Chapter 7

The progress of the carriage through the streets of Katerra was slow. They often had to stop and wait for someone or something to be moved out of their way. Evanis carefully watched their surroundings. Although so far she had not detected anything suspicious, she was constantly aware of the danger of someone recognizing her or, worse, recognizing King Aerathon’s daughter, the Princess of Danuba. According to King Mandorak, the Alorian priesthood anticipated Rhaseris arrival in Katerra and they probably were not the only ones awaiting her. As fast as possible they had to get the Princess out of the open to hide her from prying eyes. Contradicting her concerns, however, Evanis had not insisted Rhaseris had to stay inside the carriage. She hadn’t even mentioned her concerns.

When they reached the Banyan Dream, one of the two burly men guarding the entrance greeted Evanis.

“Looky, the lost lamb returned to the flock,” he exclaimed. “Did ye finally cave in yer true calling?”

Evanis dismounted and slowly stepped up to the man. “Even if I did, you, Ghostras, would never get a chop of this lamb,” she answered.

“Aww, ye’re such a purdy strapper but for all that, as stingy a lass as me remembers,” Ghostras replied with a downward smile.

Done with their verbal sparring they hugged each other tightly.

“Get yer lot ‘n come on in,” he said looking past her shoulder. “Yer mom ‘n sis sure’ll wanna see ye. I’ll take care of yer coach ‘n horses.”

Ghostras’ grinning companion held the doors to the Banyan Dream wide open and eagerly waved them in.

Led by Evanis, they passed a small mudroom into a slightly larger lobby where she opened a door to the right. Entering the next large and plushly furnished room, they were doused with numerous shouts of “Eva, you’re back” and a swarm of excited, scantily clad women descended upon them. The people of their group - who were not named Eva - tried to stay out of the fray. They stopped at the entrance to the room and watched Evanis getting smothered. A little while later, the turmoil lessened and slowly the women returned to their former placings. Simultaneously, their attention turned to the people at the door.

“Eva, go and get your sister,” a woman said. “Ansa wants to welcome you and your new friends, too. She’d be very unhappy to miss this.”

The woman lay on a wine-red settee placed at the opposite side of the room. She had not moved to welcome Evanis but was smiling at her.

“Yes, mommy dearest, I’ll go and get her now,” Evanis replied. She gave Inandrey Danjala, her mother, an impetuous grin as she moved to comply.

Kuwasi strode in as Evanis left. He came to a stop in front of ‘The Queen of Whores’. Bowing deeply, he took her offered hand and kissed it lightly. Following in his wake, the rest of the group entered the room as well, even if a little more hesitantly.

Evanis opened the door and walked into her sister’s chamber. Anseyla sat in front of her vanity desk, looking in a mirror and carefully applying a bit of crimson colored powder to her lips. Her gaze did not leave her mirror image and neither did her make-up application pause as Evanis moved through the room and stepped behind her. Evanis bent at the waist till her face was at the same level as her sitting sister’s. Cheek to cheek they looked into the mirror at each other.

“You’re beautiful,” they whispered simultaneously.

Then they embraced one another, laughing.

“You came alone?” Anseyla asked when their laughter fell silent.

Evanis sat down on the small bench beside her sister. “No,” she sighed. “Kuwasi is with me but that’s not the important and bad part of the mess I made. King Mandorak hired me to abduct the Princess of Danuba on her way to Katerra. Apparently, the Alorian priesthood wanted to ordain her as a priestess...” She stopped and sighed.

Anseyla quizzically looked at her. “And?” She prodded.

“And I captured the Princess but I didn’t hand her over to Mandorak,” Evanis answered, looking down in her lap. “Instead, I took her to Katerra - although she can’t become an Alorian priestess anymore.”

Her sister’s eyes widened. “She can’t?” Anseyla asked. “Does that mean you let your men rape the girl?”

“No!” Evanis quickly answered. “No one raped the Princess. But you got it right; she isn’t a virgin anymore. That’s another part of the big mess. We found a very strange boy ... well, a young man, I guess ... when we captured the Princess. And ... well, it’s complicated.”

Anseyla raised an eyebrow looking at her sister. “Eva, are you blushing?” She asked amused. “I have never ever seen you blush!”

Evanis groaned. “I’ve made a terrible mess,” she answered, still looking down. “I betrayed Mandorak and he threatened to kill you and mom. I know he has a spy in Katerra and I have to find him before he’ll get his orders.”

Anseyla shrugged. “I know a man who works for Mandorak. He’s a thug but a bit smarter than that ilk usually is. I don’t know if he’s the spy you’re talking about but you could ask him,” she suggested. “The young man you found, is he beautiful?”

Evanis raised her head and looked at her sister. “What?” She asked. “I tell you someone wants to kill you and you ask me if the boy we found is pretty?”

“I’m trying to understand what happened to you,” Anseyla answered.

Evanis glared at her sister. “And what has the boy’s prettiness got to do with anything?”

Anseyla rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Eva. We both know you never could resist a pretty face,” she stated.

“He’s a man!” Evanis screeched.

Anseyla barked a laugh in response. “Is that the reason you call him a boy?” She countered. “I guess it sounds less scandalous to your ears. Look, sweetie, I know you despise men ... in general. But it had to happen one day. And he popped the Princess’s cherry, too? That must be some ‘Boy’! I can’t wait to see him.”

“No one popped my cherry!” Evanis shouted.

“I want to see him, too!” Sybelien exclaimed as she jumped through the window.

Evanis groaned once more.

“Hello Eva,” Sybelien said, strolling over to Evanis. “I’ve heard you’re back.”

“Then let’s go down to welcome the pretty boy and the Princess,” Anseyla decided while Sybelien and Evanis hugged each other.

As the Danjala sisters and Sybelien entered Inandrey’s spacious boudoir they encountered a curious scene. Jabbit stood in the middle of the room, and he was nude. Kuwasi and all the women stood around him, commenting on his appearance. In a reversal of roles, the women were behaving the same way as their usual customers did, assessing the charms the young man had to offer.

“His ass is amazing,” Kipallie, a young prostitute from Poandra, observed while she squeezed Jabbit’s buttocks.

“I’ve never seen more defined muscles on anyone,” Sheena, a plump Aybenassian, admired.

“His cock seems big enough, but I’d like to see him hard and up,” Ajosha, a slim girl from Novakor, requested - with one hand weighing his balls while her other stroked said cock.

“It gets very big ... I think - but I was a virgin a few days ago,” Princess Rhaseris, standing a bit farther back, offered her opinion and received some giggles in response.

Kuwasi stood beside Rhaseris, watching and grinning.

Evanis observed the scene with grinding teeth and balled fists as Inandrey stepped up to her. “Where did you find the boy?” She quietly asked. “His black hair is most unusual, but everything else announces to the world that he is of Alorian ancestry.”

Evanis ignored her mother. “Get your paws off him!” She shouted. “He’s mine!” Pointing at Jabbit she continued. “And you - put your clothes back on, you moron!”

Inandrey heard Anseyla and Sybelien sniggering as she wide-eyed stared at Evanis. Fearfully glancing at the fuming warrioress, the other women retreated after her outburst.

“What’s in the bundle he carries?” Sybelien asked, watching as Jabbit re-dressed.

“The biggest treasures you ever could imagine,” Evanis spat. “An old rag doll, a little blue stone and a seashell.”

“He also had a copper coin but she stole it,” Rhaseris added.

Evanis green eyes flashed and her glare pierced the Princess, standing next to Jabbit now.

“Calm down, Eva,” Kuwasi pacified. “I asked Jabbit to undress. You know he doesn’t care about such things. I just wanted to give the ladies and me a little treat. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“You stole a copper coin from the boy?” Sybelien grinned at Evanis, trying to further mollify her renowned, dangerous hot temper. “You better keep your profession as a mercenary; as a thief, you’ll starve.”

Sybelien’s grin vanished as Jabbit suddenly stood in front of her and placed his palm on the scarred side of her face. She froze as he touched her and looked into her one sky-blue eye. His brow creased and he closed his eyes. He was smiling at Sybelien when he opened them again.

Rhaseris gasped. She had never seen Jabbit smile; neither had she ever seen him angry, for that matter. His expression had at all times been perfectly placid ... until this moment.

Sybelien awoke out of her numbness and slapped his hand away from her face. “Touch me again and I’ll cut you to pieces,” she snarled, grabbing the hilt of her dagger.

The onlookers realized there was more than just one temperamental woman around and watched as Evanis tightly grabbed the wrist of Sybelien’s hand on the hilt of the dagger.

“I told you he is mine, Sybil,” she hissed. “So better keep your dagger sheathed.”

Inandrey clicked her tongue. “Children!” She exclaimed, exasperated. “If you don’t behave now, I’ll send you all to bed – and I mean separately!”

Silence followed Inandrey’s expressive threat but was broken when the attentively spectating women around the room started to giggle. Evanis let go of Sybelien’s wrist and looked at the people in the room.

“We traveled all day and need a few rooms to rest for the night. Please, show these two to one room and Rhaseris’ governess to another,” Evanis directed the room at large.

Two women took on the task and left with the assigned guests in tow.

Evanis then turned to the people standing close around her. “We need to talk,” she said.

Inandrey led the sisters, Sybelien and Kuwasi through a door into an adjacent room with a wide, eye-catching mahogany desk as its most prominent furniture. Inandrey took the chair behind the desk and waited for the others to find a seat as well.

“I’ve made a mess out of my last mission and need some time and help to clean it up,” Evanis announced looking at her mother. “I betrayed King Mandorak and he threatened to kill you and Ansa if that happened.”

“Then why did you betray him?” Her mother wanted to know.

Evanis sighed and looked at the ceiling. “I wish I could explain it to you ... or at least to myself, but I can’t. The boy you so intently examined before, I should have killed him the moment I caught sight of him but I didn’t. He is ... strange. He also is an idiot who somehow convinced the Princess he is a god ... or maybe she convinced herself ... I don’t know. Now she claims she became his priestess...”

Sybelien’s laughter interrupted the report.

Evanis accepted it with a nod. “I know; it’s utterly stupid. Rhaseris, a virgin princess anointed to become a priestess to the Alorian gods, let him fuck her the second night we camped!” She huffed.

“I think we can agree, the boy is strange,” Inandrey remarked. “It sounds like the Princess might be even stranger. However, that isn’t the problem we urgently need to solve. We need to know who the spy is and get rid of him before he kills one of us.”

“I already told Eva she should talk to Fyn Rhosson,” Anseyla remarked. “He told me he has orders to kill us if the Princess appears in Katerra. If Fyn isn’t the spy, then he should at least know who King Mandorak’s spy in Katerra is.”

“Most of the assassins work for Warlord Thar’Haghanosh and most spies for the Lady Onessa,” Sybelien proclaimed. “It can’t be one of them. They wouldn’t dare go after a member of the Midnight Council.”

Anseyla nodded. “Fyn doesn’t know mom belongs to the Midnight Council. If he doesn’t know it, Mandorak’s spy probably doesn’t know it either and can’t be any good as a spy. That’s why I believe it’s Fyn. He fits the bill as he isn’t good at anything he does.”

“Where can I find him?” Evanis asked.

“Mostly he and his cronies prowl the harbor district,” Anseyla answered. “Mugging drunken sailors or coercing the cheap streetwalkers under no one’s protection.”

“Kuwasi and I will go looking for him,” Evanis stated, then sighed again. “I shouldn’t have come to you but I needed you to know what happened. Others will search for Rhaseris. Her father, the King of Danuba, will send someone and probably the priests will search for her as well. The Forsaken Army will hunt for me. I’ve broken their oath and killed some of them,” she said looking down at the floor. “I’m sorry.”

Inandrey laughed. “Eva, you always were a troublemaker,” she said smiling at her daughter. “But I need to get to know the Princess and your boy much better. There is some mystery going on, I have no doubt about it.” Suddenly the smile vanished and her face took on a stern expression. “I’ll use the governess as a maid for now. I hope she’ll recover from her ordeal but maybe we’ll have to kill her. That is a mess I blame you for! Either protect a captive or kill her but never drag her carcass behind you,” Inandrey admonished.