A Long Time from Home Ch. 16

Author's notes:

About the language and notation:

The Baylon language is a predecessor to Latin, which is why it looks like Latin at a glance.

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Disclaimer: In this chapter, I mention a city named Khao in Syama (Ancient Thailand) and I have to confess that it's a city I invented for the story. In the story it's located in what's now the Bay of Bangkok.

Some warnings:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. I haven't gotten an editor yet, so any mistakes are mine. Interested editors are welcome :)

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Chapter 16 -- Flashback: Traveling the world part 1: Bharata (India)

Kachi, Bharata (Baylon: Ancient India)

The landscape leading up to the city of Kachi (Present day Varanasi) was a beautiful river valley and being placed on the Ganga River some distance from the ocean, the city was well protected against the elements and seasonal storms.

Unfortunately, it also meant sailing for days against the current, limiting the speed severely and making approaching ships like this an easy target for river pirates. Like the ones I was looking at right now.

Five large river boats with about ten persons in each was riding the steam down towards us and from the number of weapons they were carrying, it wasn't to bid us welcome.

The sailing boat I was on was a typical trading vessel and belong to Nanda, a Kanchi noble merchant, and while the twenty-person crew was a tough as any, the only real fighters was the six armsmen Nanda had brought along.

All in all, we were outnumbered and in deep trouble. Or perhaps, I should say that Nanda was, because if I wanted, I could easily use Powers to get away.

Thankfully, the trading vessel used in this part of the world were formidable. Large, well-built, and efficient, they were better than the ships the Kemetians and Hittites used. In fact, the Phoenician cedar tree ships were only other ship type I could think off, that would be their equal in seaworthiness and cargo capacity.

The wooden planks gave us a good cover and the height of the ship meant, that it wasn't easily scalable for the pirates, giving us time to take some of them off if came to a boarding action.

A short person stepped up next to me, looking at the approaching boats.

Good looking with a well-groomed beard, richly dressed in fine silks and armed with an elegant bronze sword, Nanda looked exactly like the rich noble he was, but contrary to most human nobles I had met, he was kind, intelligent and soft spoken.

He was also young and was bringing his pregnant wife, Dushala, back to his home city, making the timing of the pirate attack even worse than normal.

"If you can do anything to help, I will award you richly." He stated in his soft melodic voice, his eyes never leaving the five rowing boats. "Gold, silk, gems and a slave."

"I don't fight for treasure." I replied as I lifted my bow. "But I'll fight because you're a kind person with an equally kind wife and a child on the way."

He looked up at me with surprise on his face, but then nodded. "Thank you."

I returned the nod, before taking aim and letting the arrow fly. It hit the oarsman controlling one of the approaching boats ring the chest and made him collapse over the large oar, that steered the boat. A heartbeat later, it turned sharply to the right, ramming one of the other boats and made the other boat turn as well to avoid capsizing.

Nor quite believing my luck, I loosened the next arrow. This one took another oarsman out, but the crew managed to righten the boat before anything happened and hastily brought up shields to protect themselves.

The crews on the other boats did the same, making it almost impossible for me to hit anyone vital.

Lowering my bow, I considered my options. Despite the shield wall, I could kill some of them with my bow, but I only had eighteen arrows left and with the shields protecting the oarsmen, that wasn't enough to make a difference.

Another problem was that the language I had learned from Nanda wasn't the local language around Kachi, so the few mind tricks I knew that would affect multiple targets most likely wouldn't help, as they only worked when people understood what I was saying.

Looking at the mess with the two entangled boats, I determined that it wouldn't take much to capsize them completely. So, I extended a hand and used a Vis Push to do exactly that, causing the crew to fall into the water, dropping their weapons as they did so.

"Thank you." Mumbled Nanda from beside me. "That'll even the odds somewhat."

I gave him a short nod. "Yes, but please go back to you wife now. She needs protection, I don't."

With a little smile, he nodded and walked away, leaving me alone in the bow of the ship.

The boats had been coming nearer while we had been talking and I kneeled behind the wooded bow, where I couldn't be hit by thrown axes and the like before I turned and shouted, "Turn into them!" to the guy controlling the steering oar.

Most of the crew thought that I was a Yaksha: A semi-divine or supernatural being, that helped people from time to time, when it suited them.

One of the advantages with that, was that the crew normally did as I said, and this time was no different, as he nodded to me and turned the steering oar.

There was a crash as the much bigger merchant ship rammed into a boat. However, the pirates had been ready for that and just before we rammed it, several grappling hooks were thrown over the bow, enabling the pirates to climb aboard.

They never made it. When I felt that they were about halfway up, I sent out a wave of mental power. It's really a clumsy attack, as it affects everybody around the Mentat, including any friends, but it has the advantage of not having to be aimed and it shocks everybody affected, leaving them momentarily dazed and without the strength to do anything, including climbing a rope.

A series of splashed told me, that the Mind Trick had worked as planned and with that we suddenly weren't outnumbered any more.

Our oarsman smiled widely at me and turned the ship again, crashing into yet another boat, but this time there wasn't any grappling hooks. Only the sound of people jumping or being thrown into the water.

A cheer from our crew announced that the pirates had given up and after haven waited for a while I stood up and walked back to the middle of the ship, where the passengers could sit and relax. There was still a long way to Kashi, and I might as well relax the rest of the way... or at least until more pirates came along.

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Fortunately, the rest of the trip was peaceful and after a few days more, we arrived at the city of Kachi, which was a pleasant surprise. Not that we arrived, but the city itself, and I understood why it was the city was called 'City of Light'.

The well-kept dock was made of fired brick and the wares from the ship was quickly transferred into warehouses within the impressive city wall.

As we moved through the wide streets of the city, the same kind of bricks had been used to construct the one and two-story buildings that lined the streets. There were even lattice shutters in front of the windows for airflow as well as privacy and a ledge to stop rainwater from entering the house.

The people on the streets looked mostly well-fed and there were lots of small shops, selling food, cotton, pottery, and everything else a city needed. All in all, it was a sophisticated city on par with Pi-Ramesses and I was slightly baffled over the fact, that none of the travel descriptions I had studied at Arcem had mentioned it. Especially since the city looked to be at least a hundred years old. In other words, it wasn't something new and most of the cities I had heard about was located on the other side of the giant peninsula.

As we passed a large building complex, I inquired Nanda if it was the city administrative centre, but he shook his head. "No, that's the Gurukola, where the Gurus (Teachers) teach the Shishya (Students). I was taught to calculate with both fractions and large numbers there, as well as knowledge about the stars. " He smiled at the memory. "Hard work for the brain, but it had helped me many times as a sailing merchant."

I nodded in agreement. Most of the Empires near or around the Middle Sea had scribe schools and the like, but I haven't known that they had it here in Bharata as well. It did make sense though, as it's impossible to build any large structure or make trade, without knowing the mathematics behind it.

As befitting for a rich merchant noble, Nanda's house was huge and I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered the house not only had drainage for the latrine, but an actual bathroom with a small pool in each of the three wings of the house.

With its high ceilings and large windows covered by lattice shutters, the house was also pleasantly cool and smelled nicely of jasmine and other flowers.

More to the point, as I was the only guest at the moment, I had the entire guest wing to myself, including the pool. A fact I took advantage of almost immediately. The house might be airy, but this part of Bharata was almost as hot as Kemet and unlike Kemet, it was in a jungle, making it rather humid.

Consequently, I stripped as soon as I was alone and stepped into the pool to escape the heat of the surroundings, cool off and plan what to do next.

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Being here wasn't my own idea: The final test to see if a person was suited for Securitas Externa, was to have the student travel from Arcem Discendi to Baylon without the use of any long-range teleportation or gating powers. A trip that took most students almost two years to complete, at least according to the records, making it the longest final test of any Ordo.

To make it even more interesting, it was required that the students visited several cities along the way, which meant going through most of the established civilizations in this part of the world.

The first obstacle was getting to the Middle Sea and most students opted for the tried and tested land-route, travelling through Lescare and then straight east, keeping the mountains on their left side, until they encountered Elam or the Kassites. Called the Silk Road, the land route had been used for hundreds of years to transport wares between Lescare and the empires of the eastern Middle Sea.

I had considered it for a while, but finally decided against using that route. Travelling by foot or horse for months on end was not my favourite pastime and consequently, I had decided to go by ship.

Not only would sailing be more relaxing than walking, but the sea route going south of Lescare to Bharata (Baylon: India) went through areas I had never experienced, and I imagined it would be fun to see something new.

So, I had sailed from Arcem Discendi to Lescare, where I had secured passage on a ship going south along the coast towards Fog Island. A large island located by the coast of southern Lescare. It was also one of the few places in this part of the world with a Baylon colony and I had stayed there for a time until the next trading ships going west came along.

That ship had brought me to the area known as Viet, where I had travelled south by caravan and ship until I had rounded the tip of the peninsula and reached Kambojadesa, from where I had sailed to Khao in Syama, where I had stayed for the rain season.

When the rain had finally stopped, I had renewed my journey, traveling northward over land and sea, until I reached the city of Chottogram near the Ganga River delta, where I had to stop once more as the rain came back.

The curious thing about this part of the world, was that the direction of the prevailing wind depended on the season.

At winter it blew from the land and into the ocean, making it extremely easy to sail south from Chottogram to Cinnamon Island and even further.

In summer, the wind blew in the opposite direction, from the ocean and into the land, enabling ships to sail up the large river to the cities inland.

It was in Chottogram I had met Nanda, who had brought his sick and pregnant wife to the same healer I was visiting. The healer had been able cure Dushala's fever, but at the risk of losing the unborn child. At least until I used a few high-powered healing spells to make sure it survived the treatment.

While we waited for Dushala to recover, we had talked and when he discovered that I needed transportation when the rain was over, he had offered me a place on his merchant ship and...

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A knock on the doorframe in the other room disturbed my thoughts. With a slight sigh, I left the pool, wrapped the thick piece of cotton that functioned as a towel around the waist and walked out to see who it was.

It was Nanda and he wasn't alone. Nishatha, his most trusted servant, was with his as well, carrying a small wooden box, and behind them stood three women, that I guessed were maids of some kind.

Before I got the chance to say anything, Nanda smiled widely and said. "I gave you a promise on the boat and I'm here to fulfil at least some of that." He gestured to Nishatha, who stepped forward and presented to box to me, opening it as he did so. The inside gleamed with gold as it was filled with the fixed weight gold disks used as payment in this part of the world. Intermingled with the disks were polished gemstones, but I couldn't see exactly what type they were.

"The silk will have to be made first," continued Nanda in his soft voice, causing me to look at him again. "But I'll ask you to choose one of the women standing behind us as the slave I promised you. They're all well-educated and fine concubines."

I managed not to sigh. Depending on the culture, a concubine was a mix between a mistress and sex slave, and while most people would have been delighted by such a fine gift, I didn't want one. Taking women just for my own pleasure was disgusting to me and while a concubine sounded better than 'sex-slave', most of the time there wasn't much of a difference, as the women rarely had a choice in the matter.

However, Nanda was here to fulfil the promise he made on the ship, even if I had rejected the offer at the time and I suspected that saying no again wouldn't be received well. He might even take it as an insult or an indication that I didn't think that he could afford it, and both options weren't good when dealing with a noble. Not even one as kind and soft-spoken as Nanda.

All in all, I didn't have much choice in the matter right now, so I would have to accept his offer and sort it out later.

Nishatha stepped to the side, so I could take a closer look at the three women, which I did. Not only with my eyes, but also with my mind, reading their emotions.

Good-looking and well-shaped as most concubines were, they were clearly from this area, as they had the same kind of big brown eyes and luscious black hair that I had seen the locals have. They were also clad in the same way, with a thin shawl draped over the shoulder for protection against the sun and a short, pleated skirt that hung low on the swell of the hips and went to the knees. However, unlike the people I had seen in the streets of the city, they were adorned with jewellery, having earrings, nose rings and several delicate gold chains around their slim waists.

While looking somewhat similar, their emotions were completely different. The one to the left was terrified of having to pleasure a Yaksha. Especially one as tall, light skinned and whitehaired as me. I looked too alien and stories of man eating Yakshas flashed through her mind.

The one in the middle surprised me, as she emanated desire and hoped that I would pick her. Reached out with my mind, I connected with her to find out why and almost laughed when I discovered that she was simply turned on by tall, muscular men. Being the biggest man, she had ever seen, combined with the fact that she found me attractive in an exotic kind of way, was the reason for her arousal.

I shifted my attention to the last of the three women. She was without a doubt the best looking of the three, but her emotions told me, that she wasn't happy about being handed over to someone else, as she liked Nanda a lot.

"Have you made your choice?" asked Nanda with a slight smile when I looked at him again.

"Yes." I answered with a nod. "They're all very beautiful, but I would prefer the one in the middle."

"Are you sure?"

I pretended to think about it for a moment more as I looked at the three young women, but with one of them actively wanting to share pleasure with me, there wasn't any doubt in my mind about the choice. "Yes. I'm sure."

"Very well. Her name is Shava."

Since I was still reading emotions and surface thoughts, I had no trouble feeling his satisfaction with my choice. Shava was his least favourite of the trio and thus the one he felt best about parting with.

After that, Nanda said his goodbyes and walk out again, followed by Nishatha and the two other girls, and I had to hide smile at the look of pity the scared one sent her. That one obviously thought that it was the last time she would see Shava alive.

If she had seen the look, Shava ignored it and stayed where she was, looking at me with a mixture of uncertainty and anticipation in her eyes.

To ease the tension a bit, I said. "Hello Shava, I'm Iravan."

After arriving in this part of the world, it didn't take long for me to discover, that 'Ivah' was a female name here, mostly because people had been amused whenever I had introduced myself. That had caused me to find a local name, Iravan, that sounded somewhat like my own and used that instead.

Shava smiled shyly. "Good to meet you, Kuru Iravan."

Recognizing the local word for 'master', I held up a hand. "Please, just call me Iravan. I don't need any titles." Tilting my head, I studied her for a few heartbeats.

Normally, I don't take women to bed without talking or sharing a meal with them first, but the desire Shava emitted had risen steadily since I had chosen her and while drawing it out was fun from time to time, doing it now would be close to torture.

"Come here," I ordered, and she obeyed immediately, removing the shawl from her shoulders as she walked and stopped right in front of me with an abruptness that made her firm breasts jiggle.

I reached out and touched her face, my fingers tracing a line from behind one ear, down her neck to the shoulder. The skin-to-skin contact also gave me an excellent opportunity to do a fast scan of her body to see if she had any hidden sickness, but she was in almost perfect health.

Shava quivered at the touch of my fingers and sent me a smile, so I took a step forward while lowering my hand from her face and placed both of them on her waist, feeling the smoothness of her light brown complexion.

She shivered again, when I ran a hand from the delicate curve of her waist to the swell of her hips. My fingers brushed past her navel as they went across the flat stomach. It was firm, without a grain of excess fat.

I brought one hand carefully to her front and kept feeling the skin of her midriff. Then, gradually I moved the hand upwards and let my palm and fingers caress one rounded breast, feeling the smooth skin. It stood unyielding and proud; my hands were only just able to cup it completely, as the nipple rubbed against my palm.