Chains of Love
Chapter Three – The Training
Having lived an incredibly secluded life away from people, with the exception of her father and Michael, Rachel had never imagined there to be such a variety of people in the city. Then again from the visible differences such as skin tone and facial features, she soon clicked on to the fact that the majority were probably not even from the same land as herself.
They were all seated in ten rows of what looked to be a hundred to a table; also looking closely she saw that one table was set away from the rest. The girls on that table were all young and looked to be the healthiest of the room.
Men who wore the same armoured cloth as Albus and his men, walked up and down the aisles continuously. Sometimes they stopped and interacted directly with one of the girls, but Rachel could see that it was anything but a pleasant conversation between friends.
"Marcus my boy, I see you have a present for me." An extravagantly dressed middle aged man said joyfully. He motioned Marcus and Rachel over from where he sat on a raised throne like chair, so that he looked over the room where his slaves fed.
"Don't speak unless spoken to and you'll be fine." Marcus said through clenched teeth, so those who were looking at him and Rachel wouldn't see him actually talking to her. His advice was for her benefit as well as his. He wasn't prepared to watch the punishment that would befall the young brunette should she talk out of turn.
Again Marcus's hand started to push her forward towards the grinning man. However reluctant Rachel was to get any closer to the vile looking man, her body wasn't capable of resisting the firm hands guidance.
"Caius." Marcus greeted with a nod. He nudged Rachel further, before stepping back with his arms folded, making him appear more menacing than her generally was.
"Nice, very nice...green I hope?" Caius asked, circling around the stiff brunette. He then looked over at Marcus for the answer. While Marcus had never asked Rachel, he was pretty sure a girl who was kept isolated on a farm outside of the city, would be as pure as a the day she was born. So he nodded confirmation.
Not understanding the slavers language code, meant Rachel wasn't aware that they were talking about her untouched state. She was so tempted to let loose her endless questions, but she was feeling too cautious to even breathe too deeply never mind talk.
"Splendid, put her with the others. This one looks to be my most valuable of the entire stock. Healthy, beautiful and green...the gods smile upon me today, they really do." Caius laughed. He gestured for Marcus to take the girl away, as he returned to his seat to continue watching his world move around him.
Still too scared to speak, Rachel remained quiet as she was guided towards the table that was set apart from the rest, the one that seated the cleaner, healthier looking girls. Walking past the loaded tables of the dirtier looking girls, Rachel received several glares and sneers, which made her shiver and feel even more conscious than when she was being assessed by the man known as Caius.
Marcus motioned for Rachel to take a seat at the table, near the end so that he was able to watch her with ease. Being labelled as Caius most valuable possession, meant girls might get it into their heads to target her specifically, the least he could do was watch over her when he could.
When she was seated an elder woman came over and dropped a plate in front of her that held some fruit, cheese and bread, all in small quantities of course, they were still slaves. It certainly wasn't what she was expecting to be eating, as the rougher looking girls were eating gruel like substances.
"Eat it; you never know when it'll be your last." A small redhead said quietly from beside her, on reflex Rachel flinched away when the girl leant in closer to whisper to her. The girl wasn't nasty looking nor did she look threatening, but she was a stranger and from recent experiences nothing nice comes from strangers, even the stuttering Asian had been less than friendly.
Slowly Rachel began to pick up pieces of her food and placing it cautiously into her mouth, before chew delicately. She knew she was being a little silly thinking someone had slipped something into her food, but she really wouldn't put it past anyone in this place.
After the allotted time given for the slaves feeding, Rachel was ushered from the table by Marcus and directed down a small passageway that leads to an open circular room that held numerous doors along its walls.
The door directly opposite the passage entrance was the door that Rachel was lead through and then told that this was her assigned quarters for the remainder of her time as a slave in training. She was also informed that better she behaved, the sooner she would be out of here, although that again led to the possibility of being sold to someplace better, or someplace even worse than the slave barracks.
Her room wasn't dark and murky like you would expect, but it wasn't far off it. If this was where they put their 'valuable' stock, she really didn't want to see where they placed the others.
"You only have one roommate, and believe me after a while you'll be thankful for the company, especially if you're still here in the winter months." Marcus said when he opened the door letting Rachel walk through. "Well kid this is where I leave you, sleep tight and good luck." He smiled sadly.
"It's Rachel by the way, my name that is. And thank you Marcus, I hope to see you around." She replied quietly. Even though he was one of them, he was at least a nicer man than the others she had met.
"Goodbye Rachel." He then said, closing the door to her room. He would be sure to pay extra attention to the goings on here where Rachel was concerned; he thought he might even request to be her reporting officer. He just needed a decent enough story to be able to get away with it, after all softness was punishable by lashes to Caius.
Just after Marcus had left Rachel sighed exhausted from what has definitely been the worst day of her life to date. And to think her life had on really just started sixteen summers ago. She flopped down on to a straw like bed, that was big enough to fit two and since having looked around this was the only bed she had seen, she assumed she would be sharing the bed with her roommate.
She was almost dozing off when the door was opened once again and to Rachel's surprise the girl that had spoken to her at the table was the one to walk through the door smiling.
"Hi." The girl shrieked, making Rachel jump startled by the high pitched noise that left the small redheads mouth. "I'm sorry, it's just I've been by myself for months now and I've been looking forward to having someone to cuddle with. I'm Portia" She continued, appearing to be completely oblivious to the brunette's discomfort by her forwardness.
Since meeting this over excitable redhead, Rachel was starting to understand people's recent reaction to her own self sometimes. Portia was even more in your face than Rachel tended to get when excited. And what she couldn't figure out was why the girl, who looked no older than herself, was still so happy even after her freedom had been stripped from her and placed in shackles.
"I'm Rachel; you seem very chipper for a girl bound for slavery." Rachel stated bluntly, she moved so she was sitting upright, so she was able to properly face her company.
"Yeah I get that a lot, but if you let this place get to you, you won't survive long. Besides what most people don't know is that I was born a slave, so I've never know freedom, so I can't miss it can I." Portia replied smiling dimly as she went about getting ready for bed. They were gifted with two separate tunics, one for bed, and one for everything else.
Since the redheaded girl was busying herself, Rachel took the time to really see her potential friend. Height wise they were similar though Portia may have been a few inches smaller, her red hair and blues eyes were unique to Rachel since she had never seen a blue eyed person before and Portia's spicy red mane was so very different to anything she had ever seen before.
Deciding that following Portia's example and changing into her night tunic would be a good idea, Rachel stood up from her seat on the edge of the straw bed and walked over to the peg that held her clothes.
"Is that tunic you're wearing from your home?" Portia asked stopping her own dressing, which left her completely nude much to Rachel's embarrassment, Portia boldly started to pat Rachel down, really getting a feel for the fabric encasing her roommate.
"Y-yes it is...do you mind." Rachel said frowning as she brushed the hands'y girl away from her body.
"Such a shame really." Portia sighed sorrowfully. She didn't look bothered that she was pushed away by the smaller girl, in fact she didn't look as if she had just been handling the girl without permission at all, instead she had simply returned to dressing for the night.
"What...why?" Rachel asked suddenly interested in the topic of her personal tunic, one of her best night tunics her father had ever purchased for her.
"It's just not fair that you don't get to keep it, I mean you wear it nicely." Portia answered with a shrug, she then sighed and made her way over to the straw bed, hopping in and settling herself down comfortably.
"But it belongs to me!" Rachel screeched along with a foot stomp to show her agitation. Her behaviour though very childish brought great joy to the redhead lying in the bed they were to share. Portia was finally seeing why everyone was so content with having someone to share their rooms with, two was definitely better than one.
"Well you see it's like this, yes it may belong to you, but you now belong to Caius, which means anything you own, he owns, therefore it is actually his tunic. And since he has a strong attraction to money, he will more than likely sell it." The redhead had managed to completely baffle the upset brunette. And here was Rachel thinking her bed partner was more than a little dim.
Silently Rachel stripped herself of her tunic, gazing at it sadly, she was about to lose the only thing she had left from her life with her father, apart from her memories of course, but memories faded like dyed cloth given enough time. She folded her old night tunic before donning her new beige coloured one. The fabric was scratchy, but just like everything else that she had noticed today, she knew she had no choice but to get used to it.
Waking up that morning was relatively easy, not that Rachel had ever had any trouble getting out of bed, being an early riser and all, but today she would have thought that she would be willing herself to be dead to reality for as long as possible.
Even though she was camping on a thin straw stuffed bed, she was quite comfortable. The warmth that enveloped her wasn't from the rough blankets, but from her bed mate being sprawled all over her.
She moved her head away to get a look at Portia and when she did her steadily hardening heart melted just a little. How was it possible for someone coming into adulthood to look so childishly innocent? Then again when she thought about everything she had learnt so far about the small redhead and it seemed to fit.
Turns out she really didn't have what it takes to wake the girl from her peaceful slumber, so she lay there quietly, thinking about what she would be doing at this moment in time had she been at home on the farm..
A sound of thunder vibrated through the room, which made Rachel scream and almost fall out of the bed, it was safe to say she had definitely woken up Portia.
"Wake up ladies!" A voice bellowed from behind the door, before another thundering clap echoed in the room.
"What on earth are they playing at?" Rachel screeched, her heart still beating a mile a minute from the shock of such a rude awakening, even though she wasn't actually asleep at the time. She simply wasn't prepared for such a racket.
"That's the alarm, we best get ready. They don't mind taking us out in our night clothes." Portia answered while she attempted to muffle a yawn. She got up from the bed to stretch, a movement that caught Rachel's attention causing a faint blush on her cheeks. The redhead was definitely one of the prettier girls Rachel had seen so far.
Clearing her throat she followed Portia back over to the pegs where their serving tunics were hung up to avoid creasing.
"What will we be doing today?" Rachel asked worriedly as she pulled her tunic over her head leaving her bare, before she pulled her other tunic on, thankfully this one was not nearly as scratchy as the one she had suffered with during the night.
"Don't worry about it Rachel, I'll be with you all day every day, I'll help you along. The good news is that next month is the auction so we might not be here too much longer." Portia exclaimed clapping her hands together excitedly.
"Wait I thought I had to go through years or at least months of training?" Rachel questioned whilst brushing out her hair.
"Lucky for you, you came only a month before the auction, Caius doesn't keep any of the green apples during the auction, and my mum said the pure ones are always the first to go. Well as long as you don't act out you'll be selected for auction." Portia explained with a shrug. She had been born here whilst her mother had been here training, and she had been counting the years till she was selected for the auction, this was her year.
"What's a green apple? I keep hearing it and I just can't make any sense of it." Rachel asked frowning a little, though it was more due to her bracing herself for insult.
"Ooh I know the answer to this...there was something about worth more at the market and unspoilt." Portia finished grinning proudly.
"Thank you Portia, you were of great help." Rachel said, sarcasm dripping from her lips. As it was the redhead hadn't realised, or as Rachel was willing to bet on the idea that the girl wouldn't understand sarcasm even if it was explained to her.
"Glad I could help." The red head said, then startled her bed mate by quickly grabbing the brunette's hands and pulling her to and then out the door.
When Rachel managed to catch up to her new friend, she was able to see where Portia was taking her. She saw a number of girls lined up in pairs, all of which were the same she had seen sitting at the table where she ate the day before.
As the two late comers made their way into the line, eyes and heads shifted to follow the new comer. Rachel looked back at the girls and spotted Tina the girl who was taken along with her; she was standing next to a larger black girl.
Rachel smiled and waved enthusiastically only to be shunned when Tina shook her head and turned away from her. That increasingly familiar rejected feeling was about to take over, but a comforting squeeze on her held hand lifted her back up; the friendly smile from her partner was appreciated.
Not a word was said in the line, not even the guards that were now leading them back down through the long corridor spoke. Curious as to what they were being led towards Rachel lent over to whisper into the redheads ear, but before she could say anything she was nudged in the ribs gently by said redhead and when she went to reprimand the shorter girl for the assault she stopped when she saw Portia shake her head seriously, obviously talking was not permitted.
"Okay you know the drill, wash up, get dressed and get out. No dawdling" Shouted a guard from the front of the line as he opened a door, which the line then started to disappear in through.
Following along obediently Rachel was through the door in no time at all, by a rough estimation each girl was in and out within two minutes and since every girl went in with their partner it didn't take long for the time allocated for a morning wash to be completed.
Rachel couldn't honestly say she was completely comfortable cleaning herself in front of Portia, who was essentially a complete stranger, but again she had resigned to the fact that this is what her life was going to be like from now on, privacy was a privilege of freedom, a thing of which she was no longer privy to.
After the quick freshening up, it was on to the serving of the guard's breakfast, which was an essential part of their slave training, as they would be serving their masters in such a way every day.
This task wasn't really that new to Rachel as she served her father meals all the time, as she was the cook and cleaner, along with Michael of course. Either way this was a task that she excelled in, although she was slightly daunted by the fact that Caius had demanded that she be the one to deliver his meal, luckily Marcus was seated next to the slaver, so when Rachel approached the high table the tray she carried didn't shake with fear.
"I'm almost tempted to keep her for myself Marcus." Caius laughed whilst staring hungrily at the small brunette who was setting down his goblet of wine.
"She'll be better use to you on the market Sir. She's practically a walking goldmine this one." Marcus countered, steering the lecherous man away from any thoughts of taking Rachel as his own. He gave the smallest of smiles towards Rachel when she met his kind eyes, surely the gods would rain murderously upon him should he assist in leading Rachel to a life of torture and humiliation, that would undoubtedly follow her should she be subjected to Caius's unmerciful will.
"Right you are my boy, women wither and die, gold does not." Caius bellowed, slapping his right hand man affectionately on the back, pushing Marcus forward roughly with the force of his hand.
Gritting her teeth Rachel turned from the table and headed back to the table wear the girls were being seated for their own breakfast. Only the guards who were still consuming their food were disturbing the silence of the hall, since the girls were continuing their silence as ordered.
The day continued in a similar fashion, going about the usually duties expected of women, cooking, cleaning, sewing and serving. Strangely enough it was no different to what Rachel had done back at home, so she had come to the conclusion that it was the attitude and treatment of the person doing such duties that titled them as either a beloved member of the family or a slave.
For her it wasn't too bad of a start, but when she witnessed the humiliation that an older girl from one of the distanced tables was subjected to, she was nearly sick. To be violated like that was one thing, but for it to happen in plain view of everyone in the hall was horrendous, Rachel was sure that had Portia not grasped her hand in reassurance she would have lost what little of her breakfast she had consumed.
Without a doubt, witnessing such a beastly act injected pure fear into the spine of Rachel Berry daughter of Eli, and to think that today was just the beginning.
