He liked Dar, he was quick to laugh and normally in good humour. There wasn’t much badness in him.
At the bottom of the stairs, he had to put the bucket down for a moment to pull the exterior door open. Walking outside into the daylight, he saw Calum playing with a couple of the kids from across the street. He carried the bucket a few yards down the street and threw the contents into the pit that lay at the end of every street. The gutters along the sides of each street were designed to flow into these pits, which were five to six feet deep, though the reality was they rarely did, unless with the help of heavy rain.
The rains couldn’t come soon enough. Even with the dung collectors coming by every week to clear up all the shit and piss in the pits for use in the royal gardens, it was accumulating.
Outside the door leading up to the flat there was an old wooden barrel, half broken around the top, which still managed to collect the rainwater from the flow off from the roof. The water level was getting low. Liam half-filled the wooden bowl, throwing the water into the bucket to give it a small rinse out before bringing it back up. He filled the bowl again and went back up the stairs.
Darren was where he had left him, still trying to fix the leather sandal. Liam put the bucket and bowl back and stood for a moment looking at him before returning outside.
It was another bright and sunny day. He walked across to Calum.
“You ready to go?” Liam asked. Calum nodded and got up, saying goodbye to the kids as they walked off.
“You know Darren’s mother died?” Liam asked him.
Calum nodded again. “Found out yesterday. She was sick a time, I think,” he said.
“He okay?” Liam asked. Calum looked over and shrugged. He had little choice.
They walked to the end of their street and took a right which led them down to Badgers Burrow. This was a small square at the intersection of three streets just outside Ratville. There were some vendors here selling food. Liam nodded as he caught one of their eyes. They had an unspoken agreement here. The boys wouldn’t try to steal or scam their stalls and the vendors would sell them food at a fair price as a result. “Don’t shit where you eat” as Darren’s ma used to say. Advice she rarely took herself, Liam guessed.
Their destination was the market that stemmed off the Great Road to Keisland and Sanhar. The road was a major trading route that went all the way into the city centre. It was made of stone and wide enough for two large horse-drawn wagons to pass abreast. They said the stone road extended all the way to the city of Darwin over a thousand miles away.
The traffic from the road helped to both supply the market and offer it custom. The packed street was generally a good place for thieving but was close to an hour’s walk from the flat.
As they walked through the streets on their way to the market, they spotted, almost as one, a guardsman from the inner city. It wasn’t a rare thing for a guardsman to venture out into the slums for some cheap entertainment. He walked in the same direction as them, about a hundred yards up the road. The boys smiled at one another.
From the man’s gait, it looked as though he hadn’t been to bed yet. His walk was a familiar drunken dance from side to side, more steps taken to keep his balance than to bring him towards his destination. His hand flicked up occasionally to hold the side of his head. Liam could almost hear his groans as he went.
The boys looked at one another, an unspoken question passing between them.
“You go,” said Calum. “I’m getting a bit old to pull it off anymore.”
Liam laughed. “Too old to be a wide-eyed bumpkin that never saw a sword before? Hardly!”
Calum shoved him with a grin on his face. They watched for a moment to see if the guardsman would take a turn at the end of the street and were forced to stop a while as he tried to make that decision himself. He held a hand to his head as he looked left and right at the crossroads, trying to get his bearings as he swayed unsteadily.
The boys laughed as one as he chose the wrong way, taking the street to his left.
“Right, don’t be dawdling,” Liam said to Calum as he darted up a back alley.
The two boys knew the neighbourhood like the back of their hands and Liam twisted and turned through the alleyways without hesitation. It wasn’t long before he was peeking around a corner, looking back down the street that the guardsman had taken.
The man had made little progress, and Liam had to wait for a few moments for him to catch up. He looked further down the street beyond the man and could see Calum prowling behind him. His stride was one of a boy at ease and he looked nonchalantly from side to side, paying little attention to the man in front of him. He caught Liam’s eye and nodded his head.
Liam waited a second longer, then slipped out onto the street. He walked a couple of steps looking at the ground, seemingly as glum as the guardsman. He looked up then and appeared to notice the guardsman for the first time. His face lit up and he ran over to the man.
“Hey, hey, you a guardsman?” Liam let his voice go as high-pitched as he dared, trying to seem as young as possible. The guardsman looked at him through blurry eyes, frowning.
“What do you want?” he asked with a hoarse voice.
“You really from the city, ya? What’s it like working at the gate?” Liam asked, keeping pace with the man all the time. Calum was now just a step behind him. “Is that a real sword?” he said and reached to grab his sword. The man yelled and threw a backhanded fist at Liam, but Liam hopped out of its path easily.
Calum used that moment to strike.
The purse at the man’s waist was double tied, sitting in a leather holster designed for this purpose and tied to the belt he wore as well. It only took Calum moments to unbutton the holster and cut the string holding the purse to the man’s belt with his knife. Once the purse was in hand, he turned sharply and strolled quickly but casually in the other direction, towards the open alleyway that Liam had earlier appeared from.
Liam continued the distraction, giving Calum time to get away.
“Come on, what’s the problem? I never seen a sword before!”
“You’ll see its blade soon enough, boy, if you don’t fuck off!” The guardsman growled at him, offering a dangerous look. Liam looked disconsolate but resigned.
“Only wanted a look,” he muttered as he turned and walked away from the man. They had reached an intersection in the street and Liam turned right as the man continued on straight, oblivious to the missing purse at his side.
Once he was out of sight, Liam darted into the nearest alleyway and worked his way through the back alleys, putting distance between the man and himself.
After about ten minutes he found his way back to the original street they were on and found Calum sitting against a wall waiting for him. Liam smiled as he walked up to Calum.
“What’s it look like?” he asked. Calum gave a so-so look and handed him the purse. Looking inside, Liam could see there were three copper half klats and four full ones. An average take. There was rarely more at the end of a heavy night boozing and whoring.
They split the takings, Calum taking the extra half klat. The next one would be Liam’s.
Many of the slum boys wouldn’t trust each other with the purse and so tried to work similar jobs on their own, but they were fools. Liam and Calum’s takings on any given day were twice that which they would get on their own. Once they spotted a target, they normally succeeded in getting the prize. The plays were simple and repeated often, but they worked. There was no need for embellishment.
Liam’s trust in Calum was absolute. He would have starved to death years before had it not been for him.
They spent the rest of the day in and out of the market. Calum managed to slit another purse while Liam filched a couple of dried-up apples from a stall and a meat pie. All in all, it was a good day’s work.
It was late in the evening when they called it a day and walked to the public well. It was set at the end of the market where the road forked in two. As
always, there was a long queue, and the boys were forced to join it.
The market workers were in constant flow to and from the well during the day, collecting water in great big pots. They used it to flavour with lemon and sell to customers in off the Great Road, or to fill barrels that they heated with stones to keep the food in their stall warm. There were even laundry women collecting the water to wash out their clothes.
The well itself was a large round wall in the ground that stood at waist height, made from stone and about six feet in diameter. There was a large bucket tied to the end of a rope that was lowered into the well and raised again by the use of a round iron pulley. It coiled and collected the rope along its rim as it was turned. It was a deep well, and it took several seconds to lower the bucket down. The bucket was weighed on the inside with stone and clay so that it would drop effectively into the waters. However, it then required tough work to draw it back up.
When it finally became their turn, the boys dropped the bucket down and drew a full load up. They drank from the rim of the bucket, the water splashing over the sides of their mouths, drenching their tunics. When their stomachs were full with water, they took turns in dumping the rest of it over their heads. Liam smiled, relishing the cooling down as his tunic got soaked. He rubbed some of the grit from his face and drew his hands through his hair, wringing out the excess water.
“I was thinking,” Calum said after he had rinsed his hair out, “that we should head down to Tanya’s, see if they have any leftover liquor that they might give us. Celebrate our takings.” Liam’s eyes lit up. He had only been drunk twice before and had loved the feeling of happy freedom that accompanied it.
“Let’s go!” he said. Calum smiled. “You think there’s any chance she’ll have some for us?”
“There might be. I called over last week and she promised me they would keep me some if I came back again this week.” Tanya’s was a whorehouse not far from Sally’s tavern. Calum’s mother had worked there before she died when Calum was four. He had been brought up there until then but afterwards had to leave because there was no one to mind him. That’s how he found himself in the school of Levitas with the rest of them.
However, Calum had kept in touch with them. Tanya herself had visited him a few times at the school until the priests had learned of her profession and ran her out. Since they had left, Calum had called over every now and again.
Some of the older whores still remembered him as a babe and sometimes kept some liquor or other treats for him when he called over. The last time Liam had gotten drunk was from liquor taken from Tanya’s.
“Better go so!” Liam said. It was half an hour’s walk to Tanya’s. The sun had started to dip in the sky and by Liam’s guess it would be dark in less than two hours.
******
The whorehouse stood at a curve in the road of Dame Lane. On the outside it looked like a normal tavern except that the brickwork was painted a dark red. The paint was peeling free in places but still gave an exotic appeal when surrounded by the dirty greys to either side. The front door was locked as it often was, but down the alleyway to the side of the brothel was another door.
Calum knocked and the boys waited to be admitted. A moment later, the door opened a fraction to a painted face. She was old and wrinkly.
“Calum!” she smiled, opening the door wider.
“Hello, Miss Lana,” he said, and she laughed. Calum had told Liam earlier that she loved it when he called her that.
“Miss Lana! Look at you! And you brought Liam!” She smiled, looking at Liam. She gave him a wink and asked, “Come to pop your cherry, have you?”
Liam blushed. “No,” he blurted out, suddenly unable to think of anything to say.
“Really, no interest? Do you prefer boys? Is that it?” she asked, pursing her lips.
“No,” Liam blurted again and stood there. He could feel his face burning red as Lana let out a burst of laughter.
“Well, come on in,” she said, smiling and stepping aside. Liam followed Calum in the door. He was amazed at what he saw. The windows in the room were shuttered closed and draped in dark red curtains. Two similar curtains hung from ceiling to floor about five meters in front of him. The first was draped from the left wall to slightly beyond the centre of the room, while the second, a few feet behind the first, extended from the right wall to inside and past where the first one stopped, creating a short tunnel, into what Liam didn’t know.
The only light in the room came from four lamps that burned on both walls to either side of Liam. The room, or what Liam could see of it, was quite large. To the right of the door that Liam entered was a counter as high as his shoulder where incense burned, and to the left were two couches, made from red cloth, that were arranged perpendicular to each other at the corner of the room.
The smell of incense was strong, creating a mystical air as shadows from the lamplight played across the curtains. Liam was unable to quell the building excitement in his stomach and a stirring below as he wondered at what lay beyond the red veil laid out before him.
“Sit, sit!” said Lana, gesturing over to the couches. Liam sat down gratefully on the nearest one, Calum taking the place next to him. Lana stood in front of their couch with her hands on her hips and looked down at them, her eyes moving from one to the other.
Her face was powdered white with red blush on each cheek and red lipstick. Her eyebrows were almost plucked clear and accentuated by black eyeliner. Her eyelashes were long and black, and she had a net over her short cropped hair. She wore an ankle-length red gown that seemed to be made of many layers. Sleeves extended past her elbows but were slit to form lace that draped past her hands.
Liam’s eyes flittered about the room, marvelling at the effect. Everything seemed to be bathed in a soft red glow, Lana’s powdered face the only thing to stand out, slightly surreal in the dim lighting.
“So, Calum, here to see Layla again?” she asked suddenly with a smile. “I’m not surprised she has you coming back for more! She’s one of our best.” She turned briskly around and walked up to the curtain in front of them, pulling it over and peering in behind at the other side.
“No …” said Calum, his blush hidden in the gloom, but he couldn’t get any more words out as Lana let out a yell.
“Layla! Guess who it is? Loverboy has come back for more!” She looked back at Calum as she said it, offering him a wink. Calum smiled back at her, fidgeting with his hands. Liam could see the sides of Lana’s mouth twitch upwards at the sight.
“Loverboy?” came a high-pitched voice from the other room.
Liam watched as a shadow darkened its way across the cloth of the curtain. It seemed to move with practiced slowness. He could hear the soft tread of footsteps and even caught a glimpse of slippered feet as it passed. He felt his pulse race as he watched, entranced. Lana took a step back from the opening as the shadow neared. He noticed her head turn to face the boys once more and got the sense that she was studying their reactions to everything taking place in the room.
Finally, the shadow reached the curtain’s edge, and a pretty face popped out from behind it. She scanned the room for a moment, her gaze falling to rest on Calum’s face. Her eyes sparkled with recognition, and Liam found himself looking over at Calum and seeing his face widen into a smile.
“Calum!” Layla exclaimed and came out from around the curtain. Liam was glad of the dimmed lighting as he felt his face blush crimson. Layla had much less on than Lana. She wore a light, voluminous sleeveless gown that ended above her knees. Underneath, she only wore a bra and black underwear with little patterns cut out of the cloth along her thighs and midriff. Her stomach and legs were bare.
Her large breasts were propped out in front of her, the gown hanging loosely down off them. Liam could see her nipples pressing through the cloth and shifted uncomfortably. He looked up and caught Lana watching him and knew she had noticed the gesture. He looked away again quickly, embarrassed.
His heart pounded in his
chest as Layla swept over to sit on the hand rest beside Calum. She laid a hand on his head, running her fingers through his hair, and Liam could see Calum shifting in a similar way to him.
“Have you come back for another tumble?” she asked him sweetly. Liam couldn’t help but notice how her breasts touched lightly against Calum’s face again and again as she talked and found himself wishing he could trade places with him. “I knew you had more left in you after the last time!”
Liam’s eyes went wide. Calum had told him how he had rode one of the girls in Lana’s, how sexy she was and how her tits were huge. Liam had listened intently, hanging on every word. Even so, he had harboured some doubt that Calum was making it all up or at least exaggerating the truth. Now he knew it was true.
“I dono …” said Calum, unsure. “Maybe.”
Layla smiled brightly. “Really!” she chimed. “You’ll have to pay this time, though.” At that Calum’s face dropped, and Layla laughed. She swooped up and swayed to the red curtain, her buttocks bouncing as her hips swished from side to side. Liam was embarrassed to look but couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.
“Liam!” Lana suddenly exclaimed and he jumped, shooting his eyes away from Layla’s rear, caught in the act. Lana hooted with laughter while Liam fidgeted, unsure of what to do.
“Sorry,” he managed to say, almost a whimper. Layla gave him a momentary glance as she turned and looked back to Calum mischievously.
“Don’t worry,” she said to him. “Come back again when you have the coin and I’ll be glad to welcome you back to my bed. I’ll even give you a discount!” Her eyes seemed to speak of her lust for Calum’s company before she turned to Lana. They shared a quick whispered conversation before she disappeared behind the curtain once more. Liam followed her shadow as it faded from view.
“Okay, boys!” Lana clapped her hands. “Business is about to start soon and I can’t have you two loitering around here when the customers come.” She eyed Calum for a moment.
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