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rmNew Swordspoint fic! Here: http://community.livejournal.com/_riverside/7533.html or below.
Still smutty but not as graphic as the last one.
TITLE: Flight
AUTHOR:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rm
PAIRING: Richard/Alec
RATING: R
NOTES: Following on immediately from the end of The Privilege of the Sword. I don’t think I’ve said anything that could be contradicted by Fall of the Kings, but I’ve not read it yet.
DISCLAIMER: These lovely characters belong, of course, to Ellen Kushner
Richard was exhausted, mostly from inactivity, which was not a condition he enjoyed or even found easy to tolerate. Fourteen hours in a carriage from Highcombe, a night of frantic arrangements he could little contribute to, his only student like something lost before it’s even found, and then back in the carriage. He’d been awake for over a day, and that was a bad business for a swordsman, even if these days he only fought walls and whatever Alec put before him. Maybe that had been true for a long time, Richard thought; maybe that had always been true, and he simply hadn’t known. Alec sat across from him now, gnawing on some of the ample provisions Marcus had packed.
“I haven’t been over the sea since I was very young,” Alec said, not entirely to Richard, although he was the only one there.
“Did you like it?” Richard asked, hoping his voice didn’t betray nervousness. After he’d arrived in Riverside he’d never considered the possibility that his life might range over so much space.
“Horrible,” Alec said. “Sailing,” he clarified. “You’ll probably get sick.”
Richard nodded.
“It will make everything seem all the more glorious when we arrive.” He said it with an odd lilt.
Richard felt himself reach, just as he often did for the sword he no longer wore, and wished Alec were next to him, instead of across.
“Oh dear,” Alec said soft and sudden some thirty minutes later, before switching into the seat beside Richard. He put his hand on the swordsman’s chest.
“You should sleep,” Richard said quietly. There was really no need to point out the obvious, that Alec was shaking.
Alec said nothing, but bent awkwardly and put his feet up on the seats across as he buried his head in Richard’s lap like a horribly overgrown girl child. Richard sighed, and put his hand on Alec’s hair, willing himself to sleep since he knew he could do no such thing for the scholar so oddly returned to him. He wondered, as he drifted off, if the key to it all was merely Alec finally being able to draw blood on his own now that Richard could no longer reliably provide in such a fashion.
“Don’t,” Richard said as Alec attempted to pull the shade down against the bright afternoon sun, but Alec persisted.
Richard reached forward and laid a hand on his arm. “I want to see you.”
“You can see me better in the dark,” Alec murmured.
Part of Richard was aroused – that tone from Alec was so specific -- but mostly, he just wanted to swing steel at the wall for an hour; he had spoken and then sparred with Katherine in the strange emptiness of his old room at the Riverside house, and the past of the place and all Alec’s years of mourning it had permeated his flesh more than he perhaps preferred. It was hard to shake off now, especially as he remembered they were in flight from the reach of a dead man.
“I can’t see you at all in the dark,” Richard replied, not wanting to go over such territory.
Alec lowered the shade anyway.
“Yes, you can,” he said and took one of Richard’s hands, still strong and calloused, and placed it to his face.
Despite the impulse to pull away, Richard didn’t, lightly ghosting his fingers over Alec’s nose, then placing the back of his hand against his cheek, tracing jaw with thumb and lips with forefinger.
Alec smiled. And feeling it, that it was real, that the creases of it went all the way to Alec’s eyes, made Richard smile too.
“Oh Richard,” Alec said softly, strangled with a dozen different emotions, and kissed his friend hard, finding himself relieved when Richard kissed and kissed, holding his face the entire time.
“You’re going to be bored,” Richard said, skipping over the thoughts that came first: We’re going to be happy and You feel so good then When are you leaving?
“I am,” Alec said between kisses.
When Alec reached for the lacings on his breeches somehow Richard got the impression that for a change maybe his restless friend wouldn’t mind, but he stilled the hand anyway.
“In a coach?”
“I’ve never had you in a coach,” Alec said breezily.
Richard couldn’t help but bark with laughter and make a mental note to find out on some other occasion just who Alec had, had in coaches.
“It’s why I closed the shade,” he added, helpfully.
Richard relented, and Alec sank to his knees.
Neither of them managed to get more undressed than was strictly necessary. It was, as Alec had pointed out, appropriate to relations in a coach. Then they’d dozed, rumpled and sticky and curled under a rather excessive down quilt, Richard spooned around his scholar.
Alec woke him, reaching for the carriage’s window.
“Don’t,” Richard said.
“It’s close in here,” Alec complained, wrinkling his nose.
Richard merely made a noise of agreement and held Alec tighter.
“Relations in a coach,” Alec mumbled as he abandoned his efforts.
“Exactly.”
“Will you miss it?” Alec asked.
Richard didn’t need clarification. “I’ve been gone a long time,” he said, not bothering to add what was understood, You forget.
“I might miss it,” Alec said absently, “Although, I suppose I could send word to Katherine to burn it.”
“You’re not the Duke anymore. She could ignore you. You should send word though.”
Alec nodded. “I have stopped her, haven’t I?”
“From what?” Richard asked, stretching and causing their quilt to crumple onto the floor.
“Being like them.”
“And being like you,” Richard supplied, fondly.
“I’ll send word,” he said firmly, feeling a glimmer of the thing he had previously only known outside himself and pursued, almost without exception, with those who also suffered for its lack.
But Richard had courage, and they were going to be all right.
Still smutty but not as graphic as the last one.
TITLE: Flight
AUTHOR:
rmPAIRING: Richard/Alec
RATING: R
NOTES: Following on immediately from the end of The Privilege of the Sword. I don’t think I’ve said anything that could be contradicted by Fall of the Kings, but I’ve not read it yet.
DISCLAIMER: These lovely characters belong, of course, to Ellen Kushner
Richard was exhausted, mostly from inactivity, which was not a condition he enjoyed or even found easy to tolerate. Fourteen hours in a carriage from Highcombe, a night of frantic arrangements he could little contribute to, his only student like something lost before it’s even found, and then back in the carriage. He’d been awake for over a day, and that was a bad business for a swordsman, even if these days he only fought walls and whatever Alec put before him. Maybe that had been true for a long time, Richard thought; maybe that had always been true, and he simply hadn’t known. Alec sat across from him now, gnawing on some of the ample provisions Marcus had packed.
“I haven’t been over the sea since I was very young,” Alec said, not entirely to Richard, although he was the only one there.
“Did you like it?” Richard asked, hoping his voice didn’t betray nervousness. After he’d arrived in Riverside he’d never considered the possibility that his life might range over so much space.
“Horrible,” Alec said. “Sailing,” he clarified. “You’ll probably get sick.”
Richard nodded.
“It will make everything seem all the more glorious when we arrive.” He said it with an odd lilt.
Richard felt himself reach, just as he often did for the sword he no longer wore, and wished Alec were next to him, instead of across.
“Oh dear,” Alec said soft and sudden some thirty minutes later, before switching into the seat beside Richard. He put his hand on the swordsman’s chest.
“You should sleep,” Richard said quietly. There was really no need to point out the obvious, that Alec was shaking.
Alec said nothing, but bent awkwardly and put his feet up on the seats across as he buried his head in Richard’s lap like a horribly overgrown girl child. Richard sighed, and put his hand on Alec’s hair, willing himself to sleep since he knew he could do no such thing for the scholar so oddly returned to him. He wondered, as he drifted off, if the key to it all was merely Alec finally being able to draw blood on his own now that Richard could no longer reliably provide in such a fashion.
“Don’t,” Richard said as Alec attempted to pull the shade down against the bright afternoon sun, but Alec persisted.
Richard reached forward and laid a hand on his arm. “I want to see you.”
“You can see me better in the dark,” Alec murmured.
Part of Richard was aroused – that tone from Alec was so specific -- but mostly, he just wanted to swing steel at the wall for an hour; he had spoken and then sparred with Katherine in the strange emptiness of his old room at the Riverside house, and the past of the place and all Alec’s years of mourning it had permeated his flesh more than he perhaps preferred. It was hard to shake off now, especially as he remembered they were in flight from the reach of a dead man.
“I can’t see you at all in the dark,” Richard replied, not wanting to go over such territory.
Alec lowered the shade anyway.
“Yes, you can,” he said and took one of Richard’s hands, still strong and calloused, and placed it to his face.
Despite the impulse to pull away, Richard didn’t, lightly ghosting his fingers over Alec’s nose, then placing the back of his hand against his cheek, tracing jaw with thumb and lips with forefinger.
Alec smiled. And feeling it, that it was real, that the creases of it went all the way to Alec’s eyes, made Richard smile too.
“Oh Richard,” Alec said softly, strangled with a dozen different emotions, and kissed his friend hard, finding himself relieved when Richard kissed and kissed, holding his face the entire time.
“You’re going to be bored,” Richard said, skipping over the thoughts that came first: We’re going to be happy and You feel so good then When are you leaving?
“I am,” Alec said between kisses.
When Alec reached for the lacings on his breeches somehow Richard got the impression that for a change maybe his restless friend wouldn’t mind, but he stilled the hand anyway.
“In a coach?”
“I’ve never had you in a coach,” Alec said breezily.
Richard couldn’t help but bark with laughter and make a mental note to find out on some other occasion just who Alec had, had in coaches.
“It’s why I closed the shade,” he added, helpfully.
Richard relented, and Alec sank to his knees.
Neither of them managed to get more undressed than was strictly necessary. It was, as Alec had pointed out, appropriate to relations in a coach. Then they’d dozed, rumpled and sticky and curled under a rather excessive down quilt, Richard spooned around his scholar.
Alec woke him, reaching for the carriage’s window.
“Don’t,” Richard said.
“It’s close in here,” Alec complained, wrinkling his nose.
Richard merely made a noise of agreement and held Alec tighter.
“Relations in a coach,” Alec mumbled as he abandoned his efforts.
“Exactly.”
“Will you miss it?” Alec asked.
Richard didn’t need clarification. “I’ve been gone a long time,” he said, not bothering to add what was understood, You forget.
“I might miss it,” Alec said absently, “Although, I suppose I could send word to Katherine to burn it.”
“You’re not the Duke anymore. She could ignore you. You should send word though.”
Alec nodded. “I have stopped her, haven’t I?”
“From what?” Richard asked, stretching and causing their quilt to crumple onto the floor.
“Being like them.”
“And being like you,” Richard supplied, fondly.
“I’ll send word,” he said firmly, feeling a glimmer of the thing he had previously only known outside himself and pursued, almost without exception, with those who also suffered for its lack.
But Richard had courage, and they were going to be all right.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-10-28 11:05 pm (UTC)also one tiny thing I noticed -- instead of "breaches" I think you meant "breeches"?
no subject
Date: 2006-10-29 03:19 am (UTC)Thank you. I can't believe you are reading these not knowing the canon. The books are great and I think you'd love them.