THE VIRGIN SEED

Title: THE VIRGIN SEED
Author: batmouse
Genre: Slash
Pairing: Roxton/Malone (Don’t even think I mean Marguerite! {shudder!} Eeuw! That‘s just not natural!)
Rating: FRAO
Summary: After finding a secret cave, after an earthquake, other intrepid heroes find a once buried temple! Unfortunately, it should’ve stayed buried! They also encounter Alien-Gods that really aren’t, except the alien-bit. Cross-over with Stargate.
Archive: Archive? Of course! You think I wrote this drivel to keep to myself? I want people to marvel at it through the ages, wondering why anyone sane would write such nonsense! Umm . . . That didn’t come out right.
Email: vjameswillow@yahoo.com
Series: Yup. With cinnamon and sugar please.
Notes: Notes? Notes? No one told me I could use notes!
Web Page URL: Why does Earl have a web page? And why does he spell his name Url?
Disclaimer: If I was makin’ money doin’ this, y’think I’d be writing slash fiction? Okay, maybe I would, but none of this stuff is mine nor am I makin’ bucks at it!
Warnings: Interstellar Non-con . . . Bestiality, sort of. Rape. Violence. Words of love. No BETA, whatever that is.
~~~oO0Oo~~~
THE VIRGIN SEED
by batmouse
~~~oO0Oo~~~

Ned Malone ambled along behind Lord John Roxton as they trudged down an animal trail, going back around Big Gap Mountain. Cleverly named so because on the south side of the mountain was a washed out gap above Hidden Pond, also aptly named because if you didn’t know it was there, you’d walk right by it. The young man had a goofy satisfied expression on his face, as he watched his lover walking ahead of him. He wondered if the British Lord knew how magnificent his butt looked when it was walking? Flex, relax, flex, relax . . . Oops, almost tripped there. Still, Malone seemed very smug and full of himself.

“Roxton,” Malone’s eyes were sparkling and his voice playful, “Are you okay? You seem to be walking a little on the funny side.”

“I can’t help it.” Roxton grinned over his shoulder, not turning around, “It isn’t my fault. I’m not to blame.”

“Oh? Why? What happened?” Smile.

“I seemed to have sat on something.” At last, Roxton glanced back at Malone, “You might say, it left quite an impression in me . . . on me.”

“Oh, really?” Eyebrows rose.

“Yup!” Roxton turned back to the trail, “I don’t know what got into me, but I’m planning on doing it, again!”

“Really?” Grin.

“And again. And again. And agai . . .” Roxton’s voice trailed off, then he stopped and turned back to Malone with a concerned expression, “By the way, Neddy-boy, just how healthy are you?”

“I . . . uh . . . I’m healthy, John, honest.” Malone gulped and smiled a small frightened smile. Roxton gave him a ‘that’s-good-to-know’ nod of the head, before marching off some more. He wondered if he should be afraid. Lord John Roxton loved his sex and finding a new way of indulging his hormones, seemed to . . . well, make him want to have even more sex . . . Not that that could be a bad thing, except . . . Malone was just one man . . . after all, what could happen . . . ? He could end up with a funny walk . . . maybe a severe limp he couldn’t explain or just end up a gibbering idiot . . . laying there, whimpering like a fool, floating in a pool of cum . . . all by the time Roxton was done with him . . . And Roxton would probably still want some more!

Oooooooooo! But, wadda way t’go! He smiled again.

“That’s what I like to hear, Ned! Yup, what I like to hear!” Roxton was walking and as usual, Ned was toddling along behind the well-built and virile sexy man like a happy puppy with a boner . . . bone! Bone! A happy puppy with a BONE! But, damn, did Roxton look good from the back! Malone licked his lips. That wasn’t saying that any of the other views of the British Lord were chopped liver. He realized he had a whole new fascination for Lord John Roxton’s nice manly butt.

In his mind, he recalled the very vocal sound of John Roxton enjoying himself, sitting astride Malone’s hips, bouncing up and down, his head thrown back . . . Ned swallowed hard.

I am sooooo doomed . . .
~~~oO0Oo~~~

“Whoa . . .” Roxton came to a short stop when they came over that last rise and stared. A whole section of the mountainside had fallen into the Hidden Pond below . . . well, so much for the leisurely swim and cuddle session he had planned. Hidden Pond was now a rocky mound, but that wasn’t what had brought Roxton up short.

The landslide had exposed an underground palace . . . or what could be a temple. It looked ancient, but he could see that much of the damage and crumbled stonework had been done during the ‘quake that had triggered the land-slide. Still, the palace, temple or whatever it was looked amazing!

“Ooop!” Malone walked into Roxton’s tail end, grabbing the man around the waist so they wouldn’t stumble and fall. Roxton instinctively reached back to steady the young man. Malone stayed where he was, holding Roxton close, to see what his lover was staring at, “Wow!”

“Will you look at that!” Roxton whistled.

The stone worked building looked . . . royal, but at the same time, sort of religious, in a strange way. A masterwork of architectural engineering, shape and symmetry . . . yet savage with primordial beauty. It had a stepped pyramidal shape to it and had flights of stairs climbing up and down the sides, soaring from one floor to another. Staircases even bypassed other floors altogether. It had window openings, like huge verandahs and sweeping balconies. Egyptian-like carvings decorated the outer walls, but also had an Aztecan feel to them. Though even he could see that the vast pyramidal building was far older than that.

With the sheer size of the stone edifice, it could have been a mountain all on its own!

There were huge round boulders on alternating corners and floors that had served as pillars, but had been carved into the shape of helmeted African heads. Other balcony pillars were carved into animorphic-humanoid warriors, all with canine-like heads, legs and feral glares . . . or they were some kind of war-gods of mixed Incan, Egyptian and Aztecan were-wolf descent.

In each statue’s left hand was held a long two-headed staff-club. The upper head was ornately carved, while the lower was merely a shaped weighted weapon. Either end would’ve been deadly in combat. The object in the right hand looked like a stylized cobra. It’s hood flared and upper body pulled back as if prepared to strike . . . but, cobras didn’t exist in this part of the world . . . didn’t they?

In built-in niches were other quasi-beast-men. These were . . . lions? With saber-teeth. These had human/leonine heads and a pair of stunted lightning bolt shaped protrusions on their back that called to mind wings of some sort. They, like the canine warriors, looked deadly.

Roxton was glad that they were nothing more than stone-carved representations of mythical beasts. Even though they were obviously from some forgotten people’s legends and lore, he was glad that they weren’t real. He really would’ve hated to meet any of them, if they were real! They would’ve been formidable enemies. The kind few survived the encounter with.

“It looks like a palace . . .” Roxton studied the architecture, “. . . or a temple of some sort.”

“It looks abandoned.” Malone said quietly, staring at the unbelievable, yet beautiful sight.

“I think the ‘quake sheered away the covering mountainside, exposing this ruin.” Roxton glanced at Malone, whose chin was resting on his shoulder, “It looks faintly Egyptian . . . yet, has elements of Aztec and Inca, but older. I know the Egyptians worshipped beast-headed gods, but I’d hate to meet the monstrosities this . . . temple was dedicated to!”

“It looks older than that city you, Challenger and Marguerite found awhile back.” Malone realized that Roxton was heading up the shambled mountainside, “Roxton, are you sure we should go up there? I mean, when we find stuff like this and we investigate, we usually end up getting into trouble of some kind.”

“True,” Roxton stopped climbing to look back at his protégé-lover, “We tend to get into more than our fair share of adventures and the like, but say we go back to the tree house. Naturally, we end up telling everybody about this temple and naturally, they’d want to come back to investigate this place, only to find that whatever danger’s in there, is waiting, all prepared for our return? Or, we could go on in and find out for ourselves. Maybe, find nothing’s in there. It’d make it easier and safer to tell the others. Especially, Challenger, because you know he’ll want to pack up his tools and come to take a look around for himself. This way, he can do all his investigating in relative peace and safety, without the added worry of monsters, beasts or savages popping up to try and make a meal out him . . . or don’t you think that the two of us can handle whatever we might find in there?”

“Well, when you put it like that . . .” Malone grinned with a shrug, then started after the English Lord, happy with the man’s logic, “Hey, if it’s quiet and not dangerous, do you think we might be able to desecrate me on top of something? You know, like an altar?”

“Best be careful what you wish for, Mr. Malone,” Roxton laughed, knowing what the young man was suggesting, liking the idea as he resumed climbing, “What if some dusty old forgotten god is watching and decides to take offense at you being happily desecrated where he was worshipped?”

“You’re probably right, Lord John,” Malone moved carefully up after his mentor and friend, “I wouldn’t want to be mistaken for some blushing virgin and pegged for sacrifice!”

“Don’t worry, Neddy,” Roxton paused with a grin, “nobody’s going to peg you, except me! Besides, if some dusty old horney god wants to sacrifice your virginity, I’ll be right there to bend you over and prove that you’re no where near being a virgin!”

“Well, gee, thanks, Milord!” Malone laughed, “It’s good to know that you want to prove your masculinity in front of everybody! Especially, with a horney old god watching you play peg the naked reporter!”

“No, Malone, I don’t need to prove my virility.” Roxton smiled back at his lover, “I just like getting you bent over, naked and mindless as often as possible! And never you mind if anyone’s watching!”

“Would you?” Gulp, “I mean, in front of people?”

“Hell no!” Charming smile, “I’m the jealous type, no matter how excited I get at the thought of a whole crowd of strangers watching us mating like sex-crazed minks! I’m not sharing your body with anyone! Still . . . that thought is titillating. The thought of the two of us, naked, in front of a vast audience, sweaty and excited! All the lords and ladies cheering us on to deeper and better sex! Her royal highness, all atwitter watching the two of us . . . Hmmm . . . I wonder if there’s a way we could arrange that? Well, maybe, I know of this private club in Paris and another in Berlin . . .”

“You’re joking, right?” Malone stopped short, shocked by the mere thought of doing something so . . . private with all kinds of people watching . . . I mean, who would want to watch two men . . . Roxton was getting farther up the rubbled hill. Malone snapped his mouth shut and scrambled after the hunter, intent on catching up, “Roxton? . . . That was a joke, right? You were just joking with me, right? I mean, right? . . . Roxton? . . . Roxton? Weren’t you? You were just funnin’ with me, right? Roxton?”
~~~oO0Oo~~~

Oooooh, my head! Roxton winced at the thought, Thinking hurt! At least, he wasn’t dead! He was in too much pain for that. What hit me? Felt like I was being electrocuted or something! The stone floor was cold against his bare chest and . . . bare chest!?! . . . His eyes popped open. OW! His eyes snapped shut. The light hurt and . . . the floor wasn’t just cold on his chest, but on his legs and . . . Where are my clothes!?! Why’re my wrists chained? And where the hell was Malone!?! . . . Wait, of course! The ruined palace . . . temple? Out house? Whatever the hell the building was or had been . . . They’d gotten naked and were playing hide the king’s scepter on the stone throne they’d found . . . the place had been empty, abandoned and the two men felt horney . . . Roxton had just finished melting Malone’s bones, when . . .

Roxton slowly began to sit up, painfully. His every nerve felt like a hot nail had been dragged across each ending. He remembered a musical sound, then intense pain, then . . . nothing . . . He glanced around his . . . prison cell? He was in a stone room, but there were no bars or even a door. Around the base of all four walls was a two-foot high stone ledge. It looked like it could comfortably hold a sleeping man. Except, he didn’t think sleeping on stone would be very comfortable. The cell he was in looked old and decayed. In fact, there were a few gaping holes in two of the walls.

What the hell was going on?

He could see the valley beyond. He had to be at least a couple of floors above the valley, if the view was anything to tell by. They had to be a good two-day’s walk from the tree house. Apparently, he and Malone had gone farther a field than they’d originally intended.

He froze. There was a guard standing just outside the doorway . . . But, it wasn’t . . . human . . .

What was that? A watch-dog of some kind?

Standing in the corridor outside, was a gray armored guard . . . At least, he thought it was a guard. From what he could see, it looked like those carved statues they saw outside! But, this thing was alive! It stood on its hind legs like a man, but it clearly wasn’t. It looked like a dog . . . of some kind . . . A man-dog? A dog-man? It stood at attention and its armor and matching skullcap made it look like those armored statues . . . and it had to be at least six and a half feet tall! In its . . . left hand (?) . . . paw (?) . . . it held one of those double-headed staff-clubs. They looked even deadlier than the stone one did!

Roxton was about to get up and test the strength of the chains, when he heard metal on stone, like weighted footsteps. Someone was coming! He quickly laid back down in the position he’d awoke in.

“Rhaad,” a gruff voice rumbled, “I am to take over the watch. Has the Tau’ri stirred?”

“No,” the first dog-thing growled back, “the small beast has not awakened.”

They . . . they spoke English! But . . . how?

“Odd, that the Goddess L’liath should have need of these . . . creatures.” The second dog-thing spoke and Roxton was sure, though his eyes were closed that they were peering at him through the big room’s doorway, “They seem a quite fragile species.”

“True,” Dog-thing 1 agreed, “but, it is not for us to reason why. The Goddess has reasons of her own and that is enough for us to do as she wills. We need only know that the legends speak of Ra’s downfall coming from their seed. How goes the verse . . . ? Ah, yes; ‘. . . and thus he stands, eyes of blue, hair of gold, Ra’s downfall pronounced from times of old . . .’ ”

“So speaks the Goddess L’liath.” Dog-thing 2 said reverently.

“So speaks the Goddess L’liath.” Dog-thing 1 echoed.

“The Goddess has the one she needs.” Dog-thing 2 sounded happy. Roxton thought that Dog-thing 2 was wagging its tail. If these dog-things had tails to wag, “We have been given leave to practice our mating skills upon this one, when the end of evening comes.”

Hearing that, Roxton’s eyes popped open, he broke out in a cold sweat, but still he didn’t move. Mating skills? What did they mean, practice? On him? What were they, crazy? Those . . . those dog-things . . . using him like a . . . like a DOG? He fought down the urgent need to jump to his feet and run screaming down the side of the pyramid, all the way back to England to hide under his bed. Well, let’s see you remain calm after hearing that a platoon or more of giant dog-things were planning on using your very own private bum to play bury-the-dog-bone with! Roxton forced himself to lay still.

Where are my guns when I really need them?

“Tis a pity,” Dog-thing 1 spoke, “that we cannot have both. That one will not last long. At least with the pair, all would have a chance with a living one.”

“Aye,” the other had a cruel laugh, “breeding the dead is not as much fun as breeding a living butt-toy. They scream and wriggle about so beautifully!”

Oh, God! After fucking me to death, they were going to just keep on fucking my corpse! Until they all had a turn! Or two! Or three! That was just sick!

“I would not mind a chance at the yellow hair.” Dog-thing 1 spoke as if sharing a confidence, “Him, I would truly enjoy breeding! Several times daily!”

Oh no! Roxton’s blood began to boil, No one, but no one’s allowed to touch Neddy-boy’s perfect white bitable bum! Nobody except me!

“Nor I,” the other agreed, “but, the Goddess has him and once She has tasted his charms, She will ascend the heights and depose Ra’s blasphemy, then take Her rightful place upon the Pantheon’s Throne. And the little Tau’ri will be of no use to any.”

“True,” Dog-thing 1 joined in, but sounded regretful, “once the small Tau’ri knows the pleasures of the Goddess, he will be good for naught, but the dung pile.”

Roxton knew right then that he had to get to Malone.

“Aye,” again, Dog-thing 2, “few are they that know the Goddess’ touch who survive. Though those that do, step away screaming and mindless for knowing her charms.”

Roxton wanted the dog-things dead. Them and their so-called–goddess! Besides, if his God had his way (and he usually did), these dog-things would pay the full price of daring to have another god before the ONE TRUE GOD! And so would this so-called-goddess for trying to put herself above God!
~~~oO0Oo~~~

Malone struggled. Each arm held in the vise-like grip of furry hands that only had three fingers and the usual opposable thumb, except each digit ended in dulled worn claws, and like the palms, had rough pads on the insides of the fingers. Just like dogs did. What he could see of their . . . flesh, was matted with course hair that had a distinct doggish odor to it. And, dammit all, even the shortest among them towered over him! It was bad enough that he had to constantly look up into Roxton’s sea-green eyes (well, not that that was a bad thing), but these things were giving him a crick in the neck!

One had a hold of his head by the hair, limiting his ability to turn and get a good look at his captors. What he could and did see of them only frightened him. They looked like human-ish dogs. They also wore some kind of gray armor, made from some sort of material he’d never seen before. It was metal, but woven, almost like chain mail armor, but a fabric.

Weirdest of all was that they spoke English. Not British-English or American-English but a form of English . . . and they talked as if he were no more than an uncivilized savage! They acted like people were sheep or chattel of some kind. Things to be used how ever they or this goddess-thing they spoke about saw fit. Damn them!

Where are my clothes? And Roxton? Where had they taken him? God pity these . . . these dog-men, if they’d done anything to the man I love! Edward Malone knew that he wasn’t a terribly courageous man, but he’d be damned before he’d let any of these . . . dog-monsters hurt his lover! No matter how big and mighty they seemed, he’d find a way to escape, to find his sexy manly lover . . . if Roxton hadn’t already escaped and was on the way to rescue me! But! I’ll cut off the puppy-parts of any of these things if they so much as touch my very own private British Lord and sex-toy!

“Let! GO!” he tried to pull free, but they were still too strong. It was like he was shackled with iron chains. The stone floors hurt his feet the more he struggled, but he wouldn’t quit until he and Roxton were free and out of this mad house!

He hated that dog smell they had. And they smelled almost as if they were dogs! That needed a bath. Several. He wondered if he was nuts to wonder what breed of dog they were.

Yup, he agreed with himself, fear’s driven me right out of my mind!

His struggles stopped cold, when they dragged him into a vast chamber, seemingly over-decorated in gold and silver. Well, no change there! This whole place was gaudy and garish! Marguerite would be having a field day if she ever learned abou . . . Then, he saw the great gold enshrouded figure they called goddess. She looked taller than her dog-men followers. From under her hood, in spite of the shadows, he thought he saw a vague ugliness . . . and four eyes! Not human, but round. Spider-ish. Ancient, she rattled like old scales when she moved. And move she did. Her great bulk rose to stand towering over him. Malone tried to shrink back, away from the hideousness, but couldn’t. The guards held him in place, though some part of him was aware that the guards had shrunk back with him, though not allowing him to move.

But, damn, she’s tall! No ego problem there! No wonder she calls herself a goddess! She’s tall enough to call herself anything that she wants to!

“Behold, the Goddess L’liath!” One of the dog-men announced, forcing Malone to his knees.

“Bring the golden Tau’ri closer . . .” It spoke with a voice that was so guttural that it could put any six random sailors to shame! Her baritone voice had a deep bestial rumble to it. It was almost as if she weren’t completely . . . female, but something more . . . something worse, “You are indeed very beautiful, my young Tau’ri . . . You need only do as I bid and your rewards will be great! Would that be your wish, my near hairless beauty?”

”NO! Just let me go!” Malone surprised himself by finding his voice and even more by sounding defiant about being held captive and naked, “And you’d better let my friend go, too!”

“Mayhap,” she sounded almost . . . amused, “but, after we have mated and I have taken your seed, that I may sire the golden child of which the legends speak . . . mayhap I shall . . .”

“Legend . . . ?”

“Yesss . . .” an obscene amusement and cruel glittering yellow eyes, “this is the legend: . . . ‘Born of Tau’ri seed came the elder warrior, a condemned innocent and an innocent scholar, wizened beyond years. Both came they . . . like sand and heat, a cooling fire . . .” this part was spoken as if garbled or partially forgotten, “. . . the power of Ah-ha-dom . . . and thus he stands eyes of blue, hair of gold, Ra’s downfall pronounced from times of old. Thus they stand elder and younger, as one they come, that the child shall slay the ancient god at the touch of Ah-ha-dom’s love’ . . .” again her smile, “Thusly, it becomes clear, that a child born of the DNA of you and your elder Tau’ri lover’s combined seed will bring forth the child who shall cause Ra’s ultimate downfall!”

“You’re dipped if you think I’m going to help, let alone mate with something as big and as ugly as you! So just forget it! Get that sick thought right out of your mind, right now!” Malone could feel his courage pouring out of him, even as his bravado impressed the dog-men that held him, “I’d never mate with anything as ugly as you! Never! Why, I’d sooner mate with a pack of dogs before I’d let you touch me!” The ridiculousness of that statement almost made him laugh, at least it did until he remembered what was holding him in place. He nervously glanced back toward the giant man-dogs, though he couldn’t see them, “I . . . uh . . . meant no offence, guys . . . OOW!!”

Pain exploded in the side of his head and the world almost grayed out on him. If he hadn’t been kneeling, he was sure he would have fallen or sailed across the chamber. It took him a few moments for him to come back to himself. He shook his head, trying to clear it, amazed that his head wasn’t a sack of moldy dough. As it was, his head throbbed with a thick ringing ache.

How strong was this goddess-thing anyway? And why’d she hit so hard?

“I. AM. YOUR. GOD!” She thundered and in the darkness of her hood, all four of her . . . bug-eyes glowed a sickly yellow. Literally. Seeing that Malone tried to shrunk back and pull free. Taken by surprise by his sudden struggle, the dog-men almost lost their hold on him. He didn’t get away, “I can do with you whatever I wish! . . . Mayhap, after I am finished with you, I will allow you to mate with a . . . pack of dogs, as you so sweetly put it.” An angered threat, “. . . or have you prepared as a most delicious meal!” an almost feminine gesture, “. . . or, keep you to warm my bed . . . but, I must confess, a gibbering idiot is rarely fun to mate with.” a pause, a thought and a shrug, “Hmmmm. Well, better than a corpse at any rate. Ah, I know! I shall have you witness the mating of your . . . mate with my guards this eve . . . until he dies of it, before I slay you slowly, come the dawn of the Tau’ri day.”

“NOOOOO!!” Malone began struggling anew, almost escaping, but all too quickly, he tired out, “You . . . you freaking sick monster! You can’t be a god! You’re too bug-ugly to know what being a god really means! I think the only way you can get anyone to worship you, or . . . or love you . . . Is that you’d probably have to chain them up and drug them before you can have sex with them or they’d all run away screaming! I’ll bet everyone you wanted to have sex with tried to gnaw their own legs off and escape rather than let you touch them!”

This time, he saw the blow coming, but it didn’t make it any less painful. Sagging and barely conscious, he glared at her. He couldn’t believe how terrified he was. He knew he was going to be in very extremely painful situation no matter what he did . . .

. . . Oh, what the hell, this is gonna hurt anyway . . .

“. . . bitch . . .”
~~~oO0Oo~~~

“Here, boy! Here, boy! I’ve got a treat for you!” Roxton whistled as if he were calling a favored pet. Dog-thing 2 growled softly, turned and entered Roxton’s cell. Perhaps, no one would mind if he practiced a little on the Tau’ri before the evening came. No one would have to know, or even care . . . besides, what could the Tau’ri do about it? After all, it was just a dumb animal . . .

Roxton was standing on the two-foot high ledge, holding a large chunk of wall over his head.

Dog-thing 2 stepped into the cell and Roxton smacked it square atop the head . . .

CHUNK!

. . . with the wall-chunk.

Dog-thing 2 stopped and looked up at him, then blinked.

“Oh, shit.” Roxton knew that he was in trouble.

Quickly, he brought the wall-chunk down on Dog-thing 2’s head, again.

Harder this time.

He knew he was really in trouble.

Dog-thing 2 blinked, again.

Twice.

He was about to smack Dog-thing 2 again, even harder, when its big tan puppy-dog eyes rolled back into his head and like a tall oak tree, simply fell over backwards. To lay sprawled out, with its tongue hanging out of its mouth.

Roxton, wearing a smile, dropped the wall-chunk, jumped off the ledge and had to riffle through the dog-thing’s armor for the keys that would unlock his chains.

He wondered if Dog-thing 2’s armor would fit him. Well, he wondered until he caught a whiff of the dog-thing’s scent. Talk about pungent!
~~~oO0Oo~~~

“Have him taken to my chambers and prepared for my arrival,” her weird scary eyes bore into Malone’s, “that I may take his joined seed to end Ra’s curse, then shall I create the golden child to topple Ra from the Onyx Throne and rule in his stead.”

“I told you, I wasn’t going to help you, you ugly mistake!” Malone mumbled, his fear unable to stop himself from making snide remarks at the so-called goddess, “You think you’ve been cursed? Well, I can go you one better! I’ve got an overgrown ugly monster lusting after my shiny white ass!”

“CURSED!?! THIS is cursed, Tau’ri fool!” The Goddess’ hands, all four (!) of them, muscular, hairy, covered in scales and talon-tipped, emerged from her robes and whipped off her hood revealing . . . Malone’s eyes widened in horror at the sight of the goddess’ . . . monstrous visage . . . A frightened wordless cry escaped him as he struggled to get away from the hideous goddess-monster-thing as she stepped closer to him. She grabbed his jaw and Malone screamed again. This time, tears fell at the touch of her hand on his face. She held him so he couldn’t look away. Truth be told, Malone couldn’t’ve looked away if his escape depended on it. Her grip was nearly bone crushing. Her face drew closer to his and he caught the feted goatish stench of her breath. The feel of it made his skin crawl. Let alone fear, he was sure he was going to pass out from just the stink of her breath alone.

“You, dear one,” her gaping mouth opened in a sadistic grin, revealing rows of sharp cat-like teeth, “possess that which will cure me of my curse. All I need do is take your seed. Which I shall enjoy the taking of . . . and I shall take you, repeatedly, until I have it all! Until, mind, body and soul, you belong to me!”

“Oh, God. No . . .” Malone began struggling again, tears streaming down his face. The pair of Jaffa holding him were hard pressed to keep their grip. Just the thought of that monstrosity touching him . . . In that way was just too disgusting for words! He couldn’t bear the thought that . . . She . . . It . . . wanted to . . . with him . . . “Nonononono!”
~~~oO0Oo~~~

“Yes, Lord He’Lah, it shall be as you command.” Came the voice of one of those dog-things. Roxton paused and then crept along silently. Staying as close to the wall as he moved toward the guttural voices. Nearer now, he knew that the voices were coming from below. He was on a balcony. Crouching low, he scuttled over to the edge and looked down. A throne room of sorts.

Beautiful, if you liked gaudy.

Below, a desiccated corpse-like hulk stood before a silverine throne, facing a trio of those dog-things. They were armored and carrying weapons. Theirs looked smaller, easier to handle . . .

Wait a minute, he looked at the huge staff-club he held, then at the ones the dog-things held. How come I got one of the ones that was so much larger than . . . Oh, the dog-things are way bigger than I am! The staff-clubs only look smaller in their hands.

“Once my Mother has the Tau’ri seed,” the dead-thing graveled out, “And has ended Ra’s curse, placed upon Her when She betrayed and lost Her bid to take over the pantheon, we will leave this forsaken mud-ball world, never to return. Then, once again, She will be the Mother of Darkness. And She will rise up to rule as She was meant to since the beginning of days . . . And I will be free of this body I was trapped in upon birth because of Her curse, then I, too shall have my vengeance!” the dead-hulk stopped its rant and stared at the trio of dog-things, as if just noticing that they were still there, “Well? Why are you still here? Begone with you!”

With that the three dog-things bowed then left. Two others appeared, to stand at attention beside ugly ol’ Sonny-boy like guard-dogs.

Heh. I like that. Guard-dogs. Roxton grinned to himself.

I don’t know what a Taw-ree seed is, Roxton scooted backwards from the balcony’s edge, but if it has anything to do with Malone, they’ll have to go through me first! I have to find a way to stop this HEELA and its Mommy. A big stick with two clubbed ends won’t be much of a weapon against Sonny-boy and his guard-dogs, let alone Mommy. I’ll have to find better weapons. Preferably my own. At least, these creatures didn’t have any weapons other than these clubs. For now, the big stick would have to do.

Besides, he hadn’t found anything to wear, yet. English Lords didn’t just go running around saving sexy male lovers willy-nilly. Especially in their birthday suits. I mean, what would her royal highness, the Queen, think? Besides, none of the guard-dogs’ armor would fit him. Their bodies were too different. Too big in some places, too small in others and their boots were just the wrong shape for his feet. It was just as well, he preferred his own clothing. The guard-dog armor smelled too much like dog. Also, if he was naked, that meant that Malone was in the same fix.

The very thought of Malone, naked, was lifting his . . . spirits . . .

Damn. I have to stop thinking about Malone, naked. It’s . . . lifting my spirits and I don’t want to bump into anything in these darkened corridors and stub something that was best left un-stubbed . . .

Still, he wanted to hurry, but as urgent as his mission was, he had to go slow. So far, every way he tried to get to where he needed to be was either blocked off or guarded. And, he had to find Malone! If he didn’t find a way around the guard-dogs, he’d have take on one or more of them. He hoped that they didn’t bite! With his luck, none of them had muzzles to keep their mouths shut. And he hadn’t thought to bring any of his own along.

The stone corridor, garishly adorned with hammered gold and silver, slowly de-evolved into a rough tunnel, dug haphazardly through the mountain. Still, the walls were covered in chunks of fine metals and precious stones, almost as if someone had tried to cover the crudity of the tunnel’s stone worked walls.

Marguerite would be having orgasm after intense orgasm, if she ever laid an eye on all the gold, silver and jewels. Roxton thought to himself as he moved through the gilt area, glad that the metals aided the weak light so he could see fairly well. He smiled to himself at the thought of Marguerite standing there, screaming her head off in the center of the gold covered corridor, experiencing repeated orgasms. Alone, with no one touching her.

He moved on. Farther down the tunnel, he thought he heard the strange guttural voices of this supposed goddess’ guard-dogs. He slowed, but didn’t stop. Moving quietly, he continued on until he could hear the voices clearer. They spoke of the goddess, how she once ruled the galaxy . . . almost, something called the Choppa-eye, a home world called Khematl and the fall of a god-thing called Rah.

At the entrance of another tunnel, which led into a vast chamber, he saw three guard-dogs standing before what could’ve been an altar. At least, it looked like an altar, but . . . didn’t. There was a huge oval stone in the center of the off kilter altar top, which was in turn surrounded by two circles of gray metal that resembled the armor worn by the guard-dogs. These metal tracts were divided into small sections that had exotic shapes carved and raised out of them. They made him think of musical notes. Both the inner and outer tracts bore them. He wondered if the symbols were the letters of some kind of alphabet. The little altar-thing was situated in front of an enormous metal circle embedded in the stone wall. Like the altar, the circle had the same strange designs carved and raised on it, too. At the circle’s top and six other points around the circle, were gigantic red gems that would shift Marguerite’s world into another state of reality. The gems were carved and placed into what appeared to be locks that held the circle to the wall.

Curious. Why would there be guards around a metal circle? Sure, those gems looked really really expensive, but . . . come on, this was the plateau. Gems, gold and the like were almost as common as rocks! Or . . . were the guards there to make sure the metal circle didn’t escape?

Huh, funny thing.

Roxton moved on again, all without those guard-dogs knowing he’d stopped by to peek at them. Not much farther along, he found another chamber entrance and peeked in. This one was deserted, except for a huge sarcophagus set before what could only be another throne . . . or a temple altar. Like the rest of what he’d seen, it was gaudy and garish to the extreme. As if enough gold and jewels were added, that alone would make things look beautiful, these . . . if they could be called people . . . worshipped gold and riches, too! It seemed that mankind and these creatures weren’t so different after all!

He shuddered.

He shook his head as he continued to look for a way around the guard-dogs.

He paused again.

He smelled . . . water? And . . . growing plants? And . . . the fresh scent of damp earth? What was going on?
~~~oO0Oo~~~

Malone struggled to no avail. The dog-men were too strong for him, though he didn’t make it easy for them to drag him along. He fought harder when he was dragged through a large door, into what was obviously a bedchamber. In the center of which was a large circular bed, closed off with long filmy curtains. It had . . . manacles made of . . . gold? Most likely to hold the victim by the hands and feet. Was it just him or did the manacles look as gaudy as the rest of the damned place?

“No.” Malone pulled back, though it didn’t stop his forward momentum, his feet sliding across the stone floor. The terror inside him told him what the manacles were there for . . . and for whom. He began to plead and beg with the dog-men to be let go. His cries fell on deaf ears,

“Please don’t do this! I don’t want to do this! Please! Please! How – how would you guys feel . . . if you had to . . . were being forced to . . . to mate with old bug-ugly?”

“Speak not so disrespectfully of the Goddess!” One of the dog-men growled, though all four dog-men were unable to suppress a shudder of horror at the thought of their Goddess laying sexual hands on them. At least, he wasn’t alone in his revulsion of bedding that . . . that old bug-ugly monster . . . even if they claimed to worship it.
~~~oO0Oo~~~

“Oh, my . . .” Roxton looked about as he emerged from the tunnel to find himself standing on a ledge above the hidden chamber that he and Malone had discovered earlier. It was no wonder that they’d thought the chamber had only one entrance. The tunnel he’d come out of was hidden from ground view by an out cropping. From where he stood he could see a trail of stairs and handholds that allowed easy passage up and down the cavern side, invisible from the floor of the pool chamber.

After a quick check, to be sure that he wasn’t followed, he climbed down from his perch. Since that quake, earlier, he’d seen so many marvels . . . the Golden Chamber with the huge gold and jeweled sarcophagus. That other huge chamber with the large upright circular thing with the squiggles carved into it and the odd little altar that had the inner and outer rings with carved squiggles that matched the big circle-dealie. That big circle thing also had those seven blood red gemstones affixed to it that Marguerite would kill for. Of course, he’d never tell her about it. He didn’t relish the idea of coming back to this hellhole just so the raven-haired woman could sink her claws into more jewels that’d only get her killed back in the real world . . .

He stopped in mid-climb and looked back in contemplation . . .

Marguerite . . . jewels . . . monstrous creatures . . . a chance to . . .

He shook his head with a grin and continued climbing down. He’d probably end up her pack mule, hauling all those jewels down the side of the plateau, along the Amazon River, out of South America, then getting himself killed protecting her . . . virtue . . .

Nahhh . . .

He had more important things to do. Namely, save a totally kissable golden-haired, sky-blue-eyed ivory-skinned virgin that the gods themselves lusted after!

Well, I’ll show them the error of their ways, because I don’t and won’t share, especially that blonde! I alone and no other, be they man, beast, monster, god or demon was now or ever going to be allowed to touch or play with Ned Malone!
~~~oO0Oo~~~

His hair dark with sweat, Malone’s face was contorted in agony. His slender body strained and pulled, trying to escape whatever had been injected into his blood stream. His body burned down to the nerve endings as if liquid fire had flooded his veins. His last thought had been of pain, but it quickly escalated and his mind left him. He’d held off as long as he could, but in a surprisingly short amount of time, his screams began and were piercing with their ear-splitting peals of agony. His mind . . . his sense of self had long vanished amid the shrieking agonized cells of his slender taut body . . .

His body jerked and spasmed in a manner that he was thankfully unaware of. Even the battle hardened Jaffa, who were witnessing his agony, were horrified by what was happening to the small pale-skinned Tau’ri. Some were sure that his muscles would rip from his bones and snap across the chamber with the force that they seemed to be pulling, trying to escape the torment he was in. As it was, the gold plated manacles were barely holding him in place. Blood flowed from his wrists and ankles because of the force he was using, trying to free himself from the pain. His pale white flesh was slick with sweat. His every muscle and vein stood out in stark detail . . . The chamber was filled to echoing with the small Tau’ri’s pained shrieks . . .

He lived in a universe of pain. He had no memory of anything that had gone on before. All he knew was the agony. Nothing that came before. Nothing that came after. Not even reality. Just the pain. If he’d known what death was, he would have craved it, but he didn’t. All he knew was the pain . . .

The dog-men’s expressions told of the horror they were a part of as they covered their sensitive ears against the high pitch and volume of the screams. None were able to turn a way from the spectacle before them.

An aged-feline-ish Jaffa veterinarian was backing away from the bed in horror, when the Alpha-Jaffa grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. No matter how he tried to escape, the grip wouldn’t come loose. The old Jaffa was almost in as much pain as the suffering Tau’ri, just by being in the same chamber. Knowing that he had caused the small biped such . . . distress . . .

“Explain, Aggore . . .” Snarling in anger, the Alpha-Jaffa spun the feline-thing around and caught him by the throat. He advanced and the veterinarian stumbled backwards in fear, “. . . and pray that the Tau’ri does not die! Speak quickly, now, least I grow short with your foolishness!”

“I - I - I - I -” Aggore stuttered, his age weakened hands clutching the powerful paw gripping him by the neck. In his fear, he didn’t realize that the tall immensely strong Alpha wasn’t even choking him, “I - I- but, he - he - F - F - First prime, I -I didn’t m - m mean . . . !”

“AAGGGORRRE!” The Alpha slammed the elder against the stone chamber wall, making his threat clear.

“I . . . I . . . I injected too much of the . . .” The elder stammered, fear bright in his amber eyes. At least, he remembered enough of his station to not struggle or strike out at the Alpha. Such an act of defiance would have seen his death in moments, “It . . . It was an accident! I did not mean to . . .”

“Will the Tau’ri die!?!”

“I . . . I do not know . . .” The elder whimpered.

“Then, pray to the Goddess that he does not!” The Alpha squeezed the elder’s throat with just enough force that told the cat-man that should the Tau’ri die, his death would soon follow. And his death would be neither quick nor clean . . . And since there was a sarcophagus on this planet, he would know torment far longer . . . Over and over, perhaps for eternity. With that unspoken warning, the Alpha released the fearful creature, turned and swept from the chamber, pausing at the doorway to cast over his shoulder, “Watch the veterinarian closely.”

In a cold fearful sweat, the elderly trembling Jaffa slowly slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

“Up, Aggore,” a Jaffa walked over to him and bumped his thigh with the end of his staff weapon, “use your skills to see to it that the Tau’ri does not die.”

Shakily, Aggore tottered to his feet, nodding and trembled over to the bed. He could hear the pity in the Jaffa’s voice. They’d both borne witness to the punishment of others that had dared to displease the Goddess’ will.
~~~oO0Oo~~~

The hot afternoon sun glistened off Lord Roxton’s sweaty skin as muscles bunched and knotted as he pulled on the vines he’d braided into a larger rope, until it was taut. The vines were extremely sturdy and surprisingly flexible for such a quick fix. With a last hard pull, he braced his foot against a handy tree stump to tie off his makeshift rope.

He’d made such traps as a child, trying to catch rabbits, but somehow he always ended up catapulting the sorry little beasts into the next county instead of catching them.

He never did catch a rabbit to keep as a pet.

He’d finished most of his traps, but had a few more surprises to set before he went and got back his lover and taught these false god worshippers the errors of their ways.
~~~oO0Oo~~~

“. . . and what of the veterinarian?” The Goddess stood from her throne, contempt in her tone and posture, as she glided across the floor to a balcony to stare out over the plateau.

“Should the Tau’ri die,” the Alpha spoke, only his head turning to watch his cloaked Goddess, “he too will die, slowly and repeatedly.”

“But, just until we leave this mud ball planet.” The Goddess advised, at last turning to glance at the warrior dog, “Then leave him, tortured and barely alive. I would have him suffer a long slow agonizing death. However, until that time, watch the Blessed One and summon me when he fully awakens.”

“As you will it, my Goddess.” the First Prime Alpha bowed before turning to leave.
~~~oO0Oo~~~

The big guard-dog grunted and dropped to its knees drunkenly, then toppled. He landed face down, impacting muzzle-first with a satisfying crunch, into the stone floor, as if he were a ton of mud. After a moment, Roxton smiled at the double-headed staff-club. The extra length really gave it stopping power. He liked the heft of the weapon. It was a good club. Of course, it wasn’t a rifle, but he was more than glad to make due with what he had.

Still, a rifle would’ve been good to . . . he saw the odd z-shaped thing that the guard-dog had been holding as if it had been a weapon, a gun of some sort. He picked up the strange object, turning it this way and that, looking at it, trying to figure it out.

Rhaaul stopped short, motioning his companion to silence, when he spotted the lone Tau’ri standing over the body of Gahrrah, the brutish, it obvious that the old war-dog was dead. Both Jaffa smiled at each other and raised their staff-weapons and took aim . . .

Roxton looked at the gadget. It seemed to have a button . . . if it was a button on the inside of the grip. He thought it was a button. No, he was sure it was a button. It had a carved shape to it and it gave slightly when he touched it. After a moment, he decided to touch it with a slight pressure, just to see what it’d . . .

At the same time, it made a strange scary musical sound and a blast of lightning shot out of it. He jumped, almost dropping the z-weapon in his surprise. He looked where the lightning bolt had gone and was stunned to see two more big guard-dogs. Only these two were had electrical webs arcing over them as they sank jerkily to the floor and lay shuddering. Roxton nearly sprang for cover, though there was none in the corridor, when a radiant blast of heated energy erupted from the staff-club one of the convulsing creatures still held. The blast hit the stone ceiling above and a burnt chunk of rock fell and wetly crunched down on them, driving the heads and torsos of the guard-dogs into the floor.

Neither had a chance to do anything, but die.

After a moment, the guard-dogs stopped twitching. He looked at the staff-weapon he’d been carrying.

Those guard-dogs had been holding their staff-clubs as if they’d been aiming rifles . . . Were they weapons of some sort? He took a closer look. The ornate club head was open, revealing a . . . a strange dowel-rod inside . . . ? Hmmm, it wasn’t a club at all, but an energy-rifle of some kind! Just like the z-gun I took from the other guard-dog!

Roxton looked at the z-gun, then the staff-rifle, trying to make up his mind. The z-gun was easy to carry, but the staff-rifle had more killing power. He liked both weapons, but he could only carry one . . . He needed a free hand so he could . . . He stopped, glancing down at the thigh holster on one of the downed guard-dogs, its thigh looked big enough to . . . Sure, why not? He knelt down and pulled off the belt, then snapped it around his slender waist. Yup, a perfect fit . . . well, okay, a little snug, but at least, he had something to attach the z-gun to and he could now take both weapons with him.

Standing, Roxton looked at the staff-rifle and held it the same way the guard-dogs had. Looking where his fingers were . . . And, yup, there was an inlaid circle that had to be a button. Trigger. Whatever. He pressed it and the ornate club head opened with a low powerful hiss in preparation for firing. He pressed the button again and a blast of orange-ish energy shot down the corridor . . .

And incinerated the head of another guard-dog that had just walked into view! Its companion ducked and covered with a startled cry.

“Uh-oh . . . Time to go!” Roxton looked for a quick exit. Unsure of how many guard-dogs were around that corner, he decided that scooting was better than not scooting and getting himself un-scooted. If he got himself extinct, who was going to save the gorgeous blonde of the piece? More importantly, who’d drive the young man mad with lust?
~~~oO0Oo~~~

The Alpha-Jaffa stood from the body of the guard with a crushed skull.

Haggarra. One of the Goddess’ finest. One of the strongest. Dead.

The outer guard’s throat had been crush as well.

The bodies of both had been left where they’d fallen.

Their weapons left where they’d died, as if unneeded.

Something was killing the Goddess’ Jaffa quickly and with apparent ease.

These two made the tally nine dead and four unconscious. Several more he’d found awake, though not completely coherent and two of which were grievously injured.

None had seen their attacker. Something . . . Someone was in the temple. Unarmed and unneeding of weapons and it was stalking through the Temple of the Goddess as if it held knew every secret the temple held! As if it had built the temple itself!

But, what could have taken down so many of the Goddess’ elite without . . . a childhood warrior-story came to mind . . . No! It was not possible! Those things were myths! Legends! Created to make the Jaffa strive to become the best they could for their gods! But, could it be? Those . . . Things . . . Those . . . Those warriors weren’t real! Just the stuff of dreams and wishes to call the young to the service of the gods! Weren’t they . . . ?

But, what if . . . The Jaffa’s brown eyes grew wide as one thought led to another and . . .

The Goddess has to be told! He turned and hurried away. There was no telling if the assassin was still around. He had to hurry! A Tauk Shah’vok was among them!
~~~oO0Oo~~~

Malone was delirious, but knew that something was happening to him. Something horrible . . . something he didn’t want to be done to him. Something against his will. Something he couldn’t stop . . . but, did he really? Want it to stop? What was going on? What was going to happen to . . .

He lay on a huge circular bed, spread eagle on his back. His ivory skin was shiny from a layer of oil that had been smeared all over his body. At first, the oil smelled sickly sweet, then it quickly warmed him inside somehow, but the feeling had slowly cooled. As it did so, it had begun sinking into his skin and started doing something to him . . . to his body.

He was trembling. He felt cold, but didn’t mind. He didn’t know what was going on anyway. When the oil had been smeared on him, someone had stroked his member to full erection. He was hard and wanting . . . but for what . . . ? Something . . . ? Someone . . . ? Then the oil had been forced up, into his rectum by large rough fingers. The brutal fingers made him want to scream . . . in pain? In passion . . . ? Whoever had been erotically manhandling his testes . . . causing him pain . . . pleasure . . . had made him excited . . . ready . . . and he wanted more to happen . . .

What were they . . . (was there a they?) . . . waiting for? I’m ready. Impatient, even.

He wished that the stranger who’d smeared oils on him would come back. The want, the need to be touched was slowly leaving him . . . and he didn’t want it to go away . . . the feelings had been so intense that they’d hurt, but he couldn’t help that he wanted those feelings back. He wanted them re-awakened. To again be taken back to the heights that had almost been his to claim . . .

If he wanted to, he could get up off of the bed and go find his lover, what’s-his-name . . . he was always ready for some fun and games . . .

Something was going to happen to him.

Something he didn’t want to happen . . .

What was he waiting for?

If he wanted, he could get up off the bed and go find his lover . . .

Shock!

Someone touched him!

A shuddering gasp, as his every nerve snapped to full life and lust! Each touch sent wild tracing flames of desire through him. The waves of pleasure that flooded his being were almost too much! So intense were the feelings that he wanted to die from the heady sensations and emotions!

He was almost in pain . . .

He cried out when someone licked a path up his inner thigh, sending shocks to his groin. Though weak as a kitten, he gripped the bed.

His legs were lifted and spread, until his knees were touching his chest . . . his shoulders.

Someone . . . something (?) . . . was making sure his nether-regions were completely exposed . . .

Whoever he was with had a grip of steel, yet was gentle with him.

Who was it? There had to be more than one person . . . he felt four hands.

He couldn’t make out who it was. All he could see was a dark shape . . . covered with thick course hair.

And why were there four yellow lights glowing inside the dark hood?

Her . . . (?) His . . . (?) Its . . . (?) flesh was cold and hard, almost like a dead body . . .

Did it have scales? Like a fish? Like a snake?

There was a sense of darkness . . . of mass . . . of power . . .

And the stench that filled his nostrils stank almost as if it were . . . dead . . . It smelled of rotting flesh . . .

Suddenly the soft touches repulsed him, yet excited him . . .

Something big and fleshly bulbous brushed against his backside. It was soft, yet hard . . . and big . . .

No way on God’s green earth was Roxton that big!

He realized that whoever it was, he wasn’t Roxton! It wasn’t his lover who was about to enter him! Someone else was going to use him, a stranger was going to possess his body and own him sexually . . .

He struggled or tried to, since he never allowed anybody but the English Lord was allowed to touch and take pleasure with him, ever since that fateful night they met in that darkened pub the day before the Zoological Society meeting back in London . . .

Oh, God, what was trying to . . .

He clenched his teeth and clamped his foggy eyes shut as the breaching pain began. Something . . . large, thick and hard was trying to enter him! It pressed against his rectum. It felt horribly huge as it began to bore into his body, opening him. The horrendously over-sized organ began stretching his pliant flesh beyond anything he’d ever known or thought could enter a human body.

He prayed that it wasn’t happening . . . He didn’t want it to end, yet . . . He tried his best to relax his anal muscles, so the cold hard large-ness wouldn’t rip him wide open. He didn’t want it to enter . . . he tried to scream in pain, but only a low moan of passion escaped him.

Why . . . why was he allowing this monstrous mass enter his body? Why did it feel so . . . so unending? Just how long was the . . . the thing that was entering him?

Then, like sodden bread dipped in molasses, it crept into his mind. The hair . . . the fur . . . the massive muscular body . . . it was one of the . . . one of the . . .

He screamed a shuddering sigh. A moist warmth engulfed his cock to the root and suction began, even as the massive-ness filling his rectum began moving inside him. Sliding in . . . and out . . . and in . . . and out . . .

The heavy muscular body moved on him. He could feel dense hair raking over his skin. A hard exhalation and he felt who . . . whatever’s pelvis against him . . .

He was filled with an incredibly huge large-ness . . . He wanted it to stop . . . He wanted to get away . . .

It continued to move a little faster . . . deeper . . .

Oh, GOD, something was . . . was . . . fucking him and . . .

And he couldn’t get away!

And the worst part was . . . he didn’t want to . . .
~~~oO0Oo~~~

The Jaffa raised his broken staff-weapon, intent on bashing in the skull of the nuisance Tau’ri, but just as he was about to strike, Roxton spun and shot the beast twice with the z-gun. The Jaffa fell backwards and slammed into the wall. Roxton scrambled to his feet, wishing the z-gun killed instead of merely knocking the target unconscious. Roxton grabbed the broken staff-weapon and raised it, about to do to the guard-dog what the guard-dog had planned to do him, when he stopped.

He couldn’t believe it!

The guard-dog was . . . dead? Roxton kicked the guard-dog’s body. Ow! Ow! Ow! Personal note! Never, never kick an armored human-dog-thing, especially with bare toes! Ow. Ow. Wait a minute . . .

He looked at the guard-dog. Nothing. Moving forward, he cautiously checked the creature and found that it was dead! He dropped the broken staff-weapon and grabbed the z-gun, looking at it . . .

“Okay, one shot knocks ‘em out, two shots kill ‘em.” Roxton smiled, clipping the z-gun back onto his belt, then picked up the remaining unbroken staff-weapon. He was about to move out, ready to continue his search for his young man, when he heard the sound of footsteps.

Okay, metal boots on stone floor.

Roxton hid.

“Raath, look!” The two Jaffa stopped besides the bodies of the dead warriors, “More dead. I will go inform the Goddess. You gather the Jaffa and take them to Lord He’lah. Tell of the Tauk Shah’vok, then join us in the Goddess’ rest chamber!”

“Your command, First Prime Kahn.” The other guard-dog bowed, then hurried off. The First Prime stepped over the bodies and moved off.

Roxton slipped from the shadows and followed the alpha male, knowing the he’d lead the way to Malone.

Malone . . . So help me, if any of these so-called-gods or their scary dogs’ve hurt my Neddy-boy, or even touched him . . . I’ll make sure they’ll touch nothing else ever again!
~~~oO0Oo~~~

Malone lay curled in on himself, on his right side. His blue eyes saw nothing. Staring into the vast nothingness he’d hid himself in. He held himself. That thing had done something to him, but he didn’t know what had been done . . . he didn’t want to know . . .

His body was exhausted. His spirit was tired . . . so, so . . . tired. He was hurt. He knew somehow, though he wasn’t all the way back inside his body, that something . . . a bad something had done terrible things to him.

It had taken something from him. By force.

He was almost back inside his body.

Oh, God, it hurt.

He hurt.

There was a movement at the edge of his blurry vision . . .

“Let’s do it again.” The terrible voice whispered, promising seductive torment.

“NO!” He tried to scream with all his might, though only the barest of whispers hushed out. He tried to scramble away from the voice. Tried to get away from the . . . thing. Weak, he didn’t get far. A pair of right hands caught his ankle before he could move two inches. He tried to fight. He tried to kick, but the thing had already proven itself too strong for him. He fought anyway.

“No! No!!” It began pulling him, dragging him back across the bed, like quicksand, sucking him down to his death. A hand gripped each ankle, holding him fast. An extra set of rough clawed and scaly hands made their way up his wide spread legs and inner thighs. They had the soft gentle caress of steel wool on an open wound, heading with a hideous eroticism to the apex of his thighs . . . “No. No, please . . . don’t!”

“But, you are so much fun!” An ugly playful laugh, “None have ever survived as intact as you, Golden One! I shall enjoy destroying your mind!”

“No, please . . . !”

“My Goddess,” the Alpha-Jaffa interrupted. The Goddess turned to glare at the First Prime. Her eyes glowed as the Alpha-Jaffa entered, bowed its furry head and knelt respectfully, “The legends of the Tauk Shah’vok are true. It is here. None can stop it. Already, many Jaffa have fallen before its will. It moves about unseen. It slays at will. Also, no one has come through the Chappa’ai, so the assassin must have secreted itself among your Jaffa or has been here awaiting any and all who would dare come for the Golden One.”

“Fool! You dare interrupt your Goddess!?!” The thing growled a feral snarl, making her even uglier. She let go of one of Malone’s ankles and turned to face her First Prime, “To come in here with idiotic tales of cubling stories!? Then, expect me to forgive such an affront to my godhood?”

“But, Goddess . . .” The First Prime’s eyes widen in surprise, when his Goddess raised an arm and a wave of energy erupted out from her hand(s?) to strike him down. He didn’t even have time for a whimper, before he was killed. His head exploding in a bright red splash.

“Now, my beautiful one,” the Goddess turned back to the bed, sounding disgustingly anxious, forgetting the bloody mess of her former First Prime before it had even finished falling to the floor. She held up a small vial filled with a milky liquid, smiling triumphantly. Her look became a leer, raking over the pale flesh of the cringing Tau’ri before her, “I have what I need to put an end to Ra’s curse . . . Now, we are free to play!”

“You should’ve listened to your watchdog, bitch-goddess!” She spun to find the other Tau’ri, the dark one, standing in the chamber’s door. He was also armed, “Now, get the hell away from my lover!”

“Ra’s Tauk Shah’vok!” She realized that her First Prime had been right. She began to raise her arm, when she was hit by an energy blast. Her last thought was of how could she have been so over confident as to have taken off her personal shield . . .

“NED!” Roxton crossed the room before he knew it. Climbing on the bed, he took the dazed young man into his arms and held him. At first, Ned struggled weakly, trying to get away, but the dark haired man refused to let go. With gentle whispered words and caresses, Roxton held on, speaking softly to the blonde man who tried to shrink from being touched. Roxton didn’t know how long it took, but Ned’s struggling, his silent cries and whimpers began to slow down. Ned was at last coming back to himself . . . Roxton hoped.

He lay in Roxton’s comforting soul-strengthening embrace, just experiencing the man’s loving touch.

“What . . . what did that bitch do to you?” Roxton found his voice, though it sounded thick and sore as if he’d been crying for hours.

“It . . . it took . . .” Ned’s voice sounded hollow . . . defeated, as he held onto John Roxton as if the man were a life line, finding warmth, comfort and . . . protection (?) in the handsome man’s touch. Light, though wounded and hurt, began to return to his blue eyes. He stared almost empty-eyed at the one-time goddess. He felt something begin to awaken inside himself. He closed his eyes for a short moment and leaned into his lover’s embrace. The mere scent of the man gave him strength. He knew what he had to do . . . for himself . . . for his own peace of mind.

Roxton glared at the senseless monstrosity, he knew it had done something terrible to his lover . . . he could almost guess what it had done. Now, he was going to kill the beast. Gladly. He wished he could kill it more than once . . .

Malone felt small and fragile in his arms . . . but something had subtly changed, shifted. He felt an deadly rage building inside his elder lover. Roxton had gone still, like the stillness before that earthquake, then moving with a deadly surety of movement. Malone watched his lover pick up a strange looking device, holding it like a weapon as he aimed it at the creature. His whole being terrifying in its deliberateness . . . Roxton was going to kill that ugly . . .

“No! Don’t!” Malone cried out in desperation, grabbing Roxton’s arm, stopping him.

“Malone, after what that thing did to you . . .”

“I want to do it.” After a moment’s hesitation, Roxton handed the z-gun to Malone, pointing out the trigger. He understood, but didn’t like how natural the younger man looked holding the weapon.

In obvious pain, Malone tried to scoot down and off the bed. Finally, with Roxton’s help, he made it. The two men stood, Roxton’s hand at the small of his back to steady the younger man.

“Are you sure . . .” Concern.

Malone’s expression hardened. He took two careful steps forward. He aimed the weapon and pulled the trigger. Once. The musical sound and L’liath’s body jerked as lightning arced across it. Twice. The false goddess’ body stopped moving and lay there, no longer fouling the air with its breath.

“Is it . . . ?” Malone leaned into Roxton when the man stood at his side. Roxton took the weird z-gun-weapon.

“One shot stuns. Two shots kill.” Roxton stepped to his side, not sure if they should be so close to the body. It wasn’t the same species as those guard-dogs. He didn’t know what that thing was.

“Good.” Malone spat on the body then kicked it savagely. After a moment, he knelt down and began searching through the few garments dead creature wore. His movements becoming frantic, almost desperate, “Where is it!? It has to be here!”

“What’re you looking for?” Roxton squatted down beside him, his hand comfortingly across Malone’s back.

“It’s gone!”

“What’s gone?”

“The cylinder!” Malone glanced at his lover, “It – it had our – our semen in it!”

”What?”

“This . . . this bitch-goddess took our semen!” Malone tried to remember all he’d been told, which wasn’t easy since the drug hadn’t worn off completely. He hoped Roxton didn’t think he’d lost his senses, “It . . . this L’liath said that it needed the seed of a . . . a virgin and that of the – of a – man, knowledgeable of the world, like you . . .”

“But, Malone,” Roxton said reasonably, “you’re not a virgin and I may know a lot, but I don’t know all about the world. Besides, no one but no one, except you, took my seed . . .”

“But, I am a virgin . . .” Malone’s ears pinkened, “. . . to women. And, you, you’re a world traveler! Besides, Bug-Ugly did take your seed! From inside my body! From the last time you . . . when we . . . when we had sex. This thing said that your seed had to be joined with something inside my body . . . It called it d’an’ay or some such, but it had to be taken from my body.”

“It wanted a child . . . by us?” Roxton looked at the creature with disgust, not liking that this ugliness had wanted the two of them to father its child.

“Sort of . . . I think.” Malone tried to drag the memory out of the fogginess still clinging to his mind, biting his lower lip while he thought, “It said . . . it said that the . . . dual spawn of the Tao-ree would rise up to end the curse of Ra. So, I think it needed our seed to create a cure, not make a child that would end some curse put on her by some other god. Then, she was going to find this other ‘god’ named Ra, kill it or him and rule the universe.”

“Rah?” Roxton repeated the name, “Sounds like some kind of cheer . . .”
~~~oO0Oo~~~

”A Tauk Shah’vok? Here?” The heir to the Goddess spun to face the First Prime.

“Aye, Milord He’Lah.” The Jaffa bowed, “The zealot of Ra may have secreted itself among the faithful to escape notice. To await its chance to strike. Or, it had been placed here to await the coming of any who sought the cure that could end any curse . . . or even to keep safe any chance to end Ra’s rule!”

”Mother . . .” the Child of Darkness hurried from the chamber with the other Jaffa following. As they strode through the temple corridors, they gathered any other Jaffa to them to help save she who was called The Mother of All Darkness.
~~~oO0Oo~~~

“Malone,” Roxton’s other hand slid across Malone’s chest as he easily pulled the weakened man to his feet, “I hear somebody coming. A lot of some bodies, by the sound of it. We’d best go hide ourselves.”

“But, the cylinder . . .” Malone let himself be hauled to a convenient hiding place, from which they could watch the proceedings in safety.

“Don’t worry, Neddy-Boy,” Roxton whispered urgently, “we’ll get that cylinder, but if we don’t take cover, immediately, we could end up as dead as that bitch-goddess.”

Once safely hidden, they watched and waited for a chance to escape or to take down whatever was coming. Roxton remembered that the other guard-dog had been sent to get Bug-Ugly’s ugly offspring.

“Sonny-Boy.” Roxton whispered at the robed brute’s entrance, followed by a guard-dog entourage. They paused long enough to step over the body of the First Prime before continuing into the chamber, but stopped short when they saw their goddess laying there, dead like any false-goddess should be.

Soft and silent mutterings and curses.

“Sonny-Boy?” Malone tried to look at Roxton, who lay spooned behind him.

“Hee-laa” Roxton explained softly, “Bug-Ugly’s baby.”

He’Lah moved into clear view, pulling the robe’s hood back, revealing its face. Both men had to stifle gasps of shock when they saw the creature’s . . . face. It looked like a desiccated corpse. Ancient, already in funeral finery, it moved stiffly, like a zombie, but hideously alive.

“Mother . . .” He’Lah’s eyes glowed, glaring down at the goddess’ body, “So, the Tauk Shah’vok has already gotten to you. Why? Did you forget your own lessons? Discount nothing! More fool you! Arrogance was your downfall in elder days, leading us to our curse, and so is it again! Now you need only to stay dead! That shall be your curse this time!”

“Child of Darkness! Look!” a Jaffa pointed and trotted across the chamber to pick up something, “The virgin seed!”

Roxton felt Malone’s body tense. He tightened his grip on the young man, not wanting him to rush out there to get the cylinder and get himself . . . both of them killed, because Roxton wasn’t going to let Malone go into any sort of danger alone.

The Jaffa held up the cylinder filled with a milky substance and carried it over to He’Lah, who took the cylinder with savage triumph. Suddenly, He’Lah’s eyes flared with unholy light, its face darkening in anger. There was a loud smakt and the Jaffa flipped through the air to slam into a wall. It hit the floor and lay in an unnatural heap.

“I. Am. Your. God! Not some mindless helot of L’liath, the Fallen Fool!” He’Lah growled, turned and stalked from the chamber, leaving the fallen Jaffa where it had landed. The other Jaffa followed, looking back at the dead monstrosity. Some with joy, some with regret. However ugly and cruel, L’liath had been their goddess. “And you had best remember, I am your only god!”

“So much for honor thy parents, eh, Malone?” Roxton mentioned when they were alone, peeking over the edge of the bed. They stood from their hiding place and Roxton looked at his sexy lover (having taken full advantage of lying beside/on his naked lover), “Are you ready to go get that cylinder back?”

“Not really,” Malone replied honestly (secretly having enjoyed being gently fondled by his handsome lover, which told him that they were going to make it after all), “but, I’m not letting that monster get away with our seed. There’s no telling what evil they’d do with it.”

“Right.” Roxton nodded. They checked their odd weapons, having taken the fallen Jaffa’s club-rifle and z-gun. Roxton, with one arm snaked around Malone’s slender waist, began to hurry from the chamber.

“Roxton,” Malone complained, “I can walk.”

“I know that,” Roxton planted a kiss on his cheek, “but, right now, I need to feel you touching me. I need to know that you’re here, with me and that you’re alive. So, humor me a little bit, okay? I’m not as strong as you.”

“I . . . if it’ll make you feel better.” Malone looped arm over Roxton’s broad shoulders as they moved off, “But, you’re wrong about me being the stronger of us, John. You’re way taller than I am.”

“That’s not the kind of strength I’m talking about, Malone.” Another quick peck on the cheek.

“Oh.” Though Edward Malone wasn’t sure what the hunter was talking about. He let Roxton support him as they left the chamber. Secretly, he was glad for the help. He still felt a little shaky on his feet.

If either man had moved slower or had taken another look at the Jaffa crumpled by the wall, they would’ve noticed that it wasn’t dead. As it was, just as the two men left, the Jaffa slowly awoke. Struggling to his feet, he looked around and found himself alone . . . except for the two dead bodies. Shaking off the effects of the ‘godly’ blow, he limped over to the prone body of his dead goddess. He paused, staring down at it. Again, he shook his head, as if at a naughty child. With a great sigh, he bent and grabbed the corpse by an ankle and began dragging the ugly mass from the chamber.

“Come, my Goddess, come . . .” the Jaffa struggled along, “Thalik is loyal and faithful. Most of all, he knows his duty. When someone murders your ugly carcass . . . to the sarcophagus he must take you. Stuff you in he will. To make you rise again. To blight the universe with your unclean stain and to strike down the betraying child!”
~~~oO0Oo~~~

“Where are you taking us, Roxton?” Malone asked as they headed down a crumbling corridor. They were moving as fast as they could, even though stones and pebbles hurt their bare feet, “That Heelaa character went the other way!”

“I’ve been all over this castle looking for you, Malone.” Roxton finally let go of his lover to move ahead, when they came to a turn at the top of a spiral staircase, “From the way they went, there’s only one place they can be going, the golden tunnel. Since they’re taking the long way, we’re going this way, so we can head them off and set up an ambush!”

“Then let’s get a move - - OW!” Malone was hopping around on one foot. Roxton spun, his concern turning to barely concealed mirth as he watched the cute blonde hop about, trying to peek at the bottom of his foot. For less than an instant, Roxton thought about telling the young man about jiggling danglies and how they flopped about, but decided if he said anything, Malone would strictly curtail his playing with said jiggling danglies, Malone put his foot down carefully, glancing around the floor for whatever he’d stepped on, glad he wasn’t bleeding.

“Are you okay?” Roxton swallowed his smile.

“Yeah, just stepped on a pebble.” Malone smiled sheepishly, then added, “Wish we could find our clothing! Right now, I’d settle for our boots and some weapons I can understand.”

”Same here.” Roxton agreed, “You sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah.” Malone tested the foot and his ability to stand on it, “I guess that’ll teach me to watch your ass instead of where I’m walking!”

“Lessons we all should learn.” Roxton smiled to himself, now confident that his lover was okay, turned back to the stairs, “Let’s move out.”

In spite of what he’d said about watching Roxton’s ass, that’s exactly what Malone found himself doing, again. It seemed that no matter the situation, he always found his eye wandering to a Roxton body part. His mouth when he ate, the muscles in his arms and hands when he worked on something. The expansion of his chest when he’d stretch, inhale or exhale. At the moment, he was again watching Roxton’s butt. The tightening of one muscle, while the other relaxed in a beautiful rhythm of movement that always raised Malone’s flagging spirits. The ripple of his back muscles, moving so easily. Malone felt a warmth embrace his soul and a smile touched his lips. He couldn’t help it. He thought that Roxton’s body was one of the best wonders of the world, in his humble opinion. Especially when those muscles did things, like walk, flex, stretch or just lay there in beautiful repose . . .

“Well, Malone . . .” Roxton’s voice snapped him back to reality. Malone looked around. How’d he . . . they get where they were? Where were they, anyway? Roxton was standing in front of a stone doorway staring into a small room. He even had a smile on his face, “. . . next time, wish for clothes!”

“What’re you talking ab . . . oh.” Malone saw what Roxton was talking about, then saw Roxton’s mischievous smile and the twinkle in his eye, “What?”

“Happy to see me, Neddy-Boy?” Leer.

“Huh? Wha . . . ?” A glance downward and a blush colored his skin when he saw how his reaction to a naked John Roxton staring up at him. Malone wanted to cover himself, but didn’t as there was no point. He crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at the British Lord.

“Come on, let’s get our things.” Loving smile.

“It’s just our boots, weapons and backpacks!” Malone recovered enough to comment as they entered the small room to gather their things.

“Better than nothing.” Roxton shrugged, “We could’ve ended up going back to the tree house wearing plants!”

“Roxton . . .” Malone laid a hand on Roxton’s forearm, stopping him, “. . . listen!”

In the distance they could hear the low steady drum of marching boots, slowly getting louder. Both men pulled on their boots, clapped their gun belts on and shrugged into their backpacks before they grabbed their weapons and scampered off to lay their ambush.
~~~oO0Oo~~~

“- - have the seed of the virgin,” came the voice of the new Jaffa God, “I will create the Golden Child and with him, I shall cast down Ra and ascend the heights to rule the System Lords in his stead.”

A sudden blast of bullets and z-gun fire took down the first rows of Jaffa warriors, while a golden shield protected the corpse-like god. The Jaffa quickly rallied and returned fire, not knowing nor caring who or what they fought. All they needed to know was that their god was endangered and it was their duty to protect that which they worshipped.

“Hey, Sonny-Boy!” Roxton called out after the first Jaffa salvo ended, “You may have your Mommy’s glowing eyes, but we know something that your Mommy made sure you didn’t know!”

“What you know matters not!” He’Lah’s eyes glowed wickedly, “I have the virgin seed, thus I no longer need either of you alive!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, false-god!” Malone shouted, “I’m not a virgin! You see, I have a lover!”

“No! You lie!” Sonny-Boy clenched the cylinder tightly. The Tau’ri had to be lying!

“No lie, dead-thing!” Malone taunted, “See this tall sexy man here? The one with the devilish grin? He’s my lover!” Oh, God that felt good to say out loud to somebody! “And we have sex! A lot! As often as we can! As much as possible! And for as long as possible! How do you think your ugly-mommy got both of our seed, when all she had was me!?!”

Hearing that, He’Lah growled, sniffed at the cylinder, caught the mingled scents of two men and glared in their direction. With an ugly expression, slammed the cylinder to the stone floor and ground it to shards under a booted heel.

“This changes nothing!”

Why were the Tau’ri laughing?

“Maybe!” Roxton shouted with mirth in his voice, “But, apparently your Mommy didn’t trust you as much as you thought she did! You see, we think she didn’t tell you the whole legend!”

“Ol’ Bug-Ugly needed the seed of a virgin, alright!” Malone grinned at Roxton, “But the virgin seed had to be mixed with the seed of another! The seed of his male lover! And both had to be taken from my body!”

“And he is a virgin!” Roxton added, “To women!”

“That’s right!” Malone continued, “I’ve never had sex with a woman!” and I don’t intend to either! He finished to himself, with a grin at Roxton.

“Take them! Alive!” He’Lah stabbed a finger at the two men, voice full of godly anger.

Suddenly, the whole building lurched.

“No! Those mindless fools! They have activated the Chappa’ai too soon! This planet is too tectonically unsound to withstand the vibrations of the Chappa’ai being opened too many times!”

“Time to go, Neddy-Boy!” Roxton grabbed Malone, got up and ran. They hung onto each others’ gun belts to balance themselves as they slipped, staggered and stumbled through the shaking building. Everything shuddered around them, sending the shots of the Jaffa wild. Stone blocks fell from walls and ceilings. The men were glad for having their boots then.

“They’re shooting at us! With lightning!”

“It won’t kill you, just knock you out!”

“Then when you wake up and you’re in bed with the really ugly one!”

“Never going to happen, Malone! They aren’t going to get us!”

“Roxton!” Malone jerked his lover, yanking him to a stop. They staggered into each other and before Roxton could complain, a cracked wall collapsed onto where they would’ve been if Malone hadn’t stopped them.

“Damn!” Roxton swore, seeing their way blocked and the sound of Jaffa boots coming up behind them.

“There!” Malone pointed at a gaping hole in the wall that led to another corridor.

“C’mon!” Roxton almost dragged the young man along. No damned dead-thing was going to bed his blonde god! A z-gun blast hit the fallen stones as the men vanished into the hole in the wall.

There was another rumble. A loud crack and the screams of dying Jaffa as a ceiling fell on them. Behind them, their god’s eyes glowed with rage, but was suddenly interrupted, when the floor shuddered and with a jolt, threw He’Lah and the remaining Jaffa to the floor.

An indignity and an insult to be sure, especially for a being who claimed godhood and the planet you were standing on didn’t give a damn.

Ornate ceilings and ancient walls cracked, crumbled and fell. Dust curled and rose, blurring vision. Stone floors tilted and cracked, making it dangerous to stand, let alone run. Warriors died shrieking and crushed unnoticed as the fleeing pair of naked Tau’ri males fled for their lives.

A sunny-gold virgin the gods themselves lusted after and the other, a tall, dark and handsome warrior. Behind them, a would-be Alien-god screaming for their capture, as the ancient temple died. The pair blindly ran and made their escape to the mad world they called home.

“I . . . I can’t go on, Roxton!” Malone stumbled to his knees, exhausted. Proof of the ordeal he’d been through, “You go on, save yourself!”

“Oh no, you don’t, Malone!” Roxton sounded angry and desperate. He grabbed Malone around the waist and looped one of his lover’s arms over his own shoulders, hefting him back to his feet before continuing to run, “I’ve grown too fond of that ivory pelt of yours to leave it or you behind! Besides, you’ve got something of mine that I value more than Marguerite loves gems!”

“My – my snow white butt?” Malone gasped, trying his best to keep running.

“Besides that!” Roxton grinned to himself.

“M – my dick?” Then Malone tried to stop their flight to turn back, “Wait, the club-rifle!”

“Leave it!” Roxton pulled Malone along, grinning at the young man’s attempts at humor, not knowing what Roxton had really meant by his comment, “I’ve got all I need right here! Now let’s keep moving!”
~~~oO0Oo~~~

Exhausted, nearly two miles away, they stopped and looked back. Amid the billowing dirt cloud they could just make out that the mountain had fallen in on itself, burying the strange temple completely. Both were just as dust covered and dirty. That alone told them why there hadn’t been any fore- or aftershocks. As the dead-thing had said, some fool had started something called a choppa-eye too soon, which caused the temple to be unburied, then again, to bury it.

“Do you think anyone survived?” Malone asked the dirt-covered naked man to his left as they were seated on a fallen tree, looking back at the settling cloud of dirt.

“Well . . .” Roxton began, his dirt brown face a mask of muddy concentration. Naturally, he still had his hat on his head. One day, Malone decided, he was going to demand to know how the man kept finding, recovering and never losing the hat that rarely left his head (except when he was indoors).

Before Roxton could speak farther, an energy blast sliced between them, striking and exploding another tree standing just behind them. Eyes wide, they turned to where the blast had passed between them and then looked at each other to make sure the other was alright. They looked back at where the tree had been, then at each other again, then they scattered!

“THEY SURVIVED!” They shouted in unison, scrambling, ducking, weaving and zigzagging into the denser trees around them, splitting up, but headed nearly in the same direction.

“There are four of them!” Roxton shouted, dodging and hiding.

“We’re outnumbered!” Malone called back, moving from tree to tree.

“We’ve had worse odds!” Roxton was grinning. That told Malone that the man was up to something. His lover motioned for him to follow, before heading off with some mad plan in his head. Malone didn’t want to, but following Roxton’s mad plans usually meant that they had a really good chance of surviving whatever was chasing them, “C’mon, I planned for this!”

“You knew they were going to catch us!?!” The man was unbelievable!

“Not really,” Roxton called back in a loud whisper that only Malone could hear, continued, “I set up some . . . things when I escaped earlier! Just in case! We just have to lead them into the traps!”
~~~oO0Oo~~~

Tahmin and the other two Jaffa who had escaped with him, before the temple’s final collapse, stopped in their tracks when the fourth of their cluster signaled where he was . . . with a high-pitched blood-curdling shriek that died away with a death rattle.

“We . . . mayhap, we should return to the temple . . .” the youngest of their number looked around, clearly frightened, “. . . to dig free our brethren and . . .”

At which point, Tahmin turned and sliced a blade across the young Jaffa’s neck without thought or hesitation. Veehk, his other companion, gave him a startled look as the younger Jaffa grabbed his spouting throat and slowly fell to the ground.

“Thiim was only proof,” Tahmin snarled, “that the Goddess L’liath was fated to fall. Allowing such mik’ta as Thiim to be numbered among her Jaffa.”

“Still, Tahmin,” Veehk worriedly watched their surroundings, “we could have used the youngling as canon fodder. I think, with the proper training . . .” there was a loud whoosh and a wet sound, “he could ha - - kkk*”

“VEEHK!” Tahmin turned to find his companion standing limply, his head hanging as if he were staring down at the huge bloody wooden spike jutting out of his chest. Tahmin growled, crouched low and vanished into the surrounding trees, a single whispered word on his lips, “Tauk Shah’vok . . .”
~~~oO0Oo~~~

“You are incredible, Lord Roxton.” Malone, leaning against a boulder, had that look in his eyes that Roxton had feared was gone forever . . . it was buried under a lot of shadows . . . but it was there, all the same. A finger hooked Roxton’s gun belt and pulled him closer until their breath mingled and their bodies pressed full length against each other. Malone’s voice was hoarse, yet soft and full of want, “I . . . need you . . .”

“Malone . . .” Roxton could almost feel the heat of the other man’s lips on his, but the sound of his lover’s voice made him sore. It hurt inside . . . he was sure his heart would break “. . . Ned . . .”

“. . . to take away the . . . the hurt . . . the memory of that thing . . . touching me . . .” Malone embraced the older man, taking what strength he could just from the feel of his lover’s hot skin on his. The pain in his beautiful blue eyes far too near . . . too clear . . . not to burn . . . they closed in for a kiss . . .

“You have slain my Goddess, Tauk Shah’vok!” A Jaffa emerged from the forest, his face contorted by rage and hatred. In a flash, both men grabbed the other, trying to shield his lover with his own body, “Mayhap, sealed off the Chappa’ai for all time! I cannot go home! I am without a god! What Tahmin without a god to worry and fret over!?! What am I but another Jaffa!?! A godless Jaffa! One among millions! You have cost me all! I stand condemned! For all that and more you will di - - aaieeEEEEEE!!!”

Still clutching each other, Roxton and Malone stood watching, open mouthed, not a little surprised as a tree snapped upright and the Jaffa was flung skyward, pin wheeling and screaming through the air. The thick sapling tree snapped back and forth. The blonde and the brunette winced when the flying Jaffa vanished among distant trees with much snapping of limbs and branches and a final sickening thump.

“Ouch.” Malone.

“Huh. Forgot about that one.” Roxton commented with a shrug, as if that was that. He turned back to his lover, closing in on what he thought were the perfect lips for kissing, “Now, where were we . . . ? Oh yes, now I remember . . .”

“No . . . I mean, wait.” Malone’s fingers were kissed instead of his lips. Roxton left his lips were they’d landed, his eyebrow rose in question, “I want to know. Back there, in the temple. You said something about me having something of yours. What is it? And, why do you value it so much?”

“It’s something I’ve never given away before . . .” this time Malone’s eyebrows rose as his fingers fell away from his lover’s mouth. Roxton took the opportunity and gave him quick kiss, “. . . you have my heart, Malone. You have my heart.”