Fic - various Eagle things
Title: Trade
Characters/Pairing: Marcus/Esca, movieverse
Rating: PG
Summary: There are limits to what Marcus will do for his father's honor.
A/N: This accompanies a fill on the kink meme, because I just had to run with it.
Here's the fill. If you don't feel like reading it (are you kidding me? Go read it!), the excerpt that matters:
“So there’s nothing you would trade me for?” The words were mocking, yet affectionate.
Marcus’s heart warmed. He caught Esca’s hair, pulling him down for a kiss. “No.” Then his memory flickered, a bright shimmering glimpse, and he knew he lied. “Well, perhaps…the eagle.”
Esca actually does make a suggestion like the following in the book.
-
They stopped to rest in the shadow of a craggy ridge. Marcus sat heavily against the rocks, panting and trying to relieve the pain in his leg. Esca tended their mount, murmuring softly to him in his language as he rubbed the shivering horse down. The wind was against them now. It no longer carried the voices of the Briton hounds, but it bore the fugitives’ scent north.
Esca rewrapped his leg, pulling the bandage tight to stem the sluggish bleeding. Marcus rested his head against the rock face.
“We can make it,” he said, and he almost believed it. The Seal People were swift and dogged hunters, the Roman horse tired, and Marcus injured. He looked up at Esca. Something in his cool eyes told Marcus that Esca was thinking the same.
Marcus closed his eyes, finally catching his breath as Esca tied off the bandage.
“The horse will tire of carrying two,” Esca said after a time. Marcus, who had fallen into an exhausted doze, came back to himself. “He would go easier with one.”
“Perhaps, but there are two of us,” Marcus answered. “And that will not change.”
Esca looked away. “I will stay here. You will ride south with the Eagle. I will tell them that we fought and the Eagle was lost. They may end their search, or if they do not, you will outride them.”
“And what will they do to you?”
Esca’s silence was answer enough. Marcus shook his head. “I won’t allow it.”
“You told me once that you would trade me for the Eagle,” Esca said, his voice dull and flat. Marcus had all but forgotten that night. He really had said that. And he had meant it. A slave in exchange for his father’s honor? It would have been an easy choice.
But it was Esca. Not just any slave. Esca.
He reached out to curl his hand around the back of Esca’s neck, his thumb stroking the soft hollow behind his ear.
“That was a long time ago,” he answered quietly. He leaned forward as much as he dared put weight on his bad leg. Esca obligingly closed the gap. Marcus had not kissed him since before the village. When they parted, Marcus caught his eyes, letting Esca see the truth.
“I would not trade you for a hundred Eagles.”
Plus another kink meme fill from me.
Title: Marked
Characters/Pairing: Marcus, Esca, movieverse
Kink Meme Prompt: "Esca is perfectly aware of how difficult moving through Briton territory with a free Roman at his side will be. Early on, as a precaution, he decides to claim Marcus as his in the fashion of his countrymen -- by leaving visible kiss or bite marks on his neck."
Something had to be done. Their travel was supposed to be anonymous and forgettable. Unfortunately, Marcus just looked so… Roman, Esca thought with a touch of distaste.
Not that there was much wrong with Marcus’s looks on their own. Esca supposed he was good-looking in a decidedly foreign way. The women in his homeland must swoon over him, and the men too, for all he knew. He’d seen uglier Romans.
But the fact remained that Marcus was noticeable. Even if no one immediately recognized him as a foreigner, they would remember him, and that was precisely what they were meant not to do.
There must be something. Esca would have been all too pleased to give him a disfiguring scar or simply roll him in the mud, but he doubted his “master” would be amused. Anything to make his kinsmen look on him without suspicion. Less suspicion, at least. If he were seen with a Roman it would mean death for both of them.
It came to him as he watched Marcus tearing moodily into his rabbit dinner. A free Roman would attract too much attention. But Romans and Britons had one thing in common: no one looked twice at a slave.
Would Marcus object? Of course he would. So Esca decided, without a hint of remorse, that he would not tell him. After all, Marcus had all but promised to follow his lead in this territory. The Roman stumbled about like a child, clumsy and ignorant.
At least, Esca thought, he knows when he needs help.
“You attract attention,” he said. Marcus swallowed his mouthful and looked up, silent. “I can make it so they won’t look at you.”
“How?”
Marcus wouldn’t like it. In fact, Esca didn’t like it. Handsome the Roman may be but Esca didn’t want to get any closer than he had to. He steeled himself unhappily.
“Do you trust me?”
No, the gaze said. But he knew, or hoped, that Esca would honor his word and not try to kill him. Though he wasn’t sure what Esca would do short of that, with good reason. He nodded shortly.
I don’t want this either, Esca thought, but it was the best way. Before Marcus could react he leaned swiftly forward and nipped at the Roman’s neck, biting down hard. Predictably, Marcus swore and seized his shoulders, holding him at arms’ length.
“What was that?” he snarled. Esca met him glare for glare.
“Every bit as unpleasant for me,” he retorted. “They will see the mark and they will not look closely.”
Marcus shoved him away and rubbed the spot Esca had bitten. “You are savages,” he said in disgust. Esca ignored the remark. He was glad that the Roman had not asked for a clear answer. If Marcus had known that every Briton who saw the oddly-shaped bruise would assume immediately that he was Esca’s bed-slave, he might have reacted even more severely. But he didn’t know, and he merely pulled his heavy cloak tightly about him and retreated to the opposite side of the fire, glaring suspiciously as though Esca might attack.
Esca ignored him and finished his meal. The ruse was flimsy, it was true. His kinsmen would still find it odd that it was Marcus, obviously the larger and stronger of the two, who had been claimed. By all rights, they would think, Marcus should be the one to hold Esca down and-
He shook away the thought. He must be truly tired if he was reduced to imagining… that.
At least the rabbit had scoured away Marcus’s taste.
Characters/Pairing: Marcus/Esca, movieverse
Rating: PG
Summary: There are limits to what Marcus will do for his father's honor.
A/N: This accompanies a fill on the kink meme, because I just had to run with it.
Here's the fill. If you don't feel like reading it (are you kidding me? Go read it!), the excerpt that matters:
“So there’s nothing you would trade me for?” The words were mocking, yet affectionate.
Marcus’s heart warmed. He caught Esca’s hair, pulling him down for a kiss. “No.” Then his memory flickered, a bright shimmering glimpse, and he knew he lied. “Well, perhaps…the eagle.”
Esca actually does make a suggestion like the following in the book.
-
They stopped to rest in the shadow of a craggy ridge. Marcus sat heavily against the rocks, panting and trying to relieve the pain in his leg. Esca tended their mount, murmuring softly to him in his language as he rubbed the shivering horse down. The wind was against them now. It no longer carried the voices of the Briton hounds, but it bore the fugitives’ scent north.
Esca rewrapped his leg, pulling the bandage tight to stem the sluggish bleeding. Marcus rested his head against the rock face.
“We can make it,” he said, and he almost believed it. The Seal People were swift and dogged hunters, the Roman horse tired, and Marcus injured. He looked up at Esca. Something in his cool eyes told Marcus that Esca was thinking the same.
Marcus closed his eyes, finally catching his breath as Esca tied off the bandage.
“The horse will tire of carrying two,” Esca said after a time. Marcus, who had fallen into an exhausted doze, came back to himself. “He would go easier with one.”
“Perhaps, but there are two of us,” Marcus answered. “And that will not change.”
Esca looked away. “I will stay here. You will ride south with the Eagle. I will tell them that we fought and the Eagle was lost. They may end their search, or if they do not, you will outride them.”
“And what will they do to you?”
Esca’s silence was answer enough. Marcus shook his head. “I won’t allow it.”
“You told me once that you would trade me for the Eagle,” Esca said, his voice dull and flat. Marcus had all but forgotten that night. He really had said that. And he had meant it. A slave in exchange for his father’s honor? It would have been an easy choice.
But it was Esca. Not just any slave. Esca.
He reached out to curl his hand around the back of Esca’s neck, his thumb stroking the soft hollow behind his ear.
“That was a long time ago,” he answered quietly. He leaned forward as much as he dared put weight on his bad leg. Esca obligingly closed the gap. Marcus had not kissed him since before the village. When they parted, Marcus caught his eyes, letting Esca see the truth.
“I would not trade you for a hundred Eagles.”
Plus another kink meme fill from me.
Title: Marked
Characters/Pairing: Marcus, Esca, movieverse
Kink Meme Prompt: "Esca is perfectly aware of how difficult moving through Briton territory with a free Roman at his side will be. Early on, as a precaution, he decides to claim Marcus as his in the fashion of his countrymen -- by leaving visible kiss or bite marks on his neck."
Something had to be done. Their travel was supposed to be anonymous and forgettable. Unfortunately, Marcus just looked so… Roman, Esca thought with a touch of distaste.
Not that there was much wrong with Marcus’s looks on their own. Esca supposed he was good-looking in a decidedly foreign way. The women in his homeland must swoon over him, and the men too, for all he knew. He’d seen uglier Romans.
But the fact remained that Marcus was noticeable. Even if no one immediately recognized him as a foreigner, they would remember him, and that was precisely what they were meant not to do.
There must be something. Esca would have been all too pleased to give him a disfiguring scar or simply roll him in the mud, but he doubted his “master” would be amused. Anything to make his kinsmen look on him without suspicion. Less suspicion, at least. If he were seen with a Roman it would mean death for both of them.
It came to him as he watched Marcus tearing moodily into his rabbit dinner. A free Roman would attract too much attention. But Romans and Britons had one thing in common: no one looked twice at a slave.
Would Marcus object? Of course he would. So Esca decided, without a hint of remorse, that he would not tell him. After all, Marcus had all but promised to follow his lead in this territory. The Roman stumbled about like a child, clumsy and ignorant.
At least, Esca thought, he knows when he needs help.
“You attract attention,” he said. Marcus swallowed his mouthful and looked up, silent. “I can make it so they won’t look at you.”
“How?”
Marcus wouldn’t like it. In fact, Esca didn’t like it. Handsome the Roman may be but Esca didn’t want to get any closer than he had to. He steeled himself unhappily.
“Do you trust me?”
No, the gaze said. But he knew, or hoped, that Esca would honor his word and not try to kill him. Though he wasn’t sure what Esca would do short of that, with good reason. He nodded shortly.
I don’t want this either, Esca thought, but it was the best way. Before Marcus could react he leaned swiftly forward and nipped at the Roman’s neck, biting down hard. Predictably, Marcus swore and seized his shoulders, holding him at arms’ length.
“What was that?” he snarled. Esca met him glare for glare.
“Every bit as unpleasant for me,” he retorted. “They will see the mark and they will not look closely.”
Marcus shoved him away and rubbed the spot Esca had bitten. “You are savages,” he said in disgust. Esca ignored the remark. He was glad that the Roman had not asked for a clear answer. If Marcus had known that every Briton who saw the oddly-shaped bruise would assume immediately that he was Esca’s bed-slave, he might have reacted even more severely. But he didn’t know, and he merely pulled his heavy cloak tightly about him and retreated to the opposite side of the fire, glaring suspiciously as though Esca might attack.
Esca ignored him and finished his meal. The ruse was flimsy, it was true. His kinsmen would still find it odd that it was Marcus, obviously the larger and stronger of the two, who had been claimed. By all rights, they would think, Marcus should be the one to hold Esca down and-
He shook away the thought. He must be truly tired if he was reduced to imagining… that.
At least the rabbit had scoured away Marcus’s taste.