"I -"
"Hani, I swear to god if you say 'I told you so' I will turn myself into an odorous old innkeeper with a worrying facial rash and force you to kiss me."
Levi gave a small satisfied smile as that threat finally shut Hani up. His expression quickly reverted to a frown however, when he looked back at the recently departed camel lying in the sand in front of him.
"To be honest," Hani began tentatively after he was shot a warning glare from Levi. "We probably extended her life - giving her a bit of adventure in the end. I mean I can't imagine that Mr Artli was going to keep her around much longer to eat his food and take up stable space. Plus whatever she had could have been contagious."
"Oh fucking hell," Levi stated, rubbing his still slightly sticky hand more vigorously on his pack.
"To other camels," Hani stated, looking at Levi as if he was a complete moron.
"Well that's just damned perfect," Levi groaned, stalking over to Ethel's unmoving body. To be fair, at least she did look rather peaceful lying in the sand in front of a dune like this and Levi guessed she had been rather elderly.
"I'll say a prayer," Hani nodded decisively, informing Levi of the proceedings.
"Oh thank you for your contribution Hani," Levi rolled his eyes, "whilst you commune with the sand gods I'll just be over here trying to figure out what the hell we're meant to do now."
"You're not stealing my camel," Hani said suddenly, looking rather crossly in Levi's direction.
"Well I can't just walk alongside you can I?" Levi retorted. "We'll have to make do."
"You mean share?" Hani asked unsurely.
"Yes Hani, very perceptive of you - I mean share," Levi huffed. "There's enough room on your hell-pony -"
"Camel," Hani interjected with a hiss.
" - for both of us," Levi finished, paying the younger man no attention.
A few minutes later Hani rejoined Levi and the still living camel in order to continue on their way. Evidently he was satisfied whatever strange traditional urges he had to converse with outdated deities. Levi shook his head as Hani gave him a hard look, evidently Levi had been doing some of his 'judging' out loud.
"No," Hani stated, folding his arms and glaring up at where Levi was already seated on the camel.
"What are you talking about Hani?" Levi frowned. "We already agreed we'd share the damn camel."
"No to you taking the reins," Hani snapped, gesturing up at where Levi had place himself in the rider's position at the front of the camel. "That's my camel."
"Are you seriously getting possessive over a camel?" Levi asked disbelievingly.
"I'm not going to sit behind you and wrap my arms round your bare chest like some... some..."
"Some?" Levi's mouth twitched as Hani started to go crimson red across his cheeks.
"Fine," Levi relented, finally taking pity on the younger man before he burst a blood vessel. "Being the one behind was always my favourite position anyway."
"You're disgusting," Hani muttered between gritted teeth as Levi shuffled backward on the camel and gestured suggestively for Hani to join him.
"And don't cling on to me either," Hani snapped as he pulled himself up onto the front of the camel with enviable ease. It had taken Levi nearly four attempts to actually get himself seated rather than simply leapfrogging the damn thing.
"You can grab onto the hump," Hani continued, gesturing to the large lump in the centre of the camel's back. Levi was just about to joke about how he preferred not to swing that way when he spotted something in the distance.
"What does that look like to you?" he murmured to Hani.
"Like a topless idiot who's going to get sunstroke," Hani huffed, still turned round to face Levi.
"Not me, that," Levi said quickly, grabbing Hani's chin and turning the younger man's face back to look forwards out to the horizon, upon which was a definite cluster of buildings.
"I don't know..." Hani murmured, squinting in the sheer blinding force of the midday sun, "some kind of city?"
"I'll be damned," Levi said in a low voice, "I could have sworn Egidu was another three or four days ride..."
"Where?" Hani asked, glancing back round with a frown.
"Oh," Levi cleared his throat, "just a town I know on the way to Alack."
"Are there any other towns around here?" Hani asked, turning back to stare at the distinctive outlines of walls and roofs about eight miles away. The entire scene was shimmering, but that was not unusual in these kind of extreme temperatures.
"A few," Levi replied distractedly, his eyes still focused on the distant settlement, "none of them that big though."
"But that looks huge," Hani interjected, "like some kind of city?"
"Even if it's not Egidu, we still need more supplies," Levi concluded finally, "best head in that direction."
"Is that wise?" Hani asked. "I mean - if you don't even remember the city?"
"We need another camel," Levi retorted, "unless you want me plastered to your sweet little ass for the rest of the journey?"
"No thanks," Hani shivered, his voice sounding distinctly strained. "I'll take my chances with the unknown city."
"Thought so," Levi smiled, finally lowering his eyes to look at the back of Hani's head. The younger man's hair was a mixture of brown and black, soft curls falling down the nape of his neck. Levi half wanted to reach out and touch it, smooth it between his own rough finger tips.
All too soon though Hani made that deceptively simple seeming clicking noise with his tongue and they started cantering off at such a rate that Levi nearly flew off the back of the camel. In the end, Levi was forced to cling inelegantly to the protruding hump in front of him for dear life. Also he couldn’t quite be sure, due to the wind flying past his ears, but it certainly sounded like Hani was laughing.
Levi let his mind wander, like a soothing balm, to all the different ways he could punish the younger man.
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