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The Blacke Letter; Part 8 |
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“Yew mean yew gots a whole flask a dragon’s blood, constantly leakin’ fumes, just unner yer nose?” I asked incredulously.
He nodded happily and I shook my head. “If that’s real dragon’s blood then that shoulda kilt yew long ago, just breathin’ those fumes like that! Are yew crazy?!”
He snickered and replaced the flask. “Nope. Jus’ a real good kidder. Dragon’s blood don’t fizz like that. I jus’ tell ‘em it does and they get all afeared like yew wit dat ‘Yew always breathin’ that stuff?! Yew must be sum sorta immortal!’ thing. Scares ‘em every time cuz no one really knows what dragon’s blood looks like. Love ter get me paws on summa the stuff though!”
I chuckled. “Ha! Good one Leo. Yeh did hae me goin’ fer a minute! Wot else ya got there..? Seems like yer know what yer talkin‘ about.”
He took another vial in one paw. It was tiny and had a clear liquid in it. It looked just like water. “Oh, me name’s not Leo; ‘tis Lonna. Anywho, this little bit is the perfect poison fer killin’ ‘em quick. Has the perfect disguise too; strongest poison you’ll ever find. Cheaply of course.” He grinned. “Ye drink it, ye die quick and almost painlessly. No cure. An’ if yer in a hurry an’ ya chuck it in a falla’s face, ye’ll kill ‘im slow and painful, burnin’ an’ whatnot. It’ll burn anything’: yer stummick will burn up without so much as a twinge and it’ll make it’s way through to yer heart instantly. Yer dead in eight seconds; that’s how long it takes to get to your stummick.”
“Weel then Lonna, pleased ter meetcha. Er, if that poison burns anything, how’s it stayin’ in that there bottle..?”
“This..? Why, just the bottle cost me a fortune anna half! Dun even arsk me how I managed to get the poison…. Phoenix saliva ya know…”
I grinned a sly grin. I knew very well. Besides, he had already said he’d purchased it cheap. The Phoenix, a triple essence, could kill, heal or be reborn, all in an instance. I’d only ever seen one once in my short life and it was the most spectacular sight. It had easily turned night into day and it made everything so bright that it was impossible to tell if it really was a burning bird because of the glare, but people assumed as it streaked through the sky, blazing like a comet and shredding the clouds. I had actually thought at first that it was a comet, or a large nearby star going supernova. I had been very young and I had not known what I had seen until Tyrsse had told me. How she knew was beyond me, but she seemed so certain, as if she were speaking of one of her own. I accepted the answer without question and took pride in the fact that, when asked, I could indeed confirm that I had witnessed the burning bird’s flight. But I had to look down suddenly, my grin fading as I hid a frown. That brought back some sad memories. Poor Tyrsse. She had been maybe 17 years old then, struggling in a meager-paying job at that age to support both myself and her. She had also been living with me back then, or rather, I was living with her. This was before I had left, of course. Leaving was a simple affair; after a rather nasty spat with the Ibaras, I had run out on her, claiming I could make it on my own perfectly and without help; that I didn’t need her always telling me what to do and how to do it. She wasn’t my mother. My real mother had been a Goddess and I wasn’t going to let Tyrsse think she could take her place. I learned later though that Tyrsse was a better mother than my own could have ever dreamt of being….
I blinked back a few tears quickly as I felt a strong paw under my chin. “Hey, you okay..?” Lonna was all concern. With a scowl of consternation I lifted my face away from the huge paw and wiped the back of my own paw across my eyes and nodded in the same movement. With a soft sigh and a weak smile I nodded slightly and took his still upraised paw in both my own, speaking seriously. “Lonna, ye were a braw beastie tryin’ ter out-thieve me an’ tryin’ ter pass yer blade off as meh own. But now, yer a braw beastie who’s got the new position a quartermaster an’ special assassin aboard mah vessel.” I grinned widely again to match his own grin. “Congratulations!”
“Haharr! Thank ye Cap’n!” He chuckled and released my paws to brace his own on the back of his neck in an awkward nervous gesture. “But uh, heh, Ah don’t believe Ah’ve the pleasure a knowin’ yer name yet.”
I smiled and dipped my head in a curt little bow, telling him softly, almost humbly. “Call me Chase.”
He smiled too and started walking in what he hoped was the right direction I wanted to head. “So you’re the Cap’n, yeah?” I nodded once more. “Kinda weird, but Ah’m cool widdat. I think I’ll like bein’ a quartermaster assassin.”
“Ah think yu’ll like et too matie; sure to be nuthin’ but fun, aye!”
Lonna fiddled with one of his blades, tossing it up a few times and catching it deftly by it’s hilt as he sauntered along. “So where we headed now eh? Yer ship? Yer do ‘ave a ship don’t’cha?”
“Oh aye! Wot would I be without a ship!” I exclaimed, laughing heartily. “Ah, yeah, gots a ship anna few crew beasts, but we’re still short some. Ah’m sure the other two Ah sent out were lookin’ fer beasts skilled in one specialty, an’ knowin’ them, they did a right job of et. But Ah’d be willin’ ter bet none of ‘em thoughta jus’ finding’ some reggilar ole sailors. Best kinda crewman, you know.” I winked at him. “The specialty beasts are there when yas need ‘em, but them sailors, ye always need ‘em, ye ken?”
As we sauntered past a rather full looking bar, I slowed my pace a bit. “Yes’m. Tha’ makes perfect sense. Need sailors if yer sailin’.”
“Aye, sure I am though that any of the others Lapis an’ Jerek got will also know how to sail too - they’ll have to - else wise I’d boot ‘em overboard.” I chuckled and finally stopped at the small entranceway to the bar.
“So this is it? A bar? Yer expect to find good ‘onest sailin’ beasts in a bar at midday?” Lonna looked a bit incredulous as he indicated the small tavern with a flourish of his paw, the knife upraised.
I looked at the bar. The Brass Ketch. I looked past the wide open doors and into the dimly lit but golden glowing room, alight with only candles in lanterns. I could see the bar and the backs of what few creatures were seated there and could hear the low dull hum and droning of other voices in the room. The quiet tinkle of glasses and platters and soft sounds of quiet sullen music could be heard mingling with the low, sparse voices of the people within and I knew that what I was about to tell Lonna was true.
“Oh aye, messmate. Best time of the day to be rovin’ these places. You think they’re all drunkards an’ rabble rousers, an’ unemployed slobs bein’ in a bar this time a day, but I’d rather search no other place.” I uttered a soft sigh. “Ye see, mah trick of the trade ain’t exactly as honest or accepted by most folks. In a bar, it’d be more, hm, reggilar, ye ken? ‘Sides… who better to be at the bar at this time than the sane fellas, the ones who ‘ad a life at one point, the ones fallen on ‘ard times an’ wallowin’ away their sorrows with a drink cuz they ain’t got nuthin’ else, eh? There’s ‘onest, normal peoples in ‘ere Lonna. But Ah bet most of ‘em are only here cuz they ain’t got no where else t’be.”
“Aw, yeah, yer right thar Cap’n. So, in a way, we’re ‘ere to help ‘em?” Lonna’s face looked hopeful; young and hopeful.
I smiled softly and nodded slightly. “In a way, yes.” I leaned against the door frame, ready to walk in as I talked to him over my shoulder. “They’ll be helping’ us too, an’ Ah’ll be ‘elpin’ them. They’ll need it. ‘Tis a ray a hope cast on their poor lives.”
I started forward and Lonna removed his hood, nodding sagely and following in my footsteps. “Yer a good beast, Cap’n, so ye are. Ye did the same fer me.”
“Ya know, yer right. Hadn’t really thought of it, but yeah, Ah did. Eh, but now laddie, keep yer mouth shut an lemme do the talkin’, ken?”
He nodded even though I could not see it and I approached the bar instead of a table in the room or near to the window as Lonna obviously wanted. He did not want to be in a bar and he shuffled nervously and stayed right close to me, casting about with a look of fearful anticipation. First-timer to a bar perhaps..?
I tapped the bar with my claws a few times, idly scanning the bar either side of me and the tables around the room. Being in here made me feel a bit more at ease, but at this time of the day, almost rather depressed too. Everyone else seemed the same way.
I sat leaning back on the bar, my tail lashing slowly back and forth below the stool I sat on as I watched the slow happenings around me.
Bright golden shafts of sunlight lanced through the amber stained-glass windows, making visible the dust motes that floated to and fro, often disturbed by the odd draft or passerby, flitting about like millions of lost little insects. Everything was fairly quiet, and the odd orange homely glow that the sun cast made it seem like everyone should be sleeping. It was an odd feeling, like sitting in a dream that wasn’t your own.
Finally I sighed and looked over at Lonna sitting on the stool next to me, hunched over the bar and staring intently at it as if there were something written there in tiny letters that he was trying to decipher. I smiled and nudged him gently. “Hey, you bored mate?”
Lonna looked up at me but before he could respond, was interrupted by the bar tender. “’Ey, yew old enuff to be in ‘ere, kitty? Puppy?”
I turned on my stool to face the bar and the Sirin behind it. Before answering, I looked him up and down with a raised brow, looking cynical. He was old, fat and grey, with mottled tufts of fur sticking out everywhere at odd angles. That wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t obvious that the numerous bald spots scattered here and there weren’t caused by some sort of parasitic vermin that the bartender wasn’t ashamed to openly scratch at. His bald head was beset by liver spots and floppy ears and in his huge frowning maw, I had never seen such yellowed teeth protruding at so many different angles. The look on my face must have been quite the disgusted one because the Sirin grinned hugely, revealing more gross teeth and horrid breath as he leered forward, commenting on my obvious disgust.
“Ehaharr! Ah nu Ah ain’t prett’eh ta lookit Missy, but if yer stayin’ you’ll have ter deal!” He laughed heartily, his huge gut shaking grotesquely. I looked around quickly, covering my snout with a paw and pretending to be offended by his awful breath. I was actually quickly glancing around the bar in embarrassment to see if any other had witnessed my embarrassing introduction. The sound of his laugh had been so loud and seemingly out of place in this bar at this time that I was certain it would have attracted unwanted attention and frosty glares. I sighed in relief as I turned back to face the Sirin, fanning my paw in front of my nose, happy that no one was listening.
“Ah, woo, Ah’m stayin’. But not fer long. An’ yeah, I’m old enough to be in ‘ere. Don’t’chu know all Markien are short?” I pulled an indignant face and held a paw to my heart as if wounded by the original question asked of me and Lonna.
The bartender chuckled in a raspy half-cough. I kept glancing away as he seemed to study my face for a few brief seconds and blanched when the enormous grubby paw engulfed my chin and held my face still and forward. I held my breath, refusing to breathe as he spoke. “Aye lass, tha’s true enuff. But ah, yer face, awful prettiful Miss,” he winked at me and I thought I might throw up in his paw. “but awful young too. Ah’ll ’ave ter arsk ye fer some ID.” He loosed my chin and I immediately began pawing at my face furiously, terrified that whatever parasite he harbored had made it’s escape to my own fur. Again he laughed at my antics.
I quickly made a show of patting my sash as if in search of some sort of certification to present to him. I came up short, of course; I had no ID to speak of. No one knew of the lonely little kit that lived in the hole in the ground on the dirty Planet Port.
I shrugged my shoulders and gave him a rueful smile. “Sorry shipmate. Got nuthin’ on me.” the regret in my grin seemed genuine and as I remembered the sash bursting with goods, it replaced it and all the bartender saw was the regret.
He frowned slightly, then as if having a sudden thought, turned to the anxious Lonna sitting by. He was trying very hard to seem subtle and nonchalant when he was addressed abruptly. “Tell yew wot; if thisun’s got any ID, y’kin both stay.” He tapped the bar top in front of Lonna to get his attention. “Eh? Got any certif?”
Lonna quailed visibly and without taking his eyes from the formidable Sirin, took to rummaging through his many pockets and belts. I glanced downward, expecting Lonna to come up empty-pawed but was surprised when he pulled forth a crumpled excuse of parchment. “Er, does this count, sir?”
He slid it forward and the bartender picked it up, letting his eyes rove over the tattered scrap idly. “Hm, a receipt fer a knife anna pistol?”
Lonna nodded slightly. “Proves Ah’m old enuff to buy a gun, sir.”
The Sirin blinked. “Heh, so it do. Means yer old enuff ter drink too. Weel then, welcome, the both of ye!” he slid the scrap back to Lonna and he tucked it back in his belt as the bartender made himself busy cleaning the bar top. “So then, wot’ll ye have?”
Lonna waved a paw softly and went back to staring at the bar. “None fer me, thanks.”
As the Sirin turned to me, I reviewed the casks, kegs, tons, firkins and all assortment of glasses, mugs and bottles on the numerous shelves behind him. I could not help but eye a few of the stronger drinks behind him, wondering if I should dare. Many of them were unfamiliar to me, being on a different planet, so I asked what a few of them were, but also made sure to compare them to others I knew and had had before to show that I was no newbie to the drinking game.
I pointed to a group of deep blue bottles on a low shelf that were slightly hidden from view and asked “’Ey, that ain’t good ole’ Gurkin fire grog, is et?”
The fat bartender glanced over his shoulder then nodded. “Aye, ‘tis lass. Care fer some?”
I shook my head and raised a paw respectfully. “Ah, noo, was just arskin’. Rare stuff that. Hm, ‘ow about that one ‘lil firkin there? The one wit da name blotched out?”
I rested my chin atop my wrist as I pointed with a sly smirk. By the smile on his face I knew that he already knew which little barrel I spoke of. The grin on my own face suggested also that I too may know, or perhaps I suspected that the name on the barrel was etched out for a good reason.
“No, no, lass. Tha’ lil keg’s empty.” he lied as his smile disappeared.
I could still see traces of it and I grinned a toothy grin, glimmering scarlet teeth winking at him in the dim glow. “No it ain’t. Matey Ah’m here fer a drink, an if tha’s the strongest tonic ye got, I’ll have some of it!”
He did not frown, but only looked a bit skeptic. “Strongest I gots, yeah. But kin yew ‘andle et? Ah’m already fairly certain yew ain’t old enough to be drinking anythin’ anyway an Ah’m letting’ yew stay cuz ya gots a responsible wit ya. So technically, Ah shouldn’t even let ye stay, much less be drinkin’ nuthin’ especially something like that Bezile Shoot. Could kill ya, ya know that?”
I nodded, my grin never fading as I spoke to him softly. “Bet Ah’ve had stronger an’ not placed one paw wrong on that straight line test. Let‘s have et.”
He gave me another skeptical look and eventually turned and took the small firkin from it’s cupboard. Taking a tiny shot glass from the shelf beside it, he flipped the tap and filled it quickly. He turned back to face me, but before he handed the little glass to me, he rummaged around in his pocket for a moment before producing a rather clean piece of parchment and a charcoal stick. He set them both atop the table before me and I took it, raising an eyebrow. “Wot’s this?”
“Liability waver, missy.” I looked up at him, an amused smile on my snout and he shook his head slightly. “Caren’t let yew sup this without signin’ that.”
I looked at it, shrugged and took the charcoal in my paw as Lonna looked on in horrified disbelief. A liability waver for a drink? Was I signing permission to be served poison? How potent was this drink?
As I crushed half the charcoal stick between my paws and rubbed it vigorously between them, the older Sirin looked over at the younger, the same disbelief stamped on his features. Having crushed the charcoal into a fine powder that stained my paw pads, I took the parchment and carefully but firmly stamped my left forepaw down on the line for a signature. In it’s wake, Lonna and the bartender inspected the odd mark closely. The black shapes of my paw and toe pads were easily identifiable and perfectly printed, but in the center of the print made by the largest pad of my palm, left blank on the sheet was the shape of a very odd and unfamiliar cryptic symbol. It looked as if the artist had colored in the print of the pad shape and then erased the charcoal in the center to make a strange symbol.
The symbol was that of a large letter “E” but in the curved symbolic shape. The line that made the center stalk of the capital “E” extended like a spear to transfix from behind another letter in front of it that looked like a large “C”.
The Sirin picked up the paper and gave it a last glance over. “Tha’s a nifty likkle siggy thar.”
I nodded, grinning again. “Aye. Neat lil’ tattoo, eh? Mah initials there, sure enuff.”
He looked at me eying the drink in his other paw. Instead of putting the paper in his pocket again, he kept it rolled up in his paw. “Ah’ll keep this out whislt ye down that liddle lot. Cuz honestly, Ah dun think a delicate likkle kitty cat like yew kin really handle this. ‘Ave ye ever had Bezile Shoot before this?”
I grinned and savored the little glass, swirling a claw in it’s milky colors, watching a bit of the charcoal from my paw seep and swirl around into the drink. I was not particular about my drinks.
“Bless yer ‘eart, nu! Ah’ve not ‘eard of the stuff till now, but I likes a fiery drink!”
He gave me a little smirk as I raised the glass to my lips. “I think you’ll be surprised at thisun’s, ahem, ‘fire’, if you’ll pardon mah sayso.”
I glanced at Lonna with only my eyes as I tipped my head back and poured the tiny amount down my open muzzle, pleased to see the look of concentration and also disbelief still clear in his own eyes. I forgot him as the Shoot suddenly took affect on my tongue and I almost gasped but refrained from doing so, knowing that it would mean choking and spluttering like a fool. I still drew my breath in harshly through my nose as I held the liquid in my mouth for a bit longer.
The Sirin had been right. I was very surprised, shocked almost, at the odd sensation. It was not fiery, but far from it. The drink was thick, white, and cold, so very frigid. It had it’s own certain flare though as the flavor stung like licking an icicle, and as I swallowed, I felt it the whole way down, which made me think about Lonna’s earlier statement about seven-second poison that burned a beast’s stomach away.
I swallowed and licked my teeth, reveling in the odd brief tingling it caused in my gums and teeth and lips. I waited a few moments as I stared at the bar, trying to comprehend the feeling of it distinct in my mouth, throat and stomach too. I finally looked up at the bartender, and then at Lonna and reveled in the sight of their expectant faces as they waited for me to say something.
I realized I was panting softly, a quiet little gasp as I enjoyed the feeling of it on my throat, like inhaling after eating some mint. Then, a slow smile crept across my muzzle and both Sirin looked slightly taken aback. “Aye, ye think the lass is a’ight? Should Ah call someone in?”
I felt my chin lifted by the hefty Sirin paw again and forced to look at the bartender as he inspected my eyes for pupil dilation.
I surprised them both as I pulled away laughing. I slammed the empty glass down, grinning proudly and laughed again, as heartily as I could muster. “Arr! Ye were nay kiddin’! Gawd! Lookit this! Ah kin see meh breath in fronta meh face! Haharr!”
I slapped my paw heartily on the bar, leaving another smudged paw print on the polish there as I laughed and chuckled gleefully like a kitten. Both Sirin simply watched me in flabbergasted silence before the older ventured a soft utter of incredulity. “Fizzers! Ah’ve no seen a beast still able ta speak after sich a trial!” He nudged Lonna with his elbow in what he thought was a gentle nudge and laughed along with me. “Ha! What’dye make a that boy!”
Lonna smiled a little, rubbing his shoulder ruefully. “Err, haha, yeah, she’s a real quaffer, ain’t she?”
I presented him with the empty glass and a huge grin, saying “Yew should try some Lonna! That stuff’ll put a curl in your whiskers and a perk to your ears like yew’d never a known! Phwaw! Good stuff! Good good stuffs….” I sighed happily, giggling a little drunkenly at the same time.
By this time, the big burly bartender was quite taken with all of the different antics I had presented to him thus far and was smiling hugely. “Aye, ain’t it? An’ ye said ye never ‘ad none of et befer?”
I nodded quickly, a little longer than I needed to, leaning forward a touch too. “Uh-huh! ‘S’right! Never ‘ad nuthin’ like et befer either! Best stuff Ah’ve ever had, fer shore!”
He chuckled as he took the glass from me to begin washing it out. “Aye, bit Ah dun think yew should be ‘avin’ no more, if you’ll ‘scuse me fer sayin’. Yer a liddle tipsy there, an’ I’m startin’ to distrust ya sittin’ on that stool.”
I giggled helplessly as I spun around on the high stool, telling him “Tipsy? Wot you talkin’ about, do - oofa!”
Lonna and the bartender peered down at me curiously as I lay on the floor where I had fallen. I grinned happily up at them and waved to them with both paws as if I’d never seen them before. I hauled myself back up on the stool slowly, as if I were concentrating hard to do it and finally made it back atop it. I didn’t sit but instead stood on it, hunched and resting my forepaws on the bar to peer closely at the bartender. “Heh, did that a’purpose, dint’cha, doggy….”
Again, such antics made the Sirin guffaw aloud. Coming around the bar, he lifted me bodily off the stool and set me instead in a booth near a window, lest I should fall again. Chuckling, he went back about his business as Lonna came to sit next to me. I was still giggling a bit, but not as much. Later, I knew I would be a bit peeved with myself at having let myself go like that. I could certainly hold my alcohol, and could even last through three times as many ordinary drinks as the average beast, but that tiny bit of Bezile Shoot had me like as if I’d had four times what I could usually handle before being considered plastered. But it was plain by the bartender’s reaction that I could definitely handle a miraculous amount more than average, and “more than average” was apparently that shot, ten fold. I’d proven myself pretty well, but I’d still be a bit angry at myself for having been drunk again.
As I sat next to Lonna, no longer giggling like a mad beast but just resting against the table tiredly, I groggily recalled the last time I’d been drunk at all. Actually, the last several times. They hadn’t been many, but then, I didn’t often show myself in bars.
I could remember a few months ago, on the weekend when I didn’t have to worry about school, I had come home to Tyrsse quite out of my mind. Like I had been a few minutes ago, but quite a bit worse. Tyrsse had first been angry, but my drunken happiness soon had her singing a different tune; such a drastically different tune that even as I sat there with my eyes closed and resting, Lonna saw me smile a little and I hoped he couldn’t see me blush to my eartips. I recalled that night fondly, but I would not speak of it. At least, not to anyone other than Ecile.
Ecile. There was a name I couldn’t forget. A name she wouldn’t let me forget. Now there was another time I had been drunk. During one of her strictly routine visits, I had been out late again. Ecile had come with me, because she simply could not leave me alone. Ecile clung to me like glue even though I absolutely hated it. I went to a bar and even though she didn’t rightly want to, she would follow anyway. Her annoying advances had driven me to drink more than my fair share, and by midnight, she had me rather than where she wanted, but how she wanted. Now that I was a bit more sane, I opened my eyes and Lonna saw me shudder as I sat up.
Oh, how I hated Ecile. I hated her so much, everything about her, the way she acted, her goody-goody nature, her sweet girly voice, annoying clinging, obnoxious advances and her obvious openness. But she looked exactly like me. Every little thing was the same, right down to the mark on my left pawpad. The only thing that made us different was that I despised her and she loved me. We did have different personalities of course, but that came with the feelings we harbored for each other. But I did not want to think about her. I wouldn’t have to for about another week until her next visit, so I would not. Instead, I thought about back then.. Two years ago.
In another bar, with Shinara; I had been drunk then too. Not entirely, and certainly not at first, but as Shinara kept talking and I kept listening, I slammed down each drink she handed to me, losing count quickly as she told me all about the promises she could make me, all the riches I could gain. And soon enough I had not been listening and was telling her random things, laughing and giggling and even chasing my tail in public. One such random thing that passed my lips was my little secret. The Blacke Letter. I’d said it, on a whim, forgetting what I was saying. But the second I’d uttered it, I knew my life was over. Never had anyone sobered up so quickly. It was like I had never drank anything as soon as I had disclosed the closest thing to my heart.
I wiped a paw across my brow and blew a bead of sweat from my nose tip, blinking a bit as I realized Lonna was waving his paw in front of my face. I shook my head. “Hrm? Wha..?”
Lonna smiled at me. “We bin in here about an hour Miss; yer lookin’ much more sober now. How ya feel?”
I shook my head again and then returned his smile. “Nu headache, so Ah mus’ be fine!” I dropped my voice to a whisper then. “But dun ever lemme git shitfaced like that alone agin, a’right?”
He cocked his head slightly. “Alone?”
“Aye; ‘tis okie if’n yer with others gettin’ messed, but if Ah’m the only one, hai, it’s embarrassin’, ye ken?”
“Oh. Well, aye-aye then Cap’n!” He saluted quickly. “Now, kin we go now?”
I hopped up onto the table and then onto the floor beside it. “Nu, not yet! Don’t ya amember why we’re here? Ah wasted an’ ‘ole hour an’ I still need to git a few good sailors. Let’s git to it!”
I strode purposefully forward toward the bar again and hopped back up on the stool I had formerly occupied. Looking around at the sullen occupants of the bar again, I was about to make an announcement when the barkeep behind me interrupted. “Er, ahem Lassie; ye still gots to pay fer yer drink, ya know.”
Quickly, I turned to him asking “Oh, yes! How much then?”
He smiled. “I’ll only charge ya half; cuz Ah likes ya an’ cuz Ah didnae have to send ye to tha hospikkal. 30 garnet, missy.”
He held out his paw and my jaw dropped. “30 garnet? So yer sayin’ you usually charge 60 for that likkle glass?”
He nodded solemnly. “’Tis the hardest stuff to come by; expensive. Yew got the money?”
I sighed. “Aye, I do.” Holding my paws out, I dipped my head and dropped the ten garnet from my mouth into them. Dropping them onto the bar, I took to rummaging in my sash for five more. I quickly found them and gratefully dumped the lot onto the bar, relieved to be rid of some of the weight of my stolen goods.
“Heh, tha’s it.” I smiled a little shyly at the look he gave the dripping round pieces of garnet.
He gave me an amused skeptical look. “Er, an’ ye say yer Markien..? Not part Cheen or Fromin..?”
“Ha! Me ‘ole pater coulda been a Crea fer all I know! Might have a dozen fathers!” I winked at him, laughing maliciously at the insults to my own family blood. “Me mother was a whore, so I wouldnae be surprised!”
He blinked in surprise and winced a little, but forced a smile as he saw I had no problem with it. “Er, heh, yeah.” He looked down awkwardly. “Well thank ye; never seen no creetur quaff what yew did an’ still be sittin’ ‘ere in this bar talkin’ about it!”
I saluted him brusquely. “Ah, nu. Was nuthin’, cully!” I winked then. “Told ye Ah could do et though!” I turned back away from the bar again to make my announcement, saying “But if’n you’ll excuse me, Ah’d like to make a proposal to the fellas here.”
He dipped his head politely. “Aye, I nae mind; I figgered yew were in ‘ere fer more than a drink Lass. Go right a’ead.”
I nodded as he went about his business and mulled over what I was about to say. I knew most of it, but I’d need to make it good.
 Wolf of Winds · Mon May 28, 2007 @ 01:35am · 0 Comments |
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