Tales of the Scribe ~ Part 1 ~ The Adventures of a Lady Merchant in Gor ~ Port Kar
Abu had invited Lady Lilly to his luxurious apartment on the west side of the city of Port Kar. There was an open balcony where he sometimes had guests and from that vantage point he could keep an eye on his brothel across one of the canals. Also he knew Lady Lilly being a respectable free woman would not enter his home without an escort of some kind. It simply would not do, knowing her as he did. Although he suspected that she sometimes was not completely honorable in her merchant dealings, he knew that she liked to generate that air of respectability that promised her power, safety and custom from certain houses within the city, one of them being his.
Lilly reclined on a low sofa while Abu sat legs crossed Gorean style on a cushion, his personal slave was nearby ready to serve refreshments if needed. Above them was a beautiful awning that rippled in the breeze coming from the sea port. Sea birds rose and fell near a little fishing boat out in the distance, where another slave fished. A male slave that threw his nets out to the water, attracting the birds. Lilly watched her thrall, hearing the call of the birds, she chewed on the kanda leaf. "Did I tell you how I got Faelar?" She also threw some of the leaf into a burner. A white smoke drifted upwards filling the air with the scent of the kanda.
Abu chuckled, he knew a story was coming, "Yes you did, a gift from your old scribe, what's her name 'leaf' ?" He was clearly distracted by the kanda leaf she was chewing, he watched her mouth behind the shimmer of the light veil she wore, her having removed her outer veil once in his company and away from the streets below. “Or was it lefe...Lady Lefey...” he pulled Leyah his slave closer.
Leyah watched as Lady Lilly withdrew a long inhale of air, the smoke swirling around her, and Leyah lifted her nose to the air to catch a whiff. Lady Lilly smiled at the girl, slaves loved her stories. “Lady Lefay Ballinger and what a history she has.” She chewed thoughtfully warming to this topic of conversation. “I'm sure you’ve met many strange characters on your travels as a merchant, and some dangerous and corrupt individuals too. But what I could tell you about that woman, would make your girls ears burn”
"Sure do tell." Abu took a few sips from his cup. He tried to stay out of the smoke curls, still wondering why would she engage in such vice. He kept an eye on his establishment across the canal. Although Abu was a merchant from a wealthy local family. He also kept brothels of the more expensive kind in the city, where pleasure slaves plied their trade. The local warriors and sailors did not usually frequent Abu’s brothels as they preferred the places on the cheaper side of the city near the old docks and shipyards.
Leyah sat back and listened to the Mistress's story, she had decided she liked this Lady, her stories of far and wide intrigued her. She sat with a straining ear, not wishing to miss a word. The slave was also busting a gut to get over to the woman’s side to ask if she needed anything, so she could get a good nose full of the sweet scented leaf, but she stayed put at her Masters feet on the rug, knowing she was to stay clear of the free women of the town according to his instructions. Well at least for now.
Lilly continued, “Well you may have heard of a city near the Northern Woods, called Cardonicus. Lefay really started her adventures there. Although she had been born in Glorious Ar during the time of Malenous the 1st, in the reign of that tyrant Ubar. So you can imagine how old she is.” This meant that Lady Lefay was hundreds of years old, as many Goreans lived to, especially if they had received the serum. “After her apprenticeship in Ar she went to live in Cardonicus and became head scribe.” Lilly sipped from a goblet of white Kalana, a favourite wine of hers.
Abu mirrored by sipping from his cup and emptied his black wine, then listened to the story of Lady Lefay."Aye, I am sure she has seen enough, and pretty resourceful." He noticed his slave taking secret whiffs of the air and used his fingers to close her nose, then looked down at the kajira with a forbidding glare. The slave girl gasped, feeling the pinch of his fingers shutting off the air through her nostrils, her eyes widened in a silent plea to him. Lilly smirked in a private memory of such things.
At that moment Abu noticed two sailors arguing out side his brothel across the canal. He could barely hear their shouts but it was enough to make him rise. “I must go and attend, Lilly. Be well, lovely chat with you my friend.” In his concern for his business he had become over familiar with this free woman and forgotten her title. “You may stay here until I return. I will not be long, the girl will serve you.” He descended the steps to the street below, making for a small bridge that would bring him out to the side of the brothel.
Lilly poured herself another goblet and said to him, “Feel free to leave Sir. I wish you well Abu. ” Then taking a sip she continued looking at the girl to see if she would leave. Instead the girl stated, “He is such a busy man Mistress, his trade takes up much of his time”, she watched as her Master disappeared from sight, her heart sinking. It was clear she was in love with him. When the kajira stayed, Lilly went on with her story of the scribe “So while she was there and lots of things went on, a local panther tribe took an interest in her. In fact the leader was a vicious panther by the name of Laylah Rives. An arch criminal.” She chewed a while on the kanda leaf and looked at the kajira then finished off the first part of her tale. She could see her own slave in the distance on his boat.
“So Laylah took a horrible interest in the scribe Lefay and kidnapped her one day as she traveled through the woods. She ransomed her to the city of Cardonicus, and they sent out their mercenaries to rescue her. When she was returned she was put under the psychiatric care of the head physician Gezinus who had a secret love for her. But something happened during her experience with the panther tribe. They had tortured her for many days, and she was never the same woman. When she was healed of her cuts and bruises, something was still left inside. She became cold, cunning, treacherous and even corrupt, and remains so to this day.” She waved her hand over the burner and wafted the scent in the direction of the kajira.
Leyahs eyes were widening with each word she took, as she listened to the tale ''Oh my!” her jaw dropping a little, then she gave the Mistress a wide smile as she leaned in her direction and that of the billowing smoke. She was a little thankful her Master wasn't around to see as she inhaled the scent deeply, the fumes sending her to dizzying heights. She just nodded in the Mistress's direction with a big smile on her face.
While Lady Lilly had been telling her story, she had also been watching her thrall on the other side of the canal near the market place warehouses. He had tied up his fishing boat and was unloading cargo from one of her barges, but something was wrong. She got up and walked over to the fence of the balcony, yelling out in a most unseemly manner “Faelar! Faelar my beast!” Then she went and sat back down when it was obvious he could not hear her “I will have to go to the dock to give my thrall instruction. He has not got the complete shipment for some reason.” She huffed.
“Yes of course Mistress, I do hope nothing bad has happened to him” the girl said, then she asked as slave girls often did, “Mistress may I take my leave to continue with my chores if you are not in need of this one Mistress?”
“Some thing always bad happens with that boy. If you come across him don't you get into any trouble!” She spoke of her thrall as if he were a child, when really this male slave was a fully grown man, much taller than her and as strong as any fighting gladiatorial slave could be. But it was the way of the free to treat their slaves as children or beneath them, as they surely were in Gorean culture. She turned then to the kajira, “You may go now about your chores.” Then she ignored the girl and looked at her scrolls as she had dismissed the slave.
“Yes Mistress, thank you Mistress, girl wishes you bright blessings Mistress” Leyah backed away quietly and went indoors to her Masters home. Lilly rose and finished off her drink. She was irritated about the thrall and having to go over to the warehouses and check her shipment. But really she was more irritated at Abu leaving suddenly and her not finishing her tale. The scribe Lefay had been seen in the city and Lilly needed to tarnish the woman’s reputation.