by V. M. Sang
One day, Adelbehrt found her crying in a corner of the domus. “What’s wrong, Avelina? The little Domina hasn’t punished you for something, has she?”
He frowned. Claudia did not usually punish her slave. In fact, Adelbehrt could not remember an occasion where that had occurred.
“No. No, she hasn’t. I’ve not done anything wrong, Adelbehrt. Really. I’ve done nothing wrong.” She began to sob again. “She mustn’t know though.”
Adelbehrt put his arms round his sister and stroked her hair. “Avelina, what is it? What are you afraid of the little Domina knowing? If you’ve done nothing wrong, then you’ve nothing to worry about. Whatever it is, tell me, please.”
Avelina pulled away from her brother and wiped her hand over her eyes. “It’s the Dominus. He … he tried to touch me. I was in the peristylium and there was no one around. He pushed me against the fountain and kissed me. Then he … he touched me.”
“What?” Adelbehrt clenched his fists. “He tried to rape you?”
“No, not rape. A Roman citizen can’t rape a slave, you know that. Even if he forces a girl, it’s not rape. But no, he didn’t go that far. Just touching, here.’ She put her hand on her left breast. “Don’t tell the little Domina, please, Adelbehrt. She would be so upset. She loves her father. She might think I’d encouraged him. I didn’t, honestly I didn't.” She looked up at her brother, pleading with her eyes. Sniffing, she wiped a hand over them.
Adelbehrt handed her a rag from his pocket and she used it to blow her nose.
“No, Avelina, I know you didn’t. What can we do to stop him going any further?”
The girl sobbed. “Nothing. We can do nothing! We’re slaves. We have no rights. He owns us and can do what he likes with us.” She broke into a wail. “I liked him, Adelbehrt. I thought how lucky we are to have such a good master and mistress. I know I’ll have to let him do what he wants. I’m so afraid.”
Then they heard Claudia calling and Avelina went running to respond to her little mistress, leaving a furious Adelbehrt pondering as to what he could do.
His ideas of escape had been shelved in the last few years. He found the lessons with Marcus interesting and he was beginning to become resigned to his life. He still chanted his litany of hate every night, but it was as much from habit as anything else. Oh, he occasionally thought about escape and he still hated Romans in general, if not individual Romans, but he could see no method of escape and he had shelved the thought. In any case, Avelina seemed to have forgotten her life before slavery, and he could not leave without her. He had promised his mother to care for her, after all.
In November one day, Adelbehrt sat doing calculations for the Dominus. He was in the office with Marcus and the Dominus when the Domina strode in.
“Lucius,” she shouted. “Julius told me he saw you kissing Claudia’s slave!”
“Now, Annwyl, my love …” began the Dominus, but he was interrupted.
“Don’t you ‘my love’ me! The boy wouldn’t lie. He’s only three years old. He would barely know what he was seeing. You were kissing that little slut. She’s got a pretty face and unusual hair, and you can’t keep your hands off her.”
The Dominus looked shamefaced. “Annwyl, it wasn’t serious. Just a little kiss.”
“That’s how it starts. Just a kiss. Soon, she’ll be with child by you. She goes. Now! Before this day is ended, I want her out of the domus.” She swung round and stalked out of the room with her head held high.
Adelbehrt was about to remonstrate when he felt a hand clamp over his mouth. Marcus’s voice whispered in his ear. “Don’t make it any worse by interfering. These are our masters.”
The Dominus left the room, following his wife.
Adelbehrt pulled away from the older man and said, “That’s my sister they’re talking about. She’s no slut! What choice did she have when the Dominus tried to kiss her? They can’t get rid of her just like that … can they?”
“Yes, I’m afraid they can. They can do what they like with any of us.”
Shortly after this altercation, they heard more shouting. This time it was Claudia. “You can’t take Avelina. She’s my slave and my friend.”
“Claudia, just mind yourself. Yes, she’s your slave but, as such, cannot be your friend,” her father told her. “Slaves are to attend us, not to be friends with us. It seems this is a lesson you must learn. All the more reason for this girl to go.”
“Where are you taking her? I must know that, at least.”
“To the brothel.” This was her mother. “That’s the only place for a little slut like her.”
Avelina was crying. Adelbehrt rushed out of the office to his sister. Paulus happened to be crossing the atrium at the time and grabbed the boy as he passed.
“Don’t make it worse,” growled the slave. “There’s nothing you can do.”
“But they’re taking her to a brothel.”
Paulus shrugged. “Tough on the girl, but still nothing you can do. It could be worse. She could go to a cruel master, where she would be beaten. At least they look after the girls in the brothel. Just forget her. You’ll likely never see her again.”
For all his fifteen years, Adelbehrt was nearly in tears. “But I promised mother I’d look after her. How can I keep my promise if she goes?”
Marcus approached the boy. “Your mother wouldn’t have expected your care to extend beyond her childhood. She’s thirteen years old now and a woman. And you can’t do anything about stopping the sale. The Domina has made up her mind. I think it will be a long while before she forgives the Dominus.”
That night, Adelbehrt spoke his litany of hate to himself. This time he meant it. “I hate the Romans. They crucified my father; they took my family away from me;they took my home from me; they took my friends from me; they put Odila into a brothel; they took my freedom from me; they took my homeland away from me; they took our humanity and made us property; they took my sister from me and put her in a brothel.”
Adelbehrt was still sharing a room with Titus. Titus had been put in charge of the horses and oxen in the villa and the domus in Londinium, and so travelled backwards and forwards with the family. It pleased Adelbehrt that the young man was with them.
Over the years, the pair had become firm friends in spite of the difference in their ages. Titus had learned about Adelbehrt’s hatred of the Romans, and understood it to some extent. However, he had been born into slavery and knew no other life, but now he approached the younger man.
Whispering, Titus glanced around. “I know you want to help your sister so I’m telling you something I shouldn’t know. There’s a group of Britons that helps other Britons who’ve been captured and sold into slavery. They help them escape and get away.”
“That’s no use to Avelina and me,” Adelbehrt responded flatly, shaking his head. “We aren’t Britons.”
“No, but they won’t know that. You were captured when you were very young and know very little about your past. Avelina especially.”
Titus lay back on his bed before continuing. “You can’t speak the Briton’s language, but that won’t matter since you were captured so young you’ve forgotten it. At least Avelina has. You’d have to pretend. That shouldn’t be difficult as you speak your language as a six-year-old would.”
“Are you suggesting I contact these people?”
“Well, I can’t really help there. I don’t know who they are. I heard about them from a friend whose cousin knows someone who they helped to escape.”
“That’s pretty flimsy, Titus. If I did want to contact them, how could I from your story?”
Titus leaned up on one elbow, his expression solemn. “I could mention it to my friend. He could then speak to his cousin, who may know more.”
Adelbehrt shook his head. “I don’t expect his cousin would know any more. After all, he just knew the escapee, not where he’s gone in order to speak to him. Anyway,” he continued, remembering the conversation he had with Paulus all those years a
go, about what happened to runaway slaves. “The Romans always catch their slaves if they run away.”
“No,” said Titus, sitting up and growing animated. “They don’t always. This man hasn’t been caught—the group of Britons managed to spirit him away. He’s still free! I’ll speak to my friend when I see him next.”
Adelbehrt sat up and looked at Titus. “If you wish. But what about Avelina? This is all about saving her. She has little time, being in a brothel. I want to save her before she is … well, harmed.”
“Don’t worry about that. She’ll need to be trained first. Then she’ll be kept for a special customer for her first time, as she's a virgin.”
8
At first, Avelina struggled when the Dominus led her out of the house that had been her home for the last nine years. It was all she could remember. She had barely any memory of her home by the Rhenus. Even with the little she thought she could remember, she was unsure if it were a true memory or just something imagined, based on what Adelbehrt had told her.
She was crying and when they were out of sight of the house, the Dominus stopped.
“I’m sorry for this, Avelina,” he said as he wiped one of her tears away with his thumb. “I’d not have you sent to a brothel, you know, but I can’t do anything else. My wife is adamant. Perhaps I can visit you at the brothel sometime when I’m here on business and my wife is in the country.”
Avelina stared at him in disbelief. Did he really think he could still have her?
He continued. “You’re a very pretty girl, you know. Any man would want you, and I think many do when they see you walking about town. I should get a good price for you, especially as you’re still a virgin, and I’ll probably be able to get priority with you, seeing as I brought you here. Perhaps I’ll be able to have you for a reduced price. Yes. I’ll put it as part of the bargain.”
Avelina was astonished. How could this man still think of her as a sexual partner after all the trouble it—he—had caused?
They arrived at the doors of the brothel and the Dominus knocked. A young girl a few years older than Avelina answered.
“Yes?” she asked, scanning their faces. “Come in. I’m sure we can find a girl to suit you. We have them of all kinds.”
Then she saw Avelina and turned away, calling, “Mother, there’s a man here!”
A sing-song voice answered from deep inside the house. “I expect there is, dear. It’s usually men who come to a brothel. What kind of girl does he want?”
She frowned and eyed Avelina. “Seems he’s brought his own.”
The Dominus smiled at the girl. “No, I’m not here for a girl, nor even to have this one, although perhaps sometime in the future …? No. I’m here to sell this slave to you. She’s pretty and a virgin.”
An attractive, older woman emerged through a door in the back. “So you want to sell a girl, do you? Is this the one?”
She pulled Avelina away from the Dominus and towards the light from a window. She peered into the girl’s eyes, forced open her mouth and looked in, and ran her fingers through the girl’s hair.
“She’s quite pretty and, as far as I can tell, she seems healthy. A virgin, you say? Why are you selling her? I’d have thought a rich man like you would have wanted her for himself.”
The Dominus cleared his throat and looked down, shuffling his feet. The woman noticed his embarrassment and laughed. “So you did want her then. I guess your wife found out before you actually got to seducing her properly and you’ve got to sell her. My guess is you’re hoping for a discount so you can come here and ‘visit’ your little slave girl after we’ve trained her. Well, let’s begin negotiations. Julia, take our probable new girl to meet the others.”
Avelina followed the girl called Julia through the door that the older woman had come through.
“What’s your name?” Julia asked.
“Avelina. What if they can’t come to an agreement? What will happen to me then?”
“Oh, they’ll agree. My mother likes the look of you. I could tell by her eyes. It’s a long time since we’ve had a virgin. Of course, that only lasts for the first time, then you’re just the same as everyone else here. Still, you’ll always be in demand because of your looks and your blonde hair, and for quite some time you’ll be new and that’s nearly as good as being a virgin. Now, let me introduce you to the other girls.”
Shortly, the madam came through the door. “That’s that, then. You’re one of my girls now. You need training, of course. I take it you know what goes on in this place?”
Avelina nodded eyes downcast.
“Well, I’m not risking you escaping just yet, so you’ll be with one of the girls all the time until we’ve finished training you. It’s not just leap into bed with a man and let him do what he wishes. Oh no. You need to learn how to please him properly, and all the little tricks to increase his pleasure. That’s what keeps them coming back here. Their wives don’t have the training, you see, so they enjoy themselves much more here than at home.”
Avelina wiped away a tear. She was stuck here. She had been thinking of running away in spite of the punishments if caught, but with someone watching her all the time, she couldn’t see how she would manage it. She let out a little moan as she followed Julia up the stairs to a bedroom with two beds in it.
Julia stayed and chatted. “Mother likes you, I can tell, but I bet she struck a hard bargain. She’ll expect to make a lot of money from you.”
Avelina wiped away another tear. “What’s it like,” she whispered, “being here and having to do … that … with men who come?”
Julia laughed lightly. “It’s no good asking me. I’m not one of the girls. Mother is training me to take over the business eventually.”
“She said I’d be trained. So I’ll not be expected to do …to go with men straight away?”
“No. But I expect she’ll want to start your training straight away. Probably tomorrow. Mother will want to recoup the money she spent on buying you as soon as possible,” Julia told her. “She'll get it back quickly, though, I would think. You're very pretty, and your hair is so unusual.” She took a strand in her fingers. “I think the men will go mad for you.”
That night, Avelina cried herself to sleep. She could understand, for the first time, how her brother felt comforted by his nightly litany. She did not hate the Romans. They were a fact of life. Slaves were a fact of life, too. She was just unfortunate to be a slave and not a master.
Her mistress had been kind to her and, in fact, the two girls were more like friends rather than mistress and slave. They had grown up together, after all. As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered what her brother would do. He had always been protective of her. She only hoped he would not do anything that would get him into serious trouble.
The next morning, training began. It would take a few weeks, Julia told her. She decided to hope something would turn up to help her escape; hope was better than despair, and so she forced herself to look on the bright side and smile at the madam and the other girls.
The madam decided this meant that Avelina had become resigned to her fate and she smiled back at the girl as she told her that perhaps she could have her own room after all. She would need a private room eventually, of course, when she started working. Not many men wanted to have someone else in the room when he was with a girl. All the girls had their own rooms.
During the day, when things were a little quieter, one of the girls who was not working talked to Avelina about how she could increase the pleasure of the man who came to visit. She should always smile, of course, and look as though she enjoyed it, even if she did not. Sometimes, they had to do things with horrid men—be they smelly, fat, ugly or just plain ignorant. She must still, always, look as if she were enjoying it.
Then one of the girls talked about how she would sometimes be asked to do things that shocked the innocent Avelina, and she began to become very frightened.
“Don’t worry,” one girl told her. “You get
used to it, and we often get large tips from the men, especially if they’re rich and we please them a lot. Sometimes a man takes a liking to one of us and pays for her to be released into his custody. Then she only has that one man to please and he sets the girl up in an apartment of her own. That’s the best that happens. It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes it does.”
Avelina frowned. Would the Dominus come for her and set her up so he could have her any time he wanted? Would the Domina find out if he did? What would the Domina do if that happened?
She did not want to be the mistress of the Dominus. He was an old man. If that were going to happen, she wanted a young handsome man.
A week passed. Avelina listened to the talk of the girls in the main room, where they sat so the men could choose which girl they wanted.
One man entered with the madam. “Yes, we do have a virgin,” Avelina heard her say, “but she’s not ready yet. She’s still in training.”
“The Governor won’t mind that,” the man said. “He just asked me to get him a virgin. He’s heard you have a very pretty one here.”
“The Governor? Is that who it’s for? The new Governor?”
“Yes, for Agricola himself. His wife isn’t here yet and he feels the need of a girl. He especially likes virgins. Likes to think he’s going somewhere no one has been before, great explorer that he is.” The man laughed heartily.
“Well in that case, show me something that will tell me you’re genuine and not some impostors trying to get a virgin for themselves for free. Is he coming here soon?”
“Well, he doesn’t actually frequent brothels. He wants us to take her to him at his domus. You do allow that, don’t you?”
The madam narrowed her eyes and scanned the man carefully before saying, “Yes, yes, of course, but you must take good care of her. She may try to escape if she’s out of these walls. She hasn’t settled down to her fate yet.”
