Always

As naturally and seamlessly as evening turning into night our happy trio melt from sexy fun straight into a happy, huddle pile. With her big softening cock laying over her tummy Rosa lays in her middle spot and pulls Cassie and I to her chest. Cassie and I snuggle against Rosa’s warm flesh, we kiss each other, we nuzzle Rosa’s soft tummy to whisper messages of love to our daughter, we suck on Rosa’s supple breasts and all the while our Lady gently strokes our hair and coos loving words into our ears.

“I love youuuuu.”

The whispers of the men, the creak of the ship, the decision we had looming before us, all of it fades away as the three of us remind each other of the special bond which formed the core of everything we were and what we would become.

***

The next morning, as usual, I am the first to awaken. Or so I thought. As I extract myself from under our sheet, leaving Rosa safely snuggled against Cassie, I find my breeches and tunic and carefully dress in the dark.

Hearing my motion Collywaddle whispers. “Good morning, Mathter.”

I smile and find her head to give it a pet. “Is it a good morning, Colly? You’re not usually up so early.”

“Ohhhh.” She sighs. “I only jutht got to bed.”

“You and Grub…?”

“Mm hm.” She giggles.

With a soft chuckle I pat her head. “Get some rest.”

“Yeth, Thir.” She suddenly grabs my hand with both of hers and kisses it. “I love you, Thir. Thank you.”

Leaning down I kiss her forehead. “Love you too, Colly. Now sleep.”

I unpin our canvas door and step out to find Catalus calm, possibly sleeping himself, so I leave him be. On deck I stretch and greet the crew in the early morning light as the prepared to raise anchor. The men are in good spirits and get more than a few envious smirks my way after what they’d heard last night. I note the glances but don’t acknowledge them, allowing them to believe whatever they wanted to believe about me.

I speak with Kreer a time to learn what I could about these ‘Scylla-spawn’ then with his permission I claim a bit space on deck to do some training exercises I’d learned during my time with Toke. It would do me good to get on a sweat before another long day of having to watch and listen other men do an honest day’s work, and if we were serious about doing this hero thing I needed to hone my skills. The shifting deck of the ship adds a new challenge to the training but one I incorporate and use to learn from. As I go through the routines I incorporate Rosa’s mental techniques to imagine myself not fighting another man but a ravenous, bloated octopedal crab-like monstrosity that Kreer had described to me. I notice a few of the men begin to gather around to watch me. They don’t comment or cheer, they simply watch in fascination.

Stopping after a few falls and rolls I turn to Balbus. “You want to learn?”

“Huh?” He looks left and right at the others who are laughing and slapping his shoulder, daring him to square off with the Wingslayer. “Me?”

I wave him forward. “Any man who wants to learn, step forward.”

After a moment I am surprised as all of them step up. Recalling how the northman, trained as we was in his own style as well as Celtic fighting, Roman combat and Greek Pankration, began my training all those months ago I start them simple. It is not long before Cassie joins in much to the delight of the men, Balbus in particular. Just as with my farm crew it doesn’t take long for a competitive camaraderie to strike up between the men and a bond begins to form between them and I. Kreer notes what I was doing but, thankfully, does not move to stop it. In fact he gives us more time than he initially promised.

And so began the day and the rest of the journey which turns out to be anything but long days of boredom like I assumed it would be.

Through the Strait of Messina our group stands together to watch the other ships sail by as we pass between the toe of Italy and great island of Sicilia, marveling at how close they really were. Though she’d seen the strait once before Cassie and I do our best to paint the picture of the passing with our words, which our Lady enjoys greatly.

Once through we take a hard turn to the east and follow along the sole of the peninsula. When not admiring the scenery our day is filled with language lessons from Rosa as she teaches the rest of us a bit of Greek, another lesson of Kreer teaching Rosa his strange tongue, Cassie working on her phallus while I kept Catalus company and even a bit of Cassie and I learning some seamanship from the crew. As for Collywaddle, well, I barely see her that first day as she and Grub disappear together every chance they got. Where they went nobody could figure out, despite there being only so many nooks and crannies aboard the Hostia Negra. When they did emerge they were always flustered and smiling.

That night we are all on deck socializing with the crew as the dishes were done after a late supper. With each passing hour they were warming to us and us to them. I learn that working men are working men whether they work the soil or the sea.

Not long before we call it a night I am enjoying a quiet moment with my ladies looking out over the darkened sea when in the far distance I catch a pulse of light, a bit brighter than a star, flash for a couple of seconds then slowly fade again. Cassie gasps at the sight and, as we’d been doing throughout the day, describes the scene to Rosa.

A slow knowing smile spreads across Rosa’s pink lips. She rests her horned head on my shoulder. “That’s home.” She says softly. “Or used to be.”

My voice an awed whisper I say. “The Lighthouse of Alexandria!”

“Mm hm.” She closes her eyes and steps back through time. “The magic builds from the base until fills the entire tower, making it glow like the great Ra. Then every hour, once the magic has reached it’s limit, the light shoots into the sky! So, so, so far up until it disappear in the stars. And then…whoom! It bursts to create a glow that can be seen by every ship and caravan for scores of miles.” With a sigh she leans into me. “Danae and I sometime sat upon the roof of the brothel and watched the light rise wishing that some day we might escape with it.”

“A big tower? Building energy? A big spectacular release that paints the sky?” Cassie smirks. “You sure that tower isn’t Amun Ra’s dick?”

“Pffft!” Rosa giggles and slaps Cassie’s arm. “Why do I even try to teach you two any culture?”

“Hey.” I quip, chuckling along. “You’re the one who chose a couple of redneck bumpkins to be yours.”

“True.” Rosa laughs and tugs me toward the hold. “Well, my precious bumpkins, time to put your Lady to bed.”

***

The next day the routine set the day before continues. We hit our first stop of several that we’d be making along the way. While other ships stuck to the big centers Nikias chose to service the smaller towns and villages along the way to bolster the main runs between Athens and Rome. At Croton, from the safety of the ship, I see a town whose glory days were behind it though it still boasted the school made famous by the famous polymath Pythagoras as well as the sanctuary of Hera Lacinia to whom Kreer and Nikias took an offering. Later that evening we also pass by the ruins of Metapontum and I share the tale, told to me by my father, about how the brilliant Carthaginian general Hannibal sacked the town during his pillaging tour through the Roman heartlands.

The day after we make port in Heraclea, a somber moment for my family and I. Her hands on the rail Colly stares at the community and tells us of the stories Aristocles had told her of his time growing up there. It was surreal to see the mouth of the river Aciris knowing that it wound up through the mountain valley right past our old villa and on to Grumentum. From here it would be two or three days walk to return to where we’d begun, giving us the sense that for all our travel to the western coast and around the toe of the peninsula we hadn’t actually gone that far. After this, however, we knew we would never be as close our old home as we were right now. As we leave I check in on Cassie as being that close again to her family home had surely made her reflect on her decision to leave. How wrong I was. As we sail away her eyes never stray back but remain cast to the east and our future. My woman yearned for the next challenge, the next horizon, and with each mile left behind she only became more alive.

A couple of more days pass, learning and training and getting to know the crew during the day while our nights filled with love and intimacy. With each passing day among this crew I find the mantle of Wingslayer sat ever more comfortable upon my shoulders as it did with the others. The open question as to whether we would help the village became a certainty. It was risky, dangerous, even foolhardy…but if not us then who?

Eventually we make our very last stop in Italy. The city of Brindisium, the gateway to the east. This time I risk stepping foot back on the mainland on last time. There was something I simply had to do and it wouldn’t take long.

When I tell my ladies that I wanted to take Rosa alone Rosa cocks her head curiously. “Where are we going?”

“Trust me.”

Of course she does. Together we make our way down one of the bustling streets of busy city until we come to a great marble paved plaza that looked out over the Mare Adriaticum. I bring my Lady between the two massive marble pillars that towered over the plaza then take her to one of them to lay her dainty hand upon the column. She looks at me with unseeing eyes and tilt her head once more.

“Do you know where we are?” I ask.

“A temple?”

“No.” I smile and pet her soft wavy hair. “This is the other end of the Appian Way.”

“Oh!” She gasps as the significance hits her. Our very beginnings, right after the slave market where we first met, had begun at the other end of this great road that cut across Italy from this spot to the great capital city of Rome. Her contemplative gaze turns westward as her mind casts back to those two desperate strangers who had set out from Rome toward adventures they never could have imagined. Like me she thought about all the hard miles and cold nights, all the fear and all the laughter, in particular an image of her in that ridiculously cute capelet with the pointy hood springs to mind. And of course we thinks of the people we met along the way. She whispers. “The end of the road.”

“But we continue on.”

“Mmm.” She smiles and nods. Slipping her arm around my waist she presses to my side “Yes, because our road never really ends, does it?”

“No.” I lay my hand on her belly.

With a sigh she relaxes into me. Around us the people jostle and hurry with their lives as against one of the terminus columns Rosa and I are in a little bubble of our own. “I wonder if Drusilla ever made it.” She says, referring to the kindly old woman whom had been tasked by our goddess Ceres to take the long journey during her dying days. The memory brings a melancholy as we think about the good and rich life of family and happiness that Drusilla had told us about and how courageous she’d been in giving up her worldly possessions and the home she knew to face her end as her goddess wished. In our short time together we had learned that she was a woman of kindness and faith and strength and generosity. “I think she did.” Rosa says at last. “I know she did.”

“The goddess put her in our path for a reason.”

“And us in hers.”

“Without her we would never have gotten that bracelet. Without the bracelet we would have never survived the harpies.” I say, my grip tightening on Rosa’s belly. “Had we never met Drusilla…” I let the idea settle into the silence then say the old Ceres expression. “Many strands to make a rope.”

“And she is a part of ours.” Rosa smiles and pats my chest. “She made it! I can feel it.”

“Our goddess was watching over her and I.” I smile too feeling the same faith in Drusilla’s fate as she did. “A good farmer tends to her crops.” I take a deep breath and let my eyes wander eastward. “Come. We shouldn’t dally here long. Back to the ship and onward.”

“Lead the way, my love.” Taking my arm she holds it tight. “I will be at your side, always.”