by S. E. Green
~3~
“Where you from?” Camille asks, bringing me from my perusal of the island.
“Miami, Florida,” I say.
“I’m from Denmark,” she tells me, and it only just now occurs to me that she has an accent.
“How did you end up here?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I was in Berlin hopping hostels and partying. Met these guys. Got drunk. Woke up here.” She nods. “You?”
I take a second to piece together the details. “I went for a job interview. My sister was with me. It was at this big mansion owned by Mr. Vasquez. I was interviewing for a live in maid position.” It was going to be great. A nice place for me and Lena to live. A good new school for her… wait, is Vasquez behind all this?
“What about your family?” she asks. “Your parents? Surely they know you’re missing by now.”
I shake my head. “It’s only me and Lena.” Mom left way back when Lena was just a tiny girl. Dad died two years ago, putting me at nineteen in charge of raising a pre-teen. “What about you?” I ask.
She gives a harsh laugh. “I got nobody. Been a system kid pretty much my whole life.”
I look around at the other young women in the cart. Are they the same? No family? Does no one know they’re missing either?
The cart turns right and clumps down a stone-laid driveway. A multi-level villa comes into view with outbuildings attached. A soldier sees us coming and opens the gate. We enter a circular outdoor area that I’d say is about fifty feet in diameter.
Other women and men dressed like us in short brown tunics are busy training with wooden swords and kicking and punching posts. I count fourteen in all. Four women and ten men. All with either shaved heads or very short hair. They collectively stop when they see the cart come to a stop.
The fierce bald man climbs down, circles around, and unlatches the door. “Out,” he says in an accent I can’t quite place. It’s the first time I’ve heard him speak.
He unlocks our shackles as we climb down and indicates we should line up for whatever’s next. Of the twenty or so girls in our original holding cell, only six were brought here.
The cart pulls away, the gate to the outbuilding bolts shut, and we stand confronted with the other men and women captives. They begin walking up and down our line.
One of them pokes a woman standing two down from me. “Look at this one all scared.”
“This one’s fat,” another taunts.
“And this one smells,” yet another sneers.
What are they doing? They’re one of us. We’re one of them. Aren’t we?
An enormous black woman stops right in front of me. “What was Dominus thinking getting this one?”
I narrow my eyes.
She throws her head back and laughs.
I stare up at the roof of her mouth, her white teeth, her dry lips, and something just snaps. I shove her in the chest, she stumbles back, but doesn’t waste a second coming right at me.
I crouch down, ready. My father always warned me my temper would be my downfall. She goes to shove me, and I back flip away and come up with a smirk that makes her full on charge.
“Enough!” The fierce bald man barks, and the big black woman immediately halts.
She scowls at me. “This isn’t over.”
“Whenever,” I challenge, and she snarls.
“Greetings!” someone shouts, and I glance up to see the short skinny man who bought us at the marketplace standing on a terrace overlooking the training area. Beside him is a gorgeous dark-haired lady and behind them two young girls.
Like me, both girls wear a tunic, but where mine is brown, theirs are blue. Neither of them is my sister.
“Welcome to Saligia,” the short skinny man says. “You may call me Dominus and this is my wife who you will refer to as Domina. Each of you are lucky enough to have been bought by this ludus. You have been blessed. This is sacred ground. We do not fear death, we embrace it! We are warriors.”
The big black woman and all the other fighters in the training area give a guttural war cry. Camille and I shoot each other a confused look.
“We are the proud owners of Sera, the serpent of Saligia.” He points to the big black woman and she sticks out her unusually long tongue. “And Ignatius, the fire of the arena.” He indicates an enormous man who has to be at least six foot five and has horrible, jagged scars all over his face and body.
Dominus waves his arm through the air in a grand gesture. “We are a self-sustaining society here in Saligia. A decadent one where desires can be explored, fantasies lived, and perversions satiated.”
“I’m now a slave?” I ask. “Because nobody has told me anything.”
Dominus smiles down at me. Smiles. “Welcome, Valoria.”
My jaw clenches. “That’s not my name.”
“Valoria, my little defiant one. My little warrior.”
That’s what my dad used to call me. His little warrior. I don’t like that this man, Dominus, is using the same term.
“You will find, Valoria, that this can be a good new life. You will be well cared for if you do as you’re told. Let me ask you, what did you have going for you back wherever you’re from? Bills paid? Roof over your head? Food in your belly?”
“Not always,” I answer back. “But I was free. You don’t own me. You can’t own me. I don’t know what kind of sick fantasy world you have going on here, but it’s not right. I want to go home.”
“And freedom you can have again,” he answers, totally ignoring everything else I just said. “As soon as you pay back your expenses for bringing you here. But you’ll find you’ll want to stay. Ask anyone in the training area. Ignatius was freed and now chooses to stay on his own will. There’s nowhere else you can have such worth than right here in this ludus and on Saligia.”
I look down the line at all the warriors, staring with rapt attention. These people are brainwashed. And Ignatius, the scarred man, why would he stay if he is free?
“Alexior is in charge of your training.” Dominus looks over to the fierce bald man. “He will turn each of you into the type of warrior that gives this ludus our outstanding reputation. But make no error in judgment. You are slaves. You belong to me. You will be executed if you try to escape. Do not cross me in any way.”
I swallow, and the sound gurgles in my head. I don’t doubt that for one second.
Dominus nods to Alexior. “Bring me Valoria.”
“What?” I take a step back. “Why?”
Alexior ignores me and begins calling out other names, pairing each of the trained fighters with one of us new women. Camille gets paired with Sera, the serpent of Saligia.
When he’s done he points to me. “Let’s go.”
I don’t move.
“Let’s. Go,” he warns.
Forcing my feet forward, I follow him into the shade of an outdoor room with wooden tables and benches piled with bowls and cups and spoons.
We step through an archway and walk down a long tunnel. Iron bars barricade the left side and through the bars I see what must be our living quarters. Canvas cots line the walls, and above those span long skinny openings that let in sunlight and fresh air.
Next sits a big open room with a large in-ground stone bath tub containing clean clear water. Along the wall hang white towels and blades attached to leather straps. My gaze zeros in on those blades. I could use those for a possible weapon.
In each corner of the large room sits a brick stand with a hole in the center. A sponge attached to a wooden handle hangs beside each one.
“This is where the women sleep,” Alexior speaks and his Australian accent really comes through now. I couldn’t quite place it before with his one and two word commands. “Men are on the other side. Men and women do not interact unless you are training or eating. Or unless Dominus allows it. You are required to bathe and shave once a day.”
“And if I don’t?”
Alexior stops and turns to me. Sunlight illuminates the left side of hi
s face and body, accentuating his bunched muscles. I take in his strong jaw and the hollows caused by the tunnel’s shadows. He’s younger than I originally thought. Maybe mid-twenties, just a few years older than me.
“You need to control your temper and your mouth,” he quietly speaks. “This place is no joke. And that’s the last time I’m going to say that to you. Got it?”
Who does he think he is speaking to me that way? But I set my jaw and remind myself I’m here for my sister. “Yes, I got it.”
I follow him the rest of the way down the tunnel and we come to a stop at a locked iron gate. A soldier on the other side unlocks it and we step through. We climb a long flight of stone steps to yet another locked gate where a different soldier unlocks and opens it.
I continue following Alexior through the villa as I take in the spaciousness and opulence. Slaves quietly mill around. Some polish floors while others carry trays of food or pitchers of drink. No one looks at me. I search each of them, but don’t see my sister.
Where my tunic hangs loose, they all wear a gold rope tied around theirs. I suppose that signifies they work in the villa.
We cross through yet another spacious room with a shallow pool running the length. Rose petals drift along the surface.
An open skylight illuminates several naked women reclining in the water, one of whom is Domina, the wife. A few slave girls stand nearby, ready with food and drink.
My gaze darts around. Where is Lena? Where is my sister?
~4~
As if sensing my thoughts, Domina glances up from the pool and looks right at me. I stop for a second, but then she moves her gaze from me to Alexior and gives him a long desire-filled once-over.
He doesn’t return her stare and instead seems to pick up pace.
“How many did you bring in today?” one of the naked women asks.
“Six,” Domina responds, taking her eyes off Alexior.
“Any men?”
Domina sighs. “No. I don’t know why he’s dead set on fighting the women.”
“All the men seem enthralled with it. My husband made nearly half a mil after the last round of fights.”
Half a mil?
Domina rolls her eyes. “Enough of this. I’m bored. You.” She points to one of the slave girls. “Take off your clothes and get in the water.”
My heart skips a beat and I turn. What? That slave girl can’t be more than fifteen. They can’t make her get in the water with them.
Alexior death grips my arm, and I jerk back as he roughly drags me from the room.
“But—” I fight against his hold.
He pushes me up against a wall, and my head hits the stone behind me. I cringe. “But—”
“Stop it,” he warns, planting his muscular arm across my chest. “There is nothing you can do. They will kill you if you try. What about that don’t you understand?”
Anger and frustration and fear boil through my body and tears come to my eyes. I fist my hands to stop them from shaking. “What are they going to do to her?”
Alexior doesn’t immediately respond as his gray eyes search mine. I don’t know what he sees in them, but whatever it is causes him to lessen his hold on me. Just a little.
“They are going to do whatever it is they want,” he tells me. “Whatever it is that pleases them. That is the reality of this place. The sooner you comprehend that, the easier this will be for you.”
The tears wetting my eyes begin to fall. My sister. Oh, God, my sister. I start to slide down the wall, but Alexior grips my arm and hauls me right back up.
“Dominus is waiting,” he says.
I barely register him pushing me through one final archway until I’m standing in an office. Dominus sits behind a dark wood desk with a calico cat perched on the corner. I look around for a phone, a computer, anything modern, but it’s just as historically accurate up here in the villa as it is down below in the slave’s quarters. They’re really taking this role play thing seriously.
Off to the right spans the terrace where Dominus addressed us all only moments ago. Training noises echo up from down below.
Dominus glances up from his paperwork. He puts a pen aside and studies me. Gone are the smiles he had on the terrace. In his sunken face I see his true self. Up close like this I realize he’s older than I thought. I’d say he’s in his sixties.
He doesn’t stand as he begins addressing me, “Tell me, Valoria, why did you want to come with me so badly?” He looks pointedly at the dried blood still on my face. “Enough so that you took a mild beating.”
“Mild beating? I’d say the fat man did more than that.”
Dominus doesn’t respond to my snippy remark.
I tug my arm from Alexior’s grasp, and he backs off a step. I take in a deep breath and straighten my shoulders. “Because you have my sister.”
Dominus lifts his gray brows. “Do I now? And who is your sister?”
“Her name is Lena. And she looks just like me.” My throat unexpectedly swells, and I try to clear it. “She’s only thirteen. She’s innocent.” I swallow and fight the tears I feel forming in my eyes. “Please don’t hurt her. I’ll do anything you want.”
He just continues looking at me, unfazed by my switch in emotion. Then his eyes roll up, like he’s thinking, and it fills me with dread.
“No,” he says, bringing his eyes back down to mine. “You are mistaken.”
“What… but I was told you had her. That you bought her.”
He lifts his brows. “Told by whom?”
Slowly, something expands inside of me, widening, pressing out. “The wo—the woman in line.”
He shakes his head in a deliberate back-and-forth motion. “Again, you are mistaken.”
The reality of what I’ve done slams into me. Lena’s not here. I open my mouth, but words get lodged in my throat. Whatever is expanding in me bursts, and I cry out as it buckles me forward and I sink to my knees. No! Then where is she?
Dominus scoots his chair out and slowly makes his way around the desk to my side. Gently, he touches my shoulder and it strikes me as an odd thing for him to do. “Shh. It’s going to be okay.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and try to stop myself from crying, but I can’t. I bury my face in my hands. My sister. She’s not here.
Dominus runs a soothing palm down my back. “Valoria, look at me.”
I ignore him, rocking back and forth, my catching breaths echoing in the room around us. My little sister. How am I going to find her now?
“Valoria,” Dominus repeats, “I don’t have your sister. But I’ll do you a deal. I’ll find her if you fight for me. Win. And I’ll bring her here.”
His words slowly sink into my grief, and I swallow hard. My fingers scrape down my face as I lift my head and look up at him. Escape. I could escape. But where would I go? I can’t just jump off the shores of Saligia—wherever that is—and swim.
He smiles. “You like the way that sounds?”
I sniff and wipe my nose. No, I don’t like the way that sounds. But what other option do I have? Right now he is the only link to finding my sister.
I make myself nod. “Yes.”
“Good.” He helps me to my feet and remains standing in front of me. “I paid a lot of money for you. Don’t disappoint me.”
“I won’t.”
He motions for me to step out on to the terrace with him. Down below everyone practices with wooden swords and shields just like they were when our cart first pulled in.
“Sera!” Dominus calls out, and she glances up. He doesn’t say anything, just nods, and before I have time to blink, Sera grabs Camille and puts her in a head lock.
I suck in a breath and stare down into Camille’s wide frightened eyes.
Dominus turns to me and holds his thumb out sideways. “If I turn this up, Sera will snap that girl’s neck. Is that what you want?”
“No,” I immediately answer. “Please let her go.”
“Then you need to control yourself. Do not
ever speak unless you’re spoken to. You can be defiant in the arena when you’re making me money, but not here. Here you train, you learn, and you do whatever I ask.”
He tilts his thumb down to Sera, she releases Camille, and I simultaneously breathe out.
“I won’t be kind the next time,” he tells me.
Frantically, I nod.
Dominus looks over my head to Alexior. “Get her cleaned up. She stinks. You know how much I hate filth. And get rid of all that hair.”
“How many fights do I need to win to get my sister back?” I ask, already disregarding the rule of when to speak.
But Dominus ignores the transgression. “It comes down to money. The more you win, the more money you make me.”
“And for us both to go free?”
He smiles, but there’s nothing kind in it. “Between your expenses in bringing you here. The fifty thousand I paid for you. Your general upkeep and training. Locating your sister. The money I will then have to pay to purchase her. We’re talking over a mil.”
I think of my sister. Camille. That girl in the pool with Domina and her perverted friends. A million dollars… “I’ll do whatever you want.” If that means keeping everyone safe.
Dominus smiles. “Exactly what I wanted to hear.”
~5~
I pull into my sister’s middle school and there she is slumped against the chain linked fence. Alone. Always alone.
She hears my clanking car before she sees it, and pushing off the fence, she slings her backpack over her shoulder.
All the other kids are saying goodbye to each other for the day and no one spares her a glance or a word as she shuffles across the parking lot toward me.
Lena’s the mini version of me. Short. Dark features. In my hand-me-down clothes, it’s like looking in a mirror.
She creaks open the door, tosses her pack in, and slides into the torn seat. “Hey,” she says.
“Hey, Lil’ Bit.” I put the car in gear and putter off. “Good day?”
She shrugs a skinny shoulder. “Made an A on that algebra test.”