by Jacob White
Right when I returned to my depressed thoughts later in the evening. I looked up just to see Les standing in front of a confused Dirk. Out of nowhere she slapped him and said just as I instructed her too. However, Dirk just got on his knees saying something about building a house with his hands and milk bathes. Les was just as taken back as she tried to hide her smile walking back behind the bar. Dirk came to lean his back on the bar.
“I’m surprised by your effort but you’re going to have to do better than that. This just means something might be coming back your way.” He turned his head and to give me a wink. Just as I was almost getting a handle on my feelings after the amusement, the door opened for another round of guests and three men who stood there in dark clothing, taking the place in. There attire mimicked those of the mages from the procession.
“Welcome to the Yezmon. Please take an empty table, and we will be right along.” With a friendly smile, they walked to the last empty table. Les brought their first rounds to them as two girls went to them. A couple of hours passed and the Yezmon was at full capacity. I couldn’t help but think it a fitting end. One of the three mystery men started to yell at me from their table.
“My good sir, as we have been very busy defending our great nation, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind offering us a night on the house.” There were cheers from other tables as I looked over the room.
“Gibi’s balls…” I whispered to myself. I turned back to the three men all who were staring at me now. “I’m sorry, good men, I appreciate your strife and sacrifice, but I cannot let this happen.” Pain shot through my palm.
“Are you sure you won’t let take these beautiful ladies to the bed for a night?” His words were so intoxicating as if his hands were trying to stroke my mind.
“I’m sorry. Please accept a free round courtesy of the house for your long journeys.” The men had lost their smiles and were whispering to the man in the middle.
“What about you fine lady, convince the owner to give us a reward!” The room erupted again. The man in the middle didn’t budge. He just stared at my persons. I had the ale’s in hand as Les stepped in my way.
“Weaver, maybe we should let them, as a reward for their hard work for our kingdom.” Confused, I looked at her, and her eyes didn’t really seem to hold the same brown as before. As if they weren’t actually staring at me but through me. “Please reconsider.”
“We both know I can’t do that, Les.” She picked up an empty mug to clean. I went over to the table and set the ale’s down and felt my scars pulse again. I looked to where I would set the ale and I easily saw the scars on my hand again. Looking up, I saw they also took notice, but it was gone before anyone else could see. The man who seemed to oversee the three spoke again.
“Those are an interesting set of scars on your hand. Mind if I ask how you received them?”
“Nothing but a riding accident” I gave him a version of the same answer that my mother would give usually. He didn’t seem satisfied with this answer but didn’t push further. He took a long drink of ale as he remained silent
“We all appreciate your kindness for the drink, but sadly, I remember a prior engagement we need to be at. Please accept the extra coin for the inconvenience.” Not waiting for a reply, they all stood and walked out. Dirk walked up next to me.
“What was all that about?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” I replied while handing him one of the ales from the table. He shrugged as he took it and went back to his wall. I took the remaining ale’s and brought them back behind the bar where Les was looking at me.
“I’m sorry, Weaver, I’m not sure why I said that… about the men. As soon as they left, I knew I was wrong, and not entirely sure why I even asked you that.”
I placed a kiss on her lips to reassure her that there were no lost feelings between us and resumed work as normal. For the rest of the night, nothing happened as the last patron left early in the morning. I shut the wooden bar across the door, hopefully for the last time as a pleasure house. I couldn’t help but want Anna here to lock it with me.
The evening of the next day had come and with Les at my side, we walked out to the social area where everyone had gathered. They had groaned as I told them I wanted to make an announcement but that was far from the truth. I had no idea how they would react, maybe with anger because they would be afraid or maybe with admiration and hope. We walked into the room, and Les walked over to another table and sat down. I also noticed the rare occurrence of both hired men there. Dirk must not have left when Ralph had come to take over. I walked and stood up on the bar. I began to speak before my courage ran away from me.
“Thank you for all being here, and on time I might add.” As I glanced over at Flo. She returned it with a smile and a bat of her eyelashes. “There are a few things I wanted to talk about. First, there will be no work until after the festival is completed.”
There were screams of joy as hugs were ushered around and I even caught Dirk sneaking in and getting a few.
“Dirk…” He held his hands up and walked back next to Ralph. “Don’t worry. I will be making sure all have enough money to enjoy themselves. However.” The room got quiet again as the words came out and it only added to my nervousness.
“There is another matter that I need to address. I’m not sure how everyone is going to like it, but it must be done. For all my life, I have grown up here, I’ve known many women to come and go all through the years. Some grateful, some not, but since mother died I became the new operator of the Yezmon. I have found myself at a loss.” Confused looks littered the room as heads turned to whisper to see if anyone understood what was happening. “If everyone could quiet please.”
“Just say it.” Flo said.
“I will if you stop chattering like hens.” The room was silent again. “The last few months you all have become a vital part of my life and when I came upon this, I knew it had happened long before that. I have tried my best to treat you all well and I admit, I have failed some of you as I was not able to offer complete protection. For that, I will always be sorry as no person should have to deal with that type of torment.” A few girls squeezed hands reassuring one another. “As I have discussed with Les, we came up with possible solutions for us all.”
There was a long pause as I looked over at Les. She only smiled and urged me to continue. “Without a doubt, I realize that this is the correct route for us to go but know this, the choice will be yours… I no longer wish the Yezmon to be a pleasure house.” The reaction wasn’t anything I expected, I became surrounded in silence and unsure how to continue. I cleared my throat.
“Now the options I am offering are: one, I can hire some people to come in, and each of you could learn a trade, read and write for those who don’t know how. Or maybe something else. This would be, so you can go out on your own two feet and not survive on your body but your skill. Two, we can turn the Yezmon into a tavern. Lastly, we can continue as if this conversation never happened, but as I mentioned I want the choice to be yours. Please discuss amongst yourselves. Les will come to get me when you are done. Ralph, don’t let anyone in or out until the choices are made.”
He gave me his usual nod of understanding, and I left to the back, to the enclosed area outside behind the Yezmon. As soon as I had shut the door, it re-opened again, and I spun around looking at Dirk.
“Now is not the best time, Dirk.” I motioned for him to return inside.
“Listen, this is a rare trait for me to be serious so please listen to what I have to say.” I lowered my hand and waited for him to continue.
“I’ve been a soldier most of my life and whatever I am now. What you just did in there was kinder and nobler than any act a king or queen has ever done in a thousand years. Understand this, you have earned an everlasting respect from both Ralph and me. You gave them a choice to control their lives when they grew up not having any. I recognize that you took care of them best you could but this gift you offer them is beyond what an
individual could hope to have in his lifetime. If there aren’t any thanks from anyone, and they continue as things are. I want you to know that I thank you for letting me witness this act of great courage.”
“I hardly think it was courageous, but I feel it was the right choice.” Then the same old Dirk returned.
“So, if this is turned into a bar or tavern, am I allowed to hit on the barmaids still?”
I was about to give a witty remark, but once again Dirk got the last laugh as Les came through the door.
“They have made a choice.” I wasn’t able to learn anything from her flat facial expression. I could see that she was being careful not to reveal anything. I decided to go ahead and meet the room.
I walked in to find everyone standing. I could see that tears were shed from the smeared make-up and red eyes. At the front of them, Flo was waiting for us. As soon as Dirk made it back over to Ralph, I waited for Flo to give me the answer.
“Weaver, before anything else, we all want to say thank you. We do not take this choice lightly and want you to know there are no hard feelings among any of us.”
Worry started to rumble in my stomach as I feared the answer was to keep the Yezmon the same.
“We all agreed together that the Yezmon would be better situated as a tavern opposed to a whore house.” With those words, I crumbled on the inside. I was filled with relief because I wasn’t sure if I could stay if they had decided to keep things the same. Cheers filled the room, and every girl in the room was crying again as they came to give me embraces. I even felt tears coming from my eyes from the moment. Dirk again had somehow stolen some embraces of his own as well from the vulnerable ladies. Before I could take another jab at Dirk, I found Les standing in front of me.
“I will remind you that I do not deserve such a man, but I would like to work my hardest to earn you if you would let me.” She lifted her face and met mine as she kissed me and wrapped her arms around me. Even more, cheers rang out from the room, and we pulled away smiling as we saw many girls sighing at our affection. Somehow, I knew that Dirk was immediately next to us. He offered himself to Les and to my shock, Les hugged him with and a smiled.
“Don’t let it go to your head,” she said to him. Dirk looked at me with a smile and wagged his eyebrows up and down as if trying to give a hint of where his mind was. I pushed his face away with my hand with a friendly pressure. He only laughed with everyone else.
“What are you all doing?” I only received confused looks as I spoke. “Why don’t any of you have any clothes on? You look like you just came from a pleasure house!” Everyone laughed, and I’m even sure I heard a ‘Curse Gibi if I’m still a whore!’ from somewhere as everyone headed back upstairs. Les was once again kissing me, and I did nothing but enjoy the moment.
“You know as soon as you had left the choice was made.”
“Then why did you wait to come and get me?”
“We wanted you to sweat a bit. They more than agreed after I had told the girls about your inner battle with the choice you made.” I simply stared at her with a blank look.
“Evil,” I said. She laughed and kissed me again. The rest of the night was filled with ale and food to usher in the new Yezmon. After each bang on the door everyone would reply with ‘use your hand!’. It was heartwarming to see everyone with relaxation and joy on their faces. As Les and I went to sleep, it was all I could dream about until the next day.
CHAPTER NINE
Into the Fire
There was a festive energy in the air on the morning of the festival. Everyone had been busy since we had our meeting. Flo’s many complaints and slight disappointment that everyone had moved to the top room reached my ears several times. I reminded her it was for the transformations of the other bedrooms for the tavern. Amazingly, I could quell the temper of Flo every time. On the owners’ side, I had spent most of my time at the cities registrar’s office changing our designation before the offices shut down for holiday. The workers were not able to hide their confusion or whispers. I was asked several times if I had lost my mind giving up one of the two legal brothels in the city. For some reason, it made me stand a bit taller as it lent confidence to my decision. The worst part came towards the end when I’m sure they were lazy on purpose.
“Lad, are you sure about this? It would be like giving the city to Edmund. Everyone knows what you did to him. You aren’t worried at all?” The official asked me.
“If he takes it that way then it’s better for me in the long run.” Several other questions followed but since I was at their mercy, I didn’t have much choice but to answer the questions of future plans.
Afterwards I swung by the trinket shop, where the necklace Les had been admiring was. I went back to the Yezmon and started preparations for later that night. I had told myself that I wouldn’t drink too much this evening, scared it would ruin my performance. Considering it was going to be my first, I needed all the help I could get.
I wasn’t done until later that evening and by that time the lower floor was cut off from the rest of the room with only a small tunnel going to the stairs and outside. I had already alerted everyone about using the back entry only. As well as they should ignore anything they hear coming from the lower floor, much to my embarrassment.
“Confident, are you?” Flo’s voice coming from my side “Did you need any advice? Like how to—”
“I have a general idea thank you.” Her hands raised in defense at my comment.
“I’m just trying to help. Men can do amazing things with their tongues.” I hit my forehead with my hand.
“Dear gods, make this conversation end.” She laughed and walked away.
I was dressed and ready to go when I found Les waiting for me by the back door tapping her foot.
“I know, I know,” I said apologetically.
“It’s okay, I was only waiting for an hour, and getting asked hundreds of questions if I knew why the bottom was blocked off.”
“I told them I was remodeling.”
“Right. Come on, slow man, we have dancing to do.”
“Uh, dancing?” I grimaced.
“Yes, and don’t even try to say no. It’s going to happen, just accept it.”
“Of course, my queen, but first there is something I wish to give you before the fun begins.” She stood there waiting with curiosity as I took the small box out of my pants pocket. “This is for you, a small token of thanks for everything that you have helped me since you have been with us.”
“What is it?” I just stood there as if I didn’t hear her question. She just grinned and raised an eyebrow. Gods how I love that grin. She gazed at me a bit longer and then took the single ribbon off around the box. She slowly opened it, and her mouth dropped open slightly. Worried I had done something wrong, I just stood as well.
“I’m sorry if you don’t like it…” but I stopped what I was saying as I saw her make-up begin to smear down the path of her tears.
“Weaver, I…” I could tell she was struggling with words, so I decided to save her as she had done for me, so many times and I took the box from her and took out the necklace. She turned around and lifted her brown locks that fell to her middle-back. I slid the chain around her neck and kissed the small clasp as I pulled away. “It’s so beautiful, Weaver, just the other day I had been looking at it, but how could you know that?”
“I like to watch you from dark alleys in my spare time.” That put a big smile on her face as her hand still clutched the small sapphire. “Also, I saw you at the market looking at it, and so I got it for you.”
She dropped her hand and ran the two steps to me and flung her arms around my neck. She kissed me so hard I could almost feel our teeth hitting. The kiss had become tender the longer it lasted, and I couldn’t help but tighten my grip around her back. She pulled away and inch just to look at me.
“Weaver, I love you.” She whispered before planting another kiss on my face. She pulled away again with that beautiful smile on her face.
Her hand gently came to my face. “You don’t need to say anything, I just wanted to make sure you know.”
“If that’s the case then let’s go!” I laughed as she pulled away to give me a scowl. I quickly pulled her back to close the distance again.
“Les, I love you as well. I was going to tell you tonight, but I don't want another minute to pass without you knowing.”
Tears were falling faster this time but through a smile. She put her mouth to mine again, giving me a salty taste of her tears and stepped away.
“Since you found the need to ruin my face, I’ll be right back.” She said. I couldn’t seem to stop smiling as she went back inside to clean her face off. I didn’t have to wait long for her as we both stepped out of the Yezmon’s shadow hand-in-hand towards the festival.
We reached one of the city’s open crossroads. All the market stalls had turned from selling food to selling the masses ale, little flowers to decorate hair with, and lanterns that float when a candle was lit within. I couldn’t remember the last time I had smiled so much as we met up with the others. Even Dirk was there and for once not trying to court the ladies under my care but any instead any other woman who decided to walk past him. To my much bigger surprise, I was looking around over the top of my ale and saw Flo and Ralph talking intimately. I spit out the ale that was in my mouth and turned to Les and pointed.
“What in the world. When did that happen?” surprised by my question Les was slow to reply.
“How could you have not noticed? Sometimes you’re blind to the obvious, you know that.” She put her head on my shoulder and we laughed together through the music. The rest of the night no matter where I went I was found by lovely Les urging me to dance more and more. After a while I could no longer dance and feared I would throw up all the ale I’d drank. I pulled Les to the side.
“There’s one more surprise I wanted to show you.” She gave me her now famous grin and urged me forward to lead the way. With her arm in mine, I led her to the front of the Yezmon. “Here it is.”
