Marcus sat by the fireplace staring blankly at the flames, in his hand he held the scroll the rider had given him earlier that day. It was now night and Esca slowly walked into the room and stared at his lover sadly. He walked over slowly and stood behind him and put his hands on Marcus' shoulders. When they weren't rejected Esca massaged his shoulders slowly and gently. Marcus made a silent groan in the back of his throat in appreciation, Esca always knew how to make him feel better in the smallest of ways.
When a few minutes had passed Esca stopped his ministrations and wrapped his arms around his neck from behind and kissed his cheek looking at the fire. Marcus felt comforted by his presence with him, he brought his hand up and held Esca's gently, Esca held it back and kissed his cheek again.
"I'm so sorry about your uncle," he whispered in his ear and kissed his head. Marcus looked down and sighed shakily. "Did it say who did it?" he asked. Marcus nodded and handed him the scroll. Esca took it and read it and his heart sank. "Raiders?" he asked. Marcus nodded again. Esca put the scroll down and walked in front of Marcus, he knelt down and put his hands on his knees.
Marcus stared into his eyes, Esca always had love, determination, and a twister of other emotions in his eyes whenever he looked at Marcus. It was so open to Marcus that he didn't need to say any words to make Marcus feel better, he just needed to be there. After a moment he looked down away from Esca. The light haired man smiled at him and kissed his forehead.
"Are you coming to bed?" he asked. Marcus nodded and smiled lightly looking at him again. Esca smiled and stroked his hair kissing his forehead again and walked out of the room to their bedroom. Marcus watched him and smiled following him to bed.; In his mind though he was thinking about his uncle and how he was going to get vengeance for his death. When he got to the bedroom those thoughts stopped when he saw Esca totally naked on the bed. Marcus smiled lovingly, his uncle could wait for a while, tonight he was just going to focus on Esca and let his troubles be wiped away completely, he'd think about his next move in the morning.
When he woke, Marcus just laid there for a moment as he thoughts wandered to yesterday. He looked down next to him, Esca was laying on his side away from him, Marcus sat up and stared at his beloved, he moved some of Esca's hair from his peaceful face and kissed his forehead gently. He watched him sleep for just a moment, he looked outside and saw the sun was just starting to come up. In a split second he made up his mind, he got out of bed quietly as to not disturb Esca from his slumber and quietly got dressed. He got his armor on and looked at Esca one more time. He leaned down kissing his forehead whispering a soft 'Goodbye' and 'I love you', before he set out to the stables and got his horse ready for the journey. The scroll said that the Raiders were from a wild tribe that go around killing Romans, it said they hailed in the far East so that's where he was going. He was just about to get on his horse when Esca came storming in.
"You're not going anywhere without me!" he yelled. Marcus looked at him and saw the deep hurt in his eyes. "If you think that I'm going to stand by while you go out there and get yourself killed you've gone mad," he said. Marcus shook his head looking at him.
"Not this time Esca, it's too dangerous," he said. Esca scowled and went to grab his horse, Marcus sighed irritably and went over grabbing the reins before Esca could get on. "You're not going Esca," he said. The blonde growled and tried to pry Marcus' fingers off, he was strong, but obviously not strong enough. He growled and stared at Marcus.
"If they're Briton they'll kill you!" he argued. "We have to do this like the time we went to the North!" Marcus shook his head determined not to let Esca go. "What makes this more dangerous than the last time!" Esca tried to argue again. Marcus growled and grabbed Esca's shoulders.
"Because if they found we were lovers they'd take you away from me and torture you and they'd make me watch! Damn it all Esca I can't bear the thought of that happening to you! I can't lose you again!" he yelled his eyes holding desperation. They locked eyes and Esca sighed in defeat letting go of his horse, Marcus did the same and held Esca close in a tight embrace. "Esca I love you too much and you mean the world to me, if anything happened to you I would be lost," he said. "Do you understand?" he asked. Esca nodded into his chest and stared up at him.
"Please…please Marcus be safe, and come back home to me soon my love," he whispered weakly. Marcus' eyes saddened at the sound of Esca's voice, he'd never heard it that weak, he stroked his hair and nodded.
"I promise Esca," he said leaning down and sealing the promise with a kiss. Esca kissed back almost desperately holding Marcus close to him. Marcus held him back tightly, the kiss ended all too soon for the both of them. Marcus pulled away from him slowly and kissed his head. He looked at his hand and took off his fathers ring. Taking off the ring he put it in Esca's hand. "I will come back home," he whispered. Esca looked at the ring in his hand then at Marcus before he hugged him one more time, when he parted and stood back Marcus got on his horse. He looked back at Esca one more time and the rode off into the forest going East.