The Tattooed Woman Pt. 06

A couple of the Orcs had watched the byplay with amusement, showing not the slightest inclination to interfere. Grinning they turned back to sharpening their axes.

A few of the other slaves moved to help and, in less time, than Hildegard thought possible the young ones were sitting around their own little campfire eating honey-sweetened porridge from simple wooden bowls. They muttered and chatted to each other, happily devouring the sweetened concoction, all memories of their recent ordeal seemingly dismissed by the hot food and warm fire. Eventually, most lay sprawled carelessly about, some alone, some hugging a friend or sibling, as fatigue overcame them, and they slept. Maggie, Hildegard, Roseanne, Cassie, and perhaps strangely one of the Orcs, moved about the sleeping lumps, carefully draping them with woollen blankets before they themselves moved back to their own places by the campfires.

Nyx approached Maggie with tired grin, "Not much in the way of vittles' recovered, but we managed to scrounge up a sack or two of potatoes, turnips and carrots that didn't look too rotten, and we got another of apples, pears and a few plums. Can ye do anything with that?"

The woman nodded, "Aye Mistress, a good tattie soup will keep us warm at night, and I can bake the fruit with some honey, and ginger perchance if'n I can find some. That would keep for days and would be powerful good for keeping away the sniffles on cold wet days like this."

Nyx nodded and patted the woman on the back, "Good enough Mistress Cook, I knew you wouldn't let us down. Oh," she pointed at the smaller novice, "yon wee timid looking creature is called Roseanne. It seems she can cook a bit. I can have her lend a hand if you need the help?"

"Well, there's a lot of us now, Cassie's a good lass and helps as she can, but another willing pair of hands would be sorely welcome."

Nyx nodded and gave the portly matron a broad smile, "I'll see to it then. We cannot have you exhausted; for truly the camp would fall apart without you."

The Sergeant made to go but paused and scratched one of her pointed ears as she gave her a thoughtful look.

"Maggie, I was recently reminded of a tavern I drink at back home in the Fae realm. I know the lass who runs the place, she's young, and high-spirited, well in truth she has a quite hellish temper to be honest," Nyx snorted, "she takes after her mother methinks, but she's good-natured for all that. The place serves soldiers, sellswords and the like. A bit of a rough crowd perhaps but I should think she would be glad of a woman with your skills, assuming you could put up with her that is. I've no doubt it would be hard on you both for a while til you came to know the measure of each other, and I cannot promise she'll never take a switch to your backside if you vex her, but she's not a cruel girl by nature just.... stubborn. If you wish, I could speak to her on your behalf when we get back. If you still fancy cooking for a large company that is. Anyway, think on it a while."

Maggie blushed and bobbed a confused curtsy as the lithe-looking swordswoman ambled away, "Er, thankee kindly Mistress, I'll er... do that."

That evening the camp was quiet as Dark Elf and Orc rested after a good hot supper of thick soup followed by a portion of sweet apples and pears cooked in a honey sauce. The children, and Orcs loved it and Cassie giggled as she watched Maggie and Roseanne huddled together as they compared recipes. Looking about she could see, almost hidden in the shadows the two figures of Tallis and Lily sitting nearby, arm in arm looking up at the stars, occasionally kissing, and the young girl sighed wistfully.

The green-eyed woman at her side stirred, "Your time will come, Cassie, rest assured. In a few short years, you'll have men fighting to walk hand in hand with you under the starlight I'm sure of it."

"Did you?"

"Did I what girl?"

"Did you walk hand in hand under the stars with a sweetheart?"

The woman chuckled, "I did indeed young Cassie, though my beau and I did not start off on the best of terms you might say, but in time we came to love each other very much."

Cassie looked up at her as the tall woman stared up at the stars, "What was he like if you don't mind me asking that is?"

The woman seemed lost in thought for a while and Cassie wondered if she would answer, but she eventually seemed to shake herself, as if from some dream, "I don't mind Cassie. He was an older man you might say, but still strong, dark and very handsome. He had a wicked sense of humour for sure."

Cassie grinned as she listened, "Was it romantic, did he sweep you off your feet?"

The woman laughed; a strange, rich sound that Cassie hadn't heard from her before, "No, no, not quite. In fact, our first interactions were somewhat less than harmonious you might say."

"How so?"

"Oh, because I tried to kill him... repeatedly."

"What!?"

The woman stirred and looked about, seeing that a few of the nearest slaves were listening to her tale. Perhaps it was the firelight, or the stars, or mayhap simply having a rapt audience but she felt a strange stirring in her blood she had not felt for an age, and she found herself smiling down at the little slave.

"Well Cassie, I'm no Seanchaí, but mayhap I'll tell you a little of my tale before bed. Would you like that?"

The girl nodded and sat up as she listened avidly.

"My mother had set out on a task from which she would not be swayed, and we had quarrelled bitterly for it was my desire to help her as I could, but she would have none of it for it involved no small risk. Knowing of course, that I was a wilful child who would like as not ignore her advice and command, she stripped me of my... titles, you might say, and bade me abide with someone who owed her a great favour, and whom she knew she could rely upon."

Cassie interrupted, "Were you noble-born then, with titles and such?"

"Indeed, you could say so, for I was fifth-born of an ancient and mighty family, mayhap even a Princess of sorts I suppose you might say."

A few of the slaves murmured and the woman cast her eye about as she continued,

"Being a devious one my mother chose well, for she knew that such confinement would not sit well with me. And so it proved. I tried bribery, and he declined, I tried persuasion, but he would not be swayed, so I tried seduction, and the bastard laughed at me! So, for that insult alone if nothing else, I tried murder."

Cassie and the others leaned close to the firelight seemingly captured by the woman's tale, and even Varoona, who was on watch that night had paused as she passed by, while Tallis and Lily who were perched upon a rock nearby had paused in their embrace to turn and listen.

The woman looked round at her audience and the firelight glittered and reflected in her green and gold eyes, "One night I cooked him his favourite supper and dosed it heavily with mandrake and nightshade, and he ate the lot! Then sat watching me with an annoying grin on his face, as if he could read the very thoughts in my head. It was infuriating I jest not!

"The next I waited til I thought he was asleep and attempted to plunge my dagger into him as he slept, but he was quicker than I, and caught my hand. We struggled, but he eventually took the blade from me."

Tallis spoke, "Did he not punish you for the attempt?"

The woman grinned, "Oh aye, he did that. He swatted me on the rump and chained me abed without supper, as if I were naught but a child. Me! Oh, I was sorely vexed, and after I finally snapped the chain I launched myself at him and tried to strangle him with it.

Lily giggled, "Sounds like you have a little Dark Elf in you after all."

Tallis nudged and shushed her, but the woman only smiled broadly, "And is it not you who've been wishing so hard to get a little Dark Elf inside you these last nights?"

As she spoke the woman's eyes flicked to Tallis, sitting at the side of the Sunkissed girl holding her hand in her own.

Lily gasped and blushed as the others laughed, and the woman continued with her story.

"We rolled about the place for a while, and I bit and scratched until he finally lost patience and cuffed me senseless and chained me back to the bed. Now this time the chains were such that I could not break them, but I was no less devious than my mother so instead, I broke the bed beneath me and slithered free. I slipped out of the... erm, house where we lived and made off.

"Of course, he caught up with me a few days later, but by then I had stolen a sword and I drew down on him."

The woman grinned, "Now I had always considered myself fairly proficient with the long blade, for my mother took pains to teach me the ways of sword, spear and bow as a child, and I had always been better than my brothers at martial pursuits, but when I crossed steel with this man, I learned the error of my way.

"He thwarted my every attack, all the while criticising my stance, my speed, my strength, balance and style, even my footwork, which seemed to gall him especially."

The swordsman sitting by the fire nodded with a wry grin as he muttered to himself "Everyone forgets about footwork."

The woman glanced at the man and favoured him with a smile of agreement, "Anyway, all the while the man would shake his head sadly as he muttered and sighed at my lack of skill, occasionally swatting me on the rump with the flat of his sword as we fought, until it felt like my arse was stinging and probably as red as a beetroot. So, of course, my temper got the better of me and I took a great two-handed swipe at his head. He parried but my stroke took off the tip of his sword and this vexed him considerably, for the next thing I knew he had batted my blade from my hand, and I was flat on my back staring up at the jagged point of his sword.

"He dragged me home, all the while cursing me as a childish poltroon, saying any fool who cannot master their temper in a fight has no business picking up a blade in the first place, and if they did they would soon be bait for crows in the second."

By the fire, the swordsman grinned as he recalled his own rough tutelage, "Been there."

The woman nodded and sighed, "Now this time he did punish me, or so I thought at the time, for when we got home, he engraved a tattoo upon the back of my hand."

As she spoke she held up a hand so all could see the intricate pattern of scales glittering in the firelight.

"The pain was terrible, and I screeched and screamed like a bean-síghe until he told me to hold my tongue and endure like a woman grown, not whimpering like a bairn, so of course, I bit him. He cuffed my ear for it, but it was satisfying, nonetheless.

"The next day I would not speak to him and sulked in my chambers. And so it went for a month or more until he grew bored of my churlish rebukes at conversation and instead of supper one night he tossed me a sword, saying that if I wanted to fight with a blade he may as well teach me how to use one competently. Now, this got my attention! And I practised hard, for until then I had never wanted to kill a man as much as I wanted to kill that arrogant prick."

She poked at the fire, seemingly lost in her memories for a moment, "Now it turns out, he was indeed marvellously skilled with blade and spear, but I was the better archer."

Cassie blurted out, "Did you have a competition or somesuch?"

"Er... No, I shot him in the buttock while he was bathing one day.," she shrugged, "it was payment for him swatting my backside so freely. I thought it fair! Anyway, it seems he disagreed for when I saw the look in his eyes as he stalked from the lake with an arrow protruding from his arse, I decided it would be wise to begone, so I made off again."

The woman paused for the chuckles to pass before continuing, "Well, it took him a while to find me that time, for I had taken to travelling with a sailing crew of rogues hunting the wolves of the sea for pay. One day I was on watch and there he was, standing on the deck not five feet from me."

Tallis chimed in, "Was he a wizard then? Some sorcerous get who could travel great distances at will?"

"Perhaps, but either way he was looking about keenly but had not yet spied me. He had his back to me at that precise moment, so I broke an oar over his head."

Varoona spoke up, as she passed a wineskin about, "What happened? Did you kill him?"

"No, the swine called me an evil-tempered bitch, and threw me overboard! Took me a day and a half to swim back to shore, and he was waiting for me when I got there. Anyway, he dragged me home and engraved another tattoo, on my forearm this time.

"And so it went for a while. He would train me with sword, spear and lance, or tutor me in the histories and habits of his kin, I would eventually get bored and run off, and he would pursue. He would drag me back, sometimes peacefully enough, and sometimes by the scruff of my neck as I spat and cursed, and he would graft another tattoo upon me. I think it became a game of sorts, a game he played well, and I wonder now when it was that I began to enjoy it.

"I recall once it took him more than a year to find me, for I had travelled far to the north where I resided the Winter in a cave of ice and snow with one of the great white bears."

Lily shook her head with a disbelieving frown, "One of the great mathan?"

"Aye, the angakkuit called her a daughter of Artaois, and I don't think she ever got used to me. But I liked her cubs, they were warm and good company. Often of an evening, after playing, we would sit at the mouth of the cave and watch the great aurora that marked the passing of The Wild Hunt across the sky, and we listened to the mournful howls of the Cŵn Annwn as they sniffed about hunting for the souls of dead men.

"Then one day he walked out of the blizzard. I must have looked such a state, dressed in furs, and sealskin, with a stone-tipped harpoon, and my hair no doubt looking like a wild bushfire, and that's when I knew something was very wrong, and I damned near killed him on the spot!"

Cassie looked up at her from her seat, "Why? What had he done?"

The woman gave the little slave a sad smile, her golden green eyes glittering in the firelight, and maybe, for the briefest of moments, Cassie thought she might have seen a tear, "Well, I looked at him as he came out of the snow and instead of wondering what fresh torment my jailer mayhap had in store, I found myself worrying about what my hair looked like. That's when I knew I was in trouble."

The campfire has started to burn low by now, and the wind had picked up a little, sighing through the trees and stirring the branches. Overhead Rhiannon, the moon goddess, had appeared behind the clouds lighting the mountaintops and dark forests with her faint silver glow and the woman smiled as if taking solace in the appearance of a friendly face as she gazed up at the night sky.

"I remember the last time I ran off. I had taken to looking for my mother, and was ever thwarted, for the way to my home is... difficult. But after much effort on my part, I finally made my way to the door at last. But inside the house was empty and cold, not even a fire laid in the hearth for guests, and of my mother, or brothers there was no sign. The place was as still as a tomb, and indeed at that time, it felt to me like I had come upon some lost and empty crypt, and not my home of old.

"That's where he found me, sitting alone in the cold and dark, for I did not have it in me to even light a fire. He took my hand in his and drew me home, not with strength, for I had long since recovered enough of myself to refuse him, but with kind words, and so I went willingly, for in truth Cassie, I had nowhere else to go."

The campfire had turned to glowing embers, and the woman stirred, "I think that's enough for now Cassie. It draws late and the story is a sad one for me. I'll tell you more another night if you still wish to hear the rest."

"Promise?"

The woman traced a tattooed hand gently across the girl's cheek and under her chin, as she looked her in the eye with a smile and nodded, "I promise."

From the mouth of her tent, Ashunara had watched the slaves gathering about the campfire as the woman told her tale. She sipped from a flask as Nyx slid from the darkness to appear by her side and the Captain nodded to the little knot of slaves as she passed the flask across to the older Dark Elf,

"She's getting quite chatty it seems, no?"

Nyx nodded thoughtfully, "Aye, do you think she may become a problem?"

The Captain laughed, "Oh, of that I have no doubt! But strangely I don't sense she means us any harm. I think whoever buys her though is going to have quite an "interesting" experience, and she seems to have taken a liking to Cassie."

"Just as you planned."

"Oh, her history is a total mystery to me, but her heart is easy enough to read for she wears the thing upon her sleeve as plain as day. There's a lot of bitterness in that one, a lot of regret and a mountain of pent-up rage. So, I gave her a pet to distract her. Looks like it worked, so far at least."

The Sergeant took a sip from the flask, "Hey! This is good, seems familiar somehow, but I can't put my finger on it..."

"T'is Elven mead, from the Sunkissed lands. Lilion gave me the flask, though I have no idea what I've done to earn her favour, but she seems much changed today, have you noted she no longer wears her manacles?"

"I hadn't, shall I have her fitted with more?"

"What's the point? She'd just unlock them, probably make some daft game of it, you know how the Sunkissed are. I think she's decided to come with us willingly."

"What in Hell for? She'll be sold as a slave, and there's a lot less chance of escape once we're home and she's locked in a warded cell until she learns to behave."

Ashunara chuckled, "There's no way that lass will ever stand on an auction block Nyx. Tallis would cut my throat from ear to ear if I tried to sell her, or she'd make the attempt at least."

"You think?"

"Oh yes, maybe not quite yet, but by the time we get home those two little buggers will be inseparable," she sighed, "you know Nyx, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm cut out for the life of a slaver, for I can't bring myself to push them apart, assuming I even could."

The Captain suddenly gave an evil-sounding laugh, and Nyx turned to look at her curiously, "Sorry, I was just imagining my sister's face when Tallis comes home with a Sunkissed Elf as a girlfriend. Holy fuck! You'll be able to hear the screams all the way to the border. You know, it's almost worth losing her sale price just for that alone."

"Will she not be vexed with you?"

"Oh, she's always vexed with me. So, I'll hardly notice any difference."

Nyx looked out at the campfires, "That's a sizeable sum to lose from our profits Captain. I mean no complaint, well not much of one I suppose for its almost sweet to watch those two twitter about like a pair of dim-witted lovebirds, but you still needs must pay for this expedition, and our company deserve their share no?"

Ashunara smiled, "I'll sell her to Tallis at a hefty discount or deduct the estimated sell price she'd fetch on the block from her share. If she chooses to pursue the girl then so be it, but all choices come at a cost as you well know, and that's a lesson she must learn as one of our kind, especially if she's to be a sellsword. It might not fetch the most profit for us, but I won't see the company short-changed."

"I don't think any of the girls would mind overmuch. Tallis has proven herself well enough, a bit soft for my liking..."

"Says the woman who gives out gold dragons to poor little slaves!"

"Oh piss off! I was probably drunk, or... something."

Taking a swig from her flask the Captain grinned, "Personally I think it was well done."