Spartans 9

By Pueros

for Tom

Chapter 9 – Pageants

(Persepolis, Persia, February 478 B.C.)

“I think that it’ll be my turn tonight,” declared an anxious Alexias in Greek in a quiet nervous but sympathetic tone to Lysander, who was obviously hurting both physically and mentally, “so are you in a state to tell me what to expect?” The fully dressed boys were sitting on the young Spartan’s bed, the young Athenian with encouraging arm around his friend’s shoulders. It was the evening of the third day of the lengthy banquet and the 13 years olds were due to be cleansed, including subjection to enemas, groomed and redressed in readiness to escort the Great King to his bedchamber.

Lysander tried to put a brave face on his degrading and agonising experience of the previous night, changing a facial grimace, caused by the pain in his backside, to a smile in response to his apprehensive friend’s understandable request for knowledge. The 13 years old then answered Alexias’ question candidly, bitterly using throughout the pronoun ‘he’ for the Great King.

“He signalled me to disrobe in the manner that we’ve been taught to anticipate,” advised Lysander, “but then watched me as I did so, which we’ve not been told to expect. The worst bit was taking off the damned genital cover. At the sight of the outside world, my cock not only popped into view but grew rapidly!” This last comment, not originally meant to be funny, broke the tension caused by the humiliating remembrance of one friend and the deep concern of the other and both boys started to giggle.

“Yes, I have to confess,” confided a blushing Lysander, after amusement had eventually subsided, “I acquired an instant full hard-on. It must have been caused by my cock’s forced abstinence and final release from confinement.” However, this seriously meant theoretical statement only created more mutual hilarity and both boys fell back on the bed suffering from uncontrollable laughter.

Order finally restored, Lysander continued his recollection. “I’m sorry to say,” he informed, “that my excitement also partly seemed to stem from a strange thrill that I felt standing naked and erect in front of him, unable to hide my embarrassment from his eyes and knowing what he was about to do. I tell you in case the same happens to you.” The young Spartan then added, although he was not convinced himself at the accuracy of the suggestion, “I suppose that the feeling was caused by the aphrodisiac potions that they give us and so we shouldn’t be too ashamed at displaying such reactions.”

“He signalled for me to dance,” Lysander related, “in the way that we’ve been instructed to without music, before I was to join him on the bed. He then carefully felt me everywhere, front and back, lingering especially in my private areas and almost making me cum on several occasions. However, I somehow managed to prevent myself before it was my turn to play with his cock in the manner in which we’ve been shown, with hand and mouth. His cock was fully hard now and very big, wide as well as long, and hairy. It was not too bad to lick but difficult to suck and I could only fit about a quarter of its length in my mouth, although he didn’t appear to mind.”

“The taste was horrible,” proceeded the young Spartan, “and I felt like being sick a couple of times but he did not seem to notice my occasional quiet gagging. I thought that the work of my hand and mouth on his cock was going to go on forever but eventually he began to moan. I suppose he was approaching cumming. Anyway, that was when he tapped me on the head to signal me to assume the position we’ve been taught so that he could have me for the first time. He lay back on the bed whilst I squatted over him and I was required to kiss him before lowering myself down on his cock.”

Lysander paused for a while, tears again filling his eyes, as he recalled again the terrible moment when a young Spartan voluntarily lost his virginity to the leader of his people’s main enemy, the Great King of the Persians. The boy eventually resumed “I believe that he wanted me to do all the work to underline the point that he was not forcing himself on me, but rather the opposite, to make my shame and subjugation complete. I effectively deflowered myself.”

Alexias’ sympathetic grip on Lysander’s shoulder became firmer as the young Spartan’s tears became fulsome. The young Athenian reassured the other 13 years old “You don’t have to tell me any more.” However, this caused his friend to overcome his temporary lachrymose emotion and remember who he was.

“No,” announced Lysander, drying his tears with the back of his hand, “you should know so that you can prepare yourself for when it is your turn. I don’t want to worry you but I think that’s its better to be fully aware of what will happen. My people have a saying ‘Forewarned is forearmed!’ I’ll therefore continue if you want.” Alexias was not now sure whether he really did want but decided, on balance, that his friend was probably right. The young Athenian did not want to make a cowardly fool of himself in Xerxes’ bedchamber and so answered “Only if you’re sure that you don’t mind!”

Lysander shook his head to indicate that he did not before advising “I first felt his large damp cockhead against my bottom and I had to use a hand to guide it to its target. I then sat on it for a few moments, whilst it rested against my hole, before trying to push down so that it could enter me. The pain was unbelievable and I had to raise my bum again to gain relief. Meanwhile, he just looked at me with a smile and I realised that he wasn’t going to do anything to help. I was now positive that he was testing my bravery and endurance as a Spartan. This enraged me and I thought ‘How dare he challenge me in such a demeaning way!’ However, I also recognised that it was an examination that I must pass. Aided by anger, I therefore returned his cockhead to my hole and lowered myself again. The agony returned, more intense this time, and I could not help uttering a squeal but I clenched my teeth and slowly forced my buttocks lower and lower. I was certainly glad of the little relief provided by the pre-greasing of our rectums.”

“Beads of sweat formed on my forehead and I felt myself come close to fainting on several occasions as my body went downwards, such were the excruciating sensations, but I was a Spartan and had to endure the unendurable. I issued more groans as I proceeded and was just about beginning to believe that I could go no further when I felt his hairy body against my bumcheeks. I’d somehow managed to successfully impale myself on his monster.”

“I paused for a while to regain my composure, during which time he wanted another kiss. I then lifted myself up, not very far, and lowered myself again. I began to repeat this action slowly at first until the agony started to subside a little, presumably as my insides became more accustomed to the brute that filled them, when I decided to go gradually further and quicker, wanting to get the whole thing over as rapidly as possible. The pain was still acute but not as bad as at first. He still did nothing other than watch and enjoy.”

“The thrusts of my bottom up and down on his cock seemed interminable and I was wondering whether he was ever going to cum before I collapsed with exhaustion, as the muscles in my legs were becoming very tired. However, he suddenly lifted his arms and gripped my thighs to aid my movements and I realised that it was an action that was more sexual than helpful on his part because he was now very close. He then closed his eyes and I could feel his sperm flood into me in many bursts. I wondered how my innards could possibly accommodate both his phallus and its product but they somehow did, along with, as I discovered later, quite a lot of my own blood.”

“He had me sit on him for some time afterwards. He kept his eyes shut, apparently still enjoying great pleasure, whilst he played with my own cock, which had somehow stayed hard through all my suffering. He soon brought me close to my own climax and so I had to beg him to halt, although we’re told not to speak to him unless spoken to. I thought that any chastisement for so doing would not be as bad as splashing him with my own semen. ‘Please Great Lord,’ I pleaded, ‘do not continue or I’ll despoil your body with my unworthy seed!’ However, he did not stop and I’m ashamed to say that I came over his belly and chest whilst his still-hard cock remained painfully inside me.”

“I was required to lick my mess up off his hairy body and kiss him several more times before he finally allowed me to dismount. That’s when I saw that I had been bleeding. His genitals were covered with grease, semen and blood, which, of course, I also had to use my tongue to clean away before more fully concentrating again on sucking his cock. I had been instructed to do so until he came again. It took ages but I gagged little this time and, when he finally orgasmed, with his hands holding my head tightly, managed somehow not to choke or suffocate but instead to swallow a fair amount of his sperm before he released me. He then fell asleep and did not wake until morning when you and the eunuchs arrived to prepare him for the day ahead.”

“I slept little and my restlessness was not caused by his snoring. I don’t even think that it was created by the agony in my backside or discomfort in my mouth. No, I cried regularly not with the pain but with the shame. I, Lysander, a Spartan had, without resistance but rather with acquiescence, become a bumboy of the leader of the Persians!” Tears returned to the 13 years old’s gorgeous blue eyes as he said these words.

Alexias was white-faced at hearing Lysander’s recollection and not only because he could expect a similar experience soon but also because he knew that he was responsible for his friend’s humiliation. However, the young Athenian’s recognition of the latter was tempered by realisation that the young Spartan would undoubtedly now be dead if he had not been persuaded to submit to Xerxes’ will.

Alexias also knew that Lysander’s death would have been by awful lingering means and that meanwhile he himself would have been castrated. The young Athenian was sorry for his friend’s shame but personally preferred him in that state and alive than with honour intact and dead. The fact that he had kept his own balls as a result of the young Spartan’s actions were a bonus.

The boys were silent for a while after Lysander’s last revelation, the young Athenian still holding the young Spartan whilst the latter recovered from his recalled misery. Adult eunuchs then disturbed the two friends, as it was time for ablutions and fresh clothes so that the young Greeks could accompany the Great King to his bedchamber.

The eunuchs had already speculated as to whom Xerxes would want for the night. No-one chose Lysander for an unprecedented second successive time, preferring the young Athenian or one of the two new Greek geldings, all still virgin and with delicious bodies as yet untasted by the Great King, or even a woman concubine for variety.

In the event, they were proved wrong as the pageant of gelded and ungelded boy catamites prepared to leave Xerxes’ private quarters. The discreet royal signal was issued to the appalled young Spartan, whose only consolation was that Alexias would be spared, at least for another day.

(Susa, Persia, May 478 B.C.)

Xerxes and a vast royal entourage, including his catamites, returned to Susa, where the Great King was to select a new Queen. Many hopeful young virgin females of noble Persian backgrounds had, over the last few months, usually prompted by ambitious parents, visited the palace hoping to be short-listed as a candidate by the Chief Eunuch, Hegai, who had returned early to the administrative capital to fulfil the task. He not only examined the young women’s dressed physical forms but also checked their backgrounds and characters. He knew that, after the unfortunate experience with Queen Vashti, his royal master would expect someone who could offer an appropriate family pedigree and a pleasant, entertaining and obedient disposition, as well as perfect beauty.

The select few were then handed over to Shaashgaz, the eunuch in charge of the female concubines, for permanent residence in the palatial royal citadel whilst they were prepared and instructed in readiness for viewing by Xerxes. Hadassah had, with Mordecai’s encouragement, decided to put herself forward. Both were worried about the growing anti-Semitic feeling within the Empire, fermented by Haman and his kind, and thought that a Jewish Queen would help to counterbalance such dangerous and illogical but historical antipathy. The beautiful girl, now blossoming into full womanhood, had been one of those chosen by Hegai for inspection by the Great King.

Lysander and Alexias had now both agonisingly lost their virginity to Xerxes, as had the young castrated Phocian and Theban. However, the young Spartan and Athenian had remained whole, the Great King seemingly enjoying the newness of bedding ungelded boys. Nevertheless, the adult eunuchs did not think that this situation would last for much longer as the novelty was bound to wear off and their master was very conservative in his ways, with all the previous royal catamites of his whole dynasty suffering emasculation.

The eunuchs could not imagine that Xerxes would betray the traditions of his forefathers in the long-term, although it was noted that the boys still with testicles were at present easily the Great King’s favourite bed companions. Utilisation of the young Spartan alone had accounted for almost half of the nights since his deflowerment, with some duties shared as a duo with the young Athenian.

Women had played no role in the royal bedroom since Queen Vashti’s exile. The eunuchs wondered whether this was a temporary misogynistic boyloving phase caused by Xerxes’ anger at that woman, allied to the arrival on the scene of particularly tasty specimens of boyhood, or whether it represented a permanent refocusing of sexual tastes. They realised that only time and, probably, the acquisition of a new Queen would tell.

The day of the presentation of the more than twenty candidates finally came and the women were introduced to Xerxes individually in the throne room of his palace at Susa. The Great King was attended, as now frequently happened, by Lysander and Alexias, as well as some other young and old eunuchs. Haman and Mordecai were also present amongst the court officials. The former had remained in the administrative capital whilst his master had spent time in the ceremonial centre at Persepolis. It was appropriate for the Amalakite to do so as his role was primarily bureaucratic. However, such separation, and his master’s increasing disinterest in ordinary government affairs after the debacle in Greece, also enabled him to become more powerful.

Haman kept a check on matters surrounding the King’s person via some spies, the most important of whom was Artabanus, Mordecai’s deputy, a man keenly ambitious for advancement and, although he would not let the gatekeeper become aware of the fact, another anti-Semite. The chamberlain hoped to reward Artabanus one day for his self-seeking help by promoting him into the hated Jew’s post, once he had somehow conjured the latter’s fall and disgrace, even hopefully death.

Lysander and Alexias were intrigued by this particular court occasion. One by one, a pageant of splendidly dressed Persian beauties entered the throne room to prostrate themselves in front of Xerxes before standing to be politely inspected and interrogated by the Great King and his main advisers. The boys’ loins became uncomfortable as their cocks, still encased along with the rest of their genitals by hard tight chastity covers, were prevented from doing what came naturally when shown such feminine splendour.

The women had spent months preparing for this day, with much time spent indulging with beauty treatments, to try to enhance their looks even more, and in practising answers to anticipated questions. Their rich and expensive costumes and jewellery for their presentation had been individually designed and commissioned to impress by their families, who hoped to gain much from the union of their daughters with the royal dynasty.

The one exception was Hadassah who had spurned such ostentation. She was amongst the last to be presented and wore a plain dress with no makeup or jewellery, despite desperate entreaties from Shaashgaz to conform to the others. The 17 years old had decided late that it had to be her natural self that won the Great King’s hand or nothing. Shaashgaz had in panic consulted with Hegai, worried that the girl’s display in front of Xerxes in such a state might cause offence. However, the Chief Eunuch suggested that, if it did, their master’s wrath would fall on the candidate not them.

Xerxes was in fact immediately captivated, although even he could not explain to himself whether it had been the young woman’s unparalleled loveliness or the contrast between her and the others that so caught his eye. The Great King was also very impressed with the 17 years old’s responses to the various questions asked of her. She had replied confidently and often wittily with a genuine disarming smile. However, although she told no lies, Hadassah had earlier also not been entirely frank to Hegai about her family credentials.

Hadassah had been told by Mordecai to say nothing about her Jewish background, knowing that this would disqualify her from candidature, but rather to say that she was an orphan of noble parents, brought up by a worthy guardian, for all of whom the gatekeeper could vouch. The truth could hopefully and safely emerge later if she became Queen. The Chief Eunuch, also rather charmed by the candidate’s allures, had subsequently confirmed the situation briefly with the head of the palace guards and investigated the girl’s precedents no further.

During his questioning, Xerxes had taken Hadassah’s suitable family background as already verified and concentrated his inquiries instead on the young woman’s personality. He certainly wanted the girl in his bed but was pondering whether he wanted her as his Queen. The Great King soon decided that he did.

(To be continued in chapter 10 – ‘Alliances’)