A Minoan Adventure ( closed for DeathsKnight)

Time frame; around 1450 BC
Culture; Ancient Minoans
Place; The Mediterranean area specifically the Island of Crete

Our story begins on the northwest end of the island is the third largest town of Crete, the ancient
port of Kydonia named for the mythical son of Minos and the nymph Akakkalida. The town
has a thriving craft industry of cypress wood, pottery, oil and wine. This has enabled Kydonia
to have a very profitable sea trade.

The culture is rich in history, males and females are equal in this society. Both sexes contributing
in all walks of life, from religious ceremonies, to sports, theater as well as in hunting.



Characters;

Tierra
Age; 17
Height; 5 ft. 2 in.
Hair; black, worn in the fashion of the times, long and in ringlets.
Eyes; Dark brown
Skin color; lightly tanned, even thought the fashion is for pale skin, she loves the outdoors.
Build; slim , athletic due to the love of all kinds of sports and nature.

Daughter of a nobleman, she is the only child having lost her mother in childbirth. Her father being
older at the time, never married again. He dotes on his young daughter, but feels it is time for her
to put away her independent ways. He has chosen a man for her that will tame her wildness, but
is having a hard time convincing her to wed him. She is headstrong and wants to learn more about
what lies beyond the town of Kydonia.

Ours story begins with Tierra going against her father's orders to stay away from the beach area;
it has come to his attention that a pirate ship looking for booty and slaves has been sighted. She
knows the dangers but feels she can handle any situation that may come up. As soon as her father
leaves to conduct some exporting business, Tierra decides she would like to see what the latest
storm has washed up on the beach. She changes into a simple outfit that is popular, short top
that showed her bosom, and a long tiered shirt.Thinking she will be gone for the day she goes to
the kitchen area and throws a wine skin, bread and cheese into a sack. On her way out, Tierra
makes a detour and grabs a blanket and a basket. She then leaves the villa and heads for the beach.

One of her favorite pastimes is collecting sea shells and pretty stones. As she leaves Kydonia
with all its activities and noise and reaches the beach, Tierra sighs, ( this is the life, its so good
to feel free to just enjoy all that the gods have given us.) She then takes off her sandals and
feeling the sand between her toes she laughs and starts looking for any shells that the storm
may have cast ashore.

After some time Tierra finds her basket is filling up fast and getting heavy to carry. ( Time for a
break and some food.) She spreads out her blanket under a shady palm tree sits down and lays
out the wine, cheese and bread. Then proceeds to relax while eating and gazing out at the
beautiful sea . After finishing she looks up at the angle of the sun and decides there is time for
a short nap before heading back home. Laying back so her clothes and hair don't get too
messed up, Tierra soon falls asleep.

Tertius
Age; 25
Height; 6 ft. 4 in.
Hair; black, shoulder length
Eyes; Dark brown
Skin color; tanned
Build; strong and yet sinewy

Tertius was the third son of a Greek speaking family, being the youngest his older brothers always picked on him or belittled him, when he turned 12 he ran away from home, there was only two options for him, become a thief or sail out onto the ocean. He found a ship of ill-repute, whose captain was glad for the extra hands and of course the lack of payment as Tertius was more than happy to work for no more than food and shelter. The life was hard, but the captain for all his savagery was a kind man, he took Tertius under his wing and taught him all he knew.

Tertius had worked his way up in the ranks of the pirates, killing where he had to and sparing lives where it would serve him. He was third in command after the ship's second in command the weaponsmaster. They had anchored in a cove and was at the time scouring the seaside for supplies and of course a slave could be helpful, Tertius came across Tierra as she was dosing on the blanket, he grinned to himself, now that figure would get him quite a price on the slave market, he crept closer, making sure not to wake the young woman.

All of a sudden Tierra awoke, sensing a change in her suroundings. It was quiet, no birds
calling out to each other, just the sound of the waves as they hit the sandy beach. Bringing her
hands up to her eyes and rubbing them, all at once she became alert. Tierra slowly opened her
eyes, and sucked in her breath. There, only 5 feet away was a huge man quietly sneaking up
on her. ( Pirate!) was her first thought.

In a flash Tierra was up and running down the beach. She lifted her shirt up well above her knees,
so she wouldn't trip on it. Unfortunately she was running away for the town, but she knew she
couldn't get around the man, so she kept on running. Since she could hear him coming up fast
on her, she realized there was no way she would be able to out run her pursuer. Tierra was going
to have to try and talk her way out of this definitely bad situation.

She quickly slowed down, turned around while still moving backyards, putting her hand out,
trying to catch her breath she said, “ Wait, wait, let's talk about this for a minute!” She looked
up at him, “ My father is a very wealthy man, and would pay you handsomely for my return.”
She waited for his reaction, ( can he understand me?) “ Ransom, understand? Ransom, my
father would pay a ransom for me.” She kept stepping back , then she noticed his grin, not
liking it one bit, she shouted, “ Don't look at me like that, you barbarian.” As his eyes traveled
down her body, Tierra looked down and saw that she was still holding her skirt way above her
knees, giving him a great view of her legs, she hastily dropped her shirt and tried covering her
bosom with her hands. Putting her nose up in the air she shouted, “ How dare you? Stop it I say,
you low life pirate scum!”

From the corner of her eye, she spotted a piece of driftwood, she swiftly crouched down grabbing
it, holding it in front of her, legs apart, she was now prepared to give him the fight of her life.
Quirking an eyebrow up at him, she smiled at the huge silent man, “ OK, now you had better
back off , one scream from me and the whole town will be on you before you know it.”

Taking a deep breath Tierra prepared to scream at the top of her lungs.

How the girl had become aware of his prencense he wasn't sure, but once she spotted him, she was up and running. He noticed that she ran away from town, but what if she was aiming for one of those coast guards? He gave chase, his longer strides bringing him closer to her for every meter they ran. Suddenly she stopped, holding out a hand and started jammering in Minnion, he knew a bit of the language, but not enough to follow her rushed words.

He looked over her body, she would most definately fetch a good price, if unspoiled of course, that was the whole problem right there. He had to admit that she had quite a set of legs, it brought a grin to his lips and she went on the defensive, trying to cover herself up and suddenly picked up a piece of driftwood. Now she had more bravado and when she paused to suck in a breath, he realized she meant to scream for help.

He moved in quickly, easily warding off the blow with the wood and slapped her hard through the face, cutting off her cry just as it started. The blow had thrown her to the ground and he was on her in a flash, pressing his knee just under her breasts, his hand over her mouth and the other grasping her hand which held onto the wood. Shaking her arm voilently, the piece of wood flew from her hand.

"Now...stay quiet...or..."

From his waistband he drew a dagger,

"I cut...tongue."

Tierra had never in her life been hit or manhandled. When he slapped her and she fell to the
ground, there wasn't even time for her to draw breath before the man was on top of her. He was
hurting her, she automatically fought back. Trying to hang on to the piece of wood she struggled
as best she could, but it finally flew out of her hand. She looked up at him wide eyed, then he
said some words in broken Minoan, but she was able to understand, quiet, and when he drew
his dagger her already rapidly beating heart felt like it was going to stop. Trembling all over,
she heard him say, “cut... tongue.” Tierra waited for his next move, with defiance she looked
him straight in the eye thinking, ( if I am going to die, I'll go down fighting!)

She lay on the sand trying to breath, her hands desperately tried to grab his hand away from her
mouth. The pain his knee was causing her to try and shift her body, but he held her down, finally,
she started to see stars, her struggles becoming weaker. Between his heavy body on her chest
and his hand on her mouth, she wasn't getting enough air. Trying to move her head to dislodge
his hand, Tierra desperately fought for air before the blackness overtook her. Her body went limp.

She struggled like a hell cat, but soon she passed out and Tertius had no need to use his dagger, of course a mute slave was something you didn't get much coin for. Her dress left him with a bit of a problem, every inch of bared breast would not leave her unspoiled, with an irritated huff, he pulled off his soft leather vest, picking up the girl, he covered her up by slipping the vest on to her. He used the keen-edged dagger to cut off a few strips from the bottom of her dress to tie her hands and cover her mouth. He picked up the slight form of the girl, threw her over his shoulder and headed for the cove where they were anchored. It was nearby, yet he had to be careful not to be spotted. He went by two centries and finally made it to their make-shift camp.

He quickly explained the situation to the captain and of course the estimated money for an unspoiled girl was enough to make the captain's eyes gleam. A few of the pirates drew closer when Tertius placed down the girl against a pair of open boxes and used rope to secure her properly,

"Ooh pretty little thing."

"One wonders what she is hiding under that vest."

"We should have a peek."

Tertius straightened up,

"Nobody touches her, captain's orders."

With a sullen murmur the pirates started to drift away.

As the blackness drifted away Tierra slowly came around moaning softly to herself. Without
moving her head, her eyes fluttered open. She saw strange men in outlandish clothes moving
across her line of vision. Her memory came flooding back, how that big brute had man-handled
her and threatened her with a knife. ( a pirate, he was a pirate, I'm in the hands of
pirates!), her mind screamed. With a tremendous effort, Tierra was able to keep her body
from shaking and giving herself away. She knew now, if she kept her wits about her, she
still had a chance to get away, once she was on the ship, she was lost, probably never to see
her home again.

The first thing she did was to try and get her hands loose, but the ropes were too tight.
The only thing she accomplished was to get bruised wrists as well as aching shoulders
from her arms held tightly behind her back. Noticing that the sun was going down, Tierra
thought to maybe sneak away, under cover of the night. Her legs were unbound, so all she
had to do was to slowly bring them underneath in order to be able to stand up. She started
to move her legs inch by inch hoping no one noticed. Beneath her lashes, she did see the
men glance over her way every once in a while. She wanted to cringe when she felt their
eyes on her.

She looked down at herself, ( must be that horrible man's vest I have on, at least it
covers my breasts.) Wrinkling her nose slightly she could even smell his scent on it. It was
a scent she would never forget, she was sure of that.

By the time the sun went down, Tierra had most of her legs beneath her and was ready to
try and get up. Leaning against the open box helped, to lever her body up. She kept on
looking over at the sleeping men, no one stirred. The box moved just as she found her
balance and stood upright, she froze for a full minute.

Holding her breath, Tierra started to back slowly away from the makeshift camp of
pirates. Then she turned and quickly made her way towards some rocks she could see
in the moonlight. She would have run except she knew her shirts would tangle between
her legs and if she fell now, it would be very difficult to get up again.
Trying not to breath too heavily, she finally made it to some large rocks by the shore.

With a big sigh of relief Tierra hunched down behind one of the bigger rocks putting her
back against it. Then she spotted what looked like a piece of pottery wedged between some
small rocks. Thinking she may be able to position herself so she cut cut the ropes on her
hands she maneuvered her backside to it. Her arm was scraped before she could get it right,
then she started to rub on it. At first there was no difference in the tightness of the rope, but
soon she felt it loosen up. In no time, she was able to slip her hands out of the rope and stood
up. Looking down at herself, she thought, ( I have to get rid of this smelly vest.) Grabbing the
edge of it, she quickly lifted it up over her head and was just about to fling it into the ocean,
when a long shadow in the moonlight moved over her body. ( It's Him!)

Dropping the vest onto the sand, Tierra launched herself into the ocean, thinking, ( I would
rather die, then be a slave.)

The girl's timing could be seen as very good or very bad, she was not seen as she slipped away, the rocks she had slipped to was a sentry post as it was a great spot to attack the camp from. But her escape attempt was just as the guards was being changed, being one of those who had already been out, Tertius was one of the new guards.

Normally somebody in his position would grumble about guard duty, but he knew it was necessary for the safety of the camp, their loot and ultimately their ship. He moved to the rocks and as his eyes was stil adjusting to the dark, he saw movement and noticed a figure heading into the water. The vest on the sand was all he had to see to know who the figure was.

"Bitch!"

He jumped from the rocks and hit the sand at a run, he could see her wading deeper and he followed. Beieng around the ocean for most of his life he had a much better method of wading into the surf. He had no idea what she was trying, but he knew that with that dress she would not get very far. By the time the sand dipped away from his feet, he was almost on her, a few strokes and he was on her.

Grabbing hold of her dress, he pulled her back and uncermoniously dunked her head under the water, as she sha came up for breath he was ready and connected with a hook punch to the side of her head. He felt like strangling the girl or leaving her to drown as her unconcious form slid down into the water. Instead he grabbed her and waded back to the beach.

Dragging her out onto the sand, he picked up the vest and slipped it back over her, of course it was for her own protection. But who would think like that anyway? He slung her over his shoulder and dumped her close to the fire. There was a shocked silence at his appearance from the dark, but the dripping wet clothing and unbound hands of the woman explained it like so many words could.

The captain of course did the talking and cursing as he sent out a guard, giving the rest a good tongue lashing about their laxness and how this could have brought guards or soldiers onto them. Tertius on the other hand set about to tie the girl up again, this time he tied her feet as well. He dragged her closer to the little fire, allowing for her to get some heat and to dry off.

Now that he had gained his composure he was kind of sorry for hitting her with a fist, but she did not give him much of a choice as he knew she would fight him and that could lead to them both drowning. He sat down next to her, basically electing himself to guard over her.

As Tierra wadded into the cold ocean, she heard the splash of her pursuer coming after her.
Heart beating wildly, she knew she would never get away from him, but kept on moving
anyways. She felt him grab her wet dress and pull her back, she tried to turn around and hit
him but before she could do anything he pushed her under the water. Hands flailing about,
he finally let her up, and before she could catch her breath, he hit her. Blackness enveloped
her again.

Moaning from the pain in her head Tierra slowly came back to life. She tried to move her
hands but found they were tied up again, but this time in front of her. Moving her feet, they
too were tied, she moaned again. Finally she opened her eyes and looked at her half dried
dress and shivered. She had that vest on again, moving her hands so she could sit up she
lifted her head up and fully opened her eyes.

Her eyes fell on the handsome face of her captor, her body started to shake, with an all
encompassing hatred. She stared at him, for long minutes while trying to calm her emotions
down. It seemed like her whole body ached from all the abuse of the last few hours. She
hated him for what he had done to her and what he had taken from her. She knew now she
would never she her father again, or the life she should have had. She closed her eyes for
a moment trying to think. The scent of him from his vest, made her want to scream. Being
way too large for her, it fell over her shoulder, she shook her long hair out of her face.

Taking a deep breath, Tierra opened her eyes looked at the pirate, and said in a low
voice filled with all her loathing of him, “ I know you don't understand a word I am saying
you barbaric low life scum, but I'm sure you can feel my emotions. I will never forgive what
you have done to me, and I vow I will kill you for this. If it's the last thing I do, I will kill you.”
Then she spat at him turned her head and looked towards the ocean.

He wiped the spit from his face and chuckled, other men would have strangled her, but he was not other men. The other pirates gathered around the small fire chuckled along with him, some hissing comments about how the little filly needed to be broken in and tamed. He casually flicked their words away with a wave of his hand, then he turned to Tierra,

"Not understand all...some yes."

He grinned,

"Kill me?"

He shrugged,

"You may..."

He groped for the word,

"Try"

He turned to face the fire,

"Only me...keep you...save here."

To emphisize his words he tugged on the vest,

"With not..."

He motioned to the other pirates and shrugged,

"They...take you."

He brushed his damp hair out of his face and looked on as the cook started to prepare their meal for the evening. One good thing about being ashore is a good meal every day

Tierra turned to look at her tormentor when she heard him chuckle, then at the others as they
came near. She looked at them as if they were just bugs to be squashed under her foot. Then
she glanced back as she heard broken Minoan. Thinking, ( Sooo, you did understand some of
what I said!) Her eyes traveled up and down his big frame, and imagined all kinds of scenarios
that she would like to do to him. There was a certain amount of satisfaction in these thoughts,
even though she knew most of them were unlikley. But, she knew if she got a chance, she would
take it, no matter what the consequences.

As for his keeping her safe from those ...bugs, if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't need him to
guard her. When he looked away her lip curled, hardly feeling grateful ...then she laughed
out loud. Looking him straight in the eye she said, “ So what are you going to do with me?”
Lifting her head up , she straightened up, put a smile on her face and with a softer voice,
said, “Maybe we can make some kind of arrangement, I don't want to really fight with you
anymore I was just angry before.” She bit her lower lip and batted her eyes at him. She
could tell her smile was having an affect on him. She had never had much trouble getting
her way with men, all men, all ages they always came around sooner or later. She smiled
again.

Tierra now leaned forward again, the vest slipped down a little more, she kept on smiling,
licking her lips and waited for him to answer. Even though she knew she was entering
dangerous territory now, she didn't think she really much of a choice. She kept her eyes on
his, and saw something in them that made her breath quicken. Even though she felt some
panic rising, she squashed it down, and kept looking at him...waiting.

He watched as she clearly tried to use her womanly charms to what? Seduce him? Ok she did mention angry and before and no fighting. Then he understood and chuckled,

"You sold as slave. Good gold, no let go."

He nodded at the captain who was sitting just outside his tent,

"Captain...want you, we...keep you"

He shrugged,

"Orders."

He could see the others eyeing her, but also knew it was best not to try anything if they wished to live. He faced her,

"When on ship...you no fight me...I no hit you."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, feeling it to be cooler than his own skin, he faced one of the pirates,

"Get the girl a blanket, we can't allow her to get sick."

The man grumbled, but left to do as he was told

Tierra listened to the man, trying to understand his broken Minoan. Sitting back, she started to
think. Being an intelligent girl, she knew if she was going to survive she was first of all going
to have to keep her wits about her. But now she realized she needed to learn the language
of the mainland, since that was probably where they were going to take her. She knew they
spoke Greek on the mainland. She pushed her hair out of her face again, keeping her eye on
the man. The sooner she started the better. Her half wet cloths were making her shiver, she
tried to ignore this while she kept on thinking.

When she heard him say, “ You no fight me...I no hit you.” She nodded her head, showing him
she understood and would comply. She saw him bring his hand up and watched as he placed it
on her shoulder, she just wanted to shrug is off, but kept still. It felt warm and she shivered
again when he took it away. Hearing him give some order to a nearby pirate, she watched the
man go off grumbling. ( I hope he brings me something to cover up with. )

Looking back at her captor, Tierra, brought her hand to her chest touching it twice and slowly
clearly said; “ Tierra....Tierra.” She waited and repeated herself. Taking her hand she now
pointed to his chest saying, “ You? Your name?” Touching her chest again she repeated,
“ Tierra...Tierra.” She took a big breath, shivered again in the cool evening air and waited
for him to tell her his name.

He looked at her, he was smarter than basically all the pirates, that is why knew as much Minoian as he did because he picked up what he could from former prisoners, he actually caught on what she tried to do. The pirate returned, Tertius took the blanket and folded it around the girl, he then touched his chest,

"Tertius"

He pointed at her,

"Tierra"

Pausing he continued in Minoian,

"Woman"

He pointed at himself

"Man"

He made sure she understood where he was going with it as he then repeated the gestures, only this time saying the words in Greek.

When the pirate came with a blanket and the “man” folded it around Tierra, she gratefully
accepted it. Snuggling down into it she looked up at him saw him touch his chest and say,

“Tertius.” Then point to her and say, “ Tierra.”

Tierra smiled slightly ( good, he knows that I want to learn his language, he may be a pirate
but he has a brain.) and nodded to him.

“Tertius”,

she said it again and listened to his next words. She repeated the words for woman and
man in Greek, thinking they were not too far off, both languages must be related in the
distant past.

Of course her people came before those mainland barbarians , everyone knew that. Her people
had being building mighty cities and had control of the seas when his people were still running
around the hills in animals skins. She lifted her eyebrow before quickly coming back from her
thoughts, when she saw him frowning at her. She looked around and pointed to the blue sea,
saying it in Minoan, then waited for him to say it and tell her the Greek version. She was
already looking around the camp, eager to learn all she could, she had always been a quick
learner as a child, this would be no different.

Tierra meant to learn all she could to try and give herself the best chance in getting control of
her fate. She vowed she wouldn't end up like so many slaves did , being used for all kinds of
things from, field labor to being passed around to the male guests of their owners. Used up
before their time was not going to be the fate of Tierra.

After learning a few dozen words, she started find it harder to concentrate on what Tertius
was saying. All she wanted to do now was to lay down and sleep. She put her hand up
indicating she wanted to stop for now. Laying down in the sand, she pulled the blanket
up to her chin and soon nodded off.

Not only was she learning fast, he actually got to learn a few words he did not know either. After a while she stopped him and fell asleep, he checked to make certain that she was asleep and not feinting sleep, of course tied up, she had nowhere to go. He untied her feet for a while and after that her hands. He had seen too many slaves lose their limbs when bound too long. After securing her bonds again, he kept a vigil, a few hours to sunrise though he fell asleep, half safe in the knowlege that she was bound and the guards was now alert to her trying to escape.

He woke when a hand touched his shoulder, he glared up at the man who woke him, but the steaming bowl smelled very good, so he sat up and accepted the food with a soft thanks. As he ate, he stared into the embers in the fire pit, judging from the crates being moved to the boat, they would weigh anchor at the turn of the tide. He finished his meal and prodded Tierra awake, from the huge copper pot on the fire pit he dished out food for her, he undid her hands and indicated the bowl.

"Eat."

He watched her like a hawk, making sure she did not try to escape again or try anything else than eat.

When Tierra felt someone prodding at her, she woke up with a start. It took her a few seconds
to remember where she was and with who. She groaned out loud, not only at her situation, but
at her very aching bruised body. She looked at Tertius, remembering all that he had done to her,
she wanted to make his body ache like hers was aching. She hoped her thoughts of beating him
with a stick, didn't show on her face. Instead she put on a smile and when he offered her a crude
bowl of some kind of food, she tried not to wrinkle her nose at it.

As she eat her breakfast, Tierra looked around the camp, there seemed to be a lot of activity
going on. Her chance of escape was getting smaller and smaller, it looked like they would
be going on the ship soon. She could see that Tertius was watching her every move, so decided
to ignore him while she ate. When she looked at the pirates, she saw that they were looking her
over, but they looked away when they saw her look their way. All except one, his eyes boldly
swept over her body and licked his lips. It made her skin crawl, then he smiled, showing his
blackened teeth, before finally getting back to work.

Looking away, Tierra knew she would have to stay as far away from him as possible. She
glanced up at Tertius, decided that she would again, try and learn his language since he wasn't
going to let her out of his sight any time soon. Finishing the last bite of the food, she set the
bowl on the ground and leaned towards Tertius and slapped him on the cheek. Then leaned
back quickly, with a grin she lifted her eyebrow and said;

“ Slap”

Leaned in again and hit him on the arm;

“Hit”,

leaned back again, waited and then, punched his arm and said;

“ Punch”

Now she waited for the Greek verbs to her actions, trying not to laugh out loud at the surprised
look on his handsome face.

He was taken aback by the slap, but when she said a word after it and followed it with a hit to his arm, followed with another word he actually realized what she was doing. Continuing her study of the Greek language and he learned new words as she did so, she sat back after punching his arm, a smug look on her face. He waited for a few moments and then he slapped her as well, not hard, more a demonstrative move than anything else,

"Slap"

He grinned at her and followed with the words, for hit and punch, then he took it a step further,

"You slap me, I slap you."

He demonstrated as he spoke, helping her to understand, then he pointed to the boat,

"Boat"

He took the blanket from her,

"Take"

Then he motioned to the blanket,

"Blanket"

He watched her, making sure she got it all, then he indicated them both,

"We"

He folded up the blanket,

"We go to the boat"

He tilted his head, wondering if she caught that one

Tierra was surprised when Tertius slapped her but soon realized what he was doing. He was
quick in understand what she wanted, she smiled slightly nodding her head. She repeated the
words, after him, including;

“ You slap me, I slap you.”

“Take, boat, blanket, we.”

She watched him fold up the blanket slowly and then say;

“ We go to the boat”

Her eyes widened as she realized her time had run out, she started to panic, shaking her head;
“No, please don't make me go!” Reaching down, she was able to push the loosened rope off
one ankle, jumped up and started running down the beach. Crying out; “ No, I won't go on
that ship.” Tears ran down her cheeks, she knew she wouldn't be able to out run Tertius, but
she had to try. She could hear the pirates laughing as she picked up her skirt and took longer
strides.

Unfortunately for Tierra her path of flight took her directly towards a sentry spot, the man have been alerted by her attempt to flee and stepped out in front of her, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her up off her feet.

"If you harm her, you will answer to me."

The warning from Tertius, kept the man from clouting Tierra over her head, her screams, kicks and punches was met with detached curiosity. Tertius grabbed her one arm and the pirate dropped her, Tertius yanked her towards him and snarled in her face,

"Behave!"

He had heard this word various times in Minoan and knew what it meant, he gave her a violent shake,

"Behave now."

His eyes was dark and angry, he looked like he was on the verge of giving her a real slap this time.

As Tierra ran in wild panic, she didn't see the man before it was too late. She fought him like a
wild thing, kicking, hitting and screaming all at once. By the time Tertius caught up, she was
too tired to fight anymore. Breathing heavily, she started to calm down somewhat when she felt
her arm roughly grabbed , then she was yanked away from the pirate. Looking up she saw one
angry Tertius glaring down at her.

“Behave”

He shook her so her head wobbled back and forth.

“Behave now.”

Still trying to catch her breath, Tierra swallowed, she knew he might be her enemy, but they
also had a connection of sorts. She didn't care if he looked like he wanted to hit her again. She
quickly decided to plead for him to let her go. She put her hands up on his chest, “ Please,
please Tertius let me go, you can't do this to me, how can you do this to me? I'll do anything
you want just let me go!” She couldn't help but shake uncontrollably now as she waited,
hoping against hope that he would soften and let her go.

He sighed, he understood a few words, but her posture and tone made it clear what she wanted. He shook his head,

"No, you come or I tie you up."

For the first time in gis life he was frustrated not to be able to communicate, he turned and dragged her after him, halfway back he stopped and turned back to her,

"There...was two other, they find you, they will have..."

He struggled to find the word, then remembering what was a swear word,

"Fuck you. I save you...from this thing. Have to bring you, or captain lose...faith in me, I no want die. You no will die, not be..."

With a grunt of frustartion he turned and headed back for camp, the pirates marked their return with laughs and vulgar comments. They had the right, it was his own fault that she slipped away again. He pushed her down to the ground,

"Sit."

He picked up the rope she had slipped off and untied it, hunkering down, he gave her a warning look, before quickly tying up her feet again, this time making sure she can't slip out.

Tierra waited looking into his eyes, her lips trembled. He shook his head replying,

“No, you come or I tie you up.”

Hearing the “No” she could guess at the rest. She let out the breath she had been holding
closed her eyes trying to get a hold of herself. Still hanging onto her arm, Tertius started to
drag her back to the camp. Wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, Tierra
decided she would somehow come up with some way to outwit these pirates. First of all she
had to get her emotions under control. She looked up at Tertius thinking she had to find a way
to make him want to help her. She sniffed and wiped her nose with a part of her skirt. Looking
down at herself, she knew she had never in her life been such a sorry sight.

Suddenly Tertius stopped and tried to communicate with her again. She watched as he began
to explain his thoughts,

“There...was two other, they find you, they will have...”

She frowned as he stopped then continued,

“Fuck you. I save you...from this thing, Have to bring you, or captain lose...faith in me, I no
want die. You no will die, not be...”

When she heard that swear word, her eyes grew huge, she brought her hand to her mouth,
listening to the rest. Thinking she got the general idea of what he was trying to say, Tierra
now realized her life was in real danger, if she didn't cooperate with her captor. She wanted
to ask him how he came to be with such bad men, but knew it would be hopeless until she
learned more of his language.

With a grunt, he turned and started dragging her back to the camp again. When they arrived
Tierra hated the way the pirates laughed and made all kinds of rude gestures. Rather then
sink to their level, she ignored them. Tertius pushed her down onto the sand.

“Sit.”

Seeing that warning look, she pressed her lips together and looked towards Kydonia. Frowning
she couldn't help but wonder, ( why wasn't anyone looking for her? Someone must have noticed
she was missing by now.) Then it dawned on her, they would look for her first at the meadow,
since that was her favorite place when she wanted to be alone. She now earnestly wished she had
told one of the servants where she was going. She looked down at Tertius as he tied her feet
and said nothing.

Some of the pirates lingered around, leering at the two of them, until Tertius stood up from the crouch he was in to bind Tierra's ankles and glared at them,

"Get a move on. If her people decide to look for her on the beach you will have guards and soldiers to deal with. Move it you land loving winesucking asses!"

His tone had them scurrying to load the row boats which was taking their supplies to the ship, Tertius leaned down and pulled Tierra to her feet, he roughly tied her hands and without a word lifted her up, she basically weighed nothing to him as he carried her to a row boat, the trip was a short one and she got pulled up onto the deck along with the cargo in a net. Tertius met her on deck, again he carried her as he trudged below deck. Placing her on a cot in a smal cabin, he motioned the cabin,

"Mine"

Just for the sake of her learning experience he repeated it in Greek and then opened a trunk, from it he drew a leather belt, with a sword, he buckled it on and from the depths of the trunk he pulled material. He placed it on the cot,

"We go, you...dress."

He touched the material,

"Greek"

He tugged at the vest,

"Cover more."

He gave her a lopsided smile, getting up he left, bolting the lock behind him. He had taken the sword as it was the only weapon in his small cabin, also she should be safe...on his way to the deck, he missed the figure propped between two barrels. The man stepped out of his hiding place and looked at the door, well what the captain and his pups didn't know wouldn't hurt him, he grinned and padded silently to the door.

Tierra silently watched as Tertius finished tying her feet together, she kept saying to herself,
( be calm, be calm.) Some of the pirates still hung around making comments and gestures,
she kept her eyes on “Him”, but could hear the comments quite clearly. It was dawning on
her that she could recognize more and more of the words, they just had a different accent.
Greek was definitely related to Minoan, it was just very informal and uneducated. But with
time and practice, she would be able to understand most of what these Greek barbarians
were saying. Inwardly she smiled to herself, ( this was something she would keep to herself.)


Tertius stood up and barked at his men, “ Get moving, her people can look on beach for her,
guards , soldiers come. Move you ...” Then she heard some cursing at them. But she was able
to get the general idea.

When he had finished his orders to the pirates, Tertius then pulled Tierra to her feet and
started to roughly wrap the rope around her wrists. She ground her teeth at this treatment
but kept her tongue. Lifting her up like a sack of beans Tierra had to bite her inner cheek
to stop herself from saying the words that entered her head. ( Oh revenge will be sweet
when it comes my dear Tertius.) It was a good thing he couldn't see the expression on her
face.

Once he plunked her down in the row boat, she sat up looking towards her village knowing it
was probably the last time she would be seeing these shores. One solitary tear fell down her
cheek. She looked back at Tertius with venom in her eyes. Before she could have anymore
thoughts of what she wanted to do to him, they rowed up along side the ship. She was put
on top of some crates in a net and hoisted up onto the deck of the ship. Hanging onto the
net, Tierra had one last look at the shore before being unceremonously dumped on deck.

Once the net was let down, Tertius picked the girl up again and took her below deck along
a darkened passageway and into a small cabin. Setting her down on a small cot. Motioning
with his arm he said;

“ Mine”

Then repeated the word in Greek. Tierra remained silent through all this, but watched as he
went to a trunk and rummaged around til he brought out a sword and belt. Buckling the belt
on and placing the sword in it, he went back and pulled out a length of material.

“ We go you...dress.”

“Greek”

When he tugged at the vest, Tierra pulled away.

“ Cover more.”

She lifted her eyebrow and nodded once. She got it, he wanted her to put this garment on.
Tierra had seen some Greek slave girls wearing a garment like this. Minoans laughed at the
primitive way they wore their clothes. It was just a square sheet of cloth, that was wrapped
around the body and pined in place at the shoulder. A belt was worn around the waist. She
grabbed it off the cot holding it against her chest trying not to show her disgust.

The lopsided smile only got him a cold stare as he left and bolted the door behind him.
When she was alone, she sighed and closed her eyes for a minute. Then looked at the
material again. ( it would be so good to get these filthy clothes off and get myself cleaned
up.) All of a sudden she realized, he had forgotten to take the ropes off her wrists and
ankles. “ Oh damm it.” she shouted. Grabbing a small drinking cup she threw it against
the door smiling grimly at the sound it made as it broke into pieces.

Still sitting on the cot she bent down and started working on the rope tying her ankles
together. As she struggled with the knots she wondered if his forgetting meant that
she was having some affect on him after all.