The Island

Legal Notice

Violence and Prurient Content Warning

This story contains sex and violence and there are some naked people. Future stories will have a lot of sex and violence and even more naked people. If a little sex and violence and naked people upset you, then don’t read this story.

This story also contains information about ancient world seafaring and Mycenaean history. If ancient world seafaring and Mycenaean history bother you, don’t read this story.

Ursa

Art by IHCOYC XPICTOC

The Story

Spring, about 1300BC. The island of Herakleia in the Aegean Sea.

"Ursa!" he whispered, kissing her on the forehead. She squirmed in his arms, snuggling in.

The faint warm glow of the early morning light was only vaguely illuminating the room. After the evening meal with Perinoos, Ursa and Bokd had walked the grounds and nearby woods of the government house and finally gone off to their room together, to make love and drift off into sublime sleep. Beneath the covers they were now cuddled together face to face, his chin on her brow, his arms surrounding her solid shoulders, their legs entangled.

"Ursa!"

"Hmmmm," she cooed dreamily, half asleep. Her left hand was resting on his hip, but her right had slipped down to a very private area, and was holding on.

"Uh..."

"Shhhh. They're soft and fuzzy. Am I hurting you?"

"No... It's just... eh"

"I said, shhh. Does it feel good?"

"Hmm…, yes," he said dreamily as well. They were both in that semi-sleep state that naked lovers cherish in the early morning after a night together in bed; a night of sleep punctuated by kisses and hugs and much embracing. Thoughts turn to dreams and dreams to even more wonderful thoughts.

She moved along to the other part.

"Oooo. You're hard again.

Bokd knew what was coming. She was gradually waking and getting excited, not that he wasn't, but be was exhausted after their night of athletic sex, actually a little sore. Notwithstanding his erection, he wanted to sleep; Ursa wanted to fuck. He groaned inwardly, Ursa usually got what she wanted.

She rolled over on top of him and took him by the ears and began kissing, deeply, her tongue slipping in, searching. He just lay back and accepted. Why not? Let her go, but he was more than a little sore. He wondered if he could stand another hard fuck. Ursa always fucked hard, like her punches, hard and relentless until she was stated; and Bokd sexually withered. She would start out cooey and lovey, full of erotic moans and ear nibbling and face kissing, but her body would eventually take over and her brain shut down and…

"Wait Ursa, please, please."

"What?" Her face looked a little hurt, disappointed. "I want to give you pleasure." She wanted to have another blistering orgasm.

"Eh, I’m a little worn out from last night."

But she was in no mood to argue, and with the gentlest and sweetest smile on her face took his wrists and pulled them around under his back. He didn't have the strength or courage to resist.

Still smiling, "This is a new position, honey."

A new position to Ursa was usually something between a hammer lock and a full pin to the mat. All he could do was submit, and try not to scream too much. She was over his loins now.

"I’m going to let one arm go and insert you, dear, and if you try and wriggle away I’ll turn you over and spank you."

Considering the condition of his cock, a spanking might not be so bad an alternative. Actually, it sounded rather intriguing.

He felt his over-exercised member sliding in, gods she was wet, was there any limit to her capacity for sex? She grabbed his hand again and pulled it under him.

"Did you learn this in Egypt? What’s it called?"

"Uhhh, no. It’s my own," she grunted as she settled down and began gently pumping. "It’s called the ‘guess what position’"

"Guess what? - Ohhhh," it hurt just a little, "- Ahhhh!" but the feeling was good too.

"Yeah. The ‘guess what position’; guess what, you’re getting fucked and you can’t get loose."

He started laughing

She was pumping more rhythmically now, not hard just gently, almost with a rolling motion.

He was still laughing.

She started as well.

"Bokd. Don’t spoil this for me, I really want to come."

They were both laughing even harder now. She stopped and began to kiss his face relentlessly. If she hadn’t been holding his hands, she would have tickled him; she loved to pin men to the bed and tickle them into hysterics.

"Oh Ursa, please, please. Okay, okay, I won’t laugh. I won’t, really."

She stopped kissing and stared at him, and then they both burst out laughing and she collapsed on his chest, letting go his arms. They just laughed and laughed. It felt so good to laugh and feel the warmth of the other’s naked body. She propped herself up on her hands and looked down on him. Bokd was still inserted and she was just enjoying the feeling, squeezing him, tormenting him with ecstasy.

"You’re going to get fucked, understand?" She squeezed again, drawing him inward. He moaned in delight. "You like that don't you, Captain?"

He didn't want to say so. She squeezed harder. "Oh, gods," he finally exclaimed. He couldn't help it. She laughed and did it again. "Oh please, Ursa, please."

"Please what?" She got down close and whispered into his ear, blowing into it, "Please what?"

She squeezed. He moaned.

"Please what?"

He whispered back, "Please fuck me."

"Ohhhhh....," she said teasingly, "now he wants to get fucked." She kissed his face some more and then his mouth, deep and warm. "You want to get fucked by Ursa?"

"Yes Captain"

She pushed herself back up on her arms, smiling, thoroughly in command.

"So, I'm the captain."

He nodded in return, smiling.

"Okay, then, you just sit back like a good sailor we'll have a nice little ride."

He stared at the ceiling trying not to laugh.

"And that's an order, Sailor."

"Yes, Captain." She did feel awfully good, and she was awfully good at fucking.

She started in again, pumping away, propped up on her hands, working her hips wonderfully, artfully; and his hands on her buttocks, grabbing, holding; and Ursa, pumping, pumping. She pumped a rather long while seemingly enjoying herself immensely, but then the strokes and rhythm changed, more intense, her vagina tightening, and she began to make little noises, those little cries that told him she was nearing climax. She threw her head back and made even more and louder noises, high pitched cries. Her vagina squeezed harder and her thrusts came more forcefully. The cries changed to earthy exhalations, deep throated and primitive as she now looked down at him, her eyes wild and her thrusts even more powerful. She was getting into that state beyond language and thought, back to when people had no language and just got together and fucked their brains out and thought of nothing but the joy of it, the pleasure of it, the ecstasy of it. She threw her head back again. He could feel her vagina tighten for the first spasm, she stopped pumping, she screamed, a kind of scream and grunt together ending in a throaty cry; and then she pumped some more and then the second spasm, another shriek; and a third, only a little cry, her face flushed; and finally she eased down on his hairy chest, head to one side, panting and moaning little sweet sighs. In the middle of her passion he had come himself, but it had been a mere nothing by comparison, a trifle, a bagatelle, lost amid her insane orgasm. Bokd desperately hoped she was sated.

She turned her sweaty head up to him and kissed his nose.

"You’re the best. Gods! That was good."

"The best? What did I do?" he thought, "I just laid here like a lump and hung on - hung on to those muscle-buns."

She stared admiringly at him for a few moments and then, with an impish and bright smile on her face, "Wanna do it again?"

"Oh great Zeus, no, NO!"

She started laughing herself now.

"Take it easy, Boy. I’m through. That did me in, even me. I’m wiped out. But I feel good, really good.

She rolled off him and lay on her back just smiling up at the painted ceiling. Someone had painted fanciful creatures and wiggly and jagged borders in blue and green around the perimeter. She felt those tears in her eyes again. Where did they come from?

"Hey, Ursa?"

She sniffled and turned her head away from him so he wouldn’t see her tears.

"You’re terrific, you know that?"

He propped himself up a little and looked over to her.

"Hey. Come-on now. I’m not that bad.

She turned and smiled at him through her wet eyes and held out her arms.

He came to her naked breasts and embraced her and kissed her deeply. She held him strongly. More tears now. Bokd took a bit of the covers and wiped her face.

"I love you, Ursa. I always have,"

Her eyes said the same to him. But she said nothing. She hurt too much. Their lives would always keep them apart, only rarely would they embrace like this. But maybe, she thought, it was better this way; they would never tire of each other, it would always be fresh and exciting - they would always be in love. Later, maybe much later, they might be together always.

She shook the thoughts from her head.

"I have to go. I have to leave and go to Rhodes and give that poor man his cargo. I’m ashamed to charge him."

"We’ll get together again, you’ll see. Maybe at Rhodes. I have to go back. And it will always be better each time."

Right now he didn’t think that was really possible, but it sounded nice.

She sat up cross-legged and wiped her face on a bunch of covers. Bokd sat next to her the same way. He noticed her bulging arm muscles, broad back and tight muscled butt; and falling over her shoulders and firm breasts, her lovely yellow hair. She was a stunning creature, a unique creation. He kissed her shoulder and nuzzled her. He sighed, as did she; it was over now, she would go. She smiled a sad smile and rose and began to put her tunic on. He loved to watch her dress. It made him want to wrestle with her and strip her naked just to look at that body again (that’s if she didn’t strip him), but he left her alone. This was difficult for her and he would not tease her. He had been bad enough recently and now everything was patched up. He rose and put his tunic on as well and hugged her from the back, a nice warm hug but not a sexy hug, a good bye hug; she had to leave.

"Let me go see Rehena," she said smiling, and then laughing. "Poor Perinoos. I wonder what’s left of him."

They both started laughing again. Rehena was a tiger. Next to her Ursa was gentle and sweet. Perinoos had no idea what he had walked into.

Though yet early in the morning, Bokd entered the main room to find Perinoos not in the arms of his lover but sitting at the table, his head in his hands, his hair mussed and what appeared to be several black and blue marks in the shape of grasping fingers freshening on his bare arms. Bokd diplomatically cleared his throat to make his presence known, Perinoos’s head popped up at him with a wide-eyed and stricken face.

"Oh. I thought it might have been Rehena."

Composing himself with a smile like a death grin he gestured Bokd to sit. His hand was trembling.

"I’d rise, but I might collapse or pass-out."

His eyes looked like those of a man just released from three months chained in a prison cell, gaunt holes with dark surrounds. Rehena had accomplished this in only a few hours.

"What happened?" The question was rhetorical, but he had to ask.

"That woman. Great gods," he whispered and looked around carefully, "I can’t describe it. I mean, she’s wonderful, can she fuck, but great Zeus above, she has no sense of her strength, and she goes wild, I mean wild!"

Bokd thought of Ursa in her more extreme moments, but this was evidently nothing like he had ever experienced.

"And she howls in that language of hers... eh…"

"Nubian."

He looked at Bokd as if he had lost his train of thought, so addled had he become.

"Yes, Nubian. Whatever. And she grabbed me and…" He seemed to be trying to find words. He started to look sick.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes. Just a little weak."

Just then a slavegirl approached with some tea and food. Bokd looked at her. She was trying to hide a grin. A little fearful, she lowered her eyes, but Perinoos had his head buried in his hands again so Bokd looked at her and smiled impishly, knowingly. She covered her mouth with her hand and almost laughed as she scampered away. Rehena must have made enough noise, Hades, Perinoos must have been making a lot of noise as well, for them to hear everything. Perinoos raised his head.

"Ughhh. Food," he moaned.

Bokd already had a mouthful of dates.

"Uh, ooh, uh." He put his hand to his head as if concerned something had just come loose inside. Drinking a lot of wine hadn’t helped matters. "Maybe a little tea; yes, a little tea."

He poured a cup, gingerly as if he thought it might erupt in his face. He put down the pot and sniffed the steam from the cup, hoping perhaps it would heal him - it didn’t. Perinoos began to philosophize in a disjointed and absentminded sort of way.

"You know, Bokd, how there is a space between pleasure and pain, pain on one side and pleasure on the other, and a big area in the middle?"

Bokd’s mouth was too full of dates to speak but he nodded and grunted in the affirmative, "Umm, hmm," as if he had been there. He hadn’t, but with Ursa you get close enough to feel you understand.

"Well, with Rehena that space disappears. It’s all one, pleasure and pain together. You feel like you’re being dragged around through some sexual process, not certain what it is, but you’re there, suffering and in ecstasy all at once." Perinoos looked confused. "I don’t know. I’m not making sense."

For the next hour the two just sat and talked about the night. Perinoos needed time to recover and conversation over some food and hot tea was good medicine. As his story unfolded it appears that Rehena put on quite a show, stripping herself naked, flexing her muscles, and tantalizing him with her body - and doing things to him he had never experienced. He whispered the details of some of the better parts to Bokd, who stopped chewing and just stared. At first Perinoos was utterly entranced. She was, after all, incredibly beautiful in that exotic African way and he had never made love to a Nubian before, and certainly not one built like her. She was all his Amazon fantasies rolled into one unearthly creature, or at least that’s how it appeared at the beginning. But as they say, Rehena was just a little too much woman for Perinoos’s slender frame and uncertain constitution.

"At one point, I swore I heard Charon asking for the fare, Bokd. Really, I did.

But he did seem to be recovering. They were mere flesh wounds. It was just that she spent so long administering them, and the circumstances so unusual; perhaps he was simply shocked more than anything.

It was now fully morning with the sun well up and a bright day promising. Bokd was thinking about Ursa and the trip back to Rhodes when one of his junior officers entered.

"Captain," he said, placing his arm stiffly across his chest in salute, he seemed a little hesitant to speak but something was evidently bothering him, "I ask only that the morning is advancing and the Isis is departed."

Bokd stood up like a shot. Perinoos rose slowly and stood bent over like a man recovering from a groin kick.

"How long have they been gone?"

"About an hour, sir. Captain Ursa said we would follow later and not to bother you."

Bokd shook his head. The Isis was not a galley, but a merchant tub; yet her lines were not all that bad and now eleven tons lighter in the water she would show a good turn of speed; with a head start, Ursa might actually think she had a chance to beat him to Rhodes. And beating a war galley would be something she would brag about for months; the detail about the head start would be omitted, of course. She was incorrigible. She had to be on top, whether in bed or on the seas.

"Go back to the boat and wait for me. We will depart at once."

"Aye, sir." He turned on his heel and ran out.

"Perinoos. I thank you for your hospitality and I am glad we were able to deliver the tin."

Bokd charged through the social amenities as rapidly as possible while the slavegirl who served them breakfast came rushing in with his things; she seemed to always know just what was needed at any given moment. Perinoos wheezed out a few complementary parting words but clearly this was all too much for him and he slumped down into his chair again groaning.

The captain grabbed his things and rushed out the door and toward the waiting boat. As he ran to the beach, he looked for the Isis, but she had already disappeared around the south headland. The wind was steady and fair and with an hour’s head start she would be about five or six miles out.

"That girl," he thought, "how dare she think she can beat me to Rhodes."

They were made for each other.

"Shove off!"

Ursa and Rehena were still laughing over the slick escape they had pulled. The Isis, light and perfectly trimmed, was racing away from Herikleia at a good clip. But mostly they laughed about the night before and the havoc they had reeked on their lovers and Bokd’s and Perinoos’s sorry condition the following morning. Perinoos in particular was the subject of most of their amusement, he had suffered particularly hard under Rehena’s wild passions.

"I still keep seeing Perinoos sitting at that table, Rehena. He looked like he had aged ten years. Did you see his eyes?"

Standing together on the quarter-deck, they would intermittently collapse in mirth, hanging onto each other for mutual support. Rehena started in about Perinoos again.

"He was such a nice man, and really I kind of went for him, you know, he was handsome and very kind to me." Rehena fingered the lovely gold pendant he had given her just as they got into bed - she loved gold. "He was very kind. I feel sorry for him, but you know how I get." More laughter. "He was begging me to let him go after the fourth time he came. That’s when I gave him a choice," laughter, "if you can’t do it with your cock then do it with your mouth, and he dove right in, glad to give his poor little thing a rest." Both were laughing now. "And then I got him in a scissors while he was down there. If he stopped I squeezed." Howling laughter. "His screams were pitiful, but he loved it. I could tell. They all do. They make a lot of noise and scream but they love it. I’d let him up for air and then push him down again. He must have made me come a dozen times."

"I hope you really didn’t do any permanent damage."

"Oh, no. He’s not a strong man, but he’ll recover - in a few months - maybe a year."

This really made them laugh.

Ursa added, "His slavegirls will have rest for while, at least. He won’t go near a women for a long time."

Their bout of laughter was suddenly interrupted by the masthead lookout calling down. "Captain, the Ranger; coming around the far headland."

Sure enough, the Ranger was rounding the headland and coming after the Isis under sails and oars together.

"She must be near ramming speed," said Ursa.

Not that Ursa was dallying; the Isis was carrying all the canvas she could manage. Upon getting out sea, she had had Rehena attach the large bonnet, an extra piece of sail, an extension, to the bottom of the mainsail, and the ship was driving hard under the mass of ballooning canvas. Up till now, the wind had been steady and was from the northwest, dead astern, but it had begun to freshen and the ship was starting to pitch and buck a little under the force of the huge sail.

"I think they catch us soon Captain, no?"

Ursa looked frustrated. She had wanted to beat them to Rhodes and had hoped that Bokd would stay longer with Perinoos and help him nurse his wounds, at least until she was out of sight over the horizon. She looked at the sail and the rigging straining under the wind. If things got any livelier, she would have to shorten sail, but she would hold out until the last minute - she always played her hand out to the bitter end, the very bitter end.

"Perhaps, he’ll catch us Rehena. But we’ll give him a good run for it." Rehena smiled and playfully ruffled the captains hair.

Even over the last few minutes, the Ranger had become visibly closer. Bokd was driving her as hard as Ursa was driving the Isis and vast sheets of spray could be seen rising up from the Rangers bow as the speeding vessel parted the waves. The Ranger had two masts and Bokd had the big square sails set to take maximum advantage of the following wind. The handier lateen sales were used for general inshore sailing and working up to windward, but the Ranger carried a second set of square sails for long voyage cruising.

On board the Ranger, Bokd was conferring with his first officer. They were both concerned about the amount of sail she had bent.

"She’s carrying everything but the cooks tunic." The Isis was beginning to heel dangerously and the force of the huge sail and the leverage of the mast caused bows to drive deeply into the waves. At times the ship would disappear under a wall of spray from a plunging bow splash. "She’s at the limit. If this wind rises much more things are going to start to give way. A sudden gust and she’ll go on beam ends or be dismasted; and then I’ll have to save her ass."

The rowers were working steadily away and having a good time of it in the process. The thought of overhauling the Isis made them grin at their work, they needed no encouragement. The flute player tootled one sprightly tune after another to keep them in unison. Usually a drum was used at the beginning of a rowing session or in battle, but once the vessel was underway and the men found their own rhythm, the flute was pleasanter and did the trick. The popular air, Pallas the Warrior Goddess, was filling the air at the moment. They had just finished Fair Aphrodite, but Bokd especially liked this one and his foot tapped along as he happily watched the Isis grow ever so slowly larger before him. It was only a matter of time.

Bokd soon relieved the rowers and just let the Ranger sail along. The gap was closing more slowly but it was still closing. Even under sail alone, the Ranger was vastly superior to the Isis in speed.

After the breezy morning, the wind had actually abated a little, but now approaching midday, the cloudless sky was slowly giving way to a graying mistiness, a foreboding sky of low clouds and an unsettling sense of foul weather. The steady wind was now becoming progressively gustier with sudden slight changes of direction and intensity.

The Ranger was now closing fast with the Isis. Ursa could be seen on the quarter-deck, while Rehena was in the waist handing the sail and tweaking the overstrained gear. It needed all the attention she could give. They were approaching from the starboard quarter and would be within hailing range in a few minutes. Ursa was ignoring him and looking away.

Bokd’s bosun, Dorakt, touched his shoulder, "Captain, look astern, sir."

Sure enough, a low black cloud was racing toward them; one of those sudden Summer squalls that can sneak up and blow like Hades for a brief time and then disappear as though it had never been. It was driving down hard and would overwhelm them in a few minutes. Bokd hoped Ursa would see it and prudently shorten sail, lower the yardarm and get that bonnet off, but Ursa was not in a prudent mood, she was in a competitive mood right now. The Isis was pitching and swaying violently. Bokd had his own sails lowered as he saw the ferocity of the storm tear water into violent waves beneath the advancing cloud. This was going to be a real blow. He took out his speaking horn as the Ranger came within twenty or thirty yards of the Isis.

"Ursa!" he yelled. "Shorten sail. Look astern. A squall."

Heron, her helmsman, as was Rehena, were already calling her to turn and look. She glanced at the approaching storm and then up at her rigging. Bokd could see her shouting to Rehena to lower the yard. But the storm was already upon them. The sun faded and then disappeared as the cloud swarmed over them like a huge, black hand. The Isis vanished and then the sea itself into the eerie blackness. Everything vanished around them except the deck of the Ranger itself. And then came the wind, frighteningly strong and gusting, roaring and smelling wet and different from the clear air; and then the rain, hard and fierce, a wall of it, huge drops filling the air completely and stinging as they hit the skin. From the quarter-deck of the Ranger, Bokd could only see halfway down the length of the ship, and then not even that. He hung on to a backstay as the wind seemed to want to pull him into the sea. Dorakt was at his side, yelling in his ear.

"I‘ve got her under bare poles, sir."

Bokd nodded as if to say, "Good job." The wind was screaming too loudly for him to be heard.

With no canvas on her, the Ranger’s big fantail now acted like a weather cock and the galley swung around half a circle into the wind to ride out the storm. Bokd knew they were safe; it was the Isis he was worried about.

The storm, true to pattern, blew itself out quickly; leaving a choppy and disturbed sea and the air with a freshened smell as if it had been scrubbed clean by the ferocity of the winds. The sun popped out as the clouds moved away revealing the vast sea, and revealing the Isis too. She was bobbing about in the turgid water some distance away. Her fantail had turned her into the wind as well for she was also not carrying any sail - she was also not carrying a mast. The winds had parted the stays and the mast had gone over the side. The Isis was helpless and a mass of rigging and spars trailed astern. Ursa and Rehena were busy trying to get things organized. A jury rig would have to be made up. They probably could have managed alone, but the Ranger was here so things would be a lot easier - even if a lot more embarrassing. Considering the circumstances, Bokd got the oars working and had the Ranger approach the Isis bow to bow as she stood into the now moderate wind. He called Ursa to the bow of the Isis so he could talk to her from the bow of the Ranger. She put on a good front, as usual, but she was not feeling very dignified just now.

Bokd hollered through his horn in mock seriousness, "Ranger to vessel in distress. Can we be of assistance?"

He had to dig in just a little. He didn’t want to be brutal, but if it had been him out there she would be ruthless. Pulling together what scraps of dignity remained, she just stood on the foc’s’le deck holding onto the forestay with one hand, the other on her hip.

"Yeah. Got an extra mast on board, sweetie. I seemed to have misplaced mine in this mess."

"No, but we got a good strong towing line. And after we cut the wreckage loose and salvage what we can we’ll pull you into Rhodes."

The idea of being towed into Rhodes by Bokd was intolerable. She would never live that down, and Bokd would never let her forget. She thought quickly, feverishly.

"Help me get the mast alongside. We’ll use your yardarm to pull the stump out and put what’s left back in and I’ll sail back under a jury rig."

"Too dangerous in a choppy sea, Ursa. I’m towing you back. I’ll back down and throw you a line and then you take on a nice fat hawser. That’s it, kid; you’re a barge now."

"A barge," she thought. The lowest form of vessel afloat. This was horrible.

As the last of the black clouds were blowing away to the east, to Ursa’s back, Bokd saw something emerge; land, a small island. Rehena called out to Ursa to turn around and she saw it as well. The clouds were still in the process of revealing it. It was quite high, almost cone shaped, like an ancient volcano, but now long dead and covered with forest green with a bare flat rocky spot at the very top. Ursa stared as did Bokd, and for the same reason, there was no island there that they could remember. But it was none the less there and staring back at them. The Aegean was full of islands, maybe this one had just escaped their attention or left their memories. The island made Ursa nervous, but she was desperate. She would not be towed back.

"We can put in there and work in a sheltered cove and I can refit with the mast I have. Come on, Bokd. If I have to I’ll row in with the sweeps. And you won’t leave me out here, not you."

There was perhaps eight more hours of light left; enough to get the job done easily without being caught in the dark on a unnerving unknown island.

"Rehena," she called out, "Rig the sweeps. We’re going in."

Bokd shouted back, "Alright, Ursa, we’ll tow you in and find a nice sheltered cove."

Ursa smiled. Bokd turned the Ranger around, backed down toward the Isis’s bow and tossed out a line. Ursa had the heavy hawser aboard in no time and before long they were sailing toward the mysterious island.

The north side was rocky and desolate with breakers driving in from the northwest wind, but a sail around the east side revealed a much more receptive environment; quiet seas sheltered from the waves and a nice large cove cut into the shore, rather deep in fact, almost a lagoon, seemingly made for them. Under oars alone, the Ranger moved slowly into the cove, a man in the bows with a lead-line singing out as he checked the depth. The wind had dropped over the past hour and the water, particularly since they entered the cove, was like glass. The island was heavily wooded and the huge trees began to close in around them; the feeling was distinctly unsettling as the two ships dropped their anchors with what seemed deafening splashes. The sound of the anchors alarmed the locals, however, and a vast horde of birds, a massive cloud, few screaming into the sky - at least there was some life here.

The cove was ringed by a short sandy beach that disappeared quickly into dense wood. The island was really hardly more than a huge cone shaped lump of rock and the ground began to rise immediately beyond the shore. The bare rocky top, visible out to sea, could not be seen so close in but Ursa knew it was there and her intense curiosity made her want to climb to the top and explore and take in the wonderful view. Her mind began working. If she could get Rehena and Bokd’s bo’sun, Dorakt, do the work (it was only natural) then she and the Bokd could go for a walk and loose themselves in the island for a while; besides, that last goodbye fuck had left her a little wanting of something more, and here they were in this nice green, peaceful place. Just the kind of place Theseus dumped off poor Ariadne. Just the kind of place Ariadne found Dionysus and got to party and fuck forever - Hades, she might just get lucky.

She called out from the Isis, "Hey, Captain Bokd. I’m coming aboard."

She got a crewman to pull her to the Ranger in the dinghy and skipped up on deck smiling impishly, holding a tangled pair of sandals triumphantly in her hand. "Come-on Captain, lets go for a walk."

Seventy men were watching this. He tried to remain composed, but he could tell Ursa really wanted to go for a walk. There was no excuse to remain, Phrontis, the first officer could take care of everything, and Dorakt was the expert in rigging, and Rehena already had her eye on Phrontis - everything seemed in order and under control. Ursa stood there smiling, waiting. This was embarrassing. But if he didn’t go along, it would be even more embarrassing when she started tugging at his arm and winking at the crew - she did stuff like that. And the way she was dangling those sandals and smiling was bad enough already.

She reached out with a bare toe and touched his foot.

"Okay, okay. I’m coming."

Amid the sidelong smiles of the crew acting like they weren’t paying attention, Bokd dove down into his cabin and came back with his sandals.

"Phrontis, you’re in charge. I’ll be back soon."

"Official business, sir?"

Bokd glared at him and turned away.

Ursa’s boat took them to the shore where they walked along the sandy beach a little, Bokd wanted to get out of sight, but she wanted to put her bare feet in the wet sand a bit and hold his hand.

"Ursa. The men."

"Oh, Bokd. They know," she said, flashing a pure happy smile at him, and giving him a playful jab in the ribs ("ouch!" he thought). "You’re a person too, you know. And you’re the captain. You get to…, well…, do things."

Her eyes could be very beautiful in the sunlight. The gray caught the sea and the sun together and the crinkly lines around them were really quite beautiful. Her body was big and muscular, but her feet were small and cute, with nice toes, well formed. She seemed to truly enjoy placing them in the wet sand and scrunched them up and they hit the ground, carefully placing the balls down first and then the heel, like a dancer. It was now sunny and warm. She exhaled a lung full of air and smiled up at him again. He felt good (except for the jabbed ribs). She squeezed his hand.

"Oh look. A path."

Bokd looked and indeed he could see the faint remnant indication of a path leading into the woods.

"I’ll bet this goes to the top," she said. "Oh, come-on." And then pulling the hesitating Bokd, "Come-ON!"

"Ursa!"

"Here, sit."

She had found a nice rock near the edge where both of them could sit and get their sandals on. Smiling seductively, she started to untangle the laces. He watched. She knew he liked this. She pulled up her tunic to the thigh, stuck a bare leg out and began to put one on. Ursa liked sandals with long laces that went up to just under the knee. It took a while to lace them. Bokd watched her as he did his own.

"You forget how to tie your sandals, dear?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, you were watching me. I was just wondering."

He turned away. She laughed and nudged him. He almost fell off the rock.

"Oops, sorry," she giggled.

The climb to the top was not too bad at first, but the ground quickly began to steepen. Ursa’s world was largely the open sea and she only rarely got to go into the deep woods. She loved the woods too; she and Bokd had first made love in the woods. When she thought of the woods she thought of him, she was very happy right now.

"Come-on. You’re slower than a temple procession. - Come-ON!" as she ran along ahead of him. He liked to watch her run.

The woods were now dense, and dark, and the trees rose up to great height; straight and leafless until the tops, and then spreading out and roofing the pathway in deep green. The air was cooler here and the ground scattered with branches and leaves. The path wound upward, twisting around rocks and particularly large trees; gargantuan vegetables that looked as if the Titans themselves had planted them, and had set the pathway around them; an unsettling notion to Bokd’s mind.

They had climbed for some time when Ursa, skipping and giddy with childlike delight in the woods, called out to a puffing Bokd, "Look, hey look."

The woods now began to clear a little and Bokd stumbled into a small open area to find Ursa standing before a temple, or what appeared to be a temple; a structure of extreme antiquity, hardly more than a pile of slabby stones leaning against each other with a slab stone roof and an opening on one side. He huffed up behind her. She was already half in the doorway, staring in.

"Wha.., (puff) ugh.., what’s in there." Having lurched to a stop, he looked around, red-faced and weaving just a little. They were very near to the top of the island. The trees were now much shorter and scrubbier and he could see the rocky summit over the next rise.

"It’s dark, but I can see a little." She walked in and waited for her eyes to adjust. He stood hanging at the door, gasping. "There’s an altar in here." She fell silent. And then in a subdued tone, "This is a sacred place." Ursa was not overly religious. She did argue with Rehena about the gods, but she was not one for her prayers, sacrifices and ablutions. Yet she was now very subdued in a way quite unlike her usual bumptious self - she was in a word, quiet.

Gathering his breath, Bokd savored and took advantage of this rare moment. After a few moments, curiosity overtook him and he entered the temple. Ursa had her back to him. She was holding her arms away from her sides, elbows bent, forearms up, palms out. Her face was looking straight forward. She was in the attitude of prayer. He sensed the solemnity of the moment and quietly moved around to see what she was standing before. An alter, a simple and crudely formed stone table stood in the center of the room. On it was the statue of a woman, a small, clay effigy, barebreasted in Minoan costume, her arms outstretched like Ursa’s but holding a snake in each hand. On her head was a headdress or helmet, it was hard to tell which, and perched atop that was an owl.

He looked at Ursa’s face; it was wet with tears. He just stood and watched for some time. Finally she turned to him. It was as if she had seen something he could not and had experienced something wonderful, something very personal.

"What is this? What happened?" he asked.

This is my goddess. This is Athene."

Bokd looked at the statue. It was all wrong. She had no armor, no spear, no shield and her breasts were bare, like a Minoan woman. She would never be shown that way.

"I don’t understand, she doesn’t look like this. I mean, she has the snakes and the owl, but…"

Ursa was just staring at the statue. In a very quiet voice she said, "She spoke to me Bokd. I heard her."

He had heard of such events, gods talking to people. It had never happened to him, even when he could have used the advice - which was frequently. He was a little doubtful about the whole thing but waited for her to tell him.

Ursa swallowed, hesitated, and then in the same voice, "She said, ‘Here I was born from the head of Zeus, first as the giver of all womanly arts and skills, and then of defense and war. Zeus left this image of me as I first was.’ I heard her say that."

She was shaking, trembling as if cold, but it was shock. He had never seen her tremble before. He put his arms around her shoulders and held her. She was quietly crying again.

"I have always loved her, but to see her as a Minoan woman is so strange. My people are very old, we go back so far." She was squinting at the altar. There were some markings, like writing. "Look. Bokd, you can read letters better than I. But these are not ours. What are they?"

Bokd studied them but could offer nothing. "They’re the older letters of the Minoans. My uncle showed me some once. He could not read them, no one can any more."

She brushed her hand over them as if she wished they would talk to her. She reached out to the statue and almost touched it, but stopped. "I’ll leave you alone." He left.

The forest seemed even more eerie now, strangely cool and still, as if all life had ceased to exist. He just stared out into the mass of huge tree trunks and dense greenery.

Then he heard her footsteps. She was a little subdued but very calm and happy. "We talked again." They began to walk to the summit. She seemed very distant but held his hand and looked at the ground.

The summit emerged before them a smooth, bald rocky spot in the bright sun; so refreshing and warm after the cool darkness of the forest. The clouds were gone and the sky perfectly clear, a deep azure blue. The world spread out before them like a grand panorama of blue water; blue water studded with green islands that stretched to gray at the horizon and met the sky in a subtle, dusty haze. It was simply beautiful. She quietly gasped. He stood close behind her and held her shoulders. She seemed to be in love with the world at this moment, in love with life and in love with her goddess; Bokd was just in love with Ursa. He felt so happy that she could be so happy.

The gentle wind blew her hair and a lock fell into her eyes, she pulled it back so as not to block her view. He turned her around and kissed her, she responded in kind. He could still feel the wind, but nothing else except her lips and the wind. She seemed so close yet unreal. It all seemed so unreal. People did not feel this much enjoyment, this much warm passion. This was indeed a moment created by the gods; this island, the wind, the blue sea and sky, even Ursa; it was too beautiful, too wonderful. He enjoyed the moment knowing it would end. He took his lips from hers and she looked into his eyes. She too felt deeply in love; in love with the moment, in love with Bokd, and drenched in the memory of the encounter with Athene. This was the most wonderful moment of her life, as it was his. They just embraced and swayed in the wind and the warm sunlight, afraid to open their eyes, afraid to breathe, afraid to think - willing only to feel.

How long they stayed in the brilliant light and gazed into the sea and into each other’s eyes they lost track, but it was mid afternoon now and they must start to return. Initially, Ursa had though of this excursion as an opportunity for a little additional sex, a midday delight, but something far more profound had happened, something had bonded between them. They felt very special together.

The work on the Isis would be nearing completion by now, and they should set sail for Rhodes immediately. It was difficult, but they had to leave.

"Someday, we’ll come back," she smiled.

He hugged her and smiled back and nodded. They began to walk off the rocky summit and into the grass and stunted trees toward the forest below. Ursa and Bokd trooped along and held hands, swinging them like a couple of kids. Suddenly, Bokd seemed to melt away, dropping to the ground on his knees. At the same moment she heard the thud as the piece of wood hit his head. She let go his hand and wheeled around as he collapsed on the ground in a sprawling heap. Behind her was a man, a ragged, filthy creature, his body barely covered in dirty rags, his face bearded, his eyes wild. He was jumping at her, wielding his club. She had moved back very quickly or would have been hit as well; he had taken a clumsy swing at her but was going to miss. She was still jumping back as the club came down where she had been standing. The wild man staggered forward, somewhat loosing his balance. Ursa continued to skip back now reaching for her fathers knife, the dagger of the warrior woman. She held it out in front of her. The man was dazed and confused looking. He had not anticipated this; missing her and now having to deal with an aggressor. No doubt he thought that if he disabled the man the woman would be easy prey. He stopped and studied her for a brief instant as if trying to work out what to do. In this brief moment, Ursa thought about who he could be; a shipwrecked sailor gone mad or an escaped convict or slave. He seemed almost inhuman. He came at her again attacking with another artless swing. He was large. Larger than Bokd, but not as muscular - and not skilled with a club. His face had taken on a fiendish snarl as he bared his filthy, incomplete set of teeth. Ursa was still stepping back, settling herself in for the attack when she thought about turning to see if another ragged creature was behind her. But too late, the second beast had his hands around her arms and was trying to hold them while the first man grabbed for the dagger. Ursa’s incredible strength allowed her to lunge forward even with the second man holding her back and caught the other a deep grazing wound on the forearm, a good slashing wound. He jumped back in horror and screamed, dropping his club.

But the other one still had her arms and was trying to bite her neck. She bent forward and threw him over her back and onto the ground. Jumping up, she and steadied herself and backed around again to see if there were others; there weren’t, but she stepped onto the first beast’s club and it rolled under her feet. She fell on her back. Second beast dove for her and fell upon her. She could feel his filthy breath in her face and smell his stink. The first was advancing again, hollering and cursing over his wound. She still held the dagger and as the first beast fell on her she swung the blade hard into his side and pulled upward as she stabbed, cutting a huge gaping gash into his body. He jumped away screaming, blood streaming and gushing in red a torrent. The other still tried to hold her down but was afraid of the knife. She dropped the knife and grabbing his wrists pushed them around his back, the ligaments cracked as they moved in directions the gods never intended. He shrieked insanely as the searing pain and what she had done registered. Her strength was far beyond his. Letting go his useless arms, she encircled his chest, grabbed one wrist with the other hand and began to squeeze. He grunted and screamed together as she began to strangulate his upper body. Quickly, his ribs began to collapse, cracking in the process. She would have loved to prolong his agony but the other wretch was still active and likely dangerous and advancing on her; she gave a final mighty squeeze and heard his rib cage crumple in a medley of breaking bones, splitting cartilage and snapping sinews; that combination of crunch and gurgle and last sighs that signaled the final moments of life.

Ursa was beginning to roll the filthy corpse off her and trying to get on her feet when the wounded one, staggering and screaming in bloody agony came over her with his club. She saw it raised and then coming downward, fast, too fast, trying to move the body off her, the impact, the rattling pain as it hit her in the head. Everything was crazy colors and flickering lights; the void was forming. She fought the losing of consciousness, she knew it meant death to her and Bokd both. "Bokd, poor Bokd." Her thoughts raced, she was trying to scream, just to stay awake. "Scream," she thought, "scream, scream," but she couldn’t. The blackness was overcoming her, surrounding her like a dark shroud. She thought of Bokd and how she loved him. Sadness, profound sadness. Then silence.

In the blackness, as if in a dream, she heard a voice, the voice of a woman calling her name; a gentle voice and then a face, a smiling face, a beautiful face with long curly blonde hair. And then the rest, the woman herself walking toward her, dressed in strange clothes, skins and rough cloth and wearing a dagger, Ursa's dagger. Her voice was mellow but strange; it was not her language, she could tell, but still she could understand her. The woman was happy and radiant. "Ursa," she called, "Ursa, it’s you." She stopped before her. They were both standing in a wood, a dark wood much like the she had just been in, but this one was hazy with fog and damp; a pleasant coolness surrounded her. "Ursa," she said again, as if she just liked to say the name. The woman had tears in her eyes. "I have found you. I can see you. They have let me see you." Ursa wanted to speak but no words came out, she seemed to be paralyzed. She could feel hot tears running down her face. Why was she crying; this woman was a stranger, yet it seemed she wasn’t. She thought out to her, "Who are you." The woman spoke back, still smiling but with tears herself. "I am Androucca." Ursa looked at the dagger. "Why do you wear my knife?" The woman smiled again, "Because it is mine."

Ursa’s mind began to reel as the woman stepped up close before her. Androucca looked at her, just gazing openly in plain and simple wonder, in a child-like way, in utter happiness. She put her hands up to Ursa and stroked her face. She was big and muscular like Ursa, but her touch was gentle; she was so beautiful, her face fresh and clear, her teeth white and even behind perfectly formed lips; her deep blue eyes scanned Ursa up and down as if wanting to drink in her form as long as she could and remember everything she could. She put her face near Ursa’s and kissed her cheek, and then giving in completely to emotion, hugged her closely, crying heavily and shaking in her sobs. At last she stepped back from her embrace and took Ursa’s face in her hands and surveyed her again, her tears still flowing, yet smiling through them. Ursa could only stand in dumb wonder. She could feel things inside her talking to her, telling her things she could not believe or want to believe. The woman spoke again, "I lost you so soon and never saw you, and here you are so big and strong and beautiful." She looked sad again, "I have to go now. My time is brief, but I have seen you and talked with you." And with eyes of infinite sadness mixed with depthless joy, "I love you. I have always loved you."

She began to fade rapidly, as did the woods. The darkness returned.

But then another voice emerged and another face. This voice was not as mellow, it filled the black void like thunder and it words were unintelligible, like battle shouts and war cries, only a mind-filling roar. A form appeared, a woman in armor, a helm on her head, raised so that her face was visible. It was a stern yet beautiful face, a noble face. She did not smile; her eyes, gray like Ursa’s, stared into her own, sparkling with a cold fire. Her hands were raised as she came toward her; a spear in one and holding a shield in the other; and she did not walk, but came from the sky which was forming along with her. Ursa knew who it was, Athene, great and wonderful Athene. She was dead and Athene was coming to lead her to the River Styx. Her own goddess would take her there. She was not afraid, only sad to lose life with Bokd. "Poor Bokd," she thought, "where is he, will he be with me?" Athene spoke. "You have fought bravely, I am proud of you. You did not lose the battle. I placed the stick there for you to fall. I wanted to see how you would die. You died well. Your thoughts were with him who lays there with you; look, look at him." She could now see Bokd laying on the ground. "Is he dead?" Athene turned her cold and glittering eyes toward her, "No. He will live, as will you." Ursa felt a sudden warm glow in her bosom. She did not understand anything that was happening, but she suddenly felt everything would he alright. "My goddess, my wonderful goddess, I love you, I prayed to you when I was at the temple." The goddess looked grave yet pleased. "I saw, and I heard. That is why I am here." Athene now smiled for the first time; a faint smile, but it lit her face as lightning a dark sky. "You are like me, a warrior." Her voice seemed to now boom even greater with the last words as if her passion was rising. "You come from warriors, great and fierce warriors. You should be proud of them. Your father chose well, and was chosen because he was a brave man." Ursa wanted to ask her who the woman, Androucca, was but could not form the thought. She could sense the blackness would soon end. Athene set her shield and spear aside and reached out holding a pendant before her, a small round bronze disk on a chain. She came close and put it over her head, her face very close to Ursa’s. She shook in fear and awe as the goddess came near her and touched her hair and neck, smelling of brimstone and heated bronze. Her perfume was the sweat of dying warriors, her breath as the heat of a forge when standing close, and her eyes, those wonderful eyes, scintillating like sparks thrown from a white hot sword hammered by a smith. Ursa could feel her raw, naked power, the unearthly power of a relentless goddess of war, a goddess who would stand against Ares himself and tumble him to the ground.

Athene withdrew, the pendant now hanging against Ursa’s chest. It burned as if still hot from the forge where Hephaestus, blacksmith of the gods and son of Zeus, had made it; not poured liquid into a mold, but hammered from the hardest bronze like a sword; a mere pendant, but tempered by hammer, tempered like a weapon, though it was only a symbol; but the symbol of a goddess of war. Athene stood back and looked a moment as if very satisfied with her work. And then the great and mighty goddess took up her spear and shield and leapt up into the sky and roared like the sound of the sea in the fiercest of storms, her voice filling the sky once again, not with words but war cries and battle shouts to waken all the warriors who ever fought and tell them of this woman, a cry loud enough so that even those in the Elysian Fields might hear and smile, remembering their days of battle and noble death.

She heard her name being shouted. Athene was shouting her name across the sky, "Ursa, Ursa." In rolling peals it echoed and rebounded and redoubled in force and volume until her head seemed to be filled with nothing but the sound of her name and the sky filled with nothing but the enormous form of Athene, her arms spread wide and her spear and shield over her like great protecting wings. And then it was not Athene, but a more familiar voice, a quieter voice, shouting her name. "Ursa, Ursa. Wake up. Oh gods, wake up, wake up." It was Bokd.

Her eyes opened to the green forest ceiling with its sparkling bits of sunlight filtering through. She was on her back still and poor Bokd was holding her shoulders and staring into her face. He saw her awaken and began to smile.

"What happened? Where are the men.?"

"What men?"

She sat up leaning on one arm looked around. There were no men. Her head hurt. She put her hand to it and moaned.

Bokd was shaken. "You stepped on that stick. It rolled out from under you and you fell back and hit your head on that rock. I thought you were…"

He couldn’t finish the sentence. Tears were in his eyes.

"You were out for a long time. I was worried."

She smiled at him despite her hurting head and reached out and touched his arm in reassurance that everything was alright.

"Help me to my feet, please."

She stood up a little unsteadily. Bokd held her a while and she regained her balance and strength rapidly.

"Lets start back, it’s late."

"Are you sure you’re alright?"

"Oh yes. I’m fine. Just a little woozy. I’ll be fine. Just let me walk slowly for a bit and we’ll get back in no time."

As she they walked along, Bokd noticed something dangling from her neck.

"What’s that? It’s pretty."

Ursa looked at the pendant and suddenly remembered Athene and her putting it on her neck. She remembered the other woman as well. All the memories of the dream came flooding back. She stumbled a little.

"Are you okay?"

She gathered herself. It had been an incredible experience and now she could remember it all.

"Yes, yes. I’ll be fine."

As she stood for a moment, Bokd commented further on the pendant, "I didn’t notice that before. It’s very unusual."

Even Ursa had not really seen it. Bokd studied it closely

"It’s the face of war from Athene’s shield," he said. Indeed it was; that funny face from far back in antiquity with its tongue sticking out, the face which was supposed to instill fear but only looked funny to Ursa.

"Oh yes. It’s something I just picked up."

Bokd swore he never saw it earlier in the day, but didn’t want to argue with her, not now anyhow.

They slowly toddled along back to the beach and found the people just finishing work on the Isis. Her shortened mast did make her look a little squat and not nearly as impressive as before, but at least it would get them back to Rhodes under their own power. Ursa held her head for the hundredth time, gods, it hurt like a hangover, that pain that wouldn’t go away, and she had to walk. Fortunately, they were very near now and she would soon relax on the rolling deck of the Isis - ugh!

Rehena had the boat put out for them and after a short and painful bounce and bob to the Ranger, where she kissed Bokd goodbye (and he didn’t care if anyone saw). Soon she was mounting the deck of the the deck of the Isis and meeting a grinning Rehena. But good-hearted Rehena noticed her discomfort immediately.

"I fell and hurt my head. I’ll tell you about it later. How’d things go?"

Oh, everything went well. Dorakt is very good at rigging. He really did everything." Rehena looked a little impish. "Phrontis and I got to know each other a little. I’ll be seeing him at Rhodes." She laughed.

Ursa laughed as well. She would be seeing Bokd at Rhodes as well. And maybe continue where they left off this morning.

It was time to make sail. The Ranger was already backing down in a big circle, ready to leave. Rehena, sensing Ursa’s pain took over command and let Ursa stay off to one side of the quarter-deck. Soon the anchor was hove up and the sail set and trimmed and both vessels moving over the glistening waters of the cove and out into the beautiful late afternoon Aegean.

Later that evening as darkness was just settling in and Ursa and Rehena were watching the black silhouette of the Ranger off in the distance, Rehena stopped chattering about Phrontis long enough to notice and comment on the pendant. It seemed almost to glow in the darkness.

"Where you get that thing, Captain. It’s new, yes?"

"Yes. It’s new, very new." She stopped and fingered the bronze disk with the funny face. It was oddly warm, it always would be.

She looked into the sky. "I got it from a friend."

To read more about Pallas Athene, click on the picture above.

See the image that Ursa saw in the temple.

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