Chapter 42

James stopped at one of the booths.

He frowned at an object on the counter before picking it up to examine it.

“Evening, fine folk,” the woman greeted them politely. “Are you interested in purchasing a fertility charm for your lovely wife, sir? I have it on good authority that they do work. Only ten coins. If you are successful, bring it back, and I’ll buy it back for half.”

Dusty was surprised by the look on James’ face, as if he were really thinking about it. He looked up at the woman and gave her one of his most charming smiles.

“Not right now, thank you. Do you charm them yourself?” he asked.

The woman shook her head and looked at him oddly. “Master, you know such as I can’t do this. Only the Shapers can do magic. Noble Demetri does the charms for me. He is quite skilled at this type of charm being a healer, as you well know.”

James gave her that butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth smile again, “I was just making sure that they had been charmed by the best.”

She nodded, pleased that she was offering goods that were worth buying. “He is such a good noble, and he only takes one coin of profit in ten from me.”

Dusty casually asked, “Do other nobles here take more?”

The woman looked around quickly. “Some do, Mistress, but I don’t deal with them. It is well known that Teha Symone asks more since she is so gifted. She doesn’t specialise in my types of gifts, and a lowly person such as myself wouldn’t ask our Teha for such a boon.”

Dusty nodded and smiled. “Thank you for your time...”

“Gail, Mistress. You come and see me when you’re ready for that babe. You will be sure to conceive using one of these charms,” Gail replied.

They both thanked her and moved on.

They found a table and seated themselves to watch and learn.

A woman came to their table wearing a form of apron over her clothes and asked if they wanted a beverage. They asked for the house’s white wine, and she nodded and left.

‘Dusty, those people are not from here,’ James sent mentally to Dusty.

She casually looked around and noticed the people crowded around a large table with two long bench seats on either side. It was outside the tavern that was two shops down from the café they were at. She noted that the other tables near them were vacant.

They were loud and speaking in a Pidgin Arabic-English and not the local dialect. It was obvious the four men and two women were well into their cups. The men were groping the woman that sat between them on their bench.

One man even had his hand under the woman’s skirt, and he was lustily thrusting his hand under it as he sucked on one of her bare breasts. Another man squeezed her other exposed breast as he kissed her. The other two men were cheering them on as they groped the woman between them.

People were walking around the group as far as they could get without toppling a row of market booths that impeded them from moving even further away. The tight looks suggested that such debauchery was not considered in good taste in a public location.

Dusty nodded and was then distracted by the waitress. She glared at the table they had been looking at and muttered, “Disgusting intruders.”

She returned her interest to Dusty and James. “Sorry, but they do not abide by the customs of our people. I don’t know why the Nobles put up with them and don’t deal with them.”

“Do they hurt the people here?” Dusty asked.

The woman grimaced and nodded as she put their drinks on the table.

In a quiet voice, she said, “Please be careful. I know not what business you have in visiting Amber, but if you see any of those people, steer clear of them.”

“Don’t walk around alone, as they have been known to take men and women off the street, even in daylight. Many people don’t let their children out at night or without supervision during the day as they go missing too.”

“It’s a bad business. They stopped for a while, but they are getting bolder again.”

“We will try to be careful,” James assured her.

The waitress shuddered and then offered them the menu. James asked her what she would recommend, and they agreed to have her suggestions. She left to take their orders to the kitchen.

When Dusty glanced over at the revellers again, it was to see one of the women was now kneeling on the end of the seat. One of the men had happily straddled her lower legs, and he was fucking her from behind.

The other man had turned and straddled the seat, so he faced the woman. She held onto his thighs as she sucked on his cock. The other three were still offering catcalls as they drank their beer, generally fondled each other and watched the show.

They just ignored the locals until one of the tavern’s barmen brought out fresh drinks. One of the men demanded that the other pretty slut come back, but the server informed him that she had quit and no longer worked for the establishment.