Escape from an Ancient Civilization Ch 117

Chapter 117

 

Time flowed as they faced each other in stillness. Nataek was so swept up in an unnamed sensation that he couldn’t even form the expected responses—like telling him not to use his arm, or asking what on earth he thought he was doing.

“Teresi.”

“…”

“Am I truly nothing more to you than a master to be served?”

It felt as if even his danger-sensing circuits had shorted out. Nataek’s mind went blank, white as paper. What took command of that empty space were the body’s instinctive signals. Those gentle, upturned eyes looking down at him, a gaze filled with longing, red lips worried between teeth, and the thick forearm that held him trapped. Nataek’s Adam’s apple bobbed with an audible gulp.

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to take… the things you do to me.”

The things he’d done? Did he mean tending to him? Or insisting on following him? Or… the patting, just now?

“Which… things do you mean…?”

“This.”

Medeus raised a hand and caressed Nataek’s cheek. Thick fingers cautiously traced his jaw and slid down his neck. Then he set his palm over Nataek’s left chest. Tap, tap. A pale hand drummed against Nataek’s heart as if to ask it—why was it racing so?

“I…”

All he needed to say was a single sentence: that he served him as a master. And yet Nataek’s mouth wouldn’t move.

“Am I only your master?”

“…”

“Even now?”

At some point, Nataek could no longer think of Medeus as merely a master. Medeus wasn’t a character in the game Sununki, but a living, breathing person at his side. Even so, he couldn’t define their bond with any clear word. Medeus… had he sensed these feelings, too?

There was only one certainty: every time he became entangled with Medeus, his body stirred, and his heart wavered.

“Answer me, Teresi.”

If Medeus had perceived his feelings, his face was far too dark for it. He looked at Nataek with a desperation burned down to ash. If he answered “yes” here—what then? What if Medeus cast aside his feelings for him and went searching for someone else…

He didn’t want that. He wanted it desperately not to be so. At last, Nataek began to accept what his own feelings were. It was neither pity nor compassion, neither mere desire nor simple camaraderie. Regardless of gender or preference, their hearts were flowing toward one another.

“Teresi…”

Despair deepened in Medeus’s eyes. He had to say it: that Medeus was only his master, and could never be more.

“I…”

If he parted from Medeus, his heart would feel very empty. Tomorrow, the day after, Nataek wanted Medeus to be with him. He wanted to learn the facets he didn’t yet know. And yet, they were a bond without a promised future. When this journey ended, they would return to their places and live out their separate times. Nothing was more foolish than starting a relationship that already bore a visible unhappy end.

But even knowing that better than anyone, he couldn’t look away from the man before him. He should draw a line here, clearly. He didn’t want to. Nataek bit his lip and spoke.

“I… must serve Lord Medeus as my master. For now, that is all I can say…”

It was an answer forged by compromise between the wish to soothe Medeus and the reason that recognized reality.

“You must… serve me? Is there a reason it has to be so?”

Because one day, we must part.

“…Forgive me.”

“Ha…”

Medeus bowed his head. The long sigh was closer to relief than lament.

“I’m truly sorry, that I can say no more than this.”

“No. It’s all right.”

It’s all right. It’s all right. He murmured it, pressing his brow to Nataek’s shoulder.

“Everything’s all right. Just don’t push me away. Don’t go far.”

Was the potion’s effect still not fully settled? As those unfettered feelings poured out, Nataek wavered. Was it right to leave things like this?

…Fine. His feelings could cool, or someone who matched his ideal could appear. Or else… he might marry into some good noble house. Then he would drift away from me, naturally. Yes. So don’t get ahead of yourself.

And yet… why did that thought make him feel so suddenly, so deeply unwell?

Just imagining someone at Medeus’s side made his heart sink. In this state, how could he ever push Medeus away? He had to stay close, pressed tight against him…

Wait. This isn’t about feelings, is it? For the escape plan, staying beside Medeus was only natural.

“Heh.”

He almost laughed at himself for fretting more over feelings than over escaping an ancient civilization. How had he come to this?

“…Is it… difficult?”

Medeus mistook Nataek’s ironic chuckle for rejection, and his eyes drooped again.

Hey—no, that’s not what that meant.

“No! Difficult? Not at all!”

“So… it’s all right?”

He saw himself reflected in Medeus’s gray eyes. With a face like that, asking like that… who on earth could refuse?

“Yes. It’s all right. Absolutely.”

At that, Medeus’s face blossomed into a smile.

“What does ‘absolutely’ mean?”

His lips drew a graceful curve. It was so beautiful that Nataek’s heart beat faster still. That smile—there was the problem. With him smiling like that, how could feelings not rise?

Thump—thump.

His heart leapt again.

Ah…

He wanted to touch those plush lips. To stroke them with his fingers, to part them, to delve slowly within…

He wanted to bite, to see how soft they were; to taste with his tongue how sweet they might be. Saliva pooled in Nataek’s mouth, as if before a fine meal. Swallowing, loudly enough to be heard, he looked up to find Medeus staring down at him, gaze deep.

“Teresi.”

I’m losing it.

Thump—

“…Teresi.”

Hah…

Heat ached low within him.

“Teresi…”

Thump—

At some point, the tip of Medeus’s nose had touched his own. Rustle—the sound of Medeus’s fist clutching the bedding tickled his ear.

Damn it… I shouldn’t…

Thump—thump.

There was no way to control a body aligned with its heart.

“Teresi…”

Medeus hovered hesitantly around him. The low voice calling his name soaked through Nataek’s body like a slow-rolling tide.

Thump—thump.

“Tere… sh—”

Unable to hold back, Nataek raised both hands and cupped Medeus’s cheeks.

Ah, to hell with it.

He lifted his head and crashed their lips together. As if he had been waiting for it, Medeus opened at once. Before the friction of lips came the taste of the tender flesh within. Nataek’s ardor wrapped him, flicking and winding—left, then right—while his fingertips stroked the pale nape. The sound of their mouths moving spread through the room.

There was no system prompt. No luck points accumulating. Even so, Nataek surrendered to this communion more wholly than ever before.

Bracing one hand on the mattress, Medeus slipped the other beneath the quilt. That large hand stroked up the outside of Nataek’s thigh. With the slow motion of his fingertips, Nataek’s hem tugged higher. At the fork where thigh met belly, Medeus’s hand paused—then gripped Nataek’s skin firmly. A sweet ache spread through Nataek’s lower belly at that touch.

“Ah… hff…”

His shoulders drew in. Catching the change at once, Medeus broke the kiss and rubbed his skin gently—round, soft circles with his palm, from thigh to pelvis, alternating with a tender squeeze.

“Mm…”

“Teresi.”

With his eyes, he tracked every breathy sound—where a touch made shoulders tense, where a stroke made his chest rise and fall. The area Medeus caressed widened, and the larger those circles became in that great hand, the more explicit the points of contact grew.

Half-lidded, Nataek fixed on Medeus’s lips. He looped an arm around his neck and pressed their mouths together again, arching up for a deeper kiss. Medeus turned his head to meet him, active and eager. Just as his hand was about to lift Nataek’s hem completely—

Knock, knock!

“Lion.”

Nataek’s eyes flew open.

Wh—what. Who is it.

He shoved Medeus to the side. A string of slickness stretched between them, then snapped. He scrubbed his mouth with the back of his hand, damp with saliva. But there was nothing to be done about his flushed eyes.

Knock, knock, knock!

“Wh-who is it?”

“Heduanna. I’ve brought the herbs the Ensi prepared.”

Heduanna? A priest? But it should be the height of the banquet—why was he here?

“Teresi. I’ll go.”

“No. Please—stay down.”

“No. I—”

As Medeus pushed up to sit, Nataek hurried him back down.

“No, I have to go. The—the quilt.”

He pulled the covers up to Medeus’s neck—and in doing so, exposed his own lower half beneath the bedding.

Gods. Damn it.

He yanked his skirt down in a panic.

Knock, knock, knock!

“Just a moment, please!”

As he moved to open the door, something else caught his eye.

Oh… for the love of—!

The heat flushed across his belly had not yet cooled. Glancing wildly around, Nataek snatched up the cloak hung to one side. He threw the long cloth over himself, covering up, and opened the door.

Creak—!

“Lion.”

“What brings you here, Priest? The banquet must be in full swing.”

“Since these are the Ensi’s own medicines, I brought them personally. The Ensi is very worried for General Medeus.”

Nataek accepted the basket. It was rather heavy for herbs alone.

“I also packed some food from the banquet. Even if the General is ill, you must keep up your own strength, Lion.”

“Thank you.”

“But… are you unwell?”

“Pardon?”

“It’s your color… flushed, as if with fever. And indoors, at that. Why are you wrapped so tightly?”

“This… I stepped out to check on something in the rear court, briefly.”

“Ah, I see. I worried you might be ill. Please don’t overdo it. Should the Lion take to bed, the Ensi’s heart would be sore indeed.”

“I’ll take care to prevent that.”

“Then I will take my leave.”

Only after the formalities were done did Nataek close the door. He slid the bar into place carefully. Only then did he allow himself to breathe.

“Hah…”

Leaning against the door with a sigh, he felt a heavy gaze from the bed. Medeus was smiling at him. He reached one hand out toward Nataek.

“Teresi.”

Footnotes:

• “Ensi” is a historical Sumerian title for a city-ruler or governor; used here as the sovereign addressed in courtly speech.

• “Agade” (Akkad) refers to the ancient Mesopotamian city; in this context, a locale where a royal feast is proclaimed.

• “Heduanna” evokes the name Enheduanna, a high priestess of Inanna in Akkad; here used for a priestly character delivering herbs on the Ensi’s orders.