The End of Things Ch. 06: To Lesbos

We woke early. On one side of me was the voluptuous no longer virginal Queen, and on the other Helen. I felt exhilarated, if exhausted. The scent of our juices filled the room, and looking across I could see our discarded clothes scattered on the ground. I felt better than I ever had. That these gorgeous women found me sexually desirable, and that I had been able to satisfy and be satisfied by them, reassured me. It was as though I had passed some test.

We had "coming of age" ceremonies for the men, and this seemed for me the feminine equivalent. I no longer felt the odd one out. I no longer felt confined and defined by my physical appearance. If I needed to submit to others, it would be because that was what I wanted, not because it was necessary in order to get attention. I had discovered that there was a whole world of Sapphism, with a back story, a herstory if you like, that I longed to investigate. In short (and I was short) I was part of a bigger picture. I wanted to know more. But how to do that in the context of a Britannia which was beset by ravening wolves wanting to devour us? To that, perhaps not altogether coincidentally, Merlin had an answer.

Merlin did not do coincidence. The morning news from the Queen's servant gave me ground for wondering what the old man was up to. I knew that Sister Martha had been despatched back to Garrianonum to tell my father that we would not be back that night, and had thought no more of it, except to think how unlike Merlin it was to show such consideration. I had been more concerned with how the he would sell a deal on land and boundaries to Sweyn who seemed to think that he could take what he wanted when he wanted. The morning news provided me with answers, but only because I had begun to be able to read the Wizard's mind.

The big news was that a marauding party of Jutes had been massacred by what was described as "Roman cavalry", who had gone on to sack outlying Jutish settlements. Sweyn had been forced to send troops to deal with it, but by the time his men got there, the cavalry were gone. As his men made their way back, the cavalry had harassed them, killing many.

From the description it was part of my brother Artos' army. But how could he have known that Sweyn would be distracted, and why now? It made sense in the context of Sister Martha's departure and our negotiations with Sweyn.

So it was when, after we had broken our fast, we discussed the way forward. Helen's release was presented in the context of brokering a deal with the Britons which allowed the Jutes to keep what they had, secure from further attacks, and which established a cessation of hostilities. Conscious now of the threat posed to his less mobile forces from our cavalry, Sweyn was much more willing to cut a deal. His only question was to the radiant Ethelreda, as to whether she was content to lose her hostage? She made great play of her generosity and magnanimity in the wider cause; but Helen and I knew what she had been promised. As soon as a settlement was reached, we went back to her quarters, where Helen's trunks had been delivered.

Ethelreda and I watched as Helen carefully revealed the hidden compartment. She lifted a box out and when she opened it, we both looked at each other in puzzlement. She unwrapped what looked like three glass candles, except they were shaped like the male phallus.

"These," she smiled, "are sapphic sticks, let me show you, Ethelreda."

I pulled up the Queen's tunic, and Helen told me to make her ready. Ethelreda was still so aroused by the memories of our night that she opened her legs, allowing me access to her luscious cunt. She was not dry, and it did not take long before she was pushing herself onto my face.

"Carwen, guide her to the couch and open her cunt."

Meekly, the Queen consented. Her scent was already filling the room, and as I peeled back her lips, her pinkness was glistening and I could see her clit was already half unhooded.

Helen sank to her knees next to me and kissed me, her tongue lingering over the Queen's juices.

"She tastes salty."

Saying that, Helen looked at the Queen, then at me, and she slid the glass phallus between her lips and sucked it. When it was glistening with her saliva, she slide it against the thick lips which I had peeled back, positioning it until she could slide it in, stretching Ethelreda as she did so. The Queen gasped, and as Helen fucked her, she pushed herself onto the phallus. As she did so, I began to play with her clit.

"Is this what the great queen likes, to be ravaged by her women and made to shake?"

Helen was clearly aroused by what she was doing, as I was, and my hand strayed under Helen's tunic. She made no resistance to my taking the second stick and feeling her wetness with it until I found her entrance, and pushed it into her. She thrust down on it as she fucked the queen.

"Oh, Carwen, you are a little devil, yes, yessssss my love, oh yes."

Her speech became less coherent the more I fucked her, and taking the other stick from her hand, I began to fuck the queen too.

"Sit next to her darling and kiss and fondle her," I told Helen, who did so. As they kissed and played with each other's breasts I fucked them both hard, their juice cunts making a nice contrast, the thick-lipped blonde of the Queen, next to the long-lips and hazel of Helen. The more I fucked them, the more they played with each other. The Queen bit Helen's nipples, which made her groan loudly. I thrust in deep. Helen's cunt was gripping the phallus, and I could see her trembling. Then she came in squirts which hit my face. As she did, it set off a chain-reaction in the Queen. They held each other as they shared their orgasms.

Wet-faced but happy, I waited until the aftershocks passed before removing the phalluses. I offered the Queen the one that had been in Helen, and vice-versa. As they tasted each other, I felt myself begin to tremble, but somehow held back the feeling; that, I was to discover, was a useful skill.

As they came down from their joint high, I took the cleaned phalluses and laid one aside for the Queen.

"This," Helen told her, "is your personal reward. It was once the property of the great Sappho herself, and you should keep it safe."

Helen explained to a puzzled Ethelreda who Sappho was. Although I knew the name, I knew little more, so it was fascinating to hear Helen on the subject. To know that there had been a time, place and space for women to love each other openly, and to celebrate that love in poetry and song, made my heart swell. I asked about this "last of the Amazons" and Helen said that apart from the poems and the artefacts such as the phalluses, there was just the fragment of a journal in which the unnamed woman had written an elegy for the fall of their civilization. When I read it later, it brought tears to my eyes, and I have stored it carefully, with other material and hope it will survive these troubled times when it seems that civilization itself is at threat. If the world as we know it enters a dark age of barbarism, I want there to be some record of a brighter age, and will store this record with them. Women will rise again, and against that happy day, I want our remote descendants to know that women like Sappho, the last of the Amazons, Berta, Helen and myself existed. We lived and loved as they will, and we stand as testimony to the enduring nature of the love of women.

Not, of course, that any of that was clear to my mind that sunny morning when, coated in their juices, I fucked the two most gorgeous women I had ever met, but later, well it was what inspired what came next. Knowing the story told by the last of the Amazons, I wanted to learn more. Discussing it with Helen later, I asked where the material had come from and whether there could be more?

It had come from an island in the Greek sea called Lesbos, she told me, and yes, from what her father had told her, there could well be more where these items had come from. In fact that, she added, was where she had been headed when the Jutes had intercepted her. The question which burned in me was how to get there myself?

Here I was aided by the ambitions of Merlin. The agreement with Sweyn settled, we had promised to consult after we had settled our "business" with Queen Ethelreda. The men had no need to know the nature of our business.

The Queen was delighted with her gift, and once she had cleaned herself up, embraced us both, asking us not to forget her. I promised that, as a near neighbour, I would be sure to visit often to ensure that relations between our two peoples remained "intimate".It was with sorrow on both sides that we parted.

Once back with Merlin, he pulled me aside as the Jutes collected Helen's belongings.

"Have you seen the documents she has?"

He seemed very intense.

"Some," I said, "why?"

"Were there any mathematical formulae there, or anything like that?"

I explained that what I had seen "on paper" consisted of poems and memoirs, and that there was nothing of that kind to be found there. I asked him what he was looking for?

"The Greeks had a special 'fire' which they projected at their enemies. This has come down to us in the druidic legends, but I had hoped that this trove of Greek material might contain something useful. Do you know where she got this stuff, and whether there is any more?"

My mind immediately clicked into gear. If Merlin was interested in materials of war, then this might be the excuse I was looking for to get myself to Lesbos. I told him, truthfully, that Helen had told me that there was further material, but we would have to go somewhere called Lesbos to find it. If he drew from my words the conclusion that such material included what he was looking for, then that was his doing, not mine. Might I have said that it was unlikely? Well he was a great wizard and it would have been insulting of me to have implied that this was not something which had already occurred to him. Anyway, oddly enough, our journey did enable him to acquire "Greek fire".

"Right, my girl", we shall need Helen's help, will she give it?"

Not wanting him to know we had discussed this, or where she had been going, I assured him that I could persuade her. Then came the music to my ears:

"If you could come, it would help. I assume you can be spared?"

"I assume you can persuade my father and Fr Gregory? I also assume you have a solution to the questions of how we do it and how we fund it?"

"Of course!" He said, almost impatiently.

I went off and pretended to consult Helen. She was delighted and gave me a huge hug.

"You are not just a pretty face," she laughed.

"I am not even that," I replied, "that's why I learnt to be so nimble."

"Rubbish," she laughed, kissing me, "as though I would fall for a woman who was not beautiful!"

"Coming from someone as gorgeous as you," I said, "that is a compliment I shall treasure always." And I do still.

Helen and I had a final kiss with Ethelreda, and said our farewells. She thanked us for our widening her horizons and promised to use the sapphic stick with care - but added it would be used regularly.

The sadness Helen and I felt on leaving her was lifted by the excitement we felt at what lay ahead. For me, someone who had only once gone beyond Garrianonum, the whole notion of going to the great Middle Sea and beyond Rome was exciting beyond measure. The only downside I could see was sea travel!

On the way back to Garrianonum I was too ill to care about anything but getting to dry land; Helen's bosom was a great comfort.

No one ever accused Merlin of being a patient man, but even by his standards, he moved at breakneck speed. Brooking no argument from my father, he made it clear that I was going because my skills were needed. interestingly, my brother Artos, who visited that afternoon, concurred. He told me privately that getting hold of "Greek fire" could be decisive for him and our armies in fighting the Saxons and the Jutes. I, of course, showed the interest I was expected to take, but revealed nothing of my own motives. But the was one piece of leave-taking to which I was not looking forward - telling Berta.

In fact, Berta took it well.

"My darling Carwen, I introduced you to this world of women, and though losing you for a while will be hard, I have, here for you, a list of contacts who will be useful to you. It stops at Sicilia, and I have nothing for the Greek Sea, but the Sicilian women should be able to aid you there. And do not worry, little one, I have seen the way you look at that tall woman you rescued, Helen, and it is natural you should seek others. There will be time and enough for us later, when you return."

Those words brought tears to my eyes then, I feel them start again as I record them now. Oh Berta, oh that your words had been prophetic! But how much water has flowed under so many bridges since that day, and how great have been the floods that have swept so many of them away. But I loved her, and she loved me, and she was my first, and though Times takes all away, that he cannot take while I live. In a small recess of my battered heart, there burns still a candle for my first lover.

Such was the power of Merlin's word in those days that all was ready within a few days. My mother was not pleased that Helen and I lay together, but I was beyond caring now. Fr Gregory gave me a list of contacts that might be useful, and blessed us before we left.

So it was that on a fine summer's morning, we set off, by galley, for Caletum with its Roman garrison; the first stop on our way to Lesbos.