Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 00:27:42 -0500 From: carl_mason@comcast.net Subject: INDOMITABLE SPIRIT - 7 INDOMITABLE SPIRIT - 7 Copyright 2007 by Carl Mason All rights reserved. Other than downloading one copy for strictly personal enjoyment, no part of this story may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, except for reviews, without the written permission of the author. However based on real events and places, "Indomitable Spirit" is strictly fictional. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. As in real life, however, the sexual themes unfold gradually. Comments on the story are appreciated and may be addressed to the author at carl_mason@comcast.net If you would like to read additional stories by this author, please turn to the "Authors/Prolific Authors" link at the beginning of the Nifty Archive. This story contains descriptions of sexual contact between males, both adults and teenagers. As such, it is homoerotic fiction designed for the personal enjoyment of legal, hopefully mature, adults. If you are not of legal age to read such material, if those in power and/or those whom you trust treat it as illegal, or if it would create unresolvable moral dilemmas in your life, please leave. Finally, remember that maturity generally demands safe sex. CHAPTER 7 (Revisiting Chapter 6) "Now come with me. I haven't used that speedboat of mine for several years. Though it's an older model, it may amuse you." The boys were rather walking on air as they trudged down to a small private dock and boathouse. That which they found had their eyes out on stalks akin to a snail's. That damned speedboat, one of the badest, meanest machines they had ever seen, had to be 40' long! When everyone was ready, the Count settled himself in the cockpit where he flicked the ignition switch and hit the starters. Twin V-8s exploded into life with a deafening roar and then settled into an idle aurally reminiscent of a funny car lined up at a drag strip's Christmas tree. "Can she move?" Mike yelled above the roar, in part trying to be funny. "Yes, indeed," the Count shouted. "She'll hit 85 mph in 20 seconds and buzz along at well over 100 mph. Will that do?" Their mouths open, their eyes rolling, hanging onto each other lest they collapse, the boys tried to adjust to a new world. (Continuing Our Story - Seventeen Unto Eighteen) With a grin, Mike passed the tray with the cookies to Yevgeny Katunin for perhaps the fourth time. (Looking at the Count, he grimaced and mouthed, "Well, he likes them!) The boys couldn't believe how comfortable they felt with the white-haired legend. From all they could tell, the feeling was mutual. Katunin quickly agreed to take them on as private students under the sponsorship of the Count. He would live at the castle and work with them intensely for one month. Thereafter, they would come into Dubrovnik several times a week to work at his new school. Having begun their formal gymnastics training as thirteen-year-olds, they were poised to benefit from the attention of a master. Little did they know how his concern for their muscle and strength growth would push them to the wall - even after the months that they had spent in the island and reconditioning programs. In any case, nearly every day found them in the castle's small gym in their kynodesmes. It showed. Magnificent physical specimens that they were, their bodies gradually took on a definition, a polish, that only the skill of a Katunin could impart. Invitations to local meets would soon be followed by invitations to major meets in Split and Zagreb. During their seventeenth year, they would take part in the Croatian Gymnastic Federation's Olympic tryouts. With the permission of the Count, they traveled by train with Katunin to the Russian championships in St. Petersburg. Yes, the long trip gave them time for extensive discussions with the gymnastics master, but it also gave them their first experiences in a major city. Though gay life in Russia's second city was still terribly oppressed, they found Russian young people who welcomed them with open arms and shared everything they had. They left with fond memories of the young Russians who had crowded around their naked bodies at parties after a demonstration of gymnastic skills. They found they couldn't handle the vodka, but it was still a great trip! Home again, they gloried in the deepening relationship with the Count who swam with them, went boating with them, and exercised with them. They especially enjoyed backpacking in the wild and underpopulated mountainous area immediately inland from the coast that extended north and south through Croatia. These were the Dinaric Alps (or Dinaridies), one of the greatest mountainous complexes of Europe. Many were the evenings when they shared simple Balkan foods with wandering herders, got high on the local plum brandy (Slivovitz), and danced to the wild, whirling music of the mountains. Ofttimes, they also got to know the herders' sons after the oldsters had wrapped themselves in their blankets! Late in their seventeenth year, Mike became the Croatian and European champion on the rings, and Larry, the Croatian champion in the floor exercise. They raced their sports cars in some of the top events in Europe. Their yacht was frequently sighted in the fleshpots of the Mediterranean and the Aegean. Mikonos was a particular favorite, in part because of the large number of wealthy homosexuals who frequented it. They did not hide their homosexuality. (Even more than in the United States, different rules apply in Europe if you have money and status.) At home, where they rarely wore clothes, the Count had no problem asking his two wards to appear in the nude at events he had for older men, e.g., cards, hunting parties. In turn, he did not press them to sex with them other than when the wanted it, which they (and several of their friends) did...often. As they approached eighteen, they were widely regarded as two of the most handsome, manly - and sexual - young men in all Europe. (Before the Fall...and the Reconstruction) During the last spring as it passed into summer, the Count developed pancreatic cancer and died within a few short months. Inasmuch as he had never formally adopted the boys - indeed, the only record available said that he owned them - the Courts threw out his will and assigned everything to his family. (During this confused and tragic period, it also came out that the Count was wanted in most countries of Europe - other than the Balkans and Russia, of course - for a long list of crimes, including money laundering, racketeering, fraud, and the manipulation of foreign currencies.) The Count's brother decided that Mike and Larry should be resold and made arrangements in Amsterdam. To Be Continued