Forsaken 337 BC
Page 37
The knife descended into the back of the mayor as the beautiful woman stabbed her deposed husband. Three times the knife rose and descended in the mayor's back, blood flying everywhere, as she removed the blade after the second stab. Her third plunging stab severed the spine, the knife catching and sticking between the vertebrae as her now paralysed husband fell dying at her feet.
Dropping to her knees, besides her dying husband the woman asked for clemency. "The pig would sell our thirteen-year-old daughter to the Pirate King, who has a taste for young virgins. How can a mother stand for such a thing?" she pleaded, her breasts heaving as she sobbed.
Cain, swept the woman up in his arms holding her against his chest. Carrying her, they took the woman who called herself Suzanna, to Cybele's temple with them. There before the altar, Cybele agreed with Cain's assessment that Suzanna would make an idea mayor and concubine, giving her some protection.
Cybele told the party that their two men were now in the pirates city of Pyrgadikian. They needed to protect the travel-posts else Erebus's priests and assassins could make their way into Petrabele unseen.
Cain sent Alpha1 and Beta1 with Sophie and Daphne to seal the two travel-posts before the pirates could think to use them. Toni suggested they take Suzanna back to a bountiful safe-haven. The Amazons would protect her daughter tonight while Suzanna became part of the concubines harem.
Cain followed Toni, who had taken Suzanna's hand as she led her to the small villa and to Bounty. Cain watched with a smile on his face as Suzanna's hand let go of Toni's hand. She then grabbed a handful of Toni's arse as they walked side by side toward an evening of sex.
Chapter 29
Sea Trial
Toni awakened and could not move, she was the meat between Cain and Suzanna. Looking at Suzanna, Toni could see the outline the programmer had used when they modelled her. Suzanna looked like the blonde actress from an old sitcom re-run about a group of friends living in two flats.
Suzanna's eyes crept open, sleepily she smiled at Toni then leant into Toni's side, giving and receiving a cuddle. Toni could feel Cain moving behind her as his arm wrapped over both her and Suzanna pulling them against him.
"Thank you so much for last night. I've wanted to get rid of my husband ever since they, my parents, forced me to marry him as a twenty-five-year-old, near spinster in their eyes. The only blessing from our union is our gorgeous daughter. You, were both phenomenal, I didn't realise one could have so many orgasms, I've never been so thoroughly pleasured. I only had my husband to compare you against, don't you ever go soft? Not that I'm complaining," Suzanna said.
"You realise you accepted me as your only lover, now you are my second concubine, don't you?" Cain said. Toni laughed as she regretfully slipped out of the cuddle. Suzanna, had been gently squeezing her left breast, holding it proud for Cain to nibble and flick its nipple. While Suzanna was feeding Toni's left nipple to Cain her own tongue was circling Toni's right nipple, bringing it to a hard diamond point, by blowing across the damp bud.
With Toni out from the pair they followed her into the shower room. They quickly showered, something else Suzanna wanted for her home, the luxury of showering in hot water. Cain reminded her that Cybele had made her the new mayor of Petrabele. "With Cybele being your sponsor all the other people will bow to her decision," he added.
Cain and his DreamBabes, Suzanna and group three of the Amazons attended Cybele's temple in Petrabele. The rich, the merchants and most of the population squeezed in or stood outside as Cybele made an appearance, blessing Suzanna's new relationship with Joseph and the DreamBabes. Cybele claimed Petrabele as hers, again. The people on hearing Cybele claim the town again, were joyful and trust Suzanna would run the town as Cybele wanted.
Daphne used her Geomancer skill to create a borehole, that when connected would produced a constant flow of super-heated water for the town. The whole town would soon have access to purified boiling water.
:Suzanna will get her shower,: thought Daphne. Using her skills, Daphne made long lengths of interlocking stone pipe, made from granite. They would be used to carry the boiling water to six water towers she would create.
Lesley and Cain said they would make metal pipes so the water could be piped to homes, Cain started the two local blacksmiths on smelting copper into long thin rods. Lesley made two jigs for the blacksmiths' apprentices to make lengths of copper pipe.
During a planning meeting in Bounty, Cain told those present the three player assassins had taken the travel-post to Mantabele. Nithey and members of the VETS sent them for a respawn, he said the players Gamer Tags, did not show their allegiance to the JW Killers clan.
After the meeting, they all drifted to the dockyards as Sophie identified a large shipyard as being able to build from scratch the cargo galleys they needed. The Amazons of group four were there building the frame to hold the sheeting which would cover the work from prying eyes.
All workers they employed had to pledge allegiance to Cybele, to one of her priestesses before they could work on their project. Cybele was stamping her authority on Petrabele, making sure the people benefited from her renewed presence. Suzanna was a good choice as mayor as she was widely liked, unlike her former husband.
There were two Triremes, and a Paralus tied up in the harbour, along with six galleys the pirates had captured, all showing signs of neglect. The galleys each carried sixty oarsmen as oarsmen were more reliable than wind power.
Under Lesley's direction, two smaller shipyards refreshed the galleys, they would use those to trade around the island and to smaller islands. The slaves the pirates held from the captured galleys, held in another warehouse they freed, once someone told them about them. Cain and Sophie asked them as a group to stay on as freemen rowers. Of the three hundred and ninety-four, three hundred and seventy-six stayed on.
The Triremes would each take one hundred and fifty rowers while the Paralus would take fifty. With the plans drawn in Bounty and printed on a coarse fibre paper, Toni set the boat builders the task of building four galleys, larger than the typical galley they already made. These new galleys had a large hidden hold where forty or more Amazons could hide.
They built two large rectangular boxes into the bottom of the hull, either side of the beam. The boxes used a single door flap which when open would let the Amazons exit the secret hold, without flooding the galley.
With the first galley made in less than five weeks, everyone wanted to take it for a spin, Cain picked three of his wives for the trial. Sophie, Bethany and Lesley along with a small crew of fifteen sworn sailors, took DreamBabe 1, better known as DB1 out to pick up a cargo of grain and supplies from around the coast.
Three days later they returned, everything had gone well. The forty Amazons managed the voyage in relative comfort. The DB1 collected the grain and other food supplies; the weather was a little choppy, and DB1 handled the conditions well.
There was one tiny issue, Lesley said in their debrief, the choppy weather caused Sophie, Bethany and her to be sick each morning. Cain was thinking on her report when Daphne joined the meeting. She'd been up late in Bounty's workshop, and spent half an hour in the shower, she mentioned something about feeling unwell.
They spent the remainder of the day planning the next trial of DB1. The dockyard said they would have DB2 finished in two days. Toni said they could make the galleys quicker, now they knew the design. They believe they can have the other two completed in under three weeks.
The Amazons under Myrina and Areto cleared two small groups of Satyrs from the forest around Petrabele. They took a week to clear the road to the next town, which was the main area for farming, both livestock and grains. The Amazons all levelled three times during the weeks that galley building took place.
When all the DreamBabe galleys were seaworthy, they took them down the coast and back, putting them through a good trial. Each galley now held fifty Amazons in the secret hold. On the fourth day at sea still within sight of the island, the lookout shouted,
"Ships ahead, coming in fast." Cain using his sight magnifying ability counted three Triremes, heading their way at a fast pace. Using party chat the galleys separated into line abreast, the two hundred Amazons waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting ships.
"We will see if our ideas hold water," said Toni.
"I don't see why not, they have worked in all our trials. The Amazons are all trained for wet work they can hold their breath, for at least one and a half minutes. All we need is for those Triremes to come within two or three oars lengths," replied Cain.
The three Triremes slowed as they drew alongside. From reading the Gamer Tags there were twelve players on the Triremes, none of them aligned to the JW Killers clan. One player on the nearest Trireme shouted across the waves,
"We are the independent traders' association. We are claiming these four vessels for the association. You all belong to us now. We will sell you or keep you as slaves. If there are women aboard, they will become our property," said the one identified as 2Smart4U, a level 46 cleric.
"Which god are you a cleric for?" asked Cain.
"What does that have to do with us taking your paltry galleys?" 2Smart4U said.
"It depends which god you are a cleric for. We can pray to our god and see if they can aid us. But if it is the same god you are a cleric for, then they are obviously with you," replied Cain.
"Ha, we win as Erebus, is our god. Now hand over your paltry galleys and surrender, or die. You will be our slaves forever, we will bind your respawn point out at sea making escape from us impossible. I bet you didn't know that, did you," said 2Smart4U.
Cain shouted to 2Smart4U, and said, "You guys better leave these ships alone or the goddess' Cybele and Athena will bind your respawn point out at sea." One of the rogues standing near 2Smart4U fired an arrow toward Cain. A gust of air from Toni knocked it aside.
The two hundred Amazons hidden in the secret holds swam under the water and had reached the three pirate Triremes. They had each spent a week in Mantabele and practiced oar-running, where one Amazon held the oar blade in the water allowing other Amazons to run up their length; which gave them an easy way to swarm the Triremes.
Fifteen minutes after the fight started the three pirate Triremes belonged to Cain and the DreamBabes. Eleven Amazons would have died if not for their keep alive rings. As all Amazons carried two Heamna vials, one medium and one large they returned to the fight, taking down the NPCs and overwhelmed the players, capturing them.
Cain and Toni had the captured players brought over to DB1, they needed information and needed to see why these players were acting as pirates. After two hours of talking and an occasional hint of physical abuse, threatened by Areto and Suzanna. 2Smart4U, told them a player called Giant Dick recruited them.
"We were at our wits' end, all of us were original beta players and have played in Forsaken over two years. Two long and uneventful years, stuck in bloody ancient Greece," 2Smart4U said.
Cain had the Amazons free the oar slaves and had them ship their oars so the three Triremes could be brought closer to DB1. Cain asked them the question, do we let them live or do we kill them?
2Smart4U and the eleven players tried to break out of their bindings, Sophie and Daphne easily knocked them out as they struggled. The freed slaves took less than five seconds for their decision, death by drowning. It was a punishment the players used on NPCs, betting on how long the individual NPC took to die.
Stripping the twelve players down to their underclothes, wrapping them in bronze chains and thick ropes, each separately then using a length of chain from one Trireme, they looped it around all twelve. The former oar slaves threw the unconscious twelve players overboard; with their arms bound and weighed down the twelve sank as one.
Pregnant Pause
They returned to Petrabele two days after capturing the three Triremes, they set the oar slaves free once they docked and offered them a deal. The majority of the freed oar slaves wanted to stay in Petrabele and contribute to the town. The addition of over four hundred males stretched Petrabele's resources, under Suzanna's guidance Daphne created a new wall over to the east and the Amazons built the frames for sixty new homes.
They spent an extra week in Petrabele waiting for some players sent by Nithey of the VETS clan who were travelling overland. Nithey's players were going to train the local militia and fifty of the freed oar slaves, who would provide the backbone of Suzanna's protection.
Cybele had her high priestess in Mantabele bless the travel-post, making it only available to the followers of Cybele or Athena, as the only users. Daphne cleared the blockage under the warehouse in Petrabele so the priestess could bless that travel-post too. Daphne told Cain there were signs several NPCs had tried using the travel-posts. There were gouges on the granite walls, which Daphne had surrounded the travel-posts with, gouges left by NPCs or players who tried coming back to Petrabele.
Nithey and ShezzaRA were the first travellers to use the travel-post between Mantabele and Petrabele. After arriving they held a planning meeting in Suzanna's new villa, the one Toni organised and rented when they first arrived. Suzanna enjoyed the shower Daphne installed preferring the villa to her own home, which she sold and then moved in with Cain and his wives, her sisters.
They planned that anyone who watched would see the plans for them to cross the sea, aiming to land at a port called Develihena. With the plans made they prepared to set off of Develihena, two days after their planning.
Two days later, early in the morning in Bounty, each of Cain's wives were bent over a toilet or sat on the floor in the shower with a large bowl. Cain enjoyed the bed to himself when he had a sudden thought.
:Enoch, are my women pregnant, even Suzanna? Can you check with Rahab, please?:
{If you remember Cybele and Athena blessed you with sexual vigour, she also quietly blessed the women with being fertile. You are for all intents settled in Petrabele for a good two months, so yes they could all be pregnant. I will ask, though, I wonder how quick pregnancies last in the game. I'll check the programmer guides and codes,} Enoch replied.
Toni sat under the flow of hot water next to Suzanna and Daphne, each of them had a bowl. When one was sick the other two followed. Cleaning her mouth with the shower water, Suzanna spoke to Toni.
"The last time I was like this was when that former pig of a husband got me pregnant. With the number of times Cain has laid with not only me, but each and every one of you; it does not surprise me that I, we, are all carrying his children."
[You have a sudden and dramatic increase in your estrogen and progesterone levels since three days ago. From, your eyes I can see Suzanna and Daphne are in the same condition. I would suggest something with ginger or keep your diet plain and simple. Eat little and often, drink plenty of fluids, though you will find you will want to wee more while the babies grow,] said Rahab.
:Babies, what do you mean babies, that is plural, don't you mean, baby?:
[No, I can hear two distinct heart-beats in you, not one and they are around eight weeks old in developmental terms. If you listen to each of your sister-wives' stomachs, I can tell you how many babies they are carrying too,] Rahab said.
Toni told Daphne and Suzanna, they were pregnant, as was she. Daphne turned the shower off and Toni listened first to Suzanna then Daphne. Rahab confirmed they were both carrying babies, two babies each.
Toni went to the toilet area speaking with her other sister-wives, listened to their stomachs and told them they too carried two babies.
{Few people watched your planning but there are several online groups on TwitFace and RedHat talking about your journey to Develihena. One gambling site Gambet365, give odds of 7:2 you will make it without mishap.
{They also give odds of you keeping all your women alive of 15:2, by the time you finish this game zone. That is a low five-point-eight-eight percent. Practically they think you can't manage it. I would go make some ginger tea, I think Bounty will have a pre-made bagged tea in, you better hurry daddy,} Enoch said, laughing in Cain's mind.
:That is brilliant, get John to place the maximum bet on Gambet365 also have him place two max bets on the fifteen to two odds. Wait, what! Ginger tea, why? Who would want ginger tea, it's for pregnant women to help with morning sick! Oh, bugger me, they can't all be, can they?: Cain said. Enoch carried on laughing.