The Baron

The Baron (c) By Lee Mariner

April 2003

DISCLAIMER: This is a fantasy depicting homosexual acts involving gay young men and boys. The story may contain material found to be offensive by some people; it is intended for adult readers, not minors. IF YOU ARE NOT OF LEGAL AGE TO BE READING THIS STORY OR YOU DO NOT APPROVE OF SUCH MATERIAL, PLEASE LEAVE. All events and places are fictional and there is no intended relationship between any of the characters living or deceased.

DO NOT ENGAGE IN UNPROTECTED SEX, IT CAN LEAD TO A LIFE THREATENING CONSEQUENCE.

All stories I have written can be found under the name of Lee Mariner in the Nifty Archives listing of Prolific Authors.

LEGAL COPYRIGHT: This story is copyrighted (c) by the author and it is not to be reproduced in any form without the specific written consent of the author. It is assigned to the Nifty Archives under the terms of their submission guidelines but it may not be copied or archived on any other site without the written consent of the author.

Copyright: April 2003 - Author: Lee Mariner - All Rights are Reserved.

Mariner23502@hotmail.com

Prologue

The Manor House of the Baron Frederich von Richthofen sits, where it has for several centuries, on the banks of the Neckar River a few kilometers from its juncture with the mighty Rhine. Huge trees of the once thick Black Forest surround the manor on all sides and a thickly graveled drive weaves its way through the forest and encircles the huge two-floored gray granite Manor.

Thick brush hid several outbuildings and at a distance of several meters the imposing granite and marble Richthofen family mausoleum stood at the apex of the gravel drive.

The windowless building was a small, magnificent replica of the Greek Pantheon in Athens, Greece. Over the two large ornate bronze doors the name Richthofen had been cut into the granite lintel. On the mausoleum doors the family crest was emblazoned in black and gold on a dark cobalt blue background containing the sun and the moon and centered on the seal, between the sun & moon, a relief of Thanatos, Greek God of Death rode in a chariot pulled by four huge black horses. The eyes of the God of Death blazed a brilliant flaming red and in his free hand he held a flashing sword, raised over his head as if ready to strike.

When the doors into the mausoleum were opened you saw an awe inspiring, twice life sized, bronze statue of Hades, Greek God of the Underworld looking down from a black marble pedestal and on either side of the statue there were huge iron incense burners. With the exception of when the doors were opened, there was no light other then a few iron wall sconces built to hold burning faggots. A black marble catafalque, emblazoned with a golden sunburst surrounded by fleur-de-lies and matching the pedestal of Hades was centered on the chambers black marble floor awaiting the coffins of the deceased. The gray walls on either side of the statue contained the crypts of long dead Richthofen's. Crypts with the names of their occupants were engraved in almost every language, long dead languages that receded into the mists of time cut into the granite by the chisels of unknown stonemasons. There were no dates of birth or death, only the name and an ascending Roman numeral indicating where they were in the line of succession as the Baron von Richthofen.

There were no windows, cobwebs or dust in the mausoleum except for a small vent opening cut into the cap at the center of the vaulted ceiling.

An unknown feature of the final resting place of Richthofen's long past, was the deep underground tunnel that led from the mausoleum too the manor house spirits cellar and the stairway that led too the Barons bedchamber.

The manor was built of the same material as the mausoleum, gray granite and black marble. The main entrance was slightly receded and centered on the building. Two huge oak doors, hung on iron hinges, opened revealing a corridor with four huge iron chandeliers hanging from 20' ceilings and the was a circular marble staircase at the end of the corridor leading too the second floor. The walls were sheathed in dark oak and huge oak beams supported the ceiling. The floors were of granite covered with thick carpets of various Persian and Arabic design. Life size portraits of various kings, emperors and dukes, hanging by silken ropes from the corridor ceiling cornice, covered the walls of the main corridor but there were no portraits of any of the Barons of Richthofen Manor.

Double doors led off of the main hallway into various rooms. Each room had iron chandeliers hanging from the ceilings and a fireplace that a normal man could have stood in. Huge iron andirons were placed on flagstone hearths in their soot black interiors but they had not been used in years. Ceiling to floor windows were in every room and hung with thick brocaded drapes that hid thick oak shutters. Massive oak furniture, with crimson cushions, was in every room through out the manor. Cold granite walls were covered with tapestries depicting long ago battles.

All of the rooms on the main floor may have been used for any of a multitude of purposes with the exception of the library and the dining hall.

The library contained ceiling to floor shelves of leather bound books on either side of the door as you walked in facing the ceiling to floor windows draped with the same material as all of the house windows and their hidden shutters were. To the right as you entered was the fireplace and to the left was a wall covered in maps showing the various changes in the French, German, Austrian, Prussian, Russian and other dukedoms, kingdoms and empires that flowed and ebbed over the face of Europe during the many centuries since the reign of Charlemagne the Great.

There was a framed parchment map showing the Richthofen estates as having been, at one time, bordered by the Rhine River on the west and the Neckar River on the North following the line of the river south and east too its origins in the depths of the Black Forest. In the lower right corner of the parchment was the Great Seal of Charlemagne, King of the Franks, with the date July 11, 810 and in the opposite corner was the Richthofen Family Seal with the same date.

Over the massive library fireplace hung the life size portrait of a stunningly handsome young man with long flowing golden blond hair and strikingly beautiful blue eyes sitting astride a raven black stallion. He wears the black and crimson uniform trimmed in gold of a Hussar Colonel and sits in a gleaming black and silver saddle with a tiger skin thrown over the horses withers just forward of a gem encrusted pommel. An empty black and silver gem encrusted scabbard hanging from his black leather belt by silver chains, rests on his right thigh, the saber held at the ready in his right hand his other hand gripping the reins holding the excited stallion in check. The magnificent stallions ears strain forward, listening, with a wild gleaming excitement in his eyes matching that of his rider. Reared back on his haunches with his fore hoofs beating the air you could see his powerful muscles rippling and bunched, quivering like steel springs, waiting for the command to charge. Both rider and stallion were poised to charge forward, riding into the midst of his enemies' fallen and still standing. Broken cannon, pinions, swords, torn banners and muskets with broken and unbroken bayonets covered the surface of the battlefield under a heavy fog of smoke from musket and cannon fire, almost covering the sheer craggy cliffs in the background of the battle. There seems to be a look of pure unadulterated joy on the face of the stallion's rider as he gazes down from the back of his gleaming raven black stallion his fantastically blue eyes flashing.

The portrait had a hypnotizing hold on the observer, a feeling that its magnificent rider and his powerful mount only awaited the command and they would charge forth riding from the depths of time. A burnished golden placard mounted in the base of the portrait frame held one name, "Richthofen."

History recorded that the Baron Richthofen had been a fierce leader of his regiments and always in the forefront of the battles. His saber was a scythe that cut men down on left or right and his mount would rise up, his steel shod hoofs crushing the skulls of whoever was unfortunate to be in the path of the Baron. It was said that a thick fog would, at times, surround him and his mount lending to the myth that he was a demon incarnate rising up from the fiery smoke and fog shrouded depths of hell to give battle in defense of his sovereign. He commanded an intense loyalty from his men and was often seen after a battle searching across the body-strewn battlefield for his fallen soldiers among the many who had fallen. He was seen, more than once, kneeling and holding a fallen comrade to his breast, his head bowed, weeping. For this the men of his regiment held him in high esteem.

On the opposite side of the corridor, several doors led into the dining hall, a room that ran the entire width of the manor. There was a huge oaken table with hard benches that could have sat at least 100 men. It was centered on the cold granite floor and ran the full length of the room. At the far end of the room a tapestry displaying the Richthofen Coat of Arms against a purple background covered the wall. It formed the backdrop for a single high backed wooden chair at that end of the table, the family crest carved into the high back.

Ancient battle flags hung on stanchions around the room and a multitude of shields; swords and pikes were displayed on the walls where tapestries hung in other rooms of the manor. Where the outside wall met the ceiling, a single row of narrow windows ran the length of the hall. Two massive fireplaces at the front of the hall with the same iron andirons as the others in the manor except these in the dining hall had spits for the roasting the meat of bullock and fowl. The stone floor was covered with fresh cut rushes from the banks of the Neckar.

The second floor had several bedrooms in addition to the Barons. His bedchamber was the largest with a four-poster bed sitting on a two tiered dais built against an inside wall. The bed hangings were heavy dark blue velvet embroidered with golden Fleur de Lys and a bed covering of the same fabric with a gold embroidered sunburst in the center surrounded with the same golden Fleur de Lys as the bed drapes.

A tapestry depicting the Neckar River flowing through the valley joining the Rhine in the distance, hills covered with thick underbrush and the once huge trees of the Black Forest covered one wall. Two large chairs and a low table were set in front of the tapestry, the table holding a single large iron candelabra with half burned tallow tapers. A single fireplace not quite as large as the others had been built in the wall at the opposite end of the chamber and on the right and left of the fireplace there were high backed chairs with thick crimson cushions. The outside walls had large windows with drapes hiding heavy shutters.

Behind the chair sitting to the right of the fireplace was a hidden door that opened on stone steps that led down to an underground cellar that held large wine and beer vats. The room was cold for the benefit of the spirits and beers stored there and there was a door leading up to the dining hall through the kitchens. A wine rack on one wall concealed the heavy door that was at the bottom of the steps leading down from the Baron's bedchamber. Another wine rack on the opposite wall concealed another door that opened revealing a dark unlit passageway that lead too the family mausoleum. There were no sconces on the walls for faggots dipped in pitch as there were in the mausoleum. The Baron did not need a burning torch to light his way.

The Manor Richthofen had been built as a fortress and the home of the Richthofen Barons. Charlemagne had charged the first Baron with the duty of guarding his southern trade routes and they had done so since the creation of the Barony in 810AD.

Over the century's, kingdoms and rulers changed but the Richthofen Barons remained steadfast in the charge given them by the first Emperor of The Holy Roman Empire. The Richthofen fortunes changed considerably during the almost 1,200 years as one King or Duke was conquered and boundaries changed but the Barons persevered down through the ages renowned as royal and ducal advisors, fierce warriors devoted to their soldiers and their liege lord.

Over the centuries, wars raged across the face of Europe. There was Germany's Frederich the Great and then after his death the subsequent loss of his Empire by arrogant descendants. There were the bloody Franco - Prussian wars of accession and borders. The petty squabbles between Dukes and Kings and the French Revolution, the bloodiest of all. By comparison, the Russian Revolution in 1917 was only a footnote in history at that time.

Over the centuries, no force had ever occupied the Manor Richthofen although some had tried to their mortal regret. Some of those who tried were said to have gone insane and others suffered strange deaths.

World War I became a war of attrition over the years it was fought. At the beginning of the war, the Baron offered his services to the Kaiser but they were not accepted with the Kaiser's regrets. He advised the Baron that he appreciated the offer but he couldn't accept the services of the only remaining member of the Richthofen family. After the Kaiser's defeat, he and his family went into exile and many of Germanys aristocratic families lost huge fortunes and lands from the demands of the Allies for reparations.

The Baron suffered some confiscation of lands simply because he was a Baron, a member of the German aristocracy.

World War II raged around the Manor and a Nazi Gestapo Colonel had investigated with the idea of using it for his headquarters but for an unexplained reason he used an office in the town of Baden-Baden. During the war there were many, many unexplained disappearances of Gestapo officers in and around Baden-Baden, Heidelberg and other small villages around the Manor but they were all attributed too the resistance. Not everyone in Germany supported the National Socialist Party.

After the war, the Richthofen Manor was opened for tours and a staff of locals was re-employed for the maintenance and upkeep of the manor and grounds. Many reported seeing the Baron but he usually remained in his private quarters, only rarely meeting with the staff or tourists. His Major Domo handled the daily affairs of the estate and the Baron would occasionally, in the early evening, walk through the manor impeccably dressed, his golden mane flowing, blue eyes sparkling and smiling, his perfect white teeth gleaming and he would greet the tourists whom he considered as his guests. His presence was a mesmerizing experience for those who met him and once in a great while you might hear the comment of how much he favored the young man in the library portrait. The Baron would smile and usually explaining in the language of the questioner that the Richthofen family resemblance was a curse he and his ancestors had suffered with over the ages and then, unruffled, walk away sometimes leaving a swooning female gawking as he left.

Both early morning and late afternoon tours through the manor and the mausoleum were offered. Surprisingly the afternoon tour was the most popular but it offered a full dinner of dishes made from local recipes along with area wines. Besides having an authentic dinner in a manor house that was almost 1,200 years old, there was always the off chance the Baron would join his guests.

In the excitement of dining with the descendant of a Baronial line that extended back to the times of Charlemagne the Great, guests did not take notice that the Baron ate very little and barely wet his lips with wine. His stunning good looks and the charisma he exuded made up for any loss of observation and his ability to converse in almost any language fascinated the people around him.

There were times when the Baron would invite an exceptionally good looking, well turned out young man for a private tour of his apartments and the unopened rooms of the Manor and he would discuss the history of the Richthofen Family and that of the Manor if he would like it. If his invitations were accepted, which they almost always were, he would suggest the young man return with the tour bus so he could pickup a few items for an overnight stay since it would be so late to be returning too Heidelberg. He always assured the young man he had invited that after breakfast his car would return him to his hotel and he would be able to rejoin his tour group. The Baron would send his car into Heidelberg a few minutes after the bus had left for his guests return with his overnight bag. The grace and charm of the Barons invitations left little reason to be declined and he could be very persuasive.

Over the years, many friends were made of traveling tourists.

• • • • • • • • TBC

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