Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 07:44:04 +0000
From: Andrej Koymasky <andrejkoymasky@geocities.com>
Subject: golden-collar-01

I started writing gay stories in 1985 and to
now I wrote about 80 of them. Being Italian, of course I wrote them in
Italian. Now, many of my friends asked me to translate them in English.
But my English, also if understandable, is surely not a "literary" one:
I can't know all the nuances and literary tricks I can use in Italian. I
need somebody revising my translation. Now, I found a person that is
kindly helping me with my stories. But I can't ask to one single person
to help me with all of my stories. So, if amongst you there is somebody
(with a good English style) that thinks this unpaid work worthy, and
wants to help me, I would be really happy. If such a person exists, can
send me an e-mail at:

andrejkoymasky@geocities.com 
---------------------------- 
THE EIGHT BOOKS OF THE GOLDEN COLLAR

by Andrej Koymasky (C) 1998 
written the 10th of January, 1995 
translated by the author 
English text kindly revised 
by an Australian friend.

----------------------------- 
USUAL DISCLAIMER

"THE EIGHT BOOKS OF THE GOLDEN COLLAR" 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, ore because you think yo really want to read it, please be
my welcomed guest.

----------------------------- 
THE EIGHT BOOKS OF THE GOLDEN COLLAR

BOOK ONE 
Where is told about Friend's long journey to the Capital

The Fishfull River, after running swiftly to the north-west, with a bend
changes course an flows directly west.  Wide and majestic until it
placidly flows into the Ocean, its waters seem loath to mix with the
salty water of the sea.  For a good stretch the clear flow of the
Fishfull can be distinguished from the darker open sea waters.

Where the Fishfull makes the bend, the small Rough River gives its
waters to its bigger brother, with a tall foaming waterfall.  Especially
now that, even in the mountains, Spring has made its entry.  The waters
of the Rough are full and generous, and the waterfall thunders with a
powerful voice its solemn and eternal song. The tall curtain of small
droplets, rises like a veil from the roaring waters and glistens under
the sun.

Between the rocks facing the waterfall, where the shining water's veil
never settles, there is a staff, a bundle and a few clothes which seem
to have been hastily abandoned. A little farther away, wallowing in the
water, is a nineteen year old young man, named Fine-Man-By-The-Dear-Eye.
 Merrily he sings, while washing away from his body the dust and dirt of
the long journey that brought him from the high valley of the Fishfull
to this point.  His strong and sound body shines under the sun at each
dart of his full muscles, while he vigorously brushes his golden skin.

Finedear, as he is called, decided to leave his native village between
the mountains; he wants to go to the Capital, to become a soldier of the
Emperor.  His strength, his height and his agility are give him an
advantage. But before he continues his journey, he has to stop at
Narrowport Town, where a friend of the village-chief will give him a
letter of recommendation to give to the recruiting officer.

Meanwhile, coming down from the Rough valley, is
The-Last-Friend-Of-The-Moon, known as Friend.  Thin for his sixteen
years, his body clearly shows the first signs of virility.  Cautiously,
he climbs down from rock to rock to the side of the waterfall, and stops
to watch Finedear.  He asks himself, how can, the young man, be
comfortable in these icy waters, and at the same time Friend enjoys
Finedear's beautiful shape. The young man, still unaware that he has an
admirer, continues to brush his seductive body with energy.

Friend descends a little more, stops to again enjoy the scene, and feels
pervaded by a light sensation of pleasure. The gentle wind, coming down
from the mountains, disperses part of the luminescent water curtain. The
resulting half rainbow, disappears into the air;  shaped like a
triumphal arch over the sensual body of Finedear. Friend holds his
breath and for a moment imagines that he is next to the young man, and
it is he who brushes with his hands that sound body.

Finedear see him and shouts something; but the roar of the waters drown
out his voice. Raising his arm, he waves a greeting, then gestures for
him to approach. Friend answers the greeting and resumes his descent and
sees Finedear face opening in a smile. Reaching the bottom of the
waterfall, near Finedear clothes and belongings, he stops. The young
man, raising his hands to his mouth in a funnel shape, shouts him:

"Come on, it's gorgeous!"

"Isn't the water cold?"

"Icy, therefore splendid!" the other shouts.

Friend is hesitant, but puts down his staff and his bundle. He unties
his short skirt, made of two light blue squares hemmed in yellow. These
are the colors of his people and his village. Removing the white new
loincloth his mother had sewn for the occasion, he carefully puts
everything away and with a tip of his foot tests the water. Finedear
approaches him:

"It's only at the beginning that it seems difficult.  Dive in!"

Friend smiles hesitantly, sees the other stretching his arms towards him
and then, with a deep breath, his feet joined, he jumps into the water,
shivering. Finedear welcomes him and start brushing Friend's body:

"Soon, you will feel good." he says with a wide smile.

Friend trembles, he feels tempted to get out at once; but the sensation
of the other's hands on his body is too pleasurable to forego.

"Isn't it already a little better?" the other asks him continuing to
vigorously brush the boy's skin.

"Yes, a little."

"My name's Finedear. Yours?"

"Friend."

"Where are you going?"

"To the Capital."

"I too, to become a soldier. But you?"

"To enter the Imperial School."

"Ah, I thought so, you do not have the body of a soldier. But you are
handsome." Finedear said and started to caress the boy in an intimate
way.

Friend closed his eyes, quivering at these caresses. Finedear brush his
lips with a finger and says:

"I like you." and holds the boy tight against his body.

Friend relaxes in those arms and starts to lightly caress that sound
body, those firm muscles.

"Come..." Finedear says, pushing the boy out of the water towards the
shore, to a point where, among the rocks, there is a grassy spot.

Here he lay the boy on the grass. Friend looks at his beautiful, firm
and well shaped legs, his narrow waist, his hollow belly, the muscled
chest with just a light tuft of hairs between the dark nipples, his wide
shoulders and feels burning with desire.

"I want you!" Finedear tells him, looking at him with lusty eyes, and
goes down, lying with his body on him.

Friend is pleased at having been able to arouse such a fine youth male
and to be desirable in his eyes.

The two naked bodies hold each other tight with eager desire. Finedear
spreads the boy's legs, and Friend welcomes into his channel the young
man's hard flesh, and caresses Finedear with expert hands, in his most
sensitive spots, giving him a strong pleasure. The young man enjoys the
boy under him with fierce determination and joy.

Friend is rather amazed at how everything happened, with extreme
spontaneity, almost without words, as if both had always know that it
would happen. Two strangers, united like two lovers. Two strangers that
had lit up the desire in each other, that had acknowledged it, accepted
it, and that now are consuming it under the spring sun, both full of
passion.

Later, when their sated bodies parts, Friend feels strangely filled with
contradicting emotions: pleasure for what had just happened, but at the
same time, stupor to have done it with a perfect stranger, and the
desire to leave as soon as possible. On the other hand, Finedear seems
fully satisfied. Caressing Friend between his legs, with a feeling of
possession, he says:

"We will travel together. I have to stop at Narrowport Town, then we
will go together to the Capital."

"I can't, I have to get there with all possible speed, I don't have
enough time." Friend lies, feeling a little uneasy.

"That's a pity. But in the Capital we can meet again. I will be in the
Imperial Army, you in the Imperial School, so it can not be very
difficult to meet again."

"The Capital is huge, it isn't like one of our villages, where everybody
knows everyone." Friend answers while dressing.

"But I want you again, Friend, therefore we will meet again." Finedear
answers, putting his own clothes back on.

They go down the valley together, in silence. Friend tries to analyze
what he feels toward Finedear... He feels strongly attracted to him, but
at the same time he feels the young man is a perfect stranger, far apart
from him. The other has a handsome body, sensual, makes love in an
extremely pleasurable way, and yet Friends is aware he doesn't want him
as a lover. No, he decides inside himself, he will not look for Finedear
when he is in the Capital. It was good, but everything ends here. It
isn't like with his Rock, his friend, a year older than him, back there
at their village. With Rock, there was affection and because of that,
when the priest said to Friend's family that they had to send their son
at the Imperial School, Friend hesitated for a long time: he didn't want
to part from Rock. But his friend had insisted that Friend had to
leave...

They had been lovers for two years, he and Rock. The first time had been
one winter, when a sudden snow storm stranded the two friends for five
days in a mountain hut, with their sheep. They slept under the same rug,
huddling against each other to mitigate the cold and give warmth each
other. Then Rock embraced him, caressed him, aroused him little by
little, until he taught him to make love. It had been really wonderful.
Their old friendship resulted strengthened by that. Rock wasn't handsome
like Finedear, and yet gave him, since the very first time, something
that Finedear did not seem to even know: tenderness, affection and not
just pleasure.

With Rock, he also had very fine, long chats. Finedear, on the contrary,
seems to have nothing to say and at Friends conversation attempts,
answers with little more than monosyllables. Sure, even now, walking at
his side, Friend feels the sensual power emanating from his companion's
body, and that reawakens his desire.

When they reach the town gates, they part. There is nobody around, so
Finedear takes Friend in his arms:

"You'll came to look for me in the Capital?" he asks with warm voice,
slipping his hand under the boy's short skirt and rummaging in his
loincloth.

"Yes... sure..." Friend lies, but he feels aroused.

See, now Rock would have kissed him, but Finedear parts from him saying:
"I count on that." At a fast pace, he sets out for the town, without
even turning back for a last look.

Friend continues on the coastal road, to the north, towards the Capital.

Everything considered, Friend is happy to enter the Imperial School: at
the village, at the temple school, he always had been the best; and the
priest had given him a presentation letter, full of praise and
commendation. Just the best of the best are sent to the Imperial School,
and from his village, he was the first after many years. The village had
held a great feast, before he left, with an oratorical competition in
his honor. His fellow townsmen, his family, his Rock were proud of him.
His mother had sewn expressly for him the two squares of the skirt and
the white loincloth that, as the priest had explained, only the
aristocrats and the students in the Imperial School can wear.

Friend walks at a rapid pace. By sunset, he reaches a fishermen's
village. He sits down in the square as it is custom for travelers to do.
After a short while, a woman approaches him with a cup of water that she
hands him, and asks:

"Where are you from, lad?"

"From Resonant village."

"I see... and where are you going?"

"To the Capital."

"A long journey... why are you going to the Capital?"

"I have to enter in the Imperial School."

The woman makes a great surprised gesture and gives a loud shout, then,
leaving the cup with him, runs to the village houses to spread the news.
Soon, many assemble around Friend, giving a wide berth to the boy,
observing him. Then the woman who had befriended him before, said to
him:

"The journey is long and you, noble student, will need a good rest,
tonight. If you want to came to my humble adobe..."

"Come to my place, noble student, it is wider and more comfortable, and
I'll give you my own bed..." a man says. And soon everybody vies to
offer him hospitality.

Friend, a little astounded, stands up and looks at them - he didn't
expect such a warm welcome. He is trying to decide from whom to accept
an invitation, when the village-chief comes forward - he can recognize
him from the historiated staff and the copper collar.

"You will come to my house, noble student. I have already had the food
made ready. Come."

Friend thanks him and follows him. They enter the house and he is seated
at a table. The chief's wife puts an abundance of food in front of him :

"Eat as much as you wish, noble student..." she says.

Friend doesn't need much persuading, he is hungry. He says thanks and
starts eating. One by one, the chief's children enter the room and line
up on the other side of the table, watching at him. Friend looks at
them: there are five, the oldest a boy about his own age, the youngest a
girl about five years old. When the girl notices being watched, shyly
asks him:

"What's your name?"

"The-Last-Friend-Of-The-Moon."

"And are you called, Last?"

"No, Friend. And you?"

"I am Flower-Of-May-Field and I'm called May, he is Stone, she is Well,
he is Reed and he is Scythe." the girl says introducing her brothers and
sister in order of age.

"Scythe?" Friend asks of the older boy.

"Yes, noble student, my full name is Sun-Reflection-On-The-Scythe."

"And, how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Like me."

When Friend finishes his meal, the children start a flurry of questions.
Scythe is the only one to listen and he is silent. Scythe has a swimmer
body, lean and firm, and a serious expression. Friend likes him and
thinks that if they were of the same village, for sure they would have
become friends. The sun has set and they lit the lanterns. The adults
send the children to bed and, around the table, just the chief, his
wife, Scythe and Friend remain.

The chief asks a few more questions of Friend, then, later, says to his
son: "Show to our guest where he will sleep. It is time for him to have
some rest."

"Yes father. Come, noble student..."

Friend follows him to a small room.

"Here, this is my bed. You can sleep here."

"But... what about you?"

"I'll sleep here, on the ground."

"No, it is not fair. The bed is wide enough for two to sleep in."

"I wouldn't want to disturb you, during the night, with my moving..."

"No, really, I don't want to deprive you of your bed."

"Well, it is just for one night. And you have to travel, you need to
have a good rest."

"No, I insist." Friend says pulling off his short skirt and lying on the
bed so that he is using just half of it.

So Scythe lies on the part left empty for him: "Thank you, you are
really kind."

"You are kind, offering me your bed." Friend answers.

Scythe blows out the lantern.

Friend feels his warmth near him and is lightly aroused, but he doesn't
dare make any advances.

"I would like to go to the Capital, I have never went that far..."
Scythe whispers.

"Neither have I. They say it is really beautiful."

"In fact, they also call it The Beautiful, and The Great or also The
Golden City." Scythe says in a dreaming tone. "But it is so far away, it
seems that it is twenty or more walking days from here." he then adds.

"Yes, a long journey." Friend says.

"You have to be really good, if they send you to the Imperial School."
Scythe murmurs. Friend doesn't answer.

After a while, Scythe whispers: "You wear the white loincloth, like the
aristocrats."

"Yes, the Imperial School students have to wear it." Friend answers.

"And it is of very soft cloth..." Scythe says, lightly passing his hand
on it.

Friend quivers, excited. The other boy notices it and increases his
caresses. Friend emits a short pleasure moan. The other boy slips his
hand under it and gets hold of his turgid member, fingering it. Friend
spreads his legs moaning again, anxiously waiting.

"Untie it..." Scythe murmurs bending between his legs and he closes his
lips on his guest's member.

He sucks it, with evident pleasure and skill, and he moves his lips and
tongue in such a special way, that his guest feels an intense pleasure.
While sucking, the boy caresses all his guest's body and Friend, little
by little, feels more and more intense sensations that culminate in a
final explosion. The boy drinks almost greedily, and at the end, parts
with a sigh, and murmurs: "You have a really good taste. Thank you."

Oddly, Scythe doesn't want to be touched, reciprocated. He neither
untied his loincloth. As Friend falls asleep, he thinks that this
journey has started in a decidedly pleasant way - two adventures, with
foreigners, just on the first day.

The following morning, as he prepares to resume his journey, the chief
gives him some friendly advice.  After passing through the next village,
there is a road on the right, it's new road built on the Emperor's
order. This road, passes a little more into the hinterland and so avoids
all the coastal curves. Friend thanks him and continues his way, at a
good pace. He reaches the following village at mid morning and, seeing
the crossroads, he takes the road to the right.

It starts out as nothing more than a small narrow path and he begins to
think that he has taken the wrong road, but after a short way, it opens
up to a wide paved road. Looking back, in the direction he had just come
from, towards south, Friend sees squads of men working to build it.
After he had been walking on the road for a while, he sees another squad
of men, on both sides of the road, planting a lines of trees. In a few
years, Friend thinks, this road will be splendid.

He walks for a long time. The spring scenery, the more he goes to the
north, is of a gentle beauty, full of perfumes and colors. On his left,
a little lower, the great ocean laps at the indented coasts. In the
serene sky, birds in flocks, fly high in a kind of fluid and solemn
dance.

By evening, he reaches a kind of inn, a new building recently built at
the road side for the travelers. When he passes in front of it, a girl
standing near the door, addresses him with a wide smile:

"Young traveler, night is almost here, why don't you stop here to eat
and rest , at our place?"

"Yes, I would like to stop..."

"It is not expensive here: you can have food and a bed for just six
small piasters."

"Six small piasters? But I only have ten of them to begin with and I
have to travel for twenty more days! I could never afford such an
expense!"

"Ha, then... I'm sorry." the girl says, suddenly surly.

At that moment, a man appears in the doorway: "Where are you going, boy,
in twenty days, to the capital?"

"Yes, I have to enter the Imperial School."

"Ah, then you must have a letter of introduction..."

"Sure, here it is." Friend says, taking it from his bundle, and showing
it to the man.

The man takes it and reads it. "Good," he says giving it back to the
boy, "in that case I'll offer you a stop in this inn. Enter and be my
guest."

"I thank you. Who are you?"

"The Imperial Roads Official. I'm going to control the work on this
road. Come, we will eat and have a chat together."

The man is pleasant company. He tells Friends that he has a twenty year
old son in the Imperial Guard.  He lives in a new house in the Capital's
outskirts and invites him to go visit him, sometimes, explaining how he
can find his house. Then, later, after showing him a bed in the communal
room, bides him good night and retires into his personal room. Friend is
stuck by the generosity of the official, by his gentle manners, by his
elegant speaking.

The official, of course, spoke the "flowery language" that is, the
official 'lingua franca' of the Empire that Friend learned in the temple
school. While Friend is of the White Mountain People, the official is of
the Jaguar People; he noticed; the slightly darker color of his skin,
his rounder eyes, his square chin and his aquiline nose. They say that
once the Jaguar People dominated all the northern part of the Empire,
ages before the Sun People founded the actual Empire. They say that the
Sun People men are the most beautiful and strongest in the Empire and
that the men of the Jaguar are the most refined and decadent. The
official, seemed to Friend, a really refined man, but definitely not
decadent.

The following morning, after thanking the official, Friend resumes his
way to the north. Approaching the equator, and with the passing of days,
it is becoming warmer, so that at times Friend sleeps in the open
without any problems. Being nearer to the Capital, the road is more and
more congested with traffic: Emperor's couriers, merchants, rich and
poor people, all kinds of people. Friend watches, filled with curiosity,
the thousand types he crosses. At times, he talks of his journey with
somebody, so that, walking, they chat and time seems to pass a little
faster.

On the eleventh day of his journey, from a side road a couple of youths
enters the Imperial road, that Friend thinks to be husband and wife.
They greet and walk together for a while. The couple are not going to
the Capital, but will stop at Greatstone, a town famous for its gold
mines, where they live. He is a gold foundry man. As dark approaches,
the couple decides to stop at an inn and asks to Friend to be their
guest. They all dine together, then she goes to her room to sleep.

Then the man says to Friend: "My sister likes you a lot - if you want,
she's waiting for you in her room..."

Friend looks at him astounded, and says: "I thought she was your
wife..."

"No, we are brother and sister. She has recently became a widow and I
went to fetch her, to bring her back home with us, because she is not
comfortable with her late husband's family. So, if you want to go..."

"I..." Friend says slightly embarrassed, "... am very young, I never had
a woman..."

"Never?" the young man asks amazed, "and don't you feel like trying?"

"I don't know... I don't think so..." a hesitant Friend says.

The other, studies him for a moment, then says: "Well, then, if you
prefer to come to my room, instead.." and under the table he slips his
hand under the boy's skirt, daringly, caressing him.

Friend had not had sex in ten days; he is instantly aroused.

Feeling his excitation, the other one smiles and says: "Are you coming,
then?"

Friend nods yes. They go upstairs to the young man's room. He puts down
the lantern, and pushes Friend to sit on the edge the bed.  Kneeling
between his legs, and rising his skirt, he brushes his cheek on his
swollen loincloth, pushing his nose on the groin crease and touches it
with the tip of his tongue. Friend leans back on the bed, spreading his
legs a little more, fully aroused. He feels the man's teeth lightly
biting his erection through the cloth, while the youth's hands rummage
with the knot to open it. Friend closes his eyes, shivering with
pleasure, letting himself go with the increasing lust of his companion.

Baring the boy, the young man then strips himself.  Settling the boy's
body, he kneels between his legs, sliding his widespread knees under the
boy's thighs at the sides of his small bottom.  Pushing forward,
resolute, self confident, strong, like an army climbing up the valley,
wedging itself in it, and conquers the valley without meeting any
resistance, takes it.  Friend relaxes fully, savoring that virile
assault and while the mighty rod wedges in him, his hands roam, in a
frenzy, the body darting on him and in him at every push.

It is a long, strong, hot mating. They smile at each other. The young
man, to get better leverage, holds the boy's shoulders, pulling his body
to him at each thrust. When at last, the young man relaxes on the boy,
whispers to him: "You are better than my wife... I always loved the hot
boys like you."

"Are you married?"

"Yes, sure, and I've two children. And an apprentice, your age, with
whom at times I take my pleasure. But he isn't handsome as you are."

They sleep. The following morning, the young man wants to have sex again
and Friend willingly accepts. He likes feeling the strong rod of the man
sliding in him with such impetuosity. He likes seeing how the man,
pleased, smiles at him while taking him.  He feels the orgasm that is
approaching, so he rises a little, enough to gently bit the youth's
nipples and the man unloads in him with a few powerful thrusts.  Friend
comes between their tense bellies, holding tight, the man's body now
laying on him, panting and satisfied.

Then, while the young man goes to wake up his sister, the boy resumes
his journey.

On the fifteenth day of his journey, around noon, while the sun
continues to shine, a thick but very light drizzle starts to fall and
shapes luminescent veils that make Friend recall the waterfall and his
encounter with Finedear. Of the three he's made love to, since the start
of his journey, Finedear had been for sure, the most sensual.  He asks
himself if they will meet again and his feelings are conflicting. On one
side, for sure, he really enjoyed their meeting, but on the other hand,
he feels the other is like a perfect stranger.

After a while, the drizzle stops, and the sun rapidly dries Friend's
skin - just the skirt is slower to dry, and the humid feeling of it
against his thighs, is enjoyable. Friend walks until sunset. He stops at
the side of the road where, close by, he sees a farmer's hut. The ground
is still wet, so he goes to knock at the hut door, and he asks and
obtains hospitality for the night.

The following day, early in the morning, he resumes his way. Now the
road cuts inside a forest, not really thick, but beautiful. Bird songs,
animal calls, the sun that brightly filters through the trees, make
fascinating that stretch of the road. Friend looks around, enjoying the
scenery. He stops when the sun is high, sits in a small clearing, and
takes out some of the food he has in his bundle, begins to eat.  He is
thirsty, so he stand up and explores, looking for a stream of water.  He
finds it after a while, and crouches to drink, making a cup with his
hands. Then, feeling the need to defecate, he leaves the road, walking
beside the stream, he unties his loincloth and crouches between some
shrubs, and relieves himself.

He starts to get dressed again, when something brushes his cheek with a
hiss, and the bundle he is about to put on his shoulder, falls on the
ground, pierced through by a lance.  Friend screams and sees an
athletic, strong young man jumping out of the leafy branches. The man,
seeing him stops abruptly, dumbfounded.

"Are you crazy to squat down amidst the bushes that way? I could have
killed you!" the other says, frowning, and goes to retrieve his lance.

"I had to defecate..." Friends excuses himself, bowing, because he
notices the golden collar and the white loincloth and understands he is
in front of an aristocrat.

At the center of the thin golden collar, there is an eagle with
stretched wings, the symbol of the aristocrat's tribe.

"This is a hunting zone, you are reckless!" The other says, and turning
his shoulders, disappears into the thicket at a fast pace, without
saying another word.

Friend hurriedly goes back to the road. But in his eyes, still lingers
the image of the nearly naked young man, of an unbelievable beauty. He
had black, straight, shining hair, cut like an helmet; wide shoulders,
narrow waist, powerful arms and legs; piercing dark eyes, sweet and thin
lips, and, notwithstanding his frowned air, a gentle expression. Friend
had risked being pierced through, and he really is, not by the man's
lance; but by the vision of that young male. Like a vision, he appeared
in front of him, and like a vision, he disappeared. But Friend still has
his eyes and heart, full of him.

When at last, Friends comes in sight of The Beautiful, The Great, it is
the dusk. The town stretches on the left to the great sea, and on the
right up the slope, immense, white, pricked by the temples and tall
buildings. Friend holds his breath. The sun, lowering into the sea,
reddens the sky and the waters, so that everything seems suffused by a
warm light, like a fire, without flames and without smoke. The white
stone seems pure gold.

Friend feels it is better to sleep there, so that he can enter the town
in the morning and search, at his ease, for the Imperial School. He
parts slightly from the road, looking for a convenient place to lie
down, but a spot which will allow him to enjoy the vision of the
capital. He finds it, and remains seated for a long while. The sun now
licks the waters and a long shining ribbon crosses the surface of the
wide sea, connecting the solar disc to the town, like a liquid gold
ribbon. From thousands of roofs, thin smoke lines rise, straight and
soft in the still air. The sun has been completely swallowed by the
waters and the sky is rapidly darkening. Here and there, spots of light
from far away lanterns appears, mirroring the stars that are lighting up
in the sky vault.

Friend thinks of the two gods that, transformed in powerful trees,
lifted the sky from the earth, in the fifth creation, and mentally
thanks them for what they had done. Now the sky is dark and black, in
fact, the god Moon hadn't yet come to see this world. The town is almost
invisible, if not for the faint and distant spots of light from some
lanterns. Friend lies down, his heart completely filled with joy - he is
about entering the Emperor's Town. A completely new kind of life is
about to begin for him. If he excelled, he could become an Imperial
Officer, or go back to his village, loaded with honors and prestige. But
Friend is not ambitious, he just has a great hunger of learning, of
knowing. He had been lucky to have been chosen for the Imperial School,
and Rock, who really likes him, did well to push him to accept.

Friend cannot fall asleep just yet. The subtle excitement that got hold
of him at the view of the Capital, still keeps him awake.  In his mind,
thoughts, fantasies and memories get crowded. He recalls Rock and asks
himself if his friend is now sleeping, or if he too is thinking about
him. Strong-More-Than-A-Rock, strong and tender, gentle and passionate,
with whom it had been so beautiful, to discover and live on the road of
love. He wished he had him here now, next to him. To caress his familiar
shape, that he could recognize even in the dark. To awake his desires,
to savor his intimate and deep kisses, to feel his breath, smelling of
mint, to suck his nectar, like the bee does in the flowers, to unite at
last, after exhausting caresses, to the final explosion, one inside the
other.

He falls asleep, aroused by his warm memories, by these warm thoughts,
asking himself, would he ever find another lover, so complete . His
Rock... Not beautiful, like the aristocrat that nearly killed him, not
sensual, like Finedear at the waterfall, and yet so perfect.

The first sun is lapping at his body, heating it, like the embrace of
his lover; awakens him. He stands up, voluptuously, stretches his
muscles, take his bundle on his shoulder and, after retrieving from it,
the letter that he slips in his stick top's slit, he sets out at a fast
pace, entering the town.

He asks directions, several times to the Imperial School, finally he
arrives in sight of a powerful building complex - on the right, towards
the mountains, the Imperial Residence, on the left, towards the sea, the
School, looking down on a wide terrace bordered by the Sun Temple, the
Guard barracks and other important buildings.
----------------------------- 
CONTINUES IN BOOK 2
----------------------------- 
In my home page I've put some of my
stories. If someone wants to read them, the URL is

http://www.geocities.com/~andrejkoymasky/ 
---------------------------