A Song for Hecate

Ashlyn Selvatico

Note: This story takes place on a planet where men do not have the same legal rights that women enjoy. All adult males are routinely referred to as "boys" as a sign of their inferior social status (much as women in the 1950s in the U.S. were often dismissively called "girls"). No sexual activity involving minors should be inferred. All of the characters in this story, male and female, are 18 years of age or older.

*

We passed the harbor office and entered the lorcha by covered gangway. A line of sailors were packed in the tube, waiting to board. Naturally, they were all women; every ship carried a cabin boy or two but they were seldom granted leave. The sailors were all in their shore clothes, which were a compromise between the all-concealing robes of my homeland and the immodest dress of those who live upon the sea. Confined bodies made the air of the gangway thick and hot. There wasn't an inch of room between Idris, myself and our charges. I placed Ann between myself and the boy, so that he wouldn't brush against me.

The press of bodies made me uncomfortable. So much worse it must have been for the chained and naked ones. Ann was smiling- from embarrassment but also, arousal. The boy's ringed cock was behind his hands. He grinned sheepishly.

Ahead of me a girl my age turned and stared. She was also dressed in formal school robes, but the color of her braid made her Red School.

"Is your boy for sale?"

Idris pretended to be bored with the girl's obtuse question.

"We're taking him south, for the bathing. After that, who knows? It's up to the high priestess."

"Can I talk to him?"

Idris shrugged, and the girl took that for permission.

"What did you do?"

"I betrayed the goddess," said the boy.

"Was it worth it?"

He blushed. "Yes."

"What are they going to do to you?"

Ann answered her. "They gave us a choice. We could be banished to separate worlds, or remain together while we performed five penances."

"Which five?"

"Submission, humiliation, service, pleasure and nudity."

The schoolgirl laughed. "Sounds awesome."

I almost felt sorry for the boy. Boys were conditioned from infancy to be faithful, honorable, modest and chaste. It must have been torture, to be stripped in front of so many leering faces. And it wasn't really his fault; he had been seduced by a wicked woman. He would have earned my pity, if he had seemed sufficiently mortified. On the contrary, he seemed the worst sort of wanton. He was enjoying his penance too much and he seemed enamored of the very woman who had ruined him.

One of her feet was pressed on top of his. This was a surreptitious form of intimacy, their way of comforting each other without punishment. Idris noticed. I expected her to scold them, but she just smiled.

Until we got to Graysport, we would all have to share a day cabin. It was small and dark and the ceiling was too low for any of us to stand. Two long, cushioned benches faced each other. I sat beside Ann and the boy took one end of Idris' bench. Again, the lovers allowed their bare feet to touch. Idris should have stopped this unauthorized contact. She indulged them too much.

"You can speak, if you wish."

Ann laughed. I don't suppose that their affair had ever been based on conversation. For days they'd been allowed to speak, but not to touch. Words did not interest them now. One touch from him would be dearer to her than an ode. If the priestesses had intended to cool their lust through public humiliation, the effort was entirely misplaced.

Idris leaned into the boy and whispered loud so all could hear:

"Do you want to make love to her?"

He nodded. She turned to Ann.

"You still want to fuck him?"

Her toes curled. "Always."

"Even if you had to do it right here, right now, in front of your old students?"

Ann flexed her feet, shifted in her seat.

"A week ago, when we started our penance, we were wearing ceremonial robes. Every day they made him take off one piece and they made me take off one piece too, in front of a crowd. Not a big crowd, like today- maybe thirty or forty people, priestesses and boys. The bailiffs stripped us of one garment per day. They caged us where we could see each other, but we couldn't touch. And today, when we lost that last little scrap, and my man and I were standing bare pussy and balls out naked- I would have fucked him right there if you'd let me."

The boy's hands were on his knees. It took all of his conditioning not to touch her, or his own erect cock.

"Did the priestesses tell you how long you would have to do penance?" Idris asked.

"My virginity belonged to the goddess," he said. "We took something from her that can't be replaced."

Ann inhaled sharply and stretched out on the bench, as if she were posing for our pleasure. "We're going to receive advanced conditioning. When it's done, we'll be unable to wear clothes. Not just legally prohibited- mentally unable to tolerate clothing."

"And that's punishment?" Idris said.

"Well, it fits the crime," Ann said. "There's also the mockery, the humiliation, constant arousal without release."

"Which you love," Idris said.

Ann grinned. "Maybe a little."

"What about the boy?" I said.

"What do you mean?"

"He's ruined now. Doesn't that bother you?"

"He's in love. No priestess has ever been loved like he loves me. He'd tear out his own teeth and drink bleach if I asked him to." She opened her legs and stretched her arms over her head, teasing her lover with her body. "But I'd rather he just fucked me, right here and right hard."

I had been too distracted to notice, but while Ann was talking, Idris had removed her shoes and socks.

"I will consider your needs. But first, the boy will suck my toes."

He looked to Ann for approval.

"You heard the captain," Ann said.

He smiled and dropped to Idris' knees. Gently, he kissed the tops of her feet. Idris looked at me.

"Take off your shoes."

I shook my head. Idris was in charge of the detachment but this was an illegal order and it was my duty as a cadet officer to refuse it. She stared at me as if she thought my fear of her was stronger than my duty to the goddess. She seemed to think that the knowledge she had of my wickedness gave her the right to make me complicit in her own.

Now the boy was nibbling on each of her toes in turn and her eyes were half closed with delight. The boy, too, seemed to be enjoying himself.

I removed my shoes and socks.

Idris laughed. "Ann, you're going to do for her exactly what your young man is doing for me."

I had misunderstood. I had thought Idris would make the boy suck my toes after he was done with hers. Now, in one sense I was relieved. The thought of even a casual touch from this sweaty, unwashed and naked boy frightened me. I think if he had put his mouth on my foot I would have screamed. But in a way, having Ann do it was even worse. I was embarrassed at the thought of my old teacher debasing herself like this.

At least she didn't drop to the floor. She turned to face me. With one gentle and yet aggressive motion, she took my right foot in both hands, rested it between her thighs and massaged it. This was not the first time I had ever felt those strong hands on my feet. Once at the end of her class I had complained about a cramp and she had rubbed the aches away. I had completely forgotten about it until the moment her hands were on my feet. At the time, this experience had not seemed at all sexual. Now that I knew about her yen for self-abasement, I wondered if the act had given her an erotic thrill. That after dance class massage had felt marvelous. It was even better now, because this time I felt unspeakably wicked. This time she was naked and wet with lust.

With a tender thoroughness, Ann massaged my right foot, then my left. The room had become unbearably hot and I envied Ann her nudity. She kissed the sole of my left foot and I thought that I would die of our wickedness. She nibbled and licked, then sat on my left foot, grinding her pussy against it as she took my right foot in her mouth and sucked my toes.

Idris pushed the boy away.

"Enough foreplay. It's time for these sluts to start screwing."

Ann lowered herself to the floor and kissed the boy savagely. Their sweat was in the air and I felt in on my face. I was sweating in my heavy robes. Ann spread her legs. The boy put his mouth on her mound and stroked his sex.

"No, no, no, no," Idris said. "Enough of all that. Put your cock in before you rupture something."

Ann said, "He's never been inside me."

"What? That's insane," Idris said. "You're doing penance for fucking and you've never even been fucked?"

"We've made love many times," said the boy. "Just not like that."

"It's all right," Ann said. "I want you inside me."

There was a knock on the door. When it opened, a moment later, the lovers were back on opposite benches, breathing heavily and reeking of girl juice and perspiration. Two sailors walked in. They were wearing brightly patterned sleeveless tunics and their legs and feet were bare. Where I came from such dress would be considered indecent but it was common enough at sea. I hoped that they wouldn't notice that my feet were still wet from Ann's pussy and tongue. There's no way that they could have failed to notice that the penitents were mad with lust.

One of the sailors was an old friend of Ann's. She introduced herself to Idris and extended the captain's apologies for our poor lodging.

"We should be in Graysport by dinner. I told the captain that Ann was a dancer. We were hoping that she would dance for the crew."

"I think that's a great idea," Idris said. "We were in her class. But we never got to see her dance bare."

"I did," the sailor said.

"Really?" Idris asked.

"Just once. It was a private party." She winked at Ann.

"What should we have her dance? The Sun and the Rain? Or the Joy of the Liberator?"

"How about the Witch's Dream?"

"I'm not sure I remember that one," Ann said.

"I think you do," the sailor said. "But you ought to wash up first. I know they like to keep you penitents dirty, but the captain insists on good hygiene."

"We could use a long bath."

The sailor laughed. "Where do you think you are, the Summer Palace? Come with us, and we'll find you a bucket and some soap."

Ann's sailor friend asked if she could take her for a while. Idris agreed, and I could see from Ann's glee- and her friend's- that they were going to make love.

On the off chance Ann's boyfriend failed to read their intentions, Idris said: "You know Ann is going to fuck that sailor girl."

"Probably."

"Aren't you jealous?"

"She likes sex. I'm not jealous, I'm just frustrated."

The other sailor returned with a bucket and soap for the boy. There was no washcloth. The boy wet the soap and rubbed it into his pits. He scrubbed his cock thoroughly. His eyes were locked on Idris as he crossed the line from thorough cleanliness to masturbation. He was daring her to stop him.

"Let me come."

"I'm not stopping you," Idris said.

"I can't. It's the conditioning. I can't come without a woman's permission."

"Poor boy. How long did Ann make you lick her pussy, before she let you come?"

"The first time- it was hours. I didn't mind. I was just happy to see her naked. After that- I don't know. It depended on how much of a hurry we were in. We had to be careful, not to get caught."

"But you were caught."

I pitied him. "You have my permission."

"The words have to be exact," he said. "You have to say, come sweet slave, sweet slut, surrender and praise my body with your seed."

"Don't say it," Idris said. "You'll spoil him."

"Come sweet slave, sweet slut," I said. "Surrender and praise my body with your seed."

When Idris grasped that she couldn't stop me she threw him some scrap to catch his juice in. The moment the last word was out his body shuddered and he moaned as he came.

"Thank you," he said. "Thank you, little goddess."

I didn't realize until hours later that the scrap she had thrown was one of my socks.