Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2016 12:52:28 +0000
From: George Gauthier <georgegauthierdc@gmail.com>
Subject: Elf-Boy's Friends 28

			Elf-Boy's Friends 28
			Jumper
 			by George Gauthier

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

			Chapter 1. An Appeal for Help

"Pardon me sir for interrupting you at dinner, but a dispatch rider has
just arrived from Army headquarters in Dalnot."

Taitos Klarendes, Count of the Eastern March, accepted the letter proffered
by his steward. As he scanned the document, the diners seated around the
table held their peace though consumed with curiosity. The Count was not
long back from the war in Amazonia. Surely he would not be recalled to the
colors, not so soon.

"It is not addressed only to you my lord; the dispatch is addressed to all
of you: Sir Aodh, Lord Artor, and the three druids as well."

"Gotta be bad news then." Aodh affirmed, a sentiment which was seconded by
the count's first-born son Artor.

The three druids, Dahlderon, Owain, and Meirionnydd were seated opposite
Klarendes, while his son Artor, and the elder Klarendes' shapeshifter
spouse Aodh flanked him. They had all just sat down to a big meal. Among
country folk, the midday meal was called dinner and was always the most
substantial meal of the day. Supper was typically a light meal of cold
meats, cheese, sliced bread, with dried fruits for dessert.

Having just finished martial arts training and practice bouts the druids
and Aodh were still nude or skin-clad, their hair wet from a quick
shower. Outstanding exemplars of youthful male pulchritude, the boys
practically glowed with physical fitness, good health, good looks, and sex
appeal.

Even more than most young males in the Commonwealth of the Long River where
nudity taboos were weak to non-existent, both elves and shape shifters
typically went about skin-clad. More than just a way of dealing with the
tropical climate, in their secluded vales the practice kept young elven
males readily available for sexual congress with older males. For shape
shifters it was really a matter of convenience. They never had to worry
about where they had left their clothing when the shifted to their animal
forms, not when they were naked to begin with.

The steward threw an appreciative wink at his employer's tiny
spouse. Standing five foot zero and weighing only a hundred pounds, Aodh
was small, skinny, and smooth muscled. Impossibly pretty, he was a melding
of the innocent and the wanton, the epitome of a boy in the full bloom of
his youth with ivory skin like porcelain that never tanned or burned in
contrast to the young druids who were uniformly bronzed from constant
exposure to the sun.

Though Aodh seemed utterly fragile and vulnerable, the epicene youth was
actually three times as strong as he looked thanks to his innate magical
nature and the help of the New Forest. Large green eyes dominated the
stunning face of the androgynous youth which tapered from a wide brow down
a pert nose to a narrow chin.

As for the druids, they hardly looked like three of the most powerful
wielders of magic on the planet of Haven. Short and slightly built pretty
boys with the sculpted musculature of athletes, dancers, or acrobats, they
could easily pass for a pack of rent boys on a day off.

Only they weren't really boys, not chronologically. Dahlderon was the
youngest; the raven hair elf-boy was in his twenties though he looked to be
more than a decade younger, say sweet sixteen going on seventeen. Next came
Owain; the diminutive strawberry blond human might look no more than
eighteen, but he was only three years short of the two century mark. Merry
was the most senior by far, over a thousand years old most of it passed in
the form of a unicorn during his second life till his transformation a
decade ago back into the elf-boy he had been in his first life. His hair
was white as snow, the same color his coat had been as a unicorn.

Klarendes scanned the brief document, then looked up at those seated at the
table.

"It seems the Army wants all of us drop everything and go to the
capital. We are being sent to Amazonia to deal with a problem, though what
just what kind the dispatch doesn't say." Klarendes told them, passing the
document around for all to read.

"Why so mysterious?" Aodh asked.

"What other reason than security?" Artor answered. "A dispatch may pass
through many hands as it is carried by heliograph and courier."

"All right, but why call on us druids to deal with it?" the elf-boy cum
druid Dahlderon complained. "However long it takes, the Commonwealth and
its allies are sure to win a prolonged war in Amazonia. The Commonwealth
can raise armies from a population of one-hundred thirty millions counting
its new dominions in the Far West and allies. That allows the High Command
to rotate new regiments to the front indefinitely."

"The trolls in Amazonia number about three million counting females and
whelps, and they are cut off from the far-off oceanic archipelago from
whence they came. Meanwhile the anti-fertility plague which we druids
unleashed there will, in time, drastically reduce the population from which
they might draw reinforcements, eventually ending the threat
permanently. We druids took care of the long term problem with
trolls. Dealing with the problem in the short and medium term is the
province of the military."

Owain seconded that sentiment, saying:

"Surely they don't expect us druids to join the forces at the front? It's
the job of war wizards not druids to serve as force multipliers for
conventional military forces. And these days the wizards have the help of
numerous mages the Army and Navy have recruited: fetchers, water, air, and
earth wizards, firecasters, and so on. We helped there too, enhancing the
vitality and longevity of many to give them long life and careers and
thereby increase the cohort of war wizards."

"Besides, the allied contingents under General Urqaart seemed to have
things well in hand at the end of our recent tour of duty." Aodh noted.

Urqaart commanded an army drawn from the lands in the Far West recently
annexed to the Commonwealth plus its allies on the shores of the the Great
Inland Freshwater Sea. Over half of these formations were soldiers trained
to Commonwealth standards by the Army of the Far West and the professional
army of the former Despotate of Dzungaria. Mercenaries too were deployed
but behind the lines in garrisons and to protect lines of communications.

Operating for the first time on the same side rather than as foes and
flying the flag of the Commonwealth of the Long River, the forces from the
Far West had given a good account of themselves against the trolls whose
attacks on their territories had provided the final reason for the former
enemies to bury the hatchet. That had accelerated political, social, and
economic reforms which laid the foundation for a permanent peace, mounting
prosperity, and their accession to the Commonwealth.

An expeditionary force drawn from the orcs of the Eastern Mountains but
trained, equipped, and paid by the Commonwealth had also joined the
fight. The orcs had been promised an independent country of their own to
accommodate their growing numbers in lands they might conquer from the
trolls. Their ranks had been augmented by orcs emigrating from the
territories of the eastern barbarians attracted by the dream of a land of
their very own.

Klarendes and his spouse Aodh had recently thrown their powers into the
fight in support of Urqaart's offensive which drove the enemy out of the
western third of its conquered territories. Time after time Klarendes had
destroyed enemy fortifications and shattered shield walls enabling
breakthroughs which lead to encirclements and battles of annihilation which
destroyed two entire field armies. Talk about acting as a force multiplier!
Urqaart had nominated the count for the second highest military decoration,
the Shield of the Commonwealth.

Klarendes was one of those with the rare ability to throw white fire [the
subatomic plasma at the heart of a star] and to keep at up again and
again. War wizards could throw white fire too -- but only two or three
times before they had to rest for a day to recharge their magic.

Aodh's service had been noteworthy as well. While attached to the command
group, the shapeshifter had thwarted a suicide squad of fifteen trolls who
had laid an ambush for Urqaart and his staff. In his human form Aodh
unleashed his sonic weapon to incapacitate the trolls then morphed into a
black panther armed with poison claws and killed every one of the fifteen
would-be assassins as they staggered about, their hands over their ears,
dizzy and disoriented from the intolerable screech Aodh had directed at
them.

"Anyway, why did they ask for me?" Artor wondered. "We Hands are not in the
military at all. Our job is criminal investigation and law enforcement and
general troubleshooting."

Klarendes shook his head. "The dispatch offers no specifics about the
problem which prompts this summons. It might not even be military in a
narrow sense, though obviously connected with the war there. That could
explain why they asked for you, Artor and why it is signed by the Chief
Hand himself, Baron Jarmond. After all, you Dread Hands are the designated
trouble shooters for the Commonwealth and endowed with plenipotentiary
legal powers. Solving problems is just what you Dread Hands of the
Commonwealth are for. "

"Tomorrow is more than soon enough to find out." Owain opined. "First we
druids have one last section of the New Forest to visit as part of our
annual survey of its health and development. If we leave right after dinner
we can open a portal, step though, check around, and be back in time for a
late supper."

His colleagues nodded, with Merry saying as they walked out: "See you guys
later."

After breakfast the next morning, Owain opened a portal to the capital. The
group stepped through it then sought out the headquarters of the Dread
Hands of the Commonwealth, to give them their full title.

"Thank you gentlemen for coming so promptly." Jarmond began. "No doubt you
have been wondering what problem could possibly need the talents and powers
of two firecasters and a shape shifter, plus three of the most powerful
magic wielders on the planet, four counting Count Klarendes' capability
with white fire."

"Make that five of us." Sir Willet Hanford said as he stepped into the room
in the company of his young aide, Sir Axel Wilde. "We war wizards are no
slouches in the magic department either, as you know very well Baron
Jarmond."

Jarmond inclined his head to concede the point. Druids and wizards were
both gifted with an ability to wield many sorts of magic, though the two
orders of mages took different approaches to the magical arts. The magic of
druids was oriented toward the living world, while that of the wizards more
toward inanimate physical reality with some overlaps such as control of
weather.

Jarmond picked up where he had left off.

"It seems that the Commonwealth has received an appeal for help from a most
unlikely source a woman who calls herself the Queen of the Amazons. She
asked for you by name, Lord Dahlderon."

"That wouldn't be Lady Seerah, would it?"

"Yes, that is the name, Queen Seerah."

"When I knew Seerah she was first among the five on their ruling
council. So she has taken a crown, eh? Very likely it's a political tactic
to prop up the regime so as to cope with the revolution I unleashed on her
society. Which should make me the very last outsider she would want to
return there."

"What can I tell you Lord Dahlderon? Desperate times make for strange
alliances," Jarmond said. "When an enemy is at the gates, especially one
like the trolls with genocidal intentions, then past differences can be
overlooked. That is the way I read it."

"Very likely you are right, Jarmond."

"The puzzled look on Axel's face prompts me to remind him and everyone else
about what happened back then" Dahl continued.

"To make a long story short, Axel, years ago, when I was only a journeyman
druid, I traveled far up the Amazon River in search of a biological control
to stop an invasive species threatening to destroy the forest cover and
watersheds of the Ashokan Archipelago."

"I found it too."

"It turned out to be a climbing vine, an epiphyte, a plant which merely
clings to its host trees for support and access to sunlight but is not
parasitic and draws no sustenance from them. In its native habitat the
epiphyte kept the Emerald Ash Borer in check so it was only a minor pest,
not a plague as it became in the islands. Once transplanted to the Ashokan
Archipelago, the epiphyte saved the forest cover and watershed of crop
lands that supported a hundred thousand people. They were a decent and
peaceful folk I came to know and like until the trolls exterminated them as
if they were vermin a dozen years later."

Dahl explained that the land of the Amazons was then a country oppressed by
an unnatural, cruel, and alchemically maintained social and political
order. The women used a concoction of herbs during pregnancy to ensure that
females were born much larger than their diminutive male counterparts

The herbs delivered powerful drugs via the mother's placenta to the growing
fetuses which kept males not only small but youthful and
under-developed. The males could perform sexually well enough to procreate
but they never really grew up or filled out, remaining boys on the cusp of
true manhood. For instance, Amazon males never grew a beard. It was an
example of neoteny, the retention of juvenile features in an adult.

Hence the males were kept in a state of political, social, and sexual
subjugation, virtually enslaved, though they could not be sold as chattels,
and kept perpetually naked, their genitalia ringed to prevent unauthorized
erections and sexual contact.

In the dozen years since then a slow but inevitable revolution had started
which, over three generations, would re-make that country, letting all its
inhabitants, both male and female, live their lives without the unnatural
sexual dimorphism that had led to so much coercion, oppression, and
inequality.

"That was what you hoped would happen, Lord Dahlderon," Jarmon said. "But
now the trolls are pressing against their borders. So far it's just
reconnaissance in force, but a full invasion must soon come. Hence Queen
Seerah's appeal for help."

"There is a vast hostile territory and three million trolls between our
armies and the country of the Amazons. What help can they expect from us?"
Klarendes asked.

"Not large military forces, obviously. "Jarmond replied, "No, what they
need is combat magic, something they are sorely lacking."

"Of course!" Dahl said in sudden realization. "Gifts useful in combat are
much more common in males than in females. By stunting the development of
their males, the Amazons deprived themselves of potential war wizards,
firecasters, fetchers, and so forth."

"Almost certainly by intention." Sir Willet pointed out. "Males with
powerful magic gifts would never let themselves be controlled by
non-magical females, whatever their comparative size and strength."

"So when do we go?" Axel asked,

"Since I have been to the land of the Amazons, I could open a portal and
take us all there directly."  Dahl said.

Jarmond shook his head. "You first need to check in with Urqaart at his
headquarters. That is also where you will collect the rest of your party,
namely the twins and Count Klarendes' nephew Corwin, who is there as a war
correspondent. He will keep the journal of your expedition as well as
report for the Capital Intelligencer."

"Just as he has been doing for Urqaart's campaign." Artor pointed out.

"Corwin's reportage is a must read." Axel enthused. "He often inserts
himself into the action, fighting alongside the soldiers whose exploits he
portrays."

Klarendes nodded.

"Headstrong and reckless that boy may be, but he is also courageous and
very effective with his ball lightning. A natural horseman from growing up
on the Eastern Plains, he often rides with the cavalry. In one fight the
battalion of lancers he was with got cut off from the main body by enemy
cavalry. He used his new explosive technique to blast a path through the
enemy then lead a headlong charge to get them into the clear. That earned
him a Mention in Dispatches."

After further discussion, the party of mages dispersed to equip themselves
for their expedition to Amazonia, which would leave in two days' time. It
was agreed that Owain as the senior druid would be in charge. Artor might
be a Hand of the Commonwealth, but Amazonia was out of his
jurisdiction. Not so with the druids whose jurisdiction was global.

				Chapter 2. Powers

General Urqaart frowned skeptically as Owain outlined their plans.

"Do you really think a bunch of women soldiers can stop the trolls?" he
asked pointedly.

"I am the only one who has seen them fight," Dahl said. "Don't sell the
Amazons short because of their gender. They are big and tough and
well-trained and well-lead with officers who know what they are doing. Also
they will be defending familiar ground and will have had plenty of time to
prepare for the onslaught."

Owain argued that they had no choice but to try. At the very least the
Amazons would divert some of the military forces now facing the
Commonwealth and make their own advances easier. At best, both forces might
actually put the trolls into a squeeze play.

"Our party numbers only eleven, but that includes six of the most powerful
magic wielders on Haven: three druids, myself, Meirionnydd, and Dahlderon,
Count Klarendes and his son Artor with their demonstrated mastery of white
fire, and Sir Willet, one of our strongest war wizards."

"Then we have the war mages: the twins Jemsen and Karel, earth and air
wizards respectively. Aodh is a master of close combat thanks to his sonic
weapon and poison claws. Finally Corwin Klarendes has proven how effective
he can be with his ball lightning."

"Where are the twins anyway?" Axel asked. "I thought they'd be meeting us
here."

"Held up somewhere, I imagine." Urqaart said. "I'm sure they'll be along
very soon now." then suddenly added: "In fact, here they come now."

"As I live and breathe," Aodh said, as the twins breezed into the room,
"it's the famous twins Jemsen and Karel, in the flesh!"

"Hey, that's my line!" Karel protested but with a big grin, then embraced
his friends.

"Ahem! I'm here too, if anyone cares to notice!" Corwin grumbled, drawing
winks from his uncle Taitos and cousin Artor.

"At least you blond boys are at full strength. I only wish I had the
support of my fellow red-heads, Drew and Nathan." Axel said plaintively.

Axel was a boyishly cute copper-topped lad with heart melting dimples, Drew
Altair an auburn haired beauty, and Nathan Lathrop a true carrot-top with
the lissom build of an elf though he was of entirely human stock.

"It's my turn to be the war correspondent for the Capital Intelligencer,"
Corwin pointed out. "And Nathan is back on the Petrel which is currently in
Alster. And Liam is there with him on rotation back to the Navy and to the
comforts of civilization."

After acknowledging the byplay, Sir Willet made a further point:

"There is one mage you have overlooked, which is not surprising since his
existence has been a closely held secret for the last few months. Sir Axel
Wilde is no longer just my aide, he is now a powerful war mage in his own
right. Repeated passage through space portals stimulated the manifestation
of a very rare magical gift."

"Axel is a Jumper."

"A Jumper?" Urqaart asked. Sir Willet nodded.

"Axel can teleport himself to anywhere he can see, whether with his own
eyes or through a far-viewer. With repeated jumps between hilltops he can
cover hundreds of miles in a matter of hours. He can also jump directly to
any point, no matter how distant, which he has previously reached via a
portal. That is why my colleagues and I have been opening portals for him
to strategic points around the Commonwealth: Grayling, Dalnot, Bled,
Alster, the Western Plains, Plainsville, Flensborg, Caerdydd, Junction
City, Jenova, Brax, and so forth. Axel can now jump directly to any one of
those places then make further visual jumps from there."

"All right, but what can he do once he gets wherever he is going?" Urqaart
asked, ever the pragmatist.

"Why don't I let him answer that? Axel, my boy, you're on." Sir Willet said
warmly.

Axel smiled and launched into a description of what he could do with his
new powers.

A jumper made the perfect assassin, able to pop into existence next to an
enemy general, kill him, them jump to safety before his guards or soldiers
quite realized what was happening, though for safety he would wear light
armor. Axel carried a vial of Aodh's poison to coat the blades of a pair of
push or fist knives, a weapon with a T shaped handle attached to a very
short triangular blade. One small cut would deliver enough poison to kill a
troll twice over.

A jumper was even more effective operating at night, which would mask what
was happening and generate terror among the enemy. He could even peek
through a window and jump into a room or tent to kill his target then jump
away, leaving the enemy's servants to find him dead in the morning.

Also a jumper could carry others along with him. A simple touch on the
shoulder would establish a connection which let him carry a small group
with him. And it worked not only for those he himself touched or who
touched him but for those in contact with them. (After that the connection
was too weak.) Thus a jumper could deliver a raiding party anywhere he
himself could jump.

Or Axel could jump behind a foe, touch his shoulder, jump a thousand feet
into the air and let go, allowing his enemy fall to his death while he
himself jumped to safety. And as with fetchers like Liam, in naval combat
he might drop boulders to hole enemy vessels or incendiaries to fire an
enemy fortress.

"How much weight can you lift?" Jemsen asked.

"It is not really weight so much as size. At the upper limit I can jump
with something as big as a house. Understand, I don't really lift against
gravity. One moment something is one place, the next moment someplace
else."

"And it doesn't matter what it might be connected to. As long as I
visualize a clean break in my mind it just separates and jumps with
me. That makes for another form of assassination: just tap the head of a
foe and jump a foot or so away and let it drop, then jump into the clear,
leaving head and body behind as a gruesome reminder of what it means to
attack the Commonwealth of the Long River. For extra effect, sometimes a
decapitated body stays upright very briefly and even staggers about, as the
heart pumps blood from the jugular arteries. Talk about terror tactics!"

"Whatever happened to that gentle boy we all knew and loved, Axel the
Peacemaker we called him?" Karel asked only half-facetiously.

"I could answer that it was war and adversity, but it was not only
that. Actually what I described just now I got out of books and reports in
the Institute library. I haven't had to use such grisly tactics. Not
yet. Anyway, you and Jemsen and the twins are also Peacemakers, but that
hasn't made you any less effective on the battlefield. And what was that
you once told me when I felt uncomfortable about how easy killing seemed to
come to you? You told me it was OK because we were the good guys. Now in
this war the trolls we are definitely the bad guys."

"You've made your point." Karel conceded. Axel then added:

"I would also like to use my powers in civil rescue work like jumping
persons trapped by fire or flood to safety. With my gift I would be the
first responder, able to get to disasters faster than anyone else. Even if
my own powers are not particularly well suited to the particular rescue I
could bring others such as fetchers and firecasters with me when I jump to
the scene."

"Oh, and don't forget that Axel can Call Light to englobe the head of a foe
and scramble his brains. He has saved my life twice doing just that." Sir
Willet added.

With that kind of endorsement, Axel sat up straighter clearly proud of his
gifts and what they could do to support the cause.

"And let me point out a new or rather a strengthened ability of my own,"
Sir Willet said, "I have trained with Sir Angus McFarden's techniques to
increase my control of magnetism. It is now easy for me to sweep caltrops
off a field much as we saw that cavalry rider do in that demonstration of
the close ground support several years ago."

"Now I don't have anything like the sheer power of a true master of
magnetism like Sailing Mater Crawley of the Petrel. Did you know that he
once sank two troll longships by tearing the nails out of their hulls? The
vessels fell apart and the trolls manning them dropped into the sea to be
dragged under by the weight of their own armor."

"And not to brag, but, as a war wizard, I am also a powerful fetcher, which
lets me wield steel spheres to deadly effect and to fly through the air
plus I am a weather and water wizard, and a firecaster with mastery of heat
and flame. And I have acquired magical skills like Concealment, long
distance communication with infrasound, and the ability to open portals."

"He throws white fire too." Axel offered.

"And what can we expect from you druids. I've never seen any of you in
action."

"We have. That is Axel and Karel and me and Sir Willet." Jemsen
said. "During our expedition to the Barren Lands or South Varangia, as the
frost giants are calling it now, we came upon a dreadful scene of a company
of trolls tormenting a small group of brontotheres, one of which they had
butchered for its meat."

"Now all of us took part in that fight: a score of frost giants, half as
many human archers, a war wizard, a druid, and even an avatar of a thunder
god, but that was by courtesy of our druid who could have killed the trolls
all by himself."

"Which would have been selfish and unsportsmanlike of me." Dahl pointed
out. "The others would have felt left out if I had just exerted my will and
made the trolls deathly allergic to the brontothere flesh they had just
eaten."

"We druids are strongest with life magic and our control of the living
world. We can flash grow vines and motile runners and creepers to wind
around the lower limbs of our foes and hold them fast or around their necks
to strangle them. This was a variation on the very trick Owain had used so
long ago against rogue Frost Giants. Alternatively we might create thorn
breaks between their vanguard and their main body to facilitate defeating a
foe in detail. Druids can blight crops and forests and poison any creature
with the contents of its own stomach."

"For a less lethal approach we can put enemies to sleep or calm the
fiercest beast. Indeed we can control animals and set them on our
foes. Nothing like a pride of lyons or a pack of dire wolves to take the
heart out of your foes."

"Don't forget brontotheres," Artor reminded him. "The charge of a herd of
brontotheres is nigh unto unstoppable. It is not for nothing that they are
called the juggernauts of the jungle."

"I could hardly forget my first time as a rider of brontotheres, when I, a
naked teenage druid, rode the matriarch of the herd in a charge against an
army of Amazons. We druids are also good at reconnaissance. We can project
a portion of our consciousness into the minds of eagles or any other
creature which let's us see what they see and hear what they hear."

"Also any druid worthy of the name has a command of earth and weather magic
plus Mind Speech, quadrupled strength and stamina, keen senses and super
fast reflexes. We can actually snatch an arrow out of the air, or, against
an arrow storm, create a kind of missile shield whereby we transform the
wooden shafts into dandelion seeds. And we can open space portals."

"Oh, and besides his druidic powers, Merry retains some of his unicorn
powers such as extremely powerful Mind Speech, Calling Light, Kindling
Fire, and unmatched stamina, though he no longer has that killer neigh of
his."

"Don't worry." Aodh interjected. "I've got that covered", which was a
reference to his own killer screech.

"Aren't you druids fetchers as well?" Karel asked. "What I mean is that we
have all seen that you can levitate just like Drew or Sir Willet. Which
suddenly makes me wonder why you cannot also fly like them by Lifting a
wooden yoke the way Drew or Sir Willet or Liam can."

"Oops! It looks like we might finally have to confess our innocent bit of
misdirection, Owain," Dahl said.

"All right. The fact is that we druids are not fetchers at all. And for the
record we never actually said that we levitated by lifting our
sandals. That was your idea, Karel, yours and Jemsen's, and an inspired
idea it was too -- for fetchers. No, we druids use an aspect of earth magic
when we levitate."

"Earth magic!! Jemsen said, astonished. "I myself am an earth wizard, but I
haven't the faintest idea how to use my gift to lift myself into the sky,
which seems entirely backwards, for an earth wizard, I mean."

"That's no doubt the reason you never thought of it. It's like this," Owain
explained. "Fetchers lift themselves by pulling upward on their sandals. We
druids, push the planet away from us to with a force you might think of as
gravitational repulsion. Naturally the planet is too massive to
budge. Instead we rise into the sky because we are pushing against the
planet with greater force than its gravity pulls us toward it."

"Wow!" the twins breathed. "Does this mean Jemsen could do it too?"

"Er... maybe. When we have a moment, let's get together and give it a
try. For druids it's not so much a learned skill as an instinct."

"All right!" Jemsen exclaimed, driving a fist into the air.

"Good luck brother, but don't forget I can take to the air too, whether
inside an whirlwind or calling a jet of air to push those batwings, however
clumsily."

"And you both can run like the wind pushed by a jet of air at your backs
called by Karel's powers as an air wizard." Axel said. "Me too. I can go
along for I have the doubled strength and stamina and fast reflexes of a
druidically enhanced physique, and I have practiced running with you. Do
the rest of you know that we three can sustain a pace of a mile a minute
for half and hour or more?"

"I'll keep that in mind." Owain said. "Our diverse capabilities will surely
prove useful in meeting the challenges we will face in stiffening the army
of the Amazons in their defense of their embattled homeland. We'll keep in
touch with you General Urqaart via Mind Speech. Dahl and I can reach clear
across the continent while Merry can reach anywhere on the planet as long
as it is someone we know."

			Chapter 3. The Amazons

Two days later the party of eleven stepped through a portal created by Dahl
to the large square in front of the palace in the capital city of the
Amazons, a fair sized town really. A military parade was in progress, with
battalions of infantry and cavalry and support troops passing in review
before the Queen and the members of her governing council. All the soldiers
were large women who looked to be tough and well-drilled. The logistical
forces were male.

Trumpets brought the parade to a halt as all eyes turned toward the
strangers. A high official left the reviewing stand and hurried towards
them, the soldiers parting to let her through. They watched with hope on
their faces, correctly surmising that the humans and elves who appeared in
so magical a manner must those their queen had sent for.

Nevertheless, to establish their bona fides, Owain gestured dramatically to
create a break in the low clouds to let a shaft of sunlight fall on the
travelers. Onlookers took that as an augury of good fortune. Surely these
figures bathed in light were demigods sent to succor them in their hour of
need.

Addressing Sir Willet, whom she took to be their leader, she told them:

"Welcome strangers. I am Lady Vannsetta, Chair of of the Governing
Council. May I know your names."

"This is our leader." Sir Willet said indicating Owain who was standing at
his side.

"Excuse me. I just assumed that the most senior of you would be in charge,
or if not you then this gentleman of noble bearing with you", meaning Count
Klarendes

"Don't be fooled by appearances or the touch of gray at my temples. Lord
Owain is a druid. He may look like a teenager with head of lustrous
strawberry blond hair, but he has nearly passed the two century mark. I
myself am little more than a quarter his age. And the studly teenager with
the snow white hair has lived for a thousand years, though only the last
decade or so as an elf-boy. Before that the druid Meirionnydd wore the form
of a unicorn."

"Remarkable. That would explain why his hair is the color of fair weather
clouds, which is how we describe what some folk compare to snow, something
unknown in this country."

Owain took it from there and introduced the members of their party. After
which Lady Vannsetta lead them into the palace for a meeting with the
queen.

She received them cordially.

"I greet strangers whom I trust will soon become friends plus one who is
not a stranger at all. Hello Dahl. You haven't changed a bit in a dozen
years. But then druids don't age, do they?

"No we don't my lady. Nor, it would seem, do Amazon queens."

"Thank you for your gallantry, Dahl, but I expect our troubles have
permanently engraved worry lines on my visage."

"That is why we have come, to ease your worries by countering the impending
attack of the trolls. I have to say that I expected a degree of hostility
from you, given my role in upsetting your social order."

"Not just our social order. You touched off a political, economic,
military, and cultural revolution."

"Of course I was furious at first and dismissed the letter you left behind
to explain and justify your actions, though I never blamed you for
destroying the battalion my headstrong and cruel daughter set upon
you. Whatever our grievances with you, she had no call to slaughter the
innocent crew of that logging barge or a servant I myself had set free and
to whom I had granted safe passage to the outer world."

"In time I came to accept the inevitability of change and to prepare for
it, to adjust as best we might. I had hoped for three generations of peace
for my people to make the inevitable adjustments. That was not to be. Now
our society has become militarized to a degree I regret but accept as
necessary as long as the trolls threaten our very existence."

"But you all must be tired from your long journey. Please accept the
hospitality of the palace. Lady Vannsetta and the steward will show you to
your lodgings where you may refresh yourselves. Later, at dinner, we shall
talk and get to know one another and try to establish trust and confidence
among us. Tomorrow is soon enough to confer on the strategic situation and
on how your Commonwealth might help us."

Actually the travelers weren't tired at all. Stepping through a portal let
them avoid the fatigue of long distance travel. Nevertheless, they withdrew
from their audience with the queen and repaired to the suite of guest rooms
placed at their disposal to bathe and change from their travel garb to
their dress uniforms.

The connected suite of rooms were simply but comfortably furnished and
featured large windows looking onto a well-tended rose garden. A water
closet and shower room were en suite. The accommodations came with a pair
of pages, Hylas and Hakkon, cute red-heads in their mid-teens who stood
ready to provide any and all services that might be required, which the
guests understood to mean the pages were also available for sex.

Like all youthful males in the land of the Amazons the page boys were nude
though without the gold rings that would once have constrained their
manhoods.

For the benefit of the pages Axel ran down the names of the eleven guests
ending with: "And these two fabulously sexy blonds would be the famous
twins Jemsen and Karel."

Stumped looks appeared on the cute faces of the pages.

"Er sir, no offense, but what are these twins famous for?"

That brought an "Ouch!" from Karel while in answer to their question Jemsen
pointed to the three small blue tattoos on their left shoulders.

"We are the only humans alive to bear tattoos certifying us as to be
elf-friends, dwarf-friends, and giant friends all three, hence persons to
whom all three races will automatically extend their hospitality and
protection."

The pages shrugged.

"We don't have elves, dwarves, or giants in this country, sirs, only
humans.

Karel and Jemsen looked so chagrined that Corwin burst out laughing. After
a moment the twins saw the humor in the situation too and joined in, though
their laughter had a distinctly rueful tone to it.

"I hope you are not going to mention this in your reporting Corwin." Karel
told him severely.

"I cannot believe that you are asking me to violate my journalistic
integrity!" Corwin gave back with feigned umbrage.

"And as for you, Axel." Jemsen told the wizard's aide. "Just forget that
any of this ever happened."

"How?" Axel asked breezily. Tapping his head he added "Eidetic memory,
remember?"

The twins slumped crestfallen and deflated till the pages cheered them up
by promising to come back later to "turn down" the twins' bed.

The travelers had chosen the rooms they would take. To the surprise of the
palace steward the Klarendes, father and son did not share
quarters. Instead the elder Klarendes shared his room and bed with one whom
he referred to as his spouse, which the steward realized was a reference to
the impossibly cute twink she herself had had her eye on the whole time.

She couldn't help thinking to herself: "Darn! Why are all the supremely
cute boys only interested in those of their own gender?" She thought back
fondly to the old days when she would not have had to ask.

Another room furnished with two full sized beds accommodated the twins in
one bed and Axel and Corwin in the other. The three druids took the third
chamber while Sir Willet and Artor perforce were left with the last one,
which at least had separate beds. They were after all the only two members
of the party who consorted exclusively with the female half of the species.

Later at the appointed time, the visitors went down for dinner looking
resplendent in their full dress uniforms.

Dahl, Owain, and Merry donned formal druidic regalia: green tunics,
sandals, and cowled camouflage cloaks blown out like wings for dramatic
effect by a discreet zephyr Owain called up for the purpose. The trio stood
before the queen and struck the most imposing figure possible for pretty
boys little more than five feet tall, standing with their feet
shoulder-width apart, theirs staffs braced next to their right feet, the
long shafts angled away from their bodies and gripped near the top at arm's
length.

Sir Willet thought their stance was a bit much, too melodramatic for his
tastes but harmless enough. He himself was in his army greens including the
leather cuirass with the wooden yoke built into it by which he might take
flight. His uniform sported a Combat Mage insignia and badges indicating
that he had been Mentioned in Dispatches twice while his sleeve showed no
less than three wound stripes earned over the course of long career
fighting the eastern barbarians.

His aide Sir Axel Wilde, and newly minted as a war mage in his own right,
had seen combat only briefly in the Barren Lands and again in the Eastern
Mountains against the orcs but had acquitted himself well enough to earn
the Expeditionary Medal for their survey of the Barren Lands and a wound
stripe of his own.

At his throat Axel wore an ensorcelled amulet which countered hostile
magic. Dahl had one just like it, both taken from beaten foes. It was of no
use in a fight against trolls who had no magic of their own though it was
just possible that trolls might overcome their repugnance to magic enough
to coerce or blackmail human mages into serving them.

The twins too were in full uniform, sleeveless tunics with color coded
sashes, green for Jemsen and blue for Karel, with the shoulder pips showing
their reserve ranks as captains and badges for two awards of the Military
Cross for Valor, the Expeditionary Medal, plus no less than four wound
stripes. Even more impressive in most situations were the three small blue
tattoos on their shoulders which declared them to be elf-friends,
dwarf-friends, and giant friends, though their significance was lost on the
locals.

Even Corwin, who looked to be no more than seventeen wore a badge for the
Military Cross plus a wound stripe earned during a brief war against the
eastern barbarians. Aodh too had won both awards though he never bothered
with a wound stripe. What did wounds matter to a shapeshifter who had only
to shift to his alternative form to heal all hurts? Only once, after his
confrontation with the dire wolf, had he been so grievously wounded that he
was too weak to call right away on his magical healing.

Artor wore the buff uniform of a Hand of the Commonwealth with the white
kepi with neck flap which was standard headgear for the Dread
Hands. Klarendes himself wore his uniform as captain of the local
militia. That uniform boasted a badge for the award of the Shield of the
Commonwealth, the second highest battle honor the state could bestow. As
for the young shape shifter, Aodh wore his forest ranger uniform sporting a
camouflage pattern based on Sir Willet's research: brown with splotches and
slashes of green and black.

All of the mages sported ribbons for the various wars they had served in:
the Troll War, the First and Second Centaur Wars, or the First, Second, and
Third War for the Eastern Plains.

None of them carried weapons nor did they need to. They themselves were
weapons.

Queen Seerah sat at the head of the table, Owain sat on her right in the
place of honor, and Dahl on her left. Merry, Sir Willet, and Axel were at
the far end. The rest were in between alternating with the members of the
council and three generals.

The palace cooks did themselves proud. Not knowing their visitors' tastes,
they provided a selection of well prepared and tasty dishes to appeal to
the most diverse of appetites. As Dahl had remembered from his journey, the
Amazons ate little red meat preferring fish and fowl. But there were also
dishes based on eggs and beans and mushrooms, and the vegetables were
cooked to perfection al dente.

Everyone made a point of avoiding talk of the business which had brought
them together. Instead they talked of the changes Dahl has set off in
Amazon society.

Since Dahl had blighted the herbs that were the basis of the sexual
dimorphism which favored Amazon women, all the males born to Amazons were
what on the rest of the planet were normal. Their growth and development
had not been alchemically retarded. The oldest of the new males and the
corresponding smaller females were as yet only eleven years old. So far the
major impact on society was on its child rearing practices. Boys were much
more of a handful than they had been before, certainly no longer meek and
complaisant and dutiful though none had yet reach their difficult teenage
years.

The situation of the adult male population was improved in that the virile
members of males were no longer ringed and locked to control their
sexuality. That had not lead to any increase in sexual congress that led to
births since a good many males preferred the company of their own gender to
that of their recent oppressors. Anyway the stunted males were still too
small to physically dominate females and would always be too unsure of
themselves to act aggressively with the other half of the species.

It was still too soon for the institution of marriage as understood on the
rest of the planet to become the norm. That was for the coming generations
to work out.

For males emancipation did not yet mean they were wholly free of their
labor obligations, but they were no longer corralled in labor gangs under
the thumb of female overseers nor were they bullied by enforcers wielding
batons who had hitherto kept their sort in line. Mostly they now worked for
wages though many still lived in communal housing.

Primary education for males was now compulsory rather than merely
allowed. Boys started half days at school when they turned five and left
school to the end of the year when they turned eleven. Schooling focussed
on basic literacy and numeracy plus a bit of geography and the history of
their own country. Literacy was the key to further intellectual development
since the public libraries were open to males.

Their education was intended to prepare young males for economic roles
different from the unskilled labor, really virtual slavery, they had
formerly been consigned to though with their greater mechanical aptitudes
males had always worked as artificers, artisans, and mechanics.

The plucky ones might forge a future as independent artisans such as
joiners or potters or as shopkeepers, truck gardeners, or food cart
vendors, the first occupations that offered hope of economic independence,
though there were no legal restrictions on jobs for males except for
soldiering.

"I have to give your society credit for embracing change they way you
have." Dahl commented.

Queen Seerah shrugged.

"Change was inevitable. You made sure of that. Our best chance was to bend
with the wind as the grass does rather than stand stiff and resist like an
aged forest giant in a storm which gets blown over. Besides our society was
frozen in time and would never have found its place in the new world that
the Commonwealth is creating with its magic and modern industrial economy
thanks to its progress in natural philosophy and the mechanical arts. Your
industrial revolution has not touched us, not yet, though I expect it will
once the trolls are defeated and we join the wider world."

As they talked around the table, Dahl and the others came to understand how
and why the Amazons had created the unique society Dahl had found a dozen
years earlier.

Centuries ago a horde of refugees from the far southeast, mostly female and
many pregnant fled from lands devastated by war and depopulated by
fighting, disease, and starvation. Those males they brought with them were
mostly servants, escaped serfs and slaves and younger boys and a few older
men.

The migrants left a trail of dead and broken bodies as they crossed
hundreds of miles of indefensible country that any foe might invade and
conquer till they found a hidden pass through the Great Eastern Barrier
Range. Beyond it lay a pleasant and fertile land, protected by the rugged
mountains to the east, by its spurs to the north and south, and by
impassable swamps to the west. In any event, the lands immediately
downriver were lightly or even totally uninhabited except for the vast
numbers of brontotheres who roamed those lands unbothered by civilization.

Determined never again to become subjected to male domination, the
ancestors of the Amazons selectively bred their males for smaller size and
docility, castrating the aggressive or rambunctious boys or those likely to
grow up big and strong. In time their alchemists concocted a more merciful
way to cull their natural increase, a potion which acted during pregnancy
to produce large girls but small boys. And so the Amazon race was born.

"Our land has long been isolated and protected by the sea of reeds which
stretches down to where the upper Amazon breaks through it to flow freely,
eventually to reach the Great Inland Freshwater Sea. The swamps also extend
laterally, north and south, fed by tributaries of the main river which have
formed swamps of the own creating a vast sea of reeds where the waters are
too shallow to float a boat and the current too feeble to offer a
directional guide, while the soggy ground is virtually impassable on foot,
in short a region too wet to walk upon but not wet enough to float upon."

"Then why do you fear the trolls so much?" Owain asked. "Won't the swamps
stop them too."

"Unfortunately no. The trolls are our first serious enemy to have both the
motivation and the numbers to dig channels through the reeds just as we
ourselves did several centuries ago for the narrow canal we use for our
modest commerce with the outside world. No, the swamps alone will not stop
them, not without an army to stop them far stronger than any we might
muster. We Amazons are large and powerfully built as females go but trolls
are twice as massive as our soldiers and their fighters number two million
though most of those face your armies in the west.

At that point the Queen tabled the discussion till the strategy session the
next morning.

The twins did take the pages to bed that night after assuring themselves
that the boys had not been ordered to do it or coerced into sleeping with
them.

"You don't understand." Hakkon said. "We volunteered. Actually a bunch of
us pages volunteered, so the steward had us draw straws. Hylas and me, we
won!"

Pointing to his own plumped up member, Hylas said:

"Nothing demonstrates sincerity quite so much as a soldier standing at
attention!"

Besides the twins rationalized that they might elicit information from the
pages during pillow talk, information the pages would otherwise be on their
guard not to divulge. The pages did say enough to confirm a real
improvement in the place of males in Amazon society but otherwise had
nothing of importance to relate.

Still a good time was had by all. Hylas and Hakkon, both sixteen going on
seventeen, were certainly no strangers to male sex, but this was their
first tryst with lovers from a society where males had never been dominated
by females, so in their minds it was macho males versus the milquetoasts of
their experience, though the twins themselves would have laughed at the
notion that the label macho could apply to slender pretty boys like
themselves. Twinks like them might be many things but never that.

To start with, the four paired off: Hylas with Jemsen, Hakkon with
Karel. Later they switched. After the first two rounds the pages wanted
something more: to bottom for both twins at once. Halas went first, getting
pronged at both ends, his supple body shoved back and forth by strong
thrusts of the twins' hips. Then it was Hakkon's turned to be double
teamed.

But even that was not enough for the insatiable pages. For the climax, as
it were, of their night with the twins they wanted to try a double
penetration, that is, a page taking two cocks up his quim at one
time. Jemsen and Karel weren't sure that was a good idea, but the pages
wanted it so bad, they gave in and agreed.

To facilitate it Jemsen lay supine as Hylas straddled him and settled on
his shaft sinking all the way down till it was wholly inside him. Then the
page posted like a rider on a trotting mount. Just when they got a good
rhythm going, Karel stilled him and pushed him forward to a more horizontal
position and took advantage of the way Hylas' taut little body was bent
forward. He poked at the page's tight hole and slid his cock in next to his
brother's. It was like he was making love to both Hylas and Jemsen
simultaneously. Karel went lightheaded with a surge of lust.

Poor Hyalas had never been stretched so far. The double penetration hurt at
first but the pain soon faded. He lay still while two males worked at his
hole, his body shuddering as their cocks stroked his joy spot. In the
fullness of time he came, shooting his spunk onto Jemsen's belly and
chest. The contractions of his anal muscles set off his lovers and they
spilled their seed into him. Then all three sagged and caught their breath.

Later it was Hakkon's turn, which went the same way except that Hylas did
not simply sit still and watch the other three. He stood straddling Karel's
head and presented his cock to Hakkon for oral service. The page boy was in
heaven taking three cocks at once. Afterwards they all slept together till
morning when the pages took their leave of the visitors.

Everyone was sure the pages would report anything they overhead from the
delegation so all the Commonwealth folk watched their tongues. Anything of
a confidential nature could be circulated among them via Mind Speech.

Anyway the druids were intent on watching and listening through the senses
of animals to happenings and conversations not only in the palace but in
the surrounding town. Nothing they saw and heard contradicted what Queen
Seerah had told them, something which inspired confidence in their new
ally.

In the morning, with everyone gathered in a council of war the queen lost
no time in getting to the point.

She first described the military establishment of the Amazons, which
featured a small standing army augmented by well-trained reserves. It
numbered some thirty thousand which was small for a population of five
million but not too surprising considering the lack of threats that land
had had to face historically, shielded as they were by geographical
barriers that discouraged incursions. Across the swamps the land was
largely empty, a vast range of grasslands and brush and copses of trees
over which brontotheres roamed at will.

The number of females eligible for military service in the reserves
continued as before; the new cohort of young ladies were still fully
replacing those who aged out. In the last year many had been inducted
temporarily and rotated through reserve units for three weeks of initial or
refresher training.

Its geography aside, the land of the Amazons was basically
indefensible. There were no walls around around any of its small
cities. East of the swamps the landscape was flat bottomlands covered with
fields and orchards alternating with low rounded hills, the whole of it
dotted with small towns.

"When I asked the Commonwealth for help I expected direct military
assistance, not the dispatch of less than a dozen males, a group that looks
more than a little like a pack of rent boys and their procurers. No
offense, gentlemen."

The visitors smiled. "We get that a lot," Owain said, to nods from the
pretty boys in his party. As to what we bring to the table, let me pass out
copies of Axel's transcription of a briefing we gave to General Urqaart
about our magical capabilities."

At Sir Willet's suggestion, Axel had invoked his eidetic memory to
transcribe their briefing with General Urqaart, suitably abridged and
edited, to give the amazons an idea of the capabilities of the mages
without mentioning certain powers they wanted to hold in reserve such as
the druids' ability to inflict heart attacks on a score of foes at a
time. A formal written description would get a better reception than an
oral briefing which might come across to the Amazons as bragging.

As the members of the ruling council read Axel's notes, the expressions on
their faces changed from skepticism to wonderment and finally to hope.

"I had no idea," Queen Seerah said, "that males could wield such powerful
magic. Even after you showed some of your power by blighting our special
herbs and later contacting me via Mind Speech from two hundred miles away."

"Given the circumstances of my departure, I had to reach out to you and
explain if not justify to you my course of action, drastic though it was
for your people. I also wanted to assure you that the friendship we had
formed was very real, not a subterfuge to disarm your suspicions. Deceiving
you was one of the hardest things I ever had to do."

"When I told our council that how you had contacted me via mind speech, my
colleagues dismissed it as an hallucination born of my regrets and my
longing for a broken friendship. After a while I began to doubt it myself."

"Dahl, with the powers I just read of, it is clear that you were never
truly in our power, were you?"

No. I might easily have escaped and never suffered the torments your
daughter inflicted on me, but then I would have failed in my mission to
find a control species for the Emerald Ash Borer and been unable to help
the Ashokan islanders. In the end it was you Amazons who found it for me."

Queen Seerah shook her head.

"You suffered so you might help the people in that archipelago you spoke
of. How did that work out anyway?"

"The epiphyte did control the invasive insect and does to this day, but
when the trolls reached the Ashokan Archipelago they exterminated the
entire human population."

"Which will be the fate of all our peoples if we do stop them."

The queen summed up by saying:

"Only now do we realize what we denied ourselves by stunting our own
males. Given time we too might develop our own mages to defend
us. Meanwhile, we have you."

"Not exactly a ringing endorsement," Sir Willet observed dryly, "but it's a
start."

				Chapter 4. Allies

Over the next three weeks the Commonwealth delegation and the leaders of
the Amazons worked out a strategy to deal with the trolls whose army
numbered more than one-hundred thousand soldiers.

The allies' approach had to be very different from that of General
Urqaart. The armies advancing on the trolls from the west were huge and
capable of fighting a war of attrition because they could draw
reinforcements and replacements from a huge population. Which did not mean
that Urgaart threw away the lives of his soldiers on frontal
assaults. Quite the opposite. The whole campaign was based on the indirect
approach via flanking maneuvers and attacks on the rear via space portals
which saved many lives but made for a protracted campaign.

The Amazons did not have the luxury of time. What they needed to do was to
isolate the army facing them from the main body of the trolls then crush it
in a lightning campaign. A defeat on that time scale would encourage the
trolls to look elsewhere for strategic depth.

But that was exactly what the trolls wanted to avoid. They not only sought
strategic depth in their war with the Commonwealth, they would very much
prefer to occupy a settled landscape with fine farms and crops plus and
buildings and towns there for the taking, rather than expand into a
wilderness whose resources were only potential. So the point of the allied
campaign became to raise the price to the trolls so high that they would
give up and turn aside toward other goals.

The troll army was building a line of communications and supply to an
eventual base camp from which they could dig a broad channel of their own
through the swamps. It would be sited considerably north of the existing
trade canal where the swamp or sea of reeds as the locals called it was not
so wide.

The first order of business of the allies was a campaign of harassment by
the mages to disrupt the troll supply lines, degrade troll morale, and
whittle away at their leadership.

Though few of the Amazons had magical gifts useful in battle, those who did
had been identified and recruited into special teams, triads attached to
specific battalions. Sir Willet worked with the fetchers showing them how
even their weak gift could be used to blind foes by yanking the eyeballs
out of their sockets. Nor did it take much strength to wield steel spheres
even if the ladies did not have the stamina of male fetchers to keep it up
for hours on end and might wield only one at a time.

The Klarendes father and son trained the few lady firecasters. Females
might not be able to throw giant clinging balls of fire but even sphere a
yard or a foot across would kill a man and horrify those around
him. Setting grass or brush on fire to block or surround an enemy was also
something within their capabilities. And even a weak stream of flame might
turn a cavalry charge.

Some ladies could throw lightning bolts that would stop a foe's heart or
numb his limbs. Others could snap electrum sparks. Under Sir Willet's
guidance, they became better at it. Sparks might not seem like much, but it
was impossible to ignore the burn and the jolt of an electrum spark
especially when targeted at the steel codpieces many trolls wore. Similarly
a soldier with his sword arm numbed is effectively disarmed and easy meat
for a spear thrust. Bolts and sparks would act as force multipliers,
disabling or distracting trolls fighting on the front line at just the
worst possible moment for them.

Axel really showed what he could do with his new powers. No longer just a
wizard's aide but a war mage in his own right, Axel used a far-viewer tube
to pick out targets like infantry and artillery officers then jumped next
to them and either stabbed them with his poison push blades or simply
decapitated them with a tap on the head and a very short jump an arm's
length away. With cavalry officers he sometimes stabbed the horse hoping
that in its agony the mount would throw and injure or kill its
rider. Otherwise a jab to a leg dig the trick.

Alternatively Axel jumped and tapped an officer on the shoulder to
establish contact, then jumped them both into a sky a thousand feet up and
let go. As the hapless troll officer fell to his death screaming the whole
while, Axel would jump to a position of safety in preparation for his next
foray.

Working as a team, Axel teleported the trio of Artor and Corwin and himself
into marching camps after the troops settled in for the night. Corwin's
ball lighting protected their backs while Artor laid about with white fire,
killing hundreds as they slept in their tents. Meanwhile Corwin loosed
exploding orbs at the rear of the bivouac. Or the team might hit a supply
dump or artillery park and destroy everything in sight.

Jemsen and Karel also went along on nighttime forays. Twice Jemsen used
earth magic to open ditches which channeled streams into enemy camps,
leaving the trolls soaked and miserable and with their food supplies
spoiled and ruined. Jemsen liked to call up whirlwinds to strip away tents
just as the gust front of a natural thunderstorm arrived to drench the
trolls with rain and pelt them with hail.

Another technique with air wizardry was call up dust devils to scatter
burning embers from campfires and watchfires with the aim of setting tents
on fire or stampeding horses, especially the heavy draft animals which
pulled supply wagons. It took hours for their handlers to round up the
scattered stock which were by then too tired and sleep deprived to give
their best for a couple of days.

Axel was gratified to finally have strong powers more like those his
friends wielded. Despite his promotion he stayed at Sir Willet's side as
his aide -- first because he liked the work itself and second Axel cared
deeply for his mentor. Sir Willet had become like a second father to Axel,
and to Sir Willet Axel was the son he would have liked to have sired.

An important part of an aide's job was to watch his principal's back. Twice
now Axel had saved Sir Willet's life by Calling Light to englobe the heads
of the attackers. The first had been a tawny panther getting set to pounce
on the wizard; the second was a troll lying in ambush. Then there had been
that barbarian at the exit to the tunnel, though one of the others might
have handled the threat just as well.

All three incidents happened before Axel's major gift manifested, and he
became a Jumper and war mage, making him much more effective as a
bodyguard. Why if a foe brandished a sword to his mentor, Axel could
literally disarm the troll by jumping in, touching his raised arm, and
jumping away, taking his foe's right arm with him, leaving the "disarmed"
troll to bleed out.

Eike's airguns made Axel that much more effective as a body guard. Constant
practice had made Axel a dead shot whether with the carbine version he
carried when mounted or the longer infantry version when on foot.

One thing Axel knew for sure. No one was going to get to Sir Willet Hanford
-- not while he, Sir Axel Wilde, Jumper and war mage had anything to say
about it!

During the preliminary campaign of harassment and interdiction Axel
undertook solo missions as a sniper. His power of teleportation made him
perfect for the job despite his modest degree of fieldcraft.

Most folks think a sniper is all about marksmanship. Not true. Just as
important are fieldcraft and stealth which let a sniper reach positions
where he can lie in wait for likely targets to present themselves.

Axel's gift of teleportation allowed him to jump anywhere, even to
otherwise inaccessible positions which were useless to an ordinary sniper
or spots a sniper dared not use since they lacked an avenue of escape and
evasion. A sniper armed with an air gun had to shoot and scoot before the
trolls could return his fire with long bows that could outrange his own
weapon.

Twice Axel shot engineers in charge of rebuilding key bridges the druids
had destroyed earlier in the campaign. Another time, he identified an enemy
general not by his insignia which were too hard to make out even through a
far-seer but by the way he returned the salutes of everyone he
encountered. The fact that he himself initiated no salutes showed that he
was the ranking officer there. The enemy must have thought that their base
was so far from the front lines and possible enemy observation that they
could dispense with the eminently sensible rule against such tattle-tale
military courtesies in a combat zone.

Sniping was yet another way for Axel to employ his new gift, one he had
thought up all by himself. No one trained him for sniping for it nor had he
simply come across in after action reports on the shelves of the library of
the Institute of Wizardry and Magic.

Sir Willet initially served as a one man Army Air Corps. He flew
reconnaissance missions and harassed and interdicted enemy movements
whenever he could. He invoked his powers to collapse bridges, destroy wagon
trains, and set supply depots on fire, always careful to fly out of the
range or archers.

Then he got the idea of recruiting Amazon fetchers to fly interdiction
missions in the autogyros newly put into service in the
Commonwealth. Opening a portal to the capital, he arranged for three of the
craft and a small ground crew and their gear plus three wagon loads of
incendiary weapons to be put at his disposal. He also brought sets of the
plans and specifications so that the Amazons could later construct their
own autogyros not only for the military but eventually for civilian uses.

None of the Amazon fetchers he recruited was strong enough to fly as he did
with a yoke but flying with an autogyro was a whole lot easier. All it took
to go aloft was a steady push to impart enough forward motion to the
aerocraft to get the rotor spinning and generating lift. The airflow over
the aerocraft's stubby wings provided the extra lift needed for the load of
ordnance as well as hard points to connect their bomb loads to.

The amazon pilots took to the skies like they were born for it and soon
were flying missions by themselves. Sometimes they all went out together:
the amazons in their autogyros, Sir Willet, plus Axel who Jumped to a point
well above the target and dropped the bombs he had had brought with him.

Nothing could have done more to cement the alliance with the Amazons than
Sir Willet's demonstration of confidence in their magical abilities and his
willingness to share the Commonwealth's latest military technology so
fully. He only regretted not being able to outfit the Amazons with airguns,
but the Commonwealth's own army rightly had priority for those
weapons. Even with the manufactories going all out, some Commonwealth
formations still were armed as in the old days, though in the case of the
elven contingents it was by choice. They stuck with the long bow as their
distance weapon.

Sir Willet and Axel saw with considerable satisfaction that a genuine bond
of comradeship had formed between the female pilots and the male ground
crews whose skills they depended on to keep their autogyros
flying. Specially selected local males had shadowed the Commonwealth crew
till they themselves were qualified to take over not only the prep for
flights but also maintenance and repairs. The Amazons had long ago
recognized that males had greater mechanical aptitudes so most artificers,
artisans, and mechanics were males.

The twins carried on a two man campaign of harassment and interdiction
targeting isolated groups of scouts or bands of foragers. Lightly armed and
unarmored, off by themselves, and spread out too much for mutual support,
such soldiers were easy prey for the twins's ambush tactics. Scouts were
the eyes of the enemy while the foragers supplied fresh meat to fill hungry
bellies.

Waiting in concealment for the right moment Jemsen and Karel would rush
upon their foes. Propelled by a jet of air which Karel called up with his
air wizardry and with their movements synchronized by the twins unique
psychic link, they ran at a pace of a mile a minute and were on their
victims almost before the surprised trolls realized that they were under
attack.

The twins slashed at the trolls with kukris whose blades were coated with
Aodh's venom, a poison as potent as that found in the spines of the dreaded
stone fish. Even a small dose could induce the worst pain a living being
could endure without dropping dead from shock. A full dose would
kill. Either way, one scratch and a foe was out of the fight, leaving him
rolling on the ground screaming with agony and begging his comrades to end
his existence to put him out of his pain. The psychological effect on the
rest was devastating.

The twins never mixed it up with the scouts and foragers, just slashed and
ran. Trolls who tried to parry Jemsen's and Karel's blades found that the
combination of the twins' doubled strength and the momentum from their
headlong rush quadrupled the power behind the attacks making them
impossible to meet anyway.

To counter the threat of the twins troll cavalry quartered the countryside,
though with little success. The twins kept on the move. Thanks to their
enhanced physiques the twins had tremendous stamina. Given a head start
they could run horses into the ground on a long chase, even without Karel's
air wizardry.

On two occasions troll cavalry almost closed off their avenue of escape but
Jemsen used earth magic to create a trench ten feet deep between them and
formed the excavated earth into a berm on the near side. There was no way
riders could get at them across such an obstacle, which gave the twins
plenty of time to get into the clear.

Aodh went on walkabout prowling areas where supply roads passed through
dense woods. The first order of business was to learn the lay of the land,
to select spots for ambush as well as reconnoiter routes by which to escape
and evade pursuit.

As a stalk and pounce predator, the panther's favorite way to kill was to
wait atop an overhanging branch while a supply convoy passed under then
drop on the final guard or pair of guards.

Aodh's weight and momentum would unhorse the trolls and the fall would
likely stun or injure the riders making it easy for the black panther to
nick them with a single poison claw then bound away and disappear into the
thick woods. The stricken rider's agonized cries helped cover any sounds
Aodh himself made.

Aodh also liked to attack a single horse in a team of four, crouching by
the side of the road and swiping the passing equine with his poison
claws. The horse would run crazy or rear uncontrollably, very likely
crashing the wagon and spilling its contents onto the roadway. The wreckage
and the cargo would block the road till they could be cleared away.

Occasionally the escort took up the pursuit. Now a panther could not outrun
horses over any distance. Horses were built to cover distance and predatory
cats were not, though the great weight of troll riders did slow their
mounts considerably.

In such cases Aodh's favorite tactic was to lead his pursuers up a draw
which would bunch them up and make them a better target for his sonic
weapon. Aodh's purpose was not to kill a few more trolls but simply to get
away and continue his raids on their supply lines.

Aodh's human side did feel sorry for the fright and distress he visited
upon the poor horses. As for the trolls, if they got away with their lives
that was more than they deserved.

With his coat of black fur Aodh was invisible at night as he snuck up and
took out sentries. It did the trolls little good to replace single sentries
with teams of two. Both were supposed to stay alert their whole tour, but
through complacency the pair often traded off and let one sleep for half
the night. Anyway even when both were fully alert, Aodh had no trouble
dispatching both before ducking into the brush or taking to the trees. Far
from helping, the practice of doubling the sentries just made it easier for
Aodh to add to his body count.

The three druids focussed their attacks farther afield, not on the field
army directly involved in the campaign against the Amazons but farther back
on its logistical tail and the follow-on forces that would reinforce that
army and help occupy the territories they expected to conquer. Portals
allowed them to gate to the scene of the action then get away clean.

One favorite tactic was to visit dry rot on the timbers of the many small
bridges troll engineers had erected across the numberless streams and
creeks and rivers of Amazonia. They left just enough sound wood to keep the
bridge up till wagons tried to cross it. The inevitable collapse from the
heavy load caused not only the loss of the bridge, but often the cargo, the
draft animals, and the teamsters as well.

Similarly the druids invoked earth magic to heave the ground under the
corduroy roads troll engineers had built to carry wagon traffic over soft
ground. A corduroy road was constructed in a low or swampy area by setting
logs perpendicular to the direction of travel and linking them in place
with rails along the side. The bed was often covered with sand for better
traction and to pack the grooves between adjacent logs.

Corduroy roads were an improvement on simple dirt roads which were fine for
the light traffic of rural life but could not bear up under the heavy
traffic of military convoys. Besides, regardless of how many wagons passed
along it, dirt roads might turn into quagmires after rain.

Yet even corduroy roads were rough going. Their corrugated surfaces were
difficult for animals with hooves to walk on and could become dangerous
when logs shifted under their weight. The alternative was plank roads built
of hewn boards instead of logs resulted in a smoother and safer
surface. Unfortunately they took longer to construct since the logs had to
be sawn lengthwise and planks cut from them, work typically done in a
sawmill off site, whereas the trees for a corduroy road could be simply
chopped down on site and trimmed.

The worst damage the druids inflicted on the roads was less to the logs
than to the roadbed beneath. Drawing on the water table below they
transformed the road bed into a trough of nearly liquid mud. Troll
engineers could not repair that kind of damage unless they could refill the
soupy void with gravel. Alas, the stretches of road the druids attacked
never had a gravel pit handy, not so anyone would notice after the druids
buried a couple that actually were close by.

Owain scored a coup when he gated to a warehouse which stored the troll's
supply of axle grease for the campaign. Next door stood the manufactory
which produced the grease, an industrial facility taken over after the
original inhabitants were put to the sword or rather the axe. Owain ruined
the entire stock with an alchemical change, denaturing it, that is turning
the semi-solid grease into an runny liquid of no use to anyone.

At a lumber yard he used sawdust from the adjacent sawmill as kindling then
set a fire that consumed both the sawmill and the lumber yard in a merry
bonfire whose wind-blown sparks caused further consternation.

Maybe it was his past as an equine which suggested the idea, but
Meirionnydd infected draft horses with a debilitating but seldom fatal
illness that took them out of service for a while. The druids spared the
lives of the horses both from mercy and because they hoped to ultimately
capture the stock from the defeated enemy and turn it over to the settlers
whom the Commonwealth would bring in, especially their allies the orcs who
were fighting determinedly to carve out a new land for themselves and
giving a very good account of themselves. As mountaineers they would have
few draft animals of their own.

Merry might not be able to throw streams of flame or clinging balls of fire
like the Klarendes father and son could, but he had the gift of kindling a
fire. Only instead of setting a cook fire to blazing merrily, he acted the
arsonist and caused a conflagration which engulfed an entire industrial
quarter.

The campaign of the mages achieved its aim of isolating the trolls
confronting the Amazons from the rest of the theater of war. Couriers would
always get through but few supplies or reinforcements.

That still left an army of just over one-hundred thousand trolls preparing
an attack on the Amazons. A big battle was shaping up, one in which the
mages and druids would really let loose with their powers on the genocidal
trolls. A victory by the Commonwealth could mark the beginning of the end
of the troll threat to decency and civilization.


			Author's Note

This story is entirely fictional, with no resemblance intended to any
person living or dead.

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 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.


It seems you missed the point of the piece, a light-hearted sendup of
gender stereotypes. It wa