Empire of Avarice (57 page)

Demtro waited until Clora had fallen asleep, then had
slipped out of the bed, dressed, and gone downstairs to his sitting room, a
luxurious chamber where he often sat and thought. He poured himself a red wine
of Romos and sat quietly, contemplating. She was young enough to be a daughter
to him, and maybe that was what was bothering him. But there again maybe not. He’d
bedded women as young as she in the past, and she was in the selling trade, so
to take her wasn’t a moral issue.

No, he knew it was something else. Finishing his drink
he went back upstairs and looked in at her sleeping form for a while, then
cursed under his breath and softly shut the door and went to his own bed
chamber.

Over the next few days he began to teach her how to
really pleasure a man. He was quite happy to do so since he was the subject she
had to work on. Over his many years in actively seeking out female company he’d
come to learn that some women were much better at love making than others and
it were those he sought out if he had the opportunity. He used his experience
to show her how she could fully satisfy a man, and take the lead. He constantly
told her she was beautiful and desirable, and that she would be irresistible.

Clora looked at him with doubt. After being told she was
worthless and good for only one thing for so long, she had begun to believe it.
Her self-esteem was non-existent and it was a hard job getting her to believe
him. He gave her the first retainer pay, and she stared in disbelief at it. “This
is all for me?” she said.

Demtro shrugged. It wasn’t that much, but clearly more
than she was used to. Most of what she’d taken from her ‘clients’ at the Black
Rodent had gone to the tavern owner. “You’ll get more when you undertake a job
for me, of course.”

“More? This is more than I’ve ever had in my life!” She
was overcome and flung her arms round his neck. “Oh, the gods smile on you! You’re
too good for me!”

Demtro gently disengaged her arms. “I’m not a holy man,
Clora. I’m a ruthless merchant and sometime agent for the Koros. I do dirty
jobs for them, and since you now work for me, you’ll be undertaking some of
those dirty jobs on my behalf. It won’t be all enjoyable, you know.”

“The Koros! Could I meet them one day? They’re going to
save the empire, aren’t they?”

Demtro chuckled. “Oh, hopefully they will. And meeting
them? I don’t know. Maybe one day if you’ve been good and dress like a lady. They
won’t be seen with a courtesan, you understand.”

Clora nodded. “I can buy clothes with this!”

“And food. You won’t have to pay any rent here, but you
will buy your own food. I won’t be here quite a fair bit, so you’ll have to
feed yourself, and keep this place clean and tidy.”

Clora enthusiastically set about her domestic duties,
happy to have a clean place to call her own, and not to endure the grubby and
claustrophobic conditions of the tavern. Demtro was a much kinder and nicer
employer than the tavern owner, and Clora was happy to do his bidding.

During much of the day she was alone in the house and
spent some of the time exploring. There were lots of rooms and cubby holes to
poke about in, and some very strange jars and objects here and there. She had
no idea what they were for or what they did. It was best not to touch. Demtro
came back one evening and he was holding a package, wrapped under one arm. “Here,
try this on,” he said, passing it to her.

Clora, curious, unrolled it and gasped. It was a dress. “Oh,
Demtro! It’s beautiful!” It was of weaveworm fabric, and light. It was a dark
red – almost brown - colour and held in at the waist and flared out down the
legs to the ankles. Clora slipped it on and ran her hands down it. “It-it’s
wonderful! It’s mine?”

“It fits you, does it not?”

“Yes – you made it specially for me?”

“Of course,” Demtro said, critically examining her. It
was a good fit; he’d made sure that his supplier had been given the right
measurements. It pressed her chest up and exposed half of it quite
delightfully. The latest fashion of the east, so he had been informed. A bit risqué
in the empire, but the dress was magnificent. Other women would turn green at
seeing it. The colour suited Clora. All they needed to do now was to get her
hair sorted.

“This is the dress I want you to wear when you start
working for me this sevenday.”

“This sevenday?” Clora looked up in surprise.

Demtro nodded, seating himself comfortably and allowing
his eyes to rove over the girl. “There’s this man who works for the city
accounts office I want you to seduce. He has information – I think – that I badly
need. He’s not likely to tell me, but a beautiful woman who’s laying him could
well loosen his tongue. All you have to do is make his year, take him to the
gods and back, and then find out what he’s doing with the money he’s stealing
from the council.”

“What if he doesn’t tell me, Demtro?”

“Oh he won’t be able to resist you. He’s a lonely man,
about ten years older than you, never had a women – mainly because he’s got a
face like a canine’s back end – and ripe for a pretty young thing like you. And
you look far too young to be working for a naughty man like me.”

Clora giggled. “I’ll do to him what you showed me?”

“Repeatedly. He may end up begging for his mother but
don’t show any mercy, Clora. He’s a bad man. We think he began stealing because
he’s a lonely man and somebody promised him some of the money or something
equally attractive if he stole the funds. Now, I’ll want to know who he gives
the money to and where and when. I doubt he’ll know much more than that. I want
his contact.”

Clora smiled. “I’ll get that for you.”

Demtro smiled. “Good girl. Now, let’s work on our plan a
little more, and tomorrow we’ll go to the market place and I’ll point out this
man to you when he passes. He always does at the same time each day. Typical
office council worker.”

The following day Clora escorted Demtro to his day stall
in the market where he sold his fabrics. Clora helped behind the stall, guided
by Demtro, and it was interesting just how many more male browsers there were
that morning. Demtro showed the dress she was wearing to all prospective buyers
and in fact made a few sales which pleased him no end. Clora seemed to enjoy
herself too. Her skin looked much healthier in the outside air; she hadn’t been
out much in the past three years and the wash, clean and fresh air seemed to do
her wonders, even though it was cold. Her coat was fastened and they shut the
stall for the lunch period and walked off, Demtro describing the various
traders and what they sold. Business was still slow but it was getting better,
gradually. The opening up of the Lodrian market had helped, and rumours of a
possible trade deal with the Tybar lands had everyone buzzing. Merchants just
couldn’t be relied on to keep a secret.

“Here,” Demtro stopped and leaned against a wall. He
nodded across the square towards the council buildings. “He’ll be along in a
moment. He’s not the most handsome of fellows.”

“That won’t worry me, Demtro; you should have seen some
of the men I had to pleasure in the Black Rodent!”

“I can imagine.” Demtro pointed. “There he is. Wearing
the grey long coat.”

“I see him,” she said, looking at him intently.

Demtro squeezed her on the shoulder. “I’ll return to my
stall now; good luck and remember your part.”

“I’ll remember,” she said and made her way across to the
bread stall that the council worker used each day to purchase his lunch. Making
sure her chest was as exposed as the cold would allow, she arrived almost at
the same time as her target. He was thin, long necked, had a pale complexion
and very dark hair and a large upper lip. No uglier than some of her former
clientele. She casually bumped into him. “Oh, sorry,” she said automatically
and dropped her new purse Demtro had bought her.

The council worker looked in surprise at her and his
eyes widened as she bent down in front of him and picked her purse up, showing
him her charms. “Oh, no sorry, my fault!” he said in a stammer.

Demtro watched from a distance but even that far away he
could tell the man was going red. He watched for a while as the two seemed to
have a conversation, and the man began smiling widely. Clora was certainly
playing up to him and turned away, then looked back at him and Demtro couldn’t
see the expression she used, but suddenly he was following her. “Like a
herdbeast to the slaughter,” he muttered.

His expenses were going up, but he considered Evas’
promise to get him a lucrative trade deal worth it. The rent on the small house
off the square for the sevenday was more than he would have paid normally, but
she needed a place to take him and work on him in private. He lost sight of the
two and had to concentrate on his business deals that afternoon, but he closed
early, having made enough that day, and made his way to the house two streets
off the square. Here the buildings leaned towards one another and the street
wasn’t that wide, but it was clean enough.

He stood at one end and waited a while. The council
worker would be missed by his office but he may well excuse it on illness. How
they would view that was anyone’s guess. He saw the man leave slowly close to
dusk, and he waved back at the house and guessed Clora was waving back; he
vanished up the street and dodged a couple of people with difficulty. He looked
as if he were having trouble walking straight. Demtro chuckled and went to the
house and knocked. Clora opened it.

“How did it go?”

“Oh, fun,” she grinned. “His name is Fulmas and he’s
twenty-seven.” They went to the single room downstairs and sat in the hard
wooden chairs. “Lives on his own – no girlfriend or wife or anything. Poor man
lost his parents in one of the riots two years ago. Their house got burned
down. Did I do well?”

“Very,” Demtro nodded. “Is he going to come here again
tomorrow?”

“Yes,” she giggled. “He thinks I live here with a fierce
father who goes to work outside the town every day, so he’ll not come until mid-morning.
He’s going to excuse himself from work on a sick aunt. He does have one in
Kastan, so he says.”

“Good,” Demtro thought quickly. “See if you can start
getting him to spend money on you. We need to put pressure on him to spend over
his salary. Ask for jewellery, clothes, anything.”

“But will he do that?”

“Of course. He looks besotted. Don’t forget what I’ve
already told you, Clora. You’re in charge; he wants you. You control the
relationship. Give him what he needs and he’ll give you what you want. A man is
often like a pavement.”

“A pavement?”

“Yes. Lay him correctly the first time and you’ll be
able to walk on him for years.”

Clora frowned. Demtro waved his hands in the air. “Ah,
forget it. Bad joke. Look, you’ve got him eating out of your hand. Keep doing
to him what you’ve done today and he’ll do anything for you, trust me.”

“He isn’t that good,” Clora said, putting her arms in
between her knees. “He didn’t really know what to do, so I took over.”

“There, he’s going to be easily led by you. Promise him
to go to Kastan to live there. Say you’ll marry him once you’re there and live
in happily married bliss for ever.”

“Oh! Should we do that? I mean, its mean to do that!”

Demtro sighed. “Clora. We’re in the business of
deception. This man is stealing from Niake’s council. He’s giving the money to
someone else, and we need to find out who. You could ask but it’s too obvious;
even a besotted man could well be suspicious. Promise to take him away from
Niake and live your dreams.”

“Yes, I’ll do that, Demtro. Can we go home now? I’m
hungry.”

Demtro stood up, holding out his hand. “Of course. You’ve
earned it. We’ll speak further after dinner.”

The two locked up and made their way through the streets
to Demtro’s home as the street lights were being lit by the militia patrols. Over
the next couple of days Clora worked on Fulmas and the accountant began to buy
her expensive items. They even came to Demtro’s stall one lunchtime to buy an
outfit. Demtro made a fuss over Clora, declaring she was very beautiful and
only the best would compliment such a woman. Fulmas spent the time with his
eyes fixed on her; he couldn’t tear his eyes away. In the end Demtro selected
the most expensive material and the most expensive style. After all, Fulmas –
or his intended recipient – was paying.

On the fourth evening Clora came home. She was silent at
first and Demtro waited patiently. Finally she spoke. “He’s in trouble. He’s
paid a huge amount on me and this morning he told me he may have to leave Niake
quickly. He wants to take me away. Maybe tomorrow.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know – but he said I must meet him at the
Kastan Gate. I think he’s taking all the money he’s taken from the council and
is going to flee with it with me. I don’t know what he’s planning but he’s got
to do it in the next day or so.”

“Right – this is what we do, Clora.” And Demtro went
over the plans very carefully with her.

____

The dawn had broken and the gate was opened, allowing in
the traders and visitors first, then those leaving could file out to wherever
they were going. Demtro stood on a street corner waiting. He looked left and
right. Armed men were nonchalantly talking, seemingly paying no attention to
anything going on. Others were making their way up and down the street and a
few other figures were lurking in shadows. Demtro spotted them all in moments.