When he had lost his power to communicate with the animals, Dar felt bereft and isolated.  The daily routine of the jungle went on around him, but he felt without hid really being apart of it as he had been.  It was as though he was a stranger in a strange land; in this verdant world but not of it.  It was only the sound of Tao's sweet voice that kept him anchored.  How many times had that same voice annoyed him, distracted him, and angered him?  Dar really didn't know.

It'd been days since he'd completed his tests and regained his powers, but still something was missing.  In his own 'eureka' moment, he realized that it was the calming sound of Tao's voice.  Tao had stopped talking and this was very, very strange.  As sure as the sun would come up in the morning, Dar knew, Tao would talk and talk and talk; it had taken this latest adventure and coming so close to his own death for him to realize just how pleasing he found the sound of his friend's voice.

Each night when they would stop to make camp and Dar would send Tao out in search for food, he'd notice the sadness in Tao's eyes, but Tao didn't speak, didn't even call the ferrets 'rats' as he used to do.  It was the same if Dar left Tao to gather firewood and build a fire, Dar would notice the lifelessness in his friend's eyes; they looked empty and deeply hurt. 

"Tao!" The Beastmaster called to him, after handing over the ferrets to go search for food.  Tao turned to him, petting the small, furry animals in his arms, as though searing for some kind of comfort from the tactile sensations.  But he didn't speak; he just looked directly at his friend.  Dar walked the short distance between them and stopped to hold Tao's shoulder's in his hands and stared at the darker man. "What's wrong?"

Tao let the ferrets drop to the ground and they went scurrying off; he looked directly into the Beastmaster's light eyes but he didn't speak. Dar wouldn't accept this and pulled his friend closer so that nothing but a few inches separated them and he repeated the question.

Tao dropped his eyes and whispered so low that the Beastmaster didn't hear him. "I almost lost you."

"What?" Dar asked. 

Tao lifted his hands to Dar's chest and the Beastmaster noticed that Tao's eyes were misting over. His friend started pounding on his chest and finally opened his fists and tried to push the Beastmaster away.  Dar was a rock, an immovable force; he kept his friend in so close that they shared the same breath.

"I almost lost you, Dar," his friend said, he voice breaking.  "You almost died, Dar, you almost died!" Tao lost his battle with his tears and they rolled down each cheek, steadily, showing no indication of ever stopping. "I don't know what I'd do if you left me alone, Dar. I can't imagine going on without you."

The Beastmaser smiled at Tao; that ear-to-ear, blinding smile that he reserved for Tao and for Tao alone.  He let his friend's shoulders go and took his staff from its resting place and dropped it on the ground.  Reaching up his arm, he undid one strap from his shoulder and then the other and dropped the piece of leather to the ground. He pulled the upset man tightly to his chest and rested his head on the darker man's shoulder, his mouth close to his ear.

Tao was speechless and very definitely aroused; the Beastmaster had never shared such closeness with him before nor had he held him in his arms like a lover. 

"Tao," the Beastmaster whispered, "your name means 'the way' and you've definitely shown me the way - the way to true friendship.  I'd never leave you...willingly."

Tao's knees went weak and he wrapped his arms around Dar's hips for support. 

"I saw you, you know. The Ancient, The Sorceress and the Demon, they all looked terrified - terrified that they might lose their powers, forever.  But you, you were terrified for me, filled with grief.  I saw your tears, Tao, and knew that they were only for me. They filled me with wonder and a happiness I have never known; the knowledge that someone loved me so much warmed me from the inside out and gave me strength. " He nibbled at Tao's ear and then licked it slowly and lovingly.

"The Ancient's magic was leaving him quickly.  It was only with the help of your whispered prayers that enabled him to bring me back." The Beastmaster lifted his head to look at his friend's face.  Tao's hazel eyes had gone obsidian from love and desire and they were were as large as saucers. Dar gifted him with another smile, this time wider and brighter than before. He took Tao's head in his hand and leaned in to kiss him, using his tongue to lick along the darker man's lips.  Slowly Tao opened his mouth to him; the Beastmaster licked along the other man's teeth and tongue. The low moan that Rhu heard could have been coming from Tao or from Dar, or indeed from both of them. Tao opened his mouth and poured all his feelings into that kiss. Dar tried to lift Tao's outer shirt up and off, but the other man placed his hands on Dar's to stop him. 

Dar looked at his friend questionly. 

"I can't Dar, I can't."

"You don't want me?"

"No, it's not that...you're so beautiful and I'm so..."

The Beastmaster smiled at him again as he unhooked his outer thong and let it drop to the ground.  "Tao, the tiger that we were helping was lighter and thinner than Rhu, but nonetheless he was just as beautiful.  We're all different, Tao, and you are beautiful to me. 

This time Tao let the Beastmaster remove his shirts until he stood bare-chested next to his friend.  Dar unhooked his thong and let it drop to the ground.  This time Tao's eyes nearly popped from his head when he saw the size of the Beastmaster's cock.  It hung down almost to mid-thigh. Dar moved him in closer so that their bare chests touched and reached down to feel between his friend's legs. He chuckled.  "You do want me."

Tao laughed. "As if there were ever any question."

Dar lost no time in case his friend would change his mind. He untied the chord around Tao's pants and let them fall to the ground.  He moved back a little just to see. He smiled again and rubbed his hands over every bit of Tao's flesh that he could reach.  "You are beautiful."

Tao blushed. "I can't believe that you want me in that way, Dar."

The Beastmaster's eyes sparkled and his manhood filled with blood and rose up strong and proud. "Who do I lie down with every night?  Who do I wake up with every morning?  Who do I choose to spend all my days with, Tao?  Who has risked his life for me, on many occasions, without any care to his own safety, in most cases without even being asked?  It's you Tao.  Why wouldn't I want you in that way?  I want to join with you, Tao. I want it very much and would consider in a honour and a gift if you wanted it too."

"I do want it, Dar, more than you know."

The Beastmaster took his friend by the hand and let them over toward a small patch of grass.  He sat down and held up his arms to Tao to join him.  Tao did just that and straddled his friends lap so that they were sitting face to face and eye to eye.  Dar leaned in and kissed him again, exploring every crevice, every surface of the flesh in his lover's mouth and closed his eyes in pleasure. 

"We don't have anything to help us, Tao.

He friend smiled evilly. "Well, I do have something."  He lowered his eyes in that way the Beastmaster loved to see. "I have a soothing salve that the men of my village use."  He blushed. "It has a couple of side effects though - not serious ones - it will cause your cock to warm up a little and prolongs an erection for a time."

The Beastmaster blushed this time. "That will do."

"Let me try it on me first," Tao said, "so that you can see."  He reached into his bag and took out a container of thickish, greenish tinted unguent.  He dipped his fingers in and coated them, applying the lubricant to his own flesh.  The Beastmaster was amazed to hear Tao's groan; surprised and elated to see an immediate growth of his friend's equipment by at least an inch in length and a half-inch in width. 

"How does it feel, Tao?"

The darker man looked at him like his mind was somewhere else, somewhere where he was lost in pleasure. "Wonderful."

Dar dipped his finger into the substance and applied it against his friend's puckered hole.  The reaction was immediate; Tao groaned deeply in his chest and thrust his ass down on Dar's finger until it disappeared within his body. Dar spread the unguent on his other finger and inserted the both of them into Tao.  His fried writhed with pleasure and arousal. Dar withdrew his fingers and dipped them again into the jar and coated his own cock.  His eyes widened in pleasure and shock at the feelings it caused. He couldn't wait any longer and pointed the head of his cock at Tao's opening. 

"Lie down, Dar, let me do this."

Dar did what he was told and Tao braced his knees on either side of his companion and sank heavily onto Dar's prodigious erection.  He arched his back in pleasure and opened is mouth in a silent moan. 

The feel of Tao's tightness around him was the sweetest, most arousing, feeling that Dar had ever experienced. "Move, Tao."

And move Tao did, slowly at first and then with increasing speed.  Dar reached up and grabbed the other man's erection and started to stoke it with the same rhythm that Tao had set.  Both men were covered in sweat and groaning uncontrollably when Tao contracted around the erection buried deep within him and started to shoot his seed all over the Beastmaster's chest and stomach.

The contraction of Tao's inner passage was just too much of a sensory overload for Dar, and he shot his essence deep within his partner.  He smiled so wide at Tao that his friend's heart just melted.  Tao bent down to kiss the man beneath him.  Lost in Dar's scent and warmth, time seemed to stand still for both of them.

Sometime later, Tao realized that he was still laying on top of the Beastmaster and made a move to slide of him, but Dar put his arms round Tao's hips to stop him.  He loved Tao's scent and never wanted to be free of it. He kissed the darker man again, long and hard and rubbed his hands over Tao's back and flanks; the feel of his friend's skin giving him even more comfort and contentment than he ever thought possible. 

Both men were surprised to hear a low growl from Rhu and they looked at him at the same time. Dar laughed out load, laughed so hard that Tao was shaking lying on top of him.

"What did he say?"  The Beastmaster continued to laugh. 

"Oh, come on tell me." Tao said from around the nipple he had in his mouth.

"You won't believe this, Tao, but Rhu said 'Well, it's about time.'"

"I can't say I disagree with him." Tao said, as he looked toward the tiger.  He smiled. "Smart ass cat." He said.

The end

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