by Andromeda -
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Cornelius sat in a miniature version of his father’s throne, his eyes locked onto Ayanna as she was thrown on her knees before him. How he relished at the sight of her upon her knees. How he wished she would just give in to him and then he wouldn’t have to go through all of this to get what he wanted. But she was going to pay, for making a fool of him. There was no way she was going to get away with that.
“Ayanna,” he said in a loud voice. “You have been brought to me on the charges of theft. How do you plead?”
Ayanna looked at him, her hazel eyes narrow. “Not guilty.”
“Then explain why this was found in your chambers?” he asked, holding up a small sack of coins.
She looked at the coins. “I do not know.”
“So, this just appeared there?” he asked. He knew quite well on where the coins had come from.
“Apparently,” she answered.
“You dare mouth off to the son of the emperor?” a guard barked.
“I am just stating facts,” she answered. “I have not seen those coins before in my life.”
“It is clear that you are lying,” Cornelius said. “And because of this, I must punish you. The punishment for theft is death, which will be carried out…”
“Brother!” Aurora’s voice yelled as it cut through the silence.
Ayanna breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Never was she happier to see Aurora in her life. Cornelius, however, clearly looked less than pleased.
“Hello, sister,” he said through gritted teeth. “What brings you here?”
“I heard that you were trying to sentence my slave to death,” Aurora answered as she crossed her arms. “Last time I checked, Ayanna was a part of my household, and thus, under my command.”
“This was found in her items,” he said, tossing the bag of coins at her feet. “Imperial gold. She must be punished!”
“Ayanna has never stolen a thing in her life,” Aurora pointed out. “She is undoubtedly loyal to me.”
“But not me,” he said. “I mean…, to our father. For all we know, she had this saved up to try and run away. That, too, is worth the death penalty.”
“Ayanna wouldn’t do any of that!” Aurora protested. “You are taking this too far! You know that she is innocent of these crimes! All you want to do is punish her for not giving herself to you! You are obsessed with her and hate that she picked someone other than you!”
Cornelius stood to his feet, towering over his sister. “You go too far! I am the heir to the throne, and by the gods, I have the right to have her thrown out into the streets or have her head on a platter! My personal feelings don’t have anything to do with this!”
“Yes, it is,” Ayanna snapped. “And you know it. You are nothing more than a weak man who can’t stand to want someone who doesn’t want you back!”
“ENOUGH!” Cornelius roared. “You will not speak to me like this. I will not tolerate this!”
Aurora did not back down, and instead, she stood up against her brother. They argued back and forth for what seemed like hours, and in the end, she was able to make him reconsider the execution sentence. However, he still said that she had to be punished, and ordered for Ayanna to receive twenty lashes.
“No!” Ayanna protested as she tried to stand up, but the guards grabbed her and dragged her out of the throne room and to the arena. She was tied to the whipping post, and then the back of her gown was ripped open. She tried to pull free, but it was no use as the binds were too tight.
The hiss of the whip filled the air as it was pulled back, and then all she felt was pain. She felt the strikes, all twenty of them, upon her back, and though she fought to keep from crying out, she could not help it after the tenth lash came.
Aurora begged for Cornelius to bring this to a stop, but he ignored her. His eyes were fastened upon Ayanna, who was crying out in pain with every lash. He felt himself become aroused at her pain, he felt himself become aroused at her suffering as all she had to do was submit to him and none of this would have happened. But, she just had to be hardheaded and rebel. Well, now she hopefully had learned her lesson.
When the lashes were over, Ayanna was untied from the post, but she slumped against the ground, unable to stand on her own two legs. Slaves came to pick her up and carry her to their quarters, though she could feel nothing. She could hear them talk amongst themselves to try and figure out a way to heal her. She kept fading in and out of reality.
Suddenly a great pain stabbed her in the middle of her gut, a pain that she had never felt before. A pain that felt as if she was being torn in half. Blood began to pool between her thighs and it was with horror she realized that she was losing her baby.
“No!” she cried out. “No! No! No! I can’t lose it!”
But there was nothing that could have been done. The stress of the beating had made her miscarry, and when the slaves understood what had happened, there was nothing they could do to save the child. A midwife was sent for, who had to work quickly to try and save the life of Ayanna, which was all they could do.
She came in and out of consciousness, hearing the shouts of slaves, seeing the bloody clothes, feeling the weight between her legs. Ayanna did not know what was going on around her, but in the back of her mind, she knew she had lost her unborn. Yet, in all this…, it felt like a dream, it felt as if none of this had really happened and she had just fallen asleep.
“Ayanna?” a gentle voice said, breaking through the darkness. “Ayanna…, can you hear me…?”
Her eyelids felt like lead, but Ayanna forced herself to slowly open her eyes. The light around her was blinding and her sight was blurry, yet after some time, her eyes adjusted and she was able to see that it was Aurora kneeling next to her.
Her friend’s eyes were red and puffy from crying, and she bent down to hug her friend tightly around the shoulders. “I’m so glad you are alright,” she said. “Oh, Aya…”
“My baby…,” Ayanna whispered. “Where…where is my baby?”
Aurora quickly pulled away, her eyes showed nothing but sorrow. It was at that moment Ayanna knew this wasn’t a dream.
“Ayanna…” Aurora said gently.
“No…,” Ayanna cried. “No! No! No!”
At that moment, the door to the room she was in opened, and a massive figure stood in the door that could only belong to one person: Kaiser.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The horses kicked up thick clouds of dust as Kaiser and the other gladiators rode inside the carriage. They had left Capua less than a week ago and were almost back in Rome. They had been gone for three months and were coming back home victorious. They had won every possible match there was, and had not lost one of their fighters, compared to Capua, who had lost all of theirs.
Kaiser and Artemus were the most victorious, as they had won in the ‘team up’ rounds, against the Capua champions and were given a chest of gold in reward. Half of the gold was taken by the emperor, as he was their ‘sponsor’. They were allowed to keep what was left.
When he looked at the gold coins, Kaiser could hardly believe that he held such a sum within his hands. He did not know that a slave would even hold such a thing, but he knew what he was going to do with it. He was going to save up his winnings, and then, if he found enough favor with the emperor, he was going to buy he and Ayanna’s freedom. This, however, was only if he did not win his freedom in the arena matches.
Before he had left Capua, however, he had bought an item that he now kept on a rope around his neck. It was a small golden ring, and though it was nothing compared to what the Roman women wore, he wished to give it to Ayanna as a promise of his eternal love. He knew that slaves weren’t technically allowed to marry without the permissions of their masters, but he secretly hoped Aurora would maybe give them permission in the future.
Yet, as the cart pulled up to the palace, he found that the air was silent, and hardly anyone was around. This confused him, as it was the middle of the day and th
ere was normally someone working. Not only that, but he found it a bit heartbreaking that Ayanna was not there to greet him. Although, they had arrived a month early, so he placed the thought in that.
When they were taken to the Ludus, the men who had stayed behind were training, and they all looked happy when the men approached, yet they all looked at Kaiser nervously. He could tell something was wrong.
“What has happened?” he asked them. “You all seem…distant.”
The men looked at each other nervously again, as if judging whether to tell him a secret or not, but in the end, it was Barack who stepped forward. One look at the African’s face and Kaiser knew that something was wrong with Ayanna.
“Where is she?” he asked. “Tell me now.”
Barack nodded to the men to get back to work before he led Kaiser into the palace. He knew that gladiators were not normally allowed within the walls, but he did not care. He needed to know what had happened to his beloved.
He was led to the medical chamber, and as they approached, with each step, his heart began to sink lower and lower into his shoes. Suddenly, there was screaming, a woman’s screams of sorrow and Kaiser recognized the voice as hers. It could only be Ayanna’s.
Taking off running, he burst through the door and found Ayanna on one of the beds, Aurora with her arms around her as she tried to hug her, but his love was fighting her. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she screamed ‘No. No. No,’ over and over, though he did not understand why.
“What’s going on?” he asked Aurora. “Ayanna…Bärchen, please…”
Ayanna looked at him, her lips parted as if to speak, but then her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped back against the bed, unconscious.
He was at her side in a moment, his arms around her waist as he gently shook her. “Ayanna? Ayanna, wake up.”
Noting bandages wrapped around her waist, he gently turned her around and peeled back a layer. What he saw made his blood boil like a volcano. She had been whipped, and quite hard from what he had seen.
“What happened…while I was gone?” he growled to Aurora. “Don’t you dare tell me that you don’t know!”
Aurora swallowed. The ice-blue gaze of his eyes made her greatly uncomfortable. “S…she was accused of stealing… I tried my best. I tried to get my brother to change his mind, but…”
“Why would he whip her?” he demanded. “Everyone knows that she is no thief!”
“It…it wasn’t the theft…,” Aurora said softly. “He…he tried to force himself upon her and…”
He had already flown out of the door before she could finish her sentence. The thought that a Roman had dared put his hands upon what was his infuriated him beyond no end. He was going to handle this.
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Cornelius was training with the gladiators normally at this time of day, though ‘training’ was really a strong word, as they all knew to let him win. The Roman had no skill with the sword, and would only pick the weakest novice among them to fight with. This time, however, that was to not happen.
“ROMAN!” Kaiser bellowed as he burst into the training arena, his eyes blazing as if fueled by a thousand suns.
Before Cornelius could defend himself, Kaiser was upon him. He tackled the Roman to the ground and both of them fell upon the hard sands with a heavy thud. The German pulled his fist back and punched him square in the face, followed by another, and then another, all the while he rained curses upon him in German.
“Kaiser!” Barack shouted. “Have you lost your wits?”
Kaiser ignored him. All he could think about was getting revenge upon the man who thought himself ‘man enough’ to try and force himself upon a woman. All he could think about was getting revenge upon the man who thought himself ‘man enough’ for having her whipped after she rebuffed his advances.
He did not know that Cornelius was doing this, as Ayanna had never told him, and the thought of her being scared to do so just made him punch harder. He was not going to stop until he was dead.
“ENOUGH!” Barack roared. “Get him!”
It took three men to take Kaiser off the Roman, and even then, he was still fighting them as they dragged him back. Slaves came to carry Cornelius away, who was heavily bleeding and no doubt had several bones broken. All around them were scared, as they knew if Cornelius died, then Kaiser and a couple of them would die as well as the emperor raged.
“Take him to his cell!” Barack ordered. “Now!”
Kaiser was dragged away, but as he did so, he did not stop cursing Rome for what it had taken from him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
For a week she stayed within the medical center, and when she was finally able to leave, it was not as she used to be. Ayanna moved like a shadow of her former self, not talking, hardly eating, and standing so still like she was a statue. She constantly cried, rubbing her now empty belly, the place where her child was supposed to be growing within, but instead it was stolen from her.
My baby…she thought to herself. My poor…poor baby…
During this hard time, she did not see Kaiser, which made her sorrow even worse. She knew that he had gotten into a fight with Cornelius, as the Roman had the marks to prove it, but what exactly happened during the fight she did not know. All she knew was that Cornelius looked like he got the shit beat out of him and Kaiser…she did not know what had happened to him, and the thought of something, or someone, hurting him just terrified her.
She had lost her child, and for all she knew, she had lost her lover because he was trying to defend her honor. How it made her love him more, but she knew that he must have been punished one way or another, she just hoped that it wasn’t too bad, she just hoped he was still alive.
Kaiser was still alive, though just barely. The guards were instructed to give him the minimal of food and drink. He knew that they were planning his funeral, as they joked and heckled him through the iron bars. They said terrible things, but Kaiser knew that he could not let them see him break. He had to stand strong.
One day, on the eighth day of him being locked within his cells, guards suddenly came and grabbed him. They dragged him through the halls, and to the arena, where he was pushed on his knees before the emperor and his children.
“Kaiser,” the emperor said. “According to my son, you have attacked him without reason and severely injured him. What say you?”
“I say I had every reason,” Kaiser said through gritted teeth. “Your son tried to force himself upon my woman. Then had her falsely accused of theft to punish her.”
“He speaks the truth, Father,” Aurora said at the emperor’s side.
“You both lie,” Cornelius hissed. “I want that German’s head on a plate for what he did to me!”
“Enough,” the emperor snapped. “You both tire me with this petty arguing. Kaiser, when you first got here your attitude towards Rome needed some improvement. While I do find my son’s actions dishonorable, he was just being a boy. Ayanna is a beautiful woman, and she does not really belong to you. She belongs to my daughter.”
“And I told him not to touch her,” Aurora hissed. “He has tried to rape her more than once, and refuses to listen!”
“Enough!” the emperor barked. “Daughter, behave yourself before I send you to your chambers.” He turned back to Kaiser. “I do not fault my son for seeing a beautiful woman. And like I said before, she does not belong to you. Even if she married you. You are a slave, and while I am proud of how far you have come, your actions towards my son make me think you are not yet ready to go out in the civilized world. I am revoking your ability to fight in the elimination matches this year.”
Kaiser’s world came crashing down at those words, as he could not believe he had just heard them. All that he had done…all the blood, sweat and tears he had shed…were to all be for naught. Once again, he felt that burning hatred. His hand balled into a fist, gripping the dirt. He wanted to kill, he wanted to tear someone apart.
He could do it. He was inches from the imperial family and could kill them all, but then he would be cut down almost instantly by the guards, and his life would be for naught. And then, what would happen to Ayanna if he was not here anymore? She needed him, she couldn’t afford to lose him right now, as he sensed there was something else behind this assault she was not telling him.
So, he slowly loosened his fist and bowed his head. “I respect your decision,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Good,” the emperor said. “And I hope you understand that I am doing this for your own good.”
“I understand,” Kaiser said as he raised his head to look them in the eyes. “I understand everything.”
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She was able to go to his cell that night, as Kaiser was still allowed to have his champion cell. The moment she entered, he had his arms around her, pressing her to his chest as he inhaled the scent of her hair. All she could do was weep in his arms. She had to let all this anger and frustration out.
“I have missed you so,” he said softly. “What…what did they do to you?”
“How much…of the truth do you want to know?” she asked.
“All of it,” he said firmly. “Do not hold back.”
She didn’t. She finally broke down and told him everything. The constant pursuing of Cornelius. The day he cornered her in that sacred altar room. The almost-assault. The whipping. The baby…
All the color left his face when she told him about their child, the child they could have had, had she not been whipped.
I…I was almost a father…, he thought to himself as she laid in his arms, in his bed. I almost had a child…
He had always wanted children, but like her, he did not wish for them to be born under the yoke of Rome. That was why he constantly fought in Germania. That was why he fought so hard in the arena to earn his freedom, to earn this freedom. There was not another person in the world he could think of having a child with, and the knowledge that they had taken this thing from him, this precious thing from him, was the breaking point.