Chapter Seven
Gabrielle and Marsa
Gabrielle hurried back to the quarters of the female slaves. She had no problem making her way through the maze of corridors. Her years of traveling with Xena had trained her, given her an instinctive ability to backtrack any route after traveling it only once. She immediately sought out Phaedra.
"I see you are back. And how was your time with Domina?"
"It it was fine, for her. She is a very sexually demanding woman."
Phaedra nodded knowingly. What Gabrielle experienced had happened to almost all of them at one time or another.
"Yes, she does like her women, and her men, and sometimes with them together."
"But there is something I am confused about when I first got there, she smelled my hair and told me to tell you that I should bathe in lavender scented soap, yet when I left she said it was to be jasmine. I don't know which one to use."
Phaedra smiled. "It doesn't matter. If she told you to bathe in rose petals and hurry back to her, she would insist she said sandalwood. You cannot win with her. You just have to take the beating that comes with 'disobeying' her and live with it."
Gabrielle was trying to understand such capriciousness when she remembered the other thing that was bothering her: "Right after I left Domina, I was accosted by Marsa. She threatened me saying she was Domina's favorite and left me with the impression she might say something untrue about me to Domina."
"Marsa has been with Domina since she was brought here when she was four or five years old. Domina never had children and took to Marsa right away. She is almost like a daughter in some ways. Domina never lets her forget she is a slave, yet Marsa always has her ear. You would do well to avoid her."
"I hope I can."
"But for now, I have been told guests are coming in three days for a special competition in our arena, very special guests, and we are to scrub everything walls, floors, columns, and the baths. Fresh fruits and vegetables are being delivered as well as butchered deer, lamb, pigs and fowl, all for the feast before and after the games. So there is much to be done. Find Antea, she will tell you what help she needs."
So Gabrielle and Antea began scrubbing the walls and floors near the front entrance, which always seemed to have a coating of dust and grime. They scrubbed with pumice dust, water and rags. As daylight began to ebb, torches were lit so they could continue to clean torches that left soot on the ceiling, which would have to be scrubbed off the next day.
It was late, near mid-night when Phaedra sent word all labors were to cease so as to not disturb Dominus and Domina's sleep. They all returned to the slave quarters. While she was washing out the rags to dry to be used the next day, Gabrielle felt someone watching her, and turning around quickly she was surprised to see a child - a young girl about six years old. She had darker skin than anyone there that Gabrielle had seen, with dark curly hair and full lips.
Gabrielle squatted down, smiled and said, "Hi, there. Who are you?"
When the girl didn't answer, Gabrielle then said," My name is Gabrielle. I'm new here."
Again there was no response. There was a noise across the room and Gabrielle looked to see what it was but when she looked back, the girl was gone.
Gabrielle sought out Antea and asked her who she was. At first Antea seemed reluctant to say anything, then she took Gabrielle off to the corner of the room and quietly said, "Her name is Tia."
"Where is her mother? I haven't seen any dark-skinned women here. Or was her father the dark one?"
"No, it was her mother. Her name was Aseneth. She was from a land even farther south than where the pharaohs rule."
Gabrielle nodded, encouraging her to continue.
"Now, you understand, what I tell you is only rumor and gossip, things that are whispered in the night."
Gabrielle nodded again.
"It was said that Aseneth and a guard called Sulla fell in love and in time she became pregnant. Well, as everyone knows, guards and slaves are forbidden to consort with each other, other than the whores Dominus provides. So in order to hide this fact, Aseneth began to entice Dominus exposing her buttocks and breasts at opportune times. And since Dominus' sexual appetite is well known, he soon took her, many times. And when her pregnancy became evident, almost everyone, including Dominus, believed the child was his."
"You said almost everyone."
"Yes, everyone but Domina."
"Why didn't she believe it was his?"
"Because she and Dominus have been married many years and she has never been with child. And Dominus has had his way with many slave girls, so many, yet none had gotten pregnant. Only Aseneth. And now Tia is motherless because of Aseneth's 'accident.' One night not a quarter year after Tia's birth, she fell in the bath, hit her head, more than once somehow, and drowned. She was not found until the next day."
"And you think it was Domina who did this?"
"As I said, only rumor. But now we must sleep. Tomorrow will be a busier day than today. We all have much to do."
"I had no idea such deception and scheming went on here."
Antea put one hand on Gabrielle's cheek and smiled a sad smile. "My dear, you have no idea of the things that go on within these walls."
And as Antea had promised, things began to get frantic. Lucretia seemed to be everywhere, chastising, berating, and using a leather belt to lash any and every slave for perceived slowness or ineptness or lack of motivation. Everything had to be just right for the twenty or so guests Batiatus had invited. They had to ready the bed chambers and anterooms, the baths had to be spotlessly clean, as well as the walls, and the floors, and the columns, and the soot-covered ceilings. The tapestry-sized rugs had to be beaten dust-free and stains scrubbed out. The copper goblets, trays, and pitchers had to be polished to a golden mirror finish. And more, so much more.
More than once Gabrielle rushed back to the well to replenish the water buckets with clean water. So many times she made a wrong turn in her haste and found herself in an unfamiliar part of the villa. After several wrong turns trying to find her way back, she heard an odd noise, almost as if someone was in pain, then maybe two who were in pain. She followed the sounds that led her to a room, and as she entered the room, she was shocked to see Marsa, and someone, a someone she took to be a guard. They were both naked, and he was between her legs, legs that Marsa wrapped around his ass, her ankles locked, holding him firmly against her, and they both were panting and grunting and moaning as he drove himself into and out of her repeatedly.
Certain she hadn't been seen by either, Gabrielle quickly backed out of the room, turned and ran down the corridor, and rounding a corner, she all but ran into Lucretia, who was at first surprised, then shocked, then outraged that Gabrielle was in a part of the house she had no business being in; a part of the house set aside for the guests, and had no guards.
And grabbing her by her hair she demanded to know why Gabrielle was there. But before she could answer, Lucretia heard the same sounds that led Gabrielle there, and dragging Gabrielle by her hair, Lucretia stormed into the room. And screamed at the top of her voice at the sight. Immediately the man rolled off the bed, trying to cover his nakedness, as did Marsa.
In her rage, Lucretia looked from one to the other, not knowing who she was angriest at. Then deciding it was the guard, she began to flail him with the leather belt over and over until the welts on his shoulders and upper back became bloody streaks, all the time cursing him for 'ruining' Marsa's chastity. And though he covered himself as best he could, he knew better than to raise a hand to stop her.
Eventually several guards, hearing Lucretia's screams, rushed into the room. "Take him to Manius!" she demanded. "Have him thrown into the filthiest, most rat-infested hole."
Two of the guards pulled the naked man to his feet and un-gently dragged him away. The third gathered his clothes and weapons and followed.
"And YOU!" Lucretia said, turning to an anxious and terrified Marsa still cowering on the bed. "What have I been doing all these years keeping Dominus from fucking you at his will, trying to keep you pure and chaste? WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING?"
Running out of words, Lucretia looked around for something, anything, and seeing a plaster bust of Jupiter on a small dais she grabbed it, picked it up over her head and with both hands, threw it at Marsa with all her strength. She missed a direct hit, but it hit the wall next to Marsa's head and the brittle plaster shattered, cutting a deep gash in her forehead, allowing blood to run down her face to drip off her chin.
But Lucretia wasn't finished. She grabbed Marsa's hair with two hands and dragged her off the bed then began kicking her in the stomach and chest. Then grabbing one foot, she spread Marsa's legs and stomped into her crotch as hard as she was able, once then twice. As Marsa doubled over in pain, nearly unconscious, Lucretia turned to Gabrielle, who hadn't thought to follow the guards away, and once more grabbed her by the hair.
"And just what is YOUR part in all this? Were you a party to it, keeping watch for them in case I should go by?" Her anger was barely tempered.
"No, Domina. I swear I knew none of this, I only discovered it moments before you. I was lost in this part of the house and followed the sound as you did!"
Lucretia jerked Gabrielle hair with both hands several times as if trying to shake the truth from her, then threw her into the wall.
"You are to NEVER enter this section of the house again unaccompanied. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Domina, I swear to you I never will again!"
"Get this thing out of here!" Lucretia said with a disgusted voice,
She then turned away and stomped off, leaving Gabrielle to see about Marsa. Her head was bleeding more than it should have and she was barely at the edge of consciousness. And using all her strength, Gabrielle hoisted her up on her shoulder and somehow was able to find her way back toward the slave quarters. Half way there several of the women took Marsa from her and carried her back to the bathing area.
"Is there a healer available?" Gabrielle asked.
"There is a physician, but he is reserved for Dominus, Domina, and for the gladiators," Phaedra told her. "What doctoring is done here, we do ourselves."
"Then I will need hot water, the coldest water you can find, clean cloths, and needle and thread," Gabrielle said, instinctively taking charge.
"YOU are a physician?" Phaedra asked.
"No, but after all the years of traveling with Xena, I have gotten pretty good with field dressings. It's something you have to learn in order to survive while on the road.
The required items were brought to her and Gabrielle first made cold compresses to put on Marsa's bruised belly. Then after a quick examination of her crotch, she placed one against her vulva. She next began to clean the head injury with the hot water, and after using a cold water compress to stem the bleeding, she began to stitch the wound while the others watched in wonder and awe at her skill.
Gabrielle sat with Marsa all night, changing the compresses and giving her sips of water when she asked for them. Not long after dawn, and after everyone but Phaedra had gone to their duties, Marsa woke up enough to be lucid.
"You should have not done this for me," she said to Gabrielle. "It was a useless gesture."
"But you were hurting. I couldn’t not do what I was able."
Marsa smiled. "But it doesn't matter. I am dead. I destroyed Domina's trust. She will have her revenge. It is but a matter of time when she exacts it."
"What were you thinking?" Phaedra said, angrily. "Did you learn no lesson from Aseneth and Sulla? Nothing?"
"But Atrius and I love each other," Marsa protested. "We are in love."
"Love!" Phaedra spat out. "And you see where it's gotten you! You don't have any idea of what love is! You are so young, and so stupid."
"But if she thinks she is in love," Gabrielle interrupted gently. "Then it is real to her. As real as any love can be."
Phaedra made a disgusted noise and left them alone.
Marsa took Gabrielle's hand and asked, "Why? After all I said to you, why have you done so much for me?"
Gabrielle shrugged. "It's just the way I am. I believe that there is good in everyone. You just have to take the time to look for it."
Marsa closed her eyes then opened them again. "Thank you. Maybe one day...."
Suddenly they were interrupted when Lucretia, followed by two guards, entered the room.
"Where is she?" She demanded to know. "Where is the little whore?"
Gabrielle stood aside and Lucretia pointed at Marsa. "Take her to Manius, he will know what to do with her."
The guards grabbed Marsa by the arms and pulled her up from the bed when Lucretia told them to stop, then holding her hair, she looked at Marsa's forehead where Gabrielle had stitched it up.
"Who authorized the physician to do this?"
"No one, Domina," Gabrielle said. "I sewed up her wound."
Lucretia look a second look at the neatly spaced stitches that held the laceration together.
"Where did you learn this?"
"From Xena. Her years as a warrior taught her many things, and many of those she taught to me."
For a brief moment, Gabrielle thought there almost might have been the slightest hint of respect in Lucretia's eyes; then it was gone.
"Take her away," she said and left ahead of the guards, who half carried and half dragged away the still naked Marsa.
Gabrielle couldn’t help but begin to cry. It was then that Phaedra came back in and saw the tears.
"Why do you cry like a baby? You did all you could for her, wasting so much time, but now her fate is none of your concern. Go now, and help the others clean up the blood and the mess caused by Marsa's indiscretion before Domina lashes us all!"
And wiping away her tears, Gabrielle rushed off to the guest quarters to help restore it to the way it was.