The Michael Arram stories are now beginning to appear together at: http://www.iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/arram
This story contains graphic depictions of sex between young males. If the reading or possessing of such material as this is illegal in your place of residence please leave this site immediately and do not proceed further. If you are under the legal age to read this, please do not do so.
IX
The hotel in Amsterdam was pretty basic but clean. Terry checked them in. They were careful to call him `sir' whenever they talked to him, keeping up the masquerade. Ed and Henry were put in a long room with Justin and Nathan. David and Rudi had a double, and Terry was in a single. Terry made a few mobile calls, and told them that the rest of the day and the evening was theirs, and to change into casuals.
Sir,' he said to Rudi, I must ask you to stay with me. I'm sorry. I know you'd rather be with your friends, but we can't assume that we've crossed to the Continent unobserved. I know we weren't followed from Rotterdam, but that's neither here nor there, if we'd been spotted off the ferry, they would have called ahead to alert RSDP agents here.'
`I'll stay with you and Rudi, Terry, and keep him company,' said David.
You're a good lad,' Terry said, and David beamed. Now, I've got here a wad of Euros to spread around between you four, and take it from me that you will be searched before you get back on the minibus. I don't want no problems at the Rothenian border. They're really hot against drugs.
And another thing. I ain't really your teacher, as a result of which if you get into any serious trouble it's OK for me to shoot you in the kneecaps. Remember that, favourite babes.' They laughed and went thundering up to their room where they changed, and came thundering down and out on to the streets with a whoop.
`Do your magic, Henry,' commanded Ed.
`Dam Square this way, guys!'
Amsterdam was warm and the midday sun was beating down out of a humid sky, there was a faint haze in the air. The four boys were just one amongst many wandering groups of young males. They sat and talked with other British lads in the square and were tipped off as to a cannabis cafe that wasn't too particular.
Justin grinned, `You gonna tell on us, Henry?'
`Nope. Though I'm not going to smoke. These places gotta serve coffee too haven't they, or they wouldn't be cafes?'
Henry surprised himself by his coolness in following the others into the dingy sink of iniquity they found off a small sidestreet near the city museum. He wondered why. He decided that maybe it was because he was with Justin, who seemed unfazed and unaffected by any wild situation, and because he was in the shelter of two big blokes like Nathan and Ed. Inside they took a table and got drinks. Justin haggled by the counter and came back with some papers and a small packet. Soon he had a spliff and was sucking away. Justin added to the ambience of oily smoke, which was causing Henry's nose to twitch. He began trying to work out whether he was getting high or not, but he didn't know what to look for. He sipped at his double expresso.
Justin grinned and twitched his eyebrows. `Thass ambition number one achieved. You wanna know the next one?'
Ed gave him a hard look. `Let me guess ... live sex show?'
Justin's grin widened, `Live GAY sex show.'
`You're on your own mate,' said Ed.
Sorry, but no,' said Henry, I think I'll do something more cultural.'
Justin suddenly looked alarmed, `Aw come on Nate, yer know how much this means to me.'
You and public sex, you sad little git,' Nathan scolded. Why should I pander to your perversions?'
Justin cuddled up to his lover; he tried and failed to put on an appealing puppy dog face as he looked up, `Iss cos you love me, innit.'
Give me that, chavvy babe.' Nathan took the spliff off him and took a deep drag. OK, I'll go with you, but only to keep you out of trouble. It's eleven thirty now. How about we meet you guys at the Oudekirk at three. You can do the Rembrandt Museum and pick up a nice lunch, and as you do, remember my sacrifice. They say the shop windows round the church are worth goggling at, even if you're gay.'
Henry and Ed surreptitiously watched their fellow customers for a while, and then took their leave. Justin was twitching in his seat ready to move on, and his twitchiness was probably enhanced by the marijuana.
`I hope they'll be OK,' Henry worried.
`Justin's like a cat, little babe. Throw him in the air and he'll always fall on his feet. Nate also is a big strong guy. Anyway, I hope he does get into a club where he can wank off till he's stupified. Don't forget we're in the same room as that sack of hormones tonight.'
They were still waiting at three thirty at the Oudekirk, and the limited charm of the prostitutes in the shop fronts had long worn off. Neither of them could raise Nathan or Justin on their mobiles. Ed had just suggested that they head back to the hotel when the two of them appeared round a corner, bickering. Justin was very disgruntled.
Fuckin total waste of money,' he growled. Didn't see any penetration. He was going bald and in his thirties ... "Fresh Twinkie Sex" my fuckin arse. His mate was a real screaming queen too. Couldn't even get it up as he minced across the stage.'
`You saw one guy jerk off.'
`You think! I saw him lift his bum and squeak. That was that.'
Guys,' said Nathan, turning to the others, Your caution in following sleaze boy here was perfectly justified. The price to get in and the drinks more or less cleaned us out, and it was, as Justy has eloquently explained, a total waste of time and money. How was your afternoon?'
`Rather enjoyable as it happens.'
As I feared,' grumbled Nathan. The wages of sin are acute boredom'.
Henry chirped up with a smile, `Never mind, Nate, we got some compensation for you ... we found a sweet little gay bar for young people at the nicer end of the Warmoestraat. Let's go wave the rainbow flag and be upfront queers for a bit.'
Justin was still grumbling when they got their drinks and found a table in a clean and well appointed bar principally full of gay and lesbian students. He eyed the next table up as Nathan got him an Indonesian beer. `Maybe I should shave me head and get some new piercings.'
`Your hair is gorgeous ... Matt spends a fortune on it. Shaving it would be a major cultural tragedy. Also I'd have nothing to hold on to when I take you from ... oops, sorry lads, you probably didn't want to hear that.'
`I hold Henry under the armpits myself, but I go in low and hard. You take Justy with his bum high I imagine.'
Nate looked shyly lecherous, an odd expression, but that's the only way to describe it. `Yeah ... I do. Even thinking about it's getting me hard. No dark room here, eh Justy babe?'
Justin's face cleared and he laughed. They stayed in the bar eyeing up the Dutch boys and being eyed back for a whole ninety minutes. Then they had to rush up the street to keep their dinner appointment with Terry and the others.
Terry was looking cheerful when they arrived, although David and Rudi gave off a distinctly bored air. Terry led them on foot to the dock of a low canal cruiser that did meals. `I booked a table here, babes. It's probably not the best food in Amsterdam, but the local Peacher guys say it's not bad, and for me the point is that it'll be difficult to bug our conversation.'
`Is that likely?' asked Rudi.
No sir,' said Terry, but after so many years in this game you get to assume automatically that someone is after you -- occupational paranoia.'
They took their time over the meal, which was a pretty passable Italian. The only excitement about it was the scene when Justin tried to sneak garlic bread past the vigilant gaze of Nathan. `No you little sod ... give it here.'
No s mine, you bastard.' There was a subdued wrestling match under the table.
Stop it the pair of you,' Terry growled, you're rocking the fucking boat. Whass going on?'
Nathan finally wrenched most of the bread out of Justin's hands, leaving him with a small portion which he defiantly chewed and swallowed. `It's Justin's digestive plumbing. If any garlic gets in it, he produces vast quantities of gas. You'll know it tomorrow you guys,' he added, looking significantly at Ed and Henry.
At the end of the meal Terry looked out on the convergence of the darkening canal, and the long lines of gabled frontages they were chugging past. `Just a few things to say, lads. Firstly, so far as my people can tell, we're undetected. There may be agents here in Amsterdam, but as far as we knowl, they're not on the lookout for you, Rudi. Your mum's been brought into the loop, by the way. Oskar zu Terlenehem flew to England to see her yesterday as arranged, with the letter you provided, and he explained everything. She said, Rudi, that she was praying for you, and that you were to remember Rudolf V, and how he lived and died. What does that mean?'
`It's a family secret, known only to the Rassendylls and Tarlenheims,' Rudi said, and as he said it, his eyes literally blazed. There was silence.
Terry resumed, `Back in Rothenia it's the eve of election, which is Sunday. There will be a broadcast on Eastnet and the commercial channels tonight about a monarchist solution, and the Elphberg restoration will be touted. Will says that in the past week the feeling on the internet sites has swung radically towards the idea of constitutional monarchy, but the key thing is that President Maritz had a secret meeting this morning with Helmut Trachtenberg of the Unity Party. Rather than risk the RSDP taking the balance of power, Trachtenberg has agreed to form a coalition with the remnants of Maritz's Christian Democrats after the election and set up a constitutional convention to dismantle the Second Republic. But this all depends on quite how badly the election savages Maritz. It is very possible that the Christian Democrats and Unity Party will fail to raise a majority between them. The desperate last throw is that Trachtenberg has agreed to give a broadcast tonight proposing the monarchist solution, as if it came from him. It won't do his core vote any harm, quite the opposite, and it may sway a lot of voters away from the RSDP and the communists.
Now boys, it's eight o'clock and the boat is about to dock. Just down the street is an internet cafe, and Jenna has the place closed down. We have a big screen set up to show the Eastnet documentary and phone in, in half an hour. We would have done it in the comfort of the Peacher Corp offices, but if anywhere's likely to be watched, it's there.'
In a subdued mood, Terry and his six boys walked down along the canal side to a well fitted internet cafe, which said it was closed, but at whose door Jenna and two men were awaiting them. They unconsciously covered Rudi as he went in, as if he were the US president, and Henry thought how this might be Rudi's future now. He didn't seem too fazed by it.
There was no sign of a proprietor and it was two security men who served them soft drinks. The big wall screen was already playing the streamed Eastnet channel. There was a live broadcast going on from the Rodolferplaz in Strelzen, with Eastnet journalists interviewing people in the street. Henry was pleased to find that he could follow most of it. He was particularly rivetted when one middle class lady said that as far as she was concerned you couldn't trust politicians with the future. Only the monarchy had ever worked, as it saw itself holding the kingdom in trust for future generations. A guy in the background shouted out, Bring back the Elphbergs'. When other members of the crowd responded that they were dead and gone, three or four others came back and contradicted them, and there were shouts that they wanted the prinz Angliske'. The reporter looked confused at that point, and moved elsewhere in the crowd, but calls for `the English prince' were still echoing in the great square as the programme ended, the reporter looking more and more harrassed and apprehensive. Henry whispered summaries of what was going on to Nate and Ed. Justin had got himself a beer and was apparently out of it.
Terry looked at Rudi, who was translating the comments to him. `Couldn't be better, sir. Will's campaign is coming together. Though I wonder whether Oskar had those guys planted in the crowd. One of them looked suspiciously like one of his Falkefilm model buddies.'
After a few adverts, which got Justin interested again, the documentary came on. It was presented by the Strelsenermedia director of news and information, Oskar's old university friend, Tomas Weissman. The present crisis was briskly outlined, and the state of the parties summarised. It looked on the face of it as if the RSDP was headed for victory if the Maritz coalition came apart and the fragments moved to the right. But Henry did some quick maths and if the Christian Democrat vote held up and the Unity Party performed to its best, then a Maritz-Trachtenberg coalition would easily overshadow the rest. The programme didn't mention this as an option, but it did give a powerful diagnosis of the failures of the Second Republic and heavily pushed the idea of reform.
Henry saw Rudi go tense at this point, and sit forward in his chair. Tomas began a lead into a recorded portion with clips from Matt White's influential documentary on the Elphberg dynasty, and discussed the 1880 crisis and the disastrous accession of the Thuringians. But then he recalled the forgotten option', and the suppressed claims of the Rassendyll Elphbergs. There were shots of Burlesdon House in Suffolk, and the camera went up a grand staircase there focussing on its portraits of successive earls from the eighth to the eleventh, Rudi's dad. At the top of the stairs was Tomas in suit and tie. He walked the camera along a great gallery and through double doors. Henry prodded a tense Rudi in the back, Nice pad you got there Rudi.'
Tension made Rudi giggle, `Watch the next bit,' he hissed. And there he was, standing at a grand marble fireplace in a well-cut suit looking rather handsome, if not so tall as in person. He shook Tomas's hand and greeted him in perfect Rothenian. They took facing chairs in the classic celebrity interview style.
Sir,' said Tomas in Rothenian, many of our Rothenian viewers will know little about you.'
Rudi looked amazingly relaxed and smiled warmly, `I am the last of the Elphbergs, Mr Weissman, Robert Rudolf Rassendyll, direct descendant in the male line of King Rudolf III. I'm seventeen and finishing school in England. But I know Rothenia well, in fact I have dual citizenship, being count of Hentzau as well as of Burlesdon here in England.
Your Rothenian is very good, sir,' said Tomas, I can't tell that it isn't your first language.'
`My grandmother was of the family of Kesarstein. She had me talking Rothenian from the time when I was a baby, and I have spent several summers in the country.'
`There's a lot of interest at the moment, sir, in a restoration of the monarchy. Your ancestor of the same name was excluded from succession by the illegitimacy of his descent from Rudolf III.'
`That was 1880, Mr Weissman. In 2000 Rothenia enacted the EU's basic law and removed any obstacle for a claim to succession by an illegitimate descendant.'
`Do I take it from that, sir, that you consider yourself a claimant to the throne of Ruritania.'
`I do. There is nothing I would like better than to be the next Elphberg king, it's something I have been preparing for all my life, to restore the great tradition of tolerance that my ancestors blessed their kingdom with. I want to be a new focus for unity in a troubled country, the way that the Bourbons have been in Spain and the house of Saxe Coburg Gotha in Belgium. The future of Rothenia is for the people to decide, but with a king in place above the squabbles of the Parlementplaz, they will at least be able to rally to one national figurehead.'
`Of course, sir, there are other contemporary European monarchies perhaps less acceptable to the Rothenian people.'
Rudi gave a smile, `I really don't know who you might be referring to.'
Tomas smiled back, `Have you ever met Prince William of Wales, sir?'
`Not at all, I'm afraid. I don't move in those sort of circles.'
`Sir, how do you feel about the present crisis in Rothenia.'
`I know it is an issue where ethnic divisions are opening up which could be closed by a touch of Elphberg superglue. My family was once German, but it has in the past expressed all that is best about Rothenia -- the warmth, the passion and the courage that is at the heart of my people. Warmth of brotherly love, passion for justice and courage to grasp a neighbour's hand. The idea that there may be people who think that Rothenia could be a better place if it was turned into another Bosnia is insanity ... I know what Rudolf V and Flavia would have thought of that.'
`And I imagine we know what Henry the Lion would have done about it?'
Rudi gave a polite laugh. `My people have a choice. Rothenia has earned its right to be ranked with the great European democracies. It was Rudolf V who promoted parliament within the old constitution. They may choose to recall my family or not. I await their call.'
Tomas thanked Rudi, and turned to the camera. `So there we are, ladies and gentlemen, the man who would be King Rudolf VI.'
The screen returned to the studio and Tomas kicked off a marathon call-in with a panel of constitutional experts in the studio. The phone lines were jammed. Half way through he responded to breaking news he was hearing about through his ear piece. He announced that they were going over to Rechtenberg city hall where the stocky figure of Helmut Trachtenberg was making a statement. He appeared at a podium ranked with mikes, and began a careful statement that he said his party's central office had just agreed. The Unity Party was fully committing itself to constitutional reform as the only possible way to hold the country together, and they were supporting the restoration of the monarchy. Cameras flashed and there was a tumult of shouting. When the programme finally got back to the call in, a poll was establishing that over three quarters of the callers wanted reform and two thirds wanted the monarchy back.
It was as Eastnet went over to the news that Will Vincent engineered a cunning ambush on the RSDP. Eastnet journalists flatfooted Bermann with the news of the Unity Party announcement, and he went into a frantic and ugly rant that was guaranteed to turn off any floating voters. It was broadcast regularly every fifteen minutes thereafter on the rolling news. There was little doubt of the nature of the government Bermann would head. To cap it all, President Maritz when likewise challenged gave a measured and statesmanlike response that he would by no means rule out a constitutional convention, or a referendum, since that was a possible avenue of future unity.
Like clockwork boys, like clockwork,' said Terry as they got up to leave. Will and Oskar have done a brilliant job ... but now it's up to the voters, and they'll have their own ideas I don't doubt.'
`Hey Rudi, when did you do that interview?' asked Ed.
Rudi looked a little shy, `Oh, er Eastnet came and filmed it at exeat ... I had to find a way of getting mother out of the house, it wasn't easy.
No wonder you were so tense,' Ed went on. Did you think up all that yourself?'
`Actually yes, I did, though I tried it out on Will and Tomas first.'
Cool,' said Henry, when we get back, you can do the next sixth form assembly.'
The boys were drained intellectually when they got back to their modest hotel, but physically they were humming. Ed and Henry followed Nathan and Justin up to their room. They arranged the beds into two doubles and then sat on them.
`How do we do this?' Ed asked a little nervously.
Justin grinned suggestively at the question but it was Nathan who answered. Guys, I'm sorry but I've got to have my little mate's ass and now.' Justin smiled and nodded. Nathan continued, If you want to be modest then you'd better give us half an hour. But I rather hope ...'
Ed looked at Henry and then they too nodded. Ed closed with Henry and began kissing him while he stripped him, and Nathan did the same to Justin. Soon the smaller boys were naked, and Justin was grinning lasciviously at Henry over Nathan's shoulder as his lover kissed and sucked at the hollow space in his neck. Nathan broke off and shed his clothes, followed not long after by Ed.
The couples lay on their adjacent beds, and began a protracted session of foreplay, heightened amazingly by each watching the other. Justin's passion was a revelation to Henry; he squirmed like an eel on heat and made small moans of passion as Nathan's fingers and lips aroused him. Ed began copying Nathan, and soon the younger couple was taking its cue from the older; so when Nathan put Justin on all fours and began rimming him patiently and persistently, Ed did the same. Henry's head was down on his arms, and he smiled across at Justin who made kissing actions with his lips. Henry too now was moaning gently. After ten minutes, Nathan began preparing Justin with his fingers, and Henry felt his lover's fingers probing him, and the cool drip of lube on his hole. The bigger boys entered their lovers simultaneously, Henry and Justin both up on fours and their backs arching as they were entered.
For a while Ed matched Nathan, who had covered Justin and was pushing into him slowly and patiently. Henry loved watching Justin's beautiful cock swaying between his legs with the thrusts. But Ed soon pressed him down flatter into the bed, and reached up under his arms. Henry loved this part as Ed possessed him totally, burying himself deeper and deeper into him until he was as far in as he could go, and then rotating his hips and reaming his length deep inside Henry. The stimulation to his anus was awesome. He was groaning now. Justin's eyes were lustful and fixed on his. Henry reached across the gap in the beds and ran his hand up and down Justin's arm; the other boy caught it, kissed it and sucked Henry's fingers. Both Nathan and Ed now began pumping hard into them, and Ed lost it first, almost crushing Henry as he tensed and shot deep inside him. They both collapsed and watched, still connected, as Nathan finished off Justin, pulling him up from the bed, and gripping him round the waist as he did the final thrusts hard up into the slim kneeling boy clasped to him. Then they too fell forward.
They lay dazed, until Justin pushed up on his elbows, and said, `So I got my live sex show after all ... and man, was it hot.'