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Website: http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/books.html
Email: kavrik@hotmail.com
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"The Assassin's Apprentice" is told in first person present tense and has been heavily edited.
Chapter Eight
The third kick I learn is called a flying double kick.
To initiate the maneuver, I must be moving.
I leap into the air and strike with my legs to either side, kicking twice before landing. I practice this in the morning when it isn't as hot. Then Constantine shifts me to sweeps, circle kicks, and back kicks. I finish my day doing a variation of all of these.
In time, I develop my own particular style. Constantine calls me "a perfect kick boxer." But all of this training comes at a steep price. I don't leave Constantine's dojo for a month. At that time a new friar calling himself Abbath is now ministering to my guildies; I beg my master to be allowed to attend services once a week.
Talen and Ambrell sit on either side of me at church. But I'm not allowed to take my mask off, and no one questions the fact that I wear it. Constantine does provide me with fine "church" clothes to wear and new suede shoes lined with rabbit's fur. Talen doesn't say anything about the mask, but I can tell it concerns him. And I've no idea what's going on in the real world except what I learn at church.
I've no idea who is dating whom or what anyone is saying about me.
It's like I'm living my life inside a bottle.
Constantine makes sure that all of my "human" needs are met. I get plenty of water, milk, and meat. He keeps my hair cut to a decent length and instructs me to shave with a straight razor, and I exercise seventeen hours a day...much of that sweating buckets while wearing only the priapus and the thick-soled boots he bought me.
One day I try to skip services early with Talen and Ambrell just so I can catch some chit chat. I meet him, Sly, Elliot, Misha, and Gage in the hall, but the other kids treat me like I'm a leper or something. I wonder if they blame me for Whistler's death, or maybe they blame me for the fate of the last friar.
I ask Talen, "What the hell is going on?" since they don't speak to me, but just stare with sad looks. But before he can answer, Swift appears and cuts him off.
I know Constantine has said something to Swift. I just wish I knew what it was. It's almost like everyone's afraid of me. Or maybe they're afraid of what Constantine might do to them if I'm even a minute late.
So I say goodbye to Talen, and I leave feeling like I'm in prison again. Only in this prison, the jailor never strikes me. He never lays a hand on me, in fact, and I can only assume it's because I make him happy with my progress.
In the end, I guess things could be worse. And I can't help but think that maybe Tethyr has a plan for me. I pray to him every single night using the old friar's holy symbol which I keep wrapped in a silk cloth looking as shiny and new as the day Tethyr blessed it.
Constantine does occasionally go beyond just the physical training.
One night a week, we spend several hours playing chess. He calls it a mental exercise to keep my mind sharp and calculating. But it's also fun, and it's when he lets me take a drink with him or share a smoke or two from his pipe. Sometimes he tells me stories, and those are the best because he's been so many places, and I wonder when it'll be my turn to see the world.
So that's my life for a whole year.
By next summer, I'm so strong I can shatter several hard blocks of wood with one blow. I can kick out the feet of my opponent oftentimes faster than they can draw a sword. Honestly, I think if I end up against a true master in martial arts, I'd be in some trouble. But after a year of training, I'm really good.
Each and every day I push myself to stretch farther than I ever could the day before. Now, I can arch backward and touch my head to the backs of my knees and my palms to the backs of my heels. But despite my leaping exercises, I'm personally disappointed with my vertical leap. So Constantine teaches me circus tumbling using techniques he learned in his youth. Because of arthritis, he can no longer tumble as well as he used to.
I of course, don't have this issue. In three months, I reach the first of my personal goals by being able to increase my vertical leap by three feet.
One afternoon, I leap so high that I catch onto the awning above the sand circles in the center of the training ground. Constantine looks pleased and smiles at me. I pull myself onto the ceramic-tiled roof of the guild house without much effort. And the view is marvelous!
It's my first time up there, and my body trembles so much that I almost lose my footing and fall to my death. Here I am, a creature overcoming every physical limitation. I've learned to fly in my own way. I've learned to soar like a dream, like a vision, and the power of my splendid body is like an incomprehensible thing--rarely understood by me--but merely recognized as being beautiful and lovely.
I'm glad I'm not afraid of heights.
In months to follow, the master adds a few more martial arts maneuvers to my agenda. The first of these harkens from the school of the "Twitching Mongoose". Called the "claw of the eagles" it's a way of punching that develops callouses on my bony, vein-riddled hands. Constantine is very careful with this, as he doesn't want my dexterity or touch sensitivity to be compromised. But he also doesn't want my fist to crack from breaking a man's ribs.
To accomplish this, he has me thrust my hands into a bowl of rice pellets for a few minutes every day. And sometimes he has me punch on a hard plank of wood for an hour from only an inch away. I bloody my knuckles, but I develop a thicker skin. And the fine bones in my hands grow much stronger from repeated micro-fractures that my body must heal. The pain makes for many sleepless nights.
That which does not kill you makes you stronger.
The seasons change once more to winter and then to spring.
One morning after breakfast, Constantine tells me I'm ready to learn the art of vital areas. He has within a special rosewood box several anatomy charts given to him by the Emperor of Shaitan. Constantine received these as part of a bargain between the two of them, and they contain within their folded sheets all the knowledge that the doctors of Shaitan have ever assembled about the human nervous system.
I'm fascinated.
These drawings reproduced on vellum sheets for my master are the most detailed scrawlings I've ever seen. Made with squid ink, they're somewhat faded with age. But the master smiles at them for he knows he has in his possession an ancient trade secret.
With much pride, he begins to show me how to take advantage of certain points.
"I protect my balls," I tell him one night. "Is that a pressure point?"
"Yes, but everyone does that. Use less obvious ones. If you hit a man under the bridge of his nose it'll send shards of bone into his brain. Death is almost instantaneous."
"What other ones are there?"
"There're sensitive points to the leg. A sharp blow to the muscle in the thigh will drop a man. There's also points behind the ears that are painful. And don't forget the temples on the side of your skull and the one here...on the neck."
I learn what I can from him and spend a year outside of my usual training on studying these points and committing them to my memory. But of all the questions that plague me, I wonder secretly if there's a single all-powerful point on the body which can kill a man with a single blow.
"It's called the Dim Mak," he says to me one evening when I dare to ask the question. He's drinking heavily from a bottle of rice wine, and a cold rain is dancing along the rooftop outside. "I've no idea how to do it but there're some people in the world that know how to use it. It doesn't have to kill either. You can use the Dim Mak to paralyze someone permanently--to make them a vegetable. I'd like to learn it, but I don't think I will."
I don't know that I believe him, but I agree that there are very sensitive points to a man's body. But one that's all powerful? Somehow, I'll believe it when I see it.
In time, Constantine polishes my training by showing me how to perform simple wrist and elbow locks. Once I've mastered these, he shows me more complex, advanced maneuvers.
He cautions, "Holds are not the way of the assassin, because it brings us too close to our victim. An assassin never wants to be that close to his prey. However, it's important to keep in mind the paralyzing power of a hold, in case you find yourself in one. That way," he reasons, "you know how to break out of it.
"For example, if someone grabs me from behind, the correct maneuver is to turn my body and punch directly to the groin. I place one of my feet between theirs and with both hands, press against their knee cap. I don't care how big they are, if done properly, he'll be on the ground in no time."
I nod, listening to his words, and then add this to the repertoire of things I already know about how to defeat my enemy.
Before I realize it, I've had two birthdays here at the guild house. I'm also a much different person than that first day; I'm now an adept killer despite the fact I've never taken a life. But to my dismay, I've had no sex for two years unless you count my right hand.
It's the longest dry spell of my life.
At night, Constantine teaches me the secret cant, the nonverbal language of thieves, where words and feelings are conveyed by a simple movement of the fingers. In this way, I can carry on two entirely different conversations in a crowded room. It takes a terribly long time to get good at it, but practice makes perfect.
Master Constantine continues to train me in hand-to-hand. He tells me that I'm the best and the brightest student he has ever had and that the other nightshades, if they knew, would be jealous of him.
"You, Kian, might very well be a prodigy at the art of talus...the art of killing. I tremble at what you could possibly become."
It's so weird hearing him say things like that. It's almost like part of him fears me, but part of him is in love with his pet project like a sorcerer laboring to summon a demon.
And there's still one thing that plagues me; one thing that I want desperately to know.
I have a deep-rooted desire for steel. Cutter, the kind knight who saved me from the prison by teaching me swordplay, now resides only in memory. But the feel of his sword in my hand is as real to me in my dreams as it was three years ago.
For me to TRULY be an expert at this "art of talus", I need to master steel. So, one day I ask Constantine.
I lower my sweating body to the straw mat in his room for a bit of a respite from the morning's toil. It's summer again, and the placid sky is a large, open, sweltering spot above the Bay of Dreams. I'm gazing out at the sky above the white sand courtyard and waiting for him to answer my question. There's a remarkable amount of clouds, and I think a summer storm's on its way. I hope so, because it's unbearably hot, and I'm already as naked as I'm allowed to be while training.
I close my eyes for a second, praying for a breeze to cool my wet skin, when I feel the cold flat weight of steel resting against my hot flesh. It's unmistakable.
I turn my head and regard the remarkable weapon he holds.
"It's a katana," he states pulling the sword away.
The blade dazzles me. It has a slight bend to it and ends in a handle that's wrapped in thin cloth strands. I muse that it's probably silk. Who would dare to wrap a weapon of such quality in anything other than silk? The pommel consists of an exquisitely crafted dragon's mouth holding a pearl in-between its teeth. I'm slack mouthed the entire time I stare at it.
"It was given to me by a weapon's master when I was ABOUT your age," he says. With his left hand he brushes back my blond hair and plucks a single strand that he drops across the edge. The blade slices it cleanly. "How old are you?"
I think for a moment. "Nineteen," I say. I had a birthday about seven months back, but I kind of glossed over it. Birthdays don't mean much to me. I guess that I should count myself lucky that I even know when my birthday is.
He swings the weapon about a few times and then hands it to me. I must say that it's the lightest and most well-balanced weapon that I've ever wielded.
"It was folded so many times that the metal has over 32,000 layers, and it's made from the finest steel in the world."
"It's remarkable," I whisper, still held in thrall by the polish of the blade.
"It is. But I'm going to possess an even finer weapon, Kian. A weapon crafted by a god to be wielded in mortal hands. It has been a lifelong quest for me, and if you'd like, I'll tell you the story."
I look at him in amazement. "A weapon forged by a god?"
He scratches his chin, wrestling with the stubble of his partial beard. "Bloodbane," he says voice distant, "sword of rogues." He looks at me and can see that I've no idea what he's talking about. He smiles and puts his hand on my shoulder. "The world was not always like it is, or for that matter, as YOU see it. There's been a war in heaven, and it continues even now as the old gods dispute unsolved questions and differences of opinion. From time to time, man gets involved in these wars and the result is bloody indeed. Some of this blood, as I understand it, is as powerful as it is ancient. In the third Age, Tethyr himself, having slain a prince of hell, took up its blood and bound it into a wondrous weapon the likes the world has never seen. From millennia to millennia it has at times resurfaced but only under dreadful conditions of war and upheaval. It's been credited for murdering thousands of history's most elite soldiers and generals, and its thirst for blood is legendary. It disappeared seven centuries ago in the battle outside the ancient city of Mal Ruen and has not been seen since. But in its blade is contained the breath of a god and the soul of a great evil."
I turn and look at the katana. Admittedly, I'd not been out of Clothol before, but this story could not possibly be true. A weapon forged by a god? Why would a god need a weapon? It didn't make sense, because a god should be able to do anything.
Constantine senses my disbelief.
"I don't care if you believe me," he says. He gestures at the sword. "You can keep it. I'll show you how to use it and several others of its like. Kian, I'll be leaving in two months' time, and you'll be on your own. You'll be ready to make your mark in the world, but I may call upon you from time to time. You owe me this much. I've an important journey to make. My first obligation that I pass to you is to take my place at this year's guild war."
"What's a guild war?" I ask him.
Constantine opens a bottle of whiskey and ignores me for a moment. He takes a long drink and then follows it up with another. He pauses waiting, I assume, for his thoughts to coalesce. He has about him the air of human ambition, and I shall never forget that look--a dizzying combination of splendid physique and arrogance.
"The guild war," he explains, "happens irregularly over the course of a decade, and it's a way for rival cities to settle accounts and determine who's top dog. This year, it's going to happen about the time that I leave." He shrugs his shoulder, indicating in that one smooth gesture how unimportant local politics are for him. "A shipment of jewels is coming in from the mines of Valis- Dur to the east, and it's heavily guarded. Its destination is Ladika which is south of here. That's Lyran's territory. However, the stakes are high enough that this guild is getting involved.
"The Daymaster and Nightmaster both want a handful of our best to go into Ladika at night and retrieve the jewels. Lyran will be after the same shipment, and they want me present to kill as many of his bastards as I can. They also want me to shiv their guild assassin who's gotten quite a name for himself because he's killed twenty men." Constantine scoffs. "Twenty men. I've killed more than that in an hour breaking out of a prison. This guild assassin might seem formidable to them, but to you and me, he's a self-important blundering oaf. You shouldn't have a problem with him. But just in case, I'm going to train you on how to use that thing properly," he says. "And on how to garrotte someone and of course, on the use of poisons. Poison is an assassin's best weapon, lad, but it can kill you too which is why you must be cautious."
"What kind of poison?" I ask him. "Strychnine or cyanide perhaps?"
He takes another swig from his bottle. After swallowing he watches me for a second before he attempts a reply. "No," he states. "Those poisons are for amateurs. You can bet that they'll be expecting you to use that. My pupil, however, will use a rare and valuable toxin called caasak. It's derived from the captured fumes of corobidian, the rarest of all metals. If you're lucky enough to have a few scraps of corobidian you can burn it over an intense flame. The fumes kill on contact. There's no cure; no onset time. It's untraceable. When you distill the fumes into a liquid, it retains its potency. One drop will kill a man on contact. I've one vial of the stuff that I'm going to give to you. But until then, I want you practicing with lemon juice. You'll be able to tell if you get it on your clothes or on your hands. With caasak there can't be any mistakes. Kian, we're entering the phase of your training where you must be absolutely perfect. Do you understand?"
I nod. Inside, however, I felt my courage wither.
"We'll begin training tomorrow." He pauses staring at me with bloodshot eyes. "How long has it been since you got laid?"
I blink, surprised at the question. "It's been years, sir."
Constantine thinks carefully before speaking again. "I'm giving you the rest of the day off. You have seventeen hours before we start training with poison. Do you think you could get laid in that time? I don't want you resorting to a prostitute."
"I-I don't know."
"Well, I want you to enjoy yourself. Go and get your friend, Ambrell and bring her to your room, or...if you want a boy...then get Talen. I honestly don't care. Find someone--I want you rested and at ease with a mind ready to focus. I want you to flush all that pent up aggression you must be feeling out of your system tonight. There can be no mistakes once we begin studying caasak."
"Yes sir," I say with a grin. "I think I'd like to spend the evening and night with Talen, if he doesn't have anything planned."
"Make sure he's gone by tomorrow morning. Training begins at sunrise."
I walk back to my room, grab my mask, and drape a cloak over my bare shoulders. On my way out, Constantine intercepts me by putting a hand on my chest.
"What're you doing?" The question surprises me.
"I-I thought we discussed--"
He shakes his head. "Not dressed like that. You're all sweaty, Kian, and smelly. Go and take a bath right now. And brush your teeth."
I realize he's probably right and oblige him. When I emerge from the bath with a towel around my waist almost an hour later, he gifts me with some new clothes that he's tailored for my physique. I see a pair of nice black leather pants, a pair of shiny black boots lined in soft fur, and a silk shirt dyed gray. I pick each item up with my fingers, and I realize suddenly...I love new clothes. There's something about being the first to wear an outfit, to break it in, and it delights me to no end.
I slip into them without question and stand before the mirror in Constantine's room to make sure I look my best. However, before I can don the mask to go out into the guild house, Constantine brushes my damp hair and smooths it over my ears with a wooden comb.
"A young man must look presentable when he courts someone."
I can't help but smile. "You make it sound like I'm going to buy him flowers. Guys don't do that for each other."
"Why not?" Constantine shrugs. "I'm going to put a carafe of water and some fresh fruit in your room for you and your guest. Additionally, there's going to be a small jar filled with a special kind of oil called jade nuru. It's very expensive, colorless, odorless, and is used in the best brothels of the east to smooth the friction of intercourse. Apply it generously, Kian, for I don't want you or your friend injured if your activities become amorous."
"Thank you sir," I say, cognizant that my cheeks are now hot. I check my nails to make sure they are filed down. I've been fingered before by someone less courteous and it hurt. I smooth a couple of them with a board of fine sand paper and blow the grit away with my mouth. Satisfied at last, I head out for the evening.
I find my friend playing dice with Ambrell near the kitchen. Talen's shiny hair is neatly combed, and he's wearing tight brown pants and boots that rise to his ankle. He has on a brown cotton shirt, open in front, revealing a white hairless chest dampened with a little sweat. As I approach, I feel eyes following me about the room, watching what I do, yet no one says a word to me.
At last, Talen sees me and he looks up with wide eyes; I crouch in front of him.
"Kian!" he exclaims. "Wait...d-did Constantine actually let you out?"
"I've earned a few hours. W-would you like to spend some time with me today?" I can't believe I'm stuttering. I hope Talen doesn't notice my sweaty palms.
He looks across the room at Nicki who I notice has got a bit of a swelling in her belly. She's obviously pregnant. Is it his? She's no idea how lucky she is.
"I was going to spend the afternoon with m-my girlfriend...," he states, voice trailing off.
"Oh that's fine," I say, "forget that I asked."
"Are you sure?" Talen inquires. He stares at me with those lovely eyes, and I find it hard to lie to him. But I know I need to. I need to start letting him go, or at least, letting go of this idea that somehow he and I could have sex and live happily ever after.
"It's not a problem. I-I probably don't have that much time anyway. I think I might just see the city or look up Gage or Elliot. I've been cooped up for a while, and it'll be nice to walk down to the harbor and toss bread crumbs to the fish." My eyes fall to his crotch, and I see the outline of his manhood there, restrained by the brown leather...gods would I love to taste that.
I glance back at Nicki, but she ignores me and waves at Talen. I suppress the jealousy rising inside me. It's not her fault that she gets to spend time with him, and I don't. I grind my teeth together and rise to leave, but the unexpected happens. Talen grabs me by the wrist and says, "Nevermind what I said; I'm coming with you. Kian, I'm sorry...I just don't have my head on straight."
"Honest? You really want to come?"
"Yes. I never get to see you outside church. What are we doing exactly?"
I pause for a few seconds. "Come up and see my room. I'll show you around Constantine's dojo. And then we can figure out what we want to do from there. Maybe we could sit on the roof. The view's gorgeous up there, and we can watch the suns set."
I pinch my eyes closed. Tethyr's teeth that sounded a lot like a romantic date. I hope Ambrell doesn't see right through me.
Talen nods with excitement. "Lead the way."
I bid goodbye to Ambrell and motion for Talen to follow me.
When we get to the door that leads up to the dojo, Talen stops to stare beyond the portal into the stairwell.
"I've heard so many things about this place," he says. "So many kids I knew over the years went up this way never to be heard from again. It kind of frightens me."
"Don't be scared," I tell him. I hold out my gloved hand for him to take. "Trust me." Behind his shoulder, I spot Nicki at the end of the hall peering around a corner. Her eyes look a mixture of curiosity and anger. I wonder if she's jealous of me.
I narrow my eyes to glare at her and think angry thoughts. Your boyfriend won't be back until morning, and I'm going to fuck Talen so hard tonight that you'll smell me on him the next time he takes you to bed. How do you like them apples?
I wish I had the courage to say that to her.
Instead, I close the door before Talen has the opportunity to spot her.
"You seem distracted by something," he remarks to me.
"W-what?" I ask. "It's nothing. I just...had a thought is all."
"Care to share?"
My mind races. "Just...I'm grateful you said you'd make time for me."
"Well," Talen says. "I-I realized when you asked that...you're my best friend. No one comes before you." After a moment, he clasps his fingers around mine, and we ascend together. Talen marvels at the nightingale staircase and both of us make no noise as we climb into the gloom. Talen is so graceful, and his small delicate feet find quick purchase on the wooden steps.
"Incredible construction," he states.
Once at the top, I open the door to the dojo which is lit by the setting suns. He gazes in wonderment at where I train. I show him the sand circles and the practice dummy. Constantine says nothing to us, but sits staring and smoking from a pipe from inside the meditation room. Occasionally, he casts his eyes up toward the blue sky.
"This is so weird," he whispers.
"Come on...we can talk in my room."
Once we get inside, I slide the wooden screen door closed. When I turn around, I find him inspecting my katana.
"This weapon is sick," he says. "Is it yours?"
I stare at the shape his butt makes in his tight brown trousers and swallow my spit. "Yes. Do you want anything to drink?" I pour him a cup of cold water and offer it to him.
"Thank you," he says, and then sips from it. Afterward, he grabs an apple and bites into its tender flesh. The juice runs down his chin.
"There's wine here too," I say.
"Are you trying to get me drunk?" His eyes flash mischievously.
I sit down and fold my arms around my knees. He joins me on the mat. He has a marvelously thin waist, delicate sloping neck, and fine bone structure. I stare at him...at his narrow angular features, beautiful nose, and long eyelashes.
"Kian," he says after a moment, "d-did all that hurt?"
I blink. "Did what hurt?"
Talen gestures at my mask. "When he disfigured your face. We all heard about it...how you hide behind that thing because he burned your skin and cut your nose off. I cried all night. You were so...this is going to sound weird...breathtaking. I'd never seen any boy that made my heart skip a beat until I saw you. Gods...why am I even saying this? I-I want to kill him for hurting you. Gage and Ambrell said they'd help me. Swift will too...he's mad as hell that Whistler's dead. Tethyr's teeth," Talen says with tears dropping from his eyes, "I'm so angry he mutilated you. But I can see past that. You don't have to wear the mask around me. I just want to look at you one more time and imagine the boy I used to know."
"I'm not scarred; I haven't been mutilated," I say without hesitation.
Talen stares at me uncomprehending. "B-but why the mask-"
I pull it off and smile at him. "See. I've no missing nose and certainly no burnt skin."
"By the gods," Talen says, putting his hands on my face, "it's all a lie. I'm relieved but why the deception?"
"He doesn't want people to know what I look like." I reach up and take Talen's fingers in my own and squeeze them lovingly.
"That makes sense," Talen states. "I don't know why I didn't bother to ask you."
"D-did you mean all that stuff...about finding me beautiful?" I ask.
Talen smiles and his cheeks turn red. "I've a girlfriend who's pregnant, but yes. I've been in love with you for years. I know you're straight and proba-"
I cut him off by kissing him. At first it's awkward, but once Talen realizes what's going on, he drops his water cup and puts his arms around my neck. His tongue presses against mine and we make out, my hot breath rolling over his, almost stifling him.
"Your breath is so minty," he exhales.
"Yours isn't bad yourself," I reply, pushing him back onto the mat.
"I-I've never done this before," Talen says, gasping for breath. "Not with a boy."
"I have, but it was always against my will," I say. "This is different, but I know how it's done, and I can guarantee you'll have a lot of fun if you just let me be in charge. I like being in charge, Talen, if that's all right with you?"
"It's definitely all right."
I start unbuttoning his shirt and he unbuttons mine. He lets out a gasp when he sees my body. "Tethyr's teeth you're ripped." He runs his fingers over my washboard stomach and down to where my pubic hairs poke from out of my pants. Then he sucks on my neck, leaving small pink welts on the skin.
I continue to kiss him in return. I rub the front of his pants. His dick is hard as a rock and poking down one leg. I pull off his boots and slide him out of them so that he's naked. Talen looks perfect, like a boy of no older than seventeen, with pale skin and mousy brown hair.
A few seconds later, he has my dick out in his own hand. I'm so large it spills past his wrist halfway to the elbow, and he gazes at it lovingly. Talen wets his fingers with his mouth and rolls the foreskin around gently with his palm. I push his head down with my fingers and watch him take the length and girth of it between his small pink lips. Careful not to choke him, I slowly fuck his face, and he uses his soft tongue to spread love all up and down my shaft and to flick my swollen low- hanging balls. Occasionally, he blows air upon them, sending sensations quivering through my body.
"You smell so good," he whispers right before he licks my asshole. His fingers scrape over my muscles. "Tethyr's teeth, you have no fat at all," he says desperately. Then he rakes his nails across my skin as I take his smaller cock into my mouth. "You've got the body of a Thularumite Olympian...so beautiful."
I reach for the jar containing the jade nuru and spill a generous portion into my hand. Carefully, I massage it around the creamy ring of satin flesh around Talen's virgin hole. I slip my fingers in and out, carefully and purposefully relaxing his sphincter muscle. When I insert my middle finger, I gesture in a "come hither" motion and stroke his prostate. It sends him into wild panting.
A short while later I take Talen's cherry by pressing him into the mat with my hand and doing him from behind. I settle the weight of my body over his back, and I slip the greased up mushroom head between the globes of his bubble butt. I apply some of my own spit and wait for him to signal that he's comfortable with me going deeper. When his sphincter gives way, he gasps and claws at the floor and I halt for a second to give him time to adjust.
"Fuck...," he gasps. "You're huge; it hurts."
"Relax," I whisper in his ear, and give him a tender nibble. "Push out a little...like you're going to the bathroom. It'll allow you to open up."
He nods and I feel his muscle respond around my cock. The sensation drives me wild, but slowly I sink further into his gut.
At first, I move in and out slowly, massaging his muscular globes and spreading them apart with my fingers. Each time I thrust a little deeper, my goal being to be completely inside of him before I cum. After a while, he gets used to it, and I quicken my tempo.
I breed my best friend for hours, and we both cum multiple times.
Sweat pouring from my body, I try to compliment him. I try to say "your ass feels so good, buddy, it's like velvet on my skin." But I can't. All that I manage to say is "Nnnnnngggghhhuhhh!" When I blow my nut for the final time that night, it coats the inside of him just as I intend. Sensation after sensation cascades through my limbs, and I curl my toes in pleasure. I make sure to let him know how much I love him for allowing me to do this. I kiss him on the shoulders, on the back of the neck, and on his lips. I make sure that I'm gentle because at this point, his body is much more fragile than my own. And each time I seed him, it flows out of him with heavy drips.
I love watching that.
I pull my dick partway out and look down and see the white semen slip out of his now gaping hole, and he moans so loudly that I think everyone in the guild must know what we've been doing.
When it's over, we part kissing, and I loan him a towel to clean up between his legs. Even still, when he dons his pants a small stain forms between his butt cheeks. I say nothing because it's his trophy for the night; he should be proud of the gift I gave him.
"I love you," he says to me, and I repeat it back. Then I hold him in my arms and we fall asleep for a few hours.
Sometime before morning, Talen leaves me, walking bow-legged, and with a few white spots dotting his shoes. As the door closes, I get up and don my priapus and my own boots to ready myself for the day's training.
As I tighten the last buckle, I wonder what the day has in store for me.
I'll post Chapter 9 next week. Please stop by my forums and weigh in on the story thus far or start a topic of discussion on your own.