Early in the summer of my twenty second year, I undertook a journey to Athens, the noble seat of King Aegeus. I had longed to see this fine city for many a year. After a pleasant three months stay, I embarked upon the return journey to Thebes, my home, with only my trusty stallion and a sturdy pack horse for company.
About a day's ride from Thebes, I passed through the ancient forest where for many years I had hunted choice game. It was a fine woodland, as familiar to me and as beloved as my own home. But on this occasion I took a seldom used path, a way that would pass close to a crag known as Falcon's Rock. The rock bordered a clear spring whose waters were as sweet as wine. It was there that I resolved to camp for the night.
The path, in places, was overgrown, thorny and difficult but I persevered and reached the spring around noontide. The cool water was most welcome. I immediately watered my horses, rested and bathed my body. It was then that I heard it; an enchanting and ethereal song bournfor only a moment, upon the breeze.
My horses heard it too. I noticed their ears move to pick up the airy notes. But they were not startled, far from it, they stood still and silent, listening intently should the tune return. Return it did, stronger and clearer than before. I looked up and for a long while I tried to imagine whence it came. It was surely a woman's voice; sweet and delicate, yet with an underlying strength.
The breeze that had brought this sweet music to me had again died down, so I looked around; particularly towards the mulberry trees that grew beyond the stream. After several moments I returned to my bath and shortly thereafter I heard the song again, much more distinctly. I listened carefully and finally determined that it came from above. I looked up at Falcon's Rock and slowly walked towards it through the stream's crystal waters. I paused on the far bank, still listening intently. In an instant I decided to climb the crag. I gave no thought to the fact that I was stark naked and unarmed.
I had anticipated a difficult climb but succeeded in finding many foot and hand holds. The rock was not unknown to me; I had climbed it in my youth but I could not recall ever having reached the top. I wondered what awaited me there. A considerable time later I came to a place where a sizable flat ledge allowed me to rest. Looking up, I estimated that I was close to the crag's summit. The song had not returned but then I glanced at the wall behind me. There, a large cylindrical boulder, falling from above, had long ago come to rest at an angle to the rear wall of the cliff. I looked behind it and saw to my surprise, that it partially covered the entrance to a cave.
I peered inside. The cave was large enough for me to enter on my knees, and despite a few dangling strands of cobweb and a faintly musty smell, it could have made a good place to shelter quite comfortably from the rain. Carefully, I ventured inside. It was dark but I immediately felt a slight breeze upon my face coming from the gloom beyond. The cave soon became a tunnel, a tunnel that turned quite sharply at one point and peering beyond, I saw light.
To my surprise, there was a chamber before me, filled with gloomy light. I quietly stepped into it and paused, stock still, to listen. Hearing nothing, I walked forward slowly and once my eyes had grown accustomed to the gloom, I saw the outline of a slender young woman standing by the far wall.
She was dressed totally in black, wearing a long, sheer gown that reached to the floor. She had long, lustrous black hair cascading to well past her lower back and I could see a delicate white hand on her hip. She had her back to me but her pleasing figure and noble bearing were clearly evident. Beyond her was a large hole higher up in the wall of the chamber through which the faint light came. As I glanced at the hole she suddenly turned around.
Her features were delicate and refined, her chin pointed and her skin pure white save for a slight blush upon each cheek. But most of all I was entranced by her eyes that day, eyes of mystic green below narrow arching brows. Now with a look of alarm on her face she spoke. It was only a few words and in a language that was totally foreign to me, but her tone was clearly insistent and questioning. She might have asked, “Who's there?”
When she repeated the phrase, with less confidence in her tone, I answered,
“Do not be afraid, I mean you no harm.”
Her eyes met mine as I slowly approached with my palms raised. She looked at each of them and her questioning look returned.
“You are a Greek?” she asked in a strange accent.
“Yes, and you, clearly are not yet you speak our language.”
“Aye, amongst others.”
“I was watering my horses down by the spring when I heard you singing.”
She studied me for a moment then, in a softer tone she asked,
“What land is this?”
“Boeotia….. We are in the kingdom of King Laius, son of Labdacus, scion of the royal house of Kadmos. He and Queen Jocasta reign here, seven gated Thebes is their seat. The city is only a day's ride away.”
“Never have I heard of it nor of the royal house of Kadmos.”
“Nay?”
She shook her head slowly and looked at me steadily.
“My name is Phyx.”
“A strange name.”
“Aye it is uncommon, even in my homeland.”
“And where is that?”
“I was born in Aethiopia, the kingdom of King Memnon, just beyond the upper reaches of the Nile.”
“How did you come to be here, atop this desolate crag?”
“I am the victim of an enchantment. I was a noble woman, a priestess of Hera, honoured and revered amongst my people. I was King Memnon's lover until our love was discovered by his wife, a witch of evil reputation and incomparable skill in the black arts. By her magic, she transported me here and banished me to this cave. I cannot leave. If I set foot upon that threshold my body is racked with the most excruciating pain. I cannot eat nor touch a drop of wine or water, nor do I feel hunger or thirst. All comforts, all pleasures and all desires are denied me. All except one…
“I see. Indeed, I have heard of such things from our seers and soothsayers.”
I was about to ask what single desire she was permitted her, when she asked me,
“What is your name kindly sir?”
“I am Agathon, the son of Archelaus. I am Theban”
“Greetings Agathon. My wish it is that you are more fortunate in your life than I.”
“I thank you.”
“And how comes it Agathon, that you are nude.”
Up until that point I had forgotten that I stood before her without a stitch of clothing upon me.
“Ah, forgive me, I was bathing in the stream below when I heard you singing. My curiosity got the better of me. In this country is it the custom for men to exercise nude, and I had an overwhelming desire to climb this crag as I once did in my youth. I meant you no disrespect.”
She smiled and slowly came closer.
“Fear not, you gave no offence and I understand the promptings of overwhelming desire….”
She smiled again and her beautiful green eyes widened as they met mine. She came even closer and looked slowly down. With her head at an angle and a faint smile upon her lips, she
met my eyes again and, for the first time, I felt their bewitching intensity. At that instant I knew that I wanted her, and that one thought alone made all other considerations swiftly receded into insignificance. Now a cool hand passed lightly over my abdominals and down my thigh.
She looked up at me and in a playful voice she asked,
“Answer a riddle for me...please.”
“An odd request but I shall try.”
She smiled sweetly and said,
“The house of a corpse from the sea,
A house I can hold in my hand
And take far away from the sand,
A house of many jewelled halls
Wherein the sea forever calls.”
She looked at me intently then whispered,
“Tell me what it is...but take your time, think on it.”
I pondered the strange rhyme for a few minutes, repeating it again and again in my mind. Then I said,
“A shell, a sea shell.”
She looked at me and nodded then gently pushed me back against the wall and smiled slyly. In one graceful stroke, she was on her knees. Looking up, she whispered,
“Allow me the honour my lord.”
As her slender fingers and soothingly cool palms touched my glistening skin, I felt a surge of energy in the depths of my heart and with it came a yearning and a hunger such as I had never felt before. I could not reply, so in answer, I gently grasped the back of her head and brought it forward. It was merely a token gesture and to this day, I remember the finespun gossamer softness of her hair. Her beauty and her elegance were outstanding but it was her seeming innocence and purity that struck me most on that first day we met. I felt a thrill when her cool hand first took hold of my shaft. She played with my foreskin for a while; flicking it back and forth as though it was something new to her. But soon it was forgotten and I felt her gentle, warm breath on my skin and I luxuriated in the smooth, easy gliding of her lips back and forth across the length of my shaft. Harder and harder I grew until, with a quick glance up at me, she fed my cock into the very back of her throat several times, as thought to display her skill. She need not have, but I expressed my approval and was greeted with a smile, a smile such as Aphrodite herself might posses.
Now the pressure of her hand and mouth increased until she held my cock high and licked my loose balls. This she seemed to relish most of all and soon my nether regions had become a moist grove. A few delicious moments later she returned my cock to her mouth and from one cheek to the other then to her lips and tongue; letting it explore the entirety of her mouth. The whole time, quiet sighs and gentle murmurs filled the room whose strange light seemed to make the walls glow. I looked about me as I felt her hand cup my balls and feed even more of my cock into her mouth. The air about us was quiet, so quiet that we might have been in the depths of a lucid dream.
Now I felt a hand rake across my abdominals. Her beautiful black nails shone with moisture from my skin and only then did I become aware of the ascending, tingling sensation that was rapidly building in my flesh. She seemed to sense this as I began gently thrusting my shaft into her mouth. This was all the prompting she needed to clamp her lips firmly around me. Her hands now gripped my hips and her head thrust forward in a seeming blur. Never once did my cock slip out of her mouth as she unleashed a rapid onslaught with every force at her command. I groaned and my muscles tensed over and over again until the welling of my seed overwhelmed me. I caught a hint of a smile on her face at that instant as she stopped and took hold of the base of my cock. Then she pumped it until I uttered a triumphal chorus of sounds; the like had never escaped my lips before.
I came in glorious, radiant waves, releasing all my pent up energy into her mouth. She was a willing and able receptacle, swallowing my every drop. Her moans and sighs were as music to my ears and she kept my cock between her lips while her tongue cleaned every trace of seed from it. My passions, in that instant, were spent but beauty, wherever one encounters it, is a rimless treasure. As I looked down at Phyx, licking her lips, I saw that the gods had indeed blessed her with divine beauty. I felt the need to protect her, to bring her joy but above all, to keep her for myself.
I took hold of her shoulders and picked her up. She was taller than I had first thought and now her emerald eyes sparkled with renewed light as she smiled and giggled.
“My, Agathon that was fine sport. Your cock and body are a delight. Your seed is….delicious.”
“I am honoured to have pleased you my lady.”
“Come, rest with me.”
She led me to the rear wall of the cave where there was a well swept raised area. Upon this I saw a sizable rug of quilted furs but from what animals they came I could not tell. The rug had been arranged between four smooth boulders of equal size to form a bed. Apart from this, the room was devoid of furniture or any other feature conducive to comfort.
“Is this where you sleep?”
“Aye, the sorceress queen allowed me the very rug upon which her husband and I had often made love. Come, let us rest.”
The rug was soft and remarkably comfortable. I lay down on my back and she sat cross-legged beside me.
“You say that you have been banished here with no hope of escape and that you can never leave these dismal caverns.”
“Aye.”
“And you have no need to eat or drink.”
“None. I fear I shall go insane before the spell is broken.”
“Fear not, I shall return to you and I can bring help. I have many servants.”
“No Agathon, tell no one about me.”
“Oh, why not?”
“I am a foreigner in your land, my situation would make me the object of scorn and ridicule. Furthermore, I cannot defend myself nor can I leave here to find other shelter. It has been my good fortune that you found me and I want you, only you, to return.”
I looked at her for a while then gently I said,
“Very well, as you wish.”
This seemed to make her happy and she came closer. Her luminous face hovered over mine and again, I marvelled at the beauty of her eyes, like the buds on the sacred oak of Zeus at springtime. We kissed tenderly and passionately for what seemed a sweet eternity. I tasted lips as fiery and as sweet as the finest wine from distant shores. I rubbed her shoulders and ran my hands down her sides. As I did so she gently pulled away and with her smile returning she whispered,