Chapter 5: In which Cosma first found his Heart
Filippo was impatient the next night. His father had been…rebuked, he had said, by his mother for filling the boy with such dreadful old stories. Nevertheless, tonight he had been promised a nicer tale of how his parents first met, which seemed to appease Mama somewhat. He tried to avoid bouncing up and down when the Dux did enter the room.
“Will you tell me now? How you met? And more about Leone and Venice and-”
“Alright, alright,” Cosma raised a hand. “You must have patience young one, to go with your eagerness. I met your mother long ago when we were both very young. I would have remembered it anyway for the first time I left the Villa…well, the first time I was supposed to anyway. Ah yes…very hot it was too.”
16th August 755AD
The crackle of dust and small stones beneath his feet and the enormity of an empty sky occupied the thoughts of the small child Cosma as he walked slightly behind and away from Madam Roe. The day was hot and above him was a heaven so blue it hurt to look at. The other boy Leone was at war with himself; one moment he raced ahead of the party to the edge of the next decline in the road. The next he was anxiously holding back, timidly aware of the mysterious landscape around him. What he did not do was call Cosma to race. He valued their companionship too highly.
They-well, Cosma supposed it was really Madam Roe and the Cook that were going there but still-
they were heading down the winding road from the villa to the local village. Cosma was going because it was required, which meant of course Leone was obliged to journey down as well. He didn’t seem to mind or in any case not too much. Neither of them had been to the village before and both agreed that companions required adventures about as much as adventures required companions. And this trip certainly counted, at least as a very small adventure for the rather young companions.
The Master himself said that they could tell whatever story they wished, so long as they went.
The road was very long though. Cosma was beginning to feel the heat in a much less pleasant way than before. The white rock began to feel harsh to the eyes and to his feet. He saw that Leone too had begun to droop. Sensing that conversation might enliven them both again, Cosma began complaining to his friend:
“Why is the road so long?”
“I know! Or, I suppose, why is the town so far away?” Leone panted, raising his cap to wipe his forehead. He then swiftly decided that the hat served him much better off his head and as a fan.
“Or, why does the Master live so far away from it?” Cosma said, trying to lean into the small breeze Leone was making. He was poked by the hat and frowned. Whilst it had nothing to do with his now-watering eye, Cosma had suddenly thought of another issue. “Why are we walking anyway? Could we not ride in? That’s what my Uncle does.”
Clearly his Uncle had the right way of it too.
“Your uncle has a horse. The Master doesn’t,” Leone reminded him. He paused, face screwed up against both the glare from the sun and from his own words. “Wait…so how are we going to learn to ride then?”
“Well…he does have a stable. And some donkeys,” Cosma offered distractedly. It was a good question though. Why was there such a stable, for horses, in a villa with none to be found? Did the Master dislike the beasts? If so he never showed it. Whenever a messenger or rider came and rested, Cosma’s teacher actually tended to the beasts himself more often than not. Sometimes it was even for study, as he saw the man taking measurements and blood and things.
Leone shook his head as they discussed it. “It makes no sense. Or…does it? I don’t think it does. Do you?”
Cosma desperately wanted to say yes, of course he did, for he knew all the mysteries of the universe such as where the green went from autumn leaves and how a bee made his honey. But he was honest, despite himself, and did not wish to lie to his friend. “I’m not sure,” he frowned again. Frowning and the day’s temperature mixed to make a dull ache around his face but Cosma paid it little mind. It seemed like the right thing to do when pondering a mystery and he didn’t want to do something wrong at this vital juncture.
“Pipe down back there, we’re almost at the village!” the Cook barked without turning around. He was a heavyset man, with fists and brains of hardened meat. The two kitchen boys generally avoided gossiping about him. He was the one soul in the household close enough at hand to have earnt their respect, through thick ears and burnt fingers. Still, better he than the Master to go on a long walk with. Cosma could not begin to imagine how his tutor, all in black, would handle such a trek on a day such as this one.
Possibly by taking out his frustrations on him, as per usual.
“Cosma, look!” Leone’s shout broke the boy from his reverie. In front of the party, the road dipped around the hill a little more before dropping down to meet-
A tiny hamlet, full of smoke from fires and yells from people and animals of all kinds. A faint breeze brought the smells of those things up to the onlookers as well, and Cosma wrinkled his nose at it. He could quite literally smell the dirt and the…filth, from here. Suddenly he understood the Master’s lectures on the difference between mere communal living and civilization.
He could not imagine anything of conceivable value being found down there. Certainly
not.
…
Cosma had never seen so many people before. Not all in one place. The village was, in fact,
filthy, with mud and what looked like mud coating practically everything. That now included most of Cosma’s arms and legs as the party walked through the street. He didn’t know where they were going and could not see much at all, through the smoke and the thick bodies of men, women and their beasts.
Brown seemed to be the default and favoured colour of the peasant, his dwelling and all he interacted with. Brown and darker brown, with a little sickly yellow thrown in to make up the roofs and the liquids running through the street. Cosma wasn’t sure why this was or why everyone chose to live in such squalor. Perhaps the Master knew, though Cosma couldn’t imagine how. He didn’t think the Master would ever talk to one of these people, even to gain vital knowledge.
“Through here, children,” Madam Roe said from up ahead. Cosma looked to see and then felt her hand grasp his arm tightly, pulling him into a dark and smoky house.
“Rho?” a deep voice, a man’s voice, rang out from the dark. Cosma blinked and adjusted to the light. It wasn’t actually that much darker than the Master’s study at night with the doors and windows closed. A large fire crackled in one corner, in a funny little room almost to itself. Two tables and four benches adorned the room, with one wall filled with barrels and bottles of many shapes and sizes.
“Mario!” Madam Roe greeted the unfamiliar voice with cheer. “The Master sends us on errands again. But this time,” she indicated the two boys.
“Ah!” a large man appeared in front of the fire. Cosma couldn’t make out much of his features aside his vast bulk of stomach and arms. He shrank back as the figure approached. “Hello, hello, hello there, boys. You’ll be the Captain’s wards then?” He looked up at Roe and Cosma could now see some of his face, his large bushy beard not quite hiding several large angry scars across the side of his face. He was also, to the complete bewilderment of Cosma, sporting a shaven head like the Master.
“No sir,” Cosma said, surprising himself by finding his voice, “I’m a ward of my Uncle, the Doge.” He was proud of how he didn’t shake once whilst saying it.
The man’s head had snapped back round to him again as he began speaking. Cosma stared into two deep black eyes that seemed to drag his mind out through his skull. There was something disturbingly familiar about that gaze. Then, just as suddenly, an immense warmness came bubbling up around Mario’s face and his mouth split into a gaping smile of broken teeth. “Of course,” he said. “It is good to meet you both…you especially Cosma.” He stood up, not noticing the child’s confused expression. “They can stay here until you need them. But,” he glanced towards another wall, where Cosma finally noticed stood an open door leading somewhere else, “I have duties to attend to as well.”
Madam Roe nodded and made Leone and Cosma swear to be nice for the nice man. Both boys looked at her with the same expression the two kitchen boys gave to the cook. One would have to be a fool to frustrate
this man. He had a beard and everything.
“So this is what they call a tavern then?” Leone said after she had left.
Looking around a bit more, Cosma nodded. “It seems that way.”
“It’s a bit darker than I thought it would be.”
“It’s a lot emptier than I thought it would be,” Cosma answered back.
A laugh from behind them caused them to jump from their seats. Unfortunately, because they were benches, they got tangled up and fell ungainly together in a heap. “Young masters,” Mario said with a smile, “a tavern is not full during the day. In day, Man works. At night, he drinks. On Sundays, he prays.”
“And what do Women do?” a voice said from his side. Cosma and Leon peered up at an older girl looking up at her father fiercely.
“They do everything else,” Mario answered warmly, “and a good thing too. Lads, my daughter. She has work to do so try not to let her bother you.”
“Shouldn’t you be worried about them bothering me?” the daughter said, wandering straight past the two boys and towards the fire.
“Only in that they’re the Captain’s boys. I don’t want them to come to any harm, all right?” Mario raised his voice a little at the end. The girl snorted and didn’t respond. Chuckling, Mario gave each of the boys a cup of milk. “I’m sure the Captain wouldn’t mind you supping something stronger but that woman will have my hide if you do. Sit tight and she’ll be back soon. It was good to meet you both.”
As soon as he left, the silence in the room became uncomfortable. Neither of the boys knew what to do with a girl, though they had an idea that they were supposed to treat her differently. Still, Cosma had never met one and from the looks Leone was giving him, he had no more experience either.
“You two just going to sit there or do you actually use those fancy hands of yours?”
Cosma frowned at her, though she had her back to them. Leone however was a bit more vocal. “But I’m tired. It was such a long walk from up the hill.”
The girl paused in whatever it was that she was doing. “I see,” she said slowly. Suddenly she was right in Leone’s face. “I see, you’re so tired from walking along a path. How exhausting compared to waking at dawn, fetching water, milking the cow, feeding the baby, cooking for my father, fixing the sacks, stocking the fire, sweeping the floor, cleaning the tables, doing the-”
“Enough! There’s no need to be so mean to him!” Cosma shouted. And recoiled as she whipped round to him, hair streaming out behind her and eyes as fierce as her father’s, their gaze pinning him to the floorboards. In but half a second, Cosma flinched under the towering figure, terrified more perhaps than he had been in a very long time. He suddenly recalled where he had seen such eyes before…but then the half second was over, and she blinked, and she looked at him again, and then back at Leone. She seemed to untense her shoulders. Cosma was both rather frightened and yet rather pleased he had protected his companion. The girl looked at him again and seemed to be about to speak when a wail hit all three of them. She rolled her eyes and scowled before striding out of the door.
“What…was that?” Leone asked quietly.
“Nothing to worry about,” Cosma blustered. Secretly, he had no idea himself, aside from the fact that women were terrifying.
A little laugh sounded a second before he realised he had said that out loud. Cosma flushed and his cheeks felt red hot, like he had pressed them close to the fire the girl had been tending to.
“Oh, we are, little boy. We are,” the girl said, walking back to them with a little girl in her arms. She looked at them both, caught how they were looking at her and for the first time had the grace to look a little sheepish. “Ah…sorry. I, um…sorry. I didn’t realise you were so young.”
Cosma bristled at that a little but was not so brave as to shout at her. She was only a girl after all and it wouldn’t have been nice of him.
“Anyway, you woke my sister, so I guess you can hold her while I do my chores.” She held out the silent child to the two boys. They looked at each other. “What, have you never seen a girl before?” she asked incredulously. They looked at each other again. Sighing, and saying something about ignorance and nunneries, she placed her sister gently onto the table with her little legs hanging over the edge. She then turned to Cosma again, somehow knowing he was the one to speak to rather than Leon. “My name is Elisa. Hers is Clotilde. Be nice to her, she’s delicate.”
She swept off and away to the back room, leaving the two young children and an even younger toddler alone. As soon as Elisa had left, the toddler watching her carefully all the way, she turned around and grinned at Cosma, “Not little! She just too big!” For some reason, that was the most sense Cosma had heard since he had entered the tavern and despite himself, he was smiling at her comment.
“You’re young though,” Leone said, finally finding his voice again. “
I’m four and three months.” He said it like it was a prize. Cosma supposed that it was, in a way. That didn't stop him from snorting, “And
I’m six next week, and Elisa must be much older than that! Did you see how tall she was?”
“Never mind that, did you see how
huge Mario was?” Leone said excitedly, “He must be one of those giants Madam Roe tells us about. She seems to know him, that’s where she got them all from!”
“Well, maybe,” Cosma wasn’t sure about that. Mario was certainly more a man than a wicked pagan creature than a wicked pagan creature but still…those eyes were treacherous. “How old are you?” he asked…Clotidle, that was her name. Or Clotdul.
“I’m…” the girl frowned in concentration. “Two! Two! I’m Clotilde and I’m two!”
“Now look what you’ve done, she’s making too much noise,” Leone said, glancing around. “I don’t want that girl to come back!”
“Why, are you afraid of her?”
“No! I just don’t want her to come back.” Leone said carelessly. Then he yelped and dived under the table when the door opened again. Elisa eyed the offending table critically whilst Clotilde giggled.
“He’s silly!”
“He’s weird.”
“He’s brilliant,” Cosma said shortly, and then added, “that never meant
brave.” He looked up at Elisa. “Did you need something?”
The girl blinked and looked at him, “No, not really. I did wonder what had made Clotilde so noisy though. The kid’s smart but not rowdy.” Under her breath, low enough that Cosma wasn’t sure what he’d heard, she said, “No idea where she got that from.”
“We’re fine, I think,” Cosma glanced back at Clotilde, whom was smiling generally around the room. She seemed a very cheerful soul to be capable of smiling at a smelly dark tavern.
“Well that’s good,” Elisa said. Her face finally broke into a smile when she looked at her sister. It was quite the transformation for the tough and harsh impression Cosma had been building of her that he couldn’t help reacting to it.
“Huh,” he said, stupidly. Very, very stupidly, if one could here his internal monologue a few seconds after the fact.
“What?” The scowl was back. So was that gaze.
“Um…I didn’t know you could smile,” Cosma attempted. His Uncle had never given him much advice on women, aside from the being polite and gracious thing. That didn’t seem to be working here.
“Why shouldn’t I smile?” She scowled harder. She didn’t hold it for long before both sisters were laughing however. Cosma was thoroughly confused by this point and it was apparently showing on his face. As was his fear, no doubt. “Oh, your face,” she said finally. “Papa always has his war-face for scaring bad people and people he doesn’t like very much. I’m glad I can be scary.”
“Why-why would you want to be scary?” Cosma said, somewhat intrigued by the idea of a ‘war-face’ and whether his Uncle had one or not. And oddly enough, whether Elisa showing him her war-face meant she disliked him or not.
Elisa turned pensive and said nothing, wandering over to brush Clotilde’s hair (to her disagreement). “I don’t know. Because it’s the only way I can say I’m here, I suppose.”
Before Cosma could ask anymore questions, Madam Roe’s voice sounded from outside before the woman herself entered. “Come on, come on children! The smithy is a-waiting! Leone! Get off of that floor at once!” She advanced on the table where the hapless Leone was hiding before she spotted the two girls. “Oh, hello dears,” she said nicely. “Now come on boys! No time to waste today!”
Elisa waved at Madam Roe and picked up Clotilde (again, not without complaint). “I suppose we’ll see you around. Maybe leave the brilliant one at his desk if a girl frightens him so.”
Cosma tried to frown at that but found he couldn’t. In fact, he was if anything rather frustrated about leaving. He was too curious now about these two. He wondered if he would see them again. “I hope so. I can ask the Master and if he says no…I’ll…I’ll write to my Uncle too!”
Elisa smirked a little and Clotilde, she seemed to be holding out her arms to Cosma. Uncertain as to what to do, he lightly grasped her smaller wrist. He only had the smallest time to marvel at how soft her skin was and how vibrant her pulse before being gently pulled away by Madam Roe. Suddenly the tavern was not so dark and unappealing, not if it had produced and housed someone so alive.
“I’ll see you soon,” he said, and then they were gone.
}-:-{
This post is my 1,200th since joining the forum nearly two years ago now. I have enjoyed reading, commenting and writing (but mostly reading and commenting, with only 52 including this one being my own work
) many different and wonderful pieces of work in that time. This marks the temporary end of my own writing drought as I am back for the Christmas period and shall be aiming to release one new update every day, whether that be Little Dux, Albion or a Christmas project that I've just finished playing and enjoyed immensely. All that being said, a very Merry Christmas to you all, a Happy New Year and happy reading!
-TBC
