Bob’s Memoir: 4,000 Years as a Free Demon
Part II
Architect for a God
5
Cast into the Sea
FROM THE DAY I was born, or created, or summoned from the primordial mass, I have been in love with the sea. Of course, it wasn’t literally that day. It was when I was exploring the rooftop of my—or Pinaruti’s—home that I saw the sea, glistening miles away and seeming to go on forever.
If you are a literalist and have visited the modern site of Knossos, and want to challenge my ability to see the sea from a rooftop in the ancient city, I encourage you to repair to hell. I am a demon. My eyesight is long. I saw the fucking sea!
As I was saying, I have always loved the sea. But I knew very little about it or what lay beyond it. So, when I left Knossos, I headed more or less directly to the sea, avoiding people as much as possible. As I walked along the northern coast of Crete, I watched the fishing boats and the sailing ships as they plied the waters, oars dipping into the waves, sails billowing with the wind. It was all quite romantic. I thought, what I would like to do is become a sailor.
The salt spray in my face, the wind in my hair, the smell of the sea all around me. Yes, I would describe it as romantic, and it represented my first boyhood dream of what I would like to be when I grew up.
I should mention that, as I wandered along the seashore, I did not simply ignore the babes in a bag. I had that bag on my shoulder all the time, and I wasn’t about to lose control of it. And I knew I had responsibilities to my ladies. In fact, I had no idea how getting picked up and thrown over my shoulder as I ran from Knossos would affect the contents of the satchel.
It turned out, not at all.
I found a cave in a cliff face overlooking the sea and pushed the bag into it. ‘Cave’ might be a glorious term for the hole in the rock that I found. It was scarcely larger than the bag itself. That really made no difference, because I could still open a gateway into the bag and step through it even though the gateway was larger than the hole in the rock and the bag was smaller. It was one of the many mysteries of the bag that I was to discover over time.
I found Portia and Nimia happily arranging the replica of our home in Knossos and making sure everything was in order. So were the other three ladies.
“Who are they?” I asked, pointing at three very naked beauties who were helping with the tasks.
“You put them here,” Nimia answered. “I guess there wasn’t much choice. They were among the nymphs living with us, but one night we were all playing in the pool and they were being especially naughty. You said that as a punishment, you would turn them into stone for one day and they would have to watch everyone else playing without being able to join in. When we escaped from Knossos, you grabbed the statues and shoved them in the bag. It was only a little while later that they returned to themselves. We’ve been keeping them busy, but they’re really horny.”
“But you need to do me first,” Portia said. “We hardly got started on our wedding night before that dirty old man came knocking on your door.”
I remembered that. I’d brought her home with me after the wedding feast, but we’d been so drunk that she collapsed in bed before we finished what we were doing—and I wasn’t going to finish without her. That’s when I panicked and started packing up to leave. I sent everyone away, but when Drakomaxos came pounding on the door, I stuffed Portia and Nimia into the bag. With the statues. Ah well. There was nothing to do about it now but take Portia to the bedroom and finish the process of deflowering her. Once her maidenhead was gone, she became a sex maniac akin to what my dear Aria had been.
I learned a lot about what I came to call the infinity room in those hours—or days—or years. I don’t know how long we were there. For all I know, time was running backward. Time in the infinity room is not in sync with the world outside. There is no sensation of time passing. The girls had happily worked setting up our house. They had eaten and slept. They worked and made love. But as far as they could tell, I’d only just put them into the bag and then followed them. We picked up conversations and tasks as if I’d just turned around.
I had a lot of work to do in studying the amazing room. I’d worked the spell, but apparently, I had no idea what was included in it. I was going to need to study the scroll and see if I could decipher some of the side effects. You know, that mumbo jumbo written on a prescription bottle that says, ‘May cause diarrhea, swelling of the joints, double-vision, and other serious side effects, including death’? The fine print has been around as long as written documents have. In the scrolls, spells were carefully and clearly written, but the margins were filled with the notes of various wizards who had experimented with the spell and written a commentary on how they’d altered it or what their experience had been. Pinaruti’s scrolls were already ancient when I retrieved them and had many margin notes.
I told the girls that I’d decided to become a sailor and they were all excited about taking a cruise. They’d each heard tales of various mythological places they wanted to visit. I agreed that I would try to find a map.
I left the infinity room and tossed the bag over my shoulder once again. As I traveled, I hunted or gathered fruit and grain, which I delivered to the babes in the bag. The girls put it away and rewarded me handsomely when I got home. It was getting easier and easier to consider the room home. The five wet and willing pussies were all the reward a man (or demon) could want after a hard day’s labor.
Did you know that Minoa had the first navy in the world? It dominated the Central Sea for centuries. I suppose it started out as a couple of rowboats with an archer in the bow, but most of the traders were either Minoan, or were protected by the Minoan navy. The ships of the day were pretty much flat-bottom barges equipped with sails and auxiliary oars, but they floated and that was good enough for me.
I knew that if I wandered along the coast long enough, I would come to a place where the ships came to port. I felt, however, that the Adonis look had served more than its purpose and I could feel my horns pushing out. I wore a hood over my head as I traveled, looking for a good model for a new body. I needed something a little more down to earth, so to speak. Since I planned to go to sea, I searched along the coast for a fellow I thought looked handsome enough and strong enough to be a sailor.
I found him in a village drinking house where I had my first taste of sour beer. Personally, I liked wine better, but I learned to get along with the beer. I saw a fellow who matched the description I’d built in my head and had a drink with him. I found that he was a thoroughly boring young man with little to talk about other than the fish he almost caught. Nonetheless, I got his pattern set in my mind, and while he stood at the latrine to get rid of the beer he’d drunk, I whispered the transformation spell. By the time he was finished, so was I. He looked at me a little funnily and started to say something, but cut himself off. Finally, he said, “Sorry. Thought you looked familiar.” Then he left.
So did I. I kept to the shadows until I was well away from the fishing village and found another cranny in the rocks where I could conceal the satchel and open a gate into it. I just had to show the girls my new body. They all wanted to test it to make sure it still functioned in a way that pleased them. I passed that test.
I came upon the seaport town of Mania where there was a big project of some sort going on. Hiring agents were bringing in laborers from all around the district. By bringing them in, I mean they tapped their intended laborer on the head until he could no longer resist, and dragged him to the king’s work camp. They decided that a strong young man like me should become a laborer and attempted to tap me on the head as well.
Apparently, the thugs sent out to recruit help had never run into someone who tapped them back.
I considered my options as I looked at the two unconscious men at my feet and read their memories. I hadn’t done much of that since reading Pinaruti’s memories from his dead body. These were even less pleasant. In fact, reading the list of heinous acts the two had committed convinced me they had no need for their liberty. I stripped them of their clubs and clothing, tossed them over my shoulder, and took them to the bounty office. I dumped them on the floor.
“I have two to turn in,” I said. The bursar looked at me skeptically and glanced at the men. It was obvious he recognized them.
“And why are you not on the work crews. I’ll send for my men and have you stripped. Then I can collect the bounty on all three of you,” he laughed, moving to call for reinforcements.
“I tap harder than they do,” I said, lifting the surprised bursar off his feet and out from behind the desk. He spluttered in surprise as I stared him in the eye.
“No offense intended. No offense. It was a joke,” he stuttered.
“I don’t have a sense of humor.”
“Let me just get you your money!” I set him back down at his desk and his hand shook as he pulled two strange coins from his pouch and placed them on the table.
I’d lied to him, but had no remorse. I actually have a very good sense of humor for a demon. I love a good joke. I convinced him that I was humorless and considered that to be a joke on him.
“What’s the king need all the workers for?” I asked.
“He’s got a stone quarry and says he’s going to build a grand palace. Needs more laborers to move the stone because it’s that heavy, don’t you know. These two are a little on the scrawny side for laborers, but we’ll use them. Now if you could collect us a few good strong fellows—like sailors—I’d be able to pay more for them.”
I left the slave office and decided I needed to meet this king who was having so much difficulty.
I had to tap several guards on the head before I finally got an audience with King Idiopheles.
“And what do you have to offer me besides your back and strong muscles?” the king demanded when I stood before him and presented my proposal.
“I hear you’re having problems moving the stone for your palace. They do get pretty heavy. I built Drakomaxos’ palace over in Knossos. I know how to get the stones moved and keep the laborers from revolting.”
“I heard Drako’s architect ran off with his wife,” Idiopheles speculated as he squinted his eyes at me. “No. That couldn’t have been you. He was said to be the most handsome man on the island.”
“I think I’m pretty good looking, but I don’t think I’d merit being called the most handsome man on the island. Drakomaxos and I had a disagreement about paying me once the palace was built. I collected what I was owed and left.”
“What do you want in order to get my palace built? One of my wives?”
“Oh, no. Have enough of my own, you know. Want to fuck all the time. What I want is to become a sea captain. I need a ship and a crew and a captain who will teach me everything I need to know.”
“Hmm. I see. Well, if that’s all you want, I think we can make a deal.”
I could read from his mind that the deal he wanted to make was to get me to build the palace and then sell me to a shipmaster. For the time being, though, I took the deal the way I intended it and set about building the sleds that would lighten the workers’ loads.
Meeting the workers told me I needed to do more than lighten their loads. They at least needed better food. Strong men came to work and in a short time they’d become weak men.
“A house built by slaves will crumble about its owner’s ears,” I intoned to the king.
“Oh, fuck that. I’ll grant them extra food, but they can be free after they’ve finished,” Idiopheles declared. He had a lot of men at his disposal and his press gangs kept bringing in more. I didn’t waste any time getting the palace built. It was bigger than Drakomaxos’, but once I lightened the loads, the building went quickly—especially as the men got stronger with better food and worked harder with the promise of freedom as soon as the project was built.
“Now, about my ship,” I said as we toured the completed palace and he began moving in. I’d already dismissed the laborers and even managed to give them each a coin for their labor as they left. I wanted them all far away when the walls of this palace began crumbling. I was going to make sure of that.
“Oh, I have a captain who will take you on as a swab,” Idiot laughed.
“I think you have misunderstood our deal,” I growled. He looked at me and for a moment I simply let my horns show through. “When you make a deal with a demon, you should always keep it.”
“Um… uh… A demon? Well, of course I’d keep my deal with a demon. I simply misunderstood the terms. A ship, you say. With a captain and crew. It will be ready for you in the morning at the wharf.”
I nodded and walked away.
I knew he would still try to get out of it, but for now he had to scurry about and get a ship for me. I spent my time that night, wandering the city with a watchful eye, sticking to the shadows and watching the king’s thugs looking for me. I wasn’t quite invisible, but it would take a sharp eye to find me in the shadows. By the time the sun rose, a dozen weary thugs sat themselves at the wharf and watched for me to come and claim my prize. That told me which ship I should board. I stopped at the ship just before it and slipped aboard unnoticed. Sailors were untying the lines.
“When’s this new sailor going to be here?” the captain of the next ship yelled. “The tide’s going!”
That was all the signal I needed. I jumped from one ship to the other, landing lightly on the deck.
“I’m here and ready, Captain,” I said from beside him. He was so startled he nearly fell backward of the ship, but I steadied him.
“Cast off!” he yelled. Our ship began to move, leaving the puzzled thugs standing on the wharf.
I happily bent to the tasks of learning the ship from the old captain. This was something I could do and not constantly make mistakes. It seemed I needed only to disconnect my mind from my body and let the body carry on with the tasks. I was happy and contented on the ship. The salt spray in my face. The wind in my hair. The smell of the sweaty sailors working around me. Well, everything has a down-side, I’m afraid.
I loved seeing the different ports we put in at, and soon learned that no matter where in the port I went, I needed to be back aboard my boat when the tide went out. At each port, I traded for goods, following the captain’s example. Only the goods I traded for, I slipped into the satchel when I joined my girls at night. Having time with the girls was difficult. This ‘ship,’ as I indicated, was little more than a barge with a sail. There were no private quarters where I could secure the satchel and step inside. That had to be done in port.
I don’t know how long I’d been sailing. Time was as meaningless to me at sea as it was in the infinity room. I was often the only one awake on the ship and seldom slept at all. It was, however, during one of those rare sleeps that I was visited in a dream.
Dreams were something new to me. I only slept when I was bored or drunk. Or fully sated. But this time, my sleep was invaded by a supernatural being.
I had dealt with gods before. Zeus visited me in the cave and I found him to be a very down-to-earth kind of deity. He liked human women as much as I did and we regularly drank and fucked whoever Ariane brought to us. And Ariane.
The golden being who visited me in my dream was different. He seemed to have no interest in human women at all. Or in anyone. He carried a golden shield and spear. He flew so fast that his legs looked like a storm tearing across the land, great wings flapping. Lions prowled by his side roaring above the tumult.
Every time I closed my eyes, this god would invade my sleep, gesticulating wildly and speaking in a tongue I could not understand.
“Why not just tell me what you want?” I asked the image one night. It froze with a puzzled look on its face, then vanished.
The next night, another shining man stood in front of me. I could tell, however, that this wasn’t a god, but was some kind of messenger he’d arranged. He held a beautiful blue stone in his hands, smooth and highly polished. He handed it to me and I recognized a kind of map. I puzzled over it.
I’d built two palaces and had drawn plans for them. It didn’t take me long to realize this polished piece of lapis was the divine equivalent of a drawing on a napkin, describing a plan for a kind of palace. I started to say something to the man but he had disappeared, leaving me the tablet. And I was awake.
I carefully put the tablet in my satchel, knowing the girls would find a good place for it.
This kept up for days. I didn’t even need to be asleep, but everyone around me seemed to be snoozing when I was visited. I got maps. I got a brick mold. I got a drum I didn’t know how to play. A stallion appeared before me and a chariot of silver and gold jewels on the ship deck. I couldn’t let the men on the ship see these things, so I managed to hand them all off to the girls in the infinity room and they took care of everything.
Then, instead of the man, a woman appeared to me with a silver stylus, writing on a smooth clay tablet. I felt there was a command for me there, but I couldn’t understand what it was. I was a kid! In terms of my life experience, I was a randy teenager. Life was about sailing and fucking.
As my frustrations grew over these continued visitations, the weather seemed to reflect my attitude. When I closed my eyes, I saw a tree with so many birds chattering in it that I would never be able to sleep. When I opened them, the waves were breaking over the bow of our little ship and the rain whipped across the deck.
“Are you going to sleep through your death?” the captain screamed at me. “Don’t you care that we are all going to drown in this storm?” The boards of the ship creaked and threatened to break apart.
Then I saw the man again, in a flash of lightning pointing off the ship and I finally figured out one thing clearly.
“What gods do we need to sacrifice to? How will we save ourselves?” the captain continued.
“Pull yourself together, man,” I said. I made sure my satchel was securely strapped to my side and straightened up. “You must throw me overboard. I’m the sacrifice that is demanded. Throw me overboard and the rest of you will be fine.”
There was about thirty seconds of discussion as the men could hardly hold themselves back from doing what I ordered. The captain stood aside and they grabbed me. I considered making myself weigh as much as a horse, but none of this was their fault. I couldn’t blame them for snatching at any hope to be saved from the storm. They heave-ho’d and I found myself in the water, swallowing as much as I swam through.
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