The Brown Unicorn - Chapter 3
The Brown Unicorn
A Fantasy
by
Rocco Paperiello
Disclaimer
This story is intended to be just a fun story. But it will include some intimate relationships between young males. If you don't approve or are offended, then how come you're reading this? Go to some other Internet Site. (Of course some people actually cultivate being offended; if that's the case, read right on). As far as detailed descriptive sex acts, I think you may find some good ones in other stories right here on Nifty, but as of now I do not envision a lot of explicit detail in this one.
If, for some legal reason, you are not allowed to read this in your area of the world because of illogical laws, again I will not condone (publicly) anyone breaking the law, so either move or read sentence four. I definitely don't want the thought police after either of our callipygians.
Please, this story is the product of my imagination, so if you ever want to quote some of it, please e-mail me and also give proper attribution. As of now no one has permission to put this story on another Internet Site.
This story is entirely fictional, and no character is fashioned after any living being.
Note that an author enjoys feedback. It will be appreciated and all e-mails will be answered.
Rocco Paperiello
roccopaperiello@yahoo.com
This is the second story I have posted on Nifty. The other story, "Two Boys," is in progress and can be found under Young Friends or Interracial.
Story
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Chapter 2 -- Yesterday's Surprises Were Nothing
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It was a few hours after dawn and Peter was walking along with Geral as they ascended the west hill just outside the city gates. (Or at least where the gates used to be. That took another long explanation). For some reason not explained to Peter the magician had impressed upon his slave that Peter was not yet to be brought into the town proper. But Peter was so filled with wonder at the things he was seeing, it didn't seem to matter to him at the time. Peter was given some strange clothes that felt altogether too stiff, and had far too many buttons. The magician, it seemed, said he didn't want then to attract any attention. He asked where the clothes came from but Geral merely said that for a magician that chore was easy.
Peter had been greeted so far by one amazing revelation after another as the morning progressed. Everything looked just like earth, but then again not quite. Almost like he was in some foreign country where everything was just not quite the same as home. For a time they had been on top of a long rise overlooking the small city, and Geral kept pointing out different places that frequently were either too small to see, or even hidden behind something in front. But it did not really matter. Peter was just fascinated at the sight, and the strangeness of everything.
In the opposite direction rose up the spectacular Needle Mountains -- very aptly named. They walked toward them and had to go around a small mountain lake, where a couple large birds were taking turns diving for fish. And in the grassy meadow, filled with an amazing assortment of wild flowers were a few deer- like creatures.
"Geral, what are those animals?" Peter thought they were not quite right looking.
"Oh, just some elk, they are very common around here. And so are some big bears, so keep a watch."
They then began a long twisting climb but Geral told Peter they were climbing up to The Big Woods. Over the next rise, the sight filled Peter with awe and wonder. Huge Sequoia reached hundreds of feet into the air. And their girths were immense. Peter ran through them with abandon, and at times laughing at his good fortune. But nothing prepared him for the greatest surprise yet. For as they gained the apex of the next hill he saw, not more than 50 yards distant, on the opposing hillside, a unicorn!
"Oh my god! I thought you were just making that up!" Peter started running toward the magnificent creature, unaware that most people in this world were just a bit more intimidated by them.
"No Peter, don't. They surely don't like to be approached like that." Geral was quite anxious, but it was too late. Peter had a good twenty yards on him. What a time to no longer have any magic.
But what he witnessed next seemed even stranger, on a planet that was already strange beyond most people's comprehension. As Peter ran toward the unicorn, the unicorn sounded the most amazing music apparently with its very horn. Geral had heard rumors that such a thing was possible, but he had never even met someone who had heard such a thing. And as the weird music started, Peter seemed to actually glow. He was surely at least bathed in a strange radiance. And wildly laughing the whole way over to the unicorn.
The unicorn then seemed to shake his head as the music stopped. And then something occurred that Geral feared he could make no one ever believe. Peter made a wild jump and landed squarely upon the creatures back. And even more astonishing, the unicorn allowed him to do it. There was one historian of the last century who claimed to have seen a unicorn allow a mere human -- other than its life companion -- upon its back, but no one else actually believed him. And then the unicorn so nonchalantly meandered over to Geral, with a laughing Peter still atop. "Hay Geral, look at me!"
Indeed. Look at Peter. How could he look anywhere else? And then something came over Peter's face. Geral had never seen someone so suddenly radiant as Peter had then suddenly became. For at least a fleeting moment, Geral believed that not another person on the entire planet could possibly have seemed as happy.
Peter jumped off and the unicorn whirled around only for the unicorn to quickly disappear over the adjacent hill.
"Geral, Geral. That was soooo amazing. I don't think I have ever been so happy."
Geral believed him. They started to wend their way back, both seemingly caught up in their own thoughts.
A short while later, Geral's Master and young guest were sitting down at a table whose top was comprised of a beautiful inlay of at last 15 different woods, all fashioned to depict a scene of the nearby Needle Mountains. But Peter was more intent on the food than the table's elegance. And Cenderen was more intent on Peter's story than on the delicious food. Cenderen asked: "OK Peter please tell me again. What happened after you and the unicorn approached Geral."
Peter left out small sigh. "Well, the unicorn said that he would take me over to Geral, and so we went. And just as we got there, the unicorn stopped and I started to feel like I was the happiest person alive. His music was so soothing but this was even better. And then he told me to meet him there tomorrow when the sun resides in the Needle's Pouch. And yes I`m sure that's what he said, and no, he never told me what being in the Needle's Pouch meant. And no, I don`t know just how he was talking to me, I just know he was."
Cenderen was lost in thought for quite sometime. So long in fact that Peter started to get worried. And Geral started to get impatient.
"Master, may I say something?"
Cenderen gradually looked over at his slave. "Very well boy, perhaps you may be able to give some understanding to all this. Please."
"Just three observations. One, it had to be some kind of mind talk. There definitely were no words spoken aloud. Two, there definitely has to be some kind of link between the unicorn and Peter here. What happened a short while ago was without precedent. And three, perhaps our summoning was not so off the mark as we had surmised. Maybe Peter is indeed meant to be the unicorn`s life companion. That was why we did the summoning to begin with. As written in the Scroll of Power. We had asked that the boy most perfect to be the unicorn's companion to appear. We just didn't realize that the summoning included the planet earth and the long march of time."
"I suspect you may be correct. We had both assumed the boy would come from our own population. And then the unicorn could take the boy and leave. The unicorn's presence has been so unusually disruptive. But there is one distinct difficulty. Peter is not a slave."
That got Peter's attention. "What does me not being a slave have to do with anything? Why are you both so concerned about slaves?"
Geral answered: "Well, you know just how we came to do the summoning. Well, it seemed evident to the entire town, that the unicorn came here to find its companion. We explained about that this morning. What maybe we didn't emphasize was the fact all human companions of unicorns (rare as that is to begin with) are in fact their slaves, and always involves some new slave from the town being somehow drawn to take the unicorn as his master. Remember that the unicorn is just as sentient as any human. And these two form an inseparable life long bond. But there is one difficulty. You Peter are not a slave. Do you in fact feel drawn to this unicorn?"
Peter stared in silence for a few moments before answering. "I don't know exactly. I just know that I liked him and want to talk to him more. He was pretty funny when he told me about him growing up. It just felt normal talking to him. And he's just a boy like me!"
Cenderen remarked: "Nothing about the happenings of this last day are normal. Perhaps something is happening that is new in our experience. And what do you mean he is a boy like you? He`s a unicorn!"
Peter answered: "I don't know. But when he was talking to me he just felt like a boy." And the Peter sort of whispered to himself. "And he felt like he was as lonely as me too. And we spent a couple hours just describing our lives, and where we grew up, and all that kind of stuff. My gosh, the most amazing things he has seen!"
Geral was suddenly agitated. Cenderen looked at his slave at first in a sudden fit of temper, but that quickly dissolved into perplexity. Yet again something was very amiss.
Geral was fast to add: "Master, I swear, they were only together for less than five minutes."
Cenderen seemed to lose his anger quickly: "Boy, there is definitely more here that was at first obvious. Powerful magic has taken place. It's just strange that I had not been aware of it since it must have been able to warp time itself! And by a unicorn. That is unheralded."
"Perhaps Master. Perhaps we should allow Peter to meet the unicorn tomorrow. But what is this Needle's Pouch?"
"I know what it is; I just don't know when it is. But that I intend to find out." And at that enigmatic pronouncement, the magician left.
Cenderen called after his slave. "Come boy, I want you with me. Peter can be left on his own for a short while. Maybe Peep can keep the boy company. Even if the boy will most likely get only some fleeting glimpses."
As Cenderen reached the archway he turned and said: "And Peter, please stay inside for now. Perhaps you can find amusement in our interior garden. I think you'll find several creatures there that will delight your curiosity."
And then Geral laughed. "And perhaps you can catch Peep!"
Cenderen again chided his slave: "Come boy, we need to contact the observatory, a third of the way across the continent. For that we need just a bit of preparation."
Both magician and slave left as Peter turned his attention to the beckoning archway. What then caught Peter's attention was a peculiar peeping sound -- coming from beyond the arch. Peter quickly followed the sound and found himself in an immense garden where he was immediately mesmerized by what he at first thought was a small bat but on closer inspection he realized was a very miniature green dragon. It was barely a glimpse, but that just spurned him on. The creature seemed to toy with him pulling him further into a garden the likes of which had never been seen on the planet earth.
Finally there was the creature, seemingly just hovering out of reach. As Peter attempted to grab a hold of the hovering creature, he soon discovered two things. One, it was indeed a very miniature, honest to goodness, fire breathing dragon. And two, it was quite fast. Fortunately only a small hole was scorched into the sleeve of his shirt. And not into his arm. And just when he had given up trying to capture the thing, just watching in awe, the creature actually landed right on the back of his hand. Exactly where Peter had wanted. So he could finally get a good look.
"Ouch! That smarts!" But despite the creature's tiny claws making their mark on the back of his hand, the small discomfort was well more than offset by his being able to see the small dragon close up. And he could have sworn that the animal was regarding him just as intently. And also made the cutest peeping sound. So this must be Peep. "Hi Peep!"
Peter could see now, that although its primary color was bright green, all its extremities along with its myriad spines were a burnished bronze. And the tiny thing, not more than four inches long, was considerably heavier than expected for its size. It was just as Peter had seen in some pictures. But this was no fantasy. The wide spined head twisted and turned as Peter turned his hand to see all parts of the creature. It seemed that Peep was just as curious as the boy. The wings were folded now along the length of the creature and almost reached back to point of its barbed tail. The small dragon then opened its wings, and in a split second zoomed away. Its curiosity apparently assuaged for the moment. Peter seemed to have been so mesmerized by the tiny dragon that even after it was gone he could conjure up in his mind its exact image. He figured he must have been REALLY concentrating.
Peter then meandered through a veritable garden of unique smells and apparitions. Here was a snail creeping along, it's small round shell a sparkling silver, but when he approached it, it seemingly disappeared. On closer inspection he realized it turned the exact shade of the green grass. And on the top of a light colored rock was a toy lizard with the improbable fluorescent green body, pink spines, and blue head except for yellow rings around large black eyes. Peter sat onto the rock drinking in the beautiful foliage and startlingly surprising silver fish darting about in the small stream. And then yelped as the toy lizard jumped onto his lap, trying to capture in its wide jaws a beautiful black, silver, and white butterfly that had alighted onto a trumpet shaped blossom hanging down from a vine trailing along a nearby trellis. It barely missed. Peter realized it was no toy after all. The lizard then scurried right down his leg and disappeared into the dense patch of leaves next to the stream.
The amazing variety of flowers also captured Peter`s attention. Many he could remember seeing at home. (Or where home used to be). But quite a few he had never seen before. He eventually wended his way to a small brook that was fed by a two foot water fall that simply appeared out of thin air. Magic apparently. And the brook, after quite a few twists and turns, eventually disappeared into a small cave that opened up beneath it.
After becoming so over sated on new wonders, Peter eventually closed his eyes and started thinking about all that had happened in just the past day of his existence. And after a short period of time he became convinced of at least a few things. He was totally convinced he was there for a purpose. Maybe not a big purpose, but a purpose all the same. And two, the unicorn somehow figured in. He also started to wonder just how come he was not more upset about loosing his entire life. And he realized that he had already lost most of it before he had ever arrived. Only two things he felt especially sad about. One, he would definitely miss his Mom, in spite of the fact that she was not able to accept him for what he found himself to be. And surprisingly, he still missed Chen Lau, his former boyfriend. He realized that a small part of him was still in love. He suddenly realized that if Lau showed up right then and asked to be forgiven, he would do just that. He breathed a big sigh. He would never see either of them again. And then he thought of the brown unicorn. He suddenly realized that was exactly how the unicorn thought of himself -- as The Brown Unicorn -- in capital letters. He realized something else too. The unicorn was something of an outcast among his own kind. Mainly due to his small size (he seemed awfully big to Peter), and more importantly because of his "mundane" color -- light brown, almost blond. While his extremities faded into a deep brown along with his main and tail. Apparently too closely resembling the markings of a horse. Not a bright blue, or brilliant silver like his brothers and cousins. Like normal unicorns. The brown unicorn had been hurt by this. And Peter could feel a bond forming. He understood all too well just what it meant to be an outcast. By even your own family.
He could not wait to see the brown unicorn the next day. He decided he would stay out there all day if necessary just so he did not miss him.
Of course as it would turn out that that would not be necessary. At late afternoon, both the older magician along with his slave found him almost asleep in the garden. Upon opening his eyes, Peter let out a small gasp. It was now so strange seeing Geral fully clothed.
"Don't say anything. Master says that I have to accompany you tomorrow, and that I would be too conspicuous running around naked. He said I had to get used to these clothes. I haven't worn real clothes in months, maybe years. I feel totally ridiculous. And when I fill in for him in the council, I am naked. Why not now I don't know. When I am with my master outside, he merely gives me a semblance of wearing clothing when necessary. I tell you I feel ridiculous." The last was seemingly sent as an accusation against his master.
Suddenly, Peter witnessed a totally naked black youth who was desperately trying everything he could to cover the more intimate aspects of his obvious nudity. Even his usual penile adornment was missing. His hands kept trying, with obvious failure, to cover himself. He kept cringing, and trying to cover up. There soon came a high pitched plea. "Master, please!"
Peter had trouble understanding what exactly was happening. While Cenderen stood laughing. And with a slight gesture on the part of the magician, Geral, again found himself fully clothed.
Peter asked the obvious: "What was that all about?"
Cenderen answered: "He wanted to be naked. So I made him naked. And very conscious of the fact. I also momentarily took away all his memory of ever having been naked in front of others. I guess he felt a bit embarrassed."
Geral didn't seem to see the humor. Peter smiled, trying to imagine how he would feel if he suddenly found himself totally naked, and cringed remembering a dream where just exactly that happened. He had walked into class and discovered he had forgotten to dress that morning. He looked at Geral and chuckled a bit, finally realizing what had happened.
Geral looked toward his master ands stated: "Master, you will it and I obey."
Cenderen smiled: "Somehow boy, I suspect that total sincerity is missing there."
From the smile now on Geral's face I suspected his master was right.
Cenderen continued: "And to footstall any additional unnecessary questions, there is quite a lot of powerful magic happening right now and it happens to involve this brown unicorn both as practitioner and as subject of someone else`s interest. So while you are out there tomorrow, I will be hiding you from prying eyes so to speak. Your identities will be masked, so if some other magician is looking on I will not be connected."
"And Peter, it turns out that tomorrow will see both our moons in conjunction. And for the first time in several hundred years, they will be in conjunction immediately in front of the sun also causing a total eclipse. And this is called Needle's Pouch, because the only other time this has occurred in our history, the sun emerged from its darkness directly between the two highest towers of the Needle Mountains. Although this time, at least for the western part of the continent, the sun will be slightly higher in the sky. About mid morning. And for your benefit Peter, the hours here are slightly longer than the ones you are used to."
At dinner that evening, Peter sat across from squirming Geral. As Cenderen said, he was "getting accustomed" to his clothing. A lot of Peter's questions concerning their country became large part of the conversation. As Cenderen explained, although large portions of the original colonists' learning and technology was lost, a significant portion had been transferred to written records.
Peter was still apparently more confused than ever: "But how come so much of this information was lost? Why can't you just look it up in these computers if the original ships still exist?
"Well, as I've tried to explain, after about a couple weeks on this planet, the shuttlecrafts of the colonists started to malfunction. The first failures occurred in the most technologically advanced portions of the ship like the anti-mater converters that provided all of the power. They were left with battery power alone. And then other systems progressively failed. By the time they realized their predicament it was too late. And they never did understand WHY the systems were failing -- there was no logical reason for it. By the time they realized the necessity to make printed copies of vital information that had to be preserved they realized they had only limited ability to transfer this information. They mostly concentrated on medical and engineering information. They had almost no paper so they even started writing this information on any surface that could be used including the walls of the ships. Then for years afterwards, the people themselves, after the reinvention of making paper, wrote down all they had in their memories. But so much was lost."
"Did anyone ever find out what was happening to make their ships stop working?"
Cenderen smiled: "Well, that depends on who you ask. It also happened that NO advanced technology will work on this planet. The muskets we tried to manufacture simply will not work, yet flares and some fireworks do function. And we are now producing steam engines. Getting iron and copper out of some ores we can do in a very limited way, but we have not been able to manufacture steel. Even if we know how -- the process somehow simply does not work. There is something about this planet that does not allow any advanced technology to function. Some of us believe that it is the planet itself that causes this. Why, we can only speculate. And magic helps take the place of technology. Especially in the field of medicine."
Peter found this all fascinating. Remembering the horrible "cold war" going on on earth between his country and the Soviet Union, and the worry that someday there just might be World War III, maybe this no high technology thing wasn't too bad after all. But it was going to feel real different going to the local witch to be cured. And using magic to communicate at any distance. And horses were still the major means of transportation.
Then the conversation turned to the weird animals and even the fact that now Elves lived on the planet. Along with unicorn, and dragons -- which people rode the skies with. And griffins and manticores. Peter wasn't even too sure what these strange creatures were. And just how these creatures came about was also a mystery. Of course the very presence of ALL of the plant and animal life was just as much a mystery. These things just started to appear as the colonists needed them. Again it was speculated that the "planet" provided them. But why or how was not known. It was magic of course, but that still didn't EXPLAIN anything.
Just before the end of dinner Peter mentioned about seeing Peep -- area dragon. He showed the burn hole in his sleeve. "I almost lost my sleeve. I was sure surprised when Peep shot out a real flame. And I got even a few marks on my hand where he landed. Wow did his claws dig in. And he was so heavy. I couldn't. . ."
Peter never got to finish that sentence. Cenderen had suddenly grasped just what Peter had said: "What? You said that Peep landed on your hand?" The magician reached over and Peter thought he would have his hand pulled off as the magician grabbed it to see the marks made by Peep.
Peter got full possession of his hand back, only when he started to again, in detail, explain about his meeting with Peep. "What so strange about all that? It's Peep that's strange tome."
Cenderen tried to explain. "Peep is a dragon, even if he is one of the miniature varieties. He seems to stay here a good part of the time because there is a lot of magic performed here. But he is a magical creature himself, and he only goes where he wants. And one last thing. Peep NEVER gets too close to any human. Not without the use of magic. Only a magician could get Peep to actually land on their hand. Peter, you apparently have some magical ability."
All thoughts of dinner vanished. Cenderen literally dragged Peter to his laboratory. Geral followed behind. And, in spite of using some pretty powerful magic himself, Cenderen finally gave up. "Peter, I can't quite understand what is going on. Only magic could have compelled Peep to land on your hand, yet as far as I have been able to determine, you possess no magic. This is quite a conundrum. In fact your entire appearance here is a mystery."
That night Peter was awake for hours thinking about all that had happened, and all the things he seemingly only half understood. There were finally few conclusions he was able to make. First, as far as being able to perform some kind of magic himself, he thought that, although it would have been fantastic, he couldn't quite believe that he would be one of the really rare people capable of any of it. Although he was still wondering how come he could even now bring to mind such an amazingly detailed visual memory of Peep. One more thing, he was starting to feel so at home here. He wasn't sure why but he decided he was just going to enjoy being here. (He had no choice anyway). And one last thing kept intruding his thoughts. He felt almost closer to that unicorn/boy than anyone else he ever known. He wondered how come and couldn't put into words. He would have said that they just seemed to have so much in common -- but when he thought about this some, he realized that anyone else would have thought this idea absurd. But try as he might, he simply couldn't think of the brown unicorn to much different than himself. Both somewhat lonely boys who so much wanted to find that special friend who they can share their lives with. On that thought Peter finally was able fall asleep.
Copyright 2006 by Rocco Paperiello