In Enemy Hands Chapter 5

Oh, what the heck! I'm putting this out early (and it's longer too lol)
Chapter Five - AdlarAdlar faced Varo after bidding Maylar goodbye. The other male shifted from foot to foot, clearly nervous. Varo hadn’t had much to say this morning, but Adlar caught the quick looks he aimed at Maylar. The other Helkan appeared happy, cheerful, and very much alive.
Adlar hope Varo took note of that, especially the alive part. Adlar was relieved Varo had a chance to see Maylar this morning. It proved his feeding from the other male hadn’t hurt him. He wanted Varo to see firsthand he had nothing to fear.
He’d also noticed Varo had shadows under his eyes and appeared slightly pale under his tan. He was aware the other male hadn’t slept well last night, which wasn’t surprising. The last few days had been eventful for both of them.
“Are you hungry?”
Varo pushed his hair back over his shoulder and shrugged, his eyes on the floor. “I could eat.”
Seeing the action, Adlar frowned. He’d braided his long hair this morning but Varo’s was still all over the place. Come to think of it, he hadn’t found Varo his own brush.
“Huh, we’re going to have to do something with that.”
“W-what?” Startled, Varo’s body jerked, and he looked at Adlar. “Do with what? What do you mean?”
“Your hair.” Well, at least he had Varo’s attention now. “Just hold on. I’ll be right back.”
“But—”
Adlar left a confused Varo standing in the kitchen. He hurried to his bathroom and hunted around in his own personal toiletries until he found a new brush and hair bands. “Perfect. Varo?” Adlar called from the bathroom. “Could you come here, please?”
Varo appeared. Confusion, and now wariness, showed on his face as he stepped into the bathroom. “Yes?”
“We’re going to have a cooking lesson, but first let’s get that hair under control.” Adlar handed the brush to Varo. “Sorry I didn’t think of this until now. If you need anything else I’ve neglected to furnish, tell me.”
Varo handled the brush almost as if he expected it to bite him. “Um, thank you.”
Adlar had another brilliant idea. “Tell you what. Why don’t you sit here?” He pulled Varo over to a built-in seat neat the mirror in his main bathroom.
Varo willingly sat, confusion still showing on his face. “Um, Adlar? What are you…?”
“Just relax.” Adlar ran his hand over all that long blond hair, and then looked at Varo’s reflection in the mirror.
He sunk his fingers into the mass and gently massaged Varo’s scalp, making sure to work his thumbs into Varo’s neck muscles too. He glanced in the mirror. Varo’s eyes were at half-mast, his mouth partly open. Oh frack, would you look at that.
He was tempted to say something about the obvious pleasure on Varo’s face, but he didn’t. As soon as he pointed it out, the other male would probably wipe such emotion from his features and shut down. Which was a shame. Varo lost in pleasure was a thing of beauty, and one he was determined to see more often.
But he also knew pleasure was a weakness Varo didn’t want to show him. Too bad Varo already had. Adlar knew he could bring pleasure to Varo and didn’t intend to stop. Oh, no. If anything, he fully intended to chain Varo to him by desire.
“Hand me the brush.”
Varo’s eyes snapped open.
Adlar waited. He wanted Varo to offer the brush to him freely. Would he? He held his breath as he stood still, and the tension between them spiked. 
Slowly Varo held it up to Adlar. “Here.”
A wave of warmth rushed over Adlar. It was almost as if the gesture meant more that what it actually was. Would the day come when Varo gave willingly everything Adlar wanted? Varo stared at him in the mirror. Those lovely brown eyes danced with pleasure.
“Thank you.” Adlar spoke softly, afraid to break the spell that held them together.
He skimmed his hand over Varo’s locks, his touch tender. Tenderness wasn’t a concept he often had time for in his daily routine, but he found it was something he could add, willingly.
Varo gulped. “You’re welcome.”
Adlar watched Varo’s throat work as he swallowed, and he yearned, yearned , to sink his fangs into that lovely tanned skin. The day would come, he swore. Instead he took the brush from Varo and, starting at the crown, slowly worked it through Varo’s hair.
When he hit a tangle he took his time to work it out, sometimes even hold the hank of hair in one hand while fighting the snarl. He didn’t want to hurt Varo. One he got to the bottom, he started over at the top, again taking his time to work through any tangles.
There weren’t many, he was glad to see. This was supposed to feel pleasant, sensual even. Adlar glanced back at Varo and found a sight that would tempt the most hardened of souls—Varo had stopped fighting the feeling.
His eyes were closed, and his breath was slightly elevated, but he was relaxed. Now that the snarls were gone, Adlar ran the brush through without stopping, his strokes firm and steady.
“That feels so good,” Varo muttered.
“Indeed. It’s a pleasure we often don’t have time to indulge.”
Varo opened his eyes and stared at Adar in the mirror. “No one… no one has ever done this for me.”
Adlar saw the hazy desire in those eyes. “That’s a shame. But never fear, princeling, this is something I’m only too happy to do for you.”
Varo moaned slightly. “You’re trying to seduce me.”
Adlar leaned forward to whisper into Varo’s ear. “I said I wouldn’t rape you. I never said I wouldn’t seduce you. But that’s not what this is about. You look tired this morning, and I wanted to do something to help you relax.” Adlar ran the brush through Varo’s hair again. “And this does, yes?”
“A kindness?” Varo smothered a sudden yawn.
“We are capable of it, you know.”
Varo narrowed his eyes at their reflection. “Actually, no, it’s not known.”
Adlar glanced at Varo in the mirror as he ran the brush down Varo’s hair one last time. He looked away from Varo’s reflection as he took the silken stands and began to braid them. “No, circumstances being what they are, I don’t guess you would know.”
Varo didn’t speak and neither did Adlar. He’d said what he wanted to say. Now Varo could think on it. And if the blush riding his cheeks were any indication, Varo was thinking about it.
He finished braiding Varo’s hair. “There. That’ll keep it out of your way. Come.”
Varo stood and followed Adlar out of the bathroom and back to the kitchen. “What are we doing now?”
Adlar walked over to the appliance used for storing food and other substances at a low temperature and removed a rather large oval object that was at least six inches in diameter.
“As I said earlier: cooking lesson. Take this please.”
Varo took the object and quickly used both hands to hold it. “What is this?”
“Struthio damelus egg. The animal that laid this is over seven foot tall, with a long neck and even longer legs. They can’t fly, but don’t think for one moment they aren’t dangerous.”
“Oh. Did you buy these?”
Adlar snorted in amusement. “No. I robbed its nest.”
Varo bobbled the egg, shock plain to see on his face. “Stars, are you serious?”
“Of course.” Adlar found a deep pot, placed the three-pound egg in it, and filled it with water. After he was finished, he moved the pot to a black, flat surface which consisted of heat-transmitting glass and ceramic material over heating elements. “The first thing we’re going to do is hard-boil the egg.”
Adlar showed Varo how to activate the cooking device.
Varo eyed the cooking surface then the black pot. The water inside was starting to bubble, and steam rose from it. “You’re boiling water!”
“You need boiling water to boil an egg.” Adlar poked Varo in the ribs.
“Hey now!” Varo grinned at Adlar but then looked back at the pot, a frown replacing the grin. “But why do it this way? Talk about primitive.” 
“We have reduplicators that can recreate any food choice programmed into it, that’s true,” Adlar said. “But I like doing it like this. It’s fun.”
Varo glanced at Adlar, the idea of how this could be ‘fun’ racing across his face. “Fun?”
Adlar checked that the water covered the egg as it cooked. “Oh come on now, surely you know the meaning of fun?”
Varo folded his arms over his chest. “Well of course I do. I just fail to see how this is fun.”
“I love technology and use it in all parts of my life, but becoming dependent on it isn’t a good idea. If for some reason technology became defunct, my people could survive using these primitive methods you turn your nose up at. Could yours? Could you, for that matter?”
“I… I honestly never thought about a world without advances. But I went through survival training just like everyone else. It was required at the Academy.”
Adlar checked the egg again. “I’m sure you did. But did you just go through the program, or did you actually take away knowledge you could put into action? Did you use the skills afterward? Or did you store the information and forget it?”
“While I was in training, we were abandoned in the forest and had to use our training, yes. But, after it was over and I graduated, I… well. I never thought about it again. I didn’t see the point in doing this…” Varo waved at the cooking egg. “I mean, that’s the reason we have reduplicators.”
“Be that as it may, you learned a skill but didn’t use it. If you don’t use it, you lose it. I’m going to teach you how to keep that skill sharp.”
“Great,” Varo muttered.
Oh the look on his face. Priceless. Bet he fears he’s going to starve. “Cheer up, princeling. Learning to cook won’t hurt at all, and I promise I won’t let you starve.”
“Good to know.” Varo uncrossed his arms and stared into the pot.
“Careful. That steam is hot.”
Varo jerked back. “This could be a rather dangerous endeavor.”
Adlar lips twitched. Cooking an egg was dangerous? Okay, the hot water could be. He’d give Varo that. Instead of commenting he checked the time. “That should be long enough.”
Adlar turned the heating surface off then opened a drawer and removed a large metal spoon. He dipped the heavy egg out of the steaming water and used a towel to cradle it as he walked to the sink.
“Now, we let it cool off.”
“Then we eat?” Varo asked.
“Not quite yet.” Adlar ran cool water over the egg for several unit minutes. “Okay, that should make it cool enough. Here. Touch it so you can feel how cool it is.”
Varo shrugged but touched the egg. “Okay. Now what?”
Adlar picked up the egg in one hand. “Now I’m going to use the back of the spoon I used to dip the egg out of the water and crack it. I’m just cracking it, not peeling it.”
“Why?”
Adlar gently tapped the eggshell, cracking it all over. “This is how you marble an egg. The more you tap, the more intricate the design. But do this with a delicate hand so that the shell is kept intact.”
“What’s the point in designing this thing?”
“Just wait and you’ll see.” Once Adlar was finished he went to a rack that held spices. “We need a cup of Mamire soy sauce, two star anise, two tablespoons of Helkan black tea, one Algorian cinnamon stick, one teaspoon of sugar, one tablespoon Sichuan peppercorn, and two strips dried Helkan tangerine.”
Varo blew out a breath. “I’m supposed to remember all that later?”
“No. For each food, there are recipes listed in the reduplicators. Just log on and pull it up. This is called Marbled Tea Egg.”
“Ah! I’ve heard of Marbled Tea Eggs before. Never had one.”
“Really? I’m surprised. They’re a thing of beauty. Okay, next step. In the same pot return the egg and bring the water to a boil.” Adlar returned the pot to the cooking surface and turned the heat up. “Add the ingredients and bring the mixture to a boil then immediately turn the heat to low,” Adlar demonstrated.
Standing next to Adlar, Varo watched. “Okay.”
Adlar then reached below the cooking surface into a drawer, held up a lid, and covered the pot with it. “We let it simmer for twenty unit minutes so the egg can steep, and then I’m going to heat flash it so that it will marbleize faster.”
“Still seems like a lot of work.”
“Anything worth a frack usually is. Here, help me set table while we wait.”
Varo helped Adlar set the table. Adlar had just poured Varo a drink when Varo’s stomach growled. Varo blushed as he held his belly.
“That sounded serious.”
“I am hungry.”
“It won’t be long. Why don’t you sit down?”
Varo sat at the table while Adlar puttered around the kitchen as he waited for the egg to cook.
Adlar checked the egg. “Good, it’s ready.” He heat flashed the water then turned from the pot and walked to the cabinets that held plates. “I should have started this last night, but I didn’t think about it. The longer you steep, the more flavorful and deeply marbled the tea eggs will be.”
Adar set the egg down in front of Varo. The oversized cup had four prongs that held the egg upright. Adlar placed another small plate in front of Varo, along with a fork and a knife. Since the table was small, Adlar set across from Varo.
He had a moment of hesitation about the knife, but he didn’t think Varo would try to use it against him. At least, not yet. Varo would know he was still on guard. No, if Varo ever did try anything, it would come later, when Varo thought Adlar was more comfortable around him. He sincerely hoped Varo wouldn’t do such a stupid thing, but experience had taught him otherwise.
Varo glanced at the knife but didn’t say a word. Instead he looked at the egg. “I see what you mean now. This is simply gorgeous, and the pattern is so detailed.”
“You can create different marbled patterns by using use different sauces or juices.” Adlar used his spoon, cracked the shell, and peeled his side away.
Adlar picked his knife, sliced off a section of the egg, and put it on his plate. Varo picked up his knife and copied Adlar’s actions. The only sign of concern Adlar gave over the knife was a slight stiffening of his shoulders.
Varo set the knife down and using his fork, started eating the egg. “This is good.”
“Thank you. Next time we do this, I’ll watch while you cook,” Adlar said.
Varo didn’t say anything but Adlar saw the look on his face. Enthusiastic he was not. Ah well, Adlar was sure this was not the only thing Varo wouldn’t be pleased with.
They finished eating, and Adlar had Varo help him clean up the kitchen.
“I’m off-duty for a few days and have nothing pressing. Would you like to do some exploring? I thought you might like to see our more mountainous regions,” Adlar asked.
“I would like that, yes. Where would we go?”
“I can show you plenty around here. I often hike this area so I know it well.” Adlar touched the com on his hand then tapped out a message. “Just let me send a message to the palace so they know where I am.”
“Do you often have to check in with your brother?”
“It’s more of a safety precaution. If no one hears from me after a certain amount of time, searchers would at least have a starting place to look from. I rarely go more than a few days without talking to him.” Adlar led Varo to his equipment room.
“So you and your brother are close?”
Adlar unlocked the room and opened it. “Very much so. He’s younger than me.”
Varo’s stunned gaze roamed around the weapon-filled room. Racks and racks lined the walls. “This… this is all yours?”
“Yes.”
“Are you expecting an invasion, by chance?”
Adlar laughed softly as he led the way to one of the numerous shelves full of weapons. “Better to have too much than not enough. And by the way, nothing is loaded in here and the safeties are on too, just in case you get any bright ideas.”
“Worried I might attack you?”
“Actually, no. Thanks to the collar, I can put you on the ground before you could take aim.” Adlar took a small phaser and knife off one rack. “But let’s not talk about that. There are wild animals about, and it’s not a good idea to be unarmed.”
Varo glanced at all the different weapons lining every inch in the place. “In that case, what do I get?”
“Me.”
Adlar flashed a smile as he bent over and placed the small phaser in his ankle holder. Then he slid a knife in the top of his boot. Straightening, he removed another phaser from the rack of weapons and added it to the holder around his waist.
Finally another knife was added to an arm sheathe. He grabbed a pair of protective black glass eyewear designed primarily to increase vision in low light.
Varo stuck his hands on his hips and scowled. “Oh, goodie.”
“It is good.” Adlar grabbed a small backpack then winked at Varo. “Come on, let’s get started.” He led Varo out.
Stunned, Varo followed, standing silently as Adlar relocked the room. Adlar went to the kitchen and added bottled water and some freeze-dried food paks to his backpack.
“Ready?”
“Do I not get a backpack?” Varo asked.
“You don’t need one.” Adlar motioned to the backpack. “We don’t need much since we’re staying around here, but if you want to carry it, that’s fine with me.” Adlar held the pak out to Varo.
Groaning, Varo took it. “Huh. I have the feeling I was just scammed.”
“I have no idea what you mean.” Adlar patted Varo on the back then led him to one of the house exits Adlar stood for a moment looking around him. “Let’s head toward the east. There are some interesting landscapes that way I think you’ll like.”
The trail they followed wasn’t difficult at first. Small scrub trees with pointy spines dotted the landscape, and the ground was flat and easy to tread. Small lilac-colored mounds of rocks dotted the landscape along with flowering bushes.
Adlar quickly led Varo to the cliffs and the pathways that wound through the purple rock. Weak light filtered through from the never-ending clouds. Adlar showed Varo several interesting rock formations that water and wind had shaped then finally led Varo to the opening of another cave.
“Is this like yours?”
“Oh no.” Adlar shook his head. “This one has miles and miles of underground cave systems.”
“Could we get lost in there?”
“Most assuredly, but we’re not going in too far. And I’ve mapped this section of the cave.”
Varo stepped inside and noticed how brightly lit the cave was. As he looked around, he noticed glowing crystals in the walls. “Oh stars and curses, is that… is that Black Phospolrock?”
Adlar glanced around the cave, trying to see it through Varo’s eyes. “Yes, there are numerous pockets of the crystals throughout our caves.”
Varo’s breathe sped up as he looked around. “You mean to tell me you have Black Phospolrock just… just practically sitting around? It’s… it’s…. I could virtually just pull a crystal out of the wall with my bare hands.”
Adlar frowned at the walls. “I suppose.”
“You suppose ?” Varo gaped at Adlar. “Look at all this! There’s a fortune just sitting there.”
“Maybe, but do you also see the beauty surrounding you, Varo? Look.” Adlar spread his arms out. “Look and see .”
Weak sunlight beamed through a high hole in the cave ceiling, helping dispel the darkness, along with the glow from the Black Phospolrock crystals. Rock formations called speleothems drooped eerily from the ceilings like icicles, or emerged from the floor like mushrooms.
The icicle-shaped formations called stalactites formed as water dripped from the cave roof. Stalagmites grew from the floor, reaching toward the sky, from the end of stalactites. Patches of different shades of purple moss grew along the cave’s floor.
The cave was enormous, the ceiling towering above them. Ledges inside the cave looked to lead off in different directions. A cool breeze ruffled Varo’s hair as they walked and the splash of water drew his attention.
“Open your eyes, and see what’s here in front of you. There are all sorts of riches in this cave. Look! Look up!” A winged animal flew past. “They’re called Gainta Chiroptera. They’re the only mammal that has achieved powered flight. This species lives in these caves. And over there, see that? It’s an Anura, a short-bodied, tailless amphibian that also lives here.”
“They’re just animals.”
“It’s life, Varo. And there’s more to life than just currency.”
“I… okay. It is stunning down here, I’ll grant you that. I guess I never stopped to…. I’d like to do some more sightseeing. You sure you know your way around down here?” Varo asked.
“I do, don’t worry. I’m not going to get us lost. Besides, as I said, we aren’t going very far in.”
“It’s so… huge. It makes you feel so insignificant, you know?” Varo waved his hand at the soaring cave around them. “I mean look at this. No machine did this.”
“It’s amazing what nature can do, I agree. Come on, I want to show you something.” Adlar trudged off with Varo following.
“What is it?”
“Well now, if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Adlar threw over his shoulder. “But I think you’ll like it.”
Adlar continued to walk ignoring the mutterings he heard behind him. It was amusing, to say the least. As they made their way deep in the cave, Adlar stopped to point out odd rock formations or unique small animals he thought Varo would like.
As they walked, the air took on a coolness that hadn’t been there before. The ground gently sloped downward and, the cave walls began to close in. They slipped through a small opening, and then the cavern opened up.
“Goddess,” Varo whispered. “It’s amazing.”
The glowing walls cast light throughout the large space. Bright violet stones gave way to hot pink, the two colors blending perfectly. But that wasn’t what stunned Varo. The cavern contained a clear pool of shimmering water with a small island in the middle.
“Isn’t it? This pool is actually fed by a hot water spring.”
The rock ledges near the water offered places to sit and dip ones feet in the water. Toward the back of the cavern a hole in the ceiling allowed light and more water to enter. Plants had sprung up and bloomed madly around the water’s edge.
“Really?”  Varo bent down and touched the edge of the pool. “Wow, it’s really warm. How nice.”
Adlar glanced down at Varo, who was still crouched at the edge of the pool. He looked around the cave. It was only them here. He looked back at the water and debated asking Varo if he wanted to swim. They’d have to strip down and that meant all his weapons would be unsupervised. Could he take that chance?
He glanced back at Varo. Only one way to find out. “It is nice. The hot water feels very good. Would you like to try it?”
 TBC