Pueros

The Lycian Prince

(1st version)

Chapter 11 - Africa

(December 290 A.D.)

Anthonius felt giddy when he stood up but eventually found his senses. The hot overhead sun and his intense thirst made him realise that it was important to find some sign of civilisation quickly. The boy walked to the top of a tall nearby sand-dune, finding as he climbed that the freedom now given to his nude loins under his tunic was remarkably erotic. However, such diversions were speedily expelled by his alarm at seeing nothing but more large dunes when he peered inland. He decided that, in the circumstances, it would be best to stick closely to the coast and, estimating that the port to which his ship had been heading was somewhere to the east, started walking in that direction. He walked for hours, his thirst intensifying continuously, but the scenery was unchanging and the sun relentless. His walk became a stagger and then blackness overwhelmed his senses again.

When Anthonius next awoke, he found himself lying naked on a cushioned bench in a small clean but dark, windowless and locked cell. His thirst had largely gone and his body had received attention, having obviously been washed and had a few small wounds and sores tended. The only light in the cell came through the bars that made up the entrance gate from wall torches in the outside corridor. As Anthonius sat up, the biggest man he had ever seen appeared on the other side of the gate, casting the whole cell into deep shadow. The boy heard a key unlocking the gate and had to readjust his eyes when the man, collecting one of the outside torches in one hand, entered with a tray of food and drink in the other. Anthonius tried to talk to the man, apparently a slave, but he clearly had no Latin. This handicap to communication was chillingly compounded by the fact that he also had no tongue.

Anthonius spent a week in the cell being well cared for by the silent slave until one morning when his body was cleansed more carefully than ever, perfumed fragrantly and partially covered with a short, pleated, Egyptian-style white skirt, fitted tightly around his hips. The slave then escorted the boy out of the cell, along a maze of corridors and up several wide flights of stairs. They encountered no-one else until Anthonius was presented before an ugly obese Arab in a large magnificently appointed room. Wide, open windows along one side revealed superb views of a beach far below and the sea beyond. The slave bowed to his master and left. The seated Arab now made a gesture with his right hand and Anthonius recognised its meaning, having seen it before. Without thinking, the boy instinctively placed his hands on his head and turned slowly to allow the man to inspect him. The intent of the next gesture was obvious too and, to his shame, Anthonius found himself automatically obeying without really knowing why. He unfastened the fob that held the skirt together, pulled and threw the garment to the floor, before now turning slowly to show off his nude body to the Arab, who emitted several grunts as he took in the new scenic view before him.

When Anthonius had completed his circle and returned his hands to his sides, the man started to fiddle with his flowing gown until he managed to part it below his waist to reveal a short, but fat and throbbing, hairy prick. Another gesture indicated what the boy was now supposed to do and he found himself slowly and hypnotically approaching the Arab, with his eager young penis pointing directly at the man. As he knelt immediately in front of the Arab, the man's awful body odours invaded Anthonius' nostrils but he still unhesitatingly lowered his head to gather his seducer's full length into his mouth and began to suck.

Then Anthonius, as if he had been abruptly released from a trance, suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of revulsion and anger flood through his body at the ignominy of what he was doing. He bit the cause of his shame, jumped to his feet, ran to one of the windows and leapt through it onto an outside balcony, leaving the Arab screaming in pain behind him. The boy found himself presented with three options. There were open doorways at either end of the balcony and there was a tree immediately in front. He chose to climb onto the branches of the latter, making for the trunk and clambering down into the courtyard below. It was a mistake. He found that the four gates in each of the four tall whitewashed walls of the courtyard were locked and that the walls themselves were impossible to climb. The only way out was back the way he had come. Unfortunately there were four bearded uniformed guards, swords in hand, now standing on the balcony. Anthonius was soon dragged back by a couple of these guards before the obese Arab, who was clutching his now covered but hurting groin and very, very angry. The Arab had never known the drug, fed to Anthonius for the last week in his food and drink, fail to make boy captives succumb to his requirements, and he had been sure that a well-trained whore, like an Imperial boy companion, would be even more acquiescent. He was practically shouting when he informed the now very scared nude boy in excellent Latin "You will pay dearly for your action. Your punishments, and I stress the plural, will be severe and agonising if you live, because first I shall put you to the test. Take him away!"

Chapter 12 - Tests

The guards took Anthonius back along a myriad of passageways and down stairwells deep into the dark chilly innards of the coastal fortress. They eventually came, at the foot one narrow flight of stairs, to a single wooden door, which one of the guards unlocked and opened. Anthonius was thrown inside and the door closed behind him. The boy found himself in a large empty square stone cellar, windowless but illuminated by a single wall torch. There was another door directly opposite the one through which he had been pushed. He tried both doors but only confirmed that both were locked. It was cold so the now shivering naked boy cowered for warmth in one corner, arms wrapped around his legs, wondering what the potentially fatal test was that he had to face. He knew that he had to pass the test but not for fear of his own life. He had to somehow survive and return to the Emperor for what would happen to Lycia if he did not? Time passed slowly, cold and discomfort making it difficult to sleep. The boy also had to suffer the indignity of having to urinate in the opposite corner when he could not restrain his bladder any more.

Anthonius had just managed to slip into fitful slumber when the door through which he had entered opened and the Arab walked in accompanied by one guard. "Now for your test, whore," he said, unlocking the other door, "as through here are eight more chambers and doors through which you must pass to live. You can, of course, choose not to try but then you will soon die. If the cold doesn't kill you, lack of water will. However, I hope you live as I have some lovely punishments ready to inflict upon your body. Goodbye!" He and the guard then left the way they came. Anthonius stood up to try the door through which the men had exited before opening the other. He was amazed by what he saw inside, another chamber similar to the first, with a door at the other side, but its floor was covered by a mass of metal spikes. The spikes were all cone-shaped but of different heights and separation. Closer examination of the nearest showed that the points were exceedingly sharp and covered with a clear liquid. Anthonius instinctively knew that the liquid would be poisonous. The first of the eight tests that faced him was clearly to pick his way somehow through the forest of spikes to the other door, but the tiny spaces between the conical bases meant that he could only do so on tip-toe. Anthonius shuddered and not with the chill. It was going to be a very difficult task but he accepted the challenge. He planned out what he thought would be the best route and, praying to his gods, gingerly started his precarious journey.

Anthonius found that it was even more difficult than he thought to retain his balance as he was forced to place the front of his soles on the curved bases of the deadly cones, and slipped on two occasions. However, he managed to avoid impaling himself by gripping the middles of some of the spikes below the level of the poison. On the second occasion, his head just avoided one spike and he saw that his scrotum had avoided being pierced by another by less than the width of his little finger. He was also forced to retrace his steps three times as the spikes ahead of him became too compacted but, with luck and by moving carefully and remaining calm, he eventually reached the far side. It had taken almost two hours. He dutifully thanked his gods for his survival and rested awhile before opening the next door.

The new chamber was split in two by a wide trench deeper than his own height. The floor of the trench was covered by sand and initially Anthonius could see nothing disturbing. Then, he noticed that the sand was not still. He saw a small stone at his feet and picked it up. He threw it into the trench so that it would skip across the sand before coming to rest. Anthonius recoiled in horror when he saw several small scorpions jump from under the sand where the stone landed before burying themselves again. He realised that the whole pit was infested with them and he sat at its edge, arms again holding legs for warmth, to try to work out how he could possibly reach the other side. He eventually concluded that there was only one way. He would have to try to emulate the stone. He would take a running jump as far into the pit as possible before quickly skipping across to leap onto the far face. He hoped that any scorpions immediately under foot would be crushed without stinging him and that any reaction from their neighbours would be beaten by his speed of foot. He stood and measured his run up so that he would be leaping with maximum affect, prayed again and made the jump. His plan seemed to be working until he hit the far face and reached for the far ledge. His body rebounded slightly causing one hand to slip. He found himself hanging on with just the other and with his body facing the wrong way, feet dangling just above the surface. Looking down, he could see that the sand was moving as if it was an ocean. However, somehow he avoided falling in and managed instead to spin round, regain his grip and clamber onto the ledge. He was out of breath with the exertion and fright and it was some time before he could bring himself to check his feet. When he did so, he was relieved to find no stings or puncture marks, but his relief was to be short lived for he now passed through the next door.

Anthonius immediately heard the roar as the animal nosed fresh food. He carefully approached the edge of the pit that also divided the next chamber only to see a tiger leaping up at him. The boy ran back to the door but realised that he had not been followed. The pit was deeper than the one he had just been through and was seemingly too tall for the creature to escape. He returned to the edge of the pit to observe the hungry tiger's loud and frantic but fruitless efforts to reach his feast and, as he watched, he formulated his plan. The boy rapidly recognised that the problem was essentially the same as in the previous chamber. The tiger was much larger and fiercer but there was only one of him. Anthonius therefore remained standing at the edge of the pit to bate the animal and wait for it to tire. He knew that, in its obvious hunger, it was unlikely to sleep, especially when his meal could be smelt nearby, but he hoped that it would eventually calm and lie down, which it did. However, it remained alert to every movement and lifted its head when Anthonius disappeared from view until contented that the tender boy flesh had not gone too far. The animal was just in the process of returning its head to the ground between its huge paws when its eyes noticed a shadow suddenly appear above and its nostrils the delicious smell of fresh meat rapidly approaching, but its brain did not detect danger until too late. Having carefully appraised the leap he would have to make this time, Anthonius had taken a short run up and jumped, crashing down perfectly on the tiger's head. By the time the stunned creature had recovered its senses, the boy had clambered up to the other ledge.

The fourth test was something quite different for, through the next door, there was no chamber, just a long narrow and bloodstained passageway. Swinging across the full height of the passageway were a number of huge heavy but razor sharp blades, moving in different sequences and at different speeds. The test was obvious. Anthonius would have to advance down the passageway avoiding the blade immediately in front of him whilst also evading the next, but this would be far from easy as the distance between each was little more than the width of his body. Anthonius took a liitle time to compose himself after his adventure with the tiger before facing up to the first blade. He grasped his genitals tightly. Although his cock was soft, he did not want to chance any accidents. He looked at the floor to where he estimated he had to place his feet together to avoid the first two blades and observed the movement of the first very carefully before finally stepping forward. The fact that a second later he was still alive and undamaged was proof that his judgement, on this occasion, had been fine. However, the strong draughts on the front and back of his body, that produced goose pimples all over, was testament to the proximity of the deadly blades, both to him and to each other. He also estimated that there were about twenty more blades beyond the next one, some moving much faster. Slowly but surely he advanced, adopting throughout the same judgement technique before moving. Sometimes he had had to move very quickly indeed and once he almost fatally lost his balance but he eventually came to the last blade. This was the fastest of them all and Anthonius recognised that its edges had been moistened with what he presumed would be poison, so that even a little nick from it could mean death. Assessing when was best to move was impossible, so he put his life in the hands of his gods and, closing his eyes and murmuring a prayer, jumped forward. When he re-opened his eyes, he found that his gods had been with him.

It was back to creatures in the next chamber, and this time of the slimy, slithering kind. Anthonius knew what they were from their loud hissing before peering down to see that the floor of a wide and very deep pit was a mass of writhing snakes. However, the route to the other side had seemingly been mapped out for him for there was a series of about twenty tall narrow stone pillars, about a pace apart, acting like steppingstones. Anthonius wondered for a while whether they could be a trap but saw no other way to proceed. He could not treat the snakes in the same way as the scorpions and tiger, and so he eventually found himself cautiously reaching for the top of the first pillar with his right foot. As he stood with one foot on the ledge and the other on the pillar, he looked down towards the snakes. They seemed aware of his presence because many of their heads were pointing upwards at him. As the boy looked down, he also saw that his cock had become hard.

Anthonius carefully moved his left foot to join his right on the pillar and almost lost his balance before recovering to stand with his feet close together on the cramped flat surface. He gingerly moved on and, after about half an hour, he found himself half way across the pit, legs splayed between two columns. He also found that, despite or more likely because of the dangers of his situation, he could not resist his raging hard-on any more and he began to masturbate himself. His climax came quickly and copious amounts of white boy seed fell onto the creatures below, but his orgasmic pleasure almost caused him to lose his balance again. This re-awaked him to his jeopardy and he mindfully resumed his progress, but now full of guilt that he could find his predicament so sexually arousing.

After another half an hour, Anthonius only had two more columns to travail but he was wary of both because their tops seemed to damp, and he was right to be circumspect for his right foot slipped as it made contact with the first. Fortunately, the boy had the good sense to attempt to leap as he began to fall and his stomach landed squarely but heavily on the column, temporarily knocking the air from his lungs. However, he kept a tight grip on the sides of the column and, once he had recovered, managed to scramble into a sitting position on top. He now realised that the damp was in fact a grease-like substance. There had been a trap after all. Anthonius sat for a time, contemplating his next move for it would be too dangerous to try to stand on the column he was on or the next. He concluded that there was only one action that he could take and, after scrupulously weighing up his task and assuming the required but awkward crouch- like stance, feet tightly gripping the column's edges, he made a leap for the last. This again landed him on his middle but this time his momentum caused his body to keep moving on the confined greased surface and he slipped off. Luckily, a trailing hand prevented him from falling headlong into the snakes below and he somehow found himself dangling by that one hand from the column. His body must have rubbed some of the grease away for the hand was gripping a rough surface. A mighty effort saw him first wrap his other arm and legs around the column to stabilise his position and then climb methodically towards the top to resume another sitting position. A further leap like the previous one eventually brought him to the far ledge, with the middle of his body displaying a vivid round redness around his young tummy.

Anthonius now realised how weary and thirsty he was. He could rectify the former with sleep but was worried by the affect that the chilly atmosphere would have on his naked body as he slept because he was sure that he would do so for many hours. He knew that he could not rectify the latter. The boy therefore decided that he could not delay and entered the sixth chamber. He immediately found the solution to his worries about the cold. The floor of the chamber was covered by spikes, similar to those that comprised his first test, but between them glowed red-hot coals. A series of chains with metal rings on the end were suspended from the roof. Like the pillars previously, they mapped out the route to the other side. Anthonius would be required to swing from one ring to the other to reach his destination, but he did not think that he now possessed the energy to succeed, and rest would only exacerbate his thirst in the heat. However, he knew that he had no choice. He had to try without delay. If this was were his gods wanted him to die, so be it. Anthonius jumped up for the first ring, which was suspended just before the leading edge of the spikes and coals, and inauspiciously his grip slipped. The boy just managed to prevent himself from toppling into the deadly mixture. He quickly realised that the ring had not been greased. It had been the sweat in his hand that had caused the accident. This realisation, and the conviction that some of the rings were bound to be sabotaged with grease, made him burst into tears. He had just survived the horrors and hazards of five tests but surely this sixth was impossible. He suddenly felt what he was, a tired, lonely and terrified 14 years old boy.

It was a while before Anthonius regained his composure and, having rubbed his sweaty hands in the dirt of the floor, jumped again for the first ring. He grasped it with one hand and then with the other so that he too was suspended from the roof. He swung on the chain and reached out for the next ring with one hand whilst retaining a hold on the first with the other, before transferring it as well. Now he was above the spikes and coals and a fall would surely mean a slow and agonising death. However, he managed to exclude this thought from his mind and, knowing that speed was essential if he was to prevent his arm muscles from reaching exhaustion and have any chance of survival, quickly swung again to enable him to reach out for the next ring. Somehow, he speedily developed a rhythm, was suddenly re-energised with the gradual growth in confidence this imbued and miraculously soon found himself clinging to the penultimate ring. His arms were now very weary and he was confronted by a major problem before he could bring both relief to them and safety to himself. He had seen that the last ring was smeared with grease and his hands were now virtually devoid of the dirt that had protected them from his own sweat. He had to act speedily before his arms gave way so he swung mightily on his chain and at its highest apogee released his grip. He was thrown high into the air before coming to ground just beyond the edge of the spikes and coals. The boy burst into tears again, but with relief instead of despair.

Anthonius entered the seventh chamber and immediately thought that he would be able to cure his thirst. However, a quick taste of the deep water in the wide pool that divided the chamber showed that it was seawater and therefore undrinkable. The boy wondered what horrible beast or beasts lay in wait under its surface and so sat on the edge to look for signs. None were visible for the pool remained completely calm. Anthonius dipped the fingers of his right hand into the cold water to cause a disturbance before quickly withdrawing them, but nothing happened. He became bolder and disturbed the water with his whole hand and then half of his arm but still there were no signs of life, even after a full hour of observation. The boy was now very tired, thirsty and cold, with the water causing the atmosphere to be even chillier than usual. He knew that he could wait no longer and slipped his nude form into the pool. He had had to choose whether to swim fast or slow. If the creatures were somnolent, the former might awake them. If the creatures were just biding their time, the latter would provide them with more time to pounce. However, he had chosen the latter and his teeth chattered continuously as he gingerly swam through the freezing water towards the other side constantly fearing the sudden feel of the sea creatures. He was amazed when he found himself climbing out of the pool, dripping wet and shivering with both cold and fright but unharmed. The boy was never to learn that the pool contained only water. The test had been to overcome the fear of what might be there and a fair proportion of the few who had survived the first six tests over the years had failed the seventh, their terror making them simply curl up before the pool and allow death to overtake them.

The shivering Anthonius opened the eighth door. He was surprised to see the obese Arab waiting for him in the next chamber, accompanied by two guards, and standing next to a square bondage frame, several paces in front of which, but not directly, stood a large mirror. The Arab smiled banefully and said "Congratulations, whore, you've somehow survived seven of the eight tests and I thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment. I particularly liked the falls that almost sent you to your doom, and the tears in chamber six were very touching. However, my favourite was when you decided to produce your seed for some of my snakes to drink." Anthonius flushed as he realised that the man must have been carefully watching his progress, presumably through hidden spy-holes. The Arab continued "I shall now personally subject you to the last test." The two guards walked forward and grabbed the boy, who soon found himself tightly shackled spreadeagled to the frame, his helpless form reflected back at him by the mirror. They then collected an object that resembled a tall but narrow wooden sign, with a round hole in the middle, and two large hammers that had been resting against one of the walls. They embedded the spiked legs of the object deep into the ground, worrying Anthonius by making sure that it was immovably fixed in place with the hole immediately in front of his genitals. The legs of the thin wooden object now reached up to the level of the boy's splayed knees and the top of the object itself to the level of his nipples. Anthonius looked down, saw that it was about two finger widths wide and, with trepidation, was clearly some form of hollow mechanical contraption and was heavily bloodstained at the front around the hole. Something was being held in place at the top, between the front and rear wooden covers, by two slats protruding from the sides. The boy soon discovered what this was when a guard produced a small fruit. He fitted it into the hole and pulled very lightly on a little ring positioned directly in front, held in place by a short cord whose ends disappeared into tiny cavities either side of the hole. The slats suddenly fell to the floor and Anthonius heard something heavy run down the inside of the device before slamming into the bottom by his knees, leaving the two halves of the perfectly bisexted fruit to join the slats on the floor. The guard returned the obviously weighty and extremely sharp blade to its original position by pulling some strings, invisible to the boy, along the edges of the device. He then pushed Anthonius' bare rump from behind, forcing the boy's loins to press against the wood, whilst the other grasped the boy's flaccid cock from in front to pull his genitals through the hole. It was a very tight fit and, whilst their victim squealed in pain, both guards took a while to manoeuvre the young balls carefully through one by one. Two leather strappings, tying the top and bottom of the boy's buttocks firmly to the contraption, meant that it was impossible for the lad to withdraw his sexual organs. Finally, the little ring was attached to the head of his soft penis. Anthonius could not prevent himself from urinating in dread as the guards stood back for the Arab to inspect their work.

The Arab laughed sinisterly as he saw Anthonius empty himself in terror and said cruelly "It seems that you realise what will happen if you now become hard." He then nodded to one of the guards who left to return a short time later with two beautiful young women. The other guard now took up position behind Anthonius, moved both of his large hands to the boy's head and, with practised skill, held it firmly in place whilst simultaneously keeping the lad's eyelids open. Anthonius was not to miss any of the erotic action that had been arranged especially for him. The scene he saw was his own reflection from the mirror to his left, the Arab standing and grinning in evil expectation to his right and the two women beginning to divest themselves of their clothes in between. It was some while before the Arab came to realise that the two women, now naked and writhing together passionately on the floor, were not going to stimulate Anthonius. However, he was not at all disappointed to learn of the boy's real sexuality for the women were soon replaced by two comely youths, both with brown hair and eyes and nicely tanned all over. To the Arab's delight, their arrival apparently instantly stirred Anthonius' interest for, as the youths undressed and started to make love, the boy's cock was slowly rising and beginning to pull the ring and attached cord.

Anthonius' terror, and his attempts to think of the saddest possible things to distract himself from what he was viewing, only slowed the gathering excitement in his loins as the handsome youths avidly enjoyed each other's bodies in front of him. His hope, that the ring might slip down his cock, had quickly been dashed when it became obvious that its radius was too small. The boy became terrified that at any moment he would hear the click that signalled the fall of the blade, as he felt the inexorable growth in his penis continue to push the circlet. Then, suddenly, he did hear the click and the noise of the blade as it began its rapid descent.

Anthonius fainted and so the Arab wakened him by applying cold water to the boy's face. It was with immense relief that Anthonius realised that the man was playing with his still attached boy genitals. "Didn't I tell you that that was just a rehearsal?" the Arab asked rhetorically and cruelly, "a safety mechanism had been applied preventing the emasculator from falling through the hole. However, the emasculator has been reset with the safety mechanism removed so that we can put you to your final test for real. By the way, I've also reset the trigger. I noticed that it started the blade before you were fully hard. I've therefore estimated the size of your full erection and set it accordingly."

The Arab then moved behind Anthonius, who now noticed that the guard was no longer holding his head or eyelids and that the two youths had disappeared. He looked down and was pleased to see that his cock had gone soft again. Unfortunately, its limp state did not last much longer for the Arab started to caress the boy's back, sides and buttocks. Tingling sensations raced through the boy's body and his penis immediately became semi-erect, again pushing the ring. Anthonius tried to prevent its further growth by bringing more sad thoughts to mind and this, along with the man's stench, seemed to work for a while. Then, he felt the Arab prise his bumcheeks apart and the press of the man's short but fat prick on his sphincter. Anthonius tried to prevent the invasion but the pushing was too strong and he felt his hole open up to allow entry. The Arab's prick was much thicker than the other two that the boy had had inside him and the pain was acute as the initial resistance of his anal muscles was overcome. Anthonius screamed and begged the Arab to stop but this only spurred the man on to thrust more keenly. It was therefore fortunate for the boy's rear orifice that the shortness of the prick meant that the final penetration did not go too deep.

Anthonius' own cock had become flaccid again but this was to change as the agony of his rape gradually receded and the buggery became full but deliberately slow and rhythmical. Anthonius could not prevent his usual excitement re-emerging, despite the threat to his boyhood and the fact that the rapist's short prick was not long enough to stimulate his prostrate. The Arab was skilfully making up for this inadequacy by giving the boy's neck, upper back and shoulders the intimate attentions of his lips and tongue. The net result was again the relentless expansion of the endangered 14 years old penis towards full erection and its own demise. Meanwhile, Anthonius now appreciated the purpose of the mirror for the Arab had a clear reflection of what was happening to the boy's front as he sodomised his rear.

Anthonius heard the Arab's breathing become faster and knew that the man was close. The boy also knew that he too was close to full hardness and ejaculation. The Arab grunted and Anthonius felt his anus fill with hot sperm in about six separate and prolonged eruptions. He also felt his own cock begin its final act of life when it shuddered to full erection and its head began to emerge to spill his own seed.

As Anthonius was still shuddering in orgasmic climax, the Arab pulled his own softening prick out of the boy's ravaged bottom, causing some semen to withdraw at the same time and run down the bumcrack. The man then went round to the front of the naked spreadeagled youngster to double-check the result of the test.

Chapter 13 - Penances

As the Arab saw Anthonius' engorged penis erupt its last stream of semen, he carefully took hold of the triggering ring between the finger and thumb of his right hand and said sarcastically to the still petrified boy "It look's as if I over-estimated the size of your erection." Anthonius was terrified that the Arab would still trigger the blade but the man instead ordered the guards to release the boy. After they had done so, and Anthonius had gratefully withdrawn his genitals from the wicked contraption, the Arab pulled the ring fractionally and the blade fell. The boy had never thought that he would be so pleased that his cock was not a little longer. However, his relief at his survival, and that of his maleness, was short for the Arab now reminded him "Well, whore, you have surprised me by staying alive, but now I shall have the delectable pleasure of punishing your body with exquisite tortures. They await you and I'm sure that you would like to enjoy them straight away, but I'm also sure that you'll be tired from your exertions. As I want you at your best to fully appreciate the delights that I shall inflict on you, I shall let you be watered and fed and take rest. We shall meet again later. Do have sweet dreams. Take him to the torture chamber!"

The guards escorted Anthonius along a couple of passageways to another chamber, again windowless and illuminated only by wall torches, but this one was much larger and the sight of its contents almost caused the boy to faint again. The walls were covered with frightful instruments of punishment and torture, suspended neatly in rows. There were many types of paddle, cane and whip. There was an array of different sizes of skewer, knife, cleaver, cutter and tong. There were a number of branding irons on the wall above a row of unlit braziers. There were several sacks that seemed to move occasionally. There were many other implements that the horrified boy did not recognise but was sure were very unpleasant when put to use. On the floor of the chamber sat a number of heavy bloodstained tables, all with some form of restraint at the corners and metal rings fixed to the edges. There were several types of bondage frame and stock, at least one rack and, in a few places, nasty spikes and blades were embedded in the floor, which was also littered with fixed metal rings. A myriad of chains and pulleys hung from the roof. The guards took Anthonius to a small barred empty cell in one corner and locked him inside before leaving. The very scared 14 years old curled up in the corner, trembling.

The silent slave later arrived to supply water and bread to the dehydrated and famished boy who eagerly consumed his fill. The slave then checked Anthonius' naked body, as he had done to the very few survivors over the last decade, including the poor mites who had somehow lived through their nullification. He had never seen anyone escape the ordeal with so few marks for the boy seemed fine, at least physically, apart from the odd abrasion and his obvious cold. The slave cleansed the boy and tended the sores, finally wrapping him in a blanket. Anthonius rapidly fell asleep despite his apprehension of what his awakening would bring. Awful nightmares caused him to wake several times but not for long as his exhaustion quickly reasserted itself.

Anthonius was roused by the returning slave, who allowed the boy more water before subjecting him to three enemas. It seemed obvious to Anthonius that his Arab tormentor did not want any accidents from that part of the boy's anatomy whilst he was torturing other parts. The slave then cleansed and perfumed Anthonius and had the boy turn slowly before him so that he could admire his work. The slave saw that the lad was almost back to his previous bodily perfection and reflected sadly that this state would not last for long and that the next time he tended to the boy's body it would be covered in wounds from head to toe. The slave left, taking the blanket with him and the boy curled up again in the corner of his cell, but not for long as the obese Arab soon entered accompanied by the same two guards and a young naked black girl.

"Get up, whore," the Arab commanded and Anthonius slowly rose to his feet, trying to conceal his genitals with his hands because of the girl's presence. "No use hiding your privates, whore, because Impheli here will soon be playing with them," the Arab continued. One of the guards unlocked the cell. "Come here" the Arab instructed and Anthonius reluctantly left the cell and approached the man who had promised him excruciating punishment, with his hands still strategically placed. The Arab nodded to the guards who grabbed the boy by the arms, causing his hands to reveal what they were trying to hide, and dragged him across the chamber to where a square metal frame, about two hands tall, was embedded in the floor. They threw him to his knees within the frame. "Lay face down and spreadeagle yourself" ordered the Arab. Anthonius obeyed and it was not just the cold of the ground that then caused goose pimples to erupt all over his body, for he observed that the floor underneath and the frame surrounding both bore clear scorch marks. The guards used the pulley system to raise from nearby a similar, but unfixed, metal frame and manoeuvre it over where the nude splayed boy lay. There were leather restraints attached to each corner of this frame and Impheli stepped forward to attach them tightly to Anthonius, permitting the boy little room to move when the guards hauled him into the air by raising the frame further. The boy found himself uncomfortably suspended facedown squarely above the other frame at a distance about a head above the girl's height, and saw that the Arab had sat in a chair at the side to eat some fruit and enjoy the entertainment. Impheli then went to the collection of cutters on one of the walls and, to Anthonius' consternation, returned with a small but evil looking one. The girl stood under the naked and spreadeagled boy and opened the cutter around the base of his scrotum. Anthonius jumped slightly in shock and tried to move his genitals away from the encompassing coldness of the metal but his tight bondage prevented him. "No, please no," he heard himself crying but Impheli and the three watching men just laughed. However, the screaming boy felt the blades withdrawn to be returned between the base of his balls and his cockring. Impheli cut the ring with a loud snap, prised it open to remove it and presented the gold ornament to the Arab. She did the same with the boy's throat chain before restoring the cutter to its former position on the wall and collecting a short chain.

At first Anthonius wondered what this might be, but his own chains shook noisily when he saw Impheli prise apart the mouths of two serrated clamps attached to each end of hers. The boy knew that they would be applied somewhere to his body and again heard himself begging for mercy. The girl gave him none. Instead, she smirked, stood under his chest to rub one of his nipples between a finger and thumb and snapped one of the clamps to the erect tit, letting the other clamp fall. Anthonius screamed as the agony emanating from his chest reverberated throughout his body. Impheli waited patiently for the boy's pain to subside before applying the loose clamp to his other nipple, causing him to scream and beg fruitlessly again amidst the loud clattering of his restraints.

Impheli paused to allow Anthonius to resettle before collecting another chain, this time much finer than the first and without clamps. She tied it to the boy's dangling genitals, carefully and firmly wrapping it around and across the boy's balls, separating each testicle and leaving a length hanging underneath, before gathering a round metal ball with attached hook from the wall. Anthonius' chains rattled when the suspended boy recognised where this was to be placed but he had managed to compose himself a little and remained otherwise silent. The girl hung the heavy weight from the trailing piece of chain and let go. The silence was immediately broken by a shriek as Anthonius' genitals were stretched almost to tearing, and some vomit spewed from his mouth. Impheli's laughter, and that of the Arab and the guards, increased the noise.

Impheli had acquired with practice the sadistic skill of recognising the right moment to move on to the next torment, and so now allowed Anthonius to hang for a while until the painful sensations searing through him began to dull. She then increased them again at the appropriate times by adding extra weights to both the nipple clamps and genital chain until the maximum on both had been reached. By this time, Anthonius had been suspended for almost an hour and the discomfort to his arms and legs, caused by his unnatural position and the restraints that held him there, was becoming intense, adding to his woes. Impheli realised this but not only did she not care, she was happy to increase the boy's suffering even more.

Anthonius had seen that the guards had lit a couple of the braziers earlier but his agonies had prevented him from considering the implications of this until they were dragged towards him. To the boy's horror, Impheli and the guards started to transfer the hot coals from the braziers to the inside of the metal frame embedded in the ground beneath him and soon had it filled. Anthonius emptied his bladder onto some of the coals as he was then lowered towards them. His decent was stopped about half way, when the weights attached to his chest and loins hung just above the glow. Anthonius felt the strong heat and began to sweat profusely, fearing that he might burn. However, the distance between the boy and the coals had been judged perfectly by Impheli to cause great discomfort but no worse. Instead, the weights would roast and the heat would conduct upwards through the chains attached to them and Anthonius' whimpering intensified when he realised this.

The alloy from which the weights and chains had been made had been carefully selected for its slow but clearly vivid conductivity. They noticeably changed colour from light to dark grey as the heat spread so the petrified Anthonius could actually see it rise gradually towards him. He therefore decided to try to reduce their temperature by moving them away from the coals. The only way that he could do this was by swaying his body so that the weights swung as well. His restraints prevented his body from shifting too much but he managed to start the weights moving at the cost of an acute heightening of the aches to his chest and loins. However, after about a third of an hour suspended over the coals, painful seizures to his arm and leg muscles eventually forced this movement to a halt. After another third of an hour, the heavily perspiring and now immobile boy could see that the heat was not far from either his very sore nipples or cock and started pleading again. He closed his eyes when he felt its first fiery touch and began to howl as his nipples seemed to explode in suffering. Then, surprisingly, the pain lessened, the stretching in his groin ceased and he heard loud chortling. He reopened his eyes to observe that the clamps had been removed from his chest and the loose chain hanging from his loins had been severed, with Impheli in the process of cutting the remainder off his sore genitals. The last agony he had experienced was the blood rushing back into his nipples.

The frame from which Anthonius was suspended was swung away from the coals, and lowered to the floor and the boy was realeased from the shackles. The guards lifted the distraught lad onto his feet and allowed him a little time to recover before dragging him over to another part of the chamber where a metal plate with long razor sharp needles had been placed on the floor. The guards forced Anthonius into a squatting position over the wicked needles and chained his feet wide apart to two metal rings embedded in the ground just in front and his arms behind to two more just on the other side. The intent was clear for Anthonius' position was such that he would be forced to sit on the needles once his thigh and arm muscles became exhausted. It was also clear that the needles would rip his bottom to shreds.

Anthonius found himself begging the now re-seated but still eating Arab "Please have mercy, master, I'll do anything!" The Arab stood up, approached and knelt in front of the squatting boy and sneered "Anything, whore?" whilst beginning to fondle the lad's cock with the index finger of his right hand, on which the boy noticed a large gold ring, designed in the form of intertwined snakes. "Yes, master, anything" replied Anthonius as he realised that his arms, in particular, could take the strain lonely a little longer. The Arab responded, whilst masturbating the boy to full erection, "Will you swear by your gods that you will make your orifices available for me morning, noon and night every day for ever, whore?" Anthonius quickly said "Yes, master, yes, but first please mercy!" The Arab stood again and retorted "You're too late, whore, you had your chance" before sitting again and picking up another fruit. Anthonius' arms began to vibrate. He screamed "Please, master, mercy please," but the Arab was right, the boy was too late. His arm muscles gave way and he sat. However, the grief expected from the needles as the boy's bum hit the ground did not materialise. Anthonius saw instead that the plate had been quietly moved to one side by Impheli, presumably when he had been distracted by the Arab, who now declared sardonically "But I'll keep my options open for now!"

Anthonius was again unchained by the guards and allowed to recover for a bit before being led to what looked like a large phallus embedded in the floor and covered in grease. The boy's hands were tied behind his back and a heavy metal collar, with four integral equally spaced rings around its external circumference, was securely bolted around the his neck. Anthonius was again forced into a squatting position, this time with the tip of the phallus resting against his sphincter. Four heavy weights rested on the ground facing each of the collar's rings. The weights were linked by strong cords, through pulleys suspended from the roof, back down to metal rings fixed to the floor. Whilst the guards continued to hold Anthonius in place, Impheli untied one of the cords from its ring on the floor, pulled upwards to lift its weight high into the air and retied the end to the respective ring on the boy's collar. He then repeated the action with the other cords.

"Have fun, whore" said the Arab as the guards released their hold on Anthonius, who squealed as he was immediately pulled further onto the phallus by the sudden downward pressure imposed on his neck and body by the four weights. The boy tried to lift himself off but found that he only had enough strength to maintain his current posture and, as with the needles, he realised that he could not do this for long. He also realised that this time the torture was not a tease and that only his thigh muscles prevented him from impaling himself, but the strain on them was slowly increasing. As Anthonius recognised that he would soon succumb to the pressures, and that pleading for release would fall on deaf ears, he began to worry about what affect the phallus would have on him. It would be by far the biggest thing to enter him. It was about two hands long and the small rounded tip quickly expanded to a width of about four fingers. Its invasion into his innards would entail immense pain and cause damage, but he was unsure how severe or permanent. He silently begged his gods for pity instead of the Arab, who was watching with a broad grin on his face, and quietly began to sob as he recognised that his thighs were about to give. Impheli sent him on him way by applying just one more heavy weight to the cord behind the boy's back.

Anthonius decent onto the cruel phallus was as swift as it was terrible. The boy thought that he was being split in two and his screams were long and shrill, lasting well beyond the time his severely stretched and bleeding buttocks struck the ground. It felt that the phallus had reached inside his stomach and he looked down, between shrieks, expecting to see it emerge from his navel. However, the phallus had actually been chosen carefully and well by the silent slave, based on his expert appraisal of Anthonius' form. It would fill and stretch the boy's rectum to a maximum without causing irreversible harm. The four watchers snorted loudly and then left to allow the boy to enjoy his impalement whilst they enjoyed their meals.

After a couple of hours, the silent slave arrived to release a still crying Anthonius from his collar and bondage and carefully lift him off the phallus, leaving a pool of blood behind. The boy was gently placed face-up on one of the tables with his knees folded over stirrups attached to posts at the table's side, in the manner usual for an enema. Anthonius' poor damaged hole was fully exposed and the slave cautiously began to clean the bloody and gaping orifice to occasional yelps from the prone boy. He finished by delicately applying a greasy salve to the defiled rectum with his fingers and, for the most remote insides, a long quill. He cleaned both fingers and quill on the boy's genitals. Before he left, he told Anthonius not to move from the table. He need not have bothered because the boy was in too much pain to contemplate doing so.

The Arab returned with his companions an hour later. Impheli proceeded to tie Anthonius' hands to the top corners of the table and his knees and ankles to the side posts, retaining him in the same posture but roughly and without any consideration for the boy's distress. She then collected one of the sacks that hung from the wall and emptied its contents on Anthonius' chest. The boy screamed in shock as he saw the head of a large green snake with yellow eyes rear above his own face. A black forked tongue emerged from the creature's mouth when it hissed at him, but then the snake seemed to detect something and began to slither its cold slimy form the other way and slowly down the boy's naked quivering body. Its head eventually reached and lingered at Anthonius' groin and the boy suddenly felt the slimy tongue licking his soft cock and balls. It was then that he realised that the greasy substance that the slave had applied was not healing salve but snake food. He also realised where the creature would be heading once it had finished with his genitals. Anthonius' sobbing restarted and the word "No" quietly emerged from his lips a number of times but addressed to no-one in particular. The boy did not notice that his cock had become hard from its caressing by the black tongue until he felt his climax begin and splashes of semen fall on his body to cheers from the observers.

It was shortly after his unwanted orgasm that the snake started to make its way towards Anthonius' open and hurting rectum. The boy first felt its tongue licking the entrance before venturing inside but he did not begin to yell until he felt its head enter. The snake advanced inside Anthonius very slowly and deliberately, not wanting to miss out on any of its favourite sustenance, and the boy could feel every slimy move of the creature along his sore anus until eventually he realised that it had reached his prostrate. Impheli realised this too from the resultant automatic re-hardening of Anthonius' penis. This was the signal that she had been waiting for and she quickly pulled the snake by its tail out of the screeching boy and threw it back into its sack, which she replaced on the wall.

Anthonius was untied by the guards and dragged to the rack. The boy was soon fully and painfully drawn out, his chin held upwards and the shape of his ribcage fully revealed. His agonised shouts were stifled by application of a gag. The wheel of the rack was turned a further notch. Anthonius' body shuddered in pain. The wheel was turned another notch and the boy again felt that he was being split in two. The wheel was turned yet another notch and the lad thought that his limbs were about to tear away from his body, and they would certainly have begun to do so if the wheel had moved any further. However, Impheli again recognised that the point of no return between maximum distress and permanent damage had been reached and stopped. She left Anthonius to enjoy the sensations flowing through him for a while before rubbing one of the boy's raw nipples upright to muffled groans. A petrified Anthonius then observed her produce a long thin very sharp needle, glistening with fluid, which she held against the raised tit, pausing to allow the implications to sink into the boy's befuddled mind before ramming it through with neat precision. The lad's body shuddered despite his racking, and a stifled howl could be heard. Impheli produced a similar reaction from Anthonius when she repeated the exercise with the other papilla and, once the needles had been withdrawn, narrow strands of blood ran from both lesions down the boy's side onto the table. Anthonius then felt a needle on his genitals, where his cock joined his upper scrotum. This piercing created two lines of blood running either side of the ball sac before joining to course down the boy's bumcrack.

Impheli now collected the short-handled branding iron that, unknown to Anthonius, had been reddening within the coals of his first torture. Impheli presented it before the boy's terrified eyes to allow him to appreciate what it was and what it portrayed, the circle of entwined snakes he had seen on the Arab's ring. The boy could not even attempt to struggle in his stretched state and obeyed the Arab when he heard him say "I'd breath in deeply and keep your belly very still if I was you, whore, or the iron might penetrate your flesh and fire your innards." Anthonius fainted when Impheli carefully centred the circular brand round the boy's navel and firmly lowered it onto his skin.

When Anthonius wakened, he found that he had been chained spreadeagled and upright to a bondage frame and detected the unmistakable smell of burnt meat. The pains in his chest and groin were intense but nothing compared to that on his stomach. He looked down and saw the tiny bloody holes created either side of each nipple and at the top of his genitals, with stings of dried blood running from them. He also saw the distinctive brand encasing his belly button. "Well, whore, you'll be disappointed to know that we're all tired and can therefore only entertain you with one last punishment" teased the Arab, holding a whip in his right hand. It was relatively short but comprised eight knotted cords of hardened leather. The Arab walked to Anthonius' rear and the boy would probably have started pleading for mercy again if he his gag had not been still in place. Only the boy's buttocks had been beaten previously and he hoped that perhaps this assault would be confined there, but he was quickly disillusioned when the first lash struck him across his upper back, creating eight bright red stripes. The Arab progressed with the flagellation slowly and methodically. He wanted Anthonius to relish every blow and he wanted to spare no part of the boy's body. After the upper back had received several strikes from both the left and right, the man moved to the middle back, then to the lower back and on to the lad's bum and rear legs. Many times the blows curled round the sides of the boy's body to leave their pernicious marks there. The Arab then transferred to Anthonius' front and gradually moved the flogging down from the boy's upper chest to his feet, although he avoided the lad's genitals for now. Anthonius writhed in agony within the constraints of his tight bondage and continually moaned into his gag, his tear-stained face a picture of torment. His contortions and muffled outcries reached their maximum when the barbarous cords hit his brutalised nipples and scorched navel.

The Arab returned to Anthonius' rear to inflict further damage but this time, instead of hitting across, he struck downwards so that the stripes decorating the boy's splayed body criss-crossed. These stripes were now a mixture of colours, some scarlet, some purple, others brown and a couple green. Blood flowed from a few cuts where the lashing had been particularly severe but the change in the angle of attack produced much more, especially where the horizontal and vertical stripes intersected. The Arab had ordered the guards to throw pails of water at Anthonius on several occasions when the boy had seemed not to be fully appreciating his thrashing. He had to do so again after he had aimed a few blows right along Anthonius' bumcrack, hitting the exposed and damaged anal entrance with perfection, and causing the boy to faint again. The Arab introduced the criss-crossing pattern to Anthonius' front before concluding that, if he continued any longer, he would begin to scar the boy for life and he had already decided against this. The lad's final penance would require his body to be in good shape but it would scar him for life in a manner far worse than the whip could achieve. The Arab therefore contented himself by finishing with several blows that would ultimately return Anthonius to unconsciousness. He nodded to Impheli who knelt and took the boy's cock into her mouth. It took only a little sucking to entice the thing to unsoften. Impheli then moved away. The Arab said "Thank you, boy," before creating first eight and then sixteen vivid marks across the top of Anthonius' excited member. A couple of upward blows onto the boy's balls finished the Arab's work.

Anthonius was again reawakened to see Impheli agonisingly attach two small metal rings to his bloodied nipple piercings and another cockring through that of his scrotum, snapping the flanged ends together under his flesh in all three cases. The Arab again said "Thank you, boy" and, despite his traumatised state and mind tortured with pain, Anthonius was temporarily stunned by the use of the word 'boy'. The Arab recognised, amidst his obvious suffering, the boy's sudden puzzlement and decided to relieve him of at least the latter. "Didn't I tell you, whore, that Impheli here also showed the ingenuity to pass the first seven tests but, in his case, I managed to judge the size of his full erection perfectly and, unlike most others, he did not then bleed to death. The blood quickly congealed so I let him live. His pubic hair hides the scars of his total emasculation well, don't you think. I find him useful. He likes to help me with my little pleasures and you, especially, will know how well he does so. I also regularly enjoy his mouth and bum. I don't remember his real name but I call him Impheli because that means 'anguish' in his language and is, I think, suitable for him in many ways. Now, we must leave you, whore. I'm sorry that I'm too tired to play any more."

Chapter 14 - South

(January 291 A.D.)

The Arab called for his guards and the same two who had participated in Anthonius' tortures entered, picked the naked boy up and led him out. They eventually emerged into a big courtyard where several ox-driven wagons were waiting. Anthonius' hands were tied behind him and he was thrown into a large wooden cage on the back of one of the wagons, where his right leg was manacled by a short chain to one of the bars. Inside the cage with him were two young but plain-looking women, four similarly ordinary girls and five scrawny boys, the youngsters aged from about 9 to 14. All Anthonius' fellow prisoners were, like him, naked and white-skinned. The door of the cage was locked and the guards disappeared back inside the fortress. They returned shortly afterwards, escorting the Arab and Impheli to a luxurious curtained litter on the back of another wagon. Anthonius rued that, wherever they were going, their journey was going to be much more comfortable than his own.

The caravan set off, accompanied by a number of mounted guards, and left the fortress' gates to head south into the desolate countryside. Anthonius was initially grateful for the heavy cloth awning that had been placed over the cage to protect the occupants from the sun, relentlessly beating down from the cloudless sky, but the temperature and humidity soon made conditions within the cage very hot and stifling. As the caravan progressed sedately, the boy could see that the surroundings seemed unchanging, treeless brown scrubby plains and hills. The journey lasted five very uncomfortable days and none of the solemn fellow inmates of the cage ever spoke. They were released only to eat and drink and toilet. Their water was rationed and the food was always the same foul weak gruel, so their thirst and hunger were little assuaged. They also could not wash so they were all filthy when, at dusk on the fifth day, they finally and thankfully reached their destination, a group of low stone buildings on the outskirts of a decrepit town.

Anthonius and the others were taken to a bath-house and allowed to wash themselves, under the close supervision of the now dismounted guards, before being fed and watered and imprisoned for the night in a large communal cell, with hands and legs restricted as they were in the cage. The following morning, Anthonius saw the silent slave for the first time since they left the fortress when he appeared to attend to all the captives' bodies and dress them in kilts, doing his best to improve their appearances. However, he lingered longest with Anthonius as the boy was the only one he could be proud of once he had finished. The guards then came to return everyone except Anthonius to the caged wagon. The boy was instead taken, hands rebound behind his back like the others, to the side of the Arab's curtained litter. The curtain parted and Anthonius saw the Arab and Imphelii, both of whom were flushed as if they had just enjoyed sex.

"Well, whore, this is where we say goodbye. You need not know the name of the town below. It is of such little consequence that the Romans probably do not know of its existence. Certainly, they can't be bothered with it as none have ever been known to come here. However, for you, it will be your last sight of civilisation as you know it. You see, this dingy impoverished rat-warren provides a service for me every second new year, for then the black chieftains come from their distant forested lands, across the dry plains and the great desert, to barter their young black slaves for what I consider trinkets. I make great profits from the transactions for the most that I am required to provide in return is the odd white slave. You see, the tribes of some of the chieftains like to have one such slave, woman, girl or boy, never more and never men, for their rituals, often of a sexual kind and, if that slave dies or becomes unsatisfactory and is killed, they seek a replacement. I do not even have to barter the best white flesh. The chieftains' requirements are always modest so I reserve that for the Roman slave-markets. However, you are an exception. I cannot easily dispose of you within the Empire, especially as you are so clearly marked as Imperial property, and it would be too dangerous to keep you. It would be a shame to have to kill you after you managed to survive my tests, and my displeasure with you has been partly revenged. I would also lose profit in so doing. No, I believe that bartering you to the chieftains is the best way forward. I am sure that I shall gain many young blacks in exchange, especially as the bidding chieftains will never have seen a blonde, blue-eyed white boy before, let alone one with your looks. My revenge will also be complete for your final penance will be to spend the remainder of your days in demeaning slavery as the sole white person in the black tribe's faraway homeland. The thought alone brings me great satisfaction. Goodbye, whore, enjoy your new, I was going to say life but existence would be the more appropriate word!" The aghast Anthonius was led to the caged wagon to rejoin the other captives, with the laughter of the Arab and his nullified boy friend resounding in his ears.

Chapter 15 - Display

Anthonius could see that, beyond the crowd gawking mainly at him with only occasional glances towards the others, all sorts of goods were being sold throughout the square to a number of black men attired in long colourful robes. Each appeared to have a group of black helpers dressed less splendidly in grey tunics. He also saw several large wooden stockades accommodating many young and bound black boys and girls, whose only coverings were small loincloths. His guess that these were the slaves to be bartered appeared to be confirmed when, on several occasions, Arabs entered the stockades with some of the black helpers and seemingly perused the human stock before taking some away.

Anthonius and the others had to wait half of the day before they were all escorted in line across the square, through the milling throngs and to constant derisory jeering, to a tall rectangular wooden platform accessed by steps on its shorter sides. The sad little group was kept at the foot of one of these sets of stairs until the auction of the Arab's white goods began. One by one, the others were unbound and led individually onto the platform to be sold. Anthonius, as the most valuable, was being kept for last. The waiting and scared boy saw that the sale routine was always the same. The captives would be met on the platform by an Arab auctioneer who then, in a strange language, apparently extolled their virtues to the front assemblage, comprising about one hundred potential black chieftain bidders, their many black helpers and a multitude of Arabs, the latter present simply to enjoy the spectacle. The captives' bodies would be shown off at all angles, first with their skirts on then nude, the removal of their covering always producing loud and mocking cheering. He had to guess what happened when they were then led down the other set of stairs but his assumption, gained from his earlier viewing of the site, proved correct. The final step acted as a small dais for the chieftains to inspect the goods individually and more intimately. Sometimes this lasted up to a third of an hour, depending on the numbers considering a bid. However, few of the crowd departed despite their impatience, as most were waiting keenly to observe the sale of the one whose type they had never seen before, blonde and blue-eyed and possessed with a perfect light complexion, despite the attentions of the unforgiving yellow orb overhead. The captives would eventually be brought back onto the main platform and the bidding would take place. It was invariably fast and the purchased goods were soon standing naked in front of their buyers, surrounded by gloating watchers.

Anthonius was finally the next to be exhibited. The surrounding gaiety was raucous as the tremulous boy was led up the stairs and onto the middle of the platform. The auctioneer grabbed him by the arm and shouted long and boisterously before making him place his trembling hands on his head and prodding him into a variety of standing positions so that his form could be appreciated from every perspective. The accompanying turbulence never faltered until everyone suddenly comprehended that his cover was about to be removed, when there was a momentary and almost miraculous silence. It was broken by the loudest cheers of the day when the auctioneer, after an initial fumble, managed to release the toggle on the boy's skirt to cast the encumbrance aside. Anthonius already knew that he was hard. However, he could not calculate whether the many fingers now pointing at him, and the many people clearly discussing him, were fascinated by his overall shape, his clearly displayed sexual excitement, his newly revealed and unexpected brands, his ornamental rings, or other aspects of the young nude body now exhibited before them. He did ascertain that the loudest commentators were the group of Arab girls he had seen earlier. Somehow, they had managed to make their way to the front of the platform for a close view of proceedings. The boy had previously suffered many humiliations but he thought that this moment, being paraded naked and fully aroused before the eager multitude, was by far the worst.

Anthonius was taken down the stairs for the bidding chieftains to have a much closer look at him. About twenty gathered in an orderly fashion and the auctioneer allowed them, one by one, to inspect the goods on offer. The boy felt their hands all over him. They ran through his hair and across his face. His mouth was opened for its contents, including his dazzling white teeth, to be checked. The hands ran over his neck, limbs and torso. His genitals were weighed and prodded. The foreskin on his erect cock was pulled back for the head and slit to be examined. The hands ran over his buttocks. He was bent over and his bum cheeks were pulled apart to expose his hole, which was now as tight as usual. The silent slave had been amazed at how it had repaired itself after being invaded by the monster phallus. The anus would once again provide great pleasure to the sodomiser and pain to the sodomised.

Anthonius was eventually returned onto the main platform, his excited penis conspicuously throbbing. The bidding took a little longer than previous but was nevertheless soon over. The boy was led off the platform and into the front of the crowd where the winning chieftain stood, surrounded by about ten helpers and many crowing Arabs, including the eight girls. Anthonius was forced to his knees before the man, who nodded to a young black boy nearby. Anthonius noticed that the boy was about his own age, was dressed in a simple but tidy grey tunic and had a very pretty face. He also noticed that the boy carried a wide metal collar with a long chain lead attached to one side and wrist shackles to the other. The collar was placed around Anthonius' neck and bolted in place. Anthonius instantly felt discomfort from its tight fit and heavy weight and this was increased when his hands were shackled behind him, halfway up his back. The black boy then pulled the white boy to his feet and led him by the chain lead through the surrounding throng, closely followed by the chieftain and his helpers. The Arab girls followed too, giggling at the sight of Anthonius' nude rump preceding them.

The party finally came to a couple of covered wagons just off the square in a quieter side street and Anthonius' lead was fixed to the rear of the second wagon. The chieftain issued some orders and he departed with the black boy and most of the other helpers to complete his business in the square, leaving his latest purchase in the charge of a couple of older boys, both about sixteen. The Arab girls were standing nearby eyeing Anthonius and pointing and chortling at his continued arousal. The fifteen years old leader then approached one of the young guards and entered into a form of conversation with him, both knowing some words of each other's language. Anthonius then saw them hold hands and disappear down an alleyway. They returned about a quarter of an hour later, both adjusting their respective tunics. The girl called to her friends. They all quickly gathered round Anthonius and two of the bigger ones took hold of his arms to keep him in place. The leader stood behind the white boy and started to caress his naked back with her left hand. The sniggering of the others increased noticeably. She moved her left hand to the lad's bum and her right to his throbbing penis, which she began to pump whilst at the same time invading his hole with a finger. This intrusion soon became two then three fingers. A number of passers-by had stopped to watch the fun and, when the girl realised that Anthonius' cock would no longer require the attentions of her right hand, she stood back to allow herself and everyone else view the results of her administrations. They saw the boy's cock rise vertically towards his belly and the foreskin slip back to reveal the head. It was quickly followed by a stream of white fluid that splashed as far as the lad's hair. The girls then left, still chuckling loudly, and the passers-by continued on their way, leaving a deeply humiliated Anthonius guiltily displaying the evidence of his own passion on his hair, face, chest and stomach.

Anthonius was allowed some water and to sit cross-legged while he waited for the chieftain and his entourage to return. They did so late afternoon, several hours later, and placed their latest purchases in the ox-drawn wagons before mounting themselves, having pulled the boy to his feet. The wagons set off slowly out of the still-bustling town on a track heading south, proudly showing off their most expensive purchase as he trailed behind, shame-faced at his nakedness and new demeaning status. Some children followed for a while teasing Anthonius with insults and little stones, but the people they passed eventually became fewer and fewer and they came to the empty countryside.

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