Chapter 2

I don't know why, but the idea that I might be in ancient Rome didn't freak me out. I guess that was partly due to me not being as sharp in the brain as I usually was. Anyway, I turned to my nearest neighbor in the cage and asked what was going on. I figured that he wouldn't understand me, but maybe I could get him to start teaching me the language.

The guy muttered something and turned his back on me, so I tried somebody else. I got no better results until the fourth man I tried. He said something that sounded like "barbarian," so I grinned and pointed to my chest and said "Conan."

He looked blank, but after the third time I said my name, he got the idea and pointed at his chest with the statement, "Adax." Aha! Maybe I was getting somewhere. I worked at it very hard and got him to understand that I wanted him to teach me the language. We spent several hours at it, and I got fluent enough that I could ask a few questions.

With some heavy work, I understood that I had been captured by slavers who were taking us to market in Rome. I was unhappy over this news, but I needed more information before I could come up with a plan of action. What I finally got from Adax was that I would probably be sold as a gladiator because of my size. He said that being a gladiator was a tough job, but about the best a slave could hope for unless he had some special skill. Well, I didn't have any skills that I knew of, but I was a good fighter and had studied martial arts for nine of my 16 years. I even knew something about using a knife, a sword, and a spear. I figured that I would go along with being a gladiator for a while.

We arrived in Rome the next afternoon, and I must say that I was not impressed! The city stunk to high heaven of garbage and shit. Sure, the buildings were impressive, but that was more than made up for by the smell. A guard saw me holding my nose and laughed. He said, "Don't worry about the smell. You'll get used to it pretty quick." I guessed that he was right, because I saw only a few new arrivals who seemed to notice the smell.

We were taken to a place that could only be described as a holding pen. We were dumped into a place consisting of high log walls with the logs spaced a few inches apart. There was a long wall running down the middle of the pen, and men were on one side and women and children were on the other side of that wall. It looked like somebody was in a hurry to get his money, because the first sale was held that night.

A bunch of us larger men were sorted out and lined up to march to a platform outside the pen. It was a cinch that we were not going to escape because there were more guards than slaves around that platform. All of the guards were wearing some semblance of armor, and everyone was armed with a short sword.

I was at the tail end of the line, and I was the biggest, so I figured that I would be sold either first or last, depending on the whim of the auctioneer. We were lined up and stripped naked so that the customers could get a good look at the merchandise. I was surprised to see a number of women in the crowd, but I guessed that they were looking for guards or else for sex slaves.

To my amazement, we were ordered to jack off so that the customers could see the size of our erections. It didn't surprise me that the women were the most interested in this, but some of the men also paid close attention. It also didn't surprise me that I had the biggest cock on display. What did surprise me was that I was not the only one to be circumcised, and they weren't Jews.

The bidding started with a little guy, but he did have a big cock. Some woman bought him for one aureus (gold coin) equal to 25 denarii (silver coins). The other slaves went for prices ranging from one to five aureuii. Finally they came to me. Here was an interesting thing: more women than men bid on me. I had nothing else to judge by, so I guessed that the men were bidding on my muscles and the women were bidding on my cock.

The bidding had gotten up to 11 aureuii, and there were only two bidders left, a man and a woman. They kept bidding against each other, but the man finally dropped out when the bid rose to 18 aureuii. Hell, I was flattered to think that a woman would think that my cock was worth that much money.

I was pushed off the platform down some stairs and given a threadbare tunic to wear as I was ushered to my new owner. I had no idea what common courtesy might demand, so I bowed when I was brought into her presence. That seemed to impress her, but not enough for her to talk to me. I had been marked as a slave as soon as I got to Rome by a metal collar that was put around my neck. It was so loose that it was not uncomfortable, but there was no way I could slip it over my head.

Obviously, there was a hierarchy among the slaves, and I was at the lowest level, at least for now. A man also wearing a collar directed me to follow as the palanquin was carried away from the auction block. We walked for about a mile to a very ritzy looking building. The lady in the palanquin was carried through the front door, but all of us other slaves were sent around to the servant's entrance.

I was directed to follow a woman to the servants' bathhouse. There, she stripped off her clothes and told me to do the same. We got into some water that was so damned hot that I was afraid of it at first, but the woman got in, so I figured that it was safe. I went through the bathing routine, and I had to say that I was as clean as it was possible for a human to get. When we finished the bath, the woman lay down on a towel on her back and spread her legs.

"Conan, the mistress wants you to fuck me so that I can report to her the level of skill that you show. If you are good enough, she will try you herself, but you must please me first."

"OK, I can handle that. But I really would like to know your name before I start."

"I am called Miriam."

"Very well, Miriam. I'll give you the full tour of everything I know about pleasing a woman. We'll start with kissing." Miriam may have been good at some things, but she sure didn't know much about kissing. I lay down beside her and leaned across to reach her mouth with mine. The first few kisses with Miriam had her keeping her mouth closed even when I tried to push my tongue into her mouth. I drew back just a little, and Miriam asked me what I was trying to do. I gave her a quick rundown of French Kissing. She had never heard of kissing that way, so I told her what to do. The first time I pushed my tongue against her teeth, she opened just enough for me to get my tongue just a little way into her mouth.

Miriam opened her mouth just a little more, and I pushed my tongue in to rub on her tongue. Her eyes lit up at the unfamiliar sensation, and she grabbed my head with both her hands and pulled me toward her mouth even farther. I smiled to myself and pressed my lips as hard as possible against hers while I moved my tongue around inside her mouth.

Suddenly, Miriam pushed her tongue into my mouth and moved it around to very good effect. Miriam might be ignorant, but she was a fast learner. We kept up the kissing for a while, and Miriam became a more enthusiastic kisser. I broke the liplock, and Miriam groaned her disappointment. She changed her tune, though, when I shifted to kissing and nibbling on her earlobe. Obviously, that was something else that she was not familiar with, but she certainly learned to like it very quickly.

After a few minutes, I kissed my way down her neck toward her chest. I kissed around her tits, but was careful not to touch them directly. I did move up over her and between her legs so that I could reach my goals more easily. Apparently, she thought that I was about to penetrate her, so she humped her pussy up toward my cock. I teased her by moving back out of reach and continued to kiss her chest. However, now that I was in position, I moved my string of kisses to include her tits, but still avoided her nipples.