The Lycian Prince 60

(September 291 A.D. – 6 months until Anthonius’ nullification [?])

The speedy wagon returned Anthonius to the Nubian galley at midnight, almost exactly 24 hours before his friend would murder his half-brother. The ship would sail for Alexandria before the assassination took place.

Despite the late hour, most of the crew was still awake. They could not afford to indulge at the harbour taverns or brothels but had purchased cheap wine in order to celebrate their last night in Lycia. Ebana’s generous offer, as well as news of the happenings in Xanthus, was conveyed by the youthful eunuch, via the captain, to the boisterous sex-starved gathering, which numbered over fifty and did not of course include the galley slaves. The latter had been cleaned but were now reattached to their oars, most unable to sleep because of the raucous noise from the upper level.

The exclusively black crew reassembled on the aft deck with their wine in order to watch the nude white boy, washed by the eunuch for the purpose, dance on the stern platform. It was not Anthonius’ best performance as the former Prince remained traumatised, as he would be in one way or another for the rest of his life, by the events of the previous day. Nevertheless, his erotic routine, robotically delivered, was still appreciated by the noisy spectators, who regularly shouted obscene remarks.

As the dance ended, Anthonius should have been fearful for his oral and anal orifices as the crew looked forward to satisfying their voracious lusts. Many had already exposed their invariably huge precum-oozing cocks to stroke as they watched the white boy’s performance. The lad’s own penis was, as usual in such circumstances, hard but he no longer cared enough to be embarrassed. It did not even matter to him, in his deep distress, if the black assemblage gang-raped him all night. However, despite appearances, that was not the intention of the spectators.

Despite their current barbaric main religion, which would soon be replaced by worship of more gentle deities, the Nubians were not at heart a particularly cruel people, especially given the general attitudes of the time. Despite their progression to inebriation, the captain and crew were genuinely shocked to learn about what the white boy had been subjected to the previous day. Their pity did not extend to foregoing their pleasures entirely but did save the 14 years old’s mouth and anus from night-long utilisation.

Anthonius was instead required to walk amongst the crew, helping them to masturbate whilst they fondled his delicious body. It was still an all night task as the sexual appetite of many of the men seemed insatiable and most wanted further helpings from the nude boy, whose body was covered in semen by the time dawn arrived. However, that was better than having a stomach or rectum full of the stuff and, despite his acute grief, the former Prince recognised and appreciated the gesture, even managing several accidental ejaculations of his own as a result of the regular handling of his genitalia.

Ebana arrived back at the galley early afternoon and the ship sailed out of the port on the subsequent tide. Anthonius was being painfully sodomised by the Nubian King when Prodicus was stabbing the Lycian equivalent.

“You can come out now,” advised Prodicus after checking that the regular abuser of his body for a decade was dead. Vinius emerged from his hiding place under the late King’s bed, where the royal page had hidden him after extracting him from under Lysus’ snoring somnolent body over a week earlier. Naturally, during the search for the missing 14 years old, it had been Prodicus not the guards who had checked that particular potential place of concealment.

Vinius only spent time under the bed when Lysus occupied the royal quarters, which mainly tended to be at night. The boy’s secret concealment had therefore not been too distressing, particularly as Prodicus, whose duties included the cleanliness of the King’s personal accommodation, regularly fed him with scraps stolen from the royal kitchens and alerted him whenever the monarch’s return was imminent. It had been too dangerous to leave the rooms as the palace was infested with Roman troops guarding the new despot, their untrustworthy Lycian counterparts having been assigned policing duties in the streets of the capital. However, the assassination meant that an immediate attempt now had to be made.

The worst part of Vinius’ enforced confinement had been listening to the sounds of Lysus abusing Prodicus, the man usually liking to spice their longstanding sexual relationship by inflicting pain in one way or another. The 14 years old frequently heard his 16 years old saviour scream and saw the bed above him shake in tandem with vigorous action taking place on top. However, the King’s cruel predilections produced the means by which Vinius’ escape from the palace would now be achieved.

Vinius was shocked and panicky at the sight of Lysus’ dead body as Prodicus had not confided his intentions, although the younger boy was far from sorry. The 16 years old had also not yet told the 14 years old about the horrific deaths of his friends as he did not want to cause the lad undue anguish that might induce hysteria whilst he remained in such a perilous situation. The sad news would be relayed only when the escapee was safe.

The original plan was to smuggle Vinius out of the palace, when prevailing circumstances became less tense and the guards less alert, to the sanctuary of his family’s remote estate in the north east of Lycia, on the border with Pisidia. The Roman commander had politely declined Lysus’ request to send troops there in search of the missing boy, telling the King that it was a purely Lycian matter. The angry monarch had no-one else to send apart from the Lycian palace guards but they were small in number and he could not trust them even to attempt to fulfil their mission. The breakout plan now had to be implemented without delay, and the fugitive would be accompanied by a young regicide.

Prodicus was the epitome of calm when he further surprised the deeply worried Vinius by applying grease from a large pot, placed next to the bed, to the evil-looking spiked dildo before placing the readied implement on top of the mattress and lying face down next to it. “Pick up the riding crop,” the 16 years old instructed the 14 years old, “and whip my bottom as hard as you can. Then insert the dildo in my anus!” Vinius, amazement overcoming fear, spluttered out in response “This is no time for sex games!”

Prodicus, patiently tranquil, replied “I know. We’re not playing games, just organising our escape. The two guards outside will have seen Lysus enter his quarters with the items and will expect them to be used on me. They’ve probably already indulged in much ribald comment about it. They’ll also anticipate me leaving, as I usually do, to return to my own room to repair myself after receiving the King’s loving attentions. When I do so, they’ll expect me to be exhibiting a striped bum. I’ll naturally need help to remove the dildo and I’ll ask it of the two Romans. I’m sure that it’s a service for which they’ll insist on repayment of a particular kind as, judging from the looks they give me, the pair fancy me. That should keep the men occupied whilst you get out of this place. I’ll take them into a small empty room opposite, insisting on servicing both at the same time. When you come out, turn right, go to the second stairwell on the left, which is rarely used, and I’ll meet you at the bottom of the steps after I’ve satisfied the soldiers. However, for the plan to work, you’ll have to beat me and stick the dildo inside me.”

Vinius picked up the crop and approached the bed. He lifted the implement into the air but could not bring himself to use it on his saviour’s buttocks. Prodicus, seeing the 14 years old’s hesitation, tried to reassure the boy about what he was required to do by advising “Don’t worry. I’ve suffered much worse. Anyway, I’ve come to like it. Let me show you.” The 16 years old, turning over to reveal a raging erection, continued “I’ll cum when you whip me. You want to give me pleasure, don’t you?” The first hard blow from the crop landed across the royal page’s lustrous posterior shortly afterwards.

Vinius had created twelve vivid red stripes across Prodicus’ backside before the dildo replaced the crop in his hands. He had noticed that the 16 years old had orgasmed with the seventh stroke but had nevertheless insisted that a few more be applied to provide the appropriate visual display for the guards.

“This’ll tear your insides to shreds,” declared Vinius as he examined the dildo, feeling the short round-headed metal spikes with his forefinger. “No it won’t,” answered Prodicus as he splayed his legs to make fitting easier, “it’ll hurt but won’t cause permanent damage. Lysus enjoyed my bum too much to want to do that to it, although he would have beaten me with the thing inside me. The bastard would have made sure that it’s sized perfectly to inflict maximum pain without long-term injury. You’ll just have to take great care when putting it in me!” The 14 years old followed the 16 years old’s advice, his own cock, hidden under his now tatty tunic, hardening as he took a quarter of an hour to insert the vicious tool. A number of agonised winces emanated from the recipient as he proceeded.

Prodicus gingerly rose from the bed, leaving a pool of semen on top of the cover, after Vinius had finally completed his task. The anguish from the spikes was considerable but he nevertheless still displayed a resurgent full erection. The 14 years old was astonished at the sight of the vertical throbbing cock but the 16 years old showed no embarrassment when he looked down at his hairless groin, instead smiling and calmly correctly suggesting “It should help in the seduction of the guards!”

Prodicus walked slowly to the door of the bedchamber, collecting his tunic on the way, his lovely face flinching and hard penis twitching when he felt the spikes press against the wall of his rectum. When the 16 years old arrived at the door, he turned to Vinius and said confidently “Wait until you hear the opposite door close before you come out. I’ll try to slam it. I don’t expect to be too long with the soldiers!” He smiled reassuringly at the scared 14 years old before, after taking one last look at Lysus’ dead form, he opened the door and stepped outside.

The two Romans almost came in the loincloths they wore as undergarments when they saw the beautiful erect nude, tunic held in his hand, emerge from the royal quarters. Prodicus grinned alluringly at the soldiers and asked politely if they could help him. The men laughed at the boy’s request but were more than happy to assist the lad with his little local difficulty, although at first reluctant to leave their posts in order to do so. However, this was overcome when the royal page insisted that he had time only to service them simultaneously and would not, in return for their kind favour, perform fellatio on one whilst being sodomised by the other in such a public place as the passageway outside the King’s chambers, enticing them as planned into the empty room opposite.

The Romans, in their eagerness, were not too gentle in extracting the spiked dildo from Prodicus’ anus, causing the boy to shriek when it was pulled out. Most of the spikes were sanguine and some blood also began to drip down the lad’s inside legs. However, the soldier who would bugger the royal page did not mind his cock becoming dirty as he would insist that a certain 16 years old tongue cleaned the rampant member after its desperate need had been satisfied.

When Prodicus, now re-attired in his tunic, met up with the petrified Vinius half an hour later, dripping sperm had been added to the blood running down the 16 years old’s legs. However, this did not prevent him using his knowledge of the palace layout to guide the 14 years old successfully out of the quiet building, carefully avoiding the night guards who were on the lookout for intruders from outside not escapees from inside. A number of days later, two bedraggled boys arrived safely at the younger’s distant family estate.

When Lysus’ body was found, suspicion immediately centred on the missing royal page. The Roman commander made token efforts to find the culprit but did not want to waste too much manpower in the effort. He had disliked the new King from the start and knew that his provocative actions would cause him and his men trouble that they did not want. However, he had been obliged to try to assist and protect the new monarch by order of the Emperor. The obligation was no more and the country would be much better for it. No rebuke for allowing the assassination to occur ever came from Rome.

Diocletian was not over-surprised or unhappy to learn of Lysus’ death, fully knowing how obnoxious the man, whom he had never regarded as a friend, could be. He had supported his claim to the Lycian throne as thanks for services rendered, although he had reservations about the wisdom of the move, not wanting to have to bother with crushing another revolt.

The murder now conveniently gave the Emperor the opportunity to bring Lycia under direct Roman rule as there was no other obvious candidate for the throne, the treacherous Anthonius having ruled himself out of the reckoning. The kingdom became an Imperial province. 25 years later, Prodicus, through the patronage of a friend, became Governor, the position becoming hereditary as he and his progeny ruled the prosperous peaceful country proficiently and wisely for generations.

The immediate aftermath of the assassination was not tranquil as the deliriously happy people celebrated by taking revenge on the ten courtiers who had accepted the late unlamented King’s money to urinate over Anthonius. Their homes were attacked. Eight met their ends by being beaten, stoned or lynched whilst a lucky duo escaped into impoverished exile, never daring to return to their homeland.

Anthonius of course did not know of these events as the Nubian galley sedately traversed the Mare Internum to Alexandria. The boy serviced the oars every morning and Ebana every night, with lessons from the youthful eunuch in between. The voyage from Lycia took three weeks until the great port city, harbour dominated by the Pharos, one of the wonders of the world, came into sight. The former Prince was unexpectedly to come across two former acquaintances in the Egyptian capital, one bearing some excruciatingly unpleasant presents.

(To be continued in chapter 61 – ‘Arabs’)