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Best,

Leg

...

The boat ride was slow and awful. She looked over the side of the craft and caught her reflection in the ripples, the purple circles around her eyes causing her to feel very tired. She looked over at the man directing the boat and thought that she was at least glad to be away from that Centurion with the red feathered helmet. She pushed her eyes tight shut and listened to the sound of the oar in the water; hoping servitude was truly left across the watery divide.
After some time the walls of Caesar's encampment began to rise up over the edge of the water. Fortification Hill was rings of rocks, rusted metal, and was intimidating to say the least. When the boat finally pulled up to the pier Maude to blinked tiredly. She took Adrian's hand and stepped onto the dock and stared up with fearful wonder.
"It's something isn't it?" said the cursor, who was already preparing the boat for return. "I remember the first time I saw the fort, I knew that Caesar was truly powerful."
Then man nodded at Adrian, and returned to tying up the boat. Adrian turned to Maude and gave her a command to follow him. Walking behind him she felt as if she was gliding through a museum detailing the great past of humanity. The men in their weird uniforms, staring at her with a combination of disgust and curiosity, seemed like dolls in an exhibit. She breathed in the warm moist air that carried with a slight sense of human filth, and turned to see a caravan of men packing a Brahman.
She smiled a second and thought of the life she had known so long, thinking this place couldn't be as bad as reputed. Then a slave stepped from behind a trader, and adjusted a heavy pack on her shoulders. The red letter X decorated both sides of the woman's breast, and her knees buckled from the heavy load. The smile faded from her face, and she felt a defensive numbness creep across her.
Along the hills path Maude was greeted with a parade telephone poles, reinforced at the base with wooden stands. A man was hanging from the last pole she came to. Maude paused and watched him for a second, wondering if he had died yet, but to her disappointment he drew a laborious and painful breath. She stepped a little closer, and studied the face of the dark haired man carefully, but kept directing to her eyes to the letters "NCR". She stepped back, her face pale, and breathed for the first time in several seconds. Her body shook a little and she thought, "At least it's not Silus...At least it wasn't all for nothing."
Adrian then reached out and touched her elbow with the tips of his fingers, and she turned around startled. He looked oddly sympathetic "I know your first crucifixion is a bit intimidating, but follow me closely we have to meet someone."
She felt like she was moving in slow motion, the eyes of everyone in the camp upon her, wondering who she was and what she was doing. It was unnerving, but at this point exhaustion and the soar tug of her tired body distracted her just enough to ignore. Maude felt as if she was watching herself swing around a bend and come to stop in front of a large tent on the top of the hill.

The sun beat down and burned into Maude, she felt her skin growing tight like it was shrinking away from the edges of her arm and face. She pulled a bottle of water from her back pack and drank half of it greedily. The men she had entered with shuffled tiredly in the dirt, then stood stiff, at attention when a tall bearded man walked out of the tent. He looked over the two of them and turned and seemed to regard Maude.
He spoke with superior confidence, "Adrian, it's good to see you and Cattus returned to us as after so many years. I would send you to Vulpes for debriefing, but I'm afraid he is out on business. You will have to meet with his second in command."
The two men nodded and bearded man walked past them to meet Maude eye to eye. "I suppose you're the one Silus told us about. Saving your life has been no small trouble; I hope you appreciate Ceasar's generosity."
Maude stood in awe at this man's authority, she had spent plenty of time around NCR brass, but never had one approach her with such a strong sense of command. She then smiled politely, "Of course I'm grateful, well...I mean you guys did keep me from being executed as a traitor."
The man smiled a little, "Yes, I suppose this all must be a lot for you to take in, after all you've been asked to move compliantly along as a plan bigger than you took effect. You're very fortunate that the information Silus brought back to us will prove extremely useful at the upcoming battle. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Lucius, head of Caesar's Praetorian Guard. He wanted me to great you on his behalf, and assure you that you are safe so long as you prove true to his will."
"I see no reason to prove it false."
"Good. I see the report that you were beaten by the same person that laid into Silus was not exaggerated. That a female could take such wounds and give up no information is remarkable. That said, I will have a slave escort you to a tent and allow you to rest."
Lucius motioned behind him and a meek woman in a collar rushed forward and asked Maude to follow her. Muade craned her neck slowly from the woman to Lucius.
"Excuse me, Lucas was it?"
"Lucius," he raised his eyebrows and seemed a bit annoyed, "Yes?"
"I wanted to ask you...What happened to Silus...Is he...well?"
Lucius looked at her for a long quite moment, summing her up in a haughty way. He then motioned to the slave to take her off as he turned said "You'll find out soon enough."
The slave took her back to the tent, prepared water, and helped her clean up. While she was being washed another woman slipped in and replaced the outfit she had been wearing with a rust colored gown of material similar to what the legionaries seemed to wear under their armor. It fit around her modestly, the waste just under her breasts, and the body of it only showing part of her shape occasionally as she walked.
The slave that was with her then escorted her out of the tent, saying something about food, and it was the first time Maude realized how hungry she was. Her feet make little padding sounds on the dirt as the slave guided her to the side of the path anticipating a small Contubernia that was coming in from patrols. As the soldiers marched by, Maude found herself turning suddenly thinking she recognized the Decanus leading them. The man seemed to have turned his head a little bit, and she found herself watching him, despite the slave's protests.
When they got to the end of the path, the Decanus dismissed his troupes and began to walk up the path, unwrapping the head dress he was wearing. Maude squinted in the orange glow of the sunset, and told the slave behind her to be quite not taking her eyes off of the man. When he finally unwrapped the last of his face cover, he shook out his dark hair, and used his fingers to push it back.
Maude whispered "Silus," but found her feet locked beneath her.
He smiled at Maude, noting how nice she looked dressed like a proper woman and chuckling a little at the fists she was making to hold herself back. He then reached out for her and put his hand behind her neck and pressed her to his chest. Silus said to her in a strangely kind tone "I owe you a great debt.."
He winced when she put a hand on his shoulder. She pulled back and noticed a long corded welt on his neck, which moved under his clothes in a line. She reached out to touch it with a sympathetic look, but he grabbed her hand and said "Woman, what makes you think that would be appropriate."
She looked up at him, and thought 'but he isn't like Paul at all, is he?' and stepped back, confused. He looked at her chidingly and spoke with demeaning tone "It is never appropriate for a woman to touch a man in the street, Even if she is promised to him."
Maude then looked at him curiously, knowing her expression made her seem very fragile. "I..promised...what?"
Silus didn't seem to acknowledge her, and continued lecturing her "The slave that was assigned to you was supposed to explain to you the conditions of you staying in Legion lands. Ceasar has seen fit to make me accountable for your actions, to the point that he feels a union between you and I would best assure your fealty. Because I have experience breaking women and making them accept their roles as slaves, Lord Ceasar thinks making you behave properly as a wife will be no problem for me."
The slave behind her step forward and cowered "I'm sorry Master Silus, I had not yet told her what her place was to be here. I was going to tell her at dinner, and we have not made it to the mess tent yet."
Silus sneered at slave, and grabbed her by the front of her shirt, "It would be wiser if you had just brought her dinner in the tent she was staying in and not left her out here to tempt the gaze of passing men. She's more mine than you will ever be, and you need to remember that." He then tossed the woman on the ground and looked over at Maude who was aghast at his behavior. The slave simply continued to cower, beg for mercy, and tell Silus she would fix this whole thing.
He barked at the slave to be silent, and she moved quickly behind Maude as if she was taking cover. Maude turned and looked at the woman with the red X's on her shirt cowering in the dirt, and returned her gaze to Silus who seemed to have a mischievous gleam in his eye.
"I do not desire this Silus, if you would ever treat me like you do this woman, please return me to the NCR and let them destroy me."
He then stepped forward and ran his fingers behind her ear and his thumb along her jaw line. "Tell me, do you regret your decision now? If you could do it again would you leave me to rot, and spare yourself the beatings and insults you've received? Would you run from me and make me regret keeping my word and asking Caesar to spare you?"
Maude gazed up at him, caught in his yellow eyes, she thought to herself that he looked like a bull snake, and shivered. He then slid his fingers down her neck and pressed his thumb every so lightly into her throat, "Answer me, before you begin to displease me."
She then stuttered "I'm...I'm sorry..I'm just so overwhelmed. No, I have no regrets, just please...Understand, I thought I was going to be tried as a traitor, and now I'm here...and..."
She feel silent and looked down at the ground.
Silus used the fingers on her neck to tilt her head back. Hovering close to her face he said softly "Rest, tomorrow will be an eventful day. Know that so long as your words are true, and you prove loyal to Legion, you have nothing to fear."
Silus then released her. He straightened his uniform and with a smirk walked off triumphantly towards the mess hall.
The slave touched Maude's hand and said "Mistress," causing Maude to startle out of her train of though and look down at her.
"I'm sorry...I forgot you were there...And I'm sorry he treats you like that."
The slave then looked at her curiously and then smiled out of a combination of pity and sympathy. "Masters Silus is a hard man. He knows what he wants, and isn't afraid to take it. He's not as violent as some of the men here, but he is still a Legionary."
Maude nodded and looked at the final speck of him disappear into a tent as the sun shifted to red and finally hid itself behind a hill.
"What was your name girl, and do you belong to Silus?"
"It is Savanna, Mistress...and yes, I am Master Silus's property."
Maude smoothed Savanna's hair and said to her in a comforting manner "I guess that means you've had..." The slave then pulled away from her and looked a little guilty.
"Savanna, I won't hold the past against you, I'm sure you didn't choose to be in this place."
The slave girl nodded, and began to lead Maude back to the tent as the crickets chirped around them. At the entrance Maude turned and looked out over the encampment into the large expanse of starry sky. "I suppose the saddest part is, no one that is here probably had any choice. Yet here they remain."