The Ardor - 8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

„What else could you…“

Maraki shook his head and his eyes widened as understanding dawned.

“No. I can’t ask you to do… this.”

The calmness rippled through me. Each wave brought more tranquility and sureness.

“You’re not asking me to take care of your Ardor. I’m offering it.”

Calling the Ardor by name was aimed at mitigating its monstrosity for him.

“You know how I feel about you. It’d be hard for anyone, but for you it must be disgusting.”

His entire face was begging me to follow his logic and to forget about my offer.

“Helping a friend, helping you, isn’t disgusting.”

I weighed the option to add a joke about combining business with pleasure, but decided that it would alienate him even more.

“You Ogrushkai are pragmatists. Think of it this way: you don’t want to hurt me; I don’t want to get hurt. Me pleasuring you is the simplest way to achieve this.”

“And it is still plain wrong.”

Maraki turned his head away from me and closed his eyes. I put my hands on his cheeks and made him face me again.

“You’re afraid that this is the moment which finally changes everything.”

His eyes opened. He didn’t need to answer, because I saw what was on his mind. My hands sank down.

“There will be change, for we’ll be closer than ever. Letting me satisfy your needs is one of the greatest signs of trust you can show me. This is how I feel about this. I’m honored to have won the trust of an Ogrushkai; I’m humbled to call you my friend. This will never change.”

Maraki’s features softened. The slightest smile played on his lips.

“The honor is all mine. I trust you not only with this life, but with the next one as well.”

The smile turned into a smirk.

“You know how to talk to an Ogrushkai. Not bad for a human.”

I laughed out.

“Befriending the most stubborn of them helped my learning a lot.”

We chuckled together before the seriousness of the situation caught up with us.

“We are decided then? I’ll take care of your Ardor?”

He looked into my eyes for several heartbeats.

“Yes. This is a debt I can never pay you back.”

There was something in his voice that made me shiver, starting from my spine.

“Just be there for me as you have been in the time we spent together. This is all I ask.”

“You’re lucky I’m chained to the wall. You’d be crushed by now if I had my arms free.”

He smiled again and I smiled with him, though I had gladly paid this price for his freedom. I didn’t want to ruin his good mood, but I had to ask.

“When do we start?”

Sobriety replaced all humor.

“We have to wait till the Ardor begins. It can’t be dealt with in advance.”

I fought the urge to laugh. The situation wasn’t funny at all, but the thought that had occurred to me was just plain hilarious. Maraki tilted his head.

“Everything’s alright?”

I burst out laughing. He raised his brows and his forehead wrinkled.

“We are two young males and we’re talking about ‘pleasing you’, ‘satisfying you’ or ‘taking care of your Ardor’. That’s not what we usually call it, is it?”

Maraki’s deep rumble of a laugh thundered through the cell.

“I’ll jerk you off. It’s as simple as that.”

It was difficult to breathe for both of us.

“We call it nu’ul’zar, ‘making the snake spit’.”

We snickered a little more. Getting rid of the pathos had helped both of us. I looked at Maraki and his eyes had acquired an orange hue.

“It’s beginning. Right?”

He nodded.

“Still a little too early to take ca… to jerk me off.”

He was grinning like a little child that had been brash enough to use a forbidden word.

“Wait a moment.”

I got up from his side and fetched the cloak.

“We won’t grant the Nur’Zhul the perverted pleasure to watch.”

I spread the cloak over Maraki’s lower body and legs. This was as much for us as it was for the Nur’Zhul. The cover granted the illusion of privacy.

“Thank you.”

It had been a whisper only, but it affected me, made me feel warm and tingly inside. I touched his cheek.

“Perhaps we should already get you out of your pants and underwear. Could take a little while…”

He nodded while stiffening up. Despite all our efforts, Maraki couldn’t take this situation lightly. I sat down beside him, facing the wall. I started with removing his boots. In my whole life, I hadn’t felt leather as soft as this. I laid them aside. He put his feet on the ground and pushed up. Leaning against the wall with his back, he lifted his butt off the floor. Under the cloak, I untied the leather straps that held his pants. I had to get on my knees to reach around him. With a swift motion, I pulled down his leather trousers. While I removed them, Maraki sat down again. I folded his pants with care and put them next to his boots.

I took stock of Maraki and me. His tension had increased and his muscles were close to cramping. He pressed his lips together so that they had turned almost white. I wasn’t as calm as I had been when I had offered to help him, but enough tranquility remained to see this through. I grasped his hand, at least as much as I could hold, and gave it a squeeze. In panic, he looked down at our hands and then into my face.

“I know that it is difficult for you. But please, relax. It doesn’t get easier for me if you look like I’m causing you pain and discomfort.”

He lowered his gaze.

“The problem is that you’re causing quite the opposite of pain and discomfort.”

I gave his hand another squeeze.

“That’s okay, Maraki, more than okay. I told you it’s an honor to be your friend. Part of this honor is the fact that it’s I who can make such a powerful male weak, that you take so much interest in me.”

His head shot up. The fiery glow in his eyes had gained in strength. Like embers, they burned their way deep into me. I held his gaze, because I wanted him to see my sincerity. His features softened.

“It’s your honesty that honors you. Yes, you make me weak, but at the same time you give me more strength than a mortal should have.”

He pushed up again. I smiled and grabbed the rim of his fur underwear. I had some difficulty to get him out of it, for he was already hard. His cock slapped against the cloak and formed a massive bulge. A short flash of shame crossed his face, but his determination didn’t waver. He slid down to the floor. I had noticed his musky smell on the first Cycle, but close up its intensity was intoxicating. When I produced his underwear from under the cloak, another wave of Maraki’s aroma hit me and knocked me almost flat. I put it to his other clothes.

“Can we begin?”

“Yes. I’ll do the meditation while you do the rest.”

I nodded and Maraki closed his eyes, bowing down his head in reverence. I took a deep breath. In a deliberate movement, I put my hand on his stomach. He gasped at my touch. Maraki’s skin felt different than human skin. It was rougher and reminded me of leather or suede. I had touched him so many times before, but only now that my full attention was in it I realized the texture of his skin. Moreover, I noticed the firmness of his body, like his abs had been sculptured out of an exquisite stone. My hand began its descent. It vanished underneath the cloak. The complete lack of hair made it difficult for me to gauge how far I had come. The first contact with his cock came as a surprise. A subtle moan escaped his lips. I hesitated for a moment. Surprise turned into shock when I tried to close my hand around the shaft, for my fingers didn’t reach around its girth. I looked at my lower arm. I knew I could put my hand around the middle of it with my fingers touching. I swallowed at taking in this comparison and I was glad that Maraki had closed his eyes. If he had seen my reaction, he may have changed his mind.

I moved my hand along the length of his dick. One of the abilities I had learned as a thief was an accurate sense for estimating size. Jot after Jot added up before his cock head appeared in my hand. On my way back, I repeated my estimate, because this couldn’t be true. But the result stayed the same: almost 35 Jots, perhaps 34. Cold sweat trickled down my back in single droplets. I remembered my night with Tavo. His cock had been half as long and even less than half as thick, but it had hurt like the Whip of the Guardian when he had taken me from behind. Maraki was so massive he would split me in half. I had to distract myself or this thought would become full-fledged panic. I forced myself to take deep breaths. I concentrated on the details beneath my hand. Thick veins ran across his cock, pulsing with the beat of his heart. Maraki was cut; I could feel a tiny scar close to the head.

I looked at Maraki. His breathing had accelerated and strain could be seen in his face, the strain of arousal. His lips were moving, but closed before a moan could escape them. I increased the pace of my strokes. The muscles in his legs tightened and he bent forward. I was jerking him for a short time only, but he was already close. I placed my other hand under the cloak in front of his cock head. Two strokes later, he came. The first two spurts were powerful and of thick consistency. The following shots were more liquid, but hit my hand with undiminished force. He had stopped breathing and now let go of the air with a feral groan. My palm was covered in his cum and I feared it would drip off. Carefully, I removed my arms from under the cloak and got up. I avoided looking at the goo in my hand, though I couldn’t shut out the intensive smell. It was similar to the odor of human cum, but it was mingled with the musk of Maraki’s groin. I washed both of my hands in the water basin. The strands of his semen didn’t solve in the cold water and drifted away like long threads of silvery spider webs. Within me, countless emotions blended together into a chaotic tapestry, but disgust or shame were not among them.

Overwhelmed by my own feelings, I hadn’t paid attention to Maraki. I turned my head towards him. He was leaning against the wall. His head was tilted back while he was looking up at me. The desperation and fear in his eyes stung into my heart like a jagged blade. Two pieces of amber asked for nothing but my forgiveness. I crossed the short distance in a blur and put my arms around Maraki’s neck, nestling my cheek against his.

“Everything’s alright… hush… hush…”

Warm wetness soaked the fabric of my shirt. The giant warrior was gone and a trembling, little boy had replaced him. I sat down to his right, my back to the wall, and rested his head on my chest. Holding it with my right hand, I caressed him with my left one.

“Everything’s alright.”

His voice was weak.

“You mustn’t hate me.”

“I’m not even feeling the slightest hatred for you.”

I patted the back of his head. He was aspirating his words only.

“I didn’t meditate at all. Your touch… I couldn’t.”

“But the Ardor has gone a…way.”

I understood what he didn’t dare to put into words.

“I misused you in the worst way possible.”

He tried to lift his head off my chest, but with gentle pressure I held it in place.

“The only thing I feel is friendship and love. And that is what you’ve shown me: the depth of your friendship and love. How can this be misuse?”

I let my fingers slide through his dreadlocked hair.

“But…”

“There is no ‘but’.”

There was a short pause.

“How can you forgive me time and again?”

He had breathed his question onto my chest.

“There wasn’t one thing I’d have had to forgive you.”

We stayed silent for a couple of heart beats.

“It was A’ra’mai who made our paths cross and intertwine. I will call you friend in this life and in the next. My tongue, my hands and my deeds shall never betray our friendship. Do you accept my oath?”

An Ogrushkai couldn’t offer a more intimate form of friendship. It was sheer joy that circled through my veins.

“Nen’shem nen’denai.”

It is my will and the will of the goddess.

The most affirmative answer the Ogrushkai language knew.

He clung closer to my chest.

“Now sleep. This night, it’ll be I who’ll hold and guard you.”

I caressed him till he was sound asleep.