Stuck in Ancient Nineveh, No Way Back....

OOC: I am going with the idea of a modern guy stuck in ancient Nineveh with the advantages of knowledge of history, but the disadvantage of not being used to the lack of modern technology and conveniences. My character might well get stuck in situations that he never contemplated, doing things that severely test his moral compass, such as possible owning slaves and things like that.

My character, Isaac Morini, a history teacher of mixed Jewish-Irish-Italian heritage, is stuck in ancient Nineveh during the fall of the Assyrian Empire.

Need possible slaves, or maybe prostitutes, maybe other male and female characters to interact with Isaac and really see how far he goes from his modern social and sexual mores while living in the past.....will he go native...."when in Rome"....

Isaac Montini

Isaac Montini nearly got ran over by the chariot that raced by him, the dust about choking him, too, in the heavy, hot Middle Eastern sun. He was one minute back home in Boston, teaching students in a prestigious Catholic high school, the next in a whole different place....living history instead of teaching it....and he was naked.

"Holy cow, where are my clothes?" he thought aloud, rushing to grab the first clothes he could, a simple tunic that covered little more than his chest and upper thighs at most.

Grabbing a dagger just in case, to be safe, Isaac looked angrily as he saw a young woman being surrounded by four men with a net....they had her petite, swarthy body trapped in their net....and they were clearly ready to use it to use her.

"Come on, you little fish...time to eat you!" laughed one man, just before Isaac ended his dinner plans abruptly, with a dagger shoved into his back.

He hadn't thought at all. There was no time for the usually very rational and analytical man to think. He just reacted, stabbing one of the men. When they grabbed him, he sliced open a forearm with the dagger and the rest of them ran off, not wanting to anger a madman willing to attack them out of nowhere with a knife.

There was still no time to take stock of the place, except to notice how strange and exotic this city was, even down to the bas-reliefs....bas-reliefs, with winged creatures....no way, it couldn't be....Nineveh?

Either that or Babylon. Either way, he was in the past, and there was no way back that he knew about.

With them alone, he tried speaking and realized that he now spoke Assyrian, oddly enough.

"Girl, give me a chance to cut open this net, and you'll be free. Don't fight me, you hear me?" he spoke to her, "Trust me, won't you?"

He spoke as he would to one of his students, full of authority and compassion at once....like a father, really...

Kiya

I was not long ago that Kiya had her own slaves, her own home. a much different life.These people had taken her from the life in Egypt that she knew. She was born into a noble family. Her father was an adviser in the royal coutts and her mother ruled their vast household. This included servants and paid workers alike

At 16 she was married off to a man she barely knew who had been twice her age as an agreement between him and her father.

Not long after the marriage too place war broke out and her homeland was overtaken. All people of nobility we either slain or forced into servitude. Her husband had been a coward and took his own life leaving her to fend for herself against those invading their home. She was taken away and because of her beauty she was allowed to live, but barely. Over the last year her once full body has thinned out due to her captors forgetting to feed her here and there and she is covered in bruised from the rough handling by the men she is passed to.

Kiya struggled against the net. She could feel the dust and the sand clinging to her body as she tried to pull away from the groping hands of these men. Her previous owner had left her in the "care" of these men till he came back. Suddenly one fell with a scream as a strange man attacked her captors. suddenly the men ran off.

She tried to struggled out of the net pulling the small scape of clothing that was left on her body around her to save her some modestly. The men had really tangled her up in it. The more she struggled the tighter it bound up against her skin

"Trust me, won't you?"

His voice was calming, bust she still could not get the fear out of her heart. Too many over the last year had tried to get to her. Too many had forced themselves on her.

Isaac Montini

Isaac couldn't help but see the terror and apprehension in Kiya's face and he noted how poorly she was clothed and fed. Clearly, she had seen rather rough treatment indeed. No doubt, the poor girl had been a slave or captive of some kind, though her origin was anyone's guess now. She had a somewhat swarthy look to her, but so did many folk around here. Then again, her eyes were brown like his, not grey like some of the Assyrians around here, if in fact they were Assyrians. Maybe those men were Medians or Babylonians. Given the chaos, it occurred to him that he could be witnessing the fall of Nineveh in 612 CE.

Holy smokes, I'm living in the Iron Age.....if I stay around, I'll witness the rise of Nebuchadnezzar the Great and the Neo-Babylonian Empire. My children, if I have any, will live to see the rise of the Medo-Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great.

Isaac focused back on cutting the net and offered his hand to help Kiya stand up.

"I am Isaac. Who are you?" he smiled at her.

Kiya, brushed the the last of the netting from off of her ignoring the hand that had been offered to her, she pushed herself up. She brushed off the dirt and the sand.

"I am Isaac. Who are you?" She looked at him quizzically. Who was this man? Men here did not speak to slaves in this manor. Not even her previous owners had known her name

"And why should that matter to you?" Her accent gave her away in this land, but she was fluent in the language. Her father had her learn all the languages of the surrounding empires as a young girl and with the trade route going directly though her home she got a lot of practice. There was also an air about how she spoke. she still had the tone of a noble, but the last year had taken some of the power out of her voice.

Kiya pulled the remainder of her garment around her covering her body the best she could. She shook the dirt out of her long waist length hair.

"I must go before someone figures out their property is gone" She began to walk away, she kept her eyes out for another item of clothing that would not mark her as a slave. She stopped and slowly turned to face the man."And thank you for saving me Issac. I should let you know that you do stand out a bit here."

Isaac Montini

"You are welcome. And thank you, but I am well aware of that fact. This isn't exactly my country, either, though I am no one's property or slave. I take it that you have a master. Why didn't he protect you from this....horrible business? That's no way to take good care of property, is it? Not that I think of you that way. To me, you're still a woman, a person. That's why your name matters to me. Slave or free, you're still a person and you have a name," Isaac's eyes blazed with a fury in them at the way that this girl was treated by her master.

"Come with me. Let's get out of here, before these.....vicious pigs get any ideas," Isaac sneered, no longer in a tolerant mood, "if anyone asks, you're my daughter. Seems plausible enough to me."

He had seen and heard enough already to have a hard time following the kind of cultural relativism often encouraged in academia....they could debate until they were blue in the face, but this was a person who deserved more than to be gang-raped and half-starved by everyone she knew. Judging by her appearance, after all.

"Of course, you need to clean up and get some food. Don't want someone thinking that I can't feed my own family."

She watched the man as he talked. Something about him seemed kind, but she had not a lot of trust in men. Even her father had gotten rid of her.

"My name is Kiya." she nodded her head in acknowledgement of him. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself, trying to provide a little comfort.

The idea of her going with him frightened her. All she wanted to do was run and escape, but in this land she would just be found and made a slave again. She would have no different fate than the one that this man had just saved her from. And it would probably be worse as she would be a runaway and treated even worse.

"I do not think i will pass as your daughter. I have been marked" she turned her forearm slowly towards him showing off the scar that had been burned into her flesh marking her as property of the Empire. Every time she saw the mark she felt her heart drop. she was once a woman of standing, pride and dignity. Three things here she had none of. "You know if anyone see it they will not believe the story" she looked at him expecting him to understand the dilemma.

Isaac Montini

Isaac looked at the mark with sheer horror....tangible evidence both of the reality of ancient slavery and also of the cruelty of the sons of Asshur....and frankly, their daughters as well. He got her meaning too well.

"So...you mean that you cannot pass as a free woman at all? Not here at least," Isaac asked her, truly disturbed at what this meant....he had to get them out of here, and there was now no other way.

"You mean that you will have to pretend to be my slave?"

The idea made him physically sick at his stomach...he had taught history, preferring the ancients like this, but he had also studied American slavery, too....the Middle Passage....the chaining of slaves, the auctions, the sick conditions in which they had lived, and presumably....increasingly clear, things were no better for the slaves of the Assyrian lands....and somewhere out there, the Ten Lost Tribes suffered conditions just like this....the Jewish part of him felt that turn his stomach as well....

Like it or not, disgusting and revolting as it was....they had broken this woman and marked her....scarred her for life, and they had made it so that she could not, at least for now, walk openly as a free woman...they had taken away her humanity and reduced her to a pet.

Isaac fought back tears and offered his hand again, "So be it. If you must be seen as my slave, so be it....but know this, you are not my slave. Between us, you are a free woman. I'm hard up for tail, but not so hard up that I will heap further abuse on a victim of it. My own people didn't get rid of slavery just so that I could practice it."

Kiya hesitantly took his hand. It was softer and gentler than she had though that it was going to be.

"So be it. If you must be seen as my slave, so be it....but know this, you are not my slave. Between us, you are a free woman. I'm hard up for tail, but not so hard up that I will heap further abuse on a victim of it. My own people didn't get rid of slavery just so that I could practice it."

The wording confused her. "Tail? Your people? No slavery?" She was most intrigues about the no slaves part. how in a world ruled by other could there be no slaves. The questions about this man ran though her head. He did not look as if he had come from these parts, nor did he speak as if he did.

She looked over to the pile off netting once more. In horror she saw it. She scooped up a metal collar attached to a chain. Her chain. She felt the emotion start to bubble within her. She had though for a brief moment that she was free of the thing. That she would be able to leave it behind.

Kiya held it out to him "For people to believe you...." she felt a small tear well up in her eye threatening to fall down her cheek. She held herself calm so that it wouldn't. He looked even more shocked at the idea. "Also, if my previous owner see you with me you will have to come up with how you got me from the men"

She held it out to him. "If you do not want us to stand out you will have to put this on me."

Isaac Montini

The reality of this was truly jolting and shocking to Isaac, but he nodded and wiped away tears as he placed the chain and collar on Kiya.

"Kiya, just know that I will rather die than see you return to slavery for real. I hate everything that it stands for. If this is what it takes, so be it...but if your former owner let those men have you before....I will not hesitate to show him my displeasure."

"Come along....slave," he struggled to get out the words without it feeling like a punch to the gut.

The eyes that he turned to Kiya belied his smile....eyes that showed the anguish in his soul....and only then the desire for her...and the disgust with himself for having such notions in his head, such awful desires and temptations that might lead him to abuse another person....no, lust wasn't the evil or vice....but the dark side of him that might relish owning her....it sickened him.

In the end, what scared Isaac most was the man in the mirror.....

As the collar clicked closed she could not hold back any longer. A single tear fell. It was one of both fear and anger. but at the moment she had no choice but to go along with this. sure, she was a slave again, but he had not tried to touch her yet and that was a first. He seemed to be the lesser of two evils at the moment till she could figure out how to leave the city on her own if she could get away.

"Come along....slave," His voice was clear but Kiya could tell there was a nervousness and a sadness within the command. She shifted her garment to blend in with her position letting one side drop further over her left shoulder. the smooth thin blue fabric flowed around her. She tightened the black sash tighter around her waist to show her form.

She nodded and followed behind him

Seeing Kiya's sad face, seeing the way that she looked broken again, wrenched the gut right out of Isaac.....it was a truly horrible reality...that he now, for all intents and purposes, owned another human being....and that part of him wanted to enjoy her for his own pleasures, to punish her for how women of his own time had mistreated him....for how they had taken him for granted....how a petty part of him wanted to deal out the suffering and sorrow that they had inflicted on him....but no, that was wrong.....he couldn't think like that.....it was just....wrong.

Isaac shook himself, reminding himself, this is an act...you can do this. Act! That's all. Nothing more than that. She is another person, like your students, who needs your help. To do that, you must pretend to be cruel and wicked....just don't make it too convincing.

Of course, this was in his head, not spoken aloud.

Isaac clenched his jaw as he led Kiya along the road and did his best to avoid the major thoroughfares, or at least what looked to be them....he wanted out of the city as soon as it could be done.....out of Nineveh, and free to go.....

Everywhere, he was haunted by what he saw, the rapes, murders, slaughters, arsons, etc. as the city was razed around him. Panic had set in, as Medians and Chaldeans alike inflicted revenge of their own on the Assyrians there. A great capital had fallen..and they had to escape it.

Kiya followed behind him wondering at where they would go. The city was in disarray. Everywhere one looked there was looting, murder and rape. The cries of the starving orphaned children in the street pulled at Kiya's heart. they were the same cries she heard as her own city fell.

She had not realized she had paused watching the actions around her till she ahd felt a tug on her collar from the chain almost pulling her over.

She watched as a few of the men looting turned their attention to her, staring her down like animals on the hunt. This was not good. Quickly she gathered her footing and caught up to Issac, hovering very closely just behind him on his right side.

"Do you know where you are going?" she whispered in his ear "you seem a bit disorientated"

Isaac Montini

Isaac shrugged and simply said, "I've never been here before. I'm just trying to get you away from the worst of it, hopefully far from certain fellows. Especially with those jerks looking at you as if they just saw a new piece of meat."

Having a sudden thought, he asked Kiya, "Have you ever traveled to the outside of the city? If so, do you recall where the city itself ends, or maybe where a smaller town is nearby? I was thinking that we were both blind, but that was assuming that your old master kept you home all the time. That assumption might have been flawed."

Meanwhile, he picked up a spear and girded on a belt with a sword in its sheath....he wanted to be ready, just in case. If those fuckers wanted to try their hand at raping Kiya, they'd have to get through him.

She thought of the layout of the city. It had a been rare for her to be taken out of the house let along the walls of the city. Every time she had been she had made sure to memorize ever part so that she would know of landmarks to look for. But a full map was not available in her memory. Only pieces

Mainly she knew the area of the main gates. Its where she had been brought into the city for the first time. She could remember the day vividly. The crowd of people waiting for the new slaves to be put up for sale.

"I'm not very familiar with this part of the city. I know there is a brothel and a small tavern around the corner though. Its where I would be taken if my master wanted to make some extra coins. And plus you too so many turns I'm a little disoriented"

Isaac Montini

"Let's head there, then, if you can. Sorry about the turns, but this is a completely alien city to me. Lovely people, but they are now suffering what they dealt out to others," Isaac thought aloud, "sad business, but I doubt that they wept for their victims, skinned alive, mutilated, dismembered, and other gruesome fates."

"Still, I do feel compassion for them. Anyway, lead me to the gates, Kiya," he spoke her name to reinforce between them that she was no slave, but his temporary companion....one that he was still tempted to take....but he chose not to yet..

They passed by yet more scenes of violence and destruction, realizing that at least the chaos was their friend, might well conceal their escape...what other chance did they have, anyway?

She stopped to think. From this section it was a ways. The city was built in a circle, and it was quite the maze.

"I'll try to direct you the best I can, but you will have to lead. We will raise suspicion if I lead or people will think I'm for sale or for rent. This area is fairly new to me and there is a slight gap in my knowledge between this part of the city and the main gates. It has been almost a year since I was allowed to even look upon them. "

With that she took a bold move to left her eyes and gather her bearings.

"I do believe that if you follow this street down, turn left when it ends and take the next two rights that should get us close"

Isaac Montini

Kiya had a point. Nothing that suggested that she wasn't his slave would be safe for them. Sad as that was for her, it was necessary for her to at least appear to be his slave, his property. He had to visibly lead her, not the other way around.

"Yes, you have a valid point. So be it. Give me your best guess, but I will at least appear to guide you instead of the opposite. I shudder to think of why you were kept in such a captive state. Is that normal for slaves in the Assyrian Empire?" Isaac asked her.

He did his best not to ogle her, but she still excited him....it was yet another case of his primal urges warring with his social ethics. Everything that he had ever been taught screamed to treat her with respect and dignity as a person, but every instinct of his primeval nature demanded that he take her and make her his....could he continue to resist the latter impulses....and if so, for how long?

His face was kind, but she could feel the heat of his gaze upon her flesh. even though the heat of the day it was warm. It was hard to look him in the eye. he looked lost in this role he had to play. Any other man would have had their way with her by now. He still had not, but how long would that last.

"Here it it the normal thing for a slave to be sheltered. Many of us are not from a this part of the empire. The masters keep up hidden inside so we will not run away"

She inched in close to him letting her hand touch his right arm to silently signal him to go that way.

"In my homeland we never treated our slaves in...." she stopped right there. She had said too much. "Tell me of where you are from, you mentioned no slavery?"

Isaac Montini

Isaac listened to what Kiya said, trying to show empathy more and lust a little less, though it wasn't easy for him here.

When she asked him about slavery back in his birthplace, he nodded, "long ago, we had slavery, too. We brought over slaves from far away, kept them, bred with them, made them farm for us, grow certain crops that made us incredible wealth. Then....we began to realize that it was wrong. First some parts ended the practice and then others, and before long, the issue divided our land, until we went to war with each other over it. The side that wanted slavery abolished won, so slavery ceased to exist."

"I have never met a slave in my life until you, in fact," Isaac admitted.

She stopped him, grabbing his hand.

"Where are you from?" her gaze was fixed on him. her whole being caught up in the wonder of a world without slavery "The whole empire has slaves, as well as the world around us. How does anything get finished? Who works the land and in the brothels?...."

Suddenly realizing her action, she let go of his hand and took a step back almost to the end of her chain. "I'm sorry, I should not have touched you like that" She felt her gaze lower in habit.

Isaac Montini

"It is fine, Kiya. Just because we have to pretend that you're my slave doesn't mean that you really are. The answer is simple. Free men and women work the land. I wish that I could say that free women work the brothels, but that isn't always so. Prostitutes are still the closest thing that we have to slaves in many cases, though it's banned, the ban isn't always enforced well. Still, the law is on the side of the prostitutes in that anyone who tries to keep them risks punishment. The more things change, the more they stay the same, right?" Isaac recalled that prostitution, at least where banned ironically, was akin to slavery....where it was legal, it ended to have more of an emancipating effect instead.

"The name of my homeland is one that you will not find on any map known to your part of the world. It is called America."

She followed along behind him hoping they would be at their destination soon. She fiddled with the sash that was barely keeping the fabric around her body. she was grateful for it. Many of the other pleasure slave wore very little or nothing at all, for it did not last long. Men either ripped them out of it or did not want them in it in the first place for easy access.

Over her year in captivity she had become accustom to being covered very little and it was just another thing for the men to hold on to.It had been easier to wiggle away with nothing on.

The idea swirled around in her head. Free people doing the work that was meant to be that designated for slaves. Even in her homeland there had been slaves for all the work. Most were treated harsh, but in her home she make sure they were all treated as fairly as possible.

Isaac Montini

Finally, mostly by dumb luck, they reached the gates, with Isaac looking intently at Kiya in a protective, frighteningly, even a possessive way.....he gulped hard as he saw the Chaldean soldiers and with them was a gorgeous woman, no less....she didn't appear to be low-class, either.

"Excuse me, but who is this slave of yours and how might I take her off your hands?" the lead Chaldean soldier said.

"That's amusing, because I wondered the same about your captive, sir," Isaac faked fairly well, but in his eyes his disgust was brazen enough for anyone looking for it....it was just a question of how that would be interpreted.

"I wouldn't let this one free. She's an Assyrian noblewoman," the other soldier scoffed.

"Well, there you go. This is my slave and I'm keeping her. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have places to go," Isaac suggested.

The soldiers treated him with a surprising amount of respect, but that was just Isaac slipping into teacher mode, full of confidence and authority....he just hoped that it was enough to get past them.

Kiya gasped and moved behind Issac hoping she had not been seen. The woman, she knew her. they had med on many occasions. Many times she had done business, with her previous owner. Mostly illegal dealings in the black market. She had even rented out Kiya for a few nights to "entertain" her guest.

She heard her shout out suddenly. "You! little slave. I know who you are, what happened to your master, Meesha?"

Kiya peeped out from behind Issac dreading this moment

"Lady Shamura, I know not of what happened to him. He left me in the streets and went into hiding"