Athenian Slave (Book 2)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Charmion felt as if every breath was causing fire to score over her back. It ached to move, breath, and even think. As all her strength had left her, her knees had collapsed beneath her and her wrists, currently raw and bleeding from the rough rope that held her attached to the stoic stone warrior’s strong arm, were the only things currently keeping her upright. She tried to keep her breaths as shallow as possible. But with how rapid she had to take in air to be able to keep conscious, was causing convulsions of pain that sent her visions blurry. Punishment was always harsh but it had never been this bad. And with the fresh wounds from another recent punishment reopened, the pain intensity from the start was more than she had had to deal with from before.

Yet she still had not cried out, had not let him hear the agony that ripped through her mind. The tears she could not stop from running free. Dripping down her face, and into droplets upon the floor. With a rough tug, which startled her as she had not heard him approach, Anaxagoras released the knot of the rope, and she collapsed in a heap upon the hard surface of the courtyard. Still silent, this time it was more from the shock of the stunning amount of pain that rocked her body, there was too much to let any sound release from her throat. A with a swift kick to the stomach, with which she released the tiniest of groans. He walked of. One of the slaves he had gathered to watch the punishments, moved forward, and she watched with her wavy vision, as Anaxagoras grabbed them in a punishing grip and ordered them all to leave her where she had fallen.

His word came as if on a thick fog, and sank into her mind slowly. It was only after he had left, and the others had left her, that she managed to work out the meaning of his words. He had left her in an isolated part of the courtyard, with the flowers and bushes around her, they left her in an alcove only visible from directly on the path, and only if they were heading to this isolated corner. The only thing at that moment she could be thankful for, was that it was the most unlikely scenario for the new master to find her. And who knows what would happen if that happened. If it could be even worse, she did not want to know, nothing could make this situation better right now.

The sound of retching filled her ears, and it took a while before she realised it was in fact her making those sounds. The pain of her body jerking with each one not even registering over the agony she was already in. There was nothing to come up though. She had been denied food the day before, as an ongoing punishment for a ‘small misdemeanour’. There was only bile burning her throat, as the awful sounds grated against her ears.

As her body calmed, and seemed to accept a numbness in her stillness, she went through what else she had heard as Anaxagoras had sauntered away, the knowledge shocking her more than the blows she had felt just minutes before. If she was not up and moving by the time he came back, and he did not find her rectifying her mistakes and working diligently, then what she had just endured would be only the fleeting pain, as if stubbing ones toe. The terror roared through her, a whimper leaving her in an uncontrollable stream. Yet she knew anyone walking nearby would not hear her, they would instead here the birds chirping cheerfully nearby, at home in a place that must seem to them a paradise. And yet to her was the worst kind of nightmare.