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The Golden Age

Chapter 3: Silver and Starlight

As those first few weeks of training turned into months the routine of military life became easier, and tasks which had at first seemed like the torture of Sisyphus gradually became enjoyable. While the first period had been spent getting us fit this stage concentrated on teaching us to work as a unit. As citizens it was our duty to serve our city as hoplites in time of war. Service as a hoplite might seem simple to those who have not experienced it, but it is a physically and mentally demanding way to fight. Most of all it is based on each soldier's trust in the men beside him, and demands the courage to stand and fight when all one's instinct scream to turn tail and flee. A phalanx lives or dies according to its cohesion, so we were drilled until maintaining formation was as natural as breathing, and then we were drilled some more.

When we were not practicing with full panoply we strengthened our bodies further with wrestling, races or swimming in the harbour, or kept our minds sharp with singing, poetry, philosophy and mathematics. Nicander, normally the most reserved of our group, loved to sing and seemed to have a new song every evening. It was always wonderful to see a smile break out on his face, his whiskers quivering and his eyes shining as he taught us the words and tune, eager to begin. Even now I remember fondly our evenings in our barracks, each of us repairing and maintaining our equipment as Nicander led us in a song and Myron accompanied us with his pipes. The room was warmed and lit by a fire in the centre and the rich smoke of the wood merged with the sweat of our bodies and the smell of the oil and leather of our equipment. I would sit next to Aristarchus and breathe in the scent of his body, our tails entwined on the bed behind us as we worked.

It was one evening like this, six months into our two years service, that Heracles entered our room, his expression grave. Despite his imposing physical presence he was always friendly and would often join in a song if he knew it, or stand listening in the doorway until we finished before he tried to talk to us. Today he stalked into the room, his tail lashing agitatedly behind him, his mane scruffy, as if he had been holding his head in his hands.

"Boys, I have something to tell you." His eyes searched around the room, meeting each of ours in turn. "The Phocians..." he paused, groping for words, "the Phocians have sacked the sanctuary at Delphi. Thebes has declared war on them and has called on all her daughter cities to aid her. The assembly meets tomorrow, but I think we all know that we will, we must answer her call."

A stunned silence filled the room. The enormity of the sacrilege the Phocians had committed was beyond belief, beyond comprehension. Almost no greater crime against our gods was imaginable, and we all knew that we could not let such an act go unpunished.

Heracles looked as if he was about to say something, his mouth moving silently as we stared at him, but he just turned away, stalking down the corridor to the next room. For a few minutes all that could be heard was the hiss and crackle of the fire, and then Demetrius spoke. "Well fuck me" he breathed. The silence flowed back for a moment, but its hold was broken. I could see Demetrius' lips twitch with suppressed laughter before he said "No thanks, you're not my type." With that we all laughed, as much with relief that the tension was gone as at the comment itself.

Before long the others were talking animatedly, but Aristarchus sat silently and a pensive look clouded his face. Edging closer against him and sliding my arm around his waist I leant into his long ear and asked what was wrong.

"Um, nothing's wrong" he replied "er, may I speak to you outside?" Puzzled I nodded and we quietly got up and went into the corridor and out into the garden that surrounded the barracks. The last rays of the setting sun formed a golden band on the horizon but the dark blue sky above us was already strewn with stars. A light breeze, refreshing after the heat indoors, brought the delicate perfume of asphodel from the meadow beyond the garden's wall.

"What is it?" I asked when we were outside, searching his face for some clue as to why he had brought me out here.

"Antenor, I have something to give to you, but first I want to say that if we are to fight I will stay beside you no matter what."

"Of course you will" I said, still puzzled, my mind racing with the shocking news we had heard "I know you're no coward, if that's what you're worried about."

"No Antenor" Something about the way he said my name made me freeze "that's not what I mean. I mean I want to be with you, always." With that he took a small leather pouch from around his neck. He had been wearing it for several weeks but had never answered my questions about it. He opened it and tipped out two objects which glittered in the starlight. He held them out to me in a shaking paw and I took one and held it up to see it. It was just a small silver ring, plain and unadorned, but I immediately knew what it meant. At the founding of Likopolis Orestes, eldest of the wolf brothers who founded the city gave a ring such as this to his lover Alepous, ancestor of the house of Alopex, as a sign of his love.

It was only at that moment that I realised how much I loved this beautiful, strong, sensitive wolf. There had been physical attraction, friendship, even passion, but my love for him at that moment was to those like gold compared to copper. I threw my arms around him and felt him tense with surprise before he relaxed into my embrace. We had not had a chance to wash since our drill earlier and as I held my head to his neck his strong masculine odour filled my nose. I ran my paws through the soft fur on his back and buried my muzzle deeper into his pelt, almost drinking him in.

Aristarchus' drew away, and taking one of the rings he placed it on one of my fingers, and I placed the other on one of his. We stood there in that moonlit garden, holding each other's paws, gazing into each other's eyes, perfectly still but for the wind softly rippling our fur. All of a sudden his ears perked up with excitement and he asked me to wait there before rushing indoors. When he came out he carried a small jar of olive oil. We had not yet made love, but we both sensed that this was the right time and the right place. He led me by the paw to a secluded area of soft, sweet smelling grass and lay down. I lay down next to him and immediately began to sniff him again. I pushed my nose into his armpits, sniffing each in turn and licking them clean, his salty sweat tasting wonderful on my sensitive tongue.

I sniffed and licked my way down his firm stomach to his groin and carefully lifted his balls with my nose, taking in a great lungful his scent and licking at the still damp fur. I signalled for him to roll over and placing a paw on each cheek I drew open his gorgeous rump as he lifted his tail, which wagged happily above me. I admired it for a moment, looked up to see Aristarchus' head turned to watch me, his tongue lolling out the side of his muzzle as he panted with anticipation, and then dove in. I licked at his damp sweaty crack with my broad flat tongue, and then began to gradually slide my tongue into his tight hole. In that moment, my senses overwhelmed by the scent and taste of my lover, it felt as if we were in Elysium, blessed by the gods to an eternal moment of perfection.

After what felt like an eternity but which was really just a few minutes Aristarchus asked me to stop and to lie down on my front. The grass felt cool against my stomach as I lifted my tail for him. Suddenly I felt the strange but pleasurable sensation of his cool damp nose snuffling at my asshole, followed by his warm, wet tongue licking and probing it, gradually teasing it open, delving deeper inside me.

I heard the sound of a stopper being removed from the jar of olive oil, and then felt the smooth liquid being poured over my asshole and being carefully spread inside by Aristarchus' finger. "Are you ready?" He asked in a low murmur. I nodded, and immediately felt his hot, hard cock begin to press at my opening. The pointed tip slid in fairly easily, but soon I felt a burning sensation as my ass stretched around his large dick. Hearing my grunt Aristarchus slowly slid back out, applied more oil and slid back in again. This time he got slightly further in, and when he slid out he didn't come out completely, just pouring more oil over his cock and pushing forward again. He repeated this several times, pushing deeper and deeper. The burning sensation was still present but it gradually lessened and I began to feel the pleasure of feeling my lover fill me so completely. Eventually his knot bumped against my tight entrance and I lay there with my chest and face pressed into the grass, my paws gripping the ground tightly, my breathing ragged with excitement.

He pulled out again, and this time slid in one smooth action back into place. There was no way I could take his knot yet, but he set up a steady rhythm pushing in and sliding back out again, increasing in speed with each thrust. Pleasure began to grow, not replacing the burning yet but drowning it out, and I moaned and writhed beneath him. As he got faster and faster he ran one paw over my back, his claws trailing through my fur while with the other he took my cock and began to stroke it in time with his pounding. The intensity of it was like nothing I had ever experienced and soon I could feel the two sensations merge and build together until I couldn't hold back any longer.

"Aristarchus'" I moaned as I came, my cum shooting over his paw and my ass clenching around his cock, bringing him to orgasm, his hot seed filling me. He pumped a few more times before slowing to a halt. He slid out, some of his cum oozing out and he lapped at it eagerly as I lay there, sweaty and exhausted. I pushed a little to force more out and felt his tongue cleaning deep into my hole. Finally he had his fill and lay beside me. I licked some of the excess cum and oil of his beautiful muzzle and whiskers before kissing him deeply, our tongues intertwining.

Eventually we separated and just rested, looking into each other's eyes. I lost myself in his deep amber eyes until he broke the silence.

"Antenor, that was wonderful. You're wonderful. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"And I want to spend mine with you. Ever since we first met I have known that I wanted to be with you. You are so strong and so kind, I truly believe the gods blessed me the day that I met you."

With that I rolled over and pulling is arm over me I snuggled against him. We were both damp from our exertions and I think we could both have lain there, lost in each other's scent, for the rest of the night. I don't know how long we lay like that, but in the end I reluctantly disturbed the tranquillity of the garden.

"I suppose we should go back inside."

"I suppose we should" he replied, "although perhaps we ought to wash first so the others don't realise what we've been doing."

"Darling, they won't mind, and I suspect they've already guessed. We've been out here a long time."

Aristarchus got up and helped me to my feet. My ass ached and I leant against him as I limped back to the barracks. When we got back to our room the others had gone to sleep and the fire had died down, throwing a dull orange light across the room. We both crawled into Aristarchus' bed and I settled back into his arms. We buried our noses into each other's fur and rapidly fell asleep to the scent of oil and sweat and sex.