Slave Girl 2: Chapter 129 (Patreon)

On my first step toward Rosa and Colly my foot hits something hard. Looking down…I see what was once my father’s standard issue pugio pillowed atop the soft moss of the forest floor. Stretched and transformed by magic it was unrecognizable as the item left to me after his death.

The pommel which had once been a simple rounded trapezoid with two decorative rivets had curled into a sharp crescent and the rivets flattening into ovals giving it an unnerving resemblance to a horned head with two glowering eyes. The hilt had elongated to twice its original length with the bulge in the center now gone entirely so that the grip was one slender continuous length. If it was going to be used again the handle would need to be wrapped in leather or something similar. The cross-guard had widened and formed a similar crescent shape as the pommel just curved in the opposite direction. The blade that had been less than a foot long and sort of leaf shaped was now well over three feet long and gradually tapering ever narrower from three inches across at the hilt to it’s wickedly keen point. Visible only because of dancing firelight reflecting across it at a sharp angle I can just make out etched into the face of the double-edged blade a very subtle labyrinthine design, every path of which looked to lead to the flat circular area at the base of the blade where I had seen the ring fuse. The ring itself was nowhere to be seen but as I study the area just above the hilt I notice that hilt, blade, the entire thing now looked to be a single piece of alloy that combined the copper of the statue, the iron of the dagger, and whatever strange metal that magical ring had been made of. Darker than steel, lighter than copper, and all with a reddish sheen that I knew had been infused into it by Toke’s blood it was quite unlike any metal I had seen before.

Bending down I take hold of the dagger turned sword and lift it from the moss. It was heavy, far heavier than it should have been given its size. Only a strong man would be able to wield such a weapon effectively one-handed, though it’s balance was nearly ideal.

“Master.” Rosa calls to me, her unseeing eyes searching the night. “Master, where are you?”

Holding the blade in front of me I wave it back and forth and still Rosa was blind to my presence as well as the sword’s. Whatever magic it held had either returned to slumber or died completely. “Can you not see the sword, Rosa?”

“Sword?” She says, weak and confused, before waving me to her. “Quin. Come. Please.” I walk to my weary Lady. Setting down the weapon beside the platform I sit upon it at my Lady’s shoulder, opposite of where Collywaddle wept over the body of her Master. The moment Rosa feels me she turns and starts to feel all over my body with her slender hands. “Are you harmed?”

“Nothing that won’t heal.” I say somberly. After sharing a kiss with her I reach out to lay my hand on Colly’s hunched and heaving back. “I was one of the lucky ones. I am so sorry Collywaddle.”

“He…wathn’t even a warrior.” Colly weeps. She turns to me with tear filled eyes, her chubby cheeks wet. “Why? Why Quin? Why him?”

“I don’t know Colly.” As she crawls toward me I accept her into a supportive hug.

“And Toke too?” She sobs. “Am I curthed? Are m-my loverth marked for death?”

“No.” I whisper.

“It is not your fault, Colly.” Rosa enters our embrace from the other side so that we held the mourning slave between us. “I once believed something similar. But that is not the way of things. Do not bear that guilt Colly.”

“It’th not…fair. He wathn’t a perfect man…but he wath a good man.” She whimpers. “Bad thingth shouldn’t happen to good men.”

“No, they shouldn’t.” I say softly as I hold her close.

Rosa and I do what we can to comfort the grieving goblin while behind me I can hear raised whispers between Lucas and Cassie. Before long Lucas walks to join the other men, his brooding eyes lingering on us for a moment as he goes. Once gathered the men were on their way. Bearing a torch Gyasi and Quique go one way to head into Grumentum as the rest strike out through the forest toward Horatius’ estate.

Cassie comes to sit at my side, worry etched in her face.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

“Mm.” She nods. “By the grace of the gods.”

“You did well.” I say, then look out toward where the men had disappeared. “Everyone fought heroically.”

“Gods, Quin.” She shudders. “What was thing?”

“Ancient magic.” I guess. “Perhaps this was a sacrificial space. Perhaps it would have been pacified with enough blood. But I do not know.”

“Cursed thing.”

As Rosa continues to soothe our friend Cassie and I look at each other, both thinking the same thing. Despite Colly’s presence things needed to be discussed, urgently.

“Lucas?” I say.

“I…don’t know.” Cassie replies. “I don’t think he’ll tell them of Rosa.”

“You don’t think so?”

She sighs. “It’s the best I could do, Quin. He’s still not entirely convinced that I haven’t been charmed.”

“After the way we fought? After Rosa saved us?”

“Quin. He’s worried about me.” She says. “And you know how magic is seen among our kind of people.”

“Yeah. Yeah. My grandfather wouldn’t have even given us the trust that Lucas has.”

“We flee.” Cassie says. “Now. Right now. Before the investigators can get here.”

I seriously consider it a moment. The events of tonight had thrown a terrible twist into our plans.

“If we do…we wouldn’t simply be leaving. We would be on the run.” I say. “We would be fugitives. If we flee now I think we would only confirm Lucas’ suspicions and he would surely divulge what he knows. The others would be forced to confirm what he says.”

“Then we move swiftly. We stay ahead of the law. We have hours before anybody will even know we’re missing. We take what money we have and make for the nearest port.”

“I can cover a fair bit of ground when I need to, but I am no match for messengers on horseback.” I say. “To say nothing of Rosa.”

“Messengers?”

“An Amazon slave displaying magic? An ancient, magical minotaur come to life? The death of a Roman citizen?” I say grimly. “Every officer, watchman and guard in Italy would be watching for us. Every man and woman, high born and low, would hear our story. Needless to say Rosa does not blend in with the crowd very well. They would probably even get the help of wizards to track us down.”

Cassie’s shoulders slump. “Fuck.”

“I have lived on the run.” Rosa joins in. “It is an awful state to be in. You are forced to put your fate into the hands of strangers and trust the untrustworthy.”

“It’s a risk, but we stay.” I say. “For now. We see out the harvest as we planned. We wait for the dust to settle and this incident to be forgotten. Then we go.”

“Where are you going?” Comes Colly’s sniffling voice. “What’th happening?”

“Shhh.” Rosa kisses her broad head.

“Colly.” I say, hunching down to look her in her amber eyes. “We need you to stay quiet about this, okay?”

“Mmm.” She nods. “But…where are you going?”

I look from Cassie to Rosa and back to her again. “We need to leave here Colly.”

“B-But why?”

“Because we want our daughter to be born free.”

“Daughter? Daughter!?” She looks up to Rosa who gives her a slow nod. “You’re having a baby, Rotha?”

“I am.” Rosa says. “Quin’s baby.”

“Ohhhh.” Her plump bottom lip begins to tremble. “That’th wonderful. That’th…jutht…beautiful.” The unexpected emotions from the good news contrasted against the darkness of this gruesome night tips poor Colly back into her bitter grief over her fallen Master. It was all too much for her right now and she falls apart completely. Curling up into a ball and covering her face with both hands Colly sobs heavy, wracking sobs.

Rosa, Cassie and I gather around our small friend to hold her and be with her in her lowest hour while we wait for the officers of Grumentum to find us. As she weeps I look to my women to see their beautiful faces etched with sorrow yet with the same great relief underlying it. We would never say anything with Colly’s loss so fresh and her pain so deep, but all of us were thinking the same thing. As horrible as this night had been, all of us were still alive and together. And for that we were thankful.

Chapter 130