Out in the crisp air of the early evening, where gulls cried
admonitions out one to the other about accepting food from two-legged
creatures, two well-dressed gentlemen walked with practiced ease in fine
clothes and polished shoes.
"Thought you said you wasn't Kelthanni."
"Ya know where'm from."
"Her name sounds native."
"Yeah, 'cause she is."
"She gonna be square with us?"
"Yeah, 'cause she is."
"She gonna be square with us?"
"Yeah."
The reply bore the unmistakable tone of offense, and the first speaker wisely bided his time for a few moments before posing his next query.
"Gets a lot o' work, does she?" he asked his companion as he fussed with a pocket watch chain that was placing an unaccustomed and uncomfortable weight across the lower part of his belly.
The reply bore the unmistakable tone of offense, and the first speaker wisely bided his time for a few moments before posing his next query.
"Gets a lot o' work, does she?" he asked his companion as he fussed with a pocket watch chain that was placing an unaccustomed and uncomfortable weight across the lower part of his belly.
"Yeah," the second gentleman responded
solidly. "From better than the likes of us.
Others makes appointments, calls 'er 'my lady', pays ahead and such like- me, I walks in with me coin in 'and, 'cause time was, we was
familiar, ya satisfied?"
"Before or after 'er eyes was put out?" the first
gentleman asked with an edge of wickedness to his tone.
"Before, ya great shit," the second gentleman
shot back, again offended. "Some other pissant give her a babe- Aubrieta- whilst I was away,
and she was all business after that, to keep it fed. Didn't 'ave time for
the old distractions."
"Aw, c'moff it," the first man snorted. "Some idjit hopped 'er and ran, and you didn't want to raise no issue that wasn't yours. Now you're draggin' every tom cat that owes you coin by 'er, so's the coppers they toss 'er puts damp on the guilt in your bones."
"Aw, c'moff it," the first man snorted. "Some idjit hopped 'er and ran, and you didn't want to raise no issue that wasn't yours. Now you're draggin' every tom cat that owes you coin by 'er, so's the coppers they toss 'er puts damp on the guilt in your bones."
The second man grabbed a fistful of the first's jacket,
dragging him close enough to himself to headbutt.
"Ya say a thing like that again, an' I'll take an 'ammer to yar seed sacks, savvy?"
"Savvy, Lorry; proper savvy," the first man said with a tremor of concern in his
tone.
The second man let go of the first with a shove, and dusted
his hands off on each other as though he'd finished a difficult task.
"Pilar was quality before, and she still is- don't ask me 'ow. 'Onest enough, considerin' the clientele 'round 'ere. An' she'll feel the
magic in the stupid thing better'an'at tuppence rabbit's foot peddler ya took it to last
month. 'A great raven flyin' over grey ice,' my gran's knickers. Man was
a pageant clown, or I'm Saint Bert."
"Godsyee g'den, Saint Bertie," the first man snickered, winning himself a warning glare from the second.
"Godsyee g'den, Saint Bertie," the first man snickered, winning himself a warning glare from the second.
Pilar, a well-fleshed woman with a simple, sleeveless dress, and a lovely
satin sash over her empty eye sockets, turned her head over her earthy brown right shoulder
as though she had heard something. Turning straight once more, she carefully felt
for the depression in the saucer, then rested her tea cup in it.
"Aubri," she called, "snuff a few more
candles out there."
"But Mama," Aubrieta replied from the far side of
the kitchen, "t'ere's only mebbe four burnin' as 'tis. You'll go
about fine, and the likes o' me'll be peggin' our toes."
"Might you put one out, mi bellissima principessa? Just one per tua Mamma, eh?" the appraiser smiled. "It's only to spook Ser Lorrigan's debtor, who thinks so poorly of us both."
"Might you put one out, mi bellissima principessa? Just one per tua Mamma, eh?" the appraiser smiled. "It's only to spook Ser Lorrigan's debtor, who thinks so poorly of us both."
"Oh, the 'im what's been chewin' Ser Lorry's ear off this past bit? I'll put you out two, Mamma." And Aubrieta moved the twelve paces, from the kitchen to the
area on the other side of the dark fabric curtain, to put the chipped shot glass that had been designated for the purpose at hand to use. "Wouldn't mind that lot peggin' 'is toe."
Without the aid of the two freshly snuffed candles, the area that the two ladies considered "the front room" grew darker and spookier, filled with unexplained shapes and sudden edges that, had the place been fully lit, would have proved to merely be harmless statuettes, crystals, tongs, walking canes, brooms, or flower baskets.
"How kind you are," Pilar joked. "How many biscuits and apricots have we left? Enough for company?"
"I'll count," Aubrieta answered cheerily, moving carefully toward the cupboards on the far side of the kitchen area.
Without the aid of the two freshly snuffed candles, the area that the two ladies considered "the front room" grew darker and spookier, filled with unexplained shapes and sudden edges that, had the place been fully lit, would have proved to merely be harmless statuettes, crystals, tongs, walking canes, brooms, or flower baskets.
"How kind you are," Pilar joked. "How many biscuits and apricots have we left? Enough for company?"
"I'll count," Aubrieta answered cheerily, moving carefully toward the cupboards on the far side of the kitchen area.
The two gentlemen made it to the door of the small, simple
homestead some five minutes later, still bitterly discussing the appraiser's skill.
"She's blind after all!" the first gentleman was
exclaiming, as though he hadn't made the same point about ten different ways
along the road.
"Shut it so's I can concentrate," the second gentleman growled
savagely. " 'Lady Pilar Idecci'- yeah, this is the place; not much bigger 'an the last one, anyway. Where's the bloody thing? Right. Rap the door- and mind
ya'self."
"Right, right."
"Right, right."
The first gentleman obeyed the second, knocking firmly on
the simple wood door with the contested item in his hot hand. After
a few moments, a wide-eyed young female adult with coal black hair longer than the patched dress she wore opened the door- slowly, as though she might close it again
upon any provocation. But none came, and the door soon stood completely
open, allowing the meager light from the lanterns on the road outside to spill
in upon her. Lack of sun, meagerness of food options, and insufficient clean water dulled and dried her deep coffee brown skin,
but couldn't completely defeat the promise of healthy breasts, generous
hips, or the power of the muscles that were bound tightly to her slender
bones.
"Aubrieta," the second gentleman smiled, putting a
preemptive elbow into his companion's side. "Ya're nearly grown,
child; nearly grown indeed. It's me sent that message for ya mum; did
ya get it?"
"We did," the young woman smiled, her unusually
straight, white teeth gleaming like bleached bones exposed in a desert.
"Mama's been sitting in the parlor for an hour now, knowing you'd come
this very evening. She just took tea there- come in, and I'll put the
rest of the hot water to good use."
"We've a couple lions between us, to pay a
reading," the second gentleman agreed. "Good or bad.
We'll pay, good or bad- won't we, Ser William?"
The first gentleman, who looked as though he wasn't of a
mind to pay for a bad tea leaf reading, hadn't managed to get more than one
syllable out of his mouth before his companion sliced back into the
conversation.
"Of course we will. Now, where's the lady 'erself- down this way? By Selune, it's darker in 'ere than it was on the
road- oops! I think the good ser's sent something tumbling. Mind
ya'self, ser; keep ya arms close. Like a galley, sav?"
"Bloody brig's roomier," William complained,
picking his way past items of whose names and possible uses he was quite
ignorant.
"Ey!" the second gentleman shot,
this time about his companion's language.
"We're not so very delicate," Pilar
soothed, turning a lovely smile in the gentlemen's direction. Like her
daughter, her teeth were quite straight, but time, tea, and poor nutrition had
weakened and stained them. Still, even with the light fabric pulled over
her eyes, her high cheeks, unscarred brown skin, and thick black hair were lovely to
look at. William, who was much more used to being Bull Billy, could see
at once why the pale skinned, blond haired Lorry the Lewd might take a liking to her.
"Come, both of you- step just a bit closer, and Aubri
will cleanse you."
"Cleanse-?"
Before Billy's sentence was finished, both men found themselves
blinking their eyes and rubbing at their cheeks due to vinegar being forcefully
sprinkled on them with a leafy branch from some shrub or tree. Seconds
after this, Aubri walked into their view, carrying a smoking bundle of sage
whose aroma pushed at once against the walls of the place. Lorry was surprised enough, but quiet. Billy puffed
and coughed as though he had been trapped in a much smaller room with a bonfire.
In the time that it had taken for these things to happen,
the appraiser was able to sense the magic in Billy's ill-gotten item.
"Aubri, put the implements away and let the gentlemen
give you the thing that they wish to have me study. Be careful; whatever
it is, it's quite serious."
"Ah-hah," Lorry breathed quietly to Billy, who
was still offering up short barking coughs because of the sage smoke.
Aubri disappeared into the area beyond the curtain for a
moment, then returned and pushed an unannounced finger into Billy's left
hand, where the ring was. Surprisingly enough for the man, his hand
sprung open, and the girl was able to pluck the ring away with no contest at
all.
"Hey, a witch! They're charm hags," Billy
whispered angrily to Lorry, who glared at him in response. "I'd no intention of just givin' 'er the
bloody thing, but off she goes with it!"
"Shush," Lorry hissed.
"Give it back, Aubri; I have no desire to be hanged or burned," the appraiser commanded her daughter. Aubri, who had
taken a few seconds to turn the ring over in her own hand, walked it back to Billy and, picking up his now-sweaty hand, pressed it back into the palm. With that done, she turned on her heel and returned to the front room.
"Bring it close to me, won't you, Ser William? I understand
you don't prefer to be parted from it, but-"
"Hang off, you hag," Billy objected. "It were
near stolen from me just now; you won't get it any nearer you, or your brat's quick fingers,
than it is right this moment."
"Ya shut that up now; she's an honest woman, and she's
tryna work," Lorry argued, trying valiantly
to keep his voice quiet and controlled.
"Working my arse; the bag's a fraud!" Billy
laughed bitterly. "Draggin' folk into a den darker than death to be
showered with vinegar and choked with smoke. She's pretty enough, but
you're mad to give 'er a copper for this pageantry, and-"
"Shut up or I'll make ya sorry," Lorry
threatened as he grabbed hold of Billy's right arm, suddenly vicious.
"Let him talk, if he's going to," the appraiser
soothed. "If I weren't concerned about the ramifications, I'd have
cursed him already. He's a lucky man, and can't even begin to imagine
why."
"What are the ramifications?" Aubri asked as she returned with two tea cups and saucers,
interested only in her mother's words.
"I'm not sticking here to be cursed by a pair of
hags," Billy declared. "C'mon, let me go!"
Aubrieta put the cups down on her mother's right side as though everything were going pleasantly.
Aubrieta put the cups down on her mother's right side as though everything were going pleasantly.
"I'll not let this penny-idiot cry witchery on you,
Pilar; don't fear," Lorry grumbled. "Now, you listen good,
Billy- take a step away from here, and so soon as we board, I'll call every
bloody coin I'm wantin' of you."
"Aw, you wouldn't," Bull Billy joked half-heartedly,
pocketing the item and wiping hands that were already hot and dry on the coat
that didn't at all belong to him. Lorry glared daggers into Billy's eyes, so that he- despite being a longshoreman physically taller and heavier than the wiry cooper who threatened him- wilted. "Bert's beard, you would."
"What're the ramifications?" Aubri repeated,
toying with the ends of her long hair.
"I might tell you, if I were near enough to be sure of
them," the appraiser sighed, putting her right elbow on the table, about four inches away from the closest of the two tea cups, and
lifting the open palm of that hand. The weak brown liquid in the cups that was pretending to be tea trembled in response.
"Right, give it to 'er," Lorry commanded
firmly. "A cross word, and you'd better find me every coin."
"Oooh, poor Ser William; be kind to him, Ser Lorrigan," Pilar laughed, putting her still-empty hand back down on the
table. "Sit down, both of you, like guests of the
house. Unless you're convinced that I'll charm you stupid with twice
boiled tea and week-old biscuits?"
Aubrieta smiled at the hint and moved quickly back toward
the kitchen. Billy watched her go, then looked at Lorry's rock solid
face.
"No, you won't be charming me stupid with tea and
biscuits. Or at least no stupider than I already feel," he relented
at last, moving to the round table at which the appraiser sat and sitting one
chair away from her right side. "You ever play poker with this
thief?"
"When he'd finally gotten time to teach me, I no longer had time to learn," the appraiser
smiled sadly, her kind nostalgia flooding Lorrigan's heart with regret immediately. "He's not quite a thief, but I will agree that little
separates him from that title, especially when cards are involved. Come,
Lorry; sit down. This appraisal, since you finally intend to trust me
with it, will take time. Might I please touch the item? I think we
all can agree that I can't see it."
Billy fished around in his too-large side pocket for a
moment before coming back up with the item- an intricately carved silver band
with writing carefully etched into the inside of it. Despite not bearing
a gem of any sort, and being just slightly dimmed at the sides due to having
been worn, it was still striking.
"Thank you," the appraiser sighed smilingly as she
accepted the thing in her right hand. "Now, where did you get this-
and tell the truth. It doesn't affect it's worth, but there is serious
magic here, and we must be quite careful with what we don't know
about it."
Billy looked at Lorry, who sighed as his face melted into
its normal calm. Greatly relieved, Billy answered, "It's stolen, methinks. I got it of an alchemist, who said he got it of a mountain city
guardsman with a taste for Black Pepper."
Pilar's smooth dark face pinched a bit. "What?
What's that?"
"It's brainweed cooked in wine and mushrooms, straight
from the Underdark," Lorry replied. "Don't know who came up
with it, Elf or Human, but it chews you up and spits you out like a
Giant. Get caught with it just about anywhere, and they won't leave enough of ya to hang- we don't even ship the stuff. If were
gotten of the sort of folks who will... well... it weren't gotten by askin'
pretty please, know what I mean?"
"Where the guardsman got it from is anybody's
guess," Billy admitted.
"Why ya was marketin' with a Black Pepper broker is anybody's guess," Lorry shot back bitterly.
"Why ya was marketin' with a Black Pepper broker is anybody's guess," Lorry shot back bitterly.
The appraiser ran the fingers of her left hand delicately
over the detail work on the outside of the band, then quietly touched the
inside of it with a single feather-light finger. "A not-so-innocent alchemist who got it from a not-so-lawful guardsman; hmmmm. Well, it definitely came from someone of a higher station than he; this sort of thing rightfully belongs to an extremely successful
adventurer, or to an old landed noble. And...
hmm... did the alchemist happen to refer to the guardsman's race?"
"Nope," William replied, watching
Aubrieta return with a small earthen plate with six small biscuits on
it. Off to the side, sliced into four parts, was a sweet smelling
orangy-red fruit with which he was unfamiliar.
"He himself was Human enough, though."
"Well, this band is not. This is...
hmm. Deeply and skillfully done- too fine to be Dwarven, but not fine enough for a Drow. The characters are so similar, hmm... but... no. No, the Dragonborn don't like these sorts of games. Come, Aubri- look at this per tua Mamma. Tell me whether or not
this is a thorny vine here."
Lorry served himself two biscuits and a piece of fruit, breaking the latter in half so that he could put each half atop a biscuit.
Lorry served himself two biscuits and a piece of fruit, breaking the latter in half so that he could put each half atop a biscuit.
Aubrieta obediently moved around both gentlemen to her
mother's right shoulder, and peered over it at the ring. "Yes, Mamma,
it is. And... I think the entire vine had a color, once. There's only a
bit of it left, so I'm not s-"
"It was red, principessa mia; red like the matching image on the
owner's neck. Gentlemen, you have a Netherese master's ring."
"No," Aubrieta gasped without pretense, putting all the very real surprise
that both men were suppressing within themselves on full display.
"Oh yes," Pilar nodded. "Be
careful who sees this, who touches it, and what magic is practiced upon
it. Think of it as a very powerful chain. There is another ring like this one, and wearing it is whomever or whatever you own. Imagine that their ring is like a collar lined with spikes, hmm? Well, at the moment, the
chain is slack, because you aren't pulling your end. But any command- direct, offhanded- even a
cross thought, would do just that, bringing worlds of pain, or even death, to your unfortunate property. A few black hearted Human wizards and warlocks weave similar enchantments, but the tawdry little baubles would fail to hold even a young child, once it got a few feet away from you. Higher quality items are Drow-made, as they are accustomed to making slaves out of anyone who's managed to cross them, even their own kind, but those only work within some hundred miles. The Netherese, as a race, are almost all enamored of every form of agony, and accordingly, this
enchantment is powerful enough that a master on the Shadow Plane could very painfully dominate a strong-willed adult slave on this plane. This is why one doesn't hear of very many escaped Netherese slaves."
Lorry gave a short, annoyed grunt and sipped at his tea. For a few moments, William simply stared at the appraiser.
"Non gliene frega un cazzo," Aubrieta spat
suddenly. "Digli solo quanto vale e poi poissamo tradirlo con i vicini bastardi. Lo uccideranno; non spezzerebbe l'incantesimo?"
"Se questo avesse un effetto, principessa, non avremmo affato questo problema," the woman answered, the sound somewhere
between an exasperated sigh and a contemplative mumble. "Ser William, the piece
itself is masterwork. Add on the cost of the monstrously strong- and fully active- enchantment in it, the detail on it, and the message within... I'd say some 32
to 40 thousand gold."
Billy's eyes cleared suddenly, and he first nodded, then turned to Lorry. "So I can pay
you with it, then. And there'd be plenty of excess coin besides."
"That's if ya gave it me," Lorry retorted
sharply as he put his tea cup down. "I don't want nothin' to do with no slave ring, and trust
me, ya don't want nothin' to do with it neither. Go to a usurer; see can't ya get at least 'alf
that off 'im."
"Oh, now that you know what it's really worth,
you don't want it?" Billy goaded. "The number's proven thrice over, now, even if every other word was hag's fog; take the thing and cancel my debt."
"I'm the one owed; ya don't get to pay me how ya
like," Lorry stated flatly. "Ya're lucky as anything that
Pilar's the first to know what this is; even 'round 'ere, open slavery'd buy
yar death of every man jack on this rock. D'ya think the cap'd stick
'is neck out for ya, if'n he found out?"
"Who's gonna tell 'im?" Billy scoffed without
thinking. And then, in the few quiet moments afterward, he thought.
"I never want nothing to do with you again," he complained.
"I thought we was friends."
"We are, ya feckless idjit," Lorry shot
back. "Ya sit in a safe place with food and drink, amongst
wise allies, in a borrowed coat, when ya ought to've been strung up so soon as
ya looked at that poofy poison peddler. This is what ya get, ya know, for messin'
about with anyone who'd so much as touch the Pepper. I told ya they
weren't no good, but no; like a boy of ten or twelve years, ya want to prove yar elder wrong in every thing. Well, 'ere ya have yar just desserts, Master
Bull; now, find a usurer and sell the thing at once."
Aubrieta pulled half her wealth of hair in front of her face and quietly laughed into it, her eyes shining in the dimness of the room. For a few moments, her soft puffs were all the noise that was to be heard in the room.
Aubrieta pulled half her wealth of hair in front of her face and quietly laughed into it, her eyes shining in the dimness of the room. For a few moments, her soft puffs were all the noise that was to be heard in the room.
"Perhaps all isn't quite lost," Pilar smiled slyly. "I do happen to know a collector who would likely be quite
interested in acquiring this. Once they saw
it, they would covet it so desperately that they would pay nearly as much as
it's actually worth to have it."
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