Brothers in Arms Ch. 09

And what about this boy/girl stuff? Was he really attracted to boys and not girls? Then what about this thing he had had with Cassie? Were people really divided into categories. It certainly looked like people were one or the other. It certainly appeared that people chose one person and stayed with that person, but that was only on the surface. When he looked closely, Sean saw all kinds of people loving all kinds of people. Young Morgan had at least thought about sex with him, but also was constantly eying Cassie. Men had wives they were devoted to, yet often went to a whore on the weekend. Some men seemed to have one woman for sex and another for a wife and kids. That was another thing. Did he want to have kids some day? How would that work? Would he give up Prest to have kids? He didn't think so. God, it was all so confusing.

Certainly he loved Prest. He didn't doubt that. He could easily see himself being with Prest the rest of his life. But could he honestly say he would be satisfied to have sex with only Preston for the rest of is life? He already knew that wasn't so. The things he had learned from Neal were not to be dismissed. They had been real, genuine, valuable. When he and Prest were back together, he hoped he could talk all this over with his lover, see what fit in their lives and what didn't fit.

Pitch darkness was engulfing him. The moon, already only a sliver, was setting. The faint starlight dappling the forest floor created an odd, disorienting, other-worldly effect, confusing his depth perception, and making walking difficult. Sean hurried along the deer path, anxious to return to the safety of the hearth. He had no idea how much time had passed during his reveries. He shivered a bit. Despite the unseasonable warmth of the day, this was October, the night air was chilly.

Sean turned along a curve in the path and stopped in his tracks. There, standing proudly before him, caught by a silvery shaft of moonlight, was a large ten point white tailed buck. The deer probably weighed over two hundred pounds. Sean was awestruck by the aura of power and majesty the buck emitted. They stood there a moment, eying each other warily. The buck gave a quick flick of its fluffy white tail and disappeared into the forest as silently as he had come. Sean was sure that the vision he had experienced had some deep spiritual meaning. If only he were an Indian, he could ask the shaman what it meant. Shaking his head violently to clear his thinking, Sean hurried along the path even more quickly.

By the time Sean reached the house, darkness had fallen. The log house was as silent as the forest had been. Assuming everyone was asleep, Sean crept quietly into the bedroom he would share with Neal one more night. Tomorrow night, in fact tonight, in a way, he would be in bed with Preston in their stateroom on the River Queen. He felt himself hardening slightly at the thought of entwining with Preston's fine white body. Sean slid quietly under the covers beside Neal, who was snoring lightly, both glad and sorry they would not be having sex this night.

Morning broke crisp and fresh. Sean was up with the rooster. He did the milking, drew water, chopped wood, and performed several other chores, hoping to make the time zip by. When he went into the house, breakfast was being served. He had hoped it would be at least noon. By the time he had stuffed in his last apple pancake, he could stand it no longer. "Neal, did the man say what time Prescot and Jeff were coming? Whatdya think. Think we could head out and meet 'em on the road?"

"Maybe, if we knew what road they were taking."

"So you don't think that'd be a good idea?"

"Ah the sweet impatience of youth. You waited this many days already, what's a few more hours?"

"Well, I'm just sayin'."

"You want us to send out scouts?"

"Would you?

"I was joking. People have lives to live, forges to run, horses to shoe."

"Yeah, very funny. Aren't you anxious to see Jeff?"

"Yeah, I am very anxious,but I know he's comin' soon."

"Well I can't wait. I am gonna ride back toward the fort on the town road, the way I came. If he gets here before I get back, don't you let him go anywhere."

Mr Barnes loaned Sean a horse. Against everyone's advice, Sean set out at a crisp canter to meet his lover. The lone rider galloping through town attracted some attention. Several people looked to see who was riding past in such a hurry. Sean neither stopped nor paid heed to anyone's concerns as he sped toward the road he hoped was bringing Preston closer by the minute. Once he was well out of town, Sean was forced to slow his pace. The poor horse was not his and should not be taxed to its maximum. He took the road most frequently used from New Madrid to the fort. Especially close to town, the road was crowded with soldiers coming and going to the camp, and with others: fur traders, iron mongers, horse traders, almost anyone ,selling almost anything to the fort or to the hungry, lonely, tired, frightened soldiers encamped there. He rode as hard and fast as he could drive the horse and had covered about nine miles. It was about two in the afternoon when the road became very crowded.

As he rode, he scanned the road ahead for any sign of Jeff or Preston. Fort Thompson was now about six miles distant. If he didn't run into the men before long, they might all have to spend the night out in the open. He could not remember what had become of the meager shelter he and Prest had carried so many miles.

"Dah-yam. Ah whisht all y'all wud move yer asses an' let a wounded soljer get on home to his mamie. Go ahn naow. Move along. Git out da way!" The voice floated above the crowd, its southern Georgia, Florida drawl standing out among a sea of Misssouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi Accents.

"Preston, Preston!" Sean began yelling. Prest? Where are you?" He ducked and dodged his head around, craning his neck to locate Preston amid the throng of travelers on the road. Finally he saw Preston's red head bobbing in and out of a crowd of merchants. He dashed rudely through the crowd, knocking down one person and disturbing quite a few. One very large man obstructed his progress. "How come you think your need to get somewhere is greater than everyone else's?" the stranger enquired.

"Sorry," Neal replied. "I was just anxious to get to my friend that I just found."

"Maybe I'll just stand here and make you wait a while."

"Please, sir. . ."

"Turn aroun', naice n' slow, mister," a voice rang out from behind the stranger. He turned.

"You talkin' to me?"

"Yes suh, Ah am, Preton replied. "Mah frien' here has already 'pologized. Would you please move aside and leave him pass, or is futha action requaired?"

"What do you mean, further action, you stupid little cocksucker? You get the fuck out of my way, too, mother fucker or I will slice you to pieces," the stranger said, producing a wicked looking knife from under his shirt.

"Suh," Preston replied. Ah b'leve you have brung a knife to a gunfight. Please Sah. Stay where you ahr and put dat knife away. Do not advance or Ah will shoot you dade afore you git ta me"

A short woman emerged from the crowd and whispered in the big man's ear. She took his hand and tried to drag him away. He looked at her. He looked at Sean. He looked at Preston.

The rebel lad spoke again, "Onect agin Suh, mah fren 'n' Ah, do 'pologize fer any inconvenience we maight have caused ya. Now please suh, step aside 'n' let ar 'appy reunion cammence."

The huge man glanced around once more, then let himself be led away by his tiny wife. Neither Sean nor Preston moved until they were both sure any hint of danger had passed, then rushed into one another's arms. Oblivious to the mulling crowd, Sean planted his lips firmly on Preston's. A large sigh went up from the crowd and several people shook their heads in disgust and walked away.

The two young lovers went on embracing for some time, happy to be together once again. Preston, who had not had sex for several weeks, was greatly excited by the familiar feel of Sean's large manhood pulsing against his own. After about two minutes, the boys broke their embrace. Sean greeted Jeff warmly. "How' are you doing? How's that hip? You impressed me greatly with your boldness and bravery with Cassie. If you need or want a job with S and P Protection services, you've got it, although I am not sure if we have managed to save the company after so many days of inattention."

Jeff had much to add. "I am happy and proud to have done this good thing with the two of you. You have no idea how impressed I am with the two of you, so young, yet so committed. And, uh, listen," lowering his voice to a near whisper, "I heard what was going on in the crowd just now when that uh, big guy was, you know, interfering. Everyone thought Prest here was gonna shoot him dead. I think he has a reputation. They think he is a gunslinger."

"Yeah, well, I think he is too," Sean replied.

"Okay, da two of y'all cut it out. Yah know dis ain't no fun, haven' ta watch ever'one and ever'thin' all da taime."

"Okay, okay," Sean says, laughing lightly. "Oh hey, and, Jeff, can you ride okay with that hip of yours? Do you think we cam make it back to the Barnes' before dark? And Prest? Do we still have that old tarp we use for shelter, in case we don't?"

"Ah cain do better den dat. The cap'm at de fort, he gived us a whole new tent. We cain't carry the floorboa'ds, but we gots the whole canvas part. It'll make us a shelter better den we evah did have.

"Wahll, what we waitin' fer? Lat's git goin'"

The three men wheel their horses to the center of the road, around the slow-moving throng and dig in their heels, spurring on their mounts to make up as much time as possible. About two hours later though, they had managed only five of the more than fifteen miles that had remained. As they traveled on toward New Madrid, the traffic eased a bit. More speed was possible. Sean had been keeping a watchful eye on Jeff, gauging his strength and degree of pain. He saw the young man's power drain away as the abrasion of the saddle on his wound and the stress of travel wore him down. The army surgeons had refused to send morphia with Jeff, needing to hoard it for the many injured troops continually streaming in from the south, so Jeff's pain level rose continually. By five in the evening, his face was wan and his jaws tight from gritting his teeth against the pain. The horses, particularly Sean's bay mare, which had made the round trip, were near exhaustion. The three had reached a decision point. Sean reined up.

"Listen you two, I think we should stop for the night and continue in the morning. It's gonna start getting cold fast and this country ain't no place to be riding around after dark. Let's look for a place off the road where we can set up camp for the night. If I remember right there is a small clear water creek, just about a half mile that way."

"Let's keep goin'," Jeff pleaded, "I wanna see Neal tonight."

"Yeah," Prest agreeed, "Ah wanna sleep in a nice sof' bed tanight, not on no hard ass groun."

"Well, we can vote if you want. But brigands and bad guys and Jayhawkers are all over this place and I don't want to bump right into them in the dark. Pres? Take a look at Jeff. Look at his face. If this keeps up, brave as he is, he's gonna fall right off his horse."

"That raht, Jeff? Ya'll feelin' poorly? Do yah . ." Preston was unable to complete his words. Jeff began to totter in his saddle. Prest and Sean moved as one, each steadying one side of the older man.

Preston took Jeff's reins and slowly led the horse where Sean led. In a half hour they had set up in a pleasant spot by the meandering creek. Night was coming on rapidly, but the fire was roaring to keep the chill and the pitch black at bay.

"Be right back" Sean said, moving down the bank to the water's edge. He began stripping the bark from several tender willows and shaving the inner bark it into his hand. When he had collected about two handfuls, he went back to the fire. Once there he took an empty coffee cup and filled it with water. He put the willow shavings in the cup to boil. "I am making you some tea. I guarantee you if you drink this tea, once it's steeped, it'll ease your pain. My gramps used to do this for my gramma when her pain got bad."

The three of them retired into the snug lean-to Preston had fashioned from the army tent.

"Hey Prest? We got anything to eat?"

"Nope, Ah ain't. Ah was 'spectin' ta be at the Barnes' ba naow."

"Prest?"

"Yeah?"

"Jeff is sound asleep already, snoring away."

"Yeah that stuff you gave him worked."

"Well, that ain't the point."

"What is the point?"

"The point is: get your beautiful body over here next to mine. And hurry."

Preston rose, half bent over in the short space, slipped off his shirt and pants, and slid into Sean's waiting arms, already semi-erect from the mere thought of what came next. "Oh. God," Sean breathed, "it's been so long, so long." He drew Preston's fine smooth, white body into the fold of his arms, kissing wherever his lips happened to land. "Oh Prest, there were times when I was afraid I had lost you."

"Wehll, hehll, Sean, dat ain't gonna happen. Ah has decided dat what evah else happens, no mattah what ya'll say or do, we is, that is, we are gonna be tagither."

"Yes, Prest, yes. Me too. Together. Always."

Sean could not see, but could sense, the huge smile on Preston's face. The younger lad kissed Sean fiercely, nibbling his lips and tongue. He reached between their bodies to grasp Sean's cock firmly. He broke the kiss, struggled to kneel between Sean's legs, the blankets falling from his shoulders. Sean could barely see Preston's shinning white body hovering over him, glowing amber and crimson and gold in the flickering glare of the dying fire.

Preston bent to take Sean's pendulous cock in both hands, to lick the bulging purple head, to insert the tip of his tongue between Sean's cock lips and flick it wildly there.

Sean moaned and thrust his hips up, silently presenting his cock for further attention. As Prest's mouth opened to enclose the head of Sean's huge cock like a huge nickle jaw-breaker, The Yankee boy entwined his fingers in the other boy's hair guiding his lips and tongue and teeth to every special sensitive spot, now and then thrusting up into Preston's pale face and deep into his throat. After a few minutes, Sean broke contact, wriggled around head to toe, and began his own sucking,licking and nibbling of Preston's penis.

Driven to heights of passion by their long absence from one another, the two boys sucked each other simultaneously, gobbling hungrily, as if starving for the pungent aroma and manly taste of hot dripping cock.

Their loud slurping and moaning brought Jeff slowly back to consciousness. As the two boys went at each other ferociously, he became more and more aware. In the very dim light cast by the fire's glowing embers, they resembled a pair of fiery demons devouring each other. The fire popped and cracked and threw out a shaft of flame, momentarily illuminating the pair of lovers. For that brief instant, Jeff could see clearly: Preston's fine alabaster body thrashing above Sean's larger, darker form; the almost human presence of Sean's enormous cock penetrating Preston's face; Preston's smaller, finer white cock slipping in and out between Sean's lips, fluid oozing from its foreskin covered head.

Despite his pain, his weakened condition, Jeff found himself suddenly, achingly hard. His hand drifted down between his legs to fondle himself in that oh so familiar way he had done so many times before. He began with soft, gentle strokes, his hand inverted, thumb toward him as he was wont to do, simulating the hand of another. His stroking quickened as the scene unfolded close beside him.

Unaware he had an audience, Preston ceased his sucking, eased his cock from Sean's throat. He paused a moment, looking deep in his lover's eyes. Then he turned, knelt on all fours, pressed his face to the light blanket that covered the ground, looked back over his shoulder at Sean and said quietly, earnestly, "Please?"

Sean moved forward on his knees, eager to comply with his young lover's wishes. His awe-inspiring dick hung heavily from his groin, swaying back and forth with each movement. He laid its mass atop Preston's buttocks, at the base of his spine, while he adjusted his position. Once he was firmly set, he took himself in both hands, eased back his long wrinkled foreskin, and began rubbing the fat head of his cock against Preston's small hole, transferring copious amounts of lubrication that flowed from him.

As usual, Preston called out "Oh," when first pierced by that huge hunk of engorged flesh. His anus had become somewhat inured, the pain of entry was no longer so severe, yet he felt sure there would always be some measure of pain in being penetrated by anything so large. He had come not only to accept the pain as a part of his life, but to embrace it as a forerunner of the overwhelming pleasure that was certain to follow.

Jeff was able, even in the dim light, to clearly see Sean's enormous cock slowly sink into Preston. Prest's little gasp upon entry inflamed Jeff with desire. His cock was painfully hard as he worked his hand faster and harder on himself.

As Sean quickened his pace of entry into and withdrawal from, Preston's tender ass hole, he became aware of movement about two feet to his left. He strained his eyes and craned his neck to identify the source of the motion. Beneath him, Preston was moaning and thrusting his ass back, wriggling around on the end of the long pole that pierced him.

Behind him, Jeff, moving cautiously to avoid opening the wound in is hip, slowly maneuvered himself around so his rampant cock stood hard and proud about one foot from Sean's hand, where it was closed over Preston's thigh. Sean looked over. He could see the proud, powerful, leaking dick clearly, but only barely see Jeff's face. He grinned softly. Careful not to interrupt the frantic rhythm he had by now established in Preston's ass, he reached out and grasped Jeff's engorged cock firmly and began pumping it to the same primitive rhythm as his fucking.

Within a few dozen strokes, Jeff's cock was spurting hot come onto Sean's hand. It ran warmly down his wrist.

Preston had reached that pinnacle beyond which there is no pain. No pain, no thought, no logic, only the constant repetitive beat of surrender to the massive force invading his mind and body. He reached a high plateau of total and complete surrender that brings ultimate pleasure. His long, thin cock spurted repeatedly. Though he remained iron hard, his long foreskin had slid forward to cover the head of his penis and was now alternately filling with cum and emptying again, like a tiny balloon inflating and deflating.

Behind Preston, Sean was driven to a frenzy of wanton desire, plunging hard and fast into Preston, his balls bouncing off the younger man's body in that precise spot between ass and balls that can be so sensitive. Finally, he called out loudly, "Oh Preston!" He grasped Prest's hips strongly, pressed himself tight against his lover's body and held on as a stream of his cum emptied itself deep inside Preston. A small portion of cum dribbled out of Preston's hole in spite of, or maybe because of, the enormous presence that filled him.

Jeff tuned silently away, his minimal intrusion over, and sought the freedom of sleep while orgasm continued to hold the pain in abeyance.

Preston collapsed to the earth, Sean's heavier weight atop him. In his present state of the euphoria of surrender, the possessive crush of his lover's body upon him was ultimately reassuring.

As the huge intruder softened and slipped from his backside, he was momentarily stricken by a great sense of loss.