Marie could barely keep from stumbling as her father led her rapidly through the corridors to her apartments. Without even having to look at his face, Marie could tell from her father’s rapid pace that he was very displeased with her. Furious was probably closer to the truth.
“Will you slow down, Father,” Marie hissed, tugging futilely against his grip. “I am going to fall if you do not slow down.”
“You shut your mouth, you little whore!” Magnus growled, pulling sharply on her arm. “To touch that foul beast with your own hands! You have shamed me, daughter.”
“I did nothing of the sort, Father,” Marie mumbled, glaring at the back of her father’s head as he continued dragging her towards her room. “I merely helped the man up.”
Magnus stopped and whirled around to face Marie. “You touched its face! You reached a hand up and touched its face! What on earth were you thinking?”
“That the man looked like a god,” Marie said with a shrug. “Do I really need a reason? It’s not like I said anything to him. You never said I couldn’t touch anyone. Just that I couldn’t speak to them.”
“I will deal with you in the morning,” Magnus cried, shoving Marie into her room and slamming the door shut behind her.
Marie stumbled and fell to the ground, sliding across the polished floor before colliding with her bed. “Bastard!” Marie shrieked, yanking off her veil and tossing it towards the door. Screaming, Marie shouted to Jubilation as she began tearing off her rings and armbands, ripping the seem of her right sleeve in the process, and throwing them to the ground without a care. Her sandals went next, each thrown in a different direction.
Marie was storming past a window when she heard Flavius’s voice drift into her room. “You are not worthy to touch her!” Curious to see what was going on, Marie stopped her tirade to look out the window.
“May all his gods protect him,” Marie gasped, placing a hand over her heart.
Under the cover of one of the large pine trees she had played under as a child, Flavius was raining blows down on Logan’s back with a heavy horsewhip. The chain around his neck had been thrown over the lowest branch-- which was still about eight feet above the ground --and it was all that Logan could do to keep to his feet as the angry Senator cursed and beat him. Logan didn’t cry out, though Marie could tell by the tortured expression on his face that he longed to.
Marie was silently cursing herself for having brought this down on Logan. Were it not for her, this wouldn’t have been happening to him. Marie’s tears came before she was even aware of them. It wasn’t until she tasted the salty film that covered her lips that she realized she was crying.
“Mistress, what is happening?” Jubilation asked, appearing at her side suddenly.
Unable to say anything, Marie could only watch as Logan suffered because of what she had done.
Finally, Flavius handed the whip to one of his attendants and motioned for another to release the chain that had been nearly strangling Logan. As soon as the chain was loosened, Logan dropped like a stone to the ground. He lay prostrate, his head bowed to the ground until Flavius appeared behind him and yanked violently on the chain around his throat.
“Get up, you worthless dog!” the aging Senator shouted as he hauled Logan to his feet.
To Marie’s completely amazement, when he stood, Logan kept his head up high. Marie knew that such violence would only infuriate Flavius more and felt awed by the sheer magnitude of Logan’s spirit.
“If you weren’t going to make me lots of money in the games I would kill you now,” Flavius snarled, savagely dragging Logan back towards the litter. “That is all that has saved your life this night.”
Marie kept her eyes on Logan the entire time, his eyes riveted to his ravaged back. The bloody weals stood out in sharp contrast to his skin which had been gilded silver by the moonlight. Marie couldn’t stop the flow of tears that continued to rain down her cheeks at Logan’s stoic endurance. She prayed to the gods that she would never be forced to require the amount of strength that Logan had.
Suddenly, Logan turned his head towards her window and their eyes met. Marie held Logan’s gaze for many long moments, overwhelmed by the pain that she saw in them but unable to turn away. Marie longed to reach out and take away some of his pain and knowing that she could not only made her cry harder.
“I’m so sorry, Logan,” Marie whispered just before he vanished from her sight around a corner.
The instant that Logan was no longer in her sight, Marie felt a great sadness overtake her. For several seemingly endless moments, Marie stared at the place where she had last seen Logan.
“Please tell me that you are not crying over that barbarian,” Jubilation gasped, staring at Marie in utter shock.
Marie burst into action before the words even left Jubilation’s mouth. “Jubilation, help me change. Quickly. I must get out of this blasted thing. Unfasten this then get me my black riding gown and a sturdy pair of boots. Hurry, Jubilation! My heavy winter cloak as well.”
“Your father will kill you for this, Mistress,” Jubilation muttered as she removed the golden bands that secured the dress.
“My father is in the process of getting drunk with his Senators. He will not be back in here until morning. I will be back long before then,” Marie informed Jubilation as she rapidly stripped out of the transparent crimson dress. “That man is suffering because of something I did and I will not have it. Now hand me that dress and go get the jar of ointment Sextus gave you when you cut your hand. Quickly! Enough time has been wasted already!”
While Jubilation rushed off to into her adjoining room, Marie hurriedly pulled on the simple garment of black linen. It was much thicker than her ornamental crimson gown and would protect her from the chill of the night air. After tying the lacing at the front of the gown, Marie grabbed a pair of leather riding boots and slid her feet into them. The boots reached up to her knees and Marie was quick to fasten the bindings before picking her darkest winter cloak. As an afterthought, Marie retrieved the veil she had been wearing and tied it around her waist as a sash.
“Here, Mistress, I have the ointment,” Jubilation called as she ran back into the room. “I sincerely hope that you know what you are doing.”
“I do as the Fates command me,” Marie murmured as she took the small tin jar from Jubilation. Giving the girl a final, confident smile, Marie rushed to her window and climbed out as she had done countless times before when she wished to escape her father’s control.
After checking to make sure that no one was approaching, Marie took off at a run along the same path that Flavius’s litter had travelled. So as not to make a sound, Marie kept to the grass, ducking down to avoid branches when need be.
It was several minutes before Marie reached the litter that bore the rich Senator to his home. Behind it, Logan stumbled along, barely able to keep to his feet. Marie slowed to a walk at this point, remaining in the shadows at the side of the road as she followed after the litter. Tears shining in her eyes, Marie prayed to for Logan’s gods to give him the strength that he would need to complete the journey to Flavius’s house back within the walls of the city.
Marie was thankful that Flavius lived close to the perimeter of the city’s walls. It made the trek from her father’s villa up in the surrounding hills to the mighty wall that surrounded the city of Rome. Marie had made the journey numerous times in the ten years she had been living in Rome, but she had never been forced to undertake it in Logan’s condition and prayed that she would never have to.
Marie was relieved when they finally reached Flavius’s house and Logan was still standing. Remaining in the shadow of another building, Marie watched as Flavius gave orders to one of his servants before disembarking from his litter. The servant quickly unshackled Logan from the back of the litter and dragged him under an archway the led to Flavius’s own garden. The litter was taken in another direction; where, Marie couldn’t have cared less.
The instant the servant left the garden and entered the house, Marie left her careful perch within the shadows. She pulled her hood up over her face as she strode carefully across the street to the entrance of the garden. Once at its opening, Marie hid herself in another shadow as she peered into the garden’s interior to ensure that no one was within. A quick check to see if all the windows on this side of the house were dark and Marie snuck into the garden.
Finding the room where Logan had been taken wasn’t very difficult. Having been in this very garden on more than one occasion over the past ten years, Marie knew the purpose of all the buildings built along the garden’s outer wall. There was one, very small and built in a far corner that had ever been empty. Now, though, Marie could see a faint light coming from within it.
Sticking to the shadows as much as possible, Marie rushed towards this small building where she hoped to find Logan. Before she even reached it, Marie knew that she had guessed correctly because she could hear pained moans echoing from within it as she got closer.
Rather than just barging in, Marie slid up against the outer wall of the building and poked her head into the doorway. Lying on a pallet of straw with only a thing blanket to cover him was Logan. He was still bound as he had been before, the length of chain around his throat now locked to a metal clasp on the floor. He was still conscious, gritting his teeth to keep his cries from getting too loud.
“Oh, Logan,” Marie gasped before she could stop herself.
At the sound of her voice, Logan’s eyes shot open and turned directly to the doorway. Knowing that her cover had been blown, Marie stepped through the doorway and into the small room that was barely long enough for him to lay lengthwise. Once inside, Marie removed her hood so that he would be able to see her face.
Logan was on his knees in the blink of an eye, bowing before her. “Goddess.”
“You speak Latin,” Marie said in shock. She was as much in shock to hear Logan speak Latin as she was the sound of his voice. His voice was deep and had a lilting accent the likes of which she had never heard before. It was a wondrous sound that Marie longed to hear more of.
Logan nodded his head, his eyes never leaving the ground. “Yes, Goddess. I was taught by a Roman traveller when I was a boy. Does it please you?”
For the second time in one night, Marie knelt down in front of Logan and took his face in her cloth-covered hands. She lifted his head so that she could peer into his eyes without the annoyance of a veil between them.
“I am not a goddess,” Marie said lightly as she stared into Logan’s haunting hazel eyes. “My name is Antonia Marie, and I am a mortal like yourself.”
“No, Goddess--” Logan protested, but was interrupted by Marie who placed her fingertips over his lips to silence him.
“I am no goddess. I am simply Marie and I will have you call me that,” Marie told him, smiling softly as she slid her hand back to cup his cheek. “Now I would hear your name from your own lips and not from that revolting Flavius.”
At last, Logan’s features softened and the faint traces of fear left his expressive eyes. “My name is Logan Oris Maelrubai.”
“I hope you do not mind that I call you Logan. The rest of your name is long and I fear that I will only pronounce it incorrectly anyway,” Marie said as she continued to smile reassuringly at him. “Now come, lay back down. I will clean your back for you. It must pain you greatly.”
Logan seemed taken aback by her words and jerked out of her hands. “I could not ask such a kindness from you. I am only a slave.”
“You are as much a slave as I am a goddess,” Marie told him, frowning slightly. “Please lie down, Logan. It is my fault that this happened to you and my conscience will not rest till I have done something to balance the scales.”
“Ease your conscience then for I bear you no ill will,” Logan insisted.
“It is not only my conscience that I wish to appease,” Marie whispered, locking her eyes with his. “This is something that I wish to do. For myself. Will you grant me that?”
Marie could see the great reluctance in Logan’s eyes before he finally nodded his head. Smiling brightly, Marie released his face and sat back on her heels. Telling Logan that she would be back in a moment and that he should lie down, Marie rushed out of the small building and towards the pool in the center of the garden. Once there, Marie removed her veil from about her waist and dunked it in the water with one hand. The other, she used to hold the other sleeve out of the water so that it wouldn’t get wet as well. Once she was sure that the cloth was saturated, Marie removed it and ran back into the small building where Logan was.
Without a word, Marie unfastened the clasp of her cloak, letting it drop to the ground before sitting by Logan’s head. He stared up at her in wonder and tentatively reached a hand up to place on her lap. When Marie simply smiled down at him, Logan returned her smile and gave her thigh a quick squeeze.
“Tell me of your home,” Marie said gently as she lightly dabbed at a spot of blood on his right shoulder. She wanted to distract Logan from his pain and hoped that talking would do the trick.
As she worked, Logan described a magnificent wilderness of ancient trees, crystal rivers and towering mountains. He spoke with such love in his voice that Marie knew he longed to return to his home much the same as she longed to return to her home in Greece. Marie found herself entranced by Logan’s voice, creating images in her mind to accompany his words. It was a glorious place and Marie prayed that Logan would oneday be able to return to his home.
When she went to apply the ointment to his wounds, Marie realized for the first time that to do so would risk contact between her skin and Logan’s. Not wanting to put the rumour of her poisonous skin to the test, Marie tore a small section of her veil off and dipped it into the tin. Using that as a barrier between herself and Logan, Marie spread the sweet smelling medicine over the twenty or so stripes that littered his back.
Once she was content with the work she had done to his back, Marie turned her attention to the small gashes on his cheek. She noticed at that point that Logan had been silent for some time and that he had fallen asleep. Marie was shocked by the amount of trust Logan had in her. To make himself completely vulnerable to her in such a way. Of course, Marie rationalized, it was most likely exhaustion that was the reason for his sleep.
“I had forgotten a gentle touch until this night,” Logan murmured softly as Marie carefully smoothed a few errant locks of dark hair from his face.
“I am sorry that I woke you,” Marie whispered, smiling down at him. “You need sleep more than anything right now.”
Logan returned her smile, once again squeezing her leg. “I am glad that you woke me else I would not be able to thank you for this incredible kindness you have shown me. I am grateful that my gods have granted me this one last kindness.”
“You have told me of your home, Logan, but not yet of your gods. I do think that we shall meet again so that I may learn about them,” Marie said cryptically as she gathered the tattered remnants of her veil back up. “For now sleep. Let your body heal and your soul soar with your gods where it may heal as well.”
Marie longed to drape her cloak over Logan’s shoulders, but settled for the thin blanket she had found him with. It was warm enough within the small building. The stones it was constructed of had been warmed by the sun all day long and now that heat was keeping the inside relatively warm.
“Goodnight, Logan,” Marie said softly, running her cloth-covered hand across his cheek in parting.
“Goodnight, Marie,” murmured Logan who was mostly asleep by that point.
Marie would be halfway home before she realized that Logan had called her by her name only that single time.