Devin groped his way into the dark room, cursing Enys for not leaving the candles on as she had promised. Stumbling over the the window he managed to undo his breeches and swinging the shutters open, he urinated out of the window with a sigh of satisfaction and relief. The moonlight shone into the room, which was on the second floor of an old roman house, illuminating the various detritus that he and Enys had managed to accumulate. The make-shift mattress, made of straw and cloth, stood in the centre of the room and it was onto this that Devin collapsed in a slowly diminishing haze of ale.
After a few minutes, it dawned on Devin that there was something missing from the room. Enys was not there. He did not recall when she had left the the tavern but remembered that she had done so long before him, he had assumed she would be waiting here. Grumbling to himself, Devin pushed himself off the bed and stuck his head out of the window again in a vague attempt to find his missing friend. Enys had been jumpy since their escapade with the King's knights a few weeks ago and her dislike for taverns and gaming had been exacerbated but Devin had thought that in this new town she would recover her nerve. As it was it appeared she had done one of her characteristic runners.
Devin swept a hand through his curly hair and belched, "She'll be back in the morning."
"She's back now," said a thoroughly unimpressed voice from the doorway.
Devin turned around quickly, swaying only slightly on his feet, "Where'd you go? I was looking for you."
"Devin," Enys sighed, taking off her boots, "Sticking your head out the window does not count as looking for me."
The young man shrugged and collapsed on the mattress next to Enys, propping himself up on one elbow. "So where have you been?"
Enys smirked and reached down to unhook something from her belt, a purse full of coin, "The same tavern as you, only I was doing something useful."
Devin's eyes widened and he grinned broadly, "You little thief!"
"One of us has to be productive," Enys snapped, trying to hide her proud smile, "we can't both sit in the tavern and get drunk."
Devin hooked his hand around the back of Enys' neck, pulling her towards him, and pressed his lips against hers.
Enys' eyes widened and she looked at Devin suspiciously, "What are you doing?"
"I'm just happy we've got a bit of money now, just want to celebrate..."
Enys scowled and turned away abruptly. Devin flopped back on the straw mattress: he was used to Enys' fluctuating affections by now. In lieu of gratification of his wants he reached into a pocket and pulled out a ring that had been given him as a token by one of the bar wenches he had dined with earlier. It was heavy - real gold - and decorated with an engraved serpent design. It was an unusual trinket for a lowly barmaid but Devin wagered it had been a gift from a former lover who was now in disgrace. Closing his eyes he remembered the barmaid's tumbling breasts, her skin had been sallow but her figure deliciously full and her face fair enough even if a little heavy about the brows...but those breasts...
"What's that?" Enys' sharp, surly voice tore Devin away from his pleasant reminiscences.
Devin opened his eyes to see hers fixed upon the glinting ring in his hand, "A token from a barmaid." He narrowed his eyes, "Do you like it?"
Enys shrugged and leaned to snatch the trophy off him but he was too quick for her and withdrew his hand out of her reach.
"Let me hold it," Enys snapped, her dark beady eyes following the movement of the ring intently.
"No!" exclaimed Devin as Enys clamboured over the mattress to reach him, "If I give it you, you won't give it back. I know you. You're a greedy little sneakthief!"
"Just let me see it!" Enys reached out again but Devin grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her hand back. She cried out in pain and slapped out at Devin with her free hand, scratching at his clothes.
They struggled together for a while until Devin, gasping for breath, released Enys' wrist and shot off the mattress, "You know Enys," he managed to pant, "This is why we always get into trouble! There would have been none of that business with the King's knights if you had not been such a damned magpie!"
"You were the one pushing your luck with the dice!" Enys spat back, " Were it not for you making such a noise, they may never have got onto us."
The cheat and the thief glared at each other in the darkness. Enys fought to ignore the way the moonlight glinted off Devin's dark curls like water running off a raven's wing and Devin tried valiantly to pay no attention to Enys' dark, lustrous eyes.
Eventually he seemed to weaken, "Fine you can have a look."
He held out the ring and Enys leapt up to grab it but Devin stopped her in her tracks, clutching her outstretched arm as he whipped the jewel away from her. Enys found herself about an inch away from Devin's face. His breath washed over her. It smelt of ale and something spicy, the same woody spice that Devin always smelt of.
"You didn't think I was just going to give it to you did you?" Devin brushed his nose against Enys' suggestively.
"No." said Enys as sullenly as she could.
And even though she was sorely angry at him, Devin still managed to take Enys' breath away when he kissed her. Enys opened her mouth and drew him in, giving him her best possible kiss: the glint of gold still imprinted on her closed eyelids. She felt Devin's hands run through her hair. He had put the ring on - she could feel the band of metal pressing into her scalp. Through the heavy, sensual blurr of the kiss, Enys fixed her mind on the gold, kissing Devin harder as the gold in her mind glowed brighter.
Devin pressed Enys back into the itchy mattress and they instantly set about the dance they had done a hundred times before, tearing off each other's clothes and appreciating each other's bodies, before consumating the act. Devin, still warmed by beer and barmaids' caresses, was in an amorous mood and resolved to make himself good sport for Enys. He moved in and out of her with the long, langrous strokes she liked and stroked those parts of her body that he knew made her bite her bottom lip - Like so! - and make those wonderful sighs of gratification. She, on her part, wrapped her legs around Devin's waist and pressed her hands against his buttocks to encourage him further. Eventually the luxurious pace quickened to one of urgency. Enys cried out and pressed her face to Devin's chest as he grunted out his release.
He collapsed on top of her for a while. Enys wound her fingers in the black curls as she held him to her chest, cradling him still between her thighs. He was heavy but Enys was strong and his weight calmed her.
Eventually Devin spoke, "We can leave this town if you want. There's not much here to pick on - it's more of a village really, just peasants and a tavern."
Enys sighed and kissed the top of his curly head, "I do think we should be moving on...it does not do well for us to stay in one place for too long."
Eventually they drifted into sleep. When Enys woke, the watery pink light of dawn was creeping through the window and the sleepy little village was starting to rise. Closing her eyes again, Enys listened to Devin's snores and the birds singing outside. She was not the sort of sentimental girl to convince herself that this was all she needed, a roof, a bed and a man, but sometimes - just sometimes - it was nice to lie and forget that there was a world that existed other than Devin and herself. Just as Enys' eyes were about to flutter shut again she heard shouts from the street below.
Pulling her tunic on, Enys eased herself from underneath Devin's arm which was clamped around her waist and crept slowly to the window. She blinked in the bright morning sun and leant on the windowsill to get a better look at the growing rucus in the street. A man was shouting at a woman - nothing new there, Enys thought.
"You silly goose!" the man shouted, "That wasn't a token of love - you were meant to hang on to it until I came back. It was bloody collateral for your father. Your father who I am now returning safe and sound!"
The woman was crying now. Enys cradled her face in her hands disinterestedly viewing the unfolding scene below. The man's hair looked familiar - dark and curly like Devin's. And something about his voice sounded familiar as well. She wondered idly about the stories of the people below. The curly-haired man must have taken the goose's father somewhere and left whatever trinket it was to let the girl know that he would return him.
A warm weight settled around Enys. Devin had put his arms around her and leant his head on her shoulders. She shrugged him off with a little huff. Devin chuckled and leant against the windowsill too.
"What are you watching out there?" he asked.
Enys nodded at the scene in front of her, "Some bloke getting his rag off."
Devin chortled and then choked, "Bollocks!"
Enys gasped as Devin grabbed her elbow and dragged her away from the window, "Devin! Devin! What you doing?"
Devin ignored her and scrambled round the room pulling on clothes and gathering their little bundles of belongings together. Enys looked on bewildered.
"Devin!"
Her companion looked round at her wild-eyed, "It's that bloody brute! The one from the bar!"
"What are you talking about?" Enys ran back to the window and thrust her head outside. Suddenly she saw what Devin had seen - the knight who had threatened to cut off his - "Bollocks!"
The men on the ground looked up at her exclamation and Enys almost fainted when she saw the face of the curly-haired man. How had she not recognised him sooner? He was the one that had held a knife to her ribs in that very same tavern. His handsome face curled into a sinister grin whilst the brutish one positively growled. Enys stumbled back from the window and tumbled backwards onto the bed. Devin shoved her out of the way and made a bolt for the door.
"Wait -"
Enys flung out her arm and caught Devin by the ankle, bringing him him crashing to the floor. They snarled and grasped at each other as both struggled to reach the door first. All sense of comraderie was the first thing to go when when they were cornered. Devin grabbed a chunk of Enys' hair and Enys bit him hard on the shoulder making him howl like a wounded animal. Hissing and spitting at each other, they barely noticed when someone else reached the door first and it burst open, slamming off its hinges into the room.
"Well, would you look at this Lancelot - two theiving rats in one hole."
Enys felt herself lifted off the floor. Shaking her hair out of her eyes, she kicked and hit her hands against the huge man who held her. He simply laughed, his belly shaking up and down, and gripped her stronger. The curly-haired man, Lancelot, was idly holding Devin at the point of a sword. His expression was one of lazy enjoyment.
"So," he drawled, "We found you, just when we stopped looking for you in fact. Isn't that funny?"
"N-not from where I'm standing," Devin squeaked.
Enys held her tongue, the larger man was gripping her arm so tightly she was afraid it might snap off. Her pain was short lived. The man holding her passed her off to Lancelot so he could threaten Devin himself.
"You took something very valuable from me boy..." he growled.
Devin whimpered as his eyes rolled back into his head, "I-it wasn't me - you saw at the bar, it was her!"
"Now, Bors that's a very fair point..." Lancelot stroked Enys' hair neatly behind her ear, smirking insufferably, "It was this creature here that took your trinket. She's awfully quiet...do you have nothing to say for yourself girl?"
Enys scowled up at her captor, "Don't need to say anything. You got your jewel back didn't you?"
"Ah, she has a tongue!" Lancelot exclaimed mockingly.
Bors let out a filthy belch of a chuckle and slapped a shaking Devin on the back, "Hope she puts it to good use boy, for all the trouble she's landed you in."
Lancelot ignored his comrade, "So we've been travelling here on a completely separate mission and in every town we've stopped, we here pleas from the townsfolk asking us to bring two little thieves to justice. A boy and a girl, grubby and skinny, they've been cheating at dice, robbing - sometimes with force - purses, food, drink, clothes, you name it." He cast a nonchalent eye over Devin, "Oh, and there are a fair few barmaids with a mind to wring your neck."
"Might not be us," Enys spat, "There're plenty of people out there doing that."
Lancelot pulled her towards him and gripped her chin hard, "Yes but not many of them bear Crotus' brand."
Enys opened and closed her mouth rapidly, her throat running dry. The knight held her gaze ruthlessly and his grip on her tightened, "Turn around," he said in a deadly calm voice, "And we will see whether or not you match the description we're looking for. If so you have far more to answer for than a knight's stolen love trinket."
Swallowing hard, Enys allowed her eyes to flicker over to Devin. His face was pale and his eyes wide. He shook his head, imploring Enys not to obey their captors but the large knight grabbed his hair and pushed him to the floor.
"Do as my colleague says girlie," rumbled Bors, pointing his sword at Devin's throat.
"Check him!" Enys squeaked, her composure cracking, "Check him! I never did anything I swear - I swear!"
"Ah now, checking your friend would be so much less enjoyable," Lancelot hissed.
He let go of Enys' chin and pushed her face away from him in the action. Grabbing her roughly by the shoulders he spun Enys round so quickly that she fell to her knees with a grunt.
"Please...please," she begged, her voice shaking and an wretched sob rising in her throat, "Don't."
Lancelot did not take pity, "Get up. Off the floor - Now!"
She stood, trembling, and started to look behind her but the knight, standing close behind her, grabbed the sides of her face and forced it to look straight ahead. Enys' breathing grew shallow as his fingers edged beneath the cloth covering the back of her neck. They lingered there for a while before the strong hands ripped Enys' tunic straight down the back. Without pausing to caress this time, the hands pushed the tunic forwards until it fell to the floor and roughly bundled Enys' hair over her head. Her shaky breath causing the curtain of hair in front of her to ripple and twist, Enys felt fingers running up the small of her back, along her spine and finally coming to rest on what she knew to be raised scar-flesh just below her hairline, on the nape of her neck.
The voice that spoke sounded like it came from a million miles away though it came from the man stood that stood not an inch behind Enys.
"Crotus."
