Separatrix Pt. 02 Ch. 04

Chapter Four

Prince Dagan required my presence with increased frequency. Yes, I'd become his major source of sexual pleasure, to the frustration and concern of his concubines, but I was more than just a pretty face and hot fuck. I was literate, a valuable and uncommon skill, a bit like being able to code in your time. Of course, Prince Dagan had scribes, most quite good, but I had unique skills even for a scribe. I could read Babylonian cuneiform, which had important differences with the more common Assyrian. And because I'd learned my Babylonian by reading hundreds of monument inscriptions and hundreds more official and business tablets of all kinds, my knowledge of governmental and commercial Babylonian was unequaled. During important events such as the arrival of a diplomat's caravan, or news of a rebellion in one of their vassal states, I could spend the entire day with my prince-- unfortunately dressed in the shapeless robes that a modest woman had to wear in that culture, surrounded by his generals, diplomats, and advisors. I even wore a veil to disguise myself as a married woman.

I didn't speak during these meetings except to read tablets, or explicate certain subtleties. I knew my place. But Dagan trusted my perceptions and judgment: who was faking his troops' readiness, what ambassador was bluffing, or which of the king his father's advisors might be trying to undermine him. My point set, not to mention my extensive experience in multiple cultures from my era, gave me a significant advantage in reading people. And he trusted me implicitly. My only connections to his world were through him and his sister; I had no conflicting interests or ulterior motives; and I was Ishtar. His goals and mine were aligned, and each night we reaffirmed them, often with his Enkidu.

I was thrilled to be learning such a vast amount about civilization's first empire. So when the small city-state of Torush in the prince's domain resisted paying their taxes and it looked like he would need to form an expedition to set them straight, I suggested to my prince that he should take me along. It was a professional opportunity, and a personal adventure, that I found irresistible.

We were lying in bed, the three of us, after what was becoming almost nightly sessions. It's truly amazing the number of ways two men and a woman can entertain themselves if all are willing. Would you like to try that some time?

In any case, my prince and Sobek were discussing possible tactics they might employ when they reached the city. I helped with research. The king's scribes had delivered some official descriptions of Torush, which was a walled city. I knew them all by heart, of course. "I need to come along," I said.

Dagan laughed and shook his head. "Of course you would. Never."

"Who is going to read the enemy's tablets?" I asked.

Now it was Sobek's turn to laugh. At the edge of the province, newly absorbed, Torush still used a Babylonian dialect. Besides the scribes' background tablets, I'd already translated a number of their diplomatic letters.

"It's impossible. Women are strictly forbidden on the battlefield."

"Is she a woman?" Sobek jested.

I laughed. It was my turn. It was so comfortable to lie between two naked men, after each has satisfied me in his own way.

"We have found a talented young orphan boy," Sobek announced, "another Egyptian, and we are bringing him along as a translator."

"And personal servant," I added. "Especially talented in certain very personal services."

Sobek laughed again. "Tari," he said. "His name is Tari. It's an Egyptian name."

I got up and knelt between them, lowered my eyes, and put my hands together at my waist in the cup gesture they used as a salute. The cup was supposed to symbolize a soldier's willingness to accept orders. "Private Tari awaits your command," I said.

Sobek laughed. Dagan shook his head, in exasperation rather than denial. "Lieutenant Tari," Sobek commanded, instantly promoting me, "stand at attention when addressing a superior."

I jumped off the bed and did the best imitation of a soldier I could, standing stiffly with my head bowed and my arms crossed across my chest in the standard pose, with my little tits still showing on my naked chest.

"March!" he ordered. I obeyed, marching from one end of the bedroom to the other in front of them. "Halt! About face! March!" and so on. I'm not usually submissive, but obeying Sobek-- and doing it naked-- made me wet. He got out of bed and got his sword. Handing it to me, he ordered, "Salute, Lieutenant!"

I did my best, touching the flat to my forehead and bowing with it the way I'd seen soldiers do. His sword was long and heavy, like a certain body part he'd recently impaled me on. "Horrible, soldier. Where did you learn your manners?" He adjusted my grip, pushed my head further down and feet together. The position was harder than it looked. "Defensive position!"

He showed me what that order meant, holding the sword out in front, aiming it at him. Then basic thrusts and parries.

"Wait, wait," Dagan said. He got out of bed and went to the outer room. After a minute he returned with two wooden practice staffs and gave them to us, taking Sobek's sword from me. "Commander, see if you can teach her some things so she won't get herself killed."

I sparred then with a man two heads taller than me, who could outreach me by twenty centimeters, both of us naked. I made some mistakes at first, getting whacked on my rump when he got inside my guard, but I learned fast. I was quicker and danced around him, to Dagan's amusement as he watched. I even got in a small tap on Sobek's rump.

"Enough," Dagan finally said. "It appears Lieutenant Tari will be joining us on the expedition."

"He is more talented than he appeared at first, My Lord," Sobek replied.

I prostrated myself before Sobek. It was another form of salute I'd seen.

"No, no, Lieutenant, only for the prince."

I got up and went back down before Dagan. Okay, a mistake, but a good one. I'd wanted to prostrate myself before Sobek.

"Arise, Lieutenant Tari." I rose and stood at attention before him. "You may actually make a good soldier," he said, appraising my stance, "eventually. But now, Tahsin, get on the bed. I want to fuck you again."

# # #

"No! I forbid it! Absolutely not! No! Never!"

Princess Sherua went on and on as I stood before her, head bowed, after I'd announced the prince's decision to take me along on the campaign against Torush. Then she tearfully hugged me. "You will be in danger, my beautiful Tahsin. You could die!"

"It is Prince Dagan's command," I quietly countered. Which was technically true. I just diplomatically refrained from mentioning that it was my idea. "I will be in the command tent, not near the action."

"I will insist that my brother post guards around you at all times."

"My Lady, my sister Tahsin, if I may," Naru interjected, "I thought women were not permitted on the battlefield." Naru was the oldest of the princess's young servants. All three of the servants were paying close attention to the conversation.

Sherua's reaction was a mixture of hope and confusion. Naru was also the friendliest to me, but her epithet, "sister" was just common usage. Opid, the second oldest, who disliked me as the appropriator of the Princess's bed, and Farat, the youngest, both used the same word.

"Our prince," I quickly responded to dash her hope and resolve their confusion, "will designate me as a young recruit." I'd really wanted to let her think that I was reluctantly agreeing to the prince's commands, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face. "I will be a boy."

"She could be a boy," Opid repeated. She might have been wishing I were one.

Sherua looked me up and down, frowning. With my slight, short figure and small breasts I could pass for one. "Prince Dagan is having a uniform made for me," I continued. Her features softened. I made the cupped hand salute to her, which produced a slight smile.

The princess sighed in defeat. There was no way she could defy her brother. And she knew of my taste for adventure. Plus, I think, she saw a new side to our relationship. "You must guard yourself, my dear Tahsin," she said. "For us." That was as close as she would come to allowing herself to give me permission. It was common knowledge that men liked boys, and anyone could see that I would make a very pretty boy. In the middle of literally thousands of men, all armed and horny.

Her spirits brightened a few days later when my uniform and equipment arrived. I fumbled at first, but the girls helped me figure out how the kilt wrapped and the cuirass buckled. I presented myself to my princess as a young, very young, soldier, complete with helmet and short sword.

"You are a handsome boy," she said. She stroked my arms and neck and face, really anywhere the equipment allowed.

"I am your kind of boy, my princess," I answered. I took her hand and put it between the folds of my leather skirt. I wasn't wearing a loincloth. She'd never mentioned anything, but I'd suspected that she'd never had a man. I could tell that the idea of having a boy in her bed intrigued her.

"You will be my boy tonight," she commanded.

"As you wish, My Gracious Lady." I'd switched to an honorific that only men used when addressing a woman of higher rank. I knelt on one knee and bowed my head. The helmet had a feathery crown down the middle. I let it come close to the royal pussy.

That night I pleased her. I kept my uniform on, including the short sword and helmet. I pretended to capture her in front of the girls and, swinging the sword around scarily, jumped on a stool and "forced" her at sword point to put her head under my skirt and eat me. It was all great fun and soon we were both naked and rolling around in each other's arms on the bed.

The real fun, if you're a fan of lesbian orgies, happened the night before the army was to set out on its march. Dagan wanted me but the princess insisted, telling him he would have me all to himself for a month or more and this was her last chance. I might be killed, after all.

First she made me do things for the girls, in my uniform, almost as if she were punishing me for temporarily becoming a boy. She started me on Farat, the youngest.

"Because..." she had to think... "because Farat did such an excellent job of cleaning your skirt and cuirass!" Farat had done a decent job, true, but... "Farat, my sweet girl, sit here. Lieutenant Tari, be a gentleman and thank the young lady for her work."

"Mistress Farat," I began as I stood before her. 'Mistress' is the closest translation I know to the formal appellation a slave used when addressing a noble woman.

"No, Tari, not words, thank her."

I removed my helmet, knelt between her legs, and wiped and stroked the girl's pussy with my tongue far better than she'd wiped the leather of my skirt.

As Farat lay back and shivered from the quick, sharp orgasm I'd delivered, the princess said, "Now, young man, you must thank Naru. Her make-up helped you disguise yourself as a girl and seduce the prince." Naru was the oldest, though still young. She had done a great job with the make-up and taught me the basics-- I'd never used much make-up, and the cosmetics of this era were quite different-- so I was not opposed. I thanked her good, twice: first as she stood, a bit embarrassed at the scene of a soldier, however small and effeminate, putting his head under her robe; and again after her legs went to jelly from the first orgasm and she collapsed onto the floor.

Then it was the turn of Opid, the middle girl. She was a bit chubby, more than a little sassy. It had taken a while for Opid and me to learn to get along, especially as she was the girl I'd kicked out of the princess's bed. The princess had to think. "Opid, my dear, what have you done for our new boy?" There wasn't much.

Opid took out a cloth from her robes. "Come here, boy," she ordered me with a superior smile. As I stood before her, she wiped her two companions' juices from my face. There was a lot.

"Oh, isn't she wonderful!" the princess exclaimed and clapped her hands in delight. Humiliating me as a boy was turning her on a lot. Slaves are fun. "Tari, young man, you must thank Opid. Now!"

The whole scene was making me feel a bit aggressive-- more male, maybe? I wondered what Sobek would do. I also wondered what he would think of me if he could see me right now. I had a big crush on him. He put on such a fierce demeanor and yet was such a gentle soul inside. Dagan had made us spar a few more times, no doubt thinking it would be amusing to see a small, skinny girl fighting a large, muscled, well-trained soldier. With my strength and quickness I acquitted myself well-- I'll describe some of that later-- but now it gave me an idea, a way to maintain my honor as a soldier, so to speak, and so please my big, dark lover, and at the same time please my princess, whom I still had great respect and admiration for. And deal with Opid.

I unsheathed my sword, a real sword, sharpened to a razor edge by the prince's personal armorer. I pointed it at Opid's chest, right between her ample breasts, and moved forward.

She stepped backwards, her eyes wide. One of the other girls made a small yelp, but the princess shushed her. I walked Opid back to the wall and pinned her there. Her eyes flicked from my toothy growl to the bronze point right between the boobs she was so proud of.

"Strip!" I commanded. She didn't move, not an eyebrow. Paralyzed. I pushed the sword into the cloth and lifted it with the point, piercing it slightly, showing it to her as I tugged at it. "Everything!"

She looked futilely to the princess for help, then fumbled with a clasp and tie and her robes fell to the floor. I had the trivial, irrelevant thought that I hadn't seen any buttonholes here, just loops and clasps, and wondered if they'd been invented yet. It was a small gap in my historical knowledge. I pointed my sword at the cloth wrapped around her waist. With trembling fingers she undid it, leaving her sex exposed and vulnerable to a sharp, hard point only a small sword flick away.

"I-- I didn't mean--" she began, but immediately the point was back at her throat.

"Against the wall! Hands behind back!" She obeyed. I put the sword between her legs and tapped her fleshy thighs. "Spread!" She quickly obeyed. The sword rose back to her throat. "Don't move!"

With the sword kept under her chin I did a variation of what I'd done to Dagan the first night. I knelt and put my mouth on her bush. I quickly found her slit, soaking wet, her swollen clit, her hole. I'd eaten her out a few times early on, when I was everyone's plaything, so I knew my way around this girl's pussy. I ate her without mercy, still holding my sword to her throat, even pressing it up as my erotic stimulation drove her up in sexual tension, to get her on her toes against the wall.

When she was as high as she could go, in both ways, I slowly reduced the sword's pressure, withdrew it, then set it down on the floor and used my sword hand to find her hole and the G-spot within it. This, I knew from experience, was the way to make Opid come.

She did, instantly. I think in your time she would have been one of those girls that boys like to take to horror movies. You know, fear can be a leg spreader for some women. The orgasm made her bend over me but that only pressed her clit harder on my mouth. I made her come again. And again. And again, until she couldn't hold herself up anymore and sank against the wall onto the floor.

I followed her down, not letting up, and continued forcing orgasms out of her as she keeled over onto the floor, using every trick, until she couldn't come anymore and my stimulation, both in and on her cunt, was more torture than pleasure.

I left Opid curled up and whimpering on the floor and turned to crawl between Sherua's legs. The princess had been standing right there the whole time, enjoying a front row seat to the action. I opened her legs wide and put my face close to her sex. Her legs were shaking. She was very, very excited. I blew on her bush. She gave me a smile, a smile with a family resemblance to her brother's, a royal smile that was not for me. She wasn't smiling at me, even though she was looking right at me. I could see in her eyes that she was smiling to herself at what she was seeing, an exotic beauty dressed in what your age would consider a kinky cosplay, about to give herself sexually, starting with her pretty mouth. All after demonstrating, at the princess's command, what she could do with that pretty mouth. This was, at this moment, her moment. I was hers.

And she was mine. "My Lady," I said, "did I hear you command this boy to eat your pussy until you come? Of course, My Lady, at once." Then I did all the basic things you can do with your mouth to give a woman sexual pleasure. Up/down, vibrate, in the hole, and many more applied by me onto her. Everything except make her come.

I eased up to let her recover for a few seconds. She was shaking even harder, but was able to lift her head enough to look at me. "My Lady, if it's too much for you, you need only tell your slave soldier to stop." I moved my mouth down to where she could feel my breath. She kept looking at me. She was about to speak when my lips lowered and touched her labia. Her head tilted back and I began torturing her with my tongue. I sometimes wonder what I'm better at, cunnilingus or fellatio. 'Better' may not have any meaning when comparing the two pleasures.

In any case I know how to make both sexes come to the maximum of their bodies' capabilities. "No, no, I can't, can't--" she protested. "Please, please."

I enjoyed making a princess beg. This princess never begged. And when she phrased her orders as a request, it was only to show you that you were a favorite and she trusted you not to need an outright command. So when she begged me to stop making her come, with all her maids around her watching, it was a peak experience for me. I was ready for battle. I made her come again, disobeying her in front of them.

When my princess somehow found the strength to push me away and close her legs I stood and looked around the room at my handiwork. Farat and Naru were hugging each other, maybe for mutual protection. Opid was half up from the floor, against the wall, but watching. My princess was out cold.

I retreated to the washroom, removed my uniform, washed my soaked face, and returned naked to the princess's bed. She was stirring. I cuddled up to her and fell asleep, thinking how pleased Sobek would be when I told him what I'd done.

# # #

We marched out of Kish-- that was the main city of Dagan's administrative region, and where he resided-- in formation, in full battle gear, down the main avenue from the palace compound, with crowds cheering us on both sides. Dagan led us on a chariot. Domesticated horses were common up north in the Caucasus mountains at this point in history, but exotic down here, and the chariot was high tech. There was only one in the kingdom right then, belonging of course to the king, who loaned it to his crown prince for the campaign. I think a lot of people came out just to see the horse. Dagan looked awesome driving the chariot, by the way. Turned me on so much.

Well outside the city walls we stopped at a temple where my prince and his officers paused to make a sacrifice to Ashur to ensure his blessing during the campaign. The stop also allowed the troops to remove their helmets and other hot items. And gave me a chance to bury a fiducial. The Org likes temples.

Then on toward Torush, a three-day march. I'd been out of the city several times, of course, with my princess, but this territory was in the opposite direction and different, a dryer landscape. The archaeological discoveries from this period were sparse, one important reason I'd been sent to this era. The Org knew from geological analyses that we were at the beginning of some dry centuries, which always caused agricultural and therefore social and political disruption.

Professionally, I was thrilled. We stopped at more temples, particularly a surprisingly large one near our goal. It was dedicated to Inanna, out in the middle of nowhere. I dropped two of my precious fiducials there. Locating productive sites was still a matter of luck in my time, as in yours, despite our much more advanced technologies. This one was not listed in any of the records I'd memorized. It was far from the known areas where sites clustered, in a terrain that millennia from now would be high up a gorge. The gentle river that coursed past it in this era would, in about eight hundred years, deeply carve itself into a steep canyon that would look very unpromising, where landslides would bury it. This one was going to be a prize. Another feather in my cap.

But personally, which meant socially and sexually, life was not as thrilling. While on the march I was required to sleep in a separate tent, not with my prince. Not that he would have much energy left after a day of marching. He used the chariot, with a driver, but only to move up and down the column so he could march with each cohort, leading them personally, and discuss the situation with their commanders, getting updates, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, boosting morale. There were also the hundreds of supply carts, pulled by donkeys and slaves, to be inspected. He really was a talented and dedicated leader.

I offered discreetly to sneak into his tent and service him, but there were other servants always about. No one would care if Dagan used the new, handsome lieutenant to satisfy his sexual needs; but my prince, unlike my princess, was uncomfortable doing anything in front of an audience. My Nubian lover I could only catch a glance or two of during the march. He led several companies in front.

It was especially awkward in the temple to Inanna. She was considered the same goddess as Ishtar, just with a different name. My prince brought me along when he visited and made a sacrifice. He wanted to bring me, truly believing this was my temple and that something, who knew what, should happen. Let me emphasize that people really believed in their gods back then, a universal belief that everyone accepted, the way you accept the existence of, say, radio waves, even though you can't perceive them. Prince Dagan's amazement with me was not that I was a goddess but that I, a goddess, would choose to inhabit a slave woman and have sex with him.

The written Babylonian I'd studied was mostly official or religious language, so I was not nearly as proficient at common Babylonian. But the several diplomatic tablets that had passed through my hands had taught me enough that I was able to carry on a simple conversation with the old priest who ran the temple, whose Assyrian was almost incomprehensible. I took the opportunity to ask a number of questions regarding the temple's architecture and construction, which impressed the priest immensely. To have a young man, a soldier, an Assyrian, be so interested in Babylonian religion! He gave us a tour, with dates and events and personages that meant nothing to either of us, but which I logged. We were always scrambling in the Org for dates and events to resolve historical inconsistencies.

We passed by a small altar that had some tablets displayed on it. I read that they came from the king of Torush and asked about him. I knew this information would be interesting to my prince. The old priest was amazed again that this young Assyrian man could read Babylonian and happily let me study them. His eyesight was failing, so I also read a few for him that had especially small script. There was no standard and they would write all over the tablets, even on the thick clay edges. There were several proclaiming offerings to the temple. It seemed the king of Torush was quite generous to it.

Dagan was pleased with my discovery, though not with the king. "He is generous to this temple but not to the Steward of Ashur?" The rulers of Assyria at this time did not call themselves king. Ashur the god was king. I know I'm calling Dagan's father "the king". That's what he was in everything but official name.

I wanted to have sex in the temple-- after all, it was "my" temple-- but the old priest would not leave us alone, not even long enough for a quickie. So we thanked the priest and on we trekked.

Couriers arrived from Torush with letters welcoming the prince but warning him that foreign armies were not allowed in their territory. Prince Dagan laughed at them. We continued marching.

When we got in sight of the city, coming over a mountain pass, we paused to assess the situation. The city's walls were old, as most cities' were, but were in good repair. What was strange was that the army was outside the city formed in front of it. "My lord," said one of the generals, "there appears to be a delegation."

A group of soldiers stood in front of the army, apparently waiting. "We'll go down and see," Dagan said, "but later. Set up camp. They can wait."

We let them watch us set up camp. Our army was more than twice as large as the one before the town walls and better equipped. Prince Dagan sent a small delegation but did not go down himself. He was a prince of the empire; the leader of the army down there, who pranced around in front of the soldiers, waving his sword-- literally saber-rattling-- was a vassal, and a rebellious one at that, not worthy of a face-to-face meeting.

The delegation returned after a short time. At a quickly arranged conference they reported to the prince that they had been insulted in the crudest terms and were given a letter to present to him. It was in Babylonian-- a crime and an insult just in that, since all official documents were required to be written in Assyrian-- and I, as the only person literate in that language, had the duty to read it to the assembled officers, advisers, and the prince.

"My Lord," I said when I scanned it, "I dare not read this to you. It is nothing but insults and lies."

"Read it, Lieutenant Tari," he commanded, "Words are not arrows."

I hesitantly read and translated the letter for the soldiers. "The exalted and rightful king--" Here I had to stop and laugh. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. He calls himself king of the Universe." I restarted. "The exalted and rightful king of the universe, lord of the kingdom of Torush, Adad-Enlila-Marduck, commands the coward..." Here I had to look up at my prince to check his reaction. Two of his commanders rose in protest at the insult but he waved them down. "... c-coward and... eunuch to immediately withdraw his army from--"

"Death!" a soldier at the end of the table yelled, jumping up. Others rose with him. They angrily suggested we send the army down there to slaughter the blaspheming miscreant and his miserable followers. The prince settled them down. "Is there any more of relevance, Lieutenant?"

"My Lord, there is a list of demands that I can read to you for your amusement. But first I should give you..." I struggled to find the right words. There was no translation of the linguistic terms from my language. "I should tell you my assessment of this letter."

"Go on."

"My Lord, I don't think this was written by the king of Torush." I knew from my archaeological studies that it was ridiculously grandiose to invoke not one but two Babylonian god-names in this so-called king's name. "This name--" I pointed at it on the tablet so that Dagan could read it-- "invokes two gods, thereby insulting both. And also, Your Highness, it is not the same name as I read on the temple's tablets."

The officers around the table were mystified, especially the members of the delegation. I explained how I had been able, through the prince's kindness, to visit the temple of Inanna with him, and help the old priest read a number of tablets there. "Those offering tablets were in elegant Babylonian. The language in this letter--" I motioned to the clay in front of me-- "is crude, with many mistakes. It's not even fired." It was the standard protocol to fire the clay of a tablet containing an official proclamation, fixing its message. "And the seal is different." Every substantial person back then carried with them a personal seal, a cylinder made of a hard mineral or semi-precious stone and carved with a unique array of symbols and figures. It was their signature, like a chop that Chinese used to use.

There was shock all around. My dear Sobek was the first to speak. "Usurper," he said simply.

A lot of discussion followed. Some officers wanted to attack immediately, although the sun was already setting. That would have been foolish. And anyway, reports had just come in that the Torush army was filing back into the walled city. Prince Dagan dismissed us. I hinted that perhaps I should stay to continue translating the letter, and my prince was tempted-- he knew what I really intended-- but he sent me away, explaining there was more business to discuss. I did my best to hide my disappointment in front of the soldiers.

But later I was awakened in my tent-- I was given a private tent because, Dagan told his people, I had confidential tablets to translate-- by a servant and summoned to the prince's presence. Sobek was also there and my heart leapt for an instant, but we were not alone.

"Lieutenant Tari," Dagan ordered, pointing to a haggard-looking man standing near Sobek, "you will translate what this informer tells us."

It seemed that while I was asleep Dagan had ordered Sobek to sneak into town with a few soldiers and find out what was really going on. The informant told us that one of the richest leading merchants had seized and imprisoned the king, holding him hostage to take control of the government and the army. Both the townspeople and the army were very restless. The king was well loved.

"Lieutenant," Sobek said, "ask this man if he knows where the king is being held." Sobek was totally professional, but I detected a tiny smile when he heard our prince say my rank. I wanted to have him call me that the next time we had sex. Which I hoped would be soon.

The king, the man believed, was being held in a building in the royal compound. There were guards posted all around it. I had him draw a crude sketch.

Sobek and the prince's eyes met. "Commander Sobek, give this man some food and a place to sleep. Then you know what to do."

After they left, Dagan said, loud enough to be heard outside his tent, "Lieutenant, you've done well."

I bowed. "It is an honor and privilege to serve you, My Lord," I said as loudly.

"Come here."

We went to the conference table. A servant entered. "Not yet," the prince told him. "I have confidential matters to discuss with the lieutenant translator. Do not let anyone disturb us." The servant bowed and left.

"So, Lieutenant, what exact insults are on this tablet?" He pointed to the one the usurper had sent earlier.

"My Lord," I responded, kneeling again before him, "he made the gravest accusations. First, he called you--" I hesitated to say the word, even alone with him. To compensate, I put my hand on his thigh and slid it up under the leather of his skirt-- "a eunuch." I found my prince's testicles as I said it, proving the usurper a liar with my touch. "And then," I added as I retrieved his hardening cock from between the folds of his skirt, "he called you a coward." I pointedly turned my head toward the tent flap, just outside of which guards stood and servants waited. I knew my prince's reluctance for public sex.

To further make my point and increase the tension, I removed my cuirass. I turned back to face him and put his hands on my breasts. Then I took his cock between my lips.

He hissed and tensed, but stayed silent otherwise. I knew this had to be a quickie. So did he. That was fine. It had been several days since he'd been inside me. We both needed it. I worked him up to the edge. I wanted to hum, he tasted so delicious, with a copious flow of fluids leaking out, and tell him so, but I had to stay silent also. I did add, "And, my Lord, he boasted of having many sons and impugned your virility. Another lie." I proved that by sucking him off right then, making sure every drop of his seed ended in my mouth. And there was a lot. Dagan produced an above average amount anyway-- have I already mention that?-- and had so much stored up that really I wasn't sure I'd be able to hold it all.

I did, barely. I stood and let him see that I hadn't swallowed yet. I dressed, becoming again a soldier. When I made the cupped hand salute, I almost lost it, thinking what a disgracefully naughty thing it would be if I let his semen drool into my hands. I of course could not ask his permission to take my leave, so I made a formal bow and walked out of his tent. I walked stiffly past the guards, servants, and officers who were always around, even at this time of night, doing my best to hide my full mouth, hoping no one would stop me to talk.

In my tent I undressed and lay on my cot, and soon I was rubbing myself and fantasizing that Sobek had slipped in and was fucking me. It had been a long day, so my orgasm arrived soon, and I quickly fell asleep with the taste of my prince's essence filling my head.

# # #

I woke the next day to a clamor in the small compound in the middle of the tents, cheering and soldier chants and laughter. I got dressed and stepped outside to find a crowd of happy soldiers, with the prince embracing an older man, well-dressed, that I didn't recognize. I found out in bits and pieces what was going on: while I had been pleasing my prince with my mouth, Sobek had been pleasing him with his sword. He'd led a party back into the town, surprised some guards, and liberated the king.

Events progressed rapidly. Our whole army was called into formation and we marched-- me too! It was exhilarating-- down to the town's front gate. The king called out the usurper in the most vitriolic terms in their dialect, many words I didn't know but were clearly grave and obscene insults-- I translated as much as I could for my prince-- and ordered the army to seize him and throw him out.

Which they did. The sight of the old king outside, healthy and free, in front of the very potent Assyrian infantry, was more than enough. Soon the heavy town gate opened and out flew the usurper-- they literally tossed him out-- on his face because he was trussed like a pig ready for the spit. The king marched back into his kingdom, to cheering like after one of your sports championships.

That night there was a huge party. The Torush king sent out a long string of donkeys loaded with gold, silver, textiles, all sorts of wealth, obtained mostly, I heard, by raiding the usurper's mansion. Prince Dagan kept the bulk of it as back taxes, but made sure to spread the rest of the wealth around to the troops. They were thrilled. They'd won a battle without having to risk their lives. And then the king sent out more amphoras than I'd ever seen before, including in some excavated sites in my own time, all filled with the local wine. That, maybe, thrilled the troops even more.

And I was a hero! Not as much as Sobek, but everyone knew my part in uncovering the usurper's treachery, and my role got more and more exaggerated as the wine flowed. Everyone thought I'd gone along with Sobek's raiding party and even killed a guard myself. I couldn't make them believe otherwise, since I was reluctant to publicize what I'd been doing instead. They just thought I was being modest when I tried to deny it. I got toasted more times than I could count and had to drink liters of the wine, which wasn't too bad. Or maybe I was getting used to the taste. And they noticed, as you have, how I can hold my liquor. My liver is just too efficient at metabolizing alcohol. I drank several soldiers under the table.

Dagan even had me fight Sobek, like the sparring we'd been doing in his apartments. Usually we were naked then. We would oil ourselves all over, which was fun in itself, and then wrestle. Sobek was of course a lot bigger and stronger than I was, but I'm really quick and could slip away at the slightest chance, especially all greased up. Sometimes Sobek would let me get away and sometimes I would let him pin me. Then the fun would really start. He liked to pin my arms behind my back and fuck me doggy style. Then he'd grab my hair to lift my head up.

"My lord," he liked to say, "I have captured your goddess, as commanded, and she is ready to do your bidding."

Dagan's bidding was always the same. He'd step in front of me, take my head in his hands and fuck my head-- that's what it felt like when he did it to me, not just fucking my mouth or fucking my throat, but my whole head, his fingers in my hair, pawing roughly all over my face, sometimes almost choking me when he grabbed me by the neck and forced himself into me to the bottom millimeter-- and meanwhile I was being pounded without mercy by that beautiful black cock. It was slut heaven, maybe the best sex of my life, at least until I met you. I always came so hard. And so did they, often together. I sometimes felt they were making love to each other through me at those moments. They really did trust and respect and love each other. It was beautiful to see and I was happy to be the means by which they shared that love. And to take their combined seed up in my pussy and down my throat as far it could go.

Anyway, the prince had us spar in front of the troops, not naked but with swords. We'd done that also before in his rooms, again not naked, carefully, and in fact we had developed a bit of choreography, like in one of your action movies. We did that for the troops, to much cheering. Sobek was a little drunk and played that up. We whacked our swords together and he let me trip him. I let him get a hold of me and toss me on his shoulder and parade around like that, but then I climbed up and somersaulted away, landing on my feet. It was like a circus move. And then he let me get inside his guard and slide between his legs-- he knew the stunt as well as I did-- and I ended up behind him with my sword in his back and he dropped his sword and surrendered. It was all great fun. Everyone knew it was a set up and for their entertainment and cheered us both loudly. They made me drink more liters of wine to toast my "victory".

Later was even more fun. As the party wound down, Dagan called Sobek and me into his tent, sending the guards and servants away. Everyone thought they knew what was going to happen: the prince was going to reward the hero of Torush, as everyone was calling Sobek, with the new lieutenant. I'd been getting hit on, by the way, by every officer in the army, it seemed. I was, after all, just the prettiest young man they'd ever encountered, you know?

Oh, just before we went in, one more thing happened. It was grisly, really, so be warned. Emissaries from the Torush king arrived with more gifts. Two of the gifts were very pretty: the merchant usurper's teenaged daughters. They were dressed up in their finest-- gold, jewels, make-up, fine clothes-- and bound. They were now Prince Dagan's slaves. They were scared shitless of course. The troops leered at them. It was quite within the prince's power to offer them to the troops, which would mean a gangbang they wouldn't survive. I was scared for them. But the prince, to his credit, just had them taken away and ordered that they not be harmed in any way. He'd decide later what deserving noble or officer would get them. I respected him a lot for that.

The other gift was the opposite of pretty. It was a small onyx box, nicely made and polished. Inside-- I got to watch Dagan open it-- were two bloody ovoids of meat. That's what they looked like. I almost puked right there when I realized what they were: testicles.

"Your Highness," the chief emissary said, "as payment for the intolerable insult the traitor inflicted on your royal honor, he is now what he disrespectfully called his rightful lord."

Dagan maintained his composure. "Thank the king of Torush for this gesture," he replied. I thought perhaps Dagan was feeling squeamish at the sight of the bloody organs, but that wasn't the cause. "The traitor is still alive?"

"For a while longer," the emissary said with the thinnest possible smile, "until we are finished with him."

Dagan was not surprised. As I said, they had a brutal side. He gave back the onyx box. "You will observe the necessary rituals," he ordered. I learned later from Taram that it was because of ghosts. They believed that unless a dead person's body was fully buried, the ghost would come back to haunt them. No way was he going to keep those horrible souvenirs.

I was somber going into the tent, but Sobek and my prince had moved on already, and were discussing Sobek's raid the previous night. I poured us wine. Perhaps the alcohol was finally having an effect. I felt as if I'd drunk my weight in it. I suddenly became unmoored from myself. That's how it felt. I could not remember how I got where I was at that moment. I could not understand how I, a woman of an advanced era, had suddenly been transported into the body of a male soldier of the Bronze Age. I actually looked down to check what kind of genitals I had. The feeling was that strong. Of course, then it all came back to me, but the moment stuck. And I was suddenly very happy. I was alive. Someone else was dead, or soon would be, but it wasn't me.

"Lieutenant Tari," Sobek said, "You have the strangest expression on your face. I can't help wondering what you're thinking right now."

"I'm just feeling happy to be alive."

"Ah. Yes. As am I." He lifted his cup to me.

Dagan echoed him. "Yes, it's good to be alive." We drank. "You acquitted yourself well, Lieutenant."

"I played only a small part."

"You did your duty. You're a good soldier."

"In some ways I could see myself enjoying a soldier's life."

"That's because you've never been in battle."

"Nor do I ever want to be. But I am enjoying being a young man in a uniform."

"You are quite handsome."

"Commander Sobek," I said, "may I ask a professional question, since I am so new to this life?"

"If you think a humble soldier like me can answer it."

"It's about duty and following orders, which I can see you know a lot about." He made a slight nod for me to continue. "I understand that in some cases it is considered acceptable for an officer to require sexual services from his subordinate. Is that true?"

He shrugged. "That's the question you wanted to ask? You really are from far away. Of course."

"Interesting. And is a lieutenant subordinate to a commander even if he is not in the commander's chain of command? So a commander, let's say, could, if he so desired, fuck a lieutenant?"

Sobek looked embarrassed rather than pleased. He knew what I was saying, and he'd already fucked me more times than I could count. I was puzzled. Did he not do sex when on a campaign?

Dagan laughed out loud. "Lieutenant Tari, you are new to army life, but you are aware, I know, that men do not have vaginas, and so can only be fucked, not fucked." Oops. I was still learning. They had different words for vaginal and anal penetration.

That statement made it clear to me the source of Sobek's embarrassment. The three of us, in spite of the many different combinations of sexual intercourse we'd enjoyed, had not yet done any anal sex. I'd suspected from certain remarks that Sobek had allowed our prince to enjoy him that way; however, as I mentioned, aside from some mutual blow jobs they really seemed to enjoy using me as their way to show affection to each other. For my part, I was no stranger to that activity. You remember, don't you, your time with Jordan after we searched for the barycenter? But still it gave me pause. "I am a soldier," I answered, "and will obey any order my superiors give me, and perform any service they require."

I looked from one of them to the other. Dagan was grinning at Sobek, and even in Sobek's coal-black face I could see he was blushing. I stood and went to him where he sat. I refilled his cup, then bent to put my lips to his ear. "My dear warrior," I whispered in his language, "Isis needs your offering in her aspect as a soldier. Do not disappoint her." Then I stood before him at attention. "I await your order, Commander Sobek."

Dagan laughed again. "Go on, Sobek. Enjoy him." I really liked how they continued to talk about me as male. They weren't doing it just because they might be overheard. Like his sister, Dagan was enjoying pretending he was going to get serviced by a pretty boy.

Sobek drained his full cup in one gulp. "Lieutenant Tari, fellate me."

I admit I was thrilled and as turned on as I've ever been, especially still in uniform and not having yet touched my lover. I knelt before him, relishing the moment. I'd done Dagan in this tent before, but as a woman. But now I really felt the way a young man might feel as he's about to get his first taste of cock.

And what a cock to begin my male sexual journey with! I moved between Sobek's legs and reached under his leather kilt. His erection was already poking out of his loincloth. I undid the clasp that held his kilt together and extracted that cock. It was an amazing sight. At least in my eyes, in the candlelight that filled the tent, that black rod seemed to glow from within like obsidian in a desert sunset. "My Lord and Commander," I pronounced as formally as I could manage in Assyrian, "it is an honor and a privilege to be the first soldier to fellate the hero of Torush after his historic rescue of a king." I took his dark cockhead between my lips. He tasted deliciously salty on my tongue.

He tensed. His powerful thighs squeezed my body. I paused and added in Egyptian, "Allow Isis to prepare you for your offering." That seemed to settle him. We enjoyed some really wonderful fellatio together.

I should explain. Yes, their language had a word for 'fellatio'. It had, in fact, an extensive vocabulary for the activity that shames-- if that's the appropriate term-- English's meager list. The nanny Taram was a treasure of sexual knowledge. The word Sobek had used meant fellate-but-not-to-orgasm. There were more words for doing it to completion, with the receiving man standing or sitting, as part of other activities or just a blow job. Also, different ways to face-fuck. You get the idea.

On the other hand, as for the English gender-specific terms, 'fellator' and 'fellatrix': there was no equivalent in their language. As I said, they didn't care about that. A mouth is a mouth. Oh, and there was another term, so obscene that Taram whispered it to me even though we were alone, that meant a superior going down on an inferior. No English equivalent at all. Think of "honorable-mouth job" or, in the case of doing it on your slave, "owner-mouth job". Same term for both fellatio and cunnilingus. I used it once on my princess, whispered in her ear for her to do it to me. Wow, did it ever turn her on! That one word got me one of the best pussy lickings ever. Thanks, Taram!

Anyway, there I was fellating-not-to-completion my black lover when I spied my prince's discomfort. Not emotional-- he was enjoying watching us in this novel scene-- but physical, adjusting his growing organ under his clothing. "My Lord Prince," I said, "would you allow me the honor of being the first soldier to fellate-not-to-completion the victor of Torush?" One hand still held Sobek's ebony rod, glistening with my saliva. I stretched out my other arm to invite him.

Dagan did not need any persuasion. He came to where I knelt and dropped his clothes. Sobek stood and again I had the now familiar pleasure of sucking on two cocks, my two favorite cocks-- favorites until I met you-- white and black, that seemed to give them different flavors. You know, vanilla and chocolate. I do like the chocolate in your era, I'll give you that.

"Commander Sobek," Dagan said, picking up on my kinky pleasure at posing as a man, "Our new lieutenant is showing singular aptitude for his military duties, wouldn't you agree, Commander?"

Sobek was finally getting into the scene. "Indeed, My Lord, he is demonstrating his mastery of the training we have been giving him. But his training is not complete, nor has his courage been tested in more stressful confrontations."

"What are you suggesting, Commander? Ah, Lieutenant!" I was working my prince's cockhead with lips, tongue, and teeth all together, just the way he loved.

"If I may suggest, My Lord, perhaps our new recruit would benefit from a sample of what his life would be as a captive."

I'd moved to Sobek to give Dagan some needed relief. I looked up at him with a mouthful of his cock. I didn't know what he was thinking. I knew of course that the cock I was servicing would soon be up my ass. But what else?

"Proceed, Commander," our prince replied.

I was ordered to stand at attention to one side. I began to undress.

"No, Lieutenant," my prince ordered. "You have just been captured. You will remain in uniform. Put your helmet back on."

Sobek went to a corner of the tent and carried back a donkey frame. It was basically a woven reed saddle but meant to hold baskets and chests rather than a rider. He set it in the middle of the big, ornate rug that covered most of the tent's central area. Their rugs were really gorgeous, by the way, like Persian but their own style, more muted colors. I'd at first been distressed to see how they all treated them, putting them down directly on a pounded mud floor, but a prince at least had plenty of servants to sweep and wash them.

Sobek also brought some lengths of the rope that had been used to tie the packages to the frame. "Hands behind back, soldier." As he tied my arms together he said, so gravely that I struggled to keep from laughing, "You refuse to worship the sun goddess Arinna. You will be punished until you renounce your heretical belief in Ishtar and accept Arinna as your goddess." Arinna was a major Hittite goddess. They hated the Hittites.

"Ishtar forever!" I yelled, though softly so no one outside would hear.

He shoved me to the donkey frame and forced me down on it on my stomach. It was hard and uncomfortable, especially as I was still wearing my cuirass, which I kept on all the time in public to hide my tits and hadn't thought to take off in the tent. He lashed my legs to the frame, not gently.

I looked at Dagan looking at me. I might have been scared except his cock still stuck straight out from under his tunic. He looked ridiculous and ridiculously hot. I felt my kilt being lifted off my butt and my loincloth pulled down.

"Do you, lieutenant Tari, accept Arinna? Say it now or you will deeply regret it."

"Ishtar!" I yelled again. I liked how he emphasized 'deeply'. "Ishtar for-- uh-h-h!" Pain seared my ass like I'd never felt before, like a red-hot poker had sliced across it. I jerked uncontrollably in my bindings and panted, trying to regain the air that had been forced from my lungs. Now I knew what else.

Sobek came around to look at me. I loved how beautiful his cock looked, sticking straight out like a spear. I felt much less affection for the leather crop he held in his hand, used on the donkeys. And now a certain young soldier.

He came up close. I raised my head. He could see the tears that his single swipe had forced from my eyes. He raised the crop. "Say it, soldier, or suffer the consequences."

"Never!" He moved closer, his cock almost at my lips. "I will never mm-ph!"

He lifted my head by my hair and his black spear stuffed itself between my lips, which of course I'd kept open, and into my throat. I'd not expected him to use such force. He'd always been so gentle with me. But that was when I was a woman. Now I struggled as my body involuntarily tried to reject the organ impaling me.

And then another red-hot poker of pain sliced across my ass and I screamed onto his cock. Then another and another and I hugged that cock for dear life, my only haven in a world of pain.

The strikes stopped and the pain receded. I tried to keep my favorite cock in my mouth, but it receded also. I looked up through wet eyes. All I wanted was to get that man meat back inside me. I knew how to do it. "Ish-- Ish-- for-- for--" was all I could rasp out of my abused throat. But that was enough.

"So you still do not yield? You are a tough soldier, Lieutenant. But are you tough enough?"

I didn't know what that meant. My head was swirling. He moved to the table and got something I couldn't see, then moved out of sight. I tried my bindings. In spite of my struggles all the ropes were still tight. Sobek knew how to tie up a prisoner, and I was not his first. I felt a hand in my ass, sliding up my crack. A slippery finger rubbed and then entered my anus. My ass was as hot as if I'd just taken it out of an oven. With the endorphins flooding my brain, that finger was as wonderful as a tongue in my pussy. I burbled and groaned in longing.

The finger withdrew and something bigger pressed on my hole. "This is your last chance, soldier, or your suffering will know no bounds."

"Ishtar!" I gasped. "Isis!"

He pressed harder, but still did not go in.

"Just fucking take my ass, you animal!" I yelled.

"My lord, Lieutenant Tari speaks in a language I've never heard before."

Shit! I thought. I was so out of it I'd used my own language. I leaned my head way back, as much as the ropes allowed, and switching to Egyptian, I said, "Sobek, my noble warrior, sacrifice this soldier to your goddess. Take his ass as your own and Isis will love you forever."

The pain of my sphincter suddenly expanding was nothing compared to the whipping I'd just endured, and that stretching was immediately followed by the smooth slide of his cock through my anus, a tension pleasurable and almost soothing. I moaned. I tried to make it sound like a moan of pain, but couldn't keep the intense pleasure out of my voice.

Sobek was growling. He grabbed my arms by the rope that held them tightly together, but he was more holding onto me than using me. I held myself still, especially my ass. I could feel that he was on the edge of coming and he was doing everything he could to maintain control. It definitely turned him on to be in my ass, and I definitely wanted him to come there, but not yet. My rectum wasn't done with that cock.

At last he was able to push himself deep into me and hold himself there. He pulled me up by my arms and presented me to Dagan. "My Prince, Lieutenant Tari, our new brother-in-arms, presents himself to you for your command."

Dagan stepped up to me. No need to describe how stiff he was. He'd watched the whole scene. You might think I made a faux pas, Bronze Age military style, by not inviting Prince Dagan to enjoy my ass first. But I understood my prince's sexuality. He'd confided in me the boredom he felt with his concubines. He could have vaginal sex three times a day with three different women if he desired, but that was all. Plus, the last thing he wanted was to be seen imitating his father, whose reputation for being obsessed with anal sex was well known. So given my mastery of the oral arts, he would have believed I was a goddess even without the special abilities I'd shown. "You have done well, Commander Sobek. You have made Lieutenant Tari into a real soldier."

"Not yet, My Lord," Sobek answered. He pulled me up even higher so my open mouth was level with the prince's cock. "He must take his prince's seed. Then he will be fit to serve you."

Dagan's cock slipped into my mouth to perfection, as if genetic engineering geniuses from centuries before my time had pooled all their creativity and skill to produce me, somehow predicting the right developmental parameters to make me the perfect fellatrix for royal Bronze Age cocks.

It's impossible to describe fully what I experienced then. It was a presage, really, of the blackout orgasms you give me. At that moment I had what you people of the Modern Age might call an out-of-body experience, except that it was the total opposite. It wasn't that I was out of my body. It was as if all of the world, all of the Universe, was in me. The whole Universe, from the beginning of time and until the end of time, the whole timeline, was fucking me in every orifice, every pore, in the membrane of every cell, touching every nucleus of every atom in me.

Okay, I had drunk a titanic amount of wine. Maybe it did have some effect. In other words, my two male lovers were pounding me at both ends, as deep and hard as they could while I sucked their cocks at both ends as hard as I could. I'd stopped breathing. Don't worry, I can hold my breath way longer than historical humans. Drownproofing had been part of my preparation for superposition. Dagan wouldn't let me breathe anyway. But I was coming. Sobek was pressing me into the frame and his thrusting mashed my clit into the grooves of the reeds just right and it was better than the best vibrator, even the sentient ones from my time. Both were studs and heroes and lasted longer than any time-traveling slut has a right to expect, but my repeated orgasms were more than any mortal male could resist for long and at last I tasted and felt their essences flow into me.

I found myself lying on my back on that ornate rug next to the frame. I ached in more parts of me than I wanted to think about, and my ass felt like I'd just defecated a rough log that was on fire, but I felt wonderful. I tried to roll over, failed, tried again, and realized, as I made it to my hands and knees, that I still had all my clothes on. And whoever had untied me, probably Sobek, had put back my loincloth and kilt. Smart move. To anyone who walked in now, or who for that matter had peeped in at any time during our rutting, I might be obviously fucked, but I was an obviously fucked young man.

Dagan helped me to my feet and led me to his bed, where I collapsed. It was a real feather mattress, unlike the straw mat I'd been sleeping on in my tent, and felt like pure heavenly cloud. I fell asleep immediately.

# # #

The march back started as a slog. It seemed that every soldier in the army had a miserable hangover. But Dagan's officers got their troops in formation and, once we were all marching together, we made good time.

We marched back quickly, everyone anxious and excited to get home and show off our prizes, no matter how meager or how magnificent, stopping only to make sacrifices at temples to show our gratitude to the gods. As we approached the city, people began to line the road. Couriers had been sent ahead to proclaim our victory. By the time we'd reentered Kish the streets were jammed with cheering crowds tossing flowers and sweets and small favors on the troops. At the palace I threw a robe over myself and raced to the princess's quarters. Of course, she'd heard the news and greeted me at the entrance to her residence.

"Oh, Tahsin, you are safe. And you're a hero? You must tell me everything." She embraced me-- and felt my gear under the robe. "What? Oh dear," she sighed when I removed the robe and she saw how muddy and dirty I was. During the last day of the return trip a downpour had drenched us and flooded the road. We all had to put our backs into pushing the carts through the sodden track. "You deserve a bath."

She had the girls scrub me all over and wash my hair, then oil me. She made a special point of having Opid oil my pussy. I told her all about visiting the old temple, the tablets, the usurper, Sobek's raid, the celebration, even the sparring that Sobek and I performed. Everything but the sex. She did ask in the bath about the welts still visible on my cheeks. "It's an army thing," was all I said, hinting that it was an initiation rite. Which, in a way, it had been.

She made love to me fiercely, intent on making me come as much as possible. I let her. I'd just spent weeks with men, nothing but men, each one longing to put his cock in me, and letting two of them succeed, but not in my pussy. Getting my pussy eaten by someone who also had a pussy was a relief, a refreshing contrast, and an exciting reminder of how many ways there was to be intimate with another person.

# # #

My situation had become even more idyllic, both professionally and personally, as I worked in both the princess's workshop and the prince's cabinet. And the sex, of course, continued to be awesome.

But it couldn't last. My time in the past was running out. I knew that. And my monitor continued to remind me. As I lived in this period I had to breathe in and ingest the atoms of this period. That's almost totally fine. Atoms don't come with bar codes. An atom of carbon is just that. Maybe I'll explain in detail later. The problem is isotopes. I'm also taking in different isotopes of these atoms, and they're taking the place of other isotopes. Those won't collapse back to my era with me. That leaves tiny holes all over my metabolism. DNA, enzymes, cell walls.

Anyway, I knew I was pushing the limit. And King Adad, Dagan and Sherua's father, found out about me. They'd tried hard to keep me their personal secret, and succeeded for a while. But there were always rumors, and finally someone leaked my existence to the king.

The old king was a lecher of the highest order. Both Sherua and Dagan were alarmed when Adad ordered my presence. She immediately sent me off to one of her most distant farms. But that was just a delaying tactic. They knew eventually I would have to go to him. And I knew that soon I would have to leave.

Maybe I'll tell you about that. It was not pleasant. It was traumatic, not least of all for me.

But first you need to hear how I came to your age.

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My thanks to my beta readers, @AlexFourways, @MormonJack, and @shelleycat1.