14.

Luke and Kyara enter the town of Ledfurdd.

14.

 

Kyara quickly learned that Luke’s description of the mining town of Ledfurdd was quite accurate.    The streets were muddy and deeply rutted and it looked as if the whole town was drunk and wandering up and down the streets when they rode into their midst.

They kept their heads down, but that didn’t keep the prostitutes away.    Human (and even a few Halfling) women in various stages of dress yelled, whistled and beckoned to them.    A few came right up to the horses and tried to get their attention, then cursed them when ignored.    The things they shouted out and offered would have made anyone blush.

In the very center of town, standing directly in the middle of the main road so that it had to fork on each side around it, was The Lead Shot Inn and Tavern.   It was a huge, ugly building, sprawling out and upward, four stories tall and the noise of a massive celebration came from the building, spilling out into the street.

“Dear God!” Kyara groaned, “There is no way there are any rooms left from the sounds of that ruckus.”

“I’ll go see - hold the reins of my horse and stay on yours until I return.   Don’t’ talk to anyone and try to look tough and mean.”

“What about scared out of my wits?”

Luke smiled, “No, let’s stick with tough and mean.”

“Just hurry, okay?”

“I’ll try,”  He replied and a moment later he disappeared through the front doors of the Inn.

Kyara sat nervously on her horse and decided that the way to look the most threatening to anyone watching her was to have her sword drawn as if she was examining the blade after an earlier battle.   She hoped this would keep any criminals away from her.

She noticed numerous people passing by on foot and on horseback and out of the corner of her eye she saw them glancing at her, but thankfully none gave her any trouble.

Luke reappeared after a few minutes and gestured for her to dismount.

“Well?”  She asked as she joined him on the ground.

“They’re packed, but I got us a room.”

“Really?   How?”

“There was a middle-aged prostitute in there that was sort of the ‘master sergeant’ of the w****s.    She was the senior, I guess, and seemed to have authority over them.   So when the Inn keeper told me there were no rooms, I went to her and told her that I had a strange request.”

“Oh no!”

“I said that I wanted to rent out one of her prostitute’s rooms for the night, but without her services.”

“What’d she say to that?”

“She laughed and started cussing at me until I placed three gold pieces in her hand.    Money talks here, Kyara.    Of course, she didn’t give up her room, but she ordered one of her younger subjects to give up her room and gave her one of the gold pieces as payment.”

“How gracious of her!”

“So we’ve got a red light room with a very soft, but overused bed.   I even gave her ten silver coins for a clean set of sheets from the maid’s closet.”

Kyara shivered at the thought of what the bed might have been like had Luke not thought of the sheets, “There is no telling what vermin might be living under that bed!”

“Well, the Chief Prostitute assured me that each room had had a Practical Magic Anti-vermin spell cast upon it.”

“Do you trust her?”

Luke shrugged, “What choice do we have?”

 

They walked their horses around the building to a large stable and paid a rather shifty-looking stable boy twenty silver pieces for a stall.    “Take good care of them, boy; they are High King Reddric’s horses that my master rents from him and there’ll be Hell to pay if anything happens to them.”

The boy seemed not overly impressed with Luke’s lie and nodded without comment.

The Inn was packed to capacity and reeked of smoke, spilled beer, sweat, body-odor and vomit.    They chose to just retire to their room.

“You take the bed, Yara; the potion is preventing me from feeling tired, so I will just sit and guard the door.”   Luke told her as soon as they’d found the room.

“You should rest anyway, Luke,”  She  protested, but then they were distracted by the scene as soon as they opened the door.

It was definitely a prostitute’s room, for it was dominated by a huge bed, a large brass tub for bathing (with Practical Magic hot water pipes and plumbing) and little else.   A couple of small tables with arcane glow candles (activated by clapping hands) on top of them, a stack of grey towels on a single shelf near the wall and one chair were the only other furnishings.    The room’s only window was covered with red velvet that glowed from a single arcane glow candle sitting on the window sill.    From the street, it was clear what went on in that room.

“Such fine accommodations!”  Kyara said as she looked around.    She knelt down and glanced under the bed and found it surprisingly clean and open.

“They have Practical Magic plumbing though.”

Kyara looked somewhat longingly at the brass tub, “A bath would be wonderful… but who knows who used it last.”

“I imagine they have purifying spells on the tub - that is more or less standard on Practical Magic bathtubs, I’ve heard.”

“Maybe I will bathe then,”   Kyara said as she began unbuckling her armor.

Luke got up and headed for the door, “I’ll see about some supper while you bathe - what would you like?”

“I’d like you to just stay here - I don’t want to be naked in the tub if someone busts into the room.”

Luke stopped at the door, looking uncomfortable, “Maybe it would be best for me just to wait outside the door.”

“Luke, I’m not worried about you, I know you couldn’t do anything if you wanted to.”

He nodded and immediately Kyara felt shame for how she had worded it.    She went over to him and gently touched his arm, “Luke, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.   I just meant that I trust you.   Please stay and talk to me.    You’ve only got a handful of days left and I’d like to spend them with you.”

“Well, okay, I guess, but it still makes me feel uncomfortable, you know.”

He sat down near the tub and began removing his armor which gave him an excuse not to be looking at her as she stripped off everything.    He wondered why she was so at ease with being naked around him but assumed it was due to his condition.    As she filled the brass tub, she asked him about the next day’s ride and he told her that the route would be more level as the mountain road followed a long plateau northwest toward the great forest.

“We should make some good time if the weather cooperates,” He said, looking down at his armor pieces but catching a slight glimpse of her out of the very corner of his eye.   

He heard her slip into the warm water a few moments later and she sighed contently as she slid down into the tub.

“Okay, you can look at me now; all my private parts are obscured.”

He hazarded a glance and she grinned at his nervousness.

“Luke, you sure are shy for someone who had such a reputation as you did with the ladies.”

“Reputations are frequently made up of mostly lies, Yara.”

“So do you know of any wizards in Ledfurdd?”   She asked casually as she began washing.

“Huh?   Wizards?   No; I’ve never actually been here, remember.   Why do you need a wizard?”

“To see about countering that potion that you drank and the one that Reddric’s men gave you too.”

“Counter them?   You heard the witch, Yara, they can’t be countered.   I thought we’d been through all of this - you’ve got to accept it.”

She shrugged, smiling at him prettily, “I choose to try to counter them right up to the end - it is the only way that I won’t feel completely to blame for your death.”

“You’re not to blame - I chose to drink the potion, and if I hadn’t, I would have died soon anyway.”

“I still feel at least partially to blame.   I can’t believe that in all of Albyia, there is not some magic - something left over from the powerful magic of centuries ago - that could keep you from dying!”

“Well, what would I live for, if there was, Yara?”

“How about just to be my friend?   You could do that, you know.”

Luke smiled, “I would have enjoyed that, Yara, for you are very charming to be around.”

The compliment made her beam, “The feeling is mutual, Luke, which is why I’d like to find a way to save you.”

“Well, don’t waste your time on stuff like that - you have to focus on resisting Reddric somehow.    If there are none of our people hiding in the great forest, you should try to make it to the Highlands with the other refugees.”

“You’ve told me that before, Luke.”

“Yes, but I want to make sure you remember it.”

“What about you?   If I do find a way to keep you from dying, what would you do if we don’t find any elves in the forest?”

“I doubt I’ll have to worry about that, but if I were to live, I’d accompany you.”

It was the right answer and she smiled sweetly.   Then, before he could avert his eyes, she sat up in the tub and reached out to hand him her wash cloth.

“Wash my back, Luke,” She said softly and Luke knew that if he hadn’t been castrated, he would have found her actions as very seductive.   Blushing, he took the hand towel and tried to comply with her request without looking at her naked form, but he still saw her.

She had the sensual curves that aroused men of most races and she was easily the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen, clothed or unclothed.  His hands trembled as he washed her back.

Kyara giggled at him, “You’re blushing!”

“This isn’t proper, Yara.   Even a eunuch shouldn’t see a lady naked.”

The princess had a mischievous gleam in her eyes and suddenly turned sideways toward him, arching her back so that her chest was projected forward in his face, “So this would be wrong?”

He just stared at her with such a shocked expression that she burst into laughter and sank back down into the tub.

“Luke, for goodness sake, I’m trying to get you to see that there can be a life for you regardless of whether you are whole or not!   Did you see what I just did?   I would never have thought to do that if I hadn’t known what had happened to you.   I feel completely comfortable around you!   If we can find a way to remove the effects of both of those potions, you could be my closest confidant and friend.    But you’ve got to want to live!   If there is a chance that we can find something, you’ve got to pursue it.   Promise me that you will, if we come across a way, okay?  Please!”

He found himself looking down at her in the tub, amazed at her beauty, but focused at the sincerity of the expression on her face.

“Okay, Yara… but don’t get too hopeful; I’ve got less than a week now.”

She leaned out of the tub and kissed him on the cheek, “That is all that I ask.   Now, help me dry off and you can take your bath.”

“My bath?”

“You don’t think I’m sharing a bed with someone who hasn’t bathed, do you?”

“I’m not sharing a bed with you!”

“Well, you’re not going to sit there all night in the dark - that is rather creepy.”

“Yara, with the potion that the witch gave me, I don’t know if I will be able to sleep.   My body is running at full gallop right now and I suspect that it will until the end.”

“Well, okay, but lie down and stare at the ceiling; I don’t like someone sitting there while I sleep.”

“But having someone next to you in bed doesn’t bother you?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know; I’ve never slept with someone before, other than my sister when we were little.”

“Yara, I don’t think that is a good-“

“Shh!   Don’t argue with me, Luke Penrook!   Now get a towel and help me dry off, then we’ll work on you.”

“But-“

“No arguments!   Do as you are told!”

With a frustrated sigh, Luke pulled open a towel just in time as the princess stepped out of the tub.

 

***

 

Of course she got her way and though it made him extremely uncomfortable, especially after his mutilation, he took his turn in the bath and Yara washed his back as he had done for her.    She even helped him dress the wound, which was no longer bleeding thanks to the witch’s potion, but was certainly something that wouldn’t heal properly.   She didn’t say a word but helped him wrap the area in clean cloth, then led him by the hand over to the large bed and had him lay down.    She had donned a long linen shirt as nightwear and soon they were reclining on the large, soft bed.

“Wow, it is really soft, isn’t it?”  She said after a few moments.

“Yes, but think of what has gone on here; I sure hope they have Practical Magic washing devices for the bedding!”

Kyara turned toward him in alarm, “Oh no!   Why didn’t you mention that earlier?    Do you think they’re clean?”

“I’m sure they are - if the Inn can afford plumbing then cleaning magic for the washer-women is probably very likely.   Don’t worry about it, Yara.”

“Well, okay…do you feel sleepy?”

“No, not at all.    That potion is working.    But you go to sleep.”

“Promise me that you’ll stay in bed.”

“Yara-“

“Promise me, Luke!”

“Oh, alright; I promise.”

“Goodnight then,”  She slid over close to him, rolled over onto her side and soon was asleep.    Luke just laid there looking down at Kyara’s peacefully sleeping form, frustrated that she was trying to take away from him the peace he had in the finality of his situation.

 

***

 

It was very late into the night, after all the noise from the tavern downstairs had died down, when Luke was stirred out of deep thought by gentle footfalls outside of their room’s door.    The handle was tried, but he had pushed the deadbolt in place before they had settled in for the night.

He slid quickly out of bed, careful not to wake Kyara, for he didn’t want those waiting outside to hear any movement from within.

Pressing his ear to the door, his sensitive elven ears heard mumbling from the other side.

“Locked…”

“Not surprised… it’s no matter; we’ll just follow ‘em tomorrow when they leave.   The others will be here by sunrise; we’ll fill them in on everything and figure out a way to stop these two up the road a ways.  They won’t stand a chance against twelve of us.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re sure they’re elves?”

“Fairly sure, yeah.    Oh, they were concealing it when they went upstairs, but Myra said the man who asked for the rooms didn’t seem like he was human.   She said he looked a bit small.   She said that he seemed nervous.   I guess they could just be a couple of teenagers who want military pay and thought they could pass as old enough, or maybe they are just half-elves but they were sure keeping low-key.”

“Shh, let’s go back downstairs - them damned elves have good ears.”

“As long as we keep an eye on that room - I don’t want to miss that bounty from Reddric for elves!”

They moved out of range after this and Luke heard the stairs creaking as they descended.

What could he do?   If he waked Kyara and they tried to slip out, they’d certainly be seen, and the gates of the city were probably locked now anyway.    But they couldn’t chance being discovered as elves, especially if what one of the men said was true about a bounty on elves set up by the High King.

Luke sat down on the edge of the bed, still not the slightest bit sleepy, and pondered the problem.

They didn’t know for sure who they were.   But if they saw their ears, there would be no doubt.    They would be watching their room, probably from a vantage point across from the inn, so they could see someone slipping into the stables as well.

What they needed was a distraction - something that would draw attention away from them long enough for them to get their horses and slip out of town.

But what could he set up to distract men hungry for a bounty?

For a long time he sat there thinking.    One effect of the witch’s potion was that everything in his body seemed sped up.   His heart beat as if he was excited or nervous and his senses felt sharpened and alert.   Yet he also felt as if his body was slowly being consumed to fullfill the effect.   Oh, he had no pain or discomfort from his groin wounds - even when he had to urinate - but it was an unnatural peace and he did not doubt for a moment that in five or six days’ time, his body would be used up.

Yet for now, his brain worked at high speed and thankfully, an idea for a distraction came to him shortly before dawn.    He worked out the details mentally and then nudged Kyara’s foot until she awoke.

“What’s going on?”   She asked groggily, sitting up in bed.

“We’ve got a problem; let me fill you in on the details.”