Slave 3
Caesar has been in Gaul with his army for almost nine years
and the senate’s fear of him has increased beyond measure,
Pompey has been maneuvered into a position in opposition to
him and Rome is once again on the verge of civil war.
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The sounds of the wharf surrounded us and seemed strange after
days of hearing only wind and waves. Water lapping against
the sides of ships, slaves moving raw materials off of some
ships and loading finished good onto others and always the
gulls hovering overhead, waiting.
Traxos stepped down carefully onto the deck of the Eagle.
He was a man who must have been beautiful in his youth but
now, approaching fifty, his comfortable life was beginning
to work against him, his once black hair was turning gray and
heavy jowls hung from his face.
The ships crew had erected a sheet of canvas that we might
be spared the sun as we sat and talked. Traxos lowered himself
slowly to his folding chair.
He shook his head slowly. “It seems like only yesterday
you were a boy.” He sighed. “Your father is well?”
“Quite well.” My father had freed Traxos more
than fifteen years ago.
“Of course I saw him only a few months ago when he was
staying at his villa.” He shifted in his chair and the
light caught the gold rings on his fingers. “He was……….uncomfortable………..with
the political situation. I take it that that has not improved?”
“No………..quite to the contrary actually
and it is the reason for my visit. Production of all weapons
must be maximized. Spearheads, bolts, arrow heads, swords and
chain mail, all must be at least tripled. I am continuing on
to Alexandria to increase our grain shipments from there and
you must contact our agents in Sicily and Sardinia and have
them buy all that they can get. Everything is to be shipped
to our northern warehouses. It is probably best that this be
done without drawing attention to your efforts, the usual drill.” The
grain would stay good for up to three years, the weapons for
a thousand………..perhaps two.
Traxos produced a bit of chain mail from his clothing. “A
new design, stronger and more flexible than the old. We can
produce a thousand sets a month, more if you authorize additional
slaves.”
“Do what you must. We’ll need at least ten thousand
a month until this time next year, maybe more.” A faint
breeze of a smile passed quickly across Troxos’ face.
I wondered how much he was making off of this new design. I
didn’t care deeply and neither would my father, we understood
that this was the way that things were done.
Traxos and I agreed on production figures and I authorized,
on behalf of my father, the increased expenditures for slaves
and raw materials.
One of the most important points of our stop was to pick up
an elderly Greek gentleman of quiet demeanor. Servanos was
the best pilot my father and his pirate allies had been able
to find in many years of looking. His almost magical ability
to read the skies, the waves and the stars made him worth his
weight in gold. We didn’t pay him that much, of course,
at least not in sesterces but rather in security, enough money
to be comfortable and provide for the future, but more importantly
a safe place for him and his family. He was one more of the
thousands who depend on my father for a decent life. With the
guidance of Servanos it wouldn’t be necessary for us
to hug the coastline all the way to Alexandria but could instead
cross Our Sea and travel directly to Alexandria.
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The wind is at our back and the great sail is full and is
pulling us quickly forward over the water. The sun is beating
down hotly and most of the men are naked or nearly naked. My
bodyguards are sharpening the tools of their trade, the ships
crew are scrubbing the decks and making a thousand and one
minor repairs. The ballista have been set up on deck and the
ships crew have been practicing with them. They’re unbelievable,
it’s like watching a bow shoot trees through the air.
Bara is leaning against a mast that rises from the deck behind
our cabin and attaches to the roof of it, I’m lying between
his legs with the back of my head against his chest and his
huge arms around me. We’re both naked. Marco walked by
and glanced up at us and smiled, then he slowly shook his head.
Bara and I could never be seen this way in Rome but here at
sea the only ones to see us were my slaves and employees. You
can’t ever completely stop slaves from talking but then
that would mostly be to other slaves. No citizen is going to
pay much attention to what slaves are discussing and besides
everyone has their secrets.
Islands came and went, appearing on the eastern horizon like
bits or gray brown nothingness and then receding away from
us leaving me to wonder what I had just missed……..or
been spared. The sun was intense but was mitigated by the cooling
breeze and the salt spray off of the endless ocean and Bara
erected a piece of canvas over our perch on top of the cabin
so that we might not suffer its most intense rays. This also
afforded us a bit of privacy as the ends of the canvas hung
down and were tied to the roof. The crew and my bodyguards
had done much the same on various parts of the deck.
Bara fed me bits of dried fruit that Traxos had given us before
we left and it felt a sensuous thing to be taking food from
Bara’s fingers and then licking the remaining sweetness
off of them. He smiled at me every time that I did that, an
odd little smile and then pulled my face to his and kissed
me while making a strange sound in his throat, almost like
a growl that a beast might make. How conquered I was by this
boy, how defenseless against his love of me and mine of him.
The day drifts languidly into night and in our cabin I’m
lying on my stomach naked. Bara is straddling my thighs and
massaging my back with his huge hands, his erect penis lies
like a log on my backside. Bara is immense compared to me and
sitting on my thighs he covers me completely. He stretches
out fully on my back but still supporting his weight on his
elbows and knees. His erect sex is beginning to work it’s
way into me and I lift my head a bit as he kisses the side
of my neck and his large hands kneed my shoulders.
-------------------------------------------
The morning brought haze that lifted as the sun began to climb.
Unfortunately the morning also brought pirates. A pair of triremes
that we had spotted upon waking had moved to intercept us and
grew steadily larger as the distances closed. What had originally
been seen as black spots on the horizon became enormous ships
with over a hundred rowers each and twice as many fighters.
They were well separated and accompanied by many smaller boats,
thus making it impossible to go around them. We, of course
could have turned back but that wasn’t a consideration
at least not at the moment.
Our captain dropped the sail and hove to in the water. We
sat perfectly still as our own pirate flag was raised. The
huge ships slowed and then stopped, the hundreds of oars being
raised while figures other than the fighters appeared on their
decks. On the one hand the flag we were flying told them that
we were the property of one of the oceans most dangerous pirates,
my father, indirectly of course, and on the other hand they
recognized the ship and knew that it carried valuable cargo.
It always did. They made their decision.
The pause had gained us advantage. The triremes had moved
closer together and the smaller vessels had hung back. The
captain came over to me.
“Sir, we must move quickly. I propose that we sprint
to starboard. The trireme on the right will try to block us
but we’re much faster and we’ll be firing our ballista
at him which, considering the type that they are, will be a
surprise to him. It isn’t possible for the other ship
to stop us once were under way and have clear sea ahead of
us. Our major worry is that they’ll have ballista too
and we’ll also take a lot of fire from those archers.”
“Are your fighters ready, Captain?” The man showed
no fear at all and seemed as excited as a man making room for
an unplanned event into his usually busy day.
He laughed. “More than ready, Master! This is what they’re
trained for and when they can make significant amounts of money.
Believe me, they’re ready.” I knew that the men
were paid a huge bonus for this kind of fighting and they came
to hope for it. One battle like this one, if we won, could
pay for a small farm for each of the men.
I turned to Marco. “Your men, Marco?”
He smiled at me. “I haven’t let anyone kill you
yet, Master!”
I turned to Bara who stood behind me. He held a tall rectangular
shield and wore a sword. I nodded to him and looked into his
blue eyes.
Marco moved forward and spoke to Bara. “You’ll
have to watch for the arrows. I know that you’ve never
seen this before and it’s…………..well,
it’s hard to prepare for but the arrows will be falling
like drops of rain but they are much deadlier.” Marco
turned back to me. “I would be much happier if you would
stay in the cabin.”
I looked at the Captain. “We’re wasting time,
let’s move.” I smiled at Marco. “Relax, if
I’m taking up too much attention I’ll go into the
cabin………………but only if
I have to.”
Marco turned to Bara. “Use that shield to protect him!” He
pointed at me. “Remember, if he dies we all die!”
Hundreds of oars on the triremes dropped to the water and
our captain began shouting orders. As the big fighting ships
began to move towards us the Eagle sprang forward bearing off
to starboard. At the same time our own fighters lined the deck
with shields lined up in front of and above the deck. Behind
this overall shield our fighters loaded the ballista with four
meter arrows tipped with large cones of volcanic rock that
had been soaked in pitch. These flaming missiles exploded into
a ten meter wide cloud of fire when they hit something solid.
This had been my father’s invention, well, at least he
took credit for it although I always suspected that it was
his chief engineers idea. Whenever I asked him about it he
went into a spasm of rapid-fire blinking which was a pretty
good indication that it hadn’t been his idea.
The big ship to the right was beginning to close with us just
as we were trying to slip past it to the open sea. We were
moving with great speed about a hundred meters from the trireme
when the first volley of arrows came towards us. Marco called
a warning and Bara quickly pulled me back against him with
one hand while covering us with his shield. It sounded, in
a way, like someone had thrown a gigantic handful of stones
that were now thudding to the deck. I couldn’t see anything
but I could hear some of the arrows hitting the roof of our
cabin right behind us. Then when the thudding stopped I looked
out from Bara’s arms and saw the big ship turning to
port to try and head us off. I knew that this was our moment
and at a command from the captain our missiles were lit and
then the huge bows fired, sending six long fire tipped arrows
towards the big ship as our own archers let fly a volley. The
regular arrows at this distance and against that behemoth were
useless but three of the missiles hit their mark and almost
the entire side of the larger ship was engulfed in flame.
The rowers on the starboard side of trireme seemed to be out
of commission and for several moments the larger ship seemed
out of control and began to turn quickly to starboard since
the only rowers still rowing were on the other side of the
ship. The normal movement of the sea was now in opposition
to the big ship and waves slapped heavily against it’s
side as it’s huge ramming prow plunged into and out of
the water with the rhythm of the waves. Just as the fires that
had been started by our missiles seemed on the verge of going
out something volatile caught fire and there was a huge flair
up on the top deck of the ship causing bright orange and yellow
flames to leap skyward as the fighters on the deck began to
scatter. Moments later and the Eagle was free of the trap,
her attackers to her port and behind her and her speed steadily
increasing. Our men were cheering and as I turned to look back
I saw the pained look on Bara’s face.
“What Bara?” He looked confused and frightened
and then looked down to where blood was pouring out of his
leg.
“I’m sorry, Master…………..an
arrow, I think.”
