Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2019 18:47:06 +0000 (UTC)
From: Milford Slabaugh <tommyhawk1@aol.com>
Subject: In the Shadow of the Pyramid, Chapter Five

            IN THE SHADOW OF THE PYRAMID, CHAPTER FIVE
                      By Tommyhawk1@AOL.COM
                  WWW.TOMMYHAWKSFANTASYWORLD.COM

     Four days after I had spoken to Keotin was the day I was to be
initiated into the Inner Mysteries of the Great Architect. This was to be
the greatest day of my life and it was, a magnificent ritual. I only regret
my vows forbid me to tell you of it in any detail, but I and fourteen other
students of the Great Architect were inducted into full worship that night.
     Instead, at a time when I should have been joining in the celebration,
I was running frantically back toward the village, hoping that I hadn't
been noticed leaving, hoping that I could make it back without being seen
by the two initiates who had been chosen for the duty (praise the All that
they hadn't chosen me!) and hoping that the man who was the initiates'
target would listen to me!
     Panting heavily, I paused outside the man's house. I knew the sigil
above the doorway, it was the sigil of Anamaton, the Master Stonecutter. He
was one of only six Master Stonecutters working on the Pharaoh's
pyramid. One of only two who had refused to listen to and heed the words of
the Great Architect.
     It had been decided to make an example of him. The initiates were to
gain the special blessings of the Great Architect for their work. They were
gratified for the chance to serve in this way. Everyone was cheering them
on their way.
     But I knew Anamaton. He and I had grown up together, though he was
some five years older than me, and he had been summoned to the pyramid some
seven years before me. He was not quite thirty years old, and yet he was a
Master Stonecutter. And he was a man who spoke his mind. I gathered from
the words of the Grand Builder, who had worked up a rather vehement lather
as he had spoken of Anamaton's insolence, that he had spoken out against
this new religion, and in words that made it clear he would not give even a
lip-service to the Great Architect, nor allow those of us who were
adherents (we now numbered some two out of every ten workers among the
builders) the chance to worship according to the dictates of our
priests. There were rituals that we were to do five times each day, it
would take but a few moments of our time for them to be done, the work on
the pyramid would not be affected in any significant way, we would place
the symbols upon the stones in places where they would not be intrusive or
show after the whitewash was applied...but Anamaton would have none of it,
and with his opposition, the unanimity required for such rituals to be
permitted was denied.
     And so Anamaton was to be beaten until he was unconscious, his bones
broken in ways that they could not heal properly, and with him removed, the
new Master Stonecutter, the Grand Builder assured us, would be amenable to
the words of the Great Architect.
     I pounded at his door with the stick hanging from a rope there for
such a purpose. Mere fists would not penetrate a wood that thick, wood
meant to withstand brigands and burglars.
     "Who is there at this hour?" came Anamaton's call from within.
     "It is I, Kephrin." I said. "Kephrin, from our home village, do you
remember me?"
     "I remember Kephrin."
     "It is I." I repeated. "And you are in danger. You must hide this
night, away from your home. You must hurry, I don't know how soon they will
be here."
     "Give me the oath, that I may know it is you."
     "I swear by the blood of the cypress tree." I said to him. It was the
private oath of the families of my home village, based on the legends of
our village gods. None but those from our village would know of it.
     Anamaton opened the door. "Kephrin." he said. He held his blanket
about his body and I felt for the first time how chill the night air had
become.
     "We have no time. You must get out of here now, hide until morning. In
the morning, we can have the guards to protect you. But for now, we must
get you out of here."
     Anamaton looked at me and at first I thought he would argue with
me. He would be leaving a home designed, among other things, to withstand a
brief assault from outside. To leave this protection for the outside....
     The look on my face must have convinced him where words could not. "I
am in your hands."
     "This way." I said to him, leading him through the village away from
the direction of the House of the All. Beyond the village was only the
desert, but if we could get far enough away, put the nearest hill between
us and them, it was unlikely that the initiates would come looking in this
direction. They would seek Anamaton among the houses, or along the
riverbank. Yes, if we could get beyond the hill, we should be safe.
     Such a long way to run, we were lucky only in that the moon had not
yet risen, the starlight didn't reveal us the way moonlight would have. Had
the full moon risen, it would have shown us as two flies crawling on a
winejug, as it was, we were able to make it to the crest of the hill and
beyond.
     As safe as we would be for the night, and exhausted from my run, I
sank onto the ground, gasping and sweaty. Anamaton sat beside me, he was
much more rested, though he was also breathing heavy.
     "We must...run further..." I said. "We cannot...stop here...."
     "You're exhausted." Anamaton said. "We can rest a while."
     "Not...too long." I said. "They will...come looking for you."
     "Only two initiates." Anamaton pointed out. "They cannot look
everywhere."
     I considered that. "That is true."
     "And if you were them, where would you look?"
     "About the village."
     "So we are safe."
     "But if they find us?" I was getting my breath back, but slowly.
     "There are two of them?"
     I nodded.
     "And there are two of us, and I no longer will be caught unawares."
Anamaton pointed out.
     "But they only need to come over the hill and they will see us." I
protested.
     "Look about us." Anamaton said. "What do you see?"
     I looked. The desert about us was not as clean as it was a short
distance further. All the detritus of the village no longer needed ended up
here at the edge of the desert. It was not a garbage dump that we were
in...but there were plenty of objects of various sizes about, broken jugs,
discarded sledges, chunks of stone.
     "Could you find two men sitting still in all of this with only the
starlight?"
     "The moon will soon be up."
     "Then we will cover ourselves with my blanket." Anamaton said.
     "I would be grateful for that." I said, for my sweat had cooled on my
body and I was getting cold. The desert is so cold at night, there are no
plants to hold in the heat of the day. Even so close to the river as we
were, the cold was sharp enough to be uncomfortable, if not enough to bring
the fever upon me.
     Anamaton brought the blanket around me. "I am grateful in my turn for
your warning." he said. "What will your Grand Builder think of you giving
me this warning."
     "I hope that he does not know I have delivered it." I said. "I have
heard more than I care to think about at this time. The Great Architect is
a marvelous being, but I think the Grand Builder is planning to use the
words of the All to increase his power. I worship the All and the Architect
who brought sense out of the All, but I am not sure what to think of what I
have heard this night."
     "So your eyes have opened tonight." Anamaton nodded.
     "I don't understand." I said.
     "I have heard of this Great Architect and the All." Anamaton informed
me. "When I was here before you arrived, the Grand Builder approached me as
he did you, to bring me to his religion. He wasn't as smooth in his
technique then as he was now. He told me of his new god and that with the
help of the Great Architect and the All, we who build would rise to great
power among the lands of men. With him as our leader, of course." This was
Anamaton unchanged since my days as a youth, he cut to the heart in one
smooth blow of the chisel of his mind, to lay bare the inner stone and all
its flaws. "I only fear that he has now won enough to his way of thinking
that he may now try to seize this power he craves."
     "I fear you are right." I agreed, and I shivered when a gust blew on
my unprotected side and bit at my flesh.
     "You are still cold." Anamaton said. "Take more of the blanket."
     "I should not." I demurred. "Your blanket is for one man, it will not
cover two."
     "Not if we keep sitting up." Anamaton agreed. "The blanket is meant to
cover a man lying down. Lie down with me and we will be warmer, I am sure."
     I was cold enough, and tired enough, to agree. I lay upon the desert
sands, a little warm still beneath the top grains of sand, and the sand
shaped itself to my body as sand will do. It was not as comfortable as my
bed stuffed with grass, but I could make shift to sleep here this night, if
I was able to be warm.
     And Anamaton snuggled his body against me and I realized for the first
time that he was naked, this blanket was his only covering. His manhood
pressed against my thigh.
     But of course. He had been undressed for sleep, and my rousing him had
been quick. He had simply held the blanket while he found out who was at
the door...and then I had brought him out to the edge of the desert to hide
just like that.
     I myself wore only my loin wrap, my cloak was still back at the House
of All. I had not dared to take it, I had slipped away from the others as
if only leaving for a moment, to make water outside of the house, and would
return. And then I had been running to warn my childhood friend.
     "This is not bad." Anamaton said as he cuddled a little closer. "But
we could use a cushion of some kind for our heads, and to keep the sand out
of our mouths and eyes while we sleep."
     I unfastened my wrap and bundled it into a rough roll. Now we were
both naked under his blanket. I pushed the wrap under our heads and it made
a reasonable cushion. "Is that better?" I asked him.
     "I was hoping you would think of that." Anamaton said and his hand
came over and caught my prong. His hand was quite soft, a Master
Stonecutter spends most of his time supervising and training others, he
does not have the callouses brought on by the endless blow of hammer upon
chisel into stone, which jars the bones and thickens the palms. His palm
was as soft as a kiss as he enclosed my cock and gently stroked it into
life. "I was hoping you would think of that." he purred into my ear. "Now I
can repay you for your warning this night."
     "You..." I gasped. "You need not feel obligated to me." I said. My
cock was betrayed my demurrer, it was loving this touch. "I would have
given it to any who were to be misused such."
     "But if you had not been from my own village, I would not have
listened." Anamaton pointed out. His hand now had me at full rigidity and
now he was pumping me not to awaken my passion, but to bring it to
fruition. "Tell me truthfully if you would have warned, say, Zephekaten as
you warned me."
     "I...I am not sure." Zephekaten was another Master Stonecutter, and a
rude, arrogant man full of his own mastery. "I am not sure." He was the
other Master Stonecutter who disdained the Great Architect, but he
disdained everything that didn't lead directly to his own gain or prestige.
     "You wouldn't love to see him shipped back to his home village as an
invalid?" Anamaton pressed me.
     "I would not shed very many tears."I agreed. "Ah, ahh!" My first
twinkles of desire sparkled like the first stars of nightfall. But full
night was around us and the night was full of stars, and in the east, the
full moon was peering over the edge of the hill. I could just see a
triangular top that would be the one finished pyramid. The one I worked on
would be the second, and larger, but it was as yet perhaps only two-thirds
done in terms of its size and there was much more to be done to it after
the last stone had been cut and put into place.
     Anamaton slid his head under the covers and I did not protest as this
action moved the blanket down my body, for while my shoulders and upper
chest were now exposed to the chill air, my prick was now covered by the
warmth of Anamaton's mouth and he sent my dong deep into his throat and
held it there, and that warmth echoed up my body.
     I thought for a time that he would never release me, and I groaned and
my hips thrust up to try to move myself inside Anamaton's mouth, but I
accomplished little. Only when I surrendered and fell back in defeat did
Anamaton begin to move, and his little motions did more for me than all my
thrusts upwards with my hips.
     As I writhed under Anamaton's ministrations, Anamaton moved to bring
his lower body up to beside me, and I understood easily enough what he
wanted. My first taste of his cock was unpleasant, for he had unwittingly
doused it with sand, and I spit and licked my mouth's insides and spit
again, while I wiped at him with my hand until I could try once
again. There was still a taste of sand upon him, but not that much more
than any human body endured here in our land, I could accept it as the cost
of taking Anamaton into myself and I worked my lips up and down that sturdy
shaft while Anamaton's diligent care sent shudders of pleasure through my
body.
     But I was gaining ground, I took him deeper and faster, and Anamaton
let go of my dick for a moment and gasped, "Yes, Kephrin, yes! Why did we
not do this back at the village?"
     "Because I was too young still when you left." I pointed out. "I was
only eleven when you came here, I was still a boy." Like myself, Anamaton
had been taken at the age of sixteen, to carry the water for those who
labored while he learned the ways of the pyramid builders.
     "Ah!" Anamaton dove back onto me, and I hastened to return. I was
content to simply suckle Anamaton like this, and would have done it the
entire night if I could have, for as that boy back in the village, I had
stared at Anamaton's marvelously clean and shapely body and lusted for it
as only a boy in the infancy of his puberty can lust, without reason and
without hope. He had only grown stronger and better looking over the years,
his title had gained him leisure, not for him was the lines that pulled
themselves into a laborer's body from the many days of physical exertion,
Anamaton was now in his prime and could hope to retain his good looks well
into and beyond his middle years.
     So I was content to suck on his cock while he sucked mine, but
Anamaton stopped after a time, and pulled his cock out of my mouth. It made
a noisy slurping sound when he did, for I had lavished my saliva upon him,
first to clean him and then to lubricate him. Anamaton threw the covers off
both of us as he did this, and panted, "Now, upon the blanket for the sand
cannot come between us now."
     I obeyed, knowing what he wanted, I went on all fours upon the
blanket, it cushioned my knees and hands from the sand, and buoyed me up
somewhat, and Anamaton crouched behind me and I felt his pud slither
between my cheeks and slimily knock upon my nether entrance.
     Anamaton did not wait for me to try to open myself for him, he guided
it a bit more true with his hand, and then his cockhead was pushing into
me, and I pushed myself back against him, my sphincter screamed and then
opened for him and he delved into me and my body thrilled at the shaft of
raw delight that slid through and into me, and when it was fully buried, I
clenched my butt muscles tight, this time I was the one who held it
prisoner within me, not wanting it to move.
     Anamaton groaned after a time and I knew I was driving him to
distraction with his need dismayed by my clutch, and I relaxed and when I
did, he pulled back and then drove it into me again fiercely, as if to make
up for his motion and send it as much into me as he could.
     I was lost in my own rapture in no time, Anamaton had already driven
me more than halfway to my own climax, and when his body fell into a rhythm
and his hand reached under and grabbed my dong once again, it was a lost
cause for me to attempt to hold back much longer.
     "Ah, ah, I am close." I warned my lover and Anamaton fucked at me the
faster. I dropped my head onto the blanket and I grunted my delight into
the woolen covering, and then I grunted louder, to warn Anamaton of my
progress into the height of desire.
     Anamaton's hips slapped my buttocks as he rammed his cock into me, and
I felt how hard he was, how close he was, and I fought desperately against
my need to ejaculate, but I was too far gone, and I could only groan
helplessly as my passion hit its peak and I squirted my seed into his
blanket and wriggled in my ecstasy beneath him.
     And when I was done, and limp and exhausted, Anamaton lay me down full
body upon the blanket, and in that position, he finished me with slower,
but diligent thrusts of his lips that wriggled more than plunged my ass
with his cock, and after a short time of this, his own orgasm caught him
and I felt his sperm gush into me with the ease of the cattle entering
their stall, gravid with their milk and ready to give it to their owner,
grateful for release, and I was surfeited with his jism and took it
greedily into myself, to burn and cool itself within my bowels. Anamaton
pulled the blanket about us again, and a portion of my wrap was still under
my head, enough to keep the sand out of my ear and lower eye.
     I listened in the silence broken only by our still somewhat labored
breaths in the time that followed, wondering what the initiates would do
when they could not find Anamaton. Would they return to the House and would
then the entire congregation of the Great Architect set out to find him,
and with him, me? Had my absence been noted? I didn't care, I did not
intend to return to the House and face the Grand Builder, knowing now what
he was. I still craved the blessings of the Great Architect, but comforted
myself that I now knew all that a worshiper needed to know about his
rituals, I could build a small altar for myself in my home and pray that my
words would be heard there as easily as at the larger house of the Grand
Builder.
     In that comforting thought, I surprised myself by falling asleep
despite the danger we were in and indeed, we were not disturbed. I was
awakened only by daybreak and with it, the sound of the morning horn.
     I sat up, surprised. I was alone. I had Anamaton's blanket about me,
but my wrap was gone. I looked about, and with nothing else I could do, I
held the blanket about myself and I returned to the village, wondering if I
would be grabbed by the Grand Builder's minions at any moment. Had he
noticed the lack of one initiate among the fifteen of us who had joined his
congregation last night? Or had I simply vanished.
     My father greeted me as I re-entered our home. "Where have you been?"
he asked me. "Some of your fellows of the Great Architect were looking for
you this morning."
     "I...chose to sleep elsewhere." I would not burden my father with
this, not until I knew how much trouble, if any, I was in. "What did they
want?"
     "There was trouble last night." my father said. "A grave incident has
occurred. There is to be an assembly after the morning meal."
     "What has happened?" I asked. This did not sound like personal trouble
for me.
     And it wasn't. "Zephekaten was attacked last night. Two men broke into
his home despite the strong door. They have broken both his arms and both
his legs. He said that they called their work the vengeance of the Great
Architect."
     I was dismayed. I had spared Anamaton by my warning...and the
initiates had simply taken on the other reluctant Master Stonecutter in his
place. Despite my attempt, the warning had been delivered.
     The Great Architect's followers were now a force to be reckoned with
within the area around the pyramids. What this would come to mean remained
to be seen. A lot would ride on what happened in the next few hours.

                     THE END OF CHAPTER FIVE
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             E-mail the Author at Tommyhawk1@AOL.COM
                  WWW.TOMMYHAWKSFANTASYWORLD.COM