Vengeance Of A Slave E-Book

V.M. Sang

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Forced to watch his father's crucifixion and separated from his mother, orphaned six-year-old Adelbhert's life forever changes when he is sold into slavery in Britannia.

Years of servitude fill his heart with malice and he resolves to escape, determined to rescue those he loves and deliver retribution to the Romans who wronged him.

But as new allies shed light on old perspectives, Adelbhert begins to question his path. Will he find true freedom, or allow his vengeance to consume him?

Leseprobe

VENGEANCE OF A SLAVE

A Family Through The Ages Book 1

V.M. SANG

CONTENTS

Other books by V.M. Sang

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Afterword

Glossary of Roman Places and Welsh and Latin words

Author’s Notes

Next in the Series

About the Author

Copyright (C) 2019 V.M. Sang

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2021 by Next Chapter

Published 2021 by Next Chapter

Edited by Tyler Colins

Cover art by CoverMint

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

OTHER BOOKS BY V.M. SANG

Fantasy

The Wolves of Vimar Series

Book 1 The Wolf Pack

Book 2 The Never-Dying Man

Book 3 Wolf Moon

Elemental Worlds

The Stones of Earth and Air

The Stones of Fire and Water

Non-Fiction

Viv's Family Recipes

To my little sister

Cheryl Williams

Thanks for being you.

1

AD 70

The Romans arrived across the river and lined up all the men. They took every tenth one to be made an example of, and then went into the woods and cut down trees.

Soldiers pushed Adelbehrt along with the rest of the population to the field to watch. The commander of the Romans told them they must see what happened to those who challenged the might of Rome, even though they were not in the Empire. Rome must exact punishment for the raid on Mogontiacum.

Adelbehrt understood little of what had happened, but he knew a man named Julius Civilis had led a rebellion against Rome, and the Roman Legions on the Rhenus went to put it down. He knew some men took advantage while the soldiers were away and launched their own attacks across the Rhenus, and even laid siege to the town of Mogontiacum. He understood the legions coming back from the north relieved the siege and now the Romans had come to punish them. What he did not understand was why.

Adelbehrt tried to hold back the tears pricking his eyes. His mother stood next to him, holding his hand while they nailed the men to the crosses they had made from the trees they had cut down. Women screamed when they saw what was happening to their menfolk. One woman tried to rush to her husband, but a Roman soldier hit her with the flat of his gladius. She fell to the ground crying.

The Romans held the chosen men apart from the rest of the village. A soldier took the first man and forced him onto the cross, which lay on the ground. The victim kicked and shouted, but the soldiers pinned him down. A man came over with nails and a hammer.

The man on the cross began to struggle again as he saw the approaching soldier. Another soldier held the man’s arm still as the man with the hammer positioned the nail, then raised it. He brought it down hard onto the nail head. The sound of the nail ripping through flesh and bone assailed Adelbehrt’s ears. The man screamed—a dreadful sound to the ears of the child. The man screamed again as the soldier drove another nail through his other wrist; then he passed out.

The soldiers nailed five men to crosses and the air filled with the metallic scent of blood. Adelbehrt did not know whether to hold his breath, close his eyes, or cover his ears. Screams of the men mingled with those of the women.

The sixth man’s turn arrived. Adelbehrt heard his mother give a quiet sob. This was his father. When the soldiers laid him on the cross, his father did not struggle. He knew it would be futile. The soldier with the nails approached. Adelbehrt saw his father close his eyes and take a deep breath. When the nail pierced his flesh, his body tensed and he let out a soft moan, but he did not scream.

Adelbehrt felt his chest swell with pride. My father is braver than the others. He didn’t scream in spite of the pain.

He looked up at his mother standing calmly and with dignity, knowing hysterics would not help her husband, nor her small family. Seeing the pain in her eyes, Adelbehrt’s fists clenched at his side and his breathing quickened as he looked again at the soldiers, now raising the crosses to an upright position. These men had killed his father. His father had been innocent of the raids. He had not taken any part, but the Romans did not care. They just wanted to punish someone—to make someone a scapegoat—so others would learn not to attack the might of Rome.

The boy pushed back the tears forming in his eyes. He could hear his little sister crying as she hung onto their mother’s leg, burying her face in her skirts, but she had only four summers, so she could be excused. His baby brother slept in his mother’s arms, ignorant of what happened around him. He’ll never know his father, the boy thought, looking up at the baby. He closed his eyes to force back the tears. He would never see his father again after today, either.

He forced himself to look at the crosses, searching for the one on which the Romans had nailed his father. He knew it would be the last chance he had of seeing him. He caught his father's eyes. In spite of the pain in them, his father gave a half smile and mouthed, “Look after your mother and sister.”

Adelbehrt was six, and the eldest, so he had to show courage. A slight breeze ruffled his ash-blonde hair and he raised his hand to push it back out of his eyes. He didn’t want to see the horrible death his father was undergoing, but something inside told him he owed it to him to watch and remember. A tear trickled down his cheek, and he brushed it away. He must stay strong. He was now the man of the family.

After the soldiers had lifted all the crosses, the people turned away to return to their homes. Some women tried to rush to their men, but the Romans beat them away. They would allow no one to try to rescue the men. They formed a circle around the crucifixes and stood with gladii drawn.

As the boy and his family walked sadly away from the field of death, a legionnaire approached his mother. She stopped and shook him off as he touched her arm.

“These are your children?” he asked in their language.

His mother looked at him, and her lip curled. “Of course.”

The legionnaire reached out to Adelbehrt and touched his hair. The boy pulled back, not wanting this man, who had been complicit in his father’s death, to touch him. He shivered as the strange man smiled at him. The boy thought he looked like a wolf.

The legionnaire spoke to his mother again. “I've never seen such pale hair. I see your little girl also has it. They’ll make a fortune on the block.”

Their mother looked at him in confusion. “What do you mean, ‘on the block’?”

“Oh, we’re taking a few of you as slaves. We always need more and it will teach you not to attack Rome in future.”

“You're taking us as slaves?”

The man laughed. “Oh, not you. Just these two children. You’re not valuable, but these …”

“No! You can’t take my children,” cried the boy’s mother. “Take me, but leave my children alone. You’ve taken my husband and put him to death. Isn’t that enough?” She grabbed onto Adelbehrt and his sister, nearly dropping the baby as she did so.

The legionnaire pushed her away and grabbed the children by their arms. The boy struggled, understanding this man intended to take him and his sister away from their mother. The legionnaire pushed them in front of him, toward where a group of crying children and screaming mothers stood.

His mother’s composure broke, and she began to scream along with the others as she tried to wrest her two children from the officer. It was to no avail.

Seeing his mother crying broke Adelbehrt’s resolve and he broke into sobs, struggling against the legionnaire. He was no match for the strong Roman soldier though, and the man pushed him towards where more soldiers held other prisoners.

No matter how much he struggled, he could not escape the firm grip of the soldier holding him. He turned and tried to bite. The man laughed and said something in Latin to him that he did not understand. His mother tried to come to him, having handed the baby to a neighbour, but a centurion knocked her to the ground.

Adelbehrt heard him speaking to her in their language. “Don’t try that again or you’ll regret it. Your tribe deserves all the punishment we mete out after your attack on us. Those children will bring a fortune with their light hair. Never seen hair like that. Almost white. They’ll go mad for them in Rome.”

He kicked out at the soldier, who then picked him up. Adelbehrt turned to bite his neck, but the man wore armour so he kicked at the man’s hips. The soldier laughed and held the boy tighter.

Adelbehrt understood it would be unlikely they would escape and that, in all likelihood, he and his sister would be separated. Would some rich Roman buy them? What would happen to them when they were no longer pretty children?

The legionnaire carried the two children to where Adelbehrt saw a small group of others being guarded by more soldiers. This group consisted mainly of young boys and men over the age of ten, with a few of the prettier teenage girls. He could see no more small children in the group.

One of the girls, whom they knew quite well as she lived near to them, came and picked his sister up, soothing the sobbing child as best she could.

“Hush, hush,” she whispered to the little girl. “I’ll take care of you and your brother. I’m sure no one will hurt you.”

“They killed my father,” Adelbehrt sniffed and wiped his nose with his hand, smearing it over his face as he wiped his eyes.

“Yes, but they were punishing him for the attack on their city. You haven’t done anything, so they won’t hurt you.”

“My father hadn’t done anything either, yet they still killed him. Why are they taking us from our mother and little brother?”

“You’re both very pretty children, you know. They haven’t seen anyone with hair as light as yours, and they think you’ll bring them a lot of money.”

“Then we’re to be slaves?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so. I am, too, and these others. They’ve taken all the boys of an age that might decide to take revenge, as well as a few of us girls.”

His mother managed to break away and she rushed towards the little group of slaves, calling out his name. “Adelbehrt, Adelbehrt. Look after Avelina. Don’t let anyone hurt her.”

“I won’t, Mamma. I’ll take good care of her. Odila’s here. She’ll help us.”

They crossed the river to the Roman fort of Mogontiacum. The soldiers lifted the children from the boat and a legionnaire gripped their arms, raising a bruise on Adelbehrt’s biceps. He looked towards Avelina, who was sobbing and sucking her thumb. He tried to pull away to go to her, but the soldier holding him yanked him back.

Walls surrounded the fort, all built of stone. Adelbehrt looked wide-eyed at the defences. The village where he lived had been defended by a wooden palisade. The gate through which they entered Mogontiacum soared over them. Two towers stood at either side of the gate. Adelbehrt’s eyes opened wide as they passed through the archway.

How did the men who came to raid here think they could get past these walls and gates?

Barracks stood to the left as they emerged from the gloom of the gate. A large building occupied the centre of a courtyard with another smaller one behind it. On the opposite side of the large building were more buildings.

The soldiers ushered the group of captives to a walled compound beyond the barracks and locked them in.

He understood he and his sister would probably be bought by different people, and wondered how he could fulfil his promise to his mother that he would look after her. Adelbehrt’s eyes narrowed and he pressed his lips together. They had first crucified his father, a terrible death for the young boy to witness, then taken him from his family, home and friends. He thought he would also have his sister taken from him, so he subsumed his sorrow and fear by building his hatred of his captors.

Avelina had stopped crying and clung to Odila. He was glad of that, but wondered what would happen when she was not only taken from her mother, but from him too. Where would they take them to be sold? Here or elsewhere? Maybe even to Rome itself? What was his mother doing? Was there any chance there would be a rescue party? Could he make a break, somehow rescue his sister and get back across the river? All these questions spiralled through his head as he sat in the compound.

A legionnaire brought some food for them to eat and water to drink. He picked at the food, but drank some water. Odila tried to persuade Avelina to eat something, but the little girl still sobbed between the small mouthfuls the older girl managed to get into her mouth. Eventually, she fell asleep in Odila’s arms while still eating. The day’s events had all been too much for her. Adelbehrt himself began to feel tired, but before he went to sleep, he enumerated the reasons he hated the Romans:

They crucified my father; they took my family away from me; they took my home from me; they took my friends from me, and; they will take my sister from me.

The next day Adelbehrt woke wondering where he was. Then it all came flooding back. Tears again pricked at his eyelids, but he determined he would never again cry because of a Roman. One day, he would have revenge for all they had done to him. One day, he would be free again. He would also find his sister and free her too, should they be separated. Wherever the Romans took her, he would find her. After that, he would try to get back to his home across the Rhenus. He did not think about how he would carry out these plans; he would just take any chance he could when it came.

They sat in the compound all that day. The sun beat down on them, and all the slaves drank thirstily when the Romans brought water. The commander of the fort came and looked them over. He took a couple of the girls out and marched them over to the large building in the centre of the fort. Adelbehrt wondered what was going to happen to them. Were they going to be sold separately from the rest?

He thought about it for a while, then forgot about them as he tried to comfort his sister, who had begun crying again. “Don’t cry, Avelina. Everything will be all right. Somehow we’ll get away and go back to Mamma.”

The little girl looked at him trustingly, and a half-smile appeared on her face. “Back to Mamma? I miss Mamma.”

“Yes, so do I. It might not be soon, but one day we’ll escape these horrid Romans.”

“I don’t like the Romans. They killed Papa.”

“No, I don’t like them either. We’ll get away sometime, I promise you.”

He did not know how or when he would be able to keep his promise to the little girl, but he determined to do so, whatever the cost. He smiled to see his words had comforted Avelina somewhat, that she had dried her eyes and sat more quietly.

Towards evening, the two girls whom the commander had taken returned to the compound. They entered the compound in tears. Adelbehrt wanted to ask them what had happened, but Odila kept him away from them. He wondered why, but she managed to distract him by talking about Avelina.

The little girl had once again started to cry, seeing the tears of the two older girls, so he did not find out what caused their upset. He did notice one of the young men, who had been courting one of the girls before they were taken prisoner, became very angry and some of his friends held him back as he tried to attack one of the Roman guards.

Two days passed. Avelina cried less, but called for their mother in the night, every night. She also began sucking her thumb again. She had almost stopped that childish habit before their capture. Adelbehrt also missed their mother, but he stuck to his resolve not to allow the Romans to make him cry. Even when the tears came to his eyes, he managed to prevent them from falling.

Each day, the commander took one or two girls and they always returned crying. Sometimes, one of the legates or centurions took a girl. They took Odila on the second day. When she came back, Adelbehrt asked her what happened, but she refused to talk of it. She seemed withdrawn after that, and sat in a corner with the other girls, not talking, but staring into space.

On the third day of their captivity, a civilian man came to the compound with the commander of the castrum. He looked the slaves over and called for Adelbehrt and Avelina to be brought to him. He asked a few questions in Latin, which Adelbehrt did not understand, but assumed they were about him and his sister. The man smiled and the two men walked away, talking.

The following morning, some men came and took all the slaves to the baths and stripped them. They washed them thoroughly and took their clothes away. What would happen now? That question soon had an answer.

The men who washed them took them to a building in the market at the opposite side of the fort. They stood in a room, bare except for a table and chair under a window at one side. Guards stood by the only door, making escape impossible. A tall man entered and sat behind the table.

The man who looked them over the previous day came in. He ordered the men to take the girls out, with the exception of Avelina. Avelina cried out to Odila and tried to run to her, but one of the slaves who had bathed them, grabbed hold of her as she ran past. The Romans had taken seven girls from the village and, shortly afterwards, a slave brought two of the less pretty ones back into the room. Odila was not one of them.

Adelbehrt heard them saying the others had been bought by a brothel. He did not know what a brothel was, and the others deflected his questions when he asked. He decided, when he saw the looks of relief on the faces of the remaining two girls, that it could not be a good place. Something else to hate the Romans for. He mentally added ‘taking Odila to a brothel’ to his list of reasons to hate them.

The man in charge hung a board around the neck of each slave. Adelbehrt later learned that it gave information about the slave, including his likelihood of running away or committing suicide, as well as his name and where he came from.

They took the slaves out one at a time. He could hear people calling out something outside, but could not understand the words. When the slaves returned, the man who had taken them out, escorted them to the table by the window. People came into the room, handed over money to the dispassionate man sitting there, and then left with their purchase.

Eventually, their turn arrived. The slave merchant had left them until the last, and as they were led outside together, Adelbehrt realised they were being sold as a single lot. He could breathe once more. He could keep his promise to his mother to look after his sister.

Warm air embraced them and, as the sun shone on his naked skin, Adelbehrt blushed at being nude in front of the bustling crowd filling the marketplace. He looked around and wondered at the large numbers of people still left, since all the slaves had been sold except the two of them.

The auctioneer picked Avelina up and another man did the same with Adelbehrt and held them so everyone could see the two children. The auctioneer spoke to the crowd and pointed at the children’s blonde hair. A few aahs floated forward from the crowd, then people began to call out things. Adelbehrt decided the people were making bids for them.

They were a popular lot, if the number of bidders was anything to go by, but soon almost everyone dropped out, leaving just two men in the bidding war. Eventually, one of them held up his hand and turned away, thus indicating he, too, had dropped out. The man who had brought themout to the market place led them back into the room, and gave them plain tunics to put on.

Their purchaser walked to the table and handed over a purse of money, which the cashier counted carefully, nodded, and handed a paper to the new owner, who then came over, took each by a hand and led them out.

Adelbehrt looked at this mane He was tall, clean-shaven, with an aquiline nose and dark hair and even darker eyes. He did not look unkind, but was still the sort of man you would not want to annoy. He spoke to the children in a light tenor voice, but they did not understand him, so he called to a young man standing near the door and spoke a few words to him.

“This man says he’s your master now and wants to know how old you are,” the man interpreted.

“I have six summers and my sister four,” answered Adelbehrt quietly, looking down at his feet.

The interpreter spoke to their new master in Latin and then interpreted the next few sentences.

“He’s on his way back to Britannia and you’re going to accompany him there. You’re to call him ‘Dominus’. That means ‘Master’ or ‘Sir’. You now have your first word of Latin. You’ll soon learn to speak it though, so don’t worry.”

“I'm called Adelbehrt, and my sister is Avelina.” Adelbehrt told him, not knowing his name had been on the scroll round his neck.

“Well, Adelbehrt, you’ll be all right, just as long as you do as you’re told and show proper deference to your master and mistress. Good luck.” With that, he left them.

“What’s going to happen now?” whispered Avelina.

‘We’re going to Britannia. We must call the man who has bought us ‘Dominus’ and do as he says.”

Avelina began to cry. “Where’s Britannia? You said we’d go back to Mamma. You said you’d escape and take us back.”

“I don’t know where Britannia is, but we will escape. Somehow, we’ll get away, but I can’t promise you it will be soon.”

2

The children rode in a wagon, and their master rode a horse. A pretty, chestnut pony trotted behind, tied to the wagon. Adelbehrt found out the Dominus had bought it as a present for his son, just as he had bought the young boy and his sister for his wife and daughter. Realisation began to dawn on the boy that he and his sister were of no more worth to the Dominus than the pony.

A second wagon followed, driven by a slender slave accompanying the Dominus. Another slave, older, drove their wagon. Boxes of goods filled both.

The large wagon the children rode in bumped along the pebbly roads and the children were joggled this way and that, along with it. They sat between a large number of crates and amphorae, squashed in, as comfortably, as they could. The discomfort started Avelina crying again, and Adelbehrt comforted her as best he could, but he was only a little boy himself. Tears sprang to his eyes, but he quickly brushed them away. He would not cry. Not in front of the Romans.

Adelbehrt worried too because he could not understand the Dominus. His new master spoke Latin all the time. The boy sat in the wagon, frowning as the Dominus stopped the wagons and spoke to the slave driving theirs. The older slave got down, and the Dominus took his place on the driving seat. The slave approached the back Why the line break here? It’s still the same sentence!of their wagon. He looked quite old to Adelbehrt, but he was in fact, only in his late thirties. He had short brown hair, brown eyes, and a smiling mouth.

“The Dominus told me to come and speak to you,” he said in their language. “You can’t understand Latin yet, and I can speak your language, so I’m to help you.”

He smiled at the pair, and although Avelina stared at him with round eyes, Adelbehrt managed a weak smile in return.

“My name’s Marcus,” the man went on, “and I’m a slave, like you.” He jumped onto the wagon between the crates and amphorae that filled much of its bed, and sat down. “I think the Dominus wants me to help you both to learn some Latin so you’ll be able to understand what he wants of you, and also for when we get back to Londinium. You’ll need to understand the Domina and the little Domina when we get there.”

Adelbehrt looked at his sister, who once more sucked her thumb. “I'm worried about Avelina. She’d stopped sucking her thumb some time ago, but now she’s started again. She’s hardly talking, either. She used to be such a chatterbox before.”

Marcus looked at the little girl and leaned forward to stroke her hair. She drew back and huddled against Adelbehrt, eyes wide with fear.

Marcus studied her for a few minutes. “I think she’ll be alright eventually. It’s a terrible thing for a little girl to be taken from her home at only four. That’s how old you said she is? It can’t have been much better for you, though, Adelbehrt. You’re only—what?—six?”

Adelbehrt nodded in reply. “I miss my mother and baby brother.” He looked down at the planks of the wagon. “And my father too, of course. But he’s dead.” Tears sprang to his eyes and he blinked them away before they could fall. He looked at Marcus, eyes gleaming with unshed tears. “I have to be strong to look after my sister, you see.”

Marcus looked a nice man, Adelbehrt thought. Could he trust him though? After a few minutes, the boy decided he would trust him. After all, Marcus was a slave too, and he and Avelina would need all the support they could get against the Romans.

The wagon continued to bounce along the road, making for an uncomfortable ride. The other wagon followed, resulting in slow progress.

Inns or mail posts had grown up at regular intervals along the straight roads they travelled. The children slept with the slaves each night, Marcus and another man called Paulus. Paulus was everything Marcus was not. A taciturn man whom Adelbehrt thought did not like children very much. At least, he had as little to do with them as possible.

Marcus on the other hand continued to be friendly and talked a lot to them. He told them the Dominus was a merchant who lived in one of the cities of Britannia. He called the town Londinium and told Adelbehrt it was in the south of Britannia. The Dominus, he explained, had married a British woman whom he had met on one of his trips to Britannia, and he settled there with her. They had two children so far, a son of seven and a daughter of four. Marcus thought Avelina would be for the daughter.

She would learn how to wait on a young Roman lady, while Adelbehrt would probably be a house slave and learn how to wait tables, and be taught other duties. The Domina would most probably want to show her new slaves off to friends of the family.

“They will all be jealous that the Domina has a new slave,” he told them.

“Why?” asked Adelbehrt, curious.

“You are very attractive children, you know,” Marcus told him. “The Dominus was very pleased to be able to buy you. Your light hair is unusual. Then there’s the fact that you are children, and the Domina will be able to train you herself. That’s always a good thing. She can teach you how to do things in her own, preferred way.”

Adelbehrt nodded, and Avelina continued to suck her thumb.

Marcus began to teach the children a little Latin as their journey across Gaul progressed. They would have to learn this new language as it was the only one spoken in the household, or in most of Londinium for that matter. Some of the local barbarians, he told them, spoke their own language, but it was not like Adelbehrt and Avelina’s language.

As they travelled, he patiently pointed out things and gave the children the Latin word for them. He laughed at Adelbehrt’s attempts at pronunciation, and made him repeat the words until he had them right. Avelina sat sucking her thumb during these lessons, watching with big round eyes, but she said nothing.

Adelbehrt struggled a bit with Latin, but he tried hard. He wanted to be able to understand what the Dominus and his wife wanted him to do. He had heard tales before the Romans took him prisoner of beatings if slaves did not do as they were told quickly enough, and he became afraid it might happen to him and his sister if they could not understand what the Domina asked them to do.

By the time they reached the coast, he had learned quite a few words, although he could not yet speak Latin beyond that.

Adelbehrt marvelled at the Roman roads, in spite of not wanting to think of anything good of his captors. The Romans built their roads straight as the crow flies and they paved the surfaces, unlike the roads where he came from.

When they left Mogantiacum, they travelled west and continued in that direction until they came to the city of Durocortorum, in Gaul. They stayed there for a couple of nights for the Dominus to do some business, so Marcus told him. After that, they took a road in a northward direction. The wagons trundled on for just over three weeks, until they reached the northern coast of Gaul.

Adelbehrt stood looking over the crashing waves. He had never seen any stretch of water so huge. He could not see the other side. He had thought the Rhenus big, but he had never imagined a stretch of water so large the other side was invisible. Marcus called it the Oceanus Britannicus, and told him they were going to cross it.

This frightened him, but he kept his fears to himself, partly out of pride, but also because he did not want to transfer his fears to his sister. Her tears had dried up a bit towards the latter part of the journey through Gaul, but she was still not the happy, chatty little girl he had known in their home village. She had withdrawn into herself somewhat, Adelbehrt thought, and she still clung to him at night as he chanted his ritual.

“I hate the Romans. They crucified my father; they took my family away from me;they took my home from me; they took my friends from me; they put Odila in a brothel.” Then he added, “They took my freedom from me.” As he stood on a dock in the town of Gesoriacum early the next morning, waiting to get on the big boat taking them across this terrifying stretch of water, he realised if they did escape, a return to his own land would be nearly impossible. How could he cross this vast expanse of water again?

As he thought these thoughts, it began to drizzle, as if the sky itself lamented his plight. He almost cried again, but remembered his vow to himself that he would not allow the Romans to make him cry ever again. He put his arm around Avelina.

“Don’t be frightened.” He spoke as much for his own benefit as that of the little girl. “The Romans cross this water all the time. I’m sure we’ll be safe.”

Avelina crept closer, as though she did not believe him, and he felt her shivering. The drizzle felt cool and their thin tunics did little to keep them warm. This was supposed to be summer, he realised, but the sun seemed to have forgotten. It was as cool as autumn.

They had to wait until the oxen that drew the wagons, the Dominus's horse and the little pony, had been taken aboard the ship before they boarded. A large merchant vessel was to take them across the stretch of water to Britannia.

To the children the sea looked massive. The Rhenus that they had lived beside, although a large river, did not prevent them from seeing the opposite bank. Here, the sea seemed to go on forever. Adelbehrt knew it did not do so because the Romans crossed it regularly to Britannia; nevertheless, the young lad felt it a daunting task to cross this vast sea.

In any event, the crossing turned out to be not as bad as he thought. The wind came from the south, and although it made it cold on the merchant ship, it blew them steadily towards the land over the sea. He stood in the stern of the ship, looking towards the land as they left it—the land he would probably never see again. The wind blew his hair back as it filled the sails, blowing them to a new life.

Adelbehrt suddenly felt an excitement course through him. Yes, he was a slave and, as such, had become the property of the man who had bought him, but Marcus had told him he was a good master, and did not often beat his slaves. True, he had taken more notice of the pony’s welfare than that of the children on the journey so far, but Adelbehrt reasoned it had probably cost more than they had.

As the land disappeared, he felt the swell of the waves driving the deck up and down. He smiled. He found the motion pleasant. The drizzle still fell, but he did not think of taking any shelter. He wanted to watch the sailors move about the ship and pull ropes to adjust the sails. They seemed to work as a unit, knowing exactly what to do. This life, he thought would be an exciting one. More than sailing on the Rhenus. Fishermen went out to catch fish back home, but this was much more exciting! The sailors had to overcome more dangers here and that idea thrilled rather than frightened him.

Avelina stood with him for much of the first part of the journey. To his surprise and delight, she started asking questions. He could not answer them of course, as she asked about the land they approached. He took her to the front of the ship (‘the bow’ he heard the sailors call it) so they could see the land when it appeared.

After a while, however, he became weary of standing. The drizzle had stopped and he sat down on a coil of rope next to Avelina, who shivered again. Marcus approached and sat beside the children.

“What’s Britannia like?” Adelbehrt asked the older man.

“Depends where you mean, lad. Where we’re to land, there are tall white cliffs. The town where we’ll dock is called Dubris. It has a port at the mouth of a river. Then we’ll pass through rolling green hills. You won’t see many rivers in that part of the country, at least not like the ones you’re used to. There are a few small ones—little more than streams really. About five or six days into the journey, though, we’ll come to a large river called Thamesis.”

“How far will we travel before we come to where the Dominus lives?”

“The Dominus lives with his family in Londinium and, in the summer, in a villa in the country. Londinium is on the banks of the Thamesis. He’ll go there first, I expect, but he won’t stay long this time.”

Marcus smiled amiably at the boy. “As you've probably gathered, he’s a merchant and he’ll want to trade some of his goods before leaving the city. Last year there was a storm and lightning struck one of the buildings. It caused a fire that destroyed, or badly damaged, many buildings and homes. Some of the goods he has will cheer up the people and, after that, the rebuilding, so he’ll want to take advantage of that. People lost a lot of stuff that needs replacing.”

Marcus stood and walked to the rail of the ship, where he turned and leaned back. “The Dominus’ home wasn’t burned, but he’ll go to his villa in the country after he’s finished his business. The family always stays there in the summer. It’s common in Rome for the rich to go to their villas during the summer to escape the heat of the city. It isn’t so important here in Britannia because the summers aren’t so hot, but the Dominus likes to keep this status symbol, even here in Britannia. Anyway, there’s the harvest to get in and it’s pleasant in the countryside.”

Adelbehrt chatted to Marcus, who taught him some new Latin words, until the Dominus called for him. The children continued to sit looking towards the horizon, waiting to catch a glimpse of their new home.

Adelbehrt occasionally wandered around the boat, getting in the way of the sailors, most of whom cursed him. He knew they were curses, although he couldn’t understand them. Not all the sailors cursed though. One old man beckoned him over and let him help haul the ropes to raise more sails. Adelbehrt was thrilled doing this.

Eventually, after many hours aboard (Adelbehrt couldn’t really tell how long), a dark line appeared on the horizon. Adelbehrt thought he saw clouds at first, but Marcus, who had come back to stand by them, told him it was the coastline of their new home.

Slowly it crept toward them, until they could make out details. First, they saw the white cliffs Marcus had described and next, the green of the lush grass growing on the top. They made out the shapes of the two Pharos, one on each hill on either side of the river on which Dubris stood.

As the weather had now cleared, and the sun had not yet set, they negotiated the entrance to the docks with ease and soon drew alongside the wharf. The Dominus disembarked first and oversaw the unloading of the cargo.

Adelbehrt did not know the contents of most of the boxes and crates, but suspected some might contain clothes for sale, as well as new ones from Rome for his wife and children, and goods to replace those people had lost in the fire in Londinium. It looked as though the slaves were considered cargo along with everything else, as they were the last to leave the ship.

So, this is Britannia. Wide-eyed, the boy looked around as he descended the gangplank.

The town was small, built around the docks on the river. A few ships lay in the harbour, but none as large as the merchant ship that had brought them here. A few people walked around and some stopped to stare at the ship tied up at the wharf.

Adelbehrt took his sister’s hand as Marcus led them away from the ship towards what turned out to be an inn. Since the crossing took the best part of a day, the Dominus had decided to stay the night in Dubris before leaving the following morning.

They would take a road called Watling Street, Marcus told them. It went to Londinium and then across the country to the city of Deva in the north. The idea of building such a long road impressed Adelbehrt, even though he had no idea where Deva was. In the north of Britannia, Marcus told him when he asked, and that was a long way away.

The Dominus led them to a large inn in the small town. The elderly innkeeper knew him and greeted him warmly. The Dominus had a room to himself, of course, but the slaves, including the children, slept in the main room of the inn.