Elf-Boy's Friends 42
The Unicorn Rider
by George Gauthier
[The further adventures of characters from the novel 'Elf-Boy and Friends']
Chapter 1. Walkabout
Three splendid youths, one leading their only mount, jogged along a stretch of unimproved road, carried along by the metronomic scissoring of their legs. The road was really just a dirt track compacted by the feet and hoofs and footpads of countless travelers and animals before them. The three ran bare foot and in the nude, the morning sun making the beads of sweat on their glabrous skins sparkle like so many diamonds.
This trio traveled light so their gear fit into three sets of saddle bags, which was no real burden for the tractable mare named Melody who obediently clopped along at a trot easily keeping pace with the three joggers. The trot after all was the gait which horses favored for covering any real distance.
The youth holding Melody's reins hardly looked the part, but Axel Wilde was a powerful war mage for all that he was slightly built and extremely boyish looking. He had fair skin and red hair the color of copper, and, as with many red-heads, his peaches and cream complexion did not develop a deep tan even from exposure to a tropical sun though it did darken just enough to prevent sunburn. Axel's pretty face was dominated by large green eyes set over heart-melting dimples.
Next to him jogged his companion Corwin Klarendes, a youth just about the same height as Axel, say four inches over five feet. Corwin had close-cropped hair the color of corn silk which contrasted nicely with his sun-bronzed torso and limbs. Corwin was blessed with fine-boned features including green eyes, consistent with the considerable admixture of elfin blood in his ancestry, as indeed was true of the entire Klarendes clan.
Axel and Corwin ran without conversation, saving their breath. There would be plenty of time for talk once they were atop their mounts. Melody was Axel's mount, while Corwin rode a much more exotic equine, a magical unicorn named Derrionydd or Derry for short.
The unicorn was currently in his two legged shape, that of the third youth in their party, for this Derry was a shape shifter. In contrast to Axel and Corwin he had a much more robust build and stood a finger over six and a half feet while weighing nearly 300 pounds. His ancestry was equal parts elf and frost giant, but Derry was no ordinary hybrid. He was a Snow Elf, the designation given to shape shifters among the elves, so-called for their alabaster skin which never tanned nor burned, shoulder length ash-blond hair, and icy grey eyes. As both a wir and a unicorn Derry was endowed with the powers of both magical species.
To spell the mare the trio ran on foot since the weight of even a slightly built rider like Axel could tire his mount. Hence from time to time a rider would dismount and walk or jog along with the mount, easing the burden on its back for a while before climbing back into the saddle. And running was good exercise for the rider. It helped him maintain his own wind and stamina.
Axel and Corwin had had their constitutions enhanced by druidical healing magic, which conferred on them long life, prolonged youth, acute senses, fast reflexes, doubled strength and stamina, and in Corwin's case especially greater healing powers and resistance to disease. Derry's innate magic made him nearly four times as strong as he seemed. He might weigh just under three hundred pounds but was stronger than a draft horse or a Frost Giant, easily strong enough for a rider.
The road they ran along led southward from the Great Escarpment toward the settlements of the Frost Giants and those of the elves and dwarves with whom they shared the virgin land now called South Varangia. It followed a winding route which bent back and forth to keep atop the ridge lines rather than descend into the hollows where the creeks flowed and then up the opposite slopes.
The road had originated as a brontothere trace, an energy saving game trail which spared the massive creatures the effort of endless descents and ascents which they would have had to make traveling across the grain of the country. Brontotheres still traveled along it seasonally to salt licks two hundred miles to the south, coexisting amicably with travelers on the understanding that brontotheres always had the right of way.
[Salt licks provide animals with salt and elements like calcium, iron, phosphorus, and zinc plus trace elements) which are needed in the springtime for bone and muscle growth.]
The trio stepped aside to let an empty buckboard pass them by. The teamster was a dwarf who was in a hurry. He snapped the reins to let his team of two know that they should maintain their fast pace. He nodded politely to the three youths then continued on his way. A pair of frost giants passed them heading in the opposite direction. Frost Giants were too large to mount anything smaller than a brontothere so they either walked or rode in a conveyance like a stage coach.
Unlike the trio of youths both giants and dwarves were lightly dressed is silk trews an shirts. The dwarves dwelt in chilly or at least cool caverns. The original homeland of the giants lay in the temperate zone and got cold enough in winter for ice and snow. Hence both those races were much less likely to go about in the nude or sky clad than elves or human.
Among those two races nudity taboos for males were virtually non-existent. Young human and elven males almost never wore clothing for exercise or for any kind of dirty or sweaty work, not in that tropical climate. Besides, tan lines were off-putting and even unseemly. Good looking guys proud of the trim and taut bodies they had so recently grown into and were so proud of much preferred to sport an even all-over tan.
"Time we mounted up again." Axel called out as they reached a tree-shaded stretch of road.
Donning silk riding trews to prevent chafing Axel slipped his feet into a pair of short boots with thick heels which fit more securely in the stirrups than would the flat sole of a sandal much less the soft one of a moccasin. The boots gave Axel a more secure seat since he was not a particularly good rider. He didn't bother with a straw hat against the sun but rode bared to the hips.
As Derry transformed Corwin removed his own and Derry's packs from Melody and threw them over the unicorn's withers. Corwin remained in the nude. Atop Derry he always rode bareback and bare-ass. Derry very much liked the feel of his new boyfriend's bare rump on his back. Since Corwin had grown up on the Eastern Plains and had been riding nearly as long as he had been walking riding bareback was no problem.
Anyway no saddle would fit the shape shifter which, in its four footed form, was only the size of a small pony. Derry accepted no harness either, whether bridle or hackamore. He was in control and went where he chose. His rider could make suggestions but that was all.
Riding the unicorn was far more comfortable than riding a horse bareback since it was easy for Corwin to lock even his short legs around the barrel of his mount. And if Derry broke into a gallop, Corwin could grab the mane the better to hang on.
The best part was the Derry's distance gait was not the trot but the amble, a four-beat intermediate gait at least as fast as the trot or the pace but far smoother to ride. The amble was reasonably fast, smooth, and easy on the rider, and the mount could keep it up for a very long time too.
Axel had vowed that his next horse would be trained to the amble. Hang the expense. What was the point of being rich if you could not indulge yourself?
Around the next bend in the road they came to a timbered toll bridge which crossed a deep ravine. The toll taker was a friendly looking Frost Giant who did a double take when he looked closer at Derry.
"Now there is something I never thought to see. A genuine unicorn, horn and all. He must be just a colt, small as he is."
<Actually I am a full grown stallion, and you really shouldn't talk about me as if I weren't standing right here and couldn't understand what you were saying.>
"Mind Speech too! Uh, no offense Sir Unicorn. You caught me by the surprise. Everyone knows unicorns are magical beings and are fully sentient. Now normally the toll would be six coppers, two for each of your mounts and one for each rider. But counting you as a person rather than as a mount the charge is only five coppers."
Corwin shook his head. "Six coppers is fair when my friend is in his four legged form."
"His four legged form?"
"The unicorn is a shapeshifter, a Snow Elf who is on walkabout. He could demonstrate but not with me rider astride his back. Anyway six coppers is a reasonable charge for the convenience of a short cut across the ravine. How far would we have had to go following the original brontothere trace?"
"You would have to go out of your way another three miles to where the trace loops back along the ridge lines before passing by the other side of our fine new bridge. Ours is one of only three chartered toll bridges on this road. These days even the brontotheres take the bridge."
"What do you charge a brontothere to cross? And how do you collect it. I don't suppose they carry much coin on their persons."
"Very funny. Obviously brontotheres cross for free. We don't even try to stop them. That would be against the law."
Brontotheres were protected by law everywhere in the Commonwealth including its more recently acquired territories of New Varangia and the Far West.
"Funny thing is," the giant added, "they know enough not to cross over in a crowd. Instead they cross singly or in pairs. Smart."
Two hours after crossing the bridge Axel and Corwin dismounted. Derry transformed while Axel got out of his trews and boots and put them into his pack. For the next stretch he would run in the nude and barefoot.
It was actually healthier to run barefoot than with sandals or even moccasins. Barefoot locomotion promoted a natural and healthy gait. Footwear warped the natural human gait, imposing strains and stresses that denied its natural grace of form and ease of movement. Going barefoot helped develop bodily awareness, the sense of the relative positions of all the parts of the body employed in movement and strengthened the feet and lower legs, making for a physique that was agile and less prone to injury. A barefoot runner was better able to climb, cut, pivot, balance, or adjust to changing conditions of the ground under his feet.
Calluses could protect the foot nearly as well as moccasins, and the inhabitants of the planet of Haven never had to worry picking up a disease. Parasites were not a problem on a terraformed world like Haven. Old plagues like hookworm just never made it to that planet of refuge. The galactic empire of yore had had its faults, but it had freed humanity from the scourges of cockroaches, rats, and insect vectors of disease like mosquitos.
Finally going barefoot was a joy to the senses. It let you feel the soft warm sand at the beach or the cool of the dewy grass of a summer's morn. There was even something to be said for the feel of slippery wet mud as it squished between the toes or that of the rough bark of a tree you were climbing.
Chapter 2. Along the Road
Miles later the travelers found that the road was blocked by three trees which had fallen across the right of way. Shallowly rooted, the trees had not been able to resist the force of a recent windstorm. Teamsters from a wagon train were at work chopping through the trunks. Progress was slow. These were hardwood trees, maybe not ironwood but not far short of it. Meanwhile other teamsters had unhitched their draft animals, both horses and mules and positioned them to drag the excised sections of the massive trunks to one side once they axemen finished their job.
Corwin addressed a grizzled human who was clearly the wagon master and asked if they might help. The man who gave his name as Vronski snorted and looked them up and down dismissively.
"I don't see what help a trio of bare-assed pretty boys could give in this situation. Only one of you has any muscle on him, and even that doesn't mean he knows how to swing an axe."
"Who said anything about axes? That's doing things the hard way." Axel interjected. "Now the teamsters haven't made much progress. Corwin, why don't you finish the chop job for them then I can teleport the sections out of the way?"
"Ready whenever you are, Axel."
<You really should accept my friends' offer of assistance. They are powerful mages.>
"Mind Speech eh? Only druids and unicorns are so gifted. You're no unicorn so that would make you a druid."
Derry shook his head.
<Sorry, but I am not a druid. I am actually a unicorn but only when in my alternate form.>
"A shape shifter, then. More power to you, but your friends will have to show me that their own powers are up to the job of clearing the road. My men have the usual gifts: unerring direction, calling light, and even levin bolts and electrum sparks for protection from but none of their gifts can clear a road block."
Signaling his men to step aside, the wagon master gestured grandly for the bare-assed boys to match their deeds to their words. He soon was staring open mouthed as Corwin finished the cuts in all three trunks with spheres of ball lightning which hummed and crackled menacingly then zipped through the trunks of all three downed trees. The temperature of ball lightning was so high - 45,000 degrees [25,000 ° C] -- that the process was more akin to disintegration than combustion.
Axel then jumped to each cut out section, touched his palm to it, then teleported it and himself high into the air and to one side, letting it drop over the slope of the ridge. After he disposed of the final log, he teleported back to the wagon train and took a bow.
"I stand corrected." the wagon master offered apologetically.
"Thanks to you we can now be sure of reaching our destination before dusk. To show my appreciation, I insist that all three of you be my guests in the town up ahead. And I'll pick up the tab, or rather the company will."
The inn where they put up offered plain but serviceable quarters. To no one's surprise the three youths took but a single room. After a visit to the washroom to wash the dust and sweat and salt off their bodies, they got dressed. Derry simply wrapped his sarong around his hips, but Axel and Corwin thought their uniforms were more appropriate than their casual square-cut short shorts.
They reported to the common room and sat with the teamsters and the wagon master whose full name was Mayer Vronski. He studied the military decorations on Axel's and Corwin's uniforms. Axel's uniform sported badges for the wars he had been in: the Troll War, the Lightning War, and most recently the Last Centaur War plus his Military Cross for Valor and the Expeditionary Medal for his participation in the survey of the Barren Lands. Corwin wore badges for those three wars plus his own Military Cross for Valor, Mentioned in Dispatches, and a Wound Stripe.
"Most impressive, those decorations. I am a veteran myself. Years ago I saw combat against the trolls during the battle of Flensborg. I drove one of the wagons filled with archers who raked the landing the trolls made from the river. Skewered them good we did, though once the trolls formed their shield wall and got their own archers into play we had to withdraw. Later, from behind the shield wall of the Frost Giants, we hit the trolls with plunging fire."
"That was the battle in which Finn Ragnarson took the fight to the trolls as an avatar of Thor. He killed their general with a hammer throw then called Mjolnir back into his hand. Trolls didn't know what to make of it, but the giants sure did. Talk about a morale booster!"
"Finn is a good friend of ours." Corwin allowed without elaborating.
Vronksi commented. "Forgive me for not noticing before, young Corwin, but I see that you bear the blue tattoo which marks you as a Giant-Friend. That makes you doubly welcome among us for though we teamsters are all humans or elves, we live among and are friends with the Frost Giants of this land. Sorry Axel, but I don't recognize your tattoo."
"It marks me as an Orc-Friend." Axel told him. "I helped bring about the peace that ended the mercifully brief war between the orcs and the Commonwealth in the Eastern Mountains."
"You are quite the heroes then."
Vronski paused as realization dawned, then added excitedly:
"Wait! What were your full names again? Corwin Klarendes and Axel Wilde? Of course! You two would be those heroes of the troll war in Amazonia and more recently of that fight up north against manticores and centaurs. Right?"
"Our reputation precedes us." Corwin conceded.
The proprietor, himself a frost giant, overhead his remark and, in appreciation for what the boys had done for New Varangia, provided a special dessert: a small cup formed of dark chocolate, filled with berries, and topped with whipped cream. Axel's eyes widened in delight as a serving boy set two of them in front of him. Conversation stopped as the diners addressed the scrumptious treat with their dessert spoons.
The three youths went to bed early to leave plenty of time for actual sleep after making love. Now Axel had been patient with Corwin's exclusive preoccupation with his new love interest, but now it was time for him to assert himself. So when Derry had Corwin on all fours and was thrusting away at his rump, Axel presented himself for oral service. Corwin started to say that Axel's turn would come in good time, but the red-head took his parted lips as an invitation and sank his cock into the familiar warmth of Corwin's mouth. Plugged now at both ends, Corwin surrendered himself to the good feeling coursing through his body. It wasn't long before both tops spent themselves into their willing bottom.
Corwin then turned the tables on Axel. He pulled him onto the bed and rolled him onto his back, pulling his legs up and apart like a wishbone. That gave Derry the chance he had been waiting for, to mount Axel and show him what a real stallion could do. Caught unaware, Axel started to say that this was all very sudden, wasn't it, and maybe they could save it for another time, but Corwin took his parted lips as an invitation. Positioning Axel's head so it was hanging over the edge of the bed, he slipped his cock between Axel's pouty lips and filled his mouth. Abject bottom boy that he was, Axel did what came natural to him and started sucking.
In the end a good time was had by all, after which they sank into a refreshing sleep.
The next day, the boys got up late intending to stay over for a day and to visit the local scenic wonder: a cataract which ended in a cauldron of whirling waters that fed a stream just right for swimming. They took a box lunch and made a day of it after saying their goodbyes to the teamsters who were turning off the main road onto a primitive dirt road which lead to their destination. Before he left Vronksi cautioned them to watch out for a gang of bandits who mostly preyed on small parties like theirs. He had little concern for his own convoy. Not only could some of his teamsters throw levin bolts or snap electrum sparks, the all were armed with airguns.
The cataract might not match the Rainbow Falls at Elysion for size or scenic grandeur, but it was dramatic enough especially the intensely whirling cauldron at the bottom, though it was much too dangerous for swimming. Instead the boys found a wide spot downstream where the locals had set up a pair of picnic tables, a fire pit for outdoor cooking, a even a privy, set downstream and well away from the bank of the stream.
Under the shade of the trees lining the stream they spent a pleasant day swimming and eating and making love al fresco atop a straw mat they had borrowed from the inn. Derry also got to hear of some of Corwin's and Axel's adventures. He resolved to read not only Corwin's own books but those of Drew Altair as well the first chance he got.
"I am so glad that we joined up for this walkabout." Derry mused, adding:
"Travel and adventure are all well and good but much better when shared with friends. I never expected to be caught up in a real-life murder mystery, yet there we three were, acting as detectives. We questioned witness and potential informants then tricked the culprit into revealing himself. Finally we confronted him ourselves and put him down. And that was no ordinary murderer but a serial killer with the powers of a life leech."
"It was like we were characters in one of those lurid detective stories. You know, the kind they print on cheap pulp paper and sell for three coppers. You're an author, Corwin. What is that expression? Life Imitates Art."
Corwin smiled.
"Stick with us Derry and you'll find yourself a protagonist in all sorts of adventures: detective stories, war stories, tales of exploration and discovery, and even love stories, if you take my meaning. Adventure is what my friends and I do. And we get to help people out along the way, deserving folk like those hard working teamsters and the good people of Viborg. And we can help out with illness, accidents, and injury too. Need I remind you that Axel is a certified combat medic? Me too, but more recently I became a magical Healer as well."
"And with me along," Axel bragged, "we can jump to anywhere I can see or have been to via a space portal, which means most strategic locations in the Commonwealth. The war wizards made that possible by purposely opening portals for me to all our major cities. The only drawback to travel by teleportation is that you don't get to see the country in between, but that might be just what we need, or at least what we want, if we have to cross a swamp or a desert."
Corwin nodded and added:
"And if we need reinforcements, Axel can always teleport to the capital to recruit a powerful fetcher, a war wizard, an earth wizard, an air wizard, or the avatar of a thunder god, and that's just from among our boyfriends!"
Derry laughed. "You guys are something else."
Chapter 3. Brontotheres
The brontothere trace next passed through a landscape formed by hills with gentle slopes which ascended gradually to an abrupt drop along one side. Its forests and grasslands were the habitat of all sorts of wild creatures including fierce predators like slash bears, tigers and jaguars.
Brontotheres also roamed the land not the least bit concerned by the presence of carnivores. No predator would dare to attack even a single adult brontothere, who anyway travelled in herds. Standing as tall at the shoulder as a Frost Giant and weighing eight or nine tons brontotheres were covered with a thick hide that hung in folds on their frames like armor. Hence these placid herbivores browsed and grazed without fear. A predator might chance an attack on a calf that had wandered too far from its mother, but always risked a countercharge from the herd.
Unlike other herbivores brontotheres were absolutely intolerant of predation, even the sort which culled the weak, the sick, and the young. At the first sign of an attack, the matriarch would have the herd form a circle horns facing outward and dispatch a strike force of two or three young bulls to run off or preferably kill the interloper. Brontotheres were not ones for giving second chances, much preferring a permanent solution, either by impaling the predator on their two forward pointing horns or by simply trampling it predator underfoot.
Frost Giants were seeking to expand the settled the area and establish farms on the cuestas to take advantage of their well-drained gentle slopes which made for prime farmland. Now brontotheres could not climb the steep front slopes, but they would certainly try to feed on any crops growing on the gentle back slopes. Brontotheres had no concept of property rights, regarding any planted fields as a bounty laid out for their delectation. The giants did not really blame the brontotheres for doing what came naturally to them, but obviously could not tolerate raids on their crops. The solution was for an earth wizard, a dwarf for hire, to erect passive barriers at the bottom of the back slopes.
These barriers were not the ditches farmers in flat country used to protect their crops from brontotheres but walls created by slumping the slope enough to form a vertical wall upslope which the magic of the earth wizards then hardened into stone. The brontotheres could not get past the walls or the sturdy gates which gave access to the farmland. Problem solved -- and without the possibility of injury to the brontotheres whose vigilance actually protected the livestock of the farmers from predation.
With Axel mounted on Melody and Corwin on Derry the trio was making good time. Melody trotted while Derry ambled along. As they approached a bend in the road they heard a loud clanging of metal on metal. Wary that they might be riding into a fight, the riders readied their carbines and advanced at a walk.
What they found beyond the bend was nothing like what they expected. A half dozen frost giants were banging pots and pans together trying to drive a small herd of brontotheres off the slope of the latest cuesta which the local folk wanted to put to the plow. First though they had to clear it of brontotheres.
Axel was glad to see that the frost giants were not armed except for simple sticks which could not possibly harm the great beasts. For the most part, the brontotheres ignored the racket as they placidly grazed and browsed. One very young Frost Giant let his enthusiasm override his common sense and got too close to a large bull and blew a signal horn practically in its ear. That did get the bull's attention. He turned his head and cut loose with a bellow which sounded like the trumpeting of an elephant combined with the roar of a tiger. It was so loud it momentarily drowned out the metallic clamor from the frost giants.
The startled young giant stepped back, tripped, and came down on his butt. Having made his point, the brontothere resumed grazing. His prank drew a rumble of amusement from his fellow brontotheres.
Seeing the travelers, the frost giants gave up the unequal contest and walked toward the road to hear the latest news. Nothing for it anyway but to wait the beasts out. Once they cleared the cuesta the earth wizard would close it off with a wall.
"Brontothere problems?" Corwin asked of their leader, a big red-haired fellow.
"Nothing serious. This is the first time we found brontotheres on land we wanted to enclose. At first we tried herding them with sticks the way we do with our aurochs."
"I take it that tactic did not work." Axel interjected.
"No. The first beast one of our lads whacked on the rump stopped, turned, and fastened a funny look on him that held more amusement than annoyance. If he had had the power of speech the brontothere might have said: `A stick? Really? What is that in aid of?' So we tried noise, with the results you have seen."
"You're not giving up, are you?" Corwin asked.
"No. We will just wait them out. It won't be long before they move on. This is just a minor delay. We will have to come back tomorrow in the hope that the beasts have left."
"Maybe you won't have to wait. My mount here is a unicorn who has the gift of Mind Speech. He might be able to persuade them to abandon the fields you want to enclose."
<I likely could, Corwin, though I have never before tried to communicate with a brontothere. You'll have to dismount first so I can transform and maintain my dignity. I want it to be clear that I can be asked by my rider but not bid.>
"Fair enough." Corwin said as he slid off Derry's back. His transformation caught the giants by surprise.
"You're a shape shifter! No wonder you are so small."
Derry allowed generously.
"They won't understand words, Derry," Axel reminded him. "In Amazonia the druids proved that anyone gifted with Mind Speech can communicate psychically with brontotheres but not with words. You must use projected imagery. That is how brontotheres communicate among themselves."
<That's good advice, Axel. Thanks. Now let me concentrate.>
Establishing psychic communication was not difficult. The brontotheres immediately realized that someone other than a brontothere was trying to "speak" to them. It was only when Derry flashed them an image of himself that they realized who it was. After some trial and error, the two species were able to communicate meaning if not subtle nuances.
Derry snorted then relayed what he had received from the herd.
<You giants made a mistake with all that metallic clanging. The brontotheres were pretty much ready to abandon the cuesta when you guys showed up and tried to drive them off. Brontotheres are not belligerent, but they can be stubborn. In particular they don't like to be forced to do anything. As far as they were concerned, you two-legs were terribly rude just now.>
"Is there some way we can make it up to them?"
<There is. Up ahead a ways is a small stream which runs off the ridge, but its channel lies in an incised ravine too steep and deep for them to reach. They cannot get at its water so they have to climb all the way down to the main stream to get a drink. What the brontotheres want is for your earth wizard to dam the stream and make it fill a trough at which they can stop to drink whenever they pass by.>
"That seems like a reasonable way to make up for our mistake. Besides a drinking trough will benefit everyone who passes by: travelers and their mounts and draft animals as well. We'll do it."
The dwarven earth wizard the giants had hired grumbled a bit at having to hike even farther on his short legs. The giants had not provided him with a mount since they did not keep horses or mules. Still the dwarf knew his business. After delving the ground he found a good site close to the brontothere trace and raised a stone dam and a trough for livestock.
The brontothere matriarch ambled close and pronounced herself satisfied which she relayed to the herd which immediately abandoned the cuesta to the giants.
"You have our thanks. Let me offer you boys the hospitality of our camp. It's not much, but the food is good, and our tents will keep the rain off. Our wind talker predicts rain late in the evening."
"Thanks, but we really want to push on to the next village. The tavern there has a good reputation."
"It does, but that village is too far ahead for you to reach before sundown."
"Not a problem" Corwin told the giant. "All three of us have enhanced vision which lets us see in dim light much like cats. Traveling by twilight won't be a problem. Besides both Axel and Derry can Call Light to let us see where we are going even in full darkness. We'll get there in plenty of time for supper and likely before the rain this evening"
After wishing the trio a safe journey the giants returned to the cuesta to finish what they had started. The travelers pushed on, passing the brontotheres who were not in any hurry. Less than an hour after dark they reached the village where the inn more than lived up to its reputation.
Chapter 4. The Minstrel
Approaching the village Derry took the same precautions that he had in Viborg. Changing from his equine form he wrapped a sarong around his hips and walked to the inn, giving no hint that he was a shapeshifter cum unicorn.
A hostler tended to Melody's needs. Before entering the common room, Corwin put on his uniform, copying Axel's example in leaving his decorations off. The pair did wear utility belts with kukris in scabbards at their hips. Axel also carried a pair of push or fist knives, a weapon with a T shaped handle attached to a very short triangular blade coated with Aodh's deadly venom. They were the weapons of the assassin Axel had been in the eastern campaign in Amazonia. Both boys slung their carbines over their shoulders rather than leave them unsecured in the room Corwin booked for the three of them.
The supper menu featured roast bear with roast potatoes and carrots, courtesy of a bounty hunter who had trapped and killed a nuisance black bear which had attacked livestock and even a young cowherd. The hunter needed just the paws to document his bounty, so he delivered the carcass to the proprietor of the inn, thereby covering the bill he had run up over the previous five days of the hunt. He had hunted alone and had not dared to sleep in the open lest the carnivore get at him during the night.
After supper came the entertainment provided by the minstrel in residence, a handsome dark-haired young man of mostly elven heritage but with more than a dash of human blood. The elf-boy was a walking wet dream with a willowy physique, lissom body, and delicate features typical of elves, including a chiseled jawline, and killer cheekbones which shielded lovely green eyes. His was the sort of youthful male beauty that turned heads and took one's breath away.
His lower body was sheathed in a green sarong wrapped low around his narrow hips. Moccasins, a golden ring through his left earlobe, and thin gold chain around his neck completed his ensemble.
The minstrel bowed to his audience then sat on a stool, giving tossing his long dark locks out of his eyes. He started off with a series of drinking songs with refrains which invited his audience to sing along. Later, with his audience further under the influence, he offered a ballad that plucked at the heartstrings with a poignant tale of love and loss against a backdrop of intrigue and high adventure.
The normally raucous crowd paid him the compliment of listening quietly. When he finished, they broke out into applause and cheers. Promising to return for a second set, the minstrel left his lute and banjo on his stool and circulated among the patrons. When he approached Corwin, Axel, and Derry's table, Derry gestured for the minstrel to take a seat and talk with them for a while. He introduced himself as Loren Mann.
"I just loved that ballad." Derry told him. "It's the kind of music popular with the elves I was brought up among."
"Glad you liked it. Am I right that you are part elf and part frost giant."
"I am. My friend Corwin also has a considerable admixture of elven blood for all his blond hair. As for our red-headed friend, Axel, I am still trying to figure out how a boy who doesn't have a drop of elven blood can be so damn cute. Just look at those cheekbones and those heart-melting dimples!"
"I have been looking... at all of you. You three are very easy on the eyes, each in his own way, but you are right about Axel whose killer cheekbones and heart melting dimples would not be out of place on the face of a full-blooded elf-boy. I hope I am not being too forward, Axel, but I hope we will have a chance to get better acquainted."
"Count on it. I've always fancied boys with a considerable mixture of elven blood -- even more than full-bloods. "So you are just my type."
"As are so many." Corwin added with a grin.
"Incidentally" Loren continued, "the proprietor can secure your carbines if it is theft you are worried about. It must be awkward having to keep them with you. Don't worry. Nothing untoward happens here. The inn and indeed the whole village is neutral ground."
"Neutral ground?" Corwin asked, ever the inquisitive journalist.
"Neutral ground or maybe sanctuary is a better name for it. You must have heard about the band of highwaymen who have been operating along this road. You were lucky to reach this far without running into them. They never attack large parties, but a party of three makes an easy target for nine desperadoes who have the advantage of surprise. Their number includes giants, humans, and elves but not dwarves.So watch yourselves on the road tomorrow."
"The good news is that the bandits prefer simple robbery to murder, not so much from mercy as to encourage their victims to surrender without a fight, knowing their lives will be spared. Still they have killed several travelers who did try to fight them."
"Aren't they afraid witnesses will identify them?"
"No one can identify them since they always wear masks -- sacks with three holes for eyes and mouth. Also they wear dusters or other concealing clothes like full trews and long-sleeved shirts which they stash between jobs. They attack on foot. If they do have horses they keep them far enough back that no one will recognize their mounts or even hear them ride away."
"That's pretty damn clever." Corwin admitted.
Loren continued:
"Folks around here suspect that the highwaymen or at least some of them might actually live here in the village or at least be patrons of the inn. Besides it is only good business for bandits to allow travelers a safe haven. It encourages folks to continue to take their chances and travel along this road, instead of following the longer and more difficult route through the hills to the south."
"That sounds like good advice. Aren't you worried about getting held up yourself?"
Loren shook his head. "I'd like to see them try to get past my defenses. I am a moderately strong fetcher. While I cannot fly long distance, I can certainly fly away from the site of an ambush. Also I can hold a strong missile shield against lead bullets or arrows."
"I have offensive capabilities too. It wasn't so long ago that I fought at the side of our elven forces in Amazonia. We didn't have enough magnetic cannon to go around so it was left to fetchers assigned to the elven units to counter some of those armored centipede formations the trolls invented for the occasion."
"The stronger fetchers would wield steel spheres to batter down the heavy shields the trolls carried, but I had a better idea -- to aim our cutting discs at their unprotected shins. My idea caught on, and the colonel wrote it up so I got Mentioned in Dispatches. After mustering out, I did't want to return to my humdrum job as a mechanic. Instead I went on walkabout to see the world and to make beautiful music."
"What kind of work did you do as a mechanic?" Corwin asked.
"As you know we elves are famous for our silk fabrics. Water wheels power the machines we use to spin and weave silk in quantity. The machinery is complicated and liable to break down from constant use. Since I had a considerable degree of mechanical aptitude, they gave me the job of fixing them. It was a living, but my heart was not in it.
"How long have you been singing Loren? I mean in this village."
"Three weeks. By now the locals have heard my repertoire twice over so it is just new to travelers. I will be moving on in a week or so. Convoys of freight wagons will always accept a paying passenger. Sometimes I work for my passage as an extra guard, ready to throw up a missile shield to protect the convoy."
"You ride then because you don't have a mount of your own?" Axel asked.
"No. It's simple economics. The only use I would get from a mount is maybe one or two days a month when I travel to my next gig, but I would have to board it thirty days a month. Besides, though I am not a bad rider I don't really enjoy riding, so I would rather take a seat in a wagon or a stage."
"I can understand that." Axel allowed, "A rider on a trotting horse works nearly as hard as if he were trotting himself. Either that or endure continual slaps to the butt."
"A pardonable exaggeration, but with considerable truth. What you should do Axel is get yourself a mount which can amble instead of trot. Problem solved." Loren offered blandly. Corwin shot Axel a knowing grin.
The boys were careful not to mention their own magical powers. Anyone might be listening at the next table. Indeed, the minstrel himself might be a member of the gang, the spotter who chatted with potential victims to size them up. The possibility of eavesdroppers was why Corwin gave Derry the unobtrusive signal for a telepathic conference.
<What is it, Corwin?> Derry asked.
<Maybe nothing, but I sense a degree of deception or at least reticence on Loren's part. At first I suspected he might be a spotter for the gang, but I can now sense that his intentions toward us are benign. Guarded is how I can best describe his attitude.>
<All right. Ask him straight out if he suspects anyone in particular of being a member of the gang. I'll read his surface thoughts. The psychic connection will be so subtle he won't suspect a thing.>
"So Loren, if you had to put money on it, who among the patrons would you bet was a member of the gang?"
"I couldn't say, and wouldn't even if I could. I am not by nature a reckless person. Understand, the village has no professional lawmen here, only a part-time constable. Aside from patrols by the rural constabulary, the locals police themselves. In case of a crime the constable raises the hue and the cry and rouses the populace."
As a minstrel Loren was a keen observer of human nature and indeed had made some shrewd guesses about possible malefactors in their midst. It was just that, as an outsider, he was in no position to make accusations.
From his thoughts Derry had picked out the images and names of the possible suspects, persons with aggressive personalities and no steady jobs or other source of income who yet never seemed to be short of coin. Oh, they did not flaunt their money. It was enough that they never seemed to lack the wherewithal.
Two of whom were in the common room right at that moment. Directing his telepathy to the two giants Derry discovered that both had an unhealthy interest in him and his friends. And that was before two more unsavory types, both human, joined them. Highwaymen for sure. He relayed his conclusions to Corwin and Axel.
Corwin nodded then said with his voice almost in a whisper. "Don't let your face or body language betray what is about to happen."
"Which is?"
Derry sent him. <It's me Derry talking in your head. I can link you to Axel and Corwin. We need to confer without anyone suspecting what we are up to.>
<What are we up to?>
<We intend to expose the bandits and make a citizen's arrest. Call it a preemptive strike lest they fall upon our small party on the road ahead. Better we stalk them here and now rather than face them at a time and a place of their choosing. That is where you come in Loren. We could use your help doing it. Your telekinetic powers added to ours could overawe them and force them to surrender and avoid bloodshed. The gods know how Axel and I are heartily sick of killing. So after your next set, let's go upstairs, as if for an assignation, and make plans. Are you in?>
<I am willing to listen to your pitch. That's all I'll commit to right off.>
Chapter 5 Plans
After Loren's second set, they all went upstairs, ignoring the nods and winks thrown their way. One patron was heard to wonder how they would pair off.
"OK, first things, first. Derry, how is it you have the gift of mind speech? You're neither a druid nor a unicorn."
"You're correct that I am no druid, but I am indeed a unicorn, at least in my alternate form. Watch."
Loren stared open-mouthed as Derry smoothly morphed into a unicorn.
"A shape shifting unicorn!"
"Rather a shape shifting elf who can transform into a unicorn. My dual nature gives me the powers of both forms. For one thing I am nearly four times stronger than you would expect, which makes me more than a match for any Frost Giant except Finn Ragnarson."
"What about their powers -- Corwin's and Axel's?"
"Corwin is a magical healer and also wields ball lightning. Druidical healing magic has made him and Axel nearly three times stronger with correspondingly faster reflexes.
"Wicked."
"Axel is a jumper. He can instantly teleport himself and anything he touches to practically anywhere, and he wields push knives coated with a deadly poison, so he is a formidable combatant even without his carbine."
"A jumper with push knives! Of course!" Loren suddenly realized. "You gave only your first names or I would have recognized you sooner. You Corwin Klarendes are the intrepid war correspondent and you, Axel Wilde, the jumper cum sniper cum assassin whom Corwin wrote about in his history of the campaigns in Amazonia."
Corwin turned to Axel and said: "After Vronski and you I guess we'd better give our full names from now on."
Axel nodded as Loren continued:
"Now it is true that a handful of bandits would be no match for our powers, but why should I take a hand in this at all? It's not my job. These aren't my people. Besides I am not a professional adventurer like you two, you and Axel."
"Make that all three of us." Derry interjected. "Since I threw in with these two, I have turned into an adventurer myself. Just recently we unmasked a serial killer, a life leech, and later resolved a territorial dispute between frost giants and brontotheres."
"More power to you, but a life of action and adventure is not for me. And please don't tell me that it is my civic duty to help you capture the highwaymen. I know all about duty. It was why I volunteered to go to war. But that was everyone's fight, the defense of civilization itself. This bandit problem is not."
"Fair enough." Corwin conceded. "I cannot fault your reasoning. So let me ask, is there a reward for the apprehension of the highwaymen?"
"Yes, a considerable one, though perhaps not so very much when split four ways."
"Derry needs his share, but Axel and I are well-off. You can have my share and Derry can have Axel's. What do you say to half the bounty?"
Loren paused a moment then said:
"Hmmm, I don't earn very much as a minstrel, not out on the road in the hinterlands. At times a lack of coin has forced me into temporary work as a rent boy. So I have to say yes. Count me in, but only this one time."
The four agreed that they had to catch the highwaymen in the act. One way would be to trail a party of travelers small enough to temp them to pounce. Or they might surveil and trail the four known members of the gang. Finally the four of them might offer themselves as bait.
"Isn't it wrong to put innocent parties at risk by using them as bait? Better we take that risk ourselves." Loren opined.
Axel wasn't persuaded. He rocked his head and said:
"Let's say we use ourselves as bait and manage to turn the bandits' ambush against them and haul them into court. It would be our word against the bad guys. The bandits might even claim that we were trying to rob them or that our confrontation was the result of a misunderstanding or simply mistrust of chance-met strangers. No, we need witnesses whose motivation cannot be questioned."
"Why should anyone question our motives? We're the good guys, so why would we lie?" Loren asked.
"For the reward money, of course. No, we need the testimony of unimpeachable witnesses. Also, by using others as bait, we retain our tactical flexibility. So let's make our plans on the assumption that we will use a small party as a stalking horse."
"That's pretty cold-blooded, Axel, but I suppose you are right. You guys have a lot more experience at this sort of thing than I do.
"What is you plan then?" Corwin asked.
Axel shook his head.
"I don't have a plan really, only some initial thoughts. First, Derry your job will be to telepathically track the four we have identified. Find out where they go and whom they meet and share the images of the faces of other gang members. I will follow them physically but at a distance, watching through a far-viewer and relying on teleportation and the field craft I learned as a sniper to remain undetected. Your job Loren, when we catch them in the act, is to hold a missile shield over us and their intended victims and also to disarm them by yanking their air guns and bows out of their hands."
"Before we confront them you should know," Loren added: "that one of them can throw levin bolts. He once killed a bodyguard who cut at him with a sword."
"Don't worry." Corwin assured him. "I've got that covered. Lightning bolts are all offense but no defense whereas my ball lightning serves as both shield and sword. I can block levin bolts and attack at the same time, as I did so often in combat. Besides, Axel and I will also be armed with our carbines."
"Right, with bayonets fixed to further cow our foes with cold steel." Axel offered. We should also work Derry's sonic weapon into our plan. Loren's missile shield is s a fine defense against stand-off weapons while Derry's killer neigh can counter any attempt at getting to close quarters say with swords or knives."
"You have developed into quite the tactician Axel." Corwin allowed.
"Well I am a professional soldier in my dual capacity as both an aide to a war wizard and a war mage in my own right. And extensive combat experience tends to make for tactical thinking."
"Also it occurs to me that we will need some place to hold the bandits after we arrest them. It would be safest if Axel just jumped them one or two at at time from where we captured them to some holding pen. Loren, is there a jail in the village or some other secure place that would hold them."
"Just an old storeroom with a solid door and a good lock. It's used mostly for drunks or to let hotheads cool off after a barroom brawl. The constable will know more."
"Yes, we will have to bring him in on this." Corwin agreed.
"Derry you and I will have to check him out to make sure he is not working with the gang. Let's put our heads together tomorrow afternoon to make final plans. Meanwhile let's go to bed, and I mean just to sleep. That includes all of us. I may not be be mind reader like Derry, but I can see the mutual attraction between you Loren and you Axel, but it really should wait till afterwards."
"I hate to admit it, but you are right. With what is ahead of us in the next day or so, this is no time for fun and games," Axel admitted, "but we two will pick this up afterwards. Won't we Loren?"
"Definitely, Axel!"
The next morning after his ablutions, Axel checked his harness and combat medic pack and pumped up the air reservoir of his carbine to full pressure. It was normally kept at only half pressure until combat was imminent. He then sharpened his blades which included a kukri as well as his push knives.
"Isn't that the deadly venom you get from your shapeshifter friend?" Loren asked.
"Yes, but I am coating only one blade full strength. The other blade gets a dilute coating, just enough to incapacitate a foe and take him out of a fight. After all, we are trying to capture the bandits, not kill them out of hand."
"Good thinking, Axel" Derry agreed. "Which is why I am counting on my incapacitating screech more than my horn or hooves which are deadly weapons."
Chapter 6. Springing the Trap
The boys chose a a party of four as their stalking horse. It consisted of a mercer named Martin Kalm, one of his grown sons, and two teamsters cum guards. It seems that the mercer had missed his connection with a convoy earlier in the week and wanted to push on ahead with his two wagons to get his silks to market early. All four elves were armed with carbines instead of their more usual long bows.
As they set out they were trailed by Corwin and his companions, all on foot and in uniform in the case of Axel and Corwin. Melody had been left in her stall. The boys had not warned the four intended victims about the bandits who intended to ambush them a couple of miles ahead at a stream crossing. Their preoccupation with getting their wagons across the rocky ford without throwing a wheel would serve the bandits well as a distraction.
A half mile or so before the mercer's party came within sight of the bandits' lookout, Axel teleported the four to their location with Derry already in his unicorn form, visual reassurance that they were the good guys
"What? You are talking in my head! And what is this you are saying about bandits?" the mercer asked, momentarily befuddled by surprise.
Derry explained the situation and offered them a chance to return safely to the inn or to proceed as if nothing was untoward, just the four of them in their two wagons. When the highwaymen struck, Corwin and his friends would instantly teleport into their midst to defend them and to capture the outlaws.
Now all four in the mercer's party were in the militia. Moreover Kalm's son Viktor and one of the teamsters had seen combat in Amazonia. So he and his men were willing to take their chances.
Once linked up, they would number eight good guys against maybe nine or ten bandits, so pretty good odds with six carbines among them. Also they and not the bandits would have the element of surprise. Then there were the powerful magical gifts of a fetcher, a unicorn, a jumper, and a wielder of ball lightning. Even in his capacity as a healer Corwin might give a foe a heart attack if it came to that. And three of their eight could call light to englobe the head of a foe and scramble his brains.
So they agreed to play the unsuspecting victims and also to try to capture the bandits rather than kill them. The highwaymen had themselves not killed wantonly, only twice in what they likely considered to be self-defense, regardless that it was during the commission of their crimes.
Besides who could doubt a promise of protection from a unicorn, a magical species who were known to be scrupulously honest. And two of the four in Corwin's part sported military decorations which showed that the blond and the red-head were a whole lot more than a pair of pretty boys. Moreover one was a giant-friend and the other an orc-friend which also inspired confidence. Besides the mercer considered himself a good judge of character. So Kalm put his trust in Corwin and his friends.
It was not misplaced.
Along a stretch of road with low brush to either side the bandits sprung their trap. Two of them stepped into the roadway and leveled their carbines at the wagons. The rest rose from a crouch and stepped fully into view along the edge of the road. It was a textbook L-shaped ambush.
"Surrender your goods, and your lives will be spared!" their leader, a tough looking giant, called out.
Derry had been listening telepathically. At his nod Axel teleported their party to the wagons.
"The tables are turned." Corwin announced. "It is you who have fallen into a trap. Surrender and we will spare your lives."
"Now why should we do that youngling?" the frost giant asked. "The odds are pretty even and while we are spread out you guys are all bunched up, making an easy target.
Corwin shook his head. "Your airguns and crossbows are no threat to us. Our fetcher is holding a missile shield to protect us."
"We'll see about that."
The bandits cut loose but their lead bullets and crossbow quarrels could not get past Loren's missile shield. Still Loren's gestures had made it obvious that he was their fetcher. The frost giant turned to one of his men and ordered:
"Jarl, take him out. Let's see his missile shield stop a lightning bolt." he said with a sneer.
A human of middle years and with a predatory grin on his face gestured dramatically as he hurled a tremendous bolt at Loren. Corwin blocked it with a sphere of ball lightning which hummed louder and flashed blue as it absorbed the bolt. The crackling ball then zipped forward and engulfed the lightning caster, turning him into a crispy critter, soldier slang for a burnt corpse.
Having made his point Corwin contented himself with holding three balls of lightning in a defensive formation. He again invited the bandits to surrender, but their chief shouted to the bandits to get in close and attack with cold steel. A fight at close quarters would neutralize Corwin's ball lightning which would be as much a threat to friend as to foe in a hand to hand brawl.
That was when Derry transformed into a unicorn and cut loose with his killer neigh, Really an intolerable screech, it did not kill but startled, pained, and distracted its foes, and either drove them off or made them vulnerable to the unicorn's natural weapons: horn, hoofs, and teeth.
That was a simple enough power, but surprisingly effective in battle for both defense and offense. Armed foes could not handle their own weapons effectively. They put their hands to their ears, making them easy to dispose of or to run away from.
As soon as the screech stopped Axel jumped behind one bandit after another, nicking each with his push knife, the one with diluted venom on its blade. That pretty much ended the fight except for their leader who had stood outside the cone of sound Derry had projected. Enraged beyond all measure he shouted:
"Cowards! You hide behind magical defenses. Otherwise I could kill every one of you pretty boys, one on one."
Derry projected.
Taking that as acceptance of a personal challenge, the giant brandished a fearsome looking longsword, but Derry was ready for that. His forthright charge caught the giant by surprise. The unicorn was upon his foe before he could bring his sword into play. As with the life leech, the unicorn's horn with it monomolecular point transfixed the giant's central heart. He bled out even as his auxiliary hearts worked to circulate his blood but all they did was pump his blood out of the grievous wound in his chest.
Afterwards Derry explained that he had delved the giant's mind and realized that he was the other killer in this band of highwayman. So Derry provoked him into an attack, which allowed Derry, in the exercise his legal right of self-defense, to kill the miscreant.
The rest of the bandits were unable to offer resistance as they were bound securely. After everyone returned to the village the constable locked his prisoners into the storeroom and sent a messenger to the county seat. The shire reeve arrived and took charge of the prisoners. The trial was held two days later back at the county seat.
The outcome was a forgone conclusion. All seven survivors were sentenced to work on a road gang for the next four years. It wasn't just punishment at hard labor. They would be trained to that exacting work and might be offered paid employment after serving their sentences. Either way they would end up in much better health thanks to a long stretch of strenuous outdoor work and decent food. The prisoners of the Commonwealth were fed as well as its soldiers.
"Well you boys saved our property and perhaps our lives. I am not sure that in the heat of the moment would would not have resisted rather than surrender to the bandits. It cost us a delay of three days, so now it is past time to push on. We will forever be grateful for what you have done for us."
The authorities were prompt to pay the reward. Derry put his share into his pack, gratified to be flush for the first time in his life. Loren hefted his sack of golds and wondered just what he should do with his new found wealth.
"I have a suggestion for what you can do with the reward money." Axel ventured.
"Oh? What?"
"Buy an autogyro. As a fetcher you can propel and pilot it yourself, and you have enough mechanical ability to maintain it and keep it in good repair. With an autogyro there is no feed bill, and the machines are never headstrong nor temperamental."
Loren nodded. "And the ride is more comfortable than even atop a mount with an ambling gait, right Axel?"
"Exactly!"
To celebrate, Loren took Axel to bed and proved, as if anyone would ever doubt it, that elves were born for male sex. Loren was enthusiastic and inventive as a lover. As a fetcher he could make love in ways that defied gravity, something Axel was well-experienced in thanks to Drew Altair and Liam.
The next day Axel jumped them all to Flensborg where Loren would find a good selection of new and used aerocraft.
"The airfield serves both civil and military aviation. It is the headquarters of the air arm of the Fyrd. It is also used by air taxis and postal, passenger, and freight autogyros. At least two firms refurbish and sell surplus military autogyros. You can get a good price there and also train with the mechanics at the repair hangers."
"Sounds good to me." Loren allowed.
In Flensborg Loren was initially tempted to buy a sleek two seat speedster but settled for a transport aerocraft. A more practical choice the larger autogyro would serve him not only for personal transportation but also a source of income. He might hire out as an air taxi for travelers in a hurry or carry airfreight under charter.
"And the next time I swing by the vale of my birth, I can prove to my folks that I am not a banjo strumming wastrel, as my father once put it, but a professional pilot and successful businessman."
"And anytime you get to the capital be sure to look us up." Axel told him. "We will be happy to show you around. I know that you'll just love Twinkle Town."
"Twinkle Town?"
Axel smiled. "It's an neighborhood named for the cute twinks who are its prime denizens, of whom we are all prime exemplars. Twinkle Town is a district or rather a cluster of dining, drinking, and dancing establishments favored by males who fancy pretty boys and by pretty boys who favor being fancied."
Axel too got new transportation at Flensborg. With a pang of regret he sold faithful Melody to easy service at a riding school and bought a mount trained to the amble. It was a sorrel gelding which was named Blaze after the white streak on its forehead. The animal would carry him tirelessly and comfortably over the long miles ahead.
Corwin wrote off an article about their latest exploits for the Capital Intelligencer and sent it off via air mail. It wasn't so time sensitive that it had to go via heliograph.
After saying their farewells Axel jumped Corwin, Derry, himself, and Blaze back to the village where they resumed their interrupted journey.
Author's Note
This story is entirely fictional, with no resemblance intended to any person living or dead.
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This story is one of an occasional series about the further adventures of the characters introduced in the fantasy novel 'Elf-Boy and Friends' and published by Nifty Archive. The chief protagonist of the novel, Dahlderon, elf-boy and druid, will appear in these stories in a supporting rather than starring role. Each story in the sequence stands on its own, with the focus on one or a few of the original characters.
Readers who like these stories might want to try my two series 'Daphne Boy' and 'Naked Prey' in the Gay/Historical section of the Archive. My 'Jungle Boy' series of Hollywood tales is posted in the Gay/Authoritarian section. The recent series 'Andrew Jackson High' relates the trials and tribulations of five of its gay students. For links to these and other stories, look on the list of Prolific Authors on the Archive.