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Chapter 9: Discoveries

When I left Nalita’s home, it was late afternoon. I’d almost
expected it to be dark.  As I made my way back to the docks,
I took a moment to look at the houses I was passing. Well,
in this area, they were actually estates. But it made me
think. Things were different now. A week ago, I was content
to sleep on the “Chelae”, or spend the night at the Narwhal.
But I now considered myself married, with a child that could
arrive any time. (I really had no idea how long things like
pregnancy lasted, but as tiny as Mia was, her belly looked
huge.) I needed to give my new family a home. Maybe nothing
as extravagant as the ones near Nalita’s, but something
comfortable. I’d also need to purchase a few slaves for
upkeep and service. I thought about Kiro as overseer, but
decided that it would be unfair to pile duties on her that
would take her away from Mia. I’d need to hire a seneschal,
too.

As I entered the Narwhal, I saw Mia sitting at a table, with
Kiro kneeling beside her. “Hmm,” I thought, “apparently Mia
hasn’t chosen to reveal her secret to Kiro yet.” I never for
a moment believed that Mia had any intention of keeping the
person she called her friend as a slave.

When Mia looked up from her tea and saw me, she began to
stand, so I hurried over and pressed her back to her chair,
while kissing her softly. “Good afternoon, Beloved Wife. Did
you have a nice time while I was occupied?” I pulled a chair
next to her and settled down.

“Yes, my Husband, it was wonderful. Kiro and I were having a
lovely time with the seamstress.” Then she sighed. “Until
Akira came in and told Kiro to get to work, that she had
customers waiting.”

I could feel the blood rising in my face, but I tried to
calm myself when I looked at Kiro kneeling beside Mia. “She
is here now, though.”

Kiro looked up at me with moist eyes. “It is my time for
supper. I wanted to spend it with my friend.”

Then Akira approached. “Kiro, if you’re not eating, get back
to work. Take care of my customers!”

I stood up suddenly. The chair I was sitting on shot across
the floor behind me and banged into the wall of the tavern.
“Akira, we need to talk.”

“Fine, we’ll talk, but she,” and he pointed to Kiro, “gets
back to work.”

I nodded to Mia with a smile, my eyes telling her I’d fix
things, then I helped Kiro to her feet. I told her silently
that it would be alright, then followed Akira back to his
office.

Shutting the door behind us, I waited until he was seated
behind the low table he used as a desk. “We had an agreement
when I left. You agreed to sale Kiro to me. You even took my
coin.”

He opened a drawer on the desk and tossed a pouchful of coin
to me. “I changed my mind. I can’t afford to loose two
girls. Mia was not a problem. She is stupid and pregnant.
She is too slow, and will be worthless for weeks after the
baby is born. I am better off without her. But Kiro is
strong, fast. She’s not so dumb, won’t get pregnant. You
can’t have her.”

I could feel a rage rising within me. This fool thought I
was going to accept this? That I was going to go back to my
wife and break her heart? I stepped up on to the desk and
reached down and grabbed the collars of his robe. With a
jerk I dragged him up from the floor and lifted him to eye
level. Although much shorter than I, he was a great fat
creature, and probably weighed more than Mia and Kiro
combined. But I didn’t notice that I was holding him twenty
inches off the floor with the ease I’d have held Mia’s
newborn. All I knew was I wanted to hurt him.

I breathed into his face. “You don’t change your mind. I
paid for Kiro. I own her. You told me you’d have her papers
waiting for me when I returned. Are they in this desk?” I
knelt slightly and drove myself into the air perhaps twenty
more inches. Akira squawked in terror as we went up, then
groaned in dismay as we came down, smashing the desk in the
process. I stepped from the rubbish and kicked the pieces
apart, until I saw a pile of parchments that looked like the
one I’d burned with Mia. I finally dropped Akira and bent
over to collect the papers. And realized I couldn’t read
them.

“You will give me Kiro’s paper.”

“No. You take your money and your whore. You get out of the
Narwhal. You are no longer welcome here. Leave now, or I’ll
cut you up. Get out now! “

Alright, I was stupid. I was extremely angry. And I didn’t
know what changes Nalita’s blood had wrought on my body. I
grabbed him by the shoulders, pulled him close then threw
him across the room. It was like throwing a rag doll. He
seemed to have no weight when I threw him. But the wall
shook with the impact of his body, and on the other side I
could hear bottles falling behind the bar. Akira slid down
the wall, and groaned in pain.

I stepped over to him with the parchments. “Which one is
Kiro’s?”

Akira looked up at me and told me to do something
physiologically impossible.

“Fine. I’ll take these to Mistress Nalita. I’m sure she can
tell me which is which. Or, I could take them all out to the
tavern, and burn them in front of all of your slaves. I
doubt many would hang around after that.”

“NO!!” I heard him struggle to his feet and stumble towards
me. What I didn’t hear was the dagger that he drove into my
shoulder just below my neck.

“GODDESS DAMN YOU!” I screamed in pain and shock. I
staggered back from him, and my rage exploded. I don’t
remember what I did to him in my blind fury. When I returned
to my self, the dagger was lying on the floor, and Akira’s
body looked like a bladder filled with wine. There was no
shape to him, and I suspected if I cut him, he’d leak on the
floor like a wineskin. I thought I was going to be sick.

But I regained control of myself. And tried to look at my
options. Akira was dead, and I had no way to hide the body.
I looked at him again and the vision of trying to lift it
up, and having it split apart in my grip made me retch. Ok,
I couldn’t hide him. Someone was going to find him. But what
if I limited who found him. The thought appealed to me, gave
me some control. I opened the door to the office, and
summoned the bartender.

When he entered, I shut the door quickly behind him. He
looked around at the broken furniture, and then saw Akira.
He was noisily sick. Then he tried to get out.

“I killed Akira. You know this, and you know I could kill
you as well.” He opened his mouth to cry for help, but my
hand closed around his throat and a croak slipped out. “But
I would rather not kill anyone. Here is my proposal. You
keep everyone out of here tonight. You tell no one what
you’ve seen, or what you know. I’ll arrange to have the
office cleaned up, and Akira will disappear. And you’ll own
the Narwhal.” Then a thought occurred to me. “Can you read
and write?” At his nod, I collected the ownership forms and
handed them to him. “Find yours, and Kiro’s.”

He went through the forms quickly, eventually pulling two of
them out. “What will you do with those.”

“Well, since my agreement with Akira died with him, I’m
buying Kiro from you.” And I pressed the heavy pouch into
his hand . “This one, I’m keeping as a contract in our
agreement. If no one else learns Akira’s fate, I’ll give it
back to you, and you’ll be a free man, and a business owner.
If you don’t, a friend of mine will own you, and inflict a
slow and horrible death. Understood?” He nodded sickly. I
led him back out of the office.

“Now, summon Kiro and tell her Akira sold her to me.” He did
so, and Kiro rushed to Mia and threw her arms around her in
delight. I’d guess she was pleased with her new owner.

After a delicious dinner served by Kiro, Mia sat on the bed,
and Kiro knelt at her feet. I stood up and collected a lit
candle and one of the platters from supper. Then I sat
beside Mia and drew the parchment from within my shirt. Kiro
was watching curiously. “Kiro, this is something my husband
did for me last night. I choose to do it for you, because
you are dear to me, and my best friend. Do you know what I
hold here?”

Kiro looked closely and her eyes widened in recognition.
“Those are my slavery documents? You truly did buy me from
Akira?”

Mia smiled and nodded. “Erlic bought you, so I would always
have someone near that I loved, especially when he was away.
But I don’t want a slave. I want a dear and close friend.
That is why I do this.” And with those words, she applied
the parchment she held to the flame of the candle I held.
Then she laid it on the platter, and we watched it burn.

When it was a small pile of ash, Kiro rose gracefully and
sat on the bed next to her best friend and held her tight.
“Thank you,” I heard, and thought I heard a sniffle, but I
pretended not to notice.

After they had sat for a bit this way, I excused myself. I
told them where I was going, and that I didn’t expect to be
late, but not to wait for me. They nodded.

I made my way back to Nalita’s estate easily. It was
becoming a familiar path. Knocking on the door, I hoped I
wasn’t disturbing anything. The same young girl answered my
knock, and motioned me inside. “Can you find your way to the
sitting room?” When I admitted I could, she smiled at me
shyly. “Good, then I will go fetch the Mistress and see if
she is able to attend you.”

I made my way deeper into the house, and found myself again
in the room from earlier that day. This time, I settled in a
chair to wait. Being an unanticipated visitor, it might be a
while before Nalita was willing or able to receive me. But
it didn’t seem to be very long before I heard the tap of her
footfalls approaching.

I stood to greet her. This time, she wore a long night robe
of yellow satin, with a matching cloak. I admitted to myself
I was somewhat disappointed that the robe was a bit loose
across the bosom. But I had other matters to deal with
tonight.

“Good eve, Master Erlic. I didn’t expect to see you tonight.
What can I do for you?”

The first thing that popped into my head was: “What the hell
have you done to me!?” but I bit my tongue and simply
stated, “I have a problem that I hope you can assist me
with. And some questions, about earlier today.”

“I’ll be happy to answer your questions, but you’ll need to
explain your problem before I can assist you.”

I told her of the agreement I made with Akira before I came
to her at noon, and his refusal to abide by it in the
afternoon. I told her of our discussion, and my loss of
control, and it’s results. “To be blunt, I need help
cleaning up the mess I made. Preferably, without making a
real mess.” I still looked pale when I thought of what would
happen if Akira got opened.

Nalita nodded. “The simplest thing would be to burn the
Narwhal to the ground. But I get the impression you don’t
like the idea. Why?”

“First, because I offered it to the barkeep.” I told her
about that deal, and handed her the ownership papers.  “And
I don’t want to see others get injured. It’s too hard to
control a fire, especially when the results we need will
require complete destruction. Plus, I live there right now.
I could go back to the “Chelae”, but Mia and Kiro wouldn’t
be happy there.”

She considered this. “Alright, the Narwhal is built on the
docks, correct? Over the water?” I nodded. “Akira was a
crook at heart. I know this, but until now it hasn’t
mattered. But being a crook, he’ll have a bolthole.
Something that will lead to the water, and probably a boat.
If you can find his bolthole, you could dump the body into
the water. Oh, that’s right. Mess.” Nalita bit her lip as
she considered the problem. “Hmm, that would work,” she said
to herself. “Excuse me” and she made her way out of the
room.

I just sat there, wondering what was going on. When she came
back, she carried a small vial, and her assassin followed.
“This is Angeline. You’ve met her before, but I never
introduced you. Her partner is Beatrix. And you met Beatrix’
sister Kirsty at the door.” I nodded. “Angeline will meet
you in Akira’s office at three hours after the new day.
She’ll find his bolthole for you. When she does, she’ll go
down and move the boat I suspect will be moored underneath.
Then you’ll pour this potion on Akira’s body. It’s a
levitation potion. It makes moving large items easier, since
they don’t drag on the ground. And you’ll move the body to
the bolthole, and carefully push it through. Then latch the
hole, and go back to bed. Angeline will make certain the
remains make it safely into the sea. Oh, and normally, this
service would cost you 1000 florins. But I feel partially
responsible, so I’ll help for free this time.”


I nodded again. Partially responsible my arse. My head was
beginning to feel like it was a bobble toy. But it reminded
me of another matter. “Now, tell me about this.” I got out
of my chair and moved over where she sat, and pulled my
cloak and collar down. I’d kept my cloak on at dinner to
keep this hidden, but the collar and my shirt were stiff
with dried blood, and the wide slash of the dagger still
gaped open, though the blood had stopped flowing almost
immediately after the blade came out.

Nalita looked at the wound for a moment, and I almost gaped
when she sent Angeline for her sewing box. “I’ll sew it
shut, so it will heal quicker. It doesn’t hurt now, does
it?”

I thought about this. “No, it hasn’t hurt since the blade
had come out. Why?”

Angeline returned with a good-sized box, and a bowl of water
and a cloth. “Ahh, thank you, Ang.  We’ll need to wash the
blood off his skin. Oh, go see if you can find a fresh shirt
and cloak to fit him as well.” Then she turned back to me.
“Take off your shirt and cloak. My servants will try to
launder them for you, and I’ll get them back to you tomorrow
evening when I see you and your lovely wife.” I’d forgotten
about her promise of a wedding gift. She looked at the shirt
as I pulled it off. “I think we’ll just burn the shirt. Too
much blood, and too dry. Kneel down.” I did, and she began
to wash my back and shoulder. ”You were lucky. The blood ran
down your spine, but didn’t reach your trousers. That’s
good, it’s a pain to get blood off leather. Now, this will
pull, but I doubt it will hurt. But you tell me if it does.”
Then she took a needle and began to sew the gash shut. She
was right, it did pull, but was painless. Angeline returned
with some clothes while she worked.

“Why doesn’t it hurt?” I asked again.

“It has to do with the change I inflicted on you today. It
has caused your body to care for itself better. You’ll find
yourself immune to sickness now, which is one reason I did
it to you. Some of the places you’ll go for me are plague
holes. I certainly couldn’t expose you to such dangers
without protection.”

“Wounds will heal and fade quickly, provided the cause of
the wound is removed. That’s why you were in pain while the
blade remained inside you. It still cut and wounded the
flesh. But once it was out, the flesh could grow together.
Be careful of arrows. If you let the head remain inside you,
they will continue to do damage, at least until your body
and muscles can force it out. But that’s painful, and can
take months. Better to cut it out, and let the fresh wound
heal.”

“It teaches your muscles to work better together. You said
you found yourself tossing Akira like a rag doll? You’ll
find you need to be careful displaying your strength,
because it will grow.” I looked pleased at this, imagining
myself looking like a barbarian warrior. Nalita saw the look
and laughed at me. “I’m sorry, but the muscles won’t bulge
like a carnival strongman.  You’ll be firmer, and harder,
but you won’t get larger. Well, not your muscles.” And I
swear she gazed at my groin.

“But I am sorry about this. I know you were excited to have
children with Mia. But I took that gift from you. The change
also leaves the body sterile. You’ll never make a baby with
your love. This I truly regret taking from you. I hope
you’ll forgive me someday.”

Then she lifted my chin and looked me in the eye. “Now go
back to the Narwhal, and get some sleep. Angeline will come
for you, and you will do what needs to be done. And think
about what you are going to tell Mia and Kiro when they see
my embroidery.” She grinned teasingly. I dressed quickly.
Angeline had a good eye, both shirt and cloak fit
exceptionally well. Then I made my farewells, and went back
to the scene of my crime.
