Survivors 3-1

[aurelius]

Survivors3-I

 

 

41

 

I was at the smithy, checking with Zuberi about the 100 ankhs and 100 scarabs we had promised Captain Amun.  Zuberi simply pointed to a couple of smaller basins in the corner: “They’re ready to go.  I imagine you and Abari could carry one each.”

 

“Thanks, Zub!  I’ll ask Abari tonight.”  And that’s when Xander showed up.

 

He said “Hi” to me but it was clear he had to talk with his lover.  I moved a little away, but still overheard.

 

“Zub!  You know that I love you, but you also know that I’ve always wanted to go back to Greece.”

 

“Yeah, you want to go to Greece and wrestle some Greeks.  And Masud is finally allowing you to make the trip.”  Zuberi already knew this conversation.  “Look, I’m betting that our little brother”—he gestured to me—“is going to get another order for ankhs and scarabs from that Egyptian captain.  You think so, Jabar?”

 

“Yep; I imagine he’ll make some gold with the ones you’ve already made—and he’ll ask for more.”

 

“So, I don’t think I can take a vacation to Greece.  But you shouldn’t go alone.  Take Jabar.”

 

“Nope,” I said, “Xander and I going to Greece by ourselves will kill Abari.”

 

“Then take him along!  Abari’s a good wrestler.  No reason why he can’t wrestle too—he could give Xander some real competition!”  

 

“OK.  I’ll see if Abari wants to go.  If he goes, I can go; if he won’t go, I won’t.”

 

Xander looked at me and said, “Would it help if I come with you?”

 

“Let’s see how evening water goes.  You could announce it there, and have Zuberi support you.  It may be that Abari will understand how much this means to you and he will also want to support your going.  Our dad won’t want you to go alone, and that may be how we bring up the subject of me and Abari going too.”

 

Xander hugged me very briefly and said, “You do have a good brain!”

 

Dad and Amare were still having evening water down at the beach.  I think they liked their extended family—the men on both sides of the bay.  And our smaller family—the three sets of brothers—didn’t begrudge the wider “bay family”.  We loved our fathers and if they became fathers to more men, we could share.  We always knew that if we needed our dads, they were there for us.

 

Amare asked if anyone had any news.  Xander stood up and said, “I’m going back to Greece on Masud’s ship!”  Dad immediately asked, “Are you going alone?  Is Zuberi going with you?”  Zuberi said, “I’m not going.  I need to stay here and make scarabs and anhks for the next visit from the Egyptians.  But I know how much this means to my love.  He should go.  But I don’t want him to go alone.  I suggested he ask Jabar—and Jabar said he wouldn’t go without Abari.”

 

So, Zuberi told the whole story and everyone was looking at Abari and me.  I turned to Abari and said, “I won’t go without you.  Xander wants to see his homeland and he wants to wrestle some Greeks.  But you’re a pretty good wrestler, so you can come too!”  Abari did not look convinced.

 

“But what about when the Egyptians come—don’t you want to be at the harbor?”

 

“Yes, I do; but I want to support Xander.  I don’t need to see Egypt again; I don’t think you need to either—but Xander has a chance to see where he comes from, and I think we should support that.”

 

I could see Abari’s good heart was winning out over his suspicions, but he had to say it: ”No kissing—remember!”  

 

“I remember.  I promised.”  Some men from the other side of the bay were whispering about my mistake to their friends.

 

“And so have I,” said Xander.  He seemed to be almost begging as he looked toward Abari.  And Abari couldn’t refuse to help someone—even someone whom he didn’t fully trust.

 

“And I’ll handle the Egyptians when they come.”  I wasn’t expecting Amare to say this, but I was glad he did.  “And so will I,” said Dad.  So if our fathers supported this idea, Abari had to go along.  

 

Zuberi turned to our fathers and said, “Then you’ll need to pick up the basins of ankhs and scarabs from the smithy when you go down to the harbor.”

 

Xander came over to Abari, took his hands and said, “Please.”

 

“Well, OK,” he said.  And once more our family had provided drama before the water jugs went around.

 

As men passed the water jugs, I moved over to talk with Amare and Dad.  “You’ll have to ask for something from Captain Amun at the harbor.  I’m pretty sure he’ll want more necklaces.  He may want different designs.  I think Zuberi can handle anything.  But what do you think we need?”

 

Amare looked at Dad and then said, “I like the loincloth.  Maybe more of those?”  Dad added, “How about some cotton sheets?  We don’t get cold here, but some nights get cool and sheets for everyone on the island would be a nice touch.”

 

Amare added: “And I think it’s time we had some olive oil for lamps.  I’m sure Musa can make some oil lamps for all of us.”

 

“That’s a great idea!” I said.  “You two probably should handle all our trade with Captain Amun.  After all, just your size will scare him half to death!”  And my fathers both chuckled.

 

 

 

42

 

I didn’t want to remember the last time I was on a ship; I don’t think Abari did either.  I made a point of stressing to him that this was really our first sea voyage.  We were going out into the sea.  We wouldn’t be keeping near the coast, the way the army ships did.  Abari and I spent our time on deck cuddling and feeling the sea wind in our faces.  After a while he relaxed.  But, oddly, he was ready to go below deck, to man the oars.

 

For of course we all had to row; rowing was part of our passage.  Xander and Abari were bigger, more muscular than most of the oarsmen.  Xander seemed to want to row—he was willing to do anything to help him get back to Greece.  Abari wasn’t as eager, but he liked using his muscles; he sat across from Xander and they had a friendly competition as they rowed.  However, when they got ahead of the other rowers, the coxswain would yell, “Keep together!”  And Xander and Abari would smile at each other and slow down their pace.

 

I too had to row, but I was happy with the slower pace.  I was only as muscular as most of the rowers.  We were all in pretty good shape, and the ship had a good supply of island water, so we would replenish our strength with a drink of water.  But I wanted to stand at the bow of the ship and feel the wind on my face—and I wished Abari wanted to do that as much as I did.  Instead, our voyage was doing what in some ways I had hoped: it was already bringing Abari and Xander closer together.

 

There were times when all three of us would stand in the bow of the ship and feel the splash of the sea as the ship made its way through the waves.  The sail sometimes would billow, but often the wind was against us and the rowing was what pushed the ship forward.  Once when we were all three standing toward the front of the ship, and I had my arm around Abari’s waist, Abari put his arm around Xander’s waist.  Xander turned to him and said, “Thank you for coming on this voyage.  I don’t think you know how much it means to me!”

 

Abari said, “No, I don’t think we do, but I’m glad we’re here.  You need to go back; we want to help.”  I kissed him for that; it was perfect.

 

We were up on deck again—I think our coxswain was actually glad that we weren’t rowing; it made things easier for him!—when we spotted land.  “Look,” Xander said, “Greece!”  His face was joyous.

 

“Now,” I said, “don’t go getting crazy on us.  We still love you and you have a lover back at home who would die if you didn’t return.”

 

“I’ll remember,” he said, but I didn’t believe him.

 

We docked at Pyools.  It was an good harbor.  You could see a big palace up on a hill.  Xander wanted to go ashore.  I insisted that all three of us wear loincloths and sandals: “They will make us look more like everyone else.”

 

“Good idea!” Xander said.  The loincloths were easy.  Masud had a large supply of them on hand for anyone who wanted to go ashore.  He also had a large collection of sandals, but the crew—including us—had a harder time with sandals.  

 

“Jabar!” Abari said, “These things feel strange!”  He stood up and took a few steps.  “And they’re hard to walk in!”

 

“I know,” I said, “But everyone else will be wearing them, and when they see us without sandals, they’ll think we’re strange.  We don’t want to attract too much attention.”

 

“Well, OK,” Abari said.  ‘But I hope we don’t have to run in them.  I might trip and fall!”

 

I had to admit, the loincloths only made my companions look bigger and more beautiful.  And of course we still wore our necklaces. The ankhs around my and Abari’s necks showed anyone with any knowledge of Egypt that we came from there.  Xander had a golden thunderbolt; I was curious to see how the Greeks would react to it.

 

We walked up from the harbor and into the city of Pylos.  There was something about the buildings which seemed familiar—did they look Cretan?  I had never been to Crete, but I had heard sailors talking about it.  Still, Pylos was a fair-sized city and I had never been in any city outside of Egypt.  Abari acted as if he had never been in a city anywhere; I made sure to stick close to him.  He was walking gaped-mouth; I was afraid he would bump into someone and a fight would start.

 

So I was staying close to Abari when someone called out to Xander.  I didn’t understand the language, but it seemed like the man thought Xander was someone named Eteocles.  Xander shook his head and said “Xander.”  The man said something else and started off.  But Xander stopped him; he said “Eteocles?” and pointed his finger one way, then the other.  The man indicated that Eteocles was to our right, a long ways away.  I got the idea that he meant outside the city.

 

Xander turned to Abari and me: “I’ve got to go see who this Eteocles is.  Abari, will you come with me?”  Abari nodded. ”And Jabar, will you run back to Masud and tell him we’re checking out someone who could be my family?”  I nodded and headed back to the ship.

 

It was funny.  I was running fast—even with sandals on!   Maybe it felt fast because I had been locked up on a rolling ship for days and the running felt good.  I got to the ship, found Masud, told him that Xander seemed to have found a relative, and we wouldn’t be back to the ship until late.  Masud wasn’t pleased: “My business here is done, but I guess I can stay another day.”   I picked up a water jug on a strap; then I gave Masud a hug and a kiss before I ran off.

 

I ran back through the harbor and the city to the place where I had left Abari and Xander.  I ran along that street toward the gate in the city wall.  I caught up with Abari and Xander just as they were leaving the city.

 

“Did you ask at the city gate where Eteocles lives?”

 

“Yes,” said Xander. “Or at least I think I did.  The guard pointed down this road.  Can we run?”

 

“Of course,” I said.  “Oh no!” said Abari.  And he did stumble a couple of times.  I made sure to hold myself back so I would be there if he fell.  But after awhile, he was able to run.

 

We soon found ourselves near what looked like a big farm or estate.  Xander didn’t stop.  He went up to the gate and found someone who looked like a servant and said the magic word: “Eteocles?”

 

The servant went inside the gate and soon a young man, about Xander’s size—not nearly as muscular,  but a pretty young man with long black hair—came out.  Xander said, “Eteocles?” and the young man nodded.  Xander pointed to himself and said, “Xander.”  I’m sure he wanted to say more, but he knew very few words in Greek: adelphios, brother, was one.  So he said, “Adelphios?”  Eteocles turned and ran back inside the courtyard.  He brought out an older man who took one look at Xander and turned around and went back inside.  He brought out an older woman—I assumed that these were Eteocles’ parents.  The older woman looked at Xander and gasped.  Then she came up to Xander and turned him around.   It was a bit amazing, how Xander let the old woman turn him around.  But I got the sense that Xander already knew she was important to him.  She loosened the loincloth and looked at his right butt cheek.  Xander had a mole on his right butt cheek.  She gasped again.  But this time tears were streaming down her face.  She hugged Xander, crying.  She turned to Eteocles and said something that included the word xadelphios, cousin.  Eteocles hugged Xander; Eteocles’ father hugged Xander.  Now Xander was crying.  Now Abari and I were crying.  The woman gestured for us all to come into the house.

 

It was hard, communicating with people who didn’t speak our language, but there were smiles from Eteocles and his parents and Xander seemed to be nothing but smiles and tears.  He turned to Abari and me and said, “I think they’re my aunt and uncle and Eteocles is my cousin.  She is my mother’s sister.  I lived on a farm not far from here.  Jabar!  I’m home!”  And he hugged me and then he hugged Abari.

 

The problem was—we didn’t eat much.  We didn’t need to know the language to understand that the father was amazed that we were all so big and strong but we didn’t eat much.  Xander, using gestures mostly, tried to explain that we just drank our water.  He tried to explain that he had been a slave on a Cretan merchant ship.  That he had escaped from the ship and was rescued by a pale man with a lot of muscles and his Nubian lover.  They had brought up Zuberi and Xander, and that Abari and I were also his brothers.  

 

I’m not sure how much of this Xander’s relatives understood, but they smiled and Xander’s aunt kept putting olives and fruit and cakes in front of us, motioning to us to eat.  But we just didn’t eat much.  It became awkward.  The mother thought we didn’t like her food.  Each of us—Abari, Xander, and myself—indicated by rubbing our stomachs that we thought the food we good but we mainly drank our water.  She didn’t believe us.  Neither did the father.  On the other hand, Eteocles seemed amazed at how much muscle Xander and Abari had.

 

Eteocles made some grabs at Xander’s arms; then he got up and crouched and motioned for Xander to do the same.  Xander smiled, got up, crouched down and started making some wrestling moves with Eteocles.  But Eteocles’ father motioned that the two should go outside.  So we did.  Eteocles tried to wrestle with Xander, and I’m sure Xander was very gentle with him, but it didn’t take Xander long to put Eteocles on his back.  But he smiled as he got up and Xander gave him a hug and a kiss.  Then Eteocles motioned to Abari; Xander understood that he wanted to see Xander and Abari wrestle.  So Xander asked Abari to wrestle.  I quickly leaned over to Abari and said, “Let him win, OK?”  Abari nodded.

 

Watching Eteocles watch his cousin wrestle, I wondered if we shouldn’t steal Eteocles, take him the ship, give him some water and watch him gain muscle.  He liked watching his cousin’s muscles nearly as much as I did.  After Xander had pinned Abari—and Abari had winked and smiled at me—I pointed to the sun setting in the west.  

 

Eteocles was quick to understand what we were saying.  He shook his head violently and said what could only be understood as “No!”   Eteocles looked at his father; his father nodded, and after Abari and Xander had picked up their loincloths, Eteocles led us to some guest rooms at the end of the big house.  He gestured that we should sleep there—and there were three beds!   We smiled and Xander hugged Eteocles, his mom and his dad. 

 

 

43

 

Xander couldn’t stop crying.  I knew if I kissed him, Abari would get suspicious, but I’m happy to say that Abari went over, put his big arm on Xander’s big shoulders, and kissed him.

 

“You are so lucky, my brother!” Abari said softly.  “You have found your family.  I don’t even know where I could look for my family—and I know Jabar doesn’t want to see his father again, and his mother is dead.  So, Xander, you are lucky!”

 

“I know, I know,” Xander said as he sniffled and lessened his tears. “But if this is luck then it’s also painful: I’ll never see my own mother and father again, and although my aunt and uncle and Eteocles are wonderful, they’re also a reminder of what I lost.”

 

I looked at Abari; he knew what I was asking.  He nodded.  I came up and sat on the other side of Xander and also put my arm around him.  

 

“Yes, you lost your parents.  We all did.  But we have great dads at home on the island—remember them?”

 

“Of course I do!”

 

“And you have a lover who wants you to come home, and you have us and two other brothers who love you.”

 

“I know.  And I know I’m being selfish”—Xander paused—“and you guys are wonderful and I love you both”—and here he moved his big arms up and soon had both Abari and me in a big hug—“but these are really deep feelings and I can’t get over them just yet.”  He sighed.  “But thank you for being here and helping me with this—I am so glad you came with me!”  And he kissed each of us.

 

Eteocles appeared at our door and knocked on the open door.  He seemed hesitant to come in.  Xander motioned for him to come in.  Eteocles was carrying a jug.  He sat on one of the other beds and offered it to us.  Xander took the jug and took a sip.  He turned to us and said, “It’s wine.  I’m drinking Greek wine.  I’ve always wanted to do this!”  He smiled a huge smile and said “Thank you!” to Eteocles who nodded and said something in reply.

 

Now, neither Abari nor I had ever had wine.  I wasn’t sure if we should.  I had had a little Egyptian beer, but I don’t think Abari had even had that.  Xander handed me the jug.  I took a sip.  It tasted strange, but warm.  I sipped some more and then handed it to Abari.  He took a sip, shook his head and gave the jug back to Xander.  After taking another sip, Xander handed the jug back to Eteocles—and he took a long drink.

 

Then Eteocles got up and took a wrestler’s crouch again.  But it seemed he didn’t want to wrestle; he just pointed to Xander and Abari—and Xander and Abari again—and then pointed outside.  And then he put his arm up and made his fist with the other hand move up behind his arm.

 

Xander looked at me, confused.  “What’s he trying to say?  Can you figure it out?”  I made the same gesture and then pointed to Xander and Abari and made my two hands come together and then move back and forth—I was trying to convey wrestling with only my hands.  Eteocles nodded vigorously.  I turned to Xander and said, “I think he wants you and Abari to wrestle again tomorrow.”  Xander shrugged his shoulders and said “Sure,” and then he and Abari nodded.

 

Eteocles took another sip of wine from his jug, then he left the jug by Xander’s feet before he bent over and gave Xander a huge hug and a kiss—a long kiss on the lips.  Like I said, it seemed that Eteocles would fit in well on the island.  Of course, I’m not sure how Zuberi would like someone else on the island who was in love with Xander!

 

We could have seen it as Eteocles simply being overjoyed that he had a cousin—a big, beautiful, muscular cousin.  After Eteocles left,  Abari turned to Xander and said, “Your cousin is in love with you!”  And I said, “We need to be careful—that boy may sneak onto Masud’s ship and if he gets to our island, Zuberi is not going to be pleased!”  Xander shook his head and said, “I know.  That was no brotherly kiss!  Our tongues wrestled!”

 

“Well,” I said, “Let’s deal with that tomorrow.  I think we all could use some sleep!”  I paused.  “Xander, do you mind if Abari and I cuddle?  We can move our mattresses down to the floor and sleep like we’re home.”

 

“That’s fine with me,” he said.  And so Abari put his big arm around me and we cuddled; soon we were all asleep.

 

 

 

44

 

When I woke up the next morning, a larger, more muscular Eteocles was sleeping next to Xander’s bed.  I had to poke Xander’s big arm a couple of times before he woke up.  I nodded and gestured with my thumb toward the bigger Eteocles sleeping on the floor.  Then I put my finger to my lips and quietly said “Shhh.”

 

“Then I wasn’t having a dream last night,” Xander whispered.  “I thought I was dreaming that someone was sucking my cock.”

 

“Well,” I whispered, “that someone was your cousin and now he’s big—and as beautiful as you!”  Now Xander put his finger by his lips and pointed to Abari.

 

“He’ll find out soon enough,” I said, a little louder.  “But I worry about what this means.  Eteocles’ Greek friends are going to want to know how he put on so much muscle.   And I’ll bet he’ll tell them.”

 

Xander looked at me and said, “And then what?”

 

“I don’t know, but I imagine a lot of other Greek young men would like more muscles.  You may get your cock sucked a lot—and maybe not willingly!”

 

By this time Abari was awake and listening.  “You mean you think they’ll make us cum?”

 

“That’s exactly what I mean,” I said.  I thought for a moment.  “Look, we need some help.  You two are very strong, but you can’t fight off a small army of Greek men who want your cum.  Eteocles wants to show you off to his buddies.  You wrestle each other and wrestle some of the Greeks.  I’m going to run down to Masud’s ship and ask him to come up here with some of his crew, just in case things get bad.”

 

“That’s a good idea,” Xander said.  “Just remember to say goodbye to my aunt and uncle, and that you’ll be back.”

 

“Of course.”

 

I left the room and found Eteocles’ mom and dad in the farmhouse.  I pointed toward the harbor and made a sign of two fingers running one way, and then the other way.  They nodded.  I left.  Again, I ran pretty fast.  I reached the harbor, found our ship, and found Masud.  I explained as clearly and quickly as I could that Eteocles had sucked Xander’s cock and gotten big.  I feared that other men would want to suck Xander’s cock—and Abari’s too—and that I needed Masud and some of his men to come with me back to the farmhouse.  

 

Masud looked serious but he nodded and then called about a half dozen of his men to come with him.  We walked quickly through the city and out toward the estate.  We walked straight into the courtyard and saw Xander wrestling with some big Greek guy.  The man was a mix of fat and muscle, but he seemed to know how to wrestle.  He tried to get behind Xander and tried to put his arm around Xander’s neck, but Xander was pretty quick for a big guy: he took hold of the guy’s arm and swung it away from his neck; then he turned around to face the Greek guy and twisted the man’s arm until he knelt and gave up.  

 

The crowd cheered, “Xander!  Xander!”  

 

Eteocles came up to Xander and put his arm around Xander’s big shoulders.  He smiled and kissed Xander on his cheek.  Then he turned to the crowd of young men and said something.  They all cheered.  Eteocles pulled at Xander’s arm; then he went over to Abari and pulled at his arm.  He looked around for me, found me and pulled on my arm.  It was pretty clear he wanted us to go with him and the rest of his Greek buddies.  Xander and Abari got their loincloths and put them on and we were on our way.

 

We headed out of the courtyard and toward the city.  I made sure to find Abari and Xander.  I said Masud and a half dozen of his men were behind us.  Xander asked me if knew where we were going.  

 

“I don’t know, but I think your cousin wants to show you off.  We may be headed to the palace or to some other big guy in town.”

 

When we got to the city, Eteocles talked with one the guards and we were welcomed in.  We headed straight toward the big palace on the hill.  I turned to Masud and said, “Well, maybe you can make some trade contacts”

 

“Maybe a merchant friend of mine, Aristeas, will be there.  He knows Egyptian.  He can translate for us.”

 

The small army of Greek young men cheered as they entered the palace courtyard.  I made sure I was next to Abari.  The palace looked imposing from the outside; I imagined that the interior would be splendid and Abari would once again be gape-mouthed.

 

And he was.  The vibrant orange and blue of the columns were matched by the murals, all of which showed the ocean: an octopus stretched out its long arms as if it was going to capture us and take us into the sea; dolphins raced and jumped from the water—and Abari was stunned by it all.  I got next to him and said, “These are only pictures; they can’t hurt you.  Understand?”  Abari nodded, but still he looked as if he was overwhelmed.  And to Masud I softly said, “You need to ask Zuberi to make more dolphin necklaces!”  He nodded.

 

Eteocles ran ahead of us to a throne on the other side of a large circular hearth—cold for now; I assumed it would be blazing later.  Eteocles talked with the black-bearded man on the throne; he got up and Eteocles brought him over to Xander and Abari.  Xander bowed first, and Abari followed—and then all of us from the island, since Masud and his men were right behind our two star wrestlers.  

 

I noticed a well-dressed man with long curls and earrings coming over to us.  Masud whispered to me, “Aristeas.  Now we’ll be able to find out what’s going on.”  Aristeas came and stood by Masud and introduced Masud to the big guy. The big guy bowed slightly to Masud; he complimented Masud on his scarab and swept his hand toward all of us.   Aristeas whispered, “The Warnax likes your necklaces.  He wonders if you can bring him some.”  Masud told Aristeas: “Tell him that this journey I cannot—all of our jewelry is promised to Mycenae.  But I can make another trip.  How many and what design?”  Aristeas translated this into Greek.  The Warnax talked with Aristeas, who then turned to Masud: “He likes the thunderbolts—say 50 of those.  But his wife would like some of the Egyptian goddess Hathor—can you bring 50 of that design?”  “Of course,” said Masud.

 

Then the Warnax turned back to Eteocles and to Xander and Abari.  He indicated with his hand that we should go out to the courtyard.  Aristeas whispered: “He wants to see your muscular friends wrestle in the courtyard.”

 

 

45 

 

Eteocles seemed to command the whole courtyard.  He had all of his buddies on one side of the courtyard, the Warnax and his court on the other side.  He gestured for Xander and Abari to come into the center of the courtyard.  So they stripped and I heard a couple of gasps from the court—both Xander and Abari are very well-endowed.  And I could see that some of Eteocles’ buddies also licked their lips at the big cocks.  No wonder Eteocles had to suck Xander’s cock.  I turned to Masud and said, “It seems half the court wants our boys’ cocks.”  Masud nodded: “I’m glad you came and got me.  My hunch is that we will have to rescue our friends and carry them to the ship and weigh anchor during the night.”  I nodded.

 

Xander and Abari were wrestling each other for the third time.  I could hear little whispers between them.  I think they were both tired.  Still, I heard the word “show” as they circled each other.  Soon their arms were locked and they were each trying for advantage.  They were putting on a show.  Xander suddenly let Abari go; his big arms went in and around Abari’s waist and Abari soon was lifted up.  He hammered Xander’s shoulders and kicked Xander’s legs and gut.  But Xander held on, tightening his arms around Abari’s waist.  Abari hit Xander’s neck and that loosened the hold.  Abari dropped; Xander was stunned, but he quickly recovered.  He next went for Abari’s leg—not as dramatic, but just as effective.  He got hold of Abari’s leg and quickly lifted it up.  Abari tried to maintain his balance, but he couldn’t.  He was soon on his back.  Xander reached down, took Abari’s hand, helped him up, hugged him and gave him a kiss—and Abari kissed him back.  The crowd applauded and said “Xander! Xander!”

 

The Warnax came over and put his hand on Xander’s shoulder.  Eteocles came over too—not that he could translate anything, but Xander did look to him for some kind of information.  The Warnax said something; Eteocles made a gesture about putting something in his mouth; Xander nodded.  Aristeas whispered to Masud and me: “The Warnax has invited Xander to a feast.”  The Warnax then gestured with his arm to include everyone in the courtyard.  Eteocles’ buddies all cheered.   “And now,” Aristeas whispered, “the whole courtyard is invited to the feast.”

 

I whispered to Masud: ‘Tell your men not to drink the wine.  I imagine it will be drugged—especially for Xander and Abari.  Abari won’t drink much, since he doesn’t like wine, but they may drug him another way.  We should pretend to get drowsy, but we should be ready to rescue Xander and Abari.”  Masud nodded.

 

As we entered the banquet hall, I took Aristeas aside and asked him to wander around the room to see if he could hear anyone talking about Eteocles getting muscles from sucking Xander’s cock.  Aristeas looked shocked.  “It happened last night; Eteocles woke up a much bigger man today.”  Aristeas nodded and started to go around the room.  He was meeting friends, greeting them and nodding, but he was also near other conversations.  I was pretty sure about what had happened, but I wanted to be sure.  When he got back to me, he reported that he had overheard several young men mentioning Eteocles sucking Xander’s cock.

 

Meanwhile, Masud, his men and I sat down behind and a little to the side of Xander and Abari.  They were guests of the Warnax, so they had seats of honor.  Some musicians played and dancing girls and boys came into the area between the banquet tables.  The dancers were all pretty and young and lithe, and their dances involved a lot of throwing of arms and rubbing bodies against each other.  I’m sure if I stayed longer in Pylos and came to more banquets, I would like their dancing a lot more; however, I was more concerned with watching the pretty young men pouring wine into goblets—did they use different wine jugs for us, or for Xander and Abari?  I couldn’t tell.

 

Food was served as the dancers danced.  People simply tore a piece of meat from a cooked animal, or scooped up a handful of fruit or other edibles.  Xander talked with Abari; I imagine he was saying that they should take some food even if they didn’t plan to eat it.  They both tore off some meat and took some fruit.  Xander was much better than Abari at biting off some meat and then turning to Abari and spitting it out behind his hand.  Abari simply didn’t eat much at all.

 

However, Xander drank a lot more than Abari and it soon became clear that he was drowsy and headed for sleep.  But soon Abari became drowsy too.  Eteocles made a comment to the Warnax: he pointed to Xander and Abari.  The Warnax nodded, and soon Eteocles and some of his buddies came over and helped Xander and Abari stand, and then they helped our wrestlers out of the banquet hall.

 

I looked over at Masud.  None of us from the ship had drunk anything; few of us had eaten anything.  “We have to start getting sleepy,” I said.  Masud whispered to his men.  I carefully watched where Eteocles and his buddies were taking Xander and Abari—they were going down a hall to the left of the banquet hall.  

 

I went over to Aristeas and said, “We are going to rescue Xander and Abari.  It would be helpful if you could come with us—both to tell Eteocles what I think of him and to help us get out of the palace.”  He nodded.

 

We had to wait a while until people began to leave.  Then the Warnax left and with him all the court hangers-on.  I had fallen “asleep” with my head on my arms.  I looked up and saw that there were few people in the banquet hall, and most of them were either asleep or drunk.  I elbowed Masud and whispered, “Just you and me and Aristeas and one other at first.”  Masud motioned to Aristeas and one of his men and we four started off, crouching down, into the hallway to the left of the banquet hall.  Once we reached the hallway, we straightened up and started to look into rooms for Xander and Abari.  

 

We found them about three rooms down from the banquet hall.  We peeked in and saw Eteocles and another man milking Xander and Abari, catching their cum in goblets and then pouring it into an urn.  It was torture, seeing Xander’s and Abari’s beautiful bodies being abused in this way.  But we had to wait.  Finally, the other man picked up the urn went out a door on the other side of the room.  Masud sent the other man to get the rest of his crew, then he, Aristeas and and I went in.  

 

I went over to Eteocles and told him he was a terrible cousin, to betray Xander in this way.  Aristeas translated and Eteocles looked shocked that we were there and that he had betrayed Xander.  Then I slammed my fist into his face, knocking him out.  Then I went to Abari and took his face in my hands, “Abari, my love, you must wake up and come with me.”  He was groggy but he said, “Jabar?” and looked at me.  “Can you stand up?”  He tried, but he was weak from the drink and his lost cum.  Masud’s men arrived and we started figuring out who could carry whom.  I wanted to help carry Abari—it took two men to carry each of our wrestlers.  

 

Aristeas led the way from the room.  He took us down one hall, then another.  I was so glad he was there—there was no way any of the rest of us could have figured out how to get out of the palace.

 

But just as we got out of the palace, Eteocles showed up.  He was crying—whether from shame or from my hitting him, I could not tell. “Please understand.  I had to milk Xander and Abari because the Warnax heard that I had gotten big from sucking Xander’s cock.  Please understand: I love Xander.  Don’t take him away from me!”  I made a fist but relented.

 

“IF we come back here,” I said, “IF Xander comes back here, he will come with his whole family.  And we will protect him from you.  Now, go give his and Abari’s cum to your buddies so you can all get big—but it won’t last.”  And then I knocked him out again.

 

Once we were out of the palace, Masud knew the way to the ship.  Aristeas didn’t come with us.  He hugged Masud and wished him a safe voyage.  But he went back into the palace.

 

Abari and Xander woke up more as we got further away from the palace.  Xander turned to me and said, “Why are we running to the ship?”  “They were milking your cum.  Your cousin was doing it.  I knocked him out.”  At first Xander looked confused and bewildered; then he smiled and said, “That’s my Jabar!”  And he gave me a kiss on my cheek.  Abari smiled.