Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2016 03:57:18 +0000 From: Michael Offutt Subject: Chapter 27-The Orb of Winter-Gay Science Fiction This story is protected under international and Pan-American copyright conventions. Please remember to donate to Nifty if you're financially able to do so. MY WEBSITE: http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/books.html My email: kavrik@hotmail.com Pictures of the characters in this story: http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/my-artwork.html Full story chapters and discussion: http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/discussion-board-for.html For those of you who can't wait for new chapters, please visit my forum where I post months ahead. The chapters are bigger there than they are on Nifty. To see for yourself please go to http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/discussion-board-for.html and find the folder that says "The Orb of Winter" and then open that up to view the chapters. Please note that the chapter order here will differ from my forum because I cut the chapters into smaller chunks for Nifty's audience. Also, if you aren't on my mailing list and want to be, please shoot me an email. Please check out my books on my website. ***** Chapter Twenty-Seven "You're late," Paul said. The crackle of the fire in the hearth called to Alexi, and he knelt on the fine woven carpet and extended his delicate hands over the logs. "I'm sorry. I would've been here sooner, but I witnessed something incredible," he said through chattering teeth. Intrigued, Paul moved to his side and draped a blanket over his friend's shoulders. Then he joined him on the carpet. Paul wore a loose shift, and Alexi couldn't help but notice the swell of Paul's very round and full breasts. They looked like "C" cups. "I saw Hunter again, and this time he was trying to save a friend being held by some death giant assassins...Nevrenachtur lords." "I've heard of them," Paul said. "But go on. Tell me the whole thing." And so Alexi did. When he finished, Paul got up and poured him a cup of hot tea. Then he settled next to him again. "That's the craziest story I've ever heard." "It's true," Alexi said, almost spilling his drink. "I know," Paul stated. "I'm just sayin' that it's crazy. You're lucky to be alive." "I had a good hiding spot, and they were all focused on what everyone else was doing." "Obviously," Paul said. "Let me get out of these slippers and into some proper shoes. I'll also grab our study book. Is that the bag you got?" Alexi nodded. He'd lugged the doctor's bag back to the academy, and he felt lucky that he didn't get waylaid by men out cruising the streets for a good time. It took him two hours to walk back here, but in the wet cold snow it felt like days. Paul appeared after fifteen minutes and the two boys finished a second cup of tea. Then they set off for Alexi's secret way into the abandoned wings of the sprawling Academy of Necromancy. Once beyond the iron door that led from the arboretum, the tone of the place changed significantly. "It's sad, don't you think?" Paul asked, holding aloft a lantern. They walked through a grand chamber with a ruined long table. Heaps of dust and snow-covered carpet lay piled under tall broken windows that a century ago might have looked stately. Alexi picked their path toward the doors, and opened one. "There are undead in this corridor, but don't be frightened. I put them there." Paul nodded and stepped through. At the far end, a dozen shadows started shambling toward them and the stench of rotting meat wafted through the stagnant air. The zombies grew more frenzied as the two approached, and in Paul's hand the lantern shook. Alexi gestured with his fingers and the zombies moved to one side giving them room to pass. He'd discovered that once he'd conquered their necromancy with his own, he had them permanently bound to his will. "How did you get so powerful?" Paul asked in wonder. "I'm not sure," Alexi said, "but it seems to come from within me. And it's getting stronger. Wait until you see Dudley." Paul giggled, "I can't believe you call him that. If Rowena knew she'd be infuriated." Alexi smiled. "The place I chose for our home is perfect. It has a direct route to the back door of this place just down the hill, and it lies across a huge crack in the floor that you have to cross over on a beam. Don't worry, it's wide enough to traverse without having to do a balancing act. Just be careful because it has no rails and drops down about four stories to the basement where there's lots of zombies." "All right," Paul said. "Lead on then." Alexi took them down another corridor, brushed more undead out of the way, and then found a stair behind a large wooden door. He took the stairs two at a time, mindful of the fact that both of them wore heels. When they got to the top, he pointed out the makeshift bridge. "I think this was some kind of art gallery at some point," Alexi said. "The rooms I picked out for my lab and bedroom are just over that bridge there." Paul stared across the twenty-foot gap where the floor had cracked and the foundation on one side of the school had separated from the other. But at least the ground was level. "There are no windows in the lab to let out the light so that someone might see it in the dark from the dormitories, which are a quarter of a mile that way," Alexi pointed. "But there are windows in the library, the bathroom, and the bedroom." "You have a library?" Paul asked, shivering in the night air. A few snowflakes fell through the open ceiling. "I do," Alexi said with exuberance. "And I've got a quarter of the shelves filled with pilfered tomes. I've been searching the complex a little bit every day. I came across a room that had enough books in it to double my collection, but I haven't had time to move them here. I've been wanting to get the place spruced up a little before the Ball of Moon's Blood this week." "Aren't you worried some academy student might stumble across this?" Paul asked. Alexi shook his head. "It's why I have the lower halls filled with undead. No one in the school wields the kind of power I have. They'd be challenged with one of those things, let alone two dozen, which is how many I brought up. That and there's Dudley right across the bridge here." Paul looked down into the chasm as they approached the thick boards that spanned the crack in the foundation. Each looked at least a foot thick and they were about two feet wide. Alexi had placed two of them side by side. Snow coated everything to about an inch and outside the shorn walls, the wind rustled through leaves neither of the boys could see because it was so dark. "Nice, right?" Alexi asked. From down below came the murmur of the zombie army he'd spoken of earlier. "The forest is so thick outside those walls and windows that you can't see the academy dormitories unless it's night. Then you can see the yellow lights from all the windows through the snow-laden boughs. But they're far away. I also have a spell that burns bones the same as wood. You get all the heat and light a normal fire would produce, but none of the smoke." "Where do you get the bones?" Paul asked. "There's a whole gallery of them three levels down. It looks like a massacre of some kind took place there. Trust me, this place has lots of old skeletons in its closets." When they reached the far side of the chasm, Paul held up his light. Ten feet from the tips of his shoes lay half the body of an ogre. A blood trail in the snow marked where the other half had gone sailing over the edge of the chasm and into the depths. The vast undead creature sported several wounds in its chest area and its right arm was missing. "Alexi, is this Dudley?" Paul asked, somewhat frightened. Alexi stared uncomprehendingly at his greatest minion, now laying as a pile of inanimate rotting flesh on the doorstep to his new dwelling. "What in the nine hells...?" He turned to Paul and asked for the lantern. Alexi stepped forward and held it aloft. A trail of blood droplets led across the snow and toward the door to his laboratory. The door was closed, but the lock he'd placed on it was lying discarded on the floor. Paul retrieved the padlock. "It's still functional. Someone had a key or picked it open." Alexi swallowed nervously. "Stay behind me. If there's something on the other side of this, I'll launch black flame at it. Then we run." "You can summon black flame?" Paul asked, eyes wide. "I'm not sure," Alexi replied. "But I think I can, so stay behind me." Paul nodded. "All right. I'm ready." Alexi reached forward and turned the handle. Warm air greeted him from inside, a result of having left the fire in the hearth going. He stepped into his lab, seeing immediately that there had indeed been an intruder. Some glass flasks on a work bench he intended for experiments had been tossed onto the ground. Broken glass lay everywhere; spattered here and there was blood from someone. Behind him, Paul entered and closed the door softly. Their shoes crunched the glass and sounded a lot like walking on one of Zanda's many rocky beaches. Alexi's eyes flew to his paintings, saw that they were undisturbed. Next, he looked at a big pile of books and they too still sat in place. Who on earth would risk coming in here to steal something? Alexi thought. Then Paul tugged his sleeve and pointed to the right where Alexi had set one of several mattresses he'd stolen upon the floor. Alexi intended to use them to make a bedroom out of an adjoining chamber. It had vaulted ceilings, big picture windows, and a nice cabinet that he fancied might make a great wardrobe. But there in the light of the fireplace was his intruder. It was Mr. Hunter from last night, and he didn't move at all. The trail of blood droplets led directly to him, and blood had soaked into parts of the mattress ruining it. His runesword lay on the ground next to a worn leather haversack, both items within reach of his fingertips. "Milbar's beard," Alexi whispered. "It's him." Paul set his book down and walked over to the body lying on the floor. "Be careful," Alexi warned, racing to his side and placing the lantern on a nightstand. But Mr. Hunter never moved. Alexi finally saw his chest rise and fall, but Hunter's breath looked far from even. It sounded like he even struggled a bit, probably a result of several broken ribs. "Is he dead?" Paul asked. "I don't think so," Alexi replied. He kicked at Hunter's leg but the man didn't respond. "He's taken something," Paul said, pointing at a syringe on the ground. Alexi picked it up and examined it. Then he spotted the vial containing a liquid (mostly gone) that Hunter must have injected into himself. "It's called `Trance' I think," Paul said. "It's a potent painkiller. He must be hurt badly, Alexi." Alexi sucked on his lower lip and said, "Let's see if we can get him better positioned on this mattress. I owe him my life, it's the least I could do." Paul stooped and grabbed a hold of Hunter's boots and hefted him onto the bed. Then the two boys straightened him out some. Alexi saw immediately that Hunter bled from both his helmet (through the grille over his mouth) and through a gash on his side. "Let's get this helmet off and bring over that basin and put some warm water in it," Alexi said. "Where do I get the warm water?" Paul asked. "I've got a pot simmering over the fire there on a brass shelf. It should still be warm." Paul reached up and grabbed the pot and poured the contents into a ceramic basin. Then he grabbed a washcloth from the table holding the beakers and medicine jars and walked it over to Alexi. "I think I've figured out how this thing comes off," Alexi said, running his fingers around the base of the helmet. He pressed several small hollows at once and it parted from the skin-tight gorget around the neck (to which it was sealed). There was a little "hiss" as the air decompressed. In the next instant, he removed it. Next to him, Paul gasped. "What?" Alexi asked, alarmed. He set the helmet on the ground and looked. There on the mattress was the most beautiful teenaged boy Alexi had ever seen. Hunter had a slim long face that managed to be both boy and man—both angel and devil—at the same time, and his bone structure was perfectly symmetrical. Alexi knew one glance from Hunter would halt someone in their tracks; he felt that raw sexual power flowing off the sleeping boy, and it unnerved him as sure as any spell. A high-bridged slender nose dominated Hunter's exquisite features and flowed smoothly into his moist forehead. Faint freckles splashed across the upper part of his nose and the skin beneath his eyes, which were deep-set atop distinctive cheekbones covered in skin so white the whole of him looked carved in alabaster. Hunter's lips formed a line of the palest pink, and his white-blond hair and sideburns had a tousled griminess to them that promised finesse. The hair (coiffed in the back and on the sides so as to be above the collar and over the ears) hung long and loose, effectively obscuring his eyes. Hunter's angular jaw curved gracefully around to his neck, which showed its strength in the twining cords of muscle that shaped his entire body. His nostrils were unbelievably petite things, and there was the faintest dusting of white-blond hair across his upper lip, but Alexi only saw it at certain angles and only from a few inches away. Other than that, his cheeks and chin showed no sign of ever having grown a whisker. The boy's eyebrows and eyelashes were also white-blond. The eyebrows themselves looked plucked and tweezed into perfect moon slivers; every hair exactly as it should be. And their color was so faint against his pale skin that Alexi had to fight an impulse to darken them with liner, but realized they gave Hunter's superb face an almost otherworldly quality. And Hunter's lashes were so long and thick that (with his lids closed) they touched the tops of his cheeks. Alexi even checked Hunter's mouth by parting his lips with his gloved fingers—he did this out of necessity to find some imperfection, some flaw, if one could even possibly exist on this man. But Hunter's teeth were as white and perfect as the rest of him. And that's when Alexi knew. All this flawlessness was natural, and here lay someone that woke up looking like this every single day. "Milbar's beard," Alexi gulped. "He's stunning. And Paul...look...he has a tongue piercing." Paul shook his head enthusiastically. "That's hotter than the nine hells. Alexi, I've never seen anyone that was this striking. Look at how white his skin is. I bet he doesn't get much sunlight, not if he wears this thing all the time." Paul knelt next to Alexi and extended his trembling fingers to open one of Hunter's eyes. A catastrophic Robin's egg blue stared back at him, although the pupils were dilated. "Fuck...he even has blue eyes. The rarest of blue even. Bloody hell, Alexi...he fucking has exquisite eyes. And look here...he has double eyelashes. You know how rare that is?" "By all the sages in Sulasia what have we found?" Alexi asked. He knelt and whispered into Hunter's ear. "Please be my boyfriend," and then giggled. But of course, Hunter could hear nothing. Then Paul looked at him and said, "He's obviously wounded so let's get him out of his armor." Then he sat back to take in Hunter's entire lithe body. "He's six foot one, I think. But we should take measurements for the book. Look at how long his feet are. Even they are dazzling, and I'm just looking at his boots." "They're not out of proportion for him," Alexi said. "No...that's not what I meant. I mean, you're right of course. They're perfect for him. Probably a size eleven boot at most, but that's big compared to my size four's." "Or my size five's," Alexi said. "Then again, I'm short." "We call that petite, honey," Paul said, running his hands over Hunter's cuirass. "I see what you mean. If all those bumps are muscles, then getting this off is going to be a lot of fun. I wonder if he has a big dick." "I wonder what race he is," Alexi said, musing to himself. "I can tell you that," Paul said. "Bring me the book and I'll show you. He's Atlantean. This color in his hair is the rarest mutation there is. This man shouldn't exist, Alexi. But he does, and he's someone who needs our help. It means he'll be indebted to us." "Dangerous people are looking for him," Alexi said. "This is more than I bargained for." "Life's often that way," Paul said. "Now help me get him undressed. We need to tend to his wounds." Alexi knelt next to Hunter's unconscious body. "I'll do the undressing. This is my place, remember? You just take down notes in your book." "All right," Paul said, getting up to grab The Races of Wynwrayth from off the top of the workbench. He also snatched a coiled measuring tape, a quill, and an ink bottle from a desk on the south wall. Alexi examined the gorget piece of armor that locked tightly around Hunter's long thin neck, and he found the place where it connected to the helmet right under the chin. The bottom of it connected to Hunter's pauldrons, which in turn overshadowed his cuirass (or breastplate and backplate fastened together). "Bring me my bag, would you?" he asked Paul. His friend obliged almost immediately. "This requires some kind of hexagonal tool to undo," Alexi said. "I don't have anything like it." "Maybe he does," Paul suggested, "in one of his belt pouches." Alexi smiled and tapped his forehead saying, "Good thinking." Then he started digging through several of the pockets around Hunter's waist. In one pouch on the left side, Alexi found a bent tool that had the right hexagonal end to it. It was about as thin as a spaghetti noodle. He inserted it into the indentation he'd spotted on the neck piece of Hunter's armor and started loosening. After a moment, the armor moved. Alexi loosened a couple more spots and the gorget popped open in his hand, allowing Alexi to remove it safely. "He smells like hay when it's just stopped raining," Paul said. "It's intoxicating; earthy." Alexi set it to one side and Paul whistled. "That looks really painful," he whispered. Alexi saw the damage the collar of Abyssal stone had done. Hunter's sinewy neck sported a conspicuous Adam's apple resting between cords of stringy muscle. It would have been covered in beautiful white skin like the rest that sheathed Hunter's god-like body, but an angry band of raised welts and blisters formed a complete ring where he'd been collared. A little blood leaked from several places where the flesh had even torn. In some spots, the burns were an inch-wide. "Damn," Alexi said, his voice lowered to a whisper. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Hunter. But we'll fix you up. I promise." That's when Alexi spotted the fantastic silver rose tattoo. The head of the rose was clearly visible, petals tightly closed. The colors were so bright and vivid, so distinct in fact that they looked real. And the green vine from which the flower sprouted dropped down the length of Hunter's neck and disappeared beneath the boy's corobidian pauldrons. Alexi looked at Paul and saw his friend crying. That's when he noticed wetness on his own cheeks. It isn't fair that someone this beautiful should be in so much pain, Alexi thought. The empathy he felt for Hunter almost overwhelmed him, and it made his heart ache. "Abyssal stone did this," Paul stated, with just a hint of anger in his voice. "I can't believe they collared him with it. No one should have to suffer those kinds of burns." Alexi dug into his doctor's bag for some Quarinel ointment. Imported from Merenzar, the ointment had many powerful (and faintly magical) healing properties. Legends said that Quarinel ointment was created by the Druids of the First Henge, and because of this it was very rare and expensive. Alexi dipped the clean wash cloth in the warm water and blotted Hunter's neck very carefully. Once he'd cleaned the open wounds of blood, things did look better. However, Alexi knew the pain must be intolerable. He opened the jar of the Quarinel ointment and took off his gloves so that only the skin of his fingers touched Hunter's bare flesh. As gingerly as he could, he wiped the ointment on the open wounds and then wrapped Hunter's neck in a linen bandage. "That's better, right?" Alexi asked. Paul nodded, "I think it looks fine." Alexi then started to look at the fine corobidian pauldrons Hunter wore. Mostly black with artisanal silver filigree, these alien things had a rugged beauty to them. Employing the hexagonal tool, he loosened several nuts and the corresponding clasps that held it flush to Hunter's cuirass eased. Paul helped Alexi by getting behind Hunter to lift him off the mattress so they could slip the shoulder pads over the unconscious Atlantean's head. Once positioned, Alexi further loosened the bolts that held Hunter's cuirass in place. It separated down the middle, and they were able to get the breastplate and backplate off without too much trouble. Then they let him down gently onto the blood-spotted bed. More of the stem of the silver rose tattoo was now visible, and it wound its way down his left arm to disappear under yet more armor. "He has no subcutaneous fat," Alexi said to Paul. "I'm not even kidding. Just look at this." Indeed, Alexi could see every blood vessel, sinew, and muscle on Hunter's body, and it looked eerie, freakish, and even arousing. But he also felt this strong impulse to feed Hunter, to give him a sandwich, to give him anything because he looked so starved. There were bruises and some cuts, yes. But Alexi didn't see those at first. Rather, all he saw was Hunter's raw agile physique. Even Hunter's belly button was spider-webbed by veins, a thing he believed impossible. Beneath Hunter's broad, lean, and muscular shoulders, the boy's smooth hairless body gleamed with sweat. Without a doubt, Alexi knew he gazed upon the body of perhaps the finest athlete in all the lands. He took it all in with a doctor's appreciation. Pectoral muscles defined Hunter's chest, and they lay perfectly positioned as flat, thick trapezoidal forms fitted with standard-sized but faintly pink nipples. These nips, in turn, were set right at the outer lower corners, and they pointed slightly down and out. Muscles of the serratus anterior flared and stood out like iron pipes laid side-by-side. They rose and fell with Hunter's ragged breathing; his rib bones showed prominently through his pale skin. Hunter's navel lay in a gentle dimple amidst a field of stomach muscles that formed an eight pack up to his sternum. His skin bulged with crisscrossed vessels and tendon that resembled white worms trapped under his flesh; they made Hunter's meat look shredded and visceral. They were everywhere: across his pectorals, up his neck, down and over every one of his abs, and across the sharp "V-shaped" cuts that made up Hunter's Apollo's belt only to vanish under a very suggestive metal codpiece. Furthermore, with the cuirass completely off, Alexi clearly saw that Hunter possessed only two patches of white-blond hair, and these were at both armpits and his pubes. Of the latter he could only see the top, but they plumed out in a white-blond mass from under his large genital cup. The ends of the long silky hairs shone with sweat droplets that hung like jewels on thread. It made Alexi thirsty just looking at that man dew, and he licked his lips as he stared. "It's weird seeing all that bush," Paul said. He took off his velvet gloves and ran his fingers through the visible strands of Hunter's pubic hair. "It's so soft and warm. Fuck...his body's firm as all get." Then Paul leaned in and sniffed at Hunter's groin. "The scent...wow...it kind of reminds me of this time I walked into a barn where my dad kept the horses. I'm smelling that now from his crotch; it's animalistic and primal and all leather and hay and rain...it's like all those scents are in there at once. Milbar's beard I've got such a chub right now." Alexi laughed and took a sniff. "It's delightful," but the young necromancer accidentally set his hand down on one of Hunter's bruises. This caused the Atlantean to cough in pain. "That's a broken rib there," Paul warned. "And another one here too." "He's also got a really bad gash on his abdominal oblique here," Alexi pointed out. He pressed his finger gently to the skin and the cut started flowing with blood. "I like how his body is so ripped that you can use terms like `abdominal oblique,' and I see it plain as day," Paul said. Alexi smiled at Paul's comment. "I'm going to need to stitch this up." Hunter looks so strange half undressed like this, Alexi thought. His arms and hands are completely wrapped in black metal, as is all of his lower body. The contrast of the white gleaming skin makes the whole experience visually stunning. Am I drooling? Fuck I'm such a horny mess. Alexi reached into his doctor's bag and pulled out the surgical sutures he planned to use along with a pale bone needle. Both of these he sterilized in alcohol. Then he started sewing quickly, mumbling magical words under his breath. "What are you saying?" Paul asked, while Alexi worked. "It's a little chant that I happen to know. The necromancy required isn't strenuous and will make sure that his skin heals without a scar. The sutures will also fall out on their own accord when the skin's fully repaired," Alexi replied. Then he continued to chant the words. After about twenty minutes he had the wound properly dressed. In that time, Paul found two others that needed similar treatment. One was on Hunter's back toward the left side. The other near his right armpit. Both of these had areas over an inch long that needed to be sewn together, and Alexi did so with a surgeon's skill. "Can you do anything for his broken bones, Alexi?" Paul asked. In the time Alexi had sewn up Hunter's cuts, a particularly large and purple welt had formed over two ribs on the lower right. Because Hunter had no subcutaneous fat, the skin revealed multiple breaks there. "He's having trouble breathing," Paul said. "You've got to try something." Alexi nodded. In theory, the necromancy was fourth year stuff. Necromancers needed to be able to parse bones together to create animated skeletons. In the absence of sinew, the magic provided a suitable substitute. He'd managed to put together a bird's skeleton once...but nothing of this size and complexity. And nothing, for that matter, that was still alive. Alexi extended his hand over Hunter's chest and drew upon the necromancy that resided within him. It welled forth from the knot he'd nicknamed "Drago," raising gooseflesh on his shaven arms, until finally it spilled out of his fingertips like black smoke. "Instaruret Skeletus," he said over and over. As Alexi concentrated he could actually feel Hunter's rib bones slide between his fingers. He felt that bruised bloody meat, and the slippery cords of damaged sinew. He could feel the young boy struggling to breathe, and the magic flowed over these holes and tears and breaks seeking to tie them together once more. Then at last, the bones came together and fused whole. The magic broke, and Alexi gasped. The effort of all that mending left him perspiring; drops colored with his melting makeup splashed on his dress. "It's done," he said to Paul. True enough, Hunter's chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm now, and the young man's eyes fluttered but remained closed. "Let's get his gauntlets off. A giantess broke one of his fingers, and I think I've got enough magic still left in me to heal that," Alexi said. Paul took the tool this time, and following Alexi's lead, he had Hunter's metal gloves off in just a few minutes. Alexi examined the right hand where the swelling around the middle finger joint showed just how much damage Mara Kano had managed to inflict. Paul held the long finger immobile for Alexi who started to work his magic, once again saying, "Instaruret Skeletus," over and over. Just like before, the necromancy flowed out of Alexi's fingers, and he felt the joint repair itself. As the finger bone fused together to become whole, Alexi let out a sigh. The swelling would go down in time; there was no magic that Alexi knew that could heal tissue damage. "He has lovely, big, and bony hands," Paul said. "I know," Alexi replied, holding one of them in his own. Alexi's hand looked small in Hunter's calloused palm. Hunter had so many lifelines that Alexi was mesmerized by the pattern. The Atlantean youth had fingers an inch longer than Alexi, and veins crisscrossed the surface and disappeared under armor that concealed his wrist and forearms. And Hunter's thumbs had a nice hook to them and were themselves long, gaunt, and strong with viscera made of sinew and blood vessel alike. Alexi found Hunter's hands to be exceptionally detailed, and he knew they could grip like a vice. However, he spotted a hint of black flesh in the wrist area, and he knew he'd have to take off the boy's vambraces to treat the badly burned skin (as he'd done on Hunter's neck) if he wanted to heal his savior. "There's no dirt under his fingernails," Paul said, making a note in his tome. "In fact, his nails look manicured and polished, just like the rest of him. It's obvious this one takes pride in his appearance." At this point in the narration (and as Paul made notes) Alexi just shrugged at the running commentary. Hunter was undeniably stunning, but they needed to get this skin-tight armor off his arms so that the damaged skin didn't get infected or go necrotic. "Twenty-eight-inch waist here. Wow, that's trim," Paul said rolling the measuring tape up. A "pop" signaled that Alexi had managed to remove the black corobidian vambrace along with the couter and the rerebrace. This left Hunter's arm naked, which revealed the whole of his tattoo. Paul's jaw fell open, and he dropped both the quill and The Races of Wynwrayth on the floor. "That rose looks alive, but it can't be. It's ink, right?" "Yes," Alexi said, setting down the armor with the other pieces. Then he made quick work of Hunter's other vambrace, rerebrace, and couter. Hunter's arms were faultlessly symmetrical. The flow of lean corded muscle that swept down from a pair of ragged deltoids flowed into powerful biceps, triceps, and forearms. These areas were punctuated by so many cords on the wrist above Hunter's thumbs they resembled wires on a piano. The cephalic vein, basilica vein, and median cubital vein practically leapt off Hunter's white skin even in this relaxed state of unconsciousness. Alexi hoped that the boy wasn't dehydrated, but all of these thoughts fled from his mind when he noted how horrible the wounds on Hunter's wrist looked. Blood literally started dripping from several breaks in the skin, and it made him want to cry for his patient as he sought to stop the bleeding by patting them gently with a washcloth. After about fifteen minutes, Alexi felt that the lesions were clean enough to apply the ointment and the bandages and he did so as quickly as possible. "If I see those fucking assholes that did this to him again," Alexi said in anger, "I'm going to make them wish they were dead." Paul just nodded and gave Alexi a hug. "It's difficult to watch, but we're doing what we can do for him. If he was conscious, he'd thank us." "I know," Alexi said. "Let's get the rest of this off him. I know he's got more burns like this around his ankles." On Timeron knight armor, the form-fitted metal piece that covered the ass provided an anchor point for both the cuirass and the codpiece, and it was called a butt tasset. On Hunter's armor, there was a similar piece with a small valve over the anus that Alexi imagined would allow Hunter to squat and shit without taking his armor off. As well, the codpiece on the front had carefully hidden clasps that could be undone for a quick piss. As long as the bolts attaching the butt tasset to the cuisses on the upper thighs remained in place, the butt tasset would stay on. Removing the four bolts on both sides (thereby separating the butt tasset from the cuisses) would essentially make it fall off once the codpiece got removed. The butt tasset on this armor that Hunter wore (and the ones Alexi had studied on Timeron knights) looked almost identical in that they were short up top to expose all of the pubic hair above the penis once the breastplate got discarded. Alexi suspected this wasn't intentional. Rather, a side effect of engineering armor to provide maximum flexibility at the waist. The fact that armor donned hastily might have pubic hair poking from the creases was not a concern. This is why Timeron knights wore tabards that extended down over the groin area to maintain a clean and polished appearance. But as Alexi started to reach for Hunter's bulging cup, he hesitated and just gaped at the thing because it cradled the one item that he really desired to look at but felt wrong to do. "What's on your mind?" Paul asked. "If anything, he's only mildly bruised there," Alexi said. "It would be an invasion of privacy to take it off. I know both of us want to, but I'm saying no. Let's just get his leg armor off and treat the damaged skin on his ankles." Paul looked disappointed but quickly agreed. "It's the right thing to do. At least we get to look at his feet." Alexi smiled and started to work on the bolts that tied the butt tasset to both cuisses. While he did this, Paul pulled on the leather boots Hunter wore, exposing both greaves and the metal sabatons that encased Hunter's feet (and these Alexi paused to examine). Unique only began to describe them. The molded metal shoes had a dozen or more accordion like folds to provide maximum flexibility. Each had a sole made from some kind of black material that looked like rubber but was much harder yet had a kind of "give" to it; the stuff on the heel was an inch thick. Through this tough black sole were drilled several holes, and Alexi saw with the lantern light that they held sharp ended cibrian cleats. Additionally, each sabaton had five separated toes that Alexi believed exactly matched the dimensions of Hunter's own. "I've never seen shoes like that," Paul said. "His toes are long and skinny; all except for the big toes which look a bit wider above the joint." "What do you think of them?" Alexi asked. "Sexy, arousing, and a half dozen other adjectives," came Paul's response. "But you already knew that. I love how long and narrow his feet are, and he has high arches if this sabaton is any indication. Whoever designed these was an expert metalsmith. The folds here account for incredible flexibility." "I'm beginning to think this wasn't designed by a man," Alexi said. "What do you mean?" Paul asked. Alexi showed Paul the helmet with all of the controls on the inside. "That's really weird." Alexi just nodded and went back to work. Once he loosened the bolts holding the greaves to the sabatons, the armor separated, and Alexi was able to take them apart to expose both of Hunter's muscular and quite hairless legs. There at the ankles (just as he suspected) they found more red welts that needed cleaning and bandages. Alexi got to work, trying to ignore how beautiful Hunter's limbs appeared here in the firelight. Through gleaming skin, the muscles of the lean upper thighs flowed through to Hunter's impressive calves and Achilles tendons. The slender gracefulness of his long legs was interrupted only by the prominence of the femoral artery, which branched off like a tree into dozens of smaller veins and (lower on each leg), the anterior tibial artery itself. "How does anyone get so...cut?" Paul asked. "That's the only way I can describe this. I mean...Mr. Hunter has skin but his body is so raw and shredded that I swear I'm looking at one of the skinless cadavers in anatomy class. I can identify every muscle that's on the exam. This is called the rectus femoris and this is the vastus medialis. Alexi, you can see where his hamstrings separate. That's not normal but the crease is right here. Bloody hell." "I agree," Alexi said. "His diet probably consists of meat or protein, and that's it." "Is that healthy?" Paul asked. Alexi shrugged. "It must be. Hell, I don't know but I love pie and cake too much to give up for anything like this, although I'm sure there's more to it than tossing sweets. The strength in this body is hard to imagine. No wonder he can go toe to toe with giants." Alexi started to dress Hunter's wounds, applying the healing ointment, and cutting bandages. Paul grabbed one of the discarded leather boots and sniffed at the top. "Smell good?" Alexi asked. Paul exhaled. "It just smells like the rest of him. Like leather, hay, rain, and a little mustiness mixed in with the scent of metal and weapon oil. Yeah it smells good." Alexi glanced over at Paul and saw that Paul's normally chocolate irises had turned to gold circles. "Holy fuck, Paul. Your eyes!" Alexi exclaimed. "They've turned gold." In response to Alexi's outburst, Paul dropped Hunter's boot and stood up. "Do you have a mirror?" Alexi nodded, tossing him one from his doctor's bag. Paul looked at his reflection for a minute, and then handed the mirror back to Alexi. "How am I going to explain this? Alexi, you know what this means, right? Mr. Hunter can produce royal jelly. He's a golden male. I can't believe this is happening." Alexi swallowed hard, and then noticed for the first time a second tattoo on Hunter's body. This one was on Hunter's right ankle, and it was about the size of a penny. But the color was very distinct and showed the head of a black dragon in front of a red moon. "I don't know," Alexi answered Paul. "All of this is kind of overwhelming. Maybe you can wear sunglasses or something or make up a story about it. Come here and take a look at this mark. What do you think it is?" Paul knelt once more next to Alexi and examined it under a magnifying glass that Alexi handed to him. Then he let out a whistle and grabbed his book, flipping through the pages like mad. When he found the passage he wanted to read aloud, Paul spoke. "The last queen of Atlantea gave birth to a boy believed to be perfectly engineered through flesh-crafting, and it cost the royal family a fortune. The magic involved was tremendous, but a babe was born that had no physical flaws. He shall be known by a mark that resembles the head of a black dragon in front of a red moon, and he shall be great in power yet cursed all the same." "Cursed? How?" Alexi asked. Paul shook his head. "I don't know, but this means he's a prince, Alexi. He's the last prince of an extinct race." Alexi nodded his head in shock. Then he finished dressing Hunter's wounds. Exhausted, he pulled a blanket over the sleeping assassin and then grabbed Paul by the arm. "We can't speak of this...not to anyone. In the morning, we'll get you some frames to cover your irises, and I'll use necromancy to darken the glass. We've got exams in the morning too, and I'm going to need your help to steal some food for him." "All right," Paul said. He got up and filled a glass of water and left it by Hunter's bed. Alexi also followed suit, and opened the larder where he kept his own provisions and removed a wedge of cheese, a piece of bread, and a cooked turkey leg. He put these on a plate and left them next to Mr. Hunter in case he woke up in the middle of the night and was hungry. Then the two of them went into the next room and crashed on one of the other mattresses, completely exhausted. ***** The complete novel is now available to read at http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/discussion-board-for.html under the label "The Orb of Winter" if you care to read ahead. Are there any artists out there willing to draw some pics for my story? If so, please email me. There is an "Orb of Winter" map now in both the NEWS section of my website and in the FORUMS of my website. If you go to my website directly from this posting, you will want to begin with "CHAPTER TWENTY."