Hal - The Duellist #1

Chapter Thirty-Two: Red

Red scowled at his companion. The man was an idiot. If Léac had left him to do the job alone, the girl would be dead by now. And he didn't trust this woman either. A brothel was a brothel as far as he was concerned, no matter who the clientele happened to be. And whores were whores ─ why trust this one just because she was robed like a courtier?

"I think we would have remembered someone of that description, gentlemen. She sounds quite ─ unique, wouldn't you say?"

Red hawked and spat. The pale, yellow string of phlegm slid between the cobbles at his feet. Lavinia eyed him with distaste.

"You're certain?" he asked again.

"Your master, Sir, happens to be one of our best clients."

Why doesn't that surprise me?

"Why would we want to run the risk of losing such custom for the sake of some freakish outcast of Colvé?" She laughed, the sound like shards of glass crashing to the floor.

Red shifted uncomfortably. Perhaps she was right. They should have murdered the bitch when they had the chance. Now she could be anywhere between Colvé and Dal Reniac, possibly even sleeping out wild on the moors ─ she was mad enough to do that, it seemed. Lavinia assumed a more seductive pose.

"Your master has charged you with a difficult task, I can see. Why don't you give yourselves a rest, gentlemen?"

Red's companion appeared to prick his ears up.

"We boast some of the most accomplished girls in the empire, Sirs. And as I know your master well, I'm prepared to give you an hour to yourselves with two of them."

The blonde began to fan his face furiously with his hat. "I'm sure the master wouldn't object..." he began.

Red eyed him in disgust. "Can't you keep it inside your trousers for more than a few hours, man? This is a waste of time." He turned to Lavinia. "A generous offer but we must be moving on."

Lavinia shrugged. "As you wish. It's certainly not every day a man receives such an offer ─ a free hour of pleasure in an exclusive bordello. But I can see you are men of business so, good day."

She headed away across the courtyard. "Come on," Red growled. "Let's go."

"No, wait!" A hint of desperation had entered the blonde man's tone. "My friend is wrong ─ our master would not begrudge us such an opportunity, I'm sure. Especially given the fact that he is himself, as you just pointed out, such a regular customer."

Smiling, Lavinia turned round. "Well, gentlemen, what's it to be? I'm busy too, you know. And I won't repeat the offer."

Red's accomplice turned to him, his eyes pleading. "How could Léac possibly know that we took an hour more or less to find the girl? Besides..." he bent down and whispered in the wiry man's ear "If the whore is lying, and she's really here, it may be our only way of getting into the place."

Red mulled this over. It was the first sensible idea he'd heard from the man all day. He glanced across at Lavinia who was surveying the pair, her eyebrows arched in irony.

"Very well," he agreed at last. "We'll take you up on your offer. But if it should turn out that it fails to match your description ─ our master will hear of it."

"Sir, might I remind you that we have a reputation to maintain," Lavinia threw back haughtily. "And besides that, your master may well own Colvé, but he doesn't own The Serpent. This way, gentlemen."

She led them through an alcove and up spirals of stairs to a plainly-plastered corridor at the very top of the building, along the sides of which ran a series of wooden doors. She indicated one at the far end. "One at a time, if you don't mind, gentlemen. And if you mistreat my girls, I will hear of it." With that, she turned and headed down stairs.