Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2017 09:26:11 -0500
From: George Gauthier <georgegauthierdc@gmail.com>
Subject: Elf-Boy's Friends 45

				Elf-Boy's Friends 45
				Snow Elves - the Leopards
 				by George Gauthier

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

			Chapter 1. Poachers

"Listen kid, we three don't have to explain our presence in the New Forest
to the likes of you. We go where and when the mood takes us. We certainly
don't answer to a couple of bare-assed pretty boys. Why you two look more
like rent boys trolling for custom than the forest rangers you claim to
be."

The cousins Leon and Brand could hardly dispute that point. Snow elves who
went into the trade were the elite of rent boys commanding fees even higher
than those of the usual sort of Sylvan Elves. Both sorts of elves tended to
be tall with lissome builds with glabrous skin, but differed in
coloration. Sylvan elves were raven haired, had green eyes, and almost
always a Green Thumb. Snow elves were called that for their alabaster white
skin, shoulder-length ash-blond hair, and icy grey eyes. Despite their pale
skin they never tanned nor burned. Hence the name.

As for their nudity, as shape shifters snow elves had even less use for
clothing than their sylvan cousins. The males of both sorts preferred to go
about in the nude or sky-clad, as they called. That went double for shape
shifters for whom clothing when in their animal forms was an intolerable
encumbrance.

"Anyway that little green tattoo of a leaf on your shoulder sure ain't no
lawman's badge. No uniform, no badge, no warrant, so no search of our pack
animals. There ain't nothing suspicious about pack animals bearing packs."

Actually the youths had a perfectly legitimate reason for want to check the
load the three hunters had on their pack animals. A pack train was for
hauling supplies into the New Forest. You weren't supposed to carry goods
out: no game, no trophies, no skins or furs, and especially no gems, gold,
or silver, in short nothing of commercial value. These three and their
mules with full loads were definitely outward bound and very close to the
hawthorn hedge which delimited the border of the magical forest. Beyond
that lay the Eastern Plains with its towns, highways, and iron roads and
its many ranches and farms. That was highly suspicious.

It was true that Leon and his cousin Brand were not in uniform. As shape
shifters they were wir leopards and normally went about in the nude. That
was why they had those tattoos: to show that they were indeed auxiliary
forest rangers or forest-friends as they liked to say.

So far the three humans had not reached for weapons. All carried large
hunting knives at their hips. Scabbards on the mules held air rifles though
these were not quite within the men's reach.

"No way you're going to get a look at what's under those tarps, kid. No way
no how,"

Meanwhile Brand had edged closer to one of the mules. Morphing just his
right hand into a paw he ripped the tarp open with his claws. It happened
so fast none of the three men quite saw what he did it.

"Furs and skins," Brand reported. "Contraband."

"Hey, how did the kid rip open the pack without no knife in his hand?" the
leader asked the others.

"It doesn't matter how. What matters is what I found there," Brand told him
flatly.

Leon nodded. "You three are under arrest. You'll be turned over to the
constabulary to be held for trial. Your goods and animals are forfeit."

"The hell you say!"

The leader went for his knife while the other two who stood closer to the
mules reached for air guns, but Brand unobtrusively snapped a single
electrum spark at the croup of each mule startling the animals into a short
stampede which put their air guns temporarily beyond the reach of the two
henchmen. So they too drew their blades holding them in an underhand grip
showing that they knew how to use them.

"Big mistake kids. Bad mistake. No one crosses us like that and gets away
with it. Besides we can't leave any witnesses behind, now can we?"

"You don't have to do this. So far no one has gotten hurt. Keep it that
way. You'll get a fair trial."

The leader shrugged.

"What good is a fair trial to the likes of us? We are guilty as
hell. Caught red-handed you might say, though I am sure our hands will get
much redder very soon now. Heh, heh."

"Poaching is one thing, a crime against property really. Murder is
something else. It's a capital crime."

He shrugged again.

"We crossed that bridge long ago -- all of us. For what we are about to do,
I can honestly say that I am sorry, kid, though only for the waste of prime
boy flesh. Fact is I am going to enjoy this."

At his signal his men spread out so as to come at them from three
directions at one. The leader grinned predatorily.

"Three of us against two of you and we all grown men, not kids still skinny
from their growth spurt. We are armed. You alas are empty handed. Bare-ass
too and barefoot. All we'd have to do is stomp on you toes to hold you in
place while we gutted you. You could try to run, but we would recover our
air guns before you got out of range and drop you"

"I guess that is clear enough, Brand. We gave them every chance, yet they
mean to kill us. So let's not hold back or try to take them prisoner."

The leader sneered again.

"Big talk. Do your worst." he challenged.

Brand shook his head.

"It won't come to that. Our worst is what we reserve for tough
opponents. You three are easy prey."

Left unsaid was that in a confrontation with truly formidable opponents
both wirs would have started the fight by snapping double handfuls of
electrum sparks which delivered both a burn from the heat and a jolt from
the charge of static electricity. No one on the receiving end could
possibly fight effectively whether on offense or on defense.

With that the wirs transformed into leopards and attacked the leader's wing
men. The poachers had had no idea that the cousins were shape shifters and
were dumbfounded by their transformation. With the advantage of surprise
the boys pitted their claws and fangs against the men's blades. Leon and
Brand each weighed about one-forty and had the advantages of faster
reflexes and doubled strength thanks to their magical nature.

In their attack the cousins did not fight as the men might have expected
normal leopards to do by rearing up on their hind legs to get at the
chests, neck, or faces of the poachers. That tactic would only have exposed
their heads, chests, and bellies to their foes' knives. Instead they came
at the men on all fours keeping low to the ground, hence much lower than
anything on two legs would or could. For starters Leon and Brand clawed at
the fork of their legs. The intense pain from damage to their manly parts
took most of the fight out of them, making it easy to finish them off.

The leader held his hands up in surrender. To his relief the cousins let
him live, not so much from mercy but so he could answer questions about his
middlemen and about where the poachers had set their traps. He gave his
name as Otto Marin.

Leon did take a stab wound to his left shoulder, and the other man's blade
laid Brand's scalp open to the bone but the boys healed their wounds when
they transformed back into their two-legged form.

Leon had the leader load the bodies on the mules which were only lightly
burdened by the furs and skins then tied his hands in front of him to let
him walk better. Under the watchful eyes of his captors who had armed
themselves with the air guns he lead them through the area where the
poachers had set their traps. They were easy to find since the poachers had
blazed a mark on the nearest tree. They piled the traps atop the
uncharacteristically uncomplaining mules then passed through the hawthorn
hedge onto the plains.

As they set forth Leon reminded Marin of what he himself had told them
earlier.

"No way you can run fast enough or far enough to get out of range before we
drop you. We both have the gift of Unerring Direction, so we are dead
shots."

That was a pardonable exaggeration. The gift alone was not
enough. Marksmanship took practice. The cousins had trained with air guns
only long enough to familiarize them with the operation of the
weapons. Sure shots they were not.

They marched cross-country to the the town of Three Forks, the closest
county seat with a constabulary station and jail and a district court which
might conduct a proper trial.

The little procession attracted notice as it passed down the street: two
incredibly sexy and totally nude snow elves, their hapless prisoner, and
three mules loaded with two dead bodies and a whole set of animal traps
plus whatever was under the tarps. The constabulary station was clearly
marked. Looping the lead for the mules around a hitching post, the boys
marched inside with their prisoner.

The grizzled human sitting at the desk was clearly the duty sergeant. His
nameplate said: Sergeant Waldron. He asked their names and what their
business was. Telling them to wait a moment he stepped into an office
marked Commanding Officer. The long-serving commander was an elf named
Captain Galathil.

Galathil listened to their story and took charge of the situation. He had
Marin put in a cell and the goods in the evidence locker. A constable took
the mules to their own stables. Based on what the boys had told him he
wrote up the charges, had the boys check the document for accuracy, then
offered to put the boys up in their barracks until the conclusion of the
legal proceedings. The accommodations were dormitory style so although Leon
and Brand were lovers, they didn't engage in sex but simply slept together,
their limbs and bodies entwined like a couple of kittens.

The trial was held three days later to give the defendant time to consult
with an advocate. To maintain the dignity of the proceedings the cousins
wore sarongs borrowed for the trial. They testified that it was the New
Forest itself which had used its psychic link with shape shifters to draw
them to the poachers. The prolonged agony which their traps had inflicted
on the animals they snared alerted the forest that something very much out
of the ordinary was happening. With normal predation, kills were mercifully
quick.

In his testimony Otto Marin tried to turn the tables. He claimed that
having been caught with the goods he and his men had dutifully surrendered,
expecting to get off with a fine or maybe a term of public service in road
work or the like. Instead they became the victims of an unprovoked and
murderous attack born of the blood lust in the hearts of the wild beasts
the shape shifters had transformed into. Only after their thirst for blood
had been quenched had the forest rangers accepted his surrender, not out of
any sort of mercy but only from expediency.

Unfortunately for him the judge was an empath. He rule the main's testimony
to be untruthful and his claim to be a lie. That meant a new charge for
perjury, itself an aggravating factor for sentencing. The law was clear
that at trial a defendant did not have to testify. He could remain silent,
but if he did testify, he must not lie on the stand.

The court ruled that the auxiliary forest rangers had acted within their
authority when they checked the packs for contraband and then had acted in
self-defense when the malefactors tried to murder them.

The judge found Marin guilty on two counts of attempted murder under
aggravating circumstances namely that the intended victims were law
enforcement officers attacked during the performance of their duty. Added
to that were two counts of felony murder. The onus for the deaths of his
accomplices was on Marin himself for enticing and involving them in his
murderous conspiracy.

The Commonwealth operated no prisons, only jails for short-term
confinement. Sentences for minor offenses crimes included fines and
forfeiture of goods or funds, or public service. Major crimes might draw
temporary or permanent exile, sometimes with the outlaw mark which made
them fair game if ever again found with the country's borders. Crimes like
treason and murder including felony murder drew the death penalty, usually
from a firing squad armed with bows or air guns.

The next day Marin was bound to a stake with his back to a wall as a squad
of five constables took aim and fired. They aimed true. All five bullets
hit him squarely in his center of mass, so he died instantly and almost
painlessly. No need then for a coup de grace to the head. The boys served
as official witnesses. Executions in the Commonwealth were never open to
the general public lest a holiday atmosphere prevail, but there had to be
witnesses.

Now the poachers were the very first sapients the wir leopards had killed,
and though the planet was better off for their passing, Leon and Brand had
misgivings about how much the killings had appealed to their feline
natures. Leon ventured to say:

"I know that killing them was a moral act. It was they who forced us to
fight for our lives. They set the rules of engagement as our friends who
are combat veterans would put it. Yes we might have just captured them, but
the attempt would have exposed us to greater risk. We did not owe them
that, and we did owe it to ourselves and to our law enforcement mission to
preserve our own lives."

"Yet Otto Marin hit close to home with his point about our savagery and
blood lust, at least when we are in our predatory forms. I certainly
experienced those feelings during the fight."

"So did I Leon, but it wasn't blood lust that drove us to kill. It was
self-defense. It was our duty to stop a trio of men who had murdered
before, were trying to murder us, and undoubtedly would do so again to
others in the future. Regardless of our feelings, we didn't do anything
wrong, exactly the contrary."

"You are right of course, but I would also like to lay this before our
protectors. I don't know any beings whose moral sense I trust more."

"Indeed."

			Chapter 2. Three Forks

The next day, no longer needed as evidence, the skins and furs were
destroyed in a fire rather than be sold. No one, not even the government,
might benefit from such tainted goods. Two thirds of the proceeds from the
sale of the mules, tack, air guns, and traps, less court costs, went to the
exchequer of the forest rangers headquartered in Elysion. The judge did not
levy a fine since that would simply take money from the rangers. Whatever
other funds Marin might have were beyond the reach of the court.

Leon and Brand were awarded the equivalent of three golds in the smaller
denomination silver coins, which were more convenient for ordinary
purchases. They had never seen the Eastern Plains having bypassed them via
a space portal on their journey from the Northlands to Elysion and the New
Forest. So they decided to spend a few days touring the area. Their silvers
would come in handy to pay for lodging, travel, and meals.

Although the shape shifters usually had little use for clothing, they did
observe the proprieties by purchasing and donning skimpy breechclouts which
were just a panel of white silk passed between the legs and flipped front
and back over a pale leather thong tied low around the hips. Just as
breechclout made of buckskin blended with tanned skin, white silk blended
with their natural milky coloration.

The boys hung a sheathed knife from the leather thong. For them it was only
a tool, not a weapon, not when their claws were always to hand, as it
were. The boys also carried a small coin pouch on the opposite hip.

Their unusual looks certainly attracted attention. Some folks just wanted
to confirm that they were the very same snow elves who had been written up
in Drew Altair's best-seller about the Corps of Discovery. Others recalled
news reports about how the snow elves had located the wreck of the downed
autogyro and had been instrumental in the rescue of the survivors. Many of
the younger males just wanted to chat with the exotic and sexy strangers
and strike up an acquaintance which hopefully might lead to other
things. The boys were chatty and outgoing but not really interested in a
one-night stand with any of the locals.

A sign in the window of an outfitters shop caught their attention. It
advertised the virtues of backpacks designed especially for shape
shifters. They storekeeper allowed that they did cost a bit more but were
worth every penny.The packs were roomy, lightweight, and waterproof,
furnished with internal elastic loops for smaller items, and they closed
with draw cords which kept their contents from spilling out no matter how
they were jostled or what orientation they were in as their bearer moved or
transformed. Fully adjustable straps in different sizes and configurations
held them securely to any body shape ranging from the size of a wolf to a
slash bear. In an emergency the packs could be dropped by tugging on a
quick release.

Brand explained that their protectors the Kodiak bears were twice the size
of any slash bear. They needed something larger. A nearby tack shop
supplied the custom rigging for the new packs which the cousins would
present to their protectors at their next rendezvous.

The boys also bought a single small pack which they would trade-off
carrying whenever they went off by themselves. It would allow them to bring
basic camping gear such as their new knives, a hatchet, a pan, skewers, and
condiments plus a far-viewer tube. Thanks to their gift of electrum sparks
the cousins had no need of tools such as a burning lens or flint and fire
striker to get a fire going. With camping gear they might eat cooked food
not just consume raw meat in their leopard form. Unsure whether their
brothers would want packs too they held off purchasing more than the one.

Three Forks was the hub of three farm and trade roads and the railhead of a
spur line of the iron road network in those parts which ran eastward to
connect with the axial north-south which ran from the town of Harben south
all the way to the army town of Dalnot.

The iron roads fascinated Leon and Brand. A freight train might have half a
dozen wagons, passenger trains only one or two. Pair of fetchers called on
their telekinetic gift to impart motion to the trains. It took a pair of
powerful fetchers working in concert to overcome inertia and get a freight
train going but only one to overcome rolling resistance and keep it
going. On passenger trains only one fetcher was needed.

The freight trains carried lumber or whole logs, grain, and livestock or
chilled meat. Grain was carried to local grain elevators by animal drawn
transport and then by iron road to flour mills in the cities of the
Commonwealth. Livestock on the hoof was shipped to slaughter houses
situated on the plain, then the meat went by refrigerated wagons to the
great cities. Timber from the north was mainly used by the populace of the
largely treeless plains. The iron road also supplied the towns and
garrisons of the plains. Militarily and commercially, the iron roads helped
to knit that region to the Commonwealth proper situated in the alluvial
valley of the Long River.

In the passenger cars seats were arranged in pairs facing forward on either
side of a central aisle. Ventilators in the roof and large double hung
windows provided ventilation.  The accommodations on the passenger trains
were not hard wooden seats or benches but were upholstered, if that is the
word for it, in wicker over a wooden frame. That way the seats had some
give to them yet did not absorb moisture nor stain as cloth covered
cushions might and might be wiped clean after each day's run.

The boys took the train to the junction of the spur line with the main line
and back again very much enjoying their excursion as the train whisked them
along at the unheard of speed of twenty-five miles per hour. Prosperous
ranches and commercial farms testified to the bounty which helped to feed
the teeming millions in the great rift valley of the Commonwealth proper.

Back in Three Forks the boys strolled around town. They spent pleasant
hours in the reading room of the public library. Much as they liked to read
for pleasure and instruction, with their itinerant lifestyle books were
only intermittently available. Leon and Brand and especially Gulo always
took advantage of Count Klarendes library in Elysion every time they
visited.

The local house cats recognized the cousins as kindred souls and were
forever coming up to them, stropping their legs, and begging to be petted
and stroked. The afternoon after their excursion on the iron road the boys
had no sooner sat down on a bench in the public park next to the courthouse
that a pair of calico cats jumped onto their laps. The one who had chosen
Leon simply curled up with her face on her front paws and began to purr
accepting his gentle caresses as no more than her due. Brand's cat braced
her front paws on his chest and touched her pink nose to his, then rubbed
the side of her face to his chin, marking him with her scent. Finally she
settled down contentedly across his legs and purred, eyes little more than
slits.

A dwarf of middle years smiled indulgently and told the boys:

"I know those calico cats from the neighborhood. They tend to be skittish
with most folks. The way they have warmed up to you shows that you must be
genuine cat persons."

"In more ways than one." Leon agreed pleasantly then explained why.

"Ah! Shape shifters. No wonder you fell under their spell."

"Spell?"

"Their charm then. You see there is a very good reason they try to make
friends with sympathetic sorts who sit on these park benches. It is close
to that food cart over there. From personal experience I know that the
vendor sells excellent fish sandwiches. Indeed you can smell the delicious
aroma from here. So can the kitties. They are hoping you will follow your
nose, purchase sandwiches, and share your bounty with their own adorable
selves. I have seen it happen time and again."

"Clever little minxes." Brand said.

The boys lifted the cats off their laps and set them on the ground. As they
headed over to the push cart the calicos followed all aquiver with
excitement and anticipation. The cousins purchased three hot sandwiches
wrapped in paper and returned to the bench. Leon took the extra sandwich
and broke the tender fried fish filet into chunks which he placed on the
folded sandwich paper. The calicos hunkered down and began to eat, purring
contentedly, from time to time pausing to gaze gratefully at their
benefactors. The boys finished their sandwiches then took a knee and
stroked the cats' fur enjoying the touch of the warm furry bodies and
basking in the pleasure they had given to the friendly kitty cats. It was
an endearing moment.

Their last day in town they headed toward the constabulary station to say
goodbye to Captain Galathil, Sergeant Waldron, and the constables they had
met and roomed with. As they crossed the town square they saw a party of
nine riders dressed in linen dusters dismount and step into the bank, air
guns held at the ready. Two of them held the horses ready for a quick
getaway.

"That's gotta be bank robbery." Leon told his cousin who nodded his
agreement.

A customer ran outside and shouted that the bank was being robbed only to
get shot in the back. A woman who saw it happen screamed. One alert citizen
ran to the watch tower and rang the bell to sound the alarm and the call to
arms. A member of the town watch was the next victim of the robbers. He had
tried to run off their horses and so strand the robbers on foot.

The robbers surged out of the bank with their loot and mounted up and
charged across the square heading for the main street out of town only to
run into a line of sixteen armed citizens which blocked their way.

Unfortunately for the townsfolk the robbers had a trio of heavy hitters
with them. An air wizard sent a land spout at them which whirled the men in
the middle into the air and forced the rest to scatter. Three townsmen on
the far left stood their ground and shot at the air wizard with their
airguns only to die a horrible death as a firecaster threw a great clinging
ball of flame onto them. A mage threw lightning bolts killing two shooters
who had taken cover behind a horse trough as protection from the
firecaster.

The gang poured through the shattered line of defenders, air guns shooting
at anyone who even looked liked he was trying to stop them.

"Too many guns and too much powerful magic, Brand. This is one fight we'd
better sit out."

Suiting their actions to Leon's words, the boys took cover behind the
plinth of the statue of the founder of the town. Just then the constabulary
showed up. They were only four of them but they had a couple of heavy
hitters in their own ranks. Captain Galathil was a powerful fetcher, and
Sergeant Waldron could create ball lightning.

Leon and Brand saw a chance to help the constables. Their own powers were
too weak to engage the robbers head to head, but as they rode past the
statue the boys flung double handfuls of electrum sparks three times before
ducking behind the plinth once more. The tiny balls of static electricity
delivered a jolt from their electric charge while their intense heat
inflicted painful burns. Horses struck by sparks screamed and reared and
became unmanageable, especially with their human and elven riders
themselves distracted by the sparks.

The lull in shooting from the robbers gave the townsfolk a time to rally to
back the constables who seized the golden opportunity to take the
offensive. Galathil drew his edged disc from its holster and sent it flying
at the air wizard who was so distracted by the sparks that he never saw it
coming. Its keen edge took his head clean off.

In retaliation the lightning caster threw a tremendous bolt at the captain
which the sergeant blocked with a globe of ball lightning four feet
across. It turned blue for a moment as it absorbed the bolt humming and
crackling menacingly. Keeping two balls up to shield himself and the
captain Sergeant Waldron used as a third globe offensively, zipping it
forward to engulf the lightning caster and turning him into a crispy
critter, soldier slang for a burned corpse. Powerful as lightning bolts
might be, they were all offense but no defense. Ball lightning was both
sword and shield.

The firecaster threw a stream of flame at the pair of lawmen, but the good
sergeant blocked that too. Meanwhile Galathil had directed his edged disk
to circle wide and come at the firecaster from behind. It cut into his
spine and knocked him off his horse.

The remaining riders tried to shoot their way into the clear but were cut
to pieces by a withering crossfire from enraged citizens armed with air
guns. Some were veterans of the Troll War. They were not about to let a
gang of cutthroats rob and kill their fellow townsmen. It was all over in
minutes. None of the robbers survived the battle. The citizenry was in no
mood for taking prisoners, not that day, no way, no how. They kept shooting
till all of the robbers lay silent and still.

Healers moved among the wounded, employing natural medicine where that
would be effective and magical healing when nothing else could be done. All
but two of the wounded survived. The cost to the town to stop the bandits
was very high: eight dead and seven wounded.

The constables recovered the loot and collected the weapons from the bodies
of the slain robbers while townsfolk rounded up their horses which had
scattered hither and yon. When Leon and Brand walked up close, Captain
Galathil nodded and said:

"Thanks boys for the timely assist. Your sparks were a real help,
distracting the robbers at just the worst possible moment for them and the
best possible moment for us."

"We're glad we could do something to help instead of just cowering behind
that statue."

"No one would have faulted you if you had done just that. Three of the bad
guys were heavy hitters and the whole bunch had air guns. I am just
thankful that you thought of a way to use your limited powers to help us
out at the critical moment. This victory took all of us: town watch,
constables, townsfolk, and yourselves."

The duty sergeant seconded that endorsement.

"Folks often underrate the usefulness of the minor gifts, but electrum
sparks are versatile in ways my own ball lightning isn't. I saw that during
the Troll War. Sparks can start a cook fire or act as an incendiary in
combat either directly or when used with fire globes. They can stampede
enemy mounts or act as a signal. In hand to hand combat they are a force
multiplier. The hurler can help his whole unit out by snapping sparks left
and right to distract and disconcert his comrades' foes making them
vulnerable just at the moment of contact when steel meets steel."

"Good points" Galathil agreed.

"But your ball lightning is versatile in an important way. It serves as
both shield and sword. That lightning thrower found that out to his
sorrow. About all a man can do with a levin bolt is electrocute a foe or
set something on fire. Though I did serve in Amazonia with a soldier who
had perfected an explosive technique. As trolls passed close by a tree, he
would hurl a bolt at it. Now a white hot lightning bolt can flash boil the
water in a tree and make it explode, accelerating wood chips and bits of
bark in all directions like a volley of lead bullets from a bunch of air
guns."

"I like to think that my own gift of telekinesis is the most
versatile. Today I used it to kill, but I have also rescued people from
burning buildings, and once I yanked a woman out of the way of a team of
runaway horses. I never have to bend down to pick up something I dropped on
the ground. You might say that with telekinesis I have the ultimate in a
boarding house reach. When the missus asks me to chop firewood for her cook
stove, I can tell her `no sweat' and mean it literally. Splitting wood the
way you do it is hard sweaty labor whereas I do the job seated on a stump
smoking my pipe. I never touch the handle of axe or maul. In fact, my tools
are all head with no handle. And my gift also holds the wood in place while
I chop."

"Your ball lightning blocked that stream of fire all right, though with my
gift I could have whisked both of us out of the line of fire, er no pun
intended. With this yoke built into my service vest I can actually fly. And
finally there are what I shall refer to obliquely as the romantic
possibilities."

Sergeant Waldron and the boys chuckled and conceded that yes, his gift
probably was the most versatile.

The next day the boys attended a memorial service for those who had fallen
and to recognize the defenders, especially those who had been injured. The
boys' own names would be included on the honor roll of defenders to be
inscribed in bronze on a memorial to be built right there on the town
square. The news report in the local weekly about the attempted robbery got
picked up by the Altair New Service and was reprinted in news-papers
everywhere. A brazen bank robbery carried out in broad daylight was news.

After a final night in Three Forks and a fine meal at one of the better
eateries the boys headed back toward the Eastern Mountains and the New
Forest.

				Chapter 3. Across the Plains

Still clad in their breechclouts and carrying packs and water gourds Leon
and Brand headed out cross country toward the Eastern Mountains and the New
Forest. They were in no hurry so they set an easy pace.

"Let's hope for an uneventful journey back to the New Forest. No more
encounters which endanger life and limb. Two such adventures in a single
week are two too many."

"You got that right Leon. Still I don't regret what we did, just that we
found ourselves in situations where we had to do it."

As they topped a small rise Brand stopped abruptly and exclaimed:

"Hello! What do we have here?"

Below them in a swale two young wranglers were bringing a remuda of a dozen
or so ponies to a pond. Several trees provided welcome shade. Big handsome
lads in their late teens the wranglers rode both bareback and bare ass
utterly unselfconscious about their nudity for that was how one bathed
ponies and horses the world over, the job of grooms and stable boys, young
cavalrymen, or apprentice teamsters. The mounts didn't wear clothes to the
bath, why should the boys?

The cousins were instantly smitten by the sexy youths. These wranglers were
just their type: big lads with robust physiques which evidenced a not
inconsiderable mixture of giant blood which probably explained their red
hair and blue eyes. Even better they were identical twins.

Their remuda was a mix of pintos and roans and sorrels who nickered as they
splashed their way into pond till the water reached their bellies. The nude
wranglers had slid off their mounts and gone right to work scrubbing their
charges with soap and brush. That was when they noticed the approach of the
rangers.

"Good Morning, strangers." one of them called out, a cheery smile on his
open and honest face. "What business takes you straight across country?
Travelers in these parts usually keep to the roads so they won't get lost."

"We are forest rangers on official business." Brand explained. "Auxiliary
rangers really," he added, pointing to the green tattoo of a leaf on his
left shoulder.

"Forest rangers? Then you are really lost." He chuckled and pointed to the
west. "The forest lies that-a-way. Its trees are what makes those mountains
so green."

Brand smiled and said: "Thanks for the geography lesson. My name is Brand
and my cousin here is Leon. Who might you be?"

"The names are Luke and Will Franklin. We are the youngest of four
brothers. This is our ranch. Our pa Jed Franklin is up at the house if you
need to talk to him."

"Actually we are just passing through. Say, could you use a hand with those
horses?"

"That's fine by us. We'll take all the help we can get."

"You'll have to show us what to do. We have never been around horses
before.

With a big grin on their faces the wranglers watched as the cousins dropped
their packs and breechclouts and waded out to them. To anyone who
appreciates a pretty youth, snow elves were walking wet dreams with their
willowy physiques, alabaster skin, shoulder-length ash-blonde hair, and icy
grey eyes.

The personable wranglers were quite presentable themselves with strong
young bodies turned tawny by constant exposure to the sun. Hale, hearty,
and handsome, and formidably endowed, they set the cousins' hearts to
fluttering.

"Why are you guys so pale? Your skin is as white as ivory; it's like you
two never go out in the sun."

"Actually we are very much the outdoors type, thank you. In fact we live on
a permanent walkabout in the New Forest. We go around in the rude nude
practically all the time, but we just don't show it the way you do, bronzed
all over by the sun's rays. Like all our people we neither tan nor burn no
matter how much exposure we get to the sun."

"Your people?"

"We are called Snow Elves, but for our looks, not for where we live."

"Of course, you're those shape shifter elves. Cool! What form can you
take?"

"That of spotted leopards. We'd show you, but we don't want to frighten the
ponies."

"Good thinking. Anyway I like you just the way you are now. In your elven
form you are utterly exotic and hugely attractive, but let's save all that
for later. Right now we need to get to work. Grab those spare brushes
hanging from the peg on the tree and help us scrub these ponies
clean. Ourselves too afterwards."

The boys set to work with a will chatting all the while as they soaped and
scrubbed and brushed the ponies, finally setting them to graze. Then they
scrubbed their own bodies squeaky clean.

Luke allowed that since they were ahead of schedule, they had plenty of
time for fun and frolic. With that he bent down, grabbed Brand ankles and
yanked his legs out from under him, sending him backwards into the water
with a splash. Brand got his feet under him and surged out of the water,
eyes blazing with mock fury as he grabbed Luke in a wrestling hold, which
was really just his excuse to get his hands on the young wrangler's hard
body. The boys grappled and splashed and wrestled and dunked each other,
all accompanied by laughter, jokes, loud talk, and a good deal of grab ass
horseplay.

Inspired by those two Leon and Will started their own wrestling match,
which was less an athletic competition than an exercise in foreplay. Will
loved all the bodily contact and eagerly pressed himself against Leon's
pale body. His rigid member evidenced the state of his arousal. Leon
glanced down and realized that Luke' erection put his own more modest
endowment in the shade. Its helmet looked to be nearly twice the size of
his own and the stalk proportionally thicker. Empurpled and engorged it
throbbed with the wrangler's passion.

"I suppose that would be what's called a horse cock." Leon asked.

"Nah, more like a pony cock." Luke answered breezily. "You should see that
pinto stallion over there when he gets aroused by a mare. Now that is a
horse cock."

"That might be true, but I have all I can handle right here." Leon said
stroking the wrangler's turgid member. "Just take it slow, Will. I am small
and tight back there."

Which was actually how Leon preferred it, having a big one forced slowly
into his tight quim, impaling him, filling him with his lover's
masculinity. Thanks to magically enhanced control of his internal
musculature, Leon could work his sphincters rhythmically, squeezing and
massaging the invading member, employing muscles normally used to push out
to draw in, helping a lover reach orgasm and afterwards milking his cock of
the last drops of his gism.

Though natural bottoms, both cousins also liked to top. Now though he was
much more slender than Will and three inches shorter, Leon's greater
strength surprised the wrangler as he turned the tables on him and started
to mount him. After token resistance, Will yielded and let himself be
impaled and pumped. Soon he was moaning and shoving back, asking for more
and more. It didn't take long for both youths to reach orgasm.

Afterwards Will told Leon:

"I cannot believe how strong you are. Here I am a hale and hearty country
lad and one-eighth giant to boot with a strong body from all the hard work
I do. So I just assumed I would overpower a slender pretty boy like
yourself."

"We wirs are easily twice as strong as we look which makes me as a strong
as a really big guy."

"Who would have thought to find such strength in a walking wet dream, but
enough said. Come here. Let's get physical again."

And they did. Get physical, that is. Both couples. Kissing and petting soon
gave way to a resumption of all out sexual congress, an expression of
unbridled teenage lust, as sexy kids sparked off a cute guy their own age,
romping, stomping, and rocking, their surging hormones rising to an
explosion of eroticism and spunk.

The cousins accepted an invitation to supper and a last chance to sleep in
a proper bed. So they accompanied, the wranglers when they returned the
horses to their corral. Luke introduced them to their family. The father
welcomed them then said:

"So you are Snow Elves, eh? Would you mind showing us the alternate form
you two can take on?"

Leon nodded. "No problem now that we are standing where the horses can't
see us and take fright."

The cousins set their packs down, They were still sky clad, hence ready to
change into spotted leopards. The transformation was fast. Their innate
magic took only seconds for their body shapes to flow and morph into
spotted leopards.

The cousins ran back and forth, reared up on their hind legs and slashed
the air with their claws, snarling to look fierce. Then they morphed back
into their elven forms and put on their breechclouts.

"Whoa!" the onlookers exclaimed, all mightily impressed. Luke spoke for all
of them when he said:

"I had no idea you could transform so fast or that the change was like you
were melting from human to cat and back again. And those were impressive
horizontal leaps you made a moment ago."

"Indeed, Luke. As leopards we are agile and fast indeed we can sprint more
than twice as fast as a human or elf. We can jump horizontally more than 20
ft and vertically up to 10 feet, though I'll admit that tawny panthers can
leap farther thanks to their proportionally longer legs."

Compared to other big cats leopards had relatively short legs and a long
body with a large skull. They looked a lot like jaguars, though less
powerfully built though still plenty strong enough to carry heavy carcasses
into trees (to cache them for later consumption, out of the reach of
scavengers like hyenas who could gang up on a solitary cat). They had spots
on their heads and forequarters but most of their fur was marked with
rosettes like those of the jaguar, but theirs were smaller and more densely
packed, and without spots in the center.

"So if a leopard comes at me, there is no point trying to outrun it or to
climb a tree. What about jumping into a river or lake and swimming to
safety? Cats don't like the water, right?"

"Sorry, Luke, but you are talking about house cats. Leopards are powerful
swimmers, although admittedly less inclined to swim than some other big
cats, like the tiger or jaguar. They actually hunt in water deliberately
driving game into a river, lake, or pond where the animals cannot defend
themselves with hooves or horns. The cats just swim after them, clamber
onto their backs, and clamp their jaws on the spine or the throat."

"Wicked!"

Around the dinner table, the cousins told of their origins, their family,
and their recent adventures. Will was especially impressed by the
description of the White Kodiaks.

"To think they weigh a full ton and stand as high at the shoulder as Pa is
tall. Powerful protectors all right. And their Mind Speech lets them talk
with all of you so they can relay messages between you."

"That's not how it works. They don't relay messages. They actually link all
of us together so we can communicate directly with each other. You see,
like all magical creatures, shape shifters have an innate psychic sense. It
is what lets the New Forest communicate with us, though, unlike Mind
Speech, it is not in words or even images. The best way I can describe it
is that the forest's thoughts arise in us much like a realization or
perhaps a memory of our own. Anyway the Mind Speech of the Kodiak can link
with our own psychic sense for silent verbal but not aural
communications. Out to range of four miles, which is plenty to coordinate
hunting."

"Now Leon and I also hunt by ourselves, just the two of us, so we often use
vocal signals like growls, snarls, meows and purrs."

"Can you roar like a lion?" Luke wondered.

"We like to think so, but some folks unkindly liken our roars to serial
grunts."

"What do you tell them to set them straight?"

"Why nothing." Brand answered with a sly smile. "We just eat them!"

That brought a chuckle all around.

Luke and Will had a room of their own. That night they shared their beds
with Leon and Brand, and a good time was had by all.

				Chapter 4. Anaconda

The next morning, just as the cousins were taking leave of the Franklin
family a signal horn at the next ranch over sounded an alarm. Not knowing
what was going on, the cousins decided not to go off by themselves across
country, but to wait to find out what was what. Jeb Franklin's two older
sons and wife stayed at their ranch to watch over things while he and the
twins armed themselves, mounted up, and trotted the short distance to their
neighbor's ranch buildings. Leon and Brand had no trouble keeping up on
foot.

A distraught man of middle years told the neighbors what was the matter. A
eight year old boy had been taken by a huge snake and dragged into the
reeds. His five year old sister had seen it happen and run back home for
help.

"A snake?" Jeb Franklin asked in disbelief. "Snakes don't prey of human
beings, and there aren't any really big snakes in these parts."

"There are now." another neighbor told him. "I've heard tell that some
veterans of the Troll War brought back pet snakes from Amazonia. The
anacondas as they are called were supposed to be good for keeping varmints
down. Well some slithered off on their own and now live in our rivers and
marshes."

"If that is the case we will need to contact the druids and let them deal
with the problem of this invasive species. For now we need a plan for going
after that killer snake and recover the boy's body."

That brought a sob from his mother, suddenly forced to face the fact that
this would not be a rescue but a recovery of a corpse. Just then the father
showed up and told them all that he had followed the track of the snake to
the edge of the marsh but could go no further. It seemed that the back of
his ranch faced a low lying area, the ground all soft and spongy from the
river that ran through it.

"It isn't a proper river at all, just one of those braided rivers with many
channels that twist and turn, separate and rejoin. And its waters feed a
large marsh all reeds and rushes. The water is just deep enough for a big
snake to swim in but not deep enough to float a boat, even if we had any to
hand."

"There is no solid ground in there. Quicksand pits aside, the ground
everywhere is mostly too soft to walk on. A man just sinks in past his
ankles. Sure you can pull a foot out, but the moment you set it down you're
stuck again. And you're likely to lose your boots in the process. No you
cannot go any distance on foot in that marsh."

One excitable neighbor quavered at the thought of stepping into quicksand
and getting sucked under. The rancher corrected him and told him that you
couldn't get sucked under by quicksand. That was just a myth. You could
extract yourself from quicksand, though it was effortful and you had to
keep your head lest you exhaust yourself fruitlessly flailing around. And
the rescuers could forget horses too. Even with four legs horses are too
heavy to spread their weight. Indeed their hooves would press even harder
into the soft ground.

Franklin nodded. "Am I right that the grass is too green to set on fire?"
His interlocutor nodded.

"Isn't anyone going to do something to save my son?" the mother wailed. "Or
at least bring him back for a proper funeral and burial. Don't we owe him
that much?"

Leon looked over at Brand who nodded his agreement that they should lend a
hand.

"Maybe we can help..." Brand started to tell the group. The father snapped
at them:

"What can a couple of unarmed and nearly naked pretty boys do that I and my
friends and neighbors cannot?

Leon shook his head.

"Brand and I have a set of physical and magical abilities uniquely suited
to this problem. You see we are Snow Elves, that is shape shifting
elves. In our alternate form as spotted leopards we can penetrate this
marshy area, locate the snake, kill it, and recover the body."

"It's like this. We can distribute our hundred forty pounds on four large
paws so we won't sink in. With our keen senses, powerful builds, and claws
and fangs we are a match for any snake plus, thanks to our magical nature,
we are easily twice as strong as our size might suggest. During our stalk
we won't give our position away since we can communicate silently by
signaling with the white spots on our ears and tails. Moreover Brand and I
have hunted together for years so we know what to expect from each other."

"Snakes are more muscular than other animals. More of their bodies are
devoted to muscle instead of to a skeleton as with four-legged animals of
the same weight. So a constrictor might overwhelm a single leopard if it
got his coils around him, but not two leopards. A pair of leopards can
double team a snake, grab his tail and unwind it from his partner if it
comes to that, or maybe bite its head off or claw its eyes out."

"Then there is our gift. Both of us can fling electrum sparks. Now that may
be a minor gift, but no snake is going continue its attack once it gets hit
by double handfuls of sparks which deliver intense burns and sharp jolts of
electricity. Also, though usually employed as short range standoff weapon
sparks can be delivered by direct contact. No snake could contract its
coils around a sparkler discharging sparks directly into its body."

The father nodded. "I see now that I was wrong. You boys do know what
you're doing. I'm sorry for what I said just now. Please get our son back
for us."

Leon and Brand loosened the thong that held their breechclouts in place
then walked naked to the edge of the swamp. Leon turned and told the others
that the cousins would signal their success with a shower of sparks
directed upward. After a brief discussion about tactics they transformed
into their four-legged forms and entered the marsh.

One of the points Leon and Brand had talked about was that, with their
bellies pressed to the ground, snakes can feel the vibrations made by
footsteps. They should watch where they put their paws, preferably on
grassy tussocks or sand bars as opposed to quicksand or mud from which they
could extract themselves only noisily and effortfully.

Brand reminded Leon of what their protectors had taught them about
snakes. Snakes like the anaconda moved by means of lateral undulation both
on land and in the water. That meant their bodies flexed and bent in waves
that moved from head to tail pushing against rocks, twigs or any
irregularities in the soil. The speed of the wave was exactly the same as
the snake's forward speed with the result that every section of the snake's
body followed the path of the section ahead of it. That allowed snakes to
thread their way through very dense vegetation and small openings. When
swimming the waves got larger toward the tail as the snakes pushed against
the water. An aquatic snake like the anaconda swam much faster than it
slithered.

Finally Brand reminded Leon that the snake would be half asleep slowly
digesting the prey it had swallowed. Their best tactic was to kill it quick
before it could bestir itself.

The snake had not left much of a trail in the grass at the edge the marsh
and almost none in the water save where its belly scraped bottom and left a
mark. It took all of the cousin's tracking skills to locate. Time and again
they had to cast about for a moment till they picked up the lost spoor.

Then there it was coiled up dozing though its tongue flickered in and
out. The leopards crept close putting each paw down softly then with more
weight on it, trying to get close without disturbing the sand of the bar
the snake was sleeping on. Brand went for the head. Leon's job was to wait
for the snake to uncoil and expose its tail then bite down and hold on
backing away to stretch it out so it could not throw its coils around
Leon. If it somehow managed to do that, Brand should attack its spine
somewhere in the middle and cripple it while Leon flung sparks at it.

Leon and Brand did not really need to point with their hands (or paws) to
generate sparks. Gestures were simply aids to concentration and aim, but
the exercise of magic was an act of will. If they wanted to, sparklers, as
those with their gift were called, could generate sparks anywhere on their
bodes. Let's see any snake try to squeeze a body that sizzled everywhere
with heat and electric jolts. True they themselves would take some hurt,
but shape shifters could heal themselves by transforming.

Something must have alerted the snake to their approach, probably a trace
it had tasted in the air with its flickering tongue. As it raised its head
off its coils Brand pounced and clamped his jaws on the narrow neck just
behind its head, straddled its body and dug in with his claws to hang
on. The snake roused and tried to throw its coils around its tormentor, but
by then Leon had his jaws around its tail and pulled back with all his
might.

The cousins quickly realized that they might have bitten off more than they
could chew. Their prey was a huge snake, later measured at twenty-five
feet, and weighing more than either of them.

It managed to get its tail away from Leon and threw a coil around Brand,
but he clawed at it, bit down on its neck, and discharged sparks from
everywhere he felt the snake pressing against his body, forcing it to ease
up.

Meanwhile, Leon abandoned the tail and bit hard at the top of the bulge
which marked the position of the child the snake had swallowed, a spot
where he thought the spine might be pressed closer to its skin. Brand bit
down hard. His fangs tore again and again at the bleeding flesh. In short
order he had exposed the spine, touched his paw to it, and sent a dozen
sparks into it. That severed the spinal cord and crippled the snake which
now had no way to resist Brand's attack on his neck. He too targeted the
spine where the neck was was small enough just back of the head for him to
bite clean through and decapitate the creature.

That did it. The snake was dead. Or mostly. Its tail still twitched back
and forth. Snakes took a long time to die.

Both boys transformed to heal their hurts then lay back on the sand.

"That was some fight, Brand. A close one too. Without our sparks we might
have lost or at least had to break off and let the snake get away."

"You're telling me! Still our chosen tactics were successful. We are alive,
and the snake is dead. Let's rest up before we drag its carcass back to
firm ground."

"You know Leon, our sparks were effective, but how much easier this fight
would have been if we were equipped with poison claws like our friend,
sometime lover, and fellow shape shifter Aodh of Elysion. Next time we go
by there let's ask the druids if they and the New Forest can upgrade our
powers the way they did with him. I'd also like to see in the dark like
Madden Sexton who can actually perceive body heat on the darkest night."

"That's a great idea. Both of them also got strengthened constitutions so
they now have tripled rather than doubled strength. We should ask for that
too. Let's hope all parties go for it."

"Agreed. Oops! We mustn't forget to signal our success."

"Right."

Both cousins sent up five double handfuls of electrum sparks to signal the
success of their hunt to the boy's family, friends, and neighbors. Their
acute hearing caught the sound of cheers, which would normally have been
heartening except that the sound was so faint it told them they would have
to drag the heavy carcass really far.

If the boys were tired from the fight, after dragging the dead weight of
the carcass all the way across the marsh they ended up trembling with
fatigue. No threading its dead body though the underbrush. They had to drag
it through the shrubbery and tough and tall grass by main force. It later
weighed in at one-hundred eighty pounds.

The boy's father cut its belly open to free the corpse of his son then took
it to his wife and family to prepare for a funeral to be held
immediately. The corpse cleaned up pretty well all things considered. So
the casket did not have to be closed for the ceremony. His mother got to
look at her son one last time and say her farewells.

The father gave the eulogy for his son. He had died bravely, a hero really,
protecting his sister, sending her running for home and turning back to
face the snake as it caught up with them to strike it on the head with a
stout stick and so delay it.

The officiant was a priest of one of the more popular pantheons whose chief
deity was a sky god. He kept the ceremony short, simple, and dignified and
delivered a heartfelt sermon which went as far as any mere words could to
reconcile the parents to their tragic loss.

He made a good impression on everyone though the cousins found some of his
homilies irksome. They were skeptics and rationalists from way back, a
leaning reinforced under the tutelage of their protectors the White
Kodiaks.

As Leon later grumbled to Brand.

"I couldn't agree with that priest that our presence on the scene was
literally providential. If some celestial power really was benignly
disposed towards mortals on this planet then why did he, she, it, or they
not save that boy? How hard would it have been for a god to distract a
hungry snake and keep it away from the kids? To my way of thinking drawing
the two us `providentially' to the scene afterwards was a case of too
little too late. All we could do for the family was recover a body not save
a young life."

"That priest also assured the mother that she would someday be reunited
with her son in the by and by. He spoke glibly and blithely of the `sure
and certain hope of the life to come'. Well, which is it? If it is only a
hope then it cannot be sure and certain. And if it really is sure and
certain, then it cannot be a mere hope. That's just one of those orotund
phrases which sound profound but are really nonsensical."

Brand agreed:

"Hope in some life to come is surely the ultimate in wishful thinking
especially a next life which will supposedly last forever and ever."

Brand shook his head:

"So many people are in denial about life and death. They cannot or perhaps
choose not to face the stark truth which is this: we are born; we live; we
die. Afterwards we are no more, and the fabric of our bodies is corrupted,
broken down, and recycled."

"Amen. Or is that too orotund?"

"Coming from you, I'll let it pass."

A report about the incident with the anaconda was printed in the news
weekly in Three Forks. On the strength of the new story's connection with
two of the heroes of the fight against the bank robbers the second story
also got syndicated by the Altair News Service over the postal heliograph.

The cousins were as yet unaware of their minor degree of fame. If asked
they would have been pleased less for themselves than for the favorable
impact reports of their exploits might have on public attitudes toward snow
elves. Lots of folks didn't quite know what to make of such exotic
personages.

				Author's Note

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

This story is entirely fictional, with no resemblance intended to any
person living or dead. It 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, appears in these stories in a
supporting rather than starring role. Each story in the sequence focuses on
one or a few of the large cast of characters in the ongoing saga which now
exceeds Tolstoy's War and Peace in word count, if in no other measure.

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 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.