Give Me the Man

The sun was lowering in the summer afternoon heat when the two riders drew rein on the bluff.

"There it is, son." There was a whimsical smile on Gerlan's face as he and Ardan studied the city below them. "The great metropolis."

"Which is the Temple?"

Gerlan pointed. "See where the river bends? The white building?"

His son nodded. "I see it. Is that it?"

"No. Count two to the left, that's it."

"What's the white building?"

"That's the Institute. That's first stop tomorrow. Tonight we find ourselves somewhere to stay and get a meal. Come on." Gerlan gigged his horse into motion and the two riders, easy in the saddle, made their way down the hill and into the city of Jalx.

Stabling was easily found along with comfortable lodgings in a guesting house a couple of blocks from the Institute. The room was small, but clean and comfortable, the beds bright with rugs.

"The necessary is just along the hall, fast-break in the bar, seventh hour." Their host was burly, built like one of the barrels in his bar below. "If you want an evening meal we're serving now."

"We'll be right down," said Gerlan.

The meal was simple fare, but sustaining and in generous portions for hungry travellers and the two made short work of it. Replete, they sat back.

"I'm for a glass of ale and then my bed, I think " Gerlan said, stretching. "You?"

His son smiled. "A walk, and then bed, I think."

Gerlan nodded. "Take care. Not all here are friendly."

"You taught me well, father. I'll be fine," Ardan said, standing and donning his cloak. "I'll see you in an hour or so."

The sun had set, and the evening was fine, bright with the light of the moons, the one full and the other gibbous. Ardan made his way down to the river bank, the river full now with the tidal flow from the sea some four leagues downstream. Lanterns made pools of light between the deep shadows, shadows deepened even more by the contrast with the light. Ardan sat himself in a corner, perched on a barrel, and watched the nightdivers fishing, wings folded, long necks coiled ready to stab out with their long beaks for their prey.

A noise caught his ear, scratching, muffled. Unmoving, he let his eyes take in his surroundings. Stealthy movement caught his eye, Two figures, no, three, and one seemed held captive by the others, struggling. Ardan eased himself from his seat and moved silently towards the three, listening. Closer, he could see that the one apparently captive was a woman and as he watched one of the others hit her in the face. She fell, dazed, and one of the men ripped at her skirts, baring her to the waist while his companion unfastened his breeches.

Ardan had seen enough and moved silently closer as the man went to his knees, groping in his breeches. He didn't even have time to yell before he hit the water, Ardan's blow lifting him cleanly over the dockside. His companion gasped in astonishment, surprise rapidly giving way to pain as the toe of Ardan's boot caught him just where he had anticipated pleasure. The thug went to his knees, gasping and Ardan picked him up and threw him after his accomplice. He turned to the woman, struggling to cover herself. He flipped her skirts down and offered her a hand to rise.

"I trust I arrived in time, madam." He studied her covertly in the dim quayside lighting. Young, not much more than twenty-two or -three, he guessed. Attractive, although a welt on her face from the blow promised temporary loss of beauty.

She studied him in turn for a moment, eyes wide, and then a faint smile crossed her face. "You did, sir." She extended her hand and he helped her to her feet. She frowned. "It puzzles me, why some men feel the need to take by force what is freely offered elsewhere."

"There are fools and misfits in all societies, madam. Some men seek to dominate. I assume Jalx is no different."

"It seems not." She put her hand to her face and winced, then looked back over her shoulder at the river, from where splashing could be heard. She turned to Ardan again. "Probably better if we move away from here. It would appear the rats can swim."

Ardan smiled. "It would indeed, madam. May I escort you somewhere?"

"To the Temple."

"You must be my guide. I only arrived in the city about two hours ago."

"From my view, a most fortuitous arrival. This way." She pointed and they moved off together. It was a short journey and she led him to a side door, where she turned to him. "Thank you again, sir. I will be safe now. May I ask your name?"

"Ardan, madam. Ardan Tearo. May I ask yours?"

"Officially I am an unnamed servant of the Temple, but my friends call me Arla."

"No family name?"

"I am a servant of the Goddess, Ardan. She is my family."

"Well, in that case, I bid you goodnight, Arla, servant of the Goddess." Ardan bowed and turned to go.

"A moment, Ardan. Are you in Jalx for Initiation?"

Ardan nodded, grateful of the dark as he flushed. "I am. Tomorrow evening."

"I wish you well. My thanks again." Arla stepped forward and kissed him lightly on the lips, then slipped through the door and into the Temple, closing the door quietly behind her.

Ardan stood for a moment, then grinned. An entertaining evening so far. Now to find the guesting house again!

His father was still in the bar when Ardan returned. He waved his son over. "Some wine, son?"

"Please, father."

Gerlan nodded and poured a goblet of wine for Ardan. "Good walk?"

"Yes, quite pleasant."

"See anything interesting?"

"Nothing special, father, just a city at night," said Ardan, deciding not to mention the incident at the dockside. "It's very quiet on the streets. I think I expected more bustle."

"More bustle means pickpockets and the like. Don't mind if it's quiet."

"No, sir. I think I'll go to bed. It could be a long day tomorrow."

His father raised an eyebrow and Ardan flushed, grateful for the dim lighting. "A day you'll finish in a woman's bed. Are you ready, son?" Gerlan's tone was gentle.

"I think so, father. As much as I'll ever be." He grinned. "I'm looking forward to the bed bit."

Gerlan laughed. "Yes, son, it does round the day off nicely. Come on, let's go upstairs."

The night was peaceful and Ardan fell into a peaceful slumber unmarred by troubled dreams. He woke early, confused at first by his surroundings, relaxing as he remembered. Today was his Testing; today was his Initiation. The thought of the Initiation reminded him that he ought to use the necessary, for he was piss-proud and hard with a morning erection.

After breakfasting, Gerlan and Ardan checked their horses, then strolled along to the Institute. The Ha'ar Institute for Genetics, to give it its full name, although no-one ever called it anything but The Institute. Inside, the reception desks were busy, several young men and women registering. A slim blonde girl caught Ardan's eye but looked away immediately to her companion, an older woman, probably her mother.

"Name, please?" The receptionist's query brought Ardan back to himself.

"Tearo, Ardan Tearo."

"Home?"

"Vilna Station."

"Room three, please. You will be collected from there." The girl turned to Gerlan. "You are Ardan's father?"

"I am."

"Your son will be here for approximately four hours. I suggest you return then. If you require a meal, our commissary, over there, will be happy to serve you."

"Thank you, Fral." Gerlan turned to Ardan. "I'll see you in the commissary in four hours, then. Okay, son?"

"Fine, father. See you then." Now where was room three?

Room three was a waiting room. Others were there already. Two young men like himself and the blonde girl, who gave him a shy smile then lowered her eyes again. One of the youths was about to speak when an attendant came in. "Jonal Hel and Peri Ban? Come with me, please." She went out again trailed by the two young men. The blonde girl looked up and then quickly away again, a faint flush on her face. A very lovely face, too, Ardan thought.

"May I introduce myself?" he said quietly. "Ardan Tearo, from Vilna Station."

The girl looked up again. "Leara Asolan, from Ansel Crossing."

"Ansel Crossing? That's Hinazi, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. You know the Hinazi?"

Ardan smiled. "I know of the Hinazi. I studied a little anthropology."

There was just a trace of a frown on the girl's face when she said, "No doubt you read about our tradition of welcoming travellers."

Ardan flushed. "You mean the custom of supplying guests with a partner for the night?"

"That's the one. Everyone knows that one." Her voice was cool. "Most people don't study further, otherwise they'd find that it's not just any traveller - "

" - but only those who have rendered the Hinazi people a service," Ardan interrupted quietly.

She looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "I'm sorry, Ardan. I misjudged you on the basis of mass mis-knowledge."

"No apology necessary, I assure you." He was about to say more when an attendant came in.

"Leara Asolan and Ardan Tearo? Follow me, please."

The attendant led the way and Ardan ushered Leara out, content to follow her smooth carriage and the just perceptible tick-tock of her neat ass in her floor-length gown. The attendant paused, opening a door. "Ardan? In here, please."

He raised his hand in farewell to Leara and entered the room. A middle-aged woman, a little plump, attractive, gestured to a seat.

"I'm Doctor Chela," she said. "Formalities first, please. You are Ardan Tearo, from Vilna Station?"

"I am."

That was just the beginning. He answered questions on his home, his family, his siblings - he had one, younger, sister, Sana - and his relationships, specifically his relationships with females.

"You have had the contraceptive implant since puberty?"

"I have. Yes."

"Have you had sexual relationships with women?"

"A couple of times," he answered, flushing.

"Older than you, or younger?"

"Both older."

"How much older?" She smiled. "That's not an official question, by the way, just my natural female curiosity."

"One a year or so older than me, twenty-two, twenty-three or so, one I think about your age," said Ardan.

"Lucky man," said the doctor, giving him a cheeky grin. "Enjoyable?"

"Very," he said, relaxing a little.

"You had the implant removed, when?"

"Five weeks ago, Fourthday."

"No sexual relations since?"

He flushed. "Only with my hand."

The doctor snorted. "I need a semen sample now, Ardan, for testing. There's a cubicle over there with some reading material that could help, or, if you like, I could summon someone to help you." There was a slight flush on the doctor's face.

"Help me, how?"

"Some of the acolytes from the Temple assist on an occasional basis. They are still virgin, but this gives them a chance to familiarise themselves with male equipment. The girls undress completely, save that they are masked to protect their identity, and they will assist in any way except penetration to help you provide a sample."

Ardan smiled, fleetingly. "A pleasant thought, although I doubt I'll need them. Just the thought is stimulating. Although, um." His voice trailed off.

"It's much more fun with two, perhaps?" said the doctor.

"Um, yes," he said, wondering, feeling a little embarrassed.

Affecting not to notice his embarrassment, the doctor pointed. "Into the cubicle, then, and strip. Completely."

He complied quickly, already feeling a tingle of anticipation and a thickening of his prick. The cubicle was small, a shelf for his clothing, a hip-high bed. No other furniture. "Shall I get on the bed, doctor?"

"Please. Someone will be there in a moment."

She was as good as her word. A minute or so later, a light step outside, a muffled conversation, and a figure came in, in the green of a Temple acolyte, masked, in a simple ankle-length robe fastened down the front. She closed the cubicle door, and he could see a faint smile on her lips, left uncovered by the mask. Dark eyes regarded him calmly as she unfastened, then shrugged off the robe and placed it on the bed. Beneath the robe, she was naked, curvy, full breasts and a gently rounded stomach, the mound between her legs adorned with the same brown hair that covered her head and escaped her mask.

Ardan's prick stiffened. The acolyte smiled and reached out a gentle hand, running her fingers gently the length of his rising hardness, causing it to grow yet more.

"Very nice," she murmured, "very nice indeed." She cocked her head, a smile on her lips. "I should imagine one of my sisters will rather enjoy being pierced by this weapon of yours."

"I hope so," said Ardan, "I certainly hope so."

"You have had women before, the doctor says."

"I have. Two."

"They were pleased?"

He grinned. "Neither of them complained."

"How long ago?" Her fingers were still caressing him.

"Three months. They were mother and daughter. We all shared a bed." He made a sad face. "It was only the one night."

She laughed. "Never mind, you will be bedded again tonight."

"By you?"

"Alas, no, Ardan. I do not take Initiations, not yet. Next year, I begin."

"A pity." He sucked in his breath suddenly because she bent over him and took him into her mouth, her tongue swirling over his glans, sucking then releasing him with a soft 'pop', her hand never ceasing its gentle motion.

"Much as I would like to do that, I think the touch of my fingers will be enough, and this way, I can watch your face. You are only the fourth initiate I have helped, and I find the expressions on your faces fascinating, when I bring you to climax." She moved closer, her fingers moving faster. "Tell me when you're getting near to coming, Ardan, so that I can have the container ready."

"Not long," he said thickly, "if you keep doing that."

"If we were lovers, I would do this first so that when we made love you would not come too quickly. That is advice the doctor gives to her female patients, too. One or two have come back to thank her."

The girl's hand never ceased its slow, sensuous motion and Ardan knew that despite his best efforts he would not be able to hold off much longer. "It will be soon," he managed to say, "very soon."

Without ceasing her steady motion, she reached out for the glass container beside her with her other hand and held it over the end of his prick, half-covering the glans, leaving room for her fingers to work their magic.

Ardan took a deep breath. "Now," he said, as his prick pulsed and semen jetted into the container, one, two, three thick pulses, slowing, easing, stopping. The girl sealed the container and put it aside, then bent and took his dwindling hardness into her mouth, sucking, swirling her tongue over his glans, then letting it fall free as she straightened. She licked her lips.

"Very tasty," she said. She reached out for her robe, quickly donning it and half-turned as the door opened a little.

"Are you finished, my dear?"

"We are, Doctor Chela." She turned to Ardan, her fingers quickly busy with her robe. "Get dressed and Doctor Chela will tell you where to go next." Her robe fastened, she winked at him and went out.

Ardan dressed quickly. When he came out of the cubicle, Doctor Chela was writing rapidly in her record. She looked up as he came out and smiled. "You have to go to the gymnasium next, for agility tests. That's usually fun. I think you should enjoy it."

"I probably will."

"Take a seat, someone will collect you in a moment." She wrote steadily for a minute or so then put down her pen. "You'll have the result of the test before you go. We may have protested against the technology the Terrans brought, but their medical equipment is a boon. We can test in minutes what used to take days."

"You use Earth equipment here? I thought it was banned."

"In their wisdom, the elders gave a dispensation to medical equipment. Correctly so, I think. Come in," she called at a knock on the door. "Aah, Yola. Please take Ardan to the gymnasium. And you must be," she consulted her notes, "Leara Asolan."

"Yes, doctor. Hello again, Ardan."

"Hello."

"Leara?" said Doctor Chela. "In the cubicle please. Please undress completely."

"This way, please," said Yola to Ardan.

"Goodbye, Doctor, and thank you," said Ardan with a wink to the doctor. He followed Yola out but his thoughts were on Leara. I wonder if she's as lovely naked as that acolyte was, he wondered.

His experience in the gymnasium was enjoyable enough, but lacked the sexual element for the instructor was an ex-army sergeant-at-arms apparently completely devoid of a sense of humour. He tested Ardan quickly and methodically and dryly admitted that he found him in excellent physical condition.

Ardan spent the remainder of his four hours being tested for eyesight, hearing and allergies, and coming up trumps each time. He was tired and sore from being prodded and probed but he knew that he was in excellent health, mental and physical. It just remained for him to get the results of his sexual condition.

Doctor Chela was waiting for him, a smile on her face. "Your tests were fine, Ardan. Your seed is strong and fertile. No genetic anomalies. No casual sex with an unprotected woman for you, young man, or you will make your partner pregnant very quickly. Normal precautions, please, unless you are trying to make the girl conceive."

"Yes, Doctor," Ardan said, feeling a great relief from an anxiety of which he had been unaware.

"A moment, Ardan," the doctor said as he made to rise.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"That young lady who came in as you were going out."

"Leara?"

"Yes, Leara."

"What about her? I didn't know that the girls came for Initiation."

"They don't. Virginity is not something for a girl to surrender to a stranger, we feel, but they do come to be tested for fertility and true genes, just as you young men are tested for true seed."

"I wondered."

"She asked a lot of questions about you. I think she was trying to be casual about it, but I also think if you were to ask her out you might very well be accepted."

Ardan made a face. "We probably will never see each other again. She's Hinazi, from Ansel Crossing."

"She's staying in Jalx for an eightday. She told me. She and her mother; a shopping trip."

"If I knew where she was staying, perhaps - otherwise?"

"She's staying at a guesting house called the Black Shield. I asked her." The doctor's face was smug.

Ardan studied the smiling doctor for a moment. "Why?" he asked.

"Why am I trying to throw you together?"

"Yes."

"I like you both, Ardan. I gave her my advice about excited young men, you know."

Ardan laughed. "And?"

"She blushed like a summer sunset, then asked me for tips. I gave them to her." The doctor paused. "Oral as well as manual," she added, her tone dry.

Ardan's prick twitched, as he imagined the slender fingers of Leara Asolan around it, or her full red lips sucking it, or. . . Mentally, he shook himself. The doctor smiled.

"I think I know what was on your mind then, Ardan," she said gently. "Call on her. You have nothing to lose."

"I may do," he said. "I have my Initiation tonight to survive first."

Doctor Chela laughed. "Idiot! All you are surviving is a night of sexual calisthenics with a willing woman! A reward for everything we put you through today." She smiled. "If I didn't know my lover was coming around tonight I might even have volunteered myself."

"Are many of the Handmaidens volunteers?" he asked, surprised at her words.

"About half, I believe. Mostly younger widows or divorcees, or single women who want variety without stigma."

"And the rest?"

"Sometimes born into it, sometimes volunteers who devote themselves to the Goddess on a permanent basis."

"I wonder who I'll get."

"A lucky woman, whoever she is!" The doctor stood up and held out her hand. Ardan took it and she leaned across and kissed his cheek. "Good luck, Ardan."