Vengeance of a Slave

(Roman Britain 70 AD)

Synopsis

Ailbert and Awena were taken as slaves when small children. Ailbert wanted to get revenge on the Romans, and when his master sent Awena to a brothel, he managed to get help to rescue her and escape. Here they have just got through the gates of Eberacum (York) and are on their way to freedom.

Excerpt

The wagon rolled along through the countryside outside Londinium. Ailbert and Awena sat side by side next to Huw on the driving seat. They had not been this way before, because the dominus and domina had their villa to the west of the city and not to the north.

After a little while they entered a forest. It comprised mainly oak trees, and dense undergrowth crept towards the road on which they travelled. It was a Roman road and was paved. Few weeds grew between the paving stones, and it was clean too. No muddy patches and ridges that travelers often encountered on  unpaved roads.

“How far to the village?” Awena asked after a while.

Huw looked at her and smiled. She was a very pretty girl. “Not until sunset.”

They travelled along in silence for a while until Ailbert had a thought.

“I’ve only a little money that I saved,” He furrowed his brow. “How can we pay you for all you’ve done for us?”

Huw laughed. “Don’t worry about that.”

“But that’s not right. You rescued us at no little risk to yourself, and the others. You must have spent some money too.”

“We have a fund. Everyone who can afford it in Treafon, that’s the name of our village, gives a little towards the rescue operations. Some people from other villages give money to us too, or other help. We don’t like our own people being enslaved by foreigners. Anyway, when you get settled in there will be work for you to do.”

“Do you fight the Romans?”

“Not directly, no. Their army’s too good for us to meet them on the battlefield. Look at what happened to Boudicca. She won at first, but the Romans eventually defeated her and her daughters were raped. No, we fight them in other, little ways, like rescuing British slaves.”

Ailbert looked crestfallen at that but fell to thinking. He might not be able to join an army to kill Romans, but maybe he could find other ways.

The wagon trundled on through the forest for some time. They passed charcoal burners’ huts with the smouldering fires tended by people sitting on one-legged stools. The charcoal-burners had to tend the banked fires at all times so they just smouldered and did not burn. Awena asked about the stools.

“They’re so the watcher doesn’t fall asleep,” Huw told her. “If he does, the stool falls over and wakes him up.”

Ailbert laughed at the thought. “Clever idea.”

Towards evening, the forest began to thin and shortly they saw a ditch and an earthen wall topped by a wooden palisade.

Safe at Last

“Here we are,” Huw told them as they trundled across the wooden bridge and through a gap in the earthworks.

The youngsters looked around at the village. They were surprised to see that all the buildings were round. They had low walls made of wattle and daub with a doorway and a steeply thatched roof that almost touched the ground. They could see no windows, but smoke seeped through the thatch, indicating that fires burned in some of the huts.

A boy ran up and took the oxen heads while Huw jumped off  the driver’s seat and helped Awena to get down. Ailbert leaped from the seat and continued his observations of the place while the boy led the oxen away to where he unharnessed them and  then began to unload the cart.

Some pigs and a few small cattle stared at the newcomers from pens at the far side of the village and a few dogs barked at the pair as Huw led them to one of the houses and called in through   the door.

“Gwen, here are the latest rescued slaves.”

A tall woman with brown hair with reddish glints came out of the house. She appeared about forty years old and had a broad smile on her face. She had enough of a look of Huw that Ailbert    could see they were brother and sister.

“This is my sister, Gwen. She can speak Latin.” Huw told them.

“You’re going to stay with her until we decide where you’re to go.” The youngsters looked surprised at this.

Huw continued. “We don’t usually keep the runaways here. It’s too dangerous for both them and us. Too close to Londinium. They would easily be found.”

In Hiding

“How long will we stay here, then?” Awena asked.

“Until we find a safe village for you. Far away from Londinium,” Gwen told her.

Gwen took them into her house. It was dark inside, being lit by firelights only, and it comprised of a single room. Benches lined the walls with a few low tables scattered around. At the back of the house stood a tall frame that Ailbert frowned when he saw. What could it possibly be? Gwen saw him looking at it.

“That’s a loom,” she said. “It’s for weaving cloth.” She turned to Awena. “I’ll teach you how to use it. You’ll need to know such things if you’re to live among us. We Celts always weave our own cloth. You’d have learned in your home village if you hadn’t been taken. Where were you from? We can perhaps send you back there.”

“We were taken when we were very small,” Ailbert told her.

“We can’t remember where it was or much about it. Truth is, Awena can’t remember anything, and my memories are very dim. I remember it was by a wide river and that’s about all.” He didn’t like lying to this woman and her brother, but they had been rescued in the belief that they were Britons, so he had to say that. He stuck as close to the truth as he could though, but he could not tell her he vividly remembered the village by the Rhenus and his parents, and the terrible punishment the Romans had inflicted on them.

Gwen made them sit down and busied herself in preparing food. Huw had gone to his hut where his wife and family waited for him. Gwen asked them about their lives as Roman slaves. What kind of slaves were they?

“We were house slaves,” Ailbert told her.

“I was a personal slave to the little domina,” put in Awena. “She treated me well. Almost like a friend.”

“But she wasn’t a friend, Awena,” Ailbert said gently. “You must remember that. A friend would have put up more argument about you being sent to the brothel.”

“I suppose so. I miss her though.” Awena hung her head.

“You were sent to a brothel? A young girl like you?” Gwen gasped. “How old are you? Thirteen, fourteen?”

“I think I’ve seen thirteen summers,” Awena told her. “Ailbert says I was three or four when we were taken and we were there for nine years.”

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