Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2015 13:31:43 +0000
From: George Gauthier <georgegauthierdc@gmail.com>
Subject: Elf-Boy's Friends 17

			Elf-Boy's Friends 17
			First in Flight
			by George Gauthier

[The further adventures of characters from the novel 'Elf-Boy and Friends']

			Chapter 1. Barbecue

The light of early morning streamed through the lattice over the windows of
a room shared by Drew Altair and his lover Axel Wilde. The nude bodies of
the two slightly built youths were almost lost in a bed sized for a Frost
Giant. Which was fine when their Frost Giant friend and lover Finn
Ragnarson slept over.

Drew twisted and stretched as far as his diminutive stature allowed. Poking
his bed mate, he said:

"Wake up sleepyhead. Your stomach is growling something fierce. Time to get
up, shower, and go down to breakfast."

Axel rolled over, rubbed his eyes, and ran his fingers through his
hair. "Is it morning already? I feel like I just dropped off."

Both youths were red-heads though of different hues. Axel's locks were the
color of copper while Drew was a auburn haired beauty. Another difference
is that one was a morning person and the other most definitely was not.

Axel was a slug-a-bed unlike Drew who was one of those insufferably
cheerful sorts who bounded right out of bed chipper, bright-eyed, and
bushy-tailed and eager to face the day. Axel took a whole lot longer to get
going. The first part of his morning ritual was to stand under the shower
head and run the cold water to wake himself up. Only then did he mix it
with solar heated hot water for a proper shower.

Axel had no sooner soaped up than Drew stepped close and pressed himself
against Axel's back. The erection prodding Axel's cleavage evidenced Drew's
state of arousal as he ran his hands over Axel's soap-slicked body and
said:

"You don't suppose we have time to fool around a bit before breakfast, do
you?"

Axel grinned and asked over his shoulder:

"Didn't you get enough last night?"

"That was then. This is now."

Just then Axel's stomach growled again, louder than before. Sighing, Drew
conceded,

"I guess it is not to be. Just as with the heart, the stomach wants what
the stomach wants."

"Is that a new maxim you just coined, Drew? Well here is one of my own
invention: A rumbling stomach is just as much a call of nature as the other
kind. Even more so, when you think about it."

"How is that?"

"Simple. Stomach rumbling is audible; the other is silent." Axel concluded,
quite pleased with himself for getting the better of his professional
wordsmith friend in a verbal exchange.

Drew rolled his eyes heavenward in a silent appeal to whatever gods might
dwell on that plane. Meanwhile Axel returned his attention to his
ablutions, which in their case meant simply a shower. Neither youth needed
to shave.

Drew had no beard at all thanks to the same druidical healing magic that
had enhanced his vitality, prolonged his youth, and doubled his strength,
and enhanced his senses and reflexes. The magic had also permanently
suppressed the growth of Drew's beard and body hair. He was smooth and
glabrous everywhere, even at the fork of his legs.

Axel had achieved the same smooth look with an eleven depilatory applied
every three months from chin to ankles. Anyway redheads tended to have very
little body hair in the first place.

The two youths shared an suite of rooms on the third floor of a residential
hotel in the capital of the the Commonwealth of the Long River. Along with
their third lover the journeyman war wizard Liam, each has his own room
though the boys seldom slept alone. They were spared household chores since
the leases on their suites included meals in the ground floor dining room
as well as housekeeping and laundry services.

Over breakfast Axel told his lover:

"I am really looking forward to the barbecue tomorrow in the garden of the
Klarendes' townhouse. Give me a barbecue any day over a formal sit-down
dinner. I never know what to do with those fancy table settings with two
knives, three forks, and four spoons. It is so much easier to eat with just
one of each plus my fingers for things like corn-on-the-cob, which is one
of my favorites. "

"You have a point, Axel, but I learned about table settings at my mother's
knee. She liked to entertain. The trick is to start on the outside and work
your way in. The first fork is the one all the way to the left, the first
knife, the one all the way to the right."

"And spoons?"

"Top to bottom."

"Thanks for the tip. I won't be so self-conscious next time." Then Drew
added:

"What I like most about the count's barbecues is that his cook broils the
meats just right: little pink on the inside and almost burnt on the
outside, and there is always a groaning board of side dishes like soups and
salads and veggies and fresh fruit. It makes makes my mouth water just
thinking about it all. So much so that I'm likely to indulge myself in both
food and drink, probably more than I should."

"So? Is there something wrong with indulging yourself?" Axel countered
"Don't they say that a guest who merely picks at his food really insults
his host? So by all means show your appreciation."

"I yield to your proverbial wisdom my friend. Anyway, as good as the food
is going to be, I really look forward to the cold beer. It really hits the
spot on a hot day and its taste complements a meal perfectly."

"I like a frosty mug or two myself, but these days you can get cold beer at
any tavern. The proprietors have all put in ice-chillers to cool the beer
as it flows to the tap."

"Yes, but they mostly serve a mediocre local brew though they often hire a
Frost Giant as bartender to suggest otherwise. Klarendes serves the real
thing brewed by Frost Giants in Flensborg, And thanks to the low cost of
water transport, it is only half-again as expensive even coming all this
distance. They send it down the River Calyx by riverboat, then by sea-going
vessels to the mouth of the Long River, then by riverboat again upriver
here to the capital."

"It was our friends the Frost Giants who introduced both refrigeration and
cold beer to the Commonwealth, so more power to them. They have an apt
proverb which says that cold beer is surely proof that the gods love us and
want us to be happy."

"Can't argue with that, Drew."

The next afternoon was sunny and hot, not very surprising given the
tropical climate of the region. Still there was a pleasant breeze, and an
awning and shade trees offered shelter from the direct rays of the sun. The
guests seated themselves in comfortable rattan chairs grouped around a
circular table helping themselves to the dishes spread out on a trestle
table nearby.

The fire safety laws generally prohibited cooking with an open flame in
multistory dwellings in the capital, but there was no problem with charcoal
grills set on a flagstone patio of a garden and well away from anything
inflammable. Charcoal burns with much heat but very little flame and almost
no smoke. Besides all three members of the Klarendes family were
firecasters who could invoke their magical gift to stop a conflagration in
its tracks by telling the fire to go out.

The food and cold beer were just as good as the young lovers had
expected. The flesh of the grilled fowl was practically falling off the
bone, and the spicy sausages were literally bursting with flavor. The
steaks and chops were brown on the outside and pink on the inside, so just
right for everyone except Aodh who, for obvious reasons, preferred his meat
as rare as human dentition allowed.

The count and his immediate family were all on hand: his first born son
Lord Artor and the count's younger son Eborn, a young man in his early
twenties though he still looked like a teenager thanks to the strong
admixture of elven blood in the family tree. The older son Artor favored
his father while Eborn took after their mother.

The fourth member of the family was the count's spouse Aodh, an impossibly
cute twink and shapeshifter. That afternoon Aodh stayed in human form
rather than morph into a sleek black panther. In that form, his dentition
was up to any masticatory challenge.

Axel's boss the war wizard Sir Willet Hanford was the last arrival showing
up right after the the twins Jemsen and Karel.

For the occasion the twins were dressed in what for them passed for formal
wear, color coded sarongs, as always green for Jemsen and blue for Karel to
let people tell them apart. Axel wore a patterned sarong plus the soft
moccasins he favored in town. Drew was in his one of his trademark
sleeveless white tunics which showed off and flattered the trim taut body
he was so proud of, while Sir Willet and the three Klarendes wore tunics
with half sleeves and sandals. The war wizard observed to his host:

"It is too bad that our good friends Lord Dahlderon and especially Finn
Ragnarson aren't here with us. Finn was the inspiration for this whole
refrigeration and cold beer business of yours. These days I see your firm's
delivery carts everywhere on the streets. Clever idea that -- hiring Frost
Giants to deliver ice with pushcarts."

Klarendes nodded.

"It's all part of a carefully cultivated image for our operation. It is why
I had our legal advocate obtain a trademark for the name of our company,
Frost Giant Ice, and commissioned the distinctive silhouettes of a
fully-armed frost giant on the side of our carts. We use the same pushcarts
the giants use in Flensborg. They are so much more maneuverable than a
horse drawn cart, and they are quiet thanks to rubber tires which make for
a smooth ride over the paving stones."

"The giants are so big and strong they can push a cart on flat terrain all
day long and can easily lift, carry, and insert blocks of ice from the
alley straight through the wall of the kitchens of our subscribers into the
back of our patented ice-boxes. And unlike with animal traction, our
deliveries don't leave a smelly mess behind on the streets."

"Also our chillers have cornered the market in the taverns." Artor pointed
out. "But the real money lies in subscription delivery of ice to homes and
taverns which yields a steady and reliable income stream."

"The firecasters I hire like the fact that this is a part-time job. They
show up, freeze the surface layer of the pond, then collect their fee and
go on to other profitable endeavors. The time consuming labor is in cutting
the ice into chunks and getting them into the ice-house. The workers first
cut a line of blocks across the pond leading to the foot of the
runway. Once those blocks are removed the crew can float all the other
blocks from anywhere in the pond to the runway and so into the
ice-house. Pretty smart isn't it?"

"And as the auditor of the books," Aodh" confirmed, "I can report that we
are operating at a healthy profit."

"Now on a tangentially related subject, we have something quite out of the
ordinary for dessert: iced-cream," Eborn told the group. "That is what
those small bowls and spoons are for."

"And just what in the world is iced-cream?" Karel asked. "It sounds like
another import from the homeland of the Frost Giants."

"It is, Karel. Now watch how it is made."

Two of the staff demonstrated the process while Eborn kept up a running
commentary on the use of the domestic iced-cream maker. It consisted of a
pair of nested metal bowls, a large outer bowl and a smaller inner bowl
with a mixture of salt and ice filling the space between. A hand crank
turned a paddle to churn the mixture of cream, sweeteners, and flavorings
in the inner bowl.

"The salt lowers the melting point of the mixture below the freezing point
of fresh water. As the ice melts it absorbs heat from the creamy mixture in
the inner bowl, freezing it into what we call iced-cream. Our first flavor
was vanilla, but you can also flavor it with juices, berries or chopped
nuts like pecans or walnuts."

"Why can't you just flash freeze the creamy mixture with magic?" Jemsen
asked. Ebron shook his head.

"No, the churning aerates the mixture so it freezes slowly but does not
form ice crystals as would happen if it were quick frozen. The churning and
slow freezing make the iced-cream taste smooth and creamy."

"Now all you can produce at one time is a small batch of ice-cream which
has to be consumed right away. You cannot store it for later since it will
melt even if placed in an ice-box. Also you have to replace the ice and
salt mixture to make a new batch."

"Does iced-cream have commercial potential?" Jemsen asked.

"It sure does, though not as a confection. There is simply no way to keep
the product properly frozen, not without a firecaster on hand to maintain
the temperature well below that of an ice-box. However, we think people
will flock to buy our domestic iced-cream makers to make their own
iced-cream at home."

"We are working to perfect a design that can be churned out by the
thousands in a suitably tooled manufactory. Even if we cannot obtain a
patent for the device we can at least get a trademark for our machines. We
are calling them Frost Giant Iced-Cream Makers. As the twins have shown
with their Gemini Zinger, sometimes commercial success relies more on
promotion than any genuine difference from competitive offerings."

"Father has put me in charge of the new company," Eborn said proudly. "So
I'll be spending more of my time here in the capital, watching over our
family's local business affairs. I've been selected since, as a Dread Hand
of the Commonwealth, Artor is away so often on official business and Father
and Aodh spend most to their time in Elysion managing affairs there and in
Dalnot."

"Anything else on your plate?" Axel asked.

Count Klarendes answered.

"The Navy had ordered ice-lockers for its ships, but there is no profit to
be made there, not in a one-time deal to fit out the sixty ships of the
High Seas Fleet. Nor any continuing ice business at all since their own
firecasters will make the ice. Still it is the least we can do in
recognition of their great naval victory last year and the on-going naval
war. We consider it our contribution to the war effort."

"It's starting to seem like the troll war is over." Sir Willet noted.

Drew shook his head and answered:

"On the broad waters of the the Great Inland Freshwater Sea that is nearly
true except around the Ashokan Archipelago and the coast of Amazonia. As
you know, most of the trolls have retreated up the basin of the Amazon
River where they are establishing a colony beyond the reach of our High
Seas Fleet. We will be going after them as soon as the Navy figures out how
to get at them."

"I hope that doesn't mean that Liam and Nathan are going in harm's way
again any time soon. Haven't they done their share already and more?" Axel
asked, anxious for his lovers.

"I cannot tell you not to worry, Axel," Sir Willet soothed, "but they won't
go alone, and I am sure they'd want to be in for the kill."

"As long as they are not the ones getting killed." Axel maintained
stubbornly.

Everyone could see that there was no cajoling the boy out of his very real
fears for those he cared about.

Sir Willet mentioned that he had heard army officers grumble that the Navy
has garnered all the glory in the war against the trolls. The Army's only
notable action had been the cavalry charge at the Battle of
Flensborg. Klarendes shrugged.

"The Army has its hands full showing the flag and keeping the peace in the
Far West. Not everyone there is happy with the new confederation. Some
states are holding back on joining and border disputes have flared up which
the Army had to slap down. And there is still the threat of the Despotate
of Dzungaria, though that seems more a potential threat than an actual one
these days: all posturing and threats and bluster but no aggressive
military moves or instigated rebellions among the downtrodden. And as
always the Army has to guard the Eastern Plains against incursions by the
Eastern Barbarians. Nor can we be certain have we seen the last of the
trolls closer to home."

"Anyway the Army needs to revisit its tactical doctrine to better counter
the trolls. Finn Ragnarson showed the way in that fight during your
expedition to the Barren Lands. The trolls deploy caltrops against
cavalry. And it is not only the trolls. Lots of armies use caltrops. They
are simple and cheap and can be deployed quickly. Why even our own allies
the Frost Giants use caltrops though theirs are attached to cords for easy
retrieval. So every cavalry regiment needs a soldier gifted with control of
magnetism to sweep the ground clear for their charge."

"I entirely agree Taitos. I understand you recommended just such a change
to the High Command."

"And got nowhere. It is the old story: Not Invented Here."

"Tell me about it!"

The war wizard's efforts to get the Army to change its camouflage from
greens to browns had been rebuffed despite all of Sir Willet's carefully
documented research. And he wasn't just any war wizard. He was the
continent's preeminent expert on both camouflage and magical concealment.

"What you need to do Taitos is to enlist Marshall Urqaart and Lord Zaldor
to champion your proposal to the High Command." Jemsen ventured. "Even
better, get them to try the new tactic themselves in the Far West
first. Prove its value in battle, and the High Command will have to change
their mind."

"That is a very good idea, Jemsen. I have known Urqaart for many years. We
go back a long ways to when I served in the regular forces. And I got to
know Zaldor on our peace mission to the Frost Giants."

"And to make sure their staffs don't winnow out your proposal and not even
let it get to their desks, we three, myself, Karel, and Drew will send a
cover letter. Their staffs know that the four of us who went on that
mapping expedition to the Far West are considered proteges of Marshall
Urqaart and Lord Zaldor."

"Good idea!" Drew enthused. "Urqaart has a reputation for innovation. His
was the first regiment to adopt stirrups. No reason he cannot recruit
locally for those with the gift of magnetism. His own ranks probably have a
few. Then there are the allied armies plus the millions in the general
population out there. The Far West will become the proving ground for the
new tactic."

Count Klarendes nodded. "As Finn would say were he here today: Sounds like
a plan."

			Chapter 2. Flyers

Another day, another outdoor meal with many of the same participants except
for the Klarendes clan who were still at work. Grouped around a picnic
table under a pergola festooned with climbing vines in the patio of the
residential hotel where they all lived were the twins, Axel, Drew, Liam and
their guest Sir Willet. Axel and Sir Willet had run into the others just as
they left the Institute of Wizardry after work. The twins and Drew and Liam
had been tossing a Gemini Zinger around in a nearby park and were headed
back home. One way or another everyone had worked up an appetite and since
Sir Willet was at loose ends with his cook cum housekeeper away visiting
her family, they invited him over for supper.

In such an informal setting it was only natural for the young athletes to
remain in the nude as they had been for their game, taking just a moment to
stand under the outdoor shower and wash the salt and sweat from their
bodies. Even Axel threw off his sarong and moccasins, joining them in what
was their natural state of undress. But then the twins had been elf-friends
half the lives and all their adult lives so going skin-clad was normal to
them.

As for the others, clothing was often optional for young males of the
Commonwealth and almost everywhere else on the continent of Valentia save
in the the original homeland of the Frost Giants which experienced a
complete cycle of four seasons including winters cold enough to freeze
still water. That was also true in the chthonian depths of the dwarves
which were cool at best and often chilly, so the notion of going around in
the nude had never caught on among the dwarves.

Only Sir Willet remained fully dressed in a loose fitting silk tunic and
moccasins.

The war wizard was gratified to have both members of his official family,
his aide Axel Wilde and his wizardly protege, the journeyman war wizard
Liam, back in the capital. Liam had just returned from weeks in the port
city of Alster, the Commonwealth's chief naval base on the the Great Inland
Freshwater Sea. With a twinkle in his eye Sir Willet said:

"It is good to have you back with us Liam. I know just how much Axel missed
you when you were stationed at Alster and how happy he is to have you
back. That goofy grin on his face is a dead give away."

Axel beamed. He did not mind anyone knowing he was happy to have his lover
back with him. Absence can make the heart grow fonder, as it had in their
case.

"We are making up for lost time," Liam assured his mentor. "Can't let Drew
and the twins have all the fun with my charming boy with the heart-melting
dimples."

But then all of them were extraordinarily pretty each in his own way. The
blond twins were rambunctious palomino colts whose tanned and toned bodies
practically glowed with good health and sex appeal. Axel and Drew were a
pair of cute red-heads, the one a copper-top the other an auburn haired
beauty. They might be short in stature and slightly built, and Axel
extremely boyish looking, but physiques like theirs were more about quality
than quantity.

More like the twins in stature, Liam stood just under medium height. He was
on the slender side but with a strong upper storey with the wide shoulders
and muscled arms he had originally developed from handling teams of four
for a living and now from hauling himself up a line into the crow's perch
of the Petrel. Liam was a raven-haired pretty boy.

Though very much a ladies' man himself, Sir Willet could appreciate their
extraordinary physical beauty, in an aesthetic sense at least. These were
boys who turned heads of both genders, no two ways about it.

Today's treat was sweet corn-on-the-cob boiled, the ears dropped into the
post straight from the garden, served piping hot, slathered with butter,
and sprinkled with salt to taste.

Now in the eating of corn-on-the-cob there were two irreconcilable schools
of thought, exemplified, as it happened, by the twins themselves. Jemsen
preferred to chew row by row, starting at the pointy end and working his
way to the blunt end, rotating the cob a bit then starting again at the
point. Karel preferred the rotary lathe method, turning the cob while
harvesting the kernels in a narrow band before shifting his efforts one
bite's width over to the right.

Each technique had his supporters. During a meal one of the twins could be
counted upon to gaze at his brother's culinary faux pas, look over to an
ally for support, and shake his head or roll his eyes. With the twins this
was a very old joke and a regular part of their schtick.

Imagine the twins' consternation then as they watched Sir Willet eat corn
on the cob with knife and fork. Standing the cob on its flat end he sheared
the kernels off with the blade. Having done so he raised the loose kernels
to his mouth with his fork.

The twins shook their heads, the pained expressions of both their faces
indicating that for once they were in agreement on how NOT to eat corn on
the cob.

"Now boys." Sir Willet admonished. "No need to look aghast -- what you are
witnessing is an example of table manners in high society."

"Sir Willet is the second son of an earl." Axel supplied helpfully.

"Actually it is my mother who insists on our eating corn this way. If my
father and I had had our druthers, we'd likely just pick up the cobs with
our fingers like everyone else. Still by now I am used to eating
corn-on-the-cob this way."

"Actually sir," Karel ventured "when you think about it, it isn't
corn-on-the-cob at all..."

"It's corn-off-the-cob!" Axel finished for him. Karel frowned then asked of
no one in particular.

"Don't you just hate it when someone else jumps in with the punch line you
have so carefully set up for yourself?"

Sir Willet smiled at their chatter, thinking how lucky he was to have such
great kids in his life. Smart, witty, energetic, and good hearted, their
company kept him from isolating himself in his work, burying himself in his
magical studies, which was all too easy for wizards to do. Magic was the
consuming interest in their lives, which was why Sir Willet's long
neglected wife had finally divorced him.

On an afterthought he added:

"Someday I'll show you how my mother has us eat bananas at the dinner
table."

"Surely you don't mean with knife and fork?" Karel asked, appalled and not
daring to believe it.

"I do. She maintains it is the only civilized way and dismisses eating
bananas with the fingers as the table manners of monkeys."

"Anyway could you pass the platter of cobs?" Drew asked the twins. "Somehow
it has wound up all the way down at your end of the table."

"Tut tut," Karel admonished. "At the picnic table the rule is boarding
house reach and every man for himself. It's not our problem if your arms
are too short."

"Oh yeah?"

Invoking his gift, Drew slid the platter toward him then made a production
of selecting his second cob. Satisfied, he made the platter slide back,
this time to the exact center of the table. Fair was fair.

"For a fetcher nothing is ever out of reach," he remarked with a
provocatively smug smile on his pretty features.

For Axel the sight of the platter carrying the cobs with it as it slid down
the table triggered a thought.

"Of course! Why did't I see this before?"

"See what? What are you talking about Axel? Liam asked.

"This business with the platter. It's put an idea into my head. A way for
fetchers to fly a freely as birds."

"Like birds? Tell us how!"

"Well as you know those with the fetching gift can now lift themselves by
their sandals. That was a trick the twins thought up and Drew
pioneered. Now that technique works well enough, and it will always be
useful for impromptu surveys of terrain or to fly out of harm's way, but it
takes practice and is a little risky. Lose your balance or your
concentration and down you go. Most important of all, you mostly just go up
and down. You cannot fly where and as you will."

"That is all very true, Axel. So what is your idea?"

"Fetchers should strap themselves to a moveable apparatus, say the wooden
yoke which stable hands use to carry buckets, and lift that yoke into the
sky. You can make the yoke go wherever you want: up and down, left and
right, forward and back, fast and slow. And it is safe. You don't have to
worry about your balance when you are securely strapped to a yoke."

Sir Willet and the others were stunned by the ingenuity of Axel's
conceptual breakthrough. For centuries true flight was something men had
only dreamed of.

"By the gods, Axel, you are right. This is the start of a new era in
history, the Era of Flight. Just think of the potential!"

Jemsen picked up that thought:

"Aerial scouts could fly patrols ahead and to the sides of a column of
troops, reconnoitering, observing converging forces or enemy reserves
masked by terrain, or troops lying in ambush. They could recon terrain our
scouts on the ground cannot get to easily or at all, like on the far side
of a swamp, the reverse slopes of a range of hills, or maybe across a fast
flowing river."

"That's right Jemsen. Not surprising that with your history as an army
scout you would see that as the first application." Drew said, "but there
are others".

"A scout could hang a supply of fire globes at the ends of the yoke and
drop them on enemy columns or fixed positions. You would rig the globes so
that they fell one at a time or all at once along with banked coals to
ignite them.

"Or maybe caltrops, Axel added. "like we were talking about at the
barbecue." He continued with:

"Think what would happen if aerial scouts spotted hostile cavalry
maneuvering to charge our own forces. Unseen by the enemy the scouts swoop
ahead and strew caltrops in front of where the cavalry will deploy from a
column into a battle line for their charge."

"Just as the charge gets up to speed their mounts run onto the
caltrops. Crippled horses fall taking their riders with them. Those riding
behind cannot pull up in time and join the deadly pile up. Instead of the
panoply of a grand cavalry charge there is nothing on the field but broken
bones, screaming horses, and crushed riders. For the coup de grace, after
the field is swept clear of caltrops, a counter attack by lancers wipes out
the survivors. Or if they don't have a master of magnetism, then we
counterattack with horse archers."

"Scouts might act also as couriers where communication by heliograph or
dispatch rider is impractical and timing is critical." Karel pointed out.

"That's right." Liam agreed, adding:

"And it is not just the Army that could use flyers. Caltrops and fire
globes are fine on land, but at sea you want to drop incendiary kegs on
enemy ships. Caltrops and fire globes are area weapons. A keg is a
precision weapon. A fetcher doesn't even have to fly over the ship or even
particularly near it. Just release the keg and guide its fall to intercept
the enemy vessel, all the while staying out of range of arrows or
ballistas."

"This will revolutionize naval warfare! We could deploy a new sort of
vessel with cabins and berths for thirty or forty flyers and lots of kegs
in their holds. Aerial attack would totally neutralize the boarding tactics
of the trolls."

"And I'll bet the commandant of the naval infantry General-at-Sea Sir Deane
Chard would love to have flyers for a campaign in the Amazon basin. I know
that he is planning to take naval infantry into that river country rowing
captured longships. Some have been equipped with ballistas or
catapults. Think of it, naval infantry armed with bows and blades,
longships with naval armaments, war wizards and other mages plus flyers
serving as aerial scouts and providing... er what shall we call it anyway."

"Why not call it `close ground attack'" Axel offered.

Sir Willet sat back in his chair, his mind churning with the possibilities.

"Anyone looking at five of you lounging in the nude would see shameless
pretty boys showing off. I see young men with minds just as extraordinary
as their physical beauty. Boys, let's go to my offices where Drew and Axel
can write this all up. And if anyone has another idea, speak up. I'll make
sure all of you get credit, with the lion's share going to Axel of course."

Sir Willet set the artificers and harness makers to work to devise a
standard yoke and strap system for flyers. The team found that the familiar
wooden yokes used in stables were perfectly suited to this new purpose,
except that instead of a man doing the lifting it would be the yoke lifting
the man.

Grooms used yokes to carry water in buckets from a well to a horse
trough. It was actually easier to carry two buckets at a time using a yoke
across the shoulders than it was to lug a single bucket by its handle. Two
buckets balanced each other, and the yoke put the weight on the shoulders
and hips and legs rather than on the muscles of arms and shoulders.

The artificers affixed hooks with quick release mechanisms at the ends of
the arms for the various loads: kegs and nets of fire globes or
caltrops. The strap system was based on mountaineering gear.

Then came the day for field trials. All of them were properly dressed for
the occasion, Sir Willet and Axel in Army greens, Liam in naval blues, Drew
in his expeditionary outfit of short trews, sleeveless shirt and sandals,
and the twins in sarongs.

Drew went first. Needless to say he was eager to become the very first
flyer in the history of the world. The idea was Axel's, but the doing of it
would be his, just like with the twins and their earlier breakthrough about
Lifting via sandals.

Sir Willet stood by, ready to break any fall, but he did not expect
anything to go wrong. Flying with a yoke took just a fraction of the
concentration needed with sandals. Drew strapped himself into the harness
then double checked the buckles, explaining: "Safety first!"

Then Drew took off and soared into the sky. Giddy with success he zoomed
and swooped and power dived at his companions only to pull up at the last
minute, grinning all the while, clearly having the time of his life. After
a while aloft Drew settled down, remembering he had a purpose beyond
showing off and went through the agreed upon test maneuvers. He eventually
came back down, setting himself gently on the ground, amid the cheers of
his companions. Drew had a big grin on his face, the grin of a boy
immensely proud of himself, as well he should be.

Drew's flight had been spectacular. Anyone could see the potential. The
observer from the High Command proclaimed the dawn of a new age when men
with the fetching gift would fly. As an army officer the colonel could
appreciate the military uses the group had outlined in its report to the
High Command.

Sir Willet gave Axel a thumbs up then told him to get himself ready. He and
Drew would now test the tandem rig.

"The tandem rig? What is that, sir?"

"It is our little surprise, Drew's and mine. Since true flight was your
idea, it is only fitting that you go up too. Just from watching Drew it
looks like a lot of fun."

The tandem rig had two sets of straps for two flyers, or really one flyer
and his passenger who hung just behind and a little higher than the flyer
the better to see over his shoulder and talk to his pilot.

Drew had no trouble lifting both of them at once. The yoke was made of
sturdy oak and easily able to bear the weight of two slightly built
youths. And since Drew was powerful enough to lift a brontothere into the
sky, lifting two boys was no strain at all.

For Axel it was the most thrilling ride of his life, this first flight of
many he would take with his friends and lovers at the helm, so to
speak. Next to go aloft were Sir Willet who flew solo and Liam who gave
Jemsen and then Karel flights with the tandem rig.

At one point the passage of the wind tore Karel's sarong from his hips. It
flapped and fluttered like a great blue heron. No problem. Liam turned back
and swooped like a hawk on the runaway garment. Karel snatched his sarong
out of the air to the cheers of the watchers below.

By the time the last of the flyers landed a crowd had gathered in the
courtyard of the Institute. Amid tumultuous welcome, the intrepid explorers
of the aerial realm took their bows, big grins on their faces. The flyers
put Axel front and center. Flying was his idea, after all. Sir Willet
beamed:

"Axel, flight is such a stupendous achievement that I am going to nominate
you for both a knighthood and the same druidical healing magic that has
enhanced the vitality of the others. I feel confident is telling you that
you can count on approval of both. That means you can look forward to
centuries of youth, strength, beauty, and good health. How does that strike
you, my young friend?"

But Axel said nothing; the boy was literally struck speechless.

"His silence says it all." Drew noted with satisfaction.

Drew finished the last few sentences of the draft of his article describing
how human flight had been achieved. The background paragraphs describing
the origin of the technique and the equipment had already been set in type
at the Capital Intelligencer. Drew rushed his final copy over to their
offices and handed it to his editor, his older brother Heflin who told him:

"Great stuff, Drew. Your friend Axel is about to become famous the world
over. You too."

"Oh? And here I thought that, as a renowned war correspondent and best
selling author, I already was!" Drew quipped.

The Capital Intelligencer rushed the story into print, scooping the other
news-papers whose reporters were still interviewing onlookers who really
had little to tell them other than the bare fact that men had flown like
birds. No one involved in the project would talk with Drew's rivals, giving
the Intelligencer its scoop. The headline read: Men Fly Like Birds. Lots of
folks bought two copies, one to read, the other for a keepsake.

			Chapter 3. Axel

Within the month and in the presence of his proud parents Dexter and Hannah
Wilde, Axel was granted letters patent that raised him to the
knighthood. Henceforth he would be styled Sir Axel Wilde. Not bad for a
youth not yet twenty.

Not long afterwards, the same two "Sisters", the healers who had helped to
transform Liam, joined Dahlderon in enhancing the vitality of the newly
minted knight. At their direction Axel disrobed and lay down. As the trio
invoke their magic a pearly effulgence engulfed them and their subject, its
color cycling from pearly white to light green and back three times then
died away. Axel didn't feel any different but he mages assured him that he
would stay young and cute and sexy for centuries, the same as his closest
friends. Axel admitted that his greatest fear had been that of eventually
losing his circle of friends as he aged while they stayed young.

Axel gave his folks a tour of their suite at the residential hotel. Besides
the sitting room, bathing chamber, and water closet Axel, Drew, and Liam
all had huge beds in their chambers.

"My goodness Axel, that bed of yours is large enough to sleep three at once
and with room to spare." Axel's father Dexter said.

"And sometimes it does just that," Karel pointed out, making Axel blush
furiously. His mother Hannah just shook here head and clucked.

"Boys will be boys." she said equably.

"The beds are sized to accommodate Finn Ragnarson when he sleeps over."
Jemsen added helpfully.

You are trying to shock us, young man, aren't you?" Axel's mother
admonished the twins.

"It is just a bit of good natured teasing among close friends." Jemsen
answered.

"The twins can't help themselves when the mischief is upon them," Axel
explained, "but they mean well. I love these boys with my whole heart."

Karel opened his mouth to add "And with his whole body" but subsided under
Jemsen's glare. The older twin had intuited just what his brother was about
to say.

"I am just glad our Axel has such a worthy circle of friends." Dexter Wilde
said. "Your names are known to us and not only from Axel's letters. The
famous twins Jemsen and Karel, the prize winning journalist and author Drew
Altair whose books we ourselves have read, and the war wizard Liam, honored
as a Shield of the Commonwealth. Actually, all of you are genuine war
heroes. Not to mention that large friend of yours who is an avatar of a
thunder god. It is quite a step up for the son of a porcelain
manufacturer."

"Porcelain eh? Do you make dishes or perhaps figurines?"

"No, we make plumbing fixtures like those in your bathing chamber and water
closet."

That brought smiles all around.

"Our Axel has come far despite only modest magical gifts."

"Gifts are what you make of them." Jemsen noted. "whether magical or
not. Look at me and my brother. Our original magical gift was that of
Unerring Direction. We put it to good use as hunters, explorers, archers,
scouts, and mapmakers. Our invention of contour lines won us our
knighthoods and appointments as Masters in the Honorable Guild of
Cartographers."

"The twins are much too modest," Drew interjected, "so let me point out
their non-magical gifts of intelligence, curiosity, and courage. And a
talent for making friends and picking the right people to befriend."

"And let me add," Liam interjected," that Axel has more than a few gifts
now, both magical and natural. Axel can Call Light, but his balls of
illumination persist for hours. That was the basis of his successful street
lighting business. Axel also has the gift of Unerring Direction which makes
him the perfect guide for a certain navigationally challenged war
wizard. Then Axel is blessed with a type of eidetic memory. He never
forgets anything he has read or written down and retains almost total
recall of the spoken word too, for long enough to transcribe what he has
heard."

"And now he has the magical gift of enhanced vitality which is not a single
gift but a whole collection: long life, prolonged youth, acute senses, fast
reflexes, doubled strength and stamina, greater healing powers, and
resistance to disease. All of us share those gifts now thanks to druidical
healing magic."

"So what is next for you boys?" Hannah Wilde asked. Her son answered.

"We are part of a task force considering how best to use flight in military
operations. Liam is our consultant on naval combat working with Admiral Van
Zant at the Bureau of Ships.

"Sir Willet and I work on standard equipment and tactics for army
flyers. For instance, from the tests it is clear that flyers go so fast
they need goggles like grinders use to protect their eyes from the
airstream. We need ways to signal between flyers and the ground. Should
scouts go out alone or in pairs? Should flyers go up in certain kinds of
weather? And what about formation flying for mass attacks. V shape like
geese or line abreast or columns or what. We also need to devise standard
loads of caltrops and fire globes too and gear for dispersing them upon
release."

"Another question is how to counter enemy flyers if, or should I say when,
we confront a foe with flyers in his armed forces. My first thought is to
wield those discus shaped blades the Navy uses to cut the rigging of enemy
ships."

"It sounds gruesome." Axel said.

"And for the Navy", Liam added, "I will probably recommend flying in pairs
in case something goes wrong while away from the ship. The flyers should
also wear cork vests for flotation. All these things and many more have to
be worked out in consultation with the Army. That is why I have been
assigned to work with Sir Willet and Admiral Van Zant on ships, weapons,
and tactics."

"We are at the beginning of a revolution in military affairs. And none too
soon, if you ask me, what with the threats from trolls, barbarians, and who
knows what lies beyond the horizon."

"On that cheerful note," Drew said," let's adjourn to the patio for
supper. I have ordered a special dessert: strawberry flavored
iced-cream. Scrumptious is the only word to describe it."

"Sounds like a plan." Liam said in an exaggeratedly deep tone, though still
only a pale imitation of Finn Ragnarson's bass rumble.

		Chapter 4. Nathan

Two weeks later saw Ensign Nathan Lathrop return to the capital to train at
the Institute of Wizardry and Magic. His assignment was to hone his new
gift of delving under the tutelage of Sir Rikkard, a friend and colleague
of Sir Willet's. The Institute's annex at Alster had trained him to sound
the depth of water under the keel of a vessel, to detect hazards to
navigation, and to determine the nature of the bottom: sandy, rocky, muddy,
whatever. At the capital he would apply delving to what lay beneath the
surface of the earth: the types of rocks and minerals, aquifers, caves and
caverns, and artificial structures like cellars, mines, tunnels, aqueducts,
and even water mains. He could also tell what was on the other side of a
wall.

In event of a siege a delver could detect tunnels dug by the enemy to
undermine the walls of a fortress or city. Sappers typically shored up the
roof of their tunnels with timber as the went. When the besieging army was
ready to attack, they stuffed hay or brush into the tunnels and set the
kindling and the timbers on fire. The collapse of the tunnels brought down
the wall above. A delver could point out where his own forces should
counter-mine.

The only thing delvers could not do with magical gift, despite their name,
was dig up what they sensed below. That took miners and excavating
equipment or a mage gifted with earth magic.

The last time Nathan had been in the capital he had convalesced at home
following his release from the Naval Hospital where he had been fitted with
a prosthesis which let him walk almost normally. Only a slight limp
betrayed the loss of the lower part of his left leg, severed by a troll axe
just above the ankle during the Petrel's unprecedented single ship action
against a flotilla of longships.

On this trip Nathan left his gear into the guest room of the suite shared
by Liam, Drew, and Axel, though he slept in Liam's room and bed. Those two
had much lost time to make up for. Their nightly lovemaking rose to new
heights of passion as they joined their bodies in all the ways that lusty
young males may do and in some ways that were only possible when one of the
lovers was a fetcher, able to raise, hold, and move his lover's body in
ways that defied gravity and the usual possibilities of human anatomy.

Both were versatile in bed, as ready to bottom for the other as to top or
to delight each other with mutual oral service. Familiarity with each
other's bodies and erogenous zones made it easy for them to arouse each
other. Actually it usually took just a wink or a quirky smile to arouse
them and send them off to bed. The big bed was a welcome change from the
narrow berths aboard ship or even the visiting officers' quarters in
Alster.

Theirs had been a torrid love affair from the moment they met, both of them
struck as if by lightning with an instant overwhelming and mutual physical
attraction. Liam had a thing for red-heads and in then midshipman Nathan
Lathrop he found a boy from his dreams.

Only nineteen, Nathan was boyishly cute, a freckle-faced carrot-topped
youngster who looked much too young to be an officer in the Navy of the
Commonwealth. He stood just a shade under Liam's height with the willowy
build of an elf though he was fully human. Since his convalescence Nathan
had worked on his upper storey, repeatedly hauling himself up the yards
again and again. Constant training with a naval cutlass also strengthened
his arms and shoulders.

Liam was a bit older than Nathan, a well-set up lad with a fine healthy
body standing just under medium height. He was on the slender side but with
a strong upper storey. He had wide shoulders and well-muscled arms from
driving four horse teams for a living. Liam was a real raven-haired beauty
though pretty rather than handsome. His fine-boned features were accented
by a light sprinkling of freckles, and he had the mismatched eyes common
among wizards. His left eye was blue and the right one brown. His eyes
shone with a moon-glow visible in dim light which gave him night vision as
acute as that of a cat.

Liam was evenly tanned from all the running he did ashore and from swimming
and standing watch in the nude in the crow's perch of the Petrel. Nathan's
tan was more of a patchwork since as a deck officer he had to remain in
uniform. Despite his handicap he was still a strong swimmer though not so
fast as before.

Their relationship of the two youngsters now went beyond mere physical
infatuation. Theirs was now a life bond. They were lovers, best friends,
shipmates, and comrades in arms. They had implicit faith that the other
would always have his back.

The circle of friends celebrated the solstice festival with a picnic which
once again featured fresh sweet corn-on-the-cob. Nathan sat bemused as he
watched Sir Willet and his corn-OFF-the-cob technique of consuming the
tasty vegetable. Then Karel reminded the war wizard that he had never
demonstrated how folks in high society ate bananas without using their
fingers, the table manners of monkeys as the wizard's aristocratic mother
had put it.

Sir Willet agreed it was time he provided a demonstration. Spreading a
dinner napkin on his lap he addressed the banana on his plate with knife
and fork. Spearing it in the center with the fork in his left hand he held
it down while he cut off the tips then deftly slit the skin
lengthwise. That enabled him to pop the meat out and set the skin
aside. Finally, with his fork in his left and knife in his right, he sliced
bite sized chunks off one at a time and brought them to his mouth.

Karel shook his head.

"Now I've seen everything!"

It wasn't long before Nathan was recruited as an informal member of the
task force, helping his friends with their important work. As a recent
graduate of the Naval Academy Nathan was well versed in naval doctrine and
tactics, and he too was a decorated combat veteran, twice Mentioned in
Dispatches and with a Navy Cross for Valor on top of that.

Nathan's participation in the task force on naval aviation bore fruit
later, after he returned to the Petrel, but that is another story.

		Author's Note

This story is entirely fictional, with no resemblance intended to any
person living or dead, though admittedly the Navy of the Commonwealth bears
more than a passing resemblance to the Royal Navy of Richard Bolitho and
Horatio Hornblower.

If you have enjoyed this story and others like it, consider making a
donation to the Nifty Archive. It is so easy. They take credit cards. Point
your browser to http://donate.nifty.org/donate.htm

This story is one of an occasional series about the further adventures of
the characters introduced in the fantasy novel 'Elf-Boy and Friends' and
published by Nifty Archive. The chief protagonist of the novel, Dahlderon,
elf-boy and druid, will appear in these stories in a supporting rather than
starring role. Each story in the sequence stands on its own, with the focus
on one or just a few of the original characters.

Readers who like these stories might want to try my two series 'Daphne Boy'
and 'Naked Prey' in the Gay/Historical section of the Archive. My 'Jungle
Boy' series of Hollywood tales is posted in the Gay/Authoritarian
section. The recent series 'Andrew Jackson High' relates the trials and
tribulations of five of its gay students. For links to these and other
stories, look on the list of Prolific Authors on the Archive.

Comments and feedback welcome.