Elf-Boy's Friends 27
Shaper
by George Gauthier
[The further adventures of characters from the novel 'Elf-Boy and Friends']
Chapter 1. The Capital Some Months Later
"Well, well, look who are back!" Drew Altair said to his reportorial colleague the former `cub reporter' Corwin Klarendes at the offices of their news-paper, the Capital Intelligencer.
As the trio of uniformed visitors walked into the city room the young raven haired beauty in the lead waved cheerily and called out:
"Hi fellas! It's been too long, hasn't it?"
"Isn't that the truth? I see Liam that you have brought along your two partners in crime: Sir Axel Wilde, wizard's aide extraordinaire, and that dashing young naval hero Lieutenant Sir Nathan Lathrop of Cavendish."
"We traveled through a space portal which Sir Willet opened just for us!" Axel enthused, adding:
"He sends his regards, but he went straight home for a well-deserved rest. The campaign in Amazonia has been tough on all of us. Fighting takes a lot out of you."
"I'm just glad you three came back in once piece, especially you Nathan, who once actually did lose a piece of yourself to the trolls."
"Ouch! Don't remind me."
Nathan had had the lower part of his left leg severed just above the ankle by a troll axe, during the Petrel's celebrated single ship action against a flotilla of longships. He regrew it a couple of years later thanks to the healing magic of the druids and magical Healers.
"Corwin and I are eager to turn the tale of your adventures into a series of articles. Sure, we already know the big picture of the campaign, but you three were participants and eyewitnesses to history. Right Corwin?"
"Right, but journalism aside, I need you guys to tell me everything I should know about staying alive when fighting trolls: all their tricks and tactics. It will soon be my turn to go to Amazonia as a war correspondent."
"There is not that much that I, as a naval officer, can tell you Corwin on that score." Nathan began. "Liam and Axel were the ones fighting on the front lines. I stayed on the Petrel the whole time, patrolling the coast and protecting the harbors we had seized."
"Don't sell yourself short, Nathan." Liam protested. "Thanks to you, the Petrel frustrated raids on our ships no less than three times. On moonless nights with their skins darkened with burnt cork the trolls paddled small boats toward our anchored and docked vessels."
Nathan picked up the tale
"It was so dark their boats were invisible on the water while the trolls could discern our masts and rigging against the night sky. They were confident that our lookouts would not see them , but I delved their approach every time. Under silent routine we went to general quarters and got ready to repel boarders then met them with fire and steel. Then we attacked the raiders heading for other ships with our catapults and ballistas. None of them survived."
Seeing the puzzled look on Drew's face, Nathan explained:
"Most folks don't realize that my gift lets me delve through air even more easily than through the water and earth. In daylight there is no need to delve what I can see with my own eyes, but at night it is a different story. Anyway that was how we thwarted the raiders."
"Which is why Nathan was once again Mentioned in Dispatches." Liam said proudly. "That make three times now."
"Liam is too modest to mention that both he and Axel were also Mentioned in Dispatches. Axel saved Sir Willet's life from a trio of assassins who popped out of holes in the ground, and Liam jumped through a one-man portal to an exposed position on a knoll from where he could rake troll reinforcements with white fire. Only his Missile Shield kept him from being skewered by a hundred arrows. I understand the commanding general has put him in for an upgrade to one of the top awards."
"You must tell us the whole story of your adventures." Drew urged
"Fine, but not till we get some food in our bellies. And it's high time we whetted our whistles too. To keep our heads clear for combat only small beer and soft cider are allowed anywhere close to the FEBA, which is the Army acronym for the Forward Edge of the Battle Area, though soldiers call it the Bleeding Edge."
Drew enthused. "That's exactly the kind of color we need for our reporting. Anyway let's collect the twins and pick this up again at the Sign of the Whale."
The Sign of the Whale was a popular tavern on the edge of Twinkle Town. Named after the cute twinks who were its most notable denizens, Twinkle Town was a district or rather a cluster of dining, drinking, and dancing establishments favored by males who fancied pretty boys and by pretty boys who favored being fancied.
"OK, but what about Eike?" Nathan asked.
"We won't see him till after supper. He has been working late every day on something hush hush. He won't say a word."
"Sounds intriguing, but I'll get the scuttlebutt out of him, if only in pillow talk." Nathan said confidently. Eike and Nathan had a strong bond, ever since the day Nathan had rescued the then fifteen old castaway from Huckleberry Island, though it wasn't till a couple of years later that they became lovers.
The Sign of the Whale had a well-deserved reputation for fine food and drink at reasonable prices. Konrad Quentin, the proprietor, welcomed the boys as regular customers and sat them at a round table on a veranda decorated with potted plants and hanging baskets of flowers. In the shade of the veranda and with a steady breeze blowing, the temperature was pleasantly warm rather than oppressively hot as it could be during the planet's closest approach to the sun on its annual swing around its elliptical orbit.
Cute serving boys rendered prompt and attentive service. An attraction in their own right, the lissome servers were dressed, if that is the word for it, in linen kilts that reached just past mid thigh only because they hung so low on their narrow hips as to reveal a couple of fingers of rear cleavage. The white fabric contrasted nicely with the sun bronzed skins of boys who spent their mornings outdoors exercising in the nude to keep themselves fit and presentable for their discerning clientele. Soft moccasins and a thin gold chain around the neck completed their ensembles.
At least the serving boys did wear something, which is more than could be said about the svelte wine boy who, by tradition, went about in the nude, the better for patrons to feel him up as he refilled their mugs, glasses, and goblets. Patrons could also arrange with the proprietor for assignations with the wine boys upstairs, which was quite a coveted perquisite of the job since the boys kept all but a fifth of their fees and all of their tips. The wine boys at the Sign of the Whale were in great demand since all three were elves.
Soon all the friends were digging into their food, washing everything down with cold beer. Inevitably one of the three just returned from the wars raised a mug and declared:
"As our friends the Frost Giants always say, cold beer is surely proof that the gods love us and want us to be happy!"
"Axel nodded and leaned back, the edge finally gone off his hunger. "And cold beer complements a meal so well." then he explained to the others. "This is the first real food we three have had in many weeks."
"What does the Army feed you, if not real food?" Corwin asked.
Axel grimaced and answered: "Field rations."
"That bad, eh?"
"You'll find out for yourself soon enough, Corwin."
"And don't expect Navy food to be any better, despite the reputation of Navy chow, which is largely undeserved, in my not so humble opinion." Nathan affirmed.
"Second the motion." Liam added.
"What most folks don't realize is that a ship is a floating firetrap. Practically everything is inflammable: hull, sails, ropes, and stores. That is why cook fires are kept small and never allowed to burn for long. Naval rations must be foods that can be cooked fast. That limits what even the best of cooks can do aboard ship."
"I hope they do better ashore in the mess hall," Corwin said.
"That's the mess DECK, Corwin. Mess hall is Army lingo." Liam pointed out. "And admittedly, it is better ashore."
"With food so bad, it's no wonder your uniforms hang loose on you." Drew observed. "I mean you guys have always been on the slender side which was why you always looked so good in your silks, but now you are practically skinny, you Axel in your Army greens and Nathan and Liam in your naval blues."
"And you boys look very professional in your white silks."
Drew wore one of his trademark sleeveless white silk tunics which looked sharp and professional yet still showed off and flattered the trim taut body he was so proud of. Corwin wore very much the same thing though his whites had green trimming on the end of the hem. No longer just a cub reporter, Corwin wanted to look the part.
Konrad Quentin was glad to see the circle of friends reunited. Though they shared adjoining suites on the third floor of a residential hotel, the boys' duties often took them away from the capital on dangerous missions.
Now they were all back in the capital and once again gracing his establishment. Word of their presence always drew the curious, the envious, and the lustful, which was good for business, especially at the bar which commanded a view of the veranda. And the seven friends were eminently worth watching as they sat together and talked and joked.
Looking no older than the tavern's serving boys this bevy of young beauties seated at the table were not all the same type. Some were quite short while the tallest were just over middle height. Among the taller ones was Liam the single dark haired youth seated on the far side. The others were blonds or red heads. The calendar might say that some were in their late twenties, but you couldn't tell it from their boyish good looks. Thanks to druidical healing magic they were, constitutionally speaking, still teenage youths and would remain that way for centuries.
A well-set up lad dressed in army greens, the young war wizard Liam was just about medium height and on the slender side but with a strong upper storey. He had wide shoulders and muscled arms from his former job as a teamster and more recently from hauling himself up in the rigging. Liam was blessed with the good looks of a raven-haired pretty boy with fine-boned features accented by a light sprinkling of freckles. He had the characteristic mismatched eyes of a war wizard; the left eye was blue and the right brown. His innate magic made his sight keener than normal, and he could see in the dark or rather very dim light like a cat.
Opposite him sat the famous twins Jemsen and Karel, who, as always, were seated side by side. Professional adventurers, they also held commissions as reserve captains in the Army of the Commonwealth of the Long River. Blessed by good looks and rendered ageless by druidic healing magic they were of medium height and with a well-defined musculature. Lithe and boyishly handsome and very blond, utterly alluring with their slender physiques and fine-boned features, they were visions of youthful male pulchritude, virtually exuding good health and sex appeal. Bronzed by the sun and with hair the color of cornsilk cropped close, the twins suggested nothing so much as a pair of palomino colts.
When they were out and about, skin clad like the elf-friends that they were, it was virtually impossible for anyone but their lovers to tell one twin from another. Hence, on occasions like the present, the twins wrapped their hips in color coded sarongs, as always green for Jemsen and blue for Karel. Early on they had worn a variety of colors, but that had just confused everyone.
The twins were the only youths seated at the table with their torsos bared to the hips, which displayed to advantage the taut musculature of their hard bodies. Like Liam they had strong upper stories for boys with such slender builds, the result of daily archery practice. The tight musculature of their chests and bellies were accented by small pink nipples and indented navels, serving as natural beauty marks.
On Liam's right sat Lieutenant Sir Nathan Lathrop in blue naval silks. Standing just a shade under Liam's height he had the willowy build of an elf though he was fully human. Nathan was boyishly cute, a freckle-faced carrot-topped youngster who looked far too young to be an officer in the Navy of the Commonwealth.
Opposite Nathan was the wizard's aide Sir Axel Wilde, another red head though his hair was the color of copper. Except for Corwin, Axel was the youngest of them all and more than a hand shorter than the twins. Slightly built and boyishly cute, with fair skin, his face was dominated by large green eyes set over heart-melting dimples. At his neck he wore the ensorcelled amulet which negated hostile magic directed at him.
The two reporters sat on opposite sides of the table, the better to take notes on the adventures told by the trio just return from Amazonia. Drew Altair was an impossibly cute twink with spiky auburn hair and narrow sideburns reaching below the ear lobe plus straight eyebrows with almost no curve to them. They framed a fine-boned face with a high forehead, chiseled jawline, and a perky nose slightly turned up at the end. Drew was slight in build, standing only five foot zero and weighing but a hundred pounds, yet his tiny frame was easily twice as strong as it looked, enhanced by the same druidical healing magic that had lengthened his life and prolonged his youth.
His colleague Corwin Klarendes was a cute blond youth just a little younger than Axel. Short, slight of build, clean limbed, and standing a few inches over five feet, he was blessed with fine-boned features and green eyes that suggested a considerable admixture of elfin blood in his ancestry like all those in the Klarendes clan including his uncle Count Taitos Klarendes, Count of the Eastern March.
And it wasn't just their good looks that made the proprietor gratified to know them and count them as friends. More than their varied gifts, magical and otherwise, it was their character. This was a great bunch of kids, nice kids, good kids. They were unfailingly friendly and unpretentious despite their fame and wealth. Also caring, public spirited, and loyal to their friends, their country, and the progressive races on the planet of Haven: humans, elves, Frost Giants, and dwarves.
The courage they had demonstrated in their many adventures over the years was legendary. And no one had helped to create, extend, and perpetuate their legend more than Drew Altair both in his journalism and in award-winning best-sellers.
The notes which Drew and his colleague Corwin Klarendes were taking would later be written up as articles in the Capital Intelligencer relating the adventures of their friends in latest campaign against the genocidal trolls.
Of all the foes the Commonwealth of the Long River had fought, only the alien centaurs and the trolls were implacably hostile. Before their extermination, (you couldn't really call it genocide) the centaurs had lived by the hunt alone. Their prey could as easily include sentients like humans, elves, and Frost Giants as it did wild game. Their language was incomprehensible and anyway they were not interested in negotiations with creatures they regarded as food animals or feral livestock.
If they were hungry enough the trolls might eat the flesh of captured humans, but that was not the cause of the war. Normally they slew those who fell into their power and left the bodies to rot or buried them in mass graves for reasons of public health. Without magic of their own and impelled by a merciless religious revelation, the trolls were on a pitiless crusade to extirpate magic on Haven by exterminating all the races who used it.
Even the eastern barbarians, traditional enemies of the Commonwealth, counted on its victory in the ongoing war. They were magic users too. Likely that was why the barbarians had not caused any trouble lately.
Chapter 2. Combat at Sea and on Land
Nathan started off describing how the Petrel countered those three troll raids on allied shipping. Paddling small boats on moonless nights the trolls hoped to sneak aboard Navy ships and scuttle them or set them on fire. Few ships had sailors in their crews with the ability to see in the dark. When Liam was aboard the Petrel, the frigate did have such a sentry. His wizard's eyes could penetrate the darkness better than a cat, but the young war wizard was ashore fighting trolls.
Fortunately Nathan's delving power let him see or rather perceive everything around him whether on a moonless night with an overcast sky, in pitch dark caverns underground, or in windowless rooms. Which was not too surprising. If you think about it, delving should pierce air even more easily than it does earth or water.
Now the delver does not actually see with his eyes. Instead he projects a mental field of awareness something like the Missile Shield of fetchers. He perceives with his mind's eye not his physical eyes. He does not even have to be looking directly at he is delving. He can delve to the side or behind him, in effect giving him eyes in the back of his head. Once on the alert, it is impossible to sneak up on a delver, no matter how stealthily a foe might approach.
The local commanders subsequently drafted delvers from the construction battalions that were rebuilding the ports the trolls had destroyed when they pulled back from the coast. Sounders, as the Navy called its delvers, were assigned as night time lookouts. Meanwhile recruitment efforts were underway throughout the Greater Commonwealth. No one in authority had realized that delving could be used in this way. It was yet another example of how that state could mobilize the talents of its population for public purposes.
"And we also found out," Liam added, "that a delver can penetrate a Concealment, though only when actively invoking his gift. Otherwise he can be taken in by it too."
Drew nodded approvingly.
"With magic, it's not just what kind of gift you have. It is what you do with it. We fetchers basically move things with our minds, but that gift can manifest in a variety of powers besides the traditional trio of fetching, lifting, or throwing. Fetchers can also fly or propel small craft without oars, not to mention freight wagons and street cars on iron roads. As already mentioned, our missile shield defends us from arrows and slings. With such powers we can fight in the line of battle or rescue folks stranded by flood or fire, lifting them to safety. A strong fetcher can free victims of earthquakes trapped under collapsed structures. We can even juggle with no hands!"
"Or engage in lovemaking in ways that defy gravity." Liam pointed out, drawing a chuckle from everybody except Axel who blushed at the memory of their nights together.
The twins seconded the motion.
"It all goes to show that gifts are versatile and can be invoked in varied ways as distinct magical powers. Look how an air wizard like Karel can communicate by infrasound, run a mile a minute pushed by a jet of air, create a shield of hardened air or a sun mirror, direct land spouts and dust devils at enemy formations, and even take to the air himself, if somewhat awkwardly and only briefly, either within a whirlwind or with bat wings."
"And I" Jemsen noted "have only now realized that since delving is part of my gift of earth magic I too can see in the dark. I wished I had known to invoke it that night some weeks ago when, with both moons down, I stepped off the footpath and pitched myself into a muddy ditch. That'll teach me to take shortcuts in the dark of night!"
"A downside of the gift of Unerring Direction is a continual temptation to take shortcuts," Karel explained.
"Tell me about it!" Axel exclaimed, "I once slammed into the trunk of an oak," then summed up the conversation with:
"What all this tells us is that exploiting any gift to the fullest takes both imagination and instruction. Those with gifts should spend time in the Institute's library. The collection of after action reports is especially valuable. I can show you where to find them."
"And the gifted should also read my journal `Magic' for tips from fellow practitioners." Drew added. "Anyway, it's your turn now Axel to tell of your adventures. What's this about a trio of assassins?"
Axel began by explaining that the trolls might not be able to raise a magical Concealment, but they were masters at camouflage and misdirection and sneaky tricks. They used one of their abandoned command centers as bait for a trap, fixing it up with maps showing troop dispositions, records of their order of battle, intelligence summaries and supply records. Then they set a fire carefully designed to burn itself out, leaving the impression of a failed attempt at arson. The trolls figured that the command center would draw high ranking officers and maybe war wizards to check it out. It did.
"The trolls stationed their assassins in the bushes lining the approach to the command center using a new tactic inspired by the hunting technique of the trapdoor spider. The killers lurked in holes concealed by woven camouflaged covers while they peered through a simple periscope made from a tube of bamboo and a couple of small mirrors. A leafy vine wrapped around the tube provided concealment. They waited for our party to pass by then surged out of their holes and attacked."
"I was lagging slightly, having answered a call of nature. So I was behind the ambushers as they aimed crossbows at Sir Willet and a couple of generals. With no time to even shout a warning, I invoked my gift of Calling Light to englobe the head of the troll on my left then attacked the others with my kukri relying on the doubled strength and speed conferred by my magically enhanced constitution."
"With their hands full and their attention of their prey I had the element of surprise on my side. I stabbed one in the back then spun towards the third troll, but he was already turning toward me, alerted by the ruckus the troll I stabbed had made."
"That final foe was nearly a foot taller and three times my size, but I was quicker and more agile. As he swung around to train his crossbow on me I ducked and tucked myself into a roll, letting his quarrel fly over me. I came out of the somersault right at this feet and stabbed upward into his groin. That took the fight out of him, all right. When I got back to my feet, I finished him off then brushed the dust from my clothes."
"Wow!" Corwin exclaimed. "I gotta write this up, his and Nathan's stories both. You can take Liam's story, Drew."
"Two for you, one to me, eh? Oh, what the heck. Go ahead Corwin."
"That's twice now you have saved Sir Willet's life." Drew pointed out.
The first time was when Axel englobed the head of a tawny panther who was about to pounce on his mentor.
"The generals thanked me for acting decisively to thwart the assassins and declared that my actions had one earned me a medal, very likely the Military Cross for Valor. Sir Willet embraced me, telling me that he couldn't have been prouder of me if I were his own son. That meant a whole lot to me, as you can imagine."
Axel might not have actually sprung from Sir Willet's loins, but the war wizard's love for his young protege was as strong as if they were linked by blood.
"After we sorted ourselves out Sir Willet lead us into the dummy command center. That was where he really came into his own. He took one careful look around and pronounced it phony. Which is no less than what you would expect of our top expert on concealment, camouflage, and misdirection."
"Anyway, it's your turn Liam to tell everyone what you saw and did."
Liam shrugged and said:
"There's not all that much to tell."
"Now, now. This is no time for false modesty, Liam," Drew admonished. "Tell us a story which will excite my readers. And Axel, when you get a chance, write down everything Liam says."
"I'm already on it for both you and Corwin." Axel told him, tapping his temple with his index finger.
Axel's gift of eidetic memory let him remember what he heard for long enough to transcribe it to paper. Another aspect of his gift was a permanent memory of everything he had ever read.
Liam nodded and began his tale.
"As you know I have limitations on my ability to open portals. These days I can open a portal wide enough for a small group but certainly not for a party of one hundred much less a whole regiment of Frost Giants, not even closely bunched in march order much less spread out in a flotilla of longships. So my job was to serve as the advance man for the contingent of war wizards and mages scheduled to rotate into our forces for the latest campaign in our war in Amazonia."
"I traveled there aboard the Petrel and then upriver on a captured longship rowed by Frost Giants. At the appointed time I opened a portal to the capital for Sir Willet who was thus able to get to Amazonia without a long sea voyage which would have incapacitated him with seasickness. Sir Willet and Sir Rikkard stepped through my portal then opened wide portals for rest of the corps of wizards and mages assigned to the campaign. After an orientation the magic wielders were assigned to their units."
"During the campaign the senior war wizards opened further portals to transport Frost Giants behind enemy positions. The other magic wielders, the wizards and mages supported the conventional forces of naval infantry, Frost Giants, dwarves, and human and elven soldiers who travelled by long ship but fought on land. The vessels from our riverine navy protected them from naval attack by the trolls."
"You cannot believe the level of violence in those hard fought battles. Fighting on their own ground the trolls had the advantage of numbers but we had better weapons and tactics plus our magic. Our soldiers and naval infantry fought them with steel and arrows and fire globes while our Air Corps bombarded them from above. Strong as they were physically, they were no match for Frost Giants. Our dwarves gave a good account of themselves too. Though about two feet shorter than trolls dwarves are more solidly built and very nearly as strong as trolls, which caught our foes by surprise."
The sturdy constitution of dwarves and their dimensions had originally been designed for life on heavy gravity planets in the galactic empire of yore.
"The trolls had never faced magic as powerful as ours. Fetchers and masters of magnetism blocked the showers of arrows they loosed at our forces. Wizards and mages directed storms and tornados at the trolls; firecasters burned them with streams of flame or flung swarms of fist sized fire balls or hurled great clinging balls of fire to cook them like lobsters in a pot. Masters of lightning blasted them with lightning bolts which jumped along a chain from axe to axe to axe. Masters of magnetism yanked the axes right out of their hands while fetchers yanked their eyeballs out of their skulls or smashed whirling steel spheres through heads and bodies."
"The trolls never gave quarter so neither did we. That makes for a war of attrition and battles of annihilation. We held nothing back. Earth wizards shook slopes with earthquakes to bring landslides down on the trolls, opened trenches to divide and isolate enemy formations, or immobilized them in muddy mires. We even resorted to sun mirrors as frightful incendiary weapons against the trolls, turning hundreds at a time into crispy critters."
"The trolls do sometimes withdraw tactically. In the lands they have invaded they have the strategic depth to yield ground and bleed us as we push forward. Their zone of control extends many hundreds of miles into the Amazon basin. No one knows how many trolls there are on this continent but aerial reconnaissance indicates the population at least a million and maybe two or three million."
"Their strategy is to wear us down, to bleed us so badly that we will give up and withdraw our expeditionary forces and thereafter seek only to contain them, allowing them a respite during which they would build their strength for a renewed campaign, possibly breaking our blockade of their former corridors to the southern coast to draw reinforcements from their oceanic archipelago."
"It shows how little they know us. Backing off is not the way that the Commonwealth of the Long River wages war. With our hegemony over the continent of Valentia we don't start wars, but we always finish them and on our terms. In time -- and not so much time really -- we will extirpate this menace root and branch."
"Now getting to my own actions. Since I am with the Navy I was assigned to the naval infantry, specifically the three regiments of Frost Giants I had trained with last year. Sir Rikkard opened a portal for us, putting us in an advantageous position behind entrenched earthworks the trolls were trying to hold."
"Sir Rikkard himself stayed back with most of the mages to fight alongside the army units pressing the trolls from the front. As our most powerful weather wizard he called up a monster thunderstorm and rained hail the size of duck eggs on the enemy and blasted them with lightning while torrential rains loosened their bowstrings."
"The only magic wielders attached to the force of Giants were myself, a fetcher on defense to help me hold a missile shield over us, and a firecaster on offense plus a weather wizard whose main job was infrasound communications with the main body though he did loose a tornado at the trolls before our forces got too mixed up with theirs. Oh, and we had a magical Healer with us too."
"We caught the enemy in a vise, the army in front and the Frost Giants from behind, but the enemy by now was wise to our tricks and had a second line of entrenchments facing the other way, towards us. The firecaster, the fetcher, and I used our powers to force a breach in their line. The giants surged through and started to roll up their second line. Meanwhile the army pressed forward against the main enemy force, holding their attention."
"Just when we thought we had the battle won, the enemy sprang another surprise. Their mobile reserve suddenly appeared behind us, having made a forced march from their bivouac to the battle field. It looked like the Frost Giants were in for a bad time till the army could break through and join their strength to ours."
"Now directly in the line of march of the mobile reserve stood a rocky knob some forty feet high. The approaching column of trolls parted and marched around both sides of the knob. I saw my chance and stepped through a portal to an exposed position atop the knob, right in the middle of four thousand trolls. I came under fire from hundreds of bows. With arrows arcing at me from all directions I struggled to keep my Missile Shield up while preparing to unleash white fire on the column."
"There were about twenty-five hundred trolls in front of me marching straight down a road toward the Frost Giants. Targeting those farthest away, those who would soon be out of range, I summoned white fire and swept it left and right in a very short arc across the road. Then I dropped my aiming point and successively attacked two sections of the road closer to the rocky knob, before turning and loosing a final strike at those behind me. It took just about everything I had to throw white fire four times."
"In the end, I was nearly drained of magic and did not have the strength to open a portal for my getaway. I even had to drop my Missile shield to conserve enough strength to Lift myself by the wooden yoke in my armor and fly back to our lines. Flying through a storm of arrows I got hit three times. The first arrow broke a rib but glanced off and did not penetrate my body. A second was driven into my thigh. The pain made me lose my grip on magic. As I started to fall I caught a third shaft in the ass."
"Yikes!" Karel exclaimed sympathetically, a hand going to his rump where he had taken a crossbow quarrel years earlier.
Liam continued with:
"Sir Rikkard was watching through a far-viewer and caught me with his telekinetic powers. He drew me safely back to our lines and set me down at the medical aid station where a Healer pulled the arrows out of me without further damage thanks to my silk trews. There is a very good reason why silk is the fabric of choice for the military."
Liam went on to explain that arrows could do more harm when drawn out than when they went in -- partly from the barbs but also from the fabric of one's clothing. The fibers of wool, linen, and cotton would fragment and contaminate wounds, which then festered. That could lead to potentially fatal blood poisoning if you could not reach a magical Healer in time. Silk retained its structural integrity and wrapped the point and barbs of the arrowhead which allowed the arrow to be withdrawn without snagging and tearing the flesh on the way out.
"In my case the healer used a combination of natural and magical healing. She let the blood flow freely to flush the wound and disinfected it with fiery spirits but stopped the bleeding and healed the wound magically."
"Why didn't she just use magic for the whole job?" Corwin asked.
"With so many wounded, she had to husband her magic and use it sparingly relying on natural medicine when she could. That was why her healing left me with a small white scar on my butt cheek."
"A souvenir we will all soon get a chance to examine, in bed or otherwise." Karel joked.
"I'm calling first dibs on taking Liam to bed!" Axel interjected.
"Be that as it may, my eager young wizard's aide, and I am just as eager to join you there, I must first conclude my tale."
"The destruction of the reserve force broke the morale of the trolls in the trenches. They surged out of their entrenchments and ran for their lives. None got very far. The Army cavalry rode them down or drove them into the shield wall of the Frost Giants. Sir Rikkard and the other mages and our Army Air Corps smashed the remaining knots of organized resistance. Our victory was complete."
"Wow! Aren't you sorry now, Corwin, that you let such a terrific story get away."
"Only a little, Drew. What I mostly feel is relief that we got our Liam back in one piece."
"Amen to that."
Chapter 3. Shaping
"It seems your group is one short. Where is the young naval architect Eike and why hasn't he joined you to celebrate your reunion?" Konrad Quentin asked.
It was Corwin who answered.
"Eike is working on armaments to help us fight the war. Just what they are none of us knows. It's all very hush hush."
"Why such secrecy? The trolls do not speak our language nor can they read what is in our news-papers. And with their distinctive body shapes and physiognomies, they could hardly send spies among us to ferret out our military secrets."
"Maybe not troll spies but what about humans forced to work for them while their families are held hostage?" Corwin suggested.
"Hostage? Don't they just kill every human, elf, giant, and dwarf who falls into their hands?"
"They did so at first, yes, but now they sometimes enslave those who are useful such as sailors of captured sailing vessels. Of course, once the captives are no longer useful to the trolls they too get the chop. Literally!"
"Oh?"
"Trolls favor the axe over the sword." Liam explained.
"Little good axes will do them once I loose my ball lightning at them." Corwin said confidently. "Metal axe heads are excellent conductors of electricity. So the weapons they threaten me with will only make it easier to kill them."
"On the offensive I can zip my balls of lightning back and forth and left and right, something like Drew's steel spheres but a lot slower, taking out a score of foes at one fell swoop. With just a touch the electric charge will stop their hearts, and when a ball engulfs a foe, the intense heat turns him into a crispy critter. On the defensive, a ball of lightning three or four feet across serves as a darn good missile shield against, arrows, quarrels, or slung bullets."
"I've been practicing a new technique where I juggle three lightning balls at once, either two up front on offense and one on defense to the side or back, or the other way round. Alternatively I turn the third globe into an area weapon, exploding it into a hundred fist-sized balls of lightning to maybe stop a cavalry charge or open a breach in a shield wall."
"That's very clever of you Corwin, finding new ways to use you gift."
"It's not entirely really my doing Jemsen. I chanced upon a mention of the technique in Drew's newsletter `Magic' then I followed up with research in the library of the Institute. Before he left for the front Axel showed me how to find the materials that would enlighten me on the subject."
The proprietor frowned. "I understood you were to be a war correspondent, Corwin, not a soldier. Yet here you are talking tactics."
"Knowing how headstrong my colleague can be," Drew said, "I suspect that at some point he will throw his powers onto the balance and join the fight rather than simply observe and report it."
"As you yourself did, Drew, in battles against centaurs and trolls, when you were just a cub reporter." Corwin reminded him. "Besides, I am a member of the militia. All war correspondents are activated during their time with the forces, putting them under military authority and control."
"But I had another purpose in my researches: how to use my gift constructively so I too might be called up for rescue work like Drew. And Jemsen and Karel have used their mastery of earth and air magic to control floods and wildfires. I want to help people too."
"Good for you, Corwin." Axel said in support.
Suddenly Nathan stood up and pointed:
"Look! It's Eike!"
Wearing only the skimpiest of loincloths, which for Eike was practically formal wear, the young naval architect ran up and embraced Nathan and held him in a clinch that spoke of how much he missed the naval officer who had rescued him, became his best friend, and in time, his lover. They made a fine looking couple, a slender redhead in naval blues and a cute and very nearly nude blond boy.
Eike was slightly built, slender, and smooth muscled. Though almost nineteen he looked to be no more than sixteen and would stay that way for centuries thanks to druidical healing magic. Far prettier than any boy rightly ought to be, he had a flawless complexion and fine boned features including a broad brow that hinted at his intellect, high cheekbones, a straight nose, plus subtly pointed ears and chin which gave him an elfin appearance, His large green eyes were set wide apart under finely arched brows, their lashes too long to have ever have been meant for a male.
Nathan held him at arms' length to evaluate the changes since they had last seen each other,
"I am surprised Eike that you haven't turned pasty white from all those hours indoors in your office and workshop that are keeping you working late."
Eike had the tawny skin of someone who habitually went about in the nude, as indeed he had done for five years as a castaway after his clothing had rotted away.
"Ha! We don't build ships indoors, you know. As a naval architect, I am always scrambling about the yards and the scaffolding as the ships rise on the ways or inspecting new lots of lumber and so forth. And I am often out at the proving grounds to test my inventions. And then there is all the running and swimming I do to stay fit and keep my body pleasing for those who fancy pretty youths with hard bodies."
"In that regard do you have anyone in particular in mind?" Nathan asked slyly.
"While I do like to tempt the many who gaze at me with longing in their hearts I reserve myself for a select few, including a certain naval officer who hasn't had the sense to kiss me yet."
Taking his cue, Nathan pressed his lips and body against the youth who had won his heart.
"Get a room!" someone shouted from the bar.
"We will!" Eike shouted back then turned his attention back to his Nathan. When they finally came up for air, the couple sat together at the table where Liam and Axel began plying Eike with questions about not only about his work but also about his newly manifested magical gift. Eike's long awaited gift had developed while the trio were away on campaign. They had only read about in letters.
"Mine is the rare gift called Shaping. It lets me work with solid materials like metal, stone, or wood and form them without tools, which is why the gift is called Shaping. With my mind alone I can transform a lump of steel, lifting it into the air, flattening it, squeezing it into a rod, hollowing it out to make a cylinder or sphere or take on any shape my mind can conceive."
"With practice I have learned to create complex mechanisms like clock works made of many different parts. In fact the clock on my mantlepiece has just such a mechanism which I installed in a wooden case I had built for it by a joiner."
"My gift was a long time in coming, but this one fits perfectly with who I am and what I do. What better gift can there be for an inventor and tinkerer? Ideas are easy to come by. They just pop into your head. The hard part is putting the idea to work and making a prototype out of often recalcitrant materials. With Shaping I can make anything I can think up, try it out, and make corrections and improvements, speeding up the cycle of trial and error by a factor of ten."
"Of course, shaping is just for the prototypes and models. To turn out any great quantity of my gadgets takes a suitably tooled manufactory. So a lot of thought goes into making the components easy to manufacture and assemble. Ease of maintenance is also an important consideration. You want to make things easy to fix even out in the field."
"As important aspect of my gift is what I call exact dimensioning. I always know the dimensions of anything I am shaping. And I can shape things to exact measurements, which lets me use standard hardware components like screws and nuts and bolts, gears, bushings, and housings. Exact dimensions are absolutely vital for mass production which require exactness, close tolerances, and standardization, as you can imagine."
"I can also take the measurements of anything I turn my attention to. For instance, I can tell you the diameter of this table we are sitting around to a tiny fraction of an inch. And I know exactly how far I am from any distant point I can see. It that respect my gift is supplementary to a gift of Unerring Direction."
"That sounds great, Eike," Drew asked, "but these devices you have invented gotta be more important than another bunch of toys."
"My new inventions have military uses, but don't knock toys. Aren't toys a part of a happy childhood? The toy business is lucrative; it is almost magical the way it turns wood and tin into gold!"
Eike's new company, Thyssen Toys, had burst upon the market a year earlier with an hot line of innovative toys. Eike was the owner and the creative force behind the company though with his commitment to the Navy and to naval architecture, he himself was too busy to manage the business. Eike's business agent, the wily dwarf Lennart had recruited a manager with experience in the toy business to supervise operations. Manufacturing was contracted out, but the firm handled design, art work, promotion, wholesale sales, and so forth.
Eike described for the friends returned from Amazonia just what his toy business entailed.
One of the simplest of his toys was a model aeroplane made of balsa wood which a kid could assemble in a moment then pitch into the air and watch it sail downrange or even loop the loop. Another was the returning boomerang, an airfoil made of wood. Originating as a hunting weapon in ancient times, the uneven flow of air over its bent shape made it return it to the thrower's hand in a way reminiscent of Finn Ragnarson's war hammer Mjolnir.
The company's line of toy trains was a huge seller. The model trains were especially popular with fetcher families as a foretaste of the lucrative career they might one day have pushing freight wagons or street cars along iron roads. Some very young children could muster enough telekinetic strength to push the toy trains along the tracks themselves. If not, then the youngsters watched while their older brothers or dads did the honors. Normal kids had to move the trains with the hands, which was less realistic though still a lot of fun.
Toy train sets enjoyed vigorous after-market sales for components like extra track, switches and sidings, rolling stock, and buildings and human/elven/giant/dwarf figures cast in tin to scale. (The company also offered a line of tin soldiers and sailors.) The buildings were made of stiff paper stock which could be folded and glued into the right shape to look like a depot, a townhouse, a commercial building, a farmhouse, a barn, and so forth. Not out on the market yet was an urban layout for street cars instead of long distance freight trains.
The most important toy, though his friends did not yet realize it, was the gyro, a wooden blade or propeller on a shaft which a kid could spin by pulling on a cord wrapped around the shaft. Upon release from its holder it would lift into the sky.
"OK enough about toys. What about your work for the Navy. Are you finally going to share with the rest of us?"
"Ha! There speaks the inquiring reporter."
"Drew is not the only one who is burning with curiosity." Karel asserted vehemently. "Karel and I are bursting with questions!"
"Why am I not surprised?" Eike teased then announced grandiloquently:
"Friends, enlightenment is at hand. Tomorrow, all shall be revealed. Repair to my workshop. There you shall see that which I have wrought. And yes, Drew and Corwin, it is all for publication."
"Hoorah!" the pair of journalists and the twins chorused together.
After their meal everyone returned to their residential hotel where Eike and Nathan did get a room together, namely Eike's bedchamber in the suite of rooms he shared with the naval officer and the war wizard. The trio of Drew, Axel, and Corwin Klarendes shared the adjoining suite on the left, while the twins were in the suite to the right, their living space forming a U at one end of the third floor of the hotel.
Just recently the management had agreed to their request to combine the three suites into a single set of rooms. Workmen erected a partition in the hallway isolating their living space from the other suites on that floor, leaving only the one door giving out onto the public corridor from the section of hallway that became their new foyer. The workmen then cut doorways and took down non-load bearing walls to connect and open up the old foyers, sitting rooms, and studies of the three suites, allowing all eight residents to circulate freely throughout their space.
The mostly rattan furnishings belonged to the hotel which prevent stylistic clashes though pictures hung on the walls and souvenir and objets d'art differed from room to room. Shade-tolerant ferns and fronds and cycads provided soothing green accents to the mostly tan and dark wood decor.
More than just friends, more than just lovers, the eight youths were virtually a family who shared their common space just as they shared their lives and their bodies. Each had his own bedchamber, but seldom slept alone, instead sleeping together in a constantly shifting constellation of pairs and trios of lovers.
At home they usually went around in the nude, letting the uniforms or garments they had to wear for professional reasons hang in their wardrobes and closets until required. They did dress for dinner in the dining room on the ground floor and for forays into Twinkle Town.
The boys thought nothing of leaving their quarters in the nude and taking the outside stairwell to lounge in the garden or stretch out on the grass, perhaps while reading or chatting with friends, their hard young bodies totally and (mostly) unselfconsciously on display. Later they might head over to the running trails in the park, only to return afterwards for a quick douche under the outdoor showers and then a swim in the pool, all the while remaining as nature had made them.
Living in a tropical climate in a society that had long since given up nudity taboos, clothing was optional for young males in many situations. Except when swaddled as infants, children never wore clothing. At puberty youths might elect to wear a silk modesty pouch or a brief loincloth as visible signs of their coming of age or to establish some social distance from potential suitors. Many seldom bothered with even that much.
Thus nudity was the rule for all forms of sports and exercise and many forms of sweaty labor or just when relaxing. The public parks were full of young males strutting their stuff and repairing to bowers specially planted to facilitate impromptu trysts.
As members of the armed forces, Nathan and Liam would wear Navy blue silks when on duty, though Liam would always stand watch in the crow's perch in the nude. Axel typically dressed in a sarong and moccasins for work at the Institute though he switched to Army greens when on campaign. The two journalists wore their smart professional outfits of white silk at the offices of the Capital Intelligencer or when out on interviews.
As for the twins, since the age of fifteen when they had been adopted into a clan of elves they had mostly gone about skin-clad, like elven males. On formal occasions they wrapped sarongs around their hips, color coded so everyone could tell them apart. Jemsen always wore green and Karel blue.
From childhood and his years as a castaway Eike had even less use for clothing than the twins, hence his simple loincloth as professional wear. The skimpy garment, if you could call it that, was a single narrow panel of buckskin passed between the legs and flipped over a leather thong tied around his hips, leaving him next thing to naked. It also made it quick and easy to get entirely naked for a night of fun and frolic with the lover he had longed for during the months Nathan was away on campaign.
That night Nathan and Eike made up for lost time and then some, joining their bodies in all the ways that healthy young males can to express the love and passion they felt for each other.
Nathan and Eike's relationship had matured slowly. At first Nathan had cautioned the sexually innocent fifteen year old castaway about the attentions that a cute blond boy like him would attract. He wanted the boy to make his own choices, not be inveigled into pleasuring sweet talking sailors. Warned to keep their hands off, the crew of the Petrel soon warmed to the young innocent, coming to regard him as a sort of ship's mascot. Indeed they guarded him against untoward advances.
Once on the mainland the boy had bloomed and come into his own. In time Eike did make his own choices. And Eike had realized first that he preferred boys to girls and second that he fancied one boy in particular: his rescuer and mentor and best friend Nathan Lathrop.
Both youths had had their constitutions enhanced by druidical healing magic which provided them with longevity and perpetual youth, acute senses, resistance to disease and strong healing powers. It also came with a stronger sex drive, as if those two needed it. Their doubled strength and stamina made for energetic, acrobatic, and loud marathon sessions of lovemaking. Good thing for the thick walls.
Eike was very much a bottom boy. He liked nothing better than to make love face to face with his legs thrown over Nathan's shoulders while the sailor thrust into him, impaling the boy on his manhood. All the while they could kiss, feel each other up, and drink in the youthful male beauty of their lover.
Nathan also liked to flip the boy on his belly, firm curvaceous buns uppermost, and mount him from behind. As his cock slid in and out of Eike's quim it would hit the boy's joy knot, setting his whole body to shuddering helplessly with unalloyed pleasure. Eike would plead for a chance to catch his breath, but when Nathan would ask if the boy really wanted him to stop, Eike would tell him no, of course not, that he wanted Nathan to continue, to keep at it no matter how lightheaded Eike became -- even if he swooned, as he sometimes did.
Nathan liked to tease his lover, to bring him just to the point of release then ease off, stroking more slowly, keeping him on the edge, delirious with lustful pleasures. Eventually one or the other would climax triggering the other's orgasm as well. If Eike came first, the muscles in his quim would spasm, squeezing and gripping Nathan's cock, rubbing the sweet spot behind the glans and setting him off. Or Nathan would climax first and shoot his hot seed deep into Eike. The sensation of wet warmth filling his innards set the boy off too.
As for Axel, yes that eager young wizard's aide did get first dibs on Liam that night and made good use of his opportunity.
Chapter 4. Game Changers
At Eike's workshop the next morning, the young tinkerer, as he liked to call himself, showed off his latest inventions: an entirely new design for bicycles, a shoulder fired repeating air gun, and a flying machine he called an auto-gyro.
The new bicycle featured two wheels the same size, a horizontal frame, and a drive train which drove the rear wheel rather than the front. A synchronous toothed belt engaged both the drive sprocket under the down tube and and the hub of the rear wheel. Thus the crank arms of the pedals delivered rotary power to the rear wheel in a manner which reversed the logic of the experimental chain drives that others were working on where toothed wheels engaged the links in a chain.
The upright posture with the pedals below the saddle allowed the rider to put his weight on them to climb slopes and hills, which was much more efficient than with the pedals powering the front wheel. Also it was easier to keep the feet on pedals which stayed in one place compared to pedals on a front wheel that turned left and right to steer the bicycle. The design also simplified maintenance and repairs.
For the sake of security the Navy had insisted that Eike work only on Navy premises though allowing him to retain all rights to his bicycle design. Eike's business agent, the wily dwarf Lennart, had licensed that design to the same manufactories that were already turning out the wire wheels now universally used in bicycles. The deal would bring Eike big money from both the civilian and military markets, though the latter would get priority at first due to the ongoing war with the trolls.
"I owe the idea and the name of this next invention to Karel. You will all remember how during our defense of the mountain resort against the orcs Karel suggested we join two sections of wooden pipe intended for a storm drain to create what he called an air gun. Though the principle was sound the implementation left a lot to be desired. No offense, Karel."
"None taken. Only desperation at the threat of the orcs made it worth trying. The contraptions were so make-shift that I was surprised they worked at all."
"True, but whatever their limitations they did demonstrate the principle of propelling pieces of metal with compressed air. With my new air guns, I had the advantages of time, shaping, and a fully equipped machine shop to get things right. Hence the weapon you see before you."
The air gun had a stock like a crossbow and a barrel like a small diameter pipe almost four feet long. Air pressure from a pressure vessel inside the hollow stock propelled spherical lead bullets somewhat smaller than those used by slingers down the tube to a range greater than a crossbow though short of the range of a long bow. As he explained:
"The pressure of the air rushing down the barrel accelerates the bullet the length of the barrel and out the muzzle. Now the bullets shot from an air gun travel faster than a slung bullet or a bolt from a cross bow and deliver a correspondingly harder wallop. The gun can be aimed by aligning the front and back sights, though at long range you also have to allow for crosswinds and the drop of the bullet. I am working on improved sights now. At close range, you don't bother sighting; you just point and shoot."
"How do you charge the air reservoir?" Karel asked."
"You used the long lever under the barrel to pump and compress the air in the reservoir. At full charge it supplies enough impetus for fourteen shots, though the final two are considerably weaker than the first dozen. When disengaged from the pump, the lever works the action to move the next ball from the tube magazine into the breech and cocks the trigger."
"Tactically you might deploy your infantry in two lines with one shooting while the other charges their reservoirs. Or you could use your men as skirmishers who would take cover rather than line up in plain view where they are vulnerable to enemy missiles."
"Almost as important is that an air gun is as easy to master as a crossbow. An archer trains his whole life with the long bow. A soldier can become effective at volley fire with an air gun with a week of training and practice. In volley fire individual accuracy is not important. Now to become a true marksman, that takes both talent and practice."
"Wow! This is a real game changer! Our infantry will mow the trolls down like a farmer with a scythe."
"Exactly. And I am working on a shorter version for the cavalry which I call a carbine from an old word I came across in the library as I researched the concept of guns. Since the barrel is shorter its range and punch are less."
"Now follow me out back so I can show you my new flying machine, which I call an autogyro because it was my gyro toy which inspired it, and it turns by itself. The single bladed rotor turns spins in the wind created by the forward motion of the aircraft. In turn the spin of the rotor generates lift. Even weak fetchers can propel an autogyro without straining themselves and take to the sky. All it takes is to give the contraption a push; the rotor does all the lifting. This thing climbs like you wouldn't believe."
"You mean it's already been flown?" Drew asked. "Why didn't you ask Liam and me to take her up for the test flights? After all, we are both Pioneers of Flight."
"There is no need for that frown, Drew. I always knew you two could make it fly thanks to your strong telekinetic powers. Either of you could just Lift the autogyro straight up with no forward motion and no spin to the rotor, hence no aerodynamic lift. We needed to test this rig with fetchers who couldn't Lift it up bodily but could push it forward enough to generate lift with the rotor."
"Makes sense." Liam conceded, mollified by Eike's explanation.
Eike's autogyro was a two seater with a bamboo frame, stubby wings for extra lift, supported by a tripod landing gear of three wire wheels smaller than those of a bicycle. The tail assembly included a rudder to control yaw and elevators to control pitch. The wooden rotor turned on a metal shaft about three feet above the heads of the flyers. A lightweight cockpit formed from stiffened fabric cut down on aerodynamic drag. Cables connected pedals in the cockpit to the rudder while the elevators were managed by a vertical handle called the stick.
"I see the autogyro has two seats," Liam said. "I take it that one seat is for the pilot and the other for a passenger."
"Exactly. A fetcher who might not be strong enough to lift himself into the air via a yoke or to stay up for very long can still push the autogyro hard enough to take off with two aboard. So the autogyro quadruples the number of fetchers capable of flight and lets them stay aloft longer. Now a flyer in an autogyro won't have the dwell time of a naval aviator flying one of Nathan's rigid wings, but he has greater endurance than anyone flying with a yoke."
"Now, it takes a very short run to build up enough forward speed to generate sufficient lift. Remarkably when the thing lands it rolls barely more than its own length before slowing to a halt. And an observer can circle or orbit overhead and relay signals to forces below with a signal mirror, infrasound, or even notes dropped to the ground with streamers attached to make them easy to spot."
"After tomorrow's trials the Navy will deploy a couple to one of the new air carriers to test the concept of autogyros at sea. I understand they will have air wizards generate a jet of air to serve as a headwind to get them aloft with hardly any takeoff roll at all."
"You know Eike, autogyros are not just for the Navy. They will make the Army Air Corps even more effective against the trolls." Liam said, explaining:
"Oh, I'll grant that flyers with yokes have been pretty effective dropping incendiaries and caltrops. But such attacks are episodic and come in discrete waves, since the flyers have to return to base to reload once they expend their munitions."
"If the Air Corps took war mages up as passengers they could orbit at length high above an enemy formation, raining destruction on them with their powers. Masters of magnetism, lightning throwers, firecasters, air wizards and so on could attack continuously, or as long as their magical strength allowed. It would be a devastating addition to our military capabilities."
"That's right, Liam. I'll mention it to the Admiral and to our Army liaison officer." Eike replied, adding:
"Besides all the military applications we have been talking about, My autogyros have civilians uses too. Ranchers could fly over their range to survey and herd cattle. the Post Office could fly the mail to distribution points around the Commonwealth, transporting letters at a speed between that of heliograph and mail coaches. Also Healers and rescue workers could get to where they are needed that much faster. Just think, Drew, how handy an autogyro would be the next time you were called up to help with recovery from a flood or earthquake."
"And more good news, you my friends. The same bicycle companies which you have all invested in will will construct my autogyros as well as the new style bicycles. Imagine the returns you will earn now when sales of both take off!"
"As if we needed the money." Jemsen observed.
Indeed all of Eike's friends had become wealthy even before investing in bicycle manufactories. Their comfortable but modest life styles meant that most of their income could be plowed into long term investments, especially in new industries like iron roads, street cars, refrigeration, aviation, bicycles, though not the toy company of which Eike was the sole proprietor.
"So when do we get to try out all this cool kit?" Drew asked.
"This afternoon. I'll show you all the basics of the operation and maintenance of the air gun. Then we will go out to the target range so you can get a feel for the new weapon. Drew, I'll check out you and Liam on the autogyro. And everyone gets to ride a new bicycle. It'll be a lot of fun, that I can promise."
That brought grins to their faces. And indeed that afternoon a fun time was had by all. Eike's friends were pleasantly surprised at how easy the new inventions were to use. On the new bicycle, a rider's posture was different but the experience was really the same: work the pedals and away you went. Or if you were a fetcher you pushed yourself along effortlessly. The airgun was enough like a crossbow as to present no difficulty getting used to.
"Much as I admire your airgun, Eike," Jemsen said. "I think Karel and I will stick to the long bow for our distance weapon. We twins act as scouts and trackers and ambushers. We pick our targets. We never stand lined up with the infantry and engage in volley fire. Besides, in our hands and with our doubled strength the long bow has greater range. And we can often retrieve our arrows and reuse them. Plus our sustained rate of fire is faster since we never need to stop to recharge the air reservoir. And after all, we can always call on our powers as earth and air wizards."
"That is fine for you guys," Axel said, "but I am sold on the airgun. I'm going to add the carbine version to my regular gear. Compared to the lowly sling, which is my current distance weapon, the airgun is a real game changer. Nor do I have strong magical powers to call upon in a fight. True I can englobe the head of a foe, but only one at a time. My rate of fire by englobing, if I can call it that, is a lot slower than it would be with one of these nifty airguns. Eike, I love you!"
"Now that's more like it: a satisfied customer!" Eike grinned.
"I'll get one too." Corwin said. "Sure I can wield ball lightning, but for stealth I'll want one of these airguns. They are silent killers, just right for an ambush or for taking our sentries."
"With my fetching powers, I don't need a weapon to propel bullets at the enemy," Liam said, "but I'll bet the Navy orders thousands of them to replace the sling which sailors use as their individual weapon."
"I'm with Liam," Drew added, "in not needing an air gun, but I am sure he is right about the Navy. What do you think, Nathan?"
"Oh, definitely. I am pretty sure that once we get these things aboard the Petrel, the captain will task me with training our whole crew in their use. So I will master the use of the airgun if only for that reason."
"In combat though, I won't use an airgun myself. A naval officer is like a war wizard or mage in being a force multiplier, whether by training, organization, or leadership or by marshaling and directing his men in a fight. Looking along the barrel of an airgun narrows your field of view. Better I stick with my cutlass for personal defense while flinging electrum sparks at the enemy to help my men."
Nathan's electrum sparks were tiny balls of static electricity. Though they could not kill directly, the burns and jolts they delivered were impossible to ignore, making the distracted foes easy prey for Nathan's sailors during hand to hand combat when the enemy boarded a ship or vice versa.
"Admiral Van Zant will practically salivate once he sees these babies in action." Nathan assured the others.
"Just like the generals in the Army, I hope." Eike replied.
"They'd be fools not to, and they are definitely not fools." Liam assured him.
None of the boys had to be sold on the new bicycles which promised to be a whole lot of fun as well as giving them greater mobility along the Commonwealth's excellent network of roads.
And everyone loved going up in an autogyro whether as pilots or passengers. Liam and Drew were cautioned not to push really hard that the rotor spun so fast that centrifugal force tore it apart. They should listen for a characteristic swoosh that indicated an optimum rate of rotation. A thrumming sound would indicate undesirable harmonics from over-rotation.
The boys extended to Eike their heartiest congratulations. Eike's inventions would not only help fight the war against the trolls, they would also contribute importantly to the economy at large.
The trials the next morning at the proving grounds were the first public exposure of the new devices. There was lots of brass and gold braid including General Urqaart, Admiral Van Zant, and a a colonel representing General-at-Sea Duane Chard, Commandant of the naval infantry, who was away at the fighting front.
Lord Zaldor presided in one of his last public functions as a serving member of the Commonwealth Council. All council members stepped down after a period of years to allow the group to bring in new blood. It was time for Zaldor to retire to private life and to take on the status of a councilman emeritus or elder statesman. That meant he might continue to advise on public affairs but would no longer make laws or state policy.
Also present were the war wizards recently returned from Amazonia including Sir Willet and Sir Rikkard looking much more relaxed than they had for months.
Sir Willet had opened a portal to Elysion to transport Count Klarendes and his spouse the shapeshifter cum forest ranger Aodh. His two sons were already in the capital. Eborn worked in the capital managing the family's local investments. The older son Artor was attending a conference of the Dread Hands of the Commonwealth, which has also drawn Finn Ragnarson all the way from New Varangia.
The three druids living in Elysion came along too: the elf-boy Dahl and his partners and lovers the druids Owain and Merry. They had taken up residence several years earlier in the little-used east wing of the Klarendes' townhouse so as to be able to watch over the newly awakened New Forest. Dahl and Aodh had been lovers before the shape shift had met Klarendes. Their occasional trysts were not a concern for the count who was secure in the affections of his spouse.
It was Dahl who had devised the technique by which druids and Healers could enhance the constitutions of persons deemed worthy by the Council of the Commonwealth, which included Eike and all of his friends who did not have an admixture of elven blood to extend their youth and lives.
The trials and demonstrations went off without a hitch, not surprisingly given the four dress rehearsals. A platoon of soldiers demonstrated the devastating destructive power of volleys of repeating air guns, peppering the targets down range. Autogyros swooped over head and dropped sacks of flour to simulate a bombing run, then set down with a short roll little more than their own length.
A company of mounted infantry on the new bicycles circled the field to show how quickly they could move. Then they dismounted, formed up, and shot at targets shaped like trolls and covered with white paper the better to show the holes. It was clear that any enemy formation would have been cut to pieces by the volume of lead hurled at them. The air guns were so accurate, that soldiers could aim at the legs or any other body part not covered by a wooden shield.
Talk about game changers!
Lord Zaldor later pointed out that it wasn't just the fighters at the front who were prosecuting the war. Behind them stood those who built the ships and manufactured the arms and produced and transported materiel and supplies. He assured them that when the history of the war with the trolls was written, the name of Karl-Eike Thyssen would be celebrated as one of the architects of victory.
"Celebrated all right, in the Capital Intelligencer and in my books, that you can be sure of, Eike." Drew said warmly.
Eike would never be a fighter himself. He lacked the temperament for close combat, was unimpressive physically, and lacked a magical gift useful in a fight. Besides the government would never risk the life of the Commonwealth's most prolific inventor.
Instead the government intended to recognize Eike's outstanding contributions by naming him a Stalwart of the Commonwealth, the highest civil honor the state could bestow. The state was also formalizing two informal titles widely used in print and in conversation, namely Peacemaker and Pioneer of Flight.
"Those to be formally recognized as Peacemakers include the four of you acclaimed as the Young Peacemakers Four: Finn Ragnarson, the twins, and Drew Altair, plus the Old Peacemakers, the four statesmen who built that peace in the Far West: Twm Gln Dwr and Colonel Ifans of the Despotate plus Urqaart and myself."
"Also named as Peacemakers are those who helped forge key alliances: Count Taitos Klarendes for his part in the original negotiations with the Frost Giants, his son Artor for the alliance he forged with the Medkari in the Hot Lands and more recently with the orcs seconded by Sir Willet. Not to be overlooked is Axel Wilde for inspiring our alliances with both the orcs and the brontotheres of Southern Varangia."
"The Pioneers of Flight include the twins, Drew Altair, Axel Wilde, Sir Willet Hanford, Liam, Nathan Lathrop, and Eike Thyssen. I hope I have not left anyone out. Drew, you can pick up a handout after the proceedings to write this all up for the Capital Intelligencer. Sorry, Drew, but it won't be a scoop. We will be releasing the news to all news-papers at the same time. It might soften the blow to know that the state will finally confer a knighthood on you. It was long past time in my opinion."
"At last!" Drew exclaimed. "Sir Drew Altair. I like the sound of that. Uh, and while they are at it, do you think the powers that be might promote from the rank of reserve ensign that I have held for many years. How about a promotion to lieutenant or maybe to captain like the twins."
"I think that can be arranged, and in time for the awards ceremony to be held next week."
"Anyway whenever you boys engage in another of those occasional duels of impressive titles, you will be well provided with sonorous appellations. How does that sound, my young friends?"
"I think I am speaking for all of us when I tell you that it sounds just fine." Drew affirmed to nods from the others.
"This calls for celebration," Axel enthused, "but where?"
"At my townhouse, of course! My staff is setting things up even as we speak." Count Klarendes told him, which brought from Finn his standard affirmative response.
"Sounds like a plan."
Author's Note
This story is entirely fictional, with no resemblance intended to any person living or dead.
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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 several of the original characters plus some new ones.
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.