THE STROLLING PLAYERS by Andrej Koymasky (C) 2008 written on June 3, 1992 translated by the author English text kindly revised by The Australian
USUAL DISCLAIMER
"THE STROLLING PLAYERS" is a gay story, with some parts containing graphic scenes 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 welcomed guest.
CHAPTER 14 - France lands and a new life.
They were in sight of Bantry, tired to death of the long trip without rest. They stopped to a fountain and Roe took away his woman's disguise and resumed his man's clothing. They carefully washed themselves, ate something then, leading their horses by the reins and heading back onto the road, they entered the town.
When they reached the port, they asked and found a French ship that just docked and that would leave for France two days later. They met the captain who accepted them on board for a reasonable price. Vance made a tally. If they sold the three horses, they could get enough money to pay the passage and perhaps also have some over. They found a purchaser for the horses and bought some food and ale, then went to ask the captain if they could go on board and wait for departure day. The captain assigned them a cabin. They went in and lay down to getting some much needed rest. In a few seconds, in spite of the noise of the sailors who were unloading the French goods and loading the Irish ones, all three fell in a deep seep.
The first to wake up the day after was Roe. He looked at his two companions. Vance was sleeping untidily, on his back, his legs parted, the face slightly sullen, an arm folded on his head and the other dangling out from the straw mattress. Lionel instead, was sleeping curled on one side, his face serene. Roe thought that both were handsome and felt the desire to touch and caress them, especially Lionel's body that he still didn't know. But he held back and remained sitting on his mattress to look at them in the dim light of the cabin.
Judging from the scanty light filtering through the small window, dusk was nearing. The day after the ship would leave. How would making love with Lionel be? Besides being so beautiful, he had to be really sweet, Roe thought.
Lionel moved changing his position, lying on his back. Roe noticed that his kilt was rising between his legs because of the usual erection that, he well knew, often one gets during the sleep. He asked himself if Lionel was dreaming of Vance. He should possibly leave them alone so that, at least for the first time, they could make love alone, without witnesses. He could lose Vance. His two companions, it was evident, were still in love with each other, in spite of everything.
Lionel smiled in his sleep. He really was very beautiful. Roe again felt the impulse, very strong, to caress him, to kiss him. Roe was becoming aroused. Vance muttered something unintelligible and the arm that was folded on his face, slipped away. Roe asked himself who of them was more attracting. Vance? Whose body he so intimately knew. Or Lionel? Who was still an unexplored land? He was not able to tell.
He was again looking at Vance, when Lionel voice said, "Are you already awake?"
"For a little."
Lionel sat up and looked at Vance. He then looked at Roe then became aware of his evident erection and tried to hide it. Roe smiled.
"What's wrong, Lionel? Especially amongst us? We often happen to wake up in that state, don't we? Were you dreaming of Vance?"
"No... I dreamt of you."
"Me? Really? And what was I doing?"
"Kissing me."
"Were you enjoying it?"
"Don't you see?" Lionel asked, lightly blushing.
Roe smiled then said, "I was instead looking at you two and was thinking that you both are very attractive."
"I think we will go along well, we three."
"Yes, I think so too. I'm going on the deck for a while. Why don't you wake Vance up, caress and kiss him a little? You two haven't made love yet."
"No... I would like him to approach me. Don't go out, you are not in the way. Anyway, you and I have not yet made love."
"Do you desire me?"
"I think I do. I am in love with Vance, he is my life, but you are part of his life. I don't want you to feel like a stranger. Knowing you and making love with you, would be like getting to know Vance a little better".
"Aren't you jealous of me?"
"Honestly? Yes I have been, but not any more. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have Vance any more."
"Wouldn't you prefer it if it were just you and Vance as a couple without a third one hindering you?"
"If it were a dream it would be true, but if I'm to continue loving Vance, I have to now understood that I have to love him as he is and not as I imagine or desire him to be. Vance is this way, and you are in a way part of him, therefore I cannot accept him without accepting you too."
"Will you also accept his adventures? Because he almost certainly will have some..."
"I will accept also them. And if they are a burden to me, it just means that I am not yet able to love him enough."
"To me, who like him every much but am not in love with him, it's easy to reason in this way. But who is in love is not also jealous?"
"I used to think it had to be so, but now I am no more convinced of it. Who is jealous in reality doesn't love. Who is jealous just possesses."
"Don't you desire to make love with him, now?"
"Since I saw him again, since I saw him fight to free me, I desire to make again love with him."
"So, then, why don't you go and wake him up caressing him? It's a good way to be waken up."
"I would like it was him to desire it. I can feel he didn't really accept me, forgive me. I have the feeling that if it weren't you to be so jibbed, he would have let me go away..."
Without them being aware of it, Vance had woken up and had heard these last Lionel's words.
Without getting up from his mattress, he said, "You are right, Lionel. If Roe didn't jib as he did, I would have done the biggest gross blunder of all my life, and would have lost you again and forever. But we are now here, finally together, finally with all our life in front of us. I love you and I desire you, Lionel, as I never ceased to do. Why don't you both come here, now, with me? I want to make love with you two, I need you two. Please, Lionel..."
Roe got up, made also Lionel get up and pushed him towards Vance, "Undress him Lionel, and let him undress you. I will unite with you afterwards."
"No, each one of us will undress the other two. Come here..." Vance said with an inviting smile.
At first all three were somewhat awkward, almost hesitant, but soon the physical closeness, the contact of their hands with the bodies, the desire that was awakening, sweet and strong at the same time, had the power to make all more simple, natural, beautiful.
Lionel in particular was thirsty for Vance, but anyway he not only was enjoying with pleasure Roe's attentions but was involving him too with caresses and kisses. Vance gradually surrendered to Lionel and at one point parted his legs and offered himself to him in a silent request to be taken. Lionel was clearly moved. Roe knelt near Vance's head and pushed Vance's legs against his chest while Lionel, shuddering and trembling, was starting to sink into his newly found lover.
Vance bent his head back until he got to capture Roe's hard member and while Lionel was starting to move inside him, started to greedily give head to Roe. Roe was enjoying seeing that Vance, for the first time since they were together, was enjoying being penetrated. That vision excited him incredibly.
Going on to hammer with increasing pleasure in Vance, Lionel pulled to himself Roe and kissed him on the mouth - the triangle was so closed. It was impossible to tell who of them was enjoying more that passionate union.
They then parted; Vance knelt behind Lionel and took him, while Roe bent forward to suck the beautiful turgid and hard member of Lionel. They went on so, changing of position, connecting and parting, uniting in various ways, taking each other and giving himself to each other. Lionel took Roe, while giving head to Vance.
They went on, almost in competition to give and receive pleasure until, while they were united in the umpteenth triangle, each absorbed in giving head to the other, they came in a fast succession. First was Lionel to unload in Vance, then Vance in Roe and finally also Roe in Lionel. Then all three tightly embraced, appeased and happy.
"It's a dream... it's a dream..." Lionel muttered, moved.
"No, it's just the beginning of a wonderful reality!" Vance said with a satisfied smile.
"You are so beautiful, both of you!" Roe said.
Lionel corrected him, "We three are beautiful, lucky and beautiful."
They fell again asleep, still enlaced. The following morning Lionel was the first to wake up. He looked at his two companions still asleep near him, the sweet nakedness of Roe and the glorious one of Vance, and at once started to lightly caress and kiss them between their legs, until their members were again hard.
When Roe woke up, Lionel whispered, "Take me..." and devoted himself to give head to Vance.
While Roe was happily pumping inside Lionel, also Vance woke up.
"What a good way to wake up!" he muttered and sat up to caress Lionel's back and Roe's chest.
They again made love for a long time and for the first time Vance wanted to be taken by Roe while he and Lionel were giving head to each other. Roe was incredibly excited to be able to perform that penetration he had so long desired but never dared to ask Vance.
When all three were finally again appeased, Lionel emitted a deep sigh and merrily exclaimed, "Wow, how hungry am I felling! Who takes some food?"
They ate and drank, staying naked, seated in a triangle, at times caressing each other. Then they decided to finally dress and go to the deck to see the leaving manoeuvres that they heard had just started.
They breathed at full lungs the saltish air and admired the sailors' quick and darting bodies, lingering to admire the most beautiful of them and commenting amongst them in a low voice.
"Look at that sailor who is climbing on the main mast... isn't he beautiful?"
"Aren't you already planning to find the fourth one, are you?" Roe cunningly asked.
"That I like him, doesn't mean that he would be game." Vance answered with a smile.
"Often sailors are game, you well know it." Roe insisted.
Lionel attracted their attention towards another young sailor who was sitting, his legs parted, on a careening purchase, and was coiling a hawser.
"Look at that one, what a nicely full basked he shows!"
"Would you like having him at your disposal?" Vance asked with a sly smile.
"As long as I have you two I don't need anything else. But I have to admit that his basket is attractive. Would you be jealous, Vance, if I would withdraw with him?"
"Of course I would be! But I wouldn't if you shared him with us. Even though I would like better that sailor down there, the one with bare chest and that rogue expression. Look how his breeches nicely wrap his little arse..."
"Yes, the tight breeches of these French sailors are way more erotic than our kilts." Lionel said.
"But out kilts are more practical - you just raise it and all is ready," Roe argued, "all available both in front and in the back!"
"Hey boys, either we stop doing these talks, or it ends with me jumping on one of those sailors!" Vance said with a giggle.
The ship left the port and Lionel whispered, "Goodbye, Ireland!"
"Do you regret leaving your land?" Vance asked him affectionately.
"I do a little, but not so much. My land is where you are. My clan is you. Nothing else exists for me any more."
The journey lasted for two days. The sea was calm and the sailing agreeable. They made love all the time of their sea journey. And finally the port of Le Croisic was already in view, and from the deck taffrail the three friends were looking at it approaching.
Roe said, "Happily you Lionel know French. You and I, Vance, would be like two deaf-mutes."
"As I learned Irish, I will learn also French. And we need to learn it very well, if a day we want to organize again a strolling players' wagon."
"Yes, but how can we leave, in the meantime? To be able to make a new wagon we have to not only survive, but also to earn good money." Roe objected.
"We will surely find a way, once we land. We are young, strong and full of joy of living. Nothing scares me, with you two near me!" Lionel merrily answered.
"The strolling actors always earned their money partly performing on stage and partly performing on men's beds... as you know." Vance said studying Lionel's reaction.
Lionel shrug his shoulders, "Vance, if I will be, at least at the beginning, your guide about the language, you are our guide for the rest, and I entrust myself to you. If you ask me, I will learn to do that also. If anyway we found a different way to make money, I will be glad." Lionel serene said.
They landed with their small bundle containing just their food, a blanket, two daggers and the few remaining coins - that was all their riches. They went amongst the houses of the little port. From time to time Lionel stopped to a craftsman or a merchant shop asking if there was work for them, getting each time a negative answer.
A potter advised them to go to Nantes - as the town was quite big, they could more easily find somebody offering them some work. So, after they bought some food and asked the right direction, they took the road leading to the town.
They walked all the day long, stopping from time to time to a farm to offer themselves as farm-hands. Some of the countrymen, although refusing them a work, offered them some food. They finally reached Nantes but, besides some little jobs earning them a few coins allowing them to barely survive, they uselessly toured the entire town. In spite of that they weren't disheartened.
They decided to leave also Nantes going inland, so they decided to take the road for Poitiers. They were walking along the narrow road that was unwinding in bends and sharp turns in a thick forest, when they heard high yells and weapons clashes. Made curious, they decided to cautiously understand what was happening. Finally, after a sharp turn, they saw a gentleman dismounted near a dying horse and two soldiers still on their horses fighting against seven men on foot, dressed in an heterogeneous way and unkempt beards, armed with swords, spears and spiked maces. They also saw dead on the ground two soldiers and one of the assailants.
Lionel whispered to his companions, "We have just two scabbards, but if we approach by surprise at the assailants' back nearer to us, we could possibly kill one or two of them and pick the weapons that are on the ground. We should manage to rescue that gentleman."
"Who tells you that it wouldn't be fairer rescuing the other party? They could be the local Irishmen and the nobleman be the local Englishman, don't you think?" Roe asked.
"No, in France they don't have that situation. They are just vulgar bandits. If we help that gentleman, he could possibly want to disoblige to us and offer us some money and possibly even a work. So, do you agree? Are we going?" Lionel asked.
Vance and Roe assented. Passing through the trees they get at the shoulders of two of the bandits and while Lionel and Roe, each with a scabbard threw themselves to stab a brigand at his back, Vance picked up from the ground a sword then yelling entered the fray. Roe took the axe of the man he had killed, and Lionel the mace of the other and followed Vance, yelling too the war cry of the O'Neil.
The other brigands, becoming aware of the unexpected arrival of three new fighters and of the consequent reversal of forces, tried to escape. Only two of them succeeded to vanish amongst the threes, while three more were reached and killed.
All of a sudden silence fell. The gentleman drew near the three friends and after studying them for a short moment, with a loud and clear voice, said, "Strangers, can you understand my language?"
"Yes, sir, I can understand it." Lionel answered.
"I have to give you my thanks, without your help I was not certain I could get to save myself. But, I have to say, you are not common travellers, you wield weapons with the skill of who is used to fight. Who are you, if you please?"
"We are three fugitives from Ireland where, with our clans, we have had to fight for a long time against the English invader. Pursued, hunted down, only embarking on a French ship allowed us to save our lives."
"And now, what do you intend to do of your lives?"
"We are looking for a work, just to start."
"Would you accept becoming my soldiers?"
"With whom do we have the honour of speaking, sir?"
"More than fair. I am marquis Charles Auguste Jacques de Villefranche de Rovergue, great constable of Philippe, duke of Burgundy. I am going back to may seat, the Tournous castle. As I am not in my lands, I was given an escort of four armed men and, as you see, two of them have been killed. If you joined me, besides reconstituting my escort with three valiant fighters, I can grant you a good life... But I, with whom have I the honour of speaking?"
"I am Lord Lionel O'Neil, and my friends and companions are Roe O'Brien and Vance Elton. They still are not able to speak French, but they will quickly learn it."
"Good. My horse is severely wounded and I have unhappily to put him down. For the moment we are six with just four horses but as soon as we get to an inhabited place I can buy two more horses. You, Lord Lionel, can take one of the two dead soldiers' horses, and I the other one. Your men can for a while ride on the same horses with the two other of my soldiers. You can meanwhile inform your men about my proposal. Let's go, now."
Lionel accepted with a light bow, then informed Vance and Roe about the proposal he just receives. There were no discussion, they at once accepted.
When they reached Parthenay, the marquis bought two more horses then stopped to an inn to eat and drink. They then resumed their way to Poitiers. Here the marquis decided to stop for a few days, just the time to have made some uniforms and liveries. They were hosts of a local nobleman, an acquaintance of the marquis. Then with long stages they travelled for several days until they reached Tournous.
At the castle they were billeted at the soldiers quarters and, on their request, they were assigned a room just for the three of them. Usually the soldiers were sleeping in wide common dormitories, each containing from eight to twelve palliasses for rank and files, and only the officers had personal rooms, bur Lionel, for his noble origins had been appointed a non-commissioned officer and his request was accepted because he said that so he could teach the French to his friends in their free or rest time.
Along the day they normally had nothing much to do, besides some hours of fight training on the castle esplanade, or some escorts to the noble family members when they had to leave the castle.
The three strangers were often asked to escort the marquis' second son, Godefroy, a twenty years old youth. It had been Godefroy who asked his father to have the three foreigners as an escort, for the curiosity of having a foreign escort, to practice the little English he already knew, and also because the three were young as he was. At times Godefroy also liked to practice with them to learn their way to use the weapons, as it was somewhat different than that of the French.
When at evening they could withdraw to their room, all three, locking the door with a bolt, often made love. Anyway all three slept on the same paillasse, in fact soldiers and servants didn't have beds, a luxury reserved only to noblemen, but just straw mattress siding on the same long wooden platform.
As they, differently from the great part of the other soldiers, when on leave didn't go to a pub to drink or to play dice their wages, the three friends were gradually saving a little sum they kept hidden sewing each piece in their jerkin's under-mail. They were also soon invited to take part to the hunt games, as the marquis came to know that they used to practice that pastime when they were living in Ireland.
So the months were serenely elapsing. Vance and Roe were learning to express themselves in French and, although with a really strong accent, they were acquiring a good mastery and fluidity. They were anyway seriously applying themselves to lose their accent, because Vance didn't give up the idea to restart with his friends, a day or another, his actors' company. The life they were having was, in fact, rather boring for the three of them.
A novelty came when they were summoned and asked to escort Godefroy, who had to go at the duke Philippe's court for the usual year of service. The preparations were long and meticulous. The trunks with the clothing changes, and all the fittings for that long permanence were prepared. For that occasion the marquis named Lionel knight, Roe became Godefroy's groom and Vance his squire. So they could follow and side Godefroy also in occasion of the court ceremonies. They too got new clothes suitable to their rank and functions and good for the various occasions.
While they were folding their new clothes in the trunk, Vance said to his friend, "It would be good if when the day comes, we could take them with us as stage costumes."
The long train accompanying Godefroy took the road. Besides the young lord, and his three escort companions, there were four soldiers and two wagons with four servants - a manservant, a cook, a stable-boy and a linen-boy. At the head of the train were riding two armed horsemen, Lionel with the standard followed them, then Godefroy sided by Vance and followed by Roe. Then came the two wagons with the trunks and the servants, and finally two more armed horsemen who closed the group.
They were travelling at pace, slowed down by the wagons, until they finally reached the duke's castle. Stopping before the drawbridge, Lionel advanced with the standard and announced the arrival of his young lord. They were at once received with all the honours and lead to the rooms assigned to them in a wing of the castle. In their quarter there was a beautiful bedroom for Godefroy, one for the three friends, one for the four soldiers and one more for the four servants. There was also a kitchen and an elegant dining hall. While they were settling, the steward came and told that the day after the duke would receive them.
CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 15
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