The Prisoner's Release and Other Stories (12 page)

Whether it was the weather or not, Alexan’s mood lightened from that day on. He returned home with a spring in his step that night, greeting Jonas with a kiss and the news that his noble had been spending the day talking to the king. He gave Jonas a necklace that night, a small pendant with a golden cougar’s head on it. “I borrowed this from Phineas,” he said. “I want you to have it.”

“
Oh,” Jonas said, and his eyes filled with tears. He hugged Alexan tightly and kissed him. “I love it. Thank you so much.”

“
You deserve the best,” Alexan said.

They kissed again, and made love, and long after Alexan was asleep, Jonas held the pendant and turned it this way and that, watching it catch the moonlight in its curves, holding its weight in his paw, feeling the smoothness of the gold against his pads. When he woke in the morning, Alexan was gone, but the pendant had been carefully placed on the night table and it glinted in the morning sun as he opened his eyes. He took his old family pendant and left it on the table that morning, wearing the gold one instead.

Alexan remained in good spirits for the next few days, until the day of his noble sponsor’s appointment with the king. The noble had promised to espouse his cause, he told Jonas, and the king was inclined to listen to him. There was a meeting of the merchant guild leaders scheduled in a week, and the king was expected to announce his decision there; having the noble’s audience so soon before the expected announcement was considered good.

The night of the audience, Alexan brought Mikka, Phineas, and Benton home. He’d stocked wine and mead in preparation for the occasion, and they had obviously already been celebrating. Phineas tripped twice on the way in, and Mikka’s laugh was more high-pitched and frequent than usual. Jonas tried to join in the celebration, but felt more comfortable sitting near Benton, who was also quiet and apparently sober.

Dinner was a quick, informal affair, and they were soon sprawled out all over the living room talking about their noble sponsor and congratulating Alexan on his success. Jonas could see why Benton would be happy, but he didn’t understand why Mikka and Phineas stood to benefit until Mikka made a remark about his clothes getting wider distribution, and he realized that Alexan must have promised to distribute their goods in Ferrenis in addition to his other payments.

Phineas fell asleep in the middle of one conversation, and after shaking him awake, Mikka said, “I’m tired too. Come on, Phineas, I’ll take you home.”

“
A’right,” the rabbit mumbled.

“
Oh, stay a while,” Alexan said. “At least you, Benton. You’re not d-drunk.”

Benton eased back into his chair. Alexan accompanied Mikka and Phineas to the door, entreating them to stay over Mikka’s quiet refusals.

“
Your mate’s still working late?” Jonas asked Benton.

Benton nodded. “He’s trying to help us afford a better apartment.”

“
Can’t he get help from his family?”

The fox shook his head. “He doesn’t want to ask them.” He sighed. “It’s complicated. But it’s all right.”

Jonas could see that it was, even if Benton’s smile was a bit hesitant. He smiled back. “I’m glad to hear that. I still hope I can get to meet him.”

“
Me too.” Benton’s tail wagged, which Jonas thought was just adorable.

Alexan came back into the room, and a glance at him made Jonas uneasy. The tilt of his ears and the set of his muzzle were familiar—not bad, not yet, but not far off. Before Jonas could say anything, Alexan waved a paw at him. “Getting all comfy? Why not show Benton some real hospitality?”

“
Oh, I’m fine,” Benton said brightly.

“
Jonas has a lot of ta-alent. I’m sure he could think of something.”

Benton looked puzzled now. “I don’t understand.”

“
Oh.” Alexan sat on the couch and fumbled at the lacings of his pants. “Jonas, come over here and show him.”

“
I…” Jonas looked at Alexan, hoping the fox could still stop.

“
Why not?” Alexan smiled and let his sheath and rising erection out into the air.

Benton was still looking down at the floor, but as Jonas glanced at him, he got up. “Maybe I should get going. It’s kind of late.”

“
Oh, sit down, Benton,” Alexan said lazily, grinning widely now. “Don’t be a prude.”

Benton paused and then reluctantly sat down, tail curled around his lap. Jonas almost encouraged him to leave, but Alexan had leaned over and pulled his head around. “Come on, kitty,” he said, smiling. “It’s a happy occasion.”

Jonas abandoned his pleading eyes and lowered his head. Alexan, unlike some clients Jonas had known, did not have the ability to perform well while intoxicated. Jonas’s tongue badly needed a rest by the time the fox’s seed splashed across it.

“
Now do Benton,” Alexan said. “We don’t want to leave him out.”

“
I don’t…” Benton started.

Alexan cut him off. “Come on, Benton. You’re used to c-cougars. Jonas wants to d-do it. Don’t turn him down.”

Jonas looked at the smaller red fox and saw his reluctance in his eyes and ears. He stood up. “Actually, I think I’ll go to bed. I don’t feel so good.”

“
You’ve got time,” Alexan said, no longer sounding drunk.

“
I really don’t feel so good.” Jonas glanced at Benton and gave him the briefest of encouraging smiles, and then walked into the spare room.

The water jug by the bedside table was empty, and there was nothing else in the room to wash the taste out of his muzzle with. He sat down on the bed and closed his eyes, drawing his knees up to his chest and curling his tail around himself.

He deliberately tried not to listen to the noises outside. Focused inward, he didn’t even hear Alexan come into the room until the fox spoke.

“
What the hell was that?”

Jonas raised his head. “What?”

“
You embarrassed me. In front of my friends and business partners.”

“
I said I don’t feel good.”

“
I know what you said. You felt good enough to do me. How do you think that made Benton feel?”

Jonas couldn’t think of any response to that. Hadn’t Alexan noticed, hadn’t he seen? Jonas thought Benton couldn’t have broadcast his feelings any louder if he’d shouted “I feel extremely uncomfortable with all this!”

Interpreting his silence as guilty assent, Alexan continued. “He left right away. He works for one of my most important contacts!”

“
You don’t…”

“
Quiet.” Alexan slapped his muzzle, hard, and Jonas recoiled, eyes wide. “I don’t understand how you can suck anyone who pays you a few silver pieces for years, but suddenly you get all squeamish when it really matters. You think this is bad? If you cost me a relationship with Master Talid, just wait and see. You’ll be doing this full time again.”

Shocked, and more than a little afraid, Jonas watched Alexan leave the room and close the door behind him.

In the dark hours of that night, Jonas imagined asking Benton to help him get away and establish himself, because Benton was the only person he’d met in Caril who didn’t view him as a prostitute (apart from Taypha, but the prospect of Jonas joining the guard was ludicrous). But each time the idea surfaced, he dismissed it as ridiculous. Benton had his own life and his own boyfriend, and Jonas didn’t fit in anywhere that he could see. The problem, the thing that he couldn’t get past, was that he didn’t fit in with Alexan either. He no longer really believed they could have a life together.

The next morning, he lay curled up in bed as the light streamed in through the windows. Normally, he would get up to make breakfast, but the events of the night before had left him listless. He watched dully as the light grew brighter and higher, and if Alexan hadn’t come in around mid-morning, Jonas might have spent the whole day in bed.

He cringed when he heard the door open and caught the fox’s scent, but Alexan’s voice was cheerful. “Hey, sleepyhead. Come on, I made some oatmeal and it’s getting cold.”

Bemused, Jonas rolled out of the bed and stretched, then walked into the dining room. Sure enough, two bowls of oatmeal sat steaming on the table. He sniffed, irrationally worried that one might be poisoned or something, but they smelled fine. Alexan had even added honey.

“
Go on, sit down. It won’t get any warmer!” Jonas jumped at the touch as Alexan patted his back, then sat down. He wanted to say something about the previous night, but if Alexan had forgiven him then he didn’t want to bring up the matter again. Maybe, he thought suddenly, he doesn’t actually remember. Maybe he was drunk and that’s why he got so angry. It wasn’t really him.

As the day wore on, he became more and more convinced that that was the case. Alexan talked about what a great party it had been, and how excited he was that things were finally coming together, and the ugliness that the dinner had degenerated into never entered the conversation.

Jonas spent the next few days convincing himself that that night had been an aberration, and that he’d overreacted by thinking of leaving the fox. Alexan was unfailingly sweet to him for the remainder of the week, and at the end of the week, in services, Jonas prayed to Cougar to keep the fox in a good mood. Did Cougar have any influence over his brother Fox? He hoped so. He didn’t know what else to do.

The following day was Feliday, and the king’s meeting with the merchant guild was scheduled to happen at midday. Actually, an increasingly nervous Alexan told Jonas, the king would meet with his ministers in the morning, and then would accompany the minister of Trade to the meeting, but the minister of Trade would do most of the talking. His noble sponsor was going to try to be in attendance but had not been able to secure an invitation. He would hear of the decision from one of the ministers, but Benton would hear from his master before then. News would trickle down to him somehow.

He expected Benton first, or perhaps Phineas or Mikka, when Jonas heard the knock and hurried to answer the door, Alexan behind him. When they saw Taypha, Alexan’s ears flicked up and he smiled. “Come to wait for the news?”

Taypha shook his head. “I’ve got the news,” he said, and Jonas could read what it was in the slant of his ears and the flatness of his voice.

“
Well, come in, come in!” Alexan ushered the bear into the living room. Jonas closed the front door and sagged against it. All for nothing. What would they do now? Alexan’s business was worthless, his contracts with Mikka and Phineas probably worthless as well. He had a clientele in Tephos, but they knew him as a weapons dealer, and Jonas suspected the fox didn’t have the inclination to build up a new trade.

Taypha came back to the door a moment later. He put a paw on Jonas’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” was all he said. Jonas nodded and let him out.

He started to walk back to see how Alexan was doing, but the fox brushed past him and headed for the door as well. “Alexan, are you…” Jonas didn’t even get to finish his sentence before the fox was out the door and down the stairs, his bushy tail waving furiously behind him.

Should he go after him? Jonas decided against it. Better to let him work out his anger and then come home. He closed the door softly and went to the kitchen to see what he could find for dinner.

There were some leftovers from the celebratory party, which he’d been saving for tonight. Now, they seemed full of hubris, and he felt that neither he nor Alexan would have the stomach for them. The only other thing he had was some old fowl from two nights ago and a loaf of fresh bread. If he had any money, he could go to the market and get some vegetables, at least, but Alexan hadn’t left him any money.

He was just throwing some wood into the stove to start preparing the chicken when he heard a faint knock at the front door. Maybe Alexan had sent someone home with food, he thought, and then he realized that it was more likely to be Benton, not knowing that they already knew the news. It sounded like Benton’s knock.

The short red fox was indeed standing on the stoop when Jonas opened the door, his ears back, staring down at the ground. He looked up and saw Jonas, and his muzzle worked for a couple seconds without producing any sound.

“
It’s okay,” Jonas said. “We heard.” Then, because he wanted some company, he asked, “Would you like to come in?”

“
How did you hear? I came here as soon as I heard.”

Jonas stepped back, and after a moment’s hesitation, Benton followed him into the house. “Taypha came by. I don’t know how he knew.”

“
Oh.” Benton fidgeted. “Master Talid wasn’t happy. He dismissed the new apprentice. Says he won’t have enough work to keep us all busy.”