Chapter 8

Kat

At the appointed hour I reported to the duty Tagmatarches.

"Hoplite Kataramenos, reporting as assigned for a Calling, sir," I said, standing at attention.

The Tagmatarches today was Allard. He was a decent enough sort. At least, he didn't go out of his way to make our lives harder.

"Kataramenos? A Calling, eh?" he began with a smirk, until he saw the House of the Calling. I saw the glint of humor in his eye change to… anger? He looked at the duty roster. "I thought it was Hoplite Vlakas who was supposed to take this calling," he said, a frown crossing his lips. "You have your Machi coming up soon."

"There was an error, sir," I said, presenting the paper Livius had provided.

He looked at me suspiciously before reading through the paperwork and nodding. Apparently, everything was in order, though he seemed none too happy about it.

"Gallius?" he called.

A young Elusian soldier entered the room, standing at attention. "Sir?" he asked.

"Take this Hoplite and escort him to the House of Eros for his Calling," he commanded. "Remind them his Calling is to last three days only, and not a minute longer. He has his Machi Thanatos coming up. He needs his strength."

I looked at Allard, trying to hide the surprise his words created. Most Elusians didn't give a shit about Mageia, except for how much work they could get out of us.

"I'm not losing another Hoplite to those bastards," he glanced at me and muttered before returning to his paperwork.

Gallius gripped my arm and hustled me out the door.

The walk to the House of Eros took almost an hour, most of which my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. Only businesses and the elite owned vehicles. Everyone else was relegated to using public transportation or walking.

Still, being outside the Legion headquarters gave me the opportunity to enjoy the sites of Alexandria. Alexandria was one of the world's leading population centers. As the capitol of the empire, and it was filled with functionaries and the political elite.

It was roughly divided into districts: the Government district, the Trade district, the Temple district and the Residential district.

As property of the King, the Legion headquarters was in the Government district. I had never seen the Residential district, since only slaves belonging to those with houses within were permitted entry.

As a slave I had frequently been sent on errands to the Trade district, but once I had become Mageia my freedom had been even further curtailed. Other than the occasional Calling I hadn't been outside the walls of the Legion in almost ten years.

The Houses were all in the Temple district, but we had to pass through the Trade district to get there.

As we walked, I soaked in the sights of the lives of normal Alexandrians. They wore clothes of all colors, unlike in the Legion. Black showed blood least.

We passed farmers markets with food I had never even imagined and stores selling things I would have no idea how to use. A jewelry store flashed neon lights advertising its wares. As we passed the alley by the store, I spied an Elusian beating a slave Mageian. I knew he was a slave because their head was shaved bald, and his head was covered with cuts and bruises. At his collar bone I spied a brand that matched the jeweler's logo. That was the life we might lead if V and I failed the Machi. That, or being sent to one of the Houses, permanently.

I had only ever been to the light- to mid-level Houses. The House of Eros was a Dark House. Those who did return from the House didn't usually talk about their experiences, if they returned at all, making the unknown even more terrifying.

The image of Ethan holding the bloody ear of his sister flashed through my mind and I swallowed hard. I refused to think that that might be V, or me.

My escort didn't speak to me except to give orders. He kept a tight hold on me the entire way, like he was expecting me to make a break for it. I knew I could break away, but what good would that do me? He would just Suppress my power, which would leave me sick and helpless anyway. It would only mean punishment after the Calling was over. I had a feeling the Calling was going to be punishment enough already.

Even if I managed to escape, I had nowhere to run to.

We finally arrived at the House of Eros. It was a large building made of black stone. Or stone painted black? Who the hell knew.

I was escorted to the back door, of course. Can't have the lowly Mageia be seen coming through the front, I thought bitterly.

Gallius and I were instructed by the young woman who answered the door to wait in a small office.

The room was luxuriously appointed. Deep carpeting covered the floor, with walls paneled in rich mahogany. A desk sat in one corner and a variety of art covered the walls. With nothing else to do I began examining them, and quickly wished I hadn't. Each scene showed a Mageia being tortured in some way by Elusians. Some of the scenes… Even with my training and experience, they turned my stomach, my mind replacing each face with Vlakas'.

The door opened and I whirled, only to see a very tall, thin man enter the room, followed by another person. It was hard to determine the gender of the second person. They appeared relatively young and were wearing jeans and a dark t-shirt. Their dark hair was cut short, their eyes a deep brown, but there was a certain softness to their face and body that made me uncertain if they were male or female. As they turned to shut the door behind them, I found my answer as I saw a tattoo on their wrist: A circle with an X through it. They were a eunuch.

The thin older man ignored me and looked to Gallius.

"Yes? What do you want?" the man demanded with the air of someone extremely busy.

"I was instructed to deliver this Hoplite to you for a three-day Calling, Master Hestus," Gallius said.

"This is very irregular," Hestus muttered, pulling a book from a drawer in the desk. He pulled out a pair of spectacles and peered at the writing. "Ah! We were scheduled for a new one tomorrow," he said, looking at Gallius accusingly.

Gallius shrugged. "I was told to bring him now because he has his Machi Thanatos coming up."

Hestus harrumphed.

"Most irregular," He muttered as he used a pen to scrawl a note in the book.

"Eli?" He called to the eunuch when he was done.

"Yes, Master?" the eunuch responded.

"Take him to the baths. Have him prepared. Once you are done, take him to the Indigo room. I will reach out to the client who made the request and see if they are able to attend this evening instead," he ordered.

"Yes, Master," Eli said.

Eli looked at me. "Follow me," they demanded.

Knowing I didn't really have much choice, I followed them.

The eunuch led me down several flights of stairs to a hallway, stopping in front of one of the doors.

"I don't think you've been here before, so I will tell you what is going to happen this time only. You will be bathed. We will shave everything except your head. You will then be prepared for our client. Serving the Client to the best of your ability should be your only priority. Obey every order you are given. Serve well, and you may be rewarded. Serve poorly…" their voice trailed off, and I suddenly felt the crushing pain of being Suppressed. Before I could begin to claw at my throat the sensation disappeared.

"Understood?" Eli asked.

I nodded, the fury I felt for all Elusians flooding my veins. Eunuch or no, this Eli was as much a bastard as the rest.

Eunuchs in Alexandria were considered the lowest of the low. Lower, even, than Mageia, if you could believe it. Being made a eunuch was punishment typically reserved for the worst of traitors or as punishment for someone who had an especially valuable skill.

Eli must have seen the spark of fury because they shook their head in disgust.

"The young ones are so stupid," they muttered, opening the door, and gesturing me in.

Except for the wall behind us, the room was made entirely of stone. A large pool of steaming water lay in the middle. Two soldiers stood in opposite corners of the room along with two eunuchs wearing only loose white robes. Unlike Eli, these two had shaved heads, but with the same tattoo on their wrists. They had their hands clasped in front of them with their eyes downcast.

"Jozel, Kyris, he is to be bathed and shaved. If I find so much as a single hair on him anywhere other than his head, I will whip you both until you are bloody," Eli ordered.

The two eunuchs nodded quickly and whispered, "Yes, Master."

Eli left the room, and I heard the lock behind them.

"Remove your clothes," the eunuch on the right ordered.

"But you didn't even buy me dinner," I grumbled before pulling my shirt over my head. The eunuch on the left stifled a chuckle. The one on right just glared at me, clenching their hands into fists.

Life in the Legion had left me with little in the way of body consciousness. Hoplites sparred naked at times, as well as bathed together. There was nothing much to hide.

Shoes and socks went next, then pants and underwear.

They looked me over a moment before the eunuch on the right ordered me into the water. I sighed as I entered the water. It was actually hot, not tepid like the water in the Legion. The warmth of it soothed muscles sore from practice and I couldn't suppress a moan. Gods, if this were all there was to it, I could get used to life in a House.

Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Both eunuchs had slipped out of their robes and hung them on pegs on the wall I hadn't noticed. Both were relatively slight. Their bodies were virtually hairless, their chests flat. I couldn't keep my eyes from drifting to their groins. The one on the right had been cut some time ago: their hairless body was smooth, their body looking, externally at least, more like a female. I could make out an old scar where their genitals should have been. The scar on the eunuch on the left looked newer, the skin still an angry red, indicating he hadn't been a eunuch for very long.

The one on the left caught me looking and ducked their head, embarrassed. They stepped into the water and moved toward me. "I'm Kyris," they said.

"Shut up, Kyris," the other eunuch (Jozel apparently) snapped. "You're not here to make friends."

Kyris pressed their lips together but didn't say anything else, his eyes narrowing with just a hint of anger.

"Step over here," Jozel ordered.

I moved through the water as ordered. The hot spring was deep enough to require swimming at the deepest point. I spied a grate at the bottom that seemed placed to prevent someone from accidentally falling into the deepest part of the hot spring.

I stood in front of Jozel and they tsked disapprovingly. Reaching into a basket placed next to the pool they pulled out a cake of soap and some unlabeled bottles. From one of the bottles Jozel poured what looked like a dark wine into a cup and handed it to me.

"Drink," they ordered.

I sniffed the wine suspiciously. Why would they give me wine?

"Drink," they ordered again, this time a touch of Suppression rose behind the order.

I drank. What else could I do?

Under Jozel's direction Kyris bathed me, washed my hair, then shaved me. Several times. The first time the razor slipped over my balls I shuddered, but Kyris just smiled at me reassuringly, his eyes wrinkling slightly at the corners. Apparently, they were taking Hestus' order to heart.

I could see the whip marks on their body, along with signs of other wounds. Kyris had obviously been to war, whoever he had been before this.

I didn't have much facial hair but being completely hairless everywhere else on my body felt strange. As they finished with the razor, my head began to feel suspiciously light while my limbs began to feel heavy. A vague roiling began twisting in my guts.

"You…drugged me," I gasped as my stomach cramped.

"Of course," Jozel answered, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Maybe for them, it was.

I began to feel dizzy, my mind wandering, catching on facts like a leaf in a stream, spinning in circles. I realized distantly that the water in the pool was flowing past us, disappearing into a hole in the wall. The soap and hairs that floated on the surface had moved past us and down the drain.

They continued their preparations. I had no idea how long it went on, but by the time I started to feel even remotely steady again, the water ran clear, and I felt like all my strength had left me. They washed me a final time then helped me out of the water to sit on a bench while they combed through my hair. They rubbed something into it that smelled like sandalwood and seemed to make it less tangled, then rubbed some kind of lotion all over my body.

"It helps prevent the hair from growing back," Kyris whispered when Jozel's back was turned. "At least for a while." They gestured at their own bald head.

I nodded stupidly. The lightheadedness remained with me as they worked, and I found it strangely difficult to be concerned about much of anything.

After what could have been minutes or hours they helped me into a robe, donned their own robes, then escorted me to the door, one on each side.

I noticed Jozel pull a keyring from their pocket and unlock the door, then we left the bathing chamber.

The rest of the trip was a blur. Whatever had been in the wine kept me foggy and unable to see clearly. Voices sounded like they were coming from very far away, and I had a hard time just keeping my feet moving, even stumbling a few times. Finally, we stopped in front of a wooden door. Jozel pulled out another key and slid it into the lock. I saw Kyris' mouth set into a tight line as she glanced from me to the room.

The door opened into a large room. A king-size bed covered by a dark blue comforter was against one wall. Blue seemed to be the theme for this room. Which made sense. Hadn't Master Hestus called it "The Indigo Room"? The floor was covered by a carpet, so dark blue it was almost black. A few lamps scattered around the room revealed benches, padded bars, and an assortment of items I didn't recognize. A table on the far side held a selection of whips and chains, tables with knives, riding crops, pincers and more. Part of my brain tried to panic at the sight, but I was unable to respond.

One wall was filled with mirrors from floor to ceiling. There was a fireplace with a large armchair in front of it. On the floor next to it was a small, padded pillow. The eunuchs led me there and after Kyris gently unwrapped the robe from my body Jozel ordered me to kneel.

My knees buckled as I almost fell to the floor. It felt like my body wasn't my own anymore, just an empty vessel waiting for direction. I tried to fight through the fog of the drug, but everything was just too distant for me to care.

I was facing the fireplace, the warmth of the flames caressing my skin. I heard the eunuchs leave the room and the click of the lock behind them. Then the only sound in the room was the crackling of the flames.

Now was the time, I told myself. I could try and find a way out, but where would I go? I was a Mageia. There was no place I could run from the Elusians. My father certainly wouldn't help me, my mother and brother were long dead. Despair clouded my mind as much as the drugged wine. I was Mageia. There was no hope.

I stared into the flames, lost in a drugged haze. I didn't know how long it was before I heard the lock click and the door to the room opened. Hestus walked in, his eyes like pieces of flint.

"Stand," he ordered sharply.

Without conscious thought I found myself beginning to stand, but I was at least able to do so slowly. The drug might be losing some of its effectiveness.

The Master of the house circled me, his eyes exploring every inch of my body. Finally he tsked and said, "Too bad. Eli was looking forward to whipping Kyris and Jozel," he sighed.

He clapped his hands, and two guards entered the room carrying some kind of wooden contraption. Hestus ordered them to set it down in the middle of the room. The—table? Frame?—was strange. It had four legs that ran off a thinner middle piece, like a table, but had what looked like wooden shelves off each of the arms. Around each of the arms and around the middle were leather straps with metal buckles. And was that…a blood stain on the middle piece? A sick, helpless rage began to worm its way through the fog of the drugged wine as I realized what the frame was for. Me. It would hold me, completely immobile and at the mercy of whoever the client was that was coming to the House of Eros. I shuddered, stumbling back from the thing, my panic starting to burn through the fog from the drug.

Hestus just nodded at the two men and said, "Get him on the horse."

When they approached me, I slammed my fist into one of them, but I was off balance. The blow was weak, and I stumbled, the drug still making my arms leaden, giving the other guard the opening to grab my arms. I fought them like a wild creature, but I might as well have been an infant for all the good it did. Being smaller than average really has its disadvantages.

I struggled, finally in desperation resorting to magic to use Air to build a shield and force them away from me. No sooner had the shield started to form than the sudden pain of Suppression hit me, knocking me to the ground as I struggled to breathe.

Master Hestus sighed again, muttering. "Typical."

Within moments they had wrestled me into place on the horse and strapped me down, my legs cinched painfully tightly to the wooden frame. The middle piece of the horse hit me right above my groin forcing my ass into the air while the straps held my head down. My legs were spread to a painful angle. My neck was strapped to a frame, my arms extended forward, palms out. A leather strap was forced around my head, pulling my skull back at an awkward angle. My still-damp hair hung down around my face.

I glared at Hestus as he made a second perusal.

"Very good," he said, his hand reaching out to stroke over my skin.

"Bastard," I growled. "Get your fucking hands off me, or I'll kill you."

It was false bravado. He knew I couldn't do anything in my current state.

"Hmmm…" he sighed, his finger on his lips thoughtfully. "I think we need to do something about that mouth of yours. I won't have you offending a patron."

Hestus turned to pick something up from one of the side tables. He gestured to the two thugs who moved to either side of me. One of them reached down and grabbed my chin in a painful grip. When I saw the metal harness in Hestus' hands, I clamped my jaws together. The other guard pinched my nose shut, forcing me to breathe through my mouth, but I kept my mouth shut. Hestus again used his Suppression power on me, this time to the point where my vision faded, and things began to go dark. I distantly felt my mouth being pried opened and something cold and metallic forced in. I choked as they forced the metal in my mouth and tightened the final straps around my head. My jaws were forced far apart by the metal, and I couldn't move my mouth. My jaw ached as the thing in my mouth forced them to stay open.

"There! Perfect!" Hestus exclaimed delightedly. He grabbed my hair and jerked my head up further, so I was looking at myself in the mirrored wall. "Don't you agree, Hoplite?"

I was on all fours on the horse kneeling in an even more depraved version of the required Mageia submission, my ass lifted, my torso and limbs crisscrossed with leather. In my mouth a metal cage forced my jaws open, my lips stretched painfully around the leather straps that kept it in place. I couldn't even close my mouth enough to swallow.

A tinkling bell sounded in the room and Hestus released his hold on my hair, allowing my head to drop down to a less painful angle.

"With me," Hestus commanded the guards. I heard them leave the room, but the door didn't close completely. I could faintly hear Hestus speaking with someone, but I could only catch pieces of the conversation through the cracked door.

"…not expected… No, my Lord, not to my… three days. I don't think the Legion will... I must insist you keep him Suppressed at all times…Far too dangerous to endanger…"

I seethed as I lay bound, unable to move anything but my head, and even that was extremely limited in range of motion.

I heard coins changing hands, then the door opened and closed again, completely blocking noise from the hall.

I could just barely make out the sound of footsteps moving across the carpeted floor, and a pair of leather boots came into view. A hand gripped my head, jerking my face up and a familiar voice made me want to vomit.

"You are not who I was expecting, Kataramenos," Maalik drawled. "But I think this might be even more fun than I had originally planned."