Master and the Mate
By: Deep Diver
(Copyright 2006 - 2007 by the Author)
Editor: David L

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...
deepdiver_pr@yahoo.com

Chapter 46
Another Cliff Hanger

Ryan's secretary buzzed him to tell him that a Dr. Morgan was on the phone and wanted an appointment to stop smoking. Ryan had left standing instructions to his secretary to pass these calls to him before making an appointment.

"Dr. Morgan? So you've decided to stop smoking?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, when can you see me?" Morgan answered.

"Do you want to have one last cigarette before we start?" Ryan inquired.

"OK, fine." Morgan said, falling into Ryan's trap.

"Well then, I can't see you yet. Call me for an appointment after you've had your last cigarette, then I will know you are really decided and I can help you stay off them."

There was silence on the line.

"Morgan, only you can decide. Once you decide I can help you a great deal to follow your decision, but as long as you play mental games with yourself, you can never really stop, because you haven't really decided anything." Ryan challenged the dentist.

* * *

Having some free time between clients, Ryan went on-line to read his favorite gay blog and catch up on the gay news. One article was on the preparations for the 'Gay Pride Parade,' and he recalled how often it had occurred to him that he should be more pro-active in the fight for equality and equal rights for homosexuals. He remembered hearing himself say that if gay people remain in the closet then they in fact confirm the prejudicial view that being gay is perverse and therefore gays should be ashamed of themselves. The more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself that nothing would change unless he himself made it change. No-one can give you freedom, you must demand it. If freedom is given, then you admit that the one who gives it to you is in fact your master. Ryan continued meditating as he filled out the 'on-line' form to apply for a group permit to march in the parade.

Ryan was imagining a group of ordinary people. He felt that some of the more flamboyant floats were counterproductive because they played into the hand of those who believe that homosexuality is a perversity instead of an alternative lifestyle. The truth is that most homosexuals fit so well into the established ['normal'] culture that they are in fact invisible. His idea was to help them become visible, but at the same time not a threat to homophobes or others who fuelled by their uneducated and fundamentalist literal -- and erroneous -- interpretations of Scripture were convinced that all gays will go to hell. So Ryan dictated a letter of invitation to be sent to all those with whom he'd had any contact over the years, to join in a segment of the parade where marchers would march dressed as they would normally on any other day of the year. He had his secretary send the invitation to both his gay and heterosexual acquaintances.

* * *

That evening the second of the Church Ladies, a Mrs. Wildebeest, provided the Loud--Darling household with a sauerbraten and dumplings dinner. She too had the opportunity of seeing the whole family interacting and in spite of her anxieties, quickly felt very much a part of the family. During the conversation it came out that she had been a Spanish teacher before she retired and Mark asked her if she could look over his essay in Spanish. Mrs. WB, as she was later baptized by Manny, would then frequently go over Mark's work and help him with his grammar and his pronunciation [it's a shame she never had a chance to help DD; he could have used it! -- Ed.].

"Aquí es mi asignación" Mark said, trying to show her his ability to be understood in Spanish.

"Aquí está mi asignación," she corrected her tutorial student. "Remember Mark, in Spanish there are two verbs 'to be'. One expresses a permanent state and the other a passing one. You see your book 'is here' now, but it may be somewhere else later on. We use the verb 'estar' and not 'ser' when we refer to a location of something."

The woman who had arrived expecting stormy seas, found a quiet cove where she felt welcome and appreciated. She also felt a special attraction toward Mark because he reminded her so much of her own son when he was younger. Mrs. WB also admired how he appreciated her help and didn't resent her corrections. She was already looking forward to her next visit.

* * *

Ryan and Kyle had been discussing Ryan's plan about participating in the gay pride parade. Kyle understood perfectly well why Ryan felt it was so important, but on the other hand there was a queasy feeling in his gut about coming so far out of the closet. He had become more and more comfortable telling people of his sexual orientation, but the thought of walking down 5th Avenue with the crowds, the press and televison cameras all looking on made him nervous.

Ryan told him that he understood perfectly how he was feeling and tried to convince him that he would understand if he wasn't ready to go public. Kyle felt even more torn; he didn't want to let Ryan down, but having his buddies from school finding out, gave him the willies.

"Shall I pop the next DVD in or would you rather not watch any more of the Indian Summer?" Ryan teased.

"Only if the days of that summer get hotter!" Kyle joked, as they both got into bed and made themselves comfortable, intertwining their fingers in each others.

A small clan of Crow had joined up with Swift Mountain Lion's clan and in the group was a squaw -- Cactus Lily -- from Howling Wolf's clan who had been captured many years earlier in a raid and was now married to one of the braves, Buffalo Horn. When Swift Mountain Lion discovered this he asked Buffalo Horn for permission for her to teach his slave to speak Crow. Up til now they had only exchanged a few words. Actually, Howling Wolf had learned a handful of Crow words, but mostly they were still relying on sign language.

One evening, Howling Wolf broke out in a high fever and lapsed into unconsciousness. Swift Mountain Lion found himself all tied in knots as he had grown so fond of his bed mate; he sent for the medicine man who performed his usual incantations over the reposed and sweating body of the Dakota slave. Over the next few days, there were no signs of improvement, but Swift Mountain Lion looked after his captive as if he were a doting squaw. He frequently went to the river and brought back the cool water to wash down Howling Wolf's body. In spite of his fear that Howling Wolf would not survive, he delighted in the opportunity to care for him.

Swift Mountain Lion loved to move his hands over his taut skin and explore every inch of his slave's handsome, strong body. The Dakota squaw would bring over some of the soup she had prepared, but Swift Mountain Lion insisted that he himself be the only one who could feed the young brave. When the fever turned to chills, Swift Mountain Lion would lie next to him, pull him into his arms and cover him with buffalo hides. Finally one morning while he was bathing his ward, he was moving his fingers between each toe of the young man's foot and the foot jerked from the feeling of being tickled and Howling Wolf spoke:

"Stop, that tickles," went across the screen in the subtitles.

Swift Mountain Lion looked up and saw that Howling Wolf had opened his eyes and was now conscious. The fever had subsided and he grinned widely to express his pleasure.

"Look, his smile is almost as sexy as yours." Ryan said, teasing Kyle.

"Shh, just watch!" Kyle ordered.

Swift Mountain Lion crawled up on top of Howling Wolf and laid down on him, hugging the body he had come to love, even though he was not fully aware of just how strong that love was as of yet. He then lifted himself and moved up even more and kissed Howling Wolf on his dry and cracked lips. Howling Wolf moaned, but it was more from the discomfort of having the heavier brave resting on him than from passion. In fact he was quite bewildered by this change, which seemed sudden to him, in Swift Mountain Lion's conduct. Not able to comprehend fully the situation and unaware that he had been ill for several days and that it was Swift Mountain Lion who had nursed him back to health, he struggled to break free of Swift Mountain Lion and insulted him with the foulest words of the Dakota language.

Swift Mountain Lion felt so rejected, he ran out of the tipi (lodge) and mounted his pony and rode as fast as he could feeling a combination of anger, hurt, depression and loss. He began asking himself why he had wasted so much time on this ingrate savage whom he should have scalped many moons ago.

Cactus Lily, the Dakota squaw, saw Swift Mountain Lion ride off and took the opportunity to visit with her compatriot. Quietly she slipped into Swift Mountain Lion's lodge and greeted Howling Wolf.

"How are you?" She said in Dakota.

"I feel very weak. What happened to me?" Howling Wolf asked.

"You were struck down in your sleep by a bad spirit who made you very hot and would not let you wake up. But Swift Mountain Lion took care of you, fed you and bathed you."

Howling Wolf opened his eyes wide as Cactus Lily described the events of the last few days. He had honestly thought that Swift Mountain Lion was just trying to humiliate him even more. He'd had no idea how long he had been unconscious. Now he understood why Swift Mountain Lion had left so angry and hurriedly.

"If you see him, would you please ask him to come and speak with me?" Howling Wolf said.

Cactus Lily nodded her head and left to get some real food for the recovering brave.

Howling Wolf was about half way through eating the meat that Cactus Lily had prepared for him when Swift Mountain Lion returned and quickly went into his tipi before Cactus Lily could speak with him. He saw Howling Wolf eating a bowl of meat and kicked it out of his hands. Then he grabbed the weakened brave and pulled him up by his hair; then tied his hands together more tightly then ever before, lashed his legs together and threw him over his shoulder and carried him outside, naked, and placed him over the back of a pony and jumping on his own steed led him towards a wooded area. Once there, far from the small village, he pulled Howling Wolf off the pony and put four stakes in the ground and tied him down spreadeagled loosely between the stakes. He then got between his legs and lifted him off the ground with his knees. After putting some buffalo fat on his own cock, he penetrated his captive who screamed and writhed in pain at the brutal invasion of his virgin ass.

Once inside him, Swift Mountain Lion just lay still on top of Howling Wolf until his pain subsided. Swift Mountain Lion began kissing the frightened brave's chest and pecs. He then began moving inside him slowly. Now Howling Wolf was again moaning, but this time not from pain but from an unknown source of mysterious pleasure that was overtaking him. His body convulsed with pleasure as Swift Mountain Lion began dominating him more and more. Both of their bodies were churning and grinding into each other.

"Cojun eo, Cojun eo!" Howling Wolf yelled and kept repeating as they both worked themselves into a deep state of passion until Swift Mountain Lion exploded into his captive's entrails. Howling Wolf was still yelling when Swift Mountain Lion suddenly withdrew his penis from his captive's rectum, loosed his bonds and rode off on his horse, leaving Howling Wolf his long knife and the pony.

Swift Mountain Lion had just had the most intense orgasm of his life, but he headed home bereft. He was reliving the loss of his best friend and their parents. Swift Mountain Lion was inconsolable and had a strong temptation to throw himself back into the river to which he owed his life. He and his pony plodded back to the village; his act of rape was his closure on his revenge, he had freed his captive and now his own life was void of meaning.

Howling Wolf found himself free, but exhausted and extremely tired. He wanted to build himself a fire, but he barely had the energy. The night air was too cool on his bare skin; he managed to get to his pony and pull it down and slept next to it downwind. Initially the pony made no protest and shared its warmth with this man that had come to know the meaning of being someone else's property.

Cactus Lily had seen Swift Mountain Lion leave with Howling Wolf thrown over a pony and had followed on foot. By the time she found Howling Wolf, he was fast asleep next to his pony. She laid down beside him as well and covered them both with her blanket.

In the early morning, Swift Mountain Lion had submitted himself to the medicine man for treatment of his depression and an empty soul. The medicine man had set up a smoke house some distance from the camp. It was more like a makeshift sauna. There was a fire with several large rocks, which were heated. Water was dripped onto these rocks and the small lodge which was fairly tightly closed became full of steam. The medicine man recommended that Swift Mountain Lion spend five days inside with no food or water. Swift Mountain Lion needed cleansing, needed to wipe his memory clean of Howling Wolf, so dejectedly he accepted the assigned treatment prescribed by the far wiser sage. Once inside he wept like a small child and waited for the consolation of the Great Sky Spirit.

"I think we should have a sauna in the basement," Ryan suggested as he squeezed Kyle's hand under the sheets.

"I wonder where you got that crazy idea?" Kyle answered cynically. "Besides there's one at the 'Y' that we can use." Kyle said to frustrate Ryan's pre-decided plan.

"Yeah, but we can't do the things that I'd like to do to you there!" Ryan said seductively.

"Shh, Ry, watch the movie, or you'll be asking me all day tomorrow what happened next." Kyle continued to tease the love of his life.

Toward nightfall, Howling Wolf and the squaw, to everyone's amazement came back into camp.

"We thought that you would go back to your own people?" The chief said solemnly.

"My husband is here, therefore I must be here." Cactus Lily pronounced and looked her husband in the eyes as he came and took her back to his lodge.

"Swift Mountain Lion me captured. My captor be here, I be here." In spite of his poor command of the Crow language, Howling Wolf made himself understood and the chief smiled broadly and invited him into his lodge to eat and smoke. After a good while, Cactus Lily came back to the chief's lodge, flushed in the face, but looking quite content and explained to Howling Wolf where Swift Mountain Lion was. She explained that he would be another four days in the smoke house until he had found his spirit and returned. Howling Wolf knew he could not wait those four days and asked her to point the way to the smoke house. Once he arrived, he hesitated at the entrance, dropped the blanket that Cactus Lily had lent him and entered the steamy hut.

"On damn, not another cliff hanger?" Kyle protested.

"Oh stop your whinnying and make love to me." Ryan commanded.

To be continued

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