I've never seen anyone drink themselves smart, successful or happy. Most end up broke, bitter and alone.
-unknown
Alyssa took care to avoid the deeper puddles while navigating the side-roads of Firswending. The main road in the early evening was congested with traffic from farmers and workers returning to their homes. Yearning for the cheap company and even cheaper drink some streamed towards the entertainment quarter. ‘The town did change a lot with the war and the never-ending need for iron’ she thought.
In the past, there were a few cheap taverns, but now there were additionally some brothels and drinking halls that spilled into the area beyond the wall sometimes through the wall. Paving the way were handsome bribes. And the city guard became more well-off and simultaneously less trustworthy.
She tightened the grip on her quarterstaff and meandered around some deeper puddles of dubious content between the dangerously teetering tenements leaning against each other.
Light spilled from a bigger house where some buildings had been fused together with some walkways and lanterns added for good measure. Laughter, raucous and jarring echoed through the alley getting louder as a drunk patron stumbled out of the front door to noisily relieve himself near the entrance to a small alley. From the upper floors came some shrieks and squealing which indicated a different sort of activity. Alyssa blushed in the shadow of her hooded cloak. The battered sign above the door proclaimed the “Lady of the Night” or the Lady as the people around here called the building.
A deep sigh forced its way out of her. Her father had his payday the day before and after working a lot of consecutive shifts had not come home. She hated coming here but after more than a day she was worried and also needed him for the impending tax review.
The collector would not be amused were she unable to pay the city tax. She was also worried about him even as they were not close. After her mother died he became withdrawn and ill-tempered, choosing to spend his money and time drinking and whoring.
At least it was only drinking at first. But then after a year or two came gambling and the women. He was a big man and skilled at his craft. He worked as an overseer in the mines having worked his way up from a common miner.
The darkness inside him made him bitter and mean and even though he never raised his hand against her she was afraid of him. The change from grief to anger and hate was gradual and when it happened she did not realize it at first. He was often absent and worked a lot of extra shifts and she was still in mourning herself.
Their family was never very religious but there used to be a small house-shrine to Irkonos the wooden idol, warder of seasons, the giver of nature's bounty, and the god of her mother's choice.
Her father tore it down one day and made it into a shed to store his tools, never talking about it afterward.
The main deity of Firswending was Motok the dreamer under the mountain, he who knows the ways of stone. A dwarfen god who was said to be accepting of other races. His commandments included a serious admonition against oathbreaking, being courageous, and working hard- best with stone or iron. He was also a lesser-known god of artistic inspiration- perhaps because of all the dreaming, he was said to do.
Then there was Lightgiver Gesserach the lidless eye who once was said to have two eyes in the sky, until the goddess of night Nirileth the covetous one stole one for her collection of jewels, having it as the pride of her dark skies, the moon. He also had a church in town, which the people not directly working with and for the mines and workshops frequented. Unsurprisingly this temple's creed decried theft and dishonesty the most they got along well with the priests of Motok.
Her father used to go to the temples on week's end. That too stopped.
Meanwhile, she could no longer delay her arrival in front of the big door of the ‘Lady’. Steeling herself she pushed and had to use both arms, the staff in the crook of her elbow. Silently she cursed her small frame.
And the door creaked open.
Inside she was welcomed by smoke and a deafening din. The tavern floor was well packed, tables groaning with tankards of beer, miner and craftsmen talked and ate while sometimes trying and sometimes succeeding in catching one of the women for whom the ‘Lady’ was named. An older musician was playing his lute, his lacking sobriety making that more enthusiastic than artful. One of the more drunk women was dancing to his accompaniment on a nearby table.
The air reeked of cheap perfume and old sweat mixed with the odor of beer and fried meat of uncertain provenance.
Stairs went along the left wall towards an upper balcony the first floor having been partially removed. Those stairs continued from there to a second floor. Smoke curled lazily among the rafters.
Behind the bar was the madam of the house, Carla Turosso, an aging matron, large in every sense of the word with her graying hair dyed a bright yellow. At the moment she was joking with a large guardsman who looked at her lecherously.
Alyssa hastily vacated the door as two burly bouncers dragged a boy, perhaps a few years older than her, toward the exit. One of them grumbled, “Don't come if you don’t have money to spend, you useless piece of shit.” One eye swelling shut the boy was in no shape to retort.
She helplessly looked around and her heart sank further as she did not see Adam, her father.
“Alyssa! What in Nirileths name are you doing here?” A girlish voice sounded beside her ear making her jump in shock.
“Elsbeth, you nearly gave me a heart attack!” Pressing a hand to her chest she calmed her breathing.
Elsbeth was a girl a few years older than Alyssa with brown hair and a slender figure, too slender if someone asked her. She had a harried-looking smile and was currently carrying a tray of empty tankards towards the kitchen in the back.
She and Alyssa had grown up together in the same neighborhood, living a few houses down the road from her own home. She was always more healthy and thus more active making it so that they did not have much to do with each other, even so they were on friendly enough terms.
After hearing that she started working here Alyssa was at first shocked but later heard from her “I only work the kitchens, at least there I get paid which is a nice change to working at home!” Her brothers and family obviously taking her work for granted. Lately, she had not seen much of her, but she had heard that she lived in a small room at her workplace.
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“Have you seen my father?” Alyssa asked. “Now that you mention it- he was here yesterday and then went on to gamble in the backroom. I am still not allowed there, they only use the maids having worked here the longest. Ah, they say that there is a lot of tips to be made! Lily once got a gold piece for being the ‘Lady Luck’ of some drunkard or other!” the brunette reminisced tapping her lips with her index finger.
“I need him to come home, there is a lot to talk about. The taxmen are coming tomorrow! The money I earn with the lab is not enough.”
Elsbeth huffed and looked around. After spotting a plump woman giggling on the lap of a burly smith she mentioned Alyssa to wait. “Hey Lily, got a moment?” the woman raised her head and shouted back with reddened cheeks “Come here little sparrow, have a drink on my friend here. You don’t mind the company, do you?” Giggling at her own joke she loosely hung her head. Three empty tankards and a glassy gaze indicated a well-advanced state of drunkenness.
“Do you know Adam Miner?” Elsbeth asked, looking apologetically at the smith.
“Should I?” the one called Lily returned her question.
“Big-boned bastard, black-haired with some coal dust lodged under the skin of his right temple.” She showed a circle with her fingers approximately the width of a copper. “He is a mean one. Rarely tips.”
“Ah, that one. Yes, he was in the back. Had a streak of luck. Should have run dry just about now if you know what I mean. Idiot man.” She winked exaggeratedly then gave the smith a wet kiss on the nose. “Not talking about you my gorgeous.”
Elsbeth now looking a bit worried came back to Alyssa who successfully fended off a drunk weavers apprentice who persisted in asking her to sit on his lap.
Looking flustered Alyssa gripped her staff tightly. An observant person would have seen wisps of dark mist curling around her left hand causing a bit of rime to appear slightly bleaching the aged wood. “We have to ask the madam. I can't go into the back and Lily, my most friendly colleague.” Followed by a dirty look at the subject of the talk “Is in no shape to help.”
Alyssa thanked her and then walked toward the bar. She was jostled by the crowd and ruefully thought ‘that's going to bruise by tomorrow’.
Then she was in front of a bored-looking barmaid who turned to her and said: “What will it be, dearie.”
Alyssa hesitated a bit “I have to see the madam, it's about my father Adam Miner.”
The maid raised an eyebrow “The brute has a daughter? Never would have guessed. Carla! Someone is asking for you.” She raised her voice above the racket and motioned towards Alysssa, smirking somewhat maliciously.
The madam looked in her direction and after a questioning frown, a smile formed on her face. She patted the hand of the guardsman while motioning for another woman to refill his tankard. Then she made her way toward the pair.
“Ah, what can I do for you, my dear? Do away with the hood will you, it's a waste to hide a beauty such as you.”
Alyssa swallowed dryly and brushed back the hood of her cloak spilling her nearly white hair. As her hair reminded her of her mother, she could not bear to cut it other than to straighten it a bit, so it fell past her hips. And truth be told it was quite a hassle. She had fair skin and was a little on the smaller, skinnier side with eyes an odd shade of purple.
Carla widened her eyes appreciatively and whistled “So, my child, what brings you into my home?”
“I don’t want to intrude, and thank you for your time.” Alyssa coughed nervously “I am looking for my father, the names Adam Miner.”
The madam's eyes became calculating upon hearing this. “Adam, you say. That is interesting, I did not know that he had a child. Come with me please, there is a small matter to be talked about.”
Elsbeth who had looked from farther back covertly gave her an encouraging smile before vanishing through the door to the kitchen. Alyssa went with Carla towards a door behind the bar.
The madam made a small but complex gesture and murmured a few words. The lock glowed for a short moment and indistinct glyphs could be seen inside the metal. ‘A spelled lock. That’s fancy.’ ran through Alyssa's head.
The room behind the door was an office with a big desk behind which stood a cushioned chair that looked like it had come from a rich household or even a noble one but it was worn and the cushions threadbare. On the paneled walls hung some paintings which were probably locally produced and not especially noteworthy other than their subject matter, nudes of madam Carla in her younger days. If those were correct she would have been quite pretty though ample even back then. There were also all sorts of knick-knacks on cupboards gilded in brass. The floor was covered with an oft cleaned green carpet some stains had long since faded into the fabric.
On the whole, it looked cheap and pretentious but it was serviceable for impressing the clientele which usually frequented this place.
And it was probably intended that it was pretty unnerving and embarrassing for someone inexperienced like Alyssa. Madam Carla sat behind her desk and leaned back with a relieved grunt before she took a bottle from underneath and with practiced ease and placed two tumblers before them with her other hand.
“Drink?” Without waiting she poured two dollops of a syrupy beverage smelling of alcohol and cherries. “Cheers.” She forced the other tumbler on the girl clanked the both of them together and swigged the concoction in one gulp. “Ah, that’s better. The evening was getting wearisome. Men are such bothersome creatures sometimes.” She winked at Alyssa. “Drink up, this is the good stuff. Don’t insult me, a daughter of Adam will know how to hold her drink, eh?” Alyssa being thoroughly embarrassed took a careful sip. “Down the hatch!” called the madam suddenly. And before she knew it she had drunk it all. Grinning broadly the madam said, “And? Did I promise too much?”.
Alyssa felt heat spreading throughout her stomach and had to cough from the strong alcohol. But it was still very tasty and sweet. Getting more serious Carla leaned back into her seat and mused “Adam is in a bit of trouble actually. He was winning handily last night and made quite a fortune.”
She seemed amused unless one looked at her cold eyes.
“But luck is a fickle Lady” she grinned humorlessly “and so he lost all that he won and somewhat more besides. He was always so proper and careful. Never wagering what he did not have. But last night he was on a roll. Could do no wrong, could he? But when the night ended so did his luck. And now he has to pay the piper." Leaning forward she grabbed Alyssa's chin startling her before she let go and sighed, "He is in it too deep. Sadly I could not lend him any more.“ She measured the slightly drunk and now very alarmed-looking Alyssa. The nearly white hair and purple eyes lend her a fey appearance further emphasized by her slight stature.
“Mh yes, that could work. You know he never even mentioned you. I was going to sell his debt to the Viscount's men. They always need people for the deeper mines. It's not much of a life I hear. If the creepy crawlies there don’t get you the deep magic of crystals and ores will change and consume you. The longest someone managed was five years I heard.” She refilled both tumblers. Alyssa felt a hole opening up in her stomach and there was a rushing sound in her ears, while shadows flickered around her field of view.
She clutched the table. “That can't be true, he was always so careful.”
“Yes, but next week is an anniversary isn’t that so? When your mother died? I think he wanted to lose, wanted to lose himself perhaps?” She chuckled. “So what can we do? Do you know Sigismund von Ludolf zu Firswending? Ever hear of him?”
Alyssa thought hard and remembered that he was the son of the Viscount. Someone far outside her purview so a name and a blurry memory were all she could think of. “A bit? He is the first-born son of the old viscount, isn't he? Madam Carla, we still own the house. With a bit of work, we can make do with a rented apartment so we could sell that.”
"That would not be enough I fear.” the matron shook her head in mock regret “The son has some interesting proclivities for someone in my position. He likes them young and untouched. Prefers to pretend to be a strict and orderly person. His fathers' friends seem to prefer it that way. But you have to let go sometimes don’t you? As it so happens he is willing to pay quite a bit for discretion and fulfillment of his wishes. And you, you are perfect.”
Alyssa realized even through her now light drunkenness what she was implying. “No, I don’t want any part of that. There must be another way.”
“I don’t think so.” the Madam sighed. “And you know what? Why don’t you sleep for a bit until you are no longer so addle-minded? You will most certainly see it my way. I am sure.”
She saw the madam holding a small wand which she aimed at her and then there were scintillating motes of colored light and then nothing more.