Author's Note: This is my first attempt at slash (male + male relationship) and it will probably not be terribly explicit but still…if you don't like slash, please skip this tale. I won't be offended! Also, the PC is a minor by our standards (if not by his) so if that offends you, see first sentence. (This version has been revised and, ahem, toned down from the original, for those who may have read it in its earlier form.)

Dance in Darkness

Ch. 1…Stinking Swamp Village

I muttered to myself as I dragged a couple of fence posts, a shovel and a hammer to the Starling's back pasture. Their stupid cow Winnie had once again found a weak spot in the fencing and had wandered off to parts unknown. Once again I found myself doing stupid Starling chores. Lorne had told me to get right back to the barn once the fence was repaired and finish forking the hay up into the loft or he would (he said) beat the crap out of me. Since he was twice my size and almost as ill-tempered as his dad had been, it would be more or less suicidal to cross him. So I was pretty sure that this little fence job was going to take me a long, long time. Forking hay was hot nasty work.

Once again, Daeghun had dumped me off on the Starlings while he disappeared into the swamp. My foster father could only handle a few days of civilization at a time, if (and that was a pretty big 'if') you could in fact call West Harbor civilization. Apparently even a miniscule swamp village created too much racket for his delicate elven sensibilities. So off he would go for days or weeks at a time, checking in every so often to make sure I hadn't been run off or killed. Maybe he thought he was doing me a big favor by giving me a chance to socialize with my fellow humans. Or maybe, since he himself had been dumped off on a pack of wild elves when he was young, he thought this was how people do things. I don't know what he thought, to be honest, and he certainly never told me. After awhile, I didn't much care.

I used to stay with the wizard Tarmas, the idea being that I was to become one of his apprentices. However there was a bit of unpleasantness about some spell ingredients missing out of a locked cabinet and I became unwelcome there. In fact, Tarmas had caned me long and hard and had refused to teach me any longer. Amie at least had believed my cries of innocence. I could still remember her distressed face when the wizard gave me the boot.

Amie was a sweet girl. Gullible but sweet.

I sold the ingredients to a peddler and stashed the coins away for the happy day when I would be able to leave West Harbor forever.

There used to be a couple of other families in the village that would share the burden of my care and feeding but after the little problem I had with Tarmas and the bigger problem I had with Georg, only the Starlings would let me stay in their house.

No one had ever accused any of the Starlings of being overburdened with brains.

Still, Retta treated me decent. The oldest boy, Lorne, was harsh but it wasn't personal. He treated his brother worse than me. After their dad disappeared, the task of running the farm fell on Lorne's broad shoulders. Bevil, who was just a few months younger than me, helped where he could but he also had to take care of the twins. They were ten years younger than us and Retta had been sickly ever since their birth. So life was fairly grim at the Starling farm, and the fresh game that Daeghun brought them to pay my board was all that fed the family half the time.

I had about finished the fence and was wondering if I dared sneak over to the spring for a quick swim before I returned to the barn. I was so deep in my work and my thoughts that I made a stupid, stupid mistake. I let the Mossfeld brothers sneak up on me. I dropped the hammer I was using when someone slugged me in the ribs and that was stupid too. I was caught flat-footed and disarmed as well. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I almost deserved what they were going to try to do to me.

I scrambled to my feet and almost avoided a kick.

"Hi, Karlas," Wyl said in a jovial tone. "Nice to see you, buddy. We've been looking all over for you."

Wyl was the oldest of the brothers and also the most dangerous. His twin brothers were a year younger. Webb wasn't that bad if you caught him alone and Ward was too dumb to come in out of the rain, but Wyl kept them in line. They were all in the militia together. Once Georg, head of the militia, had made it clear that he despised me and hoped that someone would teach me a lesson or two, the Mossfelds considered me fair game. Not that we had ever gotten along, but they used to be satisfied with just a shove or a punch in passing.

"Someone put a skunk in our storeroom," Wyl said. "Riled it up, too, and it sprayed everything. My mom was real upset."

"Someone put dung in our boots," Ward said.

"Someone threw a big mess of rotten fish guts under our porch," Webb said. "And my militia pay is missing."

"Someone is going to get every bone in his body broken," Wyl said. He smiled.

I didn't bother to deny anything. It really didn't matter what I said. Once you get a reputation for being a liar, there is no point in speaking the truth anymore. It's just a waste of breath. And once you get a reputation for being a thief, you might as well help yourself to whatever you want. I got the blame for every little thing that went missing or showed up broken in West Harbor.

Besides, in this case I was pretty much guilty. Although the skunk must have wandered in on its own, so I wasn't actually responsible for everything. Not that it mattered.

I was small and slim, and that made me a candidate for bullying, especially from big oafs like the Mossfelds, who thought size was all that counted. It isn't true that I went out of my way to antagonize them. (Every prank I pulled was in response to something one of them did first.) I've always been soft-spoken and I learned early to walk around trouble when I could. The thing is—I looked like an easy victim. My innocent face, although useful when dealing with adults, was a definite liability with my age mates. When they found out I was tougher than I looked, well, that just made me more of a challenge.

My first major Mossfeld beating had been three years ago, when I was thirteen. I dragged myself home, bloody and sniveling like a baby. Daeghun had just looked at me. I'm not sure what I had expected. An exclamation of horror? A trip to the priest for some healing? Or maybe I thought he would teach me some secret elven techniques for self defense. But no. He just looked at me. He looked at me and he said nothing. On his face, there was the slightest expression of distaste. I never even learned what disgusted him more—the blood or the tears. Or maybe it was just my human ways. Not that it mattered.

I went out to the well and drew a bucket of water to wash the blood off my face and hands. When I came back inside, he was gone. There was a jar of salve on the table but he was gone. So was his bow.

Some unwary traveler somewhere in the Mere no doubt got some unexpected protection that night. Daeghun reserved his aid and his comfort for strangers. He would take grievous wounds defending some lost fool from a pack of dire wolves and wouldn't accept so much as a piece of copper in payment. But for me, his so-called son, there was nothing.

After that, I knew I was on my own, with the Mossfelds, and with everything else.

"Sorry to hear about your troubles, Wyl," I said, watching for my chance. They all started swinging. I ducked and dodged, took a couple of blows that made my ribs ache. I vaulted over the fence behind me, sure I could outrun them. The Mossfelds were as big as oxen and about as swift. Unfortunately one of them grabbed a fistful of my tunic and dragged me back. Then it got bad for a few moments.

"Hey!" someone bellowed. It was Lorne. I had never been so glad to see him in my life. He came striding across the pasture like a titan. Wyl turned me loose and I slunk over to Lorne's side.

"What are you doing on my land, Wyl Mossfeld?" Lorne asked. The Starlings and the Mossfelds were not friendly neighbors. No one had gotten along with Retta's husband Blane, who had been quarrelsome when sober and just plain mean when drunk. Lorne wasn't as bad as Blane had been, but people around here had long memories.

"Nothing," Wyl muttered. No one liked to mess with Lorne. First off, he was huge. The Mossfelds were big men but Lorne had to bend down when he walked through a doorway. More importantly, Lorne was unpredictable. Although he didn't seem to pick fights like his father had, sometimes little things would set him off.

"We're just dealing with a sneaking little troublemaker," Ward said. "Nothing you need to worry about."

"While Karlas is staying here, you'd best leave him alone or you'll have something to worry about yourself," Lorne said. "Now get off my land."

"Well," I said once they were gone. "Thanks." I wasn't sure anyone had ever defended me before.

"Came out here to see if you were shirking your work," he said. He smiled a little. "Looks like you were."

"Sorry," I said. It hurt when I smiled back. I licked blood off my lip. "I got a little distracted."

"I see that. Are you hurt?"

"Just bruises." He looked me over and nodded his head. Between us, it only took a short while to finish repairing the fence.

"You know," Lorne said. "If you would stop stirring them up, they would leave you alone."

"No offense," I said. "But you have no idea what you are talking about. People treat someone like you a whole lot different than someone like me. They beat me up because they can, not because of what I do."

"But why do you keep messing with them?"

"Self respect." Lorne chuckled. He picked up the shovel and I took the hammer.

"Looks like the rain is going to hold off," he said. "Let's go swimming and leave the hay for tomorrow."

"Great."

There was a very deep spring not far from the farmhouse. Water trickled away in a narrow channel to the spring house, where crocks of butter and milk were kept cold, as well as eggs and other perishable foods. Large trees shaded the spring, and there was a rope swing as well as a rude ladder, which the more daring could climb and then dive in from the higher branches. On a hot day like today, the water seemed icy.

We dropped our clothes by the spring house. Lorne grabbed the rope and swung halfway across the spring, dropping in with a mighty bellow and a huge splash. I, of course, climbed as high as I could go and dived in straight as an arrow.

"Oh, ye gods!" I cried as I surfaced. Lorne laughed. We both swam around a little and then climbed out and found a patch of sun to lie in to dry out.

"How old are you now?" Lorne asked.

"Sixteen," I said.

"You look younger."

"Sorry," I said sarcastically. "We can't all be giants." He laughed.

"I'm not insulting you," he said. "It's just…we don't talk much, do we?"

His eyes swept over me. The Starling boys swam in their loincloths if Retta or the twins were present, but normally they wore nothing. I, of course, had absorbed Daeghun's elven disregard for casual nudity. But suddenly I became aware that we were both naked—and alone.

"I guess not." He was five years older than me. That used to be a huge gulf, but now it was just five years.

"You're old enough to strike out on your own. So what are your plans? Are you going to stay in West Harbor?"

"Gods, no," I said fervently. He raised his brows. "Sorry, I'm sure you love it here and it's great and all that. But I'll be heading out as soon as I can get a bit of coin together."

"To do what?"

"Well, I don't know. Not really. Not farming, though, that's for sure." That was tactless. "Sorry. It's just not for me."

Lorne sighed.

"I do not love it here," he said in a low voice. I turned on my side to look at him, not sure I had heard him right. "I would have left a long time ago, if not for my mom and the kids. After my dad left, well, they need me here." He sighed again. "Being a farmer is not for me either."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." He shrugged.

"No point in complaining about what you can't change," he said. "One day maybe things will be different."

If I had to stay here five more years, I would probably lose my mind. And if Lorne was waiting for the twins to grow old enough to take care of themselves, well, that could be another ten years or so. I looked at Lorne with new sympathy.

"So tell me," he said, obviously changing the subject. "What do you do with yourself all day? When you're not helping out here, that is."

"Oh, I hunt a little. Fish a little. You know." Actually, I had an unofficial apprenticeship with Lewy Jons, but Lorne didn't need to know that. Lewy lived by himself out in the Mere. He had been a Shadow Thief in Amn, but when Athkatla got too hot for him, he had moved to Neverwinter. Then he got in trouble there as well, and now he lived here, in nowhere. He taught me a little about locks and traps when he felt like it and I brought him ale or mead from the village when I felt like it.

"Girl friend?" he asked, raising his brows.

"Oh," I said. "No, nothing like that." I'd had hopes of Amie at one time but I rarely got to see her anymore. Besides, she seemed to like Bevil better anyway.

"Oh," he said and he looked me over again. Suddenly I understood what that look meant. He was interested and I felt a little stupid for not picking up on it earlier.

"Boy friend?" he asked, more quietly.

"No," I said, and because I owed him, I added, "I don't have any real friends here except for Amie and Bevil."

"And me?"

"I'd like us to be friends." Because face it: if Lorne was my friend, my worries with the Mossfelds would pretty much go away. Besides, he had just saved me from a beating and if he wanted to call it due, so be it.

He brushed my hair from my face. He watched my eyes and when I didn't object, his hand curled around the back of my neck. He leaned over and kissed me. His fingers dug lightly into the nape of my neck. It was all rather pleasant. I relaxed and leaned into him slightly.

We were naked from swimming so that saved a step or two, I guessed. His hip pressed up against me and he was already aroused. He was a very large man and he was built like a bull. Sheer curiosity made me wrap my hand around him.

"Gods," I said. "I hope you aren't planning on doing anything too invasive with this."

Lorne laughed.

"Well, that would be up to you, wouldn't it?"

I certainly hoped so. He kissed me again, harder, and his arms closed around me. This was the first time I had ever kissed anyone and it was nice. Very nice.

So there I was, lying in the sweet-smelling ferns with my hand somewhere it had never been and I was starting to get rather aroused myself and…

"You know, Lorne, I have absolutely no idea what to do now," I admitted.

He laughed again.

"Maybe I can give you a few ideas," he said.