by Russ Primo
But, as I took a swig of the contents, I heard one of them cry out, "We have been here for some minutes, now! I would think the service should be better, so far from anywhere. Surely, you need the patronage."
I felt the liquor splash against my throat as I swallowed it, not paying any attention to the flavor, and instead getting ready to deal with whatever the entrants’s poor manners presaged.
There are a few things that are forbidden on the Free Isles.
Speaking to a man who’s not seen his Debt as a woman.
Imposing on the hospitality of another thanklessly.
Spinning around on my stool, I took stock of these new entrants, seeing whether Wex would need some help with them.
Though the Free Folk are known to get magical abilities, in exchange for paying off their Debt, Wex’s amounted to certain brewery magic, rather than anything offensive.
He was a large man, and could handle himself. But, if they had weapons, he might be thankful for the aid.
During the six months that I'd been wandering on the Free Isles, I'd seen mages and barbarians, deadly archers and hunters who chased wild boar down with axes the size of Wex's torso or spears as long as a pine is tall.
I was ready to see any sort of people sitting at that table.
But, I'd not seen elves on any of the many islands through which I'd wandered.
Nor had I seen anyone in as much armor as each of these elves wore now.
Nor had I seen any bearing weapons.
And, in all my travels, I’d not encountered snarls anywhere near to matching those that these wore.
Chapter Three
There were six elves, seated at the table.
“Have you ever seen so many elves in one place?” Kacie gasped quietly, wrapping her arm around mine and drawing her body close to me.
Not since I got to the Free Isles, no.
Although, I have seen well more than six in a sitting, while I travelled on the mainland.
Four of the elves were men, and two were women. Though, of those two elf women, one in particular stood out to me immediately.
She sat at the head of the long table, and I have to say that she very nearly put even Kacie Gladwyn in her place.
She sat high and proud in her chair, with her eyes narrowed dangerously and her lips shut tighter than a witch's asshole.
If she hadn't been so gorgeous, I might have even felt bad about using the term witch's asshole. But, I doubt there's much that she couldn't stand next to and not shed her light upon.
“I’ve only seen them so clustered while still on the mainland,” I reassured Kacie, patting her arm with my hand.
She cooed with delight into my arm.
No doubt, being a traveler was something of a novelty, this far away from anywhere worth traveling to.
While Kacie's hair was wheatsheaf blonde, the sort of color that has some brown in to make it deeper and more earthy, the gorgeous elf's hair was the blonde of brilliant, clear sunrises.
The elf’s hair was so light that it looked as though she'd bleached it, and so long that fell in long sheets behind her like the spray off of waterfalls.
Her brilliant blue eyes, too, outmatched Kacie's in the same way that her hair did.
They seemed the sharp, clear blue of alpine lakes, surrounded by snow-drifts and glaciers, rather than the warm blue of summer skies that Kacie's resembled. That high, cold color was matched by the elf's clothing, which hugged her lithe body as tight as a lover's hands, holding her ample breasts aloft and connecting to a wide neck-guard with golden wires, so that her breasts were pushed together and swelled into a deep, inviting cleavage.
Though her blue top had no sleeves, she wore deep gray forearms guards (with slips to cover her fingers such as an archer might wear) which matched her deep gray leggings, and clamped so tightly to her luscious thighs that I felt my stomach leap, just to look at them.
Still, as gorgeous as she was, her attitude was clearly threatening, and I didn't like that armed elves were this far inland.
Elves traded with the Free Isles, of course, and some would no doubt have to come inspect their goods. But, the only reason one carried weapons on these islands was for protection against the wild boars, the territorial bears, or for hunting.
None of these elves had the look of hunter, or of a merchant. They had the look of soldiers, and I expected them to have such a demeanor as well.
One of the women that Kacie had sat with rose slowly and took out a long staff, from the top of which a bright orange fireball starting growing, spinning and twisting as though it yearned to be sent into some unprepared target.
I rose from my chair, studying the group, to see which of them I should start with.
"Now, now!" Wex called from the wall behind us, his voice surprisingly as sober as a child's again. "Elven friends, we simply have different customs than you may be used to. It's a slow culture, ours, and far too friendly to be rushed."
Whether this speech was working or not, I would have bet on the latter.
The gorgeous, blonde elf rose imperiously from her seat at the table and placed both palms flat upon the wood, glancing over at the woman readying the fireball spell with such venom that I thought she might poison the poor mage with a stare.
"Friends, friends," Wex said calmingly, holding his hands wide and welcoming. "Come now, a few drinks will smooth this all over! What feud can survive a bottle of sparkling, from the isles to the South, eh?"
There was a tense few moments, as the old mage's fireball grew ever larger, crackling and spitting bits of flame high into the dimly-lit inn.
The elf woman clenched her hands into fists, glancing back to the door, where her delicately woven elven bow lay propped, as though estimating whether she would have time to make a dive for the bow before the mage turned her table into cinders.
I figured that I could take at least the two elves seated nearest to us, if it came to that.
They wore simple armor pieces, and though I had only a traveller's tunic, boots, and cloak, and loose pants to protect me, I'd been working harder than they appeared to have been, tilling fields and running hounds, and loading crates down at the docks.
My biceps stood out firmly on my arms, having been worked a good while and not wanting for attention.
With the exception of the beautiful elf at the head of their table, in fact, I figured I would have been able to take them all. Still, they had weapons that were only a few yards away, and the best that I had to hand was the tally branch, on which was recorded my Debt.
Glancing over at my bag, I satisfied myself that I could pull it out easily, if the need arose.
I doubt anyone had had to use their Debt as a weapon before, but I knew enough about The Mother's ways to know that they could be broken neither by brute force, nor any magic we know.
If they could, many a weak-willed man would have been saved from the his Debt.
Fortunately for all of us, as I began to draw it out of my bag, a tinkling of glasses on the counter behind me announced that Wex wouldn't allow his bar to become a brawling place.
"The good stuff!" he declared, popping the cork on a bottle of wine that, mercifully, did not smell like a pig which had been left to root around in shit for three days. "For our new guests!"
Though I generally liked Wex, I had to disagree with his constant need to please others, and avoid conflict.
The man was, after all, too big to fit in most children's bedrooms, and could take any ten people at once in a fight.
But, I was as much a foreigner in Clanesse as these elves were, even if I was much better-behaved.
“And for our old friends, of course,” Wex continued, nodding to myself and Kacie.
Wex poured the glasses nearly to the brim, and used his own particular magic to lift them high into the air, sailing slowly over all our heads and sinking softly down in front of the elves, one to each of them.
It made it easier, being friendly, when The Mother's magical gift for
repayment of Wex's Debt turned out to be the magic of beer and wine. He was never wanting for the stuff, and I couldn't think of a better profession for him than bartender.
Clearly, he’d not thought of another, either.
"Do you think they'll accept it?" Kacie whispered to me, wrapping her fingers around my forearm and trembling a little. "I don't want there to be trouble."
Truth be told, I couldn't blame her. The Free Isles were known for their long, uninterrupted stretches of peacetime.
But, I didn't really know if peacetime would really be disrupted by a brawl. And I hated to see people behave like these elves were behaving.
Just have to hope the elves take Wex’s offering.
Don’t want Kacie to get hurt in a fight.
The gorgeous head elf looked daggers at me as the rest of her troop lifted their glasses to their lips and drank, sighing deeply.
Her eyes flicked briefly to Kacie, on my right, to my bag, on my left, and the end of the tally branch stuffed inside it.
Come on, now. Just drink your offering and let’s all be cordial.
Slowly, the elf's eyes turned to her troop, her shoulders lost their tension, her fists unfolded back into hands, and she sat down once more, examining her drink.
On the other end of the inn, the wizened mage tapped her staff lightly on the stone floor, extinguishing the fireball in a puff of smoke and a single, disappointed sigh.
"Thank The Mother," Kacie breathed, her skin warm against my arm, her lips open with fear. "That looked like it would go badly for us."
When the elf woman sipped her wine and declared it, "Perfection, bartender! Our small apologies, of course," Kacie and I turned back to Wex behind the bar.
The massive man looked beyond pleased to have avoided violence, and being that he could simply magic up some more wine whenever he wanted, I had to admit that he paid effectively nothing to defuse a situation that could have left his bar (if the fireball was any indication) much the worse for wear.
I doubted that his liquor-magic extended to building-repair.
"Now, handsome Pryvet, and pretty Kacie," Wex smiled, pulling out three small crystal glasses and placing them before us, "It's about time we shared some of this lovely grog! It's the best thing for satisfying Debts, if you've got enough of it.
“Though, be careful not to have too much, of course!”
Leaning forward, Wex winked at me, knowingly.
Glancing at Kacie, I saw a deep blush steal up the tops of her breasts, rising to her neck. Her eyes flicked to mine hopefully, before she glanced away to her small glass.
"Hand the bottle over then, you thieves!" Wex cried jokingly, gesturing to the bottle held in my hand. "You should have waited for me to be ready, to drink it!"
I laughed and passed the drink to him, chuckling, "And you shouldn't have spent so much time feigning sickness from that other bottle!"
He took the liquor from me with a meaningful look and poured a shot into each of the small glasses.
“To our Debts, big and small. Salute!” he cheered, as we raised our glasses above the bar, clinking them together so that the airy liquid inside slipped like starlight around the rims. "One. Two. Three!"
We all downed our shots, and I was happy to be able to taste it this time.
The liquid was utterly frigid, cooler by half than the cellar from which Wex had retrieved it, and far colder than the air in the bar would have warmed it to.
'Though the liquor had smelled like peaches, its flavor was much more earthy than that. A certain bite clamped down on my tongue, and a strange saltiness (though not too much to be overwhelming) tingled my tastebuds, and a hint of fire (like actual flames and not the usual burning of high-proof liquor) scorched the back of my throat.
Well, Wex. You were right to save this one for a special occasion.
My thanks, friend.
I sighed contentedly as I swallowed it, and felt my eyes drawn, as if magnetically, to Kacie's.
To my surprise, it seemed as if Kacie's eyes were drawn to mine as well, for she was staring at me openly, with her lips parted as though the mere sight of my face had made her hot and bothered.
I hadn't had a chance to see her up close before this moment, and I was pleased to not be disappointed.
Some girls look astounding from a distance, and lose their features up close.
Kacie looked astounding from a distance, sure.
But, up close, I could appreciate how exceptionally perfect her body was, even rivaling the elf woman across the room.
Kacie’s skin was as pale as moonlight, and dotted by small freckles that sprayed across her cheeks like dark stars.
Men often claim to like deep red lips, but Kacie's were a faint pink that matched her skin perfectly, especially a they sat on her face, parted prettily.
Her nose was as thin and as pert as her nipples beneath that loose shirt of hers.
And her bright blue eyes were flared with flecks of green, like dots of gold in a coursing river.
Her chest rose and fell pleasantly, lifting her perky breasts up and down and scraping her nipples across her shirt with each breath, making the little things stand out firm against the smooth warmth of her skin.
She lifted a trembling hand, as though to brush her fingers against my arm, but was stopped by Wex's sharp, sudden cough.
"Save it for later, you two," he chided us, sinking onto his wide-splayed elbows on the bar counter. "Besides, Kacie, I'm still owed more description of Pryvet's Debt here. It's the first time I've heard of a foreigner finding a Debt of his own on these isles, and I mostly don't believe him."
Kacie shook her head quickly, her wheat-colored hair splaying around her heart-shaped face so that she had to tuck it away again and clasp her hands in her lap, as though she couldn't otherwise keep them off of me.
"Come on now, Pryvet!" Wex cheered, grabbing up my bag from the stool and setting it on the bar in front of me. "The worst I've heard of is four sirings! That might sound tough to a foreigner, where a man normally has children with only one woman.
“But here on the Free Isles, our women know that they're needed to bear children for The Mother! They pride themselves on helping the men. And though they may feel a little twinge at him having more than one, I think even Kacie knows that it’s the way of the world. Why, I had to have three of my own, offered to The Mother, and all the women still like me well enough!"
Wex slid a huge barstool over, winking cheekily at the wizened mage at Kacie’s old table, and slammed his prodigious mass down upon it so hard that the glasses on every table jumped an inch off their resting places.
"I imagine that young Kacie here might even be willing to help out! She's of age today, just like yourself, after all!"
Kacie's blush, which she'd managed to contain to her breasts and lower neck, now brightened and deepened, spreading up her neck all the way to her cheeks.
"Of course I would," she whispered, her eyes flicking away from mine as she said it. "I'd be happy to."
"There, see!" Wex declared, pouring another three shots from the bottle. "We're all in this together, after all. The Mother needs all our help in paying off the men's debts! So, come on then, let's see this Tally Stick of yours!"
I lifted the glass in my fingers and said, "Wex, I tell you what: You pour another round of shots after this, and I'll divulge my secret Debt to you!"
I glanced over at Kacie, saw her staring at me with eyes wide and wondering, and gave her a confident wink, making the blush steal into her lips and turning them from their prior light pink of a girl's into the deeper red of a woman's.
Wex looked overjoyed. He slammed the table with his great open palm, beaming at us.
"A bargain easily struck!" he declared, tossing back his shot along with Kacie and me, and pouring a third. "This stuff isn't even booze! It's just a confidence booster, and I'll tell you what's more!"
We all slammed back our third shots of the apparently-not-booze.
I doubt that ve
ry much, Wex.
"The bottle is magic! It never empties!"
Wex dangled the bottle in front of us, and I was surprised to see that, although the bottle should have been empty, it was still as full as though no one had drank from it at all.
Whether Wex was telling the truth or not about the liquid being un-alcoholic, I had to admit that it definitely was making me feel more confident in myself.
But then, alcohol had a funny way of doing that, too.
At least, it does, until it doesn’t.
Beside me, it seemed to have the same effect on Kacie, for I saw her back straighten out of the corner of my eye, pressing her breasts up and forward and making it very difficult for me not to stare at them.
"Fine!" I cried good naturedly, "Just as I'm sure I'll have to pay this Debt to The Mother, so too will I pay this debt to you, Wex!"
I grasped the rough, worn end of the Debt that I'd found, and drew it up out of my travel bag, holding it high over my head in mock triumph, all meaning of its size banished from my brain, thanks to the wonderful potion.
"Holy Hell," Wex intoned as I held it aloft for the whole inn to see. "Pryvet, that is… That is the biggest Debt I've ever seen! Most men around here are given Tally Sticks to pay off! That's more like a Tally Branch!"
Chapter Four
The huge man sounded almost frightened by the size of my Debt, but I didn't care.
The weight which The Mother had deigned to place on me seemed no more important than a fly, after three swigs of his wonderful elixir.
“This Debt’s not the only thing I've got that's scarily large," I grinned, winking at Wex. "You should see my—”
But what it was that I wanted them to see, I was never able to say.
For as I looked over at Kacie, I saw her big eyes go wide as the moon, tender fingers lifting to cover her lips as she stared at the Debt which I held in my hand.
"Pryvet," she whispered, big, wide eyes slowly moving from confidently-held branch to my smiling mug, "You'll have to get so many women pregnant…"