The Broken Melody [malexmale]

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"Such fine hair for such a young lad," Lancelot muttered as he took his shears to my hair.

I held my breath, watching the long black locks fall to the floor at our feet. It joined the hay for the horses that were currently grazing in the field outside. I lifted my eyes to stare out of the barn, at what I had come to call home. It was a quaint cottage out in the country, two stories high, with ample room for children. One such his wife was expecting soon.

"And where did you hail from where such hair was necessary?" Lancelot asked. I swallowed nervously, dropping my eyes to the floor. I couldn't tell Lancelot I was a former prostitute and a runaway slave. In this realm, it was easier to escape slavery... until bounty hunters were called from the otherworlds to hunt them down, but the madame had been human. She may have known of our world, but she surely didn't have the connections to call upon a bounty hunter.

"I... lost my family," I said after a long pause, and Lancelot hesitated in cutting my hair before continuing with the swift sharp scrap of the blade against my hair, "My mother forced me to grow my hair out long. She liked it that way." It felt odd to refer to the madame as mother, but she was in a way my mother, as she was the one who had raised me.

"Tis a pity," he said softly, "To lose one's family... You are young. How long have you been without?"

"For... a very long time."

"My deepest condolences," Lancelot said, then gave his head a shake and surprised me when he smacked his hand on my back, not with the intention of violence, I don't think, but to get my attention, "But know here, you shall be treated as the man that you will become one day, aye? None of this frilly hair business. And your hands are too soft, too delicate. We shall put you to work right away. Now on your feet, lad." I stood as Lancelot picked up the stool I'd been seated in and set it aside. He handed me a broom.

"Sweep up here and then come find me. I shall give you a list of duties to have here," he explained. I nodded eagerly, watching him lumber off to the cottage. There, his wife would be waiting, perhaps with a bountiful meal, warm and home cooked. His wife was beautiful, oddly so. There was something royal about her, the way she carried herself with her head held high and her hands clasped neatly in front of her, and she did not bow to Lancelot. If anything, he bowed to her when they met before he put his arms around her possessively. Almost as if he were asking for permission to do so.

How incredible.

Back at the brothel, no such thing happened. If anything, we were required to bow to our clients and once they entered the building, they were allowed to do whatever they wished to us. Even if we did not like it. But kissing... The way Lancelot kissed his wife, his Gwen, no such kissing occurred in the brothel.

Nay, the way they kissed was... intimate. Deep. Romantic. It almost made me crave it myself.

I went to work, sweeping out the barn. I knew by heart the job of a stable boy, as I'd watched our own from the window, seen him change the water, feed the horses, and every so often, he would sneak them a carrot or apple. I wished to keep the horses in this stable just as happy.

So I went to change the water in the trough, slowing as I pulled the bucket up from the well. I stared at my reflection, awed by what I saw staring back at me. There was no longer a little girl staring back at me, looking dull and empty. No, instead... twas a boy, staring back at me with hazel eyes, hair as black as night, but cut short. Not nearly as short as Lancelot's, but short. So much shorter. And when it was this short, my hair was straighter. I looked... happier.

I smiled slowly and got to work.

I did everything Lancelot instructed me to do, from shoveling manure to tending the horses to even cleaning the house. And not only did Lancelot enjoy my company, but as did his wife, Gwen.