He had to weave the straw of the practice shields again together, sometimes replacing it. Especially in the beginning, he thought it was difficult, straw breaking after he just fixed it. But after a while, he became better at it, the second shield cost the half of the time he had needed for the first one.

But he wasn't completely focused, still wondering how that German was able to speak Italian. The straw cut his hands open with small scratches, leaving his hands raw and red.

Romano stood up from the ground, picking the shields up and hanging them on a hook on the wall. The straw had covered the ground like a golden rug. Romano sighed and looked around, if he took that much time just to clean the rags, how much time would he need today to finish all the chores?

Sweeping the floor, cleaning the blankets, getting wood for the fireplace and making dinner. How was he ever going to finish that in time?

Putting the door open to sweep the dust and straw out, he saw others had already started their chores, getting water or doing the laundry.

Romano quickly grabbed the broom and went to the back of the house, beginning in the bedroom to clean it out. It was still dusty everywhere, when it flew into the air it made Romano sneeze a couple of times.

His chest still hurt from yesterday, he was sure some ribs were broken. That German had absolutely no self control, if his brother hadn't been there, Romano would surely be beaten a lot worse than he had already been.

After sweeping the floor, he went back to the bedroom to get the blankets. Those blankets were much thicker and still without any patches. Romano carried them to the armory, the ends of the fabric dragging over the floor.

He pulled the tub into the middle and threw the blankets in before grabbing two buckets. He sighed, it would take a long time to get enough water to clean the blankets and wash them out again.

Romano didn't even mind about heating the water, that would take even more time and it wasn't really necessary anyway. The pump wasn't far away, just walk to the main street and there it was.

Pacing up and down between the pump and the house, he got several buckets of water, having to wait for a long time in the queue of other servants. His shoulders ached painfully and his chest was even more painful.

And he couldn't stop focusing for a moment, otherwise some other servant would have stolen his bucket full of water. He had seen the dark haired kid just in time, snatching his bucket back and shouting curses at him to chase the thief away.

The water in tub turned dark, but Romano didn't want to get any new water, he just threw in the soap and started washing the blankets. Although his shoulders and shoulders were already aching, he didn't stop, knowing he was short on time. And he didn't want again want to be the punch bag of Ludwig.

With all his strength, he pulled the tub to the door, throwing it over to let the water get out. The blankets had been a grey color, now they had lightened up a bit.

They at least smelled a lot better now. Romano looked shortly at the main street, the queue had vanished. The Italian growled irritated, if he had waited a bit longer he wouldn't have wasted that much time on standing in the queue.

Romano grabbed the blankets, being careful that they didn't touch the ground and walked towards the pump. It was much easier to wash the soap out now he only had to pump water instead of also carrying the buckets.

In no time, the blankets were done and he carried them back. The next thing he had to do was a lot more difficult, putting the wire back up.

Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes when he reached above his head to fix the wire, his chest felt like it was being ripped apart. Gasping in pain, he doubled over, carefully clenching his chest.

''Just one more…'' he whispered softly, moving over to the other side of the room. The second one was easier, because there Romano could use a hook instead of having to tie it up.

The sun was already at the highest level, burning down without any mercy. Instead of getting his own wood, Romano searched the camp for any wood left behind. It wasn't much and certainly not of a good quality but it would do. He would get some better wood tomorrow.

It was just like in the streets of his hometown, looking everywhere to find food. He and his brothers, from early in the morning until the sun had disappeared again. His brother… He didn't even know if Feliciano was still alive. A painful sting went through his heart when he remembered his brother. He missed him so much.

While putting the pieces of wood in a pile, he started thinking. Where could he find out if his brother was still alive? And how would he be able to escape? It wasn't uncommon here to be a begger, just like they had used to be. But this would bring new troubles, they didn't know the city and if any of their masters ever found out where they were, they would be in huge troubles.

Especially these soldier brothers, Romano was sure they would never let their property disappear just like that. The Italian could be considered lucky if he survived the anger of the blonde after finding him after his escape. Romano had been that busy with the wood and thinking that he hadn't heard the Germans entering the house.

He jumped up startled when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. The red eyed German burst out in laughter. The other one had first put his armor away and checked the repaired shields. ''Er hat die Schielden repariert, aber ich muss sagen das Feli klüger war''

Feli… the name of his brother! Romano immediately pay attention. '' Dove si trova Feli?'' he asked quickly, hoping for an answer where his brother was. It seemed like the Germans knew what happened to his little brother.

The soldiers looked at him, disturbed in their conversation. The shorter one of them didn't seem to understand him, the blue eyed German seemed to do but didn't reply, maybe still angry with Romano because of yesterday, it had left a red line on his throat, clearly visible to anyone. If the other soldiers found out how he got that, he was sure to be laughed at, a trained soldier beaten that easily by his servant.

But it was clear he realized that Feli had to be Romanos brother, he knew that for sure, looking very much alike although mostly in appearance and most certainly not in personality.

Romano repeated his question, this time skipping all the Italian. ''Feli, Feliciano'' The albino nodded, replied in the not understandable German before looking at this brother. ''Ludwig, sag ihn doch'' maybe a slight tune of irritation.

''Nein, warum?'' The other replied, putting his arms over eachother like a spoiled kid. ''Wann ich ihn sage, dann fließt er ab. Nein, ich sage ihn nicht was mit seinem Bruder ist passiert.''

Romano looked from the one to the other, why didn't they just tell him? He was desperate to find out what had happened to his brother. The blonde turned to him, pointing at the fireplace and saying something in the strange language that Romano still couldn't understand, apart from a few words.

But Romano stayed put stubbornly, he had to know where Feliciano was. ‚' Dove si trova Feli ?'' A hint of anger was visible on the Germans face. ‚'Jetzt!'' he shouted furiously, hitting the Italian harshly and roughly pushing him towards the fireplace.

The brothers kept discussing, the one refusing to do anything, the other trying to convince him to tell Romano, for he himself spoke no Italian. Romano quickly lit the fireplace, hoping that the soldier would tell him then.

But Ludwig kept his mouth shut. He kept ordering Romano around, doing all the chores that he hadn't finished that day. Gilbert also shut his mouth, watching Romano as he worked his ass off to get everything done before giving his brother a surprised look.

It indeed did work, Romano completed the tasks in no time, even with his broken rib. Dinner was ready and even after Romano had done everything else, the German still wouldn't say a word, slowly eating his meal.

Romano was impatient, it seemed like the German was eating as slow as possible, just to push the Italian to the ends of his nerves and patience.

The eldest brother didn't make any attempts anymore to convince his brother to tell the Italian where his brother was. He joined in the game, eating slowly and not even looking at Romano.

After Romano had also finished the dishes, cleaned the armor and put extra wood on the fire, the blue eyed one opened his mouth finally.

''Venduto'' Almost, almost, he had been that close. And now that German just told him that he had sold his brother. '' A chi?'' Romano replied quickly. '' Non lo so'' his short and not very useful reply came back.

'' Perché?'' The German shrugged. '' Una guerra, l'esercito partì. Non poteva venire con noi'' Romano was finally getting some information, his brother had lived for at least a couple of weeks, maybe months. And maybe he was still alive!

'' Quando?'' The German seemed annoyed by all the questions. '' Due, tre mesi fa'' Romano opened his mouth to ask another question, but Ludwig got up from his chair and walked towards his bed, ignoring the Italian totally.

Gilbert soon followed, tired of the long day of training. Romano could still not believe it, the one moment he had no idea if his brother was even alive. And the next, he found out that these soldiers had owned him before himself.

Owned, Romano was getting used to that word, although just a year ago he would have laughed at anyone who would have said that this would happen to him and Feliciano. What a nonsense, nothing like that would ever happen to them, and still it had. He should have listened to the warnings of others about enlisting on a trade ship, he regretted that now.

But he was going to find his brother and get him out of this hellhole, no matter what. According to what he had heard of the other slaves, every few months the army would have been called to fight in some war as mercenary. They would sell most of them, some of them would be rebought after the war was finished, there were always soldiers not returning to the camp.

But the Germans didn't do that, it was too expensive, the local merchants knew that soldiers would pay good money to get their old slave back, raising the prices, sometimes even double them.

The Germans sold their slave, to get a new one the next time they were back. The same would happen to Romano, he was sure about that. And at that moment, he would run away and go find Feliciano to get back home.

He didn't know how he was going to do it, maybe again enlist on a trade ship to their homeland. Even if they had to walk home, Romano would do it. Everything to get their old life back. Although it had been hard to get food and shelter, they still had their freedom and that was worth more than food.

It took a long while before Romano finally fell asleep on the rags. ''I'll find you Feli'' he muttered softly, just before he drifted away in restless dreams.

Er hat die Schielden repariert, aber ich muss sagen das Feli klüger war= He has repaired the shields but I have to say that Feli smarter was.

Dove si trovaFeli?=where is Feli?

Jetzt!=Now!

Venduto=Sold

A chi= to who?

Non lo so=don't know

Perché?=why?

Una guerra, l'esercito partì. Non potevavenire con noi= A war, the army left. He couldn't come with us

Quando?=when?

Due, tremesi fa=two, three months ago