Zelamir

Sejanus

Chapters 25-30

Chapter 25

He slid through the door and bolted it behind him. Straightening he glanced through the lighted window of the guardroom and found himself looking straight at Helios's face. The boy was seated across the guardsman's prostrate body his face contorted with an almost comical grimace as he rode the man's cock… Helios catching sight of Marius grinned and without breaking the rhythm of his movements rased four fingers in the air. Then he jerked his thumb sideways clearly signalling to Marius to get on his way before accelerating the thrusting of his legs.

Marius had just reached the top of the steps when he heard a horse shout from behind him. A second or two later Helios appeared at the guard room door. Outlined in the light he struck a theatrical attitude of farewell.

"Vade meus homullus" ["farewell my little man", with the suggestion of a superior being talking to an inferior] he cried then bending quickly over to recover the gilded diadem scampered as fast as he could up the steps to join Marius.

"Quick," he panted, "we must put the lamp and crownlet back where they came from and then get out of here."

Marius darted off to restore these to the statue of the winged victory at the entrance to the archway leading to the Praetorian barracks as Helios hobbled after him.

"Come on," Marius said to the other boy when he had scrambled down from replacing the diadem on the statue's head, "get up on my back and I'll give you a piggy back it'll be quicker that way."

They didn't stop until they had got clear of the great hall with it's cages of wild animals. Helios dismounted from Marius shoulders. Marius felt the other boy's hand brush down his back.

"Sorry," Helios said, "Just something dribbled out of my bottom." Then he started to giggle.

"I don't know what so funny," Marius grumbled crossly. "We got away with it but we can hardly pull the same trick again."

Helios for some reason thought this so amusing that he giggled even harder.

"I think we will be able to Marius," Helios managed to gasp, "anything is possible to us Gods."

"You're just being stupid. Come on or I'll leave you here," Marius snapped angrily.

"That's no way to talk to a son of all knowing Jove by the sea nymph Galatea just because he has had the misfortune to fall in love with a handsome guardsman."

Helios paused unable to continue because of a renewed fit of giggling.

"You didn't tell him that nonsense did you?" Marius asked impressed despite himself by the sheer cheek of the deception.

"Yes I did and he believed it. And I told him that he must not tell anyone else because if my Father found out he'd be angry and say it with thunderbolts like he so often does. And I told him I'd be back again tomorrow night."

" He'll spot the brand on your bottom or the slave collar or he fact that you've had your big toes chopped off to stop you running away. Even a Praetorian Guardsman won't be so stupid as to confuse a naked little slave boy for a God two nights on a trot."

"I'll keep him so busy that he won't notice anything but the fun he is having. I've told him that I'll do the peeled carrot for him this time."

"What is the peeled carrot?" Marius asked.

"It's something Polephemus taught me. I'd show you Mariullus but your prick's too small. You've got to have a big man's prick to do it with." Helios's voice was full of mockery.

"My prick's big enough for anything," Marius replied hotly. "Anyway it's big enough to fuck you, you little whore."

"It's so small I wouldn't notice it inside me."

"You would too…" Marius said putting the lamp down and making a grab for the younger boy who jumped backwards.

Helios with his mangled feet could not evade Marius for long – not that he tried very hard. Whether they did the peeled carrot together I cannot say, the secret of that particular erotic act having been lost, but judging from the little gasps and low moans that came from the shadows both boys enjoyed whatever they were doing to each other.

Every night over the next few days two boys made the dangerous journey through the corridors of the palace to the Praetorian barracks. There Helios entertained his guardsman while Marius made his way to the dungeon where Drusus lay chained. It was lucky that Tiberius was absent and they could spend much of the day sleeping. Even so before a week was out both boys were feeling the effects of exhaustion combined with hunger, for they were existing on half of what were already barely adequate rations.

In addition Marius recognised that Drusus was failing fast. He was getting a full boys ration but that was not much and certainly not enough to allow him to recover the strength that earlier starvation and lack of light and exercise had drained away from him. As his strength diminished Drusus became more querulous and demanding. He complained that Marius did not come early enough, that he went too soon and that he brought insufficient food. It was hard for Marius then to think of him as a hero but still the boy tried and starved himself so that he could bring him more food.

Confused by tiredness and hunger, days and nights ran into one another. Marius was not sure if it was the seventh or the eighth night when he crept into Drusus's cell to find him instead of lying still facing the wall sitting upright on his palate his eyes burning in his sunken face.

"Mariullus," he said, not in his usual weak voice which had come, the boy reluctantly admitted to himself, to have somewhat of a whine but in his firm strong voice of old. "You have come. You are a much better and more faithful friend than I deserve. I have not behaved well to you and I beg your pardon."

Marius stared at him amazed. For a slave boy to be called a friend, to have his pardon begged by his lord was against nature.

"Now Mariullus I will not talk more until you have eaten that bowl of food you are carrying."

"I brought it for you Master," Marius protested.

"I am no longer hungry child. Eat." The man commanded in a tone that allowed no argument.

Marius squatted on the stone floor and ate hungrily. It was not long before he pushed the bowl away and looked up again at Drusus.

"The bowl is still half full," the man said a note of anger in his voice.

"I can't eat that Lord," Marius protested "it belongs to Helios.

"Well Mariullus you are good a friend to have but I have little now to reward your loyalty but what I have I will give you. Come closer boy."

There was a clink of metal as the man moved and tugged on his chains.

"Here Mariullus," he said holding his hand out to the boy, "this is all I have got left. It was my Mother's and she gave it to me when I was younger than you just before they took her away. It was all she had near her at that moment. It was so tight about my little finger that the guards could not take it off me when they brought me here and they hesitated to cut off a finger of the Emperor's nephew. If it was more valuable no doubt they would have. I must have lost a little weight recently for I had no problem in removing it now." There was even a touch of grim humour in his voice.

Marius took the object he was holding out to him. It was a plain slim silver ring.

"There is a motto on the inside," Drusus continued, "is the light good enough for you to read it. No even if it was you could not read. You will not have been taught. It says 'semper fideles' (always faithful) a good motto for you."

"Now child a last service come and lie with me for a bit to share the warmth of your body with me for I am growing very cold."

Marius stretched himself out on the soiled straw beside the man and putting his arms around him cuddled him tightly the ring Drusus had given him clasped tight in his right hand. The man's flesh felt icy cold against his naked body. He lay, his head resting on the man's chest, feeling it rise and fall as he breathed. The movement became slower and weaker and then stopped altogether. The boy lay there for some time after that.

He knew that he should go. Every second he continued in the cell the danger of discovery increased. It was not fair on Helios to leave him to service the Guardsman longer than necessary. The boy enjoyed sex but he had complained once or twice of soreness and had remarked that it would possible to have too much of a good thing. But he could not bring himself to leave the dead body of the man he had hero worshipped.

Then he heard footsteps approaching and the sound of voices one deep and rough the other a lighter shriller tone. He leapt to his feet and blew out the lamp. There was no chance of escaping down the corridor. If whoever was outside the cell came in he was certain to be discovered. He still held the ring Drusus had given him in his hand. If he was caught and it was found it would be taken away from him. There was only one hiding place available to him or to any other naked slave boy. He put his hand behind his back and pushed it quickly as far up his bottom as he could.

As for escaping altogether there was only one chance. He slipped as silently as he could across the floor of the cell flattening himself against the wall where the door if it was swung open would hide him.

The foot steps stopped just outside the door to the cell.

"Strange," man' s voice remarked, "it's not bolted. Well I suppose Lord Drusus is not going anywhere by himself."

He laughed harshly and Marius recognising the sound shivered with fear.

The door swung open and there was the faint glimmer of lamp light.

"Hold the lamp boy while I get the fetters off the noble Lord," the same rough voice commanded. "I can carry his lordship by myself there'll be no weight in him after he's been starved for so long. Lucky that Guardsman was so busy fucking the boy that he didn't notice us pass. We can get rid of the corpse without any one knowing we are here."

"What would we do if he was still alive?" The boy's voice too was horribly familiar.

"He wouldn't be still alive when we left," the man replied grimly. "The Emperor thinks he's dead and dead he would be."

There was a clink of metal followed by the rustling of straw and a grunt of effort.

"There no weight as I said but he smells a lot for such a fine gentleman. Hold the lamp up so I can see where I'm going boy."

Marius felt week at the knees as relief flooded over him They were leaving. He had got away with it.

There was an exclamation of surprise.

"What's that on the floor? Over there half covered with straw," the man demanded.

"Just a bowl."

"There shouldn't be a bowl here. My lord had no need of a bowl."

There was a soft thud as if something had been dropped on the floor.

"There's food in it and it's quite fresh. A half eaten bowl of food in the cell of a man that has just died of starvation. We met no one coming down the corridor. There's something very wrong here boy."

There were three quick steps and the door was swung back. Marius found himself looking up into the face of Crastus the Emperor's executioner, the man who had killed his father and sold him into slavery. Behind him stood Pulchellus sleek and plump as ever a silver collar round his neck. Clearly he was a favourite with his new owner just as he had been with his old one.

Marius ducked and tried to dodged under Crastus's arm. He was past him but Crastus turning quickly kicked out at his ankles sending him flying. Marius crashed to the floor the force of his fall momentarily knocking the wind out of him. The next thing he knew Pulchellus was on top of him his knees pressing into his shoulders pinning his naked body to the ground.

"What have we here?" Crastus said. "Get the brat to his feet boy so I can have a look at him."

Pulchellus gripping Marius by his collar smashed his face down onto the floor before jumping to his feet and kicking the other boy hard in the ribs. He had always enjoyed the opportunities that his position as the steward's favourite had given him round the farm to bully other smaller slave boys. He had found with delight that as Crastus's apprentice the opportunities open to him for inflicting pain had increased and he took full advantage of this.

"Up," Crastus commanded reinforcing his command by booting Marius in his turn.

Marius scrambled up blood streaming from his nose and mouth. Crastus pushed the lamp into his face. It was Pulchellus though that recognised him.

"The young Master," he gasped and then angry at himself for referring to Marius, whose free status he had always resented, him such a respectful manner he lashed out with his foot at the other boy's crutch.

As Marius, crippled by the sudden pain, doubled up his hands clasped to his balls Crastus grabbed him by the chin and pushing his head back stared down into his face.

"Why so it is," he exclaimed.

"Can I flog him Master?" asked Pulchellus excitedly. "He shouldn't be here Master bringing food to a traitor. He deserves worse than flogging for that."

"He does and he will get it. There is more to this than meets the eye. A mere slave brat would not have got involved by himself in bringing succour to a state prisoner. There are big names for certain involved in this and Mariullus must be made to tell them us."

"And then you claim the reward for revealing the plot to the Emperor?"

"Yes boy or get the traitors to pay me for not doing so, or both. Get them to bribe me not to denounce them and then inform on them. That way I will get even more money."

Crastus swung Marius round and pushed him hard against the wall. He jerked at the cord holding his tunic bunched about his waist. Pulling Marius hands behind his back he bound his wrists tightly together with it.

"Here Pulchellus you bring him along while I carry the great Lord Drusus. It is lucky we have the tools to question young Mariullus to hand. If he gives you any trouble hit him in the kidneys."

Pulchellus thumped his fist hard into Marius's back. The crippling pain would have brought the boy to his knees had not Pulchellus followed it up by driving his knee into Marius's bottom smashing him face forward into the wall of the cell. Pulchellus always took full advantage of any opportunity that came his way to hurt those weaker or smaller than himself. He took particular pleasure in roughing up Marius whose privileges as the Master's son he had so envied when he had been just the bailiff's fancy slave brat.

"You're going to torture him?" Pulchellus asked eagerly. Yanking Marius, blood trickling from his split lips, away from the wall.

"He is a slave. His evidence will be worthless unless it is obtained under torture," Crastus replied as he slung Drusus's dead body over his shoulder. [Author's note: I understand that this was the law in Rome at this time. I am puzzled as to how it worked in practice. I would have thought that the more you torture anybody the less not the more reliable his evidence is likely to be. I suspect I am being naive. The explanation probably is that it was necessary to torture slaves to ensure they gave the evidence required to achieve the desired verdict against them or their owners. The purpose of a Roman trial being, especially in treason cases, to ensure the condemnation of the accused not to establish the truth.]

Pulchellus swung Marius around and pushed him towards the cells door. To encourage him to move forward he let the flame of the torch brush against the other boy's bare bottom. Marius squealed shrilly.

"Don't do that boy," Crastus barked. "Hold the lamp up so I can see. You can use the hot irons on the brat later."

Chapter 26

The room to which they took Marius was like Drusus's cell windowless, carved out of the solid rock below the Imperial Palace. Crastus dropped Drusus's corpse unceremoniously on the flag stoned floor and bolted the door shut. Taking the lamp from Pulchellus he moved around the room lighting the half dozen torches or so that rested in iron sconces secured to the stone walls.

A guttering smoky light illuminated the room. On a bench near the door was a selection of whips ranging from a light single leather braided lash to a many tongued metal tipped martinet that would rip a man's back to the bone with a single stroke. Beside these were a jumble of iron objects pincers of different sizes and shapes, pokers and more complex clamps and screws designed to slowly crush hand or feet or joints.

Further on was a sturdy table with a windlass at one end with chains and shackles to secure the victim as his body was stretched until his joints tore under the strain and his the bones were pulled from their sockets.

Beyond it was another table but this time it had a stone top with deep runnels cut into it to carry the blood and other waste away. Set conveniently beside it was a metal brazier in which the irons could be heated.

Chains hung from hooks set in the roof and heavy fetters were secured to the walls and floor. A sturdy X shaped wooden cross fashioned from heavy roughly hewn planks of wood was set upright against one wall.

Marius whimpered fearfully as his eyes took in it's contents. He had before suffered at the hand of Crastus and knew that he could expect no mercy from him. Pulchellus was even more frightening. Crastus was a journeyman, a mechanic of pain. He inflicted it for a purpose and would continue to do so until that purpose was achieved. Pulchellus he knew hated him because once he had been free and regarded the other boy, a mere slave, with a contempt that he did not try to hide.

But really did it make much difference? Crastus was convinced that he was part of a larger plot to aid Drusus involving senators and members of the imperial family. He would torture him until he admitted it and gave him details of the great ones involved. But there were no great ones only himself, another brat and a broken down old slave a clerk in the imperial service. He didn't even know the names of such people so that he could invent a plot to satisfy Crastus and achieve at least a momentary respite from his sufferings. He certainly wasn't going to betray Helios or Sisyphus.

Then another even greater dread gripped him. Could he be sure that he would not. Would he have the will power and courage not to blurt out their names when Crastus began to use the heated pincers to tear his flesh, or one of those clamps to crush his knee.

Crastus had returned to where he had dumped Drusus's body. Taking it by it's feet he began to drag it unceremoniously across the floor of the torture chamber.

"Give me a hand would you," he demanded of Pulchellus. "You can leave go of the brat. He's not going anywhere."

Pulchellus released his grip on Marius's arm and hurried over to help his master. They dragged the corpse to near the far wall.

"All right. Stay where you are for the moment," Crastus ordered and crossed to the nearby wall.

Marius could not see what the man did next but suddenly a dark hole appeared in the floor just in front of where Pulchellus was standing and a blast of cold foul smelling air filled the room.

"What's that Master," the boy exclaimed in surprise.

"It's Prince Drusus's grave boy and the grave of many other traitors and criminals before him. Some great men like the noble Drusus some mere drudges like you or I or poor little Mariullus here. They say it is part natural. That it was here when they hacked this place out of the solid rock. Listen you can hear the sea surge below and you'll hear the splash of Lord Drusus's body when we throw it down… The entry to the cave must be below sea level for if you take a boat round the base of the cliff you will not find it and nothing we throw down here has ever floated to the surface outside. I suppose the bodies when they're full of gas just float there until they rot away."

"Take the noble lords heels now and help me send him on his journey to the underworld. Come on… One… Two… Three…"

Marius watched horrified as they chucked the body of his hero down the shaft with as little ceremony as if it was a bag of rubbish or the carcass of a dead slave like himself. Crastus and Pulchellus stood side by side staring down the hole. Some seconds afterwards there was a faint splash.

Then Marius saw his chance. Was his life as a slave so precious to him that he should risk betraying his friends for it. He had done his best to serve Drusus in this world and had failed to save the man's life. Now he would go to join his lord in the next. Anyway he was never going to get out of this alive or if he did survive it would only be for a short period and then he would be so deformed and pain racked with the after effects of torture that life would be all but unendurable.

He darted forward ready to hurl himself after his lord's body. There was a startled curse from Crastus. He felt the man's hands grab at him. Crastus was strong and his hands held him. He ducked and pulled and twisted. The man's grip slipped, a naked desperate boy can be slippery thing to hold. He was free. He felt himself falling forward. Then he was caught by the leg. He realised that Pulchellus had managed to catch him by one ankle. He was hanging head down the shaft the water lapping far below him where Drusus's his Lord was waiting for him. He lashed out with one his free foot and felt his heel connect with something soft. But still Pulchellus held firm. He lashed out again but now other stronger hands grabbed him and he was being pulled back over the rim of the hole the rough rock scraping the front of his legs.

He twisted round and saw Crastus looming above him. The man pulled him clear of the rim of the shaft and threw him bodily to one side. Marius head cracked down upon the stone floor. There was a moment of blackness. Then he came round to find Pulchellus standing over him stamping his heels into his body. Marius with his hand bound behind his back could only roll himself into as small a ball as possible and endure the stomping.

"That's enough of that," Crastus roared working the mechanism that sealed off the shaft. "Don't kill the brat before we have the chance to question him you stupid little whore. I may make my fortune out of what he can tell me one way or the other."

"He caught me with his heel in my eye," Pulchellus complained.

"Did he? Given you a nasty black eye has he? Let me see."

Crastus cross over to where Pulchellus stood. He tipped the boy's head back to the light and brushing away the black curls from his forehead looked down into the boy's face.

"It'll get better," he said bending forward and kissing the injured eye as his free hand lifted the front of Pulchellus's brief tunic.

Crouched on the floor Marius could see that the boy was wearing nothing underneath it.

"There," Crastus continued, fingering Pulchellus's hard prick, "he's a nasty little brute spoiling my tart's looks but it won't last and we'll make him suffer for it. But we mustn't kill him. Not yet anyway. He'll have lots to tell us I'm sure before we do that."

"I'll enjoy hearing him scream Sir," Pulchellus said spitefully. "He thought he was so superior when we were both on that farm together. Didn't bother to notice me, just a common slave brat, not good enough for him. It's different now isn't it Sir? He's got nothing to be proud about has he Master?"

Crastus smiled and bending gently kissed Pulchellus on his full red lips.

"You never were a common slave brat, you're too pretty and sexy for that," he said softly, "and Mariullus can't look down at you now. He's nothing but a boy whore whose bum is open for anyone with a few coppers to spare to fuck and he enjoys it too. The bitch is in permanent heat."

Crastus prodded Marius contemptuously with his toe.

"You've been a good boy Pulchellus," he said fondly, "quick to learn ad with a real interest in the work. Would you like to fuck your 'Young Master'."

"Mariullus would like you to. He'll ask you to. Mariullus ask Pulchellus nice and respectfully to fuck your whore's bum."

Marius cowered away from his tormentor glowering defiance. He swore to himself that he would never ask Pulchellus to fuck him but in his heart he knew that if Crastus hurt him enough he would. But Crastus did not hurt him. He had worse planned for the boy. He had been a professional spy, assassin and extorter of information and confessions for many years. The infliction of pain was a highly important and enjoyable part of his craft but he knew that a man, woman or child, and he had worked all of these many times in his career, was more likely to break if you first destroyed their pride. Let an individual think he was a hero and he would perhaps behave like a one. He had no intention of allowing Marius to believe any such thing about himself.

"Well you won't eh? We'll see about that."

He bent forward grabbed Marius by his slave collar and yanked him to his feet. He dragged him across to the stone topped table and forced him face down across it. Marius felt his arms forced upwards and the cold touch of cold metal against his wrists as Crastus cut the cord securing his hands behind his back.

Automatically Marius put his hands flat on the table to steady himself. Crastus held him pinned down on the table with one hand between his shoulder blades. He began to force his free hand between the boy's thighs. Marius tensed clamping his legs and the cheeks of his bottom tight together in an attempt to stop the man's probing fingers. Crastus amused at this smiled grimly as he looked down at the boy's slim tensed body. He knew he was far stronger than the child and that Marius's pathetic resistance would quickly be overcome and then forgotten as lust possessed the boy.

Despite Marius desperate attempts at resistance the man soon had his hand between the boy's thighs. Crastus slid it upwards to the junction of Marius's legs. His fingers played with the boys small hairless balls while he ran his thumb nail along his perineum. Marius's blood pounded in his head, he groaned helplessly.

"No… I won't… I won't," he gasped but at the same time he relaxed his bottom pushing it upwards, inviting the man to enter him…

Crastus rested his thumb against the lips of Marius's anus; not forcing them open, not even pressing hard but deliberately playing with the boy.

"What do you mean you won't bitch," Crastus bent forward to whisper in his ear his thumb still teasing the boy's hole. "You want it. Don't you? You want to be fucked. You want to feel a man's cock inside you."

Marius did not reply. He knew Crastus was right but still he had some strength left to fight against admitting it.

"So you don't. Well that's all right. It doesn't bother me."

Crastus removed his hand from the boy's body. Marius did not see Crastus lift it to his mouth and suck it's thumb. Marius whimpered in frustration. He forced his bottom back wriggling it in a desperate appeal to the man to possess it.

"That's not enough Mariullus," Crastus said softly. "You must beg for it."

"Master, please Master please…" Marius whined. He hated himself for doing do but his body's need overcame all resistance.

"It's not me you're to ask but Pulchellus," Crastus removed his hand from between Marius's shoulder blades and stood back As he expected Marius remained his face pressed down against the table top his raised bottom straining upwards quivering with frustration and eagerness.

Beckoning Pulchellus to him he lifted the front of his tunic. He saw that the youth's cock was erect and pressing against the front of his stomach the tip almost reaching to his belly button. It was not as big of course as a full grown man's but still quite a respectable size. Mariullus would certainly feel it inside him, Crastus though as he spat on his hand and smeared the saliva over Pulchellus's cock.

"Stand behind the whore and rest the tip of your cock against the entry to his boy cunt," Crastus commanded Pulchellus. "No don't push yet, though the tart's trying to do his best to tempt you to, let the bitch beg for it first."

"Now Mariullus beg for it… Say ' Please Pulchellus Sir I'm just a filthy boy whore but please fuck me Sir…' Come on Mariullus if you want it you must ask for it nicely."

"No louder so I can hear it… Come on 'Please Pulchellus Sir…'"

At last Crastus was satisfied. Pulchellus, using his two thumbs to pry apart the entry to Marius, body hammered his cock into the boy's bottom. Marius feeling the other boy's rod inside him clamped his body close about it, trying to draw it further into himself and crying out in his excitement. For a moment the only sounds were the panting of the two boys and the sound of Pulchellus's thighs and belly slapping against Marius's bottom as he thrust ever deeper into him. Then the blood roared in Marius head, a throbbing pounding blackness closed about him and he experienced that moment of release where all the sorrows and cares of the world are briefly forgotten in a few moments of surging ecstasy. The only moment of freedom a slave boy can know, perhaps the only moment of true freedom anyone can know, before finding a final release on arrival at the common inn of mankind.

Then it was over. Pulchelus extracted his cock with an audible plop from the other boy's hole leaving Marius still bent over the table cum trickling from his hole down the inside of his thighs.

"Get him up," Crastus commanded. "We'll hang him from one of the hooks in the roof and you can use the whip on him to soften him up while I get the charcoal brazier going and the irons heated up."

Pulchellus grabbed Marius by his collar and pulled him upright. With a sharp kick up his backside he sent Marius staggering across the floor towards Crastus. In a few seconds Marius was suspended by his wrists from one of the lengths of chain hanging from the roof his feet swinging a foot or two clear of the floor. Pulchellus approached him grinning wickedly a long supple whip curled ready for use in his hand while Crastus busied himself lighting the charcoal in the brazier.

Marius began to cry quietly; not from fear, although he was very frightened, but from shame and humiliation. He had felt a brief moment of pride when Drusus had praised him. Now though he knew that that was only a sham. His body had betrayed him again and showed him what he truly was a filthy cowardly slut who could bring himself to plead with a youth he hated and despised to fuck him, a thing without pride or value. Now he had to face the whip and the hot irons or betray Sisyphus and worse little Helios.

Chapter 27

"Watch the tip of the lash," he ordered Pulchellus. "I don't want you taking his eye out. It didn't matter with that girl I let you flog last week but I want Mariullus's body by and large intact for me to work on when I'm ready."

Crastus turned away to kindle the charcoal in the brazier. As he worked he heard behind him the familiar sounds of a slave boy being flogged. The hiss of the whip as it descended, the crack of leather against bare flesh mingling with the shrill screams of the brat as the lash tore the skin from his naked shoulders and ribs. Crastus raked out the ash from the bottom of the brazier and built a small mound of kindling. He lit it and carefully piled charcoal round the flame. He bent down and blew at the fragments of charcoal until the edges caught and glowed red. Satisfied he selected a long handled pair of pincers and a couple of iron bars and put them to heat. Soon he knew the charcoal would be white hot and the pincers and bars ready for use.

He turned back to watch Pulchellus. He smiled fondly. The boy was the best he had ever possessed, pretty, sexy and cruel. Even now he was laying the whip on with real enthusiasm, not hurrying it but making every stroke tell. Marius's back was ribbed with livid weals while his flanks where the tip of the whip had curled about to nip his ribs were streaked with blood. Each time the whip struck home a fine red haze rose from the boys broken flesh and glistened in the light of the flaming torches while Marius howled and writhed under the impact of the lash.

Now Pulchellus turned his attention to his victims bottom and thighs taking a step back so as to ensure that Marius's balls testicles would for the moment escape damage. Crastus nodded with approval. The pincers now heating in the dully glowing charcoal would be used on them.

Marius's screams began to decrease in volume. His body now hung limply from it's wrists swinging and twisting under the impact of the lash. Crastus decided it was time to intervene or the boy would be too far gone to torture effectively. He felt a little regretful. Each time Pulchellus swung the whip back over his shoulders his brief tunic would ride up his body revealing the delicious curve of his bare rump and his hairless balls and stiffly erect cock. It was a pity, Crastus thought, to bring the boy's fun to an end. Perhaps he would let him use the pincers as a treat.

Crastus stepped up close to Pulchellus and caught his right wrist at the top of a back swing. He bent and kissed the boy at the junction of his neck and shoulder. Pulchellus lent back against his master pushing his bottom back into his crutch feeling the hardness of the man's swollen cock pressing into him. They stood like that together for the moment enjoying the feel of each other, excited by the sight of Marius's broken and bleeding body. Then Crastus gently put Pulchellus to one side.

Crastus pulled one of the iron bars from the brazier and advanced on Marius the rod tip glowing red in the uncertain light of the torches. Marius hung from his wrists his head bowed his chin resting on his blood streaked chest. Crastus took the boy's chin in his left hand and tipped his head back.

"Mariullus," he said sharply, "can you hear me boy? Come back here now and pay attention."

He touched for a fraction of a second the boy's arm pit with the dully glowing tip of the iron rod.

Marius's screamed wildly. The already fowl air of the chamber became more noisome as the brat emptied himself. Crastus who was prepared for this and was standing well away from the danger area did not look down. Neither did Pulchellus, who was watching Marius torment with avid excitement, a dribble of saliva running from the corner of his mouth.

"Good," Crastus continued, "now pay attention. I want to know who got you to carry food to Lord Drusus. You may as well tell me now and safe yourself anymore pain because you'll tell me in the end anyway. Now tell me boy."

"Master," Marius gasped desperately, "there was no one. I did it myself. No one got me to do it……"

The boys words broke off into another howl of agony as Crastus slowly stroked the tip of the rod down the length of his arm pit. The smell of burning boy mingled with the stink of faeces and general decay. Marius's flesh where the hot iron had rested was charred black and with white blisters and red scorched skin.

Crastus waited for the boy's screams to abate and then spoke patiently again.

"We only want one name boy, Just the name of the Imperial freedman or slave who put you up to it. Just one name and then this will be over. None of the great ones will have concerned themselves with you directly. Not Drusus's surviving brother Gaius or his sisters or any others but some one will have approached you and I will have his name. Give it to me now before I really start to hurt you. And don't try any clever tricks like inventing a name or naming a man you have it in for because if you you'll suffer for it. Now tell me."

Marius heard the man speak and understood what he said but he was conscious of one thing only the pain that consumed his body. It would be so easy to stop it. The man wanted a name of an Imperial slave or freeman. He had such a name to give him. True he was not involved in any sort of plot but to give the man Sisyphus's name would bring the agony to an end. But then to betray Sisyphus, the quiet kindly bald old man (anybody over forty seems elderly to a boy) who had shown him and Helios so much kindness, to this devil…… he couldn't do it but then how long could he resist this torture. A little longer he thought and perhaps with luck he might die soon. Marius remained stubbornly silent.

"Well," Crastus said returning the rod to the brazier, "You had your chance but you choose to be stubborn."

He began to squeeze Marius's left nipple between his finger thumb, not hard but gently and firmly, encouraging it to harden and stand out from the boy's thin chest. Satisfied it was prominent enough for his purposes he drew the pincers from it's place in the hot smouldering charcoal. First the left nipple, then the right, then the brat's nose and then his testicles - but Crastus was sure the boy would brake long before that.

Marius braced himself for the agony to come. He bit his lower lip so hard that blood flowed down his chin. He was terrified both of the pain and of succumbing to it. He was just a slave brat, a slut who couldn't control his own body, he couldn't be expected to have the courage to resist it.

He could feel the heat of the metal against his bare flesh as Crastus brought the pincers ever closer to his chest.

There was a sharp crack and then a long grinding rumbling. The floor of the chamber seemed to rise and shudder. Rocks detached themselves from the roof and crashed to the ground throwing up a cloud of dust. From outside the room came the sound of further falling rocks.

For a moment Crastus stood paralysed. Then dropping the pincers, he seized the lamp and grabbing Pulchelus by the hand ran from the room.

For some time after the earth quake had ended there was the occasional rumble of falling rocks and then silence fell broken only by the occasional whimper from Marius as he hung in his bonds. To the pain of his broken and burnt body were added the agonies of cramp followed soon by hunger and thirst. Once or twice he called for his mother, as boys do in times of greatest distress, but the whimpering died away and he was quiet. One by one the lamps flickered and burnt out. Then there was only silence and darkness.

Long afterwards that silence was broken by the sound of loud voices and the clink of pick against rock. Then guttering torches filled the room with an uncertain light. A couple of roughly dressed slaves entered the room followed by a young man simply but richly dressed with an upright and confident bearing and a soldier wearing the uniform of a military tribune. Behind them crowded a number of other soldiers and slaves.

"Well Junius," the young man said as he came through the door, "we know he was here and we know which cell he was put in. We have found it and it is empty though clearly he was there. We know that no one entered or left the place because there was a guardsman was on duty the whole time. So where is he?"

"We know Sir that the guardsman said he was on duty the whole time," the tribune replied with the weary realism of an old soldier. "You need sentries inspected frequently and preferably posted in pairs if you are to rely on them. Otherwise they will be off drinking or raping the local girls or boys as the fancy takes them."

"That bowl of half eaten food in his cell was odd," the young man rejoined in a puzzled voice. " Just slave's gruel but it was contrary to my late uncle's practice to give even that to his relatives when he imprisoned them. And for it to be half eaten as well. I would expect Drusus to have licked it clean the number of days he had been left to starve."

"What's that?" he asked catching sight of Marius's body hanging motionless from it's wrists.

"Just a slave brat brought down here to account for some thievery or other I expect Sir."

"Hold that torch up you fellow so I can see. Yes I thought so look Sir, I thought as much in the filth under the boy. Do you see the glitter of it a silver ring. Thieved it and stuffed it up his backside to hide it. A typical slave trick. Prob… What are you doing Sir let one of the slaves pick it out for you."

The young man straightened holding the soiled ring in his hand. He held it up to the torch studying the it.

"There I was sure of it," he exclaimed, "engraved inside the ring 'semper fideles'. It is my brother's ring. Our mother gave it to him just before she was taken away. He'd never part with it. Junius is that boy alive?"

The Tribune reached up and pressed his fingers into Marius's neck searching for a pulse.

"Just about Sir," he replied drily.

"Well get him down from there and get him conscious again. We must find out how he came to have that ring."

Orders were rapped out. A slave was sent running for water.

Marius came round to find himself lying on a table. He was soaking wet. Men's faces swam in and out of his vision. His whole body hurt.

"Where did you get this ring?" a young man's voice demanded with a confident ring of authority which sounded familiar to the boy. Marius blinked desperately trying to focus his eyes.

"From you Lord," he whispered puzzled.

"Told you the boy was a thief," a gruff voice grumbled from just outside his field of vision. "He's just trying to cover up his theft."

"Who do you think I am boy?" the young voice asked quietly.

"My Lord Drusus…… " the boy began to answer and then stopped suddenly. "But you can't be they threw him down the hole. I tried to follow him but they stopped me and hurt me… I didn't say though… I didn't…" His voice weak though it was held a note of triumph and pride.

"I am Gauis," the young voice said now quite gently, "Lord Drusus's younger brother. Tell me which hole did they throw him down where is it…"

"In the corner… Over there…" Marius gestured weakly.

The Tribune strode over to the corner indicated and began to sound the floor with the hilt of his sword.

"Here," he said a moment later when a paving stone rang hollow. The slave with the pick hurried to him and began to hack at the floor.

Marius found his head lifted and a cup of water pressed to his lips.

"Tell me how you come to be here," the young man who said he was his Lord's brother commanded.

The tribune after telling the slave how to do his job, not that the slave didn't know how to use a pick but being a military man that didn't stop the tribune, got bored with watching the man hacking at the paving stones and marched smartly back to listen to Marius.

Marius did not tell a coherent tale but bit by bit most of the story came out at least from the time that Lord Drusus had intervened to safe Marius from the cruel Maccius. .

"That's the man and the boy we found just inside the prison Uncle," the young man exclaimed as Marius described the help given to him by Sisyphus and Helios, "that you sent off for questioning."

The Tribune swore sharply.

"You," he shouted at one of the junior officers standing in the door way to the chamber, "run and tell them to stop the questioning."

"Let's hope that orders not too late," he muttered under his breath and then turning his attention to the young man. "How many times have I told you not to call me Uncle now Sir. Uncle for me and Caligula for you were well enough when you were a boy in the camps and your father had given me charge of you but they won't do now you are Emperor."

The young man grinned but did not otherwise reply to this reprove and turned back to question Marius further. The boys strength was waning fast. It was a relief when a crash and a shout from the other end of the room signalled that the top of the shaft had been uncovered. The two men jumped to their feet and hurried over to it.

"Get a rope," the young man ordered peering down the hole, "His freedom and a hundred sesterces to the slave who goes down there to get my brother's body."

"I'm your man Lord," the slave who had been wielding the pick said eagerly.

"Good," the young man paused and turned his head to look at Marius, "and take that boy away. See he is looked after well. I'll decide what to do with him later."

Strong hands lifted Marius. He was drifting in and out of consciousness. He remembered the scent of fresh air, sun light momentarily blinding him, a man with a kind face and gentle fingers bending over him and probing his wounds, being given a cup of hot sweet tasting liquid to drink and nothing more.

Chapter 28

A naked boy was kneeling on a stool looking out of the window. Marius eyes travelled down the boy's body, taking in his head of glistening black hair, the iron ring round his delicate neck, his slim shoulders, the line of his back gently rising to the sweetly curved rump with it two deep dimples on either side and the imperial eagle seared into the smooth flesh of his left flank, the firm rounded thighs and shins and the bare vulnerable little boy's feet. Marius saw with a jump in his heart that the boy had had his big toes removed.

"Helios," he cried.

"You're awake Mariullus," Helios said turning round his face lit by a broad grin.

"Well," Helios said clambering down from the window and settling himself on the edge of the couch. Marius felt the mattress sink under the other boy's weight as he wriggled his bottom back to get himself comfortably settled. "You didn't come back out of the prison for ages and ages and I was getting really worried. I was running out of things to do with that guardsman. I'd done the peeled carrot twice and the rutting peacock and I was just about to try the rhinoceros's horn in desperation when the earth quake began. I told him that my father must have missed me and was throwing his thunder bolts about in a temper and that was what was causing the problem. I said if he prayed hard and I slipped away my father wouldn't find out what we'd been up to and he'd be all right."

"So he kneeled down and started to moan and wave his arms about and I got away. There were lots of guardsmen about and slaves but they were all frightened and rushing about and they didn't take any notice of me so I just went back to the palace. It was really frightening going through the hall with all the wild animals because they were all mad with fear roaring and trumpeting and throwing themselves about but I got back all right."

"Next day when you still weren't about I didn't know what to do so I told Sisyphus what had happened and he sort of sat for a moment with his head in his hands moaning like as if he was upset - I can't think why. But I went on and on a bit and he said he'd better try to find out what had happened to you. He was gone a long time and when he came back he said no one had seen you and the roof of the tunnel into the rocks going down to the dungeons had fallen in during the quake so he thought you must be still down there and so I said I was going to get a pick and go and look for you and he said not to be stupid."

"And then the news came that Tiberius had died right at the time of the earthquake [Author's note: there is historical evidence for this, the earthquake was said to have been so severe that the light house at Capri was destroyed] and all the freedmen and the Praetorian Guards were too busy worrying and plotting who was to be the next Emperor to bother about anything else so I found a pick and started to try to clear the tunnel but it was very hard work and the stones were some very big rocks."

"I wasn't getting very far when Sisyphus turned up because he'd missed me and he wanted me to stop but I said I wouldn't and if he took me away I'd only wait till his back was turned and come back again. So he shouted at me a bit but I wouldn't stop so he said all right he'd help me because he didn't want me squashed when the rest of the roof came down."

"I thought that was really nice of him and he worked very hard too but it took us a long time and we worked and worked for ages and we were just getting somewhere when a whole lot of soldiers and slaves suddenly appeared. They grabbed us and we were taken up to the Praetorian Barracks to be questioned. They started on Sisyphus first and he's very brave Mariullus he really is. They stripped him and they started to hit him about and he screamed a bit- well I would scream if they hit me there too anyone would wouldn't they?" and finally Helios stopped for breath.

"Yes they would," Marius replied to this plea for understanding, "I screamed an awful lot too."

"And they worked on him a lot but still he didn't say anything and then a soldier turned up and said it was the Emperor's orders they were to stop. And they asked him what they were to do with us and the soldier said he didn't know because the Emperor hadn't said anything. So they threw Sisyphus and me in a cell and I tried to help Sisyphus but I couldn't do much except hold his head on my knees while he lay on the floor and groaned"

"He's quite big too you know not as big as that guardsman but big enough Mariullus. You wouldn't think it when he's got his clothes on. I hope they haven't hurt him permanently down there."

Helios paused a moment in though and then continued.

"Well they left us there for some time alone but I could hear them talking and shouting in the guardroom outside the cell and they were drinking and they began saying it was waste to have a pretty little slave boy sitting in a cell without making use of him and they should have me out and fuck me while they had the chance. And then they came in and grabbed me and Sisyphus tried to stop them which was very brave of him because he could hardly stand and there was five of them anyway so they knocked him about a bit more. And they just had me bent over the table and were throwing dice to decide who was to be the first to fuck me when a really high ranking soldier came in and shouted at them to stop. And they all stood to attention and called him Sir and Tribune and then he ordered them to take Sisyphus off and have him looked after and told them they'd all be on charges if he died. And he told me to come with him and he brought me here and told me to wait till you woke up and that I could be company for you."

"Oh and he gave me this for you. I think he might give you something a bit better a high ranking officer like him if he fancies you - gold or something with a stone in it," and Helios held out to Marius a plain silver ring. "And he said to tell you he knew now you weren't a thief and he was sorry he said you were which is funny thing for a soldier to say to a slave boy."

Marius took the ring and slipped it on his index finger. It was the only thing he had to remember his lord by.

Then it was Marius's turn to tell his story to Helios. Afterwards the two boys dosed intermittently through the day. They were woken as the afternoon light began to fade by a maid carrying a tray on which stood a large bowl, a ewer of water and a loaf of bread. She placed it on a table and left the room without speaking

Helios was off the couch in a second with Marius following more slowly for he was still stiff and very sore from his whipping and other mistreatment.

"There's meat in this stew Mariullus," Helios said excitedly "and wheaten bread," he added between munches. "Come on before I eat it all. I don't know when I last had white bread."

There was silence for the time being as the two boys squatted opposite each other and shovelled food into their mouths. At last the bowl of stew was empty and the last crumb of white bread was eaten.

"That was good," Helios said licking his fingers clean, "it's the first time for ages and ages that I haven't felt hungry… I wonder what's going to happen to us now…"

"I don't know," Mariullus replied. "I suppose we belong to the new emperor now and we'll just have to wait till he makes up his mind what he wants to do with us. Maybe he won't want to keep us minnows and we'll all be sold……"

"What's all the noise out there?" he continued changing the subject for there was no point spending time discussing their future over which as slaves they naturally had no control.

"Oh they're building the pyre to cremate Lord Drusus body at dusk this evening on the point at the end of the palace terrace. The Tribune told me and said to tell you but I forgot," Helios replied a little guiltily. "There was so much more to talk about."

"I would like to be there," Marius said wistfully for he knew that a mere slave boy like him could not attend such an important and dignified a ceremony.

"We could sneak out onto the terrace and watch the procession," Helios suggested. "You could see the body being carried past. "Nobody would mind that - it isn't as if we will be in the way."

As dusk was falling the two boys crept from their room and hid themselves in a door way leading out on to the terrace a short way away from the place where the pyre had been built. The shadows lengthened and there was the sound of tramping feet. A contingent of the Praetorian Guard in full ceremonial uniform marching in slow time with arms reversed appeared, behind them followed a simple litter bearing a figure shrouded in white cotton carried on the shoulders of further guardsman. The two slave boys sank to their knees as the litter passed them and remained there as a crowd of splendidly uniformed senior soldiers and white robed patricians walked slowly by. This group was headed by the Emperor Gaius, dressed in a glittering steel corselet chased in gold and a flowing purple cloak, carrying a massive silver goblet. Walking close behind him on his left hand side dressed in the rather shabby uniform of a senior legionary officer, his hand on his sword hilt, was a figure that both boys recognised, the tribune Junius.

The Emperor's gazed steadily ahead of him at the shrouded figure of his dead brother. Junius's eyes shifted constantly, they rested for a moment on the two boys crouched in the shadow of the doorway, paused, seeing them only as a potential threat to the man he gaurded, and moved on having decided they were harmless.

The procession arrived at the pyre. The body was lifted from the litter and placed on the heaped timbers. A slave stood by with a burning torch ready to light the fire that would begin the Lord Drusus's journey to the after world. Marius crept a little out of the sheltering door way to watch. Gaius stepped forward to the base of the pyre and raised the silver goblet above his head. He glanced round demanding silence. His gaze fell on Marius slight figure.

"Boy," he ordered, "come here."

Junius moved forward and whispered urgently in his ear. Gaius shrugged him off and repeated his command in a louder voice. A murmur of surprise and a snigger or two rose from the group of soldiers and patricians about the Emperor as they saw a naked slave boy, his body still bearing the marks the marks of a recent whipping and other and worse abuse, stumbling terrified towards them. A guardsman thinking to curry favour aimed a kick at Marius as he passed and sent him stumbling forward. With his left arm strapped to his chest the boy was unable to recover his balance and tumbled forward on his face. The sniggers rose to a roar of cruel laughter.

The most dangerous moment in a tyranny for a courtier or minister is when the old ruler dies and the new one succeeds. Many in the crowd were aware that they had sort to curry favour with Tiberius up to the moment of his death and that they had done nothing to help Drusus when he was sent to starve to death in the dungeons below the palace. They knew nothing of Marius and saw his presence merely as a welcome diversion from a ceremony that could raise embarrassing questions about their past behaviour.

Gaius said nothing but stepping forward bent and helped Marius to his feet. He turned the boy to face the pyre and signalled to the slave to set the timbers alight. He placed the silver goblet in Marius's hands.

"Boy," he commanded in a loud voice, "you will say the libation."

"Sir," Junius whispered urgently, "it is unfitting… A slave boy…"

"There is no person more fitting here," Gaius replied loudly. "The boy risked his life to bring food to my brother when he was starving, he warmed his body and comforted him when he was dying. He remained faithful when all others deserted him."

"A slave boy Sir," Junius urged again.

"He is no slave."

"But Sir he is but a boy and a slave cannot be manumitted until he is twenty-four and any way Sir a freedman would not be suitable either."

"Marius Fideles (Marius the faithful) was never a slave. I am the supreme law giver and if I wished I could make my horse a consul. I certainly can declare a boy not and never to have been a slave. Has his acts been the acts of a slave?"

Gaius's voice had begun to grow angry and his face was white with restrained rage. Junius shrugged and fell silent.

"Boy pour the libation," Gaius commanded once again.

Marius felt sick with fear. His hands trembled so much that the wine was in danger of slopping over the rim of the goblet as he raised it and then he began to speak. Once again he remembered his father's voice and the words of the ancient invocation came back to him and his voice gathered strength and power.

"To You Oh Drusus… ," the boy's voice rang out high and clear as he stood taught as a bow string and the grey smoke rose into the darkening sky and blew out over the slowly moving wine dark sea. As he said the words and watched the flames curl round the shrouded body of his dead lord he remembered another time and another place. Two naked slave boys determined their friend should not die unremembered pouring pilfered wine from a clay pot in a dark cellar in a surreptitious act of defiance. He remembered too his undischarged debt to the maid Pannychis who had succoured him when he was left to starve and had suffered for it.

Then the words were said and the magic left him and he was alone and terror gripped his soul.

He felt a cloak thrown round him and hands gripped him by the shoulders steadying him and stilling the trembling that racked his body.

"Well Marius Fideles what ever he is, slave or free, has done enough for today Sir," he heard Junius's voice say above his head. "What do you wish to do with him Sir."

"Take him away. Cloth him according to his rank, and remove that ridiculous collar from about his neck. I will decided late what his future will be. No doubt one of my loyal senators would be glad to adopt as a son so worthy a boy." There was more than a hint of mockery in Gaius's voice.

"It would be an honour Sir," one of the very patricians who a few minutes before was ready to join in humiliating and mocking Marius pushed himself forward bowing and smiling ingratiatingly.

"Sir do not overlook my claims I beg you Sir…" another courtier intervened. Three or four others followed him.

"I knew I could rely on the support of the Senate," Gaius remarked with an audible sneer, "now that I am in power."

Junius glanced round and caught the eye of a legionnaire standing in the background. The man, Paullus, Junius's soldier servant, came forward and took Marius from his master. Even before he had led the boy off the terrace a blacksmith had appeared and removed the metal collar from about Marius's neck.

Chapter 29

"He'll be all right boy," he said with rough kindness ruffling the child's hair, "you just climb in beside the young Master and keep him warm."

Laughing, for he saw from Helios's erect little prick that he was very willing to undertake this duty, he encouraged the boy with a sharp slap on his bare rump. If he had not had other tasks to perform he might well have spent some further time with Helios himself for an experienced soldier makes the most of the opportunities that come his way. However duty called, so casting a final regretful glance at Helios as the boy scrambled onto the couch and cuddled up close to the sleeping Marius, he left the two boys alone.

Marius woke briefly just as the first grey light of dawn was beginning to creep into the room. He lay there for a moment listening to Helios's soft breathing and enjoying the feel of his warm body pressed tight against his own before drifting quietly off to sleep again. When next he woke it was broad daylight. He was still sore but this time he had a raging hard on. He reached out for Helios but the boy was no longer there. He sat up and looked round.

"Oh you're awake Marius," Helios said turning to face him from where he had been bending over a pile of clothing on one of the tables. "You've been sent all sort of things but I wouldn't let them wake you up. Tunics and sandals and jewellery and stuff. I don't know what you'll want to wear today. I thought perhaps this plain white tunic with the red ribbing, the white would show up your brown skin, but this one with the red stripes would look good too and show off your legs, while the dark blue would go with your colouring especially if your hair hadn't been cropped. You'll have to choose Sir and the sandals there's…"

"Helios," Marius swinging his legs off the couch and placing his feet on the floor interrupted the boy's excited chatter, "shut up do please. The tunics and sandals and all the rest of it are very nice and we'll decide what both of us are to wear in a minute but first listen to me. We're friends. I'm Mariullus to you still and you're not to call me Marius nor Sir either. You've been just as brave as me and you'll be freed as soon as the Emperor gets round to it I'm sure."

Helios put down the tunic that he had been holding. He shifted uneasily from foot to foot.

"I don't know," he muttered awkwardly.

"What don't you know. I'm sure the Emperor will free you. He freed me."

"Not that… Mariullus… Sir," Helios replied hesitantly playing safe by using both the familiar name and the formal term of respect, "I mean I'm not sure if I want to be freed. I think it's more fun sometimes being a slave than a free boy."

"More fun," Marius exclaimed in amazement, "What about being branded and having your big toes cut off. That wasn't fun."

"No it wasn't," admitted Helios but then brightening continued, "but they can't cut them off again can they?"

"And being beaten and bossed around…"

"Well I was beaten awfully often when I was free. For not learning my lessons and not being punctual and clean and all sorts of silly things. I don't see much difference anyway. And as for being bossed around people were always telling me what to do my father, my mother, my teachers, grown ups, everybody. At least if you're a slave you've only got your Master to please. A free boy seems to have hundreds and hundreds and there are so many things a free boy has to do and think about. Lessons… who wants to spend their time mucking about with rhetoric and law and philosophy… whole lot of dumbos sitting in a cave looking at shadows and all… I couldn't understand that at all…… why caves why shadows… I think Plato's an ass… he only won all his arguments because he was arguing against himself. And having to work hard and behave yourself because you've got to do well when you've grown up. You don't have to learn philosophy if you're a slave and no one goes onto you about what you're going to be when you grow up."

"Well," Marius said interrupting this tirade with difficulty, "how about being liable to be fucked any old time by your Master or his friends."

Helios rubbed the sole of one bare foot against the inside of his opposite legs shin. Marius saw the boy's little prick spring to attention.

"I… I quite like the sex really Marius," he said in a rush, "and that's another thing. If you're free there are certain things you're not meant to do. If you're a free boy you're not meant to let yourself be fucked or to suck anyone or anything but I like being fucked and sucking too. What I would like is a nice kind Master who would only beat me when I deserved and then not very hard but took me to bed with him every night and other times as well."

Marius realised that Helios eyes were fastened on his own swollen cock clearly visible as he sat naked on the edge of the couch.

"I'm too sore to fuck anyone," he said reaching forward and taking hold of Helios's wrists.

He pulled downwards forcing the boy to his knees between his spread legs. He felt Helios run his tongue along the full length of his penis from its base in his balls to its pink helmeted top. The tip of the boy's tongue teased his slit for a moment before he took the whole length of his rod into his mouth. Being only a boy's tool it was not long enough to reach far down Helios's throat but it filled his mouth nicely. Marius grabbed Helios by the ears, the most delicious sensations transfused his body as the other boy used his lips and nimble tongue to work him to a climax.

The moment was just upon him, the blood roaring in his head and blackness beginning to fill his mind when Junius walked into the room. Helios was too deeply engrossed in his task even to notice while Marius was too far gone to react. The Tribune took in the situation at a glance. He laughed good naturedly.

"Get a move on boy," he ordered prodding Helios' bare bottom with his foot, "the Emperor wants to see the pair of you."

A few seconds later Helios was scrambling to his feet wiping the cum dribbling down his chin from his face with the back of his hand grinning cheerfully. Apparently not the slightest embarrassed by being found with another boy's cock in his mouth.

"I'm afraid you'll have to find another boy." Junius remarked to Marius as he hastily pulled a tunic on over his head, "The Emperor has made arrangements for this one's future. Shame really it clearly comes naturally to him."

"He was just as brave as me Sir," Marius protested.

"He followed your lead boy. That's his nature - to follow and serve - pity he won't be allowed to fulfil it. Now come on the pair of you Emperors do not like being kept waiting."

They found Gaius Ceasar sitting on an ornate stool in an open arcade looking out over the sea. A fat bald man with a knight's silver ring glittering on his index finger was standing near him chatting deferentially. Helios seeing the fat man gasped audibly and tried to hide himself behind Junius. Marius noticed Sisyphus sitting at desk littered with scrolls in the back ground. He raised his hand in greeting to the imperial slave to whose kindness he and Helios owed so much but was ignored. In fact Sisyphus looked utterly miserable.

"Welcome Uncle," Gaius said earning a furious glare from the Tribune, "I see you've got the two boys."

"Now you two I am selling the minnows off as I have no use for them but you distinguished yourselves in trying to save my brother Drusus and I am therefore making special arrangements for you. Marius I am not sure what I will do with you as yet and you will have to stay with me for a little time at least until I can make a decision. Helios I have had the records searched and your father traced and I am restoring you to him."

The fat man smiling unctuously advanced on Helios his arms spread wide to embrace him.

"He's not my father," the boy suddenly screamed. "He's not I won't go with him… I won't……," he stumbled away and threw himself on his knees beside Sisyphus.

"Don't let him take me please Sir," he begged tearfully… "Tell them he isn't my father."

"Well Sisyphus you just assured me with the aid of your excellent records that this gentleman is Helios's father. What have you to say now?"

Sisyphus, who had slipped his hand round the kneeling boy's shoulders, looked both confused and obscurely pleased.

"The records Sir…" He began but was interrupted by Helios.

"He's not my father any more Sir he gave me to the Emperor Tiberius in return for his favour. I don't want to go back to him Sir I want to stay with Sisyphus."

"You prefer an imperial freedman to a rich merchant and knight?"

"Not a freedman Sir," Sisyphus ventured, "I have not been freed."

"Freedman I said," Gaius snapped impatience sounding in his voice and Sisyphus wisely did not argue further but contented himself with bowing his thanks.

"He doesn't care for me Sir," the boy said stoutly, "he was willing to give me away to be a boy whore to gain Tiberius's favour and he just wants me back now to help his business plans. Sisyphus helped me and looked after me when he had nothing to gain."

"He is my son Sir," the fat man interjected, "and I claim a father's rights. He is a minor and under the law must live under my command."

Sisyphus cleared his throat.

"With all due respect Sir the records do show that your Uncle the Emperor Tiberius acquired the boy Helios from his father but not as a gift. The father was paid a sum of twenty sesterces for the boy. I have here a copy of the receipt signed both by this gentleman and the late Emperor's agent in these matters Titus Priscus. It was his practice in such cases to have a formal contract of purchase and sale and to have a real exchange of value take place to avoid possible recriminations later. There was also no doubt an informal understanding about the vendor enjoying the late Emperor's favour "

"You say," Gaius Caesar smiled wolfishly, " that the records show that this boy was bought as a slave from his father and that the father signed a receipt evidencing this transaction?"

"Yes Sir."

"So… The boy became the property of my uncle and his father lost all rights and authority over him and on my Uncles death I inherited the boy along with all my Uncle's other possessions."

"Yes that is the position Sir."

"Well, well. It is customary to give a newly manumitted slave a small gift on granting him his freedom. So Sisyphus I give you this boy Helios as your slave."

Sisyphus began to speak but the Emperor held up his hand for silence.

"We have another point we have to deal with before we can consider this matter closed. This man," he said indicating the fat man who had gone scarlet with rage, "has knowingly engaged in a plot to purloin imperial property. That is one slave boy; a small and unimportant object in itself but the offence is a serious one."

The knight paled, began to protest but catching Gaius's eye fell silent.

"Sisyphus you are knowledgeable about accounts. Do you think you could establish what this gentleman's total wealth was immediately before he sold his son to my Uncle and what it is now today."

"Yes Sir certainly."

"Very well the difference is the amount of the fine I impose on him for his attempt to steal imperial property and to encourage you Sisyphus to be thorough in your investigations you can take half of the sum for your fee. After that I appoint you chief of customs at Veii."

"But it's not a harbour or anything Sir. It's miles inland."

"The duties are not indeed onerous but I think you will find the remuneration generous and the climate pleasant. You will have plenty of leisure to enjoy the small cheap but I suspect very lively present that I have given you."

The last Marius saw of Helios, the boy was walking beside his new master carrying his tablet and stylus looking up into his face and chattering away happily.

It was some three weeks after he had been brought to Rome that Marius decided he could not delay any longer. He had sworn he would find the maid Pannychis who had smuggled food to him when he was imprisoned after his father's arrest and execution and who had suffered for it. He owed too a debt to Dictys who had been so kind to him while he was a slave in the house of Scyrax. He was dead now killed as a jest by Maccius but perhaps Sulis the slave boy that he had loved still lived.

He had been waiting for the Emperor Gaius to decide his own fate before beginning his search but nothing had been done. Indeed he had not seen the Emperor since they had arrived at Rome. Perhaps he thought Gaius had forgotten him and he would be left to spend the rest of his life mooning round the palace with nothing to do. It was quite likely that the Emperor would not even notice if he did runaway.

The important thing was to have a plan. It would be easiest to start with Sulis. If he lived he might well still be in the house of Scyrax. That at least was the place to start. He would go there and simply offer to buy the boy. Scyrax traded in slaves so that it seemed to Marius should be perfectly straight forward. He would need money of course and he had none but that was no particular problem. The Emperor's praise of Marius after he had poured the libation for Drusus and his suggestion that Marius himself should have some say in deciding who should have the privilege of adopting him had unleashed a flood of gifts from courtiers eager to win his favour.

He selected a heavy gold chain that had been given him by a Senator whose name he had already forgotten and slipped it in his pouch. That should yield enough to purchase a boy like Sulis and to feed the pair of them for a year while they found Pannychis. Marius was a little vague in his own mind as how he was going to do that but he was sure something would turn up. After that no doubt they would manage somehow. As for turning the chain into money he would go to Balbinus. That was the man to whom Crastus sold the silver goblets stolen from his father's house. He had no idea where Balbinus's shop was but he would ask once he was outside the palace. Someone he was sure would tell him the way.

Apart from the gold chain and the clothes he stood up in he would take only one other thing with him. The three quarter size legionnaire's sword that Junius had given him. It might come in useful and anyway he liked Junius and also his man Paullus who had found time to put him through some sword drill.

Wrapping a light cloak about the sword to hide it Marius slipped out of the palace by a side door. He had been worried that someone might spot him leaving but the only person he saw was a slave slowly sweeping the door step clear of dust and who almost dropped his broom as he scuttled to one side to let the boy pass. After that all went smoothly although Marius was annoyed by the beggar who pushed up close to him when he enquired the way to Balbinus's shop at the food stall by the entrance to the Circus Maximus and was glad that the man did not pursue him but stayed behind to talk to the owner of the stall.

His meeting with Balbinus also went well. The shop keeper greeted him politely, did not ask awkward questions about where he had obtained the chain, and gave him directions to the house of Scyrax without demure. Marius was a little disappointed by the amount of money Balbinus offered him for the gold chain but it was still more than enough to buy a slave boy.

Soon he was standing before the blank wall of Scyrax's house. He felt a wave of fear sweep over him as he remembered how he had been dragged through the streets, filthy and naked to the place and the pain and humiliation he had suffered there. But he squared his shoulder, reminded himself that he was now free and had money to spend and marched boldly up to the heavy wooden door. Taking hold of the massive knocker in the form of a man's penis he hammered loudly on the door.

There was a pause. He heard heavy footsteps and the sound of the shutter in the small grated window being draw back. Another pause and then the deep voice of Alseus, Scyrax's Negro porter, asked him his business.

"I have come to buy a slave," Marius replied struggling to keep the quaver out of his voice.

"Do you have money Young Sir?" Marius sensed a hunt of laughter in the voice and this angered him.

"I would not be here if I had not." He answered striving for a tone of haughtiness and then added with what he felt was a stroke of genius "Come on my good man I have come all the way from the Palace and I am not accustomed to be kept waiting."

"From the palace you say. Then I must let you in."

There was a sound of bolts being drawn and the doors swung open. Marius walked into the vast pillared hall with it's brilliantly coloured mosaics and wall paintings of scenes where extreme licentiousness and cruelty mingled. The enormous Negro bowed respectfully and gestured to a waiting serving boy to step forward. Although the man's face was expressionless Marius had an uneasy feeling that he was being laughed at.

The boy led the way towards the central courtyard with it's fountains and pools and cages of singing birds. Marius heard the sound of the beating long before they arrived there, shrill screams punctuated with the rich hiss of the descending cane and the sharp crack as wood sliced down on tightly stretched naked flesh. He stepped out into the courtyard and for a moment he was blinded by the glare of sunlight. Then he saw the fat bulk of Scyrax lounging on his couch in the shade of the pergola and beyond him the slim and all too familiar figure of Maccius who was engaged in thrashing a small slave boy.

Maccius was putting all his strength into the operation lifting the cane well back over his shoulder and before bringing it whistling down to curl round the squirming boy's and already well bloodied rump. Marius could not see the child's face for he was bent face down over a marble table held in place by the eunuch Felix who looked, from the grin on his face, to be thoroughly enjoying his work. There was though something familiar about the shape of the brat's bottom and the tone of his yells. With a feeling of sick rage he realised that it was whose bottom was being flayed by Maccius.

"Well young man," Scyrax rasing his voice to be heard above Sulis's howls, "what can so poor a man as I do for you?"

Maccius turned to stare long and hard at Marius and Sulis's screams now the rod had ceased for the moment to tear his rump fell to a low sobbing.

"I have come to buy the boy there that is being beaten," Marius said with as much self confidence as he could muster.

"Oh my dear little Sulis. I value him greatly. I fear you will not be able to afford him young Sir… One of the most valuable items that I have in stock… That was why I was having him beaten… I value him so much that I take great care to correct any faults that I detect in him. I would not take less than one hundred sesterces for him and the amount of time and effort I've spent training and the money on feeding him up that will hardly cover my costs."

Marius knew that the price was extortionate. It was more than three times the sum that Scyrax had paid for him.

"The boy's not worth it," he said firmly. "I won't pay more than fifty for him and that's a good price for such a weak little thing."

"Fifty sesterces a good price for a prime piece of boy's flesh like that," Scyrax exclaimed. "Felix get the brat over here and let the young Master have a look at him properly. He can't judge the boy's value properly when all he can see is his bottom."

Felix pulled Sulis up from the table and dragged him by the arm towards Marius.

Sulis who up to then had been sunk in his own dark pool of pain and humiliation dared to glance upwards to see who was negotiating to buy him. Marius saw recognition, surprise and puzzlement chase themselves fleetingly across the younger boy's face. Maccius who was watching closely saw the same and edged imperceptibly closer to Marius.

"Look at him Sir. Look at him," Scyrax begged gustily. "Have you ever seen a boy in better condition. A real bloom to his skin and so clear. A real beauty Sir and so well broken. The spirit beaten out of him. I couldn't take less than ninety Sir. It wouldn't be fair on myself."

"Seventy," said Marius. He knew that was too much but he had to get Sulis away from the place and he was fearful that if he didn't get nearer Scyrax's price the man would simply refuse to sell.

"Very well… Very well…" Scyrax exclaimed with exaggerated resignation. "You drive a hard bargain Young Sir. I can see you are intent on reducing me to a pauper but still… I'll let you have him for eighty Sir."

"All right," Marius said pulling out his purse and beginning to count the money hampered by the fact that he was still carrying his sword hidden by the cloak wrapped around it stuck under his left arm.

"Why," Maccius asked silkily, "why are you so keen on buying that particular boy?"

Marius started. He was surprised to find Maccius standing so close to him.

"Oh that boy," he said airily, "I just fancied him. Looks a sexy little brat."

He reached out to hand the money to Scyrax. Just at the moment that the man's fat fingers closed about the coins Maccius caught hold of Marius by his tunic's neck ripping it from his body while, with the other hand, he tore his loin cloth from around his waste. Snatching his sword from it's hiding place Marius leapt to one side and crouched naked ready to defend himself.

"Look Scyrax," Maccius crowed, "our little friend Mariullus come back to play with us. I thought I recognised him but I'm afraid he's been a bad boy and run away from his Master. Look there it is his owners brand on the side of his pretty little bottom."

Marius heard a movement to one side of him and whirling round saw Felix just about to grab him. He slashed at the man's face with his sword it's point splitting open the eunuch's cheek. Felix screamed and staggered backwards, clasping his hands to his wounded face, blood streaming from between his fingers down his arms. He collapsed whimpering to the floor.

"What a rough boy you have become Mariullus," Maccius simpered. "I do look forward to taming you child."

A dagger had appeared in his hand and he began circling Marius while Scyrax shouted loudly for Alseus the Negro porter.

Marius knew he was in a desperate trouble. True he had a sword against Maccius's dagger but he was only a boy. Maccius was a man with a man's reach and that more than neutralised the advantage that his longer sword gave him. And there was Scyrax. He was fat and slow but he was up on his feet now, the money he had been paid for Sulis abandoned for the moment on the marble table, leaving his hands free to grab Marius if he could be manoeuvred within his reach by Maccius. But worst of all was Alseus the gigantic Negro porter. Once he arrived Marius knew he was all but done for.

Then Alseus was there, dressed only in a loincloth, his massive body oiled and glistening, a heavy whip curled ready for use in his right hand. He hesitated looking around him, sizing the situation up.

"Take his balls off," screamed Scyrax urgently.

Alseus grinned, white teeth flashing in his ebony face. He sent the whip snaking viciously towards Marius's crutch. The boy leapt backwards and the whip cracked sharply only inches away from him. Marius crouched his eyes darting about him. This could not go on. He had evaded the whip the first time but he was being driven closer and closer towards Maccius. Soon he would have the choice of either facing the Negro and having the tip of the lash rip his testicles from his body, he had no illusions so far as that was concerned for he had seen before what damage Alseus could wreak with the whip, or being cut to pieces by Maccius's dagger.

Alseus drew his hand back again ready to strike for a second time. Shouts and thundering crashes came from the inside of the house. Alseus hesitated and in that moment Sulis launched himself at the porter and grabbing him by the right arm. Alseus tried to throw the boy off but he clung tight. The Negro turned and swinging his arm smashed the boy against a marble pillar. Sulis dropped senseless to the floor.

Marius seeing Alseus at least momentarily distracted turned to face Maccius. If luck was with him perhaps he would at least be able to wound the youth before he was himself killed.

Chapter 30 - Final Chapter

He had therefore fallen into the habit of spending a great deal of time with Marius. He enjoyed teaching him sword drill and the boy had that attitude of uncritical wonder that is so comforting to an old soldier recalling past adventures. Paullus when he found Marius not to be in his room did not immediately raise the alarm. He noted though that the scaled down centurion sword given to the boy by Junius was not in it's usual place of honour on the chest by his couch.

Marius might he thought be with in the yard where his two game cocks, Castor and Pollux, only slightly less valued than his sword, were kept carefully apart in two separate runs. The boy might have taken his sword down there to practice the thrusts and parries that he had been teaching him over the past few days. He was an enthusiastic pupil and one or two things had got broken; a statue by some Greek called Praxiteles had an arm lopped off and a rather ornate vase, with a whole lot of maidens and fawns and things painted on it, smashed. Nothing really important so far as Paullus could see but the chamberlain had made rather a fuss about them so Marius might have decided it was best to practice where there weren't so many things to knock over.

But when Paullus got to the yard Marius was not there and he decided that he had better seek help. You did not wander around an Imperial Palace carrying a sword unless it was part of your duties to do so. There had been too many attempted assassinations to allow that. He went in search of Junius.

It did not take him long to find the Tribune. He was in attendance on the Emperor. When Paullus slipped into the room he saw both his master and the Emperor were red in the face.

"How often Sir," Junius was saying fiercely, "have I asked you not to call me Uncle. You must not…"

"Must not is something a wise man does not say to an Emperor…" Gaius replied dangerously.

Paullus snapped noisily to attention and the two men fell suddenly silent. Quickly he told them of the reasons for his presence.

"It is my fault," Gaius said once he had finished. "I said I would sort out a future for the lad and I have not got round to doing so. He is not the boy to remain idle for long and now he's set out on some adventure of his own which will no doubt from past form be dangerous and fool hardy. Unc… rather Tribune would you find him and bring him back here?"

Marius may have thought that he escaped from the palace unobserved. If so he had not allowed for the efficiency of the ubiquitous Imperial Spies. The road sweeper who observed him leaving the side door of the palace had already made his report and was once again engaged in his seemingly endless task. It would seem that that side street was as difficult to clean as the Augean stables. When Junius and Paullus came out on to the main street near to the Circus Maximus the beggar who had jostled Marius as he enquired the way to Balbinus's shop sidled up to them. Junius asked a series of sharp questions to which the beggar replied briefly gesturing in the direction of the Emporium. It did not appear that he was asking for alms.

It took the two soldiers little time to persuade Balbinus to tell them about Marius's visit and his enquiries about the situation of the House of Scyrax. Junius and Paullus hurried away leaving the shop keeper sitting on the floor of the shop gingerly exploring the inside of his mouth for broken teeth with his tongue.

On the way to Scyrax's house they commandeered the assistance of a patrol of civiles [city police]. Arriving there Junius hammered on the door of the house but received no reply. He stood to one side signalling to the civiles to batter it down with their axes.

Hearing the sound of running footsteps approaching Maccius glanced round to see what was happening. Marius seeing his chance shortened his sword arm and leapt at him yelling defiance.

"If you mean to kill stab upwards into the guts," Paullus had told Marius many times. Marius meant to kill and he drove the sword upwards feeling a fierce joy as the blade sunk home and the youth doubled up with a scream of pain. "As he falls forward kick or knee him to knock him on his back. Then put a foot on his body and use both hands to pull the blade clear." Paullus had not mentioned how tightly the Maccius's stomach muscles would clamp about the blade nor the strange rattle that came from his throat as, two handed, Marius drew the sword clear. He swung round crouched and ready to strike again.

"One death," said Junius calmly, "can be explained as self defence but two would rather look like murder."

The blood lust drained from Marius. He bent forward and wiped the blade of the sword clean on Maccius's tunic. He looked down into the youth's painted face. White foam mixed with blood had formed about his mouth.

"For Dictys," he said and spat in Maccius's face. The youth's eyes gazed up at him blankly. Later Marius was to realise that probably Maccius did not even remember the name of the slave boy he had killed for sport.

" Paullus help me get the boy back to the Palace," Junius commanded.

"Sulis must come with me… I've paid for him… And I want a proper receipt before I go," Marius protested remembering Sisyphus's comments on correct business methods.

"Whose Sulis?" demanded Junius.

"My slave I bought him. Is he all right anyway? He grabbed hold of Alseus's arm and he threw him off."

They found Sulis sitting on the floor looking about himself groggily. Paullus pulled him roughly to his feet. "Nothing wrong with him apart from a bump on the head and his skulls not broken," he reported his fingers probing the back of the boy's head.

"Is it really you Mariullus?" Sulis asked faintly

"Show respect to your betters boy," Paullus ordered clipping the boy not very hard on the side of the head.

"Yes it is me Sulis," Marius replied gently.

"You want a receipt do you?" Junius asked sounding slightly amused. "We'll fix that. How much did you pay for him?"

"Eighty sesterces. Scyrax put the money on the table over there."

"Eighty for that?" Junius said, his voice rising in surprise, pointing at Sulis.

"I knew I was paying too much but…"

"Certainly you paid too much but we'll put that right."

Junius caught hold of Scyrax, who was kneeling on the floor weeping loudly beside the dyeing Maccius, by the collar of his tunic. He hauled him to his feet and slammed him down on a stool beside the marble table.

"Write out a receipt for fifty sesterces for a slave boy about nine years old known as Sulis."

"I agreed eighty…" Scyrax's protest was brought to an abrupt halt by Junius slamming his face down on the stone table top.

"That was then," Junius remarked pleasantly, "this is now and the price has fallen by a further twenty sesterces. The receipt now is thirty or do you want to continue these negotiations further?"

""No. No please Excellency I accept the price offered…" Scyrax blubbered, blood streaming from his crushed nose.

"Well write it then… Quickly…" Junius raised his hand threateningly.

"My secretary please he does…" Scyrax pleaded cowering away from him.

"That's him over there," Sulis volunteered gleefully paying off innumerable grudges against the eunuch by pointing to the corner where Felix had crawled leaving a trail of blood behind him on the white marble floor.

Three well placed kicks from Paullus got the secretary to his feet. Felix had to use his left hand to hold his tablet as he wrote out the receipt. It was apparent that the whole of his left cheek had been sliced open leaving his left eye hanging loose.

"I'll take charge of that for the moment young man," Junius said taking the sword from Marius. "You'll have it back when you're safely in the palace. You can wear the cloak it was wrapped in. We can't have you walking the streets of Rome naked like a whore. Come on, then, we're finished here. Let's go."

"Cold water," Paullus remarked helpfully to Scyrax, "that's the best thing to get blood stains off marble."

It was not long before they were back in the Palace and even Sulis fell silent awed by the enormous rooms and the richness of the decorations. Junius taking Marius with him set off to find the Emperor. They were just crossing a vast hall before entering the presence chamber itself when Marius saw two figures approaching, a burly roughly dressed man and, walking beside him, a dark curly haired youth of about fourteen. His stomach lurched as he recognised them and then blind rage seized him.

"Pulchellus," he screamed and casting off his cloak launched himself at the other boy.

Pulchellus was older, bigger and heavier than Marius but he was taken by surprise and Marius's anger gave him added strength. Pulchellus went down before the younger boy's assault and the two boys rolled wildly about on the floor in a flurry of naked limbs punching and kicking at each other oblivious to the dignity of their surroundings.

Crastus seeing his favourite attacked and getting the worse of things aimed a blow at Marius's head knocking for a moment the boy off his opponent. Junius would not have objected if the other man had pulled the two boys apart and restored order by banging their heads together but he did resent so blatant an interference in the fight in favour of Pulchellus. He showed his disapproval by smashing his sword pommel into Crastus's face. The man staggered backwards dazed and bleeding.

In that instant Marius was back on top of Pulchellus. Junius with some difficulty, for Marius's naked body was slippery with sweat, tore him away from Pulchellus. That youth staggered to his feet and ran off screaming, his hands clasped to his face, to Crastus who throwing an arm over his shoulders hurried him away.

Marius stood for a moment his chest heaving and then he spat.

"I don't think he's very beautiful any more," Marius remarked with grim satisfaction. [Pulchellus = very beautiful] Junius could only agree for lying on he marble floor was a lump of bleeding flesh that he recognised after an instance as Pulchellus's nose.

Gaius listened in silence to Junius's report.

"Marius," he said when all was told, "I do not blame you for setting out on your own for I have allowed you to be idle too long. I will make a decision on your future after I have had a nights rest to think on it. Meanwhile though there is a matter that I cannot allow to pass. Brawling in the Imperial Palace is a serious offence and you must be punished for it. Tomorrow morning you will be flogged. Junius you will see to the matter. Now you may go."

"Sir," Junius said sternly after Marius had left, "what were Crastus and that boy doing here?"

"Why Uncle," the Emperor replied obviously feeling guilty but trying to laugh it off, "I have need of such tools now. You warned me before we left Gaul that if I became Emperor I would always be threatened by plots and conspiracies. Such men as Crastus are expert at ferreting such things out. Every where there are enemies," he continued his voice rising near to hysteria, "everywhere."

"If you have need of tools like Crastus I think perhaps you have no need for me."

"So you desert me too," Caligula flared up and then quickly as it came the mood passed. "No Uncle I know you do not. You looked after me when I was small when my father was too busy commanding the legions to be bothered with a young boy. You taught me to be a soldier and the ways of the camps. You will not desert me ever, nor I you. But Uncle you are right the court is not the place for you and I wish it were not for me also. If you wish to return to the legions I will not stand in your way."

"Thank you Sir?" Junius replied quietly, "and what of the boy Marius?"

"I do not know. Crastus told me where he found him and who his father was. Sejanus who plotted against my Uncle to seize the Imperial thrown himself; the son of a proscribed traitor. A dangerous breeding…"

"Sir Marius is only a boy eleven or twelve years at the most. He was faithful to your brother and to his own friends. Remember you yourself called him Marius Fideles (Marius the faithful). He is a threat to no one."

"Not now - but in the future? There will be plenty to whisper to him of his father and of revenge… I shall think on it… There is one thing though that I can do for him now and that I shall do."

"And what Sir is that?"

"He and you perhaps will find out after he has been flogged tomorrow morning."

As he approached the room he heard the sound of sweeping. Sulis was on his hands and knees working away with a dustpan and brush. Marius saw that his room was unusually tidy. Clothes, sandals and other objects that normally cluttered the floor, apart from the half hour or so immediately after the maid had cleaned it, had been neatly folded and put away. At the sound of his footsteps Sulis looked up at him and smiled happily before returning to his work. The sight of the boy reminded Marius of the responsibilities he had assumed in purchasing a slave.

"Sulis come here," Marius ordered seating himself on his bed, "and turn round."

He saw the curve of the boy's bottom was scored with welts that etched jagged scarlet lines deepening to a reddish purple at their edges across the child's smooth brown skin. Here and there, especially where the strokes of the rod had intersected or where the cane's tip had flicked round the boy's rump to bite at his flanks the skin had been broken and there had been bleeding. It was clear though that someone had tended to the boy's bottom. Dried blood had been sponged away and ointment spread along the angry weals.

Marius ran a finger tip gently along one livid stripe and Sulis wriggled in excitement at his touch. He reached round the younger boy and found his cock. Tiny and hairless though it was hard and jutting eagerly upwards.

"Who looked after your bum for you Sulis?" he asked, gently playing with the child's rigid little rod.

"Paullus took me down to the kitchens and a maid there did it for me. And he told her to grease my hole too in case you wanted to fuck me," he added breathlessly leaning forward so that Marius could see the truth of his statement for himself.

Marius saw the slick of fresh oil along the lips of the boy's anus. He rested the tip of his index finger against them. He pressed. Sulis caught his breath. There was a little initial resistance and then he was inside Sulis's well greased hole feeling the warmth of the boy close about him.

Regretfully he pulled his finger clear. It emerged with a faint but distinct plop.

"Marius," Sulis pleaded pushing his bottom back invitingly.

"No you're too sore for it now and not big enough either," Marius said firmly. " Dictys was good to me and he loved you so I bought you in order that I could be a good Master to you. I owe it to Dictys that I should be."

"And I'll be a good boy for you Master," Sulis promised.

"I know you will," Marius said standing and kissing the boy on the back of his neck, "and when you are old enough and learnt a trade or something and I am rich so that I can give you a good present to start you off I will set you free."

Sulis twisted round and throwing his arms round Marius's neck reached up to kiss him on the lips. Marius tongue probed the child's mouth. He tasted honey and pulled away. Glancing round he saw the top was off the jar of honey and figs on the table beside his couch.

"You haven't changed Sulis," he remarked placing his hands on the boy's shoulders. Sulis responding to the downward pressure sank to his knees. His hands gripped Marius by his hips as he took the older boy's cock into his mouth. For a few brief seconds Marius forgot about his coming flogging.

"He's waiting for you," Paullus said quietly.

Marius rose to his feet. Sulis, loyalty to his master taking precedence over even his tummy, stopped eating and moved to follow him but Marius signalled to him to stay. Once they were outside the room Paullus slipped his hand under Marius's arm but the boy shrugged him off.

"I can manage all right Paullus," he said the quaver in his voice slightly belying the bravery of the words.

Indeed Marius wondered if he could see it through with out help. The walk seemed never ending. His knees felt weak and he found difficulty both in breathing and in co-ordinating his movements while his stomach churned in fear. Every now and again Paullus would turn his head and glance at him but he did not offer again to take his arm.

They walked silently along a series of corridors the only sound their footsteps on the marble floor.

Paullus stopped in front of a heavy wood door and swung it open He stood to one side. As Marius passed him he patted him encouragingly on the rump. Junius was standing waiting for them a thick leather, strap it's end split to give it extra bite, hanging from his right hand. Biting down on his lower lip to try to stop it quivering Marius stepped into the room.

"You choose to brawl in the Imperial Palace. That is strictly forbidden and I have been instructed to punish you," Junius's voice sounded strained and unnatural. "You will receive twelve strokes. Strip."

With fingers that seemed to have difficulty in obeying the instructions his mind was sending them Marius unbuckled his belt. He pulled his tunic over his head and removed his loincloth. Kicking off his shoes he stood naked, waiting, hoping that the two men would not notice that he had an erection.

"Get him up on your back Paullus," Junius ordered.

Paullus turned his back to Marius and bent forward placing his hands on his knees.

"Come on soldier," he said. It was the first time he had spoken to Marius since they had left his room.

Marius reflected that some things were easier if you were a slave boy. There would be none of this being taken to a special place and being required to strip and to present your naked back for the whip. It would be a simple matter of being thrown to the floor and lying pinned there howling and writhing as the lash ripped into your defenceless body. Junius shifted impatiently and Marius realising that he could delay no longer gritted his teeth and sprang up onto Paullus's back. The man grabbed hold of his wrists and straightened, lifting the boy well clear of the floor.

Marius heard Junius moving behind him. There was a pause and then a light touch on his bottom. He tensed himself in anticipation of the blows to come, accentuating the dimples on either side of his rump. He heard the sound of movement as Junius swung the strap back over his right shoulder and then the more urgent strident hiss as he brought it down to crack viciously across his bare bum creating an explosion of pain of such intensity that it that drove the breath from his body. The pain was at first centred in his bottom where the belt had struck but rapidly spread through his whole body, tearing at his nerve ends. As he dragged air down into his oxygen starved lungs he heard the lash begin it's descent for the second time. He bit desperately down on his lower lip, calling up every last ounce of will power to try to stop himself screaming. He couldn't prevent his body jerking convulsively as once more the strap cracked down across his naked bottom. Gasping for breath he fought back the scream that almost burst from his chest, panting and grunting in his effort to control himself.

Junius knew very well the agonies that the lad was experiencing and the great efforts that he was making to control himself. He hoped desperately that Marius would survive the beating with his pride intact but he was not the man to shirk his duty for that reason or any other. The boy had misbehaved and must be disciplined. Stripe after stripe he laid across Marius's bottom while the boy's naked body writhed under the lash. On and on the flogging went, the only sound sounds were the hiss of strap as it rose and fell, the sharp crack of leather striking bare flesh, the moans and gasps of the boy and Junius's own laboured breathing as he devoted all his strength to the task in hand.

Not once did Marius cry out or plead for mercy.

At last the flogging was over. Junius stood a moment panting from effort looking at the livid welts he had scored across Marius's smooth brown skin. He noticed at their edges scarlet was deepening into reddish purple as the bruising began to come out came out. He noticed too the beads of dark blood welling from the places where the stripes had overlapped or the tip of the strap had split the boy' skin. He knew that by next morning the deeper bruising would have taken on a yellow or even a greenish hue.

"All right," he ordered, "you can put him down now."

Paullus released his grip on the boy's wrists and Marius slid down his back to the ground. He staggered slightly as his feet touched the ground but quickly recovered himself.

Junius caught sight of his face, mucous running from his nose down his cheeks and chin mixing with the blood that flowed from his under lip where he had bitten into it.

"Thank you Sir and you too Paullus," Marius said trying to stop his lips from trembling. He grabbed at his clothes and holding them to him walked quickly to the door. He closed it carefully behind him and did not break into a run until he thought he was out of earshot of the men in the room.

"A good boy that one," Paullus remarked and then catching sight of Junius's drawn face fell silent.

"You might almost have thought that it was he who had been flogged," Paullus said to himself.

"Sulis… go away," he ordered between sobs.

He felt the mattress on which he was lying sink as someone sat beside him.

"Sulis I told you go away… I'll give you a taste of what I've got if you don't."

Fingers gently smoothed ointment onto his burning rump.

"I don't want you here… I told you…"

"Just lie still young Master." It was a woman's voice, a voice with the broad rough tones of a peasant.

"Pannychis," Marius shouted rolling in one movement onto his front and sitting upright, only to howl loudly as his full weight pressed down on his raw bum. He shot up onto his knees and threw his arms about the girl's neck hugging her tight.

"How glad I am that you are here Pannychis… Are you all right…? Where have you come from…? I am so glad you're here… I was going to come and look for you but I didn't know where to start."

"I'm fine Sir… now get back down on your tummy again like a good boy so I can put the ointment on that poor sore bottom of yours."

"As for where I come from… yesterday evening my old Master, who was not a bad sort of man at all, called for me and I found him with that horrible Crastus and that nasty little brute Pulchellus. I didn't recognise that one at first… he was always such a pretty thing but something horrible has happened to him… there's a big black hole in the middle of his face where his nose was."

"Good," Marius said, "I bit it off."

"No more than he deserves I'm sure," Pannychis said loyally, "Anyway the Master said he had no choice to hand me over to Crastus because it was the Emperor's order… I didn't want to go as you can imagine, not with Crastus, but I had no choice and he was very careful and polite with me, though Pulchellus was muttering and swearing to himself all the time. And Crastus brought me here to the Palace and then I saw a young man who told me he was the Emperor and that I was a present from him to you… so here I am. It's all very simple and straightforward."

"You're the best present I ever have had Pannychis and I'm giving you your freedom straight away… But you will stay with me won't you."

"Ah Marius Fideles how did you like my present young man?" The Emperor asked jovially.

"It is the best present I've ever received Sir." Marius replied gratefully.

"Good… I'm glad your pleased with it. Now I promised to think about your future and find something for you to do that will keep you out of trouble – a task to tax the wisest I would think. However before I do that I have to give Junius here his new command for he has asked to leave the court."

"I think you have had enough Tribune of the wet and cold and the dark forests of Gaul Tribune. So the Fifth Legion… guarding the limes of North Africa… a prosperous region and important. Keeping the border tribesmen in order will stop you getting bored and the hunting is excellent there as well."

"Very good Sir and thank you. I wish you well Sir and Marius you too… You're a goodish sort of lad."

"Before you finally leave us Tribune perhaps you could help us in our second task. Deciding on Marius's future… you and your soldier servant Paullus have had much to do with him since he joined my court."

"Sir," Marius interrupted blushing crimson.

"Well what is it boy?" Caligula did not sound at all pleased at being interrupted.

"You said before I could have a say in what was to happen to me."

"I did say that… well what do you want? What rich senator or wealthy knight has bribed you to get into my favour? Come on boy, name him."

"Sir no one's bribed me… though I've been given lots of presents… And I don't want to be adopted by a rich knight nor a senator either… I thought maybe I could be a soldier Sir… Maybe in North Africa…"

The End