Captured | Completed

Chapter 7

Kalika sighed as she started washing clothes. Now, Nilo couldn't know that she was around. Ophion had said to try not to be in contact with him, ever. She would need to be on the lookout for someone who she had seen before, who? she didn't know, but she would know when she sees him or her.

She looked down at herself, now she was wearing something more casual. She wore a white chiton, with a gold sash around her waist, one side longer than the other. She still had the box of jewellery, she decided to use a simple silver headpiece, one that went from the forehead to the back of the head.

She scrubbed the clothes, Jayce beside her trying to figure out what he was doing. Ophion now was with Nilo, but whenever he could, he would come by and help out, especially with Jayce. Kalika dunked a sheet into the basin, rubbing what they called soap in. Really, it was goat tallow and wood ashes.

She took it out, wrung the sheet and put it in the basket beside her. The sun was out, beating down on her. Kalika turned to Jayce.

"You can help out here instead." She handed him the basket. "Just hang these on the rope over there." She pointed.

"How am I suppose to do that?" He asked confused.

She walked over to the rope and took one of the wet sheets. She hung it over evenly so that it would dry in the heat. She passed one to Jayce, his was okay, crooked, but not too bad.

"Alright then, you can take my basket so that you can wash and put it into there." He said as he started to hang the drapes, sheets, and whatever else was in there.

Kalika smiled and started to clean more of the clothes with the soap. She wrung, rubbed and kept on doing it until her fingers were crinkly. Finally, it was time for lunch, they were to return to the room to wait for Ophion with lunch.

They walked in silently, remembering to take the back way that Ophion had mention so that Nilo wouldn't see them. They got into the hallway and into their room, both sat on their bed. Jayce plopped onto his bed, tired from all the day's work. He glanced at Kalika, not tired at all.

His mouth hung open slightly, he was so tired, feeling lazy, and yet, Kalika is wide awake, fine, and not tired at all. 

"How are you not tired?" He asked her, his mind boggled.

"Oh, I've been doing this my whole life." She smiled as she started to gather her hair up into a high ponytail.

A knock on the door, hopefully, Ophion. Kalika, being the one that wasn't tired, got up and opened the door, letting him in. He came in with a tray and enough food for the three of them. He handed them plates, they started to eat together, Ophion sitting beside Kalika, across from Jayce. They were all becoming good friends, they started to talk about whoever could be the Athenian betrayer.

"You know, I did see someone I recognized." Ophion thought for a moment. "I have only been here a year, but I did see someone."

"Who?" Kalika urged Ophion on.

"Gergor." He replied looking into Jayce's piercing blue eyes. 

"Oh!" Kalika thought for a moment. "I've heard that name." 

"You have?" Jayce question the both of them.

Ophion looked away from him to Kalika. He wondered what she thought, from experience, he knew that Kalika was very smart. He wouldn't want to be in her way for anything that included smarts.

"I figured it out." She looked at the two. "The name, he was always strange, not always in the city, always travelling."

The three exchanged glances, that must be the man, but they wouldn't know until they finally saw him. Kalika watched as Jayce and Ophion stared at each other. She looked out the window, the sun over head. 

"Anyone else?" Kalika asked Ophion.

"In my year here, I've only seen him as suspicious to me." He replied. "But, I have seen people who are familiar, or maybe because they are just running errands and I've seen them."

"Okay then, we have Gergor to inspect then," Kalika said. "if you don't mind me asking Ophion, how did you get here?"

"I got captured, just as you had." He replied. "By now, no one remembers me. The family I worked for had tons of slaves and servants, I heard that when they realized that I was gone, they just replaced me."

Jayce stared at the two sharing stories. He never thought of slaves and servants in another way until Kalika came along. He felt left out in away, but happy that he hadn't lived a servant's life all his life.

Kalika took a few grapes, popping them into her mouth, one at a time. She seemed to be thinking about strategies, maybe how to get back to Athens, or how to find the betrayer. Ophion took a slice of bread, he broke pieces off and ate. Jayce took himself an apple, he bit into it and ate.

"So, do we have a plan to see Gergor?" Jayce asked the two.

Ophion and Kalika glanced at each other, either they both had a plan, or they didn't have one at all. Jayce saw that Ophion and Kalika had many things in common, both servants of Athenians, both young. They were both smart, hard working, and many more things that he couldn't figure out. 

"Well, I'm thinking, maybe Ophion, you can get him to work with me." She said as she turned to them. "I can just play as if he seemed smart and I admire him, I could try and coax the truth out of him."

"That's a good idea Kalika," Ophion replied. "I am able to switch people's jobs, after all, I earned Nilo's trust."

"Alright, is it all settled then?" Jayce asked the two.

"Sure, I'll even be there." Ophion smiled at them.

Ophion heard a gong ring, time for him to get back to work. He got up, taking the tray, others following him. He went out of the room, to put the tray away, while Kalika and Jayce went the back way to get to the washing bins. Ophion started to think about their plan, if it was good enough, or if they had to think more.

If their plan worked out well, they could save the Athenians. If it didn't, it could destroy and endanger them all.

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I hope you enjoyed this! It is a good story don't you think?

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These are some of my writing stats:

7374 words. | 39569 characters (including spaces) | 31902 words (without spaces) | Readability Level: Gr. 9 - 10. | 1511 Difficult words. | 258 Paragraphs | Longest word: Transformation | Estimated Reading time: 37 mins | Estimated Speaking Time: 59 mins.|

Those are just some of them, there is much more. Just saying, all of these are the things above the --------------------- on every chapter, so basically the whole book. The readability level is an estimated readability level measured by the Dale-Chall Score Formula.  I'm in grade 6 going into grade 7, and I have the readability level of a grade 9 - 10! which is insane.

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