the Leathermines

Back to Chapter 16 - So- My Main Character should have used a Safe Word or two.  Read up on Safe Words so you can, you know, be safe while playing.

 

The wind was not favorable.  The tide was against them.  Clouds told of another storm that would be on them, the headaches and joint pains reported telling of how severe it was going to get.

Laun had a cold cloth over her forehead as she lay on the dirt.  The chair she had been in creaked just enough to set off the pain between her eyes.  Laying on the dirt and tile of the deck was preferable to even that little noise above the constant surf.  She now understood what the headache was, but even the pale yellow concoction that Maddoc gave her had not taken as much edge off as before the last storm pressure change.

A scrape of door frame against the ground made Laun wince.  She looked over and saw boots from under the cloth on her head.  “Ma’am?”

“More messages?”  Laun winced at her own voice, even though the Corporal had to lean down to hear her properly.

“No, Ma’am.  Batten orders were just passed.  You should probably come inside before the shutters are put in place.”  He continued to stand, waiting.

Laun sighed.  She had been trying to get some rest in the sun, warming herself as she fended off the pounding at her temples.  She held her arm up, her hand open and waited for the man to help her up.  He stepped forward, the sand under his boot making enough of a grinding noise to make Laun clench her teeth.

She was up and looking at him in the eyes.  She had not realized that he was as short as she, even without her boots.  “Thank you, Corporal.  Do you think I have time before the storm hits to go to the medical building?”

He nodded, his own neck seeming stiff.  “It is going to be a big storm, Ma’am.  It should be hours before it actually hits, but it is going to last a few days.”

Laun patted him on the shoulder and said, “Get whatever you need to get done off the desk and settle yourself somewhere.”

“Ma’am.”

Laun did not bother to put her boots on before she made her way to the medical building.  She did not want to have any extra pressure in her head of bending over before seeing someone who could, perhaps, give her something to lessen it.  The orderly at the front of the medical building looked down as he was saluting, a raised eyebrow as he held the door for her.

“Ma’am?  Going to see your friend?”

Laun nodded at the man with the red sleeves inside the hallway and regretted it.  “That and maybe get something more for my head.  The storm pressure is making it difficult,” she said in a low voice.

He nodded and turned, letting Laun escort herself through the building to the ward with Liam in it.  There was still a guard, but he was sitting near the door, reading instead of standing at the foot of the bed.  He nodded to Laun as she passed and went back to his book.

Liam was sitting up in bed, more blankets on him than Laun thought could be on one person.  A hot mug of something was in his hand and he was sipping on it in an absent way.  His eye went up to her and he smiled.  “Highness.  Not as formal today.”

Laun motioned to the brown deerskin riding leathers and the borrowed black tunic.  “I had to wear something.  I really don’t care if this is crapped up by the storm that is coming.”

Liam motioned with the mug to a place next to him on his bed.  “You sound like some of the others that I have seen.  I was told it is a pressure thing?”

Laun did not nod.  She sat and put a hand on what could have been an arm under the blankets.  “The last storm was not this bad before.  And was enjoyable during.”

Liam smiled.  “I was completely e lontono… out of it.  I didn’t even know there had been a storm.”  He moved and grimaced slightly.  “The medics are not saying anything one way or the other, but I did hear that you arranged for me to stay somewhere else after you leave for the King’s City.”

Laun did make a small nod.  “At the Mayor’s home.”  She smiled at the raised eyebrow.  “I have also claimed the Midnight Hour as my own and have paid three weeks worth of docking fees from what I found on the ship.”

“Your own, eh?”

She shrugged slightly and said, “If it is owned by one of the royals, it is less likely to be impounded, and I can keep the squad guarding it.  The least I can do, Padrone.”

He winced, but not because of his body.  “Do you know what that means?”

Laun looked at her hand on the blanket.  “My Gem told me a few things about when she was growing in Rosemond.  I knew she had come from there, but I did not realize how different it was for her here.  I had heard that title and she told me that is close to our Lord.”

Liam motioned with the mug and Laun took it, putting it on the side table for him.  “Lord is a good way to put it.  I...” He looked past Laun and seemed to be deciding something.  “My past is dead, but I was once a landed noble.  A minor title and I was never going to inherit the land and full title.  My family has merchant ships and has grown wealthy from them, so I really didn’t care.”

Laun waited for him to continue.  She counted to twenty and softly said, “What happened for you to turn to the twilight to live?”

His eyes focused back on Laun and there was a sadness.  “She happened.  Her excellency asked me to visit a friend of hers, bringing a package to him.  I love travel and agreed readily.  I found when he accepted the trinket that it was much more.  She-”  He looked pained and moved under the mass of blankets.  “It was part of the Rosemond crown jewels.  Her friend was a Master smuggler, one that had been under her thumb but who had little to give her any more because of his known reputation.  It forced me...”

“The jewels...  If you had been caught with them, you could be found a traitor?”  He nodded and could not say more.  “She forced you to go into it.”

“She was my main client for the last decade.  I would take others, but she had my leash.  I was able to sate my appetites on her women, though.”

Laun put her hand to her breast.  Without looking around, she pulled the jerkin off and lifted the tunic.  His eyes were on her chest, a growing smile on his lips as he looked at the carving he had done in her skin.

“You heal well, Mistress.”  His eyes went to hers and she saw just a little of the lust she had seen before.

“Ma’am, please...”  Maddoc stepped between Laun and the main part of the open ward.  “We have decorum to uphold here.”

Laun turned a little more towards the Surgeon Captain and showed that she was wearing her structured underthing, fully covering anything truly objectionable.  “Just showing off the scars.”  She let the cloth fall and smiled up at the red-sleeved soldier.

“That could be enough to cause a riot, Ma’am.”  He held out a small vial of brown liquid, Laun’s internal reaction making her neck and head hurt as she looked at it.  “Take it when you get back to your room.  It is fast acting.”

Laun smiled.  “It will not make me sleep as long as you think, but I will do as you say, sir.”  She took it and put it in a small pocket on the inside of the jerkin before pulling the brown leather back over herself.  “I should be going.  I don’t know what supplies they have laid in for the storm, but I am sure it will be safer being in my room than wandering about.”

Liam held out his hand and Laun smiled wider as he kissed the back of her hand, lingering with a stroke of his thumb on the thong and rope burn that still showed on her wrist.  “Thank you for coming to see me, Highness.  I hope to see you after the storm.”

“I will be here.”  There was a finality in that statement.

The medical man walked slowly with Laun through the building, talking in low tones.  “My Brother has told me that he has delivered the message from Flint.  He said that the person who it was destined for did not like being pulled to the North.”

Laun walked with her hands held behind her back.  “It sounds like I will have to go as soon as the storm has passed.  Right into another storm.”

“Mistress, I am certain that there are paths around your troubles.”

Laun looked sideways at Maddoc.  “I intend to go right through them.  Either I survive or he does.  It was the same with her Excellency.  I am not as important as many, including myself, would like to think.  I would miss this life if things did not flow my way, but I know that the Kingdom and my family are secure.”

“The road before you is uncertain and full of traps, Mistress.”

Laun stopped and turned to the Surgeon Captain.  “Have you had any word from someone who would know how smooth the path may be?”

He held her head in his hands, looking like he was searching for something in her eyes as he said, “The lost nails I know are all hearing rumbles of a dire nature.  We never can give each other enough details of the messages we hold, but knowing you are the reason for most of it...”  He dropped his hands and stepped back half a pace.  “Mistress, by the time you get to the Capitol City, it sounds like seven or eight of the clapperless bell Masters shall have already gathered.”

Laun nodded and winced at the motion.  “I know of one who will be joining their ranks when I arrive.  It is hard to defend ones self when you are fighting assumptions, and then claims based in those assumptions.”

There was a bootstep that stopped a pace from Laun and the medical officer.  Laun turned and Lieutenant Beau was there, a formal stance to his attention.  “Ma’am.”  He said nothing else, but Laun could see that he wanted, no needed, to talk to her about something.

“Highness, I think you are well enough to travel.  Remember to take the valerian tincture after you get back to your room.”  Maddoc did not salute, but Laun saw the wink before he turned to go back to his office.

Launs aide d’camp escorted her out of the medical building by letting her lead.  It was a very odd military habit that made Laun wonder about a few things.  Very minor things, like having the highest ranked officer lead a group through a door and how they might take the brunt of an assault that way.  She did not expect anything to happen within the compound, but it was a habit that she had seen at the Palace, too.

“Ma’am.  As soon as the storm has passed and the ship is found sound, the KingsArrow will be at your command.”

Laun looked at the Lieutenant in a slightly sideways way as he walked half a pace behind her to her left.  There was little indication of any emotions on the surface, though the tension she saw might have been from the storm pressure that everyone seemed to be feeling.  Laun brought her head up and smiled as they walked back to the non-commissioned officer’s barracks.

“I do dread traveling to the gathering I have been rudely invited to, but I do like that I will be going towards my home.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”  Beau stepped a little faster and opened the door into the barracks for Laun.

She stopped and stepped close, not touching the Lieutenant, but saying in a low tone, “I will miss you being next to me.”

He swallowed and nodded, not letting out anything he was feeling as she passed by him and into the darkened corridor.  Lieutenant Beau let her walk about two paces into the barracks before closing the door behind him, walking to be at her back as she went to her office.

There was just the scribe left, one last message being finished before he was done.  Laun took the papers he had gone through and looked at them in the lamplight, all of them impeccable.  Laun put her hand on the man’s shoulder and smiled in appreciation, a slight blush going across the scribe’s face.

Laun turned and saw a flash of possessiveness in the Lieutenant’s eyes.  She smiled at him, but knew that parting for him was going to be very difficult.  Laun went to the shelving and found a few books to take with her into her room before turning back to the two men in the room.

“I am going into my room.  I am going to be taking something the Surgeon Captain gave me, so I may be asleep when the storm hits.  Thank you for finishing the messages, but don’t push to get them delivered before the weather traps us.”

The scribe nodded and went back to his duties.  The Lieutenant followed Laun out and to the door of her current room, a hesitation in Laun’s step when she did not hear one in his.  They went into her room, the books being placed on the little desk as Laun tried to think of what to say.

“Beau...”  Laun sat on the armless chair and motioned to the bed.  He sat, still slightly stiff in his posture.  “Please tell me what you are thinking?”

There was a moment where Laun saw something go across his face, but then whatever veil had been pushed aside was back in place as he said, “I am trying to be your aide, Ma’am.”

Laun leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees.  It was not a comfortable position.  Her back had been itching like crazy from the healing needle wounds and her head made a rise in the pounding when she moved.  But, it worked the way she wanted it to.  It brought her slightly closer and her eyeline lower than the Lieutenants’.  He blinked and she saw a softening in his face.

A slight tilt to her head seemed to finish the slight push and she saw a tear at the corner of his eye.  “Beau, please.  Tell me what you are feeling?  I don’t know what I can do unless I know-”

There was a clenching of his jaw, but the small sob escaped.  He looked down to his hands and then around the small room.  Anywhere that was not her.  “I-”  He stopped and looked at the outside door and the covered window.  “Ma’am...  I.”

Laun slowly stood.  He looked at her feet and then to the oil lamp on the little desk.  Laun read desperation in him.  A need that he was trying to keep in control.  She breathed deeply, the pounding in her head lessening slightly as she stood there.  She saw his stiff posture, the use of formality to cover his internal struggles.

The armless chair was turned around and Laun sat again.  She started to undo the thong around the end of her braid, the leather dropping to the floor.  She did not have more than a small hand mirror face down on the desk so she could not see what effect she was having, but she knew what playing with her hair had done to him before.  She started to undo the braid with her fingers, the fingertips drawing through the hair and down.

Laun reached for the brush and she heard him move behind her.  He was standing close enough to her that his heat came through the arm of her tunic.  Laun picked up the brush and lifted it, holding it up at her shoulder.

Beau’s hand touched the brush, touched her hand.  Then there were lips on the back of her hand, the brush taken from her.  He was firm with his kiss, his hand warm and strong around hers.  He breathed on her skin.  It felt as though he was pausing to decide.  Something.

The man behind her stood and took Laun’s hair in his hand, stroking it and touching the nape of her neck several times before starting to really brush her hair.  The little pulls were nice, though some of them flashed to a not quite pain when they pulled on where her head hurt.  The strokes were long and steady and became very relaxing as his hand smoothed the hair behind the pull of the brush.

He left her hair loose.  The brush went back on the little desk as he went to his knee.  Laun could feel his hands still stroking her hair, and then his breath warmed the back of her neck as the hair was pulled to the side.  It must have been slightly awkward of a position for him, but Laun did not care as he started to kiss the back of her neck.

He whispered into her neck, “Ma’am, I know you are leaving.  I know that you have your family, your...husbands.  And the Kingdom.  Please, may I be with you for the storm?”

Laun put her hand on his at her shoulder, her head turning slightly.  It was not to let him hear her better or have her see Beau.  It was to let him see her face as she quietly said, “I was hoping you would be with me before I had to go.”

His lips pressed to her cheek, his arms going around her and the chair.  “Thank you, my Love.”

There was a shifting of them, Laun taking her deerskin jerkin off and the Lieutenant unstrapping his weapon’s belt.  She stood, his arms ready to embrace her.  She welcomed the warmth, the strength he offered in those arms.  There was a fleeting moment of thinking of him as young and youthful, making her smile at herself.

He held her, his lips barely brushing against hers.  His eyes were open and looked deeply, longingly into Laun’s.  His hand stroked her hair, slowly going down her back and then up to cradle the back of her head again before traveling downwards once more.  He was holding himself back and Laun did not know why.

He sighed slightly and pulled away to just touch her hands.  “My Love, I need to make sure about some of the...battening, but I will be back.  Before the storm.”  He looked at her for a moment more and turned to take his weapons belt from where it had landed.  He looked a little stricken and said, “With your permission...?”

Laun smiled.  It was a sad and reflexive smile as she thought of Edgar.  He hardly said that any more, but when he did, it meant more than the formal request.  She smiled wider and nodded her head.  “Do what you need to, Lieutenant.  I will be here.”

There was a straightening of his posture and he saluted, only dropping his hand after she had saluted him.  The Lieutenant opened the door and carefully closed it again, though the voices outside as he went over orders with the Corporal on duty were possibly louder than they realized.

Laun had a flash of pain as she bent over to get something from the floor.  Her head really hurt, but even with the prospect of the pain going away with the vile stuff Surgeon Captain Maddoc had made available to her, she did not want to take something if she was going to miss being with the Lieutenant.  Laun sat on the bed and found that her head was slightly tilted to the side at the thought.

There was a habit of hers of latching onto bedmates.  For good or bad, she did not feel complete without a body beside her.  Even when she knew she would hurt after, or even while they were together.  It was not just a need within herself for the companionship.  It was also the performance, making the other person happy as they were together.  Laun sighed and shook her head at herself.

Laun undressed and made a rough braid of her hair, using the fallen thong at the end.  She looked at the hair at the end of the braid.  It once had been a straight cut, but it had grown out, grown slightly ragged.  Without the slight weight of the clapperless bell, it did not feel quite right.  Another thing she had started to take for granted.  Everything had a price.  Her complacency had almost been her undoing.

The brown stuff was as vile as anything she had ever had.  It reminded her of the palpable taste of sweat in the practice tent over the Winter.  Only mixed with rotten potatoes.  Laun felt as though she needed to scrub her mouth to get the taste out.

She slid into the bed, relaxed into the pillow as the linen and blanket settled on her.  She knew that she would be asleep soon, possibly unresponsive if anyone came in.  She knew she should care, but if she would sleep through the pain in her head, she was willing to risk it.

 

In Chapter 18 The next storm brings more peril