Trojan Slave (Book 1)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Elpis took one last glace at those who were regarding her as the one with the knowledge to survive. She knew not all of them could, she just hoped with everything in her that Corinna survived what was to come. As she would try to survive the oncoming might with whatever she had within her.

Moving back up to the main temple complex she knew the easiest way to be caught would be in the tunnels. She felt heartless at the choice she was making, but the only way she knew to survive was to do this alone. If she wanted to be one of those that did make it through this ordeal, then she had to convince her fellow slaves that they needed to hide separately. That it was the only way they could all be safe. She did not think any of them would be safe, though it would be best to keep the dream alive, for those who still felt hope.

There was a hole inside where her heart once beat. Where it once loved. She could have truly felt sorry for what she was going to do, at one point. Right now, after two summers of slavery, not knowing if her family still lived, being treated as inhuman, she was alone with the black space within her. She knew that if she went through with this that blackness might consume her whole. It still did not stop her. Survival instinct kicked in, and the others became excess she could not afford to keep anymore.

Calmly and blankly she looked to the small group around her. Convincing, she had to be convincing. She knew she was someone she did not recognise, she deserved it if she was caught by the worst of humanity, but she would be caught alone. As alone as she had been since that day on a nameless island so far away now.

"Hide, you know this place. The little tiny places no one looks for. You hide, on your own or in pairs. You stay down; you give nothing away. As far as you know, you are the only ones to hide. You protect each other." They stayed, staring silently at her. They looked lost, like sheep without a shepherd. She knew she should feel sorry for them, though the fire inside her that should burn with emotion had been doused. Her friend, the only person who cared for her now without benefit to herself was not here; she had no true loyalty to these people. "Go!" The urgency she pushed into her voice finally got them moving, scurrying away like mice from a predatory cat.

These men were coming by sea, in the brightness of day, so bold. They had so many ships. The confidence they must feel would send some of them into a blood lust that would only be fulfilled one way. She did not want to meet any of them if that was the case.

Making a slow circle, taking in the burnished gold and cool marble that surrounded her. She felt just as cold and unfeeling. The light bounced off of so many of their surfaces, almost like the wave about to hit them was bouncing off of her. Her mind had slowed, numbed, she had no thought. She felt like the statues of Apollo that gazed down upon her, aloof, unfeeling, made of the hardest substance known. But you can chip away at it, chisel away to create beauty, or you can erase it.

She felt erased.

She saw chaos around her. People running here and there. No one in the city would have this worry, no one would have to see death this close. It was not something she wished to see again. She had hoped the gods would spare her from this. This was the cruellest of cosmic jokes thrust upon her, another storm for her to whether. She just hoped she could make it through this time, she knew she would never be the person she was meant to be; maybe if she survived she could choose to be someone new.

Elpis slowly made her way back to the female slave quarters. Lowering herself to the floor at the head of her pallet. She loosened the stones at the wall to lift the small stone slab at the floor. The hollow, which had taken weeks to carve out, held the small treasures that had kept her sane over the last winter. The tiny trinkets that meant nothing in the world materially, but caused a warmth within the emptiness, a tiny flame that appeared to make something worthwhile.