Vannerbehn's Luc

Teeshay (or Tixay) was very cute when she slept. I awoke first, and cuddled up behind her. I copped a feel of her little tits, and stroked her flank. Her breathing remained even. I caressed her tight little butt cheeks, and then snuck my hand between them.

That got her attention. She was still drowsy, though, and let me have my way with her. I rubbed her lower lips, and eventually inserted a finger. By the time I got a second finger inside her, Teeshay was getting quite wet.

She reached behind her, between our bodies, and found my erection. She aimed it for me, and I thrust into her. I didn't wait; I started fucking her.

Teeshay was no Marta; she didn't deserve to be pampered. In fact, she probably deserved to be whipped, or at least spanked. So I paddled her ass with my pelvis, slamming my dick into her. I got into a somewhat steady rhythm, and hammered her like a drunken blacksmith.

I grunted as I pulled out, and came across her bows, so to speak.

- "Mmm - you really know how to wake a girl up!" she said.

- "Breakfast? Or lunch?" I offered.

I fucked her, fed her, and then put her outside. We made plans to meet again the next day. Teeshay accepted my excuse that I had a business to run. She probably suspected that I wanted to count my money.

What I really wanted to do was talk to my partner. I told Ludianne everything. Every blessed thing. She listened attentively, frowning or smiling at all of the right places as I related the story of my meeting with Inavar, and every single bit since then that I could remember.

- "You know that I cannot leave the Narimac." she reminded me. "Everything I have learned about the city has come second hand. I wish that I could help you more."

"If you wish, I could ream Teeshay's mind for you."

- "I

beg

your pardon?"

- "I could plunder her mind. You would know for certain if she has been lying, and I could learn the other secrets she conceals."

- "Is it ... painful?" I asked.

- "Very." said Ludianne, with no change of expression.

- "Umm ... would she know that you'd done it?"

- "Oh, yes. It is customary to kill someone, after you have mind reamed them."

- "Let's try something else." I suggested.

I started by visiting a few of my more reliable contacts. I had new questions that I hoped to find answers to. Then I got together with one of my best street operatives.

Her name was Denya, and she was a black-haired, eleven year-old wharf rat. She worked with her little brother and another orphan. They stole, but Denya was careful. She was also clever; she knew very well that they could earn more performing simple tasks for me than they could in a week of stealing - and with less risk.

I put them onto Teeshay. Once they knew where she was meeting me tomorrow, it would be child's play (literally) for them to tail her.

- "I want to know where she goes. If possible, it would be nice to know who she talks to. Be careful, and don't let her spot you."

- "Teach yer grandmother to suck eggs." said Denya's little brother. Denya cuffed him in the ear.

- "Shut yer gob." she snapped. "I does the talkin'. An' you show Master Kelsen some respect." Then she smiled at me.

I could only hope that I had retired before little Denya came fully into her own. She was going to be dangerous.

My next stop was to visit an old friend. Sort of.

Bance Rayner was drinking in his usual spot at the Rainbow tavern, where his girlfriend worked. The moment he saw me, he rose to his feet.

- "It wasn't real, Kelsen!" he said. "I swear it! It was all fake!"

Last night, when Teeshay had 'saved' me from a mugging, I had easily recognized the man with the short-barreled fowling piece: my old friend, Bance Rayner.

- "Relax. Sit down. I'm not angry, and I'm buying. That is, if you have time for a chat."

He calmed down. I hadn't pulled a knife or a pistol, and if I'd come to kill him, I would have done so already. He knew it, too.

- "They offered me 150, Kelsen - just to stage a mugging, and then run. It sounded easy. I couldn't resist. I swear: it was never meant to be real."

- "I believe you." I said. "Who did the hiring?"

- "The girl, and some fat fuck named Abondo."

- "Abodo?"

- "Yeah." Bance described the man. It sounded exactly like Teeshay's 'uncle'.

- "Did they ask you about me? Beforehand?"

Bance nodded. Of course they had.

- "What did you tell them?"

You may not believe it, but sometimes, there

is

honour among thieves. That was why Bance Rayner would have robbed me - but not killed me. And that was why I offered him a bargain when I caught him trying to rob me, instead of killing him outright. As I'd said to him at the time: I might have done the same, if the roles were reversed.

It comes down to this: Bance and I belong to the same loose fraternity. Our friendship, such as it is, lasts until very large sums of coin become involved. But if some outsider comes into our bailiwick, looking for information ... they deserve whatever misinformation and misdirection they get.

- "I said you was a pretty boy. Lucky as hell, but without a brain in your head. Told 'em about the Narimac, an' all that."

- "The dragon?"

- "Fuck, no! What d'you take me for?" Bance looked offended. Then a sheepish expression crept over his face. "I might have mentioned ... Aliona."

- "Oh?" I raised an eyebrow.

- "Aw, hell, Kelsen. Everybody knows you dumped her. She's been tellin' everyone who'll listen how you done her wrong. I didn't think that was some kind of secret. Fuck - I'm sorry if I was wrong."

- "You weren't." I was calculating the possible damage. There wasn't much. It also explained quite a bit about how Teeshay had treated me. She must have come to the conclusion that I was rich, but stupid. In a way, I owed Bance - and Aliona - a debt.

- "We okay, Kelsen?" he asked.

- "Our deal still holds, Bance." I said. "You'd tell me if they came round again, wouldn't you?"

- "'Course." Then he looked worried. "What're you involved in now, Kelsen?"

I grinned. "Working for a pirate Lord." I said.

Bance's jaw dropped. "No. Which one?"

I just smiled, and stood up.

- "Aa-whoo." I howled - very softly.

- "Oh, shit." said Bance Rayner.

***

The next day, I met Teeshay again.

- "I can help you." she said. "Whatever you have in mind. I can watch Jerian's house for you, or follow him ... or ..." she smiled flirtatiously, "or we could go to your room and ... see what comes up."

She wasn't easy to read. I couldn't tell exactly why she wanted to know the location of my room so badly. So that she - or someone else - could watch me? Or was it just to keep me inactive?

That was the part that had me confused. Why would Inavar ask me to investigate Jerian, and then have Teeshay feed me false information and try to distract me with her tight little body? I didn't believe for a moment that she was hot for another encounter with me. I'd simply used her, without regard for her pleasure. Why would she want more of that?

- "Actually," I said, "I have Narimac business to attend to. But that was a good idea you came up with. Maybe you could go to Jerian's house. Keep an eye on it. Let me know who comes to see him, or where he goes."

- "I can do that." she said. We made plans to meet again, the day after next. Off she went, apparently unaware of the three little shadows flitting along behind her.

While Teeshay went up the Hill, I went down to the docks. To Marno's, where the dockworkers gathered. Where Lesheya worked.

- "Hey Kelsen." she said. Friendly, but not overly warm.

- "Hello, beautiful."

- "I have a boyfriend, Kelsen. Just so you know."

- "Good of you to get that out of the way early, before I said or did anything awkward. I appreciate it."

- "You're welcome." she said, with a grin.

- "For what it's worth, I'm happy for you. And you're still beautiful. But as it happens, I really came just to talk to you."

- "About?"

It was quiet in the tavern, this time of day. I flashed Marno a coin, and he nodded as Lesheya took a break and sat down with me.

She knew a hundred dockworkers, almost as many sailors, and quite a few pirates. She knew some of their wives and girlfriends. She knew many of the ships, too. In a very short time, I had several names and a pair of addresses (or what passes for an address in the Bottoms).

- "You're a marvel." I told her.

- "You're just figuring that out now?" she said.

I spent the afternoon in the Bottoms, visiting the wives of two crewmen from the arrow. In between, I stopped in at the Gale, and gave Mehdawi a hand.

In the early evening, I was back at Marno's, buying drinks, and talking to dockworkers. In the course of a busy day, I learned a few things:

- Borszok, the former Captain of the Arrow, had been honest and upstanding (for a pirate, that is). He was also completely devoted to his rather ugly wife and their two children. It was common knowledge that he'd never cheated on her.

- Abodo was no pirate, and had certainly never been a lieutenant of Jerian's. He was a fence, a dealer in stolen goods, who encouraged the dockworkers to bring him anything that fell into their hands when they unloaded ships.

Very few of them ever did so. The risks were enormous, the rewards only marginal.

So, in the space of a day, I learned that virtually everything Abodo had told me was a fabrication. What I couldn't understand, though, was ... why?

Why tell me such huge whoppers, which could be so easily disproved? What was she playing at? And what was Inavar's role in all of this?

The next morning dawned hot, and humid. It was the 8th straight day without rain. The streets were full of shit (animal and human), and tempers were growing short. There were flies everywhere, and some of the smells were truly eye-watering. The Bottoms waited for the outbreak of disease.

In this environment, I met with my trio of little snoops.

- "Were you able to follow her?" I asked.

Denya gave me a look of complete scorn. "She didn't check her back more than twice. Too easy." She spat, for punctuation. Her little brother grinned impishly.

- "Well, where did she go?"

- "Big house on the Hill. Belongs to Jerian the Younger."

- "I know that, Denya; I

sent

her there." I said, mildly exasperated.

- "Did you send her

inside

?"

- "Wait - she went inside?"

- "Just said so, din't I?" Denya smirked.

- "For how long?"

- "All day yesterday, until after dark. Then she went to the docks. Anson's."

- "Denya, you're beautiful!" I said. I wanted to pick her up and hug her, but she probably would have stabbed me. "When you grow up, I'll marry you!"

The little urchin made a face, as if I'd just pissed on her foot. "Eww! You'd have to be a lot richer - and at death's door!"

She wasn't serious. Denya genuinely liked me, and I adored her. She reminded me of ... me. Only a little smarter. I paid the trio more than we'd agreed upon. Why not? They'd delivered more than I'd expected.

Teeshay worked for Jerian. Did Inavar know this? And while Teeshay seemed to think that I was a fool, it was she who was unprepared to deal with life on the streets of Kumyr, if she allowed herself to be trailed by a group of children.

I had enough food for thought to make a banquet for my mind.

***

I took Aressine to the Eagle, for a midday meal.

Don't ask why; it was an impulse. I barely understood it myself. My life was still upside down, and I didn't know what to do with it. I had money, and I was having more - and better - sex than I'd ever had.

I'd slept with an elf, a witch, and a Janni, the last of whom was more than willing to repeat the experience. What did I have to complain about? Too much good fortune?

Truth is, I was used to lean times. After a successful theft or con, I'd be flush for a very short time, and then it was on to the next job. I had no such pressure now.

Also, I missed Malena. Perhaps I had truly loved her. Pamna was incredible, and Ludianne was beyond amazing. Either one would sleep with me; I only had to ask. But there was something missing.

Besides, Pamna had planted a bug in my ear when she said that Aressine had a crush on me. I was curious. So I asked her to meet me.

For lunch, so that she would know that I didn't expect us to end up in bed. Then I chose the Eagle, because the food was good, and I liked the ambience. This was a complete deviation from my normal routine: I usually never took a woman to my thinking place, my refuge. And here I was doing just that.

My dominant memory of Aressine was seeing her after the fight with the dragon. The tall blonde fighter, exhausted and in pain, was sitting on a shattered tree stump. She was cradling her helmet with one hand, on her knee. Her face was streaked with sweat and dirt, and her badly dented armour was smoking slightly, from the acid on the dragon's claws.

I'd sensed the horrible bruises on her ribs and hip, and healed her. Then I remembered the pathetically grateful look she'd shown me - a fairly typical response to the healer.

I had few memories of her on the trip back to Kumyr, and I barely remembered her participation in the attack on Molun's compound. But I had a distinct picture in my mind of Aressine helping me move Malena's and Sinker's bodies - and then coming to their funerals.

My invitation had to go through Pamna, because I didn't know how to find the big fighter. So I waited at the Eagle, not entirely sure that she would even show up.

She did. Aressine created a little stir. It's not every day that you see a six-foot tall blonde, with a sword on her belt, and a look which suggests that she knows how to use it.

I don't know how she usually dressed for a ... casual encounter? She wore a black, sleeveless leather jerkin, over a white shirt, which left her arms bare - except for the bracers which covered her from wrist to elbow. Her trousers were loose enough to permit free movement, but solid enough to protect her legs. She wore boots, too. Not shoes - boots.

- "Nice to see you." I said. "Thank you for coming."

- "Thank you for inviting me."

- "Expecting trouble?" I asked, looking pointedly at her leather jerkin, then at her sword.

- "Always." she said. "Did you leave your pistols and your rapier at home?"

- "Point taken."

Then we had an awkward moment - the kind that people have when they can still count the number of times they've seen each other, or actually talked, on one hand.

So we looked at one another. She was tall - probably three fingers taller than me. Long blonde hair, brown eyes ... an interesting combination. Her right eye was ever so slightly larger than her left (or perhaps she just opened it wider). Good teeth - not a bad thing, in our day and age. Pretty, I suppose.

I liked Aressine. I did. But I knew nothing about her, except that she was a brave fighter with a kind streak, who felt indebted to me because I'd healed her once.

- "It's odd." I said. "I can't decide if I know you well, or if I don't know you at all."

- "Probably the latter." she said. "But ... I feel the same. Now that I'm here, I'm not exactly sure why I came."

- "Mmm."

- "She told you, didn't she?" said Aressine.

- "I beg your pardon?"

- "Pamna. She told you that I was interested in you, didn't she?"

- "Well ... yes. But - in her defense, I think Pamna knew that I was ... curious about you."

- "Curious? That's a nice way to put it." And at that point, Aressine smiled.

That changed everything. She was a pretty woman, who suddenly became even more attractive when she smiled, showing off those near-perfect teeth. Except that Aressine wasn't showing off at all. When she smiled, it was an expression of happiness, or amusement.

And it was completely genuine. Her eyes opened wider, the laugh lines between her nostrils and around the corners of her mouth leapt into prominence, and the scar on the left side of her jaw stood out.

A moment later, the waitress came to our table. It was a new girl, one I hadn't seen before. She was odd-looking: big eyes, with dark circles beneath them, and a smile with her lips tightly pressed together.

- "May I help you?" she said.

Aressine turned her head, to look at our waitress.

That's when I saw her in profile, and lost my mind. Or my heart.

How had I never noticed this before? She was lovely ... absolutely lovely. Is it possible to fall in love like that, when a person turns their head?

She must have said something, which I completely missed, because the waitress turned to me.

- "And you, Sir?"

- "Me?" I barely managed to order.

When Aressine turned back to face me, the spell was broken - somewhat. She was ... just Aressine. That wasn't a bad thing. But I wasn't about to forget what I'd seen. And felt.

"So ... do you see the other women often? Kima and the others?" I asked.

- "Oh, no." she said, a little quickly. "I'm not like them. I mean, they were ... friends. Fhaernala and I were the outsiders. We only met them shortly before ..."

- "The dragon? And what type of work do you normally do? When you're not hunting dragons?"

- "Mostly a bodyguard." she said. Aressine wasn't smiling now.

- "You don't like it?" I asked.

- "Not much to like. Most of the people who hire me don't really need protection. Rich women, or the wives of rich men, who think they're entitled to a bodyguard, because it enhances their status, or feeds their ego."

"But rich men are the worst. You'd be surprised, but many of them expect me to sleep with them, after guarding them. Like I'm more of an ornament than serious protection."

- "I've seen you fight." I said.

- "You did? Oh - the dragon."

She told me more about her life, and I learned things I hadn't known. In many ways, it was easier for wizards and rogues to find work. People will pay to have a spell cast. But Aressine was no assassin, and she didn't care for debt collection.

- "Can you picture me breaking arms and legs?" she said, smiling.

- "Ever consider joining one of the Pirate Lords?" I asked. Aressine would look good in a blue cloak.

- "No. I went on one raid. Freelance. Never again." Her smile was gone.

- "May I ask why?"

- "Rape. Senseless slaughter. And those they didn't kill were enslaved. I'll never go near another pirate ship."

- "Understood." Smooth, Kelsen: bringing up all of her favourite memories.

Aressine changed the subject, and asked about the Narimac. We talked about that for a while. She seemed to find it interesting.

- "You know, you're welcome to come in any time." I said.

- "Oh, no. I'm not much of a gambler."

- "You wouldn't have to. Just have a drink, watch the people - see what it's like." I said.

- "Maybe. Thank you for the invitation."

We had a pleasant lunch. At least, I think we did. The food was good, and she seemed to enjoy our conversation. I felt a bit awkward, and unaccountably nervous, when I realized that we were done. We had finished eating, and neither of us particularly wanted another drink.

It was a natural point to say goodbye. Aressine offered to pay half of the bill, but I just snorted. "I invited you. And I own half of the Narimac." She conceded, graciously. So we rose, and made our way outside.

- "Thank you." she said.

- "Thank

you.

I enjoyed it."

She smiled, and then set off.

I watched her go, wondering why my palms were sweaty. Nervous? Me? I'd been out with dozens of women. This was ultra-familiar territory.

So why did it feel as if it wasn't?

***

I was up on the roof of the Narimac, talking to the gargoyles.

They weren't employees. They were bound to the building, by an incredibly powerful spell. But it was finite; it

would

expire one day. Until then, they were compelled to protect the Narimac, and do the bidding of the owner. Me, or Ludianne.