I do not own any of the characters or basic story material, all rights belong to Stephanie Meyer.
Thanks to all who were generous enough to give me a few links, they have aided my research very much and I hope it will help to make the story a bit more authentic. I hope the story remains interesting to you all, and feel free to point out any ways I could make it better. Here's chapter 7, read, relax, and kick up your feet. Oh, and due to a few comments I will no longer comment on the length of my chapters J, whoops, one more little comment, Silvia does indeed mean Forest, I looked it up beforehand.
Chapter 7: A Feast for the Swine
The sun beat upon my bare arms relentlessly, it seemed to pick at bruised limbs and leave them stinging. Normally I would be joining Theo in the shade on the docks at this time of day, but such activities had been halted at the Villa. Mistress Alice and Esme were to throw a party not three days from now, and the household was in a state of havoc. Thia and I were on our feet nonstop, and it was starting to manifest itself in dark eyes, twitchy limbs, and a snappish demeanor. I had never seen Thia short-tempered, and truth be told it was hilarious.
"What are you gawking at, you wrinkled vagrant! Scoot! I've got a schedule to keep. Bella, would you kick this mutt in his snoot? He's been following me ever since we picked up the bread." I chuckled at Thia's aggravated tone, but I kept it quiet, she had wicked snap to her wrist when she needed it…
I shooed the poor dog away, but not before giving him a small hunk of dried beef. The mutt took his due and scrambled away, flicking fleas onto a nearby Master. A brief cover of clouds allowed the two of us to cool down as we whipped about the marketplace. Normally I would have savored a visit to the hustling village center, but today Bala had us on a tight string, the ingridients she called for were hard enough to find, but to ask us to pick up ten loaves of bread and two spring-lambs? Nigh impossible!
"Your fortune for a pretty copper? Come, come, see what the gods have in store, see what the fates have spun for you. Just give a shiny coin to my aching bones, come, come…" A withered street woman sat in a dusty corner, her wooden cup painfully empty of any coins. I'd heard of street-tellers, it was a rather plain scam in the public. I had never given them the time of day. So of course Thia insisted that we stop and find out our life stories. There was no talking her out of it.
The old woman accepted Thia's copper coin and ushered her down to a crude table with spiky symbols and goat's bones on the surface. The hag's gnarled hands took Thia's into her own and started to chant. I guarded the bread against dogs and hermits, all the while trying to ignore the nits that clung to the street-woman's black garment. Thia waited impatiently for her future to be read to her. The hag moaned and smacked the street with one fist, tossing the goat's bones in her other. The bones landed on the table with a disconcerting 'thuck". Some of the bones had landed on a few of the strange symbols.
"Hmm, most interesting my dearie. You've got quite the life ahead of you." Thia listened with rapt attention, her eyes gleaming. I could only scowl, poor Thia, she was wasting her money. "You will meet a man at a party, he will be bold and dashing, young and a little arrogant. His eyes are blue, and his hair is as golden as ripe wheat. You will love him, and he will at first not love you, only want you. But a time shall come to pass when he will lift you from your bonds and ask you to be his bride. But beware, a time of danger will surround you, your death will wait with open arms. Very soon in fact, like many other men and women in this blighted city…" The hag's voice was pleasant, and I wanted to smack her for it, Thia was frightened and at the same time exhilarated by her "future". What folly this old woman had sprouted!
"Come Thia, we've shopping to finish." I faced the hag, " You should be ashamed for scaring such a young girl! The gods will not smile with you when your judgment comes around." My voice was harsh as I said this, and I meant to take my words back, if only I had been given the chance…
The hag smiled, her teeth rotting and fetid. "So I'm a fool-woman eh? You don't believe in my powers? Then sit with me, let me tell your future and we'll see who's to be shamed! Come! I haven't got all day, girl." I sat next to her more out of anger then actual curiosity, but I sat all the same, and paid a copper coin. Money well wasted.
The hag did not throw her goat's bones for me, she only took my hand in her calloused one, and stared straight into me. No moaning, no theatrics. She was serious in nature. "For you, my darling dear, I can see only one of two futures occurring. The first, an early grave, with your blood clouding your eyes. The second, a lover who would go to the ends of Hell and Fury to save you. Other then what I have just told you, your future is but a mist." I disengaged myself from her view and snatched Thia up. I felt shaken as we walked toward the butcher's.
The butcher's store was as neat and tidy as could be expected. An earthy aroma of beast and blood greeted my nose as I stepped over the threshold. At the moment, the tang of blood was stronger, a rich salt and rust smell that sent my heart hammering. However, perhaps it was the sight of the knives on the wall that had me nervous. Luckily, Thia was not so shy around sharp implements. As was her nature, she marched right towards the Butcher, and recited Mistress Alice's order by memory. Two spring-lambs, alive.
The Butcher, a greasy man with dull gray eyes, and thick veins, could only shake his head at the order. Lambs were usually slaughtered at his own shop, not at a Villa's kitchen. I could see he had trouble comprehending it. He disappeared around to the back of his shop and emerged with two, tiny little lamblings, no more then a day or so old. They bleated in protest as the Butcher tried to place them on their feet, they were too weak to stand. "Here, they're small enough, I'll carry them. Your payment is on the counter, thank you, and good-day." I swooped down and briskly tossed the lambs over my shoulder, trying to keep from getting attached. These poor darlings were meant for the kitchen's spit.
Thia gathered the bread and fig basket and flew into the street, I could see tears in her eyes. "What a horrible thing the Mistress is doing! The lambs are but a day old! And not three days from now some stinking swine of a master will be picking their bones from his teeth! I can hardly stand for it!"
I tried not to laugh at Thia's melodrama, but part of me was angry as well, couldn't the Mistress simply ask us to pick up meat, dead and bled? No, she sends us to pick up babies, tiny and helpless. The lambs' weight grew heavy on my shoulders. It would be a long walk back to the Villa….
"Tsk, I must admit, the Masters have never asked for live animals before, it makes me wonder…That brute Galious Hedargo is due to be in attendance, and he's a man who knows his blood-sports. I've heard whispers that he gained his freedom in the coliseum, killed twenty men! But you girls never mind my rumors, just start in on the figs and I'll ask Fiero to tell the Masters the lambs are here." Bala flicked her wooden spoon towards the fig basket, we were to start baking them in small pies for dessert. Thia seemed at once happy and torn to see the lambs carted away, she had given them names, against my warning.
"Poor little Babu and Rosy, I hope the Masters are quick to end them, sparing any pain." She sighed as she threw figs into a copper pot, "We work for such an odd bunch, don't we Bella?"
I smiled, and tossed a few more figs into the pot as well, "We certainly do, at least they don't use a whip on us, though sometimes I've seen Mistress Rosalie stare daggers at my heart." I shuddered, I had only seen my Mistress but twice, and each time she looked as though she wished I would drop dead as a pigeon. The feeling was somewhat mutual.
Thia laughed and managed to make the fig cooking into a contest; she won.
………………………………..............................
At last we could rest our bones! The main meal courses were ready to eat, and the decorations were hung, all was ready. However, I never saw the lambs being prepared, it struck me as odd, the lambs were costly, and yet they were nowhere to be seen. I tossed the trivial thought from my mind and stepped outside the servant's quarters for a fresh breath. Thia was dead to the world on her pallet, sweet dreams in her eyes. I blew out the candle as I passed outside, making sure no embers remained.
The night sky was blue and black, stars whirled above me, winking in and out. A cool sea breeze tussled my hair and tickled my spirit. I laughed out of shear respite and meandered down to the beach. Savoring the way my feet sank into the sand, warm from the sun's kiss, I walked along the water's edge. The ocean sung a low lullaby, a soft pounding of waves upon the sand. My gown whipped about me as the wind picked up, it flapped as a bird that wanted free. I brought a deep cleansing breath of night air into my lungs and felt all the world like a new woman. I might have decided to leave that night, but a stab of pain in my back reminded me to take things slowly, I was still healing, and if I was perfectly honest with myself, I liked it here too much to leave right now. But someday, I would go, maybe I would ask Thia if she would want to come, and we could be free. A flash of light across the ocean brought a coming storm to my attention, a big one by the looks of it. Perhaps the winds would blow it South….
"A tad late to be wondering the beach, isn't it?" Master Edward's voice nearly stopped my heart, how had he snuck up on me?
I felt an inexplicable blush color my cheeks, and at the same moment I felt just a little slighted, he may own part of the Villa, but not the ocean and the waves. "My apologies, Master, I only wished to catch a fresh breath. I'll leave now if that is your wish."
His amber eyes looked playful in the moonlight. "Tell me, Bella, if I ordered you to throw yourself to the sharks, would you?"
His words caught me off guard, he was normally so stoic, but now…I couldn't control my tongue in time, "No sir, in my experience the creatures of the water prefer flesh of better quality. There's a reason a Master never turns his back on a slave." I clapped my hand over my mouth, why had I said that?!
Master Edward nearly shook with quiet laughter, making the blush of embarrassment turn into one of anger. I was sick of acting as a source of amusement. But my anger was stemmed by his gentle face and tussled bronze hair, I thought once more of his many female suitors… "I have never heard such a remark before, especially from a woman." He turned towards me, his voice seemed unintentionally seductive, it made my vision blur. " If I may, Bella, could I ask you to be honest with me at all times, none of this Master and slave banter? Your thoughts are most interesting…"
My brow furrowed, my thoughts? Interesting? But I was a slave, a servant in the face of her Master. "You may not want to hear what I have to say, most Masters would reject the trivial thoughts of their property." My voice was stinging, Master Edward had found a soft spot with my armor.
He seemed stung by my words, his amber-lighted eyes cast downwards. "You hate the fact you are enslaved to my family." It was a statement, not a question, and it hit my heart hard.
"How would you feel if your life was as a clay pot? Used and neglected, changing hands with every year, worn to the base, and just as easily broken. We are people, with dreams, families and desires. You are content to tear us from each other, keep us uneducated and blind! Yes, I crave freedom, I was not always a slave, I want so much more from life then a cage…" I spewed out my anger and pain to this strange and beautiful Master, who could very well have me killed for my words. I didn't care, it was out now, he knew me.
Master Edward ran his pale hand through his hair, a soft sigh coming from deep within him. His toga shivered in the breeze, exposing more of his pale, and flawless flesh. If I wasn't so angry, I might have been struck an idiot. His voice was pained when he spoke at last. "I hear your plight, I do, but you must understand that what my family does is only meant to heal and protect. There are so many others out there that hurt you….and not just other Masters." He took another soft breath, as though calming himself, "Freedom, I always took it for granted, but for you, Bella, I can see it is a need more precious then air."
"Then free me, give me a life to live, open my cage!" My voice wasn't pleading it was strong, just as Philo would have wanted it to be.
He stepped closer, eyes burning with some unseen desire, and grasped my hand, I gasped at the shock of his skin, it was so cold! But perhaps the larger bit of the shock came from him, my Master, touching me in a fairly intimate way. He withdrew his hand but continued to keep his gaze locked on me. "I am so sorry, Bella, but your freedom is not something I can offer right now, there are unseen barriers, that are, for now, not able to be passed. If anyone deserves freedom, it is you, the others are content, but I see the dreams you have laid out. Please forgive me, but you must stay with us, for your own sake."
Two tears ran down my face unbidden, and I rushed to dry them before Master Edward could notice. They left a trail of salt with their passing, and suddenly I was exhausted. Part of me was bone-tired from the day's work, but the other part of worn from this conversation, I had never believed Master Edward to be so, well, kind. I stepped away, feeling wispy and faint, "Thank you, Master, I did not consider the political repercussions." I paused, and would later regret saying this so openly to him, "You are the kindest Master I have known, you'll find no complaints from me." And with that, I turned to walk back towards the Servant's quarters, looking back just once to see Master Edward enter the main house, lithe and graceful as a serpent. I might have imagined it, but he seemed to glance back towards me, his amber eyes concerned. I dismissed it and continued on my way.
As I passed the docks I noticed two lumps floating near the furthest fish pen. I hopped on the walk and snatched a wooden pole, hoping to haul whatever it was out of the water before it could harm the fish. The moonlight threw everything in a black and white relief, so it was not until I had fished out both objects and deposited them on the dock that I saw what they were. The lambs, shriveled and drained of fluid, their tiny necks mangled and bloodied, eyes open wide with fear. I screamed long and loud as the moon cast her cold eyes at me.
