Slaves to the Roman Empire

Prologue

"Come on Sophia! We'll be late"

"Coming!" Sophia turns to her brother, Elliott, and kisses him on the forehead. "Keep mama safe for me, okay?" Elliott flashed her with his toothless grin and nods. Sophia then turns and races after her friend, Margaret, towards the king's castle. It was spread to everyone in the kingdom that he had something to say about the recent attacks from the empire next door. For the past three weeks, houses have been burned down, men have been slaughtered, women raped and beaten, children trampled over by the soldiers horses, and markets ransacked and tarnished. The people threatened to start a rebellion and overthrow the king if he didn't do anything about it but he has finally decided the answer the people's request. Sophia and Margaret stopped by the town fountain to catch their breathes. Sophia looks in the direction of the castle and see that they have a great distance left to go. Sophia groans and looks at Margaret. "We are NOT gonna make it to the castle and time to gear the king's speech." She says with a heavy sigh. Margaret puffed out her cheeks and stands up. "Like hell we're not. I've been waiting to hear that bloated idiot talk for days and I'll be damned if I'm missing it because of you sleeping in!" Sophia stretched her eyes and put her hands on her hips because she could sure a certain loud mouthed, redhead was lying beside her when she overslept. Margaret grabs Sophia's arm and yanks her to her feet. "Come on," Margaret says heaving and looking around, "I know a shortcut.

The King paces back and forth in front of his throne as people gather around his castle. His Royal advisor has come to tell him it's time to come down and face his people so many times, he has lost count. The Queen comes in after worrying about her husband for so long and sits beside him with a hand on his back. "Darling, the people are getting antsy. You must go out and confront them." The Queen whispers as there are knights everywhere. The King chuckles at her statement and swats her hand away. "Antsy?" The King chuckles as he stands up. "No Stephanie. They are OUTRAGED!!! FURIOUS!!! READY TO RIOT!!! READY TO KILL ME!!!" The King sighs and turns to his wife, who is staring at the ground. "That's a little more than antsy, don't you think?" Queen Stephanie looks at her husband pace for a while before she speaks. "Well Hunter, what are you gonna do? Sit in here and cower as your peasants take over your kingdom, your home, your family, your riches, and than your own life! Or...Or are you going to go out there and be the dominant man that I married, the people feared, that my FATHER picked out of his knights of the Round Table?" King Hunter looked at his wife in disbelief. With her being a woman, she knows not to raise her voice at a man, let alone a King! But he can see the anger and frustration in her eyes building up and realizes how weak he must appear in front of her, dishonoring her father's legacy and her brother's sacrifice. He stops pacing and turns to her. He straightens his posture and grabs his crown and places at upon his head and looks at himself in the mirror. Queen Stephanie steps closer to him and wraps her arms around his waist. "Bring back the tyrant I married, Hunter. Bring him back." King Hunter looks at his wife with a smug smirk and gives her a rough kiss before heading out the room. His wife stirred that old flame in him and got him fired up to confront those ungrateful bastard peasants of his. As he heads to balcony to deliver his speech, his wife stands in the doorway of their bedroom, smiling, and thinks of how she's gonna tame that fire inside him after he returns.

"Margaret please! Pause for a moment! I can't breathe!" Sophia panted out as Margaret dragged her through several alleyways and gardens. "You can rest when we reach the castle. We're close! I can smell the Queen's Tiger Lily garden!" Margaret pants as she continues to drag Sophia along. Admittedly, they were close, but Sophia is worn out and can hardly breath. Sophia snatches her arm out of Margaret's hand and drops to the ground. "Margaret... Please...No more...Running." Margaret appears frustrated but she also couldn't run any longer and sits beside Sophia and catches her breath. They were sitting there for a moment until the village doctor came up to them in his wagon. "Are you ladies okay?" Sophia nods and shakely stands on her feet. "We're... We're fine Mr. Afton. We're just tired." Margaret pants. Mr. Afton frowns and puts down his reins. "Well, I believe no woman should have to suffer like this." He reached out and grabs Sophia's small hand and effortlessly lifts her in the wagon. He does the same with Margaret and picks up his reins to get his horses going again.