The Elfmaid's Curse (The Elfmaid Trilogy Book 1)

by Warren Thomas

  "You speak from experience, I see," Danica said.

  "Strangely enough, some men even find me attractive."

  "Strange? I wouldn't call it strange at all. You are pretty and exotic, and more than a little dangerous looking, too. What warrior worthy of his sword could resist you?"

  "You're trying to sweet talk me into going with you."

  "I would if I thought it would work."

  "It won't."

  "Could I buy you an ale? I find you fascinating, and I promise I won't try wheedling you into coming with me."

  Cat's steady gaze swung back to study Danica's eyes a moment. Danica kept her face impassive, afraid if Cat saw how her heart was racing or her hopes rising, she'd turn down her offer. Cat might not want to travel with her, but she did live in Tamera and might know of some group heading for Ismat al-Haratha that Danica could join. And Cat's word might still get her a spot traveling with some group.

  "Fine, but remember you promised."

  "Good. Shall we join the ladies out in the other room? After two weeks crossing the desert, I could use a good long soak in a nice cool bath."

  Chapter 15

  "Bandu as my witness, Cat, that felt too good," Danica said, rubbing vigorously at her still damp hair with a soft cotton towel.

  Cat just grunted, starting to pull on her black leather breeches. Danica stopped to look over the big bravo's clothes and gear, expecting to find it as equally exotic. She was only slightly disappointed.

  It all appeared to be pretty standard — except her clothes were all black. Even the scabbards for belt knife and sword were lacquered shiny black. Her thigh high boots were of water dragon hide, a tough leather that was also imperious to water. Such boots were highly prized in wetter climes and especially the subtropics below Allaria. The only drawback Danica could see was they wouldn't take a high gloss shine.

  Cat's armor was what most impressed her. She possessed a long-sleeved shirt of mail. It was of the finest steel and tailored to fit her enhanced upper body tightly. The mail shirt also reminded her she didn't have any armor to wear. That fact would diminish her in the sight of any potential employers.

  "I thought you were going to buy me an ale?" Cat asked, now finished dressing and starting to twist her long silken tresses into a single thick plait.

  Danica started. She was still nude, and still rubbing at her hair with the towel.

  "Oh. I'm sorry," she said, flushing red. "I was staring. I just never expected to see a bouncer wearing such expensive armor."

  Cat caressed the mail a moment, "It is a thank you gift from Dame Isobeth. One night while I was escorting her back from a friend's home we were jumped by robbers. I took care of them quick."

  Danica swiftly moved to her saddlebags and pulled out a clean pair of breeches, black, and a clean white shirt. After stamping back into her dusty sweat-soaked boots, she folded and stowed her dirty clothes in the saddlebags. Before she left Tamera she would have them cleaned properly. After donning the burnoose, she belted on her own sword over it and gathered up her gear. She led Cat back toward the sounds of the early evening crowds. Just before stepping out of the bathhouse, Danica put on her veil and pulled her hood up to cover her hair as was expected in Tamera. Cat donned a long black kaffiyeh and veil.

  "It'll be dark soon," Cat said.

  "Yes. So, do you have a favorite tavern?"

  "Yes, the Southern Wind. Follow me."

  "Wait, I have a horse."

  They quickly fetched the mare, with Cat helping to saddle her. That done, Danica led the horse through the streets while she walked beside Cat, trying to engage the somber bravo in idle conversation. It was difficult, Cat mostly only answered her questions with grunts or short answers without elaboration.

  Danica cursed her rotten luck. The one woman she really wanted to open up to her was as closemouthed as a thief. Life wasn't fair. In addition, Cat was obviously dissatisfied with her lot in Tamera and might be open to leaving, given the right motivation. Maybe she could convince the bravo to come with her. Though, she had promised not to ask again, so it would have to be Cat who broached the subject. Danica would just have to find her weakness and use it to entice her.

  "You like living in Tamera?"

  "As good as any city, I suppose," Cat said.

  "This Golden Girl Brothel you work at, is it a rowdy place?"

  "No."

  "Have you ever been accused of being a chatterbox?"

  Cat stopped and stared strangely at Danica a second, then smiled weakly.

  "I'm sorry. I've been watching the crowds for trouble. Old habit. Most of my employment involved either being a bodyguard to some noblewoman or as a bouncer in a tavern or brothel. I see crowds, I look for possible trouble."

  "Good, I thought it was me for a second," Danica said. "Strangely enough, I really want to be your friend."

  Cat's eyebrows shot up at that.

  "You barely know me."

  "I know, that's why it's so strange. I usually have to know someone at least a week before I start to feel friendship toward them. I liked you at first sight."

  Cat was obviously flustered. "Thank you, Danica. I like you, too."

  "I was planning on leaving for Ismat al-Haratha as soon as possible, but I've been thinking of hanging around a few days just to get to know you better. If you don't mind."

  Cat reaction was that of shock. Danica wondered if she had any friends. Considering how big and somber she looked, most people might be too intimidated to approach her. Add to that, she could be rather brusque at times, and it could easily lead to a very lonely life.

  "I thought you were going back to the Jarlands?"

  "I am, but first I have to pick up something in Ismat al-Haratha. Sort of a surprise for a man named Talar down in Allaria."

  "Lover?"

  "Hardly."

  "This way," Cat said, leading them off the main boulevard and onto a narrow street almost devoid of traffic. Night shadows already claimed the street, what with its ramshackle tenements leaning dangerous out overhead and almost touching their counterparts across the street. "The tavern is at the next intersection. It's a small family place frequented mostly by locals."

  "I hope they serve decent ale. That watered down piss most desert barkeeps try to pass off as ale is..."

  Danica threw an arm out to stop Cat. Three large shapes had detached themselves from the shadows and were blocking the street. The steely glint of bared steel could be seen. Releasing the mare's reins, Danica reached for her hilt.

  As her fingers wrapped around the sword's leather wrapped hilt, a hard calloused hand wrapped around hers. Before she could react, a dagger pricked her just below the jaw and near to her jugular. One swift slice, and she would bleed to death within minutes. A grunt to her right said Cat had found herself in a similar predicament.

  "No trouble," Danica said. "There's coin enough for all of you on my belt. Just take it and leave us be."

  "Such generosity," he said into her ear, his breath reeking of alcohol and onions. With the blade still at her throat, he quickly pulled off her coin purse, unbuckled her belt and tossed it with her weapons to one of the men to her front. Cat was similarly robbed and disarmed. "But two young beauties like you will bring us a bit of coin, as well."

  "You're going to sell us to slavers?" Cat asked.

  Danica centered herself. She summoned all of her years of arms training, all of her years of unarmed combat training, as well. There were five men, two of the men held her and Cat. The three others looked relaxed and confident.

  "Be calm, Cat. Better slavery than death."

  "Speak for yourself."

  Danica glanced at the bigger woman. She caught Cat's eyes, and smiled with grim determination. Cat's eyes widened.

  "Just do what these nice men say, and it'll all work out fine."

  "Listen to your friend, woman," the robber holding Cat said.

  "Are you sure?" Cat said.

  "Absolutely," Danica replied, and wagged
her brows. "Okay, boys, you can take us away. We'll not fight you."

  The knife was pulled from her throat. She saw the blade at Cat's throat was pulled back, as well. Danica caught Cat's eyes, and spun around as she threw a vicious elbow at the robber's throat.

  "Ooff!" Danica's attacker cried, falling back.

  Danica grabbed his wrist and elbow, and brought her knee up so heard his arm snapped. The knife clattered on the ground. She snatched it up and plunged it into his belly, and then into his throat. As she turned to face the other three men, Cat finished off the man who attacked her.

  "Oops," Danica said. "You boys made a bad, bad mistake."

  All three reached for their blades. None of them wore swords, and since they didn't try to pull either Danica's or Cat's swords, she guessed they were common born so had no real weapon's training.

  Danica threw her knife into the throat of the man holding her weapons. She followed the blade, crashing into him a second after the knife struck. Yanking her belt and weapons from his dying grasp, she then pulled her sword and thrust at the next man. Cat was just finished dispatching the man with her weapons, and the last man was about to skewer her with his long knife when he realized the danger from Danica.

  That last man jumped back. Danica's thrust barely missed. He swung a fist at her face, with all his strength. Blackness and bright lights flashed behind her eyes as she felt herself hurled backwards with the force of the strike.

  Danica smashed back first into a stone wall, wavered a moment as grunting and scraping steel sounds filled the air. Her legs gave out, forcing her to drop to her knees. She knew she was in trouble, in a very bad way, but couldn't stop the blackness from consuming her as she toppled forward into oblivion.

  Chapter 16

  The Golden Girl Brothel was a three story whitewashed stone building with a terra cotta roof and barred windows. It sat next to a wide boulevard and a small park in Tamera's upscale el'Charmain quarter near the northern gate. The windows were barred with black painted wrought iron in geometric designs, quite adequate in keeping both robbers out and the one hundred and twenty-five slave and bond servant prostitutes in. The topmost floor was only half as large as the floors below, needing to house only Dame Isobeth and the brothel's free bartenders, bouncers, and cooks.

  Cat trudged up the last flight of the back stairs to the staff quarters on the third floor, carefully balancing the tray of food and wine in one hand. Danica was renting a spare room there during her convalescence.

  Nearing the closed door at the end of the dark hall, Cat heard spirited singing and clapping. Frowning, she knocked loudly. Crystal, a pretty blonde Amazon bond servant opened the door and let her in. A nude Danica was spinning round and round in some erotic dance, one of Dame Isobeth's prized Silk Slaves kneeling on a thick rug before her while clapping the rhythm and singing a wild desert song of unquenched desire in a mesmerizingly beautiful voice. Tianne was the Golden Girl's most expensive and most requested girl. The born and bred Silk Slave was average height, with knee length golden hair and big blue eyes, and quite possibly the most beautiful woman Cat had ever seen. Several wine bottles were scattered about, all appeared empty. The bond servant that let her in was clearly drunk.

  "Danica!" Cat snapped, black eyes flashing angrily. "Are you trying to get these women into trouble? What will Dame Isobeth say if she learns of this? They should be out working, not up here being entertained by your drunken shenanigans."

  Danica stopped her spinning dance, wobbled dizzily atop the sky high heels the Silk Slave had given her to dance in, and promptly fell on her rump with a yelp of surprise. The bond servant and Silk Slave giggled drunkenly at her, while Cat glared daggers. Wide-eyed, Danica looked up through a veil of tousled golden hair.

  "Cat, you surprised me. You off duty already?"

  "Yes, but you didn't answer my question."

  "I'm a bond servant," Crystal stated icily. "My time is my own business. If I chose to take a few hours off, so be it."

  "And I've already earned my keep for tonight," Tianne said haughtily, sweeping her perfect hair out of her perfect face with a perfect hand. Dame Isobeth had a rule that once a slave girl earned a specified sum, she received the rest of the night off. That sum was determined by the girl's beauty, experience, and recent earnings. The rule didn't apply to bond servants, who tended to try twice as hard anyway. The Silk Slave then gave Cat a withering glare, "I see no reason why I shouldn't enjoy myself with friends on my rare time off. Besides, someone had to teach Danica the proper way to dance for men. Poor girl is ignorant of even the most basic mysteries of love and pleasure!"

  Danica gave Cat a mischievous wink. "Imagine my luck, to be trained by two experts in the Arts of Love! Crystal was once Empress Serena's lover, and Tianne was a Silk Slave in three royal harems before coming here."

  Luck indeed, Cat thought, frowning. Danica was only singing and dancing with these two in an effort to lure them into bed. She was worse than those oversexed Tyrian warriors sometimes.

  "She's really quite good," Tianne said, smiling adoringly at Danica. "She's definitely the most eager student I've ever had and she has real talent as well. Of course, Elven grace and artistry is legendary."

  "It would be a crime for us to ignore her needs," Crystal said. "And she does get lonely up here by herself all day."

  "She'll get a lot lonelier if Dame Isobeth kicks her out for disrupting business," Cat said. The three women all cringed at the remark. Turning to Danica, "Well, should I just leave the meal and go, or do you still plan on going out to a tavern with me tonight?"

  "I'm coming," Danica said, crawling up onto the bed.

  After slipping off the red stiletto-heeled shoes, she handed them back to Tianne and started pulling on a new pair of black leather breeches. Tianne selected a blue silk shirt for her, which Danica accepted with a playful kiss while Crystal sponged the dust off her boots. After stamping into her new pair of knee-high black steppe boots with golden stitching and bronze spurs, she donned a blue silk kaffiyeh and matching veil. Hanging the veil off her left ear, Danica let Tianne wrap a black agal about her forehead to hold the kaffiyeh in place while she helped herself to the food Cat brought up.

  "Please, there's far too much for me here," she said, indicating the tray. "Help yourselves."

  Crystal and Tianne knelt to either side of her on the bed, while Cat stood before them with her arms crossed over her chest, silently watching them with somber eyes. The prostitutes rarely ate so well, their diets being rigidly controlled to keep them in prime shape. Though disapproving of Danica letting them have what Dame Isobeth forbad, Cat remained silent. She too thought the Amazon knight turned madam could be a little too unrelenting in some instances. Everyone needed a treat every so often.

  Danica pretty much left the pastries and vegetables to the other women, concentrating her attention on the pile of roasted beef. She savored the meat, cooked rare per her instructions, while watching Tianne and Crystal devour first the pastries, then the vegetables. They both received generous portions of beef, too. Slaves rarely were allowed to eat meat, and bond servants rarely could afford to eat such expensive fare. At every meal Danica ordered extra helpings of pastries and meats, just so her friends could have some. After all, she could afford to be generous.

  "I swear, Danica, you are a piece of work."

  The elfmaid just wagged her brows at her.

  Though Danica dismissed the fact with a wave of the hand, Cat knew that Danica saved her life. The robber was within her guard, and had a straight thrust to her heart. Danica intervene just in time, and was seriously hurt for doing so.

  Cat repaid her debts.

  Danica thought she'd need a Vikon witch to help heal her head injuries. Blows to the head could kill later. So she had Cat sell her horse and tack, and got a nice sum of money in Cat's opinion, but Danica complained it was far less than what she paid for them. The witch arrived, looked at her, spoke a short spell, and said she was fine. Danica just needed to re
st a few days, a week at most. That advice only cost her two crowns copper. Then a few days back, down in alley behind the Golden Girl, Danica joined a dice game that really filled her purse nicely. Now she had the price of a warhawk, so didn't need to join a caravan to reach her destination.

  Cat was happy for her new friend, but Danica frightened her with her demons may care attitude with life and money. While Cat denied herself and saved, Danica threw money around like there was an endless supply. Oddly enough, while Cat barely scraped by, Danica seemed to have a golden touch, making money effortlessly.

  The food gone, Danica set aside the tray and stood up. With a jingle of bangles, she pulled the veil across her face and hooked it over her right ear. Cat gave the gold and silver bangles a curious look. She was afraid to ask where Danica got them. Dame Isobeth would be furious if any were gifts from the slaves, since slaves didn't own them in the first place. Dame Isobeth did.

  Cat then ran her eyes over Danica, head to toe, in a way she wouldn't ordinarily look at another woman. While Danica was still groggy from the blow to the head, she had confessed that she was really a man trapped in a woman's body by a powerful sorceress. Cat's skin still crawled at the memory of that night, and the nightmares since. If it wasn't just an injury induced delusion, then she intended to do everything in her power to help Danica recover her rightful body. First she had to ensure it was true. At the moment it was hard to believe.

  Danica stood before her the consummate woman, vital and feminine in all ways. She now looked and acted little like the warrior Cat first met in the bathhouse. She wore cosmetics and fine silks, giggled and squealed with delight at private jokes with her friends, and happily spent hours with Tianne and Crystal primping and doing her hair and nails. She even seemed to delight in using her feminine wiles on others, flirting outrageously with men and women alike on their rare nights in Tamera together.

  "Where are we going tonight?" Danica said.