A Legend is Born

Dawn finds me down by the stream pulling in my trusty fishing net laden with three fat trout. It was not lost on me that the first morning out of Rome with Rosa saw me fishing with this very net and now the first morning out of Grumentum I was doing the same. Like then I had snuck away while she slumbered to catch our breakfast, unlike then she would not awake in a panic believing I had abandoned her. I was hers, she was mine, our bond had endured even **** itself.

As I pull the fish up toward camp I find Cassie in the process of dressing. Our eyes meet and we share a silent smile. Collywaddle lay softly snoring beside Cassie, her blanket strewn haphazardly across her chubby body, with arms and legs sprawled out to take up as much room as possible. On the other side of the ground sheet was Rosa’s tiny form buried deep within a huddled mass of blankets, Danae curled up next to her.

I leave the fish on the grass near the burnt out campfire and go to check on Catalus. He shifts and snuffles at my approach, and then gives a little nod of his head as I run my hand down his neck. As I pet him I make note of his clear-sighted eyes, his ear position and the way his tail flicked occasionally but then would calm again. Our stallion was in obvious discomfort but didn’t show the signs of intense pain. Stepping back I look at his feet. I could see some swelling at his ankle and he was clearly trying to keep weight off of it, though not avoiding it altogether. I pat his good shoulder.

“You’re gonna be okay, mutt.” I am untying him when Cassie approaches. I hold his tether in one hand as she slides into my other arm. We press together and share a kiss. “Sleep?”

“Some.” She says, brushing a leaf from my tunic. “Not used to sleeping rough. Or sleeping with someone who snores.” She glances toward the goblin.

I chuckle. “That’s not snoring. Those are…snurffles. My grandpa snored. You would have thought a rampaging lion had gotten lose in the house.”

“Well you can cuddle up next to those snurffles tonight.” She lightly punches my gut. “How is Rosa?”

“Brave.” I smile.

While I take Catalus down to the water to cool his ankle for awhile before wrapping it Cassie busies herself with rekindling the fire. By the time I had returned again our whole camp was up and moving. Even Rosa, who notoriously preferred sleeping in, was bright eyed and eager for the day. Bundled up in her stola, palla and an extra shawl she stood near the fire enjoying the smells of fish Colly was cooking over the meager flames on spits.

“He’th ath good ath new.” Colly grins as she sees Catalus striding at my side.

“Not quite.” I say. “But he can carry himself at least, and that’s something.”

“Good morning, Quin.” Rosa says with a little grin that told me she was thinking about last night. “Trout.” She sniffs. “Your favorite.”

“Good morning, my Lady.” I reply, my voice having to carry the shared smile that she could not see. She giggles.

We enjoy a quick breakfast. Afterward the others pack while Cassie and I start on the bitter task of what had to be left behind.

Standing over our pile of belongings I sigh. “There’s so much.”

“We could hide it. Come back for it quick while Catalus heals at your family’s.”

“It will take days if not weeks for that ankle to be back to carrying a load” I say. “I’d rather not delay that long.” Glancing over toward Rosa my voice lowers. “My family is not going understand her, Cassie When they find out I spent my entire inheritance on her…” I sigh. “To say nothing of what she and I are to each other now. I sent a note a while ago letting Mom know I’d settle in. I left the details sparse though. They’re not going to understand why I’m doing any of the things I’m doing.”

Cassie strokes my arm. “Hey. I’m an outcast for nearly the same reason. I get it. We’ve got each other, hold onto that.”

Looking into her deep blue eyes. “You having second thoughts? Regrets?”

“Not even once.” She pats my chest then flicks my chin with her finger. “Head up!”

“Ha! Yeah. Me neither.” Refocusing on the task at hand I say. “That hand cart has a cracked axle and busted wheel. It’s not going anywhere. It’s just up I’m afraid.”

Together Cassie and I pick through what was supposed to be the beginning of our eventual household. I find the little figurine of my mother that Aristocles had made for my uncle and a few other essentials but most of what we’d really need, what we needed for the road, was already packed into our packs. Beside me I hear Cassie gasp.

“Our…treasure box!” She says as she pulls back a cloth to see the special box we’d put all of our Lady’s special gear in shattered to pieces. “By cupid’s chubby little ass! We lost it all!”

“We didn’t lose it all.” I say. “I collected what I could find. We’ve got one of Rosa’s special ropes. We’ve got our true collars, thank the gods. We’ve got my…ahem, hedgehog.” I sigh. “And that’s it. Everything else is gone down into the ravine or lost among the rocks. Colly and I looked as best we could.”

“The oils, the phallus…?”

“Like I said. We looked. That’s all I could find.”

“Damn.” She mutters. “Well…just gonna have to carve me a new one.”

“Sounds like a project worthy of a Lady.”

She bumps her shoulder into mine. “Projects. A his and a hers. Oooo! Double-sided! And, for the record, I’m no lady.”

“HA!” I laugh. “Have mercy!”

“Me?” She winks. “Never.”

We laugh and continue picking through the pile. When we are done I mutter a quiet prayer to ask that our trove for abandoned supplies find their way to the hands of the worthy or the needy.

Before long we were packed up and ready to go, with Catalus bare-backed and the rest of our loads just a little bit heavier. As we prepare to hit the road we hear voices from the road.

“Two of them!” Says a voice.

“Three! There’s another over here!”

As we walk back out the path we startle a holy man in robes carrying with him a covered and lit oil lamp carves with symbols of forge and flame along the sides. Three more men gather around him as we come out to meet them on the road.

“Greetings, fire keepers.” I say to these followers of Vulcan.

“Greetings young citizen.” The eldest of the group shakes my hand. “Aulus Crispus.”

“Aulus…Crisp…”

“Don’t.”

“Sorry.” I say. “Quintus, good to meet you.”

His eyes flit to the handle of my sword above my right shoulder then back to the bodies of the harpies they’d discovered. “Are you responsible for…clearing the path?”

“The group of us.” I say. “The gods smiled upon us yesterday, we got out with just a lame steed. The party before us was not so blessed.”

His gaze, along with those of his companions, barely even acknowledge the three women of my party. Another of the group ask. “Was that the blade that slay the harpies?”

I begin to squirm under their sharp attention. “Well…two of them. The other…” I stop before revealing it was magic that killed the third. “Yes. It was this blade.”

Eyes widen, admiration shining through. “You…slay three harpies single-handedly? Three at once?”

“Mathter Quin chopped’em up good.” Colly says proudly, arms crossed over her big titties. “He ith a mighty warrior!”

“Indeed he is, little one!” He looks up and down my great frame. “You don’t see many like him in these times.”

“I am just a farmer whose dumb luck was greater than his wits.” I say, tapping Colly to stay quiet. The others were already wise enough to keep mum. “We barely escaped.”

“A farmer?” Aulus says, his eyes returning to the great sword across my back. “With such a…unique weapon as that? We are followers of the smith Vulcan. Perhaps we might see your blade and put a blessing upon it? As thanks for keeping the road safe. Had we been the next to come across those beasts I fear our…luck would not have been as great as yours.”

The longer he spoke the more I wanted to get out of here. Before my eyes I was watching the tall tale of a traveling, monster-slaying folk hero germinate and grow. Not ideal for a group trying to go unnoticed!

I wave him off. “We must be going. Our journey is long and our shadows are growing short.” I bow my head. “Good journey to you, fire keepers.”

“And to you, young hero Quintus.” Aulus steps back, his eyes only now darting across the rest of the group to mentally absorb their details. The mighty stallion, the tamed fox, the beautiful archer, the grinning goblin and…the horned demon with her head bowed pressing in behind me. I do what I can to obscure Rosa from their sight, though even I can’t shield her from four sets of eyes at once. “May the Flame Lord’s fire temper your steel and warm your hearth.”

With Cassie holding Catalus’ reigns and me out in the lead today we hurry down the road and across the bridge to begin our second day of travel.