Slave Girl 2: Chapter 17

Tripping over my words in my giddiness I explain to Rosa what I’d just done I stand with my hands on my hips and a big smile as I await her reaction.

She stares off in the vague direction of where I told her Lydia’s place was a bit stunned by it all.  “Uh, wow.”

“Not bad, huh?”  I say.  “Totally free.  All we have to do is go to a party someday.  I mean, when you’re feeling up to it.”

“Nothing is free Quin.”  She says, then smiles.  “It would be such a treat to be able show off my b…”  Her grins goes away.  She blinks and her face flinches.  “Master.  I explained to you that I can’t…I can’t be your Lady right now.”

“I know.  I’m sorry.”  I say.  “Lydia saw my collar and we just started talking…I didn’t bring it up on purpose.”

“Mmm.”  She nods.  “That collar is a dead giveaway to those who know.”

“I don’t think she even would have seen you without that connection though.”

“Mmm.”  She takes a deep breath.  “Well, this is an opportunity not to be passed up.  And I would like to learn, even a little bit.”

“Come on.”  I say.  “I’ll introduce you.”

“What about the cart?”

“I can see it from the gate.”  I say.  “I’ll keep an eye on it.”

“Okay.  Lead on”

I have Rosa take my arm and lead her to gate where Colly stood waiting for us.  “Rosa, this is Colly.  She is the gob…um, Kobalos that I told you about.”

“Greetingth Rotha, alwayth good to meet a fellow thlave.”

“Hello Colly.”  Rosa says politely.  “It’s been quite some time since I met one of your kind.”  With a nudge to my shoulder with her horn she quips.  “I was probably close to his age.”

“The pleasure ith mine.”

“Where is your Mistress Colly?”  I ask, noticing the empty yard beyond.

“Inthide.”

“Thank you.”

I go step through the gate but Colly stops me with a hand to the gut.  “You thtay.  She cometh.”

“What?”

“Thtrictly thtudentth and withardth admithable.”

“What?”  I say again, literally not understanding her words through her heavy lisp.

“Nobody’s allowed inside except students and wizards.”  Rosa says, having picked up the meaning.

“How does Lydia do business then?”

“In the courtyard thilly.”

“Ah.”  I say uneasily.  “Um, maybe Lydia could come out so that I could make introductions.”

“It’s okay.”  Rosa assures me.  “If you have a good feeling about this woman I trust your judgment Master.”  She pats my hand.  “I’ll be okay.”

“I did get a good feeling.”  I sigh, worried about the love of my life.  “How long will this take Colly?”

“Mithreth thayth to come back when your shadow ith ath tall ath you.”

“Huh?  When my shadow is as tall as me?”

“That’th what I thaid.”  She squints up at me.  “You can’t hear tho good, huh?”

I roll my eyes.  “Alright then.”  I kiss Rosa and we hug each other.  “I’ll head out and get some selling and buying done.  I’ll try to be back as early as I can.”

“Good luck Master.”  She strokes my face.  “I’ll be thinking about you.”

“And I you.  Good luck Rosa.”

Reluctantly I let her go and allow Colly to take her hand and lead her forward.  To her credit the goblin is very careful with her, warning her of each step and leading her at a slow and manageable pace.  I watch my beloved the whole way and silently pray to Hecate and Minerva to watch over her in this place of learning.  The door opens and I see a bit of Lydia’s orange robe as she greets Rosa and welcomes her inside.  She was in the wizard's hands now.  With a sigh I turn and start back toward toward the cart.

“Wait for me!”

I look back to see the rotund Colly running back toward me, her massive tits bouncing freely beneath her white tunic.  I swear if the chubby slave would have run any faster she would have started rolling.

“What do you want?”  I stop and turn.

She jiggles to a stop in front of me.  “Rotha told Mithreth you had errandth.  She thaid I should come and help.”

I give her wary look up and down.  “That’s really not necessary.  Thanks.”

“I got my orderth I’m afraid.”  She crosses her arms, or tries to at least.  Her stumpy limbs couldn’t really reach around her bosom properly.  “Come on Mathter Quin.  I know thith town.  I know all the right platheth to shop, what platheth to avoid, and all that thtuff.”

I wipe the slight moistness from the mist of Colly’s talking from the front of my tunic.  “Fine.”  I say.  “I actually could use the help.  We’ve only passed through Grumentum once.  I am completely new here.”

“Great!”

“You have a very…generous owner.”  I say.  “Allowing me to borrow you.”

“Nah.  She’th trying to get rid of me, remember?  Ha!”  Her whole rolly-polly body jiggles as she giggles.  “She’th got that buyerth remorthe.  Ha ha ha!”

“Riiight.”  I say.  “Alright Colly, come along then.”

“Yeth thir!”

To her credit Colly actually proves to be a valuable little assistant.  She knew the city like the back of her green hand, even telling me all about various shortcuts and hidden nooks that you wouldn’t find on any map.  The traders she took me to all seemed to be more concerned with giving me a fair deal for the promise of future commerce rather than taking advantage of a young and inexperienced man who was new to the area.  Not only that, she helped me with the pushing of the cart as well as the unloading and moving of the items I sold without complaint.  She may be fat but Colly was a tireless worker.  Before long the cart was a lot lighter and my purse a lot heavier.  All of the wooden furniture and spare pottery had been sold leaving only the small collection of bronze decorative items left to go.

As we go I do notice that her race’s light-fingered reputation gives us a bit of extra walking space as people clutch valuables and veer to stay out of her range.  And when people weren’t avoiding her they were ignoring her.  Being a slave she was just not worth noticing for many.  I thought it all so unfair.  If she was a thief I hadn’t seen any evidence of it.  And while she might be a slave she was a well-mannered and good-natured woman that would easily get along with most folk if they just gave her the chance.  I recall back to my opinion of Demons and Amazons before Rome.  It was so easy to put a label on something and just assume that you knew all that needed to be known about it.  Rosa had gone a long way to divesting me of such prejudices.

“Hey.”  I say as we approach our final selling stop.  “You’ve been a great help Colly.  I mean it.  I’ve already gotten far more than I thought we would.”

She looks up and gives me a big dimpled smile.  “Don’t mention it thir.   Happy to help.”

“No, I’d really like to do something for you Colly.”

“How about a nithe big bunch of grapeth?  Ooo!  Or some nithe thticky pathtry with LOTTH of honey.”

I chuckle.  “I’ll buy you lunch after this, sure.  I’m hungry too.  No, I meant something extra.”

“Exthtra?”

“Maybe I can help you save up to buy your freedom.”

“Mm, mm.”  She shakes her head vigorously, her long braids slapping back and forth.  “It’th a thlave’th life for me.  I like having thomeone have to look after me.”

“Huh.  Well, fair enough.”  I say.  “But surely you could use some money.  For other things.”

“Yeah!”  She cheers.  “You bet I do!”

“How about this.”  I nod to the shop we were approaching.  “I’ll give you a quarter of whatever we can get from this guy.  For all of your help I think that’s fair.”

“Mathter Quin!  Oh thank you!”  She hugs my leg.  “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.”  Then with a smirk I add.  “In fact, I’ll let you do the talking.”

“Oh!”

“The better price you get, the bigger your cut.”  I set down the cart handle and take the heavy sack of bronzes and heft it over my shoulder.  “What do you say?”

She points a pudge digit my way.  “You’re on!”

We enter the shop to find it chock-a-block with bronze, copper, iron and even the odd silver bevy of nick-nacks lining every wall and shelf.  Right away I start to worry about what kind of price we were going to get.  Not only was the shop overflowing with supply it was absent of any other customers.  The only person within was a bored looking balding man in his early thirties sitting at a back counter absently polishing a statuette of Mercury.

He glances up at us with tired eyes and mumbles.  “We’re not buying right now.”

Undeterred Colly marches forward, rubbing her hands together.  “Now hold on there my good man.”  She says confidently.  “You haven’t theen what we have to offer.”  Of course, neither had she.  With a wave back toward me she walks right up the counter and rests her chin upon it.  “We have thome of the finetht metalwork you thee…”

He looks at her in annoyance.  “Not buying.”  He then looks at me.  “We’re not buying.”

“Sure.”  I say.  “Well, thanks anyway.”

“Hold on!”  Collywaddle brays.  “You’re not getting rid of uth that eathily!”

He rolls his eyes and says to me.  “Citizen, tell your slave…”

“I’m not hith.” She says.  “I’m jutht helping him…negotiate.”

“I’m not interested.”

“But you haven’t heard the betht part, good thir.”

“Oh, and what’s the best part?”

She smiles.  “You buy our thtuff and you get thomething exthtra thpecial.”

He sighs.  “And what’s that?”

Colly licks all around her large, plump lips with a wide, wet tongue.  “A thuper-duper, exthra-thloppy, thucky-thucky, gobby-gobler.”

There is a moment of silence until both the shop owner and I say in unison.  “A what?”

She sputters her lips and looks at the pair of us in exasperation.  “How much clearer can I be?  A blowie thtupid.”

Chapter 18