Slave 5

Four days later before the sun had risen one of my guards woke us and told me that the light from the great lighthouse at Alexandria had just become visible. I got up and pulled Bara with me.

“This is something that you only see for the first time once.”

On the deck, which was in darkness, all of the guards and much of the crew stood silently watching a distant light and the promise of which it spoke. I was naked and cold and then Bara pulled me back against his warm body and wrapped me in his arms. We stood transfixed until daybreak and then as if waking from a dream everyone looked at each other a bit oddly, a bit embarrassed that they could be held in such thrall by a mere light.

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The skiff from our ship had been busily making trips back and forth from the ship to the dock, bringing supplies that would be needed for the next and longest part of our voyage.

Two days ago Marco and four of his men had set off to find Corvonius and now they had finally returned. This had been a matter of some worry because the political situation in Egypt, as usual, was delicate. The Ptolemaic court was a nest of vipers and they even had many enemies within, what they regarded as, their own country.

Marco handed me a scroll that I could see had been sealed with Corvonius’ seal. I turned it over slowly in my hands admiring the quality of the parchment. I looked up at Marco.

“Has everything been loaded?”

He nodded yes and then reached behind him and pulled forward a young man wearing a dark grey woolen cloak. “Corvonius wanted you to have this. He has luggage too.” He was shorter and slighter than the rest of us and his hair was blue black and his skin pale, his eyes were a glistening blue and he possessed a delicate incomparable beauty.

I looked into his eyes. “Who are you?”

He cast his eyes down. “I am Corio, Master and I am a gift from Master Corvonius.”

This could be trouble. “A gift?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Well, Corio, what talents do you bring to me?” He looked embarrassed.

“Forgive me, Master but the old Master told me that I was to speak to you only in private.”

“How old are, Corio?”

“Sixteen years, Master.”

“Well, before I take you into my cabin I want to be sure that there are no weapons under that cloak. Remove it.” He glanced back nervously at Marco and his men. Suddenly he seemed incredibly tiny compared to the men who surrounded him.

Marco stepped forward. “Master, you might want to see him remove the cloak in private. Bara can cut his throat if he tries anything.”

I felt Bara move up behind me.

“Do you have your dagger, Bara?’

“Yes, Master.”

“Well then, escort Corio to our cabin.”

When the cabin door was closed I turned to Corio. “Remove the cloak.”

The cloak collapsed to the deck and I heard Bara’s intake of breath. Corio wore only a nearly transparent cloth wrapped around his waist and while it was indeed cloth it concealed nothing. The young man standing before us was stunning. Seeing his face alone couldn’t prepare one for the totality of his beauty. It was like gazing upon the god Eros.

I walked around him and saw the delicate vee of his back as it almost disappeared into the cloth and the luscious curve of his buttocks, which were perfect. The color of his skin and the perfection of his body was a miracle beyond the talents of the greatest artists. He was shivering.

“Where did you come from, Corio?”

“I was a gift from Her Royal Highness, Princess Berenice to Master Corvonius.” I could sell this boy anywhere in the world for a hundred talents of silver. She would not have given this gift to Corvonius to use, he was too old, this was a gift to be regiven.

“Do you understand that you are now my property?”

His voice shook when he answered. “Yes Master.”

“What did Master Corvonius tell you about me?”

“That you were the Great Master’s son and that I was to serve you as I had him. He said that they day would come when you would rule the House and that I was to please you and help you.”

“How were you to help me, Corio?”

“I have been trained in medicine, Master, and other things. Master Corvonius told me that” He blushed deeply. “that Bara was held close to your heart and that he had been wounded. I was to make sure that he healed well. I am also trained in the preparation of poisons and the art of pleasing men.” How typically Egyptian, poison and sex.

I looked at Bara. “Now what? He can’t sleep out there, he wouldn’t last but a moment, you saw how Marco’s men watched him.” I walked around. “Bara, have them put a cot in the corner here.” I saw the look on his face. “He’s used to seeing men have sex, Bara.” As if this could excuse the intrusion.

I looked at Corio. “When anyone other than Bara or myself is in this room you will wear the cloak. When we three are alone it doesn’t matter. You will answer to Bara and obey him as you would me.”

Bara looked at him and frowned. “And no preparing of poisons unless the Master has directed it.”

“I will tell Marco to bring your baggage and to place a cot in the corner. Then you can attend to Bara’s wound.” I started to go and then stopped. “Don’t leave this cabin without Bara.”

As I walked out of the cabin I looked back to see Corio staring rapt at Bara. Jupiter!

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“Marco! The man turned from his group and walked to me, grasping the rail for an instant as the ship rolled with an ocean swell. I told him about the cot and then asked him to call over the captain.

When we were all together I said. “We are to have an escort until we are a days sail west of where Carthage stood, two ships heavily armed.” I looked at the Captain. “How much will they slow us down?”

“They will cut our speed almost in half, Master but at least they will be with us for the most dangerous part of the journey.”

I looked at both men. “The boy Corio is a gift from Princess Berenice, indirectly.”

“Marco, did you get any feel for what that was about, did Corvonius say anything?”

The captain said. “She’s probably looking for support in case she goes to war with the rest of the family.”

“Is she likely to do that?”

“Yes, Master. Sadly for Egypt, the fighting within that family never seems to end.”

I spoke to them both. “I’ve instructed the boy not to leave the cabin without Bara. Warn your men. Anyone who touches him dies. There is more to this gift than appears on the surface and I need time to decide its nature.”

I was about to turn but then spoke to Marco. “Do we have a normal tunic on board that would fit him? See what you can find. Maybe one of mine can be tailored down to his size.”

I smiled at Marco. “Can’t have him walking around like that.” He rolled his eyes at the nature of the added burden that had been placed upon him.

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That afternoon as a breeze came up we maneuvered our ships out of the great harbor and then turned them to the west. The crews of all the ships scampered over the rigging and the oarsmen moved in their perfectly synchronized dance. When all seemed settled I returned to our cabin.

Bara lay on our bed while Corio worked on his wound with materials from the two open boxes that sat on our bed. Beneath the cloth that he was wearing Corio had an erection that looked painfully hard. It didn’t stick straight out but curve upward like a horn. He seemed to totally ignore it.

I stood next to him and asked. “Doesn’t that hurt, it looks like it would be painful?”

Corio thought that I was speaking of Bara’s wound. “No, Master, the herbs will remove the pain and make things heal more quickly.” His face became animated when speaking of his specialty or at least one of them. I looked at Bara and he had a stupid smile on his face.

“No, Corio, I was talking about your penis. It looks painful.”

He stopped what he was doing and looked embarrassed. “I…….I’m sorry, Master. It doesn’t hurt………….it’s the way that I was trained…………..I’m very sorry.” He looked like he felt that he had failed at something.

“Surely it’s not always that hard?”

“No, not always but when I’m with men………………well…………it’s what I’m trained for.”

Bara spoke. “Master, he was taken when he was seven and sent to be trained. He doesn’t really remember his parents but then they were just slaves. At first he was trained to please men and then later they added the other things, the poison and the healing.” Bara’s eyes were misty.

I climbed up on the bed and lay next to Bara and stared into his eyes. “What do you want done with him, Bara? He will be whatever you wish.” I was afraid of loosing Bara to this boy and yet I knew that the only way to keep him was to let him run free.

Bara spoke more passionately than I had ever heard him speak. “Master, he has no one, no father waiting to welcome him home, no friends to have a cup of wine with at the end of the day, no one………………..just us. He was torn from the only home he knew, the palace, and given to Corvonius who didn’t care about him and who gave him to us. If we don’t help him, keep him, then he will die.”

I patted the bed with my hand. “Come here, Corio.” He leapt onto the bed and sat where I had indicated his erection still pointing straight up. I reached out and gently held his chin with my hand. “Corio………it will be as Bara wishes, you will be part of our little family.” He turned his head and kissed the palm of my hand.

“Thank you, Master, I won’t disappoint you. Or you, Bara.”

Later, supper was brought to our cabin, the boy knocked and set it down outside, it was brought in by Bara and while he and Corio ate I went forward and ate with the Captain. On either side of us and slightly behind us the two immense warships cut slowly through the low swells. As the sun was setting the decks of the ships were lit here and there with braziers while the men leaned against the rails or sat in groups talking.

After swallowing a mouthful of food I asked the Captain. “What are the chances that we’ll be attacked even with the escort?”

He was holding onto a rope that came down from the mast and attached to the deck. “Not likely. For one thing there’s not as many of them as there used to be and for another we’re prepared for them. Your average merchantman isn’t ready. Now once we get past Carthage it’ll be another story but we’ll cut straight across for Spain and we’ve got speed.”

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I climbed naked into bed and reaching out slowly drew Bara into a kiss. I knew that Corio was watching either openly or covertly but this time was for Bara and me and I wanted it to remain that.

“Our escorts have moved further away for the night.” It’s impossible to know what the weather might be or what the sea conditions might be during the night and it was much safer if the large ships pulled away to minimize the risk of collision.

Bara turned me over so that I was lying on my stomach and began massaging my shoulders. “Master if the large ships pull away how will we know where they’re at?”

“There will be braziers burning fore and aft but if there’s fog it gets more complicated and much more dangerous. We’d have lookouts posted but there’s always risk.” His cock was hard and resting on my ass.

Bara’s large hands were under my chest slowly massaging it and he began to kiss my ear. Underneath me my penis was as hard as stone. He lubricated his erect phallus and began to enter me gently. It was then that I heard the sound. I thought for a moment that it might be coming from outside of the cabin but then it came again and I realized that it was Corio.

Looking down to the floor he was half lying on his cot with his back pressed to the wall and he was staring at us, his penis was rock hard and he appeared to be in great distress. His eyes had a wild despairing look to them and at first I thought that he was hurt.

Bara whispered in my ear. “Master he has been trained not to relieve himself sexually and has behaved that way for so long that now he can’t do it. When he was younger they would beat him if he had an orgasm by himself, it’s made it extremely difficult for him and very painful.

I pushed my ass back against Bara’s cock and groaned. “Jupiter, Bara, what would you have me do?”

“He wants you to penetrate him, Master. That will give him the release that he needs and will also make him feel that he’s doing his duty to you. His only value as a slave is the importance that you attach to him.” On the one hand this was our time together, Bara’s and mine and on the other hand Corio was indescribably beautiful and obviously this was something Bara wanted me to do.

I felt more than a little foolish but turned and looked down at Corio. “Come here!”
He climbed a little cautiously onto the bed his eyes never leaving mine. I pulled his narrow hips around so that he was in front of me, his buttocks in front of my phallus. The skin of his back was glowing a soft pink brown in the low lamplight.

I said to Bara. “This is what you want?” I wouldn’t have thought it possible but as I was positioning Corio in front of me Bara became even harder inside of me.

Bara was gasping, the strain of suppressed sexual tension in his voice filling the room. “Yes, Master. Corio was trained to give pleasure and his giving you pleasure gives me more pleasure than you can imagine. Just in the last few moments your body has tightened around me and you’re now gripping me with an unbelievable tightness. He grasped my hand and poured some oil into it. “Apply this to Corio, Master and then enter him, he is yours to use and it is what he wants, what he is entitled to.”

My fingers were coated with oil and I applied them to Corio’s ass. I put one hand on his shoulder and guided my penis with the other. As soon as I began to enter him Corio screamed softly and then exploded shooting four great looping arcs of semen. Then he seemed to collapse and was mumbling something as he lowered his head into his hands. I gave him a few moments to recover and then began to penetrate him roughly.

With every forward stroke I made I pulled myself slightly off of Bara huge phallus and as I pulled back from Corio I was impaling myself back onto it. After a minute Corio seemed to regain some control and raised his head and it was then that I realized how great his talent was. Suddenly my penis was not moving freely within him but was being gripped in a series of waves created by his muscles. I had to slow down immediately and I reveled in the unbelievable sensations of being gripped and slowly release only to be gripped again. Meanwhile Bara was beginning to move more urgently into me and soon was gasping as he filled me with his semen as I was filling Corio with mine.

After we had untangled Bara and I looked down at Corio who was fast asleep in the middle of the bed. I motioned for Bara to follow me outside. We stood by the rail watching the lights of the warships. Bara’s arms were tight around me.

I whispered to him. “What does he mean to you, Bara? Are you in love with him?

I could feel him smiling. “No Master, not in that way. I…………I think of him as a little brother. I think that I had one many years ago. It’s an old memory and maybe it’s something that I just wish was true. To have a brother is to have a family. Master………does that upset you?”

I was touched by Bara’s words and by his compassion. “No, Bara, it doesn’t upset me at all.”