The Traitor's Son Chapter 21
By Zelamir, adapted by Pueros

This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY

Chapter XXI

"Still, if you have to risk your life for the sake of a few measly sesterces, take him to Scyrax," Balbinus next suggested. "His house is in the eleventh district near the Circus Maximus," the merchant added, "and his expertise is in lucratively preparing special boys for market. He should give you a fair price for a pretty brat who's still a virgin, especially as, unlike me, he won't know his background."

"Fair price?" Crastus queried before complaining "Just like the one you gave me for the silver goblets!" "Fair for something you apparently don't want to sell on the open market," Balbinus coldly retorted. "Anyway," the merchant continued, "I'm providing added value because my advice about Scyrax is free, and so is my willingness to keep my mouth shut about the brat's background!"

"Fair enough!" Crastus quipped in response before, shortly afterwards, leaving the Emporium with Marius, who was still closely watched and frequently kicked by Pulchellus and was too tired and dispirited to respond to such mischief. The threesome headed for Rome's eleventh district.

A tall blank wall, broken only by a massive metal studded wooden door, fronted Scyrax's immense house. Crastus marched up to the entrance but discovered that there was no latch to open it.

Crastus pushed at the door but found it unyielding. He therefore hammered the heavy knocker, the shape of which he thought amusing because it was in the form of a large phallus.

Crastus was about to use the knocker again when a small panel set high up in the centre of the door swung open. "Who is it and what do you want?" a deep voice subsequently enquired from the other side.

"My name is Crastus," the eponymous man announced, "and I wish to see Scyrax. I have a boy whom he might like to buy!"

Crastus simultaneously squinted upwards, trying to sight the person who had addressed him. However, the spy hole was so small and so high that he could only see an eye and a small area of almost coal black skin.

"My Lord Scyrax does not deal with casual peddlers of boy flesh," the voice then declared contemptuously, whilst the panel began to close. "But Balbinus sent me," Crastus retorted desperately.

Crastus was rewarded when, after a brief hesitation, the voice next instructed "Wait!" The panel then slammed shut.

Crastus complied and subsequently waited patiently, as the busy life of the street outside Scyrax's walled domain flowed past him and the two boys in his company, until the door eventually swung open. A huge black African stood just inside the entrance, whose oiled and hairless bare chest and massive muscled arms glistening darkly like polished ebony.

"Which is the brat for sale?" the black man now asked, as he viewed two very pretty boys, one clean and dressed decently in a short tunic and another dirty and naked. "This one!" Crastus answered, whilst grabbing hold of the filthy nude Marius.

"Then enter," the black man next ordered. Crastus compliantly stepped through the doorway with Marius in his firm grip. Pulchellus moved to follow them but the African put one large hand on the boy's chest and pushed him away, causing him to stagger backwards and lose his balance.

Pulchellus fell over in the street. From this perspective, the boy subsequently watched helplessly as, without another word, the fierce black man slammed the door shut.

Crastus and Marius were led through a narrow garden before coming to stand in a long and wide pillared hallway. An intricate and rich mosaic, decorated with scenes from the gladiatorial arena, now stretched along the floor in front of them.

Immediately ahead, two naked boy gladiators fought to the death. One was a retiarius, who had entangled his swordsman opponent with his net and was on the point of plunging his barbed trident into the loser's young form. Further on, more youngsters combated each other or wild animals in a confusion of bare limbs and bleeding bodies.

The walls were also covered by expertly executed frescoes. On one side of the hallway, a forest was depicted in which naked pretty boys played amongst the trees. On the other, the goddess Diana, bare breasted and wild haired, was pictured with her hounds in full cry, with the great black beasts exhibiting glowing eyes and sharp white teeth.

These themes were replicated on the surface of the pillars, which formed a double row down the centre of the hallway. However, whilst Crastus' intrigued eyes and brain were still struggling to take in the plethora of decoration presented to their view, a real boy, about the same age as Marius and as beautiful and almost as naked as any portrayed in the murals, materialised out of the shadows at his side.

The boy, whose only attire was a tiny white thong, said nothing but, bowing deeply, instead turned and accepted from the black man the duty of leading Crastus and Marius further along the hall. As he did so, tiny bells on a thin silver chain about one slim ankle tinkled as he walked.

As Crastus and Marius followed, they noticed that three angry red welts marred the smooth curves of the boy's bottom. The child had been obviously recently been hit and marked by a rod.

As they passed down the hallway, Crastus noticed that the theme of the wall paintings was subtly changing. Men then satyrs, who were half human and half beast, now appeared in the forest, joining the boys in their games.

At first, such games appeared innocent. However, the activities gradually became more gross until, at the far end of the hallway, men and satyrs, both with monstrous phalluses, were depicted penetrating the tender bottoms of the boys. Mingled in this scene of cruel debauchery were the hounds of Diana, who had caught and pulled down their young prey, the beautiful Acteon.

The boy eventually ushered Crastus and Marius into a central courtyard, where a wide marble colonnade surrounded a spacious garden. Fountains played here, and the sun glinted on ponds in whose depths exotic fish cruised lazily.

Lounging on a couch in a shady vine-covered pergola was an enormously fat man. Beside him knelt a dark curly haired boy, about 10 years old and also only wearing a tiny white thong, who was holding ready for his master a heavily chased silver bowl.

Crastus watched as the fat man reach out and took from the bowl a fig dipped in honey. He then lifted the fruit to his mouth and chewed.

Viewing the scene and his surrounds, Crastus thought to himself that being a merchant, whose expertise was, using Balbinus' own words, 'in lucratively preparing special boys for market', certainly paid for Scyrax. He also wondered if he himself was in the wrong business.

The fat man, honey dribbling down his chin, now caught sight of Crastus. He immediately licked his fingers and wiped them clean on the little boy's black curls.

"Crastus, sent by my friend Balbinus, I believe," the fat man now announced without moving from his couch. He next asked, in a voice that was soft and full of breath like a breeze gently ruffling dead leaves in a winter wood, "In what way can the humble Scyrax assist you?"

Crastus, however, did not answer this question immediately. He could not help instead making a complimentary comment about the opulence of the residence in which Scyrax lived.

"Well," Scyrax began to reply in untruthful explanation to Crastus' kind remark, "I am actually a rather humble man who would love to live in much plainer and simpler circumstances. However, my trade concentrates on preparing slaveboys with clear potential, but who are sadly also mainly from deprived backgrounds, for the most esteemed homes. I consequently need to train them in how to respect, act in and treat such opulent surrounds and the exalted people present in them. Doing so in less splendid premises than I have here would undermine the accuracy of their education and therefore threaten my reputation and the value of my products, so I must sacrifice my natural reserve and frugality in the interests of good commerce!"

Crastus did not, of course, believe a word of Crastus' explanation. To him, the fat man, whom he had caught lounging on the couch in opulent surrounds, which were made even more exotic by the beautiful scantily-clad boys attending him, clearly revelled in his lifestyle. However, as he hoped imminently to complete a lucrative transaction with the trader in young male flesh, he chose not to contest the issue.

The intrigued Crastus instead asked "How many brats do you train at one time, what age are they and how long do they take to be readied for market?" "The answer to all three parts of your question," Scyrax replied, "is that the situation varies."

"I only buy brats who are very beautiful and intelligent," Scyrax continued, "both of which attributes are considered essential by my normal clientele. The boys also need to be easily mouldable into the types of compliant efficient menial and catamite demanded by my customers. Such creatures aren't common, as many young male sluts who come onto the market are often unattractive in terms of at least one of looks, brains or behaviour. My stock can therefore vary considerably. I currently have about forty, which is rather low."

"I also retain a few of the best boys," Scyrax added, "at least until I tire of them, to supplement my adult servants. I do so for two reasons. First, their example, when performing their duties for me, assists the instruction of the trainees. As for the second motive, I'm sure that you can guess what that is, Crastus!"

Crastus certainly could guess Scyrax's second motive. The fat man was clearly as much a pederast as were obviously many of his clientele.

"The brats vary considerably in age," Scyrax next advised, "as the tastes of my clientele differ from infants to youths. I don't mind such diversity, as I have broad personal preferences. The youngest of my present stock is 5 and the oldest 16 years old."

"As for the length of training required to ready the brats for market," Scyrax proceeded to inform, "this also varies and is related to two factors. First is their ability to absorb instruction and thereby become efficient at whatever skill they're being taught, for use in or out of their future master's or mistress' bed, and second is their behaviour." The fat man then produced a long black rod, or 'ferula', from under his couch and announced "Naturally, I have ways in which to enforce discipline, and this implement only represents one of them, as there are far worse methods to encourage obedience available to me!"

Crastus immediately remembered the boy who had led him and Marius to the courtyard and was still nearby. He supposed that the young slave provided an example of the disciplinary regime of Scyrax, who was clearly as much a sadist as a pederast. The youngster must just have earned the stripes that besmirched his bare bottom from the fat man's rod for some recent minor misdemeanour.

Marius, who was listening to the conversation, also made the same link. He instantly decided that, if Scyrax bought him, he would try his best to be a very good boy in his future relationship with his new master.

"I would guess," Scyrax went on to inform, "that the average brat of humble background needs a couple of months here before he's ready to sell at the weekly boy auction in the slave market of the Emporium. I always circulate news in advance of the impending sale because there's inevitably great interest in my products!"

Crastus had also become further intrigued by Scyrax's reference to a potential 'mistress' for the slaveboys. He therefore enquired "Do you sell many of the brats to women!" "Oh yes," the fat man responded, "as many patrician females like pretty boys to serve them and sometimes, for those who can somehow maintain relevant secrecy or don't mind being the centre of scandalous gossip, service them sexually."

"However, if the latter sexual service is not a requirement," Scyrax advised ominously, much to Marius' horror, "the brats are often castrated for both safety and decorum. Such gelding removes the possibility of the boys becoming too sexually excited about the females in the household and prevents the potential scandalous gossip that might arise for the mistress if their balls are not taken away!"

"Anyway, enough of idle chatter," Scyrax next suggested, now being impatient to conclude matters after spying the naked but filthy Marius, "I am told that you have a brat whom you want to sell." The fat man subsequently mischievously added "Where is he?"

Crastus, initially perplexed by Scyrax's inability to identify Marius as the object for sale, pushed the naked 11 year-old forward, whilst declaring "This is the boy!" However, the fat man did not appear or sound impressed.

"This is a boy?" Scyrax sighed in apparent disbelief, as his little pig-like eyes focused on Marius. The fat man saw a dirty, exhausted, dispirited, half -starved, naked 11 year- old, whose knees and shins were grazed and cut. He therefore added "The brat looks more like an animal to me!" However, his insult was only commercial, being the first step in negotiating the price that he would eventually pay for the youngster, whom he knew he must buy.

Scyrax had astutely seen beyond the surface dirt. He recognised that, under the filth, was a nicely proportioned boy, with firm well-rounded limbs, a delicately neat ribcage, cute nipples and navel, pert dimpled bottom, golden hair and a face that, if the encrusting grime was washed away, could make a pederast's heart melt.

Scyrax had noticed these attributes and had also correctly judged that the few current imperfections were only superficial and could easily be rectified. However, he was a businessman, a trader in high-class boy-flesh, who made his fortune by buying cheap and selling dear.

"Why should I be bothered with a low-quality brat like this?" Scyrax consequently sneered, as he pursued his usual negotiating technique. "Clean him up and feed him a bit, get some of the bloom back on him," Crastus countered, "and he'll make a first class whore. He's currently a virgin but I can also confirm that he's a hot little bitch, who's desperate to have a man's cock inside him!"

"Of course he's a virgin," Scyrax scoffed in return, "as who'd want to fuck him?" Crastus, who was now regretting not having cleaned Marius up a bit to curtail such haggling, immediately began to continue his counter-argument. However, the fat man interrupted him.

"All right," Scyrax sighed, whilst feigning weariness with the argument, "since I let you bring the brat into the house, I might as well take a closer look at him. However, I only hope that I don't catch a disease of some sort through handling him!"

Turning to Marius, who was feeling rather numb in reaction to the words said about him, Scyrax subsequently commanded, whilst awkwardly clambering to his feet from the couch, where he left his rod, "Come here brat!" In response, Crastus untied the cord that still tied the boy's wrists together behind his back and unlocked and removed his demeaning chastity device. He then pushed the naked 11 year- old further towards the fat man.

Marius compliantly walked the rest of the distance without any more prompting and was soon standing before the leering Scyrax. On the way, the boy had rubbed his wrists, which were almost red-raw and very sore because of their recent bondage, but now his hands protectively covered his genitals.

Such manual protection proved brief because Scyrax quickly knocked Marius' hands to his sides. "If you know what's good for you, never hide anything from me, brat," the fat man simultaneously advised, "especially your delightful private parts whenever you're naked!"

Scyrax then took Marius' chin in his chubby left hand and tipped the boy's head back, forcing him to stare up into the fat man's face. The 11 year-old immediately detected the adult's musty breath, whose staleness was not quite masked by the sweet smell of the honey he had been eating, and his rather obnoxious natural sweaty odour, which was not disguised by the copious perfumes that he applied to his obese form.

The fingers of Scyrax's right hand next began to stray over Marius' head. The fat man's careful examination caused him to feel and part the boy's normally silky but currently dusty straight golden hair, pull up his eyelids and twist back his ears.

Scyrax simultaneously quizzed Crastus about Marius' origins. The boy's seller had, of course anticipated such questioning and so had already prepared a cover story.

Crastus also believed that Balbinus' fears that Marius might dispute such a story and instead confess his real identity were wrong, otherwise he would not be risking trying to sell him to Scyrax. He would simply have raped the boy and then cut his throat.

Crastus believed that Marius, although probably not a coward, wanted to live too much to announce, undoubtedly fatally, that he was the traitor's son. The man's assumption was to prove correct.

"I picked the brat up legitimately whilst performing a commission on a rural estate," Crastus lied, at least as far of the legitimacy of his action was concerned. Failing to rape and then strangle Marius was also failing to obey the Emperor's orders and therefore represented treachery.

"I understand that the brat, whose name is Marius, is of Roman stock," Crastus suggested, "the offspring of citizens fallen on hard times, who sold him into slavery in order to be able to repay some of their debts. I thought that his rather pretty virginal body was wasted in the countryside but would instead be welcomed in Rome by owners with discerning tastes. He's also intelligent and well behaved and so should meet your buying criteria."

Scyrax did not immediately respond verbally to Crastus' attempt to promote Marius' sale by lauding his attributes. He instead extended his right hand behind his obese form and dipped a digit in the bowl of honey and figs. He then pressed the coated fingertip against the boy's normally sweet and rosy but currently chapped and sore lips. The 11 year-old compliantly opened his mouth, revealing his pristinely white perfect teeth in the process, to accept the digit before eagerly sucking at the sweetness.

As Scyrax felt the tip of Marius' tongue sucking his finger, he moved his left hand from the boy's chin, sliding it down the child's naked body. The 11 year-old's form again tingled in excitement, as the chubby digits slowly advanced towards his groin, whilst pinching his hard little nipples and squeezing and prodding his ribcage and navel on the way.

A smile fleetingly lifted Scyrax's heavy jowls when his fingers finally closed round Marius' small penis, which, having being released from the bloodflow-restricting regime imposed by the iron cockring, he found had quickly grown stiff and had begun to throb. Also noticing this development was Crastus, who consequently happily commented "I told you that he was a hot little bitch!"

Scyrax again did not respond to Crastus' comment but instead continued to play with Marius' little erection for a while to test the boy's reaction. The fat man ran his fingers gently along all sides of the now resolutely hard cock. He also occasionally rubbed and flicked the rigid shaft, as well as once pulling back the foreskin to examine the head.

The desired response that Scyrax happily observed and heard involved Marius' sensuous blue eyes becoming glazed, pleasurable moans being emitted from his lips and his whole body beginning to shake with increasing vibration, as the boy was inexorably brought towards orgasm. However, such sexual ecstasy was to be denied him.

Shortly before Marius would have climaxed, Scyrax, who had recognised the imminence of orgasm from experience, withdrew his fingers from the boy's cock and instead began to fondle the underlying hairless scrotum. The fat man's exploring digits subsequently gently rolled the 11 year-old's balls, which were not much larger than olives.

Scyrax simultaneously pushed the finger of his other hand, which Marius was still obediently sucking despite having by now absorbed most of the honey coating, deeper into his mouth, reaching right back into his throat. The boy instantly began to gag and seemed for a moment in danger of choking. However, he somehow managed quickly to control his reaction to avoid such calamity.

Marius instead now continued to suck, whilst still gazing up into Scyrax's ugly face, with his cheeks sunken, as he drew on the finger of the fat man. The latter was, of course, very pleased to note that the boy had passed the test to see whether he should to able to perform fellatio with competence.

Scyrax next withdrew his fingers from Marius' mouth and balls and lowered his obese form, not without difficulty, so than he was kneeling. The fat man then began to knead the boy's front thighs before causing him to whimper when he prodded the broken flesh on his knees and shins.

"Turn round, brat!" Scyrax subsequently commanded of Marius. The boy again complied, albeit reluctantly because he had guessed correctly what would now eventually happen.

Scyrax next pulled at Marius' ankles, which still displayed the marks of their recent bondage, forcing the boy to raise each small and fragile foot in turn. As the 11 year-old subsequently wobbled precariously on one leg, the fat man examined his soles, which were bruised and torn as a result of his recent long march.

After Marius was later restored to biped stability, Scyrax ran his hands up the back of the boy's legs towards his pert bottom. On reaching this curvaceous target, the fat man then ordered, in his soft breathless voice, "Part your legs and bend over, brat!"

After Marius had obeyed, Scyrax gently prised apart the lips of the boy's anus, which were red and sore because of the plug that had so recently been inserted inside. The fat man subsequently confirmed "Well, although your ridiculous chastity device has hurt the brat's sphincter, I can at least corroborate that he's definitely still a virgin!"

Scyrax now scrambled laboriously back to his feet, grunting as he heaved his bulk upright. The fat man next moved his hands upwards straying over Marius' back and narrow shoulders, and kneading the back of the boy's neck.

"Well," Scyrax then exclaimed to Crastus, having completed his intimate examination of Marius' young body, on which a little erection was still visible, and whilst returning to his couch and again picking up his rod, "I still don't know why you brought the brat here. You would need to pay me to take him on. I only deal in the choicest boys who are capable of serving very high-class clientele. My reputation and therefore business could be ruined if I took on any slut from the streets, like this one!"

In response, Crastus initially sighed. He had seen in Scyrax's eyes that, despite his words of disparagement, the fat man wanted Marius. He was also himself an experienced negotiator and he could therefore recognise the commencement of haggling over price. However, he also realised that he had no choice but to play the game.

"Pay to keep him," Crastus consequently protested loudly, "but look again at the brat. All right, he's been worked hard over the last couple of days but clean him, rest him for a week or two, feed him up a bit and train him appropriately and he'll fetch a good price at market. There's real quality in him. Look at the way he's put together, with good slim lines, and at eleven he's still a virgin! Of how many boys of similar age at auction can you say that?"

"He's dirty and broken," Scyrax retorted, "and, if you think that he'll make a good price, why don't you sell him direct in the market instead of bringing him to me? I'd be ashamed to put the miserable little brat up for sale in his present condition and, as for cleaning, feeding, resting and training him first, he'd never fetch enough at auction, even in peak condition, to cover the resultant cost to me!"

Meanwhile, Marius, whose cock had gradually returned to flaccidity after the cessation of Scyrax's intimate manhandling, stood quietly between the two men as they argued over him. The boy knew that he had, no more than any other item of livestock being bought and sold, no part to play in the negotiations, which would decide his whole future.

Crastus and Scyrax bickered over Marius' price for about a quarter of an hour. During this time, each of the men gradually moved by almost imperceptible steps nearer to the compromise sum that would achieve the boy's sale.

"I'm a soft hearted man," Scyrax eventually suggested to Crastus in order to clinch his purchase. "To save the brat from being dragged round Rome until you finally find a buyer," the fat man added, "I'll therefore agree to pay the amount you now say you want, even though I'm sure to lose on the deal. I know that my kindness will one day be the ruin of me but I can't help being generous!"

Crastus knew that Scyrax was not being generous and would not lose out on the deal but would instead certainly earn a large profit. However, he also appreciated that he was himself incapable of preparing Marius for the lucrative high-class market and the price was reasonably fair and so not too disappointing. After all, the boy had cost him and his men nothing and they also would not have to take the potential risk of selling him at public auction, where, untrained, his valuation might not be much greater.

"If by any chance you have any similar merchandise you wish to dispose of in the future, you will remember me," Scyrax subsequently suggested to Crastus, as he counted out the agreed amount of silver coins from a purse into the eager open hand of Marius' seller. "I'll remember you more as being a man who drives a hard bargain," the latter growled, whilst pocketing the money, "and I'll hope for a better price next time!"

"A man can always hope!" Scyrax commented in response, and both men grinned. Crastus was then escorted from the house by the boy who had led him and Marius along the lengthy and interestingly decorated entrance hallway.

As Marius watched Crastus depart, he hoped that he would never again encounter the man. He had, after all, not only treated and talked about him so badly but also raped and murdered his siblings.

Marius was, of course, aware that he was only alive because Crastus had refrained from molesting and strangling him too. However, the man's motivation had been greed not compassion and the boy's future could still be such that he might prefer to be dead.

Marius, however, was unsure whether he should be grateful to Crastus or hate him even more for one other recent development in his young life. The man had avidly demonstrated the sexually burgeoning nature of the boy's body, which was on the verge of pubescence.

Marius did not know whether he should be in awe or ashamed of the revelation, as he was unable to determine what he was consequently turning into. He could not tell if he was a normal growing boy or, as Crastus had suggested, was becoming a true cock-loving young whore.

Marius was finally left alone in the courtyard with his fresh owner, Scyrax, and the dark curly haired boy, who was only wearing a tiny white thong. "Now," the fat man subsequently queried of himself, "what shall I do first with my new toy?"

Marius, who was the new toy in question, waited in trepidation for Scyrax to answer his own query.

(To be continued)