Chapter 4

“Where have you been, hetaira?” Bellerophon, the chief archigallos, or priest, in Malacanos, demanded of his long-time companion, Zoe, as she visited him at last.

“I have been with my new lover, kyros. What’s that to you?” Zoe spoke candidly now.

“You are not supposed to have other lovers. I have told you that. I am loyal to you. I expect the same in return. You are mine ... and mine alone! I cannot have a proper wife, so you are what I must have instead,” the angry, bearded priest started to shout.

“Oh, be quiet, will you? You’ll get us caught and then we’ll both die, painlessly if we’re lucky. Painfully if we’re not. If I’m to die for bedding you, I’d like to at least get some pleasure out of it. Besides, I never agreed to that. I simply didn’t contradict you when you said it. Why? Because I didn’t feel like arguing and bickering, which would draw attention to us. I love trouble, intrigue, and danger, but I have no death wish.

“Also, I’m fairly sure that you’re only as ‘loyal, ‘ to use your words, as you cannot avoid being. You’re supposed to be celibate and you’re broken those vows. How can I trust that you don’t have some young acolyte in your bed now and then? I bet that you do from time to time. They’re the only lovers besides me or regular whores that won’t squeal on you.

“Anyway, I am a courtesan. You knew that from the outset. Courtesans would go broke servicing only such an infrequent and unreliable patron as you. We’re nicer whores, but we’re still whores at heart and we all start out as ordinary prostitutes. You only call for me when you have a few surplus coins and enough time and privacy to avoid getting caught, and then it’s rushing through it to avoid getting caught! For a man breaking his holy vow of celibacy, you’re an amazingly skittish fellow.

“Besides, I don’t really enjoy how much you refuse to finish up inside any of my holes. Not even my sweet mouth or my rather nice bottom ... if I may say so myself, it is a rather delightful ass. Trust me on that. You should really get your money’s worth there. It’s rather pointless to risk all by fucking me and then refuse to make full use of me, don’t you agree?” Zoe answered her aging lover defiantly.

“That does it ... You will pay, as will your new lover! Who is he? Tell me his name! I’ll bugger him myself and make you watch!” Bellerophon snapped, so incensed now that he didn’t care who heard him.

“So, it’s true, then. You like boys, too. Just as I thought. Nothing wrong with that, and I wouldn’t mind watching you fuck a boy. Just not this one. He’s not into being taken that way, though he might enjoy doing it to another youth. I’d love to share you with a boy, Bellerophon. That would put some spice back into our little affair. You name the boy, as long as he’s not this one. He will not be your catamite, not this one!” Zoe taunted her companion further.

“Why not?” Bellerophon demanded to know, “And yes, I confess. I’ve had boys. I just didn’t tell you that, for fear that you’d use that as an excuse to bed other men and I wanted you all to myself. I’m a jealous lover. I would not even share my boys with you. I’d fuck you ... and them, but they must keep only to me, as must you, Zoe, from now on.”

“Unacceptable terms, my lord. I’m afraid that I cannot agree to them. And I certainly won’t subject this other one, this boy of mine, to become your boy instead of mine. He’s my boy, but he shares me gladly and I share him. We’re not jealous of each other. And, yes, he’s much younger. He’s a youth. But he’s also more man than you’ll ever be. He’s also a Prince of Malacanos,” Zoe let the other shoe drop, “I can’t imagine that his uncle would want him being buggered and deprived of women by a priest who is supposed to be celibate in the first place.”

“You’re fucking ... Lord Alcaeon? Prince Alcaeon? The King’s own nephew? He’s only fourteen!” Bellerophon was now filled with rage at knowing this, his hands reaching out for Zoe’s neck to snap it or strangle her in his wrath. Impotent in terms of exacting revenge on the prince, the priest still wanted to punish Zoe at least.

“Yes, and I haven’t had my monthly courses. Care to guess what that means, given that you never finished up inside me? I’m carrying his seed in my womb. His firstborn son or daughter, my lord archigallos. I’m going to have his child. Proudly. Gladly. Care to fuck a pregnant woman, my lord, one carrying another man’s issue within her belly?” Zoe mocked and deliberately provoked Bellerophon, while standing just out of his reach.

“You slut! You strumpet! You fucking whore!” Bellerophon finally caught up with Zoe and started to wring her neck as she opened her mouth and screamed loudly ... and then kicked him in the balls.

Several acolytes and priests rushed into the room, along with a couple of slaves. They now found a very wrathful Bellerophon, reckless in his outrage, pointing a knife at Zoe’s bosom, while holding his rather sore balls with his other hand. The fact that a known harlot was in the priest’s private bedchamber, in a half-naked state, was damning enough. The fact that the archigallos had a sacrificial dagger in his hand was even worse.

“Seize her! She tried to seduce me, and when that wouldn’t work, she tried to force herself on me!” Bellerophon ordered his colleagues, all of whom laughed when they heard that.

“Yes, because courtesans like her have trouble luring men into bed. They’ve even been known to entice priests, quite successfully, in fact. I tell you, Bellerophon, I have suspected you of having a lover in the past, but this is proof! Tell me, lady ... did he hurt you?” Anticles, a younger priest, demanded to know now.

“Yes, see, he bruised my throat, trying to strangle me. He was jealous that I slept with Lord Alcaeon and am pregnant to him. He also wanted to rape the King’s nephew and wanted me to procure him for his pleasure. I refused, of course. Even whores have our own code of behavior, you know. There are some things that I just won’t do. That’s one of them. Besides, I’m actually a courtesan, one of the hetairai. So, what will you do with us?” Zoe asserted herself and accused Bellerophon, now quite eager to be rid of him once and for all ... any man who would try to murder her was unacceptable.

“You’re Alcaeon’s lover? His courtesan? And you carry the royal seed in your belly? My lady, you must come with us at once! The King must know of this. Directly. Himself. This is a matter for Lord Draco, King of Malacanos, to judge. These are grave offenses, and don’t try to fool me here. You were clearly Bellerophon’s lover in the past, which is a capital crime, an affront to the Gods. But I hope that he shall show mercy to you, given everything that has transpired. I also hope to replace Bellerophon in the temple and the priesthood. Follow me, kyra!” Anticles now personally shackled a terrified high priest and led him along with the courtesan Zoe to the royal palace complex for the King’s judgment, “Lord Bellerophon, lady Zoe, in the name of the Gods and the King, I arrest you for sacrilege!”

“This is a grave error on your part, slut ... You, too, Anticles! I matter! I will have my revenge upon both of you! Just you wait,” Bellerophon cursed them as they traveled to the palace and toward the audience room where the King, or basileos, held court.

“I think that you had best grovel for mercy, my lord archigallos, and not make any plans for vengeance. As for myself, lord, I am no lady. I am but a courtesan, as you yourself said. I’m a hetaira from Lysania, a serf who escaped long ago from that country with not a stitch of clothing on me. Not one drop of royal or noble blood in me. I am unworthy to be the Prince’s wife, after all,” Zoe answered both men, still terrified of the King’s possible wrath, as they finally entered the royal presence.

“Let the King decide those matters, my lady. But for now, you claim to carry the royal seed in your womb. Royal blood would course through those veins. That’s a very important distinction. Out of courtesy for now, you’re a lady until or unless the King decides otherwise,” Anticles observed, before kneeling as the King’s herald announced them to his master.

“Lord Anticles, Lord Bellerophon, and the courtesan Zoe. What brings the three of you into my presence at this hour? Why is the archigallos, Lord Bellerophon, fettered? Why do you have them in custody, Lord Anticles? What is the meaning of this? Why have you taken it upon yourself to arrest these two? Answer me! I AM YOUR KING!” Draco bellowed now, quite disturbed by this chain of events that had a priest, let alone high priest, of the Gods in irons.

“Yes, my lord ... My lord the King, this lady screamed in terror as the lord archigallos, Lord Bellerophon here, attempted to murder her in a fit of jealous rage. Seems that they were lovers, but he wanted to continue the affair, whereas she wanted to end it. He also wanted her to procure your nephew, Prince Alcaeon, as another boy for him to bed. I’ve suspected that he was unchaste for a while now, but now I have more than intuition to confirm it. It also seems that Lady Zoe here is pregnant to the Prince. She carries his offspring, from his very loins, in her womb,” Lord Anticles stammered as he tried to explain to an increasingly furious King Draco.

“Is this true? Did you try to rape and murder, or possibly murder and then desecrate the body, of the mother of my great-niece or great-nephew? Did you, Lord Bellerophon, violate your vow of chastity that you made when you consecrated yourself to the Gods? Did you plan to enforce the Lady Zoe’s continued services to you by means of intimidation or worse? Did you entreat or cajole her to procure my nephew for the purposes of pederasty and forced buggery? Did you conspire to deprive him of her companionship and her body, of which he evidently desired enough to sire a child on her? Did you do this?” the King’s eyes blazed with righteous indignation as he tapped his feet and adjusted his diadem.

“Yesss... , “ Bellerophon slipped out a confession that he did not mean to make, so terrified he was of the King that he was unable to lie in his fear ... the truth came out spontaneously.

“Yes, Lord!” Draco demanded.

“Yes, Lord, I did those things. But please, my lord, I will reform. I will repent of my sins against the Gods! I plead with you for mercy, Lord. I beg you to spare my life! Please! I will do whatever you ask of me. Just do not put me to death!” Bellerophon completely groveled and prostrated himself before the King now, while the other two watched in growing fear as well.

“No! I will not spare you, priest! That would be an affront to the Gods! Lord Anticles, make a special sacrifice in your new office as chief archigallos, to atone for such sacrileges as Lord Bellerophon committed against the Gods. Zeus, Pan, Apollo, and Ares especially, for fear of incurring their wrath. I will, however, show some mercy, as is my royal prerogative. I will not have you impaled, Bellerophon, or even boiled alive. Or burned. Instead, a swift stroke of the executioner’s sword should do the trick. Then I will have your head mounted above the gates as a warning to any future priests who might get ideas of breaching their sacred vows and seeking to murder a mother of the royal seed.

“As for your acolytes, Bellerophon, which I can surmise you probably buggered, that is not their fault, whichever ones they might be, and they are not yet sworn celibates, anyway. You have forfeited the title of lord and the office of archigallos for the rest of your natural life, and you must, posthaste, be delivered into the hands of the executioner, to be executed in public by severing your head from your body with a sword. Your body shall be burned according to proper rites, but your shade will never cross the Styx into Hades until your head is taken down and the coins are placed in your mouth and above your eyes,” Draco directed his men to lead the deposed priest away to the royal dungeon to await his beheading.

Bellerophon was so horrified by his own fate that he wet himself in front of the entire court, causing the King and others to smirk and laugh.

“You may go as well, Lord Anticles. You are hereby formally appointed to serve in Bellerophon’s place and with his former authority as chief archigallos of Malacanos. Continue to serve well and you shall earn further rewards. You have prevented a horrible murder and caught a sacrilegious priest. You have served the Gods well and your King is pleased with you. I will have the scribes publish the royal edict proclaiming you in his place with all due haste,” Draco then dismissed the new head of the state religion.