Email:
Lespion@msn.com
Episode
I The Corsair
Melissa took a deep
breath. It seemed like decades
since she had smelled the tang of the sea
air. It was almost four
years. Her green eyes
misted.
Vandar. She thought of
when she had last seen him, kneeling on the deck of the Shang black ship
pleading with her not to debase herself to save
him He had been
right. She had dishonored
herself. And for
what? She had not saved
him. Her foolish bargain with
Qwang Gui had led to a life of humiliation and
degradation. She looked at her
companions. Beside her were arrayed
Che Sha, Vayasha, and Shasara. A
smile flickered at the corners of her
mouth. At least she had
them. She had never thought to
find such loyal friends and companions.
But quite by chance the three women had attached themselves to
her. Not everything that had
happened to her had been for the worse.
A cloud loomed on the
horizon. The Black
Isles. It was here that she and
Vandar had set out to raid the Duke of Dakmora’s
vessels. It was here that they
had made the fatal decision to attack the Shang black
ship.
“Land?” asked
Vayasha. She had never been to
sea before. The long voyage to
the Black Isles was more than she had bargained
for. Next to her Shasara, raised
an elegant eyebrow. The elder
sister too was weary of being on ship.
The first week out both of the Silvani rangers had been terribly
seasick. They had recovered and
had endured the voyage without complaint, but it was clear to Melissa that
both girls preferred the solid ground and greenery of the forest to the swaying
deck of a ship at sea.
Only Che Sha had shown no aversion to the
sea voyage. The Shang princess
was almost imperturbable as was characteristic of her race, but Melissa had
sensed that she actually enjoyed the ocean
voyage. Now after a month at
sea familiar land was in sight.
From the Black Isles the voyage to Dakmora was less than two
weeks. She was so close to home
she could almost taste it.
Home.
Of course she had no home anymore.
The duke had destroyed that.
There was only a place she had once called
home. And then there was the
duke. She had formulated no plan
for dealing with him. She only
knew that he was there and she had to deal with
him. Somehow she would find a
way.
There was just one immediate
problem. The voyage from the
Shang capital to the Black Isles had taken all of the gold she and her
companions
possessed. The Silvani
were not a wealthy society. The
elders had spared her all they thought they could
afford. It had been just enough
to get her this far, Before she
and her companions could continue they would have to find some way of raising
passage from the islands to the mainland.
Melissa had given some thought to the
problem. The Black Isles were
a generally lawless outpost, full of the worst that humanity had to
offer. But there were honest
ways of making a living there. The
trick was to find one without being tricked into a less than savory occupation.
That was a most difficult task for women, as the vast majority of the female
population of the Black Isles was there to serve the pirates and smugglers
who infested the islands. But
Melissa felt confident she could find
something. She and her companions
were no ordinary women. They
were more than capable of standing up to most men in a
fight. That fact had given Melissa
an idea as to where she could seek
employment.
The four women ignored the stares of the
stevedores and other dock workers who greeted the ship upon its
arrival. They strode down the
gangplank as if they owned the town of
Two hours later Melissa and her companions
were properly attired. Melissa
wore a white blouse beneath a tight-laced black bodice that pushed her already
prominent breasts upward. Not
wanting too overt a display of her charms, however, she had buttoned her
blouse to the neck. A pair of
tan trousers, cinched tightly at the waist by a red sash covered her long
legs. A sword and a pair of dark
brown leather boots completed her outfit.
It was very similar to what she had worn as Vandar’s consort
on the
Reaver
so many years ago.
Vayasha and Shasara had dressed similarly
on Melissa’s advice. But
they had insisted on choosing the traditional colours of Silvani
society. Thus both girls had
selected white pants to go with their white
blouses. They chose bodices of
blue rather than black, and their preferred weapons were, of course, the
powerful bows they had used since
childhood. Around each of their
waists they wore a bright blue sash, into which each had tucked a long bladed
hunting knife. Brown leather
boots finished off their ensemble.
Che Sha’s costume was the most
original. The Shang princess
chose loose fitting black pantaloons, which allowed her maximum freedom of
movement. Tucked into the waist
of her pants was a black blouse over which she wore a bright green
bodice. A blood red sash was
wound about her tiny waist. She
carried two weapons. A pair of
Shang dragon teeth, weapons that resembled a pair of giant three-pronged
forks with a long central tine.
They were weapons she had practiced with since she was a
child. On her feet were black
leather boots.
“Now,” said
Melissa. “We need
employment. I don’t even
have enough money left for a room.”
The other girls did not answer.
Strangely, they seemed to trust her judgment
unquestionably. Why else would
they have come so far with her?
Melissa paraded her companions through the
town. She was headed for a
destination she knew well, even though she herself had never been
there. However, for every crewman
on board the Reaver with the exception of Vandar, it had been a favourite
stopping place.
She reached the building just before dusk. Melissa hoped that her idea worked out. She was not looking forward to spending a night on the streets of Hamar’s Refuge.
PREVIOUS
CHAPTER WIZARD'S
LAIR MAIN PAGE
L'ESPION'S
STORY PAGE
NEXT
CHAPTER