The Coming of Aphrodite Pt. 02

Chapter 4

A Deal is a Deal

THE PALACE IN IOLCOS was not as large as King Eshmun's palace in Byblos, but Hypergamy still felt a shiver when she entered with Syphon through the main gates. They were travelling on his chariot, Syphon holding the reins to the single horse, Hypergamy standing next to him holding the bar on the side. He drove them to a stableyard where there was a dozen such chariots, as well as grooms to tend to the horses. After stopping, Syphon looped the reins around a metal pommel, stepped off the chariot and then turned to offer Hypergamy his hand.

The two had not spoken since leaving the house and Hypergamy had no desire to touch him. However, there were a couple of grooms present and antagonising Syphon in front of them did not seem like a wise move. She took the proffered hand and allowed the man to support her as she stepped off. Both of them wore travelling cloaks, but Hypergamy wore hers with the hood up at Syphon's insistence. He led her through a doorway into the palace building, then down a corridor. Right at the end was a small alcove just large enough for the three wooden benches that lined its walls. A small square opening with a grate for ventilation served as a window.

'All right, you're to wait here,' said Syphon. 'If the king wants to see you, you'll be sent for.'

Hypergamy lowered her hood and looked around the tiny waiting room.

'You don't want anyone to know I'm here, do you?' she said.

'Hypergamy, you are one item in a very busy meeting,' he said. 'And the king doesn't like to waste time. His interest is in the letter from King Eshmun.'

'You promised me an audience, damn it!'

Syphon grabbed her elbow and forced her to sit on one of the benches. He let go and sat next to her, his face thrust into hers.

'Now you listen here!' he said. 'An audience with the king won't help if he doesn't grant you the rights of a citizen. Right?'

Hypergamy was rubbing her elbow, but she gave him a sullen nod.

'Well, that's what I'm going to get for you,' he said. 'I mean, that's what you really want, isn't it?'

Again, Hypergamy gave a reluctant nod.

'Well, then,' he said. 'Do we have a deal?'

'Do you have somewhere discreet we can go afterwards?'

'Yes.'

'And if the king doesn't grant my request?'

'Then I'll have you taken home and you owe me nothing. A deal is a deal.'

Hypergamy glared at the face before her. It was a strong, masculine face, unfortunately attached to a contemptible bastard. But she gave a third reluctant nod, more for herself than for him, and reached into the inside pouch of her robe. She retrieved the scroll-tube, took a deep breath and handed it over to Syphon. He stood up, casually looking at the seal, then walked away, his footsteps disappearing down the corridor. Hypergamy leaned back, resting her head against the wall behind her.

'Goddess...' she said. 'I hope you know what you're doing.'

*

Syphon walked across the courtyard and into the building where he had met with the king yesterday. Indeed, he was heading for the same room - the meeting room. It was the turn of the Fourth Magistracy to have their fortnightly meeting with the king and Syphon was hoping to catch him before he went in. Assuming Hypergamy had told the truth about the contents of the letter, Syphon had come up with a solution that might settle the whole matter in five minutes. And if the king wouldn't see him until after the meeting ... well, Syphon would wait outside. That's why he had told Hypergamy the story that he was going to be at the meeting.

Every section of the palace had a guard commander responsible for the security of that section. Syphon found the commander of the administration wing, showed him the sealed letter and got permission to wait in the antechamber of the meeting room. He was deliberately early and sat waiting for about half an hour before the magistrates began to arrive. The Fourth Magistracy was responsible for building works, roads and other infrastructure and its members all seemed to be in a jovial mood. All except one, a small fellow whose deep-red toga was a little too long for him. He clutched his leather scroll-carrier as though for protection and did not seem amused at being the object of everyone's mirth. Syphon greeted his fellow magistrates and went up to one of them who stood slightly apart.

'What's going on?' he said in a low voice.

'We have a little wager going,' said the magistrate. 'Nomikos over there has a proposal and we're betting he hasn't got the balls to announce it.'

'What proposal?'

'There's an abandoned temple in the west quarter that he wants to deconsecrate so we can use the site for something else.'

'To which god is it consecrated?'

'Aphrodite. The thing is, the last magistrate to announce that plan was found dead in a brothel.' He lowered his voice to a whisper. 'Rumour has it, he still had a hard-on when he was put on the funeral pyre.'

Syphon looked at the short, red-faced man and was about to make a crude joke, when there was a sudden bowing and utterances of 'Your Majesty!' King Pelias had appeared with his bodyguard and the Master Secretary. He greeted his magistrates and then his eyebrows went up.

'Syphon,' he said. 'I didn't realise you held two positions.'

'No, Your Majesty,' said Syphon. 'You asked me to bring you this.'

He held up the scroll-tube. It seemed clear that the king had forgotten about it, but he nodded and held out his hand.

'Thank you, Syphon.'

'Forgive me, Your Majesty,' said Syphon. 'But I rather unwisely gave the woman my word that I would witness the breaking of the seal. Of course, if it's inconvenient—'

The king took the scroll-tube, shaking his head with impatience. He turned to the assembled magistrates and spoke.

'Gentlemen, would you please go in?' he said. 'I'll join you in a moment.'

There were further nods and 'Your Majesties' and the magistrates went into the meeting room. The king waited until the last of them had left the antechamber, then he broke the seal, opened the lid and shook out the scroll. The Master Secretary stepped forwards to take the empty tube while the king unrolled the papyrus letter. His eyes moved as he read the document, then he looked at Syphon in annoyance.

'This is it?' he said. 'He wants me to accept this woman as a citizen?'

'Going by her story, Your Majesty, she was a favourite of his. And we know from reports that his queen is the jealous type.'

'Syphon, take it from me ... every queen is the jealous type.'

King Pelias handed the scroll to the Master Secretary, then looked back at Syphon.

'Well, this is a problem,' said the king. 'I mean, according to the law, only a man can be made a Greek citizen.'

'I know, Your Majesty.'

'So, what should we do?'

'Well, Your Majesty ... I have a suggestion.'

Syphon was wrong about his solution settling the matter in five minutes. It barely took one. The king said, 'Fine! Fine! Just let me know when it's done, so I can put it in my reply to King Eshmun!' then he went straight into the meeting room followed by the Master Secretary and his bodyguard. Syphon bowed as they went in, holding the material of his toga strategically before him. His success—and what it meant—had given him an erection and Syphon wanted to be alone in the room before he risked readjusting himself.

*

When Hypergamy first heard footsteps from the corridor outside her little waiting room, she thought she was being sent for. She had been steeling herself for a long wait, so when Syphon reappeared in less than an hour, she didn't quite believe it was him.

'Is something wrong?' she said.

'No!' said Syphon. 'Quite the opposite!'

'Does the king want to see me?'

'There's no need! He granted your request!'

Hypergamy blinked at him. Syphon sat next to her and took her hands. When he spoke, it was in an uncharacteristically friendly voice.

'You, Hypergamy, are to be allowed to live in Iolcos, under the full protection of the law.'

'I'm...' Hypergamy cleared her throat. 'Does that mean I'm a citizen?'

'You will ... have the rights accorded to a citizen.'

Hypergamy pulled her hands away.

'What does that mean?' she said.

Syphon sighed. He had been hoping to put this part off until after the sex, but that clearly was not going to happen. He sat up straight and used his officialdom voice.

'You will have to marry,' he said.

'What?!'

'Look, every woman has to marry—'

Hypergamy was on her feet, her cloak swirling as she rounded on him in fury.

'That means I'm no better off than before!' she raged.

'Don't be ridiculous!'

'I was a free woman, you bastard! A free woman!'

Syphon launched himself to his feet, shouting in her face.

'You will be as free as any woman in Iolcos!'

'What, like your wife?'

'Yes!'

'Syphon ... she's not free!'

'Of course she is! She's not a slave, is she?'

'That's your definition of free? "Not-slave"?'

'Of course! What other definition is there?'

Hypergamy staggered backwards, staring at the man in disbelief. The room was so small, she hit a bench with the backs of her legs and collapsed onto it, sitting askew like a broken doll. She was shaking her head and muttering to herself. Syphon looked down at her and shook his head in disgust.

'You women!' he said. 'You have no idea how the world works, do you?'

'Leave me alone, Syphon.'

'Look ... we have a deal!'

'You want to fuck me in here?'

'No...!'

'Then leave me alone ... for a minute!'

Syphon clenched his jaw but kept quiet. He put his free hand on his hip and turned away. Meanwhile, Hypergamy sat forwards and put her head in her hands. After a while, her shoulders began to shake and she started to cry. Syphon cursed under his breath and walked out of the room into the corridor, looking around as though on guard against people who might be curious about the noise. Hypergamy wept, her sobs rising and falling, as sadness and grief and disappointment all swept through her system. Her weeping echoed around the room and Syphon was torn between trying to shut her up and just leaving her alone.

But he left her alone and, after a while, her sobbing diminished and she seemed to return to her normal self. Eventually, she sat up, wiped her face and got to her feet. Syphon eyed her with suspicion through the doorway, but she ignored him and straightened her gown and her travelling cloak before stepping out to join him in the corridor.

'All right, Syphon,' she said. 'A deal is a deal. Let's go to this place that you have in mind.'

*

Iolcos was a city built on the grey rock and white sandstone that hugged the bay, but as you went inland, the rocky ground began to change into the greens and yellows of orchard groves and fields of crops, while the undulating hills of Aeolia beckoned in the distance. There were two roads leading out from the whitewashed buildings of the urban areas and travelling on one of them was a chariot pulled by a single white horse that carried a man and a woman. There were workers in the fields and a few paused in their work, pushing back their straw hats and taking a moment to watch the chariot rattle by. But both man and woman were soon gone, their cloaks whipping in the air, and the workers went back to their work.

Hypergamy was holding onto the rail of the chariot as Syphon drove and she was having a furious argument in her head. She was angry, so angry, and every time a jolt in the road made her bump against the man's body, she wanted to scream in rage. How had she let this bastard get the better of her? An inner voice spoke.

'Weren't you the one who said that sex was not a matter of win or lose?' it said.

Hypergamy ground her teeth at the memory. How empty that little speech now felt. Of course sex was a matter of win or lose! Syphon wanted her vagina and she didn't want to give it to him. How was that not a war? When two sides want possession of the same ground, only one of them can win. The real question was: what now?

Hypergamy looked over her shoulder at a sea that was still visible behind her. The water was deep blue and sparkled under the sun. She turned her head to the man next to her, his eyes fixed on his horse and the road ahead. His face looked grim and determined. It was certainly not the face of a man in love or even in lust. Yes, they were at war all right.

Syphon pulled on the reins to slow the chariot. With expert handling of the horse, he turned the chariot off the road and onto a grassy track. They were travelling next to a field demarcated by a fence of wooden posts, heading towards a huge rectangular building with rough stone walls and a thatched roof. Hypergamy shielded her eyes with her hand to look at it.

'What's that?' she said.

'It's a grain storehouse,' said Syphon.

'One of yours?'

'Yes.'

Hypergamy nodded and looked around.

'It's beautiful out here,' she said.

Syphon glanced over his shoulder at her. She had been silent all the way from the palace and he was expecting the usual hostile, resentful behaviour. There was a gap in the fence and Syphon steered the chariot through it, taking it around the back and stopping in the shade of the building. Hypergamy stepped off the chariot unaided and stretched her arms above her head. There was a shelter with a water trough and hay, and Syphon unhitched the horse and walked it over. He let the horse drink, then he tied it loosely to a post and brought over some hay, stroking its neck as it bent down to feed. Looking up, he noticed the woman watching him. He gave the horse a last pat on the side, checked that the water trough was within reach, and then pointed for the woman to walk around the storehouse.

To the side of the huge building was a small stone hut with a single window and door. When the storehouse was filled with grain, there would be somebody living here to keep an eye on things, but right now Syphon knew it would be empty. He pushed open the door, ducked as he went in and looked around. It was a one-room living space, with a bed to one side and table and stools on the other. There were reed mats on the floor near the bed and chopped wood near the hearth, so it hadn't been left vacant for long. But still, it could have used a sweep. The man saw Hypergamy go over to a clay jug and lift the muslin cloth to see if there was any water in it.

'Listen,' he said. 'I know it's humble—'

'It's fine.'

Hypergamy replaced the cloth over the jug and looked at him.

'Syphon, it's fine. I was afraid you might take me to a tavern.'

'I do have rooms in town which—'

'No, I don't want to know. What you do outside of your marriage is none of my business. The only business that concerns me is the one that you and I have right now, in this room.'

Syphon gave a nod. He shrugged off his cloak and toga and piled them onto the table. Hypergamy took off her travelling cloak and laid it carefully next to Syphon's garments. Syphon went to sit on the edge of the bed and bent over to untie one of his sandals. Hypergamy went over to sit next to him.

'Can we talk for a little?' she said.

'What is there to talk about?'

'Are you serious?'

Hypergamy leaned back and looked at him.

'Syphon, why are you doing this? You don't even like me!'

'A man doesn't have to like a woman to find her desirable.'

'What desire? I don't feel any desire coming from you! All I ever feel from you is anger, anger, anger!'

Hypergamy sprang off the bed and whirled around to look at him.

'Do you think I'm beautiful?' she said.

'You know I do.'

'And does my beauty bring you pleasure or make you angry?'

'Hypergamy, you came to me! You were the one who suggested we do this!'

'Only because you were going to punish your wife!'

'She's mine to punish!'

Syphon was on his feet, face red, as the words exploded from him. Hypergamy stared at the man, at his rage, at the wild look in his eyes. His head was thrust forward, his shoulders and arms hooked downwards, his hands flexing as though wanting to rip something apart. Hypergamy closed her eyes, stayed silent for several moments, and then her hands began untying the laces of her dress. The man blinked and spoke in a thick growl.

'What are you doing?' he said.

'What do you think?'

Hypergamy pulled the dress off over her head. Syphon had full view of her glorious naked body as she turned to casually toss the dress onto the table. Then she stepped up to him and tugged the front of his chiton.

'Get this thing off,' she said.

Still wearing her sandals, Hypergamy went to the bed and climbed on. Syphon raced to undo his belt and pull off his chiton. Hypergamy was on her back, pushing some animal skins aside to get comfortable. Syphon was now naked except for his sandals and he looked at the woman - at her tanned body, round breasts and smooth legs. The woman meanwhile was eyeing his curved, erect cock and she placed her sandalled feet apart, inviting him in. Syphon climbed onto the bed, feeling her hands on his body, but even when their faces were inches apart, she was still looking past him at his cock. Syphon felt her cool fingers take his shaft, then gently slip the head into the soft lips of her slit. He groaned and felt the woman get into position. He felt her arms circle over his back, her hands sliding on his skin, one of her legs lifting and pressing against his side.

'Just so you know,' she said. 'I like it slow and deep.'

Suddenly, he couldn't wait any longer. He took hold of the woman, one hand on her buttock, the other arm around her ribcage, and pushed.

*

When the two women were naked together, Zoravelina would often tell Hypergamy what a great lover she was. Hypergamy was not entirely comfortable with that, but since she took the lead in their lovemaking, she thought she understood where it came from. But then, one night in bed, Zoravelina began regaling her with accounts of what a terrible lover her husband was. In story after story, she spoke of his brutishness, his insensitivity, and 'that horrible dick of his'. Hypergamy realised that all those compliments were actually complaints in disguise, complaints about Syphon's lack of sensuality. And as she stood in that hut and witnessed the man's rage, an idea came to her and she decided to test it.

Hypergamy lay in that bed in the countryside, being fucked by a man she disliked, and she thought, 'This could be worse'. For one thing, she didn't find Syphon's cock horrible at all; indeed, she liked it considerably more than the man himself. She was locked in a cage of masculine muscle and bone, a good, hard cock sliding in and out of her cunt, slow and deep, just like she'd asked for. It was interesting that he had listened to her request; some part of him clearly wanted to please her, despite all evidence to the contrary. A sigh of pleasure escaped her lips and she felt the man respond, his breathing quickening, his thrusts speeding up.

'Yes ... go ahead...' she murmured.

His breathing was fast now. She lifted both feet and pressed them against his thighs, his body slapping into hers, faster and faster. She looped her arms tighter round his shoulders and whispered in his ear.

'Come on, come inside me ... stop being so mean.'

Why that last thing should tip him over the edge was unclear, but it worked spectacularly. Syphon cried out and came, pushing hard as his body spasmed. Hypergamy hooked her legs around his hips and squeezed hard, forcing the man to ejaculate deep into her. King Eshmun used to love it when she did that and Syphon was no different. He coughed and gasped, almost in shock. Hypergamy held tight to the groaning man and smiled to herself. Her theory was correct.