The Life of the Nomad

The life of the nomad (a story of the Spartans)

This book, "The life of the nomad," is the third using the same mythos originally created for the series "Spartan" and used later in "Sons of Sparta". In order to fully appreciate the details behind this story it would be advisable for readers to have some familiarity with both earlier works, which can be found in the gay/scifi section on Nifty. The mythos was originally created by the author CF.

Note that this story series is based in Western and Central Europe at around the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire and the start of what is colloquially known as the 'dark ages'. However I beg any experts out there not to point out my failings or deficiencies in my knowledge of the period - I am not a historian and make no claims whatsoever to authenticity.

Part 3

Character list (ages are as at the start of part 3):

Note: the ages have all increased from part 2 as the summer is over and the family count their age as the summers each has experienced, not in years from birth

1.Gaia - oldest in group, 95, surname Melonson

2.Elis Gaiason, 71, son of Gaia and a deceased human 3.Tito Teleklosson, partner of Elis, 63 4.Marcus Elisson, 39, son of Elis and Tito, brother to Clio 5.Clio Titoson, 35, son of Elis and Tito, brother to Marcus

6.Hyacinth Gaiason, Elis's younger brother, 63, son of Gaia and a deceased human 7.Alexander (HUMAN), Hyacinth's partner, 60 8.Jason Hyacinthson, son of Hyacinth and Alexander 31 9.Cleopas Hyacinthson, son of Hyacinth and Alexander 24

10.Philip (HUMAN), partner of Marcus, 30 11.Socra Marcusson, 6, son of Marcus and Philip 12.Maia Marcusson, 2 months old, (will be counted as 1 at the end of the next year's summer), son of Marcus and Philip

13.Aeson Elpison, partner of Clio, 30 14.Demaratos Aesonson, 8, son of Clio and Aeson 15.Konon Clioson, 3, son of Clio and Aeson

16.Simon (killed at the end of part 2), 30, partner of Jason 17.Red (HUMAN), 13, partner of Cleopas

18.Nabis Platoson, son of Plato Melonson (the deceased older brother of Gaia), father of Demeter and nephew of Gaia, 80 19.Jocasta Kirkeson, partner of Nabis, 82

20.Demeter Nabisson, 50, only surviving son of Nabis and Jocasta 21.Rhea Larisason, 53 partner of Demeter

22.Kalliope Demeterson, son of Demeter and Rhea, father of Ajax and Carme, 38 23.Leander Rheason, brother of Kalliope, 30, father of Evander 24.Acantha Demeterson brother of Leander, father of Xanthe 23 25.Lykurgos Rheason, brother of Acantha, 12, youngest son of Demeter and Rhea

26.Mark (HUMAN), partner of Kalliope, sire to and Ajax and Carme, 38 27.Ajax Kalliopeson, 11, son of Kalliope and Mark and brother of Carme 28.Carme Kalliopeson, 15, son of Mark and Kalliope, brother of Ajax

29.Joseph (HUMAN), partner of Leander, 29, father of Evander 30.Evander Leanderson, 4, son of Leander and Joseph

31.Charon Pallasson partner of Acantha, sire of Xanthe, 24 32.Xanthe Acanthason, 1 summer old, son of Acantha and Charon

From part 2 . . .

"Well, not how I wanted to silence him but this will do" the inquisitor said callously, ignoring Jason who was crouched beside the body of his lover, horrified agony on his face. The man pulled his sword from Simon's corpse, wiped it on Simon's tunic and sheathed the blade.

"Let's go" he commanded, and ignoring the corpse of the former monk, ignoring the Spartan family who were in the process of untying the sheet and trying to find their swords so as to defend themselves and avenge Simon's death, the troops marched away in quick format, leaving nothing but dust and their footprints behind.

. . .

"Bastards! Utter, utter bastards" Cleopas gasped, heading to Jason's side.

"We should pursue them" Demeter said, his naked blade in his hand and fury on his face.

Gaia indicated his younger son, Hyacinth and his heart broken grandson, Jason. "And leave them alone with their grief? No, we let them go. We will pursue vengeance later when we have safety and surprise on our side. Can you make a litter?" he then asked Kalliope and Leander. "We'll move his body to somewhere more fitting than a roadside ditch."

Jason was still sobbing and wailing incoherently, clutching Simon's bloodied body. "Jason" Kalliope said softly. "Will you let us move him?" he asked.

"Help me free the sword" Jason replied through his tears. Leander, wishing to offer whatever help he could, pulled the blade free and handed it, still bloody, to Jason.

"For you, my love" Jason croaked through his tears, then reversed it so that the point was sitting against his chest. He started to lean forward, intending to impale himself and die at Simon's side before a voice cracked through his mind. NO!

Jason found himself frozen, indeed all of the Spartans froze, recognising the voice of their God, however Jason was the only one who was held immobile by Apollo's will.

"I will join him! I cannot live without him!" Jason shouted out loud. "My Lord Apollo, please, I beg you!"

I told you that Simon would, in a moment of peril, have a choice to make. I told you that you and Simon would be happy and have many long years together, as long as Simon made the right choice and you did not doubt him. There was a reason I required him to know of Me. Now I command you, Jason Hyacinthson, do not doubt your lover's choice the god spoke to Jason, ensuring that all the Spartans could hear his voice.

"Cleopas, what is it?" Red whispered. Alexander had asked Elis the same thing, Philip had asked Marcus and the other humans had approached their Spartan relations with similar queries.

"It's Apollo, He is speaking to Jason" Cleopas answered in a hurried whisper, not wanting to miss any part of the conversation.

"But, Lord, he is dead!" Jason cried and tears fell down his face like rivers.

And if he hadn't acted as he did then you would both be dead and the future of the Spartan race would be in jeopardy. But Jason, can you recall what he said as he died? the God asked.

"He said your name" he sniffled.

Yes, and with that, he intentionally and willingly gave his death to me. And I need him still the god said. He sounded pleased and more than pleased, he sounded ecstatic.

"Lord?" Jason whispered, confused, baffled and heartbroken but the god did not answer. Instead it seemed like the divine consciousness shifted his attention from Jason to the broken, bloodied corpse in his arms.

You did not doubt but believed in me and for that I command you, Simon Apolloson, to BREATHE! Apollo said and his voice vibrated with untold power. And as Jason watched, Simon gasped for breath and seemed suddenly to be asleep, not dead.

"Simon is alive?" Jason mumbled in total astonishment.

I have not finished, do not disturb him yet Apollo commanded.

"My Lord?" Jason asked.

I need to have use of your body, my son Apollo asked.

"What is mine is yours, Lord Apollo" Jason immediately replied, bowing his head as best he could from his half seated, half kneeling position.

Jason felt his consciousness shunted to one side, like he was watching his body move of its own accord. Apollo/Jason undressed Simon, leaving him naked on the road, his tunic, leggings and sandals discarded, his wounds two vivid scars on his chest, matched by a similar pair on his back. Jason felt grief fill him again at the sight of the injuries but before it could overwhelm him totally, he saw himself lean down to Simon's still-bloody lips, then watched as, with the borrowed body, Apollo kissed him.

Suddenly Apollo/Jason and Simon were both surrounded by a light so intense no one could watch, not even the disembodied Jason, who willed his 'sight' closed even though he had no control over his eyes. When it faded Jason suddenly found he had control over his own limbs and movements once more.

Help him to understand. He is a son of Sparta now just as you are and my beloved son besides. Teach him and show him what that means Apollo spoke to all the assembled Spartans before His voice ghosted away.

Jason looked at the sleeping form of his love - it was obvious that he was just asleep and no longer dead - for the God of death had indeed returned Simon to life. But that wasn't all he had done and with astonishment Jason took in Simon's larger, newly-muscular frame, his tanned skin, his youthful face, his...

"Filaments?" Jason gasped out loud.

For peeking from Simon's navel were the tiny, feathery ends of newly emerged filaments. Simon had not only been returned back to life - he had been made new.

As Jason sat there, in stunned astonishment, tears of joy trickling down his face, Simon drew a deep breath, yawned and woke with a gentle stretch, just as if he had been sleeping in a comfortable bed. He looked at Jason's tear-stained face. "Are you okay?" he asked. His voice was similar, but not quite the same, it was stronger and slightly more resonant than before.

"I am so very much more than okay" Jason smiled, leaning down to kiss Simon deeply.

"Simon? Jason? What's going on?" Cleopas asked, before taking in his brother's mate's changed appearance. "You're Spartan" he said.

"What?" Simon asked, puzzled.

"My love, our God, the Lord Apollo, has changed your species. You're Spartan, not human" he said softly.

Simon looked stunned but then gasped, "so that's what he meant!"

"What?" Cleopas asked.

"Apollo. He spoke to me, at least I think it was Him. He asked if I truly was His to do with as He wished and I said yes. He then said something like, "then I claim you as my son" and I felt his lips on mine, only they felt like Jason's too and my body felt like it was on fire with the sun itself pouring through it."

"He used my body, my lips" Jason said with a soft smile. "So it was kind of both of us that kissed you" he explained.

"How do you feel?" Rhea asked. He'd heard the whole exchange.

"Fine except for my stomach, it stings for some reason" he said, reaching down to rub his navel.

"No!" Jason shouted, grabbing Simon's hand and holding it still.

"What? Why?" Simon asked.

"Trust us" Demeter said wryly, "rubbing your stomach in your condition is a really bad idea" he smirked.

"My cond..." Simon breathed and then lifted his head to look down at his body. "Oh, my" he said, wonder in his voice.

"Indeed" Jason grinned. "Can you get up?"

"Erm, yes, sure" Simon replied, sitting up and wincing as his abdominal muscles contracted around his filaments. He let a hissed breath between his teeth. "That hurts" he said.

"They will do, they always hurt" Rhea said.

Simon got to his feet, assisted by Jason, and looked, frowning slightly, at his lover. "Have you shrunk?" he asked, realising that for the first time he and Jason were stood truly face to face and eye to eye.

Jason chuckled. "No, my love, you have grown. Spartans are always taller than humans, you are the same height as me now" he explained. He looked down Simon's new body. "And I can see why Apollo undressed you" he smirked, "you are a lot bigger than before, in every way."

"What?" Simon said, looking down at his torso, his muscled legs, his? "Oh! Wow" he grinned. "If that's my size soft, how big will I get when I'm hard?" he whispered to Jason.

"Perhaps we can find out tonight?" Jason replied with a lecherous gleam in his eye.

"Come on, let's find you some clothes" Jocasta suggested, "and get off this road and somewhere out of sight for a while." He appraised the new Spartan. "One of my spare tunics will probably fit you but it'll rub on your filaments" he said.

"Let's stick with a loincloth and leggings, we'll tie them low and Simon can just put his cloak on" Jason suggested. "Or perhaps can stay in loincloth alone and join Aeson in the wagon" he suggested, nodding to where Clio was checking on his gestant mate, whose presence had been, thankfully, completely missed by the soldiers and church men.

Marcus went to one of the packs and fished a larger loincloth out, which Simon tied on, gratefully covering his maleness. He had to acknowledge that with his newly muscular hips and glutes his old cloths simply would not fit - any attempt to tie them on would result in the knots not being secure and easily coming loose. "Thanks" he grinned.

"We'll hunt out leggings and boots later on, my love" Jason said, noting that even Simon's sandals were far too small for him now. He picked up his cloak. "For now, fasten this around your shoulders and go join Aeson."

"Can't I ride?"

"If you wish but you're awfully exposed, you're nearly naked. If we come across someone on the road?" Gaia said, pointing out the obvious.

"Oh, er, yes, of course" Simon mumbled, blushing slightly. "I'll go join Aeson" he said.

Simon walked over to the wagon dressed in loincloth and cloak and climbed up into the back to sit next to Aeson. "That's new," Aeson smirked, seeing Simon's condition.

"Tell me about it!" Simon chuckled back. Jason joined Clio stood at the tail of the wagon. "You'll be okay here?" he asked.

"I'm fine, my love. As soon as we're somewhere safe and quiet I will get out and join you but for the moment I will gladly keep Aeson company" he smiled, then winced as he shifted his weight and caused his abdominals to contract once more. "That's going to get very wearing very quickly" he sighed.

"Only nine months to go" Aeson quipped with a pained smile. Simon nodded. "Indeed" he grinned.

They mounted and rode out of the pass and as soon as they could, headed off the road and into the forest. They had to take a fairly steep path so as to get the wagons through but by early evening had reached a well secluded dell in the forest, with a cliff wall and slight overhang of rock protecting them on one side and a stretch of forest on the other. It'd taken a little careful manhandling to get the wagons into the clearing as it was surrounded on every side either by thick undergrowth or fallen trees but it was achieved fairly easily, though Simon and Aeson had gotten out in order to travel on horseback as soon as they were away from the threat of prying human eyes, although Simon, with his larger frame, found his saddle very uncomfortable indeed.

The overhang of rock couldn't be called a cave, it was barely a yard deep and sat several yards above their head but it provided sufficient shelter when combined with the tall oaks that encircled the mossy clearing. Several boulders made a fire pit and a waterfall, pool and stream sited about fifty yards past their campsite and flowing noisily down the cliff face provided all the water they needed.

"Are we staying here?" Joseph asked, cuddling his son, little Evander, tightly to his chest - the small boy was still traumatised from his experience that morning.

"Yes, I think so" Nabis replied. "We're still at least a week from the crossroads so we're in quite sparsely populated country, but we should be able to reach the first farmsteads within a few days' ride in order to purchase foods.

"You mean, stay here for the winter?" Elis asked the older man.

Nabis shrugged. "Perhaps not the whole winter but it is fairly sheltered" he replied. "At the very least we need the time to make Simon some new clothes, or perhaps not, depending on whether he and Jason decide to try and gestate a child" he smiled.

Simon choked on the water he'd been sipping. "Me? Gestate?" he coughed.

"You could if you wanted to" Tito pointed out.

Jason took his lover's hand. "There's no pressure, you don't have to, Simon" he whispered.

"No, I know, it's just?" Simon stuttered. "It surprised me, that's all" he finished

"Do you want to bear a child?" Jason asked, taking in his mate's faintly spooked expression.

"Do I have to decide now?" he asked.

"No, you'll have another six or seven nights before you need to decide for certain" Tito said.

Simon nodded. "Can I get back to you?" he asked Jason with a sigh of relief.

"Of course" Jason said, leaning very carefully in for a long, lustful kiss.

They ate well that night, all recognising that a celebration was definitely in order. They also decided to put off any major decisions either about heading to purchase foods or pursuing their attackers, at least until Konon, Evander and Socra calmed down and their fears eased. For all three boys wanted to cling to their fathers and couldn't be persuaded to let go for more than a few minutes at a time. The whole experience - their first encounter where they, as children, experienced open hostility and very real, undeniable threats to their lives - had been understandably very hard on them.

The following day Simon found himself moving gingerly, feeling profoundly uncomfortable at any movement or motion that caused his stomach muscles to contract. "How do you live with this?" he asked Jason plaintively.

"I've never been fully emergent" Jason replied. "It doesn't happen unless you've been with your mate and had sex with them over many months. It's likely to be next summer at the earliest when I first emerge."

"So how come I've got this set then?" Simon asked. "Will they be the real deal or are they just here because Apollo changed my species?"

"Do they hurt like crazy, like someone's shoved a fire into your navel?" Jason replied. Simon nodded. "In that case, they're real."

"But how do you know? I mean, you've just said you've never been emergent."

"No but during a pres..." Jason began but then his throat clammed shut, his ability to speak removed by an unseen force. He realised he'd been about to spill secrets about the presentation and confirmation ceremony, secrets he had no right to tell, and the divine command to secrecy had silenced him.

"What, my love?" Simon asked.

"My filaments have been out before" Jason said carefully, thinking through every word and hoping he could tell Simon something without falling foul of the restriction. "In... some ceremonies... our filaments come out during prayers" he said, managing to get the words out without difficulty. "So I have felt them before but only for a few minutes at a time" he explained.

Simon nodded thoughtfully. "You know, my love, if I'm Spartan, I can come to pray with you now, can't I?" he asked. Jason's face showed his surprise, then he grinned. "I never actually thought about it but yes, you can, if you wish" he replied.

"Well, let me know next time you're going and I just might join you" he said to his love, kissing him. "Now, what's for breakfast?"

They ate a hearty meal, less worried now about making the food last since they were within a week's journey of farming country. The small boys seemed calmer but were still clingy, Konon to Clio, Evander to Joseph and Socra to Philip. But even with their parents' presence being required at the children's sides, there were still plenty of people to head off to purchase food.

In the end, Nabis, Jocasta, Demeter and Rhea decided to do the journey, the four of them mounted and leading a pair of pack horses each. "A small group will seem less intimidating but between us we have decades of experience in sword craft and tactics" Jocasta said. "And we can travel faster than a caravan would, since we're not taking wagons we can weave our way through the forest if need be."

"Well, fathers, grandfathers, be safe, please?" Kalliope pleaded.

"We will, we'll be back within two weeks at most" Nabis assured his eldest grandson. "And you have plenty of food still, even if you all eat like kings for a fortnight."

"There's no danger of us going hungry" Acantha smiled, also standing with his parents and grandparents, "I think our baby brother is hankering to see if that pool near the waterfall has any fish in it" he said, nodding towards Lykurgos, who was busy carving some bone fish-hooks and tying them on to leather strings.

"Why don't you suggest he and Ajax go and take Demaratos?" Demeter said, "it wouldn't hurt, it may even take the boy's minds off their experience."

Acantha and Kalliope both nodded and hugged their fathers and grandfathers soundly before holding their horses' reins so they could mount easily. "See you soon, be safe!" they called and the four older men rode away.

The rest of the morning was spent making the damp glade into a more suitable long-term camp. Boughs were cut and laid to form a mattress in much the same fashion as they'd done early in the summer when Simon had first joined them. But as well as laying some spare skins over the branch-covered ground, some were also tied together with thongs into a tent-like structure that fastened to several trees surrounding the clearing. A large space was left for the smoke for the fire, and obviously it couldn't be secured to the cliff face but nevertheless it was relatively waterproof and made for a comfortable sleeping area.

"I never would have thought of doing that" Simon said as he helped to tie the last few cords to the trees.

"Mark's family were tent makers" Elis explained, nodding to where the human partner of Kalliope was supervising. "And he was already a fairly skilled craftsman when he and Kalliope met. He shared his ideas with us years ago and we adopted them almost straight away. We've made a few minor changes over the years but the principle is still the same."

"It's impressive" Simon allowed, as he stepped back to look at the structure. "But you're using leather and deerskins worth quite a lot of money to do this, have you never thought of purchasing a cheaper canvas of some kind?"

"We've thought about it, but really, these skins are so easily available and we hunt so often, it doesn't really matter how valuable they are" Tito said. "Not to mention we are used to working in leather, if a canvas roof got ripped we would be far less skilled at mending it than we would a roof made of hides."

Simon nodded. "I guess if it's what you're used to and if it's so easily available then it makes sense" he allowed.

The boys came back with several dozen silvery fish later in the afternoon and despite his pleasure at being praised for his catch, Lykurgos seemed a little morose and distracted. Kalliope looked at his younger brother with searching eyes. "Will they really be okay?" Lykurgos asked.

Kalliope nodded. "They'll be fine" he smiled. He ruffled the adolescent's hair. "You missing the fathers already?" he asked.

Lykurgos nodded. He bit his lip to try and hold in his emotions but Kalliope could see what he was doing and pulled him into a hug. "It's okay to cry, little brother" he said softly. Very shortly he could feel Lykurgos' shoulders shaking as silent sobs escaped.

Socra, Konon and Evander had stopped being so clingy but their fathers still watched them closely. Simon and Jason were sat by the fireside, lazing, with Jason giving his lover a massage to help distract him from the pain of his filaments. As they sat there he noticed Clio watching Konon's every more like a hawk watched its prey.

"What's with Clio?" he asked Jason softly. "He's hovering around Konon like..."

"Yeah" Jason interrupted, equally softly, "Konon's gotten over his fear and hurt but that means he's reached the most dangerous part of his recovery. If he's permitted he could fall into a terrible rage" he said. "As he's so young he doesn't have the capability to control his temper or his urges towards violence. Clio's making sure that if he does go off the deep end he won't hurt himself too much, and Marcus is doing the same for Socra and Leander for Evander."

"Will they be so dangerous as to need watching? They are but boys" Simon asked.

"Boys with immense strength, at least as compared to humans, and potentially murderous rage that they have insufficient control over - yes, they'll be dangerous" Jason replied.

Lykurgos had calmed down and he, Demaratos and Ajax took their catch, which they had remembered to clean, thankfully, to Alexander for cooking before deciding to go and explore the local area. Socra wanted to go and explore too and Marcus agreed but only as long as he could accompany them.

"No! I want to go myself!" Socra yelled, sudden fury blossoming on his cute little face. He stood and made to run but Marcus caught him by his left arm. "Socra! No!" he shouted.

Unfortunately of course he'd left the child's sword arm free and with a snarl that no one could imagine a young boy could produce he drew his sword and brought it down on his father's arm, luckily biting into Marcus' leather arm sheath and not the skin. Marcus yanked the sword out and flung it to the ground, then grabbed both of his son's hands.

"Socra! Socra!" he shouted. The boy snarled again.

"Socra, son, its father Marcus, can you hear me?" he spoke again, softer now.

"Let me go!" Socra screamed, tears in his eyes.

"Socra, who am I? Tell me who I am and I'll let you go" Marcus said. Socra just yelled and struggled.

"Socra, I'm your birth father and you are my little boy. Now tell me who I am and I will let you go" Marcus repeated. The child suddenly shuddered, blinked and started to cry. "Father Marcus!" he sobbed, and Marcus pulled him into a hug. "Father Marcus, what happened? One minute I wanted to go exploring and the next..." the boy couldn't finish but cried some more instead.

"Shh. Your anger at the soldiers got the better of you and made you go a little mad for a second" Marcus whispered softy. "Shh, it's all done now, you're fine" he continued to comfort his son. "Now, shall we sheath your sword?"

Socra blinked and saw the blade on the ground. "Why's it there?" he asked nervously, as if he didn't really want the answer.

"You drew on me, son" Marcus said sadly.

"I...? Oh, father, I'm sorry!" Socra cried, pulling his birth father into an even closer hug. "I didn't know" he tried to explain.

"Socra, I know. Don't worry, just try and stay calm, okay? Please?"

The rest of the afternoon and evening passed with some setting traps for small game, others helping the children meditate and Aeson and Simon resting in the most comfortable positions they could find. The following morning they rose very early indeed and meditated for nearly three hours before eating. Simon especially appreciated the extra long meditation time - he could feel unexplained bursts of anger whenever his filaments seemed particularly painful and it was increasingly difficult to control his temper.

As he took his breakfast from Jason he looked at it and sighed. "Venison? Again? Can't we have something else or is this the only thing our fool cooks and hunters could come up with?"

Jason chuckled. "You're the one acting like a fool, my love" he grinned.

Simon scowled. "I JUST WANT SOMETHING OTHER THAN VENISON FOR EVERY BLASTED MEAL!" he exploded, throwing his platter and meat across the clearing.

"Simon, breathe" Aeson counselled from nearby. "Emergence makes you irrational and moody. Stop taking it out on Jason and the meat. No one's forcing it down your throat."

Simon's temper vanished in a cloud of sheepish embarrassment. "Perhaps I should meditate some more?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yeah, perhaps you should" Jason replied wryly, going to retrieve the platter and now-ruined meat from the undergrowth.

Konon also exploded over breakfast, though not because of the food but because no one seemed too bothered about moving. "Come on, I want to get them already!" he complained to Clio.

"Get who?" Clio asked.

Konon's eyes gleamed. "The bad men!" he said, the malice in his words seeming strange coming from such a small boy and cherubic voice.

"Not until everyone is back and Lord Apollo says we can" Clio replied.

"But, but, but" Konon stuttered, then he started screaming, "bad men, bad men!" over and over again.

"Konon, please, can you hear me?" Clio said. The tiny child continued to scream.

Clio went to get hold of him but with super-quick reflexes borne of sheer rage the child drew his tiny dagger-sized sword and slashed at his birth father, catching his arm and drawing blood.

"Argh!" Clio gasped, more from the shock than the pain, his hand going to the wound.

"Bad men, bad men!" Konon yelled, raising his sword again. With a flying tackle Elis knocked the tiny boy off his feet and pinned him down and Tito took his grandson's sword away. The boy continued to scream and wriggle as his grandfathers held him still and tried to control and calm him as best they could.

"Cousin, are you okay?" Jason asked Clio.

"What the blazes do you think? No!" Clio glowered waspishly.

"I'm only trying to help" Jason sighed. "By Apollo, is everyone going mad today?"

"No, not everybody" Aeson said, guarding his womb carefully as he came over to tend his lover.

"I'm sorry, I'm not accusing, it's just..." Jason apologised. "We're normally a little more civilised than this at least" he finished.

"Are Spartans always so blasted moody?" Simon groaned, still feeling irritated despite his embarrassment at overreacting about breakfast.

Cleopas looked over from where he and Red were cuddling quietly. "Yes" he said simply.

Red looked up at his man. "When you grow those feathery things will you be all mean and moody too?" he asked innocently.

Cleopas nodded ruefully. "I won't be able to help it, the pain really sets your nerves on edge" he explained. "But Red, my love, I would never hurt you and would never, ever want to upset you. But sometimes I just will do or say something without meaning it. I just hope you'll never be scared or hold it against me?" he finished, asking the question somewhat sheepishly.

"I would never be scared of you, and would never blame you for things you did when in pain. I love you too much to ever do that to you" the boy whispered. Cleopas kissed his forehead. "Thank you" he replied.

Within an hour Clio's would had been stitched closed using a thin bone needle and a strand of horsehair, Kalliope and Acantha both sitting on him to hold him still and Charon doing the stitching. The blood had been washed away with warmed water and a poultice of herbs was bound over it with a leather strip.

"Feeling any better?" Charon asked after the wound had been completely doctored.

"No! You sod, did you have to make the stitches so big?"

"Did you want it to heal crooked or weep and bleed for days?" Charon countered.

"Bugger off" Clio grouched. Charon chuckled.

Simon watched the process with fascination. "Aren't you worried about blood poisoning or anything? The only time I've seen anyone with a wound that was stitched up, it went all green around the stitches and ended up killing the man."

"Blood poisoning? What's that?" Charon asked in ignorant innocence.

Simon opened his mouth to reply but Alexander beat him to it. "Charon, Simon, humans can get blood poisoning which basically is where a wound gets an infection and starts to rot, or something very similar. It is normally fatal if it happens. But Spartans don't get it, Hyacinth once told me that your god Apollo made you guys immune to infections from battle wounds and similar things."

Simon nodded with interest and turned his attention to Elis and Tito, who were still holding Konon. He hadn't really calmed down but had expended all his energy and was now in a fitful sleep, wrapped tightly in his grandfather's arms. "What happened to him?" he asked.

"Wore himself out wriggling and fighting us" Elis replied. "I'm just hoping that when he wakes up he's himself again."

"Poor kid, I've never seen a child so completely lose control like that" Simon sighed. "Is it common for Spartan children?"

Elis shook his head. "Not really, it totally depends on what circumstances they encounter. This has only come about because Konon was held at sword point and under arrow like the rest of us. I guess you could describe it as a sort of survival mechanism, at the height of his rage he could easily beat several adult humans even at his tender age, especially if he took them by surprise."

"He certainly took Clio by surprise" Jason teased.

"Shut it, unless you want a matching scar" Clio growled.

Jason looked half-sympathetic, half-frustrated. "Clio, I know you're in pain but he's your son and not responsible for his actions. For Apollo's sake, please, calm down?"

Clio sighed. "I'm not angry with him, it just stings, you know? Look, if you want to help bring me a wine skin over."

"You planning on getting drunk, my love?" Aeson asked as Jason fetched the skin from a pack horse.

"Yep" Clio replied dryly, taking a long pull from the offered skin.

Clio was far calmer by the time little Konon awoke, cradled in his grandfather's arms, several hours after noon. "Hello" Tito whispered.

"Hello" Konon whispered back. He laid still for a second then said, "why was I asleep?"

"Do you remember waking up this morning or anything you did?" Elis answered the question with a question. Konon frowned and shook his head. "No" he said.

Elis gently rubbed the boy's face. "Do you remember being angry with the bad men who arrested us and wanting to go and get them?" he whispered.

"No" Konon said, then frowned. "Sort of but not really" he amended after a few moments thought.

Clio, who was sat near his fathers, his lover and his younger son, looked at Konon with calm eyes. "You got really angry at the bad men and it made you go mad for a while, sweetheart" he explained in a low, soft, slow voice. "You probably won't remember what you did but it's nothing to worry about, I promise. Just concentrate on staying calm, okay?"

Konon nodded, then looked at Clio more closely. "Daddy Clio, did you hurt your arm?" he asked.

Clio opened and then closed his mouth and tears appeared in his eyes. "Promise you won't get upset if I tell you?" he whispered to the small boy.

"I promise" Konon replied. Elis cuddled the boy a little tighter so that he didn't panic too much on hearing what he'd done.

"When you went mad you drew your sword and cut me" Clio whispered, his tears still falling.

"I?" Konon said, then started to cry, huge gulping sobs of tears that shook his tiny frame.

"Shh, Konon, we don't blame you. You were angry and afraid and upset and we all understood that" Tito comforted him, stroking his back even as Elis cuddled him tightly.

Konon just cried some more. "Shh, don't cry" Clio said, getting to his knees, leaning over to where his son was cradled and kissing him on the top of his head. "Shh, daddy still loves you, I promise, I understand" he said. "I understand, Konon, I promise. Come on, son, try to calm down" he whispered.

Eventually Konon's tears dried up and he sat still, cuddled tightly between Elis and Clio, with Tito and Aeson and Demaratos all close by. "Feeling better now, little brother?" Demaratos asked.

Konon shook his head. "I feel all horrible" he whispered.

Clio pulled him onto his knee, trying to suppress the urge to wince when his wound stretched against the stitches. "We all still love you, you're not horrible, son, I promise" he said. "Me and daddy Aeson and your big brother don't blame you at all. It was the bad men's faults for making you so scared that you felt that you might die, that's the only reason it happened. So don't feel horrible, it wasn't your fault at all, okay?"

Konon just sniffled and cried.

On the other side of the clearing Jason, Simon and some of the others observed the drama with pity. "Do you remember that time when Carme was a small boy and we came across those slavers?" Kalliope said softly to his mate. "It took us a week to wash the blood out of his tunic."

Mark nodded. "And even longer to persuade him to carry a sword again" he replied.

Carme looked over at his fathers. "You know I don't remember anything except what you've told me" he said. "Even now I have no memory of the incident."

"No doubt your mind has erased it to protect you, you were only three summers old" Kalliope replied to his eldest son.

Simon thought of asking what on earth a boy of three summers had been doing to get that much blood in his tunic, especially when involved with slave traders, but after a few moments' consideration thought better of it, deciding that he would probably sleep better at night if he didn't know. "How come you're?" he began asking Jason but then corrected himself, "how come we are so bloodthirsty?"

Jason smiled at the correction and replied, "it has to do with our instincts, we're born warriors and as such have capabilities that humans don't possess, capabilities that enable us to ensure our safety and the safety of our loved ones even when faced with near impossible odds."

Simon frowned.

"Think about it" Jason suggested. "If, say, we'd been overpowered and arrested and all taken off somewhere, if Konon had lost his temper, even at his tender age he'd have been able to get the better of half a dozen human guards, more if he managed to take them by surprise, and escape and therefore survive. Even if his fathers and other relatives had all been killed, his instincts and natural born warrior abilities would give him a fighting chance."

"Is being around humans really that much of a threat for you? Us, I mean?" Simon asked, correcting himself again.

Jason looked at him with a pointed stare. "I would have thought you of all people wouldn't have to ask that, my love" he said. "If it wasn't for divine intervention then?"

Simon cut him off with a kiss. "I know, I'm sorry, I didn't think" he apologised, feeling somewhat guilty. "But a small child with abilities like that, it scares me, I don't know how I'd cope if?" he paused, and looked down at his wavering filaments pensively.

Jason looked at Simon, looking at his receptive reproductive organs. "Don't feel pressured into having a son, now, Simon" he said softly. "No one will think any less of you if you let that set of filaments fall out and wait for another emergence to gestate a son."

"Am I that obvious?" Simon sighed, but with a small smile peeping through his pensive face. Jason kissed him. "To me you are" he smiled back. "My love, my mate, my reason for living, do not ever feel pressured to do something either by me or by convention. We will wait for my first emergence and I will carry our first son."

"Are you sure?" Simon said, the relief in his voice very evident and wholly genuine.

"I'm positive" Jason said, kissing him.

Supper that evening was comprised of the fish that Lykurgos, Ajax and Demaratos had caught, hot smoked and served with cakes made of ground hazelnuts and meal. Konon ate at his father's urging and drank a little watered down wine so that he would have a calm, undisturbed night's sleep.

Aeson slept in a wagon for the warmth as it was uncomfortable for him to cover his womb, and Clio and Konon cuddled up next to him so that the little boy could have the comfort and security of both his father's presences at his side. The other children, including Socra, who was perfectly calm after his short incident of madness and Evander, who appeared to have escaped his expected episode, all slept in the second wagon which was pulled up at the side of the mattress next to Aeson's sleeping quarters. Everyone else slept on the mattress close to their loved ones, Simon being spooned against his back by Jason since, of course, his filaments were still too painful to allow face-to-face cuddling.

It was pouring with rain the following morning and Simon awoke to the gentle sound of water pattering on the tent roof. He reflected that it was exceedingly comfortable, under a warm cloak, with Jason at his back, and a roof over his head. He was warm and contented and didn't want to move but after observing firsthand the effects of the warrior instincts and temper that Spartans possessed, he now knew that meditation wasn't only a nice way to start the day, it was essential for his own peace of mind and safety.

He sat up, wincing slightly as his filaments were compressed by his stomach muscles, untied his loincloth, found his sword and began his meditation. He was the first that morning but within twenty minutes or so the rest of the family had risen and joined the morning ritual. A breakfast of the remaining pieces of fish and a few pounds of freshly stewed mushrooms was enjoyed by all and after they'd all eaten, several people went to collect firewood, others to bathe and Simon, still uncomfortable with the filaments, remained lounging at the fireside.

Several days passed in a similar vein and Simon's filaments first grew to their stretched limits and then began to separate and fall out. Simon was grouchy and irritable and in pain and felt a great deal of relief when they finally started falling out. "Only a couple of days more and you'll feel normal again" Jason comforted him.

"I know" Simon smiled a somewhat painful grimace.

It was their eleventh day in the clearing, when voices and horses were heard clambering up the trail through the woods. Kalliope, Leander, Acantha and Lykurgos stood armed and ready, scanning the trail, all four of them having felt anxious at the absence of their fathers and grandfathers.

Presently Nabis came into view, followed by Jocasta, Rhea and Demeter. Each rode on a semi-laden horse and each led two other beasts seemingly completely laden down.

"You're back, you're back!" Lykurgos cheered, letting go of his sword hilt and running to greet them.

"Yes, we're back" Rhea laughed at his youngest birth-son. "Missed us?"

"Missed you? Father Rhea, he's been watching the trail since the day after you left" Leander replied laughingly.

"I wasn't that bad" Lykurgos protested, blushing.

"Yes you were, little brother" Acantha laughed.

"Well it doesn't matter now, come on, help us unload all these goods" Jocasta urged, and everyone offered their assistance as cheeses, rolls of butter, sides of bacon, sacks of meal, wheat, rye, barley and turnips, barrels of beer and crocks of honey were unloaded.

"We found a small farming village with plenty of food and no coins or leather goods" Nabis explained. "We tried to give them a fair price but still came away with far more than we expected, the poor horses need a good rest now" he smiled.

"I don't know about the horses, I need a rest" Demeter quipped.

That night a feast was prepared. Charon and Acantha had gotten a boar the previous day and a crab-apple tree had been denuded of fruit by the boys a few days earlier, which, together with warm, freshly baked dark rye bread and butter made for a wonderful meal. The boar's meat was juicy and sweet, several apples had been stewed down into a tart sauce and the bread sopped up the delicious juices.

"Wow, perhaps I should go off more often" Rhea smiled, having eaten far more than was good for him and washed it down with a mug of beer.

"Don't you dare, not without me" Lykurgos replied, leaning in for a hug that was more of a squeeze, as if he was trying to hold his birth father still and prevent him from moving.

"I won't, son, not if it makes you this upset" Rhea said softly, "I was only joking. But I came back, we're safe, we have plenty of food and supplies and a very nicely appointed camp and there's no real reason for us to be separated any time soon" he assured his youngest boy.

"Thanks" Lykurgos smiled softly.

It was a month later when the first real snows fell, a month during which the weather quickly turned from calm to inclement, but which, in the breaks between storms, permitted the family to range throughout the forest they camped in and collect the last of the fruits, nuts, seeds and other foodstuffs that it provided. They hunted the profusion of wildlife, finding mainly grouse or partridge in their snares, suggesting that the meaty, ground-nesting birds were far more numerous than rabbits, however they also took some deer and several more boars. A significant portion of the meats and most of the nuts, seeds and fruits were dried over the fire and stored in spare sacks and crocks for use during the winter. During that time they were not disturbed at all and they expanded and improved their camp and collected a huge stack of firewood so that they had shelter and warmth and were comfortable and secure for their winter stay.

"Father Joseph, it's snowed!" Evander woke everyone up shortly before dawn with his excited proclamation. As in the cave, the meditation time had slipped slightly, since the chores were minimal and the living easy they didn't need the entire day to complete them, and so spent the first hour of gloomy wintery light in their meditative ritual.

"Meditation and breakfast before you build any snow men, and I want you to put gloves on" Joseph muttered from underneath his cloak.

"But" Evander protested.

"Evander," Joseph warned him against arguing. The small boy groaned quietly but nevertheless began his meditation along with the others who were rising to do the same.

Aeson's womb was bigger and more painful, not so much as he couldn't move around yet but enough to make the simple things, like wearing clothes or standing up, profoundly uncomfortable. He clambered painfully out of the wagon, wearing boots and his cloak, but nothing else. "Damn, I'm cold" he complained, heading to the fire and sitting down as close to it as he could before removing his clothes in order to meditate with everyone else.

Breakfast that morning was thick, steaming porridge made of meal and barley, with dried apple and honey stirred into it and healthy portions of roasted grouse on the side. "A morning like this one requires a large breakfast" Elis smiled as he served everyone.

"Any plans for today?" Red asked, cuddling close to Cleopas.

"Not really" Cleopas said. "We've been discussing maybe trying to take an ox down, and I think Clio and Hyacinth are still on the hunt for a prayer site, and Evander won't rest until he's built at least four or five snowmen but that's about it."

"An ox? But they're huge!" Red exclaimed. "And really hard to find."

"In this weather they start to travel south and west to find warmer climates and come down into the lowlands. We'll also get bears too if we're lucky and with the trees and undergrowth being thinner it makes them easier to spot. If we can take an ox, it alone will feed all of us for a fortnight and a decent sized bear makes for almost as many meals."

"Bear meat? Eww" Red grimaced.

"It's actually not too bad" Cleopas disagreed. "Wolf meat is revolting but bear isn't too bad, a little stringy towards the end of winter but at this time of year it's nice. And the pelts are warm too, if we can tan them."

"I'm not standing knee deep in shit in this weather, no" Carme said. "There's no way I'm?"

"Not even for some ox hide boots and a bear skin cloak? You and Ajax can have first pick" Kalliope said softly, enticingly.

"Well, maybe?" Carme allowed. "But if there's snow and frost on the ground we won't be able to do it anyway, we may as well just leave the pelts in the ice to preserve them and tan a whole lot when the weather warms."

Kalliope made to protest but Gaia interrupted, "he's got a point. We tan skins to preserve them but the frost and snow will do it for us. Just take the kills, dress them, skin them and leave the skins till spring."

"Will they remain sound?" Mark wondered.

Gaia nodded. "As long as they remain frozen, yes. If the weather becomes milder, even if only for a short spell, we'd have to tan them straight away but if the snow stays on the ground we'll be fine" he said.

"We need to catch them first" Charon pointed out, "we're kind of putting the cart before the horse here."

"Indeed" Tito smiled with amusement.

"Shall we go on a hunt, then, brother?" Jason asked Cleopas.

"Today?" Cleopas asked.

"Do you have anything better to do?" Simon grinned.

Cleopas laughed. "No, I guess I don't. Do you want to come, Red?" he asked.

Red's eyes lit up. "Oh, my, yes" he said, "I'd love to."

"Anyone else?" he asked, looking around the family.

"We'd like to join you" Acantha said after a few moment's deliberation with Charon, "as long as you don't mind us going slow whilst we teach Xanthe how to ride."

"We don't mind at all" Jason smiled. "So, Xanthe, you're getting your own pony?" he asked the small boy. Xanthe nodded, grinning.

"Anyone else?" Jason asked.

Demaratos looked thoughtful. "Could I come?" he asked hopefully.

"If your fathers give you permission, then yes" Simon told the boy. His eyes lit up with delight and he ran over to where Clio was helping Aeson and started talking urgently. Clio laughed and nodded and Demaratos came back to Jason and Simon's side.

"They said I could!" he reported breathlessly.

"Well let's all get some gear and horses sorted and make a move" Cleopas suggested. They headed to do just that, gathering warm clothing, slingshots, snares, trail foods and knives for skinning and butchering, saddling their own horses and taking two pack horses, one for their gear and the other just in case they got lucky.

"Which way are you going?" Nabis asked as they made ready.

Jason looked thoughtful. "We'll probably follow this cliff" he said, indicating the stone wall at the side of their camp, "but stay in the forest once it ends and head slightly away from the hills, our targets will be on the lowlands after all and not in the mountains."

"And how long will you be?" Aeson asked, since of course they were taking his eldest son and first birth-son with them, away from his fathers for the first time.

"One night, two at the most" Jason said. "We're not going to go far."

"Well, be safe" Clio urged them, and with hugs all around, and kisses from Clio and Aeson for Demaratos, the hunters headed out.

Jason and Simon took the front, Cleopas and Red the rear. Acantha rode at Xanthe's side, helping him to get used to being on horseback for what was only his seventh or eighth ride of his young life, Charon led the two pack horses and Demaratos followed between the pack animals and Cleopas and Red.

The horses made good time, the forest floor relatively clear and tracks easily visible, thanks to the reflective qualities of the snow that illuminated everything in a cold white light. They stopped at midday and ate some bread and cheese, staying standing and not lighting a fire as they wouldn't be very long, then kept riding.

The cliff petered out an hour after noon and they turned and rode into a thick virgin forest, taking the way very slowly not just for Xanthe's sake but because of the trees and logs littering the floor. Darkness was beginning to fall and they were discussing stopping for the night when Jason called out, "shh!"

He slid off his horse and indicated that the others do the same, then beckoned them forwards. He pointed and between the trees, perhaps two hundred yards distant, a pair of shaggy oxen could be seen.

"Cleopas, Red, Acantha, to the right" Jason whispered. "Simon, Demaratos, go straight for them but give us a few moments. Charon, you and Xanthe come to the left with me" he said.

They quickly tethered their horses and the two flanking groups moved out. After several minutes Simon and Demaratos began to creep forward quietly. The oxen were grazing on a shrub of some kind and seemed oblivious to their mortality creeping up on them.

They were within just a few feet of the beasts. Simon noticed Cleopas and Charon and nodded and showed a count down on his fingers, "five, four, three, two, one," he mouthed silently and they all swiftly charged the beasts, drawing swords as they ran.

The oxen tried to stampede but had no chance, both were killed in seconds. Simon had dealt the fatal blow to one, Acantha to the other but everyone had made some cut except for Xanthe, who of course didn't have a sword and stayed a couple of paces behind his daddy Charon, watching wide-eyed.

"Let's go get the horses" Jason said after they all caught their breath and regarded their prize.

"Wow, they're massive!" Red exclaimed.

"And tasty" Cleopas replied, making the boy laugh. "You like beef steaks?" Cleopas asked Red.

The boy shrugged. "I don't know but I'm going to give them a good try" he giggled.

They camped near to where they'd taken the animals down, building several large fires to deter any predators and give themselves plenty of light in order to butcher the animals. Since there were two and they were so big, the pack horse that they'd had their own gear on was emptied, the gear being tied onto riding saddles and both pack animals were made ready to carry a carcass each. But due to the weight, they were butchered and anything that was inedible or unusable was discarded then and there to make for easier carrying.

Because the skulls were so heavy, they decided to make their feast of the meat of the heads that evening, the tongues, the flesh and even a little marrow. Sleepy and stuffed, they hacked the horns off to take back and make into drinking vessels, then threw the remains of the heads onto one of the fires and slept comfortably in their cloaks, warmed by the blazes around them and with full, satisfied stomachs.

The next morning they woke early, thankfully the fires were all still smouldering so it didn't take long to stir them up so that they could first meditate and then tie their kill onto the pack animals ready for carrying back to the main camp. As they rode they chattered and cheered, thrilled at getting such a great amount of meat. The pack horses both struggled but by sunset they were already riding along the cliff and were less than half an hour from the main camp.

Clio ran out to meet them, predictably since he'd missed his son. "Oh my word, they look magnificent" he exclaimed, seeing the beasts they'd killed.

Others followed and soon the poor pack horses were being unburdened and the meat was at the fireside being skinned and prepared both for that night's meal and for storage.

Three huge sides of beef were suspended from strong, study tree branches, tied high up to prevent predators from taking them, relying on the cold weather to keep them fresh. The fourth was spitted and roasted, with the aim first of eating as much of it as they could and then drying the rest for future use. "This is amazing, how did you get so much?" Nabis asked.

"The two of them were just stood there. We crept up on them and that was that" Simon replied.

"Their hides are really thick, they'll make fantastic armour and soles for boots when they're tanned" Rhea said. They'd been laid flat in the snow and were currently in the process of freezing solid.

The winter progressed in the same vein, two weeks later another group of hunters went out and this time took a bear. Several weeks after that they had to defend themselves from some wolves, taking their pelts, of course, but not the meat, and as the shortest night passed another ox was slain by Elis, the beast having stumbled within only fifty yards of their camp. Throughout this time, they stayed warm, ate well, sheltered from the weather and relaxed together. Leatherwork, using the previous summers' tanned hides, filled up most of their time, making items ready to sell or trade for food at winter's end. Clio and Hyacinth had searched for a worship site but had found nothing that met with Apollo's approval so, upon praying to and consulting their God, they recognised that worship would have to wait until spring.

Snuggled together, warm, content and comfortable, many couples enjoyed intimate nights together. Cleopas and Red often masturbated onto each other's stomach, enjoying mimicking procreation. Simon and Jason enjoyed anal, finding that despite his new size and strength, Simon still preferred to be dominated by Jason, taking far more pleasure in that than in taking control himself. Ajax and Lykurgos continued to play together but Carme was more relaxed, his pubertal urges finally abating down to those of an adult rather than the more intense desires of an adolescent.

It was one night, quite dark but not that late, when Cleopas and Red were gently stroking each other, both hard, excited and breathing heavily but not yet at the point of no return, when they heard Jason whispering to Simon, the two couples being laid quite close together on the pine bough mattress.

"One second, there's a knot in it...... Okay, give me your wrists...... Now bend your knees" they heard Jason whisper.

Shortly they heard Simon whisper his reply, "not too tight, you'll cut off my circulation. Okay, oh, my, mmmmmm" he finished with a low groan of pleasure.

"What are they doing?" Red whispered in Cleopas' ear.

"It sounds like Simon is being tied up" Cleopas whispered back, grinning.

"Tied up?" Red asked. Cleopas could hear the frown in his voice.

"Yes, some people get a thrill from being made helpless. It seems that Simon is one of those."

Red giggled. "That's weird."

"Not really" Cleopas giggled back, "there's a lot of sexual things that sound weird if you've never tried them but that actually are very enjoyable."

"Like what?"

"Like all sorts of things" Cleopas replied. "Do you trust me?" he asked with a wicked lilt in his voice.

"With that tone of voice, you must be joking!" Red giggled back.

"Come on, let me show you something" Cleopas pleaded.

"Okay, what?" Red asked.

"Sit up" Cleopas whispered. Red did so and perched on Cleopas' chest with his small male prong still hard and throbbing and pointing directly at Cleopas' nose. "Okay, turn around."

"What?"

"Turn around and bring your bottom closer to my face."

"No, that's disgusting!" Red giggled his protests.

"No it's not. Just do it" Cleopas whispered firmly and giggling softly the whole time Red did as he was bidden. Cleopas took hold of his slender, boyish hips, moved the little wrinkled pucker that was his anus a little closer and then gently licked it.

"Oooooo!" Red squealed at the top of his lungs, his overheated penis suddenly gushing its tiny fountain as he orgasmed in response to Cleopas' gentle tongue action.

"Having fun, Red?" Ajax's voice sounded out of the darkness. Several other people were heard snickering but no one else spoke, not even Red, for he was panting heavily and quite unable to form words. He had, of course, collapsed down after climaxing and Cleopas lifted him up, turned him around, laid him down and kissed his nose. "I guess you liked that?" he asked.

Red giggled sleepily. "Oh, my yes" he finally managed to whisper. After a few kisses, he finally managed to make his muscles work enough to finish masturbating Cleopas, who climaxed and then the pair relaxed and slept in a tight embrace.

Predictably enough they weren't the only ones who were stuck together the next morning with the remains of their love making. Simon and Jason were covered and Ajax even had spent seed in his hair. Lykurgos had a fit of the giggles as Ajax heated water after breakfast and began to wash it out. "I'll do this to you tonight if you think it's that funny" Ajax quipped.

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Lykurgos drawled, and both boys snickered.

As winter progressed the horses that had been with foal became larger and larger and clearly would give birth early in the spring. They weren't the only ones carrying young, though, Aeson, of course, was getting bigger and bigger and more and more uncomfortable too. Every morning he still clambered down the icy wagon steps and over to the fireside, wanting to stay mobile for as long as possible. However, one particularly frosty morning saw the family's good feeling and felicity come to an abrupt end as Aeson slipped down the steps.

"ARGH! NO!" came the cries, before dawn, just as the family was rising to meditate. Clio ran to his side, the fire was stirred up and tallow lamps lit as the gestant man, still screaming in agony, was carried to the fireside.

"What's wrong?" Simon asked Jason as he saw his love's ashen face.

"If Aeson's in so much pain it means he's probably knocked his womb" Jason replied, straining to see. In the flickering light it was hard to make out details but Clio's sudden agonised cries told them all they needed to know.

"NO!" Clio wailed in heartbroken grief.

"Shh, son, there's nothing you can do. It is the will of the gods" Elis comforted Clio. Aeson could be heard half-cursing, half sobbing. Simon looked and it seemed that the womb, that before had been a more-or-less spherical object that covered most of Aeson's front, was now all pushed to one side and appeared torn and frayed and Aeson was covered in liquid.

"Jason?" Simon gasped, not sure what he was seeing but before Jason could speak, Hyacinth did. "Let us pray for and name the infant and give him up into Apollo's arms" the elder priest announced to the family in a voice thick with tears.

"Cleopas?" Red asked.

"Father?" Socra asked Marcus.

"Grandfather Tito, I don't understand" little Konon spoke up.

Tito took hold of the small boy and hugged him. "Your baby brother has just died" he said softly, knowing that there was no way to lessen the blow.

"But he wasn't even born yet" Konon whimpered, beginning to cry.

"I know, Konon, I know" Tito said, also crying.

It was a grieving and heartbroken family who gathered around the small pyre they'd built a few yards away from their camp site. A tiny body, barely large enough to fit into the palm of someone's hand, covered in a thick web of grey-white filament and surrounded by the remains of the womb that bore him, was laid on a small piece of soft, white, rabbit skin and placed on top of the wood.

"What was his name to be?" Hyacinth asked Aeson. Through his tears he whispered, "Aphos. He was to be called Aphos."

Hyacinth nodded. He took a flaming torch from Gaia's hand and lit the kindling under the pyre. As the flames rose, Aeson's wails filled the air and he fell to his knees, sobbing.

"Aphos Aesonson, find peace, find life in the arms of Apollo" Hyacinth said once Aeson had quietened a little. "Watched over by the ancestors, grow up and take your first steps in the Elysian fields with joy and without pain. Know that your family loves you and will always remember you."

Red couldn't stop crying, Simon was shocked at the abrupt end to Aeson's gestation, Clio, Demaratos and Konon were numb at the death of the boy who had been destined to be their youngest son and baby brother. Aeson had been given a strong draught of herbs mixed in wine to calm his hysteria and slept, cradled by several family members, who all wanted to comfort him.

No one wanted to eat, no one really wanted to talk. Loved ones comforted each other, sitting quietly together. Several people watched the pyre burn low, and later in the day when it went out and was just a pile of ashes, Gaia shouldered the painful duty of burying them, silent tears falling down his old wizened cheeks as he did so.

"Why did he die, Cleopas?" Red asked as evening fell. He'd felt sick all day and hadn't wanted to eat but on realising he had to have something he'd taken a small piece of dried meat and pressed some into Cleopas' hand for him to chew on also.

"Our gestations are incredibly fragile" Cleopas replied in a halting whisper. "The slightest knock, the slightest bang and that's it."

"I know that, but why is it so fragile?" Red pressed.

Cleopas sighed. "It has to do with our creation, the goddess Hera hated us and wanted us destroyed. Zeus intervened and stopped her but there was a heavy price to pay, that of the safety of the gestating child. We are able to carry children to term but only just and any interference at all can damage our wombs irreparably."

"So when Aeson slipped down the steps, that caused...?" Red confirmed.

Cleopas nodded. "And Hera is probably laughing to herself even as we speak" he said, bitterness at the vindictive goddess clearly evident in his voice.

"She is still a goddess, Cleopas, be respectful" Hyacinth said from nearby. "We all grieve for the child but we still live despite Her best efforts and for that we must be thankful."

Sleep was fitful and most of the family were awake well before dawn. They sat and meditated, even Aeson, who was calmer now, though still weighed down by grief as evidenced by the quiet sobs that occasionally escaped as night time turned into morning.

A simple breakfast of oatmeal porridge was served, no one wanting anything extra, then as everyone sat morosely around the fire, Gaia said, "I think we need to remember the lives we do have and give thanks. I am Gaia, son of Melon and David and I give thanks for my fathers and for my life." He looked at Jocasta, who was the next oldest man in the family.

"I am Jocasta, son of Kirk and Canute, and I give thanks for my fathers and for my life." He looked to his partner, Nabis.

"I am Nabis son of Plato and Libbi, and I give thanks for my fathers and for my life."

One by one the family named themselves and their fathers. Elis went next. "I am Elis, son of Gaia and Adomnan. I love my father Gaia" he continued, nodding to the old man, "and I give thanks for him and for my human father Adomnan and for my life."

"I am Hyacinth, brother to Elis and son of Gaia and Adomnan. I give thanks for my family and my life."

"I am Tito, son of Teleklos and Saul. I give thanks for my fathers and for my life" Tito continued, then the family looked to Alexander.

"You want me to join your thanks? I am human" the old man said.

Gaia nodded. "You are part of our family, as are your parents whether they knew or not. Please?"

"I am Alexander" the old man said gruffly, "son of Alexander and Mary. I give thanks for my mother and my father and my life" he said.

"I am Rhea, son of Larisa and Ogmundr. I give thanks for my fathers and my life."

"I am Demeter, son of Nabis and Jocasta" Demeter then said. "I give thanks for my unborn brothers who have proceeded me into the Elysian fields, and I give thanks for my fathers, my life and the lives of my sons." Nabis looked at his only living son, smiled softly and mouthed, "thank you", wiping a solitary tear away as Marcus began to speak.

"I am Marcus son of Elis and Tito. I give thanks for my fathers and my life."

"I am Kalliope son of Demeter and Rhea, and I give thanks for my fathers and my life."

Mark went next, taking his cue from Alexander. "I am Mark, son of John and Sarah. I give thanks for my mother and father and for my life."

"I am Clio son of Elis and Tito, and I give thanks for my family and my life" Clio continued sadly as he cuddled his lover and children.

"I am Jason, son of Hyacinth and Alexander and I give thanks for both of my wonderful fathers, and for my life" he said, smiling at Hyacinth and Alexander.

"I am Philip," Philip began and then took a deep breath. "I never knew my father but my mother was called Jora. I give thanks for her."

Clio held Aeson close as the grieving man, still in pain from where his ruined womb had had to be cut away, spoke in a shaky voice. "I am Aeson, son of Elpi and Ulric and I give thanks for my fathers, for my sons and for my life." He burst into tears as he finished speaking and Clio, Demaratos and Konon all joined him in a close family hug.

After giving them a few moments to grieve, Simon continued the thanksgiving. "I am Simon" he said upon a nod from Gaia. He closed his eyes for a second and thought about what he wanted to say. "Born of Luke and Elizabeth and adopted son of Apollo. I give thanks for my human parents, my divine adoptive father and for the new life He gave me." Several of the family smiled and nodded to him, and Jason leaned over and kissed him. "Well said" he whispered.

"I am Leander son of Demeter and Rhea, and I give thanks for my fathers and my life" the family thanksgivings continued.

"I am Joseph" Joseph said, "son of Hadrian and Daphne. I give thanks for my mother and father and for my life."

"I am Cleopas son of Hyacinth and Alexander and I give thanks for my fathers and my life."

"I am Charon, son of Pallas and Archaleus and I give thanks for my fathers and my life."

"I am Acantha son of Demeter and Rhea, and I give thanks for my fathers and my life."

"I am Carme, son of Mark and Kalliope and I give thanks for my fathers and my life."

There was a pause after Carme spoke and several pairs of eyes turned to Red. "I don't know anything about my parents, not even their names" he said softly, "but I am Ethelred, mate of Cleopas and I give thanks for whoever it was that gave me my life, and for my lover and my life with my new family."

Cleopas grinned and hugged him. "Thank you" he whispered.

Lykurgos smiled at the smaller yet older adolescent, then spoke. "I am Lykurgos, son of Demeter and Rhea, and I give thanks for my fathers and my life."

"I am Ajax son of Kalliope and Mark and I give thanks for my fathers and my life."

Demaratos sniffled a bit, wiped his nose on his hand and then said in a small voice, "I am Demaratos, son of Clio and Aeson and I give thanks for my fathers and my life."

Marcus smiled at Socra and nodded to prompt the boy to speak and he said, "I am Socra, son of Marcus and Philip and I give thanks for my fathers and my life."

"I am Evander, son of Leander and Joseph and I" he paused, a frown of concentration on his face, "and I want to say thank you for my daddies and my life" he finished after a moment's thought.

Konon looked up at Clio - he was still sandwiched in a cuddle between his fathers and older brother. "I don't know what to say" he whispered.

"Start with your name" Clio said and Konon shouted, "Konon!" in a loud voice.

"And who are your fathers?"

"You and daddy Aeson" he said.

"And how do you feel about having us as your daddies and about being alive?" Clio whispered, barely holding back the tears.

"Happy" Konon said, starting to cry gentle tears once more before being pulled into a tighter hug and comforted by Clio.

"This is Xanthe, and he is the son of Acantha and Charon, and this is Maia, he is the son of Marcus and Philip" Gaia finished the round of thanks that he'd started by speaking on behalf of the two smallest children present, "and we all give thanks for their fathers and their lives and the lives of all our relatives, whether here with us now or far away either in time or in distance."

Everyone sat in silence for a few moments and Gaia spoke again. "We are a family strong in numbers, strong in love, strong in friendship. Our bonds are stronger than steel, our affection is more gentle than mist. Nothing should come between us, nothing should make us forget the gifts we do have and nothing should make us forget who we are. We are descendants of and partners to the ancient men of Sparta!" his voice rose to a shout, "and we still live! We still exist! Despite everything we still are here and will live and survive through generations to come. So I ask you all, who are we?"

"Spartan!" the family cheered, human as well as the sons of Sparta, all taking joy from the rallying cry, which was, of course, what Gaia had intended.

Aeson smiled through his tears. "Thank you" he said. "Thank you all."

The winter plodded on, Aeson and the others slowly getting used to the absence of the gestating baby. They continued what few tasks were necessary, collecting firewood, hunting, working on leather goods and cooking and the weather gradually turned milder with every passing day. As the earliest spring flowers began to peak through the snow, Demeter, Kalliope, Carme and Ajax began to tan the huge collection of hides they had. Five enormous ox hides, several bear skins, dozens of deer, some wolf, a couple of wild sheep and a goat skin were all treated and tanned as the ground began to thaw and spring showed signs of dawning.

The two pregnant mares safely delivered their foals, the young animals wobbling around on spindly legs as they got used to life outside of the womb, feeding on the rich milk of their mothers and growing stronger with each passing day. Xanthe continued with riding lessons, much to the small boy's delight, Marcus stitched a stronger, differently shaped papoose for a bigger, sturdier Maia and with an imperceptible shift the family began to show signs of being ready to move.

Finally, early on a mild spring morning with a faint hint of warmth in the sunshine the camp was dismantled. The tent roof, that had served so well in keeping them warm and dry over the winter, was taken down, the skins on the floor of the mattress were taken up, pack horses were brushed, saddles were fitted and packs and wagons were all loaded with the goods they'd made for sale, the hides they'd tanned, the foodstuffs they had left and their tools and other personal possessions.

Making relatively good time through the well lit spring woodland, they made it to the road by an hour after noon and began to ride in earnest, picking up the same route east towards the crossroads as they'd begun the previous autumn. "What do we do if we're ambushed again?" Simon asked no one in particular.

Hyacinth's answering grin was positively feral. "We fight!" he said. But the road was clear of people, still muddy and wet from the thaw for they'd gotten a head start on many travellers.

Their first night they made a well-constructed camp on a patch of higher ground, away from the wet undergrowth. It was a little breezy but thankfully dry and everyone slept well. The second day saw similarly wet, boggy roads and a forest showing signs of spring, with pale green leaves on the tips of branches and spring flowers dotted everywhere. They stopped that night in a copse of trees, making a quick, rough-cut mattress to keep them off the wet ground as there were no dry spots available.

They continued to ride through the third day, when signs of human habitation began to appear, thinned trees and a better maintained roadway. "We're getting close to the village we came to for supplies last autumn" Nabis told the family when they stopped for lunch.

"Perhaps we'll be able to purchase some more foods" Elis suggested and they rode with greater enthusiasm.

When they reached the village, though, it was no longer the prosperous, open community that Nabis and the others remembered. The animal pens were empty and houses were barricaded shut.

"Hail the village!" Nabis called from the centre of the cluster of houses. "Is there a pestilence or are there bandits nearby? What triggers your barricades?" he hollered.

Presently a face appeared through a crack in the doorway and an older man stepped out and towards them. "Neither, sirs, a large pack of wolves has laid waste to our livestock and killed several people over this last winter. We keep ourselves inside with our remaining animals too, for protection."

"And food? We had hoped to purchase some goods..." Elis left it hanging.

The man shook his head. "We have enough for ourselves but none spare. With the wolves taking several head of cattle and sheep we've not had their meat or milk and have dug into our grain reserves far more than we'd expected. I'm sorry."

"Wolves, you say?" Kalliope asked, riding over to join the conversation. The man nodded.

Kalliope rode back and consulted in whispers with Hyacinth, Demeter, Marcus and others, then went to speak to the man once more. "For the price of, say, assistance in tanning the hides, which we will then keep, of course, and a safe, warm place to sleep with plenty of firewood, my brothers and I will rid your village of these beasts" he offered.

"Sirs, that is too generous, we would forever be in your debt if you could free us from this plague" the man gasped.

"No, it is sufficient. Just speak of us with kindness and provide as my brother has asked and the debt will be settled" Leander gave his assurance.

"Let me consult with the other village elders and we'll find you somewhere to sleep" the man offered, and then ran around the village houses, knocking on several doors. Presently three other older men and an old woman joined the cluster of people. Gaia, Kalliope and Nabis stayed to talk with them but everyone else stayed apart as it was obvious that they, the woman especially, were intimidated by their large stature and obvious heavy weaponry.

After a few moments conversation the woman pointed to a house at the end of the street that was clearly deserted. A man shook his head and pointed first to the Spartan family and then to the big barn at the back of his house. It was clear they were debating accommodation - and whereas the house the woman suggested would be too small for them all, the barn would accommodate them, their horses and wagons comfortably.

The Spartan representatives shook hands with the humans and joined the rest of the family.

"It is agreed" Gaia said. "We have accommodation for one week, together with all the firewood we need but no food. During that time we need to hunt down and kill the wolf pack that has terrorised the village, they number somewhere over ten but it isn't clear quite how far over, these people can't count beyond the number of their fingers. If we kill them within the week we'll then be free to stay for as long as the tanning process takes. If we don't find them, or if they attack again whilst we're here then we need to leave immediately and pay the village with whatever food we can spare."

"Sounds fair, they don't really know us after all" Marcus nodded.

"How are we going to find these wolves?" Jason asked.

Kalliope grinned. "They're obviously attracted to this village, I don't think we need to go find them, just set a little bit of bait and wait for them."

"And what is going to be the bait? These people can't afford another animal and we don't have any spare food, especially if there's a chance we'll have to use our stores to pay these people off" Elis asked.

"Not what, who" Kalliope grinned. "We barricade our animals and our children into this barn, with several warriors for a last defence and then a group of us, heavily armed, spend the night in the forest hereabouts, making lots of noise, cooking some meat and hopefully attracting the wolves right to us."

"We can ask the villagers if they've noticed which direction the pack tends to come from or which direction they return to" Gaia suggested. At that point the village elders came over and beckoned the family to follow them, and led them to the barn. It was comfortable and weather tight and already had a huge stock of firewood in it.

"We have one favour to ask, friends" Gaia spoke to the men.

"Yes?" the spokesman asked.

"Well, two, really. First of all, we need to know if the wolves come from any particular direction when they raid, or which direction they run back to - can any of you tell us?"

He thought for a moment and looked at the other three men and the woman. "They come from the back woods on the other side of the village" the woman said after a few moments, "I'm sure of it. It was old Mary's cow that was taken first, after all" she pointed out, indicating the direction where, presumably, 'old Mary' lived.

The men nodded. "We haven't really gotten close enough to watch them but that side of the village and the livestock pens behind the other row of houses were the first to be attacked" they offered.

"And our second favour," Gaia said once the men had provided their answers. The humans looked at him with curiousness tinged with suspicion.

"We are of a different culture to you and our women do not show themselves in places where people not of their family could see them, and so they ride in our covered wagons. Could we therefore ask that we may barricade the barn doors so that they may get out and walk among us without fear of being seen?"

The old men nodded with relief that that was all they were being asked. "Of course" they agreed.

"We are going to try and draw the wolves out tonight" Kalliope then said. "If you can, please keep everyone inside and don't come out, whatever happens. Come dawn you will know if we've been successful." With nods of agreement and handshakes all around the family were left to make the barn their temporary home and plan the night's hunt.

"The children will all stay here, of course" Gaia replied in response to the general question, "who's doing what?" "As will some of their parents and anyone else who doesn't fancy their chances when tangling with a wolf." Several people snickered. "But since the villagers are sure that the pack is at least ten strong, we need a troop of at least ten of us to meet their attack. I will go, of course" he confirmed, and looked around at everyone else.

"And I" Kalliope sounded his voice.

"I would like to but I probably need to stay with Maia, he will need some milk before he goes to sleep and more upon waking and we don't know how long our bait" Marcus indicated Kalliope and Gaia with a grin, "will need to stay out in the forest."

"No, you need to stay here, but I will go, son" Tito said. "And I" Elis said too.

"I don't want to go, they scared me last time we encountered wolves" Red said softly. "In that case, we will both stay" Cleopas replied.

"Can I go?" Lykurgos asked, his eyes bright. Demeter looked at Rhea. "If you do then me and your father Rhea better come along too to make sure you don't get into mischief" he teased his youngest son. Lykurgos laughed and the three were added to the list of hunters.

Clio was whispering to Aeson. "We would both like to come" he said, "it would be better than sitting in the barn with nothing but our own thoughts for company" he admitted. Both men still grieved for their aborted child, Aphos, and though they had moved on, recognising as all Spartans had to that their gestations were very fragile and not at all guaranteed, they both would readily admit that sitting around with nothing to do except chew over old thoughts was not good for either of them.

"I'll look after Konon" Demaratos offered, hugging his little brother, who smiled up at his older sibling.

"My swords have taken wolves before and like the taste" Hyacinth laughed, "so I'd better join you."

"And Simon and I will both be there" Jason agreed.

"Well, that makes twelve, everyone else would probably be best served staying here" Gaia said. "After all, although we're hunting these wolves we need to protect our family should these villagers not be as friendly as they seem." Everyone nodded at the wisdom of this observation and the twelve made ready slingshots and pebbles, sharpened swords and tightened, or in some cases borrowed, armoured breastplates and arm sheaths.

As evening fell, the main body of the family ate a venison and barley casserole, sat around a small hearth in the barn and the hunters took a haunch of the same deer out to the woodlands that the villagers had indicated earlier in the day, built a very small, low cooking fire and roasted their meat. Six of them sat around the fire, eating and talking and the other six took up positions up in the tree tops, swords in hand, watching the scene play out below.

Lykurgos was one of the watchers in the trees and was the first to notice movement, a large, silvery canine slinking through the spring woodland. He hooted like an owl, the signal they'd agreed.

Everyone went on their guard as they heard the boy's signal. One hoot meant one wolf. Then Lykurgos hooted twice more, then Jason, at the other side, hooted four times.

"Company" Kalliope said softly, standing up from the fire.

Several more hoots indicated that the pack was fourteen strong. The hunters became the hunted as they were drawn to the chatter and the smell of roasted meat, not realising that the men they stalked were waiting with slingshots and blades.

A sudden lunge by the lead wolf, which died on Simon's sword, turned the silent stand-off into a confused melee. The wolves initially hunted meat but within moments were fighting for their lives but to no avail, the beasts were dispatched and their corpses littered the ground.

"Any injuries?" Kalliope called out.

"I'm winded and a little bruised, I think" Gaia gasped.

"I'm scratched up my arm" Aeson called.

"As am I" Simon admitted, a little breathlessly.

"Well, let's get back to the barn shall we?" Demeter said.

"Are we taking the beasts with us?"

"I don't think we need to but if we take half an hour we can skin them now and pin the pelts to the barn wall with daggers so that the villagers see them as dawn breaks" Jason suggested.

Kalliope laughed. "I like your style" he chortled.

They skinned the beasts, ears and all, using the light of a stirred up fire, and then built a pyre for the wolf carcasses - since they were relatively close to the village, simply leaving them to decay wasn't a healthy option.

It was midnight when they finally made it back with their burden of skins. Small daggers pinned them to the barn walls and then they knocked on the door and called for entry.

Cleopas admitted them, looking at their bloodied appearance and Aeson's and Simon's injuries. "Are you okay?" he gasped.

"Yes, we're fine but the wolves aren't take a look at the barn walls" Gaia laughed softly, wanting to share their glee but not wanting to wake the children up.

Cleopas did so and came back in, grinning. "I love it!" he exclaimed.

After a quick wash the hunters stripped, snuggled under cloaks and slept until just before dawn, when they rose, meditated, dressed in clean clothing and went out to meet the villagers. Since the troubles in the village had begun, people didn't venture outside unless absolutely necessary, so they had to go and get the elders and invite them to come and see.

"Are these the wolves?" Gaia asked.

"You got them so fast?" the elder asked, amazed.

"Yes, they didn't put up that much of a fight and there were only ten and four of them" Kalliope explained. "And in case you don't believe us we can take you to the pyre where we burned the carcasses and you can inspect these skins, you will see they are still dirty and bloodied."

The elders recognised the prudence of Kalliope's suggestions and two men went with Jason and Simon to see the pyre whilst the other two men and the woman inspected each of the pelts as the Spartans unpinned them from the barn wall. When they all collected together they consulted in whispers, before turning to the family with warm smiles.

"You have done as we asked, done as we were unable to do and for that you have our eternal thanks" one man said in a halting voice.

"We will rouse our tanner and get him to start work on your pelts this morning" the woman said, "and we like to invite all of you to a gathering to meet everyone."

"That is most gracious of you but you are aware our women folk will not attend?" Gaia asked softly.

The woman shook her head with faint disapproval but said, "yes, I know, and the invitation is still open." She then looked a little sheepish. "It should be a feast in your honour but we don't have the food, I'm sorry" she apologised.

"Do you have any game roundabouts? We could take some deer or goats or boar?" Carme suggested.

"We do but we are not skilled with slingshots and have no bows or swords," one of the men replied, "we've been able to take some rabbits using snares but that's it."

"Why don't some of your young men or boys join us and we'll teach them how to slingshot and perhaps catch supper whilst we're at it?" Charon asked.

"You'd really teach them?" the woman gasped in surprise.

"Of course, why wouldn't we? It's not right that you live surrounded by so rich a forest and practically starve simply because you cannot reach it" Elis smiled at her.

Three village boys joined Carme, Ajax, Lykurgos and Red to learn how to use the slingshot, watched over by Mark and Cleopas. Demeter and Rhea took the wolf skins over to the tanner's yard and Marcus and Philip took Socra on foot and little Maia on Marcus' back to hunt in a different direction, away from the flying pebbles of the adolescents.

It took a couple of hours for the village boys to be able to hit the tree they were aiming for with any accuracy, after which they stopped for a drink from the village well and a small bite to eat, a portion of roast rabbit and dried apple for the Spartans, a mean scrap of hard rye bread for the village boys.

"Come on then, let's make a move and see what we can find" Cleopas suggested and they headed out into the forest beyond the village boundaries.

Initially they were all making too much noise and scared any game off but after a couple of stern warnings and a walk of almost an hour they came across a stag and two does stood beside a pool of water.

The targets were silently divided, the village boys each aiming for a different deer, the Spartan family members aiming two each to the same animals to try and ensure the kill.

A silent countdown from Mark brought nine pebbles flung with power and accuracy at the beasts. Unfortunately some of the stones missed their mark and one doe ran but the stag and the second doe were stunned for long enough for Carme and Cleopas to reach them on foot, draw their swords and slit their throats.

"We did it, we did it!" the village boys exulted. They caught the Spartans' amused smiling and stopped their celebrations. "You helped, of course" one boy offered, causing Lykurgos, Ajax and the others to start laughing.

"We never asked your names before" Ajax said once the deer had been dressed and they were carrying them, one on each leg, back to the village.

"I'm Hardwin, this is Pipin and Clovis" the boy indicated his companions.

"I'm Ajax" he introduced himself. "The ones carrying the stag are Cleopas, Mark, Carme and Lykurgos. Red is the one walking by himself."

"Nice to meet you" Hardwin smiled.

Meanwhile Marcus, Philip and Socra had come across a family of boars and between them had caught the boar, the largest piglet of the litter and the smallest runt on their swords. The sow and the other young had all run into the undergrowth. Socra was understandably proud that he'd killed the littlest piglet all by himself and carried it with pride.

When the villagers saw the wealth of meat that had been harvested in just one morning they were astonished and thrilled and set about building a huge fire and several spits to roast the meat. Socra's tiny piglet, though, was kept separate, cooked on a smaller fire by Philip for the boy himself so that he could truly enjoy and savour it.

"Why's the little runty piglet being cooked alone?" a tired looking woman asked, seeing Philip and Socra sat beside the smaller fire.

Socra grinned. "Because I killed it all by myself and I want to cook it and eat it by myself too!" he laughed.

The woman looked at Philip. "Your boys are skilled with the blades they carry?" she asked, seemingly surprised. "I'd assumed they were just for show or something" she said.

Philip frowned. "No, Socra is as much a swordsman as the adults in our family" he told her with a slight point to his voice. "We live a nomadic life and value the skills of a warrior as much as the skills of travellers and hunters. Socra needs to learn all of these skills and this piglet was the first creature to die on his sword. He therefore is celebrating this day by cooking and eating his kill and he alone will choose who he shares it with" he explained in his softly spoken voice.

"I'm not criticising or meaning to be disrespectful anything" she quickly replied, "it's just? I couldn't imagine that my son would ever do such a thing, he never sticks at anything long enough, he is totally unable to concentrate and drives me to distraction" she explained to Philip's querying expression.

"May I meet him? I'd like to play whilst my piglet cooks and maybe he can have a taste" Socra suggested.

The lady laughed. "Audo, come here, boy" she called, and a small boy with bright blonde hair looked up and ran over at top speed. "What is it mother?" he asked breathlessly, hopping from one foot to the other as if he could never keep still for more than a second.

"I'd like you to meet Socra" she said, "he killed this piglet he's cooking, all by himself using his own sword" she said. It seemed as if she was trying to impress the boy and it worked.

"Wow, did you really?" he gushed.

Socra, who had been watching Philip turn the spit, turned around to look at the boy properly for the first time.

"Yes, it was really excit?..oh, hello" Socra said, starting out loud and boastful but finishing softly and shyly, blushing slightly as he met the boy's eyes.

The boy just stared at Socra. "Your eyes look really shiny" he said in the end, a tiny whispering voice. He was suddenly completely still and motionless, except for his breathing which seemed to have become slightly deeper than before.

"So do yours" Socra replied.

"Are you okay, Audo?" his mother asked, frowning. "Audo, are you listening to me?" she asked when the child ignored her.

"What? Oh, sorry mother, it's just..." Audo said, not wanting to stop looking at Socra.

"Are you two going to go and play?" Philip asked, hoping that he wasn't seeing what he thought he was seeing. "I'll look after your piglet, Socra, it needs at least another twenty minutes."

"Thank you?Philip" Socra said, having to think momentarily and stop himself from calling his siring father, "father." He turned to Audo and said, "why don't you show me around and later after we've eaten we can play ball or something?"

The two boys ran off together, going less than ten paces before reaching out to grasp each other's hands. Philip looked at Audo's mother. "Boys" he smiled, trying to shrug off their actions. "So, what's your name, we were never introduced. I'm Philip" he said.

"Brunhild" the woman offered. She looked at Audo and Socra as they ran down the street together and sighed. "I worry about him, you know? My husband was killed when a tree he was cutting fell on him back when Audo was still nursing so he is my only son and I am a widow. I think he misses a man's influence in his life but I am already on the shelf and few would consider a widow with a child as a suitable wife." She suddenly looked at Philip with an acquisitive stare. "Say, are you married?" she asked.

Philip suppressed a snicker. "Our culture does not believe in marriage, at least not in the traditional sense. The mother of my son is the mother of one of my brother's children also. She and our other women are in your barn, as we mentioned to your elders, they do not venture outside if there is any possibility they could be seen by people not in our family. Of course, if you were willing to be shared and wouldn't mind being separated from your current friends and neighbours..." he left the thought open and as he knew would happen the woman gulped and blanched.

"Oh my, I didn't realise" she stuttered, "no Christian woman would..." she paused.

"No, but we are not Christians" Philip replied calmly.

The woman shook her head and sighed. "You know, the nicest men always turn out to be totally unsuitable husbands." She laughed. "My mother warned me of that, you know."

Philip laughed too. "I'm sure something will work out for you" he said.

Brunhild looked towards where a cask of ale had been broached. "Would you like a drink?" she asked.

"As long as there are no matrimonial proposals attached that would be nice, thank you" Philip chuckled as he gave the spitted piglet another turn. Brunhild blushed, stood and brought Philip a tankard of ale, after which she made her apologies and excused herself. Once she was safely out of earshot Marcus joined his lover.

"What did she want?" he asked.

"Matrimony" Philip replied with a smirk. Marcus let out a bellow of laughter. "What did you tell her?"

"The usual about our women being shared and being forbidden to mix with others - it worked as well as normal in convincing her I was not a suitable match" Philip grinned. "Anyway, enough about her, I'm a little worried about something" he said, sobering up.

"Oh, what?" Marcus asked. Philip gave the piglet another turn and then said, "Socra. Look how close he is to that village boy."

Marcus did so, noting that the pair were sat closely together, fingers entwined, as they laughed and giggled about something. Philip quickly filled him in with Socra's reaction when they'd met and Marcus swallowed nervously. "We'd better keep a close eye, then" he agreed.

Socra and Audo were inseparable that afternoon and for many days that followed. The whole family agreed with Philip's assessment that it was the young boy's partner bond, but none of them quite knew how to broach the subject of the young human leaving his mother and joining them once they journeyed on from the village.

During the time it took the tanner to prepare the wolf pelts for them, Hardwin, Pipin and Clovis had more tutelage in and got increasingly proficient in the use of a slingshot and were able to take a deer without any assistance. The Spartans mostly kept to themselves in the barn though some explored the forest and wilderness around the village, looking for game, for resources, and in Hyacinth and Clio's case, looking for a worship and sacrifice site, though they didn't find one.

Socra and Audo played many games but, unbeknownst to the adults, Socra had also begun to teach the human boy some sword skills. He knew he wasn't permitted to draw his own sword except when his fathers said he could so he chose two straight, strong sticks and began teaching Audo some of the moves that he remembered.

It was the day before they were due to leave, when the tanner had advised them that the pelts were almost dry, almost ready, when Socra persuaded his new friend to join him in a demonstration for the village. Audo of course didn't need much persuasion, readily agreeing to anything that Socra suggested and regularly watching him with rapt fascination.

"Father Marcus, could you get some of the family and some of the villagers together?" Socra asked that afternoon.

"I could but why?"Marcus asked. He was sat in the sunshine at the barn door, half-dozing, yet alert for any cry from, or movement by, Maia as the small boy slept just an arm length away from where his birth father sat, laid on soft lambskin.

"Audo and I have been practising something and we want to show" Socra said earnestly.

"Practising what?" Marcus asked suspiciously, hoping that if the demonstration his young son planned would be risqué or dangerous he could head it off before the outset.

"I wanted it to be a secret" Socra pouted.

"I understand that" Marcus smiled, pulling the boy onto his lap, "but I want to be certain that whatever you're planning won't upset or offend anyone. I won't tell the others, I promise. Now, please?"

"Okay" Socra relented, "I found two strong sticks and I've been teaching Audo sword craft" he whispered in his birth father's ear.

"Oh!" Marcus smiled. "I will certainly gather up some people to watch. You like Audo's company, don't you?" he asked, checking out what his little boy really thought.

"Oh, yes" Socra nodded enthusiastically. "He's a really good friend and so funny and I love playing with him, we play ball and chase and climbing and everything!" he gushed.

"Well go and get him and your sticks and I'll get a group together out near the well."

It didn't take long for Marcus to get Brunhild, Audo's mother, several of the other villagers including the elders and Hardwin, Pipin and Clovis and a number of the Spartan family together by the well. The two boys were stood together, sticks in hand.

"Socra and Audo have got something to show you" Marcus said by way of introduction. He turned to them. "Off you go, boys" he urged.

Socra and Audo moved so that they stood facing each other. "Go on, like I showed you" Socra said, putting the stick into his right hand. Audo did the same and then, like a choreographed dance, they moved the stick so that it sat on their left hip, as if in a scabbard.

With a fluid movement they drew the stick up as if they were both drawing a sword from its sheath, and held it pointing upright, carefully presenting it to each other. Then they began the series of set forms that all the Spartans recognised as being the basic teaching pattern they used to train their children. A specific type of attack and its defence, first Socra defending and Audo attacking, then the same movement in reverse, then the second attack and defence, each doing both movements in sequence, then the third, then finally the fourth. They finished by presenting their sticks as if they were swords, made a small bow to each other and then moved their hands so that the stick appeared to be back in its invisible 'scabbard.'

"That's all I could remember properly from my lessons, I kept messing the fifth sequence up" Socra said shyly once they'd finished and they'd both turned to the crowd.

"How long have you been learning, Audo?" Brunhild asked, amazement in her voice.

"Just a few days, but we had to practise really hard so we didn't stop much, mother" he explained earnestly.

"You've never concentrated on anything for more than a few moments before, how did you work at something for days on end?" his mother gasped.

Audo shrugged. "Socra said he'd like to teach me and I really enjoyed learning from him" he explained with a small smile.

"You are a very skilled boy, Socra" one of the elders complemented him.

"And a very patient one too" an old woman laughed, having had experience of trying to teach Audo and deal with his hyperactivity before.

The conversations and complements continued for some time and as they did, Brunhild slowly sidled over to Philip, who was stood to one side of the crowd, proudly watching his son.

"Excuse me" she said softly.

"Yes?" Philip asked, wondering what she wanted.

"I've been watching my boy with Socra and I've never known him so patient, so attentive, so easy going" she began. "And I wondered..." she paused and sighed. "I'm not a very good mother, I'm certainly not a good role model for a boy as energetic and as much hard work as Audo is. I wondered, if there was any possibility that he could..." she paused again, her eyes full of her unspoken question.

"You love your son very much, Brunhild, I can see that" Philip told her softly, "but you know that you cannot give him the discipline and the father figure that he needs. Is that what you are trying to say?"

"No!" she exclaimed, then cleared her throat. "Yes" she whispered, then said, "well, sort of. I just don't understand him, I cannot help him. I can see him becoming more and more boisterous, more and more mischievous and he'll end up having a whipping in the village square because his pranks will one day go too far. I don't want to see him suffer like that. I'd prefer to give him away than..." she put her hand over her mouth, mortified that she'd finally admitted what was on her mind.

"You want him to go with us, don't you?" Philip asked. With tears in her eyes, she nodded.

"You know we will not take him without his and your village elders' consent?" he asked. "We want to be able to ride back this way, we want him to know his mother and visit sometimes and we want to be welcomed when we come back with him. I will speak with my family, you should speak to your son and your elders."

"As soon as the commotion over their sword demonstration is over I will start talking to people" she assured Philip.

"As will I" he replied.

With surprisingly little fuss it was agreed by the village, and by the boy himself, that Audo would travel with the Spartans the following day. Audo couldn't bear the thought of not seeing Socra again and the villagers seemed happy to be getting such a difficult child off their hands. Brunhild, being Audo's mother, was the only one who was genuinely upset but the Spartans all vowed that she would see her son again, already planning to ride the same route no later than two summers hence.

The Spartan family, of course, knew that it was Socra's partner bond but also knew that for the next few years, until they both hit puberty, they would be more like brothers and friends to each other than mates and lovers, but that was perfectly okay in their culture - love, and the partner bond, knew no bounds when bringing mates together. Socra of course didn't really understand the precise details of his link to Audo but didn't really care as long as his buddy and friend could come with them - he was only six summers old, after all, and Audo was only about a year older - his mother wasn't exactly sure as she was illiterate and unschooled in numbers and unable to count much past five.

Carme, though, was a little sour. "How come he's bonded when he's barely six summers old and I'm fifteen and there's no signs of my mate!" he grouched.

"Be nice, son, we don't choose when we bond, we don't have any control over it at all, remember? Apollo's divine will and guidance draws mates together when the time is right. Just trust in Apollo, and don't be bitter towards Socra, it doesn't become you" Kalliope counselled his eldest son.

"Yes, father Kalliope," Carme said softly, feeling slightly abashed.

The next morning they packed, sealed their wagons, helped Audo onto one of the wagon seats next to Philip, who was steering for that leg of the trip, and with a final hug and kiss from his mother and a few stray tears from the boy himself, they moved out to continue their journey. That night they camped by the roadside, near a clear, cold, relatively fast moving river, and since they'd not been able to bathe very well using the well water in the village they all took the opportunity to have a thorough wash.

Socra had ridden all day beside the wagon and he and Audo had chattered incessantly. However Audo had not asked many questions, not really considered much about his new companions' lifestyles, until they pulled up for the night.

First of all, he was shocked that he too was expected to bathe, his hair would be washed and combed and that he would be given leather garments and a loincloth to wear to replace his homespun woollen gown. Secondly, he was totally stunned when he realised first that the wagons had nothing more in them than spare supplies and certainly weren't the home of any women and that every single one of his companions were indeed male.

He stared as everyone began to disrobe and Red saw the boy's confusion. Recognising the reaction as being the very same one that Red himself had had when he first joined the family he called out, "yes, we are all men. No, there are no women, and yes, you are going to have a wash".

"How do you know what I'm thinking?" Audo spluttered.

Red grinned. "I was the same when I joined the family last summer. Come on" he urged, "the quicker you get undressed and in the water and clean, the quicker you can sit by the fire and eat."

Audo forgot his curiosity as the promise of food caught his imagination. Red urged him to finish stripping and helped him into the river. "It's cold!" he yelled as he finally got wet.

Socra was already in the river, completely clean and was swimming and messing about. He stood up in the shallows, his shoulder-length, dark hair plastered to his head and neck. "Course it's cold, it's a river" he giggled.

"Is your hair clean Socra?" Marcus called from nearby, where he was bathing Maia at the edge of the river. Maia, surprisingly for such a small boy, didn't mind the cold water and splashed happily.

Socra turned his head over and swilled his fingers through his locks as he dunked the crown of his head in the water. "More or less" he called after he flicked it back over, showering everyone nearby.

"Socra!" Audo half-laughed, half complained, wiping drips from his face.

Within the hour everyone was thoroughly clean, in fresh loincloths and dirty laundry had been washed. A large pot of pork casserole was on the fire and bread cakes were rising, ready to be flash-baked on the hot stones when the casserole was finished cooking.

Audo, in the same fashion as many small boys, didn't seem to care that he was almost naked. Indeed, back in the village his mother used to scream at him for not covering up so he found it nice that he could sit with just the skimpy loincloth on without anyone yelling at him. He found it amusing that the other boys and the men were all dressed the same way. Only the man who seemed to his young, untutored eyes to be the oldest, Alexander, put more layers of clothing on, adding a thick tunic, leggings and cloak. "I'm not as young as I was, I need more insulation" he complained as he wrapped up.

After a good, tasty meal, Audo found himself almost nodding with weariness. Though he'd spent much of the day sitting on the wagon seat, the combination of new experiences, a cold bath and a hot meal had taken its toll on the small boy, and it was later than his usual bedtime anyhow. Helped by Elis and Tito, he, Socra and the other small boys and toddlers all climbed or were put into one of the wagons, were covered by warm, soft skins and were soon fast asleep.

The following day they rose early to meditate. Audo initially didn't understand what was going on and tried to talk to Socra, until Philip had a quiet word and explained that they needed silence. The boy fidgeted a little but did as Philip asked, sitting on the steps of the wagon wrapped in the sheepskin he'd slept under until dawn broke, the bell was rung and everyone started to find food to break their fast.

The family planned for meeting other travellers on the road that day, people heading to and from the crossroads, and so packed accordingly, tying the covers tightly over the wagons. "Why do you cover the wagons?" Audo asked Cleopas as he watched him doing up the final set of laces. "There's nothing in them to see except leather and food." He was now dressed as the other boys were, in a deerhide tunic and leggings, the only difference being his lack of boots or sword belt.

"So that we can lie and pretend to have women with us" Cleopas answered, and as small boys often do, the half-explanation was accepted in place of a complete one and he shrugged and ran off to find Socra and his new friends, Evander and Demaratos.

"We're leaving in an hour, don't go far" Leander called as they began a game of chase through the trees.

"We won't" four small voices called back as they continued their game.

"I think he'll make the easiest transition into our family of any human" Hyacinth observed to Alexander as he watched the four small boys at play, still lounging by the fireside with his lover as they broke their fast in a much more leisurely way than the children had.

Alexander nodded. "Young children take things in their stride that adults have to question. People say that children are pestersome with queries but adults are always worse" he chuckled.

"Do you remember when we met, all those questions you asked me, over and over and over again?" Hyacinth said with a small, slightly teasing smile.

Alexander chuckled a gruff, wheezing laugh. "Oh, yes, I remember" he said, then leaned onto Hyacinth's broad chest, still youthful and strong. "And we had a lot of fun as you showed me the answers, didn't we?" he smiled as Hyacinth looped arms over his shoulders and cuddled him close.

Presently he became aware that Hyacinth was sniffling. "What's with the tears?" he asked softly.

"Just thinking of the life we've lived together since that day" Hyacinth said softly, leaning down to kiss his ear gently.

"Life we're living together, you mean" Alexander corrected. "I'm not dead yet" he said with wry amusement.

"Sorry, my love, I'm just feeling maudlin" Hyacinth admitted.

"I can tell" Alexander allowed. He lifted himself up and turned around, then reached over and wiped a stray tear off his lover's cheek with a rough, callused fingertip. "I will always love you, you know? Even after I'm gone my love will survive, it's a feeling far too strong to die with this old body" he said softly.

"And I will always love you too" Hyacinth whispered back as another tear escaped.

Alexander took him into his arms. "Shh, plenty of time for grieving after I'm dead. You want to plan on going to find somewhere private tonight so you can give me some more answers to my questions?" he asked with a lecherous gleam in his eye.

Hyacinth suddenly saw the funny side and began to laugh as he stood, carefully helped Alexander to his feet and the pair went to saddle their horses. "It's a date" he whispered.

The journey that day was much the same as the day before, with light chatter, warm spring sunshine and slightly more wary outriders, watching more carefully with every passing mile as they got closer to the crossroads.

The sun was sinking into the west behind them and cast long shadows as they began to look for somewhere to spend the night. They looked around and noticed in the distance that torches had been lit, casting their glow into the evening.

"The crossroads" Gaia announced. "But it will be full dark by the time we get there, it would make sense to pull back into these woods a ways and approach them in daylight tomorrow, they could be hostile, after all."

The family agreed and turned off the road into the woods, finding a stream as a water source and setting up their camp near to it. The night was similar to their previous one except that the water was suitable for washing but not deep enough for bathing. A welcome meal was cooked and shared and Audo followed the other boys into the wagon to sleep, he and Socra lying either side of little Maia.

The family again rose early and before they got out of the wagon, Audo took the opportunity to have a brief whispered conversation with Socra. "Why do you start your day like this?" he asked.

"We just do" Socra shrugged. "It's supposed to help us be less angry and stuff" he explained, trying to remember his own fathers' explanations.

Audo nodded. "Oh, okay" he said and followed the other children out, Marcus of course lifting Maia free and Acantha helping Xanthe down the steps.

They meditated until dawn and ate porridge mixed with dried venison for breakfast. "I hope we can buy plenty of supplies at the crossroads, we're getting short of most things except meat" Leander said.

"We've got plenty of leather goods we can sell, at least, I hope we have a good market for them" and we can really stock up" Tito replied.

"I think anything we do depends on whether there's a church presence there" Jason said.

"I'm not sure" Simon replied. "After all, the church inquisitor killed me" he said, then chuckled. "That sounds really strange, saying that" he chortled. "Anyway, he committed what would be considered a cardinal sin so if he's anything like the other senior church men I've met in the past he'll act in one of two ways, he'll either have repented and entered a silent order in a closed monastery or he will have bribed people and paid for their silence. Either way he's not going to want to draw attention either to himself or to us."

"And let us go total free and unmolested?" Rhea scoffed. "After the way he seemed eager to arrest us all, I'll believe that when I see it." Demeter took his lover's hand and nodded his agreement.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough" Gaia said. He turned to Nabis. "Did you finish changing the saddle last night?"

Nabis smiled over at Audo, where he was sat laughing with Socra, Demartos and Evander. "I've got about an hour's work left on it" he said.

"Well, we'll stay here until it's done, and perhaps, Marcus, you might want to see if Socra's old boots fit Audo, he'll need his feet covered if he's to learn to ride."

"I'm going to ride? And get boots?" Audo gasped. "Wow!"

Socra giggled. "Course you are, and when we next make some swords I'm sure someone will make a small one for you and then you'll be able to learn to fight properly too" he explained with an earnest smile.

"Wow!" Audo gushed again.

It was an hour before noon when the newly adjusted saddle was made available for Audo to try. Socra's old boots from the previous year did fit him well enough, and with a lift from Philip he was sat on the pony and the family rode out.

Philip and Socra rode either side of Audo, giving him tips and helping him get used to being on the beast - Marcus would have too but he, along with baby Maia in his sling, were driving a wagon that morning - Alexander was driving the second, as usual, finding the wagon seat less difficult on his arthritic joints than being on horseback.

They got to the crossroads just as the lunch hour fell and all eagerly bought roasted ham knuckles from a street vendor, nibbling the sweet, salty flesh off the bones as they led their horses and vehicles on foot. They found an empty plot just at the north side of the crossroads, tethered their horses alongside a spot with a disused fire pit, laid a fire and set up their camp before laying some skins down on the dirt nearest the roadway and displaying their wares.

Because the area was lightly policed at best the Spartans provided their own, very visible security, all of them making it plain that they were ready, willing and able to use the swords they carried. Jason decided it would be a good time to "teach" the younger boys some more sword skills and they practised in the background as Nabis, Jocasta, Elis and Tito manned the stall and Gaia, Kalliope and Mark went to purchase some food stocks with the money they already had. Audo too practised some sword skills but with a stick rather than a real weapon.

It was clear that some of the crowds were of a mind to cause trouble but upon watching the youngest boys in training thought better of it. One man stood and stared at Konon. "How old is the youngster?" he asked after a long while.

"Three summers" Jocasta replied with a faint smile.

"Three...? Is that all? He's so skilled" the observing man breathed, obviously astonished.

"As are we all" Jocasta replied, placing his hand lightly on the hilt of his own sword for emphasis. Several other men heard the exchange and saw Konon's practise routines and decided against any attempts to molest this strange, warrior family.

They sold many leather goods and made plenty of money that afternoon, as the quality of their work was high and no one else was trading in leather at that time. Kalliope, Mark and Gaia brought some fresh spring vegetables, eggs and oil over that they'd purchased from several different farmers and traders and made some very tasty omelettes for a late lunch. Later they made several sorties to purchase larger stocks of items, particularly the oil, from an olive farmer who'd travelled from the south, which they'd all missed the previous winter, as well as several carafes of olive fruits pickled in sour wine, something they all enjoyed.

That evening many of the crowds became rowdy and bawdy, having drunk a little too much and relaxed a little too far, so the Spartans voted for a night watch, to ensure that their possessions, their horses and most importantly, their children, were safe. Cleopas and Red took the first watch and Acantha and Charon the second. None of the couples played around or made love either, being in mixed company and uneasy about how it would be taken if they were heard or seen.

The following morning they rose earlier than everyone except for a couple of farmers who had made their purchases late the previous day and wanted to make an early start for their homes. They meditated, broke their fast on crisp bacon, boiled eggs and fresh bread, then some set their stall out for another day's trading, the children and adolescents all chose to continue practising sword skills, Kalliope and Mark agreed to resume their buying and Gaia, Demeter and Jocasta met out by the horses to inspect the animals and discuss an interesting proposal.

"The two foals that were born will take a great deal of training to become riding horses" Demeter pointed out, "and as of yet they aren't weaned so we can't separate them from their mothers. And also we have a couple of older horses that are struggling, particularly this one" he patted the nose of the beast he stood by, "and this one" he patted another stood a few paces away. "I'd like to propose we sell the six, the two foals, their mothers and these two, and buy six, or maybe even eight, new animals from the horse trader. I went to inspect his stock yesterday and I have to say I'm quite impressed" he explained.

"That'd also replace the pack animals that Simon, Red, Audo and Xanthe now ride" Jocasta said, "and give us some scope for a mount for Maia, he's going to want his own pony by the end of this summer I'm sure."

"Will everyone agree? I know Demaratos has become quite attached to one of the foals" Gaia asked.

"Perhaps if we let him pick one of the new animals for his own, that might change his mind?" Demeter said. "His own pony is tiny, it'd be perfect for Maia to learn to ride, Demaratos is heading into his eighth summer, he needs a bigger mount."

"Why don't we run it past him, and the rest of the family, then go see what we can come up with?" Jocasta suggested.

After several hours' worth of discussions, everyone agreed to the proposal, even Demaratos. Jocasta, Gaia and Demeter approached the trader and by evening, thanks to some good negotiations and a much lighter coin purse they had eight good animals, including a very fine stallion, to add to their possessions.

"It's a good job our old stallion was one of the beasts we sold, this fine fellow would have fought rings around him" Rhea said as he admired the animal - the rest of their beasts were either geldings or mares.

"That's the main reason we got him" Jocasta explained, "that and he is extremely fine looking."

Rhea laughed. "You got yourself a new ride?" he asked.

"Not a chance, he's mine" Gaia interrupted with a chuckle.

They stayed a second night at the crossroads, finding that despite its rough, unpoliced atmosphere it was relatively safe and as secure as anywhere could be when full of humans. It was quite lawless, though, with several people running taverns from their tents and one enterprising fellow operating a bawdy house not far from where the Spartans had set up their camp, with a couple of dozen of women and girls prostituting themselves to the various men who passed by. Obviously, and much to the women's consternation, there were no takers of their wares from the Spartan family. Gaia, Elis and the others found the women's efforts funny, though the girls did get a little catty when the Spartans laughed in their faces.

The best thing about the crossroads was that there were no churchmen in sight, making it a comfortable atmosphere for the Spartans despite the ladies of the night next door. Simon predicted that the local bishops must have deemed the place to be far too tempting for the young, celibate monks and priests who were the most usual missionaries into new areas. "Either that or the fellows who seem to live in the bawdy house were the most recent missionaries" he laughed.

"Brings a new meaning to the phrase 'missionary position' doesn't it?" Philip sniggered.

"Eww, I can't bear thinking about it" Simon mock-shuddered before he and everyone else collapsed in laughter.

The following day saw the last of their wares sold, and they loaded up their pack train with as much as they could carry - food, new tools, several pounds of metal ingots, the remains of their coinage and various other items that caught their eye or their interest. Since it was the start of summer and the road was clear, sparsely populated, and quite simply, there for the exploring, they then headed north.

"Where do we ride to?" Audo asked Simon as they headed out, having gotten to know him and Jason quite well during their sword lessons.

"Wherever the road takes us" Simon smiled.

"You mean we could go anywhere?" he asked with the amazement of the young.

"Anywhere in the whole world" Simon replied, waving his hand expansively.

"Wow!" Audo grinned.

Over the next few weeks, as spring developed into early summer, they travelled, first north, then in a faintly western direction, using roads and cart tracks where they found them, following animal paths and breaking a trail for their wagons where routes petered out. Audo settled in to life with the family so completely that by midsummer even his mother would have been hard pressed to tell that he hadn't lived with them his entire life. He had, as youngsters often do, easily picked up the polyglot language his peers mostly spoke, Socra lapsing back into the Greek-Latin-Germanic mix he usually used only a few days after Audo's arrival, having become both bored and tired of having to concentrate and speak only in Germanic. He'd also become accustomed to the male-male bond mates that he lived with and no longer questioned or felt shocked when seeing or hearing people - usually Ajax and Lykurgos - having sex together.

After a month on the road they'd settled by a small lake surrounded by woodlands whilst they tanned some freshly gathered hides and did some smithing work. As well as a heap of buckles for their leather goods and some replacement tools and knives, a sword was made for Audo, along with a new one for Red, on which both the boy and Cleopas did some work. Acantha and Charon made a tiny dagger to give to Xanthe when the time was right, but for the moment they stored it safely as he wasn't old enough to want or need his own weapon - that would come at the end of the summer at the earliest. Marcus and Philip also made one for Maia, though he wouldn't get his for at least a full year, maybe more. But good, quiet spots for them to stop and set up a forge were rare and they decided to take advantage of it whilst they could.

They had located a worship site only a week after leaving the crossroads and a large number of the Spartan family members drew together to pray, Simon joining them for his first time. Since he'd known about the sacrificial nature of the worship it wasn't as much of a shock as it could have been and he took to praying to Apollo with ease. After that, at least once a fortnight, Hyacinth and Clio were drawn by their god to a suitable site and offered sacrifices to Apollo frequently. Red noticed but said nothing, not really wanting to be involved or have any more information about the strange deity and Audo, though he initially felt excluded because his friends could go and he couldn't, felt better once Socra, Evander and Demaratos all agreed that at least one of them would always stay behind to play.

It was a sultry summer night about a week after midsummer and everyone was sleeping uncovered, completely naked and lying on thin hides simply to protect them from insects in the leaf litter of the forest clearing where they slept. The fire had been dampened to reduce the heat as soon as supper had been cooked and everyone sweated the night away.

Cleopas and Red had made love earlier that night, using mouths and roving tongues to lick each other's dripping sweat as much as to suck their dripping penises. Sated and satisfied they'd fallen asleep, lying next to each other but not quite touching due to the heat and humidity. However, in the early hours of the morning the temperature had dropped slightly and Red, feeling cold, became half-awake and decided to cuddle into Cleopas to warm himself up.

He ran his hand over the warm, slightly clammy torso, enjoying the feel of the muscles ... and simultaneously as he sleepily registered something oddly diaphanous in the region of his mate's navel, Cleopas let out a howl of agony.

"ARGH!" he yelled, waking everyone up and startling Red so much that he very nearly wet himself.

"What? What's happened? Cleopas?" came a chorus of sleepy, yet worried, enquiries.

"I don't know, I need a lamp" Cleopas panted, trying not to scream again from the pain coming from his stomach.

Gaia poked the faintly glowing coals and lit a tallow lamp from them. "What is it?" Cleopas asked, as Gaia held the lamp close and looked. His old face split into a grin as he looked and saw something unmistakable - Cleopas was emergent.

Dawn wasn't long in coming, since they were quite a ways north and it was the summer time, though at that time of year, for health reasons, they postponed their meditation until after sunrise - they simply wouldn't get enough sleep if they rose whilst it was still dark. So they all tried to relax and sleep for another hour, though Cleopas was in some considerable discomfort and Red was both amazed and excited. After the sun had come up they meditated for the required time, after which Red finally managed to inspect his mate's navel.

In all their love making the couple had, more than anything else, mimicked procreation, both finding it strangely satisfying and thrilling. This, Gaia and Rhea both surmised, was the likely reason Cleopas had emerged so quickly - he and Red hadn't been sexual together for even a year yet, less time than Cleopas' older brother, Jason, had been with Simon.

"So what are you going to do?" Acantha asked.

"I couldn't ask Red to father a son now, he is but a child" Cleopas began.

"A child who is man enough to make you emerge and who is in his thirteenth summer already" Elis pointed out.

Cleopas sighed and shook his head. "I didn't mean..." he began, then stopped. "I don't know what I mean. I am ready to be a father, but as for Red? This will be his decision, we will talk it over together."

Red took Cleopas' hand. "I know how important children are to you" he said softly. "And how rare emergence is, so, if you are willing, if you promise me that you can accept being helpless from this moment forward until our son is born, if you promise that you're not going to try and play the hero" he paused and smiled, "...and if you truly can accept that I am old enough to father a child then I am willing to try." He looked at Cleopas with soft eyes and a calm expression. "I am ready if you are" he said.

"No one else could extract such promises, but for you, my little mate" Cleopas smiled back, "yes I will promise. We have six days before I will be fully emerged, then" he grinned a sudden lecherous grin and wiggled his eyebrows, "we can see if practise truly does make perfect." Everyone around laughed and joked as a good breakfast was prepared.

"Excited, Red?" Demeter asked as they rode that morning.

"More nervous actually" Red admitted. "I mean, I'm so much younger than Cleopas, what if I make a mess of things?"

"You won't, you'll be fine" Demeter smiled. "Did you realise that I was a very young father myself?"

"Oh?" Red replied. Demeter nodded and Rhea grinned.

"We met in the winter after Demeter's tenth summer and my thirteenth" Rhea explained. "And though he was young Demeter was already able to produce seed and since we were both adolescents we spent every moment we could having sex. By the following autumn we'd had sex enough to become emergent."

"Our fathers were all riding together at the time since we were both young and I remember Larisa making me swear I wouldn't fertilise Rhea" Demeter laughed. "I happily swore and father Nabis assumed that that meant Rhea wouldn't fertilise me either. But no one had made us promise that so as far as we were concerned we had licence to have a child, as long as I bore him" Demeter explained with a twinkle in his eye.

"It was warm despite it being autumn already, we were quite a long ways south, near the sea" Rhea took up the story again, "and one evening, which just so happened to be the night our filaments were at their most stretched and we were at our most fertile, everyone decided they wanted to go swimming to cool off. We didn't, of course, making the excuse that the water would hurt our filaments but that wasn't the only reason we wanted to sit it out."

"We crept away and sat down and Rhea was so overheated and excited that he climaxed just seconds after he got into place" Demeter then chuckled. "And everyone heard my yelps and came running but by then it was too late, my egg was fertilised and the following summer Kalliope was born. I was twelve and Rhea was fifteen."

"Wow" Red laughed, "that's some story! Did you do okay as parents?"

"Why don't you ask Kalliope?" Demeter chuckled, "I reckon we did okay but I guess it's his vote that counts."

Kalliope, having heard his name mentioned, rode up and asked what they were discussing and Demeter explained to his eldest son that he'd told Red about being a teenage parent.

"And you're going to do the same of course" Kalliope smiled.

"Did you mind, do you mind, your fathers being such a close age to you?" Red asked.

Kalliope shook his head and his eyes went misty. "As long as a father loves and cares for his child and does everything he can to support him, it doesn't matter what age he is" he said softly.

"Thank you, son" Demeter smiled, leaning over on his horse and kissing his eldest child on the forehead. "Thank you."

The family had travelled a long ways west on their ride but were planning to shortly change direction so as not to be caught too far north when winter came. The country was very sparsely populated, the odd village or farmstead here and there but otherwise virgin forest. So it was that for the duration of his six-day emergence Cleopas was able to ride his horse, letting his filaments be shown without fear of any humans seeing them. Of course, due to the weather and the isolation of their location most of the family rode wearing nothing but loincloths and boots, quite indecent to most people but, as had been proven over many years, they were not "most" people.

On the sixth afternoon, ironically when they were about to enter a slightly more populous area, they stopped near an inviting looking silvery stream that wove its way through a grassy meadow. Cleopas was fully emerged and uncomfortable and as they dismounted he winced as his filaments brushed painfully on the side of his saddle.

"Are you okay?" Red asked, hearing his hiss of pain as Cleopas drew air sharply between his gritted teeth. The young human had begun already to act ever so slightly protective with regards to his taller, older, stronger mate, something that both amused and endeared Cleopas.

"I'm fine" he said, "just brushed them slightly" he admitted.

Red looked at him and smiled. "We going to do it tonight? I'm bursting with not climaxing all week." He hadn't masturbated himself, or let Cleopas bring him to climax either, since the filaments had begun to emerge, in the hope that he would have more chance of hitting them squarely if he had more seed available.

Cleopas grinned. "Yes, you horny little boy you, we're going to do it tonight" he chuckled, then winced again as his contracting abdominal muscles pinched the ultra sensitive, painful fibres. "That is going to get very frustrating" he sighed.

"We don't have to do this yet" Red said softly.

"I know, but I would like to, if you would?" Cleopas replied, a slight hint of nerves in his voice.

"Of course I would. Demeter was younger than I am now when he gave birth to Kalliope and it was common back in my old town for girls to be married and have their first baby by the time they were twelve or thirteen summers. I know I'm not Demeter and I'm not a girl but all the same, I'm ready, or at least I think I am" he smiled. "It's strange, here we are, living on the road, accused of being barbarians everywhere we go, yet I've been taught to read and write, I can count, add up and take away, I can ride, use a sword and speak three languages and I haven't even been with you a year yet. I think the life you lead, the life I now lead, makes you grow up and learn and become far more an individual and far more confident than anyone ever would become living in a town. I love you, you know?"

"I know, my wonderful little mate, and I love you too" Cleopas smiled.

"Less of the little, I'm almost up to your shoulder" Red mock-pouted.

"Four inches away doesn't count as almost" Cleopas laughed, "and you'll always be my little mate even if you grow to be ten feet tall."

The couple excused themselves after supper, retreating to a small glade that they'd scouted earlier in the day, about three minutes walk upstream, just out of sight of the main family. They spread their cloaks on the soft clover, removed boots, untied loincloths and laid down together, Cleopas having to be careful about how he got down onto the floor due to the pain and discomfort.

They kissed softly for a while before, wordlessly, Red moved and knelt up over the top of Cleopas' legs. Cleopas' eyes went wide and he smiled and sighed softly, not with pain but with love, as he saw Red slowly begin to masturbate.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Red gasped as he finally came, shooting several small pulses of liquid onto Cleopas' filaments. Cleopas yelped and whimpered as if a knife had struck him and Red, once recovered, got off and sat beside his lover, kissing his forehead and gently rubbing his face, arms and shoulders - he had been warned by several people not to take hold of Cleopas' hand, as the grip of his larger lover would likely crush his fingers as Cleopas tried to control his reaction to the pain.

He was nervous but excited at the prospect of becoming a father, yet he knew that it wouldn't be nearly so daunting a prospect as fathering a child to a girl would be - Cleopas would be strong and self sufficient and wouldn't need Red's financial support, neither would he expect any clearly defined roles, rather they would work together to do whatever needed doing. The only necessary things would be love and emotional support during the painful gestation, and of course, support to care for the baby once he was born. Red had already decided that he and Cleopas would be equals in parenting in as many ways as was possible.

Finally, with the sun almost set and only the faintest glow remaining, Cleopas regained his composure, recovered from the pain and, sporting a tiny white bubble sitting over his navel, the pair made their way back to the rest of the family, where they cuddled up together and slept, Red with emotional exhaustion and Cleopas still needing some recovery time after the pain of conception. And despite the couples' expectations none of the rest of the family said anything crass or rude or sarcastic, simply offering congratulations before leaving them to sleep.

The following day would be the first for a while when the family would ride through a village and true to his promise to Red, Cleopas climbed in the wagon to ride there without any argument. Red smiled, kissed him soundly and got onto the wagon seat to drive the vehicle, wanting to be as close to Cleopas as he could.

Everyone else except Maia, who was still cradled by Marcus, and Joseph, who was driving the other wagon, mounted and began to ride, even little Xanthe, who was very much at home on his pony and loved the freedom it gave him.

Audo and Socra rode beside each other, chattering and laughing as boys do. "Socra, why do I sometimes feel that I like you as if you're my brother and I've known you for ages longer than I have?" Audo asked, the first time he'd brought this subject up.

"I don't know but I thought I knew you when we first met, I knew I'd never been in your village before but I still thought I knew you and I liked you straight away" Socra smiled back.

"Do you think that it's okay to like each other like that?" Audo asked, concern in his voice. Marcus, riding nearby, smiled as he heard his son's reply.

"We're supposed to like each other, dummy!" Socra giggled. "Like my father Marcus likes my father Philip! It'd be strange if we didn't."

Audo giggled. "I get butterflies in my tummy sometimes when I watch you" he whispered, however he wasn't very quiet and Marcus heard the exchange easily.

"So do I" Socra giggled back, "it feels nice."

The boys both continued to giggle together and Marcus smiled, realising that this was the first time that the pair had properly discussed the affection they held for each other.

They stopped briefly at noon to eat and continued to ride, reaching the village about three hours later. It had a large dairy farm and they happily traded several leather items in order to stock up with cheeses, butter and even an urn of curds and whey which they ate that evening once they were back out in the forest. It was then that some of the cheeky comments they'd expected the previous day were cast in Cleopas' and Red's direction.

"You sure you've got enough there?" Elis grinned to Cleopas, "you should be eating for two after all."

Cleopas just laughed and took another spoonful of the bitter-sweet curds.

"What is that on Cleopas' belly?" Audo asked Red. "It looked like feathers until last night and now they're all wrapped up together."

"It's going to be a baby," Red said with a smile, blushing ever so slightly.

"Oh, erm... wow!" Audo replied, using what seemed to be his favourite word, seemingly unable to think up any other response to the news.

"We're going to head south and west, I think" Gaia said as they ate, "if my memory serves me correctly this road branches in a few days and leads onto one of the old Roman highways that eventually leads to the sea. Now I'm not proposing that we go the whole distance but we should be able to find somewhere mild to overwinter, especially since Cleopas will be quite uncomfortable towards the end of winter and will be unable to dress."

"How long will it take for the baby to be born?" Red asked, "I never figured that out, what with..." he silenced himself and glanced guiltily at Aeson but thankfully the man whose gestation had aborted so heartbreakingly the previous winter didn't hear Red's comment.

"It takes nine months, the same as human babies so he should be born next spring" Demeter told him after counting on his fingers for a few seconds.

"And will we encounter any big towns? You know what happened last time?" Simon asked, absently fingering the faint scars on his torso.

"As far as I can recall, no" Gaia replied. He looked at the other older members of the family, who'd also all travelled this way in the past and they nodded in confirmation of the elder man's memory. "There's quite a few old legion garrisons, now mostly deserted or turned into farms and the like, and several dozen villages or so I recall, but nothing large enough to have a town wall or a guarded gate" Elis said.

"Well and good, then, but what about a market for our goods and places to purchase winter supplies?" Charon asked.

"We'll do as we did in the village back there, we'll trade a little at a time to purchase whatever we can as we pass. We might not get true money but receiving several sides of bacon from a pig farmer in return for a couple of satchels or something would be just as good, if not better" Jocasta explained.

"And will there be places where Cleopas can get out of the wagon and get some fresh air? Whilst he's able to, I mean" Red asked, mindful of his mates' mental as well as physical health.

"Yes, you little protector, you" Hyacinth laughed tolerantly at the adolescent who was to be the father of his first grandchild, all being well of course, "there's plenty of places Cleopas can ride with us and stretch his legs, for the next couple of months anyway, and after that he'll be more comfortable staying in the wagon."

They finished their meal, mounted and rode several more miles before stopping for the night. Most of the family bathed in the spring-fed pool near to where they camped but Cleopas didn't wish for the pain that getting his new womb wet would cause, so Red brought him a basin of water and helped him to wash. Even though the womb was tiny, leaning over to wash his feet and twisting to wash his buttocks hurt too much already, and so he permitted Red to help him without protest.

"Thank you, my love" Red said after he'd finished giving Cleopas his wash.

Cleopas raised his eyebrows. "It is me that should be thanking you, I'm the one that needed the help" he said.

Red shook his head. "No, thank you for allowing me to help you" he explained. "I know that you promised that you would accept being helpless but I thought you would fight me more than you did. It means a lot that you were gracious enough to accept my assistance without arguing."

Cleopas smiled. "I made those promises to you and to our future son, Red, and they are promises that for all our sakes I intend to keep. It hurt us all when Aeson lost his gestation, I want to do everything I can to keep this one. It would mean a lot to my fathers to have a grandson" he explained softly.

In reply Red leaned from the side, used gentle fingertips to turn his mate's face and kissed him passionately.

Their travels panned out just as they intended, and after a few more days of virgin forest they began to encounter residences. They purposefully timed their journeys so that they would pass the way stations, villages and hostels in the middle of the day, then travelled out to the forest and woodlands and camped wild each night.

The seasons were turning again and late summer brought the glut of the wild harvest of berries, nuts, seeds and herbs to dry and store, meat to catch and smoke and honey to gather. It would be another few months before the late gatherings would give them apples, chestnuts and the like but each time they found suitable plantations they took advantage of what was on offer.

Cleopas, true to his word, never complained at any indignities he suffered as a result of bearing a child. It was obvious to all that his womb and the fine strands of filament that supported it caused him unending pain, but he didn't let it affect his promise to Red to take genuine care and accept his helpless condition with grace. He was a little worse tempered than perhaps was normal in a non-gestant Spartan but he maintained his equilibrium far more easily than most did when gestating - the pain and the bodily changes often made those bearing children very testy indeed.

They sold leather goods and purchased foodstuffs in the villages they rode through, sometimes stopping for several hours in likely market places, many of which spanned crossroads and intersections of roads, some paved in the Roman style, others mere cart tracks that would lead to a single farm. They clattered through any settlements that had a church or visible Christian presence at a fast canter and thankfully were not molested at all, living in contentment and without any difficulties well into the autumn.

They were, relative to the previous winter, in more southerly climes but the autumnal rains still made them profoundly uncomfortable. Audo hadn't experienced particularly bad weather and for the first time since he joined them in early spring he had a momentary desire to find somewhere with a watertight roof in which to live, or at least stop. But on the fine days everyone made good time and Maia, now a sturdy toddler who could walk and run along with the rest, was slowly introduced to a small pony and taught the rudiments of riding. Xanthe, after a summer on horseback, was proficient and no longer needed any supervision, neither did Audo, although the human boy took slightly longer to gain his confidence than the fearless toddler.

A damp, chilly morning saw Cleopas for the first time choose to stay in the wagon. After Red advised him that the rain was making the stones around their campsite and the wagon steps just a little slick, he agreed it would be wise to stay put rather than risk any sudden moves or falls. Red carried his breakfast to him, then, since Cleopas was still relatively mobile, waited whilst the man crouched over a mat of leaves gathered on a bark plate so that he could empty his bowels.

"You sure you're okay doing this? It's going to stink, you know" Cleopas checked before starting, feeling ever so slightly guilty that he wasn't just going to go to the latrine.

"Just do it Cleopas. I'm going to have to get used to clearing up your soil for you very soon anyway and there's no way I'm going to let you risk slipping just because you're embarrassed. You promised not to play the hero, remember?"

"I remember" Cleopas sighed as he let loose.

"Man, you stink worse than the tannery we passed two days ago" Red giggled as Cleopas finished, wiped himself using a handful of leaves and crawled out of the way so that Red could move the offending substance and drop it into the latrine. He returned with a basin of water which he used to help Cleopas to wash and clean himself up properly. "Oh, I almost forgot" he said once he was finished, running over to where his day kit was packed ready to be loaded onto his horse and pulling out what looked like a water or wine flask except that it was somewhat smaller in volume and had a larger opening. He handed it to Cleopas. "It was finished last night" he explained.

"What's this?" Cleopas asked, confused.

"I figured that instead of you having to crouch or roll to the back of the wagon when you want to pass water you could use this instead. The flask might get a bit smelly but it'd be a lot more hygienic than going all over the steps. The opening should be big enough for you to get your penis inside it."

Cleopas' eyes opened wide. "Why didn't we think of this before?" he breathed. "That's a brilliant idea!"

"It's just an idea" Red said bashfully, "and it's not like I made the whole flask, I got Jason to help me with the stitching" he said.

"Thanks Red, it'll make things a lot easier" Cleopas assured him, smiling.

They travelled along the damp roadway, thankful that this section had been cobbled and was therefore immune to the soupy mud that often plagued roads at this time of year. Towards lunchtime they saw the walls of one of the old Roman garrisons looming up at the roadside, one of dozens they'd passed over the summer, but something seemed odd about this one and the outriders, Acantha and Charon, reined in and waited for the rest of the family.

"What's up?" Leander asked his younger brother.

"I don't like the look of this garrison. From this distance it appears the walls have been raised and strengthened and I swear there's a barrier over the road."

Leander squinted. "You could be right" he muttered as he looked. Luckily, they were partially obscured by the trees and the misty drizzle and were, naturally since they were Spartan, on the lookout for any trouble, so they noticed the threat quite a distance away and well out of sight.

Carme and Ajax rode up. "What's up?" Ajax asked.

Acantha looked at him and nodded in the direction of the garrison. "Tell me what you see" he said softly to the boy, using this not only as a way of checking his own conclusions but training the adolescent in strategy and threat detection.

"Erm, a garrison, but the walls are high and quite solid" Ajax began, squinting into the distance. "And some poles with balls on above the gate..." he muttered then paled and looked suddenly horrified. "Sick..." he managed to mutter before leaning down to the left hand side of his horse and vomiting violently.

"What, what did you see?" Acantha asked, trying to spot whatever it was that made Ajax so suddenly ill.

"Not balls, heads" Ajax finally gasped after vomiting the entire contents of his stomach up.

Acantha's head snapped back and he squinted at the "poles with balls", trying to see what Ajax had seen. True enough, now that the lad had said so, it was obvious that they were indeed the grizzly ornament he had identified them to be. "By Apollo, no" he half-swore, half-prayed, also feeling sick to the stomach but managing to control his urge to vomit.

"Let's pull back the way we came and get well off the road" Leander suggested.

Kalliope nodded, "And we should set a guard around our camp, then we can set out to spy on whatever's going on down there and make plans as to whether we turn tail and find another route or if we try and pass them or what."

They quickly briefed the rest of the family, turned and rode back about a mile before heading into the forest for several hundred yards. Elis, Tito, Demeter and Rhea made sure that their tracks off the road and into the wooded dell where they were camped were completely obscured and Jason and Simon set off carefully to head to the same view point as Acantha had stopped at earlier, to confirm the observations.

They got back looking grim and pale and with a nod to Acantha, confirmed, "a newly strengthened garrison wall, high, strong, and from the looks of it probably buttressed. A barrier over the road manned by at least a dozen armed guards, possibly more and the heads of several unfortunates decorating the parapet above the gate."

"Our options, brothers, are of course turning around and heading the other way and trying to find a way to avoid this gruesome place completely, heading down and trying to simply ride or bribe our way past or staging an all-out attack" Gaia told everyone what most already knew, recognising that sometimes even things that are known still have to be voiced.

"If I get a voice then I for one don't really want to turn back, it's the best part of a fortnight weeks back to the last major road junction and by then we'll be well on into the autumn" Red said softly. "I just don't think it'd be fair on Cleopas, going north this close to the bad weather" he muttered, blushing, when all eyes turned to him.

"Of course you get a voice, Red" Gaia said to him softly. "We all have an equal voice, we are all equal parts of this family."

"I want the whole place burned to the ground" Ajax said, looking green. "Those poor, poor men, no one deserves such a horrible fate" he said in a halting voice.

"I can't turn my back on it, to do so goes against every instinct" Tito admitted.

Suddenly Hyacinth gasped, drew both swords, crossed them on the ground, bowed his head and knelt, shaking slightly. "Yes, Lord" he muttered, before sheathing his swords and facing a stunned family.

"There is a single son of Sparta being held captive in that place" he said softly. "And our God calls us to arms to extract vengeance against the enemies who killed the man's life partner and sons. Make no mistake, we are going to attack that place and by the time we are finished not one stone will be atop another" he said in a cold, calculating voice, "our God demands it."

Gaia looked at his younger son. "Well that's that, then" he said wryly. "Let's plan our campaign."

"We might want to hold off on that, brothers" Jason said in a nervous voice. He drew his sword and stared out into the woodlands.

"What?" Simon began, then saw what his lover had seen. "Ware the woods!" he cried, also drawing his sword.

"Hold, sons of Sparta, we join you by command of our God!" a voice they didn't know sounded from the trees.

"Identify yourself!" Gaia shouted, his sword blade also naked in his hand.

"I am Ali, son of Philip and Khalid" came a voice. "Spartan by birth, Moorish by appearance and a follower of Apollo" the unseen speaker said again. "I come with brothers and cousins to destroy that monster of a fortress as Apollo commands."

The family relaxed just a little. "Come forward, slowly, and keep your hands in plain view and away from weapons!" Gaia called and the man did so.

He was very dark skinned and wore flowing linen robes of the sort that most of the family members had never seen. Only Nabis and Gaia had any familiarity with the sort of dress the stranger wore. On his head was a peculiar headdress and at his waist he wore two swords. But aside from his skin colour and clothing he was unmistakably a Spartan, and a priest besides.

He stepped into the clearing. "I bring my family and our children" he said in a soft voice. "May we join you?"

Gaia looked at the rest of the family and received nods. "Join us and be welcome" he smiled.

Ali shouted to the rest of his family, who had stayed far back in the trees, and one by one, they stepped forward, adults, adolescents and children. There were about twenty five of them in total and it took a while for them to get their pack horses and wagons settled, set up a fire and for introductions to be made.

"Hyacinth, is it possible that Lord Apollo has summoned other sons of Sparta to this cause?" Gaia asked his son.

Ali looked at the pair. "You are also a priest" he said, noting the twin swords. "We have two other priests travelling with us, my grandson" he smiled warmly, "and my nephew."

"My nephew is also a priest" Hyacinth replied.

"Well let the five of us pray together and ask guidance of our God" Ali suggested.

Ali called two others forward and was joined by a boy of perhaps sixteen summers and a man who was a similar age to Hyacinth. Ali himself was more akin to Gaia's generation.

"Mirakos and Siratus" he introduced the pair with a smile.

"Clio" Hyacinth introduced his nephew.

"Shall we step away a few paces?" Ali suggested, "and pray alone?"

Hyacinth nodded and the five priests vanished into the undergrowth.

"Whilst our priests are consulting our God, shall we prepare food? We have not yet had lunch and I do not plot well on an empty stomach" Marcus suggested. Laughter rang out and nodding heads signalled agreement and with that food was broken out and shared.

Some of new family came to taste Marcus and Philip's cooking. Simon and Jason went to sample their offering. Bread and cheese and berries were shared out and the newcomers offered olives and some sweet, semi-dry confection they called figs in return. "These are delicious" Charon said as he tried a bite of the weird looking item

It was an hour before the priests returned, all bloodied, Hyacinth carrying a fat rabbit in one hand. Wordlessly Clio took and began to dress and cook the animal as Hyacinth began to speak.

"Two other families are due to join us" he began.

"One is quite small and is from these parts and has suffered direct losses at the hands of the bandits down there. They will not be good fighters but will be able to impart valuable strategic information" Ali continued.

"The others are a fighting troop similar to both of our families" Hyacinth then explained.

"And our Lord Apollo also suggested we take our lead from someone who He tells us is a natural strategist, someone who will be able to envisage what the enemy might do better than the rest of us" Ali then said. He looked at the other priests who nodded. Hyacinth and Clio both smiled knowingly.

"Who is Ethelred?" Ali then asked.

Red blushed and stuttered, "me?" and all eyes turned to the diminutive human adolescent.

"So our god advised us, Red" Clio smiled. "He said that you did not need to fight but if you helped us plan then we would have a great advantage over our enemies."

Ali looked at the youth. "If our God had not named you then I would be reluctant to hear you" he sighed. "You truly are Ethelred?"

Red nodded. "That's what I am told my mother named me" he replied, blushing slightly.

The most youthful looking of the priests, Mirakos, gasped. "You are human?" he asked.

Red nodded. "But soon to be a father, my mate lies safely in the wagon" he replied. "My unborn son is a child of Sparta and I will defend him!" he finished with a fierce stare, his hand reaching for his sword.

Siratus nodded and glared at Mirakos. "And we will defend your right to do so" he told Red. "Now, let us eat and get to know each other. When the other two families arrive and we have the information from the local people, then we will plan our attack."

The other fighting family had similar numbers to both Gaia's and Ali's families. They were of similar appearance to Gaia's relatives and lived in the same area. After some discussions it transpired that they were related, distantly at least - one of the mates who had joined the family after bonding was blood kin to Charon, Acantha's partner. Their leader was named Clavin and their two priests were Anthrosos and Thomas.

The local family was very small, a relatively elderly father named Judoc, his son Orhain and son's human partner Petros and one younger man, Judoc's grandson, Awhain. Their grief became immediately apparent when they said that it was the younger man's brother, Deros, who had been captured, and his human partner and the entire younger generation of their family, their two sons, who were killed.

Awhain and Judoc were relatively coherent but Orhain and Petros were inconsolable - it was their eldest child being held prisoner and both their grandchildren who had been slaughtered after all. Judoc explained all that they knew about the fortress and its inhabitants.

"They started out as a bandit troop as far as we know, plaguing travellers on this road. But somehow their troop grew, mostly we think as bad blood was attracted to safety in numbers. We believe they are all human, they regularly raid villages hereabouts and often rape girls and women as they go. It was in one of their raids that they took my grandson Deros and his family, they also collect male slaves to work in their foundries and on their walls or so we understand and it was just bad luck that Deros had built a forge in order to make his youngest son's first sword the day their raided" at this point Judoc choked and began to sob huge, bitter tears.

Red was loathe to interrupt the old man's grief so he turned to Awhain. "Do you know the layout of the building?" he asked softly. Awhain nodded and sketched a brief map in the dirt. "It's square, inside there is a wooden tower and some outbuildings, the walls are the only stone built section and there are doors on the south side and on the north" he explained briefly, his eyes also full of tears.

"Vengeance for the Spartan dead will be ours" Clavin vowed. "We must attack at once." He made to head to his horse but one of his priests, Thomas, held his arm. "We must discuss strategy first. Let the boy think" he said, nodding in Red's direction.

Clavin's eyes went wide. "We take advice from a human child?" he asked incredulously.

"Such is Apollo's will, Clavin" Anthrosos said softly, "and I for one am not going to disregard the instructions of our god."

Red squinted at the sketch, then went and whispered to Acantha, who came and drew in the roadway and the barrier that had been erected across it as seen in relation to the north gate. The boy considered for a while and then began to speak.

"We will need to neutralise the barrier first" he said, "destroy it, kill the men that guard it. It is right underneath the walls so in order to do so we will need some sort of protection for our men but as long as we have that, the melee will draw others from the main garrison. Either one or both gates will surely open to send troops to the fight. We need to gauge our numbers carefully, enough to be a threat but not so many as to make them close and bolt their doors, we do not want a siege on our hands. Once the doors are open, we will send men inside to neutralise the remaining fighters and free any prisoners. So we need four teams I think" he suggested, "one to wait near to either door for it to open and two to come at the barrier from either side."

The others looked at his plan, where he'd sketched brief details onto the map of the garrison. "I like it" Ali smiled. "What do you envisage for numbers and who will stay behind?" he asked.

"I think if we split our main forces into five parts" Red suggested. "The most vulnerable or least skilled will stay here to guard our possessions and children and the rest will form four groups to head through the forest to the four points. The two groups attacking the barrier will need to coordinate their attack but we can come up with a signal later. Those on the doors simply need to wait for them to open."

And who will be our fighters and how should we identify those who stay behind? Will it be the humans and the children?" Clavin asked.

"No" Red stopped that thought immediately. "Any child under eight summers will definitely remain behind" he explained his idea, "as will any child under eleven who does not have the agreement of both of his parents. Both parents of any children under two summers old should stay behind," he suggested, then looked at Alexander and Gaia and thought some more. Knowing their ages he continued, "as should any human more than fifty summers, any Spartan more than one hundred summers, and anyone else who feels that they would be better suited to defence than attack. Human partners are more than welcome to come as long as they are familiar with weapons and fighting. If you can't fight you too should remain here."

"I think that there is one more group who should stay behind, Red" Cleopas called from his wagon, where he lay close by and listened to his young mate's ideas.

"Who is that Cleopas?" Red asked. All faces turned to the open wagon to look at the gestating man.

"The mates of anyone who is gestating" Cleopas said softly. "I'm sorry Red, I need you here" he explained upon seeing the hurt on his lover's face. "I would need someone to defend me, I am unable to do so and as much as it burns to admit it, it is the truth."

"He is right, young Red" Ali said softly, "and you know it."

Red nodded. "Okay, anyone whose partners are gestating. Which of course includes me" he reluctantly agreed.

After discussing and refining Red's proposals and figuring out who should stay and who would go, they ended up with two troops of sixteen fighters each, who would wait near the doors, and two troops of twelve fighters, who would attack the barrier from both sides. Ali's family showed the rest some circular wooden shields that could be held on an arm and raised over the head to protect the bearer, and these, along with some new ones hastily constructed out of a large tree, were distributed amongst the fighters.

They all stayed in the camp that night, finishing their planning and preparing their equipment. Two hours before dawn they rose, had a brief meditation, and those that wished to pray to Apollo went aways little with the seven priests. They returned with a small pig which was butchered and cooked for an early breakfast as the fighters made ready to depart.

Once the sun rose the fighters left, two groups making their way to the road and crossing it so as to work their way through the forest on the opposite side, the other two groups staying on the same side as their camp. Red sat on the tail of the wagon, next to where Cleopas lounged, and sighed. "Were my ideas really so revolutionary?" he asked. "They simply seemed to be a logical approach to me."

"I think they were inspired, my love" Cleopas said, "but it was more than your imagination we needed, if Apollo hadn't identified you as the key strategist, the four families would have argued for days about how to do this."

"But what if I was wrong and they get injured?" Red asked, a strong bout of nerves shaking his confidence.

"You weren't wrong. Your ideas to split us up, draw them out, and to use shields to defend us from those on the walls, were nothing short of brilliant" Cleopas assured him. He shifted his weight and moaned softly as his four-month-sized womb was pulled slightly by his clenching muscles.

"You want a massage?" Red offered.

Cleopas nodded. "If you think you can, a massage would be very welcome" he said, pain flowering on his face.

"I need something to distract me" Red admitted, "come on, give me your feet and I'll start there."

Out at the garrison, Red's plan was being put into action. The four teams were in place, using owl hoots as signals to communicate to the others. Once all four hoots were heard, the smaller two teams began to advance on the barrier.

The bandits and fighting men holed up in the newly fortified garrison building may have been strong and cruel but they were not very wise. The dozen men on the barrier were reinforced by thirty others, pouring from both doorways. Fighting on an open roadway with plenty of room to swing gave the Spartans an advantage and even as the two larger teams entered the garrison the main bulk of the enemy were fighting for their lives and were on the way to being neutralised.

Those inside had a slightly more difficult time and they moved through the buildings, attacking those who attacked them, breaking the chains and bonds of those who were imprisoned. When the barrier was completely clear, eight members of the Spartan force were left to guard it and build a pyre for the bodies, and the others headed into the garrison. They left four men at each gate to secure it and sent four further fighters through each gateway to assist with the prisoner evacuation and destruction of the complex.

It was Ali, Mirakos, Jason and Simon who, together, entered as the last group through the north gate and who chopped down and removed the head-topped poles from the doorway and added them to the fire already burning in the main courtyard.

Awhain and Judoc were supporting a grieving Spartan man, presumably their brother and grandson respectively. Others were bringing bodies out to be burned or were ushering victims to the gates.

"That is everyone, this place is empty" Gaia reported.

Ali nodded. "Let's burn the whole thing to the ground" he said grimly.

The leaping flames could be seen for miles as the Spartans walked a weary caravan back to their camp. They'd killed them all, including those who styled themselves as the leaders of the sorry site. Deros was numb and hadn't spoken but Orhain and Petros were calmer, knowing that vengeance had truly been extracted.

Later that night Deros took his father's sword and killed himself, joining his partner and children in the Elysian fields and putting an end to his pain, and surprisingly to the human's eyes this act seemed to free his remaining family and enable them to move on. "He is in the arms of Apollo, now" Judoc said softly as they watched his pyre burn the following day.

There were a few injuries among the remaining Spartans but nothing life threatening. The worst was Carme's arm, which had been hit by a heavy club and had the bone broken. It had been splinted and bound and he consoled himself and numbed the pain with a skin of strong wine as he lounged by the fireside.

It was after Deros' pyre had burned low that Awhain came to sit at the fireside, incidentally sitting near to Carme. The pair hadn't really talked, having been on different forces. This was their first chance to really meet each other and when they did, the two young men gasped. "I know you" they said simultaneously.

"But I'm not sure how" Carme continued, "and I don't know where from" Awhain replied.

"I feel like I can hear your thoughts" Carme breathed, staring into the eyes of the man before him.

"I think I can feel your arm" Awhain replied with a rueful grin, making Carme suddenly laugh. They stared at each other for a long time, losing themselves in the depths of the others' thoughts.

Finally Carme spoke. "Awhain, do you think, could this be our..." he paused.

"Bond?" Awhain asked. "You feel it too?" he said.

Carme nodded. "Like nothing I've ever felt before" he said with a soft smile. "We've barely met and already I love you" he gushed.

"And I you" Awhain replied. The two men, Carme at the end of his sixteenth summer and Awhain having just passed his twenty fifth, looked over to where their fathers were talking. Then they looked back at each other. "So now what?" they asked simultaneously before starting laughing, first gently, then stronger, more hysterically, finally falling into a hug.

"I'm not going to leave your side, no matter what" Awhain said.

"I know but mind the arm" Carme gasped in pain.

"Sorry" Awhain said, then his eyes sparkled. "Okay, I won't leave your other side, then" he said mirthfully and the pair collapsed into giggles once more before catching their breath.

Carme looked at the older man, who was plainly still affected with grief for his brother. He carefully leaned over and the pair exchanged their first kiss. "Let's go talk to the fathers" he suggested.

Kalliope and Mark were thrilled for their eldest son, and Orhain and Petros for their youngest, now only, child but there was some grief on both sides at the thought of their boy leaving one family to travel with another. It was Ajax, sore at the thought of losing his brother, who made an unusual suggestion. "Father Kalliope, father Mark, why don't we go with Carme and travel with Orhain and Petros and Judoc?"

Kalliope took a sharp intake of breath and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. "You know, that's actually a good idea but I don't know how father Demeter and father Rhea would take it, not to mention Lykurgos. You and he are very close, Ajax" he said.

"Well Lykurgos could come too" Ajax argued. "Our family is very big and Judoc's is tiny, it makes sense to split, that way the rest of our family becomes a little smaller and easier to hide and Judoc's becomes a little larger and more able to defend itself."

"Would you be okay if you never saw your grandfathers or your cousins again, son?" Mark asked the younger boy. Ajax's eyes filled with sudden tears. "I'd miss them a lot but" he sniffed and wiped his face on his arm, "but wouldn't Orhain and Petros miss Awhain just as much, or even more?"

"Let me go and speak to my fathers" Kalliope said. Mark and Ajax rose to their feet and Kalliope stopped them. "Alone, please?" he begged.

Mark nodded. "You're still their little boy after all" he grinned softly. "Go on, go ask daddy permission" he teased gently.

It took several days of discussion but in the end Ajax's argument won out. Kalliope, Mark, Ajax and Lykurgos would join Carme and his new partner in forming a strengthened family group. There were some tears from Rhea when Lykurgos expressed his desire to join the smaller family to his birth father but both agreed that it was the right thing for the young man to do - he had lived as the youngest brother and been protected by his fathers and brothers all his life and needed to spread his wings for a time.

They agreed to meet the following midsummer at the crossroads near to Audo's village, Kalliope and Mark of course remembering how to get there, the others being in the vicinity as they had already promised Audo's mother that they would return so that the boy could visit her.

Ali's and Clavin's families both took their leave, thanking each other for their company, for the exchange of ideas and for the stimulating fight, one turning north, the other south. Ali suggested before he left that the families should arrange to meet up and because of the engagement the following summer they planned to meet two midsummers' hence, at the destroyed garrison building. Two days later, Judoc and Kalliope prepared to travel north, only a few dozen miles, heading towards an accommodating village that the local family sheltered in perhaps once every dozen winters.

It was an emotional scene as Demeter and Rhea bid farewell to their oldest and youngest sons and two of their grandsons.

"Until midsummer, fathers" Lykurgos gulped, crying and giving them another hug before turning his horse and riding away quickly lest the tears blind him too much.

The remaining family members watched as Ajax looked back, then caught up to Lykurgos, hugged him and rode at his side until they were out of sight. Finally, Nabis broke the emotional silence. "let's pack up and ride, shall we?" he said softly.

It was a month later when they settled on a winter camp site. They'd purchased plenty of supplies from various farmsteads and villages and had located a cave sited in a cliff beside a small lake. It was level enough to get the wagons in and high enough that they felt fairly secure from springtime flooding. The local foraging wouldn't be brilliant but they were within two days ride of a pair of villages, one in each direction, and unless the lake froze solid there would of course be fresh fish.

One wagon was emptied completely and pushed to the back of the cave to store, with firewood stacked around and next to it. The other wagon, Cleopas' home, was sited near the side of the cave so that the occupant could see the fire pit and remain part of the family conversations.

Food was stacked on boughs to keep it off the floor, a heap of skins lined the sandy cave to make a suitable sleeping place and the horses were stabled just outside, where trees came up almost to the cliff face and would shelter the beasts. Seven of the mares were found to be pregnant, thanks to the young, perpetually randy stallion that they'd purchased the previous spring, all of which were likely to give birth the following year, at around the same time that Cleopas' gestation would finally be over and, all being well, his and Red's son would be born.

Once they were settled, Acantha and Charon undertook the ceremony to give Xanthe his first sword, after which the small boy joined in with the lessons of the other children. The mornings were given over to physical tasks with at least an hour of sword skills with one or more of the adult warriors and then the same time either on cooking or on leather craft or horse husbandry, with whoever was doing each duty that day. After lunch Simon and Elis taught reading, writing and numbers for another hour, giving the children something to mark their days with but not overly burdening them with lessons.

Red continued to study with the younger boys, but often spent time after the formal lessons had ended either playing his whistle or, on days when the winds and rains and frosts let up, disappearing into the forest. The first time he did Cleopas extracted promises that he would not go out of earshot of the cave, so the boy only went a few paces beyond the trees and the horse stabling.

He wasn't by nature a very secretive boy but after the experience at the garrison he wanted to try something, an idea he'd had that would have made the whole thing even quicker and removed most of the threat of injury - that of fighting with a bow and arrow. He also surmised that being able to use a bow accurately would make hunting easier. He'd built a small bow based on those he remembered seeing the soldiers use when they were all arrested by the churchman. It wasn't very long, but he curved it well and it had quite a strong pull.

It took him several tries to figure out how to string the bow in a way that it wouldn't come loose or pop out whenever he tried to draw it, and several more tries to fix fletching onto the arrows in order that they would fly straight. But towards the tail end of winter he'd gotten the technical aspects fixed and was on his way to becoming an accurate shot.

Cleopas was getting bigger and bigger, and more and more uncomfortable. He was of course completely unable to move and relied on Red for every aspect of his personal care and hygiene. Red was, however, too small to lift him so he often roped in the aid of Cleopas' brother, Jason and Jason's lover, Simon, for anything that required the man to be moved off the ground. And despite his experiments with the bow he still was at Cleopas' side for several hours each day.

Spring arrived but unusually the family didn't move. They knew they had an engagement at midsummer but Gaia was confident they would only need six weeks' travel to get there had announced that they didn't need to leave where they camped until late spring.

The horses all foaled and seven beautiful animals, all colts, were born. "We either need to sell them or geld them" Leander observed to Demeter, "the stallion will have a right go at these little boys if we let them keep their nuts."

Demeter nodded to the man who was his eldest son there-present. "I know" he smiled. "Gelding is often best done when they are tiny. Perhaps we should get it over with?" he asked.

The chore was a little messy but done with minimal fuss and the colts, now baby geldings, frolicked in the pasture by the lake that they had moved all their animals to once the threat of bad weather had passed.

But still they waited, for the grossly expectant Cleopas to finally give up his burden.

In comparison to Marcus, Simon thought, the whole thing was remarkably calm. Cleopas didn't wake everyone up, it was mid-morning when he called out to Red and told him in a relatively soft voice that his womb had begun to split.

He yelled and groaned a little when he was forced to use protesting, slightly wasted muscles and half-dragged, half carried to the birthing mat that Red had prepared several days before after Cleopas had admitted that the pain was lessening slightly, a sure sign that his body was beginning to prepare for birth.

Red supported Cleopas' weight, an amazing feat considering the boy himself still probably weighed only half of what Cleopas did. Shortly into the birth he called for Alexander, Cleopas' frail human father, to come over and observe the birth at close quarters. The elderly man hobbled around and sat down carefully, a smile splitting his old face.

"It's almost time" Elis called, he was acting as birth coach, and he guided Red through the placement of his hands, grasping the child and pulling him free.

The only time Cleopas actually screamed was when the child was freed from his womb and the filament walls were roughly ripped open. The baby wailed a newborn cry as the cord was tied and cut and Cleopas, as Red had been warned, passed out.

With Marcus' guidance he gently cradled the baby, cleaned him, tied a diaper on him and wrapped him in a soft lambskin. He rocked the child gently as he gazed at his faintly tanned skin, his bright blue eyes, his... Red laughed. "He appears to have red hair like me!" he cheered.

"No one can deny who his siring father is with that hair" Gaia smiled as he came to admire the wispy, strawberry blonde fluff that the child had on his scalp.

Cleopas awoke, cleaner and more comfortable, and Red handed their newborn son to him so that he could nurse. "What will his name be?" he said to his mate once the babe had latched on and begun to drink.

Cleopas smiled, then looked at his human father, who had tears of pure joy pouring down his face. "Alexander Cleopasson" he said.

Alexander's face snapped up. "Really? You mean?" he gasped.

Cleopas nodded. "Let him feed for a bit and then you can come cradle your namesake for a while" he smiled. He then looked at Red. "I love you so much, daddy Red" he whispered softly.

Red gulped and fought back his own tears of joy as he replied, "and I love you too daddy Cleopas."

The baby was a very contented child, hardly fussing, only waking his fathers and demanding milk once each night. Red cheerfully changed his tiny diapers and washed him each morning after his breakfast feed, using the time to bond with his baby boy just as Cleopas used the times when he nursed. His hair truly was gingery, just like Red's was, and he had the same bright blue eyes as Red sported but his skin tone was more the olive colour of his Spartan father.

Three days after his birth, the family were talking about beginning their journey to Audo's village and the crossroads to meet up with Kalliope. Alexander, who had spent all his time of late at Hyacinth's side, spoke to the family in a very feeble, warbling voice. He had appeared to have aged considerably over the last winter and it showed as he spoke.

"I will not be travelling with you, you know that, don't you?" he said softly.

"What?" Hyacinth exclaimed, then his face filled with grief. "No! My love, my mate, my life, please! Don't do this to me" he stuttered.

"Hyacinth, you knew my time was coming. I have seen my grandchild, my namesake and I am content. I will always be your love, and I will always love you" he continued. "And I have a request, if you would, please do not burn me but bury me, in a cairn in this cave, where my grandson was born so I will rest" he smiled a feeble smile.

Hyacinth began to sob. "Come, now, I am tired and ready to rest" Alexander said to him. "I have lived longer than most humans and my time is up. Please, Hyacinth, for me, continue your life, teach our grandson, and grieve but do not let it incapacitate you. For me, my love?" he asked.

Hyacinth was unable to speak but nodded gently and kissed his old lover on his forehead. And that night, as they lay by the fireside, Alexander finally fell to sleep for the last time.

As they mounted to leave, Hyacinth took one last look at the cairn where his lover of more than forty years was resting peacefully. "Until the Elysian fields" he whispered, then with his vision clouded with tears he permitted their eldest son, Jason, himself only slightly less tearful, to lead his horse away on their journey onwards.

END OF BOOK THREE - BOOK FOUR TO COME