Take Flight - 6. Chapter 6

The feeling was familiar. Sayer simply had to touch Birch when he was bouncing everywhere and the nervous energy flowed right out. Sayer had no idea how Birch figured out that he’d been taking it on purpose, but if he didn’t mind ….

“Are you sure?”

The Darkling shrieked again, his hands waving, and more of the tulips around him grew larger and began snapping nightmarish jaws full of fangs. The guards were coordinating in their attack to hold it, but the creature broke free when two were felled by the flowers.

Croll’s eyes widened. “No more time, it’s coming!” A wave of changing flowers flowed in front of the creature, the faceless flower jaws snapping toward them.

“Do it.” Birch said with quiet determination. His pale white wings flared behind him. Sayer needed to touch him. “End this, before anyone else gets hurt.”

Croll brandished his rapier and cleared a wide swath of tulips. He blew them away with a flick of his magic. Sayer focused and sent his wings dormant inside him. “Wrap your arms around me,” he told Birch.

Sayer shivered as Birch’s hands slid under his tunic, seeking his skin. Birch was a natural. Sayer had no idea how Birch understood so much but he was grateful. He could see the Darkling clearly now, the dark taint marring its skin, the black on black eyes shining like empty voids.

Sinking into Birch’s hold, Sayer gathered his magic and sent a tendril toward Birch along the link between their souls. Inside his beloved was a core of bright, shining energy that Sayer had sensed when Birch accepted him. Compared to the shadowed power of the Darkling, this blazed with a heatless fire. The energy leapt through their connection and blazed into Sayer.

Balls of light in Sayer’s hands coalesced. Wire thin filaments curled outward and extended into the air in front of them like a net. Delicate, and fine, the mesh wove together just in time.

Sayer had to stop the Darkling before it reached them. This one had the power to create elaborate illusions so powerful that they were coming alive. The damage he could wreak upon the land was immense.

“I bind thee.” Sayer sent the wall of power straight at the crazed Darkling. Birch’s voice was joined with his. “I bind thee. I bind thee.”

The Darkling hit the wall of power and it bowed outward. Like a sticky spider web, the white tendrils stuck fast and tangled its around its body. Birch’s wings swept around them and he leaned harder into Sayer’s back. The Darkling fought with its magic, trying to create an illusion to sever the bindings around it, but Sayer refused to acknowledge them and Birch was too immersed in their connection to see anything.

His hands shook but Sayer refused to let the Darkling get free. He focused on the power steadily feeding through him from Birch. The white tendrils flared and the Darkling screamed. Its mindless rage sliced through Sayer’s head, distracting him.

The net wavered around the Darkling’s hands.

“No!”

Birch moved his hands from Sayer’s stomach to his arms. He grabbed Sayer’s wrists and then their combined powers surged.

The net around the Darkling became a solid wall of light. The energy swirled, built, and swirled again.

“Be free,” Birch whispered.

***

Birch was on his stomach surrounded by Sayer’s scent. He rubbed his face against the silky softness under him. A bed.

“He’s waking up.” Someone ran a hand through Birch’s hair. “Birch?”

“My lord, if you want me to check your beloved, you’ll need to allow me near him.”

The bed dipped. Opening his eyelids took monumental effort.

“Hello, my lord.”

“Hi.” Birch could barely a whisper and even that was a struggle. “Tired.” A bright light hurt his eyes. Tears filled his eyes, and he flinched.

“You’re hurting him!” Sayer sounded angry. Birch tried to turn his head so he could look at him. It was impossible for him to move. He could only breathe in shallow pants.

“My lord, you are not helping. He’ll be fine, but I need him to focus. I cannot heal him without his consent, no anymore.”

“What do you mean? You healed him before.”

Birch opened his eyes again. The bright lit was farther away. A few blinks, slow and heavy, cleared the spots left from the light. A red candle was cupped in the healer’s hand. That small light had blinded him?

“Sayer?” Birch slurred the word but Sayer’s hand was instantly on his head, brushing his hair back.

“You’ll be okay, beloved.” There was a pregnant pause.

“Yes, you will. You were drained of energy, but I can assist you,” Haverlseen said. He set the candle down. “We need him on his back.”

Gentle hands turned Birch over. Sayer was kneeling above him. He smiled at Birch, then leaned down and softly kissed his lips.

“My lord, please move back. I do not wish to entangle your energies in this and create a feedback loop that helps neither of you.”

Haverlseen stood over the bed, hovering one hand over Birch’s head and one over his heart. “My lord, you are still attempting to share your energy with King Sayer. He doesn’t need it anymore, but you do. You need to pull the power back inside you, where it belongs. I will guide you, and attempt to refresh you as well. Just relax for me, this won’t hurt.”

Birch closed his eyes. It was too much of a struggle to keep them open anyway.

“Open yourself to me, and seek inside. Find the well of your power, and the link to your beloved.” A red light suffused the image in Birch’s mind. It felt warm and comforting. He delved inside, looking for the source of the power. The light he found was a pale white glow that was pooled around a thick cable flowing away. Birch could sense the power leaving his body.

“You need to stop sharing your power, my lord. Imagine the cable becoming droplets and the droplets falling back down into the pool.” The image was easy to capture and the cable dissolved.

“Good.”

The red light grew brighter. Multi-colored blossoms began to drift down. They landed in the pool, slowly sinking. They melted into the water, staining it briefly with a rainbow riot of color. The pool rose, and the white glow began to shine brighter.

The weight on Birch’s chest making it hard to breathe lifted off. He took a deep breath.

The glow grew brighter.

The sluggish beating of his heart sharpened into a rapid thudding rhythm.

“Very good.”

Birch’s eyes flew open. Slowly the doctor pulled his hands away. The picture of the light faded in Birch’s mind. He studied the rainbow hues in Haverlseen’s glowing eyes, the colors muted compared to before they’d started.

“Thank you.”

Haverlseen bowed. “It was my honor, my lord. You should still rest for the day. Your energy levels will recover fully given a little more time.”

Birch did feel weak, but his overwhelming exhaustion was gone. He asked, “What happened?”

Sayer lay down beside him. “What do you remember?”

“A Darkling had made carnivorous giant tulips come to life and was about to attack us. You needed my energy. Did we stop it?”

“Not only did we stop it, you released the Darkling from the wild magic taint. You freed him.”

Birch gaped at Sayer. “I did what? No, you were using the power.”

“I used it to hold him. You … you changed it. You told him to be free, and then … he was.” Sayer was staring in Birch’s eyes. “No one has ever been saved once they turned. You are a miracle.”

“I-I am?”

Sayer nodded, and leaned closed. “My miracle,” he whispered against Birch’s lips. Their mouths melded together. Birch gasped when Sayer yanked his hips closer with one hand under his ass. Sayer’s tongue invaded his mouth, stroking their tongues together until Birch was lost.

Sayer’s slipped his other hand between them. He rubbed at the ridge of Birch’s cock through his leggings. Desperate to breathe, light-headed with passion and lack of oxygen, Birch broke their kiss. He panted.

“I want you.” He stared up at the gorgeous fae king that had bonded their souls together. He ran a hand through the thick fall of sleek, white hair tumbled around their faces. “I need you inside me.”

Birch had never done it before, never gone all the way, but he burned to make love to Sayer. His heart pounding, his cock throbbing, he waited for his frozen lover to move. Sayer was frozen over him.

“Sayer?” God. “Do you not want to …?”

A finger across his lips kept Birch from speaking. “I’ve dreamed of nothing else for years.”

Oh. Oh man. If Sayer’s dreams were anything like Birch’s….

They were naked in moments. Sayer’s fingers touched every inch of him, outside and in. Cradled in the soft bed, Birch wrapped his legs around Sayer’s hips and pulled him closer.

“Please, now.” He couldn’t take any more. Those sleek massaging fingers had done their job. The burn of his first time was worth it for the bliss on Sayer’s face when he thrust his slick cock inside. When Birch felt the pleasure.

This was magic.