Benjamin Ashwood (27 page)

Rishram
whipped back to give a killing blow but Ben had seen his chance.  He slammed
into Rishram’s back with his entire body weight pushing them both onto Ferguson
and sending all three men crashing to the ground.  Ben landed on Rishram who
landed on Ferguson.

Before
Rishram could recover, Ben stripped his knife from his hand and scrambled to
his feet.  The little man didn’t follow.  He lay still on top of a heavily
breathing and profusely bleeding Ferguson.

By
now, Renfro had recovered and was back up with his cobblestone in hand and the
girls were cautiously moving around to put Ben between them and Rishram.  There
was no reason to fear though, Ben knew.  In an eerie similarity to Meredith’s
death, Ben bent down and pulled Rishram’s body off of Ferguson, and off of the
wounded arm that still had the knife lodged in it.  As Rishram’s body rolled
off, they could see where the knife in Ferguson’s arm stabbed into Rishram’s
chest.  Ben’s body weight on top of the little man had sunk the knife deep into
his heart.

“Shit. 
That hurt,” grunted Ferguson before his eyes rolled up and his head thumped
down on the paving stones.

The
Curve Inn that evening was a bustling hive of activity.  Kirksbane was a decent
sized place with it’s share of rough characters but it wasn’t every day that a
group of strangers fought to the death in the middle of town during broad
daylight.  Locals and visitors alike packed the common room and were whispering
to each other and staring.  Ben felt like livestock at an auction.  This must
have been what Amelie and the others felt like in Farview.

Ferguson
had been rushed near death to the local physician and Lady Towaal had gone to
see if she could assist.  The rest of the group clustered in the common room
under the watchful eyes of Saala and Rhys.  They had plenty of bumps and
bruises but thanks to Ferguson, none of the young people had suffered any
serious injuries.

The
Constable spent half a bell questioning the companions before Amelie cut him
off.  Once he realized she was the daughter of Lord Gregor of Issen, he backed
away from the investigation.  As several witnesses could confirm, she’d been
attacked and the attacker had been killed.  She was satisfied that the man was
dead so no further action from the Constable was needed or wanted.  When it
came to high born, the Constable had a policy learned over the years.  He
stayed out of it.

Shortly
after the Constable left, a tired looking Lady Towaal cut through the crowd to
their table.

“He’ll
live, but it was a near thing.  I expended all of the energy I was willing to
which was enough to save his life.  He will be under the physician’s care for
weeks.”  She glanced at Rhys, “the body?”

“Nothing,
his knives were decent quality but he could have picked them up at any major
city in Alcott.  The clothes were in the style of Sineook Valley and he had no
identifying marks.”

“The
room?”

“Same
story.  All locally sourced provisions.  No significant stock of money and no
artifacts.”

“Of
course, he would have known he was travelling with a Mage before we left
Eastside.  How did you miss it, is he not known to you?”

Rhys
grimaced, “he’s not a member of any guilds I know and he didn’t have any of the
customary signs.  He threw me off with his pitiful bow work.  I thought he was
just some hack who’d managed to impress Foley and get on the payroll.”

“Do
you think Foley would have…?”  Towaal glanced between Rhys and Amelie.

“No,”
answered Rhys quickly.  “It’s too obvious - Rishram leads directly back to
him.  He would never risk blowback from Argren, The City and Issen with something
so stupid.  I’m sure it wasn’t Foley but I have no idea who could have hired
the man.”

“If
I didn’t have experience with your work, I’d think you were slacking off,”
snapped Lady Towaal.

Rhys
shrugged angrily, his frustration at himself was evident.

Towaal
continued with a hiss, “so we don’t even know who he was working for.  Not Lord
Foley certainly, but who else has the pull in the Valley to direct something
like this?”

“This
is my fault,” sighed Saala.  “I am here to protect Lady Amelie and I let my
guard down.  We must be more diligent.”

“Hold
on!” broke in Amelie.  “We all travelled with that man for three weeks and none
of us suspected a thing.  You all protected me well for three weeks and the
first time you weren’t around, he struck.  Let’s stop the blame and focus on
what we need to do next.  Keep in mind, none of you failed.  I’m still alive
and aside from a sore tailbone, I’m uninjured.” 

She
smiled attempting to break the tension and continued, “before we figure out
what’s next though, when a Lady is assaulted, it’s customary for her to thank
her hero.”  Amelie leaned over a planted a kiss on Ben’s cheek.

Ben
flushed at the sensation of her soft lips on his skin.

“A
Lady and a Hero is it?” breathed the barmaid Ilyena.  She was flushed from the
excitement going on in the inn that evening and breathing heavily.  Ben
couldn’t help but notice the effect the deep breaths had on her full chest. 
“I’m sure Master Taber will agree,” she crooned, “drinks on the house tonight
for you folks.  I’ll be back with some ale.”

“Now
when did she show up?” muttered Amelie.

“I,
ah, noticed her just before you started kissing Ben,” said Rhys.

“Oh,
you noticed her did you!” quipped Amelie.

They
all laughed and the rest of the tension faded away.  The concern over who hired
Rishram and what motivated his attack was still there, but they knew they could
trust the people left in the group.  With nothing to do until morning when
Reinhold’s sloop left, it was time to celebrate the fact that they were all
still alive and uninjured.

Later
that evening, the ale was flowing and the entire room seemed to be in on the
celebration.  Just like the first night, a band started playing raucous tunes
and they pushed back the tables and chairs to make an open dance floor in the
middle of the room.

Ben,
Amelie, Meghan and Renfro all paired up again and were soon swinging and
skipping to the beat.  A tipsy Rhys and smooth as silk Saala joined the fun and
only Lady Towaal remained seated.  The ale kept flowing and Ben felt himself
becoming quite drunk.

Two
bells after nightfall the dances changed from partner dances to circle dances. 
The entire dance floor spun around in two giant circles, women on the inside
and men outside.  They rotated around to different partners in an endless
progression of smiling, laughing faces.  The faces and lights began to blur
around the edges but Ben was having the time of his life.

After
several rotations, Ben found himself across from Ilyena the barmaid.  She was
beaming up at him but he found it hard to keep eye contact.  As they held hands
and danced she bounced mesmerizingly with the steady beat of the music.  He was
entranced by her movement and when he did pull up his eyes to meet her’s,
instead of the expected accusatory glare, he saw she was enjoying the
attention.  They danced around the room in a circle and his gaze kept falling
down to her body.  He had to force himself to look back up at her face.  Her
full rose colored lips were parted slightly and her heavy breathing was somehow
worse than concentrating on the rest of her. 

As
they neared their starting point, where the inside circle would rotate and they
would change partners, Ben wasn’t sure if he should pull her close to kiss her
or turn and run.

She
made the decision for him.  She caught him staring again then pulled him close
and whispered in his ear, “how about I give you a better look, hero?”

Her
hot breath on his ear sent tingles down his spine and he found himself not
resisting when she pushed him out of the circle and into a narrow hallway in
the direction of the kitchen.

“Here,”
she said and tugged him into a dark storage room then closed the ill-fitting
door.  “No one will come in here this late.”

Ilyena
pulled him close.  Her tongue fought past his lips and she curled her hands in
his hair.  They kissed hungrily and Ben felt his body responding to her
warmth.  She reached down below his belt with her free hand. 

“Good,”
she whispered, “I’ve been waiting for this since I saw you practicing the sword
in the willows earlier today.  I was so worried you’d bed that Lady you saved
tonight.  But you’re all mine now and I can’t wait any longer.”

She
shoved him back and he flopped down on pile of burlap sacks.  Must be beans was
the only coherent thought his mind could process.  In the dim light, he watched
her strip off her top, exposing her smooth skin.  Without another word, she
yanked down his pants and hiked up her heavy skirts before straddling him.  She
settled down and his mind swirled with sensations he’d never felt before.

“Oh…”
he stuttered and his entire body tensed.  He shuddered over and over again as
she rocked back and forth on him, sucking and biting at his lips and tongue. 
Time froze until finally, the shudders stopped, his muscles turned to jelly and
he fell back on the sacks, utterly drained.

Ilyena
broke the passionate kiss, hand still grasping his hair and whispered in his
ear, “what was that?  Your first time?”

“I,
uh…”

“Don’t
worry, the second time is much better.”  She wiggled off of him and dropped
down to her knees.  As she worked her lips and tongue, he found he wasn’t quite
as drained as he thought.  And she was right, the second time was even better.

The
loud clatter of pots and pans in the nearby kitchen startled Ben awake.  As his
senses slowly caught up, the unfamiliar surroundings came into focus.

The
smell of baking bread and the sharp sounds of metal on metal meant he was near
the kitchen.  Light streaming under the door meant it was morning.  The
scratchy, lumpy bed was a pile of sacks filled with dried beans.  The
pleasurable, soft warmth beside him was the barmaid Ilyena.  He could feel her
smooth skin wrapped around him.

His
stirring woke her and her eyes popped open.  In the dim light of the storage
room he could see a smile break out of on her face.  She tilted her head and
kissed his jawline sending a shiver throughout this body.  He felt himself
start to respond to her nakedness.

“Good
morning, My Lord,” she whispered.

“I,
uh, good morning,” he mumbled barely coherent.

She
slid her hand across his bare chest and said, “I’m not scheduled until lunch
shift.”  Her hand started to drift lower towards his stomach.  “I’ve heard that
Lords are not early risers, but you seem like you could, mmm, get up, this
early.”

“Lords,
early risers?” asked a bewildered Ben.  He knew it was rude, but her perfect body
was distracting and he could barely focus on what she was saying.

“Don’t
be offended my sweet.”  She kissed his neck and her hand continued to rub lower
down his torso.  “That’s what I’ve heard from friends who’ve been in bed with
high born.  No need for you to get up when a servant will bring everything to
you.  I can only imagine how wonderful that must be.”

Ben’s
mind was foggy from the drink the night before and the sensations he was
feeling.  “Yeah, I guess Lords don’t need to be early risers.  I’ve never
really thought about it.”

Her
hand was resting on Ben’s belly button and he fought to keep from grabbing it
and pulling her to where he wanted.  He involuntarily shifted his hips towards
her and felt her snuggle closer in response.

In
his ear she whispered, “I know this isn’t a Lord’s bed, but I like it just
fine.  Maybe we should stay awhile.  You don’t think your Lady friends will be
mad, do you?  I saw the way the pretty dark haired one looks at you.  She isn’t
your betrothed is she?  You seem like such a good man.  You wouldn’t do that to
me, would you?”

“The
pretty one?  You mean Amelie.”  Ben had no interest in talking but he didn’t
want to upset her.  “No, of course she’s not my betrothed.  I’m certain she’ll
marry some Lord someday.”

“Marry
a Lord.  Aren’t you a Lord?” she had stopped moving abruptly and Ben’s need was
becoming irresistible.  He had never wanted anything more than to stop this
conversation and start what they had been doing the night before. 

“No,
I’m not a Lord.  Didn’t I tell you when we first met?  I’m a brewer.”

She
bolted upright and he couldn’t help but stare at her pert breasts that bounced
with the sudden motion.  “Not a Lord?  What do you mean?  I thought brewing is
a high born hobby.  I’ve seen Taber work and no one else has time for that. 
This Amelie is a Lady, right?  You fought for her and I saw her kiss you.  I
saw you practice the sword with a Blademaster.  Do not tell me you’re not a
Lord!”

“Ilyena…”
Ben’s mind raced but all he could think about was getting his hands on her soft
skin again.  “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to lead you on.  Really, I didn’t
even know you thought that.  I’m not a Lord but I’m still a good man, a better
man probably.  That doesn’t change what we did last night, does it?”