The Elfmaid's Curse (The Elfmaid Trilogy Book 1) (31 page)

            "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 rest 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.

            "Twin Palms Tavern, over in the el'Hassen quarter," Cat said, turning to lead the way out.

            "Great, the streets of el'Hassen are well lit and pretty safe to walk in at night," Danica said, waving Tianne and Crystal out the door before her. "I still have an aversion to dark streets."

            "Doesn't Twin Palms cater to those nasty caravan guards?" Tianne asked, wrinkling her nose at the thought. "They are just a bunch of rowdy, sweaty men fresh off the desert and eager for female companionship. All hands and cocks."

            "Yes, but it isn't a rowdy place as taverns go," Cat said. "I've been there many times."

            "Don't worry about us," Danica said soothingly. "Me and Cat can take care of ourselves."

* * * * *

            Danica's eyes swept the room as they entered. She looked for danger, even though she didn't expect to find any. Dame Isobeth took security seriously.

            She led Cat across the Golden Girl's main parlor, their weapons jangling. Neither of them was wearing armor. The few patrons were well dressed and distracted by the women working the room. The two warrior women were barely noticed.

            The Golden Girl was what would be called a classy brothel. Which meant that the furnishings were of higher quality, the prostitutes dressed better, and charged more. The parlor was small, only meant as a place where customers could pick the girl they wanted. It was a brothel, not a tavern. There were no stages with nude dancers, but any of the girls could be taken upstairs to their rooms for private shows. The only entertainment in the parlor was conversation and soothing music. And, of course, exciting and beautiful young women.

            The parlor's decor was quite feminine. Everything was in soft shades of gold and white. It was the most lace Danica had ever seen in one room. Lamps, windows, tables, everything was draped in expensive Amazon lace. She wondered if this was what all Amazon brothels looked like.

            As the brothel's name implied, only blondes plied their trade within its walls. She was impressed with the quality of Dame Isobeth's girls. At best, Danica would only rate herself as average among them. It seemed as if every other girl there was a Silk Slave, and most of the other girls were of noble blood. Danica found her own "commonness" strangely annoying.

            For the most part, the girls of the Golden Girl seemed genuinely happy she was staying there. Which pleased Danica to no end. They found her almost total lack of knowledge about being a woman funny, and a little amazing. Her education became their project, and she learned so much. There was a lot more to being a woman than she ever realized. For the most part she really enjoyed their lessons, especially since they were so eager to teach and help her. Danica, though, found their need to constantly talk over everything frustrating at best.

            Even after almost four months as a woman, Danica still didn't understand a woman's need to discuss everything in depth. Her new friends all wanted to hear her life story, and tell her theirs, and would ask her questions about what she liked, and didn't like. Like it really mattered. Gods, it drove her crazy sometimes. Danica just wanted to have some fun, tell some jokes, and have sex, but all these women wanted to do was talk, talk, talk. And then talk some more after sex.

           
I'll never understand them if I live forever.

            The biggest problem she found in sex with women now was frustration, and to a lesser extent, loss of control over the situation. Without her manparts she just couldn't seem to find satisfaction with a woman. For her part, it was all foreplay. That, and the fact that the other girls decided what they would do, how they would do it, and how long they had to do it was driving her mad with frustration. After fifteen days of experience Danica was just beginning to learn how to seize the moment from these experts of manipulation. Of course, she could pay for their services and gain absolute control, but that course seemed to be a betrayal of friendship to her.

            "Be careful," Tianne said, then hurried up the stairs to her room.

            Crystal waved sweetly and hurried over to a middle-aged man just entering the front door. Danica watched her introduce herself and sit. The man looked to be a wealthy merchant to Danica, so might help Crystal get a bit closer to paying off her bond to Dame Isobeth. Unlike her deals with bouncers and other staff, Dame Isobeth expected the prostitutes to pay off their entire bond, not just work for her for six months to a year. Though, as bondholders went, she seemed honest and most girls were able to buy back their bonds within a year or so, if they applied themselves.

            Cat donned her long black kaffiyeh and veil before stepping out the door with Danica close behind. Outside, Danica paused to enjoy the cool evening breeze. The sun had long since set, allowing the desert air to cool down quickly.

            Heading south and east, they kept to the well-lit streets and boulevards. The City Guard also patrolled these streets better, permitting the locals to come out and enjoy the evening breeze before it grew too cold.

            Danica and Cat kept to the middle of the street, giving the locals a wide berth. Without fail, all conversation ceased as they approached and only resumed after their passage. The way these men and women stared, even glared, made both women uneasy. Every time they went out at night, Danica vowed to only do so during the day in the future. In the thicker crowds of day, few locals would pay them any heed.

            "Whores!" a man shouted. "Go back to your accursed Empire!"

            Both women cringed. The man sounded drunk, but even so, many would agree with him. These people saw foreign women as brazen harlots, totally without sexual mores. The desert folk were a hard people, living in an equally hard land. Their values and morals were likewise hard and unyielding. Danica and Cat increased their pace.

            "You're not wanted here," a man said close by, startling both women. "Go home."

            "I am," Danica said.

            He seemed taken aback by her response, so they were able to pass without further comment. Soon they found themselves in a darker section, and glad for it. No locals gathered on these streets to socialize and enjoy the breeze.

            "God of Mercy, how they make me feel dirty," Cat said, shaking her head. "And I try to lead a decent life."

            "It's not your fault. They're just too close-minded to see you as you really are. To them, you're a brazen slut just because you wear a sword. It's all you'll ever be to the people of Tamera, Cat."

            "I know," she said. She cut her eyes at Danica. "Danica, could I ask you a question?"

            "Sure, Cat. Anything."

            "Is what you said about really being a man true?"

            Danica stopped dead in her tracks. Heart pounding, she gawked at Cat a long moment.

            "How did...I mean...You know?"

            "The blow to the head left you babbling all night. I never left your side."

            "What did I say?" she said almost too quietly to hear.

            "A lot. Let's see...some sorceress called Taara stole your body and went to Allaria, and now goes by the name of Talar. You're going for some talisman in Ismat al-Haratha to force her to trade back bodies. The rest was about your time as a Jordani slave, and trip from Samulla with some sex-obsessed bastard named Faiser. Apparently, you're really, really embarrassed by just how much you love to be fucked by men…and some strange ability to see magic."

            Danica cringed when she mentioned the liking, no she said
loving
, sex with men. That was something she really didn't like to admit to herself. So instead she told a complete stranger while delirious. She wondered if she could pass it off as some head injury delusion. She looked at Cat, and considered her own reaction to what she said, and decided not.

            "Then you know everything," Danica said, eyes dropping and shoulders slumped. "Gods, curse all mages! Magic has humiliated me again."

            The few people within sight turned and looked at them. Danica eyed them warily. If one of them was a witch or mage….

            "No, please, I didn't mean to hurt you," Cat said. "I just want to understand. If it's true, I'm willing to help you."

            Head jerking up, "Really?"

            "If it's true."

            "It is! I've been trying to get to Ismat al-Haratha for months," she said. Her excitement died, remembering all that she'd gone through since that fateful night in Elfhaven. "I haven't been too successful lately. Had a few nasty setbacks. You'll never know how glad I am to hear you'll help me."

            "I already know. While babbling, you admitted you were going to try and entice me into going with you."

            "Oh."

            "Yes, 'oh.' But I'm not offended," Cat said, chuckling. Then more soberly, "I will help you right this terrible wrong."