Defiance Ch. 06

Unsurprisingly they kept abreast of him, laughing in delight when he paused long enough to realise that they were herding him away from the well lit streets. "You must be lost." The one with the wine glass said, his voice thick and slurred as he smiled sloppily down at Tate. "Little tinkers usually know better than to wonder the streets alone."

"Perhaps he isn't lost." The tallest one said with a dreamy smile. "Perhaps he's just stupid."

"Or looking for a little entertainment."The short, ugly one snarled, his pocked mark face scrunching up into a gap toothed smile. He reached out for him again but this time Tate refused to be bullied. He twisted below the young man's grasp and punched him hard in his flabby stomach. He heard a pained grunt and stepped swiftly out of the way before the fat fool fell on him.

The other two youths exchanged started glances. "Here now! "The one with the wine glass began as he stepped forward threateningly. "Who do you think you are you dirty little-" Tate cut him off as he punched the taller man in the jaw, wincing slightly as the pain reverted from his fist up to arm. He stepped back quickly before the remaining fop could catch him with the wicked looking dagger he had pulled from the fancy sheathe at his waist.

"Tinkers don't attack first." He said accusingly, his eyes searching frantically for help. Tate could sense the people watching them. Suddenly conscious of how much attention he was receiving he momentarily let his guard drop. The youth took the opportunity to attack but the boy was slow, clumsy and drunk. Tate danced easily out of the way, suddenly amazed by the other mans lack of training. He caught the fop's wrist as he passed and turned it sharply, just as he had always been taught, until he heard a sharp crack. The boy screamed and dropped the knife, falling to his knees besides his winded friends.

"Shantran!" A familiar voice yelled out to him. A moment later Lukas pushed his way through the crowd and forcefully caught hold of Tate's elbow. "What do you think you're doing?" he hissed through gritted teeth as Robert went about trying to soothe the crowd. His grip was so tight that Tate's arm began to numb. He yanked him forward, practically pulling the smaller man off his feet. "Are you trying to get us all killed?"

"I didn't –"he began apologetically.

"Shut up you little fool!" Robert screamed in his face. The open handed slap was so fast and unexpected that Tate didn't have a chance to brace himself. Robert pulled him free of Lukas and shook him angrily. "Come on, before these idiots decide to turn on us!"

"But I didn't-"

"I said shut up!" Robert's hand twisted Tate's collar as he half dragged, half carried him, presumably back towards their camp. "I hope the lay was worth it brother." He snapped over his shoulder at a stony faced Lukas. "Because it might just have cost us our welcome here."

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They didn't care that it wasn't his fault. They didn't care that he had not started the fight. He tried to tell them that the fops had provoked him but either didn't care or didn't believe him. He kept trying to apologise until eventually they just commanded him to stay silent. So he stopped talking and sat quietly in Lukas's wagon as they yelled at him.

It was not a very pleasant experience being yelled at for endangering the people who had taken him in and very likely saved his life. He needed some support amid all the screaming, all the anger and blame but Lukas refused to meet his eyes. That hurt, that more than anything else, more than the lingering acid sting in his cheek from where Robert had hit him.

A hand caught his upper arm suddenly and dragged him to his feet. Instincts and training made him want to dislodge that hand by any means necessary but he didn't struggle as he was hoisted onto his tiptoes and all but thrown half way across the tiny room into Lukas's arms. "Learn to control your whore, big brother!"

Tate knew Robert wasn't just angry about the night's disaster. He'd been building up to a confrontation with Tate for months. The younger man would have liked to know what he had done to make Robert hate him so much. He tried to be polite, not to provoke him, to stay out of his way. What else could he do? He flinched a little at the word whore but he didn't rise to bait. Lukas still didn't say anything. He just held onto Tate, his hands shaking a little with, what, hate, fear, anger – Tate didn't know.

Robert left first, a great storm cloud of anger as he rushed out of the small door. Lukas's parents went then, trailed after by their two other eldest children. Lukas pushed him down on the bed, not cruelly but certainly not gently either. He stared at him sadly; his mouth opened and closed a few times. "Don't leave the wagon Tate." He said eventually before he walked out.

So he didn't, but it began to chafe him the longer he sat there on his own. It wasn't his fault; he knew it wasn't his fault. True enough that they had warned him not to go out on his own but how was he ever supposed to know that something so terrible would have happened. He was not one of them; he was not accustomed to being cooped up in a wooden box.

He lay down eventually, his eyes misting up with unshed tears. He didn't cry, men never cried. His father had taught him that. "Bastard!" he said, barely loud enough to be heard.

But he wondered who he was referring to. Himself or his sire.

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Lukas packed two satchels. He took all the food he thought they might need, plus a dagger for each of them. Clothes, sleeping bags, cooking utnesals. He packed light, they would only be alone for a small amount of time.

He stepped beside Tate's slumbering form and gently shook him awake. The half-blood blinked dazedly up at him. He had not spoken all that night, not even looked at anyone. His left eyes was badly bruised from where Robert had hit him. It must have hurt.

"Up Shantran." He said shortly.

Tate sat up slowly and eyed the bags in the corner of the room with big, wide eyes. He was quite obviously petrified but when he spoke his voice was calm, resigned. "You're kicking me out of the tribe."

Lukas shook his head and threw Tate's clothes at him. "I would not allow that, not ever. We have to leave though, for a little while. Those boys you tangled with were of prosperous houses. Rumour is that they're fixing to find you and take you to court. Our kind never fair well at court Shantran."

Tate changed quickly. For a wonder he didn't argue when Lukas took the lead. They passed through the camp. Those few people that were still awake waved silent farewells, knowing they couldn't make a scene and draw attention.

When Robert joined them Tate nearly jumped out of his skin. Lukas looked worryingly down at him. There was something going on between the two men, something beyond the hostilities of the past few days. He didn't know how he had been so blind to it but he could see it now, see it clearly. He would have sent John away then but he knew it would have been a useless command. The tribe travelled together. That was where safety lied. He would not let Lukas go alone. He loved him too much to do that.

"Time to go." Robert said, almost sneering at Tate.

The half-blood didn't say anything, but then Tate never had to. The darkness in his eyes said it all. "Time to go." He repeated, looking at Lukas.

"Right" He agreed, before sending one last look at his mother and father. "Time to go."

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Tanis looked down at the frightened young men huddled together in cadges and chains and felt sickened beyond belief. What he was doing, the things he was being forced to do, they were barbaric. The tinkers for all their faults were not fighters. They did not know violence, could not contend with the horrors of what had been done to them.

He wanted to end it all, to deny the soldiers their orders but he knew that as bad as it was, and it really was truly awful, it would have been a lot worse if he wasn't there. Because he was the only one stopping the young men from being raped and murdered for the hell of it. He was the one that was making sure none of the old ones suffered and that none of the women or young ones were hurt. It was not ideal but they were packed away and sold to the slavers, they were alive. There were not many of them though, to be fair. Tanis had only seized seven wagons in all the time he had been out hunting. He knew though that the other parties would not be as kind as his. There would not be much left for the slavers by the time they were over the blood lust.

He tried not to think about that too much. He was only one man; he could only do the best that he was capable of.

He walked among them, looking for that face he remembered from all those years ago. He looked deep into their eyes, sometimes having to force them to look at him. They cried at him. It was ghastly watching a man cry.

"He isn't here Kener." He said at last to his old friend and teacher.

The big man growled deep in his throat, an admission of annoyance. Just them a southerner rode hard into camp. He had the sort of face only as mother could love, made worse by his horribly broken nose and scraggly beard. Tanis disliked southerners immensely as did any self respecting northern man. It showed his brothers desperation that he had had actually hired them to help seek out the half-blood.

"What do you want?" Tanis asked him, not bothering to disguise the sneer he could feel twisting his lips.

"I've some news for you." He said, purposefully not using Tanis's title. "I think I found the one your brother was looking for. Small whelp with gold eyes and brown hair. I had him, for a small time at least." He tapped the side of his nose and smiled nastily. "Did this he did. Not many tinkers that will try to fight back, not like him."

"So where is he?" Tanis asked with tried patients.

"Back the big city, Islington. Not too many days ride from here. My boys can't get him, city guards won't let us in. But you-"

He smiled again. He really was very unpleasant.

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Tate tried not to be left alone with Robert. He was very careful not to argue or speak overly much as they travelled. He knew perfectly well that the tinker was only a hair's breath from exploding again; He didn't want to deal with that, not when he had so many other terrible things to think about.

They travelled across the roads, not going in any sort of a hurry. They were just kind of waiting for the others to catch up to them. Lukas and Robert spoke and laughed together and when Lukas tried to involve Tate the smaller man just ignored him.

He didn't mean to be so harsh; he just couldn't make him self drop his guard around Robert. He knew the other man hated him and it was eating him up inside because he didn't know why. Sure, the fiasco with those stupid city boys hadn't helped but the hate had been there long before that.

He wasn't watching where he was going and accidentally walked into Lukas back. "Your pardon." He said without thinking. Lukas smiled at him.

"You're forgiven Shantran. We're stopping for the night."

"Stopping?" Tate repeated sluggishly. He looked around and was shocked to realise it was already dusk.

Robert dropped his bag on the dirt floor and gestured to a small roadside cabin. "I'm going hunting. I'm in no mood for hard biscuits and cheese again." He looked directly at Tate for the first time in days. "Seeing as you can't cook why don't you set up camp."

He would have anyway but he hated the way Robert made it into an order. He bared his teeth at him, not bothering to try and mask it as anything else. Robert just smiled at him like he'd won something and sauntered off.

Tate suddenly wanted to be doing anything other than just standing around and thinking so without even waiting to make sure Robert was out of eye sight he turned around and fiercely attacked Lukas's mouth, pouncing on him with such intensity that the other man nearly fell over beneath him.

"Tate!" Lukas said breathlessly, trying half-heartedly to fend him off. Tate reached out and cupped his groin, not bothering to be gentle as he forced Lukas back. They were suddenly both on the floor, in the dirt in the middle of the road. Lukas suddenly stopped resisting and started fighting for control because, despite being one of the most mild men Tate had ever know, in some respects Lukas needed to be in control, which was just to damn bad for him.

Tate fought back, not with force, he knew Lukas was stronger than him and he accepted that, but that didn't mean he just had to roll over and play the meek little whore. Because he was NOT a whore! He worked his hands down Lukas's trouser's and grabbed his hard organ, stroking him fiercely as Lukas began bucking beneath him. He put all of his weight on top of the tinker and lent down until his lips were level with Lukas's ear. "Do you want me Lukas?" He asked, mockingly, almost cruelly he realised. "Say you want me, beg to have me."

And gods help him, Lukas did. He started moaning wantonly, reaching for Tate, begging to be let inside of him. Tate felt sick suddenly, ashamed at him self for using Lukas, for playing with him because he needed a release for all of his anger. It did not excuse him for being cruel.

He let go of Lukas's wrist and slowed his stroke. Lukas growled his protest but then his eyes started to lose some of the madness that had claimed him. This time when Lukas rolled them over Tate didn't protest. He felt Lukas pull down his trousers and then he was rolled gently onto his belly. They had no oil at hand so Luks had to use more natural lubricant. He felt fingers prodded inside of him. Lukas entered him quickly, almost brutally. He stated slamming into him. This was not love making, Tate realised as Lukas's other hand reached out and started rapidly stroking him. No, they weren't making love, they were fucking.

It was hard and raw and something completely new, and if he was honest with him self he needed to be fucked, to fuck, because he didn't think he could contend with Lukas's normal tenderness.

He came quickly, shuddering and pressing down on the tinker. Lukas grunted deep in Tate's ear, thrust a few more times and fell bonelessly on top of him.

"Tate?" Lukas said eventually, his voice small and nervous.

"Yeah?" Tate said, thinking they really should get up before Robert spotted them because he was pretty sure it wouldn't go down too well.

"I love you."

"Oh."

Oh!