Freedom In Sight

Chapter 4

The soft murmur of the morning broke the dawn sky above Sabine, awaking her and signaling that her brief reprieve from the Master was over. He will not break me, she thought determinedly. Rustling sounds from the curtain several feet away told her that Jeremiah was awake. He quickly checked on her and redressed the bandages. Thankfully, the bleeding had slowed much and the bandages were not blood-soaked, as he had feared. Sabine clamped her mouth shut as he pulled the bandages tight around her back. The searing pain had faded to a more bearable throb. She quickly wiped away the few tears that formed in her eyes before they had any chance to fall. When he was done, he helped her to stand.

As Sabine washed her face in the basin of water, she saw Jeremiah watching her moves, painfully slow but resolute. She smiled to ease his mind, but knew it did not help much. A sudden noise interrupted her thoughts as Merek barged through the door. His black eyes scanned her over as he strode up to her. He stared at her disdainfully, "You are to come with me. It seems that you are not to work in the fields for today, but in the house as a maid." He shoved her out the door, uncaring to her obvious discomfort.

She walked in front of him to the main house steps. Every time she would stumble or slow down, he would prod her on. "Keep moving," he mumbled. Her back was screaming from the fast walking and constant pressure, but she persevered on. He directed her to a room with two other maids working inside. Merek shoved a rag into her hand and pointed to the marble mosaics on the floor. "Scrub them clean." He commanded before he left.

Sabine bent down slowly, trying to hide the cautious movements from the other two girls. As she bent on her knees, she leaned over the section of mosaic on the floor and began to scrub the grime and dirt out of the cracks.

One of the girls turned from polishing the ivory fountain near the center of the room to watch Sabine. Checking over her shoulder, she left the fountain basin and crawled over to Sabine. "Hey, I'm Celena, what's your name?"

"Sabine. It's nice to meet you Celena." Sabine finished scrubbing the center tile and looked up at Celena. As she stiffened up, her back protested. "Ah!" She gasped, her hand flying to her back. She squeezed her eyes in pain, trying to take deep breaths to control the throbbing.

"Are you okay?" Celena asked worriedly, "I can get you something if you need – by the way what happened? – and where did you come from?" Her words tumbled out of her mouth, stringing themselves into unintelligible sounds.

"Slow down, Celena," Sabine laughed slightly, "I can't understand you when you speak fast."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll try to slow down." She breathed deeply before she asked again, "Are you okay?" She looked pointedly at Sabine's back.

"I will be fine." Sabine smiled, ruefully rubbing the small of her back. "I found out the hard way what not to do."

"Ouch," Celena cringed, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You live and learn, right?"

Celena chuckled softly as she went back to her work. As she continued scrubbing the fountain spout, she called over to Sabine, "Where do you come from?"

Sabine's jovial laughter saddened. "I come from Petra, a city carved from a canyon. It was my home – at least until the Romans invaded it and turned us into slaves."

Celena turned to face Sabine, "My home in Nabatea was invaded by the Romans as well. When I came here, I was the only one in my family who survived the journey. Did you have any family?"

Sabine's hand stopped as her breath caught in her throat. She choked on her answer, "Yes, I do. I just hope they are still alive."

Celena turned to look at Sabine, "For your sake, I hope they are."