Hunter

It was no real surprise that all members of the household retired to bed well before the normal hour that evening. Before they drifted off to sleep, Arex reveled in the feeling of Deril's lips and tongue on his prick while his friend and lover's head bobbed up and down in his lap. Even though he was a bit weary and already well satiated, it didn't take Arex long to lift his hips and spurt his come into Deril's talented mouth.

And once again, Arex fell asleep with a smile on his lips.

Several days later Deril entered the masters study with a bowl of various plants in his hand. Arex rested on the soft bilex-hide couch in the center of the room. The little redhead was perched on his lap, almost dozing in a post-coital bliss with her head against his shoulder while one of the masters hands was inside her short robe, absently cupping a small soft (and a little tender) breast in his palm. The other hand held open a large book against his knee while Arex read. Miko dozed likewise on the other end of the couch. Between Arex and their household duties, everybody was running short on sleep.

In truth, all four of the masters servants were moving a little tenderly these days. When the hunter stayed out of the wilds too long he became bored and restless. And aside from training out on the grounds with sword and gun and bow as he did every day, Arex only knew of one certain cure for boredom. Since the acquisition of his new additions to his household, Arex had yet to spend a night alone in his bed. Or a morning. Or afternoon. Or evening. Even Jaren had not been spared his turn, though he had spent most of the next day lying face down on his own bed and groaning a little. But when he was offered another chance to spend time with the master and his fine cock, he rallied quickly.

And though the big man would be loath to admit it, he was feeling a little chafed in the private areas himself. He was in a hurry to ensure both women were with child before he left for another hunt. But he was also greatly enjoying having them in his bed, which surprised him just a little. Jaren had turned out to be a lively and exciting bedmate as well. And even though he was faced with a veritable smorgasbord of sexual partners, Arex could not spend a day without Deril in his arms at least once. Even if he were just sleeping, he wanted his young lover within arms reach. But too much of a thing, even if it was a good thing, was still too much.

On the first night that Arex had taken both of the females into his bed together, Deril led Jaren to his own small bed in the adjoining room. Deril had resisted taking one of the other, larger spare bedrooms as his own. In his mind, his duty to Arex outweighed his new found free status. So with only a thin curtain for a door between them, their cries of pleasure mixed freely together that night. And many nights afterward as well.

At the end of the first week, Arex had sent Deril into town to the leather crafters booth to purchase three more soft leather collars. They all wore their new marks of his ownership proudly in place of the heavy iron ones.

Deril had taken Jaren out in the garden with him, helping to pick one sample of each of the plants growing there and several of the plants outside the garden as well. The younger man carried another bowl filled with fruits and berries.

Holding up a small plant that grew in clusters of threes, Deril said "Master, what is this?"

The hunter glanced up and said "Don't be a dunce, Deril. You know exactly what that is."

"Humor me, my lord. What is it and what is it good for?"

Arex looked at his somewhat annoying friend with a small scowl, then slid a scrap of paper into his book and closed it.

He said "Any fool knows what that is, Deril. It's Queensfoil. You use it to bring out the flavor of meat."

Jeni stirred in his lap, her hand going atop his inside her robe. She shook her head and said "It's Amarinth. You steep it in water to ease pain."

Miko likewise stirred and said "On Nikkon we called it 'Kwong-Lu'. It means 'Peaceful Mother'. Dried and powdered, it helps childbirth."

Deril looked at the young man behind him. Jaren colored a little at being called on. He said "If you crush it and squeeze out the sap, it makes a strong glue." He shrugged and said "When I was young I was apprenticed to a bookbinder. We called it the 'Binding Weed'."

Deril said "When I was a lad in the south by the great desert, this plant was extremely rare and limited to only the highest nobility. It was said to grow only where the mightiest warriors fell in battle and was supposed to enhance one's bravery and strength in battle. We called it 'Athelum'." He gestured towards the garden outside and said "We grow enough out there in our garden to make myself a very wealthy man back home."

He turned and pulled from Jaren's bowl a cluster of succulent looking brilliant green berries. They seemed to glow with life and looked wet as if they had been freshly sprayed with clear spring water.

"And these, master?"

Arex made a face and waved them away. "Ach!" he said "Where did you get those? They are Fool Berries. They look very sweet and inviting and wonderful to eat. Even in the dead of winter or the heat of summer they look that good. But they will give you horrible stomach cramps and the runs. Even the birds will not eat them."

Deril dropped the berries back in the bowl and pulled out a stalk of something brown and doughy looking. It looked like a stick of dried mud and about as appetizing. "And this?"

The hunter made another face. "Mudwort. You can live on it for awhile if you have to. But you won't be real happy about it. Not even Queensfoil will make it appetizing, but it will fill your belly and keep you from starving to death." He waved his hand to put the thing away and said "Where is all of this going, Deril?"

The young man turned and set his bowl down on the table and said "Another question, lord. A hypothetical question. You have chased a wyvern into the middle of the Becalmed Valley and now find yourself lost. How do you find your way out again?"

"You always travel widdershins against the paths among the rocks. Head ever uphill and take only the second right hand turnings, never the first." The big man was beginning to look a little impatient.

"One more question, master. Then I am through." Deril pointed up to the wall where the head and claws of the biggest slith was mounted. It's eyeless face with huge bat-like ears and slavering mouth full of razor sharp fangs always gave Deril a case of the shivers.

"It is said that sliths can hear the breath leave your body and the very blood coursing through your veins. That even removing their heads does not kill them right away. Yet you slew fifty of them. How?"

Arex leaned back and half closed his eyes, remembering. "That was a tough battle, indeed. I employed noisemakers. I purchased two dozen small clocks, wound tight each with a small stick holding their works until they were needed. Even so, you have to be absolutely calm and still until it is time to strike. I used the Kwang-Lieu relaxation method, taught to me by Master Shen-Sen himself." he stopped and looked at his young servant and said "I taught you some of it last year, if you remember. When you were ill and could not sleep. We need to finish your training. Make a note, Deril. Remind me before the end of the month." Arex turned the little redhead in his lap so that her back was facing out into the room. He put one hand across her lower spine, just above her hips. "A sliths brain is divided into two parts, here and here, about where a man's kidneys are located. To put it down quickly you must strike twice across here and here...." he ran his finger over the girls back quickly, simulating blade strokes. She jumped and squeaked. "And of course the finishing stroke should take off the head to keep it from spitting poison as it dies." He spun Jeni back around and kissed her quickly then turned to Deril and raised an eyebrow in expectation.

Deril went and knelt on the rug at his masters feet and placed his hands on top of one broad knee.

"Hear me out, O' lord. You are Arex, the mightiest hunter and slayer of beasts in all of Kahedron. Perhaps in all of the world. You have seen and experienced and learned things that most men can never imagine. You know more about hunting and woodcraft and wild beasts and exotic places than any dozen hunters alive today."

Deril slid the soft leg of the hunters trousers up to expose a kneecap criss-crossed with deep scars. He ran his fingers gently over the damaged flesh and kissed the skin gently.

"These scars.... These battle wounds...." he said "Are your badges of honor and the reminders of your glory in battle. Yet...." he paused and tried to weigh his words carefully. "Yet, they do slow you down, some. Maybe enough that some day you will be killed by some beast that is the lesser hunter than you. You could end up being taken down not by a mighty monster, but by some small and stupid beast that just got lucky. That would be a needless loss and disgrace, my lord."

A scowl wrinkled the brow of the hunter. His eyes narrowed. He could tell that Deril was trying to trap him home with logic again, all while stroking his pride. Though he knew Deril was doing it out of love for him, he could not but feel frustrated.

"Once again, where is this going?"

Deril held up his hands in defense. "A proposal, master. You have in your mind and body skills which should not be lost carelessly, but preserved for the ages. Give me.... Us... one year of your time. One year to see at least the first of your children born and named. During that year we will extract and record as much of your knowledge as we can. I envision several volumes, broken down by subject matter. All illustrated and printed all over the kingdom..."

Arex shook his head. "Schoolbooks, Deril? Dry and dusty tomes of an old hunters ramblings? Pfagh!" He lifted the book in his hand and said "I read for entertainment and escape, Deril. I am no academic...." But Deril placed his hands on his masters knee once again and insisted.

"Do you remember when you taught me to shoot a bow and fight with knives and my hands, master? And how to disassemble a blaster and clean it and make it shoot every time unfailingly and true? You have a way of instructing that takes the subject to the meat without ego or getting side tracked." He gestured at the other servants scattered around the room. "Will you teach them the same? Will Jeni and Jaren and Miko also be taught to fight and hunt? To defend themselves and your lands? To feed themselves and survive in the wild if necessary?"

Arex looked around and saw that all of them were looking at him expectantly. He had fully intended to train Jaren as he had Deril. A man should know how to defend himself, surely. But the women? The mothers of his children? Taught to fight with their hands and knives like men? The thought had not crossed his mind before. But now that it did, he saw the logic behind it and vowed to begin immediately before they became too big with child.

As that thought crossed his mind he realized how neatly his young lover had just trapped him. He shot a frown at the man kneeling at his feet. He opened his mouth to say something but a movement distracted him as Miko turned on the couch and crawled into his lap. She settled on the other side from the redheaded girl and placed a small hand on his cheek.

"Will you teach us, master?" she whispered. "Please?"

Jeni laid a hand on the other cheek and said "I am only a slave, master. But I am yours. No other man will touch me. No other man is worthy. Give me the knowledge and the skill to keep me safe from harm." She kissed his cheek gently with her warm soft lips and whispered "Give me the strength of your mind, master. Teach me to be strong so your children will be strong."

Jaren knelt beside Deril and placed his hands on the knee atop the other mans. He kept silent, but looked up at the big man hopefully.

Arex raised an eyebrow and looked down at his young lover, seeing where this was leading.

"A school, Deril? Is that your grand scheme? A school for hunters?" He shook his head. "I will teach these others, as you say. It is necessary. They must be able to defend themselves at all times. But I will not waste my time instructing fat burghers and perfumed lords who wish to hunt foxes and deer from horseback...."

Deril raised his hands again and shook his head. "No, no, my lord. We can devise a test. Physical and mental. So that only those who are serious and dedicated are allowed entrance. A maximum age requirement." he paused and raised his own eyebrow. "Just imagine it, my lord. Dozens of fit young men..." he paused again and glanced at the two half naked women lounging in the big mans lap "and maybe even a few young women... all wanting to be just like you.... In as many ways as possible..."

With a growl, Arex snaked out a hand and grabbed the young man by the collar and glared at him. "A lesser man would beat you for putting me in this trap, Deril."

Deril's hands came up and covered his masters grip gently. "A lesser man would not be worthy of this trap, my lord."

One year later the household was no longer the lonely and austere place it once was. The grounds resembled an armed camp, as the students were housed in small tents on the grounds. Every other day they were invited to dine in the main hall with the master and his staff, but for the lions share of the time they had to live off of the surrounding land. And they were not allowed to forage in Deril's garden under any circumstances.

Two dozen prospective hunters divided their time between classroom learning and field training under the legendary woodsman. At first only men were admitted, but they had just gained their first female students the week before. At all hours of the day could be heard the ringing of the blacksmith's hammer as he turned out swords and other weapons to Arex's exacting specifications. Next door to the blacksmith a bowyer and fletcher made bows and arrows by the dozens. And to the other side of them, an armorer turned leather and steel into protective clothing for the students.

And of course at any hour of the night both in the house and the grounds surrounding it could be heard ecstatic moans and cries of pleasure.

"The Guide" as it came to be called, turned into ten volumes and was being reprinted all over the kingdom in seven different languages.

The great hunter, his hair getting grayer all the time, had become the father of three children by this time. A fine pair of redheaded twin girls and a strapping dark haired boy who was the spitting image of his sire. And both Jeni and Miko's bellies were beginning to show once again with the promise of more.

There were no more slaves living in the household. All had been freed, but all four of them still wore the soft leather collars as a show of love for their master. In celebration of their freedom and to repay him for his love, they had conspired together with a furniture maker in town and had a huge bed constructed that would easily hold all five of them comfortably.

And Arex never slept alone to the end of his days.