Slave Girl: Chapter 32 (Patreon)

We don’t completely relax until the soldiers are well out of sight.  When at last we felt safe Rosa kneels down in front of me and brings my head to her bosom.  She holds me tight and strokes my hair.  “Hold onto me baby, this isn’t going to be fun.”

Leaning into her with my eyes shut I let out a shuddering breath and hold to her.  I could feel the sticky remnants of Ignatius’ magic seep from my mind and it was not pleasant, not one bit.  It felt like a rusty blade being very slowly withdrawn from a fresh wound.  The more my senses cleared the more I realized what had just happened to me.  The feeling of holding thoughts that were not my own and bending to the invasive will of another was horrifying.  I felt so small.  I felt so weak.  I felt soiled.  I felt violated in a way I didn’t know was possible.

“Nnngh.”  I moan as the withdrawal of the magic from my mind leaves me for good.

“I’ve got you.”  Rosa cradles me close.  “I’m right here.”

“Why?”  I whisper.  “Why?”

“I don’t know baby.”  Rosa coos.  “The man was mad.”

“I…wanted…to obey him.”  I rub my suddenly throbbing temple.  “I almost did.”

“But you didn’t.  You resisted.  You were strong.”

“I…I wouldn’t have hurt you.”  I say.  “I wouldn’t have let them hurt you.”

“I know.”  She kisses my head.  “I know my boy.  You did so good.  I’m so proud of you.”

“I hate him!”

“Shhhh.”  She continues.  “You were strong.  You were so strong.”

“I don’t feel strong.”

“Well you are.  Stronger than those soldiers.”  She says.  “You made me proud.  You made your Lady very happy.  My boy deserves a reward for being so brave.  Your Lady is going to make her boy feel so good tonight.  Would you like that Quin?”

Letting out a long breath and pushing out all of my distress with it I hug my Lady tight and nod my head.  I swear Rosa could fix anything.  Having somebody in my life to hold me and soothe away my anxieties was…priceless.  Having someone that I could allow myself be vulnerable with was a blessing that I never even knew I needed or even wanted.  It was not that long ago that I was still convinced that I would sell her on, now I wasn’t sure if I could get by without her.  

I let out another breath and kiss her chest.  “I’m okay.”

She strokes my hair one last time and loosens her embrace.

Sitting back I rub my face.  “Whoo!  Magic.  I felt real magic.  This trip has been crazy.  I never had to deal with wizards back on the farm.”

“Well wizards are not all like that man.  A lot of them are good men and women.  I’ve heard it said that Pompeii would have been swallowed by Vesuvius’ wrath if not for a few brave wizards.”  She says with a scowl off in the direction Ignatius had left from.  “That said, enchanters are rarely to be trusted.  They are tricky.  They find your weakness first before bewitching you.  I’ve felt it myself and I know how wretched it feels.  It doesn’t last long though, some food and rest will do a world of good.  You’ll see.”

Rosa pats my cheek and pulls the food closer to us.  With a quick prayer of thanks to Ceres and Silvanus we begin to eat our breakfast of herbed salmon and fat juicy lemons.  Sitting on the soft carpet of moss, our meal laid out between us, my slave and I feast.  We tear bits of the pink flesh off with our bare fingers as we devour our fine picnic.  The fish is some of the best I’d ever tasted.  Rich and fatty, succulent and moist, with the oil and herbs enhancing the natural flavors.  The tart yet sweet lemons an even better accompaniment than a good wine.  With nobody else to share the meal with we gorge ourselves on fish and fruit.  By the end of it there are two very full and very happy people lying on the moss and looking up at the green canopy above.  Ignatius’ wicked magic just a memory now.

“That was…delicious.”  Rosa sighs as she rubs her full belly.  “Oh my goodness.”

“I think I might burst.”

“You didn’t have eat all of it!”  We both laugh.  Reaching over she touches my shoulder.  “Nice as this is…”

“…we should get going.”  I finish her sentence.  “Home is waiting.”

“Home.”  She echoes happily.  “You’re feeling good to travel?”

“Never better.”  I say with a smile.

We drink, wash up, fill up our waterskin, and make sure the fire is good and doused before I go to collect the pack from where I hid it and Rosa goes to collect her flute from where she dropped it.  From across the clearing I hear Rosa’s crestfallen voice.  “Aww, they stepped on it!”

Looking over I see Rosa rise with her flute, broken into three splintered pieces, in her hands.  Her sad pout touches me deeply.  I turn toward the road, my fists tight and my eyes narrowed in anger.  “Those sons to bitches!”  Gods how I hated them.

Rosa lets out a sigh, disappointed but not upset.  “It’s okay Master.  It feels right somehow.”  Taking her flute to largest tree that bordered the area she kneels down and places the fragments at its roots.  “Thank you for allowing me to play for you great King.  Thank you for the gift of fish.  Thank you for protecting us during our stay here.  And thank you for the company of your creatures.  They were wonderful.”  She giggles as she watches the green mote of a forest nymph fly surprisingly close.  “Yes, I’m talking about you too little one.”  Looking up at the tree she reaches out and touches the bark.  “I leave my flute so that you might remember me and my music as I will remember your generosity great Silvanus.”  She takes a deep breath in, smelling the lush forest air, then breaths out with a nod.  She rises and returns to me.  “I’m going to miss this place.”

“Me too.”  I shoulder our pack.  “Sorry about your flute.  Those soldier’s shouldn’t have done that.”

“No worries Master.”  She winks.  Reaching into a little pocket she’d recently sewn into the interior of her capelet she pulls out a handful of denarii.  “Their generosity will more than pay for a replacement.”  She laughs.  “Soldiers are an easy audience.  Songs of honor and glory, a bawdy tune here and there, then a weepy one to remind them of home and hearth and the silver soon follows.  As predictable as the dawn.”

I shake my head.  “I think there may have been two enchanters in this glade.”

“I’m just a simple slave girl.”  She bats her eyes as she hands over her earnings to her master.

“Yeah right.”  I say with a roll of my eyes.  I bundle up our money and tuck it into the pack.  “Come on, we’ve still got a long way to go.”

We are soon back on the road and on our way.  Despite the unpleasantness with the Christian we refuse to let it spoil an otherwise perfectly good day.  Once out of the valley the forests and arid hills return to what they had been, a reminder of how special that place we stopped had actually been.  Despite the rough mountainous terrain the road remains smooth and unbroken, a marvel of Roman engineering.  I knew we would be missing the Appian way once we turned off of it but for now the miles pass easily.  We greet those we pass and take in the sights.  The risk of monsters had only increased as the population thinned out even more but Rosa’s steps never falter.

The memory of the glade still fresh I cannot shake the sight of Rosa standing over me, holding me protectively, seemingly willing to fight a hopeless battle to protect her boy.  It touched me.  I also remember something else.  When I was sure there were no other travelers in earshot I bring it up.

“So back with Ignatius…”

“Yes?”

“When you were facing off with them…”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t know you could growl and snarl like that!”

She looks up at me.  “Too fierce?  Too savage?  Too scary?”

“Too sexy!”  I exclaim.  “Gods that was hot!”

“You are the worst!”  She laughs and slaps my arm.  “I’m facing down a wizard and his troop of armed soldiers and you’re thinking about how sexy your Lady is?  You’re a bad boy Master. ”

“I couldn’t help it!”  I say innocently.  “I didn’t know you could sound like that.”

“Don’t make me bite you.  I’m quite vicious when I want to be.”

“Uh huh, sure you are.”

“I am!”  She says.  “Wasn’t I even a little bit intimidating?”

“Mmm, maybe a bit.”  I jest.  “I am sure the nymphs were terrified.”

She jabs my arm with a horn.  “It’s not my fault I’m so little!  Big meanie.  I did my best.”

“You were incredible.”  I pull her to my side and give her a squeeze.  “I wouldn’t change a single thing about you.”

“Rawrrrr!”  She lets out the most fucking adorable demonic roar fading into a rolling little growl.  The inhuman snarl sends tingles up my spine and wakes my manhood from a dead start.  “You earned yourself a spanking tonight bad boy.”

“Spanking!?  Oh gods!”  I whisper as my dick rapidly swells in my pants.  “Thank you!”

She chuckles and leans in to give me a fangy nip to my pec through my clothes.  “Bad boy.”

With a full belly and the promise of a reward from my Lady that night I press on through the long day with tireless vigor.  As we travel the wilderness starts to give way to more villages and villas once again as we got closer to the next major center, the city of Beneventum.  This city would be different than all the rest we had passed simply because we actually had some coin to spend this time.  It also had special meaning because I knew once there we would be over halfway through our long trip.  We were at last closer to our new home than to Rome.  If we kept on at a brisk pace it might be possible to reach it by the evening and so we do.  We skip our midday break and push right through the day.  I do carry Rosa for a section to give her time to rest, which gets a few odd looks from passersby, but we are able to make good time.

When we crest a hill to peek a glimpse of the city in the distance through the Appian’s break in the trees we are overjoyed.  We were losing light fast but if we stayed to the road we could find our way and make it to the city in time to find a hot meal and a room of our own.

Chapter 33