Slave Girl 2: Chapter 39

I step forward to meet my lover and take her soft body into my arms.

“Wow!”  I say.  “You learned to do that just this morning!?”

She giggles and kisses my chest.  “It’s not so much learning as…doing.”  She says.  “I realized that tapping into magic is tough but, remembering what happened at Lydia’s, handling it once it’s there is just a matter of reaching out and touching it.  I’m getting the sense that just FINDING the magic is more than half the battle and, well…”  She touches her eyelids.  “…that’s not so hard for me.”

“So as long as the magic is there to use…”

“…I can use it.”  She finishes my sentence.  “Or borrow it.  Like a leech or a parasite or something.  At least until I learn how to bring it out myself.”

“That’s incredible.”  I marvel.  “I didn’t think anything would happen this fast!”

“Me neither.  So far I can’t change what the magic actually does.  The portals are still portals and the droning spell still made noise.  But, I don’t know, I’m just starting.  Who knows what is possible.”

“If Lydia would have seen what I just saw…”

“I know Master.”  She says seriously.  “I know.”

I look down at the little red fox sitting near our feet.  Though she sat still her sharp slitted eyes scanned the forest with a predator’s focus.  “Your assistant seemed a big help.”

“Oh yes!”  Rosa says brightly.  “Danae has been amazing.  I couldn’t have done it without her.”

“You’ve certainly bonded quickly.”

“Of course we have!”  She laughs.  “We’re sisters.”

“Hmm.  How do you feel?”

“Honestly?  Tired.”  She sighs, slumping into me and allowing me to hold her weight.  “It’s easy to do it in the moment but it does weigh on me afterward.”  She clenches her fist tightly.  “Like holding a muscle for a long time…then letting it go.”  She lets her hand relax.

“Take it easy.”  I kiss her head.  “Especially when you are alone.  Be careful Rosa.”

“Yes Master.”  She looks up at me, or through me really.  “And how is Colly?”

“Not good.  There’s…”  I start before catching it.  “How did you know Colly was here!?”

“Sorcery.  I am a witch now you know.”  She shrugs then adds in a spooky voice.  “I am watching you, alwayyyys!”

“Yeah right!”

“Oh yes.  In fact, I thought I might cast a lust spell on you tonight to have my wicked way with you.  Rawr!”  She suddenly bites my chest!

“Ow!  Hey!”  I laugh as her little fangs prick my skin through my clothes.  “You don’t need magic for that.”

“Then perhaps just an enchantment to keep you awake.”

“Ack!  No fair!”  I hug her tight and give her a twirl through the air, the both of us still laughing.  “Gods I love you.”

Giggling and smiling she rubs my tunic where she bit me.  “I can smell her soap.”

“Some sorcery.”  Guiding Rosa along with me I return to the shrine of Venus so that we could sit down on the stone bench that sat beside it.  Danae follows us for a bit but soon scampers off to attend to whatever fox business she had to do.

Rosa gives me a few moment of quiet to collect my thoughts then asks.  “What’s wrong baby?”

“I think I have to go to town again.”  I say grimly.  “Tonight.”

“You think you have to?”

“No.”  I let out a huff of frustration.  “I’ll stay.  We have too much to lose.  Never mind.”

“Baby.”  She rubs my arm.  “Start at the beginning.”

I lean forward, my elbows on my knees and my hands clasped together.  “Those men who gave me trouble are now giving Aristocles trouble.  There have been break ins.  The guards won’t help.”

“I see.”

“Aristocles and some guys are going to try to catch the vandals in the act tonight.  It’s going to mean trouble.”

“And you feel responsible.”

“Of course I feel responsible!”  My grip tightens and my body tenses.  Feeling it Rosa sidles up closer to hold my arm and rub my back.  “It’s because of me.  I brought attention to Colly.  It was because of me she even met Aristocles.  I involved her and Aristocles in whatever in hades is going on there.  I put a big target on them.  I did that.”

She brings my head down to her and kisses my cheek.  “This is not your fault Quin.”

“But…”

“Those bigots didn’t dare target her former master because of her power and influence.  But whoever would have ended up purchasing Colly could have faced the same stuff eventually.  Only the gods know for sure.  The hatred that festers in other men’s souls is not on you to purge.”

“But…if good men don’t stand up to bad ones…what hope is there?”  I sit up and let out long breath.  “No.  I have my own life and my own problems.  We have a place here now, a home.  I have work to do.  It’s not worth the risk.  You’re right.  Aristocles has this.  I’ll leave it be.”

“I never said to leave it be.  I simply said that this is not your fault.”

“Then…you want me to go help?”

“I never said that either.”  She smiles and rests her head on my shoulder.  “I want you to listen to your heart.”

“Rosa!”

“You’re a farmer, aren’t you?”

I give her a quizzical look at the odd question.  “What?  Of course I am.  Ceres is my goddess.  Toiling upon tilled earth is where I belong.”

“Are you sure?  It’s all you’ve ever known.”

“Yes I am sure.  I am just a farmer.”

“And I am just a slave.”  She says.  “It’s settled then.  Stay and be a farmer.  Leave the city business to the city people.”

We sit in silence for a long few minutes listening to song of insects and the soft flow of the river as the hot sun beats down upon us.

“I can’t.”  I whisper at last to break the lull.  “I can’t let this go.”

Rosa smiles an understanding but worried smile.  “I know baby.”

“I am a farmer.”  I whisper.

“But not just a farmer.”  She says as she gently pulls my head to her lap.  Without any resistance I slip from the bench to sit on the path and lay my head upon her thigh.  She closes her eyes and runs her fingers through my hair.  “It is not your in your character to leave it alone.  You feel responsible, not for the situation but for Collywaddle.”

I relax into her leg, the tightness in my chest and shoulders easing.  “Yes.”

“She’s made it into your heart.”

“She’s my friend.”

“And you cannot bear to see a friend wronged.”

“Oh Rosa.”

“I could be wrong but I suspect Ceres has some company in shepherding that beautiful spirit of yours through this life.”  She traces my ear.  “Themis, Ma’at, Justitia, whatever you want to call her, there’s someone else calling you too.”  Rosa looks skyward to feel Sol’s warmth.  “Just as Silvanus and Hecate has joined Venus for me to create the new chorus that I dance to.”

“Justitia?”

“Possibly.”  She says.  “Only you can say for sure.  Perhaps it is Mars enflaming your warrior spirit into action.”

“No.”  I reject that idea outright.  “Not him.  I am not a warrior.”

“We mortals are a complicated lot.”

“Why must it be so…messy?”

“Perhaps it cannot be any other way.”

I ponder a moment.  “And Morpheus?”

“Oh yes.  We must not forget him.”  She chuckles softly and traces a finger across my temple.  “My little dreamer.”

Her words were shaking my very identity yet they made too much sense to reject.  Since that first step off the farm and out into the wider world I was learning that life was less a painting than a mosaic.  When you stood back to view the whole the sweeping hand of the artist might be seen but up close it was made up of bits and pieces that we called hours and days.  The patterns laid down over years would reveal the type of man I was but right now, today, my choice was to place this single tesserae and decide what hue it would be.

“I’m going into town.”  I say.

“Good boy.”

“Ohhh.”  I close my eyes and whisper.  “Say that again.”

“My good boy.”  She whispers softly.  Hugging my head to her belly she says.  “You be safe.  You be careful.”

“I will.”

“Do not take any foolish risks.  You are strong.  You can fight.  But you are not invincible.”

Her saying that elicits a little twinge to my side where the Harpy’s claw nearly ended my life.  “I will take care Rosa.”

“When you arrive you find Amadeus.  You tell him what is going on and where you will be.”

“I will.”

“If things get bad, if things look dire, you run back to your Lady.  You get up and run back to me as fast as you can.”  She hunches down to cradle me close and kiss my head.  “You come back to me Quin.  You are my boy.  They cannot have you.”

I hug her tight and say with all of my obedient heart.  “Yes my Lady.”

Chapter 40