Topias knelt. He always moved quickly to respond to the orders he was given. His curly blond hair bounced as he did so.
The men standing above him laughed. He didn't know why. He heard them talking. Their language was new to him.
A hand reached for the brown cloth that lay over his shoulder and fell over his body covering him though not keeping him warm enough in the weather. They had been walking for days now since crossing the turbulent water.
Father Doman talked about the land across the sea. There were fields, mountains, rivers and even cities, he said.
Topias had seen much of them now having grown two years since he was grabbed by the man on a horse galloping through the village. He had no family only the blacksmith who allowed him to sleep in the area he worked in. Topias had to clean the area in exchange and would spend most of his time at the Abbey.
He felt the cloth being yanked, from him leaving him kneeling naked now. The men laughed again.
Father Doman taught him languages, how to read the artistic books he created with other monks. He could count and measure.
Topias didn't know how old he was. But seeing his armpit hair and body hair, Father Doman said he was nearly a man.
The man taught him other things and how Topias could please a woman and man with his body.
Topias stood as the big hands grabbed his hair. Those and other hands moved over his smooth body, feeling flesh, muscle and entering him in the back.
He stood obediently. Socas, the man said that night after stopping the horse in the middle of trees further away from his village then Topias had ever gone before. He knew he had to survive and he'd never return to the Abbey or Blacksmith shop again.
The man mumbled something Topias almost understood. But he decided not to reveal that fact. The hands seemed to be evaluating him. They cupped his manhood squeezing until he couldn't stand it.
The men turned him around and hands moved over his back. The marks were healing, Topias knew. They always did. Socas seemed to enjoy whipping him. Topias learned words and eventually knew the man who captured him was trying to make him tough.
The first night, he helped make camp. Socas seemed surprised but quickly began to gesture things for Topias to do.
And lying on the bed of dried leaves and pine needles, the man gestured bringing Topias to him. He pushed the boys' head and Topias did what he had learned to do at the Abbey. It was the way he got food from men in the village and the way he kept a warm place to sleep.
He learned that the man who stole him liked using his body. Topias let him. He was fed, hugged, kept warm and learned more about the langue he almost understood.
They traveled more and soon were part of a much larger group where men laughed at him and treated him like the other slaves they traveled with. Topias learned they were an Army from far south a city called Rome.
He learned there were slaves from many countries speaking many languages. Socas showed off his skills, often charging fees for Topias to translate and even to please others in the Army.
Topias swung a short sword in a battle protecting Socas fighting nearby. Another skill that Socas didn't know he had having learned it from an old man in the village.
"You are a bright boy" The man said "stay with me and I'll teach you how to fight" Topias bathed the man, pleased him and lay with him to accept his attempts to treat him like his long ago died wife.
"You are mine" Socas would say gentle then return to his usual brusque voice ordering Topias to clean this, or do that, or pack this or take care of the horse or .... It was a life Topias had gotten used to. And he wondered what would happen once they returned to Rome.
Socas had a wife, children, house servants and a farm outside the city. Would Topias live there? Would he continue to be Socas boy or become one of the man's servants he had heard about?
Socas died in the battle days ago. Two attacked him. Topias stabbed the back of one distracting him. Ducking the man's swords, he saw his Master fall.
Now he stood naked being examined by others. The soldiers had scattered and the wild looking men that won the battle were taking horses, swords, gold and letting those enslaved leave.
But Topias was being treated differently. He was being bargained for. The two men shouting at each other then laughing.
He felt the knife on his stomach, fearing he'd soon be stabbed and left to bleed like Socas. The knife scrapped above his manhood. Finger grabbed the scrapped off hair like gold. The man laughed and stuffed the hair into a leather pouched.
His curly head of hair hurt as it too as scrapped off. The hair too was stuffed into the leather pouch.
The man gave something to the other man and left the tent.
"You understand me" the man left said "I saw you react"
Topias nodded.
"Good." A strap was put around his neck and tied. The man yanked it. "Come"
Topias walked naked through the crowds. Others looked but returned to their own pillaging.
"I cut your hair, sold it, didn't want anyone to see you or they'd take you away" Topias listened silently as they went into other tents.
Topias lifted and carried items the man told him to. He packed them into leather bags like Socas had taught him two years before. That seemed to please his new Master.
The man lifted him self on the horse and held the strap leading the pack horse. "Get on" the man said
Topias usually followed Socas walking behind or beside the man's horse. Now he could ride. He felt different sitting on the horse feeling the horse against his own bare flesh. He was still a slave; his nudity told everyone who saw him that fact. Slaves often were kept naked.
They rode away from the battle. Topias looked back knowing his life was about to change again. Rome wasn't ahead of him, he didn't know what was.
The night was peaceful. The sky above was the same darkness with stars. The bed he made from grass and leaves was the same. The fire he made was the same and the food the man made tasted similar. Topias knew the night ahead would be the same as he moved next to the man without being told.
He accepted the man inside him, not because he knew it was what was expected but because he wanted it, needed it and knew it was a part of the warmth he sought.
They traveled during sunlight and slept through the darkness. They encountered no others as they rode across fields and through threes. From the position of the sun, Topias knew they were moving east further away form the Abbey and not in the direction of Rome.
"Stop"
The man gestured and Topias got off the horse. The man poured water over him and through this head of hair that had grown back since the battle field head scrapping.
The man tossed a cloth to him and Topias dried himself then washed the man who was now naked as well. They were bathing for only the second time since they left the battlefield many days and weeks before.
As Topias stood there, the man brought clothing he had taken during the pillaging transforming Topias naked body which he seemed to prefer, into the image of one of the soldiers when they weren't in battle clothes.
Topias felt odd. His manhood was stiff which made the man laugh. And then for the first time, anyone seemed to want to do it; the man lifted the tunic and handled him until Topias penis spit out fluids calming him. Until then he had to do that himself...at least since Father Doman did it now and then.
"There you look like a member of the Kings court" the man said s he dressed himself. It wasn't the clothes from the battle field he now wore but apparently his own. The ring of metal he put in his head seemed odd.
"You are no longer a slave" the man said "But you will be mine" they rode into the group of huts, and then passed some mud wall buildings that looked like the Abbey back home.
People yelled and seemed happy to see the man. They even cheered Topias.
The large wall seemed to surround several building. Men and women greeted them and helped them as both Topias and the Man dismounted.
He walked with the man as they entered one building after another. The words he understood seemed to tell him where they were, what each was for.
"This room, nobody comes in here, you can but nobody else" the man put the ring of metal on a box then removed his clothes except for the one brown tunic.
"You now live here" the man said and stood watching.
Topias wasn't sure what to say or do. He decided to imitate the man stripping until he stood naked as he had become used to.
Then he moved closer and knelt lifting the man's tunic. He felt safe, secure and another sensations Topias couldn't define.
He took the man in his hands and mouth until he swallowed the familiar juice. The man's hands patted his head.
"Good. You are the King's boy now" the man said "Understand me boy?"
"Topias" Topias said.
"What?" the man was surprised the boy had said something. He rarely spoke or was expected to in weeks gone by.
"Sir my name is Topias, if you please"
"Then it is Topias, King's boy" the man said "I'm King Gustav"
And the feeling Topias had, transformed into words that resided in his brain.
"I am home".