Slave Girl 2 Pt. 02 Ch. 68-79

Chapter 68

With my head swirling with dreams of what the future might bring my Lady takes me to bed then strokes and sings me to sleep.

The next morning is much the same as the last one. Slipping from the covers at the crack of light, whispering my love for my slumbering Lady, some stretching and positional practice, then popping out for a bath and a shave. Despite having put in a full day's labor the day before followed by an evening serving on my knees I felt fantastic! Hard working Master by day, submissive by evening, and coddled beloved as I slept everything about yesterday just felt right. Inside and out all things were balanced in their proper place, or swiftly moving in that direction at least, and it gave me an energized purpose. I couldn't wait to get to work. I couldn't wait to get home from work. And I couldn't wait to share my bed with my beautiful slave once again. Exciting things were happening and I was loving every second of the ride.

As I wait for Cassie I do a bit of light tidying up out front of the villa. She does not leave me waiting for long. As I hear her footsteps approach I go to meet her halfway. When we meet this time there is an entirely different energy between us. Things had been done and said and seen that could not be forgotten and because of this a connection had been forged. It was different from yesterday morning when we were simply romantically compatible acquaintances or last night where we both had the Lady's beacon of authority to focus upon. Today we meet as genuine friends with prospects to be so much more.

"Good morning Cassie."

"Good morning Quin."

We hug.

"Quite a night last night."

She smiles. "Yes."

"Sleep well?"

"No." She laughs. "But well enough. You?"

I give her a guilty grin. "Like a baby."

"Lucky boy." She says. "Before you go, Mom had a proposal she wanted me to run by you."

"A proposal? But she's already married!? This is scandalous!"

Cassie laughs. "The cheek!"

"Would you have to call me Daddy? I might consider it if..."

"Quin!" She gives my gut a soft, but not too soft, punch. "You are lucky you're not my boy, boy!"

I chuckle and rub my belly. "What's the proposal?"

"Word of Rosa has spread. She's the object of a lot of curiosity."

"Oh no."

"No, no. Just natural curiosity. There's nobody else like her out here. Not even in Grumentum." She says. "It's not just her heritage, it's her...well, everything. Mom was thinking about hosting Charm classes for the local ladies and she was curious if Rosa could teach them."

"Charm classes?"

"Yeah. A touch of refinement for us common gals, ya know?" She says. "We might not have been born as noble ladies but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate the finer things."

"How do they even know about Rosa's...refinement? She's barely been out."

"Well, I confess a lot of it has stemmed from me. I don't share anything private of course but I cannot help but talk up Lady Rosa's elegance and education." She says. "Plus...she just exudes luxury Quin. The way she sits, the way she moves, her every word and mannerism makes her stand out like silk among wool. It's been noticed."

"I see."

"Mom thought it could be a nice side income for you two, and her as well of course. Plus it would help show those who fear her that she is no monster."

"Charm classes." I ponder. "Your family doesn't waste any time, huh?"

Cassie cocks an eyebrow and looks me up and down. "When we see an opportunity we like...we take it. Nothin wrong with that."

"Nothing indeed."

"Rosa is the most exciting thing to happen in these parts since the Satyr sighting a few years back."

"A satyr?" I say as the word brings to mind a particularly lewd tale I'd heard on my journey here. "Best to keep your distance from those."

"I did! We all did! All the women were locked away for two days until they were sure it had been driven off." She laughs. "Despite Granny's protests. I think she wanted to see it."

"She would have gotten an eyeful."

"Anyway. Think about it." She says. "I'd like your blessing to bring this to Rosa."

"Blessing?"

"You are still her Master, no?" She tilts her head. "Or does her control extend...further?"

"By law she is my slave. But she is her own woman. You will have to talk to her about this. I will support whatever the pair of you decide."

She pauses a moment then nods. "I like you Quintus. I like your style."

"You're just saying that cause ya saw me naked."

"It didn't hurt." She winks.

"Hey, listen, about what Rosa said about her father..."

Cassie raises a hand to stop me. "I don't recall a thing."

I look at her, grateful beyond words. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Stepping around past me she takes a opportunistic grope of my ass then continues on toward the house. "And don't be late for work, boy."

"The cheek!" I laugh and shake my head then pad off to share breakfast with my men.

***

"Where's Lucas?" I say as I sit down in the grass among my crew with my full cup and food laden plate.

"Gone to town at first light." Quique says, reaching over to slap my arm in greeting. "He said he'd try to get back as early as he could."

"Buggering off already? It's only day two. Gods, I thought I'd gotten through to him yesterday."

"Oh, you got through alright." Julian says with his chewing mouth half full. "He's off to try to find and hire the barbarian."

"The barbarian? The northman!?" I say. "You're joking."

"No joke." Gyasi says. "He took our talk yesterday to heart. He believes that we will be a band of warriors."

"He's started coming up with names for us, like we're a mercenary band or something." Quique downs his drink and smacks his lips. "I thought Aciris Squad wasn't too bad."

I lay my hand over my face. "That's terrible."

"I liked Wolf Pack." Oeneus says.

"Oh gods."

"He told his father that you had recommended a slave that might be for hire in the city. He said you requested him special." Oeneus says. "Master Horatius agreed."

"He said it was my idea?" I groan. "Great. So now it's my judgment on the line if this goes poorly. I don't even know this guy! All I know is that he can fight. I told Lucas that I needed to give it some thought first. He said himself we needed my forest for his idea to work. What's he going to do if I refuse?"

Julian shrugs. "I guess he figured it'd be easier to convince you if the slave was already here."

"Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission?"

"Something like that." Gyasi says. "The extra hand will be nice either way."

Julian nudges me. "I thought you wanted to train. You were as fired up as the rest of us yesterday."

"Well...yeah but...hooo boy." I say. "Ah, this is Lucas we're talking about. He probably won't even be able to find the guy."

"Oh yeah. Tall red-headed slave from across the north sea who used to be a gladiator and was recently arrested?" Quique quips. "They're as common as they come."

"Gods."

"Plus Lucas was as determined as Aeneas. He's not going to quit easily. You really sparked something inside of him Master Quintus."

"In me too." Confesses Gyasi. "I think we all feel the same." There are mutterings of agreement all around. "A man who cannot fight is like the lion with a mane but no teeth."

"What does that even mean?"

"He might look the part but he'll never be able to defend his pride."

"Okay. Well. I guess it's too late to stop him from trying. This could get interesting." From across the yard of seated men I spot Granny speaking to a trio of unfamiliar women. She'd snagged my attention by the fact she was pointing at me. She then grabs her own elbow and brings it down to swing between her legs like a giant phallus! Their burst of giggles ring out across the whole yard. With a big ol' Granny grin on her wrinked face the eldest Cassia turns back to give me a hearty wave with the same arm that had just been swinging. The three others still tittering wave as well. I roll my eyes and exclaim. "This family!"

***

Chapter 69

My men work admirably, all of us quickly settling into the tasks of harvest, but with being a man down we cannot recapture the nice rhythm that we had developed the day before meaning that my inexperienced crew was falling even further behind the others. It wasn't the end of the world but for a guy like me who took a lot of pride in my work it grated at that pride that we were the weakest link despite our best effort. But there was nothing for it. My men were doing their best and driving them harder would only lead to errors, shoddy work, and hard feelings. I quietly curse Lucas for his rash behavior but I also curse myself in equal measure for inspiring it in the first place. I had seen that passion that had seized him. I knew his action oriented temperament. While I wasn't responsible for his actions I knew that a better leader would have handled him differently. I take it as a valuable lesson for the future.

That morning as we work we are taught a work song by Gyasi. As our deep voices harmonize in ways so different from Rosa's dulcet notes yet somehow tapping into the same deep wellspring of the soul I again wonder if there were some sort of hidden magic in song that even us common folk could access. The regular tempo and repeating harmony of the tune made the hot, gritty toil flow as smoothly as a dance, our actions seeming to happen without thought or effort in perfect time with the music. The minutes flit by pleasantly and with astounding swiftness. We were in full throat, maybe an hour past lunch, when the rhythm is broken by Julian suddenly standing and pointing.

"Lucas! He actually found him!"

We all turn to look and there I see the pair walking across the field toward us. Lucas, grinning and triumphant, looked quite proud to be leading back the very man we'd spoken about the day before. Except for a flare of the nostrils as he spots and recognizes me the slave's face however was as cool as marble. A flutter of nerves tickle my insides at the sight of the man I had done combat with but I do not let it show. If I was going to gain respect from this man I knew that I could not let him see fear in me. I step forward and await them. My crew gathers up behind me but the slave's focused gaze is locked on me and only me.

In the revealing light of Sol he was not the nightmare warrior that he appeared to be under Luna's glow. He was as tall and wiry as I remembered but in every way he looked a haggard shell of the man he might be. His long reddish-gray hair was thin and wispy, frayed at the ends. His scarred face was sunken and gaunt. His long-limbed sinewy frame bordered on the malnourished. I could see that while he maintained some lean muscle in his prime this was a man who would have carried much more mass than he did now. Even that slinking predator's efficiency of motion that I had been so struck with was hobbled by pain. And as he neared I saw why. Peaking out from his sleeveless tunic were blotted dark patches of bruising and the angry pink streaks of a lash's bite. He had been beat, badly, and it was only sheer pride that allowed him to stand and put one foot in front of the next to follow Lucas.

"I got him! Wasn't even hard." Lucas says as he nears. Turning back he extends his arms to present the man like some captured prize returning to Rome. "I hired a couple more while I was in town so it didn't look so weird. I dropped them off back at the farm but...hey!"

The slave did not stop where Lucas expected him to so that he could be gawked at by this group of field workers. Instead he continues, stepping past Lucas on a straight line toward me. The men rustle behind me at what appeared to be a threat but I hold them back. The man comes to stand within an arm's reach, staring at me nearly eye to eye.

Lucas hurries up to stand beside us. "Woah! Woah! Woah!" He waves his hands. "No fight! No fight!"

The slave does not even hear Lucas as his glare drills into mine. Neither aggressive nor defensive I stand tall and meet his gaze resolutely. If he wanted to go at it again I had every advantage this time. With him recovering from a beating, with a sharp sickle gripped in my hand, and with my crew of 5 healthy men backing me up he would stand no chance at all. He knew that as well as I yet still he glared.

"With the others about I haven't had the chance to tell him anything. I am not even sure he speaks Latin." Lucas says, nervously on edge and ready to try to jump between us if necessary. "He hasn't said a word."

"He speaks it." I say without averting my eyes. "Fluently. Don't you Northman?"

Before Lucas can reply the man proves it. "You have summoned me here?" All the emphasis was poured onto the word 'You'.

"Not exactly." I say. "Lucas...got carried away with a notion of his. I was still undecided."

"It was my idea but..."

"Lucas." I cut him off. "Let me do the talking for now. We've got old business he and I."

"Uh...sure Quin." He falls quiet and shifts to join the others.

The slave's eyes flit left and right, in an instant taking the measure of our crew and calculating his slim chances. "You are the boss here?"

"This is my crew." I say, motioning with a lift of my chin to the other crews scattered throughout the field. "Just one of many."

"You wished to see me broken." He says, his tone cool but his eyes seething. "You wished to see me obedient."

"No. I never wanted that."

"You want to finish our contest." He says. "You need to know if you could have bested me."

"No." I say again. "That is what YOU wish. What I need is a worker."

His jaw clenched he lets a long breath out through his nose. "I have thought a lot about what I was going to do if I ever I saw you again. I never figured it would be so soon." He says, his gravelly voice devoid of emotion. "Should I thank you for saving my life?" His icy blue eyes narrow and harden. "Or should I kill you for prolonging my suffering?"

"You will hold your tongue, slave!" Lucas barks but I silence him with a raise of my hand. The others stir uneasily.

"Let him speak." I say.

"If not for you that night would have been like any other. If you hadn't have been there to slow me down...it all would have been different."

"Then I am glad I was." I say without apology. "Aristocles did nothing to deserve your master's hate."

"It was you who gave the merchants the spine to stand against us. It was you who told the tall one to run as you distracted us." He says, the answers to his questions already affirmed in his mind. "It was you who arranged to have Amphion nearby. It was you that stirred all of it up in the first place."

"And I would do it again." I say, continuing to hold his gaze.

"For a kobalos?"

"For a friend."

He scoffs. "Why have you brought me here Quintus Quintilianus? Why me? If it is revenge you want do it now and spare me the drivel."

I look left and right, to the faces of my men, then back to the slave. "The truth?"

"The truth."

"I wish to train.

"Train?"

"We all wish to train. In pankration and whatever other combat arts you possess." I say. "My father was claimed by the wars before he could properly train me, but I believe it was his intention that I learn someday. Not to be a soldier but just to learn."

"We wish to be hounds." Lucas pipes up. "Among the sheep. To watch over our flock and guard it from wolves."

"I wish to be a lion." Says Gyasi. "To protect my pride."

"We want to learn to fight." Says his fellow slave Quique. "Like you do. With skill and discipline and honor."

"Quin told us that you are the greatest fighter he's ever seen." The other slave Oeneus says. "Even as a slave you gained his admiration. I wish to be seen like that as well. Perhaps one day to fight for my freedom in the Colosseum."

"Perhaps I judged you wrong but I don't believe you are the same as those scoundrels who own you." I say. "I hope I am proved right. But if I don't show you trust I will never know if you would have betrayed it and we would be denied even the chance to learn at the feet of a master such as you."

At this most unexpected answer emotion breaks through the stony veneer. He looks around at each of us, confusion across his weathered face.

"Train?" He says again disbelieving. "You?"

"That's our hope. But either way I do need a worker most of all." I state. "We've got weeks ahead of us yet. Or are you afraid of hard work? Has the city life made your hands soft Northman?"

He shuffles backward a step and looks down at the palms of his hands. His voice softens and his rugged expression relaxes for an instant. "I was a farmer once. A farmer and a fisherman and...a father. Under Odin's sight I was many things that I am not now."

"A farmer? Good! Then I won't have to teach you as well."

His hands clench into fists. "But that was long ago. Another life." His eyes snap back up to meet mine. "You are so young Quintus Quintilianus. So naive. So foolish. So...unbroken."

"You are not the first to call me a fool." I offer my hand. "The training is optional. The work is not. What do you say?"

He looks at my hand, appearing more ready to spit on it than take it. "And if I refuse?"

"We'll send you back to your life as a thug." I say. "Too old, too soft, too broken." At that last word he bristles. "What do you say you old man? Got one more harvest in you?"

There is a moment of still as the man weighs my words. "I might just kill you Roman."

"But not before you train me. Not if it's a fair fight that you're after." I say back and push my hand further forward. "What do you say?"

He stares at my extended hand...then thrusts his hand out to take it. He takes my forearm in a hard grasp and I grip his in return. We shake, for this moment, as equals. There are breaths of relief from the others at the breaking of the tension. They quickly gather around to welcome our new member. A couple of them slap his wounded back. He flinches but does not say a word of protest.

I finish the shake and step back. "Lucas. Take him in and find him a bunk. See if Cas can scrounge him up a meal and drink."

"He's not starting now?"

"Let him rest the day. I want him strong for a full shift tomorrow." I say, not wishing to call attention to his injuries. "Today is beyond hope but tomorrow we keep up with the other crews." I look around at the men. "No excuses."

"We'll keep up." Lucas says. "And then some!"

"If you don't wander off again." I scold. "Now get, and let the rest of us get back to doing our work and yours."

"Ha ha! I won't be long!" Lucas says, overjoyed with how this all had went. "I'll be right back my brothers!"

"Hey." I stop and turn back to the pair before they are more than ten steps away. "What is your name Northman?"

He turns and says. "My name is...Toke."

"Toke." I nod. "I will see you in the morning."

He nods back. "I will be here Master Quintus."

***

Chapter 70

"Not heading straight home tonight?" Julian asks as we make our way back to the farm after our full day.

"Just want to check on the new guy." I say. "Make sure he's settling in."

"Raise a glass with us tonight?"

"Nah, sorry. Not tonight."

"Not tonight." Julian nudges Quique and a chuckle goes up amongst my men.

In his honey-tongued Hispanian accent he replies. "If I had that sweet little slave waiting for me at home I wouldn't be wasting my time with you ugly bastards either."

We all laugh. I might have said something but damned if what he said wasn't the pure truth. I liked the guys and all but...yeah. Between them and Rosa it was no contest.

"Cassie didn't come home until late last night." Lucas says with a side eye my way. "Went straight to her room when she did."

"You might want to leave your sister's business alone." I say. "If you don't want another rap to the noggin."