Epilog


The five dragons reach to the base two days later. Koji wasn't there during the takeoff but one of his people reported him that one of the dragons flew without rider, and on another one sat two.
Since the dragons' takeoff Koji is grumpy and in bad mood. His people steer clear of him. Shibuya walks only on toe tops in his presence. Even pretty girls cannot cheer him up. Hardly does he even regard them.
Only Nuruk remains unshakeable with him even if he sometimes becomes the target of a rage fit. Koji mostly remains in his quarter or in the rear room of the "Full Cup" where he sits darkly before his wine.
His people slowly begin to worry about their chief.
A veiled figure enters the tavern a week after the dragons' takeoff. He exchanges some words with the landlord and then with Shibuya.
The latter takes him to the rear room. Koji looks up surprised. The hope in his eyes is quickly replaced by worry, as the foreigner removes his cloak and Hisaya appears. "What's up with Izumi?"
"I thought you might ask me that." Hisaya sits down at the table, Shibuya supplies him eagerly with wine and sits near without attracting attention.
Hisaya looks around. "You are hard to find. My informer told me I should search at the port for the dirtiest tavern, that you could be found there. And now, I find you at the second dirtiest."
Koji shrugs. "Why are you here?"
Hisaya bends forward. "What precisely happened? Izumi's injuries were not that bad. Painful, but not dangerous. I also know that he was raped- the doctor confirmed it. Izumi himself does not talk about it. To be precise he doesn't talk at all. He refuses to mount his dragon. He cares for him however, but that is all. Takuto says that Tetsu'ko refused him obedience.
He wants another rider to take him. For Takuto, the dragons are his one and everything. And now he wants to quit! Tetsu'ko is always sneaking around him like a beaten dog. If he could, he would huddle Takuto under his wing without releasing him anymore.
Takuto feeds him and cares, but he doesn't talk to him anymore and doesn't regard him.
I cannot give Tetsu'ko to someone else. The dragon is so fixated on Takuto that he would rather break his both wings than accept a new rider. And Takuto is one of my best men, I simply won't give him up so easily."
Koji plays with his jug.
"Ikaru raped him. I could do nothing against it. Tetsu'ko came a little too late for the rescue. That is all I know."
"Don't tell me fairy tales! I saw this same facial expression on Takuto!
A depressive dragon rider is already bad enough, a depressive dragon is even worse, but both is simply unbearable! And now a depressive thief. At least tell me the truth!"
Truth!
Koji sighs. He is hardly ready to accept it himself, not to mention talking over it.
Shibuya takes advantage of the moment. "Please Koji! It can't go on like that. Tell us what is going on."
"I fell in love with him." The sentence comes so low that Shibuya and Hisaya first believe they heard wrong.
"What?"
Both are watched from serious and sad blue eyes. "I fell in love with him. I cannot be with him, Yakazu is my home and the riders are his. And it rips me apart. I do not know how he stands to this, however if I judge by your words it hit him hard - more than he may confess."

The room becomes quiet. Shibuya and Hisaya are both equally shocked. These news are hard to digest. Hisaya nods slowly. Takuto's behavior now makes sense as well as that of the dragon. Could Takuto really leave the riders?
It might be possible. He is not willing to let the boy leave like that.
Hisaya gets up, he learned enough. He says goodbye to Koji and leaves quickly the tavern. In Hisaya's head, a risky plan is forming.
And that this plan will undoubtedly annoy King Boltis, just makes it the better ...

After two weeks, the "Fog" undertakes again one of their feared excursions.
It is as brilliant as usually - it's just clever to clear out a carpet warehouse, filled with smuggled silk. The victim, who happens to be the nephew of the king, can not even call the guards. And the successful thieves celebrate their boss. But Shibuya cannot be deceived; he knows that Koji is still depressed.

A slim foreigner comes in the tavern in the middle of the celebration. The landlord wants to throw him out; he murmurs something about a 'Closed society'. Shibuya grabs the foreigner by an arm and carries him quickly into the wine cellar. He immediately recognized Takuto.
Koji storms the stairs down a couple of moments later. He stops right in front of Izumi who automatically stepped back to the wall.
Koji shifts cautiously the hood back and strokes Izumi's face with the fingertips. Both remain silent at first.
"What are you doing here?"
"I am appointed as guard for the mountain pass here."
"As what?"
"As Guard. Hisaya convinced the emperor that the storm mountains should be secured all the time and a rider should be posted constantly here. There is a suitable rock which is fitting for a small base, directly on the foothills of the storm mountains. The king has to provide my catering, but I have to report to Hisaya and the emperor only."
Everything is spinning around in Koji's head. "And Tetsu'ko?"
"I'll might try it with him once again." Takuto shrugs the shoulders. "The alternative to this would be to take my departure. Hisaya talked to me a whole week about what a great chance this assignment is and how Tetsu'ko would like his new duty. I do not want to give him up anyway; I like him too much. Even if he let me down once." Takuto's eyes becomes cold for a moment.
Koji understands mainly just one thing: Izumi, HIS Izumi, stays here. He packs his shoulders and pulls him close for a long kiss. Izumi's body is stiff, unyielding. Koji takes Izumi's face in both hands and looks into these marvelous amber eyes. He presses a slight kiss on the brown forehead.
Takuto places hesitating his hands to Koji's chest. Koji takes that as an encouragement, he bends forward and covers the face with kisses until he returns to the mouth again and explores it very gently. Izumi's body seems stiff less this time , he snuggles shyly up to Koji.

That is enough to electrify Koji beyond measure.
He presses Izumi back to the wall and kisses him intensely, more demanding. Izumi seizes up; he seems to be frightened.
Koji moves back a little. He strokes him. Face, body, kisses his hands; place them on his shoulders. Koji forces himself to proceed slowly. He doesn't want to frighten nor hurt Izumi. Ikaru hurt Izumi back then, it is a big mark of confidence that he is here now.
Therefore, he has to be cautious. Even if every part in him screams to immediately pounce on Izumi.
Izumi relaxes with the gentle caresses again. He lifts his head and lets himself be kissed intensely. His hands stroke Koji; wander slowly over his back.
With trembling hands Koji undresses the boy, strips his tunic gently off.
Izumi is of a breath-taking beauty. Long slim limbs, taut brown skin, soft as silk.

Koji, suddenly becoming aware that they are still standing in the wine cellar, shifts Izumi to the hatch, opens it and urges him gently down. Down there Izumi freezes, so he wraps his arms around him. It is always cold there and he is wearing no more clothes than his loincloth. He is lifted and carried into the darkness. Izumi does not like the catacombs; he hangs on to Koji and conceals his head in his shoulder.
They reach the 'guestroom' after a short while. Koji puts Izumi down to light the lantern. The room seems spooky, almost unreal in the weak light.
He locks the door carefully; no one should disturb them. Koji hardly admits to himself that the second reason is that Izumi cannot run away from him anymore now.                          He does not trust the situation completely yet.
Gooseflesh is forming on Izumi's body, he is terribly freezing. Koji presses close to him, wrap his arms around the boy, warming him.
After a couple of minutes, he begins again to cover eyes, nose and cheeks with kisses. He turns the head a little and touches with his tongue this sensible place directly under the earlobe. Izumi shakes as Koji gently moves his lips along the cheekbones, stops every now and then for small kisses.
Finally he grips Izumi's chin cautiously, shifts it a little and kisses the boy tenderly. Izumi hangs on to his shoulders, his whole body trembling. Koji lifts him and places him onto the bed.
He realizes then that he is still completely dressed. Koji strips carelessly his clothes off, let it fall simply onto the ground. He cuddles naked up to Takuto, enjoys the feeling of the warm skin and firm muscles. He soon moves his lips on brown skin, kisses here, nibbles there, sets a small bite exactly on the collarbone, tastes a little blood. Izumi gives a soft groan, his hands clasp desperately on Koji's chest.
Koji holds Izumi's hands, presses them firm into the pillows. He slides a little deeper and places kisses on a smooth chest, licks gently over the ribs, bites lightly a nipple. Izumi writhes under him and moans softly.
Koji glides deeper, strokes over a flat stomach, lets his tongue play in the navel. He strips the loincloth off and strokes over Izumi's arousal before he encloses him in his mouth. Izumi bucks up briefly; runs his free trembling hand over Koji's silver-white hair.
His breath comes in short, hard gasps. Koji sucks stronger, he feels that Izumi's body tightens like a bow and glides back. The boy looks at him confused, his eyes are veiled, the mouth lightly opened. Koji urges now against him, shifts Izumi's knee up and presses his hard member against the narrow opening. Izumi tenses up again, the former pain is still alive in his memory. Koji suck at Izumi's neck, presses stronger, pushes his sex into the slim body under him. Izumi screams short, as Koji penetrates him. So tight .... Koji moves slowly, carefully, gives Izumi time to relax.
He nibbles at Izumi's neck and shoulders, takes delight in the taste of his skin.
His movements slowly becoming harder, he penetrates deeper into the boy. As Koji is buried to the hilt into the body, he starts to take Izumi with deep slow thrusts. Two hands dig their fingers into his back, leave scratches in his white flesh. Izumi groans and whimpers almost desperately under his moves but he loosens up more and more, and finally winds his legs around Koji's waist.
Izumi is kissed over and over again; shoulders, breast and necking are intensely caressed.
He encounters instinctively Koji's thrusts with his own movements, lifts his hips. Sweat runs across Koji's forehead in spite of the cold. He now becomes faster, pushes harder into the warm body. He winds an arm around Izumi's hips to lift him even further; the other hand massaging his member in the rhythm of the thrusts. He strokes him demanding until the boy writhes under him with a suffocated scream and hot liquid runs over Koji's fingers. Koji bends over the body, taking Izumi now almost ruthless, thrusting deeper into the slender body as fast as possible. One moment, just one more second .....
His sex literally seems to bulge, as it finally spends its seed into the tight heat. It pumps a little longer until the last drop is poured.
Koji slumps over the boy, withdraws himself cautiously from his body.
Mhmm so good ...
A couple of tears run across Izumi's face, he is terrible exhausted. Koji kisses them carefully away and cuddles the boy to his chest.
It is really cold in the room, he grabs a blanket and covers them both. Izumi now lies his head on his shoulder bend. One of his hands is on Koji's chest, drawing invisible lines on it. Since they came in that dungeon, they haven't spoken a word.
Izumi falls asleep a few minutes later, his soft breath resounding clearly in the quiet room. Koji muses a little. He had already given up every hope and now ....
He hugs the boy a little closer and kisses him gently on the forehead. Slowly, he glides  into sleep, too.

The new refuge is a full success. Izumi does not understand from where the whole beautiful furniture came so suddenly, but he presumes that it is a present of king Boltis.
Within shortest time, the rock cave becomes a comfortable accommodation including chimney - and he does not even have to ask for a single craftsman.
The craftsmen don't tell him who sent them or brought them up. It is even stranger that the people ask no money from him. They hum around and murmur something like 'It's an honor' or 'Everything already paid'...
Tetsu'ko and Koji could perhaps tell him more about that but both seem to know nothing at all. At least, they pretend so.
Thanks to Izumi's daily patrols, new gangs are immediately scared off. The Market flourishes in Yakazu as never before. All are very satisfied.
The 'Fog' is the only gang he could not catch until now. He has no idea how they manage to escape but they are always a step ahead. The last time he chased them, Tetsu'ko had had  a cramp in his wing and was obliged to land. Such big luck makes Izumi always suspicious but since the gang acts mainly in the city, he can leave the responsibility to the guards.
At least the mountain pass is always safe.
The terrible experiences in the cave slowly fade; the wounds are well healed with time - even his soul wounds. Koji's tenderness works like balm on his injuries.
Yes, Izumi is happy. Koji visits him often and now even gets on well with Tetsu'ko.
He has time for his tasks and as well as for Koji, his dragon and himself, too.
The three of them undertook an excursion over the sea recently. It was really a lot of fun for everyone. In the evening of that day, he fell asleep exhausted, in front of the chimney.
In the morning he awoke in Koji's arms, Tetsu'ko had placed his head around them both.
Izumi leans back with a soft sigh.
Yes ....  Life can be wonderful.
King Boltis visits his treasury once again.
He wants to check his reserves. The traders bring a lot of money into the city but he also has a lot of expenses. His best guest room disappeared recently in a mysterious way - beds, cupboards, tables, carpets, simply everything. The room was found completely empty.
The guards did hear nothing, there was just some roofing tiles that had slipped, on the floor, as if somebody had uncovered a part of the roof and got the furniture from out there.
King Boltis shrugs the shoulders. Completely impossible, someone would need a transportation by air to remove all the furniture. And of course, a lot of people to pack it all together.
He would rather believe that his wayward nephew sold the furniture to cover some gambling debts.
Oh well, he was once young, too ...
He is completely surprised, as something familiar twinkles over a chest.
The queen's necklace!!!
Somebody laced two red ribbons around it; a small note with an elegant handwritten memo 'Thanks for the loan' hangs next to it.
King Boltis can hardly believe his luck. What ever he wanted to do to Koji - because he is convinced (wisely), that Koji is the only one able, and bold enough, to break into his treasure room - it is forgotten and forgiven.
At last nothing more can prevent a wedding! The only missing thing is a fitting wife.
King Boltis thinks carefully.
Mhmm... he should perhaps send a message to this thief through a middleman. He could maybe steal a fitting queen for him - and easily so.
This thought amuses king Boltis so much that he goes back laughing loudly to his throne hall.

Koji leans relaxed over the balcony of his quarter. The night is clear, innumerable lights are twinkling in the sky. He breathes the cool air deeply, stretches his strained muscles, and enjoys the silence of the night.
He flings a look to his bed and the curled figure in it. Koji smiles dreamingly.
He returns to his bed, stretches himself carefully besides the slim body and strokes gently the velvet brown skin. Izumi murmurs something in his sleep.
In the darkness, somebody begins to softly hum melodically.

~The End~