by John Booth
The first guard blocked him with his bulk, though not in an unfriendly manner. “The boss says that we have to check you have enough money to pay for accommodation at the High King Hotel. You have to stay there as it’s the only place open to visitors.”
Jalia pulled a large, heavy purse from her belt and passed it to the guard, who looked inside it to make sure it was filled with gold and not lead. He tossed it back to her and stood aside to let them pass.
“You can’t miss the High King Hotel. It has a big wooden sign with a crown painted on it.” The guard shouted as they rode down the road towards the center of the city.
The streets of Brinan were wide and tree lined. The houses on either side of them were elegant and tall. White stones provided paving along the edges while the road itself was made of granite cobbles. They spotted mansions on the slopes of the valley in the distance. The houses were made of the same white stone as the paving.
As they approached the central square the buildings became grander and taller, three story buildings lined the streets and were decorated with massive stone columns with wide steps in front of them, as if to say, ‘look how I can waste stone on pointless features.’ What purpose these building served was far from clear, though Talla pointed out one as holding the biggest hot pool in Brinan. On the far side of the square stood an imposing building hung with a massive wooden sign with a beautifully painting crown on it.
“He was right. You can’t miss it,” Jalia said as she looked to see where the hotel’s stables were hidden. A man in colorful livery stood by the hotel door and he informed them they should go down an alley at the side of the hotel to locate the stables. The alley was just wide enough for a wagon and made Jalia feel claustrophobic. It led them down below ground level with the hotel extending over the top, so it became a tunnel.
At the end of the alley they found an immaculate stable full of horses, coaches and wagons. A stable lad escorted them to stalls for the horses and donkeys.
When Jalia and Daniel started offloading their saddlebags the stable boy told them that the hotel had secure lock-up rooms in the cellar for their valuables and showed them a corridor with doors to small stone rooms fitted with sophisticated locks. Most of the rooms were in use, but when they saw an empty one, they decided to move their trade goods into it.
Jalia took her time as she helped move their goods to the room. She counted the locked rooms and ran a professional eye over their locks. The stable boy boasted that nothing had been stolen from these lock-up’s in the last four hundred years.
“Such a theft is long overdue then,” Jalia muttered speculatively.
Another employee led them from the stables and up to the front desk. The prices for rooms turned out to be surprisingly reasonable.
“I’m surprised your rates are so low given the effect of the gold rush on everything,” Daniel remarked to the well groomed man at the front desk. The man leaned over to speak confidentially to Daniel.
“They were much higher before the Mine Owners took over. The hotel is filled with the Owners families and lady friends.” The man winked at Daniel. “They own and control everything now, sir. But at least I no longer fear my children will be taken to work as slaves in a mine.”
“Did the owner of the hotel sell out to them?” Daniel asked, curious as to exactly how the Mine Owners took control.
“I owned this hotel, sir. It’s been owned by my family for over four hundred years. I was given a choice, give the hotel to the Mine Owners Consortium and carry on running it for them or be thrown out on the street with nothing.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’ve given you a large room with three beds on the top floor if that will be satisfactory?” the man said loudly as two male guests wandered into the lobby.
Despite wearing fine clothes, both men had the look of thugs. They looked at Jalia and Talla in the way horse-traders judge flesh. Jalia found she was reaching for the sword on her back, but never quite finished the motion when she realized how her actions would be taken.
“We have a device called a lift that moves you between floors without you having to climb the stairs,” the man said as he steered them across the lobby and away from the two guests who had stopped and were staring at Jalia and Talla. “It may be the only one in the world, though I’ve heard they were common in the days of the Magician Kings. My name is Patrus, by the way, if you should need me for anything.”
They were led into a small room with wide wooden doors which Patrus closed behind them. A young boy in hotel livery stood by a large lever in the wall. “
Take them up to the third floor, Gran,” Patrus said. The boy turned the lever and the room jerked upwards. Jalia backed into a corner worried by the swaying of the room. Talla was unbothered and stood quietly.
“You’ve been here before,” Daniel said accusingly to Talla as he too held onto a wall as the room moved upwards. He saw the walls slide past them on the side they came in from. Every so often they passed another set of closed doors.
“Yes, when I came to Brinan as a child. We came to this hotel as a treat when I began to recover.”
“The lift is powered by steam from the hot springs. I must confess I do not understand how it works but we replace parts as they wear out and it keeps on working,” Patrus informed them.
The lift stopped and Gran opened the doors. Jalia felt relieved to stand again on solid ground. Patrus walked them to their room.
As they reached the door he took Daniel to one side and spoke to him urgently. “The men in the lobby may be a problem. They raped my daughter, Hallen, last week.”
“And you did nothing?”
“Better to be raped and alive than to be murdered for speaking out of turn. Most of the people who work here are members of my family. Gran, the boy in the lift is my youngest son. Hallen is hiding in the private part of the hotel, which the guests don’t know exists. Advise your women to stay away from those men and never to walk the corridors on their own.”
“If I tell Jalia any of this she will be up all night walking the corridors,” Daniel said with a grin.
“Is she mad?”
“You don’t understand. Jalia leaves rapists bereft the parts of the body they need to carry out the act.”
“The Miners Consortium will kill her and us if she does that. Though I must admit, it’s a sight I would very much like to see.” Patrus took hold of Daniel’s arm, “You get to know who to trust in this trade and I trust you. Take care of yourself and your companions. This isn’t a good place to live unless you work for the Owners. They have done terrible things to the best families in the city.”
“Thank you. I’ll try and make sure we don’t get into any trouble we can’t get out of.”
As soon as Patrus left the room, Jalia went over to Daniel, “What was Patrus whispering to you about?”
“He asked me to make sure you don’t steal the towels.”
3. The Gathering Pool
Jalia sulked in a corner of their new room. She knew that whatever Daniel talked about with Patrus, it certainly hadn’t been whether she was going to steal the hotel towels.
Daniel placed his saddlebag on a bed and started to unpack some of the small bribes in it. He had a suspicion that they were going to need them and more to stay out of trouble. Taybee had been much smaller and less well organized than Brinan and they were unlikely to get lucky twice. If they annoyed the powers in Brinan, everybody, friend and foe alike, would be out looking to cut off their heads. The friends would do it because it was the only way to survive.
Daniel was well aware that Jalia knew he lied to her, but he needed to stop her doing anything precipitous until he figured out who it would annoy and what the consequences would be. He needed to find something to distract her for a while.
“We have to go swimming,” Talla said, as if in answer to his silent prayer.
“Great idea,” Daniel said quickly.
“I’d rather go and find somewhere to gam
ble,” Jalia said as she stood leaning against the window with her arms folded. She looked out onto a deserted street and wondering if the night life of this city was in the hotel or whether she would have to go out and look for it.
“Are there separate pools for men and women?” Daniel asked.
“There’s one large pool, but men are supposed to stay on the right hand side and women on the left,” Talla giggled, “I was only a little girl when I came here, but even I noticed there was a certain amount of to-ing and fro-ing between the men and women. It’s custom in Brinan that all bathe naked.”
“Well, if Jalia wants to go out looking for a card game, I will be more than happy to do some naked swimming with you.”
Jalia spun round and gave Daniel a look that could have fried an egg. “I will go swimming with the two of you. Who knows what trouble you’ll get into without me to chaperone.”
“Excellent.” Daniel rubbed his hands together and ignored Jalia’s glower. “I shall have two goddesses to frolic in the water with. Do we have to take towels or does the pool provide them?”
“We can take the room ones,” Talla said, having not heard Daniel’s earlier remark. “The hotel expects you to steal them, and build it into the price of the room.”
Jalia grabbed the largest towel and flicked it towards Daniel’s face as she went to the door. “It’s built into the price of the room,” she said as she pushed past him.
They walked across the square to the building Talla pointed out. The doors were open and Talla led them into a large anteroom with marble floors and tiled walls. Their footsteps echoed eerily as they walked to the next door in front of them. A man slouched by the door and looked up as they entered.
“It’s a half of gold each to enter,” he announced as they approached.
“It used to be free,” Talla said in annoyance.
“That was then, this is now. Pay up or go away, it’s your choice, though I might make an exception for you girls, for services rendered.” The man sniggered at what he obviously considered a good joke. Jalia flipped some coins at him and he opened the door and waved them in.
“This pool had better be damned good,” she muttered as she passed the guard.
They walked down a set of wide marble stairs. The pool was twenty feet or more below ground level and the whole back of the building was one vast room. When they got to the bottom the swimming pool lay before them. It was at least two hundred feet long and fifty feet wide. The roof of the building was sixty feet above them and made of the largest pieces of flat glass Jalia and Daniel had ever seen. It must have come from Ranwin, for nowhere else in the world had been capable of such a wonder. Torches burned above their heads on thin marble columns.
The pool was lined with polished marble and was shallow at their end, getting deeper towards the far end. Steam wafted from its surface and the air was hot and sticky. There were only four other people in the room. An older man leant against the near side of the pool. He was a big man who must have lost weight recently as his skin sagged alarmingly. The other occupants of the pool were three attractive young girls who were on the other side of the pool, splashing around.
There were a series of seats positioned along both sides of the pool. Talla and Jalia went to the far side while Daniel undressed on the near side.
The girls finished undressing first and ran to the pool, Talla jumping in feet first and causing an enormous splash while Jalia dived cleanly into the pool as if she had become a fish.
Daniel felt a little self-conscious naked, not at all helped by Talla and Jalia laughing in derision as he lowered himself into the hot water. Jalia lifted her hand and clenched her fist except for her little finger which she wriggled while giggling.
“Your young ladies like to tease you, sir.” The man leaning against the wall of the pool told him severely, “You should teach them good manners. My name is Karn a’Debal, and those three hooligans over there are my daughters. And the apples of my eye, I might add.”
“A father bathing naked with his daughters might be considered a little odd in Delbon. My name is Daniel al’Degar and I am a trader, as is Jalia al’Dare over there. She is the one swimming like a fish, when she isn’t insulting me.”
“Well said, young man, but we do not regard nakedness as evil in Brinan. My reason for being here is to protect my daughters from the unwanted attention of the attendants, who are not to be trusted.” Karn smiled at Daniel, “I must say it is good to see some bodies I can admire in a carnal manner.”
“There don’t seem to be many people coming to the pool these days?”
“Four years ago you couldn’t see the water for the people. This is the Gathering Pool and all of Brinan would come here at least once a week to be sociable. Weddings and parties were held here with everyone invited, from Lord to the humblest sweeper of streets.” Karn leant over to Daniel to whisper, “We did insist he washed first though.”
Daniel caught a flicker of movement and his eyes narrowed as he spotted the man who let them in and another man in uniform leering at the women from the top of the steps.
“They come in and do that all the time.” Karn said as he noticed where Daniel looked. “You are not affiliated with the Mine Owners Association, I take it?”
“In no way. Are you?”
“I hate them, though if you were to repeat that you would be doing me no favors. When gold was found in Telmar, many of the ordinary people of Brinan went to seek their fortune, though none found it.”
“Very soon after, eight of the owners of the biggest mines got together and stopped other people prospecting by the simple method of killing them. Once they established fear in the population, they enslaved any fools who came to Telmar and made them work for them.”
“Our money became worthless because there is so much gold around and because fools still wanted to try their luck in Telmar. The Mine Owners sent men to capture young men for the mines and women for their brothels. Before we knew it, the city was unguarded and everybody cowered in fear.”
“The Mine Owners Association came here and told us they were taking over. Our choice was to either accept that or die. They took eight of the largest mansions for themselves, killing two of our patriarchs who refused to move and enslaving their children. I, for my part, am one of the city elders who allowed this to happen. Now I am barely able to protect my own daughters from the Association’s hired henchmen.”
“What could you have done?”
“We should have fought earlier, when we had the chance and we should have protected our citizens better,” Karn said with some vehemence. “But fools do not get second chances.”
“Perhaps your fortunes will change.”
Karn’s face brightened, “There are signs of it. Apparently a wave of trouble has hit the Association moving from the west. Six months ago they lost their slavers market at Buran where a citizen’s army killed their buyers and suppliers. Then, only three months ago, the citizens of Taybee threw out the Associations Overlord and now slaves cannot be brought from the west.”
Daniel left Karn’s side to get out of the pool. Karn looked up and saw that the guards had come down to the women’s changing area and were searching through their clothes. As Daniel went to retrieve his weapons, Jalia heaved herself out of the pool’s deep end and ran across the slippery tiles. Karn waded towards the steps out of the pool where his weapon and clothes lay.
The guard who had taken their money drew Jalia’s sword from its scabbard and was making slashing and cutting motions with it. “Smentar, you have to have a go with this, it’s beautifully balanced,”
“Gasporin, you have a little naked visitor,” Smentar said as Jalia approached.
“Put my sword down, you robber!”
Gasporin pointed Jalia’s sword at her, the tip inches from her breasts. “We are the law around here ‘small breasts’ and a little girl like you shouldn’t be walking around with a sword this good. It should be in the hands of a fighting man.”
&nbs
p; “The next time I come across one, I’ll give it to him,” Jalia said through gritted teeth.”
“I’ll stop her boyfriend doing anything stupid,” Smentar said. He drew his sword and moved to intercept Daniel who ran towards them, sword in his hand.
“Your boyfriend isn’t going to help, not fighting naked against Smentar, who is very good with a sword.” Gasporin said as he moved Jalia’s sword up and down her body from the fuzz of hair at her groin to her neck. “I’m going to have you ‘baby breasts’, and once I’ve had you in every hole… If you are very lucky, I’ll let you go and tell your boyfriend about how good it was.”
Jalia gave Gasporin a look of contempt and when the sword moved down to her tummy she caught it between her palms and pushed it away as the toes on her right foot embedded themselves deep in Gasporin’s groin with the strength of her kick lifting him six inches from the ground.
She spun and moved closer to him, so her naked back pressed against his tunic. Getting too close for him to bring her sword into play as she elbowed him in the chest. He fell to his knees and Jalia again spun so his neck was caught between her thighs.
“Are you enjoying it now?” Jalia asked as his chin was pushed back against her groin. Gasporin gave out a gasp as Jalia twisted and snapped his neck. She pushed his body carelessly to the floor.
Smentar was far too busy to notice the dispatch of his friend. Daniel was at a considerable disadvantage in the fight, mainly because of the slippery marble floor. Smentar wore boots with a good grip while Daniel’s bare feet gave him almost no traction. However, the sword fight wasn’t going Smentar’s way as Daniel slowly forced him back towards the pool.
When Jalia killed Gasporin, Karn spoke from behind Daniel, “You’ll have to kill him. We need to be sure there are no witnesses.”