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© 2006, Alexandros Reviews For THE SPARTAN SLAVE by Alexandros Full of action and with very graphic and explicit scenes, this novel will shock those who are expecting a "run of the mill" erotic romance...recommend this novel highly to all readers of historical erotic romance or those who are looking for an unusual story in an exotic setting, which is penned with extraordinary imagination by the author. greatebooks.blogspot.com, reviewer: Herakles The Spartan Slave is written with a depth and intensity that is rarely found in an erotic romance novel... Alexandros creates characters and cultures that are so in-depth and open that most modern day people would struggle to grasp and accept them. The sexual chemistry and excess that is daily living in these cultures was enough to warm any woman's blood. ~Tara from Two Lips Reviews While
THE SPARTAN SLAVE might feel like a forbidden read, it is an indulgence
impossible to deny. Sample Chapter For THE SPARTAN SLAVE by Alexandros Part 1 In the mountains of Macedonia Leonidas sat on the worn marble steps leading to the ancient temple of Apollo that night, wondering if what he had seen was the real thing or not. He must be mistaken. It couldn’t be her! This isolated temple up in the mountains was deserted, as it was set far away from the steep trail that led to this spot. A landslide some months ago had made the traditional path to the temple almost impossible to access, except for an intrepid climber like himself. It had taken him well over an hour to negotiate the rubble that covered the route to the temple. When he finally climbed the largest rock that formed an impassable barrier on the trail, he felt a quiet satisfaction. Something cooled the rapid beating of his heart and calmed him a little, as he sat in silence, all alone with his thoughts. He had been so enraged that he had forgotten to take his chlamys made of rough wool. Although the night was getting cold, he did not feel it. His blood was warm and the turmoil he felt within his innermost being distracted him from the chilly wind that blew the leaves against his tall frame as he lounged on the ruined steps of the temple. The gods felt closer to him here, more accessible and nearer to his heart. How could his mother betray his father, her husband, in such a manner? The wife of the chief of the council was expected to be virtuous and faithful to her husband and set an example to the other women in their community. There were, of course, numerous affairs gossiped about by this or that elder’s wife, even among men his age, who led their own separate lives in segregated mess halls or dining clubs—the syssitia. However, none of these rumors had involved his mother yet, and Leonidas thought it would only be a matter of time before her name was bandied about the village, if it wasn’t already. Perhaps they did not mention it to his face, knowing his fierce temper and his strength, which had no equal. Although only twenty, Leonidas felt old, a man and no longer a boy. He now had groups of boys and girls under his care as an iren, the first of many leadership positions he would have to assume. He also had a degree of freedom the other children did not have as he could come and go as he wished, as one of the men. In a few short years, he expected to be married and would raise his own family, with sons who would follow the traditions established in these isolated villages. He was, after all, a descendant of the house of Lysander the shepherd, the founder of their clan and would become the next chief of the council. It was his birthright. According to Leonidas’ family history, the very first Lysander was a peasant who settled in this remote mountainous region several centuries before. He was a son of King Leonidas of Sparta, who fought the Persians in a famous battle near the village of Thermopylae, known for its hot springs. The great king had stopped by one night at a shepherd’s hut on his way to the pass, where he and his famous band of warriors, the Three Hundred, had laid down their lives to the very last man against the invading hordes led by the Persian King Xerxes. Childless, the father of this first Lysander, a mere shepherd, had requested the hero to sleep with his young and beautiful wife so his line could continue. From that time, every firstborn son of the house of Lysander was called Leonidas in his honor and the second son, Lysander, in memory of the shepherd who raised him and told him the stories about his real father, including the ways of the Spartans. Although only a shepherd, the first Lysander’s father was a learned man, having been a slave for many years at the house of a Greek philosopher in Athens. On obtaining his freedom after many years of service, he went back to his homeland in Locris, where he took a wife but was unable to get her with child, despite several years of trying. Hearing of the great king’s presence in the nearby temple of Demeter, he accosted him along with his wife and pleaded with the king to visit him in his hut that very night, as his warriors camped along the mountain trail, in preparation for their impending battle with the Persians at the battle of Thermopylae. It was a fine story, thought Leonidas, who believed it to be more of a legend than anything else, although there was an ancient bronze spear in his father’s house, clearly Spartan, which had been passed through in his family for generations. The great king himself had given the spear to the old shepherd, saying that if indeed this union resulted in a son, to give said child this spear and teach him about his father, so that he may know the Spartans and seek to emulate their ways. Leonidas, as the firstborn, reflected on his own father, who was named Lysander and had been the second son. Unexpectedly, he had become chief of the council when his elder brother died a hero’s death in a skirmish with raiders from neighboring Thrace, who sometimes crossed over the mountains, looking for women and gold. Lysander, at the time, was still in training in the syssitia and had not even become an iren. His uncle, also named Leonidas, had been given a hero’s funeral—one still remembered today because of the grand feast that had been given in his honor. The proud Athenians had sent a special envoy to the funeral, bringing a quantity of gold to their village to be given to the family for killing all the raiders; a special gift from the Macedonian king who ruled in Athens. The king had been extremely pleased when he heard the details of the tremendous fight where his uncle had lost his life, and was proud of the Macedonian spirit displayed, according to the envoy who praised his late uncle as if he was the great Alexander himself, cut off in the prime of his youthful life—but bravely. The young Lysander, still considered a boy, although he was barely a few months away from manhood at the age of eighteen, had been invited as a special guest to Athens, in order to study there for a few years at one of its special schools. At first, the council had been reluctant to send him, as they wanted him to immediately assume the duties of chief. However, when the envoy insisted he attend the school, saying that the king himself had requested it of him, Lysander had no choice but to go with him—and agreed to return within a space of three years to assume his duties as the chief of the council. It was there, in Athens, that his father
had met his mother, Varinia, in circumstances that were always a mystery
to him as his parents rarely spoke about it. Her name, an ancient Etruscan
one, and her extraordinary beauty had caused a stir in the village upon
her arrival. However, no one dared question the chief, who told everyone
that she belonged to a noble Etruscan family who were originally from
Pompeii and had sought refuge in Athens, after years of persecution
by the Romans. All children of the original settlers were assigned to live in mess halls or syssitia, according to their ages. Groups of them were placed under irens, older youths of twenty, who were responsible to train the boys in military exercises and also the girls, with each iren being responsible for ten or twelve boys and girls. From the age of seven, the boys and girls were taken away from their homes and lived their lives apart from their parents under constant supervision and training. The girls would usually go home as soon as they had attained puberty, while the boys continued training until they were twenty years old, when they would also be eligible to become an iren. Until then, they ate and exercised in the gymnasiums attached to the syssitia, each of which had several irens, depending on how many children there were at any point in time. The girls could continue their practice in the gymnasium even after they left the group and began to live with their parents, but only under supervision, with their mothers usually accompanying them. Married women were, of course, allowed to visit the gymnasiums at any time and there was no reason for them not to, as the village took pride in everyone keeping fit and healthy. “We need everyone in the village, men as well as women, to have strong bones and muscles and be able to fight,” said the first Lysander, who was an ardent follower of Lycurgus, after studying the particulars of his life in ancient Sparta, many centuries before. Determined to create a similar state in these remote parts, he dedicated his life to creating these institutions within the village, which helped them not only thrive and prosper over the centuries, but also expand in its reach and influence—they had now grown to five villages, each with its own distinct character. Some of the elders had recently expressed reservations about these ancient practices, citing that they should look into the many instances of adultery now being reported to the council, as husbands began asserting their rights over their wayward wives. This was a fairly new trend, as more people began to be accepted into their community as citizens. Their growing population of citizens as well as enslaved helots, who worked the land and provided the warriorlike citizens their daily sustenance, created all kinds of problems for the council, which they never had to address before. In recent years, the number of available warriors had been depleted, as they had to send a large contingent to support King Phillip in his war against Rome, which was seeking to conquer Macedonia and all of Greece. Accordingly, the laws had been relaxed and the council had allowed many new citizens into their community, including helots who had distinguished themselves or rendered a great service, whether commercial or military in nature. Unfamiliar in how to address these complaints, the council advised husbands who coveted their wives for their exclusive use to exercise better control over them. Although it was easier said than done, due to the independent spirit of the women in the villages and their tendency to regard themselves as equals to men, although they had no legal voting rights, nor were they allowed to participate in the council’s affairs. No action, of course, was proposed against the lovers, who could be many and even include helots. It was considered a waste of time to pursue this actively and was treated as a purely domestic affair, one which concerned the husband and his wife and no other. Some of the more liberal women in the village openly argued that it was a Spartan woman’s ancient right to choose a man who pleased her well—and if the husband was being neglectful, the wife was not the one to be blamed if she chose another man to bear her children. Per the old law of Lycurgus, the children were property of the state and it did not matter who the father was anyway, so argued some of the women, who were never afraid to express their views openly, often shouting it out at the public meetings which were held in the open marketplace in the center of the village. Although Leonidas knew that the women in the village were frequently accused of going with other men, he always believed his own mother was incapable of such clandestine relationships, as she was so much in love with his own father and even demonstrated it openly and without shame. “It is not shameful for you to observe the acts of love that pass between us,” Lysander said to him, soon after Leonidas began coming home more often to share private meals with the rest of the family, when he observed them together in the courtyard one afternoon. He was about to step away but his father commanded him to stay and observe how a man and woman should express love for each other, and required that Leonidas practice the art of love with hetaerae, who were skilled orators, philosophers, as well as lovers—something that Leonidas needed to learn, as part of his overall training to become a man. Lysander had arranged for several of these women to attend to Leonidas and Kyros, a close friend and his inseparable companion. During the day, he spent all his time in the vast gymnasium, or outside in the field, or even along the slopes of the mountain, training a group of twelve boys and girls under his command. Around noon, he would go home to share a meal with his own family, before returning to the syssitia in the late afternoon to continue the training of the boys and girls at the gymnasium, until it was time to sleep. His rule over them was absolute and he carried a thick, round stick always in his belt, apart from the short sword he had been presented with during a simple ceremony when he had been appointed iren. He never hesitated to use the stick on the boys or girls to enforce discipline, and mercilessly thrashed anyone who disobeyed him in the slightest manner; as he had also been beaten in a similar manner for minor infractions. He usually wore a long woolen cloak with a bronze clasp on the right shoulder, dyed reddish brown and reaching down to his knees. Like the ancient Spartans, this was the only garment he wore, apart from thick leather sandals that were worn out in various places but still serviceable. Before he turned eighteen, he would often sleep outside, with only his cloak for protection against the bitter cold—another Spartan tradition, as it toughened their bodies and made them used to hardship. Food was available only on a limited basis, and as children, they were encouraged to steal but if any one of them were caught, the iren in charge would administer a severe beating; a punishment for getting caught. According to the Spartan tradition, it was believed that this would make them more elusive in warfare, as they could easily avoid the enemy or even steal their supplies without getting caught. Leonidas was a perfect thief and much admired, as he had never once been caught, either in stealing or during one of his numerous love affairs with women throughout the village. He was much sought after by all the ladies, on account of his extraordinary physical attributes. Since his training had begun with the hetaerae, Leonidas had acquired quite a reputation, and some married women openly solicited his favors by sticking their tongues out at him or suggestively running their hands between their thighs when he passed. Sometimes they did this even in the presence of their husbands, who laughed, as it had become quite a joke around the village. Even Lysander heard about it, as one of the husbands complained to the council that even his own wife was not being faithful, on account of the chief’s handsome son. He suggested that Leonidas should cover his face when he walked through the village, so that the women would not be tempted by his good looks. To the simple mind of Leonidas, women were supposed to be devoted solely to their husbands, per the ancient traditions that had been established. He did not, of course, believe that men should be devoted to their wives—a double standard that he was not aware of—as every man in the village had numerous women for their pleasure, from slaves to hetaerae to the wives and daughters of other men, with helot families being fair game for any warrior citizen. Leonidas honestly believed that if a woman strayed, it was because her husband did not take care to please her or did not know how. His simple mind could not see other possibilities and it was always the husband’s fault, in his opinion, as the women could not be blamed if they sought someone else’s company. Why would they look at another man if their husbands gave them enough love? He did not understand this whole business of the men complaining to the council about their wives’ infidelity. Although this was what he believed, some of the Spartan women would sometimes berate their husbands openly, for neglect or other reasons, as the men spent most of their time away from the house, sleeping in separate quarters, visiting their wives only occasionally and that too, in secret; yet another ancient tradition that had been established in the village. Months would sometimes pass between conjugal visits and, growing impatient, some of the women, who were usually naked as they exercised in the gymnasium, would scold their husbands and even beat them about the head, while the other men and boys laughed at their discomfort. The men who were so treated would hang their heads in silence and would meekly submit to this chastisement, vowing to pay them more attention in thebfuture. The disgruntled women often created quite a scene and pointed to their breasts, their thighs and even their buttocks, asking the men what they desired and why they stayed away from their wives. Fit and lean, with little or no fat on their bodies, the women took pride in their physical shapes and appearance, through daily exercise, hard work in their own homes and a simple, even frugal diet. However, his own mother? To not only stray from her husband, but also perform openly in his very presence with multiple men, like a hetaera? With not only slaves from Lysander’s own house but also with most of the council elders and helots from the village? How could he have imagined that? Especially when his own eyes and ears had borne witness to the scene he had just stumbled across a few hours ago. In his village, the council of elders ruled supreme, and their rule was modeled on the long-held Spartan laws set forth by Lycurgus many centuries ago. Instead of the traditional sixty years of age, however, they required the ‘elders’ to be only forty years old. There were no ephors either, nor was there a traditional gerousia, as was the custom in ancient Sparta. These and other modifications had been proposed by the first Lysander, who founded this community along with a band of other settlers he brought with him, as they sought to emulate the traditions of ancient Sparta in this mountainous region of Macedonia. It was rumored that the first settlers included several Persian families too, and except for Lysander, no one was really of true Spartan blood. These rumors were, of course, spread by the Athenians who visited this community, as they were jealous of the villagers’ prosperity and wished them to subjugate themselves formally to the rule of the Macedonian king. However, the council preferred to be independent and sought to reassure the Athenians that they were allies and would prefer to remain a separate state—and function according to the laws they established on their own instead of those prescribed by the haughty archons in Athens. Following again the principles laid down by Lycurgus, the father of Sparta, the founder had the land distributed equally among the first settlers or ‘citizens’. All settlers who were subsequently accepted were treated like helots or slaves and were bound to the land they were tasked to farm, unworthy of citizenship. Occasionally, a helot was sponsored to become a citizen on account of some great service rendered to the community at large. Only the council could vote unanimously on this conversion of status and it was often done in secret, using balls of dough to cast their votes, according to the traditions established in the syssitia. These soft balls would be thrown in a bowl passed around and if any one of them were squashed, indicating a dissent in the vote, the helot would not be admitted as a citizen. Of course, there were many Spartan women who gave birth to sons and daughters based on their couplings with their helot slaves but this was largely ignored by the council. There were also several other deviations from the ancient law, especially with regard to marriage. Instead of waiting until they were thirty years old to start a household, young men of the village were allowed to do so at twenty-five. Although it was more common for them to marry and still live in the syssitia for a while, as there was no rule on whether they should live with their wives after marriage. The council itself was composed of twelve elders, of whom its chief was always from the house of Lysander, with membership of the other eleven being nominated and put to formal vote every ten years, with one exception. Women and helots received no voting rights, something not resented by the women but by some of the helots, who were growing wealthy, as some of them established a lively trade as merchants, importing goods from Athens and even Rhodes. The council would sometimes invite the more important among them to various meetings and symposiums, in order to appease their feelings, without granting them full citizenship. With their expanded community of five villages, each village had a smaller body of ruling elders, two in number, who all met once a year in the house of Lysander during a week-long meeting to decide various matters—from planning their defense against various tribes who tried to raid the villages for their wealth, to administrative matters, such as the appointment of overseers to the collective farms worked by the helots and raising money for the coming year, for a number of commodities, especially iron, which had to be imported from Athens to produce the weapons they needed. In all matters, the casting vote was equal between the chief and the elders, with each pair of them voting as one for each of the four villages. The chief himself decided the crucial fifth vote for the village he was resident in for that year, after consulting the two resident elders in that village. The original Lysander also had a check in the composition of the council, in that, one member was always unknown and would always be in the shadows, with his head fully covered so his identity remained secret. This kept the balance too, as it required only one dissenting voice for any vote not to be valid and no one could influence this mysterious council member as no one knew who he was. This appointment was usually made by the previous chief who retired but without revealing the identity of this member of the council, so there was always a check against tyranny and dictatorship. The full council met once a year in a special building set up in the main village, with a secret access door for this mysterious elder. This unknown member was the first the arrive and the last to leave, and per the tradition established, no one ever attempted to find out who he was or followed him after the meetings, as it would defeat the very purpose for that office’s existence. In the case of the mysterious elder’s death, another appointed by him in secret would replace him. The Athenians thought this a very strange practice but commended the wisdom of the house of Lysander, who had initiated this custom to keep its own influence under check. “Everything must be done by the chief; not in his own interests but for the welfare and prosperity of his people, who always come first, even before family,” was the old saying that was frequently cited by the chief, whenever anyone questioned him on their customs. Although the very first Lysander despised written laws, this saying had been frequently quoted. In a subsequent generation, one of the chiefs named after Leonidas had engraved these memorable words on a long wooden board and mounted it above the entrance to the meeting room, as a reminder to all chiefs of their duty. Every five years, the chief Lysander moved to another village, where a house was set up for his comfort. During the first fifteen years of his life, Leonidas had seen little of his mother or father, except during the annual meetings of the council when he would go and stay at the chief’s house for a few hours, usually for the main meal of the day in the afternoon. Lysander moved to a different village soon after his birth and it was only recently, in his twentieth year, that he had come back to the village of his birth, where he would stay for the next five years in a lavishly furnished house. In that respect, they deviated from the old Spartan ways, as the houses occupied by the chief were furnished with a magnificence that was more Persian than Spartan, or even Athenian. Filled with luxurious carpets and fine hangings, with statuary, fine gardens, fountains and even a spacious pool, it was a grand place that put to shame the simple rustic houses most people in the village occupied. The chief of the house of Lysander, however, always lived simply, like his neighbors, wearing rough wool cloaks and eating out of a simple wooden bowl, with little or no ostentation displayed in his private apartments, which were furnished in the true Spartan style, with hardly any furniture on display. When guests arrived, he would wear a fine tunic out of courtesy, and his lady would wear a Grecian gown that was stored in a wooden chest for most of the year, with some fine jewelry only displayed on these occasions. “The house is there mainly to entertain foreign visitors, such as you, who are not used to our Spartan ways and crave luxury in everything,” Lysander explained once to an ambassador from Athens, who marveled at the sparse private chambers of the chief when he was taken on a tour of his magnificent house. Even Leonidas’s mother, the lady Varinia, dressed simply, wearing only homespun chitons of coarse material when she walked outside of her home, accompanied by one of her slaves. Within the house, she was often naked or wore only a simple loincloth and a breast band made of fine, soft leather—her only luxury, apart from a thick golden chain with a heavy pendant that she wore. A gift from her mother, she explained. This was an exotic piece of jewelry with a shiny blue stone that reminded Leonidas of the sea, with the tiny, sparkling stone set on the very end of a carved golden phallus that was amazingly lifelike to behold. Some of the people would joke to her about it and say that she wore it to remind herself of her husband, and asked her if the jeweler used her husband as the model. She would laugh and say mysteriously, “Perhaps it is not him and maybe it is.” The women would shake their heads at this cryptic answer, unable to understand her true meaning as she always had a vague smile on her face while giving the response. She was an extremely beautiful woman with fine black hair that came to her waist, and a tall graceful posture and fine features that seemed to be carved out of marble. Many in the village likened her to the goddess Athena, whose statue in the Acropolis at the Parthenon was much admired by everyone who visited that edifice. A smaller version of that giant statue was erected in a temple dedicated to her honor in the village, and many of the folks who saw that statue remarked on the similarity in form and likeness to the chief’s wife. By a curious coincidence, this statue had come from Athens to replace the one that had been badly damaged in a fire soon after the new chief had arrived with his bride. Many speculated that the chief must have had her statue made by one of the famous sculptors who abounded in that city, out of a desire to please his new bride. The traditions in this village of Therapnae, named after an ancient city of Sparta—with the other villages being Leonidae, Lysandrae, Amyclae and Eurotas—were a curious mix of Spartan, Athenian and even Persian customs. There were strange gods being worshipped in the temples set up in the original village of Leonidae, with even a temple dedicated to the Persian goddess Anahita, out of deference to the original Persian settlers. After several centuries, this temple had fallen into much disfavor, and was mostly used by the resident hetaerae for secret assignations in the private stone chambers. These women had complete freedom to move anywhere and were largely independent, too. Many of them stayed at the chief’s house or in the houses of other important men, as they were much sought after for their various skills, which could range from the arts of love to even science and philosophy, which were often the subjects of animated discussions during the symposiums. Leonidas had visited the temple once, soon after his promotion to the status of iren, when he had made a tour of all the villages, to meet the other irens with whom he needed to make an acquaintance. It had been a strange experience as the painted woman he was with, a Persian courtesan, wore a strange smelling perfume that caused his eyes to water. She was unlike any of the hetaerae in his village, who were mostly Greek women. These women were more like priestesses, and it was probably unfair to call them hetaerae. He preferred simplicity and liked the unadorned beauty of many of the Spartan women he saw, especially in the gymnasium, where they would exercise along with the other youth. The women in his village were all fit and strong, as it was believed that this would result in the production of healthy offspring. Following the ancient Spartan law, each child was inspected upon birth for defects and if found defective by the council member charged with this duty, the child was exposed to the elements. In his village, infants would often be left on the steps of the temple of Apollo, as it was a place where few ventured anymore, due to its isolation and remoteness. It was a harsh custom and Leonidas wondered how many babies had died here, on these very steps. He shuddered to think about their fates, momentarily distracted from his thoughts about that evening’s drinking party or symposium at the house of Lysander. Well, at least now, no one could reach this temple easily because of the landslide. He stood up nervously, feeling a little uncomfortable about this. The symposium had commenced in the late afternoon, in the vast andron within the house of Lysander; a celebration after a week-long successful meeting of the full council. Flush with drink after the usual round of speeches, discourses on philosophy and recitals of poetry in which the learned hetaerae also participated, the men began to demand that Lysander provide them women for entertainment—a time-honored custom. Some of the elders were just beginning to get boisterous when a group of women, all wearing masks to conceal their true identities, began circulating in the room, converting the andron into a place where pleasure soon had no limits. Soft music played by musicians encouraged the women, who began to move their bodies in time to a sensuous dance, as they sought to excite the various men who had gathered there. It was also a custom to invite some prominent citizens and even some of the helots, particularly those who were influential in their community. The mysterious council member was, however, not invited as no one knew who he was. Perhaps he was part of the group, perhaps not. No one cared anyway, as they had been looking forward to this night of entertainment all week long. An orgy developed before long where all restraint was lost, with the participants abandoning themselves to wild performances that made some of them almost unconscious with sheer exhaustion and pleasure. It was the first symposium that Leonidas attended as a man. He was, at the time, but a self-conscious twenty year old, who was overwhelmed by the wine and the women. The masked ladies, five in number, were exquisitely dressed in fine Grecian chitons embroidered with golden thread that were all split down the middle, exposing their bellies and private areas for easy access by the men. All of them wore identical elaborate hair styles and wore golden jewelry and chains, with some of them sporting gem studded necklaces and bracelets that must have been worth a small fortune. There were also other slave girls and hetaerae circulating in the vast room, some of whom had been hired by Lysander specifically for this evening. Although they would not accept money as payment, they were richly compensated with fine gifts and jewelry, in addition to being honored guests during the symposiums they attended. Many of them were learned in philosophy and other matters, with rare accomplishments. Leonidas enjoyed the strong wine brewed from honey; it produced new sensations each time he drank a little more of it. He was lying on a couch next to an enormously endowed council member who was lustily thrusting into a masked lady. This lady squatted over him while she turned to suck a house slave, who was soon pushing his cock deep inside her throat while he stood on the couch with one leg over her shoulder. Something about the masked lady attracted his attention, causing him to take a close look at her in the dimly lit andron. Leonidas was in a world of his own at the time as he had two young slave girls working on his shaft with their tongues, while one of the hetaerae poured wine into his mouth by first tipping the edge of the goblet down the crack of her cunnus, and allowed the golden liquid to flow into his mouth as she squatted above his face. She recited a poem about Dionysus while she did so, trying to teach him two things at the same time. He was very popular with the ladies in the village, and he knew it was not merely on account of his rugged good looks or his powerful body, which was bulging with muscles. All the women were fascinated by the extraordinary length of his member, as he was more generously endowed than the average Spartan, and it was the first thing that most people noticed about him when he moved about the village wearing only his familiar cloak and little else. Throughout most of his life, it had been a constant source of irritation to him, as he stood out from the rest of the boys and was often the subject of ridicule, especially when he was the butt of various jokes that compared him to a horse or mule or other kind of beast. Over the years, he had grown to accept their insults with a smile. Since he had become an iren, he was no longer concerned, as it had now become a matter of pride to him. He would now remind them that when it came to women, he was always their first choice, as many of them were taken up with its size and pursued him frequently for secret assignations—from unmarried girls who wanted to just touch and feel it to married women, who even told their husbands that they desired him. Although the other youths were tall, he was a giant; much taller than his own father and than any other man in any of the four villages that surrounded his home. There was no dispute that he was his mother’s son as everyone could see her features in him, even at the very first glance. But he bore little or no resemblance to Lysander, leading many to speculate that Leonidas may have a mysterious origin, and some even whispered that it must be someone like Hercules or Zeus, after looking at his powerful frame and muscles. He was so unlike any other man; he had few friends in the village, except for Kyros and almost none outside. Even though all the warriors were tough and strong, they were no match for him in physical strength and ability. That year, he would compete in various events at the Olympiad held in Athens, and everyone in the village thought that he would have little or no difficulty in winning the top prizes, especially in the wrestling events and the discus throw, where he considerably outclassed everyone. Leonidas spat out most of the wine on the girl’s belly in a fine spray, when he recognized the familiar way in which the masked lady held her head. It was his mother; there was no doubt in his mind. He had seen her do this many times with his father, while they relaxed in the courtyard—the peculiar way in which she tilted her head whenever Lysander forced his cock down her throat, with his leg on her shoulder as she sat on a marble bench outside. Leonidas would usually walk away when they became intimate, leaving them alone, except for the slaves, who were always around, in case they needed some wine or water. The thought of his mother doing that to other men, many men, was something truly shocking to him, as he felt it cheapened the deep love he had witnessed so many times before. Varinia was startled by the sharp cry of the slave girl and turning, saw Leonidas looking at her, while the slave continued to thrust his cock in and out of her mouth. She felt deflated when she saw the hurt look in his eyes. She knew at that moment that she shouldn’t have shocked him like this but should have explained everything in advance. She had not seen him at first when the council member grabbed her, as one girl was squatting over his face while two others were stretched over him, obscuring him almost completely from her point of view. Leonidas stormed out of the andron soon thereafter, followed by Gaia, his aunt, who saw the scene from behind a column and instantly knew what bothered him. Lysander, the chief of the council, was in the far corner of the andron, surrounded by a group of hetaerae and therefore was oblivious of this incident. No one else noticed his sudden departure, except for Varinia and Gaia. The slave girls were surprised and moved to a different couch, shaking their heads as if they were puzzled by the young man’s behavior, while the hetaera, with her wet, wine-stained belly, coolly moved to the adjoining couch where Varinia continued to suck Tiron, her favorite house slave. “Leave me alone,” he told Gaia, who was standing close to Leonidas and had wrapped both arms around him, as she sought to restrain him from leaving the symposium. She was not masked and was in charge of the entertainers, wearing a loose white Grecian gown which was semi-transparent and revealed all of her considerable charms, for she was beautiful. Some of the men at the party tried to grab her but she always eluded them with a smile, saying she had other work to attend to. She liked one particular young man, the son of a rich helot and much later, when things were calmer, she would go and seek him out in private, as she did not wish to attract the attention of Lysander, who expected her to maintain a low profile within the house. “No, I will not go away,” Gaia said forcefully. “She is my sister too, and I will explain everything to you, if you are upset. She was sure you would become agitated with her participation but I told her that you would understand, once you learn the full truth of her story. Don’t be hasty to judge her, Leonidas.” She attempted to hold him and even reached for his cock to stimulate him, hoping that would make him stay, but he violently twisted away from her and quickly left the house. Varinia joined her outside some moments later, too late to do anything now. She had grabbed a cloak to wrap around her nude body, as it was getting a bit chilly. She still wore the black mask that obscured most of her fine features. She had left only after the men were satisfied, so as to not attract any attention toward herself. Lysander would be furious if anyone recognized her, although Tiron and a few of the other slaves knew her well. They were, however, sworn to secrecy and were extremely loyal and devoted to her. It was a hard secret to keep but so far, she had managed to deceive everyone, except her own son. What could she have been thinking? “Don’t think that I didn’t warn you earlier,” Gaia said. “I know him well and it will take him a while to understand your ways and your desires, which may be shocking to him if they are revealed all at once.” Varinia was silent and, coming up to her sister Gaia, she embraced her. Unable to control her emotions, she began to weep while Gaia held her close and comforted her. “I was very afraid of this,” she said quietly. “Do you think I’ve lost him?” “Do not worry, my sister,” Gaia said. “I will ask Lysander to speak to him and later, I will speak to him myself. However, it may be best if he does not see you for a while.” Over the course of the following two days, both Lysander and Gaia attempted to talk to him but to no avail. Leonidas refused to meet with Varinia and stayed with one of his few friends in the village, Kyros, the son of a wealthy wine merchant. Kyros was a friend he trusted, and he did reveal to his friend the real reason one night, after they had drunk quite a bit of wine. The hetaerae they were with had already fallen asleep by then and the two men were sitting on a bench in the courtyard, sharing a last drink before they retired for the night. Kyros was thoughtful, and told Leonidas that he had nothing to fear as no one knew the masked lady’s real identity. In fact, he told Leonidas that it was believed that the masked lady in question was the princess of Mithir, who secretly stayed in Lysander’s house because she had fallen in love with him. “Did you also enjoy the company of the masked ladies?” Leonidas asked tentatively. Kyros was older and had attended a few symposiums at his house in the past year since Lysander had arrived in this village. “And didn’t the princess of Mithir go back to her kingdom years ago, when I was still a boy?” “Leonidas,” Kyros said. “You must understand one thing. I’m your friend and in regard to your question, yes, I did enjoy their company. I only thought of them as the hetaerae that we are used to. If I had only known though, I would never have...” “Enough,” Leonidas said. “I know that you are not to blame, and it was wrong for me to question you. Who am I to really question her? As a woman, she is free to choose whom she wants but I cannot bear the disrespect to my father.” “Why don’t you talk to her?” said Kyros. “Perhaps you may feel a little better if she can explain this to you.” Leonidas hung his head for a long moment before responding. “Perhaps I should talk to her. Maybe you’re right. I’m so confused now and need to think this over.” |