Tales of Ancient Rome: Salidia and Lydia Chaptera 9 & 10

<center><U>Chapter 9</U></center>

<center>Cleaning House</center>

Sixteen Goths were killed in the first three torture sessions because they weren't breakable. Salidia let Lydia do all the killing.

Everything fell into patterns, with only one exception.

The men were all pretty much the same. "You filthy cunts," "You fucking cunt," "you lousy cunts,""You fucking bitches," "I'll kill you when I get loose," "I'll strangle you when I get loose," "I'll gut you...." They were all brave men, or strong men, or stubborn men, Or just stupid. They would have fought the Romans to the death but for whatever reason the Romans managed to captured them alive.

It fell into the pattern of Salidia doing the torture, and Lydia just watching, in spite of the fact that Salidia had first sought an assistant to relieve herself of some of the hard work. That's because Salidia tried very hard to catered to Lydia's wishes, after that scene in the first torture session with Lydia, and Talig's assessment of the "Little Lion." Lydia seemed to want to watch and not participate much, so Salidia kept it that way. Lydia just watched, and then she would step up to do the killing. Salidia changed her assessment of Lydia when she recognized the lethality of the girl and her potential as a fighter, and she did not want to divert the girl with other distractions. She encouraged the girl's specialization by perpetuating this routine in the torture room.

There was a starting style, and a ending style.

The first five Lydia just stood in front of them for a long time and just looked in their faces, doing nothing. The men would curse, some stared back at Lydia, one spat at her. It didn't matter. Lydia just starred at them. Then, "This is for my mother," "This is for my father," then three names nobody knew. She struck with as much force as she could muster, cutting much deeper than she had to.

For all sixteen she never tried to get out of the way of the blood. She would just stand there watching them die, and stood there a long time after they were dead, and then just quietly walk away.

When the 6th. came up, he was the one exception. She stood before him like all the others, mentioned a name nobody knew, but this time she slowly extended the dagger up to his ear, and slowly drew it down, pushing hard into his throat. Then she stood for the dying and a long time after.

Then the pattern changed. The first six weren't in pain when they died. She looked at them; they looked at her; and then she struck. But after the 6th. Goth, she wanted them in pain when they died. Not non-lethal torture like Salidia with her noses and ears. Lydia wanted their last minutes to be in horrible pain, and the torture was sufficient in itself to kill them.

The first one, the 7th. Goth, she walked up to him and stared, same as usual. Then she took her dagger and placed it against his abdomen and pushed in slowly, and then sawed it down, going in and out. She sawed down until the intestines spilled out. She watched the agony in his face for a few minutes, and then slashed the throat. Not hard like the first five, but just enough to get the job done, like someone blowing out a candle close by. Just enough to get the job done. She never mentioned a name with the last batch. There were variations in how she caused the pain. She cut across the abdomen, she cut up the abdomen. One she put the dagger between his legs behind the balls, and pulled up so the dagger drove upward into the abdomen. One she drove the dagger in to the inner thigh and sawed down, on both sides. One she castrated and then she dug the dagger into the wound for a while as she watched him. Finally, she thrust the dagger through the wound and into the abdomen. The last she slowly drove her dagger into his chest in several places until he finally died.

Nobody knew why the first group was different from the second group. Everybody assumed the first group was for her family, and the second group was for friends and relatives, or for times she was beaten or raped. Salidia or any of the men would have been happy to talk to her if she wanted, but she just went off by herself after it was over. Everybody just respected her wishes. Nobody ever found out why she did what she did.

<font face="GEORGIA"><B><I>Furies</I></B></font face="GEORGIA">: Three goddesses who pursued unpunished criminals and exacted vengeance.

After the straight killings were over, Lydia went back to the way she usually was.

After the third torture session with the Goths, Salidia was forced to concentrate on organizing the new farmland, and starting the planting for spring. Following that, she had to expand the slave quarters, and purchase more farm slaves and equipment for the upcoming harvest. And she expanded the villa and the men's quarters. Although she had to leave the Goths for a while, she and Lydia continued the training sessions with the men.

<center><U>Chapter 10</U></center>

<center>One Day Among Hundreds</center>

<I>"Yea, Caius,"</I> Salidia shouted, and then laughed. She and Talig were sitting on a bench along side of the training grounds. Lydia and Caius had been circling each other, a battle of the fast against the fast, and Caius just won the round. Lydia used a right shoulder lead, with her arm at her side, and she snapped a strike up toward Caius's throat. Caius had a left shoulder lead, arms low, and blocked Lydia with his left, while he countered at the same time with a right snap over her right shoulder. It would have been a kill, but Caius went high and to the side of her neck so he wouldn't hurt Lydia.

"You almost got me, Cutie," Caius said, conciliatory and wanting to make Lydia feel better after her loss.

Salidia smiled. She loved the way Caius always tried to make people feel better. He was the "Peacemaker" of the group, and always tried to make people feel good. When he wasn't trying to make a joke, that is. It made him her favorite of the men.

"You gave it away," Talig called from the side. "I knew when you were going to strike before you moved. Your face got an angry look an instant before you struck. People do that a lot. Just before they strike their face flashes an angry look. Your face told Caius when you were going to strike. He blocked you by watching your face, not your hands or shoulders. Control your face, or you'll tell your opponent when you're going to make your move. That quick flash of anger is a dead give away."

Lydia walked in a tight circle, to physically burn off her frustration, and suddenly broke in a double step toward Caius to catch him by surprise; but when she broke toward him, he already had his arm up and extended toward her throat. Talig laughed again, "You're faster, but he's wiser. He knows people better. He knew you were frustrated and would act on it, and he was waiting for you to do something else. Don't act on what you feel; act on what you see the other person doing. You gave yourself away today: your face told him when you were going to strike, and you let him see how frustrated you were and that you wanted to do something. So he was waiting for you."

Caius wrapped his arms around Lydia, and swung her around in a circle, walking toward the bench as he swung her in the air. "It's a good thing you're so cute. We'll keep you around just because you look so good, even if you can't fight worth a damn," he told her. Taking a bunch of grapes from the side, he took some and handed the rest of them to her. "There's always next week. You can kill me next week." "Promise," Lydia asked him playfully. "I promise, Little Lion. Next week you can kill me. That is, if you can catch me," he laughed back at her. She leaned over, and bit him on the shoulder; <I>"Gotcha!"</I>

Salidia leaned back. "I want to get some more oxen tomorrow. Talig, give me Cetus, Atus, Presphene, Gadius, and Andeocene to go with me to handle the animals. I'm taking Claudius (the foreman) with me, too."

Lydia looked over, "When are we going?"

"You're not going. You're staying here. We're going to Brivas (a nearby town), and we'll have to use the horses. Those guys can all ride well enough to pull some ox behind them on the horses. You get Cato (the steward) and set up something permanent with the sheds to house additional draft animals. Maybe a whole new building. Talk it over with Cato and let me know what's decided. Cato will know if we have to build a new building, or just make an addition to what we've already got."

Lydia looked disappointed at not being included. Then her expression changed to thoughtful, "If we're going to the effort of building something, it should be strong enough for winter. And it would be wise to make it large enough to house additional animals we might buy later. We should make it bigger than we need right now. You and the men need more saddle horses, and we should plan on that now. And now's a good time to do it. The farm slaves don't have much to do in the middle of summer, and giving them some useful work would be a good use of their time."

"Good, I like that. Put the field slaves to work building some structures for winter for the additional animals we'll be getting later," Salidia answered. "Have Cato lay out the marks for a building to hold our animals, plus an additional eighteen. You and Talig help him with the slaves to start the work."

"Stop telling everybody what to do, and get your noble Patrician ass out there, M'Lady. It's our turn," Talig said to Salidia.

"Don't be rude to me, you smart assed big mouth. You treat my noble ass with more respect or I'll have you out guarding the chickens tonight," Salidia answered Talig with exaggerated disdain.