Shane

We continued to roll on his bed giggling like girls for a few minutes. When we had calmed down enough to catch our breath, Ryan said, "I want to finish that book tomorrow and also look for new ones to study."

"Fine with me. We can look for other books on our powers tomorrow after your lessons from Atriot and Larg."

"Please, don't remind me! Atriot has been very tough on me recently, pushing me to my limits and beyond. I swear after each of his lessons I feel all wrung out."

"If that's the case, why do you always drag me out to the yard for more practice? And furthermore, why is it that after each time we practice I tend to be ten times as bruised as you are?"

"That's because practicing with you is no workout for me. We spend half the time talking and circling each other. And of course I didn't mention that your skills are only little more than mediocre where as I am truly skilled," he said.

"Okay, okay, I agree that you are good. You don't have to brag about your skills the whole time. Err, Ryan, would you like to do it again? I am already hard again," I asked him shyly.

"Of course I do. I am also getting hard."

We sat facing each other and started stroking ourselves. Then Ryan licked his thumb and ran it over his cock head. I followed suit, shaking with pleasure as I touched my sensitive cock head with my thumb. As I continued playing with myself, I stared at his cock. He was staring right back at me. We were soon approaching an orgasm again and Ryan moaned and his cock jerked once, twice and with the third time his sperm shot out. Seeing his orgasm pushed me over the edge and I came hard. My cock was jerking violently, but no sperm came out. After regaining my breath I said, "Ryan, how come I didn't produce sperm this time?"

"It's because you have none left in your balls. But you don't have to worry since today was the first time you did it. As we get older we will have more sperm in our balls and they will make it faster too."

I shrugged and started dressing again. He did the same after cleaning up. "I am going back to bed now. Night, Ryan, and thanks for teaching me how to have a great time."

"Good night, Shane. Sleep well and there's no need to thank me."

I left his room and sneaked back to my own. As I passed his mother's room, I noticed a light under the door and I could hear Larg and Atriot talking. Fearing discovery, I quickly made my way back to my room.

Morning after:

"Wake up, Shane, Larg wants to see you."

"Leave me alone, Min, I want to sleep."

"Shane, I am serious! Larg says that it is very important that he see you now," she said, pulling my blanket off of me.

"Okay, okay. I'm awake now. Just let me wash up a bit before going to see Larg." "Well, be quick about it, he isn't in the best of moods right now."

I quickly made my way to the bathroom to freshen up. As I washed, my mind went back to the previous night. I started to get a hard-on thinking about the great feelings I had last night. As I wondered what Larg would want from me this early in the morning, the sun was still behind the horizon for goodness sake I wondered if he knew where I was last night?

I quickly made my way to Larg's room all the while thinking about what he would do to me for breaking the rule of wandering around the castle without his permission. I gently knocked on his door.

"Come in."

I let myself into the room and closed the door. Larg was sitting in front of his table as usual surrounded by notes and scrolls. He looked up as I entered and said, "Shane, I want you to be in the library by sunrise and help the guards pack the books into boxes. For every one of the boxes I want a list of the books that are in it. The scrolls will be packed into bags and I want you to keep count of the number of scrolls in each bag. The scrolls on the last three shelves are to be left alone until I have the time to supervise their packing myself. "Understand?" I nodded, so he continued, "Now go and eat your breakfast. Ivy should have your food ready by now."

After telling me what to do, he immediately went back to his notes, cursing silently under his breath. I quickly left his room as soon as I was sure that he was not going to elaborate on his orders. I went to the kitchen and quickly sat down as Ivy had already placed a bowl of porridge on the table. She, however, was nowhere to be seen.

I quickly ate my porridge, wondering what in the world was going on. As I was about to finish Ivy came in with an elf dressed in light armor and carrying a sheathed sword in his left hand. The elf sat down across the table from me, his face a mixture of despair and anger, while Ivy brought a bowl of porridge for him. The elf quickly started eating while Ivy continued with her own work. Without turning she said, "I suggest you go to the library now, Shane. The guards will be there soon to get the books."

I quickly finished the last of my porridge and rushed to the library. On the table was a lamp, a small felt pen and a stack of lists. Looking around I sighed as I realize the amount of work I would have to do today. I quickly took down some books and started writing down the names and putting them in a stack. I continued until I thought I had enough books to fill one of the boxes that were placed in the room. I was just starting on a new list when Ryan and two of the guards entered.

Ryan was holding a felt pen of his own and began to take down books from another shelf, copying the titles. He looked as if he'd been crying and he didn't say a word. The two guards started putting the books that I had already placed on the floor next to me into a box. I went on with my work in silence. When they were done with the books, I saw that there was still enough room to add several more. Quickly I estimated how many books were in the box and told Ryan. He nodded and went back to his own work.

We worked well into the afternoon and when we were finally done with the books we started on the scrolls. The scrolls were easier as they were all in their own cases. We placed the scrolls into bags and quickly counted them. We then separated the scrolls by the shelves they had been on, writing it all down and placing the lists into the bags.

We didn't touch the last three shelves and finally, exhausted, we just sat there resting our hands. The guards left the room, each taking a box with them. The minute we were alone I bombarded Ryan with questions, "what is going on, Ryan? Why were you crying? Where are they taking the books and why?"

"A messenger pigeon arrived last night from the King. My father died in a surprise attack by the orcs and now the army is retreating back to the castle with the enemy at their heels," he said and started to cry. I held him in my arms. "The King is sending reinforcements here and we were told to defend the city until they arrive. Already elves are on their way here to help us. They should be arriving today."

I didn't know what to say to comfort him so I said nothing but just continued holding him. I noticed Larg enter the room with several guards who started taking out the bags and boxes. "Shane, go get your things and then accompany Ryan to his room and help him pack. He will be leaving tomorrow morning for Aria. I will be sending the books with him and you will be going as well. No arguments this time Ryan! Things have changed since we last talked. The elves encountered a group of kobolds and goblins on their way here. Less than three dozen of the elves survived that encounter. Your mother has decided to send you to her sister, the Queen, and this time she means it."

"I thought the enemy was still behind Father's army. How did they get past them without our knowledge? You said they were still in pursuit of our army just this morning," Ryan stated.

"That's what we all want to know, Ryan. Now go get your things, then go to the kitchen for your dinner. I still have many things to do," Large said. Larg turned towards the scrolls and started putting them into one of the bags carefully. I dragged Ryan out of the library and back to his room. We made our way past the numerous maids, messengers and guards who seemed to be in a constant hurry. As we passed his parents' room, Lady Irini called out to us: "Ryan, come in please. You too. It's Shane, is it not?" She didn't wait for a response. "I need to talk to both of you."

As Ryan and I entered she asked the guards to leave. When we were alone she looked me over. After a moment's silence she sighed and said, "Ryan, I hope Larg told you about the change in the plans that were made this morning. If not, I will tell you now. You will be going to your aunt, the Queen, tomorrow. You will leave at sunrise after, a light breakfast, and you will travel with thirty guards. Larg has insisted that we move the library's contents to a safer place in case we have to make a hurried retreat and I tend to agree. The books and scrolls are too precious to allow them to be burnt in the event of a retreat."

"I don't want to leave, mother, I want to stay here with you. Larg said that the elves were attacked on their way here by a large force of kobolds and goblins so that means that the dangers of being on the road to Aria or being here in the castle are pretty even. If I am to die, it will be in my own home," Ryan said proudly, though tears were starting to roll down his cheeks.

"This is not the time to be stubborn, young man. If you stay here, you will only be in the way as well as being a distraction for me. You are the last of your father's line and if anything happens to you, your father will never forgive me. Your last living cousins were also killed in the surprise attack so you are, as of the time of your father's death, Lord Ryan Shauku. Your aunt has agreed to teach you everything she knows about being a lord. You will not only learn how to manage and command an army, you will also learn about how to manage your lands. She will also teach you politics, most of which will not be pretty. Even if you do not wish to employ some of the things that she will teach you, they will, at the very least, help you in defending yourself from schemes directed at you. She will teach you not only how to defend yourself from these schemes, but how to use them yourself," Lady Irini said, raising her hand to silence Ryan before continuing, "I know what Larg taught you, but there will be a time when you might need to use them. If we survive the orcs, there will be plenty of people who will want your lands. I will not be able to teach you myself as I will be busy with the orcs and if we survive, the running and rebuilding of the castle and the city."

"If I am the Lord Shauku, I demand on the grounds of the King's Law that you allow me to stay here to defend my castle and holdings. I will not run like a coward to safety while my mother takes my place," Ryan declared defiantly. "At least you remember that I am your mother, even in your arrogance," Lady Irini replied with a shake of her head. "Did you even hear what I said? You may be the Lord Shauku but you are still my son and also by the King's Law you will not be able to rule until you are at least sixteen. I am therefore allowed to send you to a relative to learn how to be a lord. You are not running away, you are being sent to your relative to further your education in court."

Both of them look at each other for a long time before Ryan broke down and said, "Mother, I am sorry, I really don't want to leave the castle but I will go to Aria and I will make you and father proud. I know that you will come for me after the war, I have faith in you, Mother. You will stay alive to bring me home, I know you will." Ryan was crying softly as he said those words to the Lady Irini. Lady Irini took a step towards Ryan and hugged him tightly.

I stood beside the two of them, shifting my legs awkwardly, not knowing what to say in this situation. Finally, Lady Irini took a deep breath, stepped back from Ryan, turned to me and said, "Larg has spoken highly of you, Shane. He says that you are a very gifted and intelligent boy. I also know that you and Ryan are very good friends, so I will be sending you along with Ryan. I hope that you can keep him company and also take his mind of the war for a while. The journey from Ikuta to Aria will take two weeks, as the wagons will force you to travel at a slower pace. Let him remain a child for the next two weeks for once the queen's training begins, she will strip him of his innocence in less than a week. Now go and get your things and bring them to Ryan's room. You will be sleeping there tonight. One of the guards will wake up the two of you in the morning."

As we left her she went back to her table that was filled with maps and notes. We made our way back to my room in silence, both deep in thought. My thoughts went to our oncoming journey to the capital. I thought about the lady's words about letting Ryan remain a child for the two weeks before we would reach Aria. I didn't understand what she meant by them and what I was supposed to do on the journey.

When we got to my room, I was surprised to see several elves lying on the once empty beds. We went in and I quickly took what little belongings I had. As we made our way to the door, another elf entered.

I stood still in shock when I saw the elf. The word despair might as well be written on his face the way he looked. His eyes seemed to have lost the twinkle that I have always associated with elves. I had always thought that elves were always happy no matter the occasion but the look on his face quickly showed me that elves were not any different from us. He was very pale and his hands were trembling, whether in fear or anger I didn't know.

When he saw us he didn't even acknowledge us, he merely moved past us. We saw him lie down on one of the beds and curl up into a fetal position. As I let my eyes wander, I saw that all of the elves were curled up in the same position as if to protect themselves. All of their weapons lay within their reach and in fact many of them held them in their hands.

Shaking my head, I left the room with Ryan who appeared to be as shaken by the elf's expression as I was. The sun was already setting as we made our way to the kitchen. Ivy served us our dinner in silence and we ate quickly and silently, each of us intent on our own thoughts. When we had both finished eating, we quickly made our way to his room, neither of us wanting to meet another of the elves. In his room, we quickly packed the things he would need on the journey. We took only a few items of clothing and a small jewelry box that was filled with his birthday presents from his parents and relatives. The box he kept inside his shirt, and it made a small bulge on his side. We barred the door and then blew out the small lamp. We laid down, both deep in thought. It took a while for us to fall asleep.

We were awakened the next morning by Jenny, who told us to come down to the kitchen with our things. We quickly washed our faces in the small washbasin she had brought with her and then made our way to the kitchen where we were greeted warmly by Ivy but I was only able to raise a small smile whereas Ryan barely nodded to her.

We sat down and quickly had our breakfast in silence. There were two elves in the kitchen when we entered which we took great pains to avoid looking at. When we had finished, Ivy said that Lady Irini had already ridden out with Atriot and some of the elves to find suitable spots to place their traps. We were supposed to go to the front of the castle and get into the carriage.

As we were leaving I went over to Ivy and thanked her for being so kind to me the whole time I was here. Then I quickly left with Ryan so that she couldn't see the tears forming in my eyes. We reached the carriage prepared for Ryan and got into it. The wagons were already loaded and the guards accompanying us were already in place. We were surprised to see Will in the carriage. He explained that he had been promoted to captain and was assigned to protect Ryan.

Will gave us a quick briefing on the guards in our group. Ten of the guards were elves with the other nineteen chosen from the castle guards. We would be stopping only in the evening at sunset to make camp and leave again in the early morning. He would sit in the box with the driver to give us some privacy. One of the elves named Marten was to come in every day at noon to give us some lessons to help pass the time.

Will then left us, going up to the box while the carriage was still moving. The elf sitting next to the guard driving the carriage then made his way inside without jumping off. If I hadn't been so depressed I would probably have been impressed by his grace. As he came in he introduced himself, "Hello, I am Marten and I will be keeping you company for the afternoon. It won't be a lesson like you were told but I will answer any of your questions that I can. But first, will you tell me your names?" He was taller than Will, and had a pale complexion, not as pale as the elf we had seen the day before but still a bit paler than any other elf I'd seen so far.

"I am Ryan and he is Shane. I know this may be painful for you, but could^Å" Ryan took a deep breath and continued, "...would you tell us what happened on your way here?" Ryan said the last part of his question in one breath.

"Well, I'd rather not talk about it but I suppose you have a right to know. We were on our way to Ikuta when one of our scouts spotted the goblins. They appeared to be a small band of about a hundred, so our commander ordered us to surround them and then we charged into the group." Marten took a deep breath before continuing.

Suddenly kobolds and goblins started to pour out of the ground as the ground started collapsing and stones started flying as the kobolds' shamans used their elemental powers against us. Our army struck back with our own weapons and powers and a bloody battle ensued. When the fight was over we found ourselves in the tunnel built by the enemy. For as far as the eye could reach the tunnel was straight and we could guess that it lead to the enemy's stronghold. Those of us that were left quickly used our powers to seal the tunnel as best we could."

Ryan sat there absorbing the information. Afterwards we were all silent as both Ryan and I tried to imagine the scene while Marten was probably reliving it. That night I went out to answer the call of nature and get some of the stew for dinner. Ryan never left my side the whole time and he appeared to be lost in his thoughts. We ate in silence and later fell asleep in each other's arms, seeking protection from the cold weather. We awoke the next day when the carriage started its journey once more. We ate the bread and some cooked meat that Will had left for us. Then I asked Ryan, "Ryan, what did your mother mean when she said I was to let you be a child for the journey and that the queen would strip you of your innocence?"

"I think that she meant for me to have fun while I can, because once in the capital the Queen will keep me busy with work and studies. Larg once said that the working of the court is by far the most devious if not deadliest of all the things ever to have been invented my mortals. The struggle for power in a court is second only to an outright war in terms of the deaths it causes. Perhaps mother is scared that I will be one of those tyrants or maybe she is afraid that I will be one of the victims. Only she knows."

"Well if I am supposed to have fun with you then I guess I should start with some jokes to make you laugh." I started telling him a joke I heard from one of the elves from town. I told him in high elven making it sound sillier than it actually was. Ryan laughed softly at my joke so I began to tell another one. We were in the middle of my third joke when Marten entered the carriage. He was surprised that we knew elven and even he started to lighten up at my jokes. He then told us one of his own that got us all laughing.

I accidentally kicked Ryan's legs and in mock anger he went after me. I could only laugh at his expression of mock anger as I just sat there. Then he jumped on me and started tickling me. I tried to fight back but he was stronger than I was and he also knew all my sensitive spots. Marten just sat there laughing at me as I howled with laughter. The carriage began to sway as I tried in vain to get away from Ryan.

Will poked his head in and said, "Ryan, if you want to continue tickling him, you should hold him down firmly so that he doesn't rock the carriage." With that he returned to his driving, the bastard. Ryan shouted "okay" and pushed me to the floor until I was face down and then he jumped on top of me. Marten by that time had already had enough of laughing at me and he went to the box to join Will.

I started wiggling my butt trying to throw him off but he just pressed down on me with his crotch and continued tickling me. I tried every trick I knew but he was stronger than I was. Also the fact that he had taught me every trick I knew didn't help. I could feel his cock hardening as he pressed into my butt, all the time tickling my sides. Soon he was lying on top of me and started to feel how good my butt felt against his cock.

He started humping me while still gently tickling my sides. My hands were pinned to my chest so I couldn't even take advantage of his excitement. I started getting hard as he continued to hump me but the effect of his hard cock on my butt and my cock rubbing against the wooden floor of the carriage was starting to get painful. I was no longer laughing and started to groan in pain as he ground into me harder and harder.

When I started groaning, he realized that I was probably in some pain from my cock being mashed into the floor. In one swift move, he flipped me over and quickly returned to his humping. As he did so, I pushed back into him matching his rhythm. I looked into his eyes as we continued grinding our crotches together. His face was a mixture of desire, ecstasy and longing.

We were soon approaching orgasm. My moans were getting louder when he suddenly pressed his lips on mine and then he started shooting. My own orgasm was making me tremble with delight as I ground my hips into his. Then he finally let me up and we sat back on the seat adjusting our pants. Thank goodness that the pants we were wearing were black and already a little dirty from yesterday.

"Err, Shane? Just now, I kissed you just to shut you up. You didn't mind, did you?"

"Mind? Why should I mind? I just had my second orgasm and it was even better than the first one. I really liked it when you kissed me, didn't you?" I asked him, a bit worried about what he thought.

"I did, Shane, I really did!" he said quickly. Then he stuck his head out of the carriage and asked Will to find us a stream where we could bathe. Will told him that we'd be reaching a stream soon so we just sat there chatting. The tense mood was lifted for now and I made sure I made no mention of the war.

"Why don't we practice those exercises that were in the book? That way we can pass the time and learn how to control our powers at the same time."

"Great idea, Ryan" I replied, "let's get started."

"Okay but we had better try the easiest ones first or we might do some serious damage."

We started doing the mental exercises right from the first one. As soon as we were able to master one we would continue with the next. I was just about to start on my forth one when I heard Will calling out to the other guards that we were stopping for the day. As we approached the suitable campsite that one of the elves had spotted, I saw Ryan scratching his cheek. I giggled as I remembered the itch I had experienced earlier, speculating that I had probably looked just as funny to him as he was looking to me now.

I reached out and shook him to stop him from doing the next exercise. Will stuck his head in and said, "I thought you guys wanted to bathe. Get your towels and clean clothes and follow me. We quickly got our things together and followed him. As I didn't have a towel, Ryan let me borrow one of his. We walked behind Will, smiling at each other.

"Okay you guys, have fun but don't wander off. There are guards on either side of you but because this is a bend in the stream you can't see them and neither can they see you. So if anything should happen, just shout, and they will be here immediately. I have to go and see if camp's been made yet and if dinner is ready. I'll come back later to check on you guys."

With that, Will turned back towards the camp and walked off. The stream was very clear and waist deep in the middle. It was quite wide and on the other side we could see a forest and nothing else.

We quickly took off our pants and shirts and threw them into the river, jumping in after them. We washed ourselves and then I washed Ryan's back and he washed mine. Ryan had brought a small piece of soap for us to use. We then started to wash our clothes. Ryan was copying my every move as he'd never had to wash his own clothes before.

After we'd finished, we quickly dried ourselves and put on fresh clothes. As we were dressing, we heard a shrill whistle. The whistle startled us, but we continued playing and chatting while we dressed. Just as we were done we saw Will running towards us, shouting, "Ryan! Shane! Run! The camp is being attacked!" Behind Will we saw several of the other guards. They were trying to hold back the goblins and kobolds that were coming after them. We stood there in surprise and fear, not knowing what to do.

Written by: Atheist Lee Edited by: Boy on a String