A woman squeezed by, carrying a small tray of drinks. Tor touched her elbow to get her attention.
‘You couldn’t afford me, sonny,’ she said, not unkindly. ‘But believe me, I’d love to.’
Her amusement and innuendo diffused his fury immediately. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that,’ he said.
‘Oh…well, pity.’ She smiled.
‘I’m wondering if could you tell me whose lap Eryn is sitting on…er, that is if it doesn’t break any rules here.’ He needed his grin to work its charms this time.
‘Well, we’re not supposed to but…’ The hesitation told Tor his charms were in good shape. ‘Where is she anyway?’ she said, looking around.
‘Over there, in the corner.’ Tor nodded his head in the direction but deliberately kept his back to Eryn.
‘Oh, yes. Um, that’s Captain Margolin. Adores Eryn. Always visits whenever he’s in Hatten, spends up big in here and refuses any other girl.’
Tor felt grim but he made sure his expression did not betray him. He grinned. ‘I see. Am I pushing my luck to ask you the name of his ship?’ Tor was thinking fast now, his smile gleaming at the girl.
‘Let me think now. Well, you would have to double-check with someone who knows it for a fact but I think she’s called the Majestic. Why, is something wrong with her?’
And that gave Tor his plan.
‘No, I…er…simply have a message for Eryn, that’s all.’ Tor tried to sound offhand.
‘I’m her friend, Elynor. I’ll pass it on but you’ll have to be quick.’ She nodded towards the balustrade on the floor above. Miss Vylet was watching them.
Tor shook his head casually as if considering her offer. ‘Look, thanks but don’t worry, I’ll see her a bit later.’ Tor feigned a smile and made to leave.
He heard Elynor snort. ‘You’ll be waiting a long time, handsome. Margolin buys her for the whole night.’
Tor felt sick. He hurried into the cool night air, dragging in a lungful of it to clear his head and nostrils of the noise and smoke. This was stupid. He should just forget her and go back to his inn. He looked up the street and as he did so a young lad trotted past him. Tor whistled him back.
‘Want to earn a duke?’
‘I don’t whore.’ The boy could barely be eight years old and his reply shocked Tor.
‘I don’t remember asking you to…er…’
‘Well, that’s what most people are about in there,’ the boy said, nodding his head towards Miss Vylet’s. ‘If it’s not fucking the girls, then they’re after fucking some lad and I just likes to be up front wi’ them. I live around here and gets asked all the time whether I’d like to earn a penny or two.’
He stared at Tor who was lost for words at that moment.
‘So, tall man, how do I earn the duke?’ The boy clicked his fingers towards Tor’s face as if to bring him to his senses.
‘Well, shorty,’ Tor replied, regaining his wits, ‘I’ll give you a duke to go into this inn and pretend that you’ve run all the way from the dock. You must find a captain called Margolin, who is sitting in the alcove two windows down from where we stand, and tell him there’s a fire aboard his ship. It’s called the Majestic. Tell him he’s needed immediately. Run out as fast as you can and I’ll meet you on the next corner and double your money.’
The lad blinked once. ‘You’re on. Where’s my money?’
‘Oh no, you don’t. Let’s run through it again.’ Tor couldn’t imagine he had the plan down pat.
‘Look, mister, do you want this job done or not? I’m late and much as I’d like a few extra pennies it doesn’t make a ha’peth of difference when my mam’s skinning my backside. Yes or no, I don’t care.’
The cheek of him. Tor pulled out the money, dropped it into the boy’s small palm and told him to hurry. He was inside before Tor could say more, a look of contrived panic suddenly fleeting across his small face. Tor watched with amazement through a window as the boy gave a brilliant performance, pushing dramatically through the legs of drinkers, even stumbling once and daring to wink through the glass. Tor had to move to the next window to catch the finale. At first the captain looked bemused, then his expression changed to alarm as the boy’s tale unfolded, his arms waving and eyes wide and bright. Margolin pushed Eryn off his lap, dug into his pocket and tossed her some coins, then remembered something and turned and kissed her hand before pointing towards the door in explanation. The boy took off between the legs of people and tables and the captain was unable to keep up.
Tor quickly ran up the street and hid around the corner and within seconds his small accomplice scampered around as well, grinning gleefully.
‘You owe me another one,’ he said, not even out of breath.
‘And I’ll pay it gladly. You seem adept at this sort of thing.’ Tor liked the kid with his mad thatch of black hair and green eyes. He gave him a third coin.
‘Cor! Three!’
‘You earned it. What’s your name?’
‘Locklyn…Locky.’ His eyes gleamed at the money in his hand.
They could hear Margolin running in the other direction towards the dock. The conspirators laughed.
‘I’m Tor and you were great.’
‘Hope she’s worth it, Tor.’ Locky’s grin spread across his face and then he winked and was skipping off.
‘Hey! Hope your mam doesn’t spank you too hard,’ Tor called after him.
Locky looked back over his shoulder. ‘I lied, I don’t have a mam. My sister looks after me!’ And he was gone.
Tor strolled back into the inn and looked for Eryn. Elynor was standing next to her at the bar, both waiting for their orders to be placed on their trays. Eryn looked irritated and Elynor was explaining something to her.
Tor glanced up at Miss Vylet whose all-seeing gaze had been resting on him since the second he had set foot back in her establishment.
You’d better have enough coin to pay for her, young man. Her voice was calm and deliberate in his head.
Tor could not hide his shock. He stopped and hoped to the Light that his mouth had not gone slack.
I do, he cast tentatively across the mindlink.
Then welcome to the house of Miss Vylet.
Her lined face creased into the sunniest of smiles and Tor saw in that moment the great beauty Miss Vylet had obviously been in her youth. He found his own grin and flashed it but the smile was wiped when a mug of ale was tipped over his head. He should have felt her coming.
‘You bastard!’ Eryn hurled at him, along with the mug which caught him painfully on the cheekbone.
Heads were turning and those around him were laughing. Eryn had been careful not to splash other patrons with her liquid fury.
‘How dare you!’ She was very angry.
Her hair shone gloriously, Tor noted despite his discomfort, and in another moment of strange clarity he remembered Merkhud’s warning to remain as inconspicuous as possible on his journey. He had taken being conspicuous to dizzying new heights. First the marketplace, then the marriage ceremony, now this. He was tired of it all and his patience snapped. He grabbed Eryn’s elbow and brooked no argument as he angrily led her outside.
He cast to Miss Vylet, Back in a moment, and heard her chuckle softly. It was she who closed off.
Outside the air chilled the cold ale on his body further but the more Eryn struggled, the tighter his grip bit into her arm. She stopped, went limp, even pouted.
‘If you didn’t expect to see me again, why this note?’ He waggled a crumpled piece of paper in front of her.
‘I wanted to know if you had the courage to face me again,’ she spat and bent her small finger up and down, suggesting his manhood had never been up to the task.
‘I’m here, am I not?’ Tor could not think of anything less ludicrous to say.
‘Yes, and I wish you were not. Captain Margolin is worth a lot of money to me and you’ve just ruined it. I’ve been waiting since the beginning of summer to see him. You’re hurting me.�
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She began to fight back tears, which swiftly killed Tor’s wrath and replaced it with weariness of this strange life he was leading. He let go of her arm.
‘I’m sorry about the captain, Eryn, really I am. I came tonight to tell you that I regret what happened the other evening, which had nothing to do with you, and wish I could explain it better than that.’
He sighed, remembering the eventful day. ‘It’s a day I want to forget, except I haven’t been able to forget how beautiful and funny you are and how much you deserved my apology…And well, now you have it.’
He raked his dark hair off his handsome face and Eryn quietly marvelled at his total ignorance of how heart-stopping he was.
‘Now, I have one gold piece left and it’s yours, which I hope makes up for what you lost from not being with Margolin tonight.’
He dug out a coin, a heavy gold sovereign, and put it in her hand, closing her fingers around it. He bent his head, kissed the hand which held the money and walked away.
‘Tor, wait!’ She tried to catch up with him but he increased his long strides.
Eryn picked up her gown and broke into a run. She finally grabbed him by his damp jacket and spun him around. Light! He really was the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on.
‘Tor, please wait…’ She caught her breath. ‘You’ll die of cold before you reach wherever you’re going.’
He looked pained, she thought, and suddenly sad. It began to drizzle and people started ducking for shelter. A breeze picked up across the water and blew straight at them.
He fixed incredibly blue but tired eyes on her. ‘Hurry back, Eryn, or you’ll be the one with a cold and that would be shocking for business, I imagine.’ He winced at his own nastiness and at watching her flinch from it too.
Eryn’s smell and her warm nearness reminded him too much of Alyssa. A great sadness descended on him. He had to go. Her eyes were searching his and he did not know what for. He bent, kissed the top of her head and pulled her hand from his shirt. ‘Goodbye, Eryn, good luck.’
‘No, damn you, Torkyn Gynt, you don’t just toss me a coin and walk away. At the very least you might as well have what you’ve paid for.’
He wanted to go. ‘Go find Margolin then. Tell him to fuck you and tell him it’s on me as I’ve already paid the fee.’
She was visibly shocked. Her hand flew to her throat and Tor hated himself. She slapped his face hard and, without another word, turned and stalked down the street. He let her go, watching her wrap her arms around herself as protection from the chilling drizzle which was rapidly turning to rain. He was glad. The business was unfinished but the matter was clearly settled.
His face stung. Tor dug his hands deep into his pockets and trudged away from The Lookout. He thought about Alyssa, cast along the path he knew so well and hit the dense void he had expected. He would give anything to hold her close just once more. He checked on Cloot and found him sleeping. He was pleased to feel all of Cloot’s strength was back. As he rounded the corner which would lead him away from the port, Miss Vylet’s soft voice suddenly breezed into his head.
She doesn’t deserve that.
He surprised himself with a smooth, immediate response. Stay out of this, Miss Vylet. He kept walking.
So cowardly, Torkyn. I hope Merkhud chooses more wisely next time.
She shut the link viciously.
Merkhud! She knew about Merkhud. Tor’s head swam with possibilities.
Who are you all? he screamed into the link and then began running. Running back towards The Lookout. The inn was still busy though the crowd had thinned out and there was no sign of either Miss Vylet or Eryn.
‘You again?’ It was Elynor, tray in hand, other hand on hip.
‘Is Miss Vylet here?’
‘She’s next door and that’s all you get, handsome, whoever you are.’ She left him.
Still shivering slightly, Tor pushed past the heavy drapes shrouding the small archway which connected the brothel to the inn. The noise drifted away as he stepped through a second, even more heavily curtained opening into a lamplit foyer. A beautiful creature, dazzling in a deep gold gown, arose from behind a small screen and gave him a wide smile.
‘Welcome, sir,’ she said then faltered as soon as she assessed his age. ‘Er…can I help you?’
He didn’t hesitate, surprising himself. ‘Yes, you can…um?’ Tor gave an enquiring look and the girl immediately offered her name.
‘Thank you, Mya. I’m looking for Eryn. I believe she arrived a short time ago.’
Mya was just about to give an answer when he felt, rather than heard, someone behind him. He turned.
‘Good evening.’
‘Sir, this is Miss Vylet,’ offered Mya in a rush.
Tor stepped towards the older woman, bent and kissed her hand.
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you again, madam,’ he said aloud for Mya’s benefit, adding through the link, I imagine we have plenty to talk about.
Indeed, she replied and cut the link.
‘Mya, Mr Gynt and I share a mutual friend. Please fetch Eryn to my study when I ring for her. In the meantime, I would like to take wine with this handsome fellow. Perhaps you’d be kind enough to send some through.’
With that she dismissed the astonished girl, offered her arm to Tor and led him down a small passageway to her private rooms. Miss Vylet’s salon was the most elegant room Tor had ever seen, though he readily admitted to her he had not seen many elegant rooms. She smiled warmly at his comment and asked him to make himself comfortable in one of the large armchairs near a small open fire.
He sank down and warmed himself. Next to this morning’s bath, had anything ever felt this good? Yes, Alyssa’s kiss, Eryn’s warm body next to him in the bed. He shook his head to clear it. His host was holding a small tray and closing the door with thanks to someone. She set down the tray with its decanter of plum-coloured wine and accompanying small glasses.
‘I like to take a glass of Bethany each evening,’ she said, pouring a measure of the syrupy specialty of Tallinor’s northern region. She handed it to him, poured another and then seated herself opposite. They gently raised glasses to each other. Miss Vylet sat in a comfortable silence and Tor felt tired enough to enjoy the peace. He was getting used to being studied. He closed his mind as a precaution. It felt strange but secure.
She probed and was impressed.
‘I see you’ve acquired a veil.’
‘I think it’s necessary, don’t you?’ He meant no insult.
‘Oh, indeed, and no doubt long overdue. A word of advice. Train yourself always to keep your mind that closed to anyone but those you want to have a link with, such as…er…?’
Miss Vylet waited for Tor to offer a name.
He shook his head and wasn’t sure why. Instinct perhaps.
‘There’s no one at present who can talk to me in this way, other than you of course, Miss Vylet.’ He drained the delicious Bethany and laid his glass carefully back on the tray.
‘Oh, come now, Torkyn. How about Physic Merkhud to name one?’
‘Perhaps he can but he has not done so,’ Tor answered carefully.
‘And no one else has ever spoken to you via the link?’ She could not hide her curiosity.
‘Actually yes, there was someone once but that link has been damaged and we’ve not talked in a long time.’
It was the truth. In deliberately being obtuse, Tor left his host in the situation of either having to delve deeper and therefore appear more than just curious, or to let it alone. She acknowledged silently that he would do well in the diplomatic circles of the royal Court.
‘Well, just heed my advice, Tor. It will serve you loyally.’
‘Miss Vylet, may I ask you a question?’
‘Of course.’
‘How much would it cost me to purchase the services of Eryn for the whole of tonight?’ He kept a straight face despite her astonished expression. This clearly was not the question she had anticipated.
‘Light, child! Would you know what to do with her?’ The glass was stopped halfway to her mouth.
‘I suppose that’s my problem.’
She had recovered herself. ‘Well, why don’t you ask Eryn yourself?’ She leaned over to pull on a cord. ‘She’ll be here shortly. Now, what else do you want to ask?’
‘About Merkhud obviously. How you know him, how you know me, how we are all connected perhaps?’
‘I’ve known Merkhud for most of my life. I think I’ve secretly loved him for all that time too.’ A little laugh escaped her. ‘We are loyal friends and speak often.’
‘By mindlink?’
‘Of course. He certainly doesn’t come calling at the brothel, if that’s what you mean. As to how I know of you, he mentioned you would show up in Hatten and simply asked me to see you through safely.’
‘May I ask how you were to do that?’
‘Eryn, Petyr, Locky. They’re all in my pay in some form or another.’ It was the turn of her eyes to twinkle. Her guest had not seen that coming.
‘You mean you planned all of the meetings?’
‘I did.’
‘And Cloot?’
‘Is this the freak whom you helped the other day in the marketplace?’
Tor nodded.
‘No, I have no knowledge of that strange fellow. What happened to him anyway?’ She held out her hands to warm by the fire.
‘Oh, I paid for a room at the inn for a night and a local doctor saw to him. He disappeared during today, I know not where. The physic said he would probably die and I’m just glad he had the good grace not to do it on my bill.’
Tor lied smoothly and again wondered to himself whether this was instinctive. Something was forcing him to keep Cloot as secret as possible. Miss Vylet was nodding. He was glad to hear a soft knocking at the door.
‘Come, Eryn,’ Miss Vylet said.
Eryn entered; she had changed into a diaphanous pale blue shift. Tor took a deep breath and stood. Eryn refused to look at him.
‘You called for me, Miss Vylet?’
‘I did, yes. Eryn, you know Mr Torkyn Gynt here?’
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