Note from the author: The last two chapters have been a little rough as far as editing, so I gave this one another pass, and... to be honest, I'm not sure what is happening. My editing software flagged over 100 corrections, and this was the second time running it through as if it just "missed" them all the first time. This seems to be true of the last two chapters as well, where only
most
of the corrections were caught during the editing pass. All I can say is I will try to be more diligent in the future and offer my sincere apologies for putting out poor-quality work.
Now, on with the story!
-Blu
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"That's a beautiful stone," said the gem merchant as he let the loupe drop from his eye and placed a large red garnet on the soft fabric in front of him. "I can give you fifty gold for it."
Kal blinked a few times. "Did you say fifty? Because I thought you said fifty, which would be a foolish offer for a gem worth closer to five hundred."
"People want rubies, not garnets. I have no market for these."
"The stone is unusually large and nearly flawless. If only because of its rarity, you will find a buyer. Give me four hundred for it."
"I might, but finding buyers will take time, and stones sitting in my shop aren't making me money. Two hundred gold."
"The Azum lords and ladies like the color red. I've seen it all over in their castles. Three hundred fifty."
"But not necessarily in their jewelry. Three hundred."
"It matches the red they like better than most rubies. Three hundred fifty."
The gem merchant regarded Kal for a long moment before nodding. "Three hundred fifty it is," he said picking up the garnet with another soft cloth and wrapping it up before walking into the back of his store. Kal and Kashka spent the next few minutes listening to the sound of coins clinking against one another before he returned with a leather coinpurse.
"Use the table over there if you want to count it," he said, presenting the pouch to them.
Kal took the purse and poured its contents on the indicated table before summoning Ria. "Store these, please, and give me a count when you are done."
---
Out on Soma's streets, Kashka rolled her eyes at the mage. "You really got so zealous you gave all of your gold to Roka?"
"Yes," he replied sheepishly. "I know. I should have at least held a little back, but I wanted to make sure they had enough to get by while training their new sailors."
"What did you need this money for anyway?" Ria asked from his shoulder.
"That," he said, pointing at a stable on their way out of the city.
"You're getting a horse?" asked Ria. "What's gotten into you?"
"Being ported across the desert, then sailing for the past few weeks has spoiled me. I'm not in the mood to walk."
"You're being lazy," said the sprite.
"I am not!" he huffed, trying to act indignant.
Kashka giggled. "He just doesn't want to be sore after walking all day like he was after the fight with Darrow's men. It's what you get for spending most of the voyage in bed while some of us worked for our passage."
"Hey now, I did work for my passage."
"Yes, you did," the cat conceded as they approached the stable, "and The Scarlet Bitch's entire crew appreciates everything you did for them."
---
The scene inside the stable caught all three of them off guard. A small group of Azum men stood in front of an oversized stall near the back of the building where a stallion was busy mating with a... centaur?
As Kal and Kashka stood by the door in stunned silence, the stallion finished his business and dismounted the centaur. A second later, a man hidden by the stall's wall stood up, holding a large tube in one hand and a linen pouch in the other. He held the bag up triumphantly to the applause of the watching men. The centaur asked him something, but they were too far away for Kal's translation spell. The man scowled and passed the pouch off to one of the onlookers before setting the tube down and reluctantly reaching under the horse-woman's tail. The centaur's eyes widened, and her human back arched a little, but the wall hid what was happening. Once finished, he joined the other men in paying the centaur a hefty amount of money, then exited the stable, chatting excitedly about the pouch's contents.
Once the men had left, the centaur called out in Common, "One moment, and I'll be right with you!" to Kal and Kashka as she led the stallion back to his stall.
Returning to the larger stall, she picked up the tube and a flat piece of leather with two wide and very dull wooden spikes attached to it. Kashka was the first to realize its purpose and sent Kal a picture of her bent over with the leather covering her sex and bottom with the plugs inserted into each. The centaur wrestled the plugs from the piece of leather and dropped them in a wash basin at the back of the stable.
Waving Kal and Kashka forward, she said, "It's important I get all this cleaned right away. How can I help you?"
"Do you mind me asking what all that was about?" Kal asked, joining the woman as she scrubbed the tube and plugs, then dried them thoroughly with clean towels.
"Some of their mares came into season, and they wanted my stallion to sire their foals," the centaur explained.
"Why not just take the stallion to the mares? That's what the people in my town did."
"Because I'd have to close the stable and go to their farms or ranches. If I do that, then I charge by the mare. Here I charge by the bag you saw them carrying out."
"That was filled with the horse's seed?"
