Chapter 9: An Heir to Justice

I SUPPOSE there is no way to avoid telling you, though 4,000 years later, the pain can be renewed with an unthinking word. But the story cannot go forward unless I move backward and tell you about losing Aria.

She had brought dozens of women through our home in Knossos for entertainment, true to her word to Zeus that she would always see that her husband had variety. Now, I knew from Zeus’s example that leaving a bunch of bastards loose in the world was problematic. I didn’t want to be known as leaving every woman in Knossos with child, so I had consulted with Zeus and he told me how to assure that no woman I laid with conceived. But Aria wanted my child. She had been denied that privilege by Basarti of the shriveled dick. With all the women he tried, he had fathered no children. I considered her request and found it tickled my instincts as well. The night I decided to satisfy her desire, she conceived.

For a long time, the other women made over her and some left to pursue the same dream with a husband. All wanted to bless Aria’s child. We were happy as her womb grew with our child.

“Boy or girl?” I asked her.

“Ah! He kicks like a demon,” she laughed. “And I’m sure he weighs as much as a full-grown goat. I’m huge! Soon you will need more wives just to bring me food and carry me to the privy.”

“Oh, but I am sure she will be an angel like her mother,” I said. “She will have your golden hair and be the most beautiful in the land.”

“You still flatter me after these years together. Ten years! They have flown so fast. If we had waited any longer to conceive, I’d have been too old.”

I had to stop and consider that. I was sure Aria was not yet thirty, but perhaps humans aged at the same rate as some large animals. What if she had the same lifespan as a horse? We might be nearing the end of our time together. I could barely think of her in those terms. I was not ready to lose my Aria. I would never be ready.

She was near full term when the pains became more than she could stand. We knew the child was arriving soon. We had no idea what it would be. I began to worry that it might not be boy or girl, but rather a beast. The pains became unbearable and I could see the infant moving in its mother’s womb. Nimia tried to get me to leave and let the women take care of things, but I was not about to leave my Aria’s side.

Then my son ... the damned creature ... tore through my precious girl’s womb with his horns, leaving a gaping wound that none could staunch. My Aria died in my arms as our son devoured the womb from which he was ripped.

I am not proud of what I did. Zeus had told me how my immortality could be ended and what would happen to me. I considered joining Aria in the primordial mass. But instead, I ripped the head from my half-demon son and devoured him myself. I crunched his bones in my teeth and sucked the marrow out of his horns before grinding them to powder and making a bitter drink of them. When I was done, I shit out the waste that returned to the primordial mass it was born from.

Nimia held me in her arms, the only other of the women who had ever seen my true demon form, and rocked me back and forth against her breast as I swore, I would never again impregnate a human woman.

Now, I was a respected husband and king—avatar for a god with a goddess for my wife. Bao had every reason to want a child. What was I to do?

I WALKED the walls of the city that night, surveying the prosperity of Bathra. Twice around the entire city I walked as I contemplated what to do and wept for my sweet Aria. I cried out to Ninra and Namri for help and could not hear their answer. It is said that on that night the people heard the mournful spirit of a long past saint crying for the blessing of Bathra.

Obviously, adding to the harem would not solve the problem of an heir. But as I passed a point where I could see the temple courtyard, I saw a man sitting quietly next to the pool. It was still hours before dawn, so I knew he wasn’t just early for work. I came down from the ramparts and went to see what was troubling him.

“What brings you to the temple at this hour, brother?” I asked.

“Ah ... I ... Uh ... had a dream. I was told to come to this spot and wait for the god to make use of me. I wouldn’t want to offend the god, so I rose from my bed and came here straightaway.”

I thought it strange that he would be sent to this particular location just at a time when I was walking by. I’ve learned well, though, not to ignore the commands of a god.

“Tell me about yourself,” I said. “You are devoted to Ninra?”

“And to Namri—very much, sir. I have been in Bathra for a year and helped with the building of this wonderful temple. The gods have been very kind to me, giving me friends, work, food, and care. But the one thing I have most desired, they cannot grant me,” he sighed.

“Do not underestimate what the gods can grant,” I said. “What is it that you desire?”

“I want to be a priestess of the goddess Namri and serve in her holy temple. But obviously, there are limitations.”

“Yes,” I chuckled. “Most priestesses I have known were women.”

“All of them. I wish I was a woman,” he sighed. “Have you seen them? They are strong and beautiful and glow with the light of the goddess within them. They are kind and caring. There is never a child who weeps that is not comforted. No injustice comes before them that is not made right. They are the blessed of the goddess.”

I had to agree with that. In fact, if I ever had my own priestesses, I would want them to be like the blessed priestesses of Namri. Like my wife. Not that there would ever be a reason for me to have priestesses. I just shared this man’s admiration of them.

He had an interesting thought, though. He was born a man but wanted to be a woman. How ridiculous.

“I will consider his request,” a voice whispered beside me. I turned to see the goddess incarnate standing beside me. It was apparent that the man did not see her, in fact, was oblivious to all around him.

“You will?” I asked, surprised.

“Yes, but both you and he must fulfill the need of my vessel Bao.”

“My goddess, I am devoted to my wife, your vessel, as I am to you. I will do anything for her. But surely you know why I refuse to father a child on her.”

“I understand, my lover. But still, she must bear a child. Here is what you must do.”

I listened, glancing frequently at the unresponsive man. The goddess gave me instructions and I followed them closely, seeing the man transform into my likeness. The goddess told me how to enter him and direct his steps, leaving my own body in her care at the temple.

We returned to my bedchamber and I saw my beloved wife, stretched casually naked across the bed. On the floor next to our wedding bed lay Portia and Nimia, clasped in each other’s arms. I guided the man to my bed and he removed his clothes. He caressed my wife and I could feel his interest rise.

“My husband, have you come to make love to me again?”

“My love, I have come to plant a child in your womb. The goddess has spoken to me this night and it shall be done.”

“Oh, my love! My adored husband. Take me and make me the mother of our children,” she declared.

It was a strange sensation to feel this other body—this other man—caress my wife and bring forth her essence so that he ... I ... we ... could slide into her vestibule where we made love for what seemed a long time, depositing a full load of semen in her repeatedly. When my wife was fully sated, I directed the man out of bed. Instead of gathering up his own clothes, he took one of the dresses worn by Portia and we stole out of the palace without disturbing a soul.

When we returned to the pool, the goddess awaited us with my body, which I slipped back into. I looked at the man as he dissolved back into his original form and restrained my jealous hand from murdering him. The goddess intervened.

“You have come to the temple seeking to become a priestess, but now you have sampled the pleasure of the man’s body as he plants his seed in a woman. Do you wish to abandon this and still become my priestess?”

“My goddess, I have no desire but to serve you. Would that I could change this man’s flesh into that of a woman so I could serve you in your temple.”

“Then so be it,” the goddess said.

Before me, I saw the man, still naked, change his shape. His cock disappeared into his lower hair. His breasts grew. He shrank somewhat in size, but still retained the fine muscles that marked so many of the goddess’s priestesses. His skin became fair and his hair lengthened. His lips filled with the seductive pucker of a woman.

“Now,” the goddess said, “my faithful servant, Bob. You have done what was very difficult for you but was necessary for your wife. Here before you is one you cannot be jealous of. Examine her. Touch her. Feel the heat of her woman’s parts and sink your manhood into her. Verify that this is, indeed a woman fit to be a priestess of the goddess.”

I was hesitant at first, though the woman who stood naked before me was quite desirable. I had seen the transformation. I touched her breasts and let my fingers explore her nether region. For her part, she helped me from my clothes and made sure my staff was ready to mate with her. I bent her over the bench next to the pool where she had sat and thrust my manhood deep within her. There was no longer a question in my mind. The goddess had created a woman and that woman would become her priestess. I bellowed my satisfaction as she panted her own and then I withdrew. I can only say, she glowed with satisfaction. I picked up the dress we brought from the palace and helped her into it. She helped me into my clothes.

“Now come with me, my sister,” Namri said. “You will enter my service as my priestess. Bob, you should return to your wife and make sure she knows how deeply you love her.”

I left as Namri escorted the new woman into her temple. Bao welcomed me back into bed with open arms and open legs. I erased all memory of the feeling of being in the man as he fucked my wife and of fucking the woman he became. I held my wife in bed long after the sun rose, worshiping her and assuring her we would have a fine child blessed by the goddess.

“THAT WAS very difficult for you,” Nimia whispered. She had returned to the infinity room before dawn and later the next night I made time to join her. I had followed the example of old Assininé and had put a spell on one room of the palace that I considered my special retreat. It was locked and the door was invisible to anyone passing by. I retreated to the room almost daily for a little time with Nimia.