A Torch to the Future

[Briseis of Carnia]

The screams resounded across the walls and those not permitted upstairs paused in either their work or their pacing to cast an eye to the ceiling to the floors above, wishing above anything to see through stone to what was going on. A red Cape billowed as the Lord turned to pace the hall again after the scream died. A pitcher of wine sat on the table along with a glass, the fire roared within the hearth, the lord noticed none of these, not even the slave that had poured some wine into the goblet before using a piece of cloth to lift the glass and offer it towards him, her head bent. His hand wove and the girl retreated, setting the now full glass upon the table before moving to a corner of the room. Another scream echoed across the halls and the Lord turned sharply, the cape swaying, dancing in the breath of wind created, his form rigid, stiff with worry.

Several tense seconds passed as the scream died down, several tense moments of torturous silence, all most as torturous as the screams piercing the halls moments before. This was a level of hell, the Lord was sure of this. Then heaven broke through the darkness as a new echo took the halls along with pounding feet against stone.

"A SON!"

The boy who stormed into the halls looked nearly ready to collapse as he entered the hall. It took him a few seconds to pull in a huge breath before he called again in the direction of the Lord.

"You have a son my lord."

The Lord grinned, a hand brushed back the folds of his cape as large strides took him towards the boy who immediately dropped to his hands and knees, his head bent as the Lord swept past him, taking strides of a man high with pride, taking the stairs more then one at a time. The door to his wife's chamber was swung open wide to the maids clearing out bloody sheets and for a moment the Lord worried for his wife more then rejoiced at the coming of his son when a figure appeared seeming to falter before jerking back. A braid the color of a golden and plentiful harvest swung as the woman's blue robe's swayed as she dropped to her knees and then her hands as her head bowed.

"Briseis..." The Lord responded before words halted, it was difficult to let go of the past as much as it was difficult to remind her now of her present status. "You are no longer my slave..."

Briseis swayed upon the ground, seeming to debate whether she should rise or not before she realized he was right and slowly rose to her feet, the cloth within her hand wrung between her hands, cleansing them of the afterbirth. "Old habits die hard my Lord Romulus.." Such a gentle voice was tinted with sadness. Was she saddened over being free? Surely not.

Octavius grinned down at the wheat colored haired woman who still would not look him in the eye, and who had for so long been his slave but also his best friends secret daughter. Over time he indeed had come to care for her as family, though it had never been allowed to show through. With a promise kept, it had in some ways shown, a smile here and there. She had been the finest slave he could of ever of hoped for, needing discipline as she grew up but eventually, yes eventually she had become the finest and then the finest midwife in Carnia. The truth was, he would of trusted Josafine, his wife, to no one else.

"You have delivered my son safely into this world, I thank you, how is my wife?" He asked in a rather gentle tone, afraid to scare her off. Seeing so little of her now that she was free and he had promised to his best friend to look after the girl...no now woman.

"Doing well, tired and resting but she shall recover splendidly." Briseis replied, her mouth opened, posed to say more then stopped. Hold habits died hard indeed and she found it hard to speak her mind when in the past, that was forbidden of a slave.

Octavius shifted from one foot to the other. Yes in some form of him he wished to strangle the woman or shake her into realizing that her life was now her own. A man who had never lived it but the way he wanted to, could not understand why the woman was not off doing everything she couldn't before. Who was still after five years of freedom, acting like a slave.

"You will...be by tomorrow to check on them?" He finally found it in himself to ask, something, anything.

"No...my Lord" Briseis answered, the last a bit hesitantly. For a moment her eyes rose, Azure eyes catching his, the blue of them could cut through night Octavius was sure, he would test it one day.

"No?" He replied, concerned.

"No.."Briseis repeated before offering. "My assistant, Marga, will be taking my place as midwife of Carnia, I am..leaving" Again she hesitated in saying it, nearly tensing, waiting for a strike, an outburst, anything.

"Oh..I see.."Octavius spoke, slowly, having trouble letting her words sink in. "Briseis, I promised your father..if you leave...I can not..." He stopped, what could he say, that he couldn't fulfil his promise if she left? Yep.

My Father cannot claim me, what right does he have to make you promise such a thing.

She wanted to say it, couldn't, the words stuck in her throat. "You have fulfilled that promise, My Lord...Please..I need to go..where the walls do not echo of the past..where I can truly...." She stopped.

Azure eyes lifted again and Octavius was sure, they could pierce night, he didn't need to see it, they could pierce into the soul.

"be free" She finished as her eyes lowered from his again. A lifetime in his house and she had never seen his eyes were brown. What a silly thought to be thinking now.

Octavius could not help but grin. In some way she was still very much a slave but had she been given the same right as a male child would of in her place, well opposite a male child, she would of been a great lady. His mouth opened to speak but Briseis hand rose even if her head wouldn't.

"Please my Lord, go see your son..and your wife.."

She pleaded. He had treated her fairly and justly, more then she would truly ever know, it was difficult to leave him though it freed her completely from the title of her past.

Octavius smile fell, briefly, before he grinned again at the mention of his son. He took a step back and then moved forward around her, pausing when he heard her sweet and gentle voice.

"My Lord.."

He turned to watch as Briseis dipped, this time taking her time to move to her knees and slowly her hands before lowering her head towards the ground as a sign of submission before she was slowly raising up to her feet again.

"Thank you.."

She did not need to raise her eyes to know in the next moment he was gone. The stone halls she knew since childhood felt cold and empty. Never in her lifetime here had they ever felt this way. It was a door closing, plunging her into darkness but the light from the torch upon the wall lit her backside, warming her and she turned to face it. The darkness now at her back was the door closed on her past, the torch at her face was now the light of the future, ready and bright.

A month later the ship docked silently into the harbor of Turas Lan, the city slept in the depth of night. Passengers disembarked and headed their separate ways, some to homes they no doubt kept there, others, well even Briseis could not fathom as she stepped off the gangplank, glad to be rid of the rocking and swaying though she was sure she could still feel it within her body as she moved down the docks towards the slumbering city. Stupid summer storm had delayed them and now she wasn't sure what to do. Would an Inn be open this late? Her chin dipped as a body passed by her, for a moment she tensed and then suddenly, she relaxed, her hair lifted, golden hair tossed against the coastal breeze as her chin set upward. No, this was a new place, a new life..She simply had to look for the torch of the future in this land, the torch of the future.

[Briseis of Carnia]

Time past so swiftly when one didn't know where the next step in the path lead. There was a tranquil peace in freedom but there was also a great fear. Living a life as a slave meant that your actions were told to you and punishment followed any who disobeyed but the days were filled in fulfilling the wishes of the master and his household. Hours spent with no care of anything above the wishes of the superiors. There was a sense of pride to be found in a day well spent and the knowledge that no new bruises would come the next day, no wounds to tend.

Slavery all in all was not a bad thing in the eyes of those who lived it. Sometimes there were many days were punishment would not come, for some very few in the whole of their life. When all you knew was serving someone else, of knowing you were less then them, how could you dream of freedom? How could you dream there was anything ever better then serving the will of others? How could one ever know there could be a will of your own?

For Briseis the days crawled so slowly, it was hard to break the itch to lift a hand to help Rose at the Briar Rose. The woman was as sweet as they came but Briseis had no one else to compare her to. Another slave? No. Rose was not like that nor would she ever be but there was a gentleness in her smile and touch. She had all ready overstayed her welcome but in exchange for work, she was able to keep a room at the Briar Rose and she never complained in breaking her back in order to pay for her keep. There was a familiarity in helping out, cleaning tables, washing dishes. She even steeled her stomach to the smell of meat to help cook a few times but the truth was, this was not what she wanted. For the first time in her life, Briseis had found a calling in helping with the delivery of babies into the world. For five years she had fought against the very nature she had been brought up with, to become the great midwife of Carnia. Yet each home she visited, people still looked at her funny, as if she did not belong, as if she should still be a slave and the walls echoed in whispers all the time "slave". Now in a strange land with strange people who not only did not believe in slavery, but fought against it, as the stories she heard, told by of course drunken old men remincing about their time and the youngin's nowadays.

Pulled from her thoughts by a high pitched laugh, she turned from the window within the back of the Briar. A hand strayed to the beaded and metal necklace at her neck, her matching earrings swaying as she turned her head. Fingering the necklace for a moment, she moved through the tables, eyes downcast to the floor but the movement of the men nodding to her were not missed and she smiled and hesitantly nodded to each one in return.

"Rose, do you mind if I take my lunch now seeing as its so slow today?"

Briseis gentle and sweet voice muttered in barely a whisper. Rose simply grinned, no doubt she had gotten used to the quiet voice of the woman by now.

"Of course dear, go right head. Take the afternoon off if you like, I suspect it won't pick up until late tonight anyway." Was Rose' reply.

Briseis smiled as her hands moved to untie her apron and fold it before leaving it behind the bar and out into the day she stepped. For a girl who had grown up as a slave with so few years with freedom, an idea had finally formed within her mind, even when she knew the direction she wanted to go, it was hard to let go of the past, to grasp something firm of the future.

It took quite a bit of the afternoon but she had finally found a merchant to give her money in exchange for her jewelry, good craftsmanship he had said and Briseis was inclined to agree, it was the only thing she had of her mothers. Emotions of losing them to cement a dream did not show on her face in the exchange. She had been five when she lost her mother and the jewelry was all she had left to remember her by. Still if this meant she was going to get out of the bounds of being a hired hand at the Briar and actually tend to her true dream, then sacrifice's were needed.

By the time dusk had settled over Skye. Briseis was the proud renter of a store front which included a small apartment upstairs. The door was slanted in the frame, the windows so dirty they did not mirror the inside and the inside needed a lot of work to look the way Briseis pictured it within her mind. It had taken all the money she had gotten from selling her necklace and earrings and a promise of a third of the profits when she got the store up and running to pay for the first month of ownership but if this was the price she had to pay for a dream what else was she to do?

Hands settled against her hips, pulling the loose fitting robes tight against a curvy frame beneath. A grin had begun to form across the girls lips. No dream came free, with a little elbow grease, things would turn around. She would see it so.