Chapter 14

Julian had to protect most of Europe but Gaul was the current hot spot. To do this he had to work in the area between Gaul and Germania. This was basically all of Germania Inferior. I had been lucky to catch him in his nominal base and capital city. He now had to leave to show the flag or perhaps let the tribes know that he was there to uphold the law.

We escorted Patricia back to her mother and sibs. Julian mentioned that his two other children were visiting some relatives on their mothers side so we would have some peace. "I should explain the situation to my wife before the two of you come in. This may take some time."

I gave a small smile and said, "I understand." He looked at me and I guess he knew that I knew.

Patricia and I rode around the property while Julian and his unofficial wife Claudia had their 'talk'. We had no guards so I knew that Julian was trusting me with some of his most important people.

While Julian unloaded his news, his conscience and for sure his testicles I sat on river bank beside Patricia idly throwing pebbles into the water.

"Why did you bring me here, Jón?"

"It was to kiss you a bit more but I think we have to talk too."

"About what?"

"I will soon be thirteen and you will soon be nineteen. I am probably older than you if the time in the land of the gods is taken into account. I like you for a lot of reasons and don't ask me to list them.

"I was not."

"I do not believe you. Now I wanted to know what you feel about me."

"Well, I feel that you are older than me too. You are a barbarian and you are not as polished as a Romans citizen but you are getting better." She waited a while and said, "If you were to court me I would not object."

I said, "The terms 'boy' 'friend' and 'girl' 'friend' are relaxed with not a lot of commitments. It means we do not engage in sex with others. My problem is that the gods have altered me to need and even require a great deal of sex. I will admit that my hand has served me well lately but I am afraid that I am more than what one woman can handle."

"Some women can handle a lot."

This was encouraging because she sounded like she accepted me having another woman or two. The part about me being a long time in the land of the gods seemed to have slipped in very well. What I had told her about my hormones was true but I could also alter my body to what my current requirements were.

"My body is young and I am going to be away for extended periods of time. I cannot rely on my hand all the time. My body demands that I find someone to share my passions with. This does not mean love, just passion."

"I hear soldiers are like that."

"I want to know you better, Patricia. Part of that is through sex but most of it is learned with you working with me."

"I like that but I have not been with many men."

"We learn more each day of our existence. Having me for a 'boyfriend' or a potential mate will be even more dangerous than having Julian for a father. There are a lot of crazy people around me now and I have to keep them under control. If I am not here to do it then others are needed to fulfil this task."

"Are you asking me to do this? I am a woman."

"Women gods are strong and fight for their place in society. Women here have to do the same thing. If you take a responsible position then you will show the way for other women and especially the young girls that will grow into expecting more than just motherhood."

"What would you have me do?"

"This task is great. You have to be the perfect woman. If you and I fit well together I would ask you to marry me. If you excepted my proposal, you would then have to be the perfect wife and the perfect mother. One perfect is too much but three may well be impossible."

"You would ask for me?" She said this with a big smile.

"Do not get your hopes up. I said that we have to see if we are compatible first. If we are then I would ask."

She now had a bigger smile. I looked at her oddly and she said reluctantly, "I thought a proposal would be much different."

I said with a stern voice, "Patricia, stand!"

She was worried but did as I asked.

"I want you to remove all your clothes now and put them in a pile."

"But..."

"Do it!"

She was hesitant but slowly did as I asked. She was bright red when she had finished and the blush covered much of her body. Her hands were demurely over her breasts. Her legs were tightly closed and her bush quite dense. She was also very beautifully proportioned.

"Lay across my lap now." She did not understand but did what I asked. I then had to move her into a good position.

"I said to you that I had to find if we are compatible first. Is that true?"

"Yes."

I struck her butt and she screamed and I did it again on the other cheek.

"Did I propose to you?"

"No but..."

I hit her four more times.

"Did I propose to you?"

"No, Sir."

"Good. Climb off me now." She did this very quickly.

I got up myself and removed my own clothing. I took Patricia's hands and helped to place her on my clothes. I lay beside her now and we began to kiss but I tried to make it seem that there was no spanking just a moment before.

It took a long time but Patricia warmed to my efforts. When she was pulling me so I would get on top of her I forced her to hold her legs as I went down to savour a delicate and well hidden flower.

Patricia bucked at the touch and I figured that no man had done this before. I progressed slowly but Patricia became insistent. I had to hold her hands to continue safely. She started to climb swiftly then and I speeded up to match her. She screamed her release and her body jerked almost uncontrollably. Her abdomen contracted and her chest and head came up but there was no recognition on her face. She was not breathing either.

When she collapsed it was as if she had died except that her breathing returned and it was rapid. Now was the time that I searched through her body as I had with those wounded. This time I hurried to her ovaries.

I studied them carefully but could not tell if she was fertile or not. This research would have to wait. I moved around and lay beside her and then pulled her body onto mine. It was difficult because she was not cooperating or her body was not cooperating with her wishes.

Her well hidden flower was attacked again but I moved to her clit enough to get her on the edge. She found my cock soon enough and after investigating it started to suck on me. She was not that good but she was trying.

When it looked like she was going to orgasm I again speeded up but she abandoned me to her own feelings. This time her face went down and she screamed between my legs, causing my scrotum to vibrate. I continued for a while until she recovered and started to suck once more.

In a moment I pulled my face back and said, "I am almost there, Honey." She hurried but I didn't think she was sure of what was going to happen. I released my seed and I was happy that Patricia only stopped for a second before continuing.

We both relaxed and I got Patricia to slide off and I moved to kiss her other lips. She hugged me tightly to her and she pushed her chest into me for more.

"Honey, when was your last period?"

"Why?"

"Do you want another spanking?"

"Four days ago."

"Do you want me in you."

"Yes, but we may have your child."

"You listen too much to old wives tales. It is the time right between periods that you are fertile."

"Get on top of me then."

I did.

We were very late when we got back. I had to help Patricia onto her horse. She rode very close to me so we could hold hands.

When we put the horses in the stable and took off the saddles, Patricia hugged me too her and kissed me with little urgency but just for pleasure.

We walked into the house hand in hand. Julian was there with a good looking woman that Patricia would one day look like. Julian and the woman looked closely at both of us and Patricia blushed and held back. I pulled her hand so she would stay with me. I whispered to her, "Be proud; Roman."

This helped a bit. Julian made introductions and I met Claudia. The woman saw me but she was concerned with her daughter. Claudia offered wine which I accepted and happened to allow mother and daughter to leave momentarily.

Julian said, "Claudia was worried about her daughter. Is she happy."

"As happy as I could make her but she has a one track mind."

"What track is that?"

"I was honest and stated my intentions."

"And what were they Jón?"

"We will be friends for as long as we live. I said that this may change to me courting her as well. I mentioned that if we found each other compatible then I would ask you for your daughter."

"That was very honest of you. What did she say?"

"She already assumed that all the intervening steps had been done and she dwelt on the proposal of marriage as if that had already been asked."

"You may have a difficult time retracting your words."

"There is no reason to. She has to hear with her ears as well as her heart."

"Well let's find something to eat. The women will be talking for hours. Your wine will not come unless a servant brings it."

"I am famished."

We didn't get our wine until the servants served the meal and it was they that brought the wine as Julian said. The women were now upstairs so they could talk better.

Julian said, "What did you think of the farm?"

"It is very beautiful. But I saw that some of the plants had a yellow tinge."

"I have noticed this too. Is it a disease?"

"No, they just need some nitrogen. Fertiliser provides this but so do some plants themselves. Their roots make a home for some bacteria that eat what the plant gives and give back the nitrogen the plant needs."

"What is the name of the plant."

"The gods call it alfalfa. It is grown then ploughed under again to enrich the soil. The next crop will reap the benefits."

Julian talked of many plants and described the details and I had to try to shake loose some details from my memory. We narrowed it down to at least three types of plants he was familiar with. The deciding factors were the small white nodules on the roots and of course the benefits that would accrue to the next crop.

We discussed crop rotation and I added about buckwheat being sometimes useful in weed control because it grew fast and shaded all the competition. Julian never heard of this especially since I used the English term because I knew no other.

"What language is that?"

"One of the main languages spoken by the gods. The Roman language is called a dead language because it is only spoken by scholars. The language does not get any new words in it or change so it is called dead. German, Italian, French, Chinese, Japanese and Russian are also important."

"I assume that 'Italian' means Italia and I have heard of a country called China. Tell me about the word, "French'."

"The Franks were just subdued in Gaul. Many tribes conquer this area until the Picts chase the others out and settle here themselves. This is France."

"Will this still happen?"

"Not if you don't want it to. You just put the people where you want and they will form a civilisation."

"Tell me about..."

The women came now. Patricia looked both pleased and smug. Claudia looked at me differently now too. They had bathed and changed and sat with us. They never mentioned the wine they were going to get.

Julian was insistent about the various races and I mentioned them. Again the Huns were mentioned and how strong they really were.

Claudia broke in and said, "What are your plans for our daughter, Jón?"

I knew this was coming but didn't think she was going to be as blunt about it. "I want us to find out about each other. If we are close enough I will ask to marry her. If we are not one or both of us will say so at the first opportunity. People rarely bend much after a certain age. I do not want a lifetime of pain and suffering for me or for Patricia."

"What if you got her pregnant today."

"That will not happen."

"She is in her fertile period."

"You are using information passed down to you that was incorrect."

"How do you know that I am wrong?"

"The gods tell me otherwise."

"The gods are not human like us."

"I can heal people. I looked into your daughter's body and did not see an egg in her fallopian tubes nor one ready to leave."

"What?"

"I have the power to heal. It was given to me by the gods."

"I know that! Tell me how you looked into my daughter?"

"I hold onto her and find a type of linkage with our minds. The better the linkage the easier it is to work. I can see blood flowing if I concentrate and then look for where a battle is going on."

"What battle?"

"Our bodies are constantly fighting battles against invaders. Our blood is made up of different kinds of cells. Some fight these invaders. When I see lots of fighting going on, I urge the other soldiers to take up arms and attack the invader. If this happens a person is able to fight off a disease and gain good health."

"I have heard of you but I do not believe."

"That is fine but Julian has seen this and the evidence."

Julian nodded now. Claudia said, "I still don't believe."

"If you are like Patricia, you would take a dare."

"A what?"

"I challenge you to let me work on your body."

"Never. Nobody touches me."

"Not even Julian?"

"He is my husband."

"Not your children?"

"What are you getting at?"

"You said nobody but you did not mean it. I am not going to make love to you, just hold your hands. I can find two chaperones nearby since you are acting like a frightened little girl."

"I am a mother of three and you are younger than my youngest."

"You are still afraid."

Patricia said, "You can hold my hands if you want."

"That is good idea but your mother is more like a mule. She will bay that she is hard done by and not bother to look at the truth. I think you will look as beautiful as she does when you get her age but I don't want to see that thick headed Roman attitude."

Claudia said angrily, "I am not thick headed. I think things through."

"I would call a witness but I do not want Julian chased around the house by an angry and emotional woman that would rather close her eyes and say she cannot see any proof."

"I am not emotional."

"You sit there barely able to control yourself and say you are not emotional."

"I am not."

"I should ask Julian to turn you over his knee and put some sense into you."

"He would not dare."

Julian stood and said, "Woman! Give your hands to this young man or I will do just that."

"But... but..."

"Now or I will remove all your clothes first and in front of our guest."

Claudia knew when she was beat and stuck out her hands. I moved my chair closer and held hers. I waited for effect and not to interface. I said, "You are a very emotional woman. I think that was one of the things that attracted a young man to you twenty years ago. The fire is still burning brightly."

Claudia relaxed and I looked at her face. There was a small mole on her right cheek and I said, "You have a small blemish on your cheek. It looks to be something that was there since birth."

"It has been."

"If it faded away in ten days or less would you think this was normal?"

"What do you mean?"

"If it disappeared all of a sudden would that mean that something extraordinary happened?"

"It could happen if I put some cream on it."

"Have you tried to remove it before?"

"Why?"

"Stop acting like a lawyer and answer the question truthfully. Your husband and child are here to tell me the truth."

"I wanted to keep it."

Julian was now angry. "Tell him the truth now or I will follow through with my threat."

There was a lot of thinking going on and she said, "I tried to remove it but it will not go."

"If I could remove it in ten days or less will that prove the gods are helping me."

"It could happen by chance."

"Woman!" Julian bellowed. "I have had enough. Go upstairs now."

"But..."

"Now."

The woman moves slowly to the stairs and looked around sadly.

Julian said, "I am sorry for her behaviour. She will be nicer when she comes down."

"May I make an observation. It is of a delicate nature."

"Tell me."

"Some women I have met need to be spanked from time to time. Many blows are struck but none are that painful. Some women become very inspired by the treatment and react with an animal heat."

Patricia put her face down quickly and we both could see that she had turned red.

"Does this really work?"

"Yes. Some, though not all. Others react to being tied up and made helpless. Only a few are like this and it is very exciting to both the dominant and the submissive."

"Have you tried this?"

"I have not but I want to try it very soon. The wilder the woman is the more fiercely she bends to her master's wishes."

"We should talk more on this. Will you stay the night?"

"Like you, I do not want to sleep alone."

It took a moment then he said, "It is not up to me to say. The two of you may do as you wish."

I put out my hand and in a moment Patricia put her hand into mine. I smiled at her as I caressed the back of her hand with my thumb.

Julian said, "I will retire early tonight."

I said, "I sometimes sleep very soundly."

"That is good," he said as he walked regally to the steps and then up.

I tuned to Patricia and said, "I pushed you into a position you may not want to be in. I can sleep in the stable if that is your wish."

"You are not getting away from me that easily."

"You are sore now and you are going to be sorer tomorrow."

"You will have to cure me."

"That is a good idea."

Patricia and I walked upstairs hand in hand and before we got to her door we heard the smack of a hand on flesh but it was not that loud. The cry of pain though was very loud. There were some harsh words and a few more smacks.

Patricia was very excited now but before we went into her room I whispered, "I hear your mother. The sounds she is now making remind me of you."

Patricia crept closer and listened to the sounds and I noticed one hand caressing her own breast. When she eventually turned to me she saw that I had my blouse off. This was better and she hurried to me instead. She rubbed against me like a cat as we kissed then she pulled me into her room.

I could smell her need and went slow to bring up her passion. From the far room we heard a woman in orgasm. Her call was as loud as Patricia's had been.

Patricia tried to get me to hurry to the good parts. I worked quicker though but still not as fast as Patricia wanted. Her own call rattled the walls.

We tried many more positions with both of us groaning our joy. In between I urged Patricia's abused vagina to work quicker to repair and to remove most of the pain. This was much easier when I was so close to the person emotionally.

We did not get to sleep until late and then I woke Patricia up three times during the night. She didn't mind in the least but her calls were not as loud. We slept very close especially since Patricia would not let me go.

The next morning I heard Julian and Claudia get up and I kissed Patricia. Her eyes opened and she smiled. "You want to again?"

"I think I will always want to. Your parents are getting up."

"Ok but one more time."

We came down later after cleaning up with the cool water that was in the jug in the bedroom.

Patricia was bright eyed and bouncing around as if she had ten hours sleep and not three or four. When we came into the dining room I had to stop. Claudia had the same look on her face.

Julian noticed this too and said, "Good morning. I find that I am not as sound a sleeper as you are Jón. The ladies though look pleased."

"They certainly do. Does this mean we will have some domestic tranquillity?"

"We may but I cannot now use the old threat."

"Perhaps you can use the threat of not using the threat."

Both women blushed but Claudia hung her head low in shame.

Julian said, "That may well work. I have learned something important about my wife and now I want to explore that more. I regret that I had not learned this a long time ago."

"If you had this house would be very full of the sounds of children."

"Yes, that would have been good to hear as well. Please sit and have breakfast with us."

When I sat I said, "Good morning, Claudia." She was still embarrassed and I added, "Men are often cruel with their words but in this case there is too much love to have an maliciousness. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I like hot blooded and emotional women that can take control when the need arises and do the work of any man."

She did look up and my smile was conciliatory and she gave me a small smile too. "Good morning, Jón. I am sorry for the way I acted yesterday. You may do what you wanted."

"Thank you for your trust. I will never do anything to hurt you."

"You did last night by suggesting that I get spanked."

"Then I will have to change my words to that I would not harm you."

The two women now looked at each other and smiled.

Julian said, "Perhaps we can continue our talk about the farm that we were having last night?"

This was good too because I had to sell my products. I talked of horse drawn cultivators to loosen the soil and control weeds. I talked about our line of hand tools.

"I think you would make more profit in grapes. I have already explained how to graft but your land needs to be under drained. This is expensive."

Claudia said, "What is under drained?"

I went into the need in some areas to remove the water from the roots of the grapes. This meant that they had to make miles of terra cotta pipe and put it in piece by piece. We had no plastic and no mesh to keep fine silt out.

"Lucius and Licinia are trying to construct long lines of thin netting to keep the birds away from the grapes. If a machine can be constructed then they will make a fortune. You could do the same thing here."

Claudia said, "Do you think it will really be profitable?"

"How much of a crop is lost to birds? That much is more work to pick and then turn into wine but it is also profit."

Farm talk went on for a while and I said, "Farms will make silver but to get rich you need to get into manufacture and merchandising." I had to work with my Latin to get the last term. "Hemp can be grown and used for making rope, cloth and the oil is good to eat.

"I am making ships that are very large and they will be made of wood and have cloth sails until steel ships are made. Sailing ships cannot come far down the Seine because the bridges ate too low. This is another method you could use to make silver but now you need a cheap way of cutting wood. This can be done with the power of water or of the air."

The next comment caused me to describe the mill on the Rhine and what it was capable of doing.

Julian asked, "Could you build one of those things here?"

"It takes a long time to build. I have made drawings of the various stages of building. You are welcome to come and to send people that could construct you a similar building."

"What did yours cost to build?"

"Not counting the land, and access to good stone, nine thousand aurii."

"Where did you get all that gold?"

"I made steel and sold the products I made. I made a better forge and sold more steel then I built a very large cupola to make liquid iron. One success was used to pay for the next and the next."

"I cannot do that."

"No, but you can purchase goods that your area has plenty of."

"Grapes for wine?"

"Yes, and a lot of other food crops but you then need to move them quickly and easily to places where the people will buy them. That means ships."

"I can have the ships constructed without your mill."

"That is what I would do. You could make a very large ship and carry goods down the Rhine and the Seine. Another way you could try is order a ship built from my small shipyard. The wood is already cut. You are going east and all you have to do is to tell me what you want. You could take the order for the craft and bring back a cargo of iron and steel for me. This will pay for some of the cost of building."

"What if I wanted to purchase the iron and steel?"

"Then do so. I have people I can trust to set up the shop on my farm. Other areas have no idea of what I make or the value of steel. You could make similar arrangements in other areas and reap the profits."

"I will have to think on this. What about the mole on my wife Claudia?"

"We can try now."

"Ok."

I turned to Claudia and said, "May I try now? I will not hurt you."

A little uncertainly she said, "You may try."

Instead of holding her hands I stood and got behind her. I put my hands on her face and neck for contact and I then relaxed. It took longer to establish contact but it worked well. I found the mole and had Claudia's defences start to dismantle it. While here I checked through her body for other problems. She had a lot of battles going on and I encouraged her troops to work harder to defend her. Some of the sites looked to have been going on for a long time and suspected that they were cancerous.

Before I left, I checked her ovaries to get an example so that I could find out more about them. I did see an egg being harassed by millions of sperm cells. This made me feel good but it may not be what Julian and Claudia wished.

When I pulled out I found that hours had passed and I said, "I am sorry for being slow but I had to protect you better in some trouble spots."

Julian said, "What did you find?"

"Some cells in Claudia's body were malignant. That means that they were bad and starting to spread. This was much like your job here, to keep the barbarians from invading." I looked at Claudia and said, "They are being harassed now. You may feel weak and you should eat now. Your body needs the fuel to fight the war."

She stared at me and said, "Ok," like a child that did not understand.

Julian came out to inspect my saddle that he had seen many times before and said, "What did you want to talk about? Is Claudia safe?"

"She is safe. There is a good chance that you will be a father again in nine months."

"What!" he roared.

He had time to think and started to talk three times before he said, "That is good news."

"I am glad to hear that. The egg has to successfully attach itself to the lining of the uterus yet. There are still a lot of actions that has to happen before you are presented with a child."

"I imagine there is. Why did you not tell me in the house?"

"In nine months you may be very busy and definitely not here in Gaul. If you had not wanted the child I could have done some very minor tinkering to keep it from attaching itself."

"You could do that?"

"A fertile egg is like an invader."

"I want this child."

"Then I am glad I didn't have to do this."

Claudia and Patricia were very glad to hear the news. I even had to calm Claudia down so the egg would have a better chance. She never even questioned if I was right or not.

A few hours later a group of ten came to the house and Julian and Claudia welcomed them. Aulus, her brother of fifteen and Postuma the sister at thirteen were introduced to me. They had heard of me and the net effect was favourable. Postuma was as pretty as her sister and mother and batted her eyes at me and had to hold my hand to do so.

I squeezed Patricia's hand and she didn't start to get visibly angry with her sister. I said to them, "Patricia and I are good friends now. We want to see how good the match can be."

"You are courting?"

"In a way the answer is yes but it may be called pre-courting until it gets serious."

Postuma pulled back a bit but did not let go.

When I got a hand loose, I shook hands with Aulus. He was taller than me by a bit but he too seemed to be overcome with my presence. It reminded me of a teenager meeting a movie star.

"Hello, Aulus. It is nice to meet you." I had my hand out and he finally took it.

"Me?"

"Yes you. Will you introduce the rest of your party?"

I got to meet some guards but most were Claudia's relatives. They shook hands with me too and they looked to see me favourably but the two seemed to be keeping their feelings to themselves for now.

We talked of the riots and all the current news and gossip, in a half hour they got on their horses and rode back home.

Julian and Claudia left we with their children and since Claudia was walking very close to her husband I knew what was going to happen.