My feet were killing me when we finally stopped for the day. Gloria and Evelyn were power shoppers and they had twice my energy. Of course, the baby was taking part of mine to use while he grew. With a little sigh, I propped my feet on the coffee table and relaxed into the cushions of the little love seat in the suite's outer room. Luckily, George and I were sharing one bedroom while the older ladies shared one on the other side.

"You look like you need a nap, Nancy." Ned's mother smiled at me and dropped a kiss on my hair before moving to the phone to call room service.

"I think that's an excellent idea, George. Why don't both of you go lie down for a bit until we decide where to go for dinner?" Gloria patted George's shoulder and my lover barely got her yawn covered in time.

"I think you're right, Mother. My feet feel two sizes bigger suddenly." She gave me a hand up and I kept back a groan with sheer will power when the blood started back down to my feet.

We nestled in together in the bed, which was so much smaller than the king sized we'd gotten used to. But I never mind being close to Georgie so once we'd taken off our dresses and stroked each other's expanding tummies, we curled up together for a nap.

***

I was scared, really truly scared so bad that I wanted to cry. I clung to my sister with all my five-year old strength and wished that mama was here. Big brother Nar was trying to look brave but I could tell that he was scared, too. There was blood on his leggings from where he had knelt down to try and get our neighbor to wake up.

The big men who hit him had loud voices and they smelled funny, too. They wore metal clothes that made a noisy sound when they walked. One of them had tried to touch me and Nar had made him stop but Lira had gotten grabbed and she'd cried when the big bruise began to darken on her arm. I wished these strange men would go away but I was scared they wouldn't.

"What do we have here?" A new voice came from the side of the fence where the strangers had herded us together.

"Slaves, General." On of the men answered him.

"They're just children, Drusis." I peaked at him from behind Lira and saw a tall man with pretty blue eyes like mine. He was wearing a tunic like the others but not much metal. "Take inventory and bring it to me before dinner. Find out their ages and whether or not they speak any Latin. Keep them untouched until I decide what to do with them."

His eyes found mine and there was a little smile on his face when he turned away, already calling orders to some of the other men who followed him. Nar relaxed a little when the men stopped looking our way and he sat down with me in his lap. Lira sat as close to him as she could get and he put one arm around her to hug her.

"We have a chance to stay together, I hope." Nar's green eyes looked at some of the others who'd been caught with us. "Papa taught us Latin so we might become servants in one of their lord's homes. Cerri, be good and quiet for me when they come to ask us our ages. Lira, I'm going to say that you're only ten. If they know that you're twelve, they may want to lay with you. I won't let them hurt you like that if I can stop them."

She nodded and I saw two tears fall down her cheeks. "They'll know that you're fourteen and old enough to serve them that way, Nar. What will you do if one of them takes you?"

He gulped hard and looked at the men guarding us. They'd gone back to talking about us as if we couldn't understand them. Laila and Maris were both fourteen and the men were looking at them funny. I wasn't sure what Nar meant when he talked about them laying with each other but it must be really scary because he was trembling. I tried to look smaller when the gruff soldier stopped by us and asked Nar about us.

His accent was funny but I didn't even think about laughing. He grabbed Lira's arm and looked at her chest then made some kind of joke to his friend that I didn't understand. But they left us alone once Nar answered their questions. Lira was shaking hard and I could tell she wanted to cry so I patted her hand to comfort her.

The moon was just rising when the tall man appeared again. He had a list in his hand and several soldiers behind him. I prayed really hard to the Goddess that we would stay together and not get hurt. The older girls were grouped together and three soldiers took them away. The older boys, but not Nar were sent in a different direction with more guards and I wondered where they were going.

Then the tall man was kneeling on one knee in front of us and I could see his eyes were tired. "Nar, you say that all of you know Latin. How is that?"

Nar sat up real straight. "Papa learned many years ago when the Romans first came to our lands. He was a trader who worked with the first legions."

He nodded. "Can you read and write, Nar?"

"Yes, sir. So can Lira, but Cerri is too little." Nar had a hopeful note in his voice that made me smile at the big man.

He blinked and touched my curls. "She's about five, yes?"

"Yes, sir, can we . . ." Nar swallowed hard. "Can we stay together, sir?"

He nodded and stood. "I'm in need of a good secretary and someone to take care of my household. Follow me."

Nar helped me stand up while Lira jumped to her feet and helped him since his legs had kind of fallen asleep. I held onto Lira's hand on one side and Nar's hand on the other while we followed the big man out of the pen and onto the path. The further we got into the camp, the bigger I realized it was. There had to be hundreds of men camping here and I wondered where they came from.

They had lots of tents but the big man led us to the Druid's house. I knew it was really bad then because Priest Davro would never have given up his big house. Papa had called the Romans invaders and I wasn't quite sure what that meant. The big man led us into the hall and pointed towards the small anteroom.

"You will stay there tonight and all the nights we're here. You will be safe here, little ones. If anyone frightens you, come and tell me. Petros here," he gestured at a grizzled old man who was shaking his head at us, "is my right-hand man and he will make sure that you have bedding and food. Nar, I will need you tomorrow to start writing letters. Lira, you will help Petros keep our temporary home clean and neat. Cerri will be learning from both of you but all I ask is that you keep her out of trouble. She has the look of an imp."

I smiled at him, showing my missing front tooth and he smiled back, shaking his head and murmuring something to the old man. "Good night, children. I will see you in the morning."

When he left, Petros showed us into the room the big man had given us and told us to use the pot under the plank bed if we needed to. There were already blankets in a pile there and he told us that we'd be locked in for the night but not to worry, General Gaius was a good man and we'd be safe here.

I was really sleepy and I peed before letting Lira tuck me in. I wished mama was here but Nar had already told me that she had to go on a long journey. Lira sang my lullaby for me and I fell asleep feeling a lot better than I had since I first heard the screams from the village that afternoon.

***

I came awake with a start and looked around the hotel room as if it was a mirage. George was just waking and I saw she was disoriented, too. "What do you think, love? Roman Britain, early in their invasion?"

"I think so," she pulled me down into her arms and I kissed her gratefully.

If we were going to dream, I wanted company on these voyages of discovery. We finally finished the kiss and I laid my head on her shoulder. "Weird to think that a 12 year old girl was considered a woman and a 14 year old boy, a man."

She chuckled and stroked her fingers through my hair. "It would be considered child abuse today and I'm not sure that it shouldn't have been back then, too. But the Bible said that a girl was a woman when she first bled. If I'm Lira and you're Cerri then Nar must be Ned and Gaius is Carson."

"He looked so big to me in that linen tunic that I really felt tiny." I thought about my child's perspective. "It's been a long time since I was so small. I wonder what will happen next. Do you think that both you and Nar will become his lovers?"

George stretched all over with that graceful little wiggle at the end that makes me want to pounce on her. "I hope so. Gaius was so sweet with us as children. We'll have to ask the men when we get home if they're dreaming this life, too."

A knock on the door broke us apart but Evelyn just called through the door. "Girls, it's six o'clock and we have reservations at the Four Seasons for eight."

"Thanks, Evelyn. We'll be right out after our showers." George called back and I sat up slowly. Showering with my lover is always fun and now that our bodies were changing, it was even better. I like finding each new change and kissing it to memorize it until the next time.

********* Carson *********

The girls got home on Sunday and we met them at the airport with the station wagon we had bought for the site. I'd had a premonition that they'd be loaded down with boxes and bags and I was right. Robert was also there to take Gloria home while Edward quipped that Evelyn's packages were too heavy for his car. It felt wonderful to hug George close although I could have sworn she'd grown larger in just five days.

Maybe the baby was experiencing a growth spurt? Their next appointment was a week away and perhaps we'd get some answers then. They talked a mile a minute to Hannah and us while trying to tell us everything that had happened in the city. We had a late lunch before they asked for a nap. Ned and I had carried all their purchases up to their new closets.

The mistress suite in the other wing still had no furniture because they couldn't decide what style they wanted. But since they knew about my surprise, we decided to sleep in the big four-poster. Once we were snuggled in together, Nancy asked what we'd dreamed with an air of suppressed excitement. It seemed we weren't the only ones who were enjoying our past lives.

George enjoyed Ned's parallel universe but Nancy's recounting our lives in ancient Britain rather took me aback. Neither Ned or I had dreamed that one at all. George postulated that the lives we shared could only be experienced when we were all together. It was an interesting theory and we decided to test it once we'd reconnected with each other.

I eased inside of George with the help of some slippery oil. She tightens to virgin-status every time she is away from me. Looking down into slanted-with-pleasure eyes, I smoothed my hands over the small mound that was growing between us. She stretched all over when I did that and her nipples tightened into small hard buds that meant I had to cup them gently and roll the nipples between my fingers.

"Carson . . . oh move, please . . . just like that." She rippled around me even tighter than Ned was when I slid inside of him. She likes short, hard strokes and I held her hips while I settled into the rhythm she preferred.

Beside us, Nancy was riding Ned right into the sheets while his fingers pressed her sweet spot over and over. We were all groaning by the time George seized around me and pulled my climax into her keeping. I tried to keep my full weight from her when I leaned in for a long kiss but she pulled me in tight. I'd have to enjoy it while I could still get this close.

I wondered if we'd dream together.

***

The paperwork was never ending even this far from Rome. I pinched my nose and wondered when the last time was that I'd moved. Opening my eyes, I met the soft green gaze of my new secretary. His smile was still a bit tentative since we'd only been together for forty days. When one of the soldiers had leered at him while he was protecting his sisters, I'd felt such a jolt of jealousy that it had startled me.

I had a wife back in Rome who had dutifully given me my heir but I'd never felt for her a tenth of what I felt at that first moment our eyes had met. When the sergeant had given me the list, I'd been relieved to see that the lad spoke Latin. It had made it easier to co-opt the beautiful boy to my service. So far, I was waiting to see if his awareness of me had changed enough for me to seduce him.

I was no rapist and he was small for his age. It might be some time before he could take on further duties. The little imp who was Cerri had already brought laughter back into my household and I cherished her sweet nature. Dark-haired Lira was an enigma and I watched her awkward movements slowly growing more graceful as she grew comfortable with my staff of three. Petros gave good reports on her skills and she was a good little mother to her little sister.

"My lord?" Nar's voice was still caught between childhood and manhood and it had a distressing tendency to break now and then. "Petros came by almost an hour ago to say your bath was ready."

"He did?" I pushed back from my desk and stood with a slight creak in my back. "Damn, how long have we been working, Nar?"

His smile was beautiful but still so shy. "The moon will rise in a few moments."

"Caesar's balls," I stretched again and noticed that he was blushing. "Well, it's time for you to join your sisters while I bathe away the day."

He stood and bowed to me before hesitating and giving me a look through his long lashes. "Do you need help in the bath, sir? You gave Petros the evening off."

My heart skipped a beat and I felt a little shiver go up my spine. "I did, didn't I. You don't have to, Nar but it would be nice to have someone wash my back."

He nodded and I saw his graceful hands tremble before he clasped them together. "I would be glad to, sir."

"Good, then we'll bathe together tonight." I strode from the room and tried to keep my excitement to myself. It was only a bath for Jupiter's sake but I felt like a young lad of twenty again at the thought of seeing the nubile young man who'd slid into my heart. The baths were at the other end of the Druid's home and quite adequate for a barbarian. The marble tub was long and wide, just right for two or three bathers.

I was envied for more than my generalship and current position vis-à-vis the reigning Emperor. My campaign had brought maximum wealth and minimum destruction to this part of New Rome. The barbarians had given up rather quickly when faced with superior soldiers and weaponry. The latest dispatches had told us to settle in and consolidate our positions so I'd happily done so.

This home was more pleasing even though it was a bit barbaric when compared to the hot-house atmosphere of Rome. I wasn't a good politician but I was a good soldier. My ambitions were few - protect my country, do my duty and perhaps seduce a new lover. I began stripping off my tunic and leggings while watching Nar out of the corner of my eye. He was trying not to look at the body being revealed to him but his curiosity was stronger than his fear.

I'm no Adonis but for a man of 37, I was in better shape than those I'd left behind in Rome. Scars seamed my left side from the cursed campaign in Gaul but they'd healed to fine white lines that no longer hurt. My stomach was still flat, my legs long and my arms corded with heavy muscles. My cock was considered large by those who'd bathed with me in the past and I wondered what my little Nar thought when he finally saw it.

"Join me, Nar once you retrieve the soap. We'll wash each other's backs." I freed my long dark hair from its leather binding and shook it onto my shoulders. That always felt good and the hot water in the long stone tub felt even better after my long day.

********* Ned *********

I was shaking, I was so scared. When I offered to help him in the bath, I thought he'd laugh and say me nay but he'd accepted. And now he wanted me in the tub with him - naked like he was. My hands trembled while I stripped off my leggings and the simple tunic that had become my new uniform. They were new and I only had two so I carefully folded them and laid them on the ledge where his lay.

He was big everywhere and I felt like a child next to him. He was solid and hard as the oak trees of the forest and almost as tall. When I sneaked a look at his man-parts, I thought my mouth would fall open and my eyes fall out. He was huge there, long and thick without the hood of skin that I had. Papa had told me that families in Rome had the extra skin snipped off when the boy was still fresh from the womb.

Papa was big but nothing like the General. He was sitting in the tub with a sigh of relief and I approached him as I would a wild boar. What if he wanted to put that huge thing inside of me? It would surely kill me and then who would look after my sisters. I would just have to be careful and not touch anything I shouldn't. Slipping in at the other end of the tub, I lathered the soap between my hands and started washing his feet.

Mama had always liked it when Papa did that for her. And it was safer for me right now.

"Ah, Nar, you have talented hands. You can write a fair hand, give a good massage and tenderly rock your little sister to sleep. You're a good lad." His blue-eyed gaze was kind and he gestured for me to hand him the soap.

I was very careful not to touch anything between us although I could see his manhood swelling a little. Mine did that too when I bathed so maybe it didn't mean anything. He lathered his dark chest hair and I couldn't help but watch the white bubbles smooth down over his front, all the way down to his . . . privates. I couldn't watch those strong hands any further so I concentrated on his feet and the scars on his left leg.

They told me that he was a warrior, his letters told me that he was intelligent and his indulgence with Cerri reassured me that he was kind. I knew how lucky it was that he'd taken us into his household. One of the girls of the village who was my age had been given to one of the General's officers and she was already pregnant with his child. Little Lira was still a virgin and I was hoping that she would be able to find someone who might offer to marry her before she got too much older.

Petros had told me that I was lucky that I belonged to General Gaius because otherwise I'd have been gelded so I couldn't ever have a wife. I didn't really want a wife but having your balls cut off surely had to hurt so I counted my blessings everyday the way that Mama had taught us.

"Come here, Nar, so I can get your back." The General reached down a long arm and pulled me between his legs while I went rigid. "Ah, lad, don't worry yourself. I'll not take anything from you while you're still so young and slight. Turn yourself around and kneel up for me."

I was shaking all over but I did as he asked. I belonged to him so even if he was huge, I'd have to do what he wanted. I could feel it touch my thighs but then his hands were stroking down my back with long soapy strokes that felt good. My privates were rock hard now and I hoped that I wouldn't embarrass myself by shooting out the white stuff that I'd started to find on my blanket in the morning.

"You've a beautiful back, Nar, strong and straight. But these are like ripe peaches on the trees back home." His fingers stroked over my cheeks and between my legs. Shivers were going through me everywhere and I knew he would see me trembling. "Poor lad, you're not sure of me at all. Let me have a look at that pretty cock I saw earlier." His hands turned me easily and I saw that both of us were harder than hard.

"Have you touched yourself when it happens at night, Nar?" He asked me with a kind smile.

"How did you know that happens to me?" I was astonished.

"It happens to all men when they grow up." He chuckled and one of those large hands wrapped around me gently. "This is what happens when you touch yourself or another."

All it took was that one touch and the white stuff came out all over him. I was so ashamed that I couldn't look at him. He'd think I was stupid not to know that about my own body.

"Sweet Nar, it's no shame not to understand the changes that come when you grow to be a man. Your father would have taught you what you need to know but since he's not here, I promise to pass on what I know." He never stopped stroking me and I could see me getting hard again just like magic. "There, see - it's all right and now you can touch it yourself. It feels good, doesn't it?"

"It feels wonderful," I smiled at him and he smiled back. "Do . . . do you touch yourself too, General Gaius?"

He chuckled and pulled me to his side so I could help rinse his chest free of soap. "I do, young Nar. The bath is a good place to pleasure yourself because you can clean up the mess with a little water rather than having to launder your bedding. Do you mind if I do that now? If you stay hard too long, it's gets painful."

I nodded and used the cup to bring up water to wash his arms. His hand wrapped around his huge member and started stroking it. It got even bigger than it had before and I felt myself grow hotter than the water while I watched him fist himself until the head burst with long ribbons of white that splashed in the water with almost a sizzle. I just had to touch myself when that happened and I burst again into his side while he laughed.

"Good boy, Nar. Now I don't want you to neglect your duties but I promise that you can come here and stroke yourself in private whenever you need to. And I think I'll add baths to your work load since your hands are so clever." He sat up so I could get his back for him. "I don't frighten you, do I?"

"No, General," I said hastily while scrubbing a little more gently over the scars that criss-crossed his wide back. "You are so kind that I could never fear you."

He turned back to me and cupped my chin in his hand. "If I ever do, I want you to tell me that you're afraid. Don't let me hurt you, Nar. You may be a slave now but I would never want to hurt you or make you feel ashamed. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

I nodded slowly. "I think so, General. May I ask you questions when I don't understand something?"

"Of course you can, Nar. You're growing up into a beautiful young man who is already turning heads among the legion. But you belong to me and if someone says or does anything that bothers you, come to me at once." He stroked my cheek and I felt an urge to purr like the kitten that caught mice in the kitchen. "Now, we should finish our bath. My bed is calling my name and your sisters will be worried that you're later than usual."

I smiled and made sure he was rinsed off before slipping out of the tub to fetch a towel for him. I watched him now without the fear of before. I did trust him to take care of me and my sisters. I wasn't sure what he meant about turning heads. When ever I left his house, I was with him so surely their heads were turning to watch him, not me. I was just a slave after all.

He said goodnight and walked naked down to his room while I hung up the wet towels and hastily dressed in my tunic so I didn't scare my sisters. I could hardly wait for our next bath.

**************************
The end of part six