Slave Girl: Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Low mountains both to the East and West blocks what soft breeze there was.  High over head Sol bakes the valley with a merciless radiance.  The shrill buzzing and screeches of insects are a grating cacophony.  Even the slaves in the fields have taken a break to gather and sleep in whatever shade they could find.  Though I drip with sweat I barely notice any of it.

Walking at pace I cover ground twice as fast as I had with Rosa and I realize just how much she had been holding me back.  The slower pace, the more frequent rests, the brief stops to talk with other travelers or look at something of interest off the side of the road.  Like a ship dragging an anchor it would take me over twice as long to reach my destination with my new slave.  Maybe she would stay with Gaius.  He didn’t seem above claiming a stray slave and he certainly seemed to like her well enough, perhaps enough to overlook her curse.  He was a man who could appreciate the kind of woman she was.  It would be better for us all.

The more I walked though…the more I worried.  Was she okay?  Surely he wouldn’t try anything right by the Appian way, one of the most traveled roads in the Empire.  Although…would anyone really take notice of a slave girl being accosted?  I look over to my right, to the spot where she had walked beside me last night and this morning, and I feel her absence.  My angry steps slow just a little.

Just as I am considering turning around to go find her I hear the pit-pat of leather slippers running across the paving stones.  I am relieved but continue to hold onto my annoyance.  I was glad she was back but I wouldn’t forget what had happened.

As she gets closer I can hear her gasping breaths.  I stop so that she could catch up.  She runs up holding a slender amphora in both hands.  Staggering to a stop she sets the clay vessel down and bends over to place her hands on her knees and suck hard for breath.  I stand quiet a time to give her a chance to catch her breath.  I am just about to speak when she suddenly stands up, takes a step toward me, and slaps me across the face!

“Don’t you ever leave me like that again!”  She says between her hard panting.

I bring my hand to my face.  The slap hadn’t hurt but it certainly shocked me.  A slave hitting their master!  She could be flogged for such an offense.  “How dare you!”

“How dare YOU!”  She shoots right back.  She wasn’t just upset, she was furious.  She steps back her hands balled up at her sides, her ears back flat, her shoulders and chest rise and fall with her rapid breath as her vibrant eyes burn with rage.  “Were you just going to abandon me out here by myself?  Leaving me by the side of the road?”

“No.”  I confess in a low voice.  “I would have come found you.”

“If you wish to sell me…then sell me.”  She says as the glimmer of tears begin to form in the corners of her eyes.  “But don’t abandon me.  Don’t ever abandon me!  You might not need me…but I need you.”

“I…I wouldn’t do that.”  I say in a softer tone.  “I wouldn’t…”  I let out a huff.  “Did you eat?”

She sniffles and angrily wipes the tears away.  “Of course I did.  I would never disobey you like that in public.”  

“Good.”  I nod.  “It was your lying tongue and your skillful hands that earned that meal.  You can leave me out of your…ruses.”

“Lying tongue?”  She shakes her head in frustration.  “I didn’t lie, I embellished.  Master, Gaius is a businessman.  Do you think everything he said was the full truth?  Do you think he actually believed everything we said?  Come on now.  It’s just a part of the give and take of things.  Part of the game.  Those magical tesserae aren’t nearly as rare and don’t work nearly as good as he claims.  Buttering up clients is part of his business.  He was happy to share a meal and a rest with you.  Even if you didn’t become a customer it keeps him sharp and gets his name out there.  Wheeling and dealing and building connections is the lifeblood of men like him.  And you never know, perhaps you’ll have need of him or his services at some point.  These things are small but important.”  She says with rising emphasis.  “You might not understand it but I do.  Let me help you!  Let me serve you!  Please!”

I cross my arms.  “People ought to say what they mean and mean what they say.”

“If only life were so simple.”

“It is.  Or it was, back home.”

Ignoring my comment she goes on.  “I explained to him that you acted as you did because you were still bereaved from your uncle’s death.  He understood.”

“Another lie.”

Her face flinches but she lets the comment go.  Looking to the stoppered amphora she says.  “The wine is a gift to help ease your grief.”

“You shouldn’t have accepted.”

“I didn’t have a choice.  I’m just a slave.”  She says with exasperation.  “And my master wasn’t there.  Besides, I thought it was nice.  Gaius is crass but he has a good heart.”

“Does he?  You really liked him didn’t you?  A man who could appreciate your talents.  A proper master for a…”  I stop myself, then say more calmly.  “A proper master for you.”

“You are my master!”  She says vehemently then shakes her head again as she mutters.  “You jealous fool.”

“Jealous!?”  I exclaim.  “I wasn’t jealous!  Why would I be jealous?”

Ignoring the question she walks back and picks up the amphora by the handles.  Then, as I had previously, she turns and starts off down the road without me.  She only gets a few steps away before she stops to wait for me.  I walk up beside her and look down.  Her eyes remain straight ahead.  

“I am sorry I upset you Master.”  Her voice is flat and lifeless.

“Rosa.”

“We should be moving.”  She says in that same dead tone.  “Master is in a hurry.”

I let out a sigh.  “Fine.”  I reach to take the clay jug but her hands grip tighter onto the two handles.  I give it a tug but obstinately she holds it with all of her strength.  I wasn’t about to fight her about it.  I start South with Rosa at my side again, but this time a step behind as well.

In the blazing heat we walk in silence.  We stop at a public well to take refreshment, refill the waterskin, and have a rest.  I didn’t wish to stop but even I had my limits.  For her part Rosa didn’t seem bothered by the heat, she was barely sweating and her pale bare arms and legs didn’t show a sign of burning or tanning, but the long hours of hiking was not something she was accustomed to.  Despite the group of about a dozen others here my previously ebullient traveling companion remains stolid and silent, never leaving my side but never engaging me in conversation.  As the sun dips lower and the temperature at last begins to dip we start out again to get some more miles walked before darkness fell.  Even if they weren’t quite honest I missed her cheerful words and attitude.

As the evening wears on Rosa tries her best to keep up but her strength was flagging.  Her steps slow, the amphora is carried lower and lower, and her head and shoulders sag from fatigue.  Eventually I stop.  She shuffles to a stop beside me, not looking up.  I rearrange my pack to the front, reaching over I take the container from my slave.  She doesn’t resist this time.  I kneel down beside.

She stands still a moment before coming around to climb up onto my back again.  Worn down by the day she hadn’t the energy to resist.  She wraps her arms around my chest and her legs around my waist and I stand then carry on walking.  I could smell her again.  Feel her again.  Somewhere back on the road during those hours of tense silence I had left all of my anger.

“I’m sorry.”  I say.  “I’m sorry I called you a liar.  That wasn’t fair.  I’m…not so smart sometimes.”

Her arms tight around me in what I realize is a hug.  “You are smarter than you think Master.”  She says, thankfully with real emotion in her soft voice once more.  “Pride is your Achilles heel, not intelligence.”

“I didn’t like how he talked to you.  I didn’t…like…seeing you with him.  I didn’t like seeing you serve another.”

“I know.”  She whispers soothingly, her hand petting my chest.  “Now we know that and we won’t let it happen again.  Will we?”

“Mmm.  No, we won’t.”

“We’re learning Master, together.  It will take time.”

“Rosa.  I won’t abandon you.”

She rests her head against mine.  “I know.”

We walk on in silence for a time.  I feel her horn rest against my cheek and welcome it.  “Tomorrow…tomorrow we won’t travel so hard.  We don’t need to be in such a hurry.”

She lets out a soft sigh and clings tight.  “Thank you Master.  I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep up this pace.  I’ve never walked so much in my life.  I swear you must be descended from Hercules to keep going like you do.”

“Rosa?”

“Yes Master?”

“Do you…actually like me?  I mean…had I not bought you…if we just met on the street or…in Alexandria.  Would you have even talked to me?”

She chuckles lightly.  “Yes Master, I like you.”

Obviously she couldn’t have answered in any other way but I choose to believe her.  Those knots inside of me start to unwind.  Despite the long day and the heavy load I carried I walk on with a renewed spirit.  Rosa yawns and sighs but she stays awake this time.  Luck is with us as darkness nears.  I spot an empty stable space on a small farm just off the main road.  Setting Rosa down we walk in and greet the farm family.  After giving us a good once over, already knowing why we were here at this time of night, they tell us we were welcome to the stable for the night before we even had to ask.  We thank them profusely and retire to the open wooden structure.

With a mule as our neighbor we arrange the hay out on the floor and Rosa flops down onto it floor in exhaustion.

She stretches out and smiles wide as she lets her whole body relax.  “Ohhhh.  My aching feet.”

I sit down by her legs.  “Blisters?  We have an ointment.”

“I don’t blister.”  She says.  “Just throbbing and sore.  By the gods that was a long day.”  She bends her lithe body and shifts to the right then places her aching feet up on my thigh.

I raise an eyebrow and look at her warily.

She gazes back at me with wide soulful eyes, her violet hair spread out around her face like a halo among the hay.  In the dim gloam her fair skin made her glow like an angel despite the demon horns on her head. “Rub my feet Master?  Please?”

“Me?  R-rub your feet?”  I say in a wavering tone as I look down at her slippered feet.  “Y-you’ve got some nerve for a slave.”

“Nobody can see us.”  She whispers.  Her gaze becomes more focused, more pointed, and she says again.  “Rub my feet.”

Chapter 11