DAVID 128
david in ROME — Chapter FOUR
“Why should Fahad want another colt in his stable of men?” boasted Titus as he rose from his seat. The view from the balcony was perfect on this fine morning. “After all,” he said with a swaggering smile, “he has me!”
“That is exactly why he needs another!” shouted Zaki. “To put you in your place!”
All the men in the room laughed heartily.
Titus smiled. “In truth though,” he said as he pointed at Zaki, “This new arrival that we await, what can he do that I can’t?” He spread his legs and took a wide stance. He spread his broad shoulders, put his hands on his hips, and flared his back. “I have enough muscles for two men!” He looked down between his legs. “Everywhere!”
The men snickered.
“Yes, Titus!” shouted Philip. “And the arrogance of three!” And he tossed a goblet of water at Titus’ loins. Titus dodged the throw, but not before the spilling water wet the front of his tunic between his legs. He gasped in shock and a jolly anger, and dove at Philip, and they both went crashing backwards while the men laughed out loud. Titus held Philip down, and Philip made no attempt to struggle because he was laughing so hard. “You look like you’ve had an accident! S-someone…” he couldn’t breathe because he was laughing and gasping for breath. “S-someone… someone rub his rump… with the meat… on the table—”
Zaki grabbed the leg of lamb.
Titus stood, grinning. “Don’t you come near me,” he said, beginning to laugh himself, “or I’ll shove the bone where—”
“Promises!” said Zaki. “Oh! You mean this bone.”
The door to the room opened, and the guard yelled, “Hold!” The men in the room turned to see two more guards entering the room. They each had the arm of a giant, naked, muscular young man slung around their necks, and they struggled to keep him standing. He was just shy of unconscious. His eyes were closed, and his head hung down on his huge chest, but his legs moved as though he was trying to walk. They entered the room, and dragged him over to a soft couch.
Gaius' mouth dropped open. “Ave Hercules!” he whispered in amazement.
“That is no colt,” said Zaki.
“By the gods!” whispered Philip in astonishment. “Titus… he has enough for three men… everywhere!”
Titus said nothing. He was too dumbfounded at the man’s size and proportions.
“Tend to him,” said one of the guards. “He nearly died at the hands of the drunken crowd at the temple of Bacchus.
“Bring us more water,” said Titus. “A bowl, and a cloth.”
The guards bowed and left, and the men clustered around the big man who lay unconscious on the couch. For over an hour they sat near him, torn between awe and pity.
• • • • •
“Don’t move,” said Titus. “You’re safe.”
David’s eyes fluttered open and he stared at the ceiling.
“Look at his eyes,” whispered Gaius. “They’re like jewels!”
David groaned and slowly turned his head to face Titus who sat at his side. He saw a big man, almost as big as himself, but with brutish features, and yellow hair.
“Hail, stranger,” said Titus with a warm smile. “By the gods, you’re right Gaius. Those are the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.”
With the full dawning of consciousness, David looked around the room. His face showed confusion, and then fear.
“Fear not,” said Titus. “As I said, you’re safe.”
“Where… where am I?” David whispered.
Titus smiled. “You are in the house of a young sheik. We are his… uh… friends.” He looked around at the other men for acknowledgement.
“Yes… friends,” said Zaki.
“Friends, that’s right,” said Philip.
“Sheik?” David asked dreamily. “Am I… am I back in Egypt? Or…?”
“No,” said Titus. “You are still in Rome. You are in a grand house on the Collis Aventinus. And in the company of the handsomest man in the Roman empire.”
“That would be me,” said Philip.
“He said ‘man’ Philip,” said Zaki.
“And I said ‘handsome’, not ‘pretty’,” said Titus. “And could you squawking hens hold your tongues until the man regains his senses?”
Gaius smacked the back of Philip’s head.
Titus turned back to David. “Besides,” he continued, “everyone knows that I am the handsomest man in all the Roman empire.” He gazed down at David. “Or at least… I was.”
David tried to sit up, and when he faltered, the other men helped him. Titus grabbed one arm and pulled him to a sitting position. When the big man was steady, Titus released his grip on the huge arm, moved back a bit on the couch, and took in the whole of the muscular giant.
“You are a Greek god come to life!” exclaimed Philip.
Gaius marveled at the powerful cock between David’s legs. “Aye! A god… with the power to make horses cry.”
David ignored them. He was too busy trying to remember what had happened, and to adjust his eyes to the bright sunlight.
“Here now!” said Zaki. “The man will think us uncaring. Tell me stranger… what is your name? And where do you come from? Surely not Rome, or we’d all have heard of you.”
David rubbed his head. “My name is David… I come from Alexandria.”
“Hail,” said Gaius. “I am Gaius Marius Varanius of Rome.”
“I am Zaki, of Egypt.”
“I am Philip, of Macedonia.”
“And I am Titus, of Germania." The two men clasped wrists. "They told me that you slaved at the great Library in Alexandria,” said Titus. “But willingly. Why would you choose to labor in the ruins of a house of books?”
“I am not a slave,” said David. “And it is not a ruin. I go there because…” he stopped to think for a moment, and then his voice became quiet, almost a whisper. He shrugged. He shrugged again. “I like to read.”
“Hah!” said Philip, and he poked Titus in the back. “There’s something he can do that you can’t!”
Titus growled, “Be silent you smelly little fool.”
Philip’s laughter stopped abruptly. In shock he turned to the others. “I’m not little!”
“Here,” said Titus. “Sit against this pillow.”
“Are you hungry?” asked Gaius.
“I’m not little,” said Philip. “Am I little?”
“Do you thirst?” asked Zaki. “Here is water,” he said as he grabbed a pitcher and filled a goblet.
David nodded and took the goblet. With a shaky hand, he raised it to his lips, and froze. His eyes grew wide as he regarded his raised arm, and then he whimpered, and stared in horror at his hand.
“What is it?” asked Titus.
“Oh n-no!” David whined. “Oh god!” He took the goblet from his lips and stared down at his body. Horror turned to revulsion and shame. With his free hand he felt his hair. It was stiff with dried wine, sweat, and semen. He gave the goblet to Titus and with both hands felt his shoulders and his face. His skin was stiff, tight, and dirty with wine and dried saliva and sweat that was not his own. For the first time since he had gained consciousness, the stink of vomit and sour wine reached his nose. “Oh god! Oh god I’m f-filthy!”
“Now, now, now, don’t upset yourself. It’s nothing that—”
“Oh god!”
“—a good bath won’t take away. You’ve been through a lot.”
“Oh my god!”
“No shame,” said Zaki. “It’s not your fault. Here now.”
“We understand,” said Gaius.
“I… I… I wish… to bathe,” said David. “Now.”
“You should rest first,” said Titus. “You offend no one here. We—”
“I wish to bathe!” he exclaimed. “Now!” He shook in self-revulsion. “Bring me water!” Tears filled his eyes. “And cloth. A b-brush. I cannot get the ring wet or it will rust solid!”
“What ring?” asked Titus.
David spread his thighs and looked down. “The ring… there! I cannot take it—”
They all waited for an explanation.
“—it … wh—?” He stared in amazement. “Where is it?” He wondered how he could not have felt its absence, but his throbbing head was doing all manner of things to his balance and his senses.
“Where is what?” asked Titus.
“The cock ring!” His breathing grew faster. A flood of relief manifested itself as imminent sobs. “L-locked around my… oh god! It’s gone. It’s gone!” He collapsed forward, sobbing in relief. The men held him up gently.
“Here,” said Zaki, taking the goblet from Titus. “You need to drink water and to refresh yourself or you will feel ill even more. Drink.”
“Yes, drink,” said Titus. “If you drink this goblet of water, I will take you to our bath out on the terrace. Here… calm yourself.”
With trembling hands, he took the goblet.
“Titus,” said Philip. “You are the strongest of us. You go with him. Help him. Zaki… go fetch food. Bring fruit and meat. Gaius, find some clothes for him.”
Gaius’ eyes went wide. “Clothes? For him? Not even Titus’ clothes would fit.”
“Do your best, fool!” he snapped. “I will go and tell Fahad that he has awakened.”
• • • • •
The house was truly wondrous… of Roman design but here and there were works of art from Persia and Arabia. Titus convinced David that he needed no clothes to walk the hallways to the terrace, and soon they passed through an archway into the blinding morning sun again. The terrace was of white marble and overlooked another terrace which in turn gazed out down the slopes of the Aventine hill, and then upon Rome in the distance. A large statue of a water-bearer knelt on a pedestal, and crystal water flowed from the figure’s jar into the bathing pool.
“Oh,” said Titus. “I did not think. Perhaps a warm bath is more to your liking.”
“No,” said David, his eyes squeezed nearly shut against the glare of the sun on the white marble. “No. Cool. Please.”
Titus stretched his arm out and motioned for David to enter the pool. Upon entering the knee deep water, David immediately knelt down and scooped water up to his face, again and again. Titus leaned against the statue’s pedestal and watched him. He had never seen such a beautiful man, and watching him move in the sparkling water was mesmerizing. David leaned forward, lay flat on his belly, immersing himself completely in the water for a second, and then came back to a kneeling position. He raked his fingers through his wet hair and arched his back, raising his face to the sky. Titus watched the water, envious. He studied the way the waterline curved and danced around each buttock, and he wondered whether water truly had a spirit, as some said it did. If it did, it could only be joyous now, to be in such communion with a man such as this. Titus wondered…could it only have one mind, or did it have many…with each drop? Could it feel itself trickling down the middle of the man’s huge back? Could it feel itself wetting the bull neck? What was it like to refresh that face? What was it like to soak that raven-black hair? What was it like to touch every spot on those titanic thighs at the same time? What was it like to be pushed and scooped and agitated by those big, strong hands? And when he stood, what would it be like to be a rivulet and to…just for a second…drain between his buttocks, tickle his balls, and then completely caress his cock in wetness and coolness from base to tip before falling to join the mass that enveloped his legs?
“It is a pity Caesar Domitian was your first contact with Rome,” Titus said. “This city can be a wonder. At times.”
David stood and walked slowly through the water. He rubbed his wet skin absentmindedly. “I was brought here against my will.”
“But,” Titus began. “In time, you may be free, and then you will be a citizen… of Rome!”
“I have no wish to be a citizen of Rome. I am already a citizen. Of Alexandria.”
“But… this is Rome! What can compare? The Coliseum!”
“The Lighthouse.”
“The Senate! The Forum!”
“The Library. The Museum.”
“The gods of Rome!”
“The gods of Egypt. And Greece. And Judaea.”
“All roads lead to Rome,” said Titus.
“The world docks in Alexandria’s harbor.”
A young Arab walked slowly along the side of the pool. “He is right, Titus.” He spoke to Titus, but he could not take his eyes off David. “Rome is a wonder, but it is not the only wonder. For instance,” he said, smiling at David, “there is you.”
David gazed up, squinting against the bright sun. The young man wore a robe and ghutra over loose, dark clothes. His skin and eyes were a deep, dark brown, and he moved and held himself like nobility.
“I am Sheik Fahad Ali al-Dimashqi,” he said as he bowed. “Peace to you.”
David bowed hesitantly and said, “Forgive my nakedness.”
Fahad laughed. “Oh my friend! If you only knew! It is your nakedness that brought you here, and thus probably saved your life!”
David smiled. “What?”
“I should explain,” he said. “My friend, some men collect beautiful horses. Some men collect beautiful works of art. Some men collect beautiful gems and jewels. Some men collect beautiful wives… but I collect beautiful men.”
“You… collect beautiful men?” he asked, astonished. He turned to Titus. “So you are a slave?”
“Hah!” Titus slapped Fahad on the back and nearly knocked him over. “Yes! At least that’s what we tell people. We have to keep up appearances after all.”
“So… you’re free to leave?”
“Yes, but why would I? Fahad treats us with respect. The gates to the house are locked, but we all know where the key is!”
“And now,” said Fahad, “you are part of my stable of men. I welcome you.”
David eyed him carefully. “And what is expected of me in this ‘stable of men’?” He climbed out of the pool and stood in front of Fahad, dripping water onto the white marble.
“Ahh!” Fahad held up his hand and then brought it down. “Your eyes! Those are the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Truly, you are a wonder.”
David lowered his gaze.
“You are magnificent! A stallion among men!” Fahad looked down at David’s loins. “Oh truly a stallion among men!” The semblance of control and restraint vanished. Fahad was beside himself. “Oh! That chest! Oh!” He began to breathe more deeply. “That face! Those arms!” He held his hands at the ready, as though deciding what to clutch first. “Oh, my stallion! I will make you so happy.”
“With all due respect…” David began.
Fahad circled in back of the big man and took in the huge back, and the high, round, wet, meaty buttocks. “Oh! Oh!” He brought his hands up to cover his mouth. His eyes were wide. “I… I… salivate at your perfection! My mind reels!”
David smiled. “With all due respect,” he began again, “I do not wish to be part of a harem.” He stepped back into the water and let the water falling from the statue wash across his chest.
“But I shall make you happy!” said Fahad. “You shall want for nothing. You shall have everything your heart desires. Even the freedom to come and go if you wish, as long as I can take you to my bed. No man can worship your beauty as I can. This house is a temple to the beauty of men, and here you shall be seen for what you are. A young god come to life.”
“If someone calls me a young god one more time…!” he said with indignation.
“But my friend, you are! That swelling chest! It needs to be adored. Those muscular arms require worship. Your loins require a thousand caresses. Those thighs! …a thousand nights of kisses. By day, you shall sit here in the sun, and my servants will rub your skin with fragrant oils. You will nap on silken beds during the day, and at night I will serve you with delights and pleasures you have not dreamed of. Here in my house, you may wear nothing at all if you wish, or you may wear the finest linen of Egypt. I can have gold fashioned to adorn you arms and your cock. The only thing I cannot do, I fear, is find a jewel to meet the blueness of your eyes. Yours shame the finest aquamarine.”
“Your flattery is much appreciated, Sheik Fahad. But I cannot rest while someone I love is in danger.”
Fahad’s mouth dropped open. “Who?”
“My mother,” David growled. “She was also captured by the slaver Sostratus. She was hurt on the voyage here, and I fear that if she does not rest, she shall be lame… if he lets her live.”
“You have but to tell me her name, and I will buy her freedom.”
David sighed. “Her name is Rebecca. But even her freedom would not stop me from my quest to bring Sostratus what he deserves.”
“It does not do a man good to kill another man,” said Titus. “These Romans are a bloody lot. Don’t fall into their trap of hatred and bloodshed.”
“It is precisely that love of blood I seek to avenge and stop,” said David.
“With more blood,” said Titus.
“Yes,” said David, angrily. He wiped the water from his face and sighed. He looked down at the ground, scowling.
The two men near him could feel the anger and unrest emanating from him like heat from a furnace.
“When we sailed from Alexandria,” he began quietly, “we stopped to spend one night at a small fishing village on the delta of the Nile.” His gaze was far off. His brow was knitted in worry and dread. “Sostratus and his henchmen went out into the night, and they returned before we set sail again with two maidens, each with a babe.” He closed his eyes, remembering, but not wanting to remember. “Knowing that there would be no market for a young woman with a baby… he waited until we were all asleep, or so he thought… and then….” His eyes opened and Titus and Fahad could see that he did not see with his eyes, but with his mind’s eye as he remembered. He whispered, his quiet voice filled with dread, “He took the babies.”
Titus said quietly, “Children are raised by those who are not their mothers every day. Sometimes for the better.”
David looked up at him. “No. You don’t understand,” he growled, and his face showed fury one second and then shock and horror the next. “He….”
Titus and Fahad were spellbound.
“He….”
They held their breath. Their eyes did not blink.
“Sostratus… he could not be bothered to stop… to give the children away….”
For a long time, they watched him struggle with the memory.
“He…” he closed his eyes again, and let his head hang down. “I… I cannot say it,” he said, amazed at himself, yet he persevered, embracing the memory to bolster his anger and resolution.
Titus and Fahad could not move.
“He…” His voice became a whisper again, and he covered his closed eyes with one hand. “He… he fed them to the crocodiles.”
Fahad gasped and covered his mouth with both hands, his eyes wide with horror.
“Some devil’s curse!” said Titus, and he turned away from both men to hide his emotion.
David looked up at both of them, just as Titus made a feeble attempt to turn back to face him, but failed. In that instant, David saw the big blond man tremble and go pale. “How can I feel any guilt, or remorse,” David said, “if I am to kill something that’s not even human?” he said. “Let the lice, and the flies, and the rats, and the locusts in the world live, for they are ten times more noble and worthy of life than… that monster.” He climbed out of the pool again, and leaned against the statue, while the two men, versed in the sights and sounds of the coliseum, struggled…Fahad with his conscience of living amongst those who kill for sport, and Titus with the fact the he, a huge, strong man, could feel such revulsion, sadness, and anger for the death of tiny children.
After a long while, Fahad let his hands fall to his sides again. He looked up at David and lifted the young man’s chin and looked into his eyes. “Oh,” he said. “Beautiful one. My stallion.” He caressed the young man’s cheek. “A face such as yours should not show such sadness. And even without this quest, sad is what you would be if I kept you here, isn’t it?”
David said nothing.
“To know that you are not happy here would break my heart,” said Fahad. He sighed. “You must think me a silly man… to keep a stable of young men.”
David shrugged.
“Titus!” said Fahad. “Tell David the quality of the most beautiful man I seek.”
Titus turned to face David. “Fahad seeks men of physical beauty,” said Titus. “But the most beautiful man of all, is he who would give Fahad his heart, for beauty fades. Love does not. So it is said.”
Fahad smiled. “Do you love someone because they are beautiful?” he asked. “Or are they beautiful because you love them?” He smiled sweetly. “No my friend. I will not keep you here. But!” And he raised a finger. “I will not let you go today.”
David’s eyes went wide, and his mouth dropped open.
“Ah ah ah! No!” said Fahad.
“But…!”
“No!” said Fahad. “You are too weak, and too ill.”
“I’m not!”
Titus said, “Yes, you are.”
“I have to go!” David said desperately. “She’s out there! He may be leaving today and then how will I find him?”
Fahad clapped his hands twice, and called out, “Hakim!” A moment later, a young lad ran onto the terrace and bowed. Fahad addressed him in Arabic, barking out a quick order. The young boy bowed again and ran back into the house.
“Please let me go!” ordered David. “Or… or I’ll…”
“Now, now my young friend. Wait and listen,” Fahad said, raising his arms to quiet David. “If you go out there now, you will be found by Caesar’s guards for they no doubt are searching for you. I doubt that Caesar would be satisfied with using you for just one night. He grows more suspicious of everyone every day and does strange things to mollify the populace of Rome. If you were to go out there again and be captured, no doubt you would be a gladiator in the coliseum by the end of the week, and that is if he is in a good mood. If he is in a bad mood, and decides that you are more spectacular as sport, he will burn you alive or throw you to the lions. It fills me with disgust to know that people would fill the stadium to watch you suffer such a fate. I could not bear it. You are strong, but you are no match for a centurion’s sword, and a legion of soldiers.”
“So,” David snapped. “I am a prisoner here after all.”
“If you were,” said Fahad, “would I have risked everything I own to steal you away from the temple of Bacchus last night?”
“What?”
Titus nodded.
“It was I who bought you at the auction yesterday,” said Fahad. “And when Caesar’s soldiers took you away, I had you followed… all the way to the temple of Bacchus. I knew you might not survive the night. It was I who waited all night until the crowd was in a drunken stupor and barely able to move or bear witness to who freed you from the platform and to who spirited you away.”
“You’re very heavy,” said Titus.
“And if I wanted you as a prisoner, would I have removed this?” He took David’s hand in his, reached into a pocket with his other hand, and placed the cock ring in David’s palm.
David gazed at it for a moment, and then let it fall to the ground.
The young lad ran from the house again, holding two cloth bags. Fahad took one of the bags from him and then barked detailed instructions in Arabic. The boy concealed the bag inside his robe and ran.
“This is for you,” said Fahad.
David took the bag from him and was astonished at its weight. He opened it slightly.
Gold.
“What do I have to do for it?” he asked.
“Nothing,” said Fahad, “for I am a man of my word.”
“He is,” said Titus. “Sometimes too much.”
“That is for you to help you on your journey which will begin tomorrow.”
“But I have to leave now! Sostratus—”
“Sostratus isn’t going anywhere. I told Hakim to gather all my servants and to go to the port… to find the slaver Sostratus… to seek the ship on which he sails… to find the slave named Rebecca… to buy her… to bribe the captain, the dockman, the porters… to buy the ship… to—”
“To hit him over the head with the bag if that’s what it takes to stop him,” David said.
Fahad was shocked. “You speak my language?”
“He works in a library,” whispered Titus.
“Aha! Well, then. The slaver is not going anywhere tonight. You can be assured of that. If there were any doubt in my mind, I would not be standing here. The soonest he can leave is with tomorrow’s tide. So my young friend. You need not hurry. Rest assured. My men at the docks will not let him go. What is at work out there now is more than you could ever do… so rest… and help your mother.”
David sighed. He sighed again, even more deeply. “Thank you,” he said. “I… what can I ever do to repay you?”
“I have one request.”
“What is it that you want?”
“I will not let you go from this house today. For your own safety. Now I ask something of you, but I do not buy it from you. That gold is yours and the other bag of gold is gone from this house already. Now I simply ask something of you, in humility. I am a beggar. I beseech you.”
“What do I have that I could give you?”
Fahad smiled. He sighed. “If I cannot have you as one of my own, I ask that I have you for one night… but before you answer! Wait! I know. I know that you may feel strange taking of a night’s pleasure while someone you love awaits rescue. But there is nothing you can do right now except to rest, and you have been treated most cruelly as of late. If you find shame at being a harem “boy”, know this: It is I who will be your slave. It is I who will serve you for you deserve a night of pleasure unlike any you can imagine. In this way, I will have the memory of having you, for just one night, and I will be able to treasure your beauty in my mind for all time. I ask this of you of your own free will. If you say no, my house is at your disposal. Only the gates will remain locked to you.” He turned to Titus. “And no one… neither guard nor occupant nor servant will give you the key, because they know that what I do is for the good of you and those you love. If you say yes, you will be treated like the most beautiful man, worshipped, adorned, prepared for….”
“Prepared?” David asked. “Like a bride on her wedding night?”
Fahad laughed. “Yes! But we will dispense with the flowers. But I would meet you tonight, in the light of the moon, in the highest room of my house, where cool breezes will carress us as I carress you. There will be a bed of silken pillows, and fragrant frankincense, and sweet oils. I would live this entire night with but one aim… to give you pleasure. I want the memory of you writhing in delicious agony, gasping for breath, moaning with delight. I wish to command your magnificent body. I want your thighs, your chest, your arms. I want to gently torture your cock with moist waves of pleasure, until you explode with the release of passion. I want to be the one that you remember as the provider of the greatest sexual experience of your life. When I saw that terrible iron ring, I imagined what you’d been through. You haven’t been able to satisfy your need for a great amount of time, and when you were teased with it, it was with pain and humiliation. Now, let me provide that long awaited release. Give me that honor and pleasure and memory. Let me worship you and serve you with a night of a thousand fiery carresses.”
David sighed. He thought for a long time. And then he looked at Fahad’s soft brown eyes. It was not so much his own need that he answered to, as much as it was the genuine sincerity and gentleness in those eyes. He smiled faintly and said, “I will do what you ask of me.”
Fahad clapped twice. “Karim!” he shouted. Another young man ran from the house to the terrace. “Karim… take him to my bath and bathe him properly. Prepare him. Comb his hair with sandalwood.”
“Come,” said Karim.
“Oh, and Karim!” Fahad called out, “The name ‘David’ was the name of a king… adorn him as one. For no one will ever equal him.”
2004