"Spare her," Casia said, "and I will personally entertain your guests in any fashion you desire! Just release Cailin, I beg you, my lord Gabras! Jovian, have you no say in any of this?"
"I cannot help you," Jovian said, and his eyes filled with tears. "He would kill me if I tried, would you not, my lord? Even if I dared to send for help, by the time Aspar got here, it would be too late. You should not have come here tonight, Casia, and you most assuredly should not have brought Cailin."
"Michael!" Justin Gabras called to the servant, who came quickly to his side. "Help me take our guests and lock them up until we are ready for them." He dragged Cailin into the atrium while she struggled in vain to escape his strong fingers.
"Let us go!" Casia cried as Michael pulled her along in their wake.
"And lock up the whore's litter bearers until we are of a mind to release her," Justin Gabras called out to Jovian.
"Lady, I apologize for this," Michael told Cailin as he pushed her into a sparsely furnished, windowless room behind Casia. He shut the door behind them, and they heard the lock turning noisily.
"Forgive me!" Casia said, flinging herself into Cailin's arms. "I am a fool to have ever suggested coming here! The gods help us both!"
"It is as much my fault as yours," Cailin said generously. "If I had let the matter of the Saxon rest instead of pursuing it, we would not be in this predicament. What do you think they mean to do?"
"It is obvious," Casia replied. "Gabras will give us to his gladiators. It matters not to me. I am a whore and used to taking a variety of men between my thighs, but you, my poor friend!" She began to cry, much to Cailin's astonishment, for Casia was not a woman given to tears.
"Do not cry," Cailin comforted her friend. Strangely, she felt nothing right now. Not even fear.
"Gabras will spread word of this incident all over Constantinople," Casia said, still sobbing. "Basilicus will never forgive me!"
"You love him!" Cailin was again surprised.
Casia nodded. "Aye, the gods help me, I do! He doesn't know, of course. He is not the kind of man one can confide such an emotion in, sadly. He will never accept being embarrassed by me. I will never see him again after tonight, I fear! I have ruined not just your life, but my own as well!"
"Perhaps we can escape," Cailin said hopefully.
Casia, her tears finished, looked at her friend and shook her head. "How? This room has no windows, and but one door, which is locked. They will come for us, and that will be the end of it. There is no escape, Cailin. Make up your mind to that right now."
Chapter 14
The two women did not have long to wait. Four male slaves arrived to escort them to the baths, where they were thoroughly washed and their bodies rubbed with fragrant oils. The bath attendants rubbed Cailin's auburn ringlets and Casia's thick, long blue-black hair until they were dry. Their hair was perfumed, Casia's first being braided into a single plait, and then floral wreaths were set atop their heads. No fresh garments were offered them, and the women realized it would be useless to even ask.
They were then escorted into a large airy room that opened onto the villa's beautiful gardens. Justin Gabras sat, now garbed in a short white tunic, upon a black marble chair. The gladiators were assembled before him. There were no other women in the room. At their entry, the men turned, their eyes avid with interest. The guards forced Casia and Cailin forward, and reaching out, Justin Gabras pulled both women into his lap, balancing them each upon a single knee. His hands reached up to fondle their breasts, pinching at the nipples.
"You have eaten well, my friends," he said to his guests, "and now I have a little treat for you. These two women are the most exclusive whores in Byzantium. They are pretty little rabbits, are they not? We are going to have a little game. We shall release these two little rabbits into the gardens, and then you, as randy a pack of dogs as I've ever seen, will chase after them. They will hide from you, will you not my beauties? But someone will find them, and whoever the lucky men are will have their pleasure of these women for this entire night. There are no losers in this game, however. The rest of you will have your choice of any other woman in the house after our game is over. What think you?"
The gladiators cheered Justin Gabras lustily.
"By the gods," the Hun said loudly, "you give us a difficult choice, my lord. Both of these women are real beauties!"
"Which do you favor?" Gabras asked him.
"I am not certain," the net man replied. He turned to his companion. "What about you, Wulf Ironfist? Which do you prefer?"
"The one I catch," the Saxon replied, and his eyes met Cailin's.
Casia quickly looked to her friend. Cailin was paler than she had ever seen her. Her great violet eyes mirrored both pain and shock. Is it he? Casia mouthed silently over the laughter that greeted the Saxon's remark, and Cailin nodded. If anyone catches Cailin, Casia thought, it must be the Saxon. She looked straight at the Hun and smiled her most seductive smile.
"Are you as good out of the ring as you are in it?" she purred suggestively. "If you are, then I shall be happy to be caught in your net."
To Casia's surprise, the Hun turned beet-red as his companions whooped with amusement. So he was shy. But her bold words had certainly made it plain to the others that he was her choice. None of the others would dare to come after her now, for shy though he might be, the Hun would want her. They would not confront him over a woman, she knew. She could see the puzzled way in which the Saxon was looking at Cailin. Now she must make certain of him.
"Cailin Drusus." She said her friend's name loudly. "Do you have a preference among these fine men? I think the Saxon would suit you admirably."
"I think he would," Cailin replied, having caught on to Casia's little game.
"So you are no better than the rest of them," Justin Gabras sneered. "Why is it that all women are born whores?" He did not see how pale the handsome gladiator had become, nor the tightening of the Saxon's lips and the flash of anger in the Saxon's eyes at his words.
Without waiting for an answer to his question, Justin Gabras dumped the two women from his lap. "Run into the garden and hide yourselves, my beauties. I will count to fifty, and then loose these lusty beasts on you. Go!”
The two women ran from the room, through the marble pillars, and out into the early evening twilight. When they had gone a ways together into the dimness, Casia stopped a moment and said, "Hide yourself well, Cailin, and do not come out unless you see the Saxon!" Then she was gone down a grassy path. Cailin fled to the depths of the gardens, finally climbing into the branches of a peach tree. It was unlikely that anyone would think to look for her up there.
"Fifty!" she heard Justin Gabras call out.
The gladiators began to thrash through the gardens, noisily seeking the two women. Within a few minutes she heard the rough voice of the Hun crowing triumphantly, "I've caught a little rabbit, lads!" and Casia's coy shriek of false surprise. The hunt for Cailin grew more intense, but she felt safe amid the branches of the tree. She could even see some of the men below, looking under bushes, behind the fountains, and among the decorative statuary for her. They will never find me, she thought smugly, but then what? How could she escape Villa Maxima without her clothes, without a litter? Suddenly the branch upon which she was perched gave way, and Cailin fell with a cry to the grass below. Two men loomed forth from the darkness as she desperately scrambled to her feet. A bolt of pain tore through her right ankle, but she struggled to remain standing.