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Chapter Thirteen: A Song of Parting
The elves of the village had garlanded all the departing guests with forest flowers, but only Vuonti accompanied them out of the village, and when he got to the same place he had first encountered them, he stopped, bowed to the unicorn, and nose-rubbed Magnus, Callixtus, and Lendulio in farewell.
"There's another pretty arse I'll be sorry to leave behind", thought Magnus to himself, but he was consoled by melodious haunting song which they elf boy sang as they walked away - and also by the pretty arses of his slave and the elf Lendulio who walked in front of him.
"A beautiful song, Lendulio" said the unicorn Shalmaneser. "But unlike the learned Magnus, whose erudition does credit to our Order, I have no words of your elvish tongue. I do speak a little of the High Elven language, though that is a very different speech."
"It is a song of parting and well-wishing, my Lord" replied the elf. "It is indeed beautiful, in words and melody, but it is tinged with sorrow because who knows what mischances might befall us, and we may never set foot here again. My people rarely leave this land, and we dislike the sea. Also, there is sadness in the song for our two human companions here, for though if we avoid unhappy accident we are certain to have years, indeed centuries, to return here and deepen our friendships, that is not an option for Magnus and Callixtus. They will fade quicker than the bloom of the moonflower, and short years will rob them of their noble forms and then their lives while we are still counted as youths to our own kin."
Magnus looked pensive at these words, and a slight depression fell on him as they walked on.
Callixtus, sensing this, said - "Master, may I ask a question?"
"Of course dear boy, you know it is my pleasure to indulge you."
"I was wondering if there were....other companions of yours before me?"
It was some time before Magnus responded. "Yes, I think you are the fifth body slave I have owned. The first was given to me by my father when I was just your age - an energetic stripling of the same age as myself. We were together a great deal for a few years, and although there was obviously a meeting of bodies, there was not much meeting of minds. When my father wrote to me, some years after I left home, and mentioned in passing that the young man was about to get married, I bought his freedom and that of his betrothed. Now he lives with his wife and family as a tenant farmer on our estate. I have seen him once or twice since. He was grateful, but we are strangers to one another now." Magnus sighed.
"As for the others after that, they were all pretty boys who turned into handsome young men, and served me well. Most were with me for four or five years before I set them free. But the best I had was a Wendish lad from the islands to the north west of the Empire - a rather damp and forlorn place much raided by the northern barbarians. He was called Placidus, though he had a different name in his own barbarous tongue. He had magnificent red hair like most Wends. Poor boy sometimes suffered a bit in the summer on account of his pale skin. Not much sunshine in Wendland."
Callixtus reflected that had the mage wished to spare the Wendish boy the problems of sunburn he only had to permit him to wear a cloak out of doors. But of course he knew the mage well enough by now to know that he would have considered the boy's sunburn a small price to pay for the pleasure of having him perpetually nude.
Magnus continued - "Placidus was with me for seven years. He was...rather special. But by the time he reached twenty three I decided it was time for him to retire. I gave him his freedom, and a considerable sum of money, and he went back to his homeland. I believe there is a red haired child of his named after me. Occasionally I have news of him, but communication over such a long distance, and outside the Empire, is difficult even for a mage. Of course, I miss him still sometimes...towards the end of our time together we were more like brothers than lovers, certainly not like master and slave. Goodness me, how dreadfully sentimental , I am sounding like that uxorious old poof Joab, always spouting on about the pleasures of long term same sex relations between two men. Never thought much of that myself; like most people, I think it a little perverted, though admittedly that is just a culturally mediated prejudice. Anyway, it so happens that my inclinations don't lie in that direction."
After a further pause, Callixtus said, "Master, what will happen to me?"
Magnus said breezily, "Never mind about that, dear boy, I will see you right."
At this, for reasons he himself did not fully understand, Callixtus suddenly burst into tears. The party all stopped in surprise and alarm. Magnus caught the boy in his arms. "What's the matter, my boy?"
Callixtus sobbed, "You say "my boy" now, but for how much longer? What happens when I'm not a boy any more? The elf Vuonti sang that song about how we fade like flowers and die - even if you gave me my freedom and a lot of money - what would I do? where would I go? I know hardly anything about the world - and no-one showed me any kindness before, except for you. Why do things have to change? Why can't I just stay with you forever? I don't want to go away and have no-one!"
Magnus held the boy tightly and smoothed his hair. "Alas, change and decay is the way of the world, even for elves and unicorns eventually. Why, the very seas and mountains will in time change form and disappear. Without transience there is no true beauty."
He kissed away the boy's tears and said, " I'm sorry I'm so selfish and too much inclined to make light of deep matters. I suppose it is how I protect myself. From now on, you will never have to do anything you don't want to do. From this moment, I give you your freedom, but if you so wish, you will never have to leave my side." Callixtus gazed at him - the weeping made his eyes bloodshot, making them look even more intensely blue. The mage added, "Just don't expect me to be monogamous." Callixtus smiled, and they kissed.
The Veskan schooner which had brought them to Summer Island had been waiting for them in the small bay where they had been dropped off a week before. None of the crew had dared to come ashore, for they held the Island in superstitious awe. The Captain greeted them and all the crew gazed at the elven boy, who was an unfamiliar sight to them in spite of the fact that living as they did on the Isle of Mages they had more opportunity than most to encounter the strange and the unusual. The only elves any of them had seen before were the High Elves, who looked pretty much like young Veskans, being very blond - although unlike young Veskans, they had pointed ears (and wore clothes).
The mage and the unicorn stood together on deck, together with their companions, and Shalmaneser motioned them all to follow him forrar'd to the bows, where they were out of earshot of the crew. His noble equine face had an air of benign gravity. "We are heading north west, into the Azure Sea, and not north east from whence we came. It is my intention that we should travel with the western coastline of Cheskia on our starboard side, and make land not in Cheskia but in one of the petty principalities which quilt the littoral where the Cheskan peninsula ends and the coastline runs westwards."
Lendulio said, "Are these the territories of the Great Empire?"
"Not exactly," said Shalmaneser, "they acknowledge the overlordship of the Emperor and pay tribute, but they govern themselves. They are supposed to be allied with one another, but there is such a multiplicity of different political systems and clashing interests that they are often at odds with another - though only rarely do outright hostilities break out."
Shalmaneser continued, "It will be our mission, Lendulio, to try and bring some concord between these petty states, and to persuade them that it is their best interests to unite in amity against the common foe. If they squabble, only the Rhenoussian raiders and the fire giants will be the beneficiaries."
Callixtus said, "Will we encounter fire giants, my lord?"
"I think not, Callixtus. You will not be coming ashore. This mission is for me to undertake with Lendulio. You and Mage Magnus have a different mission. Once Lendulio and I are ashore, you two will return to the Isle of Mages."
Callixtus was not sure if he was relieved to be avoiding the fire giants, or disappointed that he would not be adventuring with the unicorn and the elf. But a few days later, as a gaily painted cutter in the red and white colours of the Duchy of Garramundi conveyed Shalmaneser and Lendulio from the ship to the fine stone built harbour of that principality, Shalmaneser stood up - his huge naked frame causing the little cutter to rock dangerously, to the momentary panic of its Garramundian sailors - and his loud booming voice rolled across to the Veskan ship: "We will meet again, my friends. I will wait for you on the first day of spring, in the Theocracy of Angiskor - it is the last of the principalities along the western coast, and marches with the Rhenoussian border. Find me in the home of the Chief Healer there."
As the Veskan ship turned south to make its two week journey back to the Isle of Mages, Callixtus had much time for thinking. In truth, he had not found Shalmaneser or Lendulio to be the easiest of companions. They had spent all their time together, often arm in arm, or the elf sitting on the unicorn's hugely muscled thighs. Lendulio spoke but little, though he often sang elven songs in a high clear voice, in the strange but beautiful tongue of his people.
As for Shalmaneser, he often spoke to Callixtus, and was always kind and polite, but also grave and somewhat formal. Callixtus, though appreciating the attention, was too much in awe of the mighty unicorn to feel comfortable in his presence - especially as his presence was a perpetually nude one, and his enormous member had dangled in the sea breezes in such a fascinating way that Callixtus had barely been able to keep his eyes off it. This added greatly to the difficulty of holding a conversation.
On their return journey, Callixtus said to Magnus, "Master, how old do you think I am?"
"I've no idea - how old do you think you are?"
"I have no idea either. But I feel I would like to know. I suppose being with the elves, and hearing their sad and beautiful songs, has made me think about how time passes and things change."
Magnus said. "I think you are about fifteen. And if you have an age, you should have a birthday. You joined me on November the ninth. How about we make that your fifteenth birthday? So now you are fifteen years and fifty two days old, to be precise. And today is the last day of the old year. So it is an appropriate time to make new beginnings. How about marking your newly found age, and your new status as a Free Man, with some clothes? I am sure I can find something for you from among the Veskan captain's wardrobe."
Callixtus said, "Master, we are on a Veskan ship and the Isle of Mages is also Veskan territory. As long as we are in Veskan lands, I think I should wear the same clothing that a Veskan boy of my age would."
Magnus grinned. "Which is to say, nothing at all. I am of course delighted."
"But Master" said Callixtus, "I don't want to take off your sigil, or the wolf's tooth charm you gave me. I don't care if some of the Veskans give me funny looks on account of them."
Magnus said, "I am of course delighted with your choice, dear boy, as I am sure you knew I would be. And if anybody is minded to give you any churlish looks, it can only be that they are wilfully blind to your dazzling beauty. The only looks you deserve are looks of admiration at those pert, globular buttocks, those rippling muscles, and that gorgeous cock. Though the sight fills me with sadness as well."
"How so, master?" said Callixtus.
"Because," said Magnus, "now that you are no longer my slave, I cannot command you to let me slake my lust on your beautiful form." And the mage gave a dramatic, eye-rolling sigh.
Callixtus laughed. "But master, you may always request what you can no longer command."
"I was hoping you might say something like that. And would my request be granted?"
"I can grant it straight away, if you like. And unlike the innkeeper's boy I watched you with on my first night in your service, you won't even have to pay me."
Magnus said, "My dear boy, the only thing which prevents me from taking advantage of your kind offer here and now is the thought you might get a splinter in your pretty arse from the deck planking when I place you on your back and fuck you rigid. I think we should go below to our cabin."
"Lead on, master!" said Callixtus - whose cock was already springing into uninhibited life at the prospect of what lay ahead. And so - followed by envious glances from not a few of the sailors, who were quick to notice the boy's obvious and unconcealed tumescence - they went below.