The Satyr's Song

by A. J. Marcus

  Paul scratched his brown beard. “That was really pretty.” He handed Adrian a small blue ceramic ocarina. “See how well you play this.”

  Adrian looked at the instrument. “This is a child’s toy.”

  “We sell a lot of them. Having the satyr out front play them helps the sales.”

  Trying to resist a sigh, Adrian placed the ceramic to his lips. With his first breath, he played a short tune he remembered from childhood. It had been years since he’d played an ocarina, but it came back fairly easily. The instrument didn’t have much in the way of fingerings and was a bit small in his large hands.

  When he finished, Paul nodded. “That was cool. Try this.” He passed Adrian a set of reed pipes.

  The flutist looked at them for a moment. “You sell these too?”

  “My cousin makes them.” Paul nodded again. “These all depend on how good the satyr is for how well they sell. If folks hear you playing well, then they sell really strongly. If you suck at it, sales suck.”

  Adrian had only played around with panpipes a couple of times. He just didn’t like the quality of the music they produced. He took the instrument with a bit of trepidation. Is this job going to be worth it? Off inside the ceramic shop, Sebastian was helping stock shelves with a gal they hadn’t bothered to introduce to Adrian. His friend caught his gaze, smiled, and nodded.

  As the pipes touched his lips, an idea for a tune came to him. For the next several minutes, Adrian gave in to his muse and let the unpracticed, unknown piece flow out as he moved the pipes back and forth under his mouth. When he finished, silenced reigned. Then a stout woman in the next booth began clapping.

  “Wow,” Paul said. “That was some of the best pipe music I think I’ve ever heard. Most of the guys just try and make something up and make it sound decent. That was real music.”

  For a moment, Adrian’s heart jumped. I’ve got this!

  Then Paul pulled out one last instrument. “Try this. It’s something new we’re carrying this year. The guy who sold them here last year dropped out of the circuit, so we picked up these and his drinking horns.” It was a hollowed out cow horn with a hole drilled into the end. “We’ll sell these as hunting horns.”

  Hoping that all he had to do was make a reasonable blat through it, Adrian put the horn to his lips and buzzed. The loud, flat sound rolled out over the fairgrounds full of vendors preparing their stalls for opening weekend, which was still three days away.

  Paul shrugged and accepted the horn from Adrian. “Well, you’ll get better.”

  “So, I got the job?” Adrian tried to keep his voice neutral. He still wasn’t sure if he wanted to spend his weekends the next two months hanging out at the faire, but it would be a change of pace, and now that he’d interviewed, he at least wanted to get the job. He hated not getting something he was trying for.

  The ceramic shop owner nodded again. “Yeah, you’re better than any of the other people I’ve listened to the past couple of days. Most of them couldn’t even get more than spit out of the hunting horn.” He paused a moment and studied Adrian. “I think you’ll fit the leggings we have. They might hang a bit baggy on you, but then you’re supposed to be a satyr. Baggy is okay for that. We can rig a belt. You’ll need to find a vest, though. The guy in California last year didn’t clean it before he returned it, after eating too many turkey legs and getting the grease all over it. The rats found it during winter storage and didn’t leave much.”

  Adrian was pretty sure he wouldn’t want to wear something that had been coated in turkey grease, anyway. “So where can I find a vest? And what type should it be?”

  Thoughtful lines crossed Paul’s forehead. “There are several vendors around that should have basic leather vests. If you don’t mind helping Sebastian and Holly with putting out the mugs, Sebastian can run you over to a couple places in a bit and see what you can find.”

  “Yeah! Preopening shopping!” his friend shouted. “I was hoping to run into Raphael from the leather shop this weekend. Hope he’s around today.”

  “Sure.” Adrian nodded. “I’d be happy to help out.” In the back of his mind, he wondered if there would be a lot of helping out in the shop as opposed to just wandering around making music and flirting with guys.

  “Cool, Dio, you got the job,” Sebastian said as they walked down the lane toward a booth on the other side of the fairgrounds. “We’re going to have so much fun. You’ll be amazed what a good time you’re going to have.”

  “Bastian, you’ve been going on for several days now. It has promise, but we’ll see. Any idea how much help Paul is going to be wanting other than me just playing tunes?”

  Sebastian shrugged. “No clue, the guy last year, who, if you ask me, was a little too flabby to be wearing the leggings and vest, did a little now and then when we’d get rushed, but overall he just hung out and played for the ladies.”

  “Paul and Holly know we’re gay, right?” Adrian asked. I won’t be making enough money to be in the closet out here.

  Sebastian laughed. “Yeah, they know we’re gay. I mean, look at either one of us. How can anyone miss the fact?”

  Adrian frowned at his friend. “Maybe your flames show up on satellite imaging, but I pass for straight most of the time.”

  “Says the concert flutist.” Sebastian paused and looked around. “Well, damn, the front of the shop is still closed. Let’s run around back and see if anyone’s here.”

  “There’s a back to these places?” The couple of times Adrian had been to the Ren faire, he’d never stopped to think that the shops had anything but fronts.

  “How do you think folks come and go around here?”

  Adrian shrugged. “Don’t know. Never gave it much thought, actually.”

  “All of this”—Sebastian waved his arms around dramatically—“is just the public façade. Most of the booths, particularly those along the edges, have back doors. Some of them even have sleeping quarters behind or above the shop. You can drive cars and trucks up to the backs, but don’t leave them there while the faire is open. That pisses off management.” He angled them around the side of the row of shops. “We’ll just cut around back here and see if Raphael or one of his people is about.”

  Although there were a few cars, vans, and trailers out in the main avenues of the faire, there were more behind the scenes. Adrian couldn’t tell how Sebastian knew which shop was which from behind, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but his friend led him to the back of a shop where a swamp cooler was already blowing in the warm spring air and the back door was ajar.

  Sebastian knocked daintily on the wood trim before stepping into the back of the shop. “Raphie, you in here?”

  “Up front,” came a high-pitched man’s voice. “Is that you, Bastian?”

  Sebastian hurried through the totes and boxes that filled the small shop. “The one and only!”

  Adrian emerged from the piled chaos to see a great bear of a man putting his friend back on the ground. “Bastian, I didn’t figure I’d see you till Saturday.” The big man winked. “Or maybe Saturday night.” The man’s voice didn’t match his stature at all. From the voice, Adrian had been expecting someone much smaller… and younger. Raphael had to be in his late forties or early fifties, not at all Sebastian’s regular type of bar twink.

  “I didn’t know we were heading over to see you until a little while ago,” Sebastian replied. “We’re looking to get my friend here some leather.”

  Raphael’s large, hairy hands rubbed together as he looked past Sebastian to Adrian. “You know, I so love it when you bring friends in for leather.”

  Sebastian laughed. “Not that type of leather. Adrian’s going to be our satyr this year, and we need to get him a vest.”

  “Hmmm.” The big man nodded. “You’ll be a major improvement over that guy they had last year. All he wanted to do was drink beer, smoke pot, and play for the ladies. If you’re one of Bastian’s friends, I know you won’t be playing for the ladies. I think I might
have just the thing, if I can just find the right box. While I’m digging, take off your shirt.” Raphael turned and began moving boxes around.

  “My shirt?” Adrian asked.

  “Yeah, your shirt,” Sebastian said. “Didn’t I tell you that the satyr always runs around with nothing under his vest? I’ve seen you without a shirt before. If I didn’t think you could pull it off, I would’ve never suggested it.”

  “But I’ve not tanned in months,” he objected.

  “So?” Sebastian made a dismissive gesture. “We can take you in and get you one of those spray tans. It can take care of you until you get a chance to tan out by White Rock Lake. You’ll be fine. I know you’ve been working out, so that’s what counts.”

  “If Bastian says you’ll be fine, you will be,” Raphael said. He set a box down and opened the flaps. “Nope, these are women’s vests.” He went back to digging.

  Sebastian grabbed the sides of Adrian’s blue T-shirt and pulled it out of his tight jeans. “Come on and get the shirt off so we can find something that will look good on you.”

  Adrian pushed his friend away. “I can do this myself.” He pulled the shirt over his head. The small shop was crowded enough that it was stuffy, and being free of the thin fabric was enough to make him feel a little cooler, especially with the swamp cooler blowing from the back.

  Raphael straightened from the most recent box he’d been digging in and looked at Adrian. “Oh, my. You will make a nice satyr.” In his hands, he held a red suede vest. “I think this will go nicely on you. But it’s a shame to cover up even a little bit of your gorgeous body.”

  “Thanks.” Adrian blushed. It had been a long time since anything had made him blush. He reached for the vest and pulled it on. “How’s it look?”

  Sebastian shook his head, his brown hair dancing around his large ears. “I don’t like the red. Raphie, maybe something in either a brown or a gray.”

  “He’d attract attention in the red,” the leather man said. “But I think I have a gray in his size down here.” He dug out another vest from the box, this one a medium gray.

  Adrian handed the red vest to his friend while he took the gray. “I wish you had a mirror.”

  “Alas, they’re all in boxes around here too,” Raphael lamented. “But this one brings out your eyes. It’s almost the same color.”

  “Raphie, do you have a belt that would match the vest?” Sebastian asked as he handed the red vest back.

  “Not a gray one. I think a blue, a sky-blue in fact, would work better.” The leather man turned. “He will be wearing the fur pants, I presume?” He began moving boxes again.

  “Of course,” Sebastian replied. “Although with his legs he almost doesn’t need them, but then he’d be flashing a bit much for the whole world to see.”

  Adrian started to take the gray vest off.

  Sebastian held up his hand. “Stop, we have to find a belt to match.”

  A frown crossed the flutist’s face. “And we can’t do that after I put my T-shirt back on?”

  “It will be better to see the effect of the two together,” Raphael said. “It would be better if you had brought the pants too, but we’ll work with what we have.” He held up a couple of belts in various shades of blue. “Now, let’s see what we have here.”

  After trying several and either Sebastian or Raphael rejecting each in turn, they settled on a sky-blue one, as the leather man had first suggested. Sebastian surprised Adrian by haggling a bit over the price of the two pieces. Raphael seemed to enjoy the exchange, and they finally settled on a good price that included the two of them taking the leather merchant out to dinner and the bar the following week.

  “So,” Adrian asked as they walked away from the store. “How long have you known him, and do I want to know how well you know him?”

  Sebastian drew up with a look of comic outrage on his narrow face.

  “You make me sound like a slut.”

  “Oh, Bastian, we both know how you know most of your friends.”

  His friend fell back into step with him. “It’s not how we know each other.”

  “We’ve known each other since before either one of us were interested in boys,” Adrian replied. “Since high school, most of your friends started out as tricks. I just don’t see Raphael as your type.”

  “What, big and hairy?” Sebastian frowned. “Just because I don’t go as gaga over your big, hairy chest doesn’t mean I don’t like them once in a while for a change of pace. You know, every now and then having a real daddy show me the love and attention I so rightly deserve is just what I’m in the mood for. Raphie is a real teddy bear. And he’s also not into strings. Ropes and straps, yes, but no strings. He makes his living going from faire to faire selling leather. Says he likes having different guys in every town.”

  “Sorry, I’ve just never seen you with anyone other than little twink boys from the bars, unless they had a fat wallet.”

  “They might be able to stay going all night, but sometimes, I want to just cuddle. Bears like Raphael are good at cuddling.”

  Sebastian stopped as they crossed the footbridge over the small creek that cut through the fairgrounds. Ahead of them, two men and a small boy were unloading an elephant from a trailer and leading it into a corral where another elephant and a calf waited. “Speaking of bears.”

  Adrian studied the two men. They were both large. The taller one with short brown hair looked in much better shape. The short one was a bit too round, and his longer black hair was matted to his head. As they watched, the taller one used a wooden cane to lead the elephant from the trailer to the corral by touching the beast’s trunk. As the man and beast turned toward them, he caught the first good look at the handsome face. From a distance it was a bit rugged, but as he’d grown older, Adrian had begun finding rugged appealing. Plus, rugged guys tended to be nicer than pretty guys. He knew that because he was one of the pretty guys, and he knew he wasn’t always nice.

  After the elephant entered the corral, Sebastian resumed walking. Adrian stopped watching the man and followed his friend. “So you know them too?”

  Sebastian shrugged. “Not really. They’ve been here for years, but I never really got to know them. I think they’re brothers. The kid goes with the taller one. He’s a bit of a mystery, seems all wrapped up in his animals and his kid. The fat one, he’s always chatting with different girls who do the belly dancing. I think he might have had a thing with one of the nuns for a while—”

  “One of the nuns?” Adrian interrupted.

  “Yeah, not real nuns, Ren faire nuns. You know, like you’re going to be a Ren faire satyr. Anyway, the one guy has a kid. If he’s not straight, who wants to have a kid around? That, and I’d be afraid the guy might smell like his elephants.” Sebastian shook his head and wrinkled his large nose. “Nah, there’s better guys around.”

  With a final glance, as the elephant guy closed the gate and the sunlight once again provided Adrian with a good look at the handsome face, the flutist followed his friend back to the ceramic booth. All the talk of bears and twinks had him thinking about sex, something he hadn’t bothered with while he’d been trying to advance his musical career. Maybe with the new fantasy track it was taking, he’d find time. I wonder what the hunky elephant guy is packing in his trunks?

  Chapter 4

  “Everything should be fine,” Ed said. He reached back into the truck for the packet of permits and paperwork he always carried when traveling with his animals. “Make sure everyone’s got water, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  “Can I go with you, Daddy?” Eddy asked.

  “Why don’t you stay here and help Uncle Bryan get everyone watered.” Ed ruffled his son’s hair affectionately. “I won’t be too long, just need to let the office know we’re here and that everything’s in order.”

  “Come on, Eddy, you can see if Ciro wants some water.” Bryan called the boy over as his father headed for the faire office.

  As he walked throug
h the bustling fairgrounds, he watched for old friends moving about, preparing their shops for the customers that would be swarming over the place come Saturday. Near the front gate, the clothier that had taken over last year busily hung up bright costumes for the customers to browse. Her business was mostly rentals, folks who came to the faire without period, or faux period, clothing and wanted to wear something to make them feel more submerged in the atmosphere. Ed waved to her, and she waved back. He couldn’t remember the woman’s name, but someone would mention her in the next few days and it would come back to him.

  For a moment, he thought about turning and cutting through the parking lot, but that would keep him from the casual stroll through the grounds he planned. It might take longer, but Bryan could handle things until he got back. The elephants and camels had all unloaded easily. Even little Ciro appeared unaffected by their all-night trailer ride across Texas.

  “Hey, Ed,” a voice called out from his left.

  He looked up and spotted Johan, the royal falconer, putting a fresh coat of paint on one of the kiosks at the edge of his seating area. “Hey,

  Johan, how was your year?”

  The big man laid his paintbrush down across the paint can and strolled over to meet Ed halfway. “Not bad. Some of the other fairs are really picking up.”

  “In this economy?”

  “We had our best year ever last year,” the falconer replied. “I’m actually expanding and going to a couple more fairs this year. Just got done with a new faire, down near Austin. It’s only been going on a couple of years, but the folks love it.”

  Ed nodded thoughtfully. “Austin would work for me. I don’t like all the paperwork and permits for taking everyone outside the state.”

  “It’s not that bad for me.” Johan nodded. “A lot of places, I don’t have to worry about anything other than the insurance cost, since I do a free-flight show. There are some states that are worse than others, like Colorado. I don’t even bother with that. But you should think about it.”