"Ho! Ho! Stop there!" It was the night guards. Demos slipped from his hiding place and went back to the main street. One of the boys was lying on the ground groaning, mortally stabbed. The boy looked up at him with wide eyes, lifting his head. The boy made a sad, moaning sound and his head flopped back down. Demos wanted to help but the guards were approaching fast. Their lanterns lights growing brighter as they got closer.
"Ho! You there!" He heard a voice call out. They had spotted him. Demos panicked. He ducked back into the alley and ran nearly sightlessly deep through the neighborhood to find a place to hide. They would think he did it and finding out he was a slave as well who had killed a freeman, even if the freeman was a criminal, the only thing he could look forward to was a death sentence. Demos hid himself around a corner near the doorpost of a house, hoping know one would hear him and come to the door. He feared he would be forced to retreat even further in and be lost in the void of darkness if they approached. He would have to put his lamp out and he dreaded that. Perhaps this was a terrible idea after all! Another man came stumbling around the corner. Demos nearly fainted. The man yelped in fright and surprise at first and then regarded him suspiciously.
"What are you doing here?" The man slurred. He had the heavy scent of stale beer on him. Demos had to think quickly.
"I. . .I am looking for Senetta's House." The man regarded him for a moment and then suddenly clasped him on the shoulder. He could see a leering grin on the shadowed face.
"So are we all. I know where it is. Come inside. Let us have a beer together and then we shall go together. Do you have a few copper coins to spare for an old man?" Demos felt himself getting prickly with apprehension.
"I have no ladre, sir. Only salves and potions."
"Ah. You do have the smell of an alchemist about you. That vegetable smell that says you have been in plants and potions and things. I will get someone to buy you a beer and then we will see about Senetta's House, eh?" He pulled Demos along down the street into what was a dim, dilapidated place. The lantern light was low and there were not many patrons there. They did, however, bother to look up and stare at the new man who had suddenly burst into their haunt. They seemed to recognize Demos's new found "friend" and some of them nodded at him.
"Come, I will get you a drink." He had two small copper coins and he put them on the table in front of them.
"Alil! Beer for me and my friend here, please."
"As if you have not had enough." Grumbled a grizzled man with strange tattoos on his arms. Similar to the one Samje had on his head. His apron was filthy and looked as if he had just emerged from the sewers. His beard was matted beyond recognition but his eyes were alert and appraising. He took up the coins and went to a table and picked up two bowls and dipped them in the giant beer vat. He set them down on the table in front of them and swatted flies away.
"So, now. What brings you here on such a night?" He asked Demos. It was muddy looking, thick and mealy. Cheap, poor beer, unrefined. Demos looked at the beer, trying to hide his disgust but he was also thirsty. This shamed him. He cleared his throat to try and sound official.
"I am on business for someone important. I need to get to Senetta's House to meet with her." At that the men all laughed.
"Important business you have, is it? At the House of Senetta? I am sure it is very important."
"Do not drink too much then. You will have a hard time keeping up with her on that count if you do. Like old Myter here. He can barely hold his urine."
"Ai! No need to insult a man!" Said the man sitting at a table next to Demos and Mytal. He then smiled, revealing brown and black teeth. He took a deep drink of his beer.
"Ahem. I am sorry but is there something wrong with the place?" Demos asked. They all gave him a knowing look.
"Of course not. Best place in this garbage heap if you ask my opinion." Said the innkeeper.
"Yes, as if you can afford to go there." Said another.
"Afford? What do you. . .what do you mean afford?" Demos felt lost. Everyone gave him odd looks.
"What is the matter with you? Are you slow?" Asked the innkeeper.
"I am not from here."
"It is a brothel. But not just any brothel. A fascinating place."
"And strange but the ladies there are some of the best people in the whole land. Good people." Good people? In a brothel? Demos thought in shock. A brothel? What had he got himself into? He was not sure where he was any longer and now he would try to stumble and bumble his way through Yilphaus at night to a brothel?
"I can show you the way. Never have I met a woman there that treated me with disdain and disgust, and me not much of a man anymore. It is not good to be out by yourself unless you carry a dagger on you. You have my dagger!" Myter lifted his shirt and showed Demos a rusted knife. He patted it affectionately.
"The streets of Yilphaeus are filled with filth and I mean the kind that walks on two legs. Besides that, the queen is in Egium. I hear her thirsty appetite knows no bounds. She drinks the blood of men, you know, just like the goddess she worships and who better than slaves and poor men like us, who mean nothing and have nothing?" Demos shrank in fear at hearing about the queen and he was not enthusiastic about his newly found "friend". But then he recalled the gang fight he had barely missed stumbling into and decided it was better to travel with at least one person then to continue alone. Even if that man was a drunk. The man got up and adjusted his ragged cloth belt around his pants and gave a loud, roaring belch. Demos had no idea how this man would ever make it past the doorway.
"You did not drink your beer!" He pointed at the full bowl accusingly.
"Oh, well I had better not. You know, I like to stay alert on business."
"Huh." The man grunted and then shrugged. He grabbed the bowl and sucked down Demos's beer.
"No use in beer going to waste." He patted his belly after another belch.
"Well, come with me, then," he drawled. "I shall take you to Senetta's House."
. . .
Senetta's House was in the very center of the Black Quarter. They'd descended down into the great cistern of Mabellus and when they'd come back up on the other side (there were two ways to get into the cistern) some paces away, sat a large, well-built house. In the light of the twin moons which were both high in the sky at this point he got a good glimpse of it. The house was of mortared stone and thick, wooden beams of cedar. It was three stories high, which impressed Demos. And there were many windows. It was plain but strong, a house that seemingly had stood there for ages. Myter, with a drunken flourish, waved his hand at the house.
"There, is the house. And may your night be pleasurable beyond your dreams." He said with a grin and shuffled off into the dark. Demos found it strange and was worried about the man.
"Wait! You should not go alone. . ." but the man had disappeared as if into the night air. It all seemed odd to Demos that the stranger was willing to help him. But he was here. He hobbled up to the door, a heavy wooden and iron door with strange creatures carved into its surface in a sprawling tableau that gleamed in the moons' light. In the middle of the door was a small carved face of a woman with a faint smile, a mysterious looking face that drew his eye. He knocked again, this time harder. He hoped he had not been steered wrong. Mytal seemed to know the streets like he knew his own hands and feet but he was drunk. The door finally opened. An old woman peered up at him.
"What is your name? You come at this hour without appointment?"
"I was told to come here-"
"Who are you? Why do you come here and looking like a slave, no less?"
"My name is Demos. I work for Master Ulthi-Nakteht Ut and I have come to see. . .ah, well, I have come with a special gift for the. . mistress of the house?" Demos stammered. He had not thought how he would explain himself. He did not need to. The woman's demeanor softened.
"Come in my dear. Come in. Yes." She said. "She is waiting for you. Yes." The door opened wide and inside he saw delicate and translucent veils hidin
g away a large central room. Lounging on benches in the anteroom were a few fierce looking men covered in bone piercings and strange tattoos either polishing knives or talking.
"This one is expected by the mistress." The old woman said to them imperiously and she shut the door firmly behind them. The men did not pay any heed to him after her words. Demos could smell the scent of incense and opium, myrrh and balsam and many other strange scents, some pleasant, some foreign, all alluring and evocative. Music wafted in from behind the veils.
"Of course, I shall take you straight to see her now. Yes. Follow me." Said the woman. He heard sounds, sounds of pleasure coming from behind the veils and curtains. The rooms and the center on the lowest floors were blocked off from sight of anyone coming in through the front door. There were pillars that stood behind the front door. They were in a long hall and she took him around the corner and then up a flight of steps and then through another hall where there was a balcony. Demos dared to peek over the balcony below and nearly stumbled over in embarrassment. The light was low and he saw only the suggestion of activity down below but he could hear it and he felt flustered. He had not known a woman in all his life. The old woman grinned at him, her crinkled eyes alight in the dimness. Her large golden earrings dangled and flashed. She continued on, even quickening her pace. Demos had a hard time keeping up. Up another flight of steps they went, this time higher than the last. Recessed in the walls were figures of various gods and goddesses in stone, jade or ebony; some with heads of beasts. At the end was one grand looking door. Demos was winded. She knocked on the door, briefly. A muffled voice was heard on the other side. The old woman turned and looked at him, appraising him it seemed.
"She says you can come in. Yes." The woman opened the door to a dim, smoke-filled room. Demos was thrown into a coughing fit from all the smoke.
"This one, he is not used to it, I think. No." The old woman gazed at him in amused pity.
"Who is he? Is this Demos?" Asked a deep, raspy voice. Demos could only see a shadow in the center of the room sitting amongst what looked like a massive spray of pillows.
"Yes, my mistress."
"Leave us, Ina." Ina left and closed the door. There was silence for a long time. Demos did not know what to say or think. He could only hear the faint, and what were to him disquieting sounds of the activities happening all around the house. Finally, he broke the silence, thinking he had gotten himself too far out of his depth and that perhaps Samje had played an evil trick on him.
"A servant of yours came to me and told me of your plight and that you needed my potions and ointments, that you found them helpful. He told me to come here to see you." His voice wavered slightly.
"Samje." The voice said as-a-matter-of-factly. More silence. The shadowed figure appeared to be smoking. Wide plumes of smoke flew out from the water pipe and draped the air.
"Was I wrong in coming here?"
"Do you think you were wrong in coming?"
"I do not know. I know it was not wise. My master is unpleasant and hates disobedience."
"Your Master is a cheat and a criminal, but you did right in coming here, at least for me, if nothing else. Come closer." She said, lowering her already deep voice. Demos was transfixed and a little frightened of this woman. He stepped closer. The smoke was a heady stew, strong with desert spices and other scents.
"Careful. Sit." The shadow pointed a long fleshy arm to a fat and comfortable pillow. Demos dropped to the pillow, suddenly remembering how badly his feet were hurting him. He fished for the bottles in his bag and produced them.
"Yes, Demos. Your potions are gaining a reputation in the city as things that are truly effective. You do not know how many years I have sought relief from my pain and my shame."
"Your pain is joint aches and pains, is it not?"
"Yes. I am fine now but I invited you here to talk. My servants told me you were an honest man who did not cheat them, unlike your master who has made many enemies in this city. I was puzzled and interested in finding out more about this honest man and now here you are. Would you like something to drink or to eat?"
"No, I could not. I have to go back to my master's house tonight."
"Do not worry over that. I will have my servants take you back. Please, rest your feet. You shuffle. Why?" Demos was ashamed and did not wish to speak on the matter. He remained silent.
"It is well then. You do not find it offensive to be here, in a brothel?"
"Well, I was not raised to view such places as good. I am not offended by people who need my help though. Why do you ask?"
"I can tell you are from Hybron and by your timidness that you are - sheltered. I do not mean it as an insult. Only an observation."
"You are perceptive." Demos heard soft laughter from the woman.
'"Why do you hide in shadow?"
"Do you not know what this place is?"
"A brothel."
"Not just any brothel. The men and the women who work here are not ordinary men and women. We are. . special." She said this last word with what Demos detected as a note of bitterness.
"I would show you but you would recoil in horror and disgust at me." For a long time Demos said nothing, curious about her.
"Why would you say that?" He finally asked. The woman suddenly, in one fluid motion stood up with the grace of a wild, big cat and went to a table behind her. The dim light of the three lamps in the room revealed her. Demos could see. His heart stopped.
"So," she said facing him, "will you run away like all good upstanding men or use me, like other good-upstanding men?" She was naked and now that there was more light he could see that she had extra appendages at her torso. She had four arms and hands instead of only two. Demos breathed hard thinking he was under hallucination with all the drugged smoke in the air.
"What you see are the results of an experiment from the learned and good alchemists of Egi. One good thing out of Hybron is that alchemy is banned. But here it flourishes in all its gory, evil glory. I am a successful thing. The first one that has not died a year after alteration. There are many that die before they find one strong like me. This place, this house, is a brothel for people like me. I am its mistress. I take care of the ladies and the boys here, that no one hurts them while they are here. There really is no other place for us."
"Unnatural." Demos whispered, still in shock.
"Unnatural, yes. But we are slaves who have no choice in this. I have been put here in this manner and I must find a place in the world or give up and die. I do not want to die, I did not ask for this but here I am a queen of sorts. I am within my world and I rule it, gently, but with strength. I have no choice. And now, Demos, I have requested you to come here because I am afraid that I am dying after all. My lower arms, you see, they are decaying. One doctor I saw calls it necropsy and they cause me great pain because they have stiffened greatly with my age. I am older than you can tell. Age is taking its toll upon me. Your ointments and medicines keep me from deterioration and from suffering indescribable pain. That and the opium smoke in my den."
"I am so sorry, Lady Senetta. " She laughed gently at this.
"Only Senetta. You think I am an abomination."
"I do not know what to think."
"Of course. I am sorry. I have forced my grief upon you and entrapped you here to find someone to talk to. Forgive me, Demos. I am in misery most of the time. The older I get the worse the pain becomes. I am both a queen and a slave to men's prurient desires. The Queen of abominations. I am one of the dakhmin."
"Dakhmin?"
"Changed Men. Or woman, in my case."
"I am also a slave against my will, Senetta." He recalled his kidnapping and forced slavery by the Gilphaens years earlier. He closed his eyes.
"You were taken from a noble family, I think. You have the bearing and manners of a man of good breeding." Demos simply nodded.
"But that was a lifetime ago. I am sure my mother and father are dead. At least they would stop suffering if they were." It
brought upon him a flood of memories of intolerable pain.
"I am sorry. I will not bring it up again." She said softly.
"No, do not feel bad. I would help you if I could but I must get back or Master Ulthi will beat me. He has already done so. Once so badly he crippled me. Now I walk with a shuffle in my feet."
"Ah. And now I know the riddle of the shuffle. I shall have you carried back home by litter. Demos, I do wish you would come back here for good. One thing that gives me my power here is that I know secrets. I know many things about the important men and women in this city. And abroad. I know that your master is in a dangerous dispute with some powerful men, one in particular who is a part of his own brotherhood. I do not want to see an innocent man get caught up in his schemes. He has made powerful enemies, Demos. Be on the watch. If you can, come here. I will find a good position for you in my employ. To be my alchemist. You would not be a slave but a servant. I do not have slaves here. I cannot make you a free man but I can give you more dignity than what you have. There are some here who work for freedom. It will be a very long time in coming but it is on the lips of many slaves in Egi. One day, it may come. Maybe in your lifetime, Demos. In the meantime, think about working for me." She paused, sat down and took a long draft of her pipe. Then: "The ointments. I will take them." He handed her the clay vials. She took them and rang a gong to alert her servants to have the litter prepared. On seeing her up close she seemed ageless, not old but not young either. She had wide-set, large dark brown eyes limned with orange and long lashes and a full mouth and a slight double chin. She was fleshy and round and her skin, smooth and flawless a high bronze color and her hair was a mix of dark brown and russet colors pulled back tightly in intricate braids and coils pinned with ebony and jade hair sticks. She was indeed a beautiful woman, even being shockingly strange to him.
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