“Well?” he asked.
“What’s in there?” I asked, pointing to the door.
“I have no idea. I’ve only been here once before and it wasn’t like this.”
I went over to the door. There was a crude metal latch, so I undid it and pushed the door open. Inside were many barrels and a stack of shovels and brooms. Gaius came in behind me.
“Store room,” he said unnecessarily.
“And the barrels?”
“Water probably, to dampen down the sand. If it’s hot and dry, the dust will get everywhere and cause havoc for the drivers of the chariots, let alone the spectators.”
A germ of an idea started in my brain.
“Can I get access before the games open?”
“For a fee I should think, yes. Why?”
“I have an idea, but I need to get here early with a couple of friends.”
“Fine, seen enough?”
“No. I want to see these cells. It seems a shame to disappoint the caretaker.”
Chapter Twelve
As soon as the Praetorian Guard entered the arena, the cheering started. They must have looked quite spectacular in the finest uniforms, as they marched with precision, escorting the wreath to its resting place.
The circus wasn’t filled to capacity, but I should think more than fifty thousand people had come to get away from the daily grind and to see what fun was on offer.
I couldn’t see anything, as I, along with three of the girls were ensconced in the water room beneath the royal box. There was no way up inside the building, besides, I had to get out there to get the wreath and then scale the building while my girls kept the praetorians distracted. At least, that was the plan.
It was dark and cool in the storeroom, but I’d chipped a bit of the door away so I could see through the crack. We’d been here for nearly three hours. It was roughly two hours after dawn, so we’d arrived an hour before dawn after a final practice with all the girls.
My plan was simple. I found that the more complex the plan, the more things could go wrong. I knew three things. The praetorians were bigger, stronger and better trained. They were also creatures of habit and training. They had fixed responses to certain stimuli, so could be virtually guaranteed to do certain things to counter what their opponents were up to. Lastly, they would be supremely confident that a bunch of female savages would never be able to beat them at their game.
The last was to be their weakest point, and the one on which I would concentrate.
After visiting the cells with Gaius, where he’d performed with remarkable enthusiasm and staggering stamina, I’d finally felt sated in the sexual sense.
He was not an imaginative or fiddly lover, but then my experience was limited. Roger had been an apologetic lover until I sorted him out. Iona had been a grateful lover, until I had become somewhat lacklustre myself, so things had sort of died between us.
Gaius went at it with gusto, intending to enjoy himself as much as possible, and in so doing ensured that I was also getting as much from his forceful strokes as was he. It was quite refreshing, and as he was well endowed, the combination of the earthy environment, amid the smell of stale sweat and olive oil, the raw wooden board onto which he pulled me, stripping my flimsy clothing in the process, and the chilly air, gave it a wholly naughty feel.
He tried to get me to lie on my back, as the last occasion. I was having none of it, and pushed him onto his back, raised his tunic, and grasped his engorged manhood in my hands. It was amazingly warm to the touch.
“You want me?” I asked.
“You know I do.”
I straddled him guiding him into me. I was already moist and ready, so he slid in with some ease. He was larger than Roger had been, and it was a nice feel to experience being filled quite so completely.
Memories are funny things. For although I knew it was Gaius and that I wasn’t Jane, the memories of our many lovemaking sessions broke through and filled my consciousness as I started to rise and fall on him.
He shook me out of it by grabbing my ass tightly and taking control by thrusting upwards, deeper and deeper by arching his back.
It was an animalistic and carnal session, during which we bit and dug our nails into each other, driving each other higher and higher in our passion.
Finally, he bucked so high that I almost flew off him, as he ejaculated deep inside me.
We lay together in a sweaty and very damp head on that hard board.
“Better?” he asked, with a smile.
“You’ll do.”
He chuckled.
“What happens if you get with child?”
“What happens; happens, but I doubt I will,” I said.
Harry Horsefall swore that I wouldn’t as he’d made some nifty adjustments to the simulacrum system.
I was content to lie in his arms for a moment, as I came back to planet Earth. My mind was in all sorts of other places, and one of them wasn’t the first century. He brought me back to the present abruptly.
“Layla, what kind of woman are you?”
I chuckled.
“Why?”
“I’m no virgin and have known a few women, but never have I experienced what we have just done.”
“Don’t expect it like that every time,” I said, smiling.
He was quiet for a few moments, stroking my shoulder with his hand.
“I imagine making love to a goddess would be like this.”
“Best you don’t start bragging about it.”
“I won’t.”
“Seriously, we can’t be open about this,” I said.
“I know.”
“Don’t you care?”
“Do you?”
“Yes, a bit. My heart tells me I want you close all the time, but my mind knows what’s right. My quest is too important.”
“Then when it ends, you and I will wed. I shall retire and we will go to the farm in the foothills.”
“In your dreams, buster. Let’s just wait and see, eh?”
The ride back was mellow and sombre as we both had a lot to think about.
I trained the girls until they could go through the motions in their sleep. It should be fun to watch, but I just hoped they could keep their nerve. They knew that at no time would they have to face the Praetorians face to face. But the distraction must be realistic if it was to work.
As I handed the golden wreath to the man with the big nose, my mind was clear. I’d been so focussed on my part that I had not been able to see how the events had unfolded. It had been hard to trust Iona and the others to play their part with precision. However, it had to be done. They had to learn that I wasn’t going to be there every step of the way to help them do everything. My trust and faith in them was justified – thank all that is holy!
As the adrenaline had pumped around my body, my tunnel vision was such that I could not see or hear anything outside my immediate vicinity.
Now I was standing in front of Emperor Trajan of Rome, with my heart racing, breath coming in gasps, I calmed myself. Although I had my back to the crowd, all I could hear was massive cheering from the crowd.
“Oh, divine Emperor, I believe this is yours!” I said, watching Marcus Gallinus literally bounce up and down with unrestrained excitement on one of several couches behind the Emperor. There were about twenty people in the box, not including the slaves.
There were several women, many painted and powdered like harlots, but were obviously here for the pleasure of the men. A couple of pretty boys, also wearing makeup were also in attendance, but most were men of middle years or older dressed in togas lined with purple, a sign of wealth.
Trajan was shorter than me, but then I found most Romans were. The average height for a male was around five foot six, so as I was over six foot, this was nothing new.
A stocky and powerful man, he wore his brown hair in what can only be described by Roman standards as the height of fashion. When I was growing up, the poorest families that couldn’t afford to send the boys for a proper haircut wore what we called the pudding bowl cut – this is what Trajan’s hairstyle looked like.