Mark of the Thief

Someone must’ve notified Sal that Radulf had arrived, forcing him to give up the search for me. He met Radulf in the tu

When he bowed to the general, his sweaty head lowered directly in front of my face. Had he turned just an inch, he’d have spotted me. “General Radulf, you honor us with your presence.”

“Clear this entire tu

“I have a man ready to explore the cave, as you asked.” Sal motioned with his hand and a guard brought the man in. A quick peek out told me his chains were similar to mine, though his legs were also manacled. Sal must’ve expected him to resist.

But he didn’t. The man fell to his knees and began howling like a lost child. “I beg you, Dominus. Don’t send me into that cave. I don’t want to die.”

“I’ll send a thousand slaves to their deaths if that’s what it takes,” Radulf snarled. “Get to your feet.”

“I — I’m too big for the opening,” the man said. “And too heavy on ropes. You want someone —”

Sal swatted his head. “How dare you refuse the general?”

The man fell to all fours, and when he turned to answer Sal, his eyes locked directly on mine. I shook my head, silently begging him not to reveal me, but his expression only darkened as a grin widened on his face. “Dominus, you want someone like him.”

Sal followed his gaze and instantly grabbed my chains and yanked me from the crevice. “There you are, rodent. I’ll deal with you later.”

“Let me see this one,” Radulf said.

My heart leapt into my throat. He must have known that I had overheard his conversation. So I kept my head down while he studied me, hoping if I made myself look weak enough, the general would lose interest. As one of the youngest workers here, I wasn’t anywhere near the biggest or the strongest worker of the mines, and for that matter, I wasn’t the stupidest either. At this point, the only chance I had was if he decided that I wasn’t a threat to him.

None of it worked. The general pinched my face between his fingers and forced me to look up. He was tall, with dark hair that was graying over his ears, olive skin, and a square face that looked carved out of stone. His silver armor covered a broad, muscular chest, and I had no doubt he managed the sword at his side with perfect ease.

In contrast, my dark hair was ragged, as were the remaining shreds of my thin tunic. I was filthy and covered in the same bruises, scrapes, and cuts as any other slave miner. And I felt how low my status was compared to a man of Radulf’s greatness. But at least I hadn’t spent the last few minutes talking about treason against the Roman Empire.

Radulf turned my head from side to side. “You look familiar,” he said. “Have we met?”

I nearly choked out a nervous laugh. Where would a mining slave possibly meet a Roman general? He and I had nothing in common. Nor was there anything I wanted to have in common with him, aside from one thing only: He was free, and I wore chains.

“Cooperate with me,” he said, “and I might forget that you were eavesdropping.”

I started to point out that for a treasonous man, he whispered rather loud, but before I could speak, Sal shook his head. “You wouldn’t want him, Dominus. He displeases the gods.”

No, I was their plaything, their entertainment in an eternity of boredom. This new twist was proof of that. Obviously, their idea of saving me from the punishment of escaping was to force me into that cursed cave. Because now it would be one or the other, and either way, Sal would win. That was intolerable.

Sal smiled. “On second thought, I can see why you would choose him.” I immediately understood why he had changed his mind and glared back at him. There weren’t many gears in Sal’s brain, so it wasn’t hard to watch them working. He had pla

“What’s the boy’s name?” Radulf asked.

“We call him Nic.”

“Nicolas Calva,” I answered. It was a freeborn name that I’d given myself five years ago. Calva had been my mother’s family name. If I accepted my life with only a first name, like every other man here, that would be the same as accepting that I would never be anything but a slave in the mines. And I refused to die here, as if I were nothing.

Radulf said, “Well, Nicolas Calva, you will go into that cave for me. You will have to be brave, and obey my every order.”

“You’ll find no slave here braver than Nic, or more obedient.” Sal nearly choked on the last part of his words. I wished he had.

“Then why was he trying to escape just now?”

Sal glanced at me, speechless. “You misunderstood,” I said. “I went into that crevice looking for other runaway slaves. Luckily, I didn’t find any.”

“I can make him obey.” Radulf smiled back at me. “You remind me of myself, when I was a boy in Gaul.”

“I’m surprised you can remember back that long ago.”

He crouched to my level. “I remember it well. There was always an uprising somewhere. Always an opportunity for Rome to crush us, again and again. You know what I’m talking about. I can see that in your eyes.”

He was right. Rome had also destroyed my family in Gaul, before we’d fled deeper into the empire. None of my mother’s attempts to hide us from the slavers had worked, though. We were sold into the mines five years ago.

Radulf’s smile faded. “Who is your family, Nic?”

Sal answered for me. “He was born in Gaul of a Roman mother named Hortensia, and an unknown father.”

Radulf’s eyes flickered for a moment, but he continued to stare. “Unknown? Not even a name?”

Though it meant little to me, I did know my father’s name, Halden. From my mother’s description, he had died when struck by lightning. It was a senseless, useless death, one without honor. For that reason, I never said his name, not even to my sister. There was no chance of me telling this man now.

“Where is his mother?” Radulf asked.

“A few weeks after they all arrived here, I sold her to a family near Rome.” Sal flicked his eyes at me and I glared back. It was on top of the long list of reasons why I hated him. “But the boy’s sister is still here. Livia.”

The way he said her name curled my hands into fists. Sal had never made it a secret that he was waiting for my sister to come of age so that he could make her an offer of marriage. The thought of it twisted my stomach.

Since it was too much to hope for favors from the gods, I decided that if I could not save myself, at least I would do something for Livia. Faking all possible i

Sal’s face paled, then reddened as he tried to control his anger. He sputtered out an objection but it was already too late.

“Very well.” Radulf nodded at Sal to lead us on. I wished I could’ve taken more joy in Sal’s distress, but in truth, I felt anything but happiness then.

A roll of thunder sounded outside as we walked deeper into the tu