~Absolute Power~

~Chapter One~

Kaemar Itarian stared gloomily into the murky depths of his mug of ale, the possibility of getting blindingly, mind-erasingly drunk beckoning him with a lover’s sweet promises. It would be so easy to just slip into oblivion for a few numbing hours…

But no, he couldn’t do that, couldn’t afford the loss of awareness that getting drunk would bring him. He had to stay alert, lest the enemy sneak up on him whilst he was unaware…

He shivered suddenly at his own paranoia and pulled his woolen cloak more tightly around his body, reminding himself that the war was over.

He took a swallow of his ale, and closed his eyes, letting its watery taste soothe his parched throat, then sighed. What he really needed was a warm body. One with talented hands and an even more talented mouth. But he wouldn’t be finding one, at least not tonight.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t good looking, in fact he knew that he was handsome, almost devastatingly so, with his long black hair and finely toned body. But his tastes in sexual partners tended to leave him alone at night more often than not. He found it hard to find men who also preferred the company of men to that of the fairer, female sex.

He wet his finger in a puddle of spilled ale on the table, tracing the outline of a face onto the wooden surface. Beautiful lips, and a willing smile, that what was he wanted. And sparkling eyes.

~*~

Across the tavern, a young man closed his eyes and tossed back another mug of ale, trying to drown out the whirlwind of feelings that he was picking up from the tavern’s other occupants. He only succeeded in making his growing headache worse though, and rubbed a pale hand across his eyes in distress.

He was shielding, so the emotions shouldn’t be able to get through. But they were, and he didn’t know how to stop them.

He wanted to stand on top of a table and yell at everyone to go away, or to just stop feeling for a while, so that his blasted headache would go away.

He didn’t though; instead he huddled further into his chair, trying to ignore the hungry stares that he knew the other patrons were sending his way.

A sharp stab of loneliness from one of the other patrons nearly caused him to cry out, and he lurched to his feet, intending to leave.

He was nearly at the door when another emotion set his reeling dizzily.

Then everything went back.

~*~

The chattering in the tavern suddenly stopped, as a young man walking past Kaemar let out a piercing cry and collapsed to the ground. With speed come from years of mercenary training, Kaemar dove for him, reaching him before any of the tavern’s other patrons could get hold of him.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he knew that his intentions towards the man were probably a lot kinder than the tavern’s other inhabitants, so without hesitation he scooped the man up into his arms and quickly headed out the door.

~*~

Kaemar’s horse succeeded in waking up the young man before they’d even left the tavern, whickering loudly as Kaemar tried to put the man on her back. The other’s eyes had flown open, revealing deep blue, almost purple eyes that stared at Kaemar with unveiled terror.

Kaemar released his hold and stepped back, watching as the man leant against his horse for balance.

"What are you doing?" he asked Kaemar. His voice was soft and even, and Kaemar decided that he liked the sound of it.

"You collapsed inside," he told him. "I was helping you."

"By taking me away on your horse?" his voice was sharply sarcastic, and he was obviously recovering if he was able to lash out at Kaemar. "How is that helpful?"

"I was getting you away from the tavern." Kaemar replied. "Would you rather I had left you unconscious in there?" he gestured in the general direction of the tavern.

"No," the other man growled out, looking slightly mollified. "Thank you." He smiled slightly. "May I know the name of my rescuer?"

Kaemar narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but replied anyway. "Kaemar." He said curtly. "And yours?"

"Te’ithan." The boy – Kaemar had decided that with his wide-eyed innocence he looked too young to be a man – replied happily. Some of his blond hair had fallen into his eyes, and he pushed it away impatiently. It fell back almost immediately, and he shook his head, grinning wryly. "Look Kaemar, I’m not going to hurt you." He said suddenly, his voice becoming weary. "I’m not stupid enough to attack an armed man, especially after I just fainted like a maiden at your feet. You can relax."

Te’ithan’s words did nothing to make Kaemar relax, instead having the opposite effect. "Don’t tell me what to do, boy," Kaemar replied angrily. "I-"

Te’ithan cut him off with a laugh. "Boy? I doubt that I’m that much younger than you, old man." He stood up straighter and moved away from the horse. "Look Kaemar, thanks for helping me and everything, but I think I should probably get going now."

Kaemar nodded, mouth set in a thin line. Te’ithan’s ability to tell what he was feeling had unnerved him more than he was willing to admit – he was usually better at keeping his feelings hidden from others. He just anted Te’ithan to leave so that he could go back to his ale, and thoughts of men who were decidedly not blond, and definitely didn’t have alluring eyes that couldn’t decided whether to be purple or blue.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost didn’t notice Te’ithan’s face pale suddenly, bit he heard quite clearly his sudden, sharp intake of breath and the whispered words that followed. "Kaemar! Behind you!"

Kaemar’s eyes narrowed and he spun quickly, ducking as he did so and narrowly missing a dagger thrown from behind him.

His attacker was younger than he was, and by his half-starved appearance, Kaemar guessed that he was a street-child, attacking Kaemar for his money.

Before Kaemar had any time for a return attack, the boy’s eyes widened and a small gurgle of fear escaped from his lips. He backed away slowly, hands reaching out in front of him, then without a word, spun around and ran.

Kaemar’s dropped the hand that had been reaching for the sword at his side, and let it hand limply.

He turned back to Te’ithan, hoping that the he would be able to tell him what had frightened the boy so badly.

Te’ithan’s face had become even paler, and he was sweating lightly. He was leaning against Kaemar’s horse again, and his eyes were shut tightly, his lips thin with pain.

Kaemar reached out a hand and lightly touched the side of Te’ithan’s face, pulling his hand away quickly as Te’ithan’s eyes flew open. His skin had been hot to the touch.

"What’s wrong with you?" he demanded, forgetting for the moment the puzzling fear of his attacker.

Te’ithan tried to smile, but it appeared more like a grimace. "I think," he said, through clenched teeth. "That something is wrong."

Kaemar leant his head to the side questioningly, but didn’t reply, and after a moment Te’ithan continued.

"I’m an empath," he said. "I can sense what people are feeling, usually only when I want to. Right now I can sense feelings all the time, even when I’m shielding. That’s why I collapsed before," he explained. "I was feeling the emotions of everyone in the tavern and it sort of overwhelmed me."

"Why are you telling me this?" Kaemar asked, confused.

Te’ithan’s smile was less forced this time, although he was still pale. "I have no one else to tell," he said. "and I feel I owe you an explanation." He looking down at his feet, chewing nervously on his lip. "That boy, he ran away because I frightened him. I sent a bolt of pure fear at him," he grinned sheepishly. "it was slightly stronger than I meant it to, but it worked. There’s something wrong with my power, making it work differently than it usually does. I need to find out what it is."

Kamear sighed. "What are you going to do then?"

"I’m going to go back to my home and see if the person who taught me knows anything." Te’ithan replied.

"Where’s that?" Kaemar asked, wondering if he was digging himself in too deep.

"Karthan." came the short reply.

Kaemar almost groaned aloud. He was in too deep. "You’ll never make it."

Te’ithan bridled. "Never make it? What do you mean by that?"

Kaemar waved a hand at him dissmissively. "It’s what, two weeks on horse back from here? And you’ve already fainted once, what’s to say you won’t do it again, and in more dangerous conditions?" he paused as something occurred to him. "Do you even have a horse?"

Te’ithan shook his head sheepishly. "No, but-"

"So you’re going to walk to Karthan?" Kaemar interrupted incredulously. "By yourself?"

"Unless you’re offering to come with me, yes." Te’ithan snapped back sarcastically. "Look, this has nothing to do with you, so you can just go back to your nice ale, in the nice tavern over there and forget all about me."

"I’m coming with you." Kaemar’s voice was resolute, but inside he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Te’ithan didn’t either.

"What!?"

"I have nothing better to do," Kaemar explained calmly. "I’m a merc, but as you can see, the war is over so I have nothing to fight. I may as well keep you company and make sure you don’t get yourself killed."

"Get myself killed?" Te’ithan shook his head. "I doubt it. But you can come if you want, just don’t expect any payment for your time."

Kaemar shrugged. "I wasn’t planning on staying here long anyway."
"I’m leaving in the morning," Te’ithan replied. "I’m not going to wait for you."

Kaemar nodded briefly, and Te’ithan smiled., then with a quick wave turned and walked away.

Sighing, Kaemar leant against the wall. He still didn’t understand why he’d decided to go with Te’ithan. Was it because Te’ithan would truly be in danger if he traveled alone?

Or was it because of bewitching purple eyes?

~TBC~