The Sultry Maid

The bell of The Sultry Maid inn rang as the door opened allowing a fiery red-bearded dwarf ingress to the tavern hall.  He wore a dusky green tunic that was so soiled from dirt and grim that it almost looked gray.  His coarse linen britches weren’t much better.  Resting on his right shoulder was a heavy iron pick axe, which he gripped leisurely in his hand.  The glowing lantern hanging from the tip of his pick, cast swinging shadows across the patrons of the otherwise cheery tavern.

The dwarf’s clear, beady eyes scanned the scene from beneath thick hairy eyebrows.  Spotting the barmaid he sauntered over to her as she set a couple of flagons down on a table between a pair of customers.

“Evenin’, lass,” the dwarf greeted the pretty maid.

“Hello Garrick,” the barmaid answered back.  “Will you have your usual?”

“Aye,” he nodded.

The maid hurried over to the bar and grabbing an empty tankard, filled it to the brim with ale straight from a tapped barrel. Turning, she slid it along the counter to the dwarf who had followed her over.

“That will be three coppers,” the barmaid stated.

The dwarf took a draught of his tankard, reached into a pouch on his belt, and produced a small nugget of gold.  Holding it up so only the maid could see, he leaned in to whisper to her.

“This be all I’ve got on hand, lass.  Can I just give it to ye and say we’re square for the rest o’ the week?”

The maid quickly took the nugget from the dwarf’s hand and bit it.  Seeing her teeth leave a slight indentation she quickly hid it in the pockets of her apron and nodded.  Then she spun about to return to taking orders and serving drinks.  The dwarf reached out to put a hand on her arm.

“Care for a bit o’ fun tonight?” he whispered.

“Garrick!” the maid whispered back in exasperation.  “I told you not but a day ago, NO!”

“But we had such a grand time last week,” he whispered back.

“That was one time, and only you had a ‘grand’ making of it!  As soon as you got off, you fell asleep on top of me!“ she retorted in a fierce hiss.  “I lay pinned under your weight for an hour till you finally rolled over!  I’ll not be doing that again!”

“But lass, who else is goin’ ta give ye a triple load?  There ain’t no other dwarf in a hundred leagues o’ here!” he quietly protested.

“It’s true you came three times, but what good is that if I’m stuck under your naked, snoring girth for the last two?” she snapped back, almost raising her voice.  She caught herself and, after taking a deep breath, continued, “I want someone who sees to my pleasure and you aren’t it!”  With that, she walked back out into the floor to continue serving the other patrons.

Garrick sighed and, taking another draught of his ale, spun around on the bar stool to survey the evening crowd.

There was the standard clientele.  Several of the local farmers had gathered around a large table at one end of the hall and were commiserating about the day’s challenges as they tried to convince their crops to grow.  A few of the town merchants had come in for an evening drink before heading home.  Some sat together to discuss business.  Others, preferring to drink in peace, sat at empty tables alone.  There were also a few of the town watch, off duty and relaxing with a little repast before turning in for the night.

Garrick wasn’t interested in any of them.  Instead, he looked over the crowd for any new faces.  Likely they would be passing travelers that had taken refuge at the inn for the evening.  He noted a couple of cloaked strangers huddled at one table up front near the bar.  Based on their appearance, the dwarf suspected them to be rangers.  He thought about striking up a conversation with them, but something about their air felt—ominous—and Garrick decided to give them a wide berth instead.  Then he spotted a sight that arrested his gaze and commanded his full attention!

Sitting at a more secluded table in the back was a ravishing Elven maiden.  Garrick knew elves were legendarily known for their gorgeous looks, but to his eyes, this one was the most beautiful female he had ever seen!

Involuntarily letting out a soft, low whistle, Garrick took a long draft of his drink without breaking his gaze on the alluring elf.  When finally he lowered his flagon from his lips, Garrick stood up and began to cross the hall headed straight for the table occupied by this fay creature.

As he approached, the dwarf took in all the details of this singularly beautiful elf.  By his estimate, she would stand around five feet—fully half a foot taller than Garrick himself, though he probably weighed more than double hers.

Long golden tresses fell in cascading ripples and waves that flowed from her scalp, past her shoulders, and were tucked into the hood of her cloak—Garrick had no way of knowing how much further down they went.  Thin braids, starting at her temples, wrapped back around her head.  They met at the back and became one, held together by a hair band.  Her bangs parted on her right and flowed down and across the left side of her face—nearly obscuring her left eye completely. 

Her right, however, was fully visible and twinkled like the sapphire whose color it matched.  Her fine nose had a gentle curve that lifted the tip, while a beauty mark, a mere spec of a mole, sat just below the outside corner of her visible eye.  Her luscious, pink lips were feminine perfection in shape and form.  A circlet, nearly hidden by her bangs, wrapped around her forehead holding a clear blue topaz in the center.  The fine filigree swerved and spiraled out from the center stone in expert craftsmanship to be accented with pearls.  Her long pointed ears, peeking out from her lovely locks, each sported three golden-looped earrings along their lower ridge.  Sparkling marquee cut sapphires dangled within the largest earrings closest to her head, while her comely neck flowed out from beneath her fine-featured jawline to slip into the collar of her dark, navy traveling cloak where a pearl choker with a large sapphire in the center wrapped about its circumference.

Most of the rest of the elf’s figure was obscured by her cloak as she had it wrapped around her torso. Only where it parted in the middle of her lap did it allow her crossed, bare legs to show.  Garrick’s eyes slowly wandered down their exquisite form.  Shapely, toned thighs, comely calves, and fine feet with perfect toes displaying immaculate pedicures were all on full display.

A golden toe ring adorned the second toe of her right foot, while a topaz and diamond bespeckled anklet rested atop the instep of her left.  Thin, finely crafted leather sandals adorned her soles while golden cords secured them to her feet before crossing and wrapping halfway up her calves.  Golden thigh bands, thin, and expertly crafted, barely peered out from between the folds on her lap.  Aside from her footwear, no other article of clothing was visible peeking out from beneath her cloak.

Stopping in front of her table, Garrick noted a fluted, steel, full helm resting on it next to the elf, while a large steel heater[1] leaned against the empty seat next to hers.

“Good evenin’ lass.  Did your travelin’ partner leave ye here alone?” Garrick asked the gorgeous elf.

In response, she turned to look at him, as she pulled her legs further into the shadows beneath the table.

“Why do you ask?” she countered his question with her own.

Somewhat taken by surprise at her return question, Garrick stammered as he tried to explain himself.  “Well…I just thought…if ye was alone…ye might like a little…er…male company.”

“And what, pray tell, is this ‘male company’ offering exactly?” the elf inquired further.

“Why a drinkin’ buddy, some friendly conversation, and maybe…a bedmate?  Did ye know dwarves can cum three times before goin’ soft?” Garrick expounded excitedly at her seeming interest.

The elf laughed softly.  “You certainly are right to the point, aren’t you?  What’s your name?”

Puffing out his barrel chest the dwarf stood at his full height.  “They call me Garrick!  And who might ye be?”

The elf leaned forward as her slender right hand, accented with jeweled golden rings—ruby on her small finger, emerald sparkling off her ring finger, sapphire flashing from her index, and a plain band about her thumb—peeked out from between the folds of her traveling cloak.  It was followed by a tone forearm with triple golden bracelets loosely dangling from about her wrist.  The upper arm sported a gold armband shaped like bay leaves. She placed her elbow on the table as she rested her chin on her knuckles.  Aside from her arm, the rest of her figure still remained carefully hidden beneath the cloak.  “I’m Titania[2],” she answered cheerfully.

“Titania,” Garrick repeated as he assessed her jewelry—it would easily have cost several thousand gold coins.  “Tis a right lovely soundin’ name.  So about me proposition?”

Suddenly Garrick found the light dim as a large shadow fell over him.

“What proposition?”

Turning around the dwarf looked up into the worn, gray steely-eyed, battle-hardened, face of a man in his late forties.  Broad of stature, he wore full plate armor, save for a helmet.  Graying at the temples of his brown hair, he towered a good four inches over six feet with the golden heraldry of the blazing sun on the chest of his steel breastplate.  An arming sword[3] hung at his right hip, while he carried a tankard in either hand.

“A Paladin!” Garrick whispered to himself as his eyes went wide in fearful awe at the sight of such a legendary figure[4] standing before him.

“He was suggesting I take him to bed instead of you,” Titania answered the holy knight’s question.

“You asked my wife to sleep with you?” The paladin asked sternly, a slight edge to his tone of voice.

“N-no…I…err…I didn’t…I thought…it seemed…” the dwarf sputtered as he turned nearly as red as his beard.

“Leave him be, Augustus,” Titania admonished her husband.  “He didn’t know, and he’s offered me no harm or insult.”

“Very well,” the paladin relented.  “In the future, I hope you learn to ascertain the relational status before you make such propositions,” he warned the dwarf.

“Aye, aye!” Garrick nodded vigorously as he hurriedly left the table.

Augustus watched the red-haired dwarf go before placing the drinks next to his helmet and sitting down beside his fay wife.  “Are all the locals this forward, I wonder?” he questioned under his breath.

“I doubt it, darling,” Titania answered.  “I don’t think he’s a bad fellow, just lonely for some feminine company.”

Augustus sighed.  “Well if he’s not careful, one day he’s going to proposition the wrong female and get himself into real trouble.”  He lifted his flagon to take a drink.

“Well you’ve warned him now, so it will be his own fault if he doesn’t heed your advice,” she noted.  Retracting her hand into the depths of her traveling cloak, Titania leaned over to whisper in her husband’s ear—a faint smile playing across her lips.  “It’s a good thing I’m already bound[5] to you, he was telling me dwarves can cum thrice before needing rest.”

Augustus smirked between sips from his tankard.  “Surely that alone wouldn’t—“ he began.

“Of course not, darling,” Titania reassured her husband.  Then, hovering her lips intimately close to his ear, she added in barely audible tones, “Even if we weren’t bound, I would want no other!”  She lifted the top calf of her bare, crossed legs to let it drape over her husband’s thigh as it rubbed against his crotch beneath the table.  “In fact, I’m already wet thinking about what you’ll do to me tonight!” she added as the tip of her tongue gave the tiniest lick to his earlobe.

Augustus nearly spat out his drink as he sputtered and coughed in aroused surprise at his wife’s titillating tease.

“Dear!” he finally managed to croak between coughs.

Titania merely laughed melodiously at her husband’s plight.  “You know it’s true!” she taunted in veiled seduction.

Augustus sighed, but he made no attempt to remove his wife’s calf from between his thighs as it continued to slowly, erotically slide against his manhood.  “We just got into town, but we really should go searching for clues about our quarry.”  Nodding in the direction of the table with the two cloaked strangers at the front of the hall he added, “Besides I think we have a bit of trouble already.”

Titania again let her hand peek out of her cloak and picked up the tankard her husband brought for her.  “Two members of the Black Hand[6].  I’m not sure why, but someone has paid them money to try and track down our prey first,” she whispered before taking a sip of her drink.

“Who would want a succubus and an incubus?” her husband ruminated.  “I admit it’s extremely odd of them to both be haunting the same territory, but still.”

“That might be a mere decoy designed to attract us,” Titania countered.  “Because should we beat them to the prize, they are supposed to kill us both.  Yet they seemed inclined to off us immediately.”

“You know this because they told you?” Augustus asked his beautiful elf.

“In a manner of speaking,” she answered.  “They talk too loud to keep their conversation secret from my ears.”

Augustus gave a slight, wry smile.  He knew his wife could hear a pin drop in a crowded tavern, so obviously, their low mutterings were practically like a normal conversation to her Elven ears.  Still, this was concerning.  The Black Hand were no mere two-bit blades for hire; they should be well aware of how sensitive elf ears are.

“I’m surprised they are talking so loudly with us nearby,” he whispered back as he lifted his drink to his lips.

“They’re bait.  They expect me to hear them.  They want us to follow them,” she murmured back as she leaned against her husband resting her head on his shoulder.

“I can’t imagine they actually voiced that information,” he muttered behind his flagon.

“Of course not,” Titania softly laughed.  “My sylphs[7] informed me their companions are waiting on rooftops all about the inn.”

“How many?” Augustus asked between sips.

“About two dozen,” his wife calmly breathed back.

“Whoever their employer, they don’t want us to find our quarry, do they?”

“So it would seem,” she sighed.  “Shall I have my sylphs deal with them?”

Augustus shook his head.  “No, not yet.  I’d really like to see if we can learn who their employer is.”

Titania frowned.  “I don’t want this messing with my evening playtime.”

“I promise you’ll be satisfied before we fall asleep,” her husband reassured her.

“I’m holding you to that,” she returned as she closed her eyes and smiled playfully.

“Have I ever not kept my word?” her husband queried softly.

“Never,” his wife frankly admitted.  “Just one of the many reasons I love you so.”

Putting his flagon down, Augustus gently laid his cheek atop his wife’s head.  The scent of honeysuckle softly filled his nostrils as it wafted off her golden hair.  He closed his eyes for a moment enjoying the smell as it soothed and calmed his tired body.

The two cloaked strangers arose from their table, giving furtive glances at the couple, and then quickly made their way to the door and exited the inn.

“They’ve made their move,” Titania announced softly to her husband.  “Do we follow?”

“No.  Let’s put them off guard,” Augustus answered as he straightened up.  “Come on, honey.  Let’s head upstairs,” he stated at normal volume.

“Oh darling, I thought you’d never ask!” Titania teased.  Then quietly she added, “Are we going to just ignore them tonight then?”

“Oh no,” he whispered back.  “But we’re going to let them think we did.”

The couple arose from their seats and Augustus tossed a handful of copper coins on the table next to the now-empty tankards before picking up his helmet and shield.  Then wrapping an arm around his wife’s cloaked shoulders, he escorted her up the stairs where the guest rooms were located.

Garrick watched the couple ascend the staircase from his stool at the bar.  He let out a sigh as Titania disappeared from sight.

“A pity,” he muttered to himself.  “Me first time meeting such a fetching lass and of course, she taken—by a Paladin no less!  I thought those guys all swore a life of celibacy.”

“No Garrick, that would be the clerics, monks, and nuns.”

Garrick spun around in his chair to see the barmaid set down another tankard of ale in front of him.

“If you want to get a girl, you’re going to have to do it the normal way and actually court her,” the maid added with a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

“But lass, you know I’m in me mine three-fourths of the week.  I don’t have no time for such games!”

“Girls like games, Garrick.  You would do well to remember that,” the maid stated as she filled a couple more tankards for customers.  “Barring that, there’s always Rose Street[8].”

“Aye, but every girl in Rose Street is expensive!  I’d have to save a week’s worth of ore just to buy a single night!” Garrick complained.

“Girls are expensive, Garrick,” the maid stated as she loaded the freshly poured drinks on her tray.  “If she’s not, then she wants something.”  With that last piece of advice, the barmaid scurried away to serve more of her clientele.

Garrick sat ruminating over the maid’s words as he drank his ale in large gulps.  He didn’t like the idea of having to spend countless days courting in the hopes of having a fun night.  Nor did he like the idea of having to spend copious amounts of his hard-gained ore for it either.  As he drank the last of the ale in his second tankard, he let out a depressed sigh and slipped off the stool.  Retrieving his pick and lantern, he headed for the door.

Once again in the night air, Garrick was surprised to find the two cloaked strangers standing not too far away from the entrance of the inn.  They were watching it intently and seemed miffed at the sight of Garrick.

A looming sense of foreboding tightened within his chest, and he gripped his pick axe tighter as he hurried away.  A quick glance over his shoulder informed him the two weren’t following, which gave Garrick a large swell of relief.  They seemed to be heatedly debating some point, but it was apparently settled quickly as they strode down a side street along the inn—in the opposite direction Garrick was traveling.

“Whew!” he thought to himself.  I don’t know what it is about those two, but me hair stands on end when they’re about.”

Happy they weren’t following, Garrick turned down another street, quite deserted at this time of night, as he headed for the town gates.  If he wasn’t going to get any female company tonight, then returning to his mine to continue working made the most sense.

Unexpectedly a cloaked figure exited an alley up ahead and started making its way toward Garrick’s direction.  At first, Garrick thought it one of the two strangers from the inn, but as this new figure got closer, he realized two things.  First, he felt no ominous foreboding, and second, his nostrils were hit with the lovely scents of pear and rose perfume!

Slowing his pace, Garrick more carefully examined the oncoming figure.  He noted it was a bit shorter and seemed thinner than the two he had just seen outside the inn, both good signs in his book.  Also, despite wearing a cloak, the way the hips swayed—it had to be a female!

“Good evening, lass,” Garrick called out as they drew closer to one another.

The woman looked up with a small startled gasp.

“Oh!  You scared me!” she replied fanning herself with her left hand.  As she did so, Garrick got a peek at her raiment beneath the cloak.

The human woman, for that was clearly her race, wore a red corset laced up with black string.  A light green blouse sat just off her shoulders, leaving her smooth, bare skin to tantalize and tease beneath the evening cloak.  Her skirt was an elegant mahogany color with a long slit up the right side.  Her tone, bare leg, and fur-lined high-heel boot played peek-a-boo with any onlookers as she walked.

Looking up into her face, Garrick replied, “Sorry lass, these streets prey on the mind at night.”

The woman smiled back warmly.  Her face was elegantly refined, and her hair was parted down the middle and braided back.  More than that, Garrick could not see with her hood up.  Her green eyes were warm and friendly, accented by her mauve eyeshadow, and her smiling lips wore blood-red lipstick.

“My aren’t ye the wondrous sight tonight,” Garrick complimented her.

The woman blushed slightly at his comment before replying, “Thank you, kind sir.  It appears you’ve been at a long, hard day’s work.”

Garrick nodded.  “Aye, I’ve been.  By how gussied up you are, and the time of night, might you be heading to work on Rose Street?”

The lady laughed softly.  “No, my good sir, my services are for exclusive private clientele only.  I had an appointment tonight and I was preparing to head over, but alas I’ve received word he canceled.  Now, I’ve got nothing to pass away these evening hours…unless…” she paused.

“Unless?” Garrick queried with interest.

“Unless…you would like to entertain me this evening.  My appointments are non-refundable.  So even though my client canceled, the night is already paid for.  Hence, if you’re interested, I could…service you…for free.”  She said the final part almost as a whisper, as she gave Garrick a sultry look from beneath her hood.

Garrick let out a short whistle as he beamed from ear to ear!  “Lass, I’d be happy to keep ye company this fine evening.  Only me place is up in the mountain outside o’ town.  Could we possibly use yours?”

The woman gave a seductive smile.  “Why yes, of course!’  She walked over to the dwarf and slipped her hand under his arm.  “If you’ll just follow me,” she stated warmly.

“Lead on lass!” Garrick told her, happily following her lead.  “I thought me night would be spent back in me mine, so this arrangement is far warmer and more pleasurable.  Did ye know us dwarfs can cum three times before goin’ soft?”

“Why no!” the woman answered in interested surprise.  “How is that possible?”  Then she leaned in to whisper in Garrick’s ear, “Do dwarfs by chance have three stones?”

Garrick laughed.  “Nay lass!  The first load is half from one stone, the second is half from the other.  The final load is the remainder from both together so it be twice as much!”

“You’ll have to demonstrate this—marvel—to me in detail,” the woman sensually returned biting the corner of her lip momentarily before her smile returned.

Garrick grinned widely.  “It’ll be me pleasure lass!”

[1] A common shield type best described as a rounded triangle.

[2] Unlike the common pronunciation, the elf pronounces it: tĭ-tăn-yuh.

[3] A one-handed sword, also commonly called a side-sword.

[4] Paladin training is extremely arduous and acceptance to the order slim, so they are very few of them.

[5] See Appendix A for details.

[6] An extremely dangerous and notorious league of assassins.

[7] An air spirit, typically they are invisible unless whipping particulates around at great speed.

[8] The town’s red light district.