The Boys and the Traveler

The Boy and the Traveller Part 2

They had continued their voyage. They finally crossed the Scottish border with Collin muttering something like “Beware of the midgets, laddie. They can saw your arm off!”. Jamie didn’t have the faintest idea what he was talking about and observed the landscape. He had thought that borders meant strength and confidence with castles and forts. But he saw nothing of that, only more hills, more heather and more moor.

They set course for Glasgow with their miles each day being limited by Rover, the horse, who pulled the wagon at a moderate speed day after day. Rumor had, that they were building a new church in Glasgow and Collin expected to get a job over there. He was a woodcarver, who mastered the old art of making beautiful ornaments for church furniture and organs. So there were good prospects, that they might stay for a while in Glasgow and get some money.

Although it seemed that their being together would be of short duration after their first night with each of them going his own way, purchasing his own dreams, it became clear that they were in fact inseparable. They respected each other and loved each other. Collin started to teach the boy the first steps of wood carving, the first education the boy had since a few years of basic school. They ate together, they took care of the animals together and they slept together. And if Collin saw the chance to find the odd day job, Jamie would stay at their camp, taking care of Rover and of Squintie, the little dog. Or he took Squintie on long walks through the heather in the endless hills. Each new day the boy felt better, stronger and more valued and each day he learned a little more about controlling an unruly piece of wood and to shape it into what Collin wanted it to be.

But all good things come to an end! They had just passed some village when, on a sunny, but not very hot day, Rover stopped drawing just like that.

“Now, what is that?”, asked an astonished Collin, not expecting any answer from anyone.

Jamie shrugged his shoulders.

Collin got off the stand and walked to the horse. He patted it on the flank and asked in a friendly tone:

“Well, laddie, are we on strike today?”

He stroked the black flanks and looked up surprised.

“He is all hot”, he exclaimed, “He glows all over!”

That didn’t sound good! Startled they looked at each other. It seemed that Rover was ill. They unharnessed the horse and put it on a small patch of grass along the road. While Jamie stayed with the animal, Collin walked to the village to search for a vet. He found one who was willing to come and have a look for a couple of pounds.

The vet totally agreed with them: Rover was ill. And as far as he was concerned there wouldn’t be any pulling wagons until the animal had recovered. Oh yes, he could recover, but the medication should cost about twenty pounds or somewhere around there.

At evening they sat at the table in the wagon and looked at another in desperation. There were no twenty pound.

“Damned,”, muttered Collin, “We’re stuck here until Rover is recovered. If he recovers, because I have no idea where I could get twenty pounds. I guess that is the end of the job in Glasgow, even before I have started it”.

“But….”, tried Jamie hesitantly, “we could find a job here. I mean, I can also do something. I’m not too lazy to work as well, as long as it brings the money to make Rover better”.

Collin smile….that boy was so sweet! He nodded.

“OK, it’s no use to lament our fate over here and do nothing. Rover doesn’t get better from that and we can’t move on. So, we’ll both search for the odd job tomorrow for a short while or day jobs. Doesn’t matter, every quid is one!”.

The next day Jamie left the camp in good cheers and starting looking for a job. But as the day progressed, his state of mind became more and more one of desperation. After hearing “No” for about fifteen times he had serious doubts if he would be able to find a job. It was a warm day. He was tired and thirsty and his feet were painful after hours of walking.

At the end of the afternoon he came to a building, which looked like a mansion. He decided to give it one last try for the day and leave it until tomorrow if he didn’t succeed.

He rang the door bell and the door was opened by an old, ugly man. He was small, walked on short thin legs, had a fat belly and a large head, which was devoid of any hair. Instinctively Jamie disliked the man, who looked at him with a strange look, which Jamie didn’t understand. But he was lucky: he could start the next day as stable boy for the Laird of Kirkstile for the royal wages of fifty pence a day.

Elated he walked back to their camp, gave Rover an encouraging pat on the flank and went in to tell Collin the good news.

The next morning at half past six Jamie entered the Laird’s stables to start his first job: mucking out! It turned out, that another stable boy was working for the laird as well. It was a beautiful boy, about his own age, with a tanned skin and slim, wiry body, which showed he was used to hard menial labor. He had blonde, straight hair, which reached to his shoulders and gorgeous grey green eyes, eyes with the color of the wild seas Jamie had heard. Well, he couldn’t vouch for that, since he had never seen the sea before. The boy, which was named Kyle, had a enchanting, open and kind smile, which regularly showed his even, snowwhite teeth. Despite the early hour it was warm and Kyle had taken his blouse of. He was brushing a horse’s tail with bare torso in forceful, determined strokes. It was luck that mucking out does not require one’s full attention, because Jamie’s eyes regularly shifted to the other boy, admiring his body.

The morning was about half way when the laird entered the stables. Kyle whispered something like “Watch it, the Laird!” and continued brushing the horses. Jamie took the next fork of manure and threw it in the wheelbarrow. He had also pulled his blouse off do cool down during the hard work.

The laird walked with haughty pace through the stables and checked if his servants were doing their work in the way he expected it. After he seemed satisfied, he walked to the corner behind Jamie and sat on a small stool. While hard at work Jamie couldn’t dispel the feeling he was observed, almost studied.

After a short while he felt a hand pinching in his buttocks. It might have been imagination, but he also thought he heard a soft moaning.

He turned around and looked straight into the Laird’s eyes, who had an unconcealed horny expression.

“Can I be of service, my Laird?, Jamie inquired softly.

The man uttered another short moan, but had no intention to mince words on what he wanted:

“Yes, boy…I want you!”

Jamie flinched shortly and narrowed his eyes, uncertain what to answer, but at the same time a plan came into in his mind, that might solve the problems with Rover in one stroke.

“Well, my Laird,” he answered softly, “I think there are possibilities for that”.

The laird pulled up his eye brows in amazement. He looked at the boy with his head in an angle and studied him from head to toes.

“But…,” added Jamie, “It will cost my Laird twenty quid, of course on top of my day’s wages”.

The laird snored contemptuously: “Twenty quid? I give you five for it!”

Jamie turned around, took his fork and continued the mucking out.

“Ten quid!”, he heard behind his back.

Again he turned around.

“With all due respect, my Laird”, he said insolent, “I really thought I said twenty!”

Again he turned around and took his fork. But before the first dung was on it he heard:

“Fifteen quid!”

He thought quickly…better fifteen than nothing.

“Very well, my Laird,”, he answered, “Fifteen quid. But pay in advance if you please!”

The laird took his wallet and handed him fifteen pounds.

“Does my Laird wishes to do it right here?”, Jamie asked kindly.

The man nodded his head in a gesture to follow him. They went through the stables and ended up in the hay storage, where they were out of Kyle’s sight.

Jamie turned his back to the laird, unbuttoned his trousers and let them drop. Immediately he felt cold hands on and between his buttocks. He shivered a little…this was so…filthy. But he could help Rover with it.

The chilly hands went over his phallus and his balls, but it didn’t arouse him, to the contrary.

It was not before long before Jamie felt the laird’s little dagger between his buttocks. The man didn’t waist any time and pushed it in immediately. He panted and moaned like a wild animal and pushed hard in him. Jamie felt absolutely nothing. It was nothing like what he experienced with Collin, it couldn’t match that by a thousand miles. It was dirty, primitive and disgusting! But all for Rover!

While thrusting in him the laird hit the boy’s buttocks with a riding whip, causing him to make wry faces of pain. Finally the man ejaculated, puffing and panting like an old steam engine. He pulled his dagger out, pulled his trousers up and barked: “Continue with you work, boy!”

Then he disappeared as if nothing had happened, in the same swaggering, haughty way he had come.

Jamie also pulled his trousers up and went back to work, as ordered.

He was ashamed about the way he had got the money, but couldn’t suppress a wide grin when he put it on the table that night. Collin looked at him, totally surprised.

“Where did you get that?” he asked.

Jamie evaded the question and Collin’s gaze and didn’t answer.

“Did you steal this, laddie?”, Collin asked.

“No…!”, the boy exclaimed, “I don’t steal!”

“Well laddie, don’t come with the fairy tale you earned this in one day of honest work. So, where did you get it?”.

Again Jamie evaded Collin’s inquisitive gaze and no answer came. But Collin persisted.

After a lot of questioning and some pressure the whole story came out in bits and pieces how he got the money. Collin’s gaze changed from surprise to total bewilderment and he left the wagon with big, angry paces, leaving the boy behind. Jamie realized he had done something terribly wrong. It was meant well, very well indeed, but there was no gratitude. And that hurt.

It took a long time before Collin entered the kitchen again.

“You will never do that again. Never ever again”, he said stern.

Jamie shook his head, but wanted to justify his behavior:

“But, Collin, I….”…..

“Hold yer tongue, laddie. I fully understand why you did it. It was well meant, it is even moving that you wanted to do this. But never ever will ye let yourself be abused again by an old pig for money, if ye were a whore! Did ye get this message?”

Jamie nodded. He had gotten the message totally.

Collin relaxed and with a deep sigh he sat. Then he said:

“In our first night together ye said that God condemns the love between men. I answered, that Gods agrees with it, as long as there is love and respect between them. Do ye remember?”

Jamie nodded. Of course he remembered that night. How could he forget it? It was on his mind when the laird had his fun with him.

“This, what ye did today, this is what God condemns. There is no love, no respect. There was only an old swine of the so-called gentry who wanted to empty his balls. His lust was his only purpose without any respect or consideration for you and he used you for it! If he has the chance he will do it again tomorrow or next week with another lad.”

Collin requested him to get another job, but Jamie managed to get that demand out of the way, pointing out how difficult it had been to find a job in the first place,. So after some talking hence and forth they agreed he could stay in the stables, but if the laird unpacked his fat belly and his dagger again, he would leave immediately, with or without his earned money. Collin was not interested in the money in that situation.

The next morning he entered the laird’s stables very early. Kyle was already there, feeding the horses. Not a word was said between them. When morning progressed it got warm again and both blouses went off.

Only during their short midday break, when both were sitting in the sun in bare torsos and eating, Kyle started talking.

“So he had you too?”, he asked almost offhand.

Jamie knew exactly what he meant, but he decided to play dumb.

Kyle uttered a short laugh.

“I’m from around here, I know the laird. Everybody here knows he is sharp on young boys!”

Jamie tried to ignore it, but couldn’t suppress a counter-question:

“Did he take you too?”

Kyle laughed scornful.

“Did ye think I would have been able to escape his devoted attention and still be here? But he is the Laird, so nobody will report him to the police. The whole village will have their existences threatened if he is convicted to forced labor. There’s big chance that the old bastard is observing us from the window and is undressing us with his eyes!”.

“And still you stay?”, Jamie asked astonished.

“Hey, I’m alone, I have to take care for myself. I have to earn money some place!”

They looked at one another. Jamie had the feeling he was drowning in the wild seas of the grey green eyes.

Kyle bent over, kissed him softly on his lips and stroked him softly over one of his nipples. Jamie was aroused by this and started dreaming.

“I think ye are a very sweet lad!”, Kyle whispered in his ear.

- To be continued -