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The Mountaintop excerpt
Soon Orestes stood face-to-face with the woman. With her this close, he could see she had dark olive skin made even darker by the sun. Her dark clear eyes were rimmed by thick black lashes and framed by sharp cheekbones. She was indeed beautiful. A veil of diaphanous yellow covered her from head to foot. It was interspersed by red glass beads that in no way disguised that under the light and filmy garment, she wore nothing. She kept the veil wrapped around her so that only her face was bare.
Tericles grabbed the veil and ripped it from her body. Her eyes bore into him, but she stood there proud and tall as if she was dressed as a queen, trying to hide herself in no way. Long dark hair, black as night, flowed down her back that was the first thing to notice. As Orestes walked around her surveying the goods like any buyer, he couldn't help but take in a woman that should have been a model for the statues of Athena. Nothing of her figure spoke of idling around a house, of course, there were scars like his own. Spartan perhaps and then as he reached the far side of her, he caught sight of her arm covered by a tattooed vine that wound around it, the marks of a soldier, but not a Greek one. Tall and lean, rope like muscles, but all the activity he was certain she had taken part in couldn't diminish the size of her breasts. No archer then, they would have gotten in the way. Above and below the elbow, she had fine gold bracelets that wound their way around her arm, in the shape of the vine that mimicked the tattoo. They were all she had been left with, they were fine enough they would have been destroyed if they were removed.
Ilias, Orestes' youngest brother at sixteen, had woken and heard the voices. He stopped behind Orestes in shock. "Help her, Orestes." He whispered low enough that no one else heard him.
"A younger brother, I take it. She would be a fine teacher before he marries and a fine mistress for you." Tericles announced.
"Give her back her clothes, I've seen enough. But if I'm buying her for my brother, can you assure me that she is untested by the likes of you? I would hate to think of my brother getting whatever you have picked up on your travels."
They feigned shock at the accusation as Orestes heard his brother gasp behind him. "I assure you we have not touched her since she came into our possession. Before that we will make no claims since we had no control. You never know about those Politicians' daughters, anything to cause trouble."
Orestes looked over at the woman as she finished covering herself. "What price are you asking?"
"Only the debt her father sold her for." They announced a sum. Orestes frowned. There was no shame on her face, instead hatred. He didn't blame her.
"Which I assume was quite great and then of course, there is your fee for handling the deal."
Tericles and Herakles looked at each other for a moment. Perhaps he wasn't as naïve as they thought he would be. "Are a Politician's debt ever small? She is more than worth the price we ask." Herakles answered with a slight waver to his voice.
"Oh by the looks of her, she is worth more than the two of you put together. But do tell me, why is such a man selling off his daughter? He may have to pay her dowry, but there is prestige to gain in marrying her to a good family. There are other ways to pay off a debt, especially for the rich." Orestes saw a slight grin appear on the face of the girl. She enjoyed watching her captors squirm.
"We are selling quality goods, I assure you. You will be the envy of all your neighbors with a Greek slave that was once rich."
"And why would such a man tattoo his Greek daughter in the manner of the Phrygians? You are not a Greek Politician's daughter are you?" He asked her directly. Her head flew up, she hadn't expected to be spoken to.
"Of course not."