Chapter Ten: Summer Island
They had been on Summer Island for three days - Shalmaneser the unicorn, Magnus the mage, and Callixtus his slave boy. But they had encountered no sign of intelligent life apart from the woodsprites, whose blinking yellow eyes watched them warily from the undergrowth, but who did not otherwise trouble or approach them.
Summer Island had no ports, no towns or cities, and no human inhabitants. It was a huge expanse of warm green jungle filled with strange and exotic plants, where multi coloured birds called from the close packed trees. Mercifully, there were no stinging or biting insects, but the travellers were often accompanied by swarms of bright coloured butterflies. They settled in particular on Callixtus and sipped the moisture from his naked body as he perspired gently from the exertion of the march. At first he found this annoying but after a while he grew to like the sensation of them gently kissing his bare skin and fanning him with their wings. He felt as if he was clothed in a garment of all the colours of the rainbow.
The mage had given his cloak and bag to Callixtus, who carried them in a knapsack on his back while the mage marched in his white tunic. He too often had to brush the butterflies from his sweating face, but Shalmaneser was not troubled by them. He did not appear to sweat, but his milky white skin flushed a faint pink colour with the exertion of the journey. Magnus remarked, "Horses sweat, men perspire, but unicorns only glow."
"How much further is it before we find the elves, master?" asked Callixtus.
"This track we are following is used by them" replied the mage, "and my guess is we are approaching the territory of one of their villages. They stay away from the coast, and only inhabit the most densely forested parts of the interior. But I think we will soon be
encountering them."
No sooner had he spoken than there stepped onto the path in front of them a small form which seemed to materialise from the trees. At first Callixtus thought it was a woodsprite, though he quickly realised it was at least a foot taller than any woodsprite he had seen. It appeared to be a young boy, small and slight of build, and about fourteen years old, but with the pointed ears of an elf. The child had a glossy cascade of black hair worn very long, but apart from his ears he resembled a rather dark and well tanned Samnite, olive skinned and black eyed. He wore twists made of liana creeper around his throat, arms, and ankles in which jungle flowers had been placed, and a single bright blue bird's feather from a liana headband on his brow. He also had a thin belt around his narrow waist from which hung a dagger in a scabbard, and on his back a quiver filled with arrows; the quiver strap ran diagonally around his shoulder and across his chest. Apart from that, he was entirely nude, and his genitals, which were in proportion with his small and childish frame, hung free. Apart from the hair on his head his body was completely glabrous.
The bow he carried was held out in front of him and immediately lowered when he saw the unicorn. Fallling to his knees, he cried out a salutation in a fluting voice of melodious beauty, and inclined his forehead to touch the ground. Magnus addressed him in the strange sibilant tongue of his people, and the elf boy stood up and approached. He held out his left arm and took hold of Magnus's right elbow, and then stood on his tiptoes to rub noses with the mage, who had to stoop down to do so. He then repeated the gesture with Callixtus, to the slave boy's surprise. Elf and mage then had a conversation in the elvish tongue, in which Magnus appeared to be completely fluent.
"This is Vuonti" said Magnus, "a warrior and hunter. He will lead us to their village."
As they followed him, Callixtus said "Master, how can he be a warrior and hunter? He is surely only a child!"
"No Callixtus" replied the mage. "He is in fact nearly thirty years old, though admittedly that makes him the equivalent of a teenager in elf terms. Look more carefully and you will see his frame, though smaller than a human's, is in fact strong and supple. Look at the way the muscles of his legs flex as he walks in front of us, and note the firmness of his build. When you see him from the front, if you have a closer look at him you will note his form is more developed than appears at first sight; his pretty dangling member, though small, is not the penis of a pre-pubescent, but you will note from his low slung balls that he is fully adult. Although Vuonti is I admit a little shorter
and slighter than the norm; probably he is not quite fully grown."
Callixtus found that this was indeed the case when a short while later they came out into a spacious clearing and beheld the grass huts of the elf village. They were surrounded by a crowd of twenty or thirty elves, chattering excitedly with delight in their strange fluting voices. They patted and stroked and petted Callixtus with small warm hands, calling attention to each other as they pointed out various features of his anatomy, squeezing his muscles with appreciation and running their hands along his chest and back and buttocks. Exploratory hands made tentative approaches to his genitals too, but Callixtus gently brushed them away, and they did not persist. He did not want the embarrassment of sporting an erection which in his nude state he would not be able to conceal - he was already semi hard from their attentions.
The elves did not touch Magnus or Shalmaneser - keeping a respectful distance from the one and giving looks of awe to the other - but they were clearly making appreciative remarks about the size of Callixtus's cock (dwarfed though it was by the huge member of the unicorn), and like the Cheskans the elves were fascinated by his circumcised status, for circumcision was unknown amongst them.
There were only three females amongst the elves. They were similarly attired to the males, but wore loincloths, although their small breasts were only covered by a simple garland of flowers. There did not appear to be any children - or at least, none who looked any younger than Vuonti - and although most appeared youthful, some had signs of age. One of them, whose hair was long and black but sparse and thinning, looked almost wrinkled, and could have passed for a diminutive sixty year old human, apart from his pointed ears. Magnus explained he was in fact over six hundred,
and nearing the end of his natural lifespan, for elves are not actually immortal as some think - they merely have lifespans much longer than humans.
The long lifespan of the elves was balanced by their very low reproductive rate and gender imbalance; this also accounted for the small number of females and rarity of child-elves. Elven females only came into season very briefly and very occasionally. Despite this, elven males were notorious for their strong sexual appetites, and so it was part of their culture for the males to express themselves sexually with other males. Most were about five foot in height, and all of them had the same olive coloured, tanned skin and glossy black hair, with dark eyes - and of course the large pointed ears which were the one feature all the different elf-races had in common.
The elves laid on a feast for the visitors which lasted long into the night. None of them could speak any of the common tongue, so Callixtus felt somewhat out of things - but he was included in the banquet, for slavery was unknown to the elves. The elves just assumed he was the mage's lover and companion, and in a way they were quite correct.
Garlanded with sweet smelling flowers and sitting cross legged in a circle on the grass, Callixtus was also interested in the actions of the unicorn. Would he choose his elf companion from the assembled company? But he gave no sign of paying any close attention to any of them. Indeed, he scarcely seemed to notice his surroundings, and it was clear he knew no elvish. Magnus, on the other hand, spoke volubly in the strange speech of the elves, and seemed especially animated.
The next day, Callixtus awoke entwined in Magnus's arms as the first butterflies of the day arrived to investigate his body. They had fallen asleep outside, as although a grass hut had been set aside for their use the warmth of the tropic night meant that al fresco sleeping was perfectly comfortable, especially on the soft spongy grass that grew here.
Magnus opened a lazy eye. "Has he arrived yet?" he said.
"Who, master?"
"Why, Shalmaneser's companion, of course."
"I don't know what you mean" said Callixtus.
Magnus said, "Where is the unicorn now?" Callixtus looked around and saw Shalmaneser sitting cross legged with his back against the bole of a tree, with his eyes closed and his hands resting on his knees. "Look Callixtus - he is meditating - drawing on his inner powers to connect with the forest around us, and call the elf companion to him. It will not be long now, I think - he has been like that all night. He knows the chosen one is not far away - he senses his presence from afar."
At that moment an elf walked into the glade. He had not been present at the feast. He was rather taller than the norm with elves, being a little over five feet in height. He could have passed for a short and slim human youth of fourteen or fifteen, but that only meant that in elf years he could be anything from sixteen to two hundred. He was dressed identically to the other elves, with a long green feather in his headband, and also carrying a bow. Like all the elves, he was beautiful, but this one was so very gorgeous that Magnus let out an appreciative gasp. His black hair fell down to the small of his back, and the large dark eyes on his sweet and demure face opened wide in awe at the sight of the resplendent unicorn. Magnus was, naturally, also quick to notice his most interesting parts: his member hung down long and thin, of a greater size than was usual among the elves, matched by the low slung balls descending sweetly from his perfectly smooth groin. He strode forward on slim athletic legs and presented his garland of flowers to Shalmaneser, turning as he did so and favouring the mage with the sight of his beautifully taut buttocks. Magnus positively drooled at the sight.
Shalmaneser gravely bowed his head to receive the garland of flowers around his neck at the hands of the beautiful boy elf, who now spoke. To Callixtus's astonishment, his clear voice spoke the common tongue perfectly and unaccented, and although his voice was musically modulated, it sounded more normal than the usual fluting speech of the other elves, which to Callixtus's ears sounded somewhat like the piping of birds.
"Welcome to the land of the forest elves, my Lord. My name in elf speech is Lendulio Riktilak Timaskiu. I dreamed of you last night, and your voice in my head has called me here."
The unicorn bowed gravely. "I welcome you Lendulio Riktilak Timaskiu. I too have dreamed of you. I am Shalmaneser, Lord of the Unicorns of the Eastern Quadrant, Grand Master of the Order of the Unblemished, Captain of the Golden Host and Keeper of the Sacred Glade of Jehoram. I bid you welcome in my name and that of my friends, Magnus Viridius Caeruleus of the Vale of Argentum, Master Mage and son of a noble house, and his companion Callixtus of Samnium."
He concluded this speech with another grave bow, including Magnus and Callixtus as well as the elf boy in his gesture. Callixtus, who had had no idea of all the splendid titles his friends possessed, decided he rather liked the sound of being addressed as Callixtus of Samnium. The elf boy approached them and greeted them in elf fashion, grasping their elbows and rubbing noses. Callixtus fought to keep his erection under control as the elf boy leant forward so closely that he felt the warmth of his naked body, chest pressed against chest.
The other elves all ran forward with cries of delight to greet their new arrival, rubbing noses excitedly with him in turn.
"So it seems Lord Shalmaneser has found his elf, master" said Callixtus. "Does that mean we are soon to leave?"
"Yes", replied the mage, "but not just yet. We must wait for the ceremonies associated with their union to be performed. That will take at least three days. Both elf and unicorn will spend most of that time preparing themselves in seclusion and meditation. You and I will have some time to explore the delights of the forest in the company of the elves, I trust."
The young elf Vuonti, who had guided them to the village, placed an arm on the mage's, speaking to him in his strange fluting tongue. The mage nodded in assent. "He says he will be glad to look after us while the preparations are made for the ceremony" said Magnus.
Vuonti then turned to Callixtus, smiled at him, and presented him with an elf-bow and a quiver of arrows, and spoke to him, although Callixtus had no idea what he was saying.
"He says he would like to teach you how to use an elf bow" said Magnus. Callixtus looked uncertain - it was forbidden for slaves to use weapons of any kind, on penalty of death. "Take it, dear boy" said Magnus, "we are not in the Empire now."
As Callixtus examined the bow, the mage said "If you are as proficient at picking up the arts of toxophily as you are at picking up the arts of lovemaking, we will soon have you a master archer. And speaking of the arts of love, it's been a couple of days since we indulged, and the sight of all these beautiful naked elves has given me a raging hard on. You will have to come with me to the grass hut which has been set aside for us, and give me some attention."
Magnus addressed a remark in elvish to Vuonti, who laughed merrily, and then he gave Callixtus a playful caress of the buttocks.
"Your wish is my command, master" murmured the slave boy, and the two of them walked to their hut, with Magnus's arms around the boy's bare shoulders.