Dies Irae

Author's Note : I do not approve men hitting women ( I think it's pathetic and unbecoming ), but one must remember that things were a little different two thousands years ago. A woman was considered merely a property, with no right to choose for herself.

Aemilia does swear quite a lot, but that is justifiable by the fact that she was exhausted and surrounded by lower class people. She would have never spoken that way back home.

~~~ DIES IRAE ~~~

Secunda Charta: Keeping Is Harder than Winning

Motto: "Inimicum, quamvis humilem, docti est metuere." ---- Syrus, Sententiae , 309 ----


They had been travelling in silence for hours on the narrow mountain paths. As they got higher and higher, the air got rarefied and the winds grew colder and more chilly. From time to time, patches of snow could be seen on the rocks and the growing grass.

Aemilia had cried silently 'till no more tears had came forward and had finally resigned herself to be carried like a boneless doll. What was she going to do? Her hopes were vanishing with every passing moment, how was she going to get away in this cold and unknown environment? Aemilia was anything but a fool - even if she could escape her captors she would have little hope of surviving in the cold mountains.

Suddenly, she was pulled out of her reverie as the horse she was riding on halted at its master command. She peeped out, trying to see what was going on. A man, it seemed, was riding in a hurry towards them, coming from the opposite direction. As he reached the group, a vivid dialogue began between him and the others, accompanied by ample gestures and shouts. Finally, a decision seemed to have been taken and the entire group split, everybody going to another direction.

"What's going on?" she gathered the guts to ask her captor, although she was sure her question would be left unanswered. Her throat felt dry, and it almost hurt to speak.

"An avalanche is blocking the path, higher up. Plus, they seems to be looking for you already, so it would be better to split." He answered in a calm voice, turning slightly towards her and frowning as he spotted the quickly hidden expression of happiness and triumph. Did she really think he would let her go? The chances of the Romans finding them were non-existent: this was his territory and he knew every possible path like the back of his hand. He only wanted to split so he could be alone with her; his only hope was that his comrades hadn't noticed the stupid grin he had been desperately trying to hide.

Some time later, he was pulled out of the reverie by a slight tug at his sleeve.

"Um… mister kidnaper!" Aemilia cooed sweetly, letting the sarcasm drip in "I have to pee right now!" her voice turned slightly desperate. The horse's movements were making things more difficult.

"Can't you hold on for a little bit?" Daizus finally spoke.

"NO!" she almost shouted in an offended voice.

He stopped the horse and jumped down, only now realising that she was not at all used to the harsh conditions. Fortunately, the house was very close now, hidden by the dense forest, lest the enemies should see it. One could pass right by it, and not noticed it.

"Veni!" he said in a cold voice. "You're worse than a baby!"

"I am not!" she answered back furiously. 'The nerve of the man!' She fumbled with the large coat, trying to free herself so she could get down at her turn, but only succeeding in turning the cloth into a hindrance.

Daizus was quickly loosing his patience so he reached up and grabbed her by the arm pulling her down, ignoring her cries of protest. She landed, just as he had foreseen, in his arms and he held her there, barely noticing her struggling. It was strange to think that they would spend a lifetime together, and not a boring one it seemed. She was like a feline, oscillating between a kitten and a lioness, it seemed.

"Let me go, idiote!" her cries were muffled in his tight grip.

"Idiot?" he growled, grabbing her shoulders and staring into her eyes. "If you know what's best for you, you will never and I mean NEVER! address me as such!" he shook her violently. " I am Daizus, and you will respect me unless you want to be disciplined! Do you understand?"

"Aaahhh….stop it, you're giving me head aches!" she babbled.

"Do you understand?' he repeated more calmly, not shaking her anymore.

"Whatever!" she breathed out, slightly dizzy.

"Do you understand?" he asked again, now completely calm.

"I understand." She gave up, having more urgent matters to solve.

"Bene." He nodded, finally letting her go.

Aemilia sighed in relief rubbing her arms. The bruises will appear, despite her darker colouring, she was sure of it. Her hatred towards her captor grew and she decided with a calm that was surprising even for her to kill him as soon as possible. He was stronger than she that much was obvious, but the neck was everybody's weak point. A small dagger, combined with a moment of carelessness should be enough to end his life.

Daizus reached out, touching the swollen corner of her mouth and tracing with a finger the dried trace of blood down her chin.

"Heu! It hurts." She whined, glancing dangerously at him.

He just smirked and pushed his finger into her mouth, taking advantage of the hissing sound she had been making. Her eyes popped out in shock then glint dangerously and he pulled it out quickly before she could bit on it.

"You little …." She growled, fisting her small hands and preparing to hit him, ready to face the consequences.

Daizus just moved back his now wetted finger to the dried blood, wiping it off; then he plunged a hand into her hair, watching it in amazement, with a wonder almost child-like. Her hair was not soft and straight - on the contrary, it was quite coarse and curly. He had seen hair like that before, but have never touched it.

"Enough!" she cried out, strangely embarrassed by his wonder. It was just hair, what could it be so fascinating about it?

As soon as he retreated his hand, she turned on her heels and headed quickly into the forest surrounding them, wincing as the sharp rocks hurt her feet.

"Don't go in too deep!" he warned "There are wild animals in these forests and you are just a ebenea parva feles." He smirked to himself and addend in a low voice " But you are a pulchella one."

"Asine!" she swore, glancing around to make sure she hadn't been heard and took shelter behind some trees and bushes. With a sigh of relief she quickly took care of the business, trembling in the cold. She had been in a hurry to get away that she had forgotten the warm cloth.

Now, that she was feeling much better, she looked around carefully, wandering how much time she would survive on foot in these cold mountains. Not much, she realised: that asinus was probably right, there were lots of wild animals just waiting for an easy meal, plus she was cold and lost and - she noticed - here in the rarefied air she got tired much quickly than usual. She was tired and hungry and she just wanted to go home.

Meanwhile, Daizus had been thinking about the chores waiting for him, as they would reach the shelter. The house was one of the many temporary shelters, used just for short periods of time by his men returning home, when this sort of situations appeared. There would be lots of dust and, since it was early spring, there would be little wood for fire and even less food. Daizus was quite tired himself and, with the quickly setting of the sun, little could be done this evening.

The horse shook its head impatiently and Daizus petted absent-mindedly the charcoal mane. He was very fond of it, having raised and trained it since it had been tow months old.

Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream tore through the silence.

"Puella!" he took out his sword and rushed to the place the scream had come from. This was his entire fault, he should have made her go right there or at least have watched her more carefully. As he ran, three possibilities came to his mind: either she had been attacked by a wolf, a bear or a wild boar, or she had slipped and fallen, or she had seen a bush moving and being the spoilt brat she was, freaked out.

The only thing he saw was the lower part of her green dress, before everything went black. Possibility number four.

***

Aemilia smirked as smugly as she could with her teeth chattering and let the log she was holding fall to the ground. Bare-naked she scurried towards the rocks her robe was laying on and she pulled it on quickly. Carefully, she got closer to the barbarian and noticed, to her dismay, that her hit did little damage. Sure, he was on the ground, but he was already begin to stir lightly and to her discomfort, the sword had been caught under him and she had neither the strength, nor the time to try to pull it out. She wrinkled her nose, the bastard had been fortunate enough not to have stabbed himself.

She hurried up to the jet-black stallion, jumped on it, quickly wrapping herself in the cloth to keep the cold at bay and let out a "Gooo!" as she stuck her heels forcefully into its lower abdomen.

The horse bared its teeth yet obeyed the command, settling into a steady rhythm. Aemilia sighed in relief, things were beginning to get sunnier; though exhausted, the perspective of regaining her freedom, combined with the adrenaline pumping through her veins gave her wings. Thank Gods, her improvised plan had worked!

Many times during the ascension, the man had had to walk on foot to guide the horse and its precious cargo on the rocky narrow paths and the girl was quite terrified at the thought that she would have to do the same, especially with the abysses laying so near. Fortunately for her, the dangerous grounds were further down, there would be a good couple of hours until she would reach them.

A sharp whistling echoed around her and the horse stopped so abruptly that she was almost thrown of the improvised saddle. Confused, she looked around and was terrified to see her kidnapper running towards her. She desperately tried to coerce the horse into moving again, but the stallion seemed to have frozen. Quickly she jumped down and started running at her turn, hoping to loose him in the woods.

As she ran as fast as she could, she kept on glancing back, only to see him nearing. Merda, he looked beyond pissed! Undoubtedly he would slay her once he'll catch her! Suppressing a cry of despair, she kept on running, tears brimming in her eyes, wincing as branches tore through her robe and snags hurt her feet.

She screamed as she was tackled to the ground, and turned around to face the angry eyes of her captor, hating herself for trembling so hard. If she were to go down, she ought to do it with dignity, as a true Roman.

"Don't ever EVER do that again!" he spoke with a deadly calm, squeezing her sides to emphasise. "Do you understand?"

She said nothing, squeezing her eyes shut and trashing around like a madwoman, desperately trying to free herself.

"Stop it!" he yelled as he caught her wrists in one hand, in a successful attempt to immobilise her.

"Look at me!" he growled, but she refused to open her eyes and look at him, scared by his anger.

"I said look at me!" he spoke again, harshly as he shook her forcefully.

She felt hot drops sliding down her cheeks and confused, opened her big black eyes, whimpering as she realised that they were drops of blood from the wound she had inflicted on him. They were sliding from the back of his head, down his cheeks and beard and further down her own cheek.

Aemilia gave a last whimper and, totally drained form the last events, went limp.

~~~~~~

Inimicum, quamvis humilem, docti est metuere. = It is wise to fear your enemy, as inoffensive one may seem.

veni ( venio, is, ventum, ire) = come (to come)

bene =ok.

idiotus, -a, -um = idiot

asinus, -i = ass (the animal)

ebenea parva feles = a black kitten

pulchella = pretty, cute

puella, ae = little girl, but also lover, mistress ( like baby nowadays)