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   story codes: (Mb bb snuff anal oral ped) style: contemporary

   THE DUNGEON MASTER by Rafe Morgan (Copyright 2012)

   BOOK III: THE MAZE (Scott and Rabbit)

   Chapter 17

   For several days I let the boys enjoy a relaxed routine, cutting back on
the morning exercises, holding paintball practice after lunch and then
locking them into the big bedroom to play video games or watch movies while
I labored at the task of burying Mike and Javier.

   It was late Fall.  With the leaves down there was less protection from
prying eyes, plus there were hunters and leaf peepers in the woods.  I had
to take stricter precautions not to be seen.  The job took longer than I
liked and in the end I dug a pit in a dense wooded area between paved
ribbons of the Interstate, a strip of land accessible only by parking at a
nearby strip mall, hiking through an acre or two of second growth timber to
the edge of the highway, and then dashing across when there was a break in
the traffic

   It took me three afternoons of hard labor with pick and shovel to dig
the pit, hacking my way through tangled tree roots to get the depth I
needed.  Then, I left the two bodies in the van for 24 hours to thaw a bit
and lugged them to the site one by one on a dark gloomy day with lowering
clouds that threatened snow.

   It was not as risky as it sounds because the area I had selected was
isolated and the plastic wrapped bodies were well camouflaged.  Even so, my
nerves were taut when I carried them through the woods behind the strip
mall to the edge of the highway.  It was midafternoon, after the lunchtime
traffic and before the evening rush.  Little flurries of snow were swirling
around and the smattering of cars on the Interstate all had their lights
on.

   Twice I waited for the stretch of highway to be empty before trotting
across with a body, giving no one a chance to observe me.  After that I
took my time, unwrapping the boys with care and giving each a final caress
before laying them out together on their sides in the bottom of the pit. 
Neither one had been a favorite, but I had liked them both despite their
faults.  Traces of makeup were still visible on Javier's beautiful face
when I patted his cheek and gave his hair a final stroke.  Mike's head
lolled on his broken neck when I arranged him in his place, but despite the
staring eyes and half open mouth some of the old slyness remained in his
sharp features.  Despite everything the boy had given himself to me and I
would miss his cocky bravado.

   "Farewell, Tiger," I whispered, brushing fingertips through Mike's wispy
light blonde hair.  I climbed out of the pit to stand by it for a few
moments, looking up at the leaden sky, thinking of other boys I had known.
Then, picking up my spade, I began shoveling in the dirt.  An hour later
the job was done.  I tamped down the site, smoothed it over, pulled leaves
and brush across it, and then left with my tools in the gathering twilight
that comes quickly on afternoons of the late Fall.

   Back at the house, none of the boys ever asked what I had been doing in
the hours that I was gone, although Rabbit almost certainly knew and Todd
may have guessed.  In our morning workouts Scott pushed himself with
restless intensity, never failing to ask, "When we gonna do paintball for
real, Joe?" He and Eddie spent the afternoons adorning each other in body
paint and I would come back to find them covered with stars, half-moons,
stripes, and other fanciful designs their imaginations had conjured.

   "When we gonna like see the movie we done?" Eddie was constantly asking
and once my body disposal chores were finished I went to work on that task,
downloading all the camera memory sticks to the big computer in my office
and processing the images.

   "Awesome!" Eddie exclaimed when I reviewed the results for the boys.  He
wiggled with excitement as he drew close to watch himself on the big TV
screen.  They all enjoyed this, even Todd, and in the evenings after dinner
the boys would pester me until I got out the DVDs so they could watch their
own images dash about in the maze, jerking as they took hits, tumbling to
the floor, then rolling away to get back up and resume the action.  A
favorite sequence was Mike's final agony which I had included, filmed from
several angles.

   From the collection of stills I had taken after game, each boy had shots
he particularly liked.  Todd's was the one of him standing by Mike's
dangling body.  Scott loved to see himself stretched out on the bench, and
Rabbit liked that shot I had taken while he was arched back with his stiff
boner in Eddie's mouth.  Eddie's favorite was not a picture of himself, but
the ones showing Mike sprawled in near-death on the bench with Todd thrust
up into him.

   "Mike say he never do that," Eddie told me one night when it was his
turn to stay with me and the two of us were alone in my bedroom.  I had the
still pictures up on the TV for him and Eddie stared in fascination, eyes
glowing in the light from the screen, as he used the controller to bring up
the ones of Mike being held in position while Todd entered him.

   "He liked it, huh Joe?"

   "Yeah.  He liked it."

   My hand was around the curly haired boy's tiny waist and I stroked the
silky warmth of his firm tummy, pressing fingertips into the dimple of his
belly button.  Eddie turned to look up at me.

   "Next time we like do it for real it's paintball, right, Joe?"

   "Yeah," I answered, squeezing his waist.

   Eddie pressed buttons on the controller until he got to the picture
showing Mike's small body heaving upward as Scott broke his neck.  "In the
paintball you gotta' like do it with the knife, right?"

   "Yeah."

   My fingers slid into the small boy�s groin where his stiff boner, so
long for his body size, jutted out quivering in rigidity.  I rubbed thumb
and forefinger up over the gold piercing at its tip.

   "Rabbit�s like really good at paintball, an� with a knife an�
stuff," Eddie said, looking up at me again.

   "So are you," I assured him, pumping up and down on his hard shaft.  I
felt a tiny throb at the base and Eddie parted his legs to give my hand
more room to move.

   "The other kids are all like bigger than me," he stated after a pause.

   "So?"

   For a few moments I caressed the tender satiny skin on the insides of
his thighs, then went back to stroking his jutting boy stick again.  "Size
doesn't matter.  It's how well you shoot and how quick you can be with your
blade.  Look at Scott.  He won last time, and he's only a little bigger
than you."

   Eddie squirmed on the bed, leaning closer to me.  "Yeah, but..."

   �If you wanna' win, you gotta' fight.  I know you'll be brave for me."

   On the TV screen the images of Todd with Mike flashed as Eddie flicked
between them.  "Joe, how come you didn't like use the movie camera for
this?"

   "I should have.  I didn't plan for it.  Next time..."

   With a glance up at me Eddie put the controller aside and then stretched
out on the bed, arms flung back behind his head, his smooth little body a
glossy shadow in the light from the TV screen.  He drew up his dainty
knees, parted his thighs and at the center of his stretched ass I saw the
pucker of his hole gaping open like a tiny flower.

   �If it�s me, I want it like that," he whispered as I moved into
position over him.

   �Like what?" I murmured, caressing him.

   Eddie closed his eyes, arching a little.  �Like with Mike...  Like all
in me...  But with Rabbit, not Todd.  An� like...  Like...�

   I felt him straining to stretch his thighs even further apart as he
reached down to take hold of his long slim boner, brushing a fingertip over
the gold piercing.

   "An� like movie cameras...  Like up really close so my face shows...
An� like...  Like, when Scott like does it..."

   He turned his head, pantomiming a neck snapping twist.  "Like then... 
When I like move all around, like how Mike did..." Eddie bucked his hips a
little.  "Like the camera can be right there...  Like up close so it can
get me doin� it like really good..."

   "Yeah," I breathed, leaning over the boy, the tip of my thick rod
positioned in his opening.  "That would be awesome..."

   "Wicked awesome..." Eddie moaned, wrapping his slender legs around my
waist to pull me in.  "Ah...  Uhhhhhhhh..."

   My blunt head squeezed through his stretched ring, popping with little
effort into the boy�s hot cavity beyond.  Eddie shuddered as the length
of my shaft buried itself in the loose sheath of his boy pussy, sliding up
without resistance.  "Uhhh...  Uhhhhhhhh...  Joe...  Joe... 
Uhhhhhhhhhhhh�"

   Writhing, squirming, Eddie fought to take every inch of me, his graceful
body arched quivering against mine as he hugged with arms and legs. 
"Ahhh...  More," he pleaded in a high childish voice.  "In me, Joe...  In
me...  Ohhhh...  More...  Way up...  Go way up...  I wanna feel it..."

   Thrusting into him I ground my hips against the boy�s stretched ass,
forcing the tip of my straining rod in to its furthest reach.  Eddie
writhed beneath me, every muscle tense, his small slender form wiggling
like a snake.  With a cry of ecstasy he began to jerk as throbbing
convulsions rippled through his loins, pulsing around my impaling hardness.

   I held the boy, grinding my hips to keep my tip moving within him until
with a final shudder, the spasm ended.  Eddie clung, panting, his taut
little body locked against mine.

   "Like that," he pleaded.  "Like that, Joe...  If it's my turn I want it
like with cameras all in close...  And like Rabbit like way in me...  I
want it like that, Joe..."

   "That's how it'll be," I whispered, bending down to kiss his shiny dark
curls.  "I swear."

   The boy tightened his arms on me, squirming to hike his ankles higher on
my back.  "More, Joe...  Don't stop...  Do it real hard...  Way up... 
More..."

   Grinding my hips I took him again, and then again into his little
immature releases until the boy was moaning beneath me, eyes staring in a
trance of passion.  Only then did I slide my shaft in his tight little ring
to bring on my own release, filling his butt with a load of semen.  Eddie
fell asleep with his arms around me, but woke early in the morning
demanding to be taken again.  Afterwards, dozing in my arms he made me
promise once more about filming him "up like real close" with Rabbit if it
was "his turn."

   Okay," I swore, patting him.  "But you gotta promise to try to win for
me."

   He nodded his curly head and then wiggled happily when I tickled the
firm rounded globes of his butt.  "Did Mike take like all of you, Joe?" he
asked, looking up at me with eyes dancing in both pride and merriment.

   "No," I lied, smiling.

   This made Eddie giggle.  He squirmed, then looked up again.  "Can the
other kids?"

   "Nope," I lied again, tickling him.  "Just you." Convulsed with laughter
Eddie squirmed even harder, kicking his legs.  Then he cuddled against me
while I hugged him.  "Try to win for me," I said, circling my palm on his
silky back and shoulders.  "I want you to be like a wildcat, small but
deadly!"

   This pleased him making him giggle once more and then he was content to
snuggle until it was time to make breakfast.

   With the emptying of the freezer and completion of the video processing
the major chores were done so I could return the boys to full-time
training. Mornings were spent with the weights, the Universal, and on the
mats doing aerobic routines.  Wrestling came before lunch break, then we
spent the afternoons on paintball, practicing with the guns outside if the
weather permitted, or else down in the basement with the canvas target, now
crusted with layers of color.  Every day I had the boys pair off for work
with their blunt knives, using drills which emphasized the vital attack
points of neck, underarm and groin.

   �Strike to disable your opponent," I warned them.  �Don�t waste
any opportunity and move in and out fast.  One stroke and disengage.  Watch
your back.  Don't get so caught up with one player that you let another
sneak up and take you out!"

   Rabbit, Todd and Eddie all listened with solemn expressions, following
my instructions while they practiced, but at first Scott only fooled
around, letting himself be beaten every time and using each mock encounter
as an excuse to 'die' in some dramatic way.

   "Listen," I told him the next time it was his turn to sleep with me and
we were alone together, "I thought you said you wanted it to be me who
takes you out if you get it."

   The blonde boy lay naked beside me on the bed, his beautiful body
stretched in pleasure while I circled a palm in caressing passes over his
silky skin.  He looked puzzled for a moment and then, when I lifted my
hand, clenched it and brought it down as if plunging an imaginary knife
into his chest Scott�s eyes widened.

   �Yeah, you gotta', Joe!  I doan� want it to be no one else!  You
promised!"

   �You don�t want some other kid doin� it?�

   The boy shook his head.  "Uh-uh!"

   �Well, I got news for you, Sport." My palm resumed its slow caressing
circles on Scott's smooth form and when I brushed my fingertips over the
hard points of his tiny nipples he writhed a little, squeezing his butt to
swell the rigid stiffy straining upward from his groin.

   "If you keep foolin� around in blade practice," I growled, "It ain�t
gonna be me that does it.  When we do the paintball, one of the others is
gonna nail you when you least expect it an� then he's gonna drag you back
to the gate and finish you on the bench �cause that's the rules an�
there won�t be anything I can do to change it."

   �No, Joe!" Scott stared up at me, eyes pleading.  "Don't let �em!  I
want it to be you...�

   Shaking my head I gazed down into the boy's anguished face.  �Can�t
do it, Sport.  The rules are the rules, you know that.  The only way I take
you out is if you're the winner.  If you win all sliced up so bad I can't
fix you up for another fight, I'll finish you myself.  And I�ll do it
just like you wanted, I swear.  But if some other kid gets you, then you're
his, Sport.  That�s how it�s gonna be."

   Scott bit his lip and his eyes filled with tears.  "No..." he whispered.

   "Listen, Sport..." I leaned over the boy, sliding my palm down the side
of his chest and glossy flank.  "This is paintball, not laser tag.  In
laser tag I know you can beat anyone.  The day you lose a laser tag game
for real is the day pigs fly.  But this is gonna be paintball.  Rabbit's
really good at it.  You know he is, and so is Todd.  Hell, even Eddie's
pretty good.  Size don't matter in a game where everybody's got a weapon
that can take you out in one stroke.  In the maze it's all luck and reflex.
If any of those kids gets a chance to put a blade into you, none of your
laser tag tricks are gonna help!"

   Scott was staring up at me, taking in every word.  I paused for a moment
to pat his hip and then went on, �I don't want that, Sport.  I want it to
be you all the way.  I need you to start takin� knife practice seriously.
No more playin� around!  When we hit that maze I want you on camera as
the winner � hear me?"

   He nodded, eyes locked on mine, and then as I moved into position over
him Scott drew his legs up crossing dainty ankles on the small of my back.

   "Let's remember what you're here for," I whispered, guiding the tip of
my straining rod into the boy's opening.  "You're my killer.  The best of
the best.  Nobody takes you out until you ask me to do it!  Until then it's
just you with me, only us, and you�re a winner...  My champion...�

   Eyes shining Scott nodded again and then pulled his head back, arching
and shuddering as I entered into him.  With his arms and legs tightening
around me I slid the rest of the way in and ground my hips to move my tip
deep within his loins, feeling the boy writhe with ecstasy beneath me.

   "Fuck me...  Fuck me..." Scott pleaded.  �Harder, Joe... 
Uhhhhhhhh..."

   "My little Killer," I whispered back, straining to hold myself in as
waves of passion surged through my loins.  "Show 'em you're the best... 
Take 'em all down...  Win for me..."

   The blond boy squirmed, moaning, lifting in response as he strained to
pull me in deeper, offering the physical perfection of his youthful beauty
in a merging with my own flesh that rendered awareness of the present into
a blur of timeless myth.

   After that night there was a definite change in the way, Scott handled
the knife practices, but it was done with cunning and I may have been the
only one to appreciate the subtlety.  He still allowed the others to beat
him, and showed off by pretending to �die� in whatever dramatic way he
could arrange, but only after he had put his opponent in a losing position
and then let him escape through simulated clumsiness.  From time to time
his eye would catch mine and a covert message of sly mischief would pass
between us.

   A week passed, then another.  Rabbit grew restless, urging whenever he
slept with me that we schedule the fight.  Although I took every occasion I
could to provide him with assurances of my unconditional affection it was
it the boy's nature never to be convinced.  He was always seeking ways to
call attention to himself and merit my praise.

   Just as Scott excelled at laser tag, Rabbit�s game was paintball and
he regarded the upcoming contest as the means of eliminating all
competitors for my affection.  I soothed him as best I could with repeated
promises and in our nights together the boy gave himself with total
abandon, desperate to have me all to himself.  Afterward he clung to me in
the dark, all passion momentarily spent, while I caressed his hard smooth
body with my palm, marveling at its angular beauty, so different from
Scott's.  Then he would squirm and whisper, "When can we do the paintball,
Joe?  I wanna do it.  I wanna do it for real!"

   �It�s gonna be really dangerous," I would whisper back, hugging and
stroking him.  "I don't want to lose you.  Are you sure you can win?"

   The answer always came back without hesitation.  "Yeah!" Then Rabbit
would turn his head to look up at me, eyes glowing with fierce pride.  "I
know I can, Joe!  Lemme do it for real!  You let Scott play laser tag for
real!"

   My hand drifted back and forth over the glossy curve of the boy�s hip,
feeling the firm muscle and hard bone.  "You've got to promise me you won't
let these others get you."

   "I promise!" Rabbit stared up at me, his lanky body quivering, tense in
my arms.  "Please, Joe!"

   With a sigh I would nod my head.  "We will.  I promise.  As soon as the
others are ready."

   "They�re like ready now!  Please, Joe!"

   �Real soon.  I promise.  You have my word."

   This assurance would be enough for a time and the boy would relax
without pressing further because, unlike Scott, there was fear in him as
well is the need to impress me and compete for my attention.

   Boy like, his passive ardor unslaked, he would squirm against me and
plead, "Do me again, Joe.  Real hard.  Like way inside.  Make it like a
long time..." And I would kiss him, his mouth opening under mine, my tongue
sliding into him as he moaned with passion.  Our bodies would merge, his
slender thighs parting...  Then as my rigid hardness plunged into the hot
moist sweetness of his loins, Rabbit would cry out in pain and delight...

   Of the four boys, it was Todd who never once talked about the coming
match.  Secretive and silent, when he spent nights with me in rotation with
the others the slim graceful boy rarely said anything unless I asked him a
direct question.  Even then he would often communicate by subtle nuance of
body language rather than in words.

   He was different, too, in the things that entertained him.  Action
movies, a favorite with the rest of the boys, bored him and it was not
until I dug out other things - 'ET', 'Stand By Me', 'The Karate Kid', and
(to my surprise) Truffaut�s 'The 400 Blows' - that I caught his
attention. Even then, he preferred to be read to and was willing to cuddle
next to me for hours listing to my rendering of The Jungle Book, The Prince
and the Pauper and Tarzan the Ape Man, although in the last book only the
opening chapters describing Tarzan's boyhood interested him.  We skipped
all the rest.

   Although he preferred books to movies, the one DVD I could always
capture him with was the one holding his own images.  Todd liked to have
this up on the TV screen while I read to him and the set of images he liked
best were the ones taken of him posed next to Mike's dangling body.  On one
of the very rare occasions when he asked me a question it was about the
dead boy.

   "Did he like do stuff with you?"

   "Yes," I answered, kissing him and then stroking his silky rounded
shoulder.  "But not like you and I do.  You're much better."

   I suspect that this answer pleased him because later on he gave himself
to me with more intensity than ever before.  But with Todd it was often
hard to say what he was thinking.

   He was fastidious, even more so than the others, and would not get into
bed with me until he had showered and anointed himself with fragrant
lotions that smelled of coconut and orange.  After I had showed him how to
clean his back passage he was scrupulous, not only in that, but in
evacuating himself beforehand.

   To my surprise, and the jealous envy of the other boys, he began to
decorate himself with body art.  It started the day after the laser match
when he asked me for paint sticks and appeared after lunch wearing diagonal
stripes slashed across his smooth skin.  Apparently he experimented,
improving his decorative skills while I was busy with my disposal chores
and editing our DVD of the fight, because by the time we resumed full-time
practice Todd would appear for the afternoon sessions resplendent in stars,
moons, or some iridescent, pastel striping with streaks in his hair that
gave him the look of a tropical forest sprite.

   When the others saw my reaction to this they demanded body paints as
well and the next day Scott appeared in tiger stripes, Eddie with gold and
crimson designs setting off his black curls and Rabbit daubed in
cami-colors like something out of a Rambo movie.  As in all they did, the
boys competed to outdo one another and I led them through their workouts,
knife fighting drills and target practices surrounded by dazzling color and
spectacular youthful beauty.

   They all became skilled at decorative technique, and their designs lent
even more creative energy to their posing for my camera.  I took shot after
shot, recording the images they gave me.  As if stripped of any remaining
inhibitions by the designs of paint, the boys' posing became even more
erotic, progressing from individual portraiture to pure iconic imagery.

   In some ways this was interesting, but at other times, visualizing it on
the computer, I found it too impersonal.  But I did not ask them to stop
decorating themselves.  It was another way for them to vie against each
other and for the time being I let it continue.  Only once, with Todd, did
I insist on taking some pictures of him unadorned by paint.  On one of the
nights that he slept with me, when he presented himself after his shower, I
posed him as I wanted, snapped a series of pictures, downloaded them while
he watched onto a DVD and then displayed them one by one on the TV
side-by-side with an image off the Internet of the statue of David sculpted
by Donatello.

   "If your hair were longer you could have been his model," I told the boy
as we stared together at the display.  Beside me Todd shrugged and tossed
his head without answering.

   "Keep winning for me, and we won't cut your hair.  After a while it�ll
be that long.  It�ll look really cool."

   The boy nodded his head.  We added the Donatello David to his DVD of
images and after that he always spent time looking at it, along with his
other favorite pose standing beside Mike's dead body.  In our nights
together, after I had prepared him and he was surrendering himself to me, I
would stroke his hair while the boy looked up at me, eyes glowing as I
whispered, �Show them who�s best, Todd.  Be my champion.  Show them
who's the best in the world!

   Nothing lasts forever.  With four boys all competing for my affection I
would've been willing to give my idyll a long run, but like taut racehorses
my young fighters were impatient at being held in and if I waited too long
they would lose their edge.  I delayed as much as I dared, nearly three
weeks, and then announced one evening after the nightly game of laser tag
that the following day it would be paintball "for real."

   "Yeah!" Eddie whispered, his silky black curls glistening in the dim
light.  The boys were gathered around me, naked except for their vests and
they all glanced at each other.

   "Here's how it's gonna be," I told them, reaching into a shopping bag.
"You wear eye protection..." I handed out a pair of clear plastic swim
goggles to each boy.  "And you wear this..." Every one of them got a small
cardboard box.

   "What is it?" Rabbit said, opening his.  A curved piece of plastic fell
to the floor with a clicking noise.

   "Ball protection...  A plastic cup," I explained, bending to pick the
thing up and hand it back to him.  "You're supposed to put it under a jock,
but I want you guys to wear it with your thongs."

   Eddie and Scott both giggled as they ripped open their boxes.  Todd
pulled out the tucked in flap from his, careful not to tear anything, shook
the cup into his hand and examined it.

   "It won't matter if you lose," I said, collecting the empty boxes into
my shopping bag.  "But if you win, I don't want you coming out minus an eye
or with a paint pellet in your nut sack."

   This brought more giggles from my two smaller fighters.  Rabbit grinned,
but Todd regarded me without expression.

   "Another thing," I told them, holding up a hand for silence.  "A thong
is all you wear, but I want each of you painted.  You�ve got tonight to
think about your design." Reaching into the shopping bag I pulled out a
handful of paint tubes.  "You can have any colors you want, but you all
have to look different.  That's so the cameras can tell you apart.  Any
questions?"

   The boys glanced at each other.  "It's for real, right Joe?" Rabbit
said. "We use the sharp knives, right?"

   I nodded to him.  "It's for real.  Each one of you gets a knife when I
send you into the maze."

   They all looked at each other again, Scott and Eddie's eyes gleaming
with mischievous excitement.  Rabbit appeared solemn and in Todd�s face
was only cold disdain.

   "Showers," I told the boys, herding them toward the bathroom.  "Get out
of those vests.  Put your goggles and cups with the rest of your stuff.  I
want you guys in bed early tonight so you can rest up."

   "Joe, lemme� be with you tonight," Rabbit begged, tugging at my arm,
but I shook my head.

   "You�re all gonna be with me.  I�m sleepin� down here with you
tonight.  I don't want you guys up late playing video games..."

   There were grins from Scott and Eddie at this and the boys began
removing their vests.  I had not told them the real reason for my keeping
them altogether under my eye that night.  Partly it was avoidance of
favoritism before the match, but mainly it was my distrust of Todd.  Under
the pressure of an upcoming match I suspected the boy was capable of
anything, including an attempt at eliminating all or part of his
competition before the event.  I could even see him having a try at me
given the right opportunity.  Frustrating this by keeping the boys
altogether with me in the security of a locked bedroom seemed best, so that
was the arrangement I went with.

   It worked out quite well.  The long awaited match had my young fighters
all keyed up.  To settle them into a state where they would sleep I forbade
any DVDs or video games and, once they were showered, with their teeth
brushed, I had them nestle around me while I gave them tales from the
ancient myths, recasting all the heroes into young boy warriors.  They
listened, fascinated, long into the night before dropping off one by one
into sleep.  Eddie went first, then Scott and Rabbit, followed last by Todd
who fought to stay awake for a time, his eyelids fluttering, until they
finally closed and his dainty almost girlish features relaxed in slumber.

   Long since I had turned the lights out and I lay in the dark listening
to the soft breathing of my boys around me, wondering who if any would
survive the coming match.  The sadness of this was offset by the thrill of
what I was about to witness.  Perhaps the exhilaration of risking one's own
life at high venture and emerging alive was greater, but certainly little
else.  Within 24 hours I would hold in my arms that rarest and most
priceless of treasures, a young boy who had won life by his own strength,
heart and courage; a youth transformed to demigod by victory, willing to
submit only to me, pressing his silky sculpted body against mine, his
beauty enveloping me in immortal fire.

   I dreamed that night of a boy clothed in radiant light, coming to me,
his hands exploring my flesh, insistent...  demanding...

   Awaking in the dark with my four young fighters asleep all around me,
their smooth warmth nestled close, I struggled for a moment to recapture
the dream, but the vision faded and I could not picture the face.  With a
pang of sorrow I slid a palm on the taut glossy waist of the small boy
curled against my chest.  It was Eddie and behind him Rabbit was pressed
in, one knee pulled up on me and an arm across the small boy in a
protective gesture.  On my other side Todd was rolled close against my
side, one of his slender legs pulled up on me as well.  Scott was nestled
in with him, his compact silky body pressed to the other, one arm reaching
across to rest on my shoulder.

   Gently, so as not to wake them, I caressed each boy, rebuking myself for
the foolishness of regretting a dream.  What was an ideal of beauty?  Who
could desire it, or even visualize it?  It was myth, an ethereal creation
of the mind without form or existence.  The reality was here around me -
living, breathing, silky smooth warmth - young bodies pressed so close to
mine I could feel the beat of their hearts against my flesh.  What
meaningless ideal could compete with that?  Beside me in the bed were four
boys each of whom, in his own form, was an ideal of beauty far more
wondrous than anything the limited mind could create.  I was the possessor
of treasure beyond price, and I went back to sleep reveling in it, my hands
stroking the boys like a miser with his horde.

   ----------------------- End of Chapter Seventeen -----------------------