This is my first submission. Although it is set around the time of the fall of Rome and after Constantine it is not a historical essay. It should be read as a work of fiction. I hope you enjoy it.
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I ran through the corridors led by my slaves and supported by my personal body guards as the vandals finally broke through the fortress defences. They were taking few prisoners and I heard the screams of the men as they were mercilessly cut down. Any woman over the age of childbearing was slaughtered where she stood and only the fittest and best looking were spared to serve what could loosely be described as an army in the brothels they would make in the dungeons of our fortress, my home.
Luckily my parents and my brother had left a week before intending to return with an army within a month. I had always been a 'fighting girl' and as I was now eighteen years old I was left in charge until they returned. No one expected the Empire to fall to the vandals so swiftly and now all I could do was pray for deliverance but was God listening?
As we turned into a narrow passage I regretted wearing a dress but Father had instructed me to act like a domino and that included dressing the part. "The slaves will not respect anyone who is slovenly" he said on more than one occasion. I heard screams behind me and watched horrified as all three of my body guards fell to arrows shot from behind them. I was ready to take the next shaft and signalled for my slaves to run to their lives as I grabbed one of my guard's swords. I had practiced fighting many times with my guards and I figured if I was going to die I'd die with a sword in my hand when the arrow struck. To my amazement there was an order given in what sounded like a Germanic tongue and the archers lowered their bows as two vandals rushed towards me. I was able to slash the chest of one with my sword and with a very lucky sweep decapitate another. Suddenly there was thud and a stinging blow to the back of my head as the ground rose up to meet me and I lapsed into unconsciousness.
When I came round I could smell burning and I saw our home had been set ablaze by the invaders. I struggled to rise but I found my legs were chained to Rowena, one of my erstwhile slaves who had blood pouring from a wound in her shoulder. "Mistress ... Mistress we are both captives now ..." She was sobbing.
Before I could answer a voice boomed out in bad Latin calling for silence. As I turned I saw a giant of a man enter the yard and the hoards of vandals stood up striking their breasts in salutation. He pointed at me and the guard who had called for silence said something to him before walking up to me. As he unchained me he said "You're lucky" then with a smirk and a grating laugh he continued "the Chieftain wants you." As he spoke he turned to Rowena and said "And I want you!"
I found myself being pushed and pulled before being taken out of the fortress and placed in a horse drawn wagon with wooden bars round it like a portable prison. As I was pushed in some of the vandals jeered and made obscene gestures pointing to their manhoods. I was disgusted and burst into tears.
Eventually we arrived in a clearing and I was taken out and brought into a tent with a huge bed covered in furs. After being chained to the central pole I was left alone for about half an hour and then in walked the giant of a man I had seen in the yard. He had long blonde hair which was repeated on his muscular chest. He stood over six foot six dwarfing my own six foot and I had to look up to him.
His Latin was near perfect "I hear you killed two of my men" he said as he approached me.
"They were enemies of Rome" I answered daring him to respond.
"Doesn't this Christianity you've embraced teach you to love your enemies?" He asked but before I could respond he continued "I don't care about them, I've come to inspect my property."
"You don't have any property here" I responded holding his gaze. "My father owns this land and when he returns you will become HIS property!"
The giant laughed and poured himself a goblet of wine. "So, you're his daughter Sabina? I thought you were her and I must say the stories about you don't do you justice. You're beautiful, a perfect catch for me."
I pretended to misunderstand his meaning and continued "I repeat, you are on our property not yours."
The warrior got up and opened the flap of the tent and said something. Suddenly Rowena was hustled in and thrown to the floor. "Do you recognise this woman?" he asked. I nodded "She was your slave right?"
"We've known each other all our lives" I answered "we grew up together."
