7. Lady Primrose's Earrings
As he and Sage made their way to the Crimson Mountain, Don was acutely aware of their impending separation, and the fact that they might remain apart for quite some time. Accordingly, he made sure they had a variety of plans for meeting up, if possible, leaving messages, when the opportunity presented itself, etc. Passing through the Manor they would leave word with the Scholar, and then linger about there at least for a few days. Passing through the Resort they would both check in with the Sheriff and leave word with the Sage.
"I'll try to remember that," Sage laughed.
"Yeah, and I'm trying to get used to thinking of you as Evelyn," Don smiled.
Don also told her about the Wizard as a potential ally whose home might be a good meeting place, and the Witches of the Glen who might be helpful. Of course, they also thought the Maidenhead might be useful, even if they couldn't be too sure it would long remain in Megan's control. In turn, Evelyn told him about a cafe in the bazaar on the far side of the sea, and they agreed to check in at the tavern on the beach and Ambrosia's when in the vicinity of Rendezvous.
When they got to the locker rooms in the Hall of the Crimson Mountain King, they bathed, but Don made a point of retrieving the staffs the Wizard had given him and Shelonda what seemed so long ago. Stephanie had had no real experience with such things, and Nicole was positively averse to using any kind of weapon. Evelyn, though, had some martial arts training, though it was mostly in aikido, and definitely had no problem with weapons.
"Too bad we don't have swords," she mused as she spun the enchanted wooden staff in her hands. Having been made for Shelonda, it was just about the perfect size for Evelyn.
"God, you're hot!" Don grinned as he admired the way the muscles in her arms and wrists moved as she played with the staff.
"Oh, we should have gotten bows and arrows from the elves!"
Don groaned, "Ugh, why didn't I think of that?"
She laughed, "Well, you're not the only one who didn't."
"On the other hand," he mused, "it doesn't seem like we're very likely to be called upon to fight anyone. Still, an unbreakable staff can be a useful tool."
"Hard wood can definitely be good to get your hands on," she smirked.
It turned out that, as long as they bathed and were naked, the red-robed servitors had no problem with letting them proceed into the Pleasure Dome and seemed to pay no attention at all to the staffs.
"Holy hell!" Evelyn breathed as they entered the vast chamber, momentarily stunned by the scale of both the room and the orgy going on in it.
"Yeah," Don nodded.
They proceeded to the circular couch in the middle of the dome, Evelyn taking in the spectacle as they went.
"The king's throne is that away, but I want to see if we can just ride the sofa up," Don said. "But first, come with me. I want to have some time with you before we head up."
He led her down to the base of the stairs, where they set their staffs off to the side, out of the way but close at hand, and made love for what might be the last time in a long while. Though a few of the other revelers offered to join in, Don and Evelyn kept to themselves this time. When they were finally worn out, they made a quick trip to the nearest fountain to clean up and then returned to the sofa. With their staffs across their laps, and their hands tightly clasped, they rode the couch up to the waiting room.
"Damn!" Evelyn grinned. "This is not safe at all!"
"I'm starting to suspect it's not actually that dangerous," laughed Don, "but I'm not about to test that theory."
"Good! I'll be pissed at you if you kill yourself testing something like that."
"Aw that makes me all warm inside," he grinned.
"Oh, you're right, this is a bit anticlimactic," Evelyn said as they came to a halt in the waiting room.
"Told ya," he smiled. "Hi, Gladys! Miss me?"
After a wait that seemed both rather too long and excruciatingly quick, Gladys announced that 'they' were ready to see Evelyn. She took her staff and got up, but Don pulled her into his arms and kissed her again. He gave her ass a long squeeze, smiled, and said, "Don't forget me, gorgeous."
"Unhand me, sir!" she laughed. "I will not be kissed and fondled by strangers!"
"Well, that's just not at all true," he grinned and kissed her again, focusing all his passion for her in this one last embrace.
Don watched her exquisite ass as she crossed to the "Interviews" door, smiled encouragingly as she looked back before going through, and tried to ignore the ache in his chest. He had gotten very fond of Evelyn indeed. Eros, and his own schemes, kept separating him from loved ones—first Tascha, then Shelonda and Nicole, and now Sage... Evelyn.
He was as down as he had been in Eros when Gladys let him know that he could go in and wasn't in much better of a mood as he sat down opposite Pamela and the other watchers. He kept his hand on his staff, just in case he was abruptly teleported away.
"Welcome back, Don," Pamela nodded. "I would say that you completed your first trial with flying colors. We expected you to sleep with Captain Sage, not convince her to come back here with you and undertake her own set of trials."
"I didn't really convince her," Don frowned.
Pamela shrugged, "That's not really important. You did, clearly, finish the task adequately. We assume you're ready for your second trial...?"
Don nodded, "Yes. Bring it on."
"We want you to bring us Lady Primrose's emerald earrings."
"Uh, Lady Primrose? I've never heard of her," Don worried. "How will I find her or her earrings?"
"That might well be part of the trial, Don," Pamela pointed out. "However, in this case, we'll help you with that."
"I appreciate that," Don smiled. "Is there anything else I should know?"
"There is quite a lot you should know."
Don arched his eyebrow at the hint of a sense of humor, then said, "Okay, I guess I'm ready."
"One more thing, though, Don: no more strays."
Then Don found himself standing in the middle of a street in what seemed like a small English town. It seemed to be early morning. The buildings had a decidedly quaint English countryside feel to them, and Don suddenly realized that he was fully clothed, wearing khaki slacks, shoes and socks, and a pastel polo shirt, with a light sweater tied by its sleeves around his shoulders. He was still holding his staff. Between the clothes and the mundanity of the town, Don thought this was the oddest place he'd yet seen in Eros.
***
"Just a little town?" Tascha frowned. "That does seem strange."
"Oh, believe me, it gets weirder," Don chuckled.
***
The Town
There seemed to be some larger buildings down the road, so Don headed that way, in the hope of finding someone who could direct him to a "Lady Primrose." As he went, he found himself enjoying the peace and quiet, and noticed that there were birds singing. All in all, it was a very pleasant locale.
He was walking down the middle of the street—there didn't seem to be any sign of cars—and had just cleared the first intersection, when he finally saw signs of human life. The front door of the house on Don's right opened and out stepped a tall, thin fellow wearing a dark business suit and carrying a briefcase. This man turned around to receive a kiss goodbye from a woman wearing a brightly flowered dress, and then headed down a paved walkway through his neatly manicured front yard toward the street.
Up and down the street, Don saw this basic ritual played out again and again over the next couple of minutes. Apparently, all the men in this town... no, there were a few women, also in business suits... left home at pretty much the same time in the morning, to go to work...? Half expecting everyone to head off in the same direction, Don paused in the street to watch as the townsfolk joined him. However, they seemed to have different destinations in mind. The man who had come out first turned right at the street, walked down three houses, crossed the street, looked both ways to make sure no one was paying attention to him, pushed open the front gate in front of him, and quickly made his way to the front door of that house, loosening his tie as he went. Every person seemed to have a similar course of action, going from their "home" to another house in the neighborhood, in a bizarre, chaotically choreographed pattern. After a minute or two, Don was again alone in the street.
"Well, okay then," he chuckled before continuing down the street. At what Don assumed was the center of town, he found establishments with names like "The Shag' Odeon," "Mabel's Sundries," "The Morning Whip" (with a sign adding, "Start Your Day with the Crack of Dawn!"), and "The Cum. Inne." Don considered where to begin but quickly decided that the apparent newspaper was so different from what he would normally expect in Eros that he had to start there.
He pushed the door open, triggering a bell overhead, and a pale woman with dark red hair brushing her shoulders looked up from her desk behind a counter, smiled, and with a very English accent said, "Good morning. Welcome to Shagbottom!"
Although Tascha would later fail miserably, Don managed to not laugh at this, but did have to pause and say, "Pardon me?"
"Welcome to Shagbottom!" she repeatedly cheerfully. "Do you have some news to report?"
"Um, no, but... the name of this town is Shagbottom?"
"That's right: Shagbottom of county Wrenchester."
"Okay," Don was having an extremely hard time keeping a straight face. He looked back out the window that made up the front of the shop, saw the theater sign again, and just shook his head. Thinking of the other signs, he asked, "The inn's name... what's the abbreviation for?"
"To shorten a longer word," said a voice with another English accent from a woman who popped out from behind a shelf that was heavy with stacks of papers. She had lovely brown skin and black wavy hair that was cut short. She continued, "You know how you might want to save space, so instead of writing out all of 'abbreviation,' you just use a-b-b-r period."
Don pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "Yes, thank you, but I meant 'what does the c-u-m period stand for in the hotel's name?'"
"Oh," the darker woman frowned. "You know, I'm not terribly sure. Ophelia?"
The other woman looked up again, "Oh, hello Anna. I'm over here."
"Good morning," Anna said as she moved closer to the front of the shop and the counter that separated the women from Don. "Do you know what the abbreviation in the inn's name stands for?"
"Oh, excellent," Ophelia smiled. "How many letters?"
"Well, more than three, I should think," Anna said.
"That doesn't narrow things down much, does it?" frowned Ophelia. "Do you have any of the letters?"
"Well, c-u-m, clearly," Anna cast a sideways look at Don and shook her head.
"'Cummerbund'?"
"That seems a bit of a stretch," Anna said.
"Don't cummerbunds usually stretch a bit?"
"Well, yes, I suppose, but that's not really to the point, is it?"
"'Cumberbatch'?"
