The Tattooed Woman Pt. 26

THE TATTOOED WOMAN - Chapter 26

I hope folks are enjoying the story so far. Please leave comments, as criticism both positive and constructive is inherently useful. Plus, I like reading comments, so that's cool.

The Tattooed Woman Volume 2 - Chapter 12: You Can Pick Your Friends, but...

Falsara-Kur, feared Overseer of the slave-castle of Emain sat staring at the flickering tongues of witchfire that danced in the brickwork hearth of her chamber and nursed the drink she held. The fiery spirits did little to improve her melancholy dwam and she sighed heavily, "Was it true, have I fallen for some little bint who's likely younger than my shoes? Have I become that old and desperate?"

The warrior within her, seasoned by centuries of hard-earned experience, detected the door of the chamber opening but she didn't look up, instead shaking her head sadly as she pondered the flames even as she heard the quiet light footfalls of the younger woman as she crossed the floor towards her.

The old soldier was surprised though when a soft hand touched her shoulder and Muriah leaned close and gently rested her head against hers as she whispered, "Are you alright?"

The Overseer sipped her drink and murmured, "You should be abed girl, t'is well past curfew."

Instead of sidling away the young Dark Elf moved to sit on the arms of the chair and leaned close with a sigh, "You know, you can have me if you want, all you need do is ask."

Falsara snorted, "You should know by now girl, that despite what folk might say I do not wilfully abuse those in my charge," she gave the younger woman a wry smile, "It's a kindly offer girl and admittedly not one without its temptations, but even if well intended I have no use for pity. Should I feel a need for companionship, I will seek out a courtesan, or a whore, I have coin enough."

Muriah deftly filched the goblet from the woman's hand and drained it before replying, and Falsara could not miss the harsh bitterness in her voice, "I was trained as a courtesan you know, and used as a whore often enough."

The Overseer regarded the girl, but she looked away towards the fireplace as she spoke, "Oh yes, I was the youngest daughter after all. As such I would not inherit and thus was considered a poor match, so my mother had me put to the only use she thought I was fit for. To seduce those she had business dealings with, in the hopes my efforts would induce them towards more generous terms, that and the wooing of the young daughters of other Houses so as to entice them to the spilling of secrets that might be used or sold for the advantage of our House."

She stood and moved to stand before the fireplace and the witchfire reflected in her eyes, "That my own reputation was utterly besmirched and destroyed in the execution of her machinations meant less than nothing to her, only that I advanced the interests of our House."

The girl laughed, but to the Overseer it had the brittle sound of nails down a chalkboard, "Did you know that Captain Ashunara says she will free me should I survive in the North? She says that in doing so I would be able to return to my House without shame. Oh, Gods if only she knew!"

Falsara heard herself ask, "Knew what?"

"That the only way I'll ever again set foot in that cesspit will be if I'm there to burn that den of vipers to the fucking ground!"

"What then will you do if you return?"

Muriah looked over her shoulder at the older woman with a forlorn smile, "I have no intention of ever returning Falsara."

The Overseer nodded and refilling her glass she stood, moving to stand by the younger woman she pushed the goblet into her hands, "I think that would sadden me."

"There is nothing for me here," she sniffed and wiped her eyes, "did you know, that in all my life only two people have ever fought for me? Only two who have ever drawn a blade, or taken a stance, not for reward, or for some selfish scheme, just for me."

Falsara blew out a scoffing breath, "You do me and Ashunara greater honour than we deserve girl. We're not so selfless as you might think."

She moved closer and studied the scarred face of the older woman shrewdly, "Oh, I think you are," she chuckled, "you both play the part of hard and wicked women, but I suspect that despite your affectations neither of you would go far out of your way to avoid helping someone in need."

With a dismissive grunt, the overseer fetched a fresh glass and poured herself another dram, "Well, lass, that's a damnable indictment if ever I heard one. Next, you'll be calling us "soft" or something equally insulting."

Muriah laughed out loud, "Only a complete and utter fool would ever make that mistake, and they'd be damned lucky if they survived to make it twice. But cruel? No, that's not you."

Settling back in her chair Falsara eyed her, "Don't go thinking you know me, girl, just because I may have taken a wee liking to you. There are many who would think me cruel enough."

The younger Dark Elf unconsciously fingered the collar around her neck, "Then I won't. Instead tell me that I'm wrong, that you didn't just go out of your way to help me, and that you have no intention of telling those two Humans to look out for me when you send them North."

The Overseer looked at the fire and mumbled.

"I thought so."

Falsara gave a resigned sigh and looked back at her, "What is it you want from me, girl?"

"Well, you can stop calling me "girl" for a fucking start!"

"Gods Muriah, your temper is truly a thing of beauty."

"What about the rest of me?"

The Overseer chuckled, "Oh, you're a pretty thing to be sure lass, and I confess I'm just as amenable to looking at a bonny face and a shapely arse as the next girl. But if I took advantage, I'd be no better than those who have already misused you so badly, and I'm not them, nor do I ever wish to be."

Muriah frowned, "But you... you like me! I can see it."

"T'is true enough, I do. Against my better judgement I've grown fond," she shook her head in annoyance, "It's fucking irritating is what it is! Goes completely against the grain, but there it is."

"But you won't bed me?"

The older woman looked down into her glass and shook her head, "No, I'll not. It's not... like that."

"What is it like then?"

Falsara gestured helplessly, "I don't bloody know! It's just you! I mean, there you are, with all the fighting ability of a mouse, but the spirit of a damned bear. There's no give in you. It doesn't matter that your foes could kill you in a heartbeat, or that they beat you down over and over again, you just won't quit! I mean who wouldn't find such idiotic stubbornness anything less than endearing? Every time you get knocked to the ground half of me wants to pick you up and give you a fucking hug, and the other half wants to see you get back up and kick their teeth in! It's utterly vexing! And I have no idea what I'm doing!"

Muriah gave the woman a lopsided grin, "Maybe I'm just stupid?"

"I think we're both stupid."

Falsara scratched her head and turned to the girl, "Look, Muriah, don't get yourself killed in the North, please? Just do what needs to be done and... come home."

"Home? I told you! I'm never going back the-"

"Not there, Muriah, home."

"Here?"

"If you want it."

The younger woman's eyes glittered, "Truly?"

"I fucking said so, didn't I? What do you want, an engraved invitation?"

"Now look who's got a temper."

"Eat shi-"

"What if my mother causes problems? And I know her, she will."

Falsara's answering smile was entirely feral and the wild, hungry gleam that Muriah saw still burned in the old warrior's eyes made her shudder, "If your mother, or anyone else for that matter, comes here looking for trouble, I promise you they'll like as not find more than they know what to do with."

Muriah shook her head with a smile, "No, not soft at all..."

...

Adair pondered the creature before her. The shape it had taken was a fair one to be sure, but beneath the glamour, its nature was not so hard to discern for all that. She tilted her head as she regarded the Dragon and pursed her lips, "Tell me Shalidar, why did you betray us? We had done you no harm."

The woman's reaction was spectacular! Her eyes blazed and the air about her literally crackled as she spat, "No harm! You dare to say such to me! My kind was made from the very beginning to be your damned slaves! Created as pets and playthings, so you could impress ignorant barbarians and play as Gods. I fucking despise you all! And I owed you nothing!"

With a snarl, the Dragon turned away and stalked back towards the altar, but Adair's question followed.

"Was it all just spite then?" Nothing more than that?"

With a cry of rage, Shalidar lashed out, grabbing the heavy marble table before her and hurling it aside with such force that it was flung against the far wall so hard that it all but exploded into a cloud of shards and dust. Drawing a trembling breath she hung her head, before speaking.

"No. I cared nothing for you Adair, but Eber was my kin, and I had no reason to wish him ill. But your fucking sorcery meant that when my Master called, I was bound to obey. I had not the strength to refuse him. He commanded me and like a damned puppet I all but fell over myself to please him."

She turned and her lips were drawn in an angry snarl, "I did my best to deceive him you know, but for Ebers's sake and not yours! He asked if Eber had some great treasure and I could only admit it was so, but I did not reveal that the treasure was you!"

"Why not?"

"Because he loved you! I thought him an errant fool for it, but he did, and he was kin. But even so, I was helpless to avoid telling of his hiding place and then leading the assassins to your very door."

"Were you there when they killed him?"

"No. I had been instructed to lead them to you and so I did, but he neglected to command me to take part in the murder. I suspect it was no more than an oversight and he expected my fulsome participation regardless, but without such a directive I had no taste for the deed."

"But you did not warn my husband?"

"I did not, for there was no opportunity, and in truth even if there had been I could not afford to raise suspicions as to my loyalties at that time, for I had Ellén to consider. All the bastard needed to do was ask if I were keeping anything from him and like a hapless weakling, I would have spilt my guts and revealed all. I could not risk giving him cause to make such enquiry."

Adair mused, "A most dangerous game methinks," she looked back at the Dragon and her eyes narrowed, "it occurs that if what you tell me is so, then you are bound to obey my kind, and thus to obey me. Should I not then command you?"

Shalidar smiled, "Give it a go and see what fucking happens then."

"Tell me where Cassie is."

The Dragon stared at her for a moment and then grinned, "No."

Adair shook her head in disgust, "So much for that then."

The Dragon rolled her eyes, "Oh, for pity's sake woman, are you utterly dense? Knowing I was to meet with you and that you might do exactly as you just did might I not have commanded those damnable Drow to closet her away in some place unknown to me, and then produce her later at some predetermined time and location?"

The tattooed woman regarded the creature carefully, noting the dark glimmer in her eyes, the tiniest of sly smiles that turned the corners of her lips, and she shook her head, "You could have, but somehow I think not."

Shalidar's smile broadened, "What then?"

"It is not impossible that you might have decided to follow through on your allegiance to your so-called Master I suppose?"

The Dragon shrugged, but her eyes hardened even as she spoke, "Perhaps."

Again, Adair shook her head as she continued to eye the woman carefully, "No, that's not it. There is something else at play here, some other influence methinks."

"If you say so."

Adair paused, "You said you met my mother did you not?"

"I did."

"What command did she give you."

"I couldn't say."

Adair swore, "She instructed you not to, didn't she?"

The Dragon grinned.

"Bitch!"

"Me, or her?"

"YES!"

Adair reached to one side and Shalidar's eyes widened as the spear simply shimmered into existence in her hand. Its rune-engraved shaft was dark and heavy, and the lethal edge of its blade gleamed with deadly purpose. The thing hissed through the air with a hungry moan as she whipped it around in an arc and the Dragon swallowed as she found herself staring down as the point came to rest against her breast.

"Are you going to kill me?"

Adair glowered, "I should!"

With a flare of rage, Shalidar spat, "Then do it damn you! I'll not cower like some cur. I did what I had to, and I make no apologies. Do as you will you murderous bitch!"

With a snarl, Adair pulled back her arm and thrust! The feral blade shrieked as it slammed fully into the wall and plunged through the obdurate stone as though it was water. Shalidar stared hard into the woman's eyes, but she refused to flinch even as she felt the trickle of blood beading the tiny cut to the side of her cheek.

But when the tattooed woman traced her fingers along the shaft of the spear and moved closer, until they stood only inches apart, then the Dragon all but shuddered as she saw the serpentine markings on the skin of the Danu moving in a most disquieting and alien fashion. The woman's eyes were as black and cold as her mother's and her long red hair was streaked with dark strands. The temperature around her fell like a stone, and Shalidar felt an icy frisson of fear tickle its way up her spine as she finally truly understood what it was that stood before her.

The woman's voice was a sibilant whisper, "If I were my mother, I would inflict some utterly ruinous vengeance upon you for your misdeeds against me, but I. Am. Not. Her!"

A single tear trickled from Shalidar's eye as she murmured, "Yet."

Adair turned away, "Damn you Shalidar, what is it you think I did to you? I had no part in your creation, I placed no geas or spells on you or your kin, and I could not unmake you even if I wanted to."

"You claim innocence then?"

With a snort of laughter, Adair turned back to face her, and her mouth was split by a wide grin of almost genuine humour, "I can barely remember my own name most days, how then can I fairly claim anything? But I do know that you and yours were brought into this world before me, and so I could have had no part in your creation."

"Then help us."

"How?"

"Kill him."

Adair shook her head with a sigh, "You said he is an immortal, such a deed is beyond me."

"Your mother accomplished it."

"And yet he returned, and troubles you still."

"But it took him an age to claim another shape, at least we could buy ourselves time."

"I suspect now that he has learned the secret of returning to this mortal realm he would not be so inconvenienced again."

The Dragon nodded, and Adair's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "It is clear that you have already well considered this problem Shalidar, so enough of this dissimulation, what then is the scheme you have concocted and yet seem so reluctant to unveil to me?"

The blue eyes of the blonde woman glittered as she gazed into the black ones of the creature before her, "T'is simple enough, you must steal his immortality, as your mother did to you. And then we can deal with him once and for all."

Adair laughed, "Oh, is that all? And here was me thinking it would be difficult. Tell me Dragon, does he keep his immortality under his pillow, or should I simply engage some cunning rogue to pilfer it from his pocket?"

"Well, if you have a better idea then please, by all means, lay it out before me so that I may bask in your fucking wisdom."

"Gods, your temper is almost as bad as Muriah's."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Look, Adair, he's going to come for you. He already senses that something is amiss, and that something is you! Though he does not know what you are yet, thinking you but some quarrelsome spirit."

The tattooed woman chuckled darkly, "Well, he's not wrong there."

"This is no laughing matter girl! When he finally discerns your true nature, he will come at you with everything he has!"

"Why?"

"Because you are an unknown threat! Possibly the only thing left in this cursed world that truly can threaten him."

"But you said you spoke to my mother, surely she would pose a far greater peril."

Shalidar pursed her lips thoughtfully, "I... don't know, truly. I would have thought so, but she does not stir from the stone where she lingers, and I now begin to wonder if that is because she cannot."

Adair sighed in disgust, "Typical."

...

The moment Cassie had dreaded had come at last, and she swallowed hard as her heart thumped in her chest. Stumbling forward on limbs of lead she approached the woman with tears blurring her vision.

Nyx had wiped the blade clean on the Drow's silver hair and was handing the Captain's sword back with a merry grin when Ashunara glanced over her shoulder and nodded to the veteran.

Turning, the Dark Elf saw the girl approaching, she looked unharmed but was dreadfully pale she thought, and she was obviously trembling, "Hard to blame her after being held prisoner of those bastards I suppose. Still, Narissa will be glad to s-"

Cassie dropped to her knees before the older woman, her shoulders shaking as she pressed her forehead against the Dark Elf's foot, and her voice was broken "I... I'm so, so sorry."

Nyx swallowed and was only dimly aware as her sisters moved away to give her space. She knelt down to place one hand upon the heartbroken girl's shoulder and with her other she gently tilted her chin up. "It's all right Cassie, truly, Narissa is..."

The girl sobbed at the name, "I'm sorry, she tried to protect me, and he killed her for it. I... I should have just gone with them. I..."

Nyx surprised her by wrapping her strong arms around her and pulling her close, and her voice was hoarse, "Well now girl, mayhap you can tell her so yourself."

"What? I don't..."

"Narissa is well Cassie, your sister brought her back to me," she sniffed and if there were tears in her eyes none of her fellow sellswords dared see them, "now stand up girl, and wipe your eyes. I mean what kind of mother would I be if I took my youngest home with a face that looked like she'd been chopping onions all day."

Cassie could only stare at the woman, "But..."

The old veteran looked at her, "Cassie, your sister did something for me that I barely understand and can never repay, not if I lived to be ten thousand years old and won the fabled treasures of Medusa's lair, and the only thing she asked of me is that I look out for you. But even without that, Narissa gave all that she had for you; how then can I do anything less? So, there is a home and family waiting for you if you'll have us, one that will love you like their own flesh and blood," she grinned mischievously, "assuming you could put up with letting a drunken cantankerous old bitch like me adopt you that is."

Ashunara draped an arm around the girl's shoulder and grinned, "I'd think long and hard about it Cassie, I mean, she's such a curmudgeon after all, I'd bet you could do better."

"Hey!"

...

Magda was not entirely surprised when she returned to her cell and Gorsini literally threw his arms around her and started babbling like an idiot. His eyes were wide, and it was odd to see the man, who had always seemed damnably confident, so utterly shaken. His words were rushed and immediately upon releasing her from his embrace, he began urgently pacing back and forth across the cell.

"Look! I can't just throw the fight. If I do, they'll feed us both to a manticore or something, but I have a plan! We make it look good! Maybe draw a little blood, a few minor cuts, then I'll stumble and drop my guard in some believable way and let you get in a mortal blow. It'll be quick."