Roman Enslavement

All material is original and copyrighted

Author's note: `celsus malum' translates as `proud evil', `balatro'
means `fool', and `bardus' means `stupid'. Go figure.

Roman Enslavement
Part Eleven

Dischordia studied the young man with the blonde hair, greatly interested. Yes, she knew him. Celsus Malum. Well named. He'd been a bit of help to her more than once. He was regarding the slave cly. ly. Dischordia smiled. *I don't think I'm going to have to put any ideas into his head. I believe there are plenty enough nasty thoughts running around up there without my help.*

Celsus was fresh from a night of carousing with two of his lower class friends. As he exited the tavern, he'd been thinking. *Lower class. Huh. Gutter, more like. They can be amusing, but last night was a bit of a wash out. Only two wenches in that rat hole: one of them with skin like bad cheese, and the other asn asn as a skinned rabbit. Had a body like a twelve year old boy. Damnation, if that was what I wanted, I could find a twelve year old boy easy enough.* Then Balatro had interrupted his revery with his shout.

He'd looked, expecting to see some weary drudge. Any slave owned by someone in this district couldn't be worth much, they had to be on their last legs. He was surprised by what he saw.

The woman was clean, well fed, and looked healthy. She wasn't a wrinkled granny, but neither was she an underdeveloped slip of a girl. She was a full blown, well rounded woman. He looked closer. She was rather nice, actually.

Her hair wasn't gold, or red, as was most popular with the fashionable sort of slaves these days, but it was a rich, dark brown, and it curled. She had blue eyes, so possibly she was from one of the more barbaric northern territories. That would account for the outlandish dress. Imagine, trousers on a woman. Yes... imagine that.

Celsus smiled at the woman, and she shifted nervously. *Ah. She's not stupid. And she's not a whore, or she'd be smiling back. I know we look like good potential customers.* \\"Balatro, Bardus... Ease around her. Slowly and cautiously. Block off the exit."\\ They grinned, and sidled to either side. Celsus lifted his voice. \\"Woman, come here."\\

*Fe... ... proprinquo. That's... uh... woman, come here. Oh, hell no! What's that word Gaius uses when he doesn't want to do something Tessa tells him to? Nego.* "Nego!"

Celsus blinked. Reluctance wouldn't have surprised him, and outright refusal was unexpected, but interesting. \\"Do you understand me?"\\ He took a step toward her.

"Uh uh!" Mozelle backed up cautiously. She made a shooing motion at him. "Just go have a few more. Find a nice bar maid. Get in a fight, but leave me alone."

She was waving him away. Trying to order him. Oh, this was too delicious. And she did look nice and fresh, not hard used. Pretty, pale skin. He wondered if her nipples were pink, or brown? \\"I think perhaps you're a bit mad, slave, but that's all right."\\ He came closer.

"I am so out of here." She turned, and almost ran into one of the grinning drunks. *Oh, crap! How did he move that quiet, drunk as he is?* It didn't really matter how he had done it. The fact of the matter was that her exit was blocked. She couldn't go back the way she had come. And there was another of them blocking off the side street. The only way out of this little area was past the blonde guy. That was alarming.

*I wonder if screaming will do any good? I don't know the language, but a scream is a scream. Problem is, they might take it as a call to a show instead of a request for help around here.*

Her thoughts were interrupted when a rough hand grabbed her arm. She reacted without thinking, which was probably why it worked. Instead of pulling away, which was what Bardus had expected, he moved toward him, coming in close, putting a hand on his shoulder. He thought for a moment(with the stupid assurance of his own desirability that only the very drunk can achieve) that she was going to embrace him. Instead, she held him firmly, and lifted a knee into his crotch.

His hand dropped. He dropped. *Yep. Like my mama always said, lay one where it'll do the most good, and they won't be thinking about anything but pain.*

She heard a laugh behind her, but was too busy starting for the now open exit to look around. Unfortunately, the guy on the side wasn't as drunk as he'd appeared. He caught up with her easily, snagging the back of her shirt, then throwing his arms around her from behind.

Wishing for once in her life that she was wearing heels, Mozelle stamped down on his feet as hard as she could. Heels would have been better, but a sturdy athletic shoe seemed to work pretty well, if you're assailant was wearing sandals, anyway.

He howled, but he didn't let go, so she threw her head back as hard as she could. It connected with his face. It hurt--she'd probably have a knot, but there'd been a satisfying crunch of cartilage, and a yell. She'd broken his nose. He let go.

Unfortunately, as he did, a cloth settled over her head. The thick fabric enveloped her, fluttering down around her waist, and suddenly it was cinched tight around her by a pair of strong a She She thrashed and kicked in the musty darkness, but couldn't struggle free. That was when she started screaming.

Celsus held the struggling, shrieking, cloak-wrapped woman with a little difficulty. \\"Dammit. Bardus, quit clutching your stones and come help me, before she gets away. Balatro, don't you have a room near here?"\\

The other man was clutching his nose, thick streams of blood dripping between his fingers. His voice was muffled. \\"I couldn't afford it any more."\\

\\"Damn."\\ Celsus looked around. \\"Ah, well, there's a stable over there. Plenty of good clean straw for a nice, soft tumble. Bardus, take her legs."\\

Bardus was upright, but he clutched his gonads again, eyeing the thrashing feet. \\"Let Balatro do it."//

Balatro was trying to wipe blood on an already filthy tunic. \\"I don't want to go near that crazy bitch unless she's tied up."\\

Celsus snapped. \\"We can do that in the stable, if that's your pleasure."\\ He smiled wickedly. \\"Actually, that is my pleasure, sometimes. But first we have to get her there. Come on. Whichever of you helps me get her there and hold her down can go second."\\

\\"You're not making plans for my slave, are you, Celsus?"\\

Celsus peered over the struggling, noisy bundle in his arms. The dark haired man glaring at him was familiar. \\"Lupus?"\\ Well, of course it was him. The same age, but two years behind him at the academy. Not slow, in any way, just kept back by a doting mother. If Celsus remembered correctly, Lupus was always willing to spoil whatever fun he was having with the laves, or the younger and weaker students at the academy. \\"This is yours?"\\

\\"She is."\\

\\"Man, what on earth are you doing letting her wander about down here?"\\

\\"She took my brother to his tutor. Let her go, Celsus."\\

\\"Oh, I'd really rather not. I took a bit of trouble getting hold of her. Bardus has a bruised sac, and Balatro will be even uglier than before with that mashed nose. She owes us."\\

\\"She owes you nothing. A slave is permitted to defend herself when her master hasn't given permission for her taking. She's defending my property. Now let her go."\\

\\"Oh, come on, Lupus. Don't be greedy. Let me borrow her for a quarter of an hour."\\

Lupus raised an eyebrow sardonically. \\"Not very ambitious, are you?"\\ Celsus scowled. \\"Let her go, or I'll report you to the guard."\\

Celsus sighed. \\"Oh, very well. Spoilsport."\\ He pulled the cloak off the woman's head, and quickly grabbed her hair, pulling her head back. He buried his face in the smooth spot where her neck flowed down into her shoulder and gave her a hard, biting kiss, then shoved her toward Lupus.

Instead of running to her protector as he had expected, she once again surprised him. She turned and leaped at him, scratching for his eyes. He only just managed to catch her hands and throw her back again. She stumbled, and her owner caught her. And held her as she tried to scramble back at him. \\"Now that was not self defense, Lupus. You need to get that hell cat under control, or she'll get you both in trouble."\\ He sighed. \\"What a pity. All that... energy."\\ He refastened his cloak, and strolled away, trailed by his limping, muttering accomplises.

Mozelle glared at Lupus, and tried to shake herself out of his arms. "I was doing okay."

She was surprised when he shook her violently. "Stupid!"

"What did I do?"

"Not here." Maintaining a hard grip on her arm, he started to drag her home.