A Gladius, A Crown and A Broken Empire (Reichpol) [Hiatus]

A painful daily life

Poland opened his eyes, the sore pain on his back and leg being the first thing to greet him in the morning. He got up, slowly making his way to the center of the domus where the other servants were already taking pitchers filled with water from the impluvium.

'What are you thinking Poland, you aren't a servant, you are a slave' he told himself looking at the ground.

When he was sold, he had tried to fight however he could, kicking and punching whoever got near him, that was until his new 'master' had decided to press on his broken leg, completely unamused when he contorted in pain. Even then, he hadn't screamed, being more specific he had decided to don't make any sound from the very moment he had entered the Roman Empire, chained and humiliated.

The man had decided to take him to his house, wanting the satisfaction of 'taming the beast' until he had him under his power.

His 'training' had been hard, a mix of learning the language and being lashed and slapped constantly when he didn't get things right, unable to fight back unless he wanted to be sentenced to death. His fighting demeanor had been reduced by fear, leaving just an obedient and silent slave.

He hated it.

He limped towards the kitchen, being careful not to fall. Even if months had passed his leg was still healing, the strain of the chores too much for it to do it completely. But of course the patricians wouldn't let him rest. Not when he had been so recently bought.

He started to help the others, preparing the food for the masters, silently obeying what he was told and remembering everything he had 'learned' step by step.

After an hour or so, they started serving everything. They cut the bread, made thin zests of lead, put little recipients with honey, served the wine in cups and prepared the plates for the family to consume while they rested.

He took a moment to breath while the family ate, checking the bandages and applying the ointment that some other servant had gave to him some days ago.

He flinched when the cold cream touched his inflamed skin, his eyes watering at the feeling.

When his leg was originally broken, the pain had be numb because of the adrenaline, but now he had nothing to mask it and sometimes he felt he was going to end up loosing his limb.

He put new bandages and collected the others to wash them at night.

He breathed deeply, lying his head on the cold wall and getting ready to walk again.

When he entered the atrium he noticed the atriensis of the house calling for him.

"Listen here, the sir has asked for you to take the children to the public library so they can study these rolls. Please take them back before the sun sets and do not go to other places. Understood?"

He nodded accepting the little paper with the names of the rolls.

Of course the man would ask for him to take them. It was a test to exam if he was trustworthy, to see if the months of mistreatment had turned him into someone obedient or a rebel.

He sighed, looking for the kids and bowing his head to the master before heading towards the door.

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Hours had passed and now they were walking back to the domus, the children talking about how boring it had been to read those rolls.

"I don't get it, if the greeks were so cool, why did our Empire conquer them? We won, they didn't, I don't see why we have to study their stories" said one of them.