Something has gone wrong. Very wrong! Five of the Sailor Soldiers are in...Ancient Rome?!
And a few are in big trouble.
Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, DiC, and Cloverway, in that
order. I make no money by this. More's the pity.
All other characters _not_ taken from History are mine, and you must ask permission to
use them, if you can find a way of using them outside this.
_This_ is emphasis. *This* is thought.
Kudos to the movie Gladiator, which was the inspiration for this.
And now, Scorpinac Fanfic Productions presents:
******************************************************************************
Sailor Moon
Roman Legends
by Scorpinac
Chapter 1: Enslaved
Rini slowly came around. Bars. She was surrounded by bars. A girl with bright red hair
down to her shoulders and emerald green eyes sat next to her on the matting of straw that was the
only thing covering the floor. A simple blanket lay to one side, but that wasn't important now.
There was a jostling, as if they were moving. Rini pulled herself into a sitting position and
glanced beyond the bars and saw she was in a small cage on a horse-drawn cart. It was one of a
large group of carts, each with four or five cages each, each one carrying two people, usually
same sex, sometimes mixed. But the two were almost always the same age or within reasonable
range. In her cart were three more cages, one with two four-to-six year old boys, one with two
seven year old girls, and one with a five year old boy and a six year old girl.
Suddenly, pain filled her mind, and she felt the small bump on her head from the sword
hilt. *Bastards!* she thought, *They didn't have to hit me so hard!* As she rubbed the bump to
ease the pain, she realized she wasn't wearing her white and blue dress, but a brown toga like the
other prisoners. *No, not prisoners,* she reminded herself, *Slaves.* Her shoes and socks, she
found, had been replaced by roman sandals. Even worse, her brooch was missing! In it's place
was a three-inch diameter metal plate, with three Greek letters engraved into it, Delta in the
center, and Gamma and Epsilon side by side below it. And she was wearing something new, a
manacle with a chain on her right wrist. Looking at it she noticed it wasn't chaining her to the
cage. The other end of the chain was on another manacle, attached to her cage-mate's left wrist,
holding them together like siamese twins. A cursory glance at the other cages confirmed
everyone else was chained the same way.
"Are you okay?" the girl asked. "They hit you pretty hard."
"I'll live," Rini said. "What happened to my clothes?"
"They burned them, so they couldn't be used as evidence of you being kidnaped," the girl
told her. *Drat! I'm stuck in a toga!* Rini thought.
"What about my brooch? The heart shaped thing that was clipped to my bow," Rini
asked.
"They still have that. They said something about selling it to a jeweler at the next town,"
the girl replied. Rini took that as a bit of good news. At least she could still retrieve that,
hopefully. She then took a good look at the chain connecting her to the other girl. It was about a
foot or so long, giving them barely enough leverage to be able to use both of their hands without
whapping their arms into each other. On her manacle she noticed five letters engraved into the
metal, DCVII. For a moment she wondered what they were, then realized she was looking at a
Roman Numeral. VII was seven, she knew, because lower Roman numbers were still used to
mark movie sequels now and again. But what was DC?
Suddenly a thought occurred to her. She glanced back around at the other cages she
could see. There were about a dozen carts in all, maybe more. She could really only make out
the people in the first two carts ahead of her, and the next two behind, and only partially at that.
Not enough to be totally sure.
"My mom, the girl..woman I was with, where is she? Another cage further on?" Rini
asked.
"They left her out cold by the road where they took you," the five year old boy in the cage
to the left answered. "Said she wasn't worth their time."
"At least she's free," Rini sighed. *Nothing more I can do about it now.*
"Um, what's your name?" her cage-mate asked.
"Rini. My name's Rini," she answered.
"I'm Salina," the girl told her.
"I'm Calvinus," said one of the boys in the cage to her north west.
"I'm Fredamus," Calvinus's cage-mate said.
"I'm Felicia, and this is Galea," a girl in the cage to her north said.
"I'm Dalia, and this is my brother, Jorus," the girl in the cage to the left told her.
"So, how long have I been out?" Rini asked.
"Well, it was lunch when they put you in, so about two, three hours," Salina answered.
"And we started moving as soon as I was 'safe' in here?" Rini asked.
"A few minutes after that, yes," Salina answered.
"Hmm," Rini sighed again, and leaned back against the bars. She tried to relax, and
thought on how this had happened...
* * *
They'd been on an evening stroll when they'd noticed it. Something weird was coming
from Crossroads Junior High. So they'd gone inside to check it out. She, Serena, Lita, Ami, and
Hotaru had entered the Science Room in time to see the man standing there, tinkering with the
device.
"What are you doing?" Serena asked. The man turned, startled. Before he could say
anything, the tool in his hand brushed something on the odd device, and a blast of light suddenly
surrounded them all.
When she could see again, Rini saw that they were in a field of grass, in the middle of the
day! More to the point, only Serena was with her. The others were missing. Serena didn't know
where they were any more than Rini did. A few moments later they found a road and followed it.
After a while they spotted a house, and asked a small boy wearing a blue toga there where they
were.
"This is the Devinsa Province," the boy had replied.
"Devinsa? Province of what?" Rini asked.
"The Empire of Rome, silly," the boy answered. Serena's face went ashen.
"Rome? As in Ancient Rome? As in two thousand years ago Ancient Rome?" she
flustered. The boy looked at her like she was insane. Just then the boy's mother came running
up, and they continued down the road, unsure of what to do next. About half an hour later, they
saw a caravan stopped ahead of them. As they got closer, they saw that each of the carts had
cages in them, with people inside wearing more togas, only brown instead of blue. Milling around
were a couple dozen men in armor that was dyed in red, brown and black, carrying big swords.
"Hey, what are you doing to them?!" Rini demanded. A tall, brutish guy with slightly long
brown hair and a thick, shaggy beard and mustache came up and sneered at them with mean, deep
black eyes. On his belt, near his sword, was a ring with a single key on it. Serena nervously
grabbed her future daughter and pulled back a step.
"At the moment, we're feeding them. What's it to you, girl?" the man said.
"Why are they in cages?!" Rini snapped.
"Rini, be still!" Serena hissed. She had a bad feeling about this.
"Because they're our wares, girl. We're slave traders," the man replied. "Now get,
before I decide not to be nice!"
"What?!" Rini snapped, and Serena dragged her five feet away.
"Please excuse my daughter. We don't get out much," she told the man as she left. After
a few moments, the man started to go back to the caravan, and Serena turned on Rini. "Rini,
please try to understand. If we're where and when I think we are, then there's nothing we can do
for those people. Here and now, slavery is unfortunately legal, and those soldiers are within their
rights."
"But caging people up is wrong!" Rini said.
"I know, but they don't care," Serena said, trying to comfort the young girl.
"Uh, Serena, what is a slave?" Rini asked. "I'm not really familiar with the term."
"Well, a slave is someone who's bought and sold like a piece of property, and made to do
various forms of servitude. Simply put, they have no freedom of their own, unless they somehow
earn it, escape their masters, or someone with higher authority than their master says they're to be
set free, like the Emperor," Serena explained. Rini's eyes widened as she listened, and Serena
could tell the little girl's heart was breaking.
"CAVINUS!" a voice yelled from a distance. Another man walked up to the first from
further down the road. The new man had short gold hair and a red-gold beard and mustache,
both well trimmed. His eyes were a blazing shade of brown. He came to a halt and gazed at his
comrade. On his belt was a sword and a large ring full of keys.
"Cephiro," Cavinus replied.
"How are things down on this end here?" Cephiro asked.
"About usual. A few whiners, but that's to be expected. And these two travelers turned
up. The girl's a real loud mouth, but the mother's okay, knew when to leave," Cavinus reported,
indicating Serena and Rini. Cephiro gave them a brief glance, then returned to Cavinus.
"Everything's normal up front. Best estimates say we hit Rome in a week and a half, two
if we pace ourselves. Wouldn't want to wear out the horses after all," Cephiro said.
"Excellent. Any towns between here and there?" Cavinus inquired.
"Three. We'll be stopping at the first in two days time for provisions. Finish feeding the
wares, then get ready to depart. We leave in ten minutes," Cephiro answered. He turned to leave,
then stopped and turned back to Serena and Rini. He stared at them quizzically, then walked
forward. Serena stood to face him, keeping Rini to her side.
"What do you want?" Serena asked. He just continued to stare, then focused his eyes on
Rini for a moment before turning back to Serena.
"Tell me, is that her natural color?" he asked, pointing to Rini. Serena blinked for a
moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about.
"Her hair?" she asked.
"Yes, is it natural?" Cephiro asked again. *He's asking about my hair?!* Rini thought.
Without thinking, she responded.
"Yeah, it's natural. It's always been this color," Rini said.
"I see," Cephiro replied, then walked back over to Cavinus. Serena turned to Rini.
"What do you think that was about?" she asked.
"Got me," Rini answered.
"A girl with hair that's naturally a shade of pink, Cavinus. Think of what she would fetch
on the market," Cephiro whispered to his friend.
"Where would we put her?" Cavinus asked.
"I believe Cage Three on Cart Twenty-Eight has a vacancy. The one with the red head we
picked up back in Rhodes," Cephiro stated.
"And the mother?"
"You've seen one blond, you've seen 'em all. Leave her," Cephiro decided. He then
turned and walked back over to the two girls. He put on a smile and began some charm.
"Would you pretty ladies like a lift to the next village?" he asked, with a gesture toward
the carts. Serena's alarms began firing loudly.
"Uh, that's okay, we'll walk," she said. Something wasn't right here.
"You sure? It's a long way," Cephiro said.
"Yeah, we're sure," Serena confirmed. He's up to something!
"At least allow us to offer you some food and water," Cephiro pushed. What was he
doing??
"That's okay, we can get our own," Serena turned him down again. Got to get out of
here!
"Well, if that's what you want," Cephiro said with false disappointment. Rini glanced to
her left at that point and saw Cavinus coming up behind Serena, a club raised.
"Serena! Behind you!" Rini yelled. But it was too late. Cavinus brought down the club,
hard, and Serena flopped down like a ton of bricks. Rini started to move forward, but Cavinus
moved up first and grabbed her by the arm. Cephiro pulled out a sword and held it blade up.
"Let me go! You can't do this!" Rini yelled.
"Oh, but we can. And we are," Cephiro said, the charm gone from his voice. Rini looked
at him angrily, and he brought the sword down, hard, the butt of the hilt cracking loudly against
Rini's head. And then the world had gone black.
* * *
And now she wished it hadn't come back. At least the pain was easing from her bump.
And from the sounds of it, they hadn't actually opened her brooch yet, and so hadn't discovered
the Imperium Silver Crystal. *Who knows what they'd do if they found that!* she thought. Just
then a loud grumble filled the cage, and Rini blushed.
"So," Rini said, turning to Salina, "when's dinner?"
* * *
Serena slowly pulled herself from the darkness back into consciousness. The last thing she
could remember was Rini screaming a warning and then something hard slamming against the
back of her head. A quick rub found one hell of a goose egg swelled up on the back of her skull,
confirming the diagnosis: someone had knocked her out.
She quickly glanced around. Only one wagon was present now, containing a small family
of five: mother, father, eldest son about fourteen, middle daughter about ten, youngest son about
seven or eight. The mother had raven hair down her back with dark brown, nearly black eyes and
wore a red-brown dress. The father was dressed in a red semi-fancy toga, as were the boys, and
had short brown hair and eyes. The eldest son had his mother's hair, but cut short like his
father's, and blue eyes. The youngest son had his father's hair worn down to his chin, and his
mother's eyes. The daughter had brunette hair as long as her mother's, and had her father's eyes.
She wore a simple green dress.
The mother and daughter were tending her, while the father and eldest son were tending
the horses hitched to the wagon. The youngest son was collecting wood. Her head was still
swimming, and coherent thought was having difficulty putting things together.
"Are you alright, Miss? That bump looks pretty bad," the mother asked.
"I'll take your word for it. Who are you?" Serena replied, trying to focus. The bump still
hurt, badly.
"I'm Vivian, and this is my daughter Delia. That's my husband, Thernacius Rex, and our
elder son, Georgio," the mother answered.
"And I'm Mikhail," said the other boy. Serena logged the names in her memory, and
rubbed her eyes to maintain focus.
"My name's Serena," she introduced herself. "Thanks for your help."
"It was no problem, really," Vivian said. At that point Rex came up, a look of suspicion
in his eyes.
"Would you mind telling us what you were doing unconscious by the side of the road,
Miss?" he asked.
"We came across some slave traders. They hit me. Everything's blank after that till I
woke up just now," Serena explained briefly.
"We? You were alone," Delia said. Serena's eyes widened, and she began scanning the
area frantically. The Slave Caravan was long gone, little to nothing to indicate they'd been there
at all, save a few burned out fires. And Rini was nowhere to be seen!
"Rini? RINI!! No, NO, NOOO!!" she wailed. Then the pain overwhelmed her and she
returned to the darkness of oblivion.
* * *
As twilight began to usher in, the caravan came to a halt near a river. The driver of her
cart and his "shotgun" guy hopped down, and joined the other slavers in preparing the evening
meal. Rini caught briefly that her cart driver was called Pherinias, and his "shotgun" guy was
named Paulius. Actually, Paulius was armed with a crossbow, but the term still seemed to fit.
Pherinias was not pleasant to look at. His black hair was oily and unkempt, his beard and
mustache weren't much better, his teeth looked terrible, and his coal black eyes just looked plain
mean!
A few moments later Paulius came over and tossed a few water skins into the cages for
them, and Calvinus and Fredamus immediately began swapping theirs back and forth, as did Galea
and Felicia. Dalia took the one given her and Jorus, and gave it over to her brother, letting him
take his fill before helping herself. Salina picked up the fourth skin dropped in their cage and
handed it to Rini.
"Here, you take some first. You need it more than me," she said.
"Thanks, Salina," Rini said, and took three deep swigs. *Man, I was thirsty,* she
thought. She then handed it back to Salina and glanced over at the Slavers. It looked like dinner
was going to take a little while. She thought over her situation. She was manacled to another
little girl, locked in a cage, and surrounded by at least a dozen armed men, and they were only a
fraction of how many there were.
A quick glance at her manacle showed it had a small keyhole just above the Roman
Numeral, so it could be taken off, if she had the key. Rini sat up and moved toward the door of
her cage, but stopped when she felt a sudden tug of weight on her arm and heard Salina's sudden,
"Ooo."
"Oh, sorry, I forgot," Rini apologized, remembering how little space the chain gave them.
Salina moved up to her.
"That's okay," she said. "What are you doing?"
"Just taking a look at the cage lock," Rini replied. She then proceeded to examine it, and
found it to be at least twice the size of the manacle lock, maybe even bigger.
"What're you trying to do?" Calvinus asked. Rini turned to her fellow slaves.
"I need to ask you something. I saw a big ring full of keys on that Cephiro guy before he
knocked me out this afternoon. Are all the keys on that?" Rini inquired.
"No, just the keys to all the manacles," Dalia said, then took a swig from her skin to settle
her own thirst.
"And the key Cavinus has?" Rini said as she remembered that one.
"We don't know. Could be for anything," Jorus said.
"So, where are the keys to the cages?" Rini asked.
"The drivers of each cart keeps the keys to the cages in the one he drives," Felicia
answered.
"So the keys to our cages are with Pherinias," Rini said. She then had another thought.
"Do any of you know exactly who has my brooch?"
"Cephiro probably gave it to Fernadus, his treasurer. He stays up at the front of the
caravan at all times," Galea said. "Why?"
"Just putting together a road map, so to speak," Rini responded. Just then Pherinias came
up with Paulius to Fredamus and Calvinus's cage. He unlatched and opened a panel on the top
half of the door, the bottom blocked by the cart's sideboard, and Paulius passed two plates of
food into the boys, who took them. Then Pherinias closed the panel again. They repeated the
procedure with Dalia and Jorus, and then with Galea and Felicia. Then they moved to Rini and
Salina.
"And how's our little pink haired wonder? Bump all better?" Pherinias sneered meanly at
her as he unlatched and opened their panel. Paulius put in the last two plates, and then Pherinias
latched them in again. Rini glanced at what they'd been given: a chunk of corn on the cob, a slice
of bread, and a small hunk of meat.
"Nice spread," she quipped, and began eating her corn. The two slavers left to have their
own meal. Rini waited till they were off with the other Slavers before daring to speak to her new
friend again.
"Okay, if we can get the keys from Pherinias, we can get out of the cages, but without the
keys from Cephiro we're stuck together. I suppose we could just hot foot it to the nearest town
and have a blacksmith cut the manacles off, but that still leaves the problem of retrieving my
brooch," Rini mused it over.
"Wait a minute, you're thinking about running away?" Galea asked. "You're just asking
for trouble, you know."
"I don't intend to just sit here and do nothing. There has to be a way to escape," Rini
rebuked.
"Do you think we can all get out of here?" Fredamus asked with wide, innocent eyes.
"Maybe. Depends on how we're going to get the keys," Rini answered. She then
dropped her finished cob and picked up the chunk of meat and bit into it.
"Why didn't you try for it just now?" Felicia asked.
"Too hungry. Can't escape on an empty stomach, growling gives you away," Rini
explained between bites. After a few moments she finished her meat and then picked up her
bread. Once she finished that, she took the water skin and took another swig to wash it down.
The others continued to eat as well, and a short time later Pherinias came and started collecting
the plates via the panels. When he passed Rini and Salina's cage, she quietly handed him her
empty plate, which he took. He stared at her for a moment. Nervous, Rini picked up the skin and
took another drink, her eyes not leaving the slaver.
"Are you planning something?" Pherinias asked. Rini quickly finished her swig.
"Who, me? No, just thinking," she answered.
"Well, don't," he sneered, and took Salina's plate. He then gathered the rest and left. As
soon as he was gone, Rini sighed in relief.
"Aren't you gonna escape?" Calvinus asked.
"Not yet," Rini said. "I still need some time to think out a plan."
* * *
Serena slowly started to pull herself back into consciousness once more. *Man, they must
have hit me harder than I thought. Must have a slight concussion.* And then her previous
awakening reentered her mind completely.
"RINI!!" she screamed as she shot up into a sitting position. She found she was in a small
bed, adorned with what appeared to be wool sheets and blankets and three pillows. Georgio sat
in a chair nearby, watching her, and his eyes had widened. She glanced around the room to see it
was a simple one, furnished with the bed, a washbowl, and a small cupboard for holding clothes,
atop of which sat her brooch. A door stood in the wall opposite the bed in one corner.
"Who are you calling to?" Georgio asked. Serena cupped her face in her hands and began
to cry.
"My daughter. Those slave traders took her. They took her!" she wailed in anguish.
Georgio reached over a hand and gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. Just then Delia
came in, and Serena glanced up at her.
"You're awake again. Hold on, I'll get mother, and some clothes for you," she said, and
turned and left. *Clothes? Why would I..* Serena thought, then noticed for the first time it was a
little drafty. She glanced down to see she was naked, her breasts sitting exposed to the world!
She shrieked and pulled the blanket up to hide herself as she shoved Georgio back.
"You pervert! Why didn't you say something?!" she yelled.
"Uh, well, you seemed upset. I wanted to help," Georgio tried to explain. "Besides,
what's the big deal?"
"You saw me NAKED!" Serena snapped at him.
"So? I see my mom and sister naked in the bath lots of times. It's nothing to get excited
about," Georgio replied. Serena began to fume a little as she blushed vibrantly. On the other
hand, the anger was helping her regain her focus.
"Just tell me what you did with my clothes," she said finally.
"Well, they were all dirty from you lying in the dirt like that, so Mom stripped you when
we got home and took them to be washed after she and Delia put you in bed. That was a couple
hours ago. I volunteered to watch you for awhile in case you woke up again," he told her. She
chewed on this. That meant he hadn't seen everything yet. Just then Delia came back in with
Vivian, and a green dress like the one Delia was wearing.
"Here, you can have one of my spares till your's are dry," Delia handed her the dress while
Vivian ushered Georgio out. As soon as the boy was gone, Serena got out of the bed and found
she was indeed completely nude, and slipped the dress on quickly. It just barely reached her
knees, but it would do.
"Are you alright? We checked you over after you passed out again, and couldn't find
anything wrong. We did bandage your bump," Vivian said to her as she dressed. After perusing
the fit and the way it looked, Serena turned to the woman.
"I just wasn't completely recovered from the blow, that's all. I'll be perfectly fine in a
day or so. Right now I need to find those slavers!" Serena said.
"The slavers? But why?" Delia asked.
"Because they have Rini! I can't just leave my daughter with them!" Serena snapped.
Delia's eyes widened as she listened. Vivian rose her hand to her mouth for a moment in
sympathy. Serena then retrieved her brooch and clipped it to her front.
"Oh, I'm sorry. But they could be anywhere by now," Vivian said.
"I heard that Cephiro guy saying they were headed to Rome, so that's where I'll head.
Simple as that," Serena replied.
"Cephiro?! Barvus Cephiro?! He's one of the most powerful slavers in the Empire!"
Vivian gasped.
"Ask me if I care," Serena said. At that point Rex came in, Georgio standing at the door.
"I see you finally woke up. Think you'll stay with us a while this time?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think I'm okay now, more or less. Do you have a really fast horse I could
borrow for a day or two?" Serena answered.
"What do you need a horse for?" Rex blinked.
"Her daughter was taken by Barvus Cephiro. She wants to follow him to Rome and get
her back," Vivian explained.
"Him. Believe me, I hate that bastard as much as you do. He took my neighbor's
youngest girl, Decima, seven years ago. She was a sweet kid, deserved better. But how do you
think you're going to get your's back?" Rex told Serena sincerely.
"Duh, I'm gonna break her out of there!" Serena said. She wasn't going to be stopped on
this. One way or another, she'd retrieve Rini!
"I can go with her, to keep her safe," Georgio offered. Serena glared at him.
"You just want to see me naked again, don't you?" she accused him. Georgio blushed
brightly.
"Well, where's your husband?" Georgio asked. *Husband?! Uh, oh, think fast!*
"He's in the army, fighting in..um..Germany!" Serena said.
"Germany? Do you mean Germania?" Rex asked.
"Uh, yeah, just using a different name I heard somewhere," Serena said, slightly blushing
at her historical mistake. At least they accepted it.
"Well, I'm taking a trip to Rome in a few days. You can come with me if you like," Rex
said.
"A few days?! But Cephiro and Rini could be long gone by then!!" Serena exclaimed.
"Perhaps. But Barvus Cephiro and Darvinian Cavinus do most of their selling in Rome
this time of the year, so they may stay for a while. And there's always the possibility that if they
are gone by the time we get there, they'll have sold your daughter in the city. So you'll just have
to track her down," Rex told her.
"Rini. . .sold? Oh, gods," Serena whispered, her eyes filling with horror at the thought of
Rini being sold to someone like a stuffed animal or action figure.
"In the meantime, would you like to join us for dinner?" Vivian asked.
"What are you having?" Serena asked quietly.
* * *
As night fell, Rini and Salina lied down and pulled the blanket in their cage over them to
keep warm. The slavers were still off by the campfires, and probably wouldn't come back over
till daybreak. Rini began thinking over the possibilities.
"Hm, too bad we're not near the front of the cart. We could just snag the keys from
Pherinias while we're moving and dive out," she mused.
"Yeah, except the carts behind us would see us, and we'd probably get shot with an arrow
or two before we got very far," Salina commented.
"Good point," Rini agreed. "We could try and get the keys after they feed us breakfast or
lunch, but that wouldn't be much better. Unless we were near a forest we'd be awfully visible.
And again, the arrows."
"So what does that leave?" Salina asked. Rini thought it over some more. Actually, it left
only one possibility. Well, two, but one didn't look so good.
"We could try breaking out while we're at the next village, but for that to work the
caravan would actually have to be driven into the village entirely. I don't really see that
happening. So that leaves only one real option. Tell me, Salina, does the dark bother you?" she
went over the next unworkable plan.
"Not really. Why?" Salina answered. "You think we should try to escape at night?!"
"Uh, huh. We grab the keys when they collect the plates after dinner, then run off in the
dark when our visibility is really low so they can't see us enough to shoot at us accurately," Rini
outlined the only feasible escape plan available.
"But where do we go?" Salina asked. "And what about the manacles?"
"Well, I suppose we go to the nearest town and hope the local blacksmith will cut them
off without turning us in. Or we can lay low and sneak around to the front of the caravan and try
to snag the keys from Cephiro and just unlock them before we pick a direction and start jogging.
That would give me an opening to retrieve my brooch, though it would probably be best to just
leave it where it is for the moment," Rini mused that one over.
"Well, we still have time before we reach the next village, so there's no rush," Salina said.
"Yeah, plenty of time to think out the kinks in the plan," Rini agreed. She looked up at
the stars for a while before she spoke again. "Salina, how did you wind up like this?" she asked.
"Me?"
"Yeah."
"Well..."
* * *
Her father had lost much in his last gambling streak. Mother had died when she was born,
so it was just the two of them, and her brother. But Herminias had been recruited for the war in
Germania, and wasn't there. Her father, now over forty years old and with a lame foot, was
becoming desperate. And then Cephiro had come to Rhodes.
Father had already sold some of the land and animals. He'd been overlooking the items in
the house to decide what was expendable and what wasn't. That was when their neighbor, Devin,
came by. He told them that Barvus Cephiro and Darvinian Cavinus were in town. Father seemed
to get an idea, and took her out to the edge of town.
A little ways away from the town was a long stretch of carts with cages in them. When
she saw the people in the cages, she felt sorry for them. Her father went up to the golden haired
man who was talking with two others at the two lead carts, which were much more fancy than the
others behind them. A pair of beautiful white Arabians were bridled near them.
"Excuse me, are you Barvus Cephiro?" he asked. The man turned to face her father, his
hand reaching toward the sword at his hip.
"Who wants to know?" he asked. Her father gestured to her.
"I'd like to know what you think of my daughter," he told him. Cephiro came up and
looked her over, taking his time. "Thirty gold and she's yours," her father added. Salina's blood
suddenly ran cold. Cephiro looked thoughtful and went back to the two he was talking to.
"Cavinus, Fernadus, we've been made an offer," he said aloud to them. The three began
whispering to each other quietly. Then the one called Fernadus stepped up into the cart for a few
moments. When he came out, he carried a purple bag filled with something in one hand with a
brown toga draped over that arm, and a manacle set in the other. He handed the manacles to
Cephiro, who came up with the one called Cavinus who had taken the toga.
"I'm in a generous mood. I'll give you fifty for her," Cephiro said. He then took a key
from his chain and unlocked one of the two manacles. Her father then took her hand and pulled
her forward, and Cephiro placed the open manacle on her left wrist, and quickly locked it shut
even as Salina tried to pull herself away. Cephiro then took the other manacle in his hand and
handed it off to Cavinus.
"Just talk to my man, Fernadus, over there, and he'll get you all set. Cavinus and I will
take her down to her new home till further notice," Cephiro said, and her father went up eagerly
to Fernadus, and the two began talking heatedly. Cavinus began walking down along the caravan,
Cephiro just behind, Salina drug just behind Cavinus by the chain.
After several minutes, they reached a cart with an empty cage. Cephiro lowered the
sideboard, then turned to the men nearby.
"Pherinias! We have an occupant for this cage!" he called, and a really gross and mean
looking man came up and looked at her.
"Cute girl," he sneered.
"Cavinus, Pherinias, change her," Cephiro said, and Cavinus grabbed her arm while
Cephiro unlocked her manacle for a moment. He then leaned quietly against the cage while the
other two men disrobed her and put her in the brown toga with the metal disc on it. Cephiro then
came up and re-locked the manacle on her wrist.
Pherinias then unlocked the cage and opened it completely, and Cavinus lifted her up and
put her inside. While he held her in, Cephiro unlocked the other manacle and placed it around one
of the bars, and locked it on. Pherinias then locked the cage shut and replaced the sideboard. He
then went back over to the men milling about, and Cephiro and Cavinus took her old clothes back
forward.
"Have a good time," Cephiro said as he went.
* * *
"And that's it. That was three days ago," Salina finished, a tear in her eye.
"Your own father?! Gods, that's horrible," Rini said sympathetically.
"Yeah. I would have tried to escape on my own, but I was chained to the cage itself until
they put you in," Salina said.
"Yeah, running off with a cage hooked to your wrist would be a lot harder than with
another person chained to you," Rini agreed.
"Well, I did consider chopping my hand off, but I couldn't get a sword," Salina said.
"That's a little excessive," Rini stated, a slight smile forming on her lips.
"You think?" Salina grinned. The two chuckled lightly, then snuggled in closer and
drifted off to sleep.
* * *
"Rini! Rini! Rini!" a voice called. Rini slowly opened her eyes a bit, then started to drift
back off to sleep. Suddenly something cold and wet smacked her in the face, and she shot bolt up
right with a small scream of surprise.
As the world came back into focus she realized she'd been hit with cold river water, by
Pherinias. The one who'd been calling to her had been Salina.
"Morning, sweetie," he said sneeringly, and headed off to the other men.
"I tried to wake you, but you wouldn't come round," Salina said apologetically. "It's time
for breakfast." Rini scanned the horizon, and saw that it was literally daybreak.
"Isn't it a little early?" she asked.
"They like to feed us at daybreak so they can get moving as soon as possible," Salina
explained. She then yawned, showing she was still tired too. The two then used the blanket to
dry Rini off as much as possible before the slavers came back with the morning meal. Her hair
was still wet when they came, but the rest of her was dry. Breakfast consisted of a bowl of stuff
that looked like thick oatmeal, but tasted slightly off. Rini couldn't quite place it. But food was
food, and she ate what she was given, and washed it down with water from their skin, which was
refilled with the others while they ate. After a few minutes, Pherinias and Paulius came around
and took the skins and bowls, then shortly thereafter boarded up and the caravan began to move
once more. Rini sighed. All in all, they weren't treating her badly, really. But they were keeping
her in a cage and denying her freedom. And getting up at the crack of dawn was definitely evil!
She had to get out of there.
"Hey, Rini. You have a plan to escape now?" Fredamus asked.
"I'm working on one. Right now the best option would be to escape after dinner. We
have a better chance in the dark," Rini said.
"What do you have in mind?" Dalia asked.
"I'm thinking when Pherinias collects the dinner plates, I'll squirt him with the water skin.
While's he's distracted, Salina, you can grab the keys. But hide them in the blanket for the
moment, so he'll think we didn't do anything other than make a little mischief. Then, after it's
nice and dark, we unlock the cage, get out, and run off," Rini outlined her current plan.
"But where will we run to?" Calvinus asked.
"Preferably toward the nearest village to find someone to take the manacles off," Rini
said. "Afterward, I'd like to head back the way we came to try and find my mom."
"So we try tonight?" Salina asked.
"Give me till lunch to finish hammering out the details, but yeah, tonight sounds good,"
Rini agreed.
* * *
Cephiro sat calmly in his wagon. The chamber was simply furnished, one bed along the
side, a small desk with a chair, a table with another for meals, a third chair for sitting, and a simple
trunk which held a few of his worldly belongings. The bed sheets and chair paddings, like the
canvas covering the wagon, were made from the finest satins around. The canvas was in a
luscious red, as were the chair paddings, and the bed sheets were a beautiful green. A blue satin
pillow and a brown leather blanket completed the ensemble.
He currently sat in the third chair sipping a glass of wine. On the desk sat the pink-haired
girl's trinket. As far as he could tell it was made from some sort of hardened clay or ceramic with
a gold wing-shaped design on the top of the front. There also seemed to be some sort of crystal
in the design on the front. He knew a collector in the next town he could easily hock it to for
three hundred gold, easy.
As for the girl herself, he'd hold on to her until he actually got to Rome. News had
reached his ears through the regular channels that the Caesar Marcus Aurelius had met his end.
The reports were that he'd had a heart attack. Yeah, right. Like that would ever happen! No
Caesar had left the throne yet by any means other than being murdered! His money was on the
new Emperor, the Caesar Commodus.
Past him, the only remaining contender for the throne was his young nephew, Lucius. The
rumor had it that Caesar Commodus was infatuated with his sister, Lucilla. Just what the Empire
didn't need, another Caligula! Hopefully this one would be removed sooner than the last one, the
Gods willing. Then it was just a matter of disposing of Lucius. An eight year old boy was so
easy to get rid of, if you knew how. If need be, he could easily arrange the "disappearance" of the
Caesar Commodus as well.
With his connections to the Imperial Palace and the Senate, he could easily worm his way
into true power over men, free and enslaved. He already had a fair amount of pull, having played
the game of politics over the years to secure a certain level of power. It was just a matter of
playing a few more cards.
Oh, yes. Soon everything would fall into place. It was simply a matter of time. That's
all.
* * *
Lunch consisted of another slice of bread, hunk of meat, and chunk of corn on the cob.
Shortly afterward they took them out one cart at a time to let them relieve themselves. Rini ate
without complaint, but wondered what Serena was doing. Was she looking for her? Did she
have any idea where to go? She hoped so.
* * *
Cephiro went through his meal with pleasure. A full steak, mashed potatoes, an ear of
corn, some peas, three slices of bread, and good wine. Could it get any better than that? He
heard a tap, and turned to see Cavinus pull himself up into the wagon.
"You sent for me, Cephiro?" he asked.
"Yes. I intend to ride ahead of the train in awhile. You'll of course be in charge until I
return, which probably won't be till sometime tonight. Understood?" Cephiro said.
"Any reason you're going on ahead?" Cavinus inquired.
"Yes. I need to check with some of my contacts in Ferrio. Now's as good a time as any,"
Cephiro explained. He stood up and went to the desk, and picked up the pink-haired girl's
trinket. "I'll also be taking this in to my collector friend. I'm sure Querian will want it, if not his
daughter. Either way," he said, and returned the trinket to the desk.
"As you wish. Thy will be done," Cavinus agreed.
"Good. Have Reginas prepare my Arabian. I leave as soon as I finish lunch," Cephiro
said back.
"Immediately, sir," Cavinus said, and left the wagon. Oh yes, just a matter of time.
* * *
When dinner came around, the caravan was stopped near a wooded area just off the river,
which had been visible since morning. In fact, now that she'd been able to see it in daylight while
they moved, for the last several hours it looked manmade. The woods lead off to the north and,
as far as Rini could tell, toward the east. Dinner itself was more of the same, but it was food.
Now came the time for the moment of truth.
"You ready, Salina?" Rini asked while she munched her bread.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Salina replied. The two finished their meal, and waited for
Pherinias. Eventually, as evening began to wane into full night, he came and collected the plates
from Calvinus and Fredamus, then from Felicia and Galea. He then came over to get Rini and
Salina's cage. Rini timidly picked up their water skin and took a drink as Pherinias reached
through the panel and took the plates from each of them. As he started to pull his hand out, she
made her move.
"Hey, Pherinias," she said. He glanced over to her, and she pointed the skin at him and
squeezed with all her might, sending a small stream of water into his face. As he gurgled in
reaction, Rini began giggling, as did Salina. Pherinias growled meanly as he rubbed the last of the
water from his face.
"What do you think you're doing?!" he snapped loudly.
"Oh, just trying to keep entertained," Rini said innocently. Pherinias didn't lighten up, and
grabbed the skin from her. He then brought up a club and reached it into the cage and smacked
Rini across the cheek with it, then stomped off. He quickly collected the plates from Dalia and
Jorus, then headed back to the others. Salina quickly checked on Rini, who was rubbing her
cheek.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'll be fine. Might bruise though," Rini answered. Actually, it already was. "Did you get
them?"
Salina moved aside and lifted the now ruffled blanket, to show Pherinias's key ring sitting
underneath it. They'd done it!
"Now what, Rini?" Salina asked.
"Now, we wait."
And wait they did. Rini watched the slavers carefully this time around by the light of the
moon, which was in the first quarter. They continued to mill about, and eventually each one lied
down around one of the campfires they'd made before preparing dinner. After awhile it got cold
and they bundled into the blanket, but then the slavers all got very still.
"Okay, I think they're all asleep now, Salina. It's now or never!" Rini whispered to her
friend. Salina got the keys and they carefully slid the first one into the lock of their cage.
Carefully, they twisted it, so as not to make too much noise. After three twists in both directions,
it became obvious they had the wrong key. So they repeated the procedure with the second key
on the ring, but again it was the wrong one. Then they tried the third key.
As they twisted it, there was a "snick, clack, pop" sound, and they pushed the top half of
the cage door open.
"Hey, what about us?" Galea whispered to them. Salina and Rini moved to the other side
of the cage and slid the keys over to her and Felicia.
"Hurry!" Rini whispered. Then she and Salina went to their cage door, and carefully
climbed out and onto the sideboard. Suddenly they heard a very loud rattling, and the slavers
began stirring in the distance. Rini glanced over, and could make out the two girls trying to get
their cage open without caring about the noise they were making.
"Drop!" Rini said, and she and Salina jumped to the ground. "Come on, let's go," Rini
urged, and the two got to their feet. "Quick, this way!" Rini said, and moved toward the woods.
The two quickly dove in and started making their way through as quickly as possible. Behind
them they could hear some of the slavers screaming and cursing, but they didn't slow down. They
just kept moving.
* * *
"What do you think you're doing?!" Pherinias roared at Galea as she and Felicia started to
get out of their cage. He swung a punch and knocked Galea back inside, Felicia pulled back by
the manacles. He stared angrily at the two girls, one raven-haired with bright blue eyes, the other
blond with tan-brown eyes. He then saw the keys lying on the cage floor and retrieved them.
"How in Tartarus did you get these?!"
"Your keys? Pherinias..." one of the other slavers growled at the man. Just then Cavinus
came up, looking very displeased.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"We caught these two trying to get away, sir," Pherinias explained. He was still fuming
himself.
"They had his keys, sir," another slaver added. "Two others are missing."
"What?" Cavinus said. He grabbed a torch from the slaver nearest him, and glanced at the
cages, noting the emptiness of Salina and Rini's. "How...did they get...the keys?" he asked
slowly.
"We were just trying to find that out," Pherinias said, still mad at his own failure to worry
about the possible consequences. Cavinus turned on the two girls before him and pulled his
sword out. He laid it against the raven-haired girl's breastbone.
"You are going to tell me _exactly_ how you got those keys, or one of you is going to
die," he said angrily. Galea looked at the sword pushing into her chest, and her nerve went stone
dead.
"Rini, and Salina. They gave them to us," she squeaked.
"Who?" Cavinus asked, still angry.
"The ones in the cage next to us! The ones who got away!" Felicia screamed in utter
panic. She and Galea had been together for three weeks now, and she didn't want to lose her
closest friend, or herself. Pherinias winced.
"Of course. When Pinky squirted me with the water skin! The red head must have taken
the keys while I was gagging!" he roared in annoyance, at himself and the escaped slaves.
"Pherinias..." Cavinus growled as he pulled the sword away from Galea.
"Next time someone does that, I check my belt before I leave!" Pherinias continued, not
really listening. "I can't believe I fell for that! Ooh, those little runts!"
"Pherinias, give them three lashes each!" Cavinus snapped, and Pherinias snapped out of
his self ragging and hopped to it. Cavinus then turned to the others as he sheathed his sword,
locking on one in particular with mean dark brown eyes and greasy red hair that covered his head
and face, and clearly hadn't been either washed or trimmed in weeks.
"Taximo, get the dogs! We are not letting those two escape! Especially Pinky!! That
one's worth a fortune, and I am NOT explaining why we lost her to Cephiro when he gets back if
we haven't retrieved her by then!!" he roared at the top of his voice.
Taximo and the others quickly moved, and soon they were headed towards the woods
after their escaped goods.
* * *
After what felt like hours, Rini and Salina finally flopped down, exhausted. As they huffed
and puffed to catch their breath, they listened carefully for the sound of anyone following them.
After a few moments nothing had stirred, and they figured they were safe.
"So, now what, Rini?" Salina asked between breaths.
"First, we finish catching our breaths," Rini said. After a moment they started breathing
normally again, and started to relax a little. "Okay," Rini started, "Which way do you think the
nearest village is?"
"Um," Salina said, glancing around, "I can't be sure in the dark." she continued to glance
around, then pointed to her left. "That way, I think"
"Anywhere but back the way we came is fine by me," Rini stated. They got up and started
walking. After what felt like another hour they sat down, and looked at the manacles.
"Think that we could maybe break the chain?" Salina asked. "Like with a really hard
rock?"
"Maybe. Wish we could've gotten the keys for these," Rini answered. Suddenly a large
group of keys on a fair sized key ring lowered into their line of site and shook slightly, making a
dinging noise.
"Would these help?" a male voice asked.
"Hey, yeah!" Rini exclaimed. What luck!
"I don't believe it!" Salina said in joy. Then their faces fell hard.
"But aren't these keys..." Rini started.
"...kept by Cephiro?" Salina finished. The two turned and looked up to see the master
slaver himself standing over them. His face, illuminated by the moonlight pushing through the
leaves, was _not_ happy.
"RUN!!" Rini screamed, and the two jumped up and started to bolt forward. Cephiro's
hand shot forward and grabbed the chain holding them together while returning the key ring to his
belt, and they came to an abrupt stop. Holding on to the chain, he drug them back through the
woods to where he'd left his horse waiting in a clearing near the main road. He'd stopped in the
clearing for dinner and had just finished the meal when he'd heard the rustling nearby and had
gone to see what it was.
He took them over to his horse, scooped them up, and put them on, Rini dangling on one
side, Salina on the other, the chain quickly wrapped in a single circle around the saddle grip.
Cephiro took some rope from a bag and quickly tied them both up to the horse for extra support.
The horse just sat there obediently.
"Cavinus is going to hear about this," Cephiro snarled. He hopped up on the horse and
kicked it into a run, and bolted out onto the road, which here was surrounded by the woods. In a
few moments they cleared the woods and continued down the road along the thinning woods.
*So close! So damned close!* Rini thought in despair.
******************************************************************************
It's doubtful that Rini and Salina will get off with a slap on the wrist. Be there for chapter 2:
Rome.
Oh, by the way, Salina is a real name. It's the name of a city in Kansas with a current population
of 43,000! 'Course, I didn't know that when I named her...
Comments? Praises? Flames? (Go ahead! I got MARSHMALLOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) E-mail me at
Scorpinac@sa-tech.com!
And a few are in big trouble.
Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, DiC, and Cloverway, in that
order. I make no money by this. More's the pity.
All other characters _not_ taken from History are mine, and you must ask permission to
use them, if you can find a way of using them outside this.
_This_ is emphasis. *This* is thought.
Kudos to the movie Gladiator, which was the inspiration for this.
And now, Scorpinac Fanfic Productions presents:
******************************************************************************
Sailor Moon
Roman Legends
by Scorpinac
Chapter 1: Enslaved
Rini slowly came around. Bars. She was surrounded by bars. A girl with bright red hair
down to her shoulders and emerald green eyes sat next to her on the matting of straw that was the
only thing covering the floor. A simple blanket lay to one side, but that wasn't important now.
There was a jostling, as if they were moving. Rini pulled herself into a sitting position and
glanced beyond the bars and saw she was in a small cage on a horse-drawn cart. It was one of a
large group of carts, each with four or five cages each, each one carrying two people, usually
same sex, sometimes mixed. But the two were almost always the same age or within reasonable
range. In her cart were three more cages, one with two four-to-six year old boys, one with two
seven year old girls, and one with a five year old boy and a six year old girl.
Suddenly, pain filled her mind, and she felt the small bump on her head from the sword
hilt. *Bastards!* she thought, *They didn't have to hit me so hard!* As she rubbed the bump to
ease the pain, she realized she wasn't wearing her white and blue dress, but a brown toga like the
other prisoners. *No, not prisoners,* she reminded herself, *Slaves.* Her shoes and socks, she
found, had been replaced by roman sandals. Even worse, her brooch was missing! In it's place
was a three-inch diameter metal plate, with three Greek letters engraved into it, Delta in the
center, and Gamma and Epsilon side by side below it. And she was wearing something new, a
manacle with a chain on her right wrist. Looking at it she noticed it wasn't chaining her to the
cage. The other end of the chain was on another manacle, attached to her cage-mate's left wrist,
holding them together like siamese twins. A cursory glance at the other cages confirmed
everyone else was chained the same way.
"Are you okay?" the girl asked. "They hit you pretty hard."
"I'll live," Rini said. "What happened to my clothes?"
"They burned them, so they couldn't be used as evidence of you being kidnaped," the girl
told her. *Drat! I'm stuck in a toga!* Rini thought.
"What about my brooch? The heart shaped thing that was clipped to my bow," Rini
asked.
"They still have that. They said something about selling it to a jeweler at the next town,"
the girl replied. Rini took that as a bit of good news. At least she could still retrieve that,
hopefully. She then took a good look at the chain connecting her to the other girl. It was about a
foot or so long, giving them barely enough leverage to be able to use both of their hands without
whapping their arms into each other. On her manacle she noticed five letters engraved into the
metal, DCVII. For a moment she wondered what they were, then realized she was looking at a
Roman Numeral. VII was seven, she knew, because lower Roman numbers were still used to
mark movie sequels now and again. But what was DC?
Suddenly a thought occurred to her. She glanced back around at the other cages she
could see. There were about a dozen carts in all, maybe more. She could really only make out
the people in the first two carts ahead of her, and the next two behind, and only partially at that.
Not enough to be totally sure.
"My mom, the girl..woman I was with, where is she? Another cage further on?" Rini
asked.
"They left her out cold by the road where they took you," the five year old boy in the cage
to the left answered. "Said she wasn't worth their time."
"At least she's free," Rini sighed. *Nothing more I can do about it now.*
"Um, what's your name?" her cage-mate asked.
"Rini. My name's Rini," she answered.
"I'm Salina," the girl told her.
"I'm Calvinus," said one of the boys in the cage to her north west.
"I'm Fredamus," Calvinus's cage-mate said.
"I'm Felicia, and this is Galea," a girl in the cage to her north said.
"I'm Dalia, and this is my brother, Jorus," the girl in the cage to the left told her.
"So, how long have I been out?" Rini asked.
"Well, it was lunch when they put you in, so about two, three hours," Salina answered.
"And we started moving as soon as I was 'safe' in here?" Rini asked.
"A few minutes after that, yes," Salina answered.
"Hmm," Rini sighed again, and leaned back against the bars. She tried to relax, and
thought on how this had happened...
* * *
They'd been on an evening stroll when they'd noticed it. Something weird was coming
from Crossroads Junior High. So they'd gone inside to check it out. She, Serena, Lita, Ami, and
Hotaru had entered the Science Room in time to see the man standing there, tinkering with the
device.
"What are you doing?" Serena asked. The man turned, startled. Before he could say
anything, the tool in his hand brushed something on the odd device, and a blast of light suddenly
surrounded them all.
When she could see again, Rini saw that they were in a field of grass, in the middle of the
day! More to the point, only Serena was with her. The others were missing. Serena didn't know
where they were any more than Rini did. A few moments later they found a road and followed it.
After a while they spotted a house, and asked a small boy wearing a blue toga there where they
were.
"This is the Devinsa Province," the boy had replied.
"Devinsa? Province of what?" Rini asked.
"The Empire of Rome, silly," the boy answered. Serena's face went ashen.
"Rome? As in Ancient Rome? As in two thousand years ago Ancient Rome?" she
flustered. The boy looked at her like she was insane. Just then the boy's mother came running
up, and they continued down the road, unsure of what to do next. About half an hour later, they
saw a caravan stopped ahead of them. As they got closer, they saw that each of the carts had
cages in them, with people inside wearing more togas, only brown instead of blue. Milling around
were a couple dozen men in armor that was dyed in red, brown and black, carrying big swords.
"Hey, what are you doing to them?!" Rini demanded. A tall, brutish guy with slightly long
brown hair and a thick, shaggy beard and mustache came up and sneered at them with mean, deep
black eyes. On his belt, near his sword, was a ring with a single key on it. Serena nervously
grabbed her future daughter and pulled back a step.
"At the moment, we're feeding them. What's it to you, girl?" the man said.
"Why are they in cages?!" Rini snapped.
"Rini, be still!" Serena hissed. She had a bad feeling about this.
"Because they're our wares, girl. We're slave traders," the man replied. "Now get,
before I decide not to be nice!"
"What?!" Rini snapped, and Serena dragged her five feet away.
"Please excuse my daughter. We don't get out much," she told the man as she left. After
a few moments, the man started to go back to the caravan, and Serena turned on Rini. "Rini,
please try to understand. If we're where and when I think we are, then there's nothing we can do
for those people. Here and now, slavery is unfortunately legal, and those soldiers are within their
rights."
"But caging people up is wrong!" Rini said.
"I know, but they don't care," Serena said, trying to comfort the young girl.
"Uh, Serena, what is a slave?" Rini asked. "I'm not really familiar with the term."
"Well, a slave is someone who's bought and sold like a piece of property, and made to do
various forms of servitude. Simply put, they have no freedom of their own, unless they somehow
earn it, escape their masters, or someone with higher authority than their master says they're to be
set free, like the Emperor," Serena explained. Rini's eyes widened as she listened, and Serena
could tell the little girl's heart was breaking.
"CAVINUS!" a voice yelled from a distance. Another man walked up to the first from
further down the road. The new man had short gold hair and a red-gold beard and mustache,
both well trimmed. His eyes were a blazing shade of brown. He came to a halt and gazed at his
comrade. On his belt was a sword and a large ring full of keys.
"Cephiro," Cavinus replied.
"How are things down on this end here?" Cephiro asked.
"About usual. A few whiners, but that's to be expected. And these two travelers turned
up. The girl's a real loud mouth, but the mother's okay, knew when to leave," Cavinus reported,
indicating Serena and Rini. Cephiro gave them a brief glance, then returned to Cavinus.
"Everything's normal up front. Best estimates say we hit Rome in a week and a half, two
if we pace ourselves. Wouldn't want to wear out the horses after all," Cephiro said.
"Excellent. Any towns between here and there?" Cavinus inquired.
"Three. We'll be stopping at the first in two days time for provisions. Finish feeding the
wares, then get ready to depart. We leave in ten minutes," Cephiro answered. He turned to leave,
then stopped and turned back to Serena and Rini. He stared at them quizzically, then walked
forward. Serena stood to face him, keeping Rini to her side.
"What do you want?" Serena asked. He just continued to stare, then focused his eyes on
Rini for a moment before turning back to Serena.
"Tell me, is that her natural color?" he asked, pointing to Rini. Serena blinked for a
moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about.
"Her hair?" she asked.
"Yes, is it natural?" Cephiro asked again. *He's asking about my hair?!* Rini thought.
Without thinking, she responded.
"Yeah, it's natural. It's always been this color," Rini said.
"I see," Cephiro replied, then walked back over to Cavinus. Serena turned to Rini.
"What do you think that was about?" she asked.
"Got me," Rini answered.
"A girl with hair that's naturally a shade of pink, Cavinus. Think of what she would fetch
on the market," Cephiro whispered to his friend.
"Where would we put her?" Cavinus asked.
"I believe Cage Three on Cart Twenty-Eight has a vacancy. The one with the red head we
picked up back in Rhodes," Cephiro stated.
"And the mother?"
"You've seen one blond, you've seen 'em all. Leave her," Cephiro decided. He then
turned and walked back over to the two girls. He put on a smile and began some charm.
"Would you pretty ladies like a lift to the next village?" he asked, with a gesture toward
the carts. Serena's alarms began firing loudly.
"Uh, that's okay, we'll walk," she said. Something wasn't right here.
"You sure? It's a long way," Cephiro said.
"Yeah, we're sure," Serena confirmed. He's up to something!
"At least allow us to offer you some food and water," Cephiro pushed. What was he
doing??
"That's okay, we can get our own," Serena turned him down again. Got to get out of
here!
"Well, if that's what you want," Cephiro said with false disappointment. Rini glanced to
her left at that point and saw Cavinus coming up behind Serena, a club raised.
"Serena! Behind you!" Rini yelled. But it was too late. Cavinus brought down the club,
hard, and Serena flopped down like a ton of bricks. Rini started to move forward, but Cavinus
moved up first and grabbed her by the arm. Cephiro pulled out a sword and held it blade up.
"Let me go! You can't do this!" Rini yelled.
"Oh, but we can. And we are," Cephiro said, the charm gone from his voice. Rini looked
at him angrily, and he brought the sword down, hard, the butt of the hilt cracking loudly against
Rini's head. And then the world had gone black.
* * *
And now she wished it hadn't come back. At least the pain was easing from her bump.
And from the sounds of it, they hadn't actually opened her brooch yet, and so hadn't discovered
the Imperium Silver Crystal. *Who knows what they'd do if they found that!* she thought. Just
then a loud grumble filled the cage, and Rini blushed.
"So," Rini said, turning to Salina, "when's dinner?"
* * *
Serena slowly pulled herself from the darkness back into consciousness. The last thing she
could remember was Rini screaming a warning and then something hard slamming against the
back of her head. A quick rub found one hell of a goose egg swelled up on the back of her skull,
confirming the diagnosis: someone had knocked her out.
She quickly glanced around. Only one wagon was present now, containing a small family
of five: mother, father, eldest son about fourteen, middle daughter about ten, youngest son about
seven or eight. The mother had raven hair down her back with dark brown, nearly black eyes and
wore a red-brown dress. The father was dressed in a red semi-fancy toga, as were the boys, and
had short brown hair and eyes. The eldest son had his mother's hair, but cut short like his
father's, and blue eyes. The youngest son had his father's hair worn down to his chin, and his
mother's eyes. The daughter had brunette hair as long as her mother's, and had her father's eyes.
She wore a simple green dress.
The mother and daughter were tending her, while the father and eldest son were tending
the horses hitched to the wagon. The youngest son was collecting wood. Her head was still
swimming, and coherent thought was having difficulty putting things together.
"Are you alright, Miss? That bump looks pretty bad," the mother asked.
"I'll take your word for it. Who are you?" Serena replied, trying to focus. The bump still
hurt, badly.
"I'm Vivian, and this is my daughter Delia. That's my husband, Thernacius Rex, and our
elder son, Georgio," the mother answered.
"And I'm Mikhail," said the other boy. Serena logged the names in her memory, and
rubbed her eyes to maintain focus.
"My name's Serena," she introduced herself. "Thanks for your help."
"It was no problem, really," Vivian said. At that point Rex came up, a look of suspicion
in his eyes.
"Would you mind telling us what you were doing unconscious by the side of the road,
Miss?" he asked.
"We came across some slave traders. They hit me. Everything's blank after that till I
woke up just now," Serena explained briefly.
"We? You were alone," Delia said. Serena's eyes widened, and she began scanning the
area frantically. The Slave Caravan was long gone, little to nothing to indicate they'd been there
at all, save a few burned out fires. And Rini was nowhere to be seen!
"Rini? RINI!! No, NO, NOOO!!" she wailed. Then the pain overwhelmed her and she
returned to the darkness of oblivion.
* * *
As twilight began to usher in, the caravan came to a halt near a river. The driver of her
cart and his "shotgun" guy hopped down, and joined the other slavers in preparing the evening
meal. Rini caught briefly that her cart driver was called Pherinias, and his "shotgun" guy was
named Paulius. Actually, Paulius was armed with a crossbow, but the term still seemed to fit.
Pherinias was not pleasant to look at. His black hair was oily and unkempt, his beard and
mustache weren't much better, his teeth looked terrible, and his coal black eyes just looked plain
mean!
A few moments later Paulius came over and tossed a few water skins into the cages for
them, and Calvinus and Fredamus immediately began swapping theirs back and forth, as did Galea
and Felicia. Dalia took the one given her and Jorus, and gave it over to her brother, letting him
take his fill before helping herself. Salina picked up the fourth skin dropped in their cage and
handed it to Rini.
"Here, you take some first. You need it more than me," she said.
"Thanks, Salina," Rini said, and took three deep swigs. *Man, I was thirsty,* she
thought. She then handed it back to Salina and glanced over at the Slavers. It looked like dinner
was going to take a little while. She thought over her situation. She was manacled to another
little girl, locked in a cage, and surrounded by at least a dozen armed men, and they were only a
fraction of how many there were.
A quick glance at her manacle showed it had a small keyhole just above the Roman
Numeral, so it could be taken off, if she had the key. Rini sat up and moved toward the door of
her cage, but stopped when she felt a sudden tug of weight on her arm and heard Salina's sudden,
"Ooo."
"Oh, sorry, I forgot," Rini apologized, remembering how little space the chain gave them.
Salina moved up to her.
"That's okay," she said. "What are you doing?"
"Just taking a look at the cage lock," Rini replied. She then proceeded to examine it, and
found it to be at least twice the size of the manacle lock, maybe even bigger.
"What're you trying to do?" Calvinus asked. Rini turned to her fellow slaves.
"I need to ask you something. I saw a big ring full of keys on that Cephiro guy before he
knocked me out this afternoon. Are all the keys on that?" Rini inquired.
"No, just the keys to all the manacles," Dalia said, then took a swig from her skin to settle
her own thirst.
"And the key Cavinus has?" Rini said as she remembered that one.
"We don't know. Could be for anything," Jorus said.
"So, where are the keys to the cages?" Rini asked.
"The drivers of each cart keeps the keys to the cages in the one he drives," Felicia
answered.
"So the keys to our cages are with Pherinias," Rini said. She then had another thought.
"Do any of you know exactly who has my brooch?"
"Cephiro probably gave it to Fernadus, his treasurer. He stays up at the front of the
caravan at all times," Galea said. "Why?"
"Just putting together a road map, so to speak," Rini responded. Just then Pherinias came
up with Paulius to Fredamus and Calvinus's cage. He unlatched and opened a panel on the top
half of the door, the bottom blocked by the cart's sideboard, and Paulius passed two plates of
food into the boys, who took them. Then Pherinias closed the panel again. They repeated the
procedure with Dalia and Jorus, and then with Galea and Felicia. Then they moved to Rini and
Salina.
"And how's our little pink haired wonder? Bump all better?" Pherinias sneered meanly at
her as he unlatched and opened their panel. Paulius put in the last two plates, and then Pherinias
latched them in again. Rini glanced at what they'd been given: a chunk of corn on the cob, a slice
of bread, and a small hunk of meat.
"Nice spread," she quipped, and began eating her corn. The two slavers left to have their
own meal. Rini waited till they were off with the other Slavers before daring to speak to her new
friend again.
"Okay, if we can get the keys from Pherinias, we can get out of the cages, but without the
keys from Cephiro we're stuck together. I suppose we could just hot foot it to the nearest town
and have a blacksmith cut the manacles off, but that still leaves the problem of retrieving my
brooch," Rini mused it over.
"Wait a minute, you're thinking about running away?" Galea asked. "You're just asking
for trouble, you know."
"I don't intend to just sit here and do nothing. There has to be a way to escape," Rini
rebuked.
"Do you think we can all get out of here?" Fredamus asked with wide, innocent eyes.
"Maybe. Depends on how we're going to get the keys," Rini answered. She then
dropped her finished cob and picked up the chunk of meat and bit into it.
"Why didn't you try for it just now?" Felicia asked.
"Too hungry. Can't escape on an empty stomach, growling gives you away," Rini
explained between bites. After a few moments she finished her meat and then picked up her
bread. Once she finished that, she took the water skin and took another swig to wash it down.
The others continued to eat as well, and a short time later Pherinias came and started collecting
the plates via the panels. When he passed Rini and Salina's cage, she quietly handed him her
empty plate, which he took. He stared at her for a moment. Nervous, Rini picked up the skin and
took another drink, her eyes not leaving the slaver.
"Are you planning something?" Pherinias asked. Rini quickly finished her swig.
"Who, me? No, just thinking," she answered.
"Well, don't," he sneered, and took Salina's plate. He then gathered the rest and left. As
soon as he was gone, Rini sighed in relief.
"Aren't you gonna escape?" Calvinus asked.
"Not yet," Rini said. "I still need some time to think out a plan."
* * *
Serena slowly started to pull herself back into consciousness once more. *Man, they must
have hit me harder than I thought. Must have a slight concussion.* And then her previous
awakening reentered her mind completely.
"RINI!!" she screamed as she shot up into a sitting position. She found she was in a small
bed, adorned with what appeared to be wool sheets and blankets and three pillows. Georgio sat
in a chair nearby, watching her, and his eyes had widened. She glanced around the room to see it
was a simple one, furnished with the bed, a washbowl, and a small cupboard for holding clothes,
atop of which sat her brooch. A door stood in the wall opposite the bed in one corner.
"Who are you calling to?" Georgio asked. Serena cupped her face in her hands and began
to cry.
"My daughter. Those slave traders took her. They took her!" she wailed in anguish.
Georgio reached over a hand and gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. Just then Delia
came in, and Serena glanced up at her.
"You're awake again. Hold on, I'll get mother, and some clothes for you," she said, and
turned and left. *Clothes? Why would I..* Serena thought, then noticed for the first time it was a
little drafty. She glanced down to see she was naked, her breasts sitting exposed to the world!
She shrieked and pulled the blanket up to hide herself as she shoved Georgio back.
"You pervert! Why didn't you say something?!" she yelled.
"Uh, well, you seemed upset. I wanted to help," Georgio tried to explain. "Besides,
what's the big deal?"
"You saw me NAKED!" Serena snapped at him.
"So? I see my mom and sister naked in the bath lots of times. It's nothing to get excited
about," Georgio replied. Serena began to fume a little as she blushed vibrantly. On the other
hand, the anger was helping her regain her focus.
"Just tell me what you did with my clothes," she said finally.
"Well, they were all dirty from you lying in the dirt like that, so Mom stripped you when
we got home and took them to be washed after she and Delia put you in bed. That was a couple
hours ago. I volunteered to watch you for awhile in case you woke up again," he told her. She
chewed on this. That meant he hadn't seen everything yet. Just then Delia came back in with
Vivian, and a green dress like the one Delia was wearing.
"Here, you can have one of my spares till your's are dry," Delia handed her the dress while
Vivian ushered Georgio out. As soon as the boy was gone, Serena got out of the bed and found
she was indeed completely nude, and slipped the dress on quickly. It just barely reached her
knees, but it would do.
"Are you alright? We checked you over after you passed out again, and couldn't find
anything wrong. We did bandage your bump," Vivian said to her as she dressed. After perusing
the fit and the way it looked, Serena turned to the woman.
"I just wasn't completely recovered from the blow, that's all. I'll be perfectly fine in a
day or so. Right now I need to find those slavers!" Serena said.
"The slavers? But why?" Delia asked.
"Because they have Rini! I can't just leave my daughter with them!" Serena snapped.
Delia's eyes widened as she listened. Vivian rose her hand to her mouth for a moment in
sympathy. Serena then retrieved her brooch and clipped it to her front.
"Oh, I'm sorry. But they could be anywhere by now," Vivian said.
"I heard that Cephiro guy saying they were headed to Rome, so that's where I'll head.
Simple as that," Serena replied.
"Cephiro?! Barvus Cephiro?! He's one of the most powerful slavers in the Empire!"
Vivian gasped.
"Ask me if I care," Serena said. At that point Rex came in, Georgio standing at the door.
"I see you finally woke up. Think you'll stay with us a while this time?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think I'm okay now, more or less. Do you have a really fast horse I could
borrow for a day or two?" Serena answered.
"What do you need a horse for?" Rex blinked.
"Her daughter was taken by Barvus Cephiro. She wants to follow him to Rome and get
her back," Vivian explained.
"Him. Believe me, I hate that bastard as much as you do. He took my neighbor's
youngest girl, Decima, seven years ago. She was a sweet kid, deserved better. But how do you
think you're going to get your's back?" Rex told Serena sincerely.
"Duh, I'm gonna break her out of there!" Serena said. She wasn't going to be stopped on
this. One way or another, she'd retrieve Rini!
"I can go with her, to keep her safe," Georgio offered. Serena glared at him.
"You just want to see me naked again, don't you?" she accused him. Georgio blushed
brightly.
"Well, where's your husband?" Georgio asked. *Husband?! Uh, oh, think fast!*
"He's in the army, fighting in..um..Germany!" Serena said.
"Germany? Do you mean Germania?" Rex asked.
"Uh, yeah, just using a different name I heard somewhere," Serena said, slightly blushing
at her historical mistake. At least they accepted it.
"Well, I'm taking a trip to Rome in a few days. You can come with me if you like," Rex
said.
"A few days?! But Cephiro and Rini could be long gone by then!!" Serena exclaimed.
"Perhaps. But Barvus Cephiro and Darvinian Cavinus do most of their selling in Rome
this time of the year, so they may stay for a while. And there's always the possibility that if they
are gone by the time we get there, they'll have sold your daughter in the city. So you'll just have
to track her down," Rex told her.
"Rini. . .sold? Oh, gods," Serena whispered, her eyes filling with horror at the thought of
Rini being sold to someone like a stuffed animal or action figure.
"In the meantime, would you like to join us for dinner?" Vivian asked.
"What are you having?" Serena asked quietly.
* * *
As night fell, Rini and Salina lied down and pulled the blanket in their cage over them to
keep warm. The slavers were still off by the campfires, and probably wouldn't come back over
till daybreak. Rini began thinking over the possibilities.
"Hm, too bad we're not near the front of the cart. We could just snag the keys from
Pherinias while we're moving and dive out," she mused.
"Yeah, except the carts behind us would see us, and we'd probably get shot with an arrow
or two before we got very far," Salina commented.
"Good point," Rini agreed. "We could try and get the keys after they feed us breakfast or
lunch, but that wouldn't be much better. Unless we were near a forest we'd be awfully visible.
And again, the arrows."
"So what does that leave?" Salina asked. Rini thought it over some more. Actually, it left
only one possibility. Well, two, but one didn't look so good.
"We could try breaking out while we're at the next village, but for that to work the
caravan would actually have to be driven into the village entirely. I don't really see that
happening. So that leaves only one real option. Tell me, Salina, does the dark bother you?" she
went over the next unworkable plan.
"Not really. Why?" Salina answered. "You think we should try to escape at night?!"
"Uh, huh. We grab the keys when they collect the plates after dinner, then run off in the
dark when our visibility is really low so they can't see us enough to shoot at us accurately," Rini
outlined the only feasible escape plan available.
"But where do we go?" Salina asked. "And what about the manacles?"
"Well, I suppose we go to the nearest town and hope the local blacksmith will cut them
off without turning us in. Or we can lay low and sneak around to the front of the caravan and try
to snag the keys from Cephiro and just unlock them before we pick a direction and start jogging.
That would give me an opening to retrieve my brooch, though it would probably be best to just
leave it where it is for the moment," Rini mused that one over.
"Well, we still have time before we reach the next village, so there's no rush," Salina said.
"Yeah, plenty of time to think out the kinks in the plan," Rini agreed. She looked up at
the stars for a while before she spoke again. "Salina, how did you wind up like this?" she asked.
"Me?"
"Yeah."
"Well..."
* * *
Her father had lost much in his last gambling streak. Mother had died when she was born,
so it was just the two of them, and her brother. But Herminias had been recruited for the war in
Germania, and wasn't there. Her father, now over forty years old and with a lame foot, was
becoming desperate. And then Cephiro had come to Rhodes.
Father had already sold some of the land and animals. He'd been overlooking the items in
the house to decide what was expendable and what wasn't. That was when their neighbor, Devin,
came by. He told them that Barvus Cephiro and Darvinian Cavinus were in town. Father seemed
to get an idea, and took her out to the edge of town.
A little ways away from the town was a long stretch of carts with cages in them. When
she saw the people in the cages, she felt sorry for them. Her father went up to the golden haired
man who was talking with two others at the two lead carts, which were much more fancy than the
others behind them. A pair of beautiful white Arabians were bridled near them.
"Excuse me, are you Barvus Cephiro?" he asked. The man turned to face her father, his
hand reaching toward the sword at his hip.
"Who wants to know?" he asked. Her father gestured to her.
"I'd like to know what you think of my daughter," he told him. Cephiro came up and
looked her over, taking his time. "Thirty gold and she's yours," her father added. Salina's blood
suddenly ran cold. Cephiro looked thoughtful and went back to the two he was talking to.
"Cavinus, Fernadus, we've been made an offer," he said aloud to them. The three began
whispering to each other quietly. Then the one called Fernadus stepped up into the cart for a few
moments. When he came out, he carried a purple bag filled with something in one hand with a
brown toga draped over that arm, and a manacle set in the other. He handed the manacles to
Cephiro, who came up with the one called Cavinus who had taken the toga.
"I'm in a generous mood. I'll give you fifty for her," Cephiro said. He then took a key
from his chain and unlocked one of the two manacles. Her father then took her hand and pulled
her forward, and Cephiro placed the open manacle on her left wrist, and quickly locked it shut
even as Salina tried to pull herself away. Cephiro then took the other manacle in his hand and
handed it off to Cavinus.
"Just talk to my man, Fernadus, over there, and he'll get you all set. Cavinus and I will
take her down to her new home till further notice," Cephiro said, and her father went up eagerly
to Fernadus, and the two began talking heatedly. Cavinus began walking down along the caravan,
Cephiro just behind, Salina drug just behind Cavinus by the chain.
After several minutes, they reached a cart with an empty cage. Cephiro lowered the
sideboard, then turned to the men nearby.
"Pherinias! We have an occupant for this cage!" he called, and a really gross and mean
looking man came up and looked at her.
"Cute girl," he sneered.
"Cavinus, Pherinias, change her," Cephiro said, and Cavinus grabbed her arm while
Cephiro unlocked her manacle for a moment. He then leaned quietly against the cage while the
other two men disrobed her and put her in the brown toga with the metal disc on it. Cephiro then
came up and re-locked the manacle on her wrist.
Pherinias then unlocked the cage and opened it completely, and Cavinus lifted her up and
put her inside. While he held her in, Cephiro unlocked the other manacle and placed it around one
of the bars, and locked it on. Pherinias then locked the cage shut and replaced the sideboard. He
then went back over to the men milling about, and Cephiro and Cavinus took her old clothes back
forward.
"Have a good time," Cephiro said as he went.
* * *
"And that's it. That was three days ago," Salina finished, a tear in her eye.
"Your own father?! Gods, that's horrible," Rini said sympathetically.
"Yeah. I would have tried to escape on my own, but I was chained to the cage itself until
they put you in," Salina said.
"Yeah, running off with a cage hooked to your wrist would be a lot harder than with
another person chained to you," Rini agreed.
"Well, I did consider chopping my hand off, but I couldn't get a sword," Salina said.
"That's a little excessive," Rini stated, a slight smile forming on her lips.
"You think?" Salina grinned. The two chuckled lightly, then snuggled in closer and
drifted off to sleep.
* * *
"Rini! Rini! Rini!" a voice called. Rini slowly opened her eyes a bit, then started to drift
back off to sleep. Suddenly something cold and wet smacked her in the face, and she shot bolt up
right with a small scream of surprise.
As the world came back into focus she realized she'd been hit with cold river water, by
Pherinias. The one who'd been calling to her had been Salina.
"Morning, sweetie," he said sneeringly, and headed off to the other men.
"I tried to wake you, but you wouldn't come round," Salina said apologetically. "It's time
for breakfast." Rini scanned the horizon, and saw that it was literally daybreak.
"Isn't it a little early?" she asked.
"They like to feed us at daybreak so they can get moving as soon as possible," Salina
explained. She then yawned, showing she was still tired too. The two then used the blanket to
dry Rini off as much as possible before the slavers came back with the morning meal. Her hair
was still wet when they came, but the rest of her was dry. Breakfast consisted of a bowl of stuff
that looked like thick oatmeal, but tasted slightly off. Rini couldn't quite place it. But food was
food, and she ate what she was given, and washed it down with water from their skin, which was
refilled with the others while they ate. After a few minutes, Pherinias and Paulius came around
and took the skins and bowls, then shortly thereafter boarded up and the caravan began to move
once more. Rini sighed. All in all, they weren't treating her badly, really. But they were keeping
her in a cage and denying her freedom. And getting up at the crack of dawn was definitely evil!
She had to get out of there.
"Hey, Rini. You have a plan to escape now?" Fredamus asked.
"I'm working on one. Right now the best option would be to escape after dinner. We
have a better chance in the dark," Rini said.
"What do you have in mind?" Dalia asked.
"I'm thinking when Pherinias collects the dinner plates, I'll squirt him with the water skin.
While's he's distracted, Salina, you can grab the keys. But hide them in the blanket for the
moment, so he'll think we didn't do anything other than make a little mischief. Then, after it's
nice and dark, we unlock the cage, get out, and run off," Rini outlined her current plan.
"But where will we run to?" Calvinus asked.
"Preferably toward the nearest village to find someone to take the manacles off," Rini
said. "Afterward, I'd like to head back the way we came to try and find my mom."
"So we try tonight?" Salina asked.
"Give me till lunch to finish hammering out the details, but yeah, tonight sounds good,"
Rini agreed.
* * *
Cephiro sat calmly in his wagon. The chamber was simply furnished, one bed along the
side, a small desk with a chair, a table with another for meals, a third chair for sitting, and a simple
trunk which held a few of his worldly belongings. The bed sheets and chair paddings, like the
canvas covering the wagon, were made from the finest satins around. The canvas was in a
luscious red, as were the chair paddings, and the bed sheets were a beautiful green. A blue satin
pillow and a brown leather blanket completed the ensemble.
He currently sat in the third chair sipping a glass of wine. On the desk sat the pink-haired
girl's trinket. As far as he could tell it was made from some sort of hardened clay or ceramic with
a gold wing-shaped design on the top of the front. There also seemed to be some sort of crystal
in the design on the front. He knew a collector in the next town he could easily hock it to for
three hundred gold, easy.
As for the girl herself, he'd hold on to her until he actually got to Rome. News had
reached his ears through the regular channels that the Caesar Marcus Aurelius had met his end.
The reports were that he'd had a heart attack. Yeah, right. Like that would ever happen! No
Caesar had left the throne yet by any means other than being murdered! His money was on the
new Emperor, the Caesar Commodus.
Past him, the only remaining contender for the throne was his young nephew, Lucius. The
rumor had it that Caesar Commodus was infatuated with his sister, Lucilla. Just what the Empire
didn't need, another Caligula! Hopefully this one would be removed sooner than the last one, the
Gods willing. Then it was just a matter of disposing of Lucius. An eight year old boy was so
easy to get rid of, if you knew how. If need be, he could easily arrange the "disappearance" of the
Caesar Commodus as well.
With his connections to the Imperial Palace and the Senate, he could easily worm his way
into true power over men, free and enslaved. He already had a fair amount of pull, having played
the game of politics over the years to secure a certain level of power. It was just a matter of
playing a few more cards.
Oh, yes. Soon everything would fall into place. It was simply a matter of time. That's
all.
* * *
Lunch consisted of another slice of bread, hunk of meat, and chunk of corn on the cob.
Shortly afterward they took them out one cart at a time to let them relieve themselves. Rini ate
without complaint, but wondered what Serena was doing. Was she looking for her? Did she
have any idea where to go? She hoped so.
* * *
Cephiro went through his meal with pleasure. A full steak, mashed potatoes, an ear of
corn, some peas, three slices of bread, and good wine. Could it get any better than that? He
heard a tap, and turned to see Cavinus pull himself up into the wagon.
"You sent for me, Cephiro?" he asked.
"Yes. I intend to ride ahead of the train in awhile. You'll of course be in charge until I
return, which probably won't be till sometime tonight. Understood?" Cephiro said.
"Any reason you're going on ahead?" Cavinus inquired.
"Yes. I need to check with some of my contacts in Ferrio. Now's as good a time as any,"
Cephiro explained. He stood up and went to the desk, and picked up the pink-haired girl's
trinket. "I'll also be taking this in to my collector friend. I'm sure Querian will want it, if not his
daughter. Either way," he said, and returned the trinket to the desk.
"As you wish. Thy will be done," Cavinus agreed.
"Good. Have Reginas prepare my Arabian. I leave as soon as I finish lunch," Cephiro
said back.
"Immediately, sir," Cavinus said, and left the wagon. Oh yes, just a matter of time.
* * *
When dinner came around, the caravan was stopped near a wooded area just off the river,
which had been visible since morning. In fact, now that she'd been able to see it in daylight while
they moved, for the last several hours it looked manmade. The woods lead off to the north and,
as far as Rini could tell, toward the east. Dinner itself was more of the same, but it was food.
Now came the time for the moment of truth.
"You ready, Salina?" Rini asked while she munched her bread.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Salina replied. The two finished their meal, and waited for
Pherinias. Eventually, as evening began to wane into full night, he came and collected the plates
from Calvinus and Fredamus, then from Felicia and Galea. He then came over to get Rini and
Salina's cage. Rini timidly picked up their water skin and took a drink as Pherinias reached
through the panel and took the plates from each of them. As he started to pull his hand out, she
made her move.
"Hey, Pherinias," she said. He glanced over to her, and she pointed the skin at him and
squeezed with all her might, sending a small stream of water into his face. As he gurgled in
reaction, Rini began giggling, as did Salina. Pherinias growled meanly as he rubbed the last of the
water from his face.
"What do you think you're doing?!" he snapped loudly.
"Oh, just trying to keep entertained," Rini said innocently. Pherinias didn't lighten up, and
grabbed the skin from her. He then brought up a club and reached it into the cage and smacked
Rini across the cheek with it, then stomped off. He quickly collected the plates from Dalia and
Jorus, then headed back to the others. Salina quickly checked on Rini, who was rubbing her
cheek.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'll be fine. Might bruise though," Rini answered. Actually, it already was. "Did you get
them?"
Salina moved aside and lifted the now ruffled blanket, to show Pherinias's key ring sitting
underneath it. They'd done it!
"Now what, Rini?" Salina asked.
"Now, we wait."
And wait they did. Rini watched the slavers carefully this time around by the light of the
moon, which was in the first quarter. They continued to mill about, and eventually each one lied
down around one of the campfires they'd made before preparing dinner. After awhile it got cold
and they bundled into the blanket, but then the slavers all got very still.
"Okay, I think they're all asleep now, Salina. It's now or never!" Rini whispered to her
friend. Salina got the keys and they carefully slid the first one into the lock of their cage.
Carefully, they twisted it, so as not to make too much noise. After three twists in both directions,
it became obvious they had the wrong key. So they repeated the procedure with the second key
on the ring, but again it was the wrong one. Then they tried the third key.
As they twisted it, there was a "snick, clack, pop" sound, and they pushed the top half of
the cage door open.
"Hey, what about us?" Galea whispered to them. Salina and Rini moved to the other side
of the cage and slid the keys over to her and Felicia.
"Hurry!" Rini whispered. Then she and Salina went to their cage door, and carefully
climbed out and onto the sideboard. Suddenly they heard a very loud rattling, and the slavers
began stirring in the distance. Rini glanced over, and could make out the two girls trying to get
their cage open without caring about the noise they were making.
"Drop!" Rini said, and she and Salina jumped to the ground. "Come on, let's go," Rini
urged, and the two got to their feet. "Quick, this way!" Rini said, and moved toward the woods.
The two quickly dove in and started making their way through as quickly as possible. Behind
them they could hear some of the slavers screaming and cursing, but they didn't slow down. They
just kept moving.
* * *
"What do you think you're doing?!" Pherinias roared at Galea as she and Felicia started to
get out of their cage. He swung a punch and knocked Galea back inside, Felicia pulled back by
the manacles. He stared angrily at the two girls, one raven-haired with bright blue eyes, the other
blond with tan-brown eyes. He then saw the keys lying on the cage floor and retrieved them.
"How in Tartarus did you get these?!"
"Your keys? Pherinias..." one of the other slavers growled at the man. Just then Cavinus
came up, looking very displeased.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"We caught these two trying to get away, sir," Pherinias explained. He was still fuming
himself.
"They had his keys, sir," another slaver added. "Two others are missing."
"What?" Cavinus said. He grabbed a torch from the slaver nearest him, and glanced at the
cages, noting the emptiness of Salina and Rini's. "How...did they get...the keys?" he asked
slowly.
"We were just trying to find that out," Pherinias said, still mad at his own failure to worry
about the possible consequences. Cavinus turned on the two girls before him and pulled his
sword out. He laid it against the raven-haired girl's breastbone.
"You are going to tell me _exactly_ how you got those keys, or one of you is going to
die," he said angrily. Galea looked at the sword pushing into her chest, and her nerve went stone
dead.
"Rini, and Salina. They gave them to us," she squeaked.
"Who?" Cavinus asked, still angry.
"The ones in the cage next to us! The ones who got away!" Felicia screamed in utter
panic. She and Galea had been together for three weeks now, and she didn't want to lose her
closest friend, or herself. Pherinias winced.
"Of course. When Pinky squirted me with the water skin! The red head must have taken
the keys while I was gagging!" he roared in annoyance, at himself and the escaped slaves.
"Pherinias..." Cavinus growled as he pulled the sword away from Galea.
"Next time someone does that, I check my belt before I leave!" Pherinias continued, not
really listening. "I can't believe I fell for that! Ooh, those little runts!"
"Pherinias, give them three lashes each!" Cavinus snapped, and Pherinias snapped out of
his self ragging and hopped to it. Cavinus then turned to the others as he sheathed his sword,
locking on one in particular with mean dark brown eyes and greasy red hair that covered his head
and face, and clearly hadn't been either washed or trimmed in weeks.
"Taximo, get the dogs! We are not letting those two escape! Especially Pinky!! That
one's worth a fortune, and I am NOT explaining why we lost her to Cephiro when he gets back if
we haven't retrieved her by then!!" he roared at the top of his voice.
Taximo and the others quickly moved, and soon they were headed towards the woods
after their escaped goods.
* * *
After what felt like hours, Rini and Salina finally flopped down, exhausted. As they huffed
and puffed to catch their breath, they listened carefully for the sound of anyone following them.
After a few moments nothing had stirred, and they figured they were safe.
"So, now what, Rini?" Salina asked between breaths.
"First, we finish catching our breaths," Rini said. After a moment they started breathing
normally again, and started to relax a little. "Okay," Rini started, "Which way do you think the
nearest village is?"
"Um," Salina said, glancing around, "I can't be sure in the dark." she continued to glance
around, then pointed to her left. "That way, I think"
"Anywhere but back the way we came is fine by me," Rini stated. They got up and started
walking. After what felt like another hour they sat down, and looked at the manacles.
"Think that we could maybe break the chain?" Salina asked. "Like with a really hard
rock?"
"Maybe. Wish we could've gotten the keys for these," Rini answered. Suddenly a large
group of keys on a fair sized key ring lowered into their line of site and shook slightly, making a
dinging noise.
"Would these help?" a male voice asked.
"Hey, yeah!" Rini exclaimed. What luck!
"I don't believe it!" Salina said in joy. Then their faces fell hard.
"But aren't these keys..." Rini started.
"...kept by Cephiro?" Salina finished. The two turned and looked up to see the master
slaver himself standing over them. His face, illuminated by the moonlight pushing through the
leaves, was _not_ happy.
"RUN!!" Rini screamed, and the two jumped up and started to bolt forward. Cephiro's
hand shot forward and grabbed the chain holding them together while returning the key ring to his
belt, and they came to an abrupt stop. Holding on to the chain, he drug them back through the
woods to where he'd left his horse waiting in a clearing near the main road. He'd stopped in the
clearing for dinner and had just finished the meal when he'd heard the rustling nearby and had
gone to see what it was.
He took them over to his horse, scooped them up, and put them on, Rini dangling on one
side, Salina on the other, the chain quickly wrapped in a single circle around the saddle grip.
Cephiro took some rope from a bag and quickly tied them both up to the horse for extra support.
The horse just sat there obediently.
"Cavinus is going to hear about this," Cephiro snarled. He hopped up on the horse and
kicked it into a run, and bolted out onto the road, which here was surrounded by the woods. In a
few moments they cleared the woods and continued down the road along the thinning woods.
*So close! So damned close!* Rini thought in despair.
******************************************************************************
It's doubtful that Rini and Salina will get off with a slap on the wrist. Be there for chapter 2:
Rome.
Oh, by the way, Salina is a real name. It's the name of a city in Kansas with a current population
of 43,000! 'Course, I didn't know that when I named her...
Comments? Praises? Flames? (Go ahead! I got MARSHMALLOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) E-mail me at
Scorpinac@sa-tech.com!
