Private Tales My Kingdom for a Smoke

[Djana Mahin]

Djana let out a 'tsk' with her tongue. "Now now, that's getting a bit greedy."

The woman smiled slightly, plump lips pressing together for just half a second before a smile drew over them once more. She wasn't a fool. She had negotiated everything from weddings to trade deals. You never showed your hand before everything was over, certainly not in a situation like this.

"You'll see them when you're done." She smirked softly.

A moment passed, and then she slowly added.

"I will tell you the name of the merchant company who most frequently uses the routes." That would be enough to wet any appetite. Even for those who did not call themselves pirates. "The North Liad Trade Company."

She smiled. The North Liad Trade Company was a shipping conglomerate that ran everything from spices to gold ore.

 

[Gal]

Gal held back a smirk of her own. Finally that bullshit façade had cracked, giving her a glimpse of the snake below. It was clear from the start that this bitch wasn’t just a pretty face and a pair of tits, but she was always glad to see her instincts confirmed.

“Course it’s greedy. You wouldn’t be lookin’ to hire me if I wasn’t.”

She flexed and relaxed her jaw, feeling a vein in her temple thrum in annoyance. Cunning or not, clearly the woman spent far more time in the glamour of noble courts than in ditches like this, which smelled of piss and rotting corpses, and where deals were brokered with far fewer smiles.

“Listen. I don’t know you, I don’t trust you.” Though she had a sneaking suspicion that knowing her would only make her trust her less. “And I don’t got a single fucking reason to believe a word of what you said. ‘S damn easy to lie if you don’t have to show no paper for it.”

 

[Djana Mahin]

A smile spread across her face, this time with knowledge that the hook had at least been touched. It was something, the first step on a very long stairwell.

Yet the first step was all that needed to be taken.

"Proof?" Her voice was honey'd wine, plying, pressing. The Weaving had done it's work, she knew this. Had it not the pirate already would have walked away. Now she just had to finish this, now she just had to say the right words. Fitting, this was always what she had enjoyed the most.

It was why the Great Lord had chosen her. "There will be a ship at the docks."

She smiled, plump lips tweaking at their edges.

"The Anabella she's called." She wished she had a chair, it would have made this better. "She will be leaving tonight, carrying a cargo from one of the Great Houses of Vel Anir. Weapons, if I'm not mistaken."

Djana paused a second. "Watch her, and you'll find I'm telling the truth."

 

[Gal]

Was this bitch drunk? Did this really work on the nobs? Were they drunk?

Even the blonde princess from Vel Anir hadn’t been this crazy.

“You want me to do work for you…” Gal began, caught somewhere between surprise and laughter. “And to prove the reward’s worth it… I gotta do more work?”

She snorted. “Fuck, lady, you must have kinda some steel balls, makin’ suggestions like that to my face.

 

[Djana Mahin]

"I was born of the sands." Within the great desert of this world, where those that could not hold their own died faster than anywhere else.

Where the Great Lord chose his true servants.

"I offer you only opportunity." She gave no further explanation to her words before, simply continuing as she had. "Wealth beyond a bag of gold, beyond a chest of valuables."

Djana took a step forward. "A chance at not just wealth."

Those lips twerked in a smile once more.

"But something no one has ever done before." The North Liad Trading Company was famous for having never been raided by pirate or any military force. It's routes were secret, and the wealth it had amassed was a direct consequences of that fact. "Legend."

The weaving cast out once more, pressing, prodding, urging.

 

[Gal]

Gal scowled deeper, though this time it was at herself. She hated how easily the swell of temptation weakened her resolve, drowned out her suspicions. Everything about this stank to the high heavens, and it was not the fish.

Slowly she exhaled through her nose, hoping to tamp down the itch. But it seemed today she was helpless to resist it, the very idea burned into her mind as soon as the woman suggested it.

Fuck.

“Fine. But if you’re lyin’, I’ll cut you into so many little pieces they couldn’t tell you apart from the fuckin’ sand, ‘s that clear?”

 

[Djana Mahin]

She gave the woman a dismissive wave. "There won't be any need for that."

Djana meant it too.

The knowledge that she had offered, the small tidbits, were all true. How had she come by it? Through the Great Lord of course. His knowledge was vast, unending. It also helped that though this city had few of his servants, others had many.

The North Liad Trading Company operated mostly out of Alliria, headquartered in the Inner-City and operating closely with the Merchant Council. Alliria was something of a hub for the world, and that included the Great Lord's servants. Dozens of merchants, soldiers, and even members of the City Watch served his will.

Thus they also served her.

"You'll find me at the Withering Woman when you've seen the truth." An extremely upscale Inn towards the center of the city. "Simply ask for Madam Mahin."

 

[Gal]

Gal raised an unimpressed brow and twirled one finger at her own ensemble. “Don’t mean to burst your bubble, but they don’t exactly let ‘our types’ into your fancy inn.”

It had less to do with their clothes and more with the multitude of knives she carried on her person. Only one or two were actually visible, but it was enough to whet any bouncer’s appetite. Slitting throats wasn’t exactly how you paved the way to the bar for a tankard of ale.

At least not in that part of Mantessa.

 

[Djana Mahin]

Djana made a dismissive motion. "I will tell the Guard to allow you passage."

A simple enough task really.

There would be resistance of course, Gal was correct in saying that the upper classes of Mantessa did not enjoy...slumming it, but exceptions could be made. Batting her lashes had worked well enough so far in this city, and if that didn't work she would slip a coin or two into the right hand.

"Simply mention my name." She told the Pirate. "It will be enough."

Though she was sure the Innkeeper would not be pleased.

 

[Gal]

“Sure thing, sugartits,” Gal drawled, rolling her eyes as she uncrossed her arms. “Soon as you introduce your fine self.”

Whoever she was, clearly she thought she carried a lot of weight in the city. Maybe a new courtesan for one of the Qarantia? Who could tell, when they were all dressed better than nobles these days.

 

[Djana Mahin]

"Djana Mahin." She answered simply, ignoring the rude remark.

She was used to it of course. Men had all but accosted her since her fourteenth name day, some women as well, though usually to a lesser degree. Since she had joined with the Great Lord the comments did not bother her, mostly because she knew that on a whim she could tear apart the minds of those who made them.

The thought alone was pleasing enough.

"I look forward to our next meeting." The Cultist said with a soft smile. "I think you'll be most interested."

It was so grand when she could meet two of the Grand Lord's whims in one go.

 

[Gal]

“Right. Cheers.”

Gal made a vague hand gesture and stepped over the cooling bodies. She snatched up a dagger on the way.

As a souvenir, you know.

While a couple of her men begged coin off passersby in the harbor and kept watch on the Anabella, Gal sat on the opposite pier, legs propped up on a bollard as she studied the stolen knife. The moor lines around them creaked softly against the waves. It was a quiet night on the docks, only a few ships meant to sail out with the tide.

The dagger was a fancy thing. If she’d had to guess, Gal would’ve said it had never tasted any blood at all. None of the jewels inlaid into the hilt were yet dislodged, and the gold still had that spit-polish sheen that marked the lack of battle-sweat.

She frowned and pocketed the blade again, resolved to study it closer at a later date. She was, after all, not unfamiliar with stolen objects and the ways of determining their origin.

“Enee cheynj yet?”

The passing beggar rattled his notched cup, but shook his head no.

Gal frowned deeper, leaned back, and trained her black eyes on the ship.

 

[Djana Mahin]

Djana left the underpass without another word, apparently quite content with the situation and the way their conversation had one. In her eyes things had gone quite well. This was not exactly what she had planned with the Lady Arefall, but it would work out just the same.

As long as the Pirate wasn't a complete fool.

With half her work done, Djana ventured back to the Inn. It was a quiet place, with only one of two guests currently staying there. Her own room was a suite, twice over large enough for herself and a servant. She of course had not paid a single penny for it.

A benefit of her work.

Meanwhile, as Djana made her way back to the Inn Gal would find that the woman had not told a single lie. The ship was being loaded with barrel after barrel of ostensibly wine, though as one of them was being loaded the men carrying the barrel accidentally dropped it.

As it fell and smashed onto the pier the top of the barrel cracked. From it spilled dozens of swords. A keen eye would be able to tell the make of them, blades straight from the forges of Vel Anir.

 

[Gal]

The eye of a nearby tramp glinted as he glimpsed the blades. The sailors scrambled to stuff the swords back into the barrel, sweeping worried gazes across the berths as they did. Her men were little more than torn clothes piled against the dirty walls, however, a sight so quotidian on the streets of Mantessa that nobody paid them any mind.

Not even smugglers.

Gal was in no rush to return to her shady client, though. Far as she was concerned, the barrel could’ve been a set-up, and the whole thing a show. Piracy and the sale of illicit goods were both cutthroat businesses, and the nazrani hadn’t survived so long by sticking her neck out every other Domindia.

Once the deckhands departed, the beggars shed their rags and joined her in climbing up the moor lines onto the ship.

If you want something done, do it yourself.

 

[Djana Mahin]

Djana was of course entirely unaware of the events down at the Harbor, instead she was sitting within her suite and simply waiting for her bath of rosewater to be prepared.

The Servants of the Inn worked surprisingly quickly, lugging buckets of hot water up the stairs and to her room. They moved without much urging from anyone else, apparently knowing better than to dawdle. Before long her bath was prepared, and the young woman found it was high time to relax.

Meanwhile Gal could do whatever she liked aboard the ship, provided she didn't get caught of course.

A vessel like that was well guarded, and well watched.

The Cargo on board however was much the same as had been within the barrel. Swords, armor, crossbows, and of course the bolts those weapons needed. Almost as though the ship were meant to arm a small battalion.

 

[Gal]

The night was dark and full of terrors – doubly so in the streets of Mantessa, to say nothing of the harbor proper. They crept like shadows up the moorlines, slithering across the quarter in dead silence. A lone watchman stood on the pier, facing outward with his back to the anchored ship. The yards and braces creaked as the Anabella swayed softly on the low tide, covering what little noise they made creeping belowdecks.

Gal motioned her two partners in crime towards the bow while she checked the stern herself, carefully prying off one lid after the other until she was content that she’d not be robbing just some ordinary shmucks.

This was indeed a ship of the fabled North Liad Trading Company, and she would be the first woman, and indeed the first pirate, to plunder its booty.

Once her boots were on solid ground again, the nazrani quickly discarded her disguise with a nearby beggar – an actual beggar – and made for the designated tavern with a decidedly pleased grin on her face.

 

[Djana Mahin]

By the time Gal left the ship Djana had finished with her bath, adjourning herself to the small desk within her suite.

A smattering of papers lay across it, reports from a hundred different people that she had gathered over the last few days. Most of them were legitimate, thought some held a more special meaning. Among manifests and letters from dear friends were hidden codes, small snippets of information.

These were sent from servants of the Great Lord.

They were everywhere of course, not just in city, but those beyond. All of them shared information, though due to her work Djana was not always able to collect it all. Mantessa offered her an opportunity to get as much as she could, it's place as a port and trade city meant she had easy access.

A good thing too.

The Cultist pursed her lips as she glanced at one paper in particular, smiling slightly after only a few seconds.

 

[Gal]

The crowd had thinned since that fateful morning. Mostly because very few people were stupid – or confident – enough to traipse through Mantessa after dark. Shadows lingered in doorways and knives glinted in the light of the distant stars. Figures consorted in the foul corners of the city where wine flowed fast and cards fell as swift on the table as an executioner’s axe.

Sometimes to the same effect.

Most nights, Gal was the shadow in the doorway or the glint of the knife, and so she held little fear of the streets that others avoided like the plague. It allowed her quick passage through the city as she took narrow shortcuts along abandoned canals, crossed over a few moored boats, and negotiated her way into the better part of the town without encountering a single guard.

Her attire gave her away the second she stepped through the door of the Withering Woman, however. Several pairs of judging eyes swept over her. She got the distinct impression they’d rather peer at her down a nose as well; if only she weren’t so tall.

She grinned her way past a few recoiling members of the Mantessan intelligentia, ignoring their unsubtle comments and louder scoffing as she fought her way to the counter. The bartender there looked like a self-styled baronet himself; or looked at her as if he were, at the very least.

“This is an upscale establishment, canalla. What in the lord’s name is scum like you doing here?”

She regarded him for a moment before leaning over the bar and stealing the wine bottle in his grasp. “Djana Mahin.”

He’d been halfway into a red fit of rage when his throat closed up. The words stumbled out as a pathetic choking noise instead, and Gal laughed at it all the long way up the stairs.

 

[Djana Mahin]

A knock came at her door, the 'guard' the innkeeper had stationed there.

The title was an extremely loose one, mostly because the guard consisted of a teenage boy whom Djana was pretty sure had already attempted to peep on her. She couldn't blame the lad really, not when he made a convenient alarm for anyone that might come to kill her.

"Ma'am, there's a woman here to see you."
​

Djana smiled at the lad. "See her in."

For some reason the Cultist doubted that the woman would even bother waiting in the foyer of the Inn, and if she had to guess Gal was probably already traipsing up the stairs with some muddy boots trekking on the carpet. The Innkeeper would be displeased, but oh well.

Gold would shut him up.

 

[Gal]

Between the two pairs of tits they sported between them, it was a small wonder the boy didn’t tear his breeches right then and there. Gal saw herself in past his wide eyes with a knowing grin and shut the door in his face with a long, suggestive look over her shoulder.

Let the mind conjure up what it will. What was the point of the cleavage, if not to keep the eyes of guards off the many knives stowed away in her clothes?

The nazrani took in the sumptuous decor with a cursory glance before her black eyes settled on the woman at the desk. “Well, I’ve seen the truth. What now?”

 

[Djana Mahin]

She smiled, leaning back in her chair slightly.

"The boy." Her fingers gently drummed against the table, nails clacking against the wood. It was an expensive piece, something made of a tree that only grew in the Far East of the wilds. It had likely cost more than some sailors made in a year.

"I need you to take him." She seemed amused at the prospect. "Put him in chains, beat him."

Djana leaned forward slightly. "Teach him the realities of this world."

The boy needed a smack of reality, otherwise he would never take his proper place. That was what Lady Arefall wanted even if it was the wrong decision.

 

[Gal]

“Are you fucking stupid?” Gal arched her brows and crossed her arms. It was a redundant question, because of course the rich bitch wouldn’t be in this fancy-ass tavern, in this expensive-ass room, if she were anything other than fucking clever.

Didn’t seem like it just now, though.

“That lady of whateverthefuck saw you offer me a job. Then poof her son disappears, gets smacked black and blue, and is magically returned to her lovin’ arms in a few days. Where do you think she’ll go looking for revenge, huh?”

 

[Djana Mahin]

She blinked. "Lady Arefall is the one who hired me to ensure her son takes his proper place."

Slowly Djana leaned back in her chair.

"She has given me a free hand in the matter." The boy really had become a massive frustration for the woman, and she'd come to her wits end. That was why Djana had made the long journey here in the first place. She was a solution to the problem.

If the boy didn't learn his place it was very likely that within just a decade the family would collapse in upon itself. Lady Arefall's husband was sickly, and though he still attended council meetings it would not be long before his health failed him. The boy hadn't accepted that fact yet. Thus, instead of aiding his family he was running around taverns dealing with gamblers and gangs.

Dangerous, that.

"Simply ensure that he doesn't end up dead." It pained her to say that, given that his death would solve many issues for her. "And there will be no vengeance from Lady Arefall and her family."

 

[Gal]

“She’s a fuckin’ noble.” Gal snorted and shook her head. It felt like explaining something to a stubborn child. “Their lot say one thing and mean another. That free hand ain’t gonna be a free nothing when I return that boy to her beaten outta his senses.”

“And you—” she stabbed a finger at Djana, unconcerned with propriety or civility. She was being hired for a kidnapping and battery, after all. “You don’t got no reason to keep me alive after it’s done. Easy to lie and wash your hands clean of everything as that lady of yours has me do the gallows jig.”

Moving about the spacious room, the pirate inspected a few items left out on the shelves and tables, returning them with plain disinterest. Finally she stopped right next to the adviser, arms crossed again. “I want a guarantee.”

 

[Djana Mahin]

"Your guarantee is the wealth and fame you'll gather from raiding the North Liad Trading Company." Djana said as she looked up at the woman and smiled, clearly not bothered by her approach.

She had already offered a price, and it was a good one.

Most people would have jumped at a chance like this with no hesitation in between. In truth it surprised her how cautious this woman was, if only because every other Pirate she'd ever met was greedy beyond any measure. A mark perhaps of the woman's character.

If it could be called that.

"I don't care about you." Djana stated simply. "There is a deal on the table, whether you accept it or not is up to you."

Her words were plain. "The consequences of the choice are your own. As is how you deal with them."

Djana herself could think of half a dozen ways of how to do it, but she wouldn't give this pirate any more than she already had.