Jaelan buried his face in the fur pelt as a gust of wind blew into his face. He winced as his eyes squinted and shut as he waited for the assault to cease. Behind him, Wylen was doing much the same.

“Argh!” He heard the warrior growl. “If this weather keeps up, we’ll be delayed by a half a day’s travel!”

Grunting, Jaelan looked up to the sky to gauge how much daylight they had left. They weren’t far from the mountain of seven peaks. Maybe just another two or three days and they would be there. He could already see the magnificent range of rock from where he stood. Inadvertently his excitement grew. After almost a whole month of tasking travel, he was finally almost there.

“We can stop for the day I guess.” Jaelan turned and squinted at Wylen only to burst into a fit of laughter at seeing the expression the other was currently making.

“Hey…” Wylen dropped his arms and pouted, not in the least bit amused. “Not all of us can squint into the wind and look like a water nymph doing so.”

 “You look like a chastised bear!”

Irked, Wylen blew a puff of air out and watched as it clouded in front of his face. “Well, this bear is cold and hungry. Maybe it will eat you.”

“I’d like to see the bear try.” Jaelan wiggled his eyebrows playfully before he stepped towards Wylen and threw an arm over his shoulder. “Hey…Wylen…we can always share body heat if you’re that cold.”

Turning scarlet at the reminder of their night out in the cave about a week ago, Wylen tucked his head into his chin and pushed away from the laughing man. It was just his luck that Jaelan had awoken before him. Wylen inwardly kicked himself as the embarrassment washed over him new and fresh.

In his sleep his somehow managed to wrap his whole body around the smaller man, pressing into him like a second skin. When Jaelan had rudely shaken him awake, Wylen was forced to feel shame unlike any he had ever felt before. Naked and only half awake, his arousal was standing at attention, large and proud.

“You were so happy to do it before.” Jaelan cockily turned his head to the side, having more fun than he should at tormenting the taller man.

In all honesty, there was more to it than that. The constant jokes he made about that day were his only way of dealing with his own distraught thoughts.

He had been more affected by that morning than he cared to admit.

It wasn’t Wylen's fault. He had tried to do the best he could, thinking that Jaelan was in serious danger from the fever. There was no way he could have known that all Jaelan needed was just a couple of hours of deep sleep to be back in perfect condition. He was half god after all. A simple fever had no chance of doing him in.

When he had awoken that morning, his whole body went rigid as he stared wide eyed into Wylen's sleeping face pressed to his. It immediately turned his heart into a thumping drum. Blood rushed into his cheeks and groin simultaneously as he accessed their position.

Wylen had been almost cocooning him with his body. One leg had been thrown over his torso and an arm was draped over his chest, pushing him into Wylen's warm and inviting bulk. Yet the most distracting and heart rate tripling effect was due to the hard organ poking him in the thigh.

He could feel Wylen's breath tumble down his cheek as the man slept, exhaling soundly. A small moan however escaped that bowtie shaped mouth when Jaelan moved his leg.

Almost as if entranced by the sound, Jaelan found himself intentionally moving his leg in such a way to make the sound come again. His own groin twisted with the heat of arousal at the state Wylen was in. Again he moved his leg, feeling the organ rub against his skin.

However, when Wylen moved in his sleep, Jaelan was somehow released from whatever spell he had been under. Mercilessly he pushed Wylen awake, only then he realized that he needed to think of something quick to hide the state of his own disloyal body.

“Let’s just make camp.” Wylen grumbled. “I’ll go find us something to eat. You start the fire.”

“Mn, alright.” Jaelan smiled and then rushed to the marching warrior. He leapt in front of him and made Wylen stop short. “Only no more rodents…there is only so much of that I can consume. Try and get a rabbit this time, okay?”

Wylen found himself pouting once more, unwillingly melting upon gazing into Jaelan’s expressive eyes. Blinking, he coughed and pulled himself together. “Hey…it’s not like I can magically make a rabbit appear out of thin air.”

“You have a god given talent with that bow.” Jaelan motioned to the quiver of arrows on Wylen's back. “Make use of it.”

“Jae…”

“If you can get a rabbit,” Jaelan smirked and leaned forwards. “I will stop teasing you.”

Wylen blinked and then smiled as if gold had just poured from the sky.

“One rabbit coming right up.”

:::

Stepping carefully in his fur lined boots, Wylen coughed and brushed his bare fingers against the frost covered rock. They had only been scaling the mountain of seven peaks for an hour and already the frigid air had infiltrated his lungs. He grunted and moved forward only after making sure the rope he had tied to his waist was secure.

Jaelan led on a few paces ahead.

It seemed that the treacherous mountain had nothing on the sure-footed warrior. Jaelan traversed the rock as if he were down on solid ground, walking amidst a meadow of fine grass and flowers.

Another cough assailed Wylen and he gave his head a good shake.

To each his own he assumed.

“Anything yet?” He called out, already weary of this climb and eager to reach the blasted cave and start a roaring fire. The pack he carried was full of kindling just for that.

Up ahead, Jaelan peered across the distance only to shake his head a few moments later. “I don’t see it.”

“Ugh!” Wylen bit back a curse and trudged forward. The cold already had numbed his poor digits to the point that he could barely feel them. “Of all the caves in the land, why must it be the one atop a snow topped mountain!”

“I second that!” Jaelan called and turned his head down to grin at the blustering warrior.

Already having reached midday, Jaelan sighed and returned his attention to exploring the seven peak mountain. His large eyes scanned the perimeter, hoping to catch a glimpse of the prophesized cave he was supposed to find. To his immediate chagrin, not even a hole could be spotted. So, with a grunt he continued on. He glanced backward every so often to make sure Wylen was doing alright.

The solid warrior apparently wasn’t the best of climbers. Jaelan had taken it upon himself to tie a rope around the pouting man, making sure to secure him to himself just in case Wylen lost his footing and managed to tumble.

The thought of Wylen falling down the rocky slope made every fiber of his being quake with fear…he didn’t want to chance fate. If by some horrid odds the warrior stumbled, Jaelan would do everything in his power to haul him back up…and if he couldn’t…well…he just didn’t want to think about that. 

For the next two hours they climbed.

Higher and higher Jaelan dragged them. His fingers dug into found perches and hauled him upwards. Behind him, with much cursing and foul mouthing, Wylen followed. His face red with exertion as his biceps rippled beneath the fur pelt. When his boots slid across an icy patch, he caught himself and exploded into a cloud of explicit words. Their nature so vulgar it made Jaelan turn around, jaw unhinged.

“Hey!” He called to the swearing warrior. “You alright?”

“God damn this mountain!” Wylen seethed and rubbed his nose. “Do you see it yet?”

Jaelan shook his head and pressed his tongue into his cheek. A few tendrils of his long black hair came loose from behind his ear and fell across his face. Almost automatically his hand brushed them back in place.

“Not so much as a burrow.”

Another slew of indecent language sailed free from Wylen's mouth and Jaelan couldn’t help but give a small laugh. He turned back to look ahead and continued to climb. It was only after another hour and a half of vigorous ascent that he finally spotted something in the distance.

Jaelan stopped short and focused on the faraway object, his eyes sharp.

Puffing behind him, Wylen hauled himself across the stones and leaned against the rocky wall to catch his breath.

“I see it!”

Never were words so sweet. Wylen jerked forward and quickly made his way to where Jaelan stood. He peered over the other’s shoulder in the direction the smaller man pointed. Sure enough, there in the distance appeared to be a dark opening belonging to a cave.

A large grin plastered itself to Wylen's face and he reached over to squeeze Jaelan’s shoulder. “About time!”

Without wasting another precious second, the two of them hurried to the cave. It took them about an hour to get to the mouth of the grotto.

When Jaelan gazed at the entrance, adrenaline in his body surged. Even though the opening wasn’t overly large, a full grown man could easily pass through it. So, without bothering to admire the intricate structure of the stone edifice, Jaelan darted inside.

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