The End of Things Ch. 11: Missions

It was a relief to see Merlin again, even if, as ever, he was tight-lipped about what he had been up to. He did not seem surprised by the absence of Helen, who had been our companion all the way from Britannia, and whilst acknowledging Stumpy's help, he said little about her, even if he cast covetous looks at her companion, Bella. To be fair, the size of Bella's tits got that reaction from everyone, which, despite my lack of them, made me sorry for her. She was a nice and intelligent woman, and I hated that others defined her by her tits.

Merlin told me that we were headed straight to Lesbos. The three days it took gave me time to acquaint Stumpy and Bella with what they had got themselves into by helping me.

I told them about how Merlin and I had left Britannia on our missions.

"Missions?" Bella asked. "You and he are not after the same thing?"

"He wants to find something called 'Greek fire.' My brother, Artos, is helping fight the Saxons invading Britannia, but we could do with something that gave us an advantage. From ancient manuscripts, Merlin believes the secret is on the island of Lesbos."

"And you don't?" Stumpy asked.

"That's not my mission," I explained. "Sure, if we can get the weapon, that would be good, but I am after something else. Look here!"

Carefully opening my sack, I unwrapped the Sapphic Stick - a glass phallus, ribbed and in the shape of a man's equipment.

"Wow, that looks good!"

Stumpy was licking her lips.

"That's much better than any I have seen. Where did you get it?"

"Same place as this," I said, opening another packet which contained the manuscript entitled 'An Amazon laments.'

I was surprised on opening it. There was a second manuscript there. Promising to look at it later, I opened the first manuscript and read the account by an unnamed woman lamenting the end of a city state in Greece ruled by women. I cried at her account of her lost love, and I saw the tears in Bella's eyes. I read the end, which always got to me:

"As I look back now, a year to the day I arrived on Lesbos, I know it was the right decision. But can we survive as an isolated enclave with Amazonia and its achievements fading into the mists of legend? We shall see. But my heart is filled with foreboding. I shall seal this and leave it with other records of our City State in the archives of Sappho. Surely, we women will rise again?"

Stumpy's voice choked as she spoke.

"That was so, well, just so!"

Bella hugged her lover.

"Oh Carwen!"

Then it hit her.

"Lesbos? That's why you are going there? You think there are other records to be found?"

I smiled.

"Yes, I do. My travelling companion who left me at the docks was called Helen, her father was a Roman Governor and he found that manuscript - and the Sapphic stick - when he was stationed on Lesbos. She was supposed to be coming with me to find out if there was more to be found."

"What happened?"

Bella was a smart woman, and despite being only a serving girl, was brighter than many a woman in a superior station.

I'd met the two of them on the docks as a group of men tried to attack me.

Stumpy, who as her name implied, was short and muscular. She was a barbarian from Gaul who had been captured in battle. Given the choice between becoming a slave or a gladiator, she had opted for the latter. She'd built up a reputation and a clientele. One of the clients had bought her out of the Gladiator school to serve as his private bodyguard. It was through him that she had met Bella, who was one of the local girls hired to help in the brothel in Hippo. Stumpy had taken a fancy to her and claimed her for her own. We had enjoyed a few hours of passionate sex after my rescue, and as they were of my persuasion, I could see why the tale of the Amazon moved them.

"Those women must have been brave," Stumpy said. "My sort of sisters. I'd have been proud to have died with them. I liked that bit about all their wounds had been on their front. Read it again!"

I read:

"How they fought! Lionesses every one of them. Not one of them had a wound on her back. My beloved Arti had four wounds in her chest, and some bastard had sliced her face. She fared lightly compared to those hit by the chariot wheels. It was sickening, and took all my strength to arrange the funeral pyre. I wept openly as the flames consumed her and those we had loved. And in flames, with them, went our world."

Bella was in tears; I was close to them. Stumpy, being made of sterner stuff, had her hand on her sword.

"Lionesses! Yeah. That's good!"

"The author must have loved her Arti," Bella sighed. "Such a sad tale. Do you believe it?"

"I do," I said, "and who knows? As Rome's empire slackens its grip, could there be a chance for we women again?"

"Only if you get a cohort of Lionesses," Stumpy declared stoutly. "The rule of the sword is what will count, and like your unnamed lady, if you don't have one, then the men rule you."

She was, of course, right.

"That's why I have said nothing of this to Merlin."

"What's in that bundle there?" Bella asked.

"Ah that," I said, "is why I am not heaving my guts up over the side of the ship now."

They both looked at me.

"Are either of you Christians?" I asked.

"No Gladiator rejects the idea of a God," Stumpy declared.

"I sort of am," Bella said, "but our local church had little time for slave girls."

"Well," I said, "this is the Shroud in which Jesus was wrapped after the crucifixion. I obtained it from the tomb of Mary of Magdala, and I am taking it to Constantinople to keep it safe."

They both looked at me.

"What!"

"I will keep it wrapped up for now. The guardians of Mary's tomb were worried that if Gaul falls to the barbarians, it would be lost, and they do not think Rome a safe place any more after the Vandals sacked it. I said I would take it."

"Well," said Bella, "we need a miracle, and maybe you have the means of one on there."

She was a shrewd, as well as a beautiful woman.

"Anything that keeps my sword hand safe will do me," Stumpy declared.

I had been fortunate in their company.

Merlin, whose networks stretched across the Empire, knew the man for whom Stumpy worked, and had hired her to help. Mysterious as ever, he did not tell me who the man was, or why he had not been surprised at Helen leaving me for her old lover, Valeria. When I asked him why they had gone to Rome and not Lesbos, he gave an enigmatic smile and irritated me by saying:

"Women are inconstant creatures, so who can tell?"

Thanks, I thought!

Tired after the exertions of the day, I nonetheless needed to take a look at the other parcel in my sack. I knew I had brought only the one with me, so where had the other originated - and what was it?

Stumpy and Bella, tired by their earlier lovemaking, retired for the night, but I couldn't. I found a corner of the cabin where I could light a candle and read.

Gingerly, I opened it.

There was a note. It was signed "Augustine Hippo +"

"Carwen, this came to me. The men who were trying to kill you, succeeded with the last pilgrim, but she left this with me. It, too, is not safe. I hope you have better fortune. My instinct says you will. Take it with you to Constantinople."

It was a Codex. It was written in Greek and read:

"This is the Gospel of Mary, first-witness to the Resurrection of the Lord and Apostle to the Apostles."

Thanks to my tutor at home, my Greek was sufficient to read it. I was struck dumb. There were, as all the world knew, four Gospels, Mark, Matthew, Luke and, though some said not, John. What, then, was this? Whatever it was, someone had died because they had it, and it might well explain why someone had been following Helen and myself from Gaul.

I was tired, but the text kept me reading. It was Mary of Magdala's account of Jesus and his ministry. I was excited - and puzzled. Women could not be priests, everyone knew that - the Church said so. Yet here she was entitled "Apostle to the Apostles." What did it mean? It needed a brain less tired than mine, and one better-read to unravel the mystery.

Carefully, I wrapped the codex up and put it away inside the Shroud.

It was not just the sun coming through the porthole window which woke me. I knew from their previous session that Stumpy liked to make love noisily, and it was Bella's grunting which aroused me - in more than one sense of the word.

I turned in my bunk and looked over in their direction. Now there, I thought, was a sight to gladden the heart of any disciple of Sappho.

"Do you want my girl-cock in you, Bella, in that sopping wet cunt which belongs to me!"

Stumpy was grinning broadly, her voice not as low, or as much of a whisper as she clearly thought. As she was already buried deep in Bella, whose big tits were swaying as she was taken hard, I rather thought that the question was rhetorical.

Stumpy's nails were digging into Bella's hips as she fucked her hard. Rolling her own hips and changing the angle, Stumpy was slamming into Bella, who was moaning and, as Stumpy pounded in, almost knocking her over, grunting with the effort of staying on all fours. The sight of those big tits moving in time to Stumpy's thrusts drove my hand between my legs.

I was wet, and hot. My hand pressed where I needed it to, moving round, slowly so I could savour the feeling.

"Fuck me, Mistress, fuck me hard, I need a good fucking!"

I saw a huge grin on Stumpy's face.

"Yes, you slut, you do, and a good job you have me to give you what you... need," and she thrust hard, "and to," and again a thrust after pulling back, "keep that wet cunt full," and again and again, Stumpy pressed in and out, I could hear the 'smack' each time she pushed hard against Bella's sexy ass.

Bella seemed to put her head right down and arched her back, pushing her hips up. I saw why from the effect on Stumpy.

"You bitch, fuck yes, yes, that's it, yes, push, yes, I can feel it!"

It was clear that, at that angle, the Sapphic stick was stimulating Stumpy's bud, which probably accounted for the jerky action as she fucked Bella, and certainly accounted for her groaning louder. As Stumpy's tits bounced up and down, I found it necessary to insert a finger, curling it in and pressing.

I could see that Bella was pushing back and up when she could, her own face red with the effort.

Then Stumpy froze for a moment, her nails digging deep into Bella's hips. The spasms overcame her and as she came.

"Yes, yes, yes," she repeated mantra-like, as she collapsed onto Bella, pushing her into the bunk.

Bella suddenly noticed me. She smiled and winked.

"Do I get to cum, Stumpy?" She asked.

"Fuck, yes, give me a minute."

"Can Carwen help?"

Stumpy raised herself and looked over at me.

"Do you want to?"

"Yes," I smiled, "if you get out of her cunt, I can eat her."

"I can just about manage that!" Stumpy grinned, her phallus glistening with Bella's thick cream.

I crawled over to them.

I kissed Belle on the lips, my tongue meeting no resistance as I pressed in. She whimpered as my hands cupped her tits.

Swiftly, I turned her over, inserting my leg between hers, and sliding up until my wetness met hers, I pressed in, kissing those massive tits as I did so.

Bella grinned as I sucked her tits, adjusting her hips so that our cunts pressed together. Each time out clits met, we both moaned and pressed harder. Gyrating and sucking on her nipples, I pushed and pressed. The cabin smelt of sex.

Bella had been close anyway, and my own playing had aroused me. The grindfucking was hard and hot and wet and noisy.

"Fuck, fuck, Carwen, I love the roughness of your hair against my smoothness, yes, like that, yes press, harder."

I did. Simultaneously, my lips drew out Bella's long nipples as I sucked and licked. That aroused her, and I felt more wetness as we squished together.

Inevitably she began to cum, and I was close behind. The flood between our legs mingled our cream together. I kissed her.

"Oh Carwen, that was..."

Stumpy was grinning.

"Well, girls, I think we had our wake-up call. Anything to eat on this boat?"

"Well," I said, "I always find fresh cunt sustaining!"

Stumpy had been right, it was a perfect way to start the day, but it did make you hungry for some actual food.

Throwing my tunic on, as Bella did the same, we exited together. As we walked to the galley, there could be no doubt as to which of us attracted the sailors, but then Bella's tits seemed to move with a will of their own, and that tunic did show the under-curve of her bum, so perhaps that was not surprising.

There were grins from the sailors, and just when I was wondering whether we were safe, Stumpy hove into view, her breastplate on and her sword by her side. She said, to no one in particular, and everyone in general:

"These women are mine, so if any of you scum was thinking of laying a hand on them, make sure you can yank your dick with the other hand!"

There was a nervous laugh. Stumpy was not the sort of woman you messed with - unless you were another woman who liked to be taken hard, in which case she was just what you needed.

I found Merlin in the bow, looking at some charts, and asked him what his plans were.

"Apart from saving you, to get the Greek fire. Then we go back."

"What if I said I want to go to Constantinople?"

"I'd say best of luck and I hope you make it."

And that, it seemed was that.

The next days brought no greater insight into Merlin's plans, although illumination did come in two other areas.

Sharing the cabin with Stumpy and Bella was an education.

Until I met them, my experiences had been limited to my first lover, Berta, and one or two others, but none of them had the expertise and energy of Stumpy, or the erotic imagination of Bella. That was quite the education.

The second area was that 'Gospel of Mary.'

I could see why someone wanted it never to see the light of day. It gave quite a different view of things from the other Gospels: it showed how Jesus's ministry had been funded by Mary and other women; it showed that women were important; it even showed that the original church had women as "apostles". If, and of course it was a big if, this was right, then there was no bar to women having the same rights as men. As Paul had said, there was neither man nor woman in Christ. But, as with Amazonia, men took a different view of women leading their own show. But to whom could I entrust this? Had Augustine read it? Given his view of women, why had he not destroyed it?

I hoped that time would provide an answer to these questions; but for now, I kept my own counsel.

Out on deck, and able to enjoy the sea air without feeling sick (thanks, I was sure, to the Shroud) I laughed at myself a little. What was I doing?

I had left my home in Britannia on what looked like the wildest of goose chases. My former lover and travelling companion, Helen, who was linked in some way to a mysterious sisterhood, had seemed a link to something that might both save our community and give a sense of what might replace it. What had been could, I had felt, be again. If there had been a female civilisation before Rome, was it possible that as the latter declined, the former could be reconstructed?

Then, on the journey I had encountered something deeper, connected to the one thread which might yet survive the Empire of Rome - Christianity.

I had always believed. I knew there was a God as sure as I knew anything. The Church, recognised a century earlier by Constantine, who had seen his vision of the Cross in Britannia, united both barbarian and Roman. It had the potential to be the foundation of whatever replace Rome. And yet, in Marseilles I had caught a glimpse of an aspect of it which, while it resonated with me, was not welcome to others.

At the tomb of Mary of Magdala I had been gifted a vision. I had noted down what she had told me then:

""Welcome to the shrine, daughter. Listen to me with care, for much depends on you, and things hang by a thread; one wrong step and all will be lost; not forever, for this Light is the Light by which the world will be lit one day, but for long enough for the age to pass so slowly men will lose hope.

The treasure you seek, daughter, has with it other treasures, and when you find them, you will be shown what they are and what to do with them. But take heed, be guided by your heart and not your head. When the time comes for choosing, listen to the heart, not what your brain will tell you, or what others will advise. If you do this aright, you will be the chosen one, and though your ways will be dark and dangerous, you will be a light to lighten the Gentiles. Take heed, and God speed you, daughter of the new Eve."

The "treasure" I sought was to know more about a civilisation older than that of Rome itself. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo and one of the most profound Christian thinkers, had, it seemed, added to the "treasure" of the Shroud a book by Mary herself. But what was I to do with them?

Was it quite mad? Here was I, a petite woman from the fringes of the Empire, and one who, according to the tenets of the Church was a deep sinner because she lay with other women, going to the other end of the Empire to look for... well that was the question - what?

I had Merlin, a "wise man" whose web was bigger than any spiders, but his agenda was only partly mine. I had lost Helen to her old lover, Valeria, and gained in Stumpy and Bella, two companions who had already proved they could be trusted. But to what end?

Just as my mind was pondering, rather gloomily, the watchman cried:

"Land ho!"

We should, I thought, soon see.