The Travellers - 2. Chapter 2: Well Meant...but oh so wrong!

In which Jamie meets a new friend but also gets acquainted with the ugliest aspects of Medieval-style serfhood in the most exploitative and beastly meaning of the word, causing him to make a very bad decision in an effort to solve a huge problem.

They continued their voyage, finally crossing the Scottish border with Collin muttering something like:

“Beware of the midges, laddie. They can saw yer arm off!”

Jamie didn’t have the faintest idea what he was talking about and observed the landscape. He had always thought that borders meant strength and confidence with castles and forts. But he saw nothing of that all, only more hills, more heather and more moor. Anyway, since he didn’t understand Collin’s warning and ignored it, he noticed a very strong burning itching and countless red bumps on all uncovered skin once the sun started to set.

They set course for Glasgow with their miles each day being limited by Rover, the faithful horse, who pulled the wagon at a moderate speed day after day. Rumor was around, 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 earn 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, pursuing 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 his short career at grammar 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 Rascal, the little dog. Or he took Rascal 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, foam on his mouth.

“Now, what is that?” an astonished Collin asked, 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 at Jamie, his eyes expressing utter surprise.

“He is all hot”, he exclaimed worried, “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 horse 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 pounds.

“Damned,” muttered Collin, “We’re stuck here until Rover is recovered. If he does, 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 got a chance to start it”.

“But….” Jamie tried 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 smiled…that boy was so sweet! He nodded his agreement.

“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 started looking for a job. But with the day progressing, his state of mind became more and more one of desperation. After hearing “No” for about fifteen times, right away or after answering questions about his qualifications (which were not surprisingly very limited) 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 doorbell and the door was opened by an old, ugly man. He was small, walked on short, thin and bent legs, had a fat belly and a large head, that was devoid of any hair. Instinctively Jamie disliked the man, who looked at him with a strange, sultry 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, that 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 ocean Jamie had heard. Well, he couldn’t vouch for that, since he had never seen the ocean before.

The boy, who was named Kyle, had an enchanting, open and kind smile, which regularly showed his even, snow-white 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 to 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 being observed, almost studied.

After a short while he felt fingers 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, accustomed as he was to get it always, no matter how:

“Yes, boy…I want you!”

Jamie flinched shortly and narrowed his eyes, uncertain what to answer, but within a matter of mere seconds a plan came into 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 crooked head and studied him from head to toes.

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

The laird was briefly taken aback; it was the kind of reaction he wasn’t used to. He was the laird, so mostly he ordered and the county boys were only there to obey and comply. The contents of his orders were not open to debate. But after recovering from his surprise, he snored contemptuously:

“Twenty quid? I give ye five for it!”

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

“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!”

For the third time he turned around and took his fork. At that time the laird’s urges were larger than his common sense and morality, meaning that before the first dung was on it, Jamie 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!”

With sickening lust in his eyes the laird took his wallet and handed him three fivers.

“Does my Laird wish to do it right here?” Jamie asked in mock kindness.

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…humiliating…, degrading…, 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 haunches. The man didn’t waste any time and pushed it in immediately. He panted and moaned like a wild animal and pushed hard in him. Jamie felt nothing, apart from the fact, that his stomach turned over and that he was on the verge of vomiting! It was nothing like what he had experienced with Collin, it couldn’t match that by a thousand miles. It was dirty, primitive and disgusting! But he pinched his eyes and clenched his teeth, determined to endure it all while he thought:

“I can help Rover with this!”

While thrusting in him the laird hit the boy’s bottom 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 your work, boy!”

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

Jamie swallowed the bile back in his stomach, pulled his trousers up and walked back to the stables to resume his mucking out…as ordered.

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

“Where did ye get that?” he asked.

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

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

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

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

Again, Jamie dodged Collin’s inquisitive gaze and no answer was forthcoming. 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; actually, it hurt like hell and tears of shame and remorse filled his eyes.

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

“Ye will never do that again. Never ever again”, he said stern without any introduction.

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

“But, Collin, I….”

“Hold yer tongue, laddie. I fully understand why ye did it. It was well meant, it is even moving that ye 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 full message, loud and clear.

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 God 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 ye for it! If he has the chance, he will do it again tomorrow or next week with another lad”.

Collin wanted 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.

He didn’t mention the second reason, the reason that was named Kyle. Because that might make things really more strained than they already were at the moment between him and Collin.

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 if that situation would re-occur.

The next morning he entered the laird’s stables very early. Kyle was already there, feeding the horses. Not a word, not even a “good morning”, was said between them. With morning progressing, it got warm again and both blouses went off.

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

“So he took ye as well?” he asked almost offhand without looking up from his meagre lunch.

Jamie knew exactly what he meant, but he decided to play it dumb. Without success, Kyle reacted with a short chuckle, filled with bitterness.

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

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

“Did he take you as well?”

Kyle laughed scornful and with increased resentment he answered:

“Did ye think I would have been able to escape his devoted attention and still be here? There’s a big chance that the old deviant is observing us from behind the curtain at 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 of meself. I have to earn a living some place!”

Coincidentally they looked at one another. Jamie had the feeling he was drawn in the wild seas of the grey-green eyes, drowning in them with rapture.

Kyle bent over, kissed him softly on his lips and stroked him gently over one of his nipples. This unexpected gesture aroused Jamie on the spot and he started dreaming.

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

The barely audible remark launched Jamie into seventh heaven and even mucking out proved too much for his very limited powers of concentration the rest of the working day.