Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2013 08:56:58 +0000
From: Magnus Seagreen <seagreenmagnus@outlook.com>
Subject: Magnus the Mage 13

NOTE TO THE READER: This story has 24 chapters, so if you have read this
far you are half way through.  Don't forget that Nifty needs donations -
and I'd be very glad of your feedback at seagreenmagnus@outlook.com

Chapter Thirteen: A Song of Parting

 The elves of the village had garlanded all the departing guests with
forest flowers, but only Vuonti accompanied them out of the village, and
when he got to the same place he had first encountered them, he stopped,
bowed to the unicorn, and nose-rubbed Magnus, Callixtus, and Lendulio in
farewell.

"There's another pretty arse I'll be sorry to leave behind", thought Magnus
to himself, but he was consoled by melodious haunting song which they elf
boy sang as they walked away - and also by the pretty arses of his slave
and the elf Lendulio who walked in front of him.

"A beautiful song, Lendulio" said the unicorn Shalmaneser.  "But unlike the
learned Magnus, whose erudition does credit to our Order, I have no words
of your elvish tongue.  I do speak a little of the High Elven language,
though that is a very different speech."

"It is a song of parting and well-wishing, my Lord" replied the elf.  "It
is indeed beautiful, in words and melody, but it is tinged with sorrow
because who knows what mischances might befall us, and we may never set
foot here again.  My people rarely leave this land, and we dislike the sea.
Also, there is sadness in the song for our two human companions here, for
though if we avoid unhappy accident we are certain to have years, indeed
centuries, to return here and deepen our friendships, that is not an option
for Magnus and Callixtus.  They will fade quicker than the bloom of the
moonflower, and short years will rob them of their noble forms and then
their lives while we are still counted as youths to our own kin."

Magnus looked pensive at these words, and a slight depression fell on him
as they walked on.

Callixtus, sensing this, said - "Master, may I ask a question?"

 "Of course dear boy, you know it is my pleasure to indulge you."

"I was wondering if there were....other companions of yours before me?"

It was some time before Magnus responded.  "Yes, I think you are the fifth
body slave I have owned.  The first was given to me by my father when I was
just your age - an energetic stripling of the same age as myself.  We were
together a great deal for a few years, and although there was obviously a
meeting of bodies, there was not much meeting of minds.  When my father
wrote to me, some years after I left home, and mentioned in passing that
the young man was about to get married, I bought his freedom and that of
his betrothed.  Now he lives with his wife and family as a tenant farmer on
our estate.  I have seen him once or twice since.  He was grateful, but we
are strangers to one another now."  Magnus sighed.

"As for the others after that, they were all pretty boys who turned into
handsome young men, and served me well.  Most were with me for four or five
years before I set them free.  But the best I had was a Wendish lad from
the islands to the north west of the Empire - a rather damp and forlorn
place much raided by the northern barbarians.  He was called Placidus,
though he had a different name in his own barbarous tongue.  He had
magnificent red hair like most Wends.  Poor boy sometimes suffered a bit in
the summer on account of his pale skin.  Not much sunshine in Wendland."

Callixtus reflected that had the mage wished to spare the Wendish boy the
problems of sunburn he only had to permit him to wear a cloak out of doors.
But of course he knew the mage well enough by now to know that he would
have considered the boy's sunburn a small price to pay for the pleasure of
having him perpetually nude.

Magnus continued - "Placidus was with me for seven years.  He was...rather
special.  But by the time he reached twenty three I decided it was time for
him to retire.  I gave him his freedom, and a considerable sum of money,
and he went back to his homeland.  I believe there is a red haired child of
his named after me.  Occasionally I have news of him, but communication
over such a long distance, and outside the Empire, is difficult even for a
mage.  Of course, I miss him still sometimes...towards the end of our time
together we were more like brothers than lovers, certainly not like master
and slave.  Goodness me, how dreadfully sentimental , I am sounding like
that uxorious old poof Joab, always spouting on about the pleasures of long
term same sex relations between two men.  Never thought much of that
myself; like most people, I think it a little perverted, though admittedly
that is just a culturally mediated prejudice.  Anyway, it so happens that
my inclinations don't lie in that direction."

After a further pause, Callixtus said, "Master, what will happen to me?"

Magnus said breezily, "Never mind about that, dear boy, I will see you
right."

At this, for reasons he himself did not fully understand, Callixtus
suddenly burst into tears.  The party all stopped in surprise and alarm.
Magnus caught the boy in his arms.  "What's the matter, my boy?"

Callixtus sobbed, "You say "my boy" now, but for how much longer?  What
happens when I'm not a boy any more?  The elf Vuonti sang that song about
how we fade like flowers and die - even if you gave me my freedom and a lot
of money - what would I do? where would I go?  I know hardly anything about
the world - and no-one showed me any kindness before, except for you.  Why
do things have to change? Why can't I just stay with you forever?  I don't
want to go away and have no-one!"

Magnus held the boy tightly and smoothed his hair.  "Alas, change and decay
is the way of the world, even for elves and unicorns eventually.  Why, the
very seas and mountains will in time change form and disappear.  Without
transience there is no true beauty."

He kissed away the boy's tears and said, " I'm sorry I'm so selfish and too
much inclined to make light of deep matters.  I suppose it is how I protect
myself.  From now on, you will never have to do anything you don't want to
do.  From this moment, I give you your freedom, but if you so wish, you
will never have to leave my side."  Callixtus gazed at him - the weeping
made his eyes bloodshot, making them look even more intensely blue.  The
mage added, "Just don't expect me to be monogamous."  Callixtus smiled, and
they kissed.

The Veskan schooner which had brought them to Summer Island had been
waiting for them in the small bay where they had been dropped off a week
before.  None of the crew had dared to come ashore, for they held the
Island in superstitious awe.  The Captain greeted them and all the crew
gazed at the elven boy, who was an unfamiliar sight to them in spite of the
fact that living as they did on the Isle of Mages they had more opportunity
than most to encounter the strange and the unusual.  The only elves any of
them had seen before were the High Elves, who looked pretty much like young
Veskans, being very blond - although unlike young Veskans, they had pointed
ears (and wore clothes).

The mage and the unicorn stood together on deck, together with their
companions, and Shalmaneser motioned them all to follow him forrar'd to the
bows, where they were out of earshot of the crew.  His noble equine face
had an air of benign gravity.  "We are heading north west, into the Azure
Sea, and not north east from whence we came.  It is my intention that we
should travel with the western coastline of Cheskia on our starboard side,
and make land not in Cheskia but in one of the petty principalities which
quilt the littoral where the Cheskan peninsula ends and the coastline runs
westwards."

Lendulio said, "Are these the territories of the Great Empire?"

 "Not exactly," said Shalmaneser, "they acknowledge the overlordship of the
Emperor and pay tribute, but they govern themselves.  They are supposed to
be allied with one another, but there is such a multiplicity of different
political systems and clashing interests that they are often at odds with
another - though only rarely do outright hostilities break out."

Shalmaneser continued, "It will be our mission, Lendulio, to try and bring
some concord between these petty states, and to persuade them that it is
their best interests to unite in amity against the common foe.  If they
squabble, only the Rhenoussian raiders and the fire giants will be the
beneficiaries."

Callixtus said, "Will we encounter fire giants, my lord?"

 "I think not, Callixtus.  You will not be coming ashore.  This mission is
for me to undertake with Lendulio.  You and Mage Magnus have a different
mission.  Once Lendulio and I are ashore, you two will return to the Isle
of Mages."

Callixtus was not sure if he was relieved to be avoiding the fire giants,
or disappointed that he would not be adventuring with the unicorn and the
elf.  But a few days later, as a gaily painted cutter in the red and white
colours of the Duchy of Garramundi conveyed Shalmaneser and Lendulio from
the ship to the fine stone built harbour of that principality, Shalmaneser
stood up - his huge naked frame causing the little cutter to rock
dangerously, to the momentary panic of its Garramundian sailors - and his
loud booming voice rolled across to the Veskan ship: "We will meet again,
my friends.  I will wait for you on the first day of spring, in the
Theocracy of Angiskor - it is the last of the principalities along the
western coast, and marches with the Rhenoussian border.  Find me in the
home of the Chief Healer there."

As the Veskan ship turned south to make its two week journey back to the
Isle of Mages, Callixtus had much time for thinking.  In truth, he had not
found Shalmaneser or Lendulio to be the easiest of companions.  They had
spent all their time together, often arm in arm, or the elf sitting on the
unicorn's hugely muscled thighs.  Lendulio spoke but little, though he
often sang elven songs in a high clear voice, in the strange but beautiful
tongue of his people.

As for Shalmaneser, he often spoke to Callixtus, and was always kind and
polite, but also grave and somewhat formal.  Callixtus, though appreciating
the attention, was too much in awe of the mighty unicorn to feel
comfortable in his presence - especially as his presence was a perpetually
nude one, and his enormous member had dangled in the sea breezes in such a
fascinating way that Callixtus had barely been able to keep his eyes off
it.  This added greatly to the difficulty of holding a conversation.

On their return journey, Callixtus said to Magnus, "Master, how old do you
think I am?"

"I've no idea - how old do you think you are?"

 "I have no idea either.  But I feel I would like to know.  I suppose being
with the elves, and hearing their sad and beautiful songs, has made me
think about how time passes and things change."

Magnus said.  "I think you are about fifteen.  And if you have an age, you
should have a birthday.  You joined me on November the ninth.  How about we
make that your fifteenth birthday?  So now you are fifteen years and fifty
two days old, to be precise.  And today is the last day of the old year.
So it is an appropriate time to make new beginnings.  How about marking
your newly found age, and your new status as a Free Man, with some clothes?
I am sure I can find something for you from among the Veskan captain's
wardrobe."

Callixtus said, "Master, we are on a Veskan ship and the Isle of Mages is
also Veskan territory.  As long as we are in Veskan lands, I think I should
wear the same clothing that a Veskan boy of my age would."

 Magnus grinned.  "Which is to say, nothing at all.  I am of course
delighted."

"But Master" said Callixtus, "I don't want to take off your sigil, or the
wolf's tooth charm you gave me.  I don't care if some of the Veskans give
me funny looks on account of them."

Magnus said, "I am of course delighted with your choice, dear boy, as I am
sure you knew I would be.  And if anybody is minded to give you any
churlish looks, it can only be that they are wilfully blind to your
dazzling beauty.  The only looks you deserve are looks of admiration at
those pert, globular buttocks, those rippling muscles, and that gorgeous
cock.  Though the sight fills me with sadness as well."

"How so, master?" said Callixtus.

"Because," said Magnus, "now that you are no longer my slave, I cannot
command you to let me slake my lust on your beautiful form."  And the mage
gave a dramatic, eye-rolling sigh.

 Callixtus laughed.  "But master, you may always request what you can no
longer command."

"I was hoping you might say something like that.  And would my request be
granted?"

 "I can grant it straight away, if you like. And unlike the innkeeper's boy
I watched you with on my first night in your service, you won't even have
to pay me."

Magnus said, "My dear boy, the only thing which prevents me from taking
advantage of your kind offer here and now is the thought you might get a
splinter in your pretty arse from the deck planking when I place you on
your back and fuck you rigid.  I think we should go below to our cabin."

  "Lead on, master!" said Callixtus - whose cock was already springing into
uninhibited life at the prospect of what lay ahead.  And so - followed by
envious glances from not a few of the sailors, who were quick to notice the
boy's obvious and unconcealed tumescence - they went below.