thought?\n You being a virgin or not is of no\nconsequence to me.  If there is one thing you should know of me it\nis that I cannot be jealous of someone I love.  I want you to\nexplore every yearning you may ever have with anyone you feel it for.\n I would be ashamed if I found you were denying yourself any\npleasure out of some sense of obligation or loyalty to me.  It\nwould never change my love for you if you chose to lay with another.\n Your happiness, how ever you come by it, is the source of my\nhappiness.\"You\ncould be joyously frolicking with another man right before me and I\nwould simply smile and enjoy the sight of you enjoying yourself and I\nmay even join you.  I wish I could undo what those men did to you\nsimply because of what a terrifying and humiliating experience it was\nfor you, but I most definitely in no way hold it against you in my\nheart.  Do not fear that.  I do not in any way think it has\nsomehow made you any less worthy or less appealing than you were.\n Quite the opposite in fact since it showed beyond question the\nstrength you possess.\"Neville felt immense relief and even deeper love for the man and he asked, \"Then why will you not let me enjoy you now?\"\"I\nwish to take the time to do that right the first time.  It will be\nthe most wonderful experience of my life to date and I would like to\ntake it slowly and we simply do not have the time right now.  We\nmust rest quietly a few moments to\ngather back our energy so that we may start running again for a time.\n We should be out of any immediate danger thanks to our head start\nso we can proceed at an even\nslower pace that will be easier to maintain.  However, it is\ninevitable that the soldiers will discover you gone and the hunt for\nyou will begin.  We need to keep\nmoving until daylight and find a place to hide.  We will be\ntraveling only at night at first until we put a great deal of distance\nbetween ourselves and Braddock's forces.\"Neville realized the\nsmith was right.  He'd been so overjoyed by the discovery of the\nman's love for him he'd forgotten that they were on the run.As\nhe sat quietly in the smith's arms a thought came into his head.\n He was finally in the arms of his true love and yet he was still\njust 'the smith'.\"Something\njust\noccurred to me,\" said Neville, \"I have worked for you for months, even\nbeen smitten with you.  I love you and yet I don't even know your\ntrue name.  I have always just called you 'sir', or 'smith'\"The smith chuckled and said, \"You've heard people calling me by my name many times.\"\"I haven't, or I would know it.\" Neville said.\"You do not care to guess it?  I'll give you another hint; you've called me by my name countless times yourself.\"Neville\nthought hard.  To him the smith had never been anything other than\n'smith'.  The obvious answer came to him quickly.\"Do you mean to tell me that you are Mr. Smith, the town smith?\" Neville asked, grinning.The smith laughed, \"Did I not say before that you were clever?  Yes, I am Jakobson Smith, the town smith.\"Neville laughed, \"That name is certainly fitting.\"The smith chuckled, \"Yes, most people think it so.\"\"May I call you by your first name then, Jakobson?\"\"The\nname is a mouthful and far too formal sounding, do you not agree?\n I prefer when people who are close to me call me simply 'Jake'\"\"Jake Smith, I like it.  It's a strong name.  It suits you.\"\"Thank\nyou, my love.\"\"There's\nanother thing I've been wanting to ask you.  You were a soldier\nonce.  Tell me, you are still so strong and fit and clearly were\nnot in any way crippled in the war, why did you decide to stop being a\nfighter and turn to smithing?\" Neville asked.The smith said, \"I had my reasons.  I've done some things\nthat I'm not proud of.  I made a very bad decision some time ago.\n One I've regretted ever since as I must honestly say in hind\nsight I think I may have made it out of cowardice, or at the least out\nof a lack of strength of character.  Something you have already\nshown you may have in greater measure than I.  I\nwill keep no\nsecrets from you and I'll explain it all later.  We simply have no\ntime for long stories in our present predicament.  For now, I\nthink it is time for us to be moving again.\n I would love to talk with you much more.  It is good to\nfinally be my tender self with you instead of the gruff show I put on\nfor the townsfolk.  I think, however, that we should not\nstay in one place too long until we've put more distance between\nourselves and danger.\"\"How much farther will we run?  I\nknow Braddock and his men are a danger, but we are heading further into\neven more dangerous country filled with kobolds aren't we?  It\nseems like we are jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire,\" said Neville.\"There is hope for us yet.  I know where we\ncan go to get help if we plead our case well.  It's where we're headed and it shouldn't take us more than a few\ndays to get there.  For now Braddock's men are the greatest threat\nand we must move further from them quickly.  If they have\ndiscovered your escape they may have already begun the search.\n Come, I'll explain everything as we run,\" he said, and he leaned\nforward and lightly patted Neville's shoulder to coax him into standing.Neville stood up and turned to face his new found love and Jake stood as well.Jake took another look at the boy and harrumphed.\"We\nneed to get some of that filth off you to help you feel your dignity again.  We should clean\nyour face at least to remove the muck from those horrid men.  I\nwish we had water on hand.  There is a river not far and we can\nclean you up better when we get there and slake our thirst as well but\nfor now all I can do, if you will permit me, is use a clean corner of the cloth of my\nbreechclout and a bit of spit to try to clean your face at least.Neville started breathing a bit more quickly, knowing it would result in the smith being naked before him.\"Yes!  Please!\" he said.The\nsmith smiled and reached down to remove the garment.  Neville was\nenraptured as he watched, more closely than ever before, the smith's\nbeautiful member and big balls set free right before his eyes.\n The smith's thick penis had gone back down as they spoke but as the smith had noticed Neville's gaze\nit was already beginning to thicken very rapidly again.  The sight of that beautiful organ as it hung\nbeneath the thick patch of pubic hair, thickening and lifting up off the smith's large, hairy balls, immediately began to\nstir Neville's loins as well.Jake spat a few times into the cloth\nand leaned in and began to wipe Neville's cheek.Neville was in\nheaven.  As the cloth passed near his nose he noticed that it was filled with the scent of the big man's crotch.\n His head began to spin and he felt his own prick begin to inflate\nat an alarming rate.  He was surprised it did not make the sound\nof a spring being released it felt like it grew so quickly.  The\nsmith tried to wash each side of Neville's face thoroughly but\nthe boy kept turning his head to keep his nose right on\nthe cloth to inhale more of Jake's essence.The smith\nchuckled, \"Keep still for a moment and let me wash you as best I\ncan.  If you like you can breathe the scent of me for a moment or\ntwo when I'm done, then we must go.\"The boy stood very still\nand waited.  Finally the smith finished and handed Neville the\ncloth.  He took it in hand and opened it up to find the spot that\nhad been closest to the smith's balls and cock and he pressed it over\nhis nose and breathed deeply.  It was wonderful.  He could\nnot get enough.He\nreached down to pleasure himself\nautomatically.  He could not resist.  He'd found a slick wet\nspot on the cloth where the man's cock had been leaking precum as they\nspoke of pissing and pleasuring earlier.  Neville held the cloth\nover his face and licked at the spot.The smith smiled\nindulgingly and decided to allow the boy this one quick release.\n He had a feeling it was not going to take long.Neville did not even last a minute.  With the scent of his man so strong in his nostrils the orgasm hit him immediately and\nwithout warning.  He moaned loudly into the cloth as he squirted\nhis cum out.The smith had seen what was coming and had moved\nquickly to drop to his hands and knees and open his mouth to receive the boy's\nseed.  He extended his tongue and placed it under Neville's sweet\nmember and took all that the boy had to offer.  Neville moved the\ncloth away from his face and saw the smith down before him with Neville's cum on his extended tongue and his\nheart swelled with love for the man.  He moved his hips forward\nand inserted his penis into the smith's mouth and sighed as the last of\nhis cum oozed out while the smith closed his mouth on Neville's young\ncock and sucked very gently.When he was spent, Neville removed his cock\nand stepped back and asked the smith, \"Please, I know we must hurry but\nI've been wishing for this so long, will you let me pleasure you\nquickly just once?  Then I will run twice as fast so we can make\nup the distance.\"The smith could not resist the boy.  He smiled and nodded.He\nstood and stepped forward to put his now massively erect and throbbing cock right in front\nof Neville.The\nboy fell to his knees and moved his head forward as he took the man's\nlong thick penis and held it against his cheek to feel the heat of it, and he moved his face in\nand buried it in the pubic hair at the base of the large cock.  He\ninhaled and moaned and rubbed his nose around the man's crotch.\n He lovingly rubbed the side of his face against the smith's thick\ncock and then moved it to the other side and did the same again.\n He was finally as close as he'd wished to be for so long.He\ntook his hands and placed them on the outsides of the smith's\nmuscular thighs and ran them slowly up until they reached his hips and\nthen moved them around to the back to caress the big man's powerful\nass.  He moved one hand further around until his\nfingers dipped into the crack and touched the man's warm, tight hole.\n He lightly rubbed his fingertips up and down the warm sweaty\ncrack across the smith's tight pucker for a while, enjoying the intimacy\nof the contact.\n The boy put his other hand back on the man's hip and pushed while\npulling with the other hand on the smith's ass cheek to let Jake know\nhe\nwanted him to turn around.The smith smiled and turned.  He crouched forward slightly and presented his muscular ass to the boy's face.Neville\nwas thrilled to finally be allowed to pleasure the man in this way just\nas he'd imagined doing so many times as he'd watched the man laboring\nin the smithy.  He used his hands to part the big cheeks and\nexpose the dark trough of hair between.  He moved his face in and\nbegan to nuzzle the crack and inhale the wonderful masculine essence of\nthe smith.  His tongue came out and he began to taste the salty,\nmusky sweat.  Finally he probed at the tight anus and he felt the\nman begin to relax so he plunged his tongue in to taste his love's\nessence.The boy was in heaven.  He was so happy to finally\nbe doing what he'd wanted to for so long.  With his tongue now\nworking his lover's anus he moved one hand to the smith's big balls and\nbegan to caress them.  He brought the other hand up between Jake's\nlegs and took hold of the man's long, thick cock and began to run his hand up\nand down along it slowly.  The smith began moaning with the\nintense pleasure of all of the sensations the boy was giving him.Neville\ndid not want Jake to waste his seed on the grass and have to lick at\nit second hand like he'd done so many times before; he wanted to take\nit from the source and taste it as it spurted onto his tongue\ndirectly from the slit of his love's cock.  He also\nknew they hadn't much time so he decided he should bring it to a\nconclusion.  Again he pushed with one hand and pulled with the\nother on the man's two hips to have him turn around and the main object\nof his desires came back and pointed straight at his face with a large amount of precum clinging to the tip.Neville's\nhand once again came up between Jake's legs and began caressing his\nballs.  The boy used his other hand to control the man's penis\nwhile he began to lick the shaft on all sides with abandon to get\nit good and wet while tasting him.  He moved to the big,\nbeautifully shaped head and touched his tongue to the large droplet of\nprecum that had begun to ooze out of it.  He swirled the slippery\nsubstance around the head and then moved his tongue to the slit as more\nprecum began to ooze out at a faster rate.Neville moaned at how\nbadly he wanted this and finally he opened his mouth wide and took the\nhead into it.  He relaxed his throat completely as he'd practiced\nin his room so many times before and began to slowly push his head\nforward.  He kept going as the man's thick cock reached all the\nway to the back.  Neville took a deep breath and then forced his\nhead forward while relaxing his throat more and focused on suppressing\nhis gag reflex.  The cock squeezed right into his throat and the\nsmith began to moan and groan loudly at the sensation of it.The\nboy continued taking the cock until the man's big balls bumped up\nagainst his chin and his nose buried itself into the wonderfully\nscented, sweaty patch of pubic hair and came up against the man's pubic\nbone.\n Neville then pulled back and pushed forward again starting to\nbuild a rhythm.  He would pull his head back far enough that the\nman's cock head would exit his throat and come all the way back to\nNeville's lips, then the boy would plunge his head forward and the\nprecum flowing from the tip of Jake's penis would wipe itself off along\nNeville's drooling tongue before the cock head disappeared down the\nboy's throat again.There was no way the blacksmith could take much\nof this.  He put his hands on either side of Neville's head and he\nbegan to buck his hips against the boy's face and fucked his throat as he moaned and groaned.\n He began to thrust a bit harder and almost immediately he could\nfeel his large sack tighten up and his loins began to rapidly boil up\nas his orgasm crashed into him hard.Jake grunted and moaned loudly and his knees became weak\nbut he fought to stay upright as the first shock wave hit him hard and\nhe squirted a thick stream of cum directly down the boy's throat.\n He pulled back but he fought his urge to thrust forward again and\ninstead kept his big cock head right on the boy's tongue and held Neville's head still and grunted again as the second\nwave hit him and another large pulse of semen shot from his slit directly onto\nNeville's tongue.  The smith grabbed the shaft of his cock and\nworked it as he continued to moan and pumped his seed into the boy's\nmouth until it was nearly full and the man's balls nearly empty.As\nhe began to come down and Neville had swallowed down his load of cum, the smith pushed his slowly softening cock a bit\ndeeper into his beautiful lover's mouth and held it there a while to ooze\nits last as it began to shrink back down, completely spent.Finally there was no more seed to give him and he pulled his manhood out of Neville's mouth.The\nsmith fell to his knees and embraced the boy and then kissed him\ntenderly on the lips.  He pulled back and looked him in the eye.\"I love you, Neville.  I shall always love you.\"\"And I you.\" said Neville.They\nembraced to feel their love for each other again for a few moments\nwhile the smith rubbed Neville's naked back, and then they\nboth stood.\"You've\nmade me feel better than I've felt in a very long time, but we've tarried\nfar too long and truly should not have done.  We should be off again immediately.  Wrap\nthe breechclout around yourself, my love.  It's all I have to offer you\nto protect your modesty for now,\" Jake said, and then he retrieved his\nown trousers and slipped them on.Neville tied on the\nbreechclout and when he was ready, the smith took his hand and they\nbegan to walk quickly to warm up their legs before they would start to\nrun again.Jake\nspoke to the boy as they walked, \"Neville, your father said that he\nthought Braddock meant to have you killed by his men.  Do you have\nany idea why the commander might want you dead?\"\"I'd nearly\nforgotten!\" exclaimed Neville, \"I overheard things Braddock was saying about his plans back at the inn.\n He knows I heard and wants me killed to silence me.\"\"Tell me everything you know,\" said the smith.\"Braddock means to...\"Jake quickly hushed Neville as they heard the faint sounds of rattling metal, like weapons bumping\nagainst armor, coming from some distance behind them.  It sounded like there were soldiers\napproaching fast.\"Get\nto those deep bushes there and hide amongst them, quickly!\" Jake whispered, \"Do not\nmake a sound and do not try to follow me.  I will attempt to find\nout who is approaching without being seen.  If it appears as though they're coming upon your position I will need to lead\nthem away from here to keep you safe, and then give them the slip and come back to you.  Do not move or I will not\nbe able to find you again!\"Neville\nran to the bushes and hid while the blacksmith silently slipped into\nthe darkness back toward the source of the sound.After\na short time Neville noticed with relief that the sounds that had been steadily getting louder, were now growing\nfainter.  Perhaps the smith was leading them in another direction.Suddenly, he heard a commotion that sounded like a scuffle in the distance.\n There were angry barks and snarls and he heard the blacksmith's\nvoice shouting \"Unhand me you...\" and then he was silenced.Neville's\nbowels nearly released from the sudden fear that seized his body.\n He reacted without thinking and leaped from the bushes and began\nto run toward the source of the commotion.  He realized as he ran\nthat he was putting himself in danger contrary to the blacksmith's\nwishes but what else could he do?  He did not want to leave the\nman without making some attempt to help him.  He had no idea what\nhe might be facing but he at least had to see if there might be any\nchance of helping Jake.The sound appeared to be heading further away so he\nincreased his pace and before long he noticed the glow of a fire ahead.\n He slowed down and moved cautiously and quietly in the deep\nshadows until he could see through a group of trees into a very large clearing ahead.There\nwas a fire in the center of it and three armored kobolds were sitting\non a large fallen log on the other side of the fire from him and facing Neville's direction.  Two others were dragging the\nlimp form of the blacksmith toward\nthe three on the log.  They appeared to be speaking softly but Neville was not\nclose enough to\nhear any of it.  He did not dare get any closer for fear that he\nwould be revealed in the light of the fire.He\ncould not believe that these vile, murderous creatures had Jake in their\nclutches.  His fear for the smith made a knot in his stomach.\n There was no way the man could survive the vicious monsters unarmed but Neville could not see any way that he could help.The boy could do nothing but wait to see what would happen next.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/681279-the-hawthorne-accord-chapter-2.json"}