Chapter #9The Story Continues! by: Carl   Part 3
Hercules was brought out of his reverie by the crack of the whip. The Amazon was actually signaling him to stop pushing the wheel. When Hercules came to a stop and looked around, there was quite a crowd of Amazons watching in amazement at his performance. Hercules had been completely oblivious to them before, because he had been absorbed in his thoughts of the Amazon Queen sitting on her throne of men.
Hercules saw Cythoe approaching him with the key to his chains. He saw Dinah hovering in the background and recalled her instructions to pretend to be completely exhausted. When Cythoe unchained him, Hercules fell to the base of the grinding wheel platform and rolled off onto the ground. Cythoe looked down with a satisfied smile from the platform above him. She was glad that he had performed so well, because her reputation would be bolstered. But she was even happier to see him lying defeated and broken on the ground. Nothing pleased Cythoe more than to break a slave and leave him in a defeated heap on the ground.
The Amazon who had been watching over Hercules as he ground the grain came to Cythoe and declared proudly, "He crushed once and one half over the amount of grain that is required for an entire day. And he did it in only one half day."
Cythoe looked at Dinah who wore a very proud look of self satisfaction on her face. Cythoe looked down at Hercules briefly to determine where to step. With that she stepped onto his chest and wiped her boots viciously before walking over to Dinah. The other Amazon followed also stepping on Hercules' chest and wiping her boots on his supine body. Cythoe looked at Dinah intensely.
"I guess you were right about Dirt."
Dinah just smiled and said, "Where's my wage?"
Cythoe smirked to herself, "You have a community account opened at the treasurer's center. All your slave's wages are recorded there. Anytime you need to do business, you can either write a note of transfer or go to the treasurer's center to get actual monies."
"So my account should now reflect the forty denarius earned by my slave today."
"It will just as soon as I report it."
"Fair enough."
Dinah turned her attention to Hercules. She walked over to his fallen form and kicked him harshly in the head.
"You pathetic, worthless slave! Why are you lying on the ground? No one told you to take a break. But since all you want to do is lie around, I want you to lie before the feet of all the Amazons here so that they can walk all over you like the dirt that you are."
Dinah looked around at the group of Amazons watching her. She could hear the muffled conversation of several of them making comments like, "Her slave just earned in one half day the wage of ten slaves for a whole day, yet she torments him still," and "She is truly a harsh mistress worthy of the name Amazon."
Dinah found a puddle of mud and commanded Hercules to lie face up in the puddle. Then she invited every one of the thirty to forty Amazons to trample over Hercules' body as they went about their business. All the Amazons seemed keen to trample Hercules underfoot. Hercules just lay there submissively as the line of eager women pressed his body further and further down into the mud. Finally only Dinah, Cythoe, and the Amazon who had been watching over Hercules as he pushed the grinding wheel remained. All three stood looking down upon Hercules's sunken body as Dinah began to speak.
"How many slaves are there currently building bridges?"
Cythoe responded, "There are two bridge buildings going on right now. One of the projects has been underway for twenty days and is nearly halfway finished. There are about one hundred slaves on that project. The other project has just begun today and has one hundred fifty slaves working on it. Why?"
"I want dirt to finish the project that is nearly halfway finished."
"You mean you want him to help finish it?"
"No, I want him to finish it."
"By himself? Now that truly is impossible! Not to mention the fact that he is completely exhausted from his work at the grinding wheel. I won't even try to convince the bridge authority to do that."
"Dirt is completely submissive to my will. If I command him to recover from his exhaustion so he can do more work for me, then he will recover from his exhaustion."
"That may be, but even if he were fully rested, he could never replace one hundred slaves."
"Cythoe, need I remind you that I have been completely right about Dirt's abilities until now. Need I remind you that you have doubted my word the whole time. And each time my slave Dirt has done everything I claimed he could do. I'm getting a little bit tired of having you second guess me every time I make a claim as to his ability."
"Fine, I will take you to the bridge authority. But I will no longer vouch for Dirt. You are making ridiculous claims and I will not be responsible for your slave's failure! You can try to convince the bridge authority yourself."
Dinah simply nodded. The other Amazon who had been watching over Hercules as he pushed the grinding wheel now had nothing to do for the rest of the day. So she thanked Dinah for the efficient performance of her slave and then walked away, trampling over Hercules as she left.
Dinah commanded Hercules to get out of the mud and follow her. Cythoe reluctantly led Dinah and Hercules to the bridge authority. When they arrived, a group of Amazons were already there, animatedly relating what Hercules had done at the grinding wheel. The Amazon in charge of this bridge building project was now curious to see what Hercules could do. So she readily accepted Dinah's offer to replace all one hundred slaves with Hercules.
"What is your slave's name?" inquired the Amazon.
"His name is Dirt," said Dinah matter-of-factly.
"How fitting," quipped the Amazon.
Cythoe turned away in disgust and left to tend to other business. Now that her reputation was no longer connected to Hercules' performance, she only wished him failure. She wanted him to collapse under the immense load of replacing one hundred slaves so that she could gloat about being right. But she said nothing. She only left.
The Amazon in charge of the bridge project dismissed all one hundred slaves for reassignment elsewhere.
She spoke to Dinah, "The bridge is halfway built. It needs to be finished and then lifted into place and secured. Do you think that Dirt can do all that by himself?"
"Yes he can. You had one hundred slaves working on this bridge for twenty days and they have only half completed the project."
"That's right."
"Then we are talking about one hundred slaves at a rate of five denarius per half-day shift times two shifts per day for twenty days. That comes to one thousand denarius per day for twenty days or twenty thousand denarius."
"That is correct. Building bridges is one of the most important and expensive jobs that we have in this community. It helps us to expand our territory and facilitates travel to those expanded areas. That is why Amazons volunteer their slaves for the job. It pays so well and gives them prestige for having lent their slaves to this important work. I can tell you now that some of the mistresses will not be happy that you have offered Dirt to replace all one hundred slaves on this project."
"But building the bridge and building it quickly is of utmost importance, right?"
"Yes, you are right about that."
"Then I will have my slave Dirt finish this project in three days."
The Amazon stared in absolute disbelief. Before she could collect her thoughts to say anything, Dinah spoke, "But I want the entire twenty thousand denarius credited to my account at that time."
The Amazon found her voice, "Yes, of course. If your slave can complete this project by himself in only three days' time, the saved time will be more than worth paying the full amount to your account."
"Good," said Dinah, "so we have a deal."
"Yes, we have a deal."
Then Dinah turned to Hercules and announced loudly before all Amazons gathered, "Dirt, you will complete this building project in three days' time. You will neither eat nor sleep in all that time, but you will sacrifice your strength for my financial gain. Is that clear, Dirt?"
"Yes, Goddess," was Hercules' only reply.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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