Chapter 3: Riviera
As he had promised, Animal let Gabriel tend to Rose's wounds. At Gabriel's direction she lay on the couch, trembling. Just as Animal had intimated, her cuts were not as deep nor nearly as dangerous as Gabriel had thought. Except for faded scars the rest of her skin was unmarked.
"I'll need clean cotton cloth," Gabriel said. Animal looked at him blankly for a minute, then flashed a grin and hastily strode through a door off a small hallway to the right. Rose shrank down to even an even smaller size and looked at Gabriel fearfully. Gabriel tried to reach for words that might comfort her, but could think only of what he had said to Hugo a lifetime ago, and regretted.
Animal came back into the room carrying three folded tunics before him as if they were trays. He thrust them at Gabriel, and stood back gruffly.
The shirts looked clean enough, although certainly not sterile. Gabriel set aside one dyed a deep purple with a concoction he could not guess, and tore the white one and the cream-colored one into strips with a practiced hand. At each tear of the cloth Rose gave a stifled gasp.
When he had made the bandages, Gabriel looked at Rose's back dispassionately. The cuts had mostly clotted already, and the bleeding had slowed to an ooze. Bandages and salve for a day or so would stop any infection, and then fresh air would do the rest.
Gabriel sat on the floor next to the couch and slowly raised an ointment-soaked bandage to put on the deepest cut. Rose breathed sharply and closed her eyes. "I won't hurt you, Rose," Gabriel said to her softly, hoping again he would not regret these words. He could feel Animal's heavy presence behind him. Rose opened her eyes, looked at Gabriel fleetingly, and gave him a smile so tiny Gabriel wondered if he had imagined it. Carefully he laid the bandages on her back. The blood oozed through the first layer but not the second.
He turned to Animal, who still hovered beside him. "Can you bring a cup of hot water?" he requested. Animal looked confused and a little offended. Rose moved as if she would get up, and Gabriel quickly put a warning hand on her shoulder, holding her down. "You need to lay still, or you'll open the wounds and spoil my pretty bandages," he said. For an instant Rose looked as if he had told her he was made of goat cheese, and then her face was carefully blank.
Animal clanged and banged in the kitchen area, cursing more than once, but eventually carried from there, carefully, as if it were precious, a mug of hot water. Gabriel took it with barely a nod of thanks, fishing through his medicine pouch for the proper herbs. The miniscule amount of relaxants Gabriel put in the tea he concocted for Rose had a stronger effect on her than he expected, and she fell fast asleep on the couch a few minutes after fearfully sipping it down.
Animal looked at Rose's sleeping figure bemusedly, then shrugged and pressed a button by the door to the hallway. A slave knocked a few minutes later, and Animal told him to fetch supper.
When the slave brought the food the smell made Gabriel's mouth water. Animal banged around in the kitchen, then came out with plates and utensils and sat down at the table. Gabriel felt suddenly uncouth and embarrassed by his filthy clothes. Animal, oblivious, piled a feast day's worth of meat and potatoes on Gabriel's plate, and a smaller helping of vegetables.
Gabriel was suddenly ravenous. However, after a few mouthfuls he found it increasingly difficult to lift his fork or to keep his eyes open. The next thing he knew, he was laying on the couch, covered with a blanket but fully clothed, the morning light bright on his face. Although his back was sore from the soft cushions, he felt amazingly refreshed. It had been the first night in a long time that he had not had to keep an ear cocked for marauding raccoons and worse. Without compunction he raided the icebox of the food Animal had evidently dumped there the night before, on the plates they ate off, and then took the longest, hottest, most luxurious shower he had ever had.
∞ ∞ ∞
Rose was afraid when she awoke the next morning. She knew there was something she had been supposed to do the night before, and she had not done it. What it was she could not recall, until she sat up and felt the odd numbness on her back where the bandages were. Then it all came flooding back to her: the beating by the Bearer, his order to take care of the strange new master - Master Gabriel was his name - who had been kind to her, falling asleep on the couch before she had done any of the tasks she should have done. She was not sure how she had ended up in bed. Master Animal slept beside her, snoring softly, and she gave another start when she realized that she had not satisfied him last night.
She was torn between waiting for Master Animal to wake and begging his forgiveness, or going to wait on Master Gabriel and begging his forgiveness. She heard a soft clang from the kitchen, and water running. She turned and looked desperately at the sleeping figure beside her. She knew that, as he had missed first light already, he might sleep for hours more.
Trembling, Rose opened the bedroom door quietly and peeked out. She gasped. Master Gabriel was in the kitchen cubicle, washing dishes! She started towards him, turned back and quietly closed the bedroom door, then almost ran across the living room and skidded to a stop on her knees in the kitchen doorway. "Forgive me, master," she said, hoping that he would not hear her.
But he turned to her with a funny, apologetic smile. "I hope I didn't wake you," he said, and turned back to finish the dish he was washing.
"Please, master," Rose pleaded. Her voice broke. She was more certain than ever of punishment if a master was doing her own work.
"Please don't cry," Master Gabriel said. Rose bit her lip. His kind tone scared her more than his weird actions.
Master Gabriel watched her for a time. He seemed to breathe deep into his chest. Somehow Rose found herself doing the same. He said, "I never saw a faucet like this one, where endless hot water comes out." Rose looked up at him, confused. "It seems like magic to me. Do you know where it comes from?"
Rose surprised herself by answering evenly, "It comes from pipes from a boiler room, Master." When Gabriel waited, she added, "The boiler broke once when I worked in the southern wing. There was no hot water for two weeks."
Gabriel said, sounding genuinely interested, "The boiler must be huge to make so much hot water."
Rose nodded. "We saw it at the public torturing after it was fixed." She added, hesitantly, "They made the slave - he was so old - they made him stand under the pipe that had burst, and they opened it, and the scalding water came out, and he . . ." She felt the anger and disgust from so long ago. Then she remembered herself, and bit it down.
"That's horrible," Master Gabriel said. Rose's fear returned, and she prostrated herself. Gabriel just looked at her for a minute, and then asked, "The icebox with no ice in it - how does it stay cold?"
Rose trembled. Without looking up, she said, "Forgive me, Master." She began to shake all over. Then Master Gabriel's foot was raised, and Rose whimpered as she braced herself. But no blow came. Master Gabriel stepped over her, and walked out the door.
∞ ∞ ∞
Gabriel had begged hard, used every connection and called in every favor to be chosen for this journey. One of his arguments was that his proven woodsense would allow him to follow the route without getting lost, and for the most part he had managed that. But with neither sun nor breeze to guide him he found himself confused by the odd angles at which the indoor corridors of Riviera's mansion met.
A few people, all slaves, were about. Any he looked in the eye made obeisance to him, some more fearful than others. Finally he stopped a man who like Rose was not heavily marked, and asked him the direction to the entrance hall. If the slave thought it was an odd question he gave no sign, but answered courteously and clearly, on his knees, his eyes down. Gabriel was quite close.
The picture window faced north, and through it Gabriel saw the Lawn, still sparkling with dew, empty except for some groundskeepers cleaning litter. He pushed open the door, descended the few steps, and walked hurriedly across the grass towards the stable. He wondered with a sudden pang whether these barbarians had mistreated his horse in the handful of hours since he had left her. He remembered the pixie slave girl's face-what was her name? Jordyn-and her quiet, gentle voice promising the horse would be fine. Despite common sense, he was calmed.
Unlike the mansion, the stable was bustling when he arrived. A little shyly, Gabriel peered into the third entrance before going in. Throughout its length slaves were grooming horses. They nodded respectfully as he passed them. Jordyn was currying a speckled white mare, talking softly to it. When she saw Gabriel, she stepped just more than kicking distance away from the horse and fell gracefully to her knees, the rest of her body remaining firmly erect. "Can I serve you, Master?" she asked. The ends of her short auburn hair wisped into her face as she kneeled perfectly still.
Suddenly Gabriel heard a sound almost as familiar to him as his own breathing: Pegasus' whicker. Swiftly stepping around Jordyn, Gabriel practically ran into his horse's stall. Pegasus snorted and pranced. Gabriel crossed the few steps to the horse in a heartbeat and threw his arms around her neck, feeling that it had been years instead of hours since he had last seen her.
A man cleared his throat. Turning quickly, Gabriel saw Stefan in the doorway, a sardonic grin on his face. "I see we managed not to kill your horse overnight," he said.
Gabriel colored, realizing that his comment to Jordyn the night before must have gotten back to the stable's overseer. Stefan seemed to enjoy his discomfiture. Lazily he said, "Hope you'll let the horse rest up a bit before riding her over tarnation."
Gabriel bit down annoyance. He no more needed advice on how to care for his horse than he did on how to tie his shoes. Seeing his reaction, Stefan looked, if possible, more smug than before. "No insult intended," he drawled.
"You have a pasture?" Gabriel asked coldly.
Stefan nodded. "The girl can show you which field," he said, indicating Jordyn, who had stolen up behind her master and stood nearby, attentive.
In a deliberate attempt to cut Stefan, Gabriel turned his back towards him and began grooming Pegasus. He felt warmth beside him, and turned, annoyed that the man had come back to laugh some more. But it was Jordyn, holding a clean curry brush in her hand. Gabriel took it. "Thank you," he said.
"Master, may I speak?" Jordyn asked shyly. When Gabriel nodded she asked, "Do all your horses have a jaw like that, where you come from?"
