Roman Enslavement

All original and copyrighted

Roman Enslavement
Part Six
by Scribe

Discordia seemed to have found other things to outrage her for the next few weeks. Mozelle settled into the household with minimal difficulty. Dramilla\'s husband, Lucius, had at first been a bit
irritated by the expense of the new slave. After all, she couldn\'t even speak a civilized language. Still, he couldn\'t fault her work. She was quite devoted to the children, even after such a t tit time,
and she got on well with the other slaves. Gauis and Tessa had become very fond of her. He supposed Patenic had, also. It was so hard to tell with infants, especially as he didn\'t see the children much. Such was the custom.

Dramilla did more first hand observing, though it seemed to Mozelle that they both spent precious little time with the children. She couldn\'t understand that. She\'d never been able to understand the
concept of letting someone else raise your children unless you flat couldn\'t do it yourself.

She was... well, not really happy. Though she came to care deeply for the children, old Tessa, cheerful Malanda, even *stick up his butt* Rentic. Her feelings about her owners were more guarded because they were, well, her owners.

It worried her sometimes that she wasn\'t more upset about her situation--slavery that was. She kept having the vague notion that she ought to be screaming in outrage, or plotting escapes, or
shouting defiance, instead of helping wash out the baby\'s poopy diapers. *The fact of the matter is...* She dipped a particularly pungent cloth into the wash basin and reached for the globby stuff
she supposed was a form of soap. I\'m really not good at that sort of stuff. Plotting, planning, strategy, intrigue, espionage, whatever. And how the hell do I blend in when the extent of my Latin
is things like \'Change his diaper\'?

Now, had she been stuck with someone like that first guy... What was his name? Tictac, or something. Sounded like a breath spray, or jock itch cure. Yes, he inspired rebellion, because you knew that life as his slave was marginally better than oh, say, death by slow torture.

\"It ain\'t like a girl has much choice,\" she said to Patenic, who was kicking happily on a blanket spread on the grass nearby. \"It\'s pretty much that ol\' \'make the best of a bad situation, between a
rock and a hard place, devil you know versus the devil you don\'t know\' stuff.\" She spread the last of the cloths and dumped the water. \"Not that you\'d understand that, huh, baby?\" He gurgled, and
she tickled his belly.

Discordia, sitting on the back garden wall, watched this with a scowl on her face. Disgustingly peaceful. Well, she had a little surprise arriving any minute now that should take care of that nicely.

As if on cue a young man turned into the rough lane that ran behind the grounds. He was dressed in a simple, dusty tunic, his legs streaked with dust and mud. He looked up and down the lane,
then went to the wall where the goddess perched, invisible to mortal eyes.

The dark haired man jumped, catching hold of the top of the wall, and pulled himself up, peering over the top. He scanned the garden and his eyes fixed on the woman playing with the baby. She was turned away from him.

That must be Patenic, Lupus thought. But who\'s that with? T? Too young for Tessa, and Malanda couldn\'t have lost that much weight. He knew that his mother would never have let Shimorn near Patenic after she nearly lost Gaius down the well that time.

The eldest son of the house heaved himself up over the wall, narrowly missing giving Discordia a kick. This earned him bared teeth that he did not see, but she was too eager to see what mischief his sudden arrival would cause to strike out now.

Lupus dropped lightly to the ground, landing in a crouch. Lightly, yes, but the woman must have had good ears. She looked around. He had a brief impression of startled blue eyes. Then she moved with unexpected swiftness.

Patenic was swooped into her arms so suddenly that he shrieked in fear. At the same moment, the woman was moving toward the house, screaming, \"Rentic! Help!\"

Gaping at the turn of events, Lupus said, \\\\\"No, wait, it\'s all right.\"\\\\

Tessa had appeared in the door, alarmed. The woman shoved the thrashing, bawling baby into her arms, saying, \"Run!\" She darted into the room, disappearing for a moment.

Tessa stared after her, confused, then looked outside. She frowned worriedly at the young man, then said tentatively, \\\\\"Master Lupus?\"\\\\

A second later, the woman was back. She pushed at the old woman. \"Run! Run!Rentic!\" She turned back to face Lupus, lifting her hand. She was holding Tessa\'s shears, gripping them like a dagger. The long blades glinted. She was trembling, but she snarled, \"You get out of here! Leave us alone.\"

Tessa, horrified, lost whatever hold she\'d had on Brittanic and started babbling in Latin as the baby\'s howls rose.

Lupus approached cautiously. He said carefully, \"No danger.\"

Her brow wrinkled at his use of Brittanic, but the blades didn\'t lower. \"Oh yeah, like I really believe you. Go away!\"

There was the clatter of approaching footsteps, as the rest of the household arrived. Rentic and Malanda came into the children\'s room behind Mozelle. Lucius and Dramilla came around the barrier that separated their private gardern from the back area. Discordia clapped her hands happily, eyeing the milling people.

Rentic grabbed Mozelle\'s wrist. \"Mozelle! What you do?\"

\"He just came over bac back wall. Do something!\" She watched in amazement as Lady Dramilla walked over to the disheveled, dirty young man and gingerly kissed him on the cheek. \"What\'s going on?\" She allowed Rentic to pry the scissors out of her hand.

\"Master Lupus. Home from school.\"

She stared. That disreputable looking thing? \"But you said school.\" Gauis had run squealing to his big brother, and was swung up into the air, giggling. \"With Gauis, I thought maybe twelve or
thirteen...\" This wasn\'t a boy, it was a man. He had to be at least twenty.

Lucius shook hands with his son, clapping him on the back. \\\\\"We weren\'t expecting you for days.\"\\\\

\\\\\"I know. I took my tests early. I thought I\'d surprise you by sneaking in. I suppose I succeeded.\"\\\\

\\\\\"I suppose so. I think you scared a year off our new slave. Come along.\"\\\\

They went over to where the household slaves were gathered near the children\'s room. Rentic had a tight grip on the woman who\'d brandished the scissors. She still looked alarmed, but for a much different reason now. Lupus had heard Rentic hiss to her that it could mean death for a slave to threaten her owner. Discordia hopped off the wall, interested, and came over to listen more closely.