Entanglements
Chapter 24
Belle gasped and dropped the basket of food she had been holding in her hand, "Eric, I didn't realize you were standing there."
"Apparently not dear sister," Eric reached down to pick up the basket where it had fallen on the earthen floor of the slave compound.
"You should have made your presence known," Belle tried her best to look all grown up and stern but the distress she held in her eyes only showed how miserably she was failing in her attempt.
"And missed that sweet little exchange between you and a common slave," Eric felt his fury return thinking his baby sister had no business being out here with these men, granted they were shackled up, but all it took was for one to escape and he shuddered to think of the consequences if one of these men had taken advantage of the innocence he knew resided in his youngest sibling.
"All I did was offer him a piece of fruit, Eric open your eyes and look around you, these men are starving." Belle said with righteous indignation.
"He doesn't care if we starve to death or not," came the weary voice from the slave Belle had given the apple to minutes beforehand, the remnants of what was left, a tiny bit of the core suddenly came flying out of the cell to whiz past Eric's ear and then fall upon the ground.
"We have a responsibility to feed these men," Belle began as she reached for another piece of fruit to offer out into the next cell.
"Stop it Belle," Eric ordered.
"I will not," Belle held out an orange for the next man to take from her, a hand instantly appearing to swipe the fruit from her grasp and disappearing before Eric could make his sister cease her new found mission to feed the slaves.
Eric grasped her arm, wrenching her back to his side and whispered in her ear, "You do not know what these men are capable of doing."
"Unlike the men in our village, unlike you," Belle said aloud not lowering her voice to whisper like her brother did to her.
"This is not the time or the place to have this conversation..." Eric began only to have Belle interrupt him.
"Maybe you should find your twin instead of chastising me for offering food," Belle was ready to flounce off in a huff until Eric's next words stopped her.
"Sami's gone."
Belle turned to look at Eric, he had to be lying, sure she was mad at Sami for taking off and leaving her to be in charge of the house for these past few days, but she wouldn't ever tell on her older sister, especially not to their father when he returned.
"She just went off to her special place," Belle stated softly. "Sometimes she goes there to get away from things for a while."
"I saw her leave," Eric dropped his head; he would not shed tears over this again, especially not in this room full of their enemies.
"So she's gone off with EJ?" The blue eyed slave asked although he didn't expect anyone to answer him.
Eric walked over to the front of Philip's cell, "You knew the slave? The one called EJ?"
"Ever since we were children," Philip replied hesitantly.
Belle's eyes filled with tears, "Eric, Sami would never leave, not without telling me goodbye."
"It was either for her to go in haste or have Father discover her with him; I couldn't make her leave his side."
"He does seem to have that effect on women," Philip offered up which only garnered him a hateful stare from Eric.
"Are you from the same kingdom?" Eric asked, thinking this boy while he had an air of confidence about him as well, they didn't sound like they had been from the same region.
"Hell no, EJ's father ran Italy, my family is Greek, we run Greece, our countries are allies."
"Were you friends with this EJ?" Eric asked.
"Sometimes, it just depended," Philip shrugged his shoulders ready to turn back away from the siblings.
"Don't you turn your back on me," Eric ordered.
Philip turned on his foot, facing Eric and Belle once more, "Should have known better than to do that, what are you going to do with me now, give me another lashing with that whip of yours?"
"Eric, you haven't whipped him have you?" Belle's eyes now clearly shown with tears thinking that her brother would willingly inflict such pain upon someone else.
"Belle, I don't have time to explain to you about the treatment of slaves."
Philip scoffed as he turned slightly and lifted his tunic, showing Belle the angry whelps that criss crossed his back, "Belle, your big brother loves to crack the whip especially when a man can't fight back against him fairly."
Belle gasped her shock, while Eric wouldn't admit EJ had taken his whip from him, but if this slave knew EJ, maybe he could help him find his twin sister.
Eric lowered his voice, "Put down your tunic, you don't need to upset my youngest sister."
"That was not my intention," Philip's voice was tinged with regret after seeing how disconcerted she looked after seeing the stripes on his back. He pulled the tunic back down where Belle couldn't see what Eric had done to him earlier.
Eric took the ring of keys he kept on a string around his necklace and opened up the cell where Philip was housed.
"Going to beat me again I see," Philip tensed up ready to fight him even if it did bother this jerk's beautiful sister.
Eric grasped Philip's arm tightly, "I need you to come with me now."
"Don't do this in front of your sister,"Philip began, hating that he might have to beg him, but she was clearly too young to see such things.
Eric said nothing, just wrenched his arm tighter as he started to drag Philip away from the compound.
"Eric, please don't hurt him," Belle was on their heels, openly crying now.
Eric shook his head, "I need for you both to be quiet."
"Why?" Belle asked.
"Because this slave here probably knows where EJ has taken our sister and I don't want our father to know she has gone off willingly with a slave."
"Father will punish her severely," Belle said softly, the realization of what her sister had done finally sinking in.
Eric added, "And kill the slave. For some god forsaken reason Sami fancies herself to be in love with this EJ fellow."
"And you think I'd be willing to help you?" Philip asked thinking Eric was insane for believing he would ever help this enemy in tracking down his friend for them.
"The choice is yours, either help me find them before my Father returns here to find my sister gone or I'll kill you."
"No Eric," Belle grasped Philip's other arm, weakly trying to pull him away from her brother.
"I don't have a choice," Eric stressed. "Our sister's life depends on it."
Belle turned her eyes to the slave, "I can't lose my sister. Will you please help us?"
"Do you not think your father is going to be even more upset if all of you are gone instead of just one?"
"She's my twin," Eric stated matter of fact, "if something happens to Sami and I didn't do everything I could to protect her from my father's wrath then I'd willingly die upon my own sword."
"If I help you find them, will you let me go?" Philip asked knowing at least if he were out in the open it was a hundred times better than being chained up like a wild animal.
"You have my word," Eric loosened up his grip on Philip's arm to hold out his hand for him to shake.
Meanwhile Belle still had a hold on Philip's other arm, "Please Philip, we need you to help us find Sami."
"This is madness," Philip said looking between the two of them.
"Do we have a deal or not? I can take you back to your cell if you'd rather await for my father to arrive instead."
"I'm never going back in there. I'd rather be dead than be another man's slave" Philip exclaimed.
"Shake on it," Eric still held out his hand and Philip reluctantly took it although they almost looked like they were about to arm wrestle instead of shaking upon an agreement.
Belle had finally let go of Philip's arm and tapped him on the shoulder, holding out her hand as well.
"You are not going with us Belle," Eric stated heatedly.
"I'm not staying here without you and Sami," Belle continued to hold her hand out for Philip to shake, but he took her hand in his and brought it up to his lips instead.
Eric looked furious over the slave taking such a liberty with his younger and very much impressionable sister, Belle looked like she was about to swoon over Philip's impromptu gesture and Philip broke out into a wide grin, realizing he was one step closer to freedom than he had been only minutes beforehand. "Let's all go then shall we."
