"Now," he said, pushing himself gently forward, finding the space between those lips and inserting himself minutely. She did not respond in any way and he withdrew and did it again, a little more firmly. Still no response, although it was obvious that her teeth were together, barring his entrance. My own tumescence had shrunk to a bud and my two bed- mates were watching the proceedings with bored interest. I began- to feel some misgivings at what he was doing, although I could not have said why. She was here of her own free will and he was not harming her in any way. Nevertheless, I felt ill at ease.
"Uther—"
"Sssh, Caius! Watch! Come on, beauty, open it." He pinched harder, forcing her teeth apart. "That's better. That's good..." I watched him penetrate her mouth, sliding in slowly and then withdrawing, then sliding again as he released her chin and placed his hand on her head, and then she bit down on him. I knew she was going to do it a full second before she did it, for I was watching her eyes.
He roared like a wounded bull and jerked himself away from her, his hands flying to cradle his injury. In the instant that I had to look, I saw no sign of blood or of tooth marks on him, but any injury would have been too new to have had time to bleed. Cassandra jumped to her feet, her great grey eyes gleaming, but whether in fear, anger or in satisfaction I have no idea. Uther roared again and went for her, his big arm raised to smash her to the ground. One blow he landed, hurling her across the room before I could stop him, and then I hooked an elbow behind one of his and threw my other arm around his neck and wrestled him to the floor. It was all I could do to bring him down. He was in a monstrous anger and I knew him to be capable of killing her there and then. I got my chest across him, pinning him, and exerted all my strength to keep him there. He bucked and thrashed beneath me like a demented thing and then quite suddenly stopped and lay passive. I took that for a ruse and continued to press down on him, but when he spoke, I knew the danger was past.
"It's all right, Cay. You can let me go. I won't harm her. Get up."
I heard the truth in his voice and let him up. I looked for the girl, but she was gone. The other four sat staring wide- eyed at the two of us.
"Where did she go?"
The one with the long tongue shrugged her big shoulders. "Don't know, she just ran."
I rose and went to the door and looked out into the night- filled courtyard. There was no sign of Cassandra. I heard the approaching pacing of a guard and realized I was naked, so I turned back into the room and closed the door.
"The bitch. I'll find her later and teach her a lesson she won't soon forget." Uther was sitting hunched over, examining the shrunken thing he cradled in his fingers. "She almost bit me in two! I'll kill the bitch."
"No, Uther," I said, with a smile. "You won't kill her. Not now. But for a moment there, I thought you would have. Is it bleeding?"
He checked again. "No. But it might have been. The bitch!"
I grinned at him. "Come on, Uther! She didn't even bite hard. I was watching. You were more shocked than hurt, admit it. Your pride suffered more than your cock."
He glowered at me. "What do you know about it? You didn't feel her teeth!"
"Let's have a look at it, then. Is it marked?" I stepped towards him, but he cupped himself in a protective hand and I laughed outright in my relief, forgetting about his pride. "From the size of it now, it looks as though she bit three- quarters of it off!" Only then did I notice how upset he still was and realize that I should not be baiting him. I continued, however, to make light of it, hoping to make him see the humour in the situation. There is no more effective poultice for wounded pride than the ability to laugh at oneself. "Hey!" I said. 'That was a jest! It'll probably work just as well as ever once you stop thinking about it. Girls, why don't you try to see if Uther's staff is still strong enough to lean on?"
They were willing enough and clustered round him in glowing, warm-fleshed nudity, but he would have none of it. He slapped them away and got to his feet with a scowl, grabbing his tunic and pulling it on as he did so. "I'll see you in the morning," he snapped on the way out, and left the five of us sitting there staring at the closed door.
I got up and poured myself some wine from the jug on the table. "Well, ladies," I said. "He'll be back when he's cooled off." I toasted the four of them silently. "In the meantime, why don't we try to see how many times one will go into four?" The fire had burned low and there was only one lamp left burning in the room by this time. One of them, the one with the long, pink tongue, blew it out as I approached them.
IX
I was wrong. Uther did not come back that night, and to this day I know of only two people who might have seen him in the course of the next week. The first of these was the guard on duty in the courtyard when Uther stormed out of the games room; the other, the girl, Cassandra.
I awoke just after dawn the following morning and left my four bedmates asleep in a tangle of limbs. I had had no more than two hours of sleep, and when I finally dropped off, at least two of the girls were still pleasing each other. As I dressed, I noticed that Uther had not returned, but I thought nothing of it at the time. I went to the stables and saddled my horse and galloped down to the villa, letting the crisp, cold air of the frosty morning clear my head, and anticipating the humid, seductive warmth of the bath house, where I could steam and soak the previous night's excesses out of my body.
There was a regular Council session scheduled for noon that day, and I had nothing to do until then, so I spent an hour or so rooting around in the villa. For many years the focal point of the Britannicus family, it was an empty, echoing place nowadays, barely used since the entire family had moved up to live in the hilltop fort years before, although servants still kept it in first-class condition as guest quarters and maintained its magnificent bath house. The fort had baths of its own, of course, but they were utilitarian, makeshift and barely functional—primitive beside the luxury offered by the facilities at the Villa Britannicus.
It was mid-morning by the time I finally went back up the hill to the fort, where I changed into more formal clothes and began to make my way to the kitchens to eat before getting ready for the Council meeting. On the way there, I heard my name being called and I turned to see, Lucanus, the head of our medical staff, looking towards me and waving. I stopped to let him approach me, wondering what he could want. He was an able surgeon, our best in fact, but I chose to think he was not himself an amiable man. He asked me whether I had seen Uther.
"No, Lucanus, I haven't. Not since last night. Is there a problem? Can I help you?"
He frowned and nibbled at his lower lip. "Yes, Commander, there is a problem, but I don't know..."
"You don't know if I can help. Well, neither of us will know the answer to that until you tell me what the problem is." He still looked unsure of himself.
"Well? Come on, man, spit it out!"
He grimaced. "It's the girl, Commander."
I frowned at him, not knowing what he meant. "What girl, Lucanus? I'm not a mind reader."
"The woman, sir. The one Commander Uther brought back yesterday."
My mind clicked. "Cassandra. What about her?"
"I have her in my quarters, Commander."
"Do you, indeed?" I grinned at him. "You'll get little cooperation out of that one, Lucanus. Be careful of her teeth."
The man had no sense of humour. He frowned, heavy; browed with displeasure. "She has been badly beaten, Commander. Brutally beaten, almost to death." My breath stopped as he went on. "Some soldiers found her this morning, in the stables against the west wall. They brought her to me. I thought that since Commander Uther is her protector, he should be told immediately, but I have been unable to find him. When I saw you, I thought you might be able to tell me where he is."