Slave Girl 3: Chapter 70 (Patreon)

A pair of the town defense force opens the gates leading north out of the village, the man on the left well past his best fighting days and the boy on the right sporting a peach fuzz mustache. I feel their eyes on us and hear their whispered prayers as we pass by. Beyond the gate we are faced immediately by a forested slope, a wide path leading up through it and deeper into the island. A skitter of paws alerts me to Danae dashing ahead. I catch but a brief flash of orange before she disappears among the underbrush. Her absence meant that Rosa had lost the use of the fox’s sight in an emergency but knowing she was out there scouting for us gave me heart.

Without a word needing to be spoken I hand Rosa off to Colly so that I could keep my hands free, beside me Cassie padded quietly along with her bow already in hand. We had gone no further into the wood than was necessary to break line of sight with the town wall when I spin around and plant my hand on Kreer’s chest.

“Quin?” Rosa asks.

The mage studies me a moment through those strange watery eyes then says. “I believe that your boy is afraid for you, Lady Rosa.”

My brows furrow. “You do not get to call me that.” I growl. “You’ve been listening. Spying!” As I talk to him Cassie, her face grim but resolute, slowly circles in behind him. If Kreer noticed her flanking him he shows no sign of it.

“You were not honest with us.” He says, not denying my accusation. “You said you carried no contraband.” He looks to Rosa. “I believe that was a lie.”

“Kreer.” I warn. “Tell me what you know.”

“Quin, please…” Rosa tries to step forward but Collywaddle steps in front of her to stop her, pudgy green fingers tapping at the pommel of one of her daggers.

“He’s afraid I will give up your secrets.” Kreer says, his inhuman voice showing not an ounce of emotion. “Is this really the time for this?”

“If you know our secrets then you know Rosa carries our child.” Cassie says, her voice ice cold. “And you know what we would do to protect them.”

The tension thrums between us as the soft patter of rain rustles among the lazily swaying cypress above. I had no idea how dangerous Kreer’s magic might be in combat but without the advantages of a swaying ship and a loyal crew around him our advantage would never be higher than it was right now.

“This is precisely the time for it, Kreer.” I say. “Out here we can’t hold back for fear of a gossiping mage.”

Tilting his head slightly he says. “There is no need for insults, Wyrmslayer. I am no gossip.”

“Why did you volunteer to guide us?”

The question seems to genuinely perplex him a moment before he answers. “Because my Captain cares for the people of this village.” After a moment he adds. “And, I confess, curiosity played a factor as well.”

“About Rosa?”

He nods. “About your Lady, yes.”

My teeth grit. “Don’t call her that. Our relationship is none of your concern.”

“Are you ashamed of your love?”

“Wha…!?”

“Watch it, Kreer.” Cassie grumbles.

“I did not mean offense.” He states. “Yes, I was curious about your ‘slave’ Rosa. I had questions, questions that you confessed yourself that you would not answer. So I came to see for myself.” Looking to Rosa he says. “You had some role in the creation of that sword. Mysteries cling to you like barnacles. You are no wizard, that much is clear, but I sense that there is some magic about you that I cannot see.”

“What happened to ‘ignorance is sometimes a blessing’?” I say.

“You were not going to tell me the truth so there was no benefit in pressing the issue. I did not wish to spur you to violence aboard ship. In that moment ignorance was a blessing, but in the end the light of knowledge is always preferable to darkness. I am a mage. My purpose is to unveil the unknowable.”

“You were planning to report her to the Empire, weren’t you?”

To his credit he does not shirk though he knew it might cost him his life. “Yes.”

Rosa gasps. “Kreer! You…are my friend! My teacher.”

“You are my friend.” He says. “But just as your lovers here have sworn their oaths to protect you I have sworn oaths that I must keep as well. I do get to pick and choose when an oath is kept lest it is no oath at all.”

“Doesn’t that same oath swear you to eradicating magic using slaves yourself?”

Tilting his head the other way he asks. “So she does wield magic?”

“Fuck!” I mutter at my foolishness. “I never said that!”

“You insinuated it.”

“So you came with us to collect information on her to give to the authorities.” I say as behind Kreer a low creak announces the bend of Cassie’s bow.

“Quin, no!” Rosa says. “Cassie…”

“Rosa!” Cassie snaps back. “We talked about this. You give no orders here. Stay back.”

Distraught Rosa looks Kreer’s direction again, her wide magenta eyes filled with confusion and hurt. Despite her age, despite all she’d done and been through, there was a part of Rosa that would forever remain an innocent. Her trust in people was a great strength but it also opened up vulnerabilities. Vulnerabilities that Cassie and I would guard with our lives.

Kreer stands eerily still. “I came because my Captain cares about the people of this village.” He says again. “My curiosity was my own.”

“But what you learn you will report?”

“I will report what I must report.”

“And what is that?”

“That there exists a demon who aided in the creation of a sword the likes of which I have never seen. That same slave whose masters call her Mistress. A slave who is skilled in entertainment though prays to Sylvanus and is somehow bonded to a forest canine. An oiropata slave with an Alexandrian accent who has the whiff of magic about her and whose followers are willing to kill in order to keep others from learning about it.”

“Oiropata?” I say.

“Slayers of men.” Rosa whispers. “You speak Scythian, Kreer?”

“No. It is the name I once heard a defiant slave use to refer to her own race.” He replies. “But if you insist, Amazon.”

The already grim energy around us grows darker. At my back Toke beckons for my hand.

“Kreer.” I stand taller, steeling myself for what was about to happen. “You’re not giving us a lot of options here.”

He spreads his arms and splays his three fingers wide. “You would strike down an unarmed foe for the crime of speaking truth?”

“You are not a foe, Kreer.” Rosa pleads, her wide blind eyes darting around as if to find him. “You’re our friend! All the time we spent together, all the conversations we had. Tell them they’re wrong!”

“Our time together has been pleasant, Lady Rosa, and quite stimulating.” He says. “It’s been some time since I’ve had such an engaging new companion. But that does not change my obligations.”

“No.” She shakes her head.

He asks me. “What of the newlyweds? What of the village? Without me you’ll never find the kobaloi.”

“The island is not that big.” Cassie warns. “We’ll find them on our own if we have to.”

“Mm, possibly.” He concedes. “Possibly not. If I do not return I can assure you that my Captain will not rest until he knows the truth. What will you tell him?”

“Kreer, enough questions! I am asking you, begging you, give us a reason to spare your life.” I say. “We’re supposed to be fighting scylla-spawn, not each other. This doesn’t need to happen. We do not want this.”

“Then why do it?”

“Because I love her!”

With that shout all then goes quiet. He turns his bulbous head to peer at Cassie behind him, looks to Rosa and Colly to his left, then focuses back on me in front of him again. A gust rustles the boughs as we stand on the cusp of calamity.

At last he speaks. “I have taken an oath to my order and I will fulfill that oath.” My heart drops…and then he continues. “The next time I am in Rome I will report what I have discovered to my conclave in person.”

It takes me a second to recognize the thread of hope he’d just offered me. “Next time you are in Rome?”

He nods. “As was always my intention, unless given a reason that it must be attended to sooner.”

“Not in Athens? Not Brundisium? Not until you get all the way back to Rome?”

His head tilts yet again. “I did not realize you were hard of hearing, Wyrmslayer.”

“Why didn’t you say so! Gods above and below!” I clutch my chest. Rome. Rome! It would be weeks until the Hostia Negra was in the Imperial Capitol again, giving us time to put leagues between us and Athens. I hold a hand to my chest.

“I confess it is a…bending of my vows.” Turning back to Rosa he says. “But I too know love and the sacrifices that must be made.”

A warm smile grows across Rosa’s pretty face. “Why Kreer. You’re a romantic!”

“Lady Rosa. You insult me too?”

She giggles. “It is the greatest compliment I can give.”

“Hold on.” Cassie says. “How do we know we can trust him? He might just be saying this to save his skin. Waiting until he has us back on board.”

He turns to look at her. “You can trust me because I am speaking the truth. Unlike you, all of you, I do not lie.”

Stepping closer to Rosa and laying my hand on her shoulder I say. “The truth is a luxury for those not in the Empire’s good graces, Kreer. We dream of the day when we can live our lives in the open.”

“It is my hope that you may find that life someday.” He says, seemingly as unbothered now as before our tense conversation though I knew his heart must be pounding as fast as mine. “Now, shall we?”

Cassie and I share a look. We weren’t out of trouble yet. Kreer, as the eyes and ears of the Empire in our midst, had just made himself added complication to the mission. But at least we knew where we stood. She gives me a nod and unbends her bow, though keeps the arrow nocked just in case.

We turn and continue up the path.

Chapter 71