Chapter Three The Great River
The Inn of the General Gracchus was on the outskirts of a town which stood along the lower reaches of the Great River. This originated in the hills of the far north of the Empire, and after proceeding southwards for several hundred miles, then angled eastwards, eventually to flow into the Inner Sea. This is where Magnus was bound, for it was his intention that he and his slave would seek a sea going vessel in the port of Avenna, which stood at the mouth of the river, for a voyage to a destination he did not reveal.
This he explained to Callixtus in the first proper conversation they had so far had, as the mage sat in the small guest cabin of a large and ungainly river barge filled with grain which was drifting slowly east along the River, helped by the current but somewhat impeded by a cold north wind. The cabin was ordinarily the captain's but he had easily been persuaded to give it up in exchange for an additional payment. The journey was expected to take three days.
Although the weather had turned uncomfortably cold outside, especially for Callixtus in his state of total nudity, the cabin was fairly snug and had a small wood-burning stove. Magnus invited Callixtus to sit on the bed while he occupied the captain's battered wicker armchair. Callixtus was pleased and somewhat awed to be spoken to in this manner. Never before had a social superior talked to him in such an open, friendly and solicitous manner. Indeed, so engaging was the mage's polite manner, so interesting his conversation, and so melodious the pleasing tones of his voice, that Callixtus almost forgot that this was a master talking to his slave.
As for his part, Magnus enjoyed having a ready listener, especially one as comely as the slave boy, who was sitting cross legged on the bed and leaning forward slightly with a look of close attention on his face. Magnus enjoyed the sight of his eager face and blue eyes, and the silver sigil and wolf tooth charm which dangled from the thin necklace around his neck and betokened his ownership by the mage. These items were of course the only items of decoration the boy wore - and yes, Magnus enjoyed too the sight of the boy's smooth pale skin, and the large flaccid member nestling in the crook of his legs as he held his hands on the tops of his knees.
They spent many hours talking together as the barge slid slowly eastwards. Sometimes the mage spoke about the Empire and its customs, explaining all about the history of the places they were passing on the river bank, enlivened with anecdotage, some of which was of a humorous or scabrous nature. Callixtus was entranced; his world vision had been very narrowly circumscribed prior to this, although even now much of what Magnus said passed over his head.
The mage also quizzed the boy about his own origins, but discovered he could remember very little about his early life prior to being purchased by the Lady Domitia, only confused recollections of mounds of naked female flesh, and being petted and comforted by lots of different women, presumably his mother amongst them - although he could not separate them clearly in his memory.
After asking him some searching questions, Magnus said "You were probably born in a brothel, or perhaps in the harem of some wealthy merchant. It is the custom of those in that situation to be kept until the age of five or six till they can be sold, usually into domestic service. As to your ethnic origins, it is hard to say....your blue eyes suggest you are not of Samnite stock, but perhaps from one of the northern tribes subject to the empire. You are not blond enough to be one of the barbarians from the islands in the northern seas, but you could perhaps be an Ugrian from the eastern marches...I suppose we will never know. Circumcision is a painful and memorable process, and yet you have no memory of it. This suggests you were circumcised before the age of two, and that you were therefore almost certainly born into slavery."
The crew of the barge were Rivermen, a distinct ethnic type found the length and breadth of the Great River, but rarely very far from it. They were of middling height , and somewhat hairier and swarthier than the generality of races within the Empire. They wore rough woollen tunics and sheepskins and sported red Phyrgian caps, which were the distinctive mark of the Rivermen. Apart from the captain, all were barefoot, and most were bearded. Hard working and taciturn, they mostly ignored their passengers, though one or two gave sidelong ogling glances to the pert buttocked naked slave boy.
Magnus had of course checked out all of the crew as well, but none of them caught his interest. His preference was for smooth youthful beauty, not hairy bearded men. (And like all mages, he had no sexual interest in women, being forbidden from marriage by the rules of his order). The only beardless youngster amongst the crew had a big beak of a nose and a cast in one eye, so there was nothing here to set the mage's heart racing. Certainly not compared to the constant presence of his lovely naked slave.
Magnus occasionally spoke with the captain but generally avoided the rest of the crew as they avoided him. The sailors were careful to avoid speaking to Callixtus - it wouldn't do to attempt intimacy with someone else's property, especially with the property of a mage - but some of the more morose sailors muttered at him for getting underfoot while he was scrubbing Magnus's linen on deck.
Doing the laundry was just about the only domestic task he had to perform. This happened on their second day on the river. Magnus explained that he wished his white linen to be laundered once a week, and his linen breechcloths to be washed every other day. Fuller's soap and a scrubbing brush were borrowed from the crew and Callixtus drew up river water to scrub the clothes on deck. Magnus sat below naked while this happened; indeed he spent the whole of the second day on board in this state, for it took a long time for his freshly laundered tunic to dry out, pegged about by the stove in the small cabin.
Callixtus was slightly unnerved at the sight of Magnus sitting in the nude in the wicker chair and watching him as he moved about the rather restricted space trying to hang up the washing. He was used to his own nudity of course but to have his master naked so close by reminded him uncomfortably of the night before last, and watching his master plough the arse of Lepidus the innkeeper's servant.
Callixtus, it should be said, was entirely virginal. This was rather unusual for a slave, especially a slave as pretty as he was. This was because his former mistress, the elderly and frail Lady Domitia, had long since gone past the age when her heart beat more quickly at the sight of a handsome naked youth - if indeed it ever had. She had in any case been far too snobbish to ever contemplate a slave as a sexual partner - it was unthinkable for a high born woman to have relations with a slave (for high born men it was another matter - but Lady Domitia's husband had died before Callixtus was bought). There were a number of free born maidservants in Domitia's household, but all far too old and respectable to look at Callixtus. The same was true of the withered up old major domo. As for the other staff who came into contact with the estate, none of them had any interest in Callixtus, nor he in them.
There had been one brief exception - a young slave boy with red hair and freckles who was owned by the baker and often made deliveries to the villa. Although he was younger than Callixtus he was far bolder and let it be known, on the occasions when they encountered each other, exactly what he would like to do to Callixtus, and what he would like Callixtus to do him - with many associated ribald remarks even including grabbing his erect member and tugging it - till the major domo sent him away with a clip round the ear - for like all young male slaves, the baker's boy was perpetually nude except for his slave collar. Callixtus had been confused and shocked but also excited and intrigued, and had more or less made up his mind that he would like to take things further the next time the young red head called round - but alas he never saw him again, for the baker, tiring of his impudence and his readiness in presenting his rump to be shagged by pretty much anyone who fancied it - finally lost patience and sold him to the mines.
"Well, Callixtus, I fear my clothes will be a long time drying, but you seem to have done a very thorough job - I thank you." Callixtus blushed. He was still unused to being thanked for his services - nobody usually thanked a slave for anything.
"I think now you have washed my clothes you should wash yourself - thoroughly - but use this soap, not the rough fuller's soap you used for the laundry" - Magnus handed him a yellow cake smelling of lemons, quite unlike anything Callixtus had seen before - "and be sure to drink this. It will take about ten minutes to have an effect, and then you will need to use the slop bucket. Make sure you clean yourself thoroughly afterwards, mind." So saying, the mage handed the boy a small green flask.
Twenty minutes lighter, Callixtus returned to the cabin and stood squeaky clean and empty and shivering from the north wind and the cold river water, but gradually feeling warmth return to his limbs from the cabin stove. Magnus had stoked the stove up to dry out his recently washed clothes, which steamed gently. Callixtus noticed straight away that Magnus's cock was rigid, and with one hand he was applying some of the same gel he had used on Lepidus. Here it comes, thought the slave boy, I was wondering when we would get to this....
Without a word, Magnus gestured to the bed. Callixtus, the scene with the handsome innkeeper's boy two nights ago still firmly printed on his mind, climbed on the bed and carefully presented his rump. He found he was trembling slightly with fear but also with excitement at the new experience he knew he was about to undergo. Magnus climbed up behind him and placed a pillow under his belly. He reached underneath the boy to grab and fondle his cock, which he noted with satisfaction was already rock hard and drooling pre-cum.
Magnus was well practised in the sexual arts and gently coaxed and instructed Callixtus throughout; as a lover, he was gentle and considerate, but nevertheless Callixtus jerked his head up with a shout of pain as the slicked head of the mage's cock entered his virgin boy cherry. Magnus left it there for nearly two minutes to acclimatise the boy, then gradually pushed in deeper till Callixtus could feel the pulsating of the mage's turgid cock in his back passage. He felt a momentary pleased satisfaction as he said to himself "who would have thought I could get that monster inside me!" In truth Magnus was no monster, being six and a half inches in length, but he was a respectable girth and Callixtus was of course a virgin, now being ploughed for the first time.
As Magnus started thrusting, slowly at first but gathering pace, his balls slapped against the boy's bum cheeks and the pain for Callixtus became so intense that he cried out aloud. Magnus could have stopped and performed a simple act of magic to take away the pain, but despite being a kind and compassionate man he was only human and this was no time to stop. He gave a loud cry himself and suddenly Callixtus felt the mage's seed flooding deep inside him. With a judder, Magnus fell full length across the boy and gently rolled him on his side. They both lay panting for a while, and then Magnus drew out his cock, slippery with gel and cum.
"I notice, dear boy, that just as I have flooded your delicious little arse with my seed, so you too have soaked my bed with your own gushing love juice. You naughty little thing." It was true. Callixtus was flushed with exertion and shame. "Don't worry, sweet thing. I like nothing better than bathing in boy juice." And Magnus turned the boy's head towards his own, kissing him full on the lips, and inserting his tongue into the mouth of the startled slave. Fucked and French kissed - two new experiences. And as they lay in each other's arms, Magnus nibbled his ear through his shaggy brown locks and whispered endearments to the boy, complimenting him on his peformance. "From now on," said Magnus, "no more sleeping on the floor for you. I want you to share my bed."
The pain in Callixtus's arse was replaced by a dull throb, a not unpleasant reminder of the shafting he had received. Proud and happy that he had made his master happy, and nearly as shocked by the offer to share his master's bed as he was by the thorough rogering he had just received, Callixtus fell into a deep and contented sleep.