Summer Days I

Sola

“And how are you today?” Asked Tevron as he entered your workshop. You had just finished laying out a new sheet of paper to dry.

“Tevron! I’m fine, thank you” you reply, placing some cloth over the page and then going back to the tank to make another sheet.

“That doesn’t look like the paper you were working on last time” Tevron commented as he watched you dip your frame into the slurry.

“It’s not” You reply. “Linen was a great idea, it makes decent paper” you begin, pausing as you concentrate on getting an even spread. “But totally reliant on flax” you add, taking the new page over to the bench you are pressing the pages on. “The problem there is that it’s no less expensive than parchment, even if the individual pages are cheaper” you explain. “You can’t erase your mistakes so you just have to throw the page out” you say, laying the new page on the bench and slipping a cloth over it. You bent down to grab the weight, only to find Tevron beat you to it, flashing you a smirk as he gently placed the weight on the stack of pages.

“I see,” he commented.

“The whole point of the paper is to be cheap and disposable” you explain, placing your hands on your hips and facing the man. “Otherwise use wax, it’s reusable, recyclable and you can erase your mistakes” you add.

“This new stuff is cheaper?” Tevron asked, eyeing up what was left of the slurry you had been turning into paper.

“Yup” you begin “It uses only a little bit of linen garnered from discarded cloth, while the rest is made up of sawdust and a bunch of different plant fibres that are relatively easy to get your hands on in large quantities” you explain.

“The linen rags make the binding agent and the wood makes the body” Tevron mused thoughtfully.

“Exactly!” you agree, flashing the man a big grin. “It’ll be perfect for things like letters or cheap books” you say and Tevron nodded.

“As fascinating as that may be” Tevron began, turning to face you. “Have you seen Dumont anywhere? It’s not like him to shirk his duties like this” Tevron asked. If he noticed your smile became more ****, he didn’t say anything.

“I haven’t seen him in quite a while . . . not since he walked into the clothing shop demanding sex” you say and Tevron’s eyes widened.

“He did WHAT!?!” Tevron exclaimed, turning away from you and pacing the room to vent his anger. When he had stopped, you calmly walked up behind him and placed your hands on his chest. He put a hand over yours and bowed his head to enjoy the moment.

“Do we really need the man? He might have been competent, but he’s a foreigner of the same ilk that we just declared war on” you ask softly.

“Normally I don’t care about that,” Tevron began “But I have been receiving more and more complaints about his behaviour,” He added.

“Then this seems like a great opportunity” You begin, now stroking Tevron’s chest sensually and purring into his ear. “Maybe YOU should decide who leads Tarantium’s militia,” you suggest. Tevron twisted around in your arms and you dropped them until they were around his waist. “I’m just saying, Solus’ last two options have been less than desirable” you tell him with a coy smile

“Since when did you become such a snake behind the throne?” Tevron asked with an amused smirk, wrapping his own arms around your shoulders. You chuckle in response to that and flash the man a grin.

“Since you started acting like you were sitting on one” you reply and Tevron snorted. “Still, with this war, we are going to need a man we can trust to defend the city” You say, “and Dumont was not it” you add.

“Maybe I should” Tevron mused thoughtfully. “But it can wait,” he said and kissed you.

Solus

A cheer rang out as a section of the wall was completely demolished, allowing free and relatively clear access to the inside of Monopoli. You had been camped out front of the city for a week now while Strabo and his troop of engineers figured out how to use your trebuchet knock-offs.

“What a marvelous and terrifying weapon” Bard commented as he observed the new access point. “But I will need much more than that if I am to take this city” He told you. Already, the enemy were starting to form up in the gap, ready to receive any potential charge from the relative highground the rubble of the wall had created.

“Strabo, you think you can get a rock into that formation?” You ask the man who had been just coming towards you. The venerable general paused, mid-step, about faced and began barking orders. Within ten minutes, another stone was flying and this one crashed right into the shield wall that had formed in the breach. Another cheer rang out.

“Impressive” Bard commented.

“Excellent work Strabo, now set up and keep poking holes in the wall” you order. “We have time” you say to Bard.

“So I see, this business of siege warfare is much more waiting than I was led to believe” he replied “I was under the impression we’d be launching all out assaults on the walls with rams and ladders” he added. You snorted in amusement.

“That only happens when we are on the clock” You comment. “Siege warfare is mostly about waiting for the enemy to starve and hoping you don’t starve first” you explain.

“Sounds boring” Bard grunted “But I don’t think Monopoli will starve out in a mere month” he commented, turning to face you.

“No, they probably won’t” you reply “but the month time limit is because that’s when we expect Odoacer to get here” you explain. “He needs to muster his men and then march them here, and we aren’t that close to Ravenna at the moment, assuming he even has most of his troops there to begin with” you explain.

You take that moment to observe Bard’s men. They were relatively easy to spot thanks to them all being in maille shirts while your troops were in brigandines. While some of the men had opted to continue wearing the armour they came with, the majority had decided to don the maille you had provided. It was a shirt with brass links lining the short elbow length sleeves and trimming the collar. In the center of the shirt were two buttons, allowing the armour to be undone from the front to so that the soldiers could more easily put the armour on or take it off.

While some might complain that the buttons were a weakness, this was negated by the fact that they all wore a gambeson underneath, thus the more ornamental nature of the maille as it was really only there to stop swords and spears, while the Gambeson and the Norman style kite shields did all the work.

In order to train the men, you had ordered that they wear their armour at all times except when sleeping. There had been some complaints, but they were starting to dwindle as the men got used to the weight and their training persisted.

For armaments, they each had a spear, sword or whatever other hand-weapon they preferred, and a pair of spiculum javelins.

“I’ll tell you one thing, Brundisium is going home with its own legion by the time we’re done here” you comment as you finish your observation.

“Indeed” Bard replied “And I will be interested in recruiting more upon our return” he added.

“Maybe, but perhaps you should also consider having a navy, maybe train your legionnaires to fight aboard ships as well as on land” you suggest.

Just then, the cacophony of noise that was the trebuchets firing reached you and three more stones went sailing towards Monopoli, slamming into another section of the wall.

“I didn’t like the look of those ugly walls anyway” Bard commented with a huff “Better to remove them and rebuild them better” he added and you chuckle in response.

Sola

You slip into your usual booth at Ishtar’s strip club and signal for one of the girls to bring you some wine. You then yelp as the warm, moist sensation of a tongue runs across your snatch. You hurriedly look under the table you had sat at and see Ishtar herself, on her knees and grinning cheekily up at you. She then dove under the folds of your dress and went to work, playfully twirling her tongue around your quim as she got you ready. You sit back, open your legs wide and relax while the goddess does her thing, enjoying the sensations.

At some point, the waitress came back with the wine, but you were far too busy being pleasured by Ishtar as she gradually got more and more aggressive in her ministrations. Going from swirling patterns around the folds of your labia to long strokes which ended in flicks to your clit, and finally to outright being eaten out. You bucked, heaved, and moaned as you got ever closer to sweet release.

Finally, arching your back and groaning in pleasure, you cum. The blissful euphoria of orgasm washing over you as your body comes down from the release. Ishtar then slid into your lap while you slumped there with eyes closed, basking in the afterglow and snuggled into you.

For a while, the two of you just stayed there, not saying anything but enjoying each other’s company. You finally open your eyes and face the goddess.

“Thanks for that” you say softly, giving Ishtar a peck on the lips.

“My pleasure” the goddess purred in response. The both of you chuckle at that. “So how’s life been?” she asked and you sigh, putting your head on her chest while she began gently stroking your hair.

“It’s been alright, all things considered” you say softly, enjoying the feel of Ishtar playing with your hair. The goddess hummed in response and the two of you lapsed into comfortable silence once more. “How’s the pregnancy coming along?” you ask after a moment and Ishtar sighed.

“I wish I hadn’t been so hasty,” she said softly. You pull back and give the goddess a concerned look.

“You regret it?” you ask. Ishtar’s silence was very telling. “I-if you want . . . I c-could . . . remove it . . .” You stammer, not wanting to even acknowledge your god powers in any way shape or form, let alone use them.

“No” Was Ishtar’s firm answer “I’ll carry my daughter to term” she told you softly “If worst comes to worst, Artemis will take my daughter in as her own” she told you.

“Still” you say, trying to get over the shell shock of what Ishtar had just told you. “I thought you loved Solus” you comment.

“I’m the goddess of love” she replied “And I was still very grateful to Solus for what he did for me. you can’t even begin to understand” she told you.

“You’re right, I can’t” You say with a sigh “Still, can’t imagine it will be easy raising Solus’ kid” you comment, turning to give Ishtar a look. “I mean, given what he’s like” you add. Ishtar chuckled and then locked eyes with you.

“I dunno, there’s a lot of thoughtfulness in your family” she commented. The look she was giving you gave you absolutely no doubts that she was hoping her child was even just a little bit like you.

“O-oh” you stammer, suddenly finding it hard to breath. “You think?” you ask intelligently.

“I know” Ishtar replied, her face getting ever closer to you. She pressed her lips to yours and you instinctively kiss back. Ishtar then pulled back just enough to lock eyes with you, your noses touching.

“T-that felt romantic” you stammer, your heart hammering in your chest and your brain threatening to melt out of your ears.

“Was it?” Ishtar asked coyly. “You tell me,” she added huskily.

“It was romantic,” you told her. Ishtar kissed you again and this time more hungrily and you kissed back, your whole body melting into Ishtar’s embrace.