by Tom Liberman
“Triple-blech,” said the girl who started to turn but an iron grip from the old woman on her ankle prevented such a maneuver. “Why do I have to?” she asked with slumped shoulders and looked to the woman who was dressed in a more comfortable outfit that consisted of a cotton shirt flared at the collar with floral patterns along the short sleeves. She had toned arms and her skin tanned lightly from exposure to the sun but neither burnt nor milky white like a true maiden either. Her breasts were both full and large and a hint of skin shone out from under the material. “Don’t you want to be pretty,” said Lousa with a tilt of her head.
“Don’t you tilt your head at me,” replied the girl. “I’m not some boy.”
The old woman chuckled under her breath, “She’s got you there Miss Lousa,” she said.
“Nor do I want anyone to confuse you with a boy,” replied the woman, walked over to the girl, and ran her fingers through the newly cut hair. “You look such a tomboy with that haircut but there was nothing else to do with the all the bugs you accumulated under your brother’s tutelage.”
“Where is Unerus?” asked Ariana her eyes suddenly bright and her cheeks flushed red. “I want to see him!”
“I sent him up to Iv’s Leap to check up on Khemer and his memory issues. I don’t trust that ghost any more than I think it was Hazlebub who summoned him up in the first place. He was waiting there all along and he knows more about the …,” with a look to the seamstress, “… item than he lets on.”
“Why do they call it Iv’s Leap and why is this place called Iv’s Folly?” asked the girl. “And when will Unerus be back and don’t you think that Shamki is so brave and strong?”
“You are a curious child and that is a good thing,” said the old seamstress with a look up from her job. “Did Miss Lousa really find you in the streets?”
The girl nodded her head and ran her own fingers through her shortened hair. “It’s so short.”
“I’m certain Myris will be ready to fill you in on the town’s history whenever he comes out from hiding his shame at running away during our little adventure last week,” said Lousa with a grin. She started to tilt her head but at the last second caught the motion and stopped herself. “In the meantime we need to finish that dress and work on your table manners. When you were learning how to read didn’t anyone explain a knife and fork to you?”
The girl shook her head, “Un uh.”
The woman looked down at the girl and sighed. “Remind me to make a note about grammar and speaking properly.”
“Huh?” said Ariana with a giggle.
“Is she ready,” asked Lousa to the seamstress.
“As ready as she’ll be,” replied the elderly woman, who leaned back and then stood up to give the girl a final look. “Spin around for us young lady and no noises.”
Ariana stepped off the little dressing podium and turned around slowly her eyes flickered over her new dress in the full length mirror that stood nearby. “How can I run in this?” she asked with a frown.
“Wait until you see the shoes,” said Lousa with a smile. “Young ladies don’t need to run.”
“I sure did need to run the other night,” said the girl with a grin. “And I bet sometime you run from all the boys who chase you Lousa. And, that’s a stupid name for an elf. I thought all elves were named Milasandra or Thelamalla or something pretty like that.”
“I’m only partially an elf and maybe, someday, if you’re a good girl and learn to behave like a lady I’ll tell you my full name,” said Lousa with a smile. “But, until then we have to get ready for the mayor. I doubt he’ll even recognize you. Now you remember what we practiced we were going to tell him, right?”
“I remember,” said the girl. “Hazlebub conjured up a ghost and we found an old staff.”
“That’s right, Ambrasia, I think we can handle it from here, thank you for your help,” said Lousa with a nod of her head to the old woman and passed her a silver coin from a small bag. The elderly woman took the coin with a practiced motion that was so smooth it was difficult to see and then gathered her seamstress tools and left the room without a further word. “Now, young lady. The mayor is a fine man and to be trusted to a point but I don’t want to tell him too much of my suspicions about that staff, so you follow my lead, right?”
“Yes Miss Lousa,” said the girl in a sweet little voice that while seemingly perfectly in line with her new clothes also sounded odd coming from the tough little urchin. “I like Ambrasia even though she stuck me with a needle when I was squirming.”
“I like her as well, now let’s see about those shoes.”
Ten minutes later the duo found themselves in the long corridor that led to the mayor’s office. Lousa paused for a moment to look at the empty chair usually occupied by the nervous chamberlain but then continued on towards the door. She gave it a quick two raps and then opened it without waiting for a reply. The mayor sat in his high backed chair, looked over a series of papers, and counted out a pile of golden coins. He sat back and smiled as Lousa approached and the woman stood a little taller, arched her back slightly, and smiled brightly tilting her head to the left. “Good morning Mr. Mayor,” she said. “It’s always a pleasure to see you.”
“Likewise Lousa,” said the mayor his fat jowls hung down but his keen gray eyes flickered to the girl next to the woman. “Who have you brought me today?”
“You don’t recognize her?” asked Lousa with a smile and Ariana frowned and scrunched up her face.
“The girl!” exclaimed mayor Shumba as soon as she made the sour face. “How could I not recognize that look? You have certainly worked a miracle Lousa but what on earth do you plan to do with her?”
“I thought we could take her to Lycidas and marry her off to the baron or viscount,” replied the woman with a smile and then winced as the foot of the girl made contact with her ankle. “I’m only teasing Ariana; I wouldn’t marry you off to a lesser noble like that.” She then turned back to the mayor. “Ariana impressed me greatly with her bravery and skill during our little operation and I’m hoping that she’ll be an ally to you for many years to come.”
“You know I trust your judgment on these things Lousa. But, now, the point of your little visit? I’m having a slight dispute with one of our esteemed merchants as to the total amount owed in taxation and I just can’t seem to get the numbers right. I’ll be needing Shamki and Humbort to straighten things out and they’ve been gone for a week now.”
“What a happy coincidence,” said Lousa. “That is just what I’ve come to talk to you about.”
“Go on,” said the mayor who opened his hands and leaned back in his chair a smile on his face but his eyes keenly on the woman.
Ariana watched closely and saw that the mayor did not look at Lousa the way the other men did. His eyes did not focus on her chest but looked at the woman’s eyes and his mouth remained closed. Occasionally he darted a glance at the girl and his eyes burned into hers as if they saw deep into her thoughts and she took a step backwards feeling almost an actually pressure from the force of his gaze. No wonder Lousa wanted to practice what we said she thought to herself and tried to put on the impassive expression that the woman told her to maintain. By the time she managed to get control of her facial expressions and body stance she realized that Lousa had just finished the story of that terrible, yet wonderful night out on the point. “I wonder how Unerus is,” she thought to herself as her cue quickly came up.
“That’s when little Ariana here ran with the staff, right dear?”
“Yes ma’am. Humbort and I ran up the hill but the skeletons didn’t chase us and we met up with everyone else.”
“And while you were holding this staff,” said the mayor his keen eyes settled on Ariana with an intensity that caused her to catch her breath, “did you feel any different, did you feel like you could have ordered the skeletons, or did any voices talk to you?”
“No, Mr. Mayor,” said the girl and tried to use the sweet voice that served
her well when she and her brother were in tight spots with a merchant but she found her throat stiff and she remembered the strange way the skeletons seemed to back away from her as she ran down the corridor and how some of them, she just remembered it at that moment, actually faced her and began to bow or kneel, and spread their arms towards her. “I … I … don’t think so.”
“The Staff of Naught,” said the mayor his fingers drummed on the desktop his gaze did not waver from the little girl. “And my chamberlain apparently missing. You did say he ran away Lousa, before you retrieved the staff?”
“You know how cowardly he is,” said Lousa, walked around to the other side of the desk, put her hand on his shoulder, and leaned in so that her long hair touched his cheek. At this the mayor’s nostrils flickered and his gaze slipped away from the girl who felt an actually sense of weight lift from her. “He dashed as soon as the Tarltonite ghost summoned by Hazlebub arrived.”
“Yes, the ghost. I’ll be wanting to talk to Hazlebub about that ghost. Whoever suspected the little potion making fake actually had magical abilities? And where is that damn Tanner? He’s been gone a week looking into that shipwreck without a word. So, Lousa,” he went on but upon breathing her perfume in again his eyes closed and a little smile crept across his face. “So, I’ll be expecting more reports as information becomes available?”
“Of course Mr. Mayor, you know I’ll keep you as up to date as possible,” said Lousa, leaned on his shoulder, and spoke quietly in his ear.
“I do have some time this afternoon for a …,” he said with this a quick glance at the girl, “a more in depth plumbing of the facts.”
“I’m certain that can be arranged but in the meantime little Ariana is pining away for her brother so I thought I’d take her up to Iv’s Leap and reunite the pair. I should return this evening at the latest but if something happens it might take longer.”
“I’m most disappointed,” said the mayor his eyes no longer focused on the woman. “Most disappointed indeed.”
“Please, Miss Lousa,” said the girl. “I do so miss my brother and I’m worried about him up there with that stupid Humbort and mean old Shamki.”
“I’m sorry Jorum,” said Lousa to the mayor. “I’m disappointed as well but duty calls.” With that she took the hand of the little girl and the two walked out of the room only the faint odor of her perfume left behind. The mayor watched her sway out with the little girl and then sat back into his chair and sighed deeply. “She’s up to something, that’s why she brought the girl along.”
Back in the hallway, Ariana stopped as they got halfway to the far door. “He’s smart and it’s like he could read my mind!”
“He’s a dangerous man under all that fat,” said Lousa. “But he’s a good friend to have and right now we’re on the same side. That was good about missing your brother.”
“I do miss Uney!”
“Yes, but you don’t think Shamki is a mean old half-orc,” said Lousa with a smile as she straightened the girls hair which already threatened to get out of shape. “You handled yourself very well in there young lady. Not everyone can stand up to gaze of Mayor Shumba, I’ve seen grown men, and tough ones crumble under interrogation.”
“I … I … didn’t think I could take it much longer,” admitted the girl. “It’s like his eyes are in your brain. I remembered things I had forgotten when he asked me those questions.”
“I’ll be interested in hearing what you remembered but not here. The mayor isn’t beyond doing a little spying. We’ll walk out to Iv’s Leap. I don’t want to take his coach because his coachman might hear what we have to say. Now come along and I’ll tell you the story of Iv and how this town was named. You would like to hear that wouldn’t you?”
“Oh yes, said the girl and clasped her hands together, “but could I wear different shoes if we’re going to go for a long walk, these hurt my feet, why do women wear things that hurt their feet?”
“That is another question and not as easy to answer,” said Lousa with a crystalline laugh that seemed to echo in the narrow hallway. “One day you’ll learn for yourself, not too soon though. But, in answer to your question, yes, we’ll get you out of that dress as well.”
“I have to change again?” protested the girl while she stamped her feet. “I didn’t even used to have another set of clothes to change into.”
“Be that as it may times change and the world goes round and round,” said Lousa. “And a smart girl takes advantage of every opportunity that comes her way.”
“That’s what Uney says!” said the girl and looked up at Lousa first with wide eyes and then squinted. “I bet you weren’t always so pretty and fancy,” she said and took a step back to look at the older woman with careful eyes for the first time. Lousa was tall for a woman with elf blood and certainly busty but there was a small scar around the backside of her right jawline and the shoulders of the woman were sharp and her arms while shapely also were tone and had some of the same muscles that Shamki did, albeit smaller. “I think you were like me once!”
“Someday, if you’re a good girl, you might get to hear about me, but for now let’s get you changed so you can see your brother.”
At this the young girl smiled and tried to dash up the stairs only to trip over the heels of her new shoes, almost planted her face onto the marble floor, but managed to stay upright with wild swinging of her arms. “Ooops.”
Lousa laughed.
Chapter 6
Unerus dangled by one hand from the rocky overhang, kicked his feet, and dropped rocks towards the thousands of jay nests along the face of the cliff below. Each time one of the rocks skittered through the nests the birds took to wing and circled around. It didn’t take them long to find the cause of the disturbance and within a few minutes dozens of the creatures swooped low at the young boy with terrible squawks from their sharp beaks, eyes beady, and wings that came closer and closer to the boy. Eventually Unerus clambered back to the top of the outcrop that led to the sheer drop where a rock memorial had written words on a bronze plaque. The first day at the site the boy had read it as he explored the area and he knew that it commemorated a young man named Iv Heliophanus who tried to leap from that very point onto the back of a passing Griffon during migration season. Hazlebub explained to him that the attempt was made apparently on a wager although more likely because the boy wanted to impress a young maiden from a nearby farmstead. It was the sort of romantic story that puzzled Unerus, barely eleven years of age, whose interest in girls only just vaguely awakened although he knew that his sister would enjoy it greatly.
As he rounded the top of the cliff he spotted the two figures on their way up the face of the large hill. The distance was too great for him to make out any facial features but the size of the smaller one and the way the larger one moved gave him the realization that it was Lousa and his sister. He stood and watched them for a moment until they passed up the trail and under an overhang and thus out of his view and only then did he sprint towards the cave where Shamki, Hazlebub, Humbort, and the ghost idled away the time playing dice games that the tall simpleton seemed to win all the time. Unerus, an accomplished dice player himself, knew that Humbort cheated somehow but couldn’t spot the method.
He arrived in the cave with a great rush and saw that things hadn’t changed at all. Humbort washed some clothes in the big basin that they brought in from town yesterday with water fetched from the nearby stream, Hazlebub stood in the corner and rehearsed some enchantment or another her movements matched to the rhythm of the words, the big half-orc Shamki did his strange little ritual of movement that didn’t seem to have to do with swordplay but that the warrior swore was responsible for his skill with the blade, and the ghost hovered over the Staff of Naught staring at it intently as if unable to fathom its true nature.
“Lousa and Ariana are coming!” shouted the boy loudly the words echoed off the cave walls and reverberated throughout the area.
“My ears,” shrieked Hazlebub and
clapped her hands over her them. “You don’t have to yell in here, the acoustics are just fine.”
“Lousa’s coming,” said Humbort as he began to frantically look through the pile of clean clothes. “Where is my green shirt?”
“I hope this means they’ve made some progress into finding out more about this staff,” said Khemer. “My memory is so clear in some things but so foggy in others. I wish I could help more.”
Shamki continued his snake like swaying and hand movements and apparently paid no attention to the fact that visitors were due to arrive any moment.
Unerus looked around for a place to sit and settled on the rock pile in the northwest corner that they used as a sleeping area, lay down with a feigned yawn, and closed his eyes. Moment later Lousa and Ariana burst into the cave, “Surprise!”
No one was surprised.
“Uney!” squealed Ariana and ran over to her brother. He blinked his eyes sleepily but hugged back just as hard as she flew into his arms. “I missed you; I’ve never been away from you so long. Lousa is teaching me to be a lady but I hate it, the mayor is scary, I remembered stuff about when I had the staff, she made me wear really tight shoes!”
The boy smiled as they hugged, “It sounds like you had a good time mostly.”
She smiled back at him, “She’s okay.”
“What happened to your hair?” asked Unerus, pushed her backwards, and took a good look at her cleanly scrubbed face for the first time.
Her hand went to her head and she looked down at his feet, “Do you like it?”
“I … its great!” he said. “I really like it.”
“You’re not just saying that?”
“No, no. You know I wouldn’t do that.”
“More like girlfriend and boyfriend than brother and sister,” said Humbort looking at the two.
“Shut up,” said Ariana and Unerus in unison and everyone laughed.
“Merchant come back?” asked Shamki without a pause in his ritualistic motions.
