The Bath
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Lowborn Ch. 04 free porn video
When the conversation about what to do next didn’t really go anywhere, Mindblind watched Yani leave the room, scratched the dark shadow of a beard on his chin, and then turned to Raven.
“She’ll be fine,” Raven answered his unasked question while waving her hand in a dismissive gesture. “She’s had her tea. She’ll probably even have enough sense to charge any man that ends up poking her, now that she knows she can make money at it.”
Though still leery of leaving the strange woman unattended, Mindblind had to admit that she’d behaved in a relatively normal fashion since chewing the leaves that Raven had harvested on the hike to town.
Just like the clothing of the villagers, the furniture in the room was an imitation of wealthy taste, made with whatever was available. Mindblind couldn’t complain about one feature, as the locking drawers on the bedside tables meant that he could keep the extra daggers out of Yani’s reach. He wasn’t worried about his sword or the bows, because she couldn’t hide those on her person.
Pompeil had – of course – taken up residence in a guest room in the home of the man who called himself the mayor of the village. What was surprising was his insistence that his unlikely traveling companions have accommodations and meals at the inn for the day, on his letter of credit.
The creaking of rope beds, feminine sounds of passion, and male grunts filtered through the walls on either side of the room. Despite their less than attractive state of dress, the prostitutes had quickly found clients within the village.
Mindblind knew that their welcome – at least from the women of the village – would wear thin in short order.
As it stood, they had every one of the four rooms in the small inn. Each one had two double beds that were quite comfortable, and four bedside tables for storage. Mindblind shared a room with Raven and Yani, though it appeared that Kayleen might also stay. The blonde hadn’t joined the others when they decided to flood the village in search of men in need of female company, choosing to doze instead.
Feeling a little restless, despite knowing that exhaustion would eventually overwhelm his current burst of nervous energy, Mindblind said, “I’m going to go see if the beer is worth drinking. You?”
Raven jerked a thumb toward Kayleen. “Think she has the right idea. I haven’t slept in a real bed in weeks.”
“Probably won’t be long myself.”
Raven shook out her short, dark hair to dislodge a few strands that had stuck to the back of her neck. “Surprised Pomp put us up.”
“I know the type. Can’t stand to have a debt, and we saved his hide. Won’t last long.”
“Better enjoy it while it lasts, then,” Raven remarked, and sat down to tug off one of her shoes.
“Yeah,” he agreed, and then opened the door to make his way to the taproom.
Word must have spread quickly about the negotiable virtue of the newcomers to the village, because the taproom was packed. Only two of the prostitutes, including Yani, were within the room, and Mindblind doubted that they would remain there long.
The man minding the kegs was probably the innkeeper’s brother, considering the resemblance. He looked to be in a good mood, which was hardly a surprise. His single barmaid appeared less than amused, as she tried to keep up with the demands of the room.
The counter that the barkeep stood behind had a footrest along its length and a well-varnished surface, mimicking a bar in a city tavern. No stools surrounded the bar, however. It was positioned too close to the doorway for that to be practical.
Mindblind walked up to the counter and said, “Beer.”
“That’s not part of your tab with the room,” the barman warned.
Having never expected that it was, Mindblind was fishing out a coin even before the man spoke. He slapped it on the counter to a grunt of approval from the barkeep, and soon had a foaming tankard.
Upon taking a sip, he remarked, “Good brew,” a little surprised that it wasn’t watered-down or bitter, considering the change that he’d received from his copper mark.
“Plenty of it, too.” The man leaned in and asked, “The whores aren’t prone to stealing from the men bedding them, are they?”
Mindblind shook his head. “Bad for business. They’re house girls. Long story.”
Seemingly convinced, the barman nodded and said, “The seamstress just down the street makes pretty things for fair prices.”
“I’ll spread the word, but we probably won’t be here long.”
The barkeep looked a little crestfallen at that revelation.
One of the prostitutes guided a wide-eyed young man across the room a short while later, attracting Mindblind’s attention and snapping him out of a reverie. Realizing that exhaustion was catching up to him, he drained the last of his beer, and offered the barman a nod before walking to the door.
Rather than continuing past the desk where the innkeeper did his business, Mindblind turned and exited the inn instead. The smoke from the taproom patron’s pipes had grown into a thick haze, and he felt the need to clear his lungs.
He had to shake his head as he once again took in the strange facade that the village put on. The whole place was like the set of traveling players, designed to hide what was going on backstage.
Every building had a facade that created the illusion of uniform construction, though the structures were actually built from a hodgepodge of materials ranging all the way down to baked mud brick. The buildings were close together, lining the streets and the outskirts of the village, leaving large areas of open space in the center of the blocks. The empty lots served a practical purpose as a place for vegetable gardens and penning in animals, but were really part of an effort to make the place look larger and more populous than reality.
The people played their part as well, with wagons and pedestrians constantly on the streets. Mindblind strongly suspected that most of those people had no other errand than to be seen moving about.
Remarkably, he saw Pompeil walking toward him. He’d expected the man to sleep for several days before emerging from the comfortable confines of the large house at the center of the village.
“I trust that your accommodations are adequate?”
“Yeah, does the trick. Kinda surprised that you bothered, Pomp.”
“Pom...” The merchant began to correct him, and then shrugged it off. “I owe you a debt. My reputation depends upon repaying my debts.”
Mindblind rolled his eyes. “Figured that was how it was. I’m gonna go hit the rack.”
Even as he turned, the merchant said, “Wait.”
“Yeah?”
Pompeil took a deep breath, and then cleared his throat. “I also owe you my gratitude, though I am ill-used to expressing such. You could have left me to my own devices at any time, and yet you did not.”
“May not like you much, but ain’t no man deserves to be left in the middle of nowhere with men looking to kill him.”
“Whatever your motivation, you have my thanks. And know that I will repay my debt to you, though that debt is no less than my life.”
“You’re welcome,” Mindblind responded, more than a little impressed that the pompous man had found the humility to seek him out. “I’m like the walking dead, so I’m hitting the rack.”
“Of course. If you need anything, please send word to the house,” Pompeil said and nodded.
Mindblind nodded back. “Got ya.”
He half wondered if he had dreamed the whole thing as he entered the inn and turned toward his room. What he’d said about the walking dead was more than halfway true. With the last of his energy expended and soaked in a tankard of beer, it was all he could do to find his bed. Raven had crawled in with Kayleen, leaving him free to take the other alone.
His last thought was to hope that Yani decided to stay in one of the other rooms when she reached the point of exhaustion. The thought of waking up next to her – no matter how attractive she was – made his skin crawl.
**
Mindblind awakened deep in the night. Only faint moonlight filtered through the window, mainly illuminating the other side of the room in his peripheral vision. His danger sense wasn’t screaming at him, so he didn’t immediately bounce out of the bed to grab his nearby sword. Instead, he lay quiet, waiting to see if the barely remembered sound would repeat.
At least one of the prostitutes was still hard at work, and he assumed that it was her sultry moans that had drawn him awake. A second later, a much closer whimper dissuaded him of that notion.
Though he was shrouded in darkness, the bed across the way was bathed in the light from the window. What was happening on that bed caused his eyes to go wide, and his cock to swell.
Kayleen was nude, and squeezing her voluptuous breasts in her hands. Raven was likewise unclad, her face buried between the blonde’s parted legs. If the beads of sweat upon the women’s bodies were any indication, they had been so engaged for some time.
Another whimper passed Kayleen’s lips, followed by a questioning, discouraged sounding moan. Raven pushed up on her arms, and then crawled over the blonde’s body. She let her nipples drag over Kayleen’s sweat-streaked skin, and then wrapped her lips around the bud capping the blonde’s right breast.
Kayleen lifted her hips, trying to bring her suddenly neglected sex into contact with Raven’s body for some relief. The lithe, dark-haired beauty would have none of it, and released the nipple she suckled to seek Kayleen’s lips.
Mindblind had to reach beneath the thin sheet covering him to adjust his throbbing erection as the pair kissed – Kayleen tasting her own juices on Raven’s lips. After the long, sexy kiss, Raven crawled backward, her eyes locked with the blonde’s, and nestled her head between Kayleen’s thighs once more.
The blonde gasped, her eyes going wide. Her hands moved to the back of Raven’s head while her bottom lifted from the bed. Kayleen shivered, rapid whimpers bubbling from her lips. Then her mouth slowly dropped open, her jaw trembling. A far louder whimper that changed into a choked squeal accompanied her thighs snapping closed around Raven’s head.
Kayleen twitched and jerked from the orgasm that had claimed her, and half sat up as she fought against the screams of pleasure trying desperately to escape her. At last, she collapsed, her legs falling heavily to the bed to reveal Raven’s tongue-tip teasing her.
The dark-haired thief rose up onto her knees and caressed her perky breasts with a deeply satisfied moan. She then leaned forward to lie down next to the limp blonde.
Mindblind shook his head when Raven looked over at him, grinned, and licked her lips. She then turned around and snuggled up against Kayleen, pulling a sheet over both of them.
It took Mindblind a very long time to fall back to sleep with his cock throbbing from what he’d just witnessed.
**
Despite the interrupted sleep, Mindblind woke up feeling well-rested – if a bit stiff. He crawled out of bed and stretched, letting out a snort when he realized that he’d fallen asleep fully clothed, with his boots still on.
Raven awakened almost as soon as his feet hit the floor, and she carefully slipped out of bed as well. She sauntered toward him, still nude, biting her lower lip and smiling. When she reached him, she whispered, “I’m an evil bitch, aren’t I?”
“Yeah,” he agreed as she grabbed his cock through his pants.
She nodded back toward the still-sleeping Kayleen and said, “That was her first time with a girl. She’s sure to be a bit off when she wakes up. It will be easier if you’re not here when she does.”
“Starving anyway.”
“Me too. I’ll wake her up in a bit. Hope they’ve got some decent grub in this place.” She then stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “I didn’t get mine last night. You up to helping me with that, if we get a chance, and Kay isn’t up for returning the favor?”
“Think I can handle that.”
“Bet you can.”
Kayleen stirred, prompting Raven to look over her shoulder. When she turned back, she waved toward the door and said, “Git.”
Mindblind chuckled, gave one of her nipples a tweak, and then headed out the door, closing it as quietly as he could behind him.
The smell of cooking pork drew him toward the taproom at a rapid walk. His stomach was growling like a caged beast. About half of the other women were in the room eating, which wasn’t a surprise. Their clothing was, however.
The sight of five prostitutes wearing simple summer dresses was almost surreal. A few of the women waved upon seeing him, and then returned to their meal of fried pork, eggs, and bread.
“Ready to eat?” the bleary-eyed barman asked.
“Yep.” Mindblind slapped a coin on the makeshift bar. “Gimme a beer, too.”
With his tankard in hand, he walked over to a free seat at the two tables where the prostitutes sat, when they called out for him to join them. “Nice dresses.”
All five women laughed.
“They’re hard up around here. Women must be stingy with the pussy,” a blonde remarked. She then nudged a brunette next to her. “Tell him, Betty.”
The other woman nodded and took a drink of water. “This young guy came in late last night, looking all nervous. Think he about went off in his pants when I sat down next to him. Anyway, he didn’t have any money. I was going to give him a free one because he was cute, and looked like he needed it so bad, but he said that he had an old wagon he could give me.”
The blonde picked up the story. “Old man must have heard that, and saw Betty walking him off. He said that he had a horse that could pull that wagon. We went and took a look at them this morning when we went to buy the dresses. The horse looks okay. The wagon won’t hold us all, but we can take turns riding.”
One of the other women laughed. “I humped a guy for five wheels of cheese, and Tawny got a cask of wine for fucking a fat farmboy.”
Mindblind laughed at the absurdity of the horse-trading – literally in at least one case – that the women had done for their services. “Sounds like business is good.” He then nodded to the woman who emerged from the kitchen with his breakfast and sat it down in front of him.
“I know that you said that we shouldn’t take the wagons when we ran off here, but I don’t know if we can walk all the way back,” the blonde said with a hopeful glimmer in her eyes.
After swallowing a bite of ham, Mindblind said, “Surprised you want to leave, way things are going.”
She shrugged. “Have to start paying for this place eventually, or find somewhere else. Besides, Yasmine is good to us. She humps this old priest who took a shine to her, and he keeps us from getting sick. She buys us potions that keep us from getting pregnant, too.”
“Those potions are going to wear off in a couple of days,” Betty added. She then looked down into the bodice of her dress and smirked at the blonde, who rolled her eyes.
“Still not sure if it’s a good idea, but I guess it can’t be helped,” Mindblind said, while tearing off a hunk of bread.
“We still have some money, and we’ll probably end up with more, so if you think we need to buy anything, we’ll help.”
“Or hump somebody for it,” Betty suggested with a laugh.
Though he never would have considered whores as valuable traveling companions – other than the obvious – Mindblind had to reevaluate that position in light of all that they’d accomplished in such a short period of time. “Somebody take me to have a look at that horse and wagon later. If they’re sound, we’ll go that way.”
“Go what way?” Raven asked, having arrived with Kayleen. The blonde at the thief’s side had quite a bit of color in her cheeks, but otherwise looked fine.
“Tell you when I’m done eating,” Mindblind said, and signaled to the barman that the newly arrived pair wanted breakfast.
“Stand me for one of those?” Raven asked, pointing at his beer.
Mindblind nodded, and turned back toward the counter, but the barkeep was already holding up a tankard to indicate that he’d heard, and put it under the tap a second later.
Raven had snatched up his beer, and took up a long pull when he turned around. “Food smells good, and this is damn good beer.”
Another pair of the prostitutes entered the room, drawn by the smell of food. They were followed by a nervous looking man.
The blonde that had done most of the talking for the other women ran her fingers through her hair upon noticing the potential customer and said, “Back to work.”
The wide smile of anticipation on the newcomer’s face as she walked toward him with her hips swaying indicated that she’d guessed correctly.
**
Mindblind patted the neck of the stout brown mare as it drank from a trough behind the inn. The animal was a good one, and should have no trouble with the wagon. It was worth far more than a romp between the sheets, and when he’d mentioned that off-hand, one of the prostitutes with him agreed.
The old man looked quite pleased when she led him back into his house a few seconds later to offset some of the horse’s value.
The wagon was small, much repaired, and hardly pleasing to the eye, but it was sound. Two could sit on the seat, while five could probably fit in the back – if not in luxurious comfort. There was room for storage beneath the seat, making it about as perfect as they could hope to acquire.
Even the prostitute who had negotiated for them was amazed when the wheels of cheese arrived. They were huge, and only Mindblind could move them without assistance. That alone would have ensured that they had enough food for the trip, but trading three of them netted more varied fare of salted pork, bread, eggs, and vegetables.
All the while, coins filled the locked drawers in the three rooms where the prostitutes plied their trade. Mindblind had to agree that the local women must be reluctant to part their legs, considering the steady stream of men pouring in from far and wide.
“We’ll probably end up moving faster after all, with half of them getting a rest at a time,” Raven remarked.
Mindblind agreed, “Yep. Figure that they’re smart enough to scatter and hide if anything happens, too.”
“You want to set out today?”
Mindblind shook his head. “Already afternoon. May as well start fresh in the morning. The ladies figure that they can make enough for a bunch of canvas to rig up tents and buy blankets, if all the local women don’t surround the place with torches and pitchforks before then. May as well enjoy the beds for one more night, since Pomp is paying for them.”
Raven had started laughing at the mention of the mob of women. “If looks could kill, we’d all be dead a dozen times over. I’m not really ready to go anyway. This place isn’t as bad as I remember it. Guess they figured out that nobody came back if they treated them like dirt, and it was bad for business.”
“Still a bunch of strange ones,” he muttered in response, prompting another laugh from Raven. Speaking of strange ones, he thought, upon seeing Yani through the lone window at the back of the inn. “You never did get around to telling me what’s up with your sister.”
Her mirthful expression vanished in a heartbeat. “Okay. Not here.”
Seeing her mood turn instantly sour, Mindblind said, “Forget about it. It ain’t important.”
Raven shrugged. “No, I owe you an explanation. Come on. I don’t want anybody else listening.”
He followed her back into the inn, and then out the front door on the other side. Once on the street, she said, “I know a place – edge of town.”
Edge of town proved to be a generous description. After making her way through the cobblestone streets, Raven waded through the tall grass of the prairie, past the vegetable gardens on the outskirts of the village, moving toward the larger fields of corn and wheat. Somewhere in the middle, she paused, looked around to get her bearings, and changed course slightly.
After a bit more walking, she said, “Here it is.”
Mindblind didn’t see anything but more grass. It was only when Raven squatted down that he noticed a very weathered wooden door much like the entrance to the root cellar where she had led him when they first met.
“Found this place when I was high-tailing it out of town. ‘Bout got caught pinching a dagger from the jail. Should have known better, but I was in a wild mood.” She pulled a blade from its sheath at her hip. “Worth it, though. Never seems to go dull.”
Raven put away her knife and tugged on the iron ring that served as a handle for the door into the earth, but it didn’t budge. “Damn. Grass is thick as hell. Give me a hand.”
Mindblind grabbed the ring and pulled, easily opening the door, and uprooting large clumps of grass in the process.
“Old storm shelter. I’d bet that there isn’t a soul that even knows it’s here any more.”
Raven descended steps carved directly from the earth, surfaced with warped wooden planks. Mindblind followed a few steps behind, as the way was too narrow for more than one to pass without both scraping the sides. The walls of the stairwell were lined with bricks that looked quite old, but were holding up in the subterranean environment.
Raven reached into a niche at the bottom of the stairs before Mindblind’s shoulders were even beneath the earth, and withdrew a torch. “Thought about using this place as one of my kips, but decided against it. Still left a few things here, though.” She struck flint to steel, and the torch took the spark after a few sputtering attempts. “Close the door.”
Mindblind grabbed the ragged rope attached to the ring on the inside of the door and pulled. He braced the door with his hand to keep it from slamming, and then ducked down to let it settle fully closed.
She waited with the torch until he reached her. Much like the stairs, the underground room had a wooden floor, and benches carved into the walls with wood seats. Niches for storage lined the entire room. Mindblind assumed that the soil must have a lot of clay in it, in order for the obviously old structure to have remained intact. The place was too large for a single family, and had probably served as a community shelter at one time. Considering the frequency of tornadoes on the plains, it was a wise idea.
A sconce stood in the middle of the room, and Raven slipped the torch into it. She then sat down heavily on one of the benches, and let out a great sigh.
“Look, Raven...” Mindblind began as he sat down, and then had to scoot a little closer to her because the warped edge of the board seat had jammed into his ass.
“No, we walked all the way out here, and I owe you, like I said.”
She leaned forward, put her elbows on her knees, and cupped her chin in her hands. “Thought Yani’d found a way out, a few years before the old man died on us. She caught this guy’s eye on the way through town, and he caught hers. She even forgot to pick his pocket. People told me that they just stood there staring at each other for the longest time, before he finally introduced himself.
“I resented her a bit, I guess. She spent more time in his fancy house than she did with me. Always wearing nice clothes and giddy.” She paused and rolled her eyes. “Went on for a year, and he’d even hinted that he was going to marry her.”
“Guessing he didn’t.”
Raven let out a derisive laugh. “Nope. She got a nice rude awakening one morning. He had a few Draxnians that took care of his garden and the house. She woke up to one of them screaming at her pretty man. The Draxnian was accusing him of fucking his wife.
“She knew as soon as he offered gold to the guy for him to forget about it that it was true. She walked out of the bedroom to confront him, and saw the Draxnian stab him in the chest.
“I guess the guy went crazy, and just kept stabbing. They found the Draxnian wandering down the street, and followed the bloody footprints back to the house. Yani was just sitting on the floor in a pool of blood, staring at him.”
Mindblind guessed, “She thought that guy that night was the Draxnian that did the killing, huh?”
“Or her rich boy that was fucking around on her. I’ve heard her screaming his name when she goes after someone, too. She bawled for a couple of days and told me the story, and then wouldn’t get out of bed for a couple of weeks. After that...”
Raven sat back up. “She started fucking anything with a dick, and getting stranger by the day. After she attacked a couple of guys in the middle of fucking them and damn near got hauled off to jail, I talked to this healer. He suggested those leaves in tea, and... Well, you’ve seen the difference.”
“Least you figured out something,” Mindblind said, at a loss for words in the silence that followed.
“Just enough to keep her from being a danger to herself and me.” Her shoulders slumped, and her voice dropped to just above a whisper. “I haven’t really seen my sister since she quit crying right after it happened. She just... Went away.”
With every new revelation, the picture of Raven’s life grew clearer – and even more horrifying – in Mindblind’s head. “We’ll get her back to the Cat, where she’ll be safe.”
Her voice still low, and completely lacking in the confidence that usually permeated her every word, Raven said, “That’s what I thought when I took her there. So much for safe, huh?”
“Yasmine will hire more guards, and they’ll keep their eyes open. Whatever this was about, it went wrong. Must have took a long time and a lot of gold to put this together. Somebody’s licking his wounds.”
Raven suddenly straightened, and though she tried to hide it, he saw her wipe a tear away from her eye. She stood up and said, “Not much else we can do, anyway. Think I’ll be hanging around there keeping an eye out for a while, though. This whole thing still stinks. Doesn’t make any sense.”
“Want some company?”
She chuckled. “I’m bad company.”
“So am I.”
Her swagger fully returned as she said, “Ah, I’ll think about it.”
Mindblind stood up as well. “Let’s get back. I could really use a beer.”
“Or four,” Raven suggested as she grabbed the torch again and headed for the stairs.
**
The taproom of the inn wasn’t quite as packed as the night before, which Mindblind assumed was more for lack of coin than lack of enthusiasm. Still, the conservatively dressed ladies of the evening did brisk business.
Kayleen walked into the room at about the same time as Raven signaled for a second round of beer. She looked a little frustrated, and lost. After a moment of looking around, she noticed Raven waving.
“I feel... Idle. Restless,” she said as she reached the table. “I was thinking of asking the barman if I could help out for the night.”
The harried barmaid happened by at exactly that moment, and immediately changed course to approach. “Please do. And tell that ass that if he doesn’t want to hire you on, then he can jolly well deal with this lot himself, because I’ll walk straight out.”
With that, she hurried off to retrieve the latest order that she’d received.
“Doubt he’s gonna turn that down,” Mindblind remarked.
“Go on,” Raven said, and patted the blonde on her rounded bottom.
Kayleen smiled, and blushed, but otherwise didn’t seem out of sorts with the familiar touch.
A minute or so later, Kayleen was rushing about the room, wearing an apron and carrying a tray with no small amount of skill.
From what Mindblind could see, there was no doubt that she’d spent many a night performing exactly this task. “She’s done this before. Wonder what turned her to whorin’? Plenty of taverns in Lakenshire.”
Raven shrugged. “At least she looks happy.”
“Yeah.”
At that moment, a flash of movement outside one of the windows attracted Mindblind’s attention. He stiffened upon catching a glimpse of the man, and then snapped his gaze to Raven.
She was already sliding her chair back from the table, and had a dagger in her hand. She’d obviously noted the long dark hair, sun-browned skin, and drooping mustache as well.
“I saw him. Draxnian.”
Jeannie
- 23.10.2022
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- Fantasy & Sci-Fi
