A Tale of Romans and Slaves | PJO/HOO

Chapter 26: Frank

"We are gathered here today to remember Bryce," The priest said.

Bryce's funeral was being held in the Great Hall. Everyone who wasn't a slave was here.

No one knew what had happened last night. Lady Bianca had gone to the pantry to get a snack, when she came across Bryce's body. No one knew who killed him, but the hammer indicated that it was a slave who worked in the forge.

But all the slave's cells had been locked. Which meant that whoever killed Bryce could not only pick locks open, but pick them closed too.

After the priest finished his speech, Nathan went up and started his. I didn't know Bryce very well, but I knew that he was sadistic. Back in the academy, he had killed someone in sparring. Whoever had killed him had probably done it in self-defense.

After the funeral ended, Lord Hade's took his family, including Hazel, to pray, leaving me alone. I leaned against the wall.

We were tightening security around the cell blocks, so whoever killed Bryce wouldn't be able to get out again.

If anyone had listened to me at the equite meeting earlier, then we wouldn't have to. It was obvious that Bryce's killer had snuck out to steal food, so why didn't we just give the slaves more food? All we were giving them was two pieces bread per day, so it was understandable that they'd sneak out. 

An hour later, Hazel returned from the church.

"Hey Frank," She said.

"Hello Hazel," I replied. "Where do you want to go?"

"My room," She said, and she took my arm. Then we walked there.

"I got you something," I said once we got there and I had closed the door.

"Did you?" She asked.

"Yeah," I said as I took the wrist cuff out of my pocket. I had made it from fabric, and had tried my best to sew little cloth gold pieces into it.

"There for your wrists," I said. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about her scars after I figured out about them. She hadn't told me why she cut herself, but I knew it must be a painful memory.

"So you don't have to look at my scars?" She asked sadly.

"No!" I protested. That was not what I meant by this gift.

"Then why are you giving me these?" She asked.

"Because I don't want you to have to look at them," I said. "Because I don't want you to be reminded of whatever happened whenever you look down at your wrists. I want you to look down and see a very poorly made clothing accessory and be reminded that I care about you."

She looked up at me, tears in her stunning golden eyes. "You care about me?"

"Of course I do," I replied with a small smile.

She returned it, and took the wrist cuff out of my hands.

"You're right," She said after she put them on. "These are poorly made."

I laughed. "Yeah. They don't teach sewing at The Academy, I'm afraid."

She smiled. "What do they teach then?"

"Oh, you know, boring stuff," I replied. "Combat, manners, that sort of stuff."

That was really all they taught. But it was hard to learn, especially with the eliminations every week. The Academy was difficult to get into, difficult to be in, and difficult to graduate from.

"Do you want to play a game?" Hazel asked.

"What game?" I asked.

"Well, it's like a collection of games," She said. "We play an assortment of games, and whoever wins each one gets to ask the loser any question about them that they want."

I tilted my head at her. "That sounds dangerous."

She smiled. "Yeah, well, we don't know anything about each other, and I want to change that. I'm also sure that your sick of me beating you in chess."

I laughed. "Yeah, I am."

"Well then, let's start," She said. "With hide and go seek."

I raised my eyebrow at her. "Your room is tiny. There's nowhere to hide in here."

"Exactly," She said. "You'll have fifteen seconds to find me."

I covered my eyes and started counting. Ten seconds later, I found her in her closet.

"Dammit," She muttered.

"What's your favorite color?" I asked.

"Gold," She replied.

She found me about five seconds after she finished counting.

"Under the bed?" She asked. "Really?"

"It was the only place big enough to hide me!" I protested.

"What's your favorite color?" She asked.

"Red."

I didn't find her hiding under the blankets on the bed until it was too late.

"What's your favorite animal?" She asked.

"Lions," I replied.

This kept going on and on.

"What's your favorite food?" She asked.

"Cake!"

"What's your favorite animal?" I asked.

"Snakes!"

"Where were you born?" She asked.

"A small farm near Mérida."

She tilted her head at me. "That's sort of far, isn't it?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. But The Academy paid for my transportation."

"Did they recruit you?"

I smiled at her. "That's two questions."

"Three, actually," She said smugly. I stuck my tongue out at her.

After that, we stopped playing hide and go seek, and switched to twenty questions.

"Did The Academy recruit you?" She asked.

"No," I said. "It doesn't work like that. They have recruiters in every Roman city, and if you pass a little test they have, you go to the main compound."

"Oh," She said.

"What's your favorite thing to do?" I asked.

"Read," She replied.

"Do you have any siblings?" She asked.

"No," I replied. I didn't even have a family anymore.

"Why did you want to become an equite?" She asked.

"Well..." I sighed, thinking. But eventually, I decided to tell her the story. "I lived with my mom, father, and grandma, on our little farm. My father was a soldier, and he didn't like me very much. I was too kind and caring in his eyes, and he often told me that I'd never do anything with my life. But my mom, on the other hand, loved me a lot. She told me not to listen to him, that I could be whatever I wanted. Those were her dying words."

Hazel was listening silently. "After she died of sickness, my father paid me very little attention, and practically drowned in his sorrow. He signed up for so many war expeditions I barely saw him, and eventually, he died on one. Then it was just me and my grandma, and she died a month after he did.

"So I was an orphan, with nothing but a farm to my name. But I hated the farm. So when The Academy recruiter came to Mérida when I was selling some grain, I signed up immediately. It was an opportunity for a better life. And I knew that it was an occupation that both of my parents would be proud of."

We sat in silence for a while, neither of us knowing what to say.

"Oh," Hazel whispered. 

Just then, the lunch bell rang. We both stood up.

"See you after lunch," She said. 

"Yeah," I said. "See you."

Then we both went to our separate dining rooms, our conversation still fresh on our minds.