42. Orphan Thug Valkyrie
Hoo! Niko threw Val onto the ground once more, with a bit more force than necessary. Niko never went easy during drills or sparring, but today she was being brutal. Val couldn't tell whether she was being similarly rough with the others… was she in a bad mood, or was she mad at Val?
"Is… is something wrong?" Val asked.
"Nothing." Niko grunted.
They grappled for a moment. Val shot in for an opportunity to sweep Niko, but the bigger girl was having none of it. Hoo! She took Val to the ground again. She was definitely angry about something and taking it out on Val, whether she was the subject of that anger or not. Val took Niko's arm and wrapped her body around it, extending it to the point of at least mild pain. She glared at Niko, and her girlfriend glared back, as if daring Val to go ahead and dislocate her elbow. Val gave it another tug to show that she could if she wanted to and then relinquished the position, soon finding herself swamped and scrambling to avoid a submission.
"Niko! Reset!" Ette shouted at her. And, when she didn't, he stormed over and yanked her off of Val, physically separating the two. "Niko, you're done. Go take a breather until archery drills."
"But…"
"Do it," Ette said. There was no second-guessing Ette during their lessons.
Niko glared at Val again and stormed off, unbuckling her leather jacket and tossing it to the side. That meant Val was paired with Izzy while Galvan sparred with their dad.
Val shrugged. Izzy shrugged. "I have no idea, either," she said.
Niko didn't even come back out for archery drills, which was utterly unlike her. After practice, a worried Val paced out around the gallery, over to the residential wing, and eventually found Niko in the nobles' courtyard, curled up on a bench and silently weeping. Val wasn't sure whether the sinking feeling she felt in her heart was closer to worry or dread, the pressure building up behind her own eyes to prepare for terrible news. She touched Niko's arm, and she pulled away, refusing to meet Val's eyes.
"Please tell me what's wrong," Val said. "Please… what did I do, Niko?"
"You know," Niko said. "I saw you with that Sheore girl yesterday… I was in the hallway, and I heard you ask her to stay in the palace… you were with her for hours, and then you left holding hands and hugged on the steps. I… I thought I knew you, Val. I thought you liked me…"
"What?" Val uttered a nervous laugh - it came out more like a croak. What kind of sick joke was the universe playing on her? "No… Niko… it wasn't like that…"
"Y-you can love somebody else if you want to…" Niko sniffled, wiped her eyes, and then broke into sobs. "That's your business… but you should have told me. I don't deserve that… finding out like that. I'll… I guess I'll see if there's somewhere else that I can stay… it's a big city…"
"Niko… please. Will you please let me explain?"
"Fine. Explain."
"Jasil's just a friend. We… maybe we might have been more, but then I met you, and there couldn't be anybody else. I don't even know what I would do if I thought you didn't love me. If I thought you hated me."
"But… but I saw you go into your room… I heard you ask her to stay…"
Val took Niko's hand and, to her relief, her… possibly-still-girlfriend… didn't pull away. "Izzy's here, too, and I only love her like a sister. That's what it's like. I went to the Port Bazaar when I heard that Sheore girl, Jasil, was in town." Val didn't like the way that Niko had said it, and she hoped that Niko wasn't one of those types who thought the Sheore were thieves and miscreants. Then they really might have issues. "I talked to Jasil, and she was bruised all over. Somebody had split her lip. Her father - he caught her with another girl. Not me. But he caught her and beat her. And he beat her last week, too, when she tried to protect her brother when he was in a drunken rage. So I bandaged her up with my salve and gave her that baby magic book and a leather-hardening kit. And… promise me you'll wait here…"
"Fine," Niko said. She still wouldn't meet Val's gaze.
Heart trying to leap from her chest, cold sweats giving way to a nervous frisson, Val scampered up to her room, rummaged through her dresser, and returned with the item. She padded out to Niko and knelt before her, taking her hand. Finally, finally, Niko looked at her, hope slowly dawning in her crystal-blue eyes. Val slipped the bracelet over Niko's wrist. She kissed the bracelet.
"Jasil makes jewelry. When I saw that, I thought of you," Val said. She backed away to give Niko space.
Niko traced her finger along the contours of the bracelet, a simple silver bracelet intricately engraved with Sheore patterning, culminating in a cat and some sort of raptor nestled up with one another in the middle. "A cat and a bird?"
"The cat's me, obviously," Val said.
As if to punctuate the point, Violet wandered into the courtyard. Perhaps sensing Niko's distress, she greeted her with a head bonk against the shin and hopped up to join her on the bench. She meowed, which meant, I was sleeping on Val's bed - there was only one kiss on the cheek.
"On the cheek?" Niko said.
Val nodded. "She… well, Jasil was grateful after I helped her, but I wouldn't let her do more than that. A very sisterly kiss. And I did let her cuddle against me, but only because she really needed it."
Niko sniffed. "I think I need a cuddle, too."
"I can tell," Val said. "I hope you're not breaking up with me…"
She shook her head. "I'm an idiot…"
"You're not. You're so smart. I'm the idiot," Val said. She sat next to Niko and leaned her head against her shoulder. "I didn't even think about how it would look. I don't know if we'll be together forever… but I promise I'll never betray you. I wouldn't betray you even if we weren't blood sisters… but we are, so that's special."
"Val?" Niko said.
"Yeah?"
"My life really sucked when I thought you weren't in it anymore."
Val nodded and kissed Niko's shoulder near where she'd curled her head up. "Yeah. It hurt so much when I knew I'd done something to make you upset but I didn't know what. I think we need to cuddle for an hour…"
"Two hours…"
"Deal."
Holding hands, they moved inside and set up shop on Niko's little divan, holding one another and whispering what they liked about one another. Niko's toned shoulders. Val's taut little belly. Niko's eyes. Val's eyes. They both liked the other's eyes. The way Val would hum to herself or bounce on her feet when she was happy. The way Niko's stare turned intense when she really cared about something. The way they could relax into one another and not care what anybody else in the world thought, even though they were still sweaty from practice.
Niko ran her finger along the bracelet that Val had given her, humming in the way that Val did. Val giggled, because she knew Niko was teasing her and kissed her on the cheek, but it did not feel sisterly. Niko nuzzled her with her nose and held the bracelet up to the light.
"Val?"
"Hmm?" she hummed.
"You're the cat, obviously. Why am I the bird?"
Val shrugged. "I dunno. You just are."
"Okay." Niko said. "I like birds." They cuddled in silence for a minute. Niko played with Val's hair, pulling it into little braids like her own. "I was thinking… it'll take a few weeks for Jasil to get through that whole book…"
"Yeah. I was worried about that. That's why I wanted her to stay here… he might hurt her again…"
"Well… we could make sure he won't hurt her again.
+++++
Val wasn't supposed to go anywhere in the palace without a guard present - there was always one outside the door, even when she was sleeping or in the bathroom. However, at night, there were even odds as to whether the posted guard would be asleep. The more attentive ones brought reading material. When she left the palace, there were supposed to be at least two guards with her, plus one or two for each additional person in her party. Such was the life of a detainee.
However, that didn't mean slipping her guard was hard, especially at night. Especially not for a member of Monkey Squad. That evening, Val waited until thirty minutes after Ginn wished her good night to sneak out. She opened her little window, the cool night air wafting in and carrying the floral scent of the little courtyard garden. Then she climbed on up, past the third floor balcony and up to the red clay tiles of the roof. Niko's hand shot down out of the night to help Val over the eave, though she could have done it herself with a little effort. She took a moment to pin her hair back and check her boots, the two of them perched upon the roof in their darkest clothes, the light of the big moon slowly rising in the west.
"Ready?" Niko whispered. She'd already been waiting for twenty minutes or so.
"Let's do it!" Izzy whispered. Val nearly fell off the roof - the younger girl was crouched by a nearby dormer. Izzy hadn't been part of the plan, but Val supposed she was now. There was no way Val was talking her out of this, so she'd just have to keep Izzy out of trouble.
Getting out had been a cinch for Izzy and Niko. Unlike Val, the other girls weren't under constant guard and Ginn didn't feel obligated to wish them goodnight. And, if Niko wasn't in Val's room, the chances were she wasn't up to any trouble. Val checked her knife, her knuckle-dusters, and her hood. Hopefully, she wouldn't need any of them.
"I'm ready."
They crept over the roof, their footsteps light. Occasionally, a tile would rattle or scuff beneath their feet - they weren't expert sneak thieves - but it was no noisier than when the birds perched up there. Once at the western wall, they tossed a rope over, securing it to the gutter and then using camouflage magic to make it roughly match the beige of the outer stone. Val's spell would last for perhaps an hour, during which the rope would be much more difficult for somebody else to spot. Otherwise, they'd have to re-enter through and actual entrance and sneak through the whole palace to avoid being discovered.
The dry grass hissed in the breeze and crunched under Val's boots. They had to take the side trail down the gully out of the palace to avoid being spotted along the main promenade. But they were Monkey Squad. They clambered down the slope of the gulley, jumped the modest stream at the bottom, and scrambled back up the other side, rocks and pebbles skittering in their wake. They scaled the little limestone embankment wall and, just like that, they were scot free in the city.
Val had never been to Port Rumm at night, except to sneak out of the city when she and Galvan had gone to rescue the others in Verdenslecht. Most of the city awoke with the sun and quieted down not to long after sunset. Even now, two hours before midnight, the streets were quiet, though many windows still glowed with ruddy gas lamps or flickering candles. A mile away, though, they could hear the sounds of drunkenness, merriment, and even a little harbor trade echoing up from the port. The Portside district never really slept - though there was a two hour window between late night and dawn when it simmered to a light snooze. But that was still hours off.
The three of them walked along the broad avenues of mid-town, past Uncle Wuldie's house, the sounds of the port slowly rising as they neared it.
"Um…" Niko said. "How do we find them?"
That was a good question. Jasil had intimated that her Sheore tribe didn't have a permanent place within the city. They would provide entertainment at a venue in exchange for a few night's housing in some unused space, usually storage space or unused workshops. Eventually, housing would become harder to come by or somebody would get in trouble with the local law enforcement and the tribe would move to greener pastures. Or, if the war got closer, they'd probably continue east, right out of the duchy.
"We'll go to the seediest tavern we can find and ask if anybody's seen the Sheore?" Val said.
"Sounds good to me," Izzy chimed in.
That actually didn't help much - Val didn't want to survey the district's dozen-plus taverns to determine which was the seediest, and nor was she sure what a seedy tavern should even look like. Lots of drunken people, she was sure. Maybe a fight or two. Should people be smoking? Would there be music? There were too many questions, so she asked a trio of inebriated sailors as they staggered past - the lads certainly looked like they ought to know. One of the sailors took a long and awkward moment to look Val up and down.
"I'm twelve," Val stated. She somehow neglected to mention that she'd be thirteen in a few weeks.
"T-twelve-year-olds shouldn't be goin' to th' Blowhole," the man slurred.
"Great. Where's the Blowhole?"
Another sailor waved vaguely. "Half-way…" he burped. "Down to th' Flew…"
Val had overheard enough about the city to know that the Flew Pier was the big pier that many of the commercial frigates sailed in to, and she knew about where it was. So she thanked the sailors, who'd already forgotten she was there, and the girls continued to the Blowhole, an establishment marked by a crude drawing of a lady riding a whale… it was either a very small whale, a very large lady, or not supposed to be properly-proportioned. There was drunkenness. There was fighting. Somebody played a fiddle much more poorly than Galvan. A drunk woman smoking a cigar screamed and threatened to fight the fiddler. Yes, this was a seedy place. It also wasn't where Jasil's dad was.
"Dirty Sheore? Not in this fine public house," the barkeep spat. "I'd beat the shite out of them if they showed their thieving arses here. What you want them for?"
"We're going to beat the shite out of them," Niko said.
The barkeep looked Niko up and down. Val was about to point out that Niko was only thirteen (almost fourteen, but she wouldn't say that bit), but before then the barkeep mumbled, "That you might. Try the Flustered Mate half-way to the Red Houses…"
"Where are the red houses?" Izzy asked.
"Where the big bloody red houses are, isn't it? Go on. Get!" He shooed them with a flick of his rag, as if he was shooing a misbehaving street dog.
The Red Houses turned out to be warehouses, a neighborhood of about ten block-long warehouses made of red brick. They passed right by them before Niko recognized them and they turned back to find the Flustered Mate. The establishment was two blocks off the seaboard road, but they managed to find it by following the sounds of fife and accordion music. Val nibbled at her lip, wondering whether Jasil would be playing at the establishment. She hoped not - she didn't want to confront her dad in front of her. Besides, the playing didn't sound as skillful as the fleeting, silvery notes that Jasil could coax from her instrument.
"I guess this is the place," Val said. The front sign simply read Flustered, but it also featured a stereotypical pirate, right down to the peg leg and striped breeches. Peeking inside, Val spotted a few men in Sheore-style wrappings, though she couldn't tell if any of them was Jasil's dad. "Niko and I will go inside. Izzy, you keep lookout…"
Izzy shook her head. "Keep lookout for what? No, I’m going in with you two…"
"In case more come?"
Izzy crossed her arms. "No chance. You're just trying to protect me. But I’m not a little kid. I'll be twelve in a few days…"
"Fine, you're not a little kid. But we don't want to do anything violent in front of a whole tavern of people. Just keep cool and we'll try to put a little fear into them…"
The Flustered Mate was doing brisk trade, patrons crowding around the bar or else clustered around tables. An old sailor with an eyepatch played the accordion while a middle-aged woman, possibly his wife, played a little flute and stomped on the floor with a clunky boot. And there he was - Jasil's dad hunkered in the corner with two other Sheore men, already a few drinks in and speaking amongst themselves in Sheore. The other patrons were mostly sailors and vendors from the marketplace and mostly well into their drinks this late into the evening. Val heard them speaking in Arleng, Peliac, and at least three languages she didn't understand.
"Hey." Val tapped his shoulder. "I saw Jasil in the bazaar today."
His eyes narrowed. He set his ale down, perhaps a bit more forcefully than necessary, sloshing it around the table.
"You," he said.
"I told you that if you hit her again, we'd have trouble." Val tried to be both cool and vaguely threatening at the same time. She had no idea whether it was working.
Jasil's dad poked her shoulder with his forefinger. If she hadn't been wearing her hardened doublet, it probably would have hurt. "You are to blame, girl. You corrupted my daughter. My family is an embarrassment because of her perversions that you people and your twisted gods bring." He spat right on her jacket. It was everything that Val could do not to punch him right then and there.
"If you touch her again…"
Other patrons in the tavern were starting to notice the three girls confronting the Sheore men. One of Jasil's dad's cousins stood up, glaring at them, his beard black and bushy and streaked with gray. He was a tall man, even taller than Jasil's dad.
"You know nothing of our ways, swine!" he said. "My cousin is a good man, and you've brought shame upon him, and now you seek us out to rub our noses in it? Go away and mind your own business!"
Niko stepped in between him and Val while Izzy kept an eye on the other cousin. He was a head taller than her, but she looked him right in the eye. "Don't call my friend swine. She's protecting her friend. If you're going to beat your daughters, we're going to beat right back…"
The man brought his hand up to backhand Niko. It was an attack meant to embarrass and demoralize the victim, and not one that was especially useful against a trained opponent. Niko pressed his hand to his shoulder, kneed him in the groin, and took him to the ground.
Jasil's dad panicked and reached to grab Val. She wasn't sure what he intended and she didn't want to find out. She grabbed his arm and pulled him forward, smashing her forehead right into his mouth. As he stumbled back, she pushed him back onto the table and then leapt onto his chest, straddling him as he flailed, knocking mugs and plates to the side. She punched him in the nose and then again…
"Val!" Niko shouted.
Val forced herself to stop - she'd have kept punching and punching. She might have killed Jasil's dad right in front of everybody if she didn't force herself to stop. She wiped her blood-smeared hand against his shirt. "I'll find you anywhere you go. You touch Jasil again and I'll bloody kill you."
She hopped off of him and ran past the gawking patrons. The two cousins were on the floor, incapacitated by Niko and Izzy. The three of them rushed out past patrons, some of whom made half-hearted efforts to stop them, and into the night. As the anger drained out of Val, she felt good. She thought of the terror and fear that Jasil must have gone through on a regular basis and considered that a busted lip and a broken nose was an extremely light punishment to mete out to her bastard of a father. If he did it again, she would kill him. Val had no room in her life for bullies.
"Did you see when I got that guy?" Izzy laughed. "He went for Niko, so I kneed him in the nethers and threw him on the ground, just like in drills. I didn't do the eye gouge, though. I thought I might get in trouble for that."
They were back out on the street, in the quiet nighttime streets, a gentle breeze blowing in from the port. It smelled faintly of fish and sawdust - it was a common packing material - but was otherwise pleasant. Izzy skipped ahead of them, but Val was worried. She sought out Niko's hand and gave it a little squeeze.
"We shouldn't have done that," she said. "We could get in trouble… you helped me break detainment and then we beat up three guys…"
Niko meshed her fingers with Val's. "What did you think was going to happen?"
"I…" Val sighed. "I'm not sure. I thought we'd scare them and he'd promise not to hurt Jasil any more…"
"I think the only way to scare a man like that is to show him that you're more dangerous than he is. When I saw you going to town on him… I was afraid you were going to kill him. Part of me hoped you would."
"Yeah… I just saw red for a second. But Jasil wouldn't want me to seriously hurt her dad, even if I think he deserves it."
"We did what we went out to do," Niko said. "And now we know our fighting practice has been paying off. The guy I beat weighed twice what I did, and he couldn't do anything. I didn't even need my knuckle dusters."
It was strange how quickly instinct had kicked in. Val supposed that was the value of regular, rigorous practice. As soon as something triggered her fighting instincts, they just clicked into place and it was like she was watching from somewhere far away as her body made combat on its own. That wasn't entirely good, though - she'd have to work on keeping at least a little control so she didn't accidentally kill somebody.
When they returned to the palace, skittering down and clambering up the gulley that had once served as a moat, Val's rope was still in place. It had lost the camouflage she'd put on it - Val still hadn't figured out how to keep things disguised past an hour and a half - but nobody had pulled it up, so it hadn't been spotted. Or maybe they'd find guards up on the roof, waiting to nab them.
They reached the roof with Monkey Squad aplomb - no guards. Val tiptoed her way across the roof, her way lit by pale moonlight. Their escapade had gone unnoticed, and Val was so relieved that she sighed and collapsed into bed without even undressing, drifting off into a contented slumber.
OvidLemma
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-Ovid
42. Orphan Thug Valkyrie
Hoo! Niko threw Val onto the ground once more, with a bit more force than necessary. Niko never went easy during drills or sparring, but today she was being brutal. Val couldn't tell whether she was being similarly rough with the others… was she in a bad mood, or was she mad at Val?
"Is… is something wrong?" Val asked.
"Nothing." Niko grunted.
They grappled for a moment. Val shot in for an opportunity to sweep Niko, but the bigger girl was having none of it. Hoo! She took Val to the ground again. She was definitely angry about something and taking it out on Val, whether she was the subject of that anger or not. Val took Niko's arm and wrapped her body around it, extending it to the point of at least mild pain. She glared at Niko, and her girlfriend glared back, as if daring Val to go ahead and dislocate her elbow. Val gave it another tug to show that she could if she wanted to and then relinquished the position, soon finding herself swamped and scrambling to avoid a submission.
"Niko! Reset!" Ette shouted at her. And, when she didn't, he stormed over and yanked her off of Val, physically separating the two. "Niko, you're done. Go take a breather until archery drills."
"But…"
"Do it," Ette said. There was no second-guessing Ette during their lessons.
Niko glared at Val again and stormed off, unbuckling her leather jacket and tossing it to the side. That meant Val was paired with Izzy while Galvan sparred with their dad.
Val shrugged. Izzy shrugged. "I have no idea, either," she said.
Niko didn't even come back out for archery drills, which was utterly unlike her. After practice, a worried Val paced out around the gallery, over to the residential wing, and eventually found Niko in the nobles' courtyard, curled up on a bench and silently weeping. Val wasn't sure whether the sinking feeling she felt in her heart was closer to worry or dread, the pressure building up behind her own eyes to prepare for terrible news. She touched Niko's arm, and she pulled away, refusing to meet Val's eyes.
"Please tell me what's wrong," Val said. "Please… what did I do, Niko?"
"You know," Niko said. "I saw you with that Sheore girl yesterday… I was in the hallway, and I heard you ask her to stay in the palace… you were with her for hours, and then you left holding hands and hugged on the steps. I… I thought I knew you, Val. I thought you liked me…"
"What?" Val uttered a nervous laugh - it came out more like a croak. What kind of sick joke was the universe playing on her? "No… Niko… it wasn't like that…"
"Y-you can love somebody else if you want to…" Niko sniffled, wiped her eyes, and then broke into sobs. "That's your business… but you should have told me. I don't deserve that… finding out like that. I'll… I guess I'll see if there's somewhere else that I can stay… it's a big city…"
"Niko… please. Will you please let me explain?"
"Fine. Explain."
"Jasil's just a friend. We… maybe we might have been more, but then I met you, and there couldn't be anybody else. I don't even know what I would do if I thought you didn't love me. If I thought you hated me."
"But… but I saw you go into your room… I heard you ask her to stay…"
Val took Niko's hand and, to her relief, her… possibly-still-girlfriend… didn't pull away. "Izzy's here, too, and I only love her like a sister. That's what it's like. I went to the Port Bazaar when I heard that Sheore girl, Jasil, was in town." Val didn't like the way that Niko had said it, and she hoped that Niko wasn't one of those types who thought the Sheore were thieves and miscreants. Then they really might have issues. "I talked to Jasil, and she was bruised all over. Somebody had split her lip. Her father - he caught her with another girl. Not me. But he caught her and beat her. And he beat her last week, too, when she tried to protect her brother when he was in a drunken rage. So I bandaged her up with my salve and gave her that baby magic book and a leather-hardening kit. And… promise me you'll wait here…"
"Fine," Niko said. She still wouldn't meet Val's gaze.
Heart trying to leap from her chest, cold sweats giving way to a nervous frisson, Val scampered up to her room, rummaged through her dresser, and returned with the item. She padded out to Niko and knelt before her, taking her hand. Finally, finally, Niko looked at her, hope slowly dawning in her crystal-blue eyes. Val slipped the bracelet over Niko's wrist. She kissed the bracelet.
"Jasil makes jewelry. When I saw that, I thought of you," Val said. She backed away to give Niko space.
Niko traced her finger along the contours of the bracelet, a simple silver bracelet intricately engraved with Sheore patterning, culminating in a cat and some sort of raptor nestled up with one another in the middle. "A cat and a bird?"
"The cat's me, obviously," Val said.
As if to punctuate the point, Violet wandered into the courtyard. Perhaps sensing Niko's distress, she greeted her with a head bonk against the shin and hopped up to join her on the bench. She meowed, which meant, I was sleeping on Val's bed - there was only one kiss on the cheek.
"On the cheek?" Niko said.
Val nodded. "She… well, Jasil was grateful after I helped her, but I wouldn't let her do more than that. A very sisterly kiss. And I did let her cuddle against me, but only because she really needed it."
Niko sniffed. "I think I need a cuddle, too."
"I can tell," Val said. "I hope you're not breaking up with me…"
She shook her head. "I'm an idiot…"
"You're not. You're so smart. I'm the idiot," Val said. She sat next to Niko and leaned her head against her shoulder. "I didn't even think about how it would look. I don't know if we'll be together forever… but I promise I'll never betray you. I wouldn't betray you even if we weren't blood sisters… but we are, so that's special."
"Val?" Niko said.
"Yeah?"
"My life really sucked when I thought you weren't in it anymore."
Val nodded and kissed Niko's shoulder near where she'd curled her head up. "Yeah. It hurt so much when I knew I'd done something to make you upset but I didn't know what. I think we need to cuddle for an hour…"
"Two hours…"
"Deal."
Holding hands, they moved inside and set up shop on Niko's little divan, holding one another and whispering what they liked about one another. Niko's toned shoulders. Val's taut little belly. Niko's eyes. Val's eyes. They both liked the other's eyes. The way Val would hum to herself or bounce on her feet when she was happy. The way Niko's stare turned intense when she really cared about something. The way they could relax into one another and not care what anybody else in the world thought, even though they were still sweaty from practice.
Niko ran her finger along the bracelet that Val had given her, humming in the way that Val did. Val giggled, because she knew Niko was teasing her and kissed her on the cheek, but it did not feel sisterly. Niko nuzzled her with her nose and held the bracelet up to the light.
"Val?"
"Hmm?" she hummed.
"You're the cat, obviously. Why am I the bird?"
Val shrugged. "I dunno. You just are."
"Okay." Niko said. "I like birds." They cuddled in silence for a minute. Niko played with Val's hair, pulling it into little braids like her own. "I was thinking… it'll take a few weeks for Jasil to get through that whole book…"
"Yeah. I was worried about that. That's why I wanted her to stay here… he might hurt her again…"
"Well… we could make sure he won't hurt her again.
+++++
Val wasn't supposed to go anywhere in the palace without a guard present - there was always one outside the door, even when she was sleeping or in the bathroom. However, at night, there were even odds as to whether the posted guard would be asleep. The more attentive ones brought reading material. When she left the palace, there were supposed to be at least two guards with her, plus one or two for each additional person in her party. Such was the life of a detainee.
However, that didn't mean slipping her guard was hard, especially at night. Especially not for a member of Monkey Squad. That evening, Val waited until thirty minutes after Ginn wished her good night to sneak out. She opened her little window, the cool night air wafting in and carrying the floral scent of the little courtyard garden. Then she climbed on up, past the third floor balcony and up to the red clay tiles of the roof. Niko's hand shot down out of the night to help Val over the eave, though she could have done it herself with a little effort. She took a moment to pin her hair back and check her boots, the two of them perched upon the roof in their darkest clothes, the light of the big moon slowly rising in the west.
"Ready?" Niko whispered. She'd already been waiting for twenty minutes or so.
"Let's do it!" Izzy whispered. Val nearly fell off the roof - the younger girl was crouched by a nearby dormer. Izzy hadn't been part of the plan, but Val supposed she was now. There was no way Val was talking her out of this, so she'd just have to keep Izzy out of trouble.
Getting out had been a cinch for Izzy and Niko. Unlike Val, the other girls weren't under constant guard and Ginn didn't feel obligated to wish them goodnight. And, if Niko wasn't in Val's room, the chances were she wasn't up to any trouble. Val checked her knife, her knuckle-dusters, and her hood. Hopefully, she wouldn't need any of them.
"I'm ready."
They crept over the roof, their footsteps light. Occasionally, a tile would rattle or scuff beneath their feet - they weren't expert sneak thieves - but it was no noisier than when the birds perched up there. Once at the western wall, they tossed a rope over, securing it to the gutter and then using camouflage magic to make it roughly match the beige of the outer stone. Val's spell would last for perhaps an hour, during which the rope would be much more difficult for somebody else to spot. Otherwise, they'd have to re-enter through and actual entrance and sneak through the whole palace to avoid being discovered.
The dry grass hissed in the breeze and crunched under Val's boots. They had to take the side trail down the gully out of the palace to avoid being spotted along the main promenade. But they were Monkey Squad. They clambered down the slope of the gulley, jumped the modest stream at the bottom, and scrambled back up the other side, rocks and pebbles skittering in their wake. They scaled the little limestone embankment wall and, just like that, they were scot free in the city.
Val had never been to Port Rumm at night, except to sneak out of the city when she and Galvan had gone to rescue the others in Verdenslecht. Most of the city awoke with the sun and quieted down not to long after sunset. Even now, two hours before midnight, the streets were quiet, though many windows still glowed with ruddy gas lamps or flickering candles. A mile away, though, they could hear the sounds of drunkenness, merriment, and even a little harbor trade echoing up from the port. The Portside district never really slept - though there was a two hour window between late night and dawn when it simmered to a light snooze. But that was still hours off.
The three of them walked along the broad avenues of mid-town, past Uncle Wuldie's house, the sounds of the port slowly rising as they neared it.
"Um…" Niko said. "How do we find them?"
That was a good question. Jasil had intimated that her Sheore tribe didn't have a permanent place within the city. They would provide entertainment at a venue in exchange for a few night's housing in some unused space, usually storage space or unused workshops. Eventually, housing would become harder to come by or somebody would get in trouble with the local law enforcement and the tribe would move to greener pastures. Or, if the war got closer, they'd probably continue east, right out of the duchy.
"We'll go to the seediest tavern we can find and ask if anybody's seen the Sheore?" Val said.
"Sounds good to me," Izzy chimed in.
That actually didn't help much - Val didn't want to survey the district's dozen-plus taverns to determine which was the seediest, and nor was she sure what a seedy tavern should even look like. Lots of drunken people, she was sure. Maybe a fight or two. Should people be smoking? Would there be music? There were too many questions, so she asked a trio of inebriated sailors as they staggered past - the lads certainly looked like they ought to know. One of the sailors took a long and awkward moment to look Val up and down.
"I'm twelve," Val stated. She somehow neglected to mention that she'd be thirteen in a few weeks.
"T-twelve-year-olds shouldn't be goin' to th' Blowhole," the man slurred.
"Great. Where's the Blowhole?"
Another sailor waved vaguely. "Half-way…" he burped. "Down to th' Flew…"
Val had overheard enough about the city to know that the Flew Pier was the big pier that many of the commercial frigates sailed in to, and she knew about where it was. So she thanked the sailors, who'd already forgotten she was there, and the girls continued to the Blowhole, an establishment marked by a crude drawing of a lady riding a whale… it was either a very small whale, a very large lady, or not supposed to be properly-proportioned. There was drunkenness. There was fighting. Somebody played a fiddle much more poorly than Galvan. A drunk woman smoking a cigar screamed and threatened to fight the fiddler. Yes, this was a seedy place. It also wasn't where Jasil's dad was.
"Dirty Sheore? Not in this fine public house," the barkeep spat. "I'd beat the shite out of them if they showed their thieving arses here. What you want them for?"
"We're going to beat the shite out of them," Niko said.
The barkeep looked Niko up and down. Val was about to point out that Niko was only thirteen (almost fourteen, but she wouldn't say that bit), but before then the barkeep mumbled, "That you might. Try the Flustered Mate half-way to the Red Houses…"
"Where are the red houses?" Izzy asked.
"Where the big bloody red houses are, isn't it? Go on. Get!" He shooed them with a flick of his rag, as if he was shooing a misbehaving street dog.
The Red Houses turned out to be warehouses, a neighborhood of about ten block-long warehouses made of red brick. They passed right by them before Niko recognized them and they turned back to find the Flustered Mate. The establishment was two blocks off the seaboard road, but they managed to find it by following the sounds of fife and accordion music. Val nibbled at her lip, wondering whether Jasil would be playing at the establishment. She hoped not - she didn't want to confront her dad in front of her. Besides, the playing didn't sound as skillful as the fleeting, silvery notes that Jasil could coax from her instrument.
"I guess this is the place," Val said. The front sign simply read Flustered, but it also featured a stereotypical pirate, right down to the peg leg and striped breeches. Peeking inside, Val spotted a few men in Sheore-style wrappings, though she couldn't tell if any of them was Jasil's dad. "Niko and I will go inside. Izzy, you keep lookout…"
Izzy shook her head. "Keep lookout for what? No, I’m going in with you two…"
"In case more come?"
Izzy crossed her arms. "No chance. You're just trying to protect me. But I’m not a little kid. I'll be twelve in a few days…"
"Fine, you're not a little kid. But we don't want to do anything violent in front of a whole tavern of people. Just keep cool and we'll try to put a little fear into them…"
The Flustered Mate was doing brisk trade, patrons crowding around the bar or else clustered around tables. An old sailor with an eyepatch played the accordion while a middle-aged woman, possibly his wife, played a little flute and stomped on the floor with a clunky boot. And there he was - Jasil's dad hunkered in the corner with two other Sheore men, already a few drinks in and speaking amongst themselves in Sheore. The other patrons were mostly sailors and vendors from the marketplace and mostly well into their drinks this late into the evening. Val heard them speaking in Arleng, Peliac, and at least three languages she didn't understand.
"Hey." Val tapped his shoulder. "I saw Jasil in the bazaar today."
His eyes narrowed. He set his ale down, perhaps a bit more forcefully than necessary, sloshing it around the table.
"You," he said.
"I told you that if you hit her again, we'd have trouble." Val tried to be both cool and vaguely threatening at the same time. She had no idea whether it was working.
Jasil's dad poked her shoulder with his forefinger. If she hadn't been wearing her hardened doublet, it probably would have hurt. "You are to blame, girl. You corrupted my daughter. My family is an embarrassment because of her perversions that you people and your twisted gods bring." He spat right on her jacket. It was everything that Val could do not to punch him right then and there.
"If you touch her again…"
Other patrons in the tavern were starting to notice the three girls confronting the Sheore men. One of Jasil's dad's cousins stood up, glaring at them, his beard black and bushy and streaked with gray. He was a tall man, even taller than Jasil's dad.
"You know nothing of our ways, swine!" he said. "My cousin is a good man, and you've brought shame upon him, and now you seek us out to rub our noses in it? Go away and mind your own business!"
Niko stepped in between him and Val while Izzy kept an eye on the other cousin. He was a head taller than her, but she looked him right in the eye. "Don't call my friend swine. She's protecting her friend. If you're going to beat your daughters, we're going to beat right back…"
The man brought his hand up to backhand Niko. It was an attack meant to embarrass and demoralize the victim, and not one that was especially useful against a trained opponent. Niko pressed his hand to his shoulder, kneed him in the groin, and took him to the ground.
Jasil's dad panicked and reached to grab Val. She wasn't sure what he intended and she didn't want to find out. She grabbed his arm and pulled him forward, smashing her forehead right into his mouth. As he stumbled back, she pushed him back onto the table and then leapt onto his chest, straddling him as he flailed, knocking mugs and plates to the side. She punched him in the nose and then again…
"Val!" Niko shouted.
Val forced herself to stop - she'd have kept punching and punching. She might have killed Jasil's dad right in front of everybody if she didn't force herself to stop. She wiped her blood-smeared hand against his shirt. "I'll find you anywhere you go. You touch Jasil again and I'll bloody kill you."
She hopped off of him and ran past the gawking patrons. The two cousins were on the floor, incapacitated by Niko and Izzy. The three of them rushed out past patrons, some of whom made half-hearted efforts to stop them, and into the night. As the anger drained out of Val, she felt good. She thought of the terror and fear that Jasil must have gone through on a regular basis and considered that a busted lip and a broken nose was an extremely light punishment to mete out to her bastard of a father. If he did it again, she would kill him. Val had no room in her life for bullies.
"Did you see when I got that guy?" Izzy laughed. "He went for Niko, so I kneed him in the nethers and threw him on the ground, just like in drills. I didn't do the eye gouge, though. I thought I might get in trouble for that."
They were back out on the street, in the quiet nighttime streets, a gentle breeze blowing in from the port. It smelled faintly of fish and sawdust - it was a common packing material - but was otherwise pleasant. Izzy skipped ahead of them, but Val was worried. She sought out Niko's hand and gave it a little squeeze.
"We shouldn't have done that," she said. "We could get in trouble… you helped me break detainment and then we beat up three guys…"
Niko meshed her fingers with Val's. "What did you think was going to happen?"
"I…" Val sighed. "I'm not sure. I thought we'd scare them and he'd promise not to hurt Jasil any more…"
"I think the only way to scare a man like that is to show him that you're more dangerous than he is. When I saw you going to town on him… I was afraid you were going to kill him. Part of me hoped you would."
"Yeah… I just saw red for a second. But Jasil wouldn't want me to seriously hurt her dad, even if I think he deserves it."
"We did what we went out to do," Niko said. "And now we know our fighting practice has been paying off. The guy I beat weighed twice what I did, and he couldn't do anything. I didn't even need my knuckle dusters."
It was strange how quickly instinct had kicked in. Val supposed that was the value of regular, rigorous practice. As soon as something triggered her fighting instincts, they just clicked into place and it was like she was watching from somewhere far away as her body made combat on its own. That wasn't entirely good, though - she'd have to work on keeping at least a little control so she didn't accidentally kill somebody.
When they returned to the palace, skittering down and clambering up the gulley that had once served as a moat, Val's rope was still in place. It had lost the camouflage she'd put on it - Val still hadn't figured out how to keep things disguised past an hour and a half - but nobody had pulled it up, so it hadn't been spotted. Or maybe they'd find guards up on the roof, waiting to nab them.
They reached the roof with Monkey Squad aplomb - no guards. Val tiptoed her way across the roof, her way lit by pale moonlight. Their escapade had gone unnoticed, and Val was so relieved that she sighed and collapsed into bed without even undressing, drifting off into a contented slumber.
OvidLemma
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-Ovid
