Slave Girl: Chapter 44 (Patreon)

The elder sees us approach and slows to see what our business with her is.  She was well into her eighties if she was a day.  Hunched as she is she stood even lower than Rosa though in her youth she would have been much taller.  Her tanned leathery and her knobby calloused hands spoke to a lifetime of honest country living.  Her movements, while labored and stiff, still had a dogged vigor to them.  Long curly pure white hair drapes down over her back and shoulders from out under a wide brim hat.  Her clothes were of good quality but common and worn thin in places.  Her weathered wrinkled face looked like a map of a river and its winding tributaries, it had a sternness about it but a kindness as well.  Her right eye was a lovely sky blue, her left the same but clouded.  The creaking wooden cart she pulled was simple and sturdy, much like the woman herself, and about half full.  The contents are covered with a sheet of sewn goat skin.

“Hail.”  I say as she and I come to a stop in front of each other.

She looks up to squint at me with her good eye.  “Hail young Quintus.”

I pause, momentarily confused at her knowing my name.

“Hello again Drusilla.”  Rosa says as she comes to stand beside me.

“Hello Rosa my dear.”  She says with a guarded grin.  “What’s all this?”

“Rosa tells me you are continuing along the Appian to the next temple.”  I say as I pull the pack from my shoulder.  “That is right along the way for us.  If you aren’t opposed to it perhaps we might travel a time together.  I could pull your cart for a time.  It would be no trouble Ma’am.”

“My Master has the fortitude of a horse and the strength to match.”  I feel her very subtly touch my hand.  “He carries me on the regular without it even slowing him down.”

“He carries his slave?”  Drusilla says.

“My Master is a kind master.”  Rosa titters.  “If a bit odd.”

She looks to Rosa and then back to me, a bit suspicious.  “I cannot pay you.”

“I would be insulted if you did.”  I chuckle.  

“We have been shown kindness on our trip.”  Rosa adds.  “We want to pay it forward.  A rope is made of little fibers.”

“Strands.”  I correct my slave.  “Many strands.”

Her cautious expressions softens, knowing I was among her faith going a long way to initiate a trust.  She takes a long look at me, a long look at Rosa, and then one more sizing up of me again.  She lets out a breath, her shoulders slump, and sets her burden down.  “Bless you.  Ceres bless you young man.”

“And to you.”  I smile warmly.  Heaving my pack up onto her cart I say.  “Jump on in Ma’am, we’ll make good time and you can take a rest.”

“It’s not too much?”

“Ha!  Back home I used to haul the big mule wagon around, I won’t even notice you on there.”  I boast.  “Strong back, weak mind.  That’s what Grandpa always said.”

Rosa gives me brief scowl.  “Well he was half right.”

“Well I won’t turn my nose up at a ride.  These old bones are aching.”

I help her into the cart.  As she finds a solid perch atop the load I grab the smooth well worn wood at the ends of the two long handles and slowly lift.  With a firm grip I lean my weight into it and start down the road.  It felt good and right to feel a load to pull against again.  Rosa falls in to walk along side of the cart.  I had barely gotten five steps before the two began talking, seeming to continue whatever conversation they’d had back near the temple.  I settle into a nice pace, the wheels clacking and the cart creaking behind me, and let the women talk.  If Drusilla had any reservations about Rosa being either demon or Amazon she doesn’t show it.  Likely she was simply grateful to have someone to chat with.  We are a few minutes on when the conversation naturally turns to us.

“Excuse my sayin so, but an exotic slave and a commoner?”  Drusilla says.  “You’re a funny pair.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”  Rosa quips.

“Oh, I bet I do.”  The woman chuckles.  “My husband and I had slaves once.  I know what happens when nobody’s looking.”

“Drusilla!  My Master is an honorable man.”

“As was my husband.”  The mirth in the old lady’s voice evinced not a hint of judgment, only amusement.  “Though he never went messin with no Amazon.”

“You are bad.”  Rosa says, her tone betraying a bit of humor in her own tone.  “My Master is a proper Roman.”

“Ohhh, I am sure he is.  I can see he is a fine upstanding specimen of Roman manhood.  Mmmm.”

“Ha ha ha!”

“I am right here!”  I protest.  “Could you two hens keep it down back there.”

They share a laugh and Rosa makes a few clucking sounds before they fall back into conversation.  Despite my gripe they are soon back to talking about me again.

“I am guessin by your beauty that young Quintus here is unmarried.”

“Not yet.”  Rosa says.  “We’re going to start a new life.”

“Mmm, figured so.  No farm wife I know would approve of a slave like you my dear, no offense.”

“None taken.”  Rosa says.  “It isn’t what you think though.  Master…saved me.  I would have been disposed of had he not been there.”

“Disposed of?  Pfff!  What a stupid thing that would have been.  Perfectly fine young lady like you.”

“Thank you.”  Rosa says.  “I wish everyone thought like you.”

“I didn’t always.”  She says.  “Ten years ago I wouldn’t have even spoke with ya.  It’s a funny thing my dear.  I’ve outlived my husband, my brothers and sister, and eventually every close friend I ever had.”  There is pause before she says softly.  “The people I loved, the people I lived for, the people that gave my life purpose.  It’s only after I lost every other reason to keep going that my goddess showed me what’s really important.”

I look back over my shoulder to see the pair looking at each other, the old lady sitting facing my slave and Rosa walking along with her hand holding the edge of the cart.  “What did she show you Drusilla?”  Rosa whispers

The woman’s crooked fingers rubs Rosa’s brand.  “The beauty of a flower.”  She looks up to face the sun.  “A bright warm day.”  She looks to me and smiles.  “The kindness of a young man.”  She looks back to Rosa.  “A slave made friend.  Blessings abound, all around us at every moment.  We just have to have the eyes to see them.”

“I like that.”  Rosa says.

“I would trade that wisdom to have them back again, to have it all to live over, but that isn’t the way of things.”  She sighs, a little smile on her face.  “But it is solace to my tired soul.  Treasure your youth, hold onto this time for as long as you can.  Once it is gone…it’s gone forever.”

Rosa takes her hand to give it a supportive squeeze.  “Your children?”

Drusilla shakes her head sadly.  “It wasn’t meant to be for us.”

“I’m sorry.”

“My goddess had her reasons.  It’s okay.”  She assures Rosa.  “Everything is okay.”  She takes a deep breath and looks around to the fields and hills then back to Rosa.  “Look at me, bringing us down on such a fine day.  And old folks wonder why the young’uns never want to talk to us.  Ha!  I was given my parcel of time and it was a good one.  A very good one.”  She pats Rosa’s hand.  “Made all the better by meeting you my dear.”  She then adds wryly.  “And your stout ox too.”

“Ox!”  I exclaim.

“Shush ox.”  Rosa giggles.  “The hens are cackling.”

“Moooo!”  I balk.

The three of us enjoy a mood lifting laugh.  The pair continue to talk.  Drusilla had a wonderful openness and curiosity about her, not unlike a child’s.  She asks Rosa about being a demon and being an Amazon.  Rosa shares some of her challenges, a sugar coated version anyway, and in return asks Drusilla about her life.  Life grew in the old woman’s voice as she told us about her life as the wife of an olive farmer.  She had so many stories.  Funny, sad, serious, and even a bit of history as she told us of how their land bordered that of Cassius Chaerea’s family, the famous soldier who assassinated Emperor Caligula.  She spoke of the good times and bad she and her husband went through, though even latter was told with a joyful zest.  Given the perspective of age and the separation of time it seemed the challenges brought just as much happiness as the triumphs, if not more so.  It really was a life well lived.

My mind drifts forward to the years to come.  Would I be an old man someday telling the youth of my days?  Would Rosa?  Would we be telling our tale together?  Would it be as well lived as this woman’s?  Would we look back at our ups and downs as joyfully as she was?  Where would this fateful journey rank among those memories?  These thoughts make me feel good inside.

The miles glide by easily on the smooth road.  With Drusilla riding and the fact that I could only travel at a pace Rosa was comfortable with on a normal day it turns out helping the old woman wasn’t costing a thing beyond a bit of extra effort on my end, which I did not mind a bit.  We stop for a long lunch under the narrow shade of a cypress.  Drusilla is only too happy to share a bit of bread, nuts and oil with us.

After lunch it was Rosa’s turn to speak.  She spoke not of the past, she rarely did, but of what she saw as a bright future…and it tears my soul to shreds.

She told of finding our land and getting established.  She spoke of being a slave to a successful farm.  She spoke of slave quarters and her just being one of what would be many more as my farm grew.  She explained how I would find myself a good wife, a woman appropriate for a farming man like me.  A good and proper woman with the skills of a farmer’s spouse and connections to the local community.  She spoke about me finding an extended family through my wife.  She said how much she looked forward to caring for and helping in raising my children.  She said she would love them like her own.  She spoke about MY future, the fate she saw for me, with her as just a small part of it.

“Will you find a partner?”  The woman asks.  “A good slave man to love?”  Rosa answers with a gesture, which I do not see.  “Such a shame you Amazon’s cannot bear children of your own.”  Drusilla says, ignorant of the truth as I had been until just recently.  “It is the highest of blessings.”

Just as the old woman had said to her earlier Rosa replies softly.  “It’s okay.  Everything is okay.  I am at peace with my slavery.  I am so proud to be Master’s property.  I am happy with what I have.”  There is a pause before she whispers.  “But…I would never wish to bring a baby into a life without freedom.”

The words are a spear straight through my fucking heart.

Chapter 45