Duty of a Boundary Warden

[Croup]

((based on the Sword of Truth novels, occurring sometime before the first volume))

((open to Rahl))

Richard Cypher crept through the tall grasses, drawing closer to his destination. He used all the skills he'd mastered as a woods guide to move secretly, not letting a single blade of dry grass snap under his boot, displae a single pebble, or leave a single footprint. The reason for all the care? Well, he wasn't exactly allowed in this area, so close to the Boundary. No one from Westland was. It was dangerous to get too near, and if the wardens caught you . . .

But Richard moved ahead anyway. He was a guide, was't he? And as a guide, he should know his way around every part of the forest, even the dangerous ones. Besides, he'd always been curious about the Boundary--the wall that cut Westland off from the rest of the world. Just up ahead, his breath caught at his first glimpse of it. The greenish glow of the edge between life and the underworld, put in place by wizards before he'd been born.

[rahl]

Chase frowned as he checked the sharpness of his small knife before putting it back into it's sheath at his waist.

Most people in the small village near the boundary were weary of the boundary and of its wardens, but every now and then there was a person who chose to disregard local superstition and get too close. This time it was that young lad Richard.

Chase's own children knew better than to disobey's his instructions or getting near the boundary, but Richard had been brought up by that guide George Cypher and the old man Zedd after his mother died. Both were kind-hearted men, but they had taught Richard to be curious and stubborn.

With that attitude the lad had good making for a boundary warden, and Chase intended to tell that to George soon, but it could also get him killed.

Suddenly Chase heard someone's footsteps. They were almost as soft as the sound of feathers falling on snow, but Chase heard them anyway. He knew very few people who could move as quietly and he knew fewer people still who could do that and lived near the boundary.

"Richard....." Moving swiftly despite all his weapons, Chase started in the direction of the sound.

[Croup]

"Wow . . . " Richard breathed as he drew closer. At first the Boundary had repelled him, almost in disgust. But the more he looked at it, the more he wanted to move forward. And he thought he could hear something, on the very edge of his senses. Something calling him.

He was just about to throw hesitation to the wind and run towards the wall when he felt a rough hand grip his shoulder. Spinning around in surprise, it took him a second to recognize his old friend. "Chase!" he said distractedly, "What are you doing here?"

[rahl]

"Oh, nothing, Richard, just strolling through, you know? Making rounds on my usual job, which happens to be making sure that no one goes near the boundary."

Keeping a strong grip on the young man's arm, he began to drag him away from the veil to the underworld, from which he would have surely died.

Once they were withing a safe distance from it, he turned to glare at his charge. "I took you for a smart lad, don't you think there's a reasone people usually avoid coming here?"

Initially Chase had been planning to take Richard to his father, but upon a closer look he noticed that he had grown since the last time he had seen him. The Cypher boy was now old enough to shave. No use trying to get George Cypher to give him the hiding he needed.

Hrum....an idea began forming in his head, something that would make young Richard stay away from the boundary for a good long time.

[Croup]

((ARGH it ate my first post--rewriting--))

Richard seemed to come back to himself the further he was pulled back from the boundary, until finally he shook his head and came back to his senses. "Oh . . . " he said, and clutched his temples. Realizing the trouble he was likely in, he tried to shoot the big man a disarming smile. "I knew it was off-limits, but as a woods guide I thought I should know every area of the forest, even the dangerous ones."

When the hard look failed to leave Chase's expression, Richard started to fidget slightly. "Uhh, well, I'm glad that if I had to get caught by somebody, at least it was you, Chase." He was old friends with the warden, and knew that although the man looked gruff on the outside, he had the heart of a marshmallow. He liked to put on a mean face to scare children, but in the end they were always laughing. Chase was probably just pulling the same trick here to intimidate Richard. He wouldn't really punish him.

. . . would he?

[rahl]

"You know it is forbidden to go near the boundary, it is a dangerous place to be even if...that wasn't there." Chase let go of Richard's arm and began dragging him by the scruff of the neck instead. "There's bloodhounds near, and those nasty things with pincers too. And don't give this 'woods guide' stuff, who you ever guide here? What you should be learning is how to lead people away from here!"

They were now in the small forest that preceded the boundary. Only strong trees could grow close to the veil of the underworld, so most were great and ancient oaks. Eventually Chase found what he was looking for, one of the trees that had died and fallen. Those provided a great seat.

"And trust me Richard, by the time I'm through with you, you won't be glad that it was me that found you." He held the younger man's eyes to show him he was serious. "George is a good man, but he may be lacking a bit in the aspects of discipline. I'll correct that."

[Croup]

"But I can avoid all those dangers, Chase. I've been in the woods all my life, I--wait, discipline?" Richard asked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Chase couldn't possibly mean to . . . He wasn't a boy anymore! Richard was a grown man, with his own house and adult responsibilities. He hadn't been spanked in years, ever since his father had gravely told him he was too big to fit over his lap anymore. But even as a child, Richard had rarely misbehaved enough to warrant being punished in that way. He was always a rather serious boy.

However, Richard knew that Chase saw discipline differently. The big man kept a hard oaken paddle strapped along with the rest of his weapons, and he was fond of saying how a good seat-warming was far more practical a deterrent than the sternest lecture or fine. Richard had also witnessed how Chase firmly spanking his children when they got out of hand, and he'd often felt an almost familial kinship with the older man, like a son to a father . . .

All of these factors combined caused Richard to become aware of what was about to befall him, and he started trying to get out of Chase's grip. "I don't need to, er, be corrected by you, Chase!" he said nervously. "Since you're so keen on leaving this place, how about we go home to Hartland instead? I'll even lead."

[rahl]

"We'll go to Hartland once we're done here." Richard was not a weak man, but his polite struggling could not compete with Chase's battle-hardened muscles. As he neared the fallen tree, he doubled his frip on the neck of the young man's shirt, to prevent him from escaping and to make it easier to pull him across his lap.

"And you do need to be corrected, Richard, what would you have done if I hadn't been here? You would have walked right into that stuff and no one would have ever heard of you again. I'm not about to let something so serious slide."

Once they were next to the log, Chase paused to think what to do next. He regarded Richard like any of his children, but he was getting rather big for a over the knee, hand-bare spanking. But he wasn't one of his apprentice wardens (yet) so he couldn't demand that the lad bent over while he used his colt or paddle.

Sitting on the log, he decided to do something in between. He pulled the young man across his lap.

[Croup]

As he unwillingly tumbled over Chase's thick, strong thighs, Richard cursed for the first time. "Damn it, Chase, no! You can't do this! You're not my, ngggh, father!" he yelled, struggling as best he could to climb up. But Chase kept him pinned over his lap, his chainmail vest digging into Richard's side as he squirmed back and forth. It was like he'd done this many times before, and Richard started to get the uneasy feeling that he wasn't "too old" to get spanked after all.

Trying to calm down, Richard did his best to reason with his old friend, while all the while uncomfortably aware of how vulnerable his backside was perched over the man's knee, trousers tightening across his buttocks. "I've already learned my lesson . . . Trust me, I won't be going near the boundary again. There's no need to sp--to do this!"

[rahl]

"It doesn't matter who your father is, you've broken the rules and put yourself in danger." He kept the struggling man over his lap with one hand while he reached for his paddle with the other. Unstrapping it from his back, he flipped it over his hand while looking at his target.

Yes, Richard was a strapping young man now, strong and full of spirit. Chase almost smiled as if had been looking at one of his own sons who had grown up.

"I've already learned my lesson . . . Trust me, I won't be going near the boundary again. There's no need to sp--to do this!"

"I only have your word for it, Richard, as since you've just disobeyed I cannot trust what you say. No, this way I make sure the lesson is really learned."

With a firm grip on the back of Richard's shirt, he raised his paddle above his head and smacked it down with a loud clap that several nearby deer heard and fled away from.

Chase knew that if the lad's pants were down he would see a pinkish mark where he had been hit. But he had spared him the embarassement of doing it on the bare like a young child. He would make up the difference of the protection of the cloth with his paddle though.