Slave Girl 2: Chapter 15

Sleep might come quickly but it is not a good one.  I toss and turn.  Every time I drift off I end up waking back up again as I feel the weight of new responsibilities pressing down onto my chest.  Back home, when the really important stuff came up, it would be Grandpa or Mom guiding the family forward.  I didn’t have that luxury anymore.  I was a land owner, a slave holder, a bread winner, and the partner to the world’s most perfect woman.  Just putting my head down and my back into it wasn’t going to work anymore.

After maybe the sixth time waking and tossing about a half asleep Rosa reaches over to me.  Taking me by the head she pulls me to her chest and cradles me close.  The moment I hear that strong, steady heartbeat against my ear…the worries begin to melt away.  Curling up small against her I put an arm around her tummy and hold onto her extra warm body.

Her voice woozy and not quite conscious she coos to me softly as she tenderly strokes my hair.  “Good boy.  Goooood boyyyyy.”

Whatever other troubles I still had disappear in a puff.  With a huge smile on my face I finally find the deep, restful slumber I’d been searching for.  When I eventually surface again I discover that I am alone in bed and that the morning sun was already streaming into the room.

I sit up and rub my face.  “I slept in!”

“I thought you could use it.”  Rosa says happily as she comes in from the balcony already fully dressed.

“I never sleep in.”

“Never say never.”  With carefully measured and counted steps she comes to the foot of the bed and picks up a water jug.  She brings it around to my side of the bed and feels for the goblet she’d left for me on a bedside table.  She pours me some water and offers it to me.  I take it gratefully and drink it down.  “It’s all we have I’m afraid.”

“Yeah.”  I smack my lips.  “We have to go to town.  We’ve got a bunch of stuff we’re going to need.”

“Agreed.  Should be fun Master.”  She smiles, her lovely but sightless eyes staring at me but not seeing me.  “I hope we bump into Amadeus.”

“I’ll keep an eye out.”  I stretch.

“Master?”

“Yes Rosa?”

“Would you like more water or…something else?”

I knew what she meant, it was hard not to with that look she had, but after a moment of thinking about the pressure involved in having to pretend to be dominant I think my dick actually shrivels a little.   I couldn’t do it right out of bed.  Later, once I could work myself up to it, later would be better.  I say.  “No thank you.  If that’s okay?”

She smiles warmly.  “That’s okay Master.”

I get dressed and ready to go, shaving away from Rosa as I knew that was a particular sore point for her.  I gather up some of the goodies from the harpy’s nest and hide the rest of our valuables.  Upon the hand cart I load and secure a number of the better items I’d found that I felt could be sold or bartered for something of actual use.  I sling my old pack over my shoulder with a full waterskin and our money inside.  I lift the crossbar of the cart and hold it across my chest.

I point the cart toward the path out and announce.  “I’m ready.”

“Okay.”  Rosa scritches behind Danae’s ear and says goodbye to the fox.  As Rosa stands and approaches me Danae rollicks off into the woods.

“Right here.”  I say as she nears to give her something to go by.  She changes direction and comes to lay a hand on the shaft to my right.  “Hop on.”  She gets on her tip toes, tilts her beautiful face upward and puckers her pink lips.  I grin.  Leaning down I give her my cheek and she kisses it.

“I love you.”

Gods!  I literally have to blink the tears from my eyes.  A mere month ago I never would have believed that I might hear those words spoken to me like that by anybody but my mother.  For a time I confess I wondered if anybody would ever love me.  But Rosa said those three simple words so naturally, so effortlessly, and so honestly that it left me humbled.  It was so easy to take for granted the true treasure that I had gained in my journey from Rome.  I glance toward the Mercury smirking down on us and silently pray for his mercy.

I clear my throat and say proudly.  “I love you too Rosa.”

“On the road again.”  She smiles.

“Seems to be our destiny.”

“I can walk.”  She offers.

“Nah.  Hop on.”  I say.  “I already made a spot for you.”

She ducks under the shaft and feels back along it to the cart bed where she finds the space tucked amongst our belongings right at the front.  I hold the cart steady as she climbs on board.  I glance over my shoulder to make sure all was well then heave my weight forward and get the whole rattling ensemble moving.  It was a hell of a lot heavier going out than it had been coming in, and the bumpy incline and snagging branches along the narrow path didn’t help any, but through sheer brute strength I power us up onto the main road and take the left toward Grumentum.  With a proper road beneath my feet we are soon making good time back along the river valley.

“I wish I had my flute.”  Rosa says.  I look back to see her bouncing and swaying with the bumps and swerves of the road.

“We’ll get you a new one.”  I say.  “You could sing.”

“Would you like that Master?”

“Yeah.  I would.”

She clears her throat and takes a deep breath…and begins to sing.  In a voice more clear and pure as any of the morning songbirds my slave sings for me.  It is different than any song she had played or sung before it.  The language was Greek but the melody must have come from far off Egypt or perhaps even further into the great African continent.  It was simple yet so profound and haunting!  The words were a later addition but beneath them I could sense the deep roots of the song stretching back through the centuries beyond the written word to a time when such songs were sung around campfires open to the starry heavens above.  I could feel it right down to my soul.  At once joyous yet melancholy it flows with a rhythm so foreign and so mysterious that these Roman ears had no context with which to compare it.  Adding to this was the fact that her deep demonic throat, her ability to naturally growl, and her long tongue allowed Rosa to hit warbles and notes that were simply impossible for a human mouth to replicate.  It was like hearing song again for the first time ever.  Her voice drops as low as it could go as she holds the final bass note to a long fading finale.

I stop the cart and turn to look at her.  “Wow!”  I exclaim.  “You could do THAT all this time?  You’ve been holding out on me.”

“We used to sing that one with Papa.”  She says her blank eyes gazing into the past.  “He used to sing the low notes.  I almost forgot about it.  Danae reminded me of it.  She’s reminding me of a lot things actually.  From before Alexandria.”

“Wow!”  I say again.  “That was…WOW!”

She giggles.  “It’s a song about cows believe it or not.”

“No!”

“Uh huh.”  She nods.  “It’s about these old paintings they sometimes find in caves and cliff sides.  They show cattle and a race of giant men traveling the open plains.  Nobody knows who put them there or why.  Men?  Jinn?  Gods perhaps?  Nobody knows.  It’s a song lamenting the loss of old freedoms and celebrating the dawn of new ones.  It’s a love song of a sort, but about cows.”  She blinks.  “Did you like it?”

“Like it?  I never knew anything to do with cows could be so beautiful.”  I turn and start the cart going once more.  “Wow.”  I mutter once more.

She sings a few more songs along the way, these ones familiar to me and with an upbeat mood that was easy to march along to.  The steady beat of my steps and rhythmic creaks of the wagon provide a base for Rosa’s soaring melodious tones.  Our spirits high we make good time, happily greeting all of our new neighbors and fellow travelers along the way.  The heavy cart was a difficult burden but my heart was as light as a feather as we make our way to the city.

Chapter 16