Girl 2

Sequel to Girl. Like that story I am bringing it over here from my Patreon. And like that story it will eventually make it's way here in its entirety, assuming I can finish it. If you simply have to read ahead feel free to join us on Patreon.

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Home. It is a word with many meanings and one I had been thinking a lot about recently.

Was home the farm I grew up on? The familiar fields and faces of my youth, the embrace of my mother and the mouth-watering aroma of her stew bubbling on the hearth, the well worn rhythms of the days and the seasons, the cantankerous griping and hard wisdom of my grandpa, the lingering spirit of my soldier father inspiring me to honorable manhood, the place I had been born and raised.

Was home this land that I now owned and inhabited? Not earned but inherited from my ne’er-do-well uncle, mine in the eyes of the law but in a land unfamiliar to me, an estate of leisure and opulence worn down by the millstone of time, a plot on a hillside full of lush forest and flood prone riverbank, a place of no practical utility for a common farmer like me, a burden of endless labor and responsibilities, yet a place I could call my own.

Was home even a location? Was home that drive that underpinned all of those myriad emotions I felt while on the road? The excitement and sadness of leaving home, the trepidation as I walked into the mighty Capitol that first time, the dizzying anxiety as I wandered the countless bustling streets, the panic of being alone as I was to choose between my pouch of silver and a stranger’s life, the fortitude of mind and body that took me across half the Italian peninsula on foot, the vulnerability of being with a woman for the first time, the fear of the unknown, the courage found in love, all the while that constant yearning that pushed me on to the next thing down the road.

Was home what waited for me beyond the veil? Since my near encounter with the Harpy I had a deep ineffable sense of my ultimate fate, nebulous like a dream but as certain as the ground beneath my feet, my goddess Ceres awaited me in a golden land of plenty, my soul that had sprouted there among the grain would find its way back again where it might sway in her warm honeyed breeze forever.

Or was home the warm, soft body of the demon-blooded Amazon that now slumbered in our bed? Rosa. My . My lover. My Lady. A former meretrix, a courtesan of learning and class from the exotic streets of Alexandria, she had been on the run after avenging the of her sister. Cruel and kindly Fortuna had lead her to capture and the market of Rome where she caught the eye of a foolish young farm boy. A miraculous woman blessed with the spark of magic but whose true power surpassed the merely arcane. She had made a man out of me even as she nurtured the boy that dwelled within me, she gave me strength even as we explored my fragility, she inspired stern leadership even as I submitted to her gentle dominance, she gave me freedom even as she bound me, she had awakened my sexuality and quieted the voices of shame and doubt, she had taken that lost child that had purchased her for one-hundred and sixty dinarii and from the clay molded the man I was today.

As I deposit another armful of broken pottery onto the growing mountain of sherds beside the front fountain I smile. I knew which answer I liked the best.

“By the gods, how much wine can one man and his friends drink?” Dusting my hands I put them on my hips and look up at the smirking statue of Mercury. “And what you laughing at?” I reach up and peel a bit of the moss away from his chin. “Mind your own business you old trickster.”

“If only he could.” Comes a voice from behind me. I spin to see a robed man with a beard and curly gray hair walking down the nearly overgrown trail that lead here from the road. A small man, slender of build and moving with the stiffness of old age, he carried with him a large satchel. Trailing behind him on a tether trundles a white lamb. He comes to stand in front of the statue and plants his walking staff. “But the gods meddle in the lives of men. It is their nature. You might as well ask cattle not to graze.”

“True enough.” I step forward and offer my hand. “Greetings neighbor. The name is Quin.”

“I am not your neighbor. I am out from Grumentum.” He happily takes my forearm and we shake. “My name is Silas. I am the local soothsayer.”

“Oh!” I shake his arm more vigorously. “This is good fortune. My grandpa told me that I ought to seek a haruspex out soon after arriving.”

“A wise man.” He gives a nod as we part. His eyes scan the trees around us. “My fee is ten dinarii and another twenty for the lamb.”

“That much?”

“Most would charge extra for the travel out here.”

“Fine.” I say. “Fair enough.”

“Shall we begin?”

“So soon?” I say, motioning back to toward the villa. “You are my first visitor. Come in. Let me offer you something.”

“I appreciate the hospitality, but no.”

“At least allow me to introduce you to my Ro…”

He shakes his head as a grim look passes over him. “I am afraid not. I would like to move on as quickly as possible. It is now or not at all.”

I give him a look, wondering what the rush could be. Who could say when it came to the ways of gods and priests.

“Alright.” I say. “May I keep the meat when you’re done?”

“Of course, except the liver.” He says. “It is a sacrifice of life, not flesh.”

Right there on the spot he stakes the lamb to the ground and begins setting up.

“I will fetch your payment.” I say. “Just be a moment.” I head inside and get the thirty silver. Upstairs all was still quiet and dark. I wanted Rosa to meet Silas and hear his soothsaying but I also wanted to let her sleep. After our epic journey she needed all the rest she could get, not to mention our epic lovemaking last night. I rub my aching bum and let out a swooning sigh. What a night! With a shake of my head I bring myself back to the moment and hurry back outside.

Silas was knelt before the lamb. On an inscribed wooden tablet in front of him he had laid out a collection of metal hooks and knives. Beside that was a flat stone with different etchings from the tablet. None of it made any sense to me. I kneel beside him and set the stack of coins beside him. Without looking he silently acknowledges the payment and begins to sharpen one of the blades.

“You must be busy.” I say. “Important business back in the city?”

He clears his lungs with a phlegmy cough. “My urgency is for the clarity of my powers not the state of my schedule.”

“Oh.”

“This place weighs on me.” He stops to look at me for a long minute. “Your land is cursed Quin.” Gazing up toward the canopy he watches as a dozen or so finches flit across the clearing above us. “Can’t you feel it?”

“Cursed?” I say. “No, I don’t feel it. It’s not cursed. We just got here yesterday evening. We haven’t even unpacked yet.”

He gives me a patient smile. “It was nothing you did nor could have avoided. But it is something you will have to live with.”

“It’s not cursed. It’s just a little run down.”

“I’ve heard this before. Right here in this very spot, under old Mercury’s watchful gaze. Your uncle being the last to say it to me.”

“You knew my uncle?”

“I only truly met him the once.” He says. “At the high mark of his wild living. What a life he lived. He won this place in a game of dice. The previous owner, Marcellus, having nothing left to gamble took one last chance, he offered this on a pot of one hundred and sixty silver. He lost of course. Took his own life the next day.”

“A hundred and sixty?” I whisper.

“A paltry sum to risk an estate such as this, even in its current state, but he needed to feel the coin in his hands again you see. Marcellus liked nothing better than coin.” He says. “A shrewd deal maker he had attained the estate originally for a fraction of its value from the once influential Carius family to whom it had been awarded by the Emporer Vespasian for their loyalty during the civil war. A family that fell to ruin when every male member of serving age perished at Adamclisi.” He pulls the lamb toward him and readies his knife at its abdomen. “Every man that has owned this plot has found his heart’s true desire only to have it taken away again. Your gambler uncle delighted in the pleasures of Bacchus, whose wine and merriment slowly stole his friends, his wits, and his vigor. Marcellus before him sought wealth and found his fortune, then lost it all after extending his holdings beyond his means just as the worst blight in a generation ravaged our local crops. And the Carius family found influence with this estate as their seat of power only to have their entire network collapse in a single bloody day at war. Their loyalty and sacrifice for the Emperor was unable to spare their widows and children from the hidden knives of politics. Who had it before them? I do not know, though I suspect they befell a similar fate.”

“Ridiculous.”

“Yes, the gods can certainly be that.” The lamb cries out as it is gutted with a swift pull of Silas’ hand. It tried to buck, to flee, but quickly collapses as its blood and entrails spill out onto the ground. I watch the light fading from its terrified eyes even as the soothsayer is already mucking about among its organs. “They can be petty and are easily bored. The gods enjoy watching a good tragedy. The world is their theater after all.” Cutting the dark liver from the rest of the offal he sets it upon the tablet and begins to study it. “Though they occasionally rejoice in our triumphs as well. Such are the whims of fate.”

“You’re wrong.” I am shaking my head in denial. “You said a man gets his desire. I wanted farmland. A place to grow wheat and raise livestock. Look around. This place will never be that.”

He tilts his head and flips the organ over to inspect the other side. “A noble desire to be sure. But one of the mind perhaps?”

“You are talking nonsense.” I say, increasingly angry. “If I am supposed to find my…” My voice fades as my memory casts back to Rome. I thought I had everything I wanted. Land, money, and a chance to show my family that I could make something of myself. How long after receiving my inheritance was it until I saw Rosa? An hour? If that. The ink was barely dry on the papers that made my ownership of this land official before I was handing over all of the coin I’d received to purchase the doomed girl. The girl that I had since fallen madly in love with. I turn to look at my villa and whisper. “My heart’s true desire?”

“Whatever it is, enjoy it while you can.” He says. “Like youth it will slip from your grasp before you know it. Take solace in knowing that most never find it at all.” Tracing the dull edge of his blade along the side of the liver he leans down squinting. “Now this is interesting.”

Slowly I get to my feet, my fists clenched at my side. “Get off of my land.”

He looks up at me. “Excuse me?”

“Get off my land you crazy old man.” I growl. “I know what you are.”

“I told you what I am.”

“I met a man like you near Beneventum. A liar. A huckster. An evil man and an out of touch old fool. Exactly like you.”

He sits back. “Quin…”

“Let me guess. You have some prayer or incantation that can lift the curse from this land for the low, low price of everything I have.” My fists tighten and shake. “I can promise you that those thirty pieces of silver will be the last coin you ever get from me, charlatan.”

“I cannot lift the curse.” He says calmly.

“Then somebody sent you. They want to purchase this plot for cheap. They want to scare the young newcomer into selling and send him back from where he came.” I say. “You can tell them that we traveled too far and went through too much to sell this place for any price. This is our home! And it is not cursed! We will live here and we will thrive. You’ll see.”

“I genuinely hope you do.” He says. “Please, calm yourself Quin. The curse…”

“Shut up!” Taking him by his robes I hoist him to his feet. “There is no curse.”

He steps back and smooths his clothes. “May I least say your sooth first?”

“NO!” I bark and loom over him. “Your words are poison. Just like Ignatius. I will not listen. You are leaving. Now. One way or the other.”

He looks down at the entrails then back up to me. “Very well.”

“If you ever see me or my in town you best walk the other way old man.”

“Very well.” He says again as he starts to gather his tools.

His disarming calmness left me feeling foolish though it did nothing to quell my rage. Nobody was taking my heart’s true desire away from me. Not him, not a harpy, not the Emperor, not even the gods themselves. Rosa and I had come too far together. We earned our peace, we earned our happy life, and I would die before I ever let her go. Not knowing what else to say I turn and storm back into the house. There I gather another armful of cracked and broken pottery and take it back to the pile. I come back out just in time to see him about to leave. The old man stands looking up at the high boughs of the trees around him, watching and listening to the movements of the birds. He nods to himself then makes his way back down the trail. I drop the pottery loudly onto the others to let him know that I was watching and that he might want to pick up his pace.

“Old fool.” I spit.

I clean up the entrails, noting that he had taken the liver with him, then hang the lamb so that I might properly carve it later. Looking up at the sun I see it now closer to its zenith than the horizon. It was approaching midday and I wonder how long I should let Rosa slumber. I was shaken by the news of this so called curse and I knew she could calm me. She always knew just what to say. I decide to wake her.

I step softly up the stairs and make my way around the hall. As I peek into the master bedroom I see the balcony door wide open. Upon one of the stone sofas sat my Lady, naked and beautiful. Her long, flowing violet fading to pink hair spills down her bare back with the two growing nubs of her horns just visible above the top of her head. From behind her soft hourglass body made the incredible view beyond pale in comparison.

I walk out to stand behind her and take in the view that I had enjoyed just that morning before she’d called me back in for some snuggling. Just being in her presence helped to sooth my spirit. I place my hands onto her warm shoulders to feel her flesh shivering. Though the chill of morning was swiftly fading my Lady’s demon heritage made her more susceptible to the cold than most. Her erect nipples and adorably shriveled penis, a trait from her other Amazon half, also tell me she is feeling the cool.

“Rosa.” I say. “Let me get you a blanket.”

I go to pull away but she grabs my hand to stop me.

“Alright.” I say. Coming around I sit down beside her and put my arm around her slender shoulders. She lets out a shuddering breath and leans into my much larger frame. As I take in the forest and river and fields beyond I say softly. “It’s something, isn’t it?”

She does not answer me, her gaze far off to the distant horizon.

“My Lady?”

“Master.” She says in a hushed voice. “Tell me what you see.”

Squeezing her close I say proudly. “I see our future. I see a new adventure to share. I see…home.” I kiss her head. “And what do you see my love?”

She takes a deep trembling breath and whispers. “Nothing.” Slowly she turns to look up at me to reveal a deep greenish haze clouding the blacks of her tear filled magenta eyes. “I don’t see anything at all!”