Elf Boy's Friends - IV
by George Gauthier
Chapter 5
Sparring
"Your turn, Axel," Jemsen said, as he left off sparring with his brother Karel, waving for the young wizard's aide to walk across the grass and join him for a session.
The twins practiced regularly with their weapons: bow, kukri, and quarterstaff. The bow was their distance weapon. With strength doubled by druidic healing magic the twins could draw bows powerful enough to propel their arrows as far as three hundred yards and penetrate all but the stoutest armor and shields. And their gift of Unerring Direction meant they did not have to trade accuracy for range. But a bow was all offense and no defense.
That is where the quarterstaff came in. The six foot shaft could block swords and staffs and counter war axes with its greater reach. A strike to the elbow could disarm a foe by numbing his grip on sword or axe, or for lethal effect shatter faces, or crush skulls. Used as a walking stick or carry pole it was always to hand, ready to deploy against any sudden threat. As for their blade, the kukri was a much a tool as a close-in weapon, but it was effective in either role.
Axel also trained with three weapons though in his case his distance weapon was the sling which flung lead bullets at a shorter range than archery. Wizards' aides did not stand in the line of battle where a sling would be outranged by bows, and they lacked the protection of either armor or shield. As for his kukri, the bent bladed knife was practically a short sword, equally adept at stabbing, slashing, and chopping. Kept in a scabbard on Axel's hip, it would always be handy in case of need. He liked it better than the long knife he had carried before.
Axel had a duty to perfect his skill with weapons. Like the twins he was a soldier — in his case a warrant officer like all aides to war wizards. His main job in combat was to watch his mentor's back, to warn and protect Sir Willet from physical attack while he himself concentrated on wielding his magic and countering that of enemy wizards and mages. Also, as an combat medic, Axel patched up the wounded and stabilized their condition till healers could attend to them.
Besides conventional weapons Axel's magical gift of Calling Light could be used to lethal effect. Englobing the head of a foe would scramble his brains. Axel had used that trick many times against the Institute's pestiferous pigeons and once against a tawny panther about to pounce upon Sir Willet.
Like the twins Axel had had his vitality enhanced by the druids and healers which would allow him to live for five centuries or more without aging. Beside longevity and perpetual youth, druidic magic had doubled his strength, speed, stamina, and reflexes. And while his faster reflexes did not allow him to snatch an arrow out of the air as the druids could, they were a distinct advantage in a fight. Axel might stand only an inch or so over five feet, but his strength, speed, and stamina would come as a nasty surprise to any foe.
"I don't want to sound like a complainer Jemsen, but I am still sore from our last sparring session. Just look at my bruises."
Since the boys practiced in the nude, Jemsen could easily see the bruises on Axel's forearms, shins, and ribs. Nor were they all from their last session, so they displayed a range of colors from red-blue to green to yellow to golden-brown.
"How fortunate then that your enhanced vitality comes with superior healing abilities. Those bruises will clear up in a few days."
"That's true. But what about those I'll collect today?"
"No pain, no gain." Karel interjected airily. "You think you have it bad, Axel, try sparring with a giant like our mentor Sir Balandur or maybe give Finn a try."
Balandur had always been careful with the twins, though they had taken their lumps, but then Balandur knew that they were country lads, hunters and trackers, hardened to life in the rough. Though Axel had proved his courage under fire, he was still a soft-hearted city boy, unbloodied in battle and yet to take the life of a sentient foe. For his own good he needed to toughen up. He had so much more at stake now, so much more to lose: a life that might last for centuries instead of the traditional five score and ten.
"You might not have noticed it, but you have actually made a lot of progress in your training with Jemsen and me. So much that it is about time to reduce the tempo of your sparring sessions to maintenance levels and let you train with your fellow aides, to get you used to facing a variety of opponents not just the two of us, whose moves by now will be all too familiar to you."
"That sounds good, but I still don't know why we cannot spar with padding plus gauntlets to spare my knuckles." Axel grumbled. "And a helmet too."
Jemsen shook his head.
"Soldiers train as they fight and fight as they train. Wizard's aides don't wear armor or gauntlets in battle, just their army greens and sandals or moccasins in your case. Here in training there is no point in getting a uniform all sweaty and salty so we train in the nude. Besides, everyone enjoys ogling your petite physique on display in all its glory."
"Its diminutive glory." Karel corrected.
It was true that Axel was short in stature, but that never bothered him. Size did not always matter. His attitude was that physiques like his were more about quality than quantity anyway. Axel might be slight in build, but he had the toned and taut musculature of an athlete or acrobat from regular exercise. And he knew he was pretty, a boyishly cute copper-topped youngster with fine-boned features and heart-melting dimples who looked nowhere near his real age of nineteen going on twenty. So what was there not to like?
Axel's trainer for the blade was his roommate and lover Liam. Growing up among the nomads of the Western Plains, Liam had trained with a straight saber from the time he could hold one and could be trusted not stick himself with it. It was also thanks to Liam that Axel had become a good rider, better than their mutual lover Drew Altair was ever likely to be.
It was not just that Drew was a city boy. He simply didn't like horses. They smelled bad, they sweated too much, they were headstrong, they would bite or throw you, and they were all too easily startled, too likely to take the bit in their teeth and charge down the road with their hapless rider clinging to the saddle horn for dear life. At best horses were a regrettable necessity.
Drew dreamed of riding a brontothere much as the druid Dahlderon and their friend the Frost Giant Finn Ragnarson had done in the Barren Lands, charging into battle atop a ten-ton mount which could bowl over and trample their foes while Drew attacked with his telekinetic powers which he would also use to clear caltrops from their path. Caltrops were about the only thing that could counter the charge of a brontothere because they used the gigantic beast's own size against him.
That evening though it was Axel himself who found himself being mounted again and again by the twins. They plowed his butt time and again sinking their shafts into the wet warmth of his quim, punctuating their enthusiasm by occasional light slaps to Axel's rump. Even better was when the twins double teamed him spitting him at both ends at once, shoving his small body back and forth with the thrust of their hips. Dizzy with lust, Axel felt like his body was on fire. Axel's submissive libido responded strongly to such assertive treatment from dominant males like the twins.
Axel also offered himself to them while lying on his back, legs spread wide for better access to his nether hole while the other twin slid his cock into Axel's mouth and down his throat. Axel's arms and legs were sprawled wide in an X, his body totally vulnerable and open to their attentions.
Whether it was one at a time or two Axel was very much a bottom boy who recognized that he was born to be fucked by lusty males who knew just what to do with a boy of his sort. That included Liam though that young man was currently preoccupied with Nathan whose time in the capital was drawing to a close.
Now with Drew things were more equal and not just because they were a match in stature though that did help them when they lay head to toe and rendered each other oral service. Their lovemaking started out slow with gentle touches to Axel's erogenous zones. Drew would stroke the chevron of his ribs or or swirl a finger in his navel or slide a hand along his sharp hip bones, bringing a flash of heat to Axel's belly.
Drew's gentle foreplay included kisses on lips and cheeks and nipples, nibbles on Axel's earlobes, snuffling at the base of his neck all the while plying the lad with soft murmurings of love. For theirs was a true love match, and who knew better than Drew Altair, with his active social calendar, the difference between mere recreational sex and passionate romantic love.
And thanks to their enhanced vitality Axel and his lovers Drew, Liam, Jemsen, Karel, and Finn would have centuries of love, laughs, accomplishment, and adventures. Axel considered himself to be the luckiest boy on the planet.
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