LEANORE 20
By Heck



Comments to heck@beadyeye.net

CHAPTER TWENTY

A DELICIOUS SHIVER ran down her spine as Claudia poured more of the soothing
oil on to her back. The bodyservant spread the unguent with the flats of her
hands, and began to knead the ridges and valleys of muscle with her
fingertips. She dug in as hard as she could, endeavouring to massage deep into
the fibres, but her efforts made virtually no impression on the muscular
hardness.

"Mmm". Leanore moaned luxuriously under Claudia's ministrations. She lay face
down and naked on a hard wooden bench, head laid on her folded arms. "That
feels so-o-o good. Thank you, Claudia".

"You're welcome", the small woman said. "I enjoy doing it. But it's hard
work".

"How so?"

"Your skin feels so soft and smooth", Claudia said, working on the beautifully
sloping trapezoid muscles. "But your muscles are so toned that I have to work
really hard to make any impression, even when you're relaxed".

Leanore gave a little laugh and tensed her shoulders. The great cables of
muscle hardened into cords of steel.

"How's that?" she grinned. Claudia slapped her shoulder playfully.

"Well, that's just silly. I might as well try to massage a brick". Her fingers
moved to the rounded deltoid caps as Leanore relaxed again. She gazed
appreciatively at the broad back, where the skin glistened under its film of
oil, and down the long, powerful body, so muscular and strong yet so utterly
feminine in every way.

"How did you get these?" Claudia asked, letting her fingers trace the eight
long scars.

"Lion", was all Leanore would say. "Ugly, aren't they?"

"No, not at all. They just add to your character, like the little tattoos over
your eye". Claudia gave a long sigh. "You're so lovely, Leanore. Sometimes."
She hesitated nervously. "Sometimes I wish I were more like you and the
Domina". She was pummelling the twin pillars of muscle that made up Leanore's
lower back, now, both her small fists bouncing on the resilient tissue.

"What do you mean? The Domina and I are nothing like each other".

"No, but." Claudia paused in her work. Shaking her hands to restore
circulation. "Well, you both seem to enjoy women as much as you enjoy men.
That's what I mean".

The servant's words caused a little stirring in Leanore's belly. She rolled
languorously onto her back like a great cat, smiling at the other with
half-closed eyes.

"I've got the Domina to thank for that. Are you curious?"

"Oh, no! It wouldn't be right. Not for me. Anyway, I'm too old".

"Older you mean" Leanore reached up and traced the line of Claudia's jaw with
a finger. "You're not old. You're still a very attractive woman, Claudia, and
I don't suppose you're very much older than Julia". She grinned. "And as far
as it not being right, I'm a slave and you're a freewoman. Technically, I have
to do anything you tell me. Anything".

Claudia gave a little nervous giggle.

"Oh, yes, that's likely to happen". She pushed the larger woman's hand away
and picked up the oil flask. A trickle of the warm fluid ran down Leanore's
belly and pooled in her neat navel. Leanore used her hands to smear it up her
body and across her proud breasts and erect nipples.

"Oh, my", Claudia gasped. "I mean.er.I've never."

"I thought you said I was lovely. Change your mind?"

"Yes. I mean, no! Gods, Leanore, I think you're the most beautiful woman I've
ever seen". She was breathing rapidly and could not deny the growing moistness
at her groin. "It's just.with men, obviously, but.I never.it wouldn't feel
right".

"How do you know 'til you try?" Leanore stretched out one long, strong arm and
cupped her hand around the back of Claudia's head. Claudia braced her arms
against the bench in an effort to resist, but she might as well have been a
feather trying to resist a hurricane. Leanore pulled her steadily down.

"Leanore, please". Claudia was not afraid, but was certainly nervous.

"Ssh". Leanore placed an elegant finger across Claudia's lips. "Just relax".
She brushed her full lips gently against Claudia's and let the tip of her
tongue flick across her bodyservant's mouth. A little quiver of pleasure ran
down Claudia's spine and she moaned softly.

"That's better", Leanore whispered. She pressed her open mouth tenderly on
Claudia's, forcing her tongue between Claudia's parted teeth to lightly touch
tips with hers.

Claudia found herself responding to the kiss, and let her tongue slide
forward, questing into Leanore's welcoming mouth. She clamped her mouth
hungrily on the strong woman's and kissed back in earnest, probing deep inside
and exploring Leanore's palate. Leanore's hand went to the small of Claudia's
back and, without effort, rolled the woman on top of her.

Lying atop Leanore's superb body was a delight in itself. To feel the powerful
muscles moving beneath her, to know that her weight was inconsequential, sent
wonderful tingles through her whole body. Her hand went to Leanore's arm and
her fingers followed the shape of the full, round bicep that Leanore playfully
flexed for her.

Both women's needs were urgent, now. Leanore's powerful hands laid hold of
Claudia's shift and pulled it up her body. Claudia struggled out of it while,
at the same time, trying to maintain mouth-to-mouth contact. She knelt up,
allowing Leanore to strip her undergarment from her legs, and cupped her hands
around Leanore's breasts, rolling the taut nipples between her fingers.

Naked, Claudia's body was trim and pleasing to the eye. Since Leanore's
arrival in her life she had received better nutrition and, where there had
been loose and slightly wrinkled skin, there was now firm and smooth flesh.
Years of exposure to the sun had tanned her body but, next to Leanore's
gorgeous ebony hide and splendid physique, she looked pale and frail. The
contrast was exciting.

Their lips sucked and chewed at each other as their tongues wrestled and
delved deep. Leanore's hand insinuated itself between Claudia's narrow but
shapely thighs, and the older woman gave an involuntary jerk as her fingers
found the hard button it sought. Claudia moaned in ecstasy as Leanore rubbed
her clitoris gently, and her juices began to flow freely. Her lips ground
against Leanore's and she turned rigid as the gladiatrix inserted a finger
into her dark, wet depths. Her hands clutched the sides of Leanore's head and
she kissed her fiercely as the first waves of pleasure began to build.

It had been a long time for Claudia, and it did not take long for Leanore to
find the special spot that would ignite her like a firework and launch her
rocketing into orgasmic heaven. Her back arched and her knees bent, flexing
her body like a bow, her entire weight balanced on Leanore's hips as she came
and came and came. Leanore's hand continued to move on her inner and outer
vagina, and she screamed in ecstatic joy while the welcome, needed waves
washed over and through her, racking her small body to the very core of her
being.

Gradually, she subsided against Leanore's chest and lay content, twitching
spasmodically as the last tiny little pops of climax faded away.

Leanore laid her hand on the back of Claudia's head, gathering the older woman
to her and cuddling her like an infant. She enjoyed the feel of Claudia's
slight weight on her, and both closed their eyes to relax in the warmth. When
she spoke, her quiet voice was calm and soothing.

"There. Did that feel 'not right' to you?"

"Oh, that felt so-o-o right". Claudia's voice was husky in the afterglow. "I
never realised. I hope I can do that for you".

"You will", Leanore smiled. "And there's so much more for you to discover.
You'll see why I enjoy women as much as men".

"I think I already do. It's amazing that someone with your strength can be so
gentle".

All at once, Leanore's warrior reflexes became aware of a third presence in
the room. She swung her legs off the bench, tumbling Claudia to the floor as
she took up a fighting stance.

Leaning on the doorjamb, Julia Domina looked at her with sparkling eyes, a
lascivious grin on her lovely face.

"Was I interrupting?"

*

"Gods, woman, do you never knock?"

Leanore's irritation at the audacious intrusion drove all pretence of
mistress/slave diplomacy from her mind, and she glared at her patronne. Julia
Domina would let her get away, in private, with behaviour she would not
tolerate from anyone else, no matter what his or her status.

"Knock?" Julia smiled innocently, cocking a flirtatious hip. "Knocking is
something that happens to other people". She did not deign to notice Claudia,
who scrambled up from the floor and retreated subserviently into a corner. "I
come and go as I please".

"How much did you hear?" Leanore asked, reaching for a towel to wipe down her
oily body.

"Enough". The Domina sauntered into the room and sat down on the bench,
heedless of the oil and sweat. "Enough to make me wish I could join in". She
sighed dreamily, then clapped her hands and became more businesslike. "But not
time for pleasure. Get dressed, Leanore. Marcellus has asked to see us both,
and he says it's urgent".

*

Respectable people were very careful to be seen in all the right places. They
went to the most decorous of restaurants and the most tasteful soirees. In
public, they conducted themselves with utmost correctness and maintained the
highest standards of behaviour at all times.

Respectable people would not be seen dead in a place like this.

The upper echelons of the aristocracy, the ostentatiously wealthy, the
super-rich, however, did not care about conventional standards of decency.
They went where they liked when they liked, and did not give a damn about
respectability. They could afford to be disreputable. They could afford to be
decadent.

They revelled in the delicious irony of being seen in a place like this. The
inn was little more than a large lean-to hovel, huddling in the grubby back
streets of one of the least desirable areas of Capitol. The bar was no more
than a couple of planks laid across two barrels, and its clientele comprised
to most despicable of cutthroats, barbarians, rogues and vagabonds anywhere in
the city, and they sat around beer-stained tables swilling cheap ale and
haggling with cheap whores.

The kind of place, in fact, where a passing stranger, happening to call in for
a mug of refreshing ale, would be lucky to leave with his life intact, let
alone his purse.

Julia Domina, with Leanore at her back, strolled in as if she was a regular.
She sat down at a filthy table and called imperiously for drinks. Wearing a
sleeved cloak so her physique would not attract attention, Leanore lowered
herself onto a stool at her side.

"Are you sure this is where Marcellus meant?"

"Absolutely", Julia confirmed. "And stop looking around like that. You're
making the natives restless".

Leanore could not help herself. She could not recall seeing such a raddled,
misbegotten, evil-looking bunch of humanity all together in one place at one
time. As a slave, she was not allowed to go armed within the city, but she
could not help feeling that she would enjoy the comfort of a sword at her
side, right about now.

The innkeeper brought a jug of ale and two mugs and banged them down on the
table without a word. A fair quantity of the liquid slopped over onto the
already awash table. Julia dropped a handful of small coins into his grubby
hand and he shoved them into a pouch at his belt, giving a sullen grunt by way
of thanks. The women watched him go; Julia was not naïve enough to expect any
change.

The ale was flat and warm and the mugs were none too clean, but Leanore had to
marvel at the sheer poise of her patronne. She poured the ale and sipped at it
as if she was tasting a fine wine from the finest crystal.

"What now?" the gladiatrix enquired.

"We wait, I suppose. Marcellus said only that he'd meet us here. No mention of
why, just that it was important".

"'Ullo, me darlin's". A man dressed in shabby sheepskin leggings and vest drew
up a stool and insinuated himself between the two women. He was big and
slightly run to fat, but there was an arrogance about him that suggested that
he was used to getting things his own way around here. His black hair hung in
unruly, greasy tangles and his beard had not seen a comb in some time, but
there was a charisma about him, and an air of the roguish fortune hunter. A
hunt that was nowhere near finished, by the look of him. "What's two lovely
ladies like you doin' 'ere?"

Anger flashed in Julia's eyes and her lips parted, ready to heap vitriol on
the fellow's head. Leanore gave a small cough and caught the other woman's
eye, silently warning her to hold her tongue and not give away her identity.

"Just move on", Leanore told the man quietly. "We don't want any trouble".

"No trouble", he leered. "It's no trouble at all to be in the company of
ladies such as yerselves. I just want to get acquainted". He gave a throaty
chuckle as his hand found Leanore's knee under the table. "Don't you want to
get acquainted?"

Leanore smiled brightly at him as she laid her hand over his wrist.

"No, thanks". She said pleasantly. Her grappling hook fingers locked about the
joint and she squeezed, digging her thumb into the tender flesh of his inner
wrist. His eyes all but crossed and a tiny squeal of pain escaped him. "And if
you don't want to be humiliated in front of all your friends, just go away and
leave us alone".

"Why, you." He half rose and raised a big, meaty fist, driving it toward
Leanore's face. She lifted a hand, and the fist smacked into her palm, blocked
dead. She increased her grip on his wrist, feeling the bones grinding
together.

"Last chance", she said. "You can leave now, or leave with a broken arm. The
choice is yours. I don't care one way or the other".

The confrontation was beginning to attract attention, and the other patrons
were gathering round, interested to see the outcome. Some supported the bully,
and called out "Come on, Boris", or "Don't let her get away with that!", but
the remainder were silent. They were fed up of Boris's bullying ways and
wanted to see him get his just desserts, but were fearful to speak up in case
he didn't.

Boris, of course, could not afford to back down. He had built his position as
top dog of this mangy pack by being big, loud, and dangerous, but it was a
precarious position. Any show of weakness and the pack would turn on him, so
he could not be seen to be intimidated. Inside, though, he knew a quaking fear
as he felt the prodigious strength of the woman's grip.

A knife nestled in a sheath at the small of his back. His hand flew to it and
he gave a surly snarl as he drove it toward her breast.

She caught it! The bitch caught his hand! Stopped it dead, inches from her
heart, and was still smiling! She hadn't even got up off her stool, yet!

"Fair enough". Leanore's voice remained quiet and pleasant. Her fingers had
closed around the fist that held the knife, and she began to twist his arm
around. He poured every ounce of his not inconsiderable strength into
resisting her, but inexorably she turned his hand until the blade pointed at
his own chest. Then she started to push it toward him.

Boris was really frightened by now. He could see his death in the woman's
smiling eyes. He tried to let go of the dagger, but her grip was too strong.
It was like his fingers were glued to the hilt. He tried to bring up his other
hand, but her grip on that wrist had not relaxed a micron - he could not budge
it.

Desperately he tried to head butt her, but she just leaned back, and every
second the lethal blade came closer.

He brought up a foot to kick her. Her eyes never left his as her own foot
flashed out and kicked his leg out from under him. He fell to the floor like a
sack of sand, landing heavily on his knees. The dagger's point was now
touching his breast.

"Oh, gods!" he begged. "Enough! Don't kill me! Please!"

The blade never moved as Leanore smiled down at him.

"I never said I'd kill you. I said you could leave, or go with a broken arm.
You made your choice".

Her hand gave a quick twist. Boris screamed as the two bones of his forearm
shattered with a loud crack. The knife fell, and Leanore caught it before it
hit the floor. Unostentatiously, but so that everyone could see, she placed
her thumb on the blade and pushed. The metal snapped with a sharp 'ting!' and
she tossed the useless weapon away.

Boris was sobbing in agony, grovelling at her feet and cradling his busted arm
to his chest. Leanore's grip on his wrist still held his other hand firmly to
her knee.

"Now", she said. "If I let you go, you're going to go straight home aren't
you?" He nodded furiously, tears of pain running into his grimy beard. "And
you're going to behave yourself. Aren't you?" Nod, nod, nod. "And you won't
bother women who don't want to be bothered, ever again, will you?" Shake,
shake, shake. "All right, then".

She released his wrist. The pain of suddenly restored circulation was almost
as bad as that from his fractured forearm. He stumbled, sobbing, erect and
lurched from the inn, accompanied by jeers and catcalls from his erstwhile
cronies. Leanore looked around at them.

"Anyone else want to 'get acquainted'?"

There were no takers. The regulars seemed to lose interest in her, for some
reason, and shuffled away, leaving the two women well alone.

Across the table, Julia watched her with glittering eyes and heaving breasts.
Her face was flushed and she moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue.

"By all the gods!" she exclaimed. "You don't know how it affects me, watching
you use your strength like that. I get so hot!"

"I can see how it affects you", Leanore replied with a small laugh. She felt a
touch of heat at her own groin, too, a direct result of Julia's arousal.

"I can't wait to get you back to my rooms!"

"That'll be nice. But here's Marcellus".

Dressed in a toga, so as not to be recognised as a military officer, Marcellus
stopped in the entrance, wondering why there was a space all around the two
women. He signalled the innkeeper for another mug, and took a stool at their
table.

"Domina". He bowed his head respectfully. "Leanore. What's been happening
here? There's an atmosphere".

"Nothing for you to worry about", Leanore told him before Julia could speak.
She still mistrusted the captain, but was willing to listen to what he had to
say. "You wanted to see us?"

"I did". He fell silent at the arrival of the innkeeper and poured himself a
measure of ale, grimacing at the sludgy look of the beverage. "I have news.
There's been talk at the barracks. Abraxas is out to get you, Leanore. They
say he's promised gold and freedom to one of the contestants to stop you
before you get to the final. Or at least, before you come up against Taran
Tarah".

"This is an outrage!" Julia burst out. "I'll have his balls on a hook, for
this! Just you wait until I speak to my husband."

"No, my lady". Marcellus interrupted her in full flow. "You cannot. We have no
proof".

"Damn! Well, when Leanore wins the championship, I can add this to Abraxas's
list of crimes when I speak to the senate".

"How does he mean to do it?" Leanore wanted to know, not unreasonably. "And
which contestant?"

"I hear he has arranged for a poisoned sword or trident. It will be done
during a contest, not as an assassination. The poison will kill you if you
just get a scratch. As for which gladiator, it must be one that is likely to
go all the way. Other than that, I don't know".

"Poison!" Julia was horrified. "Typical of the man! What a sneaky,
cowardly.Leanore, do you want to withdraw now?"

"Hell, no!" The dark woman was unhesitating in her reply. "Not at all! We
can't be driven out by a threat".

"But, just a scratch."

"Then I'll not have to get scratched". Leanore laid her large hand over
Julia's smaller one. "Don't worry. It'll be fine". She stood up smiling.
"C'mon. Let's get back to your rooms".