EC-612 Boys in Love

Excerpt

When he came round he found himself facing a stone wall, his wrists secured by manacles fixed in the stone. Gingerly he had found his feet on the sandy floor to relieve his aching wrists. He had no idea how long he had been hanging on the chains that bound his wrists, but he didn’t think it had been very long. His head ached, and he felt dizzy.

As his brain cleared he heard voices, and turning his head he saw a group of soldiers seated round a table playing cards. They were completely engrossed in their game, and occasionally one of them would curse the luck of the draw. A candle flickered on the table, which was the only light in what Omar presumed must be the guard room. As Omar watched one of the soldiers threw his cards on the table with an exclamation of disgust, and standing up sauntered over to a corner of the room where several mattresses had been thrown onto the floor.

As he passed close where Omar was manacled to the wall he stopped and called over to his colleagues.

“Our brave friend had come back to us.”

The others stopped their card game and came over to look at Omar, one of them holding the guttering candle. Omar, still dressed only in his pantaloons, his arms stretched upwards, his wrists securely imprisoned by the chains fixed high on the wall, kept his gaze on the stone wall in front of him.

But one of the soldiers caught hold of his chin and jerked his head round.

“Now why did you try to kill our dear captain? A pretty boy like you should be better behaved.”

The others, crowding Omar, laughed.

“Captain Bakkali was thinking of getting something else stuck into him other than a knife,” one of them joked.