TRILOGY: ITALIAN BROTHERS BOOK 1 - THE CORPORAL By Andrej Koymasky (c) 2000 Written on October 21st 1995 Translated by the Author English text kindly revised by a friend
USUAL DISCLAIMER
"ITALIAN BROTHERS 1 - THE CORPORAL" is a gay story, with some parts depicting graphic scened of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion, family, opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better not to read this story.
But if you really want, or because YOU don't care, or because you think you really want to read it, please be my welcome guest.
CHAPTER 9 - Daily intimacy
On Monday morning Enzo woke up very early as usual. He carefully shaved, put everyday clothes in a basket, and wore the beautiful clothes that Ruggiero gave him, as he told him to. He said goodbye to his father then went, with a fast pace, to the Casale, where Ruggiero's family lived. Along the way, he looked with a certain care at the houses, thinking that it was the first time he was going to somewhere far from his village, besides on some Sundays after the Mass, when he went downhill with his mates to the seashore at Capo Mulini. The rising sun gilded the upper part of the houses, and the old stones seemed to sparkle. Enzo had never paid attention to the house, but now he thought that they were beautiful.
After arriving at the Casale, he waited near the gate leading to the courtyard, wondering whether he should enter or not. After a while, a woman peeped out from a door, "Are you Vincenzo Rota?"
"Yes..."
"Don Ruggiero is loading the donkeys, back there. He is waiting for you," she briskly said, and went back inside the house.
Enzo went in the direction pointed by the woman, back to the building's corner, and saw Ruggiero. "I'm here!" Enzo said while approaching him.
"Oh, Enzo. In a while I will be done and we will leave. I'll ride my horse. You'll ride one of the three donkeys, this one, who has less load to carry. You wouldn't have any problem even if you've never ridden one. They are quiet animals," the young man said to him with a broad smile.
"How long will it take to reach Nicolosi?"
"At the donkeys pace, we should arrive a little before noon, just in time to eat something before starting to work."
"But is this load enough for the entire time we will be there?" the boy asked thoughtfully.
Ruggiero laughed, "No, just for the first few days. Then we will figure our what else we will need when we get up there."
Enzo felt silly and blushed. The young man fastened the load on the donkeys, then told Enzo to wait for a moment.
It was the first time that the boy went to the Casale -- it was a big building of plastered stones, or rather, an agglomerate of buildings that were quite ancient, enlarged by various generations. It gave the impression of a casual and yet harmonic ensemble, sound, massive. On the most ancient part, high on the roof, there was a small square terrace with stone parapets that on the corners were shaped in small spires. On one side there was a narrow stone staircase without parapet that led to the terrace from the back. Three massive huge arches supported a part with more elegant windows -- it must be the master's suite. Under the arches were the stables, and Ruggiero was preparing the animals there. In a corner there were the kitchen and the larder. Nearby, there was a well, some trees and benches built with dark stones. On the other side there was the entrance to the master's suite, a door in an arch shape, decorated with a certain sober elegance -- on the top of the pillars, at the beginning of the arch, two sculpted stones were lightly protruding. Three stairs lead to the massive wooden door. All together, those gave the impression of something half way between a villa and a fortalice, memory of that period of time when the outlaws' assaults on wealthy people's pillage houses and warehouses were not rare.
After a few minutes, Ruggiero came back, leading his horse by the bridle. He had Enzo mount the donkey, tied the three animals in a line, and tied the rope from the first donkey to the saddle of his horse, then he mounted it, "Let's go! Hold on to your pack-saddle!"
They went uphill, passed the Mother Church, went beyond the last houses of the village, towards the north. Occasionally, they ran across someone going in the opposite direction and they would exchange a greeting gesture.
After a while, Ruggiero said to Enzo, "You know, I thought that we seem like don Quichote and Sancio, I on my horse and you on a donkey."
"Who are they? Your friends?"
The young man laughed, "No. They are characters from a Spanish novel."
"You can read Spanish also?"
"Yes, and Italian and French."
"Also?" the boy asked, his eyes widened.
"Sure, and Latin and Greek."
"But one like you, sir, who knows so many things, why did you come back to our village? You, in the Capital, would have a golden future."
"I came back because I had to meet you, it's evident. How could I meet you if I stayed in Palermo?"
"But you did not even know I existed..."
"But destiny wanted me to discover that you existed and to fell in love with you."
"But what if I didn't fall in love with you?"
"It was not possible, you know it. You are born for me and only for me," Ruggiero said to him with a warm smile that made the boy shudder.
"Yes, you are right..." Enzo answered, smiling assuredly.
Reaching Sant'Antonio, they turned to the west towards the Mongibello. Enzo looked at the landscape. Now they were going far from the sea, up the volcano, to the hinterland. The road was a little wider, so now they could proceed side by side.
"Why does don Calogero send don Raffaele to Nicolosi?"
"Because the mansion will belong to the first born, don Antonio. Moreover, don Raffaele's wife brings him as a dowry all the vineyards that are between Nicolosi and Pedara, and don Calogero also gave the woods he owns in Nicolosi to don Raffaele. If it is just for the woods, it is possible to mange it from the mansion, but for the vineyards it will be better to manage them on site. So this way, don Raffaele can manage them personally."
"How is the young Countess?"
"Pretty, even though not beautiful. Reserved, gentle, very religious."
"And don Raffaele?"
"A promising young man, determined, with an open mind. He studied in Naples then in Bologna."
"Is he likeable? A good master?"
"Yes, even though he is a man of few words."
"Is the villa beautiful?" Enzo asked.
"We will see it. Yes, it seems that it is beautiful. In old times, it belonged to the Counts of Adrano. Don Calogero's father bought it with all the woods in Nicolosi. But now it has not been used for at least ten years and there will be a lot of work to do to restore it. It used to be a castle, but now only a tower remains, which is incorporated into the villa. That's why it is called Villa Torretta."
"And for the next few months, will we live in the villa?"
"Sure. Until the work is completed."
"You and I, alone?"
"At least in the beginning, yes."
"And... we will sleep on the same bed, right?"
"Sure, sparrow, at least as long as we are alone."
Reaching Nicolosi, they went up to the villa. It was surrounded by a tall wall, closed by a wrought iron gate. Ruggiero went and informed master don Leo, the keeper of the villa, who arrived at once with the keys, which he handed to Ruggiero. "Would you like me to send you some women to clean and to prepare the food, don Ruggiero?"
"No, we can manage by ourselves. If I need something, I'll let you know."
"So, finally the villa will be inhabited again," the elder man said with evident pleasure, giving Ruggiero the inventory books.
"Sure. And before don Raffaele and his spouse's arrival, you'll have to help me to find some servants."
"When is the wedding?"
"Next May, and all has to be ready before then. Tomorrow, send the superintendent of the woods to the villa to see me."
"Certainly, don Ruggiero. And welcome to you, don Vincenzo."
Enzo, upon hearing the elderly man addressing him as "don", looked at him, somewhat amazed, but returned greetings. When they were out, he asked Ruggiero, "Why did he call me 'don'? I am nothing but a common workman... he probably was mistaken because of the fine clothes I am wearing..."
"Possibly. But also because I told him that you are my assistant. You will have to get used to be called don Vincenzo, at least here."
The boy smiled, shaking his head, "Come on, I am just a farmhand, and here, I am your servant."
"No, you are my assistant."
"Riding a donkey... an ass riding another ass," the boy laughed.
"I'll teach you to ride a horse. And anyway, don Calogero also rides a donkey at times," the young man answered with a broad smile while they were going to the villa.
He opened the gate and they followed the path until they were in front of the main entrance to the villa. They dismounted and Ruggiero climbed the oval stairs and opened the door. Enzo looked around with wide eyes. They were in a spacious hall with a scissors stairway in the back and doors to the left and right. The scissors stairway embraced a pedestal with a statue in the center.
"Who is that? A saint?" Enzo asked.
"No, under there it says he is don Gonzalo of Asturies."
"Who is he?"
"I've no idea. But from his attire, he must have been a condottiere, a leader of troops, from at least two hundred years ago. And from his name, I am sure he was a Spaniard."
"Like our king?"
"No, now our king is a Neapolitan, even though his family comes from Spain."
"Then, why is he called the Spanish King?"
"Even if he speaks Neapolitan, many feel he is a foreign king. Anyway, our land has always been dominated by strangers -- first the Greeks, then the Romans, the Arabs, the Norsemen, the Anjou, the Bourbons..."
"There has never been a Sicilian king?" the boy asked, somewhat astonished.
"Never. But we always lived in our own way. We absorbed them, in some way. And possibly we Sicilian are the most mixed people in the world. Your blond hair and clear eyes are witnesses of that."
"My blond hair? Why, what does it have to do with that?"
"Your ancestors were evidently Norsemen. That's why you are blond and have such clear eyes."
"I would have liked to be like all the others," Enzo murmured, recalling what a burden it had been for him as a kid to be blond.
"But I like you exactly because of your eyes are clear like the spring sky, and your hair, the color of ripe wheat..." Ruggiero said to him with affection.
For the first time, inside his heart, Enzo thanked heaven for making him different from the others -- this gave him his man's love.
They climbed the big stairway and entered a huge room with dusty tapestry on the walls, rich crystal ceiling chandeliers veiled with dust and spider webs. They opened all the windows to dispel the smell of dust that impregnated all the rooms.
They entered a room with mythological frescoes. "How beautiful... who are they?" the boy asked with wide eyes.
"Apollon and the Muses. Jupiter kidnapping Ganymedes, Venus and Vulcan, Diana and Atteon," Ruggiero explained, pointing at the paintings on the walls one after the other to the boy.
"Who are they?"
"The ancient gods of Greece," the young man said and briefly told him their myths.
"But then, Jupiter and Ganymedes made love?"
"Sure. That's why Jupiter kidnapped Ganymedes."
"And they draw them so, on the wall?"
"Ancient things are no longer problems like the present ones," Ruggiero explained to the boy.
They entered the main bedroom -- a wide square bed, with four wooden spiral columns supporting a canopy with double curtains, veil inside and brocade outside, dominated the room.
Enzo emitted a low whistle, "Fucking hell, what a bed!" he said while approaching it and testing it with his hand, then added, "and it is soft like a cloud."
"It is dusty. We will clean it up and then, if you want, we will use it before it becomes the marriage bed of don Raffaele. Would you like to make love on it?"
"And how! Even now, dusty or not..."
Ruggiero smiled, "So then, after we open all the windows in the villa, we will come back here, take out the cover and the mattress, we will take them outside, beat them carefully and fluff them up. And tonight we will put them back, spread clean sheets that I brought on the bed and it will be all for us."
"Do we have to wait until tonight?"
"Yes, my sparrow. But then the night will be all ours."
"And not just tonight..." Enzo merrily echoed.
They took out the mattress, unloaded the donkeys, and Enzo went to the kitchen. After swiftly dusting the table, he prepared some food. In the afternoon, they started the survey. First of all, they checked the boundary wall, taking notes of the points that needed to be repaired, then, one room after the other. Ruggiero checked the inventory and wrote down all the work that had to be done. At times, they took measurements for things to replace, mainly some curtains corroded by dust and gotten torn apart when handled.
By evening time, they had only finished checking the first floor of the villa. After supper, they took the mattress back, then they spread on it freshly laundered sheets that Ruggiero brought from his home. "Here! Now it is ready for us. Come here, sparrow, undress me and let me undress you. The night is all ours. At last we can make love without hurry."
"And fall asleep embraced!"
"And tomorrow morning, we'll make love again..." the young man said while starting to unbutton the shirt of his boy.
While they were uniting, Enzo enjoyed the sensation of the fresh sheets underneath him, on his naked skin, and looked at the majestic canopy that dominated the bed, and the spacious room from whose open windows gusts of fresh wind entered, and felt happy. The mattress was so soft, even more so than the bed in the Saints' cellar, so wide, welcoming, giving him the sensation of living in a dream. And the strong young man on top of him, inside him, all around him, who was taking him with virile calmness, with sweet love, was taking him gradually to paradise.
The canopy curtains waved slightly with the rhythm of their union, while the sky outside was gradually darkening.
"My god, how beautiful you are, Enzo!" the young man murmured with emotion, "I don't want to cum soon this time, we have all the time we want, at last."
"Sure... and also next times. You too are beautiful, sir, and while you make me yours, you seem even more beautiful than those Greek gods. You are my god, and kidnapped me."
"Do you regret it?"
"No, are you joking? I am yours, soul and body. I'll never forget this night, as I won't forget that first time when you made me yours."
"It was not beautiful and comfortable as it is now, here."
"But it was wonderful, because it was the start of everything."
"I don't hurt you any more. Do I?"
"Oh no! I love it so much to feel you inside me. You are my first and only man."
When they lay down, embracing, Enzo, with his head leaning on Ruggiero's wide chest, could feel his reassuring and strong heartbeat and the calm and light breathing. He was looking out of the window at the sky, quilted with stars, and caught a glimpse of the top of a tree quivering and whispering in the light evening breeze. He felt he was in a peacefully bliss, "It's beautiful staying with you in this way, awaiting to fall asleep."
"Yes, it is really beautiful. I feel you are more mine than ever," Ruggiero said while kissing his eyelids.
Enzo smiled and curled more against the strong body of his man. After the intercourse, the affectionate, warm, tender, loving embrace of his man was for the boy the source of a new enjoyment that was satisfying, merry and serene.
He felt Ruggiero dozing off, sinking to a placid, deep sleep. And he desired that some painter could immortalize the scene on the walls of a villa, so that everybody could see it and say, "Here is the Greek god resting, with the boy he kidnapped looking on, after he made love with him." And everybody would say it was a wonderful painting, because for the Greek gods, everything was permitted.
The far away jingling of a harness bell for a moment broke the quiet peace of the fresh but sweet night, then the barking of a dog was heard. Enzo never paid too much attention to the noises of the night, but now he felt he was in a state of grace and all seemed beautiful to him, worth attention, fascinating and pleasurably mysterious. These noises made him feel that nature was alive and participating. He looked at the serene face of his Ruggiero and felt full of joy, because he knew he was the source of that serenity. Then he let his glance flow down in a long caress on the beautiful, seducing, strong body languidly lying near his own. He emitted a light sigh and relaxed, closed his eyes, waiting to doze off.
He was dreaming that he was lying on the fresh water of a stream that was caressing his naked skin, while the sun kissed his body. The sensations were very pleasurable and more and more intense so that he woke up -- the room was flooded with the first rays of the sun and Ruggiero was bending over him, and sweetly caressed and looked at him with luminous eyes where Enzo could see a sweet and strong desire.
"I want you."
"Oh yes!" Enzo whispered with a warm smile and pulled his legs to his chest, offering himself to his lover. Ruggiero slowly sank inside him to the hilt. "Oh, yes!" Enzo murmured again.
He thought that it was way too beautiful making love under the sunlight and having all the time they wanted. All his body answered with passion to the gentle impetus with which Ruggiero was taking him. The two bodies moved in unison, harmonious and beautiful, in a light dance, filled with ancient sacredness. The happiness of one mirrored in the eyes of the other.
"We have to get up now, unfortunately. We have a lot of work to do," Ruggiero said later.
They carefully surveyed the second floor and that took them all day. On the second floor, besides the huge bedroom where they slept, there was a party hall, looking out to the front garden, several other rooms and a private chapel. This was dedicated to Saint Vincent Ferrer -- a wooden baroque statue that adorned the altar.
"You see, this is your saint," Ruggiero said, pointing it to Enzo.
"He has a face that I don't like."
"Why?"
"Don't you see how serious he is? Who knows why the saints almost never smile? The day when I find a smiling, cheerful saint, then, that will be my saint."
"But maybe he is smiling in reality. It is the sculptor who imagined him in this way."
"Well, it could be, but I don't like this one," Enzo concluded determinedly.
They needed two more days to finish their survey. Meanwhile, Ruggiero gathered a group of workers to take care of the woods, to restore the park and the garden. The masons were repairing the long surrounding wall. Enzo thoroughly cleaned the kitchen so he could prepare food for the two of them and the keeper sent fresh provisions each day.
Last, they checked the well. It was in wonderful condition. Water was very good and fresh. When Enzo let himself down in it, at the water level, he saw there was a niche. He entered it with his lamp and saw that there was a side passage leading to a narrow tunnel. He told Ruggiero about it after he came back to the surface.
"Do you feel like going down again to check where the tunnel leads?" the man asked him.
"Yes, sure," the boy answered, excited at the thought of that exploration.
Ruggiero harnessed him again with the rope and sent him down. Reaching the niche, Enzo freed himself and went inside the tunnel, lighting his way with the lantern. It was dug through hard rocks, proceeding in a light bend, and a man could walk on it without any problem. After about twenty meters it opened to a wide rectangular room with a heavy, dark wooden door at its bottom.
Enzo tried it, but it was shut and firm. So he went back to the well, called Ruggiero and described what he saw to him.
"Go back to the door. I'll go to the cellar in the villa. Knock on the door from time to time so that I could know where it is," Ruggiero shouted from the well curb.
"But we verified the cellar carefully and all of its doors," the boy objected.
"That's why you have to knock -- I have to find out why we didn't see that door."
"Possibly in another room not connected to the cellar..."
"If the door you found is shut on the other side, there must be a connection. Do as I told you."
"All right."
Back in the underground room, Enzo took a closer look at it. All around the rocky walls there were niches dug to form what looked like a row of shelves. But all were empty. From time to time Enzo knocked on the wooden door, the sound echoed in the airy room. A long time passed before he finally heard Ruggiero's voice. He continued to knock.
Now the voice came from behind the door. "Here, it is here. It was well hidden. Wait, I'm trying to open it."
"Do you need a key?"
"No, there must be some kind of bolt, I don't know..." Enzo heard noises, until the door pivoted and opened a little. The smiling figure of Ruggiero appeared at the opening, with a lamp in his hand. "It was well hidden, come and see," he said, pushing open more of the door.
Enzo found himself in one of the rooms of the cellar. The door was completely covered in wood and there was a shelf, also in wood. A part of the shelf had pivoted together with its back that constituted the door. When Ruggiero pushed back the shelf, and made one of the wooden crosspieces slide, nothing could make one suspect that there was a passage.
"It is a secret passage, but what for?" the boy asked.
"Possibly in order to escape in case of danger, or more likely, to hide -- it is connected to the well, there is air and water."
"But to go out from there, one needs to have somebody to open the passage here, or to lower a rope from the well. Alone, one cannot go up the well, and from the inside it's impossible to open the door."
"Therefore more to hide than to escape," Ruggiero nodded in assent.
"Will you tell don Calogero about it?"
"I don't know... I'd rather tell don Raffaele, as this will be his house. I'll think about it. You, for the moment, don't tell anybody, please."
"Sure, as you wish," the boy answered, almost astounded that the young man judged it necessary to request it.
After a few days, Ruggiero told him, "Enzo, I have to go back to our village to report to don Calogero, so that he can decide the work that needs to be done. Do you feel like going back with me, to see your father and your friends?"
"How long do you think we will stay there?"
"I don't know exactly, it depends on the master, but I presume two or three days. But if you'd rather stay here..."
"Anyway I cannot see you either remaining here or going back. If it is OK with you, sir, I'll go back. But then, I'll come back up here with you, no?"
"Yes, sure, sparrow. So then, are you going with me to our village?"
"All right."
They took their way back. "When the work at the villa starts, we will also have to restore the room where we slept in, right?"
"Certainly."
"And where will we sleep, then?"
"We will choose another room."
"You already have one in mind?"
"What do you think of the one on the top of the little tower? We can fix it first, after that, we can use it for as long as we have to sleep in the villa."
"Wouldn't people coming to work in the villa think it is strange that we share the same room? Wouldn't it be better to fix both of the rooms that are in the tower, one on the third and another on the fifth floor and say I sleep in one and you in the other?"
"All right, we will do as you say. But we will not have a beautiful and wide bed there like the one we are using now."
"With you... any bed will be a royal bed..." the boy cheerfully answered. "Why are you not sure about telling don Calogero about the secret passage?" the boy asked along the way.
"I don't know, I still haven't decided. I will probably tell don Raffaele, as I said, as he will be the housemaster. And he can decide if and to whom he wants to tell. And anyway I won't tell him that you know it also. I will see..."
"It's strange that everybody had forgotten about it, don't you think?"
"Who knows how long it hasn't been used. The memory could become lost, you see, during one of the ownership changes."
"The villa probably hides more secrets..."
"Probably..."
"And... hidden treasures?" the boy asked with a dreaming expression.
"That's more difficult, but..." Ruggiero answered with a smile.
Enzo loved that warm smile. He loved that face, manly and sweet at the same time. He loved that man who brought such full and intense happiness to his life and in his head he repeated the name of the young man, caressing it sweetly and no other name ever seemed so beautiful to him. He looked at his strong hands that lightly held the bridle and thought he loved feeling them on his body.
"But you, sir, are you happy with me?" at a certain point Enzo asked, very seriously.
Ruggiero looked at him, almost astounded, "Certainly! Don't ever doubt it, my sparrow -- having found you has been like finding an orange in the open sea... You know that I like you very much, especially now that we can sleep together. It seems like a dream to me. I like you too much, Enzo. I am lucky having a boy like you," the young man said with a self-assured look.
Enzo was overjoyed and looked with dreaming eyes at his man. "I'll always be faithful to you. Forever," the boy almost whispered.
"I'm sorry we have to part for these few days," the young man thoughtfully answered, caressing his lover riding at his side with his eyes.
"Will you miss me?"
"You can say it!"
"I will miss you too. So much. These days were way too wonderful, you and I alone."
"We will have many of these days."
"Never enough, anyway..." Enzo murmured thoughtfully.
"Never enough..." Ruggiero echoed him.
CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 10
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