Love & Conquests

Chapter 5

There was a painful stab behind her eyes when the Esclavo woman finally cracked her eyes open the next day. She winced and blinked, and looked around her surroundings through a half-slit gaze. The bed and clean sheets were a surprise, and the wide window with dark purple, lace drapes was a curiosity to her. She had seen windows before on the tower back in Fort Esperanza, but she'd never seen them decorated so prettily.

The room she was in was clean, sterile. However, save for the bed and side table, the room was rather empty. She sat and sagged against the pillows, wondering what had happened to her. Someone took her, cleaned her, and fed her--that much she knew behind a haze of clipped memories. She recalled there was an unfamiliar man back in the fort. He had green eyes, just like all Conquistadors, and hair of midnight like hers. He was remarkably tall, but the Conquistadors all were--tall, strong bodied people, who always reminded her she could never equate to them.

There was a soft thud to her left and a stout woman entered the room, bringing along a tray of colorful liquids in a bowl and cup. The woman had streaks of white hair, but overall, she had a head of black curls. The Esclavo woman looked to the caretaker's eyes and she sighed inaudibly. The eyes weren't green or emerald; they were dark just like hers.

Agueda smiled at the juvenile sitting on the bed and gingerly placed the tray on the table. "Yer awek! De doctor is away right now on a morning visit. I prepared yer brikfast: mashed poteytoes and orinj joos." She sat beside the Esclavo and ran a hand through her hair. "Ye must eat. Edwardo, de skeleton by de window, is healthier looking dan you are."

The Esclavo opened and shut her mouth, making Agueda jerk with the incoherent noises she made. "Dhey chook mahy chaang." A tear drop ran along her cheek. The blade, the Capitan, the soldiers who held her in place, and the slow tearing of her tongue. She choked and wept, whimpering at what was lost. She put her hands on her belly. The babe--oh! the babe! What would the Capitan do to their child?

She raised her fists and beat her stomach. Death was more merciful than giving birth to the child!

Agueda quickly caught the Esclavo's wrists and screamed, "Stop! Yer only hurting yerself."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

The servants of a massive mansion, dubbed by its neighbors as Castillo Blanco due to its white walls, led Doctor Luciano to the parlor, where Capitan Mariano slouched on a settee with a glass of sherry in hand. Beside the Capitan was his pretty wife, Claudia, who read today's newspaper in her husband's ear. Upon the doctor's entrance into the foyer, Claudia put the paper down and smiled at him, waltzing towards him and reaching her hand to him. 

Doctor Luciano grinned and brought the lady's fingers to his lips and nodded to Mariano. "Capitan, what ails you this morning?" the doctor said matter-of-fact.

Claudia crossed to the door and said, "I shall leave you two, then. Doctor, would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you," he said.

The lady bowed her head to the gentlemen and closed the door behind her, giving the men privacy.

"Did I not tell you, Luciano, to come to me as soon as you learn more of the Esclavo's disease?" the Capitan barked.  He drank the remains of his drink and set the glass on the table beside him. He ran a hand through his hair and gave the doctor a quizzing, dark eye.

"You seem to be concerned over this particular Esclavo," Luciano murmured.

"Damn it, Luciano! What ails the b***h? I cannot have my men catch what she caught!"

Luciano stared at the Capitan with a darkling eye, noting the flush creeping from his neck to his face. "A sexually transmitted disease, I assume," the doctor said.

The color from the Capitan's face drained and his hands trembled. He sank deeper in his seat, stared at the doctor with wide eyes, and stammered, "H-how could she have caught it? I-is it curable?"

"As I've said, Capitan, the disease is sexually transmitted. She could have gotten it from an infected individual, which I first thought to be implausible. We have a definite law on breeding Esclavos: an Esclavo female must reach the age of 18 before she is partnered with an Esclavo male and permitted to mate. Based on the inventory one of your men presented to me, this particular Esclavo female has just turned 17, and her designated partner, a young buck of twenty summers, is in Fort Victoria, 13 kilometers away from Fort Esperanza."

"Then how could she have caught it?" exclaimed the Capitan.

"Seeing that Fort Esperanza houses only Esclavo females, I've had three guesses: first, the Esclavo female could have escaped the fort one night, walked to Fort Victoria, as it is the closest, and broke into an Esclavo male's bunk. My second guess is vice versa of the first, but if either is true, then it may speak volumes on how lax you and your guards are. You wouldn't want your father, the Governor-general, to hear of your negligence."

The Capitan glared at the doctor. "Your third guess?" he hissed.

"My third guess: she was r***d by any of your men."

"r***d!" the Capitan snapped. "You know well we have a law against mating with the Esclavo."

"Yes, but it didn't stop our ancestors before," the doctor said.

"That was before we had the sense that the Esclavos were filthy. And how dare you accuse my men of r**e!"

"I accuse no one, Capitan."

"The disease, is it curable?" the Capitan asked with a hopeful, light gleam in his eyes.

"No," the doctor said matter-of-fact, and the Capitan's face fell. "Our study in medicine and the human body isn't as advanced as I'd like it to be. However, as long as you can assure to me none of your men touched the Esclavo female, then you're safe, all of you."

A pregnant silence came over them, and the Capitan looked away from the doctor, lost in thought. 

Doctor Luciano bade the Capitan and Claudia a goodbye and took leave. He walked on the sidewalk swinging his cane and chuckling softly to himself. He wanted to scare the Capitan, and he did. It was a story he needed to share with Agueda.

He opened his clinic door and heard a plate crash and Agueda scream. He ran fast to where he heard the sounds, and found the nursemaid breathing hard on the floor. The Esclavo woman he was treating was on her feet. When he clapped his eyes with hers, the Esclavo froze, blinked her eyes twice, and fell to the floor beside the bed; and blood ran from between her thighs.