Akuchi went silent. Is that why she wouldn’t show herself to me?
A barmaid walked past and Vel took two drinks from her tray. He set one down in front of Akuchi. Akuchi picked up the drink without looking. The smell of ale informed him of the contents. How bad could the disfigurement be? Akuchi looked more closely at some of the other patrons.
The next table over two men sat. Short-swords were strapped to their backs. Underneath their black and yellow patterned body paint were large spots covering their backs. Opposite them sat a woman with the same patterns across her body as the two men. Her face was covered in several large warts that forced an eye shut.
Another table over and a man with blue stars and green stripes, grabbed a barmaid and pulled her to his lap. She squealed. His scar-covered hand held her on his lap; her nose had a large wart with several hairs coming from it. He roared with laughter as the barmaid slapped him and slipped out from his grasp, revealing that his chest was covered in an assortment of warts and scars visible even through his paint.
Akuchi turned his head and looked at the musicians on the stage. One had only three fingers as he played a harp. His hand looked like it never had the rest of his fingers. A woman played a reed flute. One of her breasts were covered in warts and the other had failed to grow at all. Another woman beat a drum with her hand. Her other hand was small and distorted, unable to be used for anything. She watched the other two musicians with an open-mouthed smile while she panted like a dog; warts covered her tongue and lips.
“How bad is her disfigurement?” Akuchi asked, referring to the Princess.
“Not many people have seen her for quite some time,” replied Vel. “Though the rumours indicate it is pretty bad. Not many people are prepared to take that risk.”
“When I spoke to her, I saw her lower legs, unpainted,” commented Akuchi. “To me they seemed ok.”
“That is common for us,” replied Vel, “she most likely showed you her best feature, the one that looked normal.”
“Oh.”
“If you will excuse me, I need to find myself a wench,” Vel said, “it has been too long.”
Vel downed the contents of his cup and sauntered towards the bar.
A barmaid came and stood in front of Akuchi. Akuchi lifted his eyes and was gifted with a complete look of the barmaid. She was broad of hips and her legs were strong. She had interlacing scars that ran down the length of one of her legs. Her body paint was full black with a double line pink stripe that ran the length of her torso. Her breasts were fully formed and large. The nipples stood proudly. The barmaid’s shoulders were slightly smaller, giving her a triangular shape.
As their eyes met she smiled, showing crooked and blackened teeth set in a mouth that was too small. Her eyes were too small, and she had several warts that formed a clump on the bridge of her nose. Faint hairs on her upper lip formed a moustache.
“Why aren’t you wearing your house colours?” she asked.
“I have no house colours,” Akuchi replied, lifting his drink to his mouth and draining it dry. His throat felt dry despite the warm liquid.
She squinted at him. “You’re not an elf. What are you doing here?”
“I am going to get married soon,” Akuchi said. “Can I get another?”
“Sure, sweetness.” She smiled and set down another drink before him.
The barmaid sat on the seat opposite him and placed her empty tray on the table.
The musicians struck a discordant note and began to sing a song. The whole tavern quieted and turned to listen.
“Foreign blood bought our freedom,
Foreign blood caught us in chains,
Foreign blood to buy us out,
One man’s choice to make.
Cursed, cursed the dark elf is
Cursed by choices we made,
Cursed to suffer in silence and shame,
One man’s choice to make.
Bring us from grave to grave,
Bring us the freedom we crave,
Bring us the chosen one,
One man’s choice to make.
Sealed in weddings vow,
Know not what he said,
Taken from his homestead,
One man’s choice to make.
Foreign blood caught us in chains,
Foreign blood bought our freedom,
Foreign blood to buy us out,
Man’s choice made for him.”
As the last note faded, Akuchi turned and faced the barmaid that was watching him.
A booing came from the dark elves in the tavern. Mugs, some empty and full flew towards the stage and the musicians ducked off stage with their instruments.
“You guys don’t like that song?” Akuchi asked the barmaid.
“Not really,” she replied through gritted teeth. “It reminds us of our shame and tell us that we can’t get ourselves out of it without the help of one of the younger races.”
“I haven’t heard much about it,” Akuchi said.
“Well.” The barmaid pointed to her nose, “these warts and other blemishes are not normal for us. Or so the song says.”
“According to the song, how is the curse to be lifted?” Akuchi asked leaning forward.
“Well it doesn’t say.” The barmaid hesitated. “It just says that foreign blood will break it.”
Am I the one that is meant to break them out of their curse? That can’t be right, I am not special enough to do that. Even if I knew how.
“All that we know is that he doesn’t know he is doing it,” said the barmaid. “I have to get back to work,” the barmaid arose and left Akuchi.
***
That night Akuchi slept, waking only to the sound of Vel in the next bed making quiet love to a tavern wench. Early in the morning, Akuchi got up and looked out the small window of their room. Vel and the woman slept curled in each other’s arms. Outside the moss continued to glow brightly in various shades and hues. A small patch of sun light broke through the canopy in the open field near the Mother Tree.
The woman stirred and crept, out of bed, and slipped out of the room, smiling slightly to Akuchi as she closed the door behind her.
Today I wed the Princess, and everyone is warning me against it. Why?
I see no reason to not marry the Princess. It will stop the attacks.
The Princess did mention that her life was in danger, would I be putting my life in danger by marrying her? Would the next king want us both dead to secure his claim to the throne?
That is what the princess mentioned. She said the choice was to marry me and risk an attack when he comes of age, but if I don’t marry her, then the peace I wanted will not happen.
I just want to live a quiet life and grow crops, like my dad did.
He didn’t have to go through this… he said that he inherited the farm from his father who got it from his father.
Could this be what the first owners of the farm went through when they set up the farm? Did they have to strike a bargain with a king?
Vel stirred and sat up. Blinking he looked around and his gaze settled on Akuchi in the window.
“She left already?” Vel grumbled.
“Yeah, she has.”
“Pity,” sighed Vel, “I was hoping for another before I start the day.”
“Sorry about that.”
“I saw you with that barmaid,” said Vel. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” replied Akuchi, “I have a lot to think about.”
“Have you considered your position?”
“I have,” confirmed Akuchi. “I just want to live a quiet life and grow crops. My family has always been farmers, and I want to follow in their footsteps. It’s all I know.”
“I very much doubt that you will be able to do that anymore,” sniggered Vel, “unless you abandon your farm altogether, and move to another place.”
“I can’t leave; I have already invested all my money into this farm. The only place I could go would be back to family and there a
re already too many mouths to feed. Why do you say that I can’t live a peaceful life?”
“Well,” began Vel, “if you turn down the King, you will most likely not live very long, as I am sure we will keep attacking.”
“That does present a problem.”
“I really can’t help you make the decision. I have a stake in the results.”
“What is your stake?”
“If you accept, I receive glory, if you turn it down, I receive extra shame.”
“So, you have placed my future in my hand?”
“Yes,” agreed Vel. “If you accept the offer, you will have a princess for a bride.”
“That last bit doesn’t sound so bad.”
Vel tossed the blanket aside and stood.
“You will most likely end up with an ugly wife by my standards.”
“True,” agreed Vel, “but you had the option of that light elf, and she did look fine.”
“It’s true we did have a thing going. But elves live a long time.”
“That is also true for dark elves,” said Vel, “but we don’t inhibit ourselves as much as they do.”
“She told me that they don’t have sex until they are over three hundred.”
“Wow,” exclaimed Vel. “I had sex when I was fifteen, and I was considered a late bloomer. The princess is over four hundred years old now. She could have had many prospects but when it came to marriage many turned down the offer.”
“Why?”
“Well from what I heard many of them thought she was ugly.”
“Being ugly seems to be a huge detractor.”
“For a race that is meant to be beautiful,” agreed Vel, “it is. Come. I must wash this war paint off and I think you could do with a wash.”
Akuchi followed Vel out of the tavern, down a hard-packed dirt road and into a small hollow dug out under a tree. The hollow was carved into stone; intricate patterns of elves bathing in hot springs covered the walls. A woman stood, without any paint. On the outside of a vine door a rack of towels in neat little carved cubby holes behind her. As they approached the vine door, she handed them each a towel, then she held the vine door open. They both stepped through the door and came to a small pool. The water was a little murky and seemed to be moving. To the left fresher water came in to replace the water that was leaving the pool. A bench with three towels sat to the right and a vine door stood to the left and to opposite them.
“This is the unpainting pool,” informed Vel. “You don’t need to get into this one as you are not painted.”
Vel set his towel down on a small bench and stepped into the water. He joined two other women and a man that were already in the pool. Vel ducked his head down and when he surfaced again he began to scrub the paint off himself with scrubbing sand from a receptacle on the right.
An attendant came through the vine-covered door on the right. Unpainted, she stepped into the water and approached Vel and started to rub down Vel’s back.
After the black paint had all been washed off, Vel climbed out of the pool and beckoned Akuchi to follow.
Akuchi followed with the towels as they passed through the vine door opposite.
On the other side of the vine door, the room was steamy and hot. Steps tiered the room around a brazier in the middle with hot coals burning. Another vine door sat on the far side of the room.
Vel took a seat on the tiered steps in one corner. Akuchi sat next to him.
“This is the sweat room,” Vel continued to explain, “after here we go to the rinse room. In the rinse room, anything goes, because there is no paint, there is no rank. Have fun.”
“What normally happens?” Akuchi responded.
Vel just winked at Akuchi and leant back against the wall.
Akuchi nodded and stared at the brazier in the centre of the room.
A small elf with a limp entered from the unpainted room. He took a small bucket from the far corner and upended the contents onto the brazier. Smoke and steam billowed out over the room. Akuchi lost sight of the brazier in the steam and felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Come,” whispered Vel.
Akuchi arose and followed Vel out of the sweat room through the vine door into the rinse room.
The rinse room was a large underground cavern. A set of stairs led to an underground lake. The moss and mushrooms on the walls and roof glowed a soft relaxing yellow and green. In the centre of the cavern a clear pool with many people swimming of floating in the water. On the far-right attendants on beds massaged and copulated with patrons. On the far-left patrons sat and played cards with other patrons, while attendants served drinks. At the opposite side, a small stairwell led back out of the cavern.
“Remember you can do anything here,” reminded Vel. “What happens in the baths, stays in the baths.”
“Got it.”
Vel turned and strolled down the stairs, at the bottom he turned right and headed off.
Akuchi got to the bottom of the stairs and jumped into the clear water. He began confidently to stroke across the pool to the other side, at the middle he stopped. What am I doing here in a bath? I need to make a choice about the princess. Should I, or shouldn’t I? Both choices make sense, and both have advantages.
“You have a nice back, handsome,” a sultry voice greeted him.
Akuchi turned and saw an elf woman treading water. She smiled at him and he saw her teeth were crooked. A small wart sat on her nose and her eyes were different colours.
“You’re not an elf,” she accused.
“Indeed, I am not,” he replied.
She faded away and he was alone.
What is in this water? He turned and started swimming out to the edge of the pool. He climbed up, lay down on a bed, and closed his eyes.
A slender elf started to massage his back. His blood began to flow and life resumed its normal course under her tender ministrations.
“Woooow,” Akuchi purred.
Chapter 27 Wedding
8th day of the 7th month 580th year of the 8th era
When Vel led Akuchi out of the baths. The lighting moss were glowing brightly. They walked down the path and came to the clearing in front of the Mother Tree. Tables had grown out of the trees arranged in a geometric pattern around a central platform. On top of the central platform, a huge long table stretched out across the platform. Behind all the tables were seats covered in a soft moss that was warm to the touch.
“Wow,” exclaimed Akuchi. “These weren’t here last time.”
“This is the gathering field,” said Vel. “Here we can arrange it for a purpose, this arrangement is for a wedding offer to be formally accepted or declined. It can also be arranged for any purpose that we see fit.”
“If I decline…” hesitated Akuchi. They have gone to all this work… would it be rude to decline?
“Oh,” sighed Vel, “we still have a party.”
“But if I accept?”
“Then we have a grand party, and a wedding right then.” Vel bounced on the balls on his feet. His eyes lit up gleefully.
A loud trumpet blasted a quick triplet with a long out last note.
The King strode out of the Mother Tree flanked on either side by nobles and courtiers. He ascended the stairs and sat next to the high seat. The nobles and courtiers began to fill up the remainder of the seats based upon their ranks and arranged by their families. Yellow stripes sat together and blue stripes sat together, blue stars sat next to them, and those that had both blue stars and blue stripes sat between both groups. A sprinkling of oranges and greens mixed among both parties.
Once all were seated the King stood.
“Yesterday I asked, a guest of the dark elves to become my son in law,” the King called out, raising his hands.
A loud murmur caused Akuchi to look behind him. A large crowd had gathered. Their colours were an assortment of patterns and images. They had gathered at the edge of the clearing. Some were looking at him with wonder others disgust.
“Locals a
nd commoners,” whispered Vel to Akuchi.
“Now after the traditional wait time, we will hear his response,” bellowed the King.
The crowd began to clap sporadically.
“You must go and give your answer to the king,” Vel muttered into Akuchi’s ear.
Akuchi threw his shoulders back and walked through the tables to the high table. Reaching the high table, he knelt before the King and lowered his head.
Accept or reject? … I don’t really have a choice. It’s either marry the princess or death.
“Akuchi, are you willing to take my daughters hand in marriage?” the King asked.
Akuchi stood. “I am.” I will get married. I can deal with the political intrigues with my wife.
“Then take your position,” the King cheered, indicating a seat beside him.
Akuchi ascended the dais and sat into the empty chair beside the King. Another empty chair sat next to Akuchi on the opposite side to the King. On the other side of the King sat a youngish looking elf boy with features matching the King. He sat painted in a pinkish purple.
The crowd parted as a veiled figure emerged from the Mother Tree and proceeded down to the space in front of the dais. The figure wore a veil that ran from the top of her head down to the bottom.
“I have come to meet the man that has agreed to marry me,” the figure intoned.
I thought this was locked in? I totally forgot to ask her how she felt about marrying me.
“Daughter, this man,” the King declared, indicating Akuchi, “has agreed to marry you. What do you say?”
“If he is willing to take me, I am willing to have him,” Aife replied.
Akuchi let go of the breath he had been holding.
“Then we shall begin,” echoed the King.
“You have to go down and stand beside her,” whispered the woman in green wavy lines that sat on the far side of the empty chair.
“Thank you,” Akuchi murmured as he arose from his chair and hurried down the steps.
Akuchi took his place to the left of Aife. He couldn’t make out any of her features.
“You are very brave,” Aife muttered.
The Bloodwood Curse: An Epic Fantasy Adventure of Swords, Magic and Romance. (The Rosethorn Chronicles Book 1) Page 21