I woke up in a strange and unfamiliar room. The swaying of a hammock beneath me rocked me to a groggy awakening. The hard thump of someone smacking against the floor made me turn my head and look down and who had fallen. A stranger groaned as he peeled himself off the floor and looked around as blearily as I felt.
Someone stirred against my side and I looked to find an older woman laying with me. Her clothes are still fully on and me with my bare chest and wet clothes. I felt soggy still and looked around the room disoriented in the extreme. At least it would have been impossible for me to have rolled in the hay with the woman on the hammock. Things were never going to be used for that kind of get together with how often they would just tip over and spill you out on the floor. Poor woman would probably break a bone if that happened.
I rocked her shoulder gently as she woke up. Her eyes were bloodshot as she looked at me. “You’re not my husband.”
I shook my head, “I don’t think we did anything untowards.”
“Then why’re you half naked?”
“I had some water dumped on me at a bar. I must’ve come here to sleep it off though. This doesn’t seem like any servant’s quarters that I know of.”
“Well you best get the hell out of the bed. I’m not ready to be awake.”
It was tricky pulling myself out of the bed without knocking the poor woman to the floor as the treacherous hammock swayed and spilled me out. I stumbled on the floor and looked around for my shirt and jacket. Timothy lay face down in a hammock a few bays away. A line of drool falling from him down to the man below him. The smell of beer and drunkards wafted in my nose and turned my stomach. Resting on a stove nearby sat my clothes as I pulled them on. They were warm and dry after a night against a lukewarm fire. It fought off a shiver that I was feeling building up as I worked my way over to some of the men that had brought me out of the noble’s quarters into this part of the town and did my best to wake them.
I gave them sweet promises of food if they brought me somewhere we could have breakfast as I padded down my purse to find that I was significantly low on coin compared to what I had left the Ursal house with. I would have enough to feed a couple men though, including myself. My improved liver had me sober and strong in a matter of minutes though as I stretched happily.
Half dragging the group out of the rather shabby but no doubt cheap inn I was lead to a small stall of food where the man was selling meat pies that steamed merrily in the air. I grabbed one for each of us and juggled the hot treats before handing them out to the recovering men. Nothing like a bit of food to bring someone back to the land of the living after a night of strong drinking.
“Do those night always end like that?” I asked the group.
They groaned before Timothy spoke up, “No. You kept buying rounds for everyone after you danced like a damned fool. Probably the only reason you still have coins to your name is that everyone was laughing so hard they were throwing coin at your feet.”
“Wasn’t that lady so pissed about that?”
The men chuckled before each of them clasped their heads in regret. I smiled at the thought of it and would have to use some of my bits left in order to pay the men back. They looked at the rising sun in the sky and one of them sighed. “I think I am going to get an earful from the missus. I was supposed to get home last night so that I could make breakfast for once. Anyone else want to get their hide tanned with me?”
Everyone shook their heads and smiled at the poor bastard that was gonna get his ass chewed out. I patted him on the shoulder and slipped him a few bits. “I’d buy your wife something nice and maybe that’ll save you from some of it.”
“You’re a saint.” The man patted my back and looked at the few bits as if they were a sign from the gods themselves that he was saved. He ambled off shortly after.
Timothy straightened now that he had food in his stomach and everyone else leaned back stretching themselves out a little bit. “Well we best get you back to the Ursal estate Dolan. I still have another day to myself but it wouldn’t do to have you lost in the city. I’m sure Ermine would have my ass on the street if that happened.”
Stolen story; please report.
As everyone chuckled and went their own ways the food all gone Timothy lead the way back to the gate.
“Name and purpose.” Called the guard as he looked at Timothy and I. No doubt a sore sight to behold today.
“Timothy Butler, buttling for the Ursal estate. This is Dolan Talespinner a minstrel working for the same house.”
The other guard piped up, “Dolan, ain’t that the guy we are supposed to make sure gets taken to the Portage estate?”
That was the last house I knew of of the four that served the crown itself, Ursal, Truose, Gaelin, and now the Portage. You’d think with a name like that they would deal with the sea but you would be wrong. From the journals I read they were more about the cotton and wool trades. As well as some of the finer silks that they traded for from the far east.
“Ok Timothy, your sorry ass can go back but we are taking your companion. Off with you,” The guards waved off Timothy who smiled sadly at me.
I looked to the guards, “Any chance you guys will let me get the clothes I usually wear from the Ursal home? I’m in a bit of a sorry state.”
“The coins in my pocket say you’re going right to the Portage house either with lumps on your head or without them.”
Sighing I bowed my head and waved for one of them to lead the way. Some bastard must’ve sold me out that I would be leaving the protection of the Ursal home. Through the streets we went and this place had great banners waving in the air in front of the house. It was at least three stories tall with three or four wings to the house. A truly garish thing as I was brought to the front gate. Words were exchanged and I was shoved forward into the hands of another set of guards.
Half dragged and escorted I was soon brought inside a side entrance and some of the male servants looked at me with distaste. Soon enough I was lead inside a washroom and stripped of my clothes. A garb of purple and green was thrust upon me soon after. It fit poorly but didn’t smell of water and booze. One of the maids grabbed my stuff while plugging her nose and took it away.
Wordlessly I wasn’t addressed as the group lead me to a lounge in the west wing of the house. As I entered an ancient man sat reclined on a fainting couch. His body was whipcord thin with heavy liver spots on his brow and cheeks. He was idly eating fruit from a platter and spitting out the seeds onto a silver platter. He didn’t so much as bother looking up to me as I was manhandled into a seat across from him. It was hard and out of place amongst all the extravagance.
“You must be the savior of the hour.” His voice was weathered like a beaten wall in a windswept valley. His eyes seemed a little rheumy in the light. As he still didn’t look at me. “A Dolan Talespinner I might assume. If they didn’t bring me the wrong man that is.”
“That is me. They have the right man. Whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”
He glanced at me then. Despite his age his gaze was predatory and sharp. “I’m the former Duke Theo Portage. Master of the silk lines, the man who deals with the east. Importer of spices and all the luxuries that make the noble lives worth living. I should be the most powerful man besides the King but yet I am not recognized by some peasant?”
I bowed my head realizing my mistake, “Forgive my ignorance. I am unfamiliar with the ways and stories of the court I so hope to work for. What can I do for you Master Portage?”
The man idly took more fruit from the tray and chewed on it slowly. The seed slipped from his lips as he tossed it on the platter with the rest. I could hear the juices be squirted from the food as he took his time. “You could tell me how a peasant like you knew how to keep a man from choking.”
“It was simple enough, I saw a midwife once attending to a child. The child started to choke and she shoved a finger down its throat and dug out the food. I just did the same with the good Duke Gaelin.” I kept my eyes downcast as to give my subservience to the man.
“I see, still for such a fat bastard it must’ve been hard to reach down his gullet to save him. I detest the men that let their bodies get so plump. My eastern doctor tells me that it cuts down a man’s life to give themselves away so easily. If peasants didn’t get sick so often he swears they would live longer.” Theo pushed his platter away with some of the fruit still left on it and crossed his hands looking out the window on the wall. “Tell me about yourself, minstrel.”
“I am but a humble man that travels the lands. I was taken under the wing of a master minstrel and player of a dozen instruments after the passing of my children and wife. I made a poor farmer and found my life brought me to this path now. Ever since leaving my master I have made my way through the lands to the court in order to see if I could be so prestigious as to entertain the nobles.”
“How trite.” The man sounded bored as if everything I said didn’t merit any attention at all. “However it seems that your skills have been flaunted as something truly worth something. The girls of the Truose are rather taken with you. And now the Gaelin are calling you a hero with a hand of gold. Even seen as a guest in the Ursal house. All from a widower who happened to be trained by someone better than himself.”
Theo rang a bell on his table and a couple women bustled into the room. They had much shorter skirts than usual and as one scooped up the silver platter he stroked her leg idly. I could see her face become stony and she paused as he caressed her. “Bring me a pipe and some strong hash that came in.” He patted her thigh as she shuffled off.
“As I was…”
“Silence, I’ll listen to you when I have my pipe. For now stay quiet bard.” The man picked at his nails as he waited for the pipe. The sounds of the house were the only things that were going on outside the room.
Pipe in hand he struck it up and started to puff great clouds of smoke that smelled so strongly I had to fight off coughing. He began to blow smoke rings into the air. “Tell me, bard. How much will it cost me to take you away from the calls of the court and the Ursals. I wish to employ you exclusively. You’ve become quite the symbol and I only accept the best.”
“I’m not for sale. I dream of serving the court.”
The man frowned heavily, “I hear that the Truose family attempted to buy you as well. Turned down a whole five pence per week. Unheard of for a peasant. Now the words are Duke Gaelin spent several gold coins on a lute in thanks for you saving him. For a peasant you’re becoming quite rich.” The man puffed his pipe heavily, “What else would you want? Land? Power? What interests you most bard.”
My mouth went dry as I thought about what I could truly be bought with. If this man knew about Profitable and why the kingdom seems to have become much more prosperous in recent time. “Could you get me unlimited access to the Royal Libraries and tomes. There is something I would most appreciate knowing about.”
The man started to think as he smoked from his pipe. “I think that is out of my power. I know of who you could talk to though. Would that let me buy you?”
“Can I think about this? I owe much to the Ursal house.”
“Stay here for the day, be pampered and learn what it would mean to serve me. A trophy for me to sport about.”