by P J Mann
He scanned the surrounding to search for a way to escape. The first obstacle was the chain that tied him to a hook on the wall. Something tickled his leg and, as he turned his glance from the chain, he noticed a large spider crawling on his calf.
He cringed, and with a fast move, he pushed it away.
There is no way out. What I can do is to keep an eye on them trying to understand their real intentions.
He tried to set himself into a more comfortable position to go to sleep.
Caius walked over and covered him with a blanket. “You will sleep more comfortably with this.
“Thank you,” Flavius said, feeling weak, then succumbed to sleep.
Caius didn’t want to harm him, and though the situation didn’t feel right, there was no going back. He wanted things done in the cleanest way possible, then continue his life and keep himself far from Flavius. He hoped everything could be solved. He would prefer to have Claudia accepting his proposal and leave Rome, but he knew she might have not that choice at her availability. Things are getting more complicated when your marriage is founded on the political advantage and not on love.
I know I could never live far from Claudia, but I could never give her the same life she has with Flavius.
He glanced at Flavius, who was trying to fall asleep.
You have the love of a charming woman, but you are so much in love with Saul that you became blind also to the pain you are causing to her.
Flavius’ sleep was cursed with nightmares about being sold on a market as a slave. He dreamt about the yelling of the merchant, and his vain cries about being a Roman, a free man. He felt the gaze of potential buyers, on his naked body; those he would have addressed as Masters.
He woke up drenched in sweat and looked around. His captor was sleeping on the bed, confident that he would have never been able to break the chain that imprisoned him. His breath was steady, and it seemed as if he had no nightmares or worries to keep him from a night of peaceful sleep.
Meanwhile, the other man rode as fast as possible to Rome.
The next afternoon, he arrived, and waiting at a tavern, he sent a slave to deliver a message to Claudia to let her know that everything was going according to the plans. The boy returned a few hours later with her answer; she would receive him that evening.
He went to relax at the Thermae and waited for the night to meet Claudia. He knew he shouldn’t show his face around, but, nothing untoward had happened so far, and that gave him a comforting feeling.
Hours went by, and nothing had happened, the wait was for Flavius, excruciating; it was evening again, and the other man hadn’t returned. He wondered if Claudia decided to cleanly get rid of him without paying for his release, or if she was collecting the necessary sum, involving his father as well.
“Why hasn't your friend returned? What is going on?” Flavius asked, out of patience and afraid of their intentions.
“He will be back sooner or later, and we’ll know if your family will pay or not. Either way, you have no choice but to wait. Maybe you should enjoy the fact that he has not returned yet. At least you stay alive until then.”
“What do you mean? Of course, my family will pay!” he said, stifling the niggle of doubt that peered at the edge of his mind.
“If you’re sure they will pay, maybe you should stop bothering me with stupid questions. I might lose my patience and kill you. Your family will never know if you are still alive or not. They will pay anyway, whether we will deliver you dead or alive.”
“Are you going to kill me in any case? Is that your plan?”
“It is not my plan to kill you, but I strongly suggest you not give me a reason to change my mind. Stop annoying me with your useless questions.”
Flavius bowed his head and hoped Claudia would pay whatever they requested. He wished he could trust her as much as he did Saul. He knew that if it were him, he would do everything possible to set him free.
He tried not to think about it and reached for the food in a bowl beside him. It was nothing fancy, just dry meat, bread, and fruit, but his stomach ached from not having eaten anything since the previous day. He felt out of strength and scared about the moment when the other man would return.
He eagerly ate all the food, without noticing the taste; thoughts of his destiny plagued him.
I would never have thought that something like this could happen to me. The roads outside Rome can be dangerous, but...
Then one question popped into in his mind: How could these two men have known he had a family able to pay for his release or even for his life?
What do they know about me? “Why me?” he asked.
The man looked at him, startling on his chair, wondering whether he was figuring out everything. “What?”
“Why did you take me? How do you know my family can afford to pay? How do you know there is a family? How do you know who am I?”
Caius stood from the chair, walking to the window, turning his shoulders at Flavius. He knew that if he said too much, Flavius would understand the entire plot.
“That is none of your concern,” he replied.
“This is exactly my business. How could you possibly know where to ask for the ransom, and from whom?” Flavius challenged.
Caius stood up from the chair, hit Flavius at the temple, knocking him unconscious, and tied his hands behind his back.
He decided the best thing would be to gag him so he could not ask any further questions. Anyway, his friend would return soon with further instructions. Until then, it would be more prudent to have Flavius unable to speak.
He looked outside the door, hoping to see his friend. He could not stand the wait and started feeling uncomfortable about being there alone with Flavius, afraid he would lose control over his actions. I can’t harm or kill Flavius. That is not in the plans.
After night fell, Claudia received her guest the same way she did some days before, but Caius wasn’t with him this time.
“I guess you are coming with good news for me,” she started, keeping her voice low.
“Yes, he is in our custody. He didn’t suspect anything, but your husband is not a stupid man. It won’t take much time for him to guess what is going on. Let’s do things quickly,” he urged.
“Not so fast. You will have to keep Flavius long enough for me to handle other issues I need to take care of. Where are you keeping him?”
“He is in an old house, a half day’s trip from here. There isn’t much around, so I can’t give you the exact location. How long do we have to keep him there?”
“About two weeks.”
“Two weeks is a long time,” he considered, worried about how they could manage to keep Flavius that long.
“Please, I thought we had an agreement. We all knew the reason for the kidnapping was to give me more time to take care of other…things.”
“We thought this was going to be about three days, maybe one week, but two weeks is going to be difficult.”
“I understand, and if there were another way, I would have avoided this, but there isn’t...” she replied uncertainly.
He sighed. “Fine, in two weeks we will deliver your husband safe and sound, but how are we going to explain to him that his family needs so much time to collect the money? It seems like you don’t have any problems with it.”
“You don’t need to tell Flavius anything; you don’t need to talk to him at all, but don’t you dare harm him in any way. Treat him the best you can,” she warned.
“You don’t have to worry about that. The only thing is, you might need to replace the three slaves who were traveling with him; we had to kill them all.” He grinned.
“I don’t care about them. Slaves are easily replaced; my husband is not. Take these food supplies; if you need more, come back.” She handed him a bag filled with everything she could collect. “We will meet once more in two weeks, and you will bring Flavius to be released.”
“So it shall be. See you again, hopefully for the last time.�
�� He turned his back to Claudia.
She closed the door behind him and thought about how to contact the other men she’d spoken with. She didn’t want to waste any precious time enacting her plan, so she covered her head and walked to the tavern where she knew she could find them.
The smell of food and wine, mixed with the bodily odors of the people frequenting the tavern reached her nose as she entered.
She tried to cover it with her scarf and felt curious eyes on her, but she didn’t let this bother her and walked confidently toward their table.
“We need to talk,” she said sharply without removing the scarf that covered her hair and part of her face.
Annoyed, the man turned to see who dared to disturb him. As soon as he recognized her, he stood and, without saying a word, signaled her to follow him to the back of the tavern.
“You have guts coming here, I thought you would have sent a slave,” he snarled.
She cut him short. “I have my reasons. I received the news I was waiting for, so we can go on with the plan.”
“Tell me when.” Interest gleamed in his eyes.
“Next Thursday at the second hour of the night. I will open the door for you, so you don’t have to knock. Nobody will see you coming if you approach the house from the back and walk along the dark side. We will execute the plan without any words said. Is that clear?”
“So it shall be, for none of us wants to be connected to this,” he replied.
“See you next week then,” she said, turning her back as she traced her steps through the tavern, past the patrons watching her with puzzled expressions.
None of them could recall a noblewoman ever stepped into that tavern. When that happened, there were certainly troubles to be expected.
They just kept following her with their eyes until she closed the door behind her.
Flavius came back to his senses and realized he had been gagged. “Hmmm!” he struggled to speak.
“Sorry, my friend, you have been too annoying. I warned you. There is nothing else you can do if your life is dear to you,” Caius warned.
Fuming, Flavius exerted control he had learned in the army and shifted his focus. It was feasible that someone who knew him, someone close to his family, had decided to kidnap him, but why—aside from the money? Those two men could have followed him for some time. Maybe there was no plot against him, but rather the bad luck of having attracted the attention of the wrong people.
He didn’t know what to think anymore. He hoped his family would pay them and they would release him. Unfortunately, he could not recognize them; even if they were his neighbors, he couldn’t see enough of their faces, and their bodies were covered by long robes.
Saul started to worry about his Master. He was supposed to return two days ago, and we haven’t received any news about him. He raised his eyes from the papers. Then stood and looked out at the porch. Claudia sat in the garden, working on a needlepoint with her slaves. She showed no sign of concern. Could it be she knew something about him? He wanted to ask her but was too afraid of making her angry.
When Nara walked from the porch back to the house, he called him in a low voice, trying not to attract Claudia’s attention, “Nara, come here.”
Nara smiled and walked toward him. “Do you need anything?”
“Well, I’m beginning to be afraid. Don’t tell me that you haven’t been thinking about Master Flavius. He should have returned two days ago. Why he is late? Does Claudia know anything?
“I don’t know. If she is calm, maybe we should follow her example. These trips can be longer than forecasted, and two days are not any reason for concern. I know you wish to have him back for many reasons, but maybe you should calm down as well.”
Saul didn’t feel reassured by his words. He looked again at Claudia and felt frightened of her. As if feeling his gaze on her, she raised her eyes and met Saul’s, then smiled with a strange expression on her face.
He felt confused and smiled back, unsure whether that was the right thing to do. With her, it depended on her mood at the moment.
He closed the curtain of the room and sighed.
“Saul, please don’t take it like that. Master Flavius will be back, maybe tomorrow,” Nara said, trying to console him, knowing the only thing that could have consoled him was to be held in his master’s arms.
Nara almost recognized himself in the relationship between Saul and Flavius, except for the jealous wife watching. A dangerous position for a slave to be in. Having experienced the moods of his Mistress, he thought he had good reason to be worried about his friend.
Saul sighed, trying to quell his rising anxiety. “Nara, what should I do? Why was I given to Flavius? I just want to go home. I want to get back with my family, my mother, my father, my sister. What happened to them? I want to go home.” Tears broke his voice.
Nara looked at him, with a lump in his throat at seeing his friend crying so desperately. He hugged him. “Please, Saul. This is your home now,” Nara swallowed. “Who am I to give you good advice? I don’t even have a family. My Master was everything to me, but I would love to know how it feels to be free,” he said, finishing the sentence in a whisper.
He parted from Saul and smiled. “Look at us. How stupid we must look. What are we crying for? Come on, Saul, wipe those tears. You are not thinking of running away. You know you won’t be able to go far. That collar on your neck tells the whole world where you belong. You would eventually be brought back home, and I can tell you, no matter if you are your Master’s lover, you would be severely punished,” he said, wiping the tears from Saul’s eyes.
Saul glanced at Nara but couldn’t find any reason to even try to smile. He shook his head and lowered his gaze. “I’m not thinking to run away. I know I can’t do that.”
Chapter 15.
Someone knocked at the main door. Saul became excited as he heard the running footsteps of the slave who went to open it.
Someone came in, but he could not see who it was, so he peeked from the room to the entrance, hoping to see Flavius coming in.
He smiled when Flaminia, accompanied by a slave, entered and asked for Claudia.
She saw him and beamed with pleasure. “Saul! Come here. What you are doing there?”
Shyly, he walked toward her. Then he recognized the slave–Cassandra.
His heart beat faster and faster. He’d been sure he would never see her again. He smiled at her. She opened up into a broad smile, the one he loved so much.
“I see you are pleased to see each other,” Flaminia said.
Cassandra averted her eyes from Saul, becoming serious. “Forgive us, Mistress.”
“Why should you feel sorry? I know you two like each other. It brings back old memories. Well, this is not the time for me to reminisce. How are you, Saul? I heard you had been ill.”
“Thank you, Mistress. I feel better now. I regret that I could not join my Master on his trip.” He tried to inconspicuously touch Cassandra’s hand.
“Flaminia, it is a great pleasure to have you here. To what do I owe the honor?” Claudia said, followed by her slave. Her smile darkened as soon as she saw Saul. “Go. No time for being lazy. Get back to what you were doing.”
Saul lowered his gaze after casting one last look at Cassandra. “Yes, Mistress. Goodbye Mistress Flaminia, it was a pleasure to see you again.”
“No, Saul. Stay and entertain us,” Flaminia said, smiling.
Claudia expression contorted into a rageful grin, annoyed by her request, but made a feeble effort to hide it.
“So it shall be, Saul. Your duties will wait. Come with us,” she said, her voice trembling.
“Yes, Mistress,” he replied, almost scared as Flaminia and Claudia walked to the porch.
Behind their backs, Cassandra grabbed his hand and kissed his cheek. He looked at her as if he’d woken up from a nightmare. Holding hands, they looked into each other’s eyes, almost forgetting about everything else, then followed their mistresses.
&nb
sp; As they reached the garden, Flaminia and Claudia sat on a bench as Saul and Cassandra sat on the ground, their hands touching under their clothing. He felt such intense happiness he was afraid he would burst into laughter. He wanted to grab and kiss her to make up for all the times he missed her, without even realizing it.
Flaminia smiled at them. She had visited knowing that Cassandra was missing Saul. She wanted to check whether her feelings were requited.
She considered them both dearly.
“Claudia, where is Flavius? I thought he would have returned already,” Flaminia asked, noticing the disappointment on her daughter-in-law’s face.
“Oh… I thought that when he said two weeks, he meant approximately. Only sixteen days have passed. Do you think I should be worried?”
“No, I didn’t mean that. Of course, you cannot put an exact date on coming back if you are on a journey, I was just wondering. You'll excuse my apprehension. He is still my boy in my eyes. One day you will be a mother, and you will understand what I mean.”
Claudia looked at her and smiled. “I just hope to have Flavius back as soon as possible; it is not easy to deal with the house and the slaves all alone.”
“Well, it seems as if you are perfectly able to take care of everything; there is no riot, and your house looks in perfect order, my dear. Maybe you are worrying too much. However, you know you can count on your family and us.”
“Thank you, Flaminia. Your words are a great relief for me, as I miss him very much.” Claudia held Flaminia’s hand gently.
“Saul, Cassandra, leave us. I need to talk to Claudia in private,” Flaminia winked.
Saul stood immediately, taking Cassandra’s hand and leading her away. They ran out the back door, and they kissed, finding in each other’s lips the right words, from one heart to the other.
They kissed for a long time, reacquainting themselves with each other’s body. “Saul,” she whispered.