SYNOPSIS: Aided by Princess Medea and her favorite lady-in-waiting, Lascivia, Jason has stolen the Golden Fleece from the city state of Colchis, which is located on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. He had been commissioned to do so by King Pelias of Iolcus, who was Jason's uncle, and who had murdered Jason's father, the previous king. Pelias had promised to abdicate in favor of his nephew, who should have been the king by right of inheritance, once Jason returned with the stolen prize. With the Fleece in his possession, Jason is attempting to do just that in his boat, the Argo, which was built especially for this mission.
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Powered by some of the mightiest men in Greece, the Argo sped across the waters of the Black Sea. Nobody in Colchis even knew the Golden Fleece had been stolen until the guards started waking from their drugged slumber and sounded the alarm. By the time any kind of marine pursuit could be launched, Jason and his cohorts had at least an hour head start. Even without the advantage, the Argo was designed for speed and could have easily outstripped the swiftest boat in the fleet of Colchis. Jason was well aware of this fact, but he still urged his men to make the greatest possible speed.
Prince Apsyrtus, the son of King Aetes and the head of the army and navy, was aware of it also. Jason's second in command, not wanting to arouse any suspicion or animosity, had shown him around the Argo, and the prince noted its lightweight structure and how it was designed to virtually fly over the water. Apsyrtus was as good a judge of fighting men as he was of boats, and he had also observed how muscular the Greek crewmen were, and how athletic. Considering these two factors, he was certain there was almost no possibility of catching the thieves by sea.
Nevertheless, he ordered the three fastest boats of the fleet, each carrying heavily armed warriors, to go in pursuit. That was just for show, and possibly to fool the Greeks. He was aware that Jason and his men would need to stop for water and other provisions, and he knew where they would need to go to find them. The prince took a detachment of the very best young soldiers in the Army, mounted on the very best horses available, to race them to the nearest of the likely places.
There was a certain advantage in knowing where their quarry would need to go, and Apsyrtus hoped to use that edge to get there first. With luck, Jason and his men would stop and try to replenish their supplies at nearer places, only to find game to be scarce and the water to be brackish, and they would waste time while they were finding that out. By the time the Greeks reached a place where they would be able to find what they needed, he hoped to be there, waiting for them at the head of his force.
He acknowledged the Greeks were probably better fighters than his men, but he would have the advantage of numbers. Furthermore, Apsyrtus expected the Argonauts to be fatigued from hours of rowing, and he believed his men would also have the intangible advantage of fighting for their country, while the thieves were just fighting for ill-gotten gain. The prince was a good judge of boats and fighting men, but knew little or nothing about psychology.
Besides his advance knowledge of where the Greeks would need to go, Apsyrtus had an advantage that he couldn't have known of. Jason hadn't known of their presence either but, after five hours of steady rowing, it was time for his men to take a short break. Such rest periods were necessary; not even strong athletes like the crew of the Argo would be able to continue pulling on their heavy oars indefinitely.
As they sat, resting at their stations, four young women came out of the shadows. They were among the most beautiful women of Colchis, a place noted for the beauty of its female population, and among the most sexually skilled and active. They had spent the previous night cavorting with the Argonauts and now, after resting up from those erotic adventures, they all wanted to cavort some more. Like almost all the people of that land, they believed nudity was necessary for the best sex, so none of them was wearing a stitch of clothing.
Almost all the Greeks, upon seeing the young beauties, let out a roar of appreciation. This was especially true of those who had enjoyed the sexual favors of at least one of the four hotties, which included a large part of the crew. Jason was not so happy. The purpose of the rest break was resting, so the crew would be able to row more and faster. Its purpose was definitely not to have the men wear themselves out fucking, even though he had to concede the naked women were all eminently fuckable.
He briefly considered ordering his men to jettison the stowaways, but discarded that idea. It probably would have resulted in a mutiny, so it was not even close to being a viable alternative. Medea and the Lady Lascivia were on board, and he and those two alluring women would be sexually pleasuring each other, and the democratically minded Greeks would not tolerate such command privilege. Besides the perceived unfairness, all the members of the crew really wanted to disport themselves sexually with the four young lovelies from Colchis, and Jason certainly couldn't blame them. A compromise was obviously necessary. The rest break was over anyhow, so Jason ordered his man to resume their rowing. However, he did not include every one of them.
"My Dear, Sweet Ladies," he began addressing the naked stowaways. "I know you are looking to enjoy yourselves here, in the way the women from Colchis are known to love, by bestowing your sexual favors on the men of my crew and receiving their favors in return. I know they also want to share those sexual favors with you but, right now, we have important business to attend to. So, each of you pick out one man, and take him back to the shady area you just left, and do whatever carnality you and he may choose to do. When each of you is through with your first choice, come back and, if you want, select another for your mutual pleasures, and let the first man return to his work."
The women saw nothing seriously wrong with that plan, although one of them would have preferred being able to enjoy more than one partner at a time. Each of them chose one crew member, and the four naked women and the four lucky men returned to the place where the inadvertent stowaways had been sleeping. In a matter of seconds, the sounds of rustling clothing, followed by giggles and moans and whispers and similar noises that indicated happy sexual activity began to emanate from their dark retreat.