Chapter Four
Prince Dagan required my presence with increased frequency. Yes, I'd become his major source of sexual pleasure, to the frustration and concern of his concubines, but I was more than just a pretty face and hot fuck. I was literate, a valuable and uncommon skill, a bit like being able to code in your time. Of course, Prince Dagan had scribes, most quite good, but I had unique skills even for a scribe. I could read Babylonian cuneiform, which had important differences with the more common Assyrian. And because I'd learned my Babylonian by reading hundreds of monument inscriptions and hundreds more official and business tablets of all kinds, my knowledge of governmental and commercial Babylonian was unequaled. During important events such as the arrival of a diplomat's caravan, or news of a rebellion in one of their vassal states, I could spend the entire day with my prince-- unfortunately dressed in the shapeless robes that a modest woman had to wear in that culture, surrounded by his generals, diplomats, and advisors. I even wore a veil to disguise myself as a married woman.
I didn't speak during these meetings except to read tablets, or explicate certain subtleties. I knew my place. But Dagan trusted my perceptions and judgment: who was faking his troops' readiness, what ambassador was bluffing, or which of the king his father's advisors might be trying to undermine him. My point set, not to mention my extensive experience in multiple cultures from my era, gave me a significant advantage in reading people. And he trusted me implicitly. My only connections to his world were through him and his sister; I had no conflicting interests or ulterior motives; and I was Ishtar. His goals and mine were aligned, and each night we reaffirmed them, often with his Enkidu.
I was thrilled to be learning such a vast amount about civilization's first empire. So when the small city-state of Torush in the prince's domain resisted paying their taxes and it looked like he would need to form an expedition to set them straight, I suggested to my prince that he should take me along. It was a professional opportunity, and a personal adventure, that I found irresistible.
We were lying in bed, the three of us, after what was becoming almost nightly sessions. It's truly amazing the number of ways two men and a woman can entertain themselves if all are willing. Would you like to try that some time?
In any case, my prince and Sobek were discussing possible tactics they might employ when they reached the city. I helped with research. The king's scribes had delivered some official descriptions of Torush, which was a walled city. I knew them all by heart, of course. "I need to come along," I said.
Dagan laughed and shook his head. "Of course you would. Never."
"Who is going to read the enemy's tablets?" I asked.
Now it was Sobek's turn to laugh. At the edge of the province, newly absorbed, Torush still used a Babylonian dialect. Besides the scribes' background tablets, I'd already translated a number of their diplomatic letters.
"It's impossible. Women are strictly forbidden on the battlefield."
"Is she a woman?" Sobek jested.
I laughed. It was my turn. It was so comfortable to lie between two naked men, after each has satisfied me in his own way.
"We have found a talented young orphan boy," Sobek announced, "another Egyptian, and we are bringing him along as a translator."
"And personal servant," I added. "Especially talented in certain very personal services."
Sobek laughed again. "Tari," he said. "His name is Tari. It's an Egyptian name."
I got up and knelt between them, lowered my eyes, and put my hands together at my waist in the cup gesture they used as a salute. The cup was supposed to symbolize a soldier's willingness to accept orders. "Private Tari awaits your command," I said.
Sobek laughed. Dagan shook his head, in exasperation rather than denial. "
Lieutenant
Tari," Sobek commanded, instantly promoting me, "stand at attention when addressing a superior."
I jumped off the bed and did the best imitation of a soldier I could, standing stiffly with my head bowed and my arms crossed across my chest in the standard pose, with my little tits still showing on my naked chest.
"March!" he ordered. I obeyed, marching from one end of the bedroom to the other in front of them. "Halt! About face! March!" and so on. I'm not usually submissive, but obeying Sobek-- and doing it naked-- made me wet. He got out of bed and got his sword. Handing it to me, he ordered, "Salute, Lieutenant!"
I did my best, touching the flat to my forehead and bowing with it the way I'd seen soldiers do. His sword was long and heavy, like a certain body part he'd recently impaled me on. "Horrible, soldier. Where did you learn your manners?" He adjusted my grip, pushed my head further down and feet together. The position was harder than it looked. "Defensive position!"
He showed me what that order meant, holding the sword out in front, aiming it at him. Then basic thrusts and parries.
"Wait, wait," Dagan said. He got out of bed and went to the outer room. After a minute he returned with two wooden practice staffs and gave them to us, taking Sobek's sword from me. "Commander, see if you can teach her some things so she won't get herself killed."
I sparred then with a man two heads taller than me, who could outreach me by twenty centimeters, both of us naked. I made some mistakes at first, getting whacked on my rump when he got inside my guard, but I learned fast. I was quicker and danced around him, to Dagan's amusement as he watched. I even got in a small tap on Sobek's rump.
"Enough," Dagan finally said. "It appears Lieutenant Tari will be joining us on the expedition."
"He is more talented than he appeared at first, My Lord," Sobek replied.
I prostrated myself before Sobek. It was another form of salute I'd seen.
"No, no, Lieutenant, only for the prince."
I got up and went back down before Dagan. Okay, a mistake, but a good one. I'd wanted to prostrate myself before Sobek.
"Arise, Lieutenant Tari." I rose and stood at attention before him. "You may actually make a good soldier," he said, appraising my stance, "eventually. But now, Tahsin, get on the bed. I want to fuck you again."
# # #
"No! I forbid it! Absolutely not! No! Never!"
Princess Sherua went on and on as I stood before her, head bowed, after I'd announced the prince's decision to take me along on the campaign against Torush. Then she tearfully hugged me. "You will be in danger, my beautiful Tahsin. You could die!"
"It is Prince Dagan's command," I quietly countered. Which was technically true. I just diplomatically refrained from mentioning that it was my idea. "I will be in the command tent, not near the action."
"I will insist that my brother post guards around you at all times."
"My Lady, my sister Tahsin, if I may," Naru interjected, "I thought women were not permitted on the battlefield." Naru was the oldest of the princess's young servants. All three of the servants were paying close attention to the conversation.
Sherua's reaction was a mixture of hope and confusion. Naru was also the friendliest to me, but her epithet, "sister" was just common usage. Opid, the second oldest, who disliked me as the appropriator of the Princess's bed, and Farat, the youngest, both used the same word.
"Our prince," I quickly responded to dash her hope and resolve their confusion, "will designate me as a young recruit." I'd really wanted to let her think that I was reluctantly agreeing to the prince's commands, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face. "I will be a boy."
"She could be a boy," Opid repeated. She might have been wishing I were one.
Sherua looked me up and down, frowning. With my slight, short figure and small breasts I could pass for one. "Prince Dagan is having a uniform made for me," I continued. Her features softened. I made the cupped hand salute to her, which produced a slight smile.
The princess sighed in defeat. There was no way she could defy her brother. And she knew of my taste for adventure. Plus, I think, she saw a new side to our relationship. "You must guard yourself, my dear Tahsin," she said. "For us." That was as close as she would come to allowing herself to give me permission. It was common knowledge that men liked boys, and anyone could see that I would make a very pretty boy. In the middle of literally thousands of men, all armed and horny.
Her spirits brightened a few days later when my uniform and equipment arrived. I fumbled at first, but the girls helped me figure out how the kilt wrapped and the cuirass buckled. I presented myself to my princess as a young, very young, soldier, complete with helmet and short sword.
"You are a handsome boy," she said. She stroked my arms and neck and face, really anywhere the equipment allowed.
"I am your kind of boy, my princess," I answered. I took her hand and put it between the folds of my leather skirt. I wasn't wearing a loincloth. She'd never mentioned anything, but I'd suspected that she'd never had a man. I could tell that the idea of having a boy in her bed intrigued her.
"You will be my boy tonight," she commanded.
"As you wish,
