By Zelamir, adapted by Pueros

Chapters 86 - 89

Chapter 86

Titus laughed loudly in reaction to his own final insult directed at Quintus and finally turned away, leading his adult slaves from the foredeck, with Glaucus somehow quickly simultaneously redressing as he departed with his master. On watching the men leave, Marius also noticed that Drusus was not now present and realised that he must for some reason have absented himself earlier.

The watching sailors also reluctantly dispersed, having realised that Titus was not to grant them any treats with the two boys on the foredeck and that they dare not grab such pleasures for themselves. The mariners also had some duties to return to in readiness for the anticipated arrival soon at the island of Capri.

Meanwhile, the comprehensively humiliated and hurting Quintus rolled himself into a ball on the foredeck, pulling his knees up to his chest and thrusting his hands between his legs. The still naked boy’s body also began to shake again, racked by silent sobbing.

Whilst watching Quintus’ display of abject misery, Marius felt rather guilty because he still had an erection. This shameful phenomenon had somehow developed when he had recently been witness to the other boy’s suffering.

As well as guilt, Marius also felt immense pity for Quintus for what he had just suffered. His compassion was increased by the fact that the other boy was clearly completely unaccustomed to such humiliation and hurt.

By now, Marius was more accustomed to being punished, although the associated suffering could never be dismissed as inconsequential. After his many months as a young prostitute in the ’House of Ganymede’, the boy would also have been little bothered by being made to perform fellatio on Glaucus with others looking on. Modesty and pride had mostly been eradicated from his emotions after what he had recently experienced as a new slave.

Quintus, though, was different. He was just starting life as a new slave and therefore still had the inherent feelings of a free boy.

Marius tried to think back to the time, not long ago, when he too had been free and had those same feelings. However, to his own amazement, he found that he could not do so, such had been the success of his recent fundamental emotional conversion to the servile attitudes of a slave. He assumed that Quintus would soon experience this too, especially as the process had already obviously been considerably advanced by what had just happened to the boy.

Marius contemplated such thoughts for a while, whilst still witnessing Quintus’ painful misery. However, the kindly boy eventually could bear his own passivity for no longer.

Marius’ previous attempts to befriend Quintus had been dismissively and insultingly rejected by the other boy but he did not care. He now felt that he had to do something to bring his current sole companion on the foredeck some comfort.

In any case, Quintus’ earlier dismissive and insulting attitude had been displayed prior to his recent bad experiences with Titus and Glaucus. Marius therefore crept across the foredeck and sat beside the other boy.

After at first momentarily hesitating, whilst fearing another dismissal and insult, Marius summoned the necessary spirit to rest his hand gently on the bare shoulder of Quintus, who shivered in reaction. However, on this occasion, he made no attempt to drive the compassionate boy away but instead eventually sniffled loudly.

“My….father didn’t….do that,” Quintus subsequently suggested in a muffled voice between further sniffles. “I m….m….mean,” the boy added in explanation, “that he d….d….didn’t sign m….m….me over t….t….to be an Imperial s….s….slave, I d….d….don’t care w….w….what they s….s….say. He’d n….n….never do that to m….m….me, at l….l….least not v….v….voluntarily.

“My father was either f….f….forced to s….s….sign,” Quintus went on to protest, whilst sitting up and resting his head on his knees, “or the d….d….document they showed m….m….me was f….f….forged!” Encouraged by the melancholic boy’s apparent radical change in attitude towards him, Marius slipped his arm about his shoulder and hugged him encouragingly.

“I’m n….n….not a slave,” Quintus went on to declare defiantly to Marius, whilst allowing himself to be hugged and suggesting that Titus’ recent determined attempt to break the boy’s spirit had not entirely succeeded. “I’m free!” he added.

Marius was young but he had learnt much in the last months, often in anguish, and he now replied to Quintus’ defiant assertions with the benefit of the wisdom gained from such lessons. He wanted the other boy to accept his situation in order to avoid further trouble with Titus and so decided that he had to be cruel to be kind.

“Quintus, you were free,” Marius suggested, “but I’m sure that you are no longer. An important man like Titus, a senior Imperial official, would not forge and would not need to forge a document such as the one enslaving you. Your father might have been forced to sign it for some reason but sign it he undoubtedly did.”

“Consequently,” Marius continued firmly, “you are now lawfully a slave, just like I am, and, for your own sake, you must accept the situation. If you don’t, you’ll only experience even worse at Titus’ hands than you’ve already suffered.”

There was a subsequent silence between the pair because Quintus did not reply. However, Marius felt the other boy’s body tense in potentially rebellious annoyance at what had just been suggested.

“Quintus, can I tell you a secret that you promise to keep?” Marius consequently urgently asked. After receiving an affirmative nod from the other boy, he subsequently told him “Not long ago, I too was free. My father was rich and powerful and I lived mainly at one of our country estates with many slaves to look after me. Then, the situation changed dramatically and disastrously. My parents, brother and sister died and I was enslaved.”

“Your own situation has also sadly changed dramatically and disastrously,” Marius added, “and you too have been enslaved. Like I did, you must accept your new position in order to survive!”

Quintus, however, remained silent in the face of this sage advice, although his head slumped a little, hinting that his earlier potentially rebellious annoyance at what was being said had dissipated. Marius consequently decided to say no more for now in order to allow his sage counsel fully to sink in to the other boy’s consciousness.

The two boys therefore just continued to sit quietly for a while on the ship’s foredeck. Marius’ arm was still wrapped in attempted comfort around Quintus’ shoulder, whilst the only noises were the lapping of waves against the hull, the squealing of seagulls above and the sounds of sailors at work nearby.

Chapter 87

The prevailing winds were now not only light but also generally coming from the direction of Capri, making the sailing ship’s progress towards that island very slow. The voyage was consequently taking much longer than anticipated. However, the delay in arrival afforded Marius the opportunity to assess Quintus’ state of mind after they had sat together in silence for a while.

“If Titus returned,” Marius enquired of Quintus to break the silence between them, “and asked you, as he did before, what you now are, how would you reply?” The other boy’s body stirred on hearing this question, as if he was about to provide a momentous answer.

Quintus sat up straight, attempted to rub some of the grime from his face in order to make himself look a bit more dignified by wiping with the back of his hand and stared into Marius’ own eyes. His compassionate companion subsequently initially thought that he detected more defiance in the other boy’s fresh expression but then quickly realised that he was mistaken.

Quintus was instead trying to exhibit brave fortitude in the face of the calamity that had befallen him, as he answered “I would tell Titus, as I did before, that I’m now just a common slave, completely subservient to my Master’s will!” In response, Marius asked “But would you mean what you said?”

Regardless of any beliefs that Titus might earlier have harboured about Quintus reaching a critical point in his acceptance of his fate, the astute Marius realised that the boy’s answer now to his latest question was truly the defining moment. He therefore waited with bated breath to hear the reply.

Quintus’ attempt to show steady courage in the face of adversity now faltered a little, as his face momentarily lowered in shame at what he was about to announce. However, the boy quickly recovered his composure to stare again at Marius whilst declaring “Yes, I would mean what I said!”

“I’m now just a common slave, completely subservient to my Master’s will!” Quintus went on to repeat in realistic confession.

Chapter 88

Subsequent to Quintus’ momentous confession, he and Marius chatted amiably for a while. The main topic of conversation centred round questions by the former addressed to the latter and asking about aspects of life as a slaveboy.

Such questions represented to Marius another symbol that Quintus had finally truly accepted his fate. This revised attitude was a relief to the former because the alternative might ultimately have been fatal for the latter.

The questions eventually came to focus on the topic of potential, if not actually inevitable, future sexual duties, after Marius had reluctantly but candidly confessed about his time spent as a boy prostitute in the ‘House of Ganymede’. He related his experiences to that just endured by Quintus with Glaucus.

“I know that you didn’t want to lick and suck that horrible Glaucus,” Marius came to comment on the subject, “but, when Titus simultaneously tickled inside your bottom, your own cock became excited, didn’t it?” Quintus could not deny this or the fact that this very topic of conversation was somehow causing his penis, which was currently hidden within his uplifted legs, to harden once more.

Like Marius prior to his arrival in the ‘House of Ganymede’, Quintus had not previously encountered sexual orgasm. The temptations of the flesh, including masturbation, did not yet permeate his young soul and so the recent unusual reactions of his body, especially his cock, were strange to him.

“That suggests to me,” Marius next maturely remarked, “that our inherent natures are not entirely innocent but actually share some frankly impure aspects. I mean no malice in saying this. I’m just being bluntly realistic, which might actually stand you in good stead in future. You see, if you begin to gain some pleasure from being forced to have sex with a man, like I confess that I did, you’ll find that such duties become less distressing.”

“Forgive me for asking such a personal question,” Marius subsequently requested before shamelessly enquiring “but have you ever played with your own cock to give yourself pleasure?” Quintus did not answer but rather naturally blushed fiercely instead in embarrassment.

Marius noticed Quintus’ embarrassment and attempted to comfort him by reassuring “I’m only asking because, if you’ve never enjoyed sexual pleasure, you probably won’t really understand what I’m talking about. I also believe that, if you want me to help you to become accustomed to your new life, we need to be frank and truthful with each other.”

Marius’ reassurance worked, encouraging Quintus finally to confess, in answer to the question, but whilst still fiercely blushing, “No!” “Well, then,” was the reply from the other boy, “perhaps it’s about time that you did experience sexual pleasure!”

Marius next glanced around the foredeck, which was empty apart from the two boys, and whispered “Perhaps now is as good a time as any!” “W….W….What do you mean?” a shocked Quintus stuttered in response.

Marius’ free hand had already rather instinctively drifted, without either of the boys really noticing, towards one of Quintus’ bare knees, upon which his palm current gently rested. In answer to the latest question, his fingers now began to slide down the inside of the other boy’s thigh.

The naked Quintus initially contemplated resisting such an intimate intrusion towards his genitals. However, the touch of Marius’ fingers gently brushing his thigh on their way downwards to their target was giving him such pleasurable tingling feelings that he quickly chose instead to do nothing but literally sit and await developments.

Marius’ fingers eventually reached and gently stroked their first target, which was rapidly becoming even more erect, before moving on to cup and feel the underlying completely smooth scrotum. “Your cock is nicely hard,” he subsequently commented, whilst brushing his thumb along the shaft in verification.

“Mine is as well,” the clothed Marius then confessed, “as you can probably guess from the bulge at the front of my tunic.” “I’ve learnt,” he continued, “that it’s no good struggling against such reactions, as they’re natural to natures such as ours!”

Quintus again stirred and Marius felt the other boy’s hand reach out towards his tunic to disappear under the hem in order to explore his crutch and check the accuracy of at least part of his statement. The two boys subsequently sat together for a while, with their hands resting on each other’s stiff little cocks.

Marius then took the initiative in beginning to rub the cock in his own hand. Quintus happily reciprocated, whilst the first infusion of real sexual pleasure started to tingle his naked body.

As Marius was rubbing, he appreciated that what he was doing was punishably wrong, at least in the eyes of his new masters. The strict rule in Scyrax’s house and Fabius’ brothel was that the slaveboys were not allowed to enjoy each other sexually without permission, and both Drusus and Titus would undoubtedly expect similar restraint.

Marius had been taught that slaveboys’ bodies were the properties of their masters and so were the pleasures that could be derived from them. This lesson had been driven home when he and Narcissus had been forced to beat each other harshly and publicly in the ‘House of Ganymede’ after the Major Domo had discovered them indulging in forbidden sexual activity. However, alone on the sailing ship’s foredeck, hidden from the rest of the vessel by an intervening rail, and so unseen by any beings other than the seagulls wheeling overhead, they would surely not be caught.

Anyway, for Marius and now increasingly for Quintus, the temptations of the moment, in particular the immensely pleasurable feelings running through their cocks to pervade their bodies intensely, were too much to ignore. The boys’ eyes also closed, as they inexorably brought themselves towards ecstatic climax.

The boys subsequently both became too engrossed in what they were doing to hear the sound of footsteps approaching. The first that Marius then knew about anyone else joining them on the foredeck was a boot thudding into his bottom.

Marius immediately released Quintus’ cock and opened his eyes in pained shock, to discover Drusus glaring down at him, with his face distorted in rage.

Chapter 89

Drusus was himself surprised at how angry and abhorred he felt on finding Marius and Quintus indulging in mutual masturbation. His fury and disgust had arisen despite the fact that he had sometimes enjoyed similar pleasures with friends during his own boyhood.

Drusus’ ire and distaste had also arisen despite the fact that, given his poor opinion of the slave class, he should not really have been surprised that Marius was indulging in such activity after his recent background as a boy prostitute. Such a young whore should be expected to practise private perversions if he thought that he could do so undetected by his betters.

Drusus additionally did not believe himself to be hypocritical in believing that Marius and Quintus should not be indulging in mutual masturbation despite his own similar activity in childhood. The difference was that then he was free whilst the two boys now were merely slaves.

As Marius himself had already correctly guessed, Drusus and Titus, like Scyrax and Fabius previously, regarded slaveboys’ bodies as being the properties of their masters. So too were the pleasures that could be derived from them.

Drusus and Titus consequently firmly believed that slaveboys sexually playing with themselves without permission was a form of theft. They also considered that stealing from their masters should merit severe punishment.

Drusus’ current anger was especially directed at Marius. Quintus was new to the status of slave but the other boy was not and so should have known better.

In fact, in Drusus’ enraged opinion, Marius’ disregard for the conventions surrounding the role of a slave was an insult to his master. The boy’s perfidy was compounded by his apparent quick introduction of Quintus to forbidden behaviour.

Drusus had actually earlier experienced a mix of emotions in respect of Marius, some of which he was reluctant to admit to himself. The latter included a strange compelling compassion towards the boy’s plight in the ‘House of Ganymede’ and an even more unusual feeling of strongly burgeoning affection.

To Drusus, the very idea of being overly sympathetic towards and fond of a mere slave, especially a young one whom he had just removed from prostitution, was both debasing and ridiculous for someone of his standing, namely an important member of the Imperial family. He therefore attempted to displace all such notions from his mind, partly by not even taking the trouble so far to discover the name of the boy concerned, which, if an enquiry had been made, would, of course, have been revealed as Cycnus.

To someone of Drusus’ standing, Marius should just be a slave of no consequence, with his own status considerably worsened by his disreputable background as a former prostitute. The boy was admittedly extremely pretty, with a bloom of health and vitality to him that was certainly very attractive. No decent person could also avoid admiring the spirit and skill that he had displayed when in danger of dying in the flames at the ‘House of Ganymede’.

Drusus, however, firmly believed that Roman sense of honour and decorum should disqualify such a slaveboy from being considered to be anything more than a handy chattel, to be used in any way and discarded at any time in accordance with the whim of his owner. Any other attitude would be disgracing.

Nevertheless, Drusus could not entirely dismiss certain strange and unusual compassionate and affectionate feelings for Marius from his psyche. For personal honour, he was therefore doing his best to suppress them, especially now when he believed that he had a duty to punish the boy severely for behaving very naughtily.

Drusus was still wearing his favourite belt, namely the broad one of well-oiled hide, fastened by a heavy silver clasp, which Marius had first seen him sporting in the ‘House of Ganymede’. The currently rightfully fearful boy now watched as the young man removed this accoutrement from around his tunic, obviously as a prelude for alternative use.

Marius continued to watch in trepidation as Drusus subsequently doubled the two ends of his belt together in his right hand. The broad heavy leather would, as the worried boy well knew, gain extra weight and force when wielded in such a manner.

Drusus next kicked Marius’ currently covered bottom again and commanded him to stand and divest himself of his tunic, which represented his sole attire. The boy reluctantly complied and was soon standing on the foredeck naked before his new temporary master, with his hands at his sides as he had been taught was right for a slave to do in such shaming circumstances.

The little in size but major in implication erect cause of Marius’ current trouble was now clearly visible, standing out horizontally and apparently with impertinent pride from his smooth groin. On viewing this sight, Drusus’ throat momentarily dried, as he again appreciated the boy’s naked beauty. However, he quickly recovered to instruct “Lean forwards with your hands on the ship’s rail over there. Bend your head downwards with your legs wide apart and make sure that your bottom’s lifted upwards and so nicely presented to receive the attentions of my belt!”

After Marius had again reluctantly complied, Drusus suggested “I presume that you know why I’m about to beat you, boy, and why you deserve your punishment.” He subsequently added, in case the young slave believed the question only to be rhetorical and therefore not requiring a verbal reply, “You may answer!”

“Y….Y….Yes, M….M….Master,” Marius meekly responded, with acute nervousness evident in his quaking voice. “That’s good,” Drusus commented, “because let’s hope that your imminent beating will teach you not to steal other people’s property, in this case the pleasures that can be afforded by Quintus’ body!”

“You, who was already a slave,” Drusus added, “should have known better than to be doing what I’ve just caught you doing and so you thoroughly deserve your imminent beating. However, I’ll forgive Quintus on this occasion because he’s newly enslaved. I’ll just hope instead that he too learns from the lesson I’m about to give to you!”

Drusus then focused on the target for his belt’s impending agonising admonition, namely Marius’ now bare bottom. As he looked down at the relevant curvature, he considered the sight extremely nice, with the cute dimples on the sides adding to the deliciousness of the scenery, which was therefore rather a shame to mark. However, he also realised that he had his duty to perform and, as when he was soldiering, such obligation did occasionally necessitate unpleasantness and damage.

Drusus next gauged his distance from this target by extending his doubled belt to ensure that the leather would hit the inviting buttocks in the required fulsomely excruciating manner. The resultant gentle touch of the makeshift implement of chastisement suddenly brushing against Marius’ bottom caused the relevant cute curves to break out in fright with goosepimples.

Satisfied that he was in the correct position to beat Marius with the necessary accuracy and harshness, Drusus subsequently raised his belt to deliver his first hard blow across the centre of the young bottom before him. He had already decided that he did not want to break the boy’s flesh, as such damage would displease Tiberius and so disqualify the child from performing his dangerous act for the Emperor until his injuries had repaired. He therefore proposed to be more sparing than the 12 year-old slave perhaps deserved and cause only bruising on a concentrated area that should heal quickly.

Nevertheless, Drusus remained angry at Marius and also felt duty-bound to hurt the boy a lot to punish his recent mischief. He had concluded that his belt, used on the tenderest parts of the child’s rump, should do the necessary job.

Drusus was sure that, as a slave, Marius would have been beaten before in similar circumstances. He consequently did not now feel obliged to remind the boy of the traditional rules, namely that he was to stay in position until his punishment was over and he was given permission to move.

Drusus therefore now simply summoned his strength and took careful aim, whilst simultaneously noticing that Marius’ slim body had tensed in fright and in anticipation of the blow to come. He suddenly also appreciated the boy’s rather diminutive size and felt a momentary pang of pity. However, this soon passed, with his sense of duty returning to the fore, and he finally brought his belt whistling down with all his might.

The vicious blow struck squarely across the centre of Marius’ clenched buttocks with an explosive crack. The boy’s body subsequently jerked convulsively, as the resultant agony seared through him. He also simultaneously grunted, albeit not because he was too proud to cry out more loudly but because the shock of the blow had temporarily driven most of the air from his young lungs.

Indeed, Marius was now a slave and, as such, the bulk of his pride had long been shattered and lost. If he was hurt, he would generally scream without any consideration for his personal honour. Nothing better would be expected by anyone for someone of his base servile status.

In fact, Marius began to scream in reaction to Drusus’ second accurate and harsh blow, which landed below and neatly parallel to the first. Such loud noise began to attract the sailors back to the foredeck to watch the further fun.

Quintus was, of course, also a witness. Although the boy was extremely grateful for Drusus’ mercy towards him, he was also currently very sorry for Marius’ plight. Having just been the recipient of a harsh beating from Titus, he now fully appreciated how much the associated agony hurt.

Quintus additionally felt rather guilty about two matters. The first involved Marius’ present plight, into which, after all, the boy had only fallen after attempting to introduce him to sexual pleasure, which he had been thoroughly enjoying until Drusus’ interruption. The second related to his own cock, which had amazingly stubbornly remained hard despite the fact that the delightful rubbing of the relatively little shaft had sadly stopped.

By the time that Drusus had accurately created two more broad parallel stripes on Marius’ bottom with his belt, Titus and his two adult slaves had arrived on the foredeck as well to watch the fun. They had been drawn by the loud noises of leather cracking against tender flesh and of the young victim’s continued agonised shrieking.

“I didn’t know that you enjoyed beating boys too, Lord,” the smirking Titus felt obliged to comment on his arrival, simultaneous to a fifth blow being delivered and another pained yelp being heard. “I don’t, as I’m not a sadist like you,” Drusus replied, whilst not being insulting to the other man. The very Empire was based on much cruelty and many Romans actually took immense pride in being savagely ruthless.

“I do, however, believe in duty,” Drusus continued, “and this brat has been insultingly mischievous by playing with Quintus’ private parts and so he needs to be punished to teach him a lesson that such pleasures are reserved for masters not slaves!” In reaction to this explanation, Titus and most of the watching sailors burst into laughter.

Of course, such chortling resounded around the foredeck not as a product of Drusus’ seriousness and sincere sense of duty. He had sounded somewhat pompous but no one was going to exhibit public amusement at the disposition of Tiberius’ senior nephew and possible next Emperor. The laughter had instead resulted from the discovery of the embarrassing offence for which Marius was currently being painfully punished.

Titus’ arrival now prompted Drusus to pause and inspect his handiwork so far. As part of this process, he ran a finger along one of the five livid welts that ran across Marius’ bottom and felt the boy shudder at his touch.

Marius was crying but, despite his sobs and the screams emitted from his rosy lips in agonised reaction to each vicious blow from the belt, Drusus could not help but again admire his bravery. Regardless of the excruciation he was obviously enduring, the boy had somehow courageously managed to maintain his demeaning posture, although his bruised bottom had sagged a little lower in reaction to the assault being inflicted.

Drusus was aware that many other boys in Marius’ desperate situation would by now have collapsed to the deck. They would probably also have needed to be held in position for the completion of their punishment.

“Lift your bottom back upwards a little, boy, as you’re beginning to lose position,” Drusus next commanded in order to rectify Marius’ slight slump in posture. However, the order was uttered in a gentle tone, which hinted at his possession of some sympathy for the young slave’s plight and admiration for his bravery.

As Marius subsequently bravely strained to push his bottom upwards as commanded, he somehow also managed to respond to the order with a muffled but polite “Yes, Master, and I’m sorry, Master!” These words secretly increased Drusus’ sympathy and admiration for the boy but did not decrease his angered determination to fulfil his duty, which would not be served by a mere five blows against relatively fleshy buttocks.

Drusus, whilst now readjusting his aim to other delicate parts of Marius’ lovely anatomy, instead realised that the truly skilled part of his chastisement of the boy was about to start. To him, the beating had so far been fairly routine, with the young slave undoubtedly already having encountered many alike thrashings in his short life so far, as well as expecting similar in the future too.

Because of his maintained anger, however, and perhaps as an antidote to his secret feelings for Marius too, Drusus now wanted the current punishment to stand out as exceptional in the boy’s future memory. He told himself that he wished to ensure that his young victim never again disrespected any master but perhaps the true motive lay in a peculiar subliminal desire that the child never forgot him whatever next happened to their respective destinies.

There were, of course, better ways to ensure that a special slaveboy never forgot a previous master than delivering a harsh beating, at least for the young victim. However, Drusus’ mind, which was trying its best to deny any infatuation, somehow successfully suppressed the relevant ideas.

Now that Drusus had nicely warmed Marius’ bottom and laid a foundation of pain on which to build further, he next intended to give the boy a lesson that he would surely not forget until the end of his life. As he prepared to do so, he also reminded himself that he was not a cruel man, who gained pleasure from flogging children. However, he then guiltily suddenly realised in shock that his own cock, thankfully well hidden under his tunic and inside his loincloth underwear, was hard and throbbing.

Drusus was not accustomed to such a phenomenon when delivering punishments, even to pretty children. He therefore could not explain his current penile state to himself, although he had to admit that Marius was exceptionally lovely and the boy’s bottom, with deepening bruises and welts, now somehow even more alluring to him than previously.

Drusus attempted to ignore his curious and embarrassing state of arousal and changed his grip on his belt. He exchanged the doubling of the broad leather for strapping one end around his right wrist.

Drusus subsequently swung the remaining length of belt back over his right shoulder. As expected, the single strap was both lighter and suppler than the doubled version that he had previously wielded.

Drusus now aimed at the inside of Marius’ thighs, between his bare splayed legs, and with carefully judged precision slashed the free end of his belt accurately towards the vulnerable target flesh. On hitting with bite, the broad leather tip snapped loudly and curled firmly round the relevant limb, inducing another scream. However, the boy still somehow bravely managed to maintain his position, even keeping his bottom steadily uplifted.

Aided by Marius’ amazing courageous steadfastness in the face of his renewed assault, Drusus subsequently slowly worked his aim upwards on both sides of the boy’s inner thighs, whilst coming closer and closer to the junction of his splayed legs. Judging from the way that the young victim howled and shivered in reaction to each blow, the deliveries were proving highly successful in bringing him to fresh peaks of agony. However, there was worse to come.

With further carefully judged precision, Drusus finally concluded this aspect of the beating by hitting the inside of Marius uppermost thigh so that the end of the belt landed just below his vulnerable dangling scrotum. The boy’s resultant shriek was louder than ever, although partly in fearful reaction to what might have been struck than what actually had been.

After Marius had calmed again, if a tearful whimpering child can be so described, Drusus commanded him to spread his legs even wider. The intensely anguished boy did not at all like the potential implications behind this order but nevertheless obeyed.

Drusus subsequently waited until he was satisfied that Marius bottom was completely still and fully exposed to his belt then again fiercely and accurately lashed the harsh leather downwards, on this occasion landing the tip squarely across the lips of the boy’s anus. He was rewarded by another shrill scream, as a young body was once more convulsed by acute agony, although the form concerned continued miraculously to remain in position.

Drusus now again waited for Marius’ body to absorb the resultant agony, for there was no point in hurrying a beating, as the aim should be to make the chastised person feel every blow to the full. Slow delivery of such a punishment was therefore desirable both to inflict the maximum physical pain and mental torture.

Whilst waiting, Drusus again doubled the belt in his hand in readiness for the final blow, as he believed that Marius had now been punished enough. The boy was currently clearly in such an anguished state that he might hardly feel further hits, which would therefore be unnecessarily superfluous. Also, unless attention was changed to other parts of his anatomy, the ravaged flesh of his rump might soon begin to cut seriously, which was not a desired development.

After patiently waiting and becoming satisfied that Marius was ripe for the last blow, Drusus slashed viciously upwards between the boy’s splayed legs, delivering a heavy blow to both his scrotum and cock, which had amazingly somehow remained semi-hard throughout his beating. In reaction to this supposedly concluding hit, the young slave’s brave discipline finally broke and, clasping both hands to his agonised crutch, he collapsed moaning onto the deck.

Drusus’ own reaction was not to allow his pity for Marius to come now to the fore. His mind instead focused on what he considered to be his duty, as slaves could not be allowed to escape immune from a flagrant flouting of the rules whilst being punished.

Drusus again kicked Marius, and commanded “Return to your position, boy.” “That was supposed to be the last blow that I was going to inflict,” he also informed, “but your lack of discipline has earned you not only another but also another delivered to the same place. I’ll also continue to hit you there until you learn to remain steady afterwards!”

After recovering from his genital shock with remarkable quickness in the very anguishing circumstances, Marius somehow slowly dragged himself to his feet in order to resume his previous stance. He subsequently again stretched out his quivering hands to find the ship’s rail, despite the relative blindness in his eyes because of the copious tears present, and painfully bent forward and spread his legs.

As Marius did so, he was aware of the all-consuming agony searing his body. However, in addition to the pain, he was also conscious of an overwhelming sense of shame.

Marius believed that he had again shamefully failed Drusus, this time by breaking one of the fundamental rules that governed the conduct of a slaveboy when he was being justly punished. Moreover, he had disappointed the hero who had rescued him from the ‘House of Ganymede’ and Maccius.

Whilst witnessing Marius resume his position, Drusus again experience some pity, which on this occasion caused his stern attitude to relent a little. Consequently, he gently rested his free hand in an instinctive gesture of sympathy on the boy’s bruised and aching bottom, feeling him shiver once more despite his very light touch.

“I’m sure you know that I am duty-bound to do this, boy,” Drusus subsequently commented in a low voice, in which his tinge of compassion could now be detected. “Just be brave one more time,” he went on to suggest, “and stay in place after my next hit and we’ll be finished.”

Drusus was simultaneously amazed at his own compassionate reaction, for someone who believed so strongly in discipline and order. However, such incredulity had somehow not prevented him from expressing his newly found sympathy.

“I….I….I’ll try, M….M….Master,” Marius managed to reply between sobs in answer to Drusus’ suggestion, “and thank y….y….you, M….M…Master.” However, moments later the boy was again sprawled on the deck, with his hands clasping his once more acutely agonised genitals.

Titus and the still watching sailors again laughed at the sight, just as they had done when witnessing Marius’ earlier collapse. They also began to wonder in amusement whether the boy would be converted into a eunuch before he finally managed to remain in place after a blow from Drusus’ belt to his sexual organs. However, such humorous conjecture was quickly terminated.

To everyone’s amazement, not least his own, Drusus now reapplied his belt to the original function around his tunic and left the foredeck, after watching the brave Marius begin another attempt to resume his original posture in readiness to receive another blow to his genitals.

(To be continued)