The Barbarian's Favorite Lover

"I haven't seen you in a while." Lianley greeted and got a cursory glance from the tall barbarian leaning against the bar counter.

The inn was busy, well, more so than usual, and the girls were already working the room, selling their souls for a few extra coins. There were a few barbarian women among the crowd, and Lianley was always a favorite among them.

Thus he worked the room too, dressed in a transparent silk loincloth, red hair long and smooth over his shoulders and back. His body was hairless and smooth, with eyes a burning near-gold hazelnut that tempted and enticed. He knew how to use his body and how to sell his body, and he knew his customers very well by now.

"I've been up North, hunting." The huge barbarian grunted before he lifted the tankard of ale to his bearded lips. In both stature and brawn, and looks, the two men were worlds apart.

"That sounds interesting." Lianley lifted himself onto a stool and took the tankard the barman handed over. The prostitute had some strange tastes, and Grundel was one of them. A rough, muscular barbarian-ess walked by and slipped her hand over Lianley's round ass with a giggle, and he just turned and watched her go. That would be catch number three tonight. He was lining them up one by one... but first, Grundel.

"You've been here?" Ah, the prostitute thought before he nodded and leaned forward so he could catch the barbarian's grim blue gaze.

"Work is slow... I've been here and up at the Citadel. Seeing to the concubines. The king can't get to all of them... it's rich work." Grundel turned a bit too and met the honey gaze of the man beside him.

"Fucking is work?" Lianley nodded slowly, licked his lips and leaned in a bit.

"Sometimes. Not always." They shared a long, deep gaze filled with words unsaid, and then Lianley looked away. Not with you, he wanted to add, and then didn't. It would make him seem weak, and he didn't want to be.

Grundel watched the way the red hair slipped across his muscular naked back and licked at his lips. He had wives and children and mistresses, but this creature with his soft white skin and thick rich red hair fired up his loins like none of them could.

He took a step closer without making it look that way, leaned back against the bar, and dropped his hand into the silk-covered lap with a sigh. Lianley parted his legs to let in the large warm hand and bit down on his lip as pleasure erupted into his groin.

"Did you miss me?" The barbarian asked, and Lianley leaned back a bit and smiled at him coyly across his slender shoulder.

"Of course I did. Hmmmm... are we taking this upstairs?" He asked a bit breathlessly, because by now the strong fingers had made their way beneath the silk, encasing his balls in their rough embrace.

"Not yet." Grundel breathed and kneaded the soft, velvet, hairless skin tenderly. Strange how he treated this creature so tenderly, while a wife felt the back of his hand often.

He moved a bit closer when Lianley leaned into his hand, and he could feel his hips move as the pleasure took him. Coy sensual creature, he thought with a smile, and finished his tankard before he called for another and extended his index finger to probe the soft pink asshole he couldn't wait to stretch.

The prostitute lifted himself the merest bit, then reached for his own tankard and drank down the ale almost too quickly. "I'm going to cum all over your hand, Grundel and then this bunch will beat me for being... for wanting--" He didn't finish the sentence, and Grundel's finger slipped into the tight pink hole.

"Me? Men?" He asked before he took another drink, and Lianley slipped from the chair with a groan and righted his loincloth surreptitiously.

"You. Not men." He corrected him and headed for the stairs. Halfway there he was accosted by a woman, who grabbed him roughly so she could pull him down onto a chair on her lap.

Grundel watched him laugh coyly and promise her he'd be back later. Their hands were all over him, and the barbarian felt a strange jealousy. After a few minutes he headed for the door, found the alley empty, and then easily swung himself onto the ledge behind the inn and moved to the already open window.

He was barely inside before Lianley pulled him in for an urgent kiss, wrapping his slender, elegant body around his with a gasp.

"I don't want all men. Just you... and I don't get to have you often." The breathless sentence fell against the barbarian's hard lips, and he shrugged away his fur coat with a smile. Reaching for the prostitute, he lifted him up against his chest for a hard, deep kiss. Before he dropped him on the bed, he tugged the silk away and fastened his mouth over the engorged cock with a growl.

Lianley widened his legs, hooked a knee over the barbarian's thickly corded shoulder, and fell into a lush lust that engulfed him in warmth.

Ah, the sweet joy as the hard mouth sucked, licked and dipped into the smooth head of his cock. He dropped his hands into the thick black hair and pulled at his hair, but the barbarian held him down with one large hand to his belly.

"I want you to cum first." He grunted before his hot mouth slipped over him again, and Lianley thrust into his throat with a guttural cry. His slim hips pumped as the huge hand held him down as the thick throat worked around him. There was nothing like this. No woman's vagina had ever held him this tenderly or had received him so wantonly.

When Grundel finally thrust two of his thick fingers into his soft pink asshole, he couldn't control himself any longer, and his cry as his climax erupted down the barbarian's throat was a loud sound in the silence of the room.

He rode the crest of the orgasm as Grundel kept sucking him down, swallowing the thick cum, thrusting with his fingers. When he finally let his cock slip from his mouth, it made a squelching sound, and Lianley lay back against the bed for a second.

Grundel stripped down, lifted a knee onto the bed, flipped the prostitute over, and lifted his ass so he could clean away the cum with his tongue.

"You're very good with your tongue." He quivered into the bedding, then turned before the barbarian could stop him and slipped his soft mouth around the huge engorged cock. Grundel was a whole lot of male, and he stopped for a moment to shove his face into his balls instead. He licked and caressed them until the barbarian's hands dropped to his hair, and then he slipped his mouth around him again adoringly.

Grundel watched the soft red hair spill around his shoulders and over his face, reached down and closed his fist around the strands so he could see the soft pink lips sucking at the tip of his cock. He could never take the whole thing into his mouth, but the press of his tongue against the precum as it spilled into his mouth created the warm lust, and he pulled at his hair.

Reaching beneath his arms, he lifted him up against his chest and slanted his mouth over the lips he coveted above all else. The kiss was passionate, lush and drawn out as their tongues played, their lips sucked and teeth bit.

Lianley's slender, soft, pale hands slipped over the thick, hard breasts of his favorite lover, squeezed the firm mounds, and then dipped between them again so he could slip his hands over the taut, muscled ass with a grunt of lust.

"Fuck me... love, fuck me." He sighed against his mouth, and Grundel pushed him down, leaned over him so he could lick and nibble at his soft breasts, and then positioned himself between his thighs and smiled.

"Love?" He asked, and Lianley nodded feverishly, hands slipping over his breasts and belly caressingly.

"My only love." He managed with a panting gasp, and Grundel thrust inside him with a broadening smile. The soft, velvet pink asshole let him in lovingly, and he thrust deeper and felt him clench up around him as the pleasure took him.

"Deeper... love, deeper." The prostitute gasped, and he gave him what he wanted as he thrust hard and deep, hands on his ankles to hold him steady, his ass pumping as he picked up the rhythm harshly. One hand reached down for his rock-hard cock, and he masturbated him adoringly as he thrust in and out, harder and faster, deeper and deeper.

Finally the slender man cried out again, and his orgasm exploded cum across his belly and chest. Grundel was four strokes behind and climaxed hard as his balls emptied of cum and pumped into the smaller man.

Dropping forward onto Lianley, he took his mouth again and thrust his tongue against his as his cock grew soft inside the ass of his favorite lover.

Lianley slipped his arms and legs around him tightly as he pulled him down hard into an almost urgent embrace. "What's wrong?" Grundel asked by his ear, and the prostitute let out a soft sob. He hadn't expected that at all.

"Just stay with me tonight? You don't have to pay me... just stay with me? I need--" He stopped, and Grundel rolled to his side and pulled him into an embrace.

"What's wrong?" He asked again, and Lianley dug his nose into his skin to get the smell of the huge man in his nostrils. It was a heady aroma of man, fur and sweat. No fragile perfume from distant lands could rival the smell. He was wholly enamored of it.

"I cannot fuck the four women down there after... you, Grundel. You make this so fucking hard to do." Grundel let his rough, calloused hands play across his skin but let go when Lianley moved from his arms and went to stand by the small window.

The room was full of silk and velvet, neat and sweet-smelling. It belonged to a prostitute who knew what his clients expected. Brash, rough barbarian wenches preferred effeminate men as prostitutes, mostly because they could dominate them. Lianley allowed them to be the dominant ones; that was until he was done with all of that and pushed them down. That's what they paid for. And they paid handsomely. He didn't play for bits and pieces of coin. Which also meant the type of woman who came to him could afford him. He didn't lie with the unwashed.

"I cannot give you a life with me." Grundel breathed when he sat up and dropped his feet to the floor, heavy, burly arms resting on his knees.

"I don't expect you to. I've never expected anything from you. We've been doing this for years now... and sometimes I feel that I just want to be done with this life." He waved a hand at the room in general and turned to watch the large man as he stared at the floor, heavy shoulders slumped.

"What else will you do?" Lianley shrugged tiredly and then moved so he could slip between the large barbarian's knees, both arms slipping around the heavy neck.

"I have money saved, and I can live comfortably... by the ocean perhaps." Grundel's heavy, rough hands slipped up his back lazily, caressing the skin he cherished.

"With a garden and a chair by the door where you can sit and watch the waves." They shared a smile.

"And jasmine in the evening. It sounds like a pleasant fiction." Grundel agreed and pressed his mouth to the soft, full lips deeply. It was just a kiss, not one meant for seduction or passion. It was just a means to convey his heartfelt emotions towards the slender prostitute in his arms.

"I'll help you... buy a house. I'm a rich man, and--" He stopped abruptly when Lianley moved from his arms again, picked up a glass, and threw it at the wall in frustration.

"So you can come fuck me whenever you want! I am not your whore! I don't lie with you for coin! How dare you treat me like one?" He stormed, and Grundel licked at his suddenly dry lips. This was a side of his lover he'd never seen.

Standing there was a man, not the soft, pliable, amiable seductor he'd come to love so well. This was a man, an angry one, and somehow that turned him on greatly. His cock twitched to life, and he tightened his thighs around it, because if the other man saw that, he'd be justified in thinking sex was the only reason he came to see him.

"Lianley... I didn't mean it like that. I just want to give you that dream. Maybe one day there'll be a chair for me there?" That quite took the wind from his sails, and his shoulders softened as his affection for the barbarian drowned out the anger.

"I'm a hunter... sometimes a soldier. I fuck my wives because it's expected of me to make children. I come here, to you, when my... existence becomes unbearable. Out there, this forbidden thing we have is utterly forbidden by all the laws of this land. Yet I defy it all. If they found you out, they'd stone you to death... shear off your beautiful hair and hang you in a gibbet by the gates. They'd do the same to me. Pack up your things and let me take you to the ocean... at least. I need to know where you are... love." He said the word so softly that for a moment the slender man didn't hear it, and then bright blue eyes lifted to his, and he felt the word envelop him like a drug.

"Tonight?" Lianley asked, and Grundel nodded. "Yes." This time he moved into his lap and let the strong, warm arms pull him in tightly.

"There will always be a chair for you by the door, my love." He whispered against his mouth, but before they could kiss, there was a heavy knock at the door, and Lianley jumped to answer him.

"Bitches are calling for you!" The innkeeper called through the door, and he opened it a bit and lifted a brow at him.

"I'm sick... my stomach is upset. I'm not coming down. If they want me, let them come back tomorrow night." They listened with bated breath as the innkeeper stomped away, and Lianley locked the door and turned to Grundel.

The huge barbarian was dressing, and he moved to slip into a robe. Though just watching the man move filled him with so much lust he could hardly contain it. Hard sinews and strong muscles, the man was one large corded piece of muscle, and he adored every last fiber of him.

"Be ready? I'm going back downstairs to get drunk and act like a barbarian. I'll come for you after midnight." Lianley tied the robe shut and looked at the rumpled bed.

"Not much in here belongs to me anyway. Let one of the girls suck your cock beneath the table... just for the show of it." He winked at him, and Grundel reached for him and pressed his mouth to his.

"Don't be a coy creature, Lianley. I would not put my cock in their diseased mouths. I much prefer yours." With that he kissed him again and then headed for the window. Lianley, however, reached for the trunk he kept beneath the bed and opened it to just look at all the wealth he owned in this world. Jewels, letters from his family, and a stash of gold.

Then he set to work and found all the small, precious things in the room that belonged to him. When he'd finished, he changed into his leather trousers, boots and a cotton shirt. Reaching up, he braided his hair, found his daggers beneath the pillows, and slipped them into the scabbard at his waist.

The hatchet came next, and he tossed it a few times before he deposited it into his belt. This felt very much like putting on an old life. He hadn't always been a prostitute. Once long ago he was a soldier. Long ago.

By the time he'd snapped the lid of the trunk shut, there was a knock at his closed window, and he moved to see Grundel standing there.

"I'm done." Lianley breathed, nodded to the trunk, and reached for the fur coat. "You look very different." Grundel stated with a frown as he lifted the trunk onto his shoulder.

"This is who I used to be. I fought for the king once... so long ago. Prostitution seemed an easier profession. Fucking is much preferable to killing." The barbarian was still watching him, and then he smiled.

"You're not wrong." He grunted with a chuckle, slipped through the window, and then reached in for the trunk. Lianley followed him out lithely, and they made their way to the barbarian's stallion. Beside the big animal stood a smaller packhorse, and he watched as Grundel secured the trunk to its back for a moment.

When the doors to the inn opened to toss out the last of the inn's frequenters, he lifted the hood of the cloak over his hair and reached for the horse's bridle.

"Grundel!" An inebriated voice called, and the barbarian turned to the offender with a lifted brow. It was a drunk barbarian with two equally drunk barbarian wenches beneath his arms.

"You want to come fuck one of these with me!" Grundel just pushed at the offending hand and nodded to his horse.

"Go fuck them yourself, Isbar! You don't need my help. You got enough fucking balls for both of us." Everyone burst into laughter, and Lianley moved around the stallion quietly and slipped into the saddle with practiced ease.

"Got the wife to take home anyway." He moved to mount up too, but one of the women reached for his arm. "I didn't know you travelled with a wife? Let's meet the gal? All we got tonight is this old thing. Our favorite fuck turned up sick." This time he pushed at the hand with a grunt of disgust and lifted himself into the saddle.

"And let you steal her from me? Not this beauty, Lacrista." They burst out laughing again, and he nudged the stallion into a canter, leading the packhorse behind.

"This beauty?" Lianley asked softly as he wrapped his arms around Grundel's waist, cheek resting on his back. "If they knew what beauty I meant, they'd try and steal you alright."

In the next town Lianley bought a horse of his own, and four days ride later they'd reached the small fishing village of his birth.

They dismounted in a secluded glen a few miles from the town, and Grundel set about making camp as Lianley watered the horses and hobbled them. The two of them worked together smoothly, their movements practiced and efficient, until the sun dipped below the horizon and darkness settled over the glen.

Grundel was skinning a rabbit he'd caught earlier that day, and Lianley just watched the large hands skin the animal cleanly. After he'd skewered it over the fire, he cleaned his large hands and just looked as his lover gazed back at him with admiration.

"Do you love your wives... and children?" Grundel nodded easily and sat back against the large gray rock behind him tiredly.

"Mostly. I love my children, of course... their mothers, not always. They nag, and sometimes they're just too much. Why do you need to know?" Lianley ran a hand over his brow slowly before he shrugged away the coat, then he moved into Grundel's lap smoothly.

"Call it morbid curiosity if you must. This is our last night together, or will you come with me into the village?" Grundel shook his head definitely and let his arms pool around the slender creature in his lap lovingly. He could feel the warmth of him against his skin, a sensation that he would miss deeply once he was gone.

"Best not to tempt fate any further," he whispered. "We made it thus far without suspicion. I would not jeopardize our good fortune." Lianley avoided the kiss and slipped his thumb over the barbarian's bottom lip instead.

"I enjoyed this time with you. It felt good to just be... me." Grundel agreed quietly, his fingers slipping into the thick red hair he so loved. "You know if I could, I'd take you with me... right?" They shared a look fraught with unsaid things. How, after all, did you vocalize how utterly forbidden their affinity for each other was? There was just no way to just be together.

"I know. I think finally I do. I think finally I do understand. I'm just scared that I'll never see you again." The barbarian's fingers tightened against his scalp, and he finally let him kiss him. It was a deep, hungry kiss that left them both breathless.

"I'll be back. I'll be back. I promise. I'm just not sure when. But I swear, I will come back to see you." Lianley slipped his arms around his neck gracefully and pressed his lips to his ear as he hugged tight.

"Am I more than your favorite fuck, Grundel?" Grundel tugged at his hair so he'd lean back, and his bright eyes widened in shock.

"What makes you ask that?" Lianley shrugged and ran a slow hand over his bearded cheek. "I'm just used to only being a good fuck. Humor me?" Grundel looked away, unable to meet Lianley's gaze as he sought an answer to a question that shouldn't be complicated but was, after all.

"Do you remember that first night I came to you?" Lianley's eyes narrowed a bit as he let the memory take him.

"Of course I do. I couldn't take my eyes off you the entire evening, and then after the lady of the evening left... you were waiting at the door. I thought you were there to kill me, or something." Grundel smiled at the memory.

"Then I kissed you instead. I risked it all waiting for you out there. I just couldn't stop watching you all night. The way you moved, the way you smiled, the way you talked--I was completely captivated. I watched you lead the woman up the stairs, and then at the last moment you turned and looked right at me. I'd never felt so seen, and I knew I'd kill to be with you. I am not a man inclined towards men, Lianley... But you caught me off guard, and I kept coming back for more." One large hand slipped around the soft round ass of his lover, pulling him closer.

"I risked it all again and again for just a taste of you. This is so much more than just fucking." Lianley swallowed down the tears that burned his eyes, because he'd been waiting such a long time to hear the big old barbarian say any of this.

"You were the biggest thing in that room, my love. Just thinking of you made me finish up with the woman so fast it took my breath away. I didn't know if you'd come to me, but I could imagine what it would be like if you did. Make love to me then, Grundel. One last time before I have to let you go?"

The barbarian's hard, grim mouth slanted over his, arms and hands pulling him in closer, deeper until he could feel every gasp of his breathing. Divesting each other of their clothes was over in a matter of seconds, and Grundel joined the slender man on their shared bedroll to pull him in for a deep, hard kiss.

One hard, callous hand slipped down his burning skin, dipped between his legs, and captured his velvet-soft balls in his palm. The slender man moaned softly in response and widened his legs as his arms tugged around his neck.

Long, thick fingers slipped around his growing erection, and Lianley arched his body against his as the pleasure pooled hotly in his groin. Yet the large man did not relinquish his mouth as his hand caressed his cock tenderly. The pleasure was overwhelming, and Lianley knew he was completely lost in the moment. It was too much, and for a moment he thought that he might cry. But he pushed the overwhelming emotions aside and let himself be consumed by the pleasure.

When Grundel finally broke the kiss, he leaned down instead and slipped his tongue and lips around the soft round of Lianley's breasts. One hand captured his grasping hands together above his head, and locked in the steel of them, the slimmer man was subject to his lust.

"I would taste all of you so I can remember." He murmured against the cleft between his breasts and then nibbled at his sensitive nipples again. The slimmer man gasped in pleasure, unable to resist the overpowering desire that coursed through his body.

"I love everything that you are, Grundel." He gasped when he finally moved lower and dipped his tongue into his navel. By now his cock was rock hard and aching to feel the barbarian's mouth again. Arching his body, he tried to move his hands, but Grundel's grip was like steel. Pure steel.

When his hot mouth finally took first his balls into his mouth to suckle on them, Lianley moaned loudly and widened his legs as his breath came in gasps and pants.

"So soft." The barbarian groaned before he sucked both balls into his mouth lazily. His ministrations were a long, drawn-out caress of lips and tongue, and by the time his mouth finally slid over the engorged head of his lover's cock, he could feel how close he was to cumming.

Swirling his tongue around the quivering head drew a lustful groan from his own chest, and he sucked softly at the precum as it touched the roof of his mouth. Drawing him in deeper, he felt the familiar warmth spread through his body, knowing that his lover was about to reach his climax, and swallowed him down his throat with a grunt.

Lianley strained against his hands, trying to hold back his own release as he fought the climax from happening too soon and depriving him of the long, drawn-out pleasure he needed to feel!

Grundel's lips moved up and down his shaft, and Lianley thrust his hips as the pleasure engulfed him. It was a lush moment filled with a lifetime of complete abandonment. At this moment he'd risk everything, everything, just to hold onto this one crystal drop of ecstasy.

Thrusting harder now against his lover's mouth, he finally broke free of the grip, grasped hold of Grundel's dark hair, and shoved himself deeper and harder, battering at the entrance to his mouth as the climax built, and finally he let it take him, and his long-drawn-out gasp filled the night with its heady sound.

Grundel drank deep as Lianley's cum exploded down his throat, savoring the taste of him as it slid down his throat. He sucked deeply as the cum slipped down his chin and into his beard, and still Lianley was wrapped in the ecstasy of it. When he finally relaxed his hands in his hair, Grundel released his cock inch by inch, sucking as he went. Prolonging not only the pleasure for his lover but also for himself. He was lost in the sensation of the way Lianley's cock twitched in his mouth, the way the cum tasted against his tongue, and how hot it felt against the roof of his mouth. There was nothing like this, he realized and sucked hard for a moment before he surfaced with a sigh.

Lianley sat up bonelessly and wrapped himself against his chest as his mouth plundered his, tasting himself on his tongue, in his beard, and across his chin. The taste lingered on his lips, and it was deeply arousing.

Grundel sat up with him in his lap, drew him across his erection, and thrust inside him with a loud grunt of pleasure. The other man moaned in bliss, matching Grundel's movements with urgency and desire.

"Fuck me." He breathed against the soft pink mouth, and Lianley dropped to his knees astride his thighs and started moving, lazily at first and then more urgently as he felt the climax build within them both.

Grundel's hard hands tightened into the flesh of his ass as he pulled him in closer and harder, the heave of his chest hard against the velvet skin of his lover. He gasped for air, desperate for release.

Lianley could feel his climax near, smiled coyly and then turned in his embrace with his back to his chest and bore down even deeper. He could feel the huge cock hit the sweet spot deep inside him and quickened his movements, pumping harder.

Grundel's hands were across his breasts now, his mouth pressed to his shoulder as he thrust deep with his hips. When the climax finally tore through him, he couldn't stop the intense cry from erupting through his throat, and he held onto the other man tightly, one hand slipping around his erect cock to masturbate him, willing him to move more so he could feel the cum explode across his hand as his climax took him. He needed to feel his ass clench around him, milking him as he thrust deep.

When Lianley finally orgasmed, he let out a moan of pleasure and laughed softly when Grundel coated his cock with the cum as it ejaculated from his cock. Spent and satisfied, they simply sat like that for a long, lost moment. So wrapped up in their love for each other, the pleasure they gave each other, and the promise of what might be.

Grundel finally slipped from his ass and turned him in his embrace so he could hold him close, cherished against his chest.

"You are my favorite fuck after all." He joked, and Lianley's throaty laughter mingled with his. "You're mine too, you know that. Now kiss me again you big brute and make me scream..."

The following morning Grundel stood at the edge of the woods watching as the slender man walked down the winding road, his long red hair lifting in the wind, and then called out to him on impulse.

"Lianley!" He watched him turn, and his head tilted in question. They'd already said their goodbye.

"Save that chair for me!" He called and got a beautiful smile. He knew he would never forget that smile. The smile that had captured his heart.

"By the door! I love you, Grundel!" He called, and it was the first time he dared say the words. Grundel lifted a hand, took a step forward, and then another until he was running.

When he reached him, he swept him up against his chest and kissed him hard and deep. For once he didn't care if anyone saw them. He just knew that he needed this one last kiss.

"I love you too, Lianley." He whispered against the soft mouth he loved most and kissed him again.

"Please don't forget me." They kissed again, and finally Grundel let him go and took a step away. As he turned to leave, he felt a pang in his heart, knowing that he'd needed that one last kiss more than anything else.

"I promise. I'll be back for you." Then he simply strode away, and Lianley watched him go with a heart so filled with sorrow he wasn't sure if his chest could contain it. The pang in his heart only grew stronger as he realized he may never see him again. He watched until the large barbarian disappeared into the woods and then turned for the village again.

It was a pleasant fiction to think that the barbarian would return and they'd stay together in a little house by the ocean. Yet he knew it would never be that way. They were forbidden. It could not be otherwise for them.

Two cold winters after that last hard kiss, Lianley sat in the chair by the door drinking the fragrant tea his mother cultivated, watching the ocean and breathing in the smell of ocean and jasmine. Grundel never returned, and he had no way of knowing if he ever would. Yet he held onto that one final promise. The barbarian was a man of his word, and he held onto the hope in his heart that he'd see him again.

Two years worth of life had covered him in quiet solitude, and he'd chosen this house because it was so secluded from view. He preferred to be alone now; he relished the silence. Sometimes though he wished above all it could be filled with the barbarian's deep, gruff voice, perhaps laughing. Perhaps just talking, or sighing.

He hadn't taken a wife, and although it was frowned upon, he just couldn't do it. No woman held any appeal anymore. Not that they didn't try to seduce him into their beds. He just no longer felt the need to sell himself, and in truth he had enough wealth to last him a very long time. Kings paid handsomely to have their concubines serviced, and he was sure there were a few little red-headed babies in the citadel. He had left his mark on the world, both in gold and in flesh.

The sound of hooves caught his attention, and he stood to walk around the side of the small house quietly. He was not in the mood for visitors.

Then his heart leapt, and he was filled with such joy that a cry tore from his throat. Sitting there tall on a dark red stallion was his barbarian, smiling, just smiling.

"You still have that chair for me?" He asked with a grunt as he dismounted, and Lianley couldn't help running to him. Grundel caught him up against his chest, and then they were kissing...

THE END