Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2014 13:07:11 -0400
From: George Gauthier <georgegauthierdc@gmail.com>
Subject: Elf-Boy's Friends 3

			Elf-Boy's Friends 3
			Long Life
 			by George Gauthier

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

			Chapter 1. Druids

In the heart of the continent of Valentia lay a vast rain forest called The
Great Southern Forest. The woodland was not only alive it was magically
self-aware, a million square miles of green sentience. A sun-dappled glade
deep in the woods sheltered the stronghold of the druids of Haven,
guardians of the planets's biosphere and the forest's own particular
champions. Together they had turned back invasions of evildoers intent on
destroying the forest and subjugating the whole world to dark powers.

On a lawn ringed by the bungalows of the druids, three nude youths played a
game, tossing a toy shaped much like a pie tin back and forth. Held upside
down, this Zinger, as the toy was called, could sail considerable distances
borne up by the air trapped beneath its concave side.

The object of the game was for the each player in rotation to intercept the
Zinger in its graceful flight and fling it on to the next. There were no
points for successful catches or penalties for misses. This was a game
played purely for its own sake and for the chance to run, to jump, to
stretch, and yes sometimes to slip and to slide, to trip and to tumble and
bounce back up again. Smiles brightened the pretty faces of the diminutive
youths, accompanied by laughter, jokes, and general grab-ass
rambunctiousness. In other words, it was boys having fun being boys.

Only they weren't really boys, not chronologically anyway. The youngest,
the raven hair elf-boy, was in his mid-twenties though he looked a decade
younger, hence sweet sixteen going on seventeen. The strawberry blond human
might look no more than eighteen, but he was nearing the two century
mark. The elf-boy with snow white hair had been born a unicorn till
transformed by life-magic back into the elf-boy he originally had been many
centuries ago in an earlier life.

The three youths, for such they really were in all essential ways save
chronology, were full-fledged druids of the Exalted Order of the Druids of
Haven. The raven-haired elf-boy was named Dahlderon or Dahl for short. He
stood only an inch over five feet and weighed five pounds over a
hundred-weight. Thanks to druidical magic, he was three times as strong as
he looked.

Lithe, preternaturally beautiful, gracile, and comely were words that
hardly did justice to the raven-haired elven beauty. With his delicate
features, chiseled jawline, and killer cheekbones shielding lovely green
eyes, his was the sort of youthful male beauty that would take your breath
away, or would make even the most dedicated cenobite reconsider his
commitment to celibacy.

The strawberry blond human with the blue eyes was Owain, Dahl's teacher and
mentor as well as lover in a threesome with the white haired elf-boy,
Merry. Owain may have looked like a cute teenager with a ready smile and an
open and honest face but he was 190. Owain topped Dahl by an inch and
carried a half dozen more pounds on his wiry frame. His physical strength
was nearly four times normal for his size, which was the maximum
enhancement that magic could achieve without radical outward changes to
constitution and form.

The elf-boy with hair the color of snow was named Meirionnydd or Merry for
short. Though he was an inch taller than Owain, he was more slender so only
about three pounds heavier and a match for Owain in strength.

Originally an elf-boy, Meirionnydd had been reborn to a second life as a
unicorn, a equine with a pure white coat, a spiral horn growing out of its
brow, and a rearward bulge to its skull to accommodate its large brain. The
unicorns were fully sentient and magically gifted. So much so that it was
said that they didn't just employ magic, they were magic. Like druids,
unicorns had the gift of Mind Speech powerful enough to cross a
continent. They could Call Light, and, though they could not Cast Fire they
could ignite one.

As a unicorn Merry had missed his human form most keenly when he needed to
pick something up off the ground, turn the page of a book, or caress a
lovely elf-boy like Dahl. They were lovers and had been even when Merry
wore the shape of a unicorn. After the transformation Merry retained his
unicorn powers and acquired druidical powers as well thanks to the
tremendous flow of life-force over his psychic link with the wizard Rolf,
his first love, who sacrificed himself by calling down his final strike on
the life-leech Urloch and his millions of minions.

Merry's druidic powers gave him control of plants and animals. Druids also
had earth magic and could control the elements though to a lesser extent
than war wizards. But then, the magic of druids was oriented toward the
living world, while that of the wizards more toward inanimate physical
reality.

Finishing their game of Zinger, the trio of druids stepped under a
horizontal rack made of lengths of bamboo rigged as an outdoor shower. A
pull on a chain released water from a raised tank and let it flow through
bamboo pipes and rain down onto a flagstone flooring. A quick scrub with
sponge and soap removed sweat and salt from their sun-bronzed skins.

Then it was time for a swim or really to just float and scull around lazily
rather than chalk up laps as they usually did to keep fit. The pool was an
artificial structure, a stone-lined box with a sandy floor about 300 feet
long. Water flowed from a nearby brook into one corner then out the exit
diagonally across the rectangular enclosure. Dark stones on the bottom
marked out lanes for swimmers.

Then it was time for a nap. Dahl laid himself supine on the grass. This was
one of his favorite pastimes, a chance to lie back, close his eyes, and let
the warm rays of the morning sun kiss his bare body as he relaxed next to
his teachers and lovers. Their proximity on either side gave Owain and
Merry a close look at their lover's sexy body, looking even lovelier in
repose.

Dahl had one of those physiques that was more about quality than about
quantity. It was slender yet muscular, tanned, taut and toned with good
shoulders, a ripped torso with corrugated abdominals, a flat belly and
narrow hips. He had one of those impossibly small waists you could almost
put your hands around and a pert rump, with small but firm and shapely
buns. No hair interrupted the flow of his faultless lines. Elves never grow
body hair, even at the fork of the legs, and go beardless all their lives.

The other two druids could see that the boy was a treasure. From his tiny
red nipples to a deeply indented navel, to narrow hips framing a
surprisingly ample manhood for one so slight in build, he was real
beauty. He carried so little body fat that his flat belly showed a tracery
of downward pointing veins just under the skin. The beat of his heart was
visible on the left side of his chest.

Resting didn't mean Dahl's mind was not active.

"Do you think there could be a magical threat to the Commonwealth or to the
planet itself that we druids don't know about?" Dahl asked the other two.

"No, not really." Owain replied." No, I think the leaders of the
Commonwealth are just being cautious. They are not letting this period of
peace and progress lull them into complacency. Look what happened the last
time they got complacent, when the perennial threat of raids by the eastern
barbarians suddenly metamorphosed into an existential threat to the whole
planet. That was less than ten years ago."

"I agree," Merry said. "And if we are to help them, we have no time to
waste. The three of us must soon travel to the eastern continent to
reestablish the order of the druids there. Who would have thought that a
minor earthquake could trigger a landslide and create such a massive wave
in that lake? Survivors reported that a wall of water nine hundred feet
high obliterated the lakeside town where the druids of Karelia had sited
their villa. Only one druid escaped and only because he was elsewhere at
the time. Now just as we once recruited you Dahl and the others to
reinforce our numbers here on Valentia we must recruit and train new druids
to protect Karelia, not only from evildoers but from natural disasters and
ecological imbalance."

"But the Ruling Council of the Commonwealth is not asking for more
druids. What they want is more war wizards, Firecasters, and those with the
gift of Fetching."

"Obviously they don't expect us druids to produce more wizards, but they
want our help to slow losses from attrition. Just as elves are
over-represented among the druids, most wizards are human. Their lifespans
are much shorter than those of elves or druids, typically what they call
their proverbial five score and ten. That makes the careers of their magic
users short, rarely more than four score. Now if their lifespans matched or
at least approached our own, then in time they would have five or six times
as many talents as they do now."

"So when do we start for the Commonwealth's capital?"

"In two days, Dahl."

"And in the meantime?"

"This!"

Owain propped himself up on one elbow and turned his attentions to the
raven-haired beauty lying so conveniently to hand. He reached out and
stroked Dahl's chest and belly. The elf-boy smiled over at him. Owain bent
forward and laid a series of gentle kisses on those familiar lips which
lead to more fervent ones. Hands roamed eagerly over lithe bodies, rubbing
and stroking and squeezing. The strawberry blond youth quivered with the
lascivious feelings and sexual desires coursing through his youthful
body. He pushed Dahl back to the ground, stroked his rampant cock to make
it even harder, then straddled the recumbent elf-boy's hips, reaching back
to help Dahl slip himself into Owain's welcoming hole. Braced on his knees,
Owain lifted himself up and down on the rigid cock inside him while Dahl
stimulated Owain's member with his right hand while tweaking Owain's
nipples with the other.

Not to be left out of the fun, Merry took a standing position astride
Dahl's head and presented himself for oral service, batting Owain's chin
and cheeks with his turgid member. He let Owain kiss and lick its head and
circle the rim of the glans with his tongue but did not insert it fully,
teasing the panting druid. Owain pleaded with his eyes and Merry relented,
letting the full length of his manhood slid into the warm wet channel of
mouth and throat. With two centuries of experience Owain was an expert at
sucking cock. Merry closed his eyes savoring the twirling and sucking
sensations and the way the moist walls of the throat clutched at his
shaft. It was not long before he reached climax, his gism spurting out of
his cock and into the welcoming mouth of his lover.

The white haired youth drew back and let the last of his juices spurt onto
the pretty face turned up toward him, then used the head of his cock to
paint the complaisant boy's lips and cheeks and chin. Merry squeezed one
last gob of gism from his cock, offering it to the kneeling boy. As a token
of his submission, Owain touched his tongue to it, drawing it out in
glistening string connecting his mouth to tip of the former unicorn's
cock. Owain thought of how he must look, on his knees bare ass naked,
impaled on a big cock up his ass, his face all slicked with another boy's
gism, the very image of sexual submission. He clutched himself down there
and shivered with the frisson of his own naughtiness.

Both Owain and Dahl erupted right after Merry. Dahl spurted his juices deep
inside Owain's bowels, while Owain shot all over the recumbent boy's belly
then laid himself onto Dahl's sticky torso savoring their closeness,
listening to the beat of his heart. Merry sank down to his knees and heaved
a sigh. Tired and spent, the three boys lay quietly in post coital
lassitude savoring their closeness.

			Chapter 2. Elysion

Taitos Klarendes, Count of the Eastern March, beckoned his visitors to seat
themselves in rattan chairs on the porch, sheltered from the tropical
sun. They settled at a low table across from the noble and his lover, the
wir-youth Aodh. A servitor brought pitchers of cider and spring water. With
a flourish of his hand, Klarendes invoked his powers as a firecaster to
chill their contents, dispersing the extracted heat to the atmosphere.

"So what brings all three of you to Elysion this time, Dahl, you, and
Owain, and Merry? Don't get me wrong. Even if you three didn't already have
a standing invitation, I would hardly turn away three of Haven's senior
druids from my door."

"We were on our way to the capital and detoured here for a trip down memory
lane. It's almost ten years since we all first met. I could say that the
years have been kind to you, Taitos, but we all know it is due to your
strong admixture of elven blood. You look like you were in your
mid-twenties. That won't change much for several centuries. And Aodh there,
as a shapeshifter, a wir, never gets older except chronologically. He will
be sweet sixteen indefinitely."

Of medium height though still taller than any of his guests, the handsome
nobleman had the bearing and the lean build of the gentleman farmer,
hunter, and former soldier that he was. His light brown hair was cut short,
a concession to the tropical climate while his regular features suggested
both strength and warmth of character. The count was comfortably dressed in
a light tunic and sandals, his visitors in riding silks.

The nude youth with them was Klarendes' spouse, Aodh: small, skinny, and
smooth muscled, comely as an angel, and with skin like porcelain that never
tanned or burned. Though he seemed utterly fragile and vulnerable, the
epicene youth was actually twice as strong as he looked. 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. Adding to his fey look, the
wir was sloe-eyed, his orbs shaped like almonds and slanted faintly upward
above prominent cheekbones. Aodh's eyebrows bent in a angle rather than a
round arch. From there his face tapered to a small mouth with pouty lips
just begging to be kissed and a sharp chin. Dark hair worn in a shaggy cut
with bangs and tapering sideburns framed a face as cute as a kitten's.

"It's just the two of us here right now. My sons are away. Eborn is
courting in Dalnot. I am not sure how serious it is, but it looks like he
just might provide me with that 'heir and a spare' before his older brother
does. As for Artor, he is at the capital. Something hush-hush is brewing
but, as a Hand of the Commonwealth, he could hardly explain what in a
letter much less a heliogram that might pass through many hands. Can you
tell us anything?"

"No harm in letting you and Aodh in on the secret. With my ability to sense
life sign I know that no one lurks within earshot. So here goes."

"The destruction of the great military-industrial-religious nexus built by
the Dark Prophet and later the life-leech Urloch ended that existential
threat to civilization. And our diplomats and military seem to have the
situation in the flatlands far to the west well in hand, at least in these
early days of our intervention there aimed at preventing the rise of a
military peer on this continent. Nevertheless, we cannot afford
complacency."

"As the chief defender of civilization on Valentia, the Commonwealth of the
Long River has long exercised a benign hegemony over the continent. Our
position here seems secure. We have reason to be less sanguine about what
is happening on the other two continents that straddle the equator of this
planet of ours so aptly named Haven. So the Druidic Council is sending the
three of us to the eastern continent to survey the situation there and also
to reestablish the presence of druids in Karelia. A natural disaster wiped
out all but one of us over there.

Before we leave for that mission in Karelia, we were asked via MindSpeech
to travel to the capital as part in a project that, over time, will boost
the magical defenses of the Commonwealth."

"You will remember how I was able to use alchemy and my druidic healing
power to confer longevity, perpetual youthfulness, and keener senses on our
friends the twins Jemsen and Karel. The treatment also gradually doubled
their strength over the next two years. The Order of Druids has since
improved the method that I used on the twins. Working in teams of three, we
now can perform the same healing magic on several persons in the course of
a day. Ours is the first trio to undertake the task."

"So who will be the beneficiaries of your treatment. How will you select
them?"

"In a sense they are already self-selected by their
accomplishments. Without being specific, the Council asked certain
prominent persons in the capital district to recommend persons worthy of
the Commonwealth's approbation for their use of the magical gifts to
benefit the public, preferably from among the sentient races with shorter
life spans especially humans."

"As you know, like Healers we druids have no definite span of life. Our
healing magic works as an unconscious level to keep us youthful and healthy
and strong indefinitely, till misadventure or foul play ends our
existence. That is true for every druid, not matter what sentient race he
hails from. Many are elves like Merry and me. Owain is of human stock, of
course. "

"It is different with the Commonwealth's war wizards. Most are fully
human. Now the lifespan of a human is proverbially said to be five score
and ten, or one hundred and ten years. Quite a few chalk up another score,
but that is the average span. With a war wizard, his best days are behind
him at eighty or so. Manipulating the physical realm as they do is more
taxing than manipulating the biosphere the way we druids work our
magic. That is why there are so few war wizards available at any one time
to protect the peoples of the Commonwealth. If the lifespan of every wizard
were increased to five or six centuries, then in time we would have five or
six times as many wizards."

"I see. Well they are all men of proven character and trustworthiness. More
power to them if you can extend their lives."

"That's less than half the story, Taitos. We were asked to do the same
thing for a picked handful of the most powerful among those whose magical
gift are Firecasting or Fetching. For too long the state has overlooked
this powerful magical resource. The government has never undertaken a
census of the magically gifted, regarding their gifts as personal assets,
not as state assets. Now the Commonwealth is intent on formally
incorporating some of these magic users into its forces, though only in the
reserves rather than the active forces. Our society needs these men and
women to continue in the many civilian jobs their powers lend themselves
to."

"One further development on strengthening our defenses. As you know,
Taitos, the Council was impressed by the way that young Fetcher acted as a
force multiplier for your son's firecasting in the battles against the
centaurs. More generally the army and militia have adopted Aodh's glass
globes for general use. The inflammable oils can also be ignited easily
enough by flung coals or brands or fire arrows."

"Yes, I understand that the arsenals are turning out the glass globes by
the tens of thousands every month. In a couple of years, we will be able to
supply all of our forces both regular and militia."

"If only I got a fee of just a single copper for each globe, I would be
rich! Did I sell out too cheaply, Taitos?"

"And what would you spend such wealth on anyway, my little kitten? Besides,
you are already wealthy in your own right from Balandur's bequest. I should
explain to you three that Aodh assigned his inventor's license to the
Commonwealth in exchange for their paving the road from Elysion out to the
military road that leads to Dalnot. That makes our honeymoon resort by the
falls more accessible to newlyweds from all over, boosting employment among
our people. It was Aodh's gift to Elysion."

"I would have expected nothing less from your spouse, Taitos, given his
reputation." Owain answered.

Aodh flushed, embarrassed by the praise. What else could he have done?
Elysion was his home now and the Commonwealth his new homeland.

Dahl continued:

"Artor was already a powerful firecaster but with his promotion from
journeyman to the status of a full Hand of the Commonwealth, the war
wizards have shared their secret of throwing white fire. The Council
reversed its former policy of keeping that sort of magic as a near monopoly
of the Commonwealth's war wizards. Now since Artor shares your blood he
will not need our procedure. "

"You already know the young journalist Drew Altair, the young Fetcher I
mentioned. Not only is he good friends with Artor, I understand the young
man has interviewed you twice now for his news sheet, the Capital
Intelligencer. With his powerful gift of Fetching he is a prime candidate
for the procedure."

"Yes he would be an excellent choice. Drew Altair shows a lot of promise. I
always read his articles in the Intelligencer whenever I am in the
capital. He is a fine wordsmith and a talented sketch artist too. With his
keen mind he is clever at finding ways to maximize his Fetching
powers. Look what he did in New Varangia, when he joined forces with
Artor. He has a whole repertoire of tactics now: shadow boxing with those
steel balls of his, flinging incendiaries, throwing drugged darts, a
variation of Arik's poison arrowheads, yanking eyeballs to blind an enemy,
and so forth. Drew is definitely an asset for the Commonwealth. He has a
good heart."

"I have to wonder though what the Commonwealth will expect from Drew and
the others in return for the boon of extended youth and longevity. From the
war wizards the state gains a much longer period of service. What will the
Commonwealth require from the other beneficiaries of the procedure?"

"Public service when called upon. For legal reasons they will be enrolled
in the ready reserve as lowly ensigns which puts them under military
discipline and control during active service. Oh, and they will have to
report for a month of initial training in procedures and tactics."

"That sounds quite reasonable. I cannot imagine anyone turning down that
deal."

Just then Klarendes' other feline companion, the personable ginger cat
Esmeralda, padded onto the porch. Instead of going to Klarendes she sniffed
at the visitors. Owain she hardly knew. His visits had been few and far
between. She liked Merry, who always fed her cat treats, but had long
thought there was something strange about him. For some reason, an image of
a white horse with a horn on its forehead always popped into her mind when
he showed up.

Dahl, she knew well. On his last visit Dahl had cured her rheumatism. No,
she hadn't been rejuvenated, but he had taken the stiffness and pain
away. These days she ate better and her coat looked sleek and glossy. She
clambered onto Dahl's lap and head butted him. Aodh smiled.

"She remembers what you did for her when you were last here."

"How could I let arthritis handicap an old friend like Esmeralda. She is
otherwise in pretty good health for a cat her age. All I did was give her a
few more good years free from pain and stiffness."

Stroking the cat under the chin, he added:

"Too bad I cannot, in good conscience, extend her life, but that wouldn't
be ethical. Nature must take her course. Oh, and it might surprise you to
learn that the Ruling Council said the same thing about themselves."

"How is that?" Klarendes asked.

"As you may know, except for a couple of elves, three humans with elven
blood, a dwarf, and one of Balandur's people, the rest of the council are
fully human. But they were unanimous that the council not become ossified
by overly long tenure in office. Experience counts but so does a fresh
persecutive from a continual renewal of new blood. Council membership is
and always must be the cap of a career, not a career in itself. That is why
those with long tenure retire after a time and the council co-opts
replacements from prominent industrialists, natural philosophers, retired
military officers, city mayors, and the like."

"To their great credit, the Council ruled out political power, social
position, fame, and great wealth as factors in choosing the beneficiaries
of your druidic healing magic. The Commonwealth has no shortage of
politicians, plutocrats, aristocrats, or celebrated personages.  What it
has too few of is war wizards, who number fewer than two dozen, and
sentients with powerful gifts for Firecasting or Fetching. No one knows how
many there are but whatever the number, it is too many for our team of
three druids to work on between other assignments.

"Besides, anything except scarcity of talent would not be acceptable to you
druids. That gave the council the necessary political cover to reject
requests from any other reason."

"Good for them. Good for the Commonwealth." Klarendes nodded.

The conversation then turned to less weighty matters. Aodh asked the former
unicorn:

"So how is your love life these days, Merry, now that you are an elf-boy
once again?"

"Just fabulous having these two for lovers. But I am gratified that on my
visits here Aodh and I can also get together. In the old days, as an
equine, I could not abide the touch of a feline. As an elf-boy once again,
I relish it. "

"I have such a vivid memory of our very first tryst together, what was it,
five years ago now? Aodh was so incredibly lovely he took my breath away,
but unapproachable as he was before my change, he was an itch I longed to
scratch but could not. After the change I stayed at Elysion for a
spell. Klarendes saw us looking at each other, saw our longing, and
practically pushed us into the sack together."

"Nonsense! I merely told Aodh that Merry had been pining away for him for
years. It was about time he took him over to the lake, went for a swim,
stretched out on the grass in the sun, and did what came naturally to two
preternaturally comely youths who were attracted to one another. I even had
a picnic basket sent over from the resort."

The nobleman indulged Aodh's liaison with the twins and Dahl, not to
mention very occasional dalliances like the wir's recent tryst with the
young Frost Giant Finn Ragnarson. So it was not much of a stretch to
include their old friend Merry, turned into an elf-boy once
again. Klarendes was wise enough to see that Aodh's love for Merry in no
way diminished his bond with the count.

So on that day five years earlier, with his blessing, the two youths, the
wir-panther and the elf-boy who was once a unicorn went swimming and
canoeing at the lake. Then they stretched on the grass to bask in the
sun. Nothing says you are naked like the kiss of the sun's rays on your
bare ass. In late afternoon a serving boy from the resort came by with a
picnic basket and a tatami mat, set it down without a word and left. They
dug into the delicious food and drink.

After their meal they rested on the mat, digesting their meal, talking and
joking heedless of the passage of time. The planet's second moon rose just
after the sun set, bathing their youthful bodies in a pearly blue
effulgence. In due course the two young lovers became locked in an
embrace. It was hard to say who was the more beautiful or the sexiest.

Aodh was a walking wet dream. Impossibly pretty, he was a melding of the
innocent and the wanton, the epitome of a boy in the full bloom of his
youth. Small, skinny, and smooth muscled, comely as an angel, with a skin
like porcelain, and looking utterly fragile and vulnerable.

As for Merry, the wir was two inches taller, slender, lithe, and tautly
muscled, with good shoulders, narrow hips, and a ripped torso. Like Aodh
his skin was like porcelain and neither tanned nor burned.  Merry reached
out and caressed Aodh's face, stroking his pouty lips with his thumb.

"See, no jolt of electricity." Aodh pointed out. "Well not that kind
anyway," he amended.

"How lovely you are, Aodh. I have wanted to touch you for so very long."

"Sorry I can't say the same. No offense, Merry, but I never favored your
horse-faced look. A real turnoff if the truth were known."

"Tsk, tsk. Joke all you want, but I know you are just stalling. You are
hesitant to express your longing for me, Taitos's blessing
notwithstanding."

"You're right, Merry." Aodh said, suddenly serious. "I do want you, very
much. We have been friends and allies for years, and now here you are, no
longer a unicorn but an elf-boy and druid. In your new form you are a
walking wet dream, a vision of youthful male pulchritude."

Unfamiliar as they were with each other's bodies, at least to the touch,
the lovers took things slowly. Merry laid a tentative kiss on the young
wir's lips. He held the second kiss longer. He smiled shyly then shifted
his lips to Aodh's nose and chin and cheeks before skipping down to the
wir's tiny red nipples which he favored with both kisses and gentle
nibbles. Aodh giggled and ruffled Merry's snow white hair. Merry's kisses
trailed lower, down the mid-line of the chest to the navel and then to the
corners of Aodh's narrow hips. A stirring of Aodh's manhood showed the
kisses were having their intended effect.

Merry and Aodh, druid and wir, made love with an eagerness which was was
born not only of lust and friendship but of years of longing for what had
always seemed an impossible consummation. Only now it was possible.

Limbs interlocked their kisses and caresses grew more ardent, even
frenzied. They rolled on their sides and pleasured each other's cock
orally, hands roaming all over their rumps, touching, stroking,
probing. They came quickly, tasting and swallowing each other's gism.

Their cries during their simultaneous eruption was paean to life and love,
to the powers of generation, to continuity of the flesh and the great chain
of being, and, supremely, to the beauty of the sexual male. The climax was
a catharsis for them both.

As they had done on that day years earlier, on this day too Aodh and Merry
left the others at the manor and once again disported themselves by the
lake. It was indeed a trip down memory lane. After their tryst, their route
back to to the manor passed the grassy area where groups of nude youths
were flinging Zingers to one another. Everyone knew that Aodh and Merry
were friends with the inventors, the twins Jemsen and Karel, so they asked
the pair to join them, so Aodh and Merry played for an hour.

More than a few participants took a fancy to these two nude youths of
surpassing beauty and wished fervently they could bed one or both of
them. Regardless of sexual fantasies, everyone thought they made a stunning
couple.

Later Merry and Aodh soaked their tired bodies in a hot tub. It was big
enough for them to stretch out. With Merry only three inches over five foot
and Aodh only oner their slender wiry physiques left plenty of room to
stretch their legs for a good soak.

"Yes," Merry summed up "It was a day I will never forget! I am glad we have
had a chance to relive it."

Then he raised a glass of wine in a toast to love, youth, and long life.

			Chapter 3. Long Life

"Really, Lord Dahlderon? You mean I would never get any older? I, Drew
Altair, journalist and bon-vivant extraordinaire, would be a kid for ages
and ages? Of course I'll take that deal. Oh Boy!"

The druid's interlocutor was a cute young fellow in a sleeveless tunic of
white silk that displayed and flattered the trim and taut body he had
obviously just recently grown into. Drew had spiky auburn hair and narrow
sideburns reaching below the ear lobe plus straight eyebrows with almost no
curve to them. They framed a cute face with a high forehead, chiseled
jawline, and a perky nose slightly turned up at the end.

"It's a great relief to me really. One of the reasons I have such an active
love-life is that I am aware of how brief the bloom of my youth would
be. My mantra was 'So many boys; so little time'. Now I will have that
time. I will stay just as I am now, an irresistible boy-toy for the next
five or six centuries. Bring it on!"

<Well, that was an easy sell.> Dahl mind spoke to his fellow druids, Merry
and Owain.

<It's hard to see anyone turning down our offer.> Owain observed.

<Spouses might balk.> Merry replied. <It would be the worse kind of
separation — a long goodbye as one spouse ages while the other remains
young.>

"Let me guess. You guys were speaking mind to mind just now, right?"

<Yes, we were, Drew.>

"Hey, I heard that in my mind. Wait though. That's just you projecting,
isn't it. I haven't suddenly developed the gift myself."

<No, you haven't. It is, as you said. We were projecting. We druids can
reach just about anywhere on the continent, or in Merry's case virtually
the whole planet.>

"Cool!"

"Er, now that I am about to become one of you long-lived folks, I don't
mind admitting to just a teensy bit of jealousy about the twins and Aodh,
and others like yourselves who could contemplate centuries without
flinching."

Owain smiled ruefully. <Our young friend is being more tactful than
candid. As a person of fully human stock, I once stood in his sandals. Drew
was envious all right, but, being good-hearted, he reproached himself for
those feelings, though they were perfectly natural.>

"Why suddenly so pensive, Drew?" Merry asked.

"I got to thinking just now about my family: my mom and dad, my brother, my
uncle, and the boys in my circle, the guys I grew up with, people I will
one day leave behind. Perpetual youth has a down side, doesn't it?"

"You demonstrate wisdom beyond your years, Drew."

"So when do we start?"

"Right away but the process takes three days. You have to take our potions
for several days so that the necessary alchemical elements suffuse
throughout your body before we druids invoke our healing magic."

At the appointed time, the young journalist returned, this time in the
nude, as was his wont. When not on assignment Drew preferred to prance
around the capital with nary a stitch, not even one of those genital
pouches that older youths might wear. Nearly eighteen though looking a year
or two younger, because of his small stature he was often taken for just
another underage bare-assed kid on the streets. In a society without nudity
taboos, younger boys went about habitually naked. Even when they moved into
youth lodges at age fifteen, many youths and young men disdained clothing,
not bothering with even the genital pouch they were entitled to wear.

The druids had the young journalist recline on a couch. Linking hands, they
invoked their powers generating a pearly effulgence which engulfed the boy
too as the druids directed their magic at him. The glow of their healing
magic pulsed from pearly white to light green and back again several
times. After it faded the druids nodded their satisfaction. All had gone
perfectly.

As for the subject of their ministrations, he asked:

"Did it work? I have to say that I don't feel any different."

Dahl shook his head and smiled.

"That is the whole point my friend. You are not supposed to feel different,
not today not tomorrow, not next year, not decades from now. Also you will
find that your magically enhanced vitality will improve your reflexes,
double your strength and stamina, increase your resistance to disease,
speed healing, and stimulate your sexual potency, as if you really needed
any help on that score."

Drew stepped over to the dressing mirror on the wall and examined his own
reflection turning slowly to see every inch of his trim and taut
physique. It was starting to sink in that the pretty boy-toy reflected in
the glass would look exactly like that, exactly the same age for half a
dozen lifetimes instead of aging and dying in only a single century. That
realization brought tears to his eyes.

"Something wrong?" Dahl asked.

"Actually. I couldn't be happier but this transformation is sobering as
well. From now on I will have to prove, if only to myself, that I am truly
worthy of this opportunity, this gift of vitality and youth. Whenever the
Commonwealth has need of me, I will answer the call."

"Now the journalist in me forces me to ask a question. A process like this
cannot be kept secret. People will wonder whether they could qualify. I
know there are just the three of you doing it now, but what of the other
druids? What about Healers? I have heard that they are really druids
themselves whose talents lend themselves to healing more than to general
magic. Could they do what you do?"

"Well, that's several questions, Drew," Merry answered.

"Trying to keep this a secret would only make the limitations on its use
seem sinister. No, we have to be candid and explain to the tens of millions
of our fellow citizens that only a few hundred can benefit from this
process, namely war wizards and those with powerful gifts in Firecasting or
Fetching. It takes three druids working together. There are only twenty of
us on Valentia and now only a single druid on the continent of Karelia,
which is why we three are traveling there very soon to recruit and train
new talent."

"As you know, we consider Healers to be female druids. Their healing gift
is actually more powerful than our own, but their specialization limits
their abilities with general magic, which is also part of the process. With
time and study, we might find a way for them to take part, possibly with
two female healers teamed with a male druid. But that is years in the
future. Maybe decades."

"In any event, the sentient races of the planet have always lived with
neighbors whose lifespans were much different from their own. In the
Commonwealth, humans are just under one half of the population, with many
long-lived giants and elves. Even dwarves live twice as long as
humans. True many of those races live apart, the elves in their vales and
the dwarves in their caverns. Even in the cities, they inhabit their own
districts with dwellings and facilities suitable to their dimensions. Even
so there is much friendly social intercourse among the races. That puts the
news of our process in a wider context. Sooner than you might think, any
false hopes the new process raises will fade and be forgotten."

"I take it you will be writing an article on this subject? Would you mind
letting us take a look at it before you publish. Not that we are trying to
control the news, but just for the sake of accuracy."

"Normally that sort of request would raise a red flag with a journalist, so
don't tell our publisher, who not so incidentally is my father. With you
druids it's a different matter. So yes, I will let you look at my
copy. These days my editor, who is my older brother, gives me a free hand,
so my stuff gets printed pretty much as I write it."

A frown shaped the pretty features of the young journalist.

"You are looking pensive again, my young friend," Merry said.

"Oh, I was thinking again about what I should do with my life now between
periods of duty for the Commonwealth. It has got to be more than just one
long romp with boys."

"Don't sell yourself short, Drew." Owain counseled. You already have made
quite a mark for yourself as a journalist and war correspondent."

"Not to mention as a soldier in the recent war." Dahl pointed out.

"And you are friends with Artor Klarendes, one of the Dread Hands of the
Commonwealth. Those fellows are notorious for enlisting young innocents in
their schemes and dragging them off on wild adventures. They recruit their
young allies for their magical gifts like Taitos's Firecasting and Arik's
Fetching. I suspect that history will repeat itself. Artor's father Taitos
aided Balandur. I suspect you will help Taitos' son."

"You mean I would be like a secret agent? Cool!"

The druids smiled indulgently at the naivete and optimism of
youth. Everything with this kid was "cool."  Where their own years or
centuries of experience saw peril, youth saw action and glory. Maybe it was
better that way.

"I know this calls for a celebration, but the twins are out of town just
now so I am at loose ends."

"Well perhaps one of us can help fill that empty slot in your social
calendar and tie up those loose ends." Dahl suggested.

"Or maybe all of us?" Merry suggested.

"Ha! Ok, I do like the idea of bedding all of you, but one at at time,
please. Please remember I am practically a virgin."

"Right!" Merry snorted. "Now who goes first?"

"Oh that would be you, Merry," Dahl conceded. "Age before beauty, as they
say. Oh and Drew, go easy on our Merry here. He's not getting any younger
you know; just look at all that grey hair."

"Nonsense! Pay no attention to that clown." Merry retorted. My hair is not
grey at all but snow-white, the same as when I wore the form of a
unicorn. And as a matter of strict chronology, this elf-boy body of mine in
younger than either of theirs."

As Dahl and Owain left the room, Merry threw off his druidical robe, held
his hand out to the human boy, and drew Drew's nude body into a close
embrace, their stiff members pressed between their bellies.

"Now I know you really want me, Drew. Nothing says hello and glad to see
you quite so sincerely as a soldier standing at attention."

Their first kisses were tentative, even shy, but their hormones soon took
over and they went at it with a will. Drew just loved love sex with a boy
of his own sort, small and slender and preciously cute. He felt energized
as they jumped onto the couch and rolled around kissing and laughing and
touching. Unlike with a big guy like Finn the Frost Giant, it was easy to
breathe no matter what their relative positions, since the small bodies of
boyish lovers do press down so much on each other. As Drew liked to
describe it:

"When I have sex with another pretty boy, we pleasure each other equally
and reciprocally, trading active and passive roles or mutually sucking
cock. Both of us like the taste of a boy's cum or just having it splash us
in the face. That made us both feel very sexy and desired. You know you
have connected with a boy when he splooges on your face and after that you
kiss you, dueling tongues probing deep."

"Now I also respond to powerful males who use their size and strength to
dominate me. Sex with an older male, especially one taller and powerfully
built is a need and a craving. With a man I go all weak in the knees and
submissive, ready to drop to my knees and worship as a supplicant. The fact
is that I am a bottom boy at heart, a natural submissive. That describes
what it was like between me and Finn."

"That's enough words from you, my young friend. Too many in fact. I dare
say you talk as much the twins, which is really saying something, er, no
puns intended."

Merry's hands and lips caressed the exquisite boy he felt privileged to
finally be able to make love to. He stroked the red-head's slender legs,
cupped the small buttocks, and delved into his cleavage, making love to
Drew's body with his hands but touching the boy's proud cock only with lips
and tongue. Merry engulfed him to the root in the wet warmth of his mouth,
then bobbed his head up and down its full length sucking and slurping.

He pulled off just in time as Drew's ball sac drew up tight against the
fork of his legs, its globularity contrasting with the cylindrical shape of
his virile member. The helmet turned purple, its tiny lips spreading
open. Abruptly, just after the boy took a deep breath, his proud cock
engorged beyond its previous impressive girth and began spurting and
spitting his white seed onto his belly. After several strong spurts, the
gism continued to drain from the softening shaft but slower, creating a
limpid pool in the hollow of his hairless belly.

"Wow! That was great! Thanks, Merry. My turn now."

Now in the amatory arts Drew was more an enthusiastic amateur than an
accomplished lover. Merry had centuries of experience, while Drew was a boy
who had been sexually active for just a few years. Still he acquitted
himself well and Merry had no complaints. Quite the opposite. Whatever
their shortcomings in technique, teenagers make up for it in enthusiasm and
athleticism. The pair disported themselves for the rest of the afternoon,
took a break for a shower and a light supper, then went at it again.

Poor Drew's bottom wound up sore from Merry's lovemaking, Merry's erection
was large — no longer literally a horse cock, but still big, and it was
repeatedly thrust into Drew's pert bottom, a stallion riding a filly. But
the druid's healing power eased Drew's pains leaving only post-coital
lassitude and the satisfaction of intense pleasure.

Over the next two weeks while the druids were in the capital, the
red-headed teenage journalist bedded Merry and his colleagues several
times. With their impending mission to the eastern continent of Karelia,
they would be away and out of his reach for several years.

In their encounters Drew almost always bottomed. He loved to be treated as
a boy-toy. That was why, except on business, he never wore clothing. He
wanted people to see him, to admire him, and to dream of intimacy with his
incredibly sexy body. Drew was a generous lad, eager to share his youth and
his sexuality with the world.

And now, thanks to the druids, he had all the time in the world.

			Author's Note

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.

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

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.