The Heart of Alexander

Chapter Eight- Upon The Lash

Hey guys! Sorry for not updating a lot lately. It's been stressful dealing with highschool, work, and Christmas time. Anyways I hope you guys enjoy and I will try to update some more often.

Being untied relieved my hands of the stressing knots that bound them together. Thetima tugged me along hurriedly to the outskirts of the camp. I began to trip over my own feet, dust kicking up into my face as we raced our way to freedom. As we reached the end of camp, I planted my feet in the dust, looking determined. Theti came to save me, yet I couldn't leave behind dear Titus during the escape. Theti looked back at me in confusion, pulling my arm once more, yet I stayed put. 

"What are you doing? We have to go now!" Theti insisted.

"Titus is back there. We can't just leave him there. Not after all that he has done for me!" I whisper yelled.

"Then, hurry!"

We turned back and headed into a fenced in area where the hostages would lie. There I saw Titus, leaning against a pole, beaten and bruised. My heart broke at the sight of him. How could I ever allow him to follow me into this torturous hell? We had to leave now, if we all wanted to stay alive.

"Titus," I whispered from outside the fence, praying him to hear me.

His head whipped around to see me, his eyes widening in pure shock at the sight of me, "Roxana? How did you...?"

"There is not enough time to explain, we are both getting you out of here,"

"You can't. They will catch you. They already murdered an Egyptian who tried to escape. I can't let you get yourself killed,"

I no longer cared if I were to be captured. Everything had already been taken from my clutches. I myself had nothing left to lose. But I would not allow them to hold Theti and Titus. They would burn before I would let one soldier touch Theti and Titus.

I climbed over the wooden fence, sneaking through the sleeping hostages over to where Titus was bound. I saw the hopeless souls of men as I weaved through the sleeping bodies. They almost seemed like corpses. I was frightened. Would this happen to us if we stayed here any longer. I wasn't going to find out.  I was almost finished undoing his ropes, till I felt something sharp pressed to my throat. My eyes slowly followed the shining edge of a blade to see a soldier.

"You!" the soldier growled before I kicked him in the groin, watching him drop to his knees in pain before kicking him in the head, rendering him unconscious. 

I pulled the ropes apart from Titus and instead of dropping them, I tied them securely around the soldier. As I unraveled the ropes around his ankles, Titus rubbed his sore wrists. I sympathized him, recalling the soreness that came with being bound, both physically, emotionally, and mentally. 

"Look out!"

Before I realized what was going on, a rather large object collided with my head. My body dropped to the ground, an agonizing pain erupting in my skull before blackness took over my vision and the world faded into darkness. I wondered if captivity would be my life.

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Screaming at the sight of Thetima being whipped, I thrashed against my bonds. I had already watched Titus be whipped and left lying in his blood near to death. His screams would last for hours on end and they still lasted within my mind, wrecking havoc inside my head. Horror shook my bones when I saw them do the same to Thetima, stripping her down of all dignity. I didn't know how many more lashes she could bear before losing consciousness altogether. I witnessed her weep, her silver strands splattered with the blood that ran down her backside. But even as she wept, her eyes never left mine. Seeing her do so, I know she wasn't ready to give up yet.