Romanowski and Rosemary

22. Slave market

Coretta

"Hello, Coretta? You alright? Lorenzo here."

I squinted my eyes open to find a starless sky, the silent nights giving way to dawn.

'Hi, yes. Right here. Have you reached?' I messaged back.

"Yep, just landed last morning. I've come on the pretext of some war meeting. Do you have any idea where you'll land?"

'The port of Athens.' I informed him.

"Yeah, I inspected the marketplace today. It's really bizarre, you know. I spotted absolutely no woman, except some poor ones selling stuff. You can only make out how bad it is for women here, compared to Egypt."

'Yes. They said Egypt was heaven for the ancient women.' I heaved, staggering to the bucket to wash my face. I had no respite today, barely able to sleep on my wounded back.

Just as the first ray of the Sun peeked through the dawn sky, I held onto the wooden plank of the ship to stand. Far in the distance, a land was visible.

Greece. As beautiful as it was in the modern day, it was quite the opposite in this period.

'Lookout for the slave market Lorenzo. I'll be arriving soon.'

As morning came up, our ship reached the port of Athens. Chains around our bodies, we were loaded out of the ship like some boxes of goods, with the slave master lashing his whip on the ground now and then.

It was bizarre how my friend Miria was nowhere to be spotted. Head lowered, I grew sad. Maybe Aphrodite had saved her. I wished she saved me, too.

Moving slowly in the queue, I looked around, remembering Lorenzo's words. Not a single woman in sight. It appeared true what I had read. That the ancient Greek women were not allowed out of their homes. It was only the poor ones who couldn't afford slaves, used to come out in the marketplace with their husbands to sell goods. To make ends meet.

Apparently, poor women were more free than the royal ones here.

At least twenty ships were lined up by the harbour. The port was busy, with puddles of water here and there, tradesmen unloading their goods. Before me was some great marble archway of sorts, looking so beautiful. But the weather seemed warm in an uncomfortable way.

'Lorenzo, you've brought the leaves I asked you? The black colour of my hair has started to recede.' I looked down at the tips of my hair turning back to their honey colour. My eyes probably looked wasted, owing to the black contacts, now sucking the very life out of them.

I hoped I looked ugly enough to not catch any sadist's attention.

"Hey, yep, I got those from the forest you told about." Then it felt as if he was nervous. "Uh, there's this meeting at the peak of the afternoon. As lame as I sound, I uh kinda, can't miss it," he uttered, feeling ashamed. Poor him. He had to act, yet be as real as possible in his job.

I sighed. 'What's the plan after you buy me?' I messaged. 'Are there Julian's warriors who'd recognise me?'

"Uh, well..."

'Has... J- Julian come with you?' I gulped, not knowing why I asked such a question.

''No, he hasn't." He sighed in relief. "But Coretta? Shall we both jump into the Mediterranean Sea and end this mess for once and for all?" he suggested.

"Keep moving, keep moving!" The slave master pushed past me, aggressively shoving at my back as my eyes stung with tears. That probably opened the wound.