The Hunter's Trap Pt. 02

He felt tired. Such experiences with the needle exhausted him and this time he felt even more exhausted. It wasn't just the intensity of the enchantment and the memory but of the emotion too. The needle had shown him a lot of things – a lot of feelings. It had given him pride, satisfaction, care, nostalgia, happiness, and more. This was the first time it had given him love. It was so foreign to him that he didn't properly know how to voice it and he exhausted himself even further trying to put words to it.

Once his eyes creased shut, his body slumped back up against the wall and he couldn't hold his focus any longer. His mind wandered off into sleep.

Tawn stood with his elbows out on the nice, long counter of his store. The last customer was leaving with a beautiful red vest that Tawn had just finished making. Dennuuk held the door open for the man and they waved goodbye to him. In a snap, Dennuuk was behind him. Those large hands ran lightly over his hips, drawing a shallow breath from him. They grasped him tightly, causing him to gasp. Dennuuk pulled him in so that they held tightly together – like the hands under the stars. Tawn felt himself grow so warm that he swelled up from the heat and the energy.

"We haven't closed yet..." Tawn breathed.

"The day's done. We have the time." Dennuuk seeped into him.

Somebody cleared their throat. Tawn shot awake. His eyes opened on his small counter and on Treeheart Touissa standing midway between the counter and the door. Standing not much more than 5 feet tall, Touissa always seemed bigger because of how straight she stood. She carried a warped and heavy cane made from fine, dark wood with her everywhere she went and wore a large necklace of bones around the neck of her dark green blouse. The blouse went up to her mid forearm and stopped. The rest of her forearms and wrists were covered in various bracelets. She had never given up her Southeast fashions.

"Look alive! Meila's coming." Touissa teased.

"Thanks!" Tawn shook himself awake and stepped right up to the counter.

Not a minute after Touissa had spoken up did Meila Mita swing the door open and breeze right by the old woman. Meila Mita wore the cutting-edge garb of the new money in the cities. For the moment that was a fanciful yellow dress with maroon high socks and long maroon sleeved-gloves. Tawn thought the new fashion looked garish on most folk but particularly on Meila Mita. She was a big and stern woman with a face made of hard edges and this new style was very bubbly, with rounded short sleeves lined by frills and ruffles. It didn't work well on her but she hated to wear anything out of trend with the city elite.

"Good noon to you Tawn Neiisama. I trust you have my raiment readied?"

Touissa rolled her eyes using her whole head.

"The gown is ready and looking as..." he fished for a moment, "regal as you Ms. Mita."

"Oh please Tawn, you know how I feel about flatterers."

He did know he she felt about flatterers. "I only give honest compliments."

Touissa frowned a little at that.

Meila Mita blushed and began to look over the gown. "On par with your usual craftsmanship... The seams look sturdy... The colors are fine... Yes! Yes this should do."

"Glad to hear it," Tawn nodded.

"And the shawl?"

Tawn sighed, "well, unfortunately, the shawl isn't ready yet."

Meila Mita let out a scandalized gasp, "I'm surprised at you, Tawn. I'd expect such from your grandmother but not you."

The comment rankled him and he couldn't repress an irritated sigh at the provocation. "It won't be a long delay. I'll have it to you before the sun's down, I promise."

She peered at him like she was searching for something. "No! No I don't think that's good enough. I'll need a discount. Half off the whole project seems fair to me." She'd put an unyielding and self-righteous tone to show she was digging her heels in.

"That wouldn't cover my work and materials," Tawn said with quiet exhaustion.

"Well," she jerked her head violently upward as to look down on him, "you should've considered that when you didn't finish my shawl on time."

Touissa looked on curiously but Tawn was too tired to notice.

"Listen, I can't do half-off. An 'artisan's deadline' is common practice and that's all I'm asking." An artisan's deadline meant giving an artisan time until the end of the day rather than the exact hour specified. It was common in the Central River Valley mostly because artisans in the cities could get so swamped that they couldn't give deadlines that were accurate to the hour even if they wanted to. In towns it was a bit tacky to employ but sometimes necessary.

Meila Mita balked at the response, seeming half angry and half surprised Tawn didn't yield. "Well I'm certainly not common and I thought you were more than just a common talent." She slammed her hand on the counter in between them.

Tawn was too tired to be moved. In fact, he yawned. "Expert artisans sometimes take an entire two days extra. The quality is worth the wait." He shrugged. In truth, this was something he wanted to impart to more of his customers than just Meila.

The nonplussed reaction confounded Meila Mita, who normally found Tawn to be pliable and entreating. She'd expected at worst to pull anger out of him and best fear or obeisance.

"I – I – well I'll need half-off. You bill yourself on quality and punctuality."

Meila wasn't lying, Tawn was known for his punctuality as well as his skill.

Tawn folded him arms in oddly Grinland fashion. She wasn't entirely in the wrong, she was simply pushing too much for too small a discrepancy. He would've tried something with more tact but he felt dog-tired. Instead, he channeled what he'd really been wanting to think about and gave a flat, firm Dennuuk-like response.

"That's unreasonable. Full price or I'll keep the gown."

Touissa put a hand to her mouth, quickly hiding a relishing smile.

A flush of red came over Meila Mita's face and shattered her still and haughty demeanor.

"How dare you call me unreasonable!" She slammed her other hand down and leaned in toward Tawn.

Meila Mita was an imposing woman, standing at about six feet tall and having more brawn on her than she liked to show. She made a lot of effort to downplay her physical size but she would bring out at times like this.

Tawn got some of his wits back in face of her anger. Oddly, he only felt slightly afraid of her. Maybe it was the fatigue in him, maybe it was Touissa being there, maybe it was that none of the threats she made on his grandmother ever came through, or maybe it was just being damn tired but he wasn't more than slightly shaken.

"I'd never call you unreasonable." He said kindly. "I just called what you were asking for unreasonable. I think you're as reasonable as they come but you got it wrong here."

She almost didn't how to handle what he was saying, the mix of positive and negative and the certainty with which it was said. "Well, I guess we'll just have to see what everyone else thinks about this."

In fact, her voice had started shaking and she'd pulled back from the counter.

"They'll think you're being unreasonable. Like I said, it's common practice. The most punctual tailors still mess up a deadline every now and again." Tawn flashed a weary smile.

She did not relent. "It'll be your word against mine."

At that Touissa spoke up.

"Excuse me Mei-la," Meila Mita hated being called by her first name and Touissa knew it, "it would actually be your word against ours. I agree wit' Tawn, you 'ave been very unreasonable. I'd say downright cruel to a boy who 'as only recently taken on a dead family member's shop."

"It's been a year and a half since then and the boy is no longer in mourning. This is just business." Meila replied indignantly.

"And 'ee's 'andled it like business. Even when you insulted 'eis dear, deceased grandmoter."

"I never said a bad word toward Elira," Meila said shiftily, giving a knowing look to Touissa.

Touissa shot it back, "Oh dear, tat won't work on me. Weter you use tee front of your 'and or tee back of your 'and, a slap is still a slap and I know wat a slap looks like. If you want to go spreading tis, oters will know too, Mei-la."

Meila towered over Touissa glowering down at the old woman.

"Oh, what are you going to do?" Toussa spat the words onto Meila's face. "Go run off, Mei-la. Save us all some time. We all don't 'ave as much of it to burn as you."

Meila put a finger right in front of Touissa's face and made to say something but Touissa swatted the finger away, making Meila gasp.

"And get your 'and away from my face before I turn it into ashroot, light it up in front of your family, and blow the smoke up your 'usband's ass." Touissa raised her cane into the air and Meila jolted backward. "You try to intimidate me again I will beat your ass red as tee setting Sun!"

It was quite the outburst but Tawn wasn't surprised by it. The folks from the Southeast could curse with the best of them and that was a talent Touissa never forgot.

Meila tried to form a sentence but was too scandalized to manage and ran for the door.

"Wait," Tawn said halfheartedly, "your gown."

Meila was already gone.

"Just bring it to 'er home with the shawl. She will pay you." Touissa leveled a hard gaze at Tawn, "If she doesn't, you let me know."

"Thanks, Touissa. I owe you one."

"Oh, you owe me no-ting. I did wat any good soul would do. You 'andled tat well by te way. Touh, I must say you should not butter err up wit tose lying compliments." Touissa shook her head.

Tawn sighed. "She has the money for more expensive projects. I wanna keep her around."

"If you ave to lie to people to keep tem, tey're not people wort keeping." Touissa was full of these sayings. Sometimes Tawn wondered if she made them up on the fly. It wouldn't surprise him. "Elira knew tis well, may 'er last show 'ave been a good one." That phrase she hadn't made up, that was a common thing to say to honor the dead and something many had said to all the Neiisama's in town when his grandmother passed.

They both nodded solemnly for a moment.

"Well, let me see tat sleeve!" Touisa made several short claps with her hand. "I aven't been tis excited for clotes since I was a girl."

Tawn smiled nervously. As he walked Touissa over to the spot of the counter where he had put the sleeve he started to get very nervous. What if I rushed it too much? I wonder if I could even enchant properly, being so tired.

They got to the end of the counter and Tawn gussied up the sleeve slightly so that the full leung showed. He gave Touissa a better part of a minute to look at the front before flipping it to the back. Then he let her have at it.

Touissa started off looking very pleased. She felt the fabric with her hands and squinted at the patterns, maintaining a light smile. Once she leaned in and followed the leung's movement her expression turned curious – concerned even. Tawn began to worry. Touissa flipped the cloth over and spent another two minutes staring at the patterns. To Tawn the minutes felt like hours. Her expressions were even harder to read when she got to the backside of the sleeve. She seemed pleased when she traced her fingers over the paths the clouds made and over the jagged lines of the mountain tops. When she followed the Leung with her hand there was that familiar fading happiness and rising concern. For the next minute and a half, she followed the leung as it moved and gradually became amused. Her amusement bloomed into a steady, repressed giggle.

"Oh no." Tawn didn't mean to say it out loud.

Touissa cleared the laughter from her throat. "It's not so bad, it's not so bad."

Tawn tried to smile at that but only looked more worried.

"Many of tee less worldly in tis town would not notice a ting wrong. It's just I know enchanting and I know you." She smiled at him and he smiled a bit more genuinely himself. "You're nervous in most tings but not wit' tee needle and tee tread. Wit' sewing you are fearless." She leaned, emphasizing the last few words by tapping on the counter.

"But wit' enchanting, as wit' so many magics, you can read tee person trou' teir works. It's like a story of tem and it is where tee beauty of magic tings come from. Wit' you I expected a great and fearless leung!" Touissa cast her arms out and sent her bracelets jingling and shaking.

Tawn chuckled a little. Strangely enough, his mind turned to the runes that Dennuuk had made. All the lights, the warmth, it was like Touissa said – the runes held something of the hunter's quiet and confident warmth inside them

Touissa continued. "I look close and at first I tink it is nervousness and tiredness and sometimes I tink, yes, it is so. It is tese tings. Yet it is more. It is not tee anxieties of an amateur or tee fatigue of an overworked boy. No!"

Touissa grinned like a tree imp that had snatched a full basket of fruit. "No, no, no, no." She wagged a finger at him. "Look at tis leung. Look at tee nervous motions and yet – tee excitement!"

It was strange but as Touissa pointed it out, Tawn could see what she was saying. There was a nervous but gleeful look in its eyes and to its movements.

"It wants someting and it chases it. So I look close and I try to see, wat is it tis leung wants. I see t'en," Touissa snickered, collecting herself, "it is someting I've never seen – it is a leung in heat!"

Tawn's body tightened until he was standing straight as a board.

"It is a sky serpent, one of tee most powerful children of Alo,"Touissa pressed on with a mischievous grin, "brought to tee dirt by need – by romance!"

Tawn began to flush with embarrassment.

"Look at tee way it moves, tee way it undulates and grinds, and even closes its eyes."

All the energy came back to him now. "Touissa, I'm so sorry. I – I don't know what's gotten into me recently."

"Oh, I know what's gotten into you!" Touissa pointed a finger at him, making him cough loudly. "I see it in tee way you stand, in tee way you are always dreaming and looking off since you got back from tat berry hunt." Touissa looked genuinely gleeful. "Our Tawn, our little town tailor has finally found himself a love! Maybe a cute shepherdess or an alluring druid!"

"Touissa, I'm just tired, really -"

"Oh no. No, no, no, no." Touissa wagged her finger again. "You cannot hide tese tings from me. I 'elped bring you up from a sprout. Oh Tawn!" She gave several small claps. "tis is so exciting! Ah, to be young and foolish and romping around in tee forests again..."

"Well, I'm sorry anyways." Tawn took Touissa's moment of wandering off to divert the conversation. "I'll undo the enchanting and make the sleeve again for you."

"No! You are in no right mind to. You must go chase tis love of yours." Touissa became serious in a strangely jovial way. "You cannot ignore tis Tawn."

He sighed deeply. "I feel bad about the sleeve either way."

"I like it. Truly I do." She said, meeting Tawn's skepticism before it arose. "It makes me laugh a little but also it makes me happy. It is such a sweet ting to see. I don't want to hold you up wit more sleeves."

"Are you sure? You don't have to do this for me. You've done enough for me."

"You were always a sweetheart." She shook Tawn's arm lightly. "Tis is not about me doing enough for you, it is about you doing enough for you. Take time for yourself. It's as tey say, 'Tee old should wait on tee young to live before tee young should wait on tee old to rest.' Go and meet wit tis man you love."

Tawn's eyes shot wide and his hands started to look for something to occupy them.

"Ah, woman I mean. An old brain slips often. I forget I'm not in tee Souteast sometimes. Now get tat awful woman her gown, get yourself some rest, and then get yourself some loving."

Tawn chuckled. It must've just been a slip. "Thanks, Touissa and sorry, again."

"No apologizing. You do so much apologizing and you'll actually tink you've done someting wrong." Touissa took the sleeve and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to wow all tee bumpkin shamans, priests, and holy rollers in tis town. Good luck, Tawn."

With that Touissa left and strangely enough, Tawn felt giddy – relieved, even. He slumped against the wall and let out a deep breath. Maybe Touissa was right. He'd been having trouble working, trouble focusing, sometimes even trouble sleeping and he could pinpoint nearly all of it on what happened in the woods.

Of course, it wasn't just love as Touissa said. It was also the complications of love and truth and the things he felt he could and couldn't reveal. Touissa getting wind of what was eating him amplified his worries. If she could pick up on such things then there was a growing chance others could too and it was the others Tawn worried about. He could always cover for himself and say that he'd met a girl but he was tired of lying. More accurately, he was exhausted from lying.

As Dennuuk tightened the knot in the rope he heard Tawn gasp and felt himself harden.

With that last knot, he had tied Tawn's ankles and legs tightly together. Dennuuk admired his handiwork with the rope as well as Tawn's naked body. Tawn was pressed face down against the bed of furs, ass sticking up in the air and searching for Dennuuk. Tawn moaned as his erect cock bobbed in the air, a thin trail of precum leaking from it.

Dennuuk leaned into Tawn and pressed his hard shaft up against Tawn's ass. He held Tawn's hips in each hand and let Tawn grind up against his shaft for a moment before lightly slapping his left hip. Tawn exhaled sharp pleasure as his cock bounced and leaked more precum. His wrists struggled slightly against the bonds, no doubt wanting to reach down and stroke himself until orgasm.

Dennuuk sunk his fingers into Tawn's hips and held him completely still. He pulled his shaft away and felt Tawn's body struggle against his firm grip and reach out to feel Dennuuk's cock. Dennuuk placed the tip of his cock right up against Tawn's tight hole and felt Tawn try to buck even harder against his hips, wanting it deep inside him.

"Ah! Mmmm." Tawn bit his lip and shut his eyes. His little cock bounced and twitched with desire. Their panting breaths filled the air with heavy want.

"How much do you want it?" Dennuuk asked.

"So badly," Tawn answered, stretching his neck and rubbing his face against the furs. "I want you so badly. I want to be yours."

Dennuuk pressed the tip of his cock up against Tawn's opening and slowly began to enter him. Tawn blanketed the room with moans and Dennuuk stopped just as he was spreading Tawn apart. Tawn cried out in a mix of frustration and pleasure.

"Please, Dennuuk. Please make me yours."

Dennuuk's fingers fell into Tawn's hips as he pulled them together. Deeper and deeper his cock went until it disappeared inside Tawn and the two of them melded into one. They melted apart under the moans that drenched the room with heat and as Dennuuk felt himself push over the edge, he woke up.

The Sun was only just coming up and he would've had a bit longer to stay in bed but certainly not anymore. Dennuuk woke up cradling a bundle of furs in his arms – the norm for him most days since he'd run into Tawn – and his long johns coated in the front with cum – not a norm yet but a more likely occurrence than he cared to admit. He cursed softly to himself, still lightly panting from the dream.

Now he'd have to go down to the nearby stream and wash his long johns. The fortunate thing was that there was never anyone around but it was still another chore to add to the day – and not a particularly glamorous one at that.

He got up, got changed, got soap, and got going. It was another pleasant fall day where swathes of the forest were coming alive with color and the all the animals were in a hurry to prepare for winter. The cold winds had started coming more in force than before and soon Dennuuk wouldn't be able to walk outside wearing just his vest and pants. The Grinland winters were not the harshest in all of Alo but they were real winters. They'd freeze you dead if you disrespected them.