“How far do you want me to go?” she asked.
“Only as far as is comfortable. Don’t do anything you find distasteful or uncomfortable. And try really hard to avoid hurting her. She’s only a working girl trying to pay rent.”
“And if she likes girls, should I bed her to learn more? Would you like to watch us together, in the bath, washing and touching and kissing each other?” She was teasing me now, I hope.
“I agreed to allow you other women when you needed them. If you need to be with a woman, then do so.” I snapped.
She came to me then, “I’m sorry, Jason, I was only joking. I promised fidelity to you in Immersea and have kept that promise. I don’t need a woman now but if watching us would make you happy, I will for you.”
She was good. That was exactly what she knew I wanted to hear and exactly how I wanted to hear it. First the tease, then back down with an apology then an offer to make it seem like my wish. “That won’t be necessary. I’m after information, not entertainment.”
We headed to the bathing room, another reason why I chose this place for the outer and cheaper Inns never considered the idea that their patrons understood cleanliness. The culture of the time was ‘bathe when you are born, bathe when you die and avoid water in between’ so it was only a rare visitor, usually from the Ottoman Empire or the Far East that used a bath. As we walked she asked, “Jason, with Diane, did she ‘entertain’ you like that?”
“No. Our love life is pretty normal and average. But, Lys, you or Diane excite me. All you have to do is touch me and I’m excited. It’s a guy thing but when we kiss, it immediately makes our brains fall down and get mr happy ready. We can’t help it, we are made that way no matter how much we try.”
“Mister Happy? Did you name your penis now?” she cried in amazement.
“No! I was using a euphamism.”
“I like it. Gregor called his ‘the Tower of Power!’ Other men name theirs ‘Ramrod Randy’ or ‘The Beast that Never Sleeps’ or ‘Pussy Eater’. At least ‘Mister Happy’ makes it seem like fun and not a fight they need to win.” She was laughing now and I always enjoyed her laugh. She had high cheekbones and a wonderful smile. She’d often spend her money on her teeth over her stomach when she was a street-walker and it paid off. “Does Mister Happy want to play tonight after he is nice and clean?” she was staring down now and so I turned away because to tell the truth, I did.
Fortunately, the prostitute from the common room was waiting there to distract me. “My Lord, I didn’t know if I should undress or not. Some men like to watch, others don’t. What will please yourself?” She tried to curtsey but was obviously not trained for that but I’m the kind of guy who uses titles and courtesy as a tool, not a lifestyle so didn’t bother to change her.
“Strip to your shift if you will please. And scrub our backs. It’s been a long trail and I enjoy being clean.” I didn’t want her only dress to be ruined by the bathwater though it could use a washing. She did undress then, trying to be as sexy as she could and between my earlier conversation with Lys and her show, I wasn’t ready to strip yet myself. “Problems, Jason?” Lys asked when she noticed my discomfort.
“On Haven, we wear little clothing and sometimes you forget just how attractive a lot of clothes make a woman and you definitely forget how sexual a good stripping can be. But thanks for the comment. I need to focus on the job at hand.”
I thought about the Keep, the Orcs, the undead, even the dragon making plans and counter plans as I slowly undressed. Lys did ask the girl to help her because if she had offered to undress me, I don’t know what I’d do. I wanted to watch but forced myself to think of rotting corpses and how to kill them and soon enough I could finish undressing and get into the tub.
I let Lys handle the conversation as we washed and she scrubbed our backs. The girl thinking we were just getting ready for the sex and she quickly opened up, “A lot of men pass through here both ways. They are always bragging about what they are going to do and what they saw and how they will take me away but they never do.” I just relaxed, cleaned the dust off and listened to Lyssandra flirt with the girl and draw her out. She was old enough to be the girl’s mother, maybe even her grandmother and by the time she was finished, the girl would have given her a freebie and had told us everything we needed to know. Felix wasn’t here. He had been but left three days ago for the Keep. And he had a magickian in tow. The sorcerer was old and had to ride a wagon but stank like he had been rolling around in a grave. Felix also bought anything the necromancer wanted, without question or bargaining.
When we were done, I faked a yawn and told the girl, “I’m really tired now. Too tired for your more than adequate services so please take this as payment for wasting your time and perhaps we can try tomorrow?” I then handed her a silver drachma which would buy her room and food and single-bed sleeping for a month. She looked at the coin, more than she had ever seen in one place and threw her dress on and left unlaced before I changed my mind.
“You did a good job, Lys. Now we know that Felix really does intend to bring Merrick back and has the tools to do that. Felix may be a master strategist but he is too cheap to throw money around like that. So he is serious.”
“Now what?” she asked, resisting the urge to add ‘I told you so’.
“We rest up, get a good night’s sleep and a good meal and chase him down tomorrow. He’ll have to rest overnight and that body will attract attention, if only wolves, flies and other vermin which will have to be fought off. I think when Merrick returns and finds himself infested with maggots, he’ll not be happy with Felix.”
So we dressed, had a good meal and some wine and left word to have our horses saddled by dawn. Then we returned to our room where as we undressed and slipped into bed together for warmth, Lys whispered, “Would Mister Happy like to play? It has been over a year for me and I’ve missed you.”
“Lys, I’m not ready for this yet. I’m still hurt and I’m still angry with you. We still have things to work out.”
She stiffened but said, “I understand. When you are ready, if you are ever ready, please let me know.” Then she rolled over but not before, I noticed, her hand moved across my erection. She then snuggled her ass against me with a sigh and fell asleep.
The truth is that I wanted her. I thought I hated her but the feelings of love were back. And as I lay there, watching the moon approach full through the shutters, I thought about how we fought in Immersea after killing Merrick. How I called her every nasty name I knew and how she took it. If I had really hated her, I would have killed her and left or just left, but I … we tried to solve the problems and you don’t do that unless you were still in love. Diane and I may have fought while together but we worked hard to remain close. From my point, I was jealous and hurt that Lys found other people more desirable than me. I could, now, easily understand her need for women but back then I was too young to be so accommodating. And now I could allow that without being jealous because a woman could give her things I couldn’t. But she’d promised to never turn me down for a woman or allow a woman to come between us so we negotiated her bi-sexuality to both of our satisfactions, the happily offering to share her lovers to seal our agreement. She had promised fidelity and to never be with another man and if I could believe that, we had a chance. But then, there was always the feeling that she sought other men because they were bigger or better or more imaginative or in some way better than me and she’d always miss them, that she’d done things with them that she refused to do with me and that was a problem and neither of us had a resolution. She had said ‘I did that so they wouldn’t leave me’ or ‘I did that because they paid me to do it’. And I’d respond, ‘you’d do that with someone you didn’t care for but not for the man you love?’ and we’d fight again, neither understanding the other. The fact is that I didn’t care if she did those acts with me or not, I cared that she’d want to do them to make me happy.
I cared that she’d love me enough to give me something that she’d never given anyone else. And that wasn’t going to happen.
At least with Diane and Kore, they tried to be good wives and neither gave me cause to doubt ther love. And so with those unresolved problems lying next to me, I finally managed to get some sleep.
***
Morning arrived far too early and Lys was shaking me, “Wake up! Get dressed, have breakfast and let’s go! The horses are ready, I’ve got enough food and water for the trip ready. You’d almost think you didn’t want to stop him!”
I wasn’t in the army anymore. I didn’t need to get up this early. And I still wasn’t certain I hated Felix enough to chase after him. Yes, those first few months I would have gladly torn him limb from limb but for me it was a century ago and a hundred years dulls the hatred and anger. Time is like that. Love lasts forever but anger and hatred fade eventually. If I killed him now, it would be to stop Merrick, not for revenge. But Lys was still in that hatred mood and was willing to listen to my concerns about night travel but now the sun was almost up and she saw an end to her pain and a chance to rebuild her life.
I reached for my pants, then washed my face to wake up, dressed and said, “Toss this inside a loaf of bread and I’ll eat it in the saddle.” Then I cleaned my teeth and shoved my feet into my boots, buckled my broadsword and allowed her to lead me outside. “I’ve paid the bill already and woke up the map-maker. This is the best map they had. He buys information from everyone who manages to return, updates the maps and sells them to the next bunch.”
I mounted, shoved the sandwich into my lap and looked the map over. This one was far more detailed and showed the main river weaving northeast, the secondary river coming southwest through Iskandar instead of west, the main road northeast bypassing the Keep and an abandoned road through the forest from Iskandar to the Keep. It also showed abandoned villages and another abandoned fort with a scale and notes all over. “How good is this direct road?” I asked as I took a bite.
“I’m told that it’s good enough for a horse but too overgrown for a wagon. Felix will have to take the new road northeast, ford the river there, then the old guard road south to the Keep. If we cut directly east, we can meet him there before he brings Merrick back.” I wanted to tell her that revenge was too costly but then, I spent years returning to Baghdad to hunt down and kill those slavers who abused me when I was a kid so who was I to talk.
Looking over the map, unless we met with trouble along the road, we could be at the Keep long before dark. So we trotted for a few kilometers, then walked then trotted, alternating to make time and rest the horses and in a few hours reached the hills through which passed the main river. The road led through a pass that would be easily defended by a few men and although the hills were too low to be called mountains, they were rough and impassible by horse and would slow a foot army down considerably.
After maybe two kilometers of this pass, parts of which were carved and leveled but now in need of repair, we reached the town. It was small and burned so long ago that even the map didn’t list its name. It was just a group of houses on the river where another stream across moved to the east. The road touched the village then entered the river to exit just north of the Keep which was on a large hill overlooking the river, stream, the pass and the ford. Militarily, that small Keep could control this entire area since it overlooked the river and could control that traffic, it overlooked the only pass through these hills for dozens of kilometers on either side and it overlooked the only ford across the river in dozens of kilometers.
“Let’s explore this village before we cross. I want to be certain that we won’t be cut off or attacked from behind.”
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VILLAGE OF THE DEAD
The village was in ruins. It had been burned and leveled a century ago, rebuilt and re-burned a dozen times since and the only reason it wasn’t overgrown by the forest was because the land was too rocky to support that kind of vegetation. There were maybe a half-hundred houses originally, a large fishing town that grew up in the shadow of the Keep’s protection. Many cities started that way, a castle to subdue or protect the area, civilians moving in to feed the castle and to benefit from its protection, more people moving in and as the land became peaceful, the castle was abandoned and raided for building materials. I could see the ruins of the Keep across the river and some of the houses here looked like they had stolen dressed stone from the Keep itself. Other houses could be identified only by a pile of sticks and stones under a tree or brush as the grain and fruit in the destroyed home took root. Some were stone foundations only and a few looked like they had been repaired over and over again, cannibalizing the less habitable houses for materials.
We found one stone foundation with an overhanging tree at two of the corners and a brush canopy and set our horses within. “Someone decided that these walls would make a good paddock. See how they built a sun-shade from those trees to the corner. It also hides the horses from the Keep. A water trough too and lots of grass. This must be a popular starting point for the keep.”
“Imagine, an entire town like Iskandar making its living off treasure hunting fools. They must advertise the wealth of the keep all over Hungary and Romania.” She replied. “I wonder if there really IS any gold there?”
“Are you getting diverted?”
She snapped back, “No! I still want Felix killed but when it’s over, what then? I’ve spent the last year thinking of nothing but his death and the seven years before that you took care of me. So we kill him. What do I do next? Beg you into taking me back? I’ve done that so many times I can say then words in my sleep. Do I share you with your other women and be another aging harem-girl awaiting the call of my master? Or do I join another mercenary company and fight the Turks until I’m dead or too old to lift a sword? Or maybe return to my old profession? Do you know the perverts an old whore has to service? I have no money, Jason. I have no prospects. I never gave it much thought but if you won’t take me back or there isn’t any gold in that Keep, I don’t know where my next meal or bed will be.”
She changed the subject then, “I couldn’t sleep so spent the night while you were snoring I was waking up the shopkeepers for gear. Your purse is lighter but we have ropes, candles, torches, oil and more gear than we can carry. I thought that an arrow may work on the Saxons but not on the undead so I brought oil and torch for them. And if we burn Merrick, he won’t come back either.”
I looked over the gear she had plus what I grabbed from Haven and had to admit, “You did a very good job here. I’m really impressed with the thought you put into this and how well you were able to carry it out. If you showed this ability in Arabel, I would have made you my lieutenant.”
She smiled then added, “I’ve always been this way. I just never needed to express it while I was with you because you did it all yourself.”
“Brains, beauty and ability. No wonder I loved you.”
She smiled at me then and curtseyed, “You never did like the buxom brainless blondes that Felix chased. All he wanted was big breasts on a blonde mattress. You liked big breasts, which I don’t have, but you liked to talk to me too. So I learned to use my brains to keep you entertained when we weren’t in bed. Thank you for thinking so well of me, it means more than you can imagine to have a man think I am more than what’s between my spread legs.”
If she was working me like a john, it was working. “Let’s check over the rest of the town and see about fording that river.” We made certain that the horses had food and water but left them saddled in case we needed to leave in a hurry and then went exploring.
Everywhere the town was in ruins. But there were a few houses that had been repaired. Most of these were under trees and hidden from the Keep or anyone overhead or on the ground. But even these looked like camps and not residences. It was as if someone had come here intending to raid the Keep and set up a base
camp in secret. Then the next team added on and on. Someone had even spread wheat to grow in the streets. There was a great deal of burning, some old and some newer as if the Orcs had torched the village when they raided. “Or,” added Lys, “If there is a dragon, it would have burned the town before eating the people.”
“If there were a dragon, you’d think that there would be evidence. Tracks, scat, claws or loosened scales. Unless the attacks are rare and people took them as souvenirs, there should be some proof. I won’t rule out a dragon because when we were chasing those bandits into Dracula’s castle, Erik insisted that vampires didn’t exist, … until they grabbed the priest and ate him in front of us. But I’m inclined to think that are Orcs, probably Saxon bandits who wandered too far from Germany.”
“What about this?”
She had come across the remains of a horse, now mostly bones and those broken and crushed. Another lay beyond in the same condition. “It looks like they ran for their lives, were killed on the run then their killer returned to eat them at its leisure. These are old kills though. Maybe a year or more with rats finishing the remains. I wonder why the wolves and dogs didn’t eat the rest?”
She turned a rib, half buried in the road with her dagger and suggested, “Maybe the dragon marked its kill and the wolves couldn’t stand the smell?”
“Do you think there is a dragon?” a new voice asked. Looking up we saw six men, all armed but only half as soldiers, the rest a rag-tag group of thieves and clerics and even a couple of women. They moved to surround us as we stood. “Next time,” I said, “We keep an ear open for visitors. I am Jason Obrien, Lord Innis, Baron Haven. And who are you?”
The leader didn’t answer but looked past us at two more who arrived, “We found their horses, these are the only ones here unless they have foot soldiers too.”
I looked around and saw archers but their stance showed a lack of practice. So we were against five soldiers, three with spears, two with axes and swords. Two carrying bows but obviously more skilled at cutting purses and a monk. Getting past the spears would be the problem.