The Pain that Made Her Beautiful

PMHB ch13 (Pic of Nayeli)

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Nayeli was dazed when she opened her eyes again and found that her “dream” was no dream at all, it was very real. She scanned over the tent she was within. She didn’t have any clue where she was. She was in a tent that was, in size, very similar to master Warick’s. However, there was a clear difference in the contents. There was a large, makeshift, wooden table that was covered in maps and charts of cities and trade routs. There was one of the moon cycle and of the seasons.

Nayeli got up and dressed herself and looked about. The pain that she felt was no new formality to her, but it still limited her movement. She hobbled around the tent as though she were an elder. She looked about and saw that there was a gladius, shield, and spear in the corner of the tent, stacked neatly. She then heard footsteps approach the tent and stood as straight and as regal as she could.

It was a man. He looked as though he were of Roman heredity and even wore the attire of a high-ranking officer in the legion. Then, the man looked over to the cot and saw it empty. He almost looked confused. Nayeli took a step back and his head snapped toward her. Nayeli froze. Her heart stopped beating for a moment and her breath caught in her throat. The man’s eyes were as nothing she had ever seen.

He walked to her and she stiffened and drew away.

“Don’t fear me, Nayeli. Warick has ordered me to keep you safe and allow no more harm to come to you. My name is Avel,” Avel said.

“Sir. I thank you for giving me that which I do not deserve,” Nayeli said casting down her eyes.

“I--,” Avel’s words were cut short by a crack outside the tent. He put his pointer finger to his lips to signal Nayeli’s silence and began to look around the tent, listening to different directions and then his eyes came to rest upon Nayeli. She shivered, his iced eyes giving her the sense of nakedness.

He walked forward careful to make as little noise as possible and stopped about a foot away from the opposite side of the tent. Avel leaned forward slightly and stopped his head, left ear facing outward, a few inches away from the heavy canvas.

Avel listened for a few seconds and then shot up, turned and scooped Nayeli up in his arms. He ran out of the tent to a small clearing. When he got there, he set Nayeli on her feet gingerly and stepped back. He opened his mouth to say something in a hushed voice, but before even one syllable came out, a ring of soldiers came out of the shadows of the trees. A large man on an even bigger horse came forward and looked at them. He nodded and said, loudly, ” Do not try and run away we are more than the two of you. Do not resist. You will come willingly or not.”

With the end of the very last tone, about fifteen of the men on the clearing were around them. They had dark, thick leather armor on. They were men that Nayeli had met many times in the village and was saved, by master Deangelo, from their exploits. They were a legionnaire raiding party that was sure to have a very high-ranking officer back at whatever camp they had come from. Nayeli didn’t have master Deangelo to saver her this time with his high placing aristocracy.

“Why, sir,” Nayeli said in the way a seductress would, “what is your price to let us stay where we are?”

“Take me to the leader of your traveling party and we will compromise the price of you continuing on your way to wherever you may be going. We are the illegitimate owners of this entry into the city of Rome. You must pay a toll if you wish to continue on your way,” the man said, informatively.

Did he just say city! Nayeli thought, and then hardened. Great, some more girls get to go through what I just did. If Warick even thinks that he these pigs can even lay a finger on any of the other girls, I will have his heart on a platter, Nayeli thought with disgust.

“We will do as you command, kind sir,” Nayeli said, bowing lowly.

“What do you think you are doing!?” Avel said quietly in angry confusion, “Warick will have my head if they harm you.”

“And I’ll have his if he allows these scoundrels to inflict the same damage on these women that I have known my entire my entire servitude in the Deangelo’s,” Nayeli said just as quietly, but with passion, “I will catch anything they can throw at me. Just because this is a society where men control every woman around them doesn’t mean I can’t fight for the innocence that the devilish men have not yet stolen.”

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Avel was taken aback by the words Nayeli had spoken. She may be young, not yet two decades, but she has had more happen to her in a short period than anyone should have to know in two lifetimes, he thought. His original impression of Nayeli was that she took advantage of the weakness of lust that men possessed and had brought Hermun’s cruelty upon herself. Avel had been further from the truth than he ever would have known.

Nayeli was the most regal slave he had ever seen, and Avel knew exactly when she was near because her presence was like that of a princess. Nayeli was also the most beautiful young lady he had ever laid his eyes on, but in a wild and dangerous way. Her eyes always caught him off guard.

After Nayeli’s declaration to protect the innocence of the girls within the camp that were unsoiled, never experiencing hardship the way she had, Avel’s respect for Nayeli grew immensely. The desire to protect her from any foe grew, from just orders from his superior and friend, to that of an honest desire to do so. Avel was finally able to understand Warick’s dangerous intoxication after breathing in Nayeli’s beauty for the first time.

“So, help me under stand, why is a Roman legionnaire escorting a caravan of heathens?” the raider asked.

“Because, I am half German myself, on my mother’s side. I am the escort of the caravan on command to help them pass all checkpoints and to recruit help farther north so that this caravan does not get devastated by attacks from the real heathens up there,” Avel said, feigning honesty.

“I see,” the raider said, “ forgive my forwardness, but you must understand my inquiry. It looks rather strange for you, Roman or not, to be traveling with this Germanic caravan, especially after the raids that have been taking place.”

“I do understand your suspicions, no need to worry any further, though, ”Avel said, as assuring as possible.