Slave Girl: Chapter 46 (Patreon)

We stop in Aeclanum only long enough to refresh ourselves and fill our waterskin at one of the public wells before we are on our way.  There were still a few more hours of good daylight to take advantage of.  As we pass near to the the cluster of shrines and temples near the town center we were both thinking about the old woman who would be soon rolling up here to give prayer.

I catch Rosa reaching into her pocket just to touch the bracelet, it was hidden away there so pickpockets couldn’t see it.  “She was nice.”  Rosa says.

“I hope she makes it.”

“Yeah, me too.”

As we head Southeast and the rolling plains of the valley gradually get more hilly and forested again I bring up something I hadn’t decided on yet to get Rosa’s input.

“Late tomorrow or maybe early the next day we should be coming up to the next major town.  Just before then we will have two options for moving forward.”

“Oh?”  Rosa says, a bit surprised and more than a little excited.  “This is new.  Options are good.”

“Yeah.”  I say with concern.  “My initial plan was to turn South, off of the Appian, and make straight for my land.  It’s still a long journey though far shorter.  But it will be more rugged, the roads won’t be nearly this good.  Being on foot that won’t slow us down too much but it’s more wild.  The terrain more challenging.  And…it’s more dangerous.”

“I see.”  Rosa says, unconsciously shifting closer to me.  “The other option?”

“We keep to the Appian right to the heel of Italy then follow the major coastal road to Heraclea.  It will be much longer but civilized, easier to travel and safer.  Safer from wild creatures at least.”  I take Rosa’s hand and hold it.  “My original plan was the shorter path but that was when I thought I’d be traveling alone.”

Rosa shifts closer, taking her hand from mine and putting her arm around my waist.  I put an arm around her shoulders and hold her close.  A wilder path meant a greater chance of monsters.  I understood what that meant for her.

“It’s okay Rosa.  We can take the longer way.”

“No.”  She says softly.  “No Quin.  I…I want the shorter way.”  She leans her head into me.  “This journey has been amazing but…I’m tiring.  This is a hard life being on the road.  I want a bed, I want walls, I want a roof, I want a place of our own.”  She hugs me tight.  “I wanna go home.”

I smile proudly at my little slave’s bravery and kiss the top of her head.  “Me too Rosa, me too.”

The vagrant life was wearing on me just as heavily.  We were getting by, but just getting by is no way to really live.  More than anything I wanted to be standing on my own land and working toward something real and lasting.  To have hut to call our own.  To make a home.

We walk well past sundown.  Rosa gives it her all before she had to tug at my sleeve to be carried.  She crawls onto my back and I push myself on.  Even I had my limits though.  The shortage of sleep from the night before and the long hours hauling Drusilla’s cart were catching up with me.  I stare at the stones of the road marching, one foot in front of the other, with nothing else but the next step in my tired mind.  Sensing my flagging strength Rosa whispers.  “That’s long enough my boy.  Let’s rest.”

“Yes my Lady.”

Exhausted we don’t even bother finding a proper camping spot.  Against the edge of a stone wall that protected a villa and its yard, not a stones throw from road, we flop down and fall into each other’s arms.  The night is warm so we don’t even bother with the blanket.  Cuddling close we fall into a deep sleep in mere minutes.

NOISE!  Noise, noise, noise.  All around.  From a dead sleep we are awoken by the barking of dogs and the shouting of men.  Before I can even make sense of what was happening I am being jabbed hard in the ribs with the handle of a shovel.

“Ah!  Fuck.”  Acting on instinct I shield Rosa and blink my eyes open to see three men and two big dogs around us in a semi-circle.  

“Get up!”  The eldest man bellows over the barking din of his deafening dogs.  “Get your ass up and move the fuck on.  You and your pet demon, GET!”

Still gathering my bearings I clear my throat and mutter the first thing I could think of to at least buy us a minute to wake up.  “I…I was hoping for some work.  For coin or even a bit of breakfast.  Do you…uff!”  Another jab to my side cuts me off.

“I don’t need nothin from you but to see your backside moving on down the road.”  He says, clearly exasperated.  “I am so fucking sick of you lazy drifters coming through here expecting a fucking handout.  There is no work for you here.  There is nothing for you here.  Move on!”

Harassed to our feet Rosa and I quickly gather up our belongings.  “Please Sir, we’re moving like you asked.”  Rosa pleads, her voice being swallowed up by everything else going on.  “Ow!”  She yelps as a rock hits her in the back.

I see red.  Stepping out in front of her I shout.  “Fuck!  WE’RE MOVING!”  This only causes the dogs to bark louder.  Everything was so loud and happening so quickly.  As one of the men slaps me and pushes me along I see another reaching for Rosa to harry her as well.  “Don’t you fucking touch her!”

When he lays his hands on Rosa…something just snaps.  CRACK!  My body acts on its own, two steps ahead of my still waking mind, as I drop the man with a single well placed punch to the jaw.  I duck the head of the shovel as it whizzes by my head.  

“Quin!”  Rosa shrieks in terror at the near miss.  “Gods, don’t hurt us!  Please!”

My arm snaps out, my hand grips the man around the throat and his eyes bulge in shock, my other hand reaches down to grab his belt and in one mighty heave I launch the full grown man right over the wall.  A moment later comes a heavy meaty thud of his body hitting packed earth followed by loud groan.

Thankfully the dogs were all bark and no bite.  Flanking their owner they growl and yelp and make a terrible noise but don’t actually attack us.  The last man charges me.  Careful to keep Rosa behind me I spin with him, using his own momentum to help throw him into the stone wall.  There is a wet crunch as two gouts of blood shoot from the nostrils of his very broken nose to stain the white-gray wall.  He crumples to the ground in a heap, dazed and covering up in a vain attempt to parry any blows that might be incoming.  There would be none.

“Shit!”  I hiss.  “Oh shit…shit!”  I look to Rosa.  “We have to get out of here, now!”

“Wh…why did you…?”  Rosa looks at me with a mix of fear and confusion.

“Come on!”  Putting my arm around her I hurry her toward the road and in mere moments we are on the Appian.  “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”  I mutter.  “We have move Rosa, fast as we can.”

“I…I don’t understand.”  She says as her pace speeds to match my own.

“The moment they are up they are going to find some buddies and come looking for us.  Fuck!”

“But…but they threw a rock at me.  They hit you.  It was self defense”

“That’s not going to matter Rosa.  We’re the strangers here.  Country folk stick together.  Word will get out and…gods help us.  Come on.”

“We…we’ll find a watchman…some soldiers…”

“Assuming we can even find one it will be our word against theirs.  No, trust me Rosa, we have to move quick.  We have to stay ahead of the news.”  I look behind to see the villa disappear behind a cluster of trees.  “If we hear horses at a gallop we have to hide.”

Understanding the grave danger we were in Rosa nods and quickens her stride a bit more.  She rubs the sleep from her eyes.  “Oh no!”  She scrambles for her pocket then lets out a sigh of relief as she feels the bracelet still in there.

No shave, no drink, no meal.  We walk hard right on until midday, trying to keep a pace that was hasty but not suspicious.  I pray, if we are caught, that all we get is a beating.  It was the most likely scenario, roughed up and maybe robbed, but not the only one.  While my family hadn’t taken part in them I heard plenty of first hand accounts of vigilante posses of locals dishing out old fashioned justice to outsiders.  Rape, gang rape, torture and even murder were all too real possibilities.  I wanted to keep going but Rosa was slowing up.

“Do you need me to carry you?”

“No.”  She pants.  “No…I need…to stop.  I can’t do this…all…day.”

I look behind us.  No sign of pursuit.  It had been hours now and all we had seen are the normal travelers of the Appian.  Surely they would have given up pursuit by now.  I couldn’t be sure we were safe but she was right, we couldn’t keep this pace up for a full day.  She couldn’t anyway.

“Okay.”  I say.  Scanning around I soon spot a broken down old hay wagon abandoned in a dry gully.  It sat at an angle facing away from the road as one of its wheels had broken clean off.  “There.”  I motion toward it.

High stepping through the tall grass and thorns we make our way to the wagon.  I take one last long look down the road then sit down behind our cover.  Rosa lays out her capelet to flatten an area then sits cross-legged beside me.  “Do we have any water left?”

“A bit.”  I pull the waterskin out and pass it to her.  She drink about half then motions me to finish it.  I put up my hand.  “You take it.”

Her face hardens.  “Drink.”  It was my Lady’s voice.

I submit.  “Yes my Lady.”  I drain it to the last drop, despite my earlier refusal I need it bad.  “Hopefully there’s a stream or a well soon.”  Rosa nods her agreement.  I could tell she wasn’t just weary, she seemed tense in a way I hadn’t seen before.  I shift closer.  “Hey, you okay?  That was a hell of a wakeup call.”

“Yeah, you could say that.  I’m…I’m fine.” She looks up at me, seeming to study me again for the first time.   “I’ve never seen that side of you before.  It was…scary.”

“Yeah.”  I say glumly.  “I…I know how to handle myself.  I don’t like it, but I’m good at it.  When I saw them touch you…”  My voice fades as I stare down at my strong hard worker’s hands then let out a quiet sigh.  “I hate hurting people.  I hate it Rosa.  It’s not who I am.”  My shoulders slump.  “Although…maybe it is.  Do you think those men are okay?”

“I am sure their pride is hurt worse than their bodies.”  She says in a smooth calming tone.  “They’ll live, perhaps a bit wiser for it.”

“I didn’t mean to scare you.  I never want to scare you Rosa.  But…I…I can’t your boy all the time.  I’m sorry.”

Rosa rests her soft delicate hands over mine.  They then slide up my arms as she rises to kneel.  Taking my head in her arms she holds me to her chest.  I let a great sigh as my tense body and worried mind relaxes as one in Rosa’s soul restoring embrace.  I lean into her and just allow myself to be held by her.

She kisses my head as she pets my disheveled hair and whispers.  “You did good baby.  You did good.”

Chapter 47