Slave Girl: Chapter 75 (Patreon)

Rosa on top of me, a tree trunk as a mattress, a knotty root pressing into my butt and the small of my back, and a cool breeze chilling my feet it is not the best of sleeps.  I manage to catch a few snippets of slumber through the night though, enough to function at least.  With or without sleep the excitement of reaching Grumentum would have been enough to keep me going.

I awake from the last of my naps to see the morning light brightening the forest around us.  Rosa is at my side, curled up and using my cloak as a blanket and my leg for a pillow.  If I tried to move it would wake her, plus I’d either have to keep the cloak with me and leave her shivering or leave it with her and walk about in just my undies, so I opt to just stay sat where I am. I sit and listen to the morning birdsong and watch the fish jump to snatch bugs from the shimmering surface of the pond.  Lovely.  This was going to be a good day, I could feel it.

My empty stomach growls in protest but I ignore it.  I had bigger things on my mind.

Once we hit the city, less than twenty five miles away now, our new life would begin.  We’d get a bath, we’d get some clothes, we’d get a proper meal, and then we’d get to work.  I had to register the ownership of my land, and probably my slave too, with provincial officials.  I wouldn’t mind checking in with the local temple of Ceres either.  If we got an early start and really pushed this could potentially be done by this afternoon.  Once there I would find out where my plot was, I hoped it was close enough to the city that Rosa could enjoy some of its amenities from time to time.  Although the experience last night at the village was a cruel reminder that she might not be welcome with open arms.  We’d figure something out.

Depending on how far away the plot was from the city would dictate what happened next.  It might still be many miles off.  All I knew was that my land was along the Aciris somewhere, but that river wound from the mountains all the way South to the coast near Heraclea.  If it was close enough I won’t be able to resist trying to press on to get there today, after everything I had been through to get to it I greatly yearned to at last feel my own land beneath my sandals.  If it was far away we’d spend the night in Grumentum and head out the next day.  Gods, this was so exciting!

Needing to take my mind off of these things lest I wake Rosa just to get moving I look about for something to distract me.  Within reach is the leather bag Rosa carries.  I pull it close and open the drawstring.  Feeling around inside my fingers quickly find a flat wooden surface with a design etched into it.

“The codex.”  I whisper to myself as I pull it free.  I had heard of these, a new way of holding written texts that had some advantages over scrolls, but this was the first I’d seen.  I feel the polish of the sleek wood against my hand.  Though rather plain to look at, it was a well crafted item.

Setting it down on my knees I loose the little hook that held it shut and open the cover to look at the top quality parchment within.  I had never seen such fine parchment, smooth and regular and still supple despite the years it sat in that cave.  I am not sure if it is missing some pages but there is no title or list of contents, it simply begins.  It was a strange arrangement on the page.  The top half was in Greek and I got the distinct impression that it was a copy of another text in another hand, perhaps even a traced version of some rubbing as the writing did not flow as it should.  The bottom half was in Latin and appeared to be notes and commentary by the transcriber.  This was no story book.

Flipping to the next page my interest piques.  “By Ceres!”  I see very detailed drawings of three kernels of grain, one wheat, one rye, and one barley.  The writing around the drawings is indecipherable to me, I would have to have Rosa read it aloud.  Again the bottom half is in Latin but it spoke in reference to the text and sketches above, assuming the reader had read and understood what was there.  What I could glean was that the even writer themselves didn’t fully understand what they had copied above.  This was some sort of philosopher’s journal where the scholar was trying to comprehend a much older text.  It was far more complex than most anything I had read before, I was well out of my depth, but the mystery had me intrigued.

As I continue turning pages, reading bits of the Latin and studying the drawings, Rosa eventually stirs.

“Good morning Master.”  She says softly, even before opening her eyes.

I rub one of her horns with my thumb.  “Good morning my love.”

“Mmm.”  She smiles.  “That’s nice, say it again.”

I stroke my hand past her pointed ear and along her neck to her slender shoulder.  “Good morning my love.”

“Mmm!”  She kisses my leg.  “Mornin lover.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah.  Sorry about last night.”

“You never have to be sorry for that.  Never.”

She blinks her eyes open to see the codex not far from her face.  Sitting up she cuddles in beside me and wraps her arms around my body, probably as much to leech my heat as a gesture of love.  Not that I was complaining.  I slide it closer on my lap so that we could both look at it.

“What’s this?”  She asks, her waking mind suddenly very focused.

“I don’t know.”  I say as I start flipping back through the pages I’d already looked at.  “Half of it is in Greek.  It outlines some sort process one does with grains.”

“Hold on.”  Rosa stops me and flips back a page.  “They’re fermenting here.  They’re making beer.  I recognize that from Peisandros’ place.”

“Yeah.”  I say.  “The notes mention brewing, but it’s more than that.  Umm, here.”  I point.  “The writer mentions dis…distil…distillation.  Something like that.  Turning one liquid into another.  Eventually the liquid is put into wooden barrels for a time.  There’s mention of grapes too, but it is mostly focused on grains.”

“Quin.”  Rosa pulls the book even closer.  “That’s not Greek.”

“It isn’t?”  I say.  “Is it those magic letters?  Like on the bracelet?  Is this a magic book?”

“No, not that either.  These aren’t magic runes.  That language is Atlantean.”

“What!?”

“I think it is anyway.  I can’t be sure.”  She flips a page.

“This is writing from Atlantis!?”  I say in disbelief.

“I don’t know.  I am not a scholar.  I remember Papa had some scrolls like this though.  I could be wrong, I was very young.” 

“Wow…wow!”

“I can make some of it out.”  She says as she turns another page.  “It has a lot of commonalities with Greek.”  She studies the strange bent item in the drawing.  “This thing is called a still.”  She runs her fingers over the page.  “I wonder who copied this.”

“And where.  And when.  How long had it been in that lair?”

“The academies would pay handsomely for such a journal.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, don’t you?”  She says.  “I bet Peisandros would be interested too.  It seems right up his alley.  We should show him if we see him again.”

I let it sink in a moment and then…clap the codex shut and latch it.  “A topic for another time.”

She laughs and looks up at me.  “Anxious to get on the road are we?”

“Just a little bit.”  I wink.

“We’re so close!”  Slapping my knee she states.  “Then lets get you shaved and groomed Master and we can be on our way.  You need to be looking your best today.”

I grin.  “Yes my Lady.”

She shaves me and grooms me and makes me feel special like only she can.  As she is washing up she pulls the two halves of the magical bracelet from her inner pocket and again attempts to connect them.

“Hey!  I did it.”  She grins.  “They are one again.”

“They just needed time I guess.”

“No, I think it’s more to do with me.  I felt so hollow yesterday morning, so empty.  It’s hard to describe.  I’m feeling much better today though.”  She twists the bracelet, studying it.  “Hopefully it will recharge itself now.  Time will tell I guess.”

Within moments we are on our feet, each with our own pack over our shoulders.  Rosa looks to me then back to the hollow where we had just slept.

“You know, I’m gonna kinda miss roughing it.”  She says wistfully.

“Really?”

“NO!”  She exclaims.  “Come on Master.  We’re almost home!”

Chapter 76