Tales of Ancient Rome: Salidia and Lydia Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Give, and You Shall Receive

The next day, Salidia sat with Selenius in his tent within the Legion's camp. Salidia and Selenius grew up on adjoining estates, and, with her brother Anthony, the three had been best friends all their lives. Now Selenius and his Legion was posted to Gallia Comata to patrol and protect the strategic Via Agrippa, the main access and resupply route for Legions going further north. When Salidia fled Rome, it was here she came to her friend for refuge. Before she arrived, he found a villa for her to use.

She gave him the tunics she had gotten for him. "Do you like them? I got them to replace that moth eaten rag you're using under your armor now," she said with a self-satisfied smile. "Long shelves and thick enough for any snow."

"This is wool? It's softer than the best Egyptian cotton."

"The Sumerian trader in Massilla told me he gets it from the Kashmir mountains to the north of him. They pull it from under the throat and chest of goats rather than shear it from sheep. I had him sew on the leather across the shoulders so your armor wouldn't wear through it in a week."

"It's the softest, finest garment I've ever seen anywhere. I can't take this. It must have cost you a fortune. The Emperor doesn't have anything this fine. Nobody has anything like this! This is going to put me in your debt for a year and knowing you, you'll have me running little errands for you until next summer to pay you back. I bet you already have a list of things you want me to do for you. Let me give you something back."

"Hum, Hum, Hum," she chuckled. "I have an idea of something I might like and it won't cost you anything or take any of your time. I noticed the stockade when I arrived. Who are the men you have there?"

"Hold outs from a valley up north. Trouble makers. Goths. Stubborn, independent. It took us the better part of a month to clean out the valley; the damn block heads fought over every damn little village. For the whole valley, we only got four hundred and forty men captive. The rest fought to the death. I'm sending these down to the Colosseum, and selling the women and slaves. You know how Caligula is always bothering us for more prisoners to use in the games."

Shaking his head, "You don't want them. They wouldn't make good slaves. They're only good for the lions. Too independent and rebellious. Take some of the women,...or the slaves. The slaves are already broken in."

"The more rebellious they are, the better. I want a challenge. I told you how exciting it felt to defeat that Phoenician on the galley. Now I've got my head body guard, Talig, teaching me the knife so I can be part of it........You've seen Talig!"

"Sure, I remember Talig. I've seen him dozens of times. Who in Rome hasn't seen Talig. I saw him with Anthony when he was alive. I made it a point to attend whenever Talig was scheduled. Although it wasn't much to watch, it was over so fast. Blink and you'd miss it. Even staring at him, I had trouble seeing his hands move. The guy is more magician with his hands than Dimachaeri. The first time I saw him, I didn't know how fast he was and didn't watch his hands. It looked like he stood in front of a Murmillones ("large shield" gladiator type), and then the guy just fell down. I didn't see the strike at all. Moved faster than I could see. The elders say he's the best Dimachaeri that ever lived. You sure picked the right man to teach you the knife."

"Hummm, that's what I thought, too. But it hasn't rubbed off on me yet. He said there's still a whole bunch of things he hasn't shown me yet. He said I have to get stronger before he can teach me to become fast. I'd love to be able to move with half the speed he has."

"What are you going to do? Become a female gladiator now?"

"Ha, Ha. No. Although that is a fun idea. If Talig ever teaches me to move like him, I give it try, though," she chucked.

She continued, "That Phoenician taught me how much fun it is to fight and win when I'm actually a part of it and not just a spectator. The idea of a challenge excites me. Now I understand how you must feel after a good campaign. It's exciting to win when you have a stake in it, and aren't just sitting in the seats, away from it, and watching someone else do it. I'd like a hands on battle of the wills with your rebels. Bend them to my will! Them or me! And what's the worst that can happen? I have to kill them? Not going to cost me anything. Send the bastard in Rome an even four hundred and let me have the rest."

".... AND I was giving you the tunic anyway ......Without asking you to run errands for me for a year.....But if you want to give me forty new slaves, I can't stop you if you insist ...SELeeenieeeeeee...," she said, tickling him.

Carefree, she added, "Besides, with the money I got from the Phoenician, the whole trip didn't cost me anything, including the tunics. Consider it a gift from the Phoenician captain. His parting gift for you."

"You know, Selie, I know what I'm going to do. You say they're no good for slaves, but I bet I make some of them meek as sheep and have them working in my fields. If I don't, I'll have Casper (her Head Steward for her villa in Rome, a promoted former slave) send up a dozen amphoras of the best wine he can find for you. But if I get your rebels to be nice little lambs, you have to feed me grapes the next time we have dinner." "Hum, Hum, Hum," she stopped to chuckle at little, thinking of Selenius feeding her grapes. Then she went on, "Give me time though, a lot of time I won't be able to get to them at all. I have a lot to do setting up the new place. The slaves that came with the villa are yokels and don't know anything. And the old centurion (former owner) didn't plan on any farming. I have to set the whole place up for farming, and I have to show them everything. I do more work than the slaves do."

She went through the stockade picking out the most attractive of the Goth captives, thinking, "The lions can eat the ugly ones!" Selenius lent her some Legionnaires and chains to get the slaves home.

She now had forty more slaves than she had originally planned. Twenty going to useful jobs that would get her estate up and running, and 40 men that whetted her new found taste for domination. Plus a few new slave girls she got from Selenius to help feed them all. The slaves bought in Massilla were handed off to the Head Foreman, and dismissed from attention. The forty Goths were serious business, and they got her full attention. If she managed to beat any of them into submission, they would go to work in her fields. But most of all, they were a new game for her to play.