Lost on Jord

by Allan Joyal

  From a distance the bundles were impossible to identify. The exterior was leather. Ropes of some kind were wound around the bundles, offering handholds to the men bringing them through the gate. They dropped eight bundles on the ground and left without a word. Montwil followed them out, spitting one last time before closing the gate behind him.

  I looked over at Steve and Al. "Shall we take these to our room? I figure we should do all organizing of packs there. We will be less likely to have things stolen."

  Al and Steve began walking to the bundles. I followed and watched as each picked up one bundle. The process seemed to involve grunts of surprise and strain. I bent down, flexing my knees as I grabbed a bundle.

  I straightened up, giving my own grunt of surprise. The bundle was far heavier than I expected after watching them almost casually thrown to the ground. The ropes twisted in my hands as I raised it up and settled it on my right shoulder. It took a moment to stabilize it, but I found I could turn and start walking towards our rooms.

  Al led Steve and me as we made the short walk down the hallway to our rooms. Inside we found the girls checking the boots and talking. There were squeals of surprise as we brought the three bundles into the room.

  "There's five more in the courtyard we need to bring in," I said. "Let us get those, and we can investigate what we have."

  The girls gave a chorus of assent. We dropped our burdens and left the room. Henck, Heather, and Jennifer joined us in our return to the courtyard. Henck picked up one bundle by himself. The almost negligent level of effort he used had Al shaking his head. Heather and Jennifer tried to lift the last bundle to their shoulders, but it proved too heavy. They resorted to carrying it between them as they followed us back to the room.

  Once in the room we looked at the bundles more carefully. The ropes proved to be rather poor quality according to Hencktor, who suggested simply cutting the ropes and disposing of the pieces rather than salvaging it. He quickly put his thoughts into action and started cutting the bundles open.

  Lydia and Victoria took the first bundle that Henck freed from the rope and started to unroll it. The outer covering proved to be a battered cloak. Unlike the leather goods delivered by the dwarves, this cloak had several large stains. An awful stench rose from the stains, and Hencktor snatched it from the girl's hands and threw it out into the hallway.

  "What was that?" he exclaimed. "How could anyone wear that?"

  "Was it meant to be worn?" Steve asked.

  Everyone stared at the door for a moment. Lydia then turned back to the contents of the bundle. She surprised all of us by pulling out more than a dozen fist-sized rocks. We piled the rocks along the wall as she finally started unwinding several dirty blouses.

  The blouses were of good quality. The fabric was thick and intact. Lydia pulled four blouses out of the pile, laying each one on the floor.

  "That's all?" Martha asked. "Four blouses in that entire bundle."

  "Don't forget the rocks," Lisa said, looking over at the pile by the wall. "Why would anyone do that?"

  "I have an idea, but let's check the other bundles," I said, as Victoria and Lydia began unwinding the second bundle.

  The second proved almost as bad as the first. This time the cover was a leather and fur bedroll that had more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese. It had no value at all. More rocks were found inside, although the cloth bundle proved to contain seven blouses and a dozen strange net-like constructions. Elizabeth looked at these and realized they were designed to cover and hold up a woman's hair.

  Heather tried to put one on while Lydia and Victoria moved to the next bundle. The process of tightening it over the hair proved baffling to the ladies, until Kariy finally asserted herself and had Heather sit on the floor. She gathered Heather's hair into a pony tail and then slid it into one of the hairnets before settling it over Heather's head like a hat and tightening it down.

  "Nice," Steve said when it was secured in place.

  I looked over at Heather, who had an expression of fear in her eyes as she looked at me. All her clothing now came from Jord. Her blouse and skirt had been replaced in the village, and she now had new boots and this hair-covering net. I felt my heart skip a beat as she looked at me. I knew she had the most athletic body of the girls, but the outfit seemed to cover everything, but still tease with hints of the body it kept hidden. Even the hair covering only served to display her long, feminine neck. I placed a hand over my heart and faked staggering.

  "Oh my! My heart can't take such beauty," I moaned. I allowed my knees to slowly collapse as the girls burst out laughing.

  Heather had a hand covering her mouth. I thought she was trying not to laugh, but as my knees touched the ground, she threw her body forward. The hug slammed my back and shoulders to the ground. "You goof!" she shouted as she lay on top of me.

  I was going to respond, but paused as I felt droplets of water touch my face. I looked up to see tears in Heather's eyes. Quietly I put my arms around her and held her, rubbing her back gently.

  "How are the other packs?" I asked.

  "Mixed so far," Lydia said. "The third pack was very nice. I'd almost think a different person put it together. We found several days worth of dried and smoked foods. There's even some camp cooking gear."

  "We don't know how to use it," I mentioned.

  "I do," Kariy said. "And the fourth bundle had more. It would be best if we had one large cauldron to make stews in, but the three smaller ones and the tripods for them will allow me to cook up a hot meal every night."

  I levered my body up, raising my head enough to look at the others. Heather rolled off of me, but kept her arms around my neck as I looked around the room.

  "We had eight packs, what about the others?"

  Lydia laughed. "You must learn patience. Actually, we got them all opened while everyone else fought with that hairnet for Heather. I have to admit, it looks nice on her. We found one more that was mostly rocks. Looking over everything, we have seven usable packs of various sizes. With that we also found eight good knives, with leather coverings that can be hooked onto belts."

  "That would be a sheath," Hencktor said.

  "Whatever," Lydia said with a sigh. "Let me finish the report."

  I heard Hencktor start coughing. I looked over at him and he had a hand over his mouth and a twinkle in his eyes.

  Lydia ignored his coughing. "We also found ten belts, twenty blouses, six shirts, a dozen...corsets."

  "Is that what those stiff things with the laces are?" Martha asked.

  "They do look to be corsets," Victoria said. "But I'm not sure I want to wear one. They don't exactly appear comfortable."

  "They aren't bad," Kariy said.

  "How would you know," Elizabeth said scornfully. "That pig of an innkeeper had you in rags."

  "We had feast days and visits from buyers looking to get iron from the mine. On those days, Galmin would have me wear a corset and some nice clothing. It wasn't often, maybe once every eighty days or so, but I did wear one."

  Elizabeth looked at her. "And you can breathe in one of those? It looks like it's supposed to be tight."

  Kariy shrugged and looked Elizabeth in the eye. "I didn't say I'd want to wear one while we hike to the Wizard's Academy. Not even the most stuffy of the women of the village wore one while doing heavy chores. But if you are going to be around a lot of strangers, wearing one might reduce the number of problems. After all, it's something a proper woman would wear."

  "So the ladies will wear them the day we arrive in a town and while we are in town. That will work. Lydia, you and Heather can work on distributing them," I said.

  Lydia laughed. "I was going to do that anyways, but thanks."

  "I might want to wear one most of the time," Lisa said thoughtfully. I looked over and found that she'd picked one up and had wrapped it around her torso. I could see that the front of the corset was lifting up her breasts while the rest forced her back to be straighter. Al wolf whistled in approval
at the effect.

  "Damn girl," he said. "That's actually really sexy. Why did women stop wearing outfits like that?"

  "Because it's a primitive torture device disguised as clothing," Elizabeth snapped. Listen to her breathe. She can't take full deep breaths now, and that corset isn't even tightened down. Who'd want to wear something like that?"

  Surprisingly, all the other girls immediately replied that they were interested in trying on or wearing a corset. Steve and I had to turn away to hide our smirks as Elizabeth's face turned white with shock.

  I turned back to find most of the girls taking a closer look at the corsets. Lydia however was lining the packs up against the wall. She noticed my attention and smiled.

  "Good, you can pay attention again," she said. "We also have a few pairs of pants, a package that contains needle and thread and looks like it's for clothing repair, and three more good bedrolls."

  "So what you are saying is that we now have enough packs for ten people, about two sets of clothing for each of us, bedrolls for each of us, and a few useful items for when we camp," I said. "And then we have enough food for a couple weeks. I'd say we are as ready as we can be."

  Everyone nodded briefly. The girls went back to trying on corsets as Elizabeth fumed in the corner. Steve was making his way over to me when the door opened, and Eddie stiffly marched in.

  Dusty was following Eddie. She had his right arm in an elbow lock behind his back and was holding a knife in her left. The tip of the knife was poking Eddie in his left kidney. She glanced around the room, quickly counting everyone.

  "Let's see, five coeds, four women, one rescued woman, four men and the waste of oxygen in front me. Good you are all here," Dusty began. She released Eddie and pushed him hard from behind, causing him to stumble into the wall.

  Eddie rolled over, his mouth open to complain, but Dusty held a hand up. "Don't bother. Your antics are a huge part of why I'm here right now."

  "Dusty?" I asked. "You act like there is a problem."

  "There is. You are going to need to leave either tonight or first thing in the morning," Dusty replied as she slipped her knife into a sheath on her belt. She brushed at a spot on her skirt.

  "What?" Lydia cried out. "We were going to stay a couple days and rest."

  "I know your plan. I was counting on the time before I was forced to decide to leave or stay. Ron, I'm going to stay."

  "I understand," I replied. "Now you were saying that we have to leave? I'm guessing you heard some rumors that bother you."

  "Not rumors," Dusty countered. "It doesn't count as a rumor when two men enter the inn looking for someone and talk directly to you. You have three groups that want a piece of you right now."

  I could see Steve mouth the word three as Dusty looked down at Eddie. "That tub of lard is your first problem. Yesterday he decided to see if he could find and charm some widows. The two men who entered the inn this morning were looking for him. I guess he was seen playing the gigolo with a widow they had already staked out. Let's just say they were very unhappy about the new competition. They were looking to kill him and the group that brought him to town."

  "Eddie," Lydia chided the man. "I know your father told you to grow up and stop your games."

  "Not sure you can call them games anymore," I said. "If Dusty heard these men right, they play for keeps here."

  Dusty nodded. "That's what the other employees in the inn tell me. Your second problem is her," she continued pointing at Elizabeth. "I don't know what she's thinking, but post-industrial feminist diatribes don't go over all that well in this town. In fact, the guard is currently looking for her and any companions of hers. They are to arrest her for sedition, inciting to riot, and blasphemy. There won't be a trial, and the sentence will be death, most likely by burning."

  "Very understanding people here," I said sardonically. "Elizabeth, I know you were a highly successful lawyer from New York, but did you even consider consequences? It sounds like you just placed everyone in this room under a death sentence because you couldn't stop preaching atheism."

  "God is a lie!" the woman snapped. "Why shouldn't I talk to the women here and encourage them to throw off their chains?"

  "Maybe because this isn't a land with office jobs that don't require brute strength," Victoria said. "My god, I'm a shop girl, and I know enough to realize that most jobs here on Jord require skills none of us have. We've seen almost no machinery and no evidence of the technology you take for granted. For a long time, there was a good reason that a man headed every household. We are living in a world where that time is now. This isn't a time when women can afford to be without a man."

  "Why not? Women have brains! We can do the work!" Elizabeth snapped.

  "You can push a plow? Or load heavy bales by hand? Or handle the heavy ropes on a sailing ship? Or perhaps you'd go down in the mines from Hencktor's village and come back with more ore than any man?" I responded. "Elizabeth, this isn't a land where you can just talk out your job. Even merchants and traders have to move around. Think on the caravan we passed. That is how goods move from town to town. A woman could work on one, but only if she didn't get pregnant. And there's no government retirement here. When you are too old to keep working, you live with your children. Children are almost a requirement, not a luxury like they were for you."

  "I'll never accept that!" Elizabeth said. "There has to be another way, even for this land!"

  I sighed and looked back at Dusty. "Very well, I can see what you are saying about problem number two. And I can see that one is another we can't solve. But you said there were three."

  "Yes," Dusty said with a frown. "Do you remember Elden?"

  I was about to shake my head. Then I remembered the trio of guards in the alley we used to access the Gilded Bass. "Wasn't he the leader of the guards in the alley?"

  Dusty smiled. "You do remember. He's asked if he can court me. I'm trying to play hard to get, but I have no idea how to be a proper lady of Linktrum. Melande has been laughing at me all day."

  "What has this got to do with anything?" Eddie spat. "So far all you've said is that the lawyer bitch and I have got citizens from town out for our heads."

  Dusty gave him another scorn filled glance before looking directly at me. "Those merchants who were just here? The ones that left several bundles. How well do you know them?"

  "The only one I recognized was the leader Montwil. He was one of the two representatives from the caravan company we talked to. Why?" I asked.

  "Because Elden heard them talking as they were walked out of the alley. Montwil hates you for some reason. He plans on trying to have you arrested on some trumped up theft charges tomorrow," Dusty said.

  I looked over at Lydia. "Lydia, was there anything that looked valuable in the bundles?"

  "Nothing," she said. "Some of the outfits are new, but that's about it. I'd say that the company was getting rid of some excess inventory."

  "So he probably plans to have someone sneak it into our packs just before we are accused," I mused.

  "Ron! How can you come up with that?" Steve asked.

  Hencktor held a hand up. "No, it's a well known trick around here. It's used often to embarrass a rival. Just sneak something into their belongings and accuse them of stealing it. It helps when it's small and easily identifiable."

  "Right," I said. "Esme, can Natalie leave here?"

  "Tonight?" she asked as Natalie gasped.

  I looked around the room. A glance out the window suggested that it was late afternoon. "How about as fast as we can pack up? If we're lucky, we can catch a ferry across the river and be far away before any party tries to get into the room."

  Esme shook her head. "A night out in the cold isn't going to do her leg much good."

  "Will it do any harm?" I asked firmly.

  Esme was about to speak, but Natalie put a hand on her arm. "Ron, I understand. Right now the best protection for the group is to leave here immediately. I'll make it. Esme has done a lot for me. It's not
as much rest as we all want, but it will be enough."

  I looked over at Dusty. "Dusty, it's been a pleasure having you with us. I wish it had been under better circumstances. Are you still staying?"

  Dusty nodded. "I am. I'm not sure if Melande's father is going to fire me for this or drag me into his office and fuck me silly, but I feel welcome here."

  "We'll let you know if the wizards can send us home," I promised. "Everyone, let's get packed. Make sure everything is secured. We have to fight through that crowd again."

  Hencktor picked up the hammer and held it up. "We'll form a vanguard. Ron, you lead. Steve and I can take the wings. We'll have to push through though."

  Heather smiled and held up one of the larger knives. The sheath appeared to be a foot long, and she pulled a nasty looking blade out. "I can follow Steve or Henck. I think we have one more blade like this that Al can carry."

  Elizabeth snorted. "I thought we were told that having weapons out was illegal."

  "They can throw us out of the city," I said. "We'll just be free traders protecting our merchandise from thieves."

  "Dear god, you're mad," Elizabeth said. She looked around to find that Lydia, Victoria, and Lisa were already rolling up the bedrolls and separating all of our goods. "You're all mad!"

  Lydia had finished filling one pack and held it up. She handed it to Esme. "Our bandages and other medical supplies are in there," she said. In a smooth motion, she turned to face Elizabeth. "Are you carrying a pack, or just going to complain?"

  Elizabeth's mouth opened in silent protest as Lydia turned back and started to fill another pack.

  "If you give me all your waterskins, I can fill them at the bar," Dusty reported from the doorway. "You shouldn't drink the water around here."

  "Al, take care of that," I said.

  Victoria looked up. "I hate to say this, but perhaps all the ladies should wear the hairnets. I noticed that most of the women visiting the inn last night were wearing them. We might stand out less."

  Lydia slapped her face with an open palm. "Shit! I should have thought of that," she moaned.