The Price of Freedom: Innocence Lost

The Sting Of A Whip

Later that day, the students are let off training early, so you have a few hours to relax. Alexius is playing with a toy horse on wheels that Lula found and said he could borrow. You and a couple of other boys are playing a game that involves throwing little stones at a bigger stone to see who can get them closest. You decide to split the game into teams, and since the other boys have partnered up, you have to choose somebody else to play on your team.

You look around the room and consider your options. Lula isn't there and Alexius is busy playing with his toy horse. Gerda is sitting on a bench opposite you with nothing to do. You've noticed her playing the game before. She's very competitive and if you chose her to play, you'd probably win. Brasus has been watching you play the game with the other boys for awhile. He seems to really enjoy the game, but rarely gets asked to play since he's not very good at it. Zeru is sitting on his own in the corner. He might make a good player, but no one has ever asked him to play, since he doesn't understand Latin. You look over them all briefly before making your decision.

"Zeru, come play stones with us!" You call over to him. Zeru looks up at you, recognizing his name, but not understanding what you're asking. "Here!" You call him, pointing at the ground next to you, gesturing him to come over.

Zeru walks over to you and watches you and the other boys curiously as you start the game. At first he doesn't seem to understand the rules, but after watching the others play for a few turns, he starts to pick up on it, and once he understands the game, it turns out he's actually pretty good. In the end, Zeru manages to make up for the mistakes he made at the beginning and the game is a draw. Of course, you can't explain the results of the game to Zeru, but he doesn't seem to care about winning or losing. He's just happy to participate for once.

Almost as soon as the game is over, the door flies open and Rhode storms in, followed closely by your master's son Septimus, who has a very angry scowl on his face. At first you're worried that you're in trouble for what happened earlier when he challenged you to a fight, but Rhode just walks right past you, pushing your game of stones to one side, looking across the benches and at all the other students until she stops at Alexius. She stares at him in disbelief for awhile before snatching the toy horse away from him and heading back over to Septimus. "Is this it?" She asks him.

The boy looks even angrier as he takes the horse away from her. "Yes, it's mine!" He snaps, raising his hand to point an accusing finger at Alexius. "He stole it from me!"

For a moment, everything goes silent. All the other students turn to stare at your brother. He just stands there looking terrified before frantically shaking his head. "No!" He yells in his defense. "No, it wasn't me! I didn't steal it, honest! I swear!"

Ignoring his protests, Rhode grabs Alexius roughly by the arm, dragging him outside. All the other students race outside to see what's happening and you follow after them. Rhode takes you to a part of the academy you rarely see, with a large wooden pole stuck in the ground and ropes tied around it.

"Hands." Rhode firmly orders your brother, who nervously but obediently holds his hands up, which Rhode takes hold of and ties together to the pole. She then walks into a nearby building and you notice Septimus is grinning a cruel smile while she's away. When Rhode emerges, she's carrying a long, nine tailed whip with her.

"No!" Your brother screams out, pulling against his restraints and going white with terror. "No, please! I didn't steal it! I promise, it wasn't me!" He wails, desperately turning to face you. "Andreas!" He begs. "Andreas, tell them! Tell them it wasn't me!"

It wasn't him. You know that. What's more, you know who it really was. Lula had been showing off the toy to you earlier today, claiming that she'd found it half way buried in the dirt, despite the fact it wasn't dirty at all. Now you remember what she told you back on the ship, about how they'd made her a slave after she'd been caught stealing food to provide for herself. You imagine she just found the toy carelessly lying around, knowing it must belong to one of the master's children, but still not thinking twice about taking it.

Now you're faced with the dilemma. Do you hand over Lula to save your brother, or do you stay quiet and let Alexius take the punishment?

"I did it!" You shout out before Rhode can bring the whip down. All eyes turn to stare at you, and you know that in a few moments you're going to be taking your brother's place. For a second you regret saying anything at all, but this is something you have to do. "I stole the horse."

Rhode silently considers what you said for a moment. Judging by the look in her eyes, she can tell that you're lying. Still, she unties Alexius from the whipping post and then moves to drag you to it. Maybe she doesn't really care who gets the punishment, but something tells you she's only doing this because she respects your decision to protect your little brother.

"Andreas, no!" Alexius cries, throwing his arms around you, but Rhode quickly pries him away.

"Keep out of it." She orders him and she ties you to the post. "Zeru, hold him back." She orders the older boy. He doesn't understand her, so she drags Alexius over to him and puts Zeru's hand on the boy's arm. "Hold!" She tells him firmly. Zeru doesn't say anything but obediently holds Alexius back to stop him interfering.

Septimus has a cruel smile on his face as Rhode rips your tunic open, leaving your back exposed. "This'll teach you a lesson slave." The boy says with a smirk. "See what happens when you cross me."

You hear the whip cut through the air, and then the pain comes. You feel your skin splitting apart. It's a sharp, agonizing sting that hits you immediately and causes you to wail a horrific scream like a dying animal. Just as the initial wave of pain is starting to pass, the whip comes down again, bringing a fresh wave of unbearable agony. In total, Rhode only whips you about ten times, and you know she's not putting her whole strength into the punishment. Still, the pain is so excruciating you feel like you're being tortured in the deepest circle of hell.

"Stop it!" You hear a voice cry out, and turn to see your master's daughter Caecilia running over to grab hold of Rhode's arm. "Stop it! Leave him alone!" She screams, sounding extremely upset by the whole scene. "Why are you doing this? He didn't do anything wrong!"

"He stole from me!" Septimus snaps at his sister, apparently annoyed at her for interrupting the show.

"I don't care!" She cries. "Let him go, right now! I command it!"

Rhode gives a soft smile at Caecilia's orders. "Giving commands now are we, little mistress?" She asks fondly. "Just as well, we're done here anyway. I'd say the boy's learnt his lesson." She says, dropping the bloody whip to the ground and untying your bonds.

"What?" Septimus shouts, looking at Rhode, rather confused. "No, we're not done! That boy stole from his master! We haven't even started yet!"

"We're done when I say so." Rhode tells him, clearly losing her patience with the boy. "If you have a problem with that, take it up with your father." And with that, she puts her hand gently on your shoulder and leads you away to the school's infirmary.

You are confined to your bed for the next few days while your scars heal, and once they do, you'll still be very weak. It will be a long time before you can get back into your proper training schedule, and by then you'll be so far behind the other students, you don't know how you'll ever catch up.

While you recover, Alexius spends all the free time he has sitting at your side. Lula comes to the infirmary as soon as she hears about what happened and gives you a good scolding for it. "You stupid, stupid boy!" She tells you, sitting at your bedside as she gently pats a damp cloth against your many scars. "Why you say it was you? You know I took the horse. Why you no tell Mistress it was me?"

"If I told her, she would've whipped you instead. And I couldn't let her hurt Alexius, so... So I said it was me." You explain, feeling pretty stupid about it now. "It was the only thing I could think of at the time."

Lula gives you a faint smile as she wipes the blood from your wounds. "Stupid boy." She whispers, leaning down and gently kissing you on the cheek. "You never do stupid thing like that again."