Elf-Boy and Friends
by George Gauthier
Chapter 4. Joining Up
A couple of hours later they reached their destination and headed straight for the green pennant that marked the home of the local healer. A very young woman with a buxom figure and flowing red tresses greeted them at the door."
"This boy was bitten by a Tracker." Balan explained. "Please fetch your mistress the healer."
"And who did you think I might be, big fellow," she gave back with a saucy tilt of her head. The name is Angelina, by the way."
All business, she settled on a stool next to the table they had laid Dahl on. Nodding approvingly at Balan's use of ashes, she tsk-tsk as she unwound the bandages and bathed it to examine Dahl's wound, an ugly mess of torn tissue and suppuration. Now most healers will ordinarily try natural medicine before invoking magic, but in Dahl's case no lesser measures would do. Putting her hands to the wounded arm she invoked her healing powers. A golden nimbus sprang into being and surrounded her hands and the boy's wounded arm as she first expelled foreign matter from the wound and then knit the torn flesh and nerves and blood vessels together. In a matter of moments the only sign of the wound was the lighter shade of the fresh skin she grown over it.
"Thank you miss, that is, Angelina." Balan said. "Sorry I mistook you for a servant, but you looked so very young.
She chuckled and reminded him that among healers, their own healing magic held back aging. She hadn't been truly young for decades. When asked how old she really was, she smiled knowingly.
"That is something you do not ask of a lady, isn't it? Especially with teenage boys prancing around in the nude. The elf-boy I understand. Those pretty blond boys, I don't."
Jemsen and Karel turned their left shoulders to display the tattoos that marked them as elf-friends.
"Now I understand about them too. More power to both of you. It is a rare honor and not easy to earn. The elves can be very choosy about whom they induct into their clans as elf-friends. I am sure you two have quite a story to tell."
"Now as to my fee, I am afraid that with all our expenses to run this place, I must charge you a whole silver."
"And I must insist you accept a gold and nothing less for your services. I know that the homes of healers are not only clinics but also schools for non-magical healers whom you tutor without charge."
"Thank you Balan. Yes, we who fly the green pennant are teachers as much as healers. We reach out to those in the other health occupations: nurses, mid-wives, herbalists, chirurgeons and bone-setters and others -- even hedge-witches, spreading the latest discoveries, methods and best practices. Many illnesses and injuries do not need the attention of a magical healer and respond well to natural treatments. And the patients can be treated close to home."
Later, as they sat around a meal at a nearby inn, Balan summed up their adventure.
"We got lucky, friends." Balan maintained. "If the Trackers had caught us out in the open and come out of the dark from three sides at once, most of us would have been killed. Don't think I am being hard on you Dahl. You roused the fire handily and fought bravely and as well as you could, but you were a weak point."
<That is true right now Balan, but once he finishes his training and comes into his druidic powers he will be the most formidable one of us all.>
"Thanks Merry. I know Balan is right. I don't wield a staff very well yet, and I am the smallest and lightest of us all by far. No wonder the Tracker managed to sink his teeth into me. I was just lucky my staff was pressed alongside my forearm, so he got a mouthful of both. Still it was horrible, the way he shook me like a a dog killing a rat. I have never felt so helpless."
"You boys did well with your bows." Balan continued. "In time the beast you shot might have bled to death, for the silver would have kept its deep wounds from closing, but the Tracker could have survived long enough to turn on you and kill or maim you. The problem with archers is that you are all offense and no defense. You need a way to hold your own during close attack. Forget those hunting knives, which are really tools for skinning hides."
"Thanks for the advice on protecting ourselves, but I think my brother and I will be moving on. We still have to go back for that elk and get its meat and hide back to our uncle."
<I am very sorry to tell you this, but for your own safety you will have to stay with us from now on. From the raven circling overhead earlier, the avatar of evil now knows who you are. He will have you hunted down and killed even if we separate and you go on alone.>
Merry explained their destination was the Great Southern Forest, explaining why it would take months of travel to reach it.
<The Great Forest is hundreds of leagues wide and lies in the southeastern quadrant of the continent we are on, nearly a quarter of the way around the world.>
"That far?" Jemsen asked.
<As you may know Haven is about equal parts land and water. The oceans occupy most of the temperate and virtually all of the polar zones of the planet. Three continents girdle the planet, separated by straits which ships can sail across in a few days. Which makes for interesting meteorology and ocean currents, believe me. Now our current position is above the equator. The Great Forest is a ways south of the Line. The point I am trying to make it that, to get there, we have to cross the continent of Valentia diagonally, which adds considerably to our journey. Are you game?>
The boys listened, then shrugged their shoulders, deciding they might as well put the best face on things that they could.
"Count us in." the boys chimed together. "We are up for an adventure. Maybe the bards will sing our song too in the years to come."
Merry and Balan smiled inwardly at the naivete and optimism of youth. Where their centuries of experience saw deadly peril, youth saw adventure and glory. Maybe it was better that way.
The giant and the unicorn liked the twins a lot -- stout-hearted lads the both of them and extremely good looking. Merry liked to watch their bums as the twins and Dahl walked ahead of them, appreciating the way their deep cleavages ended abruptly at their tailbones. Only humans and elves have such well developed buttocks or need them to maintain upright posture. And those round rumps and the moist hole in between were a promise of the pleasure they could give to other males.
He also liked the contrast between the narrow hips on the lads and their wide shoulders, another adaptation to upright posture which put the swinging arms farther away from their axis of rotation at the spine. The momentum of swinging arms countered the rotational torque the opposite legs put on the torso, which is what let human stride in a straight line rather than waddle back and forth like a duck. There was a bit of side to side movement as their dangly bits were lifted and gently pushed by the motion of whichever leg was moving forward. Nothing to be ashamed about in that department.
Such nice slim legs they had too, all muscle and bone and sinew, with virtually no fat, the veins of the sculpted calves visible against their taut skin. The legs were best watched with a boy in an all out run, his entire body in motion, leaning forward slightly, enough to fall on his face if he didn't thrust a leg forward to take his weight as the back leg pushed off. Nothing like a run to display a boy at his best, legs thrusting, arms pumping, chest rising and falling, hair blowing in the wind, sweat running down the brow and nose, the very picture of life, strength, and physical beauty.
After several more days, the party of five made their way to another town and sought accommodation at an inn. The twins had only a few silvers between them. As a group they decided to reserve Balan's purse for when they could not earn silver and once more put Dahl to work as a rent boy, his first such outing since their hard fight with the Trackers. With his equanimity now restored, Dahl said that he was up to the task. In a strange way, selling himself once again was a reestablishment of normalcy.
The twins and the giant stifled their envy and watched as many less well favored males followed the lovely elf-boy up the stairs to a room where he entertained his clientele. The twins themselves attracted much attention, sitting there in the common room, entirely naked and as smooth limbed as the elf-boy. Some patrons inquired whether they too were available for a price.
"Too bad the elf-boy's dance card is full, but that still leaves you twins, both scrumptious blond beauties. You look like you are trolling for custom going around buck nekkid like your friend the elf-boy. How about it?"
"Not tonight." Balan said firmly before the twins could answer for themselves. They had never sold their charms, but they both took it amiss that a near stranger like Balandur had thought to take that decision out of their hands. After all, they were (just barely) of age. So shouldn't he have let them decide?
In a quiet voice the giant explained that all three boys were in danger not only from dark forces but also from ordinary evildoers like thieves and slavers. It wasn't unheard of for unscrupulous innkeepers to conspire with slavers, to set up naive guests for capture and taming. Better to have the others on guard while Dahl earned their keep selling his charms. The boys could spell Dahl on other evenings of the long journey ahead of them.
The proprietor was not very happy about having to furnish food and drink for a party of five, one of them a giant with an appetite to match and three of them perpetually hungry teenagers. He assigned the twins, Balan and Dahl to a single room furnished with two beds. When they all went up to sleep, it was obvious that, because of his size, Balan would need one bed entirely for himself and even then had to lie across it diagonally. Making the best of things, the giant disrobed completely and lay down on his back and fell asleep almost immediately.
The twins stared with horrid fascination at the giant's prodigious endowment. Even flaccid it was as long and thick as a truncheon. How much larger would it get all swollen and erect. What would happen when Balan shoved that huge thing up their quims? Wouldn't it just rip their anal rings to shreds, leaving them bleeding and torn. Maybe a tumble with the giant wasn't such a good idea after all, no matter how much their hormones drove them towards it.
Shaking his head in denial at a mental image of himself impaled on the giant's member, Jemsen grabbed his ass cheeks protectively, a frightened look on his pretty face. For his part Karel bit a knuckle and let out a soft whimper, scared even more than his twin because he knew that no matter what the consequences he could never refuse the giant but would inevitably surrender himself to his overwhelming masculinity. Karel was honest enough with himself to admit that, much like the elf-boy, he was an insatiable bottom boy, born to fucked. Frightful or not, he would take that cock up his quim or die trying. And what a way to go!
"You do understand, don't you, Jemsen" Karel said, as his twin hugged him. "Even if it kills me, I have to let him take me, if not tonight then soon."
Karel nodded. "Me too. He will want to fuck both of us so you won't be alone, dear brother.
But that night they weren't going to bed with the slumbering giant. So the twins took to the smaller bed. Not a problem for they were used to sleeping spooned together after their nightly sport, and they were both so slender there was plenty of room for a diminutive elf-boy. The twins looked forward to sandwiching the elf-boy between them and once again fucking him silly half the night. The elf-boy was so incredibly cute and sexy and took direction well.
To the twins' disappointment, after finishing with his clients the elf-boy went to sleep in Merry's stall. Dahl's sleep the last few days had been troubled by nightmares about the attack. He got a good night's sleep, knowing he was safe there in Merry's stall. No need for a sentry in the stable. The unicorn's senses would warn him of hostile intent.
Dahl put his arms around Merry's neck and hugged him, pressing the front of his body to the equine, the cum of the men who had used him still oozing out of his sore hole. Then he lay down on the straw. The unicorn contented himself with licking the boy's genitals and ass then letting the exhausted boy fall into a well-earned sleep.
The next morning in the upstair room they shared with Balan, the twins got a good look at the giant's morning wood. Once again they trembled with both fright and lust as they considered the possibilities.
A few mornings later, with Dahl finally convinced his arm really was as good as new, Balan and Merry declared that it was time to equip all three boys with a quarterstaff. The local carpenter had staves on hand, genuine ashplant walking sticks, so the elf used some of his silver to buy three identical ones. He had the carpenter put a flat hook a foot or so from the end of each stave. That way a staff wielder could slip the strap of his pack onto the hook and carry it over his shoulder hobo style, the weight balanced by the left arm. In case of trouble, a quick flip of the staff would let the strap and pack slip free, leaving him ready for fight or flight. It was a much quicker way to drop a pack than releasing buckles or even lifting a strap over the neck and shoulder.
The twins appreciated that the leather straps of their back packs would no longer rub their shoulders, nor would the weight bounce against their hips. As a bonus the pack would not obstruct the view of their lithe physiques. By now the twins were shameless show offs. They knew that, unlike with elves, their own years of extraordinary youthful male beauty would be few, so they wanted to make the most of them and show off their strong young bodies. As for their weaponry, they usually carried their long bows unstrung and nestled next to their staff. Once strung the bows were carried across the back or gripped ready to shoot. Their quivers rode as before over their shoulders, though they could also be shifted to a hip carry when shooting from cover.
Their journey southwards had carried them into a clime warmer than that of the elf-boy's valley, turning what might be a pleasant hike into an increasingly sweaty chore. At least the elevation kept the temperature from reaching the nearly intolerable levels of the low-lying Hot Lands to the east. The travelers stopped for lunch in the orchard of an abandoned farm whose buildings had fallen in so badly as to be uninhabitable though the ruins provided firewood.
After eating and resting the boys and Balan paired off for practice with their new quarterstaffs. The twins had some trouble getting the hang of it and wound up bruised and with skinned knuckles. It wasn't for lack of trying, but the twins had to unlearn their training as archers which told them to back off from a fight the better to employee their bows. With a staff, you must close with your opponent and press him, not letting him seize the initiative.
Merry watched the sparring from under an apple tree, pausing from time to time to munch a fallen apple. The unicorn was fond of apples. They had a taste that was both tart and sweet and their crunchy flesh cleaned both palate and teeth.
As he snacked, the unicorn watched the training, admiring the fine lines of the youthful males as they stepped back and forth, whirled and twisted their bodies, raised and thrust out their arms, their muscles bunching and moving erotically under their tanned skin. All three boys were lean, with so little body fat that they had a tracery of veins on their arms and calves and on the flat of their bellies. Yes, this is how pretty boys were meant to live, free, naked, hairless, their handsome manhoods and delightful croups always on display. Merry had not yet taken the full measure of Dahl's round rump.
He also fancied the twins but knew he had to leave them for the giant. Unicorns and elf-boys were one thing, humans another. Spiritually at least Merry was half elf-boy himself. Physically he was an equine but secretly yearned to exchange that four legged form for the two legged form of the elf-boy he had once been. What he missed most was having hands. For one thing, it is clumsy having to turn the pages of a book with your nose.
In the evening the party of five arrived at the twins' village. The arrival of a unicorn, an elf, a giant, and the twins caused a stir. The fawn-like physique of the elf-boy reminded the villagers that it was the exuberant sexuality of elves that had tempted the twins into their way of life: perpetual public nudity and promiscuous sex with other males. Still the twins had been declared elf-friends and hence worthy of respect. And everyone knew that unicorns were good luck. The giant was an unknown but seemed friendly enough. So it was that their uncle Harleck welcomed them to the village and invited all to stay with him at his home, the stone built grange where the twins had grown up after their parents had died from a fever.
After settling in, the five travelers and uncle Harleck sat down to a scrumptious supper around a big table set up in the octagonal gazebo which connected to the house by a sheltered walkway."
"Shade and breezes. Just the place for a meal in the heat of early summer." Harleck explained. The stones of the main building soak up rather a lot of heat despite the overhang of the roof, the awnings on the windows, and the shade trees planted along the south side."
The elves and Merry discussed their proposed route with Harleck, a man who had traveled much in his youth.
"By all means follow the trade road. Paved with flat stone and carried by bridges over every river and stream, it will let you cover ground quickly, and you can stay at inns instead of having to make and break camp every day. At the end of the road take just about any dirt track that leads in the right direction across the grasslands. Watch yourself then. The grasslands are home to tribal folk, nomadic horsemen, and fearsome centaurs dwell to the south.
"Will the nomads allow travelers to cross their lands?" asked Jemsen.
<Probably, though for the freedom of the plains, you have to pay a silver or two to each tribe you encounter. They won't see you as a threat as few of as you are and on foot to boot. They are horse nomads.>
<Besides, you will have a unicorn with you to vouch for your good intentions.> Merry added smugly.
"Aye," added Balan but we need to watch for bands of outcasts who follow the old ways and live by raiding. In these latitudes we will avoid danger from centaurs who prefer the higher and cooler temperate latitudes much farther from the Equator. Just as well. Those fearsome creatures like nothing better than to eat young males of almost any race cooked or raw for that matter."
"Almost any race?" queried Jemsen.
"Even centaurs cannot stomach the taste of trolls or orcs." Balan explained.
Most nights two youths paired off, though the sexy teenagers sometimes frolicked in a threesome. Jemsen was the most sexually aggressive of the trio; next was his twin Karel, with the submissive elf-boy getting plugged at both ends at once. The twins would fuck him doggy style or more typically on his back, his own hands at his knees to spread his legs apart as the boys pumped away at his hungry hole. Dahl would shudder as the impaling cock slipped in and out repeatedly stroking his joy spot, sending his small body into paroxysms of erotic ecstasy. His eyes would roll up and head whip around as he moaned and groaned, sweat pouring off him, utterly lost in a surge of sensuality.
Jemsen would punctuate his strokes with occasional slaps to the bottom boy's buttocks, emphasizing his dominance over the smaller male beneath him. Till, in the fullness of time, one of them would reach climax, usually setting the other one off as well. If Jemsen came first, the signal for Dahl's own body to orgasm was the wet warmth he felt as Jemsen spurt into his innards. For Jemsen, the trigger was the sight of Dahl's small but shapely cock spurting ropes of white gism onto his chest and even his face.
"You know Dahl," Jemsen enthused, "I don't know which is more exciting: taking you while your are lying on your back where I can watch your pretty face and kiss those pouty lips of yours, or mounting you from behind, when your are down on all fours like a dog or rather like a filly. Do you have any idea how shapely you are back there? Just perfect: firm boy buns -- round where they should be yet flat on the flanks. And they dimple ever so fetchingly when you walk in front of me. On the road, it is all I can do not to push you to the ground and mount you every hour."
"That sounds like a lot of fun -- getting fucked all the way across the grasslands. Still, it would be hard on my knees, and we wouldn't cover much ground that way, now would we? Especially if Karel took the opportunity to kneel in front of me and present his cock for oral service. You know how he loves to double team me."
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